Crystal Sparks' Podcast

194. [Philippians Study] Already But Not Yet

• Crystal Sparks

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What are you truly trying to attain in your spiritual journey? This question anchors our exploration of Philippians 3:12-14, where Paul reveals the delicate balance between who we already are in Christ and who we're becoming.

The spiritual life isn't about finding some secret formula or hidden path—it's about the gradual transformation into Christ's image. Paul gives us a three-part framework that revolutionizes our approach to discipleship: forgetting the past, embracing the present, and looking ahead to the future. This isn't just theoretical theology; it's practical wisdom for anyone who feels defined by their history or stuck in their current circumstances.

One of the most powerful concepts we unpack is the Michelangelo metaphor of spiritual formation. When the famous sculptor was asked how he created his masterpieces, he explained that he simply removed everything from the stone that didn't look like the image he saw within it. Similarly, God sees the masterpiece within us and is carefully chiseling away everything that doesn't reflect Christ's image. Your mistakes aren't marring the sculpture—they're being removed to reveal the true you.

Perhaps most revolutionary is the shift in how we view others. When we understand that the ultimate goal is union with Christ, we stop seeing people as obstacles, competitors, or even just friends—we see them as image-bearers whom we're called to help move closer to Christ. This transforms how we approach marriage, leadership, conflict, and every relationship. Instead of merely avoiding sin, we actively pursue honoring others as Christ.

Whether you're wrestling with past trauma, feeling frustrated with your current spiritual progress, or unsure about your future direction, this message offers a fresh perspective that combines theological depth with practical application. Join us as we discover what it means to press on toward the goal for which Christ has taken hold of us.

My hope is that this podcast helps grow your faith and equips you to accomplish your dreams and goals!

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Speaker 1:

Welcome to another part of my Philippian study that I have been doing with our staff at Staff Chapel. If you haven't listened to the other parts, you might want to go back deeper into my podcast. Check out those episodes and catch yourself up to join where we're at today. Check out those episodes and catch yourself up to join where we're at today For review of Philippians.

Speaker 1:

We've got our review of the entire Bible, because repetition is good, and so we don't learn truth, we remember truth and it's the truth we remember that sets us free. And so the first five books of the Bible, we have God's law. Then the next group of scriptures that we see, the books, five books of the bible, we have god's law. Then the next group of scriptures that we see, the books of the bible, is we have god's people. Then next, we have god's wisdom, then we have god's prophets, which got, is god calling back his people? Then we have god's son, we have god's church and we have god is coming back, and so that's an overview of all the scripture. It's a great way to for us to remember, um kind of the way the Bible is laid out. And so in uh, verse 312, he says now that, not that I have already attained or am already perfected, but I press on that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. And here's the question that we have to ask ourselves is what are you trying to attain? He says not that I have already attained like it or that I'm already perfected. We should ask ourselves what is he talking about Now?

Speaker 1:

Eisegesis one college students is isolating the text. Exegesis is when we take extra time to look at what's being said. Now, keep in mind we've been moving slowly through the text. So, looking back on the movement of the text, 4 through 8, if you want to do brackets in your Bible, if you haven't already is 4 through 8, he's talking about forgetting the past. So 4 through 8, he's talking to us about forgetting the past and remember what all he talked about. He highlighted seven different reasons why he had to boast and why he's laying all those down and so forgetting the past. So four through eight is forgetting the past. Ten through 11 is embracing the present. So he talks about it's time for us to embrace where we are right now. We don't want to be a people that are so in love with the past, that we miss the embracing of the present. But now, 12 through 14 is important because he says after I forget the past, after I embrace the present, I'm going to look ahead to the future. Just side note as we disciple people, all three of these should be present in your meetings.

Speaker 1:

There's a portion of, as you're discipling people, you're working through their past trauma. But I'll just say we've got a perpetuation of people being victims in our society right now that they're so labeled by what happened to them in their past they're not able to embrace where they are right now. And here's the truth is, I was abused as a child. That's true. I endured a lot of abuse. I grew up in poverty. I had a father who was physically, verbally abusive. There was a lot of stuff going on in my home, but I've spent more years out of that than I did in that. And so there has to be a point, a turning point as we're discipling people, of a turning away from the past and now embracing where we are. I am safe now. I have a man that loves me now. He's never harmed me or abused me, and I have to embrace that reality because if I'm identifying more with the past, then I am with where I am and so. But then there has to have this turning moment where we're looking ahead to what Christ has, and Paul lets us know here that what's ahead is Christ. It's not my vision for my future or like I want a bigger house or I want to make more money or I need more monetary goods. No, the vision for the future is Christ and that as I'm going, I'm becoming more like him.

Speaker 1:

And so this section this 12 through 14, this is what theologians would call apocalyptic or eschatological. And so a lot of times when we think apocalyptic we think like end of the world, like bombs, like zombies, like. But when the Bible talks about apocalyptic or eschatological, eschatology is study of the end times. It's talking about the end of the age, what's gonna happen to us. And so, which is like a redefinition of our Western mindset, because we think apocalyptic very differently than what the early church did. And so basically our vision for where we're headed, because in one college I always teach that your eschatology shapes your ecclesiology.

Speaker 1:

So what I believe about end times, about the end of everything, is going to shape how I see the church. And so when I see that, the eschatology, my eschatology, my belief that at the end of this life, my goal is that I'm going to be with Christ, that I'm going to be more like him. That that's my view, not whether the person being elected is the Antichrist or where are we at in the seven trumpets and the seven seals. No, the early church didn't see it like that. Like. My view is that I'm becoming more like Christ, and it shapes my ecclesiology, and so everything we're doing is to get people to see who they are in Christ, and as they see who they are in Christ, they're becoming a different person, and so it's shaping how I view the church. Are we good? Okay?

Speaker 1:

So 3.13, he says this brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended it, but the one thing I do for getting those things which are behind and reaching forward to what is ahead. I love this because he says there's many translations and actually in the Greek right here, where it says I have not, I've yet to have apprehended, you could put yet. Right there In fact I did like an arrow in my Bible, like you could put yet it's saying I haven't apprehended yet. And I want you to think about this that in our lives there's going to be this tension. It's letting go of the past, embracing where I am, but declaring my not yet.

Speaker 1:

So I think, as believers, we live in the already and the not yet. We live in the. I am fully redeemed by Christ already, but I'm still becoming who he's created me to be and I haven't seen that yet that God has completely redeemed every part of my past and I'm getting, even though I don't feel like I'm healed of my trauma yet, like Christ has seated me in heavenly places, even though right now I'm feeling this tension, this struggle, and I haven't yet fully experienced it. But the key word is yet, and so he's letting them know. I haven't apprehended it yet, and so I want to declare over you that there's going to be times in our lives where we're letting go, we're embracing, but we need to have a not yet kind of thing, and I don't allow what I'm presently going through to keep me from declaring the yet of what God has in my future.

Speaker 1:

And the yet is where the faith statement is, the yet is the declaration. The yet is the. I'm not satisfied to be where I am because I may not have all the team I need yet. I may not have all the resources I need. Yet Does this make sense? I may not have all the grace. It may feel like, oh, god told me I have all the grace, but I don't feel it yet. And it's the yet that keeps us pressing, it's the yet that keeps us declaring, it's the yet that draws us into the secret place. And so, at salvation, the seed of all God has is inside of me, but I'm still becoming mature to produce the fruit, even though I haven't seen it yet. The seeds on the inside of me. So the fruit of the spirit love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness and self-control all of that is inside of me. I may not feel like I have self-control, I may may not see the fruit of it yet, but the yet is what I contend for. The yet is what I keep reaching for.

Speaker 1:

So, as believers, we live in the already and the not yet. And the not yet is what makes us a faith people. The not yet is what keeps us. Our eyes are looking forward. We're not looking back here, we're not settling into where we are, but we're looking ahead. And that's what Paul is letting us know here.

Speaker 1:

And so for us, as we think about this theologically, there is imputed righteousness. And there is imparted righteousness and imputed righteousness. This is justification. And so when you are saved, you are justified. And justified means this, this, that just as if you never sinned. That's, that's justification. But then imparted righteousness is the sanctification part, and it's two sides of the same coin. So when we think of salvation, we think of that moment whenever our hand is raised and we say the sinner's prayer. But actually salvation is worked out in us through the rest of our lives.

Speaker 1:

And whenever the New Testament authors are writing it, they're going to switch back and forth to the imparted righteousness and the imputed righteousness. And so whenever you became saved, you got imputed righteousness, meaning Christ's righteousness came on you. You got a righteousness that you did not deserve. Your debts were fully paid. They weren't forgiven, they were paid. There's a difference in forgiveness and paid. Forgiveness is it's just written off. Paid for means somebody walked in and paid the debt that you owed, Somebody had to sacrifice. A forgiven debt is different than a paid for debt. Does this make sense? And Christ's bloodshed on the cross meant that you were fully paid for every one of your sins, past, present and future.

Speaker 1:

This is where I depart from NT Wright. Nt Wright doesn't believe that we're justified until eternity. And then it's based upon our works whether or not we're justified. And I'm like well then, what's the payment of the cross? If justification comes through my righteous deeds and at the end of time I'm going to be deemed either justified or unjustified based on my deeds, then why did Jesus go on the cross? Why did he pay the debt? No, he said it is finished, meaning all the debts were fully paid. There's not one thing left. So if you don't get this, then you work out of works to try to earn righteousness, instead of realizing it was imputed to you.

Speaker 1:

But there's the second part of righteousness, which is imparted righteousness, and this is sanctification. This is me living my life set apart for him, and this is where I allow God to shape me and to live like the person that he already says that I am, and this is the process that we will never stop until we reach eternity. He's constantly shaping us, he's constantly molding us, and something I've been thinking about and I don't know I don't know if I fully believe this, but this is something I've been like thinking out in my mind is y'all know the story of Michelangelo and how he was asked about how he created one of his amazing sculptures, and I love this because he says I saw the image on the inside and I removed with the stone anything that didn't look like the image that was on the inside. And what we see is Moses, which is one of the most beautiful like sculptures he ever. He literally looks like he's living. We see the David, we see the Pieta, we see those things. He said. I saw the stone and I just kept removing until the image that I knew was on the inside came to where you could see it.

Speaker 1:

We think of sin like this, that we start out as the image and and that every mistake we make removes parts of the sculpture, mutilating it. Are y'all following me when you are saved as you walk out this imparted righteousness, the sanctification piece? Christ sees the sculpture on the inside and he's removing everything that isn't a part of that image and it's as I let his hand fix me. We think the mistakes we made is marring the image. No, the mistakes you made are fully forgiven. They're under the blood. Now I put my hand and let him shape me, make me the image that you see on the inside, and that's what Paul's saying. You think that I've already arrived, like you think, the image that's in the side of the stone. It's already come to being, but I'm telling you he's still chiseling it off. There's still parts of me that he's shaping, there's still parts of me that he's molding. Isn't this so good?

Speaker 1:

Because I, literally I was at a youth thing one time, brian and I were youth pastors and this guy took this piece of paper and he was like every time you make a mistake, this is what's happening, and he's ripping up the paper and he's taking it apart. And then he glued all the pieces together and he said, yeah, god can work with it, but this is what you look like the rest of your life. Well, as a person who's made a lot of mistakes, I'm like I'm the fricked up sheet of paper. Brian's the perfect sheet of paper. I'm the one that's like, so bit together, like, and I lived my entire life thinking that way.

Speaker 1:

But as I've been studying this whole idea, I'm like no, what Michelangelo said is literally what Christ is doing in us, that when I'm saved, I'm the block of stone and as I'm allowing myself to be sanctified, the good news is the image is coming forth. It's coming forth. It's what he saw on the inside all the time. So we can trust God when he's asking for us to give certain parts of our life, because it's just the image becoming more clear. We're becoming an image bearer for him. Is this okay? Great, I'm glad you're getting something out of it, please, jesus. So you never, okay. Oh, this is, this is the next part. Okay, this is so good, you ready.

Speaker 1:

So, not that I've apprehended, but the one thing I do forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead. Okay, I'm really good at forgetting things, like I'm really good at forgetting things. Like I'm really good at forgetting things, but you never choose to forget. But you can choose to be forgetting Like I never, like whenever I do stupid things, brian usually will say what were you thinking? And I'm like I wasn't. That's why I lost my keys, like I wasn't thinking, that's why I left my phone there. The other day I went and bought something at the store and I straight up got done paying out everything and I just walked out without the bag and I was just so happy going to the car. I was like love that I did that. And here comes the cashier lady running out with my bag. She's like do you want your bag? And I was like, oh yeah, I bought that. I didn't choose in that moment to forget it, I accidentally did.

Speaker 1:

And when we hear this scripture, forgetting those things which are behind, we think that we're going to reach a point in life where we just leave our baggage at the register. But choosing to forget is different than when I forget something. Does this make sense? So when the thought comes to my mind of my past, I can choose to forget who I was and I can choose to remember who I am now. When a thought comes up of how somebody offended me and the wrongs that they committed, I can choose to leave that behind, choosing to forget.

Speaker 1:

Paul's saying here that it's not a spiritual amnesia that happened to him on a Thursday. It's actually like a choice, and I think that's what we're waiting for is spiritual amnesia? And he's saying no, it's a choice. It's a choice that every day I'm going to make the choice to forget the words that were said. I'm going to make the choice and some of us have let that one sin, that one mistake, that one failure define everything from that point forward. And I'll ask you, like my counselor asked me Crystal, it's been 24 years, 25 years, since you were that girl. When are you going to let it go? You got to choose to forget, you got to choose to let it behind. And so forgetting and being forgetful they're not the same right.

Speaker 1:

And so what is he forgetting? He's forgetting his qualifications, because this is from the section previous. So when I exegete, I'm understanding what he's saying. And so when I'm looking at this, he's saying I'm forgetting my qualifications, I'm forgetting the persecution of the church, his mistakes, and I'm forgetting my righteous deeds. So all the things. Because sometimes, when we think about forgetting, we only think about negative things.

Speaker 1:

But remember, paul gave us seven reasons he had to boast and a lot of his reasons were good things. So sometimes, if we're being honest, we can come to God in seasons that we're frustrated and we're like God I gave, I served, I sacrificed. But is it really a gift if you're holding it over God's head like it's manipulation? So I don't just forget the sins I made, I don't just forget the mistakes, but I also forget the righteous deeds that I've done. But even further, I forget the qualifications. Well, I'm more educated than them, I've got more experience than them. Yeah, but God didn't ask you for that. Like he picked somebody else, and you may be more experienced, but your pride is stopping it. So, paul, when he says I'm forgetting, he's pointing back at what he just talked to them about.

Speaker 1:

And so I think for us, as we're preaching this well-balanced, I think we're going to have people that, yeah, they're walking through past things, but sometimes the past thing is their pride thing and it's the reason why they feel like they're qualified apart from Christ. It feels like they can do it apart from Christ, and so these are the things that he's forgetting. So the goal of all of this, the ultimate goal, is union with Christ, and the ultimate goal for all of us is our union with Christ. A marriage that is God's design for marriage is not two Christian people coming together and attending church on Sunday and I know that messes up your idea but it's two people who love God and are pushing each other towards their union with Christ. I want you to look more like him. I'm going to serve you so you can look more like him. I'm going to honor you and speak kindly to you because I want you to look more like him. It's not just removing strife out of our marriage. But it's as I honor Brian as he is Christ, and getting him closer to Christ, that God begins to show up and move. The goal of Christ, the goal of God for our team members, is that we're pushing them closer to their union with Christ. It's not the roster, it's not how well they can teach a message, it's not how well they can usher in the presence of God. It's getting them closer to their union with Christ. So if ever our spiritual formation of that part starts being second, third on the list, we're missing the ultimate goal and we're just like a country club, we're just a production agency. But everything that we're doing, it's getting us closer to our union with Christ and the goal for all of our kids is that they're getting closer to their union with Christ. Okay, so I want you to think about this Whenever we think about don't lust right.

Speaker 1:

Jesus says if you even lusted after a woman in your heart, you've already committed adultery with her right. Woman in your heart, you've already committed adultery with her right. So I want you to think about this Oftentimes, when we think about this situation getting closer to our union with Christ, I want this to reshape how you see sin. So when I feel lust and I resist the urge to do the thing, we would say you did good, you didn't sin. No, the starting point for us is getting people closer to their union with Christ. So when I feel lust, I'm going to use my husband. Pretend he's not my husband, okay, but he's the object of my lust, amen. But in this scenario, so I feel lust towards him, I resist it, god, I put this on the table. Now, how can I honor him as Christ? What do you want me? Why am I in his life? Because you want me to get him closer to you.

Speaker 1:

Now I've actually taken that sinful desire and now it's redeemed. Does this make sense? The goal is not that just I resist the sin issue, but I'm getting the people around me. When you change the view of the people that you're serving, that they're not just the person you're serving, okay, I'm angry at this person. They said this thing right. I'm going to do another scenario.

Speaker 1:

Internally, I'm wrestling with unforgiveness and then, in the moment, I see them and I do the amen. Praise the Lord. So good to see you, so glad you're here today and I think I'm doing good because I took the high road? No, to redeem that. I feel it Now. God, what do you want to do in them that this sinful desire is keeping me from getting them closer to their union with you? God, what are you saying for them? How can I honor her like Christ? Now I've taken that sinful desire, it's been redeemed and I'm seeing them as Christ. And I think if we shift this mentality because there's internal and external, and when we're wrestling with sin it's all internal, but when we begin to redeem those things, it begins to go externally it changes how I see people. So your lust issue is an issue because you see person as an inanimate object and not as an image bearer of Christ. Person as an inanimate object and not as an image bearer of Christ, but when I see them as Christ, would I? I literally tell.

Speaker 1:

This lady came up to me on first Wednesday. She's like I want you to meet my boyfriend and I was like amen, she's really precious and I love her. And I looked at him and I said are you honoring her like Christ? And he was like oh, and I said no, you need to honor her like Christ. Like you speak to her, like Christ, you honor and respect her, you treat her, you handle her as Christ, he said. I've never thought about that before Because we're spending all this time in this internal and Paul's going. The ultimate goal is our union with Christ. And when I began to shape that, when I began to shift that, then I'm not just doing this internal wrestle, thinking I'm doing good because I didn't act on it, but, yes, still have the internal. I'm not saying to surrender those awful things, like don't act out of bitterness, anger, rage, but now how can God help me see them as an image bearer of you, and how can I get them closer to you in this moment? Is this good? Okay, these are things I'm thinking about. Okay, st Augustine says this the apostle speaks of himself as both perfect and imperfect.

Speaker 1:

Imperfect when he considers how much righteousness is still waiting in him, but perfect in that he does not blush to confess his own imperfection and makes good progress in order to attain it. I love that so much. Paul is saying what do you need to let go of and what do you need to lean into? So for all of us, there's a letting go of, but there's also a leaning into. So letting go of the sinful feeling that I feel on the inside, but I'm also going to lean into something else and just like, think about monkey bars Like if I let go of this one but I don't have something else to hang on to, what am I going to do? Fall down. And a lot of times I think we've gotten really good about talking about letting go but we don't tell them what to lean into. And and our message has to be balanced of both we let go but we also lean in. And this is how we lean in. This is what it looks like, this is how we're going to model it out for you, st Jerome. He's been my boy for a few months now. It's a lot.

Speaker 1:

He says this put the past out of mind, set your mind to the future. What he has reckoned perfect today, he ascertains to what has been false tomorrow, as he reaches forever better and higher goals. By this gradual advance, never being static but always in progress, he is able to teach us what we suppose in our human way to be perfect still remains in some ways imperfect. I love that so much. Good job, st Jerome.

Speaker 1:

So what is maturity, according to what Paul has said, and I'm almost done? It's number one. It's forgetting the past. It's number two, embracing the present. It's number three, looking forward to our future. And so with this, he says unto which I have already attained. And he says let us therefore, as many are mature, have this mind, and if any of you think otherwise, god will reveal even this to you. He's saying the goal of Christian living is not finding something new, it's not finding a unique path that nobody's ever had. You're not trying to find some special, unicorn version of scripture. Number one reason why I'm going to keep scrolling on TikTok or Instagram I've never heard this preached before.

Speaker 1:

Next, you mean, out of 2000 years of Christianity, that's called a cult. That's how people start cults, is they find something that's never been preached before. That's called a cult, and so be careful on that. But he says, therefore, as many as mature, have this mind, and in anything you think otherwise, god will reveal this to you. And so what St Augustine says is hold true with the affections of the mind and habits of living, so that one is able to be perfectly in the possession of righteousness when advancing day by day along with the direct road of faith, one has already become a perfect traveler on the road. I love that so much, and so with this he's letting us know, paul's letting us know, that mature Christianity is this is that we have one mind. And he's not saying that there's not difference of opinion, because we should have difference of opinion. Like you may like ginghies, which I love that for you, and another person likes Panda, like that's fine, love that for you.

Speaker 1:

He's not talking about. What he's talking about is this is that we have one mind on core, essential doctrines, that our doctrines are solid, that we're all very clear about. We are looking. Christ has fully forgiven us. We're not qualified on our own. We're embracing where Christ has us today and we're all moving every person forward in our union with Christ. If we're not careful, we'll let secondary issues become primary issues and we can't be a team that leads that way. And so the secondary issue is what the service plan looks like. The ultimate issue is are people getting united with Christ? The secondary issue is did the classroom get set up the way that you wanted it to be set up? The ultimate issue is our union with Christ, and we've got to keep that.

Speaker 1:

And he says that's what maturity is is knowing where to like, hold your ground and knowing what things to let go of and for Paul in this church that's wrestling the church of Philippi. He's letting them know hey, guys, like we gotta get this one mind and we're not talking about total agreement on everything, because there's gonna be diversity of opinions but when it comes to core, essential doctrines, when it comes to the culture of the house, people are our heart. Jesus is our message. Servant leadership is our identity. Generosity is our message. Servant leadership is our identity. Generosity is our privilege. Excellence is our spirit. Those are like core things, right, but even further, what would later be defined as the Apostles' Creed. Like these things are what we hold on to. Everything else is secondary and when you get that mindset, it begins to change and shift how you see the church. And that's what he's doing here.

Speaker 1:

Remember, this is apocalyptic, this is eschatological, and he's like at the end of all of this, guys, we're in a stand before Christ and the question is did you do what the son asked you to do? Do you look like my son? And everything else doesn't matter Whether your sweatshirt design won or didn't win, whether your idea for the game happened or it didn't happen. Secondary issues, those are abstractions. They're keeping us from the ultimate thing, which is our union with Christ and we want to be made more like him. Amen, and that's the goal for all of us. Everything we do is to serve that vision, planning centers to serve that vision. All the things that we're doing is to serve that vision. And so, as we're walking people through, it's not are they hearing my opinion, but are they becoming more like Christ? That's the goal, that's why we do what we do.

Speaker 1:

And so, father, we just thank you for this time. We thank you for your word, god. We thank you that every time we hear your word, we're changed. Father, we thank you for the prophetic declaration Pastor Rhonda spoke over our house. Lord, we receive it with open, willing hearts.

Speaker 1:

God, we're flexible, god. I thank you that, as Brian's dad used to say, blessed are the flexible, for they shall not be built out of shape, lord. We're a flexible house. Lord, wherever you wanna move, whatever you wanna do, we're here for it, god. And so, lord, we thank you for the honor of pastoring these people, for the honor of leading these people. God, let us make them look more like you people, god, let us make them look more like you, not like us, but like you. In Jesus name. And somebody who believed it said amen, I love you guys. Have a great rest of your Friday. Thanks so much for hanging out here on my podcast. Do me a favor and hit the subscribe button if you haven't done so already, so you never miss out on anything here on my podcast. Also, one of the best ways for us to begin to reach other people is by you sharing. So if you do me a favor and share this podcast with a friend, family member or maybe on your social media, help us get the word out so we can help others.