Press On Toward The Goal

Philippians 4::4b-14
The Bible says in Ecclesiastes that “God has put eternity in men’s hearts”. In other words, every person on earth knows, in the deepest recesses of their being, that this life is not all there is and we yearn for another life that death will not destroy. This desire for eternal life is part of the natural knowledge of God that he has written on our hearts.

But because we are by nature fallen creatures—this knowledge that comes from God-- does not lead us back to God—it leads us away from God to ourselves-- and the mistaken idea that we can make a life with God and get to heaven on our own.

All the world religions, except Christianity, share that idea in common: that life with God (a life that death cannot end)—depends upon us and our efforts. This was certainly true of the Jewish religion of Paul’s day. He wrote:

If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless.

Paul grew up believing that life with God- and the hope of eternal life- was based upon who you were- and who your parents were- and what you did- and how you lived -and the rules you kept. Paul believed it so much that he persecuted those who claimed that eternal life was a gift given by God through faith in Jesus.

What about us? Have we substituted a confidence in our own flesh for a living faith in Jesus? What if Paul’s words- were our words- and they read like this:
If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: of the people of Germany, of the tribe of Luther, a Missourian of the Missourians, as to the Lutheran Confessions, strict; as to zeal, a persecutor of Baptists and Catholics alike, as to my confirmation vows, blameless.

I’m afraid that oftentimes we think life that! We’ve taken a short-cut that has left out Christ. Please understand, there’s not a thing in the world wrong with being German or Lutheran or Missouri Synod or confessional-- any more than there is a problem with being Jewish or zealous or pious—UNLESS it becomes a substitute for a personal, true, and living faith in Jesus. In fact, there can be a great deal of good in all of it IF it leads us to trust in Jesus ALONE for our life with God and hope of heaven.

But who we are- and what we have done- CANNOT be compared to actually knowing Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. That is what Paul discovered on the Road to Damascus and that encounter with Jesus changed how he viewed his entire life and what he counted on to get him to heaven. He went from trusting in himself—to trusting in Jesus. Paul wrote:

Whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. 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…

It’s important that we understand what Paul is—and is not—saying- because it has an application for our lives too. He is not saying that his parents weren’t good people or that the Jews were not particularly blessed or that keeping the law didn’t matter. What he WAS saying is that when it comes to the foundation for our life with God and our hope of heaven—those things are rubbish, garbage, compared to trusting in Christ and building our life with God and hope of heaven on that firm foundation.

We must recognize and say the same. We will not go to heaven because our family was Christian or because we grew up in this congregation or because we were nice folks who did our best. When it comes to making a way for us to God and going to heaven when we die—these things will not suffice—eternity cannot be built on them.

There is only one way for us to have a life with God that death will not end—only one way to go to heaven--and that is through personal faith in Jesus.

Faith is the open hand that reaches out and lays hold of Christ’s righteousness and makes it our own—but the only way FOR THAT to happen is for our hand of faith to be empty of everything else: our heritage—our good works—our zeal and faithfulness. All of it must be turned loose and dropped to the side—in Paul’s words “counted as loss”--so that Christ and his righteousness may become ours by faith.

Now longer did Paul’s confidence before God and hope of heaven rest on who he was and what he had done—now it rested on who Christ was and what he had done-- and Paul wanted to grow in his knowledge of Christ and become more deeply identified with Christ and share in Christ’s life more and more. That ought to be our goal too—for that is the narrow way that leads to eternal life in heaven—that we …

— know (Christ) and the power of his resurrection, and share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible (we) may attain the resurrection from the dead.

When Paul met the risen Christ on the Road to Damascus, Paul was blinded by what he saw. This was the Lord’s powerful way of demonstrating to Paul that what he thought were his spiritual insights-- were really spiritual blindness.

Where before Paul had fixed his eyes of faith upon himself—who he was and what he had done—now he would fix his eyes of faith upon Jesus---- and as he was filled with the Holy Spirit, the Bible says that something like scales fell from his eyes as a powerful sign from the Lord that only now—believing in Jesus—did Paul see things clearly when it came to his life with God and hope of heaven.

So it is for every person who comes to faith in Christ. We see the painful truth about our own self-righteousness—that it cannot make a way for us to God and eternal life. But we also see the healing truth about Jesus-that his death and resurrection really have made a way for us to God and earned our place in heaven.

It is that vision that fills our eyes of faith for the rest of our lives. The Christian wants to know more and more about Christ. We delight to hear his story. We want to grow deeper in our faith and trust. We want to grow closer to him by receiving his body and blood in the Sacrament often.

From the moment we were baptized and came to faith in Jesus, his death and resurrection has become the central, defining reality of our lives. Not our heritage or our obedience—not our zeal and faithfulness—but Christ alone becomes our life here on earth and our hope of heaven.

So dramatic was the change in Paul’s life through faith in Jesus that he went from being a persecutor of Christ to a martyr for Christ. He said that he wanted to share in his sufferings and become like him in his death so that he could have a part in his resurrection. His goal was to attain the resurrection of the dead BY ANY MEANS POSSIBLE—even if that meant hardship and suffering and death.

The way to heaven went through the cross for Jesus and it would for Paul and so it does for every believer.

When we cease striving to make our own way to God and earn eternal life for ourselves--and find our confidence and hope in Christ alone--we will identify with Jesus’ life and follow him in taking up our cross and accepting the hardships and difficulties and sacrifices that come with being a Christian.

We will be glad to accept the Lord’s will—whatever that is—trusting that he is leading us through death to life because he did the same for his Son Jesus. This is the confidence that Paul had as he pressed on towards the goal of heaven. He wrote:

Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own.

Paul wrote this letter about 30 years after he became a Christian. He traveled all over the known world preaching the Gospel. He faced imprisonment and shipwreck and beatings because of his faith. He served Christ faithfully.

But he knew about himself that he still wasn’t everything that Christ had called him to be—that God was still working in his life to form him in the image of Christ and fit him for the glories of heaven.

So it is for us. From the moment we came to faith, God has been working in our lives to fit us for heaven and we are called by God to live our lives in such a way that more and more we become the sons and daughters that God has already declared us to be. We strive towards that goal of Christ-likeness.

But we are able to do this ONLY because Christ Jesus has already made us his own. He has laid claim to us, shedding his life’s blood as the ransom price he paid to set us free from Satan and make us part of God’s family. His resurrection has made a place for us in heaven where we will dwell with God and the saints forever.

That is who we are- and where we are going- because Jesus says that is who we are and where we are going--even if we still have a long way to go in actually becoming the kind of people that God wants us to be—even if we still have a ways to go before we reach heaven. Paul wrote:

Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. 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.

Jesus completely changed Paul’s life. Everything that Paul regarded as central to his identity-who he was and what he had done—Paul counted as less than nothing compared to knowing the greatness of God’s love for him in Christ.

The sins that Paul had committed—even persecuting Christ—no longer had any power over him to make his feel guilty and ashamed because Christ had taken them away, nailing them to the cross.

So it is for us. All of us can look back at the past: the mistakes we have made—the missed opportunities to do the right thing—the self-righteousness that stood in judgment of others—with regrets.

But the amazing and wonderful thing about our life with Christ is that the past can really be the past—we don’t have to carry it around with us any longer—because Christ has carried in to the cross and buried it away in his tomb—leaving it behind when he rose again.

From this moment on our gaze—our focus—our life is directed towards a new and glorious future where day by day we are being shaped and molded into the people of God who will one day live with him forever in heaven.

And so we press on in our life of faith towards that goal of heaven and the prize of eternal life just like a runner stretching forward towards the finish life—knowing that there is a victor’s crown waiting for us when the race of faith is over. Amen.