Summer Blockbusters: You Can't Change The Past

Instead of dealing with the painful situation, Simba ran away. He finds Timon and Pumba who teaches him to live the “Acuna Matata” lifestyle. He lives a life of no worries and simply avoids his destiny.

He’s confronted with a childhood friend, who tells him that things back home have gotten bad. If he doesn’t go back, his family and all the citizens will be killed at Pride rock.

(Show the clip of Rafeki and Simba)

The apostle Paul had a similar story.

Paul

Born within a decade of the birth of Jesus.

Died as a martyr in Rome, mid to late AD 60’s.

Born in Tarsus, Hellenist City with Roman influence.

Educated from boyhood in Jerusalem.

He studied under the ranking rabbi of the era, Gamaliel.

Probaly knew 3 languages = Greek, Hebrew, & Aramaic. Maybe even some Latin.

He gained legal authority to hunt down Jewish Christians.

Pharisee

Hebrew root prs, meaning “separate” or “to detach”.

Separated from:

Priests

Common people

Gentiles

Political people

Pharisees who wouldn’t detach from people

They avoided any type of physical or spiritual impurity

Simple Life

Very influential in the lan of Israel.

Considered most accurate interpreters of the law.

Religious authority, wanted to make converts, desired outward recognition and honor, observed legalistic patterns from the law.

They did not believe in a “wage price theory of righteousness”.

Instead a “covenantal nominism”in which law-keeping was a response to God’s grace in his covenant with Israel.

Blatant legalism.

Before Paul knew Jesus, he was ruthless destroyer of the church. His past was full of trouble. He causes pain and suffering for many people. He was the kind of man that had authority everywhere that he went. He lived his life “honoring God” by zealously seeking people out who believed in the Jesus movement.

He hated the Jesus movement so much that he would have loved the opportunity to crucify Jesus all over again.

He was zealous (strongly passionate) towards destroying the church.

He had what you and I call a “testimony with a past.”

For many people in this room, the past carries a large amount of pain with it.

What someone did to us.

What we did to someone.

What we did to ourselves.

All are tough to deal with.

In , Paul shares his past with us.

He exposed the how he felt about his life as a Pharisee before.

He shared his past strong credentials.

He claimed that everything he used to have was now a loss for the sake of Christ.

He wanted to know Jesus more and more every day.

Paul was pursuing the life of victory in Jesus.

But even the apostle Paul knew that he hadn’t fully found that victory yet.

Philippians 3:

Philippians 3:12–14 NASB95

12 Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus. 13 Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

What does this writing tell Christians about their past?

1. The past reminds us that we are not where we want to be. (v. 12)

Paul was saying, “I’m not there yet.” He had not yet arrived at his goal.

teleioo - being perfected, being completed, or reaching a goal.

“I will follow after” - chasing. Pressing towards a fixed point.

Paul would gain what he was pursuing. Christ had grabbed on to Paul on the road to Damascus and had never let go.

Paul would now pursue knowing Jesus even more!

Paul, at this point of his life was not satisfied with where he was in pursuing his goal.

He knew that there was more! He wasn’t going to approach following God the way that he used to. He had found the direction he needed and was going to reach his goal.

Pursuing Tricia like a boy vs pursuing Tricia like a man.

Where are you spiritually? Have you had a moment when Jesus helped you come to your senses and you decided to follow Him?

There must come a point when we realize that the world can’t hack it for us anymore and we are ready to walk after Jesus.

When this happens, we enter a special place in our life. A time when the world starts to look differently and see what matters to us the most.

For Paul and for any serious believer, we that we need Jesus more than we need His blessings. We decide to pursue a lifestyle dedicated to following Him with our heart.

This can be new for you right now or you could have made this decision long ago.

No matter where you are, you will never fully get there spiritually during your time on earth. There is always some way to grow and learn. More ways to fall in love.

You’re not there yet.

You are promised to get there if you keep moving.

The goal is not all about getting there. It’s about putting ourselves in the position to grow.

Daily time with Jesus in His word and in prayer.

Cooperating with the body of Christ, that is His church.

Never feeling fully satisfied until we are standing in the presence of Jesus.

It’s not about the end of the journey. It’s about walking on the right path.

2. The past fuels our effort to walk in the right direction.

“One thing I do” Implies action over thinking or reckoning.

Forgetting the past = letting go of the power that it once had.

“Reaching forth”

epi = direction; after

ek = forth

teino = stretching fowards

Metaphor is that of a foot race.

Focusing on his past would have only taken him backwards. He had to forget his past failures so that he could run the race that Jesus commanded him to run.

He knew that there was more to do in the kingdom of God. The more he walked forward, the closer he got to his main goals.

What could have been going through the mind of Simba as he reentered pride rock after all those years being gone?

What about your past has you so scared? What has the pain of your past done to your present and future?

You cannot focus on the what’s in front of you if you looking behind you.

There is nothing biblical or spiritual about punishing yourself for something that you have already asked forgiveness for.

Our past weighs us down with fruit that’s not of God. (Anger, bitterness, fear, lust, etc)

If God forgets your past, why do you have to keep bringing it up? “For I will be merciful to their iniquities, And I will remember their sins no more. “

Hebrews 8:12 NASB95

12 “For I will be merciful to their iniquities, And I will remember their sins no more.”

Paul, at this point of his life was not satisfied with where he was in pursuing his goal.

Jesus died on the cross to give you a future. Live in that truth!

Don’t let the pain of the yesterday define your today and the rest of your tomorrows.

3. The past tells us that our prior goals weren’t high enough.

The Goal

Pauls athletic imagery in these verses refers to the Greek athletic games. For Paul, the ultimate goal is knowing Christ’s resurrection power and dwelling with Him in the ages to come.

Everything about Pauls life before was about earth. Position, power, behaving to please God.

Now he had an “upward” call. Another way to phrase it was that he had a transcendent purpose.

beyond or above the range of normal or merely physical human experience.

transcendent - beyond or above the range of normal or merely physical human experience.

He figured out what life is all about. It’s about knowing Jesus and knowing Him more every day. It wasn’t about preaching to people, mission trips, or making God happy for his actions. He did those things because they brought him closer to Jesus. Plain and simple. His relationship with the Savior was extremely valuable to Him and gave him a goal that would never sour.

He had an answer for the people that tried to question his past. He wasn’t focused on it anymore. He had a new life and a new name and he was walking forward with Jesus.

He lived in God’s authority and was able to place his focus where it needed to be.

A lions roar can be heard up to 5 miles. The lion is declaring dominion over the territory that is lives in.

Why am I telling you this? Life isn’t about what you used to make it be about. You have a great purpose. A transcendent cause to live by.

When we figure this out, our life becomes victorious and much different than anyone else.

People will question you. The enemy will tempt you to despair.

“When Satan tempts me to despair/ and tells me of the guilt within/ I look above and see Him there/ who made an end to all my sin / one in himself I cannot die / my soul is purchased by his blood/ my life is hid with Christ on high/ with Christ my Savior and my God.

You have the authority to reach for Heaven while on earth.

How do we do that?

Present yourself to God.

Romans 12:1–2 NASB95

1 Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.

2. Die to this world and worldly desires.

Galatians 2:20 NASB95

20 “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.

3. Follow Jesus.

Luke 9:23 NASB95

23 And He was saying to them all, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me.

Letting go of what used to matter and pursuing what does is your roar!

We all know this but we must determine whether or not we will allow it to happen in us.