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• We all have ambitions. Are they misplaced or godly?

• The mother of the sons of Zebedee had misplaced ambitions (Matthew 20).
  - Jesus said godly ambition is the ambition to serve and to wipe people's feet.
  - Illustration: In the movie Amadeus, Salieri prayed, "God, I want to serve you, but please make me a brilliant musician." He was jealous of Mozart's musical brilliance.

• The major message of this passage is that we have a relationship with God by faith, not by works.
• In verses 1-6, Paul's "credentials" would have given him great reason to boast.
• In verses 7-8, Paul now considers those credentials loss for the sake of Christ.
  - Literal translation for "loss" is excrement; KJV once used a 4-letter word.
• In verses 9-10, Paul says tells how his ambitions have radically changed.
• What changes our ambitions?
• Things happen psychologically-seasons of life, getting older.
• Things happen socially-illness, bereavement, bankruptcy, divorce, etc.
• But for Paul, it wasn't psychological or social, it was a spiritual revolution.

• He wants a deep, intimate, personal relationship with Christ.
• He wants to know the power of his resurrection, through the power of the Spirit.
• He wants to know Christ's suffering, to be conformed to him in his death.
  - Illustration: Paul Toaspern, a theologian who lived in West Berlin, exemplifies Paul's last desire. When the wall went up dividing Berlin, Toaspern went to the East side, in the opposite direction of the refugees, because he knew the church in East Berlin would need a pastor. He gave up a life of freedom.

• We must ask ourselves, "Where are my investments, now and in the future?"
• We should have the ambition of Paul, to have our faith mean we really love Jesus.
• Jim Elliot: "He is no fool who gives up that which he cannot keep to gain that which he can never lose."