Paul Hadn’t Arrived. What Makes Us Think We Have?
- Thad DeBuhr
- 3 days ago
- 16 min read
Study Guide: Philippians 3:11-16
There are things behind you that matter.
Some of them are painful. You wish they had never happened. You made decisions you regret. Someone hurt you. You failed. You lost something. Maybe you still wonder how different life would be if you could go back and change it.
But not everything behind you is bad.
Maybe you've followed Jesus for decades. You've served faithfully. You've learned a lot. You've helped people. You've survived some hard seasons. You've watched God work in ways you'll never forget.
And here's the strange thing:
Both kinds of past can keep you from moving forward.
Failure can make you believe you're disqualified.
Success can make you believe you've arrived.
Imagine driving down the highway while constantly staring into the rearview mirror. The mirror isn't bad. In fact, you need it. It tells you where you've been and what's behind you.
But you can't drive forward safely while staring backward.
The rearview mirror is for learning—not living.
That's a pretty good picture of what Paul is saying in Philippians 3:11–16.
Setting the Scene
Paul has just given the Philippians his religious résumé.
If anyone could have bragged about his background, education, discipline, Bible knowledge, or religious accomplishments, Paul could.
But he says none of those things can do what only Jesus can do.
Paul wants to know Jesus—not simply know facts about Him. He wants to experience the power of Jesus' resurrection, remain faithful even through suffering, and ultimately share in the resurrection from the dead.
That's where verse 11 leads directly into today's passage.
And then Paul says something important:
I haven't arrived yet.
Think about who's saying this.
This is Paul.
He's been following Jesus for years. He's planted churches. He's suffered for the gospel. He's taught thousands of people. He's writing words that Christians will still be reading two thousand years later.
And Paul basically says:
I'm still growing.
That should get our attention.
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Walking Through the Text
“I Want to Experience the Resurrection” — Philippians 3:11
Paul finishes the previous thought by saying:
“So that one way or another I will experience the resurrection from the dead!”
Paul isn't questioning whether Jesus rose from the dead, and he certainly isn't saying, “If I work hard enough, maybe I'll earn a resurrection too.”
He's looking toward where this whole journey is headed.
For Paul, following Jesus isn't just about making this life a little better. Jesus didn't come simply to help us become nicer people, have better marriages, make wiser decisions, or get through difficult weeks. Those things matter, but Paul's hope reaches much further.
He believes death isn't the end.
There is a day coming when God will raise the dead and finish what He started. Everything Paul is experiencing now is moving toward that future.
And remember where Paul is writing these words: from prison. He doesn't know exactly what will happen to him. He could be released. He could remain locked up. He could eventually be executed.
Yet Paul isn't desperately clinging to this life as though losing it means losing everything.
He knows something his prison guards can't take away from him:
Death doesn't get the final word. Resurrection does.
That's the finish line Paul can see in the distance, and that's the future he's running toward.
“I Haven't Arrived Yet” — Philippians 3:12
Paul immediately makes sure nobody misunderstands him:
“I don't mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection.”
Think about who's saying that.
This is Paul. He's been following Jesus for years. He's helped start churches. He's taught countless people. He's suffered because he refused to abandon Jesus. He's given his life to this mission.
And Paul still says:
I'm not there yet.
That's important because we sometimes get a strange idea about what it means to become a mature Christian. We imagine that if we study enough, attend church long enough, read enough books, or follow Jesus for enough years, eventually we'll reach the point where we've pretty much got this thing figured out.
Paul says otherwise.
The longer he follows Jesus, the more he realizes there's still room for Jesus to change him.
You can follow Jesus for forty years and still have things to learn. You can know the Bible extremely well and still have blind spots. You can teach other people and still need someone to teach you. You can lead a church and still need correction. You can have strong beliefs and still discover that you've misunderstood something.
Nobody graduates from following Jesus.
In fact, one of the warning signs that we've stopped growing may be when we become convinced there's nothing left for us to learn.
Jesus Got Hold of Paul First — Philippians 3:12
Paul continues:
“But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me.”
There's something incredibly important in the order of those words.
Jesus got hold of Paul first.
Paul isn't running after Jesus hoping that if he tries hard enough, behaves well enough, sacrifices enough, or accomplishes enough, Jesus might finally accept him.
That isn't Paul's story at all.
Remember what happened on the road to Damascus. Paul wasn't searching for Jesus. He was traveling there to arrest people who followed Jesus.
Jesus came looking for Paul.
That changes how we understand everything Paul says next.
Paul isn't working hard to become accepted by Jesus. He's moving forward because Jesus has already taken hold of him.
Think about a kid who knows he belongs in his family. He doesn't wash the dishes, mow the lawn, or clean his room hoping that after enough chores his parents will finally say, “Okay, you've earned it. You can be our son now.”
He's already their son.
Because he belongs, he learns. He grows. He gets corrected. He makes mistakes. He gets back up. Over time, he matures.
That's much closer to what Paul is describing.
Jesus got hold of me. Now I want to become the person He got hold of me to become.
That's a very different reason for working hard.
“Forgetting What Is Behind” — Philippians 3:13
Paul then gives us one of the best-known statements in this passage:
“Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead...”
This is one of those verses that sounds simple until you really think about it.
Surely Paul isn't saying, “Pretend your past never happened.”
You couldn't do that even if you tried.
Some things from our past need to be remembered. Mistakes can teach us. Wounds may need attention and healing. If we've hurt someone, we may need to apologize and make things right. Poor decisions sometimes leave consequences that still need to be dealt with.
And throughout the Bible, God repeatedly tells His people to remember what He has done.
So Paul isn't telling us to erase our memories.
He's using the picture of a runner.
Imagine trying to run a race while constantly turning around to stare behind you. You might occasionally need to know what's back there, but you can't keep moving forward while your attention is fixed backward.
And Paul had plenty behind him.
Some of it was terrible.
Before following Jesus, Paul had hunted down Christians. People had been arrested because of him. Families suffered. Stephen was killed while Paul stood there approving of what was happening.
Paul couldn't go back and undo any of it.
But here's something we sometimes miss:
Paul also had plenty of good things behind him.
He had helped start churches. He had taught people about Jesus. He had watched lives change. He had endured incredible hardship without quitting. He had years of faithful service behind him.
And those victories could become a problem too.
We can get stuck staring backward because we're ashamed of yesterday.
But we can also get stuck because we're still living off yesterday's accomplishments.
Paul refuses to do either.
He won't let yesterday's failures convince him he's finished, and he won't let yesterday's victories convince him he's arrived.
Learn from the past. Own what needs to be owned. Celebrate what God has done. But don't live back there.
“I'm Reaching Forward” — Philippians 3:13–14
Paul says:
“I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on...”
Picture a runner coming down the final stretch of a race.
He's not strolling toward the finish line. His body is leaning forward. His arms are pumping. His eyes are ahead. Everything in him is reaching toward where he's going.
That's the picture behind Paul's words.
And it tells us something important about following Jesus:
Paul isn't drifting.
He isn't sitting around waiting to see whether he accidentally becomes more like Jesus.
He's actively moving toward Him.
Sometimes Christians can make “trusting God” sound strangely passive:
I'll just pray about it.
I'm waiting on God.
If God wants me to change, He'll change me.
There are certainly times when we need to wait on God. But Paul isn't using trust as an excuse to sit still.
Paul trusts God—and then gets moving.
He learns what Jesus says and puts it into practice.
He changes when he realizes he's wrong.
He serves people.
He gives.
He sacrifices.
He keeps going when following Jesus gets difficult.
None of that means Paul is trying to earn God's love. He just told us the opposite.
Jesus already got hold of him.
That's exactly why Paul keeps moving.
God's grace doesn't give Paul permission to sit on the sidelines.
It gives him a reason to run.
What Is the Prize? — Philippians 3:14
Paul continues:
“I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.”
So what's this prize Paul is chasing?
It's easy for modern readers to hear words like goal and prize and immediately think about achievement.
Build something successful.
Reach your potential.
Make more money.
Grow the ministry.
Leave a legacy.
Win.
But that's not what Paul is talking about.
Just a few verses earlier, he told us what he wants:
“I want to know Christ.” — Philippians 3:10
That's Paul's prize.
He wants to know Jesus fully. He wants his life shaped by Jesus now, and he looks forward to the day when God's work in him is finally complete and he shares in the resurrection.
The finish line isn't Paul becoming famous.
It isn't Paul building the biggest church.
It isn't even Paul being remembered as one of the greatest Christian leaders who ever lived.
The finish line is becoming everything Jesus called him to become and finally being with Him in the life God has promised.
That changes the questions we ask about our own lives.
Instead of only asking:
How successful am I?
How much have I accomplished?
How comfortable can I make my life?
How do I compare with everyone else?
Paul gives us a much better question:
Who is Jesus making me into—and am I still moving with Him?
Mature People Know They're Still Growing — Philippians 3:15
Then Paul says:
“Let all who are spiritually mature agree on these things.”
There's almost a little surprise hiding in that sentence.
What does Paul say mature people understand?
That they haven't arrived yet.
We often imagine maturity working the other way.
A new Christian says, “I've got so much to learn.”
Then after twenty or thirty years, we imagine that person eventually saying, “I've been around a long time. I know how this works.”
Paul flips that upside down.
Real maturity doesn't make you less teachable.
It should make you more teachable.
The longer you follow Jesus, the more you begin to recognize how much there still is for Him to work on in you.
That's not failure. That's awareness.
A mature follower of Jesus doesn't have to pretend to know everything. You can say:
I was wrong about that.
I hadn't noticed that before.
I need to think about that.
I still struggle with this.
Jesus is still working on me.
After everything Paul had seen, learned, suffered, taught, and accomplished, he could still say: I'm not finished yet.
That's maturity.
“God Will Make It Clear” — Philippians 3:15
Paul continues:
“But if you disagree on some point, I believe God will make it plain to you.”
I love how much room there is in that sentence for people who are still learning.
Paul doesn't expect everyone to understand everything at the same speed.
People grow differently.
Someone may see something clearly today that takes another person several years to understand.
Two sincere followers of Jesus may wrestle with the same passage and not immediately reach exactly the same conclusion.
Paul doesn't panic about that.
He trusts God to keep teaching His people.
But there's an important difference between saying, “I don't understand this yet,” and saying, “I'll believe whatever I want.”
Paul isn't giving people permission to invent their own truth.
He's encouraging them to remain teachable.
Keep reading.
Keep listening.
Keep following Jesus.
Keep being willing to discover that you might be wrong.
God isn't finished teaching you.
There's freedom in admitting that.
I don't understand everything.
Neither do you.
Nobody does.
But we can keep following the One who does.
Do What You Already Know — Philippians 3:16
Then Paul brings all of this down to earth:
“But we must hold on to the progress we have already made.”
In other words:
Don't use what you don't understand as an excuse for ignoring what you already do understand.
That's incredibly practical.
Sometimes we convince ourselves that what we really need is more information.
Another sermon.
Another Bible study.
Another book.
Another podcast.
Another explanation.
And sometimes we do need to learn more.
But sometimes the problem isn't that we don't know enough.
The problem is that we aren't doing what we already know.
You already know Jesus taught you to forgive.
So who do you need to forgive?
You know Jesus taught you to serve.
So who could you serve?
You know you're supposed to tell the truth.
So tell the truth—even when it costs you something.
You know generosity matters.
So give.
You know gossip tears people apart.
So stop doing it.
You know Jesus said to love your enemies.
You may not know exactly how to do that yet, but you can take the first step.
You know people matter to God.
So look around and care about somebody.
You don't need to understand every difficult passage in the Bible before you can start living what you've already learned.
And you don't have to wait until God answers every question before taking the next step.
Paul's advice is wonderfully practical:
Keep living what you've already learned while God keeps teaching you what you don't know yet.
That's a pretty good way to live:
Own the past. Stay teachable. Do what you know. Trust God with what you don't. And keep moving toward Jesus.
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Why Context Changes Everything
“Forget what is behind” gets pulled out of context all the time.
Paul isn't giving generic motivational advice about forgetting your bad childhood, ignoring painful memories, or never thinking about previous mistakes.
He's talking about continuing toward Jesus without letting previous failures or accomplishments become your stopping place.
And verse 16 keeps the passage grounded.
Paul isn't saying:
Forget everything you've learned and reinvent yourself.
He's saying:
Don't live in the past. Keep practicing what you've learned and keep moving toward Jesus.
Applying It Wrong
“My past doesn't matter.”
It matters. Learn from it. Repent where necessary. Make things right where you can. Remember what God has taught you.
Just don't build your house there.
“I need to try harder so Jesus will accept me.”
That's backward.
Jesus got hold of Paul first.
Paul's effort flows from belonging to Jesus; it isn't an attempt to earn belonging.
“Mature Christians have everything figured out.”
Paul certainly didn't think so.
Real maturity makes us teachable.
“I'll obey once I understand everything.”
You'll be waiting forever.
Nobody understands everything.
Start living what God has already made clear.
Applying It Well
Own your past without living there.
Learn from yesterday, but don't let yesterday control tomorrow.
Run because Jesus already got hold of you.
You're not trying to convince Jesus you're worth rescuing. You're becoming the person He rescued you to become.
Stay teachable.
Following Jesus for a long time should make you more humble, not more convinced that nobody can tell you anything.
Do what you already know.
Don't use what you haven't figured out as an excuse for ignoring what you have.
Learn from the past. Trust God. Obey today. Keep moving.
Questions to Chew on and Discuss:
These questions are designed to help you personally dig deeper into the passage and help guide your discussions in your Journey Groups and Me & 3 small groups.
Looking Closer
What do you notice?
What does Paul openly admit he has not yet achieved?
What does Paul say he's leaving behind, reaching toward, and pursuing?
According to verse 12, who took hold of whom first—Paul or Jesus?
What does Paul tell believers to do with what they've already learned in verse 16?
Understanding It
What did it mean then?
Which is more likely to keep you stuck—something you regret from your past or something you're proud of?
Where have you started acting like you've already got following Jesus figured out?
What has God already taught you that you know you're not actually doing?
Are you currently moving toward Jesus—or mostly living off what you learned and experienced years ago?
Let It Challenge You
What is God inviting you to notice?
Are you still teachable when someone you trust points out something in your life that needs to change?
Is there someone you're still defining by their past instead of allowing room for what Jesus may be doing in them now?
How could admitting “I'm still learning too” change the way you talk with other Christians?
Live It Out
What will you do?
What's one thing from your past you need to stop allowing to control your future?
What's one clear thing Jesus has already taught you that you can actually do this week?
Where do you need to stop waiting until you understand everything and simply take the next faithful step?
Finish this sentence: “I can't change what happened back there, but this week I can ______.”
Journey Group OR ME & 3 Small Group Discussion Starters:
If you're using this guide with your Journey Group, Me & 3 group, or a few friends, don't feel like you need to work through every question. Start with something that gets people talking and then let the conversation go deeper.
Starter 1: What's in Your Rearview Mirror?
You don't have to share your deepest secret. Keep this as personal as you're comfortable with.
What tends to pull your attention backward most often: regret, hurt, failure, success, nostalgia, or something else?
Then talk about this:
What's the difference between learning from your past and living in it?
Starter 2: What Do You Already Know?
Go around the group and finish this sentence:
“One thing I already know Jesus wants me to do, but I need to get better about actually doing, is...”
Don't turn it into advice-giving.
Listen to each other.
Then ask:
What's one small step you could take this week?
Remember This
Learn from the past. Trust God. Obey today. Keep moving.
Sum It Up
Paul had been following Jesus for years, but he wasn't pretending he'd arrived. Jesus had already gotten hold of him, and because of that, Paul wanted to keep growing into the person Jesus had rescued him to become. So he refused to let either past failures or past successes become his stopping place. He learned from what was behind him, reached toward what was ahead, trusted God with what he didn't understand yet, and kept living what he already knew. That's a solid picture of maturity: you don't have to have everything figured out—you just need to stay teachable, obey what Jesus has already shown you, and keep moving toward Him.
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Here are the lyrics to the new song: Name Above Every Name
Verse 1
Let this mind be found in us,
The humble heart of Christ.
Teach us, Lord, to walk Your way,
To lay our own lives down.
Though You were the Holy One,
King above all kings,
You did not hold tightly to the glory that was Yours.
Chorus
Jesus, You came down to lift us up.
Jesus, You gave everything in love.
We will bow, we will sing,You alone are King.
Jesus Christ is Lord forever.
Verse 2
You chose the servant's place,
You came in flesh like us.
You walked the road of suffering, Faithful to the Father.
You obeyed unto the cross,
Bearing all our shame.
Love was written on the nails,
Mercy called our name.
Chorus
Jesus, You came down to lift us up.
Jesus, You gave everything in love.
We will bow, we will sing, You alone are King.
Jesus Christ is Lord forever.
Bridge
God has raised You high above all,
Given You the highest name.
Every knee will bow before You,
Every tongue Your praise proclaim.
Heaven, earth, and all creation
Will declare what now we know:
Jesus Christ is Lord forever,
To the Father's glory shown.
Final Chorus
Jesus, You came down to lift us up.
Jesus, You gave everything in love.
Every heart, every voice,
Now will all rejoice.
Jesus Christ is Lord forever.
Tag
Jesus Christ is Lord.
Jesus Christ is Lord.
To the glory of the Father.
Jesus Christ is Lord.
Thank you for being so faithful.