The Goal of Life

Paul gives us the goal of his life in Philippians 3:11: “that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.”  He would tell young people to desire more than eighty years of making money and having fun.  He would tell older people that retirement to the sea shore and the health to enjoy it for a few years is nothing.  What the apostle wanted more than anything else, and “by any means possible” was to have a part in the resurrection.  Paul meant exactly what he said, and was willing to lose everything of value to have it.  He presses on in life, he tells us, to reach his goal—the resurrection from the dead.  In my experience, many evangelicals have turned this goal into some kind of desire for spiritual maturity in this life.  I think they do that because if Paul is referring to the resurrection, his language appears to be on the road to teaching salvation by works.  Paul has given the church its greatest anthems of assurance of salvation by faith in Christ alone.  Yet here in Philippians, and in many places elsewhere in his letters, Paul states in the most emphatic way that he actively pursues the heavenly prize with all of the endurance and energy he can muster.  Thomas Manton put it this way: “However assured believers may be of their salvation, until their race is ended, they cannot look upon themselves as quite out of danger.”  This is a doctrinal balance that modern evangelicals must come to grips with.  In fact, I would not hesitate to say that recovering the biblical emphasis of this truth is the greatest need of Christianity today.  In Philippians 3:15, Paul says that God will help us to understand these things.  If verses like these are not properly understood, some of the most wonderful parts of the New Testament will be a puzzle.