And everyone, it seems to me, is looking for meaningful relationships. It's a very critical element in life, is to have people around us who can encourage us and keep us going. And I think everybody's looking for a meaningful relationship these days. So I ask myself some questions about the quality of relationships. And let me ask you some questions. First of all, what kind of a relationship can you be in that will never grow stagnant? What kind of a relationship can you find that will always work for your best good? Have you ever been in a relationship where there was someone who never let you down, someone who never disappointed you, and someone who never deceived you or led you astray or made you think that you were being led astray? Wouldn't that be wonderful? Which one of us has ever been in a relationship where we thought that we could trust someone with absolutely any thought any feeling or any secret and never have to worry about the confidentiality being compromised. That's the kind of relationship I think we would all deep down inside really desire to have. Which one of us has ever been in a relationship where the other party has always supported us, has always met every one of the needs that we sense that we have? Which one of us has ever been in a relationship where the counterpart has empowered us to do what is morally correct and has always stimulated us to take the high moral ground and to be ethical in all that we do? And above all, have we ever been in a relationship or do we know of any kind of a relationship that goes beyond this life? That is the kind of relationship that the Apostle Paul is seeking to describe for us in the third chapter of Philippians. In particular, in our passage in Philippians 3, verses 8 to 11. There is only one relationship in all of creation, in all of the universe, that can really and truly satisfy all of those parameters and questions that I have just proposed about valuable relationships. It's a relationship that we were made for. Life's greatest relationship is an eternal growing friendship with the one who made you. An eternal growing friendship with the resurrected Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus said on the night before he was to die, and this is eternal life, that they may know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent. It's in John 17. And Paul describes his relationship with the resurrected Lord Jesus Christ in the passage that I've directed your attention to in Philippians chapter 3. In this description, in Philippians chapter 3, starting in verse 8, Paul describes a relationship that involved knowing Christ, gaining Christ, and being in Christ. It was a relationship that was incredibly close Furthermore, he details both the costs and the rewards of this relationship in this particular passage. And he talks about the surpassing value of having this relationship. If you would look with me in Philippians chapter 3, I would like to just again reintroduce you to the whole passage that we'd like to consider this morning. Paul writes, again, Philippians chapter 3 verse 8, 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 that really is the capstone of everything that Paul is going to talk about. The relationship that for him was the most significant thing in all of life Now, Paul also not only talks about what is the benefit of this relationship, but he inaugurates and begins his discussion of this relationship by telling us up front what the cost is. And that's what we see in verse 8. Jesus made a most profound statement to his disciples. And I have a suspicion that this thought carried through in the mind of the apostle as he read and interacted with some of those who authored the epistle or the gospels, particularly perhaps Matthew. Jesus said in a rhetorical statement as he talked to his disciples, he said, what will it profit a man? What will a man be profited if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? And in verse 8, Paul expresses his evaluation of all the worldly privileges, all the worldly advantages and pleasures and prestige and power that had belonged to him before. the relationship with Jesus Christ began. And he explains his evaluation of all of these privileges, all of this power, all of this prestige that he had. And he describes them in a very cryptic and direct and amazing way. He says, I count them what? I count them all loss. You see, in the mind of the Apostle Paul, it's almost as though It's a recollection of his experience in the Adriatic Sea as he was being transferred from Caesarea under Roman guard to Rome and he'd been out in that Adriatic Sea and a terrible storm came up. And I wonder if Paul's reflecting back in his mind because the word loss is the same term that came from that experience on the Adriatic Sea when the ship was being embattered by storm and they were in fear of it breaking up. What did they begin to do? Well, they began to take the ship's cargo. over the side to lighten the ship. And then came the time that they took all the ship's tackle and they threw that over the side to lighten the ship to protect it from actually sinking because of what use was the cargo? Of what use is the tackle if the ship is going to sink? And this is what Paul is expressing in this word loss. He is saying, as far as I'm concerned, all of the prestige, the power, the privileges of my former life were like weights holding down my ship and I was sinking, and so he threw them overboard. That was his evaluation. And you know, what's amazing is that Paul was not the person who was the down and out type of guy. If you recall from verses 5 and 6, Paul was the man with social and religious prestige. Paul was at the heights, or Saul was at the heights of his own religious order, Pharisee. He had been educated and had educational prestige, educated under the greatest of rabbis, Gamaliel. He had the power of the National Ruling Council, the Sanhedrin, so that he could go out and he could arrest and apprehend the disciples of the way, those who had begun to be called Christians, and he could take them out of their homes and put them into prison. He had the power of the state and he also had in his own background, probably a rather wealthy family, because in the city of Tarsus of Cilicia, unless you were wealthy, you were not able to maintain the privilege of Roman citizenship which Paul had inherited, and was the reason why he had ultimately been remanded to Rome. So Paul was not a down-and-outer who could say with a cavalier spirit, oh, all of these things of this world, I simply tossed them away. No. For the Apostle Paul, for this great man of his day and of his age, this was not a small sacrifice. As I say, he was at the top. But something had happened to Paul that radically changed his life and changed his ambitions. And that was a personal encounter with the resurrected Lord Jesus Christ. And as a result, Paul went through some radical changes. And you notice in verse 8 how he says, For Jesus my Lord, I have suffered the loss of all things, and consider them rubbish. Now most of the translations have a difficult time deciding how they will translate this word rubbish. It is the Greek word skubla. It's a very graphic word. It's almost foul. But in the actual original sense, it referred to something that was scraps. In some contexts, you'll see it being used of table scraps, the garbage that you throw away. And in other contexts, it refers to that foul, stinking excrement. So it's a very direct and a very confrontive word. And yet, Paul is using this as a way of shocking his readers. into really getting his message. He's saying, do you understand what I am saying? Everything that I had, everything that you probably envied me for, and were jealous of, as far as I'm concerned, it stinks. It's foul. I want it out of my life. And Paul's attitude teaches us the cost of life's greatest relationship. We need to throw overboard anything. that is weighing down our life, our lives, from pursuing after a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. Not only does Paul in this passage briefly describe the cost of this relationship with Jesus Christ, in the day-to-day way, but he also speaks of the benefits. He speaks of three rewards that come to those who have begun to enjoy and are in the process of learning about this relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ, this ultimate of life's relationships. And there are three things that he will describe. He will describe, first of all, the possession of the key to heaven. And Paul begins in verse 9 in describing this key to heaven. And he says in verse 9, 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 on the basis of faith. God is perfect and he dwells in an environment in heaven that is perfect. Where God is, there are no people who take exception to what he says. There are no people who object to what God issues as his directives. In the presence of God, there is harmony. In the presence of God, there is beauty. And all of those who are the citizens of God's province, heaven, are perfect as well. The key for entrance into heaven One of the rewards that comes through a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ is the possession of righteousness. Indeed, that is the key to the entrance into heaven. Jesus, therefore, told his disciples, be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect. Because without perfection, without the possession of righteousness, There is no way into the presence of God. But what is this righteousness? Very simply, let me give you a definition. Righteousness is the possession of perfect human character and the practice of perfect compliance with the law of God. Now I say perfect human character because we are human. We are not God. God is God and we are not. But righteousness is the declaration that we have been made perfect just as the Lord Jesus Christ is perfect and satisfies the righteous demand of God that we be like him in terms of that perfection in order to be in his presence. Righteousness is the possession of perfect human character and the practice of perfect compliance with the law or the will of God. And where does it come from? God is the source of righteousness. He is the only source of righteousness. As for the righteousness that men think they generate, God has a word for that righteousness. And of course, that is the kind of righteousness, the man-made righteousness, which has been the problem that Paul has been seeking to deal with throughout much of this third chapter of the book of Philippians. because there were many who were trading in righteousness in his time and were selling it in terms of a philosophical system or in terms of a system of activities in which you would engage and participate. But what Paul is talking about is the righteousness which is of God, not of man. And of all those systems and all of those philosophies and mechanisms offered by men and practiced by men in order that they might be satisfied that they had earned access into God's perfect presence, God has a word. And he spoke it through the prophet Isaiah and he speaks it through many other sources. But let me just share with you Isaiah's evaluation. He says, All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags. That is God's assessment. All of our righteous deeds are like filthy rags, Isaiah 64, 6. No man possesses righteousness, as I've said, and no one can obtain it from any source except from God. This is why Paul makes such an emphasis in verse 9. If you notice there in verse 9, He makes such an emphasis on this issue, the key to passage into the presence of God. And he says, and may 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 on the basis of what? On the basis of faith. For you see, that is what Paul is saying is the way in which the righteousness of God is obtained. It is by faith. The astounding teaching of the New Testament is that this righteousness is free. It is free. It is free. You cannot earn it. You see, that is so shocking in our age, and to most people. But that is the truth of the scripture, because it is by faith, by trust, and there is no other means. What is it that unlocks and allows us to receive this righteousness? Paul also speaks of that in verse 9, and he says, this righteousness is something that comes when you are in a certain position. And the position in which this righteousness is received is a position of what he calls being in Christ. And the illustration is probably used many times, but it is still so wonderful. The position of being in Christ and having the righteousness of God is as though this bulletin were yourself and this book were Jesus Christ. When you have by faith received Jesus Christ, what happens is, in the eyes of God, in the forensic, the legal mind of God, you become in Jesus Christ. And what does God see? He sees His Son. He sees the righteousness of His Son. And so therefore, all of that which is you, is now covered with the perfection of his Son, and you come to be in him by faith. And that is what Paul is saying in this passage, that I might have him, that I might 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 on the basis of faith. When you are in Him, God sees the righteousness of His Son. Theologians call this the imputation. It's an accounting word. God adds to your account the righteousness of Jesus Christ. He imputes it to you. There's a second thing which Paul says is a benefit of this relationship that we have with Jesus Christ. And that is, not only do we possess the key to heaven and our expected access into heaven, but he says we also have a dynamic relationship with the Son of God. The second reward of life's greatest relationship is this dynamic relationship or friendship with the Son of God. And he speaks of this reward in verse 10 and in verse 10 he points to four capacities which become yours as you live out this relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. Notice with me what he says in verse 10 as he writes. 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 I see four capacities here in verse 10 which become ours as we are growing in that relationship, in that dynamic friendship with the Son of God that becomes ours. First of all, the Apostle Paul refers to knowing him. And what he's speaking of here is an intimate knowledge. This is not a knowledge like you might have if, for example, you took and read People magazine and read about some star or some athlete or some personality out there in the public domain and then you said, well, I think I know them a little bit better. Or you perhaps were to get a biography of some person, maybe the President of the United States or some other person that you admire, you read their biography and you say, I think I know them now, I know their story. And this is not the kind of knowledge that, let's say, you might have if, oh, you were invited to a fundraiser by President George Bush and you were to sit down next to him and you were to have a conversation face-to-face and find out a few things, a few small incidents and anecdotes about his life and you were to share a little bit about yours and then it was over and goodbye. This is not the kind of knowledge that the Apostle Paul is saying he desires. as a consequence of this relationship. Now, it is something more than that. Paul isn't describing a casual acquaintance with Jesus Christ. What Paul is describing is the kind of knowledge that the Hebrews talked about. The Hebrews, when they talked about knowledge, they didn't talk simply about cognitive or mental understanding. They also talked about the significance of that knowledge. What do I mean by that? The significance of knowledge is what you are able to do with that knowledge. And the Hebrew understanding of knowledge is not just information, but skill. And that's what the Proverbs are designed to do, is to teach you the skill of living life righteously. And so Paul in his Hebrew mind is basically talking about that I may know Christ. In other words, that I may not just know him as my savior personally, but that I may know him in a skillful way in order that I may respond to him and that I may do his will. Such a knowledge of Christ involves, as I say, skill, not only for discerning his will, but also for doing it. I guess it's kind of like the knowledge that children acquire after a while. Young people, I think, if you think about this, have you ever had your parents say, it's time for dinner. You don't do anything, of course, because it's not really time for dinner yet. And then, it's time for dinner. You say, well, time for dinner. It's time for dinner. and you go, okay, it's time for dinner now. Intuitively, what is happening? You understand and you can anticipate what's really going on in the mind of your parents. You see, it's something that you have learned and as a result you have developed a practical ability to respond in a way that is perhaps not appropriate from your parents' point of view, but it's certainly appropriate for you because you get to watch a little bit more TV, finish the ping pong game, or whatever you're doing, and then move along at your own rate. You see, what I'm talking about is, there is a certain aspect of knowing Jesus Christ that becomes an intuitive sense. You can anticipate what would Jesus do in this situation. Just as you children can anticipate, what would my parents do? What would they say? After living with them for a while, you begin to know instinctively how you ought to respond. And this is what Paul is speaking about when he says, I want to know him. I want to have this kind of knowledge. This is the kind of knowledge of Jesus Christ that comes as your relationship with him grows. It doesn't come cheap, my friends. It comes through a consistent abiding and practice of what you do know he wants. And then as that occurs, he begins to disclose to you more and more. Jesus said to his disciples, I don't call you my servants or slaves any longer. You are my friends. If you do what I command you. Well, there's something else that comes as a capacity for life as a result of this relationship with Jesus Christ. And that is not only that knowledge of him, but also spiritual power. Notice with me again in verse 10, that I may know Christ and the what? The power of his resurrection. When I was reading that for the past few weeks in anticipation of speaking to you, I said, God, I want to know what is the power of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. just like in Star Wars, someone would want to know what is the power of the force. I know we have a lot of Trekkies, but that's another form of the science fiction. What we need to do is remember Paul was speaking from a cultural orientation all through the Roman culture in which Paul had grown up as a citizen and in which he had lived and in which indeed he was ministering Power was an integral part of society. Power was as critical in the warp and woop of Roman society as liberty is in the hearts of the American citizen. Power of Rome was the power enforced by the state through the most indomitable war machine that had ever come on the face of the earth, and that was the Roman Legion. By force, Rome in power enforced its imperial will throughout the known world. So it was a culture and a society in which force and power was something very understood. Dr. James Boyce makes a very interesting observation, though, as he speaks and analyzes this concept of power. He says that Paul was familiar not simply with the power of Rome, but he was familiar with something else, another kind of power. And that was the power of the spiritual domain. That was, in his mind, first of all, the power of sin. Greater than the power of Rome, because the power of sin was the power to corrupt that which was good. The power to destroy that which was beautiful. The power to undermine everything that God had made. The power of sin, in the eyes of Paul, was as great as the power of Rome. But again, I submit to you, let's take that a step further. I believe that Paul is speaking here, specifically in this passage, of a power greater than Rome, greater than sin. He's speaking of the power of God. And that power was marvelously displayed, as Paul recalls, the way God's power overcame the ultimate consequence of sin, which is death, and the resurrection from death. of the Lord Jesus Christ whom Paul had encountered and begun to know so intimately as his friend. Even greater than the power of sin was the power of God, the power of resurrection. Power is a force that can overcome resistance. Spiritual power overcomes the resistance of sin and death. And I believe that it was this kind of spiritual power that Paul wanted to know more and more thoroughly and directly. How do you know when you're experiencing the power or the spiritual power of the resurrection that God displayed in Jesus Christ's resurrection? Let me give you just a couple of suggestions. So you can think about this as you go through your daily life. Am I really experiencing the power of the resurrection? You are experiencing this power when you resist temptation. Because to follow temptation is natural. But when you resist temptation, that is, on a consistent basis, the experience of spiritual power. You are experiencing this power when you go beyond what you think you are able to do to obey God. How often I have thought in my own mind, I just don't have the power to obey you. And God is saying, that's right, you don't. I do. And that is the experience of supernatural spiritual resurrection power. When we go beyond what we know is our ability, and we trust God to push on through that wall of our own ability, and obey Him. You're experiencing the power of the resurrection when you see the most wonderful miracle that exists in the world today. And that is when you, in obedience to God, have opened up His Word, or you've opened up your life, and you've gotten alongside of someone who does not know Jesus personally as their own Lord and Savior. And you introduce them. You walk them through the process of coming to know Him. And they say, I would like to know Him too. How can I do that? And you bow together and you ask Jesus Christ to make Himself personally known to that person. And that person's head comes up and says, I understand. I know Jesus Christ simply by asking Him to come into my life and make me what he wants me to be. You have seen the power of the resurrection. There is no greater miracle, my friends. God help us all to have that experience. You'll never be the same afterwards. A growing knowledge of the power of God that raised Jesus from the dead was a new capacity that Paul realized in this relationship. Let me move to a third capacity that I believe this passage is showing us. It is a capacity that we learn through our friendship with Jesus Christ, and it is the capacity of patience. Oh, to have patience. And I want it now. Right? Paul says that through Christ, he was also gaining a growing understanding of something that he calls here in verse 10, the fellowship of his sufferings. How in the world does that connect with patience? Let me see if I can show you. The fellowship. The koinonia. The sharing. in his sufferings. Simply said, this is the fellowship of closeness to Christ that comes as a result of suffering in his service. You know, how close do you become with people that you work with day in and day out? Whether they agree with you and your philosophy, your point of view, your politics, or whatever. If you work with somebody day in and day out, isn't it true that you begin to cultivate a certain level of closeness Now I know some of you have been in situations where you'd say, no, no, a thousand times no, I still hate them or they still make my life miserable. But I think that in working with people day in and day out, even if maybe your chemistry isn't the same, you do develop and cultivate a certain amount of familiarity and closeness. But on the other hand, if you have suffered with someone If you have parents or you know somebody who's been in war and suffered together in the trenches, fought together, or you've suffered through the grief of a death, or the illness of a child, or something with someone else, a difficult time in a family, if you have suffered together, there is nothing like the closeness that comes from that kind of being bound together. And I think this is what Paul is basically speaking of. Paul had suffered much loss in his life as an apostle of Christ. And no doubt he had learned as a result and in the process of these sufferings to cling more tenaciously and tightly to his only source of hope, his only source of security, and that was the Lord Jesus Christ. And this is what suffering will do in your life. It will cause you to stop being distracted by so many of the things of the world, the tinsel and all, and begin to cling and grasp. Sometimes you may feel it's only by your fingernails to the Lord Jesus Christ. But you see, in that process, a closeness of being bound to Him begins to emerge that you can never have without suffering with Him and for Him. And I submit to you that it is only those who have endured through tribulation with Jesus who really appreciate this capacity, which is yours and can be yours in growing measure by faith as you walk with Him. Paul had learned the divine grace of patience as a consequence of suffering. And so he says, I want to know more of it. What? Paul? More suffering? Well, not necessarily does he want the suffering, but he says, if it comes, if my commitment to him requires it, I know that there will be an increasing capacity of patience. Fourthly, and final capacity that I see here, I think Paul speaks of a capacity of humility. Of course, humility is not one of those things that is so easily worked up. It's more of a passive kind of thing. Paul describes a process that God takes every one of us through until we have experienced physical death and enter into our resurrection. The New American Standard Translation reads it very interestingly, being conformed to his death. It speaks almost of the hands of God molding and conforming you to the character of the death of Jesus Christ. What is Paul talking about here? Again, it seems somewhat difficult and obtuse to understand, but I believe that what Paul is talking about here is the character of Jesus' death. What was the character of his death? The character of Jesus' death was the character of servanthood. Jesus died a servant's death. Being conformed to Christ's death means being conformed to the humiliation, the self-sacrifice, and the obedience that led Jesus Christ to the cross. That is the kind of death, or the character of the death that Paul is looking at and saying, I want to be conformed. Actually, he's saying, I will be conformed. God does the conforming. You know you are experiencing conformity to Christ's death. when you realize that you are enduring humiliation, justifiably, not because you have embarrassed somebody else or offended someone else. You are enduring self-sacrifice. You are enduring possibly death in order to remain faithful to Him. That is this wonderful capacity of humility that comes as a growing capacity in your friendship with the Lord Jesus Christ. And then there is a third reward that comes in this of greatest relationships, and that is a growing identification with the glorified state. Now what am I saying? Well, verse 11 of chapter 3 is a very difficult passage to interpret. And I could probably find in 15 commentaries about eight different interpretations of this passage because it is difficult. The grammar is difficult. The third reward that Paul is talking about here of life's greatest relationship is, in essence, a growing comprehension today, now, not after we die but now, of that state which we will enjoy when we actually go through resurrection and enter into the presence of God. Now, why is this passage a little bit difficult? Well, it's because if you look at it, Paul says in the New International Version, and so somehow to attain to the resurrection from the dead. Other translations render it, if perhaps, somehow. Wait a minute, Paul. Is this the same guy who wrote about the resurrection in 1 Corinthians 15? Is this the same guy who wrote in Romans 8? There will be nothing that can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus. Is this the same Paul, right over in chapter 1, who said, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. What are you saying, Paul? Have you lost your assurance of salvation? He is talking about the resurrection from the dead. The ex agoradso, or the out-resurrection from among the dead, he is speaking of here. That is, the resurrection that takes place of the righteous on the last day, in which they are then raised up and ushered into the presence of God. So we can't say that the resurrection is some kind of spiritual, metaphorical thing that he's talking about here. And the terminology does, in the subjunctive mood, that mood of doubt, suggest that there is a little bit of hesitation in the inflection of Paul as he speaks of this hope and this desire. So therefore, I believe in the verb attain, we find the secret to what Paul is really driving at. Because It is a verb that is different from a verb he will use in just the next context that we'll study next week. It is the verb obtain, and every translation translates it that way because it is the best way to translate it. In the next few verses he will talk about obtaining something, actually possessing it. Here he is speaking of a word that looks forward to something. Attaining to, reaching out for, is what it means. So Paul implies that he is not absolutely certain that he is speaking of reaching out to possess something that he earnestly desires. And I submit to you that what Paul is saying is that I live my life in such a way that I've described here. I enjoy all of these benefits because it all enables me to stretch out in my soul and reach for just a little slice of what is really mine legally in the future but which I would like to taste right now. If perhaps somehow I may attain or reach for just a little bit of the resurrection from the dead or that prospective experience which will be mine in the future but is not mine now. So Paul is saying that he counts all things lost to know Christ, so that he can aspire to, pursue after, and prepare himself for that moment. That moment, which he does know, will come. Not now, but soon, in which he will be ushered into the presence of his Savior. The more we pursue our relationship with Christ, the more I believe that we will have in our hearts the attitude of the Apostle Paul, as he wrote again in chapter 1 when he says, I am torn between the two. I desire to depart to be with Christ, which is better by far, but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body." The Apostle Paul, through the cultivation of this greatest of relationships, had come to a point where to be with Christ far surpassed and eclipsed anything that this world offered. And so I would ask you, do you treat your relationship with Jesus Christ with the same value? Do you turn your back on the comforts and the rewards and the prestige and the power and the privileges that come so easily to us in this culture and our society in order that you may pursue after Christ those things that so easily weigh us down and distract us? Are you ready to toss them over the side like the Apostle Paul did? That's the challenge. That's what he's talking about. It's very convicting to me, too. Paul wasn't just speaking to the Philippians, I say. He was speaking to you and I. This is the eternal, truthful Word of God. Let's bow and pray. Our Father, we would be like Jesus Christ. All of Earth's pleasures are really scuba law. They are refuse compared to the surpassing glory of knowing your son. Oh God, transfix our minds by those capacities which are ours in him and give us that overwhelming sense that he is worth more than anything else. And we ask this in his name. Amen.