Knowing Christ: Worth More Than Our Resumes

Paul’s resume is impressive: the right family, the right tribe, the right schools, zeal, and a blameless record. Yet he calls it rubbish compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus his Lord. Christ has not simply improved Paul’s identity. Christ has become worth more than everything Paul once used to establish his worth. Both the accomplishments people display and the failures they hide lose their right to define a life.

Knowing Christ means more than admiring him or believing correct things about him. Peter stayed when others walked away because Jesus alone had the words of eternal life. Paul reaches the same conclusion. The Word made flesh, the Lamb, the good shepherd, and the risen King is someone to know personally. Such knowing takes time, attention, listening, prayer, and room for the Holy Spirit to reveal Christ’s love and call.

Christ’s initiative comes first. Paul was not looking for Jesus; he was carrying arrest warrants for Jesus’ followers. Christ broke into his life, took hold of him, gave him a calling, and drew him into quiet years of learning. Paul presses on because Christ has already made him his own.

Forgetting what lies behind is not amnesia. It means refusing to give past successes, failures, and wounds a vote over the present. Like a sprinter stretching toward the finish, Paul fixes his attention on Christ. Time in Christ’s presence makes his goodness clearer and his ways more desirable.

The prize is Christ himself and the home he promises, where sorrow gives way to joy and shame has no place. That future strengthens present obedience, even along difficult roads. As the self-centered, resume-keeping person dies, resurrection power transforms lives and gives the world a taste of Christ’s kingdom. The final welcome comes not from an employer reviewing a file, but from a Father who loves his child.

Key Takeaways

• 1. Christ Is Worth More Than Reputation. Paul does not tear up his resume because it is unimpressive; he lets it go because Christ is worth more. Public achievements and hidden failures can both become ways of measuring personal worth. Knowing Christ breaks their grip by giving believers someone greater than themselves to live for. [29:10]
• 2. Knowing Christ Requires Room And Attention. Correct beliefs and admiration are not the whole of knowing Jesus. Personal knowing involves listening long enough to recognize his voice, bringing honest questions, and watching how he works. Through the Holy Spirit, Christ reveals himself as believers make room for his love to heal their brokenness and his call to shape their lives. [37:21]
• 3. Christ Takes Hold Before Paul Responds. Paul was heading toward harm, not toward faith, when Jesus met him on the Damascus road. His later determination grows out of being called, caught, and captivated by Christ first. Christian effort takes its proper shape when it answers Christ’s initiative rather than trying to earn his attention. [41:20]
• 4. The Past Loses Its Defining Vote. Forgetting what lies behind does not require pretending that failure, trauma, or success never happened. It means refusing to let those things tie a believer down or steal attention from Christ today. A runner who trips needs to regain forward movement, not remain fixed on the thing that caused the fall. [45:47]
• 5. The Prize Is Home With Christ. Eternal life is not merely an escape from trouble; the prize is being with Christ where everything is as it should be. That hope gives weight to obedience on difficult roads and courage for the death of the self-centered life. Resurrection power is already at work in that surrender, allowing Christ’s kingdom to be tasted in the present. [52:34]

Youtube Chapters

• [00:00] - Welcome
• [24:31] - Prayer for the Word to Come Alive
• [25:10] - Paul’s Impressive Resume
• [26:43] - Reputation Becomes Rubbish Beside Christ
• [30:16] - Jesus Alone Has Eternal Life
• [32:42] - The Surpassing Greatness of Knowing Christ
• [34:32] - Scripture Reveals Who Christ Is
• [37:01] - Making Room to Know Jesus
• [40:39] - Christ Takes Hold of Paul
• [42:49] - Quiet Years of Learning Christ
• [44:59] - Forgetting the Past and Pressing On
• [47:36] - Time With Jesus Changes Desire
• [49:41] - The Prize of Being Home With Christ
• [52:53] - Resurrection Power Along Difficult Roads
• [54:09] - A Father’s Welcome, Not a Resume Review

1. In Philippians 3:7–8, how does Paul’s way of measuring gain and loss change, and what makes the difference? [33:06]
2. What connection is drawn between Peter’s reason for staying with Jesus in John 6:68–69 and Paul’s decision to set aside his achievements? [32:04]
3. In Acts 9:4–6, who begins the encounter, and how does Saul respond? How does this encounter contrast with the direction Saul’s life was taking? [41:09]
4. What everyday actions help explain the personal knowing of Christ that Paul values in Philippians 3:8? [37:21]

1. Does Paul’s description of his achievements as loss mean that family, education, and faithful service have no value? What changes when these things become the basis of someone’s worth? [29:05]
2. How does Peter’s response in John 6:68–69 help explain why someone might remain with Jesus even when following him becomes difficult or confusing? [31:50]
3. How does Christ’s initiative in meeting Saul help explain Paul’s later determination to follow him? What difference is there between responding to Christ’s love and trying to earn his attention? [41:34]
4. How can a believer stop allowing past successes or failures to define the present without denying what happened or avoiding responsibility? [45:47]

1. When you feel the need to prove your worth, what achievement, role, or reputation do you tend to lean on? What might change in one situation this week if your worth rested in belonging to Christ instead? [28:03]
2. Knowing Jesus involves more than knowing facts about him. What currently crowds out time with him, and what small, realistic change could help you make room for Scripture, honest prayer, and listening this week? [37:21]
3. Looking back, where can you recognize Christ drawing you toward himself before you were looking for him? How might remembering his initiative help you approach an area where you now feel spiritually stuck? [41:24]
4. Without sharing anything you would rather keep private, is there a past success, failure, or wound that still has too much influence over your choices? What might one step toward freedom look like, and what support would help? [45:57]
5. Where are you finding obedience difficult right now? How could the hope of being home with Christ strengthen you to take one faithful step rather than give up? [52:34]
6. Where do you notice yourself treating God like an employer reviewing your performance rather than a Father who loves you? How might his welcome change the way you respond to a recent failure or approach an act of service? [54:29]