Whatever It Takes

Philippians 3 -- THE SPIRITUAL MIND  or  THINGS ROB YOUR JOY

Philippians 3:8-11   "Yea doubtless, 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, And be found in Him, not having mine own righteousness, which is through the faith of Christ the righteousness which is of God by faith:  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."

Sometimes it is hard to relate to the people of the Bible because we don't know much about their day to day lives.  We spent some time in the last lesson pondering some of the things that Paul may have lost for the sake of Christ.  We don't know what kind of house or bank account he had . . . but it is safe to presume he lost whatever he had.  We don't know many details about his parents or if he had a wife . . . but we talked about some relationships he might have lost.  We can relate to these issues in our lives.  The bottom line is that Paul really did lose everything.  But . . . Christ did not leave him empty!

In verse 8 Paul says "Yea doubtless" which could be restated in our language as "Yes, but don't get the wrong idea!"  He did not pine for those things he had lost.  He had given them up willingly.  He knew there was something far more precious to be won.

John 17:3 "And this is life eternal, that they  might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou has sent."  As Christ was facing the cross He talked with His Father and acknowledged that the cross was necessary for us to know the only true God.  And He was willing to submit to that horrible death because He knew the real purpose of it was to show the world the only true God.  Paul did not value the things he had lost when he compared them to the "excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus (his) Lord."  As worthless as he knew his possessions and relationships were (and remember he called them dung), he valued the knowledge of Christ as excellent.  We have all had losses or trials in our lives that seemed meaningless.  But we have also had losses and trials that had some sort of outcome that we felt made the situation "worth it."

Paul describes the lifestyle he had led before as the righteousness which is of the law and called it "his."  It was dependent on what he did or did not do.  He determined how righteous his life was.  Now he wanted the righteousness that came from faith in Christ.  No more religion but the ultimate relationship.

"That I may know Him and the POWER of His resurrection . . ."  Jesus Christ is part of the Trinity.  He did not have to rely on God the Father to raise Him from the dead.  He actually had that power within Himself.  His God-ness had unlimited power when His man-ness was dead.  Talk about some super power!

And Paul wanted to know the "fellowship" of His sufferings.  Fellowship is having things in common.  What Christ suffered physically is beyond our comprehension.  The movie "The Passion" was one man's attempt to portray some of what that crucifixion was like.  While I know that Hollywood could never capture the full scope of Christ's physical suffering, that movie gave me a mental picture that was much clearer than my imagination would allow me to create on my own.  I've heard pastors and evangelists try to describe the sheer agony of that day.  I have a very vivid imagination.  But I had nothing in my life to compare it to, so my mental picture was always very bland.  Paul knew what crucifixion was.  He had undoubtedly witnessed a few of them.  And he wanted to have the relationship with Christ that comes from having that suffering in common.  He wanted to be "conformable unto His death."  Whether Paul was saying he was willing to suffer everything that Christ did or if he was saying he wanted to have a heart that was willing to love and care for sinners enough to die for them, he wanted to be conformed to Christ's death.  Conformed has the idea of changing something from what it is into a copy of something else.

"If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead."  Whatever it takes.  Whatever it takes to be able to pass through death into new life.  Whatever it takes.

The challenge from these verses can be found in the song "Whatever It Takes" by Lanny Wolfe. 

Whatever It Takes 

There's a voice calling me, from an old rugged tree 
And He whispers draw closer to me 
Leave this world far behind, 
There are new heights to climb 
And a new place in Me you will find 

And whatever it takes, to draw closer to You Lord 
That's what I'd be wiling to do 
And whatever it takes, to be more like you 
That's what I'd be willing to do 

Take my houses and lands, 
Take my dreams and my plans. 
I place my who life in Your hands. 
And if you call me someday, 
To a land far away, 
Lord, I'll go and Your will obey. 

And whatever it takes to draw closer to You, Lord, 
That's what I'll be willing to do. 
And whatever it takes for my will to break, 
That's what I'll be willing to do.

Take the dearest things to me, if that's how it must be 
To draw closer to Thee 
Let the disappointments come, lonely days without the sun 
If through sorrow more like You I'll become.

I'll trade sunshine for rain, comfort for pain,
That's what I'd be willing to do. 
For whatever it takes to be more like you,
That's what I'd be willing to do.

 Is there ANYTHING that you will not give up to be more like Christ?