THE EXCELLENCE OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF CHRIST – Philippians 3:8-11

Jesus said that a man or woman who is not “born again” can’t even get into heaven—let alone know more about Himself. And Nicodemus was confused by this. How could such a thing as being “born again” come about? He asked Jesus, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” (v. 4). He was thinking, of course, only of the physical birth. But Jesus was speaking of a ‘birth’ of a completely different kind. He told the man,

"Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again’” (vv. 5-7).

It’s possible to translate Jesus’ words to mean that we must be born “by water—even by the Spirit” (as if “water” and the Holy Spirit are meant to be seen as the same thing; a reasonable idea because “water” is often used as a figure for the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament); or to mean that we must be born “by the water of baptism by faith, and by the work of the Holy Spirit” (since one of the key references to “water” in John’s Gospel has been with respect to baptism; in which case the idea would be that we must, on our part, have personal faith, and—at the same time—be the recipients of the enabling power of the Holy Spirit). Either views are possible. But one thing is sure; it is impossible to experience "the excellency of the knowledge of Christ" without being born again. That’s the only way to enter into a relationship with Him; and it’s only by a relationship with Him that we can know Him.

We become "born again"—literally “born from above”—as an act of God’s grace when we place a sincere and intelligent faith in Jesus’ sacrifice for us on the cross; and willingly receive Him as our Savior. As the apostle John wrote earlier in the Gospel of John,

But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God (John 1:12-13).

So; this is a good time to ask—have you placed your faith in Jesus Christ as your Savior, and are you born again? You really can’t go another step with Him—you really can’t “know” Him—unless you have done so.

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Now; for those of us who have placed our faith in Him, and have been born again, there’s another thing that’s essential. It’s something that Paul speaks of in verses 4-7. And though he wrote of it with respect to his own experience before having been born again, I fear that it’s something that can get in the way of someone pursuing the excellence of the knowledge of Christ even after they have professed a faith in Him.

It’s the danger of hindering our ability to pursue our knowledge of Christ through trusting in the power of ‘the flesh’. Paul wrote in verse 3 of those who place "no confidence in the flesh" (and we can understand "flesh" here to refer to anything of our own efforts or qualities that we may trust in for righteousness before God apart from Christ—any of our own ‘good works’ or ‘religious efforts’).

Paul used to trust in such things completely before he came to Christ. In fact, he could have trusted in such things more than anyone else could. He wrote;

though I also might have confidence in the flesh. If anyone else thinks he may have confidence in the flesh, I more so: circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews; concerning the law, a Pharisee; concerning zeal, persecuting the church; concerning the righteousness which is in the law, blameless (vv. 4-6).

Paul wasn’t saying that he had been fooling himself in the things of which he once boasted. He hadn’t been bragging about a bunch of things that were not true of him. These things truly were real things that he could boast in—if such things could save him. And no one could make a bigger boast of them than he could. Others may boast in good works and religious performances of other kinds. Perhaps someone could boast in their perfect attendance at their church and their involvement in its ministry. Others might boast in the ways they have given themselves over to good deeds and to acts of service to their fellow man. Others may boast in their care for the environment and for the ways that they have helped improve the planet. Others may even trust in simply "believing" the right things and in having a commitment to the right doctrinal truths.

And none of those things are wrong in and of themselves—any more than Paul’s devoted Jewishness was wrong. But they end up being very wrong when they become what we trust in to make ourselves righteous before God. And when it came to boasting in such things for righteousness before God, Paul—who once trusted in them—had now made a complete break from them and had forsaken them all. He met Jesus; and now he—who said that no one could boast in the works of the flesh more than he could—no longer trusted in any of those things. He was genuinely "converted" in terms of where he had placed his trust. He wrote, “But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ” (v. 7).

And note this carefully: It wasn’t that Paul had “converted” from one religion to another. He didn’t simply “convert” from Judaism to Christianity. Rather, what he did was convert in his trust from one “person” to “Another”. He no longer trusted in his own works in the principle of the flesh. Rather he ceased completely from trusting in such aspects of his own being, and had cast them from himself, and now trusted only in Jesus.

And you and I cannot grow in our knowledge of the excellence of Christ unless we do the same. We cannot have it both ways—trusting in our own works of the flesh to make ourselves righteous before God and acceptable in His sight, and trusting in Jesus at the same time. You might say that one trust, “displaces” the other. Paul put it in a very strong way elsewhere in Scripture. He spoke of misguided Christians who had placed their trust that what we might call the quintessential Jewish symbol of all religious ‘works’ of the law, and wrote;

Indeed I, Paul, say to you that if you become circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing. And I testify again to every man who becomes circumcised that he is a debtor to keep the whole law. You have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace (Galatians 5:2-4).

If you or I choose to trust in our own religious works of righteousness to make ourselves acceptable before God, then we need to know that—by the authority of no less than the apostle Paul himself—Jesus Christ can profit us nothing. You and I cannot pursue the excellence of the knowledge of Christ if we choose to trust in the works of the flesh. Obviously, there must be good works in our lives—otherwise we’re not truly followers of Jesus. But those good works come as a result of our life with Jesus—and not as a substitute for trust in Jesus.

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So; with those things in mind, look now at what Paul says in our passage this morning about the excellence of the knowledge of Christ.

In verse 8, he writes;

Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish . . .” (v. 8).

Do you notice that he doesn’t just say that he rejects only the things that he could do in the flesh to make himself righteous before God? Far more than that, he says that he suffers “the loss of all things”, and counts them “as rubbish”. The word that he uses to describe how he looks at all other things in comparison to the knowledge of Christ is one that may refer to the kind of stinking garbage that someone might throw out into a back alley for the wild dogs to eat. Or, as you may discover if you have the King James Bible, it can be translated into something even more repulsive than that. This isn’t speaking of a mere “disinterest” in other things. It meant a complete, deliberate sense of repulsion toward anything other than Christ that may take a primary place in his affections. Think of the most disgusting and wretched thing you can think of—and that’s how he now views “all things” in comparison to Christ. He utterly rejects the things that might otherwise be gain to him, so that he could make Christ Jesus his all consuming passion instead.

And why? He goes on to say,

that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith (v. 9).

What wonderful words those are! They are expressing the essence of Paul’s great burden in his preaching; the message that he traveled around the Roman world to declare; the message that was the great theme of his letter to the Romans, and of his letter to the Galatians, and that is a thread that runs through every other letter that he wrote—the great doctrine of justification by faith. Paul now no longer trusted in any aspect of his own efforts to make himself righteous before God. He wouldn’t dare be found by God clothed in a righteousness of his own making through the law! Instead, he trusted in the righteousness that is freely given by God as a gracious gift to those who place their faith in His Son Jesus Christ—"the righteousness which is from God by faith".

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Verse nine speaks of Paul’s justification in Christ. That is the product of his “born again” experience. But in verse 10, he goes on to speak of his sanctification—his ongoing experience in life right then and there of enjoying the glorious benefits of a living relationship of love with Jesus. He says, first, that he has rejected all those other things he used to trust in, and trusts in a righteousness by faith in Christ alone, ". . . that I may know Him . . ."

To "know" Jesus in this way isn’t speaking of mere head-knowledge about Him. It speaks of a deep, personal, experiential relationship of love. And can you see now what is meant by saying that true ‘conversion’ isn’t simply a change from one religion to another? It’s a change from trust in one ‘person’ to ‘Another’. It’s that we enter into a saving relationship with a wonderful Person named Jesus Christ—a relationship of love in which we forsake our own efforts and rest instead in the complete work of our Savior and Lord, who is also our dearest Friend; a personal relationship that grows deeper every day; a relationship in which He fellowships with us, and strengthens us, and supports us in our trials; a relationship of dependence in which He shares all of His divine resources with us; a relationship in which the more of Him we get to know, the more like Him we grow to be. No amount of religious ‘good works’ through the flesh could ever give us that! It’s one wonderful aspect of the on-going excellence of knowing Him.

But there is another. Paul also speaks of knowing "the power of His resurrection . . ." To know Christ is to experience the impact of His resurrection in our own lives every day. I’m quite sure this is what Paul was speaking of in Ephesians 1:19-23; when he prayed that his readers would know what is the exceeding greatness of God’s power toward us who believe,

according to the working of His mighty power which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come. And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all (Ephesians 1:19b-23).

Having “the power of His resurrection” predominant in our lives means that we live and walk and work on this earth as people who have been resurrected from the dead with Jesus. It means that there is now no sinful habit or addicting practice that He cannot overcome in us; and no necessary change in our lives that He cannot bring about for us; and no command of obedience He could give us that He does not empower us to perform—if we will but trust Him. How much better it is to forsake our trust in our own works, so that we can experience the exceeding excellence of the resurrection-power of Jesus Christ in our daily lives!

Paul also speaks of knowing “the fellowship of His suffering”. One of the aspects of being in a relationship with Jesus is that we will suffer with Him. He Himself said so. He said;

“If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. If they kept My word, they will keep yours also” (John 15:18-20).