FOR THE LOVE OF GOD

Scripture Reference: Philippians 3:12-16

Direction

Forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead. – Philippians 3:13c.

The unsaved person is controlled by the past, but the Christian running the race looks toward the future. Imagine what would happen on the race course if the charioteers (or the runners) started looking behind them! It is bad enough for a plowman to look back (Luke 9:62), but for a charioteer to do so means a possible collision and serious injury.

We are accustomed to saying “past, present, future,” but we should view time as flowing from the future into the present and then into the past. At least, the believer should be future-oriented, “forgetting what lies behind.” Please keep in mind that in Bible terminology, “to forget” does not mean “to fail to remember.” Apart from senility, hypnosis, or a brain malfunction, no mature person can forget what has happened in the past. We may wish that we could erase certain bad memories, but we cannot. “To forget” in the Bible means “no longer to be influenced by or affected by.” When God promises, “I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more” (Hebrews 10:17), He is not suggesting that He will conveniently have a bad memory! This is impossible with God. What God is saying is, “I will no longer hold their sins against them. Their sins can no longer affect their standing with Me or influence My attitude toward them.”

So, “forgetting what lies behind” does not suggest an impossible feat of mental and psychological gymnastics by which we try to erase the sins and mistakes of the past. It simply means that we break the power of the past by living for the future. We cannot change the past, but we can change the meaning of the past. There were things in Paul’s past that could have been weights to hold him back (1 Timothy 1:12-17), but they became inspirations to speed him ahead. The events did not change, but his understanding of them changed.

A good example of this principle is Joseph (Genesis 45:1-15). When he met his brothers the second time and revealed himself to them, he held no grudge against them. To be sure, they had mistreated him, but he saw the past from God’s point of view. As a result he was unable to hold anything against his brothers. Joseph knew that God had a plan for his life, a race for him to run, and in fulfilling that plan and looking ahead, he broke the power of the past.

Too many Christians are shackled by regrets of the past. They are trying to run the race by looking backward! No wonder they stumble and fall and get in the way of other Christians! Some Christian runners are being distracted by the successes of the past, not the failures; and this is just as bad. That which “lies behind” must be set aside and that which “lies ahead” must take their place.

It is possible to have dissatisfaction, devotion, and direction, and still lose the race and the reward. However, there is a fourth essential.

To Be Continued

Adapted and modified excerpts from Warren W. Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary Volume 2.
Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®, ESV © 2016 by Crossway Bibles.
Used by permission. All rights reserved

Scripture Reference: Philippians 3:12-16

Devotion

But one thing I do . . . – Philippians 3:13b.

“One thing” is a phrase that is important to the Christian life. “You lack one thing,” said Jesus to the self-righteous rich young ruler (Mark 10:21). “One thing is necessary,” He explained to busy Martha when she criticized her sister (Luke 10:42). “One thing I do know,” answered the man who had received his sight by the power of Christ (John 9:25). “One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after,” testified the psalmist (Psalm 27:4). Too many Christians are too involved in “many things,” like Martha, when the secret of progress is to concentrate on “one thing.”

It was this decision that was a turning point in the life of D.L. Moody. Before the tragedy of the Chicago fire in 1871, Mr. Moody was involved in Sunday School promotion, Y.M.C.A. work, evangelistic meetings, and many other activities; but after the fire, he determined to devote himself exclusively to evangelism. “This one thing I do!” became a reality to him. As a result, millions of people heard the Gospel.

The believer must devote himself to “running the Christian race.” No athlete succeeds by doing everything; he succeeds by specializing. There are those few athletes who seem proficient in many sports, but they are the exception. The winners are those who concentrate, who keep their eyes on the goal and let nothing distract them. They are devoted entirely to their calling. Like Nehemiah the wall-building governor, they reply to the distracting invitations, “I am doing a great work and I cannot come down” (Nehemiah 6:3). A person torn this way and that “is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways” (James 1:8). Concentration is the secret of power. If a river is allowed to overflow its banks, the area around it becomes a swamp. But if that river is dammed and controlled, it becomes a source of power. It is wholly a matter of values and priorities, living for that which matters most.

To Be Continued

Adapted and modified excerpts from Warren W. Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary Volume 2.
Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®, ESV © 2016 by Crossway Bibles.
Used by permission. All rights reserved

Scripture Reference: Philippians 3:12-16

Dissatisfaction

Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. – Philippians 3:12-13a.

“Not that I have already obtained this . . .” This is the statement of a great Christian who never permitted himself to be satisfied with his spiritual attainments. Obviously, Paul was satisfied with Jesus Christ (Philippians 3:10), but he was not satisfied with his Christian life. A sanctified dissatisfaction is the first essential to progress in the Christian race.

Harry came out of the manager’s office with a look on his face dismal enough to wilt the roses on the secretary’s desk.

“You didn’t get fired?” she asked.

“No, it’s not that bad. But he sure did lay into me about my sales record. I can’t figure it out; for the past month I’ve been bringing in plenty of orders. I thought he’d compliment me, but instead he told me to get with it.”

Later in the day, the secretary talked to her boss about Harry. The boss chuckled. “Harry is one of our best salesmen and I’d hate to lose him. But he has a tendency to rest on his laurels and be satisfied with his performance. If I didn’t get him mad at me once a month, he’d never produce!”

Many Christians are self-satisfied because they compare their “running” with that of other Christians, usually those who are not making much progress. Had Paul compared himself with others, he would have been tempted to be proud and perhaps to let up a bit. After all, there were not too many believers in Paul’s day who had experienced all that he had! But Paul did not compare himself with others; he compared himself with himself and with Jesus Christ! The dual use of the word “perfect” in verses 12 and 15 which is found in some earlier versions such as the KJV, explains Paul’s thinking. He is not already “perfect” for he states he hasn’t arrived yet at perfection (Philippians 3:12), but he is “mature” [perfect] (Philippians 3:15), and one mark of this maturity is the knowledge that he is not perfect! The mature Christian honestly evaluates himself and strives to do better.

Often in the Bible we are warned against a false estimate of our spiritual condition. The church at Sardis had “the reputation of being alive, but you are dead” (Revelation 3:1). They had reputation without reality. The church at Laodicea boasted that it was rich, when in God’s sight it was “wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked” (Revelation 3:17). In contrast to the Laodicean church, the believers at Smyrna thought they were poor when they were really rich! (Revelation 2:9). As an example, consider Samson who thought he still had his old power, but in reality it had departed from him (Judges 16:20).

Self-evaluation can be a dangerous thing, because we can err in two directions:

1. making ourselves better than we are, or
2. making ourselves worse than we really are.

Paul had no illusions about himself; he still had to “press on” in order to lay hold of the fact that “Christ Jesus has made me [him] his own.” A divine dissatisfaction is essential for spiritual progress. “As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God” (Psalm 42:1-2).

To Be Continued

Adapted and modified excerpts from Warren W. Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary Volume 2.
Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®, ESV © 2016 by Crossway Bibles.
Used by permission. All rights reserved

Scripture Reference: Philippians 3:12-16

Most people read biographies to satisfy their curiosity about great people, hoping also that they may discover the “secret” that made them great. I recall sitting in a grade school assembly program many years ago, listening to an aged doctor who promised to tell us the secret of his long, healthy life. (At one time he was a physician to the President of the United States. I’ve forgotten which one, but at that stage in my life, it seemed it must have been Washington or Jefferson.) All of us sat there with great expectation, hoping to learn the secret of a long life. At the climax of his address, the doctor told us, “Drink eight glasses of water a day!”

In Philippians 3, Paul is giving us his spiritual biography, his past (Philippians 3:1-11), his present (Philippians 3:12-16), and his future (Philippians 3:17-21). In this study we are going to concentrate on Paul “the athlete” with his spiritual vigor, pressing toward the finish line in the Christian race. In each of his experiences, Paul is exercising the spiritual mind; he is looking at things on earth from God’s point of view. As a result, he is not upset by things behind him, around him, or before him—things do not rob him of his joy!

In his letters, Paul uses many illustrations from the world to communicate truth about the Christian life. Four are prominent: the military (“Put on the whole armor of God”), architecture (“You are the temple of God”), agriculture (“Whatsoever a man sows, that shall he also reap”), and athletics. In this paragraph, it is Paul the athlete. Bible students are not agreed as to the exact sport Paul is describing, whether the footrace or the chariot race. Either one will do, but my own preference is the chariot race. The Greek chariot, used in the Olympic Games and other events, was really only a small platform with a wheel on each side. The driver had very little to hold on to as he raced around the course. He had to lean forward and strain every nerve and muscle to maintain balance and control the horses. The verb “straining forward” in Philippians 3:13 literally means “stretching as in a race.”

It is important to note that Paul is not telling us how to be saved. If he were, it would be a picture of salvation by works or self-effort, and this would contradict what he wrote in the first eleven verses of Philippians 3. In order to participate in the Greek games, the athlete had to be a citizen. He did not run the race to gain his citizenship. In Philippians 3:20, Paul reminds us that “our citizenship is in heaven.” Because we are already the children of God through faith in Christ, we have the responsibility of “running the race” and achieving the goals God has set for us. This is a graphic picture he expresses in Philippians 2:12-13, “Work out your own salvation . . . for it is God who works in you.” Each believer is on the track; each has a special lane in which to run; and each has a goal to achieve. If we reach the goal the way God has planned, then we receive a reward. If we fail, we lose the reward, but we do not lose our citizenship. (Read 1 Corinthians 3:11-15 for the same idea, only using architecture as the symbol.)

All of us want to be “winning Christians” and fulfill the purposes for which we have been saved. What are the essentials for winning the race and one day receiving the reward that is promised?

To Be Continued

Adapted and modified excerpts from Warren W. Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary Volume 2.
Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®, ESV © 2016 by Crossway Bibles.
Used by permission. All rights reserved