A life surrendered to the gospel forgets what lies behind, focusing on and rejoicing in what's ahead

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Series

This is the final message in a series called A Life Surrendered to the Gospel.

How many of you read the book of Philippians throughout this series?

The book of Philippians was written to the Christians who lived in the city of Philippi by a man named Paul who was inspired by the Holy Spirit to write a letter.

Paul/Saul

Paul was an interesting man.

Before being named Paul, he went by the name Saul.

Saul was without a doubt one of the most religious guys you’d ever meet.

Saul spent his entire life in school; he had the equivalent of multiple PhDs.

He spoke and wrote in several languages.

He ate, slept, and breathed his religion.

Saul was the most traditional, the most reverent, the most pious.

Everything in Saul’s life changed when he saw the light of Christ.

From that moment forward, Saul became Paul.

Paul surrendered to the gospel of Jesus Christ.

And because of that, Paul’s life was defined by certain characteristics.

That Has Been Our Launch Pad for This Series

So far, we’ve talked about Love, Perspective, Unselfishness, Humility.

The title of today’s message is: A life surrendered to the gospel forgets what lies behind, focusing on and rejoicing in what's ahead

Key Characteristic: Focus & Joy

Focus

Focus is directed attention.

Focus is easy to define but it’s hard to do sometimes, and it’s becoming harder to do!

Studies have shown that the average attention span on TV, Phones, Computers has dropped dramatically, from 2.5 minutes in 2004 to roughly 47 seconds today.

Joy

Joy is a feeling of delight.

A lot of things bring us joy. Either Patriots or Seahawks fans will be joyful later today.

Joy is interesting: (1) we have it because of something: a promotion, a marriage, birth of a child.

(2) We’re instructed to be joyful - Rejoice!

When we’re told to rejoice, that means you need to be joyful about something.

Focus & Joy Are Connected to One Another

When the Bible says, “Rejoice in the Lord” it includes focusing your attention, thoughts, on God and what he has done which will cause feelings of joy inside of you.

Forget what’s behind you. Stay focused on and rejoice in what’s ahead of you.

Philippians 3:12-13

12 Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. 13 Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind.

Forget what’s behind you.

The person in the mirror starting back at you is oftentimes your harshest critic.

You lay awake at night, replaying your failures and mistakes.

There’s something about counting your failures and keeping a record of your mistakes that sucks us in.

Your mind is focused on everything you’ve done wrong and as much as you hate it, you keep doing it over and over again.

Paul says, “I don’t do that. I don’t count my failures or keep a record of my mistakes just so that I can have it in mind to chew on and think about.

I forget what’s behind me. Why?

Because you’re a new creation in Christ.

The bible says that if anyone is in Christ, that person is a new creation. The old person has passed away, and the new person has come (c.f. 2 Corinthians 5:17).

Illustration

There are three ingredients to brownies: eggs, oil, and brownie batter.

None of those things stays the same; instead, those three things are changed to make a new creation.

Analogy

You’re just like that!

When you decide to follow Jesus, something changed inside you.

The decision in your head to trust Jesus leads to a change in your heart.

Which means now that you decided to follow Jesus, you’re no longer that thing that once defined you.

You’re no longer a hater, liar, thief.

You’re no longer a cheater, drunk, or gambler.

You’re no longer the bad husband & father, or the mom who can’t keep it together and always loses her temper, or the son or daughter who disappointed your parents, or the brother or sister who never amounted to anything.

You’re a new creation in Christ and so forget what’s behind you!

This doesn’t mean that you’re perfect, or that you won’t make mistakes.

Philippians 3:12-14

12 Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. 13 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, 14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

Forget what lies behind you. Stay focused on and rejoice in what’s ahead of you because you’ve been called by God to be something greater than your failures and mistakes.

The plotline in the story of the Bible is that you would be made into the image of Jesus Christ.

This is incredible when you stop to think about it, focus on it.

The God who made all things, who is in charge of all things, has spoken to say that he’s not finished with you yet!

This is the definition of playing with house money.

There’s not anything that has or will come up in your life that can stop what God is doing.

You can’t lose!

Does this mean that my life will be easy?

No. It won’t be.

Illustration

When you make brownies, you must break the eggs, beat the batter, and it takes time for the brownie to bake.

Analogy

You’re just like that!

When you decide to follow Jesus, God breaks you, beats and whips you into something better, and then puts you in an oven.

There will be days where you feel like throwing in the towel.

You’re going to be exhausted, and you may want to quit which is who you must strain forward, reach forward, use every ounce of your being to press ahead.

And all this takes time! A long time!

You’re not going to become like Christ overnight which is why when you surrender your life to the gospel, you must stay focused.

Illustration

Recently, the YouTube algorithm has put Rally Car Racing videos in my feed.

And they’re awesome to watch because of the precision; the teamwork, and the FOCUS!

These guys drive race cars, going 150mph, through small towns in England and Ireland, on roads that were designed for horse-drawn carriages!

Let’s watch a short 45 second video of rally car racing from the perspective of the driver.

How many of you want to go rally car racing?

How about the precision that it takes that driver to drive that fast on those narrow roads?

The teamwork is incredible.

The co-driver, who sits in the passenger seat, calls out navigational instructions, turn severities, and road conditions so that the driver can stay on the road.

And how about the focus of the driver?

His eyes are on nothing but what’s ahead of him.

Even if he misses a turn and gets off the racetrack, he’s not turning around and going back, he continues forward to get back onto the racetrack because the finish is in front of him.

Analogy

You are that racecar driver. (That doesn’t mean you have permission to drive 150mph down the road!)

But just like that racecar driver, you’re speeding down the narrow road of life which means you must drive with precision

And you need a co-driver calling out instructions to you: that’s what God does for you!

God has given you his instructions for life, turn here, this road is slippery, brake now, speed up now.

You must stay focused on what’s ahead of you because the joy of the finish line is out there in front of you.

God is making you into the image of Jesus Christ.

Here’s what the Bible says, “let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking (focus) to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:1-2).

Truth

Here’s what’s true of me and you.

We mishear instructions; we take wrong turns; we get off course.

Don’t stop racing forward, God will redirect you back onto the racetrack.

You may go months without looking at pornography, taking a drink, smoking a cigarette, stealing, lying, cheating but then you get off track. Your joy is robbed from you by the enemy.

Don’t go back to look for the turn that you missed because that’s not where you will find joy.

Keep moving forward because the finish line is ahead of you!

Forget what’s behind you. Stay focused on and rejoice in what’s ahead of you.

Philippians 3:15-17

15 Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you. 16 Only let us hold true to what we have attained. 17 Brothers, join in imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us.

Mature Christians

Here’s the message for you: stay focused on Christ; stay focused on your Savior, the one whose image you are being made into because he is your finish line.

Listen to his instructions, apply them to your life, and teach others how to do the same thing.

Illustration

There’s a story about a guy who fell into a deep hole on his way to work one morning.

As you’d expect, he began to yell for help.

A medical doctor passed by. He looked down at the guy, wrote a prescription, dropped the prescription down the hole, and then kept walking.

A pastor passed by next. He looked down at the guy, threw up a prayer, and then kept walking.

The third person to pass by happened to be friends with the guy in the hole.

He heard his friend’s cries for help, looked down, and then jumped into the hole with his friend.

The first guy in the hole said, “What are you stupid or something?! Now we’re both stuck down here!”

His friend, “Yeah but I’ve been down here before, and I know the way out!”

Truth

This is what Jesus did for you!

He jumped into the hole that you dug to show you the way out of the hole.

Putting Truth into Action

You need to do this for others!

Here’s something you need to know: God is not wasteful, he is purposeful.

Whatever dark sinful lifestyles you once struggled with but have since experienced victory through the Holy Spirit, God brings people into your life who have fallen into those same holes because you know what it’s like to be down there.

You can show them the way out!

The bible says that God works all things together for good for those who love him.

This is one way that God works the dark holes in your life together for good.  

New & Adolescent Christians

Here’s the message for you: stay focused on your Christian role models.

Philippians 3:17

17 Brothers, join in imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us.

Illustration

Anyone who has ever spent time in a cave or watched a movie at a movie theater in the afternoon, when you step into the light it hurts because your eyes aren’t adjusted to the light.

New Christians, Adolescent Christians, you’ve spent a lot of time in some dark holes.

Your eyes aren’t adjusted to the light which means the light of Christ shines too bright for some of you at this point in your discipleship which is why God sends pastors, teachers, and role models.

You must look to their example as you grow in your faith.

And here’s why this is so important.

Philippians 3:18-19

18 For many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ. 19 Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things.

Paul says, they are people who confess Christ and then they lose their focus, choosing instead to focus on something lesser in life but what they don’t realize is that they’re walking toward destruction.

We lose our focus when we look in the wrong direction.

Don’t be like that! Keep your eyes on what’s ahead of you.

Philippians 3:20-21

20 But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21 who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.

Forget what lies behind you. Stay focused on and rejoice in what’s ahead of you.

I have no idea what’s going on in Minneapolis and other parts of the country in terms of immigration.

As Christians, we are commanded to uphold the law and support those in authority over us whether we agree or disagree. We’re also called to love our neighbors as ourselves.

What I am about to say should not be understood as political statement about illegal immigration.

Instead, I’m simply using the topic of illegal immigration TO DIRECT YOUR FOCUS AND ATTENTION ON THE TRUTH TO BRING JOY TO YOUR LIFE.

God told the Israelite people, “It’s not because you’re great people that I’m leading you to the promised land where you will be citizens of my country. Instead, it’s because of the promises that I have made.”

We have no claim to citizenship in the Kingdom of Heaven.

In fact, let’s go one step further, the bible says you are a hostile enemy to God and the Kingdom of Heaven.

“But if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation” (Romans 5:10-11).

We had no claim to citizenship in his Kingdom.

We were hostile enemies to him and his Kingdom.

In spite of all that, he died for us to make us citizens of a new eternal kingdom.

When you focus your attention on the truth there should be a response inside you!

Philippians 4:4

4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice.

Forget what lies behind you. Stay focused on and rejoice in what’s ahead of you.

Philippians 4:5-8

5 Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; 6 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. 8 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.

Tell me something that is true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, commendable, excellent, and worthy of praise?

What else could this be other than the Trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Why would Paul tell us to focus on the Trinity?

Because that’s where we’re going.

As Christians, the end of our race is everlasting life, which is God himself, which means the end of our race is God himself.

Closing Story

Guy Buys Sailboat

There was a guy who decided to get into sailing, so he bought an old sailboat and took it out alone for the first time.

As he pushed away from the dock, he struggled against the waves in the inlet.

He scraped the rocks more than once and took on a good bit of water. And he was cursing himself the whole time thinking about his mistakes.

Old Sailor

There was an old sailor up on the rocks of the jeti watching this guy and he said ,“If you keep staring at the wake behind you, you’ll never catch the wind in front of you.”

The guy adjusted his sails and focused on the horizon.

The scars on the boat didn’t disappear, but they no longer mattered because they didn’t define the direction of the boat.

The sailor found joy not because it was an easy journey but because he knew where he was going.

The Christian Life

Your life is just like this!

There’s a wake behind you and scars on your boat: failure, mistakes, regrets.

You will never find joy looking back at those things.

Joy comes when you adjust your sails to catch the winds of God’s grace and when you lift up your eyes to the horizon of what’s ahead of you.

Forget what lies behind you.

Stay focused on and rejoice in what’s ahead of you.

Live your life surrendered to the gospel of Jesus Christ!