February 5, 2016 - Today we look at a portion of the life of the Apostle Paul (Philippians 3:4-11) and search for the time when he was of the greatest value to Christ. Paul wrote the book of Philippians to the church at Philippi when he was imprisoned in Rome by the ruler, Nero.
Paul's early life was one of preparation for the priesthood as a Pharisee, he sat at the foot of the high priest for years as he was prepared to be the high priest of the future. As a young man Paul became the greatest persecutor of Christians, those who were following this man called Jesus and proclaiming some new religion called "the way".
It was only after a face-to-face meeting with the Lord on the road to Damascus that he was changed from the greatest persecutor of Christians to the greatest Apostle of all.
Paul tries to give us knowledge of the true worth of value to be found in man as he recounts in our text for today how he started life as a Jew, circumcised on the eighth day after his birth into the Jewish community.
Coming from the tribe of Benjamin, "Hebrew of Hebrews", destined to be a Pharisee of the highest order. Being filled with zeal, persecuting the Christians according to the law of Moses as he had been taught.
His years as a young adult were totally spent working against Christ and His followers and only after he is older does he realize that he was forgiven for the evil he did to Christians due to his ignorance of the gospel.
As Jesus said of the Roman soldiers as they nailed Him to the cross; "Father forgive them for they know not what they do". Paul understands how loving and forgiving Jesus really is by looking at his own life experiences. Once he is given salvation by the Lord he no longer counts worldly things as gain and he gladly gives up all that he has of this world for Christ, counting all that he had lost as rubbish as he suffered for Christ, these same things he once counted as gain.
He realizes that having the law of Moses, today we might say, "having religion", gave him no righteousness, but that only through his faith in Jesus Christ did he gain righteousness.
Paul's greater value truly came once he devoted his life to the service of our Lord and Savior. He even stated in another of the Epistles written from prison, while sitting in chains, that he had learned to be comfortable in the Lord in all conditions.May we all strive for the same understanding, joy and value.
Please feel welcome to join us for our weekly Bible study on Wednesday evening at 6:00PM at Spring Hill Baptist Church. Call me at 936-615-1427 for more information.
May God bless you and keep you and make His face to shine upon you each day.
