Christ the Prize

Isaiah 53:10–12 ESV

10 Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. 11 Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities. 12 Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors.

Prayer

Introduction

Last week we saw Paul absolutely eviscerate those who would put their confidence in things of the flesh. If you weren’t here or if you’re a guest this morning, don’t worry, I will try to make sure everything makes sense, but in a very real way today’s passage is intrinsically linked to last week’s. This is almost a “part two” type sermon. Let’s look at this morning’s passage together and get started.

Scripture

Our passage this morning is . If you are able, please stand for the reading of God’s Word. We do this to show appreciation to God for His Word and in recognition that these are among the most important words we could hope to hear today. says,

Philippians 3:7–16 ESV

7 But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. 8 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 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— 10 that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead. 12 Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. 13 Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. 15 Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you. 16 Only let us hold true to what we have attained.

“But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, 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 is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. All of us, then, who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you. Only let us live up to what we have already attained.”

Thank you, you may be seated.

Last week, our passage ended somewhat abruptly. Paul was listing his claim to fame as it were. He was showing how high of a standing he had as a Jew. Paul’s overall argument was actually against those who put confidence in the flesh instead of confidence in Christ. To shame those folks, Paul lists his bona fides. Ultimately Paul uses the standards that those false teachers claimed mattered. He used those standards and showed how he was actually (according to their own logic and argument) in better standing with God than they themselves were, and far more so than any of the Gentiles who listened to the false teachers.

It is at that point, right after listing all the things that make him in supposed “high standing” that our passage today picked up – “But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ”

Paul doesn’t discount that he did in fact have an awesome upbringing. Paul didn’t discount that he had a zeal for the law. Paul didn’t discount that he knew the law quite well. Paul had those gains, but he no longer sees them as gains. They are still there, but now he understands that they are actually liabilities.

They say that the two happiest days in a boat owner’s life are the day they buy their boat and the day they sell it. The reason for that is because it is expensive to maintain and properly care for a boat. What initially looks like a good thing – a gain, ultimately becomes a liability.

Paul is saying something similar here about his list of gains – they are really liabilities which he counted as loss for the sake of Christ.

But Paul doesn’t quite stop there. He goes on to say, “Indeed I count everything as loss…” At one point, Paul thought he had found the path to righteousness. Paul was on that path, persecuting Christians. Paul, by all standards of his day was a righteous man. He claims to have been blameless under the law. Paul was a righteous Jew. But he counts it all as worthless. Think about that. Everything Paul once held dear, now he considers it to be garbage.

And that is a mild way to phrase it actually. The term for rubbish here is not a pleasant one. Paul is being a little bit crass. Not inappropriate, but he wants to get his point across that everything he held to be valuable is nothing but crap. My intention isn’t to be crass either, but that really is a helpful word here. It carries the idea of both junk that needs to be thrown out and it carries the idea of excrement.

All the things of importance is not just invaluable, but it is actually a hindrance in Paul’s mind and needs to be discarded – has been discarded.

It is one thing to think about Paul doing this, but what about us today. What parallels can we see in our day that we should be counting as rubbish.

What about our families? Paul was essentially cut of from his people. His Jewish family wanted him dead.

What about our nationality or political affiliation? Paul counted his Jewishness as nothing. The chosen people, Paul considered that to be trash. This would have hit home to the Philippians too. Remember they are proud of their Roman citizenship – they have many awesome rights and privileges. Frankly I think this is a hard one for us – it is for me. I love my country. I greatly appreciate my rights and privileges. Are you willing to call your American citizenship “garbage”? That’s tough. It’s easy to talk about considering everything as loss when we talk about things broadly, but when we get down to specifics, that’s when the rubber meets the road. That’s when it gets difficult. That’s when our hearts are truly revealed.

What about our religious preferences? Are we willing to sacrifice our sacred beliefs on the altar? Paul didn’t remain a Pharisee. He rejected it. Of course there were things he believed before that he still believed after coming to know Christ, but the point is that he was willing to toss it all out if it wasn’t true – if it wasn’t centered on Christ. Are we so willing, or are we beholden to our religious preferences and traditions?

I’m not suggesting we stop believing anything, that we rebel against our government and become anarchists, and that we ignore our families. That’s not my or Paul’s point. The point is that those are all things that we can very easily turn into heart idols. And what Paul calls us to do is to value Christ more than those things individually or combined.

We talk about being a value conscious shopper. A person who compares carefully which items to buy. We often comparison shop and weigh which item to buy – the one that costs 10% more, but is of better quality, or the less expensive one that might break sooner. We carefully consider the value of things.

What Paul is calling us to do is to value things correctly. To understand that there is nothing more valuable than knowing Christ Jesus. When compared to Christ, everything else is nothing but dust, refuse, garbage, trash, rubbish. All the riches of this world are nothing compared to the riches of knowing Christ.

Heaven itself is only Heavenly because Jesus is there! I don’t know about you, but my primary hope is not getting a nice mansion on the good side of the tracks in New Jerusalem. My primary hope is seeing Jesus face to face and falling on my face before Him in awe and wonder and worship. Crying out with all those surrounding the throne, “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!”

Jesus is valuable, and everything else compared to Him is trash. The surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus our Lord. And it is because of the surpassing worth of Christ that Paul counts all things as loss so that he can gain Christ and be found in Him. Paul’s loss is ultimately fine because he gets great gains.

Paul understands that his righteousness under the law is not a real thing. It is an illusion. True righteousness comes from being found in Christ. It comes through faith in Christ. Paul is adamant here that nothing external matters. It is faith in Christ that grants righteousness.

October 31 is a very important date. On that day in 1517, Martin Luther famously nailed his 95 theses to the door of Whittenburg castle – galvanizing the call for reform of the Catholic church. So, October 31 is known as Reformation day. Out of the Reformation came what are known as the 5 Solas. They were kinda like the slogan or rallying cry of the Reformation. Sola is simply Latin for “alone”. The 5 solas (in English) are grace alone, faith alone, Christ alone, glory of God alone, and Scripture alone. So, you might hear someone say something like, “We are saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone to the glory of God alone as taught in Scripture alone.

So, this passage teaches sola fide – faith alone. God gives us righteousness by faith alone – not faith and circumcision. Not faith and some other works. Through faith in Christ, God gives us righteousness. What righteousness? Christ’s righteousness. We’ve talked about this glorious doctrine of imputation before.

It can help to think of it like a ledger. On your side of the ledger, you have $0 in righteousness and you have a huge debt – an unpayable amount – huge debt of sin. On Christ’s side of the ledger, He has $0 in sin debt, but an infinite level of righteousness – enough to please the infinite God of creation. So, what happens – the doctrine of imputation – is that Christ switches ledgers with us. He takes our sin debt and pays it through his brutal death – having the wrath of God poured out on Him. And we get His righteousness such that we are pleasing to God and pure and holy and without stain.

That’s awesome, isn’t it? But I hope you do not hear that ledger analogy and think of this as some type of cold banking transaction. All of that happens because we are found in Christ. Look at how concerned Paul is with being united with Christ! That he may know Christ and the power of His resurrection. That he might share in Christ’s sufferings becoming like Christ in death. And ultimately being raised like Christ. Those are really great gains.

We also must notice that Paul is not resting on his laurels. Paul wasn’t content with coasting. He was pressing on, straining for the prize of the upward call. We’ve discussed this before as we walked through James. We are saved through faith alone, but our faith should never be alone – it must be accompanied by good works. Paul is not telling us to go into maintenance mode. Paul calls us to press on and strain and fight and push. To run the good race and fight the good fight.

This idea that we just sit back and don’t work out our salvation with fear and trembling is unbiblical. There is a false idea that we can achieve perfection in this life. That we can be completely sanctified and coast through life. Paul does not seem to think that is possible. In fact he adamantly claims not to have obtained perfection, so he presses on.

What is Paul’s reason for pressing on? For fighting and straining? Is it because he thinks he needs to work hard so that he can be saved? Absolutely not! He presses on to make it his own because Christ Jesus has made Paul his own. All of Paul’s labor and work has at its basis Christ’s work. Christ has made me His own, so therefore I will do whatever it takes to glorify Christ.

This attitude really only makes sense though if we understand how valuable Christ is. Christ who is of infinite and incomprehensible worth made me His own?! Compared to Christ, all else is trash. Paul is really just teaching and explaining and modeling what Jesus said in .

Luke 14:26–27 ESV

26 “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. 27 Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.

“If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.”

Press on for the prize. and don’t let anyone stop you or try to hinder you.

Conclusion

Brothers and sisters, are there things in your life that you are holding on to tightly? Things that you effectively value more than Christ? That’s the hard thing, isn’t it? If I were to go around and ask every Christian in here, “Do you value Christ above all else?” Everyone would say yes, and truly believe it to be true. Unfortunately, our hearts are sneaky and quickly forget what is truly valuable. We all – every one of us – have things that we cling to. They may be physical, or they may be ideas or emotions or concepts. Brothers and sisters, we must count all things loss compared to the riches of knowing Christ Jesus. We must topple the idols in our hearts. Sacrifice what we hold dear on the altar – in worship of Jesus.

Or maybe you are here, and you don’t have faith in Christ alone. You hear this talk of Christ as valuable and worthy and you scoff at the idea. You should know that if your sin ledger is not taken care of, you will have to pay back your debt. God will exact the payment due to your rebellion against Him. It will take eternity. It doesn’t have to be that way, but it will be if you will not repent of your sin and trust in Christ alone. Only His righteousness pleases the Father.

We are about to transition to a time of worship through response. We believe that any time a person hears the Word of God, they respond in one of two ways. Either in rebellion or in worship. Do not continue in rebellion. Do not continue valuing garbage higher than Christ. Worship Christ for He alone is worthy.

As we transition to worship through response, I will be on the front row worshipping with you. If you have questions, need to talk or pray with someone, I’d be delighted to do that. Just come up and talk to me. I will also stick around after service if anyone would like to talk then. The front is always opened if you’d like to pray up here as well. Let’s pray.