The Mark(goal) of our High Calling in Christ....
Philippians 3:14 KJV
I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 3:8-15 I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. All of us who are mature should take such a view of things.
What is more, I consider everything a loss
compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord,
for whose sake I have lost all things.
I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him,
not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law,
but that which is through faith in Christ--the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith.
and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death,
and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.
but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.
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.
And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you.
Only let us live up to what we have already attained.
Paul defines the goal, the mark, that we are all reaching toward, the end result of our High Calling in Christ.
Being made perfect, knowing Christ, and the power of His resurrection, the fellowship of sharing in His sufferings,
and becoming like Jesus in His death, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.
Paul says this is what Christ Jesus took hold of him, and by extension us, for.
God's hand is upon us for a purpose. That purpose is that we might all achieve perfection.
The kind of spiritual perfection that Jesus evidenced in his sufferings and death.
We can see the submission of Jesus to the Father in the garden.
Matthew 26:39, 42 KJV He went away again the second time, and prayed, saying,
And he went a little farther, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying,
O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.
O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, thy will be done.
First we see that Jesus' and the Father's wills differed.
"Not my will - but Thy will be done" how incredible,
we see here that Jesus was indeed struggling with temptation,
so much so that he sweat blood and needed to be strengthened by an Angel.
Luke 22:42-44 KJV
Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.
And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him.
And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.
Paul says that this is our destiny, to have the strength of heart to withstand temptation on this level.
"Becoming like Him in His death" and "sharing in His sufferings" to the degree that we have fellowship with Christ Jesus.
Hebrews 5:7-9
During the days of Jesus' life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions
with loud cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission.
Although he was a son, he learned obedience from what he suffered
and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him.
Jesus had to learn obedience.
He learned it by suffering, suffering temptation taught Him to be obedient, as a result He knows the way through all the things we are tempted with.
Hebrews 4:15
For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses,
but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are--yet was without sin.
Jesus was tempted with everything we are. That means even the most vile things. Everything.
Sometimes people get mad at me if I point out that that means He was tempted with things like adultery.
They fail to understand that there is a difference between being tempted, between having a thought occur, and chosing to act.
We sometimes stumble because we think that simply having a thought occur, or even being tempted means that we are failing.
Jesus was tempted in every way we are, and yet did not sin. You can be tempted and NOT sin, its your Jesus bought destiny.
No temptation, no sin, is bigger or larger or stronger than Jesus, and you are destined to that same perfection by God.
It is for this very perfection that Jesus took hold of us. And He paid the highest price to make it ours.
You see the reason that Jesus was so sorely tempted in the garden was not that he would be whipped and beaten.
It was not because He would be mocked and spit upon, and crucified.
Jesus sweat blood because He knew that He would be made sin. His very nature would change to become sin.
And He knew that the Father would have to look away from Him, that He would be forsaken, and severed from fellowship with the Father.
This He did for you and I, that we might be totally restored to the fullness of the relationship with the Father that Jesus enjoyed.
2nd Corinthians 5:21
God made him who had no sin to be sin for us,
so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Jesus and the Father were one. All the things Jesus did in His earthly ministry He did as a man who was anointed of God.
But he always had that fellowship, that spiritual connection with the Father.
He lived in the glow of the Father's love. He walked in grace and righteousness.
And He gave all of that up, to be totally divorced from the Father.
Imagine how much He and the Father love you, that They would BOTH chose that
so that They might now have that same fellowship with you. You are dearly loved and treasured by Them.
This Site Is Copyright (C) 2006 by Dan Sharpe. Unless otherwise marked, all scriptures are taken from the HOLY BIBLE,
NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Bible Publishers.
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