Pressing Forward and Forgetting the Past

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 47:04 — 32.3MB)

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Android | TuneIn | RSS

Philippians 3 Pressing Forward and Forgetting the Past

1. We are in the first month of a new year, and I wonder if you have made any new year’s resolutions,
   1. or thought about how you want to live this year,
   2. or thought about whether the direction of your life and the target you are aiming at will take you to the goal you want to reach.
   3. There is a proverb that goes like this: “If you aim at nothing you will hit it every time.”
   4. Another proverb might go something like this: ”If you aim at something you might hit it some of the time.”
2. In Phil. 3 Paul says he is aiming at something.
   1. He tells us that his supreme goal is to pursue knowing Christ Jesus and the power of His resurrection and be conformed to His death.
   2. Paul says that although he has not yet arrived at the goal, he pursues this goal (presses toward the mark).
   3. Paul also tells us in Phil. 3 what he has to leave behind in order to press forward toward this goal.
   4. This morning I want to talk with you about what you need to leave behind (release from your grasp) and what you need to press forward toward (lay hold of or grasp) during 2021.
3. Phil. 3:2-16, NASB= “2 Beware of the dogs, beware of the evil workers, beware of the false circumcision; 3 for we are the true circumcision, who worship in the Spirit of God and take pride in Christ Jesus, and put no confidence in the flesh, 4 although I myself could boast as having confidence even in the flesh. If anyone else thinks he is confident in the flesh, I have more reason: 5 circumcised the eighth day, of the nation of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the Law, a Pharisee; 6 as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to the righteousness which is in the Law, found blameless.  7 But whatever things were gain to me, these things I have counted as loss because of Christ. 8 More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them mere rubbish, so that I may gain Christ, 9 and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in (of) Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, 10 that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; 11 if somehow I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.  12 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. 13 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, 14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. 15 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; 16 however, let’s keep living by that same standard to which we have attained.”
4. Outline
   1. Leave some things behind.
   2. Press forward toward the goal.

Leave some things behind.

This idea is taken from verse 13 where Paul makes the statement that he does not consider himself to have reached the goal, but what he is doing is “forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead.” The context of this “leaving behind” statement is Paul contrasting the value of his heritage and religious tradition with the value of knowing Christ.

In 3:2-7 Paul lists the supposed advantages of his heritage and religious tradition.

1. v. 2= Paul says ”Beware of the dogs, beware of the evil workers, beware of the false circumcision” (mutilators) =
   1. The “dogs” are the Jews who hounded him (they literally chased him from one city to the next like a dog does a deer) on his missionary journeys whenever he talked about Gentiles becoming children of promise through the death and resurrection of Christ without being circumcised (Acts 13:46-50; 14:1-6, 19),
   2. and “the false circumcision” means “those who mutilate” themselves or require others to mutilate themselves without heart circumcision.  They operate on their bodies but do not let God operate on their hearts.
2. v. 3 = In contrast to mutilators, in verse 3 Paul presents followers of Christ as the true circumcision because they have received circumcision of their hearts.  Notice these three things.
   1. These people worship God in the power of the Holy Spirit,
   2. they glory in Christ Jesus,
   3. and they have no confidence or do not place their hope in the “flesh”, meaning their hope does not depend on earthly privileges, human attainments, and religious accomplishments.
3. In verses 4-6 Paul lists his own earthly privileges, human attainments, and religious accomplishments in order to demonstrate that he is not downplaying the value of these things because he is jealous or doesn’t possess them.  He does possess the things the Jews value highly.
   1. Circumcised the eighth day
   2. A Jew by birth, not a proselyte
   3. from the tribe of Benjamin
   4. a Hebrew of the Hebrews = both parents Jews or maybe he spoke Hebrew and Aramaic.  Actually, I read somewhere that Paul spoke 12-15 languages.
   5. a Pharisee= the most orthodox party, the most zealous supporters and interpreters of OT law
   6. very zealous in promoting Judaism and condemning Christians, even willing to hunt down Christians
   7. meticulous in his observance of the law

In 3:7-11 Paul contrasts the value of these past accomplishments with the value of knowing Christ.

1. In vv. 7-8 Paul says that he counts all these supposed gains or advantages as having no value at all when he compares them to what Christ has to offer.
   1. v. 8= Paul says that knowing Christ Jesus my Lord is far superior in value to all the earthly privileges, human attainments, and religious accomplishments he just listed.
   2. In comparison these human advantages are like garbage or table scraps that are fed to the dog or like manure (the KJV word is “dung”), and Paul says the loss of these things is no loss at all.
   3. At the end of verse 8 Paul says that by counting all these past accomplishments as having no value “for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord”, Paul will be able to “win” (gain or obtain or possess) Christ.

2.v. 9 = Paul says what it means to gain or win Christ.

1. To gain or win Christ is to be in a “be found in Christ” relationship, and he says that this kind of relationship with Christ is not the result of his own “righteousness” (his own earthly privileges, human attainments, and religious accomplishments), but is rooted in “the faith of Christ” . . . “by faith.”  I want to camp a little on the meaning of the phrase “the faith of Christ.”
2. When Paul says he can “be found in Christ” . . . “through the faith of Christ”, he is not talking about his faith in Christ.  The “faith of Christ” and our “faith in Christ” are two different things.
   1. By “faith of Christ” he is talking about the personal faith or faithfulness of Christ, and Paul is saying that our righteousness is the result of Christ’s faithfulness and obedience throughout life and in death.
   2. The righteousness that justifies is rooted in the personal faith-life, faith-death and faith-resurrection of Christ, not in becoming a Jew and not in keeping the law.
   3. The righteousness of Christ that delivers us from God’s judgment is rooted in Christ’s faithfulness in his own life to the heavenly Father, and the heavenly Father’s faithfulness to His promises and to His Son.
   4. This faithfulness of Christ, and the faithfulness of the heavenly Father to Christ, is the reason God raised Christ from the dead.
   5. To restate, we can be “found in Christ” “through the faithfulness of Christ.”
3. But at the end of verse 9 Paul says that this “found in Christ” relationship is also the result of a “righteousness which is of God by faith.”
   1. “By faith” refers to our faith in Christ.
   2. So this verse is saying that both Christ’s personal faithfulness and our personal faith in Christ are necessary for us to experience this “found in Christ” relationship.
4. In this verse, then, Paul is contrasting “mine own righteousness, which is of the law” with a “through the faith of Christ” righteousness which is of God (has its source in God, not human attainment) by faith,” and he is saying that “mine own righteousness, which is of the law” is worthless and that the righteousness of God by faith (a righteousness that has its source in God and is received by trusting God/Christ) is valuable.

• v. 10 = Paul says that a “found in Christ” relationship is rooted in knowing Christ.

1. This verse explains in more detail what the “knowledge of Christ” mentioned in verse 8 means.
2. The “knowledge of Christ”
   1. in verse 8 = “knowledge” is a noun translated from the Greek word ginosis
   2. and the word “know” in verse 10 is a verb translated from the Greek word ginosko.
   3. The meaning of these Greek words is knowledge that is known within an intimate relationship.
   4. It is within our intimate relationship with Christ that we gain knowledge of Christ, gain knowledge of the will of Christ, and gain strength to be faithful in the time of testing.

4.v. 10 = Paul says that a “found in Christ” relationship makes the power of Christ’s resurrection available to the believer.

1. This refers to experiencing the power of Christ’s resurrection in our own daily life.
2. This idea is developed more fully in Rom. 6:3-4: “3 Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? 4 Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too may walk in newness of life.”
   1. I believe “baptized into” happens when a person enters into relationship with Christ, or when a person is regenerated and justified.
   2. The person who is “baptized into” Christ is “placed in” and identified with Christ, and is co-buried and co-raised with Christ.
   3. Those who are “baptized into Christ” have died and been buried, and have been raised from the dead, with Christ.
   4. This means that the person who is “baptized into Christ” experiences the same death to sin and resurrection to life in his or her body of flesh that Jesus experienced in his body of flesh.
   5. The person who is in Christ is now in a position and reality of life, not death, and stands and lives and walks on resurrection ground.
   6. God begins to work this death and resurrection in our bodies/persons at the time of conversion when we surrender to Christ and God continues to work this death to sin and resurrection to righteousness inside us every time we surrender to Christ in the moment of temptation or trial.

• In v. 10 Paul also says that the person who is in a “found in Christ” relationship will know “the fellowship of” (participation in) Christ’s “sufferings, being made conformable unto his death”

1. The idea here is the same as Phil. 1:29, which says that those who believe in Christ will “suffer for his sake.”
2. Col. 1:24 says believers “fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ”,
   1. meaning that Christ suffered for the sake of righteousness during his life and on the cross,
   2. and all those who are in fellowship with Christ likewise suffer for the sake of righteousness.
   3. Christ never promised that people who trust him will be exempt from human suffering,
   4. and any suffering as a result of fellowship with Christ is a continuation and completion of the suffering of Christ.
3. The phrase “being made conformable unto his death” expands on the previous phrase, “know the fellowship of his suffering.”  “Being made conformable unto his death” is not talking about physical death but about identifying so fully with the death and resurrection of Christ that Christ’s death works death to the former life.

• v. 11= Paul says that experiencing verses 8-10 makes it possible to “attain unto the resurrection from the dead.”

1. Resurrection to a righteous life
2. Resurrection when Christ returns

Press forward toward the goal (Phil. 3:12-16)

1. v. 12=Paul begins by saying that he has not fully attained the objectives he mentioned in verses 10-11.
   1. He has not fully experienced the resurrection power of Christ, sharing in the sufferings of Christ, being made like Jesus in death, and experiencing resurrection from the dead in relation to temptation and trials.
   2. Paul says he is not already “perfect”
      1. The word “perfect” does not mean sinless perfection.  It means goal or end.
      2. Paul says he has not reached the end or goal for which he was designed, or has not experienced to the fullness what he has described as the results of knowing Christ.
      3. Not a single one of us has reached or seized the goal or fullness of who God created us to be.  We are all in the process of being transformed.
   3. Even though he has not reached full maturity or experienced fully what is available to him in his “found in Christ” relationship, Paul says he is going to “follow after” (KJV) or pursue the goal.  He is not going to give up.  He is not going to return to the old way of depending on earthly privileges, human attainments, and religious accomplishments.
   4. Paul says he is going to press on (pursue) in order to “apprehend” or seize or lay hold of or possess as his own that for which Christ laid hold of (or possessed) him.
      1. The idea of “press on” or “pursue” is the word used for a runner in a foot race.  The runner is “speeding on earnestly” toward the goal, the end, in order to seize the prize.
      2. This is a beautiful concept.
      3. Christ seized (laid hold of or took possession of) Paul so that Paul could speed earnestly with outstretched hand and seize or grasp or lay hold of and experience full maturity,
      4. so he could experience these “found in Christ” benefits,
      5. so Paul is going to pursue this goal and seize these blessings and make them his own.
2. v. 13 = Paul restates what he has said in verse 12, that he has not yet seized everything that his “found in Christ” relationship offers, but he is fully committed to this one thing, to “forget those things which are behind and reach for and seize the things that are before/ahead.”
   1. The forgetting he is talking about is not an erasing from memory of past events.
   2. He is not going to dwell on or return to placing value on the earthly privileges, human attainments, and religious accomplishments that he mentioned in verses 4-6.
   3. He is not going to depend on past spiritual growth.
   4. He is going to focus on and reach toward the maturity and fullness of spiritual experience that Christ has in store for him, which includes the resurrection power of Christ, sharing in the sufferings of Christ, being made like Jesus in death, and experiencing resurrection from the dead in the midst of temptations and trials.
3. v. 14=Paul says he is pressing toward the mark or goal or prize to which God is calling him in Christ Jesus.  This is a heavenly, other worldly prize.  It is an “in Christ Jesus” prize, a prize that only those who are “found in Christ Jesus” can seize.
4. verses 15-16=15 All of us who are mature or perfect [all those who are pursuing the goal of spiritual maturity] should have this attitude, that we have not yet achieved full spiritual maturity. And if in any respect you have a different attitude, that too God will make clear to you. 16 Only let us stay true to what we have already attained.”
5. In order to pursue full maturity, and know and experience Christ’s death and resurrection, you must press toward the goal of knowing Christ more deeply, and in order to do this you have to let go of hanging onto what you have already attained and reach forward to seize what lies ahead.  This is the attitude you should have.
6. Paul says that if this is not the attitude you have, God will work in you so you arrive at this attitude.
7. As we move forward, don’t forget to live what you have already learned on the journey and don’t forget the commitment you have made to seize everything for which you were seized.

Summary

1. Paul is very clear.  A major hindrance to knowing Christ more fully and experiencing death to sin and resurrection to upright living is hanging on to and grasping earthly privileges, human attainments, and religious accomplishments.  A major hindrance to growth toward spiritual and emotional maturity is grasping past human and religious attainments.
   1. Whatever you are hanging on to and grasping and seizing right now makes it impossible for you to lay hold of and grasp and seize something else, something better.  You can’t seize something else until you let go of what you already have seized and are clutching.
   2. One thing that hinders progress is our commitment to the familiar, to what feels safe and secure, our commitment to the past or to present habits or human attainments, or commitment to our vows to live a safe life or not to let our fleshly desires die.
   3. Not only did Paul have to release his grasp on past earthly privileges, human attainments, and religious accomplishments, he also had to release his grasp on past failure.
      1. Paul was known in the early church as a notorious persecutor of followers of Jesus Christ.
      2. We have to let go of our guilt and shame for past sins committed by and against us before we can become fully who God created us to be.
2. Paul is also very clear that a “be found in Christ” relationship and position depends on several things.
   1. The faithfulness of Christ in his life, death, and resurrection.
   2. Our faith in the faithful Christ.
3. Paul is also very clear that the goal he is pursuing is a resurrection life with Christ that results in death to sin and resurrection to upright living.
4. Finally, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit knows you, knows who you were created to be, knows who you will be when you reach the goal, when you reach full spiritual and emotional maturity.
   1. This is the goal God is working toward.
   2. Whatever you do, don’t give up on God’s goal for you.
   3. Don’t settle for something less than God’s intention and purpose.
   4. But pursue God’s goal in the power of the resurrected Jesus and not in your own power.