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Philippians 3:10-21

¹⁰ I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death, ¹¹
if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead.

¹² Not that I have already obtained this or have already reached the goal; but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. ¹³ Beloved, I do not consider that I have made it my own; but this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, ¹⁴ I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus. ¹⁵ Let those of us then who are mature be of the same mind; and if you think differently about anything, this too God will reveal to you. ¹⁶ Only let us hold fast to what we have attained.

¹⁷ Brothers and sisters, join in imitating me, and observe those who live according to the example you have in us. ¹⁸ For many live as enemies of the cross of Christ; I have often told you of them, and now I tell you even with tears. ¹⁹ Their end is destruction; their god is the belly; and their glory is in their shame; their minds are set on earthly things. ²⁰But our citizenship is in heaven, and it is from there that we are expecting a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. ²¹ He will transform the body of our humiliation that it may be conformed to the body of his glory, by the power that also enables him to make all things subject to himself.

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(By Rev. David Bassett)

Well, after today we say goodbye to the Olympic games. It has been a fantastic 16 days and many examples of what it means to achieve, to strive and to overcome all odds.

One thing that strikes me is that you don't see a complacent athlete. They strive for the prize, gold, with all their might. And how many times have we seen someone at the end break down because they missed the gold. As it was said a number of times by the commentator of the hockey, they are inconsolable.

Yes, after a while they will regroup and see what they have achieved in the silver or bronze or in a PB or new country record. But, in that first reality, the raw emotions speak loudly. And it is because their ambition has been for gold. They have trained hard and have kept the race till the very end.

I'm certainly no Olympic athlete. They don't hold events in the areas I am good at. The 2kg chocolate block eat-off. The flan bake-off. The heavyweight snoring contest. The put-it-off-till-the-last-minute work-off. The lifestyle we tend to live is one that has become more complacent. Partly because technology has advanced so we can afford time and effort saving equipment – the washing machine, driers, computers, cars, dishwashers, ATM's, Eftpos, and the list goes on. But partly, we have become complacent because we live in a post-Christianised society where, on the whole, we are not confronted with raw evil day by day. But, if we were to take a close look we would see that our society is no different to the society in which the Christians at Philippi lived.

If you look with me at today's passage. Philippians 3:10-21. And we will look first at verses 18 and 19. For many live as enemies of the cross of Christ; I have often told you of them, and now I tell you even with tears. Their end is destruction; their god is the belly; and their glory is in their shame; their minds are set on earthly things.

Many live as enemies of the cross. That is, there life stands opposed to the saving grace of God brought to us through the death of Jesus upon the cross. Their god is not our God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, but rather it is in gratifying the desires of their bodies. As it were, it is their stomachs.

Tim Costello in his book Tips from a travelling soul-searcher gives a good insight into how our society has changed the way we gratify our desires. Let me read an extract to you.

• A customer's definition of sin. This paying for everything, the market mentality, has become extremely pervasive. I tell a story which always resonates with the secondary schools we visit, perhaps indicating its power with the generation of the third umpire. I tell the students that there has been a new definition of sin. . . . I go on to explain that sin is now to do with not having the right body shape or not wearing the right clothes. These days we need to wear particular brand products to make us look right. Without them we are flawed, failing and incomplete as persons.

• So, in order to gain absolution, we set off to the big shopping emporiums which are like the temples of the ancient world with those arched entrances. Ringing in our ears is the guilty knowledge that our bodies don't look right. We are deeply stressed as we catch sight of ourselves in a mirror or shop window. We approach the retail assistants in the shop which sells the big brand-name products and they offer us a range of the items we know we need in order to expiate our sin of looking wrong. These clothes and branded items are the items used in the sacraments. We handle them, we feel them, we try them on. Eventually we choose one and receive the modern sacrament with the blessing, 'You look fantastic!' We hand over some money like in church, and then we can see the improvement ourselves, and we sense the relief as our sin drops away. We bow to receive the universal benediction: 'Have a nice day!"

• (pp191-192)

Along with this fixation on the self, there is the false hope based in possessions. The pride of the big house, the new car, the status in a job, the OS holiday, the new color mobile. But this glory will rust and rot. It does not match up with 'those treasures that will never decay.'

We live in this society. And it is easy for us to become complacent, to stop questioning what goes on and just go with the flow. Join a queue, and queue, as long as you're in a queue. Take a number so we can serve you better.

But, what does Paul say? Verses 20 and 21

But our citizenship is in heaven, and it is from there that we are expecting a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. He will transform the body of our humiliation that it may be conformed to the body of his glory, by the power that also enables him to make all things subject to himself.

The confidence we looked at last week, in the preceding passage is a confidence in the grace of God. This confidence leads us to new ambitions. No longer anchored in this world. No longer limited by an earthly perspective or the corruption of the world. This new ambition is to know Christ. To know Christ not just as a figure in history but in a personal and intimate way.

Verses 10 and 11. I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death, if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead.

And in this knowing of Christ, to know the power of his resurrection. For the victory over sin and death is seen in the resurrection of the Lord Jesus from the dead. And Paul does not just want to know this as a remembrance of the first Easter but as a living and active power in his life. As Paul says elsewhere in Romans 8:11 "If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit that dwells in you." And, knowing the power of Christ's resurrection in our lives is to know the power of God that will allow us to take a stand and not be conformed to then way of the world. To not be complacent and unable to be godly in what we want to do. It is the power that enables us to confront, confess and conquer our sinfulness. It is the power of God working within us that, having saved us, will bring us to that day when we will attain all that God has promised us. The power to see the race through to the finish.

Look at verses 12 to 16

Not that I have already obtained this or have already reached the goal; but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Beloved, I do not consider that I have made it my own; but this 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 heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus. Let those of us then who are mature be of the same mind; and if you think differently about anything, this too God will reveal to you. Only let us hold fast to what we have attained.

Here, Paul's perspective changes. For, in one perspective it is as though as we begin the race, we receive the grace of God and become Christians, we attain all that there is. But, the other perspective is that there is distance between the start and finish lines. That is where we are. Having received God's grace, we now live out our lives as response to God's love.

We cannot live on our past successes. We cannot rest on our laurels. Nor should we be bogged down by our past failures. The image Paul uses is that of the runner close to the finish line chest out to be the first across the line. An image we have all seen a lot of over the last few weeks. This is the determination that Paul has in knowing Christ and he encourages us to have the same determination.

Verse 17: Brothers and sisters, join in imitating me, and observe those who live according to the example you have in us.

Paul places his own example before the Christians at Philippi, before us. He is saying "look at my ambitions, look at what I do and follow it as a good model." For Paul has changed his ambitions to be those of Christ Jesus. And he urges us to have the same attitude, to be of the same mind, to have our ambitions set by Jesus.

For it is not wrong to have ambitions for our marriages, family life, career, work and minsitry. Indeed it is entirely appropriate that we should; but all such ambitions must be subordinate to our ambition to know Christ. He is our first priority in life and nothing in our new life should conflict with this ambition.

So, where does the rubber hit the road? It's "OK coach, how can I run this race better?"

I think its about being proactive in setting our goals. That is not to become complacent and let life take us where it will. But rather, knowing our final goal – being with God, our lives should be working towards this goal – becoming Christ like. In our relationships, in our responses to issues, in our dealings with society, in our jobs, in our families, in our use of time or money or ability, in all aspects of daily life we need to continue to work out our relationship with God and how we can become more Christ like.

It is easy to become complacent. Indeed it takes no work at all. But to be a gold medallist – that takes work. Not work in earning, but work in response to the gift that God has given us in Christ Jesus.

Let me finish by reading Paul's thanksgiving prayer from Chapter 1.

Philippians 1:3-11

³I thank my God every time I remember you, ⁴constantly praying with joy in every one of my prayers for all of you, ⁵because of your sharing in the gospel from the first day until now. ⁶I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work among you will bring it to completion by the day of Jesus Christ. ⁷It is right for me to think this way about all of you, because you hold me in your heart, for all of you share in God's grace with me, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel. ⁸For God is my witness, how I long for all of you with the compassion of Christ Jesus. ⁹And this is my prayer, that your love may overflow more and more with knowledge and full insight ¹⁰to help you to determine what is best, so that in the day of Christ you may be pure and blameless, ¹¹having produced the harvest of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ for the glory and praise of God. (NRSV)

Let's pray.

Gracious God that you for the life you have given us. Thank you for the new life in Christ you have given us. Help us to know the power of Christ's resurrection so we may strive to please you and obtain the prize you have for us. Strengthen us in our continued life as a Christian until we are transformed into the likeness of Christ's glory. Amen.

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