Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the priceless gain of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I may have Christ and become one with him. I no longer count on my own goodness or my ability to obey God’s law, but I trust Christ to save me. For God’s way of making us right with himself depends on faith. As a result, I can really know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead. I can learn what it means to suffer with him, sharing in his death, so that, somehow, I can experience the resurrection from the dead! Philippians 3:8-11
This scripture was referenced in a book I was reading recently. Seen it a million times. Today it stopped me in my tracks. You know me. I have this running dialogue in my head. Some of you do too. Maybe one of the reasons it stopped me in my tracks is because the author asked if this passage described me (you) and if that’s how other folks would describe me. Wham! Right upside the head. I fall to my knees.
Piece-by-piece. Bit-by-bit.
Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the priceless gain of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I may have Christ and become one with him.
Wow, complete surrender. Surrender of thoughts. Surrender of lifestyle. Surrender of things, even good, but ungodly. Is that true for me? In the verses before, Paul laid out his life, a mini-autobiography. You see, Paul was quite the man before he met Jesus on that road. He was living the good life. He was the ultimate Jew – from the tribe of Benjamin. His tribe, along with the tribe of Judah (who came from there?) were the only tribes that returned to Israel following the exile. One of the “it” tribes. Paul was a Pharisee, a learned man, highly esteemed, highly revered. He knew the law inside and out, moreover, he lived the law – to the strictest letter – to a T. Paul was the real deal. So, when Paul’s life did an about face, complete surrender, and he made the claims that “everything else is worthless,” he’s saying that his knowledge, his power, his position, his life, were nothing compared to knowing Christ – priceless. Remember that commercial? What’s in your heart?
What does complete surrender look like to me, to you? Am I willing to chuck everything I have so that “I may have Christ and become one with him.”? That’s a toughy isn’t it? Let’s go around back – what am I willing to chuck? Am I willing to toss out anything that keeps me from becoming “one with him.”? You see, we do get to pick and choose what we will and will not take to the dump. He gives us free will. Here’s the thing though, until we lay it all down, not just the things we’d like to get rid of, we will not be “one with him.” Some things in our lives and our hearts are easy to toss on the heap, some things not so easy. What’s in your heart? What do we need to take to the curb?
I no longer count on my own goodness or my ability to obey God’s law, but I trust Christ to save me. For God’s way of making us right with himself depends on faith.
Paul’s transformation revealed to him that he simply couldn’t be good enough. He couldn’t count on himself, by following all the rules, towing the line, doing the right things at the right time. No matter what Paul did, or what we do, we simply cannot be good enough to inherit the kingdom. There is not one thing we can do – Christ has already done it. God used His only Son to make us right with Him. Believing on the Son, faith in the Son, is the only way. Even rule followers cannot enter the kingdom without faith, not even Paul, not even us.
But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God. John 1:12
As a result, I can really know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead. I can learn what it means to suffer with him, sharing in his death, so that, somehow, I can experience the resurrection from the dead!
Paul trusted Christ, he had faith in Christ, and as a result he was reborn. Paul experienced the resurrection power of knowing Christ and his life was transformed. The things Paul previously thought were important were no longer important. I feel certain that before his transformation, Paul used the same absolutes we use. I will forever be a Pharisee. I will always follow the law. I will never follow this Jesus. But, Paul surrendered and look what happened – just as Christ was raised form the dead by the glorious power of God the Father, he was living a new life, a life that will be resurrected from the dead to live for all eternity.
Remember, Paul thought he had it all before. After meeting Jesus, he knew he had it all. So, what are we hanging on to that is worthless compared to Christ? What do we need to discard, take to the dump, get rid of, throw out?