Good morning and happy Monday. I hope you all enjoyed your chilly weekend here in North Texas. It looks like we’re in for a pretty decent week, sunny with highs around 60. This is the time of the year when you’re glad to be living in Texas. Kinda cold but not really.
We had a good weekend. Marge is working a lot due to the Christmas season, but we find and treasure our moments to hang out. We enjoy a nice fire and some tasty dinner and just sit and talk. We still have no TV in the living area and at times it’s still really odd. Football seems to be the one thing that is causing major withdrawals. For me I like to watch it and Marge likes to nap to it..ha! What we’ve found though, is that you WILL spend your time somehow. If a TV is available, we will sit in front of it and ‘tune out.’ With no TV we have to pay attention to each other more. It sounds silly but it’s true. We talk more. I guess the only thing now is that I’ve got to find a friend’s house to watch the BCS and Super Bowl games. If you have a TV, call me.
We’re still in the book of Philippians, specifically chapter 3. There’s only 4 chapters in the entire letter so we’ll finish it up tomorrow and move onto Colossians. Paul had a very close, loving relationship with the church at Philippi and they were walking closely with the Lord. In the letters preceding this Paul was writing not only to encourage but to correct. He was addressing sin issues within the church in Corinthians and doctrine issues in the letter to the Galatians. Since the church was doing well in Philippi, we have a letter that is much shorter than the others. What's the old saying, “if there’s no smoke, there’s no fire.”
Here lately, in preparation to write the 5 Minute Challenge, I have been reading through the chapter twice and letting God bring something up. Meaning I listen for what He brings to my attention. I then read through my commentary on the entire chapter to get better clarification on the context as well as singular meanings. This morning two different verses leapt at me.
Let’s look at the first verse and frame the context. Paul is speaking of his straining towards the goal of imitating the perfection of Jesus Christ. He says he is not there yet, but he is constantly striving for this goal. So, what is the key to this ongoing journey of daily yearning to become more like Christ? Look at what Paul says:
“But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead.” Phil 3:13
The first thing we need to notice in this powerful statement is the first 5 words. “But ONE thing I do.” Paul says that in order to chase after Christ there is one thing. Not a top ten list, not a progressive task, not a checklist of 50 things, just one thing. And what an idea it is. In fact, this is one thing that I see more un-believers and new Christians struggle with than any other area.
What do I do with my past sins?
I think Satan can and does use our past against us better than any other ammunition he could hurl at us. I’ve heard it all. “God can never forgive what I’ve done.” “I’ve done such bad things, how can God ever forgive me?” “God might forgive me, but I can never forgive myself for what I’ve done.” “I’ve sinned against so many and hurt so many, they will never forgive me, much less God.” You see, the power of our past holds the key to the power of our future.
Paul knew this and said if you’re ever going to live for Christ, work for Christ, and truly become more like Christ in the future, you have to let go of your past. Oh, this is so difficult for us. Our past can creep into our psyche like a shadow crawls across the ocean. It can seep back into our thoughts like water penetrating every crack in a dry sidewalk. It happens before you even know it. The past is back.
Our memories are powerful. Within those memories there are good and bad. We have the flowery, loving, special memories that warm our hearts but then there’s the others. When we say, do or think anything that displeases God, it’s a sin against His Holiness. Some of the sins we have committed against Him resonate in our memories. They tell us we’re bad. They tell us we’re no good. They tell us we’ve failed Him. They tell us as a result WE are failures. In the words of Elsa, Paul says if you’re ever going to move forward in Christ, you have to “let it go.”
So how do you really let it go? This my friends, is the power of Christ. He did not die on that Cross 2000 years ago for some. He did not die that day for select sins. He did not die so that we can live in regret over the sins that He covered. His last words on the Cross were “It is finished” and my friends that is the truth of God. If you have called upon the name of Jesus Christ to save you, your sins are forgiven. Not some, all. Not the small ones, all. The big ones, the dark ones, the painful ones, all of them.
What powerful words from God this morning on the power of Jesus and the power of His forgiveness. You cannot fully serve Him today if you are caught up in regret over the sins of yesterday. Get on your knees today, confess your sins against Him and ask for His forgiveness and move into a new day today that is free from regret and sorrow. In this new day you can serve Him completely free from the bondage of yesterday.
Our second verse deals with something that is pretty obvious, yet sometimes can escape us. Our role models and the company we keep.
“Brothers, join in imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us.” Phil 3:17
When I got to be about 16 and started driving, my Grandad pulled me aside one day and gave me this wise advice. “Dan, there are two kinds of people in this world, those that pull you up and those that pull you down.” Being a goofy 16 year old, it didn’t make that much sense to me then, but then Grandad also said “you aint’t got no sense about you until your 30.” He was so right on both accounts.
Paul is saying the same thing here. Who are you looking up to? Who is your role model. You see, we all WILL imitate somebody today, who will it be?
You might be saying, “nope, not me Dan, I march to the beat of my own drum, I don’t follow anybody, I’m my own person.” Well, that’s just as bad because if you believe that we all have a sin nature, then you don’t have any idea of how to live better than the next guy. We’re all sinners and live a fallen life. So who do we follow?
In this passage Paul says join in imitating me. Paul was comfortable enough in His walk with Jesus that he said, you can imitate me. Just do what I do and you’ll be OK. That’s a powerful statement and one that puts an unbelievable amount of pressure on Paul. Later in the verse he says “keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in US.” Who is the US? In Phil 2:19-30 Paul speaks highly of Timothy and Epaphroditus. Paul tells of the plans he has to send them both to the church to deliver this letter as well as bring back news to him. Paul says you need to be imitating the right people, you can imitate me, Timothy and Epaphroditus.
So, I’m sure by now you’re thinking, “well, Dan, I don’t have a Paul, Timothy, or Epaphroditus to imitate and follow so that’s just great, who do I follow?” Let’s look at this logically first. Before we get into who we should be imitating, let’s look at the inverse as I think sometimes this is what we really struggle with.
Who should we NOT be hanging out with.
You see, just like my Grandad said, sometimes its not finding all the right people but recognizing who some of the wrong people are. There were periods of my life where I was imitating the wrong people and it got me into a lot of trouble. You might be saying, well, you were weak, I can hang out with people and they don’t affect me at all. I politely beg to differ. We are all very impressionable beings and if you spend enough time with someone you will be affected. Just like the old saying goes “birds of a feather flock together.” Not all of those birds were the same when the joined the group, but after time they became similar and created a bigger flock.
This also brings up a great point that Christians face. We are told to be the light of the world and to let our lights shine before men, so how are we to shine before lost people without hanging out with them. That is a fantastic questions and one I have fielded many times. Let’s look at a story.
I heard of a true story about a woman that accepted Christ and as a new believer was on fire for Jesus. The Spirit moved her so much that she wanted to share the good news with the world. She felt she was led to share the Gospel with the patrons of a local bar. She went there often and would befriend the patrons, invite them to church and when the opportunity presented itself, she would share about Jesus and what He had done in her life. She started to adapt to the setting and her new friends and started going more often. She then thought that if she could blend in better she could reach more people, you know, if I act like them I can reach them. She started to drink a little. Before long she was a regular patron herself and years later was dealing with alcoholism. This is a rather extreme example but is indeed a true one. You see, who was she imitating? Even under the great ideal of sharing Christ she was influenced by whom she was spending all of her time with.
Now the point of the story is NOT, all people in a bar are bad and avoid them because Jesus doesn’t love them. That’s not true and that’s not the Gospel. We are to be lights to the world but at the same time emulate people in our lives that lift us up and not pull us down.
It seems like today’s verses might have raised more questions than they answered and if that’s true, I’m glad of it. Take these verses and ponder them. Meditate on them throughout the day and week. Think about how these relate to you and the walk that God has before you. Store up God’s Word in your heart and it will speak to you more than once on the subject.
I pray that your personal time in God’s Word today spoke to you. I pray that you can let go of the regrets of yesterday for the promises of today. I also pray that God has placed a ‘Paul’ in your life that you can imitate in order to move closer to Christ.
God bless you my brothers and sisters in Christ.
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