September
20th I
press on to grasp my mission
12:
Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect:
but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am
apprehended of Christ Jesus. 13: Brethren, I count not myself to have
apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which
are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,
14: I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God
in Christ Jesus. 15: Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus
minded: and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal
even this unto you. 16: Nevertheless, whereto we have already
attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us mind the same thing.
17: Brethren, be followers together of me, and mark them which walk
so as ye have us for an ensample. 18: (For many walk, of whom I have
told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the
enemies of the cross of Christ: 19: Whose end is destruction, whose
God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind
earthly things.) 20: For our conversation is in heaven; from whence
also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: 21: Who shall
change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious
body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all
things unto himself.
Paul
says I have not attained to the realisation of Christ’s power in my
life that Christ has called me to, but l press onward to actualise
the knowledge of Christ in my life. Because it was for this reason
that Christ took hold of me. Oh that we might know Christ and his
power and the fellowship of his suffering in our lives too. Let us
press on to lay hold of this for which Christ laid hold of us. Paul
humbly states l have not achieved this yet! I’m still struggling on
I’m still trying to know God in my life. This is my only objective
my only goal. It is the one thing l do. (Take notice of those men who
have only one thing to do!) What a wonderful image. In those days the
runners in the Games ran naked. They forgot their Swiss army knife,
they forgot their coat. They ran laying aside every weight. They left
everything behind to strain every muscle and sinew to reach the mark
so that in the end they might be called to a higher place (The
podium) that they might receive the prize. Paul says Christ has
called me to know him is the resurrection power and in the suffering
of his name that the reality of his death might be actualised in my
life and ministry. That is the goal. Is there another? Paul states
categorically that all mature believers should take the same view as
him in this matter. However, he says if you think differently then
God will reveal your error to you. He says what ever you do live up
to the progress that you have made in your spiritual lives. Is there
progress spiritually? Yes of course we are to seek to actualise the
standing that he have in Christ in our daily lives. We are to live
out more and more the truth of the Gospel. Will there ever come a
time when this will be perfectly lived out? No not this side of
heaven. But our joy can increase and our service for God can be more
blessed. What a great man of God. He says follow me – follow my
example. This is the sort of leaders we need. Often people say,
‘Don’t follow me follow Christ’, but that is a cop out. We need
leaders whose lives are genuinely able to be copied. Paul says join
the club of those who live as l live. And take note of those who live
according to the pattern we gave you. A pattern is something that can
be repeated which always comes out exactly the same. When l was young
people used to say, ‘don’t copy so and so’. ‘Don’t preach
like him; don’t think like him or live like him’. But we learn
from example and we naturally copy to learn. What a short cut! Paul
says ‘live according to how you see me live’. Because l am
following Christ. What sort of examples are we? Paul describes these
false teachers who he mentioned in verse 2. He mentions four things
about them. 1. They live as enemies of the Cross of Christ. - These
Jewish teachers cannot comprehend the truth that their Messiah was
crucified and thereby cursed by the Mosaic Law. The cross is their
great stumbling block. Therefore they deny the very Work that Christ
came to do. And by denying his atoning work and blaspheming his
messianic signs they continue the rejection of Christ. They are
enemies of the Cross of Christ. 2. Their destiny is destruction - The
ultimate destination of these religious men is the destruction of the
Lake of fire. How sad. No wonder Paul weeps. He says they devote
themselves to religion, they try to keep the 313 commandments of the
Mitzvah, They have great missionary zeal, but they are found to be
like Paul before his conversion an enemy of Christ. Stephen said of
these men, ‘You do always resist the Holy Spirit’. There doom is
certain if they continue. Yet Paul is an example of how God resists
the proud and brings judgment (blindness) in order to save them. 3.
Their god is their stomach - These men are men of the flesh. They are
absorbed with the thinks of the flesh and seek in like to gratify the
fleshly appetites. They are gross. 4. Their glory is in their shame -
The very thing that they glory in is the very thing they should be
ashamed of. What did they glory in? A number of things - circumcision
for one. This glorious symbol of the Mosaic Law has become symbolic
of a return to Judaism and therefore apostasy. They also glory in
their law keeping yet it is the very thing that should bring to them
conviction of sin and poverty of spirit. They glory in Sabbath
observance without realising that Christ is now the Sabbath of his
people and that by keeping this ‘queen of commandments’ they deny
Him. They very things that they glory in are the things they should
be ashamed of. Paul says this in contrast to the Legalists who were
citizens of Jerusalem. He says Us Christians are not primarily
citizens of earthly cities but we are already citizens of heaven.
Paul’s emphasis on this point is emphasised a number of time,
especially in his letter to the Ephesians. He says that our blessings
are in the heavenly places in Christ. That our names are written
there (Another expression of citizenship) that we are seated with
Christ already in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. That he has gone
to prepare a place for us in the Fathers house. And that one day
Christ will come to call us to heaven to be with him. So let’s not
be so bound to this sad old earth. Lets lift up our eyes not to the
hills but to the heavens for their our Saviour is coming. And we
eagerly await a Saviour from there, the Lord Jesus Christ,
- What was Paul reaching for?
- What did Paul mean by saying follow me?
- How does Paul characterise the enemies of the Cross?
No comments:
Post a Comment