Speaker: Greg Sanders

Passage: Philippians 1:3 & 3:13

THE POWER OF PROCESSING MEMORIES IN THE RIGHT WAY

Hey, good morning, Vintage. Last Sunday of 2024, and I hope your holiday break is going great. Obviously, we shut down the church for this season just to give all the families and all the team leads and everybody that has put in a shift a break. But I wanted to take us into the Scriptures this morning to what I think is a really appropriate idea for the last Sunday of the year. 

I want to take a moment to walk through a concept that comes up in Philippians. Paul is going to share two perspectives on how we handle memory. And I want us to consider the power of processing our memories in the right way. 

Philippians 1:3, Paul will make a statement that says, “I thank God every time I remember you.” In Philippians 3, he says, “Forgetting what lies behind, I press towards that which is ahead.” 

And I just want to offer an idea that Philippians shows up in Paul’s life in the latter part of his life. From what we can deduce, I think most scholars believe that this is the second to the last book that Paul writes. So it’s definitely near the end. 

I think I had a Bible college professor that shared with me that most believe Paul actually wrote Philippians in jail, and it was dictated while he was sitting in prison. I don’t know that we can validate that, but it definitely puts it in the latter stages of his life. 

Why I think that matters is I think he’s dealing– as we get older, we start to think about life in different terms– and I think he’s dealing with memory and what it means to remember and how memories affect and influence our lives. 

Well, memory is just simply the process of storing and retrieving information over time, if we break it down to its more clinical definition. A key part of human cognition, it allows people to understand and behave in the present by drawing on past experiences. That’s the basic function of memory. 

I think it would be a pretty easy statement for everybody to align with: memory is important. And what I would submit is that Paul is actually teaching here in Philippians a principle that reveals a vital truth: and that’s how we handle our memories shapes how we live. 

And I want to suggest that the way you handle memories actually helps shape your journey with Jesus, and it definitely affects your influence and effectiveness on others. So, I want to just take a look at these two verses that Paul gives and talk about them a bit. 

CELEBRATE WHAT YOU REMEMBER

The first thing I see Paul talking about is choosing to celebrate with memory. “I thank God every time I remember you.” In context, Paul’s remembering people he’s encountered and he’s shared life with. He’s talking to the Philippian church, and he’s talking to the people of Philippi, and he’s saying, I think of you, and when I remember you, when you come to mind, I thank God. So, his remembering of them causes him to be thankful. 

I want to ask you, can you imagine if the Apostle Paul says to you, Man, every time I think of you, I just thank God. Every time you come to mind, every time I remember you, it just causes me to be grateful. 

There’s a principle here that I think we can’t miss: healthy memories should create gratitude within us. I want to be careful with that phrase– create gratitude— because I actually think gratitude is something we create in how we respond. But when a memory can be processed in gratitude, I think we’re to hold on to it and let it fuel our joy and our prayers and our worship. I want to say that again, when a memory can be processed in gratitude, we hold on to it. 

“I thank God every time I remember you.” I want you to consider that Paul’s having something come to mind that causes him just to go, oh, man, yeah, I miss those people. I love those people, and he’s grateful for it. 

GRATITUDE

I want to look at gratitude for a second. What is gratitude? According to the internet– great place to find information, you can find almost anything you want on the internet, no matter if it’s right or wrong. But did a little bit of a dive on gratitude. And according to the internet, gratitude is a feeling of thankfulness for the good things in life. 

Now, I’m not a huge fan of taking what the internet says. I prefer to look at what the Scriptures say and what the Kingdom teaches. From a Kingdom perspective, gratitude is the tangible expression– please grab that phrase– tangible expression of thankfulness to God for a situation, a person, or a blessing. 

If we’re going to ask the question, what is gratitude? It’s also fair to ask the question, what is not gratitude? Gratitude is not just a thought. It’s not just a nice memory. Gratitude is thankfulness that is expressed so it can take root in our heart. 

I want to put it to work for a second, give us an actionable thing. Can you look across this last year and consider those memories which cause you a sense of gratitude? Have you taken the time to express that gratitude? Do those people know? Does God know what you’re grateful for? Have either of those parties heard you say it? Have you heard yourself say what you’re grateful for? 

I remember growing up, the flannel graphs, and we had one that was called Count Your Blessings, where there were all these words that encompassed a blessing and we had to put them up on the flannel graph. And then my Sunday School teacher made us count how many things we were grateful for, thankful for. 

Where does that come from? It comes out of Psalms. It comes out of David’s life, saying, count your blessings. Like I’m remembering the good things of God. We sing songs like, I can’t remember the name of the song now, “But Your love came down and You rescued me.” And there’s a lyric, and it says, “I remind myself of all that You’ve done.” 

When I was in Bible college at Christ For The Nations, we had a guest teacher come in named Roy Hicks Jr. I think at that time, he was the head of Foursquare. He made a statement on a Tuesday morning teaching that caught me. He says, “A thought doesn’t become part of our person until we process it from our mouth.” When we speak something, it takes root in our heart. 

So my question is, have you taken the time to be intentionally, expressively grateful for the good things that come to mind, for the memories that are good, for the people you’re like, Man, I just every time I think about you, I’m just so grateful for who you are? 

HEALTHILY PROCESS WHAT NEEDS TO BE FORGOTTEN

The second thing I see in Paul’s teaching shows up in chapter 3, and I would classify it as choosing to healthily process the things that need to be forgotten. So, the first thing we looked at was choosing to celebrate what should be remembered. The second thing is choosing to healthily process what needs to be forgotten. 

If I’m honest, I think this is going to be where most of us are like, Oh, I need to hear this one. This is important. Paul says in chapter 3, I want to pick up in verse 12. “I don’t mean to say that I’ve already achieved those things or that I’ve already reached perfection! But I keep working towards that day when I will finally be all that Christ Jesus saved me for and what he wants me to be. 

“No, dear brothers and sisters, I am still not all I should be, but I am focusing all my energies on this one thing: forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I strain to reach the end of the race and receive the prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us up to heaven.” 

EVALUATING OURSELVES

There’s some concepts I want to pull out of this before we deal with the memory piece. Number one: according to what Paul teaches here, you and I are to be paying attention to our growth and our progress in the Kingdom. And we’re to take full responsibility for it. 

I want you to catch this phrase: “I don’t mean to say that I’ve already achieved these things, or I’ve already reached perfection.” Paul knows he hasn’t already achieved because he’s evaluating. The reason he knows I’m not there yet is because he’s looking at his life going, Where do I want to be? Not there yet.

We dealt with this last week. For me, the challenge in Joseph’s life– to be a man who could suffer injury and not want to expose it and put it on blast, just to trust the Lord to protect him– that’s a place where I’d look at and go, Man, Greg Sanders is not there yet. That’s an area that I really feel like the Lord is inviting me to grow in. 

Paul knows he hasn’t reached it yet because he’s looking at it. He’s being honest with himself. He has the courage to assess his own life. I think we should do that with our spirituality. 

JESUS HAS EXPECTATIONS FOR US

Second thing I see in this little passage is Jesus saved us for something and has expectations of what He wants from us. “But I keep working towards that day when I will finally be all that Christ Jesus saved me for and what he wants me to be.” It’s a wildly big statement. Jesus saved us for something specific and has expectations of what He wants from us. 

I would love to suggest that the only way we know what He wants for us is to be in pursuit of His teaching and His voice. It means we have to be in the Scriptures, we have to be listening to Him, asking, What do you want from me? What are you looking for from me? 

Obviously, if it’s in the Scripture, the answer is yes, He wants that living, that’s the Fear of the Lord. But we are to evaluate our journey based upon what we see in the Scriptures and what He’s whispering to us. 

CONTROLLING OUR FOCUS

Third thing I see in this: what we focus our energies upon shapes who we become. Paul says, “No, dear brothers and sisters, I’m still not all I should be, but I am focusing all my energies on just this one thing.” We’re in control of choosing our focus. And all too often, we allow circumstances, difficulties, historical wounds, to be what we focus on. Be in control of your focus. Be in control of what’s consuming your mind. 

I think it’s later on in Philippians, it says, “Whatever’s true and pure and of good report, think on these things,” make a decision to make that your focus. So then he goes on to say, “This is where I’m putting my focus, forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead. I strain to reach the end of the race to receive the prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us up to heaven.” 

In context, Paul’s talking about his achievements in the faith. But then there’s something else that shows up in this narrative, and it’s very interesting. It’s almost like he has a memory happen of who he was, and where he’s failed historically.

If we study Paul’s life, we know that originally he was Saul, Saul of Tarsus. He wasn’t really a great dude. He was a very aggressive, strong personality who was convinced he was right and everybody else was wrong, and so he killed people because of it. He killed Christians for sport. He called it preserving the Hebrew culture, preserving Judaism. He fought against what Jesus was building. Out of his own mouth, in his writings, he will call himself “the chief of sinners,” he says, I’m the worst there was. 

I want to add in some of my own thoughts here. I think Paul was regularly reminded of his past and his own failures. Anyone else felt that way? Anybody else, as I say this, instantly go, Yeah, there’s a lot of stuff I think about, there’s a lot of stuff that plagues me, that I remember all the time. 

I want to draw our attention to how Paul chooses to process that emotion because I think it’s really important. He actively chooses to lay it aside and forget it. And then he sets a course for health. You’re like, It can’t be that easy. I think it might be. In Colossians, Paul will write of the love of Christ, that he prays the Colossian church will let their roots grow deep into the soil of God’s love. 

PROCESSING OUR MEMORIES WITH CHRIST

Here’s what I’d love to suggest: we only can process negative and painful memories by allowing the love of Christ to lead us to let them go. What does that look like? That means you sit with the Lord and go, I’m remembering this, I’m thinking about this, I’m feeling this, this wound. It could be historical trauma, it could be a lot of things. But what happens if we sit with the Lord and say, I need your love, and I need you to show me what you want me to do with that. Lord, I want to let it go. Help me let it go. 

Why would we do that? Because those things hold us back, and they weigh us down, and they keep us from accomplishing our goal. That’s what Paul knew. He says, “I’m straining.” It’s an athletic term, meaning that he’s putting everything into getting to the goal. It’s the idea of the finish line, where someone’s leaning forward to break through the tape. 

Your historical negative memories, your senses of failure, your wounds from others, they’re like running with a weighted vest on or with your ankles tied together. I believe Jesus wants us to let go of that stuff so we can be a healthier people. 

So here’s how we want to put it to work. What do you need to let go of? I want you to build a plan to process your hurts, your failures, and your pains with Him. 

Maybe it means you stop by Hope and Healing in January. You’re like, What’s Hope and Healing? Hope and Healing, we do on our Wednesday night prayer gatherings, and we have teams there that just want to sit with the Lord and prophetically pray over you. Maybe you stop by and say, I just need to get some prayer over some historical stuff, felt challenged by what the Scriptures teach, that I need to let those things go. 

Maybe it means you have to face your hurts and actively forgive someone. Maybe there’s somebody who you’re like, What they did to me was so awful, and I need to forgive them. 

I don’t know if this will come across correctly, so let me try to explain it. I think, ultimately, forgiveness is a really selfish thing– in a good way– because it frees us up. We release the person from their wrong to us, so we don’t have to deal with it and carry it.

Forgiveness is the choice to say, I’m just going to let it go because Jesus says I can. I could hold it, could nurture it. Pastor Gary shared that early in December about what it looks like to hold and nurture wounds. I could, but I don’t have to, so I’m going to let it go. 

Maybe it means you step into a process and you get some therapy and some counsel. Maybe you need other people’s voices to help you. Maybe you’re stuck and you’re like, I don’t know how. I can’t get past this. That’s okay. It’s just not okay to continue there. Confessing, I need help forgetting this thing. Great. 

I’d love to invite us in these last days of 2024 as we look into ‘25, just to spend some time with the Lord assessing our memories. Sit with Him and ask Him to reveal what you have been thinking on. Ask Him where you need to celebrate with expressed gratitude. 

I think that’d be a fun exercise. Hey, Lord, where are the places where I need to be really grateful and I’ve forgotten that? Who are the people that I need to tell how grateful I am for them in my life? Thank You for who You are. Thank You for what You do.

Where do we need to let gratitude well up within us? And where do you need to process hurt so you can really forget it? And be able, like Paul, to say, forgetting what’s behind. I’m moving forward. I want to step into this year holding on to less and being grateful for more. That’s my heart cry for us. 

Happy New Year to you. I hope you have a fantastic weekend, looking forward to coming back together in January. 

I want to remind everybody while I have you, January 12th is when we come back for our first Sunday. We come back on January 8th for our Wednesday night Revival Night, that’s our first in-person gathering. But the 12th, we come back with a new schedule. We come back with a new schedule that is posted on the website. If you would be willing to go to the website, get the dates, get the times, make sure you’re informed. At the end of this session, we’ll have a screenshot that shows you what those times are. Just want everybody to remember times are changing. Love you. May grace be upon you.