Press On!

(This is an abridged version of the New Year's Day sermon preached at Epworth Chapel, Baltimore on 1/1/12)

Philippians 3:12-14

I think that all of us would agree that we want to grow in the various aspects of our lives – spiritually, emotionally, relationally and physically. If the truth is told, it is often not a matter of if we want to grow – but the issue for many of us is how we actually get from where we are to where we believe that God is leading us.

It is important for each of us to know that God has a divine plan for our lives. Yes, from the point of our conception, God has a blueprint – a road-map established for each of us. God has certain things that God intends for us to accomplish during our days here on earth. This is what the prophet Jeremiah meant when he said, “from the time that I was in my mother’s womb, God you knew me.”

God who knows all, and sees all, and is all, already knows what the plan is for each of us.

The problem then is not one of God not knowing, but of our not recognizing what God wants us to be and to do. The problem for many of us is a problem of lack of conformity. We encounter stunted growth in our lives because of a lack of conformity to God’s will and way for our lives. Many people wonder “why am I at the same point today as I was yesterday? Why do I have the same hang-ups? Why do I have the same problems? Why do the same people and places and things seem to be holding me back?

And if you know like I know, churches ponder the very same questions that we do in our individual and family lives. Why can’t we grow? Why are we dealing with the same mess this year that we were dealing with last year? Why are we in this rut? Why are we mired in the blues and the blahs, with no apparent way out?

What we need to realize is that God has a plan for taking every church to another level.

God has a plan for us. God does not want us to be at the same place in our lives tomorrow as we are today. In fact, God is willing and able to move some things and some people out of our way, in order for us to grow if we would just let the Lord take over, and really become the Lord of our lives.

In our Scripture text, Paul – the preacher and pastor – here uses his own life as an example of how God wants to transform us and take us to another level. We remember Paul had been a sinner who was saved by grace. Paul had sought to persecute those who followed Jesus, and Jesus met Paul one day, knocked him down and then picked him back up and used him as a servant for the newly emerging church.

Paul here seeks to use his life and what God had done for him, and how God was taking him to another level as an example for those in the Philippian church who needed to be encouraged.

Hear Paul’s words: “It is not that I have already obtained this, or reached my goal, but I press to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Beloved, I do not consider that I have made it my own, but this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind, and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press toward the mark (goal) for the heavenly calling of God in Christ Jesus.”

In other words, God had blessed Paul, but he knew that God was still taking him higher. And as God had blessed the church, God also desired to take the body of Christ to another level.

So how is it that we – you and I - might go to another level in our lives? How might our church go to another level? There are a few things that we will need to understand if we are to do to go to another level.

First in order to go to another level, we will need to realize that we have not yet reached our goal, we have not yet made it. Paul said it is not as though I have already obtained this, or have already reached my goal. Many people stop growing because they live under the false assumption that they already have it made (in the shade). They already have a good job, a few dollars in the bank, a house to live in, a spouse and a family. They are already an officer in the church. So they think they have it made.

Well, I have news for us, regardless of what our lot in life, whatever we may or may not have yet attained, God is not finished with any of us yet. We are all a work in progress. God wants to work on you and me, build us up, and make us new. God is not finished with is yet.

Second, we need to know that in order for God to take us to another level we are going to have to forget some things. Paul says, “Forgetting those things that are behind.” In other words, we are going to have to put some things, put some people, and put some situations behind us. We are going to have to forget some hurts, and forget some disappointments from our past.

How many of us still hold grudges and find it hard to let go of things that may have happened to us 5, 10, 20 years ago? Many folk are still mad, still upset, and still disgusted at people who we feel did us wrong a long time ago. Many times, these people don’t even remember what they did to hurt us.

We need to forget some things. It’s time for all of us to move on, from some things in life, and stop letting our old grudges and old hurts hold us back, and keep us from growing and fulfilling our potential in Christ. Church, it’s time to let some things go, give them to God, and let the Lord do the rest.

The third thing that we need to do is to press on. Once we forget some things and let go of some things, we need to start pressing, and moving to where God is leading us. One thing I’ve learned about getting to the places where God leads us, is that it takes a lot of persistence (importunity). But as tire as we might get, and discouraged as we might feel, we need to keep pressing, keep pushing (in the name of Jesus) to where God is leading us. Press on!.

Well, as we think on Paul and what he was saying to the Philippian church, we know that we must press on. Might we sing as the song-writer wrote: .

I’m pressing on
The upward way
New heights I’m gaining
Every day...