The Z Room

Philippians 3:12–14 (ESV)

Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

Today I want to show you part of our facilities here at Trinity. I want to show you the “Z” room.  I know that is a strange name but let me assure you there is a good reason.  The “Z” is from the German word “Zwischen”  which translates into English as “in between.”  In other words this is “the in between” room. This is the room that connects one portion of our facility to the other.  It sits “zwischen” the Sanctuary and the classrooms.  People stand in here and visit “between” Sunday School and worship.  They have coffee, tea, snacks and fellowship in here “between” the end of worship and when they head home.  The “Z” room is one of the most important rooms at Trinity.

That got me to thinking. We live our lives in the “Z” room.  As Christians we live “between” the old life of sin and the new life of eternity.  We are already saved but not yet in heaven. We are already forgiven but not yet made perfect.  Jesus has already won the victory over temptation but we are not yet done with the daily struggle with sin.  We are no longer dead in our trespasses and sins, but we do not yet have the resurrected bodies God has promised. Through faith in Jesus we are already God’s adopted sons and daughters but we have not yet seen our heavenly Father face to face. 

We are like Israel after leaving Egypt.  We no longer slaves to sin but we have not yet reached the promised land.  We are in between. Like them we live life in the wilderness. Like them we still have struggles to face, obstacles that will stand in our way as we journey to the world to come.

Knowing that is so, how does one live in the “Z” room?  St. Paul answers that question in Philippians 3.  “Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”  There is only one way to live in this in between time – trusting in God’s grace in Christ.

Think of what Paul means here.  Leaving the past behind is not easy.  When you have made a habit out of certain sins, we have a hard time stopping.  Sin enslaves.  When you’ve done and said and thought some terrible things… when you have hurt others (and we all have) – it’s hard to leave that behind.  It’s hard to believe that you are forgiven and hard to forgive yourself.  When I coached baseball and a kid made an error, I would tell him to shake it off and get back in the game.  Otherwise, he would get really down on himself and not play well the rest of the game.  The sin in our lives can do the same to us.  It’s easy to get down and think, “What kind of a Christian am I?  Why would God want anything to do with me?”  How can you leave your past life of sin behind when every day that old life seems to still be your life?  There is only one way to shake it off – God’s grace in Jesus Christ.  He has paid for you sin in full.  He has washed you clean, erased the past – forgiven you all Your sin.  “If any man is in Christ Jesus, He is a new creation. The old has passed away.  Behold the new has come.”  Because of God’s grace, as you live in the Z room you can live everyday “forgetting what lies behind.”

The other part of  side of that is living every day in hope .  But how do you that in the midst of a life that still faces many struggles.  People die.  Marriages fail.  Cancer strikes.  Bad things happen.  How do you live with hope in the midst of such a life?  You can only live with hope by faith in God’s grace in Christ.  There is the hope that never disappoints – won for us by Jesus, who though He was dead, on the third day conquered death and rose again.  Through Him and in Him we are more than conquerors. 

How do you live life in the Z room… how do you keep straining towards all that God has promised?  You “fix your eyes on Jesus, the founder and perfecter of your faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame and sat down at the right hand of God.  Consider Him who endured such opposition from sinful men, that you may not grow weary or lose heart.”  That’s how you live your life in the in between.