Live A Legacy (Thrive Weekend Sermon 3)

Press On

Grace Carried Me Here

Look to the person on your left

Thank you for your prayers

Big Idea: What I want us to see in our time together is that guilt will cripple every area of your life, but grace will set you free.

Intro: Personal Story (Jess’s Tattoo)

I am blessed to have the most beautiful and loving wife on the planet. She is the sweetest and most genuine person that I know. Jess was raised in a Christian home and came to Christ at a young age. She had grown up in an environment that placed a lot of emphasis on looking and playing the part of a Christian. Showing up at all the church events, wearing the right clothes, and saying the right things. We had many conversations about our pasts and how it was hard to overcome some of the tendencies and habits we learned through these experiences.

It wasn’t until later in our marriage that the reality of our past was beginning to take a toll on our lives. It was in our second year of marriage that we began fostering a little boy. We had no idea what we were doing, but we dove head first in loving this little boy like he was our own. Around 9 months in to fostering him we were faced with a tough decision where we would ultimately have to reunite him with his birth mom. This tore us apart. I remember loading him in the car and waving goodbye wondering if we’d ever see him again. We spent many nights weeping over the pain of losing this boy. We didn’t know how to handle these types of emotions. Where do you even put that?

Over the next several months we mourned and grieved together. But due to my wife’s upbringing, she quickly began playing the part and would say, “God is in control.” While yes, that is true, the pain and suffering of the loss was never truly dealt with. Guilt and grief not dealt with is like shrapnel to the brain and eventually it begins to tear you apart. In the months that followed her health began to decline as she started having severe heart and breathing issues. This led to countless doctor visits, trips to the ER, wearing a heart monitor, and many scary nights. It was in this season that God began to reveal that His grace was enough. She didn’t have to carry the weight of guilt and shame. That it was ok to not be ok. That He had a plan much greater in store if she would just surrender the past, surrender the pain, surrender what anyone else thought of her, and fully let go.

God taught my wife many valuable lessons throughout this journey, but the one that stands above the rest is that His grace carried her through, and that His grace will carry her on. Not her works, not her past, but His grace! You will never be fully set free if you are carrying the weight of the past.

Background: Paul writing to the church at Philippi

The church at Philippi was founded by the apostle Paul on his second missionary journey, recorded in Acts 16. Philippi is located in northeastern Greece. We are unsure as to the length of time Paul stayed there on his first visit, but we do know that he had a deep love for the people. Paul writes this letter to the church while in prison.

Passage: Philippians 3:12-21 (Say it 3x)

Pray: (Pause 3-5 seconds)

3 Main Points:

1. The Past is Forgiven (12-13)

   1. We cannot live out God’s purpose today if we are consumed by our guilt from yesterday
      1. Paul says he forgets what is behind and presses on. Here’s how I’d apply that: guilt can take on many different forms including both our past mistakes and successes.
      2. Guilt over sin says, “Christ could never use me because I’ve _________” You fill in the blank.
      3. Grace says, “I’ve overcome the world.”
      4. Guilt over success says, “I’ve worked so hard, yet I’ll never truly be good enough.”
      5. Grace says, “I’m all you need.”
   2. Our past is not a ball and chain, but a beautiful picture of the narrative of God’s grace and work in our lives.
      1. It is not about us having laid hold of Christ, but Christ having laid hold of us!
      2. “In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” 1 John 4:9-10
      3. May we never lose the wonder of what we were saved from and the vastness of His mercy and grace on our lives!
   3. Paul writes this letter as someone who had approved of murder and persecuted the same people he is now reaching.
      1. No matter what you’ve done, God’s grace is enough!
      2. “He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear Him; as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.” Psalm 103:10-12

2. The Present is a Journey (14-19)

   1. We run this race as a team, unified together as the body of Christ
   2. Train for the race
      1. Growth comes through hard work, dedication, and pain…
      2. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, I want to run the race, but I don’t want to experience any pain! I don’t want to have to adjust my life or work hard.
      3. Discipline yourself, do the necessary preparation so that you are ready to compete at the highest level.
   3. Let’s run the right race
      1. “Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. For this I toil, struggling with all His energy that He powerfully works within me.” Colossians 1:28-29
   4. Let’s give it all we have!
      1. The race is not a sprint, it’s the course of your life
      2. Illust: Me running a marathon
      3. Satan is going to say each day…
         1. You’ve made too many mistakes
         2. You can do this on your own
         3. You’re not enough
         4. You’ll end up failing just like before
         5. Give up
         6. You tell the devil “Devil, no, not today!”
      4. Paul is straining toward the prize, but we don’t run to earn the victory. Christ has already won it.
         1. “If God is for us, who can be against us?” and “Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.” Romans 8:31 (ESV) and 37 (NKJV)
         2. “And I am sure of this, that He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” Philippians 1:6
         3. “In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” John 16:33
         4. The Crucifixion has been applied to your life! The victory has been settled. He came, He died, and He rose, HALLELUJAH, we’ve WON!
         5. My sins are forgiven, I don’t have to walk in guilt or shame, I can claim victory over my life, victory over my circumstance, victory over my marriage, victory over my job, because you have a plan and a purpose for my life!
   5. Let’s finish strong!
      1. 1 Corinthians 9:22-27 (Striving for a crown)

3. The Future Is Secure (20-21)

   1. Citizens “citizenship is in heaven…”
   2. Co-heirs
      1. Illust: New birth certificates for Ryan and Cory
      2. So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. 13 For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. 14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. 15 For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” 16 The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. Romans 8:12-17
      3. His life, perfect and sinless life, death, brutal and humiliating, burial, and resurrection on the third day made it possible for us to be co-heirs with our King!

Back to the Big Idea: God’s grace has carried you here, and by grace you will carry on! The love I never deserved will carry me on today, tomorrow, and to eternity.

3 Walking Points:

Someone tonight needs to commit to one or maybe all of these walking points.

1. Surrender The Past

a. Let go of the past hang ups and hurts

b. Stop holding on to the rope

c. Unload the weight of guilt off your shoulders

2. Rest In His Grace

a. He wants to carry you through this season

b. He wants to wrap his arms of love around you today

c. True freedom is found in Christ alone

1. Not in your bank account
2. Not in your status
3. Not in your career
4. But Christ alone.

3. Leave a legacy

a. Run to win

b. Run with confidence

c. Leave a legacy of Christ’s work through you