"We Ain't Dead Yet!" Series

We’ve been looking to Paul’s summary of the life of King David to learn principles that should guide us in the decisions we make in our life as individuals and as a congregation.

We’ve said that we need to live our life serving God’s purpose of seeing His will be done on earth as it is done in heaven; that just as Christ was willing to make whatever adjustments were necessary to provide salvation, we should be willing to make whatever adjustments are necessary to tell others about that salvation.

We’ve said that we need to live our life serving our generation. That we should be willing to do whatever it takes to pass along our faith to the next generation and the generation after that.

“Even when I am old and gray, do not forsake me, my God, till I declare your power to the next generation, your mighty acts to all who are to come.” - Psalm 71:18 (NIV)

Today, I want us to go on to consider a third principle taught by the example of David’s life as summarized by Paul. (READ TEXT)

Paul says that David served God’s purpose in his generation until he drew his final breath. In other words, how do I know God still has something for me to do? Well, “I ain’t dead yet!” As long as I’m alive, there is some way, by which I can still serve God’s purpose in my generation (Refer to Philippians 3:12-14).

When Paul wrote the letter to the Philippians, he was, by every estimation, coming to the end of his life. First, we know he was writing this letter from a Roman jail cell and was potentially facing execution. Additionally, since Paul wrote this letter at the same time he wrote the book of Philemon, we know he was advanced in years, for in Philemon 9, he refers to himself as, “Paul - an old man.”

Now, it’s with the reality of his own mortality in mind and the imminent end of his life before him, that Paul says what he does in Philippians 3:12-14 (READ TEXT).

Paul speaks in verse 12 - 13a about how Christ saved him with a plan in mind for his life. He saved us with a plan in mind for us as well. That plan is that we serve God’s purpose in our generation until the day we leave this life and move on to the next. That’s because our pursuit of God’s plan for our life is a life-long pursuit as Paul makes clear.

Paul’s example tells us that there are three things to do if we are going to serve God’s purpose in our generation until our last breath.

1. Forget the past - v. 13a

When Paul speaks about forgetting the past, he’s not speaking of erasing our memory. Indeed, remembering lessons taught us from our past failures and past successes can benefit us in the present. But there is a sense in which we need to forget our past if we are going to serve God’s purpose in our generation until our last breath.

A. We mustn’t let past failures keep us from moving forward.

“One of Satan’s strongest weapons against Christians is to bring up our past failures and embarrassments to discourage us and tell us that we can’t go on for Christ.” - Jack Graham

The devil wants to pile up the rubbish and ruins from our past to block our progress. Nehemiah and his fellow Jews who went to Jerusalem to rebuild the city’s walls, found piles of rubble from the destruction of the city. All the physical rubbish the workers had to deal with was a reminder of past failures and defeats for Jerusalem.

But Nehemiah was determined to not let the failures of the past keep him and the Jews from moving forward! Likewise, if you get caught up in all of the junk of the past, you’ll get weighed down and not move forward. That’s why we need to put the failures of our past in the past!

B. We mustn’t let past successes keep us from moving forward.

Now, this may sound strange, but sometimes past success can stop us from moving forward in our walk with God as much as can our past failures. We call this “resting on our laurels.”

In the Greek games of the ancient world, the victor was crowned with a laurel wreath. But the winner could not “rest on his laurels” if he wanted to remain a champion. Every athlete learns this truth from experience. A sure and quick way to go downhill from the peak of performance is to stop training when the race or season is over and just rest on past accomplishments.

Too often, individual Christians and whole congregations can see their progress for Christ halted because they are so fixated on past successes, that they do not recognize today’s assignments and challenges. When remembering past success causes you to fail to recognize presence challenges, it’s time to refocus your life.