As we read this chapter, do we ever consider the emotion which must have originally lay behind it? I confess to reading these words academically – prosaically – without emotion or genuine concern. Paul says, “I was raised as a Hebrew of the Hebrews, a Benjamite of the Benjamites.” “I was the best of the religious best. As touching the law a Pharisee of the Pharisees.” This is not an exaggeration or hyperbole; this was the opinion of people who knew him. And during his pre-salvation days, Saul was extremely proud of who he was and what he was doing. “I was – in my early life – a hater of Jesus and instrumental in the persecution of His church.” “BUT – what things HAD BEEN the pride of my life, I came to count as dung for Christ Jesus my Lord.” Everything which Saul once held as valuable, he had given up as worse than useless. It had all become disgusting to him – filthy.
But for what had he given those things up? That is what I’d like you to briefly consider this evening. Paul gave up everything of value, even life itself, for the knowledge of Christ Jesus, his Lord and Saviour. Did he sacrifice his position in society in order to be saved by the grace of God? Yes, in a certain sense. Did he sacrifice a future of wealth and religious power to become a disciple of Jesus Christ? Yes, he did. Did he give up earthly fame in order to dwell in heaven with Christ Jesus for eternity? Yes. But this is not what he mentions here. Heaven, salvation, and forgiveness of sin may be things we consider to be the results of salvation or as the purpose of salvation, and they may be human reasons for repentance and faith.
But this is not what Paul speaks of in this chapter. He says, “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… And be found in him… That I may KNOW HIM, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death…” Paul sacrificed everything he had in order to possess a knowledge of Christ.
There are all kinds of knowledge available to us today, but much of it is not really important. And in some cases the cost of that knowledge is almost unimaginable. Has Elon Musk told us what it costs the American tax payer to fly a single trip to Mars to run a few tests? The cost of the “MSR” – Mars Sample Run – is somewhere between 8 and 11 billion dollars. The 2024 budget of NASA was 24.875 billion dollars. Consider the fact that the average household income in the United States is just under $40,000 per year. One year’s NASA budget gobbles up the total income of over 63,000 American families. And one trip to Mars eats up the combined yearly income of over a quarter million households. My question is: do we really need to know what makes up the soil of the planet Mars? Is this information really worth that kind of sacrifice? And in the light of eternity, who cares about this kind knowledge?
Paul didn’t need or want that information. He didn’t need to know the population of Israel or Rome, to know how important his ministry was. He didn’t ever illustrate his sermons with the budget of NASA or any other government agency. The only knowledge he really craved was that of Christ Jesus, and it was not to enhance his preaching. And it wasn’t knowledge about Christ. He yearned to know Christ Himself more and more and more. “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 KNOW HIM, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings…”
The knowledge of Christ is the AIM of the truly SPIRITUAL LIFE.
I didn’t say that “it SHOULD BE the aim of the Christian.” The knowledge of Christ IS the aim of the spiritual life. If the knowledge of Christ isn’t one of the objectives of the Christian, then he isn’t very spiritual. A Christian’s spirituality is not to be measured the number of souls he brings to Christ, as important as that kind of ministry might be. It is not in the preacher’s ability to present a good gospel message or to comfort to a grieving saint that tells the world he is close to Christ. Spirituality is not all about a prayerful life, or constant thoughts on eschatology or heaven. True spirituality lays underneath these things and upholds these things. The Holy Spirit magnifies the Lord Jesus, and someone who knows Christ well is a spiritual person. It is because someone knows Christ that he wants to be used to bring others to Christ. It is because the preacher knows and sees the Son of God that he becomes a good mouthpiece for the Lord. Why does that lady spend so much time in prayer? Because she knows and loves the Lord to whom she prays. The better we know the Lord, the better Christians and servants we will become.
Paul didn’t say that he was looking forward to becoming one of Christ’s martyrs. But he did say he was yearning to better know the One who gave His life for him. He wasn’t studying the psyche of the Roman heart in order to become a more efficient evangelist. The aim of his life… the purpose of all his sacrifice… the reason he was willing to suffer… was in order that he might know the Saviour. To have any other goal in life is to aim too low.
“What things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ.” The Greek word “counted” is translated “counted,” “think” and “esteem.” Paul used that word to describe the Lord Jesus in Philippians 2 – “Who being in the form of God, THOUGHT it not robbery to be equal with God.” Paul said, “What I used to THINK was important – I now consider utter loss.” And the word “loss” is a quarter of the time rendered “damage.” “What I used to consider as important, I now realize is hurtful and damaging to me.”
“I count it all loss compared to the excellency of the knowledge of Christ.” This knowledge of Christ isn’t speaking of what Christ knows of me, but what I know of Christ. And what I know of Christ is “excellent” – which elsewhere speaks of “supreme” and “passing all understanding.” As an illustration, when the Bible speaks of the value of a soul’s salvation it says it is beyond the wealth of the world. “What shall a man give in exchange of his soul?” The richest man in the world doesn’t possess more than the value of salvation. And what exactly is salvation? There is no better way to put it than that salvation is Christ, the Saviour. There is no knowledge more “excellent” than to know Christ Jesus.
And what is it to “know” Christ? What is this knowledge to which Paul refers? It is not an accumulation of information that we might gather out of some book or series of sermons. It is not even what we might glean from a thorough study of the Bible. This “knowledge of Christ,” for which Paul will give up everything, is experiential rather than intellectual. Paul adds, “That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death.”
With this I come to my second point: The knowledge of Christ is the END of a spiritual life.
For example, no one should be satisfied with a mere understanding of Christ’s resurrection. There are the details, most of which any unsaved Mary-worshipper knows. Jesus died on the cross through exposure, loss of blood, fatigue, and the rejection of God the Father. He was buried in Joseph’s tomb. Every Catholic knows Jesus’ body was in that tomb for three days, even if he does mess up the math. Then Christ came out of that tomb, and there were the angels, the lying of the guards, etc., etc. Paul wasn’t satisfied with these facts. He wouldn’t be satisfied until he experienced Jesus resurrection himself – until he “knew” the resurrection. That was the kind of knowledge which prompted him to give up everything.
And he didn’t learn about his Saviour’s sufferings from Peter and the other apostles, or from studying the histories and the court records. Paul knew the fellowship of Jesus’s sufferings by suffering them himself. He knew them by experience. This is the kind of on-going knowledge Paul yearned to have of Christ – intimate union with these things. He wanted a knowledge of his Saviour which paralleled the knowledge that God had of Paul. He was willing to give up everything he possessed to experience the love and fellowship his Saviour. That was the knowledge he yearned to have. The knowledge to which he referred involved love and trust – it involved his heart as well as his head.
Paul wanted, during the few years when he was on the earth – those days when he could serve the Lord… He wanted to have a knowledge of Christ Jesus, that he would continue to enjoy when this life was ended. One of these days the dead in Christ shall be resurrected, and those Christians who are at that time still living, will be caught up to be with the Saviour… and so shall they ever be with the Lord. We might summarize heaven as “enjoying the knowledge of our Saviour for all eternity.” “Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is” – I John 3:2.
The general RULE of the spiritual life is the knowledge of Christ.
If we took time to read through all of this chapter, I think we’d come away seeing that a knowledge of Christ was not just Paul’s goal and motivation, it was the manner of his life. “Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” “Knowing Christ and why He apprehended me, I strive to apprehend more of Him – to know and love Him more. Knowing Christ and the high calling of God in my Saviour, I press toward the mark of that incredible prize.”
“Our conversation – our way of life – is (heavenly); from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ.” Paul, knowing what he knew about Christ… Knowing that the Lord Jesus is not through with the world or with His people who are still here… Knowing that the Lord is returning for us, he wanted his life to be governed by that knowledge – our knowledge of Him. And that made him long for more – “that I might know him more fully.” Soon Christ “shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body…” Shouldn’t we want to know more about the glorious body of the Lord since shall have bodies like His? And shouldn’t what we do know of the Lord, encourage us to live like children of God and strive to know the Lord better than we do?
Conclusion:
Do I know the Lord? What do I know of the Lord Jesus? And how do I know Him? Do I know that He is the Saviour of sinners, or do I know that He is MY Saviour? Do I know what it cost Christ Jesus to save me? If I do know that, then shouldn’t I be willing to count my life as nothing, to call myself one of His own?
Am I learning more of Christ Jesus, my Lord as I walk through this earthly life? What would I give to know Him better? Paul tells us that he was not only willing to sacrifice everything for a better knowledge of Christ… He had in fact already sacrificed everything, and he was in the habit of sacrificing everything daily – “that I may know him, and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings.”