Articles
True Glory
Let’s begin by turning to Philippians 3:1-8. In this passage Paul shows us where the true trust, true boasting, true glorying of the faithful child of God takes place. Paul shows us what is truly important. The passage says:
Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you, to me indeed is not griev-ous, but for you it is safe. Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the concision. For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh. Though I might also have confidence in the flesh. If any other man thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more: circum-cised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews, teaching the law, a Pharisee: concerning zeal, perse-cuting the church; touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless. But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yes, doubt-less, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ.
Consider what Paul has done. He has listed those things that to the Jew of that time were of utmost importance. He was writing of things that in their eyes made them so much better than those who were outside of the covenant, those who had not been circumcised. He wrote of this heritage and the fact that if confidence and boasting could be derived from things of the flesh, he had more in which to have confidence and to boast about than just about anybody else. He was a Hebrew, pure and simple. Concerning the Law of Moses, he was a Pharisee. Remember, Paul had studied at the feet of Gamaliel, and “was taught according to the perfect manner of the law of the fathers” (Acts 22:3). He had been so zealous for the law that he had persecut-ed the church. Yet, when he came to a knowledge of the Lord, Paul saw all of those things in a completely different light. What he had counted as gain, what he had gloried in and trusted in, he now counted as loss. Weighing the one against the other, he had been able to determine the true value.
In verse 8 Paul had written, “I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord.” That would include any and every-thing of a worldly nature upon which he might have placed his confidence—his power, worldly possessions, position among his peers, anything when compared to the surpassing value of the knowledge of Christ Jesus his Lord.
What is this “knowledge of Christ Jesus” that Paul said was of surpassing val-ue? To have the “knowledge of Christ” means a great deal more than just knowing something about Jesus. Paul had come to know Christ by trusting Him, by loving Him, and by being loved by Him. He had come to know Christ by obeying Him, by relying upon Him, and by serving Him. That is the “knowledge of Christ Jesus” that Paul was talking about. It reminds me of something Jeremiah wrote so many years earlier in Jeremiah 9:24, “But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the Lord which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth, for in these things I delight.” Nothing is of greater value.
That is why Paul gave up what he had so much confidence in before and counted it but rubbish. He went on in Philippians 3 and explained why: In verse 8, that he “might win Christ”; in verse 9, “that he might be found in Him”; in verse 10, that he might “know Him”; in verse 11, that he “might attain unto the resurrection of the dead”; and in verse 14, that he might have the “prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”
In closing, if everything of a worldly nature upon which we place so much im-portance was to be taken away, so what? If we lose our health, we still have Jesus. If we lose our ability to make a living, we still have Jesus. If we lose our material possessions, we still have Jesus. If we lose our jobs, we still have Jesus. If we have family problems, we still have Jesus. If we lose those close to us by death, we still have Jesus. There is nothing else like it.
