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12 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13 Brothers and sisters, 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, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. Philippians 3:12-14
We will not arrive at the goal of knowing Christ fully this side of heaven. But, that doesn't stop our pursuit. Paul says, “I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.” The word translated “press on,” can also be translated “pursue” or “persecute.” Paul used this word earlier when he wrote in Philippians 3 that he was at one time a “persecutor” of the church. The irony here is that while Paul was pursuing followers of the Lord Jesus, the Lord Jesus was pursuing Him.
After the Apostle entered into a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus, He now “prizes” what he pursues. Whereas the potential joy stealer in Philippians 3 is our pedigree and possessions, the next ingredient making up God's definition for joy is that Christ is our prized pursuit. In Philippians 1 we see the first ingredient of joy and it is the life of Christ. In Philippians 2, we have the mind of Christ. Here in Philippians 3, the third ingredient is that Christ is our prized pursuit.
We see this line of thinking highlighted this in v.13 where Paul writes, "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." Paul says that there is one thing he doesn’t do and one thing he does do. He doesn’t consider himself as having taken hold of full knowledge of Christ. He does forget what is behind and strains forward to what is ahead which is an increasing intimacy with Christ.
Paul was an elite Jew before meeting the Lord Jesus. His pedigree and his possessions defined him. Now, he literally considers these things garbage compared to his newfound relationship with Christ. For quite a while in his life, these things gave him a sense of identity. Now that he has come into a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus, he sees life increasingly different, through the eyes of the Lord Jesus.
In v.14, Paul explains what motivates him, once again using the verb translated “press on.” A word borrowed from olympic competition, in the games, the “goal” was the marker at the finish line. The prize, a palm branch, was given by the president of the games, who summoned the victor at the conclusion of the race. The prize for Paul is literally the “heavenward calling of God in Christ Jesus.” For him, the prize is increasingly knowing Christ in a more intimate way.
A mark of someone who is a follower of the Lord Jesus is that he pursues Him. Having tasted of Christ, he, with increasing desperation, wants more of Christ. And he will not rest until he knows Christ more deeply with each passing day. He will not stop this pursuit, even into eternity.
Christ pursues us that we might pursue Him. On the one hand, we can expect to always have a sense of holy dissatisfaction with life that causes us to want something more. On the other hand, Christ has seized our hearts that we might seek Him. All of our desires are just echoes of this one desire to know Him more deeply.
In context, it is through suffering that we go deeper in our personal relationship with the Lord Jesus. We get to know Him better when we experience His empathy because of His pain. Those who know intimacy with Christ are those who have suffered with Him deeply. Suffering gives eyes to our heart's ability to see God.
The Apostle illustrates this point when he writes, "Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus." And, it is suffering that largely frames up our point of reference causing us to listen to the Lord Jesus more intensely and more intimately. In context, suffering is the taking away of bad things or good things that the world offers as a flimsy substitute. When these things are taken away (by force or by circumstance or by choice), we suffer.
Intimacy with God can not only be experienced through knowledge accumulation. In order to intimately know God, we must know crucial things about Him, but theological head knowledge will never be enough. We must "know" or "experience" Him in order to be intimate with Him. And, suffering is a must ingredient in this formula.
Our world is not abounding in intimates who walk with God in a profound way because knowledge is not synonymous with trust. Biblical knowledge is far better than gold when it fuels our trust in God, because it fuels our intimacy with Him. But when biblical knowledge replaces our trust in God, it only fuels our pride. And suffering is useful to rivet us on the goal who is Christ. Intimacy with God most often occurs in the places where we must trust Him most.
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