Sermon Nuggets Oct 25
Theme- Press On
Verses- Phil 3:12-4:1
Press On
Have you heard about the sophomore philosophy? The word sophomore is a combination of a couple of Greek terms- sophia means wisdom, and moros means moron. A wise fool is a transliteration.
In high school we sang this song- "The more you study the more you know. The more you know the more you forget. The more you forget the less you know- so why study?" And it works the other way. "The less you study the less you know. The less you know the less you forget. The less you forget the more you know; so why study?"
Information and technology advances continually. We would not want to go back to the horse and hand plow days in farming. The old cars may be nostalgic but hardly efficient. How many would want to live without electricity?
With all the advances in various areas of our lives and world how about advances in your Christian walk? Have you advanced in your knowledge and experienced maturity? Do you realize that the things you learned when you first accepted Christ are not where God wants you to be in your spiritual life?
Paul writes, Phil 3:12,13 “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.
13 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,”
The Bible keeps calling us to grow in our knowledge faith, understanding and holiness. The closer one gets to know the Lord the less he feels he knows. It is a humbling experience, but a rewarding one.
When you're saved you receive salvation, you receive the righteousness of Christ, you receive the power of Christ in your life, you receive the fellowship of Christ in communion with Him. You might say, "If I'm already entitled to heaven and I already have these things guaranteed to me and promised to me, and I will some day enter into the fullness of them in the presence of God, why bother to grow?" Well in one sense if you're a new creation in Jesus Christ you will desire to grow or I question if you have a real relationship with Christ. But growth glorifies God. And that's what a Christian is supposed to do with his life. It also serves as a witness to salvation to the unsaved and people see Christ in you. The Bible also teaches that it grants you assurance of salvation. There is the knowledge you belong to God and you struggle less with doubt. Paul also teaches it produces joy and usefulness in your life.
Press on to the goal of your salvation. He compares our life in Christ to the athlete in training. This week we will study ways in which we can keep progressing and pressing on.
Pastor Dale-
Sermon Nuggets Tues Oct 26 –
Verses- Phil 3:12,13 “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.
13 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,”
Forgetting the Past
Paul uses either a runner or a chariot racer for his analogy. Either one works. When you are in a race you can't let the past get in the way. One Olympic runner made this comment. "The only way to win a race is to forget all previous victories which would give your false pride, and all former failures which give you false fears. Each race is a new beginning. Pressing on to the finish tape is all that is important.”
That is what the Bible says about growth. We must lose the past. There can be a tremendous pride in Paul for all the great things he accomplished in his Christian life. He had special revelations, which he referred to in 2 Corinthians. He started many churches. He was the tool used of God to bring many to saving faith. He was persecuted for Christ's sake. He was the author of most of our New Testament. If anyone can be called a success in the Christ life Paul was it; but he is saying that not enough. I cannot rest on the past.
"Forgetting what lies behind, I strain forward to what lies ahead," Paul says. I get frustrated when I hear people say, "I've been confirmed, or baptized so I don't have to worry about my soul.” I get equally frustrated when Baptists say, "I have accepted Jesus as my personal Savior when I was kid. So I don't really have to go to church anymore.”
In Timothy Paul calls such people spiritual babies.
Dr. Bruce Theilemann told about an artist some 400 years before Christ, whose name was Timanthes. He took instruction from a well talented tutor. After several years the budding young painter created an exquisite picture. When he was commended for his accomplishment he became so enraptured with that he had produced that we sat day after day just gazing at the portrait. He mistakenly believed he would never be able to advance beyond that point.
One morning when he went to admire his work, he discovered that the master had blotted it out with paint. Angry and in tears, Timanthes ran to him and asked why he had done such a horrible deed. "I did it for your own good. He responded. "That pointing was retarding your progress. While it was an excellent piece of art it was not perfect. Start again and see if you can't do even better. "
So he did and produced his masterpiece called The Sacrifice of Iphigenai" which was regarded as one of the finest paintings in all of antiquity.
The point is not: never look back. The point is: only look back for the sake of pressing forward. Never substitute nostalgia for hope. Memories of successes can make you smug and self-satisfied. Memories of failure can make you hopeless and paralyzed in your pursuit of God. Never look back like that. Give humble thanks for successes; make humble confessions or failure; then turn to the future and go hard after God.
We have the past can also hinder us by guilt and shame and making us never feeling forgiven for our past. Christ died for all our sins. God wipes the slate clean. To think that you have sinned greater than God's forgiveness is indeed prideful. For you think that you are such a great sinner even the very blood of the creator of the universe isn't sufficient for you. That is heresy. Christ death alone takes care of the past sins and shame for us completely. There is nothing we humans can do.
Paul knew that Heb 20:1 "Their sins and iniquities I will remember no more.” 1 John 1:9 "If we confess our sins and his just and will forgive us all our sins and cleanses us from unrighteousness.” All the pride of his former religion the legalism of Judiazers Paul says forget that past, leave it behind, for it will keep you from a growing, progressing faith. All the victories of the past- forget them. All the sin of the past- put them behind you. Forgetting doesn't necessarily mean that it is out of your mind and you can't even recount what happened. Paul tells us of his past sins and victories but they don't mean anything now, except to encourage us in holiness or grace.
Pastor Dale
Sermon Nuggets Weds Oct 27
Verses- Phil 3: 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
15 All of us who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you.
Looking to the Future.
The finish line is the goal of a runner. He looks forward to that gold medal. He longs for the reward or the winning of the race. Paul seems to show his head forward, body bent and angled to the tape in order to win.
Our salvation is not based on legalism, not on works, not based on traditions, it is based on a relationship, but lest we get too smug and do nothing Paul is saying that relationship is acquired when we get to heaven and we look forward to that which keeps us going. We might be under difficult situations now.
He reminds the Philippians that they are not citizens of this world, but of heaven. The joy of the Christian does what he does out of love and thankful heart to Christ. Whereas the Judiazers and legalistic religion is always restless about whether he has kept all the rules and the regulations. By trying to justify himself he is actually moving farther away from God.
Paul strains to the things which are before him, the events of that last day. The suffering that he is going through doesn't seem half as bad knowing there is a reward. Think of the prize. It will be worth it all when we see Jesus.
Looking to the future gives him the upward look. When we keep our focus and concerns on this earth we are of little use because these concerns weigh us down. Paul can't wait for the day when he will be changed. This body will no longer suffer pain. Our resurrection bodies will be like the resurrected body of Christ. It will be incorruptible, limitless and powerful.
Throughout the pregnancy the mother looks forward to the day when she will have her child in her arms. God has ordained something wonderful in the future, when the pregnancy comes to full term. But in the meantime, perseverance is required. The mother has to press on, to go through all the hard work of the pregnancy. She has to be willing to be sick, to feel unattractive, to have headaches for which she cannot take aspirin, and colds for which she cannot take antihistamine, to restrict her diet, whatever, to press on because the goal toward which she is headed is so worthwhile.
Keep looking to the reward and let that be your motivation.
Charles Spurgeon, that great British preacher of the former century, when he was a student asked for a picture of Horatus Bonar, who wrote him. "Dear Spurgeon, if you had waited a little, you would have a better likeness, for soon I shall be like him."
Pastor Dale
Sermon Nuggets Thurs Oct 28
Verses- Phil 3: 16 Only let us live up to what we have already attained.
17 Join with others in following my example, brothers, and take note of those who live according to the pattern we gave you.
18 For, as I have often told you before and now say again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ.
19 Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is on earthly things.
Living in the Present.
Leaving the past is a way to progress- forget it; Looking to the future provides us important motivation. But we live in the now. The illustration of the competition is still a valid one. He is not troubled, nor proud about his past failures or victories. He is looking ahead to the goal and the prize, but for now he gives it all he has. He takes one step at a time. He is pressing on, straining, living up to his potential.
Wouldn't it be wonderful if Christians could put as much determination in to their spiritual lives as they do in their sports? With all the enthusiasm of sports, one wonders what would happen if we got half as excited about Jesus.
I believe he is trying to teach that perfection in this life is a goal, not an achievement. It is something you pursue, but never reach. There are some believers that think that when you are saved you can then live a sinless life. I am not talking about justification, but rather complete sanctification. Some believe you can live a life of moral perfection. They do not believe that is a result of progress, rather a result of a momentary instantaneous second work of grace, like salvation, you are momentarily instantaneously made sinless.
Paul confesses that he hadn't reached it, he hadn't attained it, he hadn't acquired it, he hadn't arrived at perfection and this is thirty years after his conversion. And if the apostle Paul with his commitment, after 30 years had not achieved perfection, who in the world are any of us to claim such?
In his day there were antinomians- those who felt they were saved and could do anything they wanted without regard to law or holiness. There were also Judiazers wanting to make all Christians follow Jewish rules. We have similar groups by different names today. Some say you’re saved, so live however you want. Others place before you all types of man-make rules and regulations. But Paul points us to the likeness of Christ. Don't compare yourself to those around you, but only with Jesus. We all see we have a way to go.
The churches are full of people who aren't interested in pursuing the prize. They're interested in looking at the past. They're content with where they are. And so they want to spend the rest of their life justifying the level of their attainment and convincing everybody around them that they're really very spiritual. Paul says, if you think anything other than what I've said about pursuing the prize, and you won't listen to me, then God will reveal that also to you." He simply says I have to leave you to God. If you're ever going to get the message and you won't get it from me, then you'll have to get it from God."
Most pastors do that, I think. I've done that. "Lord, I've poured out my heart, I've said all I can say, and I know there are people who continue to live non-committed lives and all I can say is, Lord, I can't do it, You're going to have to do it. You're going to have to reveal Yourself." And you know how the Lord usually does it? Through trials, suffering, chastening, things like that. Through some special circumstance of life that plunges us instantly back to spiritual reality.
Is our present state living for pleasures and worries, or living in the light of the Spirit of God who directs our steps and our future?
The call to those in the race is keep your mind on what you are doing now. Don't let the past victories and failures get in the way. Keep you eye on the goals, but keep on keeping on.
Well-known commentator and author Eric Sevarid said that the best lesson he ever learned was the principle of the "next mile." He recalled how he learned the principle:
During World War II, I and several others had to parachute from a crippled Army transport plane into the mountainous jungle on the Burma-India border. It was several weeks before an armed relief expedition could reach us, and then we began a painful, plodding march out to civilized India. We were faced by a 140-mile trek, over mountains in August heat and monsoon rains.
In the first hour of the march I rammed a boot nail deep into one foot; by evening I had bleeding blisters the size of 50-cent pieces on both feet. Could I hobble 140 miles? Could the others, some in worse shape than I, complete such a distance?
We were convinced we could not. But we could hobble to that ridge, we could make the next friendly village for the night. And that, of course, was all we had to do...
Eric Sevarid used the "next mile" principle many other times during his career, whether the task was writing a book or writing scripts for radio and television.
Pastor Dale
Sermon Nuggets Fri Oct 29
Verses- Phil 3:12-21 But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.
Phil 4:11 Therefore, my brothers, you whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, that is how you should stand firm in the Lord, dear friends!
Looking to Jesus
I am presently reading a classic, Pilgrim’s Progress. I am challenged again by this allegory of almost 400 years of the life journey of a Christian. Throughout the journey one thing is evident. We all need to have a destination in sight. We all need to remember where we're going.
Christian seems to run into many people who travel through life without direction. Many snares and dead ends occur as they are sidelined from their journey. Their eyes are fixed on the immediate and not on Jesus the author and finisher of their faith. The main two characters in the first part of the story are named Christian and Hope. Their companionship on the journey is a help to one another as they keep reminding themselves of the truth instead of the temptations along the way.
As I considered the importance of keeping my eyes on the prize, two very opposite examples were playing out on the news. The first scenario was the suicide of a young college student who committed suicide because of humiliation. Two other college students filmed him in a homosexual encounter with another young man and posted the whole thing on the Internet. He was devastated.
But the real tragedy was that he couldn't see beyond that moment. He couldn’t see beyond the immediate humiliation and shame. He couldn't see that there was still a future that could carry him past his pain, so he chose to end his journey.
The second story was a much happier one -- the rescue of the miners in Chile. Trapped for more than two months in the collapsed mine, they were able to keep their thoughts on the future rescue. One of the men held daily Bible studies and they prayed. There was change in several men as the reports came to trust Jesus. They survived, and their joyful faces proved to be shining examples of what it looks like to reach your destination -- the joy of hope fulfilled.
I watched as one of the miners fell to his knees as he exited the pod and thanked God for his rescue.
"Now faith is the reality of what is hoped for, the proof of what is not seen," Hebrews 11:1 tells us. In our earthly life remember Christ and they destination He provides your journey worth the trip.
Paul completes his thought 4:1. Therefore brothers, you whom I love and long for, my joy and crown is that how you should stand firm in the Lord, dear friends". Paul shows his affection for the church and lives for them They become his joy and crown, that means also reward that the runner or chariot racer gets.
As believers in Christ, our faith is sure, as real in our present troubles as it will be in the future. We can trust that the finish line is there and we can keep our eyes fixed Jesus, even in our most desperate situations.
Pastor Dale
