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Introduction:
For a moment imagine a football team. This is not your
normal Monday Night Football team. It’s the Bad News Bears of
football. The quarterback only wants to do two things: run with
the ball as long as he can (it doesn’t matter which direction)
or throw the ball as far as he can (again, it doesn’t actually
matter which direction). On occasion, he scores; usually, he gets
sacked, fumbles the ball, or throws it away. The offensive line
isn’t too worried about blocking the defensive line. They just
want to get their hands on the ball. When the ball is hiked they
all turn around and start hollering the quarterback’s name.
Sometimes, they want the ball so badly they chase down their own
quarterback to get it. The wide receiver just loves to run.
Sometimes he happens to be where the ball is thrown; sometimes
not. The defensive back is pretty good. He has even made a few
interceptions, but when he does, he just runs to the nearest end
zone whether it is his team’s or not. There is one defensive
lineman, a big fellow, who plays football because he likes to hit
people. The play may be over, but he’s still hitting people,
especially if they have the ball. Do you know what we call this?
We call this Peewee League.
What is the problem here? They don’t really understand
what the win is. Certainly, they usually understand that whoever
has the most points at the end wins the game, but they don’t
understand what their role in that is. As they grow in maturity
and understanding, they’ll begin to see the win. Of course,
we’ve all seen players who never quite get it. For them the win
is to showboat or dominate. They’re ball hogs and glory hounds.
They feel good about themselves but their team loses. We can
easily see how awful this is in sports. I recently heard a great
phrase these folks need to learn: Clarify the Win. That is exactly
what sports teams need to do. They need to clarify their win at
every level, from the season win, to the game win, to the play
win, to the individual’s role win. If they don’t do that,
they’re going to lose.
Sadly, for too many years, I think I’ve been a peewee
league Christian. The spiritual ball has been snapped to me and I
haven’t fully thought through what I’m supposed to do with it.
I walk through the days, weeks, months, and years trying to do the
right thing as I react to what goes on around me without thinking
about what exactly the measurable win for me as a Christian is.
What do I need to do this year to win? How will I know when I have
won? What is my win as an individual Christian? What is my win as
a member of this congregation? What is my win as a preacher for
this congregation? Have you thought about this for your life? Or
are you also lingering in the peewee leagues of Christianity? If
you want to have a great year in God’s service, then you need to
clarify your win in 2010.
Consider Philippians
3:1-4:1. Notice that Paul clarified his win and it helped
him tremendously. Discussion: I.
Paul clarified his win. A.
According to Philippians
3:14, Paul was pressing on for the prize of God’s
heavenly call. In Philippians
3:11, I believe we see that prize—the resurrection from
the dead. That resurrection was not simply life after death. In Philippians
3:20-21, he explained that resurrection was having this
earthly body transformed into a glorious body by the Savior that
will come from heaven, where his citizenship was. Paul knew his
ultimate win—resurrection to eternal life. B.
However, he clarified his daily win as well. It would do no
good to wait until the moment he stood in judgment to start
thinking about how to gain the ultimate win. He needed to think
about a daily, weekly, monthly, yearly win that would lead to that
ultimate victory. He explains the clarified win that motivated his
daily choices. In Philippians
3:8-10, he claimed his win as an individual Christian was
to know Jesus, be found in Jesus, and have the righteousness that
comes by faith in Jesus. He wasn’t concerned about impressing
people. He wasn’t concerned about making money. He wasn’t
concerned about living high on the hog. He was concerned about
getting close to Jesus. That is what mattered. That is the only
thing that mattered. II.
Clarifying the win helped Paul press on. A.
In Philippians
3:12-14, Paul claimed he had not won, but was pressing on
for it. If he hadn’t clarified the win, he wouldn’t be able to
do this. You can’t pursue a goal you haven’t named. B.
Further, he was able to forget what lay behind in order to
press on for the win. Clarifying the win helped him keep
everything in perspective. Past victories and losses wouldn’t
get in his way because his vision was focused on the win that was
to come. Reminiscing did not blur his vision. C.
When we haven’t clarified the win, we may think we’re
already there and have nothing more to do. But Paul new better. He
urged the brethren to understand this same win and through that to
stand firm in the Lord (Philippians
4:1). When we know what our win is, we can keep pressing
on for it instead of wandering aimlessly through life. III.
Clarifying the win helped him declutter his spiritual life. A.
We spend too much time asking questions about what we are
allowed to do and what we aren’t. Because Paul had clarified his
win, he had a very simple answer. His win was to know Jesus, be
found in Jesus, and have the righteousness that comes by faith in
Jesus. He would do anything that led to that win. He cut out
anything that hindered that win. Philippians
3:7-8 says he counted everything that had been gain to him
before he understood the real victory as loss for the sake of
knowing Jesus. B.
He discarded reliance upon rituals, nationality, family
background. He discarded his own zeal and righteous living by the
law. He discarded his place in the Jewish community. He gave up
goals that wouldn’t help him get closer to Jesus. He wasn’t
doing this as a means to show how good he was or to earn
salvation. He understood that salvation is in Jesus and he would
do anything to be in Jesus and give up everything that hindered
him being in Jesus. Clarifying the win helped him declutter his
spiritual life. IV.
Clarifying the win pushed him to have the right companions. A.
In Philippians
3:17-19, Paul taught the Philippians to take note of those
who were gaining the win. Keep your eye on them, he says. Watch
them. Be with them. Learn from them. Be careful because there are
many who are really enemies of Jesus. They won’t help you get in
Jesus because they are opposed to Him. You can tell who they are
because their god is their belly. That is, their fleshly passions
drive them (even if they “go to church”). They glory in shame.
Their end is destruction. Their end is not resurrection in Jesus.
Their end is not a glorified body. Their end is death. Our friends
really do determine the direction and character of our life. B.
Paul was passing on a lesson he had clearly learned. If we
want to win, we need to note and be with those who are winning.
Brothers and sisters, this does not mean attend the right church.
Every church has people at every spiritual level. Just attending
even a church that has lots of winning members is not what Paul is
talking about. What this means is take note of the folks who are
accomplishing your win. Keep your eye on them. Spend time with
them outside of this building so you can see how they live their
winning life. Find someone who is accomplishing the win you want
to gain and watch how they are doing it. Then do what they do. C.
When we’ve clarified our win, we’ll know who we need to
spend our time with. V.
Clarifying your win at every level. A.
We must make sure to take this to every level in our lives.
This was Paul’s win as a Christian. However, I believe his win
as an evangelist might be seen in passages like I
Corinthians 9:22-23 or II Timothy 4:1-2. B.
Take some time this week to clarify your ultimate win as an
individual Christian. Also clarify your win for 2010. What
specifically within the realm of knowing Christ and being found in
Him do you want to work on this year? Clarify your win for your
role within this congregation, whether you are an elder, deacon,
preacher, teacher, greeter, inviter, pray-er, etc. C.
Let’s not spend 2010 as Peewee league Christians or as a
Peewee league church. Let’s step up into the big leagues,
clarify our wins and by God’s grace win the victory. Conclusion: I know sometimes it seems like we just aren’t going to win. However, I want to remind you of what Paul said in Philippians 2:12-13, Paul explained that we can keep working out our salvation with fear and trembling, not because we really are strong enough to work out our salvation. We can do that because God is working in us. Trust God’s promise on this. Clarify your win based on God’s word. Press on for that goal and God will work in you to accomplish it. You will win.
Glory
to God in the church by Christ Jesus
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