Opening illustration: Business owners are busy at the end of the year taking inventory. This is a painful but necessary reality so they can know if they made a profit or not. They take the information they receive and make adjustments for the coming year.
As Christians, we need to stop at the end of the year and measure our progress. Sometime this is a very painful thing to do. But that is what I am going to ask you to do today.
Introduction: The most common Christian cop-out is: “Well, nobody's perfect.” Paul doesn't settle for such a flip answer regarding a serious quest for Christ's fullness. Paul has been talking about trading every religious advantage he has for the surpassing worth of knowing Jesus in His fullness. Now comes the reality check. Paul is taking inventory of his life in this passage of scripture. That is what I want us to do today.
1. THE PAST (vs. 12-13)
(i) Look
He was apprehended by the risen Christ. Jesus stopped him in his tracks. Jesus saved him; and Jesus sent him on his life's mission.
Several years had passed from his Damascus Road conversion when he wrote this. He is confessing that he has not arrived spiritually. But he is continuing the process.
I think it will do us all good to look back at the moment of our conversion. Jesus apprehended us. He saved us; and he gave us something to do.
Illustration: I read where two monks were in a thunderstorm when they came to a swollen river. There was a Japanese woman there in her kimono who needed to cross the river but was afraid. One of the monks asked her, ''Can I help you?'' She told him she needed to cross the river. The monk picked her up and put her on his shoulders and carried her across the river and sat her down on the other side.
The two monks continued their journey to the monastery. One monk said to the other, ''I have a bone to pick with you. As monks we are not to look at or touch a woman, yet you did.'' The other monks said, ''My brother, I helped that woman across the river and put her down on the other side. But you are still carrying her in your mind!''
(ii) Learn
Good judgment comes from experience and experience comes from bad judgment. I have made mistakes in the past, and I have learned from those mistakes.
A foolish person keeps doing the same mistakes and never learns from the mistake’s others have done. Sadly, history repeats itself most of the time.
Implication: Paul tells us that if we want to be focused on our growth we must “forget the past”. Obviously, Paul is not telling us to literally not remember anything. Certainly, we should remember who we were before Christ found us. We should remember the times we have seen God’s faithfulness demonstrated. We need to remember the mistakes we've made so that we can avoid them in the future.
Paul is also not telling us that we don't have to fulfill the responsibilities of the past. If we have wronged someone, we should try to make it right. If we have stolen from someone, we should make restitution. If we have a problem with someone we should seek to be reconciled.
There are two reasons we need to forget the past:
• First, we have a tendency to fixate on the past.
• Second, we have a tendency to rest on the past.
2. THE PRESENT (v. 14)
(i) Look
He was pressing toward the goal for the prize that comes from following the call of God. Paul tells us that he “presses on”. This is the same word that was used in verse 6 when Paul talked about his zealous persecution of the early church. It is with that same kind of intensity that Paul pursues God’s plan for his life. Paul also says, "this one thing I do". He is single-minded. Paul was not distracted. He was clear where he was headed.
Illustration: Some of mankind's greatest contributions have come from people who decided that no sacrifice was too large and no effort too great to accomplish what they set out to do. Edward Gibbon spent 26 years writing “The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.” Noah Webster worked diligently for 36 years to bring into print the first edition of his dictionary. It is said that the Roman orator Cicero practiced before friends every day for 30 years in order to perfect his public speaking. What stamina! What persistence!
Now think about how much energy we put into the Lord's work. The comparison can be rather embarrassing. And it should lead us to ask ourselves some heart-searching questions: Why is our service for Christ sometimes performed in a halfhearted manner? Why do other things always come before our time with the Lord? Why do we prepare more diligently for our responsibilities in the world than we do our responsibilities in ministry?
(ii) Learn
Single-mindedness helps us to focus on the goal and achieve it. The more we are scattered and distracted, the further we go away from the goal. It is not only important to keep our focus on the goal but corporately work toward it and achieve it.
Illustration: Almost hundred years ago, a young black child was growing up in Cleveland, in a home which he later described as "materially poor but spiritually rich."
One day a famous athlete, Charlie Paddock, came to his school to speak to the students. At the time Paddock was considered "the fastest human being alive." He told the children, "Listen! What do you want to be? You name it and then believe that God will help you be it." That little boy decided that he too wanted to be the fastest human being on earth.
The boy went to his track coach and told him of his new dream. His coach told him, "It's great to have a dream, but to attain your dream you must build a ladder to it. Here is the ladder to your dreams. The first rung is determination! And the second rung is dedication! The third rung is discipline! And the fourth rung is attitude!"
The result of all that motivation is that he went on to win four gold medals in the 1936 Berlin Olympics. He won the 100-meter dash and broke the Olympic and world records for the 200 meters. His broad jump record lasted for twenty-four years. His name? Jesse Owens. [James S. Hewett, Illustrations Unlimited (Wheaton: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc, 1988) pp. 26-27.]
3. THE FUTURE (vs. 15-16)
(i) What to look for?
a) Spiritual Maturity - growing into spiritual maturity is becoming less self-conscious and more God-conscious. Whether you know it or not, if you get to a place where you think you have arrived spiritually, you will cease to grow in the Lord. By the same token, when you are willing to admit that there are areas where you need to grow, that is a sign of a maturing Christian.
b) Walk in purity and holiness - God has one destined end for mankind - holiness! His one aim is the production of saints. God is not an eternal blessing-machine for men. He did not come to save men out of pity. He came to save men because He had created them to be holy.
c) Being on the same page (Unity) – “I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (Ephesians 4:1-3). And, “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity! (Psalm 133:1).
(ii) What to learn?
a) Spiritual maturity is not reached by the passing of the years, but by obedience to the will of God. Some people mature into an understanding of God’s will more quickly than others because they obey more readily; they more readily sacrifice the life of nature to the will of God.
b) Maturity is the ability to think, speak and act your feelings within the bounds of dignity. The measure of your maturity is how spiritual you become during the midst of your frustrations.
c) Holiness, not happiness, is the chief end of man.
d) Many Christians have what we might call a 'cultural holiness.' They adapt to the character and behavior pattern of Christians around them ... But God has not called us to be like those around us. He has called us to be like Himself. Holiness is nothing less than conformity to the character of God.
e) Holiness is the habit of being of one mind with God, according as we find His mind described in Scripture. It is the habit of agreeing in God's judgment, hating what He hates, loving what He loves, and measuring everything in this world by the standard of His Word.
Application: As we draw near to the finish line for 2018, what is the one thing you are focused on? Are you focused on stuff? Paying bills? Gaining power? Having temporary peaks of enjoyment? Don't you want more from life than this? Set your sights higher! Press for the prize! Seek to know Him better and more fully. Jesus tells us that when we seek first the Kingdom of God, the other things we are concerned about will take care of themselves. Paul doesn't want us to merely call ourselves Christians or think of ourselves as Christians. He wants to know Christ and wants us to be real followers of Jesus too.
