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YOUR SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSON, AT ANY TIME…..AND ANY DAY.

MAY MANY LIVES BE TOUCHED THROUGH THE READING, HEARING AND SHARING OF THIS LESSON TODAY!!

SEE LAST SUNDAY’S  LESSON BELOW

A FOCUS FOR LIFE- PHIL 3:7-16 AUG 15,2010

UNIFYING TOPIC:

LIVING INTO THE FUTURE

LESSON TEXT:-

1. FOCUS ON KNOWING CHRIST – PHIL 3:7-11
2. FOCUS ON THE GOAL – PHIL 3:12-14
3. FOCUS ON CHRISTIAN LIVING – PHIL 3:15-16

THE MAIN THOUGHT:

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. Phil 3:13-14

UNIFYING PRINCIPLE:

Many people are preoccupied with past failures or achievements. How can our lives achieve fresh focus? The Christian faith draws us into the future, preoccupied with God’s mission in Christ.

LESSON AIM:

To teach students ho wto continue to progress in the knowledge of God.

LIFE AIM:

To teach believers the benefit of having a single-minded focus on life for the cause of Christ.

INTRODUCTION:

As we continue to study under this month’s caption The marks of Christian commitment, we’ll continue to study Paul’s letter to the Church at Philippi.

If we wanted to do a quick overview of the Book of Philippians we could say that the theme of Chapter 1 is that Christ is our LIFE, Chapter 2 shows us that Christ is our EXAMPLE, and in last week’s lesson we saw that demonstrated in the lesson “Serving Others”. In Chapter 3 which we will study today we’ll learn that Christ is our GOAL.

As Christians, God expects us to grow spiritually through the knowledge of His word and in our personal commitment to Him, and the other way that He wants us to grow is experientially. Christianity is not just a religion, it is a relationship and at the heart of that relationship is our union with Christ. God has called us into a personal relationship with Him through His Son Jesus Christ, this means that as we mature as Christians we are to be in a daily and ongoing experience with Him. Christianity is all about Jesus, and as Christians we LIVE CHRIST, by dying to self and living a sanctified life before Him, and by identifying with Him in His suffering, death, burial, and resurrection.

Some Christians believe that Jesus is a means to an end, be it a new job, a new house, a new car, a better place in society, or that Jesus is the means to solving all of our problems and giving us a trouble free life. But today we’ll learn something from Paul’s experience.

When Paul looked back over his life and considered his achievements before he met Christ, Paul concluded that it was all worthless in comparison to the surpassing greatness of knowing Jesus. You could say that Paul had tried the rest, but found his true purpose by trusting in the BEST.

As Christians our goal is to be Christlike, and our prize will be an eternity with Him. With this in mind, “we are living into the future” and “the focus for our life” is that we live it with eternity in view.

1. FOCUS ON KNOWING CHRIST (PHIL 3:7-11)

In last week’s lesson we looked at how Jesus humbled himself, literally emptying himself of all His Heavenly priveleges in order to come to earth and to seek and save that which was lost. In the first few verses of this Chapter, Paul speaks of the effects of the “concision” and he warns the Philippian Church about their evil influence. The “concision” were Jews, who were causing confusion in the Church at Philippi by their false teaching, they taught that faith in Christ was not sufficient in itself but that they needed to be perfected in their faith by observing the Law. In other words it was faith in human effort, and not in the finished work of Christ.

As Paul goes further into his instructions to them, he draws from his own experience as a religious Jew, prior to his conversion on the road to Damascus.

2.7….”But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ”

Paul had an excellent resume.

Prior to his conversion. Paul prided himself upon his scholastic achievements, his pedigree and the fact that he could trace his roots back to Abraham. He was a Hebrew of Hebrews, He knew the Law and kept it perfectly, and he was zealous he prided himself on the fact that he persecuted Christians- and these were the things that he he counted to his credit.

BUT after Paul’s encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus, Paul experienced a radical change in his focus. Paul had to empty himself of works based religion, and refocus his energies towards knowing Christ. Now the things that he once counted as Gain, and Credit- he now placed as Loss, or of no value, useless. Paul now moved from religion…to relationship and things change when we have a life changing encounter with the Risen Christ. You can’t have a true encounter with Jesus and not be changed.

Paul found that the only way to God was through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, and what was true for Paul is still true for us today, the only way to know God is to beleive upon and accept the finished work of Christ. Our works do not save us, we can only be saved through faith in Jesus.

1. 1. Paul’s encounter with Christ, caused him to want to know him in a deeper and more intimate way. “I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Jesus Christ my lord”

Paul had a radical conversion experience, and when he considered all the past accomplishments in his life, he considered them “loss”. These things had been obstacles to his knowing Christ in a personal way, they were useless “but dung” or refuse. Paul wanted nothing from his past life in Judaism. What he considered valuable beyond measure now was “the excellency of the knowledge of Jesus Christ”. Paul wanted to know Jesus his lord, in a personal and experiential way…..Knowing Christ and living for Him was now the most important goal in Paul’s life- this is how we “win Christ”.

1. 1. Those who “win Christ” will be found in him. They will be “in Christ” and Christ will be “in them”. “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 through by faith.” Having come into the full knowledge of Jesus Christ Paul no longer clung to any self righteousness attained as a result of keeping the Law, because it was futile. Paul realized that our self righteousness, and good works are nothing but “filthy rags” in the eyes of God. Is 64.6. We are made righteous through the shed blood and by faith in the finished work of Jesus on the cross at Calvary. Rom 3:24-26). We are saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone.

1. 1. Paul wanted to know Christ as fully as possible- the word “know” here means to know through experience. Paul wanted to know the one who had loved him and saved him. Paul expresses the extent to which he wanted to know Christ “and the power of his resurrection”. The power of Jesus ressurection now operates in our lives because we have been “risen with Christ” Col 3.1, and that resurrection power is operative in our lives, causing us to walk in the Spirit and have victory over the flesh and the works of the Devil in our lives. He also wanted to experience “the fellowship of his sufferings”,

      Paul could never fully appreciate what Christ suffered on the Cross at Calvary, but he could participate in terms of suffering for the sake of righteousness, and he did in suffer much in his own life. Those who reign with Christ must also suffer with Him,(2 Tim 2:12) (rom 8:17) it is not a penalty but a great privelege.- and God wants us all to These things would make Paul “conformable unto his death”- not only do we die to self, but we die also to sin. Becoming like Jesus can be a painful experience.

1. 1. “if by any means” I might “attain unto the resurrection of the dead”.This was Paul’s desire– he was not doubting the reality of the resurrection, merely implying that this was his focus and life long goal.

• PAUL SHIFTED HIS FOCUS FROM WORKS TO FAITH. FROM RELIGION TO A RELATIONSHIP WITH CHRIST. REALIZING THAT THERE WAS NOTHING GREATER IN A PERSON’S LIFE THAN THE OPPORTUNITY TO KNOW CHRIST IN A PERSONAL WAY.

1. FOCUS ON THE GOAL (PHIL 3:12-14)

With this goal in mind, Paul uses the image of a runner running in a race. The Christian race is not a sprint….it is a marathon, which requires discipline, endurance, and a single minded focus. The Christian race is also not a competion to see who can run the fastest or outshine the other, you may sprint part of the way and walk the rest but the most important thing is that you participate, and finish well.

2.12…“not as though I had already attained neither were already perfect”Paul begins with a reality check. Paul had been converted almost 30 years prior to writing, yet he realized that he had not as yet done all that he set out to do, or achieved perfection. He was still a work in progress, and that’s a word to us today. We are all works in progress. “but I follow after”- but like the runner in the marathon, he was in hot pursuit of his goal. He was striving steadily towards the finish line being “that for which I also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus” Paul wanted to finish his course, by fulfilling the purposes that Christ had destined for him. We are saved to serve, and we all have a calling to fulfill.

1. 1. Running a race requires discipline, and effort, and once you get started you can’t keep looking back because you will lose focus. You may not be able to erase the past from your memory, but you must refuse to allow the past to obstruct your progress toward your goal. WE must “forget” those things that are BEHIND, and “reach forth” unto those that are ahead.

It is dangerous, and futile to go through life’s highway with your eyes fixed on the rear view mirror.

We must forget the old, God has already cast our sinst into the sea of forgetfulness, and embrace the new life in Christ.

1. 1. Instead of looking back, we must “press toward”- the mark for the prize of the High calling of God in Christ Jesus.- and God has extended that High calling to each and every one of us.

      Paul’s goal was to win the prize for which God had called him in Christ Jesus. So Paul ran vigorously, he did not lose sight of the prize he kept his focus on Christ and kept moving toward the finish line. The Goal to which Paul ran was the prize.- this was what motivated him. In a sense “the goal” is our human effort towards being Christlike, and “the prize” can be viewed as God’s eternal reward.

1. FOCUS ON CHRISTIAN LIVING (PHIL 3:15-16)

Paul now urges us to live lives pleasing to God, this is a sign of our maturity.

1. Paul wanted the Philippians to share this pursuit with him. Believers need to move forward to the goal of spiritual maturity. By God’s grace we mature in the faith- but we are to keep striving toward it and can never get to the place where we think that we’ve arrrived.
2. WE are responsible to put into practice what we have learned. We must be doers of the word and not hearers only.

SUNDAY SCHOOL TODAY IS AN OUTREACH MINISTRY OF SERVANT TEACHER REV. A. MCCAULEY.

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