Running to Win the Race of Your Life
It’s Your Choice to Rejoice, Part 10
Philippians 3:12-16

You are in the race of your life! Have you ever heard an athlete say before a big race, perhaps an Olympic event, or the 7th Game of a World Series, “this is the game of my life.” Well, this life is a race, and you are in the race of your life, and Paul tells us how to run to win in the race of your life.
Before we look at this particular passage, let’s go back and do a quick review of Philippians.
Philippians is a powerful, personal, and practical book about Christian living. Written from the heart of a Roman prison, chained to a soldier every hour of the day, the theme of this book is, “It’s Your Choice to Rejoice.”
Chapter one, Paul emphasizes;
The Gospel, Fellowship in the Gospel (1:5), the Fruit of the Gospel (1:11), the Furtherance of the Gospel (1:12), and the Faith of the Gospel (1:27). We took in chapter one, the themes of rejoicing in the people of your life and rejoicing in the circumstances in your life. Paul had people and in his heart and that kept them from getting on his nerves. He maintained an attitude of gratitude in his chains. Paul maintained his joy by living ON PURPOSE for God’s purpose; he lived to further the faith, magnify His Master, Jesus, and serve the saints. If we want to rejoice we must live for God and His Gospel.
Chapter two, Paul emphasizes,
UNITY through HUMILITY, the highest example of humility was Jesus, then he uses three human examples of humility, himself, Timothy, and Epaphroditus. If we want to rejoice we must have the HUMBLE mind of Christ.
The reality of Christian joy is this: our circumstances are not the deciding issue of our joy. Sometimes things happen beyond our control that we cannot change. The deciding factor in our joy is our relationship with God through His Son Jesus Christ. We can rejoice IN THE LORD (3:1; 4:4).
Chapter three, Paul emphasizes,
THE PURSUIT of CHRIST. Joy is not found in legalism, religion, or claiming my own self-righteousness. Joy is found IN HIM and the power of His resurrection. Paul uses at least three analogies: an accountant (3:7), an athlete (14), and an alien (3:20) to say, I am in the pursuit of Christ!
Today, let’s focus on how we are to run to win in the race of your life. How many here want to reach your goals? How many here want to succeed? Here are some powerful principles we can put to practice today and tomorrow that will help us win in the race of life! I am thankful that the Bible is not some old dusty book that is meaningless to our existence. The Bible is so very practical to our daily lives!
There must be at least three decisions accompanied by three attitudes of the believer if we are going to run to win in the race of our lives:
1. Decision #1: I will FOLLOW!
Attitude: I have room for growth! I may not be all that I ought to be, but I am growing into Christlikeness. I have not arrived. Paul says that he is not perfect, because he is a work in progress. If anyone could say, I have arrived, it was Paul. He could say, I have started 15 churches, written 13 inspired epistles, been stoned and saw heaven! God had begun to work in him and was not finished yet. He was not absolutely perfect, but in verse 15 he does say he is in a state of relative perfection, or maturity. What this means is this: a mark of maturity is to know you have room for growth. You cannot do it all and you do not know it all. If you know you are not absolutely perfect, you are perfect in a relative sense.
Let me give you this illustration. If you are a wheat farmer, you plant your wheat sometime in the fall and it sprouts and looks like green grass. It remains that way during the winter. I am sure that the young wheat that sprouts looks PERFECT to the farmer, but it is not the finished product. It is perfect for the way it has developed up to that point. It is on schedule to be a great crop. As time progresses, the wheat grows and turns brown, and it continues to grow and turns amber waves of grain. Now it is absolutely perfect and ready for the harvest.
Take the birth of a newborn baby. When they are healthy, they look perfect but they have not finished their development. I look at some of the little children in our church, and they look perfect in a comparative or relative sense. They are not perfect in the absolute sense.
That is what Paul is saying here. In verse 12, Paul is saying, I have not yet arrived at ULTIMATE PERFECTION, and in verse 15 he is saying he is PERFECT in a COMPARATIVE sense, for he realizes that he is not perfect.
One day when we see Jesus we will be absolutely perfect. When we realize that we have not arrived to a state of sinless perfection, but we are following on to know the Lord, then we are in a state of relative perfection, or spiritual maturity.
Paul’s personal, conscious decision is, I will follow Christ and know Him better. I have not arrived to a state of sinless perfection. There is room for growth in my spiritual life! Paul is saying this: I want to take full possession of Christ as He has taken possession of me. Christ has ARRESTED and OVERTAKEN me, and now I desire to APPREHEND and COMPREHEND CHRIST and know him! Christ has arrested me, and handcuffed me and made me His prisoner of peace.
There is something wonderfully gripping and arresting about being saved by grace! When one gets arrested in our country, they have their rights read to them. When we get saved, the Lord Jesus tells us our “rights” as His child: we have the right to become a son of God (John 1:12)! We have the right to sins forgiven and to the indwelling of the Holy Spirit! We have the right to have access to God in prayer and to follow in His steps! What wonderful privileges we have when we are apprehended by Jesus!
I want to know the ONE who knows me from eternity! Paul knew that he had ALL OF CHRIST. The Holy Spirit indwelled him. He had been arrested by Jesus! He was brought into custody of the Christ! Now, Paul’s attitude is, I want Him to have all of me. How much of the Holy Spirit do you have? All you will ever get! But how much of YOU does the Holy Spirit have? Now if Paul could say that he had room to grow, I believe we can all agree that we have room to grow. We need to have more of God’s power, we need to surrender more of our ambitions and dreams to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Has Christ laid hold of you? Has Jesus Himself arrested you and bought your to Himself and made you His servant?
We apprehend Him as we comprehend His amazing love and grace.
The Christian life is an amazing balance. We are content in Christ and we rejoice in Christ, but we do not become complacent and apathetic. Paul was CONTENT yet he maintained an holy dissatisfaction, a sanctified dissatisfaction with where he was. He was content without being complacent; He is actively pursuing Christ! A mark of maturity is that you are not so proud that you think you have arrived. You have room to grow. You are following on to know the Lord. Successful people never stop growing. Never stop learning. Never stop reading. Never stop praying. Never stop getting involved with people.
Oh, I have gone to church enough. No one can teach me anymore! I have read the Bible through one time. I do not need to read it anymore. I have memorized ten verses. That is enough. I have witnessed to 10 people and no one got saved. I give up. We must follow the Lord diligently, compassionately, faithfully!
To grow we must refuse legalism and rejoice in our liberty that we have in Christ. Liberty does not mean license, however. Liberty does not mean we are lawless.
2. Decision #2: I will FORGET!
Now, you say, how can I forget the past? Did Paul forget his past? He just told us about his past and now he is telling us he is forgetting it! To forget does not mean that we fail to remember. It is clear that Paul had a mental remembrance of his past. Some things we will never forget. Forgetting those things that behind means,
? Do not let the past DICTATE your present belief system. In other words, if you were taught EVOLUTION, forget that and believe you were made in the image of God.
? Do not let the past DOMINATE you by KEEPING YOU IN A BOX, or KEEPING YOU UNDER THE THUMB of your past failures and sins. I remember that I used to smoke marijuana, yet I forget the past in that I do not let that cause me to think, I cannot overcome my drug habit. I used to smoke cigarettes, but I do not allow that habit to conquer me today. I am more than a conqueror through Christ. Exercise yourself unto godliness and use the spiritual weapons of your warfare, PRAYER and the WORD OF GOD!
? Do not let your past SINS and WICKED BEHAVIOR DEPRESS OR DISAPPOINT YOU, causing a sense of hopeless sorrow in the present. Sin can sap the energy to live from our soul; sin can be like a very heavy burden that causes us to be bowed down. (Psalm 38:3-6).
See how David describes his sin: Psalm 32:3,4, When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long. For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me: my moisture is turned into the drought of summer.
The key here is to ACKNOWLEDGE OUR SINS and confess our transgressions to the Lord.
? Do not let the past DISTRACT YOU from your present responsibilities. Perhaps you have had an abortion in your past and you have two other children to care for. Are you going to let your past sin distract you from your responsibility to be the best parent you can be RIGHT NOW for the glory of God?
Realize that the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin, and then seek to sin no more!
? Do not let the past DEFEAT you in your present race. Do you have guilt from your past?
? Do not let the past DEFLATE your sense of purpose, your goals for today.
Properly relating to our past is very important to running the race of your life. If you live in the past, you cannot run the race right. You cannot steal second if you are focused on first base. You cannot run a race if you are constantly looking behind you. If you are driven by your past, or if you DWELL on the past, you cannot run the race of your life in a winning fashion. If you are MANIPULATED by your past, you will be a loser today. You cannot run the race of your life by constantly looking back. We cannot let the past DOMINATE us, DEFEAT us, DEFLATE us, DISTRACT us or DEPRESS us; we must learn from the past, forgive others where that is needed; get forgiveness where that is needed; confess our sins to God where that is needed. We are not to live with GUILT from our past. Forget those things which are behind! That means you are living in the present moment.
Attitude: I am able to move on from my past. I am not forever a slave to my past. God can help me change.
Paul’s past which he refused to not make the center of his focus, is his past religion. He had to forget about depending upon what he did to find favor with God.
Forget the past by reaching forth to the future. Strenuously exert yourself, with muscles straining and sweat dripping, not looking back but reaching ahead. The picture is of an athlete straining with his body bent forward and sweating, with his eyes fastened on the race ahead.
Forget the past by realizing you are not what you used to be. There has been growth out of what you once were. Some people are destroyed in their present by the memory, the guilt, the devastation of the past. Some of you need to forget the …
PAIN of the past: the abortion, the bankruptcy, the molestation, the poverty, the abuse. Listen to me: no amount of tears today can change the past. The past does not have to DIRECT you today. God can take the hurt of the past and even turn it into good. Do you know that our all powerful, sovereign God who decreed to create the world, to send His Son to die for our sins, has decreed to overrule sin for good. God can do that!
PERVERSION of the past: What sin is in your past? Does that have to be a weight around you today? NO! Whatever sin you have committed in your past can be completely, immediately, and eternally forgiven by our gracious God. On what basis does God forgive sin? On the basis of the shed blood of Jesus Christ. The blood of Christ can cleanse our conscience from dead works to serve the living God!
Illus. Philemon 11, Which in time past was to thee unprofitable, but now profitable to thee and to me:
Successes of the past: Some people rest on their laurels and do nothing today. How sad! I used to teach Sunday School, or sing in the choir. What are you doing NOW? Don’t be a USED to Christian, living as if all your energy is USED UP. Do not rest on the success of your past to do nothing now, but allow the successes of your past to motivate you to greater challenges, higher heights in the present.
One of the most difficult and important things that an athlete can do after they have reached the top of their profession is to not become complacent and proud. There are not too many REPEAT champions in professional sports. What made Michael Jordan such a great athlete? That he never relaxed. He never had the attitude, I am MJ. All I have to do is show up. He never rested or relaxed. He knew that he had to compete even harder to win the second and third championships. That is what forgetting the past successes is all about.
How do you forget those things that are behind? Trust in the Lord Jesus Christ and in His blood to forgive you of all sin!
3. Decision: I will FOCUS!
The picture here is of an athlete bearing down on the finish line, coming down the home stretch of a race!
Paul kept his goal before him. Do you have a goal in your life? Is it written down? One of the most helpful things you can do to simplify your life is to write down your mission in life. Your life is the race of your life. What are here for? Write it down and remind yourself often of your purpose. Is your goal to be a godly man? Is your goal to be a loving parent or spouse? Then write it down.
Paul used to persecute Christians, now he followed Christ and the ultimate prize to be like Him, and to see Him. (Paul uses the same word for “persecute,” “follow” and “press.”)
Paul was pressing toward the mark for the prize, the reward of the high calling of God. What does this mean? It means that our calling is FROM heaven and it leads us to heaven. A high calling.
Hebrews 3:1, “heavenly calling” 2 Tim.1:9, “holy calling” This call comes from our God who is holy and leads us to live a holy life.
I remember as a child I would be out playing and my mother would call me home to dinner. Her calling led me home to her home-cooked meal. That was a high calling, for my mother was my authority.
Attitude: The best is yet to come! I am not what I will be! When I see Jesus, I will then be like him.
Lastly, Paul, says, Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded. In other words, if you realize that you have not reached ABSOLUTE ABSOLUTE PERFECTION, but you are a work in progress, and you are seeking to live in a Christ-like fashion, growing in maturity, you are mature and “perfect” in a comparative sense.
You are in the race of your life. I read the story of John Colter. He was part of the famous Lewis and Clark expeditions of the early 1800’s in the western part of America. As he was trapping out west with his friend, he found himself surrounded by Blackfeet Indians with drawn bows. The Indians swarmed around him and tied him down and wondered what to do with him. The chief approached Colter and asked him if he could run like a deer. Colter said that he was not as fast as the deer but slow as the turtle. The chief took Colter to a sandy plain and made a mark. He then took Colter and gave him a 300 yard head start. The buck naked Colter, without anything on his feet started running for his life. The Indians started 300 yards behind him, each carrying his favorite weapon. The plain stretched ahead of Colter for six miles, dotted only by sagebrush and prickly pear. Colter could see a line of trees on what must have been a bend of the river. He focused on those trees about six miles away. His feet were soon cut to bloody ribbons by the sharp stones. One mile, two mile, then three. Colter looked behind him and saw an Indian close to within 200 yards. Blood trickled from Colter’s mouth and nose. At 4 miles, the Indian had closed to within 50 yards. Colter whirled and stopped, faced the onrushing Indian. The Indian threw his lance, but as it left his hand, he stumbled and fell. The lance fell short of Colter, who grabbed it and and plunged it into the exhausted Indian before he could regain his footing. Summoning every ounce of strength, Colter ran the remaining mile or so to the river. In the middle of the stream was a bunch of driftwood which had come down with the spring floods. Colter swam out to the driftwood, dove beneath it and was able to hide beneath the makeshift shelter. The Blackfeet indians approached, and swarmed around the river and even stood upon the logs that covered Colter’s head, but they could not find him. They kept up the hunt until late in the afternoon before finally leaving. Colter swam downstream until he found a tiny stretch of bank concealed by trees and brush. Half-frozen, bleeding, and nearly delirious from exposure and loss of blood, Colter pulled himself out of the stream and lay gasping on the bank. He had no rifle, food, fire, horse, shoes, or clothing. He had been stripped of everything except his will to live. He was half-dead and 150 miles away from the trading post at Big horn, yet seven days later he walked naked, bleeding, and hungry into that Bighorn compound. Colter was stripped of his clothes but not his courage; stripped of his weapons but not his will to win; stripped of his provisions but not his purpose to survive. Let us run the race with patience, let us run to win in the race of our life, your life!
My friends, we too are in the race of our lives, we are in the race for our life, so run to win