- Phil 3:13 Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead,
- Reach forward means one thing: singular spiritual focus
- Most things in your life that you are going to excel at require a singular focus. Its how it is
- The theme for our year is “reach forward”. And it can mean many things depending on how you interpret it, but Today I want to show you how to “reach ahead” its to have one focus.
- To reach forward you must Change your value system- count all things loss
- To understand the context of v13 we have to go back a bit into Philippians bc context matters
- When Paul is talking and saying “forgetting those things which are behind” its athletic imagery
- The framework of this verse is not a sense of “I have spiritual amnesia” its that I don’t let what has happened to me or in me or anything else in my past dictate the mental focus of my future.
- Like an athlete- you can’t let a bad play or game hold you back- you have to move forward
- connects to v 8 indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish,
- Do you notice Paul’s value system here- All things loss, suffered the loss, count them as rubbish
- “for the excellence of Christ Jesus my Lord” valueness by comparison, not totally worthless.
- This distinction is what divides and separates those who gain christ and who don’t– Values///
- Jesus said it this way– Matt 13:44 the kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and hid; and for joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.
- A man realizes that the treasure to be found in the Kingdom of God is worth far more than what he has in his possession, so he sells it all to but the field with the greater treasure
- If you could sell everything you had to be guaranteed a winning lottery ticket? You’d do it!
- But if you maintain a value mindset of ‘hold on to all of who I am and have at all costs” mindset, you’re never going to be able to reach forward or experience the fullness of Christ.
- Luke 14:33 So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple.
- What does it mean to you?
- If you have been saved by Christ, you count all other desires, things and Items below him.
- What’s your actual value system? To what do you hold in the highest regard in your life?///
- Typically for many people its Money, Health, Spouse, Kids, Recreation, and themselves.
- And those reflect your fears, hopes, affirmations and values. It drives how you live.
- none of those are bad completely- just not supposed to be our HIGHEST values.
- Jesus said Luke 9:62 No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom.
- Pauls singular focus of forgetting and counting loss connects to this- stay focused!
- Ask yourself- are my past spiritual achievements causing me to coast? Are my past failures encouraging me to quit? Am I still bound by confidence in my own ability?
- Counting ‘all things’ isn’t just the things you can touch- it’s the mindsets you cant
- And THOSE are the ones that debilitate- You must count everything as rubbish
- You have to work, but that’s not who you are. Stay healthy, but its not everything. Love your spouse, but don’t worship them. Raise your kids, but don’t idolize them. Have a hobby but don’t let it control who you are . Grow from your mistakes, but don’t let them define you!
- To reach ahead, you must leave all behind that isn’t bathed in the blood of Jesus.
2. To reach forward- Change your achievement focus- righteousness in Christ
- When you have different values you have different goals. Diff. goals create different outcomes
- that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith;
- What are Pauls goals? Gain Christ. Be found in him. Faith in Christ.
- Gain Christ. What does it mean to gain Christ? Its to internalize and comprehend the fullness of purpose of your personal existence as it weaves into the fabric of being in union with Christ.
- Where I’m a new creation in him and old things have passed away, where I no longer live under condemnation of my past, nor walk according to the desires of my sinful flesh, where I walk in spiritual blessings, holy and blameless, and embrace the riches of his Glory and his mystery
- When you gain these things, through union with Him you’re experiencing eternal life.
- That’s a verifiable powerful achievement to attain to in this life. #goals
- And you know what? None of that is dependent on what you have, do, or achieve worldly.
- This is Christian biblical goal setting and a promise for the believer in Christ!///
- Be found in Him. This speaks to a sense of a heavenly inspection from the father where
- Ecc 12:14 For God will bring every work into judgment, Including every secret thing,
Whether good or evil. - The Bible makes it clear- there’s always a day of reckoning w God in this life and the life to come
- I want to be found in him. Because if I’m IN HIM im not IN THIS WORLD and I’m SAFE///
- John 5:24 “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life.
- You are found in him when you stay in him. His ways. His words. His values. You are a Christian.
- Faith in Christ- Its an ongoing belief system where “not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ”
- Christianity is a belief system that produces action, but we first must believe and our central belief is that we’ve been forgiven by Jesus at the cross and we can walk w God in new life.
- And that’s an ongoing ‘faith’ that we maintain through daily disciplines of prayer and reality
- Activities like bible reading and worship bolster this belief, but we must dwell on it. Meditate
- What does it mean to you? Are you setting the right achievements and spiritual goals?
- Its like this- a bible reading plan is great- but what good is it to read if you’re not gaining christ?
- You would do better to read one chapter every day for a year if it got a Bible truth in you.
- And its simple and its repeatable- but people ask- how do I gain this? How do I grow?
- Well lets go back half a step- have you counted everything else loss? Then you CHANGE goals
- The goal cannot be- I want to be as entertained as possible. I want a perfect physique. I want so much money that I don’t have to trust God. I want scores of people to admire me. I want stuff
- Walk without condemnation, Walk desiring spiritual fruit, Walk receiving spiritual blessings
- What are you actually reaching forward towards? Are they godly goals or worldly ones///
- This is biblical Christianity. Its not putting a seal of approval on your own selfish goals.
- Your job is not as important as what your job provides in your spiritual life- are you growing?
- Its like working out- The end isn’t as important as the process- you learn discipline gain health
- Col 3:1–2 If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.
- Serving others, loving others, fellowship to build others up, Spiritual thoughts, desires, focus
- To learn more, worship more, sacrifice more. To see myself in union with Christ daily.
3. To reach forward- Change your pain filter- fellowship of suffering
- You cant count it all loss and change your goal focus without changing your pain filter
- 10 that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death,
- This is a strong scripture that paints a very stark difference between worldly Christianity and biblical Christianity. Everyone wants to resurrect, not everyone wants the fellowship of sufferings and to be conformed to his death.
- This is powerful life changing scripture that can demolish every high argument against Christ
- Pauls filter of pain in his ministry is that he sees suffering as an inheritance not a burden
- Its proof of sonship Rom 8:17 and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.
- Hebrews 12:8 But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons.
- ////To Paul, suffering was a privilege not a penalty. He thought it a blessing and honor to suffer
- This is so counter cultural to everything modern to western cultural Christianity. We avoid it!
- We don’t want to experience the slightest discomfort for anything ever in anyway possible
- We don’t like the pain of waiting. The pain of hunger. The pain of boredom. The pain of misunderstanding. The pain of unknowing. The pain of exertion. The pain of restraint. The pain of confrontation. The pain of flying, driving, biking, standing, or sitting. Being too cold, to wet, too hot, too loud, too soft. Don’t talk to me too long, or too short. We’re really insufferable.
- And so we chastise God at every turn. We attempt to insulate our pain instead of leaning into it
- Get this- when we suffer we don’t earn anything, but it does everything within us to grow us.
- Have you ever been around someone who went through some stuff and it didn’t break them?
- There’s this quiet strength that emanates from them that is admirable. It shows maturity.
- And our religion is a painful suffering religion and times and we need to embrace that reality
- Its ok for everything to not be ok everyday. Every single moment doesn’t have to feel good.
- What does it mean for you
- Lets characterize Christian suffering adequately. Its not the fruit of your bad decisions.
- Its walking as a Christian and suffering the backlash of being a Christian in a fallen world
- Its not taking vengeance on someone who deserves it, its loving someone who doesn’t deserve it, its serving people you don’t like, sacrificing your time and money, toiling over the crucifying of your flesh, disciplining your body and your mind. Its PAINFUL to walk with Christ at times
- But its for us-Phil 1:29 to you it has been granted… not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake” Greeaaaat 2 Cor 4:16–17 our light affliction… is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory
- And that’s the mindset- this suffering is DOING something in me. BRING IT ON I’ll be BETTER
- Instead of insulating and rejecting, we embrace and declare that we WELCOME the suffer
- Rom 8:18 the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed
- There is a future glory in Christian suffering. It always yields a fruit of righteousness. Always
- Acts 21:13 I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die… for the name of the Lord Jesus
- That’s the Paul type of Energy we’re going for here. I’m not just ready to suffer, but to die
- A Faith like that is not easily shaken. It can reach forward bc it knows God is doing something
4. To Reach forward Change your mindset- by any means attain the resurrection.
- Its really a mindset. The Bible says “to set our minds on things above” and its difficult because we have this reality of life of work, bills, relationships, kids, maintenance etc. Takes energy.
- Paul didn’t have nearly the amount of responsibilities as the modern man does but he said this
- 11 if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.
- 12 Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on
- 13 Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended;
- Pauls mindset for his life was simple- by any means I will get to heaven, and I’m living in a perfected reality eventho I haven’t yet received my full inheritance of Heaven.
- This idea propelled him forward in his ministry for the future prize of resurrection hope!
- There’s such a deep maturity in Christians who can realize they’ve already got the inheritance but they keep working like They haven’t. Not striving to be loved, striving bc we are loved.
- Americanism rewards the achievement of success, so we live in a ‘goal achieved, goal removed’
- But this isn’t a goal you ever achieve until death, so it becomes a ‘mindset’ a daily reality
- By any means-(slow) there is not one thing I will not do to maintain my relationship with Christ
- Not that I have already attained- I will not rest on my spiritual laurels. I’m always growing
- I have not apprehended- I will live in the fulness of Christ until I inherit the fullness of heaven
- This is the victorious life that overcomes fear and death and can’t be shaken by any devil in hell
- Paul said this- Acts 20:24 But none of these things move me; nor do I count my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my race with joy, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.
- What does it mean to you
- To walk in Christian maturity ‘reaching forward’ requires single minded focus that has proper goals, can endure some pain and lives with a heavenly mindset of future inheritance
- Think about heaven more! Think about what God is going to do more! You haven’t arrived!
- The reality is that you probably don’t have much Christian suffering, just worldly suffering
- Romans 8:23 Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body.
- If you have no desire for heaven, you wont have any groaning within yourselves only worldly
- Typically because the things of this world are the source of your joy and any restraint in fulfilling the desires of your flesh is met with a groaning of your flesh to fulfill them.
- Instead- we reach forward. We strive to grow deeper in holiness and righteousness
- We yearn to be found in him, to be conformed to the image of his likeness
- Our hope is that which we reach forward for is grounded in Him, his word and ways.
- 1 John 3:2–3 Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.
- Church- lets reach forward in faith. Have a singular focus to be found in him for eternity’s sake
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