Living The Jesus Life

This series is a part of our annual practice of spending time focusing on one book of the Bible. In this case, the study is of Philippians – the letter Paul wrote from a Roman prison to the church at Philippi, the first church Paul started in Eastern Europe (see Acts 16). The people at Philippi were facing the resistance of Rome but remained a vibrant community of faith.

Philippians is a letter that speaks to living life as a disciple of Jesus in 2023. That's why we've entitled the series, 'Living the Jesus Life'.

Today's focus is Philippians 3:12-21

What is the goal?

1. The heavenward call
-Life on earth may be important, obedience on earth may be important, but let’s never forget the goal.
2. Our citizenship in Heaven
-Philippi was filled with individuals who were proud to be Roman citizens. But Paul is declaring that we are ultimately citizens of heaven, which speaks of our identity, our heritage, our family.
3. Awaiting the return of the Savior
-Jesus is coming back! The resurrected Jesus, sitting at the right hand of the Father, will return again.

So this is the goal: the promise of heaven, the call to be citizens of His Kingdom, and the promise of the soon coming King, returning to transform us completely and finally.

So how do we arrive at the goal?
-In pursuit of the goal there is one thing Paul does. Interestingly, the one thing is actually two things that happen together, in unison.
-Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead.

Forgetting what is behind
-Paul is not saying that the past is bad and he's definitely not saying the past doesn't matter. The problem is that if we allow ourselves to stay there, the consequences will be costly.
-An important truth from God's Word: Your past has no more power over you than what you give it.
-In this text, Paul is not literally forgetting, rather he is removing the power of what’s behind to hinder him in the now.

Straining towards what is ahead
-While forgetting about what is behind, we must strain towards what is ahead.
-We don’t walk toward what is ahead, or run toward what is ahead, we strain toward what is ahead.
-You can't strain toward the future without choosing to forget what is behind.

As we run this race, there will be things holding us back:
-in Philippians 3 it was the past, focusing on what's behind, losing focus and getting our attention focused on the wrong things.
-in Hebrews 12, it's the entanglements, the sin, and the things that weigh us down and hold us back.

Why was this so important to Paul?
Why was focusing on the goal so important?
What was the church in Philippi missing?
What might we be missing today?

Ultimately, Paul was saying, "Don't quit".

Verses for further study/reflection:
Proverbs 21:5
Habakkuk 2:2-3
2 Corinthians 5:17