We can only be cheerful while we forget. We live on food, the blood circulates through the frame; and all these motions return on themselves; but there is another motion in man, there is an onward movement — he is a being of religious instincts; and to foster and fan their flames is the end of all religious services and exercises. — So far as acceptance with God is concerned a Christian is complete in Christ as soon as he believes. Do you see what Paul is doing here in light of God’s upward call, in light of the prize of knowing Christ in the everyday? A. (Professor Hollard. He finds the pen too slow, hence his types and cylinders scatter libraries. He arrogates no particular saintship. The branch of a tree puts forth bud after bud in its gradual growth anal enlargement. Paul is like one of those eager charioteers of whom his guardsmen so often spoke to him when they had returned from the contests in the Circus Maximus, and joined their shouts to those of the myriads who cheered their favourite colours — leaning forward in his flying car, bending over the shaken rein and the goaded steed, forgetting everything — every peril, every competitor, every circling of the meta in the rear, as he pressed on for the goal by which sat the judges with the palm garlands that formed the prize. He talks about everything, aims to excel in many things; but I have learned that if I ever make a breach, I must play my guns continually on one point. The fellowship of the Spirit in all its perfection.5. The young live mainly in the future; but by and by the vision fades away or becomes limited. There is no growth before a hypocrite any more than there is in an artificial flower. They are not, indeed, to be dropped as mere bud scales, as mere means to an end — for they are the basis upon which all the subsequent efforts of the spiritual life are to be made. Hubbard. It is wise to forget all that. The very dream of hope to do something better has been their rum.2. He must use them. )The onward movement of the soulPaxton Hood.Man is the creature of the same senses; he beholds the same sun, the same streams, and flying clouds; youth succeeds to infancy, and the festival of nature is followed by decay. (4) This grand future should draw our thoughts all the more to itself, because it is not only grand, but certain. E. Jenkins, LL. All sorts of backward looking are a positive weakness and impediment to a man in running a race. "Very well," said the general, "just let them remain where they are; the enemy's going to advance, and will spare you the trouble."(W. Our activities include a weekly Scripture memory verse. — every muscle strained and every vein starting — the quick and short heaving of his chest — the big drops gathered on his brow — his body bending forward, as if with frantic gesture he already clutched the goal — his eye, now glancing aside with a momentary sparkle at objects so rapidly disappearing behind him, and then fixing itself on the garland in eager anticipation. M. Punshon, LL. Paul had too much common sense and manliness, and moreover had a real work to do.2. Former sins.3. It sometimes needs a severe gust of wind to shake off the scales that still linger around the bud. Absolute pardon. The apostle is not leaving, he is forgetting the things behind; he is not merely looking, he is reaching forth unto the things before; not only does he run, he presses toward the mark; nor was he occupied, weakened, or delayed by a variety of pursuits — "This one thing I do. Among those who travel constantly on foot, have you ever observed any who run? As soon as you begin to dwell with self-complacency on the past you lose your ideal of duty, and your right sense of the claims of the future and the present. And as we just read, he had a lot to be proud of, didn’t he. Unless we saw an ideal far above us, the actual would never approximate toward it. Former character and prospects have to be forgotten.2. This will multiply instances of His faithfulness. TWO THOUGHTS ARE HERE SUGGESTED.1. Live in the future for yourselves, and for the world. The increase of itself.4. (3) Having obtained faith in Jesus and adoption into God's family, they ought to give all diligence to add to their faith courage to confess it. Oh, there is something more and higher than all this and these. 7). A. Why? The far, high, gathering point, high enough to sustain life, is only one — the glory of God. There is strength in forgetting; "let the dead bury their dead." Nor of regenerated men only is the thought true — of all men who retain amid their moral ruins some lines of the mutilated Divine image — is this a characteristic. Conversion is indeed all essential, for while the heart is unchanged there can be neither life nor growth; but it is merely the commencement of a course. His was A SANCTIFIED, BUT BOUNDLESS AMBITION, forever reaching forth in the direction of higher acquisitions of spiritual truth and nobler results of Christian work.III. Forgetting the things which are behind we press forward to the time when "we shall be ever with one another and with the Lord."(M. he was carrying around a lot of extra baggage, things that he was once proud of, but once coming to the knowledge of jesus christ was happy to let them go. The branch of a tree puts forth bud after bud in its gradual growth anal enlargement. M. Punshon, LL. 5. "The power of a single aimC. Mark the confidence of his personal feelings when he finds occasion to impart them — "I know whom I have believed." But in heaven a different law of development will prevail. Maclaren, D. D.)Christian perfectionH. Oh, there is something more and higher than all this and these. Past enjoyments.6. But not at this initiatory stage merely is there to be a discarding of the things that are behind. That the best of men do not talk of their attainments. If you want to be blessed you must be good; if you want to get to heaven you must be like Christ.3. Some people have good memories as to their performances. We shall never see the beauty of Christ without perceiving our own deformity.3. These figures are the very opposite of idleness. )The nobility of a single aimA. So of all things physical and intellectual. The fellowship of the Spirit in all its perfection.5. "And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three."2. This will multiply instances of His faithfulness. D.)An indomitable purposeLord Macaulay.On one bright summer day the boy, then just seven years old, lay on the bank of the rivulet which flows through the old domain of his house to join the Isis. Job spoke up for his innocence till the Lord revealed Himself. The winds are strong, hut the helm overrules the winds, and turns them to account. Forgetfulness of what is behind is an essential element in the progress of every believer. Those who, like yourself, desire to do everything in one day, do nothing to the end of their lives, while others who steadily adhere to one pursuit find that they have accomplished their purpose. That complacency has its root in forgetfulness of the awful holiness of God's law, and the heinousness of sin.II. Hubbard. Cold is fatal to the summer leaves; warmth is fatal to the winter leaves. Abraham was of this class. When means become ends, they encase us with a hard covering impervious to the tender influences of heaven.III. M. Whiton, Ph. By a course of prosperity our souls are made to unfold in gratitude to God and beneficence to men. To win Christ was not to gain His favour simply, but to be conformed to His image.(E. D. Hoge, D. D.Paul could not have meant that he literally forgot the past, for had he done so, both present and future would have been alike useless to him. Shouldn’t I be happy? no unusual thing to see branches in Christ whose spiritual life is so weak that their growth is at a standstill. Budgett. That purpose is the acquisition of knowledge. He, too, did other things; he trained his servants, commanded his household after him, etc. Christ. D.)The racer as charioteerArchdeacon Farrar.St. Our highest condition is not the attainment of perfection, but the recognition of heights above us as yet unreached. You served your master with good service. In this sense the things that are behind are to be forgotten.2. In this sense the things that are behind are to be forgotten.2. All unimproveable life must sooner or later run out. The fellowship of the Spirit in all its perfection.5. We can only be cheerful while we forget. His life was in the stars. How wonderfully the preacher in Ecclesiastes describes this circular movement (chap. Oh, let us remember that hate is transitory, is temporal, like the sear on the bark of a tree; but love, goodwill, is eternal, like the grey old firmament, which, old as it is, was never younger than it is today. )The enemy will advance if the Christian does notW. So, too, the means of grace are the scaffolding by the aid of which the spiritual life is built up, and will be removed as a deformity when the building is completed. All sorts of backward looking are a positive weakness and impediment to a man in running a race. )One point bestSir T. F. Buxton.I asked Sir James Scarlett what was the secret of his preeminent success as an advocate. A. Alexander, D. D.)Progress unlimited for the ChristianA. )The racer as runnerProfessor Eadie.The picture is that of a racer in his agony of struggle and hope. )The onward movement of the soulPaxton Hood.Man is the creature of the same senses; he beholds the same sun, the same streams, and flying clouds; youth succeeds to infancy, and the festival of nature is followed by decay. Philippians 3:12-14. Here you see the difference between a self-deceiver and a Christian. Smith, M. A.The things behind and the memory of them may be helpful or hurtful. The winds are strong, hut the helm overrules the winds, and turns them to account. But we must not suppose that the dropping was without effort or pain. (1) They are apt to become food for complacency and every vain confidence. She was whelmed in the fiery destruction that filled the air; and as the shower of ashes at Pompeii moulded themselves over the forms of the poor wretches that were smothered by them, and preserved till today the print of the very waves of their hair and the texture of their dress, "salt" was crusted round that living core, and she perished, because she wasted in trembling retrospect the flying moments which, rightly used, would have set her in safety.(A. 1. THERE ARE CERTAIN THINGS BEFORE EVERY CHURCH. Thus it is with the memories of past sorrows. As soon as it pleased God to reveal His Son to Paul, he disentangled his mind forever from the elements or rudiments that typified and foreshadowed Christ, and never returned to those beggarly elements. They are apt to weaken you. Live in the future for yourselves, and for the world. The Israelites fondly recollected the fleshpots of Egypt, and there are Christians who dispute with themselves whether in the sensitive jealousy of their first love they did not make too many sacrifices for their Master. And many of us simply keep on doing the narrow round of things that we fancy we can do well, or have always been in the way of doing, like barrel organs, grinding our poor little set of tunes, without any notion of the great sea of music that stretches all round about us, and which is not pegged out upon our cylinders at all.(A. He speaks as a runner; perfect as regards equipment, consecration, aim; but not perfected as having attained the goal; he looks not behind him but hurries on. We can only be cheerful while we forget. The one are not without remedy, the other not perfect. In no other way than Paul won it.1. But not the means of growth and formative processes of the Christian character only, must be left behind and forgotten; the very ends, the growths themselves, must also be superseded. What does it mean? D. Hoge, D. D.I once crossed the "Warm Spring Mountain" in the early morning. And what is concentration? He has turnpikes and stage coaches, but he must level or tunnel the mountain, and lay a pavement of iron, and chain his ear to a horse of fire. He cannot do so. After the Lord has shown Himself to the eye of faith, they seem unable to let this matter rest. is it in the increase of the superior quality of material appliances? Its terminal bud loses the power of throwing off its winter leaves, because no summer leaves form in its interior. From the prodigality and divinity of the agents and instrumentalities religion cannot he a stationary thing. is it in the evolution of the man from the child? Maclaren, D. D.)Christian perfectionH. The everlasting kingdom.II. But we must not suppose that the dropping was without effort or pain. "And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three."2. —I. But although worthless as grounds of justification, they had their own value in training and fitting him for his work. Spurgeon. There are things before him.1. Many lives are wrecked at this point, just because they wilt not settle and go to some definite work. is it in the evolution of the man from the child? The sharp stones in the path do not stay him, nor the flowerets in the grass catch his glance. They are not, indeed, to be dropped as mere bud scales, as mere means to an end — for they are the basis upon which all the subsequent efforts of the spiritual life are to be made. Every star is not a sun.(S. THERE ARE THINGS BEFORE EVERY CHRISTIAN towards which he is proceeding. We need to go back even earlier in this passage to get a sense of what Paul is pursuing. W. Alexander, D. D.We are like one sailing down rapid stream, intensely anxious as to the issue of our voyage, and fearful of the dangers which await us, and yet turning our backs on both, and trying to derive encouragement from gazing at that portion of our course already past, and every moment growing less and less visible. We may say of ourselves, "Well done, good and faithful servant." So the prize that Paul is pressing on to obtain is that life-transforming knowledge of Jesus Christ in the everyday. 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