Phil. 3:15-17 - Have This Attitude

15 Let us therefore, as many as are perfect, have this attitude; and if in anything you have a different attitude, God will reveal that also to you;
16 however, let us keep living by that same standard to which we have attained.
17 Brethren, join in following my example, and observe those who walk according to the pattern you have in us.

Follow My Example

Vs. 15 - “Let us... have this attitude” - Which attitude? Which of the several Paul has proffered? Here’s a sampling from this letter:

To live is Christ, to die is gain.
Live in a manner worthy of Christ.
Have the same attitude as Christ’s, putting the interests of others first.
Don’t grumble
Rejoice in the Lord.
Grasping the surpassing value of knowing Christ.
Press on!

The attitude Paul had in mind is the last one. Press on! Reach for all the others! The process of ‘working out your salvation’ will help you to surrender every facet of your life to the empowering of the Holy Spirit.

“as many as are perfect” - Maturity is the concept here. New believers need to mentored by mature Christians. As you live out your faith, you will learn and grow, making fewer mistakes as you mature. See: “For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is an infant. But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil.” (Heb. 5:12-14)

“And...if you have a different attitude” - Paul is encouraging us to listen to God when He pokes our conscience. Respond to that nudge from the Holy Spirit by changing your behavior to conform to God’s will - to be transformed.

Vs. 16 - “keep living by that same standard” - Living by faith in Jesus Christ. Again, Paul says it best: "I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.” (Gal. 2:20)

Vs. 17 - “Join in following my example” - Interesting verse: three English words - join, follow, example - are the same Greek word. (How do they do that?) I think the sense of this verse is: “Christ held back nothing. I am living my life like that. You would do well to do the same.”

“Observe those who walk according to the pattern“ - Paul repeats this admonition. Look to the believers around you who are living for Christ, and have also followed our example. See the following quote from “The Little Book of Talent”, by Daniel Coyle, from Tip #1 (i.e.: Chap. 1): “If you were to visit a dozen talent hotbeds tomorrow, you would be struck by how much time the learners spend observing top performers. When I say ‘observing,’ I’m not talking about passively watching. I’m talking about staring—the kind of raw, unblinking, intensely absorbed gazes you see in hungry cats or newborn babies. We each live with a “windshield” of people in front of us; one of the keys to igniting your motivation is to fill your windshield with vivid images of your future self, and to stare at them every day.” (See: Note 1)
Stare - intently - at the person you want to be like. Figure out what they do that makes them so successful. Do that thing. Do you want to know how make sourdough bread? Download an tutorial from the internet. (A tutorial is one of the few blessings of the Internet...) Do you need help in knitting a complicated cable stitch for a sweater? Click on an internet lesson.
Flip back to chapter 2, verse 5, the exhortation is to have the same attitude as was Jesus Christ’s. What better model could you have? He died for you. He lives for you. He empowers you to live for Him.

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Note 1: “The Little Book of Talent”; Coyle, Daniel; 2012; Bantam Books
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Phil. 3:12-14 - Press On

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.

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Strive to Reach the Goal

Vs. 12 - “Not that I have already obtained it” - Look back to verse 8 - “the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord”. Paul is saying there is so much to know, to learn about Jesus. Knowing Him as Savior is only the first step! Complete knowledge will not happen until we see Jesus face-to-face in glory.

“Or have become perfect” - Paul had not accomplished complete knowledge of Christ Jesus. Who knows if we ever will do that, even in eternity - God is so far above and beyond anything we know or can imagine. I think we get a sense of what some call “progressive sanctification”, (See note 1, below). The ultimate goal is for we believers to be exactly like Jesus, therefore acceptable to God the Father, and suitable to spend eternity in His presence. This is all done through the power and grace of Jesus. It is Christ about whom we can brag, not ourselves. Jesus gave Himself so we would become perfect (Jhn 17:23). Because the Law made nothing perfect (Heb. 7:19). By the one offering (Jesus Christ) we have been perfected - acceptable to the Lord (Heb. 10:14).

“I press on” - Run, Paul, run! See Paul run for the prize! Do not give up until you have the goal gripped in your hands. I once read a comparison of amateur versus professional athletes: “Amateurs practice a task until they get it right. Professionals practice until they can’t get it wrong.” I’ve also read that “Practice does not make perfect. Only perfect practice makes perfect.” We have also have heard of the “10,000” metric. That is, you can hone a skill if you are willing to do it 10,000 times (some have said 10,000 times a year!).
No half-hearted measures here. The goal - being like Jesus - is worth working toward.

“That I may lay hold of...” - Paul understood that Jesus called him to salvation. He answered the call. Now he wants to continue to grow in his faith, in order to please the one who called. (See: Acts 9:4-6) We are called to believe. “The Screwtape Letters”, by C. S. Lewis, notes that God does not coerce, He only woos. Christ ‘lays hold of us’ in that the Holy Spirit speaks to our spirit. We are called to come to Him, to believe in Him, to be saved by Him, and to live our lives for Him. Living our lives worthy of the calling is what Paul means by “that I may lay hold of”

Vs. 13 - “but one thing I do” - Paul is singularly focused - “One thing I do!” Note: Paul persecuted the church of Jesus Christ. Forget about it. That’s behind him. Paul committed crimes, hunting down and in some cases condemning believers to death. He’s not worried about that! That is in the past!

“Reaching forward” - This is another way of saying “Press on!” The 100 meter dash competitors always lean forward at the finish line. Why? You need every possible millimeter to be there first! At the climax of the movie “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade” the villainess strained to reach out for the Grail where it had fallen in the crevasse. Paul wants us to strain forward for life, unlike her reaching backward to death.

Vs. 14 -“I press on” - See the fervor in Paul’s exhortation: I press on (v. 12, 14); lay hold of it (v.12); one thing I do (v. 13); reaching forward. (v. 13).
He wants to obtain it (v. 12); lay hold of it (i.e., grab hold with both hands) (v. 12).
What is he after: a goal (v. 14); a prize (v. 14); an upward call (v. 14).
Paul uses sports images and military images in this letter. It is only in U-8 soccer that winning is denigrated - participation prizes are rampant, and totally unimportant. How many times have you seen athletes weep because they lost the World Series, or the Super Bowl? They have poured their life into attaining that goal, and it eluded their grasp.
The object of a battle or a war is to win. Failure means subjugation. There were people who complained to Abraham Lincoln that U. S. Grant was a drunkard. Lincoln’s response was that he wished he had more generals who drank and won as much. Grant’s nickname was “Unconditional Surrender Grant” - because his campaigns were unrelenting. He pushed and drove the enemy until they broke. That is the attitude we need to have - an unrelenting drive to attain the maturity of pure Christian living, waiting with joy for the return of Christ, or going to be with Him.

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Note 1: Three phases of progressive sanctification: Phase 1 - “Positional” (or, instant) - when you accept and believe Jesus is your Lord and Savior you are instantly a child of God whose destiny is eternal life with Jesus (see Rom. 8:29).
Phase 2 - “Experiential” - as you live out your salvation, you grow to know more and more about Jesus through the power of the Holy Spirit (See: Rom. 12:1-2; 1 Pet. 1:14-16).
Phase 3 - “Ultimate” - when you die, or when Christ returns, you will see Him just as He is, for you will be like Him (see: Eph. 1:13-14).
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