Philippians 3:13-14 - Press On

Why do you think we often dwell on past mistakes?

Past mistakes are easy and convenient for us to

Philippians 3:13–14 ESV

Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But 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 upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

We have a tendancey to dwell on our past.

I don’t just mean sin either

we dwell on our past sin but we also dwell on the time we said the wrong word and got laughed at.

Or the time that we flopped on a test

Whatever our failures are we dwell on them

But what I want us to understand is that our past is just that, it is past.

What we do, how we act and how we live for Jesus in the future is what matters most.

Who was Paul and what did he do?

That is why Paul said he is “forgetting what lies behind”

Most of us remember Paul as the life he led as a Christian

Few remember him for the past life he led persecuting Christians

The roots to this run deep

You see Paul himself couldn’t have dwelled in the past.

Would Paul have been an effective leader in Christianity had he dwelled in the past?

Why do you think not?

There is only one benefit of Pauls past, can anyone tell me what it was?

It was to learn from it.

Paul needed to learn from his past and move forward

He needed to move into obedience with Jesus CHrist.

that is why when he was met on the road to damascus he was called to live in this obedience.

To leave the life of sin in the past where it belongs

Now we could apply this verse to so many things.

For examples we cannot live in the past successes of life either.

Though our past success is great our past success is not indicative of our future.

I knew a guy in high school that was a pretty successful football player in high school.

But just the very next year after graduating he failed most of his courses.

In fact, he didn’t even try.

He spent the better part of time in college getting drunk until he eventually flunked out.

He actually would go as far as to write his name and football number on college worksheets instead of doing the work.

He was the perfect example of someone who was living in the past.

My point to you tonight is do not find yourself living in the past.

Paul talks about pushing on toward the prize, what is that prize?

Eternity in heaven is the prize and through everyday living a life for Jesus Paul was being obedient to that call.

That he would push toward the mark that God had set before him.

So ill ask you tonight, maybe you want to share something with the group but maybe you want to be silent.

How are you failing at this?

What do you need to do a better job at when it comes to pushing forward and pushing to the mark laid before us in Jesus?