Philippians 3:12-14

The Prize of Knowing Christ

What is the singular passion of your life?  What is it that defines the meaning of your life?  What is it that makes your life meaningful?  Why are you here? 

These are the questions that the world is constantly asking but because they are dead in sin they keep coming up short of the ultimate answer.  Those who are held captive to this world that is passing away usually find their meaning in life only as the idols of their hearts are achieved, which is measured in some sort of worldly success, whether power, affluence/wealth, fame, health, or finding the fountain of eternal youth.

For the apostle Paul, once God arrested him in his all-consuming passion to persecute the church, God transformed Paul's entire perspective on life.  Before what drove Paul day by day was his desire to be found righteous in his own works of the law.  In this Paul could greatly boast as he confidently measured up to the requirements of the law in his own flesh. 

But once Paul saw his own fleshly righteousness according to the works of the law measured against the actual righteousness of God in Christ which comes through faith, Paul's measurement of the meaning of life was radically transformed.  No longer was his confidence in his own flesh or his own meritorious works but now all his boasting was in the Lord Jesus Christ and His work alone.  Paul's mind was transformed by the Spirit of God and now his zeal was poured out in singular devotion to knowing nothing but Jesus Christ our Lord.

This morning we look at Paul's conclusion of this masterful paragraph on the surpassing value of knowing Jesus Christ to find one of the most powerful summaries of the goal of the Christian life found in all of Scripture.  Here Paul uses the analogy of an Olympic athlete whose every muscle and nerve is singularly focused on the goal of the finish line in hopes of winning the prize.  As Paul unfolds the progress of the runner, he displays before us the Christian's singular passion of life in its past, present, and future sprint towards the goal.

The Past:  First, in our singular devotion in life, how are we to view the past?  As any runner knows that it is critical that once the starting shot has fired that the last thing the leader wants to do is look back to see where his fellow competitors are; rather, he rightly focuses all his energy in setting his face like flint toward the goal.  Paul says in v. 13, "that one thing he does is forgetting/paying no attention to what lies behind."  Here Paul looks back to vv. 4-8 where he described his fleshly achievements of works righteousness according to the Law of Moses.  In light of knowing Jesus Christ not only has Paul's law-righteousness become loss and rubbish but it is to be forgotten altogether.  Paul says that on the day when he sees Christ face to face that the last thing he wants to be holding is a righteousness of his own derived from the law.

Paul is speaking to those who might be bewitched by the Judaizers, the false circumcision, into thinking that they must add the works of Moses to simple faith in Christ in order to in some way merit favor before God.  It was the Judaizers who prided themselves on their own works righteousness and who boasted in those Gentiles that they were able to persuade to place themselves under Moses.   

The Present:  Second, it is in the face of these "dogs" and "evil workers" that Paul now turns to the present aspect of the singular devotion of the Christian.  Paul wants to be absolutely clear that unlike the Judaizers who took great pride in their own ability to reach their goal, Paul humbly admits again and again that he has not yet reached the prize (vv. 12-13).  But notice that Paul and the Judaizers have two radically different perceptions of the prize.  For the Judaizers, the prize is their confidence in their own achievements to keep the law as a means of gaining favor with God and being found judicially right on the day of judgment. 

But Paul views the prize completely different.  Paul stretches every nerve for the prize of knowing Jesus Christ (vv. 7-10) finally and fully.  But Paul realizes that even though he presently knows Christ that he doesn't yet know him as he will know him when he sees Jesus face to face (vv. 12-13; cf. vv. 11, 20-21; also, 1:21-24).  The apostle John tells us:

Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we shall be. We know that, when He appears, we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him just as He is (1 John 3:2).

There will come a day when we will no longer see through a mirror dimly, but we will see Jesus Christ face to face and we will know him as we have been fully known (1 Cor. 13:12). 

Paul has spoken in vv. 7-11 with such heavenly ecstasy that the Philippians may wonder if Paul has already graduated into the presence of the Lord. 

Unlike the Judaizers who believe they have arrived in their own self-righteous abilities, Paul assures the Philippians that the goal for the Christian is much greater, a goal that Paul longs to obtain fully.  Paul has given up everything in the past for the singular joy of gaining Christ and being found in Him.

But notice that what Paul longs for as the future goal, is already his present experience.  This is why we are able to rejoice even in the midst of all trials and suffering, because we presently experience the power of the resurrection as we participate in Christ's sufferings being conformed to his death.  This is why we can even rejoice in the midst of sufferings, because it is in the trials of our life that the power of the resurrection is so gloriously manifested and so completely sufficient.

Paul knows that if his present knowledge of Christ is this wonderful, how much more glorious will be the knowledge of Jesus Christ when we finally arrive before His throne and see him face to face.

The Future:  This is why Paul now turns to the future aspect of our singular devotion in life which is, rather than being distracted by either our previous works of the law or by those who legalistically impose the law upon us, we are to press on and pursue ("to take aggressively; to grasp; to seize"), straining every nerve to get there to reach the goal of all life which is to finally realize our lifelong passion to fully know Jesus Christ in all of His glory face to face.  Compared to that everything else is loss, rubbish, and forgotten altogether (vv. 12-14). 

But how can Paul be so sure that he will reach the goal?  How can you be sure that you will win the prize? 

Paul describes the prize as the "upward" or "heavenly" call which finds its source in God.  God is sovereignly calling us heavenward into intimate fellowship in His eternal presence through His Son.  But notice the sphere or realm in which that call is given.  God effectually calls us "in" the person and work of Christ Jesus.  It is in the death and resurrection of Christ, his finished work, that God has already made us citizens of heaven (v. 20). 

Paul wants to "take hold of" the very thing for which Christ "has taken hold of" him.  Paul can pursue the knowledge of Christ with all his might only because Jesus Christ first, pursued Paul and apprehended him with all His might by laying down his life and being raised from the dead.  The author of Hebrews promises us:

Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God (Heb. 12:1-2).

We can be sure that we will gain the prize because both the author and finisher, the Alpha and Omega Savior, has finished the race and won the prize on your behalf.  This is what Paul means in v. 9, that through faith alone in Christ alone we have gained/received the gift of the very righteousness of God Himself. 

Notice that Jesus Christ is both the means and the end of God's heavenly call.  God has raised us up "in Christ Jesus" so that for all eternity we might win the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus our Lord. 

For those who are now reoriented toward heaven, how are we to look upon those whose lives have sunk deeply into the mire of this present evil age?  John speaks of those who love this world and the things of this world (1 John 2:15-17) as having already fulfilled their ultimate pleasures in this age.  What are we to think about those who have already fulfilled the lusts of their flesh in the things of this world or those who do evil and yet prosper in the way? 

Note that this is not only Paul's singular devotion in life, but he wants you to follow his example and eagerly press on toward your heavenly calling in Christ (vv. 17-21).  We must look at the whole world through the prism of Christ -- we must have the mind of Christ (1 Cor. 2:16).  We must take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ (2 Cor. 10:5) or what Paul says in Romans 12:2 "do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of our mind so that we may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect."

It is only as the Spirit of God works through the Word of God to transform our thinking that we now see the purpose/meaning of all life in knowing Jesus Christ our Lord.  There is no greater prize than to possess Christ.  "For to me to live is Christ!"

Amen!

-SDG-