A Testimony of Total Devotion

Lord, we thank you so much for the, the gospel that we have just sung about your goodness, your grace toward us in Christ. We open our hearts to you, Lord, this morning and ask that you would just have your way. With us, just as we open up your word and In a few moments, and even as our sister, Claire Stroll shares with us her testimony of faith in you, in the coming moments, just bless her and give us open hearts to receive all that you have for us through all that is said and done in the coming moments, and we ask these things in Jesus' name.

Amen.

This morning we're going to be looking at Philippians 3 and we're going to be hearing the apostle Paul's testimony of of total devotion, which includes his testimony of conversion. before we do that, there's another testimony that we would love for you to be able to hear, this morning. God has been doing a very sweet work in so many lives here in the Cornerstone family, and he's been doing a wonderful work. of salvation in Claire's life.

And she's been coming to Cornerstone over the last few months and we've asked her if she would come this morning and share with us what God has been doing in her life. Let's give our sister a warm Cornerstone welcome. Good morning. this morning I woke up and told Pastor Milton there was no chance I was gonna cry.

I've told this story so many times that no way, I'm not gonna cry, but I have a tissue and I may cry, so. All right, despite growing up in a Christian household and accepting Christ as my savior at a young age, I never saw God as a loving father or Jesus as my friend. God was a disappointed authoritarian figure who I imagined as an old man with his head in his hands, sighing over my shortcomings. Jesus was a man who I just negotiated with for what I wanted.

My prayers sounded a lot like, Jesus, if you let me be popular and admired, I promise to start paying more attention in church and like start volunteering or whatever. So while I may have believed in God and Jesus, they were not my God. People were my God and it was their acceptance that I craved most of all. My parents had done everything that they could to lay a solid foundation for me, but my faith was more theirs than it was mine, and when I went to college, that foundation began to crumble under the pressure from the world.

In college I actively ran away from God, believing that he didn't have my best interest at heart. For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, was a really nice sentiment, but I believed that I knew what was best for me and only I could get me there. I began partying and drinking because that's what the world said earned you friends and made you popular. When it came time to graduate, my plans seemed to have paid off.

I was graduating early with highest distinction and a very prestigious job in tow. I'd had the college experience that I was wanting and I was ready to finally leave Indiana behind me and start my new life. I started working for Anheuser-Busch in Saint Louis and was quickly promoted and transferred out to California. Whatever God's plans may have been for my life, clearly mine worked better because look where I had gotten myself.

I spent every weekend in LA partying and drinking. I spent all my money on nights out with friends and brand name clothes and shoes. Former friends who I hadn't spoken to in years would comment on my Instagram pictures, Amazing, so jealous, wish I had your life. This was everything I had worked so hard for.

Girls were jealous of me, guys wanted to date me, yet somehow I was still left wanting more. So again I looked to the world to fill my emptiness. Getting promoted seems like the answer. I worked very hard and in a year I became the youngest director in North America at my company and I was making more money than I knew how to spend.

Then I moved to Newport Beach and decided, OK, now I can finally be happy. I was living the dream and it was not because of God's provision, but it was because of me, Claire Stroll. I was my own God now. I had made it to the top, and I was at the top for all of 19 hours.

Before my entire life came crashing down on me. On August 12th, only six days after moving into my new apartment, I was attending a company event at Dodger Stadium. Despite having no interest in being there or in drinking, I had to participate. I had an image to uphold.

I drank a handful of drinks with my colleagues and didn't think anything of it because this was just what we did. And like I had time and time before that. I drank some water and waited 20 minutes before getting in my car to drive home. But that night I didn't make it home.

It was late and as I was driving on the freeway, the car in front of me started to slow down. I turned to check my blind spot so I could pass her and when I looked back in front of me, her brake lights were on and I was screaming, knowing what was coming. She had stopped completely in the right-hand lane thinking that it was the shoulder and I was helpless to stop my car from rear-ending hers. I was going 75 miles an hour.

That night, the other driver and I should have died. Instead, we were both taken to the hospital, her in an ambulance and me in the back of a police car. By the grace of God, she walked away with no injuries, and I suffered only a few bruised bones and minor burns. In the days that followed, I was a wreck, literally.

I found myself in the bathroom at work, hyperventilating, calling my mom in a total state of panic. I couldn't breathe, think, or figure out how in the world I was going to survive this. For as much as I liked to party, Satan was hosting the party of the year inside me, and all I could think was, I do not want to be here. My boss pulled me aside and told me that I was distracting people in the office and that I needed to pull myself together.

He suggested I go to Starbucks and get a coffee, come back to the office and get back to the grind. But I did not need coffee. I needed Jesus and I needed him now. I opened Google on my phone and typed church near me now.

It brought me a list of churches and I scrolled down and saw the word Cornerstone. The website seemed normal, so I put my car in drive and drove the 0.1 miles to the church. When I walked in, I was in tears. I was shaking and inconsolable.

Kelly Lammon was sitting at the front desk and welcomed me. She asked me if I was OK and I honestly answered her, no. I asked her if there was anyone there that could pray for me like now, I believe were my exact words. She showed me grace and love without even knowing me.

Within minutes, I was pouring my story out to Kelly and Pastor Carlos. I cried over the person I had become and the choices I had made. I wept for the woman whose life I put in jeopardy. To protect a party girl image.

Carlos and Kelly prayed truth over me and shared the gospel with me, only this time instead of rolling my eyes in a yeah I know way, I drank it in with a thirst that I never knew I had. I ran into Jesus' arms that day and gave him my heart, my soul and my life. I didn't want to try to do it alone, not for one more day. In the weeks that followed that Tuesday at Cornerstone Church, I was fired from my prestigious job as a result of my actions.

I spent whatever savings I had to pay for a lawyer for my impending court proceedings. I broke the lease at my coveted apartment in Newport Beach and sold or gave away almost all of my earthly possessions. As the god of my own life, I put my my identity in things of the world, pride, reputation, money, material possessions, envy, lust and greed. And then when those things were taken from me as an earthly consequence of my sin, I should have been in utter despair.

I should have been completely lost. But I was not lost. I had been found. God, my father had pursued me all the way out here in the desert despite my wandering.

Satan desperately wanted me for his kingdom that night, but God wanted me more. Like with Job, I imagine God telling Satan very well then, everything that she has is in your power, but on the woman herself, do not lay a finger. God in all of his wisdom and love let me place my faith in the world and he also let me destroy it. And even though I dismissed him and ran from him, he relentlessly loved me.

He poured his grace upon me that night on the freeway. He let me come within an inch of death. So that I would cry out to him, Father, I need you. The Claire stroll that I had become is a memory now.

In my mind, she died in that car accident. But she stands as a reminder to me of the wickedness of our hearts and desires and the power that that wickedness has over us without Jesus. But praise God, I am no longer that woman. I am a child of God and Christ lives in me.

I'm a new creation. And even though I technically have nothing right now, nothing. I have more than money can buy. Because I have eternal life in Jesus Christ.

I have a loving father, a faithful friend, and a life-giving spirit. God has been so faithful to me in his discipline. These last 4 months have had so much. Unbearable pain, but with that pain, the Lord has given me so much joy.

Every week I spend 2 hours in a DUI class where I have to go, as a result of my actions as part of my punishment, and the darkness in that room is palpable. It's heavy and it's terrifying, and I have to go do that every single week, and I'll have to keep going and keep doing that every single week. But the Lord has used that opportunity for me to be a light of His love to people who need it, to pray that Jesus Christ would come into these people's lives and break their chains of addiction and brokenness and sin, and he's used it for his glory, something that's unbearably painful.

On November 4th, 3 days after I turned 24, I was baptized.

That day I chose to commit my life to Jesus and accept Him as my savior. For richer or poorer, right now it's poorer. In sickness and in health, in joy and in pain. And no matter what happens in my life, I've been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but it is Christ who lives in me.

And this story is not about me. This story is about the overwhelming and inexplicable love and grace that the Father has poured out through Jesus Christ His Son in my life, and I am so grateful that he has blessed me to be able to tell this story. Thank you guys. OK And all God's people said, Amen.

Thank you so much, Claire, for sharing with us the story of what Christ has done in you. What I love most about Claire's story is what her story has in common with The story of all of us who know Jesus as our Lord and our Savior. We did not find Christ. He found us We did not lay hold of him, he laid hold of us.

We did not pursue him. He is the one who pursued us. Amen. And he is the one who died.

He is the one who was raised for our salvation, and he is the one who pursued us until we were captured by His love. And he is the Lord who delights to save sinners, like Claire, and like me, and like you. If you've never come to Jesus and allowed him to capture you with his love, today would be an awesome day. To yield to his pursuit of you this morning.

If you could turn to Philippians 3 if you have not already. I'm also struck by a few similarities between Claire's story and the apostle Paul's story whose testimony we will be looking at today. Paul, who was called Saul at the time of his conversion, was not seeking Christ and neither was Claire. Jesus showed up and interrupted and confronted Paul.

On a road, and he did the same with Claire. On a road. The old Saul of Tarsus died heading northbound on the road to Damascus, and the old Claire died while heading southbound on the 241. Saul of Tarsus was knocked to the ground and left incapacitated with blindness for three days until he was prayed over by Ananias.

Claire was knocked down. And left incapacitated with anxiety for 3 days until she was prayed over by Pastor Carlos and Kelly Lammon here on the Burnes campus. And Saul of Tarsus experienced a total overwhelming shift in his value system, and that's what happened to Claire as well. In fact, I love the line in Claire's testimony in which she says these words, even though I technically have nothing, I now have more than money.

can buy. She's not dismayed to lose what she had, she's happy to be done with it because she now has Jesus to replace all of that. That's what happens when Christ Truly saves an individual. And it's the way Paul speaks in our passage, today.

We learned the external details of Paul's conversion in various places in the Book of Acts, but we learned more of the internal aspects of his testimony. In Philippians chapter 3, namely the shift in Paul's values that took place on the day of his conversion, and then what his mindset was going from that day forward, and we're blessed to observe that Paul's testimony here in Philippians 3:4 through 14 is not just a testimony of conversion, it is also a testimony of total devotion.

To Jesus Christ, his Lord and Savior. It's a testimony of ongoing and total devotion to Jesus, 20 years into Paul's life in Christ.

If you want to know what a testimony of total devotion sounds like, you'll find none better than what Paul gives us here in Philippians chapter 3. And the way as we try to study this passage this morning, we'll look at 5 declarations in Paul's personal testimony of total devotion to Jesus Christ. And we'll see how far we can get with the time that we have this morning. The first declaration essentially that Paul makes in his testimony of total devotion to Christ is basically this, he says, I have counted my past religious credentials as loss for the sake of Christ.

I have counted my past religious credentials as loss for the sake of Christ. Observe how Paul begins his testimony in the middle of verse 4. He says, if anyone else has a mind to put confidence in the flesh, I far more. In other words, if anyone I know, I had more reason To look to my own credentials and my own achievements, to validate myself before God and man.

Look at his past religious credentials. He says circumcised the 8th day, receiving the mark of the covenant as an infant at the earliest date. Possible according to the law of God. Next, he says, I was of the nation of Israel, the chosen people of God who descended from Abraham.

And of all the tribes of Israel, Paul says that he was of the tribe of Benjamin. Benjamin was the only tribe, by the way, that stood together with Judah. To make up the more faithful southern kingdom of Judah. Of all of Jacob's sons, Benjamin was actually the only son who was born in the land of promise.

Queen Esther came from the tribe of Benjamin, the first king of Israel, King Saul, came from the tribe of Benjamin. The city of Jerusalem and the temple. was in the land belonging to the tribe of Benjamin. The land belonging to the tribe of Benjam was was basically the hub of the religious life of Israel.

And Paul was of that tribe. Not only was he of the tribe of Benjamin, but Paul says he was a Hebrew of Hebrews, meaning he was a pure Jewish descent and had a genealogy to back it up. He was learned in the Hebrew tongue and he also fully lived the Jewish lifestyle as well as the best of them. On top of that, he says, as to the law, I was a Pharisee.

You might want to write down the reference Acts 23:6. In that passage, Paul describes himself as the son of Pharisees. Which likely means that Paul grew up in a multi-generational Pharisee household. And he had become one himself.

Pharisees had much of the Bible of their day memorized. They could out quote anybody. And like all Pharisees, Paul lived his life in strict adherence to the law. Living a life of separation from sins, fasting often twice a week and giving sizable sums of his money to what we would consider today to be charity.

As for commitment to his faith, Look at what Paul says in verse 6, he says, as to zeal, a persecutor of the church. Paul did not just advocate for Judaism, he tried to exterminate from Israel any religion that he believed was contrary to the true religion of Judaism, even if it meant killing and imprisoning Christians. During this time in Paul's life when he was persecuting Christians, he no doubt viewed himself as being just like King Josiah and other good kings of Judah. In Israel, who destroyed false religions in Israel.

Finally, he says, as to the righteousness which is in the law, I was found blameless. Now, in other contexts like in Romans 7, Paul admits with the benefit of hindsight that he failed miserably to keep the law. But Paul is saying here that comparatively speaking, He lived a life that was about as good as it gets for anybody outside of Christ. He kept the law better than anybody that he knew.

And putting all of this together, we can say that prior to Paul coming to faith in Christ, Paul lived a more religious and a more charitable life of goodness than anyone. of us in this room apart from Christ. And Paul rattles off all of these past credentials, and he says if anyone thinks that they have credentials to commend themselves to God, I guarantee you I have more. If someone wants to have a bragging contest, I could win that contest in a heartbeat.

But I don't brag about these things that I just listed anymore, nor do I put my confidence in them anymore. Look at what he says in verse 7. He says, but whatever things were gained to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. By the way, notice that Paul does not say here those things that were gained to me, those things I have counted as nothing.

He doesn't use the word nothing. He uses the word loss. Which is the word for something that's actually negative, something that's a liability. As one writer says, Paul counts them, those former gains, he counts them now as loss and even harm.

Because of how they all proved so spiritually dangerous to him in seducing him to put his confidence in them. For so many years. Paul here is saying, I took all of these things on the day of my conversion. I took all of these things from my assets column on the ledger sheet and actually put them in my liability column.

And on the asset side of the ledger, I wrote the word Jesus, who replaces everything that I formerly used to put my confidence in. To validate me before God. I don't need any of those things anymore, Paul says, because I have Jesus now. Have you ever caught a vision of Jesus?

And seeing him in all of His righteous glory. To such a degree that you have taken the whole stock of everything that you used to depend upon. and have confidence in And move it out of the assets column of your ledger sheet and thrown it all away. And replaced it all with Jesus.

That transaction that Paul describes is what happens at conversion. We should notice that Paul uses the perfect tense in the Greek text to Describe this past transaction, meaning that he's describing a transaction that, yes, occurred in the past, but with abiding results up to the present time. He's still living in the good of this decision. That he has made Which is why I think Paul so easily switches to the present tense in verse 8.

And this brings us to the second declaration in Paul's testimony of total devotion to Jesus Christ. Declaration number 2, Paul says, basically, I presently count everything to be lost in view. Of knowing Christ. I'm not second guessing that decision I made 20 years ago.

To this day, this is the way I think. This is still my reckoning. In verse 8, Paul speaks in the present tense, and he says, more than that, I presently am counting all things to be lost, in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things. Paul doesn't just view the things he just listed as loss, though that's included.

He views all things as loss. In other words, he's happy to be rid of anything that he used to put his confidence in, in order to validate himself before God. He's happy to be done with anything that would serve as a rival to Jesus and his trust in Jesus. And all of these things he counts as loss in view of something that he has come.

To know is far greater, and that is the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord. This word knowing, as many of, speaks of more than just an intellectual knowledge of Jesus. It speaks of a relationship with Jesus, a deep and intimate personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Jesus is not just someone or something that goes into the assets column of the ledger of Paul's life.

Jesus is the most important relationship. In Paul's life And Paul here points to Jesus. And he's saying just knowing him. Just having a relationship with him is to this day of surpassingly greater value to me than anything that I formerly used to look to or depend upon.

It's Jesus. My Lord, Paul says, This is personal. Yes, Jesus is the Lord of heaven and earth, but Paul says he's my Lord. And knowing Him, relating to Him is the greatest, most supreme value in all of my life and everything takes a distant second.

And I consider any potential rival to Jesus to be lost. In view of the surpassing value of knowing him. And this isn't just an inward reckoning on Paul's part. He speaks of Jesus and says, for whom I have, in fact, suffered the loss of all things.

And Paul did indeed lose much. That he had from his former life before Christ. But on top of that, Paul lost everything in the sense that when he came to Jesus by faith and Jesus had captured him, everything in Paul's life switched ownership. Jesus took possession of everything.

Nothing was Paul's anymore. Everything belonged to Jesus. Paul now owns nothing, and Jesus owns everything. And Paul is delighted with this loss.

Speaking of the former things that he used to put his confidence in that he now considers as loss, Paul goes even further and says, and I count them, but rubbish. Y'all want to learn a new Greek word? The word that is translated rubbish is the Greek word skubalon. Skubalon.

Which some translations translate as garbage. The King James uses the word dung. To translate this word skubalon. The word was used to speak of rotten or worthless food that was thrown out or food that was eliminated from the body in the form of excrement.

And Paul is saying anything in my life that in any way serves as a competitor to my relationship with Jesus is skubalon. It's trash to be taken out or excrement to be eliminated. I'm happy to be done with it all and have Jesus in its place. What a mindset.

I really encourage you all, please don't read what Paul is saying here and be impressed with Paul. Read this and be impressed with Jesus. Jesus apparently is so wonderful, and relationship with him is so wonderful that anyone like Paul who truly experiences Jesus in the way that Paul did, will suddenly look at everything that competes with Jesus and view it as a filthy mess. In comparison to Jesus.

And if you're sitting here today, and you're not sure whether or not you agree with that, That simply means you have not experienced Jesus deeply enough. Hearing this from Paul. should make you wanna pursue Jesus and go deeper with him. So that you can find out in your own experience, what in the world is Paul talking about here.

You should be asking, what is it about Jesus that makes a man totally turn around from hating Christ to loving him more than anything else in this life? What is it about Jesus that makes a man like Paul view any rival to Jesus as being as undesirable as excrement? What is it about Jesus that would cause Paul to look at the things he formerly treasured and valued more than anything else, and now he views them as filthy muck. Imagine.

Being at a place in your life. Where when you are tempted by some sin that you used to find attractive, You actually look at that sin. And you view it as smelly garbage. You're like, man, I'd love to get to that place.

You want to know how to get to that place? Get to know Jesus. Get to know him deeper. To the degree that you get to know Jesus, to that degree, you will view anything contrary to him as garbage.

There's a sense in which Paul's calculus, as he expresses it here in this passage is actually everybody's calculus. This calculus you see on the screen behind me is unavoidable. Every decision that everyone makes, whether they follow Christ or not, is based on this calculation. I count blank to be lost and rubbish in view of the surpassing value of blank.

And how are you filling in those blanks? If you're choosing Christ over anything else, then you would fill in the blanks the way the apostle Paul does here in Philippians 3. If you're choosing sin over Jesus, Then what you're saying by your actions is, I count Jesus to be lost. I count Jesus to be rubbish in view of the surpassing value of this sin, or this other thing that I would rather have instead of him.

Paul intentionally framed his choices in life in this language. And he considered all rivals to Jesus as loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Jesus in an intimate relationship with him. This is the way Paul thought at this point of his life, 20 years into walking with Jesus. The question is, why does he still think this way?

What is his goal in thinking this way? This brings us to the 3rd declaration in Paul's testimony of ongoing and total devotion. Let's put it this way, Essentially, Paul says in verses 8 and following, my goal is to gain Christ and be found in Him. Paul is still after something, and that partly explains why he thinks the way he does.

Look at his stated goal for why he's still at the present time reckons all things to be lost and garbage and the way he has described. He says so that I may gain. Christ Paul is saying every day, at the present time, I count such things as loss, any rival to Jesus as loss, in order that an outcome might be achieved, and that is in order that I might gain Christ. Does that language strike you as odd?

On the day of his conversion, Paul gained Christ. Yet here he is 20 years after walking with Jesus saying that he still wants to gain Christ. Does he not have Christ? Why is he still talking about gaining Christ?

What does he mean by this? Well, think about it this way. When my wife, Donna and I married each other almost 30 years ago, We both de facto that day after our wedding vows fully belong to each other. She gained me.

And I gained her. She was all mine and I could say by the end of that day that I had gained Donna, I had gained the woman of my dreams. But with hindsight, We both would say that we hardly knew each other. On the day that we got married and we've been learning a whole lot about each other ever since, over the last 30 years.

And there are still things that I am learning about my wife to this day. Which means that I can, to this day, 30 years in, rightly say that I still have it as my goal to gain Donna. What by that is that there is more of Donna to know and experience than what I have attained to thus far. There is more of life to experience together with her that exceeds what I have been able to experience thus far.

And if I want to continue to gain a deeper experience of my wife in this way, then I must continue to view And consider all rivals to her to be lost. Right? If I don't think that way and make that decision, and if I'm off running around with other women, Then I cannot gain a deeper knowledge of my wife, can I? Unless I want to gain a deeper knowledge of her wrath.

For me to go deeper in gaining a deeper knowledge of my wife, it is essential that I reject all that would compete with her and all that would hinder my ability to know her better. I must continue to think this way, the way I thought. On our wedding day And that's what Paul is saying here. On the day of his conversion, he counted all things as lost for the sake of Christ, and here he is now 20 plus years in, and he's still reckoning and rival to Jesus to be lost so that he can gain a deeper and a fuller experience of Christ and what he's been able to attain thus far.

Think about this. Think about what this can look like in practice for you. If, if, if you're being tempted to embrace a particular sin, You can recognize in that moment that this sin is a rival to Jesus. And you can think, As follows You can say, if I say yes to this sin.

This sin would get in the way of me knowing Christ more deeply. So I will say no to this sin. I will be willing to lose this sin so that I might gain a deeper experience of Christ. So that I can gain more of Jesus.

And this sin gets in my way of that. You can actually think this way about anything that serves as a rival to Jesus. That's the way Paul thought, so that he could gain a deeper experience of Christ. But he was also after another goal, and that was to be found in Christ.

Look at what he says in verse 9. He says, and That I may be found in him. At the core of verse 9 is Paul's express desire to be found. And when he is found, he says, I want to be found in Jesus.

More than that, he says that he wants to be found not having a righteousness of my own derived from the law or my obedience to the law, but being found dressed in a righteousness which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith. Paul is talking about wanting to be found on judgment Day, wrapped in the righteousness of Jesus Christ, but he's also talking about being found in Jesus and in his righteousness from day to day in the here and now.

Most people fear being found. Most people fear being found out.

I wonder if you fear. Being found out. But Paul wasn't Paul's like, I, I want to be found out. I want to be found.

I'm not afraid to be found out and truly discovered so long as I am found in him. And in God's righteousness that comes to me through faith in Jesus. If you're here today and you think That you're a pretty righteous person. You've done pretty good.

And keeping the 10 Commandments you think you're more righteous than most people that. And it's your desire, you would say, yeah, I hope on Judgment Day that I will be found by God dressed in my own righteousness. I would encourage you to realize that Paul had a righteousness that I know exceeded yours. And he didn't want to be caught dead in it.

He cast it off and chose instead to be dressed. In Christ and in Christ's perfect righteousness, and you really should do the same thing that Paul did. Paul counts everything as loss in order that he might gain. Christ, a deeper experience of Christ and be found in Him.

And when Paul says that he wanted to gain Christ and a deeper knowledge of him, he really means it. He didn't just want to gain a part of Christ, he wanted to gain a deeper experience of all of Christ, no matter what Paul had to endure in order to go deeper in his experience of Christ. And this brings us to the 4th declaration of Paul that he utters. In his testimony of total devotion to Jesus Christ.

Let's word it this way. Essentially, Paul says in verse 10, my goal is to experience Christ to the fullest extent possible. Observe how he states his goal, verse 10, that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings being conformed to his death. Paul wanted to know Jesus.

And he was willing to go through anything. To know Jesus better. Even if it meant suffering. Even if it meant dying.

And being made more conformable to the very death of Jesus. And the language that Paul uses here ought to really wake all of us up and cause us to ask ourselves, do I really wanna know Jesus like this? Right? all of us love Philippians 3:10.

Or at least we love parts of it. We hear Paul say that I may know him and we say, amen, Paul. We're with you on that. We hear Paul say that I may know the power of his resurrection, and we say, amen, Paul, we feel exactly the same way.

We hear Paul say that I may know the fellowship of his sufferings. And we say, You go, Paul As we let him go on ahead of us, and we then hear him say, being made conformable to his death, and suddenly we become aware of the distance between us and this lunatic apostle who was madly in love with Jesus. See, guys, just about everybody who claims the name of Christ wants to know the power of Christ's resurrection, but few people really wanna know the fellowship of His suffering.

Everyone wants to experience Jesus standing next to them in visible form.

Who wouldn't want that? But few people want to be in a fiery furnace like Shadrack, Meshach, and Abednego were. When Jesus was discovered standing next to them. Everyone who claims the name of Christ would love to have the heavens opened and see Jesus standing at the right hand of God, but few people would want to be stoned like Stephen was when he saw that vision.

Of Christ Everyone wants to see Jesus and all of his unbridled glory. And to see a vision of things to come and how the world will end. But few of us would want to be exiled on the island of Patmos like the apostle John was when he got a glimpse of all of that. And he tells us what he saw in the book of Revelation.

Do we really want to know Jesus. Do we want to know all of him? Do you passionately desire to know even the fellowship of his sufferings? As one writer says, the fellowship of Christ's suffering.

That Paul speaks of implies all pangs and all afflictions undergone in the struggle against sin either within or without. This would include persecution. This would include any suffering in a broken world that would take us deeper into the heart of Christ. That's why the word fellowship is so important here in verse 10.

Paul didn't just love to suffer for suffering's sake. He cherished the fellowship that he enjoyed with Jesus in the midst of his moments of suffering. He cherished how Jesus was with him. Whenever he suffered.

And he cherished how his moments of suffering always served to take him deeper into an appreciation of the very sufferings of Christ at the cross. You look at the end of verse 10, do, do you really want to be made conformable to Christ's death? Are you willing to die? To die to sin and to die to self and to die to this world and To take up your cross and die to yourself every day.

Are you willing to embrace the many layers of dying that are involved in following Jesus? You might read what Paul says in verse 10 and think, what, what madness is this? Who would want this? Well, Paul wanted this because it served as a pathway to something truly wonderful.

Look at what he says in verse 11. He says, I, I wanna know him, the power of his resurrection, the fellowship of his suffering, being made conformable to his death in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. Clearly, Paul is referring to the future day of resurrection when we're raised from physical death and glorified, but the language that he uses here encompasses his and our present experience also. Paul is saying that he's willing to enter into the sufferings of Christ and be made conformable to Christ's death because Paul knows fundamentally, according to the gospel, that death is not the end.

In God's economy, death is never the end. It's the gateway. To life Paul knew that however much he might be made conformable to the death of Christ, there would always, always be a deeper taste of resurrection life on the other side of that dying. And each of those tastes of resurrection life On the other side of each layer of dying.

Serve As harbingers of the great day of resurrection that awaits Paul and all believers in Christ. It's actually this. desire to know Christ, all of Christ and his suffering, and his death, and his resurrection that, that, that keeps Paul in a state of holy discontent. The more Paul knows Christ, the more he wants to know Jesus.

The more he experiences of Christ, the more of Christ that he wants to experience. And it's this longing that he begins to give expression to In verse 12 and following, and this brings us to the 5th and the final declaration of Paul and his testimony of total devotion. Let's word it this way, and we're summing up a handful of verses in this single statement. Where essentially Paul declares, I am pressing toward capturing the prize for which Christ captured me.

Paul is a man in pursuit. He starts off with a disclaimer, verse 12, he says, not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect. What is the it? That Paul is referring to, commentators will tell you that it is referring to the full knowledge of Christ.

When he then says, not that I have already become perfect, he's, he's talking about arriving at a state of full conformity to Christ, full and complete Christlikeness. And Paul is saying, guys, I have not arrived yet. As many of you do, I have an app on my phone that Gives directions out loud. When I am going somewhere and I love.

Using that app because when I reach the My destination, I hear the words arrived. And sometimes I don't even need that app to get somewhere, but I like to punch in the directions just because I like to be told. I like to hear that word, you have arrived when I reach my destination. And what guys, one day we're gonna hear That word from Jesus.

Paul is saying, I haven't heard that yet. I've not yet arrived, nor have I become perfect. And that should amaze us. On some levels.

Paul was a man that Jesus personally appeared to on a number of occasions. He was an apostle, a writer of inspired scripture. He spoke in tongues, he prophesized more than anyone he knew. He was even taken up by God into the third heaven and saw things that he wasn't even allowed to write about.

This is a man who planted many churches and pastored pastors. He suffered much for the cause of Christ. He lived his life and community. With others, and he sacrifice for others at every turn.

This is a man who's been marinating in the scriptures for 20 plus years, marinating in the gospel and pondering it and preaching it to himself and to other people, experiencing as a result, what we could call sanctification on steroids. And here he is 20 plus years into all of that and he says, not that I have already obtained it. Or have already become perfect. I still haven't arrived.

This should be instructive for All of us, I think, if the great apostle Paul had not arrived after two decades of all of these blessings and benefits, then the likelihood is that you haven't arrived either. Not to discourage you. Back in 2014. Harvard professor Daniel Gilbert said these words.

He said human beings are works in progress that mistakenly think they're finished. And I think he's right. That's why a lot of young single men are looking for a potential mate. And the biggest quality they're looking for in a potential mate is just someone who will accept them as they are.

That's what studies show, actually. In other words, these young men think they've pretty much already arrived, and now they're just looking for a woman who will appreciate the finished product that they are. Who will the lucky woman be? Beyond that, there are actually Some Christians who believe in what we call Christian perfectionism, which is the belief that a Christian can reach perfection.

In this life, and some of these Christians who believe this, believe that they are among the blessed ones who have achieved this state. Just ask them, they'll happily tell you. down. But guys, there's another way that people err on the other side of the spectrum.

And we can call this error. The error of lazy and perfectionism. Which is the belief that I'm never gonna be perfect this side of glory, so why even try? Paul would have nothing to do with either of these errors.

perfectionism or lazy imperfectionism. Look at what he says in verse 12. he says, but I press on that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus. By the way, the word that is translated press on.

Is the Greek word doko. Which means to relentlessly pursue and not allow what you're pursuing out of your grasp. Paul actually uses this very Greek word earlier, in verse 6 to speak of him persecuting the Church of God. This is the Greek word that in many contexts is translated as persecute.

In fact, in Acts 9, Jesus says to Paul, Saul, Saul, why are you Diochoing me? And now Paul uses this very word to speak of the fact that he is in fact, Diochoing Christ. Before salvation, he pursued Christ in a persecuting sense. Now he pursues Christ in an adoring way.

And Paul says, I press on, I, I pursue so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus. Paul is saying Jesus laid hold of me on the day of my conversion with the aim that I might lay hold of him. He embraced me in order that I might embrace him. This is what I was saved for Paul is saying.

And I am pressing on continuously in order that I might lay hold of everything that Jesus saved me to lay hold of. And what he has saved me to lay hold of primarily is him. A deeper and more intimate relational knowledge of him and a personal likeness to him. Guys, do you realize that Jesus saved you for a chase?

He chased you and laid hold of you so that you can now chase after a deeper knowledge. And relationship with him. So that you can now live a life of pursuit and discovery. of seeking and finding The treasures of wisdom and knowledge in Jesus.

Jesus saved you into a relationship of mutual pursuit. Where he pursues you and you see evidence of that everywhere, and you pursue him. Paul states his point again in verse 13. I think what we'll do right here is we'll stop right here and we'll pick up here.

next week, let me just read these verses to you though. He says, brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet, but one thing I do, forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. That's how Paul lived his life and he says it's the one thing. That I do.

This is Paul's great ambition in life. It's the one thing he does. And everything else he did, he only did because it was tied to that one thing. That he did If something was in Paul's life that was contrary to Christ, he got rid of it.

If something doesn't help him in his pursuit of Christ. He didn't chase it. If there was something that slowed him down in his pursuit of Christ, Paul got rid of it so that he could live his life lean and mean and press on and pursue continuously a deeper experience of Jesus. This is so convicting for me and encouraging.

I look back over the last 40 years of my life and I see undeniable, spiritual growth that I'm so grateful to God for, but it is painfully obvious to me that I have not grown as much as I should have and I am not nearly as far along as I could have been had I pressed on and pursued the way Paul is talking about here. I've not pressed and I've not reached forward with the intensity that Paul speaks about here. But Paul's example encourages me to do that and to pursue Christ with a deeper and greater devotion to him.

I love the language that Paul uses here in this passage.

This is indeed a testimony of total devotion to Jesus. Paul, twice tells us that he presses on. He also says this is the one thing I do. Paul would say, listen, I am not a man of many pursuits, I'm a man of one pursuit.

And that pursuit is Jesus. And I am pressing toward knowing him. And experiencing more deeply. Again, I don't say this to you so that you might be impressed with Paul.

I say this so that we would all be freshly impressed with Jesus. We should be asking, what is it about Jesus that would so ravish a man's heart? That he pursues Christ with a passion like this. I know a part of what it was, was the grace that Paul had tasted of from Jesus.

Jesus pursued Paul when Paul was at his ugliest, when he was in the middle of sin, going to Damascus. To imprison Christians. And haul them back to Jerusalem. Jesus confronted him on that road in the middle of his sin and loved him and forgave him and saved him.

And just like Jesus says, the one who's forgiven much, loves much, well Paul would say, that's why I love Jesus so much, because my sins are great, and he forgave me of my sins. And I love him and I can't get enough. Of him I ask you this morning, do you pursue Jesus? Is Jesus the ultimate thing that you pursue?

Or is pursuing Christ just something you try to do when you're done with all of your other pursuits? Do many other things come before pursuing Christ in your life to the point where you really hardly ever get around to pursuing Him, after all. Is your pursuit of Christ so all encompassing? That you could even begin to say the words, here's the one thing I do.

I pursue Jesus. Is your life engineered? And organized around your pursuit of Christ, or is it filled with so many distractions and things that keep you from pursuing Him? Have you counted all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing him more deeply?

And do you look at all that competes with Jesus and consider it as manure? If you can't say yes to these questions, I've got good news for you. I know there's forgiveness through Jesus, which if you receive it, You'll love him all the more. And I also would say that you can be excited about How God can accomplish a change in you.

It's like, how can I get to where I pursue Jesus more? Here's the strategy, write this down, get your pens out. If you want to pursue Jesus the way Paul does in Philippians 3, Pursue Jesus. Pursue him.

Pursue knowing him better. And I promise you that the more you will get to know him, the more you will want to pursue him and view all rivals to him. As garbage Turn your eyes upon Jesus, the songwriter says, look full in his wonderful face and what happens? The things of this earth grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace.

How do the things of this world grow strangely dim? Do we make that happen? No, we stare at Jesus. And the beholding of him, the pursuit of him changes us.

It ruins the way we looked at everything else. As we see Him in His beauty and in His glory. Let me ask you to bow your heads this morning. I know there are some in this room that the things of this world are bright and colorful and vivid.

OK. And compelling and tempting and so desirable. And some of you need God's spirit to reach down and touch your heart and regenerate you and bring life to your soul. And I pray that that would happen even this morning.

Some of you are saved and yet to some degree what I just described is the case, and it's because you're not pursuing Jesus, you're not beholding him. Let us join our hearts together this morning and ask God to help us to turn our eyes full upon Jesus. And to look. Full in his wonderful face.

Lord Jesus, we We need a miracle. To happen in our hearts and in our eyes. Help us to see you as you really are. And all of your beauty and glory and love and grace, so full of grace and truth, and may that sight of you that we daily Have Transform us.

May we be transformed as we behold as in a mirror, the glory of our Lord. To where we would begin to have the appetite that Paul speaks about and expresses here in Philippians 3. And pursue you, make us a congregation of men and women that pursue Jesus above all. Who are done with the lesser things.

That only ruin and wreck and destroy. And give us hearts that pant for You, Lord. We thank you, Lord, for the opportunity to give of our offerings to you this morning, at this point in our service. We ask that you would receive these funds that we give and this offering.

It's an expression of our love for you, for all that you have done for us, do much with all that we give. For the glory of our Lord Jesus and furthering his purposes. In this world We give ourselves to you as well in Jesus' name. And all God's people said,