It’s cheesy, but perhaps you’ve heard it said that JOY comes from having the priorities Jesus, Others, You. I know, cheesy. But there’s some truth to it. And interestingly, Philippians, which is the book all about joy, follows that outline. We’ve talked about Christ being our life. First and foremost, He is our consideration. Secondly, we talked about how to relate to Others, our second most important consideration. And finally, we’ll talk about how this all relates to you during these last two sessions. Specifically, how am I to relate to my past, present and future. Tonight we’ll hit on past and future and tomorrow morning finish up with present.
We’ve already spent a lot of time studying this passage, but here are the keys that I see. If it is true that to live is Christ, then He Himself is our goal in life. That’s it. Your life goal? Christ. He is our goal.
So if Christ is our goal, how does that impact the way we relate to our …
Past (vv 1-11)
- We no longer find our significance in our accomplishments (Phil 3:3). Our value, worth, dignity, is found in Christ, in being made in His image. (talk about the social resume-giving that is so common among young adults). It isn’t about what college you go to, what major you have, where you live, what car you drive, what clothes you wear, how many facebook friends you have. Count it all loss compared to Christ.
- We gladly lose anything that doesn’t contribute to God’s glory (Phil 3:8). This means that even if I have a full-ride scholarship to a certain school, but I know God’s calling me elsewhere, I gladly “lose” whatever I need to lose in order to follow God. (Example: support-raising after college)
- We use all that we have as a platform for the gospel (Acts 21:40ff). This also might mean God does want to use that scholarship…for Him. I was so blessed to have a full-ride scholarship through college, and earned it for graduate school as well. Which means, that a private scholarship fund paid 100% of my seminary education! That’s crazy! So if you have a talent or skill, ability, scholarship, opportunity, gift–whatever you have, use it for God’s kingdom, just like Paul did.
Future (vv12-21)
- We don’t let the past trip up our future (v. 13). Paul had done horrible things in his years before Christ got hold of his heart. He was full repentant, and I’m sure he never forgot what he’d done. But he didn’t let that hold him back. When we hold onto the sin of our past, we’re essentially saying that what Jesus did on the cross wasn’t enough. When we are forgiven, we are forgiven past, present, future. Let it go.
- We STRAIN forward (v.13). Paul isn’t talking about moseying into church once a week and listening to a sermon and calling that Christianity. If Christ is our life, our goal, we go after Him with all our heart. Consider an Olympic or college/professional athlete . How do they train? While sipping chai curled up on a couch? They train, strive, sweat. They’re up early, they’re practicing, lifting, running, training. That’s the image here. When we follow Christ we are enlisting in some intense training–for life.
- We fix our focus (v.19). This is critical. If Christ is our goal, then HE must be what we fix our focus on. Not garbage TV shows or fashion magazines or romance novels or any number of things that distract us here on earth. We are Christians not just Americans, which means that we were not born here just to accumulate wealth, have babies, drive a minivan and mow the lawn until we die. We have something greater to DO while we’re here. Fix our focus on the things of God. What is the input into your mind??
It’s critical that we deal with our past and set our faces resolutely toward the future to seek all that God has for us. Let’s do that tonight.