There’s a tension every Christian lives with. We are already saved — yet we are being saved. We have the righteousness of Christ — yet we are being conformed to His image. We have the prize in hand through faith — and yet we are still running toward it.
That tension is exactly what Paul addresses in Philippians 3. And on the first Sunday of 2021, Pastor Josh White walked us through one of the most clarifying passages in Scripture on this subject.
The Prize: Our Glorified Future
Paul writes: “But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining toward what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 3:13–14)
Notice what Paul is pressing toward. He’s not pressing toward initial salvation. That was already his — and he counted everything else as loss (v. 8). What he describes here is the completion of that salvation: the resurrection of his body, the redemption of his physical self, the full adoption as a son of God.
John puts it this way: “Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared. But we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.” (1 John 3:2)
That’s the prize. Our lowly, broken, sin-affected bodies — transformed to be like His glorious body. The apostle Paul calls it “the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” It’s a calling that pulls us upward, toward resurrection morning, toward finally being whole.
Be Honest About Where You Are
Pastor Josh used an analogy that stuck: GPS navigation. Before you can get anywhere, your GPS has to know exactly where you’re starting from. It doesn’t sugarcoat it. It doesn’t say “you’re doing great!” when you’re three turns away from your destination. It tells you where you actually are.
“When we’re trying to get to a destination, we need to have honest awareness of where we’re at. We need to be honest about our current situation.”
That’s convicting. Because Satan doesn’t want us to be honest about where we are spiritually. He’d rather we stay comfortable, comparing ourselves to everyone around us, thinking we’ve “done enough.”
“This is an area of our lives that Satan will try to deceive us. He wants us to think, ‘We’ve done enough. This is good enough. I’m just gonna sit back, relax. It’s time to focus on me.'”
The Danger of Settling
What happens when we stop pursuing? The Bible has a lot of uncomfortable words for it: lukewarm (Revelation 3:16), useless (Titus 1:16), barren and unfruitful (2 Peter 1:8). Pastor Josh put it plainly: “God wants to just spew us out of His mouth.” That’s not a comfortable image — and it shouldn’t be.
The writer of Hebrews adds the corporate dimension: “Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience.” (Hebrews 10:22)
Drawing near isn’t optional. It’s the normal Christian life. And it’s impossible to draw near to God while you’re spiritually drifting.
Intentionality: How We Actually Pursue
Paul uses an athletic metaphor in 1 Corinthians 9, and Pastor Josh leaned into it. An Olympic athlete doesn’t just show up to training when they feel like it. Every day has a purpose. Every meal. Every rest period. Everything is oriented toward the podium.
And here’s the application: the Bible is full of specific actions we should take to be more like Christ — prayer, fellowship, Scripture intake, serving, witnessing. None of these happen by accident. They require intention.
The Church Pressing On Together
This message came during a particularly hard season. The pandemic was still raging. Easter 2020 had been an experiment in digital worship. Churches were folding because they prioritized physical health over the upward call. But what is physical health compared to eternity?
“[The upward call] is more important than your physical health, which is important. But [the upward call] is eternal — and don’t misinterpret what I’m saying. Take care of yourselves. But don’t let taking care of yourselves be an excuse for not pursuing the goal.”
At GBC, the elder board had identified key goals for the year ahead. Not despite the difficulty — but because of it. The church doesn’t exist to wait out a storm. It exists to press on in the storm.
So What?
Where are you spiritually right now? Not where you wish you were. Not where you were three years ago. Where you actually are.
GPS doesn’t care about your feelings about your starting point. It only cares about getting you to your destination. And God, in His grace, has given you everything you need for life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3). But you have to want it. You have to pursue it. You have to be honest enough to admit how far you still have to go.
Press on. Not because you’ve arrived — but because the prize is worth it.
Scripture References
- Philippians 3:13–14 — Pressing on toward the upward call
- 1 John 3:2 — Our future glorification
- Philippians 3:8 — Counting all things as loss for Christ
- 1 Corinthians 9:24–27 — The athletic metaphor of the Christian life
- Hebrews 10:22 — Drawing near with a true heart
- Revelation 3:16 — The danger of lukewarmness
- Titus 1:16 — The uselessness of professing without pursuing
- 2 Peter 1:3, 8 — God’s divine power and the need for growth