The Surpassing Worth of Knowing Christ

Paul’s resume is impressive. He was circumcised on the eighth day, an Israelite from Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews, a Pharisee, zealous, and blameless under the law. Paul had religious credentials, reputation, and plenty of reasons to point at himself and say, “Look what I have accomplished.” But Paul met Jesus, and everything took its right place.

Christ becomes the treasure that makes every other treasure look small. Paul does not say that his sacrifices made Christ valuable. Christ was already worthy. Paul simply discovered the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus his Lord. The resume, the titles, the recognition, and the good works become loss when compared to being found in him.

The desire for value often pushes people to build their own righteousness. The heart says, “This is why I am worth it. This is what I have done. This is why people should listen to me.” Pride turns people into their own superheroes. The search for approval can become deeper than wanting somebody to say good job. The search can become an attempt to prove that a life matters.

Jesus’ parable of the tenants exposes that same problem. The tenants wanted the vineyard, the blessing, and the inheritance, but they rejected the owner’s son. The heart can want God’s gifts without wanting God himself. The heart can make Jesus lower through time, treasures, talents, desires, and agendas. The cornerstone that the builders rejected becomes the cornerstone that sustains those who trust him.

The contrast between righteousness of the law and righteousness from Christ leaves no room for personal boasting. Paul spent his life trying to become righteous, and then he met righteousness himself in Christ. Christ’s finished work does not become a partnership where people do their part and Christ does his. Christ alone took sin even to death, and Christ alone gives the righteousness that lasts.

The call to know Christ becomes urgent when everything else fails. People change. Bodies change. Jobs end. Abilities disappear. Circumstances can turn around in one day. The thing that causes devastation when it is taken away may have been the place where confidence was resting. Christ does not decay, and his word prevails forever.

Christ gives worth to the weak, the sick, the dependent, and the suffering. Limitations are temporary, but Christ’s glory is forever. The blind will see, the weak will become strong, and what could not run will fly. Christ, the rejected cornerstone, is for his people, with his people, and will never let them go.

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Key Takeaways

• 1. Christ is worth more than resumes. Paul’s list was not evil because it included heritage, zeal, and discipline. Paul’s list became worthless as a basis for standing before God because Christ’s worth surpasses every human accomplishment. Christ does not need anyone’s record to make him glorious, and no record can replace being found in him. [05:32]
• 2. Blessings cannot replace the Blesser. The tenants wanted an inheritance while rejecting the son through whom it came. The heart can pursue healing, meaning, recognition, and provision while treating Christ as secondary. God remains God not merely because he gives desired things, but because he is God. [14:11]
• 3. Confidence reveals what rules the heart. Loss exposes the place where confidence had been stored. The thing whose removal makes life seem no longer worth living may have become a functional righteousness or idol. Christ calls the heart away from decaying securities and into grace that does not depend on strength or usefulness. [18:18]
• 4. Know Christ when everything fails. Bodies, jobs, relationships, and abilities can change without warning. Christ remains when the resume has a spot on it, when hands cannot lift, and when somebody else must provide care. Knowing Christ gives suffering people a worth that cannot be measured by what they can still do. [19:22]
• 5. The rejected cornerstone sustains believers. Christ is often rejected when agendas, desires, and self-righteousness take first place. Christ nevertheless becomes the stone underneath his people in difficult times, not a stone placed above them to crush them. His resurrection promises that temporary weakness will give way to everlasting freedom and glory. [21:32]

Youtube Chapters

• [00:00] - Welcome
• [00:51] - The Dentist Story and God’s Love
• [01:41] - Painful Truth and the Numbness of Grace
• [02:27] - Paul’s Impressive Resume
• [04:54] - Paul Met Jesus
• [05:32] - The Surpassing Worth of Knowing Christ
• [07:34] - The Search for Value and Approval
• [11:18] - The Tenants Reject the Son
• [13:45] - Wanting Blessings Without Christ
• [14:44] - God Is God Because He Is God
• [16:04] - Christ’s Righteousness, Not Personal Righteousness
• [17:19] - Know Christ When Everything Fails
• [20:21] - Worth in Suffering and Limitation
• [21:32] - Christ the Cornerstone
• [22:31] - A Call to Remember and Meditate

Bible Reading

Philippians 3:7-9
“But everything that was a gain to me, I have considered to be a loss because of Christ. More than that, I also consider everything to be a loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. Because of him I have suffered the loss of all things and consider them as dung, so that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own from the law, but one that is through faith in Christ—the righteousness from God based on faith.” [05:14]

Matthew 21:33-46
“Listen to another parable: There was a landowner, who planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a winepress in it, and built a watchtower. He leased it to tenant farmers and went away. When the time came to harvest fruit, he sent his servants to the farmers to collect his fruit. The farmers took his servants, beat one, killed another, and stoned a third. Again, he sent other servants, more than the first group, and they did the same to them. Finally, he sent his son to them. ‘They will respect my son,’ he said. But when the tenant farmers saw the son, they said to each other, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him and take his inheritance.’ So they seized him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him. Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenant farmers? They told him, ‘He will completely destroy those terrible men and lease the vineyard to other farmers who will give him his fruit at the harvest.’ Jesus said to them, ‘Have you never read in the Scriptures: The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. This is what the Lord has done and it is wonderful in our eyes? Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruit. Whoever falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; but on whomever it falls, it will shatter him.’ When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they knew he was speaking about them. Although they were looking for a way to arrest him, they feared the crowds, because the people regarded him as a prophet.” [11:41]

1 Peter 2:4-8
“As you come to him, a living stone—rejected by people but chosen and honored by God— you yourselves, as living stones, a spiritual house, are being built to be a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For it stands in Scripture: See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and honored cornerstone, and the one who believes in him will never be put to shame. So honor will come to you who believe; but for the unbelieving, The stone that the builders rejected— this one has become the cornerstone, and A stone to stumble over, and a rock to trip over. They stumble because they disobey the word; they were destined for this.” [21:48]

Observation questions

1. What credentials and achievements does Paul list before he explains how he now views them in Philippians 3:7–9? [03:44]
2. In the parable of the tenants, what do the tenants want, and how do they treat the owner’s servants and son?
3. What kinds of things can cause people to place Christ lower in their priorities, according to the message? [13:03]
4. In 1 Peter 2:4–8, what different responses do people have to Jesus as the cornerstone?

Interpretation questions

1. Why does Paul consider even good religious credentials and accomplishments to be loss compared with knowing Christ? What does this show about where righteousness comes from? [16:22]
2. The tenants wanted the vineyard and its inheritance but rejected the son. How can a person desire God’s help, provision, healing, or recognition while still resisting God himself? [14:04]
3. What does it mean for Christ to be the cornerstone that sustains believers rather than a stone placed over them to crush them? [21:48]
4. Why might the loss of a job, health, ability, relationship, or reputation reveal where a person has been placing confidence? [18:24]

Application questions

1. What parts of your “resume” are easiest to rely on for value—your work, family, service, reputation, abilities, education, or spiritual discipline? How might those good things become a substitute for being found in Christ? [08:47]
2. Are there blessings you have been asking God for more eagerly than you have been seeking God himself? What would it look like this week to treasure the Blesser more than the blessing? [14:11]
3. When you feel overlooked, unneeded, or unsuccessful, what do you usually do to prove that your life matters? How can Christ’s righteousness and love speak into that struggle? [09:16]
4. If one important part of your life were taken away tomorrow, what loss would most tempt you to believe that life is no longer worth living? How can the group help one another place confidence in Christ before that kind of loss comes? [18:28]
5. How could you encourage someone who is weak, sick, dependent on others, or unable to do what they once did? What truths about their worth in Christ would be important to remind them of? [20:29]
6. What is one practical way you can make time this week to know Christ more deeply through prayer, Scripture, worship, or serving someone in his name? [13:20]