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“When You Can't Get Past Your Past”
Jeremiah 6:16; Acts 9, 22 & 26
IPC, May 31, 2009

This morning, I start a brief three-part series that we’ll call Crossroads.  I’m basing it on Jeremiah 6:16 (NIV)  “This is what the Lord says, ‘Stand at the crossroads & look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, & walk in it, & you will find rest for your souls.’” 

We’ve all been in situations where we have to make a decision.  You come to a crossroads.  You go south when you should have gone north.  You turn left when you should have turned right.  What do you do when you make those mistakes?   No big deal.  You pull over.  You’ve lost a little time and maybe you’re somewhat frustrated, but you begin to move on.  The loss and consequences are minimal. 

Now, wouldn’t it be great that when you hit a crossroad and make a wrong decision in life, you could say, “No big deal?”  You simply pullover or make a U-turn and there are no consequences?  That would be nice on Planet Pretend, but not here.  When we make bad decisions there are consequences attached. 

I want to talk about crossroad moments for the next three Sundays.  When we come to these moments do we choose God’s way?  I’m not talking about “no brainers” that don’t cause you to pause, such as, do I go to Home Fellowship Group or do I commit arson?  That’s a no brainer.  Do I tithe or do I rob a bank?  (If I robbed a bank, do I still have to give ten percent?  The answer is YES!) 

Most of life’s decisions aren’t that easy.  Think about money.  How are you going to manage your money?  What are you going to do with it? Are you going to manage it by God’s standards or will you manage it the way the world tells you to?  (The way everybody does, which is go after the possessions and pleasure.) 

Think about relationships.  How do we treat each other?  Is it based on God’s standards on how to treat each other?  Or do we look to the world’s way or simply long for the advice or Dr. Phil or Oprah? 

If we’re honest, we would admit that the world’s ways are a lot easier to follow.  The world’s way is alluring and tempting and it’s usually easy to walk that way.  This is why talking about crossroads is so important.  This is why Jeremiah warns us to stand at the crossroads and look and to find the good way and walk in it.  Look back at that verse.  Circle all the verbs in it—everything that communicates an action.  STAND.  LOOK.  ASK (twice). WALK.  FIND.  I am not an English major but I see six verbs here.  There is a lot of action at the crossroads.  Find God’s preferred life.  Find rest for our souls.   

I have done tons of funerals in my life as a pastor.  Every time I do a funeral and I have to talk about somebody’s life, it makes me think, what are people going to say about me when I croak?  What have I stood for?  What have I lived for?  Don’t you want to be characterized at the end of life as someone who lived God’s way?  A person who stood at the crossroads and although the world’s way was seductive and tempting, he walked in God’s way?  That is what God wants for you. 

Jesus used a similar metaphor, but He added a gate to it.  Matthew 7:13-14 “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide & the way is easy that leads to destruction, & those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow & the way is hard that leads to life, & those who find it are few.”  Jesus warns us that the world’s way is wide and easy to travel, but it leads to destruction.  There are severe consequences.   

I bet that are a number of you in here today who have stories and scars because you have traveled the world’s way.  Even after becoming believers and having a relationship with God, we can make decisions to walk in the world’s way.  There are a bunch of things that prevent us from going God’s way—to keep with the theme of CROSSROADS, let’s call them ROADBLOCKS.  The first roadblock that’s makes it more difficult to go God’s way is our past. 

You should be able to identify with these roadblocks for the next three Sundays.  They’re not Christian roadblocks or non-Christian roadblocks.  They’re just roadblocks. 

What kind of past do you have?  Some of you have past lives that wouldn’t make a good action movie.  In fact, it wouldn’t even make a good episode on Sesame Street.  Your past may be pretty plain—generally beige, scattered with streaks of tan.  Now some of you have a past that makes Paris Hilton look like a nun!  I say that with no offense intended to nuns.  Like our friend President Bill, you’ve never inhaled.  Many of you don’t hang out with “homies” in your crib.  When I grew up, there was actually a crib in my house. 

For some of you, walking on the wild side is leaving your shopping cart in the parking lot without returning it to the “cart corral.”  Or tossing a coke can into the garbage can instead of in recycling.  However, I doubt if there are any Charles Mansons in the room this morning either.  Most people here are not hiding criminal records. 

When I talk to people about their past, people generally talk about their past decisions.  They talk about their financial decisions that they are embarrassed by.  They speak of a sexual past that they’re not proud of.  They speak of relationships that have gone sour.  Anger that wasn’t controlled.  Substances that were abused in different forms. 

While we may not have checkered pasts this morning, we are all acquainted with sin.  In the eyes of God, one man’s lie is another man’s murder.  Sin is sin.  Here is the big deal about our past.  Our past brings up this guilt.  And this guilt is a roadblock that keeps us from pursuing God’s way.

By a show of hands, how many of you would say that you’ve had a somewhat rough past?  How many of you would admit somewhat vanilla-led lives?  Anyone raising their hand is basically alive and breathing and you probably can identify with feelings of guilt and shame and remorse. 

I’ve invited folks with rough pasts to come to church.  A guy at the gym told me, “My past wouldn’t play well at church.”  Folks, what if all of our pasts were spread across the Jumbo-tron screen at Turner Field?  What if it was projected on that screen for everyone to see?  How would you feel?  Anxious? Humiliated? Shamed? Embarassed? 

I see three types of folks when it comes to our past.  There are folks who, like the guy I know at the gym, whose past doesn’t play well.  He’s not really a bad person, but he thinks that the things he has done makes it difficult, if not impossible for him to have a relationship with God. 

The second type of person has aligned him or herself with God’s way.  You would admit to being a Christian and you’re thankful for God forgiving you of your past.  But you still live life on the sidelines when it comes to spiritual things.  You feel as if your past has made you “damaged goods.” 

The third kind of person is a follower of Christ and is a committed follower, but when it comes to intimacy with God, you feel like you can’t get real close to Him.  You hear about this personal relationship with God through Christ, but you feel like your life is more like being on a treadmill.  Suppose there is a stain on the treadmill that doesn’t go away.  Depending on how fast you run on that treadmill, you’re going to see that stain again soon.  The stain is your past and since you are embarrassed of your past, the closer you attempt to get to God, the more you remember your past.  You’re disappointed in your past and you think that God is disappointed too. 

If I described you as any of those three types of people, I want to try to help you move past your past.  To do that, I want us to look at someone who had quite a past.  His past probably makes you look like a Boy Scout.  This guy is Saul in the Bible.  He had a very treacherous past.  I want to overview Saul’s life into three broad brushstroke parts this morning. 

1.      An Eventful Past.

Here is the context.  Paul is anti-Jesus.  Right away we see a guy named Stephen.  Stephen gets stoned to death by rocks.  He was a follower of Jesus.  He was so convinced of who Jesus was that he was ready to go to his death for his beliefs…and he did.  He wouldn’t shut up about Jesus and that led to his death. 

Saul was there in Acts 7:58 “Then they cast him (Stephen) out of the city & stoned him.  And the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul.”   I kind of picture a young Saul standing there with a look of disgust on his face that someone would die for what they believe.  He’s an official witness.  Acts 8:1 “And Saul approved of his execution. And there arose on that day a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem, & they were all scattered throughout Judea & Samaria, except the apostles.” 

While the persecution is not a wonderful thing, God turned it into a positive.  The believers flee and they take off in different directions, but what are they taking with them?  Their faith!  They are taking the message of the gospel.  They are spreading the Good News.  Persecution actually caused the gospel to spread outside of Jerusalem proper. 

Now Saul goes after them in verse 3: “But Saul was ravaging the church, & entering house after house, he dragged off men & women & committed them to prison.”  Saul wasn’t limited.  He had the power to destroy. His goal was to devastate the early church.  Acts 26 even describes what he was like.  Saul, now called Paul, says, “I not only locked up many of the saints in prison after receiving authority from the chief priests, but when they were put to death I cast my vote against them. And I punished them often in all the synagogues & tried to make them blaspheme, & in raging fury against them I persecuted them even to foreign cities.” 

Saul was a despicable human being.  He had innocent blood on his hands.  He was murderer who was against people whose only crime was being that Jesus was who He said He was—the Messiah. 

When we look at Saul’s past, we’re not talking about a minor character flaw.  We’re talking about big stuff, but thankfully Saul didn’t stay rooted in the past. 

2.      A Genuine Conversion.

There are three accounts of Saul’s conversion in Acts 9, 22 and 26.  You may think that you have a wild past.  If you do, it may not be a bad idea to retell your story if you’re a follower of Christ now.  You don’t retell it to glory in your sin.  You retell your past so that God gets the glory for bringing you out of your sin. 

Saul’s background is so eventful that believers at that time had a hard time believing that Saul had changed.  Acts 9 is the initial account of Saul’s conversion on the road to Damascus.  God turns him around.  Acts 9:26 “And when he had come to Jerusalem, he attempted to join the disciples.  And they were afraid of him, for they did not believe that he was a disciple.”  That was their initial response.  But, folks, a genuine conversion always brings an amazing transformation.  When folks turn their backs to the world’s way and begin to base their lives on God’s way, a transformation begins. 

3.      An Amazing Transformation.

Whenever I think of the word “transformation,” I imagine a butterfly…guess I’m in touch with my “feminine” side.  Ha!  How come a butterfly?  Because a butterfly comes from an ugly mess of a caterpillar.  Through the amazing process of metamorphosis, the caterpillar becomes a butterfly. 

The Greek word for the word “transformed” in the Bible is where we get metamorphosis from…the Greek word is metamorpho.  When you have a genuine conversion experience you are transformed.  There is a total change of being.  In Saul’s life, there was an immediate transformation.  He goes from a destroyer to becoming a follower.  The leader of the anti-Jesus movement becomes a missionary for Jesus.  It was amazing and it was immediate. 

Acts 9:20-21 “And immediately he proclaimed Jesus in the synagogues, saying, ‘He is the Son of God.’ And all who heard him were amazed & said, ‘Is not this the man who made havoc in Jerusalem of those who called upon this name? And has he not come here for this purpose, to bring us bound before the chief priests?’” 

That is quick snapshot of Saul.  Since we’re talking about the past being a roadblock I wanted you to see that Saul’s past makes yours look pretty vanilla.  God wants to take your life and your eventful past and lead you into a conversion where you’re filled with His presence and lead you to an amazing transformation.  Saul was totally transformed.  He became an intimate follower of Jesus Christ.  He made a complete U-turn.   

Let’s turn it back to you as we close.  What does this Acts account mean to you?  Well, if you’re not a follower of Christ, God wants you to experience a relationship with Him and to transform you into this preferred life that He has planned for you.  God doesn’t want you to waste your life.  Instead, He wants to use your life.  Just as people were amazed at Saul’s transformation, there could be amazed at yours. 

Please understand—your past is not too bad for God.  Your past is not too much for God to handle.  Don’t miss out on a genuine transformation because of your past.  I Tim. 1:15-16 “The saying is trustworthy & deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.  But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life.” 

Paul, who used to be called Saul, is the guy who wrote that.  Regardless of your past, God can make it disappear because of what Jesus did for us on the cross.  Your past was paid for on the cross.   

The Bible is filled with stories of radical people who lived wild lives.  God intervened and changed them.  Saul is just one example of many who were totally transformed.   

Now I believe that most of you are already Christians but there may be a barrier between you and God.  Like the treadmill illustration earlier in this message, you keep seeing that stain from your past.  You need to move from intellectually understanding forgiveness to living it out that you ARE forgiven.  Look at what Saul wrote about that stain after he became a Christian.  Rom. 4:7-8 “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, & whose sins are covered; blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin.”  Now Saul is quoting a guy named David from the Old Testament.  I don’t need to tell you too much about King David, but I can use two words to describe him—adulterer and murderer.  However, David writes that his “lawless deeds are forgiven.”  He has moved beyond the intellectual to an understanding of forgiveness that gives him joy. 

Many of us hang on to our pasts.  We tend to look at life through our past.  For some of us, we may even nurture and pet our past.  We wear it on our sleeves.  “I’m a victim of my past.”  We just keep bringing it back up.  God wants your past completely out of sight.  I know that you forget most of the stuff that I say from week to week.  If you have come to Christ in repentance and faith and entrusted yourself to Him, I have six words for you:  MOVE PAST YOUR PAST; GOD HAS!”    If you know Christ, then your past is completely out of sight.  When your past is out of sight the roadblock isn’t there.  It’s gone.   

Look at your outline.  I’ve given you some practical stuff to do.  Do you see the four numbers?  Take those verses under number one and read them (Psalm 86:5; Mark 3:28; Acts 10:43; Eph. 1:7; Col. 1:14; Heb. 10:10; I John 2:2 & 12; I John 4:10)…do your own Bible study on forgiveness.  At least, get it into your head what the Bible teaches about forgiveness. 

Two, ask God to forgive your past. 1 John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, he is faithful & just to forgive us our sins & to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”  In order for your past to be out of sight, you ask God for forgiveness.  The third thing to do, from James 5:16, “Confess your sins to one another.  (Why? So they can gossip?  No…) So that you will be healed.”  Talk to a believer about your past and allow him or her to affirm what you know to be true.  YOU ARE FORGIVEN!  Hear those words.  Remember those words.  Feel those words.  Live out those words.  Your past is gone!  2 Cor. 5:17 “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold the new has come.” 

Finally, my favorite “hobby horse.”  Get into a small group.  Get with folks who can encourage you to grow and use the opportunities that God has laid out before you.  This isn’t a one-time message.  You see, the past has a way of rearing its ugly head from time to time.  You have to continually move past your past; God has.   

What might your life look like if you came up to these crossroad moments of life and your past wasn’t a roadblock?  Forgiveness is freeing and it is only found through Jesus Christ.   Let’s pray.

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In Christ,
Bill Bratley - Pastor