"A GOAL TO LAST A LIFETIME!"

PHILIPPIANS 3:1-16

Most of us have goals and objectives in life. We may not always sit down with a gant chart to predict or calculate the time frame for their fulfillment, but defined or not, we have some end to achieve. Sometimes our goals are pretty insignificant in the larger scheme of things, sometimes they are unworthy altogether. But, hopefully, most of our goals are those which will benefit us for time and eternity. There is the story of a girl who, in her early twenties, established a goal. She determined that she would swim the English Channel. Well, some people decide to skate for the Gold at the Olympics. Others set out to climb the highest mountain. But her goal and objective was to swim the Channel. She did the necessary things to prepare for that feat and set out to accomplish it. This morning I would urge you to consider your goals, the worthiness and significance of them, and what it takes to press toward them.

• WE NEED TO ESTABLISH SOME SHORT-TERM OBJECTIVES: VV7-8:
• Paul did so: His were:
• To count all worldly, flesh oriented things as loss; to strip himself of anything he discovered in his life that got in the way of Jesus Christ.
• To get to know Jesus better day by day: to know Him, not to just know about Him. That is a daily process!
• All of us need to establish some short-term objectives
• If you want to go to College, you may need to work harder in classes or tasks we find most difficult.
• If you want to experience self-mastery, you may need to defeat one particular habit that has become problematic.
• If you want to be a successful parent, you may need to engage in weekly one on one activities with each of your children.
• If you want to gain mastery of our finances:, pick the smallest bill, apy it off and then put those payments onto the next smallest bill.
• If you want to understand the Bible better, begin with one book or one character and study that book or individual thoroughly.
• If you want your relationship with Christ to grow, you need to to spend more time in personal devotions: daily Bible reading and regular prayer tim.
• If you want more faith, engage in those things which demand and which exercise faith!.
• If you want to be more humble, do humbling things like push shopping carts back to the rack when some thoughtless individual leaves it in the lot.
• Caveat:
• Short-term goals ought never impede our life goals. For instance, a man may decide to provide well for his family.
• His long term goal: provide for family. Short term goal: to work 3 jobs to make enough money.
• The problem: He may in the end lose the very family he wanted to provide for because he is never around.
• Short-term goals ought never become an end in themselves. For instance, a man once decided to go on the mission field, but decided to raise the money through a business venture.
• His long term goal: serve on the mission field. His short term goal: make money.
• The problem: he got so caught up in the money making thing that he never went to the mission field!
• Decide what your goal for a lifetime is, and then break it into incremental short-term goals which will aid your progress. Someone rightly said, "Even a trip around the world begins with the first step!"

The girl did all her preparatory training. And, indeed, she swam the English Channel, but it was a more arduous task than she had anticipated. She grew exhausted. But she would not give up. She had invested too much in this moment to stop. So stroke after stroke she pressed on. And from then on she suffered from a health problem that was directly related to her refusal that day to give up and climb into the boat when her body signaled that it was time to quit. But who could fault her determination? Who could accuse her of indolence? Even if we agree that swimming the Channel isn't one of life's highest attainments, she did set one example: she put her all into it!1

• WE NEED TO PUT OUR ENERGIES INTO ATTAINING THESE OBJECTIVES: V14:
• Paul did just that: He pressed on, straining ever fibre like a racer running flat out for the finish. He put all his energies into winning the prize!
• Think about this:
• I used to have a friend, Jon, who would say to his brother Jim and I when we were too shy to ask a girl for a date, "Faint heart ne'er won fair maiden!" We felt like giving him a faint heart! But in essence he was right!
• Others say, "Nothing ventured, nothing gained!" That, too, is a truth.
• Someone asked an ex-paratrooper how many jumps he had made. He responded by saying, "None! I was pushed out 18 times!" That story describes the initiative or lack thereof of many of us!
• Nothing worthy has ever been accomplished by the half-hearted half-way doing the half- baked. Nothing of note has been done by the indifferent doing the inferior. Nothing noble is done by the negligent!

The young lady put her all into her Channel swim. But after swimming the channel, and actually doing lasting harm to her body, the girl matured into a rather unattractive and undistinguished woman. She had reached the other side and had enjoyed the admiration and applause of the world - for a while. But one moment of glory wasn't enough to bring her lasting fulfillment. There are so many people who get rich, marry the person of their dreams, become famous, or graduate with honors - only to find that their achievements leave them with an empty feeling. It is said that Alexander the Great, after conquering the world, sat down and cried because there were no more conquests to experience. Sometimes the tragedy of a life is that the person has reached his or her goal. That can happen only when our goals are entirely fixed in the context of this world. For true fulfillment, and goals that always exceed our attainment, we need to set a goal to last a lifetime.

• WE NEED TO KEEP OUR EYES FIXED ON THE ULTIMATE OBJECTIVE: V13:
• Paul sets the example for us here: He forgot former things and concentrated on the things ahead: the prize in Jesus Christ.
• We must also set a lifetime goal. Failure to aim at the right finish line causes frustration and confusion.
• What makes an objective a worthy life goal?
• Micah 6:8 "He has told you, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of you But to do justice, to love kindness, And to walk humbly with your God?"
• Jeremiah 9:23-24 "Thus says the Lord, 'Let not a wise man boast of his wisdom, and let not the mighty man boast of his might, let not a rich man boast of his riches; but let him who boasts boast of this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord who exercises lovingkindness, justice, and righteousness on earth; for I delight in these things, declares the Lord.'"
• So: Does it benefit our fellow man in any substantive way?
• Does it serve Jesus Christ and further His purposes?
• Does it have eternal significance or is it just for this world?
• What objective is the center of your vision? Upon what goal have you fixed your sight?

The song writer is correct: "Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in His wonderful face, and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace!" Another song writer said, "I have decided to follow Jesus, I have decided to follow Jesus, I have decided to follow Jesus, no turning back, no turning back!" If your objectives have all to do with this world and none to do with the world to come, change objectives. If your goals are all centered in the here and now, shape them to include the hereafter! If your purposes are all centered in self, broaden them to put Christ in first place. If your way is not the upward way, you need to get on the right path. You may do that as you purpose, as Paul did, to count everything rubbish that crowds out Christ, to forsake all that impedes your life in Jesus. Is that your desire this morning? Is that your purpose and goal? Make it known to us all as we sing our hymn of invitation.

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