Philippians 3:4-14 - "Pressure Is Off" (10-5-08)

For those Cub fans today, the pressure is off. They don’t have to worry about not winning a World Series for one hundred years anymore. Of course the Sox fans have the pressure of winning this afternoon or go home. But for today, we look back and realize that the pressure is off of us to try to make up for our past or relish in our past accomplishments.

Today, we celebrate that there is a great harvest in the vineyard of our faith. This vineyard in today’s gospel lesson is different than from Isaiah, chapter five, where the entire vineyard is growing wild grapes. Now, the grapes are abundant and the harvest is plentiful. A new community is being formed and new leadership has been called upon to serve in this vineyard as stewards of the vineyard and not as owners.

The vineyard was planted, a wall was placed around it and a watchtower built. The tenants shifted from being the tenants or stewards to wanting to be the owners. Once these stewards thought they owned it all, they controlled the vineyard and the faith traditions. Yet today we read how the vineyard is growing great but the stewards only are going to be kicked out. A great judgment was upon their heads for not managing these gifts and for killing the messenger. There was great pressure for those tending to the vineyard that led them to think that they now owned what belongs to only God.[1]

Well we’ve had our own challenges and pressures lately: illness, falls, unemployment, cancer, grief and pain. We gather today because we know pressure. On Tuesday, it will be the one year memorial after my mom passed away October 7, 2007. There are many of life’s pressures all around us. There is also the pressure of past failures and their impact on current relationships. There is the pressure of past success that someone impacts the expectations of our lifestyle today and into the future. Sometimes the pressures of our failures press upon us to try and make up for the past. Sometimes the pressures of our past success press upon us to do even more to earn favor and appreciation from family, friends or peers.

Yet today, we gather because the pressure is off of us and placed upon Christ. In the letter to the people living in the town of Philippi; Paul is encouraging them to press on toward the goals in life. He recounts his own credentials of being the most orthodox of Jewish leaders keeping the 600 plus laws to prove it. He even admits to persecuting and killing Christians before he had become one himself. He acknowledges his past success as a Jewish leader and his past failures as one who authorized the killing of Christian. Yet he counts all the past success or failures as rubbish. The word rubbish means to throw to the dogs, the way I would hand the lima beans to our dog growing up under the table. All of this other stuff is rubbish, even the Cubs. Paul understands his value is rooted not in position, past failures or success, but as loss. He views it as rubbish and not worth the far surpassing value of knowing Christ. Not only is it knowing Christ but being found in Christ and the power of the resurrection; which means knowing the sufferings and sharing in the sufferings.

Whatever our failures or accomplishments, we lay them aside that we may know Christ and that is only through the sufferings we experience and the sufferings we share with those around us. When we lay them aside we find rest and peace. We feel that pressure in our bodies all day long and when we lay down, our backs rest. I can tell this happens in the morning when I look in the rearview mirror. I actually have to adjust my mirror up in the morning because my back actually feels relieved of the pressures of the past day and I sit and stand up more.

So we forget what lies behind in the rearview mirrors of our lives Because of God's grace and the forgiveness made possible through Jesus Christ, Paul then says that we are to, "forget what lies behind," and "... Press on toward the goal..." The word “press” is dioko and the word Diakonia comes from this word. Press on means to seek after, pursue and strive toward sharing the grace of Christ. Paul calls us to look ahead!

We are called to forget what lies behind. There is nothing you can do to earn forgiveness from the past mistakes. There is nothing you can do about the past failures to make God love you more. There is also nothing in the past that you have done well at that will help you earn God’s grace either. None of those things matter. When we look back on our lives we won’t be defined by the failures and success! Yes, we look back to learn from our mistakes and accomplishments. Be we are called to look forward because we trust whose we belong to!

We are called to press on toward the goal of knowing and sharing the grace of Christ in this world and then the next. The Christian life is about discipline and maturing through prayer, Bible study and generosity. The Christian life is about sharing the grace of Christ with those around us and dying to what we want them to do! The Christian life is future-directed: seeks forgiveness and peace with those around us that they may see this new life. The prize is being called up to God – heavenly realm that a glimpse is seen here and brought to completion then. We look at the past and hear God say, “Forget about it.” We press on.

Yesterday afternoon I went to the funeral of Pastor Robert Edlen. He was a pastor for sixty-two years and married for sixty-two years. He died September 23^rd at the age of 87 years old. I worked with Bob from 1994-1998 while I was the Associate Pastor and he was a visitation Pastor. He was so kind and gentle. He pressed upon me the compassionate presence of Christ in all that he did as a Pastor and friend.

We forget what we have accomplished or where we have failed. We cannot do anything about them! We press on to know Christ. We "forget what lies behind," and "Press on toward the goal." Let us pray,

Gracious God, we gather with so many pressures from the past to either succeed or make up for past failures. You call us to rest in the knowledge of Christ, for he took upon himself the pressures of us all when he died on the cross that we would be set free to press on toward the goal of knowing and sharing that grace. Grant us rest today as we forget what lies behind and press on. Press upon us your presence in, with and under all that we do, in Jesus name, Amen.

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[1] Douglas R.A. Hare, Matthew, Interpretation Commentary, (1993), 248-251