Chapter Eighteen: Reaching the Goal
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Reaching the Goal
I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.
2 TIMOTHY 4:7
The practice of godliness is a discipline. It requires serious commitment and persevering effort to reach the goal. Writing to the Philippians near the end of his life from a Roman prison cell, Paul acknowledged that he had not yet reached it. He was still running the race of godliness; he still wanted to know Christ more and become more like Him.
What kept Paul going as he strained toward what was ahead? What motivating factor did he count on when he wrote to Timothy, “Train yourself to be godly,” fully knowing that such training was an arduous task, full of difficulties and discouragements? Someone has remarked that desire without discipline breeds disappointment, but discipline without desire breeds drudgery. Was the pursuit of a godly life a drudgery to Paul? Did he expect Timothy in his discipline toward godliness simply to grit his teeth and endure the Christian life?
Paul’s description of his own practice of godliness, in Philippians 3:12-14, answers these questions. He was deeply motivated. There is no suggestion of either disappointment or drudgery. He was running a disciplined race, but he was running it with strong desire. What was the source of Paul’s motivation, the object of his strong desire? Let’s take a close look at the passage in Philippians:
Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
Paul admitted that he had not obtained the goal of godliness. He had not yet been made perfect; he was still running the race. Note the intensity, though, of his running. He declares, “I press on . . . straining toward what is ahead.” The word translated “press on” is the same word translated “pursue” in such passages as 1 Timothy 6:11, 2 Timothy 2:22, and 1 Peter 3:11. It is also the same word for “persecute,” which means to track down and harass or torment. It is a word of great intensity. “Strain toward” brings to our minds the attitude of the runner with his eye fixed firmly on the goal, his body bent forward, every muscle and nerve in his body straining to reach the goal. Anyone who has ever seen the look of agony on the faces of runners straining for the tape can readily recognize the intensity conveyed by the verb “strain toward.” Yet this intensity was Paul’s experience, day in and day out. Paul never had an off season; he never slacked off in his efforts. It was a lifelong discipline. How could he sustain such intensity? Was it because of his intense personality and thus unique to him and those of like temperament? Or was there a motivation in Paul’s heart that should be the common experience of every Christian?
In verses 12 and 14, Paul speaks of two motivating factors. In verse 12 he presses on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of him. In verse 14 he presses on to win the prize for which God had called him heavenward in Christ Jesus. The first speaks of God’s objective for him; the second speaks of God’s reward for him. Let us look at each of these to see how they so strongly motivated Paul.
CHRIST’S OBJECTIVE FOR US
Paul pressed on to take hold of that for which Christ took hold of him. He earnestly strove to reach Christ’s objective for him. What was this objective? Titus 2:14 tells us that Christ “gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.” Christ Jesus’ objective in dying for us was to redeem us from sin —not merely from its penalty, but from its power and dominion. The same thought is expressed in the word purify, which speaks of the inward cleansing from the pollution and defilement of sin.
Ephesians 5:25-27 expresses the same idea of Christ giving Himself for His church “to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.” That is Christ’s objective for us. That is why He died. That is the purpose for which He took hold of Paul on the Damascus road and for which He takes hold of us individually to bring us to faith in Himself. He died to save us not only from the guilt of sin but from sin’s power and pollution. He died not to make us happy but to make us holy.
But there is still more to Christ’s objective for us. Titus 2:14 also speaks of us as “a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.” A people of “his very own” refers to His lordship in our lives: “You are not your own; you were bought at a price” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). “Eager to do what is good” refers to the working out of the fruit of the Spirit, the traits of godly character in our lives.
This, then, is the objective for which Christ Jesus took hold of Paul and for which He has taken hold of us. He intends to make us holy —to purify us from the pollution of sin in our lives. He intends to be Lord of our lives, and He intends that we exhibit the traits of godly character.
That was Paul’s objective also. That was the goal toward which he pressed, the aim of his strenuous effort. It would have been unthinkable to Paul to pursue any other aim in life than that for which Christ Jesus had taken hold of him.
Note how God-centered Paul’s motivation was. It was the keen awareness of Christ’s objective for him that caused Paul to press on with such intensity. How different we so often are from Paul. All too often we are motivated by desires other than Christ’s objectives for us. As I have observed earlier, we may often be motivated by a desire for “victory” or a desire to “feel good about ourselves” or a desire to conform to the lifestyle of the Christian fellowship with which we have become associated. We may even be motivated by pride, by a desire for a good reputation in the community, especially in our church or Christian group.
None of these motivations will sustain a daily “pressing on” such as that which characterized Paul’s life and should characterize ours. Some of them, such as the desire to conform and the desire for reputation, focus on goals that fall far short of Paul’s goal of godly perfection. These goals can be easily met; we don’t have to deal with inner corruption, only outward acts. Other goals such as a desire for “victory” or “feeling good about ourselves” are basically self-centered goals. Instead of spurring us on, they all too often discourage us because they set up within us a struggle between two self-centered desires: the desire to feel good about ourselves and the desire to indulge ourselves.
The currently popular desire to feel good about ourselves is quite distinct from genuine godly self-respect, however. The former focuses on self; the latter focuses on God. The former depends upon our own efforts or the affirmation of other people; the latter depends upon God’s grace. Godly self-respect is possible when we realize we are created in the image of God, that we are accepted by God solely on the merits of Jesus Christ, that nothing we will ever do will cause Him to love us more or love us less, and that He has a plan for our lives and will enable us through His Spirit to live out that plan. The person with godly self-respect freely admits that nothing good lives in his sinful nature. But he also knows that nothing —not even his sin or failures —can separate him from God’s love. He has decided that since God has accepted him on the basis of His grace, he will accept himself on the same basis: God’s grace. He therefore looks outside of himself to Christ to find his self-respect. He strives toward the goal not to win acceptance but because he has already been accepted.
The first of Paul’s motivating drives, then, was the desire to take hold of that for which Jesus Christ took hold of him. He desired perfection in godly character, though he knew he would never attain it in this life. But he knew it was for this purpose that Jesus died for him, and he longed for that purpose to be fulfilled so Jesus Christ might be satisfied. This same earnest desire should motivate each of us today.
Not only did Paul press on toward Christ’s objective for him, he also pressed on to win the prize for which God called him heavenward in Christ Jesus. What is this prize that so motivated Paul that he strove for it with great intensity? Jac J. Müller answers, “The prize of this calling toward which he presses forward with all his might, is the everlasting, heavenly glory.”[54] Paul knew his citizenship was in heaven, and he pressed on to obtain that heavenly prize. His mind was not on earthly things but on the glory that would be his when Christ transformed his lowly body so that it would be like Christ’s glorious body.
If the prize, however, is the glory of eternal life, wasn’t Paul already assured of that reward? Would a man strive with Paul’s intensity to win what was already his as a gift of God’s grace? The Bible is quite clear that the glory of eternal life is given to us solely through the redeeming work of Jesus Christ on the cross. It is the gift of God (see Romans 6:23); it is by grace through faith, not by works (see Ephesians 2:8-9). Yet it is also true that this gift cannot be taken for granted. True grace always produces vigilance rather than complacency; it always produces perseverance rather than indolence. Saving faith always manifests itself by the pursual of the heavenly goal.
The same Savior who said, “I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish” (John 10:28) also said, “Strive to enter by the narrow door; for many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able” (Luke 13:24, NASB). The same apostle Peter who said, “In his great mercy he has given us new birth . . . into an inheritance that can never perish” (1 Peter 1:3-4), also said, “Be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure” (2 Peter 1:10). And Paul himself, who said nothing “will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:39), also said, “I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize” (1 Corinthians 9:27).
Commenting on Paul’s strong language to the Corinthians, Charles Hodge says,
What an argument and reproof is this! The reckless and listless Corinthians thought they could safely indulge themselves to the very verge of sin, while this devoted apostle considered himself engaged in a life struggle for his salvation. This same apostle, however, who evidently acted on the principle that the righteous scarcely are saved, and that the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, at other times breaks out in the most joyful assurance of salvation. . . . The one state of mind is the necessary condition of the other.[55]
This is the great antinomy of the New Testament: the apparent contradiction between grace and personal responsibility. But it is there, and we avoid it at our peril.
But Paul was not concerned about theological knots at this point. He was simply baring his soul about the deep wellsprings of personal motivation, the secret of his ceaseless drive toward the goal. And what is that inner source? It is the glory of heaven.
Over and over again the Bible holds forth the glory of heaven as a motivation for Christian perseverance (see, for example, Romans 5:1-5; 2 Corinthians 5:1-5; Hebrews 12:22-29; 1 Peter 4:12-13). One of the old masters of the Puritan era, Thomas Manton, said of this motivation,
What is the reason Paul was so earnest that a little grace would not content him, but he was striving for more so earnestly and zealously? He was called to enjoy a high prize, a glorious reward. There is excellent glory set before us; this race is not for trifles. Christians are the more cold and careless in the spiritual life because they do not oftener think of heaven.[56]
How do we respond to the motivational drives of the apostle Paul? Does the love of Christ so compel us that we also press on to take hold of that goal of godly perfection for which Christ Jesus took hold of us? Does the glory of heaven and the prospect of that prize draw us forward so that we too strain toward what is ahead? We have considered many of the character traits of the godly person. Here, though, are two overarching traits that clearly distinguish the godly person. His attention is focused on Christ’s objective for him, and his eye is fixed on heaven. He is God-centered in his devotion, and he strives to be Godlike in his character.
In Philippians 3:12-14, Paul describes himself as still running the race. In 2 Timothy 4:7, he speaks as one who has now finished the race: “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” Dear reader, when you and I come to the end of life’s journey, will we, too, be able to utter those words? Only if we have obeyed Paul’s command in 1 Timothy 4:7-8 to Timothy and to us: “Train yourself to be godly,” and if we have kept before us the companion promise, “Godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.”