The Goal

PHILIPPIANS 3:10-21

What excuse do you use for not serving the Lord?

Men who live in the past remind me of a toy I’m sure all of you have seen. The toy is a small wooden bird called the Floogie Bird. Around the Floogie Bird’s neck is a label reading, I fly backwards, I don’t care where I’m going. I just want to see where I’ve been. (The Words of Harry S. Truman, selected by Robert J. Donovan).

THOUGHTS ABOUT THE PASSAGE:

To many, Paul was a spiritual giant. However, he wanted them to know that he had not yet obtained the spiritual goals outlined in verse 10. He was still actively pressing toward these goals. Many Christians are self-satisfied because they compare their life with that of other Christians. If Paul had compared himself with others, he would have been tempted to be proud and perhaps to let up a bit. Instead Paul compared himself with himself and with Jesus Christ! He had not arrived at perfection (v. 12), but he is striving for maturity (v.13), and one mark of that maturity is that he is not perfect.

Paul pursued Christ-likeness with the enthusiasm and persistence of a runner. Vigorously and with concentration Paul sought to win the prize to which God had called him. He kept his eyes on the goal and he refused to let anything distract him (v. 14). The apostle called for his readers to share with him the pursuit of Christ likeness. What he wanted for himself he also wanted for them (v. 15). His plea to the Philippians was that they would live up to what they had already attained, which was a righteous position in Christ. Paul wanted to keep going toward the goal and for others to follow his example (vv. 16-17).

Believers should be able to determine truth from error. Paul was so concerned about the Philippians welfare that he warned them about those who trusted in their own attainments and not in the sufficiency of Christ alone (v.18). He said that all of those who do so are not children of God. He says their God is their stomach, their glory is their shame and their mind is on earthly things (v. 19). We are citizens of heaven and waiting for our bodies to be like the Lord Jesus (vv. 20-21).

APPLICATION:

I can always make excuses that I still have so much to learn that I don’t do anything. What I need to do is live up to what I already know and live out what I have already learned. If I wait until I am perfect I will do nothing.

Scott Gentry