Seek Christ and Gain Everything

(Philippians 3:8-11)

Nothing in this world, whether knowledge, wisdom, insight, wealth, or power, compares to the surpassing worth of knowing Jesus Christ.

There is simply no comparison to the value of knowing Jesus Christ because all good things and all life originates and comes from and through Him.

By comparison, what this world offers is just a shallow and weak shadow of what He offers to those who come to him.

Paul’s position

Paul made it abundantly clear what he thought about the value of knowing Jesus Christ as compared to his former life as a Pharisee.

8 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 refuse, in order that I may gain Christ (Philippians 3:8)

Look at Paul’s words. Even though he was quite a high ranking Pharisee and given great power by the chief priests, and even though he was well advanced in his studies of the law, he did not count these things as being of any value. In fact he called them “refuse” or garbage in comparison to knowing Christ Jesus.

Paul understood that all he had learned and all of the elegance and beauty of the law was nothing when compared to the wonder of the truth in Jesus Christ. There simply is no comparison.

No comparison

Glory was fading in dispensation of condemnation

In addition to the words of Paul speaking of his own circumstances, we see this comparison made in other places too.

7 Now if the dispensation of death, carved in letters on stone, came with such splendor that the Israelites could not look at Moses’ face because of its brightness, fading as this was, 8 will not the dispensation of the Spirit be attended with greater splendor? 9 For if there was splendor in the dispensation of condemnation, the dispensation of righteousness must far exceed it in splendor. 10 Indeed, in this case, what once had splendor has come to have no splendor at all, because of the splendor that surpasses it. 11 For if what faded away came with splendor, what is permanent must have much more splendor. (2 Corinthians 3:7-11)

What we see here is part of the surpassing glory Paul recognised.

When Moses came down from the mountain after being in the presence of God to receive the Ten Commandments, his face shone so brightly, reflecting God’s glory, that the Israelites could not look at him. And so Moses wore a veil over his face so that the people were not blinded, until the brightness faded away.

This was a remarkable thing to have happened. But as we see in the words above, this splendour was not permanent as it did fade away.

And this is like the law and the Ten Commandments itself. The law is not permanent and is not meant to last forever. The law is binding on a person only while they are alive, as we are told in Romans 7, verse 1.

And the splendour that has been given to us in Jesus Christ is that we can be set free from this fading law to be made righteous by faith in Jesus Christ. We are told this very thing in many places in the Bible.

Righteousness apart from the law

As we continue reading this section of Philippians 3:9-11 we understand why Paul counted everything in his former life as refuse or garbage. It is clear that the ways of righteousness in Jesus Christ far outshine the fading glory of the law given to Moses.

9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own, based on law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith; 10 that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 that if possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead. (Philippians 3:9-11)

Here is the reason why Paul understood why the glory of the way in Jesus Christ was so much superior to the ways of the law.

In Jesus Christ we can be truly righteous; set free from sin and set free from the very law that promised life.

Many Christians today are still trying to be righteous by works of the law. They try to do the works of the law, including things like fasting and tithing, not realising that those things are really nothing compared to the righteousness apart from the law in Jesus Christ.

They do not understand that by trying to seek Christ through works of the law, they are actually cutting themselves off from Christ, as the scriptures tell us.

You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace. (Galatians 5:4)

This is why we cannot try to find the truth of Jesus Christ and His righteousness through the law. It is essential that we find the pathway through Christ and be set free from the law so that we can receive the free gift of righteousness by faith. This is just the starting point, and sadly many Christians have not even found it.

Seek this truth in your own walk. Seek the pathway to righteousness in Jesus Christ, set free from sin and set free from the law.

You are no longer under condemnation and no longer under the law when you come to Jesus Christ, following Him according to the patterns He laid down in the scriptures. This is the truth Jesus spoke of when He said:

31 Jesus then said to the Jews who had believed in him, “If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples, 32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” (John 8:31-32)

The truth is in Jesus Christ and it will make you free IF you “continue in my (Jesus’) word.”

If we are seeking to find righteousness under the law, then we are not continuing in His word. That is not the way. All of those churches that preach things like tithing and fasting and all of the other things that put their congregations under law and under condemnation, are not continuing in His word.

So seek the truth in Jesus Christ and find it, and you will be truly free and see the truth: that everything apart from Christ is refuse and garbage, as Paul noted.

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