Looking Forward
Notes
Transcript
Last week:
Paul reminds us that the reminders he keeps giving are a safeguard for us
That is why it is important to remember that Humility is the key to finding real joy and untity in the body of Christ.
Paul also exposed the idea of taking confidence in the flesh, and to him, it is all a loss
Today, we get to see the attitude we are to have in our walk, that it is looking forward, not back.
Illustration:
One of my favorite things to do, now that I am older, my body is more broken than it use to, is I love to golf. I can’t do it half as much as I would like, but I enjoy every time I get to go out.
When people start talking about what separates people like me and those who are actually good at golf, one thing consistently gets talked about. For me, when I make a bad shot, it ruins my whole round. And what is sad about it, is that is mostly the first shot of the day. Professional golfers, when they make a bad shot, they have the ability to go to their ball, and focus on whats next, not what already happened. That is what separates a good golfer from a bad golfer, the ability to play your next shot, not the one you just took.
It seems pretty easy and like a no brainer, but maturity as a Christian takes the same attitude. If you want to be mature in your walk, you have to have the humility to move past what happened, and start looking ahead. And today, that is what Paul is going to encourage us in.
V.12
12 Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus.
Not that I have already obtained:
Paul says all these things… I want Jesus, I want to know Him more and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His suffering, to be conformed in His death… to have the attitude that Jesus had of humility… these are all things that he has yet to obtain.
This is where many people stumble and get thrown off track… I NEED TO HAVE THIS IN MY LIFE, NOW!!
I need to be humble, I need to hold only to Christ
But Humility understands that I am a work in progress, that I have not come to that point of completion, nor am I perfect in this.
This is where grace really sets in… I need the grace from the Lord to help me in my humility, I cannot do this on my own.
But I press on:
I pursue
Paul isn’t crippled by the fact of his unobtained maturity, but rather, pushes on so that…
I may lay hold:
Of that for which also he was laid hold of by Christ Jesus.
What is Paul trying to lay hold of?
To know Him, to know the power of His resurrection, the fellowship of His sufferings, be conformed in His death.
Really, to live the christian life, to grow in grace, to know Jesus, to be fully dependent upon Jesus in every aspect of life.
V.13
13 Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead,
I do regard as laid hold of it yet:
I haven’t arrived yet, I’m not there
Forgetting what lies behind:
Or the word means to care nothing about, to neglect
He forgets what is behind him. All those things he has counted as loss, it is now being forgotten.
He isn’t looking back.
Reaching forward to what lies ahead:
Not just looking, but reaching.
The word, means straining
I think of my little baby. Whenever I’m holding him, and mommy comes walking in, he isn’t just reaching for her, he is straining trying to get to her.
V.14
14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
I press on toward the goal:
Not not straining, or reaching, but moving toward that goal, moving toward the prize
upward call of God:
The call toward Himself, which is in Christ Jesus.
V.15
15 Let us therefore, as many as are perfect, have this attitude; and if in anything you have a different attitude, God will reveal that also to you;
As many as are perfect:
Or, those who are mature
Have this attitude:
To those who are mature, make sure this is your attitude
Think of what Jesus says in Luke 9:62
62 But Jesus said to him, “No one, after putting his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”
This is always easier said then done, because we like to look back all the time.
What do we say all the time? “Back in the good ole days”
We look to what was, and we have the tendency to want that instead of what we have.
What we are doing is laying hold of the old self, the flesh.
This is what Paul talks about in Ephesians 4:22-24
22 that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit,
23 and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind,
24 and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.
I like what we learned yesterday at our men’s conference… “Be who you are in Christ, not who you were in the flesh.”
The flesh was being corrupted with the lust of deceit, so what use to be the good old days, are actually days of being deceived and corrupted by the things you lusted after.
But also, we fall back to our old self as well.
Whether we are taking confidence in what we could do in our flesh, or maybe we can’t move past the failure of our flesh.
Whether for prideful reasons or shameful ones, we have the tendency to dwell on what we did
The other reason this is so difficult to have this attitude is because of what the worldly philosophies are telling you.
The world will tell you that if you want to be happy, if you want to find peace, you have to look backward and inward.
You have to look at your past, break it down, tear it apart, analyze it, criticize it.
Then you have to find who you are inside yourself. You have to find that inner strength and find who you really are.
And the sad part, is the more we listen to this, we continue to have a generation that is confused, hurting, angry, and unable to grow up because they live in the past and find their hope within themselves.
But this is not at all what scripture teaches, in fact, it teaches the opposite. A beleiver in Christ Jesus is to look forward and upward.
That is our hope, that is where we will find joy and peace, is when we atop holding onto the past and what happened then, what we were then… and we have to press forward to what lies ahead.
What lies ahead?
I think of Jeremiah 29:11
11 ‘For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.
Then also think about Proverbs 23:18
18 Surely there is a future, And your hope will not be cut off.
And then Paul’s little prayer to the Romans in Romans 15:13
13 Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
There is hope moving forward
But also, to look upward.
Our hope is not here, it is not in ourselves, it is in the upward call in Christ Jesus. Think of what Peter says in 1 Peter 1:3-4
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
4 to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you,
So our hope is reaching forward, pressing onward, not back.
This is the attitude that Paul says, for those who are mature, are to have.
So whether you were successful in the flesh, whether you feel like you miss the good old days, or maybe you feel guilty about what you did, or maybe what you didn’t do… All these things are only going to rob you of your joy.
As the great Disney philosophers Pumba and Timon once said… “You have to leave you behind, in your Past.”
And if you have a different attitude:
God will reveal that to you
I love this patience that Paul has, which is both pastoral and humble.
It is frustrating when someone is stuck in an attitude that is making them miserable and self destructive
And we already know that if you want joy, if you want to see unity and oneness in the body of Christ and in your personal relationships, you have to take on the attitude of Christ Jesus, who humbled Himself and considered others interest before His own.
But this is the work of the Holy Spirit, not ours. We can pray for one another, but it is God who has to reveal to each person where their attitude is.
I say this because, well, Paul says it here, but also, I’ve found myself arguing with people about their attitudes that are contrary to scripture, and you know where it goes? No where.
V.16
16 however, let us keep living by that same standard to which we have attained.
Let us keep living by that same standard:
There is one standard, and I think it is best described in Ephesians 2:8-9
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;
9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.
This is our standard… not working to earn God’s favor or joy, but living in the grace of the Lord.
V.17
17 Brethren, join in following my example, and observe those who walk according to the pattern you have in us.
Join in following my example:
Paul has set the stage, and has learned the secret to living content.
To have this attitude, to keep reaching forward and pressing onwards to the upward call.
Don’t follow the world or the flesh, follow those who have humbly walked for your benefit, not theirs.
V.18-19
18 For many walk, of whom I often told you, and now tell you even weeping, that they are enemies of the cross of Christ,
19 whose end is destruction, whose god is their appetite, and whose glory is in their shame, who set their minds on earthly things.
For many:
Paul isn’t saying just a few, or little bit, but rather, many.
They are enemies of the cross. Why?
their appetite is their god
who glory in shame
set their minds on earthly things
Appetite is their god:
I think Romans 16:18 describes this well
18 For such men are slaves, not of our Lord Christ but of their own appetites; and by their smooth and flattering speech they deceive the hearts of the unsuspecting.
Glory is in their shame:
They brag and gloat about things that are shameful.
This is sad when many today do this.
Its what we read in Romans 1:25-26
25 For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.
26 For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural,
Set their minds on earthly things:
Not heavenly things, but things of this world.
4 You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.
Their minds are set here, and many today have done this in the church today, to appease a world that is godless and destructive, and has their hearts set against God.
Paul calls them enemies of the cross of Christ:
Be careful, because many of these enemies have become Christian influencers, but their end is destruction.
V.20
20 For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ;
Our citizenship is in heaven:
Not here
We are not of this world. This is what Peter is saying in 1 Peter 2:9
9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;
We are not of this world, we are peculiar, we are different. Our home is not here, because we are citizens of heaven.
V.21
21 who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself.
transform the body:
This is what we will get, an eschatological view of what waits for us.
To be transformed from our humble state to the glorious body we will have in eternity.
by the exertion of the power:
That same power, which will raise these mortal bodies and be clothed with immortality, is this same power that brings everything under subjection to Him.
And that is a reason to have joy, because of who we have put our trust and faith in.
Conclusion:
And as we move into chapter 4 next week, Paul is going to give us some really great, wonderful wisdom on how to keep this attitude of looking forward and upward in Humility.
