Please turn to the letter to the Philippians, chapter 3. We will read from verse 1 through verse 17.
Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord.
To write the same things to you, to me indeed is not irksome, but for you it is safe.
Beware of the dogs, beware of the evil workers, beware of the concision:
For we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God, and glory in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh:
Though I myself might have confidence even in the flesh. If any other man thinketh to have confidence in the flesh, I yet more:
Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee;
As touching zeal, persecuting the church; as touching the righteousness which is in the law, found blameless.
Howbeit what things were gain to me, these have I counted loss for Christ.
Yea verily, and I count all things to be loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but refuse, that I may gain Christ,
And be found in Him, not having a righteousness of mine own, even that which is of 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, becoming conformed unto His death;
If by any means I may attain unto the resurrection from the dead.
Not that I have already obtained, or am already made perfect: but I press on, if so be that I may lay hold on that for which also I was laid hold on by Christ Jesus.
Brethren, I count not myself yet to have laid hold: but one thing I do, forgetting the things which are behind, and stretching forward to the things which are before,
I press on toward the goal unto the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
Let us therefore, as many as are perfect, be thus minded: and if in anything ye are otherwise minded, this also shall God reveal unto you:
Only, whereunto we have attained, by that same rule let us walk.
Brethren, be ye imitators together of me, and mark them that so walk even as ye have us for an ensample.
May we look to the Lord.
Heavenly Father, we do want to thank Thee. It is Thy mercy, it is Thy grace, that has brought us to this last full day of this conference. Lord, we want to thank Thee because of Thy faithfulness to us. Thou hast been good.
And now, as we are in this last full day, Lord, our hearts do cry out to Thee that whatever Thou hast ordained for this conference will all be fulfilled. Lord, Thou knowest each one of us. We just desire to open ourselves to Thee and allow Thee to finish the work that is yet to be done.
Lord, speak to us. Work in us. Bring us into Thy full counsel, that we may not be just spectators and hearers, but that we may be participants in Thy full counsel; that Thy will may be done, and Thou mayest be glorified. So, Lord, we look to Thee for this morning, in the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.
In the counsel of God, there is a place for Christians. A Christian has his origin in Christ, and a Christian has his destiny in the church.
A Christian is not the origin; Christ is the origin. Whatever does not originate from Christ, or whatever is not Christ, is not Christian. And whatever is not Christ is not the church.
So, brothers and sisters, we need to have Christ always before us. As our brother mentioned a number of times, Christ is the center, and He is the circumference. He is the Alpha and the Omega. It is only in Christ that we are Christians, and it is because of Christ that there is the church.
The disciples were called Christians first in Antioch. These people believed in the Lord Jesus. They were steadfast with the Lord, with all purpose of heart. They were taught and discipled unto Christ for a whole year.
Under that kind of situation, they were so obsessed with Christ, so possessed by Christ. Christ was everything, all to them. That is the reason why they were given that nickname: Christians.
Are we so obsessed with Christ, possessed by Christ? Are we madly in love with Christ? Are we willing to be fools for Christ, to suffer with Him?
These are the credentials of Christians. These are the marks of Christians. You remember the Apostle Paul said, “From henceforth let no man trouble me; for I bear branded on my body the marks of Jesus.”
Now, brothers and sisters, do we have these marks upon us—obsessed with Christ, madly in love with Christ, willing to suffer with Christ? Then, by the grace of God, we are worthy to be called Christians.
Who is a Christian? What distinguishes him from all the people in the world? We mentioned before that what distinguishes a person from all other persons in the world as a Christian is that, in him, there is life.
A living person among the dead—that is what a Christian is. This life is given to us when we believe in the Lord Jesus. We want to emphasize again and again: this life in us is not a thing; it is a Person.
Eternal life is not something other than God Himself. It is Christ. Christ dwells in us by His Spirit. Christ is our life. That makes us Christians.
Therefore, whatever is not life is not Christian. Whatever is not Christ is not Christian. Now, brothers and sisters, if we measure ourselves by this, how much of a Christian are you?
You may have believed in the Lord Jesus for many years. You may even have served the Lord for many years. But, brothers and sisters, if the life that you live is not Christ living in you, then it is not Christian.
If the service that you give to the Lord is not Christ in you, if it is not the power of the Holy Spirit but yourself, your service is non-Christian.
Christ is our life, brothers and sisters. It sounds very simple, but I am afraid there are many who do not know that Christ is their life. Life is meant to be lived. If Christ is your life, then who is living today?
The Apostle Paul said, “For to me to live is Christ.” He lived his life, but the One who lived in him was Christ. Therefore, brothers and sisters, we not only have Christ in us as our life, but that life is meant to be lived. If we live by that life, then we live as Christians. This is the Christian way of life.
The reason why we find the life of Christ somehow blocked is because the self still stands in the way. That is the reason why we need the cross to deal with us, to put the old self away, and to let Christ live out through us.
When His life is lived out through us, it swallows up not only the death around us, but the death within us. This is the life of a Christian.
Now, this morning we would like to speak about the passion of a Christian. Passion is a deep, overwhelming feeling or emotion toward a person or toward things.
In the dictionary, we are told that passion is an ardent, adoring love. It is boundless enthusiasm and zeal. To me, I feel that passion is the drive within us.
A person with mixed passions is torn in his ways. You remember James 1:8:
A doubleminded man, unstable in all his ways.
In the original, it is a two-souled person—unstable in all his ways. Within your soul, you have two passions. You want this, and you want that too. You want Christ, but you also want the world. You desire things heavenly, but at the same time, you also desire things earthly.
A two-souled person will never accomplish anything.
In Matthew 6, in the so-called Sermon on the Mount, you remember our Lord Jesus said:
Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon the earth, where moth and rust consume, and where thieves break through and steal:
But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth consume, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:
For where thy treasure is, there will thy heart be also.
The lamp of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.
But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is the darkness!
No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.
A two-souled person is unstable in all his ways. The Lord says, “If your eye is single,” that is, you can see only one thing. Then your whole body is full of light. But if you have double vision, then great is the darkness in you.
Either your passion is for God or your passion is for mammon. You cannot serve two masters.
People in this world set their passion upon the things of this world. Some people’s passion is on love; some on money; some on position and power; some on pleasure. Because their passion is directed toward these things, they pursue after these things. They are willing to sacrifice other things just for that one thing, in order to get the thing upon which they have set their passion.
I think of Solomon. If you read the book of Ecclesiastes, you find that at one time he set his passion upon the things of this world. He would give himself anything that he desired.
He built; he planted; he had many wives and concubines, singing men and singing women, gardens, riches—everything. He tried everything in this world. Of all the people in this world, he was one who seemed to be able to get whatever he wanted. But listen to what he said: “Vanity of vanities; all is vanity. It is a striving after wind.”
When we see people in this world, how they seek after these things in the world, what do they get? Vanity. Nothing better than that.
The change of life ought to bring in a change of passion. Once we were dead, so we sought after the things that pass away. Now we are alive. We have a new life in us. We have Christ’s life in us.
With this new life, there ought to be a change in our passion—what we set our heart upon, what we seek after, and that for which we are willing to give up everything in order to possess it.
A Christian is marked by a new passion.
Brothers and sisters, in the book of Romans we find the manifold mercies of God. We were once sinners, rebels, dead in trespasses and sins, without hope. But in God’s mercy—He is rich in mercy—He gave us His only begotten Son.
Because of the blood shed on Calvary’s cross, we receive the remission of our sins. We were justified before God. The righteousness of God came to us. He considered us righteous because we are clothed with Christ Jesus.
Just like Adam and Eve, the Lord clothed them with the skin of a slain animal. In the presence of God, we are clothed with Christ; and when He looks upon us, He sees Christ, not us. Because of this, we are accepted in the Beloved. What grace, what mercy is that! When we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
But the mercies of God are also rich. He not only forgives our sins through the blood of His beloved Son; He gives us His very life. Christ lives in us, and because of this, we are not only justified; we are sanctified. We are able to live a holy life, separated and pleasing unto God.
The mercies of God are so rich. He not only justifies us, not only sanctifies us; He also glorifies us, conforming us to the image of His beloved Son. If God is for us, who can be against us? There is nothing that can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus.
Even before the foundation of the world, He chose us in Christ Jesus; and in time, His grace came upon us. Our security is in Christ.
Brothers and sisters, when you think of the mercies of God—how the mercies of God have come upon you—what is your response? The mercies of God make us Christians. You do not make a Christian out of yourself. You cannot. It is the mercy of God that makes you a Christian.
But after we have received all the mercies of God, what is our response to Him? In Romans 12:1, it says:
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service.
So, brothers and sisters, we who have received the mercies of God have only one way to respond: we present our bodies a living sacrifice.
The first Christian experience is consecration. After you become a Christian, your first Christian experience is consecration. That is, you are constrained by the love of God in Christ Jesus, and you cannot help but give your whole being to God and say, “Lord, from now on, I am Yours, not mine.”
That is consecration, and that is the first Christian experience. Consecration is not to give yourself to God for this or that. Consecration is to give yourself to God and let Him do whatever He delights to do in you and with you.
Many years ago, when I was saved, I cannot but remember what happened to me. That was way back in 1930. I was staying in a conference almost at the end of the country.
The first few days passed by, and I was not saved. What the preachers preached, I knew too well; I preached them too. I remember one preacher who taught on the tabernacle. I could not understand him at all because he was from Shantung Province, and I could not understand his dialect.
I went to the conference with only one desire: to be saved. Yet a number of days passed by and nothing happened. But then, one afternoon, He touched me. I was so grateful.
On the last day of that conference, the subject was consecration. I do not know whether it still happens now or not, but at that conference the last meeting was always on consecration.
The preacher began to talk about consecration. He said, “Well, you have believed in the Lord Jesus. Now consecrate yourself. Give yourself to the Lord to serve Him.”
A huge map of China was hanging on the wall. The preacher said, “If you want to serve God, you can choose where you want to go to serve Him. Come up to the platform, point your finger to the place, and there you will go.”
Now, I was a young man of fifteen years old, just saved. I was really burning. I said, “Well, surely I want to serve You. Where? The furthest place, the most difficult place, to prove my love to the Lord.” So I walked to the platform and pointed my finger to Mongolia.
Now, I had never been to Mongolia. To me, it was very real, very sincere. But, brothers and sisters, is that consecration? To work for God—is that consecration?
Surely an unconsecrated person cannot work for God, even though there are many who are working for God. But, brothers and sisters, consecration is the first Christian experience. It is not the first preacher’s experience, nor the first apostle’s experience.
As a brother or a sister in the Lord, there is only one way for us to respond to the mercies of God: we cannot keep ourselves any longer. If we are touched by His great love, what can we do but give our whole being to Him and say, “Lord, here it is. Deal with me as Thou pleasest. Do with me as Thou wilt. I am Thy workmanship.”
Consecration is a matter of the will. You are willing to give yourself completely to the Lord. You are willing to hand yourself over to Him and say, “Lord, it is Yours. From now on, You have the right over my whole being—my mouth, my ears, my eyes, my hands, my feet, my heart, everything.”
That is consecration: a surrendered will, a will that wills the will of God. Now, have you done that?
If you have done this, immediately you will find something happening:
And be not fashioned according to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
You know what happens when you give yourself to the Lord, when you consecrate yourself to the Lord? The Holy Spirit, having obtained your permission, will come in and renew your mind.
When you are saved, your spirit is quickened into life. But your mind, even though it has gone through something—because repentance means a change of mind—that change is superficial. You receive a new life, but you still carry an old mind.
Your mind is still set on the things below, not on the things above. Or, to put it another way, even though you have a new life, when you look at things, your estimation and valuation of things are still in the old way.
You still love the world and the things of the world. You are still afraid of the will of God, thinking that the will of God is always against you, that it is not pleasing. If your mind is still that old mind, how can you walk the Christian walk? It is impossible.
You need a renewing of your mind. That is to say, your mind has to have a drastic change in its valuation. This comes in consecration. You cannot change your mind; it is the Holy Spirit who will renew your mind.
How do you know that your mind is being renewed? Very easy: you prove what is the good, acceptable, and perfect will of God.
Strangely, after you give yourself to the Lord, you find that your viewpoint begins to change. You look at the same things, and they appear very different. What you treasured very much, what you valued very highly, what you thought you could not live without, what you longed for—you begin to see these things as refuse.
You begin to wonder, “Why did I love these filthy things, these worthless things?” On the other hand, you find that you begin to love the will of God. You want to prove it. You want to see how perfect it is, how good and acceptable it is to you.
Now, brothers and sisters, this happens at consecration: a surrendered will, a renewed mind, and when this happens, a new passion comes upon you—a new love.
Brother and sister, look at the life of the apostle. In Philippians 3, he told us what his passion was before he knew the Lord. He had much to boast of.
So far as his heritage was concerned, he said, “As to circumcision, I received it the eighth day.” Ishmael was also circumcised, but he was circumcised when he was thirteen years old. The command of the Lord is circumcision on the eighth day. Here you find the Apostle Paul saying, “I was circumcised on the eighth day, an Israelite.”
He was of the stock of Israel—not of Esau, but of Jacob; of the stock of Israel; of the tribe of Benjamin. Of the twelve sons of Jacob, only Benjamin was born in the promised land.
When the nation was divided into two, ten tribes went away to the northern kingdom of Israel. Judah remained, and Benjamin was with Judah. They never left.
He was a Hebrew of Hebrews. What that means is that he was not only born of a Hebrew family, but that Hebrew family continued to keep Hebrew customs. They spoke Hebrew at home. That made him a Hebrew of Hebrews.
Many Hebrews born in the Dispersion no longer spoke Hebrew in the house. But Paul said that he was a Hebrew of Hebrews. In other words, his credentials were genuine: a typical, orthodox Jew. It was all there, and how he treasured this chosen race of God.
As far as his own achievement was concerned, he said, “As to the law, a Pharisee.” The Pharisees were a sect. They devoted their lives to the study of the law and to keeping it. They were the teachers of the nation.
When Paul was young, he went to Jerusalem to learn the law under the great teacher Gamaliel, and he became a Pharisee, of the sect of the Pharisees.
“As to zeal, persecuting the church.” He was zealous for the tradition of the fathers. According to the traditions of the fathers, they considered Jesus an impostor. He was so zealous for the tradition of his fathers that he persecuted the believers even unto death.
“As to righteousness which is in the law, found blameless.” He was a true Pharisee. He tried his very best to keep every letter of the law. In the eyes of men, he was righteous, and he considered himself righteous.
Paul’s—Saul’s—passion at that time was to be the top man in Judaism. He was willing to sacrifice everything. As a young man, he was willing to sacrifice the pleasures of sin and of this world. He devoted himself to arrive at the goal he had set for himself: the top name in Judaism.
That was his passion. That was the one thing that drew him relentlessly onward. He was successful to the point that, if he had continued, he would have reached the top.
But on the road to Damascus, the Lord met him. The first word he asked the Lord was, “Who art Thou, Lord?” In other words, “I do not know Thee.”
The voice said, “I am Jesus whom thou persecutest.” The second word Saul said to the Lord was, “What shall I do, Lord?”
In the first question, he came to know Jesus as Lord. In the second question, he surrendered himself to the Lord. On the day he was converted, he surrendered himself to the Lord. His mind was renewed.
Therefore, you find that he said, “What things were gain to me, these I counted loss for Christ.” His mind was completely changed.
What he had considered treasures, success, and things to boast of, he now considered loss on account of Christ. Now, brothers and sisters, when Christ came into your life, has He made such a difference in your life?
Is it possible for Christ to come into your life and you still hold on to the things that you treasured before? You still count these things as gain. You still boast of your heritage, your earthly heritage. You still boast of your past achievements. Can it be possible? Should it be that way?
Does the coming of Christ into a life make a difference?
The apostle counted these things as loss. Why? Because they hindered him from Christ. They distracted him from Christ. So, holding on to these things is loss. If only these things had gone away earlier, I would not have suffered so long.
Not only that, he said, “I count all things to be loss.” No, he did not merely count them as something lost, but he counted them as refuse for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus.
Brothers and sisters, Christ Jesus is the holy One. Anything that is not Christ is filthy. Our flesh is filthy. The world is filthy.
Not only did he count things that way; he suffered the loss of them. He would not hold on to these things anymore. He would drop them as soon as he could. Why? That he might be open to one thing—to Christ.
Brothers and sisters, we hold on to too many things, and that is the reason why we have so little of Christ.
You know, in the Bible we are told that there is one thing. There is only one thing.
In Psalm 27, David said:
One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after:
That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life,
To behold the beauty of the Lord,
And to inquire in His temple.
This is the psalm of David. David had one passion. His passion was to see the beauty of the Lord.
Psalm 73:25 says:
Whom have I in heaven but Thee?
And there is none upon earth that I desire besides Thee.
Asaph had the same feeling.
The rich young ruler came to the Lord. He ran to the Lord and knelt down before Him. A crowd was with our Lord Jesus, but this young man was so earnest that he did not care about the crowd. He knelt before the Lord in the midst of the crowd.
He was so anxious to know how he could have eternal life. He cared for eternal life. “Good Teacher, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?”
The Lord said, “Why callest thou Me good? None is good save one, even God. Thou knowest the commandments.” The young man said, “All these things have I observed from my youth.”
The Lord looked at him and loved him. But the Lord knew there was something missing. So the Lord said, “If thou wouldest be perfect, go, sell that which thou hast, and give to the poor; and come, follow Me.”
One thing you need. What is that one thing? Me—Christ. That is the one thing. But your riches hinder you from coming to Me. It is a loss to you. If you want to gain Me, you have to let go of these riches, because I am the one thing you need.
He went away sorrowful. With men it is impossible, but with God all things are possible.
In Luke 10, our Lord Jesus came to a family. Martha received Him, and she was busy preparing a meal for the Lord. Her sister Mary sat at the feet of the Lord and listened to Him.
Martha came to the Lord disturbed and said, “Lord, dost Thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? Bid her therefore that she help me.”
The Lord answered, “Martha, Martha, thou art anxious and troubled about many things: but one thing is needful: for Mary hath chosen the good part.”
Brothers and sisters, where is your passion as a Christian? Is your passion centered upon one thing, one Person—the Lord Himself?
The problem with the modern world is that we have too many interests. We are torn in our passions, and therefore we are unstable in all our ways. What is your passion today? Are you in love with one Person, the Lord Jesus?
This was the passion of John, of Peter, of James, of the early apostles. This was the passion of the Apostle Paul. This was the passion of the believers, the disciples of Antioch. This was the passion of all those martyrs throughout the ages.
In the eighteenth century, there was a nobleman who loved the Lord. He used to sit at the window of his castle, writing love letters to Christ and throwing them out of the window.
He grew up to be a young man and finished university. To complete his education as a nobleman, he traveled over Europe. He came to Paris, but Paris had nothing attractive to him.
One day he was in Germany, in Düsseldorf. He went to a museum and saw a picture—a picture of the head of the Lord Jesus, painted by an artist, with a thorn crown, bleeding.
There were two sentences beneath the picture: “I did all this for thee; what doest thou for Me?”
There is a story about that picture, another story. But this nobleman stood before that picture transfixed, until the attendant came, touched his shoulder, and said, “You have to go. We want to close the museum.”
He went to his hotel. He prayed. He gave himself and all to the Lord. He was Count Zinzendorf. He had an estate, and he opened his estate to receive Christian refugees, those who were persecuted because of their faith.
He brought them there, became their leader, and God used him mightily. This brother said, “I have only one passion: Christ, and Christ only.”
Is that our passion? There can be only one passion for Christians: a passion for Christ. Does the love of Christ constrain you? Are you still able to go back to other things? This is Christian passion.
Now, if we have such a passion for Christ, there is a way. There is a way to gain Him. The Apostle Paul in Philippians 3 shows us very clearly:
And be found in Him, not having a righteousness of mine own, even that which is of the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith.
First of all, as a Pharisee, he was trying to build up his own righteousness, the righteousness according to law. But after he was met by Christ, his own righteousness became a filthy rag. He was so glad that it was taken off from him, and instead he was clothed with Christ as his righteousness.
It is a righteousness not according to law, but according to grace by faith: the righteousness which God gave to him. God looked upon him and said, “Yes, you are righteous.”
In other words, to gain Christ, the first step is to receive the finished work of Christ on Calvary’s cross—His blood shed for the remission of our sins.
That is the first step. After you have received the work of Christ on the cross and you are saved, then there stirs within you a deep desire to know the One who saved you.
Brothers and sisters, when we come to the Lord Jesus, as a matter of fact, we first come to His work—the shed blood of the Lord Jesus. How we appreciate that. How thankful and grateful we are for that.
But receiving the benefit of His work of redemption ought to stir within us a desire to know our Benefactor, our Saviour. We want to know Him.
Many people stay only with the work of Christ, but they do not seek after the Person who does the work. We want to know Him. We want to know His character. We want to know what He likes and what He dislikes. We want to be near to Him. We want to please Him. He is the One whom we want to know.
Is that not natural? If someone rescued you out of the water, would you not like to know who your rescuer is? And would you not want to be like him?
After we have received the work of our Lord Jesus, surely we want to know Him—the eternal Son of God, the Heir of all things. As our brother has shared with us, we want to know who He is and what He is: to know Him.
As we desire to know Him, we desire to know the power of His resurrection. What does it mean? It simply means that as you draw near to Him to know Him, you discover that He is your very life, that He lives in you.
He not only saves you, but He lives in you. He is your very life—that holy life, that beautiful life, that victorious life, that glorious life, that resurrection life, that life which overcomes sin, self, the world, Satan, and death.
The power of His resurrection: you begin to experience Him in the power of His resurrection. You begin to experience how His life in you overcomes sin. You begin to experience how His life in you overcomes the world.
You begin to experience His life overcoming your own flesh, your own self, and even death itself. Brothers and sisters, if your passion is for Him, you will find that He becomes your very life. You experience the power of His resurrection.
And the fellowship of His sufferings. You need first to experience His life, His resurrection power in you, before you are able to have fellowship with His sufferings.
Again, we say that these sufferings of His are not His vicarious, atoning sufferings, because He trod the winepress of the wrath of God alone for us. But they are His sufferings as the Son of Man.
He suffered for righteousness’ sake. He suffered to do the will of His Father. He suffered in denying His own self. He suffered misunderstanding and rejection in His life.
Brothers and sisters, when we share in His life, then we are able to share in His sufferings, becoming conformed to His death.
We think that if we pursue after Christ, if we gain Him, then we will go higher and higher. No, brothers and sisters. If you gain only Him, you get lower and lower.
From the power of His resurrection, you come to the fellowship of His sufferings; and from the fellowship of His sufferings, you are being conformed to His death. It goes lower and lower.
His death is all-inclusive. It takes everything. There is no self left. That death swallows up everything. That is His death, and brothers and sisters, we are to be conformed to Him.
Out of that, we may arrive at the out-resurrection from among the dead. You know, the resurrection here does not refer simply to the general resurrection.
Every believer will experience resurrection at the coming of the Lord. Our mortal body will be changed into an immortal body; the physical body will be changed into a spiritual body; the body of humiliation will become a body of glory. All believers will share in this resurrection.
But what Paul means here is out-resurrection. That is the first resurrection mentioned in Scripture. That is to say, if we are in union with Christ in His resurrection and death, then we will have a share with Him in the kingdom, as the out-resurrection from the dead.
What is the goal that we are to seek? The goal is Christ. Our goal is Christ. What is the prize? When we arrive at the goal, it is the fullness of Christ.
That is the will of God for us, brothers and sisters. The will of God for us is that we may have the fullness of Christ, that we may be conformed to His image.
Have we arrived? Not yet. Forgetting what is behind and pressing onward toward the goal, dear brothers and sisters, this is the way.
May the Lord help us, that we are passionately in love with Christ. Shall we pray?
Dear Heavenly Father, Thou hast revealed Thy beloved Son, Thy Christ. We do pray that we may be so constrained by Thy love that we will set our heart upon Christ and nothing else.
Lord, we do pray that our life hereafter will be Christ in us and Christ before us—Christ all and in all—that Thy whole counsel might be realized. We ask in Thy precious name. Amen.