Title: Let's Forsake This (Philippians 3:13-14)
Subject: Let's throw this away.
Bible: Philippians 3:13-14
Paul compared life to a racer. That's right. Life is a runner who runs with all his heart toward a goal. For some, the goal may be business. For some, the goal may be academics. Some people dedicated their lives to art, some to science, and some to medicine. A life in which a person sets clear goals for what he has devoted his life to, and works hard for it, is a beautiful thing.
Because of them, human history was created and human civilization developed. However, the goal of a believer cannot be such a worldly thing. The goal of the believer is the truth. Jesus Christ is the truth (John 8:32). For a runner, this goal must be clear to win, and only the runner who wins is given a reward.
Paul gives goals and directions to the saints who are engaged in the spiritual race. “I have only done one thing: forgetting what is behind and grasping what is ahead, I press toward the goal for the reward of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:12-13). What should a racer running for the prize of calling have to leave behind? What are the burdens of running your best race?
I. It is a habit of neglecting to pray.
1 Samuel 12:23 “I will never sin before the Lord in ceasing to pray for you, and I will teach you in the way of righteousness.”
Why is it a sin for believers not to pray?
After Jesus, whom they knew as the Messiah, was crucified and died, the two disciples who followed Jesus were going down to Emmaus in discouragement. They met Jesus along the way and talked about this and that and went along with them. When the sun went down and he came home and ate with us, Jesus gave thanks and broke the bread. Their eyes were opened, and when they recognized the Lord, Jesus disappeared.
The blessings and privileges of the saints are to feel the presence of God and to enjoy the spiritual blessing of fellowship with God. But if you do not pray, your eyes are closed and you cannot even realize the Lord who is by your side.
It is because we do not pray that we cannot contact God while believing in God and become powerful believers. If man, who was created in God's image, does not pray and loses the image and power of God, then the act of not praying is one of the sins of sin.
Prayer is the breath of the soul. Just as the body dies without breathing, so the soul without prayer is bound to suffocate. The regenerated soul of a believer can maintain spiritual life only by praying to God. What is the purpose of breathing? It's about getting some good air. However, there is no spiritual air on this earth to breathe life into the souls of the saints. When we pray, the Holy Spirit is the spiritual breath of heaven. In other words, it renews the souls of the saints with the spiritual air of righteousness, peace, joy, and joy that comes down from God.
That's why Psalm 150 says, "Everyone who breathes, let him praise the Lord." To praise God is to pray to God.
II. Disobedience must be abandoned.
Where did human conflict come from?
It came from Adam and Eve's disobedience. “From any tree in the garden you may eat freely, but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day you eat of it you will surely die” (Genesis 2:17). However, Eve disobeyed this command and ate of the forbidden fruit, and made her husband Adam also eat it. As a result, the earth was cursed, and it was cursed to eat food only after toiling for the rest of its life, the earth to produce thorns and thistles, and a woman had to go through the pain of conception to produce and eventually return to the earth.
Jesus said, “If ye love me, keep my commandments” (John 14:15).
To love the Lord is to obey His commandments. So Samuel said, “Obedience is better than sacrifice, and to hear is better than the fat of rams” (1 Samuel 15:22).
What do parents want from their children? It is purebred. What does God require of us? It is purebred.
In the Bible, there are many stories of people who were blessed by obeying God's word. There is the widow of Zarephath in 1 Kings 17. She decided to bake and eat rice cakes with the last remaining flour and die with her children. But the prophet Elijah said, “Make bread and bring it to me, and then make it for yourself and your son” (1 Kings 17:13). She obeyed and did what he said, saying that the powder box did not run out and the oil in the bottle did not dry up until the day it rained on the ground.
You can see Noah, a man of obedience. “You shall build for yourself an ark of cypress wood, and seal the livers in it, and paint the inside and the outside with bitumen” (Genesis 7:13). The family was saved. “Go out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” Peter obeyed the command and caught a fish that was full and overflowing (Luke 5:4). “Wash your body seven times in the Jordan River” Obedient to the command, General Naaman was healed of leprosy (2 Kings 5:1).
As theologian Bonhefer said, “Faith is the very command and obedience of the Lord.”
God's grace, answers, and blessings come through immediate obedience. If “why?” is added to it, it is unbelief. It is disobedience.
Ⅲ. We must let go of our unforgiving heart.
The first thing to think about in managing our souls is to be wary of hating someone or forming enemies and not being able to solve them. The Christian's heart must always be filled with love. Jesus told us to “forgive seventy times seven times” (Matthew 18:22). Forgiveness seventy seven times means endless forgiveness. Therefore, I must love those who love me and love those who hate me. Jesus said, “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” (Matthew 5:44).
Proverbs 14:30 says, “A peace of mind is life of the flesh, but envy is the rottenness of the bones” (Matthew 5:43). When we harbor an evil heart toward others, we lose our joy and happiness.
The Apostle John said, “We know that we have passed from death into life because we love our brother; but he who does not love abides in death. Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that not everyone who murders has eternal life in him” (1 John 3:14-15). God said that he who hates his brother is a murderer. James 4:17 says, “If a man knows how to do good and does not do it, it is sin.”
Let's forgive! Let's love! If you do not forgive and do not love, you cannot run the best race, and if you do not run the best race, you will not receive the reward of the above calling. I hope it will be an award winning race.