Four

Following the example of the apostle Paul, we “press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3: 14). We do so, knowing that it is the revealed will of God that we “be conformed to the image of His Son” (Romans 8: 29). Transfigured into the image and likeness of the Lord Jesus Christ!

The constant challenge confronts us to continue to keep “Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith” (Hebrews 12: 2). “Beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord” (2 Corinthians 3: 18).

In our sincere desire to press on so as to be able to fully enter into all that which is the perfect will of God for us, we face an ever present problem. That is, that we will focus our attention more on other Christians, their lives, as well as their claims, than we do on the Lord Jesus Christ. Yes, it is true, very often other Christians can prove to be a very significant challenge and inspiration to us. It is also very true that every one of them are as human as we ourselves are, and therefore they are as fallible!

We could point to the apostle Peter as a very powerful example for us, especially after his Pentecost experience. We may suggest that surely any Christian could safely follow Peter's example. But, the time came when Paul took a very strong and determined stand against Peter! “Now when Peter had come to Antioch, I withstood him to his face, because he was to be blamed” (Galatians 2: 11). Paul also charges that Peter's influence also caused Barnabas to be “carried away with their hypocrisy”(verse 13). Paul states: “They were not straightforward about the truth of the Gospel”(verse 14).

“Looking to Jesus!” Not to man! That call is still so very vital today. When it comes to listening to those who teach the Word of God, including this writer, every Christian would be well advised to follow the example of the people of Berea, who are described as being “more noble!” “In that they received the Word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so” (Acts 17: 11).

When we speak about “The Position Required,” we do want to make it quite clear that this is the position that is required by God that we must keep central.

These are days when we are constantly hearing around us a babble of confusing, conflicting voices, all of them demanding our attention, all of them claiming to speak with authority - of some kind; and all of them insisting that they and they alone can point you to the right answers. But, there are so many different answers being suggested, so many confusing assertions and perplexing propositions.

Very often it seems as though it is the person who has come up with the latest interpretation of some event, or the most sensational explanation of new developments, that gets the greatest attention and the loudest accolades. The popularity of the spell-binding speaker and the sensational impact of his message is not proof that he is presenting the truth! But people argue, “Look how many books and tapes he has sold!” So what? More often than not such popularity is the most pressing reason for the sincere seeker to raise urgent questions, and to tread very carefully.

The humble seeker will always be wise to carefully remember all of God's dealings with Moses. They were dealings which stripped Moses completely of every idea that there was anything special about him, or anything sensational about his message and mission that would draw anyone's attention to the man, rather than to his God!

Moses had to be brought down to the point where God had prepared him, and then allowed him to draw near in genuine humility with but two requests, “Show Me Your way!” Not: my way! Not man's way. God's Way! Then, “Show me Your glory!” Moses had learned this vital lesson, all that man thinks is so wonderful and spectacular about man's ways and doings, all of his vaunted activities, fade into total worthlessness to those who have come to that point where so humbly they look up and pray, “Show me Your glory!”

Holy Spirit, we come empty, humbly, with this one deep longing, “Reveal the glory of the Lord Jesus to us, and then in us, and finally, through us!”

Holy Spirit, we have heard many voices, listened to so many sensational claims; been so emotionally moved by man's thrilling oratory! But, Holy Spirit, when it was all over our hearts were left as empty as ever. Holy Spirit, the only thing that can ever really satisfy the deep cry and longing of our hearts and lives is as You help us search the Word to there see the Lord Jesus in all His infinite glory and majesty. Holy Spirit, as You show us the Lord Jesus in and through the Word, we will know with deep assurance that what we have is spiritual and eternal reality.

“For as he thinks in his heart, so is he” (Proverbs 27: 3). When we are this serious in our desire and commitment to press on to Christian perfection, we will also be serious about this question: What do I really think about in my life day by day? What things occupy my thoughts? What kind of thoughts do I permit to hold my attention?

Paul wrote, “Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy - meditate on these things” (Philippians 4: 8, 9).

What do we read? What kinds of books, periodicals, magazines, newspapers, and other literature do we read? For example. if we spend any amount of time with our minds occupied with the content of the modern fiction of this world as we continue to read it, what kind of thoughts does such reading generate in our minds. It certainly does generate much of what we think about. And, are these things the things which the Lord Jesus would think about in the way in which such literature presents them?

How important is that last question to us? Paul seeks to inspire us with the invitation, “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 2: 5). What thoughts did the Lord Jesus permit to occupy His mind? What was He thinking about when he knew that Simon the Pharisee dismissed Him as not being a prophet because He allowed the woman who was a sinner to wash His feet with her tears? (see Luke 7: 36 - 50).

What was the Lord Jesus thinking about as He watched that particular woman approach Him? Do we have any idea? Well, for one thing He was thinking, This is one most precious person who has been saved from her sin to be presented perfect to the Father! Made pure and perfect - in Me!

Yes, and He was thinking the same kinds of thoughts as He watched the woman who was caught in the act of adultery dragged into His presence. He was thinking about being able to present her: forgiven, cleansed, pure, and perfect.

“Beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord.” Doing so with such singleness of purpose and priority that above all else our desire will be that we are fully transfigured into His image and likeness. To be able to see: His Way. To be able to learn how to identify His thoughts and think His thoughts with Him. Doing so in every situation and circumstance.

“With single eye!” Yes, the Lord Jesus Himself has set us the example. Throughout every aspect of His life and ministry, in every situation and development, facing popularity or opposition, He always had a single eye: to think His Father's thoughts with Him at all times. In a very real sense the Lord Jesus deliberately chose to have no mind of His own that was in any way independent of His Father's mind. He had one objective: “I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me.”(John 5: 30). “For I always do those things that please Him” (John 8: 29).

The Christian who is pressing on to perfection has made that same deliberate decision: More than anything else I want to have the mind of the Lord Jesus Christ. I want to think His thoughts with Him. I always want to do His will, and to please Him.

Because of this commitment, there are a those things which most other Christians would describe as “harmless” will be excluded from my life. Some will be excluded because they take up very valuable time that we could use to focus more on what it means to “Behold the glory of the Lord.” Then there are other things which will be excluded because, by experience, we know that they introduce to our minds thoughts and desires that have a negative impact on our desire to always please the Lord Jesus.

“But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin” (James 1: 14, 15). The problem starts with the thought that, initially, may have been quite a fleeting thought. But the thought was entertained, and not expelled, so that it became a desire, and desire unchecked led inevitably to sin.

It was, and is, for this reason that the Holy Spirit inspired Paul to write, “And make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts” (Romans 13: 14).

Let us consider this from another angle. There are those Christians who have made the deliberate decision not to have a television in their homes. And there are a lot of other Christians who dismiss this decision as being too extreme. But, is it really? What if their considered and prayerful decision was based on the desire to exclude this aspect of media because, first they wanted to please and honor the Lord Jesus, and second, they did not want to have the increased distraction and diversion that could insidiously begin to take up their time and hinder their commitment to “Behold His glory”?

If our desire is really to keep ourselves pure from anything that could have a detrimental effect, because, more than anything else, we want to continue to focus on His glory, why should that be thought to be anything but the wisest course for us to take? Who can justify the charge that it is extreme, or even eccentric, when it is done with the single motive of being able to live to please and honor the Lord Jesus?

The words of the Lord Jesus do come as a real challenge to us: “And why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye?” (Matthew 7: 3).

There was not one single person that the Lord Jesus ever met that, if He had chosen to do so, He could have pointed out many and varied flaws in their personality and character. But He did not do so. He was far more concerned that each and every one of those people be transformed into the highest level of spiritual and personal excellence, which He knew was His Father's will for them.

“Beholding the glory of the Lord.” When our attitude and response to the Lord permits Him to fully answer the sincere prayer, “Show me Your glory,” the person who is granted that high and precious privilege will become so captivated with His glory that they will want, not only to see the glory in the face of the Lord Jesus, they will also want to see that same glory revealed in the hearts and lives of others. That is the deep impact which His glory has on all those who really do see it.

Paul expressed this desire to the Galatian Christians, who had become so focused on legalistic issues that they were in danger of losing their way. He wrote to them, “My little children, for whom I labor in birth again until Christ is formed in you” (Galatians 4: 19). What an expression! I am in a great agony of deep longing and prayer, as I seek the one thing I desire most of all for you: That the Lord Jesus be formed in you. That you be transfigured into His image and likeness. That you become so utterly in love with the Lord Jesus that His glory will radiate from your life to others!

It was because Paul himself had been faithful in maintaining his focus on the glory of the Lord Jesus that he expressed himself in this way. The Holy Spirit had so possessed and filled his heart, his mind, and life, that he saw everyone in the light of the excellence of the glory of the Lord. He said it so well, “That we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus. To this end I also labor, striving according to His working which works in me mightily”(Colossians 1: 28, 29).

Like Moses before him, Paul had paid the price to be able to climb the mount of God. Being guided by the Holy Spirit, in humbled and awed spirit he had been able to meet face to face with the Lord. To him the prayer, “Show me Your way,” was so vitally personal. “Show me Your glory!” came from a heart that was not disappointed. Yes, he had been there, he lived there, he continued to see and be awed by the glory of the Lord.

The mark of his sincere emphasis is seen in his attitude to the Jews. As Paul travelled on his missionary journeys, as well as while he was in Jerusalem, so much of the violent opposition and fierce persecution that he had to face had been deliberately instigated by the Jews. Yet, having personally experienced the glory of the Lord in his own life, we listen as he says, “I tell the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit, that I have great sorrow and continual grief in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my countrymen according to the flesh” (Romans 9: 1 - 3).

It is those who have personally beheld the glory of the Lord who are no longer wanting to identify the specks in the eyes of others. They have only one desire, a deep and urgent longing, “That they may be saved!” (Romans 10: 1). That they may be “presented perfect in Christ!” And they also labor to that end “striving according to His working which works in (them) mightily.”

As we look at the world today, with all of its various trouble spots, its violence, hatred, and terrorism, how do we respond? It is those who have beheld the glory of the Lord who respond in an agony of prayer for all of the people involved, “that they may be saved!” As in prayer they have by faith looked into the eyes of their Lord they have seen the glory of His love for people all being so deeply hurt. It is hurt not only by man's inhumanity to man, but possibly even more deeply hurt by the indifference and apathy, and, in some cases, the deep hostility of those who profess to be Christians. Their hostility towards those precious people for whom the Lord Jesus gave His all on the cross, “that they might be saved!”

Yes, it is true, that if we have seen His glory, then we will see things differently compared to the vast majority of other people. The difference is in the fact that we have been transfigured into His image and likeness. The world did not, does not, know Him or understand Him. He was always totally out of step with the values, standards, and priorities of the world. This means that those who are conformed to His likeness stand out as refusing to be conformed to this world. We have been transformed by the renewing of our minds.

a. The Active Commitment - is stated so decisively by Paul. This “one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3: 13, 14).

“One thing I do - I press toward the goal.” It is at this level of pressing on toward the goal of Christian perfection that these issues all become so very personal. In many respects Christianity is a shared experience, and it is intended to be such at all levels. But while we can suggest to others, “Let us behold the glory of the Lord,” each person must choose to take up the invitation for themselves. We can attempt to encourage others to make this the central focus of their lives, we can urge them to set it as their highest priority, but unless they themselves make the commitment to do so, we cannot make the decision for them.

Paul was determined that even if no one else chose to go with him, he himself was totally committed to press on toward the goal. And even if no one else chooses to respond positively to our encouragement and enthusiasm, the one who is committed will persevere by focusing their entire life on the glory of the Lord Jesus. Even if no one else agrees with us about those things which we decide to exclude from our lives so that we can continue to seek to behold the glory of the Lord, we will respond, “This one thing I do!”

“This one thing I do - I press toward the goal!” In that commitment, which is made out of deep devotion to the Lord Jesus, we are motivated by the desire to honor Him above all others. It is that commitment which enables Him to totally fill our lives, and completely satisfy all of our heart's desires. So much so that we discover that we never miss the things which we chose to discard. As Paul found, they are “rubbish!”

There are many Christians who approach this emphasis with a biased perspective. It is a perspective which inevitably causes them to misunderstand or misrepresent the vital issues involved. This fact is illustrated by the kind of questions they ask. For example, If I do choose to take this “narrow” path, and in doing so exclude from my life those things which everyone else accepts as a normal part of life, what will my friends think about me? What will they say about me? Will they sneer that I have gone overboard? Become too extreme?

There are questions that are far more important than all of these. What will the Lord Jesus say if you demonstrate that you are far more concerned about the opinions of other people that you are about pleasing Him? That you want to protect your relationship with others rather than seek to enter into the relationship He wants to have with you? That you are showing that you are ashamed to be so closely identified with Him?

The Lord Jesus made the issue quite clear. “For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him the Son of Man will also be ashamed when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels”(Mark 8: 38).

This “one thing I do!” The Lord Jesus has been totally honest with us. The road that He invites us to walk with Him will be both difficult and lonely. But, for us to be able to walk with Him, for Him to be able to show to us His way, to reveal to us His glory, we must faithfully hold to The Active Commitment to walk with Him. To continue to walk with Him whatever the cost or the consequences.

“Beholding the glory of the Lord.” Continuing to behold the glory of the Lord. “Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus” (Hebrews 12: 1, 2). Continue to keep your attention focused on the Lord Jesus as you continue to run with endurance.

This aspect of the Biblical emphasis is equally vital as we press on to perfection. There are many Christians who start this race with great enthusiasm and excitement, but who fail to continue to run with endurance. As we have noted several times, the road we are called to take can prove to be very lonely.

There are many Christians who have such a strong craving for human fellowship, which, in the right place is quite natural. But there are many times when the Lord's call to us to endure will require us to renounce that natural desire to share with others. With some, this requirement to press on alone proves to be too much of a sacrifice, and many choose to go back to where the field is more crowded. There may be more people there, but the sacrifice of the close deep fellowship with the Lord is a very high price to have to pay for that.

This race that we are called to run is not a short fast sprint, rather it is a grueling marathon. It is the kind of marathon that the further you progress the more difficult and, at times, dangerous, the terrain becomes. Determined endurance is absolutely necessary.

Most marathons are attended by large crowds who enthusiastically cheer the competitors on. The race we are called to run will, at times, have its crowds of detractors and critics, those who seek to discourage and divert you from your goal. Many of these could be loved ones and friends who have not yet caught the vision that constantly motivates you.

Also, every step that you take will be dogged by “the accuser!” He will enlist all of his cunning wiles in his attempts to hinder you. No trick will be too dirty for him to use as he tries to trip you up and bring you down in defeat. He will bring up all of the failures of your past in his attempts to convince you that your efforts are in vain.

Paul also reminds us, “Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you way obtain it”(1 Corinthians 9: 24). It is not enough to make a good start if you want to win the prize, you must finish the race. You must endure to the end.

But how are we to endure patiently when we are confronted with so many obstacles and frustrations? The key is in the statement: “Think on these things.” The person who runs in the marathon keeps his focus on his goal, and does not stop along the way to hold a conversation with the spectators. Nor does he pause to pick the daisies, no matter how appealing they appear to be. He refuses to allow either praise or criticism to turn his mind from his goal.

Nor does the marathon runner give thought to the aches and pains that he has to endure, even if they seem to be severe. He took all of these things into account before he started the race, and he prepared himself to face and endure them so that they could not detract him from running the race.

Christian, count the cost. The race will be most difficult to continue to endure, but the one who has counted the cost and prepared himself to face the battle will be able to meet the difficulties in the power of the Holy Spirit, and do so victoriously.

As you run, keep your goal always in view. Be determined to continue to “Behold the glory of the Lord” so that you will reach you goal victoriously.

Therefore, no matter what may be said to divert or distract you, keep your faith focused on the face of your Lord, and on Him alone. When you are faced with the accusations concerning all of your past failures and defeats as the accuser throws them at you, look up into the eyes of your Lord and praise Him that everything that the enemy would use against you is under His precious blood, never to hold you back, or to be used against you ever again.

As you continue every step of the way, do so with the prayer, “Show me Your way!” “Show me Your glory!” He will hear you. He will answer your prayer. He will never fail you.

“Beholding the glory of the Lord.” So that the Holy Spirit can carry out His vital ministry, to “transfigure you into the image and likeness of His glory.”