M-G: 6.30.12 // Avoid the Bell, Philippians 3:14

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 Passage: Php 3:12-17

I knew of this skinny man who had trained for Navy SEALS. He wanted it so badly that it was his one consuming passion every waking moment. He was pumped when he woke up every morning and pumped when he went to bed! Even though the dropout rate was over 90%, he was bound and determined to succeed despite the overwhelming odds of failure and to prove those wrong who laughed at his ambitious dreams. For him failure was not an option.

Once he began his training at Basic Underwater Demolition/SEALS School in Coronado, CA, the physical expectations of the program were relentless. The demands, placed upon his mind and body, were designed to simulate combat conditions. He took everything they threw at him in stride and accepted it as part of the price he had to pay if he was to be a member of such an elite Special Forces group.

He told me an interesting story about a brass bell that hung near the administration building. If a candidate decided to quit, he had to ring that bell not once, not twice, but three times. He heard the ringing of the bell many times during his training. He mentioned to me that there was no way he would ever have rung that bell and experienced the shame associated with it. The clanging of the bell broadcasted to everyone that the voluntary quitter was unworthy to be there. There was no way of avoiding that bell if a candidate was quitting. Not only was it mandatory, it usually amounted to a browbeating affair by the staff that had to have left emotional scarring for years.

For the candidates still in the throes of training, the sound of the bell resonated among them and sent cold chills down their spines. He told me in no uncertain terms that there was no harassment by any instructor, any physical activity, any suffering due to cold water, any fear, or anything else that would drive him to the bell or prevent him from realizing his dream of being a Navy SEAL. On September 8, 1971 he received orders upon graduation to report to SEAL Team One.

I often think of that fellow when I had stumbled and fallen as a Christian and so inclined to grab hold of the clapper and ring that bell, spiritually speaking! I’ve lost count of the times I had expressed to the Lord, “If I could only serve you with such a heart-felt passion and singularity of purpose as that lean young man who succeeded in becoming a SEAL? Where would I be now?" Naturally, I would get this verse from the Lord, “Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit” (Zech 4:6). I was too fleshly oriented and thick headed, always attempting to do things in my own strength, setting myself up for failure: disappointment, frustration, and depression.

Paul was such a man who had a desire and devotion to serve Christ though it would cost him dearly (Acts 9:15-16; 2 Cor 11:23-28). He never looked back with remorse on what he gave up like Lot’s wife did (Php 3:7-8). He threw away his career on the fast track of becoming a prominent religious leader in the future for Israel and was probably disowned by his colleagues, family, and friends for following after a rejected Christ by the nation of Israel.

But he had learned through it all to be content in whatever condition God had for him (Php 4:11). He realized more than anyone the price of pro-living Christ-likeness in an anti-Christ world. It never negatively impacted his joy in the Lord even under the most trying of circumstances (cf. Acts 16:23-25). Paul finally lost his life in Rome by being beheaded for his faith by a pro-antagonist of Christianity, Caesar Nero (2 Tim 4:6-8; cf. Php 3:10). He fought the good fight, finished the race, and kept the faith to the very end. He never “rang the bell.” 

As a follower of Jesus Christ, all believers are expected to take up his or her cross daily and follow Jesus (Lk 9:23). Being a believer is an elite status – joint-heirs with Christ (Rom 8:17; cf. Mt 7:13-14). Unlike the Special Forces, every one of us is expected to finish the course by the power of the Holy Spirit (Php 4:13) and graduate regardless of our intellectual and physical prowess. There is one thing, however, the training of being Christ-like will never end this side of eternity (2 Pet 3:18) and ringing the bell is not an option.

What a Savior who can take an anti-Christian Pharisee by the name of Saul (Paul) or someone like you or me and radically transform us into something special for the glory of God Almighty. Paul is an example and an inspiration to all of us (cf. Php 3:17).When are eyes are fixed upon Jesus above, what we experience down in the valley doesn’t really matter; it’s expected; it’s embraced as part of the program to be like Christ. That’s the goal worth striving and even dying for (Php 1:21) .

Read the words of Paul again in Php 3:13-14,

Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, (14) I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. 

Press toward the goal, beloved; don’t even think of reaching for the bell; there’s no glory in it but emotional scarring and a spiritual browbeating by the accuser, our adversary the devil.

Keep reaching, stretching, leaning, straining, chasing toward the goal (cf. Heb 12:1-2).  Run in such a way that you win for Him, for others, for yourself (1 Cor 9:24). The prize Paul may have referred to here is glorification (ultimate salvation) in the presence of God or rewards at the Bema ((2 Cor 5:10) or both. The prize for sure is Christ-likeness, not only in the here and now (Php 3:12) but finally and completely in the there and then (Php 3:20-21; 1 Jn 3:1-2).

So you think you would have liked to have been a Navy SEAL? It’s definitely not for everyone, but the goal for every believer (male and female) is Christ-likeness! Jesus could have rung the bell for the unjust treatment (Mt 26:53) and on the cross (Heb 12:2), but He didn’t. Avoid the bell at any rate; don't quit! There’s nothing Christ-like about ringing it. <><

"You therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ" (2 Tim 2:3).