One of the best part-time jobs I ever had in college was as an assistant high school basketball coach. No, the pay wasn’t great ($150 a season) but I did get to work with one of the most successful coaches in the state of Wisconsin. In his twenty years of coaching, Coach B. led his teams to at least 6 State titles. While Coach did have some talented players to work with he was successful because he knew how to get the most out of them. He did that by keeping the team focused on the goal they had set for themselves at the beginning of the season. That’s important because athletes tend to dwell on their past successes and when they do they stop striving to become better never reaching their full potential.
Did you know that the Apostle Paul would have made a pretty good coach, especially in track? I say that because in our text this morning Paul demonstrates that he knows what it takes to win an important race. In encouraging the Philippians and us in our race to heaven Paul gives us this advice. The Prize is Waiting. 1) Don’t look back at your past accomplishments; 2) Keep moving forward in your life of faith.
Have you ever tried walking forward while looking behind you? It’s risky business isn’t it? You never know what you’ll run into. In our race to heaven it’s not just risky but downright foolish to run while looking back at our accomplishments. Paul tried doing that for the first part of his life when he was still known as Saul. At that time he took great pride in his Jewish heritage and the fact that he had strived not only to keep the laws in the Old Testament but the extra laws the Pharisees had made up as well. Paul felt that if there was anyone who should have made it to heaven based on his accomplishments it should have been he. Paul wrote, “If anyone else thinks he has 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 legalistic righteousness, faultless” (3:5, 6).
Jesus changed Paul’s mind about his past accomplishments when he appeared to him on the road to Damascus (Acts 9). There he told Paul that he was doing the Devil’s work, not God’s, by persecuting Christians. Later he led Paul to see that what he had once considered to be accomplishments were not only worthless but harmful in his race to heaven. Paul said, “But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8 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 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ” (Philippians 3:7-9).
Rubbish! Trash! Dung! That’s what Paul thought of his past attempts to get close to God when he realized that you can only get close to him through Jesus. Only Jesus can give us the true righteousness, or perfection that God demands from us. In order to show that righteousness is not something we can earn on our own Jesus once told this parable about a wedding banquet (Matthew 22). A king sent out invitations to everyone in his land to come to the banquet he had prepared for his son. With the invitation everyone received a set of clothes they were to wear to the feast. When one gentleman showed up to the banquet wearing his own clothes he was promptly rebuked and thrown out. In the same way if we think we can enter heaven clothed in our best efforts to be a good spouse, obedient child, or friendly neighbour we are thumbing our nose at the beautiful clothes of righteousness Jesus has won for us. As a result we will not be accepted into God’s kingdom but be thrown down into hell.
But wait a minute! Are our accomplishments really that awful? If you have been looking with pride on the kind of life you’ve lived it’s time to take a candid look at it. If we are honest with ourselves we’ll admit that when we think about our life we tend to block out the bad while remembering the good. For instance when we think back to our college, or high school days we have no problem remembering how hard we studied but forget about those drinking parties at which we got a little tipsy. When we think back to our childhood we remember how we faithfully did chores around the house and farm but forget how few times we did them willingly and joyfully. When we think back to our confirmation days we take pride in how many Bible passages we memorized, but forget how Mom and Dad had to prod us to memorize them. Brothers and sisters, don’t kid yourself. Our past is not great, nor are things worse today than they were twenty, thirty, or fifty years ago; we just think they are because we have forgotten, or minimized our own sin.
Instead of looking back with pride on our past we should look back with horror and shame. Instead of bragging about our accomplishments we should be distancing ourselves from them like cargo that’s going to cause our ship to sink if we don’t throw it overboard. Of course the only way we can keep from drowning in our sins is to believe that Jesus has rescued us from them. That’s why focusing ahead on Christ in our race to heaven is so important. Paul said, “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, 11 and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead” (Philippians 3:10, 11). To know and believe in Christ means to share his hatred for sin. It also means that we may share in his suffering as people ridicule us for our faith. That shouldn’t bother us though because those who share in his suffering because they believe will also share in his resurrection.
If a sprinter wants to win his race he can’t afford to look back with pride on the ground that he has covered; he has to keep moving forward. In the same way if we want to take hold of the prize Christ has won for us we too will want to keep moving forward in our life of faith. In fact Paul encourages us to give it all we have to cross the finish line, just like the sprinter who leans forward as far as he can to break the tape first. Paul said, “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, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:12-14).
How do we keep moving forward in our life of faith? Well for starters we’ll want to continue to strengthen the faith that God has given to us. You say that you’ve read through the Bible before? Great! Read it through again, and again. You say that you’ve been to a Bible Information Class already? Great! Go again, or come to the Bible class on the life of Christ that will start in May. Striving to learn God’s Word better is an ongoing privilege. There is so much in his Word that it’s impossible for even the most intelligent people in the world not to learn something new every time they read and study it. Besides, our faith needs strengthening daily. Just because we ate supper last night doesn’t mean that we’ll never have to eat supper again does it? In the same way just because we’ve studied God’s Word once doesn’t mean that we don’t need to study it again.
To keep moving forward towards the prize also means to strengthen our life of sanctification. Paul said that he wanted to become more and more like Christ. That should also be our goal too. No, we will never be perfect this side of heaven but it doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t try. Therefore don’t be satisfied with the way you treat your spouse, children, boss, parents, or teachers. Keep striving to serve them better. Work on overcoming your weaknesses whether that’s controlling your pride, cynicism, or tendency to rip people apart instead of encouraging them. Don’t be content to think that you’ve done all you can to repair damaged relationships. Pray for the Lord to help you repair them and then do something about it!
We’ll want to keep moving forward as a congregation too and never be satisfied with how we are carrying out our mission but always strive to do better. What exactly is our mission here at St. Peter’s? Article III Section 1 of our constitution says, “The continuing purpose of this congregation, as a gathering of Christians, is to serve all people in God’s world with the Gospel of Jesus Christ on the basis of the Holy Scriptures.” Our mission is two-fold: strengthen the faith of our members, and bring God’s Word to the world.
How well are we carrying out that mission? Have you thought about it? If not you should be. That’s not just something for the pastor or the leaders of the congregation to think about. For example what can we be doing better to encourage our missing brothers and sisters to be here for church and stay for Bible class? Would you be willing to give them a call or stop in for a visit? How about writing them a card?
What can we do better to reach out to our community? We have a good thing going with our Birthday Breakfast and Easter 4 Kids outreach but how can we make it better? How can we, you, do a better job of encouraging our participants to learn more about God’s Word? Maybe that’s not the best way to do outreach. Maybe we could connect better with families if we had a pre-school, taught English to recent immigrants, or offered pregnancy counseling? I don’t know the best way of reaching out here and I suspect that you don’t either! That shouldn’t keep us from trying new outreach strategies - in fact it should encourage them. Are we up to the challenge of moving ahead as individuals and as a congregation? I hope so because the moment we stop striving to move forward we’ll start to slide backwards just like an athlete who stops practicing because he thinks he’s reached the top of his game.
Last week I ended the sermon by asking you about your spiritual health. This week I’m going to ask how you’re doing in your race to heaven. While there should be no losers in this race many will disqualify themselves by taking pride in what they have done instead of what Jesus has done for them. Others will never finish the race because they become content with the little knowledge of Christ they have and before they know it they lose it because they don’t seek to increase that knowledge. The funny thing about this race is that we don’t know when it will end. Some may be closer to finishing it than others, but Christ could return tomorrow making this the homestretch for us all. That’s all the more reason to heed Paul’s advice. Don’t look back. Keep moving forward. The prize is waiting. Amen.
