SET APART: For the Journey

We live in a world of instant gratification, and we often get frustrated when things don’t occur as quickly as we’d like.  

It also seems that frequently humanity desires “instant Christianity”– just say the right words and BOOM-POW you are magically morphed into a “Christian” and are instantly “leveled up” to a higher status.  Well, while this is partially true, the desire of every Christian should be to live as mature, complete Christians and not just in name only.

(If a RINO is Republican In Name Only would that make such instant Christians ChINO’s, Christians In Name Only?) 

Just as with our bodies, the transformation into spiritual maturity doesn’t typically happen overnight. That is the point of what we look at in this lesson:  Growing in Christ is a lifelong journey.

Even though our choice to pursue Christianity may be “instantaneous”, we will find that we still battle with sin and with replacing bad habits with good ones.  Instead of our goal being some form of instant Christian maturity, we should be striving to be ever moving forward in our walk with Christ.

The church at Philippi faced persecution, threats from Judaizers, and inward divisiveness.  Paul very likely wrote this letter to the church at Philippi from his prison cell in Rome, sometime between AD 60–62. Philippi was a Roman colony that was highly loyal to Rome.  Despite the difficulties Paul and the church were undergoing, the letter is infused with passion and joy, and the book can serve as a mini-guide to discipleship.

We look at Philippians 3:12-21 to see what Paul has to teach us.

Philippians 3:12-14

12 Not that I have already reached the goal or am already perfect, but I make every effort to take hold of it because I also have been taken hold of by Christ Jesus.

13 Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and reaching forward to what is ahead,

14 I pursue as my goal the prize promised by God’s heavenly call in Christ Jesus.

Sanctification is a continual journey toward Christlikeness.  Paul said, not that I have already reached the goal. This goal, he had already identified in verse 10: “My goal is to know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings, being conformed to his death” (Phil. 3:10). Paul wanted them to aggressively make progress in being set apart for Jesus’s use too, learning and knowing more about Christ daily.

When Paul said he wasn’t already perfect, he wasn’t using false humility.  He humbly admitted to his readers that he was not completely sanctified. Compared to the perfection and wholeness of God, what human (other than Jesus) could ever approach such perfection?  Paul knew God had always said that His people must be holy (Lev. 20:7). The word perfect carries with it the meaning of having reached the end, in this case, being spiritually mature or completely sanctified. Paul had made spiritual progress, but he wouldn’t be finished until God called him home or Christ returned.  Paul did say, I make every effort to take hold of it. 

Paul was telling the Christians at Philippi that personal sanctification was hard work and not for the faint of heart. To take hold of it means that Paul deemed the result of sanctification a reachable goal and additionally means to pursue it with all of one’s being. It’s plain to see from this strong language that Paul’s Damascus road experience (Acts 9:1-9) had changed his life completely and his main goal in life from then on was to know Christ better and to be more like Him every day. 

Paul wrote, I do not consider myself to have taken hold of it. He wanted to make sure that the Philippian church understood that he was still working on his life goal (Phil. 3:10). Paul knew he had failed many times to be like Jesus and he wasn’t hiding that truth from this church. But Paul wasn’t living a defeated Christian life either, because he said there is one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and reaching forward to what is ahead. 

The word forgetting means to overlook failures because of the benefits of forgetting about them. Paul knew it was futile to brood over past mistakes and sins. Instead, he spent his time and energy reaching forward to what is ahead. Reaching forward means to stretch intensely towards something. The word intention is derived from a similar meaning – stretching out towards something.  

Ahead means the things lying before one’s advancement, in this case, Paul’s goal of advancing to holiness (sanctification), becoming more and more like Jesus.  We might roughly paraphrase this as “I learned from my mistakes.  I INTEND to do better.  I CONTINUE to learn from my mistakes and over time my sanctification process advances, just like yours.”

Paul was relentless in pursuing his intention. Goal here describes the ultimate destination in the faith life. Paul knew he was headed to heaven, his forever home. He wanted the Christians at Philippi to make that their one overarching goal as well–when our sanctification is complete in heaven.

Paul knew that what God promised He would do. Heavenly means up or above or a higher place and also means that God is going to call all the saved upward to heaven (1 Thess. 4:17). Call means a calling, an invitation, a divine call. God is inviting everyone to be saved and to enjoy all the benefits of salvation (Rev. 22:17).

Philippians 3:15-19

15 Therefore, let all of us who are mature think this way. And if you think differently about anything, God will reveal this also to you.

16 In any case, we should live up to whatever truth we have attained.

17 Join in imitating me, brothers and sisters, and pay careful attention to those who live according to the example you have in us.

18 For I have often told you, and now say again with tears, that many live as enemies of the cross of Christ.

19 Their end is destruction; their god is their stomach; their glory is in their shame; and they are focused on earthly things.

Spiritual maturity comes as we follow the example of mature believers. Paul had just finished what might well be called his declaration of dependence on the Lord Jesus Christ in Philippians 3:7-14, and, therefore,  because of what he said in those eight verses, he was able to call all spiritually mature Christians to think with developing a completeness of Christian character. 

It was possible that some in the church at Philippi wouldn’t embrace Paul’s exhortation to follow Christ, but born-again, Bible-believing Christians should agree all the time on biblical doctrines clearly taught in the Bible. Nevertheless, Paul wrote in verse 15, And if you think differently about anything, God will reveal this also to you. Paul was not saying it was okay for these Philippians to conjure up their own beliefs about the cost of discipleship. He was saying, however, that God would show them new truths from His Word as they spiritually matured.  Can Christians agree to disagree? Certainly. Paul was open for discussion and wanted these Christians to search the vast treasures of God’s Word with open-mindedness for the Holy Spirit to teach them and to do so with a godly, Christlike attitude. Different opinions are fine when the Bible is silent on issues, like why God created mosquitoes, for example, but we should all agree on basic Bible doctrines. 

Paul wrote, God will reveal this also to you, to stress the fact that the Holy Spirit is our Teacher. The word reveal means to uncover and make manifest that which is hidden. Paul was confident that these Philippian believers would go on in their faith and learn new truths about following Christ, and that what they learned would align with God’s Word. 

When Paul wrote, In any case, we should live up to whatever truth we have attained, he was simply reminding this church that their walk must match their talk. May it never be said of us that what we do speaks so loudly that people, especially non-Christians, cannot hear what we are saying. If our actions are not backing up what we say we believe, then we are not living up to whatever truth we have attained. The word attained means to have realized something that is priority number one. 

Paul knew that following Christ required everyone pulling in the same direction, so he wrote, Join in imitating me, brothers and sisters. Paul’s desire for these Christians was that they would join him in following Christ’s example of how to live because he was living for Christ. Paul encouraged the Philippians to also follow the examples of other Christians when he wrote, pay careful attention to those who live according to the example you have in us. 

Paul was sad about the fact that there were Jews who taught the need to be outwardly conformed to the Jewish religion before being able to practice the Christian Faith.  Paul regarded these Judaizers as people who live as enemies of the cross of Christ. The word enemies indicated that such people were hostile and harbored deep hatred for the devout Christians in Philippi and were bent on inflicting harm on them. Indeed, it was dangerous to be a sincere Christian in those days. Paul knew it and was constantly warning the maturing church members in Philippi to be aware of Jesus’s enemies. 

What was going to happen to these enemies of the cross of Christ? Paul said these selfish, shameful, and materialistic people’s end would be destruction. The word destruction means complete ruin. The language here indicates that they would be completely cut off from the life in Christ they could have had.

Paul went on to say that these enemies have a god who is their stomach. This means that they had given in to their evil desires. Stomach here means the appetites of the inner man, the sinful desires of the flesh. This kind of person falls into the downward spiral of physical and spiritual destruction that is found in 1 John 2:15-16. Their glory is in their shame means that they have a bad reputation because of what they do. Paul said that these people in Philippi eventually would be humiliated because of their ignominious behavior and that would be the so-called glory that they would have. This kind of glory is shame that arises from guilt. The enemies of the cross of Christ in Philippi were guilty as charged. Finally, these people are focused on earthly things. People who are only earthly-minded do not have a place in heaven, since heaven is not what they desire.

Philippians 3:20-21

20 Our citizenship is in heaven, and we eagerly wait for a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ.

21 He will transform the body of our humble condition into the likeness of his glorious body, by the power that enables him to subject everything to himself.

Spiritual growth is not complete until our glorious transformation in heaven. Paul reminded the Philippian Christians they ultimately would go home to heaven. He stated quite clearly that our citizenship is in heaven. The word for citizenship meant a person who belonged to, was a member of, a state or commonwealth.

Paul said that we eagerly wait for a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ. The two words eagerly wait is one word in the Greek and means that we are eagerly looking forward to a complete separation from this present world, leaving all of it behind, expectantly waiting for the return of the Lord. We are not just waiting for an event but most of all for a Savior from there [heaven], the Lord Jesus Christ. All the beauty of heaven will be eclipsed by the joy of finally being with Jesus. Paul encouraged the devout Christians in Philippi to keep on remembering that they would eventually go with Jesus to heaven. Someday, their struggles would be over. 

A church congregation like the one at Philippi was not unlike church congregations today. Then, as now, a church is made up of children, youth, and adults. There are young adults and older adults. The older adults in Philippi would have certainly appreciated the promise in verse 20 when Paul said, speaking of Christ, He will transform the body of our humble and aging condition into the likeness of his glorious body.  Paul wanted his readers to know that our earthly bodies will be changed, because Jesus will transform our bodies. The word translated transform means that Jesus will change our bodies in appearance and fashion. He will change our inside and our outside! Our bodies will be the likeness of his glorious body. 

The Gospel accounts of Jesus’s last forty days on earth before the ascension help us understand what our glorified body will be like. Paul knew that these Philippian believers were dealing with the threat of bodily harm from their persecutors as well as normal bodily breakdowns from stress and age-related issues. He wanted to encourage them with the only real hope there was, the hope of being in heaven with Jesus and having bodies that will never ever fall apart when we would have bodies like Jesus’ glorious body. 

We serve the one true God who is always in control. He does rule over all! The term subject means to place or rank under. Everyone and everything are under God’s arrangement and subject to His plan. Paul’s desire was that the Christians in Philippi would remember that God is always in control. Nothing that they were going through would take God by surprise.