The Eternal Prize in Christ Jesus!

“Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever.” – 1 Corinthians 9:24-25 NIV

Jesus Christ has given us the race that all of us need to run to, by coming down from heaven into the earth as an image of God (John 1:14) to be crucified on the cross as an atonement of our sins (Colossians 2:13-15) and resurrecting back to Himself (Luke 24:4-7) to be in the kingdom of God (John 14:1-4). This is because He wants us to become the righteousness of God through faith in Him (2 Corinthians 5:21) so we will be able to enter the kingdom of heaven at the end of the age (John 3:16-18), as He is the resurrection and the life (John 11:25-26). “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:23) This is the reason why Jesus proclaims, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.” (John 14:6-7) Furthermore, He declares that He is the gate of the salvation (John 10:9). Overall, what Jesus has given us is life-giving race so it is the narrow and hard road to get through, in order to win our eternal prize that is waiting for us (Matthew 7:13-14).

But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.

Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:7-14)

… let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. (Hebrews 12:1-3)

However, the life-giving race is strict but it is also not strict in a sense. First, the race is very costly because we have to crucify our sinful nature to really be in the Spirit of God (Galatians 5:24-25). This is because we cannot able to serve both the world and God (Matthew 6:24). To be more specific, the desires of the flesh are contrary to the desires of the Spirit (Galatians 5:17). Thus, in order to be able to enter the eternal kingdom of heaven, we have to take our cross up daily and follow Jesus Christ until the end of the age (Matthew 16:24-27). Nevertheless, Jesus is gentle and humble in heart, so this means that He does not force us to do something; He gently and quietly leads us with the Holy Spirit to become the righteousness of God (Matthew 11:28-30). Hence, the word of God declares, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” (Ephesians 2:8-10)

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God.

You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ. But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness. And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you.

Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation—but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it. For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live. (Romans 8:1-13)