GAINING IN JESUS CHRIST

Transcription

1 January 20, 2013 ADULT SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSON GAINING IN JESUS CHRIST MINISTRY INVOCATION Almighty God: Our existence is predicated on Your Love for us and for that we are humbled as well as blessed. There is No One greater than You. In Jesus Name, Amen. WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW AND UNDERSTAND Paul believed that none of life s achievements are worth anything when compared to the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus. THE APPLIED FULL GOSPEL DISTINCTIVE We believe in the indwelling of the Holy Ghost for all believers and that the Holy Ghost verifies and validates the Believer as part of the Body of Christ. TEXT: Background Scripture Philippians 3:1-11 Key Verse Philippians 3:7 Lesson Scripture Philippians 3:7-11 (NKJV) 7 But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. 8 Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; 10 that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, 11 if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. COMMENTARY The false teachers were evil workers. While Paul s evaluation was penetrating, he realized that their outlook was the same as his had been. In fact, the burden of this entire section is carried by a theme of Paul s life before and after Christ. The real value Paul found was in knowing Christ personally. That brought a true zeal for perfect character not found through the law. This section is intensely theological, yet practical. After describing dissatisfaction with his natural attainments, Paul described succinctly and successively what has come to be known in the topical arrangements of classical systematic theology as justification (v. 9), sanctification (v. 10), and glorification (v. 11). Since they occur together under one subject in Paul s testimony, clearly he considered them to be linked together, each growing out of the other. Paul probably linked these in his own 1

2 mind, though they address two very different situations. This passage makes clear, however, that theology and life go together and that the antidote to poor living is proper theology. If the Philippians understood the richness of Paul s life, they would not follow the false teachers. Evaluation of Paul s Former Life (3:7 8) Paul compared his pre-christian life with his life with Christ and described the former and the present life progressively, sometimes with the same words. This is a powerful passage. It combines personal experience with deep theology. Some have suggested that this is Paul s theology in brief statement. 3:7 8 The first side of the comparison is Paul s terminology for his former life. Three times he described it, and each is progressively more vivid. First, he considered his gains as loss. He came to realize that they were loss. Second, he continued to affirm that decision. Paul meant that this was a proper appraisal and a good decision. Third, in 3:8 Paul expressed his conviction more firmly with the verb consider and the object rubbish. There is increasing intensity, as though the mere thought of that decision brought a renewed appraisal that his former life was useless compared to what really mattered. Paul reflected on the Damascus road experience (Acts 9:1ff.). At that time, he saw the foolishness of his past life and embraced a new way. His negative appraisal, therefore, expressed an important component of salvation. No one can choose Christ who does not reach a similarly negative conclusion about his own efforts. The other side of the contrast explains why Paul considered his heredity and achievements so useless. They did not bring him to Christ. Three times Paul expressed that the goal was Christ. First, he said it was for the sake of Christ (3:7). This is the idea of exchange in seed form. Second, he said it was for the sake of the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord (3:8). The advance in this statement is that a knowledge of Jesus excelled what Paul had before. The word surpassing suggests something of more excellence than that to which it is compared. Therefore, knowing Christ was better than the combined value of his former life. Seen this way, knowledge means a personal response of faith and obedience to God s self-revelation. Third, Paul said he counted all things as loss that I might gain Christ (3:8). Paul clearly developed the idea of exchange. It was impossible to hold on to the former values and still have Christ. It was one or the other, and Christ exceeded anything and everything else. The three statements express repentance regarding Paul s former attitudes about salvation. He turned away from the past to gain Christ. Aspiration of the New Life (3:9 11) Paul explained what was better. The parallels are: that I may gain Christ (v. 8) and be found in him (v. 9). Second, a parenthesis explains what that means it is having a Christian righteousness, not a legal one. Third, the idea is restated: that I may know him (v. 10, KJV). Finally, the ultimate concern is expressed in v. 11, to attain to the resurrection from the dead. The section, therefore, has three movements, one for each verse division. 3:9 The first statement expresses Paul s existence in relation to Christ. Being in Christ was at the heart of Paul s theology. He saw all persons as either in Adam or in Christ (Rom 5:12 21). His desire to be in Christ meant to be in union with the Lord 2

3 and thus to have the covering of Christ s righteousness surrounding him and the resources of Christ available to him. Paul equated the words gain Christ (v. 8) and found in him (v. 9). From one perspective, Paul gained Christ. From another, he was found in Him. At the great day of judgment, Paul wanted to be found in Christ. Significantly, Paul defined being in Christ in terms of righteousness. Being found in Christ means being clothed with God s righteousness rather than one s own. This is the heart of the matter. Fellowship with God is always based on righteousness. The basic question for all persons is the question of righteousness. In Scripture, righteousness is often a legal term, not a moral one. It means that a judge would pronounce someone righteous. Naturally, the ideal was that the person would actually be righteous, but the focus is on what the judge said. The verdict did not necessarily depend on the moral realities. In accord with that, the primary question of both Judaism and Christianity was what must a man do if God is to declare that he is in the right and so give judgment in his favour? The Jewish answer was that he must obey the Law of Moses. For Paul, a righteousness attained by the law was only a relative selfrighteousness. The best that could be hoped for was the blamelessness of which he spoke in 3:6b, but which he nonetheless had found inadequate for gaining salvation. Thus, the law provides one approach to righteousness, but it is a flawed approach. The problem is not the law. Paul taught that the law is good. The problem is the sin which indwells each person. Clearly, no one has the kind of righteousness that will secure a verdict of innocent when God examines the life. The alternative was God s righteousness. Twice in the context of God s righteousness righteousness and faith occur. Although they parallel each other, one explains the other by adding to the concept to complete it. Paul simply stated that righteousness is through the faith of Christ. Further, he clarified that it is a righteousness from God and based upon faith. The construction faith of Christ is ambiguous. Regarding the meaning of the word faith, the tension is between the semantically objective meaning (trust) and the semantically subjective meaning (faithfulness). Normally Paul meant faithfulness when the word was a quality of God or Christ, as it is here. The syntactical question is the nature of the statement of Christ. It could mean belonging to Christ, produced by Christ, directed to Christ, or simply of Christ. Most likely, it is the faithfulness which is in Christ and should be read of Christ. This first statement, therefore, appears to mean that righteousness is made available to people through the faithfulness of Christ. Paul explicitly stated that this righteousness comes to people from God and based on that faithfulness. Paul rejected his own faithfulness to the law, realizing it was insufficient. His hope was the faithfulness of Christ. This verse, then, brings a knowledge of how God makes his righteousness available: It is through Jesus faithfulness and a person s total reliance on Him. The passage further contrasts Christ and the law. Paul never spoke against the law. Rather, he spoke about the individual s inability to keep it. In this text, he contrasted two means of coming to God: by works and by grace. If one chooses works, the law sets the standards and determines the success of that endeavor. Paul had tried that and found it unacceptable. If one chooses grace, Christ s life and death become the hope. Paul found grace and faith to be the only way to have fellowship with God. Grace means that persons cast themselves on the mercy of God, trusting that what Jesus did will be 3

4 applied to them. Grace freed Paul from self-effort to gain salvation and enabled him to devote himself to the things that follow salvation. The problem with the false teachers Paul encountered was that they had not learned what Paul had learned. Keeping the law produced an achieved righteousness; trusting Christ brought an imputed righteousness. Paul s hope was the righteousness that God gave. 3:10 Paul turned his thoughts to knowing Christ. This, then, gives the content of Paul s deep desire, i.e., to come to know Christ in a life-shaping way. In this verse two ideas complement each other: the power of Christ s resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings. They provide a theological foundation for Paul s thought, as well as a model for Christian growth. Christians must be like their Lord. Here another chiasm occurs. The first elements are the power of his resurrection (v. 10) and attaining the resurrection from the dead (v. 11). The second elements are fellowship of sharing in sufferings (v. 10) and becoming like him in his death (v. 10). Paul s deepest ambition was resurrection power. While the chiasm expresses these four statements in two, the logical order preserved Paul s theology. 3:11 The definition of resurrection power depends on Christ s experience since the only available model is Christ. The power displayed through Christ s resurrection is also available through Christ. It is divine power and all of God s attributes appear in Christ. Resurrection power has two phases. First, at conversion believers experience the power of a spiritual resurrection. They are given new life. A new spiritual energy characterizes the new life in Christ. Yet, this powerful life only begins at conversion. Successively and progressively the moral life must be changed, the physical body ultimately transformed, and believers brought to the eternal resting place of resurrection, heaven itself. The transformation does not happen at once. It culminates in the attaining of the resurrection from the dead. The resurrection occurs at the time of the Lord s return to earth. That will finalize the application of resurrection power to the Christian. Paul longed for the complete resurrection in his own life. Any contemplation of existence without the completed process made him uncomfortable because no one can conceive of himself without a body. Resurrection power achieves the entire process. Paul s longing to know Christ, therefore, was a longing to be like Christ in his glorified state. Knowing Christ also meant identifying with his death. This involved participating in suffering and being conformed to his death. Paul spoke of sharing in Christ s sufferings in various ways. In Romans, the suffering was the death of Christ into which Paul had been baptized. He thus participated in what Christ did for him when he died. Paul did not expect to contribute to Christ s sufferings, i.e., by taking on himself some redemptive suffering as Jesus did, neither did he mean that he would suffer and die as Jesus did. The theological substructure of this passage is the Christian s identification with Christ. Paul also spoke of his identification with Christ s death. Being united with Christ in his death was a spiritual reality, but being conformed to his death was the daily process of living. The task of the Christian is to realize that the nature of salvation is a death. By constantly choosing that death to sin and self, a conformity to Jesus death occurs. Jesus completely died to self and became a sacrifice for others. It was the greatest demonstration of commitment to the Will of God, and it was that death which 4

5 brought His resurrection life. Paul realized that conformity to Jesus death made him a candidate for resurrection power. In longing to know Christ, therefore, Paul sought a complete relationship with him. Situations may differ, but each Christian has the hope that resurrection power results from death and that conformity to Jesus death brings life. In fact, the more obedient one is to Christ, thus conformed to his death, the more resurrection power becomes available. Further, Paul longed for the completion of his Christian hope. Someday he would enjoy complete transformation of character, newness of body, and a perfect environment. He would live in heaven with his Lord. RELATED DISCUSSION TOPICS CLOSING PRAYER My God: I am grateful to have found You and kept You in the forefront of my being. Bless us continually with Your grace and mercy. They represent bountiful blessings for all of us. Amen. 5