The call of God in Christ Jesus #1
Philippians 3:12-16 · Roger Henderson · Jul 8, 2012
Philippians (2012), No. 27
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/492632037933

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

Today we continue on in chapter 3 of Philippians. I came up with the titles. I have this A Call of God in Christ Jesus. It actually could be a continuation, it could be part 3 of Knowing Christ Jesus. All those concepts are in there, Knowing Christ Jesus and A Call of God in Christ Jesus.

The titles are not inspired. Can I get someone to read I'd like to go back a little bit, start in Philippians 3, verse 7, and then read down to verse 16. It's a few verses, but I think it will give us the context for our ones today. So it would be Philippians 3, 7 through 3, 16.

But what things were gained to me, those I counted lost for Christ, yea, doubtless, and I count all things but lost for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord. for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but done, that I may win Christ, and be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ Jesus, the righteousness which is of God by faith, that I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death, if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead, not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect, but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that, for which I also am apprehended of Christ. Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended, but this one thing I do. Forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded. And if in anything ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you. Nevertheless, whereto we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule. Let us mind the same thing. Great. Thank you. OK.

So we're going to cover these in these two classes. This week and next week we're going to cover 12 through 16. Today I'm just going to cover the first two verses and then I actually kind of realize I'm kind of cutting off in the middle of a sentence, but it'll give me an opportunity next week to kind of go back and pick up that. So we're going to cover just 12 and 13 today. Okay, so let's just kind of jump right into the first verse, 12a. And I want to just look at this thing, not that I have already obtained it.

So Paul's going to start off here and he's going to talk about that he really, you know, some people might think, well, this is Paul, you know, he's a truly, you know, God-ordained person. I mean, he's got to have it all together and he must be the most mature believer out there.

And he says, in this verse and the ones that follow, he says, you know, I really haven't And we're going to talk about what it is in a second here. I'm going to ask you that question. But he's going to say, I'm not there. I haven't, quote, arrived in my Christian life.

And it's interesting, I know that Vine and I have this discussion sometimes about, and there's various groups of believers who have a process. They have salvation, they have some other experience and they come to a point where they say that I'm saved and sanctified. I'm there. I've arrived. Scripture doesn't say that. Paul doesn't say that. Paul is going to say, I really haven't arrived yet.

But what's my heart's desire? This idea of pressing on and pursuing the Lord. And one question is, does that really work? Are we working for that? We'll talk about that a little bit, probably next week. So the first word here that we kind of come across is obtained, not that I have already obtained it.

And obtained is this word lumbano. And actually, we're going to see this is one form of lumbano. And then we're going to see another form, which is really kind of interesting. It's epilumbano, kind of the intensified lumbano. We're going to see that quite a bit in the following verses.

But the first time we come across it here not that I have already obtained it, and that Labano is to take, receive, to make acquisition of, and it's an heiress passpoint fact. So let's look at, there's a few verses I put down here that use this word.

So let's look at Matthew, Matthew chapter 13, and sometimes it's difficult to find verses You know, you think, boy, today with the computer you can find almost any number of verses you ever could want. But it's amazing, sometimes it's hard to find a verse that exactly picks up on what's used in the verse that you're studying. I try to do that, but sometimes, and maybe there are some out there, I'm not saying that. But this is a case where I couldn't find exactly the same flavor. So could someone read Matthew 13 and verse 20?

And this is kind of in the middle of a section, a pretty familiar section of scripture. the one on whom seed was sown on the rocky places. This is the man who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy. OK. So this is the idea that we're obtaining something. And it's used in the negative sense here. But in the positive sense, you receive or you take something. So this is the account of immediately receives the word of God in this parable with joy. And then the next one is in Galatians. Galatians chapter 3. Galatians chapter 3. Galatians chapter 3 and verse 2. Can someone read that? This is the only thing I want to find out from you.

Did you receive the spirit by the works of the law or by hearing with faith? So here again we have this lambano, translated receive, receive the spirit by the works of the law or by faith. Obviously the answer is by faith. So receive is to take, make acquisition, make it your own.

So I think that's a good parallel verse. And then in John chapter 3, In chapter 3, verse 11, it says, Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak that which we know, and bear witness of that which we have seen, and you do not receive our witness. So here it's used in a negative sense. They're witnessing, Christ is talking about witnessing, and people are not receiving his witness of who he is and what he's done. Okay so that's that's lumbano so and it has this little companion word within our in our first part of a i mean 12a it says you have not already and already is this word that kind of marks off time it's use of it can be translated now already or by this time so actually i picked up on on kind of making it a little more literal and you can render it this way this first 12a you can render it not that i have, by this time, made acquisition of it. So now we're going to ask the question here. So he's saying, I haven't made acquisition. I haven't come to know about this thing yet.

So the question is, what is it referring to? And one of the reasons that we read that passage back, and I think this question is pretty well answered in the previous verses. And it may be there's more than one. It seemed like to me there was one central idea that he was focusing on. So anyone want to take a venture a guess? If you're in Mike's class, you know what he does. Let's see. He gets a yes, a no's, and the maybes, or whatever. I can't think how he does. The chickens. The chickens, yeah. There we go. So you don't get demerits for throwing out an idea. Okay, okay, I think that's a possibility. Okay, any other thoughts? And knowing Christ, maybe?

Okay, that was what, you know, resurrection certainly was in view when Jim taught, and that was kind of the end of, in Philippians there, we talked about, let's just go here, this makes it a little bit easier. So in the previous verses, He talked about in verse 11, the most immediate context there, you could argue, is the resurrection from the dead. But I kind of thought it was, he was, because he's going to talk about that Christ laid hold of him, and he wants to lay hold of Christ. So it seemed to me that, and that's why I kind of underlined, knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, that I may know him, to me it seemed like that was more of the focus, in the bigger sense, but you could certainly argue that it was the resurrection. That was the end of that, So basically we have the it in verse 12, not that I have already obtained it, and then we have it down later on here, I do not regard myself as laying hold of it. And I believe that's kind of the same, knowing Christ Jesus as my Lord, knowing Him. And I actually have in blue there that, and we're going to talk about that later on. And what's interesting here is that this word translated, lay hold of, lay hold of towards the end of verse 12, Actually, it's in 12 twice, and then in 13.

That's a very interesting word. Actually, it's an epilimbano. It's an intensified form of one word we just went through. Actually, in the context here, how it's rendered, it has a really neat concept. I won't tell you quite yet. That's kind of where we're headed. OK, so now the next part. Not that I have already obtained it, my becoming mature knowing him. Some have said it's maturity.

I am not sure I can argue with that. It's impossible to. Or have already become perfect. So he says I haven't obtained it or made it my own permanently or have already become perfect. So let's look at So the word perfect here is a pretty important word. To bring to an end by completing or perfecting, literally to bring to completeness. And in this case, it's in the perfect tense, perfect tense passive. So that's really kind of interesting. So let's look at a couple of literally or having been carried to a goal. is a possibility for translating what we have underlined, or have already become perfect, or already carried to a goal.

So let's look at Luke. Could someone read Luke 13? 31. Luke 13. 31? I'm sorry, 31, 32. Excuse me, I didn't mean to say that. So at that time, Lucerius is approached, saying to him, go away. Leave here, or Herod wants to kill you. And he said to them, go and tell that fox, behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I reach my goal. So here, believe it or not, this word perfect in this case is translated goal.

Which is kind of interesting. I'm not sure that, so you have what, New American Standard? I think the King James, Donna, what do you have in yours? It depends on the translation, so it shall be perfected, but in the New American Standard they have goals. So it does have this idea of of coming to an end, reaching the, some have called it maturing, not that I've already become mature, some have translated it that way or talked about it that way.

OK, so I have a question here. Based upon the verb tense and what's going on here, who's performing the action here? It's my job every day. I write in my refrigerator. I'm going to become a more mature believer today. Is that what I do each day on my refrigerator list? I'm kind of making fun here. So who's performing the action here? And if you remember from the perfect indicative passive, that passive is the key there, right? So it means that basically God is performing the action. He's the one that's perfecting it. He's bringing us to maturity. So he's saying I haven't already obtained it. I haven't already become mature, or I haven't attained to that goal of knowing Him, or have already become perfect, or been carried to the goal that God has in mind for me.

So, kind of to reinforce that point, Paul describes himself, describes his lack of becoming perfect. in this passage here in Romans. So let's just look at this for a second. So he talks about the struggle he has with his sinful nature in Romans 7, 15 through 21. And I left a verse out here there.

For what I am doing I do not understand, for I am practicing what I would like... I'm sorry. I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I'm doing the very thing I hate. So now, no longer am I the one doing it, but sin dwelling in me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is my flesh, for the willing is present in me, but the doing of good is not. For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want. But if I am doing the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. Find that the principle of evil is present in me and the wanting to do good So so Paul talks about his struggle.

So so I thought that was kind of appropriate here That the fact that Paul says, you know, I haven't already Come to the goal, you know The goal would be actually the resurrection from the dead as you talked about that be the final goal I haven't come to that final place so in Okay, so thoughts are And actually I had another verse here that we didn't talk about in John 17 which talks about It translates it perfect that word, but actually the one more interesting is the one we did in in Luke Okay, so now we're kind of building up so far we have not that I have already obtained it Knowing Christ are becoming Or have already become perfect Notice the next part. But I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which I was also laid hold of by Christ Jesus.

So the first thing is press on. So sometimes you pursue. I kind of like pursue in a sense. To pursue. Actually, A lot of these terms in here are athletic terms, like kind of for the athletic games. We have terms that are used to press on, to lay hold of. We're going to see some of that in a little bit. A lot of these terms come out of the athletic events, to put to flight, to pursue, to go after with the desire of obtaining. And in this case, this is something that is in the present tense. So it's a continuous thing. And when it's the present tense, it's continuous action.

So I had some verses here to look at. So let's look at Romans 14. And once again, some of these are a little more I couldn't find exactly the same flavor sometimes as the verse we're talking about. Romans 14 and verse 19. It says, So then let us pursue, this is our word, pensively pursue rather than press on, the things which make for peace in the building up of one another. And then the one in 1 Timothy. 1 Timothy 6, 11. Bonnie, could you read that? But flee from these things, you man of God, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, perseverance, and junkiness.

OK. So now we're going to see, basically, he talks about, but I press on. I haven't arrived, but here's my mindset. I'm going to press on, and I'm going to do that on a continual basis. I'm going to pursue. And now he's going to talk about this pursuing process. And actually, there's a little kind of transition here. So that, or if indeed. But I'll press on. So that, or if indeed. And he's going to make two statements here. That I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus. So I ask the question here. We have two statements here.

Does one logically come before, does one logically come before the other? I'm trying to answer the questions I ask, it's so ridiculous. I don't know how to, there's a clever way to state these and a clever way not. So looking at that, does one logically come before the other? So the parallel here is amazing.

The same word is used of what God is doing in the believer's life as to what we're to do toward God. I mean, you think about that. And I guess I had a hard time saying, I don't quite see if I can get the total dualism that it works both ways. But that is a concept in scripture.

Christ is in me, and I'm in Christ. That duality between. Christ and those who are saved. That relationship between the Savior and ourselves, this is one of the cases. So I'm going to answer the question here for you, but I want you to think, is there an order?

So here's my take at it. It seems logical to me that I have to have been laid hold, or I was laid hold of, by Christ Jesus. And in the passive voice, I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus. And what we're going to talk about in a minute here, we talk about lay hold of. So that's the beginning of this whole process, right? That by His grace, by faith in Him, He laid hold of me. And then my part of this is that I'm going to lay hold of Him. And that's the next part. So that I may lay hold of that. And here's the that I kind of put down there.

And what I, you know, he has the hold of, by Christ Jesus, I'm sorry, the hold of that for which Christ Jesus was also a hold of me. Rather than saying it all again, I just said that represents all that I am and will be in Christ. So I already am a child of God, all the things that scripture describes about me, and then God has a purpose for my life.

I'm not without purpose. He has a purpose Paul had a purpose. Think about his purpose. He talks about how God caught on Damascus Road. He was going along. God had a purpose. And believers have a purpose. So this order helped me with understanding this passage. I was thinking about that circle from Macaulay, God loves me and I love him because he loves me. It all goes back to the love of God.

And it starts with God doing it. God is the beginner of the action. He's the instigator. We're not the instigator. It's not that well I'm going to lay hold of the Lord and He's going to have to love me. He already has done that. That transaction, He already laid hold of me. I didn't lay hold of Him. He did it.

And my part is to realize who I am and what He has for me. Roger, could you just say that trust and belief I mean, the laying holdup sounds like, well, I've got to do something. Okay. Well, I purposely not, I purposely not given the definition yet of that. If you notice that. I'm going to say that the next chart. Okay. There's a lot in that lay hold and I don't claim I totally have it all in my head and worked it all out, but it is very interesting.

So I buy, I wanted to get the order and, And the cool part about being the passive part in that God, you know, God is the answer. God starts the process. He's the one that starts it. And then our response, he uses the same word that he used, you know, he used with us. Okay, cool. Anything else before we go and talk about lay hold of? This can easily be seen as salvation concept here. We could get into the order of election and all kinds of things. I actually wasn't trying to restrict it necessarily.

God so loved us. He took the action. He's the one with mankind. So I looked at it from that perspective. Paul has a very particular situation where he particularly had a ministry that we understand scriptures described it right. He was to be the messenger of the Gentiles. He had a specific ministry that, you know, we can talk about that. But I was just struck by the fact that this talks about that I was laid hold of by Christ. and that God did the action.

So I was looking at it in the broader sense and now we can zoom in here in a little bit. That's where I was headed. So now we're going to look at lay hold of. So actually it's the same word, it's this Lembano word. But it has a little cat eye in front of it. So it's an intensive Lembano. Lay hold of so as to possess. as one's own, to appropriate.

And actually, I noticed Donna in her translation, which I think is King James or maybe New King James, uses the word appropriate. I think that it uses appropriate. And I want to look actually in the numeric standard. Let's look at 1 Corinthians 9 and verse 24. And somebody with a New American Standard has to read it. Because it won't have the word I want in there. 1 Corinthians 9, verse 24.

Do you not know that those who run in a race run all, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win. So, believe it or not, the word win is our word lay hold of. So, so, so this, this, it even gets even more interesting. So it's, let's see. Remember, in this case, Leholdov had had a couple of different tenses here. The first chance, actually, I didn't actually talk about that. I'm going to pass it. So I get myself confused here. So let's just go on and look at our two cases.

So how has Christ appropriated us? And here again, once I'm looking at the big view, how has Christ appropriated us? So what I did, I tried to find some verses. Actually, I have another one. I have one that's more specific to Paul. How has Christ appropriated us? You know, so I, and that's actually a gigantic quote. I mean, there's just so much that he's done on our behalf, right?

So I chose a couple of ones here. So let's look in Ephesians. Ephesians chapter one. And it says in verse four, just as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him in love. So that's how he laid hold of us. That's how he laid hold of every believer on the planet can claim that verse that he's chosen in him.

Now, you have this whole, you know, I'm not trying to skirt it, but there's a whole thing of people, well, you know, choosing him in an election, I don't really want to go down that path. Well, if you don't mind, I think you're right. I don't think that's what's in view here. That's not the context. Salvation is not what's going on.

He's talking about the sanctification road, death, burial, resurrection, and the love of Christ is made available to all. We have those passages all over the scripture, but this laid hold of us is intense, it's an overtaking, it's a surrounding, and we don't think of Christ doing that to an unbeliever, it's love that's extended to the unbeliever. Here he's talking about death, burial, resurrection, and in that whole being conformed to this image, he lays hold of us the moment we do trust that laying hold of our Christ, that being identified in death, burial, resurrection is a huge, intense win that Christ accomplishes on our behalf. And so the whole sanctificational context here really, I think, screams out in the previous verses here. So it's not an issue of election, it's an issue of He's identified with us, death, burial, resurrection, and so forth, and that's intense.

I don't know, do you see that as well? I see that, but I wanted to go back to the beginning point. Just like he said in the previous verse, he said, we went back over here, he said, and what you're going to argue here is that I want to make it broader. And I want to make it to include the first action he had with every believer. I want to include that as part of that. That's how I looked at it. Go ahead.

Well, as you read through those two, it comes to my mind that it's a passionate relationship on both sides. Christ towards us, what he did. And then our response, once we understand it, comes back just as strong. Right? Right, exactly. And I think it's the whole package. I don't know. And I see what you're...

Actually, I have a verse that really is very specific to what Paul's ministry, and I want to look at that in a second. But I looked at it as the whole action of God with man. I look at this and God found me. I counted all my interaction in Judaism as nothing. That's all nothing for knowing Him. And I agree, it's all focused on walking the Christian life, sanctification. But I look at this as a total package.

So let's just go ahead and look at another verse that's appropriate here, which I didn't have down here. It's Galatians 1. 15 and 16, and this is really to Jim's point. I think this is a little bit closer to what... Someone read Galatians 1, 15 and 16.

But when the one who set me apart from birth and called me by his grace was pleased to reveal his Son in me, so that I could preach him among the Gentiles, I did not go to ask advice from any human being. So actually, in here, it seems like he combines his, Paul's ministry, or his sanctification, if you will, carrying out his life, is immersed in there, along with knowing him from his mother's womb. Part of my thought process there. So that's how has Christ Jesus appropriated us. And then the parallel to that is, how do we appropriate what we are in Christ Jesus?

So I have a couple, if you look at Colossians, Colossians 2.6, Colossians 2.6. Okay, kind of a short verse.

As you therefore have received Jesus Christ the Lord, so walk in him. So the question that you always, when you come across this verse, you always ask, well how did I receive Christ Jesus the Lord? I received him by faith, right? So the natural outcome is that, so how do I walk? I walk by faith. So the way we appropriate what God has for us in the Christian life is to walk by faith in what he's done for us. And then the next one is, walk by the Spirit and you will not fulfill the lust of the flesh. So our Christian walk is a walk by faith, appropriating what we have in Christ Jesus.

Now maybe there are some other ones here. I'm open to, you know, you think there are some other verses that might be put in this particular And what I found was, both these questions of Christ laying hold of me and I laying hold of Christ, I think are big. There's a lot that can be said about that. And one last thing, I've kind of jumped over it. The idea of laying hold is the idea that we, in the verse that we read in Corinthians here, it's translated when.

It's actually the idea of a prize. So, you know, it's the idea that we are a prize. We are a prize to the Lord Jesus. A prize to God the Father. And He is a prize to us. So, the term lay hold of, it can be translated, take down as a prize. That you won the prize, you procured the prize. I was thinking about what the Lord Jesus said, for the joy set before me, I endured the cross, and so on. We were considered a prize to Him, and He gave His life for us. And I was trying to think of a parallel. How is Christ Jesus, the Lord, a prize to us?

And some of these I couldn't put together, so I kind of stopped at some point. But with that word, Leholdah, there's just a lot in there. If you read it that way, if you read it that way, lay hold of the prize, for which I was also laid hold of the prize by Christ. So he hasn't fully laid hold of it yet, although Christ has. So whatever is embodied in that prize, he hasn't quite fully grasped.

Right. And the same with us. We know the ultimate prize is to be with Him in glory, and that's what we talked about in that verse 11. But in our Christian walk, we don't see what he has. Totally has for him. That's what Paul's saying. I know I'm not there yet. I haven't arrived there yet. But what's cool is that in previous verses he does talk about when he will. And that's a good point. That's a good point. He looks forward to that. And then he backs up and says, but I don't know the full prize yet, but I will. Like I just said. But I do know that Christ sees me this way.

Alright. Cool. Great. There's a lot in here. I felt that I went through it. I went back, I listened to Vern's message that he did. It's hard to believe it's nine years ago. Hard to believe it's 2003. I listened to that. He very much focused on the athletic part of this and very much on the idea of prize. I didn't want to leave that out. That was very, very good.

But these are challenging thoughts and that duality between that we're a prize to the Lord and he's a prize to us is mind boggling. What's really cool is that we have this conditional positional perspective and without that, try reading these verses without that, you're going to be stuck. You throw your hands up and you say, I know, I totally agree with that. Well, I was going to say, you say, well of course we're supposed to work in the Krishna, look at that, I'm pressing on, I'm laying hold, I'm doing this brother, I'm going to get that done. So it's absolutely true, absolutely true. Okay, so now actually, in the next verse he's going to kind of reiterate some of these concepts again.

He says, brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet. So he hasn't, and just like He says what? There's a prize here involved, but I haven't quite got it yet. And that coming from a guy that spent what in the wilderness? You're going to say, well if he hasn't got it yet, what chance do I have?

But the Lord doesn't think that way, and we don't think that way either. The Lord has a plan. It's like with Paul. He had a ministry for Paul. He has a ministry for us. And he doesn't want us to look to somebody else's ministry. Well, my brother so and so is doing really well over here. I gotta be just like him. He doesn't want us to do that. There's a temptation to do that, but he doesn't want us to do that. Just to add, and I'm working through this, this is really meaty stuff, Roger, so you can jump in. I appreciate it.

The flesh, the lack of having been resurrected and given a new life is what is the limitation here, right? So whether Paul is, you know, mighty a mighty believer, and all the things that he witnessed, he still was limited in that he had the flesh in the same way. So while he might have been more mature than we are, he was still limited in that he had not been given that new life, and this body is not made to lay hold of Christ in the full way. So we're always going to be limited in some regards, and that should set us all on a at least at a similar perspective in terms of having gained that prize yet.

Right. Which you can't until that. Exactly. Exactly. It's kind of humbling. Right. Right. Well, somebody says, I'll wait till I get there. There's some verse that, I don't know, I'll wait. Expresses what you're just saying. OK. Cool. All right. So he says, Brethren, fellow believers, I do not regard, and regard is this word, logizimai. I have a couple of three verses up there. This is a very familiar logitimize. Somebody remember that word? We see that word a lot. Roman six, right? Exactly. Good man. Good man.

You're a Holly Hiller. Holly Hiller. I can't even say it. Holly Hilser. Wait, it's an accounting term. You're counting things up. You're counting, you know, I reckon. It's translated reckon in 611, in Romans 611. But here it's made a slight difference. He says, oh yeah, here it is, here it is.

Okay, let's look at 2 Corinthians 11.5. And actually, I had not realized this verse was in scripture. So Paul's going to say something here that's really kind of interesting.

2 Corinthians 11.5. Did someone read that? For I consider myself not in the least inferior to the most eminent apostles.

This is this equal playing field kind of thing and we were just kind of talking about that. Since this is an accounting term, he says I can't count up or I can't I can't find the metrics, if you will. I can't find all the things to show that I've laid hold of it. I can't count those up. So that was kind of cool. There's a level playing field there. So let's go on here. As having laid hold of it yet, and I like what Weiss did here.

He said, I'm not counting myself yet as one who has, in an absolute and complete way, laid hold of it. So he says, I haven't got there yet. I haven't arrived. And actually, this lay hold of is actually in the perfect tense. So he's saying, I haven't laid hold of in the past, up in the present, or in the future. Not in this life. Not in this life will I be able to completely lay hold of what I have in Christ Jesus. It's an impossibility. All right, so now we're going to switch gears here. But there's something I'm going to do. Paul is going to do something.

He says, but one thing I do, and you notice I do is italicized, forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead. And actually, I thought it was interesting here. He says, but one thing I do, or I do one thing, Essentially, I do one thing, but he lists two things. I thought at first it was kind of, I don't know, it's just me, my crazy brain here. I'm thinking, OK, Paul, you said I'm gonna do one thing, but you list two things. Or is that just? Or on the other side of the coin, is that one action, is that just a complete action?

I forget what lies behind. I don't let that bog me down. I look forward. Those two things we think of as one-two are not one-two. I put those things behind and I move on. I just don't... You think about the one thing is looking forward, because you aren't looking back. I like that too. Jim, you had something you wanted to add? No, I just wanted to make a point. It's a good point. I was just kind of struck out. I have one thing. In my metric counting, I list two things here. One equals two? I like that. Forgetting what lies behind. Forgetting the things that are behind. Forgetting is this word to forget, obviously.

And actually, this one is literally to forget completely. To have no mind of. And let's look at James, James chapter 1. Once again I don't have exact, I mean there just weren't that many verses that would completely bring this across, but James chapter 1. So the idea is forgetting it completely. I have no... James 1 and verse 24. Can someone read that? For he that holdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what matter of man he was. Okay, alright. So this is not the same idea here, but he forgot what kind of person he was.

And then another case, I have another verse here in Matthew, it just basically talks about that they were following the Lord Jesus, the crowds were following him, and they just forgot to bring any food or forgot to bring any bread. They just forgot it. They were so focused on the Lord Jesus as they traveled around, they didn't bring any food with them. So basically, it's forgotten, what lies behind. Behind refers to pursuits and accomplishments. Actually that was a little note based upon the verse we're looking at.

Paul didn't look back. You could say, Paul, you did some pretty bad things. You put Christians to death. You did some pretty bad things. Is he going to focus on that? and let that drive where he's at. No, I'm putting that behind me. I'm looking toward the Lord. So there are things that Paul, quote in a sense, regretted, if you will. He put those behind him. Did you look at the tense on that one? Forgetting? Forgetting actually is where to continue to forget.

It's in the present tense. Present passive? It's a participle. It's just present Present active is what I have. There's no... I have passive. Oh, is there passive in there? Yeah. Interesting. Okay. I missed that. Okay. Thank you. It says middle or passive. So there's an option there. I was thinking about how you forget something. Passively?

Yeah, but if you think about from the perspective of Christ, Paul didn't forget everything that he was. He just mentioned it all, right? Right. Yeah, I know. He didn't actually forget it, but he is passively forgetting it by virtue of the thing that had been made whole of him. So he was reckoning it, considering it, forgotten. That's the same way with us. I mean, we don't forget the stuff we drug ourselves through.

Right. That's a good point. But we reckon it as forgotten, and we move on. Right. It's behind us. It's passively, you know, behind us. Right. What Christ did. So, I don't know. Okay, good. Thank you. I saw a little bit of that and it was a participle. I just looked at the present active. I was talking about the continuous part. We continue to do that. That's our lifestyle. Unfortunately, there are some people that say, I just can't forget that. They've been wronged by a brother or sister. I just can't ever forget that. Their whole life is just consumed by whatever that was. The Lord doesn't want that. He wants us to move on from that position.

Paul's talking about that. You could say, Paul could say, boy, I killed Christians and now I am a Christian. What am I doing? He could have raked himself over the coals and be all, Well, he's looking forward to Christ. He's beholding Christ and that causes him to.

Exactly. So let's look at the one thing. I like that. Stretching. This idea of stretching forward. Once again, this is the athlete. You start at the starting blocks and you're getting ready and you're stretching and at the end there's stretching like those two ladies that finished at Ed Heat. Both their heads just crossed the finish line. So they're stretching at the end. So that's it. You're stretching forward to the things ahead.

And once again, this is, I'm not sure of the last part, but it's continuous. It's present active again. So what's the last part? Present active. I didn't look at the present active something probably. I'm showing the same thing, present, passive. It's middle or passive.

When I see that I always go... My Greek abilities kind of... I don't know whether to say it's... Middle would be for my benefit. If I said what middle would say is for my benefit. Passive is a different deal. So when it says it's middle slash passive I don't know exactly what to do there, but anyway.

Okay, so reaching or stretching forward. Let's see. Basically, that's just stretching out your hand. Let's see. Things that are ahead. Yeah, the things ahead. Yeah, and that's actually... Yeah, you could translate. Actually, in the literal translation, stretching forward to the things, and I believe things What lies ahead doesn't bring out that plural there, I don't think. Things that lie ahead. And I didn't spend a lot of time on that, but that was kind of... That would go very well with what we talked about, the fact that there are... The laying hold that we want to do of Christ are for the things ahead. They're the things that he has for us down the road that we don't... We don't know what they are.

It also worked well for the resurrection. I know. Okay, all right, I'm not going to deny that. Well, obviously, as Jim said, the resurrection is the end of the road. I mean, that's the last step. All right, well, that's great. Good questions and interactions. Okay, so we're going to continue on next week.

We're going to kind of backtrack a little bit because this kind of ends, this is a comment here, ends and it basically says, Roger, what's the rest of the verse here? It says, I may hold that which I also was laid hold by Jesus Christ. Reaching forward to what lies ahead. What's the last part of the verse?

I press on again. He's going to come back to press on. I press on. This is going to be the prize again for the prize of the upward calling of God in Christ Jesus. So he's going to reinforce that pressing on, pursuing, and this idea of prize again. And the upward call is kind of cool too. That's a neat thing with an athletic term. Well, let's close. Dear Father, we thank you so much, Lord. We thank you for this day, Father. We thank you for the blessings we have, Lord. We thank you that we can know you and that we can just lay hold of all that you have for us, Father. In Christ's name, Amen.