But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 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 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 on the basis of faith. I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead. (Philippians 3:7-11, NIV)
“My heart’s desire is that I might KNOW HIM, AND THE POWER OF HIS RESURRECTION, and the fellowship of His suffering, being conformed to His death – that I might attain to the Resurrection of the Dead!” Phil 3:10 has always been marked in my Bible. It’s one of my favourite parts of the New Testament!
Ultimately, this life is nothing, length of life is nothing (I’m 90!) – because I will live forever with Christ! Called not only to live with Him, but to rule the world with Him when He comes back for 1000 years! That’s the story Jesus told of the talents in Luke 19, Matthew 25. The Master goes away and gives talents to the servants, and, according to how they use those talents is their reward in the Kingdom! To each servant who invested and increased their talents, the Master says, “Well done good and faithful servant, I will make you ruler over many things, I give you authority over ten cities, five cities” – according to what they had done in His absence!
So Paul is saying in Phil 3:11ff, “If by any means I might attain to the Resurrection of the dead, not as though I had already attained or were already perfect, but I continue, I follow after, if that I might attain that for which Christ apprehended me…” He says, “I don’t count that I have already attained this, but this one thing I do, forgetting those things that are behind and reaching out to those things which are in front, I press forward toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ.”
Paul is looking back on his previous life – even after his conversion – all this he counts as nothing, because he’s seeking the one ultimate goal, which is to be resurrected with Christ! The ultimate goal is Resurrection. That’s my ultimate goal. It’s not, now that I’m 90, that I’m going to live another ten, twenty, thirty years. That’s in God’s Hands. The whole of the purpose of my life right now is that, if I do die, then I will be resurrected. I have, through Christ, an eternal life. I cannot die, I will not die, I’m born again, not to die, but to live! When you are born naturally of the flesh, you are born to die. Someone once said, when you are born, only two things are certain: taxes and death!!! Forget about the taxes, forget about the problems. Think about the Resurrection! When you are born again from above, the one thing that is certain is new life and the Resurrection!
But Paul is saying, I count not that I have already finished. I’m forgetting all the things I have done, and I am reaching forward, because all my hope is in Christ. Like Paul, as I look back over my life as an evangelist – 30 years under communism and 30 years since the freedom came, in total more than 60 years in the former Soviet Union – the fact is this: when it comes to the Day of Judgement – and we must all appear before the Judgement Seat of Christ – when I stand before the Judgement Seat, all that counts for nothing! All those years of evangelism, all those powerful miracles – the ONLY thing that is of any value on Judgement Day is KNOWING CHRIST who paid the price of my sin. He died for me, because I am a sinner and Christ has died to break that curse of sin. My ONLY hope in Glory is not in what I’ve done. My Glory is Christ!
So I press forward toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. It’s my ultimate goal.