The Right Focus Pt 2: On the Goal

And if you would, open up in your Bibles to the book of Philippians, chapter 3. Philippians, chapter 3. As we've been looking at Philippians, just to make sure we're all on the same page here, as we've been looking at Philippians, it, of course, has the theme of joy. We've said that each chapter in Philippians teaches us a different lesson about joy, about living a life of joy.

In chapter 3, we said that the theme about joy in chapter 3 is that joy comes from having the right focus, from having the right focus. And we said it's split in half pretty evenly, pretty well. The first half was a focus on knowing Christ. And Paul told us, And then in the second half, what we're going to look at is having the right focus on the goal. Having the right focus on the goal.

Just another comment by way of introduction. There's a great book by A.W. Tozer called Pursuit of God. And in that book, Pursuit of God, A.W. Tozer says this, To have found God. And to still pursue Him is the soul's paradox of love. And that's exactly what Paul is going to paint for us a picture of in Philippians chapter 3. At the end of this chapter is that while he has found God, he is still in pursuit of Him.

And it's absolutely the joy of his life. And so as we look at these next set of verses, verses 12 through 21, they're going to break down three ways. He's going to tell us three things about having the right goal. He's going to tell us to press on. He's going to tell us to follow. He's going to follow his example. And he's going to tell us that our citizenship is in heaven.

And so we pick up in verse 12 of chapter 3 and it says this, Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus. Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet. But one thing I do, forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward, to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Let us, therefore, as many as are perfect, have this attitude.

And if in anything you have a different attitude, God will reveal that also to you. However, let us keep living by that same standard to which we have attained. And so Paul tells us that we need to press on. He starts off by saying, It is not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect. Now, he starts off by saying, I've not done that. But the question is, what has he not obtained?

What has he not reached yet? Well, I think we have to look back at verse 10 to understand what he's talking about. So look up at verse 10 real quick. It says this, That I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings being conformed to his death. The theme of that is, Jesus, not only knowing Jesus, but becoming more like Jesus.

And so what Paul is saying here is, Number one, I have not already obtained that which I am seeking for. I have not become like Jesus yet. I haven't reached the perfect knowledge of Jesus, nor do I act the way that I'm supposed to just yet. He goes on to say, Not only that, but I also have not been perfected. I have not already become perfect. Now, when he says perfect here, he's not speaking of sinless perfection.

And I'd like to define that word perfect for you. That word perfect means a place of spiritual maturity beyond which there is no progress. A place of spiritual maturity beyond which there is no progress. So let me put that in some language that I think we can understand in our culture today. Paul says, I have not yet arrived. I have not yet arrived at where I want to be.

I know what Jesus looks like. I know what I'm pursuing, but I'm not there yet. I am not yet. I am not perfect yet. I still have a lot of growing to do. And can I say that there is a place that all of us need to come to where we realize that none of us have arrived. Sometimes I think in our Western culture understanding, because we have gained so much knowledge,

we have so much technology, we have so many resources, that oftentimes we can have the mindset that we have arrived, that we have peaked, that we have reached the pinnacle, and that every other group of people before us has never achieved what we've done. And so we have. We have arrived. And the same thing happens with us as individuals in our walk with Jesus Christ, is that sometimes we reach the point where we think, I have it figured out.

And let me tell you exactly how you should do it. As a matter of fact, I'm going to write for you the perfect how-to that you can become perfect just like me. It's kind of like humility and how I got there by myself. You know, it's like some of us kind of reach that point where we're like, I've arrived, and let me tell you how you can do it too. And Paul says, I've not yet arrived.

Now, I want you to think about, I want you to think about the fact that Paul is saying to this, because I want you to think about the life that Paul had lived up to this point in time. Remember, Paul had come to a knowledge of Jesus Christ some 20 to 30 years before this. He had arrived at that knowledge of Jesus Christ that day that he came to know him as his Lord and Savior. He served God potentially more than anybody else that lived as a contemporary with him at that point in time.

He had started churches all over the known world at that point in time. He had suffered great things for the service of Jesus Christ. He had written many epistles. By this point in time, that would be canonized later into the scripture that you hold in front of you today. He had stood before kings and magistrates and testified to the truth of Jesus Christ. Some of which had declared, Paul, you almost make me want to become a believer in Jesus Christ.

And in all of those things, he says, I'm not there yet. It's not that I have already obtained. And it's not that I am already perfect. I have not. Arrived. He says. Not that I have already obtained it or that I am already perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus. He says, it's not that I've already obtained, but the thing that I do is I press on the word that's used there for press on is, is that of a Greek runner who is in the middle of a race and is constantly.

Focused on his goal and is constantly pressing on towards that which he is seeking to achieve. He says, I press on. But even deeper than that, the word means to pursue, to chase it down and make it his own. And that's the idea of what Paul says, which is why I started off with that quote to have found God and still to be pursuing him is the soul's paradox of love.

Paul says, I've not yet obtained. I'm not yet perfect, but I press on. I continue to pursue. I continue to pursue. Listen to lay hold of that for which Christ also has laid hold of me. Let me put it to you the way that the English standard version translates that. I love what he says here. It says. To make it my own because Christ has made me his own. And so the question is this.

What does he want to make his own? Well, I think. It fits into the two categories of both knowing Christ and being like Christ. Paul says, Jesus laid hold of me for a purpose. Jesus saved me for a purpose. And the purpose that he saved me for was twofold. Number one, that I would know him. And number two, that I would become like him. Paul said when Paul was saved, he was told that it was so that God could demonstrate his power through him.

And Paul says, I've not yet obtained it. But this one thing I do is I press on. So that I can lay hold of that for which Christ laid hold of me. He laid hold of me so that I could become like him and know him. And so I'm going to continue to press on until I am like him and I know him. Paul said, I press on. Now, the second thing that he says here underneath that same heading is this.

Brethren, verse 13. I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet. But one thing. I do forgetting what lies behind in reaching forward to what lies ahead. I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. He says, I press on to lay hold of the goal. But brethren, I have not laid hold of it yet. This is what I'm doing, but I'm not there yet.

I'm still pursuing. He says, but this one thing that I do. I want you to take note of something in my translation. The New American Translation. In the middle of verse 13, it says, but one thing I do. And the I do is in italics. If you're reading some of the other translations, it says, but this one thing I do. No matter what it is, all of the words surrounding one thing are all in italics.

Meaning that they were not in the original Greek. They were added by the translators so that we could understand it better. And so if you read that in the Greek, all it would say was, brethren, I do not count myself as having laid hold of it yet. But one thing. I shared this last week during first service. I don't remember if I shared it during second service.

But do you remember that old show, that old movie? I'm not saying you should go watch this movie. But if you've seen this movie, you'll understand my reference. City Slickers. You guys ever watch that show with Billy Crystal? Right? And there's this really, all of these city guys go out to go on a cattle, a real cattle drive. It's like their midlife crisis thing.

Right? And there's this gnarly old cowboy named Curly. And Curly, who has lived just a crazy life, looks at Billy Crystal. And he says, one thing. One thing. Everyone has to discover that one thing for themselves. Well, Paul says, I've discovered that one thing. And this is the one thing. Even though I examine my life, and upon examination of my life, I can say I've not laid hold of it yet.

One thing I do. Forgetting what's behind. Forgetting what's behind. That word forgetting, again, is a track term. And it carries with the idea of, let me read this to you, otherwise I'm going to quote it wrong. The word forgetting is a track term speaking of a Greek runner who forgets about all other runners behind him as he is leading in the race. A runner who forgets about all others behind him as he is leading in a race.

Now I get to go watch a lot of track meets right now because my youngest daughter is in track. I've watched a lot of track meets because my oldest daughter did track. Track meets are boring. I really like to. I really like to run. And running is a great sport. Running is not a spectator sport, right? That's just all that there is to it. If you're in track, I think that's great.

You should do it. It's one of my favorite things to do. It's not fun to watch. But I do like watching people. So it adds a little bit of fun to it. And this is what you notice in junior high especially is that they haven't figured everything out just yet, right? You'll have some kid that ran way faster than they ever knew that they possibly could. And they can't believe they're ahead of everybody else.

And they don't know if anybody's behind them or not. And so they're running. And they think, I wonder if someone's about to catch me. And they'll turn around like this to see who's behind them. And that moment of turning around to see who's behind them causes them to lose the race. Because they've lost all of their forward momentum because they just looked behind them.

You see, what they really needed to do is forget what's behind and press on towards the goal. They need constant forward motion. Well, that's the way it is in our lives in Christ. We are supposed to forget what's behind. But I hope you're asking yourself a question. What are the things that are behind that we need to forget? Well, I think that there's three things.

Three things that if we want to press on and pursue a true relationship with Jesus Christ, to pursue the goal that we're trying to seek of becoming like Christ, we need to forget about these three things. Number one, you need to forget about past hurts. You need to forget about all of those hurts of the past. You know, so many people cannot move. They cannot move forward, not only in their relationship with Jesus Christ,

but in their life because they can't let go of what somebody did to them in the past. They can't let go of a hurt that somebody perpetrated against them in the past. And now all they do is think about it. It hinders all of their growth. It hinders every relationship. It hinders all of their service. And they cannot move forward. There are people that will not return to a church because somebody said something really mean to me there.

You know, there are people that will not return to a church because somebody said something really mean to me there. And now they cannot move forward. they won't continue on at a church because they have been injured so badly and they can't forget about the hurt from the past. And it absolutely hampers their growth in Christ. There are some people that show up to a church every Sunday morning, but you don't hear anything that I say

because all you can think about is that the person sitting over in the section next to you hurt you one time and they've never apologized for it. And you're holding onto the bitterness. And so you never take anything from what God's word has to say. All you can think about the entire church service is how hurt you are. And there are people who cannot grow in their

relationship with Christ because they're still looking back while they're running, thinking about all of that past hurt. And my friends, if you want to move forward, you have to let go of what's behind. You have to forget about what's behind. The second thing that we have to forget about is we have to forget about the sins of our past. The sins of our past. So many people wallow in their past sin. You're not wallowing in it and

that you're living in it still. You're wallowing in it and that you still feel guilty. Every day you think about the same thing. Every day you wake up and you think about the fact that you screwed up that one time or that you keep screwing up in these areas. And every day you can't think about growing in Christ because all you can think about is your failures and they cause you anxiety.

Perhaps they're even leading you into depression. Because all of the guilt and all of the shame is constantly pushing you down. I went through a time like this in my life. Early on in my walk with Jesus Christ, just after Bible college, I started reliving all of the sins of the past. I started thinking about everything that I had ever done wrong. And it started to weigh me down and it caused me a great deal of anxiety. And I had to

learn to let go. I had to learn that I can't do anything about what happened yesterday. All I can do is put yesterday in the past. And when I finally learned to do that, I could walk in freedom. But you know, both dealing with the hurts of the past and dealing with the sins of the past are not something that you just forget. It's not something that you just wake up one day

and say, I'm just not going to think about that anymore. I'm just not going to worry about that anymore. Because the more that you tell yourself not to worry about it, the more you tell yourself not to think about it, the more that you think about it, right? No, what do you have to do instead is you have to take those things to Jesus. You have to take those things to Jesus. You have to

take those things to Jesus. And you have to be boldly honest with him about the hurts of the past. You have to be boldly honest with him about the sins of the past. And you have to leave those things with Jesus and know that he has taken them away. Listen, it's not an easy process. It's not something that you do overnight. It's something that takes time. And when I went through that

time in my life, I had to slowly but surely over and over again, keep giving to Jesus all of those exact same things. But when I gave him all of those exact same things, I had to slowly but surely I began to experience peace in my life. Matter of fact, a little story, and I told first service this story as well. I'm just about to happen upon our anniversary. May 1st, Aaron and I celebrate

20 years together. And yeah, it's a good thing. That's a heck of a woman right there to put up with me for 20 years. I feel pretty good about that. But right after we got married on May 1st, right after we got married, we stayed in downtown Kansas City. We stayed in downtown Kansas City for 20 years. And one of our favorite places to go is the plaza. And so one Sunday, that Sunday

morning, we went down to the plaza. Maybe you've heard this story before. We went down to the plaza and got some coffee and we're walking around and talking, just enjoying being together, right? And now I have a problem in life. My biggest problem in life is that I make eye contact with people. And when I make eye contact with people, lots of things happen. Sometimes people want to

talk to me and I'm glad about it. Sometimes people want to talk to me and I'm not. I'm not glad about it. Sometimes people want to sell me certain herbal substances. Sometimes people want to give, want me to give them money. Sometimes people want to sell me things. But on this particular day, I ran into a guy who wanted me to do something. And so we're walking around and I

see this guy and he's got this table set up with like a computer and some things on it. And, and everything inside of me was like, don't make eye contact. Don't make eye contact. Don't make eye contact. I think Aaron even leaned over and said, don't make eye contact. And so I was like, not going to do it. Hey. And he says hi to me. And I'm like, hi. He says, I'm giving out free stress tests today. Would you like to take one? And I'm

like, yes. Right. Now, again, I have just been healed of anxiety, right? Like within that year before God did a major healing work in my life, but it was still really, really fresh, right? Like I'm still right on the brink of, of anxiety and stress being a really big thing for me. So I like to give you a stress test. And I'm like, okay. So he, he puts these like electrode things

on me. I should have known right then to walk away. But again, here I am, but he's like, he was now, let me put on the voice he had. Okay. I would like for you to think of something incredibly stressful in your life. So I did. And I just sent the needle clear to the other side of me. I almost broke the machine. Right. And he goes, Oh my, you are, that's a lot of stress. Okay. I'd like for

you to do it for me one more time. And so I thought of something again and the needle almost went up. He goes, wow, you've got a lot going on inside of you. I said, well, I've dealt with a lot of anxiety in the past, but you know, the Lord's healed me of a lot of it. He goes, I'd like to talk to you about something that can bring even more healing. I'd like to tell you about a book

by L Ron Hubbard called Dianetics. And I was like, Oh, I know why I don't want to talk to you. Now, I don't usually get really bold in these situations, but I got really bold in this situation because he told me I needed, something besides the word of God to heal my anxiety. And I looked at him and I said, I need you to understand something. Every time that needle hit the other end,

I thought about something I'd done wrong in the past because I held onto that guilt for a really long time, but Jesus set me free. And if I think about it, it does that, but I don't have to think about it all the time because I've given it to Jesus and he's covered in his blood. I don't have to worry about those things anymore. And I took the electrodes off and I went away. I walked away from him. And Aaron goes, I've never heard you talk like that before.

Right. Because I know what God's able to do. I had learned the lesson of forgetting what's behind. But not only do we have to let go of past hurts, not only do we have to let go of past sin, but listen, sometimes we have to learn to forget about the past victories. Now, let me tell you what I don't mean. Okay. We are told throughout scripture to set up Ebenezer stones, stones of

remembrance. I think you should keep track of the beautiful things that God does in your life, because the philosophy is this. God's past work guarantees God's present faithfulness, right? And so we can know that God's going to work now because we can remember what he's done in the past. That's not what I'm talking about. What I'm talking about is living off of what God did for you 20 years ago. I remember

back in 1978 when God did this, that's great, but it's 2024. What's he doing today? How's God working in your life today? And too many people want to live off all of the victories of the past and not see God in the past. And so I'm talking about living off of what God did for you 20 years ago. And I think it's really important that we see what God's going to do today, right? I love the

Calvary Chapel movement. I am dyed in the wool Calvary Chapel. I don't have a dove tattoo, but in my mind I do, right? And so I love the movement, but one of the problems we can have in the Calvary Chapel movement is going back and remembering what God did during the hippie era and saying, oh, remember what God did back in the sixties and the seventies. Remember what God did with Chuck

Smith and Calvary Chapel of Costa Mesa. That's great, but we don't have hippies anymore. We got kids. So we need to figure out not how to minister to the hippies of the sixties and seventies, but how to minister to the transgender kids of today, right? Because we need something new and we can't live off of the old victories. Solomon had this problem, right? Solomon was one of the

great Kings early in his life that Israel had had. Israel experienced success that was unknown, unheard of under Solomon and Solomon built the temple. But you see, eventually Solomon, started loving many foreign women and Solomon could keep looking back and going, but I built the temple. Yeah, but what are you doing today? Forget about the past victories. Let's see what God wants to do today. And so he says, one thing I do, forgetting what lies behind

and reaching forward to what is ahead. The idea is straining forward. And again, I, I learned, I learned something, uh, last year when I helped coach track, I helped coach track with our city Christian Academy and people that knew about track came and talked to us, right? And they were working with sprinters. And I took note of something that every sprinter is supposed to do.

And that is, if you are a sprinter, you want every bit of your body moving forward. There should be nothing about you. That's moving back. Everything should be moving forward because you are always supposed to be reaching forward to what is ahead, which is why you, you can't look back at what's behind you. Keep straining forward to what's ahead. And so brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ look ahead because to have found God and still to pursue him

is the soul's paradox of love. He says, um, he says, one thing I do forgetting what's behind and reaching forward to what's ahead. I press toward the goal. I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Now I hope you're asking yourself a question right now. What's the goal. We're supposed to have a focus on the goal. What, what is the goal? Well, I want you to look at two different passages of

scripture with me. So hold your finger here and go first of all, to Psalm 17 verse 15, Psalm 17, verse 15. I love the sound of pages turning. Go ahead. Take your time. I'll wait for you. Psalm 17 verse 15. Psalm chapter 17 verse 15 says this as for me, I shall behold your face in righteousness. Listen, I will be satisfied when I awake in your likeness. That's the goal. What's the goal. The goal is Christ. The goal is the day that I wake up and

see his face in righteousness. I will be satisfied when I awake in your likeness. At which point in time I will awaken in his likeness. Go with me one more place. First John chapter three, all the way to the other end of the Bible. If you hit revelation, which I did again, I did this first service too. If you hit revelation, you've gone too far. First John chapter

three, verse two, first John chapter three, verse two. And this is what it says. Beloved. Now we are the children of God and it has not appeared as yet. What we will be. But we know that when he appears, we will be like him because we will see him just as he is. And everyone who has this hope fixed on him purifies himself just as he is pure. What is our goal? Perfect knowledge of Jesus Christ. When will perfect knowledge of Jesus

Christ happen in our lives? The day that we see him face to face. Paul says, I forget what's behind so that I can press on to what's ahead so that I can press on towards the goal of the prize of the upward calling of God in Christ Jesus. He says, I can't take baggage with me. I can't take all that stuff with me. So I've got to forget about it so that I can stay

focused on the goal that I'm going to arrive at. And the, and the goal that he's going to arrive at is the day that he wakes up in the likeness of Christ, because he will see him face to face. And brothers and sisters, that is our goal. Stay focused on the goal. Press on toward the goal because that's the ultimate goal we're working towards. Seeing Jesus face to face in perfect

knowledge and the perfect likeness of him. Go back to Philippians chapter three. And so in verse 15, he goes on to say, Now, Ryan, wait a minute. You just said Paul didn't think he was perfect. And that's why I don't think that's a very good translation of that word because that word could actually be translated. Mature. Now that seems to make sense. As a matter of fact, I think in the,

if you have an NAS 2020, it says mature. Paul says, as many of us as are mature have this attitude. What attitude? Maturity is the attitude that I have not attained, but one thing I do forgetting what's behind. I press on towards what's ahead. I find it interesting that Paul refers to maturity, not as sinless perfection, but as one who realizes that they've not achieved yet

one who realizes that they've not achieved yet. One who realizes that they've not obtained. Do you know, I actually think that that's a pretty mature individual who sits back and says, I'm not there yet. I always think it's kind of interesting when you talk to somebody who, who really kind of acts like they have, you know, and they want to give you the five-step process of how they, how they reached maturity. And I

always sit back and kind of indulge it and just take it in. But I always know that that's, it's usually a sign of their immaturity because a mature believer in Jesus Christ sits back and says, listen, I've not obtained yet. Matter of fact, I tell this story a lot, but it seems to fit the context here really well about my good friend Truman that lived at Lakeview village. Lakeview village was the, uh, uh, the retirement community that I worked at up in Kansas city. I affectionately refer to it as

the wrinkle ranch. And, um, and, and when I worked up there, there was a guy that lived there named Truman and Truman taught old Testament survey at Calvary Bible college and theological seminary. He'd walked with the Lord for about 50 years and I would go over to his house and just say, Hey, teach me things. Tell me stuff about the Bible. And he taught me stuff about the Bible. And I

remember going to visit him in the care center before he died about a week, maybe two before he passed away. And he was laying there in the bed. His health was declining. And he looked at me after having walked with Jesus for over 50 years, having more knowledge than just about anybody I'd ever been around in my entire life and walked with the Lord all that time. And he

looked at me and he said this, he said, Ryan, I am more aware today of my need for God's grace than I ever have been in my entire life. And you know, that's maturity, right? That's what a mature believer does is they say, I know I haven't arrived yet, but he pursued Jesus with every fiber of his being until the day that he died until the day that he went home to be with Jesus. And he awakened, in his likeness. Paul says, let all of you who are mature, have this same mindset. And if you

don't, don't worry, God will reveal that to you. He says, however, let us keep living by the same standard to which we have attained. In other words, keep on the same path, keep on the same path. And so the first thing Paul tells us, if we want to have joy, we need to have a right focus on the goal. So number one, to have the right focus on the goal is to have the right focus on the goal.

right focus on the goal, you need to press on. Number two, Paul says, follow my example. Notice what it says. Brethren, join in following my example and observe those who walk according to the pattern that you have in us. For many walk of whom I often told you, and I now tell you even weeping that they are enemies of the cross of Christ, whose end is destruction, whose God is

their appetite, whose glory is in their shame, and who set their mind on earthly things. Paul says, brethren, join in following my example. Now, lest we think that this is an arrogant statement, remember he said part of his example was knowing that he had not arrived yet. But Paul says, join in following my example and take note of others who are doing the same thing.

He says, observe those who walk according to the pattern that you have in us. For many walk according to the pattern that you have in us. For many walk according to the pattern that you have in us. For many walk according to the pattern that you have in us. And I want to make a point out of this. We need to pay attention to the example of believers around us that are following Jesus the way that Paul just indicated here, and we should surround

ourselves with those people. That's why coming to church is incredibly important, because you surround yourself with people who have this mindset, who are pursuing Christ and can give you a really good example to follow, and they can be iron sharpening iron for you. That's why you need to be plugged into a small group of some sort, whether that's coming on Wednesday night where it's a little bit smaller of a group and you can get to know people a little bit better, whether it's one of the many Bible studies that we offer throughout the week, you need to be plugged into a small group. Because in a small group, you can observe the example of those who are walking in this way and allow yourself to be sharpened by it. And you can

sharpen them as they view your example of you walking this way. But it doesn't just end up in there. Listen, we have a shortage of men in our culture today. Have you noticed that? We don't have a shortage of males, although that may be changing too. We don't have a shortage of males in our world. We have a shortage of men in our world. And it's because we are not giving them

the example. Because before we can go and start saying, well, this and that and the other thing, you need to look and say, but are you teaching a man? Are you raising a man? Are you discipling a man? Because older men are teaching a man. Are you discipling a man? Are you discipling a man? Older men that are here this morning, I want you to know something. You have a responsibility.

And the responsibility that you have is to start taking younger men aside and discipling them, giving them an example to follow, and then showing them how they can do it for themselves. Because we can't complain about the fact that there's no men if we don't have men that step up that are willing to train these young guys. We need you older men to come alongside. And I know that's a big thing. But we need you older men to come alongside. And I know that's a big thing.

I know what you're saying. I'm not a very good example. Well, then be a good example. Quit giving yourself an excuse. Well, I just, I'm never going to disciple anybody because I'm not good enough. No, that's your excuse to keep living in sin and laziness. Step up and call other men alongside you to do the same thing. Young men in this room today, you need to find some older men.

You need to find men and say, teach me, guide me, give me an example to follow because I don't know what it looks like to truly be a good example. I don't know what it looks like to truly be a good example. I don't know what it looks like to truly be a man. I want to know what that looks like. I want to know how to love my wife. I want to know how to truly treat a girl. I want to know how to

truly provide for my family. I want to know truly how to be a leader. And I need a man to show me how to do it. And young men, you need to start finding these guys to do that for you. But ladies, you're not excused from this either because we also have a shortage of godly women in the world today. As a matter of fact, we're starting to have a shortage of women in the world today.

Instead, what we're starting to have is a shortage of women in the world today. What we're starting to have is women that want to be men, either because they want the authority of a man or they actually want to be a man. And we need you older ladies, and this is a scriptural command in 1 John, the older women are to teach the younger women. And you need to start taking these ladies aside, these young girls aside, and teach them what modesty is. Teach

them what it looks like to really have respect for authority. Teach them what it looks like to be a homemaker. Because listen, there's nothing wrong with being a homemaker. There's nothing wrong with being a homemaker. There's nothing wrong with being a homemaker. There's nothing wrong with that in our culture. Teach them what it looks like to be a good mother who cares about

something besides what's on TikTok, right? And you younger ladies, you need to submit yourself to the authority of these older women and say, teach me what this looks like. Be this example for me. Because right now, all the examples I'm seeing are wrong. Paul says, follow my example. And take note of others that are doing the same thing and follow their example.

Why? Because in verse 18, for many walk of whom I often told you and now tell you even weeping that they are enemies of the cross of Christ. Why do we need to follow these examples? Because there are so many people that walk as an enemy of the cross of Christ. I want you to notice how Paul stated that. Because there are many who I tell you, even now, weeping that are enemies of the cross of Christ. And remember, Philippians is the book of joy.

And yet Paul writes about weeping. But what causes him to weep? He's not weeping because he's in prison. He's not weeping because he's gone through suffering. He's not weeping because he's falsely accused. He's not weeping because he has been lied about. He's not weeping because he's about to stand trial before Caesar. He's not weeping because he may eventually meet his death.

He's not weeping. he's lost his freedom. Why is he weeping? Because there are people who are enemies of the cross of Christ and they're influencing other people. Brothers and sisters, we need to quit feeling sorry for ourselves because of our situation and start understanding what we really need to feel sorry for. And those are the people in the world who are lost. The people in the church who are

lost. Paul says, I tell you now, even weeping that these people walk as enemies of the cross of Christ. And he describes them in four ways. Notice what it says in verse 19, whose end is destruction, whose God is their appetite, whose glory is in their shame, and who set their minds on earthly things. Now in the first half of Philippians chapter three, Paul dealt with the

legalists, those who would say it's Jesus and. You have to add works to everything that Jesus has done in order to truly be perfect, in order to truly be who God has called for you to be. Or if you want to be perfect, you have to add works to everything that Jesus has done in order to truly God's grace in your life. You have to work for it, which is the exact opposite of grace, but he dealt with legalism. Now in this section, he deals with the other end of the spectrum. He deals with

what we would call licentiousness, right? Licentiousness is the idea that you can live however you want to live. We don't need to worry about these antiquated ideas of scripture. After all, our minds have been expanded a little bit. We know a little bit more and we have a bigger table, right? We have a bigger table for people to sit at. So we don't need to worry about these

kinds of things. We'll call it progressive Christianity because that's exactly what it is. Progressive Christianity today. I had a conversation with a guy here recently and he was so shocked at that term. He goes, wait, what's, what's wrong with progressive Christianity? And so I explained all that to him that it's, that it's basically, you know, sin in the church that we're allowing,

that we're allowing to take place and not addressing it. He goes, wow, when I think of progressive Christianity, I think of somebody growing in grace. I'm like, that's what it should be. But that's not what the world calls it. Progressive Christianity. Is putting aside these things. And so he says, he says, uh, uh, for many walk of whom I, excuse me, verse 19, he tells us these four things. Number one, whose end is destruction, whose end is

destruction. In other words, they have an ending and it's destruction. And that word destruction means complete destruction, not only on this side of eternity, but on the other side of eternity as well. The second thing he describes these enemies of the cross as, as those who are who's God is their appetite, whose God is their appetite. In other words, all they know how to do

is fulfill the lusts of the flesh and they justify themselves in doing it. There's a movement right now. It's been going on for quite some time. It's, it's called deconstruction and deconstruction can have its positive aspects, but deconstruction in general is negative. And if you've never heard this term before, it's because you don't keep up with progressive Christianity. Deconstruction is

the idea that those who grew up in the church, they're going to be the ones who are going to be in the church are now looking at their faith again and deconstructing what they call wrong ideas and reconstructing their faith or completely doing away with their faith based upon their new understanding of God's word. Now, if we are deconstructing wrong ideas based on what scripture has to say, that's fine, but that's not usually what happens. I was listening to a podcast on this the other day. And this girl said, I think she said 90%. She said 90% of those who

deconstruct their faith. It always starts with sexual immorality. They do not want to repent of because of that sexual immorality. They begin to have a different view of scripture because after all, if it feels good, why would God tell them not to do it? And so because of that, they then deconstruct their faith and they reconstruct it in this progressive way. But the progressive way always makes your appetite, your God,

you can do whatever you want to do. This was the problem that the church in Corinth that this is the problem that the church in Corinth had, right? Sin was there and they weren't dealing with the sin. Matter of fact, the third thing it tells us about these is exactly what took on, what took place in the church of Corinth, whose glory is in their shame, whose glory is in their shame. And

that's what went on in Corinth. Sin was in the church. They didn't deal with the sin. And rather than feeling bad about it, they celebrated it because it made them very tolerant. And then number four, it says they set their minds. On earthly things, their minds are only set on the things of this earth. And listen, if your God is your appetite, then the only thing that matters to you is what takes place here on planet earth.

And so he says, follow my example, because there are some really bad examples out there and you don't want to follow those. And so now we come to verse 20 and the third part of our study, your citizenship. Notice what it says. I got really clever here. You can tell for our citizenship is in heaven from which also we eagerly wait for a savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform the

body of our humble state into conformity with the body of his glory by the exertion of the power that he has even to subject all things to himself. Paul says, our citizenship is from heaven. Our citizenship is in heaven. Now, Paul is writing this epistle to the people of Philippi. Philippi was a Roman prophets or a Roman colony. Many of the inhabitants of Philippi, many of the people that sat in this church were citizens of

Rome, even though they'd never been to Rome. And even though they were really far away from Rome, they were strangers and aliens in Philippi, because they were actually citizens of Rome. And they had all of the benefits of being a citizen of Rome, even though that wasn't where they lived. And so when Paul wrote this to them and said, your citizenship is in heaven, it would have made sense to the people of Philippi because in the same way that they were Roman citizens, even though they'd never been there, they are heavenly citizens, even though they've not been there yet. And so it makes us strangers

and aliens on this earth because our citizens, our citizenship is in heaven, which is why the longer that you live on this earth, the more you go, I don't really feel at home here anymore because this place isn't our home because our citizenship is in heaven. Now, interestingly enough, that word citizenship, if you look at it in the old King James, it's translated conversation. Your conversation is in heaven. Now, I think that that's kind of interesting that that's how the old King James translators chose to translate that word because oftentimes our conversation is in heaven. And that's how the old King James

sounds a lot like our citizenship, right? Like the words that we say, the vernacular that we use almost always give us away for the part, for either the country that we're from or the part of the country that we're from, right? When I was in Bible college, there were people from all over the country and even different parts of the world that came together in this one campus. And you can start to tell everybody apart. I've been posting prayer requests for my friends, Cisco

and Melissa that live down in Texas now. He's the one that had the brain aneurysm, but Cisco is originally from New Jersey. And I've been posting prayer requests for my friends, Cisco and Melissa in New Jersey. And so Cisco and his brother and a couple of other folks came from New Jersey. And when they came and you'd talk to them, you could tell that they were from New Jersey. First of all,

because they use slang that we didn't understand. Second of all, they said things like water and coffee and orange juice, right? And so you're like, oh, you're from New Jersey because you have a New Jersey accent, right? Totally gave them away because you could tell that that's where they were from. We had friends from Minnesota and you could always tell that they were from Minnesota, right?

First of all, they talked about their aunt and you were like, oh, you're from Minnesota, right? You could totally tell that I apparently have a Kansas accent. And they were like, oh yeah, you sound like you're from Kansas. I'm like, I don't think Kansas people have an accent because we're the middle of the country. And they're like, absolutely. You have an accent. You're

totally from Kansas. It's like, okay, whatever. Then we had people from Australia that were at the Bible college. We were like, clearly we know where you're from, right? And because your conversation gives you away because that's where you're a citizen of. And brothers and sisters, it's not just your citizenship, but it changes everything about your conversation that you are

a citizen. Of heaven. And as citizens of heaven, notice what it says in verse 20, again, the goal, we are eagerly waiting for a savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. We're eagerly waiting for Jesus to come again. The idea of eagerly waiting is one who strains his neck to look and see that's the idea of eagerly waiting. It's, it's kind of like a, kind of like when you hear the

ice cream truck and you know, it's coming and you stretch your head. You're like, where is it? Where's the ice cream? Right? Because you're looking for that thing when you were a little kid or yesterday. Anyway, you know, you're just looking for that thing. And so you're, you're eagerly waiting for it. And that's the idea of what we're doing as citizens of heavens. We are eagerly waiting for

our savior. And why are we eagerly waiting for our savior? Verse 21, because he is going to transform the body of our humble estate into conformity with the body of his glory, because he is going to transform us. That word transform is metamorphosis. And we have a beautiful picture of metamorphosis in nature, don't we? A butterfly, right? That, that little butterfly always starts off as that ugly little caterpillar, right? That, that is kind of gooey

looking and sort of nasty looking. And it doesn't look anything like a beautiful butterfly. It kind of looks like a chunky inchworm, right? But on the inside, that caterpillar knows one thing on the inside. It knows it's a butterfly. It doesn't look like it yet, but that's who it really is on the inside. It's, it's a butterfly. It's not a worm. And so what does that, what does that, uh, caterpillar do? Well, that caterpillar crawls

up into a tree. That caterpillar spins a cocoon all around itself. And as that caterpillar spins a cocoon all around itself, inside of that cocoon, a metamorphosis takes place. It begins to be transformed and eventually it breaks out of that cocoon and you see a beautiful butterfly flying around, right? Because what that caterpillar always knew it was on the inside is now

sealed on the outside. Brothers and sisters, these old bodies that we're wearing, that's not what we're intended to be. We've been set apart unto God. We have been set apart unto him and we are in a sanctification process. Now I want to explain something. There's a difference. Did I say this already? If I did, you're going to hear it again. There's a different two services screw

with me sometimes because I can't remember what I said at which one. So, um, there's a difference between positional sanctification and practical sanctification, right? The day that you came to know Jesus as your Lord and savior, you were justified. In other words, declared righteous in God's eyes, but you were also sanctified. You were set apart unto him and you're as sanctified as you will ever be the day that you

came to know Jesus as your Lord and savior. But now you are in the process of becoming on the outside practically what positionally you are on the inside. That process will be complete the day our savior comes and takes us home to be with him and transforms our body from this lowly state into the glory that he has always intended. We're all looking forward to that time when we are translated out of these bodies that are held down by sin, that are held down by weakness into a brand new body that is not subject to all the things of this world. I always wonder what my

brand new body is going to look like in my mind. That brand new body has an absolutely full thick of curly hair, right? Because that's what it's going to be like. But have you ever thought that maybe the perfect body that you'll be transformed into will be bald? Who knows, right? Maybe my head's perfect. Maybe it's you all that have the problem, but they'll all be transformed into

conformity with the body of his glory. Why? Because of the exertion of the power that he has even to subject all things to himself because his power is so great. Brothers and sisters, if you want joy in this life, if you want to live a life of true joy, then you need to have the right focus, the right focus on knowing who Christ is and the right focus on the goal, because this place, it ain't our home. We are pursuing God to have found God and still to pursue him is the

soul's paradox of love. And so brothers and sisters press on. Amen. Let's all stand.

And if you'd bow with me, father, we come to you now. And I thank you for the wonderful time that we've had in your word this morning. I thank you for how good it is to our souls. And so Lord, may you strengthen us by the power of your mind and the inner man that we can know Lord, the great truth of what your word has to say to us. So father, strengthen us in you. Be with us

as we go out from this place and may we be drawn near to you in Jesus name. Amen. Be blessed.

I'll go. My heart needs a surgeon. A soul needs a friend. So I'll run to the father again and again. From the start, your son for redemption. The price for my heart, for that kind of love. I don't understand. I can't comprehend. All I know is a surgeon. My soul needs a friend. So I'll run to the father again and again. So I'll run to the father.

And I pray that as we leave here this morning, Lord God, I just pray that your Holy Spirit go with us. Continue to minister to our hearts. Help us to run to you each and every day for whatever is going on, for every need, for every failure, for every sin, for every addiction, every pain, every sorrow. Lord, help us to run to you each and every day. Lord God and father God, we just, uh, we love you, Lord. We thank you for your word. It is sharp and

powerful and let it continue to minister to our hearts. We love you. We praise you. Jesus name. Amen. Amen. You guys have a wonderful.