Verse 12

 

Attained what?>>Paul has walked us through clear exhortation, precise direction concerning thankfulness, prayer, fellowship, love, sincerity, humility, obedience, suffering, selflessness...he has shared with us about rejoicing, peace, consolation, comfort, true strength and power in the Spirit....he has made compelling statements such as “let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus,” “let your conduct be worthy of the gospel of Christ,” and “for me to live is Christ and to die is gain.”

 

We sometimes read the bible and come across statements such as “I count all things loss for the Excellency of the knowledge of Jesus” and we automatically sign ourselves up for later.  It’s almost an unconscious decision made the moment we read a powerful and life impacting passage because we know we don't measure up and so rather than resolving to do something about it, we...in a way...almost unconsciously, well this one is not for me...yet.

 

Do you know what that is called?  That is called an ideal.

 

An unknown author once defined an ideal as “something that everyone is expected to honor, but nobody is expected to attain.”  And this may very well be where we arrive when studying the bible...studying the issues of humility, obedience and selflessness.  When we read the teachings of Jesus and He says “if you desire to gain your life, you must lose it.”

At the heart of discipleship, is discipline.  And at the heart of discipline, is resolve.  Paul has resolved that apart from knowing Jesus, this life has nothing at all.  That's the same resolve that Solomon in all his wisdom concluded after performing a comprehensive survey of all this world has to offer...7 times throughout the Book of Ecclesiastes, Solomon considers the profit of this world and proclaims “all is vanity and grasping for the wind.”

 

Paul has resolved, he has made a personal decision, in light of the facts....in light of the fact that this world is empty (he should know, he had it all), in light of the fact that God is good (he should know, he has received mercy, grace and peace), Paul has resolved to be a disciple of Jesus Christ.  To Paul, his writings are his life...they are not unattainable ideals...they are his heart's desires...

 

But as he wrote this letter to his children in the faith there at Philippi, he must have realized that there would be some among them (and the Holy Spirit knew that there would be some of us) who would dismiss his clear exhortations as something that no Christian could possibly be expected to accomplish.  Oh they would admit the ideal was a good one, but by their actions, by their lack of resolve...they would conclude it to be unpractical. 

 

And so Paul encourages us.  He adds hey brother, hey sister, I have not yet realized the goal in its entirety, but you best believe I am after it. 

 

This is a goal unlike those you have set for your education, for your career.  This goal is a goal of resolve.  This goal is achieved not with the list of work to be completed but with the regretless life of power, boldness, virtue and strength.  Paul says run in such a way that you may win meaning not that you elbow your way through the pack to the material trophy or glory but that once you are running, on course...flexing your spiritual muscle gained by training under the Coach on High, then friend you are winning and the prize is in sight...the upward calling of Christ on your life.

 

Jesus said to count up the cost of following Him but He also said that His disciple will suffer no loss for which God will not abundantly compensate.  In Mark 10:29 Jesus said, place your focus on me, place your trust on me, and if that means losing something then lose it for there is not one of my disciples who has lost that will not receive a hundred fold over at My hand. 

 

Paul says, no I have not yet attained...shoot I'm still here with you, I'm not perfect...but I press on 'cause my life apart from Christ is regret, it is loss, it is empty...

 

Don't hear this and be motivated.  Hear this and be changed.  Hear this and resolve.  Don't be a believer, don't be a follower, be a disciple.  You can do all these things that Paul writes.  You can do all the things written by the 40 authors that were inspired by the Holy Spirit to show you the course to be ran, the race to win.  I promise you.  Don't think that you can't.  Mark 10:27 says “With men, impossible, but not with God; for with God all things are possible.”

 

You don't learn the bible because you think you can't, well you can.

You don't teach others spiritual truths because you think you can't, well you can.

You don't respect your husband’s because you feel like you can't, well you can.

You don't love your wife as Jesus loves the church because you feel like you can't, well you can.

You don't work as unto the Lord in your place of employment because you feel like you can't, well you can.

You don't get alone with God because you think you can't well you can.

 

2 Cor 1:20 says “For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us.”  Oh yes friends, when your heart is resolved regarding Jesus Christ, His love, His truth...I didn't say when your heart is in desire...I said resolved...decision made > I may be hungry and I may desire to eat but unless I resolve to eat, make time, make food and actually eat then I starve, I starve in my desire > once your heart is resolved regarding Jesus, all these things that hold you back, all these I can't, I can't, I can't become I am, I can, I will...

 

Are you an effective witness for Christ?  You can be.  Don't hear this and be motivated, hear this and be changed. 

 

Paul continues on this subject in verse 13...

 

As a disciple of Jesus there will no doubt be persecutions.  And in those persecutions there will no doubt be personal failures.  The most frequent way I learn is through my mistakes.  Paul wants his children to know that he is not yet perfected and he has made his fair share of mistakes.  And the same goes for us...

 

But his plea here is for us to not get discouraged.  Discouragement is the assassin of initiative.  Living in the past is dangerous.  The bad times hurt and the good times plague.  We must keep a heavenly perspective and guess what, we're not in heaven yet.  Heaven is the imminent future of the born-again believer and therefore, as we go about this race, we must keep our eyes on the future. 

 

It has been exciting what God has done in your life and in mine but we are to be more excited, more expecting what God is going to do.  And therefore our failures, Paul says don't dwell on them.  Repent, learn and resolve.  In other words change.  Don't repeat that which you have repented.  No profit there, no victory there. 

 

Jesus is the propitiation for our sins.  Not our past sins only.  But our past sins, our present sin and our future sin.  When we find that we have missed the mark, turn your eyes upon Jesus.  The debt that it feels like we are adding to...is already paid.  The bible says His mercies for us are new each and every morning. 

 

Acknowledge your mistake, don't be deceived by flippantly overlooking sin, but acknowledge that man I slipped, I fell and then exercise the gift of repentance and be changed.  But then, don't miss this...move on.

 

The bible says as far as the east is from the west, that's how far He has removed our transgressions from us.  Forgive yourself...and get back in the game.  The enemy wants nothing more than to take you out of the game.  One believer walking in God's grace is no match for the devil.  The bible says that if you resist the devil, he will flee.  Homeboy runs when he sees the born-again, on fire, grace>Spirit filled Christian.

 

Think about that.  Room full of folks, sinners, just hanging...the devil dancing in their midst lulling them to sleep.  In walks in a born-again, spirit filled, on fire, disciple of Jesus and whoosh, the devil flash gorden's out of the room. 

 

 

That is what is meant by Jesus when He says you are the salt and the light of the world.  You preserve, you shine and the darkness tries to hide, but it can't so it whoosh is gone.

 

But you are not able to walk in this calling while harboring discouragement or unforgivness.  Listen that goes for your attitude towards others also...

 

As a disciple of Jesus alongside others in the faith there will no doubt be offenses.  But the key to overcoming offenses is forgiveness and the source of forgiveness, is love. 

 

The bible says that love never fails.  The bible says that God is love and at the heart of the gospel, is forgiveness.  This is a subject that the bible is explicitly clear on...In Matthew 6 Jesus clearly states if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses...

 

You see forgiveness, moment to moment forgiveness is the work of the Holy Spirit in your heart...giving you the ability to show mercy, and grace and have peace with others even though you are a knuckle head and they are a knuckle head...

 

Jesus is making it very clear that having a forgiving heart, a heart that willfully and actively forgets those things which are behind and reaches for those things which are ahead, is a straight up commandment for anyone who is a follower of Him and if you do not have that capacity, then there is no way you are His disciple. 

Why?  The key is Col. 3:12-14 where Paul writes, “Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection.”

 

It’s interesting that in Luke 7:47 Jesus says “But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little.”  Forgiveness on the part of the offended is essential to a real-deal close relationship...do you have many surface level relationships but no fervent friends?  The key to close, fervent, strong, wonderful and God honoring relationships, is forgiveness.

 

Forgiveness is essential in a God honoring marriage.  There are two lynch-pins in a marriage...and those are sacrifice and forgiveness.  Moment to moment.  Remember, those who are forgiven much, love much.  Those that are shown grace, respond in love...we would be wise to really meditate on that and help ourselves out in the home by just loving our husband, by just loving our wife...not because they are everything we need or want but because we desire to honor God in our marriage through a fervent, strong, affectionate and wonderful covenant...that we agreed to in his sight.

 

Discouragement is the assassin of initiative and if the enemy can assassinate your drive then he can take you out of the game.  Paul says no!  Forgive, move on, keep pressing in and you will find that you are not perfect but the One in you is and you can walk in imperfect perfection when it is no longer you that lives but Christ in you...

 

Paul concludes the exhortation in verses 15 and 16.

 

I love what Paul says here.  Hey if you are a spiritual grown up, do this.  Resolve concerning what I have said.  But there will be some that won't and you'll know it...let God deal with them.  The word does not go forth void.  The word lived out in your life has an effect, let God be God and just forgive, love and sacrifice...then God will even reveal to you more of Himself.

 

Don't take the lead.  Don't be fooled into thinking that God's hand is shortened.  The bible says that God is not slack as men count slackness.  In the hands of God, you are responsible for you...how you live your life in response to Jesus Christ.  God has not laid a trip on you that if your wife or your husband or your children or your co-workers do not get saved then it’s because you failed.  No, it’s higher than that, its deeper than that...if I live life for myself, then I have failed...and a simple by product of that is people around me won't get saved because they won't be seeing the goodness of God lived out in my life.

 

No I'm not the lead.  I follow the Lead, I resolve to live my life for the Lord...yes because I know His goodness and yes because He leads me to still waters, to peace, to satisfaction, to hope, love and abundant life, but also so that my witness is strong and not superficial.  Not just head knowledge and biblical understanding but a life impacted, changed and reeking of God's grace.  And I do this is hope and faith that God will open doors of ministry, provide opportunities at just the right time to share the love and salvation of the Lord...

 

Listen, I am confident that God wants to use me and I am confident that God wants to reach EVERYONE!  How do I know this, because the bible makes it abundantly clear that it is in the very nature of God to reveal Himself to His creation.

 

In one sense, all God has ever done has been directed towards revealing Himself.  Creation reveals God.  Paul writes in Romans chp 1 that creation reveals God's invisible qualities...His eternal power and divine nature.”

 

When God caused the scriptures of the Old and New Testaments to be written, this too was to reveal Himself to us. 

 

And finally, just as He revealed His power in nature and His purposes in scripture, He revealed His personality in His Son, Jesus.  We know this as Jesus said in John 14, if anyone has seen me then they have seen the Father.”

 

 

It's God's nature to reveal himself...that is why Paul says, hey if you don't agree with me, if you don't do these things I have written...if you don't have this mind in you...you're wrong.

 

BUT it is not I that will stand here, preaching at you and wait for you to crumble under my unquestionable, eloquent arguments.  No I will go to those who desire to be taught...it is God who I trust to reveal Himself to you....nevertheless, he says even if you don't get it...I'll love you just the same...

 

That is what he means by “let us walk by the same rule”..what rule...love.  I forgive you...the way I treat you is not in response to how you are or how you treat me but simply in response to who God is...

 

That's supernatural folks.  That is the fruit of the Spirit.  To love not as a condition of being loved but simply because God has revealed to you that it is a more excellent way.  That it never fails...that even to suffer in love is to open the door of your heart to knowing Him more...to share in His fellowship of suffering.