Beyond Comfort Zones: Embracing the Challenge of Growth
Mourn Again • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Prayer for Illumination: Gracious God, illumine our hearts and minds as the Scriptures are read and proclaimed, so that by the power of your Holy Spirit we may see what is good and right and true. We long to live as children of light, doing your will and yearning towards the prize that you have set before us. In this lenten season, may we draw closer to you so that we can experience you more in our lives. We pray this through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.
Reading of the Word
Reading of the Word
Philippians 3:12-16
Not that I have already grasped it all or have already become perfect, but I press on if I may also take hold of that for which I was even taken hold of by Christ Jesus.
Brothers and sisters, I do not regard myself as having taken hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead,
I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
Therefore, all who are mature, let’s have this attitude; and if in anything you have a different attitude, God will reveal that to you as well;
however, let’s keep living by that same standard to which we have attained.
Introduction
Introduction
Today, our hearts and minds converge on a passage of profound wisdom and encouragement found in Philippians 3:12-16. Authored by the Apostle Paul, these verses unravel the essence of the Christian journey – a pilgrimage marked by growth, resilience, and an unwavering pursuit of Christ. Join me as we embark on a brief exploration of these verses, seeking insights that resonate with our own spiritual voyages and inspire us to press on with renewed purpose and determination.
The Rear View Mirror
The Rear View Mirror
For believers, the only past we bring with us is the past relative to Christ’s work in us.
The Tony Evans Study Bible Chapter 3
To become an excellent Christian and fulfill your kingdom purpose, you too must have a short memory and a clear direction. So, what aspects of yesterday must you forget? All of them—the good, the bad, and the ugly. You’ve got to let go of your successes, your failures, and the ways others have hurt you. It’s not that you don’t remember the past; it’s that you don’t allow the past to be a controlling factor in your life. Don’t spend too much time looking in the rearview mirror. A much bigger piece of glass called the windshield should have your focus because where you’re going is a lot bigger than where you’ve been.
Consuming ourselves in the past can destroy us.
Looking back can lead us to going back.
God’s Word will be the gauge to which way we are going.
It gives us a glimpse of God’s mindset.
Your word is a lamp to my feet And a light to my path.
We must focus on the future, remembering the mercies that God has shown us that has got us to this point.
The work of God in our past cannot be discounted. It is this that grows our faith. But the faith of the past will not allow God to work in the here and now and in the future.
It is in the past. God has used it for His glory. But we must leave it in the past.
The devil wants to hinder our future with our past. So how does he do this?
Never forgiving ourselves for past sin.
It can defeat us to the point where we forget who Christ defines us as.
Focusing on something someone else done to us or us to them.
It consumes us to the point that our focus is on the past, not on the prize.
All of this can make us doubt if we were ever forgiven in the first place.
We then ask a hundred times for forgiveness for the same sin.
Getting our focus off of the rear view mirror requires determination.
The Tony Evans Study Bible Chapter 3
The way to get over yesterday is to have a forward focus, to press on. Look to the future, not the past
The story of Lot’s wife reminds us why we need not look back at the past.
When they had brought them outside, one said, “Escape for your life! Do not look behind you, and do not stay anywhere in the surrounding area; escape to the mountains, or you will be swept away.”
The sun had risen over the earth when Lot came to Zoar.
Then the Lord rained brimstone and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah from the Lord out of heaven,
and He overthrew those cities, and all the surrounding area, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground.
But Lot’s wife, from behind him, looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.
The Windshield
The Windshield
Pressing On Requires Pursuit:
Pursuing God because as Paul said, we haven’t reached the height of love or perfection that Christ has.
To purse God and to learn more about Him everyday.
To be open for Him to pursue us.
We want to be able to embrace a real and tangible relationship with the living God, where we can feel His touch and moving in our lives.
Pressing On Requires Discipline:
The discipline to be intolerable of sin
Grace doesn’t allow us to become tolerant of sin but to hate and become more intolerant of it because it is incompatible with true Christianity.
To be disciplined in spending time with Jesus everyday.
Pressing On Requires Risk:
We are not expected to achieve everything on our own but we need to make the first move and risk our future to follow Jesus.
This is what the common calling in Christ is all about. Us risking our will so that we can be saved (salvation)
The risk to give our total self to Christ. A risk that will reap benefits in this life and eternally.
This speaks about the upward calling that we risk our all (will, plans, hearts) and surrender them to take on the upward calling of sanctification.
The risk of giving our life (physically) for the cause of the Gospel. Paul eventually was called to this so that he would be an example of love and devotion for Christ.
The risk to do our best for Christ.
To give our all in laboring for Jesus. Moving last year to Alva.
This runner gives his total dedication to winning the prize. He eats differently, trains different hangs around people with the same attitude and mindset so he can think of the race in a perspective that will allow him to the very best in the race that he runs.
As we give our all, we do things differently than the world so that we always keep the upward calling, to live separate from the world at the forefront of our minds. We labor remembering that the prize does not exist in this life but in eternity when we reach our true home with God.
If we want to find ourselves with Christ, we must focus on Christ.
We will never get closer to Christ by staring within ourselves.
We must look and reach forward, running towards the Lord and His high calling for us.
The Upward Calling
The Message of Philippians d. A Sure Foundation
A study of the idea of ‘calling’ in the Epistles of Paul will reveal that its meaning is not ‘invitation’ into gospel privileges but the power of God over the wills of his people. It is not God’s invitation to be saved; it is God’s determination to save.
The Heavenly Calling/Christian Perfection.
Will we become perfect? NO! But we can have the fullness of the Christian walk and fully apprehend the position where the Gospel places us sanctified and focused on the finish line so that we can attain the prize.
It is when the fire of the Holy Spirit burns in our hearts and the sin of the world becomes dim in God’s overwhelming presence within us.
The life of a Christian is in heaven, where his Head and his home are, and where he hopes to be shortly; he sets his affections upon things above; and where his heart is, there will his conversation be
What ultimately allows us to put in such determination and effort to go forward? The prize
The interesting thought about this prize? There can be 100 runners in this race and as long as they ran the race well, there is no loser! They will all finish winning the prize!
Attitude is Everything
Attitude is Everything
Paul is putting himself out there as the example.
He becomes the example so that others might follow his path towards the prize.
He wants a response from the example that he gives.
What we teach is what we believe. What we believe is what we live. What we live is what the world needs.
He knows he hasn’t grasped the prize or perfection.
He knows that he is not better than anyone else. But there is indication that the church of Philippi was maybe getting into this mindset and they needed brought back down to earth.
The Message of Philippians a. A Correct Self-Estimate
He did not ‘think of himself more highly than he ought to think’ and this lowly self-estimate was a springboard to progress.
The Message of Philippians a. A Correct Self-Estimate
To be ‘perfect’ means to become increasingly like our Lord Jesus Christ, with his righteousness, not only as an inward, spiritual gift but as an outward way of life
therefore -giving instructions to giving us a challenge
“He who thinks that he has attained everything, hath nothing” [Chrysostom]
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset, and David Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible, vol. 2 (Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1997), 367.To Sum It Up
What attitude is Paul wanting us to take on? What is his example trying to show us? The attitude of Christ.
An attitude that is:
Selfless
Full of love
Merciful
Repentant
Graceful
Disciplined to never give up, even when times are hard and we feel like we want to.
To Sum it Up: We look forward to Christ, rather than clinging to anything we have done ourselves.
Conclusion
Conclusion
The season of Lent is not just a giving something up. It is also a season of intentional placement of Christ at the fore of our lives once again. We find that thing that has captivated our attention and we set it aside, placing God in that position of interest or reliance. And when we do, let us strain onward. Let us find ourselves focusing on Christ, letting all else fall to the wayside. For we who seek first the kingdom of God are promised to find everything in Christ. The best is ahead of us. The prize is there waiting for us. Let’s strive seeing Christ cheering us on at the finish line of life.
Charge & Benediction
Go peaceably, looking upon the hearts of others with the same compassion Christ has shown you. Trust that he is able to open your eyes, enabling you to walk by faith in his name. May the love of God pursue you, the light of Christ enfold you, and the Holy Spirit keep you; as you dwell in the house of the Lord your whole life long. We pray this in Jesus’ Name, Amen.