THE MANNER OF LIFE – The Worth of Knowing Christ
THE MANNER OF LIFE
A STUDY OF PHILIPPIANS
The Worth of Knowing Christ
July 31st, 2022
Pastor Mike Slater
THE MANNER OF LIFE – The Worth of Knowing Christ
This morning’s message centers on a passage of scripture in Philippians where the passion of Paul for a likeness to Christ is expressed in the utmost energy and yearning of his being. This passage will talk about a decision that Paul would stand fast by – “Christ is All.”
The worth of knowing Christ was more valuable than anything else to Paul.
He had given thought to his life and decisions he had made over his lifetime.
As he recalls his life, he realizes some of the choices he made, that he thought were of value and worth, were simply not true.
In fact, he calls some of those choices rubbish as he considers it all.
If you had to list the five most important things of life to you, what would they be?
When you think of everything that is part of your world and that you value, what is it that consumes your time, effort, and means the most to you? With that in mind, how powerful and leading is Christ in your life?
Remember that when Jesus asked Peter by the sea, “Peter do you truly love me?”, he was challenging Peter to look at his life and his relationship with God.
My prayer is that each one of us recaptures and affirms the same feeling and intensity Paul had for Jesus within our own lives. I know this study will have a tremendous impact on each of us and our church. Enjoy this morning’s worship service.
Encouraging One Another,
Pastor Mike
Key Scripture: Philippians 3: 1-11
No Confidence in the Flesh
3 Further, my brothers and sisters, rejoice in the Lord! It is no trouble for me to write the same things to you again, and it is a safeguard for you. 2 Watch out for those dogs, those evildoers, those mutilators of the flesh. 3 For it is we who are the circumcision, we who serve God by his Spirit, who boast in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh— 4 though I myself have reasons for such confidence.
If someone else thinks they have reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more:5 circumcised 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; 6 as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for righteousness based on the law, faultless.
7 But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8 What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in[a] Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. 10 I want to knowChrist—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.