Growing Through Goals

I found that sometimes the first Sunday of the year a lot of

people are still gone often so decided we'd focus on things

related to the new year. So Philippians Chapter 3 is

Philippians 3 · chapter mention

where we'll be next week. We will be back in the book of

Genesis, slowly working our way through the book.

We'll, we'll pick it up eventually, maybe around chapter

12, We'll, we'll pick up the pace as things start moving a

little faster. But Philippians chapter 3, if

Philippians 3 · chapter mention

you're using one of our Bibles there in front of you, it's on

page 981. Now I get the sense that many

people are ready to put 2025 behind them.

In some ways, it feels a little bit similar to when we left 2020

behind. There's increasing political and

societal turmoil, which I honestly don't think will end

anytime in the next few years. There's continued talk about

COVID that has some people feeling apprehensive.

Inflation that's making a significant impact in our lives,

catastrophic flooding, concern over the situation in the Near

East. Even in the midst of the Gaza

peace plan. There are also senseless attacks

on innocent people. Not to mention the now entirely

rational fear that you can't trust anything you read or see

online due to the presence and inundation of artificial

intelligence. Each year when the calendar

ticks over, we naturally think of it as a clean slate.

The last years in the past. Now it's time to forge a better

path forward and perhaps you can resonate with this.

And as 2025 fades into the rearview mirror, your only

thought is good riddance. Personally, I look back on 2025

the same way I did 2020, with fondness in witnessing God's

working in our lives as we sit here on this fourth day of the

year. I know that some of you,

probably the more type A's, have already set resolutions and

goals and you're already on your way to achieving those and

making those happen. But others of us, the more laid

back personalities, don't have that same drive to set goals.

And in all honesty, you might have a tendency to actually push

back against the idea of setting goals.

I naturally land somewhere in the middle of these two

extremes. I'm not overly driven to set

lots of goals and go gung ho each year when the first hits,

but then I'm also not entirely prone to just sit back and do

nothing. I find myself somewhere in the

middle and and occasionally I've I've seen setting goals as a

catapult to growth. So this morning we'll consider

how Paul can speak to us on this topic.

Philippians 3 chapter. Philippians chapter 3 verses 12

Philippians 3:12–14

through 14. Would you stand, if you are

able? Verse 12 Not that I have already

obtained this, or I'm already perfect, but I press on to make

it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own brothers.

I do not consider that that I have made it my own.

But one thing I do, forgetting what lies behind and straining

forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the

prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

You may be seated. The first thing we see here that

Paul is doing and his encouragement to us is to keep

pressing on. We keep pressing on.

See the church in Corinth held the belief that Paul should have

already arrived by now. He should be complete.

He should be fully mature by now.

And Paul didn't want that that notion to take roots and and

Philippi as well. Why does this matter?

Why does it matter if they thought he should be more

mature? Why did he feel the need to keep

pressing on? Well, there are two reasons And

Paul was compelled to keep pressing on.

First, he said because Jesus has made me his own.

Paul wasn't pressing on for his own purposes or for his own

glory, if you will. He was pressing on because Jesus

had chosen and called him. He'd been the recipient of God's

grace, and in response to the gift of grace offered to him,

Paul was offering his life back in worship.

He wasn't trying to earn his way into heaven.

No, he simply want to make sure that his life was continually

being transformed by God working in and through him.

The second Paul was pressing on because he wasn't fully mature

yet, verse 12 read. Not that I've already obtained

this or am already perfect. Paul wasn't fully mature there.

There were still areas of life that that needed to be further

shaped to be like Christ. And this process is what we call

progressive sanctification. This is progressive

sanctification. I like how Vines, Expository

Dictionary of New Testament words defines progressive

sanctification as a separation of the believer from evil.

It's a separation of the believer from evil.

We are separated from the works of the devil in both a passive

and an active manner. Passively we trust God to

sanctify us as we yield to His will.

And then actively we choose to do what's right and and to put

away the works of the flesh. We are making decisions that

glorify God. That is the active part of it.

And this, all this, both the passive and and active part,

this progressive sanctification, it's all a big fancy theological

way of saying that we are becoming more and more like

Jesus. But not everyone's at the same

place as the Holy Spirit speaks to each person in different

ways. One person may be working on

their anger, while another works on bitterness and and learning

how to forgive someone who hurt them.

Still another might be tackling the issue of smoking or

overeating, while someone else seeks to be more responsive to

the Holy Spirit's promptings in sharing the Gospel with someone.

Yet another may be convicted of their language and wanting to

bring that into conformity to Jesus Christ.

If you new to the faith, you need to understand that

Christians come from many different walks of life, are in

and we're all in different places of spiritual growth.

Don't be discouraged if you're fighting a sin that you thought

would be easier to conquer. Don't be discouraged if you

struggle with lust, if you struggle with your language, if

your temper gets the best of you sometimes.

Don't be discouraged if you find it hard to forgive someone who

has deeply offended you. Don't be discouraged if you find

it hard to spend a few minutes in prayer each day or or to

spend time in the Word each day. Continue seeking God and

allowing Him to grow you into the Christ follower that He

wants you to be. I think the great theologian

Dory said it best. Just keep swimming.

Just keep swimming, swimming, swimming.

Should I have adopted Dory's voice?

Would that have been better? Just keep swim.

No. Last, I digress.

There are things to learn from from movies, and there are

things that we don't want to emulate.

But just keep going. Keep responding to what the Holy

Spirit is convicting you of. Don't quit Paul.

Paul kept pressing on. He wanted to do more and he was

convicted by the Holy Spirit that he had not yet arrived.

Now in order to press on, we have to forget what is behind.

We have to forget what's behind. Like many of you, I enjoy

watching the Olympics and and I'll watch as much of it as I

can when it comes on next month, you know, trying to catch the

the prime time, you know, highlights reel, if you will.

But perhaps the most exciting races to watch actually occur

during the Summer Olympics with the 100 and 200 meter sprints.

These races are over in 10 and 20 seconds.

There's no room or margin for error in these races.

Once the starting gun goes off, it's an all out sprints to the

finish line. In these races everyone's

attention is firmly fixed ahead. The runners can't look behind

they they can't look at the other runners and see where

they're at. They can't look at the ground

that they've already covered. If they were to do that, there

would be 1 sure conclusion. They would fail to run the best

race they possibly could. They would stumble.

They would lose their momentum, their balance.

And when you're running at 2627 miles an hour, which I can't

imagine when you're running at these speeds, you can't look

behind because if you look elsewhere now, they start

looking up at this at the big monitor.

That's kind of a nifty little trick, huh?

They can look up to see, oh, on the screen, where am I?

Oh, they're all back there. No, you can't do that.

If you look around, you'll stumble, you'll fall, you'll

lose that momentum, and you will not run the best race that you

possibly could. So we need to fix our eyes on

what's ahead and forget what's behind.

In the previous verses, Paul listed some of his credentials,

all the reasons that he had to boast in himself.

If your Bible's still open or your phone is still on, whatever

the case may be, look, look at verses 5 and 6 of Philippians 3.

Verses 5 and 6, It says he was circumcised on the eighth day of

the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of

the Hebrews as to the law, a Pharisee as to Zeal, a

persecutor of the church as to righteousness under the law.

Blameless. Paul had the right pedigree.

He had all the right credentials.

It all started with his parents, who had circumcised him on the

8th day according to the requirements of the law.

Now he was an Israelite. Not only that, but he knew

exactly which tribe he was descended from.

It was the tribe of Benjamin, and while he came from a Greek

speaking place, he came from Tarsus.

He didn't only speak Greek, he also spoke Aramaic, making him a

Hebrew of Hebrews, being able to speak the language of the people

of Judea. He had the right lineage, he had

the right background, and he was also a Pharisee.

The Pharisees had taken taken the 613 laws that were written

down in Scripture and they'd put in thousands of other laws as

guard rails around the law so that they would essentially not

even come close in their minds to to violating what was written

down in the Torah. And he was a Pharisee, power,

excellence. He kept the law so perfectly, he

says. And he was so good at keeping

the law. He even sought to persecute

Christians because because he felt that these Christians, they

were, they were breaking the Torah.

And so he sought to persecute them.

Then at the end of verse 6, he said he was blameless under the

law. He's saying essentially that he

was a righteous person. He was a Pharisee of all

Pharisees. But he refused to let his his

past heritage and and his achievements dictate his present

actions and his standing, All those things that that he

formerly would have counted as as assets as as his trophies in

life. Look how well I have lived, he

now says. They're worthless.

They mean nothing to me now. In fact, they mean so little to

him that he uses a colorful word to describe them as fecal

matter. These things are just rubbish,

especially compared to knowing Christ.

So Paul was pressing on and and forgetting his old life, his old

accomplishments, the things that were behind.

He wasn't about to let those those things in the past

distract him. And that brings us to straining

forward. Straining forward.

It's possible when when you hear this, you might have a picture

perhaps of trying to to strain to reach something on the top

shelf, like like when my vertically challenged wife is

trying to reach something on the top shelf and she has to.

Is this funny? No, and she has to call Micah or

I to come get it. But that is not the type of

straining that is in view here. It's not just trying to reach

something straining for something like that.

No, what is in view here is the straining is pulling a muscle to

its absolute limit, stretching it to its absolute limit.

And why when I think of straining, I can't help but

think of at CrossFit our our deadlift one Rep Max day.

You see, this day is, is where you pick up as heavy of a

barbell as you possibly can. It's very simple, really just

pick up the weight. But you see, it's going to take

a lot of straining to do this. Now you have to, you have to set

yourself up right. You set your feet under the

barbell. You, you hinge your hips back

and you make sure everything is set up right.

Your, your shins are, are vertical, your hips are, your

hips are pulled back, your shoulders are back and in tight.

You reach down for the barbell and you start to, instead of

trying to stand up, we actually say push your feet away into the

ground. So you start to pull, push your

feet into the ground and you stand up.

And sometimes it might take 10 seconds to do it because there's

a lot of straining. And you'll see people bouncing

the bar some because they are straining with all their might

using everything that they have. That is what straining is.

Paul loves his athletic metaphors and that is what he is

doing here. He had literally poured

everything he had into his walk with God.

So what was it that he was pressing on towards?

He was pressing on towards the goal.

So we press on towards the goal Paul was pressing on towards the

goal that it says in verse 14 is the upward call of God.

The upward call of God refers to first of all, the source of the

call. God is the source of the call.

He's the one who is who had called out to Paul.

He's the one who calls out to us and says come follow me.

The second, the upward call of God, also refers to the

destination. It's a heavenly directed call.

It's an upward call. Hebrews 11 tells us about

numerous Old Testament Saints who who demonstrated their faith

in the midst of hard times. In Hebrews 11/13, the writer

refers to those who are listed in what we refer to as the the

Hall of Faith. He, he refers to them, and by

extension us as strangers in exiles on the earth.

Strangers in exiles on the earth.

So that means our home isn't here.

We're just passing through this world knowing that our true

homes in a place that that is much, much better than this

place. It's not like this place.

It's not tarnished by sin, a place where we will be more

alive than we are even at this very moment, CS Lewis wrote in

his bestseller Mere Christianity.

If you read history, you will find that the Christians who did

most for the present world were just those who thought most of

the next World. Paul embodied Lewis's statements

and he was looking for forward to the day when when he would

fully experience God's presence, enjoying freedom from the

penalty and presence and power of sin.

He looked forward to a day when sin would no longer prevent him

from being united with and knowing God fully.

So that's the goal that Paul was striving for here in this

passage. Paul has told us to press on and

forget what lies behind, straining forward with all our

might as our eyes are fixed on that goal.

So as we think about Paul's goal and encouragement to us, it

would be good for us to also consider goals in our lives.

What goals can can we implement to help us make progress and and

press forward? The late Christian motivational

speaker Zig Ziglar said if you aim at nothing, you will hit it

every time. Profound words.

If you aim at nothing, you will hit it every time.

So a lack of goals can be indicative of complacency.

So it behooves us, regardless of our feelings and predispositions

towards goals, to go ahead and set goals for ourselves.

So in the remaining moments of our time this morning, I want to

talk a little bit about goals, about progressing, whether it be

in our sanctification really is what we really are focusing on

here this morning is our sanctification or walk with

Christ or even in other areas of our lives.

But before we do that, I want to help us understand what goals

are. In his book Covenant Marriage,

Gary Chapman said this our priorities are stated in broad

categories and indicate what we believe to be most important in

life. So our priorities are stated in

broad categories and indicate what we believe to most be most

important, right? This makes sense.

Our priorities are the things that are important in life.

So you could say these are principles and values that we

try to live by. And then he goes on to say

goals. Goals, on the other hand, are

stepping stones that help us accomplish our priorities.

Goals are the action steps that the steps that we take to help

us accomplish the priorities and and live by the values in our

lives. For the sake of our discussion

today, there are two main types of goals.

First of all, there are personal goals.

There are personal goals. These are the types of goals

that you're probably think thinking of each year when

January 1st comes around. These are the types of things

that just help you grow as a person.

These are the things that you want to accomplish in the coming

year. There is of course the infamous

weight loss goal. Perhaps reading goals, career

goals, financial goals, or even relationship goals with your

spouse or children or friends. There are many different

categories of of personal goals and and these can all be good

things. But then what we want to focus

on is spiritual goals. Spiritual goals are are

specifically drawn up to help strengthen our relationship with

God. These are the types of things

that will cause us to be closer to Him and to hear Him better.

These could be areas like scripture reading, your prayer

life for learning to give back to God a percentage of your

income. So how do we determine what

exactly the goals are in our lives?

First of all, pray. You may not have expected that,

but pray. Clothe each step in prayer.

This may sound weird for for some, but this is important.

It may be that there are some aspects or areas of your life

that are clearly off track and need to be changed.

And so you already know, hey, this needs to be changed.

Like if you have a drug addiction, that might be a

foregone conclusion that needs to change, right?

But praying is saying, God, I need your help with this.

And praying also says, God, help me to know what you want me to

do so that I'm not just going after whatever it is that I want

to do, but I am doing what He wants.

We need His wisdom and help in addressing all these areas of

concern. So pray.

Next, define your values. Define your values or or your

priorities. What is it that you prioritize

in your life? I'm going to guess due to your

presence here this morning, you prioritize being in God's house.

Most of you are here each and every week.

That's a, that's a priority, right?

And so to be close to God, to be in God's house.

So you have taken a step to be here.

Now pray and ask God to reveal to you the right areas of value.

You see, sometimes we might have values or priorities that God

needs to chip out, that he needs to shape and mold.

You may need to take something away for a season and and shift

those priorities to something else.

So do an authentic searching of your heart and listen to God as

you define your values. This can be hard to stop because

first of all it requires us to stop.

We have to stop. We have to rest for a moment and

think what is it that I value? What is it that God wants me to

value? It requires some thought and

thinking through these things. Praying.

Take inventory of what you what you value is.

This will then help you in the next step as you actually

establish your goals. Remember, these goals are set up

to help you achieve and support your values.

So how does God want to stretch and grow me in the coming year?

Is is the question. When it comes to goals, don't

simply come up with a few things that you want to do.

Sure, that might be part of it, but actually pray about it and

ask God what the goals in your life should be.

So as you do that, first of all, make them realistic, make them

realistic. Make sure that it's something,

hey, in 365 days, I think I could accomplish this.

For example, for some time now my dad has had a goal of dead

lifting 500 lbs for a few years. He has been progressively

working towards towards that goal and it and is nearly right

at the doorstep of that, which I think would be pretty close to a

world record to lift £500 off of the ground at 75 years of age.

There's a very small group of people in this territory.

So that was literally part of his goal was to set a world

record for his age group. He's right there, right there.

But so he's been working on that.

But to be honest, I would never set a goal to deadlift £500 this

year. Why?

Because it's not realistic. I am nowhere near that.

The most I lifted pulled off the ground this last year I think

was around 355, which is a long ways from 500, right.

And when you've been lifting as long as I have, you're not going

to make 150 LB jump in one year. 20 maybe.

I don't, you know, I would have to really prioritize that.

It is not realistic for me to even try to make that a goal to

pull £500 off the ground. If I really wanted, I could make

a goal to pull £400 off the ground this year, but that would

take a lot of work and I'm not going to prioritize that either.

That's simply not my goal right now.

So make it realistic. Next, be specific and

measurable. Be specific and measurable.

So set specific goals that you can actually tell if you

achieved it. If you're not specific with your

goals, then it's hard to know where you're headed and if

you've made it to the destination.

For example, if you would like to lose weight, don't set a goal

that simply says lose weight this year.

Be specific about what you would like to lose so you know when

you have achieved it. I have my own goals here.

And then last year I set a specific goal.

I said become a lead pastor in 2025.

Well, that was a very specific goal, right?

And we can now look back and say that was achieved because it was

a specific goal. Taking all this into the

spiritual realm, if you want to be strengthened your walk with

God, then then don't just leave it at that.

Develop several realistic and measurable goals to help you

move towards that value of wanting to grow spiritually.

A couple weeks ago, a few weeks ago, I don't remember when it

was I mentioned the the power of four.

And this is spending time in the word for times a week and that

when we spend at least four days a week in the Word, that's

begins to make a significant impact and change in our

spiritual life and health. So if you're wanting to be

closer to God this year, perhaps you commit to being in the Word

4 times a week. Perhaps you're already doing

that. Maybe you say 5 times, maybe you

say 6, maybe you make a commitment.

I remember what transformed my life was one year I said I'm

going to be in the word every single day.

Whether it's 5 minutes or whether it's 35 minutes is

better than zero. I made a commitment to be in the

word every single day. It completely transformed my

life. So be specific about what you

want to do. Set that goal, and I guarantee

you that you're going after that goal even should you fail in

reaching that goal. If you're still going after that

goal, you're still making progress and accomplishing more

by going after that goal than if you hadn't set that goal at all.

In Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland, Alice comes to a

fork in the road and sees the Cheshire Cat in the tree and

asks, Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from

here? The cat responds, That depends a

good deal on where you want to get to.

I don't much care, said Alice. Then it doesn't matter which way

you go, said the Cat, so long as I get somewhere, Alice added.

Oh, you're sure to do that, said the cat.

If you only walk long enough. Far too many people live like

Alice. We walk long enough, we're busy,

we're tired, and we'll inevitably end up somewhere.

But is it where God intends? If we don't have clear,

sanctified goals, then any path will do.

We'll be tossed to and fro by whatever urgency pops up on our

phone or in our schedule today. So stop drifting.

Let's ask God where He wants us to go.

And I include myself in that. I'm still working out what are

my goals this year. Let's ask God where He wants to

go. Then choose the path that

actually leads there. Not just any path will do.

Pray over your values. Set goals that are realistic,

specific, and measurable. Then start taking the steps to

reach them. It's taking one day at a time.

Don't fixate on the end that might, that might seem a little

overwhelming, but look at those those steps, those those goals

that you can take to achieve upholding that value you won't

casually succeed at meeting. Your goals are progressing in

life. It takes intentionality and

sacrifice. It will cost something, it costs

us something, but if you make the sacrifices and you follow

through on your steps to achieve your goals, then at the end of

the year, you'll be able to look back at your life and you can

see what God has done. Let's bow our heads and close

our eyes. Let's just take a moment this

morning as we as we close out this portion of our service to

consider what is it that God would want us to do in this

year? What are the values?

Kind of start thinking through some of those values, those

priorities of your life that you need to set goals for upholding.

Let's just take a moment of quiet.

God, as we consider this next year, would you illuminate our

our hearts and minds to understand what you would desire

of each of us that we would not wander through this year

carelessly in the sense that Alice was doing.

Because it does matter which way we go.

Some ways will bring us closer to you, others will not.

So God, help us to understand what you would desire of us in

this year. It's in Jesus name we pray,

Amen.