Having it all in Christ Jesus
Philippians 3: 4b-14
Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 22)
Grace, mercy and peace from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ amen. The sermon text for the nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost is the epistle reading Philippians 3. We strive to have it all. We want everything. Having it all in our world means possessions, experiences, and accomplishments. Having it all means having a nice house, lots of money, great memories, an interesting job, good grades, family, and friends. To have it all means to win at everything we do. The human heart truly does look for the fullness of life in the things of this world.
In Paul’s day having it all meant that you were able to live under the Law (both the Law of Moses and man made laws as well). It was thought that a person could indeed have great confidence in following the Law based upon their own strength and thus be rewarded by God. The attitude of our day and that of first century Jews seems very different. But if we take a closer look at them, we will see that they are similar. In both cases people think that they can have it all by looking to self.
In Paul’s world people were more consciously religious. Even if their religion was false or erring, people knew they were accountable to God’s Law, whether God’s true Law or the invented laws of man. To them, having it all, meant doing things to win God’s favor. Still it was generally presumed that if you had won God’s favor by your works material blessings and good earthly experiences would follow. Our world is more secular. Many people in our day don’t think they are accountable to God. Materialism and experience have become gods. False gods that we do not name as such but are indeed false gods. But both words in the end are focused on self. In first century Judaism the focus was on self-righteousness, how the self could earn God’s favor. Our world focuses on gratifying the self through materialism and experience.
The end result of focusing on self is going to lead to ruin. No matter what time period a person lives in, having it all in this life is never enough. Before Paul became a Christian, he thought he had it all. Remember what he said at the beginning of our reading. “If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness, under the law blameless.” Not only did Paul originally think that he was righteous before God based upon His merit and obedience to the law, but he also would have had a comfortable earthly life. He was the top of his class. He had the best teachers. He was a Pharisee and so he would have been highly regarded in Jewish society. He had a life of great authority. He had a life where people would have given him a lot of respect. From a worldly point of view Paul had the good life. But when he came to faith in Christ he turned away from that life. Remember what he said. “But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. 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 and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the Law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith – that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and may share in His suffering, becoming like Him in His death, that by any means possible may attain the resurrection from the dead.”
In these words Paul tells us what is most important. What is most important is to know Christ and through Him be part of the final resurrection on the last day. Paul knew that obeying the Law as the Pharisee’s taught could not save him. Only Christ Jesus could save him. That is why he considered his former life of rank and privilege as rubbish because it would lead to his eternal ruin. Only Christ can break the power of Satan. Jesus is the only One who can defeat death. Only Christ Jesus can wash away sins with His shed blood. Only Christ Jesus could bring about the final resurrection from the dead on the last day. Only Christ Jesus could bring him into the presence of God. There is nothing greater than standing in the full presence of God in all His glory and majesty wearing the righteousness of Christ. There is nothing better than being a redeemed child of God.
We want to have it all but if we look to self, we will lose everything. Looking to self will lead to eternal ruin. In Paul’s day and in our own the delusion of self-righteousness, that is earning God’s favor by our own goodness is dangerous and wrong. To think that we can have it all based upon materialism and worldly fortune is also self-delusion. How many toys did we as children think we just had to have? And where are they now? How many items of fashionable clothing did we as teenagers have to get? And where are they now? How often do we as adults convince ourselves that this car, that house, this vacation, that experience will make our life complete, quickly learning that we had set our hearts on things not capable of delivering lasting contentment?
A few weeks ago a man was talking about his dying father. His father is a wealthy man but that does not matter to him. As the father prepares to die, he is not thinking about his bank account. He does not care about the house or the cars. He is not reliving his successes in life. None of that stuff matters. What he cares about is His relationship with God. He is becoming very open to hearing about Christ. This should not surprise us. To know Christ is everything.
God created us and He is the One who has blessed us with all that we have. Let us rejoice in His Name and give Him thanks. But if we look to self and make the blessings around us into idols to try to have it all then we will end up having nothing. In Christ, God replaces that nothingness of self with the everything of Himself. What Christ gives to us is His righteousness and all of its benefits. Through the death and resurrection of Jesus we do indeed receive the gifts of life and salvation. We know look to the Lord, and we trust in Him. We understand that knowing Christ is the most important thing in our life. In Christ we will die in the arms of God and then we will be part of the final resurrection on the last day. The resurrection from the dead will happen when Christ visibly returns. At that time all believers in the Lord will receive a glorified body. At that time we will see the majesty of God.
Paul understood that everything else is rubbish in comparison to knowing Christ. It is the same with us. We understand to have it all in this world is rubbish. The house, the cars, the land are rubbish. The money, the status and the achievement are rubbish. All of it is rubbish in comparison to knowing Christ Jesus. Remember what Paul said. “Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.”
That is why Paul encourages us to press on. It is encouragement that we need because living as a Christian in this fallen world is not easy. There will be many obstacles and struggles. There will be many temptations. We will be tempted to put the “good” things of life before the Lord. But we know that it is the Lord Jesus who gives to us the love of God. It is the Lord who forgives our sins, clears our minds, and focuses our attention on what is most important. Jesus points to where He is taking us. It is the ultimate destination. It is the final resurrection from the dead. I leave you with the words of Paul. “Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it may 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.” Amen.