Christ, Our Goal - Philippians 3: 7-14

1:12J.I. Packer's book, Knowing God, and A.W. Tozier's book, helped to shape my understanding about God and my relationship with God. Packer asked in Knowing God, what were we made for? And his response was, to know God. What aim should we set for ourselves in our lives? Again, his response was to know God. What is eternal life that Jesus gives? It is the knowledge of God. John chapter 17, verse 3, provides a very simple definition statement. When we ask, what is eternal life? The verse says, This is eternal life. It doesn't get much more simpler than that. That they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, who you have sent.

2:09Back in the Old Testament, in Jeremiah chapter 9, verses 23 and 24, says, Thus saith the Lord, Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom. Let not the mighty man boast of his might. Let not the rich man boast of his riches. But let him that boasts boast of this, that he understands and knows me. That I am the Lord who exercises loving kindness, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the Lord.

2:52And then Psalm 42, verses 1 and 2 says, As a deer pants for the water brooks, so my soul pants for you. You, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God? I guess I actually knew a lot of things about God when I was in my early 20s, about his character. I knew that Jesus was my Savior, but did I really know him as a person?

3:24Did I desire to spend time with him in prayer and in his word to learn more about who he was and how I could become more like Jesus Christ in my daily life? I honestly have to answer, I guess I didn't. And that's why these books were so appealing to me and why they still are today. A.W. Tozier's own desire for an intimate relationship with God moved him to write in the pursuit of God, and in it he stated, God is a person, and in the depths of his mighty nature, he thinks, he wills, he enjoys, he feels, he loves, he desires, and he grieves, just as any person does.

4:12In making himself known to us, he stays by the familiar pattern of personality. God communicates with us through his word and the avenues of our minds, our wills, and our emotions. The continuous and unembarrassed Interchange, Tozier continued with, of love and thought between God and the souls of the redeemed are the heart of the New Testament religion. Therefore, being made in God's image, believers have the capacity to know Him. And as I kept seeing those phrases again and again and again, I started to think a little bit more about that.

4:57And this evening, I'd like to spend some time in Philippians chapter 3. If you turn there with me, please. Philippians chapter 3 to see why we, like the Apostle Paul, should make it our goal to know Jesus Christ and to become more like him in our daily lives. Let's have a word of prayer before we start tonight. Father, thank you for this time. Thank you for my brothers and sisters who've come out this evening to fellowship together to sing praises unto you. And God, now, as we look into your word, may your Son be glorified by the things that we discuss tonight.

5:51Father, there are many things heavy on our hearts this evening. Maybe some things we haven't shared publicly. And God, I ask that you would just. Work in each life, in each situation, according to your grace and according to your will. God, give us opportunities to share the love that we have for your Son with those around us and help us not to shy away from those opportunities. But Lord, help us to dig in and create those opportunities where we can share Christ.

6:24But most of all, God, may we be made into the image of your Son. Help us each and every day, God, to pursue you, to pursue your Son, and to be more and more like Him each day. Bless us now as we study, and we ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. In Philippians chapter 3, I'm going to be reading verses 7 through 14. Philippians chapter 3, verses 7 through 14. But whatever things were gained to me, those things I have counted loss for the sake of Christ. More than that, I count all things to be loss in the view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count them but rubbish, so that I may gain Christ and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the law. But that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Jesus Christ. Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet, but one thing I do, forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call in Christ Jesus. May the Lord add his blessing to his word.

8:31So the book of Philippians, simple term, it was written to the city of Philippi, to the churches that were there. Philippi is located in the northeastern part of Greece. If you're a history buff, this is kind of interesting stuff. In 356, Philip of Macedon, the father of Alexander the Great, took over the city and renamed it after himself. So King Philip decided he needed a city and he called it Philippi. According to Acts chapter 16, verses 11 through 40, Philippi was a Roman colony in Macedonia when Paul arrived there around AD 49. Philippi was a major trading center where there were several gold mines in the area. And the Apostle Paul wrote this letter to the churches in Philippi while he was imprisoned in Rome sometime around 61 or 62 AD.

9:29But before Paul, or Saul as we would know him back then, became a believer in Jesus Christ, he aggressively persecuted Christians and dragged them to prison. As a Jewish leader, Saul truly believed that he was serving God by his ruthless actions. But something wonderful happened to Saul while he was traveling on a road to the city of Damascus. And according to his own testimony in Acts chapter 9, a blinding light appeared from the sky and fell on Saul, and Saul fell to the ground. And Jesus appeared to Saul and spoke to him. And from that moment on, Saul's whole value system changed. Saul himself was changed. He no longer persecuted Christians. He was one. He no longer spoke against Jesus. But he spoke boldly for him.

10:33Saul had become a believer in Jesus Christ, and he was totally committed to serve him for the rest of his life. There's three things I'd like to share with you tonight. And if you're taking notes, and I hope that you are, please write these three down. The first one is: when Christ is your goal, your values and your priorities change. When Christ is your goal, your values and your priorities change. We'll be looking at verses 7 and 8. In verse 7, Paul mentions several things that he had gained. But whatever things were gained to me, he says, What are those things? What are the things that he's talking about? Well, this refers back up to verses 4 through 6. You just scoot up a little bit in your text. He says, Although I myself might have confidence in the flesh, if anyone else has a mind to put confidence in the flesh, I far more circumcised the eighth day of the nation of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews, as to the law, a Pharisee, as to zeal, a persecutor of the church, as to righteousness which is in the law.

12:00Found blameless. According to chapter 3, verse 2, if you just move up one more verse in chapter 3, verse 2, there were evil workers and those who were of the false circumcision or those who mutilate the flesh. These would be referred to as the Judaizers who followed Paul around and made lots of trouble for him wherever he would go. Not just in Philippi, but in lots of the cities. They came around behind him and said that a Gentile, in order for them to become a Christian, had to adopt Jewish customs to include circumcision. And these people were causing problems for the churches in Philippi. Paul here lists seven advantages in verses five and six.

12:50What he used to have in the flesh. And any of these Judaizers would love to have just half of what Paul listed here. First, Paul lists four advantages that he had, that he had by birth, apart from his personal choices. He was circumcised according to the law on the eighth day. He was of the nation of Israel. He was of the tribe of Benjamin, one that stayed very loyal to Judah during all of the troubles that it had. He was a Hebrew son of Hebrew parents. These were advantages that he had that he did not break. Upon himself, they were just naturally for him. And then he lists three achievements that he had voluntarily pursued. The first of that of being a Pharisee.

13:42Also, a persecutor of the church. And third, having a flawless external record of legalistic righteousness. He basically declares himself to be blameless, which is an amazing thing that Paul would state. Some 30 years ago, prior to Paul Saul's conversion, he took great pride in his life's gains and achievements. But he counted all of them, all the things that he had done, all of his achievements, all those advantages as worthless when he met Christ. And again, there's nothing wrong with working hard. There's nothing wrong with pursuing achievements in your life. But Paul was actually basing his favor and his relationship with God upon these works that he had done.

14:40He was working really hard to please God. And again, from his perspective, he was doing everything right. But he counted all of those advantages as worthless when he met Jesus Christ, as it says in. Verse 7. But whatever things were gained to me, those things that he listed up in 5 and 6, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. This Greek word here that we translate counted means to think or to consider. And it's interesting, as I had the opportunity to just look through these words in this text, this particular word for counted is in the perfect tense, which indicates a completed action with continuing effect. A completed action in the past, but it continues on today. So a time in the past, Paul had counted all of his worldly gains as actual losses, and he continued to count them as loss even unto this day. But then Paul uses this same Greek word, count, in verse 8. He says, I count all things lost. In verse 7, he says, I counted, and here he says, I count them all as lost. Here he's using the present tense of that same word, which indicates a continuing action in the present time. So, in other words, Paul was saying, yes, I counted all those things lost. They were great loss to me, and I still continue to count them as loss even at this present time.

16:24And it's here we need to ask why. Why does Paul discard all of these worldly gains? Accolades and positions of honor that he had worked so hard to achieve. Because when Christ is your goal, your values and your priorities change. When Christ is your goal, your values and your priorities change. Paul counted all of those previous gains as loss because of the surpassing value, the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus as his Lord. And Paul wanted to have an intimate, personal relationship with his Savior and Lord more than anything else. And nothing was going to get in his way.

17:14Just as he had pursued the Christians, diligently trying to bring them back and put them into prison, he was now diligently pursuing a relationship with Jesus Christ. That just seems to be Paul's personality. He didn't take much half-heartedly. Whenever he decided he wanted to go after something, he went for it and went with all of his heart. And Paul wanted to dedicate himself to the pursuit of Christ. His previous pursuit of worldly praise, worldly power, and worldly possessions no longer had any appeal to him.

17:55And because of this goal, Paul had suffered the loss of all. Things it says in verse 8. Paul was a citizen of Tarsus. At the time that he lived there, only wealthy, reputable families were allowed to retain their citizenship in Tarsus. He had belonged to a family of wealthy Jews living in one of the most progressive cities of that day. And Paul left all of this, all of this he left behind to become a poor, itinerant preacher. And aren't you glad that he did?

18:34But he counted all of his earthly heritage, all of his former gains as rubbish or excrement when compared with the matchless value of knowing Jesus Christ. How many of you in business know what a PL statement is? You ever heard of that? A profit and loss statement. It summarizes a business profits or gains and their losses over a fiscal quarter or perhaps an entire fiscal year. And one part of the report lists all of the credits, all of the gains. And the other part of the report lists the debits or the losses. Paul was saying that in my PL statement, on the loss side, he had many, many things listed.

19:27All the things that we read up in verses 5 and 6. And probably many more. All the things that he had gained of worldly value, he wrote there on that side of the ledger. But over on the gain side, there was only one entry made: Jesus Christ. That one item of gain more than offset all of his losses. Because when Christ is your goal, your values and your priorities change. Secondly, when Christ is your goal, you want to know him and become like him.

20:11When Christ is your goal, you want to know him and become like him. And we'll be looking at verses 9 through 11. Those who gain Christ are those who are found in him, it says in verse 9. Christ is in the believer, and the believer is in Christ. And Paul wanted his life to demonstrate those truths. Because Paul was in Christ, he was not depending on any righteousness of his own, like law-keeping. And he was really good at that. Paul's life before Christ was consumed with the ritualistic practice of law-keeping. Everything that was demanded of him, if he was told that was something that he had to do, he did it. And he didn't, again, do it half-heartedly. He did it with everything that he had. But Paul describes such righteousness as no righteousness at all.

21:10Isaiah 64, verse 6 refers to this righteousness as filthy rags. Paul wanted to be found in Christ, resting in Christ's righteousness and not his own. And more than anything else, Paul wanted to know Jesus Christ in a more intimate and personal way as his Lord. Paul's burning desire was not to preach to huge crowds, not to build a large organization, not to have a weekly radio program. Paul's greatest goal was to know Christ experientially. It is one thing to know about Jesus, but the knowledge Paul wanted was not simple book knowledge. He wanted a constant, intimate, personal relationship with his Lord. And those of you that are in our adult Sunday school class, we've been talking and working through the book of James. And in the last chapter, we talked about the devils have a pretty good theology of God, don't they? They know who Jesus is, and they know their eternal destiny. But does that Cause them to change? No, it causes them to tremble because they know who Jesus is.

22:40Paul wanted that constant, intimate, personal relationship with the Savior. Paul also wanted to know the power of the resurrection, verse 10. He wanted to experience the same power that raised Jesus from the dead and the power to walk in newness of life. He wrote over in Romans chapter 6, verse 4. The resurrection was one of the most amazing displays of God's power. And Paul wanted this same divine power in order to leave behind his old life, his old deeds, his old desires, his attitudes of the flesh. He wanted to put them behind him. And he needed God's enabling power to allow him to do that and to press on, to press on towards Christ-likeness. Paul also wanted to know how to share in the fellowship of Christ's sufferings and to become more like him, to be conformed to him in his death. It says in verse 10. Now, Paul did not mean that he could somehow share in Christ's physical suffering on the cross. None of us can add to anything to Jesus' sacrifice. Just consider what he says. What Jesus had to endure in obedience to God's plan. He was misunderstood. He was ridiculed. He was falsely accused and he was mocked. In fact, Jesus said, if the world hates you, know that it hated me before it hated you.

24:18If it were not, if you were of this world, the world would love you. Listen to that again. If you were of the world, the world would love you. But because you are not of the world, all of us, we are not of the world, because I chose you out of the world, Jesus says. Because of this, the world hates you and the things that you stand for and the Bible that you share with them. Jesus said these things would happen to us in our lives in John chapter 15, verses 18 and 19. And as a dedicated follower of Jesus Christ, much of Paul's life was also characterized by intense hatred and persecution. If you read through the book of Acts, you'll see that he had all kinds of bad stuff happen to him. He was stoned. He was shipwrecked. He lists off all the things that had happened to him in his life.

25:24But did that deter him from following Jesus? No. He followed him even more fervently. Paul wanted to be one who willingly suffered for the name of Christ. So to conform to something or to someone means that we pattern ourselves after it. Paul knew that in order to live for the Lord, he had to die to selfish interests. He desired to be obedient to God, just as Jesus Christ was obedient when he said, Father, not my will, but your will be done.

26:08In Luke chapter 22, verse 42. And Paul knew that he would one day be in the presence of his Savior, having attained the resurrection of the dead. When Christ is your goal, you want to know him and to become like him. Thirdly, when Christ is your goal, you press on towards Christ-likeness. When Christ is your goal, you press on towards Christ's likeness. Many years ago, I used to teach our high school Sunday school class, and I often ask the young people this question: what would you like to do with your life? What do you want to be?

27:01And more than often, the responses were some kind of educational or vocational goals. I never heard but would love to hear one of those kids say, I want to be like Jesus. I want to be like Jesus. This goal, though, was the first and foremost thing in Paul's mind. And as we see in verses 12 through 14, having counted everything that used to mean anything to Paul as rubbish in order to know Christ and to be found in him, Paul's greatest goal was to become more like Jesus. I think all of us know Romans 8:28.

27:51We know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose. And we think about the good part. All things happen to us. They're not necessarily good, but they work together for our good. But we sort of stop there as we read through that passage, but it continues on to those who are called according to his purpose. But what is God's purpose for us? Well, that can be found in the very next verse. We have to read just a little bit farther into verse 29.

28:30God's purpose for all believers is to be conformed to the image of his Son. That's why we're here. We're being made more and more into the image of Jesus. The Apostle Paul was a spiritual giant in the eyes of the Philippian believers. And he wanted them to know, verse 12, that he had not yet attained these goals that he had stated in verse 10. He was still actively pressing on, actively pursuing, actively working toward them, but he had not yet achieved that final stage of sanctification, which we call glorification. And that won't happen until we get to heaven. We have to die first before we are glorified. And that will be a wonderful place, a wonderful state.

29:34In his daily walk with the Lord, Paul focused on one thing. It says here in verse 13. But then he gives us two things. It's kind of interesting. He says, this one thing I do, and then he says two things. Forgetting and reaching forward or straining. Paul was able to forget his past by not. Letting the past influence his present. Let me say that again. Paul was able to forget his past by not letting his past influence his present. Paul did not let his past achievements, either before or after he was saved, to excuse him from continually growing in Christ's likeness. And neither did he allow his past sins to cause him to despair of ever being more like Jesus Christ.

30:35Now, if you've read through many of Paul's writings, you can see that this guy likes sports. He liked running races, he liked boxing, he liked throwing, he liked all these different sporting events because he speaks about them. He writes about them, he puts them in here. He's actually using words in this particular passage about sporting events. When an athlete in a contest really cares about succeeding, he strains towards a goal. If you've ever watched an Olympic runner or Olympic swimmer in that last bit of that race, they press so hard for that finish line. Nothing else matters to them. They don't look from side to side to see where their buddies are at. They're just looking at the goal. And they're moving on as fast as they can in order to achieve the prize, to achieve a position on that podium. That's where they want to be.

31:31And that's what Paul was talking about here. He wanted to reach that goal just like an athlete. And Paul was going to press on. Another illustration of this: Russell mentioned his dogs this morning. You probably don't have them on a leash, do you, Russell? But if you live in town, you have to have them on leashes. And you take them for walks. Have you ever put a leash on a cat? Tucker doesn't like it. He's our cat. You put a leash on Tucker, he'll fight with it. And if you think, well, maybe we'll put one of these body wraps around him to see if he'll do better as he goes outside, he just lays over. So putting leashes on cats is no thing. But if you put them on a dog, they're pretty obedient. They'll stay with you. You'll be walking along and you're just out for your morning walk. But all of a sudden, little rover sees squirrel. And you want to see an animal strain. That thing will pull against you, and you're just trying to hold him back because he has a goal in mind. He wants to chase that thing as hard as he can, and he wants to catch it.

32:47That same effort of straining towards that squirrel, that same effort of going towards the goal line, towards the finish line, towards the edge of the pool, is exactly what Paul's talking about here. He was pressing on and straining towards that goal of being like Jesus, to be conformed to the image of his Savior. And that is indeed a certain high and heavenly call. In heaven, we will see that work completed. 1 John 3:2 says, We know that when Jesus Christ appears, we will be like him.

33:36But the call to be like Christ should influence how we live here on this earth. And Paul wanted the Philippians to persevere, to stick with it, to be single-minded, and have the goal of placing Christ first in everything that they did. They had started this process, and Paul wanted to see them succeed. Because when Christ is your goal, you press on, you don't quit, you keep persevering to be like Jesus every single day, every moment of your day. Be like Jesus. Let people see Jesus in your life.

34:28Find those moments to say, Why are you different from them? Why Jesus means so much to you. I saw in a comic strip several years ago a woman who was sitting at her kitchen table making a list. Her husband sat down and watched her as she wrote. Number nine, be nicer to other people. Number 10, don't procrastinate. Number 11, cut down on sweets. Number 12, don't be so critical of others. He asked her, New Year's resolutions? And she replied, It's that time of year again. And he said, I'm impressed. Those are some great goals. Do you think you can keep them all?

35:19And she replied, Why should I? These are for you. It would be interesting to write resolutions for everyone else, but I honestly struggle to keep my own. But let me ask you a question. And I'm not sure if you're a resolution people, or I hope you are. What do you want to do with this coming year? What do you want to do with your 2023? Again, this is the question that I asked young people a long time ago: what do you want to do with your life?

36:00I hope and pray that your response will be: I want to be more like Jesus in 2023. And this evening, I'd like to give you just a few minutes to bow your heads and spend a little time talking with the Lord about how you can make Christ's likeness your forever goal. Maybe there's some specific areas that you need to improve in in your walk with the Lord. And if you're not a believer, we'd love to talk with you this evening about how you can know for sure that you can be saved. So, right now, would you just take a little time just between you and God and let Him know how much you love Him and what you might want to work on in this next year, Father? As people are praying, as my brothers and sisters are reaching out to you to let you know how much they love you, how much we love Jesus Christ.

37:16God, may we be more like your Son each and every day. Perhaps some goals and resolutions have been established tonight, and God, I ask that you would help each one to be able to. Press on to pursue that goal that they've set for themselves. Lord, help us to be more like your Son. Help us to be bold in our witness. Help us to be like Him in our lives as we're with our family, as we're with our friends, as we go to school, as we go to work. Wherever we might find ourselves, God, help people see Jesus in us.

38:05Lord, give us the strength, give us the power that we need to do that. Father, we love you. Please help us. Help each and every one. And again, Father, if there's someone here who doesn't know Jesus as their Savior, please let them talk with us before they leave tonight. We'd love to show them from the Bible how they can be saved. Thank you again, Father, for this time, for your word, and we commit it all to your most glorious name. We love you. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.