Pressing On Toward the Goal (Part 3)

In my last post, I began an expository examination of Philippians 3. My motivation for doing this was quite personal, because God had already been speaking to me out of this chapter, particularly in regards to the issue of personal transformation (see "God's Magnificent Goal" and "The Transformation of Moses"). But before you read this post, I encourage you to first read the previous two posts in this series:

"Pressing On Toward the Goal (Part 1)"
"Pressing On Toward the Goal (Part 2)"

Now we're ready for the third and final segment of this three-part series. In my last post, we focused on Philippians 3:10, which is the pivotal verse for the entire chapter. In it, Paul identifies his central driving passion -- to know the Lord Jesus Christ. And this raises an important question for each of us: What is your central driving passion? How you answer that question has far-reaching implications for your life. For Jesus said in Matthew 6:21:

"For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."

In Philippians 3:10, Paul says: "My treasure is Jesus." No wonder that is also where the focus of Paul's heart also is!

In Colossians 3:1-4, Paul wrote:

"Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory."

Is Jesus your life? If so, it won't be difficult to "set your hearts on things above", because "where your treasure is, there your heart will be also" (Matthew 6:21). But if your treasure is in your bank account, or in the stock market, or in the property market, or in physical possessions, or in your work, or even in your family, then setting your heart on things above will be nigh impossible. You might struggle to do so, but your heart will pull you in a different direction.

For me, well, the answer is very much that my treasure is Jesus. That doesn't mean that I don't have things that I want down here on earth -- oh yes, always would like that next model computer, or the next James Bond gadget -- but all of these things literally pale into insignficance when it comes to the person of Jesus. I'm not bragging, please realise. This is not something superhuman or superspiritual. It is expected of the Christian! This is part of our cultural heritage as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. We are the ones who have responded to Jesus' challenge, who said: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me" (Matthew 16:24). We are the ones whom Peter called "aliens and strangers in the world" (1 Peter 2:11). Is it so strange, then, for a Christian to place Jesus at the top of all priorities, the pinnacle of all desires?

I emphasise again that this is not a prideful, "super-spiritual", "heads-in-the-clouds" attitude. It is what Watchman Nee called "the normal Christian life." Anything less, is subnormal, even abnormal. Jesus expected nothing less.

So let's look back at Philippians 3, and track Paul's thoughts following this grand statement of purpose he made in Philippians 3:10. Remember, Philippians 3 is primarily about personal transformation, and all we've looked at so far is the precursor to that transformation -- the transforming of our thinking, of our mindset, of our worldview. Now begins the real transformative process.

In Philippians 3:12-14, Paul writes:

"Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus."

Paul saw himself as still on the journey, not having yet reached the final destination. It is clear that he hasn't "already obtained all this, or...been made perfect." This is encouraging for me, as it should be for all of us. Setting Jesus is your primary focus in life doesn't mean you've arrived; it just means you've started the journey. Oh, but what a journey it is!

I love Paul's next statement, in verse 12. He says, "I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me." Jesus took a hold of me for something -- a goal, a purpose, a master plan that He had since before the creation of the world (see Ephesians 1:4). He took the initiative, and chose me for that purpose (see John 15:16). Now, however, it is my turn to respond to that divine initiative. I now take a hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me!

Look at how different translations and paraphrases render that particular portion of Philippians 3:12:

• New International Version - "...but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me."

• King James Version - "...but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus."

• English Standard Version - "I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own."

• New Life Version - "But I keep going on to make that life my own as Christ Jesus made me His own."

• New Living Translation - "But I keep working toward that day when I will finally be all that Christ Jesus saved me for and wants me to be."

• Holman Christian Standard Bible - "...but I make every effort to take hold of it because I also have been taken hold of by Christ Jesus."

• New English Translation - "...but I strive to lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus also laid hold of me."

• New International Reader's Version - "But I move on to take hold of what Christ Jesus took hold of me for."

• J B Phillips - "But I keep going on, grasping ever more firmly that purpose for which Christ grasped me."

• The Message - "But I am well on my way, reaching out for Christ, who has so wondrously reached out for me."

• The Amplified Bible - "...but I press on to lay hold of (grasp) and make my own, that for which Christ Jesus (the Messiah) has laid hold of me and made me His own."

All these translations (or paraphrases) seek to bring out the nuances of Paul's original Greek, which has a meaning essentially as follows: Christ Jesus took a hold of (grasped) Paul for something, and so Paul now takes a hold (grasps) that something will all his heart and energy.

I particularly love J B Phillips' translation/paraphrase of Philippians 3:12-14, which goes like this:

"Yet, my brothers, I do not consider myself to have 'arrived', spiritually, nor do I consider myself already perfect. But I keep going on, grasping ever more firmly that purpose for which Christ grasped me. My brothers, I do not consider myself to have fully grasped it even now. But I do concentrate on this: I leave the past behind and with hands outstretched to whatever lies ahead I go straight for the goal - my reward the honour of being called by God in Christ."

Like us all, Paul had made mistakes, some of them even recorded in Scripture. But he refused to allow himself to be a prisoner of the past, because he was a prisoner of hope (Zechariah 9:12). So he said: "I leave the past behind and with hands outstretched to whatever lies ahead I go straight for the goal..."

I spent a whole post sharing about this goal in "God's Magnificent Goal", and this, for me, is what drives me forward each day. For Jesus is not just for me the subject of a personal relationship, He is also the object of my life's goal. Like Paul, I too am being "conformed to the likeness of [God's] son" (Romans 8:29), and am "being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit" (2 Corinthians 3:18). And as 1 John 3:3 says: "Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure."

I think it worthwhile mentioning here what I consider this "prize" to be. First of all, it is clearly not salvation itself, for salvation is a gift from God as part of the package of His grace (see Ephesians 2:8-9). Rather, the "prize" Paul is talking about is in the context of Greek games of competition, such as track events, where a runner would run for a prize, which was awarded to him upon successful completion of the event (see 1 Corinthians 9:24-25; Colossians 2:18; Hebrews 12:1-2; 2 Timothy 2:5; 4:8). For me, the "prize" -- sometimes also referred to as "the crown of righteousness" or "the victor's crown" -- is none other than Jesus and all His glory. Or, if you like, the honour of sharing in His glory (Romans 8:17-18; 2 Corinthians 3:18).

In Philippians 3:15-16, Paul then says:

"All of us who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you. Only let us live up to what we have already attained."

Transformation is a step-by-step process, not a snap-of-the-finger, I'm-suddenly-there experience. But Paul advises that we should "live up to what we have already attained." In other words, don't take a backward step. Don't grow so comfortable, that we lose ground on what God has done in our lives. This means, as always, "forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead," and "press[ing] on toward the goal to win the prize..." The race is not over until it's over (2 Timothy 4:7).

On the basis of this, Paul now says, in Philippians 3:17:

"Join with others in following my example, brothers, and take note of those who live according to the pattern we gave you."

There is a pattern of life which has been set in Scripture which we are to live according to and model for others. Paul encouraged the Philippian Christians to follow his own example, as he also said in 2 Thessalonians 3:7-9. And in 1 Corinthians 11:1 he said: "Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ." Once again, living according to this biblical pattern is all, ultimately, about being conformed to the likeness of Jesus Himself.

In the next two verses, Paul speaks with great grief about Christians who have refused to embark on this process of personal transformation -- refusing to be conformed to the likeness of Jesus. In Philippians 3:18-19, he writes:

"For, as I have often told you before and now say again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is on earthly things."

Here are people doing the exact opposite of everything Paul has described in Philippians 3:7-17. Instead of fixing their eyes on the eternal, "their mind is on earthly things." Instead of striving toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called [them] heavenward in Christ Jesus," their "destiny is destruction." Instead of their driving passion being to know Jesus, their driving passion is their own appetites. And instead of being conformed to the glory of Jesus, they have pursued their own glory, which Paul calls their very "shame." They are, says Paul, "enemies of the cross of Christ."

But we're not like that, says Paul! In Philippians 3:20-21, he writes:

"But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body."

What a grand finale to Paul's chapter on personal transformation! And what a journey we've covered in three days, as we've explored this extraordinary chapter. At last, here at the end, Paul reveals the great goal to which we are all moving. Our citizenship is in heaven, because that's where our hearts and minds are fixed. When Jesus returns, "by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control", he will "transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body."

That is a fixed event awaiting us, sometime in the near future. But even now, on the journey of transformation leading toward this goal, we are able to experience a foretaste of this final physical transformation, for even before then, Paul's desire was to know "the power of his resurrection" outworked in his day-to-day life (Philippians 3:10). Even now, before His return, Jesus still has "the power that enables him to bring everything under his control" (see Matthew 28:18; Ephesians 1:19-21). And so, as I myself am on this journey of transformation, I'm reaching forward by faith to experience "the power of his resurrection" in my life (see Romans 8:11).

1 John 3:2 describes the end-goal of this process of transformation in this way:

"Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is."

1 John 3:3 then closes that thought with these words:

"Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure."

We are on a path of transformation, in which we can choose to purify ourselves "just as he is pure." But this purification comes by "the washing of the water by the word" of Jesus (Ephesians 5:26; John 15:3) on the basis of "the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith" (Philippians 3:9). Let's respond then to the encouragement of 2 Corinthians 7:1:

"Since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God."