pastorjohnb

Thoughts and musings on faith and our mighty God!

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Press On!

Reading: Philippians 3:4-14

Verse 8: “I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.”

As we begin reading today’s passage perhaps we feel a common ground here with Paul. He begins by addressing our tendency to put “confidence in the flesh.” Paul lists his accomplishments and accolades – and in the religious culture of Israel at that time, it is quite the list. The tendency to define who and what we are by our job title or by our degrees or by some measurable worldly success is one we always need to be aware of.

The old Saul described in verses 4-6 has been born anew as Paul the apostle. In verse 8 he writes, “I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.” All those titles, all that he did before – gone! He even goes so far as to call all of that old life “rubbish.” Paul has come to understand that faith in the Lord who wrote the Law is far better than the religion of simply checking the boxes that came with following all of those laws. Paul has come to live out a faith that has opened him up to the power of resurrection and to the joy of “sharing in his sufferings.” It is counter cultural to cast aside all that the world holds dear. To our old self, it feels upside down to lay all of that aside in order to live out “the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith.” Yet this is the “goal” and the “prize” to which all followers of Jesus Christ are called to.

I love the language and imagery that Paul’s words create in verses 12-14. This is what it means to be in love with Jesus. He “presses on” to “take hold” of Jesus Christ. He “strains” towards the goal “to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Jesus Christ.” What a beautiful goal! What a glorious effort! May this too be our “one thing.”

Prayer: Lord God, help me to fully find my identity in you. May the things of this world fall away on account of knowing you as Lord and Savior. Give me the courage and strength to daily press on towards that heavenly prize, walking humbly with Jesus day by day. Amen.


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Consider As Loss

Reading: Philippians 3:4b-10

Verse 8: “I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord.”

As we begin these two days in Philippians 3 we begin with the battle between God’s ways and the ways of the world. Paul begins today’s verses with all list of credentials. This list would place him in the top 1 or 2% of all religious leaders in Israel. It would be like someone today saying they got their undergrad at Stanford, their masters at Yale, their doctorate at Harvard. And, oh ya, they’re the Super Bowl MVP and have won the world chess championship six years running. As Saul, Paul’s life was built around who he was according to titles and worldly standards. In the church world we build a list like this: haven’t missed a Sunday in four years, read my Bible every day for at least an hour, serve on two committees, have been on six mission trips… All places have boxes to check.

Paul turns the corner in verse 7. He begins by saying, “Whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ.” All those words, all those titles – they were holding him back from really knowing Jesus Christ. In verse 8 he continues, saying, “I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord.” Nothing compares to knowing Christ Jesus as Lord and Savior. All these titles, all these credentials, all this box checking – “I consider them rubbish that I may gain Christ.” Rubbish!

Paul learned that faith and righteousness come not from titles or credentials or checking off boxes. It’s not about who you are. It is all about whose you are. That’s a difficult transition – from who to whose. All around us we hear that who we are matters. So, in our lives, what titles or other “who we are” things limit our relationship with Jesus Christ? He desires to be our Lord and Savior. What do we need to consider as loss for the sake of gaining Christ?

Prayer: Lord God, help me to look within, to see that which I cling to for my identity, for my worth. Give me the courage to strip away the things that I need to in order to know Jesus Christ my Lord better. Amen.


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Living the Way

Reading: Philippians 3: 4b-11

Verse 8: “I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus as Lord”.

What little “list” do you have in your head that makes sure you are a good Christian? Is it something like this: church on Sunday, read Bible and pray each day, volunteer at the church bazaar? Maybe too many items? Maybe missing going to small group and doing one mission project a year? This idea is what Paul is getting at in our initial few verses today. Paul lists all the things that appear to make him a great Jew. But these things are just titles or “rules” he followed. The list we may keep is much like Paul’s list. If it is little more than going through the motions, our list is “rubbish”, to use Paul’s word.

In verse eight Paul declares, “I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus as Lord”. Paul knew that doing all the right things, that being who the religious order thought he should be, that checking off all the boxes – it was all for loss until he knew Jesus Christ as Lord. Paul came to know faith ad a matter of the heart, not the head. When his faith was a matter of the mind, he was living to please others. Saul’s faith was transformed one day when he encountered the risen Christ. That day he opened his heart to Christ and invited Jesus to dwell within him. In Matthew 23 Jesus referred to the scribes and Pharisees as “whitewashed tombs”, implying they looked good on the outside but we’re dead on the inside. Paul came to understand that this is who he was. He did and was all the right things according to man, but his faith had no life. Like many still today, he was trying to earn his way into heaven, to check enough boxes to merit entry. He grew to understand that faith was all about living his way into heaven.

For Paul, faith became knowing Jesus Christ as Lord and then trusting into “the power of the resurrection”. This trust allowed grace and mercy to mingle with love. These are matters of the heart, not the mind. It is about Christ dwelling within us. It is about inviting the Spirit to guide of walk of faith and to strengthen our relationship with God day by day, step by step. We, like Paul, will also come to know the joy of sacrifice, of “sharing in his sufferings”. This is what happens when we love God and others more than self. Like Christ and like Paul’s witness, may our walk of faith be both humble and generous so that we may experience the joy of salvation and the gift of abundant life, both in the here and now and one day in eternity. May it be so.

Prayer: God of love and grace, fill my heart with your presence. Fill my steps and words with your love. Transform my heart into a heart for others. Empty me of all that binds me to this earth and its things. May I know the power of your love and the gift of salvation more and more each day. Amen.


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Love and Grace

Reading: Philippians 3: 1-12

Verse 8: “I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Jesus Christ as my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things”.

The title for today’s passage in my Bible is “No Confidence in the Flesh”. It is a good reminder. In verses four through six Paul reminds us of how we can trust in the old and in the things of this world. We may not connect circumcision or our tribe or our nation as sources of confidence. But we can count our position or title or status as things we place our confidence in. We may claim the tag “Christian” instead of Pharisee and we may go about persecuting all who don’t see or interpret things just as we do. Some even see their confidence in the two areas as just cause for their legalistic righteousness that is far from the love and grace that Jesus exemplifies. Paul sees this in his former life as Saul.

In verse seven there is a shift. All of this earthly confidence Paul now considers a loss for the sake of knowing Jesus Christ. He goes on to explain in the next verse, saying, “I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Jesus Christ as my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things”. Paul willingly laid aside the titles… in exchange for coming to know the Savior. He calls all that earthly stuff “rubbish” as is willing to throw all that away so that he may “gain Christ”. It amazes me what a little encounter with Jesus did for and to Paul’s life. All that he had grown up knowing and believing and living – holding this above all else – was rubbish once he knew the love and grace of Christ. Today some continue to live out the law without knowing Christ. Some even live with the Christian tag and live a life that does not bear witness to the love and grace of Jesus Christ.

Instead of an earthly, human righteousness based upon the law and strict adherence to the rituals and practices, Paul has found a righteousness that comes through faith in Jesus. It is not the high and mighty righteousness negatively associated with the super religious. It is a righteousness based partly on the resurrection of Jesus. It is also based on the love and grace that comes by “sharing in his sufferings”. In losing all the earthly trappings, through the grace he himself experienced in Christ, Paul was left with a love for Jesus and for all who did not know Jesus as Lord and Savior.

We too can know this love and grace. Like Paul, may we know Christ crucified and risen. And may we share Christ with all we meet, seeking to work out our mandate to make disciples of all nations and peoples. May it be so.

Prayer: Lord, at times I can be a bit like Saul – feeling good about my titles or position or religion. When I do, bring me face to face with the sufferings of Jesus, made real in the realities of a hurting and broken world. There, fill me with only grace and love, that I may represent you well in the world. Amen.


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Grabbed

Reading: Philippians 3: 4b-9

Verse Seven: Whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Jesus Christ.

Saul had a really good life.  His religious life checked off all the boxes: circumcised as an infant, a member of the tribe of Benjamin, a Pharisee, great zeal for his religion, a faultless follower of the Law.  To Saul, he was as faithful to God as anyone.  From his perspective on top of the pedestal, he looked pretty good.

But then Saul met the risen Jesus on the road to Damascus.  He went through a powerful transformation experience.  The new Christian, Paul, writes, “Whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Jesus Christ”.  All the titles, all the accolades, the view from the pedestal – they all are lost.  In the next verse Paul calls all these things “rubbish”.  For Paul, they are pale and worthless compared to the “surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord”.  What a change has been wrought in Paul!

At times, some look at faith as Saul did – a series of rules to follow or boxes to check.  Baptized as a baby, came back to church for a dose of confirmation, returned maybe for graduation or to get married.  For others it is a bit deeper – come most Sunday mornings for the hour, say a short grace before meals, help out at the yearly ham dinner.  On the surface, their religion feels okay, maybe even good.  It would appear the requisite boxes were being checked off.

When Saul met Jesus, his life radically changed.  It wasn’t about saying that memorized prayer three times a day and eating only the “right” foods any more.  It wasn’t about coming that one hour on Sunday morning.   To Paul, the boxes were rote, they were false.  He gave up all “that I may gain Christ and be found in Him”.  Paul found a righteousness that comes not from the Law or anything he could do, but a righteousness that comes “from God and is by faith”.  Jesus reached out and grabbed Paul.  Life was never the same.

Has Jesus grabbed you?  Is self and all else loss for the sake of Christ?