Philippians 3:4b-14 (NIV)

If anyone else thinks he has reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: 5circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; 6as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for legalistic righteousness, faultless.
7But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ 9and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. 10I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.
12Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

It’s been quite a while but I remember my High School career as being mediocre at best. I think I probably averaged around 68% overall throughout my five years at Westmount High in Hamilton. I don’t remember being particularly interested in very many courses and some left me totally bewildered.
I heard a particular phrase many times: “You could do much better if you only put more effort into things.” In fact, I probably could have done better, except in Math, where I remain totally bewildered all these years later.
But then, when I went to college to take Social Work, everything changed. There was no Math for one thing! Instead, I was taking courses that I found interesting. They were relevant to what I wanted to learn and do.
And so, I did very well in college. I worked hard because I enjoyed it and I could see the purpose behind it. When I got to Seminary it was the same thing. I did well because I worked hard and I worked hard because I could see the significance of the goals that stretched out ahead of me—beckoning me on.

In some ways I can’t relate at all to the Apostle Paul in our Scripture lesson, but in other ways, I understand completely where he was coming from.

Before becoming a Christian, Paul, whose Hebrew name was Saul, was a good Jew. In fact he was better than good. He was obsessively-compulsively perfect. That’s where I can’t relate!

In Paul’s day Judaism had developed into a religion that emphasized keeping the Law of Moses—the Ten Commandments and all the hundreds and hundreds of interpreted offshoots that came from them. Paul was a master at doing this. His pedigree, as a good Jew, was beyond reproach.

Listen to how he described himself in our lesson:

Vs. 4b-6 “If anyone else thinks he has reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: 5circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; 6as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for legalistic righteousness, faultless.

As a Jew one didn’t get any better than Paul.

But then Christ came into his life and everything—absolutely everything he believed, everything he worked for, everything that mattered to him—was turned completely upside down.

He found out that slavishly keeping the rules ultimately got him no where.
Being a perfect Pharisee was worth zilch.
His proud pedigree was pointless.

What an incredible blow to someone who thought he had it all sorted out. He thought he had it made only to discover his efforts and plans were totally fruitless.

What was important wasn’t trying to be perfect.

What was important was Jesus Christ.
What was important was knowing Jesus Christ.
What was important was growing in his knowledge of Jesus Christ.

And to make matters even more confusing for Paul, he didn’t have to keep rules in order for Jesus to show Himself. Paul didn’t have to earn the right to be accepted by Jesus.

Jesus was a gift—a gift of grace—offered to Paul when he didn’t deserve it. Indeed, Jesus offered Himself to Paul at a time in Paul’s life when Paul’s zealous nature had him on the warpath, seeking to destroy Christianity.

It was all a reversal of monumental proportions!

And so Paul had to learn to see everything differently.

Jesus offered a relationship not a rulebook.
Knowing Jesus—living in relationship with Jesus was the most important decision he could ever make. It was the most important act he could ever embark upon.

And the relationship with Jesus was something to be embarked upon. It wasn’t something that Paul committed to once and that was it. It wasn’t something Paul could measure like he measured his ability to keep the Law. It wasn’t as cut and dried as do this and don’t do that and everything will be fine.

It wasn’t about doing.

It was about being—being in a relationship.
Relationship—and relationships are fluid, growing, evolving things.

Grace offered Paul the relationship with Christ.
Paul didn’t have to be perfect to be accepted and loved by God.
The relationship between them assured Paul that God already accepted and loved him.

But there was one requirement.

Keeping the Law had demanded incredible work and effort.
It had been hard.
It had been draining.

Building his relationship with Christ demanded effort too but this requirement was effort gladly and joyously given because the result was so fulfilling and rewarding.

Paul was no longer under the gun to be perfect.
He was given the opportunity to love God and be loved by God.
It was as simple as that.
And here’s where I can relate to Paul.

When the goal that is set before us is so important—so relevant—so special that we embrace it with intense interest and joy, then the effort to work towards the goal doesn’t really seem to cost us anything. Our effort results, not in loss of any kind, but in wonderful gain.

That’s how it is with Christ.
That’s what Christianity is all about.

Our goal is not to be perfect.
Our goal is to know Jesus—to know Jesus, to love Jesus, to grow in our relationship with Jesus.

Any good relationship requires effort to grow. The more effort expended the closer the relationship becomes.
If a relationship is to be strong and vital, it requires our consistent and ongoing attention.

For Christians it’s of the utmost significance to have a growing relationship with our Lord.
I can’t imagine anything more important.
I can’t imagine anything more fulfilling.

When the knowledge of God’s invitation to relationship becomes real—when God’s deep, unconditional love is an accepted part of our lives—when we realize that through worship, prayer and study we can know God intimately—then longing to respond becomes easier and easier.

We are being given a class in the most stimulating and important subject we can possibly imagine. In my case, it’s as far away from Math as can be!

To know Jesus Christ can be—indeed is—the most important, exciting, meaningful, empowering and joyful subject a person can ever take.

There is no education that will bring more wisdom.
There is no investment that will bring greater rewards.
There is no commitment that will be more meaningful.
There is no relationship that will be more lasting.

Is it any wonder Paul could declare:

“I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ … 10I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.”

Is it any wonder that Paul and you and I would want to strive with energy and hope in the relationship offered to us through Jesus Christ, our Saviour, our Lord!
(1194)

© The Rev. Dennis Cook, St. Timothy’s Presbyterian Church, Ajax, ON, Canada