Let us become mature Christians
[Philippians 3:15-16]
Have you ever heard of "Growing Pains"? "Growing pain" is a figurative word that describes the pain that children or adolescents have during the time of their sudden growth or a similar phenomenon. Usually the pain appears on knees and ankles, thighs, shin, and arms (Internet). It is said that 10 to 20% of children aged 4 to 12 are experiencing this growing pain. This growing pain is a necessary process that the children must experience as they grow (Internet). In other words, the children must go through growing pain in order them to grow.
The author, Daniel Gottlieb, who wrote the book "The Road Less Traveled," said: ‘The measure of a man's greatness is his ability to take on the pain. The great man is pleased with the pain. That’s why the paradox of joy comes into existence’ (Internet). What do you think? Do you think that the measure of one's greatness is the ability to take on the pain"?
We have pain that each of us must experience in order for our faith to grow. Just as a child has to undergo growing pain to grow, there is a pain that we must go through for our faith to grow. Whatever that pain is, if we desperately want to grow in faith, we must endure the pain. Moreover, we must make the pain beneficial for our spiritual growth. We need to dedicate ourselves to walk in the path of suffering, if our faith can be built even stronger through pain and suffering. Therefore, our faith must grow. Furthermore, our faith must mature. This is what the Bible says to us in James 1:4 – “Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”
I would like to meditate on Philippians 3:15-16 under the title “Let us become mature Christians” and receive lessons from the Word of God. I want to think about how mature Christians live. Hopefully we will humbly accept the lessons and obey them so that we all will grow as Christians who are mature in faith.
Look at Philippians 3:15 – “Let us therefore, as many as are perfect, have this attitude ….” How do we know that our faith is growing and maturing? I looked up the answer in the Jesus’ parable of the seed. Look at Mark 4:20 – “"And those are the ones on whom seed was sown on the good soil; and they hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold.” The heart of Christians who are growing and maturing is like “the good soil”. What does it mean that the Word of God is sown in the hearts of Christians who are growing and maturing? We can summarize in three ways: (1) First, the Christians whose faith is growing and maturing hear the word (vv. 16, 20) and immediately receive it with joy (v. 16). (2) Second, the Christians whose faith is growing and maturing endure and don’t fall in the midst of affliction or persecution (v. 17). (3) Third and last, the Christians whose faith is growing and maturing don’t allow the worries of the world, the deceitfulness of riches and the desires of other things to enter in and choke the word for unfruitfulness but overcome it and bear fruits (v. 19).
Do you know what Paul’s interest in the Philippian church was? It was their progress and joy in the faith (1:25). Paul’s interest in their progress and joy in the faith was to the extent that even though he desired to depart and be with Christ, which was far better, he knew that it was necessary for him to remain in the body (vv. 23-24). To that extent Paul was interested in the progress and joy of the faith of the Philippian church saints whom he longed for with the affection of Jesus Christ (1:8). With this great interest, Paul wrote to the Philippian church saints in Philippians 3:15 and said, “All of us 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.” What Paul was saying was all those who are mature in faith should live with such view of things. Here we have think about two things:
(1) First, we must think about what “perfect” means in the phrase “as many as are perfect” (Phil. 3:15).
Here, the word “perfect” means one fully fit for running (Jamieson). Look at 2 Timothy 2:5 – “Also if anyone competes as an athlete, he does not win the prize unless he competes according to the rules.” Based on this word, we can make this conclusion about those Christians who are mature: ‘Those who are mature in faith are the men and women of faith who are not only fully fitting for running but also who are competing the spiritual race according to the rules.’ Here we must keep in mind that all the mature believers have not completed the race yet. As Paul said in Philippians 3:12, “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”, those who are mature in faith are still running the spiritual race according to the God’s laws.
(2) Second, we must think about what “have this attitude” means in the phrase “Let us therefore, as many as are perfect, have this attitude” (Phil. 3:15).
In order for us to know what “have this attitude” means, we should think about the word “therefore” in Philippian 3:15. The reason is because the "conjunction" introduces the conclusive application of Paul's words to the Philippians from verses 1 through 14. In other words, Paul conclusively applied what he said in Philippians 3:1-14 that those who are mature in faith must “have this attitude” (v. 15).
Then what is “this attitude” that Paul was talking about? I summarized it in three ways:
First, the mature Christians worship in the Spirit of God, boast Christ Jesus and don’t put confidence in the flesh.
Look at Philippians 3:3 – “for we are the true circumcision, who worship in the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh.” Here we have three lessons:
(1) The mature Christians know that they are saved by God’s grace in believing in Jesus Christ.
Therefore, they know that they ought to worship God. This is the purpose why God saved us by sending His begotten Son Jesus Christ and to die on the cross. In other words, the purpose of salvation is to worship God.
(2) The mature Christians boast only Jesus Christ.
The reason is because they know that they are saved by the Jesus’ merit on the cross. They cannot boast of themselves because they know that they have no merit in their salvation. But if they have something to boast about themselves, it is their "weakness" (2 Cor. 11:30). Those who are mature in faith confess, like Apostle Paul, “May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Gal. 6:14).
(3) The mature Christians don’t put confidence in the flesh. They only put confidence in the Lord.
Second, the mature Christians know the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus.
Look at Philippians 3:8 – “More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, ….” The mature Christians know the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus. That’s why they pursue two things like Apostle Paul:
(1) They consider all the worldly things that were profitable to them (the fleshly things they put confidence in) before believing in Jesus as lost and rubbish (v. 8).
(2) They want to know Jesus Christ, the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings and to be conformed to His death after believing in Jesus (v. 10).
Third, the mature Christians press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
Look at Philippians 3:14 – “I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” Here we have three lessons:
(1) The mature Christians have clear sense of calling.
They have the assurance of the upward call of God. And they are obedience to His calling and give their lives to fulfill His will.
(2) The mature Christians have thorough sense of mission.
They complete the Lord’s errand with their lives. Therefore, they aren’t driven by their environment and run about in confusion but are driven by their sense of mission.
(3) The mature Christians advance towards the goal.
They forget what lies behind and reach forward to what lies ahead (v. 13), toward the goal (v. 14). They live a life that is driven by the goal.
The reason why the mature Christians are pressing toward the goal with such a clear sense of calling and a sense of mission is because they never want praises or rewards from people. What they desperately want is “the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (v. 14). What was that prize to Apostle Paul? Look at 2 Timothy 4:7-8: “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day--and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.” The prize that Paul earnestly desired was "the crown of righteousness." Here, "the crown of righteousness" symbolizes the reign of the believers with the Lord through the eternal completion of the righteousness that they will receive by faith’ (Park Yun-sun).
We must be mature Christians. We must press on toward our goal with a clear sense of calling and a sense of mission like Apostle Paul. As we seek the prize of the crown of righteousness, we must fight the good fight, keep the faith and finish the race and complete the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Therefore, when Jesus comes back, all of us will ascend to heaven and stand before the Lord with our glorious body, and we will reign with Him forever.
Perhaps there were people in the Philippian church who didn’t think the same way as Paul did but thought differently. We can guess this little bit when we look at Philippians 3:15 – “… and if in anything you have a different attitude, God will reveal that also to you.” Look at this verse we can imagine that there were people in the Philippian church who had different attitude than Paul and the mature Philippian church saints. If so, then who were these people who had the different attitude? We can think in two ways:
First, they were the immature saints (Ash).
These immature saints didn’t have the same attitude with Paul and the mature saints in three ways: (1) They didn’t worship in the Spirit of God, glory in Christ but put confidence in the flesh. (2) They didn’t know the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus and (3) They didn’t press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Also, they didn’t forget what lied behind and reached forward to what lied ahead (v. 13). They didn’t run toward the goal, but kept in the past, remembering what lied behind (MacArthur).
Second, they thought that they had already obtained it or had already become perfect (v. 12) (Jamieson).
They overestimated themselves. John Chrysostom said: “He who thinks he has attained everything, hath nothing” (Chrysostom). Perhaps they thought that they could accomplish perfection by keeping the law as the old man's life, before they believed in Jesus Christ. That was why Paul warned the Philippian church saints to “Beware of the dogs, beware of the evil workers, beware of the false circumcision” (3:2) (Jamieson). Thinking about them, Paul said, “God will reveal that also to you” (v. 15). What did Paul mean? He meant to say that God would reveal the truth to not only the Philippian church mature saints but also to those who were immature and who had the different attitude, those who thought that they could still achieve the perfection by keeping the law. This meant that without the revelation of God, they couldn’t understand the truth, and without God's revelation, they couldn’t make a righteous thought based on truth as those who are mature in faith. Apostle Paul, who knew this, wrote the letter to the Philippian church saints, believing that God would reveal to those immature saints who didn’t have the same attitude as the mature saints. The reason he could believe this was because, as he was always praying for them (1:4) he was confident that God who began a good work in them would perfect is until the day of Christ Jesus (v. 6).
After Paul said to the immature saints among the Philippian church saints, this was what he said in Philippians 3:16 – “Only let us live up to what we have already attained.” What did Paul mean? Paul encouraged the Philippian church mature saints who had the same attitude with him to live up to what they had already attained. In other words, Paul exhorted them to continue to live according to the Word of God and according to the principles of the truth in order to reach the perfection of Jesus Christ. The reason seems like it was because Paul wanted the mature saints to keep the unity of the church with the immature saints in the Philippian church (Ash).
We must become mature Christians. In order to do so, we must live with the right attitude. And with the right attitude, we should worship in the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus, and don’t put confidence in the flesh. Also, we should get to know more and more the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus our Lord. We should press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. I hope and pray that we will become mature Christians.