The Surpassing Worth of Knowing Christ Philippians 3:4b-14

Grace, mercy, and peace …

Our mission statement is to … let’s say it together those of us who know it… to know Christ and make Him known.

Our sermon title today fits well with our mission: The Surpassing Worth of Knowing Christ. It’s taken from our epistle, v. 8: I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.

I’ve heard it said, “The only thing I know is that I don’t know anything for sure.”.

Well that’s clearly a contradiction, because if you don’t anything for sure, you don’t know that you don’t anything for sure.

There are some things that we’re not sure about in life, and that’s okay.

I’m not sure what the weather will be tomorrow, and that’s okay.

I’m not sure if the Vikings will win when they play the Bears tomorrow night, and I’m not sure if that’s okay, but I’m used to it.

Sad to say, I was pretty sure that the Yankees would beat up on the Twins in the wild card game last Tuesday night.

On the other hand, there are some things in life that it’s not okay to not know, or to forget, like your anniversary, or your wife’s birthday, or where your credit card is, or if you paid your bill.

One of the worst things to not know is if you’re loved; we have to know that we’re loved to be happey.

But how do you know for sure?

By the way someone treats you, what he or she does for you.

To have joy, and the peace that passes understanding, you have to know that God loves you. How do you know God loves you?

Because He made you in His own image. Because His Son gave his life for you. Because His Spirit lives in you, to comfort and strengthen you.

Not only does God show us He loves us, He tells us so. For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.

In our Gospel, Jesus made it clear that he knew this was his task, to love the world, and die to save it. The irony is was that the ones he loved would kill him.

He illustrated this in the parable of the vineyard.

A land owner planted a vineyard, and leased it out on a crop share basis (My father used to rent my grandfather’s farm on a share basis.)

When the time came for him to collect his share of the fruit, he sent his servants to get it but the renters beat and killed them so that they could keep the whole crop for themselves.

So he sent more servants and they did the same.

Finally He sent His Son, thinking they wouldn’t dare to harm his Son. But they killed him, thinking they could then claim the vineyard as their own.

Then Jesus asked the crowd what they thought the owner would do. They said he would severely punish them for their crimes.

The Pharisees realized he was talking about them. They knew who Jesus was, that God had sent Him to save the world, yet they were scheming to kill Him.     

Therefore, Jesus said, the kingdom will be taken from you, and given to those who will bear fruit.

They knew Jesus was the Son of God, but they hated him for it.

 So it’s not enough just to know that Jesus is God, even the devil know that; it’s to know Him with love; to have faith in Him.

 In the Old Testament we have a similar parable. A farmer invested in a vineyard and did everything he could to make it bear good fruit, but it would only produce bitter grapes. So he abandoned it.

This was a warning against taking God for granted, and turning away from Him.

To think we need not repent; need not believe God’s Word; need not follow Christ, is a mistake that will take the Kingdom of God away from us.

To think, I don’t need to follow Jesus in my daily life because I’m baptized; He has to save me whether I believe or not; that’s not how it works.

What we need is daily repentance; daily faith; daily forgiveness; and then daily remembrance that we are a dear, baptized child of God. We need His Word and His Sacraments in our lives, and His love in our hearts.

From this comes the fruit of faith; a godly way of life.

That’s knowing Christ; knowing him and loving him, living for him, as Paul talks about in our epistle.

He says, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.

Paul teaches us how valuable it is for us to know Christ and His love for us; invaluable we might say; worth more than anything money can buy.  

There are a lot of things we have to learn and know in order to make it through life these days; there’s a lot of information to absorb, but none of it compares to the depth of knowledge there is for us in the gospel.

In this high-tech, information age, it’s hard to keep track of it all; there’s so much knowledge and information out there.

For example, we need to know so much about digital technology just to make it in this computer culture we live in.

On the other hand, have you ever heard it said, “Everything I need to know I learned in Kindergarten”?

Share everything. Play fair. Don't hit people. Put things back where you found them. Clean up your own mess. Don't take things that aren't yours. Say you're sorry when you hurt somebody. Wash your hands before you eat. Eat your  vegetables… (I added that one; forgot to eat them for lunch.).

All these basics we learned that matter most, and are so important not to forget.

At home and at Sunday School, we learned something even more essential, Jesus loves me. As we sing, “Jesus loves me, this I know; for the Bible, tells me so.”

Jesus loves me and he helps me love others.

You can be a walking encyclopedia, or maybe we should say Wikipedia, but if you don’t know who Jesus is, that he loves you, that he died for you, that he rose for you, that he has a better way of life for you now, and a perfect life for you  forever; if you  don’t know that, than all the knowledge stored in your brain is in vain.

Worldly knowledge passes away, and sometimes changes. Many of the things and information that we thought were so important to know in this world, aren’t going to matter in heaven, or sadly, in hell. The knowledge of Christ lasts forever, and yields the eternal fruit of love and peace and joy.

Maybe you’ve heard it said, to know him is to love him. That’s most true for Jesus. To really know him is to truly love him. That’s why Paul could say, I count everything as loss for the sake of knowing Christ Jesus as Lord.

Paul sacrificed much to follow Jesus and he thought Jesus was worth every bit of it.

Knowing Christ means knowing what’s worthwhile and what’s not worthwhile in this world.

Some of things we have and things we know today, that may seem so important, and so necessary, will be outdated in a number of years.

Not always, but often, the latest must-have technology is thrown into the recycling bin in a few years, or less.

Yet here we are 2000 years later, and Jesus is more known around the world than ever before. The gospel is still changing lives. People are still dying, and God is still saving.

To know Christ is, and always will be, the best thing to know. He is the best one to love, and be loved by. And to make Him known, is still, and always will be, the best knowledge and the greatest love to be shared in the world.

May you always know Christ and His love, and make Him and His love known.

And may you always know His peace, which passes understanding, and guards our hearts and minds, in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.