Philippians 3:12-21 - A pattern: an introduction to a rule of life

Introduction

Have you ever watched a master of an art or craft do something and make it look completely effortless? Like a group of jazz musicians improvise or a pro basketball player swish shot after shot?

How did they become a master of their craft? More than likely it was by being trained by, learning from, or watching someone who was already a master. Or, putting uncounted hours into it until they became a master through sheer trial and error. The way people do this is similar to how we learn to follow Jesus.

Today we are going to see that following Jesus means living as a citizen of heaven, and to do this we follow tried and true spiritual values and practices, to keep us rooted and grounded in Christ, which some have called a “rule of life.”

The series

The life of a disciple of Jesus is like a tree. The roots are our identity as sons and daughters of God. The trunk is the servant’s heart of Christ. The branches and leaves represent our unique calling or mission from God. The fruit of a true disciple of Christ is a life that follows Jesus by loving God, loving others, and making disciples. The soil they need is God’s presence in the church through the Holy Spirit.

Today we will see that the nutrients in the soil are models who show us how to follow Jesus. From them we learn to live by a new set of spiritual practices, or a rule of life.

Background

This epistle to the Philippians was written by Paul to express his love and gratitude, and to exhort them and us to live a life of unity, holiness, and joy. This can only happen if we root ourselves in Christ.

Up to this point in this epistle, Paul is encouraging the Philippians to follow the pattern found in the life of Jesus. He wants us to center our thoughts and actions upon Christ. In this part of chapter 3, Paul tells us why we should pursue nothing but Christ, and what is the best way to go about it.

Exposition

First, in verses 12-16 we see that Christ is of so much value that we should strive for the righteousness of Christ.

I am Christ's (v. 12)

Paul wants to make sure that the Philippians know that he is just like them. He hasn't arrived…he isn't perfect. No one is until we obtain the resurrection from the dead. And so, we must live in the tension of the already (we are truly united and resurrected with Christ) but not yet (we have not been glorified and so still have our sinful natures with us). Because of this, we must wrap ourselves in our unity with Christ keeping our minds and hearts fixed upon the righteousness that qualifies us to partake of the resurrection that is to come. We must constantly remember that we belong to Christ…we are Jesus’.

I haven’t arrived (v. 13)

Paul looks at himself and sees that right now he is a mess, just like us. He doesn't have perfection in the present except in promise and legal status. He is still broken. Thus, he must work with all his might in order to live as if Christ is his only prize and the only thing of value.

Paul sees the idea of living in the past as a roadblock for moving forward. So, he strains forward, continually moving toward what lies ahead.

Christ is the prize I want more than anything (v. 14-16)

What lies ahead? The goal. What is it? It is the prize of God's upward call in Christ Jesus. What is this upward call? It could perhaps be the prize of heaven, living forever with God. But it seems to me that rather than this, it is Christ himself.

So, Paul presses on toward the ultimate prize of being with and having Christ forever. What does this mean but that we are to keep Christ central in all our goals, desires, and actions. We must keep our eyes on the prize…Jesus.

But since we haven’t arrived, how do we press on? With an understanding that we are still in process. Because of this we must always work hard at keeping Christ before us. We do this by seeing examples and following them. We need to do things in our lives that will help us to keep the main thing, the main thing…Christ supreme and above all.

Second, in verses 17-21 we see that we must follow the pattern of those who pursue Christ. But how?

By avoiding anti-pattern (v. 18-19)

The example or pattern that Paul is asking them to follow as a disciple of Christ is contrasted with an anti-pattern. This anti-pattern is one of destruction, selfishness, shame, and earthly-mindedness. These people are the farthest thing from disciples, they are enemies of the cross. Paul spoke of them earlier in v. 2 of this chapter. They are dogs, unclean. They are evildoers. They are those who mutilate the flesh.

They are those who put confidence in the flesh and bring others into bondage, bondage to the works of the law, legalists. But, they may also be people who draw them into the lusts of the flesh, anti-law people, antinomians.

Live for destruction

Those who live for themselves have a pretty scary destination. God’s people are citizens of heaven, whereas they are citizens of the earth and are destined for eternal judgment or destruction.

Serve their belly

These anti-pattern people live for the flesh. The Judiazers had a preoccupation with the flesh. They put their confidence in their flesh from a standpoint of relying upon themselves and their works. Their motto was "Do good, be good, be accepted." They live for externals. Their real god is their belly, what goes in it or doesn't.

The Gentiles had a preoccupation with living for pleasure. Their motto is “live for the moment.” They literally live for pleasure. They live for their belly, their appetites. Everything centers around what they want.

Delight in their shame

Paul says that these anti-pattern people glory or take pride in their shame. This probably means that they are focusing inappropriately on things they should be ashamed of. In other words, these legalists and antinomians are taking pride in things that are shameful and embarrassing to talk about (circumcision and sexual lust).

Desire earthly things for themselves

They focus on earthly things. They can't see past the present moment into eternity, only what satisfies them now. In other words, they cannot see the righteousness that Christ could provide for them. They can only see their righteousness or live for their lusts. They are caught up in this world and everything that is in it. They are citizens of earth, not heaven.

By following the pattern (v. 17, 20-21)

But Paul tells them to follow a different pattern. One that was revealed in Jesus Christ, the true citizen of heaven, in fact the Lord of heaven, who left it to come down to earth to redeem us from being caught up in the works of the law or the works of the flesh. To redeem us from living for earthly things and ultimate eternal destruction.

Paul tells us that we should follow his example or pattern, that we should imitate him and others as they are straining forward to the prize of the upward calling of attaining the resurrection of the dead, the righteousness of Christ. We should imitate others as they imitate Christ.

In fact, if we want to produce fruit, we need to be planted in the life-giving soil of the Holy Spirit who is living in us and in our community and allow ourselves to be fed off the nutrients of seeing and imitating others who are pursuing Christ as Paul was.

Live as citizens of heaven

We should follow the pattern that Paul shows us. He was so consumed by and with Christ, that everything else in the world was good for nothing except to be flushed down the toilet. All his achievements, desires, hopes, and dreams were waste compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ and the power of his resurrection. He was a citizen of heaven; his heart was there. He wanted to go home.

In Philippi, as Acts 16 reveals, Roman citizenship was rare and it was prized. It came with great benefits. And so they were proud of their citizenship. But Paul reminds them of the reality that the church is part of a greater society and culture, one that we should be far prouder of than our earthly citizenship.

As disciples of Christ, we must have our minds set on things above and not on things of the earth. We must delight in knowing one thing, that we are God's and he is ours. We have the passport to God's country in our hearts (the Holy Spirit), we are citizens of that heavenly country.

Serve the Savior, our Lord Jesus Christ

We should follow the pattern of Paul as well who waits expectantly for one thing. To experience the reality of seeing Jesus face to face. He sees Jesus in all his glory and splendor.

Jesus is our savior, the one anointed to bring us salvation by God, and who is the King of kings and Lord of lords. He should frame our entire existence. He is our end, the one we serve, the one we take pride in, he is our glory, and our focus, not the flesh or its lusts.

Delight in becoming like Christ

We should follow the pattern of Paul by looking forward to one day being transformed from this temporary body to a glorified one. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, we will look Jesus in the face and be made like him for we shall see him as he is. We will be transformed from this broken down, miserable, and weak body into a glorious body that will be like Christ. It will be done by Christ who has all power.

Desire to subject all things to Christ

We should follow the pattern of Paul as we see that Jesus Christ is all-powerful. He has subjected all things to himself. He is the ultimate King and Lord. He made all things and all things continue to exist in him. Thus we should be subjected to him in all things and we should seek to see all people be subjected to him in loving service.

We must follow Paul's pattern and live with a greater and greater submission to the empowering presence and Lordship of Christ, and lead others to do the same.

Conclusion

What is the bottom line? We must see the surpassing beauty of Christ and pattern our lives after Paul so that we are being drawn more and more into Christ and are led farther and farther away from the "belly god." We avoid legalism and antinomianism. We must not live out of the flesh to try and earn our way to God, or to satisfy our cravings.

We are all frail, finite, and sinful. We need Christ to start changing us now so we will be more conformed to his image, and we must long for the ultimate change that will come when we see him face to face.

What are we doing to follow a pattern in our lives that seeks to put Christ first? One thing we can do is to craft a rule of life.

Rule of Life

So, what is a rule of life? Essentially, it is an intentional pattern of spiritual discipline that provides structure and direction for growth in Christ. It establishes a rhythm for the life of Christ that helps us be formed by the Spirit. It is a rhythm that intentionally and consciously puts Christ at the center of all we do.

These disciplines should be built into our life to help us put off the “old man” and allow our “new man” in Christ to be formed. They are the consistent and diligent use of the means of grace that God gives so that we can be nourished. They are a pattern to follow. Essentially, we look at Christ, Paul, and the Scriptures and use their pattern to create our own pattern of life.

A Rule should help us love God more. If it becomes something legalistic to earn merit with God and others, it isn’t working. If you don’t like the traditional, ancient term, “Rule”, because it sounds too legalistic, then just think of it as a “rhythm of life”.

In order for this to bring spiritual life to us, it must be realistic. It is not some ideal that we reach for, it is a minimum standard for our lives that we have prayerfully and Scripturally evaluated that we try not to drop below. It is a realistic level of engaging the spiritual disciplines for which we would be willing to be held accountable.

It should include five things: 1) relationship with God; 2) personal life/health; 3) relationships; 4) church; 5) work.

Relationship with God should include Scripture reading, prayer, silence and solitude, fasting, study and reflection.

Personal life/health should include sleep, rest and Sabbath, physical health and fitness, recreation and hobbies, money and possessions.

Relationships should include marriage, children and parenting, friendships, extended family, and neighbors and coworkers.

Church should include participation and weekly corporate worship, friendships and community, service and mission, and generosity.

Work should include calling/vocation, current position and responsibilities, workplace relationships, education, personal development, and coaching.

In each of these five areas we should prayerfully find a key verse or passage that we would like to use to anchor us and try to make several commitments in each one.

In order to do this, we should give ourselves some time to prayerfully get away and work through these. Start with God’s word. Spend some time finding a verse for each area. Then pray through these five areas and reflect on them with Scripture to find what they should be. Then write them down.

It might be helpful for some to think through these 7 areas of fruitfulness (not productivity): love, generosity, humility, gentleness, chastity, self-denial, and moderation.

Use these to guide you to what Spiritual practices you should do. But most importantly, be led by the Spirit.

These practices are not done so that God will be impressed and give us anything, or we will merit anything (that would be serving the stomach god).  We do these things because we believe these practices will help us walk in step with the Holy Spirit and walk in step with the example that the apostle Paul laid for us, and make the promises that God gave to us more believable.