So in Philippians 2, 12-30, which we preached on last time, Paul shows us what the Christ hymn looks like when it is lived out in real people. So in chapter 2, verses 12-18, having just unfolded, if you recall, Christ's descent and exaltation, he says, Therefore work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. Not to suggest that we earn salvation, but to call us to live out with a reverent seriousness when God has already worked in us. And the comfort comes in verse 13, For it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. So our obedience is real and required, yet can only be done by God working in us, not in our own strength, right? So as our obedience is required, it is only by God.

So we are to shine as lights and not be grumbling and crooked. We're to hold fast to the word of life. So Paul can rejoice even in his own life is poured out like a drink offering. Then in chapter 2, verses 19-20, he gives basically the flesh and blood examples. If you recall, Timothy, who embodies the mindset, genuinely concerned for the Philippians welfare, serving Paul, Paul would consider him a son and he would be his father in the gospel. And then Epaphroditus is his brother, his fellow minister, his fellow worker, fellow soldier that he references, who nearly dies in service to Christ, risking his life to complete what the church could not do in person.

So together, these two examples show us what it means to work out God's work, which is should be humble and other focused, costly service that reflects the mind of Christ. So these guys were examples for us to live by. So now we step into Philippians 3, verses 1-11. So Paul is not suddenly moving on from what he has just said. He's putting his finger on the deepest rival to the Philippians way of life, and that's confidence in the flesh. So after calling us to rejoice in the Lord, he warns against any teaching that would quietly shift our trust from Christ's finished work to our own religious record, to our own backgrounds, to our own resume, or our own performance.

And to make the danger concrete, he lays out his own impressive spiritual background, his own spiritual resume, and then counts it all as a loss compared to the surpassing worth of knowing Christ. And at the heart of this passage that we're going to get into is a profoundly pastoral question. Will you rest your righteousness or try to build your own? Or in a righteousness that God freely gives in His Son? So Paul's testament is meant to shepherd us. He gladly lets go of every lesser identity and achievement so that he might gain Christ and be found in Him, and to keep pressing on to know Him in His suffering and in the power of His resurrection.

So the outline that I have before us tonight, verses 1-3 is rejoicing in Christ, not in the flesh. Verses 4-6, Paul's former confidence in the flesh. And then verses 7-11, Christ as true gain and righteousness. So before we walk verse by verse through this text, it would help us to see the movement of Paul's argument. So Philippians 1-11 unfolds in a deliberate progression. He begins with a command to rejoice in the Lord.

And then issues a sharp warning against false confidence. And then he supports that warning with basically an autobiographical proof of his own unmatched religious resume. Then comes what is called the great reversal. What was once gain is now loss. At the center stands the heart of the gospel. Righteousness from God through faith in Christ.

And then finally Paul expresses his ongoing aim is to know Christ in resurrection power and suffering conformity, pressing toward final resurrection. So the whole section moves from warning to truth. Testimony to theology to longing. So let's look at the first verse, three verses. We're to rejoice, rejoicing in Christ, not in the flesh. He says, finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord.

To write the same things to you is no trouble to me and is safe for you. Look out for the dogs, look out for the evildoers, look out for those who mutilate the flesh. For we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh. So verse one opens with yet another command. Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you is no trouble to me and is safe for you.

So Paul's call to rejoice in the Lord, and this is like a dominant theme throughout the whole letter, is not a new idea, but it's the next link in a chain of exhortations that began back in chapter one. So when Paul says finally, he isn't signaling that he's about to close this letter. The word carries more of the sense of so then, or as we go forward, he's not winding things down, he's pressing deeper. And what he presses first is this, rejoice in the Lord. See, that joy is not necessarily a sentimental add-on to the Christian life. It is the spiritual climate, per se, in which everything else grows.

A heart that is anchored in joy in Christ is a heart that can discern error without fear. And to stand guard without panic and to remain steady when false teaching is threatened. So joy in the Lord is the soil in which watchfulness and faithfulness can take root. So in other words, Paul is saying that in light of everything he has just urged them to do, it naturally flows that they are to rejoice in the Lord. The joy is not a shallow emotional add-on, but the proper atmosphere for obeying all prior commands of the letter. Those who take, basically those who take the exhortation of chapters one through two seriously and seek to live them out will find themselves like Paul, rejoicing in the Lord.

So Paul goes on to say, look out for the dogs. Look out for the evildoers. Look out for those who mutilate the flesh. See, that's strong language here, right? Paul has just told them to rejoice in the Lord and immediately he sounds an alarm. See, he wants this church, which he loves, to be on guard.

So who are these dogs? Who are these evildoers, these mutilators? He's warning them about the Judaizers, teachers who slipped into the church saying, in effect, Jesus is wonderful, but he is not enough. Their message was that the Gentile believers needed to take on key Jewish markers and keep the food laws, observe the ceremonies, and especially for the men to be circumcised if they really wanted to be long to the people of God. And it sounded religious and it sounded serious, but underneath it was deadly because it turned the gospel from Christ alone into Christ plus Christ plus law-keeping, adding on to what should not be necessary, or Christ plus religious performance. And by turning these proud religious men into dogs and mutilators of the flesh, Paul is exposing what their teaching really does.

It does not beautify grace, it tears it apart. So Paul in verse three answers that false message with a clear reminder of who the real people of God are. He says, for we are the circumcision who worship by the spirit of God and in glory in Christ and put no confidence in flesh. So in other words, the true circumcision is not a group necessarily with a certain mark on their bodies, but a people who trust and whose hearts have been changed by God. They're those who worship is stirred and sustained by the Holy Spirit, who boast in Christ alone and whose trust is not anything that they can do or perform for God. but in everything that God has done for them in Christ.

So this fits the whole story of Scripture. See, when God first gave circumcision to Abraham in Genesis 17, the physical sign was never meant to be the main thing. It pointed to something deeper. A heart set apart to God in faith. See, that's why Paul says, elsewhere, those of faith are the sons of Abraham. And if you are Christ's, then you're Abraham's offspring.

So being God's child has never ultimately depended on bloodline, received by so or religious zeal or the ability to keep rules and has always rested on God's promise received by faith. So when Paul says we are the circumcision, he reminds the Philippians that in Christ they are the true covenant community. They worship in spirit, boast in Christ, and refuse to rest their hope in anything in the flesh. So first, Paul says that the true circumcision is those who worship by the Spirit of God. That stands in complete contrast to trusting in outward rights or human effort. The people of God are no longer marked by a physical sign in the flesh, but by an inward work of the Holy Spirit.

These three descriptions in verse 3, worshiping by the Spirit, glorying in Christ, and refusing confidence in the flesh, function together as defining marks of the new covenant people. So it's replacing reliance on circumcision and law-keeping as badges of belonging. See, true worshipers know that anything pleasing they offer to God is energized by the Spirit's presence within them, not by their own religious grit. And worship by the Spirit of God is low on pride and high on dependence upon Him. And it breathes humble gratitude rather than self, like a self-congratulation. And this language here echoes the Old Testament promise of heart circumcision, where the Lord promised to do inwardly what the knife symbolized outwardly.

And the prophets anticipated a day when covenant membership would no longer rest on external marks, but on an inward renewal by the Spirit. And Paul is saying that that day has arrived in Christ. The true covenant community is defined not by ethnicity, but by union with the Messiah through faith. Second, Paul says the true glory of circumcision is in Christ. What do I mean by that? Our boast is not in what we have done for God, but in Christ and what Christ has done for us.

See, we exult in the Savior whose body was pierced and bruised so that we might be counted as God's own. The cross is not for us a bare or historical data point alongside other facts. It is a place where our hearts find joy, safety, and identity. To glory in Christ means we lean our whole weight on Him, His righteousness, His sufficiency, His finished work, not on ourselves. See, this is Christ-centered boasting directly counters the mindset Paul warns against in verse 2, which rests on religious conventions and performance. So third, Paul says the true circumcision puts no confidence in the flesh, and we do not treat our background, nor our morality, or our religious record as if they carried saving weight.

We are not adding a little of Jesus to mostly adequate self. We are confessing that Jesus is our only hope. He carries all the freight. We bring nothing that can earn God's favor, and Christ has done everything necessary to secure it. See, that is what it means in practice to glory in Christ Jesus and to abandon confidence in the flesh. So when Paul says that writing the same things is safe for them, he's letting the Philippians know something we often forget.

We never outgrow our need to hear the same gospel truths again and again. See, repetition is not a sign that something is shallow. It's one way of God's ways of keeping us safe. steady, and hearing it over and over that our joy is in the Lord, that our standing with God rests on Christ and not on us, that grace is free and full in Him, and that's our spiritual protection. It keeps our hearts from slowly drifting toward a Christ-plus mindset, a religious, pharisaical mindset, a we-do-anything-we-can-to-earn-God's-favor mindset. See Paul is like a careful shepherd walking the fence line, checking for weak spots and making sure the flock isn't exposed to danger, and he doesn't mind saying the same things because he knows their souls are safer when those truths are nailed down in deep.

There's no other gospel. There's no other gospel. And this cuts closer to home than we might think, right? Most of us are not tempted to add circumcision to the gospel, but confidence in the flesh takes many modern forms. It can sound like, I come from a Christian family, I know my Bible well, I serve a lot in church, I live a pretty clean life. None of these things are bad, but they become dangerous when they quietly become our hope.

We start to lean even just a little on who we are and what we've done instead of resting entirely on who Christ is and what He has done for us. See Philippians 3, 1-3 lovingly calls us away from that. See God's true people are those who depend on the Spirit, boast in Christ, and refuse to rest their confidence anywhere else. That's why Paul is about to lay out his own impressive religious resume in verses 4-6, and it's not to impress us, but it's to show us how completely he has let it go. If anyone could have trusted in the flesh, it was Paul. Yet he will say that compared to Christ, it belongs all the lost side of the ledger.

That's where he's about to take us next. So let's look at verses 4-6, Paul's former confidence in the flesh. Though I myself, verse 4, though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh, also if anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more. Circumcised on the eighth day of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews, as to law, a Pharisee, as to zeal, a persecutor of the church, as to righteousness under the law, blameless. So in verse 4, Paul turns and looks religious confidence square in the eye. Though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh, he's saying in effect, if anyone thinks they know what it means to rely on a spiritual pedigree or performance, I do.

See Paul is not speaking as someone who missed out on a Jewish privilege or stood on the margins of Israel's life. He stood at the very center of it. That is why he can add, if anyone else thinks he has a reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more. He wants the Philippians to be clear. See when he exposes the emptiness of trusting in the flesh, he does so as a man who has a religious resume surpassing that of any Judaizer troubling the church. Stephen Lawson notes that Paul is piling up his credentials, not to impress us, but to show that even the most flawless record is worthless as a basis for righteousness before God.

It all must be counted as a loss for the surpassing worth of knowing Christ. See Paul is making it clear, when it comes to confidence in the flesh, he outstrips his opponents on their own terms. His Jewish pedigree and performance stands far above the dogs who boast in their religious credentials. He isn't critiquing this mindset as an outsider, he is someone who has lived that life to the fullest and now knows from experience how empty it really is. And he reminds the Philippians that he wasn't merely circumcised, he was circumcised on the precise day the law prescribed, in Leviticus 12. He belongs to the tribe of Benjamin, the only one of Jacob's sons born in the promised land, and from the tribe that remained.

loyal to David when the northern kingdom broke away and later stood at the heart of the restored community after the exile. In terms of heritage, Paul stood in a line any Jew would have admired. Then he lists three personal distinctions to show why he could be called a Hebrew of Hebrews. As to the laws, he was a Pharisee, part of the strictest party, devoted to knowing, guarding and teaching the law. As to zeal, he had gone so far as to persecute the church, the followers of Jesus, and his former thinking, such a threat to the law that he tried to stamp them out. And as to the righteous, under the law, he could describe himself as blameless, not sinless before God, but meticulously observant as far as anyone could see.

And this was not a man of empty talk, but of rigorous, disciplined obedience. All of this, Paul, is Paul's way of saying, if anyone understands what it means to rest on religious privilege or performance, I do. I have worn that robe more completely than any of these teachers who are troubling you. He is not warning them away from confidence in the flesh as someone who had never had it, but as someone who had it more fully than they ever will, and who, in the light of Christ, has now written it all off as loss. And he's about to show us in verses 7-3 that Christ is the true gain in righteousness. So let's look at verse 7.

But whatever gain I had, I counted it as loss for the sake of Christ. Verse 8, indeed I count everything as loss because of the passing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For His sake 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 comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith, that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and may share His suffering, becoming like Him in His death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead. As at this point in this passage reaches its theological center, Philippians 3, 7-11 is not primary Paul's autobiography, it is soteriology. Paul's personal testimony serves to magnify a doctrinal truth. And what is that doctrinal truth?

Justification rests entirely on Christ's righteousness, received by faith apart from works of law. Everything else in the paragraph orbits that reality. In verse 7 Paul describes what happened to all that supposed righteousness the moment Christ took hold of him. But whatever gain I had I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Everything that once went in the so-called prophet's column of his spiritual lever now gets moved into loss. Being the Hebrew of the Hebrews suddenly didn't count for anything.

His zeal for the law, his fierce defense of traditions of his fathers, all of it, in light of the risen Jesus who stopped him on the Damascus road, proved to be worse than worthless. It was flesh, not spirit. It had brought him nearer to God, it hadn't brought him nearer to God, it had only deepened his guilt before God. Though he hadn't seen it that way until Christ opened his eyes by first taking his sight. So from that day forward Paul's assessment never changed. He can say indeed I count everything a loss because of this passing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.

And from his new vantage point all the self-righteousness, all the zeal that had impressed his family and his rabbis shrank to nothing. What he once called blameless, see he now recognizes as proud, blind confidence in himself. And it stripped that illusion by the realization that Jesus truly is Israel's Messiah. See, Paul finally sees now his former life for what it was. He sees Christ for who He is. In comparison with knowing Christ Jesus as Lord, everything else was a loss.

Everything else is nothing. And the word Paul uses for loss is strong language. It doesn't just mean something neutral or no longer useful. It speaks of a liability. Something damaging that must be forfeited. It's the same noun used in Acts 27 when the ship to Rome is being battered by a storm and the crew starts throwing cargo overboard by staying alive.

See, what had once been valuable merchandise, even vital food, suddenly becomes a threat to survival. And so it was hurled into the sea without regret. In the same way, when Paul realizes that all things he once counted as spiritual gain were actually standing between him and the life found only in Christ, he did not merely downgrade them to unimportant. He reclassified them as loss, positively harmful to his soul. If he clung on to them, he had gladly cast them overboard. So every pedigree, achievement, and religious credential went into the sea so that his whole confidence might rest in Christ alone.

See, all these things that once gave Paul an edge in the eyes of men, he now gladly lay aside in order to highlight the far greater privilege of knowing Christ. And in verse 5, he lists a background that was spiritually impressive by every human standard, a rich pedigree, the right family, the right tribe, the right training. But once Christ took hold of him, all those natural advantages were eclipsed. What had once seemed bright and impressive now looked small and shadowy in the light of something infinitely better. So why could he see his former gains this way? Because he had seen the glory of Christ.

The risen Lord met him, and in that moment, Paul became a different man, a man who loosened his grip on every earthly credential and reasoning for boasting. When we still draw our sense of worth mainly from earthly traits or our advantages or appearances or even our intelligence or status or relationships or money or success, etc., etc., it is often because we have not yet been captured by the beauty of Christ as Paul was. You see, just as the sun makes every other light look dim, so when the glory of Jesus really rises in our hearts, every form of human glory fades into the background. Look at verse 8. Paul says, for his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ. See this isn't just abstract language.

Following Jesus really did strip him of status, reputation, and comfort. Yet he looks back and calls those former advantages garbage. He's glad to be rid of it. And the problem isn't that those things were evil in themselves, but they became spiritually dead once he leaned on them as his righteousness. You see, Paul would rather watch every credential fall away than cling to anything that keeps him from resting in Christ alone. And that's the force of the verse, of verse 8.

Jesus is of such surpassing worth that every other treasure becomes expendable in comparison. That should grip you. And that in the same hard work the gospel does in us, whatever we, whatever you and I have been trusting, our background, or our morality, or ministry, or reputation, must be willingly laid down so that our confidence is found in Christ and in his righteousness alone. And Paul says in verse 9 that his great aim is to gain Christ and to be found in him. And that little phrase, in him, is the great fountain from which every other blessing of the Christian life flows. Everything else springs out of that reality.

See, at the heart of Christianity is not a set of experiences or a bundle of spiritual perks that make life a bit smoother. At the heart is a person. In the gospel, you are given Christ Himself. He joins you to Himself, unites you to His own life, and binds you to Him forever. And because you are in Him, every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places is now yours in Him. Union with Christ is not one blessing among many, it is the reality of which all blessings come.

See, beloved, being found in Him by faith is, for Paul, the greatest treasure that renders every other supposed gain empty. To be united to Christ means that His standing before God no longer rests on His own record at all, but on Christ's flawless obedience and sin-bearing death credited to Him. That righteousness is not something Paul contributed to or approved, it was given and received by faith alone. Once he saw that, all the things he once stacked up as spiritual advantages were exposed as spiritual liabilities if they kept him from relying wholly on Christ. And the only way to share in Jesus's righteousness is to stop trying to supply your own and entrust yourself entirely to the Savior, whose perfect record is accounted to yours. The passive expression, be found in Him, underscores that this righteousness is not achieved, but it is received.

It is forensic and relational at the same time. To be in Christ means that His record becomes ours, His obedience counts for ours, and our identity is relocated entirely to Him. This is the fountainhead of assurance. So in these three verses, nine through 11, Paul gathers up the whole sweep of salvation and presses it into the believer's life, and he touches on three great facets of redemption. Verse nine, justification, verse 10, sanctification, verse 11, glorification. So what is justification?

Justification is God's once-for-all verdict, where He declares a guilty sinner righteous in His sight because of Christ. The perfect righteousness of Jesus is credited to us. Our sins are fully forgiven, and we are received as acceptable for God, not because of anything in us, but entirely by His free grace. Sanctification is the ongoing work of the Holy Spirit by which God reshapes us into the new likeness of Christ. Little by little, He teaches us to put sin to death and to walk in new obedience. Unlike justification, this is not instantaneous, but lifelong.

It begins the moment we are justified and continues until the Lord calls us home. And lastly, glorification, what we all long for, is the final completion of God's saving work. Remember, God is the author and the perfecter of our faith. It's the final completion of God's saving work when He will renew us, body, soul, and flawless glory. On the last day when Christ returns, every trace of sin and of the curse will be removed, and we will dwell with Him forever in the place He has prepared. So in Philippians 3, verses 9 through 11, Paul is not merely listing doctrines.

He is confessing a Savior who has secured his past, is transforming his present, and will one day perfect his future. Paul gathers up the heartbeat of his life in verse 10 when he says that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and may share His sufferings, becoming like Him in His death. See, this is not the curiosity of a theologian basically collecting data. It is the longing of a disciple who wants deeper fellowship with his Lord. To know Christ here is personal and relational and experiential, a growing and living participation in who Jesus is and what He has done. And Paul wants to experience the power of Christ's resurrection, not only someday in a glorified body, but now as that resurrection power animates His obedience, it sustains His faith, and enables Him to put sin to death.

At the same time, He doesn't want resurrection without the cross. He speaks of sharing in His sufferings. Not because He has some type of a martyr complex, but because He... He knows that to walk closely with Jesus in a fallen world will inevitably mean opposition. It will evidently mean loss. It will be costly.

It will be a costly love. Commentator J.C. Meyer points out that this fellowship of his suffering is how the believer is gradually conformed to Christ. See our lives are reshaped along the pattern of his. As the spirit uses trials and hardships to carve the likeness of Jesus into us. See Paul's aim is not comfort but Christlikeness.

Not an easy path but a deeper communion with the crucified Lord. That's why in verse 11 follows so naturally when he says that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection of the Lord from the dead. See Paul is not expressing doubt about whether he will be raised. He has already anchored his confidence in Christ's righteousness. Not in his own. So instead he's acknowledging the seriousness of the path that leads there.

He does not presume upon grace. He presses on in grace. His language carries the sense of whatever the road the Lord chooses, whether marked by joy or by suffering, by a long life or by a short life, I want to walk it faithfully because the end of that road is to be with Christ in resurrection glory. For the believer this is both sobering and deeply comforting. Because it reminds us that the Christian life is a call to daily dying. To self.

To pride. To idols. To sin. To comfort. Because every step of that dying is moving us toward a certain radiant future. Raised with Christ.

Perfected in holiness. And finally seeing the one who we've longed to see and to know. And these verses invite us to evaluate our own desires. Do I want to know, do I want Christ himself enough to embrace both his resurrection power and the fellowship of his sufferings, trusting that the path of costly obedience is the road that leads to resurrection joy? Do I want that? Do I really want that?

See Paul's great ambition was simple and all-consuming. He wanted to know Christ above everything else. Not just know about him, it wasn't superficial. But to know him in the fullness of who he is. See he longed to experience the power of his resurrection at work in his own life and in the church. God's power bringing about real transformation and advancing his kingdom.

But Paul also wanted to know Christ in his suffering. He didn't run away from hardship or resent it. He saw suffering for Christ as a way to share in his Savior's path and he welcomed it when it meant Christ would be honored. Can any of us say that? Can we truly say that we want to suffer for the sake of Christ to be honored? See and he wanted to be conformed to Christ in his death.

To live a life of daily dying to self and taking up his cross and following Jesus wherever he led. And his eyes were fixed on the end. To be united with Christ in his resurrection, sharing finally and fully in the life to come. And that raises some searching questions for us, right? What do we want most? What are you and I really praying for?

If we truly know Christ, are we content to treat that as a finished box to check off? While we coast on spiritually? Are we just barnacles on a ship? Or are we pressing on to know him more, to go deeper into his word, his ways, his suffering and his power until knowing Christ more and more becomes the great pursuit of our lives? That should be the great pursuit of our lives. Not fame, not status, not money, not the good American dream.

It should be the pursuit of Christ. And yet though Paul possesses Christ's righteousness fully, he has not yet... attained resurrection perfection. See justification is complete, glorification is not. The tension, already righteous, not yet perfected, explain why Paul will say in verse 12, not that I have already obtained this. Grace does not produce complacency, it fuels pursuit.

Because he is secure in Christ, because he's secure in Christ, he presses on towards Christ. So let's look at some application. Beloved, this passage isn't Paul scolding you, it's Paul coming close like a wise pastor who knows how easily our hearts drift. Imagine Adam talking to you as your pastor, lovingly. He's not scolding you here, he's saying, let's be honest about where you run when you're retired, when you have failed. When you're anxious, when your prayers feel dry.

When the text gently presses, what do you lean on then? And most of us will never be tempted to trust in circumcision or a pharisaical rule keeping. But confidence in the flesh still finds, right, a thousand more disguises. It can be our faithfulness at church, our theological knowledge, our moral record, our ministry involvement, our past experiences, our family heritage, or even our reputation as a serious Christian. None of these are bad gifts, but they become heavy burdens the moment we start using them as a kind of righteousness. And Paul, in love, won't let you build your peace on something you can't hold your weight.

When life shakes you, beloved, you need more than I'm doing good. You need a Savior who doesn't change. If it can't save you, it cannot sustain you. Christ alone sustains you. And here's the sweetest part. Paul is not asking you to let go of everything only to be left with nothing.

He's calling you to gain Christ, not merely to believe in facts about Him, but to have Him as your treasure. See, this isn't cold doctrine. It's the deep assurance to be found in Him, wrapped in a righteousness that is not your own, so that when you are partially aware of your sin, you're even more aware of His sufficiency. And then from that secure place, the passage invites you into a deeper and warmer Christian life. To know Him, to experience the resurrection power, is wonderful. To learn fellowship with Him, and even in suffering, to walk with Him in the path is costly, and to find that Christ is not only enough to forgive you, but enough to satisfy you.

So ask yourself gently, not harshly, what do I treat as my gain? What do I fear losing most? Why do I secretly hope will make God pleased with me? And hear the good news. Underneath the call, you don't have to perform your way into God's favor. Beloved, in Christ you already have it.

You already have it. When He becomes, when Christ becomes your surpassing worth, you can loosen your grip on lesser things. Not because life gets easier, but because you're already held by something better. Christ is better. Christ is most glorious. Compared to anything that we put in front of Him is nothing.

May we cast off all things that we hold so dearly compared to Christ. Would you pray with me?