Deo Gloria
April 6, 2025
Sermon
Pastor Martin Bentz
Text: Philippians 3:4b-14
Theme: Press on Toward the Goal!
- Get rid of all self-righteousness.
- Get to know Jesus Christ.
- Go for the gold.
It can happen to any athlete. It can happen to any team. After a disappointing loss or a series of setbacks, a team can begin to lose their focus. They don’t practice quite as hard. They begin to dog it during drills. They start to goof off. “After all, what does it matter? We’re never going to win a state championship. We probably won’t even make the playoffs. Who cares?” Of course, a good coach will pick up on that in a second. He’ll call all the players together and read them the riot act. He’ll remind them in no uncertain terms that the season isn’t over; that they still have a chance; that it does matter how they practice; that quitters never win and that winners never quit. And they better get back out there and give it all they’ve got.
The same thing can happen to us as Christians. As we journey through this life, as we go about our daily routine, as we carry out the menial and mundane tasks of every day life, trying to earn a living, trying to raise a family, as we face difficulty and hardship and setbacks and sadness, as we struggle with sin and the effects of sin in our lives, we too can lose our focus. We can easily lose our sense of purpose. “Why I am doing this? Where is my life headed? Why am I a Christian? Is it really all that important that I follow Jesus Christ and live a godly life?” We can start to take our relationship with Jesus for granted. We can become lazy and complacent in pursuing our faith, and we can begin to let things slide.
Like a good coach the apostle Paul calls us together for a little pep talk. In the verses of our text he offers us some words of encouragement to help get us back on track. He redirects our focus from the clutter and busyness and frustrations of every day life to where it ought to be: on the prize, on the glorious prize that is waiting for us once this life is over, the crown of life in heaven. And he urges to get going, to move forward, to press on toward that goal. As he does so, he also offers us a few pointers, a few tips that will help us keep our spiritual focus and keep us moving in the right direction: 1.) Get rid of all self-righteousness, 2.) Get to know Jesus Christ, and 3.) Go for the gold.
Get rid of all self-righteousness—that’s Paul’s first tip. He gave that bit of advice to the Christians in Philippi for a very good reason. Self-righteousness was being promoted there. It was being advanced by a group of people known as Judaizers. Judaizers were Jewish people or Gentile converts to Judaism who wanted to combine Christianity with Judaism. On the one hand, these people claimed to be Christians who believed in Jesus Christ as their Savior. On the other hand, they claimed that having faith in Jesus Christ wasn’t quite enough. “You also need to keep the Old Testament laws,” they said. “Not all of them, of course, just some of them. Well, at least circumcision. If you want to be saved and go to heaven, you at least have to be circumcised.”
Many of these so-called Judaizers were Jews who prided themselves in their Jewish heritage. They figured that since they were part of God’s chosen people, since they had Jewish blood running in their veins, they enjoyed special favor in God’s eyes. They also prided themselves in their efforts to keep God’s laws: “Hey, ya’ know I haven’t missed a Passover in more than 20 years. I’m always careful not to work on the Sabbath. I always give my tithe to the temple treasury. And I never eat pork. All in all, I think I’ve done pretty well.” They thought that by doing such things, they were completing their salvation. Yes, Christ had made salvation possible for them, but they had to help finish the job.
The apostle Paul knew exactly where these people were coming from. He had thought that way too once upon a time. If anyone was going to earn his way to heaven, it was Paul. In fact, he had outdone all of these Judaizers in his efforts to earn salvation. None of them could even come close to Paul’s record:
If anyone else thinks he has reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more:
circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew
of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for
legalistic righteousness, faultless. (vv. 4b-6)
But Paul didn’t think that way anymore. Paul had seen the light, the light of Jesus Christ. On the road to Damascus the risen Christ had appeared to Paul. And suddenly he realized that all his efforts to keep God’s law and to earn God’s favor meant nothing, because he couldn’t be perfect as God demands. No matter how hard Paul tried he could never be holy. So he gave up trying. He got rid of all his striving for self-righteousness and instead put his trust in Jesus for eternal life and salvation. Paul expresses it this way, beginning in v. 7:
But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I
consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus
my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain
Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ —the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. (vv. 7-9)
That’s Paul’s advice to us as well. Don’t put confidence in yourself or in your own righteousness. Get rid of any ideas like that. Don’t put confidence in who you are or what you are or how good you are in comparison to others. None of that matters before God. Just because you are a member of Trinity Lutheran Church doesn’t mean that you are automatically going to heaven. Just because you send your children to a Lutheran school doesn’t mean that they’re assured of a place in heaven. Just because you attend church every week and give generously to the work of the church does not make you better in God’s eyes than anyone else. Now, don’t get me wrong. Being a member of a Christian church and sending your children to a Lutheran school and going to church every Sunday and giving generously to the Lord and his work are all very good, beneficial things. They all are pleasing in God’s sight; but they cannot save you. Only Jesus can. So don’t put your confidence in things like that. Don’t put confidence in your own righteousness, because no matter how good you are, you can never be perfect as God demands. Instead put your trust and confidence in Jesus and the righteousness he has earned for you, which brings us to Paul’s second point: Get to know Jesus Christ.
That’s what Paul wanted to do. Notice again what he said in verses 10+11:
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.
By this time in his life Paul certainly knew Jesus Christ. In fact, I think we could safely say that Paul knew Jesus better than most of us; but Paul wasn’t satisfied. Paul wasn’t about to put his spiritual life in neutral and coast for a while. Paul wanted to go forward. He wanted to grow. He wanted to get to know his Savior Jesus even better. He wanted to deepen his understanding. He wanted to strengthen his faith. He wanted to grow in the grace and knowledge of his Savior Jesus Christ.
Likewise Paul wanted to know his Savior’s power, the power that he had demonstrated in rising from the dead and which he now exerts in ruling over all things for the sake of his Church. Paul wanted to experience that power in his own life, that power to overcome sin, that power to fight off Satan and his attacks, just as Christ his Savior did.
Paul wanted to become like Christ. He wanted to share in his sufferings. If Christ had suffered because of who he was, as a follower of Christ, Paul wanted to suffer too. And if it was God’s will, Paul was even willing to die for being a Christian. If being a Christian and following Christ meant losing his life, Paul was ready. Like his Savior, Paul knew he would rise again.
Paul’s advice to us is the same: Get to know Jesus Christ, not just in a superficial or intellectual sort of way, but really get to know him. Sit down with your Bible and read it and study it and really get to know your Savior. Don’t sit around with your spiritual life in neutral. Get going. Get growing, in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ your Savior. Put your complete trust in his Word and the promises he has made. Put his Word into practice in your day to day life and experience his power, power to overcome sin and temptation, power to handle trouble and hardship, power to live a godly life, power to cope with suffering. Make an effort to imitate your Savior, to walk in his footsteps, to become like him. Do what he would have done. Say what he would have said. Love as he would have loved. Suffer as he would have suffered. Strive to become like Christ, to really get to know him, and press on toward the goal.
Paul’s third pointer is to go for the gold, to win the prize which is already yours. You see, you and I are sort of like absentee landlords. It’s like our uncle Ben died and left us his ranch out in Montana. It belongs to us. It is our inheritance, but we are not yet in physical possession of it. We’re still here while this property we own is out in Montana.
As Christians, the prize is already ours, the prize of eternal life in heaven. Christ our Savior won that prize for us through his suffering, death and resurrection. And through faith in Christ it belongs to us. It is our inheritance. But we are not yet in physical possession of it. We’re still here. We’re not in heaven yet. The race isn’t over. The prize is still waiting for us at the finish line.
So how should we run our race? Since the prize has already been won for us, should we run a mediocre race? Should we only run at half speed or only give half an effort? Absolutely not! The imagery Paul uses in the final verses of our text is that of a runner running a race. We might think of someone like Syndey McLaughlin-Levrone or maybe Cole Hocker, both of whom won gold medals at the Olympics last summer. The runner is on the last lap. He’s in the home stretch. His heart is pounding. His lungs are burning. His legs feel like rubber. And yet he pushes on. His eyes are glued to the finish line. He leans forward, straining his muscles and exerting every last ounce of energy, trying to be the first to cross that finish line. That’s the way Paul was running his race. “Forgetting what is behind,” he says, “and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus”(v. 13).
Paul urges us to do the same. Don’t get lazy in your spiritual race. Don’t get careless or sloppy or sluggish. Don’t run your race like you’re trying for 2nd place or 5th place or 200th place. Give it everything you’ve got. Go for the gold. Forget about what is behind you. Forget about the failures and the setbacks and the sins of the past. Forget about your foolish attempts to justify yourself and make yourself righteous in the sight of God. Forget all that, because Jesus has forgiven it. And then with his help, press on toward the goal, that glorious prize that is waiting for you at the finish line, the crown of life. Keep on growing in your faith. Keep on serving your Lord faithfully. Keep on striving to put sin out of your life. Keep on striving to become more like Christ. Keep on striving to stay close to Christ. Don’t let anything distract you or sidetrack you or trip you up or keep you from finishing the race. Press on. Press on toward the goal, that glorious prize for which God has called you heavenward in Christ Jesus. Amen.