Renounce Everything for Christ - Philippians 3:7-14

Introduction/Seeing the Need

If we expect to arrive at our destination, we have to know where we are going. The route may need some discovery and modification. But if we know where we are going, we can adjust to get there. This obvious truth is part of the message of today’s text. When we know where God has us going, we can be confident that in every circumstance we still moving toward that blessed destination.

Many circumstances had come together to create disunity in the Philippian church. We can surmise that personal differences and rivalries played a role. Certainly the selfishness to which all people are vulnerable was the fertile ground in which the problem grew. But another factor was the influence of those who advocated that Jewish people have a place of preeminence in the church. As in other churches founded by Paul, the Philippian church was troubled by those whom we identify as Judaizers. The Judaizers insisted that to belong to God’s people, believers in Jesus must roe the line with regard to the Law of Moses, especially the requirement for circumcision.

The Judaizers insisted that to belong to God’s people, believers in Jesus must roe the line with regard to the Law of Moses, especially the requirement for circumcision.

Paul understood, however, that Christ had brought the fulfillment of the Law of Moses. This meant that God accepted non-Jews as they were. Paul understood that the division between Jew and Gentile had been taken away, making one body of anyone who accepted Christ. What faith produces is an identity marker of the people of God in Christ, not the keeping of the Law of Moses. If Christ came as the lowly servant of all, then no follower of his can look upon another Christian as a second class citizen of the kingdom of God. In Christ, all Christians are first-class citizens of that kingdom. Christ must be the standard that the church pursues in unity, not score-keeping regarding adherence to a set of laws.

In the context preceding our text, Paul had used himself as an example of this contrast. Others may make the claim to be the true, first-class people of God because of their observance of the Law of Moses, but Paul could make a greater claim. He was in all respects highly observant of all the laws that marked Israel as a distinctive people. As our text begins, Paul declares what faith in Christ demands that he say regarding his attainments as a faithful observer of the law.

Gain and Loss -

Philippians 3:7–11 NRSV

Yet whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss because of Christ. More than that, I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard 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 one that comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God based on faith. I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death, if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead.

In the verses before this one, Paul has just listed his outstanding characteristics as a Jew who meticulously observed the Law of Moses. These observances had been of supreme value to him, like profits on a balance sheet. They were the things that had once defined his identity.

But Jesus has changed the basis for that identity. Paul now knows the crucified, risen Jesus as God’s true king, the head of God’s people. The only identity Paul has is Christ’s identity. Paul of course, continues to identify as a Jew, or Israelite, after becoming a Christian. He does not deny his past or his heritage. In fact, he celebrates it: for in the history of Israel, God was at work to promise and prepare for the coming of Jesus. But compared with the supreme value of Christ, that former identity - valuable as Paul thought it to be - could now be considered loss.

Paul amplifies his point from the previous verse. He calls attention to the strong contrast he is drawing: the phrase translated what is more puts emphasis on the difference between his identification as a law-observant Jew and his new identification as a follower of Jesus. In fact, Paul says, all parts of his life, except for following Jesus, are now like his law-observant past: they are loss compared with that great gain or profit.

Garbage might not be a word that we would expect at this point. But Paul uses it to add to the emphasis on what he considers loss. This loss of all things contrasts with the prospect that Paul may gain Christ. Here again Paul uses the language of accounting, but in a limited way. There is no idea here of somehow earning Christ as a something-for-something result of a swap. God gives us his blessing through Christ freely; it cannot be earned or purchased. We respond in a way that expresses that this gift is what we value most greatly.

In verse 9, Paul switches to a different description of his new identity in Christ. To be found in him certainly means to be fully identified as Christ’s follower. That in turn implies a life that is utterly committed to Christ, utterly trusting in Christ, but also a life that in its thoughts and actions deeply reflects Christ’s own life.

This identity with Christ, founded on the trusting belief that Jesus is indeed God’s true king, is the source of true righteousness. Here Paul uses righteousness to refer to genuine membership in God’s people, what we sometimes call “right standing with God.” What makes someone God’s person, Paul says, is not what he or she does in terms of keeping the Mosaic law. Nor is it anything that anyone might do to try to make oneself the right kind of person to belong to God. Rather, faith is the basis of true righteousness.

Faith in Christ is different from the Mosaic law or other “on our own” means of belonging to God. That difference is that God has supplied the means of our salvation. So rather than putting trust in our abilities to be righteous, we put trust in him to provide all the righteousness we need. It is not “we do our best and God does the rest.” It is, rather, God does it all. When we realize that truth, we give control of our lives to him instead of holding onto them ourselves. It is making Jesus king.

How would you counsel someone who believes that Christ’s righteousness keeps the Christian out of Hell, but one’s personal righteousness gets him or her into Heaven?

In verse 10 we see that faith reorients one’s life away from self-righteousness, self-reliance, and self-fulfillment. In place of those, Christ becomes the focus - not only as the source of identity with God but also as the exemplar of the true life of God’s people.

So to know Christ is not merely to know his story or even to affirm his authority, but to live a life that imitates his. In that way, one comes to know Christ by experience, consciously living to serve others as Christ did. Such a life is obviously costly. As Paul has noted, it cost him “all things.” How can one live with such a deep loss? Paul says that the follower of Christ also comes to know the power of his resurrection.

Christ literally gave “all things” by willingly surrendering his life. But God the Father answered his loss with greater gain, raising Christ from the dead. That same power exercises for Christ’s followers, meeting their needs as they suffer loss for the sake of Christ. Christ’s followers join him in suffering, but they also experience God’s constant power and provision for their needs.

In what ways can a Christian expect life to change when he or she joins Paul in desiring to share in Christ’s suffering?

The climax of Christ’s earthly ministry was his sacrificial death; and so for his followers, life takes that same shape. Relatively few Christians will die as martyrs, but all Christians are to lead lives that are shaped by Christ’s self-sacrifice. The Lord in whom we put our trust is the one after whom we model life.

What qualities will others see in us when we get serious about living by Jesus’ example?

Forgetting and Pressing -

Philippians 3:12–14 NRSV

Not that I have already obtained this or have already reached the goal; but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Beloved, I do not consider that I have made it my own; but this 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 heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.

In verse 12, Paul assesses his present situation. God’s full purpose for Paul is not yet achieved. The resurrection that he will one day have will be the full realization of God’s purpose. This is not just for Paul but for all of God’s people, as those still living are untied with the risen dead, both transformed to a new existence.

But God’s action demands Paul’s response. Prompted by faith, he must participate in what God is doing. Christ has taken hold of Paul for a purpose. That purpose is that Paul’s life should be transformed to be like Christ’s life, culminating in resurrection from the dead. So Paul ministers in light of that goal with his entire being.

How will the certainty of future resurrection shape your attitudes actions from this day forward? Knowing that attitudes shape action, in what ways have you seen the reverse - actions of yours that have modified your attitudes?

In verse 13, taking hold of the future is a lifelong process. Assured of God’s victory, Paul pursues that future with abandon. His past, whatever its honor or shame, he no longer values. The future is his focus. It will not merely be a never-ending life, but a full transformed life. It will be a life brought into complete conformity with the image of God in Christ.

In the resurrection, all Christ’s people will be like him. We, like Paul, will have been transformed from the selfish behavior of this present age to reflect completely Christ the selfless servant. Until then we are being transformed to be what we will be fully when raised from the dead.

What is the next thing you need to be reaching for in your pursuit of becoming more like Jesus?

In verse 14, Paul declares that at the end lies a the prize, the one for which he was called to the starting line by God....in Christ Jesus. That prize is to be like Christ in his divinely granted resurrection. If we believe in the Christ who died and rose, the pursuit of the prize becomes all that matters to us.

Conclusion

Today’s text certainly prompted the Philippian Christians to reassess the direction of their lives. Remembering Christ’s life, death and resurrection, looking forward to resurrection and life with him at his return - these meant that the reader’s present lives had to be transformed into greater likeness to Christ. There was no place for the division that had begun to afflict this congregation. There was only room for self-giving service, empowered by the risen Lord.

We are confronted with the same need for self-assessment. Christ calls us to continue the race, to renew our reassessment of profit and loss, to remember the one who laid hold of us so that we can lay hold of that to which he called us. How is Christ calling you to be more like him?

Prayer

O God, help us to press on with joy, knowing that no effort in your name is wasted, no matter how the world counts the outcome. As we run the race, may we reflect on your grace anew and run with the end in view{ the goal of resurrected, eternal life. We pray in Jesus’ name, Amen.