The Surpassing Worth of Knowing Jesus

This morning I am reflecting on Paul's letter to the Philippians 3:7-8 NIV:

[7] "But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. [8] What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ".

These are the type of verses that we like to read, for they sound inspiring, and encouraging.  However, I most often draw the line at being encouraged by Paul's attitude, but don't cross over that line and apply what Paul is expressing to my life.  The short of it is that I don't want to lose everything!  This is actually one of the fears that many have in the church, the fear that God will call us to sell everything and enter His service, where everything we worked so hard for is lost.  We fear radical obedience, and anyone who is pursuing that type of life is seen as just a bit out there.

So the question is whether this is a question for all of us??  Do we need to be willing to sacrifice everything for the sake of following Jesus?  Does God demand everything?  What does it mean to lose everything?

I guess these are pretty daunting questions for any morning, so I am going to start by putting these comments into the context of which Paul was writing them.
How was this asked of Paul, and is it applicable to any of us? The primary context of these few verses, and the verses before them, is to combat the influence of the Judaizers in the church.  Paul wrote quite extensively about this in his letter to the Galatians, and here again he is quite strong in his statements.  He starts the section specifically talking about those that were pushing circumcision.  Here are the verses immediately preceding the verses I am reflecting upon - Philippians 3:2-6 NIV:

[2] "Watch out for those dogs, those evildoers, those mutilators of the flesh. [3] For it is we who are the circumcision, we who serve God by his Spirit, who boast in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh--- [4] though I myself have reasons for such confidence."

"If someone else thinks they have reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: [5] circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; [6] as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for righteousness based on the law, faultless."

Paul is describing his condition prior to his conversion, as compared to the Judaizers.  He was every bit the Jew, even a Pharisee.  He embraced all the rites, the rules and the Law.  If anyone would have been able to see the value in that religion, Paul would have, and that is his point.  He saw all of that as mere garbage when compared to relationship with Christ. He was willing to lose all that he had gained - stature, authority, righteousness per the law, even family lineage, it all meant nothing to him now.  He recognized the futility of that pursuit and the freedom available in the Gospel of Grace, and was unwilling to go back, and knew there was nothing gained by embracing those rules and lifestyles.

It is within this context that he continues into verses 7 and 8.  The point of it all is that we do not need to add anything to the Gospel, or to relationship with Jesus!  Paul understood the treasure, the goal, the focus of it all is relationship with Jesus!  It is through relationship that we are welcomed into His unity with the Father, and empowered and in-filled by the Holy Spirit.  The idea that something like circumcision would make a person more worthy, more acceptable, was foolishness.  Paul goes as far as calling those that pushed circumcision "mutilators of the flesh" and I think that makes clear his stance.

In our day, the issue is often the rules or expectations of behavior or even dress that is held up as making us more worthy or acceptable to God.  We don't hear of actual circumcision being pushed as a requirement for faith (as it is relatively common practice) but circumcision of one's life and activities is certainly pushed or recommended in certain circles.  Things like the music one listens to, how one dresses, how one wears one's hair, rules concerning drinking or certain diets are held up as ways to make one more acceptable to God, or as signs of the true faith.  In this context, it seems that coming to faith in Christ Jesus is not enough, these other rules must be embraced for the person to show they are "Christian".

This cutting away of certain things is often described as circumcising the heart, but surprisingly that is only found in the old testament.  Paul does speak of being cricumcised, but this is done by Christ - Colossians 2:11-12 NIV:

[11] "In him you were also circumcised with a circumcision not performed by human hands. Your whole self ruled by the flesh was put off when you were circumcised by Christ, [12] having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through your faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead."

This has nothing to do with our actions, and everything to do with Jesus!  Suffice it to say that while we were still sinners Christ Loved us, and desired relationship with us.  He is about restoring us to our rightful identities as sons and daughters of God.  He isn't about making us all conform to a certain look and behavior, if He wanted that He wouldn't have made us all unique!

Now not to swing wide of the bases here, this is not an excuse to live however we want, but rather a focus on identity and grace.  We are His sons and daughters.  He doesn't have any favorites, and nothing we do can make us more his son or daughter, or make us more favored than someone else.  He loves us, He wants the best for us, and some things are just not helpful or healthy, and as our loving Father, he will naturally direct us away from those things that will harm us.  Can we provide guidance and direction to those of our brothers and sisters who have just discovered their true identities, as one sibling to another, absolutely.  However, we can never take the Father's place, nor can we demand of others what the Lord has put in place for us.  He treats each of us uniquely, since we are unique!  

Now, back to the questions we started with - should I be willing to sacrifice everything for the sake of following Jesus?  The answer is unequivocally yes!  Will I be called to sacrifice everything - most likely no.  God is most interested in our hearts and this has to do with our heart attitude and priorities in life.  This is a restating of the first commandment to love the Lord our God!  Jesus states the two greatest commandments in Matthew 22:37-39 NIV: "Jesus replied: “ 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' [38] This is the first and greatest commandment. [39] And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'  

Loving the Lord with all your heart, and soul and mind, is learning to choose God and relationship with Him over everything else.  If He is the most important person in our life, then we would likely be willing to lay down our lives or sacrifice everything for Him.  This is surely true for me as it concerns the great loves of my life,  my wife and children,  I don't believe I would hesitate to sacrifice everything for their sake.  In the same way, Paul is expressing his willingness to lay everything down, even his very life for Jesus.  He was merely stating the fact that he had lived through several times where his life was in danger, and he didn't back away from his faith, valuing his relationship with Jesus over life.

Paul did ultimately die a martyr's death, but that was not his real focus here.  Instead, I believe he is addressing that daily choosing that we all experience.  Learning to live our lives focused on the Lord, being obedient to His leading, willing to put Him before all else is that daily picking up one's cross and following Jesus that He invites us to do.  We are invited to choose Him over the deceitful pleasure of sin, over our flesh (our selfish focus), over our professional image, over the opportunity to make unjust gain.  We are invited to live a life devoted to giving Glory to Him, and for us to do that we need to rightly value all else in comparison to Him.  Paul had that opportunity and He found all else lacking to the point of being able to classify everything as mere garbage in comparison to Jesus.

Finally, Paul had effectively lost all he had previous to his conversion.  He had a different set of friends, had a different job, a different life focus, and his status as a former pharisee made no difference.  He now had Christ Jesus, and all those that the Lord brought to him.  He was single, but was now the father of many churches.  He used to be feared but now was honored and revered by thousands!  His lif was beyond full, yet his focus was always on Christ Jesus.

So today, I am encouraged to look at my life, to evaluate whether or not I would be willing  to lose all things for Christ Jesus.  I would like to say that my answer would be yes, but I know I have plenty of areas where I don't choose to live that out in my daily walk, and that is my focus.  Lord, help me to rightly value my relationship with You!  Help me to see that knowing You, and living in relationship with You surpasses all else!

Amen!