The Infinite Value of Knowing Christ

In one paragraph

Carl opened Philippians 3:1-11 with a simple, direct point: the most important thing for any church to hold onto is knowing Jesus and trusting in His righteousness, not their own. He came back to that center repeatedly, not because the crowd was unfamiliar with it, but because he said that kind of truth needs to be heard more than once, in more than one way, before it really settles in. Paul wrote...

Read together

1. Matthew 7:24-25 Carl read it as an intro illustration about building your house on solid rock and withstanding rain and floods
2. Philippians 2 Carl referenced it as the chapter where Paul described what Jesus did, humbling himself as a servant and dying a criminal's death
3. Philippians 3:1-11 the main passage Carl read and taught through, covering rejoicing in the Lord, Paul's credentials, and righteousness through faith in Christ
4. Romans 8:3-4 Carl read it to explain what the law could not do and how God sent His Son to fulfill it so we could follow the Spirit

Talk about it

1. Paul says he never gets tired of sharing the gospel because it safeguards the faith of the church. What are some ways that works-based thinking has crept into your own life, even after you already knew better?
2. Carl pointed out that Paul listed an impressive set of religious credentials, then called all of it garbage compared to knowing Christ. Is there anything in your own life, good or bad, that you have been tempted to lean on instead of leaning on what Jesus has done?
3. Carl asked the group to sit with three questions: Do you know whom you belong to, where you are going when you leave this Earth, and how you get there? How would you answer each of those for yourself right now?
4. John mentioned that we can get so focused on our disqualifiers that we forget our standing in Christ has nothing to do with our failures. How does it change the way you live day to day when you try to see yourself the way God sees you?
5. One person shared a four-year season when God felt silent, and said God used it to show her that nothing else, not family, not career, not anything she hoped for, would ever fulfill the way her relationship with the Lord does. Has there been a season in your life when God stripped something away and showed you something similar? What did that teach you about where your confidence was actually resting?