Falling Forward in Faith pt 1
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Tonight we are going to look at the prototype for what it looks like when
If we desire to be refreshed in God the first step is leaving the past behind us
Noting good in life comes easy. The saying is true, ‘no pain—no gain” Anything in life that is worth doing comes with a cost. When you say yes to something—a relationship, a job, an opportunity—you say no to 1,000 things. There is always a price to pay.
This is what happened in our lives when we decided to follow Jesus. We said yes to God and we said no to everything else. Early on, this decision is pretty easy—the cost doesn't seem too high.
In RESPONSE to the Work of Christ, we need to RELEASE the past and REACH ahead toward godliness.
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The Motivation & The Method
The Response
The Response
Paul’s motivation for striving for holiness, or striving for freshness in his relationship with Jesus is this, that Christ Jesus made us His own.
This again helps us understand what we talked about last week, that Paul had the right reflex. Paul understood that God loved him in-spite of his imperfection and indwelling sin. He understood : "In this is love, not that we have first loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sin.” Propitiation means that Jesus stood in our place as the substitute for the just punishment that we deserved as a result of our sin. Jesus stood in our place, not because he had too but because He wanted to. He was compelled by His love for God primarily, and his love for sinners like you and me.
Propitiation means that Jesus stood in our place as the substitute for the just punishment that we deserved as a result of our sin. Jesus did this for us, not because he had to, but because He wanted to. He was compelled by His love for God primarily, and his love for sinners like you and me.
And it was that love that transformed the Apostle Paul. This is what Paul means when he said Christ Jesus has made him His own. Paul effectively says this, “Because Jesus stood in my place and suffered the condemnation for my sin on the cross, I make it my goal to stand in His place as the righteousness of God.” Not that Paul believed that he had to--in order to gain righteousness--but because in Christ he was made righteous already, by faith and wanted to do so out of reciprocal love he had in appreciation for Christ. In fact, Paul says in the verses preceding that his goal in life was to know Christ by faith—and he was willing to lose everything for the cause of Christ—in order that he might be found IN HIM.
Effectively, what the Apostle Paul experienced was a life transforming and love transforming relationship with Jesus that led him to say…not that I am already perfect…yet I try my hardest to be who Christ has made me to be…because it’s worth it...
This was Paul’s motivation…and until we are gripped with the grace of God displayed to us through the work of Christ on the cross, we will never have the motivation necessary to strive toward godliness. Why? Because our striving will be to earn God’s grace and God is opposed to earning…He cant be bought...
The people of God over the years have tried to buy God with their efforts and sacrifices…listen to how God responded to them:
11 “What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices? says the Lord; I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of well-fed beasts; I do not delight in the blood of bulls, or of lambs, or of goats. 12 “When you come to appear before me, who has required of you this trampling of my courts? 13 Bring no more vain offerings; incense is an abomination to me. New moon and Sabbath and the calling of convocations— I cannot endure iniquity and solemn assembly. 14 Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hates; they have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them. 15 When you spread out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not listen; your hands are full of blood.
isaiah
20 What use to me is frankincense that comes from Sheba, or sweet cane from a distant land? Your burnt offerings are not acceptable, nor your sacrifices pleasing to me.
Jeremiah
21 “I hate, I despise your feasts, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies. 22 Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them; and the peace offerings of your fattened animals, I will not look upon them. 23 Take away from me the noise of your songs; to the melody of your harps I will not listen.
Amos 5:
If we desire to strive for a refreshing relationship with God, our motivation cannot be to earn from God...
In fact, Paul says in the verses preceding that his goal in life was to know Christ by faith—and he was willing to lose everything for the cause of Christ—in order that he might be found IN HIM.
Our motivation has to be this: we desire to draw near to God because God, in Christ, has drawn near to us first...
It’s a reflex...
Now let’s look at what happens when we have that right reflex…
Releasing the Past
Releasing the Past
13 for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. 14 Do all things without grumbling or disputing,
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.
Philippians 2:13-
What does it look like to release the past?
Forgetting What Lies Behind:
For Paul…
7 But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. 8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ
Philippians 3:7-8
Releasing Our Failures:
1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking 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.
Paul no doubt had some failures…he was a persecutor of the church. He said that he was the least of all the Apostles…Paul had a past.
However, he knew that what Christ had done on the cross freed him from the bondage of the past and freed him to walk in the victory he had been given in Christ.
He knew that on the cross, Jesus bore his sin, his guilt, and his shame. He knew that the past no longer defined him because Christ had payed the penalty. Paul no longer lived as a condemned sinner in the eyes of God, he lived as a beloved Saint, chosen and adopted by God.
And that’s what each of us need to understand as well.
Christ died for sin…once and for all.
19 For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.
Colossians 1:19-20
Christ
Because of Christ our pasts can Rest in Peace
Our past no longer has dominion over us…because Christ has
Releasing Our Victories:
Others of us don’t struggle so much with regreting the past…but we struggle with relishing in our victories:
Maybe you were a leader in your youth group...
Maybe you have spent time on the mission field...
Maybe you havent made the mistakes that your friends have made over the course of your life...
But your problem is that you relish in that…you keep score on your walk…and you live your life through the rearview mirror.
“Look what Ive done for God...”
Meanwhile you’ve taken your eyes off what is in front of you and you are destined to crash at some point.
REACHING FOR THE GOAL
REACHING FOR THE GOAL
philippians 3:
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.
14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
The
Paul says that he let’s go of his past…and he reaches forward toward the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus?
What is that upward call?
5 For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, 6 and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, 7 and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. 8 For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins. 10 Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall. 11 For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 12 Therefore I intend always to remind you of these qualities, though you know them and are established in the truth that you have. 13 I think it right, as long as I am in this body, to stir you up by way of reminder, 14 since I know that the putting off of my body will be soon, as our Lord Jesus Christ made clear to me. 15 And I will make every effort so that after my departure you may be able at any time to recall these things.
5 who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, 7 so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 8 Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, 9 obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls. 10 Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully, 11 inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories. 12 It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look. 13 Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 14 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, 15 but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct,
2 Peter 5:5-15
The upward call of God toward Christ Jesus is becoming who we are...
1 peter
We are holy in christ…so we strive to be holy...
We are redeemed in Christ…so we strive to live redeemed.
We are adopted in Chrsit…so we strive to live as a child of God
We are chosen in Christ…so we live as if we have value before God.
What does it mean to strive and strain?
What does it mean to strive and strain from
We know what striving and straining in other arenas looks like...
Snapchat...
Athletics...
Straining Forward to What Lies Ahead:
What do you need to leave behind this evening?
What step do you need to take to become who you already are in Christ Jesus? How can you begin striving and straining toward the call that God has placed on your life in Christ Jesus?
In response to
In Christ—Paul found His righteousness
In Christ--