Press On Toward What Truly Matters in Christ

Devotional

Day 1: Counting Credentials as Rubbish for Christ’s Surpassing Worth

Paul’s pedigree meant everything in his world: elite tribe membership, prestigious education, and zealous reputation. Yet he called these achievements “rubbish” when compared to knowing Christ. Worldly status fades like trophies tarnishing in an attic, but union with Jesus outshines every earthly measure of success. This invites us to inventory what we’ve been taught to value and ask if it withstands eternity’s light. [23:37]

"But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ."
(Philippians 3:7–8, ESV)

Reflection: What “credentials” or achievements do you secretly rely on for worth? How might laying them before Christ free you to live for what cannot be taken?

Day 2: Trophies Fading on the Shelf of Time’s Current

Even the greatest accomplishments—Super Bowl wins, career peaks, social clout—lose their luster. Like sand slipping through fingers, temporal victories cannot satisfy our hunger for permanence. Paul traded Pharisaic prestige for prison chains because he found a prize immune to decay. This truth confronts our addiction to metrics that promise meaning but leave us thirsty. [28:42]

"Then I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had expended in doing it, and behold, all was vanity and a striving after wind, and there was nothing to be gained under the sun."
(Ecclesiastes 2:11, ESV)

Reflection: Where have you tasted the bitterness of a “victory” that left you empty? What might it look like to invest in what outlives your resume?

Day 3: The Damascus Road That Shatters Earthly Mirrors

Paul’s encounter with Christ didn’t tweak his priorities—it shattered his identity. The Pharisee who built his life on ritual purity met the God who demands heart surrender. Like a mirror breaking to reveal a window, this collision reordered Paul’s entire existence. Such encounters still happen when we stop negotiating with God and let Him redefine our “why.” [32:16]

"And falling to the ground, he heard a voice saying to him, 'Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?' And he said, 'Who are you, Lord?' And he said, 'I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.'"
(Acts 9:3–5, ESV)

Reflection: When has Jesus last disrupted your self-narrative? Are you resisting any current invitations to see yourself through His eyes?

Day 4: Chasing Shadows or the Substance Beyond the Veil

We exhaust ourselves pursuing promotions, plaudits, and possessions—ghosts of the glory we’re wired to crave. Paul insists these are mere shadows compared to the substance of Christ. Like children trading diamonds for glitter, we often choose fleeting trinkets over eternal treasure. The call is urgent: build your life around what death cannot diminish. [34:46]

"If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth."
(Colossians 3:1–2, ESV)

Reflection: What “shadows” have you recently chased? How would your week change if you pursued the Substance first?

Day 5: Straining Toward the Prize That Never Rusts

Paul compares life to a race where athletes fix eyes on the finish line. But this prize isn’t a fading wreath—it’s resurrection life. Every stride toward Christ loosens our grip on temporary rewards. The challenge isn’t to try harder, but to reorient our hunger toward the Bread that eternally satisfies. [42:00]

"Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus."
(Philippians 3:13–14, ESV)

Reflection: What “former prizes” do you need to forget to fully strain toward Christ? What one step can you take this week to fix your gaze on His call?

Sermon Summary

Paul turns to his own life in Philippians 3 as an example of what it means to say, “to live is Christ.” Paul had all the things that looked like success in his world. Paul had the right family, the right tribe, the right education, the right career path, and the passion to get ahead. Paul was a Hebrew of Hebrews, a Pharisee of standing, and somebody headed toward position, power, and all that comes with it.

Paul also shows that passion by itself is not enough. Paul had been zealous enough to persecute the church, which means a person can be deeply committed to something and still be chasing the wrong thing. The path of status, career, wealth, and recognition can look like the right path because everybody else says it is. The problem is that those goals never really let a person rest. The next promotion comes, then another goal appears. The trophy gets lifted, then the bills still need paying and the next season starts.

Status, wealth, fame, and power all fade. The greatest of all time gets surpassed. The person who reaches the top often spends the rest of life worrying about somebody taking it away. The certificate on the wall, the nicer car, the portfolio, the promotion, and the slap on the back can be good things, but they make a terrible center for a life. They run like sand through the fingers.

Paul found something better when he encountered Jesus Christ. Paul considered everything he had gained as rubbish compared to knowing Christ and receiving the resurrection through faith in him. Christ is not a factoid or an idea that fades away. Christ is a person who is beyond time and space, the one who gives meaning to all things and cannot be taken away.

The resurrection also changes the question. Death is the great equalizer that brings every career, possession, and achievement to an end. Christ offers participation in his resurrection, so life is not finally trapped by that ending. God’s love takes the value of a life out of human hands and places it somewhere that cannot fall apart.

Paul puts three kinds of searchers before the church. Some drift through life like a dead fish floating down a river. Some put something temporary at the center and spend decades chasing one more achievement. Christ calls people to become the third kind, those who search for what ultimately matters. Life will involve struggle either way. The real question is what a person is struggling for, and whether it will last.

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Key Takeaways

1. Ask what the struggle is for Life will always involve effort, pressure, and disappointment. The deeper issue is not whether a person struggles, but whether the object of that struggle can bear the weight placed on it. Christ calls people to examine the goal beneath the daily grind and ask whether it lasts beyond the moment. [40:15]
2. Success cannot hold a life together Paul had status, education, career security, and zeal, yet none of it was enough. Achievements demand constant maintenance because every finish line becomes the beginning of another race. A life built on being noticed, promoted, or admired remains vulnerable to loss and replacement. [28:20]
3. Passion can chase the wrong thing Paul’s zeal once drove him to persecute the church. Strong feelings and deep commitment do not automatically prove that a path is good or true. Christ does not merely make people more passionate, but redirects passion toward what is actually worth pursuing. [25:16]
4. Knowing Christ outweighs every gain Paul did not reject his former life because work, skill, or accomplishment are evil. Paul rejected them as the foundation of identity because knowing Christ is greater, more real, and cannot be taken away. Faith joins a person to the one who gives meaning to every other good thing. [32:36]
5. Resurrection changes the final horizon Death brings every human success to its limit, even for those whose lives appear to go well. Christ’s resurrection means that the end of earthly life is not the end of the story. God’s love gives life a value that does not rest on possessions, reputation, or human control.

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Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[19:39] - To Live Is Christ
[20:49] - What Are You Pressing For?
[23:18] - Paul Had It All
[25:16] - Status, Career, and Passion
[26:46] - Paul Gives It All Up
[27:38] - Why Success Never Lasts
[29:31] - Sand Through the Fingers
[32:16] - Something Greater Than Success
[32:54] - Knowing Christ and Resurrection
[36:37] - Three Types of Searchers
[39:24] - Building Life on What Lasts
[40:15] - What Are You Struggling For?
[40:48] - Prayer to Press On

Bible Study Guide

Bible Reading

Philippians 3:7-11
“But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.” [32:54]

Philippians 3:4-6
“though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also. If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless.” [23:50]

Philippians 1:21
“For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” [19:49]

Observation questions

In Philippians 3:4-6, what parts of Paul’s background, reputation, and religious effort does he list as reasons others might have considered him successful? [23:50]
What does Paul say he once did because of his zeal, and what does that reveal about the direction of his passion? [25:33]
In Philippians 3:7-11, what does Paul now count as greater than his former gains?
According to Philippians 1:21, what short statement describes the center of Paul’s life, and how does Philippians 3 show what that looked like for him? [20:49]

Interpretation questions

Paul does not say that family background, education, work, or accomplishment are automatically evil. Why does he refuse to make those things the foundation of his identity? [34:07]
Paul calls his former gains “loss” compared with knowing Christ. What does “knowing Christ” seem to mean here beyond simply knowing facts about Jesus? [35:13]
Why does Paul connect knowing Christ with resurrection? How does the promise of resurrection change the value of achievements that end at death? [35:29]
Paul’s former zeal led him to persecute the church. What does his story show about the difference between being sincere or passionate and being directed toward what is true? [25:40]

Application questions

What are you most tempted to “press for” right now—approval, financial security, a promotion, comfort, achievement, control, or something else? What makes that goal feel so important? [40:17]
Is there a good thing in your life—work, family, ministry, education, possessions, or reputation—that is beginning to carry too much weight in defining your value? What might it look like to receive it as a gift without making it your center? [34:24]
Think of a goal you achieved that brought joy but did not last as long as you expected. What did that experience reveal about the limits of success? [28:37]
Where might passion be driving you without enough attention to whether the goal is actually good, true, and worth pursuing? How could you invite Christ to redirect that passion? [25:40]
When you think about death and the limits it places on every earthly accomplishment, what feelings arise in you? How does Christ’s resurrection give hope in that reality? [36:17]
Which of the three kinds of searchers best describes your current season: drifting without much direction, chasing something temporary, or seeking what ultimately matters? What is one small, concrete way you could press on toward Christ this week? [36:57]
How would your schedule, spending, relationships, or prayers look different if you more deeply believed that your worth rests in God’s love and cannot be taken away? [39:44]

Sermon Clips

44s

#PurposeOverStruggle

“Because life will always involve struggle. The question isn't, will you struggle? But what are you struggling for? What are you pressing towards? Is it something that lasts or something that will fade? Are you gonna press hold and lay a hold of something that will continue for eternity? Let us pray. Heavenly father, it's scary to consider what it all means.”

46s

#KnowingChrist

“And so he trashed it all. He considered everything he had gained up to that point less than rubbish. All the riches of life he tossed into the garbage. Because when compared to knowing Christ and through faith in Christ, receiving the resurrection of the dead from the dead, It's not worth it. Why chase something that will be gone? Why chase all these things that people around us tell us are important until they fade away.”

55s

#FaithThatLasts

“How does that compare to something that is so much greater such as knowing the one who provides meaning to all to knowing the one who set into motion all things. Knowing and pursuing the indescribable mystery at the center of all existence. Because the truth is that is something that lasts. Lasts not only because it's, well, can't be taken away from you, but because the one we know is not just some factoid, but a being, a person, Jesus Christ, who is beyond time and space and will last.”

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First Congregational Church of Fremont MI This sermon · AI assistant

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