Count All Rubbish to Gain Christ

Transcript

GRM 512
1/05/1997
Count All Rubbish to Gain Christ
Philippians 3:115
Gil Rugh

I want to direct our attention together today to the book of Philippians chapter 3. The third chapter of Philippians. As we begin a new year together, I thought it would be good for us to be reminded of the focal point of our lives personally and of our ministry as a church. In Philippians chapter 3 Paul helps set that focus for us as the people of God.

I was reading an article in Christianity today this week relating to the fact that there is a movement of many who claim to be evangelical Christians towards joining the Greek Orthodox church. This is a movement that's been going on for some time,10 or 12 years I guess. In fact, one person who's written on the subject noted that in the late 80s in one of those years he could document a couple of thousand people who had indicated they were evangelical Christians who had joined the Greek Orthodox church. We see also some moving toward Roman Catholicism and similar kinds of groups. Now we think, well, you know, is there anything wrong with that? Well, when you consider for example the Greek Orthodox church their foundational doctrine of salvation is both the new birth and sanctification occur with the baptism of an infant. That tradition is on the same level of authority as the Word of God, that the church is the only valid interpreter of the Word of God. To be a member of the Greek Orthodox church, you must accept the interpretations of that church. That the icons of the church are just as much a vehicle of revelation as is the written Word of God.

Some of those things we wonder why a Christian would. I realize some who profess to be believers who move in these directions are not truly believers. Others are looking for something physical and tangible to hold on. There's something indefinite, it seems, that doesn't have as much to grasp on to in a worship service that is not built around liturgy, certain physical emblems rather than the worship of God in Spirit and truth, the proclamation of His truth in song and the study of His truth together. People want to have something more tangible to anchor their lives to. We all drift toward that kind of identification.

In our homes we travel and go and visit many nice places. We come back to our homes that may not be near as nice as some of the places we visited, but this is home. It feels so good to be back in our own setting. Even we who pride ourselves in not having a formal liturgy as often thought as and not being traditional if you come in next we and we've changed the color scheme, some people will say, it just doesn't feel like church to me anymore. Or we say, oh, we are not going to meet at 10 o'clock Sunday mornings. We'll meet at 1 o'clock in the afternoon. Not me I can't worship the Lord then. We get identified in our thinking with the physical things. Especially as the Word of God gets moved more and more to the fringe of the church, there is a desire to replace that Word with physical things.


I was given a pamphlet that fits this theme very well. We live in a day of ecumenicity. The driving theme is we must get together. What we need is unity. In this pamphlet 1997 "A Chance to Live a Christian Unity." "Now more than at any other time Christians need unity. After some 25 years of careful study and searching for divine wisdom, many church leaders think that this is the time for unity. Historymaking events will soon be possible through ecumenical proposals, developed jointly by the evangelical Lutheran church in America and five other denominations." And they plan this year to approve these proposals. "Full communion with the Episcopal church, full communion with three reformed churches: Presbyterian Church USA, Reformed Church in America, United Church of Christ." Now listen to this. This is from the Evangelical Lutheran church in America. Lutheran from Luther. "Lifting of the sixteenth century condemnations on justification between Lutheran churches and the Roman Catholic church." And you see what they say about that. "Lifting condemnations an important step toward healing. Removing condemnations on justification means that Lutherans and Roman Catholics would no longer reject each other's teachings about justification and could move to a new plateau. Interacting in a new context would allow the resolving of other doctrinal differences and provide a more solid base for collectively addressing timely social and ethical issues."

You know what they are basically saying? We're canceling the Reformation. We are dissolving our differences on justification that brought about the Reformation. Luther's stand that justification is by faith in Jesus Christ alone. Well now we will no longer have to reject each other's teaching. And everybody is moving to get together.

I was reading an article on Promise Keepers who now have a staff of 437. That's a large staff in a new organization. And their move this year is taking a stronger emphasis on racial reconciliation and unity among denominations. Now they listed some of the denominations that will be joining. We have some serious doctrinal differences to grapple with but these all get washed aside.

It's important for us to be reminded of where we are and what we are about as individuals and as a Church, God's Bible. Chapter 3 of Philippians Paul turns attention to the subject of salvation and sanctification. You note chapter 3 begins, "Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things again is no trouble for me, and it is a safeguard for you." Rejoice, brethren, and I want to tell you some things I've already told you. But I don't mind repeating myself and the repetition will be good for you. Sounds like our study of Peter, doesn't it? I'm reminding you. And what is plaguing the Church is not that they haven't learned new truth. What is plaguing the Church is that they are loosening their grip on the truth that they have held.

So Paul tells them in verse 2 beware, beware, beware three times. A word that tells them to be on guard, to watch out. Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of false circumcision or literally the mutilation. Strong words. He's talking about religious leaders and teachersJudaizers, Jews who claimed to have come to faith in Christ but were advocating that faith in Christ wasn't enough, wasn't all there is. You must believe in Christ plus be circumcised. You must believe in Christ plus keep at least portions of the Mosaic law for salvation. If not for your salvation, for sure for your sanctification. Paul cuts no slack for this kind of mixture. You can see it in his terminology, dogs, evil workers, false circumcision or, as I said, literally the word for mutilation. He puts that circumcision under that guise under the realm of the pagan activities of the cutting of the body which was repulsive to God.

Then he reminds them, "We are the true circumcision, who worship in the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh." Now Paul is writing as a Jew. We are the true circumcision. Writing as a Jew, addressing the issue, was always a narrower group than the physical descendants of Abraham. But those who had a true faith relationship with God were the people in whom His promises were being fulfilled within Israel.

You note here in verse 3, "We worship God in the Spirit of God and in the Christ Jesus." Remember what Jesus said in John chapter 4 verse 24, "Those who worship God must worship Him in spirit and truth." Here Paul says we worship in the realm of the Spirit and we glory in Christ Jesus.

No confidence in the flesh. Always an indication of the decline of the church when it moves toward an emphasis on the physical external things. It's nice we have a very nice building to worship in. But you understand this building is not sacred. We use it for a sacred purpose, the worshipping of God, but it is a collection of physical materials just like the shopping center down the road is. And we need to be careful. When we begin to find our focus centering on physical things, it's an indication that our spiritual life is declining. Paul says we put no confidence in the flesh and what the flesh does and what the flesh can provide. We are talking about a spiritual relationship with God and with His Son Jesus Christ.

Now some people say, "Oh, sour grapes." Now it always happens when I mention, as I did today, other groups. People will come up to me and say, have you ever attended one of their services? Well I have to ask why the question. Is truth relative? If I attend one of their services and like it, will that mean that babies who are baptized are reborn and all sins past, present and future forgiven for them? Will the truth of God change? But Paul does address the issue thus the Judaizers say, "Well, of course Paul is saying this." You know, he wasn't a good Jew.

Well, Paul is going to put that argument to sleep and so in verses 4,5 and 6 he says, "Although I myself might have confidence in the flesh. If anyone else has a mind to put confidence in the flesh, I far more." You want to talk about the flesh? Let's brag. I'm a better Jew than you ever were. Now that's not boasting in the wrong sense because he's going to smash it all to pieces when he's down. But let me tell you what kind of Jew I was.


"Circumcised the eighth day." From the very beginning I was a Jew in covenant relationship with God as a Jew. The sign of the covenant being circumcision. "I was of the nation Israel." I belonged to the family of the patriots, Jacob being the first one to bear the name Israel. "I was of the tribe of Benjamin." And remember Benjamin provided Israel with the first king Saul and Benjamin along with Judah remained faithful after the ten Northern tribes had apostatized. I am of the tribe of Benjamin. I have good blood lines even within Israel. "I'm a Hebrew of the Hebrews." Expression often used of a Jew who had maintained his knowledge of Hebrew. Understand by this time most Jews could no longer speak the Hebrew language. They used the Septuagint, the Greek language of the Old Testament, for their Scriptures. Paul says I wasn't dependent on that. I was a Hebrew of the Hebrews. "As to the Law, a Pharisee." I mean, there was a conservative group and a liberal group in Israel. The Sadducees were the liberals. The Pharisees were the conservatives. They held on to the Law and they elaborated all kinds of laws and additions to the Mosaic law to be sure that no one even possibly err. So I was a Pharisee in relationship to the Law. I was one who was committed to keep the Law more meticulously than most Jews. "As to the zeal of a Jew I was a persecutor of the church. As to the righteousness which is in the Law, found blameless."

Now Paul is the one who has written in other places that no one is justified by the keeping of the Law. So he doesn't mean he was righteous before God by keeping the Law. He's going to argue against that in a moment. What he is telling these Jews and Judaizers, as a Jew you couldn't find any fault with me. I was as good a Jew as you could be. If you could have been saved by keeping the Law, I did it as well as anyone could do it. So it's just driving home the point to these false teachers and Judaizers you have nothing on me as a Jew and keeping the Law, but you realize to have God's salvation it all has to go.

So look at verse 7, "But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ." So these things would have all been gain. Humanly speaking when in Judaism they put him to the fore. They gave him prominence, influence, respectability, probably some wealth. "But whatever things were gain to me, those I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ." It all had to go that I might enter into a relationship with Christ.

I think he's saying here, and you'll see it as we come through this passage, for Paul there is no compromise on these basic issues. The attitude that's pervading the church today is totally contrary to the Word of God. We want to tell people, oh, you got saved. You want to trust Christ? Wonderful. And you want to stay in your Roman Catholic church? Fine. You want to stay in your liberal Protestant church? That's not an issue. Let me tell you with Paul it is an issue. For him it's not a matter. You want to trust Christ and stay in Judaism and keep the Law? Fine. He says no. It all has to go. It all has to go.


Note this. Verse 8, "More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ." Not only the things I've talked about but everything has to go on the rubbish heap. They're worthless. They're a loss. He counts it as a loss because it stood in his way of knowing Christ. Understand that. All these things respected in Israel held in honor and esteem in Judaism were barriers to the true salvation that God provided in Christ. And for him to come to know Christ, to gain Christ, as he will say, he had to come to recognize that all these things are worthless and have to be discarded and set aside. I think it is absolutely crucial for us to be clear and understand. For an individual today to receive God's salvation they have to have come to the point in their understanding of the Gospel that they recognize that their best works, their best activities, their religious conduct is all lost. They must be willing to let it all go. Discard it all and cast themselves upon Christ and Him alone. And much of what passes and is accepted as salvation today is nothing but changing of thinking, adjusting of ideas but it's not biblical salvation.

You know, I'm not advocating we go back to the Puritan ways, but they approach salvation a little differently. They believe you had to come under the convicting power of the Holy Spirit before you could be saved. They often found it a pattern to encourage people to wait to respond to Christ because they did not seem to be under enough conviction. I believe they may have gone too much the wrong direction, the other direction but for sure we have fallen off the other side. Well we don't want people to worry about their sin. Don't worry about church. Just believe in Christ. What do you mean? How can you believe in Him with understanding if you really aren't gripped with an understanding of how wretchedly sinful you are? How can you really believe in Christ if you do not come to understand that your church and your religious activities and all of that is nothing and worse than nothing. That He is everything. If you are not ready to count that as loss . . . We want to barter with people. Well, sure you can stay in Roman Catholicism if you become a Christian. Sure. Good. You can stay in Judaism if you become a Christian. Sure. Fine. Don't find that here. Paul says those who are teaching this kind of stuff and trying to mix it, they are the dogs. They are the evil workers. They're the mutilation. Let me tell you, I was one in that up to my ears and I came to count it as all loss.

And one thing . . . A grammatical point here. "Whatever things [plural]," in verse 7, "were gain . . . these things I have counted as loss [single, not plural]." In other words, take all these individual things, they are one big loss. That's the category they are now consigned to.

"More than that I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ." There is passion in this conviction. We are not going to go back to the Gospels but we have studied the discipleship passages of Christ in the Gospels where Christ warns people to count the cost and if you don't hate your father and mother, you cannot be my disciples. If you don't even hate your own life, you cannot be my disciples. It's a kind of truth that Paul is conveying here.

"I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord." This is my committed possession. Jesus Christ alone is the focus of my life. Nothing compares to knowing Him. You see until I've come to that, I'm not really ready to trust God with saving faith. I cannot trust God with saving faith and hold on to this over here. That's the flaw of the Judaizers. They wanted to say yes, you have to believe in Christ. Yes, we believe Christ is the Messiah. Yes, you have to be circumcised. Yes, you have to accept the Mosaic law. But wait a minute. Paul says the dogs teach that, the evil workers, the mutilation. That's not the salvation God is offering.

I stress this because the church today that claims to be evangelical is losing its grip and losing its perspective on what is salvation. And part of its come when we accept, well, it doesn't matter what church you belong to. That's true but certain churches teach things that are opposed to the salvation that is taught in the Scripture. And no you cannot hold on to that if you are going to trust in God for the salvation that only He can provide.

"I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord." Let me say something to us here. Some of us may be thinking we have salvation in Christ also but we don't really count everything as loss. He's just one of the things we've added to our lives. And we try to have Him there with as little convenience as possible. Then I need to backup and say, do I have the salvation that Paul is talking about here which is the only salvation which is from God? Do I understand that everything is loss in comparison to Jesus Christ and the value of knowing Him? Which means I am willing to suffer the loss of all things. Now we have people who abandon their faith in Christ because their friends ridicule them, because family members bring pressure to bear on them.

Notice what Paul says, "Not only do I count these things as loss, but I have suffered the loss of all things." "For whom I have suffered the loss of all things." So the apostle Paul not only declared that he counted these things as loss but he proved it in his life because he let them all go. His position, his respectability, his wealthall gone. I've suffered the loss of all things and if I had it to do over again, I wouldn't be so fanatical about my faith. You don't have to be 200 percent committed like I was. I want you Philippians to understand there is a balance in your life. That's not where Paul is.

I've suffered the loss of all things and you want to know what? I count them but rubbish, but rubbish. I'm going to use discernment. This is a word that denotes rubbish of all kinds, human refuse, garbage. That's the word. He wants you to get the point. He doesn't say I count all these things of less value than I did at one time. I want you to know something. I count them as garbage. Compared to Christ they have no value to me and that's why Paul could let them go. That was reality to Him. For us we would sometimes say we count them as garbage but the way and the tenacity we hold on to them indicates that's not quite so. You know, twice a week we put out our garbage. There's only two of us in our house. I guess we generate a lot of garbage. We have twice a week pick up. But you know you never see me at the door with tears in my eyes when the garbage man's dumping it. Oh, Marilyn, look. The garbage man is taking the garbage. I say, wow I'm glad that smelly, stinky stuff is gone. Good riddance, that's what Paul says. Now, humanly speaking he had a lot to lose. And he lost it all and there's no looking back.

"I count it rubbish so that I may gain Christ." Keep that expression in mind"that I count it rubbish"because a similar idea different wording is going to come up later. I may forget to bring you back. "I may gain Christ." The word "to gain Christ" connects with the next statement "be found in Him." He's talking about his salvation. That he will acquire and have Christ for himself. "Be found in Christ" is the explanation. I may gain Christ and may be found in Him. He's talking about salvation. Resolving that issue first which we as a church must be clear of. Which we as individuals must be clear about. How do you gain Christ, how are you found in Him, or as he'll develop it, how do you have God's righteousness? It's in the context you realize that Jesus Christ is of surpassing value and in that light everything else is garbage. So if I lose it, it's lost. It was nothing anyway to me. I have Christ.


"That I may gain Christ and be found in Him,” to be found in Him. What does it mean to gain Christ? It means to be found in Him. What does it mean to be found in Christ? It means I have His righteousness, not my righteousness. So he explains it. "Not having a righteousness of my own derived from the law." There's an emphasis on my own here. The righteousness is a result of my works, what I do. "But that which is through faith in Christ." So you see the contrast. Righteousness earned and righteousness given. Righteousness that I could acquire by doing my best and the righteousness which God gives to those who believe in His Son. It's the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith. That's the contrast that flows through here. You see the context. It's in the context of a person who comes to understand that Jesus Christ alone is everything and nothing compares to the value of knowing Him and having the righteousness that is found in Him. Not family, not friends, not possessions, not health, not life itself. Remember Jesus is the One who said, "If you love your life, you'll lose it. You lose it for My sake you find it." Somehow the church has been infiltrated with the kind of thinking that God is desperately bargaining for people who will follow Him. But I assure you nothing has changed. Our God is the same. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday today and forever. And salvation has always been on God's terms. It always has meant that you must leave go of everything and turn to Him as everything. The righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith. That's what I need. I need His righteousness to be acceptable before Him.

Remember Isaiah chapter 64 verse 6, "All our righteousness deeds are like polluted rages." All our righteousnesses are as filthy rags, polluted rags before God. We must see it that way or I am not ready for salvation. We must not rush to try to get people to make a decision. We must rush to present them with the Gospel and exhort them and beseech them to be reconciled to God. But I must be clear I cannot alter the terms that God offers His salvation upon which are you are sinner wretched and defiled and going to hell and all your best righteous deeds are polluted before God. You have to understand you have nothing; He has everything. You must be willing to let go of everything and take hold of Him by faith and you receive His righteousness.

"That I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death." I take we are taking about a salvation experience here. By he's using this salvation experience he's going to bring about a transition where he's going to talk about not only our salvation but our sanctification, growing to maturity in that salvation. Because what he wants us to understand is not only is our salvation not dependent upon the Law or our works neither is our sanctification or growing to maturity dependent upon keeping of the Law or our works. It's the work of the power of God through the Spirit of God in our lives.

"That I may know Him." That's gaining Christ. Same thing at the end of verse 8. "That's being found in Him," at the beginning of verse 9. That's having His righteousness in verse 9. That's what it means to be found in Him. I am now His and He is mine. "That I may be found in Him . . . that I may know Him." That's the experiential knowledge of salvation. That's salvation knowledge. "That I may know Him." Not just know about Him. I know Him. It's a personal intimacy now.


"The power of His resurrection." The same power that worked in the resurrection of Christ has worked in my life. Look. Follow this through. "The fellowship of His sufferings." What's it mean "the fellowship of His sufferings"? It means being conformed to His death. I have been joined with Christ in His suffering, in His death. And now I experience the power of His resurrection.

Turn back to Romans chapter 6. Paul elaborates the truth that he is talking about here. Romans chapter 6. Look at verse 4. "Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death." We're talking about it, I take it, the baptism of the Spirit here. By one Spirit we have been baptized into one body. Paul wrote to the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians chapter 12 verse 13. There's a spiritual transaction occurs when you believe in Christ. The Spirit of God identifies you with Jesus Christ so that God views you as having died when Christ died, as having been buried when Christ was buried, as having been raised when Christ was raised.

"Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we should no longer be slaves to sin, for he who has died is freed from sin." Leave a marker there we'll come back there in a moment.

Come back to Philippians chapter 3. That's what he's talking about in verse 10. You experience the power of His resurrection because you have been conformed to His death. Everyone who dies with Christ is raised with Christ to newness of life. It's a package. No one is identified with Christ in His death and burial who is not also identified with Him in His resurrection. It's the flaw of the teaching that goes around that is called antiLordship teaching. That you can trust Christ as your Savior, be forgiven your sins and assured of heaven but have a life that doesn't change. They say you can believe in Him and be identified with Him in His death and burial but not be identified with Him in His resurrection. Impossibility. That's why Paul in Philippians 3 is going to flow very naturally into a discussion of maturing in your life in Christ. Because you were raised with Him. You weren't left in the grave. You weren't left as a corpse. You just didn't die with Christ. You were raised with Him to newness of life.

So in Philippians chapter 3 verse 11, "in order that I may obtain to the resurrection from the dead. That's a transition there. He wants to know the power of His resurrection, being conformed to the suffering, that I might obtain to the resurrection of the dead. Was he talking about here that I might have the hope of someday experiencing bodily resurrection? No. How do we know? Read the next verse. That's what I get paid to tell you. Read the next verse.

"Not that I already obtained it or have already become perfect." You see the resurrection he is talking about is not the coming bodily resurrection directly. He's talking about the impact of the resurrection, my spiritual resurrection with Christ, on the way that I live. For he says, "I haven't already obtained it or already become perfect.


Go back to Romans chapter 6. See how this develops and in fully elaboration by Paul. Verse 8, "Now if we have died with Christ, we believe we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him. for the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; the life that He lives, He lives to God. Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore, do not let sin reign in your mortal body that you should obey its lusts, do not go on presenting the members of your body as instruments of unrighteousness, but present yourselves as those alive from the dead your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law, but under grace."

Now you note here, you try to go back under Law for sanctification, you allow sin to assert its control. Sin will not be master over you because you're not under Law. You've been set free from the Law. You are under grace. Now grace doesn't mean you're free to do whatever you want. Grace means you've now been set free and empowered to live the life that God wants you to live. So that's what he's talking about here. I want to attain to the resurrection from the dead. I want to attain the goal for which I was raised with Christ to newness of life. I haven't acquired it. I haven't arrived there yet. What does he mean by that? I'm not yet perfect. He raised me why? So that I should be like Him. So that I should live my life in everything I do for the God who now owns me because He purchased me. First Corinthians 6 says you're not your own. You've been bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body.” Paul acknowledges I'm not yet perfect. I don't yet honor Him with every activity, with every thought. But he's going on to say that's my relentless goal. I haven't yet become perfect, complete. An ultimately that will not be realized until we arrive in the presence of God in glory.

"I've not yet become perfect." Now you have to understand that sanctification or perfection can be looked at from three perspectives in Scripture, past, present and future. A failure to appreciate the distinctions here has led confusion in theology. For example some theology Charles Wesley held, perfectionism it's called, that you can be perfect in this life. A failure to appreciate the distinction between the perfection you have in Christ and what we sometimes call position and what you have in your practice.

Hebrews chapter 10. Hebrews chapter 10 verse 14 speaks about our positional perfection in Christ. Hebrews 10:14, "For by one offering he has perfected for all time those who are sanctified." Those who have been set apart in Christ have been perfected for all time. That's my position in Christ. So, in one sense I can say, "Yes, I am perfected. I am everything I must be before a holy God because of the position I have in Christ." But in my present state in my practice, I am not yet experiencing that perfection in all aspects of my life.


Look back in 2 Corinthians chapter 7. I'm just going to give you one verse for time on each of these. 2 Corinthians 7 verse 1, "Therefore’ having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit perfection holiness in the fear of God." That's the process. To be relentlessly examining my life, ridding myself of any sin, perfecting holiness, becoming complete in holiness in the way I'm conducting my life. That's what Paul's talking about in Philippians chapter 3. Now there's the ultimate sense of our final perfection. 1 John chapter 3 verse 2 says, "When we see Him we will be like Him for we will see Him as He is." That's when the process will be brought to completion. So, I have a positional perfection in Christ as one who has believed in Him. I am moving toward ultimate perfection in His presence. The present time is the process of maturing.

Now I have to be careful we don't take this lightly. Well, I have been perfected in Christ, I will be perfected in His presence, then sin in my life ought not to be that big an issue. We have to be careful. You know it's like your children, young people. They become teenagers. You try to tell them certain decisions they make have serious consequences. I don't want to lose sight of that. I can't tell you all that will be entailed in my failure to grow and develop as I should as a believer. But I know there are consequences there. My Heavenly Father has told me so and He's told me truth. We have to be careful. You say, I don't see it so serious. I'm positionally perfect in Christ. I'll be perfect in His presence. So the fact that in my life I'm not really maturing as I should doesn't seem to me to be that big a deal. That's a sign of immaturity. Just like our children. Sometimes you have to tell them, You take my word for it. And often they'll look back when they're thirty or forty and say, you know, I didn't understand why then but I do now. I really believe that when we stand at the Bema Seat I'll look back and say, I didn't understand. Well, you didn't have to understand. All you had to do was obey. Well, I would have obeyed if I understood. Or in other words, you didn't want to trust me. I don't think I want to stand at the Bema Seat and tell Him, well, I didn't want to trust You. But that's what Paul is talking about. We must be growing, maturing.

So come back to Philippians 3. We are talking about the present aspect of our perfection, our maturing. Paul says, "I'm not completely mature. I'm not a perfect me." "But I press on." I press on." Strong word. Means to pursue something. I press on. I thought of this passage some time ago as I thought I would do for the new year and I wanted to include it and it was that expression that came to my mind. Kept coming back. I press on. I press on. and I came to study the passage again and realized the clarity of focus Paul brings to the issue of our salvation. How clear we must be on that. And then there must be the relentless pursuit of the maturity in that salvation.

I've been privileged to be the pastor here for many years. It becomes a concern that over time people become weary in welldoing. We become weak. We get slack. That fanatical pursuit of the goal that God has set before us gets lost. Now one of the unique things about the apostle Paul was the fanaticism that characterized his life from his conversion to his execution.


Here he says, "I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which I was laid hold of by Christ." To lay hold of means to cease, to take possession, to make your own. "That I might lay hold of that also for which I was laid of by Christ." What was that? We read in Romans chapter 6 being complete in Him. Having my life in all parts, all that I do with my body, being used as an instrument of righteousness for His glory. Paul was never satisfied that he wasn't everything that he ought to be as a child of God. Now it's not enough that I am not a perfect man but I'm better than most men. That's not the goal to be better than most. The goal is to be everything that God has created me to be in Christ in every area of my life. "That I may lay hold of that for which I was laid hold of by Christ."

"Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet." There's intensity here. I myself. I do not regard myself. That's put him in a little different path than the Judiazers. They came with an arrogance as though they had a superior spirituality. Paul constantly had to deal with the people he had to minister to and who opposed his teaching. He had to tell the Corinthians, oh, fine. You've arrived. You're in the Kingdom. It's us apostles who are the scum of the earth. So in the context of the false teachers, I don't regard myself as having arrived. I'm not writing to you because I think I'm superior. I don't write and say I've arrived and now you have to caught up. I write to you as one who's in pursuit of the goal that you must be in pursuit of. I'm one who's in process and I understand that.

"I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do." There's an abruptness about it. We have "I do" added in our English version. You note it's in italics. "But one thing . . . forgetting what lies behind, reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ." You get this. He said in the middle of verse 12 "I press on." You ought to underline that. Then you come to the middle of verse 13, "One thing." Underline that. Beginning of verse 14, "I press on." That's the one thing. I press on. I press on. One thing. I press on. Are there discouragements? Yes. Disappointments? Yes. Hardships? Yes. Weariness? Yes. Sometimes I think Paul was cut from different cloth. You know, I just don't have what he has. Well, get it. I mean this is not to be a unique kind of Christianity that he models. He is modeling the uniqueness of Christianity. We are onething people. Summarize Paul's ministry. One thing I press on. You say, Gil, what's the difference between your life and Paul's pressing on, fanatical fixed on the goal?

Note how he does it. "One thing I do," the middle of verse 13, "forgetting what lies behind." I take it that would take all the good things, all his accomplishments as well as all the bad things and the sin. I forget it all. You know, we've built a whole counseling ministry for churches, not primarily geared on pointing people to the Word of God and showing them how to conduct themselves biblically but going into the past. I got a verse for you. Forget it. Not many people come to me. I can schedule 50 counseling sessions in an hour. People walk in and say, let me tell you my problem. No, let me tell you the solution. Forget it. Oh, you don't know how my father treated me. Forget it. You don't know the environment I was raised in. Forget it. You don't know the grossness of the sin in my life, and I don't need to hear it. Forget it. You don't know the things that I've accomplished that I've had to leave behind. I don't. Forget it. How can you run a race backwards.


One of the prime athletes of this past year was a man who ran in races. I just watch once in a while on Saturday sports or something. You know, I never saw anybody making any progress in a race running looking over their shoulders, trying to correct the past. That's what Paul says. Forgetting what lies behind.

You know, the simplicity of it. Some Christians are so mired in their past. It's a trap to just focus on self. Paul already told us . . . and this is what I told you I might forget but now I remember. The end of verse 8, "I've suffered the loss of all things and I count them but rubbish." You know, we threw out the garbage. Forget it. Well, I threw out what I wanted to keep. Forget it.

"Forgetting what lies behind, reaching forward to what lies ahead." So we are not talking about just people who are glad to clear their thinking of the past and any guilt. No, these are redeemed people who not only forget what lies behind but are relentlessly focused on the goal. The picture is of that runner running. We've all seen it. You know, as they are running down that track toward the goal, they're fixed on that goal. The veins in their neck are standing out. Every muscle of their body, every fiber of their being . . . you can see it's just driven toward one thing. The goal. The goal. It doesn't matter the handsome men, the beautiful women that are watching on the side, the money that's at stake. They've got the goal. The goal. That's consuming. That's the picture here. Suffers the loss of all things. It was nothing to me. Why? The goal. The goal.

"I press on toward the goal." What is the goal? "The prize of the upward call of God in Christ." I take it he's talking about perfection, maturity, that ultimately will be realized in the glory of His presence. And I have a relentless goal of my life to see it realized now. I know it won't but that doesn't let me up one bit. You know, it's like that person who is in the race. They know they can't break this mark, but they never stop trying. Why? There's no theological reason. There's no lack in what God has done for me in Christ that I shouldn't be perfect today. Do I realize that. His provision is sufficient. I don't have to be unkind. I don't have to be unloving. I don't have to be greedy. I don't have to be lustful. His provision is sufficient. And Paul is fanatically relentless in that pursuit.

And he says, "As many as are perfect," those he thought were ahead of him, verse 15, "you have this attitude too." And you know, you keep living by the same standard by which we have attained. You know, what he's saying here is when you draw that ultimate conclusion is you know, I'm not maybe as mature as some of you are, some others not as mature as I am. I have to keep on with the maturity I have. I'm pursuing further. I'm pursing further. We keep stretching for more. And I don't give up because I'm not as mature as someone else. Cause my goal is not to be as mature as them. My goal is the complete maturity that is provided for me in Christ and that's relentless. Discouragements? Yes. Disappointments? Yes. Frustrations? You come to the end of a year, you begin a new year and you look back. There're things you praise the Lord for and there are things you say I thought I would be further along than I am. There are times you get so frustrated you say, "There's no excuse, Lord, that I haven't gone further." But by God's grace I'm going to make more progress. No matter what it takes or what it costs.


That must characterize us as God's people. First, we got to be clear and maintain that clarity of thinking on the issues of salvation. If we are clear on that, that helps clear the road for the rest of our thinking. True salvation takes place in the context of a recognition that Christ is everything and everything else is nothing. Now that's clear and I am clear on salvation, then I enter my salvation with a proper focus and I just keep it. At salvation I realized it was all rubbish. there's times in my life when I have to look around and say, Gil, don't worry about it. Gil don't get sidetracked. It's just rubbish. It doesn't matter. And you know, it literally is. We've studied Peter. It's all going in the fire heap. All these things will be burned up. It's garbage, ashes, as we saw then. Don't lose sight of the goal. Yes, if I do this, think of the cost. No. If you don't pursue the goal, think of the cost.

You know my desire for this church as well as you personally? We'll be know as fanatics. Those people are consumed. You can say something about them. They do one thing. They pursue a goal and they don't let anything distract them from the goal. Wouldn't that be a marvelous testimony for this church? But we get intimidated by it. We cringe when people say, those people out at Indian Hills, they're fanatics. You say, well, thank you very much. Didn't know you noticed. Thank you. Why should I be embarrassed? I am. Are you not a fanatic for Jesus Christ? The goal He has set before.

What a privilegematurity in Him. All in preparation for eternal glory. May we be a lighthouse and a model personally and as a church. You start a new year. Look at your life. Will those around you say he's a fanatic in pursuing the goal that God has set before him? The consuming passion of his life is to be more like Christ? If not, it's a good time. Not tomorrow, today. God, by Your grace I want to adjust the focus of my life. I want my children, I want my husband, my wife, I want those who work with me . . . I don't want to drive them crazy by my weirdness, but I want it to be evident to everyone Jesus Christ is my life. Nothing, but nothing, compares in importance to Him to me. I count all things but loss and Lord, if this year I have to lose everything, may I count it a privilege. May I count it but garbage in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ. Pursing the goal of Christlikeness in my life in preparation for eternity. Let's pray together.

Thank you, Lord, for a salvation that is clear, that is simple, that is untangled. Everything we bring to it, everything we've done, everything we have to offer must be placed on the garbage heap. We must lay hold of Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Savior, by faith, believing that He is the One who loved us and died for us, that He was raised from the dead in power and great glory. Lord, in believing in Him, we gain Him, we come to know Him. We are found in Him. We receive His righteousness from You. And Lord, we progress and grow and mature as we with passionate zeal pursue the goal of perfection in Him, the beauty of His Person, Your character, displayed in every aspect of our lives. Lord, may be fanatical in our pursuit of that goal. May we be willing to suffer the loss of all things and may it all be counted as worthless anyway because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ. We pray in His name, amen.