Listen to the audio of today’s Reflection:
https://soundcloud.com/hapearce/reflection-for-february-15-2024
Philippians 3:12-16
Pressing on toward the Goal
12 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13 Brothers [and sisters], I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
15 All of us who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you. 16 Only let us live up to what we have already attained.
A few days ago, we based our Reflection on a passage from Philippians in which Paul quoted an ancient hymn. You might remember that we said that the hymn fragment expressed the early church’s understanding about who Jesus really was and what his appearance in human form means. Then in Tuesday’s Reflection, we thought about a passage in which Paul wrote about his credentials and achievements as a member of the Jewish religious leadership. As impressive as they were, Paul said that all those honors and achievements were so much “rubbish” compared to his new life as an apostle of Jesus.
Our reading for today builds on those thoughts. Paul writes that as rich as his life of discipleship is, he has not yet come into full fellowship with Jesus. Our NIV Bible quotes him as saying he hasn’t yet “been made perfect.” We might hear that and say, “Of course not!” But the Greek word that’s translated “perfect” here is probably better translated as ‘complete.’ And that makes more sense – Paul is saying that he’s what we would call ‘a work in progress,’ as a follower of Jesus. We sometimes say, “Jesus isn’t done with me yet.”
Then Paul uses an interesting metaphor to illustrate his life of discipleship – the metaphor of a runner in a race. “Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead,” he says, “I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”
It seems to me that metaphor opens up a couple of insights into the life of faith.
The first one is that spiritual growth requires ‘forgetting what lies behind.’ Paul’s life had been marked by great achievements, but also by terrible sins. He had been one of the best and the brightest of the religious leaders of his people. But he had also been the leader of the Jewish persecution of the followers of Jesus. The Acts of the Apostles describes him as “breathing threats and murder” against the early church. So for Paul, forgetting the past meant getting rid of honors and shame alike.
Personally, I’m encouraged by the idea of ‘forgetting what lies behind’ – and I’m probably not alone. Some followers of Jesus have probably been committed to the faith all through their lives, but not all of us have. And those of us who know how far we’ve strayed from God’s way take some comfort in knowing we’re forgiven sinners raised to new life in Jesus. So we really resonate with what Paul writes about forgetting what lies behind.
But the last part of that sentence presents a challenge to our understanding of the nature of our salvation. Paul talks about ‘straining forward and pressing on,’ but we understand that we’re ‘justified by faith and not by works.’ Paul describes the life of faith as directed toward “winning the prize,” which makes eternal life sound like a human achievement, not like a gift out of God’s grace.
So how are we supposed to deal with this apparent contradiction? Is the life of faith a matter living out our gratitude for his death on the cross and putting no value on our own efforts? Or does it take discipline and hard work?
It might be that the correct answer is ‘both.’ That’s not a clean and clear answer, I know. But I think Paul would say that our salvation – our new life in Jesus – really is a gift of God’s grace. None of us can earn a right to eternal life by our own virtue and good deeds. It’s a central belief of our Reformed faith that God gets all the credit for turning our hearts to follow his Son.
But once we face the fact that our new life in Jesus and the promise of eternal life are gifts of God – then we owe God a great debt of thanks. And expressing that thanks means living every day in a way that brings glory to God. It means working every day to open ourselves to the Holy Spirit’s work of transforming us away from the self-centeredness that is at the heart of our human nature.
And that, it seems to me, is where the hard work comes in. That’s where the straining toward the goal comes in. Because – at least for me – living in a way that truly glorifies God is not an easy task.
If it’s not easy for you, either, then maybe it will make you feel better to know that it wasn’t an easy task for Paul himself. He makes that pretty plain in his letter to the Romans. Paul says that our selfishness, our anger – our sinful nature – has such a grip on us that living in imitation of Jesus is a lifelong effort for us.
I’ve always liked Paul’s use of sports metaphors to illustrate the life of faith. The disciplines of sports training have a lot in common with the disciplines of the faith – with prayer and worship and service and the study of scripture. Every discipline takes commitment. Every discipline is hard at first – maybe even painful. There will be moments of real joy about them once the disciplines are established, but they still feel like hard work at the beginning.
Paul understood that from personal experience. But he also understood that there’s a joy in living to honor the God who has rescued us from our sins. There’s a joy that comes from expressing your thanks to that God, and living into the promise of hearing him say, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”
What better prize could there be than that?
Let’s pray. Lord, we thank you for calling us to new life in Jesus. Strengthen us to live out our thanks, to strain forward in our lives of discipleship so that we follow Jesus more closely with each day we live in this world. Amen.
Grace and Peace,
Henry
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