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Now let's dive into today's teaching from Pastor Skiff Heitzig. Every one of us makes choices every day. And the way choice works is that we make our choices, and then our choices turn around and they make us, they define who we are. as people.
So that every decision that we make. It counts. You know, it's sort of like fly paper. There's two sides. To a piece of fly paper, but it makes a huge difference to the fly which side.
he chooses to land on. And when believing in Jesus means getting beat up. and thrown into prison. and being ridiculed and mocked. And when believing in Christ means a loss of freedom, being chased by assassins.
having to hide out for your very life. When believing in Jesus means you get pain and sorrow. And it even costs you your life. The question is Why do it? If believing in Christ and following His plan and being surrendered to Him, could possibly mean You losing everything.
Why make that choice? What are the benefits from making that kind of a decision? Is there any payoff? for that kind of pain. And I bring that up because typically, when a person gives up something, they do it to gain something.
If a person quits his job, usually it's because he's found a better job. If a person marries someone, it's because they see the benefit of not being alone any longer. If you give something away, it's To replace it with something else, or you want to get the feeling of. That altruistic love or sacrifice, whatever you have made. But let's just say you win the lottery.
And it's a $3 million ticket. You won.
Somebody comes to your door, knocks on the door, and says, I have a check for $3 million for you. If you were to say, nah. I'm good. I don't need it. I found something better.
Yeah. Everybody wants to know what. Could be better than that. Paul the Apostle made such a choice, and he now sees the world very, very differently than how he once saw it. The world.
Yeah. What was once shiny to Paul is now dull. What was once important to Paul Is now unimportant. What was once super cool, to be esteemed, to be aspired to. is now rubbish.
To this apostle. Verse 7 of chapter 3. But what things were gained to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count All things lost for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things. and I count them as rubbish that I may gain Christ.
That's an incredible statement.
Okay. The reverse is also true. Those things that he once thought were dull and ordinary and despised. He now values. He says, continuing on in verse 9.
And be found in him, not having my own righteousness which is from the law. But that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith. That I may know him. And the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings being conformed. to his death.
if by any means I may attain to the resurrection. From the dead. I venture to say this happened to you at some point in your life. You sort of figured out that all the things you thought were cool and important. They don't taste the same any longer.
They don't have the same appeal. Everybody who comes to Christ finds their appetites change. It certainly happened to me. I used to think The last thing I'd ever want to be in life is a Christian. That's what I thought.
I thought Christians are boring people who like boring things. For some odd reason, they go to church a lot. I can't figure out why. But then I met Christ. And everything changed.
Everything radically changed the way I looked at life. And so my friends noticed the changes. And they said, hey, Heitzig, you're like different now. You know, we keep inviting you back to the parties. You don't want to party anymore.
What's the deal? And I said, look. I don't know how to put it to you guys, except just to say. I have something much better. Oh really?
Well, tell us about it. Is it a better drug? I said, well, it is a high, but not like you think. And so when I started explaining what it is to Believe in Jesus. You could just see their body language.
You've seen it. It's like, please stop, stop right there. And they were trying to figure me out. And I said, Look, let me just put it to you this way: the best way I can help you understand, it's like this: I've been eating TV dinners my whole life, and somebody just gave me steak and lobster. It's sort of hard for me to go back.
to the TV dinners. I've tasted something much better. than what I've been feeding on.
Some of them got it, most of them didn't.
Now it's funny. There are commonplace items, commonplace possessions. that suddenly gain value when we discover they have been owned by famous people.
So, for example, Napoleon's Toothbrush.
Sold for $21,000. Would you pay $21,000 for a gnarly used bacteria-ridden toothbrush?
Well, somebody did because it belonged to Napoleon. Hitler's car sold for $150,000. Winston Churchill's false teeth for $20,000. No, thank you. The picture's good.
Jackie Onassis's fake pearls, they weren't even real, fake pearls, sold for $211,000. JFK's golf club sold for $772,000.
Now what changed the value? Ownership.
Source Change the value. It's Where they come from. That changes the value.
So, what Paul does here, he says this: I used to think these are gain, now they're loss. I've got something better. Paul assigns value to five areas of life. All of which come from Christ and hence they're valuable. Those five areas we'll briefly look at today: they are knowledge.
Position Righteousness. Fellowship and glory. Or to be more specific. The knowledge of Christ. position in Christ.
Righteousness by Christ. Fellowship with Christ and glory like Christ. Would you go back with me to verse 8? We looked at that last time, but there's a particular word that shows a benefit. In verse 8, he speaks of knowledge.
Yet indeed, I count all things loss. Why, Paul, why are you saying no to those things? What could be better than all that you had attained? Here it is. For the excellence.
of the knowledge Of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish that I may gain Christ.
Now, do you know that the Bible describes believers as people who know God? That's how the Bible describes us. We know God. I have two books by that name: one is called Knowing God by J.I. Packard, fabulous book.
Changed my life. The other book is called Knowing the Face of God by Tim Stafford, both excellent books. What sold me on them was the title. Knowing God, it describes the Christian life. Jesus himself spoke of this.
When he said, I am the good shepherd, I know my own, and my own know me. When Jesus prayed to the Father in John chapter 17. He said This is eternal life. That they may know you, the only true God and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. The Apostle John tells us this is the whole reason Jesus came.
1 John 5, verse 20. And we know that the Son of God has come, and He has given us understanding so that we can know the true God. And Jeremiah the prophet, in predicting the new covenant. that we enjoy. said this would be the key element.
He said, No more shall every man teach his neighbor. And every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord, for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest.
Now, all of this language is where we get the notion of having a personal relationship with God. I know God. Years ago, I had a male A mailman, a mail carrier. Who brought me mail every day. And I don't know why, but somebody once asked me, Hey, do you know your mailman?
And so I started describing him.
Well, he's about this tall, has this kind of a build, kind of walks a little funny, usually wears these gray mailman shorts. And I was describing him, but it dawned on me I'd never met him. I didn't know him, I knew facts about him. And what I was telling my friend when he asked me, Do you know him? is I was answering his question.
with the wrong answer. I was saying, well, I know certain attributes about him. But then there came a day when I thought, I'm going to introduce myself to him. I introduced myself to him, got to know a little bit about him, his background, his family.
Now, I knew him. I've met him.
Well, that's how it is so often when it comes to God. You ask somebody, Do you know God? And they can spout. Off or spout out knowledge tidbits. They know certain attributes of God, certain doctrines of God.
They tell you a lot about Him. They know a lot about Him, but they do not know Him. You're listening to Connect with Skiff Heitzig. Every day, your generosity helps reach more people with God's Word, changing lives through clear, practical Bible teaching. And this month, as you grow in your own faith and leadership, we want to thank you with a powerful new resource, The Making of a Biblical Leader, a Practical Guide to Leading Others by Robert L.
Furrow. This inspiring book, featuring chapters from Skip and Lenya Heitzig, Gary Hamrick, Daniel Fusco, and others, shows how to lead with integrity, humility, and a servant's heart following Christ's example. Request your copy when you give $50 or more to support Connect with Skip Heidzig. Call 800-922-1888 or visit connectwithskip.com/slash offer.
Now, let's return to today's teaching. Paul the Apostle, who used to be Saul of Tarsus, certainly knew a lot about his God, the Jewish God. But it wasn't until the Damascus Road experience when Jesus so abruptly introduced himself to Saul of Tarsus. that he began really knowing him.
So we have a knowledge, that's a benefit. We know God. Now, This is like the ultimate name drop. You know how people like to drop names?
Well, you know, the president of the company, you know, we're friends. Ooh. Or the mayor, yeah, we're really close. We play golf once a week. Dropping names.
You have the ultimate. You can say, really? I know God. God and I, we're like this. In fact, I just spoke to him this morning.
Now, when Paul says knowledge here or knowing God, it's a word that means a personalized experience, personal involvement or personal familiarity. It is the word gnosco. It means far more than intellectual knowledge. It means far more than theological knowledge. You can just look at Paul the Apostle.
This dude, before he was Paul the Apostle, knew a lot already. He knew Greco-Roman culture. He knew several languages. He knew theology. He could debate and converse with rabbis.
He knew secular philosophy, so he could stand on the Areopagus in Athens and freely quote their authors. Brilliant, knowledgeable man, but nothing. Nothing in Paul's mind compared to knowing Christ. That's why he calls it, look at what he calls it. He doesn't say just knowledge.
But I've counted all things lost for the excellence of the knowledge. The word excellence means surpassing worth. inestimable value. It is excellent knowledge. It is more valuable than JFK's golf clubs or Napoleon's toothbrush.
It is and excellence of knowledge. And notice how he refers to The Lord. You didn't call him Christ the Lord or our Lord, but what? My Lord. That's personal.
You know, some people like to talk, it's like a dead giveaway that they don't know the Lord. Oh yes, you know that big guy in the sky, the good Lord.
Well, the good Lord, is he your good Lord? Paul calls him. personally my Lord. Question? How do you get to know God?
I like to answer it this way. How did you get to know your parents? You had to be Born Right? Officially, you met your parents the day you were born. You don't remember it, you were too young.
But it happened.
Okay, so you got to know your parents first of all by being born. You get to know God by being born again. Jesus said, you must be born again. And so our first birth was physical and it brought life. Our second birth is spiritual, it brings salvation.
And this is what enables you to know God. The new birth. And so the first benefit is knowledge. The knowledge of Christ. Second benefit is position.
We have position. Verse 9. Paul says, and be found in him.
Now stop right there. One of Paul's favorite things to do. In his writings, It is to describe Christian believers as people who are in Christ. That's how he describes us. Which makes Christians unique from all other belief systems.
Because a Buddhist never speaks of being in Buddha. You'll never hear a Buddha say that. I am in Buddha. You'll never hear a Muslim say they are in Muhammad. You'll never hear a Hindu say, I am in Vishnu or in Shiva or in Ganesha.
Or any of the other 330 million gods they believe in. If you were in all of them, you'd be disintegrated, I suppose. But we are in Christ. 87 times the New Testament says we are in Christ. What does that mean?
We are united to Him in His life, His death, His resurrection. His life is in us. Galatians 2:20, Paul describes it by saying, I am crucified with Christ. It's no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me and the life I now live in the flesh. I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and who gave himself for me.
That's him describing what it is to be in Christ. But let's drill down a little further. Let's make it a little more practical. What does it mean to be in Christ? It means this: that when God Looks at you.
When you are before God, you are identified with Jesus Christ. Let me illustrate it. When you get into your car, if I were to follow you to the parking lot, when you get into your car, when I look at you, I see your car. I might see you through the windshield if it's not too tinted. You're in it, but I see the car.
You're in that car. If you then drive home and step into your house, you might wave at me through the kitchen window, but when I look at you, I see the home, the edifice that you are now in. If you decide to travel to another city and get in an airplane and fly away, I look up in the sky, you're up there, but I see the plane.
So to be in Christ means this. When God looks at you now, He sees Christ. He sees Christ. He no longer sees your imperfections, your failures, and your sins. He sees the Savior who died for them.
So, you can't go 60 miles an hour on your own. But in a car you can. You can't fly through the air at 500 miles an hour, but in a plane you can. You can't get to heaven by yourself, but in Christ you can. You are in Christ.
That position is a monumental benefit.
So we have knowledge. We know God, we have position, we're in Christ. A third benefit is righteousness. Verse 9, he says, Be found in him, not having my own. Righteousness.
Now, he talked about how he worked hard for his own righteousness in previous verses. not having my own righteousness, which is from the law. But that, that is that righteousness which is through faith in Christ. The righteousness Which is from God. By faith.
The happiest day of Paul's life. Is when he stopped trying to be righteous. and believed that he was righteous because he was in Christ. It's like he's been panting hard his whole life trying to work for her, and he realized. I'm accepted.
I've been given a righteousness. God has made me that way.
Now, the word righteousness, would you agree, is a pretty Important Bible word. Right? It's used a lot in the scriptures. The New Testament uses that word a lot. Let me tell you what it means.
Righteousness is the word Dikai Asune. which means to have right standing before God or to be right with God. Righteousness is being right with God, having a right standing, or being accepted by God.
Now, think of it. Paul spent his whole adult life trying to manufacture. A righteousness before God. How? By externals, by rituals, by works.
We read the list already. He tried to get right with God by keeping the rules. He tried to get right with God by leaning on his religious heritage. He tried to get right with God by practicing legalism as a Jewish Pharisee. And he failed.
And the day he discovered that failure was the happiest day of his life because he found that true righteousness can't be produced. True righteousness must be provided. He tried to produce it, he tried to manufacture it, and the Damascus Road experience, that whole experience made him realize. I can't produce it. But it has been provided for me.
There's this cool little thing that's been going on since the 1990s in malls across America called Build a Bear. Have you seen the Build a Bear workshop, Build a Bear Experience?
Okay, so it's a great idea. But The thought behind it, and they put out 160 million of these things, so it's pretty successful. But the idea is simply forget somebody else's idea of what a teddy bear ought to be. Make your own. Size, ears, eyes, look, skin.
You can even get away from the teddy bear, get a Pokemon figure if you want, or a Star Wars figure if you want. You build your own. Bear. It's Incredibly a genius idea. But When it comes to spiritual matters, I have discovered the world is absolutely fixated on this approach with God.
It's a build-a-bear approach. It's build your own way to God approach. Build your own road to heaven. Build your own righteousness.
Well, you know, I picture God as, and my idea is, and I have always thought if I try and I do, and this happens, that I'll get to heaven. It's a build-a-bear approach. The problem is, it's an unattainable goal. You can build a bear in a mall, that's attainable. But this is an unattainable goal because true righteousness is not by working, it's not by determination, it's by, here's a word.
imputation. I'm not just trying to throw out big words. That's an important word. Four times in Romans 4, it says, A righteousness has been imputed to you. accounted or accredited to you.
It's like Abraham. Abraham, it says, believed. God and God accounted or imputed it to him as righteousness. Righteousness does not come then by determination, but by imputation. That's the idea in verse 9.
A righteousness which is from God, that's provided. By faith. What did you do? Believed. It's from God by faith.
It was imputed to you. It was credited to your account.
So This is how it works. Jesus Christ has a perfect record. He never sinned. I have an imperfect record. I've sinned a lot.
Biblical righteousness is when God takes Jesus Christ's perfect record and superimposes it over my imperfect life. I'm in Christ. He sees me. He sees Christ. His righteousness given to me.
This is what the Bible sees as the great exchange. Thanks for joining us today on Connect with Skip Heidzig. Before we go, remember that your generosity helps share God's word around the world, bringing truth and hope to people who need Jesus. And this month, we'll send you The Making of a Biblical Leader, a Practical Guide to Leading Others by Robert L. Furrow as our thanks for your gift.
With chapters from Skip and Lanya Heitzig and other trusted pastors, this book will equip you to lead with integrity and purpose in 2026 and beyond. Give now at connectwithskip.com slash offer or call 800-922-1888. Thanks for spending time with us today and we'll see you next time on Connect with Skip Heitzigsig. Make a connection. Make a connection now.
The food. Of the crisis. Castle with burning And so Connect with Skip Heitzig is a presentation of connection communications, connecting you to God's never-changing truth in ever-changing times.
