“But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Jesus Christ my Lord. For His sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order 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 comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith – that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and may share in His sufferings, becoming like Him in His , that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the .” (Philippians 3:7-11 ESV)
I want to be like Paul so much that I can almost taste it. I LOVE this passage of scripture. It's so full of everything we believe, and I can't think of a better way to start my blogging career. So please bear with me; I tend to write a lot. haha. Let's start with a little background and then I suppose I will just go through the text.
Paul, in his epistle to the Philippians, is writing obviously to the church in Philippi. In this particular chapter Paul is talking about the righteousness we have through faith in Jesus Christ. He begins with a warning to the church to...
"look out for dogs, look out for evildoers, look out for thouse who mutilate the flesh. For we are the real circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh" (v.2-3)
Then Paul goes on to say that he, of all people, should have confidence in the flesh, and he begins to list all of these great works he has done. Before I list them I would like to make sure everyone is clear on what Paul means when he says "confidence in the flesh." What he is talking about is the mindset that many people have that says "you must live a completely righteous life to get into God's kingdom. You are justified by what you do, what works you have." Paul is COMPLETELY against this mindset as we will se later and as we have seen before in Romans 3:27-28, Romans 4:1-6, Romans 5:1-2, Galatians3:1-14, and Ephesians 2:8-9. Now what Paul is saying is that if ANY man SHOULD have a reason to put confidence in the flesh, it should be him.
"though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also. If anyone else thinks he has reason for 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; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness, under the law blameless." (v. 4-6)
I love what the apostle says next. "But..." He had just explained to everyone that he has many great works in his life as far as a Jew is concerned, and he instantly changes directions. "But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ." All of this gain, all of his works, everything HE COULD BOAST ABOUT he counts as loss in order to gain Jesus Christ. Get this friends. NO ONE HAS EVER BEEN JUSTIFIED BY GOD BECAUSE OF THEIR WORKS, AND NO ONE SHALL ENTER HEAVEN BECAUSE THEY HAVE EARNED IT. For, "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." (Romans 3:23) You cannot think that you have to be righteous before you accept Jesus Christ as your savior. That COMPLETELY destroys the point. The first thing many say when they hear just how sinful they are is "I've gotta change. I've gotta change. I've gotta get some of this junk out of my life so I can follow Jesus." Friends, if you continue to think that way you will NEVER experience true salvation because you think that whether or not you end up in Heaven or Hell all depends on you changing your lifestyle. NO!!! Heaven and Hell depend on you embracing Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. Salvation is NOT changing and then following Jesus. It is embracing Him by faith and accepting the free, precious gift of Jesus Christ. It is saying "I'm empty, you are full. I'm hungry, you've got the food. I'm thirsty, you've got the drink." That's all faith is friends. It is emptiness. That is why God chose to save us by faith and not another virtue. All other virtues give and are expressed outwardly or inwardly. Faith is the only one that is completely receiving. Oh how I pray that you understand this. And what you will see is that once you simply receive Him, He will begin to work in you through the Holy Spirit and help you get rid of the junk in your life you were trying to get rid of before, and this process is called sanctification.
This is what the apostle Paul is talking about. I am not going to hold on to my works but I am going to drop them so that I can fully embrace my savior Jesus Christ.
"Indeed I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For His sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ" (v.8)
I just want to stop here so that I can point out a couple of things. Fist, Paul mentions not only the worth of Christ, but the "surpassing worth" of knowing Christ. It is something supremely special to know Jesus Christ. Second, Paul states that he has suffered the loss of all things, all his gain and all his possessions, and He counts them all as rubbish (one translation actually translated refuse or dung). Paul is casting aside in disgust all the things that would get in the way of his relationship with Christ. But anywho let us move on. (almost done. at least, I hope)
"and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith – that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and may share in His sufferings, becoming like Him in His , that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the ." (v.9-11)
Paul says again that righteousness is not from the law, the righteousness he seemingly obtained as a Jew, but it is through faith in Christ. Christ lived a righteous life to fulfill the righteous requirement of our God, and in His His righteousness was imputed into us just as our sins were imputed into Him, and now God looks at us and calls us holy, righteous, and blameless (Col. 1:22). And day by day we are being made more and more like God through the mighty power of the Holy Spirit. But why does Paul do all of this. I believe the question is answered in versus ten and eleven. "That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection..." Paul desires more than anything to know Jesus, to be like Jesus, and to see Jesus in Heaven. It is especially clear in this beautiful epistle.
As Christians, let us make it our greatest desire to serve a mighty God, to become like Christ EVEN IN HIS SUFFERINGS, and see Him glorified in our lives. I thank you for your time, and I would appreciate any comments. May God bless all of you and may we all continue to keep the faith....but not to ourselves.
In Christ,
Jesse
