Move Forward
Phil. 3:12-16
This month, I’ve been preaching a series titled “All Things New”. Week 1, we looked at what it means to be “Born Again”. Last week, we looked at the fact that it’s “Never Too Late” to accept the new life that offers through His Son, Jesus. Which brings us to this week, it is time that we “Move Forward”. Truth is, everyone makes mistakes. But starting over with Christ means moving away from your failings and moving toward God in obedience.
This morning, I want us to take a look at a passage that was referenced in last week’s message. Turn with me to Phil. 3:12-16. Read…
If we are going to truly “Move Forward”, there are four things I want to share with you this morning that we need to find within ourselves:
1. DISCONTENTMENT
God didn’t save us so that we can sit back and take it easy on the way to heaven. God saved us because He loves us and because He wants us to bring glory to His name. Why is it that so many believers are content with coasting to the finish line?
I love to use cruise control when I drive. Many times if I don’t use it, I’ll find myself either driving too fast or too slow. There is a problem with cruise control though. A lot of times we can become so relaxed we forget where are or we lose focus.
That’s what happens to many of the dying churches today, they’ve turned on the cruise control and have become so relaxed that they have forgotten where they are and they’ve lost focus. Just because a church doesn’t seem to progress or doesn’t seem to grow doesn’t mean that they’re necessarily doing something wrong. It may just mean that they’re not doing anything at all, they’ve become comfortable, they’ve fallen asleep.
JOKE:
A young boy was attending the funeral of his grandfather, who drove a greyhound bus for a living. He leaned over to his parents and said, “When I die, I want to die in my sleep like grandpa…not like the passengers he was driving!”
Spiritually speaking, we need to be careful not to fall asleep at the wheel. There are lives at stake. Instead, here’s the attitude we need to have: However much ever I read my Bible last year, it wasn’t enough…(prayed, gave, served, worshipped) it wasn’t enough! We must never become content with where we are. We must move forward.
This year, God may want some of you to teach Sunday School class or get involved in one of our many ministries…to ignore that calling would be the same as setting your spiritual life on “cruise control”.
It would’ve been easy for me to ignore the call that God placed on my life. I could’ve kept my career, making good money, making President’s Club, winning trips to the Bahamas, living in our new home, near family and friends…but I would’ve been coasting, I wouldn’t be moving forward.
We need to become dis-satisfied..not with where we are in life, but with where we are in Christ. We need to stop comparing ourselves with everyone else. We look around and say, “well, I’m at church every week and they’re not so I must be doing something right.” That’s not wise. When you compare yourself to anyone other than Christ Himself, you are developing a false sense of security. When you compare yourself to Christ, you will quickly recognize how short you really fall.
Paul says:
Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended
As I said last week, you’re never going to make it anywhere if you think you’ve already arrived. Turn the cruise control off, and put the petal to the medal. If we’re not careful, we can allow ourselves to get to the point of complacency. We need to find some discontentment...
2. DEVOTION
but one thing I do
This is a pretty significant saying throughout the Bible:
To the rich young ruler, Jesus said, “One thing you lack”.
To Martha…who was busy working in the kitchen; criticizing her sister Mary…Jesus said, “But one thing is needed.”
In Ps. 27:4, David said: “One thing I have desired of the Lord.”
And here, Paul says: “but one thing I do”. This was a statement of devotion. You see, Paul’s Christianity wasn’t a sideshow. It wasn’t just a compartment of his life.
Think of it like a wheel…a wheel has many spokes, and so do we in our lives: work, school, hobbies, family, church. And for many people, these spokes have nothing to do with one another. Their church life doesn’t show up at work, on the basketball court, etc. And for many, if we were to get an inside look at their family life at home…you’d never dream they also had a church life.
Jesus doesn’t want to be a spoke. He wants to be the hub of the wheel, that is the center, where all the spokes grow from and connect to one another. Christianity shouldn’t be a compartment of our life, it should be our WHOLE life! We need to trade some of the things we surrender to in this world for surrender to our Lord.
But the problem is that we’re too busy: we have McDonald's Monday, taco Tuesday, work out Wednesday, tee-ball Thursday, fishing Friday, yard-sale Saturday…no wonder we’re sleeping on Sunday! We need to learn to say no. We need to be less devoted to the things that, spiritually speaking, have no impact on our eternal salvation so that we can become more devoted to area of our lives where it truly counts.
You only have one life to live here on earth, and James compares it to a vapor…that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. The only thing that’s going to matter when it vanishes away is what you’ve done with Christ.
One Sunday night, in Chicago Illinois, D.L. Moody was preaching on Matt. 27:22 where is says, “What then shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?” Instead of offering an invitation, he told the congregation, “Go home and meditate on this verse for a week and then come back next Sunday, and decide what you want to do with Jesus.” Later that week the Great Chicago fire killed thousands, including many he had preached to. Moody decided to never preach again without giving an invitation…and that he needed to devote himself to evangelism only…“but one thing I do!”
Are you an amateur Christian, or a professional Christian? Do you only live out your faith from time to time…in spurts, or do you devote your entire life to Christ? You’ll never be effective for the Lord by attending church in spurts.
We don’t view marriage that why so why in the world do we think it’s ok to live our Christians lives that way? Can you imagine telling your husband/wife that you’re going to be faithful to them…in spurts?
The Christian that only comes to church on Sunday will slide backwards in their spiritual life week after week, and sadly, they will never realize it. They pray in spurts, read their Bible in spurts, give in spurts. We need to become a church of devotion, with a professional mindset, 24/7, full-time not part-time…”but one thing I do”.
Dissatisfaction, Devotion...
3. DIRECTION
On May 6, 1954, Roger Bannister became the first man in history to run a mile in less than 4 minutes. Within 2 months, John Landy beat his record by 1.4 seconds. On August 7, 1954, the two met together for a historic race. As they moved into the last lap, Landy held the lead. It looked as if he would win, but as he neared the finish he was haunted by the question, "Where is Bannister?" As he turned to look, Bannister took the lead. Landy later told a Time magazine reporter, "If I hadn't looked back, I would’ve won!"
One of the most descriptive pictures of the Christian life we find in the Bible is that of an athlete competing in a race. 1 Cor. 9:24-27 tells us that discipline is the key to winning. In Hebrews 12:1-2, we are encouraged to lay aside anything that might hinder our spiritual advancement and to stay focused on Christ. And in our passage today Paul says, "I press on,…forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead."
We need endurance to run this race of life. We can’t wallow in past failures, we have to be disciplined and repent from our sinful ways. We have to fix our eyes on the eternal goal set before us and keep looking to Jesus.
Jesus says in Luke 9:62,
“No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”
No looking back at past sin…yours or anyone else’s.
God forgives and forgets, so should we! It’s Satan who reminds you of those past sins, not God. It does’t matter how messy your past may be, when you’re born again…your future is spotless!
No looking back at past bitterness.
If anyone ever had the right to be bitter in the OT it would’ve been Joseph, who was betrayed by his brothers. He could’ve said, “I'm in this situation because of what my brothers did”, but he realized that forgiveness is a choice. Don’t ever say that you CAN’T forgive a person for something they did to you. Just be honest with yourself and say that you WON’T forgive.
I was never good at changing dirty diapers. I don’t know if it was a weak stomach or a strong sense of smell, or just me being selfish and trying to avoid doing it, but I had trouble with dirty diapers. When there was no other way out and I had to do it, I'd hold my breath and then, after I got the dirty diaper off, I disposed of it as fast as I could. No one wants to hang around in the presence of a dirty diaper.
When it comes to an unforgiving, bitter heart, understand this: holding on to past hurts is like clinging to a dirty diaper. Refusing to forgive someone who hurt you is just like taking a dirty diaper and, instead of throwing it away, tucking it away in your back pocket ... and carrying it with you everywhere you go. That's exactly what we do when we won't forgive those who have hurt us, whether accidentally or intentionally. We take all that hurt and all that filth and bring it into our hearts, and we say, "I'm hanging on to this." The irony, of course, is we imagine that by holding on to the dirty diaper, we will somehow hurt the person who has hurt us. That’s crazy!
No looking back at past events.
Good memories, bad memories…we love to think about the good old days. And that’s ok if we don’t dwell on it and allow it to affect our present! Looking back can be fun, and you can actually learn from the past…what worked, what didn’t work? But then, we have to move forward!
Another thing is that nothing good comes from dwelling on people of the past either. I hear quite a bit about people who “used to go to Evergreen” thru the years and then stopped coming for whatever reason…
Jesus said in John 4:35,
“lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest”…
What about those who don’t yet go to Evergreen?
It can be discouraging to dwell on someone who’s not here…you might miss them, it may be painful…but even worse is, what will happen if we dwell on it. When we dwell, we forget about the new ones that we’ve gained.
Dissatisfaction, devotion, direction…
4. DETERMINATION
I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
Some of us are like the man that Chuck Swindoll describes in his book "Growing Strong in the Seasons of Life”. Pastor Charles Swindoll tells a story about the 19th Century agnostic Thomas Huxley. Some of you might recognize the name Thomas Huxley as a man who promoted Darwinism and Humanism in his attacks on Christianity in Europe in the mid 1800’s. Huxley was in Dublin, Ireland and was rushing to catch a train. He climbed aboard one of Dublin’s famous horse drawn taxis and said to the driver, "Hurry, I’m running late ... drive fast." The driver did exactly what he was told. Off they went at a furious pace. Huxley sat back in his seat and closed his eyes assured that at this quick pace they would surely get to the train station on time. But after a few minutes passed, Thomas Huxley sensed something was very wrong. He opened his eyes, looked out the window and realized that they were going in the opposite direction of the train station. Then he began to wonder, "Did I tell the driver where I wanted to go?" Thinking that maybe he hadn’t given the driver complete directions, Huxley called out to him, "Do you know where you are going?" To which the driver replied, "No, your honor, I don’t. But I’m driving very fast!"
This story illustrates the sad condition of the majority of people in today’s society. They’re "driving very fast," but they don’t know where they’re going.
Some of the things in which we work so hard for in this life are important, especially those that are done in dependence upon God for His glory and honor. Some of them are absolutely worthless; they accomplish nothing of eternal value and will be quickly forgotten after we are gone.
Let me close by telling you about Matt Emmons. Matt was one shot away from claiming the gold medal in the 2004 Olympic 50-meter three-position rifle event. He didn't even need a bull's-eye to win. His final shot just needed to hit the target. Normally, the shot he made would’ve received a score of 8.1, more than enough for a gold medal. But in what was described as "an extremely rare mistake in elite competition," Emmons fired at the wrong target. Standing in lane two, he fired at the target in lane three. His score for a good shot at the wrong target? – 0. 8th place. It doesn't matter how accurate you are if you’re aiming at the wrong goal.
Church, I'm afraid that many of God's children are going to get to the end of their lives and find that they’ve been aiming at the wrong goal. They’ve been aiming for a comfortable life, and they may have even hit the bull's eye, but there won’t be a medal. Oh, they'll get into heaven because of their faith in Christ, but there will be no reward from a Father who will fairly evaluate the value of each one's work.
Sermon Points and some ideas in this sermon originally appeared in Jerry Shirley's "4 Goals for a New Year".
http://www.sermoncentral.com/sermons/4-goals-for-a-new-year-jerry-shirley-sermon-on-new-years-190408.asp
