Paul’s aim in the previous section was to show us that no amount of religious performance or personal accomplishment can earn our righteousness before God; instead, the only way for anyone to be made righteous before God is by faith in Jesus Christ.  

He used himself as a vivid illustration of this.

Here was a guy who had it all in terms of religious achievements. 

Yet at the end of the day, he said, “I count it all as one giant loss compared to knowing Christ”. 

To be clear: it’s not just that Paul carefully tallied all of his achievements and everything he had going for him in life and then looked at Christ and decided Christ was more valuable… He did do that… but in the context, it’s that he looked at that pile of achievements and knew that it couldn’t save him.  

That was the big truth from last week: that when you and I stand before God after all is said and done, our own righteous deeds will NEVER be enough to save us.  The only plea we have before a holy God is the righteousness of Christ, not our own.  

• Christ alone has done what we could never do. 

• Christ has lived in perfect obedience to God’s standards. 

• Christ has perfectly obeyed God’s will. 

• Christ has perfectly kept the commandments. 

• Christ has died sacrificially on the cross to pay for the debt incurred by our sin. 

• Christ has risen from the dead in power and victory. 

Christ alone is righteous… and so when we place our trust in Christ alone, his righteousness is credited to us and that’s how we are saved. 

This is what Paul referred to in verse 9 from last week as, “the righteousness of God that depends on faith”. 

And then we wrapped up last week with Paul’s stated goal of his life: 

• Philippians 3:10–11 (ESV): 10 that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.

What was Paul’s end game? What were his sights fixed on?  His final resurrection.  Glory with Christ. He did everything with a view towards eternity with Jesus.  

That’s why he could consider the things of the world as useless compared to knowing Christ. Because those things wouldn’t matter where he was headed, AND those things couldn’t help get him there.  

And as we pick up where we left off, what I want you to see today is that this was an active pursuit for Paul, and it is an active pursuit for you and I.  Yes, God is the Author and Finisher of our salvation. But we have an active role to play as we press on towards our destination.  Following Jesus is not a passive endeavor.  We must actively press on. 

Philippians 3:12–21 (ESV): 

12 Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, 

Paul wanted to make sure his readers understood that he wasn’t claiming sinless perfection. He wanted them to know that he himself, even as an apostle of Jesus, was still in process. 

If you are a Christian, you are under construction.

Or, to use the sort of analogy we see across the New Testament, you are still running the race. 

When you repented of your sin, turned and trusted Jesus and were baptized, that was not just a finish line… It was a finish line in one sense, because your sins were washed a way and you were declared righteous before God once and for all time… BUT it was MORE than a finish line… it was also a starting line.  It was the beginning of a marathon towards eternal glory with Christ. 

Yes, Jesus has delivered you from the penalty and power of sin… but he is still in the process of delivering you from the presence of sin. 

• Hebrews 10:14 (NIV): 14 For by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.

but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. 

Paul was actively pressing on in his relationship with Christ, and in his ministry, and in his personal holiness and progress in the faith because he had an end in mind. He wanted nothing more than to be with Christ in perfection.  

• Remember, back in 1:21-23 he said , “for me to live is Christ and to die is gain… my desire is to depart and be with Christ.” 

And why, according to the end of verse 12, did Paul press on to make this final goal “his own”? 

He says, “because Christ Jesus has made me his own”. 

• The reason Paul was pressing on towards obtaining eternity with Christ is because the Christ of eternity had already obtained him.  

This is a crucial truth for us to understand. 

If we are in Christ, He has obtained us… he has taken possession of us… and that is what enables us (and motivates us) to pursue Him with our whole lives.  He initiates, we follow.   

There are other similar expressions used across the New Testament to convey the way Christ has obtained us. 

• 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 you were bought with a price

• 1 Peter 1:18-19 You were redeemed… with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.

• Titus 2:13-14 Jesus Christ… gave Himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession…

• Galatians 4:4-5 to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption as sons.

• Mark 10:45 the Son of Man came… to give His live as a ransom for many.

• Revelation 5:9 You were slain, and with Your blood you purchased people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation. 

The point is, if you are in Christ, you belong to Him, and that is what enables you to continue pressing on.  

We don’t press on in order to belong to Christ, we press on because we belong to Christ. 

Then Paul re-states the same expression, but this time he gives us more information as to what he means by pressing on…

13 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,  

What did pressing on look like for Paul? 

Forgetting what was behind him, and straining forward to what was ahead. 

In other words, he wasn’t going to waste time revelling in the past.  His eyes were set on the track ahead of him, not behind him.  

We talked last week about Paul’s past… he had a lot to look back on, both good and bad.  

• He could have easily been stuck dwelling on his old life as a Pharisee and all of the status and attention he received… 

• He could have equally been stuck dwelling on his past failures as someone who persecuted God’s people before God “took possession” of Him on the road to Damascus. 

But he knew that looking back would only hinder him. 

Some Christians get easily distracted by the past… 

We can get distracted by:

• Past failures.  We need to remember that the failures of yesterday don’t define us. 

• Past pleasures.  Sometimes people look back at their old lives with longing, secretly wishing they could revert back to indulging in old sins.  

• Not only are these forms of ‘looking back’ detrimental to forward progress, they’re also incongruent with your new identity in Christ: 

• 2 Corinthians 5:17 (ESV): 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

• Ironically, we can also get distracted by past victories.  Sometimes we focus so much on what God has done in the past that we forget that He still wants to do more in the future!  

• Like uncle Rico from Napoleon Dynamite, who couldn’t see past his highschool football career, some Christians can’t see past “the glory days” of their early conversion experiences.

• It’s good to celebrate and memorialize what God has done in the past. The Israelites would set up memorials to remind them of God’s past victories. But we also need to look ahead in anticipation of all that God will do. 

God wants to move us from glory to glory. Not from glory to boring.    

Keep digging in! There is MORE in Christ! 

• More joy, more peace, more purpose, more forgiveness, more victory over sin, more life transformation… 

Paul says… 

14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

He’s using athletic language.  “Press on toward the goal for the prize…” 

You’ve heard the expression “running for your life…” 

Well, Paul was literally running for his life… He was running for his eternal life.  

The victory was already sure, because “he who began a good work in [him would surely] bring it to completion at the day of Christ Jesus” (1:6)... but that didn’t stop him from sprinting toward it. 

The author of Hebrews gives a similar rally cry: 

• Hebrews 12:1 (ESV): 12 Therefore, since we are 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, 2 fixing our eyes on Jesus…

You want to really sprint towards the finish line?  You really want victory in all the ways that count? Fix your eyes on Jesus… That’s where true mileage is gained in the Christian life… 

• 2 Corinthians 3:18 (ESV): 18 And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.

15 Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you. 

A mark of maturity is being able to focus on what’s ahead, and press on towards greater glory.  

• As we focus on Jesus ahead of us, and not on what’s behind us, God moves us along in our journey towards maturity. 

And Paul adds the confident assertion that even those among them who may not be convinced of this yet would soon agree as God worked on their hearts as well. 

16 Only let us hold true to what we have attained. 

In other words, we may not be fully mature in our understanding, but we can certainly live up to what we already know to be true.  

• It’s always a little funny to me when Christians are so concerned with discovering more of God’s specific will for their lives when they clearly haven’t even scratched the surface of the myriad of clear commands they have already received from Him in His word. 

• It’s not wrong to seek more specific direction from God. But sometimes we conveniently bypass the hundreds of moral commands He’s already made plain to us in search of some secret will for our lives.  

• Paul’s point is, focus on living up to what you already know God wants for you. That’ll keep you busy.  

God brings many people to our church who are in a transitional season. 

It’s good to seek His will for your future. 

But while you’re at it, just seek HIM. 

You may not know where He’ll lead you, but you do know He’s leading you to make Him known.  Focus on that and watch God steer your life as you move forward in obedience.  

There is another way to ensure we are pressing on… that is through following those who are. 

17 Brothers, 

Fellow Christians… 

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

True, Paul wasn’t perfect yet. But he was confident enough in his own maturity to instruct the Philippians to follow his example of living.  

He’s not being egotistical; he’s just encouraging them to look at tangible examples of what it looks like to follow Christ at a higher level than they were currently at. 

Back in chapter 2 we talked about how everyone needs a Paul, a Epaphroditus and a Timothy in their life. 

Someone ahead of us, beside us, and behind us in the faith.  

I’d like to reiterate that, especially in relation to those ahead of us.  

• 1 Corinthians 11:1 Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.

• Hebrews 13:7 Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith.

• Proverbs 13:20 walk with the wise and become wise… 

I think of Moses in Exodus 18 who was drowning in the pressures and responsibilities of leadership, when his father in law Jethro pulled him aside and gave him wise counsel that changed his life.  

Or Samuel who learned to hear the voice of the Lord under Eli’s guidance. 

Or Barnabas, Timothy, and Titus who were all mentored by Paul at various times.  

My whole life I’ve had the benefit of looking up to those who were ahead of me in Christ. 

They weren’t perfect; but they were ahead of me, and like Paul they were pressing on. 

• Shane

• Mike Wellman

• Joe Crider

• Ted Kirnbauer

• Eric Arakawa 

I’ve kept my eyes on men like this in my life, and it has served me well. My wife has her own list of godly women who have poured into her over the years, helping to make her the excellent wife and mother she is.  

Who has God placed in your life who you can ‘keep your eyes on’ and imitate? 

I also want to say a brief word of encouragement to the mature members of our congregation. 

Look around.  This church NEEDS you.  Look at all the young people who need guidance and wisdom.  

For some of you, pressing on is going to look like stepping out in faith to mentor someone behind you in the faith.  

• Maybe it starts by inviting them over for dinner.  

• Maybe it starts with a conversation, and just showing interest in their lives.  

• Maybe it starts with a prayer: God please show me who You want me to pour into in this season. 

Sadly, mentors and godly examples can be hard to come by.  

And this is not a new phenomenon… 

Jesus said, “the harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few”.  There are always more people who need discipleship than there are people to disciple them. 

And according to what Paul says next, bad examples are much more ubiquitous than good ones…

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

Now, when he says these others among them were ‘enemies of the cross’, he’s not saying they were literally against the physical cross Jesus died on. He’s saying they were against the ideology of the cross.  

The cross represents the pure gospel of salvation by grace through faith in what Jesus did on the cross, and how He continues to transform and sanctify those who have been justified by faith. 

There are two broad categories of ways to be an enemy of the cross as a professing Christian; two ways to fall off the proverbial boat of God’s grace: legalism on the one hand, and lawlessness on the other. 

Legalism vs Lawlessness 

We talked about legalism at length last week, in relation to the Judaizers.  They were preaching a false gospel that said people needed to try to be justified before God by obeying the law.  That won’t ever work.  We can’t rely on human effort, we must rely on God’s grace.   

But the exact opposite extreme from legalism is lawlessness.  This extreme is sometimes called antinomianism, meaning ‘anti-law’.   You might also call it licentiousness. 

It’s giving in to our sinful desires because “grace will cover it”.  

• “I can live however I want because God will forgive me...” 

• Paul opposes this in Romans 6 by saying, “how can we who died to sin still live in it?” 

• In other words, if you go on living in blatant rebellion against God’s laws, you are proving that you never were dead to sin, therefore you never were saved! 

Good works are NOT a prerequisite for salvation, but they are a product of salvation. 

BOTH the legalist who trusts in his own performance to save him, AND the lawless one who thinks they are trusting in grace but whose life does not reflect obedience to Christ, are at odds with the true gospel.  They are both enemies of the cross, which says we are not saved by good works, but we are saved for good works.   

Paul would oppose both extremes, and we should carefully avoid both extremes! 

What does it look like to be an enemy of the cross?  Here’s a vivid description:  

19 Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things. 

Do you want to know whether your end is destruction?  

Are you curious about whether the road you’re taking in life is going to end in the presence of God forever or in eternal destruction? 

Use this verse as a rubric, and ask yourself: 

• Am I driven primarily by my fleshly desires? 

• Do I rejoice in things I should be ashamed of? 

• Is my mind set on earthly things instead of heavenly things? 

If the answer to any of those questions is yes, the next step is to sincerely repent and cast yourself on Christ.  

But for Paul and those on his same page… and for those of us here today who are truly trusting and following Jesus… this next part is our true reality: 

20 But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21 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.

Read that again slowly.  Take in every phrase, and believe it is your reality.  

Pressing on is hard. 

Why do we do it? Why do we sprint instead of jog?  Why do we exert ourselves and endure all kinds of hardship and heartache?  Why do we persevere through the rigors and messes of relationships with those ahead of us, beside us and behind us in the faith?  Why do we actively put to death sinful tendencies and pursue godliness? 

Why do we press on? 

Because it’s who we are.  

And… 

Because we have a Savior who pressed on for us.  

Who endured the cross for us. 

Who ransomed us. 

And who is coming back for us.  

He has already won the victory for us, and He has given us a mission to fulfill, a race to run, and a finish line to cross. 

He is worth it.