PHILIPPIANS 3:1-11 - TOGETHER WE HAVE A GOAL Part 1
TOGETHER WE BELIEVE #6 – AM 2/9/23
If you are like me, I get more done when I have a goal in mind.
When I proposed to Dottie and she said “yes”, there were lots of goals set and achieved.
We had to set a date, decide on a venue, plan the service and the reception, get a preacher, enlist our attendants, and send invitations. Dottie made her own dress, and I planned the Honeymoon. If we didn’t set goals, we would have never gotten things done!
Together as Christ-followers we should have goals that are individual and corporate.
One of the most important goals we should have is to be imitators of Christ, and thus be imitators of God.
Christ-likeness should be our goal!
And to achieve this we must understand how it fits in God’s overall plan for our lives!
OUR WORKS-ORIENTED PAST – Philippians 3:2-6
Vs. 2 – Judaizers teaching that circumcision is required for salvation – works oriented.
Vs. 3 – Circumcision of the heart is of the utmost importance. Deuteronomy 30:6
We should give self-effort for being acceptable before God so we can be forgiven and go to Heaven a vote of “no confidence”
Vss. 4-6 - Paul enumerates reasons why, if anyone could have earned eternal life, it would have been him.
OUR CHRIST-CENTERED PRESENT – Philippians 3:7-9
Vss. 7-8 – There came a day of reckoning when Paul counted all his self-effort as loss and trust Christ alone for salvation.
Vs. 9 – Found in Him and trust Him for righteousness by faith. Titus 3:5, Romans 5:6-9, 1
Why work for something that’s already paid for?
OUR LIFELONG PASSION – 1 John 3:1-3, Philippians 3:10-11
1 John 3:1-3 should instill a love for Christ in us causing us to desire to really know Him. 2 Corinthians 5:14-15
To know him is to spend time with him and others who do.
Knowing His power is to yield to His resurrection power through the Holy Spirit. Ephesians 1:19-21
The “fellowship of his suffering” – to take abuse for Him as He took abuse for us. Acts 9:16, 2 Timothy 4:10
As I die with Christ, the resurrected Christ lives in me. Romans 6:10-14