It's Not What Lies Behind, It's What Lies Beyond

Would you please pray with me? May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be pleasing in your sight, oh Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord and our Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen. It's good to be with you, very good to be with you all. And thank you all for being here today. And for those of you who are watching from home, God's blessings to you as well. For those of you who do not yet know me - you've - obviously you saw my name up there. I'm Pastor Tim Ritter. I am the son of Pastor Dan Ritter. I was baptized in a Lutheran church as an infant, just a month old. I grew up in a Christian household. We went to church every single Sunday and, of course, then I attended Sunday school as a child, and then, as a high school student, I was in the youth ministry. At home, we read our Bible. We prayed together as a family. We prayed before every meal: before the meal and then after the meal. And we were in family devotions together. As an adult, I helped lead youth ministry, and even lead two groups to the National Youth Gathering. One in New Orleans, one in San Antonio. I attended those youth groups as a youth group member as a high school student. I - when I began my college career, I went to Concordia University in Seward, Nebraska. Anybody heard of that place? Of course. Yeah, a great school. Best Concordia, hands down. I know that may be contested, but it it really isn't. It really isn't. Just ask Lois or Ted, they'll tell you it's the best. It's the best. But it was there that I met a woman who is strong, strong in her Christian faith. I married that woman. We've been married almost 17 years.

I attended and graduated from Concordia Seminary in St. Louis with a greater than 3.5 GPA, and I have now been an ordained LCMS pastor for going on 11 years. Impressive? No. Not at all. It's rubbish, it's garbage. Compared to knowing Jesus Christ as my Lord and my Savior. It's not at all about me, or what I have accomplished, or what I have done, or what I am doing presently. It's all about what Jesus has done for me and what He can accomplish through me. And the same is true for all of you. And it's a good thing. It's a very good thing. That's the point that Paul - in his letter to the Philippians - is trying to convey. At least part of the message that he's trying to convey to us. And I know we just heard this, but I want to go through it again, so it's fresh in our minds. So, we're just going to read through this, again. I'll read it: "If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless. But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. 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 and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith - that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and may share His sufferings, becoming like Him in His death, that by any means possible, I may attain the resurrection from the dead. 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. 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, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus."

So as you heard, Paul begins in a very similar fashion as I just did moments ago, pointing to his accomplishments. If there was anybody who could boast about his accomplishments in the flesh, it was him, and he's making that point clear. As far as anyone can do, as humanly possible, he was obedient to God's law. And everybody knew that. And he knew that.

But then, his second point there that he goes on to, is it's not about what he has done, compared to knowing Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior. All that he has done, sure, it makes him righteous before other men. But not before God. The only thing that makes him righteous in the sight of God is his faith in Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior.

The message that he is conveying to all of us is not about what is behind, what we have done. It's about what lies ahead. He's not going to boast about his accomplishments. Instead, he's going to boast about his weakness. He's going to boast about how he needs Jesus as his Lord and Savior. And he's going to boast about what he is becoming. Because daily, we are being perfected by God. Daily, God is making us into who we will one day be. We're not there yet. But He who began this good work in us, will see it to completion in the day of our Lord and Savior, Jesus.

So we forget what lives behind, and we strain forward to what is ahead. And we can do that by the grace of God. One of the themes, the overarching themes of Paul's letters and runs throughout all of his letters is that we are saved by grace through faith.

Oh, I forgot this point. What does he say? He says of all of his accomplishments, you heard what he said? Rubbish. Garbage. You know, often times, we hear about things in society. We like to point out all of everybody's accomplishments. And someone comes up and says, "oh they did this, they did that," and they get all puffed up about it. Paul begins, kind of, that way, but then what does he call it? He calls it garbage. Rubbish.

It's rubbish compared to the surpassing value or worth of knowing Jesus Christ. What is much more important to him is the grace that has been bestowed to him, given to him freely on account of Jesus Christ. Because he recognizes that he is a sinner. He recognizes that none of what he has done earns him merrits, gets him into heaven. It's all by grace. For by grace, we have been saved through faith. Ad this is not our own doing. It's a gift of God, so that no one may boast.

It's what Paul wants you to know. It's what I want you to know as well: that God loves you dearly. Nothing you can do can earn your way into heaven. But also, nothing you can do could ever separate you from the love that God has for you in Christ Jesus. Another point that Paul makes in his letter to the Romans, he says: "For I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all of creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus, our Lord.

Not only is there nothing you can do to earn your way into heaven, there's absolutely nothing you could do that could ever separate you from the love that God has for you in Christ Jesus.

Let that sink in for a minute. Nothing could ever separate you from the love that God has for you in Christ Jesus. And it's for all people. God loves everyone, even those who don't love Him. Even those who deny His very existence. God loves and cares for them, still. Because His mission, His goal, His desire is for all people to be saved, for all people to come to the knowledge in the faith in Jesus Christ, to confess with their lips and be saved, and be in heaven someday. And that becomes our mission, as well: to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ to all the world. Because we desire everyone - not just those here within these walls, but everyone outside of these walls - to be in heaven.

But that free gift of God's grace is under attack. Is under attack by the world around us, as society, our own human nature. Our sinfulness. And, of course, the devil and his temptations. And the lie. I say lie - he's really a one-trick pony. He's been saying the same exact lie since he first told it in the Garden of Eden when he asked Eve: did God really say that you can't eat of the tree, the fruit of the tree in the midst of the garden?

"Did God really say?" is a lie that's meant to create confusion and doubt in God's words and promises. To create doubt in the heart of the believer. And it causes us to stumble in our faith.

Which is why Paul says, that "I am leaving behind, forgetting what lies behind, and I'm straining, straining forward to what lies ahead. Straining forward. That's like a running metaphor there. Anybody here runners? Nobody at the 8:15 service was either. I used to run - when I had to. I don't like running. I don't know people who like to run, but some people do, and they really enjoy it for some reason. But runners know that if you're running, you're going to hit a wall. That all of a sudden, you go: I can't run anymore. Your body says, I'm done. Your legs start to hurt, your joints start to hurt. Your lungs are burning, you're breathing heavy. And it's like, okay, I'm just going to stop and I'm going to walk. That's like the worst thing you can do. Because then it starts to hurt even worse if you walk a little bit and I'll ... no. Just keep on going. They know that if they stop to walk, it's just going to be harder for them. Instead, what they have to do, is they have to push through that, and they have to run harder to get going. And then all the sudden, that pain goes away. And comes back. And then they have to do it all over again.

That's what he's getting at. He says, I'm straining. I'm straining forward. Because I don't want these attacks to lead me away from my faith in Jesus Christ. He says I'm casting all that off, and I'm straining forward. I'm pressing on. To that upward call, that goal, that prize.

So we must continue to do that ourselves. My prayer for all of you is that you will stay committed to the work that you are doing here. Four and a half years without a senior pastor. Fourteen months without a called pastor to your congregation. You're still here. The ministry has never stopped. It has continued. And it must continue.

So, I ask that you will work with me. You'll come alongside me. And together, we'll continue to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ. That you will give of your time. That you'll give of your talents - and there are so many talents that are here. And yes, you'll give of your treasures, those are your financial gifts, in order to support the mission that God has given to us. Because the sole purpose of the church is to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ. That's why we are here. And so we must do that. And despite adversity, and despite the attacks that are happening in this world, we take that advice from Paul.

It's not what's behind us. It's what lies beyond this world. So we press on. We press on. We don't lay up for yourselves treasures here on on this earth, because we know that they will be destroyed. Instead, we accumulate treasures in heaven. And I can't think of a greater treasure than one day, when we're walking around heaven and we see somebody that we touched with the Gospel message there with us.

So let's press on. Let's press on toward the goal of the upward call of God. In Christ Jesus, amen.

May the peace of God that surpasses all human understanding, guard your hearts and your minds in the one true faith in Christ Jesus. Amen.