Philippians 3:1-11: Counting Loss

Counting Loss: Philippians 3:1-11

Our Scripture Reading this morning comes from Philippians 3:1-11. Hear now the words of the Living and True God:

1  Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you is no trouble to me and is safe for you. 2 Look out for the dogs, look out for the evildoers, look out for those who mutilate the flesh. 3 For we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh— 4 though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also. If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: 5 circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; 6 as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless. 7 But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. 8 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 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— 10 that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.

 May God bless the reading of his Word. 

I read in National Geographic about a new island of sorts.  This new island formed over the last half century somewhere between California and Hawaii.  For the first time in history an island did not form by volcanic eruption.  It formed by a vortex of plastic debris and litter.  Currents cause the debris to collect in one area and then stagnate.  In other words, we have created an island of trash floating in the ocean.  They call this island of trash the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.  Have you heard of it?  When I first heard of it, I thought they had somehow combined Cabbage Patch Kids with Garbage Pail Kids.  But the Great Pacific Garbage Patch proves altogether different.  And it has grown quite large.  It has grown to twice the size of Texas.  So, environmentalists have approached the United Nations for help.  In asking for help, they have created an awareness campaign.  To raise awareness, they named it, “The Trash Isles.”  They have even created passports and currency in the hopes to get different nations to clean it up.

Now I do not primarily intend to make an environmental point.  I intend to make a spiritual point.  I do lament the marring of God’s beautiful creation.  God created a beautiful planet, a planet that he calls us to steward.  But I also want to make a larger point.  When we compare God’s creation to our creation, notice how woefully short we fall.  God creates islands in the ocean from fire.  We create islands in the ocean from garbage.  Metaphorically, or spiritually speaking, we can do no better than islands of trash.  Paul knows this.  He knows that nothing compares to knowing Christ.  He counts all else as rubbish.  Without Christ, our lives have a rubbish-like quality to it.  Everything we cherish outside of Christ, will end up in a refuse, as something fit for a trash heap. 

Therefore, we put no confidence in ourselves or in our accomplishments.  Instead, we put confidence in God, in Christ, in his accomplishment.  Which leads to the main idea of our text: Christians put no confidence in themselves, but in knowing Christ.

Paul, writing from prison to the church at Philippi, expresses joy and confidence in ch1 that God advances the gospel, even through suffering.  He urges believers to live lives worthy of Christ: standing firm, unified with one another.  In ch2, he calls believers to pursue harmony and humility, with Christ as the ultimate example of humility, who secures for us a restored harmony between he and his people.  Because of this, we work out our salvation, for God works in us for the sake of our witness.  Then at the end of ch2, he gives us two examples of what faithful witness looks like.  Faithful witnesses serve sacrificially, bearing one another’s burdens.  Which leads to today’s text.  As we come to ch3, we see that…

I. Christians Put No Confidence in Themselves, 1-6

Paul begins in v1, “Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord.  To write the same things to you is no trouble to me and is safe for you.”  After recommending that they rejoice at seeing Epaphroditus again, he commands them to rejoice in the Lord.  He does not command them to happiness in the Lord.  He commands them to rejoice.  The word, “happiness,” relates to the word, “happenstance.”  Meaning that happiness often ties to circumstance.  We find happiness in favorable circumstance.  If only life proved so easy, we could put stock in happiness.  But we know that life presents both favorable and unfavorable circumstance.  Therefore, Paul commends joy.  Christians find joy in both favorable and unfavorable circumstance.  

Because Christians know that joy comes from their position in Christ.  Hence the phrase, “In the Lord.”  Because Christians have deep confidence in the Lord’s purpose for their lives, regardless of whatever circumstance comes.  Christians rejoice in the Lord.  Christians do not rejoice in themselves.  Christians do not rejoice as the Pharisee rejoices in Luke 18:11.  Christians do not say, “God, I thank you that I am not like other men.”  The Pharisee went on to list other men that no one should emulate.  He went on to present his resume to God.  He went on to rejoice in his own assumed righteousness.  Christians do not do that.  Christians do not walk away from God unjustified like that Pharisee did.  Because Christians cannot justify themselves.  Because Christians do not put confidence in themselves.  Christians put confidence in the Lord.  Christians rejoice in the Lord.  

Paul has no trouble telling them this.  In fact, he does it to safeguard them.  For, rejoicing in the Lord serves as the only safe alternative to putting confidence in themselves.  Meaning that if we do not rejoice in the Lord, we will rejoice in ourselves.  We will put confidence in ourselves.  And when we do, we put ourselves in a dangerous position.  In fact, we see a group of people in this text who have put themselves in such a dangerous position.  They have put themselves in the position of trusting in their own spiritual pedigree.  Paul warns us to watch out for them.

A. Christians beware those who trust in their spiritual pedigree, 2-3

In v2 Paul addresses the Judaizers in his day: Jews who trusted in their own spiritual pedigree.  More broadly though, he warns us to look out for three categories of false teachers in general: (1) dogs, (2) evildoers, and (3) those who mutilate the flesh.  Paul gives us these three categories to warn us as to where false teaching leads.  First, the false teaching of “dogs” leads to unclean, filthy, vicious, animal behavior: the kind of behavior mentioned in Matthew 23 that kills and crucifies, flogs and persecutes prophets, wise men, and scribes, the kind of behavior that calls for the crucifixion of Christ.  But it also includes those who give themselves to unclean behavior, those who question if God really meant what he said when he said what he said.  Second, the false teaching of “evildoers” leads to evil behavior that masquerades as good behavior: the kind of evil behavior also mentioned in Matthew 23 that tithes mint, dill, and cumin while neglecting weightier matters like justice, mercy, and faithfulness.  It includes those who tolerate sin under the banner of love, or tolerance, or some other category, while ignoring biblical principles.  Third, the false teaching of “those who mutilate the flesh” leads to ritualistic, empty, ascetic, or strict self-denying behavior, behavior that requires what scripture does not require, behavior also mentioned in Matthew 23 that shuts the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces, behavior that pushes people further from God rather than draw people closer to God, by requiring extra biblical practices.  

In this case, Paul addresses those who mutilate the flesh by requiring an outward act of devotion: namely, circumcision.  Rather than call it what Genesis 17:11 calls it, a sign of the covenant between God and his people, Paul calls it a mutilation of the flesh.  Interesting.  Even though Paul came from the strictest sect of Judaism, a sect that requires circumcision, he now sees it as mutilation, as something ugly.  Meaning that if we believe we can obtain God’s favor through some sort of outward act of devotion, God says otherwise.  Getting circumcised, or baptized, or catechized, or any other outward act of devotion does not please God if it does not match an inward reality.  In Jeremiah 4:4, God calls his people to circumcise their hearts rather than their bodies.  In fact, in Romans 2, Paul says that circumcision only has value if we obey the law.  But if we break the law, our circumcision becomes uncircumcision.  In other words, God does not set his people apart by outward acts of devotion.  For he goes on to say in Romans 2 that circumcision is not outward and physical, but inward: a matter of the heart, by the Spirit.  

Rather than require circumcision as an outward act of devotion Paul goes on to say in v3, “For we are the circumcision.”  Christians are the circumcision.  What does that mean?  How do we prove that circumcision?  The Jews believed that they proved it outwardly, regardless of what Jeremiah said.  But not Christians.  Christians prove their circumcision inwardly.  They prove it by a transformed life.  Paul tells us what that circumcision, or transformed life, looks like in three phrases in v3.  First, Christians worship by the Spirit of God.  They do not worship by ritualistic, elaborate, fancy, external means.  They worship by the Spirit.  Meaning that the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit, now dwells in his people.  In the Old Testament, in old covenant times, the Spirit came and went, based on the spiritual condition of the person.  But in the New Testament, in the New Covenant, the Holy Spirit indwells his people permanently.  We have an inward mark, rather than an outward mark.  

Second, Christians glory in Christ Jesus.  We know that we have nothing glorious to offer in and of ourselves.  We know we can only offer a perfect God, a sinful life.  So, we glory in Christ Jesus.  For he alone makes this relationship possible.  Enemies of Christ later mentioned in ch3 glory in their shame.  They have minds set on earthly things.  Their end is destruction.  Their god is their belly.  But not Christians.  Christians glory in Christ Jesus.  Third, Christians put no confidence in the flesh.  Why?  Because no one throughout the course of human history brought God anything in their flesh that they could put confidence in.  They could only put confidence in the mercy of God.  But, the self-righteous did put confidence in their flesh.  They cleaned the outside, while ignoring the inside.  And God sees through that.  He sees through us.   He sees the act that we put on.  So, Christians put no confidence in that.  Christians put no trust in their spiritual pedigree.  In fact, Christians beware those who put trust in their spiritual pedigree.

B. Even Paul puts no confidence in his spiritual pedigree, 4-6

He put no confidence in the flesh, “though,” he says, “I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also.  If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless.”  If anyone has reason to put confidence in his own spiritual pedigree, Paul has more reason.  Paul served as the poster boy of the Judaizers.  You could call him the Judaizer of Judaizers: circumcised at the right time, from the right people, from a tribe who remained immune to idolatry far longer than most other Israelite tribes, from a religious sect of teachers who more strictly adhered to the law than any other, who zealously stood against the Nazarene sect of Jesus whom the nation had condemned as a heretic, who lived as blamelessly under the law as anyone could.  At one time, Paul could consider himself blameless under the law, until he later heard about Jesus’ interpretation of the law in his Sermon on the Mount.  If anyone could commend themselves to God for his own spiritual pedigree or efforts, Paul could.  But did he?  No.  He knew better.  He put no confidence in the flesh.  He put no confidence in his own spiritual pedigree.

Which begs the question, “What confidence do we put in our own pedigree?”  What might our vv4-6 look like? —baptized after conversion, a church member in a Bible believing church, of the wealthiest, most powerful nation on earth, a nation arguably founded on principles more closely aligned to Scripture than almost any other country, of the people of the United States, of the tribe of Christian, a Christian of Christians, as to the law, a clean, upstanding, law-abiding citizen; as to spiritual discipline, better than most; as to church attendance... Well, you get the picture.

When we stand before God one day, will we put confidence in that?  If we do, we hinder ourselves from seeing our desperate need for God’s mercy.  Like that Pharisee, we will justify ourselves.  So, will we put confidence in the gifts God gives?  Or will we put confidence in the giver of gifts?  In vv1-6, Christians put no confidence in themselves.  Instead…

II. Christians Put Confidence in Knowing Christ, 7-11

A. Christians count everything else as loss, 7-9

After giving his resume in vv4-6, Paul adds, “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.”  Again, if anyone had reason to put confidence in the flesh, Paul did.  He came closer than any of us ever will to have reason for confidence.  But what does he say?  I put no confidence in the flesh.  I count it loss.  He came so close.  As the song says, “so close, so close, but yet so far.”  So, every gift, every gain, we think we have—our nationality, our heritage, our ability, our education, our works—pales in comparison to knowing Christ, to knowing the God of all the universe.  What gains do we have?  I love my country.  I love my city.  I love my spiritual heritage.  I love my family and friends.  I consider all those gains.  But do I count all those gains as loss for the sake of knowing Christ?  If we had to put all God’s gifts on one side and Christ on the other, and we could have only one, which would we take?  Paul knows the answer to that. 

He does not put confidence in the gifts above the giver.  But do we?  Do we put confidence in the gifts God gives?  Or do we put confidence in God as the giver of gifts?  Loss.  Adding up all our little quote-unquote ‘gains’ proves about as futile as taking a flying leap from the shores of California into the Pacific Ocean hoping we will clear the Great Pacific Garbage Patch and land in Hawaii.  Turn around.  Look at our progress.  We have barely left the shore.  Would we boast in that?  Would we boast in the 5 or 6 feet from shore that we leapt.  Please.  “Look at our progress, God.”  Loss.  Waste.  Rather than make quote-unquote “progress,” know Christ.  When it comes to knowing Christ, Martyn Lloyd-Jones says something interesting.  He says, “The ultimate test of the Christian is that he can truly say that he desires God even more than he desires forgiveness.  We all desire forgiveness, and rightly so; but that is a very low state of Christian experience.  The height of Christian experience is when a man can say, ‘Yes, but beyond forgiveness what I desire is God, God himself.’”  Knowing Christ.

Paul goes on to say in the rest of v8, “For his sake”—for Christ Jesus’ 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.”  So, he counts everything he lived for as rubbish.  He does some Christian math.  He puts his spiritual pedigree in one column and s in the other column.  He finds that his spiritual pedigree puts him in the red.  It puts him in loss.  But he finds that knowing Christ puts him in the black.  It puts him in gain.  So, he scraps the spiritual pedigree column.  He sees it as rubbish.  I love how the King James Version translates ‘rubbish.’  It says, “Do count them but dung.”  Paul counts everything he had as dung, as manure, as excrement.  In other words, you would not keep this dung around.  You would flush it.  You would get rid of it.  You would not keep it.  So, why do we keep it?  Why do we count dung as gain?  Why do we put confidence in it?  Why do we not suffer it as loss?  Paul uses the strongest language possible to say that a life focused on anything less than Christ proves disposable, proves flushable, proves damnable.  Throw that loss on the trash heaps of the world.  Gain Christ.  Be found in him.  Now in diminishing the value of his former life outside of Christ, Paul does not intend to diminish the value of unbelievers.  God created unbelievers in his image.  Therefore, they deserve dignity and respect.  But what they know and pursue proves worthless in comparison to knowing and pursuing Jesus.  

Paul knows this.  Paul got closer than most of us to a life worthy of God’s attention.  And still he sees the emptiness of the life he once led.  He knows how far short he fell.  He says in v9, “not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith.”  Prior to his conversion, Paul did everything he knew to pursue righteousness.  He followed the law as blamelessly as he could.  But when he met Christ, he knew his sinfulness.  He knew he did not have a righteousness of his own.  Friends, if Paul did not have a righteousness of his own, rest assured that we do not have a righteousness of our own.  For according to Isaiah 64:6, “all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment,” like a used menstrual rag.  Since Paul did not have a righteousness of his own, he had only one way left to him. —Faith.  Faith in Christ.  “Righteousness from God that depends on faith,” it says.  Count everything else as loss.  If Paul can count everything else as loss, we can too.  Gain Christ.  Put your faith in the righteousness of Christ’s perfect life.  Put your faith in Christ’s perfect sacrifice.  Christians count everything else as loss.  With that said…

B. Christians become more like Jesus, 10-11

Paul trusts to a righteousness from God that depends on faith, v10, “that I might know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death.”  Notice the three relational components of knowing Christ in this verse.  (1) Christians know Christ himself.  We know what Christ did for us.  We have a relationship with him.  We get to know him as we get to know others.  And when we do, we come to depend upon him.  But unlike our give and take relationship with others, Jesus gives salvation.  We take it.  But we do not take it and never meet the giver again.  No.  We know Christ.  (2) Christians know the power of Christ’s resurrection.  We do not merely know about his resurrection.  We know the power of his resurrection.  In other words, we know that Jesus serves as the first fruits of our resurrection.  Because he resurrected, we will one day resurrect, just as he promised.  (3) Christians know or share Christ’s sufferings.  We do not seek suffering.  But suffering finds us.  So, expect suffering.  Do not expect health and wealth.  Do not expect a false gospel.  Share his sufferings.  Why? —“To become like him in his death,” it says.  Paul says in Galatians 2:20, “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.”  We share his sufferings.  We have been crucified with Christ.

Paul calls us to put life in perspective.  Enjoy it, yes.  But realize, everything outside of Christ pales in comparison to knowing Christ, to knowing what he has done.  Set everything else aside.  Or at least have the willingness to set everything else aside.  Then v11 can become a reality, “That by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.”  Notice the weightiness.  Notice the depth of doctrine in vv9-11.  In v9, Christ justifies us.  He makes us right with God.  In v10, Christ sanctifies us.  He makes us more like him, even through suffering.  Then in v11, Christ glorifies us.  He raises us to new life.  He resurrects us from the dead.  Paul wants this more than anything.  He wants this by any means possible.

I have an odd fascination with etymology: the origin and development, of words and phrases.  For instance, take the phrase, “bucket list.”  Now I cannot recall hearing the phrase “bucket list” until well into my late 20s.  Around that time a movie by that same name popularized the phrase.  At least for me.  The phrase “bucket list” comes from the phrase, “kick the bucket.”  In the late 18th century, executioners stood a condemned man on a bucket, tied a rope around his neck, then kicked the bucket out from under him, resulting in his death.  We get the phrase, “kick the bucket” from there.  But before this condemned man has that bucket kicked out from under him, it seems advisable for him to have a “bucket list.” Before his condemnation and execution, he should have had a list of items he wanted to do before he died.  He should have had a bucket list before someone kicked his bucket.  Now I am neither encouraging nor discouraging bucket lists.  To each his own.  But I will say that we tend to load bucket lists with items that we never get around to.  For instance, I had a lot of ideas of what I would do after I retired.  So far, I have done only a couple of them.  And I have already considered going back to work.  

Rather than consider our bucket lists, let us consider Paul’s admonition here.   Rather than put confidence in what we want to do, let us put confidence in knowing Christ.  For Christians put confidence in knowing Christ.  If we put confidence in knowing Christ—knowing Christ as our Savior, knowing Christ as our Lord, knowing Christ as the first fruits of our resurrection—we will have an eternity to consider, if we even need to consider, the smaller things one might find on a bucket list.  Christians count everything else as loss, including all the items we want to do in this life before we die.  Christians count everything else as loss, for the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus our Lord.  Do we have that on our bucket lists?  Do we have knowing Christ as the number one item?  Do we make sure that we regularly get around to knowing Christ?  Do we realize that nothing else truly matters in the end.

Do we know that the only quote-unquote “item” that counts in eternity, we will not find on some bucket list, or in some bank account, or on some résumé, or even in some memory that our loved ones had of us.  We find it in Christ himself, in what Christ did in his death and resurrection.  He invites us to share in this, to share in the only life worth living.  Therefore, Christians put no confidence in themselves, but in knowing Christ.  Spiritually speaking, will we continue to offer God islands of trash?  Or will we count our efforts loss.  Can we do a little Christian math?  Can we count as Paul counts?  Pauls counts everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus his Lord.  Will we do the same?