Nineteenth Sunday After Pentecost October 3-4, 2026
“Forward or Back?” Philippians 3:4-14
Rev. John R. Larson Ascension Lutheran Church Littleton, Colorado
Do you have a teachable spirit? Can you receive advice from others? Are you willing to even consider that others may have a better idea than yours?
During my leave of absence this summer I learned that I am not very teachable. I am set in my ways. I don’t receive recommendations very well. I can be quite defensive.
Why am I this way? It must be an age thing, right? You get older and you’re a little more “snotty”. No, I have been like this for many years. “I don’t need to read the instructions before I try to put this together!” “I know how to hit a ball – I don’t need your advice!”
You want to know what I think this is all about? Insecurity. Insecure that I might be wrong. Insecure that I may not have the best idea. Do you know someone like that? Maybe you? Maybe your husband?
St. Paul, the writer of this book of joy had a teachable spirit, but it wasn’t his natural quality. Paul was so certain early in his life. He was so content in who he was and how he lived. He had life in his hands. This is how he describes his early life:
If anyone else thinks he has reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for legalistic righteousness, faultless. (Philippians 3:4-6)
Paul, then a young man, had life all wrapped up. He was all set. Just ask him.
In Acts 7 Stephen, a deacon in the early church, was stoned to death for confessing the name of Jesus. We run into Paul’s Jewish name, Saul, when we read, “And Saul was there, giving approval to his death.” (Acts 8:1) His vicious ways towards Christians continued when he went to Damascus, “so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem.” (Acts 9:2)
Paul was confident – in himself. He was sure – of himself. Just as he says when he begins his boasting, “If anyone thinks he has reasons to put confidence in the flesh (in himself!), I have more…”
But the unteachable Saul became teachable Paul. God reformed him in a wonderful way. But it wasn’t easy. It was painful. It was humbling. But the result of it all was absolutely perfect.
“But whatever was to my profit (all the great things that he had just mentioned) I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ – the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith.” (Philippians 3:7-9)
His mind and spirit and soul were not teachable, they were stubborn and wanted nothing to do with Jesus Christ. But when Christ appeared to him and asked, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” (Acts 9:4) he was converted. He became teachable.
He looked at his old way of standing before God, showing God all that he had done for Him, and that God should be so proud of how he turned out, and he said of it, “I consider them rubbish.” “Rubbish” – that is the word for that brown stuff that your dog produces in your back yard and that from time-to-time you step in. And when you do that, you say something like this, “Oh, rubbish.”
In life, are you going to go forward or are you going to go back? Go back to your old ways, your old sins, your old self-made pride, or will you move forward – confident in the work of Christ for you?
In preparation for this sermon, I was reading an article in the Concordia Journal and Dr. David Schmitt tells a story about a young man named Kirk. “When Kirk graduated from college, he realized that he needed to change his social media presence. He began to look at his profile, his interests, his posts, his connections, and reevaluate them. He considered how they looked through the eyes of a potential employer and tried to scrub his social media clean.”
Kirk, wisely knew he needed a change. His past needed a washing and a new start. Paul knew that his past was not a good read. He would write to Timothy much later in his life, “I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength, that he considered me faithful, appointing me to his service. Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief.” A few verses later he says, “Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners – of whom I am the worst.” (I Timothy 1:12-13, 15)
Paul could have gotten stuck. At one time he hated the name of Jesus. At one time he was brutal to the followers of Jesus. He said he had a zeal that opposed everything connected to Jesus. After such a horrid past he could have said, “I’m too stained.” “I’ve sinned too much.” “No second chances for me.” But this is what he confesses to Timothy, “But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his unlimited patience as an example for those who would believe in him and receive eternal life.” (I Timothy 1:16) “He did it for me, He’ll do it for you.”
Paul would speak those gracious words in our reading, “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.” (Philippians 3:13-14)
You don’t have to cover up the past, you don’t have to think about how to hide it from everyone. And you just don’t have to let it take over your life right now. Why? “[I want to] be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ – the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith.”
You have a strength that is not yours. It is God’s, and it comes from God. As you know, quite a few bears have left the high country and have come down into the Denver Metro area looking for large amounts of food before they hibernate for the winter. Just a few weeks ago, on a Wednesday morning, a bear wandered onto Pastor Don Ginkel’s yard. Pastor Ginkel lives near Wadsworth and Quincy – not normally known as bear country. I guess it was a good-sized bear. Elaine English, one of our members, who had come to pick up Pastor Ginkel so he could come to church and teach his Bible Class, saw the bear. She ran into Pastor Ginkel’s house and told him about the bear and then asked for his broom. Elaine was going to hit the bear with a broom! I don’t think that would have been a good idea. That bear could have eaten Elaine with two bites!! She needed something bigger to fight the bear!!
Are you going to look forward or back? I suggest looking up first. Psalm 46, the psalm of confidence about who fights for us begins, “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea.” The end of the psalm says, “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth. The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.” (Psalm 46:1-2, 10-11)
Are you teachable? If you are not a Christian, or don’t know if you are a Christian, or you have some weird self-righteous beliefs, can God make His way through your layers of crust and hardness? I pray He can. I pray that you can say with Paul, “Whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Jesus Christ my Lord.”
Are you teachable? If you are a Christian are you willing to let God take you deeper in faith, more confident in His word, more desiring to serve Him and love Him?
Can you forget what is behind –the deception of sin or your self-made arrogance, and look for what God has ahead? Will you trust in Jesus? Look up. Look to Jesus. Amen!!
