Letting Go And Laying Hold

I found out about some dates in preparation for this sermon. January 17th is known as “ditch your New Years resolution day.” And the second Friday in January is known as “quitter’s day.” I really like this one: June 1st is known as “New Years resolution recommitment day.” By then you realize that you’ve blown it and you’ve failed. Some of us have already blown it, and it’s only the first week of the new year. You’ve eaten Twinkies and left-over pie. I mention these, because so many of our resolutions revolve around weight. Some want to lose weight, and some want to gain weight, put on the muscles.

The truth is that New Years day with its making of New Years resolutions is just a date on the calendar. Many of us went to bed before midnight on New Years eve, we woke up the next morning, looked over and thought, Yes; I’m still married to him. There really wasn’t much of a change, so some of us realized it was just a date on the calendar. What’s the big deal?

But for some of us, it is a big deal, me included. For me it’s not just an opportunity to mark on the calendar. I understand that much hasn’t changed. But it is an ending and a starting point. Some of us say, “Okay; done with that!” Done with whatever your resolution revolved around the previous year. And then you say, “On the 1st, we’re starting something new.” I’m okay with that one; but I like resolutions.

And the Bible is filled with resolutions. They’re not necessarily New Years resolutions. Throughout the pages of Scripture, men and women resolved to live in obedience to the Lord. But there also are stories of people who resolved to live in disobedience to the Lord. Obviously we want to live in obedience to the Lord. Maybe you were doing that on the 31st and woke up on the 1st still doing that.

In Philippians 3, we are going to find some principles of letting go and laying hold, letting go of the bad and reaching for things we should be doing.

I’m okay if you want to lose weight or put on weight, run faster, make more sales or whatever your resolution is. But we’re all here at church, because we understand that our number one resolution needs to be more time with the Lord. We need more of God in our lives and less of us.

I’ve broken up Philippians 3:7-21 into three, main divisions. Verses 7-11 I titled “Release.” We all know you have to release the Twinkies if you want to lose weight. There are things you have to release. Verses 12-15 I titled “Reach For.” You have to release some things and reach for the good things. And verses 16-21 I titled “Remember.” Paul will give us some helps to enable us to follow after Christ, put Him first and pursue Him.

I’m going to read a few verses and then give you some context. Starting in verse 7, Paul said, “But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ.”

In verse 7, where Paul said “what things were gain to me,” what is he talking about? Paul was simply continuing his thought from the beginning of chapter 3. In verse 3, he said, “For we are the circumcision.” That tells us that he was talking about the difference between the believers, the Christians, and the false teachers or what’s called “the Judaizers.” The Judaizers were people who came into the Christian churches and preaching Judaism or essentially preaching a works-based salvation. They were preaching that you can earn you way to heaven, into the righteousness of God. Paul was completely against that, but he shares with us in our text that he used to think that way.

He goes on to say, in verse 3, that “We are the circumcision,” or that we have had our hearts circumcised. We “worship God in the Spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.”

I understand that newcomers have had experiences with Christians, who have their own language called “Christianese.” We throw out terms like, “by the blood of Jesus,” and you say, “Why is Jesus bleeding?!” We might say, “in the flesh,” as Paul said here. You say, “In the flesh! What is Paul talking about here?” In reality, Paul is not talking about the body but about all the desires and cravings that go along with the body. It’s the lusts, the sinful desires that we have that go along with this life.

So Paul is saying that we are following Christ and have no confidence in the flesh or in our own accomplishments; only in the accomplishment that Christ made for us, which is salvation through His sacrifice on the Cross.

Paul goes on to say in verse 4, “…though I also might have confidence in the flesh.” You say, “Wait; I thought you just said we’re not to have confidence in the flesh!” Paul is going to use himself as an example to say that if someone could have confidence in the flesh, he could have. And he did for a while. He said, “If anyone else thinks he may have confidence in the flesh, I more so.”

What he does in verses 5-6 is that he shares with us “what things” were gain to him. He shares his religious resume with us; “circumcised the eighth day…” before he could choose for himself, he was already a good Jew “…of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews; concerning the law, a Pharisee…” a religious leader “…concerning zeal, persecuting the church; concerning the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.”

So Paul is explaining to us his former life and saying that he no longer has confidence in that lifestyle, in the flesh. He is saying that if there was any leg to stand on as far as having confidence in your own accomplishments apart from Christ, Paul said that he would have had it. He thought he had it. He had a religious resume that was above and beyond. And everyone knew it.
Now in verse 7, he says, “But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ.” There were things that went along with his former lifestyle. When you live a religious lifestyle, people admire you and look up to you.

Be careful, church. When you see me up on the stage, some of you think there’s something special about me. God chose me to be up here, because He couldn’t find anyone more foolish. That way, He gets all the glory. I get none. So don’t look at me as though I’ve got something special or that there’s a glow around me. There isn’t.

So Paul is saying that he was a religious individual, he had confidence in the flesh and he received accolades from others.

Before I was on staff at Calvary Chapel, San Bernardino, I worked at a recycling company. I went from being a recycling attendant there to being the custodian at Calvary Chapel. John only gets the best for you! At the recycling company, there were all sorts of people that came in. Many street people came in and visited with me, such as Willie. He was old, had a gray beard, wore a big hat, would have on religious necklaces and jewelry and carried a big staff. Sometimes his little kids followed him in like ducklings.

Because of Willie’s outward appearance, people would think of him as a godly, holy man. Until he opened his mouth. Then they knew he wasn’t a godly man. He thought he was, but his thoughts were so off, you knew he wasn’t. But because of his outward appearance, it came with accolades.

Paul is saying that when he was a religious individual, there were things that came along with that. But notice what he says in verses 7-8. “These I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ.” He said the word “count” or “counted” three times in these two verses.

My mother raised me to know that if I was told something more than once I’d better be paying attention. Here Paul told us three times that he “counted” things.” What does that mean? It means that he “reckoned.” It means his mind was engaged. Our minds must be engaged in our faith of Christianity. We do not advance in Christianity in our faith through osmosis. We cannot put our Bible under our pillow at night and expect it to soak into our thick skull. What could penetrate that skull?

Some people put the Bible on their dashboard or back dash and somehow fill the car with knowledge and godliness. That does not happen. We must engage our minds, and that’s what Paul is indicating to us here. To say that he “counted” these things as loss means that he looked at the two lifestyles. He’s going to talk about self-righteousness and then righteousness by faith.

By saying that he “counts” all things, means that he looked at the two lifestyles and made a decision. He said one is better than the other. He’s keeping one and dumping the other. And what he meant by “all things” obviously isn’t everything; he’s talking about the things that came with the religious lifestyle. He is talking about releasing some things if he’s going to do some new things. He’s talking about releasing accomplishments apart from Christ. That’s what Paul is explaining here. He’s saying that he had accomplished some things apart from Christ, and in his mind, he had gained righteousness by being religious.

But now he’s telling us that it was foolishness, and he’s releasing those accomplishments apart from Christ. Those accomplishments are of no value to him. He says, in verse 8, that he suffered the loss of all things by following Jesus. But he counts them as “rubbish.” It’s nothing to him. It’s gone and he no longer cares. And at the end of verse 8, he says, “…that I may gain Christ.”

It may be that you are at church because it is the beginning of the new year. And you said, “Listen, family. We need God in our lives, church in our lives. Let’s start the new year out right.” I’m glad you chose to come. Keep coming back, because we can help you follow after Christ. This is what Paul is referring to when he says, “…that I may gain Christ.”

If you are new with us, you have come to a church that is imperfect. We belong to a perfect God, but we are very much imperfect. We have flaws and shortcomings. We stumble and fall. As Christians, the majority of us are at church, because we need to be here. We are not at church, because we are already religious, because we have already attained. We are here to learn more about Christ, about attaining more and how to do that. How do I gain Christ, and how do I get everything that Christ has for me? We want it all. That’s why we’re here.

So Paul wants to gain Christ. And in verse 9, he wants “to be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith.” Paul just told us that true righteousness comes from God by faith in Christ.

If this is your first time at Revival, or you haven’t been here in a very long time and say, “We need some God in our lives and church in our lives,” you do. And what you need ultimately is Christ. You can come to church, but if you do not surrender your life to Christ, all you have is church. And you would be sorely disappointed with us, because we are a motley crew. We’ve got problems and issues of our own, sins that we struggle with. We are imperfect.

And if you say you have to go find a perfect church and you find one, please do not join it. You will ruin it. There is no such thing as a perfect church. But we are in pursuit of Christ; we want to gain Christ. Counting “all things…as rubbish.” All those things accomplished apart from Christ are gone. And I want, verse 9, “the righteousness which is from God by faith.”

Self-righteousness is always attained at the cost of my fellow man and God’s grace. It always requires that I look down upon, think less of, compare myself to, compete with and even belittle my fellow man and the grace of God. It cheapens the sacrifice of Jesus. By doing so, I experience a false sense of superiority and thus, a false sense of righteousness. It’s fake, phony.

Paul realized that, so he didn’t need that kind of religion anymore. He wanted the true religion, faith in Christ, righteousness through faith. In verse 10, he goes on to say, “…that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.”

We might conclude that Paul had lost his marbles. It’s the same thing that your family might think about you when they find out that you’re going to church during the week. “Who does that?! What’s wrong with you?! You’ve lost your marbles! Weren’t you just there on Sunday?”

“Yes.”

“And you’re going back on Wednesday?! You signed up for men’s study? You’re going back for a marriage study?!”

“Yeah.”

“What’s wrong with you?! What are you on?”

“Nothing; I found out that there is a righteousness by faith, and I found out I want all of Christ. So I’m going back to learn more. I’m going back to find other people who are struggling but still following.”

Look at what Paul says! “…that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection.” How do you experience the power of His resurrection? By living a life of dying daily to self. And he wanted to experience “the fellowship of His sufferings.” He wanted to be “conformed to His death.” He mentioned death again in verse 11. What a way to start the new year! “…if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.” Paul wanted it all; everything that Christ wanted to show him. And Paul did experience it all: the suffering, the death—all of it.

We’ve got to release things. Lose the weight, put on the weight, get healthy, make more sales, be a better student—whatever it is you want to accomplish means you’ll have to let go of some things. For us, it’s letting go of some things in our pursuit of God. We have to release those accomplishments that were apart from Christ over the past year.

Then after we release things, we want to know what to reach for. So now we come to the second, main division, in verses 12-15. This is the “Reach For” section. The first thing we need to reach for is alignment. “Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me.”

Hear what Paul said. You might think, Well, these things are great, but that’s Paul. He was a “super-Christian.” No; Paul is pointing out that he was just a person, verse 12. He hadn’t yet arrived or been “perfected.” Paul said he was reaching for something he hadn’t yet attained. He was chasing after it.

And I like where he says, “But I press one.” That means “to run swiftly in order to catch a person or thing; to run after.” It also figuratively means that it is used of one in a race who “runs swiftly to reach the goal.”

There is another part of the definition that I do not believe Paul was using here, but I like it just the same. It is “to pursue in a hostile manner.” Paul obviously wasn’t saying he wanted to attack Christ or overtake Him. But I like the idea of pursuing Him in a hostile manner in this sense: Jesus said, “If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out…If your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off” (Matthew 5:29-30). Paul is talking about pursuing Christ no matter the cost. Doing so “in a hostile manner” means cutting out anything in my life that hinders me from following hard after Christ.

I have things I need to cut out. We are imperfect people, and I have things in my life I need to cut off and pluck out. I’m following after Christ, but oftentimes I’m still trying to hold on to things. That’s foolishness. I want to follow Christ in a hostile manner or cut out anything that hinders me.

I want to be in alignment with Christ. In verse 12, he said, “…that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me.” That means that Paul wanted to align himself with whatever Christ had grab hold of him to do. Paul wanted the same thing. So we need to reach for an alignment with Christ’s plan. Stop trying to do your own think, go your own way. Christ had grabbed ahold of Paul.

And if you are a Christian, Christ has grabbed ahold of you. You are His. Don’t fight Him. Align yourself with Him. You should want the same things that He wants.

Paul does not tell us exactly what Jesus wants, but we have a good, general idea. In grabbing ahold of us, Christ wants to change us. He has saved us, and now He wants to change us. That is a daily, lifelong process of sanctification. I want the same thing.

Is it going to hurt? Yes; because I do not want to let go of certain things. But that’s what Christ wants to accomplish. And what Christ wants to accomplish in my life, I want the same thing. I want to align myself with that.

And there is a second thing that Paul tells us to reach for, in verses 13-15: reaching for things that are ahead. “Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead.”

We’ve talked about releasing things; Paul talks here about doing one thing, which is “forgetting those things which are behind.” Paul is not talking about releasing good things; he’s talking about releasing the bad things, the sinful accomplishments apart from Christ that have weighed us down.

But the emphasis here is to reach forward to what’s ahead. And what is ahead? Our relationship with God, growth and maturity in Him. He goes on to explain, in verse 14, “I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” God has called Paul, and not only called him but called him up into eternity with Christ. And Paul is pressing toward that. And verse 15 says, “Therefore let us, as many as are mature, have this mind.”

Now I’m going to talk to the single people. This is a mark of maturity; that a believer would be pressing toward Christ and learning how to release things. Why do I talk to the single people? Because I have been in ministry for many years and have heard horror stories. I’ve heard stories of single men and single women, who in desperation for love and relationship have given themselves to people they owed nothing to. They oftentimes overlooked shortcomings and immaturity.

Maturity should be on your list. “Is this individual growing in Christ? Is he/she learning to release things, learning to reach for things ahead? That’s what Paul tells us in verse 15. Then he says, “And if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal even this to you.” If there are other things that you don’t understand, God will reveal them to you. So we want to release things and reach forward to things.

The third thing we want to reach for, in verses 16-21, is to remember. In this section, Paul gives us some helps and encouragement. Verse 16 says, “Nevertheless, to the degree that we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us be of the same mind.” Here Paul tells us to remember what worked in the past. We see that in the phrase “have already attained.” He says that the good ground we’ve already gained we should hold onto. Release the bad but hold onto the good. Hold onto the good ground we’ve attained, because we’re going to build on that.

He says, “Let us walk by the same rule, let us be of the same mind.” He’s saying we shouldn’t forget the good things we’ve attained, and we should do it together. Church, there we are in verse 16; let’s walk by the same rules, “be of the same mind,” be unified in our pursuit of Christ.

Some of you purposefully sneak into the sanctuary after worship has already started, and then as soon as pastor begins to pray, you purposefully jump up and run out, because you don’t want to meet anybody. You’re afraid of what they might find. I say to you that not only are you stealing from us, not only are you ripping us off; you’re ripping yourself off too. It might be that in our pursuit of Christ, we stumble and fall, but you and I may be able to help one another. But if you never engage and you’re running out of here, how can you ever help?

This is the church: imperfect, weird, with issues, nosey, problems—we’ve got it all. And we’re here learning how to release all that stuff and pursue Christ. Let’s do that together. Let’s “be of the same mind.” Doesn’t it make sense that we would be here to help one another? That’s what Paul is saying; that’s what works.

In verses 17-19, he’s saying to remember who walked. He gives us examples, good and bad. “Brethren, join in following my example, and note those who so walk, as you have us for a pattern.” Paul says to follow his example and the example of the other leaders who are with him. I don’t believe Paul was propping himself up as the perfect example. He’s saying that he’s following Christ, but he stumbles and falls, then gets up and walks again, presses on. So we should watch him. The things that work, do those things. And when you see him about to fall into a pit, or there are hurdles or hardships, things where he’s falling into sin, watch him. He’s going to avoid those things.

Smart people learn from others. Smarter people learn from other’s mistakes. So Paul says he’s an example, he’s following Christ. He already told us he hadn’t attained yet. Watch him.

We have leaders around us, other people we can follow. A parent, a sibling, a neighbor, someone at church, someone at work. Watch and observe them. Where Christ accomplishes great things in them and through them, do those things. And where they stumble and fall, avoid those things. And let’s help one another.

Then in verse 18, Paul tells us of the many negative examples. “For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ: whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly…” indicating to us that they worship their sinful desires “…and whose glory is in their shame—who set their mind on earthly things.”

We’ve learned that we need to remember what worked, we need to remember who walked and then in verse 19, which transitions us into verses 20-21, we need to remember where we live. “For our citizenship is in heaven.” Jesus said, “I go to prepare a place for you” (John 14:2).

Our home is in heaven. This place is not our home. This is not my permanent dwelling residence. If you and I can remember that we are citizens of heaven, we will then live accordingly here on earth. I will say, “Wait a minute! I do not do things the same way as the world does, because I’m not a citizen of this world! I do things the way God wants me to do them, because I’m a citizen of His kingdom.” Jesus went to build a home in heaven for me. I belong there; I’m just passing through.

And you might even be here for 106 long years, but it’s a drop in the bucket compared to eternity in heaven. We’re going home. This is not home. I’m not a citizen here; I’m a citizen of heaven. My allegiance, first and foremost, is to heaven, is to God. If I can remember this in my pursuit of Christ, how that will help! What an encouragement that will be!

Continuing in verse 20, “…from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body….” Some of us have started the transition already. “I’m changing my body! Change your body and you’ll change your life!” You want to pump it up or trim it down and do everything to it. And then you come to church and hear Paul say, “That lowly body—it’s weak! Get that thing outta here!” Verse 21, “…that it may be conformed to His glorious body…” Ah! That sounds better “…according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself.” He has the power to change me. I need that. I want that.

Let me give you three things, parting words that will help you. Number one, evaluate, as you go over the past year with your relationship with Christ in mind. Ask yourself some questions. What did I accomplish this past year with Jesus? What did I accomplish this year without Jesus? What drew me away from Him this past year? What drew me closer to Him, even if I failed at my own, personal task?

Number two, I want to count, I want to decide. What am I keeping and what am I cutting out? Obviously I want to get rid of the bad habits and keep the good habits. In Hebrews 12:1, the writer said, “Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us…” get rid of that “…and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.” There may be that you have other things to get rid of: emotional baggage, attitudes, problems, ways that people have hurt you over this past year. You may have to release those also. In our study, we are talking about our pursuit of Christ, letting go of those sinful things that ensnare us.

Jesus said, in Mark 8:36, “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?” So there may be things in my life that I need to determine to let go of; they’re weighing me down.

After I evaluate and decide I then, number three, want to pursue the godly things. It was mentioned several ways in our text: “press on,” verse 12; “reaching forward,” verse 13; “press toward the goal,” verse 14; and build upon, which is what I called when he said, “be of the same mind,” or remember what we’ve accomplished, and build upon those things, in verse 16.

Perhaps you are pursuing other things; you’ve got other resolutions. I’m okay with that. To the best of our ability, we should be well-rounded individuals. But let me give you some more verses to help you in your other pursuit, your pursuit of Christ, which needs to be the chief pursuit.

1 Corinthians 10:31 says, “Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” Colossians 3:17 says, “And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.” And then Colossians 3:23 says, “And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men.”

Do you see what the consistency is in those verses? You want to lose weight, you want to buff up; okay. Why? Because you want to look really hot this summer? “For Christ,” of course. But there is gravity; you can build it all up, my friend, but it’s comin’ down!

But let me share some things as we part. I do try to exercise a few times a week. I know you can’t tell. I only have so much time. But what is your reason for doing so? My reason that I want to share with you is not because I’m some godly individual, and you need to do the same thing as me. It’s because a secret dawned on me many years ago, which may help you. I have a family. I’ve got a ministry. I’ve got your high school students, and you and the staff here at Revival are counting on me to live as long as I can, to be as healthy as I can be in order to offer my leadership to them. They’re counting on me to do that.

Thus, in my sad pursuit of a healthy lifestyle, my mindset is that I’ve got people who need for me to be here as long as possible, to be as healthy as possible, because I cannot lead them from the grave. And I cannot lead them from a hospital bed. They need me to be active in their lives, to show them, to point things out to them, to love them.

So pursue those good things. What is your purpose and what is your motivation in your pursuits?