Running After the Risen Life

Such a blessing to be here.

So I don't think I had to take a poll this morning to know about you that you deeply admire Olympic athletes.

Olympic athletes are people in our culture that we uphold.

We even turn on the TV every couple years to watch them in just those few minutes for which they've spent the last so many years of their lives training.

We admire their determination, their grit, their disciplined training, their technical skill, their genetic potential, their mental toughness.

And I think it's mostly because of how different they are from the average person here, certainly how different they are from me.

We see Simone Biles' agility and flexibility and balance, and we see Usain Bolt's speed and power running the 100 meters in less than nine seconds or whatever the world record is.

And we see our lack thereof.

We know that we can't hardly get out of bed without, you know, aching in pain.

And we see Michael Phelps' schedule, his unwavering regimen, and we simply can't relate to whenever whenever we're kind of patting our pillow at four in the morning, he's getting up to start his day training at the pool.

And we simply can't relate.

And so we admire them for how different they are from us.

But we may this morning have more in common with Olympic athletes than we realize.

We all breathe oxygen.

No.

The fact is, the Christian life in Scripture is likened to that of a marathon, to that of a boxing match, to that of wrestling, like Greco-Roman wrestlers.

The Apostle Paul, in fact, used all of this imagery and more in describing the normal Christian life.

The gritty, the high stakes, all-consuming pursuit of the gold.

And that's what we're going to look at this morning from Philippians chapter 3.

Philippians 3 · chapter mention

Greek culture was permeated in the time of Paul with Olympic Games.

It started 700 years before Christ.

They had the first Olympic Games in Olympia, Greece.

And by the 5th century BC, you had over a hundred cities represented by athletes being sent to compete in wrestling, boxing, horse and chariot racing, military competitions.

And by the time the Apostle Paul came around in the first century, this was just a normal part of Greek culture everywhere.

And the Apostle Paul, being immersed in that culture, would use terminology, vocabulary, imagery in his letters to Christians, and he would use this Olympic imagery to describe the way we as Christians live.

He would call the Christian life a race, a course, a wrestling match, a fight.

He compared Christians in 2 Timothy 2, 4, to athletes who train in godliness, to those who agonize towards holiness, who endure hardship.

And if necessary, in 1 Corinthians 9, he talks about his own self.

Christians are the kinds of people who hypopiazo, which literally means to punch under the eye our own bodies to bring ourselves into subjection, lest we be like a shadow boxer failing to actually hit the target, lest we become disqualified in our service to Christ.

And all what drove the Apostle Paul and all this hardcore imagery was what he wrote about in 2 Corinthians 5 when he says that we all, every single one of us, believers and unbelievers, will all one day stand on the bima, the rostrum, the stage on which athletes stand to receive the recompense for their actions, whether good or evil.

And so also the Apostle Paul speaks in Philippians.

Six times in this letter, he draws on Olympic Games vocabulary, familiar to his own readers in that time, to reenvision the Christian life for them.

I'll just give you a quick overview of this.

In chapter 1, verse 27, and in chapter 4, verse 3, he exhorts them, this theme of unity throughout the book of Ephesians.

The word he uses is sun athleo.

Soon meaning together in Greek.

Athleo, I think we know what athletics is.

To cooperate together as a team of athletes.

That's what he's calling the church to do several times in his letter.

In chapter 1, verse 30, he speaks of them sharing in his own agona, from which we get the word agony or agonize.

It means conflict or translated elsewhere as struggle, fight, or race.

He says in chapter 2, verse 16, that he himself as an apostle is confident he did not run in vain in his ministry among them, but had succeeded in that they truly came to faith in Christ.

In chapter 4, verse 1, he says that the Philippians themselves, at the day of Christ, are his joy and stiphanos, which means victor's crown, the wreath they would place upon the winner of the games.

They were, the Philippians, were the crown, as it were, on his head.

It was what he was pursuing in his ministry among them.

And so now we come to chapter 3, verses 13 and 14.

And we see that once again, although not using specific Greek words associated, he paints a beautiful picture of a runner.

A runner who's pressing towards the finish line.

And so we read together.

Philippians 3, verse 13.

Philippians 3:13

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.

There are three questions I want to ask of our text this morning to sort of guide us through it and sort of get the most out of it we can in the time allotted us.

The first question is, what exactly was Paul's Olympic pursuit?

What was he pursuing in particular?

Secondly, what was the source of Paul's empowerment in this pursuit?

And thirdly, what was the prize he sought for at the finish line of this pursuit?

So, first, the pursuit.

Paul's pursuit is nothing less than the risen life of Christ.

And so that's why we're titling this message, running after the risen life.

Paul set his sights on living in such a way that the life of Jesus Christ is lived out through us.

We see this a couple times in our text in verses 10, 11, 21.

He says things like this I long to know him and the power of his resurrection.

He also wanted to share in Christ's sufferings, becoming like Jesus in his death.

So that by any means possible, he says, I may attain the resurrection from the dead.

And then finally, verse 21, he's confident that God one day will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body.

All these resurrection terms, right?

Resurrection, resurrection, risen, new life, death, life, and then finally our hope of the final resurrection at the end of time.

It seems that for Paul, the grand culmination of his life pursuit would really come to full fruition at that resurrection morning, when Christ comes back at the second coming, and when everyone who's dead is raised again.

When literally the book of Revelation says the sea, where people have been lost at sea, eaten by sharks, the sea will yield up its dead.

You can't hide from God.

Those atoms are coming back together into a bodily form, and your soul will be reunited with your body.

Some will be raised to the resurrection of eternal condemnation, and those in Christ Jesus resurrected to be glorified and fit for eternity in God's presence.

So for Paul, the culmination of his life here comes to full fruition at that resurrection morning.

But you may rightly ask this morning, well, I thought Paul was talking about running here.

Like, is he just describing living in this hope of the resurrection?

I'm kind of like my eyes are set on eternity and I'm not worried about things here.

It's a good question.

Because the resurrection of the dead happens in the future when Christ returns.

But what about Paul's Olympic pursuit here?

What is he actually running for here if the resurrection is so far away?

For Paul, his pursuit was to live in the here and now, in part, what will be fully his in full at the resurrection of the dead?

And I get that from our text and from a few other passages we're going to look at.

Paul's pursuit is here and now to live a life of faith in Christ Jesus in such a way that the pure and powerful life of Jesus Himself, in whom he is placing his faith, is actually lived through him.

And we're going to look at a couple other passages as we think about this idea of running after the risen life.

And I want to develop sort of a real quick, quick definition of this risen life, since it's not a phrase that Paul himself uses.

It's sort of, other people have used it.

There's not a lot of people out there that I couldn't find many things on a Google search of people using this.

I love the terminology, and so I want to work for a little definition here.

Living the risen life.

Galatians chapter 2 and verse 20, the Apostle Paul says it this way.

Galatians 2 · chapter mention

I have been crucified with Christ.

It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.

Now, don't get me wrong, I'm still alive.

He says, In the life I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.

Wow.

Scratching our heads and thinking, what is Paul talking about here?

He's describing living a risen life.

As a believer in Jesus Christ, the life of Jesus Himself, both his dying and his rising, actually is manifest in Paul's living as Paul lives by faith.

Another text in Romans chapter 4 and verse 6 says it this way: Romans chapter 6, verse 4.

Romans 4 · chapter mention Romans 6:4

Just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.

And here he's going to use a little logic from us.

For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.

And this isn't just talking about in the future.

We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing so that we no longer will be enslaved to sin.

That's here and now.

We're united with Christ in his death, so that his death atoned for our sins.

But if we are united with him in his death, ah, we're also united with him in his new life.

That resurrection power of Christ is now lived through us.

And we'll call this the risen life.

One more passage in 2 Corinthians 4, verse 11, Paul says it this way.

2 Corinthians 4:11

For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.

Don't you want that about to be said about your life?

For the life of Jesus, the dying and the rising of Jesus to be just manifested a thousand times over in different ways in your life.

Paul here is describing his sufferings for the cause of Christ in 2 Corinthians.

And he says that just like Jesus died as an apostle, as a believer, I suffer persecution, I slay my flesh all the time, I kill its desires, the desires that are not in order, that are not ordered according to God's will and God's way, the destructive desires that come natural to me.

Paul says, I'm putting him to death, so that the resurrection life of Jesus is manifested in me.

And so, based on these texts, and then a few more in our own passage that we're gonna explore in the next few minutes, we're gonna define the risen life like this.

This risen life is sort of a mode of living.

The risen life is a believer's supernatural union with an imitation of the living, dying, and rising of Jesus Christ through the indwelling spirit of God.

It's both a union with, that is a reception of all the benefits of, and an imitation of, or a reflection.

And if I could redefine it since I turned in the slides on Thursday, I would say it's a reception of and a reflection of, but that's too creative for a Thursday.

It is our supernatural union with and imitation of the living, dying, and rising of Jesus through his indwelling spirit.

So notice there are two aspects of this risen life that really describes this Olympic pursuit in our lives.

First and foremost, and there's a priority given to this, it's union with Jesus Christ by faith.

What that means is, it's kind of like getting married.

Whenever we're born again and the Spirit of Christ comes and dwells within us, we are united to Jesus like a husband and wife are united spiritually, emotionally, physically, legally.

When a husband and wife get married, if he's got debts, guess what?

They're her debts now.

And vice versa.

Unless you have a prenup agreement, uh her wealth becomes his wealth, right?

The idea is that typically in a marriage situation, when you inherit the pluses and the minuses of that individual that you marry, when we marry Christ, we get all pluses, there's no minuses.

This is called union with Christ.

We get his righteousness, his perfect life lived in obedience to the Father, it's countered towards us.

His sacrificial death on the cross, paying the penalty for our sins, gets countered towards us, and we don't have to pay the penalty for those sins.

His resurrection, that power that raised him from the dead, is now manifest in our lives and one day guarantees our future resurrection.

This is union with Christ, and it comes first and foremost.

But the Apostle Paul also is going to show us that this risen life also involves us reflecting or imitating Christ in our lives.

Not just what would Jesus do, but but imitating and reflecting his living, his dying, and his rising.

Paul would use phrases such as in verses 10 and 11.

He longed to know him and the power of his resurrection, to share in his sufferings.

That's here and now.

There's not going to be any suffering in heaven.

Paul wanted to live a life so intimate with this spouse that is Christ, that he knew Christ in his sufferings, that he reflected the very sufferings of his Savior.

Paul didn't want to worship a Savior who suffered for us and that he himself be exempt from any kind of pain.

Paul says, as with those in the book of Acts, they counted themselves, they rejoiced that God counted them worthy to suffer.

Whatever is Jesus says, I've wanted.

Because if you suffer with Christ, he argues in Romans chapter 8, you will reign with Christ.

Romans 8 · chapter mention

If you agonize with Christ, you will wear the victor's crown with Christ.

Paul longed to be like him in every way.

So there's this union with and this imitation of Jesus.

Maybe it's seen most clearly in the verses that were preached last Sunday in verses eight and nine of our text.

Paul says, I count everything as loss, 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.

That's another buzzphrase for being united with Christ.

We're in him.

We are represented in him.

We are united to him as our husband.

Not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ.

So not only do not only in this passage does Paul share in the merits of Jesus, knowing that he is loved and accepted and counted righteous, but he himself suffered loss.

And indeed, because he received such a treasure in this union with Christ, all the things he used to find his identity in, his bragging rights, his old identity, his own sins, his old victories are all rubbish compared to being united to Christ.

It's like a bachelor who has like, you know, um$400 and three pairs of blue jeans to his name, gets married to someone who takes care of him, who cooks, who can furnish a house.

And it's like, yeah, he may have had a few things beforehand, but he's got it way better now.

Paul says, compared to being united to Christ, those pairs of blue jeans, I threw them out.

And that's usually what happens when you get married.

All those t-shirts you used to love, they're gone in the first week, right?

I mean, God calls us to be holy, right?

But not in that way, Brandy says.

What's interesting to me is that in Philippians chapter 2, Paul described in what's called the Christ hymn of Philippians, it's the Kenosis passage, which means emptying.

Philippians 2 · chapter mention

Um, it's famous because it was actually a hymn they sang in the early church.

It was something they would cite and sing.

It is the story of how Jesus didn't think all of his entitlements as divine son of God were something that to be clutched at all costs, but he yielded up his entitlements of being weighted on hand and foot by the angels, and he took upon himself the form of a servant that is a human nature, came into this smelly earth to be mistreated, to even die.

Can you imagine God in the flesh dying?

He didn't deserve to die.

He didn't sin.

Sin is the death is the consequence of sin.

But not only death, death on a cross.

That is the Christ him in Philippians chapter 2.

Philippians 2 · chapter mention

It's the kenosis, the emptying of Jesus in humbling himself.

What we have in chapter 3 is Paul's own emptying story.

Because again, he wants to imitate Jesus.

Everything he once counted as gain, he gave it up, emptied himself so he could be filled with all the merit and the benefits of Jesus Christ.

So now Paul, like a runner shedding baggy clothes and accessories, he's casting off, emptying himself, counting even his rubbish, everything he used to uh trust in in the place of Christ, his righteousness, his status as a Jew, sort of the ethnic pride of being an American, I mean of being a Jew, his religious heritage, his own moral track record, his uh educational, being at the feet of Gamaliel, a Pharisee who were known for their rigorous educations, all that stuff that he used to find his identity in, threw it away like a pair of old jeans, just to know Christ and be found in him.

Both united and imitating Christ.

This risen life is all about both receiving and reflecting Jesus in our pattern of living.

And why do I belabor this point?

Well, mainly because the text does.

But also because I think we often don't strike a great balance here.

Some of us like to take one or the other on any given day.

Maybe some days we like to embrace the idea that we're united to Christ.

We love the idea that our sins are covered, that we're forgiven in Christ Jesus.

We love the idea that we're going to go to heaven and not hell.

We love that Jesus says it is finished, and we like to echo those words, but we can actually mean by those words that there is no race for us to run.

There's no agony for us to endure.

There is no cross for us to bear.

No training in godliness like an athlete to engage in.

No need to wrestle with sinful impulses to anger or unforgiveness or lust or overindulgence in food and drink or laziness when we should be serving our families or leading our families.

Let's just praise Jesus for his work that's finished.

And let's forget conveniently that we were created for good works, that we were redeemed so that Christ would redeem and preserve for himself a people zealous for good works.

You see, sometimes we love the union with Christ.

We don't like the imitation of Christ.

Let that suffering go to someone else.

On the other hand, sometimes we get out of bed and we forget the union with Christ because we're so preoccupied with the idea of how we don't measure up.

Forget all the saving benefits of Jesus, that we are our sins are forgiven.

We are accepted.

God loves us fully and unchangeably and unconditionally.

And yet we feel the weight of our guilt for never quite doing enough.

We feel like we have to earn God's favor.

We feel like when we ask him something in prayer, he's probably not going to give it to us.

Because we haven't been the best lately.

Maybe we're not quick to apologize to those of you wrong, our family members.

We don't apologize because if you apologize, you're admitting fault.

If you admit fault, you're a bad person.

And you see, we're trying to uphold this image of being actually really good people, especially parents to kids, right?

You don't want to apologize to your kids because you're trying to be an example to your kids.

It's kind of counterintuitive, right?

You ask their forgiveness to be an example of how God's grace actually frees us to do that.

But many parents, I think, struggle with that because they don't want to admit they're wrong, because they're telling their kid to be perfect and then they're not perfect.

And when we do, when we live with this own guilt ourselves, we dish out guilt trips to other people trying to influence so we can get our way.

We're living as people not united to Christ.

Because we're so busy trying to imitate Christ.

But thankfully, and I was thinking about this and preparing this message, there are people in this room that I have personally witnessed striking a wonderful balance between union with Christ and imitation of Christ, embracing God's accepting grace and being motivated to crush personal sin, to live on mission in our neighborhoods, to feed on the words of Christ and to feed others on the word of Christ, to turn from the practice of evil and to sprint towards a holy life of obedience to Christ and things He has required of us.

To throw off the shackles of addictions and selfishness and religious pride.

Many of you have lived the risen life through crippling lot.

You've lost things so dear to you.

Family members, babies, jobs, financial security, health.

And yet through it all, your faith has been sustained by God's grace.

And you're united to Christ and you're imitating Christ in how you suffer well.

But maybe you're here this morning and you think, you know, I'm kind of tired in my walk with Christ.

I didn't intend on coming to church this morning and have someone tell me that not only should I not be walking, I should be running.

You're tired.

How can we do this?

The Apostle Paul assures us in our text that he's not at all talking about doing something in our own strength.

He's talking about living out the life of Christ so that it is his power that's actually living through us.

And so, secondly, we look at the power that the Apostle Paul speaks of, which is nothing less than the resurrecting power of Christ.

I love Isaiah chapter 40, verse 31, that talks about, you know, even the young people, even the youths will grow weary and will faint.

Isaiah 40:31

Everyone has a limit to their energy, to their mental and their physical and spiritual energy.

All of us have limits.

Sometimes we run out really fast.

Isaiah chapter 40, verse 31 says, Those who trust in the Lord, those who wait upon the Lord expectantly, will mount up with wings like eagles.

Isaiah 40:31

They'll run and not be weary, they'll walk and not faint.

So even though the youths, those who should have every advantage to endure to the end, are far behind those who are waiting on the Lord.

And that's what we want to do with this power of Jesus Christ.

Three verses in our text speak of this power.

Verse 10, we already mentioned it, he wants to know the power of his resurrection.

Verse 12, he says, I press on to make it my own because Christ Jesus has made me his own.

In other words, there's some reality already in place that is the foundation on which I can have my pursuit.

Christ has pursued me, therefore I can pursue him.

And then verse 21, we already mentioned that one day there's going to be a power that is in that will change our lowly bodies to be like his glorious power body by the power that enables him to subdue everything.

So there's a power at work in our lives that is nothing short of the resurrecting power of God.

It's the same power that will be unleashed at that final day when our earthly bodies are fitted for eternity.

This is not something that's really new to us because in Philippians chapter 2, verses 12 and 13, he says that we are called upon to work out our own salvation.

Philippians 2:12

Gives a lot of people trouble, right?

I thought salvation was not by works, it's by grace, work out translation.

Well, look at the next verse.

Because, for it is God who works in you.

There's something God is working in us that we are now responsible to work out.

In other words, we like to think about that as sort of objective and subjective, or who we are in Christ versus our sanctification, union with Christ versus sanctification, union with Christ is something that happens, a monergistic work of God, Him bringing us into Christ.

But sanctification is something we do.

Agonize in cooperation with the Holy Spirit.

We do obey or disobey.

We do choose to be disciplined or to disobey.

So here he calls us to work out our salvation.

What's the basis of this?

Because God is at work in you both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

And look at the next verse: do all things without grumbling and disputing.

Sometimes we like to hyper-spiritualize, you know, this experience of living the risen life or living in the Spirit, and we think it's all about these sort of moments of ecstasy in God's presence.

As soon as Paul says, God is at work in you to will and to do of his good pleasure, he says, Stop complaining.

Thank you, Siri.

What did you find?

Amen.

As soon as he talks about God working in our lives, he says, in how do you work out your salvation?

Stop complaining.

Find your contentment in Jesus Christ.

Stop arguing with those around you.

In other words, this risen life is all about the nitty-gritty, how we respond to work stress and family stress.

When we're trusting in our glorious union with Christ, that He is at work in you right now, even when you don't feel it.

That you are united to all the saving fullness of Jesus that you could ever need when you're walking in faith in that.

By faith, we can take a deep breath and we can respond in ways that don't come natural to us.

We can respond with love instead of grumbling, gratitude instead of complaining.

Ephesians chapter 1 and verse 18 makes this connection explicit.

Ephesians 1 · chapter mention

Paul says that you may know, he was praying for them.

I pray for you that you may know what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe.

What kind of power, Paul?

According to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead.

Just think for a moment what kind of power it would take.

I thought about this recently.

A couple weeks ago, I was thinking, Jesus was dead in the tomb, three days in, cold as a stone.

His blood was coagulated, his neurons were dead, there was absolutely no life there.

It would have been physically impossible for the best of scientists and medical teams to sort of shock him to life again.

He was dead.

It was physically impossible for that heart to start beating again.

And the resurrecting power of God caused that heart to start beating, and those eyes to open, and those hands to take off those grave clothes and that stone to be rolled away and Christ to inherit a glorified body.

That's why he calls it here the immeasurable greatness of his power.

We can't comprehend that kind of creative power.

It's the same kind of creative power that said, There's nothing, let there be galaxies.

Let there be supernova, a hundred billion light years wide, spinning in different configurations.

The same power that is at work in us who believe.

The Apostle Paul understood the Christian life as one whereby the resurrection, the power of God, is brokered to us when we trust in Jesus.

More specifically, trust in who we are and our identity in Christ Jesus.

And thus we see in chapter 3, verse 12, he says this.

Not that I've 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.

Notice that because.

This is the basis.

That's why, not first and foremost, we we ask, what would Jesus do?

First and foremost, we see who Jesus is and what he did for us.

We live from a position of forgiveness and acceptance and identity in Christ, not for those things.

And this is the great function of prayer in our lives.

When we pray to God, we're not praying to sort of twist God's arm against his inclinations to bless us.

We're praying in accordance with the fact that he has already given us his son.

The logic of heaven, C.

H.

Spurgeon called Romans chapter 8 and verse 32, if he didn't spare his own son when he gave him up for you in death, turning a deaf ear to his son's cries, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

Romans 8 · chapter mention

If he's already done that, will he not also give you everything you need?

That's living out of our union with Christ when we go to him and ask, God, I need help.

I need grace to not complain.

I need grace for physical energy to lead my family.

I need grace to not have a sense of entitlement that my spouse is here just to serve me.

I need grace to forgive people who've wronged me.

And I know it's there for me because Jesus has already given me all things.

So the bad news is that the spiritual power to be an Olympian isn't in you.

But the power is in the one who is in you, which is the Holy Spirit of God.

Finally, we want to look for just a few moments at the prize.

The Apostle Paul set his eyes on something, namely the prize.

And this prize we might call the resurrection glory of Christ.

Paul's not running a race with no finish line.

He's not training for a heat that won't take place.

He is setting his sights on the gleaming prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

Look at verses 3, or chapter 3, verses 13 and 14.

Brothers, I do not consider that I've made it my own.

That's twice he said this.

He's wanting us to know he's not uh under any illusion of being perfect.

But one thing I do with Olympic focus.

Have you ever seen an Olympic runner before the, you know, the before the race, they're trying to interview him and they're just looking past the camera?

They are focusing.

They've spent years training for this moment.

They are looking at that 100 meters away at that line, and they can't wait to break that tape.

With what this one thing I do, forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on towards the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

Now that's a mouthful.

Let's break it down.

I'm not going to wrap, but let's still break it down.

Paul acknowledges that there are yet frontiers of Christian character that he has not explored.

There are yet sinful desires and indulgences that he hasn't yet put to death or uprooted completely from his life, but he presses onward towards that existence to which he is called, which is glory, resurrected glory on resurrection morning.

Notice he mentions the call of God.

It's the prize, the upward, the call, the prize of the upward call or the upward trajectory, this ascent, this progression towards who he one day will be in full in Christ.

He is progressing.

The prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

It is the call of God in Paul's theology.

And this is so important, I think.

In Paul's theology, the call of God is not merely God's desire for you.

God calls us to be holy, he calls us to be nice to each other, he calls us to be servant-like and sacrificial.

In other words, it's just sort of like I would call you.

I call you to be a better husband and father.

But I have no power over you to actually effect that.

That's not the call of God in Paul's theology.

Here he's talking about the effectual call.

In other words, he's basing his confidence that he will finish this race on the fact that he has been summonsed by the king of glory to one day through this long process of union with Christ, well, it really starts before that, before time began, being foreknown and elected and predestined, and then Christ dying on the cross, and then effectually called and justified and adopted and then sanctified and then one day glorified.

We are called to that end.

And I take you to 1 Corinthians chapter 1 to illustrate how Paul knew he would endure in this race because of this call of God.

1 Corinthians 1 · chapter mention

1 Corinthians chapter 1 and verse 8.

1 Corinthians 1 · chapter mention

Our Lord Jesus will sustain you to the end.

Oh my goodness.

What helpful words for us today, right?

Our Lord Jesus will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Why the optimism, Paul?

God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord.

In other words, we are called to finish.

This prize is a prize based on the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

He has called us to finish, therefore we will finish, because God is faithful to his call.

To sort of reinforce this idea of God's call, look a little further down in 1 Corinthians chapter 1.

1 Corinthians 1 · chapter mention

So obviously he's still talking about the same idea of call.

In 1 Corinthians 1, verse 23.

1 Corinthians 1:23

He says, We preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to the Jews and folly to the Gentiles, but to those who are called.

Both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God.

What makes the difference between two people?

Jew, Greek, African, Canadian, it doesn't matter.

One person over here thinks the gospel is ludicrous.

It's weak sauce.

It doesn't make sense.

I don't need that crutch.

I'm good.

And yet, someone over here, when they hear the gospel, it's like, yes.

When you talk about sin, that's exactly what I'm dealing with.

When you talk about having offended a God, that's exactly what I've been experiencing.

And you're telling me there's salvation and God entering space and time, living for me, dying for me, rising for me, and now He's calling me to glory, everything I've ever wanted?

Yes.

What's the difference between those two people?

The call of God.

To those who are called, Christ is the power of God and the most wise thing you've ever heard in your life.

Both groups are called generally by the same gospel, but only one is called of God in an effectual way.

That is the basis for Paul's confidence, he will endure to the end in our text.

Paul is setting his sights on the resurrection glory as a sure thing, because he knows that he will inherit the final state of all the redeemed.

The resurrection of the dead in verse 11 that he's longing to attain, he knows that he will.

This consummate good of everything he ever wanted come to fruition because that is that to which God has called him.

Now before we close, and we just have a couple more minutes, before we close, I feel the need to urge you, and I think Paul did too, because it's right here in our text.

I want to urge you to not see Paul's pursuit as something unique to Paul.

I've been tempted to do that.

You hear Paul talking about his passion for missions, his passion to know Christ, and we think that's really admirable, Michael Phelps.

Man, my hat's off to you, Simone Biles.

Wow.

9.9 in front of the world watching, I can't do it, but I admire you for that.

So thank you, Paul, for that autobiography.

That's not what Paul's doing here.

Because in the very next verse in verse 15 in our text, he says, let those of us who are mature think this way.

And if in any and if in anything you would think otherwise, if you're not there yet, God will reveal it to you.

Only let us hold true to what we have attained, brothers.

Join me in imitating me.

And keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us three times on there, right?

He says, think this way.

He says, imitate me, and he talks about his example and following those who follow his example.

Paul does not want us to miss the idea that this is actually supposed to be normative for our Christian life.

And by the resurrection power of Jesus, it can be.

It's resurrection glory that we are longing to inherit.

By this, the apostle summarizes the glorious consummation of all of his redeemed longings.

And I want to just close and ask you to imagine resurrection morning.

As you're running as hard and as fast as you can towards the finish line to which you've been effectually called, empowered by the resurrection of Jesus Christ itself, and breaking the tape, feeling it break on your chest, and you you can start slowing down and you collapse into the arms of Jesus Christ, who has already ran before you, who ran his course, and in fact, who ran the definitive course, who won the race for you, who secured the crown so that when you're done and you collapse, a crown is laid on your head.

Because you are in Christ.

In everything you longed for, everything you ran for actually comes to a grand culmination.

As you win your race, and Jesus, if I may adapt some of his words spoken in the Gospels, leans over to you and whispers in your ear with his arm around you Well done, good and faithful runner.

Enter into the joy of the Lord.

Let's pray.