October 28

That I may win Christ. - Philippians 3:8.

WHILE the men of the world are making worldly good their chief aim, and are seeking for happiness in the things of the present life, endeavouring to gain its honours, its riches, its pleasures, the Christian’s aim is to “win Christ.” Oh, says he, it is my wish, my grand desire, my principal aim, my daily and earnest pursuit, to win him, to realize him, to possess him, and to enjoy him.

Observe, therefore, The value of the prize. That I may win Christ; and oh, what a prize is he. To describe the excellence of this “treasure hid in the field,” this pearl of price unknown, would beggar a seraph’s tongue. The sacred penmen seem to have been at a loss to find suitable expressions to set it forth. They speak of him as being “fairer than the children of men;” yea, he is “altogether lovely.” He is the “hope,” and the “consolation,” and the “glory” of Israel, in whom all fulness dwells, so that in winning him we gain all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, that we may become “wise unto salvation.” In him it hath pleased the Father should all fulness dwell, so that in gaining him we gain all pure, Spiritual, durable, and satisfying good, all Spiritual blessings in time, and all the happiness and glories of eternity. Therefore, says the Apostle, “All things are yours, whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or things present or things to come. All are yours, and ye are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s.”

Observe, secondly, The person who is thus desirous to win Christ. This is the language of Paul. He is the candidate for this prize, and we notice, first, that this language received as coming from Paul, is calculated to excite our admiration. What a change has taken place in his views and in his feelings, he who verily thought within himself that he ought to do many things against the name of Christ. Haling men and women, and committing them to prison, and persecuting even to strange cities all that called upon his name; and when they were put to death giving his voice against them.

Here we find the blasphemer now a worshipper of Jesus; the bitterest foe the most earnest candidate for his favour, and giving expression to unparalleled admiration. And we may also notice that this language is calculated to excite inquiry. It may he asked, But had he not already won the prize, and was he not now rejoicing in a knowledge of the fact? Yes, but with all who sincerely love Christ, he sought after higher attainments in a knowledge and enjoyment of his interest in Him. He says, “I count not myself to have apprehended, but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” And thus it is with all Christians that love Christ so well, that they are not satisfied with what they have known and felt. “They want to see still “greater things than these.” Hence says the Apostle, “That I may know him,” that is, know more of him, “and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings being made conformable to his death.”

An increase in knowledge promotes humility. A Christian is not dissatisfied with the object, but with the measure of his knowledge; and therefore he is, with Paul, anxious to possess more of “the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, his Lord.”

Thirdly, Observe the possibility of success. This prize is attainable, and it is attainable by us. Not by way of merit, nor desert, but by an humble, penitent, and loving application to him; in an exclusive dependence upon him; and in an entire renouncing of all for him. As nothing can be a substitute for him, so no sacrifice will be deemed too great to make for him. We shall be ready to part with self and the world, “laying aside every weight, and the sin that doth so easily beset us,” that we may win Christ. Thrice happy and blessed are all those that win Christ. Happy in time, in trouble, in death, and happy in eternity.

But alas, how dreadful will it be with all those who lose the prize. Whatever else they possess, how poor, and wretched, and miserable will their state be in life, in death, and in eternity.