Philippians 3:8; Surpassing Worth of Knowing Christ ~ 20240421 ~ Pastor Rodney Zedicher ~ Ephraim Church of the Bible ~ www.ephraimbible.org
04/21 Philippians 3:8; The Surpassing Worth of Knowing Christ Audio available at: http://www.ephraimbible.org/Sermons/20240421_philippians-3_8.mp3
[Phil.3:1] Paul is warning the church of Judaizers who push Torah observance on Gentile believers in Jesus. He reminds us to rejoice in the Lord, because when we are actively rejoicing in Jesus and the good news he secured for us on the cross, our joy in Jesus helps keep us safe from false teaching that would lead us astray - astray from the simplicity and clarity of the gospel. The gospel is simple; whoever comes to Jesus, whoever believes in Jesus has eternal life.
[Phil.3:2-3] Paul paints the law-righteousness group as indiscriminate dogs, evil workers, mere cutters of the flesh. He says we believers in Jesus, Jew and Gentile together, we are the true circumcision, the circumcision of the heart by the Spirit. We worship the Father by the Spirit, we glory in Christ Jesus, we put no confidence in our own fleshly abilities or accomplishments.
[Phil.3:4-6] Paul cuts off any who might think that Paul loves grace so much because he just didn’t measure up, because he couldn’t handle the rigors of following the law, so he opted for an easier route. He says ‘if anyone has confidence in the flesh, I more.’ And he lists his resume; impeccable on every count. As to lineage, flawless. As to observance of the righteous standards of the law, faultless. He had a better lineage, a better performance record than any those who were promoting their false gospels. If anyone had anything to boast about, he had more. If anyone could have been justified before God by keeping the law, it would have been Paul.
A New Way of Counting
[Phil.3:3, 7] But Paul had learned a new way of accounting. What did he do with all his accomplishments? What did he do with his resume of religious righeousness under the law? He met the risen Jesus, the one he had been persecuting, and Jesus taught him to count differently. Although he had reason to trust in himself, he learned he must put his confidence only in Jesus. He had reason to glory in his flesh, but he must glory in, boast only in Jesus. His religious service had been performed in his own strength as a means to please God, but he experienced the Holy Spirit of God now creating genuine worship and service from his transformed heart.
He says ‘because of Jesus, whatever was gain to me, this I have reckoned loss’. He has come to consider it loss, because every gain he listed on his resume only kept him from acknowledging his need for Jesus and coming to Jesus for salvation.
Indeed
He expands this in verse 8. The English word ‘Indeed’ represents a stack of five Greek connecting words; we could translate it ‘but in fact then indeed even’ [ἀλλὰ μενοῦνγε καὶ]. Paul likes to stack up words to emphasize his point. Paul tells us that not only did he finally come to count his ‘gains’ as losses on account of Christ; he continues to count everything that way. When he met the risen Lord on the road to Damascus, that encounter forever changed the way he viewed everything. It not only affected the way he viewed his past accomplishments, he continued to count everything that would be of advantage to his own righteousness a total loss.
We would emphatically agree that we are saved by grace alone through faith alone in Jesus Christ alone, but we often feel that now that we are saved, we have a lot of work to do. No, Paul says this is an ongoing counting. I am not justified by faith and then seek to please God by my sanctified performance. As he said to the Galatians;
Galatians 3:3 Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?
The Danger of Good Deeds
Even after his conversion, Paul continued to count any good works he did as a dangerous source of pride in the face of the grace of God in Christ Jesus.
Remember, what he is talking about are his good deeds. He doesn’t say he changed his mind and they were now considered bad deeds. It is not bad to be born an Israelite. It is not bad to be circumcised. It is not bad to pay careful attention to God’s word, to have passionate zeal for God, to pursue righteous obedience to God.
But even good things, if viewed as a means of gaining favor with God, become poisonous to our relationship with Jesus.
Our lists might be different from Paul’s, but we do the same kind of thing, don’t we? ‘I don’t drink, don’t smoke, don’t chew, don’t go with girls who do; I don’t look at things I shouldn’t, I live a moral life, don’t litter, always obey the speed limit, attend church every Sunday and at least one midweek Bible study, I volunteer to clean and serve and take a moment to pray for everything posted on the prayer chain. I take a meal to people who need it, and talk about Jesus every time I get the chance. I get up early every morning and spend time reading my Bible and praying. All good things. But when the good things I do are viewed as my good works that make God look on me favorably, I am counting incorrectly. I need to look at all the good things I do as loss, as dangerous sources of pride that could cause me to turn away from Jesus and put confidence in my flesh.
Does this mean I should stop doing these things? No, not necessarily. It means I need to constantly be on guard against my inner accountant, who wants to tally up all the good things I do and hold them up and say ‘this is why I should be having a good day. This is why God should answer my prayers. Look at all the good things I’m doing for God. He should be more inclined toward me, because of all the things I am doing for him.’ That is not gospel thinking. That is not gospel accounting. Paul says he continually takes all the good things he does for God and puts a big warning label on them; ‘Danger! Put no confidence in these things. Do not boast in these things. Count all these things as loss not gain.’
The One Thing of Surpassing Worth
What could make Paul talk like this? He was willing to count all the good things he had going for him as loss, because he found something of surpassing worth. Jesus talked about finding ‘treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field’ (Mt.13:44). He sold everything he had. How? Not grudgingly. In his joy. Why joy? Because what he found was worth more than everything he had. He was willing to give up all to get the one thing. Jesus said:
Matthew 13:45“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, 46 who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it.
Jesus said to the man who claimed to have kept the commandments from his youth;
Mark 10:21 And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.”
There’s one thing. One thing of surpassing worth. But Jesus told this guy to do several things. He told him to sell everything he had. He told him to give to the poor. What’s the one thing? He told him to get rid of some of the things that were in the way of the one thing, to count them as loss compared to the one thing. Getting rid of the things in the way, counting them as loss is not the one thing. They were in the way of getting the one thing. What’s the one thing? Get rid of whatever’s in the way of coming to Jesus, following Jesus. Jesus is the one thing of surpassing worth.
Paul says:
Philippians 3:7 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. ...
The one thing of surpassing worth, the one thing against which all other things, even good things, are counted as loss is knowing Christ.
Knowing vs. Knowing About
Knowing Christ is more than merely knowing about Christ. Who is your favorite actor, musician or athlete? What do you know about them? You might be able to list their stats, their accomplishments, even things about their personal lives. You might be able to quote lines they have said, or even imitate some of their mannerisms. You might know a lot about them. But do you know them?
Knowing a person includes at least three kinds of knowledge; Real, relational, and reciprocal knowledge.
Real
When we talk about knowing and believing in Jesus, we need to be clear about what we mean. It is important to believe true things about Jesus, and to believe in the right Jesus. It is imporant to believe that Jesus is the uncreated creator of all that exists, equal to and in relationship with his Father. It is essential that we believe in Jesus as he defines himself to be in the Bible, and as his apostles authoritatively proclaimed him to be, not in a Jesus as any of the religions of the world paint him to be. We need to pursue real knowledge of the real historical Jesus. That is important, knowing and believing the right Jesus and the right things about Jesus. But that is not enough. James says ‘even the demons believe – and shudder! (Jas.2:19). Demons recogninzed Jesus of Nazareth as ‘the Holy One of God (Mk.1:24). They knew true things about him, they knew who he was. And they hated him.
Relational
Knowing Jesus must go beyond knowing about him. It must be relational. Knowing a person is different from knowing a vehicle or a tool. You can be familiar with a tool, know it inside and out, know what it is made of and how it works, and know how to make it work for you. But that is not a relationship. A boss might even have a similar kind of understanding of an employee; they know how you respond to different circumstances, and they know how to interact with you to get you to do what they need you to do. But that is not the kind of knowlege we are talking about. We are talking about knowing a person, and that indicates relationship. In John 6, Peter says exactly the same thing that the demons said about Jesus in Mark 1, but in a very different context. The demons knew who Jesus was and were terrified of him.
In John 6, Jesus had taught some difficult things about himself; that he is the bread come down from heaven to give his flesh to give life to all who feed on him. He said:
John 6:63 It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.
John 6:66 After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him. 67 So Jesus said to the Twelve, “Do you want to go away as well?” 68 Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, 69 and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.”
Do you see the difference? The demons knew Jesus to be the Holy One of God, and they were terrified and sought to avoid Jesus. Peter had come to believe that Jesus was the Holy One of God, the exclusive source of eternal life, and this mean that he would stick with him, walk with him, learn from him, follow him. They would not turn away just because he said some difficult things. They were committed to him, to be with him, to listen to him, to follow him. They trusted Jesus and entrusted themselves into his care. That is what we mean when we say ‘believe in Jesus’; trust him, love him, entrust yourself to him.
Paul counts all as loss compared to the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. Jesus is Lord, YHWH God come in the flesh, to be obeyed, to be followed, to be surrendered to and submitted to. He is the Lord. But Paul says he is my Lord. It is personal.
Reciprocal
Jesus said:
John 10:14 I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me,
John 10:27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.
This knowledge is not only relational, it is reciprocal. It involves both knowing and being known. You might know a lot about your favorite athlete, actor, or musician, but if they don’t know you, you don’t have a relationship. Jesus made this the essential thing. He said:
Matthew 7:22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’
It doesn’t matter all the good things you do in Jesus’ name; it matters that you know him, that you follow him, that he knows you. In fact, if you are doing good things, but you don’t have a relationship with him, he actually declares you ‘workers of lawlessness’. He doesn’t consider the good things you do for him in your own strength as good at all. This is why Paul counts even the good things he does as loss compared to the one thing of surpassing worth; knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.
Do you know him? Are you willing to take all the good things that are to your credit and count them all together as loss, as a liability, as a dangerous source of pride and self-confidence, are you willing to put no confidence in your flesh, and put all your confidence in Jesus, in the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus your Lord? Is he the one treasure you will gladly give up all else in order to gain him?
***
2024.04.21 Sermon Notes
Philippians 3:8; The Surpassing Worth of Knowing Christ
Counted as loss and continue to count as loss
Philippians 3:7, 8; Galatians 3:3
The danger of good deeds
-my every gain is a liability because it is a dangerous source of pride and self-confidence that prevents me from seeing my need and receiving God’s grace
The one thing of surpassing worth
Matthew 13:44-46; Mark 10:21
Knowing vs. Knowing about:
Real; believe true things about the real Jesus
James 2:19; Mark 1:24
Relational; trust, love, entrust yourself to him
John 6:66-69
Reciprocal; both knowing and being known
John 10:14, 27-28; Matthew 7:22-23
Do you know him?
***
Pastor Rodney Zedicher ~ Ephraim Church of the Bible ~ www.ephraimbible.org