New Years Week 2
Happy New Year! I hope you all have had a great couple of weeks with needed rest and breaks from school, from work, from the busyness of life. I mentioned last week that we were kind of straddling the line between 2024 and 2025. Last week we looked back on some of the things that the Lord has done in our church family. This morning, we are going to be looking ahead. Specifically, as we enter a new year, how do we make sure that we are properly aligned to the Lord? How do we make sure that the goals we set have in mind our identity and mission as followers of Jesus?
Big Idea: A resolute pursuit of Jesus will create proper alignment in our lives.
To provide a bit of context to our passage this morning, Paul is writing to the church in Philippi, and in the beginning of chapter 3, he is warning against false teachers who boast in worldly success. Paul says, “listen, anyone who wants to boast in worldly success, I can boast more. I am a Jew, through and through. I achieved the position of a Pharisee. You want to talk about zeal for something? I hated Christians, and was an avid persecutor of them. As far as being counted righteous under the law? Count me blameless. But, everything I had attained, everything I had gained that could be counted as success by worldly standards, it was all rubbish. I count it all a massive loss because the worth of knowing Jesus isn’t even a close comparison.”
For Paul, no earthly commendations or successes had any merit because knowing Jesus wasn’t on a different level, it was in a different universe. This perspective that Paul has is what drives him to motivate the church to keep their sights set on Jesus, to have perfection in Christ as their sole and ultimate goal.
Read Philippians 3:12-21
We are in the season of goal-setting. In the US last year, the top 6 resolutions that were set were:
Save more money (21%)
Eat healthier (19%)
Exercise more (17%)
Lose weight (15%)
Spend more time with family/friends (14%)
Quit smoking (9%)
For many Christians, we tend to focus on bettering ourselves spiritually. We want to read the Bible more, pray more, get more involved, give more, attend more. So while our minds are in this mode of resolution, of fixing those things that might be broken, of bettering ourselves, I want us to align our perspectives on the thing that Paul says matters more than anything.
Let’s start with the goal. What is the goal? What is Paul pressing-on towards? What is he encouraging those believers in Philippi to join him in pursuing?
What? Being Perfected into the Likeness of Jesus (Sanctification)
Paul recognizes that he has not arrived. He has not been perfectly formed into the image of Jesus. He still has work to do! There are 2 different types of sanctification in Scripture. One is called “positional sanctification” and refers to “a state of separation unto God.” So when we become Christians, we are separated out of the world and into the family of God; positional sanctification. What Paul is talking about here in Philippians is called “progressive sanctification,” and refers to a process of growing in spiritual maturity. It’s a lifelong process of obedience to the Lord, through the Holy Spirit’s working in our lives, in which we grow in knowledge and become more like Jesus. This is the goal, to be perfected into the image of Jesus. Paul says in 1 Thessalonians 4:3 that “the will of God is your sanctification.”
Why though? Why is this so important to Paul? Why does he address it in multiple letters to multiple churches? Why does he emphasize this as his primary goal? Why does he want to be set apart and suffer for the sake of Jesus as he says in verse 10?
Why? Because Jesus made us His own (vs. 12)
Ephesians 2:10 - “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works,”
Galatians 3:26-27 - “For in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.”
2 Corinthians 5:17 - “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”
We are his workmanship. We are sons and daughters of God. We have put on Christ. Our old selves have died and we are made new. Brothers and sisters, we belong to Jesus! We are His!
Jesus said in John 14 that Satan has no claim over His life, and if we are found in Christ, this means that Satan has no claim over our lives. He has no control. Sin and death have been defeated on the cross and in the resurrection. We are in this world but not of this world. We belong to Jesus! This is Paul’s motivation! Paul was a persecutor of the church, breathing threats of murder upon the Christians. Paul stood by and approved of the stoning of Stephen. Paul was on his way to persecute Christians in Damascus and he had a supernatural encounter with Jesus. Jesus showed up and saved Paul. Paul was transferred from death to life. The experiential knowledge of this compelled Paul to prioritize Christ-likeness and the pursuit of it as His greatest achievement. And how did he do it?
How? Forget what lies behind and strain forward to what lies ahead (Vs. 13)
Paul has his sights set on Jesus. He has his eyes on the prize, if you will. But he doesn’t just rest in that. The language that Paul uses implies a battle, a fight, a struggle at times. He talks about straining forward. The Greek word here is “epekteino” and means “to stretch one's muscles to their limit.” Jade signed us up for this core blast class at the Y this week. 30 minutes of gut punching core work. Crazy variations of crunches, mountain climbers, burpees, and all the stuff. Jade asked me this week, “when will our abs stop hurting?” I don’t know, but I know what Paul says when he says he is “straining.” Working so hard that it hurts. Putting forth over-the-top energy to achieve something.
Press on toward the goal (Vs. 14)
Press on. Again this language of continuing to fight forward. And what is the goal? The “upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” It’s a call from above. It’s a heavenly call. Our calling, from the Lord, as Christians, is to pursue Jesus until the end. Daniel Akin, in his commentary on Philippians, says “the goal…is a fuller knowledge of Christ. It involves gaining Christ. That’s what Paul wants—to know Christ more and more; and in knowing Him more, he will become more like Him. This pursuit is a lifetime adventure.”
Resolution #1 - Set boundaries and disciplines that cause healthy spiritual growth.
This can seem like a big task. A lifetime pursuit. A lifetime resolution. Fortunately for us, Paul makes it a bit more palpable and lays out a few ways that we can press on along the way.
Hold true to what we have attained (Vs. 16)
What have we attained? We have attained Jesus! We are His, and He is ours. Savior, Redeemer, and Friend. We have attained salvation. We have attained freedom. We have attained eternal life. We have attained the Holy Spirit. We have attained hope, and joy, and peace, and love. Read Ephesians chapter 1 to see the fulness and richness of what we have attained in Christ. Blessing upon blessing. So how do we hold true to this?
The primary way that we stay true is by clinging to the Word of God above all else. Weigh every thought, every decision, every word through the lens of Scripture. Is the world telling you to value what God values? Is the world defining your identity apart from who God has already said that you are? Is the world telling you to pursue things that would grieve the heart of God? This book is not an archaic, dusty, old, outdated book. This is the “active, living, breathing Words of God…piercing to the division of soul and spirit…discerning the thoughts and motives of the heart.” We cling tightly to it. We hold true to the truth found within.
Resolution #2 - Engage the Word of God more consistently this year. (Set a reading plan. Plan the events of the day around a quiet time with the Lord)
Keep your eyes on those who set a good example (Vs. 17)
Paul is imploring people to emulate those who emulate Jesus. I think we can easily translate this into our lives. What podcasts are we listening to? What books are we reading? What shows are we watching? What music are we listening to? What preachers are we listening to? What social media influencers are we following? What YouTubers do we watch? We are inundated with voices; voices that shape how we think, how we feel, how we live. We take in so much that it becomes burdensome to make sense of it all. Our worldview can become clouded. Our feelings can confuse our judgment.
What Paul addresses in verses 18 and 19 is just as true today as it was then. Re-read vs. 18-19. Those who have been leading the church astray…it breaks Paul’s heart! Why? Because they stand in the way of the gospel! They are enemies of the cross. They preach that which is opposed to Jesus. “Their god is their belly,” meaning they idolize that which brings temporary fulfillment. They seek those desires that lead to destruction. They search for temporal pleasures. “They glory in their shame,” which means they have no shame. Not only that, but they are proud of it! They boast in it! Paul says “stay away from these people! You want to hold true to that which you have attained?! To the beauty and the glory of the cross?! Keep your eyes on Jesus. Surround yourself with godly men and women that aren’t afraid to speak truth into your life. Fill your heart and mind with helpful, kingdom driven things.
Resolution #3 - Find voices of those who are unwavering in their pursuit of truth.
Application
This is the daily, monthly, yearly, lifelong pursuit of every Christian. Pursue Jesus and try to live like Him. So as we enter the new year, and consider what lies ahead, we have a fresh start. As the year turns over, all of our minds are on a kind of fresh start. What do I want to do better this year? What do I want to accomplish? What changes do I need to make? We’ve got to start here:
We’ve got to fight forward, every day. We strain, and press on, holding tightly to the truth of the gospel
Now, as we look into the new year as a church family, we get to set goals for ourselves as well. Here are a few things that we are going to be pursuing to continue expanding our ministry:
Students: Winter Retreat, Summer Missions Opportunity
Elders: Lord-willing installing new elders in the next few months.
Deacons: Will be adding this ministry team in the Spring
Going to begin the process of hiring an associate pastor.
We celebrate the growth that we’ve seen over the last year, and we look forward to what the Lord is going to do this year.
