Wednesday Bible Study: Marching or sunning?

So today we have a simple, yet complex, passage to remind us why we should study, why we should pray, why we should keep moving forward.  Our passage is in Philippians this time, and I would like to work both forward and backward to get there.


Forward:  We are just a few verses past one of Paul's most famous pull quotes, but let me go even farther back yet.  Paul is explaining to his audience that if there was to be any confidence in man's ability to save himself, he would be the most confident man on earth.  He had every high Jewish pedigree- but once he met Christ, and understood what his God had done for him, he counted all that as dung.  That alone is a great prize- he had had his eyes opened, and what seemed so great before seemed crap now, and what he persecuted before, he pursued now.  And it was still a pursuit, as he never let himself relax for a moment:

Php 3:13  Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, 
Php 3:14  I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. 

Yes, he was saved- perhaps the most "saved" person in history.  But he knew he had to keep growing, keep being fruitful- this is what he meant when he talked about "working out your salvation with fear and trembling."

Backward:  And he knew his walk had to be an example:

Php 3:17  Brothers, join in imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us. 

He wants everyone to keep attaining, keep striving.  But he also realizes he's on a "different plane" than many of these Philippians.  Some of them aren't ready to follow Paul's exact example; some of them might feel like they've gotten aboard the lifeboat, and their hard work is done.  Paul has a word for them, as well.

Forward:

Php 3:15  Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you. 

This has the seeming of a hard verse to understand, so let's dice it up a bit.  I have been switching back and forth amongst the versions I'm using to make points clearer, but I actually took the KJV here to make it harder.  First, the word "perfect" is not the way we think of perfect.  The Strong's meaning is "complete"; ESV uses "mature".  And this is how Paul sets the experienced from the beginners. The "perfect" Christians" are those who are mature, and have a greater grasp of all that Paul has taught.  These have no excuse for sitting on past laurels; they need to be following Paul's example of continuous movement forward.  The beginners- and perhaps the "contented"- fall into the category of "otherwise minded".  For some of them, salvation is a rock they've only just crawled up on, and they need to catch their breath, consolidate their strength.  That's okay; when you are ready, God will reveal that next step, if you are WILLING to press forward.  For others, salvation is a rock they are sunning themselves on;  and eventually, and probably not in a nice way, God will place boot to butt and get them moving.

So we have those who are moving forward; those who are open to moving forward; and those who are a bit obstinate in moving forward.  But our verse is kind of a warning of a fourth category:

Php 3:16  Only let us hold true to what we have attained. 

Here, the ESV cuts to the chase:  You have some who might slip away from what they've gained.  Paul is telling them, "Beware of backsliding."  And you might think, "Wow, there should be a little more here, something to help them catch themselves.  And if we slip back to the KJV, there is:

Php 3:16  Yet, as to what we have already attained, let us walk in the same rule, let us mind the same thing. 

And you have to dig a little deeper yet to see where Paul is at here. (Well, at least I do...)  Paul, in the choice of words he used, is asking the unspoken question- "How did you get as far as you have?"  And two words give us the answer:  "walk", and "mind".  I loved the Strong's definition of the word used for "walk":

stoicheō

stoy-kheh'-o

From a derivative of στείχω steichō̄ (to range in regular line); to march in (military) rank (keep step), that is, (figuratively) to conform to virtue and piety: - walk (orderly).

You marched in line.  You saw the example and followed, without deviating.  To avoid backsliding, job #1 is keeping in line.

And I also liked the word used for "mind":

phroneō

fron-eh'-o

From G5424; to exercise the mind, that is, entertain or have a sentiment or opinion; by implication to be (mentally) disposed (more or less earnestly in a certain direction); intensively to interest oneself in (with concern or obedience): - set the affection on, (be) care (-ful), (be like-, + be of one, + be of the same, + let this) mind (-ed, regard, savour, think.

"Exercise your mind".  You know what this reminds me of?

Deu 6:5  And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. 

Deu 6:6  And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: 

Deu 6:7  And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. 

Deu 6:8  And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes. 

Deu 6:9  And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates. 

Step one: Keeping them in the forefront of your dealings with people, whether family or stranger...

Step two: Remind yourself constantly...

Step three: Set an example to all who pass by...

These things are not things you can accomplish "sunning yourself on the rock".  "Christian on Sunday" won't make it.  This is a fallen world, and the waterfall is at your back.  You have to put the work in just to stay in one spot.  But, the reward for the work is great...

Php 3:20  But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, 

Php 3:21  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.