Philippians 3:7-11 ESV
“But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.”
Paul was referring to all the things that he had gained in
the flesh, that had given him a sense of pride and of “bragging rights.” For the
church today, this might include the number of people on membership rolls, or
the number of baptisms or salvations (not always genuine salvations). Or this
might include a charismatic preacher or an extremely talented “praise team”. Or
it might include all the fun and interesting activities the church offers, etc.
For individuals who call themselves Christians, this might
include training in Bible theology, or seminars that they attended, or college
degrees, or particular talents, or careers, or incomes, or possessions, or
anything that they were able to accomplish in the flesh to give glory to the
flesh. Or it might include who they know or what they have experienced or how
long they have been members at a particular institutional church, etc.
But whatever we have accomplished and gained in the flesh is
here today and it can be gone tomorrow. It holds no eternal value whatsoever. Now,
some of these things can be used as instruments of righteousness in presenting
the gospel or in having Bible studies or times of Christian fellowship with
other believers – such things as our computers, and our homes, and our dining
room tables, etc. So “things” are not all bad.
But if we glory in the flesh and in what we have
accomplished in the flesh, it holds no eternal value. All those accumulated
things mean nothing, especially if they are not being used for the glory of God
but only for selfish gain and for “bragging rights” so that we can look important
or feel as though we are important. So, we are to lay all these things down at
the cross of Christ and surrender them all, including ourselves, to the Lord.
And then we are to follow Jesus Christ in obedience to his
ways and to his commands, and we are to go wherever he leads us, and to do the
things he would have us do, and share what we have with others, and minister to
the needs of others, and share the gospel, but also live the gospel in our
every day lives in dying to sin and living to God and to his righteousness. And
this will include suffering for the sake of the gospel, too.
Philippians 3:12-16 ESV
“Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you. Only let us hold true to what we have attained.”
Now, I have heard many people take this passage of Scripture
out of context to excuse away their sinful habits (addictions, practices)
claiming that no one is perfect, not even Paul. They will use it to excuse away
the fact that they are still in the same sinful rut they have been in, some of
them for many years, and that they have not yet come out from. For they will
claim that it “takes time” to overcome a sinful habit, as though a lifetime is
not long enough. But it never ends. Just more excuses.
And then they will take this part about forgetting what lies
behind to mean that they can ignore their sinful condition and pretend that
they are not addicted to sin, and they are not those who practice sin, for they
feel that if they admit sin that God forgives them and now it is all past and
that anything that they do in the way of sin from that point forward is just an
individual sin and is all just part of this process of being made perfect.
Now, I am not suggesting that what God has forgiven that we
should drudge back up from the past. This is not what I am saying. I am saying
that if we have been addicted to (enslaved to) sin for a long period of time
and we have not yet surrendered our lives to Jesus, and so we keep repeating
the same sins over and over deliberately and in direct defiance of God and of
his commands, then the Scriptures say we don’t really know God, which would
indicate that he does not see our sins as past.
So, we have to understand here that it is not truly past if we
keep repeating the same offenses over and over again, deliberately, willfully,
in direct defiance of God and of his commands, without true remorse, and
without true repentance. For if the cycle keeps repeating itself, then we never
were free. We never were forgiven. For our sins were never gone. For they are
still here being repeated over and over and over without end. So, we can’t
treat habitual sin as though it is not habitual if it is what we practice.
Now, regarding what Paul is teaching here, he is talking
about how he put his flesh behind him, and now his goal in life was to have the
righteousness that comes from God and that depends on faith, and that he may know
Christ and the power of his resurrection, which is the ability to live in
freedom from enslavement to sin, and that he may share in the sufferings of
Christ because he is becoming like Christ and he is doing his will.
But all this is a process of a lifetime. But it being a
process does not mean we can sin as much as we want and claim we are in
process. The process is clearly one of forsaking our sins and following Jesus
in obedience, and us dying daily to sin and to self and us living holy lives
pleasing to God. It is a process that should reveal that progress is being made
in us becoming more like Jesus every day and much less or not at all like we
were in the flesh.
Forgetting those things which are behind, thus, has to do
with us no longer engaging in the same sinful activities as we did before. Paul
did not forget that he did such things in the past, for he gave testimony to
them frequently, but then he shared how Jesus had changed his life. Amen! So,
forgetting is really about not reliving the past in the present, and therefore not
showing that we have not yet really let go of the past, but that it still has
control over our lives. For the past needs to be put to a final death.
So, as Paul chose to no longer live in the past but in the
present, he pressed on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God
in Christ Jesus. He lived his life now for Jesus and he did not keep going back
to doing what he did in the past. For those who keep returning to their vomit
over and over again, their past is not really past, for they are still living
it, the same old, same old. No real change of heart, mind, or purpose, but just
recycled habits and responses that keep on going and going.
So, if you are still in that rut, I pray today that you will
shut the door to your past in that you will no longer live in your past but
that now you will live a new life in Christ Jesus, by the grace of God, through
genuine God-given faith in Jesus Christ that dies with Christ daily to sin and
to self and that walks with Christ daily in his righteousness and holiness to the
glory of God.
[Lu
9:23-26;
Jn 6:35-58; Jn 15:1-11; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-17; Eph 4:17-24; 1 Pet 2:24; 1 Co 6:9-10, 19-20; 2 Co 5:10, 15; Tit 2:11-14; Jas
1:22-25; Gal 5:16-21; Eph 5:3-6; Gal 6:7-8; Rom
2:6-8; Matt 7:21-23; Heb
10:26-27; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Rom 12:1-2; Eph 2:8-10]
Oh,
to Be Like Thee, Blessed Redeemer
Lyrics
by Thomas O. Chisholm, 1897
Music
by W. J. Kirkpatrick, 1897
Oh, to be like Thee! blessèd Redeemer,
This is my constant longing and prayer;
Gladly I’ll forfeit all of earth’s
treasures,
Jesus, Thy perfect likeness to wear.
Oh, to be like Thee! full of
compassion,
Loving, forgiving, tender and kind,
Helping the helpless, cheering the
fainting,
Seeking the wandering sinner to find.
O to be like Thee! lowly in spirit,
Holy and harmless, patient and brave;
Meekly enduring cruel reproaches,
Willing to suffer others to save.
O to be like Thee! while I am pleading,
Pour out Thy Spirit, fill with Thy
love;
Make me a temple meet for Thy dwelling,
Fit me for life and Heaven above.
Oh, to be like Thee! Oh, to be like Thee,
Blessèd Redeemer, pure as Thou art;
Come in Thy sweetness, come in Thy
fullness;
Stamp Thine own image deep on my heart.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrYhiK2nQBg
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