Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ (9) and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is not from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; (10) that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, (11) if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.  (12) Not that I already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. (13) Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead,  (14) I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

The letter to the Philippians was written by the apostle Paul.   In our somewhat biographical verses today Paul writes of knowing Christ Jesus as our redeemer – not just intellectually but personally.  All else – all of his past life under the law – is meaningless (rubbish).  In the perfect and acceptable substitutionary sacrifice of Christ,  the alienation of man from God is over for those who believe in Christ, His righteousness is imputed to the faithful and God remembers our sins no more. This great gift of justification is never achievable by man’s actions; salvation is always and only of the Lord.

Spiritual growth begins with a basic discontent with our present conditions.  Our faith is a confession of a total belief and dependency in Christ and after justification in Christ, the lifelong process of sanctification has begun.  We are to press on so that Gods purpose in taking hold of us becomes our purpose now, with a singleminded focus and maximum effort  – much like a long distance runner training for a race with no divided allegiances.  In faith, the failures and successes of the past are gone and Paul tells us to not just forget about the past but to reach forward to those things that are ahead.  His purpose was to give all to reach sinners with the gospel – that his suffering in this was part of his ministry and in no way redemptive.  Paul says repeatedly that he’s not at the finish line yet but still in process of sanctification; not by the law but in faith.

The spiritual life of the faithful is in constant battle with the darkness of the world.  We are to remain separate and holy.  This process helps us bear with each other with more understanding of the struggles of others.  True faith results in our commitment and inability to do and live any other way. Reliving the past is a worldly occupation; we are new people in Christ. We can evaluate the past but our verses today command a balance and warn us not to be controlled by the past.  The faithful need to be humble and teachable and motivated – but above all to make sure we are in the race – if we don’t enter the race we cannot win