A Mature Christian

Good morning, Church. Please open your bibles to Philippians Chapter three. Philippians

Chapter three will be in verse twelve. I'm curious how many of you have

ever run a marathon. And I don't consider to myself to be one of

those because I've only done a marathon relay, so when you break it up

into five parts, it doesn't count as a marathon. But that's what I

did in college. I had never really run when I was younger. I

was a swimmer in high school, and after high school I didn't want to

swim ever again, and so I didn't try to do that. And I

got into running, and some friends and I we decided it would be fun

to do a marathon relay. So I can't do all is at twenty four

point one miles, twenty six two twenty six point two miles. While I

can't do all of that, I could do seven miles, and so we

broke it up. So a team of five of us we went to Oklahoma

City. They have a Do you remember the the Murrah building bombing, I'm

sure some of you do. I think it was nineteen ninety seven, and

so they have a marathon relay or sorry, we have a marathon Memorial marathon

every year in Oklahoma City to commemorate and remember that, and so we decided

to run in that marathon. And we had trained and trained so I could

run my seven miles. We get there on that morning, I think it

was a Sunday morning, and all five of us are there and we split

up into our different segments that we're going to be running, and we realized

that the first person who was running, she forgot the tracker, and the

tracker is what you have on you to start your time and stop your time

and make sure you don't get lost. And so she ran back home.

She didn't run. She drove back home to get it because she was getting

ready to run a long time. She and so, but she wasn't back

before the race started, and so we were taking we were talking about what

to do, and she was the first leg, and so since she wasn't

there, we talked to this the guy who was running the second leg,

and even though he didn't have the tracker, he just she just started.

We said go ahead and start, because we're you know, we've spent this

much time waiting for it all along, and just go ahead and get started.

Well, we found out afterwards that he had waited so long that they

started taking the race markers down before he started running, and so as he

ran, he didn't really know where the course was, and so he just

was running hoping that he found the right course to run. And so then

the next person, he never showed up at the next transition point, and

so to you know, you have to pass the tracker, and so she

just, yeah, she just started at some point. And so finally I

think I was like third in the leg, and she did show up at

my place, and so I ran, and so we did finish, but

I don't think we even had a time. But we learned that if you

don't have the tracker, and if you don't start on time, you might

not know where you're going. And so in our relay race, we kind

of got lost because we didn't start well, and we and that that second

guy, or so the second guy, he didn't even know where he was

going. And so this morning, as we read scripture from Paul and Philippians,

he says that kind of like the Christian life is a race, it's

a it's like a marathon, that it takes a long time, and we

should be steady and have our focus on the prize. And so this morning,

what I want us to see is that mature Christians steadily pursue Christ for

all of their lives. That's what Christian maturity is this morning, That's what

I wanted us to learn this morning, what Christian maturity is. So let's

bow together and pray, and then we will read our scripture. Father,

God, we pray that you would teach us this morning from your word.

Father. We pray that you will be here with us, that you will

help us to learn. I pray, Holy Spirit, that you would interpret

the word for us, help us to understand it, and Father, hide

it in our hearts, that we can be transformed by your truth. Father,

I pray that you will guard this truth and our hearts. Father,

we can learn what Christian maturity is. Lord, I pray that you will

help us to press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call

of God in Christ, Jesus and His name. We pray. Amen.

So let's read in Philippians three, verses twelve through sixteen. It starts off

not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I pray

us on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his

own. Brothers, I do not consider 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. Let those of us who are mature

think this way, and if anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that

also to you. Only let us hold true to what we have attained.

So as you can see, Paul is this is a transition time, and

so he refers to what he was talking about previously. So I want to

cover that just a second to give you some background. If you look up

in chapter three, starting in verse four, Paul is about to list some

reasons why he would be considered great or reputable or successful in the eyes of

the world, and so he says in verse three, Chapter three, verse

four, Sorry, though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh,

also if anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I

have more circumcise. On the eighth day of the people of Israel, of

the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews as to the law a pharisee,

as to zeal a persecutor of the Church, as to righteousness under the

law, blameless. But whatever gain I had I counted as loss for the

sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as lost because of the surpassing

worth of knowing Christ, Jesus my Lord. For his sake, I have

suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that

I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of

my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in

Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith. That I may know

Him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming

like him in his death, that by any means possible, I may attain

the resurrection from the dead. So he lists those accomplishments that if he was

living according to himself, if he was living according to the law, that

he would be successful. He has lived a perfect life. According to Judaism.

He was from the biggest, best tribe, the tribe of Benjamin.

And so he says, if I was being evaluated according to Judaism, according

to the world, I would be successful, he says, but I count

those things as worthless as rubbish. You see, he points back behind him.

He looks back to see what he has done, and he says that

doesn't count for anything according to Jesus. And we see his goal here.

See his goal is verse eleven, that by any means possible, I may

attain the resurrection from the dead. You see that he's looking forward. His

goal is that he wants to be resurrected after death to be with Jesus.

That's his He has his eyes set on the prize at the end of the

Christian life. And so that's where we that's where we get to. In

verse twelve, he says, not that I've already obtained this, And I

think when he uses the word this, he's talking about the resurrection from the

dead. He's he's talking about the end right, like I haven't already got

there yet. But that's what I desire, That's what I'm going for,

that's what I'm trying to attain. By any means possible, I may attain

the resurrection from the dead. He says, not that I've already obtained it

or am already perfect. He freely admits that he's not there yet, that

he hasn't arrived. As we say this word perfect in the Greek, it's

the word tell us. It's a different version of that that's more plural,

but tell us, and it means end or finished. So he says,

I'm already not already at the end. I'm still working to achieve or or

or see that resurrection from the dead he has is his goal there, so

he says. But instead, I press on to make it my own.

We see that's his goal. Why, because Christ Jesus has made me his

own. You see, the basis upon which Paul presses on to achieve resurrection

is not himself. It's based on being chosen by Jesus. It's based on

his union with Christ. He says, I press on to make it my

own because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Christ Jesus, he says,

Christ Jesus has chosen me, has selected me. And that brings to

mind in our minds, like the Damascus Road when Paul is there and he's

persecuting Jesus and Jesus blinds him and says, Paul, why are you persecuting

me? It's in that moment when Christ Jesus chooses Paul to say, you

are going to work for me for your whole life. I'm gonna send you

to the Gentiles and make people among them, and you will suffer for my

name's sake that you're gonna work for me. So Paul says, Christ Jesus

made me his own. And so now I'm pressing on, not looking back

behind, pressing on forward to achieve or to receive the resurrection from the dead,

to be with Christ. We see that motivation in Paul's life. He

says in verse thirteen, Brothers, I do not consider that I have made

it my own. But one thing I do, one thing I do forgetting

what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead. I press on.

So what's the one thing that he does. He presses on. He presses

on. So the first thing that I want you to see church today is

that mature Christians press on. That's what describes mature Christianity. Someone who is

founded in the faith, has a firm foundation, who is praising the Lord

with their life, worshiping the Lord with their life. They are pressing on,

and we see towards the prize, right towards the goal of the upward

call of God in Christ Jesus. And we're going to talk about what that

is. But that's his finished line, that resurrection from the dead, and

he's basing it on He's he's basing it on not himself, but Christ Jesus

calling him. But you see the two things that he does in order to

attain that, or to press on. There's two things he says, forgetting

what lies behind and focusing as he say. He says, forgetting what lies

behind and straining forward to what lies ahead. He says, this resurrection from

the dead that I seek, that I press on for, is not based

on what's already happened in the past. He says. It could be past

failures, It could be past successes. Those are important, right Like we

learn from failure, but we don't dwell in failure. We say, this

is what I used to do, this is where I used to be,

But I've moved on from that, right like I've repented of my sin.

I have tried to train myself not to fall into those sins again. And

and and I strain forward, to press on, to advance, right to

to continue in life. And these words here that Paul uses this straining forward.

Has this imagery of like a runner who is focused on the finish line

where they will reach the end. So like, picture every muscle in Paul's

body like working for straining towards resurrection. When a runner is running in a

race, it's often not common and it's not good for them to like look

back behind and see where everybody else is, right, because then you lose

that momentum. You're you're straining forward to to reach the finish line, and

you look back for a moment and you just you lose that speed. Right,

So imagine two runners like side by side, but you're focused on the

finished line. Maybe it's the last I don't know five hundred yards. You're

focused on the finish line, and you're going as fast as you can in

your race, and you just you can't see anybody behind you, and you

are focused on one goal that's the finish line. But maybe you're like worried,

I mean, how far am I? And do I have to keep

working hard? Right? These questions go in your mind, like maybe I

could just stroll through the finish line. So you're like, and then you

have an opponent right here and you give up that much speed where boom,

they pass you that looking, am I doing something wrong? Okay, I'll

put it more behind me and see if I won't miss it. So so

we're straining forward to that finish line, right, That's what Paul, that's

what this straining forward It gives that imagery of that. And also in in

verse five fourteen, he says, I press on toward what the goal for

the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. And the word

prize here also comes from comes from Greek athleticism or Greek games, like the

prize is what they would work for. They would fight and compete for the

prize. And so Paul is saying, the prize for me in my life

is resurrection to be with Jesus. And you see that he is straining forward

with all of his might to attain it. One of John Piper's most famous

sermons, he's speaking to college students and he doesn't want them to waste their

life. He calls them to don't waste your life. And this sermon,

if you've heard it before, is commonly called the Seashells Sermon. That's not

actually the title of it, but if you search secial sermon. I think

you'll find it on YouTube. But in the sermon, John Piper talks about

a reader's digest story that he was reading and it talks about this couple named

Bob and Penny, and Bob and Penny are retired. They've worked all their

lives and they live in Florida, now retired and they're enjoying life. The

story says that Bob and Penny they own, they bought a boat, a

fishing boat, and they're enjoying their retirement. He says that they now cruise

on their thirty foot trawler fishing boat, play softball and collect shells. And

John Piper says, this is a tragedy. It's a tragedy because they've spent

their whole lives working and being productive, and now for the rest of their

lives, let's say twenty years, they are spending the last moments of their

lives before they meet their creator, fishing, playing softball, and collecting seashells.

He says, what a waste of life. While we have life on

this earth, we are meant to work for God's glory. We are meant

to strain for the prize of the upward call of God. In Christ,

Jesus. But Bob and Penny at the end of their life, when God

says, welcome, what have you done with your life? And they say,

well, we worked a lot, we earned a lot of money,

and just recently we've been collecting seashells. Look at them. Do you think

that's what God wants to hear when we get to him and say, look

at all the seashells I have. Would it not be better to say,

look at all of the souls that I shared Jesus with. Would it not

be better to say I spent every moment of my life, especially after I

retired, making every moment count for the Lord for bringing him glory? Right?

And this isn't a critique of retirement. I think our nation has provided

us that opportunity to work and be retired and serve the Lord full time.

Right. That's a blessing that we have. But my question is what are

we doing with our time that God has given us? Right? Are we

serving him? Are we making disciples? Are we serving the church to make

Him known with our lives? Right? Are we having conversations with people to

share the testimony that we have with them? Paul says Paul says in Philippians

one. You know the verse that says, for to me, to live

is Christ and to die is gain right. But around those verses, you

see, Paul says, for I know that through your prayers and the help

of the spirit of Jesus Christ, this will turn out for my deliverance.

This Remember he's in prison, so he's writing this letter Philippians from prison,

and he's like, I know that I'm going to be delivered. Whether it's

now on the earth or up in heaven, I'm gonna be delivered. He

says. As it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be

ashamed at all, but that with full courage now as always, Christ will

be honored in my body, whether by life or by death. For to

me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. And then listen

to verse twenty two. If I am to live in the flesh, that

means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose, I cannot tell.

I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart to

be with Christ, for that is far better. But to remain in the

flesh is more necessary. On your account. Convinced of this, I know

that I will remain and continue with you all for your progress and joy in

the faith, so that in me you may have ample cause to glory in

Christ Jesus because of my coming to you again, Paul says, if I

had the choice, for sure, I want to be in heaven with Jesus.

But I see it more important and necessary that I stay here with you

so that you will give glory to God in heaven. He says, I

choose to stay here if it's my choice, because there's still work to do

while I'm on this earth. Is there still work for you to do?

Church while you're on this earth? Absolutely, there's still work for us to

do. Some people might say, well, I've served a lot, I

taught Sunday School, I taught a growth group. I've done my time,

and now you know it's somebody else's term to step up. I think,

Church, we don't let our past experience excuse our future hard work. We

don't let what we have done in the past. We forget what lies behind,

and we strain forward to the prize of the upward call of God in

Christ Jesus. Doesn't matter the accomplishments or the failures that lie behind us that

excuse our hard work. We strive forward to serve Him with all we've got

until we reach that finish line. Now, us as humans, sometimes we

think, well, I've arrived, I'm good. Right, we might say

I've been successful in my career. I've been successful in school, I've led

a business. Right, I've maybe managed a business and I've done well,

and so I'm good. Now, that's not the model we get of Christian

maturity. Paul says, we continue to strive. So, graduates, this

morning we celebrate you and you have graduated. You've you've finished school, and

now is that the end? Not at all? Right, Like, the

next step is to use what you've learned to serve and to work and to

make a living for your family, to provide and give to the church,

to be generous. Like, that's just the beginning of one like stage.

You finish school, and now it's your turn to work for the glory of

God. Right, you strain forward and continue to do what God has led

you to do. Just because you finished your work, you wouldn't say or

sorry your herd work at school. You wouldn't say, well, I'm done,

But you know what after when I finished college. I didn't really know

what I was supposed to do, and so my plan was to go back

home, live with my parents and work out the restaurant that I worked at

in high school. Great plan, right, But God had other plans,

Praise the Lord. He took me to Guatemala and I lived there for four

years, and so it was it was like completely out of my plan.

But the Lord did it right. He was like, no, you're not

going to go back and be comfortable. You're gonna serve me. Right,

Believers in this room, you keep pursuing spiritual maturity in your life, Like,

I think that's personal sanctification. How are you growing in your knowledge and

fear of the Lord daily in Bible, study, in community? Right?

If you're not connected to a growth group a small group of people to help

you study and learn, like, that's a huge part of your growth,

your sanctification, your purification of your mind, your habits. Are you a

part of a discipleship group we desire if you have desire to go deeper in

scripture and more and deeper in connection with community. We have discipleship groups Atpathesia

that are different from growth groups. Discipleship groups are a small group of like

three to five people of the same gender who go through scripture together and pour

into each other, pray for each other, keep each other accountable, and

say, I know you struggled with this sin last week, how are you

doing this week? Like it's an intimate relationship. And so if that's something

that you know you need and you desire, please let me know and we

will connect you with a group. If we believers are not growing in those

ways to pursue holiness and sanctification, then we're not straining forward to that goal.

What about missions? Are you continuing to make Jesus known in the world

by your going on a mission trip or going on prayer walks here at church?

Remember, we train you at prayer walks to know how to share and

then practice sharing when we when we get out there in the neighborhoods and we

don't expect you the first time to say, oh, you're by yourself and

you have to tell about Jesus. We'll put you with Tanner who knows exactly

how to do it, and he'll train you. So are you growing in

your personal knowledge of Him and your overflow of your knowledge of Him into others?

I think maybe Jonathan has told you. We've been talking about our vision

statement. Right, we had two and we had you vote between A or

B or one or two. Whichever that was. You voted for. Glorify,

Grow, give and go. That's our mission, that's our vision at

Bethesda. That's what we are about. We glorify God by meeting together here

on Sunday morning, by meeting together in community, we praise Him, we

worship him. We grow together through small groups. We get of our money

and our time and talents, and we go to other people in this country

and in other countries to tell about Him. I think there's like the process

of spiritual growth that leads you to maturity. If you're not involved in all

four of those, maybe you need to to commit to some other way to

grow in your faith. And you're in you're living out of your faith.

Right, be involved so that you can strain forward with every muscle you have

to make Jesus known and to mature in your faith. So mature Christians press

on toward the goal. I think I think this goal in verse fourteen is

resurrection. He says, I press on toward the goal for the prize of

the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. We see that that upward call.

Right, it's that resurrection from the dead. I guess Paul assumed he

would die and then be resurrected one day, right, not Jesus come back

when he's on the earth. Right, So that upward call maybe it could

be, it could be that rapture where we are caught up really right with

him. We are caught up with him when he comes. And so so

that prize is that resurrection or being with the Lord and that upward call of

God in Christ Jesus. So mature Christians press on number two. Mature Christians

have confidence in Christ. Mature Christians have confidence in Christ. Look at verse

fifteen. He says, let those of us who are mature think this way,

and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to

you. Only let us hold to what we have attained. Paul encourages those

who are mature to think this way. I think he's saying, like,

just like I just described, like straining towards the goal forgetting what lies behind,

ranging forward. He says, that's thinking the way that I want you

to think. That's what Christian maturity wants you to think this way. This

is like the already not yet. Have you heard that before? Theologians or

scholars will talk about that we live in the already and the not yet,

and that means we already have the knowledge of the Gospel that we can be

saved. We already have been set apart by God. If we've trusted in

Jesus. His kingdom is already here because Jesus has brought it to earth,

but it's not yet complete. None of it is finished. My life is

not finished, even though it's been started in Jesus. The kingdom of God

is not yet complete because God. We are not with God. We're not

seeing him face to face. And so we live in this already the last

one sanctified. We are already sanctified as far as like set apart for God

and his glory. We belong to him. But how many of you are

perfect? So sanctification is still working right. We're not yet perfect. We're

not yet purified or completely sanctified. Right, And so this process of already

not yet, Paul says, we're still in this. I want you to

think this way, pressing on towards the goal. And he says, and

if anything, you think otherwise. I kind of like if you disagree or

if you think you are perfect, He says, God will show it to

you. If you think you have arrived, God will show it to you.

He will revealed that to you. And he says, only let us

hold true to what we have attained. He says, mature Christians have confidence

in Christ. That's what they have attained through Jesus choosing you through belief in

Jesus. God has chosen you to believe in Him, and we have that

confidence in Him that it's not about what we do, It's about where we

are in relation to God, where we are in our status. Mature Christians

are secure in Christ, but they keep pursuing Christ. They keep pressing on

to see Christ and glorify Him with every part of their being. The next

year, in college, after I ran that Memorial Marathon relay, I decided

to do a half marathon myself. So a friend and I we trained and

we worked hard for it. And so fourteen point one miles is that right?

Thirteen point one? I just want to give myself an extra mile thirteen

point one. I'm not good at math either, so thanks for so with

thirteen point one miles I was running that morning. I think the race is

usually like early May in Oklahoma, it's a little cold. So that morning

it was wet and it was cold, and I didn't want to stretch before

I ran. And every other time I had to stretch before I ran,

and my friends didn't. They would just you know, leave their dorm and

like run. I had to get out and like run for ten minutes to

warm up my legs and then stretch and then I could run the length that

I wanted to go. But that morning it was too I was a weenie

and it was too cold to sit down on the ground and stretch, so

I just start running. Guess what. At mile eight my calves felt like

I had boulders in them. They hurt so bad and they were so tight

that I could not continue. So at that point I think I used a

porta potty and then I sat down and I stretched, and I stretched and

I stretched, and they were a little better. So I got up,

and luckily my friends stayed with me. I was thankful, but I finished

because I had my mind set on finishing this race. I had worked so

hard in my training. I had ran eight miles to prepare for this thirteen

mile run, and so I was not going to stop halfway. I had

my eyes on the prize. I think Christian maturity is much the same way.

Why would we start well, attend church, lead Bible study, teach

and preach the word, and share with people the Gospel message, and then

taper off. Paul says, it's a sign of maturity that we keep going

and we press on. We work with all that we have to strain forward

toward that goal. We work to continually sanctify our minds and our hearts.

We work to repair relationships that have gone sour. We work to bring about

God's grace and his glory in every aspect of our lives. And if you're

a church member here at Bethesda, you've chosen to glorify God and grow together

and give together and go together, how are you running your race? Are

you pressing on? Don't rely on what you've done in the past, Focus

straight on the prize of the resurrection of Jesus, that when you get there,

he can say, well done, good and faithful servant. If you're

an unbeliever here this morning and you don't have confidence in Christ, maybe you've

been running in your life, and you're just tired and you don't know what

race you're running. I think without Jesus, life can feel that way that

you don't. You're running aimlessly, trying to satisfy the hurt in your heart,

trying to earn enough money to afford earthly pleasures, trying to make sure

all of these things in life stay balanced. You're spinning these plates so that

they don't break. That's a hard, exhausting life. Paul says, have

confidence in Christ. So maybe that decision for you today is to say,

I don't think I'm on the race, but I know I need to start.

It's that place in your life. Maybe you're a believer here and you

failed. Maybe you're living in sin or have lived in sin, and you

need a new start. That new start in life starts with repentance before the

Lord, saying I'm sorry, I need help forgive me of my sin and

cleanse me from unrighteousness so that I can worship you, so that you can

be lord of my life. And I will run for you. If you're

not running towards Jesus, don't you want to start that path? Today we're

gonna sing an invitation song and this will be your time to respond to God's

call in your life. Today. I'll be down here and if you want

to speak to me today, if you want to pray, if you want

to start a relationship with him today, I'll be here for you. Let's

pray. Father, God, we praise you because you have chosen those of

us who believe to run this race with you, to run this race for

you. Father, and I pray as Paul calls us to press on and

our confidence in Christ. Lord, I pray that you will help us to

do that each and every day, that we would grow in our fear and

knowledge of You, that we would praise you and worship you with every aspect

of our lives. Father, help us as mature Christians to press on in

Jesus name. I pray, Amen, Jesus pain to