Resurrection Is Our Destination

In our journey through Philippians, we're discovering how God's kindness matures us together. This week, we encounter a powerful reminder of where we're headed and how to get there.

Have you ever been driving somewhere and completely forgotten where you were going? Maybe you got in the car to go to the grocery store, but turned off your brain and found yourself halfway to work instead. Or perhaps you needed to go just one exit down the highway, but mindlessly got in the express lane and drove for miles before you could turn around.

We do the same thing in our spiritual lives. We get lulled into the routine of changing diapers, paying bills, going to doctors' appointments, and cleaning the pool. We set our lives on spiritual cruise control, moving along with the traffic around us without really thinking about where we're going.

This morning's text in Philippians 3:12-4:1 is like a rumble strip on the median – that jarring vibration designed to wake you up when you start drifting off course. The Apostle Paul wants to remind us that Resurrection is our destination.

Run Hard

Paul talks about his life like a race, where the finish line is the resurrection:

"Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own." (Philippians 3:12)

What is Paul "pressing on" to obtain? Look back at the previous verses:

"That I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead." (Philippians 3:10-11)

Paul is running hard to take hold of the resurrection. He's not running out of fear that he might not make it, or hoping to somehow earn his resurrection through effort. Rather, he's orienting all his ambitions and strivings toward that one finish line.

What are you running after? What does it mean for you to "win at life"? Is it having a happy, healthy family? A successful career? Or maybe just finishing the day without dishes left in the sink?

For Paul, winning at life meant finishing with the resurrection as his destination. Everything else was just scenery along the way.

And this resurrection isn't just a place where everything is perfect. The resurrection is found in the person of Jesus. Paul is running to take hold of the resurrection because the resurrection has already taken hold of him. He's running to be found in Jesus because Jesus has already found him.

All the deepest longings of this life find their fulfillment in Jesus:

• Your longing to be married to someone who knows, loves, and treasures you may be partially fulfilled by a spouse, but only finds complete satisfaction in the unearned love of Jesus.

• Your desire for rest – that quiet beach with a cold drink, far from screaming children and work deadlines – can be momentarily fulfilled by a vacation, but finds its ultimate fulfillment in the One who says, "Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."

• Your ambition to do something that matters, to build something that will endure, might be partially realized through career achievements, but when your life is found in Christ, every moment becomes pregnant with eternal significance.

  
  

Run Together

Paul shifts from talking about his individual race to our collective journey:

"Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you. Only let us hold true to what we have attained." (Philippians 3:15-16)

The phrase "hold true" was used to describe soldiers moving together in formation, like a Roman phalanx advancing across the battlefield – shoulder to shoulder, shields up, swords out. If one soldier fell out of step, he not only became vulnerable himself but exposed his brothers to danger.

Why do we need to run together? Paul explains:

"Brothers, join in imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us. For many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things." (Philippians 3:17-19)

Notice Paul doesn't say these people are our enemies. They're enemies of the cross of Christ. And he speaks of them with tears, not anger. We need to run together because God has given us a dangerous rescue mission.

These enemies of the cross aren't just ISIS leaders or North Korean dictators. They're ordinary people – and us apart from Christ – living in a world that craves love, affirmation, and meaning but looks for it in all the wrong places. It's the world presented in the "recently watched" section of our Netflix accounts and the "for you" page on our Instagram feeds.

If we're going to effectively reach this world with the hope of Christ without becoming intoxicated by its empty promises, we need to stay in formation together.

Do you have people in your life who have permission to be honest with you? Who have enough access to observe what you're like behind closed doors? Are you willing to be that person for others?

Our Citizenship Is in Heaven

When we run together, we remind one another of our true home:

"But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself." (Philippians 3:20-21)

There are few feelings like coming home after traveling – your own bed with just the right firmness, the familiar smell, your charging cable in exactly the right spot. Everything just fits.

Paul reminds us that Earth is just a motel on our road trip home. We can try to make it comfortable, but we shouldn't expect this life to "fit just right" because our citizenship is in heaven.

For the original audience, citizenship was a powerful concept. To be a Roman citizen gave you dignity, honor, and protection. It was an invisible identity you carried wherever you went – a promise that the full force of the Roman government would protect you.

You have a citizenship even better than Roman or American citizenship, because it's secured by a better Savior – one who has the power to subject all things to Himself:

• There is no molecule in the galaxy that vibrates without the permission of Jesus.

• No leaf falls from its branch without a word from Him.

• Every raindrop, every ant, every hurricane operates under His command.

• Every election cycle is under His thumb, every law runs past His desk.

This powerful Jesus secures our identity as citizens of heaven and will make good on our hope of resurrection.

The glue that holds our community together isn't having the best programs, the most talented worship band, or the coolest youth group. It's that we have the same Savior, the same citizenship, the same eternal destination.

Your driver's license may have an address in Pembroke Pines, Hialeah, or Miami Gardens, but that's not where you truly belong. Your passport may be issued by the USA, Jamaica, or Panama, but we share the same homeland, the same destination.

So let us run hard together, because resurrection is our destination.

This post is based on a sermon from our series "Grown-Up Grace: How the Kindness of God Matures Us Together" at Palm Vista Community Church. Join us Sunday mornings at 10:30am or catch the full sermon on our YouTube channel.