Better Than Anything - Philippians 3:7-9 Series

Philippians 3:7 But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8 What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them filth, 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 is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. 10 I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.

Lost: Everything

In Philippians 3:8 Paul makes a very provocative statement. It is a revolutionary statement.

Philippians 3:8 I consider them filth

You consider what filth, Paul?

7 whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ …8 I consider them filth

What was it that you used to think of as profit? Answer: his religious resume that he lists out in verses 5-6, which is summed up in that final line in verse 6 where he says that when it came to religious observance and legalistic righteousness he was absolutely faultless. Back then, if you would have walked up to Paul and said, “Hey, do you know for sure that you’re going to heaven when you die?” he would have said, “Absolutely.”

“How can you be so sure?”

He would point to that list.

He was an impeccable Jew and was unsurpassed in his generation at following the rules. That was his confidence. That is what he considered to be in his profit column. That is what he was counting on to make him a good person and acceptable to God.

And then one day something happened that changed all that. And he found out that all his law-keeping was actually disgusting, smelly, rotting, decomposing filth. And that’s why I told you last week that if you are trying to be a good person or gain acceptance from God by doing your best to obey the commands in the Bible and to live up to the moral standard of God’s law, then every good work you ever do drives you farther from God and makes you more and more unacceptable in his sight. Every time you tell the truth, every time you read your Bible, every time you pray, every time you try to help someone out, every time you go to church - you are driving yourself further and further away from God and making your life a steaming pile of filth.

Or to put it another way, imagine yourself in the courtroom on Judgment Day, and you’re presenting your case for why you should be able to go to heaven, and so you list out all the good things you’ve done your whole life. And when you’re finished making your case, you take all that evidence and put it in a folder, and now it’s the prosecution’s turn to make their case. And the prosecutor steps over to you and says, “Excuse me, can I please borrow that folder.” And you proudly hand it to him. And all he does is walk it up to the judge’s bench, hands it to the judge, and says, There’s my case against him.” And the judge opens the folder, looks at it, and the gavel comes down in favor of the prosecution and you are found guilty and condemned to hell. That’s what “loss” means. It’s not just that the judge looks at all your good deeds and throws them out as inadmissible, or says, “That’s great, but it’s not enough. I demand a higher standard’.” No, it’s not that they are not enough or even zero – they are loss, putting you in even more debt than you were in to begin with. They are evidence against you. That is where we left off last time. Let’s pick it up today by asking the question: Why? What is it that makes our best efforts so repugnant and offensive to God?

Parable of the Everest Guide

Imagine you were a guide for climbers who wanted to climb Mount Everest. And your son was now old enough to work with you as another one of the guides, so he’s on this trip with you. One of the customers was trouble right from the beginning. Egotistical, know it all, wouldn’t listen – you knew right away he was trouble. And sure enough, one night someone discovers that he’s not in his tent. On his sleeping bag there’s an empty flask. There were strict rules about alcohol, but he snuck some along anyway, ignoring your warnings about what can happen at that altitude when you drink. So you and your son go off to try to find him. You find him passed out on a steep section of ice. But when your son tries to get to him, your son slips, and slides down off the edge and is dangling above a 300-foot drop.