As referenced in the sermon here are the suggested questions to ask others (HT: Nathan Burke):

1. How am I most disappointing as a friend?
2. Where do I most consistently fail?
3. What patterns do you see that annoy or frustrate you?
4. What is something that you’ve wished I would do or stop doing?
5. Where or how am I not living up to my potential?
6. What are my blind spots?
7. How can I be of more help to you?

2 Cor. 5:14-21

Also consider how you might get involved with the church’s orphans and adoption ministry, Reflection Ministries.

Imagine your son or daughter in 30 or 40 years. What one phrase would sum up everything that you hope for in the life and character of your son or daughter?

Amy Chua (the “Tiger Mom”) recently published a book called Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother which contrasts the “western” approach to parenting with the Chinese approach which she considers superior. Here is how she sums up the two views:

Western parents try to respect their children’s individuality, encouraging them to pursue their true passions, supporting their choices, and providing positive reinforcement and a nurturing environment. By contrast, the Chinese believe that the best way to protect their children is by preparing them for the future, letting them see what they’re capable of, and arming them with skills, work habits and inner confidence that no one can ever take away.

I think the “Tiger Mom” would answer my question by saying she would want her children to be successful. And she would argue that there is an absolute standard of success. In her view “success” is always getting A’s and never an A minus or less. Her hope is that her children will work at whatever they are doing until they reach that perfect grade.

Of course there is nothing wrong with success and hard work and doing well at what you are doing. But does success really sum up our hope for the future as Christians? Even if our son or daughter is the most successful person of their generation will that really be enough? Jesus asks this question in Mark 8:36, “For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?”

So what is the answer? What phrase should describe our hope for our children? Jesus tells us a couple of verses earlier:

And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it.

Mark 8:34-35 ESV

Jesus calls us to “come after” him. This is what it means to be a disciple of Christ. This is my hope for my children to be a…

Disciple of Christ

If my children as adults are fully devoted disciples of Christ, my hope for them will be realized. And Christ does not just give us a phrase but he also clearly defines it. These disciples are not just Christian In Name Only, they are doing three things: 1) Denying themselves (huge!), 2) willingly sacrificing themselves for the cause of Christ (even unto death), and 3) following Christ in their life. I get excited just thinking about it. If my children are doing those things what more could I want?

If your hope is that your children grow to become fully devoted disciples of Christ, I want to recommend the book Shepherding a Child’s Heart by Tedd Tripp. In my opinion this book is a  modern classic. It will help parents understand their role as partners with the Holy Spirit in leading their children to become disciples of Christ. We must remember that our children’s greatest problem and their only solution is the same as with all mankind. Our collective problem is sin and our collective answer is our savior Jesus Christ.

But what are we, fathers, doing today to help lead our children toward being disciples of Christ? My family has done a lot in the last two years, including: piano lessons, the softball practices, the school work, the music competitions, the art classes, the vacations to amazing places, the museums, Sunday School, etc. In doing all these things was I (or am I) doing them in hope of my children becoming something other than a disciple of Christ? Is them becoming a disciple of Christ a lower goal or hope?

We are in the process of adopting two boys from Haiti. I just know that I will be tempted to push them into sports because of my secret hope that one of them will be the next Pierre Garçon (Haitian born wide receiver for the Colts).

All those things I am doing for my children are good things, but what good is it if they master those areas but forfeit their soul?

Clearly my job as their father is to disciple them. But to do it right is to disciple them in Christ, not in success.

Do you want your child to not hit their siblings? Or do you want your child to deal with anger at the heart level with the power of the Holy Spirit?

Do you want your child to work hard? Or do you want your child to work heartily knowing they are serving the Lord Jesus Christ?

Here is a harder one for us as parents: Do you want your child to be a successful (fill in the blank)? Or do you want your child to deny his own desires, be willing to sacrifice self, and then do whatever Christ calls him to do?

Tedd Tripp will help you to see your call as a father to lead your children in partnership with the Holy Spirit toward being disciples of Christ, not disciples of “success.”

Philippians 4:8

Full text of message is below…

A number of years ago I read a very interesting non-fiction book called the Cuckoo’s Egg by Cliff Stoll. It is his true life story about how he stumbled across and tracked an international spy in the late 1980s. This spy was using the early stages of the Internet to hack into universities and military bases around the world.

Cliff Stoll was an astronomer and a computer technician at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Lawrence Berkeley Lab is a lab on the campus of UC Berkeley out in California. Cliff Stoll worked in the lab assisting astronomers in their lab work. The lab contained large computers that astronomers from around the world would log into to run their programs and calculations for their research.

So basically an astronomer in another part of the country or world could get time on these super computers to do research. Cliff Stoll helped them in this at the lab. There was nothing on their systems that was secret so they didn’t worry too much about security.

In the summer of 1986 Stoll was asked by his supervisor to look into an accounting error in their billing system. Apparently someone had used their computer system for 9 seconds and racked up a 75 cent bill that was unpaid.

So Cliff Stoll started investigating this 75 cents of use of their system. As he looked into it he started uncovering more and more suspicious activity. He began to realize that he had uncovered a hacker. This hacker hadn’t just used their system for 9 seconds without paying for it but he had also gained system administrator access to their system which allowed him to do whatever he wanted to and cover his tracks along the way.

Stoll set up a computer to log everything this guy did. He was soon shocked to discover what this hacker was doing. He tracked this hacker’s activity all over the United States. The hacker was using the Lawrence Berkeley Lab as a hopping point to launch to other sites around the United States.

In the late 80s military bases and universities were connected to one another through ARPANET and MILNET, the early stages of the Internet. Relatively little was known at that time about hacking and cyber security.

As he followed this hacker he found to his amazement that he was gaining access to not only non-classified systems like his lab but also to classified systems and networks on military bases around the country. This hacker was able to gain access to more than 400 U.S. military computers.

He’d watch this person gain access to systems in novel ways not known to be possible.

But he also watched him gain access in very simple ways that showed that the administrators of these computer systems didn’t even expect attacks.

For example, he watched this hacker gain administrator access at multiple military bases just by guessing the administrator’s password. On one occasion that I remember the administrator username was “admin” and the password was “password.” After gaining administrator access he could do whatever he wanted and cover his tracks after the fact.

As soon as Cliff Stoll figured out of this guys intentions he went to the FBI. He called the local office in Oakland and couldn’t convince them to take it seriously. They kept coming back to the fact that only 75 cents was stolen.

He contacted the FBI in Washington, he contacted the NSA and was getting lots of resistance and no one would take it seriously. He would contact the computer administrators at these military bases and would get mixed reactions. Most didn’t believe him. So just out of civic duty he continued to track this hacker.

He was finally able to convince the right authorities to take it seriously and with Cliff Stoll’s help they were able to apprehend the hacker. It was discovered that he was a German student in West Germany working for the Soviet KGB.

Cyber security today is a very serious business and Cliff Stoll deserves a lot of the credit for opening the eyes of authorities and helping people to realize its importance. Today, the cyber war is recognized as a frontline.

But it first had to be recognized as a frontline. It is pretty basic but if you don’t first recognize where the attacks are coming from you can’t adequately defend yourself.

Think about it for a second. How well would you do in defending yourself if you didn’t even know where the attacks were happening?

That is essentially what happened in Cliff Stoll’s experience. The United States was very vulnerable simply because we didn’t understand that attacks could come at us through computers and networks.

The same is true for us and our lives. Did you know that there is one major frontline in our personal lives? Did you know that there is a primary place where the enemy attacks us?

In order to defend ourselves we have to first understand where the battle is being fought. We have to realize where the front line is located.

The primary frontline for the battle between good and evil in our personal lives is in our minds. It is our thought life.

This morning I want to first help you to understand and realize that your mind and thought life is where the battle is being fought in your life and then we’ll look at how you can start winning that fight.

My text for this morning is Philippians 4:8… It reads…

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.

The theologian and seminary professor Dwight Pentecost said this about this verse and the mind…

The greatest area of sin in the believer’s life is not the area of actions but the area of thought. There is a whole classification of sins that we would have to call sins of the mind. What was the first sin of Lucifer? It was pride. What is that? A sin of the mind. What is lust? A sin of the mind. What is covetousness? A sin of the mind. Greed? A sin of the mind. Suspicion? A sin of the mind. Discouragement? A sin of the mind. We could go on and on. Those sins are more real to the child of God than such sins as adultery and murder and theft. That is a testimony to the fact that there is a warfare going on. Satan is attacking the mind. Therefore this word of the Apostle Paul concerning the use we make of our minds is so relevant to us today: meditate, ruminate, dwell on these things.

Our mind is the frontline in the battles of this life.

This battle is between the flesh, our sinful desires, and the Holy Spirit in us which wants us to live for Christ.

Romans chapters 7 and 8 goes through and talks about the battle between the flesh and the Spirit after we become Christians.

In the latter part of chapter seven it describes this tension as a war.

And then Romans 8:5-7 pinpoints where exactly the battle is being fought…

[5] For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. [6] For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. [7] For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot.

What this is saying is that there are only two paths to take and those paths are taken by what we set our mind on.

You’ve heard of the saying “You are what you eat.” This passage is saying “You live what you think.”

It is important to understand that as Christians we are no longer slaves to the path of the flesh. We’ve been set free. But we are also still in our bodies. Paul describes  it as a “body of death.”

And so therefore I would sum up the Christian walk as the day by day, moment by moment choice of setting my mind on the things of the Spirit. We walk in the flesh by setting our minds on the things of the flesh and we walk in the Spirit by setting our minds on the things of the Spirit.

So if the battle is primarily taking place in our minds, how do we win that battle?

I want to give a strategy for winning this battle in our minds. Let’s walk through each of these points.

It starts with salvation. We need the mind of Christ through conversion. Before we believe Jesus, the Bible teaches that we are slaves to sin. Without Christ it is impossible to win this battle in the mind.

We have to get help from a savior in order to be unchained from the slavery of sin.

Rom 8:7-8: [7] For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. [8] Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

So it starts with first accepting Jesus and believing him. All you have to do is believe that Jesus died for your sins and then was raised from the dead. It means crying out to God for help. Admitting that you can’t do it. Admitting that you need him.

Secondly we need to recognize the battle of the mind. Just like Cliff Stoll helped us to better understand cyber security, we need to first understand that the battle is waged in our thought life.

Each thought is a chance to go back to the old way of thinking, flesh, or to allow Christ to transform us. Set the mind on the Spirit rather than on the flesh.

All the time information comes into our minds and we are faced with the choice of what to do with it. With each thought we are either in the flesh or in the Spirit. There are no neutral thoughts. Which way are you going to go?

What if someone says something to you that is rude or mean? How do you process that thought? Hate them in your mind? Or maybe love them and have compassion for them in their state of sin?

And then obviously thoughts of hate and anger that we allow to dwell in our minds become bigger things like bitterness. That first thought of anger starts you down a path of sin. It is the path of setting the mind on things of the flesh.

So after salvation we start winning the battle of the mind by first recognizing the battlefield of our mind. Don’t kid yourself that you are OK as long as you just think about things and don’t act them out. You will live what you think and we can sin even in our minds.

Thirdly… We will stumble and sin but when that happens we need to confess it immediately. Confess your sinful thoughts to God as sin, keep short account, don’t allow them to develop or dwell on them.

At the moment you realize the thought is sinful ask God to forgive you for that sin. Recognize it as sin and solve it through Christ. There is no such thing as small manageable sins. Christ is the only solution to sin, even the sins of the mind.

So when that tempting thought moves to sin we have to recognize that it is sinful and then confess it to Christ. He will forgive and cleanse you of that sin.

Sin management is not the answer. “Lord forgive me, Lord help me” should be your prayer.

The last time I preached it was on the two previous verses to verse 8. Those verses teach us to not be anxious about anything and how to be free from anxiety. Anxiety and worry are sins of the mind. And if you remember I said that the root of anxiety is not trusting in God. Not trusting in God is a sin.

So winning the battle in the mind over anxiety starts by first recognizing that the battle starts in the mind.

A situation hits your life that tempts you to either trust in yourself or to trust in God. If you choose to trust in yourself you’ll need to recognize that as sin and then repent.

Another part in winning the battle of the mind is we need to guard the inputs to our minds.

What is coming into your mind? What do you allow in and to influence you?

Satan is bombarding us with ideas and thoughts and ways of thinking that are all lies. He is the father of lies. Remember that he never stops lying to you.

Are you measuring everything against God’s Word? Remember the example of the Bereans who studied God’s word very carefully to determine what is true.

The study and application of God’s word is best done in fellowship. Ephesians 4 shows that if you aren’t in fellowship with the church you can believe all kinds of things that come along into your life. And then as you believe and apply those lies it is going to lead to sin.

So again ideas have consequences so we need to make sure those ideas are based on God’s eternal truth.

Another area of input is the various media sources like TV, movies, Internet.

What types of things cause you to stumble in your thought life? Does the input tempt you to sin? Does it appeal to your sinful desires?

Maybe you should take those things out of your life or set up a system that helps to protect you. Seek God and ask him for wisdom here.

The 24 hour news cycle hasn’t done many people any favors in this area. There is a difference between staying informed and participating in the latest collective national freak out. Remember the N1H1 virus scare? Whatever happened to it?

I’m not saying these national issues are unimportant. But if it is causing you anxiety or stress, sin in your thoughts, then maybe you should cut back on it?

Again, seek God for wisdom in these areas and what you might need to cut.

So we need to guard the inputs. But we need to realize that while you can work to avoid bad inputs you can’t free yourself totally from them. You’ve got to be prepared to deal with them.

And that leads to this point in the winning strategy…

We need to think about right things. This is the point of Philippians 4:8.

I’ll talk about how we set our minds on the things of the Spirit in a moment but first I want to make quick point of clarification.

Let me read the passage…

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.

This passage has nothing to do with the what is called the Power of Positive Thinking. The Power of Positive Thinking was popularized a few decades ago by Norman Vincent Peale. Unfortunately some pastors have continued to push it under other labels and it is a very dominant way of thinking in our country.

I think you can describe a lot of the spirituality stuff that you hear from Oprah as The Power of Positive Thinking.

Essentially what it says as a philosophy is that you can change reality just by changing your perception of reality. So if I can just think only positive thoughts about my circumstances I can actually change my circumstances.

This way of thinking is very deceptive and dangerous because it has the potential of making you think you have “solved” your problems without the help of God. You see there is no savior other than Christ and any philosophy that solves our problems outside of Christ is a lie.

The best it can do is bend our perception of our reality to make us think everything is “good.” But eventually we will be faced with reality. In other words you may think everything is ok around you but that doesn’t make it so.

Reality for a non-believer, someone who doesn’t have Christ, is hopelessness and desperate need for a savior. They need the gospel not positive thinking.

Think about the old cartoons where the damsel gets tied to the railroad tracks. She needs a savior, not positive thinking. Reality is that there is a train flying down the track that will crush her. No amount of encouragement to think positively will rescue her. She needs to cry for help, not admire the beauty of the scenery.

Any way of thinking that avoids the cry for help will damn souls to hell and that is why it is satanic.

So after recognizing where the battle is fought, confessing sinful thoughts, guarding the inputs, we’ve got to fill our mind with good things. We need to fill our minds with right thinking.

Paul gives us a list of the types of things that we should think about. This is what our minds should be filled with and thinking about.

The end of Philippians 4:8 says to “think about these things.”

The greek word used here for “think” is the same word used in Romans 4 where it is talking about Abraham’s faith counted to him as righteousness. “it was counted” is the same greek word as what is translated here as “think.”

So this kind of thinking is a kind of thinking that is based on facts not suppositions. For example, “how much cash do I have in my wallet? I suppose I have about $5 in my wallet.” [check wallet] “Looks like I have $4 in reality.”

So when Paul writes to “think about these things” he’s talking about things that are based in reality. It isn’t based on supposition but on actual facts.

It is also a deliberate kind of thinking, something we dwell on rather than just something we think about in passing.

Let’s walk through each one…

True – The actuality of something.

God’s Word is true, everything he says is true.

But most people today don’t ask if something is actually true. “Will it work?” and “How does it make me feel?” are more common questions.

Are your thoughts on things that are true? Do you care whether what you think about is true or not? Do you dwell on lies or on truth?

Honorable – This is things that are worthy of respect, venerable, or noble. Whatever evokes special respect. Things that are dignified.

Are you giving your attention to things that have value, dignity, and holiness on it? Or is your mind on things that aren’t respectable?

Just – This is things that are righteous. Things that conform to God’s eternal righteousness. Things that are innocent.

Are you thinking about things that are tainted or shady? Are you thinking about things that conform to God’s righteousness?

Pure – This is things that are chaste, clean, not dirty, not filthy.

Are you dwelling on impure thoughts. Do you allow them to take hold in your mind? Or are you thinking about things that are pure? Do your thoughts stand up against God’s measurement of purity?

Lovely – This word is a relational word. It is talking about actions and motives towards others that are good. These are thoughts that produce unity, rest, and peace with others.

Do your thoughts lead to strife with others or do your thoughts lead to peace?

Commendable – Good repute, praiseworthy, laudable, highly regarded, or well thought of.

Are you thinking about the good things you see in others or in their faults and shortcomings? If what you thought of someone were revealed would it build them up or tear them down?

Excellent – These are things that are worthy of merit, things that are done very well. High and good performance is excellent. Anything that does exactly what it is supposed to do.

Are your thoughts on things that are excellent or on things that are not well done? Our minds should be focused on things that are excellent.

Worthy of Praise – These are things that deserve to be praised.

Are your thoughts on things worthy of praise? Would God praise the things that you think about?

As we look at this list we can all come up with examples of thoughts that fit into these eight points. But let me ask you this… What is most true, most honorable, most just, most pure, most lovely, most commendable, most excellent, and most worthy of praise?

It isn’t a “What” it is a “Who.” Jesus Christ is not just the most true he is truth. God and his revealed Word is the absolute best thing that we can fill our minds with.

Consider the battle of the mind, the attacks that come on us from lies to temptations, our best defense is God’s Word. And God’s Word is something you can fill your mind with.

I encourage you to take His Word very seriously. You need it everyday. It answers all the lies and provides the answers to all our temptation. Fill your mind with and dwell on His Word.

So the final point in the winning strategy of the mind is to think about God’s Word. One of the best things you can do in this area is to memorize God’s word. Spend the time it takes to embed those words into your mind. Then take those free moments to rehearse them in your mind. This is the act of Christian meditation.

One of the most powerful Christian disciplines you can experience is Bible memory and meditation. When you have something so well memorized that you can just lay in bed and recall it in your mind you know you’ve really got it well memorized.

In my personal experience when I can rehearse Bible verses without notes but just through memory that is the thing that embeds them deep within my memory. And how it comforts and feeds the soul.

And you can use the Word of God in your prayer. Listen to this section from Psalm 119 and think about it as a prayer from you to God… Note how often it refers to issues of our heart and mind as well as God’s Word.

(Psalm 119:9-16)

[9] How can a young man keep his way pure?
By guarding it according to your word.

[10] With my whole heart I seek you;
let me not wander from your commandments!

[11] I have stored up your word in my heart,
that I might not sin against you.

[12] Blessed are you, O LORD;
teach me your statutes!

[13] With my lips I declare
all the rules of your mouth.

[14] In the way of your testimonies I delight
as much as in all riches.

[15] I will meditate on your precepts
and fix my eyes on your ways.

[16] I will delight in your statutes;
I will not forget your word.

Paul writes in Philippians 4:8 that if something is not true do not let it enter your mind. And the way that you know something is not true is by first knowing what is the ultimate truth, the pure milk of God’s holy Word!

Remember that how you chose to think (either using the guidelines of Philippians 4:8 or things of the flesh) will affect your will and your emotions and ultimately how you live your life.

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.

Update: I’m reposting this article I wrote a couple of years ago about Josh Hamilton because the Rangers just made it to the American League Championship Series in Major League Baseball. Last year he publicly fell again, not as far as he had in the past, but it just showed how powerful the flesh can be and how it is an ongoing battle for him… and for all of us. Plus I’ve included a new video testimony at the bottom.

Josh Hamilton, a professional baseball player for the Texas Rangers, is an amazing testimony of God’s power to redeem and change a life. You might have heard about Josh Hamilton recently because he put on an impressive show last week at the Home Run Derby, breaking the record by hitting 28 home runs in one round. You can watch all the impressive home runs by Josh Hamilton at MLB’s website here. He even hit three more than 500 feet! In addition to the Derby performance, Hamilton currently leads the Majors in RBIs.

Hamilton’s amazing performance is made all the more impressive when you find out that not too long ago, he was deep within the dark pit of drug addiction. He says that his last drug use was October 6, 2005.

Hamilton has a great testimony of how God brought him out of the mire of his sin. ESPN.com published part of his story and it made a deep impression on me. You see, Hamilton became a Christian when he was 18. Not long after that, the Tampa Bay Devil Rays drafted him number one overall and gave him a huge signing bonus. With all of this new-found personal glory, Hamilton began to idolize baseball and his own desires instead of worshiping Christ alone.

Everyone expected Hamilton to take off, and he did not disappoint. But not long after his career got going, he was in an auto accident that sidelined him for an extended period. Without his daily routine of going to the ball park, he now had a lot of time on his hands and plenty of money to spend. His idol was removed from his life, and he filled that void by becoming addicted to drugs. He would go on multi-week binges and was in and out of rehab programs with no lasting success.

God finally took him to the bottom where Hamilton could no longer depend on himself and had no choice but to turn back to God. Once he reached that point, God started working. Hamilton is where he is today totally because of God’s work in his life. God worked a miracle–a “God thing” as Hamilton describes it. Just ask Dwight Gooden and Darryl Strawberry how incredible this is.

What most impresses me about Hamilton’s story isn’t as much where he’s been but where he is at right now spiritually. Hamilton doesn’t refer to himself as a drug addict in the past tense but in the current tense. He is completely capable of falling back into sin and the moment he stops denying himself will probably be the beginning of his downfall. Hamilton acknowledges this openly and admits to his weaknesses. He remains broken and fully dependent on Christ.

Christ made it clear that all of his followers must adopt the same attitude of brokenness. Mark 8:34 says:

Then Jesus called the crowd, along with his disciples, and said to them, “If anyone wants to become my follower, he must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.”

Hamilton’s story makes me ask myself, “Am I really denying myself or am I living for myself?” “Do I take up my cross with Christ to go die to self or am I living for myself?” “Am I following Christ or am I living for myself?”

The Mark 8:34 life is a moment-by-moment denial of self and acceptance of Christ and the life he has for you. It is living in the truth of the Gospel. Colosians 2:6 says, “Therefore just as you first received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him.” But what exactly does that mean? It means that we continue to believe the truth of the Gospel by living it out. But what does it mean to live out the Gospel?

Here are some points on what it is not:

• Making something other than Christ the lord of your life.
• Thinking that your sin isn’t really that bad. “I certainly have never done anything as bad as Josh Hamilton!”
• Thinking that when you sin you can just work your way through it yourself. This means you figure out how you can manage it or you’ll just work harder next time.
• Thinking that you are pretty good on your own and don’t need cleaning or much cleaning.
• Thinking that you can depend on your own strengths, intellect, knowledge, talent, money, etc.

And here is what it means to “continue to live our lives in him”:

• Christ is the Lord of my whole life.
• I acknowledge that I cannot make myself good or on my own bring value to God.
• I acknowledge the truth of what sin is and that I cannot clean myself of it.
• I trust God to clean me of sin through Christ’s work alone on the cross.

When you deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow Christ you are living as you first believed. Where I so frequently mess up is by not going to Christ for forgiveness but rather just resolving to work harder. Instead, I should simply go to him and say, “Lord, forgive me for that sin. You died for that sin and thank you for forgiving me. I need your strength to overcome.” If I don’t do that immediately, then later my prayer has to also include asking forgiveness for relying on my own strength rather than on Him.

Josh Hamilton’s story is an example to all of us of what happens when you make something else the lord of your life or think you can deal with sin on your own. Hamilton was not rescued until he “continued to live” his life in Christ.  Neither will we experience victory over sin in our own lives until we continue to daily take up our cross and humbly follow after Christ.

Philippians 4:6-7

Main slide used in sermon is below. Many asked for it so here you go! Keep in mind that I don’t believe this to be a total picture of anxiety in our lives but I do believe this to be an accurate top level overview.

Philippians 3:12-16

Full text of sermon below…
I want to start by telling you a story about one of the greatest running races in history.

Back in the spring of 1954 the fastest anyone had run the mile was in 4:01. The four minute barrier stood for nearly a decade and some wondered if it was even possible to break it. You see slowly but surely the world record in the mile went down but no one seemed to be able to crack the four minute mark.

That is until May of 1954, Roger Bannister of England ran the mile in 3:59 breaking the wall of four minutes. Only seven weeks later, John Landy of Australia broke Bannister’s record and set the new world mark at 3:58 and became the second person to go under four minutes in the mile.

This set them up for a race together later in the summer in Vancouver at the Commonwealth Games. This was a huge event because the only two men to run under the four minute mark were going to finally face off.

Some estimates I read said that more than 100 million people listened on the radio or watched it on TV. This was a massive sporting event and later was called “The Miracle Mile.” Everyone knew that one of these two men would win the race. The other competitors were competing for third place.

Landy was known for his very fast early and steady pace and Bannister was known for excellent speed in the final part of the race. True to expectations, Landy built a large lead of as much as 10 yards by the third of four laps. But then in the fourth lap Bannister began to close the gap with his great finishing kick. And in the final turn something happened that was the defining moment of this race. Landy, who was leading through the final turn, looked back over his left shoulder . . . but at that very moment Bannister was passing Landy on the right.

Here is a photo that captured Landy starting to look back as Bannister is passing him on the outside.

Landy, for just that moment, lost his rhythm which allowed Bannister to go on and win the race. Many say that if Landy had not looked and had remained focused on the finish line he would have had a greater chance at holding off Bannister and winning the race.

Not long after this great race a statue of this famous look was created and is in Vancouver.

After Landy first saw the statue he said this,
 “While Lot’s wife was turned into a pillar of salt for looking back, I am probably the only one ever turned into bronze for looking back.”

This great race between the world’s best milers at the time will always be remembered for this look back. The look that quite possibly lost Landy the most highly anticipated race of his time.

You see what Landy did was take his eyes off the finish line. Instead of all of his body straining forward, he looked back and lost the race.

That is the picture that Paul gives us in our text today in Philippians 3:12-16. Paul tells us the one thing that he does: He forgets what is behind and he strains forward to what is ahead.

Verses 13 and 14 say: “Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”

And that is what we are going to be looking at this morning, forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead. How do we do this? What does this look like in our life? What are some of the things that we need to forget? How do strain forward and press on toward the goal?

Let’s pray…

Again, our text for this morning is Philippians 3:12-16. Let’s read it:

Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you. Only let us hold true to what we have attained.

So starting off in verse 12 Paul says to the Philippian church: “Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own.”

What is Paul talking about here when he says “this”? “Not that I have already obtained this.”

Also in verse 13 Paul reiterates it again, “Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own.”

What has he not yet obtained?

He’s talking about his relationship with Christ.

To fill in the details we need to go back and look at the context. What is Paul saying that he hasn’t obtained or isn’t perfect at?

Verses 10 and 11 tell us: “that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.”

Knowing and being like Christ is where he is headed but he isn’t there yet, so what does he do? What does he do to stay focused on the finish line?

Paul gives the answer in the latter part of verse 13 and verse 14: “ But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”

That’s the heart of verses 12-16 and hopefully this message.

But before we get into those details and the core of this text, I want to pause for a second on verses 12 and 13 and make some quick observations.

First, Salvation is something that God is working in our life over time. He promises to finish it but it isn’t instant and is a progression. The theological word for this is Sanctification. Sanctification is the process of through Christ becoming more holy over time and eventually like-Christ in holiness. Paul hadn’t yet arrived or obtained it yet, just like you and I.

It is something God has promised to complete. Look back to verse 6 of chapter 1: “And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.”

He started it, he’ll finish it. He was the initiator in our relationship with him and he will complete the work he started.

We can have confidence in what God will do in the future because of what he’s done in the past. He initiated our relationship with him through his act of love on the cross and he’ll complete our transformation in the end.

The second observation is very important. The last part of verse 12 says: “but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own.”

You see we work and do our part BECAUSE Jesus did his work, past tense. We do our present and future work because Christ finished his work in the past.

The verse does not read like this: “I press on to make it my own so that Christ Jesus will make me his own.”

We press on not just to please God and hope that he’ll accept us, but because God IS pleased with us and HAS accepted us through the finished work of Christ.

We do good things in life because of what Jesus did for us and a desire to be ever closer to him, not in order to be accepted by God. Jesus did the work, not us.

Ok, so back to the heart of this message, So if you aren’t perfect, you haven’t arrived at the goal, you still sin and make mistakes in life, how do you stay focused on the finish line? Since perfection in this lifetime is not achievable, what can we do?

Again Paul gives us the answer in verses 13 and 14:  But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

Paul says there is “one thing I do” , “one thing I do” …

That one thing is to not look back and press forward to the goal. Think about John Landy who looked back and lost to Roger Bannister.

Have you ever watched the Charlie Rose show? When I read Paul saying a phrase like “the one thing I do” it makes me think of the Charlie Rose show because the interviews are so long and the questions are so long and the answers are so long.

I can imagine Charlie Rose interviewing the apostle Paul and asking him some really long question about what advice Paul would give to the average Christian out there.

“What five or six points of advice would you give him or her, Paul? Give us several ways that they should imitate you?”

Paul would say “I only have one thing. There is only one thing that they should do: Forget where you have been and strive forward with all your being toward the prize, the goal of Christ Jesus.”

Paul isn’t distracted by a bunch of different things. He has no distractions, “just one thing I do.”
The one thing Paul does is keeps his full gaze and attention on the goal and prize of God in Christ Jesus.
Just like with the example of John Landy, you can’t be putting all your body into straining forward if you are looking back. If you look back, you slow down or turn or stop.

You can’t look forward toward Christ while looking back at the past.

Jesus said it this way in Luke: “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”

What Jesus is saying here is how can you follow me if you are looking back? The farmer who doesn’t look forward at his target he will veer off course and his rows will be crooked.

Now there are two parts to Paul’s “one thing I do.” Forgetting what is behind and pressing on toward the goal.

The first part of this “one thing” is to forget what is behind. Now this doesn’t mean that we erase our memories, what this means is to no longer be influenced by or affected by the past.

You see, if something from the past impacts you so much that you can’t go fully toward Christ then you are looking back. Again, you can’t look forward in this race if you are looking back.

So what should we forget? [slide: what should we forget?] Let me run through four particular things that we need to forget in order to press forward on to Christ.

First of all, Grudges and Bitterness toward others.

Scripture tells us that bitterness is something that grows and impacts your whole being. It also spreads virally within the church.

It starts as resentment and then leads to bitterness and hatred. It remembers details. It hangs on to them and rehearses them in your head.

If you remember the details of offenses against you from long ago you are probably bitter.

If you are bitter, take it to Christ and ask for forgiveness because it is sinful to be bitter. Bitterness is a sin.
If our focus is on the finish line of Christ, our response to wrongs or even just imagined wrongs against us will be love and forgiveness.

The second thing to forget is Personal accomplishments. This would be a righteousness of my own as Paul puts it.

When Paul looks back on his life he can brag about a lot of personal accomplishments that make him a very important person. But that isn’t where Paul’s confidence lies. He is confident in only Christ so he’s focused on the finish line of Christ.

Don’t forget that Paul calls all things other than Christ dung. They don’t pad your resume or add value on top of Christ. They aren’t neutral. They actually are negative. Christ is the only place where we can put our confidence.

And remember that as Christians we have already decided that those old things are now of no value to us. We’ve realized that we can’t earn our salvation or work our way into heaven. We’ve finally realized that it is only through Christ.

So if we go back to those things we are looking back to the old way.

If our focus is on the finish line of Christ, our personal value and importance and our confidence will come from knowing Christ, not our accomplishments in life.

The third thing we need to forget is Personal regrets. This is where we think back to what might have been. It’s like Uncle Rico from the movie Napoleon Dynamite: “Coach woulda put me in fourth quarter, we would’ve been state champions. No doubt. No doubt in my mind.”

Or if I had only chosen that other school, or finished school. Or taken that other job. Or maybe married someone else. This isn’t pressing forward.

What possibly could change in your life that would be better than knowing Christ? None of that stuff matters next to knowing him and the prize ahead.

If our focus is on the finish line of Christ, there aren’t regrets because we have and are getting what matters most, relationship with Christ.

Finally, we need to forget our sin. This is a big one. Satan constantly tries to deceive us into thinking we aren’t forgiven by God.

You are in the race and focused on Christ and Satan tells you that you shouldn’t be there. There are still things to do back there. Look back and get to work on fixing those things so that you can deserve to be with Christ later. These are all lies.

Watchman Nee, the great Chinese pastor said this about this kind of lie from Satan:

Our salvation lies in looking [ahead] to the Lord Jesus and in seeing that the blood of the Lamb has met the whole situation created by our sins and has answered it. That is the sure foundation on which we stand. Never should we try to answer Satan with our good conduct but always with the blood.

Again, this gets back to the purpose of the cross. Wasn’t that a settled issue? You finally gave up trying to work for yourself and decided to just go to Christ and the cross. Why go back?

But what do we do when we sin? And we are all still going to sin in this life.

The answer is to get it right with God and others quickly by repenting. Don’t waste time. Take that sin to the cross and ask God for forgiveness.

Reclaim the gospel in your life.

When we bring up old sin from long ago or refuse to go to God for forgiveness we choose to look back and stop pressing toward the goal.

A lot of times Satan can use sin in our life to get us to focus on personal accomplishments. Satan might allow you to achieve victory over something through your own strength and then exchange that old sin for the new sin of pride.

In Mere Christianity C.S. Lewis describes it this way:

Pride can often be used to beat down the simpler vices. Teachers, in fact, often appeal to a boy’s Pride, or, as they call it, his self-respect, to make him behave decently: many a man has overcome cowardice, or lust, or ill-temper, by learning to think that they are beneath his dignity – that is, by Pride. The devil laughs. He is perfectly content to see  you becoming chaste and brave and self-controlled provided, all the time, he is setting up in you the Dictatorship of Pride – just as he would be quite content to see your chilblains cured if he was allowed, in return, to give you cancer. For Pride is spiritual cancer: it eats up the very possibility of love, or contentment, or even common sense.

If our focus is on the finish line of Christ, we immediately recognize sin as something only Christ can fix.

I’m sure there are other things that can distract us and cause us to look back. But these are the ones that I think primarily distract us from running the race. And they all represent a direct challenge to Christ and his work. Remember you can’t press forward while looking back.

And then the second part of Paul’s “one thing I do” is to strain forward to what lies ahead and presses on toward the goal.

So how does Paul do this?

First, and this is the most basic and obvious, we need to change directions. What is our goal? It has to be Christ. We need the new ambition of Christ as opposed to his old ambitions in the flesh.

And that change in direction has to start with a humility that recognizes our need. Paul says, “I’m not perfect” and “I have not obtained it yet.”

Just think about how remarkable it is for a man of Paul’s spiritual stature to say something like “I’m not perfect.” This guy has an impressive spiritual resume. But he doesn’t slow down or take a break or consider himself already at the finish line.

But Paul recognized that he had not yet arrived and was not yet perfect.

So we start by changing directions and looking forward.

Second, strain forward. Every fibre in Paul’s being is pursuing this goal. He’s straining forward, he’s pressing on.

This is an athletic reference. This is raw determination. He’s giving us the picture of the athlete straining with all he has in a particular direction. Every ounce of his being is headed toward Christ.

This isn’t possible if part of us is looking back. Just like Landy who slowed down when he looked back for Bannister.

Third is God’s revelation. Verse 15 says: “Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you.”

Paul is saying here that this is how a mature Christian will live his life. But even when that isn’t always the case, God will reveal it to us.

He’ll use his word and the Holy Spirit and prayer. Get into God’s word for yourself and study it. Learn and grow in it. Make it a habit to read the Bible every day and search for what God might be revealing to you.
And read the Bible in the context of Paul’s “one thing I do.” What could God be showing you that you are looking back at? Or how can you better look forward at Christ?

And he’ll reveal these things to you through other people in our life. Most of the time this will be those that are closest to us. Maybe a spouse or sibling or parent or child.

A lot of times it might not be expressed to you in a good way, but a mature Christian is someone who isn’t afraid of self-analysis and the critiques of others.

Don’t forget that God has equipped people in his body for the purpose of equipping you. We were designed by God to have gaps and needs in our lives that can only be filled by others in the body of Christ.
I believe that if we reject the body of Christ we reject the work that God wants to do in our life.

Finally, we press on toward Christ by holding true together to what we’ve attained. Verse 16 says: “Only let us hold true to what we have attained.”

You’ve turned forward, you are straining forward with all your might, you are allowing God to make corrections and then finally we aren’t to look back and go the opposite direction.

You’ve come this far, don’t go back. Think of it like rungs on a ladder. Hold true to the rung you are on and press on up the ladder. Don’t go backwards. Hold on to what you’ve attained.

Slowly but surely God is transforming us and making changes in our lives to make us holy. Don’t lose what you’ve already obtained by going backwards.

So to summarize again, we press on toward the goal of Christ by first Changing Directions and turning from what is behind, second straining forward toward the goal, third listening for God’s voice of correction, and finally holding true to what we’ve attained.

In conclusion, if we think we can focus on our future while constantly looking back then like John Landy, we are going to fall behind.

Just like Paul, we aren’t perfect, we have a long way to go, but how do we focus fully on Christ and the finish line?

We take Paul’s advice and do one thing:  Forget what lies behind and strain forward to what lies ahead. Press on toward the goal for the prize of God in Christ Jesus.