Are you running life’s race with passion? This message explains the call God has placed on each of our lives, and how to understand the goal and work toward the prize.

Are you pressing on to the goal to win the prize for which God has called you heavenward in Christ Jesus? We are to press forward in faith. The evidence of your faith in Christ is seen as a life well lived. God’s call on your life is for you to be justified and glorified. This will only happen as we press on to spiritual maturity as we live up to what we have already attained. Look past the trials, pain and suffering you may have experienced or are experiencing right now and focus on the goal. One step after another, press on forward to the goal.

Are you living up to your life’s calling?

Evidence of Faith

Last week we considered evidence of salvation and one’s faith in Christ. Paul touched on several spiritual evidences that illustrate the believer’s faith in Christ. The first three being:

1. Work produced by faith.

2. Labor prompted by love.

3. Endurance inspired by hope in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Paul preached a message of grace, hope, love, and forgiveness that is available to all and to whoever will believe and be saved. The gospel message, by the power of the Holy Spirit, is powerful enough to break through even the hardest and darkest of hearts.

You must understand, the evidence of your faith in Christ is seen as a life well lived. I ended last week’s message with Matthew 5:16 “In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.”

Today I want us to read Philippians 3:12-21. Here, Paul encourages the believer to press on and to focus on what is ahead, eternity with Christ the Lord in glory. Paul encourages us to press forward in faith as he did. The day we place our faith in Christ is the first day we begin a journey of spiritual growth, and it is the first step to fulfilling the call of God on our lives.

What is God’s call for us? And why?

• God calls us out of darkness into the light of the gospel and kingdom of his son. We do not deserve being called out of the world but, by the grace of God, we hear the call and respond in faith.

• The purpose of the call is, first, that we know Jesus as Lord and savior, but also so that we will share what we know regarding the truth of Christ so that others will come to the saving knowledge of Christ.

Paul placed upon himself the obligation to follow Jesus wherever he leads and to encourage others to do the same. Paul understood that the call of God was heavenward and that it was a call he chose to follow and obey with all his heart. Paul challenges himself and every believer to live up to what we have already attained in Christ.

“Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13 Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

15 All of us, then, who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you. 16 Only let us live up to what we have already attained.

17 Join together in following my example, brothers and sisters, and just as you have us as a model, keep your eyes on those who live as we do. 18 For, as I have often told you before and now tell you again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. 19 Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is set on earthly things. 20 But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21 who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body” (Philippians 3:12-21, NIV).

Paul had many accomplishments:

• Leading people to salvation.

• Standing firm in faith.

• Writing letters that were inspired by the Holy Spirit.

• Proclaiming the gospel and testifying before religious and political leaders.

• Along with having been taught the scriptures and zealous for the things of God.

• A Hebrew of Hebrews, circumcised on the 8th day.

• Once thought to be righteous and faultless according to the law.

Yet he writes concerning his life before he placed his faith in Christ:

“But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8 What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith” (Philippians 3:7-9).

Paul never felt that he had arrived at a place where he had accomplished all God had for him in life. He continued to press on. In all his trials, Paul was beaten, placed in prison, shipwrecked, falsely accused, lied about, deprived of food, run out of the city, given death threats, and much more. Yet Paul never gave up the pursuit of his heavenward calling. Paul never turned away from loving the Lord and living up to the call God had placed on his life.

We all have a call God has placed on our lives to:

• Have faith in Christ.

• Do the will of the Father.

• Take hold of that for which Jesus took hold of us.

• Share the gospel message.

• Be obedient and steadfast in faith no matter the situation.

• Spiritual maturity.

• No longer live as enemies of the cross.

• Look heavenward and to do good works.

• Realize that our citizenship is in heaven.

• Pursue the righteousness of Christ, as we await Jesus’ soon return.

• Be conformed into the image of Christ.

“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. 29 For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters” (Romans 8:28-29).

In other words, God’s call on your life is for you to be justified and glorified.

How are we justified and glorified?

• By pressing on to spiritual maturity.

• By living up to what we have already attained: the truth of the gospel, faith in Christ, and being living examples of God’s love.

A Sinner Saved by Grace

Paul has described his Christian life as spiritual warfare, as winning a race, and as a struggle.

As spiritual warfare, he said our struggle is against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms (Ephesians 6:12-13). As running a race, he reminded himself and others to run with perseverance and focus on Jesus (Hebrews 12:1-2) and to work hard for the prize at the finish line (1 Corinthians 9:24-25). At the end of Paul’s life, he tells us his spiritual life was a struggle: “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day — and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing” (2 Timothy 4:7-8).

In Paul’s day, some might have thought that he had arrived at spiritual perfection. People today can look at Paul’s life and think that he lived a perfect life after his Damascus Road experience. After all, look at all that Paul was able to accomplish. The lives he touched. The work he did. His steadfast faith in living and proclaiming the gospel. Yet, Paul saw himself as a sinner saved by grace, as one who was subject to temptation, as one who still had a sinful nature.

“We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. 15 I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. 16 And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. 17 As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. 18 For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. 19 For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. 20 Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.

21 So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22 For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; 23 but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. 24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? 25 Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!

So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in my sinful nature a slave to the law of sin” (Romans 7:14-25).

Press On and Keep Your Eye on The Prize

Paul understood he was not perfect. Paul looked to Jesus and Jesus’ return. Paul, like Peter, understood the life of the believer is one of growing in the knowledge and grace of Christ.

“Therefore, dear friends, since you have been forewarned, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of the lawless and fall from your secure position. 18 But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen” (2 Peter 3:17-18).

“Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. 2 Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, 3 now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.

4 As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him— 5 you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 2:1-5).

Paul’s view of this life, as a believer in Christ is a life of continual spiritual growth in the knowledge and in the image of Christ. Like Paul, we will never arrive or become all that God desires us to become until we breath our last breath on earth and see Jesus face to face. For that reason, Paul tells us to press on to take hold that for which Christ Jesus took hold of us.

Paul did not consider past accomplishments. Paul did not rely on anything in his past or what he did. Paul was never satisfied with achieving all he had achieved by the power of the Holy Spirit. Paul wanted to accomplish more and see people grow in the knowledge of Christ and be saved. Paul was not about to ease up and spiritually coast into glory. Paul desired to do all he could with the time God had given him and finish the race well. Paul lived his life with the finish line always before him. His pace of running never slowed, in fact, if anything his passion and pace toward the finish line increased.

Do you remember the 1993 movie Cool Runnings? The movie was inspired by a true story about the first Jamaican bobsled team that entered the Olympic games. There had never been a Jamaican team before. They worked hard. They trained hard. They had to come up with all the money they needed to enter and travel to the Olympic games themselves. They were laugh at and were told to go home but they stayed and competed in the Olympics. They looked different, acted different and never gave up. Their race times were bad, but on the third and final trip down the slope they began to work together as one team. They were doing the best time! Then suddenly, the bobsled had a malfunction and it looked like a deadly accident. In the movie, the crash happened with the finish line in sight. The team was okay, and they picked up the heavy sled and carried it over the finish line. Everyone who had been negative and had made fun of them cheered as they took the sled to the finish line! They lost the race but ended well.

They raced to win the prize set before them, but they never lost sight of the goal. Jamaica, a country that has no snow or ice, has had a bobsled team in the Olympics ever since.

Work Toward the Goal in Such a Way That You Win the Prize

We have only touched on three of the verses in our study. We will come back to the other verses next week. But let me ask: are you straining toward what is ahead like Paul and the Jamaican team? Are you pressing on forward to the goal to win the prize for which God has called you heavenward in Christ Jesus?

I do not believe the goal is the prize. What is the goal that you are pressing on toward? The prize is eternal life with Christ in glory.

• The goal is to grow in the knowledge of Christ.

• The goal is to be a person of steadfast faith.

• The goal is to be a living example of the grace and mercy of God to others.

The goal is what is ahead of you, not what is behind. Forget what is behind and strain towards what is ahead. Look past the trials, pain and suffering you may have experienced or are experiencing right now and focus on the goal. One step after another, press on forward to the goal. Run with passion the race before you. Run with deep conviction and heart. Run in a way to win the prize.

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, 2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart" (Hebrews 12:1-3).

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