Finishing Well
(Message delivered by Dr Jeffrey Khoo at the True Life Church 10.30 am Service, Sep 17, 06)
Text: Philippians 3:1-16
I am sure all of us who have believed on the Lord Jesus Christ are looking forward to seeing Him when He comes back or when we are called home. I am sure we also desire to hear Him say to us, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant” (Matt 25:21). What must we do to earn such a commendation from our Lord? If we want such a commendation from the Lord when we see Him one day, we must do these three things:
We Must Have No Confidence in this World and in Ourselves (Phil 3:1-7)
The world today wants us to believe a lie, and it is the lie that we are good and powerful, and with our personal goodness, we can make our own heaven, and finally get into heaven. And so we hear a lot about the selfish philosophy of self esteem and self-promotion. In many a motivational seminar, we learn about tapping our inner strengths and hidden energies. The motivational guru chants the mantra: You are good, you are god. Goodness is redefined as a feeling, purely subjective. What is good and what is bad are determined by our thoughts and feelings. If something makes sense to me, and pleases me, then it must be good; if it does not, then it is bad.
It is no wonder that today, many go to church with “itching ears” (2 Tim 4:3). They only want to hear what they want to hear. If a sermon is an entertaining one, and makes them feel good about themselves, then it is good. If a sermon is full of warning and rebuke, and makes them feel guilty of their sin and error, then it is unloving and unedifying, it is bad. The world tells us that our feelings determine what is true and what is good. Yes, fornication, adultery, alcohol and drugs, and all kinds of lustful and fleshly activities can make us feel good and get a high, but they are harmful and deadly.
This world is filled with false and wicked teachers who speak lies in order to destroy the good and the true. Paul described them as “dogs” and “evil workers” (v2). The word “dog” kuon) here is used disparagingly in the New Testament as a reference to street dogs (Matt 7:6, Luke 16:21, 2 Pet 2:22, Rev 22:15). Such dogs are wild, vicious, and dangerous. False teachers are described in such a way because they are “evil workers.” The word “evil” (kakos) speaks of moral wickedness. These false teachers entice people into an immoral lifestyle by having a low view of God and His Word.
Christians must never admire and adore the philosophies and methods of this sin-cursed world. We must keep ourselves away from its seductive doctrines and destructive practices or else we will be sucked into the black hole of sin and death. Separation from sin and the world is vital if we want to end well as God’s children (2 Cor 6:14-7:1).
Not only must we have no confidence in this world, we must also have no confidence in ourselves. We must never think that we are indispensable to God, that without us, God is practically helpless to fulfil His will or His plan. We must not think that God needs our intelligence, our credentials, our power, our skills, our wealth to get things done. God does not need anyone of us, or anything that we have. Jesus Himself said that the stones will do His bidding if men do not (Luke 19:40). The Lord can even make the donkey to speak (Num 22:28).
Paul had thought that with his pure pedigree, academic qualifications, and religious achievements, he would be accepted by God. Look at his impressive CV in verses 5-6. God could surely do without Paul with all his pride and prowess. The Lord surely wanted to use Paul, but before He could do so, Paul had to be humbled to the dust. Paul humbly said in verse 4. “But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ.” It was only when Paul saw himself as worthless, a big zero, and nothing, that he became truly useful to God and powerful for Him.
We Must Have Every Confidence in Christ and His Word (Phil 3:8)
Why do we in our lives find ourselves defeated and miserable? The reason is simple: It is because we have failed to trust fully in Christ and His Word. Unless and until we consider ourselves to be nothing, and Christ everything, that His perfect and powerful words are all-sufficient and all-authoritative, our sole and supreme rule of faith and guide to life, we will never live successfully and have victory over our sins and the evil one. Paul said, “Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss 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 dung, that I may win Christ” (Phil 3:8).
Why are many Bible professors today unable to see and accept the truth of the verbal and plenary preservation of the Holy Scriptures as taught in Psalm 12:6-7, Matthew 5:28, 24:35 etc? It is because their eyes are fixated on the pride of “scholarship,” employing all kinds of critical theories and methods in the study of the Scriptures, treating it like an ordinary book. Higher criticism and lower criticism, or source, form, redaction, and textual criticism, and all kinds of false “isms,” conjectural emendation, the analogy of antecedent Scripture, these are all man- made rules and methods in analysing and interpreting the Bible which lead to nowhere but a denial of the truth.
Liberal scholars who worship technology believe that computers today can lead us to the truth of God’s words. The Lord would have us know that it is not technology that will help us ascertain the truth but the logic of faith. Faith alone on the 100% inspired and 100% preserved Word of God, forever infallible and inerrant without any mistake, is the key to knowing God’s words and God’s truth (where and what).
If you will ask the textual-critical scholar today this question, “Sir, can you please identify for me the Bible that is 100% perfect without any mistake?” He will answer, “Well, all I can say is that the Bible was only perfect in the past, but it is no longer perfect today. Theoretically, the perfect Bible could be somewhere out there but no one can tell for sure precisely where. The perfect Bible could even be lost; we just don’t have it today!” Human scholarship ultimately leads to nowhere. Today’s foremost textual scholar, Bart Ehrman, author of Misquoting Jesus, is a clear example of the dead end of human scholarship. Ehrman was a Bible-believing fundamentalist, but ended up a “happy agnostic” (his own words) after he studied at Princeton, an apostate seminary, which had in 1924 dismissed the 5 fundamentals of the Christian Faith, viz, the inerrancy of Scriptures, the virgin birth, the miracles, the substitutionary atonement, and
the resurrection of Christ, as “theories.”
The Apostle Paul realised the futility of human scholarship in converting the lost soul. All his worldly credentials and achievements, he had to cast away as garbage in order to gain Christ (vv7-8). Paul could see that true knowledge which leads to salvation comes not from the finite and corrupted knowledge of human scholarship, but the eternal and excellent knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ (v8). “For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe” (1 Cor 1:17-21).
If we want to end well in our Christian life and service, we must cast away every pride of worldlywisdom and scholarship, and apply the simple, childlike faith of trusting Christ who does not change, and His infallible and inerrant words which will never pass away.
We Must Strive towards Christlikeness in Doctrine and Practice (Phil 3:9-16)
In verses 9-16, Paul spoke of his constant struggle to glorify Christ in his life. The Christian life is something that must be “worked out” until the day of resurrection (cf 2:12). The believer has not yet attained perfection but must always strive towards it (v12). In the Christian struggle towards perfection, divine sovereignty and human responsibility are at work. Although Christ has already apprehended believers (divine sovereignty), believers also have a duty to apprehend Christ (human responsibility). This is the teaching of the 5th point of Calvinism— the perseverance and preservation of the saints. The believer perseveres in his faith because God preserves him right till the end. As Calvin said, “Paul was apprehended by Christ that he might apprehend Christ; that is, that he did nothing save by Christ’s influence and guidance.”
In verses 13-16, Paul spoke of his constant struggle towards spiritual progress and maturity. Such a relentless pursuit to be Christlike does not end until we get to heaven. Paul likened our life on earth to running a race. Every runner at the starting block aims to cross the finishing line victoriously.
How may we run this Christian race and finish well? Paul showed us how in verses 13 and 14, “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.” The word “press” in verse 14 is the Greek word dioko which has the idea of relentless pursuit (often used to mean “persecute,” see 3:6). If we want to end well in our life as a Christian, we must push ourselves to the limit to become more and more like Christ, and must not quit until we reach the end, until we see Christ face to face.
In 2 Timothy 2:5, Paul wrote, “And if a man also strive for masteries, yet is he not crowned, except he strive lawfully.” That was why Paul wrote about walking by the same rule and minding the same thing (v16). To “walk by the same rule” must mean living according to God’s infallible Rulebook which is the Holy Bible, and to “mind the same thing” must mean having “the mind of Christ” (1 Cor 2:16). If we do not run the race according to God’s commandments, having the mind of Christ which seeks only God’s glory, we are automatically disqualified.
Some of us may be living hypocritical lives. We say we are Christians, but our lives do not show it. We wilfully, habitually and constantly sin against God without any remorse or repentance. We are living a double life. Such “Christians” who live a double life think they are running the race too, but they are running backwards, and will never cross the finish line. They are still unregenerate, not born again. These are the reprobates to whom the Lord will say, “I never knew you, depart from me, ye that work iniquity” (Matt 7:23). But those who sincerely believe in Christ, who put Him first, take His words seriously, and obey His commandments, will at the end hear their Master say, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord” (Matt 25:21). Let us all strive to finish well.
