This one thing; Phil. 3: 12-14

How many times in your life have you heard yourself saying something to the effect…”if I could just have one thing in life, I would like….”  Or maybe it might be “if I could just do one thing in life, I would…”  And this morning, I would ask you to finish the sentence in your own mind.  If you were granted just one wish, if you could name just one thing and it would come to pass,  what would it be?

I heard a man say once "Just do one thing right in your life and you'll be way ahead of most people."  Having a singular purpose can be a good thing.  My mother used to say I had a one track mind.  The problem was,  it was going in the wrong direction.  But according to the Apostle Paul, there was one thing that he was focused on above all others.  And he tells us this as an example to all those that have been born again, that there is one thing that should be our driving ambition in life.

Last week, we looked at the preceding verses 8-11, and we looked at one thing I know, this week we’re looking at one thing I do.  The one thing I know is the driving impetus for the one thing I do.   And the one thing I know refers to knowing Jesus Christ in an intimate, personal relationship.  Not just knowing the facts about Him, but having received Him as our Savior, we know Him personally, and that knowledge becomes the catalyst for the rest of my life.

One thing I know refers to the surpassing value of that relationship with Christ.  Compared to all that the world has to offer, nothing compares with knowing Jesus Christ as my Savior.  He is the source of real life, He is the light in the darkness, He is the truth and the only way to the Father.  And we can know the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, the Creator of the universe personally because He knows us.  He knows our names.  He knows our thoughts.  He knows us to the point of numbering the hairs on our head.  And in spite of all our shortcomings, He loves us to the point of dying for us.

Then in verse 9, one thing I know means that I am found in Him as righteous, not by my works, but by the grace of God which was lavished upon me through faith in Christ.  I hope that is clear to each of you folks here today.  No matter what you have done, no matter how far you have fallen, absolute righteousness can be yours simply through faith in what Christ did for us on the cross.  You don’t have to work for it, you don’t have to clean yourself up first.  You simply come in faith to Jesus as your Savior and ask Him for forgiveness, trusting that He is able to provide it, because He paid the penalty for your sins, and as a result of that faith the Bible promises that God will cleanse you of your sins and credit you with the righteousness of Jesus Christ.  He transfers your sins to Jesus, and Jesus righteousness to you.  I hope that you all have made that transaction by faith.

Then in verse 10, one thing I know means that once you have made that transaction by faith - the exchange of my sins for His righteousness - then we will know the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings.  That means that I know that once I was blind but now I see.  Once I was dead in my sins and now I am made alive in Christ.  That’s what it means to know the power of the resurrection.  It’s the power of a new life.   The resurrection symbolizes a new life in Christ, and the fellowship of His sufferings symbolizes taking up our cross and following Christ – dying to the flesh even as Christ suffered and died in the flesh for sin.

And then in vs. 11, one thing I know is the promise of the resurrection from the dead.  The real hope of Christianity is not necessarily a better life now.  That may or may not happen as a result of becoming a Christian, but the real hope is the promise of life beyond the grave.  No matter how great of a life you might think you can have in this world, the truth is by the time you get it together, it’s already coming to an end.  Life is short.  But it was never meant to be this way.  Life the way God created it was eternal.  In the beginning there was no death. God created life.  Sin brought forth death. Rom. 5:12 says, “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned.”  But because God never stopped loving us, He came to earth in the form of a man, as Jesus, and died on the cross as our substitute to pay the penalty for our sin, that we that believe in Him would be saved from death unto life. 

But though we have been given life in the spirit,  this outward body of flesh continues to die. But Rom. 8:10 says that “If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness.”  One day, unless Christ comes back first, they are going to bury this body in the grave.  But I believe that Jesus taught us in the story of Lazarus and the rich man that though our body is in the grave our spirit will be alive and at rest in Paradise awaiting the resurrection. 

 1 Thessalonians gives us the promise of the resurrection of the dead. 1Thess. 4:13 “But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep (asleep means those Christians that have died), so that you will not grieve as do the rest who have no hope.  For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus.  For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep.  For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words.”

So that’s what Paul is talking about when he says, this one thing I know.  He knows Christ - all that Christ represents,  the promises of righteousness and resurrection that are true because of Christ.  And then Paul says, knowing all this, this one thing I do.  The knowledge of Christ is so critical, so important, so life changing, that I am willing to focus all my energy, all my passion, all my resources on just one thing.  Now what is it that Paul says is the one thing we are to do, now that we know Christ?

Look at vs. 12, “Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus. Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” 

What are we to do?  What was Paul doing now that He had this saving knowledge of Christ, this intimate personal, relationship with Jesus, the Son of God?  The answer is that he pressed on.  He says “I press on” twice, in verses 12 and 14.  And though he doesn’t use those exact words, he describes the idea a third time in verse 13 by saying he is  “reaching forward”.  It’s the same idea as pressing on.

Paul is using the image here of a runner that is running a race as a metaphor for the Christian life.  One thing I do, he says, is I’m going to press on in this race.  I’m going to focus all my strength and all my energy on this one thing, running this race.  The one thing that I know from the previous verses is that this salvation that I am called to is of a surpassing value.  Nothing else in the world compares to it.  Nothing in this world can compare to the glories that God has prepared for us in the next world. 

 

Paul had seen such things, by the way.  In 2 Corinthians 12 he talks about being caught up into the third heaven and seeing things he wasn’t allowed to talk about.  But he did say in 1 Corinthians 2:9 that eye has not seen, and ear has not heard, and the heart of man cannot even comprehend the things which God has prepared for them that love Him.  And so Paul knows that there is a prize in this race which is greater than anything this world could possibly offer.  It’s worth all of my focus. It’s worth every sacrifice.  And so that one thing I know becomes my impetus, my zeal, my passion for this one thing I do – pressing on in this race I am running.

Now there are certain elements to this pressing on that bear our consideration.  The first one is found in the phrase in vs. 12, “Not that I have already obtained it…”  what is it referring to?  Well, back up a verse.  It’s obviously referring to the resurrection of the dead.  Now that’s such an obvious answer that at first you  might think that it couldn’t be right.  He must be talking about something else, because obviously if he is alive to write this letter he couldn’t be dead enough to be resurrected.  But what he is alluding to here is explained by the rest of the statement, “or have already become perfect.” 

And that word perfect causes a lot of people even more problems.  Because they think of perfection as somehow we are supposed to  become perfect people, without sin, without problems, everything about us is perfect.  But that isn’t the correct understanding of the word.  The word in the Greek is teleioō (te-lā-o'-ō) which means to complete, to accomplish, finish, to bring to an end.  So what we can understand from that then is that Paul is saying there is still an element to his knowing Christ, to his salvation, that is yet to be accomplished, that hasn’t been completed yet.  And that completion will be accomplished at the resurrection.

That completion which comes through the resurrection is talked about in Romans 8:22.  “For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now.  And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body.”

Listen folks, I love this life as much as any of you do.  But I also know that the whole creation, this whole world is under the curse of sin.  Death is a part of this world.  We try to hide from it.  We may try to mask it.  We may even try to glamorize it.  But the sad truth is that this world is corrupted.  People get sick and die.  Things break and grow old.  What joy we have is short lived.  By the time we finally acquire enough money and the right toys and enough wisdom to actually really enjoy life the whole ride is over.  And death swallows up all of our accomplishments.

But knowing Christ gives us hope.  We have the promise of eternal life.  We have the promise that one day God will set all things aright.  God will punish evil and reward good.  God will bring about justice.  And God will do away with death forever. 1Cor. 15:26 says  “The last enemy that will be abolished is death.”

Skip down a few verses after that to 1Cor. 15:51 and it says, “Behold, I tell you a mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality. But when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, "DEATH IS SWALLOWED UP in victory. "O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR VICTORY? O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR STING?"   That is the completion, that is the perfection that Paul is talking about, when we receive our glorified body, when our sin nature is taken away, and we become like Jesus, when we see Him face to face, and when we are seated on thrones with Christ.

This is what we were laid hold of for by Christ Jesus in verse 12.  This is why Jesus came to earth, to give us eternal life, that we might have real, abundant life, everlasting life, a life free from sin and the death that comes from sin.  This is why Jesus laid hold of me and I trust He has laid hold of you.  I love that expression, don’t you?  Laid hold of.  It sounds like the kind of  back woods, southern redneck expression I grew up around in NC.  “Be still boy, or I’m a gonna lay hold of you!”  Sounds like something my dad would have said.  But what I really like about it is Paul says in verse 13 that  “I haven’t laid hold of it yet”, but Christ has laid hold of me.  And that is the sum of my assurance of salvation right there. 

It’s like the illustration I’ve used so many times before.  When my children were little I said to them “Hold onto Daddy’s hand when we cross the road.”  And I wanted them to learn to listen to me and obey me and to trust me.  But their assurance of safety wasn’t dependent upon them holding onto my hand.  Their assurance of safety was in the fact that I was holding onto them.  I had them in my hand.  I laid hold of them.  And Christ has laid  hold of me and He isn’t letting me go.  John 10:28 Jesus said, “I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand.”  I like that.

Now there is another element of the one thing I do.  And Paul says it’s forgetting what lies behind.  And this is so important folks.   Listen, if you have been born again then God has saved you from your past.  God has delivered you from your past.  You need to get over your past and get on with the future. Churches are full of people who are holding all kinds of grudges, bitterness, baggage and junk from the past and they're paralyzed by it. The recollection of what you were in your former unconverted state shouldn't paralyze you and it shouldn't discourage you. Disappointments and temptations of the past must not depress you. If you’ve fallen or stumbled, you need to get up and brush yourself off and get on with the race. Paul says you shouldn’t be looking backward, but looking forward and pressing onward.

Some of us are guilty of looking backwards at the past like Lot’s wife.  She looked back with longing at the exceedingly sinful city of Sodom and Gomorrah.  And God turned her into a pillar of salt.  Some of you are looking backwards like the Israelites looked back at Egypt after God delivered them from slavery.  You may have once been a slave of alcohol, you may once have been a slave of money, you may once have been a slave of sex or any number of other things that you once were enslaved to.  And you have been looking backwards at some of those things and thinking, “You know, I had a lot of fun back then.  I kind of miss some of my old friends.  I miss some of the old ways.”  The Israelites said, “we miss the leeks and garlic and vegetables that we had in Egypt.”  What fools!  They were willing to swap their future and their freedom for a pot of food.

I pray that none of you are so foolish today that you find yourself looking backwards at what you are supposed to be running away from.  We are in a race folks.  We are running for an inestimable prize.  Don’t be distracted by the baubles, by the pretty lights and dazzling colors of the world.  Keep your eyes fixed on the goal.

1Cor 9:24 says “Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win. Everyone who competes in the games exercises self-control in all things. They then do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. Therefore I run in such a way, as not without aim; I box in such a way, as not beating the air; but I discipline my body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified.”

I like that phrase in vs. 13 back in our text again, where Paul says forgetting those things behind, I’m now reaching forward to what lies ahead.  This word for reaching forward is “ep-ek-tā'-no-mī”.  It means to stretch out towards, or to stretch oneself forward.  Have you ever seen that happen in a race?  I did once.  In high school we had this guy on the track team named Dicky.  He was a pretty normal looking kid.  But he was a good athlete.  But the secret to Dicky’s athleticism wasn’t in his strength or his fitness or even his ability, but in his heart.  He had the ability to be able to call upon some inner reserve and do extraordinary things. 

 I remember one time at a track meet and there was this relay race of  four guys where they handed off the baton to the other guy.  And I remember that they put Dicky as the last guy to get the baton. And right from the beginning, our team wasn’t doing all that well.  I think we were in last place as the race got underway.  Finally, they got to the last leg and our guy handed off the baton to Dicky.  And we all started cheering him on from the stands, chanting his name.  And about halfway into that last lap, suddenly something changed in Dicky.  He seemed to stretch out.  His stride lengthened, and his whole body changed as he put everything he had into that last leg.  It was like he shifted into high gear and just moved out.  And one by one he passed up the other competitors and Dicky came first across the finish line.  He was totally spent.  We were going wild in the stands and Dicky could barely stand up. 

Dicky ran with his heart.  He ran beyond his ability by reaching deep down inside himself and finding some sort of reserve.  Listen folks.  If you know the one thing, that is you know Christ Jesus as your personal Savior, then God promises you that He will provide the power within you to do the one thing He requires of us;  to run the race, to press on.  He will give you that inner resource to stretch forward beyond your normal capacity so that you might reach the goal of the upward call of Christ Jesus.  

Listen to   Hebrews 12:1  “Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

So the one thing I do is to press on to the goal of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.  I’m going to discard every hindrance, every sin, every weight, every distraction of this world and run with patience the race that is set before me. The race by the way is a marathon, not a sprint.  It takes patience, endurance, steadfastness.  Secondly, the race takes a continued focus. There are a lot of people who are like the guy who jumped on his horse and rode off madly in all directions, expending a lot of energy and a lot of fury and a lot of action,  but making no real  progress.  

They are like some people that I have known and still know in ministry that haven’t grown in the Lord hardly at all in the ten years or so I have known them.  They say they know the one thing that I know, but they haven’t done the one thing that we are called to do.  They haven’t pursued the upward call of Christ.  They are way too concerned with the  cheap pleasures and tawdry promises of this world than they are with the surpassing value of the future that God has prepared for those that love Him. 

So I will leave you this morning with a couple of questions.  Have you been laid hold of yet by Christ?  This is first and foremost the most important question of your life.  Do you know Him with a personal, intimate knowledge?  Can you say with Paul, this one thing I know, I know the power of a new life in Christ.   I know that I have a righteousness which comes from God on the basis of what Christ has done for me. 

And secondly,  if you know Him, then what are you doing?  What are you doing with your life?  This one thing I do.  What are you known for doing?  If you were to die today, what would they say at your funeral was the one thing that characterized your life?  What is the one thing that you do above all others?  I pray that the one thing I do is to run the race that is set before me, not looking behind, or being distracted, but stretching forward, reaching out for the prize and that I will be found being faithful when Jesus comes back and the trumpet sounds and calls me home.  And I pray that I may find that you will be running right along side of me.  Racing for the finish line.  To finish well, to finish strong.  This one thing I do.  This one thing we do.  Let’s run this race together, encouraging one another, helping one another, but most of all, fixing our eyes on the prize of the upward call of Christ.  It could be any day now.  I want to be found running with all my might when that day comes.  Let’s pray.

Profit and loss; Philippians 3:1-11

                                                                     

As we look at this passage today, Paul is giving us a picture of his own personal salvation.  We know the story of his conversion as recorded in Acts, being on the road to Damascus and having the light of the glory of the Lord fall upon him and blinding him, and hearing the voice of Jesus call out, “Paul, Paul, why are you persecuting me?”  And Paul answers, “Who are you?”  And the voice responds, “I am Jesus whom you are persecuting.”  And for Paul in that moment, though he is blind, yet spiritually he now sees.  He believes in Jesus Christ as the Messiah, as the Son of God and is converted.  And yet there is not a lot of information as to the details of that conversion.  So here in Philippians Paul is fleshing his conversion out in a way that can be very instructive for us today. 

The passage can be broken down into a kind of profit and loss statement.  If you own a business, you might be inclined to look at your financial results in terms of a profit and loss statement.  Even if you don’t have  a personal business, you may still find yourself evaluating your progress in some way or another.  What did you accomplish this year?  What did you gain? What did you lose?  Where are you now in regards to where you were a year ago? So how much more important is it for us to consider what we have done from an eternal perspective?  What have we done in our lives that will count as far as God is concerned? I hope that as you consider Paul’s profit and loss statement, it will prompt you to consider your own profit or loss in relation to the kingdom of heaven. 

Jesus asked the question in Matt. 16:24, “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?” My hope is that after we have finished with this message, you will have determined that which is profitable in the eyes of God and that which is worthless.  And that we will order our lives according to what God tells us is profitable.

So first Paul is going to list 7 things that he once thought was profitable, that he once thought made brownie points with God, but now since his conversion he realizes are worthless, compared to the surpassing value of knowing Jesus Christ.

Number one, starting in verse 5, his circumcision.  He lists this first undoubtedly because this was the big one for the false teachers.  These Jewish teachers were saying that Gentiles needed to become a circumcised in order to be fully accepted by God.  Faith plus circumcision.  And Paul says, I too was circumcised on the eighth day.  This was the standard for male children born to Hebrew parents.  And as I said last week, it became a standard of Jewish nationality.  You were either of the circumcision or you were an uncircumcised dog, which was a slur for a Gentile.  And circumcision had lost all it’s spiritual significance.  It was a fleshly mark by which they determined acceptance into Jewish society, but it had no real spiritual significance.  It was just a religious ritual, done to Jewish boys even before they had a chance to know what was happening to them, and somehow they thought that this would guarantee them a place in the kingdom of heaven. 

The fact is, some churches are still practicing certain rituals today that actually have little value in regards to salvation, but people are trusting in them to add some sort of credibility or acceptance with God.  Baptism is very often in many denominations added to salvation as a requirement for acceptance with God.  In some cases they even practice infant baptism, the same idea that was happening in Paul’s day with infant circumcision.  The baby has no concept of what is being done, and yet they are teaching that baptism of the infant is a means of placing the child within the sphere of blessing of God.  

Circumcision was supposed to be a symbol of a need for an inward cutting away of sinful flesh. But as a symbol it could never save.  Baptism is supposed to be a symbol of an inward change from death to life, and as a symbol it can never save.  The ordinance of the Lord’s Supper, or Communion, is a symbol, a picture of Christ’s atoning sacrifice for our sins, but it is only a symbol in remembrance of what Christ did.  But if you haven’t personally appropriated by faith what Christ did on the cross for yourself, then just participation in a ritual alone can never save you.  Paul counted his circumcision as a loss.

Secondly, Paul says he is “of the nation of Israel.”  The name Israel, you remember, was the name God changed Jacob’s name to.  He became the father of the 12 tribes of Israel, which became a great nation as God had promised to his grandfather Abraham.  They were called the chosen people, God’s chosen people.  And Israelites trusted in their nationality as a means of belonging to the family of God.

There is some similarity in this claim to what we find happening here in America as well in the 21st century.  We somehow believe that as Americans we have managed to secure a larger portion of God’s grace than the rest of the world.  I am afraid that we have a superior view  of our nationality.  We think as Christians we deserve an American version of the blessings of God.  Our idea of what it means to be an American Christian is to enjoy a five bedroom, 3 bath,  house with a huge garage filled with new cars and all the toys and gadgets that prosperity can provide.  Our view of American Christianity is very different than what Christianity looks like in virtually every other country in the world.  But I can assure you that such a view is seriously flawed and not supported anywhere in the Bible.  Being an American does not assure one of profit in the kingdom of God.

Thirdly, Paul says, “of the tribe of Benjamin.”  And this had many implications.  It was a point of pride that he could even prove his lineage.  Not all Jews could trace back their lineage due to the fact that during the exile they had lost records or intermarried.  And so it was  a big deal in Jewish society to be able to say you were of the tribe of Benjamin.  Benjamin, if you remember, was the favorite son of Jacob, and is home to it’s greatest city,  Jerusalem. 

It’s not hard to make a modern day association with this, is it?  How many times today do we hear that someone “comes from a good family?”  That the person is of the right kind of pedigree?  How many of us have determined our religion by what our kind of religion our parents practiced?  We go to certain churches because our parents went to that church, or our grandparents are buried in the grave yard.  Family lineage, Paul says, goes in the loss column.

Fourthly, Paul says he was a “Hebrew of Hebrews”.  And this is taking the previous claim just a little bit further.  It means his parents were Hebrews and raised him to speak Hebrew and observe the Hebrew customs.  They sent him to the best Hebrew schools; he was trained by Gamaliel, one of the most revered teachers of the law. Today, someone might be born of devout Christian parents, gone to private schools, graduated from Ivy League universities with advanced degrees.  But it’s counted as loss.

Fifthly, Paul says, “as to law, a Pharisee.”  This referred to a sect of Jews that adhered to the letter of the law in an ultra strict way.  Jesus said of the Pharisees that they even  tithed of the mint, dill and cumin in their herb garden.  They measured and weighed everything to the nth degree in an effort to keep the letter of the law.  They were the religious leaders of Judaism.

In my own experience of growing up in the church, I knew of people like this.  They took what were already strict standards of dress and decorum and made them even stricter, in an effort to be exceedingly righteous. Perhaps in our culture today, we may know many people who we may describe as good people, they are involved in many worthwhile charities and endeavors.  Sometimes to the point of making Christians embarrassed we don’t do nearly enough.  And yet Paul says this too was merely rubbish.

A man once remarked to R.A. Torrey following a message about the need to be born again, “I know some people who make no pretense of being a Christian but live fine, upright lives, they are kind and generous.  But I also know people who say they are Christians and yet live less exemplary lives.”  And Dr. Torrey replied, “It’s a matter of what state they are in.”  And he drew a square on the dust of the floor and said, “the rectangle represents the state of unregeneracy. Let’s say it’s the state of Colorado.  And one many might live high on the top of a mountain and another might live at sea level, and another man might be working down at the bottom  of a mine.  But all three men are in the state of unregeneracy.   One person might live on the mountains of morality, one might live an ordinary life, and another might live in the pit of debauchery, but all are in an unregenerate state.  We are all born in that state. 

Dr. Torrey traced another rectangle and continued. “This is the state of regeneracy.  The only way out of the state of unregeneracy into the state of regeneracy is by being born again.  In the state of regeneracy one might live on the high mountain of spirituality, another might live a very average Christian life, and another might be backslidden and living a very carnal life.  But all are living in the state of regeneracy.  Outwardly, it may look like the man in the regenerate state but carnal condition might be compared unfavorably with the moral man living on the mountain in the unregenerate state,  but the fact is that one is unregenerate, and one is not.  The man living in the unregenerate state is devoid of spiritual life, no matter how moral he is.  The backslider is living in a state of spiritual life, though for the time being it is not evident. It all depends upon which state you are in.  The only way to pass from one state to another is by the gift of righteousness which comes only through Christ.”

Next, Paul says, “as to zeal, a persecutor of the church.”  Before his conversion, Paul had been locking up and persecuting Christians even unto death.  Now that was zeal.  He took his religion so seriously that he was willing to kill for it.   And the modern equivalent of that is sincerity.  How many times have we heard that you can believe whatever you want as long as you’re sincere, God will honor that.   You can be sincere, but sincerely wrong.  You can be zealous in your religion, but be completely in error.  Your works are not a measure of your salvation.  In fact, I am often surprised to see how zealous those people are who are in a false religion, or a cult. They have a lot of zeal, often much more than we have.  But zeal alone is a loss.

And finally, Paul says, “as to the righteousness which is in the Law, found blameless.” Jesus said of the Pharisees that they kept the law to be seen of men.  They wanted to be praised for their works, that was the motivation behind doing them.  And isn’t that the case more often than not in the church today?  It’s like the way I clean house.  I don’t really clean house very often.  My wife works to keep the house clean and the beds made and the dishes washed.  But I have learned that if I am going to bend over and pick something up off the floor, it doesn’t really count unless she sees me do it.  So I make sure that I don’t pick anything up unless she is there to witness it.  Otherwise, it’s as if I didn’t actually do it.  And I’m afraid that we approach our Christianity that way too.  We want to be seen of men. We want to be sure to keep up appearances, and so we structure our lives to be seen by men.  The outside of the cup is shiny, but inwardly it is full of vileness.

So those are the seven things Paul says he once thought had value but now realizes are worthless.  Look at vs. 7  “But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ.  8) More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ.”  

This is the answer for the question Jesus asked in Matthew 16:24 we looked at earlier, “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?”  And the answer Paul is giving us is that he gave everything that he once considered gain, he gave it up as loss for the sake of knowing Christ as His Savior.  The answer to what shall a man give in exchange for his soul - is everything.  Everything.  

Jesus gave a parable which was an illustration of salvation, in which He talked about a man who found a pearl of great price and went and sold everything to buy that pearl.  Jesus told the rich young ruler who had kept the law and thought he had done everything to be accepted into heaven, Jesus told him to go sell everything he had and give it to the poor and come an follow Me.  Giving all you have cannot buy your salvation, only the blood of Jesus can purchase your salvation.  But relinquishing all that you hold onto as a means of salvation is the point of this message.  All the things you think have bought you favor with God are to be considered loss in light of the immeasurable treasure of knowing Christ unto salvation.

Quickly, let’s look at five things that you gain when you come to Christ, when you jettison all the other filthy rags of self righteousness and accept the gift of salvation. You gain these five: knowledge, righteousness, power, fellowship, and glory. Starting in verse 9, “and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.”

Number one, salvation begins with the knowledge of Jesus Christ. That's the first thing he gained, he gained the knowledge of Jesus Christ.  This kind of knowledge is the knowledge gained through intimacy of a relationship. It’s not just knowing the facts about  a person, but knowing that person intimately.  Having a relationship.  To be found in Him and He in Me.  To have the communion of the Holy Spirit living inside me, knowing my thoughts, having his laws written upon my heart.  To know Him is a spiritual new birth whereby God lives in me and gives me spiritual life, opening my heart and eyes that I may know Him.

Number 2, salvation gains the righteousness of Jesus Christ.  “not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith.”  Romans tells us that Abraham believed God and God counted it to him as righteousness.  Righteousness is not something I do, but something God gives me as a result of my faith in Christ.  2 Cor. 5:21 “God made Him who knew no sin to become sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.”

Thirdly, salvation provides the power of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.  The power of a new life which triumphs over my dead flesh.  Like Paul on the road to Damascus, once I was blind, but now I see.  The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life.  Because Jesus died and rose again, I too live again spiritually.  I was dead in my trespasses and sins.  But by the cross of Christ I have been made alive with Christ.  Though my body is still dead in the flesh, I have been made alive in the spirit and by the Spirit of God in me I am able to live the life that God requires of me.

Fourth, salvation also brought him fellowship with Jesus Christ. Vs. 10 “that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death.”  This fellowship can also be interpreted communion, Christ living in me.  God’s purpose for us is that we might be conformed to the image of Christ. Rom 8:29 For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren. “   And in order for us to really be conformed to the image of Christ, we need to die in our flesh, so that we might live in the Spirit.  We need to suffer the loss of our fleshly desires, passions and will.  To crucify the flesh is what it means to have the fellowship of His sufferings.  Rom 8:17 says, “and if [we are] children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.”

 And that brings us to the fifth point, if we suffer with Him, we will also be glorified with Him. So  salvation results in our glorification with Christ.  Vs. 11, “in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.” 

The Bible speaks of Jesus as the first fruits of the resurrection, taken up into glory.  1Cor. 15:20 “But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep. 1Cor. 15:23 “But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, after that those who are Christ's at His coming, then comes the end, when He hands over the kingdom to the God and Father, when He has abolished all rule and all authority and power.” 1Cor. 15:41 “There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for star differs from star in glory. So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown a perishable body, it is raised an imperishable body; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.” 1Cor. 15:54 “But when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, "DEATH IS SWALLOWED UP in victory. O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR VICTORY? O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR STING?"

The resurrection of Christ resulted in the glory of Christ. The glory that he had with the Father before the world began.  And we will share in that glory with him in that we are the bride of Christ which he purchased from the fallen world by his own blood.  This is the promise of glory by which all the things of this world that we once considered as profitable, we now count but loss for the sake of knowing Jesus Christ as Lord, for the sake of sharing with Him in all that the Father has planned for those that love Him. 

I trust that you have done a spiritual inventory today.  I hope you have looked carefully at what you are counting on as profit in regards to the kingdom of heaven.  Perhaps you realize that you have been counting on the wrong things.  I pray that you will today count those things as loss for the sake of knowing Christ, and that in knowing Christ and having faith in Him, God credits you with the righteousness of Jesus Christ, that you may attain to the resurrection from the dead into the glory that God has prepared for those that love Him.  It can be yours if you’re willing to give up all that you hold dear, for the sake of knowing Jesus.  Let’s pray.