Staying Focused - Philippians 3:12-14 (Apr 7) Myles Holmes

Hello and welcome to the Redemption Church Podcast.

Ontario, Canada that exists.

The spirit of the Great Commandment.

Thanks for joining us today.

So good to be with you this morning and to open up God's word.

It's an exciting time in our home.

As much as it's spring, we've been preparing for the spring season in our home.

There are, well, there's one gardener, and I wanted to show you the fruit of our labor so far.

It's gonna come up on a picture here.

This is my garden.

A little round of applause for my garden.

Thank you.

Amber's shaking her head because she hears me calling it my garden.

It's not at all my garden.

This is Amber's garden.

And it's quite a beautiful thing.

You'll see a number of plants there.

She's told me multiple times what they are, but I don't know anymore.

I know there's peppers in there somewhere.

But it really is a beautiful thing as we prepare for a season when they will be planted in the ground, but more importantly, a season when we will reap, I guess not reap the fruit, reap the vegetables of their produce.

And if the amount of effort that has gone into these plants pays off in the result, then we're gonna have some peppers like the size of a pumpkin whenever peppers grow.

I don't even know.

I don't know anything about gardening.

Now I've been told by our committee of garden success, which again is just my wife, that if we really want to grow more, we need a whole nother shelf.

And so all this space in our home has been devoted to growing plants that in time will mature into healthy plants that give us fruit.

And my wife has been laboring over this, making sure that the environment is perfect.

You'll notice there's lights on the shelf.

You'll notice that they're watered.

You'll know on the on the bottom, if you see all those cords coming down, they're on heating pads so they don't get too cold.

These are the best cared for vegetables, perhaps, in the world.

And my wife is caring for them while I worry that the police are tracking the power grid, seeing how much power we're using and thinking that we're growing something else.

Needs to say, I think what this illustrates is maybe what Paul is getting at in Philippians 3, verses 12 to 14.

Philippians 3:12–14

Paul wants us to cultivate a life of faith.

And God this morning is gonna ask us to look at our life and ask this question are the ingredients, are we surrounded by the ingredients that are necessary for growth that will one day end in heavenly perfection?

Just like these plants have the heating mats and the lights and the water and the necessary conditions to grow into fully matured plants, do you spiritually as a Christian are you have you placed yourself now in the necessary place that you need to be in order to reach that heavenly perfection?

Are you in the right place for growth?

Do you have the right habits formed in your life?

Are there any attitudes of ways of thinking that perhaps are hindering the potential that you have to grow in the Lord?

Let's see this together.

Let's read together Paul's words in Philippians chapter 3, verses 12 to 14.

Philippians 3:12–14

Says, 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.

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.

Now notice the context here.

Paul is opening himself up this morning to us in sort of this moment of vulnerability.

And I believe that if we sit with Paul for a few moments this morning, as he really pours out his weakness and his life to us, that the effects will be profound.

Just a few verses prior to this in verse 10, Paul has said that his mission now by faith is to know Christ and to know the power of his resurrection and to become like him in his death.

And now Paul looks forward in his life to a day where he will be made perfect, to a day where he will attain what he says in verse 11, the resurrection from the dead.

But now as Paul looks at his life currently, he says this, I'm not there yet.

He looks at his life in the spirit of vulnerability that is so necessary for all Christians who desire to grow.

He says, I have not made it.

I am not perfect.

See, through faith, Paul has shared his testimony of how he has gained Christ.

But Paul wants us to know that faith's not about the intensity of your initial decision, that it really is a lifetime adventure.

Faith is a daily exercise in the Christian's life.

Now, here in these verses, Paul really wants to warn us about two dangers that might shipwreck this adventure that you and I in Christ are to have.

And the first is this idea of perfectionism.

Some people think, whether intentionally or maybe this is like a theology that at times throughout church history has kind of run rampant in the church, that they can achieve perfection in this life.

That they can get to a point where they've said, I've made it.

And that might not be you.

You might not be saying, Well, I'm perfect, but maybe you've come to this place where you just are kind of content with where you are.

You've checked off the boxes.

Christianity, you've you've kind of turned it into a routine and you're doing all the right things, but there's really no heart behind it.

There's also another problem.

Maybe this contentment and Christian perfectionism isn't your problem, but that's not the only way to stunt and to shipwreck your faith.

Paul recognizes that we live in a culture that can often dampen and stifle our commitment to Christ.

So many things in this day and age, in this time of busyness, are vying for our attention and calling for our commitment.

It's possible to be so caught up in all these other things that we kind of relegate our pursuit of Christ to the back burner.

So, Paul in verse 17, I want you to look at verse 17 with me for a moment, has these very sobering words.

He says, Join in imitating me and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us.

Hear this for many whom I have often told you, and now tell you, even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ.

Their end is destruction.

Their God is their belly.

They glory in their shame with minds set on earthly things.

You see, it's it's possible to shipwreck your faith with this disloyalty to the commitment Christ has called you to, giving yourself, your attention, your focus, your pursuit to other things in this world.

You and I live in the presence of these two dangers, a condemning contentment and a damning disloyalty.

And so, Paul, this morning, and really God speaking through Paul wants to speak to us and show us the necessary ingredients that need to be in every believer's life if we're gonna make it to the end.

It's important at a time like this that we turn to the Lord in prayer and ask him to help us in this.

And so, God, we bow before you.

And Lord, we love you.

God, it is the desire of every true child of God in this place to be nearer to you.

And yet, Lord, what we just said, we recognize to be true that we live in a world that is so full of distractions.

Lord, that it is so easy at times to have our minds set on earthly things.

And we because of that, Lord, walk as enemies of the cross.

And so, God, in this moment of Paul Paul's vulnerability, God, we come before you in a spirit of vulnerability, and we declare, Lord, that we cannot live apart from your word, apart from you speaking to us and us hearing you.

God, we're reminded of Jesus' words that man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.

And so, God, we are here this morning for these moments to seek life, that God speak to us.

I pray right now, Lord, that by the presence of your Spirit, would you till our hearts to be ready for the implanting of the seeds of your word, that we might grow to full the fullness of Christ, to the measure of maturity.

That is the fullness of Christ you have called us to.

Do this work in us, Lord.

This is such a spirit-driven work.

Man cannot do it.

Lord, I'm reminded of Jesus' words in the Gospel of John that it is the spirit who gives life.

The flesh is no help at all.

God, you've got to do this work.

So we submit ourselves to you, God.

Do a work in our midst, we pray.

I pray this in the name of your Son.

Amen.

We're looking for ingredients that are necessary to our growth.

I want you to see the first thing here.

First ingredient for growth is that I must accept how far I am from perfect.

We must realize the great gap between perfection and where I am now.

Now, look at what Paul says with me in verse 12.

He says, Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect.

Paul here is reflecting on the progress he has made since he was saved by faith.

And he, as he considers his progress, he realizes how far he has yet to go to achieve the ultimate goal of Christianity.

He wants us to understand really that he has not arrived.

And so twice he says here in this verse, not that I've already obtained this, and in case that wasn't enough for you, he says this, or am already perfect.

Now, this word obtained, it means to enter into a close relationship, it means to apprehend, it means to make one's own.

And so Paul has just told us in verse 10 what he has been seeking to make his own.

Paul has this great goal in his Christian life.

It's a goal that all believers who have been called and commissioned by Christ have.

And we see it in verse 10.

He says that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and may share in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death.

That's the goal.

To obey God as Christ obeyed God, to become obedient as Christians to the point of death, just as Christ was obedient to God to the point of death, and therefore to experience the exaltation by God's hand that Jesus experiences.

Paul talks about this in Ephesians 4 13.

There he says this, that the saints are to build up the body of Christ, but then he gives a measure.

Like, how long are we supposed to do this?

How long are we to practice the one another's in the church?

How long are we to speak the truth into each other's lives and to grow in the Lord?

And Paul says this until we attain to the unity of faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.

In other words, what Paul says is that you need to keep growing until you are exactly like Jesus.

Now, does anyone want to put up their hands this morning and say, I've made it?

I'm good.

I've matured to the measure of the fullness.

I am exactly like Jesus Christ.

Well, if you are unwilling then to put up your hand in that moment and say, yeah, that's me, then there is still progress to be made.

There is more growth required.

One of the detrimental dangers to your growing Christianity is this contentment with where you are.

And so let me ask you this question, maybe in a spirit of honest self-reflection, do you do you ever like you just scratch your head wondering, how could it be that you still have so far to go?

Like, how could it be that you've followed Christ for so long and you still feel so immature?

Like you still feel like I just have I do not get it yet?

Do you have sin in your life that you are very aware of, that you are like in this battle of, that at times you just like cannot believe I'm still struggling with this sin?

I cannot believe that this is still a part of my life.

You have habits that you know that they need to be formed and ingrained in you, like you know you need to get these habits down, that they're essential to your growth.

These attitudes that you know you need they need to be reshaped by the gospel.

You need to shine some biblical light on the way that you're thinking.

Do these things come to mind?

If you are a Christian and you're not yet in heaven, the answer should be yes.

Like the Christian walk at times should be, in all honesty, like somewhat discouraging, in the sense of like, I cannot believe I still have room to go.

I feel like I should have grown so much more now.

And yet that is the spirit of God that is working in us to cause these desires for what is right.

You recognize that is not of the flesh.

Then any desire, even if it's the desire that that comes in this awareness of just how far you have to go, that desire comes from the spirit.

But but the question is, what do you do with that?

Paul recognizes, so again, he says, I'm I'm not perfect.

It's not enough to say it once.

The problem is, if you don't get this, if this is not your spirit, if you don't realize how far you have to go, you just cannot grow.

This is necessary.

Maybe in your life it's a problem of knowledge.

Maybe you just don't know what areas of your life need to be changed.

Isn't it true that you just don't know what you don't know?

But wisdom says in those situations that you do everything you can to surround yourself with people.

You even find yourself on your knees praying to God, asking him to reveal these things to you.

You know, I have this constant curse in my life where I love sports, but I'm just not good at them at all, which is one of the worst things.

If you're not good at sports, it's a really great thing just to not be good at them at all and not care about it for the rest of your life.

But I have the affection, just not the ability.

And so what I find myself doing myself doing whenever I'm playing a sport is surrounding myself.

It's really easy to do, surround myself with people that are better than me.

And I'm constantly asking this question where what do I need to do?

Where do I need to be?

How do I need to hold the club or the stick?

I'm constantly looking for help.

And there's a great need for all of us to be doing this, to be doing whatever we can to reveal to ourselves really how far we have to go.

These are necessary frustrations in our lives.

It's a necessary holy discontent that we must have.

But what he's what I want you to understand is that what is even more important than this is how we respond to this holy discontent.

See, what happens so often is either when these things are revealed, we either just don't care or we sort of kind of wallow in this self-despair where we're just kind of unwilling to do anything about it.

Many of us, when it comes to God, we're like these spiritual eeures.

We complain about everything.

Oh, I just I can't believe I haven't got it yet.

I don't know why life is like this.

Rather than giving up and quitting, Paul here has this important word.

We recognize that we haven't obtained this, that we're not perfect, but but notice this word, but, but it doesn't stop there.

I don't wallow in this self-despair.

He says, I press on to make it my own.

Rather than giving up and quitting, Paul's sense of incompleteness, it causes him to press on.

This idea of pressing on, it's like it's like you're moving rapidly towards an objective.

In fact, this is the same in the original Greek, this is the same word that Paul uses in chapter 3, verse 6, where he says this, as to zeal, I was a persecutor, or you could say pursuer of the church.

I pursued the church's destruction with everything in me.

Every ounce of effort was given to the destruction of the church, Paul says.

But now he looks at his life and he says, This now I pursue Christ, I press on to make it my own.

Paul recognizes this human reality that you and I need to be constantly aware of, that we are always pressing on to something.

Everybody.

It is a human reality that you are always pressing on, you are always straining forward to some the the objective of some sort of accomplishment.

This is why Jesus warned us you cannot serve two masters.

You can't pursue money and Jesus.

Because the call that Jesus places on your life, it's it's this exclusive call, and everything falls under the supreme call that Christ has placed on your life to grow.

But the reality is that we that we don't pursue this exposes something about us.

That we really just don't care.

That at the end of the day, the lack of growth that we have experienced, it must come from this place of we just want other things more.

Our heart has been hardened to the lack of growth in our lives.

For this reason, what Paul will do in verse 12 is direct our attention to the only place that this holy discontentment can come.

Only one, there's only one place where you can be, where this holy discontentment will be motivated, and it's really from the gospel.

And so, do you see what Paul says here in verse 12?

He says, I press on to make it my own, but notice what fuels this pressing on.

It is it is this that because Christ Jesus has made me his own, Paul recognizes the gospel.

He recognizes that the only thing that can fuel this necessary realization of how far you have yet to go is the recognition of all that Christ has done for you, that he has fully loved you and he has fully accepted you.

Comes from a place of gospel recognition.

This is why Paul longs for heaven.

I love what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13, 12.

I'm sure many of you are familiar with this verse.

He says, Now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face, he's longing for heaven.

And the reason is for this, because he says, Now I know in part, then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

Paul looks at his life and he and he recognizes, like, I just have not apprehended, comprehended, understood the fullness of Christ's love for me.

And I cannot wait until I get to heaven and I just like I understand it.

I know it in all of its fullness.

I want that, I hunger for that, I thirst for a recognition of the fullness of the gospel.

This is why we love the gospel at this church.

Because what could what could we possibly do to grow the church?

What is the one thing that will cultivate this holy discontentment in this life that will make us realize how far we have to go and cause us to be to desire to press on to growth?

It is a deeper apprehension of the gospel.

The more you are aware of how much Christ loves you fully, has committed himself to you fully, the more you will then be willing to commit yourself to him, to love him.

So it's our requirement.

We got to find ourselves in this place where we just realize there is so much room for growth.

And so I ask you this question: do you realize it?

Do you realize it?

Do you do you see in your life how much farther you have to go?

Does it give you this sense right now this morning, this Holy Spirit frustration?

I just want to grow.

It can't happen until you want it.

But it doesn't stop there.

It was a lifetime adventure.

And so the next ingredient I want you to see for growth is this that we need to keep the main thing, the main thing.

We need to keep the main thing.

The main thing.

If telling us twice wasn't enough, Paul this morning will tell us three times that he has not made it.

Look at what he says in verse 13.

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

Again, here we see after these words another but.

I do not consider that I have made it my own, but Paul's not wallowing in self-despair.

He's not content in this Christian perfectionism.

He says this, but this is a gospel-driven but.

It's important that this is a butt that is in each of our lives.

Well, what are we saying here?

We're saying that if you're a Christian, you need to have a big butt.

We'll move on.

I thought that would be a little funnier.

There's big butts all throughout scripture, okay?

Now you'll never read it the same.

Anyways, okay, moving on for real now.

Paul says this.

But one thing I do, but one thing I do.

In light of not being complete, Paul's entire life, it boils down to this one motivation to make it complete.

He has one supreme goal to which all other goals they must bow in service of this goal.

In other words, what Paul is saying is this your Christian growth, it must be the highest priority of your life.

Let me say this again because I truly believe some of us, we really need to wrestle with these words because these are not my words.

These are not like, oh, you know, that's that's Pastor Miles.

He's really passionate about this whole Christianity thing because it's his job.

He's like a professional Christian, he gets paid to do it.

That's just what he's got to do, and it's what he's got to talk about.

This is not me.

This is coming from the words of God that the thing that you ought to be the most passionate about in your life is the pursuit of Christian growth.

The pursuit of pressing on to make completeness in Christ your own.

What Paul is saying is that when Christian growth and its pursuit is in the right place, it captivates our fullest attention.

Compare all other things.

The tyranny of the urgent, the barrage of popular voices that we constantly hear, the battle for culture, the top news of the day, everything, everything, everything takes second place to this overarching desire of the Christian to know Christ and to know him fully.

All our thoughts, all of our emotions, all of our decisions, day in and day out, are directed to this one thing.

In other words, what God's doing for us this morning is He's giving us a target, and He's saying everything in your life needs to be pointed to this target.

We know the value of targets, don't we?

We we can't you cannot hit what you do not see.

So God here, He's giving us this target and He's calling us to allow every thought, to allow every emotion, to allow every habit, to allow every decision, every action we have to nudge us closer to this ultimate goal, everything.

Needs to bow into submission to this goal of becoming fully like Christ.

See, the problem for us is that for many of us, this goal to become like Christ, it's really one goal among many others.

We kind of fit it into a list we have, this to-do list that's filled with all these other things, and you know, Christ's likeness is kind of just one of them.

And what God wants to do is he wants to rip up that sheet and he says, unless this is like the main thing under which all the other to-dos of your life fall, you cannot grow.

You have not got it.

This is the thing.

Well, I think what Paul is telling us here has a lot of practical application to the decisions that we then make in life.

See, what often happens in our Christian life is we kind of try to tow the line, don't we?

We have a list of like, here's the right things that I can do, and here's the wrong things I can do.

And so, how close can I get to the wrong without actually going over the line?

Well, it's important that we understand what God's Word says about what we are to do.

The important question is not that we ask how close can I get to the wrong without going over the line.

The important thing that we ask when we're making decisions in whatever we do is will this bring me closer to Christ?

That is a question that should that should be over every single decision we make.

It should be over the major life decisions we we make, where we move, the job that we take, the schedule that we give to our kids.

It should be under this question of will it push me closer to Christ?

But it but it's also the question that we ask of the minor things, the day-to-day things.

Should I spend time watching this show?

Maybe if it'll bring me closer to Christ.

Should I spend time reading this book?

Maybe if it'll bring me closer to Christ, will it help me achieve this goal?

Everything, everything falls under this one thing, Paul says.

The illustration that Paul's hitting on in these verses is the illustration of an Olympic athlete pressing on, running the race.

And I think the illustration of elite sports is so helpful for us here.

We're coming up on the Summer Olympics, and what we'll see there is that the best of the best have really devoted their entire life to their craft.

Like they are obsessive.

Every single thing in their life is all pointed to this goal of winning at the Olympics.

Every morsel of food they eat, every decision for the way that they use their time, you know, these professional athletes, you will not find them partying.

The sleep is too important to rest in recovery.

Everything falls under that goal.

And the way that these athletes will be separated really will be by those who have made this, they're all consuming life effort to win in their sport or in their craft, and from those who have not.

And Paul is using this illustration to say that this is required of us as well, that as Christians, we have our eyes on a prize that is so much greater than a gold medal.

It is a prize of eternal life with God.

And if that's the case, like if you've put your faith in Jesus Christ and you've said, I'm on the way to heaven, then why would you look towards any other goal or any other perishable thing?

Paul has already said all those things are like rubbish.

Our lives must be dominated by this one thing, this pursuit of Christian growth.

And so, loved one, let me ask you right now, are you set up positionally right now in your life?

Are you set up to do all that you do for the sake of growing closer to the Lord?

Let me ask you about this in your work.

Is your work the tool that God intends work to be in our lives?

Where is this object of sanctification for us?

This is why Paul instructs elsewhere that we are to work as though we work for the Lord, because work is worship.

And so let me ask you this: in the way that you work, are you working as an act of worship to the Lord and seeking to use that as an opportunity to grow in your Christ-likeness and devotion to the Lord?

What about the schedule and habits of your family life?

Is your schedule, is your calendar set up in a way that the areas of your life that are most important, you're able to do?

Because if you don't get this, like if you don't set your schedule up so that you are primed for growth, able to grow in the Lord, it doesn't matter how you set up your kids for success in this world, they will miss the most important thing.

Well, how do we do this?

How do we make growth the one thing?

Maybe the spirit is moving as the word of God is preached, and you just have this desire, like, this is what I want, this is what I want.

Well, Paul gets so practical with us here.

Look what he says.

He says, but one thing I do, and then he gives us really that one thing in two different sides of a coin.

The first half is that we need to forget what lies behind.

Now, this is really interesting.

What Paul has in reference here is not his life before coming to Christ.

Paul's already talked about that.

Remember at the beginning of chapter three that he said all these things, he listed all of his previous accomplishments, said all these things are like rubbish.

They're like garbage to me.

What Paul actually has in reference here is that what he needs to put behind himself is all of his Christian accomplishments as a believer.

This is what we must forget is all of these past things that we have done.

Paul has accomplished much in his life to this point.

He's planted churches, he's been imprisoned for the gospel, but he's unwilling to let these past accomplishments sort of lull him into the state of passive acceptance.

To Paul, it's if you were to talk to him, you would think like it's it's almost like this intensity as though he's just beginning his Christian walk.

Because he's unwilling to rest on his past accomplishments.

He's unwilling to talk about all the churches that he's planted.

He's unwilling to allow those accomplishments to cause him to stop pressing on.

He's pressing on to the goal.

He wants more, he wants to be more like Christ.

There's such a word here for those of us who have been following Jesus for years now.

Is it possible that Christianity has just sort of become like a routine to you?

Like this is just the thing that you do, this is just like the way that you live your life?

You know, this is this is just what we do.

We show up to church on Sunday.

You could even have disciplines in your life like Bible reading and prayer that just become sort of like this lifeless routine.

This is just what I do because I'm a Christian.

It's an ingrained habit, maybe even from my childhood.

Let me ask you this question.

Like, like, is your life filled for with this passion for progress in Christ-likeness?

You know what I think so happens so often to us is that the miracle of salvation just becomes sort of like this mundane thing, and we stop pursuing Christ like we used to.

Do you feel like in some ways you're farther away today than you were when you started?

Can I tell you something about the most mature Christians I know?

The most mature Christians I know, they feel more deeply their sin today than they ever have.

And if you would talk to them in their most mature day, it would sound like they are new believers because they're so broken over their sin.

And as God has worked in them, what has happened is they've they've learned all that they need to be, and there's this kind of crushing weight of despair that's a good thing, where they just say, I have not made it.

Like there's so much room to grow.

This is what maturity is it's growing in this love for Christ and therefore being more upset by the ways, even though they're marginally smaller now, you're more upset by the ways you're not like Christ.

There are many who have been Christians for years and yet lack this kind of maturity.

They lack this passion and therefore they really are immature.

Paul says we forget what lies behind.

Because the race is not over yet, we're still running.

This is why, secondly, the second side of the coin here is that we forget what lies behind.

But Paul says then that we strain forward to what lies ahead.

This idea of straining it means to exert yourself completely towards a goal.

And so Paul is very visual and he and he has in mind here that we're running a race.

And in this moment, he's saying, like, this is the moment in the race where the runners are stretched out, they're leaning forward, their legs are pumping, their hand is reaching out, their eyes are fixed on the prize, on the finish line.

This is what we learn about faith.

You know, your faith is not a one-time decision to accept Christ for salvation.

Faith is a belief that grips us daily to keep our eyes on Christ and to run the race.

This is why it's really interesting in Hebrews 11.

They call it the Hall of Faith.

And he's saying, these are like, you want to, you know, my top 10, my top 10 for the most faithful people of all time.

And he just starts listing them.

You know, let's talk about Moses, let's talk about David, let's talk about all these people who have been faithful.

And in in Hebrews 12, he then he has this application for us.

He says this, surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, all these people who have been so faithful throughout their lives, surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.

Looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

You see, this is what faith does.

Faith, it stirs in us this desire to pump our spiritual legs as hard as we can to propel ourselves to the spiritual goal of Christ's likeness.

Causes us, as the writer of Hebrews says, to look at our life and to ask, what weights are we putting on that are hindering us from this goal?

All I want is for my life to be set up for success, to run this race that God has for me.

Which leads into our next point.

This is the third necessary ingredient for heaven-bound growth.

That I accept the invitation of Christ daily.

Paul gets so specific here.

Verse 14, he says, I press on towards the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

Here's the finish line for us.

Paul says, the upward call.

This is the finish line, the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

This is the call that Jesus talks about in John 8, where he says, My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.

It's the voice of the shepherd calling the sheep to a life of following him.

This is what Paul talks about in Romans 18, sorry, Romans 8, where he says, Those whom he predestined, he also called.

And those whom he called, he also justified, and those whom he justified, he also glorified.

You see, if you're you're in Christ, you have received this divine call from him, and it is this golden chain that will one day lead you to glorification.

That's why Romans 8 is one of the most astounding verses to me, because Paul says that if you've been called, notice he says, you've also been glorified.

That's not future tense for you if you're in Christ, that is past tense.

It's like it's already as good as done.

I was driving by Wonderland yesterday.

I was reflecting on the reality that I hate roller coasters, and as I've gotten older, I've only hated them more.

And I find there's a correlation between how much I hate roller coasters and you know, freak out on them, and how much my wife loves them and to be on them and to watch me freak out on them.

But there's something terrifying about that moment when you know the the uh latch, what's it called?

Thingy majigger, it's clicked in.

I haven't been on one a long time, so you'll notice that.

And it starts moving up.

Now, one of the things that's terrifying is that my wife, she loves to like, like when I get on those things, I'm sure you're like this because you're a sane person, right?

When I get on those things, I push it as tight as I can.

Like when I go to an amusement park, I will like fast for a few days, so I'm a bit smaller.

I can get a bit more like if you can get another click, you're safe.

I will lose circulation and my legs just not just to be alive, you know.

I want to live.

But my wife, she likes to wiggle.

It's more fun if you wiggle.

So she'll like, you know, put a hand in there to so that she gets some wiggle room.

And so I'm always terrified.

But there's something really terrifying about this moment when you're locked in and it starts to go forward and you're going up that hill, and it's making that sound, you know, the chain.

I'm sure with technology they don't need that sound anymore, but you're still it's still they're still making it.

You just you're you're hearing yourself go up, and there's no way out.

Now, the roller coaster lover, this is like the moment, like we're on it.

We can't go back, there's no stopping it now.

We're going.

This is this amazing moment.

And for the Christian, it's the same thing.

Like, what God has done in salvation is he's brought you in the car, and you are now on this upward journey, and it is going to end in heaven.

This is what Paul talks about in Philippians 1:6.

Philippians 1:6

He says, Those who God began a work in, he will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

And so you and I are on this roller coaster, we're going up the hill, and we're almost at heaven.

We don't know when it's coming, but we've received this upward call.

Paul longs in his life, every he's looking for it.

Everything in me longs to receive the prize of the upward call.

God has already given to me it to me.

And so my job then is to receive it.

To receive it.

Here's my question for you then.

Have you received the call?

Jesus came to this world and he preached the gospel to all.

And I want you to know that that the offer is for you this morning, that Jesus has called you to himself.

And if you will accept by faith all that Jesus offers in saving you from your sins and being the Lord of your life, if you will accept by faith the call that Jesus has given him, you will be on this upward journey to heaven.

And this is what Jesus says: no one will be able to snatch you from the hands of the Father.

You will be on this upward call.

Well, if you've done that, then it becomes a necessity for us to daily receive this call that Jesus has given us, to not be distracted from all the other things that are going on in the world.

You see, you and I, if we're in Christ, Jesus has given this invitation to us.

It is an invitation to heaven.

And daily we prepare ourselves for that invitation, for that day that we will meet him.

I was reflecting this past week on Revelation 19, where John talks about this marriage supper that if you're in Christ, you will one day be at.

He's having this vision of angels, and he says, Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters, and like the sound of mighty pearls of thunder crying out.

Hallelujah! For the Lord our God, the Almighty reigns.

This is the church, all the redeemed children of God singing out, let us rejoice and exalt and give him the glory.

Listen to this, for the marriage of the Lamb has come.

And the bride has made herself ready.

It was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure, for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.

And the angel said to me, Write this blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.

Blessed are those who are invited.

If your faith is in Jesus Christ, you have been invited to this marriage supper.

There is a day where the bride of Christ will meet the groom that is Jesus Christ Himself, and all of us together will declare hallelujah.

We've made it.

Every Christian lives their lives preparing for this day.

Don't we love weddings for this reason?

Don't we love the moment you know the bride has put so much effort into that day?

Some would argue too much effort.

And yet it's this beautiful moment that's been created by all this effort that has been gone into the preparation, months and months, and sometimes years and years of preparation for the day.

But then that whole day, it's like they're up early doing their hair, the makeup, the dress has been chosen, all so that this bride can present herself to the groom in all the glory and splendor of her beauty.

And it's this day that the groom gets to experience the bride coming around the corner and they never forget it.

The beauty of their bride in that moment, who has prepared herself to be presented in all of her glory and splendor and beauty.

The joy of the groom to receive the bride.

Love one, you are the bride of Christ.

And we are in the day of preparation.

Are you doing everything you need to prepare your soul to be presented to Jesus Christ on that final day?

So that you might be presented in all of your beauty, in all of your splendor, that you might experience in fullness the blessing of the invitation.

Are you doing it?

Then we keep doing it.

We keep our eyes on the prize.

We stay focused.

We keep growing.

Those who look away from Christ, they will not make it.

Those who stay focused, they will.

We have so far to go, but we keep the main thing, the main thing, and we live with this daily acceptance that Christ has invited us to the feast.

Let's pray.

Father.

God, it is dripping with gospel hope and gospel truth.

The only reason we can even do this, Lord, the only reason why this room is filled with your children who desire to magnify Christ with all of their life is because you have done a work of salvation in our hearts.

Lord, faith, it's a gift from God.

And this faith is causing us in this moment to be stirred in our heart and in our passions by your Holy Spirit, to be stirred to desire for more, Lord, more growth, more fruit, more likeness to Jesus Christ.

And so, Lord, we take this moment now in song to respond to your word, Lord, and say that this is our desire.

God, that our desire is that Christ would be magnified by our life, that all these other things would pass away, Lord.

All these pursuits are so useless if they're the primary pursuits of our life.

But there's one thing we do forgetting what lies behind, we strain towards you, God, to know you fully as we are fully known by you.

And so, God, we give you all the praise and all the thanks, and we worship you.

We pray this in the name of your Son.

Amen.