The Surpassing Worth of Knowing Jesus

The text for our meditation on God’s Holy Word is epistle lesson appointed for the day. I bring you grace, mercy, and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

By the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the apostle Paul wrote these words because the congregation at Philippi and other Christian congregations in the area were being misled by false teachers. These false teachers were saying that faith in Jesus Christ was not enough for salvation—that besides faith, it was necessary to keep all of the rituals and rules of the Old Testament.

This context may seem to be far removed from this time and place-- but the same spirit of wanting to add to Christ’s finished work of salvation lives on to afflict the Christian church today.

In many places, Christians are still told that faith in Christ is not enough—that they themselves must do something to make their salvation complete and effective: good works—a decision—some outpouring of overwhelming emotion attributed to the Holy Spirit. All of this added to the simple faith and trust that-- what Christ did on the cross for the world—was done for me—and he is my salvation.

There are some groups where this false teaching of earning our salvation is enshrined as the official teaching—and we must avoid these places-- but even where it is not—the spirit of this idea clings to each of us because it is the natural religion of mankind—that our salvation depends upon us: on our obedience—on our lesser guilt than others—on our piety.

But what God would have us do today is turn our eyes away from ourselves and focus them upon Jesus Christ and know that everything else that we are tempted to base our salvation on apart Christ-- is less than nothing-- and cannot even be compared to the surpassing worth of knowing that Jesus is our Lord and Savior. Paul writes:

If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless.

There was nothing wrong with being circumcised on the eighth day—in fact, it was what the law demanded. There was nothing wrong with being born a Jew—in fact, there were great advantages and it was the way that God had providentially ordered Paul’s life. There was certainly nothing wrong with being scrupulous in the way he kept the law of God—truth be told, most of us would be well served to devote a bit more energy to that very thing.

None of this was wrong in and of itself—in fact, all of it added up to Paul’s being singularly blessed by God. But when these things became the foundation and source of Paul’s life with God—when they became his confidence before God-- they ceased being a blessing and became a curse-- because it put him in direct opposition to God himself who desires that we have a life with him solely through faith in his Son.

And besides that, for all of those ancient and modern people who want to have a life with God on the basis of what they do—who are they compared to Paul in piety and zeal and righteousness? And if they can’t match up to Paul, how can they expect to be acceptable to God?

There can be no accommodation and no compromise between the religion of works and Christianity, for those who trust in anything within themselves for their salvation-- become persecutors of the church-- and enemies of the cross-- and deniers of Jesus—just like a young Pharisee named Saul.

The same is true for us today. We should be: 1. regular in our church attendance- and 2. generous in our giving- and 3. careful to walk in God’s commands -and 4. insistent that our congregation faithfully teach God’s Word- and 5. different than the world around us in how we live our lives.

All of these are great blessings—but when they become our confidence before God—when they become what we are counting on for our salvation—we become persecutors of the church of Jesus Christ which rests upon the rock-solid foundation of salvation through faith in him alone. Paul writes that:

Whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish…

As Paul traveled forth on the Road to Damascus to persecute the church, the risen Christ appeared before him and Paul was struck blind by his glory—the glory of God himself. But at the same time his spiritual eyes were opened and he saw- for the first time- just exactly how he looked spiritually: not in comparison those around him—but in comparison to God.

He saw the truth about his own righteousness and obedience and zeal in the light of Christ’s holiness and he knew that everything that he had hoped in—everything that had counted on—everything that he was so proud of in his life—was rubbish. All of his righteous deeds—compared to the righteousness of Jesus Christ—were as filthy rags.

You see, it is only in knowing Jesus Christ that we can know the truth about God’s real expectations of us—it is only in knowing Jesus Christ that we can know the truth about ourselves and how far we stand apart from God on the basis of what we can do.

Just like Paul, all of us, by nature want to measure ourselves against our fellow man—and let there be no doubt—we look pretty good in comparison. But other folks are not the measure of God’s expectations of us—God himself is the measure-- and there is only One Person who has ever measured up to that standard-- and that is Jesus: the holiness of God and the righteousness of God and the love of God in human flesh who gave his life into death upon the cross in exchange for those of us who are none of those things.

All of us must come to that same place as did Paul—in learning the truth about ourselves and our own righteousness—in seeing it for what it is—and that in stripping it away we still have not lost anything of value—but only rubbish that is keeping us away from Christ—and that coming to a place of spiritual emptiness—we can be filled with Christ himself. Paul says that he was glad to lose all those things he had trusted in so that he might…

gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith—

When Paul came to faith in Christ, he lost everything he was before. He lost his place in his culture—he lost the admiration of his colleagues—he lost his very identity as someone who had made a place for himself with God based upon his own righteousness. But what he gained was Christ-- and he was glad to count all of his own righteousness as a loss compared to the surpassing worth of knowing Jesus as his Lord and Savior.

Paul’s faith and trust was shifted away from himself and was placed upon Christ and Christ’s righteousness—and in doing so--a perfect righteousness that truly avails in God’s sight for salvation became his own through faith in Jesus. So it is for us.
There is only one way to be saved—there is only one way to stand before God unashamed—there is only one way to be absolutely confident that we will go to heaven when we die --and that is through faith in Jesus so that what he has done for the world—becomes your own.

Through faith in Jesus, his death on the cross is counted as your punishment for sins. Through faith in Jesus, his holiness is credited to you as your righteousness. Through faith in Jesus, his status before God becomes your own and you are counted as God’s child—and share in his life. Paul writes:

For Jesus’ sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish in order that that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.

The person who has been saved through faith in Jesus is forever changed. We are simply not the people we were before. Paul went from being a persecutor of Jesus Christ, to wanting to know him more and more—from wanting nothing to do with him, to gladly enduring whatever came his way as a follower of Jesus---from putting his people to death, to desiring to spend eternity with them in heaven.

His whole perspective about himself and about God was changed through faith in Jesus Christ.

That same pattern is seen in the life of all of Christ’s people. We want to know more and more about this One who given his own life for us and so we are glad to attend worship and bible study. We joyfully share whatever hardship comes our way as his disciples because we know what he suffered for us and the sacrifices we make for him are nothing compared to what he did for us. And our vision is no longer only on the “here and now” but extends into eternity in heaven because he has gone there to prepare a place for us where we will live with him forever.

This is the power of Christ’s resurrection in our own lives right now. We serve a living Savior—one who is not distant from us but by Holy Baptism, lives in us—one who sustains his own life in his through his body and blood in Holy Communion.
From the moment we were baptized, the shape of Jesus’ life has become our own just as it did for Paul—and we strive to live it out more and more until we go to heaven. Paul says:

Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

Paul knew that all of those false teachers who wanted people to trust in their own good works could not even match up to him in holiness and righteousness and piety and yet he knew about himself that he did not match up to Christ in how he lived.
But he also knew that his past mistakes were forgiven and heaven awaited him and so day by day in his earthly life he pushed ahead to live for Christ like an athlete reaching for the finish line.

So it is for us in our Christian life. Because of the surpassing knowledge of Jesus Christ, our Savior, we know that our sins are forgiven and we know that we have a place in heaven. And because Christ has made us his own, our calling is to make that identity more and more an active, vigorous reality in how we live our lives. Amen.

And now may the peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus unto life everlasting. Amen.