I’m Pressing On
Scriptures: Philippians 3:8-14; 4:13
We have entered into a new year that represents a year of change for our lives. This year represents the first year of the rest of our lives. This statement will make more sense shortly. The title of my message this morning is “I’m Pressing On.”
Each New Year brings on the excitement of new possibilities of what lies ahead. Each New Year also causes us to reflect on the opportunities and or possibilities that were unfulfilled in the previous year. It is those missed and unfulfilled opportunities and possibilities that lead many to establish New Year resolutions at the beginning of a new year. We want to make changes so that in the upcoming year we will not make the same decisions that led to how we finished the previous year. For some people they refuse to make New Year’s resolutions because they always fail to complete them so their thinking is why try when they know they will fail. Everyone sitting under the sound of my voice has experienced some unfulfilled personal promises and missed opportunities at some point in your life. How we think about our “failure” with these unfulfilled personal promises or missed opportunities impact how we think about our future. For example, maybe you had planned to pray more only to discover that life kept you in the same habits from the previous year so this year your plan is to do “the best you can” without setting any specific goals. The impact of not hitting your goal last year stops you for setting a new goal and potentially failing this year. Maybe you had planned to lose weight last year only to find that you weigh a little bit more on December 31st than you did on January 1st 2016. So this year maybe your goal is not to gain any additional weight versus actually losing what you currently have. Again, the failure of the past impacts the goals of the future. If you have unfulfilled promises and missed opportunities from 2016 that you are thinking about in this New Year I want you to listen closely to this message for you are not alone.
There are many people walking around in the daylight but living under the cloud of something from their past. It follows them wherever they go and it is always there. No matter how bright the “Son” is in our life this cloud cast its shadow of our past failures and disappointments and seem to always take away our ability to enjoy our present. All of us know someone who is “living in the past” and are operating based on protecting their future based on the past failures. While I am not a psychologist or psychiatrist I do know this, we have all failed and have come short of our goals. We have all been hurt and felt the need to protect ourselves moving forward. We have all done stupid things that if we could take them back and wipe the slate clean we would. We all have pasts that continue to influence our present and potentially our future. Mistakes and failures are a part of life, but at some point we have to start looking ahead and stop looking behind. We have to focus on where we are going versus where we left. This focus will require that we put some things behind us so that we can walk freely into our future. Turn with me to Philippians 3: 8-14.
“More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus. Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 3: 8-14)
In verse eight Paul states that he counts all things as loss in view of his knowledge and acceptance of Christ Jesus. In other words, there was nothing more valuable to him that what he had in Christ. He stated that he had lost all things for Christ and he was telling the truth. Prior to his acceptance of Christ, Paul had an impeccable pedigree and status. He walked away from all of it and actually counted it as rubbish in light of what he learned and received in Christ. In verse nine he talked about the righteousness that comes through faith in Jesus Christ versus what he thought he had attained under the Law of Moses. Prior to his conversion Paul believed that he had attained righteousness through his actions in following the Law. That is what made him so dedicated in persecuting Christians because in his eyes he was on a righteous journey against those who were actually operating outside the Law of Moses. Before his conversion he had powerful friends in high places; after his conversion, he had powerful enemies in those same high places. Before his conversion he had financial security; after his conversion, he lived off the generosity of others. Before his conversion he probably had a nice home with servants. After his conversion he was homeless and lives with other Christians as he traveled delivering the word of Christ (that is when he was not living in prison because of the same Christ that he now professed such a faith in.) Paul said he lost it all, willingly, to follow Christ. He gave it all up for something he valued more than any earthly possession he had, eternal life and the resurrection from the dead to be with Christ (verse 11).
Now focus on what he said in verse twelve. He says that “Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus.” He professed that while he had not attained it yet (for he was still alive and Christ had not made His second return) he pressed on so that he would get it. He did not stop and look back and wish that he had what was in the past, he focused on what was ahead. He did not cry and lament over everything he had given up for Christ, but focused on what he would obtain if he stayed faithful. He said he “I press on.” He said he was pressing on so that he could “lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus.” Paul makes it clear that he was pressing on to lay hold of that eternal life because Christ has laid hold of him! Let me say it this way, when Christ laid hold on Paul, Paul wanted to be held on too and so his focus changed. He wanted something that was being offered to him. Imagine being in the water and drowning. Someone reaches in and “lays hold of you” to pull you out. When they grab you, you reach for them and hold on tight. You could not reach for them before they “laid hold on you” but once they got you, you would not let go! This is the image that comes to my mind when I think about what Paul said. He was drowning in his so called righteousness and Jesus reach out and laid hold on him and when Paul saw that he was being freed, he would not let go. He would press on towards receiving what Jesus was promising him. Jesus reached out and laid hold on me and freed me from sin and I am not going to let go. I am pressing on! Now look at what is captured in verses thirteen and fourteen.
“Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” He said that while he had not laid hold of it yet (that final prize) he willfully decided to forget what was behind and reached for what laid ahead. The word “forgetting” is taken from the Greek word epilanthanio which is a compound of the words epi and lanthano. Without going into too much detail, when these two words are combined into one the idea portrayed is of something you should “turn away from and forget” or when used in the passive sense, “put aside, deliberately ignored, purposefully disregarded, and completely forgotten.” It denotes something that may have been true in the past but was no longer applicable today. In other words it could be restated as: “Stop thinking about it! Put it out of your mind! Put it behind you!” By doing this you are free to focus on what lies ahead as you remove the bonds that are holding you back. As I read this verse I thought about my youngest daughter Victoria. When Victoria was a child and would get into trouble, we would sometimes take away one of her favorite toys as part of her punishment. What we found out over time was that Victoria was able to quickly replace the favorite toy with another favorite so the punishment was minimized. When we took something away from her she literally acted like that toy or whatever it was that was taken no longer existed. That toy no longer mattered because it was now out of her possession. She only had one stuffed animal that mattered above all others, but for everything else, if you took it from her as punishments, she reduced its worth and wiped it from memory until she got it back. This is what I visualize when I think about what Paul is saying here. Although he had not obtained the prize that he was going for, he chose to erase the memory of what he had and who he was before Christ so that he could push forward freely without being hindered with what he was walking away from.
So what was Paul saying he was forgetting? Those things that lay behind. Here me closely on this point. The word “behind” is the Greek word opiso, and it describes something so obsolete that it should be permanently relegated to the back, or to the past, abandoned or left behind. This is something that is in our past and should be left there. Nikki was cleaning out our storage room and she came across her first laptop. It was huge! You knew it was old not only because it was so large, but also because it still had floppy drives. When was the last time you saw a computer with two floppy disk drives? That computer is obsolete and will be thrown away. Why? Because it is so old that it has lost it functional purpose. Some of the events of our past are so old and obsolete that they should be forgotten, but we allow them to remain hindering our present and our future. The Greek word opiso means “Leave it behind and never revisit it!” Walk away and don’t look back! Why is this important? It’s important because if we are looking behind us we cannot see what is before us. If we cannot see where we are going, we crash – in the natural and spiritually. If you are driving down the street you should be facing forward so that you can know where you are going. You can see the turns and are ready for them as you approach them. However, if you are driving and you turn around and look in the backseat to reach something, you have taken your eyes off the road which greatly increases your chances of getting into an accident. We are getting into many spiritual accidents because we are looking behind us at what we were, what we had, and where we failed versus looking ahead at the ultimate prize.
Paul said that he was forgetting the things that laid behind so that he could reach forward to what laid ahead. What laid ahead was so much better that what was in his past, but the only way he could see it was to block out the past and commit to that future.
This morning as we have started a New Year I want to ask you to press on. The things that have happened in your past that are trying to hinder you today, walk away from them. Yes I know you’re thinking it’s harder said than done and you are absolutely correct, but don’t we say “I can do all things through Him (Christ) who strengthens me?” (Phil. 4:13) If you have said this does it not mean “all things?” It did not same “some” things, it says “all things!” You can press on because Christ is within us and He enables us through His Holy Spirit to accomplish things that we could never dream of accomplishing on our own.
This year has started off with struggles – but I’m pressing on! Through all of the hurts, heartaches and pain, I am pressing on! When I think about my past sins and failures, things that you will never know about that Satan throws up in my face when I step into this pulpit, I’m pressing on! When my mind think thoughts that cannot be spoken, I’m pressing on! When I think about my broken promises, my missed opportunities and failure to cease a possibility, I press on! When you talk about me – I press on! When you don’t like me, I’m pressing on! When you can’t hear what I am saying because it does not tickle your ear, I’m pressing on! I’m pressing on because Jesus laid hold on me and I am not letting go. Things may not be perfect in my life, but I am not letting go.
I thank God for choosing me when no one else would have me, He wanted me. He wants you too. Our pasts are just that, our past. Even if you did something yesterday that you’re ashamed of, it’s still in your past. Leave it there and press on towards your goal. Reach for Christ and stay with Him. Only He can get us through what we will be facing this year and in the years to come. Pray for me and pray for one another.
Until next time, “The Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious to you. May the Lord lift up His countenance on you and give you peace.” (Numbers 6:24-26)
