Losing All to Gain Christ

Will consider our text this afternoon under to points Spiritual Bankruptcy ( 7,8), and spiritual wealth ( 9-11)

7 But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ.

We remember previously, that Paul had laid out a resume for the Philippians to consider. He gave his credentials which were thoroughly impressive. Unmatched. Yet whatever things were gain( rich Jewish heritage, religious prestige, zeal, and accomplishment), he counts as loss. He means, they weren’t gain, they were actually a hindrance to me. Those things-that I though were gain, but, which really weren’t gain to me—I have thrown out and torn up. I don’t want them on my resume any more because they get in the way of my glorying in Christ. In accounting terms, he was in the negative. They were actually harmful to him.

He is throwing out a Romans 10:3 type of righteousness Romans 10:3 “3 For not knowing about God’s righteousness and seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God.”

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,

But the apostle doubles down here. It wasn’t just the list mentioned above. He say’s here that you can put anything, anything! on the competitive floor with Christ and Christ wins out every time, clean sweep, no competition. He is thoroughly convinced, he doesn’t need to wait upon further evidence. He is without a doubt persuaded that nothing can compare to Christ. All things stand in the negative. They are a net loss compared to Christ.

What hinders you from magnifying Christ more, from knowing more of him?

Paul has no family, few friends, not well fed clothed or sheltered. What does he say? Man, I’m up a creek without a paddle. No, he concludes that he has more than enough to be rejoicing. Why? Because the excellency of Christ is a subject, an object that is impossible to exhaust. You would have more success counting all of the sand on earths shores than exhausting the excellency of Christ!

Boston:

He is the storehouse, from which all the saints, from Adam, have derived the supply of their wants."In him are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. “What would we have, it is all in him. Whatever excellency or perfection is in any thing else, it is derived from him. The most desirable creatures shine with light borrowed from him. There is no perfection in the creature, but what is eminently in himself, as the first cause. "That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world."

He’ll go on to say:

Everything other than Christ lacks sufficiency and certainty for happiness and satisfaction. Christ alone in whom all the fulness of the Godhead dwells is both sufficient for you, and certain, he is the same yesterday, today, and forever. 

You need not fear lack in Jesus and you need not fear change in Jesus. That cannot be said of any created thing. Do you see how gloriously superior, surpassingly great how surpassingly valuable the knowledge of Jesus is? Every creature runs dry, not so with the fount of living water. 

Paul states this 3 different ways in verse 8 to emphasize his point. list…….

This is what you have dear believer grab onto this more by faith today.

And consider how Paul can be an example to us here of proclaiming the excellency of Christ to others. Paul didn’t stay silent about his love and glorying in Jesus.

And if we have him, and have tasted of his goodness and seen his glory, how could you stay silent about it? How can you not break forth into this rapturous contemplative praise as Paul does? How can you hold back from telling others about the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus your Lord. 

Telling them about the one, whom Boston says:

can do for us what no other can do, procure for us pardon of sin, peace with God, a right to heaven, things which angels and men cannot do.

We rubbed shoulders with people every day who are running dry cistern after cistern of creaturely enjoyments. Worse, they are holding broken cisterns that hold no water, trying to fill themselves up to the point of despair, inward despair, and would we stay silent about the living fountain that we have inside of us. If you drove by someone sitting on the side of the road parched, licking a potsherd trying to satisfy their thirst, and had a bottle of water on hand surely you would give it to them. What about the living water inside you, will you not hold it out to those around you who are spiritually parched, spiritually famished, trying to be satisfied by various fruitless endeavors.

Maybe you’re nowhere near this today. Not thrilled with the grace of the gospel, and the desire to proclaim it. If you’re not here today, then fight for renew joy of the gospel of Jesus Jesus Christ.  fight for renewed sense of love and concern for the lost around you . Do the people around you hear of your affection for Christ? Beeke asks in his new book on Do your children hear it, family, friends? Of your love for Christ.

Do they hear that everything else when compared to knowing him is dung, excrement. That being found in him, united to him is the most thrilling and satisfying thing. Do they hear you lament spiritual bankruptcy of things in your life that you give too much time to.

Spirutal Wealth

Justification, sanctification, glorification.

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,

He concluded v.8 by giving his first purpose for ditching everything. That, “I may gain Christ”

“and” is epexegetical meaning, Paul is now going to explain what he means by “gaining Christ”

What do you mean by gaining Christ Paul? Why did he do all that? Why does he throw it all away. Because at the end of the day what must we have? What must we be? We must be found in Christ, we must have a righteousness from God through faith in Christ. In union with Christ, in justifying faith, Paul found that pearl of great price. You see the parallels? He sold everything he had, for the priceless possession! Like in the parable. Christ is Pauls boast.

What is at the center in this verse. The righteousness that comes from God. It comes from outside of you. It is alien to you. An alien righteousness is the only kind of righteousness that can save. Not one from me, but in contrast, one from God. Given. The righteousness from me, and the righteousness from God, are mutually exclusive. Pause.

My righteousness, fleshly righteousness, according to the law righteousness wont do. God’s righteousness in Christ received by faith as a gift, is the only saving righteousness. What is faith in this text? renouncing as loss all of the things that might give you self-confidence before God. That is to walk by faith.

Consider once again the rich beginning of verse 9. “Found in him” What is your boast at the end of the day? I served faithfully in my church to the end. No, to be found in him.

Matthew 16:24–26 “24 Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. 25 “For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. 26 “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?”

Paul counted everything as loss(He lost his life Mt 16) to be found in Christ. He found his life in Christ. And now his life is hidden in Christ. It’s untouchable.

Colossians 3:3–4 “3 For you have died(lost your life) and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.”

It also calls us back to Phil 2 where Jesus was found in human form, why, so that as Paul says here….we might be found in Him, that we might be united to him, one with him. As Murray wonderfully points out Union: “has a broader reach than just one step in the application of redemption…it underlies every step of the application of redemption.” Union with Christ is everything for the believer. Beale just published a 600 p book on that topic. That is how deep and rich and bottomless it is.

Which brings us to a consideration of sanctification in verse 10.

10 that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death;

There are two purpose clauses in this section marked as that. The first is that I may gain Christ, v8 which we just discussed Pauls elaboration of. The second is here, “that” I may know him.

The connection is simple. Those whom God justifies he also…..

Justification, rather than leading to complacency in sin, leads to walking in newness of life, it leads to the sanctified life.

To know him more is the life of salvation and sanctification. To know him more and more is the idea here.

More than know though, he says know him, fellowship in sufferings, conformity in his death.

Ferguson says:

Conformity to Christ here is suffering for Christ, and mortifying sin. Union with Christ, turns into living communion.

Paul what do you mean by knowing Christ, Knowing Christ is Communion in suffering and death.

Sanctification only comes through pain in other words. It is a cutting away process, a purging. Dying to self.

What a profound and yet mysterious verse. Communion in his sufferings and conformity in his death. Strange.

Yet these two things are part of the fundamental makeup of genuine Christianity. This is discipleship. True piety. So many don’t count the cost of what being a disciple means and go the way of the seeds in the parable of the sower. Many false teachers today give folks the sense that you can come to Christ and not suffer and not mortify sin. God loves you the way you are. You can become a Christian without changing a thing. That’s not Christianity, that’s not the gospel. We come as we are, but do not remain as we are. We are to put the flesh and deeds of the flesh away. You have died with Christ. But I haven’t actually died, what do you mean. Died to sin. Dead to lusts. Rom 6. Furthermore, we are granted to suffer. Philippians 1:29 “29 For to you it has been granted for Christ’s sake, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake,”

“Conformed to his death.”

Silva says:

When Christ died, his people, whom he represented, died with him—his death became theirs…..and there is also a sense in which that death is reenacted in the spiritual experience of conversion and sanctification.

John Murray about united with Christ death: there is a once-for-all definitive and irrevocable breach with the realm in which sin reigns.

This flows right out of justification. The justified believer is a new creature and begins to think walk and act like a new creature.

This is what your knowing is brothers and sisters. Experiencing the resurrection power in you to mortify your flesh by the power of the Spirit of Christ. And to suffer for righteousness sake by the same power and grace of Christ.

Do not let sin reign in your mortal bodies. Be killing sin or sin will be killing you. Why does Owen say this? Aren’t I a saint. Yes but simultaneously a sinner, in whom sin rears its ugly head everywhere, everywhere! In every relation, conversation, activity.

Though it is painful, it is assuring to us. It marks our legitimacy as christians. Listen to Silva on suffering: The stinging reality of Christian suffering is our reminder that we have been united with Christ. More than that, it is the very means God uses to transform us into the image of his Son. Isn’t that a blessed reality.

In short, that is your knowing, that is your growing intimacy with Christ, fellowship in suffering and putting to death the flesh, conformity to his death.

In order to do that, we need to know our savior and our sin. Be familiar with these two brethren. I mentioned Heidelberg, good place to start. Larger catechism, excellent.

You need to know Jesus and his work, you need to know your sin that nailed him there. And then you need to put that remaining sin to death. It is the classic law gospel balance that we need all through the Christian life.

You can’t mortify until you know something about your sin that brought our savior to the cross.

In short, now the gospel better. Know better that Jesus died for a sinner such as me.

And as we mention often, this conformity, this further knowing, comes by beholding his glory in the gospel. 2 Corinthians 3:18 “18 But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.”

This is our lot until the hope of verse 11 is realized.

11 in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.

Glorification

Whats the connection to verse 10. Romans 8:17 “17 and if 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.”

It is not as if it were not going to happen. Those he sanctifies he also….

It is a humble longing that Paul is communicating to us. If at last I may attain to the resurrection. He knows God will complete that work, he has that assurance. There is no doubt here, only a humble an longing comment and a fitting transition to the next section. Which we will visit next time DV.

Lets pray.