12 Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. 13 Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. 15 Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you. 16 Only let us hold true to what we have attained.

17 Brothers, join in imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us. 18 For many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ. 19 Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things. 20 But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21 who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.

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Hers was a special case. For twelve long years, she had privately suffered from a draining and debilitating malady. Chronic uterine bleeding, terrible in any era, was especially painful in hers as it kept her from two great first-century blessings. Her sickness kept her from bearing children, from growing a family, from being a mother, but it also kept her out of the temple as it made her ritually unclean. As those twelve years passed, the Bible tells us this woman "suffered much" at the hands of the medical community and the ill-informed views of their time, throwing herself into poverty to chase healing at any cost—but healing never came.

At the pinnacle of her despair, she started to hear whispers of a man named Jesus. He was at work in the Galilee and, apparently, had a healing ministry. He was changing people—people afflicted with demons, diseases, and disabilities—and her hope began to rise. As story after story and testimony after testimony spread throughout Galilee and into her ears, she started to wonder if he was the Great Physician who could finally heal her. And, somehow, a message began to well up within her, a message she preached, however hesitantly, to her own heart: "If I touch even his garments, I will be made well" (Mark 5:28).

One day, she heard that Jesus was in her region, crossing the waters on his way to her shores. She was not the only one who heard, but as a great crowd pressed against him, she would not be deterred. Slowly, steadily, she picked her way through the congregation until she arrived at her deliverer. Anonymously, she reached out her hand to touch his garment, and when she did, she could feel her body heal. She was changed.

Jesus, having felt divine power release from him, began to ask who had touched him. The crowd was pressing against him—hundreds had touched him—so his disciples challenged his question. But as Jesus looked around and waited for a reply, the woman realized her story was not hers alone, so she came forward and told him the entire tale. With love, Jesus replied, "Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease" (Mark 5:34).

I begin the teaching today with this woman's beautiful story because it wonderfully encapsulates what Philippians 3:12-21 is about. In it, Paul continued building his description of authentic Christianity. For the Philippians to be a healthy church, carrying out God's intentions for their lives, they needed to become an advancing gospel community. And, since an advancing gospel community lives in imitation of Jesus, they would need to crave Christlikeness. If a desire to be more like Christ invaded each one in their number, they would press through all the obstacles and hindrances that would keep them from touching Jesus to have his holy cleanness and transformative power released in their lives. In other words, they would only reach the goal of Christlikeness by craving it, focusing on it, and surrounding themselves with others who were also fixated upon it.

We, of course, need what the Philippians needed. We need to be an advancing gospel community—and our region needs us to be an advancing gospel community—which means we need to crave Christlikeness as a congregation and as individuals within that congregation. So today, in this passage, we are going to ask, what are the attitudes befitting a community that craves Christlikeness? What are the predominant perspectives and drives of the people in that community?

1. We Want to Apprehend It (3:12, 14-16)

The first confession of an advancing gospel community that craves Christlikeness is, "We want to apprehend it." In our text from last week, Paul said he wanted to know Jesus' suffering and resurrection power (3:10-11), meaning he wanted his life to be completely remade and transformed to look like Jesus. In our text today—a continuation of that previous text—Paul assured his readers that he had not already obtained the fullness of living that resurrection power (3:12). He was not already perfect (3:12). It is notable, of course, that Paul did not think of himself as a spiritual elite who could stop progressing. He had been a strong believer for thirty years at this point, but he still felt he had more spiritual heights to climb. He was like Caleb (in the Old Testament) who was eighty-five years old when he asked permission to battle for the hill country God had promised him as a young man (Josh. 14:6-12). Like Caleb, after all these years Paul was still hungry, which made him quick to mention that he would press on to make that perfection his own because Jesus had made Paul his own (3:12). What he meant is that because Christ did everything to apprehend Paul, Paul wanted to do everything to apprehend Christlikeness.

We generally scoff and smirk at such statements regarding perfection. No one is perfect, we think, and we are right for thinking this way. The church has had to endure some strange holiness movements in the past, so we do well to confess that no one will be completely glorified and without any sin or the capacity to sin on this side of eternity.

However, perhaps we have been too quick to dismiss statements like Paul made. He wanted—badly—to become like his hero and Lord. The word he used for perfection does not mean without a flaw of any kind, but means bringing to completion or the ultimate goal. To Paul, Christlikeness was the ultimate goal, and he would press on toward it with all his might (3:14). In fact, when Paul said he would press on toward the goal, he used the same Greek word he used to recall his persecution of the church before he became a Christian (Phil. 3:6). What he means by using the same word here that he is now devoting the same sort of intense energy he used when he persecuted the church to pursuing becoming like Jesus.[^1]

Paul did not think he was a special case—his mentality was that all mature Christians will think this way, they will all crave Christlikeness (3:15). Here, Paul used one of this letter's key words—think (3:15). Think (which points to our feeling, mindset, concern, or care) alludes to the mentality the Spirit wants us to possess. What mature believers want is to hold true to what they have attained (3:16). What that means is that the mature believer wants to live in line with the truth of who they now are in Christ. Since they have been apprehended by Jesus and given a new nature in Jesus, they want to live according to their new identity in him. They "press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of" them (3:12, NIV). Christ attained them, so they want to attain Christlikeness. They want their lives to be true (3:16). They want to apprehend everything for which they have been apprehended.

Christmas is coming, and many of us will give gifts to people we love. Picture a child receiving a long-hoped-for present—perhaps a bicycle or a video game. No child would unwrap it, celebrate it, and then leave it in the box, never to use or enjoy it again. Instead, they’ll delight in it, explore it, and play with it. This is how Paul viewed his pursuit of Christlikeness. Why would he celebrate that Christ had made him his own, only to stop short of making Christlikeness his own? Paul knew the gospel invites us into a new covenant where God transforms us from within, so he longed to experience that transformation. He wanted to partake of every blessing promised in Christ.

This longing for Christlikeness fits an advancing gospel community. We live in a time when many fuss over various forms of self-improvement. We manage stress, optimize sleep, hack nutrition, encourage mental health, and take our supplements. We develop our professional skills, build our network, advance our careers, and prepare for retirement. We work on our romantic relationships, our family relationships, our social relationships, and our church relationships. We set goals, develop routines, manage time, and eliminate procrastination. We work on improving our emotional intelligence, our leadership, and our productivity levels. Some of us read lots of books, learn new languages, or continue our education, while others master an instrument, become great artists, or start a side hustle. But amid this mentality for personal improvement, let us not forget, minimize, or deemphasize the incredible priority of pursuing Christlikeness.

It is what we need. It is what our world needs from us.

2. We Will Focus On It (3:13-14)

The second confession of an advancing gospel community that craves Christlikeness is, "We will focus on it." After making sure the Philippians knew he had not attained full Christlikeness, Paul said, "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 upward call of God in Christ Jesus" (3:13-14). These are potent (and popular) words that highlight how Paul went about the process of pursuing Christlikeness.

First, Paul made the pursuit of Christlikeness the priority of his life. He had other interests, of course. He planted churches, developed spiritual leaders, and taught doctrine while also providing for his groceries, engaging in good friendships, and worshipping with others. But everything in Paul's life pointed back to the one thing he said he focused on (3:13).

A laser is focused light. Because it is focused, it can accomplish things scattered light cannot, which is why we use lasers for medical, industrial, and technological purposes. Because of their focused light, lasers are chosen by doctors to do things like eye surgery—they would never choose a living room reading light for such an endeavor. Focus is productive, and Paul knew he needed to focus if he was ever going to increase in Christlikeness. Paul, of course, had that focus. He was in the race to win, not wander about. He was not going to stop running halfway through his race to head off to dinner. He was going to keep his eyes on the finish line and race toward that moment.

Focus means intentionality, which is sometimes resisted by modern believers. We think we want an organic thing to happen to us—let nature take its course! But, speaking of organic, the Christian life is more like a farm than a forest. On a farm, everything is intentionally prepared to yield crops of some kind. In the forest, human food can grow, but its wild state means food will be harder to come by. Yes, you might find some berries or edible mushrooms here or there, but the forest is no farm. Paul believed that making the pursuit of Christlikeness his intentional priority would greatly aid him in his quest to become more like Jesus.

Second, Paul made a practice of forgetting what lies behind (3:13). We must not forget the context of this statement: Paul has just told us that he counts all his credentials as rubbish in order to know Christ (3:4-6). So, though Paul might be talking about forgetting his past failures, he is definitely talking about forgetting his past successes. His point is that if it is in the past, then it has no power to make him more like Christ today. Paul is not saying the past has no effect on him—his past clearly helped shape him. Nor is he saying he has no responsibility for the past—he spent his life with the sorrowful knowledge that he had persecuted Christians and didn't want to live that way anymore. Neither is Paul saying he cannot remember the past—the words he chose indicate he just didn't spend lots of time thinking about it. His point is that if it is in the past, it has no power to make him more like Christ today, so he must not pay attention to it.

Paul knew that the Christian life must learn from the past but not dwell on the past. It is good for us to recall the acts of God in the past and apply his past to our today. But our past does not make us any more or less like Christ today. This forgetting runs both ways. Paul did not dwell on his days as a Pharisee who persecuted Christians, but neither did he dwell on his three faithful decades of Christian service. His focus was on what was next. And we must do the same. We should not dwell too long on our past failures or our past successes. They cannot help us become like Jesus today. If you have decades of faithful obedience on your record, it doesn't mean you'll progress today. If you have deep failures on your record, they don't mean you can't advance today. Instead, we must forget them as we press into growing right now, neither overly discouraged nor confident by what we did yesterday.

Third, Paul strained forward to what lies ahead (3:13). In a race, you cannot spend too much time looking back. You must keep your eyes trained in front of you. A friend of mine recently won a small marathon. He said he was fading at the end, so he was slipping from the leaders. But he kept looking up and eventually saw the leader coming back to him, so he stepped on it and ended up winning the race. Paul was like that—a runner who knew he could not look back—he had to look up and forward to Christlikeness. Because he did, he reached his goal and won the prize (3:14).

It is clear Paul felt all this was more than just a thoughtful perspective, but an active faith. To strain forward means to exert oneself to the uttermost. It's a word from athletics. Effort and sweat, pain and the grind, exertion and fatigue—these are all on Paul's mind when he thinks of what he'll put into becoming more like Jesus.

Paul's whole process—focusing on one thing, forgetting what was behind, straining forward to what lies ahead—sounds so much like his exhortation in 2:12-13. He told us to work out our salvation because God is working in us to will and work for his good pleasure. What we find here is just how intensely Paul was committed to working out his salvation. He'd attained salvation, so now he would throw himself energetically into his personal growth to become more like the one who saved him.

EX: DL PR

For this focus, the Old Testament book of Nehemiah comes to mind. Nehemiah had developed a vision of what a restored and vibrant Jerusalem would look like, but the previous decades of foreign invasions and total neglect meant Jerusalem was far from what Nehemiah envisioned. But with that vision in mind, Nehemiah looked forward and strained in labor to produce what he envisioned. And God helped his man restore his city. In like manner, when believers focus on the goal of Christlikeness, when we keep that vision and finished product in mind, we are able to be aided by God in that endeavor.

3. We Will Follow Others Who Pursue It (3:17-21)

The third confession of an advancing gospel community that craves Christlikeness is, "We will follow others who pursue it." In our last handful of verses, Paul invited the Philippians to join in imitating him (3:17). Paul knew just how helpful it is to keep our eyes on those who walk according to the example we have in people like him, Timothy, Epaphroditus, and others, so he invited the Philippians to follow their template (3:17).

This is an intensely practical invitation from Paul. We all need examples to follow. We are all intensely shaped by the people we surround ourselves with. Friends, influencers, podcasters, pastors—the people we look at end up being people we imitate, so we must put the right people in front of us.

And Paul knew there were those we should not follow. With tears, Paul reminded the Philippians again that many walk as enemies of the cross of Christ (3:18). For the purpose of understanding who these enemies were, we should remember the two main functions of the cross. 1) The cross is central to Christianity because it is the way we access forgiveness and acceptance from God. 2) The cross is also central to us to help inform our understanding of discipleship—Jesus wants us to take up our cross and follow him (Mark 8:34). It appears likely it was this second way these folks operated in as enemies of the cross of Christ. Paul was moving forward in his forgiveness, to become like Christ, but this group didn't think Christ's cross was designed for that. They basked in supposed forgiveness but were not propelled into Christlikeness. They likely taught false doctrines, but their big issue was their rejection of a cruciform existence—living in a way that reflects the pattern of Jesus' life, death, and resurrection by embodying self-giving love, humility, and sacrifice. They might have proclaimed gospel forgiveness, but they didn't allow that same gospel to shape them in any meaningful way.

Paul said that their end is destruction (3:19). This must mean that Paul thought of these professing Christians as just that: professing but false believers. Paul and his companions would one day experience the transformation of their lowly bodies to become like Jesus' glorious body, but he didn't expect the same outcome for this group (3:21).

Paul also said their god is their belly, meaning they were focused on their physical desires and impulses more than on Jesus' will for their lives (3:19). In Romans, Paul said of people like this, "Such persons do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own appetites" (Rom. 16:18). Their desires, in other words, were their gods. Rather than submit to Jesus as Lord, they submit to their impulses and feelings as lord.

He also said they gloried in their shame (3:19). Instead of being embarrassed by their behavior, they trumpeted their behavior, boasting in it, priding themselves in things they should have been ashamed of. Paul also spoke about this in Romans, declaring that a persistent resistance of God's revealed will in nature and Scripture will lead to a "debased mind to do what ought not to be done," leading people to "not only do...but give approval to those who practice" such things (Rom. 1:28, 32).

Their minds, Paul said, are completely set on earthly things (3:19). It is not wrong for us to care about and be faithful in earthly affairs, but these enemies of the cross did not take God or his things into consideration.

Because these enemies of the cross existed in Philippi, it was important for the church there to turn to better examples like Paul, people who behaved as if their citizenship was in heaven (3:20). People like that, people on the same path as Paul and his friends, people who are living backward from the future event of bodily transformation when entering glory, craving some of that future Christlikeness right now, are worth following. We need humble, persevering people with a heavenward focus to show us the way. In the Bible, mentors and examples often handed the baton off to others as they ran their race. Joshua learned from Moses. Elisha was mentored by Elijah. Ruth learned from Naomi. Eli trained Samuel. Esther was guided by Mordecai. Apollos was educated by Priscilla and Aquila. Timothy learned from Paul. And, of course, the disciples learned from Jesus.

All this to say, we need biblical guidance, spiritual counselors, and shining examples to help illuminate the path in front of us. We need to set our minds on others who have made the pursuit of Christlikeness a major emphasis in their lives. One does not become a great musician without imitating other great musicians. One does not excel in their career without learning from others who have gone before them. One does not become a great athlete without imitating and competing against better athletes. And one does not become Christlike without being exposed to others who have pursued that same path.

Conclusion

In Genesis, there is an episode where Jacob, the grandson of Abraham, is on his way back into the land after years on the run. Before he crosses the border, he is met by an angelic figure representing Yahweh. All night, they end up wrestling. Jacob's night-long struggle against the man served as a microcosm of his years-long struggle against God. At one point, Jacob cried, "I will not let you go unless you bless me" (Gen. 32:26). This is the perspective and attitude Paul lived and championed. He would not let go until he attained the blessing of increased Christlikeness. It was his driving focus, his singular desire, his heartfelt goal—and it must become ours as well. We must say, "I will not let go of him until he blesses me. I crave Christlikness. I want to apprehend it. I will focus on it. And I will follow others who pursue it."

[^1]: Harmon, Matthew S. Philippians: A Mentor Commentary. Mentor, 2015, p. 352.

Study Questions

Head (Knowledge, Facts, Understanding)

​ 1. What does Paul mean when he says he has “not already obtained” Christlikeness or “already been made perfect” in Philippians 3:12?

​ 2. How does Paul’s use of the phrase “press on” in Philippians 3:12-14 connect to his past as a persecutor of the church?

​ 3. What is the significance of Paul urging the Philippians to “join in imitating me” and keep their eyes on others who walk in a godly example (Philippians 3:17)?

Heart (Feelings, Impressions, Desires)

​ 4. How does Paul’s longing for Christlikeness challenge or inspire your personal desires for spiritual growth?

​ 5. What emotions are stirred when you think about leaving past failures or successes behind to strain toward the future in Christ?

​ 6. How does reflecting on your citizenship in heaven (Philippians 3:20) shape your perspective on earthly challenges and priorities?

Hands (Actions, Commitments, Decisions, Beliefs)

​ 7. What practical steps can you take this week to “press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus”?

​ 8. Who are the spiritual mentors or examples in your life, and how can you better follow their example?

​ 9. How will you cultivate a “cruciform life,” embracing the pattern of Christ’s humility, sacrifice, and self-giving love?