Joy in Moving Beyond the Past
- Stephen Phelan
- Aug 9, 2009
- Series: Joy
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.Joy in Moving Beyond the Past
Mid-City Aug. 9th 2009: Philippians 3: 7-14
With the exception of our celebration of the Urban Project last week, we’re in a series on joy this summer. This week we’re going to unmask one of the central thieves of joy and talk about how to keep this thief from robbing you of your joy. This thief is your past. All of us, to one degree or another, are troubled by our past. Some of us are being held hostage by stupid things that we have done or painful things that have been done to us or, maybe it isn’t anybody’s fault—you have lost a spouse. Just part of life in a broken world. Any one of these things from our past can kick the door of our house down and rob us of our joy. How do we prevent that? Or to put it another way—how do we experience a joy that helps us get past the past?
Paul says 3 things have to happen in your life:
- 1. Something must happen to you, your past, & your future
Let’s begin by looking at what must happen to you and we’re going to do so by looking at v12. Look at v12, “Not that I have already obtained all this (referring to what he describes in v10-11that I preached on 2 weeks ago of knowing Christ fully & the power of his resurrection), or have already been made perfect (referring to glorification that happens either when you go to be with Jesus), but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.” I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.” That last phrase I want to pause on. Paul says I am trying with all I have to take hold of that which took hold of me. Something happened to Paul. Something took hold of him.
What event is he referring to? When did Christ Jesus take hold of Paul? On the
What does this mean? For those of you who are not yet Christians. You are here and checking this thing out. Something—a friend, a circumstance—piqued your spiritual interest. So you thought you would give the God-thing a look. Well, I need to tell you a little secret—you’re being pursued, by God. You thought you were in control of the spiritual journey. You’re not.
It felt good to have the allusion of control, didn’t it. B/c you could always pull the rip cord if things started going south. If you ever felt yourself in danger of becoming one of the Jesus freaks, then you could just say, “Sorry, I checked into the God-thing and church, and it isn’t for me. I want to be normal.” But this isn’t how it works. Paul hated the Jesus freaks more than you do—they weren’t normal and in his mind they were causing problems. He was hunting them down until he realized he was being hunted by the very one He was hunting. His marked man had a mark on him & took hold of him and everything—everything—about his life changed.
It is a little bit like the Eagles song Hotel California. “You can check out anytime you like, but you can never leave.” God is after you. He is relentless and won’t give up. He is coming to take hold of your life and make things right.
So, if you are Christian, it means that you have been taken hold of by Jesus. There is no in between. It isn’t a maybe. You either have, or have not, had the hand of Jesus forcefully claim you as His own. And, according to John 6:39, he will not lose his grip on you. No matter how far down you fall, no matter how dark it gets, no matter far you try to run. You’re his. This is the first step to experiencing joy that can move you beyond your past—to be taken hold of by Jesus.
2. Something must happen to your past
V13, “Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it.” Paul is talking about glorification here. Taking hold of Christ fully. “But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead.” We’ll stop there for the minute b/c the rest of this glorious verse goes on to talk about our future. Let’s deal with the past for a minute.
Paul says here, “One thing I do—I forget what is behind and strain toward what is ahead.” Now I don’t know about you, but two questions came to my mind as I read this text. (1) it seemed to me that I could recall lots of situations in the Bible where we are called to remember the past? So which is it—remember the past or forget it? (2) how do we forget something? I don’t have a delete button on my brain—there are lots of things I want to forget and can’t. So how do we forget?
Let’s begin with the first question about when we should remember our past and when we should forget it. Here is the key—have repentance & reconciliation occurred. For instance, Nathan the prophet confronted David over his sin with Bathsheba and forced David to remember what he did b/c he hadn’t repented. You could pick any prophet—Jonah going to
Jesus underscored this in Mt. 5:23-24, “ 23"Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, 24leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift.” So what Paul is saying is that once you repented & been reconciled, you can forget the sin that is behind and strain toward what is ahead.
This verse is not a free pass to forego reconciliation. Marc Driscoll, who has been a friend to us during this series, pointed out how often Christians use this verse as an excuse to forgive their sin. Just forgetting what is behind—movin’ on. He told a story about a man who came up to him and said, “I feel God is calling me to plant a church and I think God has great things in store for me.” Driscoll got a check in His Spirit and he said, “Is there anything that would disqualify you that you have done morally from planting a church?” “Well, I committed adultery on my wife and I haven’t told her.” That would count. He said, “But don’t you feel like I told Jesus I am sorry and I need to move forward—forget what is behind.” No. You sinned against your wife, you need Biblical counseling. You can’t just wake up and say, “Sorry. I’ll go be a pastor now.” No. You haven’t repented or been reconciled. So, to forget what is behind from a Biblical perspective, means forgetting sin that has been repented and reconciled.
2nd question—how do we forget our past if we don’t have a delete button?
Here is how—by allowing Jesus to disarm your past. Jesus functions like the bomb squad. He comes in and disarms these things that would have exploded your life. Jesus disarmed the bombs of Paul’s life, which is why he can so freely talk about his past in v4-6: he said I persecuted the church, I was a Pharisee of Pharisees, I was religious, but then I met Jesus. And he disarmed these bombs that could have exploded my life by helping me see that these religious accomplishments were rubbish.
See he can remember these things that he did that kept him from Jesus and he highlights them b/c they no longer have any spiritual effect on his life. He has repented and in faith turned to Jesus. He has been reconciled through the gospel. As a result, he can revisit them much as you would visit a museum to learn about history. He is no longer held captive by his past.
If you have watched our video, this is why you see Jeffrey talking about his old life selling crack/cocaine, and then he says, “I don’t live that way any longer.” His old ways, the old man, no longer have any spiritual effect b/c Jesus paid for it. Took it to the cross and nailed it up. Jeffrey isn’t embarrassed about his past. All the shame was removed on the cross, forgotten. Now all that is left in his story is an opportunity for Jesus to get glory. His life is like a museum that he wants people to see so Jesus gets glory.
Marc Driscoll put it this way: “How you do know you have forgotten your past in the Biblical sense that Paul is talking about? You can talk about your past. The person who says I don’t want to talk about my past, I just want to move on. They haven’t rightly forgotten their past. The person who can talk about their past in a safe setting (with a Biblical counselor, a trusted friend, etc) is the person who has forgotten their past and is straining toward what is ahead.”
So forgetting your past isn’t an excuse to not deal with sin, nor does it mean trying to delete it from memory. Rather, it means to repent, be reconciled and have Jesus heal you in such a way that the worst things in your life become things that give Jesus glory, that you want to tell others about and say, “See, I was this way, this happened, and look at what Jesus did. Isn’t he great. He can do this for you too.”
TRANS: That is what happens to our past. Now let’s look at the future.
Now let’s read this entire verse and I want you to listen for the athletic imagery used in the language. V13-14, “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.” Paul’s past no longer has a hold on him and he now fixes his eyes on the future—the prize that awaits. Only he doesn’t tell you what the prize is.
It isn’t too difficult to figure out though. Look at V8 of your text--I consider all things loss/rubbish compared to surpassing greatness of knowing Jesus. V10 same thing—“I want to know Christ.” Friends—the prize is Jesus. The thing we set our hearts on is Jesus. Jesus stands at the finish line and waits. And when we get there, He is our prize. .
I don’t know about you, but the image that comes to my mind with all of this athletic imagery and training & prizes is the Olympics. If you are training for the Olympics, then everything in your life is filtered through the lens of maximizing your performance at the Olympics. If you’re a woman—should I have a baby? Well, after the Olympics. Should I start a career—well, after the Olympics. See Paul is saying this is the way we are to live our lives. With one focus. With one goal: Jesus. Paul says, “I press on toward THE goal to win THE prize.” Not all of my life goals, or Jesus and all the other prizes. No--Everything in our future becomes about straining toward Jesus Christ and his kingdom.
But how in the world do we do that in this narcissistic world that we live in? So
Jesus answered this question in John 17:18-19 Jesus was praying to His Father, in the presence of his disciples, and he said, “As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. (translation: the things I was about, I am sending my followers to be about). Father, for their sake I sanctify myself, that they too may be sanctified.” This verse blows me away. Jesus says, “For their sake.” For your sake, for my sake, he sanctifies himself, sets himself apart. Jesus is saying I live for them. The reason I was born, died, was resurrected—was for my followers. He had one goal in mind: you and me. Our redemption—our sanctification.
See this means that Jesus did what Paul asked us to do—he strained toward the finish line with one prize in mind. And here is what blows my mind—the prize he had in mind was you & me. He ran the race and persevered and the prize he was after was you and me. When this gospel good news penetrates your heart, then the course of your life begins to shift from narcissism to Jesusism. Your deepest pleasure becomes the one who took such a deep pleasure in you. Friends, this gospel changes you and the things you are to be about in the world and puts one item on the agenda: Jesus.
My wife shared with me a story of a woman who had worked the gospel into every fabric of her being. Her name is Rachel. I can’t get her off my heart and mind after watching this video. I would encourage all of you to watch the entire talk online called “Death is not dying.” Rachel gave this talk on March 4, 2009, and at the time she gave this talk, she just found out that her cancer had spread to every part of her body, including her brain. She had only a few months at best to live. On July 2 of this year she died. Now, friends, if you want to know how to experience a joy that will move you beyond your past, then watch this video.
“I have lived a seemingly picture perfect life from the outside looking in, and in truth I have been very blessed. I have known the shame of being sexually abused. I have made poor decisions in relationships and hurt others and have been hurt as a result of them. I have known the searing pain of loss of the death of a loved one. I have been diagnosed with cancer twice now and the second time barring a miracle will end my life before I reach my 38th birthday. STOP
She talks about being sexually abused, losing a loved one, and having terminal cancer at 38 without a trace of bitterness. Why? B/c she has experienced a joy in Jesus that has moved her beyond the pain of her past. She has, as Paul talked about, forgotten what is behind.
Not deleted it, but those things are just monuments of learning for her & others. She feels free to talk about them—there is no shame, for Jesus took that away. That is forgetting what is behind. Here is how she got beyond the pain of her past. She tells us that next…
In his providence, God has used the tough things in my life to draw me closer to Him, to show me His great love and to teach me many things. I have learned that I am not perfect and I have the scars to prove it—13 of them. And they serve as a physical reminder of a spiritual reality that I can never be perfect on my own. I need a savior. I have learned that the greatest evidence of God’s love is seen when I stand at the foot of the cross. He took my shame upon himself and rescued me. STOP
Jesus, my friends, took hold of her and everything changed. And she is pressing on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of her.
And now she is doing what Paul say here—pressing on, striving and straining toward what is ahead, with her eyes on one prize. Jesus. Now lets watch as she lays out what was HER FUTURE.
I have learned that being a Christian is not just hope for the future, although it is most definitely that, but that it is the joy of knowing and trusting in a God who is loving and faithful no matter what the circumstances. So when I say that death is not dying, death will not kill my soul. It is eternal, just like yours. It is just this physical body that will die, but even it will be raised again just like Jesus, and it will be better than the one I have now. Like everything, it will be better, because God is going to make everything new.”
Prayer—Transforms Rachel’s past; transforms our past. What was suppose to be the most shameful death (the cross) is the most glorious thing that we all speak of and hope in.
