Thursday, April 24, 2014

Strain Forward & Press On – Part 2

Philippians 3:10-16 “That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus. Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Let us therefore, as many as are perfect, have this attitude; and if in anything you have a different attitude, God will reveal that also to you; however, let us keep living by that same standard to which we have attained.” (NASB)

Continuing on our Easter Sunday sermon, Pastor Kyle came to the second point that we can press on by forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead. We are far from perfect. The Apostle Paul, who wrote most of the epistles of the New Testament, writes: “Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal”. He is says that he doesn’t have it all together and still working it out. May we never put forth an image that we have it all together either. How do we keep from portraying that image? By remembering where we come from. Remembering how desperately sinful each and every one of us is in the sight of God.

Psalm 105:4Seek the Lord and his strength; seek his presence continually!”

The Apostle Paul, before meeting Jesus and being converted, arrested Christians and had them put to death. As he was writing this letter to the Philippians, he was in prison awaiting execution but is able to write: “Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal”. What Paul is saying is, “You know what guys? Let’s not get so caught up on the negative things that the world has to say because all those things don’t serve to further the gospel or advance the kingdom of God.” Let me ask you a question: What does it mean to strain forward in your walk with God? I think that it is kind of like a spiritual working out of our salvation (Phil. 2:12-13). Straining requires effort.

Isaiah 40:29-31He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles;
they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.”

We want the results, but do not want to go through the process that it takes to get there. For example, anyone can get a gym membership to get in shape, but in order to get the desired results you have to go there and do the workouts, doing hart stuff that you don’t want to do. Spiritual growing requires straining forward and pressing on. How do you keep forward and not reverting back? On of the ways is that we stay connected to the body of Christ and develop key relationship within the church. Sometimes, we just need a little encouragement to get over the hump because we are going to have those moments when we feel that we are incapacitated and in trouble (aka “hosed”). We’re going to have moments when we think that this whole Christianity thing is too hard and wonder if we can live it out. So we need those key relationships within the church, the body of Christ, to help us be accountable and grow.

1 Corinthians 9:24-27Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it.  Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.

Additionally, Rows of Pews on Sunday, when we come together to praise and worship God corporately, is a great and awesome time. And circles of small group studies, where we are learning how life is happening and how to get through it, allows us to experience what it feels like while promoting unity and intimacy. All this within the local church is about getting back into spiritual shape the way that God designed us to grow. If I do not apply my salvation, then I do not grow the way that God designed me to grow. At times when we are weak in our faith or when life gets hard, God wants to strengthen us, and we need that support of the body of Believers with Jesus Christ as the head. The church is here so that you can find those key relationships in your life, to keep you straining forward. 

1 Timothy 4:7-8Do not waste time arguing over godless ideas and old wives’ tales. Instead, train yourself to be godly. “Physical training is good, but training for godliness is much better, promising benefits in this life and in the life to come.”

Coming to the home stretch in this thought-provoking Easter message to us all, we’ll pick up Pastor Kyle’s Easter Sermon again here on the next post.

In Christ, Brian

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