When the Kjeldgaards, and Judy and I went down to the Bible conference in Granite Bay, California, last fall, we drove through the middle of Oregon. Passing by the city of Bend, off to the west, we could see some of the peaks of the southern Cascades. Consulting my trusty map, I saw that the area was called: “Three Sisters Wilderness.” And sure enough, we could see three impressive mountains. It may or may not be official, but their nicknames are “Faith,” “Hope” and “Charity.” It didn’t occur to me at the time, but if I had mentioned it, the Kjeldgaards may have remembered another “Three Sisters.” Just outside of Canmore, Alberta, there are three well-known peaks, which I’ve seen so often I’d recognize them instantly. With those two “Three Sisters” in mind, I searched Google and was given one more set of sisters – in the St. Joe region of Idaho. The three most famous “Three Sisters” in the United States are all here in the Northwest.
Like most well-known mountains, or sets of mountains, they beckon for adventurous people to climb them. Some of you will agree that there is nothing quite like standing at the top of a really high mountain. When Judy and I were teenagers, we hiked to the top of a 14,000 foot peak, and gloried in the view at the very edge of the Colorado plains. We could look east over the tops of the foothills and almost into Kansas. And the truth is I enjoy telling you from time to time that I’ve been to the top of Long’s Peak. There’s just a bit of pride in being able to say, I climbed 5,000 or 6,000 feet up to a really high summit. But there wouldn’t be the same kind of pride, if we had flown a helicopter up to near the top and then walked the last hundred feet.
As I was staring at our text, thinking about what I might say tonight, for quite a while I was getting nowhere. But then all of a sudden the clouds parted, and I could clearly see the peaks of three sisters. I’m hoping this evening you can see them as well. I’m looking at the knowledge of Christ, the righteousness of Christ and the resurrection of Christ. The knowledge of Christ is the highest of the three, but they are all absolutely breath-taking. We may come back to study them in depth later, but tonight I just want to point them out to you.
These “Three Sisters” are wonderful to see from ten miles away and perhaps even more at fifty miles. They may be particularly beautiful as the sun rises behind you, blazing across at their white peaks. And when you get up closer – to where you can see their rocky ruggedness, they may really be impressive. But in the case of these three sisters, the best of all possible views is from immediately below them. Standing there with your head tilted back, looking up, may be the most blessed way of seeing them.
Paul begins his hike up these peaks standing at their feet – at the basest of all base camps.
Verse 7 – “But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ.” He has just described his cultural and religious background, which other Jews considered very impressive. To Israel’s Sanhedrin, and to his trainer/mentor Gamaliel, Paul was a rising star. He was the college Heisman winner and was becoming an elite professional. He might have accomplished great things in their religious circles. But in those things there was no way he would attain the knowledge, righteousness and resurrection of Christ.
In order to climb to these heights, he had to begin at the foot of the mountain – completely empty and destitute. All his accolades, all his trophies, and past victories had to be cast aside. In verse 7, he admits that his “righteousnesses were all as filthy rags” – they were as filthy dung. For Christ’s sake and for Christ’s salvation, Paul counts all his past glory as loss. And then in verse 8, he adds that he CONTINUED to count them as loss. They weren’t temporarily lost to be regained later. He was constantly telling himself how stinking and offensive they were. “Yea doubtless – more over – verily, verily – I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord.” Then in verse 9 he adds that he no longer acknowledges any of the righteousness which he had earlier claimed through his obedience to the law. He has completely given up any previous confidence he had in his religious works. The Old Testament law – God’s righteous law – could do nothing for him, because it was weak through his flesh – Romans 8:3.
From this position of humility, on his knees before three towering monoliths, he got up and began to climb.
First, there was the excellency of the KNOWLEDGE of Christ Jesus the Lord.
I will probably come back and expand on this later, but here is the gist of Paul’s thought – There is no knowledge like the exquisite knowledge we might have of Christ Jesus. What Paul learned of the Lord within the first few moments of meeting him outside of Damascus, caused him to willingly forsake everything else he had ever known. What he knew of his father, mother and siblings was nothing to what he began to learn of the Heavenly Father through his divine elder Brother. All the theology he had learned from Gamaliel and John Gill he instantly relegated to his mental basement.
Paul had been taught a great deal about the coming Jewish “Messiah” – the “Christ” in Greek. But something he quickly learned was that JESUS of Nazareth is the Christ, the Son of God. The Messiah wasn’t someone to wait for; He had come; Jesus was God incarnate. Furthermore, Paul learned that what he thought Christ would DO had been wrong. Yes, He will soon reign as King of kings and Lord of lords, but first He must be the Lamb of God.
“Yea, doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord.” Paul was as monotheistic as any orthodox Jew in his day; he would never bow his knee to any god or idol. But when He met Jesus, he instantly fell on his face, crying out “My LORD, and My GOD.” No one can put Christ Jesus on too high a pedestal; He cannot be elevated too high in our minds or hearts. Some poet has said, “To know Him is to love Him.” While that is true, perhaps more importantly, “To know Him is to WORSHIP Him.” “To know Him is to OBEY Him as God and our Sovereign King.” Here Paul speaks of “Christ Jesus my LORD.”
Briefly consider the context: In verse 10, Paul says, “that I may KNOW him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead. 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.” To know Christ is only the BEGINNING of knowing Christ. It is not intellectual or mental; it is not a knowledge confined to the head. It is not only practical, but it is spiritual. It is not only intellectual, it is experiential. This knowledge is not confined to a bunch of mental electrical impulses. It is not the proper arrangement of Xs and Os, dots and dashes or whatever computers use. It is a spiritual knowledge that infiltrates every aspect of our beings. “Yea, doubtless, and I count all things but loss for this excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord.” To reiterate: Paul was willing to sacrifice absolutely everything to know his Saviour.
The second peak in this magnificent trio is the RIGHTEOUSNESS of Christ.
“But what things had been gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ… and do count them but dung, that I may win, or gain, Christ, and be found in Him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is God by faith.”
Don’t be confused by the common use of the word “win” – that “I may WIN Christ.” Throughout its pages, the New Testament tells us that Christ and salvation are not earned or won. In fact, that is precisely what Paul is telling us throughout this chapter. None of his past achievements had won him anything in Christ. The word “win” is the same Greek word as “gain” in verse 7, where Paul said that he had been using his fleshly accomplishments to impress God. Now, his only claim before God was Christ; he held up the Lord and Saviour as his only argument.
In the eyes of his neighbors, teachers and religious bosses, Paul was a righteous man, full of righteous works and religious accomplishments. But now that he had met the Saviour, he could see that his own righteous was nothing and Christ’s was everything. He was on his face at the foot of this second peak – “Righteousness,” and the Divine Owner of that mountain was giving him the title. And he, as unworthy as he was at the time, reached out by faith to receive it. “All my own righteousness I count as dung. But the righteousness which is of God in Christ, I have accepted by simple faith.”
He says in verse 11, the ultimate effect of knowledge and faith in Christ, plus the application of the Saviour’s righteousness provides the means of “attaining unto the resurrection of the dead.” I’ll come back to that resurrection in a moment. But in climbing to the pinnacle of this second peak, notice the importance of righteousness. He says, with the righteousness which is of God by faith, and my growing knowledge of Him, I may attain unto the resurrection of God’s people. But should we expect to be blessed in the first resurrection if we don’t put righteousness first? Doesn’t Paul elsewhere say “follow peace with all men and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord”?
There are too many professing Christians – and I include myself in this list – There are too many Christians who try to push back the boundaries of God’s standard of righteousness. “Yea, hath God said we should follow peace with all men? Has the Lord said we should think no evil?” We should be content with such things as we have. How deep can our efforts at deception be before we become liars? When does our covetousness become theft in the sight of God, or our hatred become murder? Does it take six lustful thoughts before we have committed adultery in God’s sight? We cannot be learning of Christ, without at the same time be learning about sin, righteous and judgment.
Obviously, climbing the slopes of this mountain can be really dangerous.
The third of the Three Sisters is RESURRECTION.
Paul says, “I have cast aside all my accomplishments, accolades and self-righteousness… “ “That I may KNOW him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; If by any means I might attain unto the RESURRECTION of the dead.” Again, to be a part of Christ’s first resurrection is not something to be earned through obedience or service. It is a part of the gift of God which we call “salvation,” and salvation is entirely by grace. But there is a sense in which participating in the resurrection of the dead does come by “knowing Christ.” If you don’t know Christ, you will be among those of Revelation 20 of whom it is written – “the sea give up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them; and they were judged every man according to their works. And death an hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.” The participants of the first resurrection are those whose names have been written the Lamb’s Book of life which was written from before the foundation of the world.
But hypothetically speaking, what if resurrection and translation were things to be earned? If that were true shouldn’t we totally committed to earning them? I think that is what Paul is saying about himself and laying out before us. A greater and growing knowledge of the Saviour is the key to both righteousness and to have a part of the first resurrection. “That I may KNOW him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; If by any means I might attain unto the RESURRECTION of the dead.”
A growing knowledge of Christ, understanding and obtaining the righteousness of Christ and the eventual participation in the resurrection of Christ, are things Paul prayed that his Philippians friends might possess. And these are still important – essential – today. This mountain range isn’t going away. The Lord has made them permanent. If you haven’t started climbing them as yet, right now is the time.