Study the Word

Guest (Male): Posing a question for you to answer. Here's Pastor Thom Keller.

Thom Keller: Can you say, "I look forward to the future"? Your answer should be an emphatic yes. Why? Because you know who holds your future. It's not up to the will of man. God holds your future.

Your unbridled enthusiasm and confidence in the plan that God has for you speaks volumes to the unsaved people around you who fear the future and face the future with fear and dread.

Guest (Male): While we don't know what the future holds, we know who holds the future. So we can have peace in him and trust in his plan for us. Do you struggle with anxiety? Many do. Help is right around the corner on today's Study the Word with Pastor Thom Keller.

We'll find that in Philippians chapter 3. You're about to be encouraged to trust God's will and not insist on your own. Starting off with an illustration, here's Pastor Thom.

Thom Keller: A woman who worked as a pediatric nurse had the difficult assignment of giving an immunization shot to children. One day she entered the exam room to give four-year-old Lizzie her injection. "No, no, no!" she screamed. Lizzie scolded her mother, "That's not polite behavior." With that, Lizzie yelled even louder, "No thank you! No thank you!" She became polite.

In that story, the will of that little girl ran contrary to the will of her mother and the nurse. And although Lizzie complied, she went kicking and screaming. So what about you? Does your will run contrary to the will of God? Are you surrendered to accepting his call on your life? Let's take a look at what Paul has to say about that. Philippians 3, verse 12.

"I don't mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it. But I focus on this one thing: forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us."

As many of you know, this is a famous passage. New King James says it this way: "Not that I have already attained or that I am already perfected, but I press on that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me." He speaks about going on to perfection. In Greek, the word perfection is the word 'teleioo', and it means to bring one's character to perfection.

Even though my character remains flawed, we still press on, imperfect as we are, toward the goal. Again, verse 12 says: "Not that I have already attained or am already perfected, but I press on that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me." Even though I have not yet hit the mark, I still press on. King James says, "I follow after."

In Greek, the word for "follow after" is 'dioko', and it means to run swiftly in order to catch some person or something. To run swiftly in order to catch some person or something, or to run after. New Living Translation is a bit unfortunate here. It says, "I keep working." I think that's a little unfortunate because that word "working" is laden with Christianese baggage. It implies that we do works.

"I keep working" brings to mind the image of working in a factory, nose to the grindstone, working like crazy for Jesus. But the picture in the Greek is different. Rather than being in a factory, nose to the grindstone, instead I am outside pursuing something or someone, chasing after something or someone because I want to catch them. King James says, "so that I may apprehend them."

Let me relate this to a marriage. It's the difference between me working in a factory, my nose to the grindstone to earn money in a foolish, immature attempt to buy my wife Sue's love, versus me being out in a huge open field of yellow wildflowers running after Sue, chasing after Sue, pursuing Sue with all my might, knowing that she wants me to catch her. In the beginning, I'm not sure she wanted me to catch her. But I think now she would want me to catch her.

And you see, this is the idea that Paul intends to convey here. It's the same way with Jesus. When it comes to my relationship with Christ, I don't labor as a slave on some treadmill in a foolish, immature attempt to earn Jesus's love and acceptance. Instead, I run after Jesus, I pursue Jesus, I chase after Jesus, I walk with Jesus. I keep my eyes on Jesus, my focus on Jesus because he can be caught. He wants to be caught.

So we run after him and we pursue him. And what's really cool is that we automatically become more like him as we run after him. Because a principle in life is this: you will become like that which you focus on. The reason you focus on something is immaterial. You may really dislike your father and focus on him because you dislike him. And because your focus is on him, you'll become like him.

You can admire your father and the attributes and the strengths that he has. And because you focus on those positive attributes, you will probably pick up those positive attributes because it's what you focus on. We become like that which we focus on. In sports, it's true: where your eyes go, the ball goes. What you look at, you tend to become.

So as I pursue, focus on, walk toward Jesus, it's just a natural part of that that I will become more and more like him. And as I pursue Jesus, I ask, "Jesus, what would you do in this situation? Jesus, what would you say in this situation as I walk with you?" In actuality, to walk after Jesus, to follow after Jesus, is to walk in the Spirit.

When I walk in the Spirit, I find myself doing those things that please God naturally. Romans 8, verse 5: "Those who let themselves be controlled by their lower nature live only to please themselves." Listen: "But those who follow after the Holy Spirit find themselves doing those things that please God." When we walk in the Spirit, we don't need the law as a cattle prod forcing us on.

When we walk in the Spirit, the Spirit of God indwells us, and we find ourselves naturally—the new life in us—doing those things that please God. Now in verse 13, Paul goes on to make the same point, but he says it in a slightly different way. "No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead."

He says, "I forget the past and I look forward to what lies ahead." New King James says, "forgetting those things which are behind." Now, I have heard some people use this verse to say that we should forget about all the painful experiences of the past and refuse to ever look at them. They say, "Forget the past. Don't take a single step in the past ever."

Some will say in counseling, "I don't think I should have to look at my past because Paul says I'm supposed to forget the past." Well, the problem with that concept of forgetting the past is that if you do put your past on the shelf without dealing with it first and forget that it's there, you might be successful at that for a week or a month or maybe even longer.

But eventually, many times, most times, something will happen that will trigger that old painful memory, and you go get that back off the shelf, open the lid, and revisit its contents all over again. Even Jesus said that we are to remember the past if we've hurt others in the past. Matthew 5:23.

"So if you're presenting a sacrifice at the altar of the temple and you suddenly remember something that you did to hurt someone in the past, that someone has something against you, leave your sacrifice there at the altar, go and be reconciled to that person, then come and offer your sacrifice to God." So here's a takeaway for today. The Greek word for "forget" here brings some clarity.

It is 'epilanthánomai'. It means neglecting, no longer caring for. Neglecting the past, no longer caring for the past. Paul says we are to neglect the past, no longer care about the past. But specifically here in Philippians, for what in our past are we to neglect? Remember the context. Verse 7 says: "I once thought these things were valuable, but now I consider them worthless."

This is what he's forgetting, neglecting, because of what Christ has done. What are those things? We go back to verse 4 in front of verse 7. "Though I could have had confidence in my own effort, in my flesh, if anyone could. Indeed, if others have reasons for confidence in their own efforts, I have even more."

What Paul is saying here is that he is neglecting his past accomplishments. He no longer cares about gaining the approval of man by way of achieving title or position or possessions or fame. Instead, verse 13, he says this: "No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it." He neglects the past: "But I focus on this one thing: forgetting the past, neglecting all my past achievement, instead I look forward to what lies ahead."

He neglected his past accomplishments and looks forward to the future. So here's a question for you. In our current economic and pandemic situation, can you say, "I look forward to the future"? You know your answer should be an emphatic yes. Why? Because you know who holds your future, right? It's not up to the will of man. God holds your future.

Your unbridled enthusiasm and confidence in the plan that God has for you speaks volumes to the unsaved people around you who fear the future and face the future with fear and dread. James 1, verse 2 says: "My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials." Do you count it all joy as we fall into these various trials?

Then verse 14 adds to this anticipation for what lies ahead. 3:14 says, "I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us." Here Paul distinguishes between the goal and the prize. Picture a soccer player taking the prize-winning penalty shot. He aims at the goal, but it's for the sake of winning the prize, the trophy.

The first is the object of the player's effort, the shot. But the second is the reward for the player's successful effort. It's the prize, the trophy. And here Paul lets us in on the secret of his own life, of what made him into the sort of Christian that he was. We discover that the pathway to a life like Paul's is not complicated.

He says, "Study the word daily to show yourself approved." It's not complicated. Wake up, study the word, go to work. Wake up, study the word, go to work. Wake up, study the word, go to work. Can you remember that? It's a little harder doing it than remembering it. Wake up, study the word, go to work.

I've said this many times: this is the key to the victorious Christian life. Wake up, do the right thing, go to bed. Wake up, do the right thing, go to bed. Wake up, do the right thing, go to bed. Link ten of those together, then a hundred of those and a thousand of those, and your life will be in a whole different place than it was when you started.

Wake up, do the right thing, go to bed. Wake up, read the Bible, go to work. Wake up, read the Bible, go to work. It's not complicated. Mclaren says this: "These are the things that contribute to success in any field of life. Christianity is simply the perfection of common sense. Men become mature Christians by no other means than those by which they become good artisans or ripe scholars or the like."

"But the misery is that though people know well enough that they cannot be good carpenters or doctors or fiddlers without certain habits and practices, they seem to fancy that they can be good Christians without them." Calvin Coolidge said this, the president: "Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not. Nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent."

"Genius will not. Unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not. The world is full of educated failures. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent." Not that those other things are bad, but in the end, it is persistence and determination that rules the day.

And once these habits and practices are in place, these necessary disciplines, we are able then, and only then, to run the race with persistence, winning the prize in heaven so as to hear those longed-for words: "Well done, thou good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of the Lord." So a question: how well are you running the race?

Let me ask a more foundational question: in what race are you running? As you are considering how to answer that question, consider this. Paul makes determining your race a two-step process. In the beginning of verse 14, it says: "I press toward the goal for the prize of the upper call in Christ Jesus. I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus."

And what is the prize? What is this upward call? It's our reward in heaven. Many people and most businesses will set goals. Sometimes they're weekly, monthly, or yearly. But how many of those goals have as their objective rewards in heaven? Not many.

Barnes, a commentator, said this: "God has called us to great and noble efforts, to a life of true honor and glory, to the attainment of a bright and imperishable crown. It is called that which is high or upward, and in the Greek, it means that which is in the skies. The calling of the Christian is from heaven and to heaven, and each of us has been summoned by God to secure that crown."

"It is placed before us and above us in heaven, and it may be yours if you will not faint or tire or look backwards. And although it demands our highest effort, it is worth all the exertions which a mortal can make, even the longest of lives." Paul says, God says, set your goals with a narrow focus of only one prize in mind: the prize. The reward you will receive in heaven for achieving those goals.

So number one, before establishing any goals, we must first agree on the prize that we're seeking. Blaise Pascal, who some claim to be the most brilliant man who ever lived short of Christ, said this: "Define life backward and live it forward. Define life backward, live it forward. Consider what happens at the point of death, at death, then live your life accordingly."

Define life backward and live it forward. And really, doesn't that just make sense? All journeys are planned with a destination in mind. How are you going to get to your destination if you're taking vacation if you don't have a destination in mind? All journeys are planned with a destination in mind.

This changes the focus from our goals having earthly prizes to establishing goals that have heavenly prizes. And for me, that was a critical life change in my life. One of the verses that God used to just nail me when I gave my life to Christ, when I surrendered my life to Christ in my thirties, was Mark 8:36 and 37.

"For what will it profit a man?" Profit was big in my world. "For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?" What are you willing to give in exchange for your soul? How will a man profit if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what trade-off are you willing to make for your soul?

Where is that line? Where is that dollar amount? What will you do? How far will you go to forfeit your soul to get what you want outside of God? All journeys are planned with a destination in mind. So define life backward and live it forward. And once you determine that the prize you seek is in heaven and God's approval versus man's approval, then the next question to be answered is this.

What is God's calling on my life? God, what would you have me do to attain this prize, this upward call of God? How do I discover and live out God's call in my life? Sue and I taught fifth and sixth-grade Sunday school class from the time we were married until we were in our early thirties. And that was when I went through a crisis in my life.

I've told you about that. I surrendered my life to Christ. I was all in, fully surrendered, and a whole new life began. The Bible came alive to me. I just could not get enough. New insights, new truths. There were these supernovas of understanding bursting in my brain all the time. I'd pick up my Bible and was like, "Wow, this is so contrary to what the world has told me." It was such an exciting time.

And as a result of that, over a year or so, I felt a strong leading to start teaching older young people, older youth. We were teaching fifth and sixth grade, but I wanted to teach an older group. But I didn't want to push myself forward or presume that I was qualified or called by God to teach that age group. And yet I felt a strong call.

But year after year when Sunday school teachers were announced, Sue and I were re-chosen to teach fifth and sixth grade again. Now we enjoyed that class, but I just wanted to go deeper with some of the things God was showing me. Then one year, I was elected to the nominating committee at the church, which was a committee that was responsible to choose the names of the people who would be asked to serve as teachers.

It was all the different Sunday school classes from kindergarten through adult. And at my home church, only the senior high youth group was allowed to give input into the nominating committee as to who they might want to have added to the nominations. And at my first nominating committee meeting, the chairman read the names that the youth had requested as possible teachers of their class, and Sue and I were on that list. I was thrilled.

Later that evening, when it came time to discuss the senior high youth, I told the committee that I had been praying for some time for the opportunity to teach a senior high class, so I would be thrilled to have my name put on the ballot as a possible teacher. Then the chairman said this: "Thom, your name has been submitted by the youth every year for the last several years. We just thought you wanted to keep teaching fifth and sixth grade."

Now, as I've had years to think about that, decades really, to reflect over that event, it leads me to two possible conclusions. Was it that God wanted me to wait until he called me into that senior high class teaching position without me stepping forward on my own? Or should I have raised my hand years earlier and told someone in church leadership that I sensed a call to teach the older youth?

Should I have let someone know, or should I have waited to be called? Which is it? Do you want to know? You'll just have to come back next week. Next week we're going to talk about how can you know what God's call is on your life. That upward call that seeks the heavenly prize that Paul says we are to seek.

Guest (Male): Good news: that message will air in just a couple of days. But join us next time when our teacher Pastor Thom Keller will make an exciting announcement and give us more practical application for this foundational scripture. This is Study the Word, an outreach of Calvary Chapel Lebanon.

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Give us a call at 717-273-5633 or write to Study the Word, 740 Willow Street, Lebanon, Pennsylvania 17046. You can email us through the website as well at ccleb.com. Study the Word is made possible through the generous support of listeners just like you. And thank you for helping us reach thousands with the love and truth of Jesus Christ.

You can give online right now at ccleb.com or call 717-273-5633. We hope you'll visit us sometime here at Calvary Chapel Lebanon. For our service times and more information, go online to ccleb.com. You can also watch our livestream at ccleb.com or on our YouTube channel at Calvary Chapel Lebanon. Study the Word with Pastor Thom Keller is brought to you by Calvary Chapel Lebanon. May God richly bless you as you study the word.