Philippians 3:7-14
One of the most fascinating characters in the Bible is the apostle Paul. A man of great passion, faith, endurance, and at times a fiery temper. He had an incredible gift for communication. With insight, vision, and unswerving commitment to the task Jesus Christ had given him, Paul could almost be given credit for creating the church as a world-wide institution.
In his book, Peculiar Treasures: A Biblical Who’s Who, Frederick Buechner gives a wonderful description of Paul:
He wasn’t much to look at. “Bald-headed, bow-legged, strongly built, a man small in size with meeting eyebrows, with a rather large nose.” Years after his death that’s the way [he is described], and Paul himself quotes somebody who had actually seen him: “His letters are strong, but his bodily presence is weak” (II Corinthians 10:10). It was no wonder. “Five times I have received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one,” he wrote. “Three times I have been beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I have been shipwrecked. A night and a day I have been adrift at sea. In danger from rivers … robbers … my own people … Gentiles. In toil and hardship, in hunger and thirst … in cold and exposure” (II Corinthians 11:24-27). He also was sick off and on all his life and speaks of a “thorn in the flesh” … The wonder of it is that he was able to get around at all. But get around he did. Corinth, Ephesus, Thessalonica, Galatia, Colossae, not to mention the side trips to Jerusalem, Cypress, Crete, Malta, Athens, Syracuse, Rome – there was hardly a whistle-stop in the Mediterranean world that he didn’t make it to eventually, and sightseeing was the least of it. He planted churches the way Johnny Appleseed planted trees. And whenever he had ten minutes to spare he wrote letters. He bullied. He coaxed. He comforted. He cursed. He bared his soul. He reminisced. He complained. He theologized. He inspired. He exulted … The postage alone must have cost him a fortune … The ups and downs. The fights with his enemies and the fights with his friends … Keeping one jump ahead of the sheriff. Giving his spiel on windy street corners … Where was it all going to get him in the end?
Well, one place it frequently got him was jail. Scholars believe that Paul’s letter to the Philippians was written while he was in prison in Rome. Paul had been in and out of prison over the course of many years, but this time was different and he knew it. You didn’t find yourself in Rome’s penitentiary facing charges to be heard by the emperor himself and expect to just walk away. The question wasn’t IF he would be convicted, but WHEN. Paul knew that sooner or later he would be put to death. In the meantime, though, he preached the gospel to anyone who would listen, including the prison guards, many of whom were converted. He received visitors from churches all across the empire who came to encourage him, to bring him things to make him more comfortable, and to give him reports on all those churches he had founded. And he wrote letters.
When a person knows he doesn’t have long to live, he discovers rather quickly what really matters in his life. He doesn’t waste time with anything else. What Paul wrote in his letters from prison was the heart of what he believed, the things that were critical for Christians to understand. Here in this section of Philippians, Paul gives three instructions to the church.
First, Paul said, forget what is behind you. Let go of the past. You can’t go back, you can’t change it. And hanging on to it will keep you from going forward. There are a lot of things people should be happy to leave behind, and Paul was no different. Who would want to keep remembering all the pain and torture he experienced? And then there were the mistakes he had made, the sins he had committed without even being aware of it. He had built his life, before meeting Christ, on the law, as a Pharisee, following rules and feeling rather confident of his own goodness. He had been so sure he was right, and the followers of Christ were wrong, that he organized an intense persecution of Christians in Jerusalem, even hunting them down when they tried to escape to the surrounding towns and villages. The blood of innocent men and women was on Paul’s hands. Yes, he would have been glad to let go of those memories.
But there are also things people don’t want to leave behind, experiences that were good, that gave meaning to life. Paul had many happy memories. He had been fortunate enough to study with Gamaliel, the greatest and most famous Jewish scholar of his day. Paul was able to share the gospel with hundreds, even thousands of people as he traveled to the most important cities in the Roman empire. He met well-known, influential, powerful men and women from every walk of life, whether philosophy, business, religion, or government. He had walked in the palaces of kings and in the poorest of homes, and it all brought him blessings. Who would want to forget such things?
And yet Paul wrote, forget what is behind you. I’ve known people who carried guilt around all their lives, bending under its weight, but refusing to believe that God could forgive them when they couldn’t forgive themselves. They beat themselves up for mistakes made, sins committed, friendships lost, families divided. As long as they carried these things, they couldn’t possibly move forward. The weight was just too great. I’ve also known people who clung to the glory of the past, some one perfect moment that they knew would never be equaled, almost willing every other experience to fall short of that one great moment. But sometimes the past looks better than the present because we are looking at it through rose-colored glasses. When you hear people talk about the good old days, do you ever wonder what was so good about them? Paul says, forget what is behind you.
Second, Paul told the Philippians to live in the present. For Paul, the present was life in a Roman prison, at times actually chained to a guard. If anyone ever had a valid excuse for living in the past or daydreaming about the future, it was Paul. What good could possibly come about in a prison? Well, Paul made good use of that time. He was growing in his faith. How else could he have endured such harsh conditions and unpleasant realities? He was seeking to know Christ more fully, to understand and cling to the power of Jesus’ resurrection, to appreciate what he called the fellowship of sharing in the suffering of Christ. And Paul prayed that he might become like Christ, not only in His death, but also in His resurrection from the dead. It was in that context of personal spiritual growth and maturity that Paul continued to be a strong leader and respected advisor to the churches. In the simple task of writing a letter, Paul was doing his best to live a productive life where he was.
That is something we need to hear too. Live in the present. That present has not been pleasant for the past six months. Our lives have been turned upside down and inside out by forces beyond our control. The pandemic has meant drastic changes in every aspect of life, from grocery shopping to attending school to working at our jobs to doing church. And yet, this is the present we have been given. How can we use this time, how can we put it into the perspective of living each day for Christ? All of us may have felt like saying, “Calgon, take me away!” We may have felt like we were banging our heads against a wall, because life isn’t the way we want it to be. But this is the way life is right now. And it is still true that life is what you make it. We haven’t chosen the circumstances, but we do choose how we respond to them. We can make each day count as followers of Christ, by growing in our faith, by studying the scriptures, by praying. We can live well in the present.
Finally, Paul said we should strain toward what is ahead. Press on toward the goal to claim the prize. This wasn’t some pie-in-the-sky wishful thinking. It wasn’t a Pollyanna pipe dream. Paul didn’t have to guess or imagine or pretend, because he knew what the end would be. He knew where he was going and what he would find there, and he could endure the hardships of the journey between here and there by focusing on his destination. Paul knew that when it was all over, he would spend eternity in heaven with Christ Jesus in the very presence of God. The painful past or perplexing present could not distract Paul for long. He was on his way home. He was ready to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of him.
The goal is before us, as well. We have the same journey’s end as Paul. And by knowing that end, we have a clear perception of our past and our present. Life isn’t accidental. It isn’t pointless. It has a meaning and a purpose. Life is to be lived in such a way that it reminds us of where we are heading. The goal came to Paul in a spot about three miles outside Rome, where he was taken by the soldiers and beheaded. Buechner writes,
At the end of its … description of [Paul], the Acts of Paul and Thecla says that ‘at times he looked like a man, and at times he had the face of an angel’ … [It] was with angel eyes that he exchanged a last long glance with his executioners.
On this World Communion Sunday we gather at the table of another who looked with angel eyes upon his executioners – Jesus Christ. Whatever we bring with us, Jesus can help put it into perspective. We will find it is possible to forget what is behind, to live in this present moment, and get a glimpse of the prize toward what we are pressing on.
