Greg Laurie - The Race We Must Win

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The title of the message is "The Race We Must Win". So I started with the idea of the race of life. We're all in this race. We need to run this race to win. We've got to play by the rules, but what principles do we learn here about running the race of life? If you're taking notes, here's principle number one. You must be dissatisfied with where you presently are spiritually. You must be dissatisfied with where you presently are spiritually. Paul says in verse 12, "It's not that I have attained or I'm already perfected".

Another translation of verses 12 through 14 would go as follows: "I'm not saying I have it all together or that I have it made, but I'm on my way reaching out for Christ who has wonderfully reached out for me. Friends, don't get me wrong. By no means do I count myself an expert in all this, but I have my eye on the goal where God is beckoning us onward to Jesus. I am off and running and I am not turning back". You see, Paul was satisfied with Christ, but he wasn't satisfied with himself. So he's saying, "I have a long ways to go". Do you realize that about yourself? Do you think you have a long ways to go or you're thinking, "Not me, man. I have arrived".

Well, I'm sure you've made a lot of progress since you first believed; but oh my, it seems to me the more you know the Lord, the more you realize that you have a lot of changing to do. And if anyone could have thought that he had arrived, it would be the apostle Paul. I mean, this is a man who has led countless people to Christ, he's established churches, he's written epistles, and yet he is saying, "I have so much to learn and so far to go". Can you imagine a group of Christians sitting around with the apostle Paul? Someone might say, "Well, you know what? God inspired me to share something with someone today". And the other might say, "The Lord led me to give the gospel to someone today". And Paul could say, "Well, God gave me inspired letters called epistles that make up half the Bible that will last forever". "Oh, wow. Okay, you win".

I mean, who can top this guy? This guy was at the top of his game, but yet he says, "I have so far to go". And it's just a reminder that no longer how long you've known the Lord... no matter how long you've known the Lord, I should say, there's always room for growth. And I think one of the problems is we become satisfied with where we are, and one of the reasons that you might be self-satisfied is you're comparing your running with that of other Christians. See, the other day I did a race with my grandchildren. They all wanted to race me. "We want to race Pappap". And I thought, "Wow, I could lose today because couple of them are getting older, but we'll give it a go". So we picked a spot. My wife went ways away, 3 feet. No, it's further, so we're all getting ready to run, and we take off and, you know, I beat them. And, you know, now that's, "So what? I beat a bunch of grandkids".

You know, that's kind of sad. I should have let them win, but it was game on, okay? But that's the point. I beat children in a race. Okay. So I could say, "I'm pretty fast. Hey, I beat old Christopher. He's 4 years old. So what"? Now, if I'd raced with someone who was younger and athletic, I would have done horribly. If I would have raced against an athletic runner, if Usain Bolt came over and we had a run together, I would have done horribly.

So my point is simply this. If I'm comparing myself to people much weaker than me, I'll always seem like I'm doing better; but if I compare myself with other people who are really running well, I'll see, "Oh, man, I have a long ways to go". And that's little have a why. "I'm not as bad as that guy". "Well, he died a year ago". "I know. I'm not as bad as him". Try comparing yourself with someone that's doing well. See, that sense of self-satisfaction is not a good thing. Paul did not compare himself with others. He compared himself with himself and with Jesus Christ. The plan here is progress, not perfection. We will never be perfect, ever.

Point number two, get rid of extra weight and the things that would hinder you. Get rid of extra weight and the things that would hinder you. Verse 7, "What things are gaining me I counted loss for Christ. Yes, I count all things loss, for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ my Lord for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish that I may gain Christ". Paul is saying, "Look, I'm looking back on my life. I was a pretty accomplished guy. You know, I was raised in an incredible family. I studied under Gamaliel. I knew culture. I knew languages. I knew Scripture. I was an intellectual. I was an orator. I was a great debater. That stuff to me now is rubbish".

That's sort of a British word. I love the word rubbish. Just rubbish. Absolute rubbish. Actually, the word that Paul uses here for rubbish is translated from a word that means excrement. If you don't know what that is, I'm talking about poop, folks. That's what I mean. So we could put it in another way. Dog dung, if that makes you feel better. But you get the idea, right? "That's what it is to me. All these accomplishments it's like dog dung in the doggy bag. Who cares about it? I don't want it anymore". And then he says, "But I'm laying aside this weight". Hebrews 12 says, "Lay aside the weight and this sin that so easily beset you in the race of life".

We don't want excess baggage when we're running this race. This is hard for me because I am the rich, the original packrat. I overpack. I don't even want to admit this, but I will. When we go on a trip, I take more stuff than my wife. I do. And it's just stuff. It's just things you don't need. Like, "You know, we may need a vacuum cleaner. Let's put it in the suitcase. And we need this, and we need that". And, you know, so I have all this stuff. Now, sometimes my wife doesn't have a jacket. In chill, "I don't have a jacket". "Well, I have four in my trunk. So aren't you glad that I'm a packrat tonight, right"? But so, you know, when I check in my luggage, I always cringe when they put it on the scale 'cause I know it's going to weigh too much and they're going to look at me, give me that look like, "Looser". And then the little tag that says heavy, extra heavy, which is their way of saying, "You are so lame. We hate you". You know?

So I overpack. I take too much stuff. That's just the way that I am. Well, in the race of life, we want to run as lightly as possible. So you need to ask yourself periodically as you're running this race, as you're walking with Christ, is there someone or is there something that's slowing you down? See, if I'm on a diet and I'm hanging out with a person that likes to eat pizza and Mexican food 24/7, they're a bad influence on me. It's better if I'm with someone else who's on a diet, maybe even the same diet, and we'll kind of hold each other accountable. But I'll tell you what. If I'm watching someone else eat, it's torment to me, okay?

I want what they have. So maybe there's someone who's a bad influence on you spiritually. You know, you're trying to walk with God, but when you're around them they're saying, "Oh, come on. Chill out. Relax. Let's try this. Let's do that". They're not a good influence. Or there's something that's slowing you down. Maybe it's something you're doing that's impeding your spiritual performance. In the book of Genesis, we have the story of Abraham. God told him to leave his homeland and go to a land that the Lord would reveal to him, and also to leave his family, and Abraham obeyed, sort of. He brought along his nephew Lot, who was like a spiritual dead weight on him, and it caused a lot of friction and a lot of problems. And finally after conflict developed, Abraham and Lot parted ways and then the Lord spoke to Abraham again.

My point is Lot was a bad influence on Abraham. And is there someone that's a bad influence on you or, even worse, are you a bad influence on someone else? Don't be that person. Be a good influence 'cause we're running the race, and we want to run the race well. We want to run from what is wrong, we want to run toward what is right, and we want to run with like-minded people. What is the theme of the book of Philippians? Happiness. Yes. That's the title of this series. "Happiness". Paul refers to it many times at different words: rejoice, enjoy, etc. And if you want to be a happy person, there are certain things you should do and there are certain things you shouldn't do. Psalm 1 sums it up perfectly. It says, "Happy or blessed. Happy is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly or stands in the way of sinners or sits on the seat of the scornful".

So if you want to be a happy person, don't hang around ungodly people who influence you to do ungodly things. But happiness is not comprised merely of what we don't do. It's also comprised of what we do do. I don't walk in the counseling of the ungodly, I don't stand in the way of sinners, but instead I get into the Word of God. It says his delight is in the law or the Word of the Lord and in it does he meditate day and night. So if you want to be happy, stay away from godless people doing godless things, leading you away from God, and hang around godly people and get into God's Word.

Number three, in the race of life, we must run with the right motive. Run with the right motive. Paul speaks of only one; receiving the price, running for the gold, if you will. Man, I don't think most Olympians want to win the bronze. I mean, the bronze is great. I'd be thrilled if I won the bronze, but the gold's better. Everybody knows it. Silver is good too, but the gold's best 'cause if you win gold you get the top position and they play the national anthem of your country. So you run for the top award, but our primary motive is not running for an award or a reward. But there are rewards promised to Christians, but our primary motive is found in Philippians 3:10.

Paul says that, "I may know him in the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings, being conformed to his death". That's our motive, that I may know him. The Amplified Translation, which is an expanded Greek translation, states that verse as follows. Paul speaking, "My determined purpose in life is that I may know him," then he defines what that means, "that I may progressively become more deeply and intimately acquainted with him, perceiving and recognizing and understanding the wonders of his person more strongly and more clearly".

That I may know him. Our mission statement at Harvest is knowing God and making him known, and I fear that a lot of people know about God instead of knowing God. They can say things about God, even say things, some Scripture, but is there that deep fellowship and relationship with him? Jesus said, "Many will say to me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name? In your name did we not cast out demons? In your name did we not do wonderful miracles?'" And then Jesus says, "I will say to them, 'I never knew you, you workers of iniquity. I never knew you.'" They knew about Jesus, but he didn't know them at all.

Number four, Paul had a clear objective and focus on life. Paul had a clear objective and focus on life. Verse 13, "There's one thing I do". David, of course, had it as well. We brought this up when we looked at his life recently. He said, "One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after to dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life". Mary of Mary and Martha theme also had this one thing in her life. The Lord came over to their home for a meal. And Martha was frantically trying to prepare something in the kitchen, and she got upset 'cause Mary wasn't helping her and so she complained to Jesus.

And I love what the Lord says. "Martha, you're so upset about all these details". He says, "There's only one thing worth being concerned about right now and Mary has discovered it. Don't take it from her. Martha, I appreciate it, I love your meals, you're a fantastic chef, but you know what? Mary is kind of tuned in to what really matters. Right now we're talking together. So if you were smart, you'd take off the apron and sit down and listen in. I'm sure you'd learn something". So sometimes in a world of frantic and all these things, we're doing many things, let's not forget the one thing. Sometimes the many things can take the place of the one thing. And as I've often said, the main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.

Principle number five, we're almost done here, don't look back. Don't look back. Have you ever tried to run and look over your shoulder behind you? More than one race has been lost when the person who was in the lead position cannot avoid the temptation to see if that other person was there and, boom, they hit the finish line or the ribbon just a little bit before. So we can't look back. Paul says in verse 13, "Forgetting the things that are behind and reaching forward to the things that are before". What does that mean? To forget does not mean to fail to remember. I mean, there are things that I remember that I can't necessarily forget. When Paul uses this word forget, it means don't be influenced or affected by it any longer.

I read an interesting article in the paper about a group in New York City that decided to shred their regrets for New Year's. So they brought photos of ex-boyfriends, bad medical reports, stacks of unpaid bills and put them all in a giant shredder in Times Square where a garbage truck would cut them off forever. And then the article, one person was quoted to say, "I feel liberated," after shoving a photo of her ex-fiancé with his new girlfriend into the industrial size machine, the article says. Another lady visiting from Ecuador sees the opportunity to banish three unpleasant thoughts: her high cholesterol, her high blood pressure, and her bills. So that's fun, but guess what? The bills still have to be paid, and you probably still have high blood pressure, and your boyfriend is still with that girl.

Now, you can shred all you want. It's a nice sentiment, but it isn't going to change anything. But when the Bible says we can forget these things, that means we don't have to be influenced by them any longer. And to be effectively forgetting something, I must first be forgiven. There can be no forgetting without forgiveness, for the Bible says in Ecclesiastes 3:15, "God requires that which is past". Because God forgives and forgets, we can do the same. Let me say that again. Because God forgives and forgets, we can do the same because the Lord says, "Their sins and iniquities will I remember no more". Now, this does not mean that God is having a lapse in memory. What God is saying is, "I'll no longer hold your sin against you. In other words, your sins no longer affect your standing with me or influence my attitude toward you".

Let me say it again. When the Lord says, "Your sins and iniquities will I remember no more," he is saying that, "Your sins do not affect your standing with me or influence my attitude toward you". To forget means we break the power of the past by living for the future. Put things behind you. Jesus said, "Remember Lot's wife". Why should I remember Lot's wife? Ah, because she made a big mistake. You remember her story? God was delivering Lot and his wife and his family out of Sodom and Gomorrah, which he was judging, and the angel of the Lord said, "Come on, this is the way out, and don't look back, all right"? So they're walking away and now God's judgment is raining on the city. And quite honestly, that would be very tempting to look at, okay? So we might say, "God's been a little hard on Lot's wife. I mean, she looked back".

Yeah, she looked back, and the Bible says she became a pillar of salt. So she's like walking along. She looks, you know, frozen in time like one of those people at Pompeii that were caught in the explosion of lava from, I think, Mount Vesuvius. But anyway, so this is Lot's wife looking back, but it's interesting because the phrase that is used for her looking back means to look with longing. It was deliberate. It's not just, "Oh, wow". No, it's like, "I'm looking and I'm going to look if I'm supposed to or not". It's intentional.

Have you ever looked at something with longing? Coming back to Krispy Kreme. Have you ever walked in there when the signs lit up and see those little glistening donuts come down that little conveyor belt? Just here they come. First, you know, they go in the little grease thing, get kind of cooked, kind of... now they glaze. Just wait. You just wait for them. It's amazing. And you look with longing. At least I do. Or you go to the pet store and you see that cute dog. "Oh, I want him". You look with longing. Or you walk through the mall and you see the cute outfit in the window, you look with longing. Or you look at something else. The idea is that's what she was doing. Don't look back. Jesus said, "No man, having put his hand on the plough and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God".

So look, if you're going to run the race of life, you need to put the past behind you. Stop living in the past. Don't revisit the so-called good old days 'cause that's what defeated Israel in the wilderness. Remember they said, "Oh, we remember the old days back in Egypt when, you know, we used to eat garlics and leeks and onions, and now we have is a stinking manna. We're so sick of it". Garlic, leeks, and onions? Man, their breath must have stunk, but they had sort of taken the life of bondage in Egypt under the whip of the Pharaoh and sort of imagined it as the greatest life ever when it was the worst life ever.

And sometimes, you know, when we've turned our back in our old life and we're walking with Christ, the devil will come to you and maybe bring back one of those memories where you had a little fun. "Hey, remember that time that this happened"? You're like, "Yeah, I remember. Yeah, my old girlfriend. Oh, I remember my old girlfriend. I'm going to look her up in Facebook". "Who's that old lady go? Oh, I am as old as she is". Don't live in the past. Live in the moment and look to the future. The devil won't remember of the misery you used to have. He won't say, "Hey, remember that time, you know, you drank a lot and you threw up all over the place? Remember that"? No. "Hey, remember that time you were so desponding you actually thought of killing yourself? Remember that"? No, he won't remind you of that. He'll remind you of a few fleeting pleasures because the first step to going back is looking back. You see?

So forgetting the things that are behind and reaching forward to the things that are before. Let me add one other thing to this forgetting the past. It's also forgetting past victories, and by that I think it's a good thing to reflect back on what the Lord has done. But listen to this. Sometimes successes are harder for people to get over than failures. What do I mean by that? Success is, "Oh, man, we had this great success. It was just fantastic". Okay, good, but that was then and this is now. You know, I'll have people come up to me and say, "Oh, man, remember the old days, Jesus movement days? Remember those days"? "Yeah, those are awesome days". "Remember that? It was so great". "Yeah". "Wow, just remember". "Hey, you know what? That was like over 40 years ago and God's doing some amazing stuff right here right now, and I'm excited about that and I'm looking forward to what the Lord will do".

So let's sum up and conclude. Number one, you must be dissatisfied with where you are. Number two, get rid of extra weight and things that would hinder you. Thirdly, run with the right motive. Fourth, have a clear objective and focus. Five, don't look back. One last point and I'm done. You must press on even when it gets hard in the race of life. Do you want to be a happy person? Press on when it gets hard. Hey, you'll be happy after you win the race. Oh, you know, when you're running a race, and if it's a long-distance run and you're in the last lap it's like your arms and legs are made out of rubber, you feel like your heart is going to burst out of your chest, you can't even imagine finishing this but somehow you press on and then you win. And then you know what? It was all worth it, wasn't it? Even though you wanted to walk off that track, even though you wanted to quit that race, press on.

Verse 13, "I pressed for the goal, for the price of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus". The word that he uses there for pressing comes from the Greek word "agonízo". Can you guess what English word we get from that? Agonize. Yes, sometimes it's hard, sometimes it's painful; but what's that expression, no pain no gain? That's true in the spiritual life too to some degree. Yeah, the theme of Philippians is happiness and joy. Nineteen times in four chapters Paul mentions joy, rejoicing, or gladness, and that includes running and finishing the race of life.

Paul said to his friends at the Church of Ephesus in Acts 20:24, "I want to finish my race with joy". Finish my race with joy. Listen, it's not enough to start the race of life. We must finish it, otherwise we've been running in vain. In his last epistle, the apostle Paul wrote in 2 Timothy 4:7, "I fought a good fight. I finished the race. I've kept the faith. Henceforth, there remains a crown of righteousness for me and all who love is appearing". That's the objective. You finish this race that you have begun.

Maybe God has spoken to your heart and you have seen your need for Jesus Christ. All you need to do is say, "Jesus, I want this relationship with you. I want you to forgive me of my sin. I want to go to heaven when I die". Would you like to do that? Would you like Christ to come into your life? If so, why don't you just pray this simple prayer with me? You could pray it out loud or you can pray it in the quietness of your heart, but this is a prayer where you're asking Jesus Christ to be your Savior and Lord. Pray this with me now:

Lord Jesus, I know that I'm a sinner, but I know that you're the Savior who died in the cross for my sin and rose again from the dead. Now come into my life. I choose to follow you from this moment forward. Thank you for hearing this prayer and answering this prayer, in Jesus's name. Amen.

Did you just pray that prayer with me? If so, I want you to know in the authority of Scripture that Christ himself has come to live inside of you, and I would love to send to you at no charge something called the "New Believer's Bible". Let me send that to you at no charge, and let me be the first to say to you congratulations and welcome to the family of God.