Happy & You Know It 8 | The Happy Habit of Forgetfulness

But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord... Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus... For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body. (Philippians 3:7-21)

To most people forgetfulness is a vice—but in Philippians 3, Paul shows us how forgetting can be a holy habit.

A Faithful Pattern: Mike McIntosh and Billy Graham

God is good. At this very moment, down at Horizon Christian Fellowship in San Diego, Pastor Mike McIntosh is stepping down as lead pastor after 41 faithful years, handing the ministry to his son Phillip. Mike always tells me the first Bible study he ever taught in San Diego County was right here in Escondido—he was the first Calvary Chapel pastor in Escondido. Many of the Calvary Chapels in this county came out of Horizon.

This last Monday, as I read through our passage, I texted Mike to tell him I was praying for him and Sandy as they crossed the finish line and started another race. I told him I was teaching Philippians 3, and that the passage made me think of his work in ministry: "forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead."

Mike texted back, "You don't understand how important those verses are." Then he told me that about 20 years ago he was talking ministry with Billy Graham. He asked, "Billy, what was it like to preach in Hong Kong when all the doors were closed in Asia, and then to preach to 60,000 people at a time? What did that mean to you?" Billy Graham answered, "Mike, I went on to the next city. Ruth and I, since we started in ministry, knew that we were to forget what was behind and press on toward what was ahead." That was his whole ministry—forgetting what was behind, pressing on to the next city, and the next, and the next.

The Helpfulness of Forgetfulness

I don't know if you experience this, but I'm a little embarrassed to admit how often I do. I'll walk upstairs to grab my sunglasses or my iPad, get to the top, and think, "What was I coming up here for?" A few years ago I came across a Notre Dame study that found walking through doorways causes forgetting. Entering or exiting a doorway serves as an "event boundary" in the mind, separating episodes of activity and filing them away.

To most people, forgetfulness is a vice—a growing problem, with all kinds of research into its common causes. But we're not going to consider seven principles on how not to forget. Quite the contrary. We're going to talk about the helpfulness of forgetfulness. In some ways, forgetting can actually be a good thing.

A Proper View of Ourselves

Paul writes, "Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected." Another way of saying it: I have not yet arrived. It's important to note that Paul was not a young man when he wrote this—very likely into his 60s. By this point he had traveled the known world, planted a dozen churches, pastored many people, and preached the gospel to slaves, governors, and kings. During this period he wrote two-thirds of the New Testament. And still this awesome man of God says, "I have not yet arrived."

This leads to an important truth: we need to have a proper view of ourselves. What did Paul want to attain? In verses 10 and 11 he says his goal was to know Jesus—the power of His resurrection, the fellowship of His sufferings, conformity to His death—and to attain to the resurrection from the dead. He wanted to lay hold of that. And then immediately he says, "I have not yet attained."

One of the most dangerous things in the Christian life is to walk with the Lord for years and begin to think we've arrived—to reach a point where we think we have nothing left to learn from anyone, looking down on others, becoming unteachable and untouchable. Paul warns in 1 Corinthians 10:12, "Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall." In Galatians 6:3 he writes, "If anyone thinks himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself." Every man in this room knows that experience—you thought you were stronger than you were, lifted something you shouldn't have, and maybe still have the pain to prove it.

It's a common theme. Romans 12:16: "Do not be wise in your own opinion." And he was likely echoing Solomon a thousand years earlier in Proverbs 26:12: "Do you see a man wise in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him." Paul assessed himself rightly: "I have not attained, nor have I been perfected."

Now, there is a future hope of perfection. First Corinthians 15 says that in the twinkling of an eye this corruption will put on incorruption and this mortality will put on immortality. When we see Jesus, we will be like Him. This very passage ends by promising that the Lord will transform our lowly body to be conformed to His glorious body. But even if you feel only slightly imperfect right now, all of us are imperfect. None of us have been perfected yet. Don't be discouraged by that—Paul says, "but I press on that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has laid hold of me."

Saved for a Greater Purpose

We should have a proper view of ourselves, but we also need to understand that Jesus saved us for a greater purpose. Think of a master sculptor. A great block of granite is brought before him, and he sees every feature, every crack, and in his mind's eye he sees the finished product. You and I just see a block of rock. And honestly, some of us were just a block of rock when the Master Sculptor got hold of us—yet He saw what He wanted to make us into, and He saved us for that purpose.

So Paul says, "I press on that I may lay hold of the very thing Jesus laid hold of me for." He saved me; He saw what He wanted to make me. I want to become that. I want to fulfill that purpose.

The question comes to each of us: where are we in this process? I think every one of us falls into one of four categories. Either we're moving forward to lay hold of what God prepared for us, or we're moving forward toward our own ambitions and plans, or we're standing still, or we're backsliding. And as many have said, if you're standing still, you're backsliding—you're going the wrong direction. Where are you today? Paul was moving forward to lay hold of all that God had for him.

The One Thing: Forgetting What Is Behind

I've had this conversation many times. I encourage people to press on and lay hold of what God saved them for, and they say, "Pastor, you don't understand what I've done in the past. I can't let go of the things that have happened to me." But notice Paul's response in verse 13: "Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do." Underline those words. This is essential. This is the one thing.

What is it? "Forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead." Paul let it all go that he might grab hold of the very thing Jesus saved him for. But what things did he have to forget?

First, he had to forget his former confidence in his flesh. Look at verses 4-6: circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews, a Pharisee, blameless concerning the righteousness of the law. Then verse 7: "But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ." He left his religious résumé behind.

Second, he had to forget his former crushing failures. In 1 Timothy 1:12-15 Paul writes, "I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who has enabled me, because He counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry, although I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an insolent man... This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief." Paul had a lot that could crush him and hinder him from pressing forward. And so do we. Many Christians cannot move forward because they're hung up on their failures, thinking, "You don't understand how devastatingly sinful I was."

Don't Be a One-Hit-Wonder Christian

But it's not only failures. Some people are hung up on their victories. They say, "Man, 1976, North Park Chapel, the early Calvary Chapel days—you don't know what I did for the Lord back on that mission trip in high school." They've never moved beyond the one victory they had twenty years ago. Don't be a one-hit-wonder Christian. Don't be an Uncle Rico Christian, always wanting to go back in time because things were good back then. There are too many Christians, even in our own movement, hung up on past victories who never moved forward.

This leads to the next point: leave the past in the past and press on toward the future. How has Billy Graham been so fruitful over so many years? Because early on, he and his wife committed to forget the past and move on. They built no monument to Hong Kong or London 1989; the only monuments in that ministry are the millions of people who came to faith. You will be stuck in your Christian life if you cannot forget both the failures and the successes of the past.

And the past doesn't have to be ten years ago—it can be ten minutes ago. I recently prayed with someone constantly hung up on things from their day. They said, "If I say something the wrong way to someone, I'm anxious for the next hour, reprocessing what I said." A lot of us need to be a little more forgetful—let it go and press on toward what the Lord has for us. Paul says in verse 14, "I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus."

Run the Race to Win

The fourth point: run the race to win. Paul and others use the metaphor of a race for the Christian life. In 1 Corinthians 9:24-27 he writes, "Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it... They do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown. Therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty... but I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified."

We live in a sport-dominated culture, and I'm always amazed at the lengths athletes go to. Driving to church a couple weeks ago, I saw a fit guy running on El Norte Parkway wearing a black mask over his face like a ninja. I knew what it was—a training mask that cuts down his oxygen, like breathing through a small straw, so his muscles learn to use oxygen more efficiently. That's the kind of discipline a man will accept to shave a few seconds off his run time.

Then I look at my own life and think: I'm a lazy Christian. To what lengths will we go to run this race more competitively? Will you get up early and pray? Will you read through the Word? Will you fast? In a culture of instant food and instant gratification, fasting feels foreign. Paul says, "I discipline my body to make it my slave." I won't be ruled by this body—when it says eat, I eat; when it says drink, I drink; when it says smoke, I smoke. I'll bring it under the Spirit's control.

Hebrews 12:1 says the same: "Since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us." What is holding you back? Past victories? Past failures? A present sin? Lay it aside.

The Prize

What is the prize? In one sense, the prize is the very call of God: "the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." That Jesus called you to be His child and to serve Him is itself something to be treasured. That's why Paul says in Ephesians 4:1, "Walk worthy of the calling with which you were called."

In another sense, there is a crown. The athletes compete for a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable one. In Paul's very last letter, written just before he was beheaded as a martyr, he says in 2 Timothy 4:7-8, "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Finally, there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing." Entire books are written on what the crown of righteousness is. I don't know exactly. But I know this: there is coming a day when every Christian will stand before the Lord of glory, and He has rewards. Run in such a way that you may win.

Maturity Matters: Grow Up and Press On

Paul continues in verse 15: "Therefore let us, as many as are mature, have this mind... let us walk by the same rule, let us be of the same mind. Brethren, join in following my example, and note those who so walk, as you have us for a pattern." The mature believer has this mindset—laying aside anything that trips him up so he can run with endurance to win. This is the fifth point: maturity matters, so grow up and press on.

The author of Hebrews says the same in Hebrews 5:12: "By this time you ought to be teachers, yet you need someone to teach you again the first principles... You have come to need milk and not solid food. Solid food belongs to those who are of full age, who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil." We need to grow up, press on, and identify those walking faithfully so we can follow their pattern.

Enemies of the Cross

Why does this matter so much? Look at verse 18: "For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ." This is striking—there are many who identify as Christians who are actually enemies of the cross. How do we know them? Verse 19: "Whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame—who set their mind on earthly things." Their end is not heaven, because they are not truly Christians. They idolize themselves and their pleasures, and they boast in things they should be ashamed of.

It reminds me of 1 Corinthians 5, where a church was actually boasting about accepting a man in an immoral relationship. Paul said, you should not boast in this; you should be ashamed. So these enemies of the cross idolize themselves, glory in their shame, and set their minds on earthly things.

Our Citizenship Is in Heaven

But if you follow Jesus, it should be different. Verse 20: "For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself."

God saved you for a great purpose. He looked at the chunk of rock that is your life and said, "I can do something with that. I can form it into what I want it to be." Although we must rightly assess that we have not arrived and have not been perfected, we must press on to lay hold of the very thing He saved us for. In this Christian life you can either follow the Lord toward what He called you to do, or fight against Him—as Paul once kicked against what God wanted before he believed.

So my encouragement is this: lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus laid hold of you. Press on. Leave the past in the past, press on toward the future, run this race to win, and lay aside every weight and sin that so easily ensnares you—because your citizenship is in heaven, not here on the earth.

Closing Prayer

Father, thank You for Your Word, which is living and powerful. In it You rebuke and reprove us from time to time, that we would be corrected and walk in righteousness; so train us to walk in righteousness. Lord, help us to lay hold of the very things You've called us to lay hold of this week. Help us to leave the victories of the past and the failures of the past, that we would press on to run this race for the prize of Your glory and Your honor. Transform us, Lord. We pray this in Jesus' name, and all those that agreed said, "Amen."