Welcome to our weekly sermon from St. Andrew’s
Presbyterian Church in Blackrock and Bray. My name is Andrew Gill and today we're jumping back into
the letter of Philippians, looking at chapter 3 verses 12 to 14 where Paul encourages us to press
on! One of the greatest sporting achievements in my school life was when I competed in my final
year in an aquathlon. An aquathlon is basically two-thirds of a triathlon, so it was swimming
followed by running. I was a pretty good swimmer in those days and a bit of a rubbish runner, but I
still thought that I had a good chance of winning. And the swimming section of it was going well,
I was counting the number of lengths in my head and when I'd reached the goal I jumped out of the
pool to get ready for the running. When one of the teachers ran over and said, “You're not finished
yet. You've still got four more lengths to do! You need to get back in and keep going.” I thought
I'd reach the goal but I still had more to do. We can make that mistake in life too sometimes,
and we get confused about what the goal is. So we can think that buying the house, or
getting that promotion, or getting married s the finishing line, when in fact it's just the
beginning. You can make the same mistake with our Christian lives as well, that we think baptism,
or being converted, or saying the sinner's prayer, that those things are the finishing line when
in fact again it's just the beginning. It seems that as Paul is writing his letter to his friends
in Philippi that there are some of them that are thinking that they had finished. That they were
all done. That they'd reached the goal of being a Christian, that they had achieved some kind of
spiritual perfection. So Paul writes to them to tell them you're not finished yet, you need to
keep going! Look at verse 12, “I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or
that I have already reached perfection.” (NLT) Two weeks ago you might remember that we were looking
at the verses just before this where Paul shares a little bit of his testimony. Paul finished
off that section by saying that his ambition was to know Jesus more and to attain resurrection
from the dead. So here he starts off and he makes it clear that he's not reached that goal yet, and
he declares ‘I'm not perfect’. For me, to hear the Apostle Paul, Saint Paul, say that he is not
perfect, that's a little bit comforting to me. To know that a great man like him still had
more to learn, that he was still growing in his character too. To know that just like us
he failed, he made mistakes, he had weaknesses, and he still had sin that he struggled with in
his life. He wasn't perfect and neither are we. Churches are not museums that display perfect
people they are hospitals where the wounded hurt injured and broken find healing. Christians are
not perfect people, but they pursue perfection. We admit our sin, but we never accept our sin.
We never get comfortable or complacent with it, and we always press on. “But I press
on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. No, dear brothers
and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking
forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race.” (vv.12b-14a NLT) Paul says
that he presses on by doing two things, first of all by forgetting what is in the past. When an
athlete slips or falls in a race they don't just stay there on the ground, but they get back up and
they keep going. Similarly for us, when we fail, when we make mistakes, when we sin, we don't
just stop running, but we get back up again. We confess to God, we seek forgiveness, we put
things in place to remove temptations, we repent, and we press on. Paul's past can be forgotten
because his sins have been forgiven. So he presses on, he forgets the failures and he also forgets
the successes. See in this race of life it's not about what you did yesterday, it's about what
you do today and what you will do tomorrow. Tom Brady is an American football player and many
people consider him to be the greatest quarterback of all time. He has been part of more
Super Bowl winning teams than any other player. When you win the Super Bowl you are
given a championship ring. When asked in an interview which championship ring was
his favourite, he replied ‘the next one.’ His eyes were not on the past victories but on the
future ones. Similarly, I think if you're to ask Paul which experience of God was the greatest
in his life, he would say, ‘the next one.’ Paul is not satisfied with what he's done in the
past, but he presses on towards the future. Paul presses on by forgetting the past, and secondly
by straining forward towards the future. Back when I was doing that race in secondary school,
after I did eventually finish the full number of lengths of the swimming, I got up and started
to run. I had a good lead getting out of the pool and when I first time I looked behind me I
didn't see anyone. Second time I left behind me I could see two people in the distance. Third time
I looked behind me I could see a lot more people behind me, and those two people were
gaining closer. As I got towards the end there was somebody right beside me and I can
remember just sprinting with every bit of strength that I had, moving everything that I could just
to get forward to reach that finishing line first. That's what Paul is saying here, he is straining
forward. He is reaching, he is doing everything he can to move forwards towards the future. On the
other side of tomorrow there is more obedience, there is more blessing, there is more joy. There
is breakthrough and the answer is to prayer. So we press on. Someday we will put down our screens
and we'll be back in our church together singing praises to our God. so we press on. We keep going
all the way to the finish line. Look at verse 14, “I press on toward the goal to win the
prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” (v.14 NIV) After I won my
aquathlon, I was presented with a trophy in the assembly later on that morning. When I got
the trophy, the principal whispered in my ear ‘you just need to be careful.’ As I look down
at this trophy, this beautifully plastic trophy, it was held together with sellotape!
Somebody had broken it and given it to me. After all my achievements this was the award
that I got! What is the award, what is the goal, what is the prize that Paul is running for?
It is resurrection from the dead. It is the transformation of his lowly body to be like the
glorious body of Christ Jesus. Paul is running for eternal life and perfection. A body free of death,
a mind free of fear, and a heart free from sin. Paul has hope for the future so he presses
on. But he's not running to earn the prize he's running to endure until the prize. You
see God has called Paul, and us, not just to be competitors but to be champions. The prize has
already been won by Christ. The central piece to the letter of Philippians is chapter 2 verses 5 to
11, which describe Christ's example of humility, of obedience, and service as he gave up sitting
on a throne in heaven to die hanging on a cross. He ran to us. Through his death and
resurrection Christ has won the prize for us. Look again at verse 12, “I press on to
take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.” (v.12b NIV) We run
to christ because he first ran to us. We reach out to take hold of perfection, because
the perfect one has already reached out and is holding us. So today let us press on with hope!
Father God, We thank you that you have called us to receive the heavenly prize through Christ
Jesus. We know that we are not perfect, please forgive us of all our past failures and
mistakes. Help us to press on to reach the end of the race and possess that perfection for
which Jesus Christ first possessed us. Amen
