■ = m FOR THE S ERMON , B I BLE READ I NG , GOSPEL ADDRESS § Hom iletical Helps F . V A N X ------------------------------------------------------------------------- T-------------- --------- 1 SERMON A New Y ear Sermon OUTLINES 3. An obliviousness of the past. - — ■' ; B u W I L L I A M
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Them e: A Glimpse into P au l’s Religious Experience. T ext : Philippians 3 :12-16. -I ntroduction . Paul’s desire is here contrasted with his attainment. The apostle had not yet reached his ideal of Christ’s purpose in his calling. 7. A Look into the Past. This look into the past experience of the apostle reveals: 1. The nature of conversion. It is: (a) The response of man to a heavenly calling. Conversion is the response of the human heart tq the call of God. (b) A seizure of man by God. Paul likens his conversion to a grasping, a seizing, an arresting, a laying hold of the heart under the sway of worldliness and sin, and bringing it under the sway of the all-conquering grace of Christ (cf. Acts 9: the conversion of Saul; also Colossians 1:13: in which our conversion is likened to a snatching from the power of Satan). 2. That God’s purpose in Paul’s con version is to be the purpose of the apostle’s life.
Just as the Olympian racer did not look behind, but kept his, eye on the goal, so Paul forgets the things that are behind and reaches toward the things of the future.
II. A Look into the Present. Paul claimed not to have"already attained or to have been already perfected. 1. Reveals a conscious dissatisfaction with the present.
In speaking of his conversion, he says, “I did not attain.” In speak ing of his present condition, he says, “I have not yet attained.” Satisfaction with one’s present attainments is not a good sign. Self-esteem is a great obstacle to progress. Over-estimation makes growth, impossible. Reaching is vitally i connected with growth. Dissatisfaction is the spring of all attainment. Dissatisfied with huts, men build houses; dissatis fied with the skin of beasts, they manufacture garments; dissatis fied with calligraphy, they invent a printing press; dissatisfied with wagons, they construct steam engines. Conceit blasts and deforms the face of life. Con scious dissatisfaction becomes intensified the more we see of Christ. We are not what w,e were; we are not what we shall be; nor are we yet what we ought to be.
God had saved Paul in order that he might save others. There m*st be no selfishness in religion.
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