PENTECOST 18 – October 4, 2020 – Phil. 3:4-14
“THE RELATIVE VALUE OF FAITH AND LOVE”
Introduction: Grace be to you and peace, from God our Father, and from our Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ. Our text is the Epistle Lesson just read, from Philippians 3. We begin with prayer.
Dear fellow disciples of our Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ:
- I have never attended one, but I understand that many people really enjoy going to “swap meets.” Since most are held at “Flea Markets,” I assume that people bring things that they don’t want, and are willing either to sell these things or to trade their thing to someone who has something that they want.
- This is a very direct example of comparing the “relative value” of one thing against another. We also do this – at least if we are careful with our spending – every time we make a purchase. We can’t buy everything, so if we buy one thing we are in fact valuing it more highly than other things we might want.
- In our text, the Apostle Paul weighs the relative value of two different sets of beliefs, values, and approaches to life in relation to God. The first is that of a “behavior” based understanding of our relationship with God and with other people. Of course, this also involves our inner being – how we feel about ourselves and why.
- The second is a relationship with God based not in our behavior but rather in God’s behavior, His grace, mercy, forgiveness. This includes most importantly the matter of our justification, our being declared “righteous,” having the very righteousness of God accounted to us by God, which comes to us simply “through faith in Christ.” That is, in knowing that He is the Lamb of God, the Savior of the world, the One Who has taken away our sin and guilt and given us eternal life.
- Paul acknowledges that there is a certain “gain” in the first way, that based on our good behavior. There is prestige. There is pride. There is privilege and prerogative. Our neighbors also gain from our “good behavior.” Society is benefited by such “good” behaving citizens. So, there is some gain. But what is the relative value of such gain, especially in comparison to what is given to us through faith in Christ?
- We must note that these two “things,” these two ways of thinking, believing, and living are incompatible with each other. There is no way to “meld” them together. We are either judged, valued, and our destiny determined by our behavior OR by what God has done for us. There is no “in between,” some of this and some of that! It is as the Apostle Paul explained: “But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace.” [Rom. 11:6]
- So this truly is a matter of either/or, and a matter of “THE RELATIVE VALUE OF FAITH AND LOVE.” In Paul’s estimation:
I. In Comparison To Knowing Christ Everything Else Is Rubbish
Text: “But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For His sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish.”
A. This Includes Our Birth Heritage
Text: “I was circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin.”
B. This Includes Our Education And Occupation
Text: “I was a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee.”
C. This Includes Our Personal Righteousness
Text: “As to zeal, I was a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law I was blameless.”
D. This Includes Our Wealth And Possessions
Text: “For His sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish.”
Statement: Note that it is not a matter that these other things are without worth or gain. It is rather a matter of comparison of these things with “the surpassing worth of knowing Christ.” But of course, because these two ways of being are incompatible, the way of a “behavior” based relationship with God, one based on conformity of behavior to the law, would necessarily include persecuting the church – which teaches that this way is futile, and that only the grace and mercy of God can save us and help us.
Application: So there is also a cost to the first way of being, and this cost would also completely eliminate any “gain.” One becomes “ethnocentric,” proud of one’s birth. One becomes arrogant because of one’s education and position in life, one’s status and prestige. One becomes insufferably deluded by self-righteousness – claiming to be “blameless.” One’s moral compass becomes flawed, so that even persecuting Christians becomes a virtue! And one becomes enamored by and worshipful of his possessions, viewing these things as sure and certain proof that he has pleased God. So, this way of life moves people to idolatry of money and possessions, and self-idolatry. Wouldn’t you agree that these costs far outweigh any gain or benefit? And so Paul asserts that:
II. Knowing Christ Is Of Surpassing Worth
Text: “I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.”
A. Knowing Christ Means His Righteousness Has Been Accounted To Us By Faith – Rendering Absurd Any Desire To Put Forth Our Own Behaving, Our Own Righteousness. Surely We Do Not Assert That Our Righteousness Could Be Better Than God’s Righteousness!
Text: “I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own that come from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith.”
B. Being In This Faith Relationship With God Enables Us To Know [Experience] The Power Of Christ’s Resurrection
Text: “That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection.”
Rom. 6:4 “We were buried therefore with Him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.”
Note: “Just as Christ was raised . . . by the glory of the Father [by this same means] we too might walk in newness of life.”
This is “knowing Him and the power of His resurrection,” our spiritual renewal in “newness of life.”
Statement: If I were the granter of such wondrous and powerful blessings – granting the ability to others to “walk in newness of life,” what might I be able to charge for such services? What is the worth and value of this wondrous blessing provided to us by the grace of God – simply through faith in Christ, the knowledge of God as He truly is? Our sins are forgiven – what would the cost of this be? We are accounted righteous in God’s sight, accounted as having the very righteousness of God – which is complete and perfect. What would the cost be for this?
Application: So you see the logic – and it really is a no-brainer. By comparison, the knowledge of Christ, by faith in Christ, is of surpassing worth! And as a result of knowing these things, it is also the logical consequence that we devote ourselves to God. As Paul encourages:
III. Knowing Christ Compels Us To Press On Toward Our Goal – The Upward Call of God In Christ Jesus
Text: “Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me His own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”
Statement: This too is of “surpassing worth,” that one is encouraged, enabled, and empowered to “forget” the temptations, distortion, and selfishness of our sinful nature and to have a noble and beautiful goal – “the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”
Application: So the comparison provided by Paul in our text makes clear to us that our faith should be in Christ, and that our striving to live in love, kindness, and decency, should never be a matter of trying to establish our own righteousness, but is always a matter of thankfulness to God and the new life of faith – which blesses us with knowing the power of Christ’s resurrection.
Conclusion: So, I don’t know how to help you with the relative value of your old college days “Arthur Ashe” autographed tennis racket as opposed to Aunt Sophie’s green flower vase.
But it clear that our text helps us with “THE RELATIVE VALUE OF FAITH AND LOVE.” No matter the “gain” that our sinful nature finds in self-righteousness and self-justification. It is all rubbish, ultimately – it cannot provide us with what is needed for salvation, for acceptance in the sight of God, or for a renewed life of love in the power of Christ’s resurrection! So let us, with Paul, hold to Christ by faith, and rejoice in His gracious blessings and gifts. Amen.
Votum: And the peace of God, which surpasses all human understanding, keep your hearts and minds in the true faith, which is in Christ Jesus, even unto life everlasting, Amen.