September 8, 2024
Valley of Regrets
Philippians 3:12-16
Some years ago, I was given the privilege of doing some missionary work in India. Because of the duration of the trip and the fact that we would be working in some rather remote places, we were not going to have an opportunity to do laundry for weeks. We were all instructed to pack our bags with that in mind. When the entire team showed up at the airport, we had a ton of baggage. Each person in our team had at least two large suitcases that weighed 80 lbs each, a backpack, a carry-on bag, and all sorts of other ministry related items. This abundance of luggage was not usually a problem for us on our trip because we were spending most of our time ministering in orphanages and leper colonies where there were plenty of people who were willing to help us with all our baggage. One night we were set to participate in a massive outdoor crusade on the outskirts of town and on the crusade, we wouldn’t have as much help with our luggage. Now you must understand that in India it was illegal to share the Gospel and tell people how to follow Jesus by making Him Lord of their lives. Because of the illegality of this event and the fact that the area we were in had many groups who were hostile to the Gospel, there was a chance that one of these groups would attack anyone who dared to share the Gospel by throwing acid in their face. With such a large Gospel gathering planned, our local contacts were very concerned about this happening that evening, so they constructed a plan for us in case of such an attack. We were told if anything were to start happening or if we saw a commotion starting in the crowd, we were to run as fast as we could across the field at the rear of the stage and go and hide in the forest that was located nearby and just sit there and wait. As we were listening to the escape plan, one of the people in our group asked about our baggage and what would happen to it. Our host said bluntly, “If you are carrying baggage, you will never make it”. It was his response that came to mind as I was preparing today's sermon for this morning, because this could have been Paul’s response as he spoke to the church in Philippians 3. I want to look at a few verses in this chapter and talk about the Valley of Regret. We are sinful, broken people, at some point in our lives we are all going to find ourselves carrying baggage in the form of regrets. If we refuse to lay down this baggage of regret, we will never make it out of the Valley of Regret that we might find ourselves in. God has a plan and a path to see us safely out of this valley and it involves dealing with that baggage of regret that we all carry. So this morning, I want to talk about regrets, talk about the path that God has set forth for all of us, and how we can be found faithful as we follow the path out of the Valley of Regrets.
We Must Travel the Path set by God. - Philippians 3:12
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.
When we think of the regrets we have in our lives, we will think back on the mistakes that we have made in our past. Whether they come from a foolish decision or whether they are from willing fully sinful actions, these regrets will weigh us down. We feel like we carry them with us everywhere we go, and that gets tiresome quickly as we walk through life. We might even think about what life would be like if we had made different decisions. Would we still be carrying the load we are now? Those regrets are some of the baggage that we have collected along the path we have chosen in life. Now that baggage is piling up and making us weary because it is seemingly always present, and we are not sure how to get rid of it. We might even find ourselves trying to hand off these regrets to the people around us, hoping that will lessen our burden, but every time we do, we find it only makes it worse for us and them. We look around and don’t see that many people with all this regret in our lives and we want to be like them. We want to be like those who live without regrets. That’s when Paul comes in with a statement here in verse 12 that is as eye opening as it is a relief when he says, “I haven’t reached perfection yet”. Satan loves to make us feel isolated and alone in our struggles and regrets. Paul himself, the one who a little earlier in this same letter had laid out a wonderful case for the reason he could be considered the greatest “religious” person in his day, was now saying that he isn’t perfect and that he has regrets in his life. From Scripture we see many of these regrets. We see that he assisted in some way in the death of the first Christian martyr, Stephen (Acts 8:1). We can see that he was dragging Christians to prison (Acts 8:4), and we see him zealously persecuting Christians in general (Gal 1:13). Paul isn’t using this statement as an excuse for his past actions and regrets, but rather he is using it as a framing device for us to understand how to find freedom from these things in our lives. He then tells us how we can start to find our way out of the Valley of Regret and that starts by pressing on or rather being actively committed to the call of Christ in our lives. This begins to happen when we start pursuing the standard that was set for us the moment we accepted Christ as our Lord and Savior. It’s now that we were Christians or little Christs, but we are only little Christs in the eyes of the Lord, This is because of His righteousness that has been credited into our account. Our lives do not yet reflect what our title declares. It’s at that moment that we start the sanctification process (the process of looking more like Jesus). That’s the process and path that will lead us out of the Valley of Regret. But remember, we are still carrying all this baggage and that makes it awfully hard to travel this path out of the valley. What are we supposed to do with it all?
We must focus on the race. - Philippians 3:13-14
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, 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 reiterates the statement he makes in verse 12 by restating in even stronger language that he “isn’t there yet” when it comes to the path of perfection that God has set before him and was modeled by His Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. There is something he knows about that path and pursuing its end and that is while he is on the path he must be focused on one thing and forget another. Since we are talking about regrets, let’s talk about forgetting the past first because this is where we get to lay down our baggage. The word “forgetting” that Paul uses here has a few nuances that are extremely important in getting out of the Valley of Regrets. The first nuance speaks of leaving your past in the past. However this means even the victories we experience because Paul wants to make sure we are not to live off yesterday's victories but rather look ahead to what God has in store for us. Since we are speaking of regrets, let's speak to those. How can we leave those regrets in the past when we seem to not be able to get rid of them? Let’s look at two disciples that had regrets when it came to their relationship with Jesus – Judas and Peter. Both sinned against Jesus, but their responses were very different. Judas tried to undo what he had done. He tried to return the money that he accepted to betray Jesus. He tried to stop the events he had set in motion but could not stop it. There was no doubt that he regretted his actions, but that regret drove him to a worldly solution because that regret was too much for him to bear – a burden too heavy for him to carry. Then you have Peter. He fled when Jesus needed him the most and even denied him three times. Peter no doubt had massive regrets about what happened, but he dealt with them in a godly way because his regrets drove him to repentance. When dealing with our regrets, we must take them to Jesus just like Peter did and not try to handle them on our own. In 1 John 1:9, scripture tells us that when we take our sins to Jesus and repent of those past regrets. Jesus is faithful and just to forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Once we are forgiven – it’s gone. The baggage is gone, Jesus takes it from us, and he bears our burdens for us. Sometimes those regrets are so severe that we must forgive ourselves as well. This is hard for us to do, but how can we hold onto something that Jesus has cast as far as the east is from the west? We are no greater than God. We do not have the right to be unforgiving of that which He has already forgiven and paid for with His blood. We must trust that Jesus took care of it once and for all on the cross (Hebrews 10:10). Jesus tells us another way we must deal with past regrets in Matthew 5:23. When He tells us that if we remember an offense against another (a regret), we must go and make it right with them. That requires us to humble ourselves and ask for forgiveness as we try our best to live at peace with everyone. When we handle our regrets Biblically, Jesus removes the burden from us. Sometimes it might not feel like it, but we can’t trust our feelings. Instead we must trust the truth of God’s Word.
The second nuance we see in the word “forgetting”, is that forgetting is not a momentary and instantaneous thing, but rather it is a constant battle of pushing something from your mind. Why does forgetting have to be a constant action? The short answer is Satan. You remember the Old Hymn “Before the Throne of God Above”? The second verse sums up the reason perfectly as it says, “When Satan tempts me to despair, And tells me of the guilt within, Upward I look and see Him there, Who made an end of all my sin.” Satan loves to accuse us. It’s one of his names, and honestly, he probably doesn’t even have to lie about it, even though he works best with lies, so he is going to constantly hound us with our past over and over and over. Praise God through the forgiveness that I can only find in Jesus Christ. My past is in the past never to be brought up again. Those sins have been forgiven and covered by the blood of Jesus and I know that just as the song says, “God the just is satisfied to look upon Him and pardon me”. I just must continually remind myself and remind Satan of the truth of God’s word. I don’t have to carry that baggage of regret anymore because Christ took it all from me and nailed it to His cross. Now that I’m no longer burdened by all that baggage I can start to climb out of the Valley of Regret.
Paul then tells us what we are to focus on, by invoking the imagery of an Olympic foot race. He tells us that once we have dealt with the baggage, we don’t look backward but we must focus on what lies ahead until we reach the end of our race. I have a friend who is one of the best marathon racers I’ve ever known. She has raced at all the major marathons all around the world and she shared with me that when she started to race her Dad coached her as she ran down an old country road, to just look to the next mailbox as she ran and once you reach that mailbox look to the next and reach that. This is what Paul is telling those who are leaving all that baggage behind, and their pace is starting to pick up steam, don’t get overwhelmed, just look forward to the next step of obedience that God has called you to and once you reach that, look to the next. You might recall Pastor Joel calling us many times to do the next right thing in following God. That's what Paul is talking about. Keep your eyes on where you are going. Your hand will then reach for that place, and then your entire body will soon follow. That’s how we finish this path of perfection that God has set us upon, leaving behind those regrets that slow us down and taking step after step in obedience as we get out of that Valley of Regret. When we are obedient to God and His plan for our lives that is revealed in scripture, we will never be burdened with regrets of being “too obedient” to God’s will. Will we ever obtain this perfection this side of eternity? No, but when we cross that finish line from life into death, it’s then that we will no longer be working on sanctification, but we will experience glorification that only comes through Jesus Christ.
We can’t go back. - Philippians 3:15-16
Let all who are spiritually mature agree on these things. If you disagree on some point, I believe God will make it plain to you. But we must hold on to the progress we have already made.
Paul finished this section of his letter by encouraging anyone who doesn’t believe what he’s telling them about getting out of that Valley of Regret to go and run the race God has given us. He says to go and ask those who have been in that valley and found forgiveness and healing when they struggled with regret that God will heal. He then lets them know why they must deal with their regrets Biblically instead of constantly holding on to them. The reason we can’t hold onto our regrets is they will make us constantly look back. If we constantly look back and worry about the past once we deal with all those regrets Biblically, we will be in danger of returning to those places and slowing down in our race. When we are on the path and running the race that God has set before us, we need to know that we must always be moving forward. If we ever find ourselves not making progress, we must let go of whatever is drawing our attention away from God, deal with it Biblically, and look forward and proceed doing the next right thing.
In 1904 William Borden, heir to the Borden Dairy Estate, graduated from a Chicago high school as a millionaire. His parents gave him a trip around the world as a graduation present. As he traveled through Asia, the Middle East, and Europe, Borden began to have a burden for the world's hurting people. Writing home, he said, "I'm going to give my life to prepare for the mission field." When he made this decision, he wrote in the back of his Bible two words: “No Reserves”. After he graduated from Yale University, Borden was offered many paying jobs, all of which he turned down, still seeking after God in His life. He entered two more words in his Bible: “No Retreats”. After completing studies at Princeton Seminary, Borden sailed for China to work with Muslims, stopping first at Egypt for some preparation. While there he was stricken with cerebral meningitis and died within a month. Many people said his life was a waste, but it was not in God's plan. In his Bible underneath the words “No Reserves” and “No Retreats”, he had written the words “No Regrets”. Want to live a life with no regrets? Press forward to the Holy standard Jesus has set for you and demonstrated Himself. Take our regrets to Jesus and deal with them Biblically. Press forward, step by step becoming more like Jesus every day. When we find ourselves slipping, do not to negate the progress you have made and give up, but rather repent and run toward Jesus again. There is a wonderful prize that the Lord has set for us at the end of this race, but we’re never going to make it there carrying all this baggage.
