Welcome to the CommonsCast. We're glad to have you here. We hope you find something meaningful in our teaching this week. Head to commons.church for more information. We are in our series called Everything is Awful, a letter about hope.

And this is the penultimate message in that series. We will wrap it all up next week. But we've been making our way through Paul's letter to the Philippians. And this is just a really beautiful letter born of very deep friendship. Paul's not just talking to a church.

He's talking to a community that he knows and loves well. And for me, that that really does come across in the writing and I think we've seen some of that. But last week, we moved into chapter three and Paul opens that chapter with a little bit of different energy than perhaps he brought to the first half of the letter. He talks about dogs and evil doers and mutilators warning the Philippian community not to find themselves going off track. Now he makes it clear that he's not coming down hard on Philippi.

He says, look, I know we've already talked about this, but I just want to hit it one more time to make sure we're all on the same page together. But his larger point there is that we all have a tendency to take good things and turn them into barriers for others. It kind of sets up a rhetorical move here where all of these descriptors are pointing at pagan practices that all of his audience are going to agree with is unhealthy. Dogs, evil doers, mutilators. In Greek that's kunas, kakus, katatomen.

So there's some preacher flare showing off here. The trick is that all of these were going to be heard to describe the other guys. That is until Paul pulls back the curtain and says, actually, guys, I'm talking about us. In the task, my own tendency, he says, has been to take the blessings of God and instead of being grateful and gracious with them, I've turned that into a weapon to ostracize and include another. And we have to be really careful as readers here because it's easy and frankly lazy to read this as Paul criticizing Judaism.

I don't think that's really his intent here at all. Often that comes from a Christian misunderstanding of Jewish ritual and practice. Point of things like the purity code or the dietary restrictions or even circumcision which Paul points to here. None of these were ever about gaining entry into God's favor. That that was never why the Jewish people did any of these things.

They practiced them as symbols of God's goodness, a way to point to the already active graciousness of God in the world extended to the Jewish people. So if anything, what we should hear Paul saying is that he was the one who had misunderstood the traditions and the teachings of his own people, turning them into a weapon in a way that was never part of Jewish thought. But now, in the light of Christ, his imagination opened wide by the expansiveness of God's welcome, he now sees his own small mindedness for what it always was. He recognizes now the beauty of both Jewish ritual and Christ's rule in his heart. Remember, never does Paul denigrate Jewish practice or tell any Jewish person to stop practicing it.

What he condemns is his own tendency to turn that ritual into exclusion. And so the idea that Gentiles can or should appropriate these customs for themselves or be forced to practice them as a way to jump in line ahead of the Jewish people, this is what Paul pushes back against. In fact, he goes as far as to say that what he considers all of his attempts to win God's love is garbage or refuse. In the Greek, the word is there, which is a great reference back to where he started with the dogs and the evildoers because literally Skubalon was the scrapings or the bones or the thrown out leftovers that scavenging dogs might pick through. It's this really provocative image because he talks about how he once considered others mere dogs but slowly came to realize that thinking about people that way leaves you the one eating the dog food.

Again though, we have to understand that the Skubalon here, this is not his Jewish practice or his Jewish upbringing. The Skubalon was his personal tendency to turn his practice into the persecution or the exclusion of others. And that's really where this detour into Jewish thought and practice becomes very meaningful for all of us. Because all of us, every one of us, we're infected with the same tendency to want an enemy. And no matter where we source our religious practice from, when they become weaponized against another, they begin to take us away from the way of Jesus.

But all of this is important to keep in mind for what he says next in the next section that we want to look at today. Starting in verse 12, he writes, Not that I have already obtained all of this or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of anything. But one thing I do, forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. So lots of conversation last week about orientation and looking back.

Now Paul says, okay. Let's be honest here. I haven't obtained any of this yet. I'm still working. I'm still learning.

I'm still just like you. But I've put my past behind me and I'm looking forward to everything on the horizon. So let's pray and then we'll dive into all of this together. Good and gracious God who comes to us with expansive welcome, who offers us a seat at your table specifically so that you can begin to break down all the walls, the doors that we have put up between ourselves and another. Might we realize that no matter where we got our traditions from, no matter where we source our religious practice, if we turn them into weapons to keep another at arm's length from ourselves or certainly from you, then we have found ourselves moving away from the heart of Christ.

In all of these ways as we listen to Paul, as we learn from his experience, from his past and his transformation, May we have the courage to look deep inside ourselves at our own practices, at our own exclusions, at the ways that we are not always fully welcoming the way that you are. Then when we become aware, may we invite your spirit to flood in, to transform us the way that you transformed Paul, to help us follow the way of your son in the world. In the strong name of the Risen Christ we pray. Amen. Okay.

The agenda today is Forgetting, Remembering, Partnering and Interrogating. But first let's talk about this line, forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead. Paul has something very important in mind here but I can't help think about all of the fashion trends that I have seen come and go in my four decades on earth, things that I would very much like to leave behind. I remember wearing jungkook jeans like those super crazy wide leg pants in high school only to just finally give in and switch to skinny jeans, which to be fair still look baggy on me. And now apparently bootlegs are back, baby.

Who knew? Although to be fair, I have been rocking basically the same haircut since I was a kid. I haven't tried anything new with my beard since I grew it in my early thirties. Fashion tip here, a capsule wardrobe makes everything so much easier. But no doubt we all have those moments that we would love to leave in the past behind us and never look back on.

My son who is seven was playing with my one year old daughter last week and she drooled on herself as babies with new teeth often do. And he turned to me and proffered, Dad, I remember when I was a baby and I used to drool. So embarrassing. But that's how it goes. Right?

We look back and we marvel at how far we've come even if we're only seven years old. But let's look at this advice from Paul with a little more nuance for a second here. Because I do think that sometimes we can take this counsel at a very surface level and end up with a really unhealthy approach to life. It can be good to leave the past behind totally, of course. Assuming the past is holding you somewhere you no longer need to be, letting it go can be freeing.

But at the same time, not reckoning with the past, Forgetting the past, ignoring the past, suppressing the past. None of these will ever going to serve us well as we move forward. I mean if we're going to talk about our bad bootleg genes then fine forget it and move on. But if we're talking about trauma, if we're going to talk about something that we've done inadvertently or otherwise that hurt someone, if we're talking about the shared history we have, for example all the ways that we have benefited from the mistreatment of indigenous peoples here on these lands, then forgetting what is behind straining toward what is ahead, that can be extremely toxic. This is exactly why verses pulled from the Bible absolutely need to be read within their set and setting.

Yes. Paul says, forgetting what is behind, they strain toward what is ahead. But what did he just finish saying to us? Well, he just finished saying, if others think they have reason to put confidence in the flesh, I have more. Circumcised on the eighth day of the tribe of Israel, of the people of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews, I've got cultural credentials to measure against anyone.

In regard to the law, a Pharisee, I got more Bible chops than anyone. I can quote scripture like a madman. As for zeal, I persecuted the Church. I've actually used violence to pursue my agenda. As for righteousness, based on the law, faultless.

I've done it all. I've got the marriage badges to prove it. So when Paul talks about leaving all that past behind, it comes immediately after he has just recounted for us his past. In fact, in chapter two, we saw Paul use the history of the Jewish people as an illustration specifically to say that the past does not need to determine your future if you learn from it well. So forget the past is only ever good advice in the context of remembering it well.

Again, reading in context is so important because it dramatically shapes what we hear. In Chapter four, Paul is going to write, Do not be anxious about anything. And those are beautiful words, healing words even in the right circumstance. But please understand that Paul is not talking concept of a diagnosed anxiety disorder. And to whip his encouragement from its context and to wield it carelessly against someone who is struggling, that can actually do a lot of damage.

Well, it's the same idea here. Leave the past behind once you have learned all you can from it, once you have healed from it, once you have enacted reparations for it, once you understand how to carry it all with you well. May your past be a launching point and never an anchor, but that means we have to learn. And all of this is embedded in this phrase when we pull back and we see the context in which Paul writes it. But let's see now how Paul develops this section because he's got a lot to say here.

He writes, Not that I have already obtained all of this or have already arrived at my goal, but I do press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. So he's talking about growth and maturity and finding our way forward, but there's a couple neat things here. First of all, Paul goes from talking about all the things he used to think, set him apart and made him holy and better from those around him. Now he says, I've had a change of heart. I see things differently.

But what I really like about here is that he also somehow side steps the tendency to become the equal and opposite version of everything he used to be. No doubt you have had someone in your life that has moved their political views from the left to the right or vice versa at some point. And now they often seem to hold all of their old opinions with utter disdain. We see this sometimes in people who deconstruct their religious views but not, unfortunately, their world view. If your religion taught you to believe that everyone like you is good and everyone not like you is bad, then you can leave all of that religion behind, become an atheist, and still be very much a fundamentalist.

And look, that's not to pick on atheists. This happens all the time within religious circles. We change our view but we hold very tightly to our exclusionary framework. And we go from hating one group to hating a new group. We we change our mind, but we struggle to allow Jesus to alter our deeper imagination of things.

There's this phrase that I picked up over the years that I found really We tend to look forward with fear and back with disdain. And I find that helpful because it seems very much to map to my personal journey. When I can see a change in myself on the horizon, when I can feel something starting to shift inside of me. And that can be my sense of faith, it can be my career, it can be some of my goals in life, but often I find myself afraid of that change that's coming. The change is scary and that phrase helps remember me that it's okay to be afraid.

I'll find my way through it. I don't need to fear. But but the other half is just as important for me because very often once I have changed, once I have left an old way behind and moved forward, I often look back with just dripping disdain. I can't believe I used to think that way. I can't imagine how I used to believe that way.

I can't fathom how everyone is not as enlightened as me. And that simple phrase, forward with fear, back with disdain, reminds me to let both of those go at least as much as I can. And I actually think this is part of what Paul is gesturing toward here. I used to think one way. I used to hold my faith one way.

But I'm learning to move forward. To leave behind not just my broken beliefs about God, but the very manner in which I believed that anyone who disagreed with me was beneath me. Paul says here, I want to learn to be gracious. I want to learn to be loving and I can see that I'm moving in that direction. I trust that Christ is shaping me now and guiding me forward in new ways.

But I do not pretend to have taken hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. And I love that posture but I also love this phrase. This this idea that as we reach for Jesus it is Jesus reaching back for us. Paul has this profound sense of partnership whenever he talks about the way of Jesus in his life. It's not all effort and striving and punishment and pain.

It's it's this give and take and gift and reception and journey that seems to define him. Here it's this idea of being pulled forward even as we push ourselves to follow the way of Jesus. And I think this is just a much healthier imagination of Jesus as way in our lives. Healthier perhaps than some of us have been accustomed to. For example, I sometimes think we hear about the narrow path and we immediately jump to the idea that that must mean it's hard.

But as we talked about in the Sermon on the Mount series a few years ago, the image there is more about the hiddenness of the way of Jesus. The idea that there's a default way in the world. A wide and well worn way that if we're not paying attention to we will unconsciously be carried along with. It's the way of greed and self promotion, the way of violence and exclusion, all of these things that will eventually lead us to destruction. But if we can stop and look and search out what's possible, if we can allow Christ to get a hold of us and redirect our gaze, then Jesus invites us to consider a different path.

One that is undoubtedly less common but certainly one where the burden is far lighter. I mean, wide road is the one where everyone is on their own looking out for themselves. The narrow path is the one where we walk in step with Jesus, learning from Jesus, helping each other along the way, being taken hold of and pulled forward by the Divine. That's Paul's imagination here. Christ has taken hold of me and that is slowly reinventing everything I think about the world.

Yeah, of course I'm doing my best to learn but I know I am still being carried and held and kept in him. If you remember back to the first couple weeks of the series, I think, we talked about how Powell almost never talks about Christ in us, but he loves the image of us in Christ. That idea of partnership with Christ instead of performing for Christ. I think it's just a much healthier way for us to imagine the path, the way, the role of Jesus in our lives. So he says there's one thing I do know.

Forgetting what is behind and straining a word toward its head, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. Got it. All of us then who are mature should take a view of such things. And, I mean, this is just kind of an interesting moment in the letter because if you pull this one out of on its own and you pair it with Paul's reputation for sometimes coming across a little abrasive or arrogant, I mean, you can really end up misreading him here. Anyone who is mature should take my view.

He's a pretty bold claim and kind of backs everyone into a bit of a corner. I was working at the table a couple weeks ago and my son came into the room. He said to me, Hey, dad. I was wondering if you could make me a smoothie. I see that you're working so you don't have to do it right now.

You could do it in two minutes or maybe one minute. It's your choice. Big Pauline energy there. Look, you don't have to agree with me. It's your choice.

Obviously, if you are mature, you will. But hey, you do you. Except, of course, that's not really what's going on here at all, is it? In this entire section Paul has been talking about how he once thought he had all the answers. Now he realizes he's in process, learning and growing and being shaped by Christ.

And so he says, all of us should who are take a view of such things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you in time. Only let each of us live up to what we have already attained. And this is what I think is so beautiful and significant and powerful about Paul's encounter with Jesus. He hasn't just changed his mind about particular religious convictions, he has changed the way he holds the convictions he's come to.

Paul has not just gone from believing that Jesus was a crackpot to believing Jesus was the Messiah. Paul has somehow gone from believing that God needs to be defended to understanding that God was never at the mercy of our misconceptions to begin with. And that that is a far deeper shift than just changing our minds. Ultimately, I think this is a piece that a lot of us sometimes the hardest for us as followers of Jesus to really take hold of and sink in. We're supposed to have convictions as followers of Jesus.

Of course we are. How on earth could any of us choose the narrow path? How could you or I ever walk away from the default draw of wealth and security and popularity and tribalism to choose the path of grace and peace instead? To live graciously toward all, to live at peace with all this requires deep rooted conviction that will not come easily for any of us. Fundamentally, what Paul is saying is that Christianity is not just about saying I will reject this group so I can choose that group.

It's about saying Christ has reinvented my imagination of what it means to be human. And I no longer need you to be hated for myself to be loved. I no longer need you to be wrong to know that I am being taught and guided and led toward the path of Jesus. For Paul, maturity is not just what you believe, it is how you choose to believe it. And this is precisely why grace and peace is such a defining mantra for Paul.

It's why we spent a week on it earlier in the series because Paul hasn't just changed his religious convictions. Paul has somehow invited Jesus to reshape his imagination of the world, To replace the Roman obsession with peace through victory, peace through knowing who our enemy is, peace through crushing descent and difference. He's replaced all of that with the cruciform commitment to peace through grace, through welcome, through inclusion, through listening, through learning that life is complex and often our relationships with each other are more important than winning arguments. Here at Commons we often reference our inherited history in Calgary. The Scandinavian Mission Church of Calgary founded in 1911 which wrote these words in 1961 on the occasion of their fiftieth Our ideal is to be a Church in which Christ is honored through a fellowship of liberty and unity of love.

Within a framework of basic Christianity, doctrinal variations are not to divide Church. The right of every believer to his or her own position must be respected. And all of us then who are mature should take a view of such things. And if on some point you think differently than I do, that too I will trust to God and you. Only let each of us live up to what we have already attained.

Because the way of Jesus is not just what we believe. It's how we choose to carry our beliefs with us into the world, into relationships and conversations and encounters and communities. And if Jesus can teach us how to carry our belief well, then certainly we can trust that slowly Jesus can lead us toward the goal of believing right. May you hold your convictions with grace and peace until slowly your conviction, like Paul's, becomes grace and peace. Perhaps then Christ may be Lord of all.

Let's pray. God of all grace and peace, who teaches us not just what to believe but how to believe it. How to carry ourselves into relationships and conversations. How to extend ourselves with graciousness to all. And in that, not just to pursue peace but to create peace, to become peacemakers in the world.

Those who contribute step by step, brick by brick, decision by decision to your kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven. May we learn from each other. May we listen to each other. May we invite each other's stories to shape us and teach us. And in that, may you slowly pull us forward onto the way of Christ.

We have been taken hold of. Would you continue by your spirit to transform us? In the strong name of the risen Christ, we pray. Amen.