Pressing Forward
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Looking to the Past
Looking to the Past
Many of us, perhaps all, occasionally like to remember the past. We like to remember the glory days. Weather that’s on a personal level, or remembering the glory days of the church. On the personal level, we love to give testimony to who we were before we decided to follow Christ. Our lives bear witness to how he has changed and is changing us. When we stop to look back we remember the tough times God carried us through, and remember even now that God is with us.
As a church we like to look back at the glory days. We like to remember the times this church was full. We like to remember the high points God directed this church through. Sometimes we try to replicate the ministries that helped the church to thrive during that time. It is important to stop take a look back and remember where we’ve been, to remember God guided us then and continues to guide us now.
While remembering the mighty acts of God in our lives and in the life of the church is important, we can’t stay there. We must move forward with the work God is doing now. To do that we must do what Paul challenges the church at Philippi to do.
7 Yet whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss because of Christ. 8 More than that, I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but one that comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God based on faith.
Brothers and sisters, when we survey our lives and the life of this church, we can see that God has been faithful. We must continue to press forward with him.
13 No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.
Pressing Forward
Pressing Forward
Why does Paul say what he is saying here in Philippians? Before there were beware of dog signs, Paul in Philippians cautions them to beware of dogs.
Who are the dogs? Paul leaves no guess work for us as to who the dogs are. Those people who do evil, those mutilators of the flesh. In the early days of Christianity there were some who believed to truly be saved you must be circumcised. Paul refutes that by saying we rely on what Christ has done for us. Jesus the author and finisher of our faith purchased our perfection on the cross. It’s God’s work of grace.
Paul, begins to recount who he was before Christ. To many, even to me at times, it sounds like Paul is giving himself a good hearty pious pat on the back. When actually he is just sharing his testimony. Paul was a slave to keeping the law, but that did not make him right with God.
16 yet we know that a person is justified not by the works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ. And we have come to believe in Christ Jesus, so that we might be justified by faith in Christ, and not by doing the works of the law, because no one will be justified by the works of the law.
21 Is the law then opposed to the promises of God? Certainly not! For if a law had been given that could make alive, then righteousness would indeed come through the law. 22 But the scripture has imprisoned all things under the power of sin, so that what was promised through faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.
All Paul once held dear he counted all as loss for the glorious sake of knowing Christ.
Paul challenges the church in Philippi to relentlessly pursue Christ. Paul knew God was still at work in and through him.
The same is true with us. God is still at work in and through us. Is the law bad or obsolete? No. It helps us recognize where we need to allow God to work in us, that way we can reflect more and more of Christ.
There is one point Paul is trying to make here, and I hope we leave here with today. Relentlessly pursue the perfection of Christ. The message for us the church is to press forward with God towards what he has called us to do.
I’m going to use a football analogy here. In a post game press conference after one of the Patriots losses, a player in response to a question said they strive every week in practice and the game for perfection. Perfection is finiky, we always strive for it but she can’t be caught because there’s always room for improvement. For us personally and as a church we relentlessly pursue the perfection that Christ Jesus first possessed us. It is an ongoing work of God.
Keeping our Eyes on Jesus.
Keeping our Eyes on Jesus.
What does all this mean for us personally and as a church community?
Personally- Our lives are testament to the faithfulness of God. We like Paul aren’t who we once were because of the work of Christ. We like Paul must also recognize God is not done working in and through us. We like Paul personally press forward working with God to reflect the perfect image of his Son Jesus Christ. Hebrews 10:14
14 For by that one offering he forever made perfect those who are being made holy.
As followers of Christ, or even to those who would like to follow christ, all we once held dear we count as loss for the sake of knowing Christ so intimately our lives reflect him.
As the Church- It means as we remember the glory days of the church, we must remember those glory days were the result of God. It wasn’t the result of a program, or a ministry of the church. God worked through those programs and ministries to reach that generation. While we remember God’s faithfulness we must look forward to see where he’s leading us now. As the church of the present we can’t live in the past, we must press forward with God to reach another generation. So others can experience the mighty power of God that raised Jesus Christ from the dead.
10 I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death, 11 if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead.