Pastor
David Jang’s sermon on Philippians 3 explores the surpassing worth of knowing
Christ, righteousness by faith, and Paul’s race toward the prize of God’s
upward call.
Goethe’s Faust portrays
a man who knocks at the farthest boundaries of the world in his desire to know
more, only to face the paradox that the deeper his knowledge becomes, the more
clearly the emptiness within his heart is revealed. As the old saying goes,
knowledge may be power, but not every kind of knowledge can carry a person
beyond death. Following Paul’s confession engraved in Philippians 3, this
sermon by Pastor David Jang, founder of Olivet University in the United States,
asks which of the many things a person may know constitutes the knowledge of
surpassing worth—the knowledge capable of transforming one’s very existence and
destiny. The answer is not the accumulation of information, but knowing Jesus
Christ and receiving the grace of the gospel found in Him.
Where
All Knowledge Reaches Its Limit: The Light of the Gospel
Paul
had ample reason to place confidence in the flesh. He had been circumcised on
the eighth day, belonged to the tribe of Benjamin, was a Hebrew of Hebrews, and
possessed the zeal of a Pharisee. By the standards of his time, these were more
than sufficient grounds for boasting. Paul did not conceal his past. Instead,
he listed his credentials clearly and then confessed that he had come to regard
all those gains as loss because of Christ.
The
weight of this confession does not lie in the fact that Paul had never
possessed anything. He had possessed much, and he understood how highly those
things were valued. Yet once he encountered something greater, his former
grounds for boasting could no longer remain at the center of his life. The
knowledge of Christ did not dismiss worldly learning or achievement. Rather, it
illuminated the eternal life and resurrection hope that such things could never
provide.
The
surpassing worth of the gospel is not an exaggeration intended to make
everything else appear insignificant. It is a light that reorders the values by
which human beings live. Paul did not abandon his past in order to gain greater
honor. Because he had gained Christ, he no longer allowed his past to define
him. His renunciation was therefore not a gesture of deprivation, but an
expression of freedom born from a far greater fullness.
For
this reason, the sermon recalls those who left stable lives behind for the sake
of the gospel. At the heart of their decisions was not merely the strength to
abandon anything, but the joy of discovering something incomparably more
precious than all they had surrendered. As expressed in the confession, “Silver
and gold I do not have, but what I have I give you,” the most precious and
eternal gift the church can offer the world is ultimately Christ. Those who
possess this gift may appear poor, but they are not empty. They may let go of
much, but they do not become people who have lost everything.
At
this point, Pastor David Jang locates the essence of faith not in the amount of
knowledge one possesses, but in what stands at the center of that knowledge. No
matter how much a person may know, if the gospel of knowing the Lord is absent,
that knowledge comes to a halt at the threshold of life. By contrast, those who
know Christ personally and recognize His worth no longer entrust their identity
to the judgment of the world. Because they have already received what is most
precious, they know what they have gained even in moments that appear to be
loss.
When
My Own Righteousness Falls, Grace Opens
Paul’s
transformation did not end with exchanging one ground for boasting for another.
The sermon illuminates the profound distance between the righteousness of the
law and the righteousness of the gospel. Righteousness based on the law asks
how faithfully I have obeyed, how blamelessly I have lived, and what I have
accomplished. The righteousness of the gospel, however, turns our gaze away
from personal merit toward the love of God and directs us to the righteousness
that comes from God through faith.
This
is why the words of Philippians 3:9, “that I may be found in Him,” are so
important. Faith is not the story of a person striving to discover God and
finally proving that he or she is worthy. It is the passive grammar of grace:
the Lord takes hold of us and allows us to be found in Christ. Before this
truth, human boasting quietly collapses, and humility and joy enter together.
Paul’s
transformation is all the more sobering because his former zeal did not arise
from laziness or indifference. He was so passionate about protecting the
tradition of the law, which he believed to be right, that he persecuted the
church. Yet after encountering the risen Christ, it became clear that the
direction of zeal matters more than its intensity. Diligence directed toward
the wrong center may lead a person not closer to the truth, but into opposition
against the gospel. Paul was able to stand anew as one who had been “taken hold
of,” not because his confidence in himself became stronger, but because his
conviction in his own rightness collapsed and he was seized by the grace of
Christ.
We,
too, can easily turn even our life of faith into material for establishing our
own righteousness. The fact that we have believed for many years, memories of
extensive service, or pride in having lived more strictly than others may
gradually occupy the center of the heart. Yet Paul laid down not only worldly
success. He also surrendered the religious achievements that he had believed
would prove his worth before God.
Repentance
does not remain merely in recalling past wrongs and condemning oneself
endlessly. It is a change of direction in which we abandon the old confidence
that we can make ourselves righteous and instead long to be found in Christ
alone. Grace then ceases to be a final remedy used to compensate for what we
lack. It becomes the foundation of the gospel that saves us from beginning to
end. Faith is the act of entrusting ourselves to that foundation, while love
becomes the new way in which those clothed in grace treat others.
Held
by Christ, We Press On Toward the Goal
Paul
says that he has been taken hold of by Christ Jesus, yet at the same time he
declares that he presses on to take hold of that for which Christ took hold of
him. He has already been seized, yet he continues to run. He has already
received grace, yet he does not consider himself to have reached perfection.
Within this paradox lies the tension of mature faith. Salvation is not a reason
for complacency. It is the deepest power that moves a person toward God’s
calling.
The
“faith that presses on,” emphasized in Pastor David Jang’s sermon, is different
from an impatient desire for achievement. Paul’s race is not a competition
designed to display himself. It is a journey of obedience in which he longs to
know Christ, experience the power of His resurrection, share in His sufferings,
and finally attain the resurrection. The path includes pain and moments that
appear to be loss, but Paul’s gaze remains fixed not on present judgments, but
on the prize of the upward call of God.
The
assurance that Christ has taken hold of us does not cause us to stop walking.
Instead, it makes clear what we should be pursuing. Grace does not turn a
person into a passive spectator. In response to the love already received, the
believer willingly limits personal freedom, takes the place of a servant in
order to win more people, and faithfully walks the entrusted path to the end.
Paul
did not claim that he had already obtained everything. Nor did he display his
spiritual accomplishments as though they were a finished product. He forgot
what lay behind and reached forward toward what lay ahead, pressing on toward
the goal. This does not mean denying the past or erasing one’s memories. It
means refusing to allow either past glory or past wounds to hinder today’s
obedience.
When
We Let Go of What Lies Behind, Hope Becomes a Path
People
are held captive not only by failure, but also by success. Painful memories
become fear that binds the feet, while memories of past achievement become
complacency that prevents further growth. Both churches and individuals can
lose the present reality of the gospel the moment they stop and gaze only at
what has already been accomplished. Paul’s declaration that he would “forget
what lies behind” is not an expression of contempt for the past. It is a
confession of faith that refuses to allow the past to become greater than God’s
calling.
The
sermon acknowledges that people may stand at different levels of spiritual
maturity. Nevertheless, wherever they have arrived, they are called to live
faithfully according to what they have received and to take one more step
forward. The person whose faith is still faint and the person who has followed
the Word for many years both need the same direction. Neither should consider
themselves complete. Each must continue moving from the place where they stand,
following the light of the gospel.
The
prize of God’s calling is not worldly praise or honor. It is the eternal life
and glory given in Christ. This hope enables believers to endure the races
entrusted to them in their homes, workplaces, and churches. Their paths and
speeds may differ, but when their eyes are fixed on the same destination, the
community can move forward with one heart, overcoming comparison and conflict.
The freedom to become a servant for the sake of love, the patience to look
toward resurrection in the midst of suffering, and the obedience that seeks to
live in a manner worthy of grace already received all form part of this path.
Ultimately,
the knowledge of surpassing worth is not a proposition stored in the mind. It
is a life-giving knowledge that transforms what we boast in, what we are
willing to surrender, and where we choose to take our next step. If our
confession that we know Christ still does not shake our values, our use of
time, and our choices, perhaps we know His name but have not yet stood fully
before the surpassing worth of knowing Him.
Are
our steps today still lingering behind to protect past achievements and wounds?
Or are we moving once again toward the goal, longing to be found in Christ?
David Jang Official Website: www.davidjang.org
David Jang Sermon Video:
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