Philippians 3:4-14
Surrendering Credentials to Christ
Any top-blockers here? Any type-A personalities? Any hard chargers who consistently rank in the top percentile? The military is basically an up-or-out system, so it attracts into career service those who are driven to succeed. Many of you are one or have been married to one.
Today we’re going to look at a type-A personality from the Bible, the Apostle Paul, and how his priority system got literally turned upside down when he met Jesus. He gives his bio in verses 5 and 6, beginning with his birth. He was circumcised on the proper day for Jewish male babies, the eighth day of life. Although he grew up outside the Holy Land, he emphasizes he is “of Israel,” a direct descendent of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Not only that, but he is part of the favored tribe of Benjamin. It was the tribes of Benjamin and Judah that stayed faithful to David’s heirs and formed the southern Kingdom during ancient Israel’s Civil War.
Paul calls himself a Hebrew of Hebrews, meaning he has Hebrew parents and has maintained the traditions of his faith. He says he was a Pharisee, a member of the Jewish religious elite who zealously applied scriptures to everyday life. The Pharisees were to the Jewish religious community like our Special Ops folks are to the military: the best funded, the best trained, looking down their noses at everybody else. (Maybe that’s unfair to our Special Operators.)
At the end of verse 6, Paul sums it up with a self-appraisal. He says, “As for righteousness based on the law,[I was] faultless.” The “law” referred to all of God’s commands in the Old Testament. Paul was a typical Pharisee who strove to keep the letter of the law but missed the spirit of the law entirely. He basically thought he could earn his way into God’s good graces.
So Paul has the pedigree. His chest is full of ribbons. He’s a stract, squared away, trooper. His performance lacks nothing. But actually, Paul says it lacks … everything! In verse 7 he says, “But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ.” Notice how he uses the past tense: “But whatever ‘were’ gains to me…” All those former gains are now losses. These two words, “gains” and “losses,” sound like accounting terms, don’t they? That’s because they are. Paul borrows from business jargon here, just in time for tax season. He has discovered that his lifetime of polishing the portfolio, of earning those merit badges, of seizing those below the zone promotions—all the things he thought were in the gains column—they are actually in the loss column, for the sake of Christ. Next to Jesus, Paul says, nothing else matters. It all counts for nothing.
Yet if you ask the average person off the street, “How do you get into heaven?”, do you know what most people will say? Try it here this week. Take your own survey. Most people will say something like, “Well, you just have to be good enough, I guess.” There are two problems with that: First, no one knows how good is good enough. And secondly, no one is good enough to go to a perfect place like heaven. Not even Mother Theresa could make it in. There is only one person who has walked this earth who is good enough to go to heaven, and that is the God-man Jesus himself, the One who never sinned. Nobody else can make it. It’s impossible, apart from God.
So Paul came to a place in his life where he realized that credentials no longer cut it. Next to knowing Christ, nothing else really matters. I know we have some general officers and admirals and sergeants major around here, and more colonels than you can shake a stick at. When I first arrived at Fort Sam Houston nearly six years ago, I was disappointed to find not a single colonel’s parking spot at the PX or Commissary. Why is that? Because there are far too many of them! So being “generally an officer,” I parked in that spot labeled “General Officer.” (Just kidding.)
As much as I respect rank, we won’t take it to heaven and it’s not the main thing now. Some here read the Bible more than others. Some may even understand some Greek or Hebrew. Some may go to church more than others. Those are good things, but they won’t get you to heaven and they alone won’t give you the abundant life you need right now. Paul says all his previous gains are now losses for the sake of Christ. He even calls them “garbage” or “rubbish.” That’s how much they’re worth compared to Christ.
And then, beginning in verse 8, Paul hones in on what is truly important. He talks of “knowing” Christ, and he chooses a word that means to know personally, by experience, such as how well you know your spouse or your best friend. Like Erma Bombeck once said, “Never be in a hurry to terminate a marriage. You may need this person to finish a sentence.”
Paul talks of knowing Christ, and he also uses other words to describe how Jesus is everything to him. He wants to “gain Christ.” Like John the Baptist, Paul basically says, “I must decrease, Jesus must increase.” And Paul wants to be “found in Christ.” All of his identity is wrapped around knowing and loving Christ and being known and loved by Christ.
In verse 10 Paul says he wants to “know Christ” specifically in two areas: the “power of his resurrection” and the “participation in his sufferings.” A friend once remarked, “Everybody wants the power of his resurrection, but not too many want to participate in his sufferings.” The beautiful truth, though, is that they go together. As you allow God to draw you closer even in your sufferings, you come to know the power of his resurrection in the midst of suffering, as God brings victory. Scripture says God can bring good out of any situation “for those who love him and are called according to his purposes” (Romans 8:28).
Paul says getting to know Christ is a life-long process. Beginning with verse 12 he says, “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.” The phrase, “press on,” refers to the runner sprinting with everything she has, giving it all, pressing toward that finish line. Remember, Paul was living in Greek society at the time of the ancient Olympic Games, so his readers could relate to an athletic analogy.
There’s a humility in this verse: “I’m not there yet, but I’m in process.” It’s like the old bumper sticker that read, “Christians aren’t perfect, just forgiven.” We’re all in process as we seek to follow God. And we “press on” to take hold of that life that Jesus has for us.
There’s also a holy tension here: Paul says, “I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.” I have a part, to press on, and Jesus has a part, to take hold of me. It reminds me of Philippians 2:12-13, which says, “Continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.” We have a part, to daily work out our salvation in obedience, and God has a part, to give us the very will to do so.
Listen to how Paul closes out the section with verses 13 and 14: “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.” In a car, you need to occasionally look out the rear-view mirror, but most of the time, if you don’t want to crash, you better keep your gaze forward, out that big windshield looking ahead. Occasionally looking back is helpful, but dwelling on the past gets us to trouble, whether it’s resting on past success or ruminating over past mistakes. We need to let go of both and keep running the race all the way to the finish line of heaven, following God’s call in Christ Jesus.
I’ll close with a true story. Rhea Miller wrote a poem in 1922. Ten years later someone taped a copy of it to the top of an organ owned by a family in New York. A 23-year-old musician named George saw the words lying there and set them to music. As he played, his mother came in with tears in her eyes and insisted he share the song in church the following Sunday. Just a few years later, George teamed up with a traveling evangelist and made this song, along with the hymn “How Great Thou Art,” his two mainstays. George would sing and play and the evangelist would preach. And many came to the Lord through this dynamic duo. You know them as George Beverly Shea and Billy Graham.
Do you know Christ? Is Jesus #1 in your life? Put him in the driver seat today and make it your aim to follow him every day of your life.
Let us sing now from the insert inside your bulletin today, the words to George’s song, “I’d Rather Have Jesus.”
“I'd Rather Have Jesus”
I'd rather have Jesus than silver or gold,
I'd rather have Him than have riches untold;
I'd rather have Jesus than houses or lands,
I'd rather be led by His nail-pierced hand
Than to be the king of a vast domain
And be held in sin's dread sway;
I'd rather have Jesus than anything
This world affords today.
I'd rather have Jesus than men's applause,
I'd rather be faithful to His dear cause;
I'd rather have Jesus than worldwide fame,
I'd rather be true to His holy name.
Than to be the king of a vast domain
And be held in sin's dread sway;
I'd rather have Jesus than anything
This world affords today.
