Philippians 3:12–4:1 — Stand Firm and Press On

This sermon is from Philippians 3, verse 12 through 4, verse 1, and is entitled, Stand

Firm and Press On.

It was delivered to Ekklesia Churches on Sunday, March 22, 2026.

I spent most of my early years of my life growing up on a farm.

And while my family was traditionally cattle farmers, when I was about 12 years old, I had

the opportunity to raise some sheep.

And I started by raising kind of a few lambs with a bottle and later expanded to have around 15 for a pretty good size little flock.

And sheep can be really very sweet creatures to raise, but they can also be maddening because of the limitations of their perspective.

Their eyes are on the sides of their heads and they can see remarkably well around them for the most part,

but they have a blind spot directly ahead and directly behind them.

And so the work of a shepherd is really to watch ahead and behind.

And you're kind of constantly going from one side of them to the other,

saying, don't go too far this way because this way is dangerous,

and then get back on the straight path.

And then you veer the other way a little bit,

and you get on the other side of them, and you say,

don't go too far that way either.

And the reason I say this is that Paul, after running around to kind of one side of the flock

in the last passage and warning against trying to find salvation in religious works instead of in

Christ, he's running around to the other side of them in this passage saying, but don't go

too far this way either. Don't fall for this either. Don't get complacent thinking that there

isn't work to be done for the person who is following Christ. We're not working to earn

our salvation through religious works, but we are participating in the work that the Spirit is doing,

transforming us into the image of Christ. And the tone of Paul in this passage is really that of a

father or a brother saying, I'm in this with you, so follow me as I follow Christ. Because we live

in the tension of the already but not yet, the already saved by Christ but not yet perfected

into the image of Christ. We are the already standing in the victory of Jesus but not yet

living in a world that has bent the knee to Jesus. So we are citizens of heaven but also

ambassadors on this earth. You can feel the tension between these two things. And so to the church then

and to the church now, Paul says, stand firm in Christ and press on toward the goal of being made

like him. Stand firm and press on. So let's read this passage together.

Not that I have already obtained this or am 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.

Let those of us who are mature think in this way, and if in anything you think otherwise,

God will reveal that also to you. Only let us hold true to what we have attained.

Brothers, join in imitating me and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have

in us. For many, of whom I have 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, and they glory in their shame

with minds set on earthly things, but our citizenship is in heaven. And from it we await

a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body by the

power that enables him even to subject all things to himself. Therefore, my brothers, whom I love

and long for. My joy and crown stand firm thus in the Lord, my beloved.

Paul knows that the minute he finishes addressing the proud religious Judaizers in the last passage,

these proud religious or proud irreligious pagans rather are waiting to swoop in on the flock from

the other side. He's just made the point that your religious performance doesn't earn you a place

but he knows that if they go too far in the other direction, you end up thinking that since you

already have a place, there's no work for you to perform. Sheep and children and apparently

Christians all share this ability to overcorrect when corrected. And so Paul puts himself in front

of them like a good shepherd and says, hey, look at me for a moment. Let me use myself as an example

of one who is saved by faith in Christ and who is still straining to follow Christ. He says in verse

12, not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect. Obtained what? That's an important

thing to answer right off the bat. Is he saying that he's not saved yet, that he's still working

for his salvation? No. So Greek is interesting because it sometimes relies on the reader to

remember what was being talked about a short while ago. So what is this this that Paul references?

It's from verse 10, that Paul should become like Christ in his death and rise from the dead.

So Paul is recognizing that he is not yet transformed, that he is still a work in process.

He says, but I press on to make it my own. He is pressing on to continually be made more like Christ.

Why? What empowers him to do this? Because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Don't miss for a second

in this who Paul credits for giving him a reason to press on. It's because Jesus has already made me

his own. Because he has given me a place, I press on to be more like him. And here Paul gets really

practical because he knows, as well as anyone, that the day-to-day grind of following Jesus can be

difficult. He knows that it's one thing to believe that Jesus Christ calls me his own and to actually

live that out on a Tuesday morning sitting in a prison cell in Rome or in the United States

sitting at your desk outside the prison cells if you're like one of our congregation or in a desk

at your school or doing endless dishes at the kitchen sink. It's harder to keep your mind on

that in the day-to-day. So Paul narrows it down to really just one thing, he says, 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.

Paul listens to the upward call of Christ, and he takes one more step forward.

And I find it very comforting that Paul had to make an effort to forget what lies behind.

Do you know what the first thing is that the enemy uses to distract me

when I'm struggling to follow Jesus?

He uses the past. He uses past sin and past failure and past falling short of the standard

that's been set. All of those times that I failed to heed this upward call, but I can't do a thing

about that. And so Paul calls me to answer the call of Christ to step forward, to leave the weight

of the past mistakes in the box that is marked the all-sufficient grace of God. Leave it in that

of covered by the blood of Jesus, the same Jesus who stands with me now and calls me upward to

take another step forward. And I love Paul's honesty that it looks like straining forward

some days. It looks like pressing on towards the goal, not straining under the weight of the past,

not straining under the weight of religious expectations like so many earthly religions,

but we are pressing on alongside brothers and sisters who are being transformed every day and

are still in process. And as we press on, Paul says that we start to develop a maturity of character,

a maturity of spirit. Maturity is the goal for any Christian, just as it is the goal for any

child. We want to think differently, walk with more stability, to learn from the right people.

We are a work in progress.

And so let's just read what progress looks like for the Christian.

There are three words that I want us to pay attention to in this next part of the passage,

and they are think, hold, and imitate.

Listen for those in these next couple of verses.

This is verse 15 and 16.

Let those of us who are mature think this way.

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

Only let us hold true to what we have attained.

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

So in verse 15, Paul says, think in this way.

In what way?

How do mature Christians think of themselves?

Well, in the context, it's with humility.

maturity. Maturing to worldly standards, for example, might mean developing pride in yourself

and your abilities, but maturing as a believer means our greatest confidence is in Christ,

and we have a sense of humility about us. Let's think about the weight of pride for a moment.

A prideful person is always concerned that they will be found out, that their imperfections will

ruin the illusion. A prideful person actually lives in fear that everyone around them will see

the broken things that they hide inside themselves. And so you develop a superiority complex that is

easily threatened, and you live to keep yourself up on this platform of false perfection that you

have built. By comparison, though, saying, I'm not perfect, and I need God's grace practically

breathes space into your life for humility. And that humility gives you space to breathe. This

posture is the antidote to pride, and it is so freeing. Now, you might say,

I know some prideful people who actually believe themselves. They believe they are God's gift to

mankind, and they refuse to see the broken things that the rest of us can spot a mile away.

These are the plank-in-the-eye folks who call out the splinters in others.

And Paul addresses them with the second half of verse 15.

If in anything you think otherwise, so if there is an area that you believe you have

become perfect like Christ, don't worry.

Paul says, God will reveal that also to you.

So translated to modern Southern English, Paul would say, well, bless your heart.

Paul knows that one thing the Holy Spirit is at work doing in the believer is showing us the areas that we need to surrender to Jesus.

And I think in the process of being shown these areas under construction in our lives, it can be somewhat alarming.

You ask questions like, why am I struggling with this as a Christian?

Have I always been this selfish as I see myself now?

Have I always been this self-righteous?

And the awkward, truthful answer is yes, but the grace of God doesn't allow you to stay like that.

So in my experience, this process of being exposed as a work in progress has caused some Christians to wonder if they are actually saved.

And the question that haunts them is, have I surrendered enough or all the way to Jesus?

If I'm still holding out on something that I'm not aware of, am I really saved?

And this is why he says in verse 16, hold true to what we have attained.

The gospel is that while we were sinners, Christ died for the ungodly.

The gospel is not when we are perfected, then we will be saved by Christ.

The gospel is that we are saved by Christ, and then we are perfected as we become more like him.

So when you come to faith in Christ, it is the beginning of your walk with the Lord.

And the nature of that walk is that in the course of time, the Lord will lovingly expose

and correct those areas in which doubts remain.

And your part is in responding to that work of the Lord in you every time one of those

areas is brought up.

It is surrendering to the work of Christ over and over again.

And the mature Christian is willing to be honest about that and say, I am not finished,

and I am humbly following my shepherd.

And as we follow our shepherd Jesus, we don't do this in isolation.

We do it as a part of a family, the church.

He says, brothers, join in imitating me and keep your eyes on those who walk according

to the example you have in us.

We imitate Paul in his humility, in his security that is found in Christ, in his striving forward

towards the goal. And we keep our eyes on others who are doing the same. And you know, I've quoted

my friend Yarden before, but what he said is basically a paraphrase of what Paul is saying

here. Follow me as I follow Christ. Because human beings are made in the image of God,

And unfortunately, one of the results of the fall is that instead of reflecting our maker's character,

we often reflect the brokenness of the people around us.

This is why scripture says that bad company corrupts good character.

There's this warning, this be careful, because we are impressionable.

We are easily formed by who and what we fix our eyes on.

So we must be so careful, especially young people who are forming character at the fastest

rate to fix our eyes on the kinds of people who are reflecting this humble character of

Christ, to reflect a character of humility, ultimately on men and women who point us to

Jesus.

So as we ultimately look to Jesus, not to men, we also look to the future.

And we've talked a lot today about what the present looks like.

As we kind of close up chapter 3, Paul turns toward the future for a warning against earthly-minded living and an encouragement for those who are in Christ.

Let's read the warning first.

This is verse 18 and 19.

He says,

For many, of 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 mindset on earthly things.

Verses 18 and 19 are a pretty challenging look at those who might even claim to be Christian,

But the fruit of their lives says that their heart is far from God.

And Paul says he writes this through tears.

This is not a prideful condemnation.

It is a warning given through tears to people who are in grave spiritual danger.

May we always speak hard truth like Paul does, with the utmost concern and love for those listening.

These people that he addresses, he says, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ.

And I'll remind you that this is where we all are without Christ.

No matter how many church gatherings we attend or how many good deeds we do, without Christ,

we are the enemies of God and our end is destruction.

The way they are described, though, here are with three distinct behavioral fruits or character

conditions that we can pay attention to.

First, their God is in their belly, by which Paul means they do whatever they feel like doing.

They serve their own desires, whatever they may be, and no matter what they say they love,

their actions show their allegiance to their own pleasure and preferences.

He says their glory is in their shame, meaning they actually promote and celebrate the things

that God opposes. They might claim Christ in name, but they are vocal supporters of what is prideful,

sinful, impure, unclean. They are proponents of grace, but their grace is a cheap one

that requires no repentance, which means it is not the grace of Scripture at all.

And finally, they set their mind on earthly things. They are controlled by money, possessions,

greed and lust. They can't set their minds on the things of eternal value because they are so

consumed with the pursuit of all that fades and rusts. These are the people Paul knows who probably

at one time claimed to have turned to Christ. But what they pursue and love and value shows

a lack of obedience to Jesus. It reveals a citizenship in a world that will ultimately

leave them with nothing. There's a misconception that Christianity is about giving up all the good

things in exchange for being considered a good person. There's even a phrase that you'll hear

sometimes, that's so good it should be criminal, or that's so good that it should be sinful.

It's the idea that all the best things are forbidden. And it's quite literally the oldest

lie in the book, that God is trying to keep us from something good. It worked in the garden,

and it works on us now. But the truth is that God isn't asking you to trade away all the good

things in life for some kind of status in the eyes of men. If an illustration helps here,

when your parent tells you not to eat an entire basket of Halloween candy in one sitting,

You might think, why are they so mean?

Do they want me to starve?

Are they trying to keep what's good from me?

Of course not.

They don't want you to get sick.

They're serving you a steak dinner in 20 minutes.

They're looking out for your good.

They're inviting you to something better through obedience.

And the truth about God is that he isn't trying to take away our joy.

He's offering us the only source of true joy that we will ever know, and that is himself.

He's asking you to come to him to be satisfied in a way that nothing on earth ever could.

He's inviting you to a kingdom unlike any on earth, the kingdom of heaven.

Because for those who give their allegiance to him and trust him, we will be transformed

into the image of Christ on that final day.

And when Jesus comes in glory, every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that

he is Lord.

And that very same power that will bring all things to completion in the universe is at

work in you and me.

So that on that final day, that we finally step into that restored kingdom with restored

bodies, all that we ever hoped to be and could never become on our own strength, Jesus will

bring to completion on that day.

And Paul closes this passage with a statement that really needs no explanation.

He says,

Therefore, my brothers, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm thus in the Lord, my beloved.

So I will encourage you to do the same.

To press on with an attitude of humility.

That Jesus is still working in you.

To press on as you submit to the work of the Spirit transforming you and inviting you to greater obedience.

And finally, to stand firm in the finished work of Jesus as you press on toward the upward call of Christ.

Ekklesia is a church of house churches gathering weekly in Council Bluffs, Iowa and in homes throughout the week.

We are a Bible-centered church focused on preaching from Scripture and making disciples of Jesus.

You can learn more about our statement of faith and contact a pastor by visiting ecclesiachurches.org.