Title: Forgetting the Past
Text: Philippians 3
Introduction: A woman was on her way to work one day on the metro and had a chance encounter with another woman with whom she had gone to high school years before. They had once been good friends, but had lost touch because their lives had taken them in different directions. They were so pleased to renew their contact that they agreed to meet in a coffee shop after work to catch up.
They became so engrossed in their reunion, however, that they lost track of the time and suddenly realized that they were long past the time their husbands would be expecting them to come home. Promising to call each other the next day, they rushed home to their waiting husbands. The next day, when they spoke on the phone, one of the women said, "Was your husband angry that you were so late coming home?"
"Not at all," her friend replied, "I told him how I had run into you, and that we were so happy to be re-connected that we had got carried away and had forgotten about the time. He was cool with that. How about your husband?"
"Well my husband was so upset that he became historical."
"You mean hysterical, don’t you?" her friend said.
"No, I mean historical. He brought up every thing I’ve done that annoyed him for the past twelve years."
The past can creep up upon us at times.
There is an article written in your bulletin this week that I ran across studying for this lesson.
Robert E. Lee, the Southern general in the Civil war, was visiting a Kentucky lady. She took him to the remains of a grand old tree at the front of her formerly great mansion. The north and the south had fought a bitter battle right over her front porch, and the limbs and the trunk of that tree had been destroyed by Federal Artillery Fire. She looked to Lee to speak some word of consolation, a word condemning the north or some word of sympathy for her loss.
After a moment, Lee said, "Cut it down, my dear Madam, and forget it."
As we dive into this lesson today, I want you to know that memory is precious to me.
‒ Old pictures are a thrill to look at.
‒ Childhood memories are mostly great!
‒ THEREFORE, I do not want you to think I am encouraging us to lose our good memory, but listen to the text.
(Philippians 3 NIV) “Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord! It is no trouble for me to write the same things to you again, and it is a safeguard for you. {2} Watch out for those dogs, those men who do evil, those mutilators of the flesh. {3} For it is we who are the circumcision, we who worship by the Spirit of God, who glory in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh-- {4} though I myself have reasons for such confidence. If anyone else thinks he has reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: {5} circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; {6} as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for legalistic righteousness, faultless.”
1. Paul’s Memories
a. Don’t you love to be around people who brag about things they don’t know about?
1. They caught the biggest fish.
2. They hit the longest ball.
3. The caught the touchdown pass.
1. You knew you were better and your modesty would not let you tell them.
b. The Judaizers so filled with their pride were like that.
1. They insisted that the Gentiles of that day be circumcised and become as close as possible to being Jews in order to be accepted in the kingdom.
1. They misunderstood the gospel of grace.
2. Paul had three descriptions of these Jews.
1. “Dogs” “Evil” and “mutilators of the flesh.”
1. They concentrated on the physical aspects of religion instead of the heart.
3. Paul point out that if anyone could brag about fleshly things it was him.
1. “...circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; {6} as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for legalistic righteousness, faultless.”
{7} “But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. {8} What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ {9} and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ--the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. {10} I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, {11} and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead. {12} Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. {13} Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, {14} I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”
2. Paul’s Renouncing of the Past
a. Paul made it clear about his past.
1. It is rubbish.
2. I trade all of my prestige and popularity for one thing!
1. “I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection.”
3. He knew that in order to move on he had to forget about all of “his” past victories and glories and move on to what it was that God wanted for him.
1. That takes the focus off of him and on Jesus.
3. What about our past?
a. Ever dream of how it used to be?
1. The church was thriving in number.
2. Lots of families.
3. Spirit was high!
4. Then we remember the bad.
1. The past troubles.
2. The hurt feelings.
b. The past can rear its ugly head and before long we are doing one of two things.
1. Bragging about our accomplishments
2. Bemoaning the fact that things are not like they used to be.
4. It is Time to forget the past and move ahead.
a. Forget the past as a church
1. We are running a race.
1. Paul says here that he would press on.
1. When we are running a race, there is no reason to look back. It only slows us down.
2. We can look back and say, “Ah! The good old days!”
1. We were thriving.
2. Ministry was great.
3. People were coming.
3. Then immediately we are led to past hurts and feelings of remorse.
1. We think of people who are not here.
2. We think of some who hurt us deeply.
4. All the while god is saying forget it and look to the future!!
1. (Isaiah 43:18-19) "Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. {19} See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland.
1. Do not dwell in the past.
1. God is no there!
2. God is always present tense. He is called the “I AM” not the “I Was.”
2. He is doing a new thing!!
1. Trust Him,
2. Know His will for you and know the new thing it is He wants for your life and for the life of this church.
b. Forget the past as individuals.
1. (Luke 9:62 NIV) Jesus replied, "No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God."
1. Remember the day you were born again!
1. You were ready to take on the world for Jesus!
2. You were ready to convert all of your friends.
3. You were on fire for Him!
2. Then you looked back.
1. You became your former self again.
2. Old sins began to crop up in your life.
3. You became unfit for the kingdom.
3. You want to know that most wonderful thing about God?
1. You can become fit again!
2. It is time again to refocus your attitude. Forget the past. Listen to these words.
1. The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude to me is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, education, money, circumstances, failures, successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness, or skill. It will make or break a company, a church or a home. The remarkable thing is that we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past. Nor can we change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We also cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have and that is our attitude. I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it. And so it is with you——we are in charge of our attitudes .
Conclusion: It is time for us to stop being “historical.” When we let go of the past we begin to reclaim our identity.
‒ We are no longer the college church of Christ.
‒ We are not the little church on the end of Roberts lane.
‒ We are not the church with all the problems.
‒ We are a church of new beginnings
‒ We are the church of our Lord Jesus.
‒ We are the bride of Christ.
‒ We have meaning and hope for the future. It all lies in God.
**I heard a quote from brother Jeff Nelson this past weekend that we need to adopt.
‒ “It is not about me. It is not about now. It is about God and it is about eternity!”
‒ Forget the past. Lay hold on what is ahead. For god is about to do a great work in you!!
