Php 3:8-12 8Yes, I think it is all a loss because it is so much better to know Christ Jesus, my

Lord. For Him I have lost everything and consider it garbage in order to win Christ 9and to be

found in Him, not having my own righteousness which comes from keeping the Law but having

the righteousness which is through faith in Christ and which comes from God on the basis of

faith. 10I want to know Him and the power of His resurrection, to share His sufferings and be like

Him in His death 11if somehow I may join those who rise from the dead. 12I don’t mean I have

already reached this or am already at the goal, but I eagerly go after it to make it mine because

Christ Jesus made me His own.

Just what is it worth to you to know Christ Jesus as your Lord? Paul thought knowing Christ his

Lord was worth sacrificing everything. His being of the tribe of Benjamin, his being a Pharisee,

his training as a rabbi and everything good he had ever done he considered as rubbish,

excrement, he was willing to sacrifice it all to know Christ Jesus his Lord. Can you say the

same? Or are you looking for a glory to call your own?

If Paul could gain Christ and be found in him, then everything else was worth losing. For that

would mean having a righteousness not his own, but rather the righteousness that comes through

faith in Christ. This righteousness is from God and is not only Christ’s righteousness but God’s

righteousness. Both were gained in Christ. Are you still trying to impress God with all your good

works? Are you weighing your good works versus your bad works? You’re on the wrong playing

field! Nothing pleases God more than you trusting Jesus to be your righteousness before him.

Nothing pleases God more than you hating your good works and clinging only to the work and

glory that is Jesus’.

On top of that, Paul looked forward to the resurrection and desired to know the power of it. He

didn’t look forward to eternity with God in an ethereal world. He looked forward to being with

God in a New Heavens and a New Earth where he would be resurrected bodily like Jesus. To

that end he was willing to be like Jesus in his sufferings and death. Whatever it took to attain the

resurrection of the dead he was willing to go through. He would be imprisoned, shipwrecked,

naked, hungry, in chains and eventually beheaded. Is the resurrection of the body and an eternity

with God our Father worth that to you? What are you willing to endure to be raised eternally

from the dead? Thankfully, it is given us freely for Christ’s sake. We need only endure and be

faithful to Jesus unto death. Paul had not yet achieved this yet when he wrote this. However Paul

was willing to press on to make it his own because Christ has made him his own. Whatever it

took or he went through it would be worth it. What would it take for you to reject Christ and his

gift? Are you willing to lose everything for Jesus’ sake? Jesus gave it up for you on the cross. Be

willing to do the same for him.

Almighty God, Lord of the resurrection, grant us such faith in Jesus that we will be willing to

lose all, everything in this life, even our own lives that we might endure all that Satan and the

world will inflict us with that we with Paul may attain the resurrection from the dead. In Jesus’

name we pray. Amen.