The Surpassing Value of Knowing Christ Jesus My Lord
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Sermon Tone Analysis
A
D
F
J
S
Emotion
A
C
T
Language
O
C
E
A
E
Social
Lot’s of valuable things in the world:
Lamborghini in Johnson Creek- $600,000
Area Houses- 3 million
Land on the beach in Naples- 10’s of millions
If there were ten thousand, thousand millions of worlds, and as many heavens full of men and angels, Christ would not be pinched to supply all our wants, and to fill us all. — Samuel Rutherford
The Apostle Paul said it this way:
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
Surpassing Value of knowing Christ! It is something that not even Master Card can buy.
If you know Christ you have the most valuable thing imaginable!
Do you know Christ? Paul discusses this in vv. 7-8
Pastor Jon Version:
(7) BUT everything that was gain to me, these things I have reckoned to be loss because of Christ.
How do you come to know Christ?
Salvation = Repentance + Faith
Repentance = the abandonment or repudiation of sin. It is a based on a feeling of godly sorrow for our sin- it is sorrow that is directed toward God!
BUT everything that was gain to me, these things I have reckoned to be loss.
Paul- “I finally realized that all my life I had been trying to earn favor with God through my own good works” (5 circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; 6 as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless).
BUT everything that was gain to me, these things I have reckoned to be loss.
1 Corinthians 6:9–11 (ESV)
9 Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, 10 nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And such were some of you.
My friend have you every said, along with the Apostle Paul, “Everything that was gain to me, these things I have reckoned to be loss.” I have no righteousness, I have offended a holy God, I am a sinner.
Has the fact that you have sinned against God caused sorrow and grief in your life?
Have you every abandoned or forsaken your sin? Doesn’t mean you never sin again. But, you say this about your sin- “I have reckoned it to be loss.” It is worthless. I don’t want it anymore!
Have you repented of your sin and your own righteousness?
Salvation = Repentance + Faith
Faith= the conscious decision to believe, trust, or depend on Christ alone. You turn away from your sin in repentance and you turn toward Christ in faith.
Pastor Jon Translation:
(8) BUT, more than that, I also keep on reckoning everything to be loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. Because of Him I have suffered the loss of all things, and I keep on reckoning them as filth so that I might gain Christ.
Have you believed? Have you put your trust in Christ, in His work on the cross, in his death, burial, and resurrection? Are you depending on Christ alone for the forgiveness of your sins?
This is the most important question you will ever ask of yourself?
If you have been saved, that is your have repented of your sins and have put your faith in Christ alone you have the most valuable thing in the universe.
Paul calls it this in v.8- “the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.”
What is the surpassing value that comes from knowing Christ?
What are the benefits of being a Christian?
I. An Alien Righteousness (v. 9)
I. An Alien Righteousness (v. 9)
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—
Found in Him-
Union with Christ, when we are united to Christ we share in the same position and privileges as Christ.
Not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law-
What does the average religious person think will cause God to accept them? If my good works outweigh by bad.
If you ask the average person this question, “Do you think you are a good person?” What will they say? Yes
What would Paul say?- just the opposite! I want to be found in Christ, so that I don’t have to depend on my own righteousness.
What kind of righteousness did Paul want? Not his own- Paul wanted an alien righteousness- a righteousness outside of himself. Whose righteousness did Paul want?
The righteousness from God!
How does someone receive this righteousness?
English Standard Version Chapter 3
that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith
How can someone have fellowship with a holy God?
Hab. 1:13- Purer eyes than to see evil and cannot look at wrong!
They must have an alien righteousness, the righteousness of God Himself- through faith in Christ!
Are you depending on your own righteousness? Or are you entrusting your soul to Christ? Is your faith in Christ and in His righteousness given to as a gift through salvation?
Do you know Christ? There is a surpassing value in knowing Christ!
An Alien Righteousness!
II. A New Inclination (v. 10a)
II. A New Inclination (v. 10a)
Philippians 3:10 (ESV)
10 that I may know him and the power of his resurrection,
That I may know him-
Aorist, active, infinitive- point in time, the moment of our salvation we came to know Christ in a unique way.
Here Paul says one of those unique and new ways of knowing Christ is that we came to know and to experience the power of the Christ’s resurrection at the moment of our salvation. And we have been different ever since!
“Power of His Resurrection” c.f. Rom. 6:4
4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.
At the moment of our salvation we were united to Christ and because of that spiritual union we share in the benefits of not just his death, but also his resurrection. How do we share in the benefits of the resurrection of Jesus right now? Paul says it is the power of the resurrection of Christ than enables us to walk in newness of life!
What does that mean?
5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.
6 We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.
End of v. 6 is key- being united to Christ in his death and in his resurrection means that believers are no longer enslaved to sin. The power of sin is broken in the life of a believer. It is broken by the power of God, the power of the gospel, the power of the resurrection!
7 For one who has died has been set free from sin.
8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.
9 We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him.
10 For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God.
11 So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
Consider / Reckon this to be true- if you know Christ your have a new inclination! The moment you trust Christ you participate in the power of His resurrection. That means something new has arrived! You become a new creation, you are born again- that means a whole reversal of the your natural tendencies.
A. A. Hodge of Princeton used to illustrate this by saying “if dice, thrown 1,000 times, always turn up sixes, you say the dice are loaded. So with babies. They come into the world as thick as those flakes of snow today: and they always come ‘sin up’ . . . the dice are loaded.”
You are born into this world with a corrupted sin nature that you inherited from Adam. Because of that sin nature your natural inclination is to sin. In fact the bible teaches that you are enslaved to sin- you are under its power. You do it all the time and you are good at it. But, when you come to know Christ through salvation and you are united to Christ you share in the power of his resurrection. You are given a new inclination towards sin. Its power is broken in your life and now you can walk in newness of life because you are dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
The surpassing value of knowing Christ!
An Alien Righteousness
A New Inclination
III. A Christlike Conformity (v. 10b)
III. A Christlike Conformity (v. 10b)
10 that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death,
What is it that every believer strives for? We all want (at least we all say we want) to be like Jesus.
Paul says this is part of the surpassing value of knowing Christ- That I may know him … becoming like him in his death.
How we become like Christ or how we conform to Christ is very interesting. Look at what Paul says.
If you want to become like Christ in his death you must first share his sufferings.
Share- κοινωνίαν or fellowship!
Paul says I want to know Christ! I want to know the power of his resurrection and I want to know the fellowship of his sufferings.
The idea of fellowship is that which we have in common, that which unites us, or the idea of partnership or participation.
So if we have something in common with Christ- this fellowship will then result in being made like Christ! What must we have in common with Christ? What must we participate together with Christ for this to happen?
We must fellowship / share / partner with Christ in his sufferings!
What sufferings are we talking about?
5 because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now.
29 For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake,
Fellowship in his sufferings = partnership with Christ and with each other for the sake of Christ and the gospel!
If you really want to know Christ- the kind of knowing that causes you to become like Him, then you must actively be engaged in the work of the gospel. This kind of living will result in suffering (all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted).
This kind of fellowship will produce an intimate personal knowledge of Christ- so much so- that you will be conformed into the very likeness of Jesus. Not just in your character, but in the way you spend your life. You will be conformed to His death!
10 that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death,
Becoming like Him in his death?
Paul may be referring to his martyrdom. (Participating in the sufferings of Jesus is a whole life-long activity and martyrdom is something that happens at the end of life).
May be a reference to the inward experience of dying to sin by being united with Christ in his death (Rom. 6.6). But this is something that happens the moment you trust Christ at the beginning of someones new birth, not something that happens throughout one’s life as they share in Christ’s sufferings.
May be a reference to Paul’s obedience in his faithful proclamation of the gospel.
8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
What lead to Christ’s death was His humility by becoming obedient to the will of the Father. So too, the believer who more and more shares in the suffering of Christ through the work of the gospel will be made more and more like Christ, who was obedient unto death.
The Letter to the Philippians B. Losing All to Know Christ (3:7–11)
These three interpretations do not need to be set against each other as separate alternatives. Paul’s experience of being conformed to Christ’s death may well include his sense of facing his own execution, his awareness that he was baptized into the death of Christ to be freed from sin, and his appreciation that his sufferings for the gospel are shaping his obedience so that he will reflect Christ, who was obedient unto death.
Hansen G. Walter
John G. Paton- Alone in a Tree Story.
Do you desire to know Christ this way? By sharing in his sufferings through the gospel so that you might be shaped into the likeness of Christ.
The surpassing value of knowing Christ!
An Alien Righteousness
A New Inclination
A Christlike Conformity
IV. A Future Resurrection (v. 11)
IV. A Future Resurrection (v. 11)
11 that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.
That by any means possible?
If, somehow, I might attain to the resurrection from the dead…
There is an element of uncertainty in Paul’s statement? Why?
It is not that Paul doubts the reality of the future resurrection, but that he wants to be clear that he has in no way earned the future resurrection. While it is true that he was being transformed in the very image of Christ practically speaking, that did not mean he had merited eternal life. He wants to make that quite clear- he was not dependent on his own righteousness, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith.
So Paul says, if, somehow, I might attain to the resurrection from the dead. It seems impossible that a sinner such as I might attain a risen, immortal, glorious body, and if it were dependent upon my own righteousness it would be impossible. But, because it is all a grace of God, because salvation is a free gift made possible only through the Lord Jesus Christ, one day, as much as it boggles the mind, I will attain the resurrection from the dead.
What will that look like?
20 But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21 who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.
This is what Paul longed for above everything else!- the day that was to come, the glorious day of the resurrection.
Those who are in Christ are guaranteed this future glory! To the extent to which we realize this, we can know, just like the Apostle Paul knew, what it is to long for this glorious day! To be able to say that in light of this everything else is unimportant, it is refuse! The world and its kingdoms and all earthly glories, what are they when I think of the glory that is awaiting me in Christ? This transforms the ambition of every child of God- what we long for above everything else is:
11 that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.
What a wonder to enter into that glory!
My friend do you know Christ?
To know Christ is of surpassing value! It is the most valuable thing imaginable!
What is the surpassing value that comes from knowing Christ?
An Alien Righteousness
A New Inclination
A Christlike Conformity
A Future Resurrection
If you do not know Christ, I invite you to believe in Him and to receive Him today! Right now, you can in your heart repent of your sin and turn to Christ through faith. Believe that He died for your sins on the cross, that he was buried, and that he rose again from the dead. Believe that He alone has the power to forgive your sins, and to grant you eternal life. Ask Jesus to save you and He will give you the power to become children of God.
If you are a Christian you posses something that is of surpassing value! You know Christ! Constantly seek to grow in that knowledge! Dwell richly on the great truths of your salvation. Reckon the power of God in salvation to be yours. Walk in newness of life. Spend your life for the gospel- share in the sufferings of Jesus through the work of the gospel- grow in your conformity to Christ. Above all else long for the glorious day when your lowly body will be transformed to be like His glorious body!