August 25, 2020 GAINING CHRIST
Philippians 3:7-8, 13-14 “But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that, I count all things to be lost in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for who I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish in order that I may gain Christ.” “Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do; forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”
I fear that the message of the gospel we have heard and been exposed to for many years has been an insufficient message-not that the gospel is insufficient, but the presentation of it. Primarily, the message we have heard is that the basic thing we must do is to trust Christ as Savior, be involved in church, then one day we die and go to heaven. That may be a little over-simplified, but you get my point. The bulk of our knowing Christ is knowing Him as Savior. I think that what we have missed, what has been insufficient in our understanding, is found in the verses above. I must admit, what I am sharing is a challenge to me personally. Here is the challenging truth for each of us: is knowing Christ, not just as Savior, the supreme desire of our life? Do we count other things as ‘rubbish’ compared to knowing Christ? Just as was the case with Paul, we should understand that we ‘have not laid hold of it yet.’ Even though we may be older and have been active in the church for years, it may be that our knowledge of Him may be shallow. Our maturing in Christ and increasing in our knowledge of Him involves a fight; we must fight against and reject the things that would distract us from the goal of knowing Him more fully; each of us have potential distractions that we must be on guard against. One distraction for some is their past successes and failures, their hurts and disappointments and unmet desires and dreams. Paul said that he forgot what lies behind-and so should we; the past is the past and we can do nothing about it. Having knowing Christ as our supreme desire in life does not mean I must quit my job, leave our family and move in to a monistairy; God tells us to work and provide, to be about life, etc. If gaining Christ is the supreme desire of our life, it will be evident and we will set out hearts and mind on a course to learn of Him through reading and meditating on His word, prayer, worship, and sharing life with other like-minded believers. Here is the really good news. We may have difficulty considering all other things as rubbish compared to knowing Him. However, Paul spoke two words that are key; if we see the ‘surpassing value’ of knowing Christ, then other things will seem as rubbish. We lose nothing but gain everything when knowing Him more fully is the desire of our life. One essential truth we will discover as we pursue Him is that we have been joined to Him, given a new heart, a new mind, and a new spirit. As He becomes our desire, the Holy Spirit will be at work revealing just how awesome our God is.
Romans 11:33 “Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgements and unfathomable His ways!”
Jeremiah 29:13 “You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.”
Ephesians 1:18-19b “I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe.”
Blessings, Buddy
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