Philppians 3:10-11  "That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death ; in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead"

 

 Three things Paul wanted to know better:

 

PAUL WANTED TO KNOW HIM:  "that I might know Him" 

1. Paul even at this stage in his life....when he had been allowed to write all of these Epistles and had been used so mightly of God....still had a desire in his heart and mind...which was for a more INTIMATE KNOWLEDGE OF CHRIST.  This is even inspite of the experiences of II Cor. 12  where Paul talks about his experience of being caught up into Paradise.  [most of us would settle for this and forget anything else]

a. Note that Paul never in these verses ask for STUFF, THINGS, WEALTH, POSITION, NEW HOME, BETTER HOME, BETTER FOOD ETC.  

b. Lesson: I have to constantly check my life to see if I really want to know more about Him or just have Him give me some more things.  

 

PAUL WANTED TO BE MORE LIKE CHRIST :   “ the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings.”

1. When you meet someone you admire...then you have an instinctive feeling within you that you would want to be LIKE that person.  I remember when in Bible School, there was one professor that we all admired and some of us even began to walk like he walked....because we so admired Him as a Believer.  

2. Note: Once you reach the place that you want to KNOW HIM BETTER....You will  also want to be MORE LIKE HIM... this is the meaning of  the statement, “power of his resurrection and fellowship of His sufferings." 

a. “fellowship of His sufferings” simply means that Paul wanted to ENTER INTO SOME OF THE SAME EXPERIENCES OF CHRIST....IN HIS OWN LIFE....such as “fellowship of His sufferings.” Truthfully, it would be impossible to become “more like Him” without participation into “some of His sufferings.”  

b. Our Lord was a man “of sorrows and acquainted with grief.”  WHY?  Partly because his soul was troubled when He saw what sin had done to the creation of His Father.  The ugliness, the foulness of sin grieved and hurt Him.  AS I GET TO KNOW HIM BETTER, SIN WILL THEN BEGIN TO GRIEVE ME AND HURT ME....At the present time, it merely IRRITATES me.  [the world gets irritated by wrong, but Paul wanted to be grieved, hurt, burdened by sin and wrong]

PAUL WANTED TO BE MADE CONFORMABLE TO HIS DEATH:  "Being conformed to His death"

1. This simply means that I become so identified, so obedient to Him, that like my Lord before me, I AM READY, IF NECESSARY...EVEN TO LAY DOWN MY LIFE FOR HIM.  

This is why death to Paul was really nothing....He had already been made conformable in his mind and heart to His death....so he was ready and willing, 

 

3:12 "Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, but  I press on so that I may lay of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus."

Note how this verse is a total DISCLAIMER TO MORAL PERFECTION.   Paul tells us that Christ is someone who TAKES HOLD OF US AND MASTERS AND HOLDS US..  This is why he said that “he is trying to grasp that which grasped me.”   This is why he said” I follow after if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.”  [Paul was aware of being taken hold of by someone....of being held in the grip of someone.]

a. NOTE:  A Christian is NOT a man who has taken up something as a form of great interest...but he is a man who has been taken up by someone and cannot escape it.  THIS IS WHY THE CHRISTIAN CAN NEVER BE HALF HEARTED....because he is conscious of this VICE GRIPwhich holds him.....it is like the song, “O love that will not let me go.”

 

3:13 "Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead."

Notice that Paul did not look at the Christian life has having BEEN COMPLETED....He did not believe in PERFECTIONISM....for verses 12-14 are total DISCLAIMERS to moral perfection. We need to remember that Perfection is a GOAL, not an ACHIEVEMENT.....it is something you pursue but you never reach...and this attacks the false doctrine of Perfectionism, and total Sanctification or Complete Sanctification.  

a. Observation:  To anyone who really is seeking to grow...you will observe that the longer you live and the closer you walk in your Christian life....THE FURTHER YOU FEEL YOU HAVE TO GO.  I am not saying this to be thought of as “spiritual,” but I can honestly say that the more I study, the less I know.  I wish some of you Bible students would explain that to me.  I might mention that in the life of Paul.....the longer he walked with God the GREATER A SINNER HE THOUGHT HIMSELF TO BE.  At the end of his life he called himself the “chief of sinners.”    

b. Note also:  The phrase we sometimes hear, “why bother to grow if I am already saved” is a phrase that is NEVER FOUND in the life of a genuine believer.  There is a built in desire in a true believer to grow.

  

ELEMENTS FOR THOSE TO ARE PURSUING THE PRIZE

AWARENESS OF THE NEED TO PURSUE A BETTER CONDITION:

1. Now, we are not talking about a better position...for the position is already fixed.  Now, if you are one who believes you “can arrive” spiritually or you are a “Spiritual Perfectionist” then you are not aware of this need....to pursue a better condition.  “ not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect.” [v.12]  Paul after thirty years tells us that he was not what he wanted to be....I have not reached Christlikeness....there is thus a form of self dissatisfaction which is good.  GOD BLESS YOU WHO ARE NOT CONTENT WITH YOUR LIFE.  Spirit growth begins with a form of disatisfaction with your present spiritual condition...Verse 12 is only for those who have NOT ARRIVED.

2. Paul did not live off his past experiences:  What if Paul just lived off the Damascus Road experience and that was all he had to say.  What can you say today beyond the time you accepted Christ as your Lord and Saviour?  HAS ANYTHING HAPPENED SINCE?  

GIVING OF MAXIMUM EFFORT TO PURSUE THAT BETTER CONDITION.  v. 12

1. “I follow after” or “I press on.”    [Paul is chasing, pursuing, pressing on.  He is straining every spiritual muscle.]

2. “that I may lay hold of.”  [Paul wants to GRAB HOLD of something....Paul is pursuing the very thing for which Chist pursued Paul.....”I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.”

  a. Get the lesson:  The purpose of Christ of saving Paul now becomes the purpose of Paul.  WHAT WAS IT?  Rom 8:28-29 will give you the answer.  “to be conformed to the image of Christ.”  He saved you to make you LIKE HIS SON....and that purpose becomes my purpose in life...to be like Christ....Christlikeness.  Eph. 1:4 gives us something similar...” that you should beholy and without blame.”  II Thess 2:13...”God has chosen you that you may gain the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ.” 

     

 

 FOCUSED CONCENTRATION TO PURSUE THAT BETTER CONDITION  [v.13] 

  

1. “this one thing I do.” [Again, this little phrase will eliminate most believers]. For in this verse is woven one truth, SINGLENESS OF PURPOSE IN LIFE.  There is a “concentration” factor involved in this verse.  Notice how narrow the focus is.....Paul through the Holy Spirit would have us to focus down to “this one thing.” PAUL WAS DEFINITELY “one track.”

a. Lesson: Do you get the idea of CONCENTRATION when you walk into the average evangelical church of today?  Do you feel that many people are FOCUSED; Do you sense any SINGLENESS OF PURPOSE with the people you observe?   Most believers are like the fellow who jumped on the horse and ran off in all directions....Much fury, much energy...but little direction or focus.  

b. lesson: I might mention that there is a connection to the “this one thing” and  to “purity of heart.”  This singleness will produce purity of heart. 

c. I really am afraid that the average evangelcal church is dying for lack of ‘THIS ONE THING attitude which was what Paul had.  PAUL WAS A SPECIALIST.  

d. This concentration or singleness of heart is the result of negative and a positive:

1. NEGATIVE: “forgetting those things which are behind.”  [v.13]

a. What if Paul had spent his time thinking about those former days  when he killed and maimed and dragged the bodies of women and men from their homes because they were Christian.  WHAT IF THAT HAD CONSUMED HIS LIFE AND ATTENTION.  Many believers will not reach the goal until they begin to forget those things in the past.  You must eliminate the past....the bad and the good must be eliminated.  Some christians feed and live on the past good deeds.

2. POSTIVE:   “reaching forth unto those things.”  [v. 13]

a. Reaching: is an interesting word...and means “to stretch  a muscle to its limit.”  Our extreme effort is in mind here....focused concentration is the idea.

SPIRITUAL MOTIVATION TO PURSUE THAT BETTER CONDITION  [v.14] "I press on toward the goad of the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus."

2. “I press” or “continually press or bear down on the goal.”

a. The motive is “the prize.”  The goal is the prize and the prize is the goal...I may not reach it but it is still the goal....There is an interesting thing here....that those who are pressing toward the goal...will be given the prize....THE PRIZE AND GOAL OF CHRISTLIKENESS...nothing else, not a good job, success, but to be “like Him.”  

 

3:20-21 "For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself".

 

I need at least for my own sake to make some comments about these verses and how we as believers are living in our present age.

a. We are presently in the midst of the HEALTH AND WEALTH type of gospel presentation and life style.  Most of us today really do not identify with Phil. 3:20 personally.  We are presently doing all we can to get all we can from this world...and frankly, we love this world.

b. The reason we really do not like Phil. 3:20-21 is because these verses represent what I call DELAYED GRATIFICATION.  You see, we are part of the age which does NOT want to wait for anything....much less, having to wait until we see Him for a reward.  WHAT IS A REWARD IF YOU HAVE TO WAIT FOR IT?

c. Another reason these verses are not particularly interesting to us...is that we have forgotten that we are supposed to be in a HOLY WAR....and we should at this reading have the garments of WARFARE on, ready to enter into fight.  Now, if that were really true in our lives, then these two verses in Phil. 3 would have REAL meaning to my life.  What I am saying is that we HAVE NO BATTLE MENTALITY IN THE CHURCH.  

d. Paul here wants to see HIM, not just get to heaven to be removed from his nasty clothes and unclean facilities and bad food and the possibility of getting another beating for something he did not do. 

e. This is the last remark.  Truthfully, would not you say silently at least that at this present juncture in your life that DEATH IS OUR ENEMY.  We REALLY DO NOT AT THIS TIME WANT TO LEAVE THIS EARTH.  

PERSPECTIVE WE SHOULD HAVE:    “our citizenship is in heaven”

  1. Really, I am already registered in heaven.  Not only am I registered in heaven, but my Heavenly Father is there, The Holy Spirit is there and the Lord Jesus Christ is there and I might also mention that some of my closest friends on this earth are there.   The commonwealth of which Christians are citizens has its permanent location in heaven.   Heb. 11:10.  

2. Question I need to ask:  If the above is true, then why do we FIGHT DYING AND GOING TO HEAVEN LIKE IT IS THE WORST THING IMAGINABLE?

WHAT THIS PERSPECTIVE SHOULD DO FOR US:

1.  IT SHOULD MOTIVATE US:  If I really was looking for Him, it would have a real motivation in my life.  It would motivate what I read, What I look at,  where I go, what I say, what I give, how I handle my stewardship.  IT WOULD AFFECT EVERYTHING.  PURIFICATION OF THE BELIEVER AND LOOKING FOR THE SAVIOUR GO HAND IN HAND.  “everyone who has this hope in them purifieth themselves.”

2 IT CREATES ACCOUNTABILITY:   I realize that if I am looking for Him, then I will have to give some form of accountability for my time, my energy and my resources.... on this earth.... 

3. IT GIVES ME SECURITY:  “if I go away I will come again and receive you unto myself ” HEY, THAT IS SECURITY FOR ME AS A BELIEVER.  “all that the Father gives me will come to me"  HE LOSES NONE OF THEM.  

OUR ATTITUDE:   

1. Eagerly waiting for Him.  We are not looking for an EVENT, but a REAL PERSON. 

2. Remember:  Our heavenly citizenship does NOT commence at death, nor the Rapture, but is a present reality in this world.  WE SHOULD BE LIVING RIGHT THIS VERY MOMENT BY HEAVEN’S PRINCIPLES AND IDEALS.  

3. By the way, He is referred to in v., 20 as THE SAVIOUR, not “a” Saviour.   He and He alone is THE SAVIOUR.  There are no other saviours.  

3:21 

Please notice HIS TRANSFORMING GRACE:   “who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious body.” His Coming will bring about many changes:

a. CHANGES IN WORLD GOVERNMENT.  “behold a King shall reign in righteousness.”  Isa 32:1

b. CHANGES IN GEOGRAPHICAL CONTOUR:  “His feet shall stand in that Day upon the Mt. of Olives, and the Mount shall cleave in the midst....and there shall be a very great valley, and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south....and it shall be in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem....and the Lord shall be King over all the earth.”  Zachariah 14:4, 8-9

c. CHANGES IN ANIMAL CHARACTERISTIC:  “the wolf also shall dwell with the lamb and the leopard shall lie down with the kid, and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together....and the cow and the bear shall feed....and the lion shall eat straw like the ox...they shall not hurt nor destroy in all My whole mountain.”   Isa. 11:6-7, 9

d. CHANGES IN PERSONAL CHARACTER:  “we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.”  I John 3:2

e. CHANGES IN HUMAN BODIES: 

“the body of our humiliation” or the body which we bear in our present low estate, shall be changed into the body of His glory.”