A Study of Philippians 3:12-14
The face of Christ—as bright as the sunshine, as wise as omniscience, as full of smiles as He is full of grace. And in eternity we’ll have all of infinity to be with Him, walk with Him, talk with Him, dine with Him, and get to know the wonders of His majesty.
That’s why like championship runners, we are straining and striving to win the prize for the upward call of God in Christ Jesus
Introduction
I recently read a book by Meb Keflezighi, who is one of the most amazing marathon champions the sporting world has ever seen. In his book 26 Marathons, Meb describes each of his legendary 26 marathon races—one race for each mile of the race—and what he learned in each one of them. Meb was born in war-torn Eretria, came to America as a refugee, and is a devout follower of Christ. As he recounted his victorious 2009 New York City Marathon, he said, “I’ve always believed consistency, not isolated killer workouts, is the key to peak performance. Many elite runners could have done any one day, or even any one week, of my training for New York. It’s doing those days and weeks over and over again that makes the difference.”
In his thirteen amazing letters, the apostle Paul used running and racing as a metaphor for consistency in the Christian life. We have to be consistently running, training, and making progress—hence Philippians 3:12-14, one of Paul’s classic testimonies. For context and review, I want to start with verse 8:
Scripture
8 What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ 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. 10 I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.
12 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13 Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
Theme
The apostle Paul began chapter 3 by warning us against false teachers. In Paul’s day, his primary opponents were the Judiazers. In terms of Jewish heritage, they had nothing on Paul. He had impeccable Jewish credentials and he was building a significant role for himself within Judaism.
But, he said, I now consider all these things as rubbish for the sake of the surpassing value of knowing Christ—and that’s the theme of this paragraph. Look at Philippians 3:8: What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.
The surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. Knowing Christ Jesus our Lord is worth more than all the money in the world. It is worth more than all the gilded mansions in Newport, Rhode Island. It’s worth more than all the real estate in Manhattan or Hawaii or Davos, Switzerland. It’s worth more than all the fame of all the celebrities. It’s worth more than all the diamonds and precious stones in the world, crammed into one immense treasure chest.
Everything else is garbage and rubbish compared with the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus our Lord. That’s Paul’s language.
The Three Phases of Knowing Christ
But in the subsequent verses he’s going to break it down for us and give us three distinct phases when it comes to getting to know Christ. There are three aspects to the process, and we can uncover that by looking at three phrases that Paul uses here. Each phrase stands for a stage of our relationship. Three phrases. Three phases. Three stages.
To give you an example, let’s take a couple who fall in love. First, they meet each other and begin dating. Second, they became engaged; and third, they get married. In every stage, the great goal is to get to know one another better and better.
Notice very carefully the words Paul uses as he describes the process of experiencing the surpassing value of knowing Christ:
- First, We Gain Christ – verse 8: I consider them [everything else] rubbish that I may gain Christ.
- Second, We Get to Know Christ – verse 10: I want to know Christ.
- Third, We Are Called Heavenward to Be With Christ Jesus – Verse 14: I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
1. Gaining Christ
The first part of the paragraph describes gaining Christ. Look again at verse 8: I consider [everything] rubbish that I may gain Christ. We talk about receiving Christ or accepting Christ or asking Christ into our hearts as Savior. Those are good terms and I’ve used them over and over. But I don’t think I’ve ever preached a sermon in which I’ve encouraged people to gain Christ—until now. That’s the word Paul used.
The word in Greek is lambano, which does mean to receive, to get, to seize, or to gain. It’s a word that implies acquisition.
This refers to the moment when we receive Jesus Christ as our Savior. We gain Him. Recently the Gideons International gave me a new book telling the story of their 100-plus years of ministry, and they told a story I had never heard before. There was a famous baseball player named Oral Hershiser. Even as a child, he displayed remarkable athletic skills. He spent seventeen years as a professional baseball player.
After he signed with the Dodgers in 1979, he was assigned to training camp in Scottsdale, Arizona. His teammate and roommate was a dedicated Christian who was always reading his Bible. One night, Hershiser asked him what he saw in that old book, and his roommate said, “Everything!” Not long afterward, Hershiser picked up the Gideon Bible in his room, started reading it, and came under deep conviction. He later said, “Without any prompting, I slipped to my knees by the bed. Openly confessing my sins, I invited Christ into my life.”
He later fell in love with singing the Doxology. He sang it in the locker room, in the dugout, and even on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. He could praise God from whom all blessings flow because he had gained Christ.
I hope you’ve gained Christ. At some point in our lives we all need to slip to our knees, confess our sins, and invite Him into our lives as Savior and Lord. That’s how we meet Christ. That’s how we begin the process of getting to know Him. We gain Him.
2. Knowing Christ
But there’s a second phase and a second phrase here: knowing Christ. Let’s read this again:
I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ 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. 10 I want to know Christ….
Paul said, “I have gained Christ, but now I want to know Him.” In other words, I want to know Him better—to become more intimately and deeply acquainted with Him. This happens over the course of our lifetimes as we cultivate and develop our friendship with Him.
Hosea 6:3 (ESV) says: Let us know; let us press on to know the Lord; His going out is sure as the dawn; He will come to us as the showers, as the spring rains that water the earth.
We are to know Him and to press on to know Him better. That’s what Paul was talking about here. There was an article in Women’s Health magazine recently that suggested 200 questions to ask in order to get to know someone better. The first one was what do you like to do on your day off? Then what was the best vacation you ever had? What are your hobbies?
The last one, Number 200, was, “If you could change anything about yourself, would you?”
Of course, it’s not a matter of sitting down, starting with question 1, and going through the whole list. The idea is that getting to know someone involves engaging in meaningful conversation with a real desire to know someone better who is becoming a close friend.
For the Christian, that’s the function of what we call our Quiet Time. Earlier this year, Lifeway Research released the results of a survey in which they found that nearly two-thirds of all Protestant churchgoers have a daily time when they meet with God. The question on the survey was: How often do you intentionally spend time alone with God? Sixty-five percent of churchgoers said they did this daily.
God speaks to us when we close the door and read our Bibles, looking for what He is trying to tell us. We speak to God when we pray, letting Him know the things that are on our minds. As we develop a daily habit of doing this, we are getting to know Him better and better.
As the years pass and we find Him faithful to us in all kinds of perils and problems, we come to trust Him more. Our relationship with Jesus Christ should become deeper and enjoyable and more fulfilling and more important to us as long as we live.
3. Called Heavenward In Christ
But… we have one enormous hindrance that keeps us from knowing Christ as perfectly as we would like. We are separated from Him by realm. We are in one realm and He is in another. Right now we cannot see His face.
First Peter 1:8 says, “Though you have not seen Him, you love Him; and even though you do not see Him now, you believe in Him and are filled with inexpressible and glorious joy.”
Second Corinthians 5:6-9 says: “Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord [Jesus Christ]. For we live by faith, not by sight. We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So we make it our goal to please Him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it.”
We know Him now through salvation and through the Scriptures and through the Holy Spirit in our hearts and lives.
Jesus said in John 14: 25 “All this I have spoken while still with you. 26 But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. 27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. 28 “You heard me say, ‘I am going away and I am coming back to you.’ If you loved me, you would be glad that I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. 29 I have told you now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe.”
In John 16, He said: 14 “He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you. 15 All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will receive from me what he will make known to you.”
Dr. Gordon Fee wrote that the Holy Spirit represents the presence of God and of Christ among us now. He said, “The Spirit is the way God is present now.” Paul refers to the Holy Spirit 145 times in his thirteen letters.
- In the Old Testament, God the Father dwelt among His people Israel as a cloud of glory in the Holy of Holies. He also represented the Son and the Spirit.
- In the Gospels, God the son dwelt among His people in His flesh. He also represented the Father and the Spirit.
- After the Day of Pentecost, God the Spirit dwells among His people, representing the Father and the Son.
He dwells in us, around us. He seals us and fills us and empowers us. He strengthens us with all power in our inner being. He cultivates the character of Jesus within us. The love of God is poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, who is given to us. We are led by the Spirit, and we overflow with hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.
Ephesians 1:17 says: “I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit [the Holy Spirit] of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know Him better.”
This is an imperfect illustration, but Katrina and I really fell in love long distance. We knew each other and had worked together at our job on campus, but we didn’t think of ourselves in love. We ended up writing letters to each other, and we got to know one another and fell in love through our letters.
It’s possible to get to know and fall in love with someone even if you can’t see his or her face. In the case of Jesus, it’s by the agency of the Holy Spirit and Scripture and prayer. But one day we will see Him face to face. I believe that’s what Paul is talking about here.
8 What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ…. 10 I want to know Christ….
12 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13 Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
Heavenward, upward, skyward!
The prize is being with Jesus forever. God is calling us.
I believe Paul is saying, in essence, “I want to be as close to Christ as I can possibly be. I have gained Him as my Savior. I am growing in my love for Him through the Holy Spirit and getting to know Him better and better. But without looking back, I am straining toward the future, pressing on for that day when God will call me heavenward, upward, and I will see Jesus Christ face to face!
That’s why Paul said, “…absent from the body, present with the Lord.”
When Stephen was being stoned to death for his faith, he said, “Look, I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God” (Acts 7:56).
In 1 Corinthians 13:12, he said, “For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known.”
In Philippians 1:23, Paul said he had a deep desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better.
First John 3:2 says, “We know that when Christ appears, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.”
Revelation 22:3-4 says, “The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and His servants will serve Him. They will see His face.”
These are the stages of our relationship with Christ—this is the process of acquiring the surpassing value of knowing Him. We gain Christ when we receive Him as Savior—that’s justification. We get to know Him better and better as we walk in the Spirit—that’s sanctification. One day we will see Him face to face—that’s glorification.
The face of Christ—as bright as the sunshine, as wise as omniscience, as full of smiles as He is full of grace. And in eternity we’ll have all of infinity to be with Him, walk with Him, talk with Him, dine with Him, and get to know the wonders of His majesty.
That’s why like championship runners, we are straining and striving to win the prize for the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. And…
It will be worth it all when we see Jesus!
Life’s trials will seem so small when we see Christ.
One glimpse at His dear face, all sorrow will erase.
So bravely run the race till we see Christ.