Our Advent Aim Part One
- Jerry Witham
- Dec 15, 2009
- Series: Advent
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Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus. Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Philippians 3.12-14
What is our aim this Advent? What is our aim in as we run this life?
First, as we run in this life who our eyes are fixed upon is our aim. Who are your eyes fixed upon? If your eyes are not fixed on Christ then this is serious. Think about it. If the runner of a race is fixed on something other than the prize what is he going to get? Not the prize. When we fix our eyes on something that is what we treasure and therefore pursue after. For example, if you aim at nothing in your life. You will get it every time. If you live like a dog chasing his tail, you will continue to run in circles and go nowhere chasing after the same thing over and over again. Hebrews 12.1 says, Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. This calling to follow Christ is not easy. It is not a mere sprint. It is a long grueling marathon. There are many obstacles along the path, but we are to overcome with our eyes fixed on Jesus as our great aim.
Next, your aim is who or what you trust in. Life is not a place where you try to prove something to God with how you run or what kind of strength you have, but it is a place to prove who you trust in. You might focus and focus on your job, working and working hours upon hours. That job can quickly become the thing you get your affirmation from, your worth from and the thing that you trust in. You might be going after a degree and it can be your aim so much so that it affirms you and gives you such a confidence that you have put an idolatrous trust in it. We must be careful to not let earthly things become our great aim. There is obviously nothing wrong with a job and working well at it. Same with getting a degree, but when it becomes the place our eyes are fixed on causing us to lose view of Christ then it is a problem. So, who do you trust in? Who are your eyes fixed on?
Next, we run to verify the grace of God in our own life and who our aim is. We don’t run to earn God’s grace, but as Paul says, But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me did not prove vain; but I labored even more than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God with me (1 Corinthians 15.10). Paul runs to obtain eternal life because by God’s grace he has been obtained for eternal life. Our running is proof that we have been obtained for it. We also must pay attention to the way we run and who our aim is not because we earn salvation through works, but because faith without works is dead (James 2.26). As John Piper says, Our life is a proving ground for whether faith is dead or alive. Praise God that we are saved by grace through faith (Ephesians 2.8). As we are saved by such we are also to run in this life according to it.
In closing, knowing is aiming. Paul longed to know Christ, his great aim. What we seek to know the most is our aim. Paul says, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ (Philippians 3.8). Then he says, that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death (Philippians 3.10). People know a lot about many different things in the world, whether it is what everyone else is doing through Tweeter or Facebook or what their favorite sports team is doing. We know a lot about stuff. But do we know Christ. What you seek to know becomes your aim and something you prize. May we know Christ, treasuring Him over anything else.
