Eye on the Prize

“Whatever happens, my dear brothers and sisters, rejoice in the Lord. I never get tired of telling you these things and I do it to safeguard your faith. Watch out for those dogs, those people who do evil, those mutilators who say you must be circumcised to be saved. For we who worship by the Spirit of God are the ones who are truly circumcised. We rely on what Christ Jesus has done for us. We put no confidence in human effort, though I could have confidence in my own effort if anyone could. Indeed, if others have reason for confidence in their own efforts, I have even more! I was circumcised when I was eight days old. I am a pure-blooded citizen of Israel and a member of the tribe of Benjamin; a real Hebrew if there ever was one! I was a member of the Pharisees, who demand the strictest obedience to the Jewish law. I was so zealous that I harshly persecuted the church. And as for righteousness, I obeyed the law without fault. I once thought these things were valuable, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done. Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For His sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ and become one with Him.

I no longer count on my own righteousness through obeying the law; rather, I become righteous through faith in Christ. For God’s way of making us right with Himself depends on faith. I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised Him from the dead. I want to suffer with Him, sharing in His death, so that one way or another I will experience the resurrection from the dead! I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.” (Philippians 3:4-14) (Also read Isaiah 43:16-21; Psalm 126; John 12:1-8) The world that we live in, 95 percent of the time, is almost swept clean of religious language and customs. So in the 5 percent of our lives that we hear the strange “language of Judah,” we are tourists without an interpreter. We speak the “language of Canaan” all week long and the words of devotion and worship seem a jarring contrast to the world of 95 percent of our experience.

I.) If there was ever a person who was comfortable with religious language and customs, it was the Apostle Paul. We can’t miss his résumé. He was “circumcised on the eighth day, a member of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of the Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee” (verse 5). It sounds very impressive. Yet, for the uninitiated, we’re not sure what it means. Why the tribe of Benjamin; and was being a Pharisee an honour? We just know from the sound of it that he was big in his religious organization and was the scourge of the competition (verse 6). Good for him, but it is not our 95 percent world. Then when he begins to talk the language of relationship, we begin to listen. Not that we are great at relationships, but we know their power. Everything he has gained, even accomplished in zealous pursuit of religion, is nothing at all compared to “the surpassing value of knowing Christ” (verse 8). Everything else is “waste” compared to this galvanizing relationship with him. As Paul writes these words, his world is more than 95 percent incarcerated. As a prisoner he does not hear much religious talk. So in verses 12-14 he hits his stride. He speaks a language in service of this transforming relationship that all of us can hear: “I press on toward the goal for the prize.” We can feel the possibility of all of our life, every impulse and sinew being directed to that one goal or purpose. The image of the race provided a way of speaking of a prize that is worthy of every hope and discipline.

II.) A good metaphor always points beyond itself and participates in greater reality. Paul is not writing about an athletic event. He is using this language to talk about a life worth living and a death worth dying. This upward or heavenly call is not an escape from the paralyzing fear of hopelessness. There are times when we feel cut off from living fully in this present moment, animated by a call to the future. A fellowship of Christians can believe that its best days are in the past. You may think of a betrayal in the past that keeps you from loving and caring for those closest to you. Paul must have been tempted to believe his arrest ended his ministry with and for the Philippians. The upward call is for him and us. It is a vision of the crucified and Risen HaMashiach bidding those who have run the race through Him to “come up” and receive the prize. The prize is not a gold medal or a literal crown. The prize is HaMashiach. The One we have known through “the power of His resurrection and the sharing of His sufferings” (verse 10) is the One we will see face-to-face. This is what keeps us going. In “the resurrection from the dead” (verse 11), we will be with Him on the victor’s stand not because of what we have done for Him but because of what He has done for us. We, like Paul, have not yet reached the goal, but we press on.

III.) To press on or pursue the prize is not to accentuate our powers to pursue our goals or to relentlessly hunt down and capture success. Paul’s words and experience will not permit that interpretation. He wants to make this prize of HaMashiach’s high calling his own life’s goal. Notice that he can only speak this way “because Yeshua HaMashiach has made me his own” (verse 12). This note of grace reminds us that there is always HaMashiach’s movement toward us before any movement toward Him. The initiative, the gift, the calling is all YAHVEH’s. Think of Paul zealously hunting down the church in verse 6. This is the same verb used in verse 12, translated press on. The change maker is Yeshua, interrupting on the road to Damascus Paul’s pursuit of his goals and anyone who would get in his way. Yeshua is the change maker. I know that. Growing up in the Church, I learned ways to speak the religious language to pursue my goals and press my advantage. We may not have all the drama of a Damascus road experience; I did not. Nonetheless a change in direction is called for; conversion is not optional. The Yeshua who makes us His own is just as personal as He is with Paul (Saul): “Why do you persecute me?” We can’t have it both ways, and we can’t hide out in the church. Either HaMashiach’s calling is the prize to which we press on or it is not. Paul tells us with his own journey’s end in view, “This one thing I do” (verse 13). The stark simplicity of these words grabs our attention.

IV.) This one thing that Paul does is what can only be done if HaMashiach is the power of his running and the goal of his life race. The one thing he does is “keep his eye on the prize.” This single vision involves “forgetting what is behind and leaning forward to what lies ahead.” Paul knew he could only forget what was behind him by looking to the upward call of HaMashiach. Paul has time to think in prison. He could be absorbed in his glorious résumé, but he says that all of this is loss compared to HaMashiach (verse 7). He could be even more consumed by being “a persecutor of the church” in the past. Yet it is the power of HaMashiach’s love that pulls him and us, back into the race. Leaning forward is by YAHVEH’s grace our posture. The verb suggests stretching out head and body toward the goal. We keep our “head in the game” when we together as the body of HaMashiach keep leaning toward the goal of YAHVEH’s upward calling in Yeshua HaMashiach. We are not competing against one another. Paul could be sulking in his cell or resting on his laurels. Instead, he is using what time and energy are left to encourage his fellow runners to keep their eye on the prize. The upward call will translate into the outward reach of justice and witness. Trust His call.