Our Goal = Growing in Christ Part #2 (Philippians 3:17-21)

Series: Squad Goals – Study through Philippians
Speaker: Tim Perkins
Date: March 6, 2022
Message Title: Our Goal = Growing in Christ Part #2 (Philippians 3:17-21)

(Luke 13:23b–27 NIV) He said to them, 24 “Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to. 25 Once the owner of the house gets up and closes the door, you will stand outside knocking and pleading, ‘Sir, open the door for us.’ “But he will answer, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from.’ 26 “Then you will say, ‘We ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets.’ 27 “But he will reply, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from. Away from me, all you evildoers!’

1. To grow spiritually: we have to OWN our shortcomings.

 (Philippians 3:12a NIV) Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect

(Philippians 3:13a NIV) Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. 

2. To grow spiritually: we must PRESS into Christ

(Philippians 3:12b NIV) but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.

(Philippians 3:14a NIV) I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

3. To grow spiritually: we need to FORGET the past

(Philippians 3:13b NIV) But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead,

4. To grow spiritually: we need stop COMPARING ourselves to others 

(Philippians 3:15b-16 NIV) And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you. 16 Only let us live up to what we have already attained.

(Philippians 3:17-21 NIV) Join with others in following my example, brothers, and take note of those who live according to the pattern we gave you. 18 For, as I have often told you before and now say again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. 19 Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is on earthly things. 20 But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21 who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.

5. To grow spiritually: we need examples

(Philippians 3:17 NIV) Join with others in following my example, brothers, and take noteof those who live according to the pattern we gave you.

(2 Corinthians 12:7 NIV) To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger from Satan, to torment me.

(1 Timothy 1:15 NIV) Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst.

(1 Corinthians 11:1 ESV) Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.

(Philippians 3:17 NIV) Join with others in following my example, brothers, and take note of those who live according to the pattern we gave you.

6. To grow spiritually: we must avoid spiritual

(Philippians 3:18 NIV) For, as I have often told you before and now say again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ.

(Acts 20:28-30 NLT) So guard yourselves and God’s people…. I know that false teachers, like vicious wolves, will come in among you after I leave, not sparing the flock. Even some men from your own group will rise up and distort the truth in order to draw a following.

(Philippians 3:19 NIV) Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is on earthly things.

7. To grow spiritually: we need to remind ourselves about .

(Philippians 3:20a NIV) But our citizenship is in heaven.

(Philippians 3:20-21 NIV) But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21 who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like His glorious body. 

(1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 NIV) For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.

(1 Corinthians 15:51-52 NLT) But let me reveal to you a wonderful secret. We will not all die, but we will all be transformed! It will happen in a moment, in the blink of an eye, when the last trumpet is blown. For when the trumpet sounds, those who have died will be raised to live forever. And we who are living will also be transformed.

(1 Thessalonians 5:1-3 NIV) Now, brothers, about times and dates we do not need to write to you, for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying, “Peace and safety,” destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.

(Philippians 3:21 NIV) who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.

(2 Corinthians 4:8-9 NIV) We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.

(2 Corinthians 4:16-18 NIV) Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen.

(Matthew 19:29 NIV) And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life.

 (Romans 5:8 NLT) But God showed His great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.

(Romans 5:10 NLT) For since our friendship with God was restored by the death of His Son while we were still His enemies, we will certainly be saved through the life of His Son.