Philippians 3:8-14
April 6, 2025
I’m sure most of you have probably seen one of these stickers on the back of a car. They are the distances for a marathon (26.2 miles) and a half marathon (13.1 miles). People often put them on their cars as an indication that they have run a marathon or a half marathon. I’ve seen some people mock these stickers with their own such as this one (2.62 miles) and around the edge it says, “Well it felt like a marathon.” Or even this one (0.00 miles) and on the outside it says, “I don’t run.” Maybe you’re not a marathon runner or you don’t care for running, but you do like to see how many steps you take in a day with your Fitbit. This morning I have already taken 5546 steps, but yesterday I took 18,656 steps, and last week I took 57,883 steps. I wonder how many steps I have taken so far in my lifetime? While it might be fun to calculate that number, it might be more important to think about how many steps you have left. What I mean is just as a runner does not stop in the middle of a race to admire how far or how fast he/she has run up to that point, but instead focuses on how many miles or yards he/she has left, so we are urged today in our second lesson from Philippians not to look back on our accomplishments, but to press on toward the goal of heaven. But Paul tells us in this text that as we press on toward the goal of heaven we need to be aware of our limitations. We are not to think that this is a race that we can run on our own. If we do, we won’t just finish poorly, we won’t finish at all.
Paul knew what he was talking about, because earlier in his life he had tried to reach heaven on his own and by human standards it appeared he was doing better than most people. He was circumcised on the 8th day of his life, which was required according to Old Testament laws; his family ancestry went back to the tribe of Benjamin, which meant he was a 100% pure Israelite; and at one time he was a Pharisee – a highly educated man who was part of a Jewish group that prided itself in keeping the laws of Moses. In fact, at one time Paul was so passionate about
following these Old Testament laws that he tried to destroy the Christian Church, because it taught that eternal life was found only in Jesus and not in keeping these laws, which the Pharisees had taught for centuries. So in Paul’s mind he thought he was well on his way to heaven. After all, he was often considered by his peers to be a Pharisee’s Pharisee.
The problem, though, was that while Paul may have been achieving the standards that he had set for heaven, they were not the standards that God had set. God makes the standard for heaven very clear in Leviticus 19:2, when He said, “Be holy, because I the Lord your God am holy.” Holy is another word for perfect, and as hard as Paul tried, perfection was a standard that Paul could not achieve.
In the same way, we could brag that we have memorized different verses from the Bible; we could boast about our perfect attendance in worship during Lent; or the money we’ve given to the church, or the many ways we volunteer at the church. But Paul warns us in this text not to take pride in these things and think that because of them we are well on our way to heaven. In spite of all those things Paul once did hoping to please God, Jesus came to Paul and showed him that the only way to eternal life in heaven was through Him. When Paul understood that, his life was changed. So while sitting in a prison cell because of his faith in Jesus, Paul looked back on the accomplishments of his life and said, “Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order 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 comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith” (Philippians 3:8-9).
Rubbish, trash, loss – that’s what Paul thought of his past attempts to get close to God when he realized that you can only get close to Him through Jesus. Only Jesus can give us the righteousness or perfection that God demands from us. In order to show that perfection is not
something we can earn on our own, Jesus once told a parable about a wedding banquet. He said a king sent out invitations to everyone in the land to come to the banquet he had prepared for his son. With the invitation everyone received a set of clothes they were to wear to the banquet. When one person showed up wearing his own clothes, he was thrown out. The point of the parable is if we think we can enter heaven clothed in our best efforts to be a good spouse, an obedient child, or a friendly neighbor, we are rejecting then the beautiful clothes of righteousness Jesus has won for us. As a result, we will not be accepted into God’s kingdom, but will be thrown into hell.
Although his past attempts to get to heaven were nothing more than trash, Paul was still upbeat about the life he would someday experience in heaven, because he knew that eternal life did not depend on him; it depended on Jesus. Although Paul was in prison for his faith while he wrote this text, he knew for certain what his future would be and that changed him in the present. This is what he means when he said, “But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:14-14).
It’s just like when every member of a gold-medal winning basketball team receives a gold medal, even though not every member may have played in the winning game. Paul knew that even though Jesus ran the whole race by living a perfect life, without any help from us, the prize of eternal life would one day be his. That is what gave him the confidence to keep straining forward, that is what gave him the confidence to keep pressing on, no matter what. You see, what we know our future to be can actually change our present. For example, imagine there are two people who are both working the same job. It is a terrible, awful job that nobody wants. It is 70 hours a week of backbreaking, disgusting, mind-numbing work, and they won’t get paid until the end of the year. One person knows that at the end of the year he is going to be paid
$25,000, while the other person knows he is going to be paid $25 million. Now, how do you think knowing that might affect the way they view their work? The one who knows he is going to be paid only $25,000 would be bitter and angry, and would probably end up quitting before the year was over. The one who knows he is going to be paid $25 million would probably be happy and would never complain when he came to work. You see, what you know your future to be actually changes you in the present.
But if Jesus has already won the prize of heaven for us, why do we have to “press on” toward the goal? While the race has been run and won, the prize has yet to be given to us. Well it shouldn’t be difficult to make it to the winner’s podium to claim the prize of eternal life Jesus won for us, right? You wouldn’t think so, but Satan, the world, and our own sinful nature are trying hard to keep us from claiming the prize. So Paul tells us to keep everything in proper perspective. Your weekend hobby is not more important than learning more about Jesus right here with others. Your home renovations are not more valuable than strengthening your faith in Jesus through Bible study. Spending time with your friends at a ball game is not more beneficial than spending time with Jesus in worship.
The only way we’ll consider everything a loss compared to knowing Christ is to stay connected to Him. And one of the best ways to stay connected to Him is to rely on your fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, who are running the race of the Christian faith with you, who are cheering you on and need your encouragement, as well. You may have already run a marathon or taken over 1 billion steps in your lifetime, but don’t look back with pride on what you have accomplished, or spend time mourning over past sins. What matters is how you will run the race and take the steps you have left. Whether you have 1 billion steps left or just 10,000, keep pressing on toward the goal, confident in Jesus who won the race for all of us, because your prize is waiting.
