I teach an Adult Bible Community at Thomas Road Baptist Church called the G.A.P. (for Graduates and Professionals), and each week I post the outlines and discussion questions from my lessons on the G.A.P. page on Facebook. A while back I started posting these notes on the blog too. So, here is the outline and questions for our meeting on October 17, 2010. Today Thomas Road started a new church wide series entitled "Live Like You Were Dying." The staff at TRBC provided teachers topics and notes for each lesson for the next few weeks. I used the notes they provided and tweaked them a bit to fit our particular group. The result are the notes below entitled "How to be a Champion" and looking at Philippians 3:8-14. If you have any questions or would like to add a comment or two, that would be great!
How to be a Champion
Live Like You Were Dying Series
Philippians 3:8-14
Introduction
Beginning a new series today as a church wide topic
Live Like You Were Dying
A popular song by Tim McGraw
Question
If you only had 30 days to live, what would you do different? How would it change you?
To consider these questions today, we will look at some wisdom from Paul in Philippians 3:8-14
Paul finishes this passage with the statement that he is pressing on to win the prize
Everybody loves a winner, right?
What kinds of sports produce champions in our culture?
What does it take to produce champions in these sports?
If that much effort is poured into creating winners for temporal, fading rewards, then how much more significant is it to invest our efforts in being spiritual champions.
Paul compares our spiritual life to a race, probably the Isthmian games from Corinth. Paul says that what is true for athletes should be true for Christians.
Focus and passion are required to be a champion
1. Proper Focus
In verses 8-11, Paul reminds us that to be spiritual champions requires us to focus on life’s highest priority
Paul says that life is worthless compared to the amazing privilege of knowing Jesus Christ
In a race, distractions can be dangerous
What are some things that distract or weigh down Christians in the 21st century?
Hint: What did we talk about last week from 1 John 2:15-17?
Sometimes we fill our lives with so much stuff and activities that we do not slow down enough to focus on what is important
When we do that, we find ourselves tripped up by distractions
The problem with “full lives” is that all too often God speaks in the margins.
To hear God and to know God you must create space in your life for God. You must create margin moments in your day when you can sit at the feet of Jesus. These times require focus on what is important and will help us grow by nourishing our souls
The ultimate target in life is a personal, intimate, growing, ongoing relationship with Jesus
a. Ginosko here refers to an experience, not simply head knowledge or mental assent
b. It is the same word John used in his first epistle—we have to realize that knowing Jesus is THE MOST IMPORTANT THING IN LIFE
c. Everything else pales in comparison
d. There are no relationships, no job opportunities, no position of fame or “success” that is as important as knowing God (remember Matthew 22:37-40)
Question
How would knowing you only have a month to live change your pursuit of God?
Ambiguities will destroy our focus—we must know our goal
Our highest calling is a life changing relationship with Jesus
Paul’s impressive resume earlier in the chapter vs. Paul’s focus in vv. 8ff
Paul mentions that he wants to know Jesus and the power of his resurrection
All of us want to sign up for that
He also talks about suffering and death
Paul is talking about “no pain no gain” here
Focus and passion are required to be a champion
Both of these need practice to develop properly
2. Practice
In verses 11-13, Paul reminds his readers that he is not claiming perfection
Remember, this is the Apostle Paul we are talking about:
a. After threatening to kill Christians, he has a face-to-face encounter with the resurrected Jesus
b. He goes on to preach the gospel all over the Roman empire and especially to Gentiles
c. He writes almost half of the New Testament
d. If he hasn’t arrived, who can?
We have to remember that our relationship with Christ is a process—to succeed in that process requires us to practice what God has taught us
What keeps us from moving forward? What hinders us from growing in Christ?
We need to develop a discontent with where we are spiritually so that we may be motivated to move forward
Example—football practice
Even though it was difficult and I sometimes hated it, I knew I could not play football as well as I wanted unless I practice the necessary skills needed to succeed
We must be discontent with where we are, we must move on to the things God wants us to do
Focus and passion are required to be a champion
To attain these requires a proper perspective
3. Perspective
In verses 13 and 14, Paul reminds his readers that one thing that is needed for proper perspective is we must put the past behind us (or, for you “Lion King” fans—”put your behind in the past”)
Paul says that he is “forgetting what lies behind”
He doesn’t mean trying to erase all past memories from his mind
He means something like what I hear at football games when a quarterback makes a bad play
The announcer will say “He needs to focus on the play to come and not on what just happened.” In other words, he should not let his “bad plays” have an effect on his present actions
Living in the past (or looking in the rear view mirror) typically causes us to stumble in our race
Learning from the past is important, of course, but living in bondage to the past just hinders us
We must choose not to be held hostage by our past
Another important part of perspective is the need to keep our eyes on the future—to look forward with expectation to what God is doing in us and through us
Think of a runner or the driver of a chariot nearing the finish line
We need to lunge forward, to lean into the future
Clarence Jordan says “It is difficult to be indifferent to a wide-awake Christian, a real live person of God. It is even more difficult to be indifferent to a whole body of Christians like this.”
If you found that you only had 30 days to live, how would you live differently than today?
A. W. Tozer says it this way—those who are passionately focused on and devoted to God
Are facing in one direction (i.e., they allow no hindrances)
Can never turn back (i.e., they keep moving in the direction of God)
No longer have plans of their own
Focus and passion are required to be a champion
What does your focus say about you?
What does your passion reveal about your goals?
Application
How do we respond to these things?
George Bernard Shaw said:
“This is the true joy in life . . . being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one. . . I want to be thoroughly used up when I die. For the harder I work the more I live. Life is no brief candle to me. It’s a sort of splendid torch which I’ve got to hold up for the moment and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations.”
We know that our spiritual life is like a race, and we know that winning that race requires focus and passion. What can we do this week to improve these things?
First, this week check your focus. Where is our attention? Where is our focus? This week take 20 minutes a day to get in the presence of Jesus. Read his Bible. Listen to his Spirit. Ask where your focus needs to be. Then do what he tells you. Also, take a look at the things that are important to you. Make a list. Does that list reflect a focus on things more than on people? If so, make a point this week to focus on others. Meet needs that you see in your circle. Put people first.
Second, find ways to increase your passion. Like practice for an athlete, find ways to motivate yourself to do those things that seem to have become “humdrum” or every day. What can you do this week to increase your passion? What will we have to leave behind to pursue a passion for Christ? What things rob us of our passion? We need to deal decisively with those things. Put them aside. Repent and pursue God. Ask him to increase your passion.
Focus and passion are required to be a champion
This week let’s focus on what pleases God and let’s be passionate about what honors him.
Let’s be Champions for Christ
Discussion Questions
1. Where is your focus and passion? Do they need adjustment?
2. Why did Paul view his former accomplishments as "rubbish"? (3:8)
3. What “rubbish” or “garbage” do we find ourselves hanging on to as a means of justifying our existence or our position? How does this stuff compare to Jesus?
4. What hope did Paul express? (3:9-11) How is one “found in Christ”?
5. If someone asked you how you “know” God, how would you respond? How has the knowledge of Christ changed your life?
6. Where have you experience Christ’s power? His resurrection? His death?
7. In what ways did Paul's spiritual life resemble the discipline of a runner? (3:12-14) In what areas do you need discipline or practice to improve your focus?
8. What was Paul's view of the past? (3:13) Where have you allowed your past to hold you hostage? How can your past help urge you forward?
9. What was Paul's goal? (3:14) Had Paul attained it?
10. How can we imitate Paul in our spiritual journey? What do we need to help us stay focused in our relationship with Christ?
11. Who in your world needs to see a person “totally alive” for Christ? How can you be that person?
Thanks for reading!
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