Philippians 3:10-14 NIV 84 – “I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”
Big Idea: In order to take hold of the future God has for us, we need to let go of the past God has rescued us from.
Why is it hard to move forward?
- We Romanticize The Past
Exodus 16:3 NIV – “The Israelites said to them, “If only we had died by the Lord’s hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death.”
- Our Past Haunt Us
Matthew 5:23-24 ESV – So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, 24 leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.
Col 3:13b – “forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.”
Matthew 18:15 ESV – “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother.”
Philippians 3:4b-8 NIV 84 – If someone else thinks they have reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: 5 circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; 6 as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for righteousness based on the law, faultless.
“But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ.”
Philippians 3:13b-14 NIV 84 – “But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining towards what is ahead, I press on towards goal to win the prize for which God had called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”
“Grace is not opposed to effort, it is opposed to earning. Earning is an attitude. Effort is an action.” – Dallas Willard
Philippians 2:12b ESV – work out your own salvation with fear and trembling
Psalm 37:4 (ESV)
Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV)