sins & shenanigans

Philippians 3

3 We who worship by the Spirit of God... rely on what Christ Jesus has done for us.

We put no confidence in human effort,

4 though I could have confidence in my own effort if anyone could.

Indeed, if others have reason for confidence in their own efforts, I have even more!

  5 I was circumcised when I was eight days old.

I am a pure-blooded citizen of Israel and a member of the tribe of Benjamin;

a real Hebrew if there ever was one!

I was a member of the Pharisees,

who demand the strictest obedience to the Jewish law.

6 I was so zealous that I harshly persecuted the church.

And as for righteousness,

I obeyed the law without fault.

  7 I once thought these things were valuable,

but now I consider them worthless

because of what Christ has done.

8 Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.

For his sake I have discarded everything else,

counting it all as garbage,

so that I could gain Christ

9 and become one with him.

I no longer count on my own righteousness through obeying the law;

rather, I become righteous through faith in Christ.

For God's way of making us right with himself depends on faith.

10 I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead.

I want to suffer with him, sharing in his death,

11 so that one way or another I will experience the resurrection from the dead!


12 I don't mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection.

But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me.

13 No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it,

but I focus on this one thing:

Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead,

14 I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.

Paul out “holied” most everybody...

He was a Pharisee...

Pharisees were practically perfect in every way (like Mary Poppins? ;-) )

He was pretty untouchable.

Paul also reminds us that he was an awful person – persecuting early Christians, throwing them in jail, having them killed, their families jailed or killed or scattered.

Early Christians were scared to death of him.

So when Paul says he “forgets the past” & “looks forward to what's ahead”, he's not just letting go of a few inconsequential sins.

His were big league sins.

So if Paul can “forget the past” with all his sins & shenanigans, trusting is Jesus,

can't were trust Jesus in the same way with all our sins & shenanigans,

& move forward with Him?