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Sermon Notes

March 12, 2023

The Deep End

Philippians 3:7-16

Paul rejects all confidence in the flesh. He desires to be in a DEEP place with God. (vs. 7)
“But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ.”
  1. Any of the corrupting teachers Paul warned against would be proud to claim Paul’s pedigree.
  2. Yet Paul made it plain: these things I have counted as loss for Christ.
    • “The word ‘gain’ is plural in the Greek.  The various gains are all counted as one loss.”
  3. It wasn’t so much that they were a loss by their very character, as much as he chose to regard them as loss.
  4. They were not counted as loss because they were harmful to Paul, but because they were ways in which Paul sought to please God in the energies of the flesh.
  5. Before Paul became a Christian, he thought all these things made him a success in the effort to please God by works.

Paul had confidence in a living relationship with Jesus Christ and understood the DEEP meaning of that relationship. (vs. 8)
“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, in order that I may gain Christ.”
  1. Paul not only counted his religious pedigree as a loss; he counted all things loss.He counted them as a loss in view of the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus.
  2. It wasn’t that those things were worthless in themselves but compared to the greatness of the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, they really were nothing.
  3. Paul put a personal relationship with Jesus Christat the very center of the Christian’s life. He joyfully accepted the loss of all other things for the greatness of this personal relationship.
  4. Counting loss was not merely an internal spiritual exercise. Paul had indeed suffered the loss of all thingsthat he might gain Christ.
  5. This is demonstrated by the place and circumstances under which Paul wrote this letter – a Roman prison, where he truly could say that he had suffered the loss of all things.
  6. In this verse Paul used strong language. Literally, Paul considered them as rubbish/excrement – as dung; not only as worthless, but as offensive.
  7. The word shows how insignificant the apostle considered everything but the Gospel of Jesus.

Let’s look at some of the DEEP spiritual benefits of his gain in Jesus Christ. (vs.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 Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith;”
  1. Since Paul was in Him, he could renounce his own righteousnessand live by the righteousness which is from God by faith.
  2. The foundation for his spiritual life was in what Jesus had done for him; not in what he had done, was doing, or would do for Jesus in the future.
  3. Paul here exposed the great difference between the legal relationship stressed by his opponents and his personal connection with Jesus Christ.
  4. The difference is between living and trusting in your own righteousness vs living and trusting in God’s righteousness given through faith in Christ.

Paul’s experience of a DEEP personal relationship with Jesus. (vs. 10-11)
“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 I may attain the resurrection from the dead.”
  1. That was the simple plea of Paul’s heart.
  2. It was a plea unknown to the legalist, who must focus on their own performance and status to find some kind of peace with God. However, Paul wanted Jesus, not self.
  3. To know Jesus is not the same as knowing His historical life. It is not the same as knowing correct doctrines regarding Jesus, or knowing His moral example, or knowing His great work on our behalf.
One commentator put it this way:
“They tell me he is a refiner, that he cleanses from spots; he has washed me in his precious blood, and to that extent I know him. They tell me that he clothes the naked; he hath covered me with a garment of righteousness, and to that extent I know him. They tell me that he is a breaker, and that he breaks fetters, he has set my soul at liberty, and therefore I know him. They tell me that he is a king and that he reigns over sin; he hath subdued my enemies beneath his feet, and I know him in that character. They tell me he is a shepherd: I know him for I am his sheep. They say he is a door: I have entered in through him, and I know him as a door. They say he is food: my spirit feeds on him as on the bread of heaven, and, therefore, I know him as such.” (Spurgeon)

The power of His resurrection: Knowing Jesus means knowing this power, the new life that is imparted to us now, not when we die.
  1. He wants to know the power of Christ’s resurrection in a real way.
  2. He wants to experience the same power that raised Christ from the dead.
  3. The power of His resurrection is an evidencing power. It is the evidence and seal that everything Jesus did and said was true.
  4. The power of His resurrection is a justifying power. It is the receipt and proof that the sacrifice of the cross was accepted as payment in full.
  5. The power of His resurrection is a life-giving power. It means that those who are connected with Jesus Christ receive the same resurrected life.
  6. The power of His resurrection is a comforting power. It promises that our friends and loved ones who are dead in Christ live with Him.
What about the fellowship of His sufferings? It is all part of following Jesus and being in Christ.
  1. We can say that suffering is part of our heritage as the children of God. We get to be part of the family of suffering: “If children, then heirs – heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together”(Romans 8:17).
  2. Being conformed to His death reminds us that being in Christalso means being “in” His death. These words had relevance to Paul who faced possible martyrdom.
  3. Paul was not morbidly focused on suffering and death in the Christian life. He saw that they were a necessary way to the goal of resurrected life right now and the ultimate resurrection from the dead.
  4. The suffering was worth it, considering the greatness of the goal of resurrection from the dead.
  5. Paul didn’t doubt that he was saved, but he did long mightily for the completion of his salvation through the resurrection of his body.
  6. It was something that he had not yet attained and longed for.
Remember that Paul wrote this having experienced more suffering than we will ever experience, and he wrote it from the custody of Roman soldiers. This wasn’t merely theological theory and ideas, but a lived-out connection with God.

Then we come to the future of Paul’s DEEP relationship with Jesus Christ. (vs. 12-14)
“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.”
  1. Paul wrote from such spiritual maturity and purity that we might expect he believed that he had conquered all spiritual difficulties and saw himself as having arrived at near perfection.
  2. Yet he assured us this was not so. There was no perfectionism in Paul.
  3. Sadly, it is common for many Christian leaders to cultivate the attitude that they have already attained. Without saying the words, they put forth the image of constant arrogance that gives the idea that they have already attained and are already perfected.
Paul says, “but I press on:” Paul realized that he had not arrived, there was only one option open for him - he had to press on. There was no turning back for Him.
  1. This meant that Paul had put his hand to the plow and refused to look back.
  2. Paul pressed on for what Jesus wanted. His effort was put forth to do God’s will, not his own.
  3. When Paul said, “That I may make it my own,” he used strong language.
  4. Paul began this verse with the idea that Jesus Christ had made him His own.
  5. This is an important idea; yet sometimes Christians react to that idea by being passive.
  6. They suppose, “Jesus got a hold of me; so that is it now. I am a Christian and I am going to heaven.”
  7. Paul showed a different attitude. He was determined to lay holdfor what Jesus had laid hold of him. I know what you’re thinking  “Why did Jesus lay hold of Paul?”
    • Jesus laid hold of Paul to make him a new man. (Romans 6:4)
    • Jesus laid hold of Paul to conform him into the image of Jesus Christ. (Romans 8:29)
    • Jesus laid holdof Paul to make him a witness. (Acts 9:15)
    • Jesus laid holdof Paul to make him an instrument in the conversion of others. (Acts 9:15)
    • Jesus laid holdof Paul to bring him into suffering. (Acts 9:16)
    • Jesus laid holdof Paul that so that the Apostle might attain to the resurrection from the dead. (Philippians 3:11)
Paul was focused on one thing and would not let those things which are behind distract him from it. He pressed on for the prize.
  1. We often let things which are behinddistract us, whether they be good things or bad things.
  2. Looking at what is in the past often keeps us from what God has for us in the future.
  3. Paul knew that a race is won only in the present moment, not in the past or in the future.
  4. The prize is the upward call of God. The prizeis the call itself, not the benefits that come from the call or any other thing.
  5. The prize is being able to run the race at all, working as a partner to do the work of His kingdom.
    • It is a high calling because it comes from above.
    • It is a high calling because it is worthy of God.
    • It is a high calling because it is so much above the ideals of me.
    • It is a high calling because it summons us to where Christ sits at the right hand of God.
Because it is such a glorious call, it is worth reaching for. The Greek word points out the strong exertions made in the race (every muscle and nerve is exerted), and he puts forth every particle of his strength in running. He was running for life and running for his life.

Reminder: The upward call of God is only in Christ Jesus.

Finally, Paul exhorts the Philippians to adopt this same DEEP attitude. (vs. 15-16)
“Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal even this to you. Only let us hold true to what we have attained.”
  1. Those who are mature will have this mind. If they do not, Paul trusted that God would reveal the necessity of having it.
  2. Paul had great trust in the ability of the Lord to deal with His own people.
  3. He didn’t have the attitude that if hefailed to convince them, they would never be convinced.
  4. However, Paul would not allow a lack of understanding to excuse anyone from doing what he didknow to be the Lord’s will.
  5. What we don’t knowcan never excuse us from failing to fulfill what we do know to do.
Let us be of the same mind as we remember Paul’s words earlier in Philippians.  “So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.” (Philippians 2:1-2)

This is the DEEP END of faith!
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