Finding Ourselves in Christ

Look out for the dogs, look out for the evildoers, look out for those who mutilate the flesh. For we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh— 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. 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.

Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me His own. 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. Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you. Only let us hold true to what we have attained.

Philippians 3:2-16

In her book Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert, Rosaria Butterfield who was once a tenured professor at Syracuse University and the proselytizing staff sponsor of the LGBTQ club on campus, describes coming to saving faith in Christ as a “train wreck”. She confessed, “Conversion put me in a complicated and comprehensive chaos.”

Like Rosaria, those of us who came to saving faith after childhood were unable to go back to the life we lived before, the friends we had before, or to the people we were before. Our eyes were opened, and our “hearts burned within us” (Luke 24:32). Where once we ignored the Spirit’s urging, by God’s gracious ordaining, we were, in His perfect time, captured by the Spirit. Through faith in our newfound Savior, we are now united with Christ. We cannot unsee what we now know to be true. God is real, living, and active. His eyes are upon us (Psalm 11:4, Psalm 34:15). For reasons known only to Him, He has taken us for His own.

Imagine the Apostle Paul’s life. Talk about a train wreck! “A Hebrew of Hebrews,” he tells us, “As to the law, a Pharisee”. Paul was also a Roman soldier who requested a commission from the High Priest to travel from Jerusalem to Damascus, specifically, to hunt down and imprison Christians (Acts 9). Yet, it is Paul who says, “I count all things 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” (Philippians 3:8-9). Paul counted the social prestige and power he had among the Romans and the Jews as nothing compared to his newfound life in Christ.

In the moment when our lives are dramatically altered, it may seem like God is being capricious. If He really cares about us, how could He upend our lives? Why would He not prevent such distress? Because He knows what it takes to drive our focus off ourselves and onto the only One who can save us. He knows that saving us from building our own kingdom is saving our lives, not wrecking them.

Rosaria became a pastor’s wife, a mother to a multitude of fostered and adopted children, and a counselor to women in her church and across the nation. Her name is more known now than it ever was as a professor at Syracuse, not because of what she is doing, but what Jesus is doing through her.

The Apostle Paul gave up the comfort of his financial status and the authority due to his rank when his union with Christ turned his zeal in another direction – that of telling the world where they too could find real life.

Unlike the new car that begins to lose value the minute it is driven off the lot, the one who trusts in Jesus for all that they are and all that they have begins to grow shinier and newer with each new day. When we are in Christ, we are one with Him. We died in His death, we rose with Him in newness of life, and we are already seated with Him in the heavenly realm (Ephesians 2:6). It is miraculous! It is supernatural. It is a gift we did not deserve, but one God gave us because He marked us out as His own. God begins to teach us, by fits and starts, what His offspring look like, behave like, and talk like, and not because we are automatons following a pattern, but because God’s Spirit lives in us and is transforming us. 

Lesbians like Rosaria Butterfield, who recognized her sin of pride as the underpinning of her lesbian lifestyle, and murderers like the Apostle Paul, who are fueled by anger because their personal authority and identity are at stake, become instruments of grace to the world around them. When our old self (Romans 6:6, Ephesians 4:22, & Colossians 3:9) dies, all of our self-motivated, self-seeking, self-honoring, self-righteousness comes to an end because the Spirit of God, who now lives in us, cannot abide with these things. By His Spirit, these isolating characteristics are replaced with a genuine love for God and others that is contagious and compelling. The person God made us to be with the gifts and personality He has given us does not disappear, it simply gets the darkness (the instinct to turn in on oneself or to rely on oneself) removed so the light of Christ can shine through.

Are you found in Christ? Does your heart burn within you to know more of Him? If not, ask God to reveal Himself to you. He is trustworthy, good, and faithful and does not wish that anyone should be left in their sin leading to death (see 2 Peter 3:9).