Onwards and Upwards
Nathan Adams · Tidal Church Shediac · November 8, 2026 · Joy Anyway series
Nathan Adams explores Philippians 3:12-21, where Paul presses toward one goal: Jesus. Using three pictures of gripping hold, running, and standing shoulder to shoulder, he invites us to leave the past behind and follow Christ together on the upward path.
More from Nathan Adams · The Joy Anyway series
Topics: Faith, Purpose, Discipleship
Transcript
[0:00] Well, Amen. That was some worship, wasn't it? That's right. We thank those who led us in worship, and I want to encourage you to learn to enter into worship more when we have opportunities like that as an opportunity to bring ourselves before the throne of God and really see him do some amazing things in our lives. Well, as I begin the message here today, I want to just help you go back through memory lane a little bit, all right? And I want you to think about high school for a second. Now, some of you, that's not very hard. You're in high school, all right? And we're praying for you. We want you to know, if you're in high school, we're praying for you. But, you know, some people peek in high school, don't they?
[0:46] You know, and other people that kind of bought them out in high school. It's crazy how much those early experiences affect us. Now, you know the guy who peeked in high school, he was 16 and he had a hairy chest. But by the time he was 26, he had a hairy back, you know? And then, you know, there was a girl, she was the social queen at 17. But by 27, she has social anxiety, you know? So we can peek sometimes early and then live with disappointment almost the rest of our lives that it didn't quite pan out the way we hoped it would be. Now, maybe you're the other side. Maybe you hated high school. Maybe high school didn't even notice you. Maybe you came in to get your lunch and people literally parted out of the way at the cafeteria for you. Maybe you couldn't find your thing, your standout, your crowd.
[1:37] Maybe you did find a crowd and it was the wrong crowd. But high school wasn't great for you. And you say, thank God high school's behind me now. Is it? Are you still terrified that you're going to be excluded? Still terrified that you're not enough and haunted by that even today? The apostle Paul in the passage we're going to look at is going to help us put our past behind us. Whether that was past success or past failure, he's going to help us put our past behind us and get a new goal that will draw us forward. Paul's going to teach us how to live life like God intended it, pressing onwards and upwards. This is not a hard message. Can you say onwards and upwards? Okay, you're dismissed.
[2:24] That was the message. I mean, no, stay right where you are. But that's the message. And it's going to be one of these things that if we can get into it, it's going to be one of these things that says, get me unstuck. Help me move forward. Help me become everything that God had in store for me in my life. It's time to move forward, move up onwards and upwards. Okay. That's what we're doing. Can you say amen to that? All right. So we last week were in Philippians chapter three, the first half. And Pastor Jim took us through as he preached so well and talking about a spirituality that's based on check in the boxes. Did I do this right? Did I do that right? Am I showing up with the right things? Am I doing all the religious activities that will then make me acceptable to God? And Pastor Jim was saying, that's not it. As he looked at what Paul had to say, he said, it comes from a relationship with Jesus where he's checked the boxes for us.
[3:22] All right. And just to refresh our memories, listen to what Paul said in Philippians chapter three, verse nine. I consider them garbage, all the past things that he had. I consider them garbage that I may gain Christ instead and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. I want to know Christ. Yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death and so somehow attaining to the resurrection from the dead.
[4:10] It's pretty clear that Paul has a goal, isn't it? He wants everything that Jesus has for him, nothing less. He wants to participate not only in the power of his resurrection, but even the power of suffering with Jesus. Paul is all in. And when he says, I want to become obedient, I want to become like him in his death. Well, that's going to remind you of the scripture verse from Philippians two, seven, which says, Jesus became obedient even to the point of death on a cross. And so this is the type of single-minded focus that Paul wants in his life. So now in the passage that we're going to feed on today spiritually, Paul tells us how to get that central desire fixed in our lives.
[5:05] So this part is onwards, pretty simple, right? Onwards. This is what Paul says, not that I have already obtained all this because he just described what it is to know Christ in perfection, right? Not that I have already obtained all this or have already arrived at my goal. The King James Bible says perfection, which is actually a great translation of that term. Not that I've already arrived at perfection, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I don't consider myself yet to have taken hold of it, but one thing I do, forgetting what is behind and straining towards what is head, I press on towards the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
[5:56] All of us then who are mature, again, the King James actually got it right. Perfect. All of us who are perfect should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you only let us live up or hold on to what we have already attained. So there's some incredible pictures in this passage that we're going to look at and you're not going to forget them. Okay. Now the first one comes from verse 12 where he just says, I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Now here's the picture. You spiritually were sliding off a cliff to your eternal destruction. And as you're sliding off that cliff, Jesus reached down and he grabbed hold of your arm.
[6:46] So your arms reach up and Jesus grabs your arm. And Paul says, I'm going to take hold of that for which Christ has taken hold of me. This is the picture. He grabs you. You're still hanging there and you grab and that's a strong grip. And it's a vision of what happens in our lives. When Jesus grabs onto us and with all our might and all our strength, we grab back onto him and he's got us and we've got him. And that's an unbreakable bond. And there's a picture of what we've been looking at all through Philippians where Paul keeps talking about, hey, he who began the good work in you, he's going to complete it. The guy who's at work in you both to will and to want and to act, that's the God that's at work in us.
[7:34] He's got you. Grab him back. Can you remember that? Just do it. Okay. Just grab your forearm. Now grab the other one. You're never going to forget this sermon. That's the relationship with Jesus. That's what it needs to look like. Okay. So we got the first picture, but there is something that's very confusing about this passage. I already highlighted it when we read it through. In verse 12, it says, Paul says, not that I have already obtained all this or have already arrived at my goal or been made perfect. And the Greek word is telios and it just means you got there. Okay. So it depends on what the journey is. Okay. Maybe you're trying to grow up. So when you graduate from high school, Hey, telios, you got there.
[8:21] Depends what the journey is. But the journey that Paul has in mind is becoming like Christ and it's a moral perfection to be like Christ. And Paul says, I'm not there. I'm not perfect. And I don't, are you there? I know I'm not. I'm not perfect. Okay. So everybody good with that? Good. Let's all just walk away. Who have some grace. We're not perfect. That's great. I love Jesus. Let's go. No, not so fast because in verse 15, he says all of us then who are mature, but again, it's actually the exact same word. It's the noun form, verbal form, but it's the same word. Perfect. All of us who are perfect should take such a view of these things. So is he perfect or is he not perfect?
[9:07] You ever heard anyone say, well, I'm sorry, not sorry. Well, we're perfect, not perfect because we are not perfect. I mean, in an absolute sense, heavenly glory, what we're going to be like Jesus. We're not it. It's not hard. There's easy truth. But in another sense, Paul's saying you can be perfect. Now, obviously it's a relative sense. It's a limited sense. It's a focus sense. And he actually defines that in the very verses that are between the two, because in verse 12, you're not perfect. Verse 15, you are perfect. I'm confused. Well, let me explain, says Paul, because in the intervening verses, he says, brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it, this perfection. But one thing I do forgetting what is behind and straining towards what is ahead, I press on to win the goal, to do to the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
[10:13] This one thing I do. That's the perfection. The NLT says, but I focus on this one thing. Another translation, the net translation says, I am single minded. There's one thing that I'm doing. And if you've ever wondered what success looks like spiritually, what it is that your heavenly father is wishing for you. Because, you know, when we have kids or grandkids or kids that were mentoring, what we want is we want them to grow up to become all that they could be, right? We have this dream for them. What is the heavenly father's dream for you in this life right now? What does success look like? Well, it is a life that is fully surrendered to God, one that has a perfection and intention in the heart, realizing that we still fall short in many ways every day in our execution of that intention, but we have one intention.
[11:07] That's the one that our hearts come back to every time. When we get distracted by a temptation or something else, we have this almost like a lodestar that just brings us right back to the center. It's Jesus. It's Jesus. It's Jesus. It's this one thing I do, and that's what he's looking for from us, a singular desire that consumes our soul to follow Jesus every day in every way. That's what the heavenly father has in mind for you, my friends, and for me. Now, Paul paints a second picture in that verse to help us understand. You remember the first picture. The second one is very simple. It's just straining towards the goal. The runner is looking straight ahead, and they are, you know, they're not running like this.
[11:56] They are leaned forward, and they're pressing themselves, pushing their body towards that prize. It says, forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize, for which God has called me heaven, word, and Jesus, and that's the picture. So, guys, we got to have it clear in our head. The prize for the runner is Jesus, and if you're going to run, you need to forget what's behind you, and if we're going to forget what's behind us, we actually got to have a little look at it this morning. What's behind you? What's behind you? You got to take a minute and look at it. Now, Paul had to forget a lot of things. He had to forget the fact, think about this, he was a follower of Jesus starting churches.
[12:43] He had to forget the fact that before that, he had been going around imprisoning Christians, and even leading some of them to death. Boy, if he looked too long in that rearview mirror, I don't think he could have done what God called him to do, since they were so diametrically opposed. He also had to forget how good he was. He had to forget that he had been trained by Gamaliel. Like, you can read ancient history, and Gamaliel made it into the history books, not the Bible, like the history books, and so Paul can go, I was trained by the best, and I was the best category of Jewish believer, and he had to say, that's garbage now, because not there's anything wrong with it, but in comparison to knowing Jesus, man, this is my everything. This is my focus, and so he had to forget about his past so that he could look ahead.
[13:41] So, if you're going along in your life, and you've got stuff in your back, in your rearview mirror that's slowing you down, it's got to go. Hebrews chapter 12 verse 1 says, let us strip off every weight, it's a running analogy again, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. So, if you're going to race, you need to turn and face the things that are behind you. It could be sin, it could be shame, it could be pain, it could be guilt. All that has to be faced, and then you've got to start looking ahead. I did a little running when I was younger. I'd always get shin splints before I got too far, but anyway, I liked it.
[14:29] You get into it, but there's nothing that would take your energy out more than looking over your shoulder when you're running. The best thing you can do when you're running is forget about anything except that goal, and stop looking over the shoulder. Start looking ahead, looking straight ahead at the prize, Jesus, and that's what we need to do. We need to have our eyes on the prize with Jesus. We need to run the straight and narrow path. We need to stop looking around us at everything else. The old gospel chorus says, turn your eyes on Jesus, look full in his wonderful face, and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace. That's that single-minded focus that the Lord has in store for us.
[15:17] So, if you want to look ahead and not behind, this morning you need to face your past. You need to forgive yourself. You need to let go of that guilt, sin, and shame. You need to forgive some people, because man, you're mad at people. We're all a little bit mad at people in the past. You got to forgive them, and let that go. Let go of the pain that we've been holding on to. We need to face and confront anything that's preventing us from moving forward and moving on in our lives. You know, let go and let God. It's all got to be let go, forgetting what is behind. You know, I'm a bit old.
[16:02] I'm a bit old now. I mean, I'll be older. I know it's only going to get more elderly, but I'm starting to feel a little bit old. And there comes a point when you age that if you don't learn to forget the past, you will live in the past. You will live in your past anger. You will live in your past successes. You will not be able to see the new thing that God is doing right in front of you, right this moment. Let's let it go. Now, the third picture that Paul paints for us this morning of this perfection of intention is that of a battle line of soldiers who fight as one for victory.
[16:54] This is where I use my little scholar geek superpower and look into the Greek. And I notice two Greek words that Paul uses a couple times throughout the pastors that we're looking at. One is called stoiketto, and it means to hold the shield wall line. There's a lot of really cool words in Greek or Latin, and they all were military. Because boy, those guys were very military back then. Like the whole society is pretty military. So they use military terms, and then you can apply it to other things. But stoiketto means hold the line. Okay, now how many of you have watched ancient warfare and they're like this? It looks like some fencing. They're like, ah, ah, ah, and they're dancing all around like this, right?
[17:39] Okay, if there's a whole bunch of soldiers there, and you're dancing around like this, you will look like a pin cushion in like about 10 seconds. There'll be a spear, few arrows, and probably a hatchet before you know it, okay? You cannot do this on a battle line. A battle line in the past looked a lot more like the O line in a football field, on a football field, all right? A wall of men. And you're not getting through my wall. And so stoiketto means hold the wall. Nobody gets through. And you know what you fought with? Mainly, a huge shield. A big shield, just like this. And yeah, you'd have a short sword or something like this. But basically, it's a wall of shields. And so here's how it works.
[18:25] Do we have any men here that like stuff like this? And just, I need three men. Would you come up here? We're going to do a shield wall. Who wants to do a shield wall? Come on. I know there's a couple guys here who want to do a shield wall. I know you're here. Come on, Kurt. You're nominated. All right. Joey, come on, come on, come on, Joey. I know you want to come up here. Come on, Joey. Come on. I need one more. Okay. All right. Okay. Alex, we're going to do a shield wall. Come on, buddy. All right. Shield wall. Okay. So here's how it works, guys. All right. All right. This row of chairs is bristling with swords and spears. All right. They want us dead. All right. That will get us killed, Joey. That's not how it works. All right. We've got a big shield on our left arm. Okay. It goes from your knees right up to here.
[19:11] It's big oak shield. It's got like steel around the outside and it's got a steel thing in the middle. All right. So here's what we're going to do. All right. Put your shield up. Overlap on his. Okay. I got mine. I'm overlapping on you. You got me? Okay. Okay. You got me? I got you. Okay. You got my left. I got your right. And you got his. Okay. I think you're going to die because there's no one getting your back. Okay. I hope. Okay. All right. All right. All right. And that's why sometimes there'll be guy curled around like this, the guy with the flank. But anyway, you get the idea. When you move together as one, no one can break the line. There are very few vulnerabilities. And you know what this line becomes?
[19:57] Guess what these shields become? A battering ram. Okay. So that's the next word which is push on. Okay. Push on. So advance. Boom. Boom. Okay. And we're knocking. These guys are falling over. We're pushing them over. And you know what? Maybe there's some guys behind and they're pushing you. Okay. And if you get sick or hurt or stabbed, let me jump in here. I got you. I got you. All right. That's how it's done. And so when Paul says in Ephesians, stand firm with the belt of truth buckled around your waist. This is the word he's using. It's an extremely good military word. Thank you guys for being such good sports this morning. See, that's the third picture. Got it? Do it. Put your arm out. Shield.
[20:45] Overlapped. I got you. You got me. We work together. How do we go forward? We hold this line and then we push forward. And eventually the other line collapses and you break through. Okay. And that's how it's done guys. Paul says in verse 16, hold on or stand firm. In 4-1 he says, stand firm. And then he says, Dioko, push them back guys. Boom. As a line and then pursue them when they break. And this is how it works. So our single-minded pursuit of Christ needs to have the individual effort of the runner and the collective commitment of brothers in arms. We go onwards when our focus becomes single-minded on becoming like Jesus and when we move together as a collective unit.
[21:41] Paul did not know a loner Christianity. He knew a personal effort with collective brotherhood and sisterhood. And that's how you can follow Jesus at its best. So the part two that we're looking at here is upwards. Paul says join together in following my example, brothers and sisters. And just as you have us for a model, keep your eyes on those who live as we do. For I have often told you now and tell you again, even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their destiny is destruction. Their God is their stomach.
[22:26] Their glory is their shame. Their mind is set on earthly things. But us, our citizenship is in heaven and we eagerly await a savior from there, the Lord that enables him to bring everything under his control will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body. So Paul is identifying two patterns for our lives. There's the upward pattern and the downward pattern. The upward pattern is Christ centered and the downward pattern is self-centered. In verse 17, Paul starts the section off with a very bold claim that he has dedicated his life to God so fully that although he is not completely perfect, he is still a faithful example of an upward pattern. Literally Paul calls them to become fellow imitators of me.
[23:24] In fact, there are others doing such a good job of being an example of following Jesus with all their hearts that Paul says follow them too. He says join together in verse 17. Join together in following my example brothers and sisters as just as you have us for a model keep your eyes on those who live as we do. And this is what the upward pattern looks like. This single-minded pursuit of Jesus that goes onwards and upwards with our citizenship being in heaven. How many of you know someone who's been trying to pursue status in the country whether that be permanent residency or citizenship or you personally have gone through it? It seems to me it's a very anxious process because you don't know the outcome.
[24:18] Will they accept me? How long will it be? Will there be crazy requirements put on it? Will there be suddenly a change in government that affects promises made to me that will no longer be honored? You're very exposed but Paul says you got the citizenship already. Your citizenship is in heaven. He's writing to the Philippians. History shows us that the Philippians who lived in Greece were a really kind of cool place. The whole community was descended from Roman soldiers that had got the retirement and built a life there after retirement. See if you if you live in this shield wall and you can you can live for 25 years with the Roman military and not get killed or maim beyond recognition the Roman government will reward you.
[25:15] Didn't matter if you were from Africa, France, Gaul, Germany, didn't matter where you were from they'd make you a Roman citizen at the end of 25 years and they would give you a farm and you could start a life. Because it's not much of a life to be a soldier but as these guys slogged through the mud and tried to stay alive for 25 years they had this happy vision of a future in their mind. If I can just get there I'm going to have a farm. I'm going to have a family. I'm going to have kids and if I can just keep on going I get this and so when Paul says our citizenship is in heaven to a whole bunch of people to send it from soldiers who know exactly how they got their citizenship how they got to their happy ending he says guys it's done it's guaranteed you're going to get there and it's going to be worth it.
[26:14] I mean sometimes someone needs to tell us what you're going through right now is going to be worth it these soldiers had no guarantee that they're even going to live to see a retirement they hoped for it but Jesus says it's done it's for you if your body's letting go right now I'm going to give you a body like the glorious body of Jesus Christ there will be a retirement and a future that is worth every ounce of struggle that you go through and it's worth it your citizenship is in heaven and that's the upward pattern when we have that in our minds but the opposite is the downward pattern and I want to take a minute today to consider it Paul says in verse 18 for as I have often told you before and now tell you again even with tears see Paul doesn't judge people Paul weeps for people many live as enemies of the cross of Christ their destiny is destruction their god is their stomach and their glory is their shame and their mind is set on earthly things see Jesus says set your mind wholly on me but these folks have their mindset on anything but how do you know if you're on a downward path instead of an upward path how do you know well Paul says you're an enemy of the cross of Christ many people in our society show a great deal of disrespect to Christ they use his name as a curse word and it seems they're always offended at anything to do with Jesus when you're taking offense at Jesus all the time when you're an enemy of the cross that's a good indication that you're on the destructed the downward path to destruction the second thing is that your god is your stomach
[28:14] and what Paul is talking about it's not just wanting to eat all the time it's basically the idea that whatever you desire is what you're going to serve whatever you want is what you're going to do he said he applies it to sexual desires a desire to have comforts status people relationships though these things become our god and then the third thing he says is your glory is your shame the new living translation puts it this way you brag about shameful things now people today in our culture are often talking about removing the stigma around things that can be a really good thing because there's some things that you probably need to do it you're just a little embarrassed okay let's get that exam done you know and you don't want to get the exam done but it's good for you so let's remove the stigma let's get over it let's get it done and there's things that people are embarrassed about they shouldn't be like removing the stigma around mental health these are really good things but our society uses it in another way too they try to remove the stigma around things that are destroying people they're things that are displeasing to god not because god is judgmental but because god loves people's lives and doesn't want to see them destroyed and when we start justifying ourselves and we start listening to that i'm just removing the stigma and i'm just going to brag about it i'm going to own it very good indication that we're on the path to destruction when we're on the path to destruction we need to actually know that life is not all right it is the exact opposite of knowing our citizenship is in heaven it is an eternal uncertainty a lack of assurance of our salvation that we are living in and heading towards
[30:17] there's really only one way my friends to find significance in their life and there's only one way to blessing now and blessing beyond description in the next life and that is pressing onwards and upwards with jesus so today i invite you to settle once and for all which path you're on is it the upward path or the downward path man i know in my own life i've spent so much time tap dancing between those two paths wavering going a little ways down that path and then a little ways down that path i got tired running and i realized i got nowhere because you can't run in two directions and get anywhere can you you can't go forward while you're going backwards and so we have to make up our minds what's our goal and i want to invite you today to say jesus christ is my one goal there is no single goal that will ever come above jesus and when you do that and you make him the one thing what does jesus say if you seek first the kingdom of god and his righteousness all these other things that matter will be given to you when you make god the one thing all the things that actually are good and matter in life are enhanced and blessed and life is breathed into them wisdom is given to them never make your family your one thing unless you think you can bless them more than god can if you want the best for your family worship god and call on his strength alone for your family and for his unending love so you can love them in a way you would never have been able to love them on your own you must not allow your business to become your one thing that must be surrendered to
[32:18] god and then if it's surrendered and it's his business my goodness he might be safe to bless you without ruining your soul and allow his blessing to flow through your job can't be none of these things your efforts to escape loneliness they cannot become your one thing jesus christ must become the one thing this one thing i do says paul forgetting what's behind and straining towards what's ahead i press on to the goal one thing one thing one thing i'm going to invite the worship team up now but we got to remember this sermon you're never allowed to forget this one okay what were the three pictures christ has held grabbed a hold of you grab them back this morning you're going to do one thing you're going to strain ahead with a single-minded pursuit of a runner and you will also lock arms lock shields with christians around you you will seek out spiritual relationships people that can call you and say how's it going and you will answer the truth and you will do the same for them and you will support one another these are the pictures that paul has painted for us today and now we need to use these things to to respond to god the past needs to be forgotten the things that were bitter about the failures we've had and also our successes forget about them start looking ahead today and the picture i want to give you this morning in addition to this and this and this is this surrender to god everything
[34:21] that's the one thing and so as we're being led in worship here this morning i know we're just slightly more reserved than some churches and we're slightly less reserved than others but i want to call you to something that's definite dramatic and is going to help you to say jesus you're my one thing i want to call you this morning to come as we sing and to bow on these steps and these aren't steps anymore these are an altar and it's here where you sacrifice your life for jesus the one who sacrifices life for you and you say you're my one thing i'm going to bow before you i submit everything else to you and i'm going to stop looking back my focus is not on what's behind me it's on what's ahead of me and so as we sing this song turn your eyes on jesus i'll ask you all to stand right now and i'll ask you do you want jesus as your one thing one thing are you willing to do that well then get over a tiny bit of embarrassment and come down and bow before the maker of heaven and earth who has come and given us life for us on the cross and let's dedicate our lives to him today would you do that let's do that as we're led in worship here as we sing i want to invite you to come