To Know Christ

Missing the point. It doesn't always mean that we are focused on bad things, just the not the most important things, the best thing, perhaps the one things that really matters. How much do we grasp what that "thing" actually is? That is at he heart of what Paul is talking about in the verses to the right, and what Pastor Jon reflects on with us in his sermon.

A few things that we find particularly helpful in this passage include:

the context of rejoicing
the things to watch out for (it's not what we sometimes think - it's actually those who think Jesus is not enough)
what constitutes what the real circumcision is - those who are genuinely responding to God's grace out of love.
what things we should not place our confidence in (Notice Paul's list, but even more, what the fruit of that was in his attitude and passions - or the kind of religious zeal it produced)
that even when we are getting it right, we are still a work in progress
the real goal is Jesus. Our job is to stay focused on and responsive to Him. To Know Christ.

That is what Pastor Jon invites us to reflect on this morning. If you would like to listen to the sermon again, or perhaps for the first time, you can access our sermon library here. If you prefer, you can access the livestream version here.

Philippians 3

NIV

Further, my brothers and sisters, rejoice in the Lord! It is no trouble for me to write the same things to you again, and it is a safeguard for you. 2 Watch out for those dogs, those evildoers, those mutilators of the flesh. 3 For it is we who are the circumcision, we who serve God by his Spirit, who boast in Christ Jesus,and who put no confidence in the flesh— 4 though I myself have reasons for such confidence.

If someone else thinks they have reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: 5 circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; 6 as for zeal,persecuting the church; as for righteousness based on the law, faultless.

7 But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ.8 What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ 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[a] Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith.10 I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.

12 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal,but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.13 Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.