This Thursday, Sinclair Ferguson delivered a wonderful sermon on Philippians 3:1–16 down at The Master's Seminary (TMS) chapel. With his heavy Scottish accent he proclaimed the glories of Christ with great magnitude and depth. He stated that these verses are Paul's "life verses"--his life prior to the Damascus road conversion, his conversion, and his new life ahead of him.
First, he pointed out that the focus of Paul's ambition was the knowledge of Jesus Christ (v. 8). He is a "minister of the gospel" so he points to the One who is the gospel--Jesus Christ.
Like Jeremiah 9:23, 24 and 1 Cor 1:28–31 say respectively, "Let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows Me," and, "Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord." Paul was determined to know nothing except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified (1 Cor 2:2). Ferguson mentioned that it is easier for a minister to say that at the beginning of his life, but greater is it to be able to say it at the end of his life.
He asked, slowly in his rich Scottish accent, "What minister glories in the person of Christ anymore?" That question cut me to the heart right where I sat that morning. It was a great reminder, as I've been teaching through the book of Mark, to glory in Christ as we shadow and study His life, the very Person of God garbed in humble human flesh.
About the gospels, Sinclair said that we so often approach/preach them asking the question, "Where do I/you fit in here?" But that couldn't be further from the point the authors Matthew, Mark, Luke and John were making. They were trying to answer the question, "Who is Jesus Christ?" As he mentioned further, we treat the gospels as a "Where's Waldo?" trying to find out where we are in them.
Paul's life was packed with the prized knowledge of Jesus Christ; his mind was Christ-centered in every aspect.
What do you tend to think about when you have nothing to think about? Is it the person of Christ?
Second, Ferguson pointed out that the pursuit of Paul's ambition was union with Christ (vv. 8–11).
True saving faith leads to communion with Christ in His dying and rising. Justification and sanctification are coupled in Christ, and to part them is to rend Christ asunder (partially quoting Martin Luther). Knowing Him and associating with Him conforms us into the likeness of Christ.
Second Corinthians 4:10–12 connects quite well with point two. "For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh" (v. 11). Models of the gospel are those who commune with Christ at His cross.
To become like Christ is an endeavor that requires a great deal of suffering to purge our life of sinfulness we've grown comfortable with and of complacency in our stagnating faith. And in all of this, we are brought ever nearer to Christ's side and in conformity to His likeness.
"It's not great talent that God blesses, but great likeness to His Son which He blesses." --Robert Murray McCheyne, another astonishingly great Scottish preacher.
Third, and finally, the effects of Paul's ambition flow into his daily living (v. 12).
A. He had a holy dissatisfaction (v. 12)
He hasn't become perfect, yet he presses on.
The more you are satisfied in Christ, the more you become dissatisfied until you know Him more fully and perfectly.
B. He had a single-minded simplicity (v. 13)
"But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead." Though you may be doing a thousand things, you really are only doing one thing in a thousand ways.
C. He had true spiritual gain (vv. 7, 8)
Counts all loss (this is accounting talk, like transferring all that was in the gain column and putting them in the loss column)
May we all prize, and find our only boast in, the knowledge of Jesus Christ that we may be made like Him.
