Apprehended
- David Fairchild
- Aug 1, 2004
- Series: Philippians
Philippians 3:12 Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus. 13 Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
INTRODUCTION
This morning we are going to be looking at personal statements made by the Apostle Paul that are very well known and extremely profound for you and I.
If you remember last week, Paul contrasts the position of individuals called the Judaizers that had come to many of the early churches and specifically to the believers in Philippi to pervert the Gospel by claiming that the way to have peace with God was by doing certain things. Paul blasts their position by offering his own credentials. He states all of his accomplishments in the flesh by his own hands and then says they are all a pile of dung compared to the righteousness of Christ Jesus.
Even though Paul had given years of his life to earn God’s favor, when he finally met Jesus on the road to
Paul finishes his statements that we looked at last week by showing us his heart He states that his ambition is to “know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His suffering, being conformed to His death; so that he will attain the resurrection of dead (Philippians 3:9-11).
So here we come this morning to have Paul teach us something personal This man who could well be considered one of the greatest thinkers, hardest workers, and most effective evangelists of human history. The passage this morning is important because it helps us to understand him and his position more accurately. But this is not just some distant historical view of someone in history We come to this text because it has tremendous relevance to you and I
This text teaches us and it tells us something about our own standing and position before our God.
We need to be careful to never look at Paul as so important that his teaching becomes unattainable because we say; “well, of course he experienced that, it was Paul!” As important as Paul was, Paul was a man that shared the same frustrations, temptations and challenges that you and I face and his example is not just true for him, but should be true for each and every person here this morning that considers Christ as our Lord and Paul as our brother.
We are going to be speaking from a practical position to a theological position It’s important that we get the doctrine straight because when we have sloppy beliefs we have sloppy lives Most challenges that come from our lives are because we fail to understand God properly, and therefore, don’t understand who we are before Him. We either inflate our view of ourselves or we devalue our relationship with Jesus to a place of depression.
Let me just say that the text we are going to be discussing this morning is hotly debated and often misunderstood. This is a passage that is usually ripped out of context to support an already assumed view
I’m going to argue that the two positions that are most debated from this text are both wrong
One view says that Paul is saying that he is uncertain of his own salvation The other view says that Paul was sure of his salvation and was only talking about his life’s journey not yet being completed. That he was not only saved, but he was perfected and waiting out his days on earth to complete his voyage. Both views are foolish, and both have obviously no understanding of the difference between justification and sanctification. This is the problem with coming to a verse which is difficult to understand, and then placing your opinion or feelings into the text and creating a whole doctrine upon one verse We know that we take the whole teaching of Scripture as our final court of arbitration. It rests upon a supported view from the totality of the Scriptures, not one verse. But even with that said, it’s hard to imagine how these two camps come to their views over this text.
Let’s get to the text and see what Paul was really saying about his own experience as a Christian.
STUDY
Verse 12a- Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect,
Here is where the problem begins. Immediately someone says “aha, see, Paul is saying he has not already obtained it!” Whatever “it” is.
First we need to understand that Paul loved to use athletic metaphors in his writing He must have been a sports fan.
Paul says in 1 Corinthians 9:2b “Thus I fight: not as one who beats the air.” He literally is saying that he isn’t shadow boxing, rather he is hitting his intended target He also describes the Christian life to the Church in Ephesus as a “struggle” which in the Greek literally means a wrestling match or a fight, not against flesh and blood, etc…(Ephesians 6:12) Paul even declares in his last statements of his life “I have fought the good fight” (2 Timothy 4:7) Paul also uses a reference to the Isthmian Games, which were held in
But Paul’s favorite metaphor is that of a footrace. He tells the elders in Ephesus, “But I don not consider my life of any account as dear to myself, so that I may finish the course and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify solemnly of the gospel of the grace of God” (Acts 20:24). He then tells the Romans, “So then it does not depend upon the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy (Romans ).
Paul even reminds the Corinthians of the athletes in the Isthmian Games by saying, “Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win…Therefore I run in such a way, as not without aim” (1 Corinthians ,26) In Galatians 2:2 Paul tells of his fear that he “might be running, or had run, in vain,” while in Galatians 5:7 he is saddened and says “You were running well; who hindered you from obeying the truth?”
Paul was aware that he had not obtained the prize of spiritual perfection He wasn’t satisfied with his current state. Not that he wasn’t positionally perfect before God, he knew he was already right with God in Heaven, yet he was also aware of his failure to fully live for God in Christ. He had yet to attain perfection this side of heaven and was determined to work towards it in this life.
Many of us have become too easily satisfied with our current state. We see that it is because of God’s grace alone that we are saved That it isn’t based on our work, but on Christ’s work that we are saved and made right with God. Yet even though this is a truth, we are called to “walk as He walked.” We are to never be satisfied with our sin and our lack of Christlikeness in this life
We have to become dissatisfied for the right reasons. Usually our dissatisfaction comes from circumstances and things, rather than a true awareness and honesty about our own hearts So we end up saying that we either are already perfect (by lowering the standard or lying about our righteousness), or we say we can never be sure about where we stand before God in this life
Paul says in 1 Timothy 1:12 “For this reason I also suffer these things; nevertheless I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day.”
Romans 8:38-39 “For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, 39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
In this letter we are studying he says: Philippians 1:6 “being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.” Does that sound like someone who is uncertain of salvation?
If anyone ever wrote out of a heart of confidence in what he knew about his salvation it was Paul.
Romans 8:28-31 “28 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. 29 For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. 30 Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified. 31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?”
Remember two weeks ago was studied 3:3 “For we are the circumcision who worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus…”
Paul knew his position with God ultimately, but was dissatisfied with not yet being spiritually perfect. He didn’t throw up his hands, he pressed on…
Verse 12b- but I press on
Paul isn’t inactive in his position before God. Many of us are waiting at the crosswalk for the green light to walk into the
This kind of passivity only leads to frustration and disobedience because our lives are never characterized as passive, it is always viewed as active as we looked at Paul’s references to an athletic event.
Paul presses on with a goal in mind.
Verse 12c- so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus.
In other words Paul says he was laid hold of. The word literally means to be apprehended. He is saying that on the road to Damascus Christ grabbed him, apprehended him, laid hold of him and he still holds him Christ put his hand upon him, and was holding him still.
I was thinking about this. Paul says that he was “laid hold of by Christ Jesus” and also that he presses on so that he may lay hold of that which we was laid hold of. I thought of my daughter Madison. There are times that she is doing what she wants, her own agenda. She knows what she should do, but instead she does the opposite Then there are times that she does something and actually thinks she is doing the right thing, even though it is actually wrong. As I was thinking about her, I remembered several times where I came to her and met her face to face in the middle of her disobedience and instead of disciplining her I grab hold of her, I embrace her and hold her still so that I can see her eye to eye As I hold her she begins to weep and then she grabs hold of me and doesn’t let go. I thought, this is what Paul is experiencing
Paul was doing what he thought was right and chasing down Christians to have them imprisoned and executed. As he travels down the road to
Paul wasn’t laid hold of only so he’ll stop persecuting the church. He was apprehended by Christ the same as every one of us here that have been laid hold of and held still by Jesus, it’s so that we will reach a particular goal. That goal is to know Christ more fully, as he said back up in verse 10 The reason we have been laid hold of is so that we will lay hold of the greatest goal each of us will ever have in this life…to know Christ more fully. We should desire to be so close to Christ that we live and think, we walk and talk as He did. We should become like him in His life, in His death, in His suffering, in everything; so that we may live the kind of life that was lived by Christ Himself
I have been grabbed hold of for that reason, Paul says.
Verses 13-14 –13 Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
Paul is sure he has been apprehended by Christ and is saved; he realizes his ultimate salvation is as certain as anything can be because Christ has hold of Him The question of whether or not you can lose your salvation is really asked incorrectly. The question should be asked “can Christ lose a Christian?” It is Christ that lays hold of us, it is Christ stays hold of us He won’t lose us like we lose our keys We can be sure of our ultimate salvation, just like Paul, if we realize that it is Christ that has a hold on us.
But Paul is dissatisfied with his failure to arrive at that goal for which he has been arrested- which is the full knowledge of Jesus Christ and conformity to Christ in his whole live.
Paul says these three things: he defines the goal, which should be our goal; he confesses he has not laid hold of it yet; and he tells us that his whole concern in life is to apprehend that goal and he will do everything he can, with all his energy, to arrive there.
How many of us can say we have forgotten what lies behind so that we can focus on the goal ahead? How many of us can say we are pressing forward to this great goal of knowing Jesus and loving Him so much we are really living for Him? How many of us look at this as the main goal and purpose of our lives?
Can we say with honesty, that we have been “laid hold of” by Christ, and that we are living so that we can lay hold of verse 10? Philippians that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death,
This is where we derive our greatest security. If we are living like Paul, knowing we are ultimately saved, but yet currently dissatisfied with our lack of knowing Jesus and so we press on with a passion and focus and pursuit of that it mind, we will gain tremendous security in our life now, not just in future glory.
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