Well, we see then the picture of the Christian in three chapters of Philippians. What does the Lord want to say to us in Philippians chapter 3? We have seen that a Christian is a soldier for Christ. We have seen that a Christian is a priest of the Most High God. What a calling. We have seen that a Christian has the privilege of being the servant of the Lord. And what does Philippians chapter 3 have to say to us?
As you look at this chapter, what picture was emerging as you concentrated your attention on it? Well, you would have noticed words like the theme of this conference: "Press toward the mark." What does this mean? What mark? Well, mark basically is the goal which the sportsman runs towards. It is the finish line which everyone who has done any running will know about. The rope which we have today. Whatever it is, that mark, and behind it the crown, that is the mark towards which everyone is pressing forward to.
This word "pressing forward" is again very interesting. It comes from a word which means to pursue. To pursue, to run after something with determination, very hard. Pursuing is not just trotting along, not jogging along. Pursuing is intense upon getting there. To win the crown, to win the race. This is no little bit of early morning exercise. It is straining every nerve to get there. This word pursue occurs three times in this chapter. And the word occurs in two different senses. For example, the word pursue occurs in verse 6 and is translated "to persecute." "I persecuted the church." That is the same word. Strange, isn't it? Remarkable. But not so remarkable when you realize what persecution is. It is to press on, to pursue a person, to hound him down, to give him no peace, no rest.
And so Paul said, "I persecuted the church." Yes, he brought even people into jail. He hounded them. He pursued them. He even killed the servant of the Lord, that wonderful man of God, Stephen. And he could in his own conscience never forget it. But he could be forgiven and become a servant of God. And so later on we find these words again in verses 12 and 14: "I press forward." And here in verse 12 we read, "I press on to make it my own."
You know, Paul could speak a lot about pressing on. He did a very good job of persecuting the Christians. He hounded them. He knew all about pursuing. And now he was going to pursue a completely different target. His life, this is what repentance means, had turned 180 degrees around. He was pursuing people, hounding them in a hostile sense. Now he has turned around and he was pursuing Christ. That he may obtain Christ. "That I may win Christ," he says there in verse 8. Now he was pursuing a different objective. That was his mark. This time he was going to make Jesus his own. He was not going to let Jesus get away. He exhausted every energy. He said, "I worked harder than anyone else." He put every nerve, every energy to press toward the mark of winning Christ.
Is there a better objective in this world than winning Christ? Is there something more valuable in this world? Oh, Jesus, He is everything to me. I only wish that everyone in this room could see how wonderful Jesus is. If you could only have your eyes opened. If I could pray like Elisha, "Lord, open his eyes that he may see." In comparison to which, the world is but rubbish. Not worth talking about. Not worth pursuing. What are you pursuing at this moment? What are you pressing towards at this moment? Is it exams? A good job? Some money? Oh, my friends, if all this is what you are looking for, then your sights are too low.
So what then is the picture? Pursuing forward, towards the mark, arriving. And look at the words in verse 14: the crown. Yes. Paul is concerned to get the crown. The prize. "I press on toward the goal for the prize." Are you pressing for any prize? What kind of a prize are you running for?
What then is the picture that is emerging? What is emerging here is the picture of an athlete. An athlete who is straining forward, disciplining himself, running hard in order to get hold of the crown. How does your life compare to this? Let me read to you how important this picture is for Paul in 1 Corinthians chapter 9, verse 24. "Do you not know that in a race all the runners compete, but only one receives the prize? Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable crown, but we an imperishable. Well, I do not run aimlessly. I do not box as one beating the air, but I pummel my body and subdue it, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified."
Here Paul pictures the Christian life as a race and he's running for the crown and he says, "So run that you will obtain." Not everybody obtains. Many people are in the race, but not everybody arrives at the goal. I wonder then how many of you are on this race and how many will at the end of the day have reached the goal. I pray to God that you will make it. It's such a tragedy to start and not to finish.
What is the prize? There to gain Jesus. There is nothing else worth gaining in this world. Press on that you may win Him. Win His love. How do you win a person? By winning his love, of course. You don't win anybody by grabbing hold of him and putting him in your box. You win a person when you win that person's heart. Just as the apostle John did. Oh, John was wonderful, isn't it? The one who was always close to Jesus' breast. Why? Because he always pressed on towards Jesus. He won Jesus' love. And the Bible says "the disciple whom Jesus loved." He made it. He won Jesus' love.
There were 12 disciples. Within the 12 there were three particularly close to Jesus. And within the three there was one even more close to Jesus. The only one that is described in the Bible among the apostles as the one that Jesus loved. Oh, I envy him. But he went out to win Jesus' love. And how he did it? Wonderful. He didn't talk too much. He was rather quiet. But he was always at the right place at the right time doing the right things. All the others had big mouths. They said, "I will die for you." And when the time comes all the others have run away. But John was there. In the courtroom, at the trial. At the cross, the only disciple at the cross. Yes, it's John. He is always there. Standing at the foot of the cross was a dangerous thing for a disciple at that time. But John was there. And to him the Lord Jesus committed His own mother.
So to win Jesus is to make Him my own. That is my ambition. The world fades away. The world is like a handful of sand. You grab hold of it and the tighter you hold it, the faster it goes out of your hand. The tighter you try to grab hold of this world, the more it seems to escape from you. The world and the fashion thereof passes away. Is that all you live for? And so here is the picture of the athlete.
But the picture of the athlete in the Bible is not just the sportsman. The Christian athlete is someone who runs in the stadium, in the arena. Every eye is looking upon you. Did you know that as a child of God people are watching you? We are running in the arena, not in the backwoods. In the arena, the whole world is looking upon you, watching you, what you are doing. And spiritual powers too are watching you.
And how do we run this race? How do we strain every nerve? It's remarkable in the book of the Maccabees. There we find that the athlete is the person who so runs the race for God that he witnesses a good confession. He glorifies God. And how does he do it? He does it in the end both by the life that he lives and by the death that he dies. So that the word athlete, by the time it reached the New Testament period, already had the meaning of the martyr. The athlete was the martyr.
For example, Eliezer was called an athlete. He was a Bible scholar, a scribe, and also a high government official. He was brought under the terrible persecution of Antiochus Epiphanes IV. They tried to persuade him to forsake God, to turn away from the word of God. But it didn't work, so they tortured him. He died rejoicing, witnessing a good confession. That is what the meaning of the word athlete came to mean when it got to the New Testament.
There was also this mother, the mother of seven sons spoken about in the book of Maccabees. A mother with seven sons and they were brought to trial for their faith in God by the officials of this mad king Antiochus. He started with the oldest son. "Will you turn away from God?" He said, "No. I will stand for my God and for His word." And so they tortured him in front of his brothers, in front of his mother, watching him. And so on to the seventh son. The youngest son was still a boy. Antiochus said to him, "Look, you are still a young fellow. If you will turn away from God, I will not only set you free, I will give you riches and a wonderful future." He turned to the mother and said, "Now persuade your son to turn away from God." The mother spoke to him in Hebrew and said to him, "You are the last of my sons now. The others have witnessed a good confession. Now you too, don't break my heart. Stand firm for God so that I may see you in the resurrection, that I may not lose you forever." And while she was still speaking to her son, her son said, "Why are you still speaking?" He turned to the king and said, "Get on with it. I am ready to lay down my life for my God." And so he died with his other six brothers. The mother too was executed. These are athletes. That's what the Bible means by an athlete.
Now, in Philippians chapter 3, what can we learn about this race? First, beware lest you become disqualified. Paul said, "Lest I should be disqualified." Be careful how you run this race. Because everything, the whole power of evil is there trying to stop you from winning this race. And Paul, even the apostle, was not taking his salvation for granted. He was afraid to be disqualified.
So, verse 2: "Look out for the dogs." What are dogs in the Bible? Dogs are these materialistic people who are interested only in material things, whose God is their belly. In verse 18: "For many of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, live as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their end is destruction. Their God is their belly and their glory is their shame. With minds set on earthly things." Those are the dogs. Beware of these people.
And another thing to beware is beware of sin. Sin will destroy the finest Christian. It will destroy a mighty man of God. Beware particularly of the sin of pride, and beware of sexual sin. The devil will do everything to stop you in the running. Let me just tell you one experience. In '62 I went to Israel. I took a student's flight. I traveled by train down to Athens and from Athens in Greece I took a flight out to Israel. In Athens I was booked onto the student's flight. The plane had engine trouble. An announcement came and said we are sorry the plane cannot take off. Will everybody go back to Athens where we will provide you with hotel accommodation for the night. We went back to Athens the whole crowd of students and when we got to the hotel all the students were paired off in rooms.
I didn't see what's the hurry, I said, well let them all have their rooms and I'll just take what's left over. So finally everybody had their rooms and that left me and one girl, a Scandinavian girl. And there was this double room, a room with two beds. And the manager said, "Oh, that's alright, you two then go to this room." I said, "Wait, hold a minute. This will not do." He said, "What do you mean won't do? She is agreed." I said, "Well, I haven't agreed yet." He said, "Look, I have in this hotel only rooms with two beds. I haven't got any other kind of room." I said, "I'm sorry to disappoint you but I'm not going to share this room with her, no matter how much she agrees." He shook his head and he thought this guy must be mad. But you see how cleverly Satan maneuvered me into a position which seemed pretty impossible. It took all my determination to say to this manager, "I am not sharing this room." Beware. For one moment of a quick fling. One moment when you say, "Nobody's looking." You'll be sorry for the rest of your life for one moment of pleasure. Moses was a wise man. He was not for the sake of a moment of pleasure going to throw away his eternal inheritance.
# The Christian Athlete (Philippians 3) - Part 2
I would have grabbed the chance if I hadn't, and here he doesn't want it. But you see how cleverly Satan maneuvered me into a position which seemed pretty impossible. It looked like that either I was going to share this room with her or I was going to be out on the street. I could take my choice. Well, what would you do if you were found in this position? You as a Christian caught in this kind of position, maybe you would say to yourself, "Well, nobody would know, would it? None of these students there knew me." Beware of these temptations.
It took all my determination to say to this manager, "I am not sharing this room." And he said, "Okay, okay, okay. We'll see what we can do." And finally, very annoyed and very grudgingly, he put a bed for me up in another room. Beware. For one moment of a quick fling. One moment when you say, "Nobody's looking." You'll be sorry for the rest of your life for one moment of pleasure. Moses was a wise man. He was not for the sake of a moment of pleasure going to throw away his eternal inheritance. Don't be so quickly tempted, my friends.
Rather, look out for this: to be willing, as Paul says, for the sake of Christ, to count everything as loss. To be willing, as it says here in verse 10, to share in His suffering. Share in His suffering. To be scorned by sinners. Never mind. Share the suffering of Christ. You'll be happy at the end that you did it.
And there are many Christians who say, "I'm willing to be a totally committed Christian. I'm willing to run this race. But, how do I go about this? Because one thing that holds me back. What I'm afraid of in running this race, maybe God will ask me to do something that I don't like to do." Have you ever thought about that? You want to yield yourself completely to God, but you are scared. You're scared that God will ask you to do something that you don't like to do. Maybe He asks you to go to the North Pole. Why are you so afraid? You don't trust in God? Do you not know that He is a loving Father? He loves you more than your own father and your mother would ever do.
I once spoke to a man in Liverpool. He was studying medicine. And he said, "I'm willing to commit my life totally to Christ. But I am scared." I said, "What are you scared of?" "I'm scared that God will ask me to give up medicine." I said, "What makes you think that God will ask you to give up medicine?" He said, "Well, maybe God will ask me to do that. My whole ambition is to become a doctor. And if I become a totally committed Christian, maybe God will say to me tonight, 'I want you to give up medicine.' I can't stand it. I can't give up medicine. Medicine is everything to me." I said, "If God ever called any man to give up medicine, the privilege would be too high. But you see, why are people afraid? It's because they have not seen the glory of Christ. They think that medicine is something so wonderful that they cannot exchange it for Christ."
Well, he hesitated and he hesitated. He would not yield himself. In any case, God will not ask you to do this kind of thing unless He knew you were capable of doing it spiritually. If ever He asked you to give up anything, let me tell you, what He will give you in return is beyond your imagination.
If, for example, a great king in this world would say, "I would like you to come and serve with me, the greatest king in the world." Would you say, "No, I am not going to come to your court. I am not going to serve in your government. Because for me medicine is more important." And when that king is Jesus, what's the rest compared to that? He, as it says in verse 21, who has the power to enable Him to subject all things to Himself. Only God. No cross now, no crown there. You take your choice.
And then we must, secondly, forget what is behind. How can you run a race when you're looking back all the time? You'll soon bump into a tree. You'll fall into a ditch. You've got to keep your eyes in front. But many Christians, unfortunately, they come to Christ and they're looking over their shoulder all the time. And Jesus says to people like this, "He that puts his hand to the plow and looks back is not fit for the kingdom of God." So that's what Paul says. "Forgetting the things which are behind, I press on towards the mark." "I have suffered the loss of everything and I count it as so much rubbish that I may win Christ."
And then we must rush on. We've got in this running to be steady. There are some Christians that are very strange. They run very fast one minute, they stop the next minute. Up and down, up and down. Are you one of these Christians? People like these are people who have not totally yielded themselves to God. The result is they are governed by their emotions, their feelings, their moods. Run steadily. This word that is translated "pressing towards the mark" is in Greek what is called a present continuous tense. "I keep on pressing on towards the mark." Steady progress. Not just going in spurts. You've got not to let your emotions get the better of you. I make no emotional appeal. I speak to your will. It is the will that determines to follow God.
And then next we see that you must keep the goal clearly in sight. The fourth point is the vision. The vision of Christ. If you have no vision of Jesus, if you still do not know how wonderful He is, how much He loves you, then pray to God that He will open your eyes. It is a vision that you must catch. When you see it, you know it. Paul caught the vision. He had it on the Damascus road. And that vision grew ever brighter.
Not only Paul, but every Christian can get the vision of Jesus. And I pray to God that you may have it. When you see Him, nothing by comparison is worth having. You will be able to say with Paul, "I have suffered the loss of everything and I count it as rubbish." Our assistant pastor in Liverpool, an electrical engineer by training, gave up his electrical engineering after he had got his master's degree. Many people said to him, "Oh, it is a great sacrifice, isn't it? You have given up engineering. It is such a great cost." He said, "Cost? What cost? I have given up nothing that is worth giving up. Nothing of value. It is so much rubbish."
But don't keep looking back. If you have not conceded that it is rubbish, you will keep looking back. Keep your eyes on the target. Do you see the vision? Have you the vision of what is ahead? That we shall be raised incorruptible. That God will give us a glorious body. What do I want the resurrection for? Because only in the resurrection then I will enter into the new and deeper fellowship with Jesus. Who wants to go to heaven? I heard a song in England: "Everybody wants to go to heaven but nobody wants to die." What is there in heaven that draws me there? What makes heaven interesting for me is Jesus is there. If you have a boyfriend or girlfriend, you'll know. That city may be the drabbest in the world, but for you that place is wonderful because she is there. That's why I want to get to heaven. That's why I want this new body. So long as it is the body in which I can have fellowship with Jesus.
We come quickly to our last point. We must be spiritually ambitious. Pressing towards the mark means that you have a determination. You have an ambition to get there. How will you ever get to the mark if you have no desire to get there? You've got to be ambitious. The worldly man has worldly ambitions. But the spiritual man has spiritual ambitions. My ambition is to gain Him. I'm very ambitious. I want to win Him. So Paul says in 1 Corinthians 9, "So run that you may obtain."
Paul tells us about this prize in 2 Timothy 4 and verse 8. The prize, the crown. The crown of righteousness. That crown is the crown that Paul says the Lord will give me. He is going for the crown. Philippians chapter 3 and verse 9: "And be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own based on law, but that which is through faith in Christ."
You know, I visualize when I read 2 Timothy chapter 4 and verse 8. Paul, by this time, he's an old man. He's over 60 years old. His hair is all white. He's in prison waiting for his execution. He's about to die. Is he sad? Is he sorry? No. "I have run the race. I have got to the mark. Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown." Would to God that each one of us would be able to say this. I can picture Paul as he went forth to his execution. Standing up, his white hair flowing in the wind. He had served the Lord for over 30 years. He had fought the fight. Many scars on his body. Beaten, shipwrecked, starved. A soldier of Christ. Bearing all the scars of Christ upon his body. As he says in the last words of Galatians, "Let no man trouble me because I bear the marks of Jesus in my body." And there he went forth to his final triumph. Gladly he bowed his head in prayer and bowed his head to the sword of the executioner. "I have finished the course. Henceforth, the crown."
Is it worth gaining Christ and losing all? Of course it's worth it. What's that this world has got to offer to us? In the last century the bishops of the church were like kings. They dressed in purple. They lived in regal glory. One day one of the people came to one of these bishops and said, "You know something? You are very wise." He felt very good about this. "Why do you say that?" "Well, you see, Peter and Paul and all the apostles were fools. They had to win the crown by suffering the loss of everything. But you are wiser. You get all these things without having to suffer the loss of anything." He was wise alright. He was wise in the world and foolish in the sight of God.
The Lord Jesus said, "If any man would save his life, he will lose it. But he that loses his life for my sake will find it." Don't be mistaken, my friends, brothers and sisters. Don't think that you can have the world and have Christ. That's not what Jesus said. Paul would have been the greatest fool if he could have gained Christ without suffering the loss of anything. But he says here, "I have suffered the loss of all things. And count them as rubbish, that I may win Christ."
Do the Chinese Christians in China suffer in vain? Is God unfair to them? They are the ones who are going to have the crown. The Lord Jesus says, "No man has given up houses, of lands, of father, mother, brother, sister, anything, who will not have it in this life and in the life to come hundredfold, plus eternal life." You can win Christ. But it is going to cost you everything. The pearl of great price. Is it worth it? I say it is. Because only so do I know the loving God and know His loving kindness. His loving kindness is better than life.
I want to give you an opportunity, if you have not yielded your life totally and absolutely to Christ, to do so. I am going to ask you this question whether you are willing to be totally, completely committed to Christ. You know deep down in the heart what it means. You know at this very moment whether you have totally committed your life to Christ or not. Only when you have done this will you know the fullness of joy. You will have spiritual joy. But the joy that God gives to you will make it more than worth it. Because there you will learn to walk with Him. There you will experience the joy of fellowship with Him as you never had before.
So make a beginning, here and now. Rise to your feet. Say, "Lord Jesus, I want to yield my life totally and completely to You." This does not mean that you are entering full time service in the sense of becoming a preacher or a pastor. But simply as a Christian, you are yielding your life fully, completely, totally to Him. Not to be seen by other people. But Lord Jesus, just for Your sake and Your sake alone. I want to thank You for all that You have done for me. We praise God for those who have risen to their feet. The Lord Jesus is looking at you right now. You are making a covenant, entering into a covenant with Jesus. We are not interested in statistics. We are only interested in your relationship to Jesus. Don't simply respond to my words. But don't fight the Holy Spirit. It is just between you and the Lord. Make your stand for Jesus here, so that He will enable you to stand in the days to come. Thanks be to God. Let us pray.