”Passionate Living”~Philippians 3:8-12

The Kingdom Corner with Matt Geib

“Passionate Living” Philippians 3:8-12 –08/27/21

Philippians 3: CHRIST OUR GOAL

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[a] to the resurrection from the dead.

12 Not that I have already attained,[b] or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me

1. 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

“Yet indeed” or “Yea Doubtless” (Kjv) In the construction of the Greek language Paul is making a passionate statement, a plea as it were to the Philippian Church about the force & passion with which he was pursuing Christ as an example for them to follow…it reads “yea, therefore, at least, EVEN” Paul wanted to Leave no doubt at as to His Pursuit in life.

“Count” The same verb (counted) as used in vs. 7 …here it is in the present tense showing continuous action in present time. Paul had come to the steadfast CONVICTION that any supposed gain in the world he might attain was but total loss if He failed to GAIN CHRIST

“loss”-- Paul continually held a tenacious& habitual focus & Mind-set against anything that might come between Him & the goal of Christ, so he counts EVERYTHING personally to himself as a Loss, except knowing Christ

• Acts 20:24 But I count my life of no value to myself, so that I may finish my course[a] and the ministry I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of God’s grace.
• Romans 8:18 18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is going to be revealed to us.

“excellence,excellency” of a Higher, supreme , surpassing degree

1. 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

the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, …speaks of the relationship that Paul developed with Jesus thru intimate communion & companionship with Him, He came to Know Jesus Heart & will; through time spent in His (Jesus) presence

• I Cr. 2:2 2 For I didn’t think it was a good idea to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
• 1:17 I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father,[a] would give you a spirit[b] of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him.
• II Peter 1:3 His[a] divine power has given us everything required for life and godliness through the knowledge of Him who called us by[b] His own glory and goodness.
• I Jn. 5:20 20 And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding so that we may know the true One.[a] We are in the true One—that is, in His Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.
• 16:26 What shall it profit a man
• 13:44 Parable of treasure hidden in a field

for whom I have suffered the loss of all things this speaks of ALL Paul gave up at his Damascus conversion. Paul was brought up in what we would say was a ‘closed community’—TARSUS because he & his family were wealthy & only the wealthy could live there. Paul left a life of wealth & status to become the Gentile/Missionary Apostle who made tents to get by. This was NOT all , as his parents basically disowned their son, because he left Jewry …He had been supported by his folks studying under Gamaliel at the U. of TARSUS, as an up & coming Priest in the Jewish Synagogue.

that I may gain Christ Not Paul’s salvation, BUT appropriating in His Life the graces & nature of Christ into his whole being…GAIN= (Kedaino) an acquisition made from shunning evil

1. 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;

“Be found” more like ..’to turn out actually to be’( like grk. Expression here Gal. 2:17 we ourselves are found to be sinners). The idea here is that of a REVELATION of Character ,,that is, Paul LONGS to demonstrate in His Life that He is IN Christ…He wants others to observe this in his nature

not having my own righteousness, ..The idea is not having a righteousness ANY righteousness that could be called MY own…Paul wanted to completely divorce himself of any thought or effort that he was ‘A LAW Keeper’ by his own efforts. He desired for men to see the Righteousness of a Life Hidden in Christ produced by Holy Spirit.

1. 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;

• Romans 10:2-6 2 I can testify about them that they have zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. 3 Because they disregarded the righteousness from God and attempted to establish their own righteousness, they have not submitted themselves to God’s righteousness. 4 For Christ is the end[a] of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. 5 For Moses writes about the righteousness that is from the law: The one who does these things will live by them.[b]6 But the righteousness that comes from faith speaks like this: Do not say in your heart, “Who will go up to heaven?”[c] that is, to bring Christ down
• Romans 3:28 28 For we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the works of the law.
• Romans 9:30 30 What should we say then? Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained righteousness—namely the righteousness that comes from faith.
• Romans 4:1-16
• Titus 3:5 He saved us— not by works of righteousness that we had done, but according to His mercy, through the washing of regeneration and renewal by the Holy Spirit.
• 8:3,10:4

faith in Christ, that Righteousness that is authored in Christ, which Paul now nourishes & maintains . This Faith is furnished to All believers & appropriates the Blessings which flow from Grace.

• I Cor. 1:30 20 And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding so that we may know the true One.[a] We are in the true One—that is, in His Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.
• II Cor. 5:17 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away, and look, new things[a] have come.

Vs. 10,11) 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[a] to the resurrection from the dead.

“that I may know Him” ..that is to come to know by experience, an experiential knowing, or knowledge….Paul wants to come to a place of knowing Jesus in the FULNESS of EXPERIENCE that only comes by an intimate relationship With Him ..TO FULLY KNOW Him! I Jn. 3:2 Dear friends, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet been revealed. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him because we will see Him as He is.

Vs. 10,11) 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[a] to the resurrection from the dead.

“the power of His resurrection,” Paul wants to experience the SAME Power which Raised Christ from the dead surging through His whole being, overcoming all sin in his life & showing forth the very nature of Christ for all to see…POWER= DYNAMIS… power, ability, physical or moral, as residing in a person or thing;..power in action, force, a strength, violence, virtue, mighty power, miracle working power. In this context the meaning is a POWER that overcomes resistance.

• Romans 1:16 16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel [a]of Christ, for it is the power of God to
• salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.
• Romans 6:4 4 Therefore we were buried with Him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too may walk in a new way[a] of life.
• II Cr. 4:10 10 We always carry the death of Jesus in our body, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.
• I Peter 1:3 3 Praise the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. According to His great mercy, He has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead
• 1:18-20 18 I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, 19 and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength 20 he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms,
• 3:20-21 20 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.
• 3:20-21 20 But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21 who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.“fellowship of His sufferings,” = a joint participation…these refer to the sufferings of Christ for righteousness sake while here on earth….II Cor. 11:22-33 Paul’s ‘resume of suffering’
• 1:24 24 I now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ, for the sake of His body, which is the church,
• I Pe. 4:1-2 Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude, because whoever suffers in the body is done with sin. 2 As a result, they do not live the rest of their earthly lives for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God.
• “being conformed to His death,” LITERALLY “ To Bring to the same form with some other person”…we already saw this Grk word Before in Phil. 2:5-8 in the great KENOSIS(an emptying out)passage…Phil 2:6(being in the form of God)= Form(morphe)…here 3:10 ‘made conformable, being conformed’ (symmorphizo)…morfe/morphizo are of same root

Vs. 10,11) 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[a] to the resurrection from the dead.

When These Four Essentials are evident In Our Lives then we will CONSTANTLY be Made CONFORMABLE To Christ’s Death :

1. To show evidence by the very life we live To BE IN CHRIST
2. By Coming To KNOW HIM Better All the time, a consistent deepening of relationship with HIM
3. By Experiencing the same Dynamis that raised Christ from the dead surging through our being
4. By Becoming Joint-Participants in Christ’s Sufferings for Righteousness sake

**BOTTOM LINEJ!! Paul’s desire was that he might come to KNOW His Lord Jesus so intimately & with such Resurrection DUNAMIS operating through His Being, along with a joint-participation in Christ’s sufferings that he would become both as to his inner heart life & & as to His outward expression of just the same, like Jesus in respect to Christ’s death , not just physically, but as we already showed in Phil. 2:7a KENOSIS..a death to self & denial of all things selfish …for the Blessing of others…THIS is what Paul strove for!!Paul was laying his life down in conformity& submission to the spirit & temperament of Christ’s life, in all manner of lowliness & meekness…both in Life & eventually in physical death

Vs. 10,11) 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[a] to the resurrection from the dead.

“If By Any Means” This is not an expression of doubt but rather AUTHENTIC humility…Paul shows a modest yet assured Hope.

“May/might attain” =Greek language means “to arrive at a GOAL”

“resurrection” exanastasis….This is the only place in the NT where this word is used…Literally from ‘OUT OF’ …translation “Out Resurrection from(among) the dead”. Paul may be referring to the future resurrection of the physical body of the saint (I Cr. 15,Jn. 5:29,Lk. 20:35).However, This more likely refers to a spiritual Resurrection

• 10,11)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[a] to the resurrection from the dead.
• 2:4-8 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,
• A resurrection…out from a state of sin where one is dead in trespasses, to a LIFE divinely Empowered motivating our every action
• Also refers to the Rapture

12 Not that I have already attained or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me.

“ Not that I have already attained” The conclusion, here is Paul has experienced to a measure a ‘Conformity To Christ’s Death” (see points 1-4 above), yet he has yet to Appropriate= I may lay hold of these to Their FULLEST MEASURE in His life….He is always looking to increase in these attributes…refers back to vs. 10 (To KNOW Him)

Am already perfected/either were already perfect…Perfect (teleioō) not perfect in the literal sense(sinless), But complete, meaning ‘Spiritually Mature’

Paul is stating that he is STILL seeking Spiritual Growth & Maturity, He has not stopped or become stagnant or indifferent spiritually

‘But I press on/follow after’ (dee-oko) TO PURSUE…Paul has in mind. the metaphor of a Greek runner running in a race. He is pressing on to a FIXED Goal, keeping up the chase as it were with much Passion

Rendering…Not that I have already (LAMBANO)or am already perfected but I press on that I may but I press on that I may lay hold(apprehend) of (KATALAMBANO) that for which Christ Jesus has laid hold of (Apprehended) (KATALAMBANOED) Me

• Forceful, passionate language…an INTENSE pursuit
• Lambano= accept, take, receive, obtain
• Katalambano = more forceful, to seize to “RUN DOWN”…see football highlight: Dk Metcalf runs down Budda BakerJ
• 12 Not that I have already attained or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me.
• Good translation” Grasping ever more firmly that purpose for which Christ grasps me” –JB. Phillips
• 1:16 To reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him among the heathen; immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood:--- This is what Paul was Apprehended/laid hold of FOR & In turn he wants to Apprehend Christ ( verses Phil. 3:10-11—ABSOLUTE CHRISTLIKENESS)
• I Tim. 6:12 Fight the good fight for the faith; take hold of eternal life that you were called to and have made a good confession about in the presence of many witnesses.
• II Peter 1:5 5 For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with goodness, goodness with knowledge,
• 63:1 God, You are my God; I eagerly seek You. I thirst for You; my body faints for You in a land that is dry, desolate, and without water.
• 84:2 my heart & flesh cry out for God, Ps. 42:1 as the deer panteth after water so my soul longs for thee
• Proverbs 4:18 The path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, shining brighter and brighter until midday.

HEART REFLECTIONS:

THOUGHT: Could it be that much of the church today over the last 50 years has been so busy showing the world how much we can do for Christ and lost sight of how the N.T. Church of Paul’s day was just content to demonstrate to the world how much He could do through them

List out