Count Everything as Loss

Transcript

This transcript was generated automatically from the audio and may contain small errors.

Good morning, everyone. I'm grateful to be here. My name is Landon Wink. I'm the student coordinator at NorthPointe Church, which relatively just means that I do whatever our family pastor tells me to do. So I get to serve a lot with the youth and our pre-teen ministry. It's a true blessing to get to work there. My wife is here, Alex and our son Wesley, who's a sweet little boy, though he was a little cranky this morning, but usually he's very sweet. I'd encourage you to get to know them. More of my family's here as well. They're all wonderful. But I am truly grateful to be here. Some of you may remember, this is my second time to get to pre-true with y'all. I was here last summer and it is a true honor whenever you get to be asked to come back. Maybe that's because many of you forgot about me. I don't know. That's probably a good thing that maybe you forgot. I don't know.

But either way, it's a blessing. We're gonna be in Philippians 3, 1 through 11 this morning. So I'll give you a bit of time to turn there in your Bibles. So as you're turning there, I just wanna bring something to mind. I want you to think about the first resume you ever wrote or sent in. For me, I think I've only ever written one resume. And it's for the job that I currently have. As I was applying to work at NorthPointe, I wrote out my resume. And the resume is designed, the purpose is that you wanna put your best foot forward. You wanna show whoever's offering the job that hey, I've got something to offer. I have something that's worth you hiring me to do whatever job. And maybe this was like it for you. Maybe it wasn't. A lot of you seem much smarter and more equipped than I am. But my resume, as I started to write it, I realized how little I had to offer to this job.

I realized that maybe they shouldn't hire me. Like I'm writing things on there. Like I've got four years of construction experience. That had nothing to do with a church. I hadn't graduated college yet, so I couldn't even put that. I think I tried to really spice it up a little bit by saying like how many hours I'd completed. I thought maybe that would do something. I don't know if it did or not. But I really didn't have much to offer. So I did what maybe most people do and I lied on my resume. I said that Billy Graham was my great grandfather.

No, I'm just kidding. Also, I think I was the only one that applied for this job. So the Billy Graham thing and being the only one to apply for the job I think helped me get it. But my point in bringing this to your memory is that maybe your first one, you didn't have much to offer. But as you've gotten older, as you've grown in talents and skills and wisdom, I'm sure the resumes that you've submitted, you've had some that are very impressive. If you were to write one now, there's probably a lot of impressive things on there where you can really have some confidence in saying like hey, I got something to offer. I've reason for you to hire me, to have me do this job. And that's a good thing. It's a blessing the Lord grows us in that kind of a way. But what I think sometimes we fall short in is that maybe whenever we first come to the faith, we have this similar kind of humility

like writing our first resume. We realize how we have nothing to offer. But then maybe a lie starts to come in. And we grow and we start to do things we do more and more for the Lord. And we start to maybe think, have a bit of pride is that we bring something to God. Look at what I've done, God. Look at what I have. Look at my resume. And we think that we're owing or deserving of something because of that. And what I think Paul's going to do in this passage is really completely get rid of that idea. He's gonna get rid of that idea when it comes to salvation. Initially, you have nothing. You bring nothing to the Lord. But then also, this is gonna apply to the seasoned Christian. Don't fall into the temptation of priding yourself into thinking, maybe I am deserving of something from the Lord. I bring something to him that makes him gain me some type of favor or some type of blessing.

And so Paul is, this is a more polished way of kind of saying this main idea that he's gonna show us in this passage. And it's this. He's gonna teach us that righteousness is not gained through works. Rather, it comes through faith in Christ alone. So what we're gonna see in this, we're gonna see this kind of a roadmap. Paul's gonna do kind of four movements throughout this text. He's gonna first have us look out. He's gonna say, look out for people on the outside. Be aware. He's then gonna bring things in close. He's gonna give us his testimony, or a piece of his testimony. He's gonna draw us in, which I think should also lead us to look at our own lives as Paul does that. And then he's gonna bring up this idea that it's really crucial in understanding his point. And he's gonna bring up this idea of counting everything as loss. And then the last thing that he does

is he shows us what the Christian heart looks like. So it's gonna be, that's kind of where we're headed, where we're going. So with that being said, let's read our text. Philippians 3, one through 11 says this. Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you is no trouble to me and is safe for you. Look out for the dogs. Look out for the evildoers. Look out for those who mutilate the flesh, for we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh. Though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also. If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more. Circumcised on the eighth day of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews, as to the law of Pharisee, as to zeal a persecutor of the church, as to righteousness under the law blameless.

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 from faith in Christ. A righteousness from God that depends on faith. That I may know him in 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. Will you pray with me? Dear Lord, Father, I ask that, Lord, as we walk into this time of looking at your word, God, I ask that you would be heard. Your message would be proclaimed, that your people will know the voice of their shepherd

and hear you clearly. Lord, I ask that these words not be my words, that they be yours, that your message be clearly spoken and that your spirit move in the lives of your people. Pray this all in Jesus' name, amen. So what we see, Paul is, he's writing to the church at Philippi. This is a church that he knows. This is a church that he loves and he cares for. They care for him. Paul talks about that in the letter, of their gracious efforts of loving and caring for him. But in verse one, he shows us something. He says, to write the same things to you is no trouble to me and is safe for you. So Paul's saying, what I'm about to say I've said to you before. Likely what he's referring to is that he's talking about the time when he came to them in person. When he was on his missionary journey and he went to Philippi, he preached the gospel and people were saved. And then from these saved people, he formed a church.

Now he's away. This church has been living their lives. They've been doing, pursuing Christ. And Paul is writing back to them and he's saying, listen, I'm having to tell you something again. He's gonna tell them the truth of salvation again. He said, I didn't lie to you when I first came to you. I told you the truth. I'm gonna say it again. But look at what Paul says. He says, it's no trouble to me and it's safe for you. I think as we reflect onto that, we need to hear that message clearly. That most of you, I would maybe say all of you have probably heard this message taught in some degree. That righteousness does not come by works. It comes by faith in Christ alone. But brothers and sisters, just like the church at Philippi, we need to be reminded. We need to hear it again. Perhaps in a way to where we can better articulate it. But also, maybe it's just so that,

maybe if we already know it, perhaps the spirit needs to convict us of how we are not living that out as faithfully as we should. So this is a safe thing for us to hear the truths of Scripture, even the most basic ones, again. And that's what Paul's doing. So this is a safe thing. So the first movement that he's gonna do is he's gonna call us to look out. Verse two says this, look out for the dogs, look out for the evildoers, look out for those who mutilate the flesh. Paul's telling us that we must be aware of false teachers. There's a message that's being preached that isn't the true gospel. There's a twisting of, there's an adding to the gospel. But who is Paul referring to? Who is he telling the church at Philippi to look out for? Well, we know, not from this passage in particular, but we know from the things that Paul says and from other books of the Bible,

that Paul's referring to this group of people called the Judaizers. The Judaizers were Jewish Christians, so ethnically Jewish people who have been converted, who have fallen, they follow Christ, but there's this thing that's kind of with them. And this isn't all of them, this is a particular group. They have this sort of pride. They say, hey, we've grown up as a Jew, as an Israelite. We've grown up as the people of God. There's laws that have been given, there's things that we have done, there's practices that we have. And now that we follow Christ, our Messiah, our one true king, they start to think, hey, we've got something special. We've got something better than maybe somebody else. We've followed the law. We have these practices in our lives. And so now what they're doing is they're taking this and they're going to Gentile Christians, non-Jewish Christians, and they're saying,

listen, you gotta catch up. You've gotta do what we've been doing for years, our whole lives. And the two things that they really harp on, that they want these Gentile Christians to start doing in order for them to, in their minds, have a true salvation or to have a more completed favor with God, is they say, hey, you gotta get circumcised. Not to describe what circumcision is, but I'm sure most of you know it. Like, that's a big task that they're calling these grown adults to participate in. But they're saying, hey, this is what we've done, so you've gotta do that too. And then they're also really pushing Jewish food laws. They say, hey, you gotta eat like us. You've gotta follow these laws the way that we have. And if you do this, you will have a true salvation. You will have a more completed favor with God. That's what Paul is telling them to be weary of,

to look out for, these people who are adding to, twisting the true message of the gospel. These people have missed what Jesus was truly teaching. Paul says, look out. What about today? Do we need to be looking out for Judaizers, these people who are trying to push circumcision or Jewish food laws onto us? I don't think so. I mean, I'm sure there are people that might be doing something like that, but it's not exactly Judaizers today, but it doesn't mean that this isn't applied to us. There's this thread that the Judaizers are doing that is still being done today. There's something that they're really harping on, and what it is, is a works righteousness. Righteousness meaning a right standing with God. There's something, they're taking the focus away from Jesus and they're pointing it back to man and they're saying, hey, you've gotta do something. You've gotta bring something to the table like this,

resume to a job. You've gotta have something that goes before God in order to earn you righteousness. And brothers and sisters, that happens today. And we have to be aware of that. And if I were to try to categorize this, this is not complete. You can disagree with this. This is fine. I don't think it's perfect. But the kind of large scale, big picture stuff, low hanging fruit of what do we need to look out for? I would say legalism. Legalism, I would describe legalism as following rules and guidelines more than you're following Christ. And I really wanna preface this. I'm not trying to harp on anything that maybe anyone has grown up in or has something in particular that's close to their heart. I'm not saying that things that rules, that you follow practices that you have are bad. Pay attention to this. It's when we follow them more than we're following Christ.

That's the thing, that the problem, and it's present today. I would say the second thing is nominal Christianity. Nominal Christianity, another way of saying it is as a casual Christianity, a cultural Christianity. I would define it as this, identifying as a Christian by name alone, but having little to no commitment to practicing the faith. Now you might ask yourself why nominal Christianity? Legalism seems to connect very closely with what the Judaizers were doing, but what about nominal Christianity? And I would say in order to kind of just defend this point a bit, I would say really go back to the heart of what these Judaizers are doing, what legalism is doing. And what it's doing, it's works righteousness, and works righteousness means having confidence in anything other than Christ. And you might see nominal Christianity as kind of a lazy form of legalism.

It's not this hardcore rigorous rules, but brothers and sisters, what nominal Christianity is doing is taking confidence and putting it in the fact that they can just claim to be a Christian. They're pointing it back to themselves, saying I bring something to the table, and it's just one thing that I've gone to church before. Hey, I've got parents that are Christians. Hey, I went to VBSs as a kid. Hey, I go to church every now and then whenever it doesn't conflict with my schedule. Like, hey, I've got this, I've done this, I live in the South, everyone's a Christian, I'm a part of that. So this is where God owes me righteousness, because I have that. Again, brothers and sisters, it's a lazy form of legalism, but it's the same thing. It's pointing it back to yourself, and not pointing it to the one who should truly be reliant upon, which is Christ.

So as a way of kind of just defining this a bit more, I would say legalism. Again, I'm not trying to step on any toes. I want you to know these things can be good, but they're not to the level that we should hold Christ as. Legalism would say things like baptism saves. Communion forgives. Wearing a suit and tie to church makes you holy. Reading the King James Version is the righteous book to read. Listen, I love the King James, and I promise you, I do. It's a great book, but again, when you hold it to a standard that is level with Christ, anything is bad. Anything like that can be wrong. It's a proper understanding of these things, and there are times when things like this are put level with Christ if not above Christ. There are many great versions of the Bible, and we should read as many as we can. And the nominal Christianity says things like, I'm a Christian because I claim to be a Christian.

I'm a Christian because I go to church. I'm a Christian because I'm a part of a Christian family. This is, it's this real lack of practice, lack of true life change that happens from these things. And Paul's, I think, urging us to be aware of this. Look out for it. Look out for people who either teach this kind of a thing or who live this out in their practice. Because brothers and sisters, we are sinners, just as all these other people who may be following this are. We're susceptible to falling into sin easily. We must be aware, we must look out, we must pray for those, we must be gracious with those, we must bring the word of God to those and stand on the truth of his word. And then in verse three, Paul says, he kind of really lays out after describing, he calls them dogs, he calls them evildoers, mutilator of the flesh, he then describes, okay, what is a true Christian?

And in verse three he says, for we are the circumcision. What he's referring to is he's saying, these Judaizers are saying, they're pointing to this fleshly circumcision. He said, no, no, Jesus is saying, when he came he preached a message of true circumcision, which is circumcision of the heart, a cutting away of sin that now happens because of what the Spirit of God does in your life. That is who the true Christians are. It's not this physical representation, it is this heart circumcision. That is the true Christian. They worship by the Spirit of God. They don't worship by man's standards, they worship by the Spirit of God. They give glory to Christ, they don't give glory to man, and they put no confidence in the flesh. That is the true church. The second movement that Paul does, he now kind of shifts gears a bit, and he draws us into his testimony. Again, he doesn't give all of his testimony,

he's just highlighting a specific piece, so I think it's important in this next section to kind of give a bit of a backstory. If you don't know, Paul, he's an apostle. He wasn't always an apostle, okay? He's got this background, this history, where he's a Jewish man, he's an Israelite, and he's not just any Israelite, like he was committed to the Jewish practices. You would say, Paul would say, that his life prior to being an apostle, prior to his salvation, he was all in on this workspace salvation, this workspace righteousness. He was fully committed to it, until the day that he was on the Damascus Road, and the Lord met him, literally met him. I think people say that as a figurative or kind of general thing, but like Paul literally got met with God. He was blinded, God revealed the truth of the gospel to him, and then his life was completely changed. But the thing that Paul's gonna highlight

is he's wanting to show, listen, I lived the life that you are now preaching, Judaizers, to these people. I have done this, and I have done it more than you can even imagine. I wasn't just halfway in on this workspace righteousness, I was all the way in. He's saying, look at my life, and let me show you what this is really about. So in verses four through six, he says, though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also, saying, you Judaizers, you think you bring something, you think you've done something, growing up as a kid that you've earned some type of extra blessing or honor because of the Jewish things that you've done, let me show you what I did. He says, if anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more. I was circumcised on the eighth day of the people of Israel, the tribe of Benjamin, Hebrew of Hebrews, as to the law of Pharisee,

as to zeal, a persecutor of the church, as to righteousness under the law, blameless. Now I think we need to get a bit more understanding of what Paul is talking about. None of us here, I would assume, are Jews, and so we don't fully understand what he's referring to, but the kind of real emphasis that he's pushing, he's saying, you Judaizers, all you want people to do is get circumcised and follow food laws. I did that in a million times more. So what Paul's gonna kind of highlight is three key things. He's gonna highlight his heritage, his law keeping, and his zeal. Within his heritage, he says he has the right upbringing. He was circumcised on the eighth day. This means that his parents followed Jewish law, allowed him to physically follow the law, even when he was such a young child that he couldn't even choose to do it himself. That's how serious he is about this law,

that his parents forced him, he was able to do this from birth. And then he says, I wasn't just some person out in Egypt or anywhere else that was just happened to get circumcised on the eighth day. No, no, no, no, I was a part of the people of Israel, God's chosen people, the one that he parted the sea for, I'm a part of this people. He says, I'm not just a part of that people, I'm not just a part of Israel, I'm a big part of Israel. He says, I'm of the tribe of Benjamin. Well, why does he emphasize the tribe of Benjamin? Well, I think there's two reasons why. One, the tribe of, if you don't know, Israel's made up of 12 tribes. One of the tribes is the tribe of Benjamin. Benjamin is the tribe that gave Israel their very first king. So that gives Benjamin a bit of status, that tribe a bit of status. And then the second thing that the tribe of Benjamin is really known for is that when Israel was divided,

when there was a lot of sin happening, there was problems going on, there's the biggest tribe within Israel, and that's the tribe of Judah. That's a really important tribe. That's the tribe that David comes from. That's the tribe that Jesus comes from. During this time of separation, the rest of the tribes abandoned Judah, but Benjamin did not. The tribe of Benjamin stayed with them. And so there's this type of clout or authority or honor that's given to Benjamin. And Paul says, hey, I'm of that tribe, not just in Israelite. I'm of the right tribe as well. And then Paul says, as to the law, I'm a Pharisee. Who is a Pharisee? Pharisees are one of the strictest Jewish religious groups that there is. They were prominent, they were well-known, and they were known for how serious they were about the Scriptures, about knowing the law, about teaching the law, about leading in the law.

Paul says, I was one of them. We know from other passages of Scripture that Paul actually rose in the ranks of the Pharisees quicker than anybody else. He was one of the youngest ones to get to the position that he was able to get to within the Pharisees. He says, as according to the law, I was blameless. He says, listen, I wasn't just somebody who was a part of this prestigious group, this leadership group. What I want you to know is if you looked at my life from the outside, there's not a single thing that you could say, hey, Paul, you're breaking the law here. He followed the sacrifices. He followed the laws, the food, everything that needed to be done. He wasn't breaking anything. He had the position, the title, and he was truly living it out where no one could put blame on him of saying, Paul, you're not doing this right. He says, no, I was committed. He says, you want some zeal, you want some passion?

I had passion. I had so much passion that these Christians, this group of people who came up, who when you look at what the Pharisees were doing in this real workspace salvation, the Christians were a people who were completely against that. They were completely derailing what the Pharisees and what these Jewish law keeping was all about. And Paul says, I was so against that, I was so full of works righteousness that I went and I persecuted this church. I wasn't someone that was on the sidelines. I was in the game. I was in a big part of the game. I was doing everything I needed to do in order to earn myself some type of status. I think that we need to have a bit of connection to today. Paul's kind of pushing all of his coins up to the Jews and they're maybe a bit impressed with that, but today, I mean, what would impress us? What would be the connection to what Paul

is basically laying out? Well, I think this is what it would be like. I think if somebody was trying to brag about their heritage today, they might say something like this. They might say, hey, listen, I was baptized as an infant. I was raised in the church from birth. I was a part of the right denomination. I wasn't just raised in the church. I wasn't just a Christian. I was the right denomination. I was maybe you would say in this room, I was a Baptist. Like I'm better than the other ones, right? Like that's the better of the Christian. Like we're all Christian, like we say that, but it's like, there's better ones. I'm a part of the right camp. Like that's maybe what they would say. They would say, I've got this kind of status. I've got the right one. They say I was raised in a Christian family. I didn't just go to church by myself. Like my family was there. They were with me.

And not even maybe they would add this. They would say, I even went to a Christian school. I didn't go to some public school where they were hypnotizing me with some kind of craziness. Like, no, no, I was at the right school where they were teaching me the right things, which is by the Bible. I've been there from day one. I got the heritage to prove it. They said, I got the law keeping too. Somebody might say today, they say like, I know all the Bible stories. I know the Ten Commandments. I can quote them to you. I know them so well that maybe even I've taught them in certain ways. I know the Bible. I know what it says. I can pray the Lord's Prayer. Like, I know it all. I was the kid that in Sunday school, like I'm memorizing the scriptures and I'm getting the candy that they're offering for memorizing. Like, I was the one that did that. I wasn't just someone who like said

they need to read the Bible. I was actually reading it and I know it. And then they would say maybe for some zeal, they would say, listen, I'm not just a part of a church. I actually serve in my church. There's plenty of people that just go to church. But I got some passion. I got some heart in this game. I serve in the church. We would look at this and we'd say, man, what an impressive resume. Paul had an impressive resume. People today can have an impressive resume. Paul had heritage. He had law and he had zeal. But he was missing something. He was missing something. Verse seven, this is probably the most beautiful but you're gonna see all day. Verse seven says, but. But, I got the heritage. I got the law. I got the zeal. 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 I 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. You can have all the works, but if you don't have Christ, you have nothing.

All of those things are good. Going to church is good. Knowing the scriptures is good. Knowing the Lord's prayer is good. Serving your church is good. But, if you don't have Christ, you are not earning any kind of righteousness. The Lord is not impressed with your resume. The Lord cares about one thing and it is where does your faith lie? Is it in Christ alone or is it in what you can do? What you bring to him? I think a helpful analogy would be something like this, that a body can have all of its parts, but if it doesn't have a beating heart, then it's still dead. If you're here today and you're like Paul and maybe you feel as though that you've been banking on your impressive resume that you're gonna bring to God, the things that you've done, the household that you grew up in, the VBS that you went to and you walked down that aisle, but your life now reflects nothing of that salvation

that you claimed that day. The legalism, the rules, the things that you have followed, if that's what you're banking on bringing to the Lord and saying, God, you now owe me righteousness because of what I've done. I want you to say, like Paul, your life can be completely changed. You can see that as what it truly is, which in light of Christ and a lot of righteousness, it's rubbish, it's nothing. The only thing that has meaning and value and purpose is Christ, your faith in Christ alone. Paul says something that's really important that maybe you're sitting here today and maybe you still don't understand. Well, what does it truly mean to have faith in Christ alone? And maybe for the seasoned Christian in here, what does it truly mean to not only understand this concept, but also to live it out in the best way possible and the truest way possible. Well, Paul gives us something really important here.

He says in relation to Paul's faith in Christ alone, he says that he counts everything as loss. Well, what does that mean? What does it really mean to count everything as loss? Well, first we need to understand what kind of language Paul is using here. He's using a kind of financial language. So what Paul is basically trying to communicate is that if he had a sheet of paper and he's writing down his assets, his financial assets in life, at one time he would put his heritage, his law and his zeal as assets. But now he's saying, I count those all loss. They are no longer my assets. They never were my assets. I was the only fool who thought that they were my assets. The one thing that is true is Christ.

That's what he's trying to tell us. Says he counts them all loss. But again, Paul, are you trying to tell us that we now just need to give up everything? Like Paul, we just need to stop being a Pharisee. We need to give up on everything and lose everything. Like is that really what you're calling us to do? Because like maybe I'll do that. Like maybe you're willing. You're like, Paul, I'll go be a monk. I'll get in the hills. I'll get away from everything. I'll get rid of all my possessions. I'll get rid of it. Is that what we're to do? Well, sometimes this can be a bit of a hard concept to understand. Because I mean, is this not what Jesus was kind of telling the rich young ruler in Matthew 19, 16 through 22? This is what Jesus says when this rich young ruler comes to Jesus. Verse 16 says, and behold, a man came up to him saying, teacher, what good deed must I do

to enter eternal life, to have eternal life? And he said to him, why do you ask me about what is good? There's only one who is good. Jesus says this, if you would enter life, keep the commandments. He said to him, which ones? And Jesus said, you shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not bear false witness. Honor your father and mother, and you shall love your neighbor as yourself. The young man said to him, all these I have kept. What do I still lack? Jesus said to him, if you would be perfect, go, sell all your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasures in heaven, and come, follow me. When the young man heard this, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. So Paul is saying, count everything as loss. Jesus has told this rich young ruler, go and sell all of your possessions. So this is the message that we're supposed to hear,

this get rid of everything in your life. Why would say no? No, that's not what they're, actually what Jesus and Paul are actually talking about. What they're talking about is a heart change. That's what they're getting at, is this heart change that looks like losing everything, everything else but Christ. See, what I think is a helpful way of kind of understanding this, this is what I think Jesus and Paul are wanting our lives to look like in relation to Christ alone. Is this kind of closed fist open hand. What do you hold onto with a closed fist? Jesus and Paul would say, Christ alone, your trust, your faith, and Christ alone must be the only thing that you have a closed fist with. By the grace of God, the Lord sustains this, and he keeps this, this is not by our own works that we hold onto this, but he's saying, listen, this is how your life needs to be. It needs to be you hold onto Christ only,

and everything else in your life, everything, and I mean everything, I'm talking about your job, your career, that business that you started from the ground up and as your baby, your friends, your family, your possession, your cars, your hobby, your money, your politics, your comfort, your sense of self security, and even your own life. He says everything must be in this open hand.

So that if you're truly living this out, where your trust is only in Christ, everything else is with this open hand, you don't close fist to anything else but him. When God says let it go, like he told Paul, like Jesus told the rich young ruler, you have no problem doing so, because he is the only one who your salvation lies in. He is the only one who you truly trust in. You don't trust in these things. You don't have Jesus plus something else squeezed in there that you're holding onto and you'll never let go. You hold everything. He is your Lord. He is the one who dictates what happens because he is your only asset. Everything else is up for grabs. However the Lord leads, that is what happens. In order for Paul's life to be transformed, for him to truly live this out, that meant he got rid of his Pharisee status, his persecution of the church, his reliance upon the law, he got rid of it.

That's what Jesus was asking the rich young ruler to do as well. Brother, this is what I think this idea not only applies to salvation, this must be the case in salvation, but it also applies to sanctification. In the moment of your salvation, this is the reality. It is this completed work of you completely saying, God, you are my Lord and my Savior, and this is sealed permanent because of the work of Christ. But then as we live out our life, there is this process of sanctification, the spirit working on our lives, growing us in maturity, growing us to look more like him. And, brothers, we cannot miss the fact that we must continue to hold our hand open to everything. How the Lord leads, how he prompts, how he moves, how he matures you, do not fall more susceptible into sin, get lazy in your faith, stop looking to Christ, or eventually you start to close your hand onto other things.

Because we are all sinners. We are all sinners saved by the grace of God, but we are still sinners. We mess up. And if we are not looking to Christ daily, pursuing him daily, living out the truth of our salvation that is him alone who we trust, then we will start to close our hand onto other things. We say, God, you can't take that. I'm not gonna let that go. And sometimes these things can be a bit hard to do. There's things when you first become a Christian, where you realize, like, this is obvious that I need to let go of, this old life that I had, I clearly need to let go of that. The Lord still then starts to convict you of some sin, some obvious things, and you're like, of course I need to do that. But then as you mature, there comes a time when something hits you, where it's like, I didn't see this one coming. I didn't see the Lord convicting me of this.

I didn't even know this was a real problem in my life. But because it's a progression, because it's a movement of the Lord being gracious with you and carrying you through, he then reveals things to you. And again, but it was in our sin and our pride. If we are not continuing to bow the knee to the Lord and express him as our only savior, we will then come to that point and we'll say, God, it's enough. I've done enough. I've matured enough. I can't let this thing go. I don't want to let this thing go. Or perhaps we just get confused in some of the things. And I'm telling you, the wonderful work of the Spirit is that he knows you intimately and he works in your life in a very personal way. To give kind of an example of this, we sometimes take righteous things and we turn them sinful by the way we handle them or process them or see them. Something that I wanna confess to you

that this is something that I've worked through this passage is that the Lord has brought to my mind. Is that I've realized that there's been times when I have prayed for somebody, someone that I love, that I care for, that I've prayed for something to change in their life, something to happen for the Lord to move. And in sin, I thought that what I was doing was righteous. It was good. But really what I was doing is I had a heart of saying, if I pray enough, God will work. If I pray enough, God's gonna owe me this. I just gotta pray more. I just gotta fast a bit more.

And when I get to that heart, I realize that what I'm doing is I'm closing this fist down on something that's not supposed to, I'm closing this fist onto me trying to control the situation of this person I'm praying for. I'm not giving that over to the Lord. I'm not saying, Lord, you're the one that does the work. I'm saying, God, I do something in order for you to work. I've prayed enough so you have to do this thing for me. That's not how the Lord works. He calls us to pray in obedience. Calls us to pray in faith. Calls us to pray in complete reliance upon him. And I say this to tell you that sin is a creepy thing. It finds its ways in things that you might not be aware of and that is why we must be in tuned with the Spirit in how he's leading us to convict us of our sins, even in things that we might think are righteous. When it comes to the job that you have,

the Lord may be pushing you to, hey, you gotta do something different. You gotta change how you're doing this. You might need to change jobs. But then we come back with the Lord, we're like, no, no, no, this is a righteous thing. I'm providing for my family. I have to provide for my family. Well, the Lord says to whom do you trust? Is it in me? Or is it in these things you're trying to make a facade of righteousness and calling it good when I've told you that this is something you need to let go of? So be open to that church. Be open to the way the Spirit may move you. Keep holding tight to Christ, trusting in him only, and hold everything open, even though this is hard. Pray for one another in this. Walk alongside one another in this. The Lord is moving. We are called to be obedient. But that is a hard thing for us to do. And be aware of the obvious things, the sins in your life, the problems that are around,

the things that people are maybe bringing up to you, pointing out for you. Be willing to say all I hold onto is Christ. Anything that he leads me to give up, anything he leads me to just change the type of involvement I have in this. Similar to Paul. Paul's work as a Pharisee didn't go without any meaning. Like the work that Paul was able to do for the gospel was largely because of everything he knew growing up as a Pharisee. So the Lord isn't going to just totally discredit everything in your life, but potentially he's gonna say like, hey, this is just how it needs to be operated now. Hey, this is the level that you need to hold it at. You don't need to hold it level with me. You need to keep it here and allow me to operate within it. So the Lord is still gonna bless the things that he's brought into your life, the things that he's done. Perhaps it's even taking sins in your life

and using that to just speak into the lives of others, walk alongside them, care for them in a better way. The Lord is going to use the things in your life, but let him be the one that's doing it and not you. The last thing that Paul does, the last movement that he does, is he shows us the Christian heart. Paul does something that I think is a little bit strange in the last two verses. He does something that kind of seems a little bit contradictory to what he's been saying. And that was my first approach to it. Obviously, Paul's not contradicting himself, but I think it's worth us being honest with the text. And that's how I thought Paul, I was a bit confused with this. This is what he says in the last two verses. He says that I may know him in 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. So why does Paul use earning language in these last two verses? Why does he say something about, like I am attaining the resurrection by knowing Christ more and suffering for Christ? Well, obviously we know Paul is not contradicting himself. He's trying to show us something that's really important and something that we often miss. What he's showing us is what the heart of the Christian is supposed to be. He's exposing the truth, which is true life change that comes from faith in Christ alone. Because Paul has been saved, he now lives a life that is in continued pursuit of Christ, that is willing and eager to suffer for him by any means necessary. This is the heart of the Christian. See, what's important is that salvation is not based on works, but we must know salvation works. Salvation is not based on works, but it does work.

These two things are not separate from each other. You are saved by grace through faith alone, and then God doesn't just give up on you and it's like, okay, now do whatever you want in your life. No, no, no, the Lord is working in you. If these two things are separate from each other, then you possibly don't have a true salvation. The Lord is working. That's how great and unreline upon you that the Lord is, that he will save you by his work and he will continue to change you, change your heart by his work. And that's what Paul's showing us. He's exposing his heart. He says because of what Christ has done, because of the faith I have in him alone, I, eager to pursue him, I long to know him more. I long to suffer for him by any means possible so that I may attain the resurrection of the dead. That is my Christian heart. May the truth of Christ and his salvation lead us

to hunger and trust in him so much so that we follow Paul's example of being obedient by any means possible. That's the last thing that Paul leaves us with, is this heart cry, this example of what we must also follow him in, having a heart that says by any means possible, Lord, I will follow you. And Paul truly lived that out. He lived it out in the most wonderful way possible and we would be good to follow him in his footsteps. So is righteousness game by works? No. It's not about your resume. It's not about what you bring to the table. It's not even about if you're good with that your salvation is by Christ alone, but maybe you have a bit of a tendency to think that the Lord owes me this kind of blessing, the Lord owes me this kind of prayer request because of what I've done. Look at me, I've got a seminary degree. I've been serving the church forever. I have children that are faithfully following the Lord.

I'm owed this thing, Lord, you can't put that in my life. What I want to be emphasized in salvation and in all aspects of your life is Christ alone who is working is not you. Faith in him only. May that affect your heart, may that be expressed through the life that you live. May you be someone who's consistently living a life of trusting in him only and everything else is open to him. However he leads, however he moves in your life.

And if you're here today and you don't know Christ, I encourage you please, know this truth. May the Lord meet you like he met Paul, the Damascus rose and completely change you so you can see the wonderful work that is done by him and not us. If you're battery-headed me, I'm praying. Dear Lord, Father, I thank you for your word. I thank you for your message and the truth of the gospel that you are the one who has saved these wretched sinners, these ones who even if our best efforts, our best ways of going about earning your righteousness, gaining favor with you, Lord, they are meaningless. They have nothing.

Father, the only thing that we have is you. Father, thank you for that. Thank you for that, Father, because we are sinners who fall short daily and it is a blessing that it is upon your shoulders that we are made righteous, that we are made right. Lord, may this truth be shown to those who need to hear it. May this truth be lived out by those who are faithfully yours. I pray this song.