Thursday, March 17, 2016

Jerry Knew the Surpassing Worth

The afternoon that Jerry Bridges was welcomed into the arms of Jesus, I was in California attending our son's church, New Life Burbank. Jeff was in the midst of a sermon series on Philippians. That Sunday he exegeted Philippians 3:8-11. I've been pondering the phrase surpassing worth (verse 8) since. I believe like Paul, Jerry knew the beyond-everything-else-value of finding his righteousness in Jesus. (verse 9)

Five days later, Bill and I sat in our own church, Village Seven, in Colorado at Jerry's memorial service. Our pastor Mark Bates, following Jerry's request, spoke on the very same passage. Mark highlighted the references to righteousness. He spoke of sometimes needing to repent of our righteousness. Paul repented of his righteousness and found his true righteousness coming from his faith in Jesus, as did Jerry.

For the past three years I've been pondering my righteousness that results from faith in God and the implications of that for me. Mark offered new insights to my pondering.

My husband also penned two wonderful tributes to Jerry and the friendship they shared. So as a personal tribute to Jerry, I want to share Jeff's, Mark's, and Bill's words with you.

http://newlifeburbank.org/media.php?pageID=6 - Jeff's sermon.

j.mp/Bridges-Homegoing  - Jerry's memorial service. (Mark's message starts at minute 54).


http://billtell.com/i-lost-a-hero-this-week/  - This is Bill's post from last week. This week's post also honors Jerry.

A personal thought from the last few days:

I do not need to Rehearse my righteousness.
I do need to Reflect the righteousness I have because of Jesus.
I need to Repent of my false righteousness.

"For we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh ... But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes form the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith ... "
Philippians 3:3 and 3:7-9

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