Speaker: Greg Sanders

Passage: Philippians 3:13-14

PHILIPPIANS 3:13-14

If you have your Bibles, let’s go to Philippians 3. We don’t have a ton of time left, so I’ll try to do a quicker version of it. But Tuesday night, I don’t know that this happened maybe more than twice in my life, I had what I could only describe as a dream. But in the dream, the Lord was teaching me this passage, and I woke up, and I was like, That was interesting, and assumed it was just for me. 

And I sat with the Lord and felt like He said, I want you to teach it. So, I taught it at staff meeting on Wednesday. And Thursday morning, I was asking the Lord what He wanted to do today, and felt like He just said, Teach it again. 

So, the word remember means to call to mind or to recount, whether that’s spontaneous or whether it’s intentional. In Philippians 3, Paul makes a statement, I want to read it to us. In verses 13 and 14, it says, “Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet.” 

And he’s talking about perfection in Christ. He’s talking about what he’s supposed to be in Christ. “But one thing that I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on to the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”

“Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing that I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on towards the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” 

He’s talking about this phrase, forgetting is really what I want to focus in on. There’s maybe two ideas. It’s the forgetting and the pressing towards. So, he’s talking about remembering, because forgetting is the choice to not remember something. And if remembering is to call to mind or to recount, forgetting is the choice to not do that, whether it’s spontaneous or intentional. 

Paul’s saying, I’m making a decision. So, I’d say it this way: remembering is a choice we make, whether it’s conscious or subconscious, but forgetting is a choice we can make that is only conscious; we choose to forget. 

Now, some of you are like, No, no, no, I forget things all the time. That’s not the kind of forgetting I’m talking about. I’m talking about intentionally choosing to forget something in our history, and he’s making a teaching statement to the Philippian church about spiritual discipline. 

What’s the spiritual discipline? There are things we are to forget, there are things we are to pursue, and they’re connected. Perhaps we could maybe derive this truth: what we choose to think about has a direct effect on what we have the capacity to pursue. What we choose to think about has a direct effect on what we have the capacity to pursue. 

And Paul seems to be juxtaposing the choice to remember versus pursuing growth in Jesus. So, we have to see on two sides of a scale. He’s saying we’re either going to choose to remember this or we’re going to choose to grow in Him. 

Is it possible that focusing on our histories can hold us back? Is it possible that we can get caught in the trap of looking at our past journey, whether it’s good or bad, and what happens is that can satiate our passion for growth or it stifles our courage to move forward?

The bigger question, I think, is more important, based on what Paul’s teaching is. It seems that Jesus wants something different for us. He says, “I press towards Jesus, I press on towards the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” That’s a big phrase. 

He uses a word here for goal that’s important. How many have ever been hunting? How many know what sits on top of your gun if you want to see long range? Scope. He uses a word in the Greek, skopos in the Greek, and it’s where we derive that idea of a scope. It’s the word we get it from, and it means an intended target or goal. 

What Paul is declaring here that I think we miss, is Jesus has a goal in front of us, and that goal is the upward calling in Christ Jesus. Nice big word phrase. But what it means is this: it’s the calling on every believer to walk in, to reveal, and to carry the nature of Christ. 

Now, some of your Bibles will call this a Heavenly calling, which almost gives it a picture of, like, Oh, I’m going to get to Heaven at the end, and that’s what this means. That’s not what he’s talking about at all. It’s not what the Greek teaches. 

In fact, if we were going to render it out in the English the way that would help us understand it best, it would read like this: I leave everything behind me to become everything I am to be in Him. There’s a definitive action that happens, which is, I’m letting go of something so I can become something else. 

His nature is our calling, and we are believing a fallacy and an absolute lie– please hear me on this– if we ever accept that we can stay who we are, be held back by who we’ve been, and still have the chance of being who He’s called us to be. They don’t coexist. It doesn’t work that way. It’s either going to be His nature, or it’s going to be our nature. 

You’re like, What about a little bit of both? How many have ever driven a car with a clutch? How many understand the idea of neutral? You have all the potential of power and none of the activity because it’s not engaged. The only way to walk in His nature is to engage His nature. 

You have to let go of yours to capture His, and all too often, we find ourselves kind of in love with portions of our nature, and so we want to keep those and then adopt some of Him. And Paul says, No, no, no, it doesn’t work that way. You got to forget what’s behind you in order to embrace what’s in front of you. 

FORGETTING WHAT’S BEHIND TO PRESS FORWARD

So, I want to put this passage to work for us because this is really what the Lord gave me, because Paul’s talking about forgetting what’s behind so we can press forward. And I think in order to do that, we need a healthy process. 

So, the first step in the process is, I want you to ask yourself this question: what do you need to forget in order to move forward? What things in your life do you need to make an active choice, to let go of and to not recall? 

How many are guilty of ruminating on things? Let’s put a different word. How many are guilty of obsessing on things? Is it success? Is it a sense of identity? Because Paul seems in this passage, if we go the verses before, to see he’s very aware of all the good he’s done. In fact, he recounts all the things he’s been as a Jew, all the accomplishments he’s made. He’s also aware of the bad things he’s done. 

And I think there’s a danger if we allow our good histories to identify us. You’re like, What? Trust me. Why? Because without knowing it, we can decide that those things are the validation of who we are, and it renders us no longer pushing towards Jesus. 

I would offer this: If you’re too in love with your nature, you’re not going to want His. There has to become this certain measure of, I really know who I am without Him, so I’m not going to be satisfied without Him. 

And Paul seems to teach this idea that we, as a people, are to be doing great things, and we’re just to simply kind of count them as, like, normal, everyday, reasonable service, like we’re not really letting them define anything about us. 

What about failures? Oftentimes, I think our own failures continue to define us. I think that’s probably where the biggest problem lands for most of us, that our failures define us, and He doesn’t desire that either. 

So, what does it look like to let go of your history and step into the risk of becoming who He wants you to be, and never letting yourself get held back by who you’ve been? When I was youth pastoring, I used to say it this way: the only way to live a broken past is to live a redeemed future. The only way to fix a broken past is to live a redeemed future. 

Psalms will teach that He has removed our transgressions from us as far as the east is from the west. And if His perspective is, You’re no longer connected to those things, you’re like, Well, yeah, but what about the recent things? The idea is that our sin is never connected to us because of Christ, and it’s in faith. 

And so, oftentimes we as people don’t want to live there because it identifies us. We feel validated, or we’re defined by it. And Paul’s statement here is, Don’t let that happen. I actually think that our memories of failure can create a fear to move forward at times, and they can create an excuse not to try. 

I know who I’ve been, so I don’t want to try because everybody else knows who I’ve been, so I don’t want to hear it. Who cares? Paul says, “Forgetting what’s behind, I press towards that which is ahead.” 

What about offenses? Because oftentimes we hold wounds or angers or histories with people. We hold those in our minds, we keep bringing them forward, and they begin to define our future. Why? Because we can’t press forward because we’re too busy looking backwards. We can’t leave the moment of hurt and offense to become who Christ has called us to be. 

I want you to understand that we have to. I know it’s good to forgive, and we all know that it’s right to forgive, but I’m talking about the danger of not because it holds us back from becoming who we’re supposed to be based on Paul’s teaching here. If we do that, it limits our growth in Jesus. 

My question is: so why stay there? Why not walk in the obedience of Scripture and just let it go? We state it differently. What does it look like for you and I to let go, forgive and release people from those histories so that we selfishly can become who Christ wants us to be? 

Here’s a more dangerous question: is it possible that our tendency to remember offenses actually fuels an entire entitlement towards bitterness and unforgiveness? We start to feel validated, to be unforgiving and bitter because of what somebody did. 

So, I want you to ask yourself that question: what do you need to forget? To make the choice to not remember, that’s what we’re talking about, an active choice to say, I’m not going to remember that. It’s no longer going to be in my mind. Why? Because I’m forgetting what’s behind. What do you need to forget to move forward? 

Secondly, what do you need to repair to move forward? What do you mean repair? What do you need to repent of and repair aspects of your life so they don’t influence your future? In other words, where do you need to shore things up to return to the issue and make amends? Because God is not a God of like, sweep it under the carpet and move on. That’s just not who He is. Scripture reveals He’s the repairer of the breach. 

So, if there’s places where we need to do repair work, where we’ve done damage, we need to go repair it. Why? Selfishly, I don’t want to keep thinking about this, so I’m going to fix it and move on. 

Is it an attitude? Is it an addiction? Is it a relationship? You’re like, What do you mean an addiction? If you’ve got yourself into an addiction, you need to repair that so you can move on, so it doesn’t keep informing your future. That’s part of the process of forgetting what’s behind you. 

If it’s an attitude, you’re like, Yeah, I’ve got this really terrible attitude. You need to repair that attitude. How do you do it? You need to admit that and get some help. Hey, I built a cycle in my brain where I think bad. I need to go get help to figure out how not to think bad. Hey, I built a cycle where I’m constantly angry. Great, go to anger management and get some help. 

We can’t let the things of the past keep informing our future, because Paul’s statement is we got to forget those things so we can embrace Him. And forgetting is an activity. We talk about peace. We talked about it a lot in December. The word shalom, He’s the Prince of Peace. 

The word shalom is this idea of breaking the authority that’s attached to chaos. So, if Jesus is the source of this shalom peace, that means He’s in the business of breaking the things that make chaos possible. And if we’re truly in Him as people, then we are to partner with bringing repair where there’s been brokenness and chaos. 

REINVESTING TO MOVE FORWARD

This third thing, what do you need to reinvest into? So, the three questions are: what do you need to forget to move forward? What do you need to repair to move forward? And what do you need to reinvest into? 

Reinvesting is the idea of putting right and proper energy back into something that was a good decision in the first place. So, what right habits do you need to feed again? What right disciplines do you need to reinvest into? 

I would love to offer this: if we spend our time investing in the right things, we probably won’t even have time to think about the wrong things. But all too often, we are so fixated on histories, whether it’s our own failures, whether it’s somebody else’s offenses towards us, whether it’s what was done to us, the enemy loves that trap because we stare backwards so we can’t move forwards. 

What relationships do you need to reinvest your efforts into? Maybe you’re here, and you’re in a marriage, and it’s kind of stagnant. My question to you, to each of you, have you invested in each other? Have you spent time investing in that person? That’s a good relationship. It’s a good place to invest. 

I would love to offer that we stand before God and we will give an account for how we managed us. We won’t give an account so much as to what we were unwilling to do because they wouldn’t do it. His answer to us is always going to be, Yeah, well, I didn’t give that to them to do for you. I gave it to you to do. Does that make sense? 

If your children come to you and say, I can’t clean my room because they won’t clean their room. As a parent, if you have your wits about you, your answer is, Shut up and clean your room. I would love to offer that the Lord’s answer to us, relationally with people, when we offer the excuses for why we won’t walk in the nature of Christ towards them, His answer is, That’s your sin. Stop it. There is nothing they’re doing that keeps you from being who I called you to be. 

If we hold ourselves to that standard, then we start forgetting what’s behind because we’re no longer allowing the dumbness of yesterday to inform our today. See, oftentimes, what gets in the way is complacency that comes out of a fear of how hard it’s going to be, how long it’s going to take, or whether or not we’ll succeed. 

Can I just give you a statement to think about? Complacency is the enemy of authentic accomplishment because it keeps us from doing what is needed. Scripturally, Jesus is the author of victory. And in this passage, in Philippians, Paul uses an athletic term to describe the picture of what Jesus wants to do for us. 

He uses an athletic judge who’s going to give us a crown at the end of a race, a reward for winning. I think all too often, we think Jesus just wants to go on a cool walk with us, and we don’t realize He’s actually a coach that expects us to play the game correctly. He’s actually a coach that’s rooting for us to play the game correctly. 

I don’t know if you’ve ever coached, but I think it’s one of the greatest things in the world to motivate young men to be better. I would love to offer that Jesus is doing that very thing for us. He’s motivating us at all times, saying, Play the game right. Don’t take shortcuts. 

This isn’t just a tip to be better conversation. Paul, according to what he teaches here, is giving us a mandated goal. We are to be growing into the nature of Jesus Christ. So, if that’s the case, which it is in the Scripture, there’s a very real danger connected to this: if we get stuck in our past, whether we’re rehearsing good histories or we’re fixated on bad ones, if we get stuck there, that keeps us from becoming who He’s called us to be. 

So, Paul’s statement is, you got to let that go to move forward. The call of God on your life and on my life is to carry the nature of Jesus Christ in such a way that everyone you meet feels and senses Him. And how you live and how you act and how you interact with them, that’s the upward calling to be an image bearer. 

CARRYING THE NATURE OF JESUS

So, if you’re willing to take this and assess your life, every aspect of it, and ask these questions, I think the people of God, church at large, is in a season right now where what the Lord is pushing on, more than ever before, carrying His nature. Not just being followers, not just being obedient, but actually carrying the way of Jesus, the nature of Jesus. 

You’re like, Well, that could always be the case. There are seasons where the Lord pushes on different aspects of the Kingdom. We look back through history, and there were seasons where He’s pushing on prayer, seasons where He’s pushing on healing. He’s in a season where He’s pushing on carrying His nature right now to the people of God. 

And I want to give you a word of warning as we close this: do not hear this and turn away. That will cost you reward. You will have eternal grief for not carrying His nature. Paul makes a statement that’s terrifying in Corinthians, that it will be possible to stand before the Lord, He will test our lives, He will light them on fire, and anything that was not done in His nature burns up. 

So, we stand before Him going, Yeah, but I did this and this and this, because He’s like, No, you never carried My nature. You didn’t allow your life to be lost in mine and transformed by Me. That happens when we don’t forget what’s behind. 

In Romans, there’s a conversation about Pharaoh in Egypt, and it says that Pharaoh’s heart was hardened. I was sitting with the Lord in this, and I felt like He gave me something that I had never seen before. The movements of the Lord into Pharaoh’s life should have softened his heart. Instead, it hardened it.

Why? Pharaoh’s response determined his heart, and his heart followed the response. When we rebel against the movement of the Lord, it reveals a hard heart, and our heart hardens more when we do that. We are responsible to process the dealings of God with humility and repentance so that we end up with soft hearts. 

So, every single one of us needs to put these three questions in front of the Lord and say, Can You search me and know me? I love David’s prayer: “Search me and know me. See if there’s any wicked way in me.” 

Why do I love it? Because David’s coming to the Lord, going, Hey, I want to walk right before You. Will You show me where I’m not? Versus, You know what? I’m doing great until You tell me I’m not. Very different mindsets. 

And Paul’s statement is, “I’m letting go of everything behind me.” Why? Because it’s going to keep me from being who I’m supposed to be. My question for us, as we begin this year, what do we need to let go of? What do we need to repair? And what do we need to reinvest into? 

We always take the first week of the year, and we fast. You’re like, Fasting? Yes. It’s a spiritual discipline. What is fasting for, really? In truth, fasting is to remind your body that it’s not God. And if you think your body already knows that, fast. 

What does fasting need to look like? It can look like anything. It doesn’t have to be food. That’s the traditional fast. There’s different ways to get there. Here’s what I’m asking, sit with the Lord and ask Him, Is there anything You’re asking me to set aside during this week to just focus on You more? 

And maybe take these questions and sit with the Lord during that time and say, Okay, what am I looking at in my history I need to let go of? What failures are still defining me? What successes are still defining me? Are there places I need to bring repair where I’ve been wrong? What do I need to reinvest into? And let’s step into this year chasing the nature of Jesus like never before.