Philippians 3:16 NIVUK
[16] Only let us live up to what we have already attained. https://bible.com/bible/113/php.3.16.NIVUK
Human beings are something of an ironic species. There is little we despise more than what we term a ‘fall from grace’: when someone who used to be in a powerful position is involved in an unexpected scandal and is forced to renounce their position.
We’ve had more than a few of them over the years.
Yet nothing sells newspapers or gets hits on websites faster. Nothing titillates our gossip, excites our moral condemnation, sets our tongues wagging, faster than misconduct by someone from whom we would expect better.
Our own sins might be larger. Irritatingly so. Our own weaknesses might be obvious. Or thinly disguised.
But woe betide anyone who disappoints us.
Paul follows his structure in the two central chapters of Philippians of having beautiful, but deeply challenging, teaching on aspects of theology, followed by an application directly to their situation. It’s quite easy to find teaching on the theological parts. They are so inspirational and aspirational.
But the applications, which are no less important?
That’s another thing.
Here Paul gives us a simple exhortation to live up to what we have already gained or achieved: the experiences we’ve had; the teachings we have received; the progress we have made. That exhortation ought to challenge us deeply.
It’s certainly not as easy as it looks.
Just think for a second. Here in the West we have an incredible number of Biblical resources in a device that fits into our pocket. We have bookshops full of all kinds of commentaries and novels and doctrinal teachings and so forth.
We have greater access to the Bible and teachers of it than at any time in history.
Yet can we say we are living up to what we have?
The Bible is painfully clear: God will hold us to account for how we used the resources we have. Jesus Himself said so:
Luke 12:48 NIVUK
[48] From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked. https://bible.com/bible/113/luk.12.48.NIVUK
This causes us to ask ourselves the deeply challenging question: are we living up to what we have?
We will explore four aspects of this. The first of these is Where we Are:
Philippians 16-3:15 NIVUK
[15] All of us, then, who are mature should take such a view of things. 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.
There is an old saying in Scotland when someone acts a little immature. We say, ‘Act your age, not your shoe size’. I have no idea where it comes from, but it is quite a funny thing to say.
These verses are about maturity: about living up to the knowledge that you already have. Paul has stated that he believes maturity is evidenced when we are willing to know Christ above all things, and that if that view seems too much for us – if it seems to be too radical – then we should, as a bare minimum, live up to what we already have.
The colour of the Greek does not come through in the more sanitised English text here. Paul makes specific and direct applications here in what seems to almost be a rhyming couplet. Those applications are to what we do and how we think/feel: our mind and our actions.
In other words, our thoughts and feelings really do matter. If these are mature, then our actions will follow.
Paul is specifically asking the Philippians to acknowledge where they are in life – the position they hold in the race to become like Christ – and, as bare minimum, consolidate that with correct thoughts and actions.
Maturity in Christ is a key theme for Paul in his letters. Consider his stinging rebuke to the Corinthians:
1 Corinthians 2-3:1 NIVUK
[1] Brothers and sisters, I could not address you as people who live by the Spirit but as people who are still worldly – mere infants in Christ. [2] I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready. https://bible.com/bible/113/1co.3.1.NIVUK
Or the teaching in Hebrews:
Hebrews 14-5:11 NIVUK
[11] We have much to say about this, but it is hard to make it clear to you because you no longer try to understand. [12] In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! [13] Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. [14] But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil. https://bible.com/bible/113/heb.5.11.NIVUK
Maturity doesn’t necessarily come with advancing age. Neither does it come with advancing knowledge. It comes only with advancing application – a life which becomes ever more like Christ.
If we see someone acting immaturely all the time, we often worry about their mental health. We have them assessed by doctors and psychologists to check for a developmental delay. As parents or relatives, we fret over their future, and if they will be able to look after themselves after we are gone.
I have relatives with developmental delays. It’s not easy.
It’s a serious problem.
But what about Christians with developmental delays? What about Christians who have years of teaching and being in church, and yet show serious immaturity in their behaviour and actions?
Should we not fear for them?
Brothers and sisters, we have a responsibility. Our access to Bibles and theological literature and teaching has never been greater in the history of the church.
But are we living up to it?
That’s a tough question.
Apart from where we are, we also see the aspect of Who We Follow:
Philippians 3:17 NIVUK
[17] Join together in following my example, brothers and sisters, and just as you have us as a model, keep your eyes on those who live as we do. https://bible.com/bible/113/php.3.17.NIVUK
This is absolutely critical. I don’t just mean this in a social media sense – although it wouldn’t hurt is to go through the people we follow and to get rid of those who would entice us away from following Jesus.
I mean this in terms of who we follow as role models for our lives.
Paul understood the importance of this for the Philippians. He knew they needed people whose lifestyle they could follow, who would help keep them on the right track. So he offered himself and his companions.
As I said before in a previous post, this is often misunderstood as being boastful and egotistical. I disagree. Paul is actually heaping pressure on himself here. He is setting himself up to be the one they follow as he follows Christ (1 Corinthians 11:1). He is asking for them to join in one giant Conga line: a game of ‘Follow My Leader’ in which Jesus is the ultimate leader.
Finding good examples and following them is actually an important way of learning anything at all. Small children do it when they learn to talk and walk and socially interact. Young people do it as they learn to cook and clean and keep house.
Unfortunately, nowadays, the examples of those who set themselves up as leaders and ‘influencers’ online is not always positive.
This is why we should be selective about who we follow.
This is where the little warning, the small caveat, in 1 Corinthians 11:1 is critical. Paul told the Corinthians to follow him ‘as’, or ‘just as’ or ‘in proportion to’ or ‘according to’ how he followed Christ. There is a recognition here that even he is not perfect. He makes mistakes like the rest of us. He wants them, and the Philippians, and us, to keep what is good and delete what is bad: to follow Him, but only when he gets it right.
There is nothing wrong with following someone. It’s healthy. It helps us to grow. But we must use our critical faculties. We must engage our brain. We must keep what is good and delete what is bad.
That is how we become more like Christ.
As well as where we are and who we follow, we also see that our maturity is a case of understanding How We Fall:
Philippians 19-3:18 NIVUK
[18] For, as I have often told you before and now tell you 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 set on earthly things. https://bible.com/bible/113/php.3.18.NIVUK
Writing as he was to a church where Graeco-Roman culture dominated, Paul could be targeting his emotion and his ire here for a particularly awful form of gluttony.
The Romans are known for their adoration of large, lavish banquets. However, when there was so much delicious food around, the problem is that eventually you will eat and have your fill.
Well, the Romans had a disgusting cure for that. They would simply tickle their throats to provoke themselves to vomit and then eat some more.
This is quite vile, especially as there were many in Paul’s day, as there are now, who do not have enough to eat.
But it isn’t just these vile Romans who are in Paul’s sights here.
These verses’ central image of the stomach being their god is a picture, not just of gluttony, but of hedonism – a form of consumption that us utterly focused on taste and feelings and sensual appetites and not at all on Christ.
In fact, it is the complete opposite of Christ.
That is why Paul states that such people are ‘enemies of the cross of Christ’. Of course they are! The ‘me first’ principles that undergird their lives are diametrically opposed to the ‘God first’ principles of a Christ-like life.
But the implications of this are huge and far-reaching.
These verses teach that those whose lives are based on selfish, hedonistic urges are enemies of the cross of Christ. But we have to brutally honest here: how many of these people would call themselves Christians? The upshot of these verses is that they are not – their god is their appetite and their desire is for ways other than the way of the Cross.
If all sin is based on selfish, hedonistic urges, then Paul is warning us that our inward desire to sin will take us down the same path as te lost and the damned. James agrees:
James 15-1:13 NIVUK
[13] When tempted, no-one should say, ‘God is tempting me.’ For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; [14] but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. [15] Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death. https://bible.com/bible/113/jas.1.13.NIVUK
Chilling, isn’t it?
But as well as where we are, who we follow and how we fall, we also see How We Rise:
Philippians 21-3:20 NIVUK
[20] But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Saviour 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. https://bible.com/bible/113/php.3.20.NIVUK
Paul uses a picture of something the Philippians are very familiar with – their precious Roman citizenship. Citizenship affords you the same rights and privileges as a native. In their day, there was a substantial tax benefit as Romans only taxed non-citizens, so the Philippianspaid no tax. The Philippians would have benefited from this enormously.
Which is why Paul uses this picture. Involvement in the selfish consumption of sin only ever causes loss. Recognising that your citizenship is in heaven and behaving like it only brings gain, despite the pain.
Paul also talks about the time when we, as citizens, will be ‘taken home’, and how this will lead to the very transformation of the fleshly body full of desires that leads us to sin in the fleet place.
Gossip columns and blogs are often filled with information about other people’s failings. And yes, they are needed. Democracy requires accountability, and the media has a very important role to play in this. Our stars place themselves in the public sphere. They are role models for our young. It is absolutely right that they are brought to heel when they do things we would rather our young people do not copy. They have a responsibility towards them.
But these verses are like a mirror. They turn that fierce examination back on us. Are we living up to the experience we have and the huge spiritual resources at our disposal? Are we aware of where we are, who we follow, how we fall and how we rise?
Are we good examples to a watching world of what it really means to follow Jesus?
That, perhaps, is a much more challenging question.
Because when we see the glare of the public gaze on the next fallen star or leader, we have to ask ourselves this tough question:
What would happen if they did that to me?
Prayer
Lord Jesus, these are tough words to take in. I understand them, but I wish that I didn’t. Help me to live up to the high name of ‘Christian’ in all that I do, say and think. Amen.
Questions
1. Why is it important for all Christians to live up to the name of ‘Christian’?
2. The media often give those who claim to be Christians a much harder time when they fail. Is that fair? Why/why not? Are they justified in expecting higher standards from us? Why/why not?
3. How can we live up to what we have already achieved?
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