Running the Spiritual Race

Now if you'll open your Bible, please, to Philippians chapter 3. April 15th of this year was the 96th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic on its maiden voyage across the Atlantic. It's a Titanic exhibit that's making its way around the country now, and in April at that anniversary it was in the Houston, Texas area, and there was a man who shared with the newspaper in Houston during that time about the story of his uncle who was on the Titanic. This elderly gentleman, Pat Dwyer, recalling the story of his uncle, Thomas McCormick. Mr. McCormick was an Irishman who was coming to the United States, and he was a third-class passenger so he was down in the belly of the ship, and he recounted the story of how he was, when they struck the iceberg, he was actually, had to fight his way to the deck because sailors were trying to keep third-class passengers down below so that first-class passengers could get on the lifeboats. But he eventually fought his way to the deck and made it up to the top of the ship and tried to get on a lifeboat but was unsuccessful, so he jumped into the frigid 35 degree water with just a life belt on. Most people who did that died within minutes, but for an hour Thomas McCormick struggled to get on a lifeboat. The first lifeboat he tried to pull himself up to had his hand on the side, he was just wanting to hang on and a sailor beat his hand with an ore to get him away. Second lifeboat he went to. The sailor in charge of that lifeboat hit him over the head with an ore so hard that it almost knocked him out. So he drifted toward a third lifeboat and as he reached up to try to crawl aboard that lifeboat, a sailor pulled up the ore ready to hit him and two sisters on that lifeboat pleaded with the sailor, please don't, don't do that. The lifeboat was only half full and so he relented and they pulled the guy aboard and those two sisters spread their hoop skirts over him and actually sat on top of him to warm him up. He spent four days in the hospital when he got back to land, recovering from his injuries, right hand was permanently disfigured. When I read that story, I thought about the parallel with many Christians. There are many Christians who have made it to the lifeboat, they're saved, they're on their way to heaven and they feel like that's all, that's it. I've arrived, I've made it. I don't care about anybody else or I don't care about reaching out to anybody else or anything else that I would need, I've made it, I'm on the boat, I've arrived. If there were anyone that had the right to feel that way, it would be the Apostle Paul. I mean we would think if there's anyone that could feel really, that I'm satisfied with where I am, I've arrived, I've made it to a level in the Christian life where I'm satisfied with that, if there's anyone that could feel that way, it would have been the Apostle Paul. As we saw last week, he gave his own personal testimony of how he had counted everything that was in his trophy case, of his own good works and his self-righteousness, he had counted at all loss to gain Christ, to know him and he had this consuming desire to continue to grow in his knowledge of Christ, knowing better and to know the fellowship of his sufferings even and the power of his death and resurrection power in his life. So we would think, wow Paul, with that kind of dynamic in your life, you have arrived, you've made it and so Paul goes on very quickly to let us know I have not arrived. I have not made it to where I should be in my spiritual life, in verses 12 through 16. Passage will look out today, very clearly says, I have not arrived, I have not made it to where I need to be in my Christian life. And as he describes further, his own feelings and testimony about where he is and is growing as a Christian, he really lays out for us a model of the Christian life that we need to come to grips with. And that is that the Christian life is not a sprint, it is not a get rich quick scheme, it is not an overnight success plan. We're enamored with those kinds of things. That's why people play the lottery. They want to get rich quick. And we feel that way about lots of things in our lives. We want to get rich quick, we want career advancement to be on the fast track so we can get there as quick as possible. We want weight loss programs to result in a 30 pound drop in the first week. It was just very unrealistic about those kinds of things in life. We would like to learn a musical instrument in a month. We would like to be able to play the piano or play the guitar within a month. And when we have a month of practices and we're not playing Mozart and Chopin and all that and a little bit of Jimi Hendrix in there maybe if we're not doing that, then we're thinking, we're thinking, man, what's wrong with it? I can't stand them. I'm going to give up. You see, we have this mentality that it's got to happen fast. And what Paul is laying out for us is that the Christian life is a long and untiring determination in the same direction. It is a long patient discipline of staying at the tough tasks of spiritual disciplines so that we might grow a little bit more today and a little bit more this week and a little bit more this year to be more like Jesus Christ. That's what the Christian life was all about and that's how we need to view it. Now that's what Paul lays out for us and these verses we're going to look at today. In doing so, he uses a metaphor, a word picture of an athlete who is running a race and just like the athlete you see on your screen, every energy, every focus is on the finish line, every muscle, every nerve, every attention of his is on that finish line and he is reaching toward that goal. Everything is focused in his life on that. It's an apt illustration. It's a very good word picture of the truths that Paul is communicating about what it means to grow as a Christian, to be more Christ like, to run the spiritual race. What does it take to run the spiritual race? There are four key ingredients that Paul lays out for us in these verses. The first one is it takes dissatisfaction. That's where it has to start. That's where Paul starts. Look at verse 12. He says, not that I have already attained all this or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. Now let's stop right there in the middle of that verse. In two different expressions, Paul says, I have not reached it yet. I have not attained. I have not arrived. He says, not that I have already obtained all this or have already been made perfect. In verse 13, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of what Jesus took hold of me for. So he makes it very clear. Paul's attitude is one of dissatisfaction. I have not arrived. I have not made it to where I should be in my Christian life. We would think after what we've just read about his consuming desire and no Christ better. And to have his resurrection power lived out daily in his life, giving him strength, giving him victory over sin, all of that, we would think, man, this guy really understands. This guy has really made it. This guy has arrived. But Paul says, no, I haven't. I haven't arrived yet. I think I know where I'm headed, but I haven't arrived yet. Haven't gotten there yet. With all of his ministry credentials, with all of his success, Paul would say, I have not arrived. That's his attitude. Now, if that is Paul's attitude, that must be our attitude. That we have not arrived. We can never say this side of heaven that I have made it. I'm where I should be. I have attained. I'm perfect. We cannot say that. You may have made some progress, but you've still got a long way to go. Not going to get any more specific than that. You know where you need the work. I know where I need the work. We all need some work. We all need some things for God to work on in our lives. So we haven't arrived. You may have experienced some great victories in your life, but there are still some weaknesses that you need to overcome. You may have gained a lot of knowledge. You may have made great progress in holiness, but you don't know everything about this book yet. Nobody does this side of eternity. So it's a lifelong process of learning and growing to be more like Christ and to understand Him better. You may have served the Lord in a lot of different ways, but there's still room for improvement. None of us can ever say I have arrived. None of us can ever become contented or satisfied or smug because that leads to self-righteousness. That leads to the very idea that I've attained this. I've gotten this far. Look at me. None of us can or should do that. Paul's attitude is one of dissatisfaction with where he was. Not dissatisfaction with Christ or with God's purpose for his life or with God's blessings or what all God has done. Nothing, not dissatisfied with that, but dissatisfied with himself and where he was in his journey. Knowing there is more ground to cover. There are more hills to conquer. So dissatisfaction is very important. Starbucks is without a doubt the best coffee chain, the most successful coffee chain in the world. In fact, they are probably from what I have read the third largest food chain in the world behind McDonald's and I think KFC. Number three, in the world in franchises, they have really become successful. Yet you may recall back on February 26th Starbucks closed all of its 7,100 US stores for three hours, starting at 5.30 in the evening. And they said we are going to retrain our workers for three hours. All 135,000 employees that work for Starbucks in the United States will be retrained. And this is why they did it. This is what they said in their publication about it. We are doing this training to provide a renewed focus on espresso standards that will help ensure the exceptional quality of every beverage. Now if Starbucks, the most successful chain of its kind in the world would say we haven't arrived yet, we can do better and we are going to train all of our people to do it better if they feel that way. What an example that is, the way every Christian should feel. You may be doing pretty well, but you are not doing as well as you should be and neither am I. So we have got room to grow, we have got ground to cover yet. And yet it appears that most Christians are pretty satisfied with where they are. If a George Barna survey from 2006 is correct and he is a professional at this, he does a pretty good job of it, think he has got a feel for the pulse of what is going on in America as a whole and even in the church world in America, a survey he did back in 2006 revealed that 71% of people in America, gauge by the respondents they had, relish the thought of getting more sleep, 71% of people, relish the thought really would love to get more sleep. 40% of people relish the thought of going to church and would love to go to church. Now I understand some people have been able to combine those two and they figure, we have multi task here, let's go to church and we will get a little sleep on the side, catch up. Some of you have done that, but the survey really demonstrated a tremendous gulf between what we really want in life and what we should want in life. I mean in that same survey, 55% of people said I would really love to spend more time with friends as opposed to 40% said I really love to go to church. 54% said I would really love to listen to more music rather than 40% going to church. Now I think that says something, I think it says something about America as a whole, I hope it doesn't say anything about this church or other Bible believing churches like this, but I wonder if maybe that kind of a survey reveals a gap between what we are really focused on and what we're satisfied with in our lives. And what we're really focused on I think in many times is lesser things and what we really should be dissatisfied with our walk with Christ and our spiritual growth, we're pretty satisfied with where we are. So dissatisfaction needs to be the first essential key in running the spiritual race dissatisfied with where we are. The second key needs to be diligence and Paul talks about that, diligence because he is dissatisfied with where he is, notice the diligence that he gives to the effort to continue to grow in verse 12. Not that I've already obtained all this or have already been made perfect, but, and here's the diligence part, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Now there are two things about this diligence that you can see in this verse. Paul first of all talks about our pursuit. It's in the word press, you see there in verse 12 where he says, I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. I press on. That's a word that was used in first century when Paul wrote the book to the Philippians. It was a word which was used of pursuing something or someone. And typically in Paul's day it was used in two ways. It was used in military contexts of an army that had already won the battle, but they were pursuing the enemy to finish them off. That's pretty intense stuff. Or secondly it was used in the athletic world. And since Paul really is using an athletic metaphor it becomes clear as we go along talking about the goal and straining for the finish line, that kind of thing. Since Paul's using that kind of a metaphor, probably athletics is in his mind here. But the idea is of that athlete, like the one we saw in the title slide, the athlete who is straining toward the finish line who is pursuing, putting his entire effort into this. This is not a half-hearted thing. He's serious about it. He's fervent, earnest, diligent about it. And that's the way Paul says we ought to be living the Christian life. If we are dissatisfied with where we are then we are to be putting diligent pursuit into where we ought to be. Paul uses this kind of language a lot in the New Testament to describe his approach and what our approach ought to be to living the Christian life, running a spiritual race. We're going to look at some verses just to give a feel for how often Paul talks about this. Now, I don't know who wrote the book of Hebrews. Some people believe Paul did. Others believe he didn't. I'm one of those that says the Bible doesn't tell us. We really can't be for sure. But there are some parts of Hebrews that do sound like the Apostle Paul. This is one of them with this metaphor in Hebrews 12, verse 1. Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, he's just talked about a bunch of them in chapter 11, all those Old Testament heroes of the faith, since we're surrounded by these great cloud of witnesses. They've been through the race. They're standing in the stands now. They're cheering you on. Since we're surrounded by that, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles and let us run with perseverance. The race marked out for us. What graphic imagery. He says, you're a runner in a race. That's how the Christian life is to be lived. So do runners run in long trench coats and military boots? No. Those would hinder them. So they throw away all that stuff. They put off all that stuff and they wear as little as they can get by with as you have seen in athletic contests like that. Because they don't want anything to hinder them from running. So, send away all those entanglements, all those hindrances, and then put off the sin, he says, that so easily entangles us. That gets us all tripped up and we can't run well. Because we're always falling into that sin. Let's work on that. Get over that sin. Make progress in that area so that we can run with perseverance. That means to stick it out to the end. Have your eye on the goal. Keep running. Don't give up. Keep putting off those things that are hindering you and sins that are entangling your feet and run, run with perseverance. All kinds of that kind of imagery in the scriptures. Paul, we know, wrote the book to Corinthians. And so in 1 Corinthians 9, he uses this kind of imagery. He says, do you not know that in a race, all the runners run, but only one gets the prize. Run in such a way as to get the prize. Okay? Therefore, I do not run. He says, like a man running aimlessly. That's not always the guy who's trained the hardest. He gets the prize, but you know, all else being equal to the person, the people who train the hardest or the people who excel in athletics. And what Paul is saying, you run like you are in dead earnest about winning that race. Give diligence to that. He also uses the warfare metaphor quite often in his epistles. First, Timothy 612, he said, to Timothy, fight the good fight of the faith. What do you mean by that? It's a hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession than presence of many witnesses. He said, in 2 Timothy 4.7 about his own life, and reviewing, he said, I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race. I have kept the faith. Mixes both metaphors there, the military, the athletic. And then he said, in 2 Corinthians 10, in verse 4, the weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. This is serious business. We have to give diligence if these military metaphors Paul would use to describe how we live the Christian life. This is serious stuff. In other places he uses the athletic metaphors, again, different ones than running. For instance, in Ephesians 6, verse 12, he talks about wrestling. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. We are in a wrestling match with spiritual powers. And then Paul even uses boxing as a metaphor in 1 Corinthians 9, verse 26, he says, I do not fight like a man beating the air. I am not just kind of over here, shadow boxing, you know, warming up. I got a target man. I am going to punch the lights out of that thing. I am focused on that. I am diligent about what I am doing. All of these word pictures describe for us what our pursuit ought to be of diligently pursuing the Christian life. So he talks about our pursuit, but he also talks about our goal. What is it that we should be diligently pursuing? What is the goal that we are diligently pursuing? Notice how he says it there in verse 12, he says, but I press on, here it is, to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. The word took hold of is an interesting word. It is a word which means to seize or to grasp. The King James, I think, used the word apprehend in the sense of arrest someone. And that is the idea here. You are seized. You are snatched by the Lord. When you got saved, he snatched you out of a road you were headed on, the broad road headed toward eternity without Christ. You were headed to hell. And he snatched you. He seized you off of that. But salvation is not just what you are saved from. It is what you are saved for. And so he seized you and snatched you away from something, but he put you on another road. Or to use the metaphor Paul uses, he puts you on a track running a race. Now what did he take hold of you for? What was the goal that he is putting you on that track and heading you toward? What does he want you to become? Well Paul makes it pretty clear for himself in Galatians 1. When he is again rehearsing his own testimony. And he says, but when God who set me apart from birth and called me by his grace was pleased to reveal his son in me so that I might preach him among the Gentiles. I did not consult any man. Then he goes on to tell more about what happened to him when he got saved. But it is interesting where he describes his salvation. God was pleased to reveal his son in me. That is a statement about salvation's ultimate goal. We are saved from hell. We are saved in order to become like Christ. God is at work from the moment of salvation of revealing his son in us and through us to a watching world. And Paul also says, that is the very goal that God has set out for you. Romans chapter 8. We are familiar with this verse. And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. As I have often said, you cannot find out what the purpose is until you move on to the next verse. Verse 29. For those God for new, the word means he set his love on and eternity past, chose us. Those God for new, he also predestined, that simply means he marked out ahead of time. What did he mark you out for ahead of time? What did he design for you before you were even saved? Here it is. He predestined you, marked you out to be conformed to the likeness of his son, that he might be Christ, might be the first born among many brothers. So here's the goal. Here's what God put you on the track for. Here's what he put you on the race and is heading you toward to be like Christ. That's the goal. That's the finish line, if you will, to be like Christ. So Paul says, I'm not satisfied with where I am in becoming like Christ yet, but he said, I am pursuing that goal of becoming like the Lord Jesus. And that is the goal for all of us. And it's a very important goal. It's the only goal really in life. The ultimate goal is to become like Jesus Christ. For those of us who know Christ, that's what we're headed for. What a tragedy if we've gotten off track and we're not even headed that direction, we're not even diligently pursuing that goal anymore. And lots of people do get off track. Lots of people wander off in the stands or go off in the road somewhere and they're off the track. A lot of folks get sidetracked by a grudge. Il will, malice. So you know what track they're on now? They're living to get revenge against that person that did them harm. Some people have gotten sidetracked off the track. Christ put you on the goal. He faced you toward when you got saved. Some people have gotten sidetracked by pride and selfishness and ambition. And so now what they're running for is to live to make a name. That's what they want out of life. Some people, even people who know the Lord and Christ apprehended them and seized them and put them on this race and they've gotten off track somehow by the desire for money. And so their goal, their ambition, their life, what they're running toward is to get rich. There are any number of ways we can get off track. What Paul is saying is I'm not satisfied with where I am because I know where I'm supposed to be and what I'm supposed to be is like Jesus Christ. And so I'm going to diligently stay on that track and run that race and not get sidetracked by any other allurements. I'm going to stay on that track. Many of you will remember Apollo 13, the ill-fated voyage to the moon where Commander Jim Lovell and his crew of two other astronauts were on their way to the moon when all of a sudden an oxygen canister exploded, damaging the spacecraft and making it impossible for them to land on the moon. There was serious question as to whether or not they would even be able to get back to Earth. And some of you will remember that time where our nation was called to pray and the newscasts were filled with news stories about what might happen to those astronauts. You may recall, and it was recaptured in the 1995 blockbuster film Apollo 13. I would have showed you the clip today, but it was a pretty intense clip and it was a lot of language we don't like to use in church. It shouldn't use anywhere, for that matter. So it couldn't use the clip. But the story goes, they had to slingshot them around the back of the moon and catapult them back toward the Earth and they weren't even sure they would have enough power left on the spacecraft to get back to Earth. There was one point at which they needed to do a 39 second burn of the engines to do a course correction. But the computers had to be turned off in the spacecraft to conserve power or there would not have been enough power to get back to Earth. So what they had to do was fly it manually. Like you would at any old airplane, they had to fly it manually with a stick. For this 39 second burn, they had to adjust the course, but they couldn't depend on their computers to tell them where they were. And so Houston and the astronauts were grappling over how do we keep it on course and not just veer way off into space somewhere when these engines burn. And Jim Lovell came up with the answer. He said, what we need to do is find a fixed object in space that we can focus on and keep that right in the window so that we know we're still headed the right direction. And he looked out the window and saw Earth, planet Earth through his window. And so he said, I think I've got it, Houston. And I think we can focus on the planet. And as long as we keep that in the window, we know that we're thrusting in the right direction and we're not going off somewhere else and losing our proper angle to get back into the atmosphere. And for 39 gripping seconds where the engines thrust and changed their course a little bit, they kept planet Earth in focus. It's amazing that in order to get where they needed to be, they kept their focus on planet Earth. We need to do exactly the opposite. They were up in the heavens focusing on planet Earth to get where they need to be. Christ has put us on a course to diligently pursue that course and no other. And in order to diligently pursue that course and not veer off in some other way, we need from Earth to keep our focus on heaven and on Jesus Christ. And as long as we keep that in the window of our focus and we diligently pursue that course, that goal, that which Christ laid a hold, took a hold of us for, then we will make progress. We will run the spiritual race like we're supposed to, but it requires that kind of diligence. Thirdly, it requires not only decisions, but the way we're doing it. We're doing it as a satisfaction with where we are and a diligence to stay on the course that he took hold of us for. It also requires devotion to do that. And by devotion, I'm talking about a single purpose, a concentrating of all of our attention on one thing. One thing. And notice the expression of that devotion that Paul says in verse 13, brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it, but one thing I do. One thing I do. Now that's the expression of devotion. One thing I do. This kind of devotion is a one thing, single purpose, concentration of all the focus on this. That's how Paul expresses this focus, this devotion. One thing I do, my heart is fixed, and that is it's fixed on being Christ-like. Nothing else is in the window. Nothing else is my focus. Everything points toward that. You say, well, man, does that mean I gotta, you know, read my Bible all day long and pray all the time? Be really spiritual? Well, you do some of that obviously, but not all the time. Making that focus just simply means that whatever we are doing in our God-called spears of life, whether we are working our job, whether we are relating to our families at home, whether we are on vacation, whatever we are doing, our focus is always to be, I wanna be more like Christ. And so let's say, you know, even if you're on vacation, this is summertime, or we're getting close, summertime and you'll be probably taken to vacation, some of you somewhere. You may be sitting at home or you may be sitting on a creek bank doing some fishing. And if you're sitting on a creek bank doing some fishing, did you know that you can still have the focus of being more like Christ? What's the purpose of that time away? To refresh and re-sharpen you so that you will come back energized and renewed and refresh to be more effective in your life for Jesus Christ. You see, that's the ultimate goal of everything that you do. That's the kind of focus and devotion that Paul says we ought to have. Everything flows toward this one thing. This one thing I do, Paul says. That's the expression of this focus. But then notice the attitudes of this focus. If the expression of the focus is one thing I do, Paul says there are three attitudes you gotta have to have that kind of devotion, to have that kind of focus. And he lists some force very clearly here, mentions the words very clearly. One thing I do, and then he gives three words that show what it is that I'm doing. The first word is forgetting. You see it there, verse 13. One thing I do, forgetting what is behind. So first attitude we need to have in this kind of single-minded devotion is forgetting. Now the word here does not mean to erase from your memory. It's not necessarily the thing to do, nor is it always possible to erase something from your memory so that you never, ever think about it again or remember it again. The idea of this word is to forget it in the sense that you are no longer focused on it. It no longer controls you. You have broken its power over you. It no longer dictates where you're going in life and how you live life. You're forgetting those things which are behind. Now it may be things that are failures. The things that are behind you may be failures. Some people run the race of the Christian life, always looking over their shoulder. Because somewhere back there they failed. They really messed up. And they just can't get away from it. It still controls them. And what Paul is saying is you need to have your focus on what's ahead, not what's on behind. Don't let those past failures control your life. Ditate how you're going to live, feeling like God could never use you or feeling like I can never amount to anything for God. That's looking over your shoulder. You can't run a race like that. I mean some people do that so bad they're running backwards. Go home and try that. Try running backwards and see how fast it takes you to fall down. You can't run a race backwards. Maybe a few weird people can do that but most people can't do that. And you can't run a race appropriately looking over your shoulder either. You're going to bump into the wall somewhere. So you've got to forget those things which are behind. And some of those things may not only be failure, some of them may be successes. Some of them may be things that wow, you know. You really did well here. You attained a certain level of expertise or knowledge or whatever. And you attained something. You've made the grade and it's very easy to kind of rest on that and just kind of look back and say wow, aren't I good? And what Paul is saying is if you do that you're going to bounce off some walls too. You're going to lose your focus in the race. So the attitude we have to have in order to have that single-minded devotion on running the race properly is forgetting, forgetting those things which are behind. Second word, he mentions it in verse 13, forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead. So if we're not going to let the past control us anymore, hold us back from going where we need to go, then we've got to do the opposite. And that is straining for what is ahead. And again, the picture of the runner straining toward the finish line. Every nerve and muscle and focus of attention is on what's ahead. Straining toward that. It's again that single-minded devotion, the discipline to direct all of our energies toward the goal, the finish line. Then the third word is the word press. So forgetting, straining, pressing, verse 14, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. Paul says, I'm not looking over my shoulder at either successes I've had in the past or failures I've had in the past. I'm not going to let those hold me back. I'm straining toward what is ahead. And what is ahead? I'm pressing toward it's a goal. It's a finish line. And what is the goal? Notice how he says it. He says, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. I'm convinced that with the athletic metaphor Paul's using here, he has in mind the games of his day and how those who finished the race were rewarded for their efforts. You may have seen this in some movies of chariot races or athletic races where at the end of the race there would be the judge, maybe the mayor, maybe even the emperor in some of the bigger games who would be sitting in a box right at the finish line up above in the spectator section. And as the competitors would finish their race, those who won would be called up to receive their rewards. They would actually mount kind of a, it was called a diadem. It was kind of a, a, a, a ward stand, much like in the Olympics where you get up for the playing of the national anthem, the gold medal winner stands higher than the others. And a contestant in that day would be rewarded a wreath around his head and maybe a financial reward as well. Paul says there's coming a day when I'm going to be called up to heaven. The race is going to be done and I'm going to be called up to meet the judge who's going to give out the rewards. Now that, that, that diadem, that, that seat bench type of thing where the judge sat was called in the Greek terminology, a Bema. And Paul uses that very word in 2 Corinthians 5, 10 and also 1 Corinthians 3 of the judgment seat of Christ. The word he uses is the word for that place where awards were given out. The Bema, the judgment seat of Christ, that's when we will stand before the Lord to be rewarded for whatever we've done to run the race right. And we stayed on track and we kept our focus and devotion where it needed to be. And the judge at the end is going to reward us for running the race well. So you don't want to get sidetracked because you lose reward when that happens. So that's what Paul's talking about. The goal that we're, you know, forgetting things for and straining for and pressing toward the goal is when we are called heavenward and we stand before the judge at the Bema seat, at the judgment seat and awards are given for running the race well. That's the goal. And our devotion needs to be on running the race so that we win the prize at the end. We're rewarded at the end. We hear well done, good and faithful servant. It was almost 20 years ago, actually little more than 20 years ago, that a man by the name of Imar Cochland was running, he was the world championship runner, world record holder in the 1500 meter race. And he was running in the indoor track championships in Indianapolis. And as he was in the initial part of the race, he was tripped by another runner as they all converged toward the side. And he was tripped and fell. But amazingly Cochland got up and was able to rejoin the race and pushed himself so hard that with 20 yards to go, he had moved into third place. This was a qualifying heat, which the top three runners got to go to the next round. And so he was in the top three, amazingly, amazing comeback. And he was going to be in the top three, 20 yards to go. He was going to make the finals and he was favored to win. Made the mistake, as experienced as a runner as he was, he made the mistake of looking over his shoulder. He was about to give out because he had to expend such energy to catch up. He looked over his shoulder to the outside and saw no one. So he let up just a little bit. So unknown to him, a runner was coming up on the other side, sprinting toward the finish line. Past him up one yard from the finish line. And Cochland didn't even get into the finals, the world record holder. He lost the race because he looked over his shoulder. Don't get distracted in running the spiritual race. Keep with devotion your eyes on the goal, on the prize. You're getting what's behind, straining, pressing toward the goal, which is when you are called heavenward to stand before the judgment seat of Christ and receive a reward for the way you ran the race, devoted to that. But then Paul says there must also be determination, dissatisfaction, diligence, devotion, but determination. A determination to keep on the track and keep making progress regardless of what other people do. Paul says something extremely fascinating here as he closes out this section on running the spiritual race. He says in verse 15, all of us who are a mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too, God will make clear to you. Only let us live up to what we have already attained. Now Paul is actually addressing two kinds of people here. First of all, he's addressing those who are mature. And to those who are mature, he says, you understand this. I mean, if you're growing in Christ, you understand that it is a race and the finish line is not till we had heaven, we all continue to make progress until we get to heaven. Nobody attains down here. Nobody arrives. Nobody is perfect. You understand that. If you're mature. If you're mature and growing, you understand that. But sadly, there are people who do not understand that. And so to the others, he says, God will have to make that clear to you. Paul's done all he can to convince that this is what the Christian life's all about. But there are some people who don't see it. Some of them are people who think they have arrived. You can usually tell it when you're around them. The pride, the arrogance, the constant references to themselves, what they've done, what they've accomplished to impress other people. So they don't see the need for this kind of effort because they're satisfied with where they are. Paul says, I've done all I can do to convince you, God's going to have to convince you. That's not it. And then there are others, some others, some of those others, who simply look at this, the way Paul lays out the Christian life and says, well, that may be okay for some people, but I'm not going to put forth that kind of energy in effort. I can't do that. Paul says, the Lord's going to have to convince you. I'm going to leave that between you and God. The Lord will have to convince you. Where are you today? Are you one of those who recognizes that when Jesus Christ saved you, He seized you, He snatched you, not only out of hell, but He put you on a track to run a race, and He faced you toward the goal. And that goal was to become more like Jesus Christ. And you realize you're not satisfied with where you are, but you are diligently going to pursue that goal with all the devotion and single-minded effort you can give with everything in your life focused toward that, so that when you finish, when you cross the finish line and you're called heavenward, and you stand before Jesus, you will hear, well done, good, and faithful servant. Are you there? Or are you one of those Christians who feels like, I'm above everybody else. I'm already on the lifeboat. Or that's too much effort. I'm not willing to pay the cost to get there. Where are you? Let's pray. Father, you have snatched us out of the clutches, the jaws of death, and of hell. And we thank you for that, that you've saved us from a Christless eternity. But Father, help us to also recognize that you have taken hold of us for purpose. You've put us on the track to run the race diligently until we go home to heaven, making progress every day and every month and every year. I pray, Father, that you'd help us to understand that view of the Christian life and to live it with that kind of dissatisfaction, indiligence, devotion, and determination. Pray in Jesus' name, amen.