ALL FOR THE ONE
PHILIPPAINS 3:4-9
05/24/95
In dealing with people I have come to learn that we live our lives with respect to our priorities. The priorities in that we set dictate to us how we live, what we do, who we see and interact with. For some people work is their priority. Everything they do seems to center around their job. For some it is family, everything that is done is some how related to their family. For some their priority is themselves. Not thinking of others but only in what effects them, seeking pleasure for themselves at times at the expense of others. For some money is the priority. Doing anything for more money. People will work hours and hours, neglecting their families, their friends and whatever else in the persuade of more money. Some have made God their number one priority, and rightfully so, as when God is number one in your life, everything else kind of falls into place.
So if you look at your life you, along with everyone else can what exactly your priorities are simply by the way in which you live.
Today I want to look at the apostle Paul and what some his priorities were, before and after meeting the Lord Jesus Christ. We can see these priorities by noting three things from our passage for today. What Paul had, What Paul lost, and What Paul gained. So please turn with me today to Philippians chapter 3, verses 4-9, that would be page 1018 in your pew Bibles.
"Though I also might have confidence in the flesh. If anyone else thinks he may have confidence in the flesh, I more so: circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews; concerning the law, a Pharisee; concerning zeal, persecuting the church; concerning the righteousness which is in the law, blameless. But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. But indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith;"
Last week we noted how the mark of true Christian was the they put no confidence in the flesh but their confidence was strictly in Jesus Christ. Paul continues with that theme in verse 4 were he is saying look, if anyone has a right to have confidence in the flesh it’s me. If anyone has a right to brag about their self-rightouseness it’s me. Paul then proceeds to list the things which he could brag in if salvation came by good works. He make a list of those things which he had.
He first states that he was "circumcised on the eighth day". Here make a reference to the command given in Gen. 17:12, which stated that all Hebrew males must be circumcised on the eight day after they born. This was the seal of the covenant that God had made with Abraham. What Paul is saying is that he was not a Jewish convert, but a Jew from the day he was born. Those who converted to Judaism would certainly not be circumcised the eight day. But Paul was. He was raised in Jewish home. He was a pure Jew.
He also states he is "of the stock of Israel". He Paul notes that he is of the race of God’s chosen people.
Deuteronomy 7:6 "For you are a holy people to the LORD your God; the LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth."
Many of the Jews who lived in Palestine during Paul’s day were of mixed stock. Maybe a parent was to Jewish, or perhaps a grandparent was not Jewish. But not Paul. He was a direct descendant of Abraham. No gentile blood in his veins. He is stating here the his of the race of God’s chosen people. And not only of Israel but of the tribe of Benjamin. Looking at the tribe of Benjamin in we see that it produced the first king of Israel, who Paul was originally named after, Saul. It was also the foremost tribe in the army of Israel. So Paul was proud to be in this tribe.
And He goes on. Not only was he circumcised the eight day, not only is he of the stock of Israel and of the tribe of Benjamin, but he states he is "a Hebrew of the Hebrews". There was not mixing of the custom of the gentiles in Paul’s life. He lived by the ways of the Hebrew people, he stuck to their customs, he stuck to their language, he was strict Jew.
But Paul does not stop their. He has more to brag about. Not only am I all this he states, but I am a Pharisee to. This was to the Jew the ultimate in religious experience. If anybody was going to heaven it was the Pharisees. Pharisees in Paul’s day were regarded as being extremely righteous.
Sometime about 100 B.C. when Greek influences stated to make their way into Jewish customs there arose a group that fought against those influences, that group became was as known as the Pharisees. They were very strict in obeying the law of God, as they saw it.
Paul states that he was not just any Pharisee, but a Pharisee with zeal. One who would fight against any and all opposition. Paul persecuted the church because he saw it as an enemy to the Pharisees, to God himself. He was determined to crush this new sect.
He goes on to say that he "was blameless" as far as the law was concerned. He had attained the righteousness which he saw in the law. Know Paul is certainly not saying he was sinless. What he is saying that he lived up to his standard of righteousness, a standard he believed at the time was God’s standard.
So these are the things which Paul had. These are the thing which he had placed all his confidence, these are the things that he was counting on to get into heaven. And if salvation were based on good works and religious zeal Paul would have no problem getting in. He is telling that people of Philippi, those people who have come to you telling you need to this and that in order to be righteous before God, well they have nothing on me, just take a look at my record, look what I have done.
But then Paul tells them, while if anyone has reason to brag it’s me, all that I have gained prior to Christ is totally useless without Him. After Paul make a list of all that he has gained in his live, he then tell us what he had lost.
He first states "what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ." He is stated all those thing I just told you about I am willing to lose for Jesus, because without him, there nothing.
Paul states my church status is loss for Christ. Without Christ it does not matter that i was circumcised the eight day. My ancestry is loss for Christ. Without him it does not matter that I am of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, it does not matter that I am a Hebrew of Hebrews. Without Christ it is a loss that I am a Pharisee, without Christ it does not matter that I was not only a Pharisee but a very zealous Pharisee. Without Christ my ceremonial righteousness means absolutely nothing. All these things Paul had spent his live working for, striving to attain, he states are all lost for Christ. They just didn’t matter anymore.
Not only did Paul see those things listed as a loss for Christ, but he considered all things as a loss for Christ. All his life Paul was looking at outside things. He was faithful in obeying the outside requirements of the law, but in the light of Jesus Christ, he looked at what was inside, and realized that all things, without Jesus Christ, are loss. They are useless.
They are as Paul states not only useless but he counts them as "rubbish". The word rubbish in this passage can mean one of two things. It can either mean that which is "cast to the dogs". Remember that dogs in those day were not pets but roaming scavengers. Who lived off of garbage.
The word can also mean "manure". Both words denote something which is cast away. So all that Paul did in his own righteousness, needed to be cast away. To be gotten rid of, to be replaced by the Lord Jesus Christ.
To Paul all things, compared to Christ were rubbish. Because Paul knew that without Christ we really don’t have anything anyway. And without Christ we will lose all things in the end. Anything that got in the way of a personal relationship with Christ was to be cast away like garbage.
Know we have seen what Paul had, and what Paul lost, let us look at what Paul gained. In verse 9 Paul write that he had given up these thing that he "might gain Christ." What a thing to gain. The Lord of Lords, the King of Kings, the prince of peace. Paul realized that nothing he had which he lost, could compare with what which gained Jesus Christ.
What do you gain when you gain Christ? You gain a friend, Jesus stated in John 15:14 "You are My friends if you do whatever I command you."
You gain a advocate who stands before the Father on your behalf. You can a mediator, a Saviour, a redeemer, a high priest, and the list goes on and on. I urge you to study the first four books of the New Testament, and see for yourselves what you gain when you gain Jesus. Study the gospels and you will want to gain Jesus.
Most importantly when you gain Jesus you gain eternal life, and there is nothing that is more important then that. Eternal life in the presence of the Almighty God.
Paul makes note of gaining "the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus". He speaks of gaining an intimate relationship with Jesus Christ. A personal loving relationship with our Creator.
This knowledge of Jesus does not come from reading about him or hearing about him, the knowledge of Jesus comes from a relationship with him.
How many people here know Bill Clinton? We can say we know him in the sense that we know he is our president, we know what he looks like, we know his voice, we know how he acts. But I don’t think anyone here really knows him in the sense that they have personal relationship with him.
To know Jesus is not to know just what he taught, to know the he died on a cross, the excellence knowledge of Jesus Christ which Paul speaks of here is to have that personal relationship with Him.
And to know the Son is to know that Father, and to know the Father, to have a relationship with the Father is eternal life!
John 17:3 "And this is eternal life, that they may know You (the Father), the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent."
CHECK TIME
(ALSO GAINED RIGHTEOUSNESS THROUGH THIS FAITH. THROUGH THIS KNOWLEDGE OF JESUS. NOT THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF THE LAW BUT OF JESUS NOTE VERSE 9 "and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith;" THE ONLY RIGHTEOUSNESS THAT COUNTS)
(Isaiah 64:6 But we are all like an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags; we all fade as a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.)
So the thing which Paul gained were Jesus Christ, this came through knowledge of Jesus, through a personal relationship with Him. Know Paul makes this gain by giving up all things. By casting them away, by setting straight his priorities, which come by and through faith in Jesus Christ our Lord.
So as we have looked at what Paul had, at what Paul lost and what Paul gained how do we apply it to our own lives.
Let’s begin by asking, What do I have? What can I boast in?
1. Maybe born of Christian parents
2. Know Christian truths
3. Associated with Christian fellowship, church attendance
4. Zeal for Christian work, give to missionaries.
All this is nothing if we do not trust, love, and obey Jesus. It is nothing if we do not a have an excellent knowledge of Jesus, nothing if we have never gained Jesus.
Ask yourself what am I willing to lose? Are you willing as Paul was to lose everything to gain Christ? If you understood all He has to offer there would be no question. Are you willing to loss your very life to gain Jesus? Jesus tells us in John 12:25 "He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life."
We must be willing to lose all if we wish to gain Christ.
When we put our trust and faith in Him we gain so much more then when lose. To gain Christ is to gain all things because Jesus Christ is master of all things.
So I ask you today to put your priorities straight. Pray to God for the strength to give up all things for loss that you may gain Jesus Christ that you may gain eternal life.
If you have any questions concerning your salvation or your relationship with Jesus please see me.
I would just to like to close with some words for a Jim Elliot. Mr Elliot was a missionary in South America. He was killed by a group of natives to whom he was presenting the gospel, that same group would later accept Christ through that work of Mr. Elliots wife.
Mr. Elliot wisely stated, "He is no fool to give what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose."
SHALL WE PRAY
