Philippians 3:12-21 - Gospel Shaped Goals

Listen along as we continue our series through Philippians.

Notes//Quotes:

Phil 3:12-21 

Gospel Shaped Goals

 

“If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 25 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. 26 For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?” 

(Matthew 16:24-26) 

 

“Most of our society is constantly urging us to be aware of what we are, and what we have achieved, and what we have done, and so on. But maturity in Christian living has actually as its beginning an awareness of what I’m not. Christian maturity is not exemplified by high-sounding talk, but in a life of humble, steady consistency. It is a sign of immaturity to “think of [ourselves] more highly than [we] ought.” Maturity rejects exaggerated claims. Maturity is marked instead by a sane estimate of our spiritual progress.” 

—Alistair Begg

 

For Paul, and for us, the prize that beckons us forward “is not something—it is Someone” (Welch 1988, 109). The full knowledge of Christ—this is the prize that awaits us at the end of the race.

Unlike many popular notions of the future today, Paul did not conceive of the goal of his journey as something literal and tangible, such as simply “getting to heaven” or “walking on streets of gold” or “wearing a crown.” Nor was his hope focused on the chance to be reunited with departed loved ones, as sincere as such longings may be. For Paul, living meant Christ (1:21). Knowing Christ and becoming like him was both his present passion and his supreme goal for the future.

The goal motivates the journey. If our purpose is merely “making it to heaven,” we might be tempted to rest on our past laurels and passively coast along until we finally receive our reward. Even worse, eternity might become “nothing more than a selfish pursuit born of a fear of death or hell” (Walton 2001, 469). But when the fullness of Christ is the prize ahead, then the journey is earmarked by a deepening desire for communion with God.” — Dean Fleming

 

“Let us choose … men who teach us by their lives, men who teach us what we ought to do and then prove it by their practice, who show us what we should avoid, and then are never caught doing that which they have ordered us to avoid. Choose as a guide one whom you will admire more when you see him act than when you hear him speak.” —Seneca