Pressing On: The Journey to Christlikeness

1. "You know, the Christian life is a journey. It's a pilgrimage, if you will, from godlessness to godliness, from a barren, meaningless existence apart from God to a full and meaningful life, a full and meaningful relationship with God through the Lord Jesus Christ, who is our perfect example of godliness and holiness. It's a process that we are engaged in. We are all at various points along the way, but God willing, we're all moving in the same direction." [00:10] (44 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


2. "We have to realize that we can't stop. We have to continue moving forward in progress. Paul was doing that very thing. He never considered himself to have arrived, so to speak. In verse 12, he says, Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect. Beginning of verse 13, he says, Brothers, I don't consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. And I find it interesting that the great Apostle Paul, this champion of the faith, the inspired author of 23% of our New Testament, the one person most responsible for the Christianization of the Greco-Roman world, Saint Paul, did not make any pretense of having made it already, or having arrived, or having some kind of superiority over us ordinary pilgrims on the pathway." [03:55] (66 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


3. "Even the great Saint Paul knew that he was constantly being called to a higher level of commitment to Christ, a more intimate relationship with God. In verse 14, he calls it the upward call of God in Christ Jesus, or as the NIV translates it, the heavenward call of God. Now if Paul recognized the need to constantly move forward in godliness, how much more should we? If he felt the need for that, certainly we should, shouldn't we? Certainly we should be devoted to that task." [04:58] (41 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


4. "So have the humility that Paul had, and admit that you just might not know all of it yet. That you just might have more to learn. It's not possible to teach anything to someone who already knows everything. So have a little humility and acknowledge that we all, no matter who we are, if the Apostle Paul had need to continue growing, certainly we do too. Certainly we should be on the pathway as well. Because those who fail to move forward in making some progress and growing in godliness and Christ-likeness, they're actually losing ground and falling back. If you're not growing, you're dying. If you're not advancing, you're retreating." [06:00] (53 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


5. "So for the Apostle Paul, there is no status quo. There is no resting on one's laurels. You have to continue to move forward. No goal can be reached if you stop, if you get distracted, if you turn aside from the pursuit of the goal. You will never reach that goal." [07:42] (25 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


6. "And in the same way, God doesn't call us simply to start down the road of discipleship. He calls us to continue to move forward, toward the prize, to persevere, to keep putting one foot in front of the other. In spite of whatever may come our way, in spite of whatever injury we may suffer, or whatever pain we may endure, He calls us to keep moving forward. Onward. Upward. Because it's the only way we can win the prize for which God has called us heavenward in Christ Jesus. To grow in godliness, recognize the absolute necessity of continuing to move forward." [10:36] (45 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


7. "To grow in godliness, you also have to forget what is behind. Paul makes that clear in verse 13. Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, he says. He'd put the past behind him. Both the good and the bad. Last week we looked at some of the good things that Paul had turned away from, that he had sacrificed in order to pursue Christ, to know Christ. You can read about it if you like back in verses 4, 5 and 6 of chapter 3. But he left it all. He was a rising star in Judaism. He had a bright future ahead of him. He was going to be respected. He was going to be a leader among his people. And he left it all to follow Christ. For Paul there was no retreat. No surrender. He forgot what was behind. He put it behind him and strained forward to what was ahead. He was never going back." [11:07] (67 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


8. "There may be good things that are standing between you and the progress you desire to make as a follower of Christ, as his apprentice. Maybe some things you need to turn away from or leave behind in order to follow Christ. But following Christ, Paul would tell you, is the best thing. You can turn from the good if you turn toward the best. Paul had done that." [13:11] (28 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


9. "You need to put your failures behind you, your mistakes, your sins, your shortcomings, put them behind you in the past where they belong and strain toward what is ahead. It doesn't matter what you've done, what grievous sin you may have committed. If you've asked God to forgive you, guess what? God has forgiven you. There is a promise in the Scripture. If we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Receive that forgiveness, put it in your past, and forget it. Turn instead toward the future, what lies ahead. To grow in godliness, you've got to forget what's behind you." [15:08] (53 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


10. "If there is anything predominant in this text, it is that Paul is pressing on toward the goal to win the prize. In verse 12 he says, I press on. That word can also mean I pursue. I chase it. I'm after it. I keep going. I press on. In verse 13 he speaks of straining toward what is ahead. He's putting effort into it. He's putting time into it. Energy into it. Resources into it. That's what it means to pursue and press on toward a goal. Again in verse 14 he says, I press on. I think we get the picture. He's very explicit about it. Even for this greatest of saints, spiritual growth requires a constant dedication and perseverance. A constant attention to following the upward call of God. And Paul was focused on it. He says, This one thing I do. That's a focus. This one thing I do. I press on." [16:12] (72 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)