Hello friends,
This is Mark Gladman,
Also known as Brother Frederick James,
Your friendly neighbourhood monk in dogs.
Welcome back to our journey through Paul's letter to the Philippians.
Yesterday we entered one of the most personal moments of the letter.
Paul told us about everything he once trusted in,
His background,
His achievements,
His religious credentials.
And then reveal that none of these things could compare with the surpassing worth of knowing Christ.
But there was something deeply important hidden within that passage.
Wasn't speaking as someone who had already made it.
He wasn't describing himself as someone who'd completed the journey.
Rather,
He.
.
.
Said something that is pretty surprising coming from someone like Paul,
You'd think.
He said,
Not that I have already obtained all this or have already arrived at my goal.
So even Paul was still becoming.
And that's where today's passage begins.
The spiritual life is a journey that we continue on as long as we're alive.
It's a journey of becoming more and more like who we're meant to be.
So before we listen to the passage today,
Let's just take a moment to become still.
Take a nice slow breath.
And remember that God isn't finished with you.
And as we've read already,
The same God who began the work in you continues that work in you right now.
So in Philippians 3 verses 12 to 21,
Paul writes,
Not that I've already obtained this or have already reached the goal,
But I press on to make it my own,
Because Christ Jesus has made me his own.
Beloved,
I do not consider that I have made it my own.
But this one thing I do,
Forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead.
I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.
Let those of us then who are mature be of the same mind.
And if you think differently about anything,
This too God will reveal to you.
Only let us hold fast to what we have attained.
Brothers and sisters,
Join in imitating me and observe those who live according to the example you have in us.
For many live as enemies of the cross of Christ.
I've often told you of them,
And now I tell you even with tears.
Their end is destruction,
Their God is the belly,
And their glory is in their shame.
Their minds are set on earthly things,
But our citizenship is in heaven.
And it is from there that we are expecting a saviour,
The Lord Jesus Christ.
He will transform the body of our humiliation that it may be conformed to the body of His glory.
By the power that also enables him to make all things subject to himself.
Now notice that Paul continues with the same honesty that he's been speaking with to this point.
He writes,
Not that I've 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.
And these are very,
Very reassuring words.
Paul,
The apostle,
The missionary,
The theologian,
The one who encountered the risen Christ,
Still describes himself as someone on the journey.
He's still learning.
He's still growing.
He's still being transformed.
And this really should challenge one of the great misunderstandings we can have about spiritual maturity.
Sometimes we think that once we've got it figured out,
We're done.
That spiritual maturity,
Quote-unquote,
Means that we've somehow moved beyond uncertainty,
Weakness,
Or temptation.
But Paul's own story says something very,
Very different.
Maturity is knowing where to turn in the middle of our struggles.
The mature person isn't the person who says I've arrived.
But who says,
Christ is still drawing me forward.
Now notice Paul's beautiful phrase,
I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.
Now this sentence holds an interesting tension.
Paul is pursuing Christ,
But only because Christ has first pursued him.
Paul reaches for Christ because Christ has already reached for Paul.
The spiritual life always begins with being loved.
Before we seek God,
God is already seeking us.
Before we desire Christ,
Christ has already desired us.
Before we choose transformation,
Grace has already chosen and begun transformation within us and this is why Spiritual growth is never an option.
About striving.
So don't read that word pursuing that Paul's used there as being the same thing because we're not trying to convince God to love us or to do anything for us.
All we're doing is responding to a love that has already found us.
Paul continues then with,
This is another phrase that's often misunderstood.
First,
What does Paul mean by forgetting what lies behind?
Is he suggesting that we ignore our past or that our hurts don't exist or that our memories should be erased?
Nowhere in the scriptures are we asked to deny anything.
He remembers his past.
He speaks honestly about his former life.
He remembers his mistakes.
He remembers his encounter with Christ.
So what's he talking about here?
Well,
I wonder whether he means refusing to allow the past to have the final word.
Because some people are trapped by failure.
They constantly replay their mistakes.
Other people are trapped by their successes.
They try to keep going back to being a version of themselves that's already passed.
Both can prevent us.
From receiving what God is wanting to do now.
The question that Paul's asking here is,
Not what was I?
But rather,
What is Christ forming me into?
And this is one of the deepest movements of spiritual maturity,
Learning to release.
Release the need to be who we once were.
Release the identities that we've outgrown.
Release the guilt.
That we were never meant to carry and release even the good things.
That are finished in our lives.
There's a reason why the Israelites struggled in the wilderness.
That were free from Egypt.
But emotionally.
In their hearts and minds,
They kept going back there.
The past can become a place we continually visit,
But Paul's inviting us to turn our attention around.
He's saying the future is greater because we go there with God.
And then Paul says,
I press on towards the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
Now the image that Paul uses here is that of a runner.
Now the ancient world loved athletics contests.
The Olympic Games were centuries old by Paul's time,
So everyone understood that image.
Now a runner who's running,
Though,
Doesn't look backwards while they're running.
They fix their attention ahead.
They move towards the finish.
Now again,
Don't misunderstand this as meaning life becomes a competition.
Spiritual journeys aren't about defeating other people.
But it is about becoming fully alive.
So the goal.
.
.
Is about becoming the person that God has created us to be.
In other words,
The goal is union with Christ.
And Paul then offers one of the most significant statements in the whole letter.
He says,
Now to understand this,
Remember where the Philippians lived.
Philippi was a Roman colony.
Citizenship was a source of immense pride,
So many Philippians had Roman citizenship even though they lived far from Rome.
Paul's using this familiar idea and transforming it.
Your deepest identity is not determined by your earthly belonging,
It is received from God.
Paul isn't saying though that we should ignore the world.
Quite the opposite.
Roman citizens living in Philippi were expected to represent Rome.
And so likewise.
We represent the values of God's kingdom wherever we live.
Our heavenly citizenship shapes our earthly responsibility.
Because we belong to Christ,
We learn to live differently in the here and now.
And then Paul finishes by speaking about transformation.
He says here,
He will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.
Pool.
Isn't saying to leave the physical world.
The body matters,
Creation matters,
Human life matters to Paul.
But God's purpose is not to discard creation,
But rather renew it.
The resurrection of Jesus is the beginning of God's restoration of all things.
And the hope of those who follow in the way isn't becoming less human,
But becoming more fully human,
Fully alive and fully transformed.
Into the likeness of Christ.
So let's think for a moment,
What might this passage be inviting us to consider?
Well,
First of all.
.
.
Are we still open to becoming?
It's easy,
Especially when we grow older,
To settle into fixed identities.
This is just who I am.
It's who I've always been.
I can't change.
But Paul's offering us another possibility that God is still shaping us,
That there is still growth ahead,
And there's still grace waiting.
The other question might be,
What do you need to release?
Is there a past failure that you continue to carry?
Is there a past success you keep trying to recreate?
A version of yourself that God's inviting you to surrender.
Remember.
God calls us forward.
Coming from the Benedictine tradition,
There's also something deeply Benedictine I see in this passage.
Saint Benedict understood that formation is a lifelong journey.
The monk takes vows.
Not when they've already become holy.
But because they desire to be formed.
The monastery is technically a school of transformation,
A place where through prayer,
Community,
And daily faithfulness,
A person slowly becomes more like Jesus.
Benedict begins his rule by calling people to listen,
And listening is what allows transformation to continue.
The danger is that we stop allowing God to form us.
Site today.
I invite you to practice a simple prayer of release.
Just stop for a moment.
Take a nice deep breath in.
.
.
Unopen your mind.
To bring before God something from your past that might still have a hold on you.
Maybe there's a regret.
Or a disappointment.
Or even a success that you can't seem to let go of.
And as you hold it.
I invite you to pray with me.
I release what is behind me.
Lead me into the life.
That you are forming in me.
So let's close by committing ourselves to remaining open to the future that God's creating in us and for us.
Let's pray.
Faithful God,
Thank you that you're not finished with us.
Thank you that your grace continues to shape us even when we feel incomplete.
Give us courage to release the past,
Wisdom to live faithfully today,
And hope for the future that you are creating.
May we keep our eyes fixed on Christ,
The one who calls us forward,
The one who holds us securely and the one who is making all things new.
And may grace,
Peace and love go with us and remain with us today and always.
Amen.
Thanks so much for being with me today.
Tomorrow we move into the final chapter of Philippians where Paul speaks about peace,
Anxiety,
Prayer,
And the transformation of the inner life.
We'll discover that the peace of Christ isn't simply the absence of trouble,
But the presence of God holding us in the middle of it.
So until then,
Remember,
You're not a finished product.
You're a beloved child of God still being formed.
Still being renewed and still becoming more like Christ.
Bye for now.
