8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order 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 comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— 10 that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead. 12 Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. 13 Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Philippians 3:8-14
A. The consuming passion of the Apostle Paul
1. The surpassing worth of knowing Christ: Philippians 3:8
2. The surpassing worth of knowing Christ experienced: Matthew 13:45-46
3. The surpassing worth of knowing Christ pursued
4. The surpassing worth of knowing Christ: The goals or pursuits
a. A righteousness not of his own: Job 25:4-6; Phil. 3:8-9; Rom. 3:21-26; 1 Cor. 1:30
b. Power of Christ’s resurrection: Phil. 3:10; Rom. 6:1-12; John 15:5
c. Fellowship in Christ’s suffering conforming to His death: Phil. 3:10; Rom. 8:16-17; Phil. 1:29; 1 Peter 4:1-2, 12-13
– A sharing together in the sufferings for Christ
• The offense of the cross: Gal. 5:11; 1 Cor. 1:22-23
• The persecution for the Gospel: 2 Thess. 1:4; 2 Tim. 1:11-12; 2 Tim. 3:12
• The toil for His church: Eph. 3:13; Col. 1:24
– A sharing together in the sufferings for Christ’s church: Rom. 12:4-5; 1 Tim. 3:14-15; Luke 9:23
• The daily life of self-denial: Phil. 2:3
• The daily life of death to self: Gal. 2:20
• The daily life of exhausting toil: John 13:34-35; 1 Cor. 15:58