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The Sermon for Quinquagesima, Sunday, February 15th, 2026
The Lessons: Exodus 24:12-18; Psalm 99; Philippians 3:7-14; Matthew 17:1-9
The Text: Philippians 3:7-14
INTRODUCTION
In Jules Verne’s novel The Mysterious Island, he tells of five men who escape a Civil War prison camp by hijacking a hot-air balloon. As they rise into the air, they realize the wind is carrying them over the ocean. Watching their homeland disappear on the horizon, they wonder how much longer the balloon can stay aloft.
As the hours pass and the surface of the ocean draws closer, the men decide they must cast overboard some of the weight, for they had no way to heat the air in the balloon. Shoes, overcoats, and weapons are reluctantly discarded, and the uncomfortable aviators feel their balloon rise. But only temporarily. Soon they find themselves dangerously close to the waves again, so they toss their food. Better to be high and hungry than drown on a full belly!
Unfortunately, this, too, is only a temporary solution, and the craft threatens to lower the men into the sea. One man has an idea: they can tie the ropes that hold the passenger car and sit on those ropes. Then they can cut away the basket beneath them. As they sever the very thing they had been standing on, it drops into the ocean, and the balloon rises.
Not a minute too soon, they spot land. Eager to stand on terra firma again, the five jump into the water and swim to the island. They live, spared because they were able to discern the difference between what really was needed and what was not. The ‘necessities’ they once thought they couldn’t live without were the very weights that almost cost them their lives.[1]
THE EPISTLE LESSON: BEGINNING WITH THE LOSS OF ALL THINGS
Our Epistle Lesson today begins with St. Paul’s admission:
But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ.
(Philippians 3:7, KJV)
This itself is a contradiction, a paradox since it reveals a profound truism. All that St. Paul had previously regarded as achievements and advantages in his life, he counted loss on account of Christ. These achievements, such as his learning as a Pharisee, his perseverance in achieving the righteousness that came from keeping the Jewish Law, he regards as forfeited for the sake of Christ. Why? All his achievements came from his own effort, his own human wisdom and knowledge, and not from God. A vision of Christ, such as Peter, James, and John experienced when Christ was transfigured before them on the mountain where they were praying, can be so resplendent, so dazzlingly bright, that the one who sees the vision is deeply impressed both by the holiness and glory of God and by his own inadequacy and sinfulness in the face of God. All our own concepts of what is good, holy, and divine are far outweighed by truly knowing Christ the Lord. Therefore our priorities change in that we aim to please Christ, to know God, to love God, and to worship and obey Him more and more. But the cost of doing this is immense. We have to let go of so much that we think is important and necessary, but is not, compared to knowing and loving God.
St. Paul proceeds to make the same point more emphatically:
Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ.
(Philippians 3:8, KJV)
Everything he counts as loss, and even as dung, for the sake of the excellency of knowing Christ Jesus his Lord for whom he has suffered the loss of all things. The purpose of abandoning all these earthly pursuits and goals is so that he may win, or gain, Christ. If any Christian thinks he can win or gain Christ without giving up many other things, he is mistaken. This is also why St. Paul calls on Christians to offer themselves as a living sacrifice to God (Romans 12:1-2). There is simply no other way to please God than to give up pleasing yourself, abandon all things that distract us from our calling to love God, and love our neighbor. The excellence of knowing God far surpasses and outweighs everything else.
How are we to attain to excellence of the knowledge of Christ? It is not through our own achievements or obedience, but by God’s grace:
And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith.
(Philippians 3:9, KJV)
If it were by our own good deeds or achievements that we came to be found in Christ and to know him, then it would be by our own righteousness. But, as it is, God has subjected all people to disobedience, so that all may find the grace of forgiveness by believing in the Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 3:23-24; 3:28). Therefore the righteousness we have gained is through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, for faith in our own achievements and deeds brings about the awareness of God’s judgement on ourselves and all our futile attempts to please ourselves and others. Though God requires us to continue in obedience to his laws, the grace to do so is given by his Holy Spirit, and our righteousness is God’s gift by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
There is an extended goal of renouncing all things and counting them as loss. Beyond gaining Christ and being found in him as having the righteousness of God that is built upon faith and given by God in response to our faith, we are to come to know him and to know the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings, being conformed to him in his death, so that we may attain to the resurrection of the dead (Philippians 3:10-11). We notice through these verses how the statements of faith in the Apostles’ Creed become a pattern for the Christian way of life. There is no easy way out. We all have a cross to carry and we must all follow Jesus where he leads. This is also the message of the Transfiguration. The glorification of Jesus was not in a vacuum. Moses and Elijah confirmed to Jesus Christ the cross that he would bear, the way of sorrows that he would walk.
St. Paul does not believe in perfectionism. He states clearly that he has not attained perfection already (Philippians 3:12-13). He does not even state that he will reach perfection in this life, but he must continually pursue it (Philippians 3:12), since Christ took hold of him for this purpose of sanctifying him. His aim is to pursue the goal of perfection in Christ, to reach full maturity in Christ. He forgets the past and his failings in the past, and reaches out to the future, to reach his goal of the “prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:14b, KJV).
CONCLUSION
The Transfiguration sets before us the highest standard of holiness and excellence of virtue as shown in the Lord Jesus Christ. As we approach Lent and its disciplines, we must forget the past, and continually persevere in our goal of living by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and walking in obedience to him, making daily progress in the Christian way of life.
[1] p. 242, 750 Engaging Illustrations for Preachers, Teachers, and Writers from Craig Brian Larson and Leadership Journal. Grand Rapids, Michigan: BakerBooks, 2002. Second Printing, August 2008.