Just Forget It Philippians 3:13 Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, 14 I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. It s the phrase, "forgetting those things which are behind" that I want to talk about for the next little while. The New Living Translation says: No, dear brothers and sisters, I am still not all I should be, but I am focusing all my energies on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead. There are a lot of problems associated with forgetting the past. Some will say it is impossible to forget the past. Why then consider it at all? Because of the benefits and blessings we will receive by forgetting it. One of the things that makes this hard lies deep within the neurological wiring of our brain. Dr. Wilber Penfield, director of the Montreal Neurological Institute, said in a report to the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, DC: "Your brain contains a permanent record of your past that is like a single, continuous strip of moving film The film library records your whole waking life from childhood on. You can relive those scenes from your past, one at a time [feeling] exactly the same emotions you did during the original experience." It is important, I think, to understand at the outset that when Paul talks about forgetting the past he is not referring to erasing the past. Those of you who are familiar with how a computer handles the information that we input to its memory know that there is a "delete" key that is used to remove information we don t want stored in the computer. To some, "delete" means to remove permanently as if it was erased, completely purged. This doesn t happen.
When a person hits the "delete" key the information disappears from the screen but it is still in the computer s memory. Although it has been deleted it may still be found. The information is not erased or permanently and irrecoverably gone. It can be recovered. We cannot erase our past. This does not mean we cannot forget the past in the sense that Paul has in mind. What is Paul saying when he tells us to forget the things that are in the past? It sounds like a contradiction. We are asked to do something that seemingly is neurologically, psychologically, mentally and emotionally impossible. I believe Paul is saying that we are to forget the past in the sense that we do not allow our past failures, hurts, and disappointments to keep us from experiencing God s best for our lives today. For many, their past is holding them hostage. They are being held hostage by past failures, mistakes, and disappointments. In our text, Paul is encouraging us to break out of the hostage situation. He is saying, "don t allow the past to hold you in bondage. Don t be a prisoner of your past." He offers himself as the best example of this concept. Despite his misguided persecution of the Church, which could have resulted in immense personal guilt, He did not succumb to its power to imprison him. He said, And 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 [violently arrogant] man; but I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief. And the grace of our Lord was exceedingly abundant, with faith and love which are in Christ Jesus (1 Tim. 1:12-14 NKJV). His testimony provides a window of hope for anyone who would insist, "I am who I am, I cannot change my circumstances, my situation is set in concrete it cannot change."
Look at me," Paul says. "See the grace of God at work." Past blunders, mistakes, failures and hurts need not have a stranglehold on your life. Grace is a key that opens the door to freedom from the tyranny of the past. In essence he is saying that the "exceedingly abundant grace of our Lord Jesus Christ" is available to everyone who wants to "close some doors of yesterday." God s grace is as freely available today as then. God s grace will allow us to move past our failures. If not, our failures may keep us from experiencing God s best today. Henry Ford understood the importance of moving past our failures. He said that failure is the "opportunity to begin again, more intelligently." Illustration: Over a century ago, Robert Louis Stevenson devised a number of rules to help people to live happier, more productive lives. He wrote: 1. Make up your mind to be happy - learn to find pleasure in simple things. 2. Make the best of circumstances. No one has everything, and everyone has something of sorrow. 3. Don t take yourself too seriously. 4. Don t let criticism worry you - you can t please everybody. 5. Don t let your neighbors set your standards - be yourself. 6. Do things you enjoy doing. 7. Don t borrow trouble. Imaginary things are harder to bear than actual ones. 8. Since hate poisons the soul, do not cherish enmities and grudges. 9. Avoid people who make you unhappy. 10.Have many interests. If you can t travel, read about places. 11.Don t hold postmortems or spend time brooding over sorrows and mistakes. 12.Don t be the one who never gets over things. 13. Keep busy at something. A very busy person never has time to be unhappy.
WHY IT IS IMPORTANT TO FORGET THOSE THINGS THAT ARE BEHIND Looking back encourages the possibility of going back. Luke 9:62 says, But Jesus said to him, No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God. (NKJV). When the Israelites left Egypt under the leadership of Moses. It wasn t long before they ached with intense longing and desire for the flesh pots in Egypt. "Then the whole congregation of the children of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. And the children of Israel said to them, Oh, that we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the pots of meat and when we ate bread to the full! For you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger. " (Exodus 16:2,3) It was also with Lot s wife. "Remember Lot s wife" (Luke 17:32). The message to Lot and his wife was clear, "Escape for your life! Do not look behind you " (Gen. 19:17 NKJV). When the children of Israel faced the Red Sea, with Pharaoh in hot pursuit, they were terrified. "And the LORD said to Moses, Why do you cry to Me? Tell the children of Israel to go forward " (Gen. 14:15 NKJV). God is all about deliverance and moving ahead. Faith faces forward. Faith moves out of the Egypt of slavery to feelings of failure, disappointment, and all kinds of bondage. In my message today I have tried to be as positive as possible about facing the challenge of "forgetting the things that are past." I have tried to say we do not have to be held in bondage by our past. o There is hope for deliverance. o There is hope for change. o There is hope for closing the door on the past that made you a hostage, a victim, instead of a victor.
Before I close I want to talk about one of the most beautiful and encouraging stories found in the Old Testament that bears witness to what I am saying. I want to talk about Joseph. Even a casual reader will find the story of Joseph compelling. It is full of love, hope, dreams (literally), betrayal, mental and physical suffering and ultimately triumph over some of the worst adversities that could befall an innocent person. It took years for the story to unfold, years that were marked by success and failure, hope and despair. He is a role model for faith, tenacity, devotion, purity, patience, and trust. Scripture says, "He [i.e., God] sent a man before them--joseph--who was sold as a slave. They hurt his feet with fetters, he was laid in irons. Until the time that his word came to pass, the word of the LORD tested him" (Ps. 105:17-19 NKJV). Was he ever tested! Some of you can relate very well with Joseph s tests. I also hope that some will relate to Joseph s ultimate victory over his adversities. Was Joseph tested beyond recovery? Was he tested beyond repair? Was he tested beyond hope of their ever being any change in his circumstances? If it ever became necessary to forgive, was he tested beyond the ability to forgive? Was he tested beyond the ability to "forget those things that were behind," to put it all safely, securely, away without it ever bugging him daily with thoughts of regret, or even revenge? Was he tested beyond being able to sleep at night, to toss and turn as his mind raced with thoughts of failure and feelings of hopelessness? He may have felt all these things at one time or another. Ultimately, however, he turned the corner. Ultimately he came to the place where he would say, "forgetting those things which are in the past, I reach with excitement for the things that are before me." How? What was the turning point in Joseph s life?
And to Joseph were born two sons before the years of famine came, whom Asenath, the daughter of Poti-Pherah priest of On, bore him. Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh: "For God has made me forget all my toil and all my father s house." And the name of the second he called Ephraim: "For God has caused me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction" (Gen. 41:50-52 NKJV). God gave Joseph two living testimonies in the form of two lovely sons. Joseph recognized that both of these boys were God s provision to help him get on with his life. These boys were the key to his finding the joy of victory in forgetting his past. He named the first Manasseh. The name means "causing to forget," or, "forgetting." The second son was named Ephraim, which means "fruitful in the land of my affliction." I see a beautiful application unfolding here. God can--or He may have already done it--given you a "Manasseh" and an "Ephraim." In other words, God can give you a blessing--some form of blessing-- that will cause you to say, "I CAN forget, or better I HAVE forgotten!" I will not even attempt to name something, to formulate something, that would fit this concept. I want the Holy Ghost to make it real to your faith. I simply want to say to those who may have despaired, who may be held as a hostage to something in the past, who feel that they have failed in some area--i want to say God has a "Manasseh" and an "Ephraim" for you. You can both forget the past misery, despair, disappointment, hurts, and heartaches and enjoy the freedom that each brings. At the same time you can say, "God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction." Use your "Manasseh" and your "Ephraim" to unlock the prison of your past hurts and disappointments.
Romans 8:35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36 As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. 37 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. 38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, 39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.