I want to know Christ and the
power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings,
becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the
resurrection from the dead.
12 Not that I have already obtained all
this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that
for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13 Brothers, I do not consider myself yet
to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and
straining toward what is ahead, 14 I
press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me
heavenward in Christ Jesus. (NIV)
When Paul went to
Years ago - in a soundtrack for a
movie - Queen sang the song, AWho
Wants to Live Forever?@ It was sung in light of a special type of
people who lived for hundreds of years in this world - with one goal - to
outlast each other without getting their head chopped off. In the course of their lives, they saw their
loved ones - without the goal - grow old and die. Hence the sorrow and the song, Awho wants to live forever?@
Who would want to live forever in this world - when everything around
you is so full of death and decay?
Far eastern religions promote a
transfer of identity among plants, animals and humans. This is called Areincarnation,@ which teaches that in your next life
you may be a bird or a cow, depending on the type of life you lived here. If you watch television you will also see
that another popular focus has come to the front among American culture - that
of the living dead who walk among us, guiding and protecting us. John Edward encourages us not to be afraid of
these spirits and to feel free to talk with them. This isn=t far from the theology of the Chinese
and Japanese who actually pray to their ancestors and ask them for help. It also isn=t actually that far from Roman Catholic
theology which teaches it=s
people to pray to former saints for help.
The Muslim extremists obviously believe in an afterlife as well as we
are told that they perform their suicidal missions with the hope of being
rewarded with virgins in the afterlife.
The main point I=m
trying to lay out for today - is that the idea of some
form a future life permeates every religion.
Everyone hopes that their loved ones who die are still
existing in a happy afterworld of some sort - and that they will meet up
with them.
The hope of Christianity is
different however. We preach that the
soul that dies immediately goes to heaven or hell - and then waits to be
reunited with it=s body at
a resurrection of the dead. As
Christians, we also believe that our resurrected bodies will be reunited with
Christ and all believers in a physical heaven.
That is why Paul prayed, I want to . . . somehow, to attain to the resurrection from
the dead. This was his ultimate goal
- to attain to the resurrection from the deead.
Is that your ultimate goal? When
you wake up in the morning, do you say to yourself, Amy
primary purpose in what I do today is to attain to the resurrection from the
dead@? Or would your thoughts more be, AI hope I get it through today! I can=t
wait for the weekend!@ When your goals in life are
simply to be debt free or to pay off your house or to get a promotion, you aren=t
thinking long term enough. The
message of Christianity is bigger than that.
Every thing we do is to be in the light of eternity. This is what Paul expresses in today=s text.
We Want to Live
Forever
I. How we get there
Isn=t it interesting to see HOW Paul
planned on somehow attaining to this resurrection from the dead? I want to know Christ and the power of his
resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him
in his death. First and foremost,
Paul said that he wanted to Aknow
Christ.@ The word for know means to Aexperience@
Christ. You see, just earlier in our
reading, Paul
talked about already having the righteousness of Christ - which came to him
through faith. The beautiful message of
God=s Word is that we are credited with a
righteousness that is not our own. When
Jesus died for us - He was bathed in our sins.
When we believe that, God then gives us credit for what Jesus did and
bathes us in HIS righteousness. It is as
if we are clothed in a robe of Jesus=
holiness - so that we look holy in God=s
sight - even though we know we aren=t.
What Paul was praying here - was that He would better get to know and
experience this Christ - who died for Him and rose from the dead. Imagine, for instance, that your parents
bought you a brand new car for your birthday.
It was a brand new Camaro with a huge engine
in it. It would be great to go out in
the driveway and sit in it for the first time.
But that=s not all
you would want to do with it. You would
want to drive it around and experience it=s
power and handling ability. This is what
Paul was saying with Jesus. He felt
great being clothed in Christ - but now He wanted to experience this Christ -
to know Him more and more.
Being clothed in Christ - through
faith - is the same as being clothed in God.
The same powerful Jesus who raised from the
dead is now living in you and covering you.
Paul wanted to experience what this was like - to live in the power of
his resurrection. Paul did some powerful
things with the Lord living in Him. He
healed the sick. He chased out
demons. He even may have raised from the dead after having been stoned. Paul experienced a courage
to face demons and unbelievers as the risen Christ lived in him and through
him. This is something all of us would
want to experience. Yet those wonderful
experiences of Christ raised - I don=t
believe that is what Paul was primarily referring to on his quest to the
resurrection - for Paul follows his wish to know Christ and his resurrection
with the phrase, Aand
the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death.@
Isn=t
that a somewhat shocking request? What
kind of a sick masochist would want to experience the sufferings of Christ - to
become like him in his death? That seems
to be the exact opposite of knowing the power of Christ=s
resurrection. That is, until you study
the Scriptures.
Paul recognized by inspiration of
the Holy Spirit that there cannot be a resurrection in a human without there
first of all being a death. So Paul
compared the resurrection to the planting of a seed - which dies and then
grows. Paul also recognized in his
letter to the Romans that mankind is sinful - and that he not only deserves to
die - but that he is indeed a dead man walking - only becoming more and more
corrupt with age.
Romans 1:28‑32 Furthermore,
since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave
them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to
be done. They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and
depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are
gossips, slanderers, God‑haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they
invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they are senseless,
faithless, heartless, ruthless. Although they know God=s righteous decree that those who do
such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but
also approve of those who practice them.
With this world view - Paul did not want to live forever
with a sinful body, heart, and mind. He
knew that even after faith this sinful body which was full of sinful thoughts,
words and actions was dying and in fact needed to die for there to be any
resurrection to life.
The question is - what kind of a
death was Paul talking about? Is this
death merely experienced in the gradual decay of the body? Paul tells us, ANo! There is more to this dying than that!@
It occurs prior to our physical death.
It comes from sharing in Christ=s
suffering. Christ suffered when He spoke
up for the truth - that He was the Christ.
Christ suffered when He preached the law to those who needed it. He suffered as Satan tempted him in the
desert. He suffered as Peter tried to
keep him from going to the cross. And
then of course, He suffered on the cross.
Through this suffering the holy Christ was beaten down to death. When Jesus did what He was called to do -
difficult as it was - He suffered and died.
Paul wanted to share in those sufferings - so He could then share in His
resurrection.
But how? First and foremost - it happens in our
baptism. Paul wrote in Romans 6:2‑4
Don=t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ
Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through
baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through
the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. Paul was baptized not too long after his
conversion. This baptism takes all of us
and puts us on the cross with Christ - buries us with Christ - and raises us
with the resurrected Christ. This baptism
then sets the pattern of how God brings us to life in each and every one of our
lives - by first of all putting to death.
When a body is full of cancer, the part of the body
that the cancer is clinging to must be put to death - so that the new can then
take over. Baptism starts the
process of death that continues until the day we die.
Paul was praying that He would then
continue to be able to experience this dying process more and more. It involves performing the duties you are
called to do. Christ calls on you to be
a faithful mom or dad, son or daughter.
He calls you to be a hardworking employee. He says to you, Alet your light shine before men.@
This means being obedient to your parents. It means taking good care of your children -
and raising them in the Word of God. It
means listening to your boss and treating him as if God Himself were bossing
you around. These are things that kill
us and make us suffer. When our children
are demanding, we get run down. When our
parents are overly demanding, we feel wiped.
When we fail, the guilt drags us down.
So we fall on our knees before God every night, and repent to God
saying, AI deserve
your hell, Lord - for not performing my duties as you have called me to.@
The guilt we feel kills us spiritually.
Yet God in His mercy says to us in His Word, Ayour
sins were washed away when you were baptized.
You are forgiven through faith in my Son=s
sacrifice. My love for you will never
end. Never will I leave you. Never will I forsake you.@
So new life is breathed in us - and we get to know Christ better. Then we look back to the Word - we go back to
the Lord=s Supper
- for the courage, forgiveness and strengthh to be stronger fathers, more loving
mothers, and harder working employees.
This is what Paul was praying would happen when he prayed, I want to know Christ and the power of his
resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him
in his death. This is what experiencing
the death and resurrection of Christ is like - it=s
a daily process where we both die with Christ and are brought to life with
Jesus at the same time.
II.
A status check
Does that explanation of living and
dying sound foreign to you? Do you
instead just go to bed every night without a thought or concern about how you=ve fought
against sin or performed your duties? If
that is so - you had best seriously take a good look at yourself. Have you gotten lazy in your
Christianity? Do you remember the
parable of the talents - which told the story of the one servant who fearfully
buried his talent? What did the owner
say to him, Ayou
wicked - LAZY servant.@ The LORD equates laziness with
wickedness. The Christian who does not
work at knowing and experiencing Christ as he or she performs his or her
calling as a husband, a child, a wife, or a student is being wicked and lazy.
The lazy Christian doesn=t
want to put his or her sinful nature to death - feels no need to improve -
feels just fine with himself or herself the way he or
she is. He wants to live a nice and
cushy life free of any hassles or heartaches.
Either that, or he or she has arrogantly come to the conclusion that he
or she doesn=t
need to know Christ any more since he=s
already been forgiven.
This was not Paul=s attitude. Not that I have already obtained all this,
or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for
which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13
Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. Isn=t it amazing that the hardest working
Christian in the New Testament era still said he had plenty of room for
improvement? Isn=t it amazing that he still hadn=t
considered himself to have taken hold of the resurrection - that there were
still many areas in his life that needed put to death and resurrected? If Paul didn=t feel like he had been fully
resurrected after all of the work he had done for Christ and the kingdom - who are we to rest
on our laurels? Who are we to sit and
home and put sitcoms ahead of Christ?
Who are we to put work ahead of worship?
Who are we to put our spiritual growth on the back burner - and think to
ourselves that just because we made it through confirmation we some how know
enough to get by? This was not how Paul
lived. He wasn=t
so arrogant. He knew that deep within
him there still lived a lazy old sinful nature that had nothing good in it -
that needed to be put to death.
So what did Paul do? But one thing I do: Forgetting what is
behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which
God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. With a singular goal - he pressed on to win
the prize of heaven - to participate in the glorious resurrection of the
dead. How did he do this? In Acts 20:24 Paul said, AI consider my life worth nothing to
me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has
given meCthe task
of testifying to the gospel of God=s
grace.@ Paul
also wrote to the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians 2:2, AI
resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.@ Again, look at his life. He studied the Scriptures. He received revelations from God. He saw - by revelation of the Holy Spirit -
that the Old Testament was fulfilled in Christ.
So he not only wrote about Christ crucified - but He lived under Christ crucified
as He preached Christ crucified - that was his goal. He went on at least three missionary journeys
- as the Lord called him to do - no matter how hard they were - keeping Himself
nailed to the cross every day through faith - putting himself and his pet sins
to death day by day.
Let=s
look at what Paul did once again. One
thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the
prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. When you wake up in the morning - when you go
to work - when you go on vacation - you are to have one goal in life - and that
is to be resurrected from the dead. When
you believe and are baptized - it is as if you have already been put to death
and raised to life - and are now eagerly awaiting and
striving toward the second resurrection.
How are you doing? What is your status? Can you say that you are Apressing on@
and Astraining
toward what is ahead@? Are you making every effort to know your
Bible - so that the devil can=t
deceive you with false doctrine? It
still concerns me that over half of our members have still not come to any
Bible study. It still concerns me that
we still have members that are not regular in worship attendance. It would appear from the outside that we are
not pressing on to the goal - but instead getting around to it. When I ask my children to clean their room,
they have gotten in the habit of saying, AI
will.@ Ten minutes later, AI
will@ still hasn=t
done it. AI
will@ has forgotten. AI will@
actually has come to mean, AI
won=t in the hopes that you will forget.@
The only problem is that I don=t
forget, and AI will@ now makes me angry. God also can see through your lies and
excuses. APressing on@
means more than getting around to it when you have time. It means making every effort in whatever
situation you are called.
If you want to be resurrected to
eternal life - put forth some effort. It
takes work to get to know your Bible. It
takes a daily reading of Scriptures to really know them. It takes a healthy prayer life to keep from
temptation. It takes a great amount of
repentance and faith to get rid of pet sins - to change life long habits. I can only wonder how many thousands of
people have been under the banner of Christianity - experienced God=s grace in Christ - only to have fallen
back to their old habits - and all because they were too lazy to fight and
press on towards the goal. It can
happen. Don=t
let it happen to you. Paul - even though
he was much stronger in the faith than any of us - didn=t rest on his past. He strove to win the prize that Christ won
for him. What is your status? If you=ve been lazy - don=t
get angry at me for saying so. Repent of
it. Throw your laziness on Christ - and
let him lift you up. Be energized and
renewed by seeing Jesus energetically take your sins to the cross and bury them
in the grave. Be energized by hearing
him say to you, Ayour sins
are paid for in full!@ Look at Christ and get back in the
battle. Start straining toward the goal.
When two basketball teams go head
to head, you can usually tell when the battle is over. If one team is losing by twenty or so points
with a minute or two to play, the coach will put in the substitutes saying to
the other coach, Aok, we
give up.@ At that point, when the
starters come out - the crowd cheers and relishes in the sure victory. Years ago - a team was winning by a pretty
sizeable amount - so the winning coach decided to take his starters out before
the losing coach did. As a result, the
losing team actually came back in no time at all and won the game.
As Christians who trust in Christ -
the war has already been won - but the fighting has not stopped. Christ has won the war - and we are assured
of living forever through faith in him - through a resurrection of the
dead. Unlike in the basketball game -
the devil isn=t
going to throw his hands up and give up. He isn=t
going to throw in the subs - so don=t
you either. Even if you=ve been
strong up to this point - and you know there=s
only a few minutes left in the game, don=t
give up fighting and straining. Your
flesh is still weak - and the devil is still strong. Keep on fighting - keep on battling to win
the prize for which Christ has won for you.
Stay in the Word. Keep taking the Lord=s
Supper. Continue to repent of your sins. Keep on fighting until the day you actually
die - so that you can and will live forever - with Christ. After all, isn=t
that what we want? We want to
live forever. Amen.