The example of St. Paul.
I. WHAT HE RENOUNCED. All confidence in the flesh.
1. He enumerates the privileges of the Jew, and claims them as his own. He had the seal of circumcision, the inheritance of the covenant; he was brought up in the Hebrew learning; he belonged to the strictest sect; he was zealous; he had lived a blameless life. In outward grounds of confidence no man could surpass him. He had all the privileges that could issue from the Judaism of the time.
2. He renounces them all. He sums them up together and renounces them; more than that, he counts them as loss; further yet, he counts all things as loss in comparison with the one gracious presence, the one glorious hope which now fills his heart.
II. WHAT HE SOUGHT.
1. The knowledge of Christ. This knowledge is:
2. The righteousness which is through the faith of Christ. They that are found in Christ have his righteousness. "Of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption" (1 Corinthians 1:30). They have none of their own (that is, through their own works), for the righteousness which is in the Law is no true righteousness, and cannot endure the all-seeing eye of God. "All our righteousnesses are as filthy rags." This righteousness is of God, not ours; and yet in some sense it is ours, for it is given to us, given in the gift of Christ. "He that spared not his own Son,… how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?" This righteousness is through faith; obtained (that is) through faith as the means or instrument; and it is by (or rather, upon) faith, given (that is) on condition of faith. "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved," was the message delivered by St. Paul in this very Philippi. "Only believe." Faith is spiritual sight; by faith the saints in all ages have endured, "as seeing him who is invisible." Faith is the spiritual vision of Christ; by faith we see him dying for us upon the cross; we see Christ crucified, and recognize him as our own Savior and Redeemer. Again, faith is the "substance ['the assurance,' Revised Version] of things hoped for;" it is trustfulness—trustfulness, in the love and promises of Christ. It involves distrust of self, and trust only in Christ. Ever less of self, ever more of Christ, is the law of spiritual progress. Faith is the condition of righteousness.
III. THE RESULT OF THIS SELF-RENUNCIATION. The ever-deepening knowledge of Christ. St. Paul prays to be found in Christ, that he may know him. This knowledge, which he seeks so earnestly, is an experimental knowledge; it is an ever-increasing acquaintance with Christ, a realization of the life of Christ in his sufferings and in his exaltation. We need to know:
1. The power of his resurrection. The resurrection of Christ is a spiritual power; it hath a power to lift us up into the resurrection-life, the new life that is hid with Christ in God. The soul that was raised with Christ seeks those things which are above, and that through the power of the Lord's resurrection realized in the heart. His resurrection, too, is the pledge and earnest of our own resurrection, and so kindles and stimulates self-denying Christian effort.
2. To know the power of his resurrection we must know the fellowship of his sufferings. The Christian life has joys of its own; it has also sufferings of its own. For:
IV. THE BLESSED END.
1. The resurrection of the holy dead. That resurrection is the end of all our labors here; the end for which the Christian is content to count all earthly things as loss.
2. The spiritual resurrection here is the earnest of the glorious resurrection hereafter. The heavenly life begins here; the life of faith is the beginning of the life of glory. Both consist in union with Christ, who is our Life; both derive their joy and brightness only from his irradiating presence. They differ in degree, not in kind. The life of faith, when all present hindrances are removed, advanced, as it will be, to unspeakably higher degrees of purity and joy and fellowship with Christ, culminates in the life of glory. Hence it is that the excellency of the knowledge of Christ issues in the blessed resurrection of the holy dead.
Lessons.
1. St. Paul broke wholly with his unconverted life; so must we.
2. He experienced a complete change of thought, motive, aim; it must be so with us.
3. It was the constraining love of Christ that drew him from his old life; it is so still.
4. He suffered with Christ, he felt the power of his resurrection; so may it be with us.