⁷ But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. ⁸ What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish that I may gain Christ ⁹ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. ¹⁰ I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, ¹¹ and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.

 

¹² Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. ¹³ Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, ¹⁴ I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

 

1.     Consider everything a loss compared to

a.     the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord,

What does your profit and loss account look like? I mean what do you value most? When you look back at the last 8 months are you in recession or is there growth? The answer to that question depends on what you measure your profit and loss in. If it is money, you look at the accounts. If it is friendship you will look at the conversations, phone calls, prayer times and other times spent with friends. If it is reputation, have you been promoted or are you just keeping your job? What the Bible says is that you have got to put all that aside for the one measure which counts. The surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. SO we look back to see what we have gained and we have a vision to go forward. To know Christ. Do you know Christ? Do you know Christ Jesus? Have you turned away from the wrong attitudes and actions and motivations to put your whole faith and trust in Jesus the Saviour. Is your salvation based on his work of grace alone or are you still hanging on to your street cred as a good honest citizen?  Do you know Christ Jesus as Lord? Are you so captivated by this wonderful Saviour that you are willing to obey him regardless of the cost?  Is the Christ you Saviour? Is the Christ your Lord? There is no greater relationship that you can have than to know Christ Jesus as Lord.  That is not to reject all other relationships because they will be enhanced by your knowing Jesus. So if you want a vision for what to do in the coming months here it is. Know Christ Jesus the Lord.

b.    that I may gain Christ and be found in him having a righteousness which is through faith in Christ.

Paul reflects on the profit and loss account in his life.

He wants to know Christ and gave up everything that he had held of value once the risen Jesus confronted him.

 

So what is your claim on God? Paul simply says he has a righteousness which is through faith in Christ. I want to challenge all of us this morning because in our prayers I sometimes here us telling God that so and so is a really lovely person and worked hard for him. As if that counts! God does not bless us on the basis of what we deserve! He saves us because he chooses to love us. He therefore blesses us because he loves us, not because we have been particularly spiritual. It only takes the smallest of faith for God to move mountains for us. Our salvation comes to us, because we are sinners. God has no time for the self-righteous. So what are you trusting in today? Are you trusting God that through the death and resurrection of Jesus you have eternal life? Or are you still holding out that somehow you have some leverage with God because of your good life? There is no balance between good and evil in our relationship with God. God cannot tolerate sin so unless you have turned away from it, including the sin of pride that ‘ I have been a good enough person’ and trusted Jesus you do not have any relationship with God and you do not have any assurance of salvation.  But if you have believed then you have eternal life, you have a righteousness which is through faith in Christ.

 

2.     know the power of his resurrection

This brings us the second key element in our understanding of mission. Know the power of the resurrection. This is an astounding statement. It says you can know the power that God exerted when he entered the tomb and breathed life into the body of Jesus. He reversed the effects of three days of decay, he healed all the injuries leaving only the scars that could identify him. Jesus was transformed from a normal human body to an eternal one, His physical body remained physical and alive but was capable of behaving as a spirit, passing through walls appearing and disappearing to order. The angel rolled away the stone to let the disciples in to see not to let the risen Saviour out. And that power has transformed you. You are not just a physical body , part of the cycle of life and death, you are an eternal son or daughter of the living God. When your body packs up and you are declared medically dead you will be even more alive in the presence of Jesus. But there is more. That power that raised Jesus from the dead and has given you eternal life can transform the lives of those you pray for. Do you believe it? Do You? We have seen very little fruit, although we praise God for the fruit we have seen in some of the young people. Sometimes I think we have lost the faith that God can save people around us. But God can and will bring new life to those around us. Part of the knowing him is to talk to him about it, ever asking for him to show his power in the salvation of others, particularly those who he has brought into our lives. So lets pause and lift our united voices in asking God to ‘show us you power in the salvation of …. …., in the restoration of …. … … , in the healing of … ….

 

3.     know the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death.

I have thought long and hard about this. I have tried to interpret it in other way but the plain statement is that we are called to suffer persecution. And the lack of persecution means we are missing out on the knowing him. We cannot in any way be like him in his death as far as bringing about salvation, that was a complete and finished work on the cross at Golgotha. But many of our brothers and sisters across the world know Christ and know the fellowship of suffering, becoming like him in his death. Pray for them but also emulate them. They stay the course even when faced with the choice of death or denial. They would rather have Jesus than life itself because Jesus is eternal life. Nothing is better, not even life itself.

 

4.     Press on to take hold - saints in process of transformation.

This is what we have had as a verse for the year Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. 1Timothy 6:10a

That was the message back in January. Today Press on to take hold! Don’t fear the suffering, don’t be turned off by the failure, press on, asking for forgiveness for the failure, asking the Holy Spirit to so transform our minds and hearts that we make the right choices, think the right way. Press on to take hold is about sinners who have become saints being in process of transformation.

¹² Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.

 

Got it? Jesus has taken hold of you and he will never let go of your hand. No-one can take you from my Father’s hand. We respond by pressing on. If you press on you don’t count the tiredness or the difficulty of the journey so far, you get going where you are.

I love Tom-Tom. You can take all the wrong turns and it never gets fed up. It pauses, finds a new route and then calmly tells what to do next. And so long as I obey the instructions I get to my destination (well, even Tom-Tom fails occasionally because it is just a human programmed computer system.)  I believe the Holy Spirit works that way. Our thinking about ‘How you got here’ is about being sorry and turning from the mistakes.  But once we have prayed, we need to take the right steps that lead us on to life. The Holy Spirit will always find a way, however far you have wandered, listen to his voice, read God’s work. Trust that God’s way is the best way out of the mess you are in.  Which means that we need to be reminded where we are going.

5.     Press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

Where are you going? So everything abut your life that is under the movement of the Holy Spirit is about getting there. The suffering and the setbacks are there to teach us to trust, to be patient, to have those things which heaven is all about – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. And from here on up to the heavenward call, you and I are guided by the Holy Spirit to develop those fruits in our lives. But the end is the prize. We can speculate about what form the prize will take. But the heart of heaven is being with Jesus. Knowing him in a way we press on now to experience.

 

We began the year pursuing righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. Have you been distracted, lost your way. Then this passage is for you this morning.

⁷ But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. ⁸ What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish that I may gain Christ ⁹ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. ¹⁰ I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, ¹¹ and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.

 

¹² Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. ¹³ Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, ¹⁴ I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

 

Go for it in the power of the Holy Spirit. Press on, you are on your way to the greatest goal, knowing Jesus.

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