Knowing Him

Notes:

Introduction:

Comparing Apples to Oranges:

Lots of similarities

Both fruits. Both can be bought at the store. Both have a peel, both have seeds inside…

But Apples aren’t oranges! They aren’t the same thing!

Can’t make an orange pie.

You can’t make an Apple Julius

Comparison between two things: Performance Righteousness vs. Imputed Righteousness

Theme Verse:

7 But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ.

Part of verse. 8:

7 and 8: But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ… For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ

Received Righteousness

Bring Bible and peruse:

Favor: Genesis 12

Ritual: Genesis 17

Ethnicity: Deut 7:3-4 “3 You shall not intermarry with them, giving your daughters to their sons or taking their daughters for your sons, 4 for they would turn away your sons from following me, to serve other gods. Then the anger of the Lord would be kindled against you, and he would destroy you quickly.”

Righteousness: Deut 4:6: “Obey these laws carefully, in order to show the other nations that you have wisdom and understanding. When they hear about these laws, they will say, “This great nation of Israel is wise and understanding.”

Sabbath BREAKING: Deserving of the Death Penalty.

Disobeying Parents: Deserving of the Death Penalty

Received Righteousness

Abraham: It’s through your seed that all people will be blessed.

God gives Israel the Law: external, observable, rituals, bloodlines, and responsibilities.

These were inherently Good things because God designed and assigned them to Israel.

Achieved Righteousness

Paul took this received righteousness and turned them into Achieved Righteousness

Ritual: Circumcised on the 8th Day

Race/ Ethnicity: Israelite

Rank: Tribe of Benjamin:

Tribe of Benjamin; Hebrew of Hebrews: Surrounded by Judah, so they survived the Exile. Trace their lineage to the very beginning. First King came from Benjamin, Saul.

Pedigree: Hebrew of Hebrews

Lit: [A Hebrew out from Hebrews] He stood out amongst his own kind!

He was really a Hebrew! Wanted to take his Hebrewness and make it something more than it was!

Not only am I North Carolinian, but within weeks of my birth I was holding my first pulled pork biscuits.

Not only am I Dutch, but my running shoes are wooden clumpen

Not only am I American, but I have a pet bald eagle named Freedom Flier.

Not only am I Canadian, but my best friends growing up were dog sled huskies.

Paul was really, really Hebrew!

Calling: Pharisee:

Not merely a religious elite, but an important political party.

He had religious and civil power.

Commitment: “Defender of the Faith!” (persecutor FOR the law)

Not merely stood by the Law, but he persecuted people who didn’t stand by it.

Character: “Blameless”

These high standard exceeded expectations. Paul’s religious report card=A!

These are the people you want to hire!

Natural leader, passionate, character type guy. Loyal to the cause!

Seems as thought Paul was doing everything that accomplished the very things that God asked Israel to do?

But as Paul jockied for religious position, he was missing the Story of Redemption.

Gained everything he viewed as important, but didn’t gain the very thing he needed:

7 and 8: But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ… For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ

But Paul’s no longer interested in these standards! He describes those who set these standards in no uncertain terms:

“Dogs”

“Evildoers”

“Mutilators of the Flesh”: Reference to the physical surgery of circumcision.

Not merely unnecessary, or neutral, but EVIL! Big difference between the two.

The whole Old Testament has been this constant attempt of turning received righteousness into achieved righteousness, and so Christ came and fulfilled everything, and by doing so, flipped everything upside down.

Received Righteousness:

New Identity: “Circumcized” verses “The Circumcision”

3 For we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh...

“We are the circumcision”: Who are the we?

It was always about the Heart!

Received Righteousness happens to Us

Btw, This was always God’s expectations of Israel:

Deut 10:14-16: “14 Behold, to the Lord your God belong heaven and the heaven of heavens, the earth with all that is in it. 15 Yet the Lord set his heart in love on your fathers and chose their offspring after them, you above all peoples, as you are this day. 16 Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart...”

Ritual always came after GRACE!!

Jesus Life, Death and Resurrection redefined Identity:

You, we (!) are The Circumcision in Christ.

Redefined Goals:

GAIN: “Whatever I gained, I count as loss… versus “…in order that I may gain Christ.”

Goal is not to gain externals. Gain is not to maintain ethnicity, pedigree, degrees, ritual, or rank:

Goal is to gain Christ.

Goal is to be found in Christ

Everything else is rubbish: Street Trash

Any attempt to justify yourself apart from Christ is a load of Garbage...

You are not what you do.

You are not where you came from.

You are not your degrees

You are who you belong to, who you are found in. For the Christian, we are found in Christ!

Source of Righteousness: "My Own...From the Law” “Through Faith from God”

Literally:

v. 9: “Not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law”

V. 10: “Faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith.”

My ‘out from the law’ righteousness means nothing.

What counts now is “Out from God” Righteousness

Through faith in Christ...

“Righteousness… from the law” verses “[Righteousness] through faith in Christ.”

ESV: I may gain Christ 9 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.

NIV: “the righteousness from God on the basis of faith in Christ.”

Faith gives us righteousness!

God gives faith.

Faith means believing that Jesus was the Messiah, the Christ, the King, who fulfilled all the righteous requirements of the Law, who yet died as the perfect sacrifice, and who absorbs both our sin and God’s wrath against sin. When God gives us faith, we are found in Christ, covered by his perfect obedience of the Law, dubbed righteous, so thus given the gift of eternal life. Because we’ve been found in Christ, we’ve been found righteous and no charge can come against us!

What was Paul’s greatest sin by achieving righteousness? By fulfilling the Law. Trying to do everything right? It was two-fold:

He inverted grace into works.

Worse Crime: He replaced the work of Christ with himself.

He thought he could be his own Christ! The Old Testament is one long proof that we are trying to bridge the gap between heaven and earth through all the wrong attempts.

From Babel to Paul, we’re trying to earn our Christ-Stripes.

But this is not Christ’s way…

Car show:

Bentley=At the time, worth more than my house

If my dad saw me drive up to his house in a Bentley, he’d be like, “Mark! What have you done? And when should I expect the cops to show up.”

For the sake of an analogy:

My dad actually bought me that Bentley.

Beautiful car, tinted windows.

Father hands me the keys and I leave. When he sees me, all he sees is the gift he’s given me.

As I drive around, words quickly spreads, “You see that Bentley! Who’s in it? I don’t know, the tint is too dark… What an awesome ride though!”

Analogy:

Amazing Gift from my Father

It’s surrounds me: I’m found in the car.”

No one can identify me

People aren’t praising me, they’re praising I’ve gain!

Now take this analogy and apply it to life in Christ:

The Father has give you faith.

We’ve gained Christ.

We’ve been found in Christ.

Our identities are hidden in him.

So when God the Father sees you, he doesn’t see you sin or even your pursuits to achieve righteousness. He doesn’t see your past, present, or future sin. He doesn’t see your attempts are approval, or your religious positioning…

When others see you, all attention goes to Jesus!

Achieved Righteousness: New Testament Style

But what do we do?

We don’t want the Bentley.

We want to go back to this:

Create our own versions of glory…

How do you do this in your own life?

How are you replacing Christ with your own ride?

T-Time: Not an add-on to righteousness