Significance

In Philippians chapter 3, Paul urges believers to follow his example and warns against being enemies of the cross. He emphasizes the importance of having a mindset focused on heavenly things and seeking a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Paul encourages believers to pursue significance by thinking about life after death, knowing Christ intimately, experiencing the power of His resurrection, and participating in His sufferings. He highlights the transformation from death to life that comes with the resurrection and the future glory that awaits believers. Paul acknowledges that he has not achieved perfection but continues to press on towards the goal of knowing Christ and fulfilling God's purpose for his life. In Philippians chapter 3, I mentioned this passage of Scripture this morning, and I had a psalms that I was going to do tonight, and then the more that I began to think about it this afternoon, and I wanted us to look at this passage, and actually the notes are going to be, I'm going to add a few things, but Darby's kind of used to me doing that and going off quite a bit. But Philippians chapter 3, at the end of chapter 3, Paul said this in verse 17, he said, "...Brethren, be followers together of me, and mark them which walk so as you have us for an example. For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are enemies of the cross of Christ, whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things. For our conversation is in heaven, from whence also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ." When I read that passage of Scripture, Paul's having the same problems with the church as what Israel was having in the wilderness, wasn't he? Notice what he said. He said, here's how we are enemies of the cross. Their end is destruction because their God is their belly. They're worried about food. They're worried about their appetite, things that are there, and their glory is their shame because they mind earthly things. And we saw that this morning, and I mentioned the passage, and that's where we are going to tonight. We're talking about going back into the promised land and going into Canaan, and really it has to do with significance. It has to do with being significant. Caleb is very, very significant. I talked to several people at the church today, and all of us know who Joshua is. And we talk about Joshua. He wound up with an entire book. He was the one that was asked to take over the reins for Moses and lead the people to Israel. But yet, when I read that story, and I've read it multiple times this week, from Exodus to Numbers to Joshua, every single time it is Caleb that is standing up speaking. It's Caleb that is leading out. It's Caleb that finally, when he gets to the line, and he says Joshua is getting out and dividing all of the kingdom, it's Caleb that stepped up and said, you know what, God promised me. And so, when we think about that, we really, my desire is to be a Caleb. My desire is to be somebody that even when I am older and old, that I will say, God give me this mountain. I want to be significant. John Maxwell said, he defines significance as making a difference with others, wherever you are with whatever you have day by day. I was kind of rushed this morning toward the end because I used up too much time building up to it. But I mentioned the fact of Hebron, and you will find out that Caleb and his offspring and his children's children and them continue to live in the area of Hebron. I mentioned that they had come down. Also, if you also look there, and I didn't have time to mention that this morning, but not only is Hebron kind of interested to play out, but also when you looked at the fact that Caleb was from the tribe of Judah. Judah is the tribe of David, the tribe of royalty. It's also the tribe that Jesus Christ came from. And so, man, there's just a lot that is there that I've never really looked into and studied because we always think of Joshua. Joshua, but Caleb was the one. And Paul has this same mentality and this same attitude in the book of Philippians. He tells us, how do we become significant? How do we become somebody like Caleb? And he mentions to us in verse 8-11, first of all, it starts with what we think about Jesus Christ. It's what we think about our God. Caleb believed God. He thought about God. His character, His conduct, His capabilities. But notice what Paul says in verse 8 of chapter 3. He says, "...Yea, doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dumb, that I may win Christ." Now, it's not the promised land that we're trying to win. We're trying to win Christ in the New Testament. And Paul says, "...everything else in my life I consider to be dumb." And then notice what he says in verse 9. "...and be found in him, that I may win Christ, and be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith, that I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death, even by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead." I think the first thing that we have to do if we're going to be significant is we have to be thinking about life after death. We've got to be looking beyond today. We've got to be looking beyond tomorrow. Most of us look at here and now. Most of us deal with the situations and the circumstances that come up. But we also understand that God gives us the wisdom to prepare for the future. But not only the future, I think sometimes we get so caught up with the future that we forget that there's going to be a life after this world. Jesus Christ said, "...lay not upon earth treasures here upon earth, but lay them treasures in heaven." In other words, build for the future. Build for what is going to come. And so when we pursue life after death, we do it in two ways. First of all, we understand that our righteousness is not by the law. Even though they were under the law in the Old Testament, we also find out that it wasn't about the law and the sacrifices. What did David say after he committed adultery with Bathsheba? He said, you don't desire sacrifices. You don't desire what the law tells you. What you desire is a broken and a contrite heart. In other words, the law is to show me that I am unholy. The law is there to show me that I am unrighteous, that I will repent and I will seek Jesus Christ. Every one of us that are a child of God, our righteousness is not found in the law because for all of sin it comes short of the glory of God. Our righteousness is found in the Lord. And notice how we experience this righteousness. He says that I may know Him. Know Him. That word know is an intimate word. It's the same exact word that's used in the Hebrew when Adam knew his wife Eve and she conceived and bared him a child. It is an intimate know. Now a lot of us know Jesus Christ and about Jesus Christ, but how many of us actually know Jesus Christ? When you read the apostles, when you read Peter, when you read the writings of John in the New Testament, what do they declare over and over? This is not something that we have heard. This is something that we have seen, that we have touched, that we have handled. This is first-hand knowledge. This is intimate stuff that we are giving you. That's why Paul said, I am persuaded to follow Jesus Christ. I am compelled to serve Him. And so in this knowledge, in this knowing, this intimacy with Jesus Christ, notice what else he says. The power of His resurrection. You cannot know the power of His resurrection until you are dead. See, the resurrection doesn't happen until after death. You and I hopefully, and my prayer is, is that we will be able to experience the rapture, right? I would rather us rapture and me not have to preach any of your funerals. But if you have a resurrection, if you show up at the resurrection, that means that we have done a funeral and that you have died. And so in order to know the power of the resurrection, the life that we are going to have and that we're going to have to experience, we're going to have to face death. For Caleb said this morning, what? He said, I am as strong as I was 45 years ago. He said because the strength wasn't in him, his strength was in the Lord. And he knew that God would take care of him and God would provide. His life meant nothing. Paul said later on here, he says, I press toward the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. But notice also not only the power of His resurrection, but also the fellowship of His suffering. We want life to be good. As I mentioned this morning in the invitation, we have examples all over the Bible of giants and problems that people faced that made them great and their faith great. And we've finished with Jesus Christ on the cross of Calvary. In other words, in order to experience and to really know Jesus Christ, we have to fellowship. And fellowship means that we have to be participants in the sufferings of Jesus Christ. We don't like to suffer. We don't like problems. We don't like bad things. But we can only know victory when we come up against a wall. We can only know victory when we are backed into a corner and there's no way out. And then he mentions being conformable unto His death. And he mentions there that this resurrection, it is a change of state from death to life. When we are resurrected, that's when we really begin to live. That's when we have our glorified body that will never die again. Well, we are living here, but guess what? We are literally dying as we are living. We're not living and getting better. We're actually getting worse and eventually it's going to come to the point of death. But once after the resurrection, guess what? We're going to have a glorified body and there is going to be no more death. There is going to be no more sin. There's going to be no more aches. There's going to be no more pain. And that's what Paul is saying. He's thinking about the future. He's thinking about what's going to be rather than focusing on what is here and now. And so the first thing that we notice is what we see or ascertain about Jesus Christ. The second step to finding significance in victory is what we find in verse 12. He says in verse 12, "...not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect, but I follow after, if that I may apprehend, that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus." Not only do we think about Jesus Christ, and ascertain and try to reach Jesus Christ, but we have to be apprehended by Jesus Christ. Caleb said even in his old age, what was Caleb focused on? The promise of God. God promised me through the mouth of Moses that I would own this land. That I would possess this place. And so what did he do? He trusted God and he focused on God that was there. This is not just the first part is pursuing life after death. This part is pursuing life on earth. Notice he uses the word attain. To get something or come into possession of. Whether it be physical or whether it be abstract. We have come into possession. We spend our entire life trying to possess Jesus Christ. Why do we do that? Because Jesus Christ possessed us. He bought us and purchased us with His precious blood. And when we give our life to Him, we become His. We are now His children adopted into His family. His servants. And so he uses the word apprehend, which means to acquire through your effort. To seize or lay a hold of. And so I love the wording that is here. He says, not as though I've already obtained. I haven't quite possessed it yet. However, guess what? I am trying to apprehend it. I am trying to seize it. I am trying to lay hold of that for which I am what? Apprehended of Christ Jesus Christ. I'm trying to grab a hold of Jesus Christ because Jesus Christ grabbed a hold of me. He's the one that plucked me from death and hell. He's the one that saved me. And so my job, my glory and my job is to apprehend, heal. To acquire this. And that word apprehend is a word that means to acquire through someone's effort. Jesus Christ gave His life in order that we might have life. And so finally, when you start pursuing life there, what you want, what God has promised, life after death, you begin to make that a reality as you go through life here on earth. And the last thing is found in v. 13 and 14. All of this cumulates into one thing. Being approved of Him. In v. 13 it says, Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended, but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. This is pursuing life in heaven. This is pursuing life in the spiritual. If you'll go on and you will read in Joshua after we left off this morning, you go over to chapter 15, you will find the reason that Caleb did not get Jerusalem is because he could not drive the enemy out of Jerusalem. It's kind of interesting. God gave him Hebrew and Jerusalem is just about 15 miles from Hebrew. And when he went to conquer Jerusalem, for some reason, God would not allow them to drive out. It wasn't until the reign of David that David finally, after being king in Hebrew for seven and a half years, that David was able to gain the end. And as I was reading this, you know, sometimes we think, man, I have possessed. I am in Canaan, right? I am in the promised land. I have caught Jesus Christ. I am living for Jesus Christ. My faith is in Jesus Christ. But yet there's still battles that we have here on this earth that sometimes we may not overcome on this earth. Sometimes we may not have the victory, but we're still in the wheel and the purpose of Jesus Christ. And so how do we do this? Well, first of all, we have to suppress our past. Look at what he says here. He says in verse 13, this is one thing that I do for getting those things which are behind. Quit worrying about what... This means to dismiss from the mind. Stop remembering. Caleb, if you go on and you study his life out, Caleb did not focus on the good of Conqueror and Hebron. And he didn't focus on the bad of not getting Jerusalem. He continued to trust and obey God. He continued to follow God. And so he forgot about the past. And what did he do? He stretched for the future. That word stretch means to exert effort or energy conceived of as extending or stretching out to full length. In other words, we stretch our future. We have to go after it. Jesus Christ, if you've noticed and you read in the book of the entire Old Testament, Jesus Christ gave Israel everything, but everything that Israel got that God gave them, they had to go get. God didn't just give it to them. The manna. Every single morning, manna just fell from the sky and appeared on the ground. But what did the people have to do? They had to get up and go get it. And that's what Paul is saying right here. We forget the past. Today is a new day. I may have had manna yesterday, but guess what? If I don't get out of my tent and go get the manna tomorrow, then guess what? I'm not going to get it. And so what is he saying? He's saying that forgetting all of those things are behind. Reaching forth under those things which are before, there's still going to be effort. There's still going to be energy. There's still going to be things to do. And if you go through and you read Joshua, we're going to go into a little bit of Joshua in the next two weeks. But as you look at that, what you will find is under Joshua, they never did obtain all the land because they began to compromise. They began to not drive out people. They began to marry the daughters in mixed marriages and different things. They began to accept. And what happened? Because of that, we leave Joshua and we go to the book of Judges, where every man did what was right in his own eyes because they had forgot about God. They wasn't reaching toward the future. What was the goal? To acquire all of the promises that God had. Not just some of them. We get so satisfied sometimes with just some of the promises. We get so satisfied with just a few things that God gives for us. Sometimes we need to exert effort and energy so that we can experience the utmost. The complete that is there. What are we really trying to accomplish? Well, he says there, to be like Jesus Christ. To strive after. To chase. To go after something with the intent on catching it. In other words, it's a goal set for us. There's a target. There's a purpose. How many of you can honestly tell me that you know what your goal and what you are trying to achieve? Not in your physical life, but in your spiritual life. What do you really want from Jesus Christ here on this earth? See, Paul had a goal. Paul had a target. Solomon, the wisest man that ever lived, according to the Bible, said this. Where there is no vision, where there is no goal, the people perish. And we have got so satisfied with the blessings that God has given us in America that we are no longer reaching for more. Do you realize God has so much more for us than what we've experienced and what we know? And we sell them short. And so, if our life ended today, what would you be known for? What would you be known for? What would you be remembered for? I want to be significant. I would love to be a Caleb. So how do we obtain that? Well, significance starts today. Victory starts today. Winning starts today. If Paul says, I've got there, but you know what? It wasn't until several years later when he wrote to Timothy that he finally says, guess what? I've finished my course. I've done everything. I have achieved everything that God has for me to achieve. How many of us can say that? Guess what? Most all of us can't because we're still alive and we don't know when we're going to die, right? And so we have to be like Paul. We just have to keep reaching and trying to obtain and grab a hold of what has already grabbed a hold of us. Remember, Jesus Christ was a lamb that was slain before the foundation of the world. He came and acquired us. It's our job now to acquire him. Everything in the Bible, Jesus Christ. How do we get to Jesus Christ? We have to come. We have to speak. We have to open. Jesus Christ has already came. He's already done what he was going to do. And where is he at? Seated on the right hand of the father. He doesn't dog ties. He doesn't force us to serve him. He doesn't make us to serve him. He just willingly says, come all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. And so are you significant? Is your life ended today? What would you be known for? As we stand tonight, we have a verse of invitation. Do you really want to possess that mountain? Do you really want to appease Christ? Do you want all of us? It's easy to say, I want Christ. But then we look at our actions and we look at our lifestyle and we look at our time. Are we really trying to have fun again? Are we really putting in the effort to get to the assurance? It takes work. You've got to open your ears. He's arrived and he's given us. I bless you with all spiritual blessings. But then after he said that in chapter one, verse three, it will be just how many times did he say walk, walk, walk, walk? There later, you got to walk to find him. You got to walk to get him. You got to go. You got to make up your mind to stay. And so let us do this call to make up our mind that we, no matter what the rest of the world, no matter where anybody else is doing this, I am going to seek Christ with every little one of you. Rest in peace, amen. Amen. Thank you, Elizabeth.