Running for the Prize

This past Monday, Christy and I went to the Regional Cross Country Meet to watch four EBC members run.  The meet was held at Lynn Creek Park in Grand Prairie on the banks of Joe Pool Lake.

 

In our particular region, there were 179 girls and 182 boys running for the prize.  Our girls were running two miles.  Our boys were running 3.1 miles.  At this meet, the prize was the opportunity to run at the State Cross Country Meet.

 

In Philippians 3:12-16, Paul used a racing analogy for the Christian Life.  If you were here last Sunday, the Christian’s greatest desire is to know Christ more.  To say it another way, eternity with Jesus is the prize.  Are you running for the prize? 

 

 

1. Forget what’s behind you, Philippians 3:12-13.

12 Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. 13 Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead.

 

If you have ever run a race, what is behind you is in the past.  Don’t worry about the past.  Don’t be concerned with what is behind you.

 

In verse 13, Paul said he was forgetting those things that were behind him.  This could include both good and bad things.

 

The message that he communicated to the Philippians was that in the Christian Life, even Paul had not mastered it.  In verse 12, he said that he had not already attained it, and he had not achieved perfection.  In verse 13, he said he had not apprehended the prize. 

 

What good things might he have forgotten?  Remember the resume that Paul listed in verses 5-6?  None of those things were any good to him now.  He was forgetting them.

 

He also could have been thinking about past failures.  Satan loves to remind us of our failures.  However, Paul was forgetting those too.

 

You mean Paul had failed?  Of course he had failed as has every person in the room. Most, if not all, can identify with Romans 7.

 

14 For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. 15 For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do. 16 If, then, I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law that it is good. 17 But now, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. 18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. 19 For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. 20 Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.  21 I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good. 22 For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. 23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. 24 O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?

 

Regardless, if it is good or bad, in running for the prize of eternity with Jesus, forget what’s behind you.  Looking back generally is not good.  See Genesis 19:15-26.

 

15 When the morning dawned, the angels urged Lot to hurry, saying, “Arise, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be consumed in the punishment of the city.” 16 And while he lingered, the men took hold of his hand, his wife’s hand, and the hands of his two daughters, the Lord being merciful to him, and they brought him out and set him outside the city. 17 So it came to pass, when they had brought them outside, that he said, “Escape for your life! Do not look behind you nor stay anywhere in the plain. Escape to the mountains, lest you be destroyed.”  18 Then Lot said to them, “Please, no, my lords! 19 Indeed now, your servant has found favor in your sight, and you have increased your mercy which you have shown me by saving my life; but I cannot escape to the mountains, lest some evil overtake me and I die. 20 See now, this city is near enough to flee to, and it is a little one; please let me escape there (is it not a little one?) and my soul shall live.”  21 And he said to him, “See, I have favored you concerning this thing also, in that I will not overthrow this city for which you have spoken. 22 Hurry, escape there. For I cannot do anything until you arrive there.”  Therefore, the name of the city was called Zoar.  23 The sun had risen upon the earth when Lot entered Zoar. 24 Then the Lord rained brimstone and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah, from the Lord out of the heavens. 25 So He overthrew those cities, all the plain, all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground.  26 But his wife looked back behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.

 

Instead, what did Jesus say?  See Luke 9:62. 

 

62 But Jesus said to him, “No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”

 

 

2. Press toward the prize, Philippians 3:12-14.

12 Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. 13 Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, 14 I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. 

 

The idea is found here in verse 12.  Paul said he pressed on.  In verse 13, he said he was reaching forward to those things which are ahead.  In verse 14, he said he pressed toward the goal for the prize. 

 

Perhaps Paul was a sports fan.  He often used sports analogies.  See 1 Corinthians 9:24-27.

 

24 Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it. 25 And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown. 26 Therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty. Thus I fight: not as one who beats the air. 27 But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified.

 

I’m not sure who wrote Hebrews.  However, that author also appreciated sports.  See Hebrews 12:1.

 

1 Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.

 

At the meet on Monday, a lot of runners were giving it everything they had.  They were pressing on and reaching toward the goal of that finish line.  Others seemed to be just enjoying a day out of school. 

 

For this group, I could say the same.  Are you pressing on toward the goal?  Are you reaching forward to the prize?  Or, are you just content with your fire insurance? 

 

 

3. Know for certain for the prize is, Philippians 3:15-16.

15 Therefore let us, as many as are mature, have this mind; and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal even this to you. 16 Nevertheless, to the degree that we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us be of the same mind.

 

In our last two verses for today, Paul makes another appeal for unity.  We’ve seen and heard this previously as there was an issue dividing the Philippian Church. 

 

Regardless, Paul appealed for them to be of the same mind regarding the prize.  Make no mistake.  The prize was and is eternity with Jesus Christ. 

 

However, if you don’t agree, like Paul, I think God will convince you of otherwise.  Jesus is the prize!

 

 

 

 

 

Conclusion

For the casual observer this morning, Jesus is the prize.  Therefore, it is not being a better person.  You will never be good enough to go to heaven.  Today, I invite you to receive the gift of eternal life with Jesus in heaven.

 

For my brothers and sisters, the American Dream is not the prize.  Early retirement is not the prize.  Our team winning the championship is not the prize.  Becoming more like Jesus is the prize! 

 

Jim Elliot, missionary to Ecuador, is famous for this quote, “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.”

 

You cannot keep the American Dream, your riches, or your life.  If you are follower of Christ, you cannot lose Jesus.

 

Becoming more like Jesus is captured in one word, “obey.”  Forget what is behind.  Press on toward the prize.  Obey the Lord Jesus.