Philippians 3:8-11

Last week Paul walked us through his amazing resume. How he was of good stock, zealous of the law, was a Pharisee, blameless, he kept the commandments and followed the law to the letter. And to those trying to add to grace, Paul seemed like the poster child for how you need to have Jesus and the Law to be saved.

Tomorrow morning Paul is going to tell us that he counted all that law keeping, all the kosher living, all the ceremonies and rituals, his whole life's work as rubbish compared to the saving knowledge of grace. 

Paul knew that compared to grace, all his accomplishments and rule keeping were worthless. Paul knew that salvation is only through grace in faith. Not through keeping rules, not through who his parents were, or the amount of deeds he had done. You can't add to grace.

Paul's desire was to know Jesus more. Through the good times, through suffering, through whatever and wherever life would take him. He knew that there was nothing more important than his relationship with Jesus. 

What a great lesson for us all. I think we often get caught up on the optics of this culture. We focus on things that in the long run, are not important at all. Paul is going to remind us to keep the main thing the main thing--our relationship with Christ. Everything else is rubbish compared to this.