#1 (The “Forgetting”
Series)
“FORGETTING THE FAILURES!”
TEXT: Philip.
3:12-14; 4:8-9
INTRO: We are living in
an age where everyone is looking to their past to explain their problems
or to excuse their behavior in the present. While we have made it a science digging
into the past to understand ourselves only Jesus Christ can heal that past and
get us living in the present and future with a new
life.
While the world
emphasizes looking backward Christ emphasizes looking forward!
We are now new creatures, the old has past away and new creatures in
Christ with a whole new clean start!
No scientist in the world can do this!
So how does one forget the
past? You can’t literally forget it; but you
can learn from it and move on! The
term “forget” as Paul used it means to “not regard the past as having any bearing
or influence on your present spiritual outlook or behavior” (this is the
meaning of the Greek word translated here “forget”
Philip. 3:13). It is not an issue of the memory functions
of the brain, it is an issue of the motivation to go beyond our history and not
get stuck in it.
God’s Spirit gives us the strength and
power to move on no matter the failures of our past. His love brings healing for past pains;
His love grants total forgiveness from past sins, we are allowed the emotional
freedom to begin again, fresh and whole – as though we had never sinned
before!
PROP.
SENT: The Bible teaches us
that in Christ we are free to experience a new life, old sins and painful past
events don’t have to rule our present experience. Healthy people learn to move on, to learn
from the past and “press” on toward the future. Christ gives us the power to do
this!
I. PRESENT POSITION 3:12
A. Performance
3:12a
1. Paul is evaluating his present
state of life by announcing the fact that at the present he still has not
arrived at perfection!
a. His performance in the present is
still imperfect, he hasn’t been made perfect yet but he is not what he used to
be either, yet in spite of all this God has declared him to be totally whole in
Christ!
(1. He is whole in that he is “justified in
Christ” – declared whole “justification” by Christ’s
work.
(2. He is progressively growing however, this
is the work of “sanctification” – the Spirit’s work, becoming what he has
been declared!
b. The previous verses were spent on
dealing with his past, how he has laid the past aside and how he now embraces a
new life, but one that still hasn’t become perfect!
2. He has come a long ways and has
made great progress from his terrible past but there is still room to
go!
3. His point is
simple:
a. He has overcome his past pain,
though occasionally his overcoming this still shows itself
flawed.
b. He has become strong but not enough
to yet boast, he still has more room to grow!
c. Thus he is neither overwhelmed by
past mistakes nor arrogant about progress, he simply is grateful for progress
and seeks to experience more!
4. Paul’s performance was one of
progress, victory didn’t come immediately or without effort and he still didn’t
have all the answers, all he knows is that he wants to reach in reality the
level of standing he has in God’s eyes!
a. His point is to keep going forward
but not to become arrogant.
b. Progress is a process!
B. Pursuit!
3:12b
1. “I press
on” ... the Greek word used here is taken from a word that was used
to describe a hunter and an athlete, especially the foot runners. The word means literally to “chase and
capture.”
a. When used of hunting it meant
chasing down the game and capturing it, of not quitting until you got your
game!
b. When used of the foot runner it
meant running until you captured first place ... you pushed yourself and ignored
everything else except that prize!
2. Paul’s meaning here is clear, while
it would be easy for him to feel terrible about his past; remember he actually
killed Christians before he got saved, he ruined whole families of good people,
he put in prison mothers and fathers who professed Christ as Lord, but now he
didn’t have the time or energy to give in to his bad past! The cost of dwelling on it would have
paralyzed his present walk with God!
a. To get his message across of how he
handles a dark past he says he just “presses on.”
b. There is no going back so why waste
the time trying to undo what can’t be undone!
c. The only thing to do with past
failures is to ask God for forgiveness and then accept that forgiveness and move
forward!
d. In fact ... TO PRESS FORWARD!
ILLUS: THE LEVEL
OF DISCIPLINE PAUL IS TALKING ABOUT CAN ONLY BE UNDERSTOOD WHEN YOU TAKE INTO
ACCOUNT THE USE OF HIS WORLD COMING FROM THE “FOOT RACER” AND “HUNTER”
REALM. THE WINTER OLYMPICS ARE
ALMOST UPON US; THESE PEOPLE WHO WILL COMPETE HAVE GIVEN OVER THEIR LIVES TO
ACHIEVE A GOLD MEDAL. MANY OF THEM
SACRIFICED THEIR CHILDHOOD; THEIR WHOLE PAST EXISTENCE HAS BEEN SPENT WORKING
TOWARD THIS ONE GOAL. PAST FAILURES
MUST BE FORGOTTEN WHEN THEY START OFF AT THE OLYMPICS, THE ONLY THING THEY MUST
THINK ABOUT IS WINNING! ASK ANY OF
THEM HOW THEY PLAN TO DO AND THEY WILL TELL YOU THEY PLAN ON WINNING! EVERYTHING ELSE BECOMES SERVANT TO THIS
ONE GOAL – TO WIN THE GOLD! IF THEY
CRIED OVER A PREVIOUS LOSS THEY MUST NOW FORGET IT. THEY MUST CONCENTRATE ON WINNING! THERE IS NO TIME TO PINE OVER THE PAST,
NOW IS THE MOMENT THEY LIVE FOR AND STRIVE FOR, AND SO MUST WE! – SOURCE
UNKNOWN
3. Paul’s other point is similar, he
won’t become so self-satisfied with his progress to date that he doesn’t press
on for further improvement even though he has made tremendous gains from his
past; he still must press on for he still hasn’t arrived yet at
perfection!
4. He can’t get preoccupied with
some success and so forget to address other needs in his life, so he will
continue to press on!
ILLUS: LIKE THE
GOOSE, SHE WILL SIT FAITHFULLY ON A DOZEN OR SO EGGS AND WILL NOT MOVE FOR
ANYBODY OR ANYTHING. BUT AFTER 3 OR
4 EGGS HATCH SUCCESSFULLY SHE BECOMES SO PREOCCUPIED WITH HER SUCCESS WITH THESE
3 OR 4 HATCHLINGS THAT SHE WILL LITERALLY WALK AWAY FROM THE OTHER 8 OR 9 EGGS
STILL WAITING TO HATCH. SHE DOES
NOT FINISH THE JOB! THE RESULTS ARE
OFTEN TRAGIC! – SOURCE UNKNOWN
II. PERSONAL PLAN 3:13
A. Participant 3:13a
1. “Join the
Club” ... Paul now confesses his need of further progress and then
shares with us the secret to how he has gotten as far as he has so that others
can learn from him and his struggle to overcome his
past.
a. Paul does not claim a magic formula
for success here, he doesn’t claim that his Damascus road experience ended his
struggle for perfection, in fact he is effectively recognizing here that one
experience with Christ, even a fabulously miraculous one, didn’t end his
struggle to grow in Christ!
b. He is very much a participant in
growing up in Christ!
2. He is not above his brothers and
sisters, he is with them in the journey!
3. He has not found a “magic wand” that will instantly cure
his past pain or cure him of evil desires, what he has found is the secret to
maturing however; and he is about to share the one thing that has helped him to
overcome much of his past and paved the way for his growth, a growth that he is
still experiencing!
a. Miracles don’t always solve our
problems; Lazarus was raised from the dead and yet died later! Those who were healed by Jesus eventually
got sick and died later also! While
miracles help us, they don’t eliminate the need to learn to grow and become wise
and make good choices and mature!
b. Paul doesn’t put all the pressure
for his growing up on Jesus, he recognizes that he must participate in
choosing Jesus’ ways over those of this world, victory in Jesus is not a
passive process, we participate in that
process!
4. God
provides the way, God provides the strength, God provides His Spirit, but we
provide the will and the submission to His
ways!
a. God doesn’t want anyone to perish
but there will be people who will perish, not because God can’t save them but
because they won’t be saved!
b. Becoming a Christian doesn’t eliminate struggle and
consequences, some Christians live a miserable life, we have to actively submit
to God’s laws and His ways if we want to experience His
promises!
c. We are active participants in the
quality of our Christian experience and its expression to the
world!
5. When we choose wisely God’s name is
honored, when we choose unwisely the whole reputation of Christianity is on the
line!
ILLUS: AUSCHWITZ
WAS THE FIRST GERMAN CONCENTRATION CAMP TO BECOME AN EXTERMINATION CAMP. THE GAS CHAMBERS WERE IN CONSTANT USE,
BUT BECAUSE OF THE GREAT INFLUX OF NEW PRISONERS DAILY, THE GERMAN NAZIS BEGAN
TO USE FIRING SQUADS AS WELL AS THE GAS CHAMBERS. ONE DAY THE COMMANDANT SELECTED TEN MEN
FROM ONE BARRACKS TO BE EXECUTED BY THE FIRING SQUAD. ONE OF THOSE SELECTED WAS THE FATHER OF A
LARGE FAMILY. WHEN HE WAS PULLED
FROM THE LINE HE FELL TO THE GROUND, BEGGING THE COMMANDANT TO SPARE HIS LIFE
FOR HIS FAMILY. THE COMMANDANT WAS
UNRESPONSIVE UNTIL THE MAN STANDING NEXT TO HIM, A CATHOLIC PRIEST BY THE NAME
OF MAXIMILLIAN KOLBE STEPPED FORWARD TO OFFER HIS LIFE IN EXCHANGE FOR THIS MAN.
SURPRISINGLY, THE COMMANDANT AGREED
TO SUCH AN ARRANGEMENT. THE MAN WAS
FREED, BUT FATHER KOLBE WAS LED AWAY AND THROWN INTO A TINY DAMP CELL WHERE THE
COMMANDANT GAVE ORDERS FOR THE GUARDS NOT TO SHOOT HIM, BUT LET HIM STARVE TO
DEATH OVER SEVERAL DAYS. THERE
FATHER KOLBE SUFFERED THE HORRIBLE AGONY OF A SLOW DEATH BY STARVATION. HE HAD MADE A CHOICE TO FLESH OUT HIS
COMMITMENT TO CHRIST, JESUS DIDN’T PUSH HIM OUT OF LINE, HE CHOSE TO PARTICIPATE
IN CHRIST’S CALL TO LAY DOWN HIS LIFE. THE RESULT OF THAT SACRIFICE IS STILL
HONORED BY MILLIONS TODAY THROUGHOUT EUROPE. JUST AS JESUS CHOSE TO PARTICIPATE IN
SAVING US WE MUST CHOOSE TO PARTICIPATE IN FLESHING OUT HIS LIFESTYLE TO THIS
WORLD, IT ISN’T AUTOMATIC! – SOURCE UNKNOWN
B. Pointed! 3:13b
1. Paul now shares the one secret that
helped him make progress, he did one thing in particular: “Forgetting what
is behind, and straining toward what is
ahead…”
a. Life is too precious to get stuck
in the past! ... Paul had huge painful past memories; murder, deceit, punishing
innocent people, inflicting pain on good people, etc.
b. How do you deal with this stuff of
the past? For Paul, he “forgot it all!”
not in the sense of “memory loss” but in the sense of not letting it
have a bearing on the present or the future; not regarding it as something that
needs a great deal of attention!
2. Getting rid of the past has got to
be more than just talking about it!
a. It can be very helpful to have a
counselor work with you about your past, to help you understand where you have
come from...
b. But if all you do is just talk
about it or dwell on it, you won’t improve! You must also
act!
3. Unlike the other apostles, Paul had
to prove himself at first to gain their trust, this took a couple of years!
The consequences of his past
actions against Christians required him to do this, but Paul submitted to the
process without grumbling about it and kept moving
forward!
4. There was too much to do to just
pine away over the past, so the best thing to do was to forget it! Paul also did not get upset with his
brethren when they needed time to see the real change in his life, they knew his
past too.
a. Essentially this is what God does
with our past when we present our failures to Him – He forgives and forgets it
in the same sense of forget here, God still knows everything, but He forgets it
in terms of not remembering it against us anymore, as though it never happened –
this is called GRACE!
b. This is not just a simplistic
rambling of Paul’s ... it is very practical in nature!
5. Paul was still learning, this same
lesson he continued to practice because he still made
mistakes.
a. Our crazy fallen nature makes us
prone to doing the ridiculous and we continue to have to grow
up!
b. It is amazing how dumb we can still
be!
ILLUS: LIKE ONE
LADY WHO BELONGED TO “FIRST CHURCH.” A DOCTOR HAD COME TO A GROUP OF LADIES IN
THE CHURCH AND TAUGHT THEM A RED CROSS EMERGENCY MEDICAL ASSISTANCE COURSE.
ONE EVENING A SERIOUS ACCIDENT
OCCURRED IN FRONT OF ONE OF THE LADIES OF THIS GROUP WHEN THE CLASS WAS OVER.
AT THE NEXT RED CROSS MEETING SHE
SHARED HOW HORRIBLE THE ACCIDENT WAS, DESCRIBING THE TERRIBLE BLOODY SCENE AND
THE BROKEN BONES AND BRUISES SUSTAINED BY THE VICTIMS. SHE THEN ADDED, “I WAS SO GLAD TO HAVE
HAD YOUR COURSE ON EMERGENCY MEDICAL ASSISTANCE.” HER TEACHER ASKED HER THEN, “WERE YOU
ABLE TO USE WHAT I TAUGHT YOU?” “OH YES” SHE REPLIED, “I PUT MY HEAD BETWEEN MY
LEGS AND BREATHED DEEPLY, AND NEVER ONCE DID I FEEL I WAS GOING TO FAINT WHEN
WATCHING ALL THIS!” SOMEHOW, SHE
HAD MISSED THE WHOLE POINT OF THE COURSE, BUT I’M SURE SHE WAS CHECKED ON WHAT
TO DO NEXT TIME! – SOURCE UNKNOWN
6. The past should be a training
ground for us, good or bad events should be viewed with the idea of learning
from them, not viewed as a prison cell or cage that continues to hold us
captive!
a. Good therapy understands that a
process of healing includes action!
b. There is nothing wrong with talking
through the past as long as one doesn’t try to keep you living in that past over
and over again!
7. From tragedies we must pick
whatever good out of them we can and move on!
ILLUS: A MAN NAMED
JOHN CLAYPOOL SHARED HOW ONE YEAR A TERRIBLE STORM SWEPT THROUGH THE SOUTHERN
KENTUCKY FARM THAT HAD BEEN IN THEIR FAMILY FOR 6 GENERATIONS. IN THEIR ORCHARD THE WIND HAD BLOWN DOWN
A SPECIAL PEAR TREE THAT HAD BEEN THERE AS LONG AS ANYBODY COULD REMEMBER. HIS GRANDFATHER WAS GRIEVED TO LOSE THE
TREE ON WHICH HE HAD ONCE CLIMBED AS A BOY AND WHOSE FRUIT HE HAD EATEN FROM ALL
HIS LIFE. A NEIGHBOR CAME OVER AND
SAID, “DOC, I’M REALLY SORRY TO SEE YOUR PEAR TREE BLOWN DOWN, IT WAS LOADED
WITH FRUIT.” “I’M SORRY TOO SAID HIS GRANDFATHER, IT WAS A REAL PART OF MY
PAST.” “WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO NOW?” THE NEIGHBOR THEN ASKED HIM. HIS GRANDFATHER PAUSED FOR A MOMENT AND
THEN SAID, “I’M GOING TO PICK THE FRUIT AND BURN WHAT’S LEFT.” THIS IS THE WISE WAY TO HANDLE OUR PAST,
TAKE THE GOOD FROM IT AND ENJOY IT, AND THEN BURN AWAY THE REST – DON’T JUST LET
IT SIT THERE FOR YOU TO LOOK ON YEAR AFTER YEAR! – SOURCE UNKNOWN
8. You will of course notice how Paul
describes the dynamics of doing this with our past: “forgetting” and “straining!”
a. This implies that it isn’t always
an easy process!
b. It will require repeated efforts
just like athletes experience!
c. It will require great effort just
like athletes.
d. It will require persistence like an
athlete.
e. It will require wisdom and possibly
help from others!
f. But it is
possible!!!!!!
III. PURSUING THE PRIZE! 3:14;
4:8-9
A. Pressing!
3:13a; 4:8-9a
1. Again Paul uses the term “pressing” ... stubborn
persistence!
2. This implies the fact that it will
require more than just a single attempt!
3. The direction of the “pressing” is “ON
TOWARD” ... not backwards!
a. Some people go the wrong direction
when they are plagued by guilt or pain over the past, the movement should be
forward, not backward!
b. The pressing should be toward
overcoming!
4. This might mean relearning
something, being open to doing things in a different way so as not to repeat the
same mistake again!
a. If a way has failed try something
new, listen to others who have overcome, they might have some important
information that is helpful!
b. Fight instincts at this point and
listen to someone who has succeeded!
ILLUS: BEN PATTERSON, AN AUTHOR
WRITES ABOUT HIS EXPERIENCE OF MOUNTAIN CLIMBING ON
5. The process can be a “straining
one” according to Paul’s comments here, but the continuation of that
effort will bring success!
a. Again, like the runner, the only
thing he sees when he is running is the goal line, his eyes are fixed on that
spot and he pushed himself toward that one single
goal!
b. The runner doesn’t look around at
the view and examine every detail while he is racing; he can’t do that and hope
to arrive at his goal first!
6. In practical terms how does Paul
stay on course? How does he keep
focused? (SEE 4:8-9a)
a. His focus mechanisms are shared in
this next chapter, he finds “whatever is noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable,
excellent, or praiseworthy, and he thinks on these things!” 11:8
b. Then he invites his listeners to
check him out and learn from his experience of actually doing this and to then
PUT THIS INTO PRACTICE! “…and the God of peace will be with them!”
4:9
7. Athletes can’t dwell on failures,
or fractured bones, or setbacks; just like Nancy Kerrigan, she got back up and
pushed herself to get her knee back in shape, that goal is still out there and
it is a good goal, one to fight for and not quit over!
B. Prize! 3:14b;
4:9b
1. The prize Paul is referring to is
yet future – the resurrection body and eternal life!
a. He will keep pressing on toward
that goal!
b. He wants to be a winner, not a
loser, which will require constant running and effort!
c. He also doesn’t just see the future
prize, he already stated in 4:9b that there is
also a present prize for those who focus on the right stuff and keep going ...
“THE PEACE OF
GOD BEING WITH US!”
2. Trauma of the past can be overcome! God’s Word and His nature prove
that!
a. It might require effort, even
persistent effort ...“straining” as Paul’s says
it.
b. But the results can be wonderful;
Peace now, Eternal life later!
3. Why not go for the gold, the
streets of gold that is! Keep
pressing on saints!
4. Forget the past and keep moving
forward – press on!
CONCLUSION:
Everyone has past failures
in their lives. If you dwell on the
past you can get stuck there! We
are to learn from the past, not live in the past! Paul’s call to “forget what is
behind” means to not allow the past to influence your present and
future behavior, let the prize at the end of life influence your present and
future behavior. Keep focus and
run! When you’re running a race it
makes a difference where you’re looking, look straight ahead to the goal
line!