THE CHRISTIAN GROWTH PROCESS - Flagstaff …

1 Pastor Steven J. ColeFlagstaff CHRISTIAN Fellowship123 S. Beaver , AZ CHRISTIAN GROWTH PROCESSP hilippians 3:12-16 BySteven J. ColeSeptember 3, 1995 Copyright, 19951 September 3, 1995 Philippians Lesson 19 The CHRISTIAN GROWTH ProcessPhilippians 3:12-16 For many years I have jogged, but I ve never won a are at least three reasons I ve never won: (1) I ve only en-tered one race so far in my life . You don t win races if you don tenter them. (2) I don t have the attitude it takes to win. Winners area determined bunch. I don t have that kind of mind-set. (3) I don tput into my running the kind of determined effort requiredto don t just jog for exercise; they re into it all the way. Theyread magazines about running; they set goals for themselves; theytrain and push themselves toward those goals. But I don t work atit as they times in the New Testament the CHRISTIAN life is pic-tured as a race (1 Cor.)

2 9:24-27; 2 Tim. 4:7; Heb. 12:1). In our textthe apostle Paul uses that analogy to describe his own spiritual ex-perience. In so doing, he gives us some basic principles for spiritualgrowth or, to use the athletic analogy, how to get into shape spiri-tually so that we can run to win the race set before week we saw the goal of the CHRISTIAN life (3:10-11): Toknow Jesus Christ and to be like Him. Christianity is a developingpersonal relationship with the living Lord Jesus. In 3:12-16 Paulshows us how to reach this goal through the PROCESS of Christiangrowth:To grow as a CHRISTIAN you ve got to be in the race,have the proper attitude, and give it the proper grow as a CHRISTIAN you ve got to be in the may sound perfectly obvious, but in reality there are a lotof people trying to run in a race they ve never entered. They retrying to grow as Christians by living a good life and doing whatChristians are supposed to do, but they ve never truly becomeChristians in the first place.

3 As we saw in 3:4-6, Paul himselfthought that he was doing everything he needed to do in order tobe pleasing unto God. He was sincere; he was dedicated; he was2zealous and energetic. But there was one major problem: he wasnot genuinely converted to Jesus it s such an important principle and because so manypeople think that being sincere and trying hard is the way to beright with God, Paul repeats it again in verse is speakinghere of his effort in the CHRISTIAN race, but he clarifies again thatbehind his effort is the foundational fact that he was first appre-hended by Jesus Christ: I press on in order that I may lay hold ofthat for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus. The word lay hold is an intensified word that means to ap-prehend or seize something after a pursuit. It is used of a demonseizing a boy and throwing him to the ground (Mark 9:18).

4 If a po-liceman chased a robber and apprehended him, he would have afirm grip on the man, so as not to let him get away. Paul says thatthe reason he runs in this race is because Christ Jesus chased himdown, seized him, and put him in the race. On his part, Paul washeaded for Damascus to persecute Christians. But the Lord seizedPaul and turned him around so that he began serving same idea is reflected in verse 14, the upward call ofGod in Christ Jesus. God s call almost always refers to His effec-tual calling of His elect unto salvation (Rom. 9:11; 1 Cor. 1:24, 26).We re saved because God called us to salvation. To use the sportsanalogy, it s as if a coach calls a player tohimself and says, I wantyou to go into the game. The player is in the game because thecoach has called him into the game. He gives it his best effort toplease the coach who called him to have not been laid hold of by Christ, you re not in therace.

5 The CHRISTIAN life begins not with the weakness of a humandecision to follow God, but with God s powerful, effectual callingyou and laying hold of your life . This means that no CHRISTIAN is hisown person; you belong to Jesus Christ who bought you. The rea-son you re in the race is because Christ grabbed you and said, Iwant you to run forMe. Because He laid hold of you, you give itall you ve got. It s the same balance we saw in 2:12-13, that becauseour salvation comes from God who both wills and works in us,therefore we must work it CHRISTIAN GROWTH is a PROCESS that stems from the defi-nite awareness of being apprehended by Christ Jesus. To grow as aChristian, you ve got to be in the race because Christ laid hold ofyour life . This is foundational to all grow as a CHRISTIAN , you ve got to have the athlete will tell you that attitude is often the differencebetween victory and defeat.

6 A team that lacks in raw talent cansometimes defeat a team with much more ability because they havethe right attitude going into the game. Attitude is crucial in thespiritual life as well. The Greek word translated to think or beminded (in 3:15, have this attitude ) is used 10 times in Philippi-ans out of 26 New Testament uses. Since the theme of Philippiansis joy, there is a definite correlation between attitude and joy. Twostrands of Paul s attitude come through in these verses: He viewsChristian GROWTH as a lifelong PROCESS , so he has a long-haul atti-tude; and, he views CHRISTIAN GROWTH as the kind of thing where younever can say, I ve arrived, so you have to keep moving long-haul attitude: CHRISTIAN GROWTH is a had been converted for at least 25 years when he wrotePhilippians. There is no question that he is one of the outstandingbelievers of all over and over he reveals his mind-set,that he was still in the PROCESS : Not that I have already obtainedit (3:12), meaning, I have not yet come to know Christ and thepower of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings andconformity to His death in a complete and total way.

7 I do notregard myself as having laid hold if it yet (3:13). Twice he says, Ipress on (3:12, 14); the word literally means to pursue, and by wayof extension, to persecute (Paul uses it of himself in this way in3:6). He s still reaching forward (3:13) as a runner stretches to-ward the finish line. He s been at it for 25 years, but he doesn tview himself as having arrived!The CHRISTIAN life isn t a100 yard dash; it s a lifelong mara-thon. You need the mentality of a long-distance runner if you regoing to make it. You may have been a CHRISTIAN for 40 or 50 years,but you can t start thinking, I don t need to grow any more and4stop running. Long distance runners have to complete the entirecourse; they can t decide after many miles that they ve run attitude of viewing CHRISTIAN GROWTH as a lifelong processis crucial for at least two reasons.

8 First, we all have the human ten-dency towant quick fixes and easy answers to difficult problems. I believethat many get into the charismatic movement because it appeals tothis desire for easy answers: Do you have major problems? Whatyou need is the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Let us pray over you intongues, you ll have an emotional experience and speak in tonguesyourself, and you ll be delivered once and for all from all thesetough problems you re struggling with. They emphasize instant,miraculous deliverance from any problem. I wish itwas that easy!Another form of this teaching is that you need to just let goand let God. If you struggle against sin or wrestle with stubbornemotional problems, you re told that it s because you re in theflesh. The implication is that life in the Spirit is effortless and easyonce you ve discovered the secret of the exchanged life .

9 But both of these views go against the clear teaching ofScripture, that the spiritual life is a continual battle against theworld, the flesh, and the devil. We are instructed to discipline our-selves for the purpose of godliness (1 Tim. 4:7), which also is anathletic metaphor. There is no quick, easy, instantaneous way to getin top physical conditioning. You have to work at it every day, andthe day you stop is the day you start going downhill. Olympicchampions who retire do not stay in shape the rest of their livesbecause of their former training. They have to keep working out alltheir lives. It is the same second reason it s important to maintain this attitude, thatChristian GROWTH is a lifelong PROCESS , is that itenables us to be graciousand patient with one another. If you view CHRISTIAN GROWTH as an instantexperience where you re delivered once and for all from all prob-lems, then if you ve got problems, obviously it s because you ha-ven t had this experience.

10 So, get with it! Stop having your prob-lems! This view makes us impatient and intolerant toward peoplewho are if we remember that GROWTH islifelong and that even Pauladmits that he hasn t arrived after 25 years, we can bear with oneanother and be gracious to those who are still struggling withproblems even after many years of being Christians. The analogy ofhow we grow ashumans is helpful and applicable to us as childrenof God. It takes years for children to grow to maturity. You don texpect more of them thanthey re capable of at their stage in expect babies to dirty their diapers and to burp in your faceand to cry in the middle of the night. If your teenager is still dirty-ing his diapers and burping in your face and waking you up with hiscrying in the night, you ve got a problem! If a brother or sister isgrowing, we need to be patient and gracious, realizing that it is alifelong PROCESS .