Sermon Tone Analysis
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Introduction: As a father of daughters, I think I’ve seen the movie Frozen a few million times.
And I’m not afraid to admit that it’s not the worst movie that’s ever been made.
And I’ll probably go see the sequel in the theaters.
But at the core, it actually has a decent message about identity.
Out of fear, Elsa’s parents tried to get her to stop being who she was meant to be.
She had to conceal who identity and it actually made for a pretty terrible childhood.
But as she grew up, she got so tired of living in the fear of the past that she broke free and ran away to live who she really was.
And at this point, standing on the side of a mountain comes the song that was sung over and over and over in our house.
“Let it go.”
Now as followers of Jesus, we are told to keep inside our religion and our Jesus.
Out of fear that we might offend people.
Or out of fear of rejection.
But we were never meant to keep it all inside.
We were called to live in the power of our identity in Jesus.
Today, we learn from Paul that we must let go of everything that gets in the way of following Jesus.
We have to let go of expectation, past successes and failures, and even poor examples.
We need to let go and press on toward Jesus.
Transition to Text: Paul was writing in a time when Christianity was brand new especially to the gentiles who had very little interaction with the Jewish faith.
This following Jesus thing wasn’t a cultural norm or expectation.
It was brand new to them.
So to follow Jesus meant leaving a lot, if not everything, behind.
It mean leaving your family’s religion.
It meant risking losing your influence and status in society.
It meant possibly losing your family and inheritance (if you had one).
So Paul writes to say, yes, in the words of Elsa of Arendale, “Let it go.”
Let’s read what Paul had to say to the church at Philippi and to us here today:
Phil
Transition to big idea: For anyone, there is always the temptation to get stalled.
You can feel stuck where you are and not quite sure how to get out of this rut.
What’s the answer?
It’s rather simple, yet incredibly difficult.
Ready?
Big Idea: Keep Moving Forward
Transition to Point #1: Now if we want to keep moving forward, we have to let go of some things that keep us from that goal.
Our goal is to keep moving forward until we reach eternity.
Main Point #1 - Let Go of your Expectations (12-13a)
Explanation: If there is anyone in Christian church history who might boast of being close to perfection, it would likely be Paul.
He seemed to have it all together and his conduct with respect to Christ seems only to verify this.
In fact, from a wordly perspective, he had made it; he had arrived.
Vs. 4-11 give us his biography.
Many of us would look at Paul and think this is the model of the perfect Christian.
Yet, here, even Paul is not willing to claim anything near perfection.
In fact he runs from the thought.
But this brings us to Paul’s all consuming purpose:
I press on to make it my own.
He’s talking about the resurrection of the dead.
And what is his means of resurrection?
Because Jesus Christ has made me His own.
Not because of who I am, but because of what you’ve done, not because of what I’ve done, but because of who you are.
The point Paul is trying to make is that in this life, perfection is not the goal.
Jesus is the goal.
To be raised in glory with Jesus.
Nothing else truly matters.
In the past, Paul, as a Pharisee, was all about perfection even if it was just the outwards signs of perfection.
But not any longer.
It’s all about Jesus.
This is what Paul is talking about in vs. 14.
The prize isn’t a teddy bear at the carnival.
It’s not a promotion at work or children that eat their broccoli (or eat at all).
The prize is not God’s obligation to us.
The prize is knowing Jesus in eternity.
Now this is a huge encouragement, because it levels the playing field to allow for anyone to achieve the resurrection of the dead.
Everyone can be saved because it no longer matters how well you are able to follow the law.
All that matters is what Jesus did on the cross.
And He said, “Don’t misunderstand me, you are absolutely saved by works.”
And he paused for dramatic effect.
And then continued.
“Just not your works.
You’re saved by Jesus’ works on the cross.”
Illustration: I heard a very influential pastor get asked the question about the connection between faith and works.
Can you be saved without works?
And He said, “Don’t misunderstand me, you are absolutely saved by works.”
And he paused for dramatic effect.
And then continued.
“Just not your works.
You’re saved by Jesus’ works on the cross.”
Application: Now expectations can be placed on us by others or we can place them on ourselves.
It doesn’t matter which.
We need to move on from any expectations that don’t have us pushing further into knowing Jesus and making Him known to the world around us.
Question: What expectations do you need to let go of?
What pictures of your preferred life do not fit with the life Jesus has prepared for you?
How will you go about letting them go?
While expectations often live in our present mind, they are usually the result of our past.
Transition: Now like I said 2 weeks ago, your past doesn’t disqualify you, it prepares you for your future.
But please don’t live there.
Main Point #2 - Let Go of your Past (13b-14)
Explanation: Now 3 times in these verses Paul talks about the future and how we get there.
vs. 12: I press on; vs. 13: straining forward; 14 I press on toward the goal.
Now what does moving forward have to do with this?
In order to move forward you have to let go of what lies behind.
Illustration: I think I’ve talked in here the most dangerous part of a car is not necessarily the engine of the front end or the accelerator.
The most dangerous part of a car is the rear view mirror.
Because we can get so fixed on the past that we don’t see what happening right in from of us.
Always keep looking forward.
Only glance in the rearview…but don’t stay there.
You can’t change the world by worrying about the past…especially if you are trying to make up for it.
We can’t move forward by living in the past either.
We change the future by living fully in the present.
Some of us live with past regret of things we wish we could change.
How many of us have regrets of things that if we could go back and change we would?
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