Sermon on Philippians 3:8-14

This is the sermon I preached at Prince of Peace the weekend of March 16-17.

I knew this guy in my freshman year of college. He was always very bitter toward the world. He wandered from group to group of friends, never attaching himself to any of them. He battled depression and anger, and never opened himself up to others. He couldn't make friends because he was too self-condemning and shy. If he was introduced to somebody new, he would never make eye contact. Put him in front of a crowd, and he was shaken to his core and his voice would freeze up. Have you met a person like this before?

His problem was that he was worried about what others thought of him. And he allowed this worry to define him. He wanted to be perfect, and his fear of being perceived as not perfect crippled him mentally to the point where the most basic social interactions overwhelmed him. My friend had a problem finding his identity.

But, the Bible tells us how to fix our identity problems. In our Philippians reading for today, Paul writes about the surpassing worth of knowing Christ. More than this, Paul allows for his relationship with Jesus to define who he is. He writes “But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I counted everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.” These words should hit at the heart of everyone here today. It's a struggle we all go through, to allow what we have gained, or what we have done, to define who we are.

There are three things in this passage that can help us find our true identity. First, find your identity in Jesus. Second, set your goals and desires on the things of God. And finally, live in a way that reflects this.

I began by talking about a friend from college. This friend based his identity on how he was thought of by others. The Bible is full of people like this. John's Gospel says that “many even of the authorities believed in [Jesus], but for fear of the Pharisees they did not confess it, so that they would not be put out of the synagogue; for they loved the glory that comes from man more than the glory that comes from God.” These people worried about what others thought about them.

Of all the people who should understand the risk of finding our identity in the opinions of others, Paul is at the top of the list. He writes about himself earlier in this letter to the Philippian church, “If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more.”

He was a pharisee, following the law as best as humanly possible. He was looked up to by his peers. He was the pinnacle of what it meant to be a Jew. Paul had every reason to boast in his own abilities. But even with all of this, he saw that it came to nothing without faith in Jesus Christ.

Paul writes that he counts his works 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.”

But why is faith in Jesus worth so much? In his letter to the Romans, Paul says that “since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.”

Faith justifies us before God. This is what gives us peace with God through Jesus Christ. Even if we can reach a level of perfection to the Law, we not only have the sins of our past to account for, but we need to maintain that level of human perfection for the rest of our lives. That puts a lot of pressure on us. “You must be perfect, otherwise God will reject you.”

But God did not make the Law so that we would be a group of high-strung OCD busybodies. He wants us to love him, and to be at peace with him. By having faith in the work of Jesus Christ, we can be at peace with God. Knowing that he accepts us, and that he loves us unrelentingly.

As I said, it is not up to us to be perfect in order to be accepted. By our faith in Christ, we are already at peace with God. There is nothing standing between us and him. This is what makes faith more valuable than works. When we do good things, we gain the favor of others until the next time we fall short. With faith in Jesus Christ, we have the favor of God forever.

When my friend from college tried to find his identity in other peoples' opinions of him, he ended up continually picking apart everything that he had done. I'm sure Paul had similar struggles. He knew that the acceptance he had from those around him could be shattered the moment he made his first mistake. But as Christians, Our acceptance is built on the shaming and embarrassing act of the Cross. The Son of God lowered himself to the point of death, and was raised high for all to see, ridiculed as he hung, cursed and dying. But because of the Cross, we have God's approval. We are freed from the standard which we can't meet. We are free to turn away from ourselves and toward God for our salvation. Our salvation is not based on what we do. Our salvation is not based on how we live. Our salvation is based on what Jesus did. We put our faith in the redeeming work of Jesus Christ in his death and resurrection from the grave.

Our identity comes from God. He accepts us on faith alone. This faith empowers us by his love and the Holy Spirit. Then what effect does finding our identity in God have on our goals and desires in life as Christians?

Paul says that he strives for the righteousness which comes by faith “that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.”

Christ is of such all-surpassing worth, everything else is rubbish. So our goals and desires in life should be centered on him alone. To understand our goals and desires, we need to talk about our faith. Our faith in Jesus Christ is what defines our goals and desires in life.

Paul wrote to the Corinthian church that “if only in this life we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.”

Our faith is meant to bring us into the newness of life found in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The letter of Hebrews reminds us, “faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”

We have faith because we have hope. God's acceptance of us into his eternal kingdom is our hope, and that is the basis for our faith. Paul writes that because of this faith, he desires to even share in Christ's sufferings. How many of us can say that today? Jesus said to his disciples, “if anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.”

Paul had denied himself. He had denied who he was, justified by the works he did as a pharisee, living by the law. He suffered like Christ by imprisonment, by ridicule, and by flogging. But he considered this joy, because he was suffering for Christ.

He literally gave up his life for Jesus. Jesus asks his disciples, “what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?”

No matter what you gain here on earth, it has an expiration date. But the love of Christ and the riches of the Kingdom of God will never fade away. They are from everlasting to everlasting.

This is what our faith is all about. Our faith is formed by our hope, which is the desire to be with God for eternity. If we desire to be with God, we should also desire to be like God.

Peter writes in his letter, “As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct.”

We are not called to live easy lives. We are not called to be wealthy or to even to be well-liked by our neighbors. What we are called to be is like Christ. Christ-ians. Literally meaning, “little Christs.”

I'm a younger sibling. And I know that my older sister used to get very upset with me because I would follow her around all the time, trying to see what she was doing and asking if I could join her. Younger siblings want to reflect their older brothers or sisters.

But unlike some of our older siblings, Jesus doesn't get annoyed when we follow after him. He wants it! Try to imagine yourself as the little brother or sister to Jesus. You respect him, and you would do anything to be accepted by him. And he does accept you. Which should make you want to be like him even more.

Now we've discussed how our identity comes from God, and faith in his work through Jesus Christ. And that this means that our goals and desires in life should be to join him in eternity, which means being like him, even in his suffering. Then we must ask our third question about this Philippians passage. How does this knowledge affect the way we live our lives?

Paul's faith affected his life. He writes at the end of our Philippians passage today, “Not that I have already obtained [the resurrection from the dead] or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own.”

Paul recognizes that he has not yet received the resurrection from the dead. We are given new life in Christ when we believe and are baptized, but we must remember that we still have life to come.

Paul also recognizes that he is not perfect. I think this is very important. When he was a pharisee, the pressure on him to be perfect, and to do everything right was probably immense. But now he knows and can say, “not that I … am already perfect.” And yet the confidence he has in his standing with God is greatly more than any confidence he could have had when he based his identity on his works as a pharisee.

Paul finishes this reading saying, “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.”

He says he is not yet resurrected and not yet made perfect, and that he does not consider these his own. The resurrection and perfect body are not his yet. They aren't ours either. So, we are waiting to receive these things, the resurrection and perfection of our bodies. And we must wait patiently for our hopes to be fulfilled. But Paul doesn't stop here. He does consider one thing to be his own: “forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead.”

If you remember, our desire through our faith in Christ, is to be with God and be like him.

That is to be “holy as he is holy.”

As we continue in our walk with God, we should be taking steps to be more like him each day. And we are not alone in this. God himself dwells within each of us who ask of him. His Holy Spirit remains with us, forming us to be more like him as we meditate on his word and strive for like-mindedness with Christ.

Of course, straining forward means forgetting what lies behind. I'm going to go ahead and spoil this for you right now. You will mess things up. A lot. You'll have doubts about God. You'll struggle to trust him and even doubt your faith. But, the goal is to move forward. Our God is full of mercy and forgiveness. He loves you deeply and wants nothing more than for you to turn to him and ask for his help. You need to allow God to forgive you.

When we look back on our lives, it's natural for us to have regrets. But regret should always be temporary. When you have regret, it usually means you are growing in the knowledge of what is good. And it should lead you to repentance. Repenting means you are turning away from what was. And if you've ever driven on an interstate, you should know that it's really hard to get back onto your route if you have your head turned around looking at the exit you just missed. You can't go back there. It's done. It's behind you. Recognize that you made that mistake and correct your course going forward. What you need to focus on now is finding another way to get back on track so you can get where you're heading.

A lot of who we are now is based on what's happened in our past. But our concern shouldn't be about who we are right now. Our focus is who we will become. And who we will become is based solely on the work of Jesus Christ and in his resurrection. And that is what we need to strive for. Not who we are right now, but who we will become.

My friend from college couldn't forget what lies behind. He spent days regretting his decisions or things he said. But that all changed when saw the love of Christ. He grew to understand that he didn't need to be perfect to be loved. And that if he hurt another, there is forgiveness. He grew to love others around him and this boy who couldn't even look in the eyes of another person was starting conversations with new students. He was leading others in Bible studies. He made friends with classmates because he wanted to share the Gospel with them; the Gospel of Jesus Christ, which changed his life.

This is my story. I was that boy.

And I know that it is not my past that defines me. It's not what I have done that determines my identity. The collection of my mistakes, or even my successes, don't change the love of God for me. But I stand firmly on the foundation of Jesus Christ. I speak confidently of his love and his truth because I really can't stand on anything else. If I boast in myself, I am destined for failure. I'm putting pressure on myself to live up to a standard I know I can't meet. And I don't have to.

I will continue to strain toward that goal, and I will continue to hope in the resurrection, but I am assured by my faith that I will receive what I hope for. I will live eternally in the Kingdom of God because I have faith in the work of Jesus Christ my Lord.