"THE PRIZE -- TO KNOW CHRIST"
Sept 6, 1998 am MF Blume
Phil 3:7 - 4:1 But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea doubtless, and I count all things [but] loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them [but] dung, that I may win Christ, And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith: That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead. Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but [this] one thing [I do], forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you. Nevertheless, whereto we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us mind the same thing. Brethren, be followers together of me, and mark them which walk so as ye have us for an ensample. (For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, [that they are] the enemies of the cross of Christ: Whose end [is] destruction, whose God [is their] belly, and [whose] glory [is] in their shame, who mind earthly things.) For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself. Therefore, my brethren dearly beloved and longed for, my joy and crown, so stand fast in the Lord, [my] dearly beloved.
I want to get down to what this is all about.
- Don't you?
- What is church all about?
- Why are you listening to me preach the Word today?
Paul wanted to unite with Jesus Christ above everything else in his life. Notice that he was already saved, but that was only the beginning. He said that there is a place in union with Jesus that he did not yet have.
Verse 12 says that he has not yet attained this union. He used the word perfect. He said he was not yet made perfect.
Notice his goals.
- He wanted to know Christ.
- He had not yet attained or was not yet made perfect.
Perfect means complete. If a man and woman is one flesh, then each of them is incomplete without the other. A man is driven to his wife because she is his flesh. - He will leave father and mother and go to his wife.
- His peace will not be made until he finds her.
- He is incomplete
Deep within Jesus was something special. - Before the foundation OF THE WORLD WE WERE IN HIM.
- And from his side we were taken on the cross.
Adam laid down to rest and God took a rib and built the woman.
Gene 2:21-24 And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. And Adam said, This [is] now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.
The woman was taken from man. - Man was no longer complete.
- He was no longer one.
- He would go to his wife and they would unite as one flesh again.
- The most intimate act of the flesh united a man and woman as one flesh.
John 19:33-34 But when they came to Jesus, and saw that he was dead already, they brake not his legs: But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water.
Our union with Jesus is spiritual. - The church came from His side.
- Jesus said He would build His church.
Matt 16:18 And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
As God literally built Eve, God built the church.
1Pet 2:5 Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.
Paul said that as a christian, part of the church, there was a drawing inside him to want to know the Lord. - He was saved.
- That is like Eve being made.
- But after God built the woman, the woman and the man each were incomplete without the other.
- The only way to satisfy the longing for being complete is for the church and the christian to want to unite with Jesus.
Salvation is the making of a christian. - But that is not the end of the story.
- Now there must be a union with Christ again, after salvation.
Paul said this longing in him was so strong that he counted all things that distinguished him, things sought to satisfy him, as loss. He found these things were empty.
- Jesus was his goal.
- He was incomplete.
- He was not yet perfect.
- He sought to KNOW JESUS.
- To unite with Jesus.
When Adam knew Eve they were again one flesh. - The rib was no longer missing from Adam.
- Eve longed to be with Adam as much as Adam longed to unite with her, because they were each part of the other.
- Similarly, Paul sought to know Christ.
Paul told us to walk as he walked. - What was the prize?
- What was the HIGH CALLING?
Phil 3:8 Yea doubtless, and I count all things [but] loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them [but] dung, that I may win Christ,
Everything about Jesus is meant to be our's because we are made from Him.
And only when we resurrect in body will we be one with Him forever.
- Paul said there is a union I am not going to miss.
Everything inside me as a christian is pointing me to this union. He said he wanted to know Jesus and the power of resurrection and fellowship of suffering.
Phil 3:10-11 That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.
Paul said the union circles around the suffering and resurrection. - That means the cross.
- Why the cross?
- That is where we were first removed from Him.
- And since we seek to return to Him, the cross is fellowship with Him.
Phil 3:12 Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.
He said he wants to apprehend the very thing that he was apprehended for... to unite with Christ forever. - To experience the day we resurrect from this life into eternity.
Paul so eagerly sought this union with Jesus. He said that THIS ONE THING I DO. - REACHING FORWARD
- Picture Paul running with his hands reaching out before him, in such desire to win Christ.
Phil 3:13 Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but [this] one thing [I do], forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,
His eye was on the goal and he pressed through every obstacle to reach it.
- We are called to this goal.
- This is the high calling.
- Every child of God must recognize the high calling.
- The ultimate glory.
- The only place of completion and perfection.
- We are never going to be satisfied until we are totally one with Him.
Christ is already resurrected and glorified. - And we cannot fully unite with Him until we, too, are resurrected.
1Cor 15:47-49 The first man [is] of the earth, earthy: the second man [is] the Lord from heaven. As [is] the earthy, such [are] they also that are earthy: and as [is] the heavenly, such [are] they also that are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.
We are of Adam, therefore we are like him. - As is the earthy so are they that are OF the earthy.
- And as is the heavenly, so are they that are of the heavenly.
- Jesus is heavenly.
- Jesus is resurrected.
- We are not yet made like that in body.
"We shall bear the image of the heavenly." - That means we are not yet in that perfect likeness.
1Joh 3:2-3 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.
"We shall be..." means we are not yet. So we need to pursue this goal.
- We need to long for it.
- Something inside drives the true christan to this goal.
- If you have any grain of His life in you at all... any fragment of something that says you indeed were taken from Him... then your heart beats to this music.
- Somewhere inside of every believer this urge bursts when hearing such things.
DEEP CALLETH TO THE DEEP.
1Cor 15:50-55 Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal [must] put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.
This goal, this ultimate point, this being like Him s that we can TRULY KNOW HIM, is what Paul sought for. - We can know Him now to an extent.
- But not fully because we are not fully like Him.
- He is incorruptible.
- There is nothing of Him that is of the earth.
- We still have these old bodies.
- But when we are like Him in every way, then that perfect union will come.
This passage lets us know that something remains to be done in us. 1Cor 15:22-23 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming.
Paul lost all desire for things that distinguished him.
- The urge inside him to get back to his spiritual source became predominant in his life.
- Things that distinguished him, he knew, worked against the goal to be perfect with Christ.
- So he learned to despise things that would make him, Paul, alone,be exalted.
That part of the old Adam is left... flesh.. and that is all that is left. - But in that flesh is that downward pull.
We can know Him now, but Paul sought for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ. - He sought for the PERFECTION of knowing Him and that required resurrection.
So he sought for resurrection with everything inside him. Roma 8:17-18 And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with [him], that we may be also glorified together. For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time [are] not worthy [to be compared] with the glory which shall be revealed in us.
Roma 8:23 And not only [they], but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, [to wit], the redemption of our body.
Like the salmon that struggles and fights with every last ounce of its life to return to the place of its birth and spawn, there is a resurrection that will occur with the child of God, and we long to return to His side where we were first removed, to be built up, to grow and become more spiritual, and see the things of Adam fall away. - And once we grow sufficiently in the church, and let that cry in your heart come forth in desire that overtakes all other desires in your life, you are soon ready.
- And you long to go to the cross.
The closest times you are with Him are in two things... - power of resurrection and
- fellowship of his sufferings.
He will be closer to you in the hard times if you will recognize it, and in the times of supernatural faith, than in any other times.
Romans speaks of the desire of all to go to the full hope.
- We hope and that means we do not see all that we know is there.
- So we cry for it.
And then we read ...
Roma 8:28-29 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to [his] purpose. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate [to be] conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.
If we love God, we know that we will be like Him in eternity.
- We will have that urge satisfied.
- We will make that unity.
Paul saw what things that eleveated HIM were rooted in.
Phil 3:18-19 (For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, [that they are] the enemies of the cross of Christ: Whose end [is] destruction, whose God [is their] belly, and [whose] glory [is] in their shame, who mind earthly things.)
Enemies of the cross are people who deny the work of the cross upon their lives.
- They will never unite with Christ for they do not deny themselves.
- The cross is here to cause us to deny self and see all that is of Adam removed so that we may unite with Christ in that great resurrection.
The cross was accomplished to make a Bride for Jesus. - But there are enemies of the cross.
Hebr 12:1-2 Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset [us], and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of [our] faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Jesus went through the cross experience to the purpose of JOY set before Him. - He knew it would bring forth the church -- a bride for Him
- He laid down his life for the church's existence.
- Suffered, but willingly took it because he loved us.
With JOY we will get through the trial. - We know that the cross we must bear.
- The cross is for the beloved union with Jesus.
- And the things which remove us from the cross we must learn to despise.
- We must know what the intention of the anti-cross temptations are.
- To stop this from occurring.
Paul said this is what it is all about...
Colo 1:28-29 Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus: Whereunto I also labour, striving according to his working, which worketh in me mightily.
Perfect in Christ. - Fully united.
- COMPLETE in Chirst Jesus.
- One once again.