The surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord
[Philippians 3:7-9]
Do you know what is beneficial and what is harmful to your Christian life? What if we know (distinguish) between what is beneficial and what is harmful to each of our Christian life? I am sure we will get rid of what is harmful to us and take what is beneficial to our Christian life.
But what is the problem? In my opinion, the most fundamental problem is that we are not able to distinguish between what is beneficial to our faith and what is harmful to our faith. Let's take an example. Let’s compare to the health of our bodies. What if we cannot distinguish between what is beneficial to our health and what is harmful to our health in managing our health? Then for sure we cannot take care of our health well. However, I think that some of the elderly people who were sick (or are still sick) here and there know what to do about their heath since they went to their hospitals and met their doctors many times. So I am sure they do their best to take care of their health. But what if they know what to do for their health but don’t do it and continue to do what is harmful to their health? I think this is a bigger problem. The bigger problem is that they know what is beneficial and harmful to their health but they keep on taking what is harmful to their health and not taking what is beneficial to their health. This is really the big problem. In this way, how can we be spiritually healthy if we don’t do what is beneficial to us but continue to do what is harmful in our spiritual life? How can we be spiritually healthy? We will definitely get spiritually sick and ill. For example, if you look briefly, what would you think is beneficial to your Christian life? Don’t you think it is beneficial to your spiritual health when you heard the Word of God and obey Him? Don’t you think it would be beneficial to your spiritual health when you devote yourselves to prayers? However, what if you don’t hear and obey the Word of God and if you don’t devote yourselves to prayers but disobey His Word and don’t pray to God? Don’t you think it will be harmful to your spiritual health?
In Philippians 3:7-8, Paul told the saints of the Philippian church: “But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 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.” I want to meditate on the word Philippians 3:7-9 under the title “The surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord” and to receive the precious lessons that the Lord gives us.
First, take a look at Philippians 3:7 again: “But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ.” What does the phrase “But whatever was to my profit” refer to? It refers to the privilege that was given to him in the past before Paul believed in Jesus and what he gained from his efforts. It was the three privileges that were given to Saul (Paul) (v. 5a) and another three privileges that Saul obtained through his efforts (vv. 5b-6). The three privileges that were given to Saul were “circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews” (v. 5a). And the three privileges that he obtained through his efforts were “in regard to the law, a Pharisee; as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for legalistic righteousness, faultless” (vv. 5b-6). To summarize, these six things that Saul (Paul) considered them as profitable to him before he believed in Jesus was putting confidence in the flesh (v. 4). He had more reason to put confidence in the flesh than the Judaizers. These six reasons were listed in verses 5-6. And these six reasons were greatly profitable to Saul before he met the resurrected Lord Jesus Christ on the way to Damascus. From Saul's point of view, he was a Pharisee who pursued in believing in Christ (here Christ was not Jesus in Saul's case) and being justified by doing his best to keep the law. To Saul, who pursued this legalistic righteousness (v. 6), the six lists of privileges were a tremendous benefit to him. For one example, look at the last sixth privilege in verse 6: “as to the righteousness which is in the Law, found blameless.” This was a great benefit to Saul. It was the tremendous benefit to Saul that he, who had thoroughly believed that he could be justified by God because he kept the law, was blameless as to the righteousness which is in the Law. But as we know, this is the story before Saul believed that Jesus is the Christ. In other words, Saul considered all these six privileges to be beneficial to him before he believed in Jesus Christ. However, in Philippians 3:7, Paul continued to write to the Philippian church saints and said, “But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ.” In other words, he said that he counted loss the six privileges listed mentioned in vv. 5-6 for the sake of Christ. What Paul said that those six privileges were not profitable to him at all who believes that Jesus is the Christ so he considered loss. Here the meanings of the Greek words “profit” and “loss” are accounting terms (MacArthur). What Paul said to the Philippian church saints was that he considered loss the six privileges that he were profitable to him before he believed in Jesus Christ (v. 7b).
How could Paul consider loss all the profits of his past? Why did he consider loss the six privileges that he put confidence in before he believed in the Lord Jesus Christ? What was the purpose? The purpose is recorded in verse 7: “… for the sake of Christ.” When Paul met resurrected Jesus on the way to Damascus, he came to believe that Jesus who was crucified and died, is Christ. As a result, Paul realized that no one could be saved by the legalistic righteousness (v. 6), that is righteousness that comes from the law (v. 9), but only by “the righteousness that comes from God” (v. 9) that people could be saved by faith in Jesus Christ. Look at Philippians 3:9 – “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.” Before Paul met the resurrected Jesus on the way to Damascus, he thought that he could be justified by keeping the law (by his effort). But when he me the resurrected Jesus Christ on the way to Damascus, by God’s grace he believed that Jesus is the Christ and he was saved. Therefore, Paul came to realize the truth that he could only be saved by "the righteousness that comes from God" and “by faith” (v. 9) and not by “a righteousness of my own that comes from the law” (v. 9). Also, he came to realize that the flesh that he put confidence in (v. 4), that was the six privileges that he put confidence in (vv. 5-6) were not profitable at all (v. 7). So he considered them loss for the sake of Christ (v. 7). In addition to these six privileges, Paul considered “everything”, that is all the worldly things beside those six things loss for the sake of Christ (Park Yun-sun). Not only that, Paul had lost all things and considered them rubbish (v. 8). Here we need to go over two things
(1) The first word is “rubbish” (v. 8).
The word "rubbish" is being translated into "garbage" or "waste" in the Korean modern Bible. Actually, this word may mean "residues" that are discarded at the table. According to Dr. Park Yun-sun ‘The Pharisaic legalism, which Paul had considered very precious in the past, is like the residues left at the table. Although these residues looked good on dogs (the Judaizers such as Pharisaic Jews), but it was an obstacle to Paul’ (Park Yun-sun). Also, the word “rubbish” can be translated as “dung or manure” that come out from our human body (Park Yun-sun).
(2) The second word is “consider” (vv. 7-8).
This word “consider” appears three times in verses 7 and 8. When we look at the English Bible, we cannot tell the difference of these three words. But if we look at the Greek, there is difference between “consider” in verse 7 and in verse 8. The difference is that the verb “consider” in verse 7 is past tense while in verse 8 it is present tense. What does it mean? It means that when Paul met Jesus Christ on the way to Damascus and was saved he considered those six privileges that he put confidence in the flesh as rubbish. However, in verse 8, when Paul said “I consider everything loss” and “I consider them rubbish”, the verb “consider” here refers to the continuous action permanently (Park Yun-sun). In other words, not only did Paul already consider six privileges that he put confidence in the flesh loss (v.7) he also considered “everything a loss” and considered them rubbish (v. 8) continually and permanently.
Why did he do that? Why did Paul continue to regard them all as loss and continue to do so? Apostle Paul told the reason in Philippians 3:8-9: “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 and be found in him, ….” The reason was because Paul knew “the greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord” (v. 8). Although Paul, who was a Pharisee in regard to the law in the past (v. 5), had many knowledge of the law, didn’t know that “the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith” (Gal. 3:24). In particular, even though he had much knowledge about Christ, he didn’t know that Jesus was the Christ. He didn’t know that Jesus was the Son of God (cf. Acts 9:20). That was why Paul zealously persecuted the Christians who believed that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of God, and followed His ways. But when Saul (Paul) heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” (Acts 9:4) on the way to Damascus, and when he believed that Jesus is the Christ and the Son of God (v. 20), he realized that “the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord” (Phil. 3:8). Here, the “knowing” is not only about his intellectual knowledge about Him. When Paul used the Greek word (γνώσεως), he referred to knowing Jesus "experientially" or "personally" (cf. Jn. 10:27, 17: 3, 2 Cor. 4:6, 1 Jn. 5:20). This knowledge is also equal to the life we share with Christ (Gal. 2:20). And it is consistent with God's knowledge of God's people (Am. 3:2) and their love and obedience in knowing God (Jer. 31:34, 6:3, 8:2) (MacArthur). I thought about why Paul regarded the fleshly things that he put confidence in and proud of in the past as loss. It was because of “the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ” his Lord (Phil. 3:8). When I did so, I wrote these words: ‘In order to get the best value, we have to abandon everything else that has no value (Phil. 3:7-8).’
What do you think? If you have deeply realized (or progressively realizing) that the knowing Jesus Christ is the most valuable personally or empirically will you not abandon everything else that has no value? Paul did it. He permanently considered all six privileges that he put confidence in the flesh in the past and all other things of this world as loss and rubbish because of the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus his Lord. What were his two purposes?
(1) The first reason was that he might gain Christ.
Look at Philippians 3:8 – “… that I may gain Christ.” In order to gain Christ whom Paul didn’t know, Paul permanently considered all other thing a loss (Park Yun-sun). I would like to take Jonah 1:4-5 as an example: “Then the LORD sent a great wind on the sea, and such a violent storm arose that the ship threatened to break up. All the sailors were afraid and each cried out to his own god. And they threw the cargo into the sea to lighten the ship. But Jonah had gone below deck, where he lay down and fell into a deep sleep.” Just as all the Gentile sailors threw the cargo into the sea to lighten the ship, we must throw all the worldly things in order to gain Christ. In other words, in order to get the best value, we must discard everything else that has no value. But if we cannot abandon the love of money even though we say we want to gain Christ, we will serve two masters according to Jesus' words (Mt. 6:24).
(2) The second was to be found in Christ.
Look at Philippians 3:9 – “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.” Here, the phrase “be found in him” is being translated as ‘in order to be perfectly united with Christ’ in another Korean Bible version. The meaning of this translation is ‘a spiritual union with Christ, a state of righteousness’ (Park Yun-sun). Paul was already justified by believing in Jesus Christ on the way to Damascus. In other words, he was already one with Jesus by being united with Jesus Christ in His death on the cross and resurrection. Thus Paul was "already" united with Jesus and received the righteousness of God, but not in perfect condition. But he was not yet united with Jesus completely and received God’s righteousness perfectly. In other words, when Paul was already saved because he believed that Jesus was the Christ and received Him, he was justified because the righteousness of God was imputed to him. But qualitatively, he was not in perfect condition of righteousness to do the right things. That was why he said in Romans 7:23, “but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members.” But when Jesus comes again he would be suddenly transformed into a glorious spiritual body and he would be in complete righteous state. Then he would be able to live a life of complete obedience to Jesus’ twofold command of loving God and loving his neighbors and to fulfill God’s will perfectly. Until then, Paul devoted himself not only to lose the six privileges of his flesh of the past but also to consider all other worldly things rubbish and continually and permanently lose them.
What is the most precious thing to you? Is there anything more precious to you than the Lord Jesus? Is knowing Jesus Christ the most valuable thing to you? Are you living a life of sharing with Christ? Are you getting to know Christ as God knows you? Are you obeying the Lord because you love Him? If you do, then you must consider all the fleshly things that you put confidence in a loss and rubbish in order to gain Christ and to be found in Him. Also, the purpose is to perfectly unite with Christ, to reach a perfect spiritual union with Him and to be in the perfect state of righteousness. It is only until that moment that we wish all of us to grow in the knowledge of Jesus Christ. May we be able to confess that the knowing our Lord Jesus Christ has the surpassing value.