Php 3:7  But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ.
Php 3:8  Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ,
Php 3:9  And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:
Php 3:10  That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;
Php 3:11  If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.

What Paul is basically saying is there’s a righteousness he can be produce through the life he can build himself in the world, and there’s a righteousness that comes from the life the faith of Christ produces.  Paul says he layed down the life he could gain from the good of the world for the life he could gain from the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus.  

We read the apostle Paul talk about fellowshipping with the sufferings of Jesus, and it doesnt sound like a good time.  But, the fellowship of Jesus’ sufferings is actually a fellowship of life.  To have fellowship with Jesus in his sufferings is to partake with him in his life.  This is a great mystery but Jesus wasn’t losing his life on the cross he was gaining the only true life there is.  Jesus says in John 12:25  He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal. 

The letter to the Philippians walks us through the anatomy of the apostle Paul’s revelation.  You know Paul wasnt some type of class of super christian that is just far and above everyone else.  Its not that Paul was better at rule keeping or was more obedient in the sense we think of obedience.  Paul just saw something in Jesus and in the scriptures that produced the life of God in him.  If we can see the same thing Paul saw it will produce in us the same life it produced in Paul. 

In Acts 9 after having a hand in the stoning of Stephen, Paul is still Saul, and he is on the road to Damascus where he encounters the glorified man Christ Jesus.  In Galatians Paul describes the encounter by saying when it pleased God to reveal his son to me.  

Acts says Paul saw a bright light and heard a voice  say Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me.  Paul sees the bright light and he knows it’s the glory of God; that’s why he says Lord the moment he hears the voice talking to him even before he knows who it is.  

When Jesus reveals that it’s him talking with Paul, Pauls entire world is shook to the very core because its not an angel standing there shining with the glory of God.  Its the Son of man.  Paul sees a human being who is clothed in the very glory of God. 

Paul didnt just see a glorified man standing there.  He had a previous reference point for that man.  Paul knew Jesus as the man who was crucified and died on the cross.  And now that same man is standing before Paul clothed with the glory of God.  This guy looked like he lost his life on the cross but now here he is standing before me and I see that he has gained the very life of God.  Paul saw the guy who he thought lost his life on the cross, and he sees that the guy actually gained eternal life in what happened there.  

When Paul saw the guy who was filled with all weakness, the guy who looked like there was no strength present with him; the guy who looked like there was nothing in him to be esteemed, and he saw that same guy gained eternal life.  He began to ask himself what is it that was going on at the cross that this guy has gained the very glory and immortality of God.  Paul began to inquire into the sufferings of Jesus because in encountering Jesus on the road to Damascus he saw there was something going on in this guy on the cross that resulted in him being clothed in the glory and immortality of God.  

When Paul talks about the sufferings of Jesus he isn’t talking about the physical pain Jesus experienced on the cross, although there was physical pain.  The sufferings of Jesus in Paul’s eyes is that when Jesus was crucified he didn’t try and take up his life but he layed down the life he could gain from the world.  

There’s something that led to Jesus dying on the cross.  He didnt accidentally find himself there.  Jesus ended up on the cross because he didnt try to preserve the life he had from the world.  He wasnt conformed to the world or its wisdom.  Jesus resisted sin unto his death on the cross.  He didnt look to the strength in his hand to try and take up his life, not by his willpower or because he thought it was the right thing to do.

Jesus looked at the world and it’s systems that were founded on the elementary principles of touch not, taste not, handle not.  He saw the life the world can provide through the good it has to offer didnt possess the power to serve him with a life that is just.  He saw that even if he could avoid the injustice and death of the cross, that couldnt give him the liberty and justice he desired.  He saw that even should he gain all the kingdoms of the world, and be a partaker in all the good the world has to offer, or even become the emperor of Rome or the leader of the San Hedrin, none of those things possessed the power to give him the life he desired.   That’s why he didnt come down off the cross; thats why he didnt fight to preserve his life from the cross.  He saw that the world with all the good it could offer didnt possess the strength that was needed to serve him with the justice and the liberty and the peace and the love and the joy he longed for.  He said what good is it I should gain all the good the world has to offer me when the world cannot justify me with life.   

Jesus saw the substance of the life he longed for in the Father.  He saw the Father is the only one who has in Himself a life that can justify him.  He saw the Father’s eyes were full of love towards him.  And that strengthened him to give up the ghost.  It strengthened him to lay down the life he could gain from the world, and commit his life into the arms of the Father’s loving embrace.  And from there the fulness of the Godhead manifested in him bodily.  

Every human being wants to be justified with life.  We all want a life we say is just.  We all know there is a certain life that is just and pure and right and we all want to have that life.  We all want the satisfaction that comes from possessing a life that is filled with goodness and mercy and justice and liberty.  Not only do we want it, but something in our hearts tells us it’s not right should we find ourselves in the place where we don’t have it. 

The world comes to us with the good it can offer us through it’s elementary principles of touch not, taste not, handle not.  The world takes all the good it can offer and puts it together in a pretty little package and wraps it up with a bow, and tells us the power unto a righteous life is contained in gathering these things to ourselves.  The life the world offers us looks good for food.  It looks like it can satisfy our desire for life.  It has an appearance of wisdom.  It sounds like the right way, that if we can perfect the life we have from the world and perfect the worlds systems, then that will be the power unto us gaining a righteous life.  

Paul wanted a life that was just.  He had eternity in his heart.  His heart told him theres a life he’s supposed to have.  If he can just gain that life, then all will be the way it should be.  Paul saw the good the world had to offer and he thought the power to be justified with life; he thought the strength to have a life that is just and true and pure was found in gaining the good the world and it’s systems could offer.  

Php 3:7  But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ.
Php 3:8  Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord

When Paul saw the glorified man Jesus on the road to Damascus his eye became single.  He saw everything he ever desired for his life in the glorified man Jesus.  What he saw in Jesus became his treasure.

Paul began to fellowship with the sufferings of Jesus.  His communion was with the faith that was in Jesus’ heart on the cross.  He didnt see laying down the life he could gain from the world as loss.  He counted the loss of the life he could have from the world as him gaining the life he always longed for.  The things Paul once thought he needed in the world so he could gain life, he now saw those same things as powerless to be able to serve him with a life that is just.  And just as Christ gave up the ghost and layed down the life he had from the world.  The Spirit of Christ dwelling in Paul brought something forth in him where he also gave up the ghost and layed down the life he could gain from the world.   

Paul was crucified with Christ.  He was made conformable to the death Jesus died on the cross.  He became a living sacrifice.  This is the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus.  This is the foundation from where Paul had intimacy with the power of the resurrection.  

Laying down the life you can gain from the world isnt an outward thing you perform.   Its not about abasing yourself or becoming a monk or a nun.  Its not about I must now not care.  Its not evil to abound or to enjoy the things in the world.  Its not evil to desire good things to happen.  

Paul didnt use willpower to stop looking to the world for a righteous life.  He didnt say it’s wrong for me to look to the world for life and now I must stop it.  Paul was only after the good the world could give him because he thought that was the power to have a life that is just.  When Paul saw the righteous life he was always longing for manifested in Jesus, his mind became filled with the faith that was in Jesus on the cross instead of being filled with the good he could gain from the world and its systems.  He was crucified with Christ.  

Rom 8:16  The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:
Rom 8:17  And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.

Paul isnt saying we must physically hurt like jesus did on the cross in order to be glorified with him.  He’s talking about laying down the life we can gain from world just as Jesus did on the cross.  

Paul said in Philippians he suffered the loss of all things that he might gain Christ.  He’s not saying that things were taken from him.  He’s saying he gladly laid them down because he saw they couldn’t add one cubit of stature to his life.  

When Paul saw the life he desired manifested in Christ something happened in his heart where his heart disesteemed the life he could gain from the world.  He no longer committed his life into the hands of the good he could gather to himself in the world but he gave up the ghost and committed his life into the hands of the Father.  

Suffering with Jesus is to commit our desire for life into the hands of the Father, by seeing the Fathers love for us, seeing the substance of the life we long for is in Him, seeing the life we can gain from the world cannot satisfy the desire we have for life, just as Jesus did.  

Prayer