Will You Reach the Goal? Part 2

Have you set goals for your life? Or do you just have some wishes? Do you have a bucket list?

Do you have some ambitions that you want to achieve during this time that God has given you to live on earth? Are they goals? Are they hopes? Are they dreams? What are they? Do you have goals? Goals are, by definition, things that involve specific, measurable, time-targeted objectives versus things like, I'm going to paint the house. I'm going to take a trip. I'm going to lose 20 pounds. Those are wishes. Those are hopes. Those are plans. Bucket list items tend to be, I want to write a book. I'm going to write a book. Someday I'm going to write a book. I'm going to go on a cruise. I'm going to visit the pyramids. I'm going to skydive. Those are things I'm going to do. Do people do those things? Typically, they don't. The house doesn't get painted. 20 pounds becomes 30 pounds. On, not off.

Because those are not goals. Goals involve establishing specific, measurable, time-targeted objectives, which means they have a start date. They have initiatives that are specific. Here is what's going to happen at this time. They have a conclusion date, a specific goal in mind that once it's achieved, that has been reached. A typical description of goal is that participants have a clear awareness of what they must do to achieve an objective. Goal setting comprises a major component of personal development. A goal can be long-term or short-term. A goal is something that has a clear objective, measurable progress, with a start and a finish date. That's a goal. If you don't have a start date with measurable objectives and a conclusion in mind, you don't have a goal. You've just got a hope, a wish. Too many times this catches us up. Because if you ask an individual, what do you hope for in this life? Well, I want to go on a cruise and I want to be in the kingdom sometimes in that order. Do you have a start date? Do you have an airplane ticket? No. Do you have a measurable daily, defined, and measurable daily, defined process with actionable items that you're progressing towards the kingdom with? Well, no. So you and I can be cut short a little bit flat-footed. What is the long-range goal that God set for you? For all of us. What is the long-range goal that God set for you? The first thing that often comes to our mind is to seek you first the kingdom of God. I think I can show you from the scripture that if you seek first the kingdom of God as your goal, you're toast.

Because the kingdom of God is a reward. It's called a reward 29 times in scripture, plus other terms, a gift, a prize for reaching the goal. For having a start and measurable portions of an objective that are finally met. And when those are reached, the goal is reached, and there's a prize for that. Now, seeking first the kingdom of God and the kingdom of God is certainly a primary objective. It's a primary desire. It's a primary... you might call it a hope. You hope you'll win the prize. But we're here to do something different than just merely sit around, sitting around, hoping or wishing that one of our bucket item, bucket list items, will come true. And that is that we'll have eternal life in the kingdom of God. We're actually here on this earth to do something, to accomplish a specific goal. And the shocker is that most don't know what the goal is. I think sometimes we as a church do not present what the goal is. We present the reward. We preach the reward. We teach the reward, and it kind of gets lost in the cacophony of other rewards and ideas of the reward and preachers of the reward. And everybody, yes, wants the reward, and we may have a little different version of what the reward is, but nobody's going to receive the reward unless they reach the goal. So we need to have clearly pointed out what that goal is and what you and I are to be about. Every day of our life, and the goal will take care of itself. That's a reward that someone else has a responsibility for.

In 1 Peter chapter 1, verses 3 and 4, let's notice something that the apostle Peter states. 1 Peter chapter 1 and verse 3.

2 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope. We have a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. He's talking about a reward there. 2 To an inheritance, incorruptible, and undefiled, that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you. Is that your goal? That is a reward that's sure, it's certain, it's reserved there. Do we hope to be in the kingdom? A living hope? Paul didn't have a living hope that he would be in the kingdom. He knew he would be in the kingdom. You need to know whether or not you will be in the kingdom. And you can know. Very simply, those who reach the goal will be. You can be absolutely confident. And those who don't won't. No exceptions. That's kind of an interesting thing. If you know, I've read the Bible here, and it kind of goes this way. God has put you and me on this earth to reach the goal.

If we reach it, we receive the reward as just described. And if we don't, he'll kill you.

That's it! Revelation 20, verses 7 and 8. Reach the goal, get the prize, miss, he kills you. So these stakes are serious. They're important. We don't get a second chance. You get one try. You get one opportunity. One hope of your calling is offered. So what is this reward?

You know, Jesus had a goal here on earth. His goal was a little different than ours. He came down as God. He came down as the one who created all things. But it's interesting to take a look at a goal that he knew all about and was very focused on. He had an objective, measurable steps to take in reaching that objective. He met that objective and he received a reward. We see in Mark chapter 8, in verse 31, he had this clear, I know why I'm here. I know what I'm here to do. And this will be done and I will be successful.

Mark 8 verse 31. And I really like the fact that he shows us this example of knowing what his goal was and not being distracted from it, as we saw in part one of this sermon series on Will You Reach the Goal? But he was focused on it. In Mark 8 verse 31, he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed and after three days rise again. That was his goal. You think, whoa, that's a different goal than you and I have, isn't it? But his goal, he came to die and rise again on the third day and therefore provide the means and the way for you and I to receive a reward and be the one who actually gives the reward. Well, one of two rewards, either death or eternal life. He did a great job. He stayed focused. He did it and he sits at the right hand of God ready now. He said, I'm coming quickly and my reward is with me. He's ready to pass out those rewards.

In verse 34, he shares with us not to be distracted by short-term issues.

When he called his disciples to himself and his people to himself with the disciples also, he said, whoever desires to come after me, let him deny himself and take up his stake, his tree, and follow me. So we are to follow him. That's part of what we are here to do. The big part. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it. If you're here to seek the goal of salvation, you'll lose it. Because the goal of saving your life will come up while you're physical.

The beast in the end time, Daniel being told not to pray to God, Shadrach, Meshach, these are life-threatening things. The saints will be given over into the hands of the beast at the end time, the great false prophet. And the saints will have their lives extinguished for obeying the truth. So if you're about saving yourself, even in the short term, you're going to fail. Because that's what our goal will be. Protecting me, keeping me alive, both now and for eternity. So if that's the goal here is to perpetuate life, even if you call it eternal life, you're going to lose it. That's not our goal. We're not here to seek what our view of perpetuating life will be, even into eternity. That's not the goal. It's a nice thing.

That's a reward for those who reach the goal. But whoever loses his life for my sake, we're not focused on then as the goal being, I'm going to stay alive at all costs for as long as possible, hopefully eternity. If you lose your life for the Gospel's sake, he will save it.

For what profit is it if a man gains the whole world and loses his own living, breathing life? Or what will a man give in exchange for his life now and in the future? For whoever is ashamed of me and my words, these right here, and says, I'm not going to do the goal, I'm going to go about something else and hope for a reward.

No. Of him, the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his fathers with the holy angels and, incidentally, with the reward. So we really need to get serious about this goal. Knowing what the goal is, being committed to the goal, having it as an objective, knowing every day where we are along that way with measurable, actionable progress.

A goal is something that is, by definition, achievable. We've been given the impossible as a goal, and yet God's Holy Spirit makes it possible to achieve it. And so we are not to be like that individual who says, oh, I realized you wanted me to really accomplish a goal here that's big, but I feared you, so I just put it down here and I just hoped that you'd be merciful and give me the reward without me actually performing what it takes to reach the goal. Last time we saw the need to achieve the goal without becoming distracted from it by the things that life and the devil and everybody else will throw at us, and more things distracting will come up all the time.

If we get sidetracked onto that, well, then we quit working on the goal and we lose the reward. Now, realize that you get a reward no matter what. Those who reach the goal receive the reward of eternal life, and those who don't reach the goal receive the reward of eternal death. They're both eternal. So if you're looking for something eternal, you're in good shape. We've got to understand that. Their eternal rewards are coming. But you see why your reward is not the goal?

It's because you get the reward no matter what you do. You get a reward no matter what you do. The reward is the reward. Let's see this over in Daniel 12 and verse 2. Daniel 12 and verse 2 are very, very clear that the reward is guaranteed. You are guaranteed. I am guaranteed a reward. What I'm saying to you today, I'm just trying to make this personal. We're all in this together. We're on the same level. Coming up short, we're sinners, but we're pressing towards a certain goal, as we'll see in the Bible.

Daniel 12 too. Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, some to shame and everlasting contempt. So again, if getting something everlasting is your goal, you're pretty much assured of that one way or the other. But what is the goal that God gave you?

It's not the one that you and I came up with, or maybe a religion or something. What did God specifically say, this is what I want you to accomplish? We need to know that. When you get up tomorrow morning and pray, you need to know that. Have it right here. Every day of your life, right here, focused on it. It's common for us on the church to clip passages out of context, like, study to show yourself approved.

Well, if I'm approved, then I get the reward. So I'm going to study my Bible. That'll do it. Maybe five hours a day will do it, and I'm good. It's kind of a misuse of a Greek word that has nothing to do with study. It needs to be diligent to show yourself approved. Oh, well that's a different topic, isn't it? It's kind of more like the topic we're talking about. Or run the race, fight the good fight, and receive the crown.

Earn the kingdom. If I do this, I'll get the kingdom. I'll earn it by running and fighting. What these are is similar to what every other human has, whether they believe in God or don't. They hope for some kind of an afterlife. Those who don't even believe in God, they kind of hope that somehow their spirit will ethereally bond with nature. Those who are one mind think they'll go to heaven, and others think they're going to bond with some other living being or organization or float through ether, back up and become stars.

But we all want to live. We all don't want to stop. So we all kind of are interested in eternal life. Just because United Church of God preaches the true version of the afterlife doesn't mean that you get it just because, oh, now I understand clearly where it'll be and what it'll be. Therefore, I'm an automatic recipient of it. No, it's still a reward for reaching a goal. We'll all obtain it. Well, we know in the scripture, all won't obtain it. Will some obtain it? Yes.

Well, why will some obtain it? And why will others not obtain it? We need to know that. We need to understand that we are not unique in spreading the word that eternal life is available. I used to have a booklet in the church. What is the reward of the saved? It's not the goal. It's the reward. We're not unique in spreading the word that there's a reward. Even the serpent did that. Remember? To Eve, you won't surely die.

She's like, oh, really? Oh, cool. I get to live. Everybody likes that. It's desirable. The gospel is hugely popular. Preaching the gospel. You hear it only. They've got gospel music, a whole genre of music out there. There's gospel music. Everybody loves a reward. They're waiting for the reward. Swing low and pick me up. I want that reward. Others want the 70 virgins, and they're going about whatever it takes to have an afterlife like that.

And on and on and on. Everybody likes to hear about eternal life. People like to come to the Kingdom of God seminars. You know why? The Kingdom of God? Really. Cool. Eternal life. I'll come hear about it. But as soon as they get in the door and start hearing about the goal, they're out of here. Did you see how fast they get out of here?

You know, if somebody sneezes, oh, here's an excuse. I'm gone. After the first message, they're out. Never see them again. If they come back one time, we like the reward as humans.

Good News Magazine. Good News. The Kingdom of God. 80% of the people that receive the Good News Magazine, once they get it, they hear about the goal. They don't want it. 80% don't want the magazine. Once they find out about the goal. They just want the reward. There's other places that offer it a lot easier than seeking the goal that God gave us. Jesus said that many are called, few are chosen. Why? Well, the reward is hugely popular. Come, eternal life. Okay, here we are. They show up. Next thing, well, I'm kind of busy. Got some things to do. People to bury, jobs to do, got a pig to sell, whatever. Not many stay around.

If we go to Luke chapter 19 verse 18, Luke 19 verses 18 through 20. The story about the mean is, here it is repeated again. First, the second one came and said, Master, your meaner has earned five meaners. I have reached the goal. I've been working to the goal. I've met the goal. And he says, great. He said, you shall also be over five cities.

And then another came saying, Master, here is your meaner, which I have kept put away in a handkerchief. Now, we can be very, very guilty, as it were, of being in the second category, of treasuring the gospel of the kingdom, treasuring God's law, God's way, treasuring, appreciating Jesus Christ and His sacrifice, holding this opportunity and this Holy Spirit that He's put within us after baptism and repentance in high esteem.

The goal is reached by running. In one place, Jesus says, pursue. Pursue righteousness. Pursue means full bore, track it down, race, run, Paul talks about, running fast. It's very different than sitting still. Very different than appreciating something. We have to move all the way to the door of the kingdom. We have to go down the path. We can't just say, oh, this path is... I really appreciate this path that God set me on. I've got my little umbrella and chair, and I'm just looking at the path, thinking how challenging the path is and how wonderful the path is.

We're not doing anything if we're in that condition. We've got to go. This person sat there. Remember the 10 virgins? The 10 virgins all liked the reward. As soon as the bridegroom came, they all jumped up and said, I like the reward.

Let's go get it, didn't they? Five hadn't run the race. Five hadn't reached the goal, but they loved the goal. They're, yes, I love the reward. They hadn't reached the goal, and they were shut out. Why is that? Well, simple fact. They didn't like the goal, and that's a big question for you and me. First of all, do you like the goal? Do I like the goal? It may be that we're here for the reward, but we don't like the goal.

They've been asked to participate in something, and the prize is pretty good, but what you've got to do to get the prize? You know, not really into that. Well, God gave you the goal in a short lifetime to reach it. Do you know it? Do you like it? Are you reaching it? Are you close? Because He's getting close to giving you your reward. Today, let's look at, will you reach the goal? Part two. Pursue the God-given goal. Pursue the God-given goal.

You know, Christianity is fickle, and I want to address this right up front. Legalism is bad, and you can't earn salvation. I mean, that is pushed in modern Christianity very strongly. Anything to do with law, rules, is bad. But if you go to a funeral, a Christian funeral, and you listen to what's being said, it's kind of humorous because they're always saying, well, you know, that guy did a pretty good life, and based on this thing he did or that thing he did, he's going to heaven.

Or in the back row, it's like, you know, that guy was, he didn't do good things in his life, and he did that, and he's doing, and he's going somewhere else. Now, you can tell the person, well, you know, it's interesting here, but your criteria is based on whether or not he kept the laws. Oh, no, no, no, no, no. Legalism is bad, but the very criteria of whether they think a person gets the afterlife or not is based on whether that person lived by the rules and how well they did.

Obeying God's laws isn't legalism. Obeying God's laws is obedience. Okay, so when we talk today about being commanded to do things in the Bible, that is obedience, not some sort of earning a reward. It's what we're told to do that. If you ever participate in sports, guess what? There are going to be some rules, and in order to participate, in order to win in a certain sport, you have to do that by the rules. You have to obey the rules.

Otherwise, you get disqualified. It's the same thing here. Most awards in sports are based on reaching goals according to the rules. Now, if you take sports for a minute, what does the term goal have to do with any sport you can think of? Think of a sport where the term goal is used. Oh, there's a goal line. Wow, I wonder what that means. Goal line. That's the objective of the team, is to get something, probably a ball, across the goal line or into the goal. The term goalie means he's there trying to keep the goal from being reached by the enemy.

So you get a pretty good clear idea here, don't you, of what the objective of sports is. There are goal posts. Well, that's a tip-off, isn't it? If you have goal posts, you know, they pretty much get the idea of what the goal is. There's a goal line. There's a finish line. There's a common term in sports, things that have to do with the ball, is keep your eye on the goal. Keep your eye on the goal. So these things have objectives. Now, if you attain the goal, you get a reward. Think of some of the rewards that are out there in the sports field.

Olympic medals. How do you get an Olympic medal? Well, you reach the goal, don't you? If you want gold, you've got to get there first. Second's okay. You get silver.

If you want to reach in third, that's your goal. Well, then you get bronze. If you get there fourth, you don't get anything. So there's the goal. It's not the award, but whatever it is they do in the Olympics, whether it's swimming or running or throwing something. The World Cup in soccer is a reward for reaching a goal, for being the top team.

There's a green jacket of the Masters tournament, the golf tournament, the green jacket. You get a green suit jacket like this, special green jacket, if you win the Masters. They don't always push the fact that there's a purse as well. In 2008, I believe that purse was $7.5 million, which kind of renders the green jacket second.

But nevertheless, the green jacket is a reward for people who play all year. And they're trying to hit the ball into these little cups in the ground. That's their goal. And 18 holes to hit it in the ground with as few strokes as possible.

You have the Vince Lombardi trophy. Big silver trophy. Shiny. I guess it's silver. Maybe it's plated, but it looks silver. The Vince Lombardi trophy. Wow. For football. From 1888, you had a Lord Stanley up in Canada who awarded the hockey, the winners of the hockey league, the Stanley Cup. It's beautiful silver urn, and around it each year, the name of the winning team since the 1800s has been carved onto the Stanley Cup. That's the reward. The goal is getting that hockey puck into the goal, past the goalie, as many times as you can throughout the season.

The World Series and baseball, etc., etc. Now, you might say all these are legalistic because they're earning, essentially, the opportunity to be rewarded. But they're following rules, aren't they? They're following certain established code of rules, and if they don't follow the rules, out you go. You might think of some people in the Tour de France, bicycle race, who didn't play by the rules.

Now, let's look at this from Paul's eyes in 1 Corinthians 9 and verse 24.

1 Corinthians 9 verse 24. See, back in Paul's day, there was a remnant of the Greek Olympics that was going on, and there were four different sites where Olympic Games annual contests, sport contests, were held, and one was very near Corinth. So these individuals were aware of them. Now, the rewards were pretty much a wreath that went on your head. It was made of, well, the Olympics had laurel. The one near Corinth used a pine wreath. So it wasn't something worth a lot, but it did carry a lot of prestige with it, and people wanted that reward. But in order to get the reward, you had to run, you had to race, you had various sports that you had to compete in back in that day. So we look here in 1 Corinthians 9 verse 24. He says, 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 may obtain it. And when we look at this, we say, do you not know that those who like the prize receive the prize? We kind of read it through that lens, don't we? You like the kingdom of God? You receive the kingdom of God? He's not saying that, is he? He says, no. Do you not know that those who run, run, they receive the prize? Only one of them does. Now he goes on, run in such a way that you may obtain it. He is speaking of your goal and my goal and the goal of every sportsman is to run in such a way that you can reach the goal, win. Then it's put in the form of receiving the prize, receiving the prize. Now what is the prize? Well, everybody assumes, well, it's the kingdom, of course. I mean, our minds just flash there right now. Well, it's the kingdom, of course. Okay, well, he's referring to his job. Paul here is actually talking about himself throughout the whole passage. He's talking about preaching the gospel, doing so without being paid, pushing on anyway, preaching the gospel, doing his responsibility. If we go to verse 14, even so the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should live from the gospel. But I have used none of these things, nor have I written these things that it should be done to me. For it would be better for me to die than anyone should make my boasting void. If we continue down here in verse 16, for if I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast of, for necessity is laid upon me, yea, woe is me if I don't preach the gospel. For if I do this willingly, I have a reward. Ah, Paul is focused on his job. I've got to preach the gospel. Whether you pay me tithes, or I have to go sell tents, I'm going to preach the gospel so that I achieve the goal that God has given me. And I have a reward for that. But if I do it against my will, I have been entrusted with a stewardship. And what is my reward then? That when I preach the gospel, I may present the gospel of Christ without charge, that I may not abuse my authority in the gospel. So when we come to verse 20, he talks about how hard the work is.

To the Jews I became a Jew, that I might win the Jews. Verse 21, to those without law, without law. Verse 22, to the week I became as weak. Verse 23, now this I do for the gospel's sake, that I may be partakers of it with you. I worked hard. Now he comes to verse 27, you work hard. Here's your responsibility for being on earth. Verse 27, but I discipline my body and bring it into subjection lest when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified. We have to run according to the rules. We have to do what we've been given to do with using God's word and directive. Otherwise, we're disqualified. Kicked out. We've done something else. We can't receive the reward.

There is a reward, certainly one that we desire. Verse 25, and everyone who competes, you notice, for the prize is not actually in the Bible. Everyone who competes is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown. There is an objective for going for the goal. Everybody who competes in sport wants the prize, but their goal is to win the race. That's how you receive the prize. That's how you receive the reward. Again, we need to fear this. You know, some people write this on their truck or they write it on their shirts. Fear this. Well, here's what we should fear. You and me. Revelation 22, verse 12. Here's Jesus Christ. The last thing he says in the Bible, some 60 years after he died, he says, Revelation 22, 12, And behold, I am coming quickly, and my reward is with me to give to every one according to his work. That's clear, isn't it? Here's the man who is coming with the reward and he says, I'm going to give you this reward according to your work. We have something we have to be working on, that we have to be doing. You see the connection. You're rewarded for reaching it or for missing it. The thing, the it is the goal. The whole objective behind his statement in Matthew 25 about the sheep and the goats is, if you analyze it, you'll see that when the Son of Man comes in his glory, he's coming in bringing the reward that he's just speaking of right here in Revelation 22. When I come back with the reward, I'm going to separate the called out ones as sheep from goats and I'm going to say, come to you, blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom of God, the reward, because, and the word because is very important, because you reach the goal. And he defines the goal. He defines it in certain terms, certain basic terms that are easy to understand for individuals who may or may not have God's Holy Spirit.

It's set out there for us. If you reach the mindset, you receive the reward of the kingdom. And then he says, if you don't reach the mindset by those who didn't care, they didn't have the agape mindset of God, they didn't develop that, they didn't reach that goal in life, they get burned up. That's what he does. Reward for both. That's sort of Matthew 25 at the end there, summarized. So what goal are you working to reach? Well, either a godly mindset or a sinful mindset really could describe it. We see in Romans chapter 6 and verse 23 the reward and the consequences for goals reached or not reached. Romans chapter 6 and verse 23.

It says, for the wages. Now what are wages? Wages is the reward for that accomplished. The reward here of what is accomplished, he is saying, is a mindset.

The wages or the reward for a mindset of sin is death.

But the gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord. We're only told here about goal not reached and the consequences. He doesn't specify what the goal is. The goal not reached is the result of maintaining your sinful mindset and not reaching the goal is death. But there is a gift, there is a reward for something else. We see in the previous verse exactly the goal that God gave us. Well, here's a hint towards it anyway. It's found in the previous verse, verse 22. But now, having been set free from sin through Christ's sacrifice, His Passover, baptism, we're in Romans 6 here. If you were to go back to the sixth verse, and you would see this specifically explained in detail about we repent, we're joined with Christ and His death, we no longer are slaves to sin, we are now supposed to grow and walk a new life as a new man. Okay, so now in verse 22, having been set free from sin because of His sacrifice and because of baptism, because of receiving the Holy Spirit, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit. Oh, now we see signs, we see measurable progress, we see the results of working towards the goal, of marching towards the goal, to holiness, and the end, which is the reward everlasting life. So we know that progressing down the field past the 20-yard line or the 30-yard line, that's measurable, and as we see the fruits of that, more of our past left behind, getting closer to the goal at the end, we can see this fruit of our past of holiness and the end, ultimately, the Lombardy trophy, if you're playing football or whatever it is.

The Bible does clearly show the goal and the reward for reaching it, and it's alluded to very strongly, if not mentioned, but very succinctly. It's probably described very, very accurately, but very succinctly in Matthew 6, 33, where it says, seek you first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. You know what that statement is? It's the reward followed by the goal. Sometimes you'll hear people quote it without even mentioning the goal, only the reward. First thing that comes to mind, seek you first the kingdom of God. Boom, there we are. We're just like every other human. Oh yeah, I want the reward. I want to live, preserve me forever. That's the reward, and He follows it with the goal and His righteousness. If we follow and grow in the righteousness of God and He builds that fruit of His Holy Spirit, which is His mindset, He will give us the reward of life eternal in the kingdom of God when He returns. Are you using the King James Bible today? The word goal does not appear in your Bible. How many of you are using the New King James today? The word goal appears once in your Bible. Now, let's go and talk about this a little bit. Let's go to Philippians chapter 3 and verse 14.

Philippians chapter 3 and verse 14.

It's not uncommon then that people don't know what the goal is, that we're all reward-oriented, but we can be flailing about thinking, oh, if I study a lot or if I know prophecy, or if I'm contributing a lot of money, I hope I'll be in the kingdom. We can flail about, but if we don't have the goal in mind, it's like a bunch of kids on a football field with a football, and no lines and no rules and no coach and no refs, and somebody blows a whistle and everybody runs around. They don't know what they're doing. They hope I win. I don't know how to win, but I hope I win. It'd be kind of like that. Philippians 3 and verse 14 says, I press towards the goal for the prize of the upward call of God and Christ Jesus. When you read that, you think, oh yeah, the goal is the kingdom. Upward call, prize, goal.

Well, let's read it carefully. Let's read it carefully. In fact, let's begin in verse 9.

Paul says, and be found in Christ, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but from that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith, with works, my dad, that I may know him and the power of his resurrection. What is the power of his resurrection? Jesus Christ was resurrected and he promised to come back through the Holy Spirit. And he and the Father are helpers, and that's the power of his resurrection for us. He said, it is expedient that I leave you when he was here on earth to be resurrected so that I can send the helper. And the fellowship of his sufferings being conformed to his death. Again, Romans 6. Verse 6, if by any means I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.

Again, it can sound like, wow, it's all about the resurrection. We've got to do the resurrection.

Well, in verse 14, I press toward the goal. What is the goal that Paul defined here? Paul defined the goal back in verse 9. At the end of verse 9, the righteousness which is from God is the goal.

That's the goal of this whole passage. I press towards the goal. And if we analyze 14, I press toward the goal which is righteousness from God by faith for the prize.

The prize is the reward of the upward call of God in Christ. Therefore, let us, as many as our mature, have this mind. We've got to have that mind. We've got to press for the goal. The goal is the righteousness that comes from God. And if we have the righteousness that comes from God, we receive the reward. Very specifically stated, already mentioned, Revelation 20, verse 7. Jesus Christ mentioned it in Matthew 25, sheep and the goats. It's mentioned throughout the Beatitudes. It's mentioned throughout the Bible. It's mentioned in places like Hebrews 10, 36.

For if, for you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, which is achieving His righteousness, you may receive the promise. Again, let me read that. Hebrews 10, 36. You have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise. See how they work together?

1 John 2, 17. He who does the will of God abides forever. They're conditional.

Jesus, you are my friends if you do whatever I command you, etc., etc. So what is the will of God that we're doing, that we may receive the promise? Well, Jesus defines the goal that we're to have. Let's go back to John 15, verses 16-21. John 15, verses 16-21. Here He clearly defines the goal for us.

This is something that should spill off of our lips, spill out of our mind. We should understand it fully. We should be committed to it every day. John 15, beginning in verse 16.

You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruits, the fruits of God's Holy Spirit. There's a goal. That's the objective. That's the commission. That's whatever you want to say, but it creates then in us a goal. Oh, I've got to go bear the fruits of Galatians 5, 23 and 24. The fruits of the mind of God that come from having His Holy Spirit, the result of being a child of a Father in heaven. And He goes on that your fruit should remain. The real deal is that you are converted from one thing into something else.

That whatever you ask the Father in my name that He may give you. Verse 17, these things I command you that you love one another. Okay, now don't wimp out here and say, oh, you know, it just means we have to have love. You don't have to do anything else. He's just saying that love one another. And that's the goal. No. You have to understand what He's saying in the context of the Greek word agape. God is agape. He just established the goal for us. The goal is to go and produce fruit that remains and love one another. Agape one another. That's the goal.

He expands our understanding of this simple goal in Matthew 22, verse 37. It starts really catching fire from here and growing. And understanding what this goal is, it's not just one word. He'll now make it two concepts in Matthew 22, verse 37. But that is about to explode into something more complex as well.

Jesus said, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. That's what love, the agape love He commands us to have, involves. Verse 39, in the second is like it, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. Now watch it explode in verse 40. On these two commandments hang all the law and all the prophets, all the Bible at that time.

We are to grow in the nature of God following all of His commands, all of His laws, all of His principles. There are many, but they can be reduced down to two and then reduced down to one, just agape, because the fruit of God's Holy Spirit is agape. And the book of 1 John identifies God as God is agape. It says it twice in 1 John chapter 3 and 1 John chapter 4. So the long-term goal that God established for you and me is to develop His agape mindset. And all of it, all of it, it's part of a nature, you might say. It's part of what the Helper is.

Because the Helper is actually God, His way of thinking, His way of living, and He's coming, they've made their abode in us. We replace the temple where they dwell, at least in part.

And that nature is then to grow in us. The United Church of God has a booklet called, What is Your Destiny? And in that booklet it says, God is perfecting the attitude of agape, love, and mercy in His sons and daughters. That is the goal God has. That's the goal He's given you and me. Perfecting His attitude of love and mercy in His sons and daughters. It goes on to say, they will be children befitting of His family. That's the reward. See how the reward is fitting when the goal is reached? Now, a good question I have to ask myself. Do you even like the goal? And by extension, do you even like the family of God?

Now, I have, as Paul said, a spiritual side, what I'm thinking with God's Spirit. But I also have a physical side, a carnal side, a physical mind, for physical things, distracted and attracted by physical things. And some of the time I find myself really liking the family of God and liking the goal they've put there. And other times I find myself a hypocrite and saying, no, I don't really like that family. I don't really like that goal as much as I like what Satan society is pushing at the moment or the short-term opportunity or whatever it might be. And so Paul talks about this wrestling that we have to have and to simply say, oh yes, I like the family and I like the goal is disingenuous on all of our part. Because quite frankly, that's the first thing we've got to wrestle with and say, do I like the family? Because if we don't, we're not going to reach the goal of becoming like the family, are we? Our heart's not going to be in it. We're going to fake it. We're going to come up with any excuse and any opportunity not to do that because we don't like the family. So we really do need to start with asking God for the help of converting our minds to loving Him with our heart, soul, and mind. Because only then if we really have buy-in to what the family is and what the family does and how the family thinks, can we then grow as the children and love our brothers and our sisters here on earth? Because as 1 John 4 says, if you don't love your brother who you've seen, how could you say you love the family of God?

So there's a real important thing. Before we launch on this goal and say, oh yes, I'm going to go reach the goal and receive the prize, we've got to first decide, do I really want the goal? Again, most humans don't. Five of the five virgins, or the ten virgins don't.

Wow, you think of the sheep and the goats that are in the church. The goats don't.

It's really an important thing to concentrate on because God is perfecting children with a mindset that reflect His family and they will receive a reward. And so you see, with every day, in every situation, in everything we read in the Bible, in everything that comes to mind, we have to be marching down the field towards the goal. We have to be running the race, maneuvering down the challenging path, as it were, no matter what gets thrown at us towards the goal because we love the goal. We'll reach the goal no matter what. It doesn't matter what's along the way.

God is agape, the Bible says. Are you agape? I have to ask myself that question. God is love. Is John Elliot love? Hmm, that's the goal. The goal is when God says, you know what, John Elliot has become love. Therefore, we have a reward for him. And when I say love, I'm talking about all of this, all of what the Father's will is, all of his laws, all of his desires, fulfilling his will totally, and also showing that and desiring that, and nobody can take it out of him, then there's a reward. Hmm, I'm not there yet. I'm glad I have a little more time. But I have a goal now, every day, to be focusing on a need to be striving daily for that goal.

Philippians 2 says, put on the mind of Christ, first with humility like he did, then with sacrifice like he did, then with service like he did. Do I want to be like him? Hmm, that's the goal, defined another way. But do I want to be like, do I want to go through that goal? Let's go to John 14. We begin in verse 23 as we wrap this up and read some statements that Jesus Christ himself gave us that are very important to have riveted right in the forefront of our mind, so that we actually aren't just beating the air like Paul said. You know, some kind of, I don't know, I want to win the Golden Gloves Award, you know, I don't know, I don't know, I'm just beating the air. I hope I get the Golden Gloves Award.

John 14, verse 23 says, Jesus answered and said to him, if anyone loves me, that's an if, he will keep my word. Now we have to ask the question then, do we love him? Do we love that mind that he has? Do we want to grow up into it, as Ephesians 4 tells us, to grow up into the mind of Christ? Philippians 2 tells us to put on the mind of Christ? Is that what we want? Do we like the guy? We can appreciate him, but I don't want to be like him, our carnal self might say, you see. So here he says, if anyone loves me, loves what I am, loves what I do, loves what I stand for, he will keep my word. Now there's something that stops us in our tracks. Do we do this word? Because this is the formula for developing the agape nature and reaching the goal.

If that takes place, he says, my father will love him and we will come to him and make our home with him. He who does not love me does not keep my words. He uses my name, wants a reward, pushes the kingdom, and da-da-da. He just doesn't like us up here in heaven, God's saying. He doesn't really like us. And the word which you hear is not mine, but the fathers who sent me. Chapter 15, verse 4, Abide or live in me, and let me live in you, as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself. The fruit, remember, is the goal and that that fruit remains. We can't have the fruit unless God is in us and Christ is actually growing that in us. It's, remember what we read in the beginning. Paul had the goal. This is the goal I press for is his righteousness. Jesus said, the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine. Neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine and you are the branches. He who abides in me and I in him bears much fruit. Goggles up the yards to the finish line and without me you can do nothing.

Verse 8, By this my father is glorified that you bear much fruit and if you do you will be my disciples. You see, we're not his disciples. He's not our teacher unless we're following him and becoming like him. A teacher is one who not only taught but set an example and mentored those to become like him. Verse 9, As the father loved me I also have loved you abide in my agape love. If you keep my commandments, if you will abide in my love. Just as I have kept my father's commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you that my joy may remain in you and that your joy may be full. This is my commandment that you love one another as I have loved you. So we've been given our marching orders. We've been set a goal which is Matthew 5 48, another way of determining it. Become you therefore like your father in heaven is. That is it. We are to receive from a new father and grow up in him as children of that mindset. And we need to be diligently striving for that. Again in the booklet, What is Your Destiny? It says, Rest assured there is no way God will imbue us with immortality unless we are thoroughly yielded to his direction, walking humbly in his way of love and service to others.

Of that it says, Rest assured there is no reward unless you reach the goal of. Yielding to his direction, walking humbly in his way of agape, love and service to others. That sort of summarizes in human terms the mindset of God.

In Revelation chapter 3 verses 7 through 8, Jesus speaks in one of the seven parables to his churches or one of the seven messages, I should say, to his churches. He talks about giving a reward for those who have reached the goal. And notice what he says, there's many lessons that you and I should have ears to hear here, seven different ones, and they all apply to you personally and me personally. He should not be confused with some historical details about the church going down through time. He doesn't speak about that. You can look at the book of Revelation unveiled and see that these are seven lessons to his church, you and me and individuals in that church.

And he says in verse 7, to the angel of the church in Philadelphia, right, these things says, He who is holy, He who is true. This is a red letter, Jesus Christ speaking. Am holy? I'm true. You can bank on this. This is the one, He who has the key of David. The key of David is the key of the city of Jerusalem. David was able to control who could come through the gates of the city and who couldn't. And when the gates were shut, nobody could come in. Well, unless maybe you knew the gatekeeper and you could finagle stuff or bribe him or something, you might squeak in before a battle took place or Jerusalem got, you know, waylaid by an enemy. But pretty much, he had the key of David and the keys to the city were shut. The gates were shut when he said so. What he's saying here is, I've got the key to New Jerusalem, the kingdom of God. It also has gates. And outside, you can see in Revelation 22, are those who don't make the great. They don't obey God and His commandments. They have not reached the goal. So he's saying, the guy who opens the door, he says, on the door. You know, the other virgins, the five virgins, pound on the door, let us in. He says, nope. Other people knock on the door. Door was shut. He says, he who has the key of David, who opens and no one shuts. If I open the door for you, he says, there's nobody who can accuse you, not Satan, nobody else. I am the blood, I am the way, I'm the truth, I'm the life. If I open the door for you, it's open. You can come in. But he goes on. And he who shuts, and no one opens. If he shuts that door, you see in one of his parables, people will bang on the door, oh, open to me, open, please, please.

It's not the way it works. The reward is certain. Verse 8, I know your works. Please, brethren, understand the reward is geared to reaching the goal. The type of reward is geared to whether you reach the goal or don't reach the goal. I know your works. Therefore, he says, to this individual, I have set before you an open door. Wow. Won't that be great? To be resurrected into spirit life, into the family of God, and no one can kick you out. No one can shut it. Four! Oh, there's a four. Or a because. Because. You have a little strength and have kept my word. You reached the goal. You stayed focused. You developed my nature. You have kept my word and have not denied my name.

That is very important, brethren, for us to understand. He's telling us this over and over and over. I have life and I have death. I have to meet it out. This is serious. It's not the will of God. It's at 2 Peter 3, I believe, verse 9. It's not the will of God that any should perish, but all should repent. Make the goal. Reach the goal. In conclusion, it's typical for us humans to fixate on the reward. To preach it, to love it, to pray for it, to want it first.

But if you don't desire the goal and move quickly, run for it, make measurable progress to it, you're going to miss the reward. And I'm going to miss the reward, which is the kingdom of God. Let's see this as we conclude in Luke 13, verses 24 through 27. Luke 13, beginning in verse 24. Strive to enter through the narrow gate. For many, I say to you, will seek to enter and will not be able. You see how heavy his heart is when he says that? Many will seek to enter through the gate and won't be able. When once the master of the house has risen up and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and knock at the door, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us! And he will answer and say to you, I do not know you. You don't have our nature. You didn't reach the goal. You're not one of our children. You're the children of somebody else, but you're not family. I do not know you, where you are from. And then you will begin to say, we ate and drank in your presence. We like the feast of tabernacles a lot. We like the feast days a lot. We like potlucks on the Sabbath. We like Friday night dinners at our house. We ate and drank in your presence. We like things that are enjoyable. Notice, you taught in our streets. You taught in our church, in our congregation. You taught in sermons on the web. You taught in my Bible. I know you. You taught, and I was there, and I was part of it. See? We feel like that should get us entry. We love the Sabbath, and we love the feast, and we love the fact that we know the truth. And the Kingdom of God will be on earth, a new earth. What does he say? But he will say, verse 27, I tell you, I do not know you. You're not our children. Depart from me all you workers of iniquity. You didn't reach the goal. You didn't develop the mindset.

In conclusion, again, it's typical to fixate on the reward. God is trying to fix us on the goal. Run for the goal. Reach the goal. Accomplish the goal. Win the race, and the reward will be given to you. Next time, we'll deal with part three. Will you reach the goal? Part three is how to reach the goal within your lifetime.