THE FIFTH SUNDAY IN THE SEASON OF LENT,
THE MESSAGE FOR SUNDAY THE 1ST OF APRIL, 2001
THE TEXT ARE:
The LESSON:.....PHILIPPIANS 3: 12-14
PRAYER...MAY THE WORDS OF GOD AND HIS MESSAGE SPOKEN THIS HOUR BE BOTH A WORD OF COMFORT AND CHALLENGE
WE PRAY THAT IT WILL CHALLENGE THOSE WHO ARE COMFORTABLE AND COMFORT ALL THOSE WHO ARE BEING CHALLENGED THIS DAY.
INTRODUCTION:
Not that I have already obtained this or have already reached the goal; but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Beloved, I do not consider that I have made it my own; but this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.
The greatest thing that can happen to us as Christians is that we become heavenly minded ..
WE DESCRIBE heavenly minded AS to live every part of your life with the goal of entering into heaven having completed the purpose for which God has called you.
To be heavenly minded is not to wait for heaven WHEN WE DIE, , but to push on, toward the goal of entering heaven having finished what God has called you to accomplish.
This passage reveals three important principles TO US TODAY.
We have not yet attained what we are called to take hold of, we have not reached perfection, and we are to press on, toward the call.
1. We have not yet attained – or literally, have not laid hold of the purpose of our calling.
NOW When we enter into fellowship with Christ by surrendering our lives to Him does not mean we automatically accomplish EVERY THING THAT CHRIST WOULD HAVE US TO..
As a new Christian, you have not yet laid hold of your calling. Even as an older Christian, you may not have found the purpose in which you were called.
Jesus is the door that we must enter in order to begin our new life and begin our journey toward Heaven but entering that door is not the finish line.
It is a major error to think that once we HAVE BECOME A CHRISTIAN AND GOTTEN our ticket to heaven we have reached our goal.
2. AND EVEN THOUGH WE MAY COME TO CHURCH SING AND PRAY, We are not THERE YET, WE HAVE NOT REACHED MATURITY.
AND Before your spiritual life can take root, your flesh nature must be crucified. WHEN WE BECOME born AGAIN into the kingdom of God,,,We are set free from the bondage of sin and are no longer driven by the flesh, but it is our responsibility to bring our hearts and minds under subjection to Christ.
AND EACH time I look back on my life, I should be amazed at how far God has brought me.
I should stand determined to never return to where I have been.
THERE FORE, My focus is not on my past, but on my goal of winning the race God has set before me.
When I think I have arrived, I am as far as I can go. If God works in my life and I begin to grow, and I look back and think I have hit the mark, I will stop growing and eventually start sliding.
In Christ, I am encouraged by my past and given the strength to reach ahead toward my calling.
I can only overcome this life by His strength.
Only He has the power to give me endurance to keep reaching ahead.
But I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me".
My earthly goal is to press on so that I can take claim to the calling that God has for my life. I am to strive to find the purpose for which God transformed my life and equipped me to achieve.
God did not change your life just so you can live anyway you desire. God called you for a purpose.
To find that path of life, you must be found faithful. Each step requires faithfulness to find the next step.
As we press toward Christ-likeness, we should examine our lives and identify those things that tempt or lead us to temptation.
Sadly, most people cast off the eternal and cling to what will definitely pass away.
If I am earthly minded, I will value worldly things because I don’t really believe God’s promises.
So how do we get eternally minded and focus toward the calling of God?
This passage reveals two critical areas that help give us that heavenly perspective.
FIRSTLY,,,,We must determine what is of REAL value so that we can count all OTHER things as NOTHING in light of the excellence of the knowledge of Christ..
MATTHEW 13;44....JESUS TELLS OF MAN WHO WANTED TO PURCHASE A FIELD AND WHEN HE INSPECTED IT FOUND OUT THAT THERE WAS A TREASURE BURIED IN IT..SO HE TOOK ALL OF HIS MONEY OUT OF THE BANK, TO BUY THE FIELD..THE CROWD SAID THAT FIELD IS NOT WORTH IT,,BUT HE KNEW THE REAL VALUE ,THE HIDDEN VALUE..
SO ONCE WE FIND THE REAL VALUES OF THINGS ALL OTHER THINGS ARE WORTH LESS. WE SING LORD YOU ARE MORE PRECIOUS THAN SILVER, MORE COSTLY THAN GOLD .......
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PAUL SAYS. "I count all things as rubbish" ...
It is IMPORTANT to recognize that what the world presents as treasure is in fact waste without comparing it to what is of valuable.
The purpose of ACKNOWLEDGING THIS SPIRITUALITY REALITY OF THESE things is so that we can let go and leave what is behind and press ahead for what God has laid before us.
My passion should be to find God’s calling and achieve what God has set me apart to fulfill.
AND The only way I can live this Christian life and fulfill God’s purpose is to reach ahead. When I lay hold of what God has revealed, I continue to press on to the next step.
Your purpose is not fulfilled in one act of obedience, but in a lifestyle of continuously reaching for God’s purpose.
As long as Jesus Christ is my goal, I can press ahead against obstacles and anything that demands my attention or attempts to draw me away.
AND To press on is to live in complete obedience with a heaven minded focus.
I can’t reach ahead if I am looking back to see what I am missing. If my heart is back in the world, I will not have the passion to press ahead.
If my heart is on what I am leaving behind,
I will eventually become discouraged and quit.
If you look back it is because you value what is behind.
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Therefore leaving the elementary teaching about the Christ, let us press on to maturity,...
Hebrews 6:1 says, "Let us press on to maturity.
This is Pauls life goal and this is his goal for us. He is writing and working for this goal.
Let us press on to maturity . . .
1) Leave the elementary teaching about the Christ.
2) Press on to maturity.
3) Don’t lay foundations again.
A...Leaving the "elementary teachings about Christ
What I think it means is that they should not occupy themselves so much with the CHRISTIAN ISSUES THAT CAN’T BE RESOLVED, A LOT OF SCRIPTURE IS A MYSTERY..AND SOME FOLKS WOULD RATHER ARGUE ABOUT ISSUES OF SCRIPTURE AND neglect the glory of the gospel and how to use it to grow into maturity and holiness.
In other words, INSTEAD OF ARGUING ABOUT THEOLOGICAL, STUFF, DENOMINATIONAL STUFF, and practice how to grow with them.
The need is not to ARGUE ON BIBLE ISSUES, , but to stand on them and live by them.
THE problem is BIBLE knowledge, but lack of fruitfulness in life.
B.....1: "Let us press on to maturity!"
Nevertheless it is our duty and our delight to press on to maturity.
This ENTIRE PASSAGE is written as incentive and help to press on to the holiness without which we will not see the Lord.
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"Not that I have already attained,…but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead…" etc.
It’s the phrase, "forgetting those things which are behind" that I want to talk about for the next little while.
There are a lot of problems associated with forgetting the past.
Some will say it is impossible to forget the past. Why then consider it at all?
BECAUSE it is Possible task, to attain, and because of the benefits and blessings we will receive by doing it. It is important, I think, to understand at the outset that when Paul talks about forgetting the past he is not referring to erasing the past.
Those of you who are familiar with how a computer handles the information that we input to its memory know that there is a "delete" key that is used to remove information we don’t want stored in the computer.
To some, "delete" means to remove permanently as if it was erased, completely purged. This doesn’t happen. When a person hits the "delete" key the information disappears from the screen but it is still in the computer’s memory. Although it has been deleted it may still be found. The information is not erased or permanently and irrecoverably gone.
It can be recovered. We cannot erase our past. This does not mean we cannot forget the past in the sense that Paul has in mind. What is Paul saying when he tells us to forget the things that are in the past?
In our text, Paul is encouraging us to break out of the hostage situation. He is saying, "don’t allow the past to hold you in bondage.
Don’t be a prisoner of your past."
Past blunders, mistakes, failures and hurts need not have a stranglehold on your life.
SOME PEOPLE WILL EVEN PUT YOU ON A GUILT TRIP...
Over a century ago, Robert Louis Stevenson devised a number of rules to help people to live happier, more productive lives.
These rules may be a century or more old, but they are still excellent guidelines.
1. Make up your mind to be happy - learn to find pleasure in simple things.
2. Make the best of circumstances. No one has everything, and everyone has something of sorrow.
3. Don’t take yourself too seriously.
4. Don’t let criticism worry you - you can’t please everybody.
5. Don’t let your neighbors set your standards - be yourself.
6. Do things you enjoy doing, but stay out of debt.
7. Don’t borrow trouble. Imaginary things are harder to bear than actual ones.
8. Avoid people who make you unhappy.
9.Don’t spend time brooding over sorrows and mistakes.
10. Keep busy at something. A very busy person never has time to be unhappy.
WHY IT IS IMPORTANT TO FORGET THOSE THINGS THAT ARE BEHIND Looking back encourages the possibility of going back.
It was so with Lot’s wife. Gods message to Lot and his wife was clear, "Escape for your life! Do not look behind you…" (Gen. 19:17 NKJV).
In my message TODAY I have tried to be as positive as possible about facing the challenge of "forgetting the things that are past." I have tried to say we do not have to be held in bondage by our past.
There is hope for deliverance.
There is hope for change.
There is hope for closing the door on the past that made you a hostage, a victim, instead of a victor.
CONCLUSION;;;;;;;;;
Not that I have already obtained this or have already reached the goal; but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Beloved, I do not consider that I have made it my own; but this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.
I. LIFE IS A JOURNEY:
A. In several places in his writings, Paul compares life and the faith to a race; a race in which we need great endurance. I’ve always liked that analogy but one I’ve come to appreciate even more is image of life as a journey.
A race is a one time event, short lived, and then it’s over until another race is organized. Journeys, on the other hand, can be brief or they can be long.
A race has a finish line. While a journey has a destination.
A race has one purpose, to win. The purpose of a journey is to arrive at the destination but part of the joy of the journey, is the adventure and the stops along the way. So, for let’s think about life as an ongoing journey of faith.
II. ROADBLOCKS AND SPEED BUMPS:
But into every journey there usually comes a few roadblocks, detours and speed bumps.
Some times the vehicle even breaks down and we have to take it into the repair shop. In every journey, there is lots of joy but usually there is also some disappointment and even some pain and sorrow.
They frustrate us like roadblocks, detours and speed bumps. They tempt us to give up.
III. PRESS ON:
The apostle Paul tells us not to give up. Not to quit. He uses himself as an example.
As Paul addresses the Philippians, he is speaking words of encouragement.
He is helping them and encouraging them not to give up, but to press on.
Jesus does the same thing for us in our journey of life. Through the Holy Spirit, through the work of the Church and through our discipleship we are encouraged to press on.
A. One of the ways we press on is through prayer.
In our journey through life, we too are off course a lot of time. For some people it is most of the time.
But by staying in constant contact with God through prayer, we can correct our course. We can stay headed in the right direction.
The navigator (JESUS) can get us to our destination despite the roadblocks, detours and flat tires. (1)
B. Another way to press on and be encouraged is through regular worship.
In worship we meet the Savior and we hear words of encouragement.
In worship we gather with others and are supported and encouraged through their presence and through their words of encouragement.
And through worship we find rest. God created the Sabbath as a day of rest; a day to refocus our lives on God and reevaluate our priorities.
C..Another aspect of pressing on is the need to stop and refuel. Prayer, worship, Sunday School and personal Bible Study are all excellent ways to refuel and be fed. But the best, of course, is Holy Communion.
He will meet you and feed you. And he will encourage you to press on and continue in this journey of life.
LASTLY, pursuing the prize.
Paul says, "I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." Paul says I pursue the prize, I press toward the goal.
We have noted all along that the prize and the goal is the same thing, it is to be like Jesus Christ. That was the single focus of Paul’s life.
Back in verse 8 he says, "I count everything else to be loss, I have one great quest, to know Christ Jesus my Lord." He says down in verse 13, "
One thing I do, and that one thing is forgetting the other things, I press on toward the goal."
So he had a life focus of knowing Jesus Christ so well, so deeply, so richly that he was becoming like Christ, that is the goal of every Christian’s life.
The goal of my life is to be like Christ. Everything else spins off of that.
All my service,
all my relationships,
all my worship, everything spins off of being like Christ.
If I am like Christ I will worship God in the way He worshiped God. If I am like Christ I will serve God in the way He served God. If I am like Christ, I will relate to people in the love in which He related to people.
In other words, the simple focus of my life is to be like Christ. That is why I must let the word about Christ dwell in me richly,.
That is why if I say I abide in Him I must walk the way He walked, 1 John 2. I’m to be like Christ. This is the goal of my life.
So the goal of my life as a Christian is outside of me, it is not in me, it is outside of me, it is beyond me. I am not preoccupied with myself, I am preoccupied with becoming like Christ.
And that is something that only the Holy Spirit can do as I focus on Christ. I focus on Him and the Spirit transforms me into His image.
Now in the Christian life we are pressing toward a goal. That goal is not the satisfaction of my own needs.
That goal is not the satisfaction of my own desire for greater significance, that is not the goal of my life.
The goal of my life is to be like Christ......THUS I PRESS ON..
AMEN..................AMEN......................AMEN
