PHILIPPIANS 3 CHOOSING TO PUT JESUS FIRST2019 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Philippians 3 Choosing To Put Jesus First

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2019. Philippians chapter 3, continuing our journey through the book of Philippians.

And now moving into chapter 3, which is a powerful chapter and has some really important truths and challenging thoughts for us to consider as Paul continues to speak to us about the priority of Jesus and really challenge our hearts in that. And so we're going to begin by reading through the passage together. We'll be looking at verses 1 through 11.

And so let's read through that and then we'll dive into the message that God has for us. Philippians chapter 3 verse 1 says, Beware of the mutilation.

For we are the circumcision, who worship God in the Spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh. Though I also might have confidence in the flesh, if anyone else thinks he may have confidence in the flesh, I more so. Circumcised the eighth day of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews, concerning the law, a Pharisee.

Verse 8.

The righteousness which is from God by faith.

As we move now into Philippians chapter 3, continuing to look at Paul's focus and emphasis on the priority of Jesus, I've titled the message this evening, Choosing to Put Jesus First.

Choosing to put Jesus first. And this evening I would like to, I believe the Lord wants to encourage us and remind us to make the choice, to make a decision to put Jesus first in our lives, to give him that place of priority. Now last week as we were in chapter two, we saw some really great examples of

Two weeks ago, we saw Jesus as the ultimate example, right? Then last week, we looked at Paul and Timothy and Epaphroditus. And from them, we saw the evidences of Jesus being first and what it looks like when Jesus is first in people's lives. And so these examples stand out as great models for us to follow. But one of the questions we might have or the problems we have with that is, okay, so there's a great model, but how do I get there?

I mean, I can look at some amazing piece of artwork or some statue that you carved, right? And it's like, I can see that. I can see the model, but to recreate that model, that's a bit more challenging, right? I'm going to need some help to get there. And so as we look at those models from chapter two, the question is, how do we get there? And here in chapter three, Paul begins to give us some insights into how to work our way to become like

Well, men and women of God who have Jesus first, like Paul and Timothy and Epaphroditus. And so we're going to look at five choices this evening here in Philippians chapter 3. Five choices, decisions that we can make to help us put Jesus first and be those who have the priority of Jesus in our lives. The first choice that we'll look at is found here in verse 1. It is choose to rejoice in Jesus.

Again, in verse 1, Paul says, finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. Paul tells us to rejoice in the Lord. He says, finally, and like most preachers, you know, that's about the middle of the message. That's when the conclusion starts, right? Finally, my brethren, rejoice. Now, when you put Jesus first, we've touched on it a bit throughout our time here in Philippians, that

Jesus, when he is first, it brings joy to your life. Like if you want to have joy, right, you follow out that acronym. You put Jesus first, then others second, and then yourself third. And, you know, that spells out joy, but it also brings joy in your life when you have the right priorities. And so Jesus brings joy. We know of joy as a fruit of the Spirit from Galatians, right? It's one of the things that the Holy Spirit produces in you.

And at the same time, here Paul is giving a command to rejoice. And so we can recognize it in both ways, that as we're walking with the Lord, he produces joy, and it's not of our doing, but then there's also the command, the instruction, Paul says, make the choice to rejoice. And so there are times where just joy just overflows, and there are times where we have to deliberately make

intentionally make a choice and choose to rejoice. F.B. Meyer, the commentator, says it this way. He says,

We saw last week one of the characteristics, one of the evidences of Jesus as the priority in our lives is that it produces no murmuring or complaining.

But that doesn't necessarily mean that we are not ever tempted to murmur or complain. And so F.B. Meyer here is addressing that. He's saying we must steadfastly arrest or put a stop to our tendency to murmur and complain. That is, it's our responsibility to cultivate this joy, to choose not to murmur, to choose to rejoice. And notice that he says rejoice in the Lord.

And this is why we can choose to rejoice because of the Lord. No matter what circumstances we're going through. And we can go through great difficulties and hardships and heartaches and painful times where there's no reason to rejoice in the circumstances. And there's no reason to rejoice in the situation that we're facing. But no matter what situation we're facing, we can rejoice in the Lord.

And it's not necessarily going to be automatic all the time where it just bubbles up and overflows and we just can't control it. We have this joy, you know, joy, joy, joy, joy deep in my heart, you know. It's not just always going to be that way, but there's also those times, many times where we must make that choice and purposefully cultivate joy. And as we sense the murmuring and the complaining, as we sense the bitterness or sadness

The unsettled, the unsatisfied condition of our heart, as we sense that welling up, we have the choice, we have the opportunity to dwell in that thought, to dwell on those things, to feed those feelings, or we have the choice to rejoice in the Lord. F.B. Meyer talks about putting a stop to finding fault with God's dealings. Sometimes we're not that happy and excited about

what God has allowed to take place in our lives. But we need to put a stop to that. Don't allow those attitudes to continue. To seek to elicit sympathy, he also addresses. You ever do that? You know, you're talking to someone and you're laying down, you know, your situation so that you can get, you know, some sympathy. You're trying to produce that in your life. And

There's a balance that we need to walk in, and that is, you know, there is that one anotherness, and we need to be able to share, you know, carry each other's burdens. That's a biblical thing. But, you know, sometimes we're just wanting people to feel sorry for us. We're just wanting to produce, you know, some type of attention in that way. And we need to be very careful that we cultivate joy, that we don't just let ourselves be consumed with

the sorrows, the difficulties, the hardships, the things that we're not a fan of or not fond of or we wish were different. We've got to make that choice to rejoice in the Lord, rejoice in Jesus. In my mind, I kind of picture it like resisting the current of a wave.

I'm sure you've been in those kinds of situations, right? Where you're standing on the beach or those of you guys who experienced American Samoa, you know, you're on sliding rock and you're holding onto the rock and the wave comes and it's just pushing, right? And so you're resisting, you're trying not to be moved by the wave, but the water's coming and the force is great and there's all this pressure upon you. I think that's a good visual for us to consider. You know, we have the feelings of sadness, right?

We have the craving for sympathy. We have the murmuring and complaining that builds up and this wave hits us and pushes us. And yet if you're going to stand in the wave, you have to purpose and make that choice. You're not going to stand in the wave if you haven't made that choice. The wave is strong, but you can stand if you choose to stand and if you deliberately make that effort deliberately.

And in a similar way, as those feelings, as those emotions come, the wave of sadness comes and you can resist it. You can choose to rejoice and hold fast and say, no, I'm going to reflect on, I'm going to think about, I'm going to meditate on, I'm going to fill my heart and my mind with Jesus and what he has done for me and who he is. I'm not going to let these things fill my mind and my heart. When you have that wave of stress that comes in,

Oh, and there's all that anxiety and pressure and stress that comes and it's mounting up and it's swelling against you. You say, no, I'm going to choose to rejoice in Jesus. I'm not going to let that occupy my mind and my heart and my day and my thoughts all day long, but I'm going to turn my heart, I'm going to turn my mind to think about, to reflect on, to take joy in Jesus.

You feel that anger swell or, you know, whatever the case may be, that it's a continual choice that we are called to make to rejoice in the Lord.

And Paul's going to issue that command a couple more times as we work our way through the rest of the book of Philippians. But it's a choice that we must make. And if we want to be like the examples that were given to us in Paul, Timothy, and Epaphroditus, that we need to make that choice to put Jesus first, first of all, by rejoicing in him. It's one of the cool things about the Lord as you think about this, right? If you think about putting Jesus first, right?

You could approach that idea, that concept in a lot of ways. And it could be approached in a way that's very like grinding upon you. Like, oh man, you got to work hard and, you know, do this. And here the Lord is saying, look, put Jesus first. And here's the start. Here's how you begin to do that. Rejoice. Man, God's so good and gracious towards us.

Rejoice in the Lord. He has joy for you. There's reason to take joy no matter what we experience in this life. Paul the Apostle is an example of that. In prison, encouraging the Philippians to take joy, encouraging you and I to choose to put Jesus first by rejoicing in him. Well, continuing here in verse 1, but also moving on through verse 3, we get the second choice this evening, and that is choose to maintain your joy in Jesus.

So first we choose to rejoice, but it's not a one-time thing. It's an ongoing battle for our minds and our hearts to rejoice in the Lord. And so Paul continues on. Again, in verse one, it says, finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. For me to write the same things to you is not tedious, but for you, it is safe.

As Paul instructs them to rejoice, he says, look, this isn't the first time you've heard me talk about these things. This isn't the first time I've encouraged you and challenged you to rejoice. But here I am telling you again, and you know, it's not tedious for me. It's not tedious for me. This is...

Something that can be challenging for those who are discipling and teaching and encouraging, instructing others that, you know, how many times have I told you, right? Have you ever told anybody that? Have you ever been told that? How many times, you know, and there can be a frustration, but at the same time, we need to understand that there is a need for repetition. Peter talks about that. Paul talks about that. God repeats himself throughout the scriptures. It's a pattern for us. It's a need for us.

And so Paul says, look, it's not tedious for me. I'm happy to instruct you and remind you of the things that I've already taught you. It's not tedious for me, but for you, it's safe. And here we can see that there is a need for repetition. There is a need for a reinforcement of the things that we already know. We should never have the attitude, have the heart. You know, I've read through that passage. I know it well. And so I don't really need to spend time in it.

Because even the passages that are most familiar to us, well, not only is there new truth that God wants to reveal, that, you know, depths that we haven't uncovered yet, but even the surface things are things that need to be reinforced. We need to be reminded to rejoice in Jesus. And even a simple thing, and even such an enjoyable thing, a blessing thing of rejoicing in Jesus, we can be lost in that so easily.

And that can slip from our mind. It can slip from our hearts. The truth of the gospel, the doctrines about who God is and what he's like, his character and his nature. All of these things are things that we need to be refreshed in repeatedly and continually. And it's safe for us. It's good for us. One of the reasons why it's safe and necessary for us is because those things slip away. Rejoicing in Jesus does not just, you know, you make that choice once and then it's permanent.

No, it requires maintenance. It's like you put gas in your car and then, you know, you're permanently filled to the brim and you have all the gas you need to go all over the world for the next, you know, couple hundred years. No, it doesn't work that way. You have to frequent the gas station. You have to refuel and maintain not only the, you know, amounts of gas that you have, but all the components, you know. In a similar way, we have to maintain our relationship with the Lord and choosing to put Him first is,

That's going to require some maintenance. He's going to slip out of first place. And we're going to have to put him back. He slips out not on his account, but on our account. Other things kind of get squeezed in there. And Jesus gets squeezed out. And we need to continue to work and to put him back where he belongs. And give him that place of priority. Give him that place of ultimate rejoicing. That we rejoice in the Lord above all else. Paul says it's safe for you to remind yourself.

for me to remind you of the things that I've taught you. Safe from what? Well, he goes on to give some warnings in verse two. He says, beware, beware, beware. There's danger. It's safe for you and it's necessary for you. It's not tedious for me, but it's important for you because there's opportunities for you to lose that joy in the Lord. There's forces at work to try to remove the joy of the Lord from you.

Paul kind of wraps that up or sums that up in these descriptions. He says, beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the mutilation. Now from the context, he is going to go on to talk about legalism and looks like he's dealing with the Judaizers once again, those who

believed the Jewish law and Jesus, but you had to, you know, fulfill the law and believe in Jesus in order to be saved. And so there was this legalism that was taught all around wherever Paul went. And so I don't know that we need to try to parse and, okay, well,

What exactly is a dog? And, you know, what is Paul saying here? And evil workers, and what's the difference between a dog and an evil worker? And then what's the mutilation? Well, that's a reference to the circumcision we'll see. But, you know, we're not trying to talk about like three different groups or we have to figure all this out. But Paul is just saying, look, there's those that you need to be aware of. That there are those who will come alongside of you and try to

deceive you, steal from you your joy and all that the Lord has for you. We dealt with this really in great depth in the book of Galatians. We saw our tendency towards legalism and kind of slipping into that works-based relationship with God. And so the Philippians were dealing with that kind of scenario. And there's nothing that will steal your joy faster than legalism.

Even though it's an attempt to draw near to God, even though it's an attempt to approach God, legalism will rob you of joy and to put an end to that rejoicing in the Lord quicker than anything else. This beware, beware, beware from Paul caused me to just stop and consider. I wonder how many people did Paul see impacted by legalism in this way?

Beware, beware, beware. He calls them dogs. It's an insult that the Jewish people would use of the Gentiles. I mean, it was like, you know, the lowest of the low, one of the worst insults that you could give. Paul referred to these teachers of legalism in this way. He has some serious feelings about this. It's a serious issue. How many people did Paul see hit by legalism, derailed by legalism?

Paul tells Timothy this in 1 Timothy 1. He says,

In writing to Timothy, Paul says, Timothy, man, I need to encourage you, like, stay the course, man. Hold fast. I charge you, Timothy. It's a strong exhortation. Wage the good warfare. Fight the good fight. Because there are those who have not. There are those who have, well, concerning the faith, he says they've suffered shipwreck. They've just destroyed their life. They've destroyed their faith by the choices that they've made.

He gives a couple examples, names them by name. Paul says, I've delivered them to Satan, that they may learn not to blaspheme. I mean, they've seriously been shipwrecked. They're in serious danger. Their souls are in danger because of the choices that they've made. And so Timothy, oh, I charge you, wage the good warfare. Hold fast. Look at these examples.

You think about the Judaizers as you walk with Paul through the book of Acts and all those missionary journeys. And then, you know, as he would go, he'd move on to the next town and then the Judaizers would swoop in and, you know, begin to teach their false doctrine. How many people did Paul know that had heard the gospel and believed it and rejoiced in the Lord and then later on come to find out they had turned away from the Lord, caught up in legalism and they're robbed of their joy.

Beware, beware, beware. He says in verse 3, for we are the circumcision. Don't believe the lies. They want to uphold circumcision. They want to uphold the keeping of the law. We are the circumcision, he says, who worship God in the spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh. Continue to maintain that place of joy, joy in Jesus. Make Jesus the thing that you rejoice in the most.

Because we are the circumcision as we worship God in the spirit, as we worship God in the way that he has prescribed and keep Jesus the priority. If you slip into confidence in the flesh, legalism, it's going to rob you of your joy. No, no, we have right relationship with God. Us, the ones who worship God in the spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus. And so he calls us to maintain that joy.

To maintain that choice of rejoicing in Jesus. That you and I would come to the place that we would say, there's nothing that brings me more joy than Jesus in my life. And anything that enters into my life that competes, I rejoice more over this or I rejoice more over that. Well, that's an issue that I need to address and I need to choose and to rejoice in Jesus once again and put him as the priority and keep my heart aligned with him.

fascinated by him. Choose to maintain your joy in Jesus. Well, moving on to verses 4 through 7, here we get the third choice, and that is choose not to trust in your goodness. Choose not to trust in your goodness. Paul here goes on to explain his situation. He says in verse 4, though I also might have confidence in the flesh, if anyone else thinks he may have confidence in the

Paul says, look, don't have any confidence in the flesh. I know from experience, confidence in the flesh, it doesn't matter.

It doesn't do what you think it's going to do. It doesn't give you joy. It doesn't give you peace. It doesn't give you right fellowship with God and access to God. And if there's anybody that thinks they can have confidence in the flesh, I have more reason to have confidence in the flesh, Paul says. There are those who think there's reason for them to have confidence in the flesh. They're very impressed. They look in the mirror and they go, wow, that's really impressive. That's really great. Paul says, if anybody can have confidence in the flesh, it's me.

Now, this is a reality. Again, just as we saw Hymenaeus and Alexander, Paul mentioned to Timothy, there are those who are out to shipwreck your faith, right? There's also that potential. There's also that opportunity for us to develop a confidence in our own selves, in our own goodness. And there are those who promote that. There are those, there's, you know, whole religions built on this idea, but then there's also teachers within the Christian sphere who

that will promote and teach doctrines that teach us to trust in our goodness. I like what Pastor David Guzik said about this. He said, curiously, those who promote the idea of having confidence in the flesh are the same ones who are the least qualified to have such confidence. Those who promote these ideas often are the ones who, they've got some serious issues.

talking about, you know, their own goodness and righteousness and how much they do for God. And yet at the same time, there's grotesque sin and there's great and horrible things that they're engaged in. We're all so delusional so many times when it comes to our own selves. And at the same time, as Paul is saying this, he's not delusional. He really did have reason to have confidence in the flesh. He says, look, I was circumcised the eighth day.

Paul says, look, from the beginning, I kept the law. Even when I didn't even have a say and I didn't have a choice in the matter, on the eighth day, on the exact right day that, you know, God had instructed the Jews to circumcise their sons, Paul says, I was circumcised on the eighth day. I'm of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin. I'm not from some other nation. And then I converted to Judaism. I'm not one who, you know, is partially Greek, partially Hebrew, right?

I looked back on my father's lineage, Hebrews all the way. I looked back on my mother's lineage, Hebrews all the way. I'm a Hebrew of the Hebrews. I'm not a mixed breed. I didn't come to this late. From the very beginning, from the first days of my life, I've been immersed in the law of God. I've been pursuing the things of God. He says, look, concerning the law, I was a Pharisee. Now, you and I, you know, having the words of Jesus,

over and over and over towards the Pharisees, we have a perspective on the Pharisees that was not common in the days of Paul and Jesus. The Pharisees were the elite. They were the best of the best when it came to religion, when it came to the law, when it came to the keeping of the law. Like making it into the, to the group of the Pharisees, you could maybe kind of equate it to like an athlete making it to the Olympics. Like that's the best of the best. Right?

They were highly esteemed. It was a highly coveted position. It was a place of great honor. Pastor Warren Wiersbe says it this way, to the Jews of Paul's day, a Pharisee had reached the very summit of religious experience. The highest ideal a Jew could ever hope to attain. If anybody was going to heaven, it was the Pharisee. That's what the Jews thought. If anybody's going to go to heaven, it's going to be the Pharisees. That was their understanding. That was their

on the law of God. And Paul says, concerning the law, I was a Pharisee. I was part of that group. I was part of the elite. I knew the law better than most other people. I kept the law better than most other people. But not only that, I didn't just go through the motions. He goes on to say, concerning zeal, I went as far as persecuting the church. You know, there's a lot of Pharisees who didn't persecute the church. Even if they weren't happy with the teachings of Jesus or the ideas of Jesus, they didn't

They weren't that zealous that they went out of their way to go from Jerusalem to Damascus to imprison, you know, believers in Jesus. No, Paul says, look, not only did I have that status as a Pharisee, but I was zealous, man. I loved God and I wanted to do my best for God. And so in my zeal, I thought, you know, he thought he was serving God in persecuting the church. And so I had great passion, great fervor, great zeal.

He goes on to say, concerning the righteousness which is in the law, blameless. Paul is not claiming that he was perfect and sinless, but he's saying, look, whenever I broke the law, whenever I failed in some way, then I followed the law in making amends for that sin, for that failure. And so in that way, he's blameless. So you could think about, you know, it's not...

specifically, but, you know, Paul was one who tithed of his, you know, little herbs, you know, like, hey, you're growing a herb in your garden, okay, now pull it, okay, now separate 10%, right? To the very last detail, like every degree, every time I mess up, you know, he's keeping a record, okay, I messed, I lied there, okay, so now I gotta, you know, make amends, I gotta cover this, I gotta take care of this, offer the sacrifice. Paul says, look, from the very beginning of my life, circumcised the eighth day, I'm a purebred Hebrew,

who kept the law, had great zeal, greater than the others around me, and I was faithful to follow the law. I was blameless. Then in verse 7 he says, All these things that could be seen as gain, and Paul thought of them as gain before Christ.

He was proud of his heritage, proud of where he came from, proud of how he kept the law, proud of his zeal for the Lord. He was proud of all this. Those are good things. They were gained to him until he came face to face with Jesus. And then he realized, I have things backwards. So all those things that were gained that I thought brought me closer to God, all those things that I thought impressed God, I had to learn to count them as loss for Christ. Now, this verse here, verse 7 is important.

Kind of a fun one to play with because this idea of gain and then counting loss, there's some accounting terms in here you can play around with in your head if you want. You know, the credits and the debits and understanding those kinds of things. Maybe a different way to consider it for us this evening is a pro and con list, right? That's a simple idea. We understand that, right? Sometimes you're trying to make a decision. You're trying to figure something out. And so you make up, well, here's the pros, here's the cons, you know, and you're trying to figure that out.

Well, in the pros and cons list for Paul's life, he had all these amazing pros, right? He was a Hebrew of Hebrews and followed the law and zealous and all these pros. And then Paul says, I had to move all those to the cons list when I met Christ. Not only did I move them to the cons list because I met Christ, but in order to obtain Christ, I had to move those pros.

Those things that I once was proud of, those things that I once thought were good attributes and things that benefited me in my approach to God, all of those things, in order to receive Christ, I had to let go of those things and recognize that those didn't help me in my relationship to God. Those didn't help me know God better. Those didn't help me in my pursuit of heaven. Here's another example to consider. Remember

The rich young ruler who approached Jesus and wanted to find out how to have the kingdom of heaven enter into the kingdom of heaven, right? Jesus gave him some instruction. He walked away sad, not willing to follow what Jesus said. And Jesus says in Matthew chapter 19, verse 23 and 24, he says, "'Assuredly, I say to you, that it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. And again, I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.'"

Jesus says it's hard. Now, you know, the idea of being rich, incredibly wealthy, right? We would put that in the pro list of the pro and con, right? But Jesus says having that in your pro column, it makes it really hard to enter the kingdom of heaven. Not impossible, but boy, is it hard because, well, it's hard to not see that as a pro, as a con, right? You see that riches, oh, it's a pro, right?

It's good. That's a good thing. Wow, that's great. Oh, we would love that. I mean, I know this verse of Jesus, right? It's hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven, and yet I would love to be rich, right? It's okay. I can handle the harder to enter the kingdom of heaven part. I'll take care of that. But just, oh man, yeah, give me the wealth. Like, that would be great. I would love that. We could think of riches as a positive, as a pro. But the reality is, riches are a hindrance. They're a hindrance many times.

And for us to embrace Christ and rejoice in Jesus, well, that needs to be moved to the cons. Because it's, well, it's rare for a person to be able to have riches and yet rejoice in Jesus more than their riches. That's the issue. See, when I have riches and I rejoice in the riches, I'm not rejoicing in Jesus above all else. I'm rejoicing in something else higher. And, oh, it's hard. It's hard to keep your priorities. It's hard to keep your focus. If

If Jesus is not first, if he's not the priority, well, it's not a benefit. It's not a pro, no matter how good you might think it is. So we have to choose not to trust in our goodness. We can think about, you know, our situation, and we're probably not, you know, a Hebrew of Hebrews, we're probably not, but we have the things that we think make us good. We have the things that we're proud of, the things that we think, you know, are a reason for us to kind of coast, right?

Choose not to trust your goodness. Pastor Charles Spurgeon challenges us with this. He says, when we come to Christ, whatever we have to trust you, we must put away. We must write it on the other side of the ledger. We had entered it as a gain. Now we must set it down as a loss. It is of no value whatsoever. It is a loss if it shall tempt us to trust any less in Christ. Anything that comes in and competes and competes

tempts us to trust in that instead of Christ or to trust in Christ less because I have this. Well, that's a detriment to us. It's a loss. It deducts. It doesn't add. Choose not to trust in your goodness. Moving on to verses 8 and 9, we get the fourth choice, and that is choose to know Jesus at all cost.

So Paul continues on in verse 8 to say, Now there's some

Things to consider as you look at verse 7 and then on into verse 8. In verse 7, Paul is talking in the past tense. What things were gained, these I have counted loss. And so you can think back to Paul's conversion. You can think back to that Damascus road. And Paul had to count his heritage, his pharisaicalness. I just made up that word. It sounds really impressive, so I like it.

But now it's a pro. I got to move it to the cons. I don't trust in myself, but you get the point, right? So he had to lay all those things aside and say, look, I'm not close to God. God just appeared in me and said, I'm fighting against him. And so he had to count all of that as loss in order to gain Christ. But then here, as we move into verse eight, he says, I also count all things loss. And now he's talking in the present tense. Again, it goes back to this

understanding of maintaining your joy in Jesus. He had to make that choice. He did make that choice, but now he continues to. He still makes that choice. Counting all things lost was not a one-time thing for him, but a perpetual thing for him. He is counting all things lost for the excellence of the knowledge of Jesus Christ. Choose to know Jesus.

At all costs. G. Campbell Morgan says, 30 years later, he's saying, I still make that choice. It's all loss. I count it as loss in exchange for the excellence of the knowledge of Jesus Christ. Knowing Jesus is better than anything I could put in that pro column.

any dream I could have, any wish I could fulfill, any accomplishment I could achieve. It's better knowing Jesus. The excellence of knowing Jesus is better than any goodness I could produce, than the accomplishment that I could have. I count all things lost for the excellence of the knowledge of Jesus Christ. Paul says, look, I'm choosing to know Jesus at all costs. And Paul's in prison right now as he's writing this. Because

He has continually chosen to know Jesus at all costs. If it costs me my freedom, okay, I'll just count my freedom as a loss. I had my freedom in the pro column. It's like, this is great, man. The freedom we have, I'm a Roman citizen. And those things that he got to experience, he got to capitalize on, those freedoms that he had and that citizenship that he had, like, oh, that's awesome. But I'm going to count that as loss because the most important thing is to know Jesus. And so I'll let my freedom go.

I'll let my comforts go. Now, this is not to say that, you know, Paul ran into prison and, you know, tortured himself in order. It's not that we have to, you know, give up everything, but we have to be willing to give up everything. So that at any time when one of those things begins to compete, anything in our pro column, you know, anything that we would have as that, you know, that positive, that good thing in our life, that when it begins to compete with Jesus,

We need to choose to know Jesus at all costs. And if it costs me my job, then it costs me my job. Knowing Jesus is better and more important. If it costs me my freedom, if it costs me my home, if it costs me my time, if it costs me my sleep, if it costs me money, whatever it costs, it doesn't matter. Whatever the cost is, it doesn't compare to the excellence of the knowledge of Jesus Christ, my Lord. He says, look, I've suffered the loss of all things. Man, I've moved a ton of things from that pro column to the con column. Like,

I've had to let go of so much, but I count them as rubbish that I may gain Christ. I count that as garbage. It's not garbage, you know, and it's not necessarily harmful. Paul's not talking about giving up sin in the sense of, you know, like it was sin, but in addition to sin, there was so much that was good in his life. It wasn't sin for him to be a Hebrew and to have, you know, this great history and heritage, right? That wasn't sinful, but

But it didn't help him to know God. So I had to count that as garbage. You know what? All that pedigree, all that heritage, all that, it doesn't help me to know God. It doesn't help me to walk with the Lord. It doesn't help me to know Jesus. And so I had to count that as garbage. I had to change how I perceived and how I understood those things so that I would be able to grasp hold of Christ, so that I would know him. Again, we may not have the same pedigree as Paul, but there are things that

would prompt us to say, of course I'm saved, right? There's things that we would hold on to and consider. Hey, I was raised in a Christian home. I don't think I was circumcised on the eighth day, but I was raised in a Christian home. I didn't come from a Hebrew of Hebrews lineage, but my parents got saved when I was two years old, right? So all my life, I've only known trusting in God, believing in God, right?

Never had to wrestle with whether or not God exists. You know, like, of course I'm saved. Of course I believe in God, right? I can think about that and approach that in my mind as, hey, that's a really big pro, right? And people who don't come from a Christian background, they go, wow, I mean, if only I had that kind of life. I mean, that would be amazing to be raised as a Christian. Like, oh, that's like such a great thing. And yes, it can be. And at the same time, it can be a huge detriment to knowing Christ, right?

It can be a huge stumbling block because I'm so proud of being raised in a Christian home. It's so automatic to me, well, that I actually miss pursuing Jesus and knowing him. And you might think, well, of course I'm saved. I attend church every week. And you're like, this is a huge plus in my pro column, right? It's like, look it, I am faithful. I don't miss a service. Or I read the Bible every day. Or my name is Pastor Roman. Of course I'm saved.

Huge plus in the pro column. And at the same time, it can be a huge hindrance knowing Christ. And Paul says, I've count all things as loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Jesus Christ. I'm ready to know Jesus at all costs. If it costs me this, if it costs me that, those things are not important. They don't help me have a better standing with God or know Jesus better. When they don't help me, they're in the way. They're just...

Things I'm holding on to that are competing with Jesus. Paul says, look, my goal is to be found in him, not having my own righteousness, not having, look at me, look at what I am, you know, look at my heritage, look what I've done, look how faithful I am. No, no, not my righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ. Righteousness, which is from God by faith. Those things do not make me right before God. They do not give me a better standing before God. They do not help me

Have better access to God. What helps me have access to God is faith in Jesus Christ and the knowledge of Jesus Christ. And that's what I need the most. And anything that competes with that must go. At all costs, I must know Jesus. That's Paul's heart. That's his commission to us as well. Choose to know Jesus at all costs. Pastor Warren Wiersbe says, few people sit down to weigh seriously the values that control their decisions and directions.

Many people today are the slaves of things. And as a result, do not experience real Christian joy. Takes us all the way back to the beginning. Choose to rejoice in Jesus. You know, it's amazing. Not really amazing, but at the same time, amazing. How many people will uproot their lives, go somewhere far away, completely change everything, right? And

And then they go, they get settled, you know, they follow this job, they find their, you know, dream home, they find, you know, the perfect relationship or whatever. They've got what they're after. And then, you know, they call back, they're writing back, they're talking back to us and saying, you know, we can't find a good church. We can't find a, you know, it's hard to walk with the Lord out here, you know. It's like knowing Christ was an afterthought. It was like, well, of course that's going to happen, you know, just whatever, however that happens, it's fine. When we have knowing Christ as an afterthought,

We're not going to experience real Christian joy. We're going to put ourselves in predicaments where, yeah, we've rejoiced in other things. We've valued other things. We haven't counted all as rubbish, as garbage, in order to know Christ. Why don't you know Jesus? Is it your location? Is it, you know, you don't have any time? Is, you know, reading's too hard or it's football season? Richard told me football season's on, so, you know, service is going to be light for a couple months, right? So,

It's hard to know Jesus when football season is on, right? That's not how you say that, but you get the point. Why don't you know Jesus? You don't know Jesus because you don't count all things as loss. Jesus isn't the priority. Choose to know Jesus at all costs. And anything that competes, anything that gets in the way, count it as rubbish. Change your mind on that. Change your perspective and value knowing him. And knowing Jesus, you know,

That's a big subject, right? We're not just talking about understanding, you know, the words that are found in the Gospels. That's part of knowing Jesus. But a big part of knowing Jesus is having a real relationship with him. Does he speak to you? Does he lead you? Does he guide you? Do you know him? Do you know his character? Do you know what he would say about a situation? Do you know Jesus? Are you close to him? Do you have that close fellowship with him, an intimate knowledge of who he is?

Not are you acquaintances, you know, not have you heard about him or do you know his history and, you know, can relate it well, but do you know him? Be close to Jesus. Choose to know Jesus, to be close to Jesus at all costs. Well, then finally, point number five or choice number five this evening, verses 10 and 11, choose to pursue Jesus into eternity.

Verse 10, he says that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings being conformed to his death if by any means I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. Paul says, look, this is not just a choice I made back in Damascus on that road. It's not just a choice that I'm making right now here in prison, but it's a choice that I am making to the resurrection that I may know him and the power of his resurrection.

I want to know everything about him and his power. I want his power to impact every aspect of my heart, my life, and all the way to the point where I attain the resurrection from the dead. Now, Paul's saying, look, that's going to require that I go through the fellowship of his sufferings. That's okay. I'm counting that as loss. My comfort, my pleasure, I'm counting that as loss. Being conformed to his death, dying like Jesus, that'd be a hard thing to sign up for. But Paul says, I'm counting that as loss. The more important thing is

is to know him and the power of his resurrection. So I'm pursuing Jesus into eternity. And we'll see this a little bit more as we come back to chapter three next week. And Paul will continue to focus on eternity and those things. And so we'll consider that a little bit more next week. But here Paul encourages us, challenges us, choose to put Jesus first. You want to be like Paul and Timothy and

Those examples that were set before us and those qualities, oh, they're great and we can admire them, but how do we get there? We can begin to make some choices. Putting Jesus first means that we rejoice in Jesus. And we make sure that he's the thing that brings us the most joy in life. And when Jesus is not the thing that brings us most joy in life, well, then we need to work on pursuing Jesus.

Making him the one that we grasp hold of for joy, the one that we grasp hold of to rejoice in, that he is the one that we're looking to to satisfy us and to bring joy. Then choose to maintain that joy. Don't let it go. There's going to be a lot of things that are fighting for that position, fighting for that place, and seeking to take you away from rejoicing in Jesus. But no, make the choice. Maintain that position. Maintain that joy in Jesus.

Make the choice not to trust in your goodness. It's going to creep up. We have a tendency towards legalism and trusting in our flesh and confidence in our flesh. That's our natural inclination. And so we have to ongoingly choose, I'm not going to trust in myself. I'm not going to trust in what I can do. I'm not going to trust in what I can provide. I'm going to rejoice in Jesus. You can make the choice to know him at all costs. To make sure that nothing competes with Jesus. Nothing gets in the way.

And whatever gets in the way, well, I need to count that as rubbish. I need to change my perspective on that. That's garbage. It keeps me from Jesus. It might not be outright, deliberate, you know, spoken of directly sin, but it's rubbish if it keeps me from Jesus. Know Jesus at all costs and choose to pursue him into eternity. This is a lifelong pursuit of knowing him and experiencing his life day by day. Let's pray.

Lord, I pray for us as we consider these things. And Lord, the example that you've given us in the Apostle Paul is one that is really challenging. And yet we thank you for the example. Lord, that we might be reminded. Lord, the call that has been given to us is great. It doesn't come easy. It doesn't come naturally. And what we need most is not the things that just happen automatically in our lives. But Lord, what we need most is...

to make the real and hard decisions to know you, to put you first, to make sure that there's nothing that competes with you in our hearts and in our minds. Lord, that what you want is what matters most. Help us, God, to rejoice in you, to put you first, to make you the priority. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.

We pray you have been blessed by this Bible teaching. The power of God to change a life is found in the daily reading of His Word. Visit ferventword.com to find more teachings and Bible study resources.