Press into the Pushback with Determination
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Pressing into the Pushback: Determination
Philippians 3
July 28th, 2024
Philippi was…
Paganistic
Hedonistic
Secular
Political
Look familiar???
Paul’s Philippian “Press in” Action Plan
Confidence: 1:6
Courage: 1:20-21
Humility: 2:5-8
Determination 3:13-14
13 Brothers and sisters, 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, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 3:1-3 (NIV) Further, my brothers and sisters, rejoice in the Lord! It is no trouble for me to write the same things to you again, and it is a safeguard for you. 2 Watch out for those dogs, those evildoers, those mutilators of the flesh. 3 For it is we who are the circumcision, we who serve God by his Spirit, who boast in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh.
Salvation is a gift of grace from God, received by faith. Our discipleship - transformation is the product-response to that gift.
Philippians 3:4-11 (NIV) 4 though I myself have reasons for such confidence. If someone else thinks they have reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: 5 circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; 6 as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for righteousness based on the law, faultless. 7 But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8 What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. 10 I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.
Philippians 3:7-9 (Message Version) 7-9 The very credentials these people are waving around as something special, I’m tearing up and throwing out with the trash—along with everything else I used to take credit for. And why? Because of Christ. Yes, all the things I once thought were so important are gone from my life. Compared to the high privilege of knowing Christ Jesus as my Master, firsthand, everything I once thought I had going for me is insignificant—dog dung. I’ve dumped it all in the trash so that I could embrace Christ and be embraced by him. I didn’t want some petty, inferior brand of righteousness that comes from keeping a list of rules when I could get the robust kind that comes from trusting Christ—God’s righteousness.
Confidence and courage in Christ will always be carried in the humility Christ. Where there is no humility in Christ there has been little transformation from Christ. When you are in Christ you don’t have to fight your way to the top of some imaginary ladder – the life you are longing for isn’t found on the next rung, it’s found in your next steps in Jesus!
Philippians 3:12-14 (NIV) 12 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13 Brothers and sisters, 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, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
Obtained & arrived aren’t what marked Paul’s life – pressing, focusing and straining did!
Paul’s 3-fold Coaching
1. Press on = Keep Moving Regardless!
Working out our salvation is staying in the race until everything Jesus has secured for us gets fleshed out in us. Not until you close your eyes for the last time or when Jesus comes in a “twinkling” of said eye will He be finished with you!
2. Forgetting what’s behind = Focus Forward
In Christ, your past is not a limiting factor to your advancing future – but looking around is. Looking around always slows you down and takes your focus off of finishing.
3. Strain. Prize Value Determines Effort Spent
1 Corinthians 9:24-25 24 Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. 25 Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever.
Philippians 3:15-21 (NIV) 15 All of us, then, 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. 16 Only let us live up to what we have already attained. 17 Join together in following my example, brothers and sisters, and just as you have us as a model, keep your eyes on those who live as we do. 18 For, as I have often told you before and now tell you again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. 19 Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is set on earthly things. 20 But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21 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.
“Aim at heaven and you will get earth thrown in. Aim at earth and you get neither. C.S. Lewis
“What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Jesus, Mark 8:36
3 Message Takeaways.
Your citizenship determines the prize. Christians don’t carry dual citizenship. We are sojourners, aliens just passing through. Where is your citizenship?
Stay focused on the prize. Two focuses = two loses. Stop looking around at what everyone else is doing, it only slows you down. Satan is really good at distractions. Distractions are defeated with Determination. What is distracting you?
Level up your training and straining to the level of the value of the prize. Salvation and Completion in Jesus is priceless. Who or what is getting your best energy?
Next Steps
1. Turn your feelings into a Decision.
2. Draft your decision into a Plan.
3. Work your plan.
Press into the Pushback with …
Confidence.
Courage.
Humility.
Determination.