Joeletter 6.2

In class yesterday we were given the opportunity to study any portion of Scripture. Ben and I chose, through a process of elimination, Philippians 3:7-11. As you read through this paragraph, note the colored words. These are keywords that I marked with colored pencil in my Bible. This is one method of study that can help highlight the motion in a text.

"But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What 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 and 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. I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead."

The red marks all the 'I's, green for the Trinity, blue for verbs, and purple for what comes from Christ to us. Keep this in mind as we keep studying.

Paul starts out saying, "Whatevery was to my profit..." Ben and I asked, "What was to his profit?" In the verses before this passage Paul lists the reasons that he could have confidence in this flesh. He was circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Isreal, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for legalistic righteousness, faultless.

This is an impressive list. Paul was pretty much perfect under the old Law. As you read through your five books of the Law in the OT, it's a stringent law. But as much as this impresses us, these qualifications would have meant even more to the intended recipients of this letter.

Philippians was written to the Christians in Philippi, who were falling prey to Judaizers. The Judaizers started out as Jews, and became convinced of the truth that Christ is the Messiah. They grew up under the law, and thus knew it intimately. Knowing the law gave them added insight into the new covenant that God set up in Christ.

All this is so far well and good. But then the Judaizers began to think that everyone else had to become a Jew and keep the Law before becoming a Christian. They were, in fact, forcing anyone who wanted to be a Christian to follow the Jewish faith as well. This was against the purpose of God's new covenant. It was because the Law had no power to save that God set the new covenant of Christ's blood into place. The Judaizers were essentially setting aside the need for Christ's sacrifice and forgivenness.

So Paul is writing in part to refute this heretical teaching of the Judaizers. He is saying that he himself was practically perfect under the old Law. But Paul considered all that he had before as lost, in comparison to knowing Christ. More than lost, rubbish! Something that is lost may be found at some time. But Paul even says that it is rubbish to him. He assigns so little value to all that he had before that it is trash, fit only to be thrown away!

So in conclusion, Paul is saying that all that we have, all that we could suffer, anything other than knowing Christ, is rubbish and trash. It matters not at all. The only thing is seeking intimacy with Jesus each day. An excellent lesson and reminder for me, and us all.


So that's something that I've been learning. In other news, we're getting really close to time to go! Friday at 2:30 p.m. we fly out of Indianapolis. We go to Detroit, then Amsterdam, and finally land in Prague after fourteen n hours. I'm at once excited and scared. Not really scared scared, but just realizing that it's going to be so different, and not really knowing what to expect.

We had an excellent class that kind of addressed this issue. We listed out things that will be different from what we are used to. Then we listed what will be the same. There was a really long list of things that will be different. But really the only thing that will be the same is God. And because God is the same here and there, being overseas will help us learn what it is to pursue God only, away from all we are used to. That, in fact, is the point of going overseas. It's not to be serving on the mission field. Rather, it's to learn what it is to seek intimacy with God as the only thing. Please pray that I will be able to do this. Thanks.

And everything else is all rubbish anyway!

In His Time