The Windshield and the Rearview Mirror

Philippians 3:7–14 NIV

But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

In May of 1954 Roger Bannister became the first person to ever run a one-mile race in less than four minutes. The target of a four-minute mile had once been thought unattainable. And in fact, only a few months later another athlete, John Landy, also completed a one-mile race in less than four minutes. That summer, Landy and Bannister would meet in Vancouver for a race. Not only did 1954 see the first two men to ever break the four-minute mile, but now they were about to go head-to-head. Reporters called the race the Miracle Mile.

Landy was known for his speed right out of the gate. He could set a faster pace than anyone else in a mid-distance race like the one-mile. And he could depend on his initial speed to set a pace that no one else could match. Bannister, on the other hand, was known for his late burst of power at the end. No one could pour it on in the end as well as Bannister. So what would happen when Landy and Bannister clash in a one-mile showdown? Would Landy’s initial speed set a pace that puts him too far ahead for anyone to catch? Or can Bannister’s late burst overtake anyone else no matter how much gap there might be to make up?

The two runners drew different heats and both made it into the qualifying groups. It would not be until the final race to determine the champion until these two men would face off for the first time. The race began as expected. Landy led the first three laps. Bannister pulled ahead of the pack to be in the second position, but still lagged anywhere from 10 to 14 yards behind Landy. The half-way point of the final lap is where Bannister poured it on. By the time the runners were rounding the final turn, Bannister was closing to within one second. Could Landy summon an extra burst to keep himself in front? Would Bannister be able to push even further to make up those last few yards in the final stretch?

And this where John Landy makes a mistake. He turns his head to the side and looks behind him. And in this very brief moment when Landy looks around over his left shoulder, Bannister makes his move around to the right and passes to take the lead. There is still the homestretch to go, but now Landy is thrown off and cannot match the final burst of speed Bannister uses to cross the finish line. Roger Bannister beat John Landy in the Miracle Mile by eight-tenths of a second.

Landy took his eyes off the track in front of him for only one second. And that one second cost him the race.

The rearview mirror: the part of faith that is behind us

In Philippians 3 the apostle Paul is using the metaphor of a race to talk about the priority of faith in the life of a Christian. Anyone here who is a distance runner will tell you how important it is to train for a race. You cannot simply get out of bed one day and decide on spur of the moment that I am going to run a marathon today. It takes preparation to run a race like that. In the event of that race, it is not as though everything leading up to this moment doesn’t matter. All the training and preparation that has happened behind is crucial for the moment of the race. In the race, the focus is not on what is behind; it is on what is ahead. So then, how should we understand and keep perspective on all that is behind us in our faith?

past faith is a reference, not a focus

There were no cars in the day when Paul wrote this letter. But maybe it is helpful for us today to think of this in terms of something to which all of us who drive can relate. The rearview mirror. When I am driving, the focus is on what is ahead; that is where my attention is located. The rearview mirror in my car is there as a reference. Because it is a reference, the rearview mirror is not the main focus of my attention. I would not be a very safe driver if all I did was stare intently into the rearview mirror while I drive forward. That would be a recipe for an accident. This is because—when I am driving—what is behind me only needs to be a reference point, and not a focus point.

Paul talks about his faith like that in Philippians 3. He is focusing his attention on what is ahead. But at the same time, there is a reference to what is behind. Look at how this works. When Paul turns around and looks at his own past, he sees an exchange taking place there. You see, there was a time in the life of Paul when he was an enemy of the gospel of Jesus. In fact, Paul used to hunt down and capture those who followed Jesus.

the only thing in the past that matters is what Christ has done

But Paul looks back and sees all that zealous activity of his past as an attempt to gain the favor of God by his own hard work and commitment. Now that Paul is a Christian, he realizes all his past attempts at gaining credit by his own actions do not amount to anything in the eyes of God. so, he throws all that away calling it garbage. In Christ Paul can no longer make any useful reference to anything in his own past. Instead, the only reference in the past that matters now is what Christ has already done on the cross. In Paul’s rearview mirror of faith, only Christ matters. Jesus is the only reference point which counts.

And more than that, Paul goes out of his way to distance himself from anything else in his past which is apart from the cross of Jesus. The only thing he wants is “to know is Christ…to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.” (vs 10-11) Anything else in his life behind him no longer matters.

focus on my own past faith = endless scorecard

This is a helpful reminder for us yet today. It is helpful for us to remember that faith does not focus in the rearview mirror of our lives. Because a faith which focuses on the rearview mirror will always end up in a tireless attempt to control the scorecard. Here’s how that works for me. On the one hand, I know I’ve made some mistakes in my life. I know there have been ups and downs in the events of my life which have bent my faith in the wrong direction. But on the other hand, I’m a pastor; right? That has to count for something extra. So, hopefully the scorecard of faith tips the balance in my favor. Who of us doesn’t have moments of measuring our faith with some kind of rearview mirror scorecard like this? I mean, look at the way Paul tells us about his own scorecard that used to control his measurement of faith.

every time I look behind me, all I should see is the cross of Christ

But then this scorecard is thrown out and instead the rearview mirror becomes a reference to what Christ has already done. Whenever my thoughts start drifting back to all those events in my past which focus my attention on how my faith measures up, I can reframe those moments in a reference to what Christ has done. We no longer need to have a faith which is gripped in our past. Because every time I look behind me, all I should see is the cross of Christ – every time. And every time I am reminded that the cross of Jesus is my point of reference in the rearview mirror of faith, it pushes my attention forward instead of behind. Now I am free in Christ to grab hold of a faith which focuses on what is ahead.

The windshield: the part of faith that is ahead of us

For those of us here today who drive, have you ever had that experience where something is going on in the traffic behind you and you become fixated on what is happening in the rearview mirror? And then I get a little further down the road and it hits me; oh, that’s right, I’m supposed to be watching what goes on in front of me. Maybe you have a daily commute which follows the same route; and sometimes it just clicks into autopilot. I arrive at my destination and it hits me that I was not paying attention at all to what was happening while I was driving. I had no focus on where I am going.

It is good to remember that we all have a focus of faith that is in front of us. Paul says it this way, I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. The life of faith is a life that looks ahead and focuses forward.

forgetting to look forward: when I cannot get rid of my own past

Maybe you are the kind of person who has been a Christian a long time, and there has been some kind of golden era in your life of faith. Maybe, as some of us here deal with the effects of aging, we find ourselves not being as productive and useful in the community of God’s church as we once were. Maybe we remember times when church was something else, something different, and we lament the loss of that era. Maybe we look fondly upon that past and wish we could go back. But faith is not behind us, it is not in what we had been. Faith is in what we are becoming, it is pressing on with a path ahead of us.

stuck - a past that won’t let me go

backwards - a past that I won’t let go

There is a group of people here at this church preparing a celebration which marks 45 years of Fellowship Church. I’ve seen people glancing through photos and sharing stories. I love hearing those stories told. It tells so much about the identity which God has planted into the DNA of this congregation. Reminiscing is great, but I have to catch people whenever the conversation turns towards capturing that back again. I stop people whenever the desire is to take this church and steer it backwards to something that once was. And it is not because there was something wrong with the way things used to be. It is because it distracts our faith away from pressing ahead. Staring longingly at the past makes us blind to whatever it is God is placing in front of us.

pressing ahead to the goal: faithfulness

There is a pretty important question behind Paul’s direction to press ahead. What is it we are supposed to be pressing on to take ahold of? Why is Paul so intent on erasing everything else behind him except that which Christ has accomplished? The answer needs a little further unpacking. Paul says he presses on to take hold of that for which Jesus Christ first took hold of him. What is it Paul sees in Christ that gives Paul such clarity about what it is his faith is pressing towards? I think it can be captured in one word.

Faithfulness.

Jesus Christ the Son was faithful to the task that was given to him by the heavenly Father. Christ was faithful to accomplish the fulfilment of the law that we never could. Christ was faithful to take upon himself the full consequences of our sin before God upon the cross. Christ was faithful to follow the path which would bring his eternal righteousness to us so that we could be adopted as children of God. When Paul sees the example of Christ it reinforces all-the-more that we follow and serve a faithful God.

what does it mean for me to be faithful to God?

Faithfulness is the windshield through which we look when we examine what it is God has placed in front of us. The question that always drives our vision forward as followers of Jesus is this: What does it mean for me to be faithful to God? What does a life that is faithful to God look like? This is always the windshield which frames our vision of what is ahead.

framing the goal - Greek ano does NOT mean heavenward; it means moving forward

Sometimes we forget that. In fact, sometimes people read a passage like this and confuse the goal for the prize. Do you see that in verse 14? Paul presses to the goal in order to win the prize. The goal and the prize are two different things. Our NIV English Bibles are not all that helpful here. The NIV translation of verse 14 describes the prize as something for which God has called us heavenward in Christ. The implication is that the prize is heaven. And often we go the next step and confuse the goal as also being heaven. But let’s be clear, when Paul writes in the passage about pressing ahead to the goal, he does not have heaven in mind. In fact, the word heaven does not even appear in the original Greek language of this passage. He uses the Greek word ano which does not mean heavenward, it simply means to move forward.

because God is always faithful to me, I can press forward to live faithfully to God

The goal that Paul is laying out for the Philippian church—and for all of us—is a life of faith which simply moves forward. Look at how committed Paul is to this forward movement of his faith. He uses words like straining; the Greek literally means stretching out. He presses on; the Greek means to run or to move decisively towards something. This is a process. This is something which the Bible describes as ongoing. This life of discipleship is something which author Eugene Peterson describes as a long obedience in the same direction. It is about faithfulness. The thing to which we are straining and pressing is simply a life that is faithful.

And the one thing which allows Paul to hold this life of faithfulness up as a goal is a clear and constant reference to the faithfulness of Christ. Because God is always faithful to us, we can press forward to live faithfully to God.