It is that time of year again, what time, time to make New Year’s resolutions, time to start the year afresh. If you are making resolution for the new year or setting goals in general, there is one thing that should be at the top of your list every year: To know Him, Christ Jesus.
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The Eternal Resolution – To Know Him
Philippians 3:4-14
If you would ask Paul what his New Year’s resolution is, I am sure that year over year, over year, over year, you would get the same answer, to know Him— to know Christ, to know him more deeply, to know him more than relieving the poor, to know him more than feeding the hungry, more than helping out homeless, more than ministry its self…..his New Year’s resolution would be to know Christ, period. So before you make a list of New Year’ resolutions or even if you don’t have a resolution but have goals in life, I hope that the scripture today encourages you to make Christ your main goal or resolution.
So let’s look at chapter 3 of Paul’s letter to the Church in Philippi to understand the resolution that should be at the top of our list every year.
In this letter to the church, Paul will show why Christ is so valuable to him and why he will stop at nothing to get Him.
Paul’s Pedigree
And at this point and time in history and particularly in first century Judaism, your value was your lineage, and how well you were in keeping the Mosaic Law. So if you had a good name, you and your family kept the law, you were somebody, you had a nice pedigree!
Paul himself use to take pride in this, he use to take pride in his pedigree but something happened
Read verse4-9——
Paul is no longer placing confidence in himself and his pedigree for his right standing before God but he is dropping what was of value to him to grab a hold of Christ. Even To the point where he is saying that everything that I took value in to stand justly before God, I no longer claim but I consider it as rubbish, animal excrement.
So he is dropping the confidence in his own self-righteousness for the righteousness of God which comes by Faith in Christ Jesus.
See that pedigree that Paul had, all it did was make him more self-righteous and so if he kept any of it, his faith would not fully be in Christ Jesus for his salvation, for his deliverance from sin, for his peace with God but it would partially be in himself.
It is either all in trust in Christ for your right standing with God, your justification or nothing. It is not 95% Christ, and the other 5% by my own works or righteousness but all Christ.
A Warning Against Self Righteousness
And these verses should serve as a warning to all believers so that we do not fall into the sin of self-righteousness. What I mean by this is Paul shows us that all of his religious activities lead to him being self-righteous and putting a confidence in the flesh.
We can easily do this in the Christian life, were God delivers us from a particular sin or addiction and we began to think that we are right with God or have peace with God because we don’t do a couple of bad habits anymore.
“I don’t drink anymore, don’t use drugs anymore, I am saved because I don’t do those things any more, I have peace with God because I don’t do those things anymore”. No, it is not about what you don’t do but what Christ has done.
“So the Apostle Paul wants to get rid of any shred of self-righteousness so that his faith will fully be in Christ”.
The Aim of Paul’s Life——To Know Him Verse 10
And now that he has righteousness standing before God through Christ, he just wants to know more about the person who has purchase such a salvation.
The apostle know that we would never stand right before God on his own, that he would never break the bondage of sin on his own.
For example in Romans chapter 7: 23-25 Paul describes our human nature or flesh as a prison that is enslaving him to sin. We feel the desires of our fallen human nature, the lust that it has, and the wrong things that it wants. And so he said in Verse 25 of Romans:
“Who will set me free from the body of this death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!”
Christ sets him free from the bondage of sin and provides Him right standing before God, so now his desire is to know that one who has provided such a great salvation.
Believers if Christ has done anything for you, this should be your aim……to know
In verse 10 the apostle said that I want to know him, power of resurrection
In order that I may attain to the resurrection
The resurrection that Paul is talking about here is not the general resurrection that I people will take part in. John 5:29, Acts 24:15
Paul is talking about the resurrection of the righteous to be forever with Christ, to see him fully
In 1 Corinth 13: 9 the apostle said: For we know in part and we prophesy in part but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away. 12-For now we see in a mirror dimly but then face to face.
So when Paul said if by any means…he in a since is saying whatever I have to go through to get to the resurrection, I am going to go through it, I am going to persevere, if it means, beating, persecution, different type of suffering, I am there, I want Christ.
See Paul is not going to live like he has already arrived; Yes his eternal salvation is secure in Christ, as he teaches in other places. Yes, he will be a part of the resurrection of the righteous; even at the beginning of this book he said that
“He who began a good work in you will complete it until the day of Christ” But he is not about to kick his feet up”
John Piper-Retirement
Paul is not thinking retirement and leisure and that he has arrived, but no, he knows that we are in war, spiritual warfare.
So some in the Philippian church were probably surprised to hear Paul take such a humble position and say that if by any means possible that I might attain to the resurrection of the dead and that he has not fully grabbed a hold of Christ, “you are the great Paul, Church-planter, disciple maker, and you are still striving?”
Yes, he is Verse 12- Press on-Greek:Dee-o-ko
Paul has not fully grabbed ahold of the prize but he pressing toward it.
Imagine, a runner who has being training for particular event and they are coming around the track, on their last lap when all of a sudden they hear and see an ice truck and during the middle of the race, they leave the track and start chasing the ice cream truck……that is us when we take our eyes off of the Prize, Christ, our salvation and focus on other things. That snow cone may bring you happiness for a little while but then it will be gone, the race will be over and you have missed the prize.
Brothers and sisters, what are you aiming for, what is your target in life? What is your Why? Why are you living, is to know Christ? You need to know why you are living, why you are faithfully coming here, why you get up every day to pray and read your bible? Is it to know the Lord more? If Christ is not your aim, then you may have an Idol in your heart. And as my wife so beautify articulated at our missional community on Friday “an Idol can be your children, you spouse, your job, money, cars, homes, dreams.” If knowing God through Christ is not your number one, you need to repent and turn to the Lord.
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