Philippians 3:1-11

Central Image

"Used to be" — the things we were proud of or ashamed of that we're still carrying — set against the resurrection as a right-now reality, not a historical footnote.

The Turn

We treat Easter like it belongs in the past tense, like something that happened then and we're just waiting to catch up to it — but Paul was already living in resurrection power before he ever died.

Outline

Used To Be (Opening)

Toby opened with Ralph, the 1967 Oakland wrestling champ, and the Toby Keith lyric sitting just below the surface: *I ain't as good as I once was.* The point wasn't nostalgia — it was setup. Every person carries a "used to be," and that's normal human life. But the danger is treating Easter the same way, as something that used to happen rather than something that is happening.

Paul's Used To Be (Philippians 3:1-6)

Paul lines up his credentials — tribe of Benjamin, Pharisee, blameless under the law, number one with a bullet — and Toby doesn't let the congregation treat that as a list of things Paul was secretly glad to lose. He really had something. He was the best at the thing everybody around him cared about most. His "used to be" had real weight.

The Trade (Philippians 3:7-8)

Paul called all of it a dead loss — not a modest loss, not a fair trade, a total wipeout — and then used a word Toby translated plainly as the stuff you scrape off your shoe with a nasty face. The point of the trade illustration (Mandy giving up high jumping to be the fastest woman alive for ten years) is that you don't grieve a smaller thing when you're holding something of genuinely infinite value. Paul didn't walk away bitter; he walked away because he saw something bigger.

What Knowing Christ Actually Means (Philippians 3:9-11)

Three phrases: the power of His resurrection, the koinonia of His sufferings, being co-formed to His death. Toby slowed down on the third one — Paul coined this word himself, and it doesn't mean martyrdom. It means Paul wanted the shape of Jesus' sacrifice to reshape the shape of his own life. Not imitating a death, but letting the way Jesus lived and died restructure how Paul lived.

The Road to the Resurrection (Philippians 3:11)

"So that somehow I may arrive at the resurrection" sounds like doubt, but it isn't. The destination is settled. The road is not. Toby ran with the Miami Beach illustration — God promises the destination, doesn't tell you whether it's a limo or Spirit Air coach or a mule. Paul didn't know if he'd be beheaded, beaten by a mob, or die old in prison. What he knew was where he was headed, and in 100,000 years he wouldn't care how he got there.

Easter Is Now

Toby named Terry Riggs — died the morning of this sermon, more suddenly than people expected — and held the grief straight without softening it. Death stinks. Pain stinks. And the victory is real. Both things. The resurrection isn't used to be because Paul was already living in its power. The resurrection had arrived in Paul before Paul arrived at the resurrection. That's the line the whole sermon built toward.

The Invitation

The question isn't what you used to be — not the Pharisee resume, not the shame, not the pedigree, not the highlight reel of you sitting on the bench. The question is whether you're willing to make the trade and whether the resurrection has arrived in you yet.

The Landing

Toby called people to let go of whatever they're still holding — trophies, shame, pride, religion, pain — and grab ahold of resurrection power as a present reality, not a future promise. The resurrection doesn't wait for you to die; it's either in you now or it isn't.

1. Toby opened with "used to be" — the things we were, the things we could do, the way life looked before. What's a "used to be" in your own life, good or bad, that still has some kind of hold on you?
2. Paul listed his credentials — tribe, bloodline, law-keeping, zeal — and then called all of it a dead loss compared to knowing Christ. What was Paul actually giving up, and why does it matter that it was genuinely valuable to him and not just garbage he was glad to be rid of?
3. Toby made a distinction about Paul's statement "so that somehow I may arrive at the resurrection" — Paul wasn't unsure whether he'd make it, he just didn't know the road. What difference does it make to understand it that way instead of reading it as doubt?
4. Toby named specific things Paul — and we — might be holding onto: trophies, shame, pride, pedigree, religious resume, pain, personality power. Which one of those is hardest for you personally to set down?
5. Toby said the resurrection had arrived in Paul long before Paul arrived at the resurrection. What would it actually look like for someone to be living that way — not just believing it, but living it?
6. Toby said death stinks, pain stinks, sickness stinks — and then said the victory is real anyway. He mentioned Terry Riggs by name. How do you hold grief and hope at the same time without one of them swallowing the other?
7. If Easter is not a "used to be" but a right now — what would it look like for this congregation to actually live like that's true together, not just believe it privately?
8. Paul said his life was being co-formed to the death of Christ — the shape of Jesus' sacrifice was changing the shape of his life. Pick one specific way, this week, that you could let the shape of what Jesus did change the shape of something you do.