PHILIPPIANS 3:12-4:1
12 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. 13 Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. 15 Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you. 16 Only let us hold true to what we have attained.
17 Brothers, join in imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us. 18 For many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ. 19 Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things. 20 But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21 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.
1 Therefore, my brothers, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm thus in the Lord, my beloved.
TEN POINTS TO PONDER
Pay attention to the strength of the action words/phrases in these verses: “press on”, “straining forward”, “hold true”, “stand firm”.
The previous verses make it clear that nothing we do can earn salvation. These verses make it clear that if we do nothing, we will not experience the abundant life made possible by salvation.
The Christian life is progressive. Day by day and step by step, we grow to be more like Christ. None of us has obtained it, and none of us is perfect, but we all keep pressing on.
The ultimate goal is to be found in Christ on the day we are called up to be with God.
In verse 15, Paul mentions that maturity is reflected in and developed by how we think. If we want to be spiritually mature, we must pay attention to our thought life and our mindset.
Christian maturity happens when we surround ourselves with mature believers and when we watch and imitate mature believers. You will become like the people with whom you spend the most amount of time.
The pattern of the world is to live by passions, live with urgency, and live for acceptance. The pattern of the kingdom is to live by God’s power, live with patience, and live for the glory of God. (v.19-21)
You are the only person who can decide whether to live as a citizen of this world or as a citizen of the next world. How you invest your time, talents, and treasures is the greatest indicator of how you’ve made that choice.
Because we know that one day Jesus will transform us and glorify our bodies, we should live today to glorify Him.
To “stand firm” in the Lord means to have your feet firmly planted in the person of Jesus. If you never think of Him, never commune with Him, never speak to Him, and never listen to Him… your feet are not planted in Him!
5 DAILY ACTIVITIES TO FIRMLY PLANT YOURSELF IN CHRIST
In the parable of the sower, Jesus taught that some people fail in their faith because they lack spiritual depth. When the trials of the world hit (and they always do), these people wither and die. Standing firm requires us to put down deep spiritual roots. Below are three Bible passages that talk about putting down spiritual roots and five principles I’ve drawn from these passages (you’ll notice how they each tie back to Philippians 3):
Passage 1: Psalm 1:1-3
Psalm 1:1-3
Blessed is the one
who does not walk in step with the wicked
or stand in the way that sinners take
or sit in the company of mockers,
but whose delight is in the law of the Lord,
and who meditates on his law day and night.
That person is like a tree planted by streams of water,
which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither—
whatever they do prospers.
Limit your time with people whose influence is spiritually shallow (Psalm 1)
The people with whom you spend time will influence you to become like them. To be sure, you can influence them as well, but if you are not intentional about the nature of your relationship, you will become like them more quickly than they become like you.
I often think of a ladder when I read this passage. Imagine two people on the same ladder, one desires to pull the other up, and the other is working to pull their partner down. Gravity sides with the low man on the ladder. He will have a much easier time pulling the other down. Our natural tendency toward sin and selfishness causes us to get pulled down much more quickly than we pull others up.
Psalm 1 warns against spending too much time with those who live in opposition to God. They influence you toward spiritual shallowness. Implied in this Psalm is the need to surround yourself with those who will produce spiritual depth in your life. Allow yourself to be influenced by those who will ask tough questions, hold you accountable, and encourage you toward faithfulness.
Immerse yourself in God’s Word (Psalm 1)
Psalm 1 also declares that the person who delights and meditates in God’s Word will be blessed. The Bible is God’s revelation of Himself to us. Everything we need to know about Him and everything we need to know about living a righteous life is included in its pages. Spiritual depth is the result of time spent with God’s Word.
Meditating on God’s Word indicates more than simply reading a passage, setting it down, and getting on with your day. Meditating means you take God’s truth with you throughout the day. You may not be able to memorize an entire chapter and recite it to yourself all day long, but you can identify a principle and repeatedly come back to it during the day. Perhaps you can write it down or email it to yourself. Maybe you can set an alarm on your phone reminding you to take a couple of minutes to review what you discovered. Most importantly, seek opportunities to apply God’s Word to your daily situations. As you do this, you’ll discover a new depth to your spiritual life.
Passage 2: Colossians 2:6-7
Colossians 2:6-7 — So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.
Continually demonstrate gratitude to God (Col 2:7)
In Colossians 2, Paul is encouraging a group of Christians to live consistently with their roots in Jesus’ example and teaching. This is accomplished, according to Paul, by “overflowing with thankfulness.” Saying, “thank you” every so often is nice, but a quick prayer of thanksgiving once a day is hardly “overflowing.”
Causing anything to overflow requires filling it with more than it can handle. If you want to overflow with thanksgiving, you must FILL your life with more gratitude than you can handle. That means being thankful even when you don’t feel like it.
Begin your day by giving thanks (you can start by thanking God that He woke you up). At various points throughout the day (meals), give thanks. At the conclusion of your day, give thanks. When things go well, give thanks. When others treat you with kindness, give thanks. When things go poorly, give thanks that they aren’t worse. When others treat you with malice, give thanks that you are being treated like Jesus was. You can always find something for which to be grateful. The more you thank God, the more you’ll be rooted in His Son.
Fill your mind with Biblical teaching (Col 2:7)
This may seem similar to an earlier idea, but an important distinction should be noticed. Psalm 1 focused on what you do on your own. Do you long to study God’s Word? Do you carry it with you? Colossians 2 is focused on what you do with others. The keyword in this phrase is “taught”. You should regularly place yourself in relationships with those who can teach you God’s Word.
You can learn from pastors, small group leaders, authors, podcasts, YouTube, blogs, friends, family members, and even your children. The key is getting into places where you will hear the truth, submitting yourself to listen to the truth, and opening yourself to be changed by the truth. It’s no secret that God’s plan for us includes relationships with others. He created us to be shaped by our relationships. Allow yourself to be impacted by those around you so that you can develop a new level of spiritual depth.
Passage 3: Ephesians 3:16-18
Ephesians 3:16-18 — I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ,
Choose love (Eph 3:17)
Concentrate on how much Jesus loves you. Paul wrote in Ephesians that God’s love is wide, long, high, and deep. In other words, it’s way bigger than you can imagine. Think about that. The God of the universe loves you more intensely than you could ever love yourself. How do you want to respond to that love?
These verses say that we are rooted and established in love because we have Christ dwelling in our hearts. The more time you spend contemplating Christ’s love for you, the more that love will spill out of you and into the lives of all those around you. More importantly, the more you think about Jesus’ love for you, the more you will discover your love for Him.
At the end of the day, you cannot stand firm if your life is not rooted in Christ. The deeper your roots go, the more you will love and be loved by your Creator, Savior, Redeemer, and Lord.
Click on the image to download the DiscipleQuest PDF
The DiscipleQuest PDF includes 7 days of verse study prompts. You can use these seven studies to dig deeper into what the Bible teaches about being rooted:
- Colossians 2:6-7
- Psalm 1:2-3
- Ephesians 3:17
- Psalm 92:12-14
- 1 Corinthians 15:58
- John 15:4-7
- Matthew 7:24-25
Use these questions as journal prompts or as conversation starters with a group of friends or a Bible study group:
Read Philippians 4:1. What do you think it means to “stand firm” in the Lord?
Two obstacles exist for anyone who attempts to “stand firm”. The first is the ground on which they plant their feet, and the second is the forces that seek to dislodge them.
What are three steps a person can take to build their life on a foundation that allows them to stand for Jesus?
Make a list of five challenges people face that might dislodge them or cause them to stumble in their faith. What is the greatest challenge you face?
Read Matthew 7:24-27 and 1 Corinthians 3:11-13. What do these verses teach about the foundation of our life?
If Jesus is the foundation of your life, how should that impact what you think? How should it impact what you say? How should it impact the way you treat and talk about others?
Healthy trees can withstand a storm because they have put down strong roots. The Bible uses this as a picture describing how we can stand firm in the storms of life.
Read Psalm 1:1-3, John 15:5, and Galatians 5:22-23. What do these verses teach about roots, branches, and fruit?
What do you think it means to be “rooted in Him”?
If you allow Jesus to be the primary source of authority in your life, what kind of fruit should your life be bearing?
What do you think it means to be “built up in Him”?
Which of these areas is most challenging for you?
- Walking Jesus’ path?
- Being rooted in Jesus?
- Allowing Jesus to be your foundation?
What is your next step?
How can this group pray for you?
PHILIPPIANS: Line by Line
3:12-4:1 Stand Firm
12a. Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect,
Paul had not yet arrived at the end where he would receive his final reward, and his life was not yet free from sin. His statement here is a helpful reminder for every Christian. We will never fully arrive until we step from this life into the next life. Until then, perfection can be the pursuit, but it will never be gained. Therefore, we must give grace to ourselves, and we must give grace to others.
12b. But I press on to make it my own,
Rather than being discouraged by his shortcomings, Paul kept his focus on the prize. The evil one loves to throw obstacles in our way, and he loves to distract us. We defeat him by pressing on.
12c. Because Christ Jesus has made me his own.
Jesus has already done the work. He’s won the war. He’s secured the victory. We only need to stay faithful to the end. Once you belong to Jesus, He will never let you go.
13a. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own.
Again, Paul makes it clear that he doesn’t think that he has arrived. It’s as if he’s saying, “All this stuff I’m teaching you is also stuff I’m working on.”
13b. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead,
Paul is responding to two truths. First, he has not arrived. Second, Jesus has done for him what he could not do for himself. Therefore, he is going to take action. The proper response to Jesus’ work is never passivity. His response entails two steps. First, he lets go of the past (his past failures, sins, mistakes, hurts, etc.). Second, he pushes forward. The hope of eternal life and the promise of abundant life drive Paul to move forward rather than live in the past.
14. I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
Paul’s focus is narrow and precise. All that matters is moving forward toward the ultimate goal. Because eternal life is the ultimate prize (the upward call), everything in Paul’s life is evaluated based on its eternal value. If it doesn’t carry an eternal benefit, it’s not part of the goal; it’s not part of the prize.
15a. Let those of us who are mature think this way,
This is another place in his letter where Paul circles back to our thinking process. Here, he points out that maturity is impacted and revealed by how we think. The mature person thinks more about eternity (the future) than they do about the past. We can reasonably infer from this statement that Paul considers our thought process and mindset to be critically important in our development as Christians.
15b. And if you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you.
Paul encourages those who are not yet spiritually mature that God is still working on them (as he promised in chapter 1). As God completes His work in their life, their thinking will change. As they submit themselves to Him, He will make it easier for them to have an eternity-focused mindset.
16. Only let us hold true to what we have attained.
Don’t go backward! If you came to Christ because eternity mattered to you, don’t go back to thinking like the world.
17. Brothers, join in imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us.
In this new paragraph, Paul is teaching the Philippians how to maintain a mature mindset. Critically, they must surround themselves with and submit themselves to people who are further along in the journey. He wants them to find people who have a more mature mindset and then imitate them. It has been said that we all become like the people with whom we spend the most time. If you are constantly around people who have an eternity-first mindset, you’ll find that mindset growing in you as well.
18. For many of whom I have often told you and now tell you, even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ.
Paul had people in his life who weren’t following Jesus. Some of them were people who never had, and some were people who once had and now had strayed. The Philippians knew this was true and had even seen it in their own church and relationships. This still happens 2000 years later. We should not be surprised; Jesus told us this would happen (in the parable of the sower). Our response should not be despair, but rather prayer. And we should beware lest we walk the same path.
19a. Their end is destruction,
One of two endings awaits everyone. We will either face destruction or life. Those who choose to walk apart from Christ will spend eternity separate from Him, experiencing eternal destruction.
19b. Their god is their belly,
The way of the world is to satisfy every craving as quickly and as often as possible. Nothing matters beyond the present moment. No thought is given to consequences or outcomes. Everything is urgent.
19c. They glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things.
Words, attitudes, and actions that should bring shame are actually celebrated. Paul described this phenomenon in Romans 1:32 – “Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.”
20a. But our citizenship is in heaven,
We all must choose which kingdom we serve, either the kingdom of this world or the kingdom of heaven. Those who are citizens of heaven do not worry about nor seek to accumulate the treasures and approval of the world.
20b. And from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,
Our King is Jesus. We are waiting for Him to come from Heaven to complete our salvation. Today, everyone who has accepted Christ’s death and resurrection as their own has received salvation from the penalty of sin (death). Because they’ve been given the Holy Spirit, they are gradually discovering salvation from the power of sin. Paul described this in verses 12-13. One day, we will all be saved from the presence of sin. At that time, we will completely obtain the resurrection, and we will be made perfect (complete).
21a. Who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body,
Our ultimate salvation is comprehensive. Our current bodies, wrecked by sin’s consequences and impact, will be replaced with resurrection bodies, untouchable by sin and evil.
21b. By the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.
We can have complete confidence that Jesus will accomplish all of this because He has power over everything. The one who conquered death can conquer and control anything.
4:1a. Therefore, my brothers, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown,
The Philippians were special to Paul. They were an exemplary church. Yet, like Paul, they were not perfect, and they were not complete. They needed encouragement to continue pressing forward.
4:1b. Stand firm thus in the Lord, my beloved.
To stand firm is to plant your feet and not be moved. Do not be moved by the world’s standards (vs. 19). Do not be moved by an obsession with the past (vs. 13). Do not be moved by your own shortcomings and failures (vs. 12). Plant your feet on the finished work of Jesus and do not move or compromise until He returns.
Lake Bible Notes 
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