INTRODUCTION
ILL.: An elderly gentleman moved into a retirement community to spend the rest of his life there. It wasn’t long until he had made a number of friends among the other residents including one lady he was especially attracted to, & she was attracted to him, also. So they spent a lot of time together. Finally one evening he proposed, asking her to marry him.
The next morning he woke up remembering his proposal, but he couldn’t remember her answer. So he went to her & said, "I’m really embarrassed. I proposed to you last night but I can’t remember if you said `Yes’ or `No."’ "Oh, thank goodness!" she replied. "I remembered saying `Yes’ but I couldn’t remember who asked me."
SUM: Sometimes I feel that way about New Year’s resolutions. I tell myself, "This year I’m going to turn over a new leaf. I’m going to exercise regularly & lose weight. I’m going to do all kinds of things to improve myself physically & spiritually." But then somehow I forget. Maybe you have that problem, too.
So this year I have a suggestion for a New Year’s resolution that we ought to be able to remember. It is kind of broad & very general, but here it is - let’s promise ourselves & God that we will make a change for the better. This year, as God’s people, as His church, let’s make this one simple resolution - we’re going to make a change for the better.
To help us do that, let me suggest 3 ways in which we can make a change for the better.
1. Continue to Work Out Your Salvation!
2. Work At All Times Moving Forward and Not Backwards
3. Run For Christ Well!
Paul describes each of these in 3 short verses in Philippians.
PHILIPPIANS 3:12-14
I. WORK OUT YOUR SALVATION (Verse 12)
READ VERSE 12
1. “not that I have already obtained all this”
“obtained” in GK = “to take” “to receive”. I have not “received” all this. What?
All of verses 3:1-10 have described Paul’s realization that all of “what used to mean everything” to him not “means nothing to him” but now instead “represents a loss” to him.
Paul’s Sucess
His status and position, education, even a Pharisee, - all of the things that would have represented “SUCCESS” to anyone he has now learned to mean VS. 7 “loss for the sake of Christ”. READ Verse 10; Paul says that now his focus is to “BECOME LIKE HIM”.
Now he says “I haven’t obtained all this yet”.
2. Not that I … (or) “already been made perfect”
Word “Perfect” means “to bring to an end” “to complete maturity”.
3. “I press on to take hold of that for which Christ took hold of for me”
“press” = To pursue, a reaching out of something.
We are to press on – to continue towards maturity. Even to the point of suffering. The word “PRESS” means also to “pursue, to ENDURE TO THE POINT OF SUFFERING”.
Paul said “press on to take hold of that for which Christ took hold of me”. Christ gave His all for us – even His life. We are to “pursue – to press on – even to the point of enduring persecution and suffering” for the sake of Christ.
READ PHILIPPIANS 2:12b-13 “… continue to work out your salvation”
Paul saw the Christian life as a PROCESS of God working in us THROUGH ALL PARTS OF LIFE (GOOD AND BAD) to grow us into becoming like Christ.
A maturity that Paul knew he had not yet reached. As believers, we are CONSIDERED RIGHTEOUS from the moment of salvation, but our SANCTIFICATION takes a lifetime and we PRESS OF GROWING – OF WORKING OUT OUR SALVATION.
READ 2 PETER 3:14
“make every effort to be found spotless blameless, and at peace”.
As we enter a New Year, let’s WORK OUT OUR SALVATION – Let’s WORK AND PRESS ON CONSTANTLY for we are not yet what we will be. Christ is still preparing us for what He wants us to be.
II. WORK TO MOVE FORWARD (Verse 13)
Not only must we WORK OUT OUR SALVATION, with all diligence and with a strong commitment, becoming whomever He desires us to be, but we must ALWAYS WORK TO MOVE FORWARD by having a Teachable Spirit.
READ VERSE 13
Several times in these 3 verses, he reminds us that he does not yet consider himself to have reached the person God is preparing him to be. But he adds here a REMINDER THAT WE MUST AT ALL TIMES have a teachable spirit MOVING FORWARD in what God has prepared for us.
“forgetting what is behind” literally means “forgetting the past” - to “lose out of mind”.
2 PARTS OF THIS CHARGE!
1. DON’T GET TOO COMFORTABLE IN YOUR SUCCESS!
PAUL as we discussed from VS. 1-10 had it all. He had every reason to think he had achieved it all. The warning is not to let that BECOME YOUR GOD.
Many think because they have achieved that perfect job, that dream house, that reputation, that popularity, (the list goes on) feel that they can now relax. I’m not saying that success, riches, or any of the pleasures of life are bad. They are not.
But care must be given that those pleasures do not consume you and pull you away from God. I’ve seen many drop out of church, lose their commitment and involvement and slowly become someone else.
1 Corinthians 4:7 (MSG)
7 For who do you know that really knows you, knows your heart? And even if they did, is there anything they would discover in you that you could take credit for? Isn’t everything you have and everything you are sheer gifts from God? So what’s the point of all this comparing and competing?
STAY IN FOCUS! Paul said in Vs. 7 “whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ”.
2. DON’T LET PAST MISTAKES PULL YOU OUT OF THE RACE!
We must always work to learn from the past but NOT ALLOW OUR PAST TO CONTROL US. The PAST is NOT to be used as “a barrier to the future” or “an excuse to drop out of the race”.
I have watched so many BLAME THE PAST for missing out on so many opportunities when it is our PAST that SHAPES OUR FUTURE!
a. My First 10 Years of Ministry were not for God. Because my life was not being lived for God, everything in my life was about me. Because it was all about me, it was a life full of mistakes that eventually led me to a point of losing everything.
b. Once I corrected my focus and began “straining toward” God, not only did God give me a wonderful, blessed, and awesome marriage and family, He also returned me to the ministry and in ways I never felt possible.
But all of the PAST MISTAKES are parts of my life that He used to prepare me for what was to come.
Forgetting the past and “straining toward what is ahead”
The word “straining” here means “to stretch forward as in a foot race”.
Listen to the YLT Translation of this verse:
Philippians 3:13 (YLT)
13 … --the things behind indeed forgetting, and to the things before stretching forth—
The things “behind” – bah! Instead, let’s spend our time “stretching forth” to what God has prepared for us. Because we know that “in all things God works together for the good of those who love Him”.
III. RUN FOR CHRIST WELL! (Verse 14)
To have a good year, WORK OUT YOUR SALVATION by growing and maturing to be whom Christ is preparing you to be: WORK TO MOVE FORWARD taking one day at the time and keeping Christ the focus of your life. Last, in stretching forth RUN THE RACE FOR CHRIST!
READ VERSE 14
“I press on toward the goal”
The word “goal” here describes a MARK on which to FIX THE EYE. A spot that we constantly MOVE TOWARDS! So Paul’s charge is that we must pursue – must be fixed – must pursue (from earlier) - moving towards winning the prize. That’s our goal! Right?
What’s the prize? Salvation? Well if that’s true then is he not saying we must work to earn our salvation? We know that’s not true. You either have salvation or you don’t – You either trust Him as Savior or you don’t.
Ephesians 2:8-9 (NIV)
8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-- 9 not by works, so that no one can boast.
It’s NOT Salvation! So WHAT’S THE PRIZE? The prize is CHRIST! CHRIST IS THE MARK WE ARE TO FIX OUR EYES UPON! Paul, after receiving ETERNAL LIFE is out RUNNING FOR CHRIST!
One day, he will see Him face to face, just as you and I will. Paul wants to stand before Him with confidence and excitement so he is RUNNING JUST FOR HIM! Not because He must but because Christ loved him first!
1 John 2:28 “continue in Him, so that when he appears we may be confident and unashamed before him at his coming”.
Paul teaches us that we must forget the past, good and bad, and strain towards what He has prepared for us! We must PRESS ON for Christ knowing that as we press on, we are preparing for the day that we will see Him face to face!
IV. SUMMARY
SO WHAT IS YOUR GOAL FOR 2007?
1. Work hard to be who GOD is preparing you to be by “WORKING OUT YOUR SALVATION”. Work to be a different people knowing that what life represents here is NOT LIFE as He has prepared. This is NOT ALL THERE IS, rather, just a rehearsal of what is to come!
2. WORK HARD “MOVING FORWARD AT ALL TIMES”. Don’t allow your current or past circumstance control your future. God works through all parts of life to prepare us for something yet to come BUT He will not force Himself but rather WAIT ON PERMISSION FROM YOU TO WORK! Stretch out of your comfort zone – moving forward in what He has prepared. GIVE HIM THE REIGNS OF YOUR LIFE!
3. FINALLY, RUN WELL FOR CHRIST! Fix your eyes of Jesus, the author and perfecter of your faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross for you and I.
Do not allow anything to move you off the race. Run Well – knowing He is preparing you for a future task and knowing that He loved you first!
Simple Enough? 3 Steps to having a Great New Year that you can use at any part of the year. Simply put – Work to make a change for the better!
As God’s People – As God’s Church – Individually – As a Family – As a Church – LET’S WORK TO MAKE A CHANGE FOR THE BETTER!
