Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. -Phil 3:12-14
[PRAYER]
When Will Then Be Now?
In our time together this week, we’ve studied various points along the space-time continuum. We looked at eternity (which is outside time), we took a trip through the past, from the beginning of time all the way up to the present day, and we explored how God’s past prophecies intersect with His future plans. And now it’s time to turn our attention to arguably the most important time that there is: RIGHT NOW.
Back in 1987, I saw a movie called Spaceballs. And as an eleven-year old kid, I loved it. Granted, I was pretty sheltered, so most of the dirty jokes just went over my head at the time. As a Christian, it’s not an easy movie to recommend. But there was one scene in that movie that I thought was both magical and mind-blowing, so much so that it still fascinates me thirty-eight years later.
In the movie, the bad guys are trying to find the good guys, and they can’t do it. So they invent this new technology where they can watch a video of “Spaceballs The Movie” even while they’re in the middle of making “Spaceballs The Movie.” So right then and there, they start watching what’s happened already in the movie—in the movie. They start fast-forwarding through it until they come to a part where all of a sudden, the image on the screen is exactly what is happening right in front of them.
So the main bad guy, Dark Helmet, says to his subordinate Colonel Sanderz: “When does this happen in the movie?”
And the Colonel replies: “Now. You’re looking at now, Sir. Everything that happens NOW is happening NOW.”
“What happened to ‘then?’”
“We passed it.”
“When?”
“Just now. We’re in NOW now.”
Dark Helmet pauses. “Go back to ‘then’.”
“I can’t.”
“Why.”
“We missed it.”
“When?”
“Just now.”
Dark Helmet kind of gives him the side eye and asks, “When will then be now?”
And the Colonel replies: “Soon.”
I’ve always loved that. When will then be now? Soon! But of course, once it IS now, then the ‘then’ becomes ‘back then’ and not now anymore, until a new “then” becomes the new “now.” And that cycle keeps repeating—and will continue to repeat, forever and ever.
And now—right now—is the most important moment in your entire life. Again, the future is unknown to us, and the past is set in stone, so we can’t affect ether one. But we CAN affect right now! We can’t live life in advance—we can’t choose NOW what we’ll do in a year’s time. We also can’t change what we thought or felt or did in the past. But we can choose NOW. We can choose to trust God NOW. We can choose to serve Him NOW. And everyone who is saved, is saved NOW.
2 Corinthians 6:2 says this:
“Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.”
Isn’t that beautiful? Right now is the time when you can love God and give Him glory by believing in Him. And the secret to the Christian Life is to keep choosing God whenever it is NOW. Hebrews 3:13 says,
“But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.”
Think about this with me: what does the writer of the book of Hebrews mean when he says “as long as it is called today?” He means continually, all the time, without ceasing. And he could have said it in one of those ways if he had wanted to. But instead, he really wants to hammer the idea home that we are to exhort one another “as long as it is called today”—in other words, whenever it is NOW. Let’s do a quick check: Is it called “today”? Are we in NOW right now? Then it’s time to love God and resist sin and evil! Drinkers will often justify their drunkenness with the phrase “It’s five-o-clock” somewhere.” But for Christians, it’s always believe-in-God-o-clock somewhere, and that somewhere is right here, right now!!!
One Day At A Time
Remember when I said in the first message that you are “governed and limited” by the fixed order of God’s creation? Well, another aspect of God’s creation that rules us and in many ways defines us is the idea of a “day.” As you know, a “day” is defined as the roughly 24-hour period it takes for the earth to rotate 360 degrees on its axis. As a result, for part of that time, the sun’s rays shine on it, and for part of that time, it faces away from the sun and is in darkness. This cycle then repeats, on and on, and will continue to repeat until God destroys the world and makes a new one with no sun.
Now, think about this: Have you ever wondered how lucky you are that days even exist? After all, God could have made one side of the earth face the Sun all the time (which would result in a desert), and another that would face away (which would make for an eternal ice age). And out in the depths of space, there is no day or night. There is still time, of course, but almost nothing to measure it by, just an eternal, infinite night that never ends.
Have you ever thanked God for making the length of each day on earth as long as it is? Think about it: If our days were shorter, that would be super-annoying and hard to live with. On Jupiter, a day only takes 10 hours. Can you imagine only five hours of daylight, and then maybe a four-hour nap before getting up in the morning and doing it all over again? But if our days were longer, that might be even worse. Did you know that a single day on Mercury is over 58 days long? That means the Sun would be up in the sky two months straight, followed by two months of darkness. That would be a hard rhythm to get used to! Venus is even worse: a single day there takes seven and a half months! Yikes!
My point is this: God knew exactly what He was doing when He made our days on Earth to be 24 hours long. (OK, it’s actually 23.934 hours long, but whatever.) He knew exactly what we needed, and He created a good world that is a perfect fit for our needs as well as our wants. Psalm 118:24 says this:
“This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.”
And we can say that about literally every day of our lives. THIS is the day that the Lord has made. And not only is the creation of the day a perfect example of His wisdom and care, but it is also used in Scripture as a perfect metaphor for God’s continual provision of grace and mercy. Lamentations 3:22-23 famously says this:
“The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.”
Did you hear that? His mercies are new every morning! And we are to trust Him every day for what we need, especially what we need for that day. One day at a time.
This is why Jesus told us to pray this way:
“Give us today our daily bread.”
Not, give us all the bread we’ll ever need right now! Remember the mana God gave to the people of Israel in the wilderness? How much did he give them each day? Exactly how much they needed for that day! One day at a time. And right before the Sabbath, he gave them two days’ worth so that they could be provided for and still keep the Sabbath! Isn’t He good?
But brothers and sisters, God’s ultimate daily provision for us isn’t the food we eat or the water we drink. It’s not shelter or relationships. No, our ultimate need that he gives us daily is GRACE. 2 Corinthians 4:16 says this of Christians:
“So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day.”
All of us, according to this verse, have an outer self and an inner self. Our outer self is of course our mortal bodies, which grow old and weak and are susceptible to injury and disease. But our inner self—that is, our souls—are being renewed when? Day by day. Not all at once, but day by day.
Many of you know Sir Estivan’s mother, Lady Chocolat. Many of you know that she has been in the hospital, and still faces very severe medical challenges. This has been a very great grief to all of us who know them and love them. It’s hard to watch them go through something like that. AND YET! I can tell you that Sir Estivan and his family are being renewed inwardly by the Holy Spirit day by day by day. Now that doesn’t mean it’s not still hard! God hasn’t given them all the grace they will need ever for the rest of their lives. Instead, He is giving them what they need each day, day by day, one day at a time. Because that’s what God knows we need. God is good, brothers and sisters. God is good!
Yesterday and Tomorrow
Let’s turn our attention back to the text we started with, Philippians 3. And it says in verses 13-14:
One thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on…
Now, I love this verse so much, and I wish I had time to talk about all of it, but with the time we have left I want to draw your attention to two phrases in particular.
First, Paul says that we are to “forget what lies behind.” Now, two days ago, I said this: “Learning what happened in the past is essential if you want to live rightly in the present.” And I still believe that. Understanding the past gives us the context and the information we need to make sense of the present. So why does Paul say we are to “forget what lies behind?” Is he recommending some weird kind of spiritual amnesia, where we forget everything that ever happened before in our lifetimes and only focus on now?
Obviously, that’s not what he’s saying. Instead, I think he’s saying, “don’t live your life in the rear view mirror.” How many of you are drivers? How many of you might be drivers one day? One tip I can give you if you want to be a good driver: Focus your attention on where you’re going, not where you’ve been!
How many of you have watched a movie where a character nearly gets into an accident because they’re focused on the rear view window? Well, that’s what it’s like for us when we spend too much time on things we can’t change. Our regrets, our failures, our losses—all of these are in the past. And while we need to live WITH them, we must not live FOR them! This is what we call “living in the past.” And I get it—grief is hard. I used to be a counselor, so I get it. But you can’t live the rest of your life focused on the past. That will wreck your car, and it will wreck you emotionally.
But Paul doesn’t stop there. He says this:
“One thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on…”
I believe Paul is saying at least two things by this phrase. First of all, Paul is focused on PRESENT ACTION. What is he doing? Straining forward, pressing on. He’s centering his attention on what he’s doing in the here and the now. But why? What is it that motivates him to such diligent efforts?
“What lies ahead.” It‘s the future! He has been captivated by the gospel promises of what awaits those who faithful believe in Christ as their Savior. He’s so excited by the future hope offered in the gospel that he sets his sights on it, and works diligently to make those future promises into reality. And that’s what we are to do! Press on. Strain forward. Don’t worry—I’m not advocating for works-righteousness here. I’m not saying we’re saved by works any more than Paul is. But what I am saying is that our hope of future grace can and should motivate our present obedience! (More on that tomorrow when we talk about The Future.)
Already, But Not Yet
Hopefully by now, you’ve seen that Scripture teaches a kind of balancing act when it comes to living in the present. And if there is one classic Reformed teaching that sums it all up beautifully, it’s this: Already, But Not Yet.
As New Testament Christians, we live in the days of Already, But Not Yet. Think about it: Has Christ already saved his people? Yes! Has the battle with Satan already been won? Yes! Has Jesus already been given the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father? YES!
But have ALL of God’s people been saved? Not yet! Has Satan been thrown into the lake of fire? Not yet! Has every knee in heaven and on earth bowed to Jesus? Not yet!
You see, we live in days of incredible tension between what has already been accomplished, and what will one day be accomplished. This is not a bad thing—far from it! In fact, every single person here EXISTS because of God’s and long-suffering, enduring patience with sinners like us. It’s good that He is patient, and that he gives us a chance to believe. But it also means that as Christians, we live with a nearly unbearable amount of excitement about the future. We’re like toddlers who KNOW they’re going to go to Disney World, and just can’t wait! That’s why we cry out with the Apostle John, “Amen! Come soon, Lord Jesus!”
I want to leave you with a closing illustration that I first came up with five years ago at a Stronghold Camp at Camp Susque in central Pennsylvania five years ago. So if this is familiar, forgive me.
But imagine this:
Without warning, you are whisked away into heaven and suddenly appear before the judgment throne of God. Only, it looks like an enormous baseball field with hundreds of millions of people and angels watching you as you stand alone at the plate.
Somehow you know in your gut that you only have three chances to hit that ball. And unless you can make it all the way to back home base on this one hit, the hoards of demons guarding the bases will catch you and you will be thrown out of the game—and straight into the tormenting fire of hell.
The opposing team calls their best pitcher out. His name is Satan. He looks at you and sneers in disdain because he knows exactly how to beat you.
And then, you notice that the diamond itself is impossibly large—thousands of miles long maybe. There’s no chance that anyone could even make it even close to first base without being caught. In your heart, you know it’s over.
WHAM! You miss the first pitch completely. You not only feel ashamed that the pitcher knew exactly how you were going to swing, you’re also stunned by how fast the pitch was. You try to tell yourself that “This time, I’m gonna show that guy,” but in your gut you know it’s hopeless.
WHAM! The baseball hits the catcher’s mit with another deafening thud. Satan is laughing his head off at you. He’s loving every moment of this. He’s watching you squirm, and he’s going to enjoy seeing you get thrown into hell.
Just then, there is a surprise announcement that someone named Jesus is going to pinch-hit for you. You don’t get a good look at his face, but the voice from underneath his helmet is both stern, and also the most kind and loving voice you’ve ever heard. He says, “When I hit the ball, start running.”
Satan growls from the pitcher’s mound. His laughter has now changed to rage, and he screams furiously. With all the hate and anger in his heart, he throws the ball straight at your head—at mach 20—in an attempt to kill you.
But WHAM! What you feel isn’t the ball hitting your head. Instead you feel an incredible whoosh of air all around you. The batter has absolutely CRUSHED that baseball with a mighty swing of his bat, which breaks into splinters. Some of the shards glance past you, and you can see the remaining pieces of wood flying away into the heavens.
You turn and look—and the batter is dead! Apparently he was killed by the shockwave of the impact. There’s blood everywhere—including on you—and His body is so mangled that it hardly even looks human anymore.
You feel incredibly sad, and also confused as to why you weren’t killed yourself. You realize now that the batter was shielding you from that deadly force—at the cost of His own life.
Suddenly, his last words echo again in your mind: “When I hit the ball, start running.” You can feel excitement and urgency welling inside your soul as you look at the thousand-mile trek in front of you.
So what happens next? That depends on you.
Will you stay where you are, or will you run with perseverance the race that is marked out for you? Will you listen to Satan’s lies, or will you listen to the voice of the One who gave his life for you? Will you give up when you see how great the opposition is, or do you trust that the victory is already won and that heaven awaits you at your journey’s end?
To put it another way,
The deck’s been split, we’ve been dealt all aces
Home run’s been hit, we just need to run the bases
So don’t delay this, tie up your laces, don’t stay in stasis
Chase that narrow gate straight into the Father’s embraces
Don’t be intimidated by the hate in their faces
‘Cuz when God takes your case, all your debt he erases
Leaves no trace in the database cuz’ that’s what grace is
So run and don’t debate ‘bout what your place in the race is
Fix your eyes on the Savior, and in time you’ll find
It was Him who carried you across the finish line
Let’s pray.
[PRAYER]
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