Philippians 3:7-14
Our Journey Through Lent—
It is a Journey of Confidence!
What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ 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 that comes from God and is by faith. I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. (NIV1984)
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
What do you know for sure? What are you absolutely convinced of? Do you know where you live? Are you absolutely convinced that you will still be living in the same place two years from now? Twenty years from now? Do you know where you work? Are you absolutely convinced that you will still be working at the same place— or even working at all— one year from now? Ten years from now? Do you know who your friends are? Are you absolutely convinced that each and every one of them will still be your friends five years from now? Fifty years from now? What do you know for sure? What are you absolutely convinced of?
Amidst all the uncertainties we experience in life, our text for today reminds us that there is something that we can always know for sure. Even though things we were absolutely convinced of ten years ago or even one year ago may have changed in ways that we never could have imagined, our text for today assures us that there is something we can always be convinced of. Today my friends, let’s see how these inspired words of our God remind us and assure us that: Our Journey through Lent is indeed a Journey of Confidence! There are two things we want to see this morning. First, let’s see how our journey through Lent gives us confidence for this life. Then let’s see how our journey through Lent gives us confidence for eternity.
The Holy Spirit inspired the apostle Paul to write this letter to the Philippians while Paul was in prison for preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ. (See Philippians 1:12-14) And yet, even though Paul was in prison when he wrote these words, his letter to the Philippians is an extremely positive and confident letter! On what was Paul’s confidence based? Was Paul’s confidence based on himself and who he was? Was Paul’s confidence based on how he lived his life and what he was able to accomplish on his own? The verses leading up to our text reveal that there was indeed a time in his life when Paul’s confidence was most certainly based on himself and who he was. There was indeed a time in his life when Paul’s confidence was indeed based on how he lived his life and what he was able to accomplish on his own. And now? Now— purely by the grace of God— Paul was able to say, “But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ 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 that comes from God and is by faith. I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow to attain to the resurrection from the dead.”
What do these words teach us, my friends? First, these words teach us where we find our source of confidence for our life here on this earth. No matter who we are, no matter what our credentials might possibly be, no matter what kind of status might have in this world, no matter how much money we could ever possibly have or how many accomplishments we are able to achieve over time — it is all nothing! It is nothing when compared to the “surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.”
Yes, my friends, the season of Lent reminds us that there is absolutely nothing in this world that even begins to compare with the confidence that comes from knowing that Christ Jesus is our Lord. Why? Because the season of Lent clearly reminds us that Christ Jesus is indeed the Lord of lords— the one and only true God who loves us so very much that He was willing to come into this world as our true Brother so that He could suffer and die to take away our sins. (Pointing to the cross) Our status in the eyes of the world can change, our bank accounts can take a nosedive, each and every achievement that we have ever accomplished can be forgotten — but one thing we know for sure, one thing we can always be confident of is that Christ Jesus is our only Lord and Savior!
At the same time, no matter who we are, no matter what our credentials might possibly be, no matter what kind of status we might have in this world might, no matter how “good” we live our lives— it is all “rubbish”! It is all “rubbish” when compared to the “righteousness that comes from God and is by faith.”
Again, the season of Lent reminds us that it is absolutely impossible for us to earn God’s grace and forgiveness. As the prophet Isaiah so clearly tells us, even the very best that we could ever possibly do, even our most “righteous acts” are like “filthy rags” in the eyes of a holy, just and perfect God. (See Isaiah 64:6) The season of Lent reminds us that purely by the grace of God our confidence in this life is based on the righteousness that Jesus secured for us on the cross. We may indeed stumble in our faith, we may indeed fall in our walk with our Lord, we may indeed struggle mightily with our own personal weaknesses— but one thing we know for sure, one thing that we can always be confident of is that through faith in what Jesus has done for us (Pointing to the cross) we are forgiven! We are righteous and holy and perfect in the eyes the one and only Living God.
One more point before we move on to the second part of our text. Our journey through Lent gives us the confidence of knowing that as Christians we have some very specific and unique goals in this life. Look at verses 10-11 of our text. The apostle Paul had four goals in his life— goals that we would do well to adopt as our own.
The first goal is found in Paul’s words, “…to know Christ.” Now, of course, we already “know” Jesus, don’t we. We “know” Him as our Lord, our God, our Savior, our Brother, our Friend. But, do we “know” Jesus as well as we could? No, we do not. There is always more that we can “know” about Jesus. That’s why we come to church. That’s why we come to Bible class. That’s why we bring our children to Sunday school. Our goal is to “know” more and more about Jesus!
Our second goal is “to know…the power of his resurrection.” Again, we “know” the power and the joy and the confidence that fills us on Easter Sunday. Our goal now is to “know” that same power, that same joy, that same confidence each and every day of the year. How do we reach that goal? By “knowing” Jesus— more and more! The goal of “knowing” Jesus and the goal of “knowing the power of his resurrection” go hand in hand.
Our third goal is “to know…the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death.” Humanly speaking it seems rather odd and strange to have “suffering” as one of our main goals in life. And yet, suffering for the sake of our Savior, suffering as we boldly stand up for the Truth of Scripture in a sin-darkened world, suffering ridicule or rejection at the hands of our spiritual enemies and still being able to say, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34) — that, my friends, is one of the loftiest goals we can have as a child of God!
Our final goal is found in Paul’s words, “…and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.” Now don’t let that word “somehow” throw you off. Paul was not in any way uncertain about attaining to the resurrection from the dead. Read I Corinthians chapter fifteen! Paul was absolutely confident that one day Jesus would raise Paul’s physical body from his grave. (See I Corinthians 15) The only thing Paul was uncertain of was when and how he was going to die. Remember that Paul was in prison when he wrote these words. Paul did not know if he would die a martyr’s death or if he would die of old age.
The same holds true for us, my friends. We do not know when or how we will die, do we. Our goal then is to remain faithful to our only Lord and Savior so that no matter when we die and no matter how we die we too will have the confidence of knowing that we will most certainly “attain to the resurrection from the dead.”
That point leads us directly into the second truth we want to emphasize this morning: Our journey through Lent gives us confidence for eternity. Look at verses 12-14 of our text. Paul writes, “Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”
The picture that Paul uses here is that of a long-distance runner. Like a runner we “forget what is behind” us. We don’t live in the past. We don’t dwell on the past. We don’t let the past hold us down or drag us backwards. As the saved children of God we let the past go and “strain for what is ahead.” And what exactly is “ahead” for us my friends? What is “ahead” for us is the “goal,” the “prize.” And what is the “goal”? What is the “prize”? In one word: Heaven!
Yes, my friends, the season of Lent gives us the confidence of knowing that once we have “finished the race,” once we have come to the end of our journey here on this earth we have the absolute confidence of knowing that we will most certainly inherit the eternal glory and perfection of living in our heavenly Father’s Home. How do we know this? We know this because our God says so! The season of Lent reminds us that the One who died on that cross is the same One who said, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die” (John 11:25-26). The season of Lent reminds us that the One who died on that cross is the same One who said, “I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am” (John 14:2-3). The season of Lent reminds us that the One who died on that cross is the only One who has the power, the right, the authority to say to a dying repentant child of God, “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:43). The season of Lent reminds us that the One who died on that cross is the same One who victoriously proclaimed from the cross, “It is finished,” “I have reached my goal,” “Your sins are forgiven” (John 19:30; Matthew 1:21). Yes, my friends, our journey through Lent gives us confidence for eternity because our journey through Lent keeps us focused on the One who guarantees our eternity!
What do you know for sure? What are you absolutely convinced of? Even a quick glance around our lives reminds us that when it comes to the things of this world, there is little to nothing that we can know for sure, little to nothing that we can be absolutely convinced of. Praise God that each and every year we take the time to make our journey through the season of Lent for our journey through Lent is indeed a journey of confidence. Our journey through Lent gives us confidence for this life. Our journey through Lent gives us confidence for eternity. Our journey through Lent gives us the confidence to say:
To God be the glory!
Amen
