Dear God, we thank you so much for all that you do for us.
Again for this Sabbath morning, we're reminded that your eye is on us just like it's on the
smallest of birds.
You care about us, each one.
Be with prayer requests that people have.
Be with those hearts that are searching for you.
May they find love and grace and direction for where you would have them to be.
In your name we pray, amen.
So I've already said I like the Olympics.
So I want to tell another story about the Olympics.
400 meter race, just one time around the loop, one time around the track.
Excuse me, I said that wrong.
This is the 1500 meter.
This is four times around the track.
This is just shy of a mile.
So these guys are running a mile, almost, almost a mile.
And there's two guys that everybody was talking about.
One won this event at the last Olympics.
The other guy won this at the last World Championship.
One guy's name is Kerr from Great Britain and the other guy is Ingebergsen, something
like that, from Norway.
Everybody was talking about these two.
They're the best.
And there's somebody from the United States, maybe he can get third.
He's got a good finish.
If he stays close, maybe he can get third place.
And so the race is off and they're making the way around the track.
And the guy in front, he's from Norway.
He's the guy with a different name and he's trying to set a world record.
So he takes off and he's flying.
He's running as fast as he can, or at least as fast as he can for this event.
And the announcers are even saying, oh, this is a really hot race.
Usually people start off a little bit slower.
But there's a group of about six that are kind of staying close.
And one of them is Kerr.
He's the guy in second place in that picture.
And then Cole Hawker, he's the American there that's trailing.
And so they get to about one lap to go and Cole there, the guy from the USA, he's in
fourth place at the time.
He's known for having a really good finish.
So suddenly he starts to put it on, starts to run extra fast.
And he passes somebody.
So he gets up to third.
He gets behind Engelbertson, this guy.
But he kind of crowds inside the rail.
And so he can't get by him because he's right there.
And so he has to drop back.
But on the last curve, the guy from Norway swings out just a little bit to try to block
the guy from Britain.
And then he's off.
He's found his gap.
And he passes him.
And he runs.
And they come to the finish line.
And the guy from the US is in first.
And the guy from Great Britain, he's in second.
And wouldn't you know it, but another guy from the United States is in third.
Nagoose is his name.
And the guy who started off so fast trying to get that world record, he came in fourth.
He got passed.
From the US, came in fifth.
So there's the finish.
And Cole Hocker from Indiana came in first because he didn't give up.
He kept pushing.
And even when he got blocked, he stayed there.
And he kept going until he could get to that finish line first.
He pressed on.
He kept going to get to that line.
That's what we're talking about today.
Being on.
Being determined.
When I was a child, our family had a bookshelf.
And one of my favorite books on this bookshelf, I don't remember the name of it, but it was
a pretty thick book, almost like an encyclopedia volume.
And it was just stories after stories of different explorers.
People who wanted to explore the world.
People who tried to get from place to place.
And so there's somebody like Magellan, who was the first to sail around the world.
That was one of them.
And then Marco Polo, who went from Italy and went to China, all the way to China.
And he saw so many incredible things that people in Europe had no clue.
And he even said, if I told you everything, you wouldn't even believe half of what I saw.
And there was people like Shackleton.
I don't know if you remember Shackleton, but trying to explore the South Pole, the Antarctic.
And they got stranded there and had to survive and sail.
Incredible stories.
And then of course, people like Lewis and Clark or David Livingston, one of my favorites,
who was not only an explorer, but he went sharing the gospel.
He went telling people about Jesus into Africa.
And so all of these explorers, all of these people, had a couple things common.
They had, one, the desire to see something new.
They had the confidence to go somewhere where no one had been.
And I'll say, the stubbornness to never turn around, to never give up.
Because they believed that if they pressed on, they could find something incredible.
So as we continue today, we're going to look at a small passage in the book of Philippians.
Philippians chapter three.
Now Philippians is one of my favorite books of the Bible.
It's only four chapters.
If you've got a few minutes this afternoon, read through it.
It's just a great chapter.
And so we're going to start with Philippians chapter three, verse one.
Notice what it says.
Chapter three and verse one, it says, finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord.
Now joy is one of the key themes in the book of Philippians.
Over and over and over, it talks about rejoicing.
It talks about joy.
And so Paul is reiterating this again.
Rejoice in the Lord.
And then he says, for me to write the same things to you is not tedious, but for you
it is safe.
You need to be reminded again of how you can find joy in the Lord.
And then it changes just a little bit.
The tone changes.
It takes a turn.
Because when we get to verse two, it says, beware of dogs.
Now this is not talking about, you know, we see a beware of dog sign and it's, you know,
a pit bull or a chihuahua or whatever it is that's going to bark a lot and maybe bite
you.
This is talking about, this is talking about, because it goes on and says, beware of evil
workers, people who think that they can work their way to salvation, that they can earn
their way to heaven.
And then it talks about beware of the mutilation.
And the next verse talks about circumcision.
Talks about people who think that if they do a certain thing, if they check off this
particular box, that's all they knew, that's all they need in order to be saved.
But Paul says, beware of that because there's something more.
And Paul, we're going to see, is going to share how there is one source of joy, one
source of direction that covers our past, our present, and our future.
And it's not the title that we have on our desk or on our name badge.
It's not the accomplishments that we have done.
It's not the grades that we receive in school.
But we're going to see that the greatest joy is knowing Jesus.
That's the source of the greatest joy.
And so we go on here in verse four, and it says in Philippians 3 verse 4, though I might
also have confidence in the flesh, if anyone else thinks he may have confidence in the
flesh, I more so.
Those evil workers, they had confidence in what they did.
They had confidence in who they were, confidence in the flesh.
And Paul is saying here, if anyone has a reason to brag, it would be me.
That's what Paul's saying.
If anybody could brag about their spiritual resume, I could.
That's what Paul's saying.
And then he begins to lay out just what his spiritual resume is in the next couple of
verses.
Verse five, some of these things are just because of where he was born, because of who
he was born to.
But then some of them are decisions that he has made and successes that he has earned.
But Paul's saying, if anybody has a reason to brag, have confidence in the flesh, I have
more.
And then he describes it, circumcise the eighth day.
So that's just what the Jewish people did.
So he's like, I am a part of this group.
And the Jews in that day, they thought that they had an automatic path to heaven.
And then he says, of the stock of Israel, I'm part of this group.
I belong here.
I have reason to brag about it.
And then he says, of the tribe of Benjamin.
Now if you think back to your knowledge of the 12 tribes, Benjamin is actually the smallest
of the tribes.
So Paul was born of this group of Benjamites, this group of Benjamin.
And the tribe of Benjamin, although it was the smallest, it actually was the tribe that
the first king of Israel came from.
Anybody remember the name of the first king of Israel?
Saul.
So Paul is writing this.
Anybody remember Paul's name before he called himself Paul?
Saul.
So I don't know.
Maybe he's, I'm of the same tribe of the first king.
I've got the same name as the first king.
Maybe he appreciated that, at least when he was younger or whatever.
But the tribe of Benjamin, although it was small, it was also the one tribe that remained
loyal with the tribe of Judah.
You know, at a different time, the nation of Israel split up and ended up with two kingdoms,
Israel in the north and then Judah in the south, where the temple was, where the true
service was, even though many times they weren't following what they were supposed to.
But the only tribe that remained faithful with Judah was Benjamin, the smallest of tribes,
this tribe that had the first king.
And so Paul is saying, you know, I was born a Jew, I'm the stock of Israel.
I'm of this honored tribe of Benjamin.
And then he says, a Hebrew of Hebrews.
If anybody has a reason to brag, it's me.
And then he talks about some things, some choices that he made concerning the law of
Pharisee.
Now when we read the Bible, we often read about Pharisees and we have maybe more of
a negative connotation because they were the ones who were opposed to Jesus, who were antagonistic
to Jesus.
But in this day and age for the Jewish people, the Pharisees were like the top notch.
They were the ones that people looked up to.
They were their religious leaders.
They were the ones that were respected, whether or not they lived up to that or not.
So Paul's saying concerning the law, I was a Pharisee.
I was keeping that law as well as anybody could.
Concerning zeal or passion or excitement.
What was I doing?
I was persecuting the church.
That was as top notch as you could do as a Jewish leader to fight against anybody that
had a different idea.
And so that's what Paul was doing.
He was persecuting others who had a different understanding.
And then he says concerning the righteousness which is in the law, I was blameless.
I was checking off all those boxes.
I was doing everything exactly like I was supposed to do.
If anybody has a reason to brag about their spiritual resume, Paul says, I do.
So he listed off all of these things.
What about yourself?
Think about yourself.
When you're meeting someone new, when you're introducing yourself to someone you haven't
met before, what do you say?
How do you describe yourself?
You talk about your job.
You talk about your education.
You talk about your family.
You talk about your spiritual life, your church that you go to.
How do you describe yourself?
What would you say is your greatest accomplishment?
If somebody was to say, what's the best thing you've ever done?
How would you answer that question?
Because this is Paul.
He's describing all these things.
But notice verse seven.
He says, if anybody can brag, it's me.
This is what I've done.
But verse seven, he says, but what things were gained to me, these I have counted loss
for Christ.
Even with that list of things, with my birth, with the choices I've made, with the life
that I've lived, all of these are counted as loss.
Paul looked at all of these things and realized they were not the most important.
In fact, in the whole scheme of life, in the great scheme of life, maybe they weren't even
that important.
And notice the word there that's in yellow, counted.
Now a little, school's just starting, but think to English class, counted.
Is that present tense, future tense, past tense?
It's counted.
It's something that has already happened.
So Paul's saying he looked at these things, this resume, this list of things, and he says,
I counted them and they were lost.
They weren't as important as I thought they could have been because something else happened
in Paul's life.
Now we were talking about the book of Acts a few months ago and we stopped just before
we got to the section about Paul.
We're probably going to come back to him at some point.
But I want to look real quick at Acts chapter 9.
In Acts chapter 9, Paul in this zeal decided that he was going to go and persecute those
followers of the way, those followers of Jesus.
And it says in Acts 9 verse 3, it says, as he journeyed, he came near Damascus.
So he's going from going several days journey to another country, to Damascus, and suddenly
a light shone around him from heaven.
Something amazing happens and it says, he fell to the ground and heard a voice.
Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?
And he said, who are you, Lord?
And the Lord said, I am Jesus.
It's hard for you to kick against the ghost, kick against the prod there.
So he, trembling and astonished, said, Lord, what do you want me to do?
And the Lord said to him, arise and go into the city and you will be told what you must
do.
So Paul was on his way to persecute the Christians and Jesus comes to him in a bright light and
knocks him off his horse and blinds him.
And he says, I want you to go into town.
And so Paul went into town.
He went into Damascus.
He found the place he was supposed to go.
And then a few days later, he meets someone.
It's about three days later and it says in verse 17, Ananias, a Christian, went his way
and entered the house and laying his hands on him, he said, Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus
who appeared to you on the road as you came, he has sent me that you may receive your sight
and be filled with the Holy Spirit.
Immediately, there fell from his eyes something like scales and he received his sight at once
and he arose and was baptized.
And so when he had received food, he was strengthened.
And then Saul spent some days with the disciples at Damascus.
And then verse 20 says, immediately he preached the Christ in the synagogues that he was the
Son of God.
So Paul, looking back at his life, said, I'm from the tribe of Benjamin, I'm born of Israel,
I'm a Pharisee, I'm persecuting the church.
But he said, all of that is meaningless because something else had happened because he had
met Jesus.
And so all of those great things in his life, he could say was lost.
It was worthless.
So we could ask ourselves the same question.
Have we come to the point in our life where Jesus is the most important thing?
Where Jesus is more important than your title, than your bank account, than your job?
That Jesus is the most important thing?
Is there anything in your life that keeps you from focusing on Jesus?
Let's go back to Philippians chapter three here because Paul goes on.
He says, I counted all those things and they were lost.
And then notice verse eight.
He said, yet indeed, I also count past, present, future.
Present, I count.
I count all things lost for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord.
So it's something that he didn't do just one time.
He didn't just do it once and forget about it.
But in the present, he's making the decision each and every day.
He's counting.
He's looking at the best things of his life.
And he's saying, it's not, those aren't the most important thing.
I count them all as loss.
Why?
For the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the
loss of all things and count them as rubbish that I may gain Christ.
He says, I am continually counting and the best things in my life are not as important
as a knowledge of God.
And he even uses a word here.
He says, they are not just loss, but I count them as rubbish that I may gain Christ.
Now through my life, I've known several people from New Zealand.
And they speak English a little different than we speak.
And so if a classroom, it's like, OK, take out the trash can.
You've got to empty the trash can.
Someone from New Zealand would often say, take out the, I won't try to do the accent,
but take out the rubbish bin.
The rubbish bin, the trash can, it's a rubbish bin.
So rubbish can mean trash, garbage.
But did you hear what Janet read when she read the scripture?
Think from the King James version, it uses a different word there, which is a good translation.
Did anybody hear what it said?
Dung.
That's not trash.
Dung, and you know, that's, we could say manure.
We could say your septic system.
We could say the sewer.
We could say some other words you're probably thinking of.
But that's, it's all loss.
It's, it's, it's things that you do not want to be around.
You do not want to be connected with it.
And Paul is saying all of these things are loss compared to the knowledge of Jesus that
I may gain Christ.
And then it goes on in verse nine and says that I may know Him.
So he said I'm going to gain and I'm going to know Him and the power of His resurrection
and the fellowship of His sufferings being conformed to His death.
Oh, I skipped a verse there, didn't I?
Verse nine, and be found in Him.
So in verse eight, go back, I skipped that verse.
So verse eight, he says at the end, I may gain Christ.
Verse nine, that I may be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from
the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God
by faith, that I may know Him.
So you've got gaining Christ, being found in Him, knowing Him and the power of His resurrection
and the fellowship of His sufferings being conformed by His death.
And so this knowledge of Christ, being found in Him, knowing Him is of more value than
everything else because everything else is rubbish.
It's manure, it's dung, as opposed to this knowledge of Christ.
So is there anything in my life?
Is there anything in your life that might keep you from fully knowing God?
Now verse 12, verse 12's a little scary maybe.
Who's writing this?
Paul.
And in verse 12, he says, not that I have already attained or am already perfected,
but I press on that I may lay hold for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me.
This is Paul, the apostle, the evangelist, the church planter.
The one who wrote more books of the New Testament than anybody else.
And Paul, this church evangelist, this Bible writer, says, you know what, I'm not there
yet.
I haven't attained it.
I'm not perfect.
And it would be easy to say, if Paul could say that, then do we have a hope?
Do we have a chance?
What did Paul say?
I haven't attained it, but I press on.
I'm not giving up.
I'm pressing on that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold
of me.
So that's something that's not yet to come.
He's looking ahead.
The future that he's going to press on until he can keep holding on to Jesus more and more
each day.
And Jesus is the only goal of his past and his present and his future.
So how can we, what does it mean to press on?
Well, some have used the phrase called holy, holy, as in, you know, God is holy, holy dissatisfaction.
Holy dissatisfaction.
And that's talking about looking at yourself and realizing that we have growth to do.
It's not talking about self-esteem.
It's recognizing that in the eyes of Jesus, that we're not there yet.
We still have growth.
We can still desire to grow closer to Jesus, that we can learn more about him each and
every day.
Because look at verse 13.
It says, brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended.
I'm not there yet.
I want to be closer to Jesus.
I want to continue to grow.
And how can we do that?
The second thing here, verse 13, I haven't apprehended, but one thing I do, forgetting
those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead.
Forgetting what is behind.
Forgetting the sins that you've committed.
Because when you've confessed those, those are forgiven.
Those are wiped out.
We don't have to keep dwelling on something that we did before because Jesus said, if
you confess your sins, he's faithful.
He's just.
He's going to forgive.
He's going to cleanse.
So those things in the past that we've done wrong, Jesus has wiped them out.
But you know what else?
Forget what is behind.
Those achievements, those accomplishments, those degrees, those effects, those salaries,
those are not important as important as knowing Jesus.
We can look at those things and we can recognize that those are vain accomplishments.
We want to strive to reach forward.
Sometimes people will share a story or a testimony.
I used to live this way.
I used to have this and that and the other.
But then I started to follow Jesus and I had to give that up.
And there was something I had to give that up.
Maybe that's the wrong attitude.
Oh, I used to like that, but I had to give it up.
Maybe it's about.
I'm going to serve Jesus and I'm going to cut away any part of my life, which is hindering
anything which is holding me back.
Paul realizes that everything else pales in comparison to Jesus.
As it says there, one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching
forward to those things which are ahead.
Everything else is worthless.
Now, there's an old song that we sing.
If you know it, join me.
It goes kind of like this.
Turn your eyes upon Jesus.
Look full in his wonderful face.
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace.
When we're focused on Jesus, everything else, I don't know how it happens.
It doesn't happen easily.
Maybe it doesn't even happen by anything we're doing.
But we're looking at the glory of God and everything else becomes dim.
And then verse 14, Paul continues this thought and he says, I press toward the goal for the
prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
Paul is not giving up.
Paul is striving for the goal.
He is pressing on to the finish line.
That's what that language is talking about.
It's about a race and pressing on to the prize.
And the prize is not simply a promise of eternal life, but the prize is a life with Jesus.
In the ancient Olympics, 700 BC or something, every four years they would gather for different
sporting events.
Some of the same ones, but others often different.
And they would strive to be the first to cross the line for the prize.
Does anybody know what the prize was?
It was an olive branch, a crown of olive leaves that would last how long before those wither
and dry up?
Probably a little bragging rights as well.
But that's what the prize was.
The athletes that we talk about in the Olympics, they get a little medal of some kind.
They probably get some kind of contract and some money and different things like that.
But that fame and that prize is fleeting.
If you were to look at the Olympic athletes from this year and look back to Tokyo, all
different people.
There's a few that are the same.
And if you were to look ahead to Los Angeles in four years, it's going to be mostly all
different people.
Their fame is very fleeting, just like a crown of olive branches that fade away.
That fade away.
And so verse 14 again, it says, I press toward the goal for the prize.
It's not a gold medal.
It's not a crown of olive branches, but it's the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
And so Paul can say, I press on towards the goal.
And you can think about Bible heroes and Bible characters who pressed on no matter what challenge
they were facing.
You can think of Moses.
It talks about him in Hebrews 11.
It says he chose to suffer afflictions with the people of God rather than to enjoy the
passing pleasures of sin for a season.
Press on, even though it wasn't the best in that moment.
You can think of those like Stephen or the apostle James who pressed on their life to
stand up for God because they were pressing on for something better.
And we can think in our own life.
Maybe there's a young person about to start school who wants to stand for God, but they're
uncertain of what others may say.
We'll press on.
Or maybe in your employment or your job or where you are with other people, people involved
in things which you don't want to be involved in, but you can press on towards the goal.
You can press on to where Jesus would have you to be.
Maybe there's relationships that seem to be falling apart, but you can press on trusting
in Jesus.
In the midst of trials and uncertainty, press on towards the goal.
Want to end with a few verses from Revelation, Revelation chapter 7.
Revelation chapter 7 begins talking about a great multitude, 144,000, a great multitude.
And it describes this group of people.
So look here in Revelation 7 and verse 13.
It says, then one of the elders answered, saying to me, saying to John who's writing
this, who are these arrayed in white robes and where did they come from?
And I said, John said, sir, you know.
So he said to me, these are the ones who came out of the great tribulation and washed their
robes and made them white in the blood of the lamb.
And then it goes on and says, therefore they are before the throne of God and serve him
day and night in his temple.
And he who sits on the throne will dwell among them.
And then verse 16, it says, they shall neither hunger anymore nor thirst anymore.
The sun shall not strike them nor any heat.
Why?
Verse 17, for the lamb, the lamb, who's the lamb?
Jesus, the lamb who is in the midst of the throne will shepherd them and lead them to
living fountains of waters and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.
That's a group of people who pressed on.
And that's how we can be with Jesus for all eternity as we press on and keep looking to
grab hold of him and follow the lamb and to gain Christ and to know him and to be found
in him.
I want to close with one more Olympic story, if I may, since Paul's talking about prizes
and finish lines.
This one is the 400 meter that I started with.
This is another gentleman named Quincy, but he's not 16 years old.
Quincy Hall was running the 400 meter one lap around the track.
He's in the last turn, so like less than 100 meters to go.
And you can see the red top and the blue shorts.
What position is he in?
Not last, but about fourth place, the fourth place, right in the middle.
There is another guy back there with a headband.
But Quincy's in fourth place.
They're in the last turn.
There's not much time left.
He could have given up.
He could have said, well, I'm in the Olympics.
Fourth place isn't bad.
But if you watch this race, suddenly this guy starts chugging like nobody's business.
His arms are bobbing, his stride gets bigger, and he slowly, slowly, slowly makes his way
up and he's catching up with the people.
And then they come to the finish line.
And there he is in first place, just barely, just barely crossing the finish line because
he did not give up.
He pressed on because in his mind there was a goal.
There was something he wanted to reach.
What is the goal that we want to reach?
Do we want to press on to follow the Lamb?
Do we want to press on to gain Christ?
Do we want to press on to know Jesus and to be found in Him?
It's talking about here in Philippians chapter three.
I hope that each one of us can say, yes, God, help me this week to press on.
But maybe there's somebody here who's never taken a step or you've got another step you
need to do.
Maybe you need to take that next step with Jesus.
Maybe that means coming back to Him.
Maybe that means getting baptized, whatever it is.
If that's the case with you, I think there's some cards in the rack in front of you.
Pull one of those out and say, I want to take the next step.
I want to figure out what that next step is.
And I want to press on and make sure that Jesus is a part of my life from this day forward.
God, we thank you so much that we can look at stories and see determination.
But we thank you even more that we can look at the Bible and we can see a story of grace
that it's not about what we have done because the best that I am is lost.
The best that I am is rubbish unless I'm found in you.
So Lord, help me and each one of us here to press on daily to grab hold of you, to turn
our eyes upon Jesus so that everything else will go strangely dim.
In your name we pray.
Amen.