The Grand Prize
By Rev. Heidi L. Barham | October 4, 2026
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Read Philippians 3:4b - 14 (NIV)
So, I have a confession to make… I used to dream about opening my door and seeing the Publishers’ Clearinghouse Prize Patrol standing there with a bouquet of roses, a bunch of balloons and an enormously oversized check that declares that I have won THE GRAND PRIZE.
And as silly as it may sound now, I would even go so far as to fill out the entry form that came in the mail. And would you believe… I would almost hit the jackpot every single time!
Because no sooner than I sent in my entry… my mailbox started being flooded with notice after notice letting me know that I was only ONE more entry away from winning THE GRAND PRIZE!
Now, the folks at the Publishers’ Clearinghouse would have you to believe that you are about to win the prize of a lifetime… promising you are going to win thousands of dollars a day, a week or a month for life or even more miraculously, you could win THE GRAND PRIZE of millions of dollars in one lump sum payment.
But in reality, it is really not the prize of a lifetime… because whatever you could win will certainly not last for all eternity… and it definitely won’t get you entry into the kingdom of heaven.
Because no matter how much money and prestige we may think we have… in the grand scheme of things… it all amounts to nothing in comparison to the ultimate GRAND PRIZE which is our eternal salvation through Jesus Christ.
And that is at the core of what the Apostle Paul was trying to convey in his letter to the Philippian Church… and which extends to us today as we reflect on our New Testament Lesson.
Now, by most accounts, including his own, Paul, who was originally known as Saul, had it all.
He was an Israelite from the elite tribe of Benjamin who was circumcised on the eighth day after his birth. He was a meticulous observer of everything that was recorded in God’s law Book. You could describe him as an extremely strict and devout adherent to God’s law and a fiery defender of the purity of his religion… so much so that he saw it as his personal responsibility to persecute the church (see Philippians 3:5 – 6).
Paul, a.k.a. Saul, had come from the right family. He had made all the right friendships and had lived what he believed to be a life of freedom and favor. But he soon realized that all of that meant nothing in comparison to his relationship with the Lord, Jesus Christ.
Listen to how Eugene Peterson says it in the Message Paraphrase:
Paul had a true conversion experience… and he came to understand that the key to living a life of true righteousness was not about religion, rules or regulations… it is all about relationships… first and foremost of which is our relationship to God through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord.Yes, all the things I once thought were so important are gone from my life. Compared to the high privilege of knowing Christ Jesus as my Master, firsthand, everything I once thought I had going for me is insignificant—dog dung. I’ve dumped it all in the trash so that I could embrace Christ and be embraced by him. I didn’t want some petty, inferior brand of righteousness that comes from keeping a list of rules when I could get the robust kind that comes from trusting Christ—God’s righteousness (Phil. 3:8 – 9).
And that is a relationship that is unlike any other.
It is a relationship based on unconditional love and forgiveness, sacrifice and surrender.
It is a relationship that lets go of the past even as it looks expectantly to the future.
It is a relationship that is filled with the hope and promise of spending eternity with the Lord… and that, my friends is THE GRAND PRIZE we should all hope to win someday.
But before the heavenly prize patrol arrives and delivers that ultimate prize of eternal life… there are some things we will have to endure… things we will have to go through because of who we are and whose we are.
And Paul was willing… or should I say eager… to endure whatever hardships and suffering came his way as a result of following Christ.
In fact, looking again at the Message, we read:
One thing that we need to keep in mind here is that during Paul’s time, persecution was pretty much the order of the day… and until the point when he had his close encounter with Jesus… Paul, back when he was known as Saul, was one of the main ones giving the orders…I gave up all that inferior stuff so I could know Christ personally, experience his resurrection power, be a partner in his suffering, and go all the way with him to death itself. If there was any way to get in on the resurrection from the dead, I wanted to do it (Phil. 3:10 – 11).
Now as Paul soon learned and as we have hopefully come to know for ourselves… the Lord can and will use any of us for His glory… in spite of our pasts. In fact, sometimes, it is precisely because of our pasts, that God desires to use us.
The lessons from our past become the blessings for our future when we recognize God’s hand at work in our lives and then share that with someone else.
When we share the testimony that came as a result of our test along with the message that came about because of our mess… we have the opportunity to encourage someone else by letting them know just what God can and will do when we trust and surrender our lives to Him.
But sometimes we can be hesitant about surrendering… about letting go of the things we think we need to hold onto… but as someone once said, “A closed fist can’t receive…”
It’s like the story that Max Lucado shared about a young girl named Andrea who went to one of those plastic ball pits like they have at the McDonald’s Play Land… you know, that big pool-like structure that is filled with balls instead of water.
Well, according to Lucado’s story, the little girl stepped into the pit and filled her arms with balls, but then fell as she took another step… When she started to cry, Lucado said he walked over to the edge of the pit and told her to let go of the balls so she could walk. But the little girl refused and she ended up submerging herself under the balls… and amazingly, when Lucado pulled her up, she was still clutching that armful of balls (Taken from “The Applause of Heaven” by Max Lucado as cited in The Inspirational Bible, 1995, p. 1356).
Now, if we are not careful… we can find ourselves clutching our possessions and holding onto our pennies as if we cannot possibly live without them… behaving just like that little girl who would not let go of the colorful treasures she found in that ball pit.
And that takes us to the closing verses of the text where we read:
In other words, we need to let go of all the “stuff” we are holding onto that is keeping us bound up in the past… so we can move forward and take hold of everything that God has in store for us.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.
Because as Paul suggested earlier in the text… the “things” of this world are nothing in comparison to the honor and privilege of knowing Jesus the Christ.
And do you know what is so amazing about knowing Christ… about having a personal relationship with Him as Lord and Savior? It is absolutely free…
As we read in Ephesians 2 (6 – 9):
In other words, there is absolutely nothing, whatsoever, that we can do to earn God’s grace. Even if we had all the riches of this world… including every penny the Publishers’ Clearinghouse claims they are going to pay out… even that would not be enough to be able to buy God’s grace.And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 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.”
As you have probably heard me say before… there is an acronym that can be used to describe GRACE… God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense. Simply put, Jesus paid it all for each and every one of us.
That is THE GRAND PRIZE which is available to all of us… and it comes with a 100% guarantee that we can all claim the prize… not because we have filled out every single entry form that came in the mail… but simply because we believe…
“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).
When those envelopes come from Publishers’ Clearinghouse or any of those other sweepstakes promoters… there are certain steps that you need to take that might increase your odds of winning slightly.
But even if you were to cross every “T”, dot every “I” and place every sticker appropriately on the corresponding forms… your odds of winning are somewhere between 1 in 2.4 to 1 in 3.5 BILLION. (And yes, that’s billion with a B as in bologna.)
But the scriptures tell us in Romans 10:9 – 12:
“Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” That is what I call the prize of a lifetime.If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. As Scripture says, “Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.” For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
It is ours for the taking. And I will let you in on a little secret… the odds are absolutely in our favor… one out of one who believes receives.
And can I just say… it doesn’t get any better than that.
Jesus went to the cross at Calvary to pay the price that our sin demanded… not because we deserved it… but because He loves us just that much. As you have likely heard it said before… Jesus paid a debt He did not owe, because we owed a debt we could not pay.
And on this World Communion Sunday, we have the opportunity to join with believers around the world at the table as we celebrate this precious gift… recognizing the enormity of what Christ was willing to do for us… realizing that each and every one of us can win THE GRAND PRIZE and spend eternity with Him.
And if you have a desire to lay claim to THE GRAND PRIZE which truly is the prize of a lifetime… then I want to invite you stand and join in singing our Hymn of Discipleship My Faith Looks Up to Thee #576.
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