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.
Now you have a choice to make. You can only rescue one of them. And your son calls up to you and says, “Dad, rescue him. You know that when I die I’m going to be with the Lord in heaven. But that guy isn’t ready to die. He doesn’t know Christ, so if he dies, he will be in hell for eternity. Rescue him.” And so with tears streaming down your face you do the hardest thing you’ve ever done in your life. You rescue this drunken fool, and leave your beloved son hanging there to either freeze to death or fall to his death.
The next morning the guy sobers up and you tell him what happened. And he apologizes, sort of, but he is so lackadaisical about it.
On the trip back down the mountain, he sees that you’re being really quiet, and so he walks up beside you and says, “Come on, man, cheer up. I’ll make it up to you.” And you tell him, “I’m willing to forgive you…” And he interrupts, “Forgive me? I don’t need your forgiveness. I’m not a bad guy – I can make this right.”
So when you get home, the next thing you know this guy is doing you favors. He’ll bring you a cup of coffee or give you little trinkets as gifts. And every time he does that it just fills you with anger. He doesn’t want your forgiveness because he thinks he can make things even between you by doing these little favors. As if the value of your son’s life is somewhere around the value of a cup of coffee. One day you hear a noise and you look outside and he’s out there mowing your yard. And again, it just fills you with anger. But you want to show mercy, so instead of going out there and showing him the business end of that mower, you restrain yourself and just smile and wave.
But he doesn’t smile back. Instead he just yells, “I hope you’re happy! I could’ve been golfing today, and instead I’m over here mowing your dumb yard.”
“You don’t have to mow my yard. I never asked you to…”
“Oh, I’ll mow it. I just want you to remember this!”
When he’s done he takes a picture of the work that he did – he is so proud of it. He did that every time – documenting everything. He would bring your newspaper to the door and hand it to you and he’s got his wife there taking a video of the whole thing.
Now, imagine that guy is on trial and he is being charged with the crime of being a horrible person. And he pleads innocent. He says, “I’m not a horrible person. I’m a really good person, and here’s my proof.” And he presents all the documentation of all these favors that he did for you. And when he’s done you just say, “Can I borrow that folder?” And you hand it to the judge and say, “That’s my whole case, right there.” And the judge says, “You’re right. This is all the proof I need to determine that this man is guilty of being a horrible person.”
Why is legalism so offensive to God? When we think we can make up for our sins against God by doing a bunch of good works or religious activity, we are living in denial about the severity of our guilt and how big our sin problem really is. And in doing so we are demeaning the sacrifice of God’s Son. My sin against God was so severe that the only remedy was the death of the Son of God. The only remedy for my sin was an infinite price. I am like that guy on the mountain. My sin cost the life of God’s Son in order for God to save me. I was guilty of committing cosmic treason against the Creator of the universe. Not once, but thousands and thousands of times throughout my life - many of those times with full knowledge of what I was doing. And after all that am I going to go to God and say, “Don’t worry, God, I’ll just do a few good deeds and we will be even Steven”?
“I appreciate you sending your Son to die, but really, that wasn’t necessary. All I needed was a few self-help books and maybe a little behavioral therapy. But nothing as drastic as the infinite cost of a violent, bloody death of the Son of God on a cross.”
Can you see why trying to get right with God by living a good life and doing good deeds is rotting, stinking filth in God’s sight?
Losing All for Christ
So all of Paul’s past efforts and religious resume are now loss. But in verse 8, he takes it a step further and says what is more, I consider everything a loss. Everything - his family, his health, his education, his recreation, his friends, food, drink, shelter – everything. He considers it all loss because of Christ. And considering everything loss is a lifestyle. He shifts from past tense to present.
7 But whatever was to my profit I considered loss for the sake of Christ. 8 What is more, I am considering everything a loss…
Verse 7 is a reference to his conversion in the past. On the day Paul became a Christian, he considered all his legalistic righteousness loss because of Christ. Verse 8 is a reference to his ongoing Christian life, which is a life of considering everything in the world loss. Why? Because of the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus. We talked a little bit about this last week with the parable of the hidden treasure. Finding Christ is like finding a treasure in a field that is worth so much that in your joy you can’t wait to sell everything you have in order to acquire that field.
Luke 14:33 In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple.
What are we to make of statements like that? We all have money, we are all wearing clothes, there is a parking lot full of cars out there. We are Christians, and yet we still have a bunch of stuff, so what does it mean that in order to follow Christ you have to give up everything? And not just all your stuff, but even your life.
Matthew 16:24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.
We think of a cross as an emblem of Christianity because Jesus died on a cross. But Jesus said this before dying on the cross, so the only thing the cross represented at this point was a brutal means of execution. So this was like saying, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and sit down in his electric chair and follow me.” In other words, it requires your life. To follow Christ you have to lose everything in this world including your life.
25 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it.
If you want your soul to be saved, it will cost you your earthly life. If you want to salvage your earthly life, it will cost you your eternal soul. Pick one or the other.
So again, how do we square that with the fact that we are all still alive and breathing? And we all have houses and cars and money and whole lot of stuff. Are we disobeying? No, we know God wants us to have stuff. We are told numerous times to share. You can’t share if you don’t have anything. We are told to be generous. You can’t be generous of you don’t have anything. We are to help orphans and widows in their distress – that takes money and resources. So if we are supposed to still have possessions, what does it mean to give up everything and consider everything loss?
Look carefully at what Paul says. He gives three very helpful insights. First, he speaks of comparison.
1) Comparison
2)
8 What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord
Compared to Christ, everything else is loss because he is so much better. So if it ever comes down to follow Jesus or hang on to some thing in this world, you let go of that thing and follow Christ. Jesus taught us that in Mark 10.
Mark 10:17 As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him. “Good teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” … 19 You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, do not defraud, honor your father and mother.’” 20 “Teacher,” he declared, “all these I have kept since I was a boy.”
That is exactly like Paul. He said, “In regard to righteousness of the law, I was faultless.” Legalists focus only on external things and not the heart, and if you do that, it’s actually achievable. This guy had done it - just like Paul. And yet, somehow he still had a sense that he did not possess eternal life. So he asks Jesus – what else do I need to do? And we know the answer to that, right? The only way to gain eternal life is to know Christ. And if you truly know Christ, he will be worth more to you than everything in this world. And so that is the next thing Jesus brings up.
21 Jesus looked at him and loved him. “One thing you lack,” he said. “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
This guy had money, so it needed to be established – what is more valuable to you – your money or Christ?
22 At this the man’s face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth.
He chose his money. He didn’t consider it loss or rubbish; he considered it a greater treasure than Christ. And so he went away sad. Why sad? He still has all his money. Because he really wanted Christ too. Christ was a treasure - just not as great a treasure as his money and so he went away sad.
I wonder if any of you go home sad. You come here, you hear God’s Word preached, and God speaks to you and makes it clear that there is some possession or relationship or activity that needs to go, and instead of seeing Christ as a far greater treasure than this thing in your life, you continue to cling to that thing and you just go away sad. Don’t repeat the same foolish mistake that cost this guy his soul.
Paul made the opposite decision.
7 … I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things.
Paul not only considered everything loss, he actually did lose pretty much everything in this world because of Christ. But whatever he lost, if keeping that thing would have meant disobeying Christ or moving away from Christ in any way, then that thing was filth to Paul.
So considering everything loss means preferring Christ above anything in this world if it comes down to a choice. But it goes beyond that. That alone wouldn’t explain why he calls everything in this world not just loss compared to Christ, but filth. Not only would he choose Christ above everything, Christ is so much better, that the other thing is actually garbage in comparison. If you and your children were starving to death, you would be thrilled if someone gave you a hot dog or any kind of food. But compared to a perfectly cooked porterhouse steak with garlic mashed potatoes and fresh-baked, homemade dinner rolls with butter, that hot dog is now rubbish. Gordon Fee: “When our first son at age six discovered the bicycle, the toy trucks in the sandbox were history.” And he makes the point that this wasn’t a calculated decision his son made. The toy trucks became loss to him not because of any special commitment he made to biking, but just be the sheer surpassing greatness of bike riding compared to the toy trucks.
So we consider everything in this world to be loss compared to Christ. I like money. I love sleep. I love food. I love my wife and family. And that’s fine. It is fine for me to enjoy those things, unless I ever come to the point where I hold one of those things up next to Christ and it’s in the same ballpark. Then I’m in trouble. I love all of you. But if you compare my love for one of the ladies to the love that I have for my wife and you find that it’s in the same ballpark, my marriage is in deep trouble.
So do we have stuff? Yes, but we deal with that stuff in a way that shows the world that it is not our treasure. You use your car in a way that makes people think, “He uses that thing, but it’s not his treasure.” They can tell by looking, “That house is not his treasure.”
“That job is not his treasure.”
And one way they’ll see that is when they see us really thoroughly enjoying our stuff, but then when we lose it, we don’t lose our joy because our joy comes from another source.
So that is one way that we consider everything loss because of Christ. As much as we enjoy the stuff in this world, none of it is in the same ballpark as the preciousness of Christ to us.
3) Hindrance
4)
So what does it mean to consider everything loss because of Christ? It means that if you ever have to choose between something and Christ, it’s a no-brainer, and beyond that, in comparison with Christ nothing else is even in the same ballpark. That’s one point, but I think there is another principle here. He says I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ … I consider them filth, that I may gain Christ… When he says that he considers them filth in order that he may gain Christ, it shows us that something is loss and filth at whatever point it hinders your effort to gain more of Christ.
Hebrews 12:1 …let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.
Throw off two things – sins, and everything that hinders. That means the things that hinder aren’t necessarily sins in themselves. They are just things that get in the way. Olympic runners shave the hair on their arms and legs to cut down on wind resistance. That’s pretty extreme. They look at a hair on their arm and say, “That hair is going to slow me down,” and off it goes. And we are to be like that in our spiritual race. This Xbox One is hindering my pursuit of Christ – out it goes. This hobby is slowing me down – it’s gone. This friendship is pulling me away from Christ – it’s over. Television, movies, parties, being home alone at certain times in the day – if it slows me down, it goes. Susanna Wesley: "Take this rule: whatever weakens your reason, impairs the tenderness of your conscience, obscures your sense of God, or takes off your relish of spiritual things; in short, whatever increases the strength and authority of your body over your mind, that thing is sin to you, however innocent it may be in itself." Will I own a television or a gaming system or a bicycle or a car? Sure, if it helps me gain Christ. But if it starts getting in the way of gaining Christ, it’s gone. I will deal with the stuff in this world in a way that draws me nearer to Christ or I won’t deal. That’s the resolve of the Christian heart, and when we fail at it, we repent.
Gained: Christ
Now, so far I haven’t made a very compelling case for becoming a Christian because all I’ve talked about is loss. But that’s not the whole story. It’s not loss just for the sake of loss. It is loss for the sake of gain. It is dumping some trash out of your hand to make room to receive a priceless gift. And what is it that we gain? Paul used to have his resume of religious observance and impeccable law keeping over on the profit side of his ledger. Now he has moved all that over to the negative side which means he is way in the hole. So now he is going to have to get something on that profit side that is really, really valuable. And to do that, he says “I need to gain Christ.” Christ is the only asset that is big enough to cancel out that debt. But we need more than just getting out of debt. It’s not enough to just get back to zero. If you show up on judgment day and your account is at zero, you’re not going to heaven. The only people who will be brought into heaven are people who are actually righteous in God’s sight. Not neutral; righteous. And not just righteous by human standards. Not righteous compared to really bad people, not righteous compared to most people. You have to be righteous according to God’s standard which means fulfilling everything that he has revealed in the Bible as good. In other words, being righteous means being as good as Jesus Christ, who is perfect. If you are not as good as Jesus in God’s sight, you are unrighteous. So can you see why Paul arrived at the conclusion that his only hope was to get Christ over there in his profit column? That’s the only asset big enough to bring the balance up to full-blown righteousness before God.
Righteousness
8 …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.
I need a righteousness over there in my profit column, but any righteousness that comes from me in my law keeping isn’t going to cut it. That’s the very thing that got me so far in debt. So I can’t have a righteousness that comes from me. The only thing that can work is if I have a righteousness that comes from God. If the standard is perfection, I can’t generate that. The only store that has that item in stock is God Mart. Perfection can only come from God; nowhere else.
But there’s a problem. I’ve already blown it. Even if I could go from this moment until I die without ever committing any sin and living in total perfection, I still wouldn’t be fully righteous because of the sins of my past. So what I’m going to need is for God to take Christ’s perfect righteousness and credit it to my account. I am going to have to get into a kind of a relationship with Jesus Christ that is so close that when God looks at me, he just sees Jesus Christ and says, “Now that is righteous.”
Continuation of the Parable
Let’s jump back into my little parable for a minute. Every time that guy feels guilty and has pangs of conscience, he comes to you and says, “What do I have to do to make it up to you?”
“You don’t have to do anything. I just want you to realize the seriousness of what you’ve done. If you would just take my son’s life seriously, that’s all I’m asking.”
Well, one day something happens. He comes to you with tears streaming down his face and says, “I finally realize what I’ve done. There are no words to tell you how sorry I am. How could I have thought that doing favors for you could ever make up for what I did? There’s nothing I could ever do – I’m totally at your mercy. My only hope is if you would just forgive me.” And then he drops down on his knees, and literally begs for forgiveness. And you pull him up off his knees wrap your arms around him and give him a huge hug and say, “All is forgiven!”
Now, let’s tweak the parable a little bit. It turns out, the son is alive. Through some kind of amazing turn of events, he survived and made it back alive. And now, after this guy finally asked forgiveness, it touches your son’s heart, and those two men start to develop a deep friendship. Before long they are best friends, always together, and so now this man has become a part of your family. You see what a dear friend this man has become to your son, and now you find that you love him like you love your own son.
So one day you hear a noise outside and take a look, and there that guy is mowing your yard.
“What are you doing?”
“I knew you are super busy this week, and I just wanted to do something for you just to try to brighten up your day little bit.”
And it really does brighten your day – to receive a gesture of friendship like that from someone you really love – it makes you happy.
Last time he mowed, you hated it and it made you angry. It was a stinging insult. But this time you love it, and you accept it as a gesture of friendship and love. And what made the difference? His relationship with your son. The first time he was demeaning and desecrating your son’s sacrifice, but now he is honoring your son.
That is how the legalists served God and it was a stinking pile of manure, but Paul could serve God and it was pleasing to God. Paul could do that because he was righteous in God’s sight. And he was righteous in God’s sight because he was found by God to be so closely associated with God’s Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. That is what Paul means by being found in Christ.
Paul puts an elegant twist on the wording from Matthew 16. Instead of saying, “I consider my past life loss that I might find it,” he says, “I consider my life loss that I might be found by God to be in Christ.” And that connection with Christ makes him righteous in God’s sight. It is all about knowing Christ.
Personal God
Many people in our society object to the idea of God being a person who can be known, because they think that is reductionistic. They think, “The greatest being in all of existence can’t be a person. It has to be greater than that. It has to be some unknowable, undefinable, incomprehensible reality out there that could never be known by us.” They think he must be like the force in Star Wars. Or one popular view in our culture is to think that the universe is God. Just take every single thing that exists, and put it all together, and that’s the supreme being.
But that is actually a low view of God, not a high view. They are the ones guilty of reductionism. Because if that’s all God is – just the universe, or just some kind of impersonal force floating around; if he’s not a person, that means, for one thing, God would have no ability to love. He would be incapable of having compassion. He would be incapable of communication. He would be incapable of knowledge or wisdom. He would be deaf, dumb, and ignorant. He would have no intentions or motives or thoughts or will. He would be incapable of emotion. He would not take delight in good and beautiful things because he would be incapable of delight. He would not hate evil. He would not be angry if someone hurts you. He would not love justice. A god like that would be far less then a human being, because we can do all those things.
But the reality is, the living God is a person who can be known personally. And those who know him, he adopts into his family and he is a father to them. He credits Jesus’ righteousness to their account so they are righteous and pleasing in his eyes. He deals tenderly and compassionately with them, and every moment they spend in his presence changes them and fills them with more joy and hope and satisfaction and encouragement and strength and peace.
Means of Acquisition - Faith
So yes, it is possible to have a personal relationship with God, but how? How do you gain Christ? How can you make sure you are found in Christ? How do you have a close relationship with someone who is invisible? You can’t see him, hear him, touch him – so what is the basis of the relationship with Jesus Christ that is so close that his righteousness is credited to your account? The answer is there in verse 9.
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.
He says it twice – it comes through faith. You don’t come to know Christ by just acting like you know him. There are a lot of people who think that’s all you need to do. Just start coming to church, read your Bible, pray - behave like a Christian as much as possible, and that will make you a Christian. That would be like if some random kid wanted to inherit my money when I die and so he just starts calling himself a Ferguson and doing whatever he can to act like a Ferguson. He hangs out at our house, he talks like us, observes our traditions, he buys a car that breaks down all the time - everything he can do to be a Ferguson. But that wouldn’t make him a member of my family. For him to become a member of my family I would have to formally adopt him.
It’s the same way with God’s family. You are not a member of his family just because you come to church and do your best to act like a Christian. The only way to become part of this family is to be formally adopted by God. And God has made it very clear how that happens – through faith alone. That is the only way to become an actual child of God – faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
And faith is more than just believing information about Jesus. It includes that, but it also includes trusting him. You know you have saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ when you trust him more than you trust yourself. So when everything in you says, “This is the way towards happiness” but the Bible says, “No, that’s the way,” which way are you going to go? It depends on who you trust more – yourself or Jesus. As soon as you believe the truth about Jesus and trust him enough to follow him no matter where he leads you, and no matter what the cost – that is the moment when you have faith in Jesus Christ. And at that moment, God adopts you into his family and you become so closely associated with Jesus Christ, that Jesus’ righteousness is credited to your account.
And that’s not just something Paul came up with. That comes straight from Jesus. Sometimes people try to say that Paul taught a different doctrine of salvation than Jesus taught. But that’s not true. They both taught salvation through faith alone.
John 6:28 Then they asked him, “What must we do to do the works God requires?” 29 Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.”
John 3:16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
John 3:36 Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on him.
Conclusion
This is the heart of the Christian faith. If you think Christianity is all about giving things up, think again. If you think it’s mainly about following rules and saying no to pleasure and towing the line, think again. It is not about loss; it’s about gain. It is not about saying no to what’s good, it is about saying yes to what’s better.
Psalm 63:3 your love is better than life
That is the message of the Gospel. Christ is better than everything. Don’t go away sad like the rich young ruler. Go away rejoicing, like the man who found the priceless treasure in a field.
Benediction: Isaiah 55:1 Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost. 2 Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare.
Application Questions (James 1:25)
1) Has this study had any effect on the way you understand the gospel and how you would explain it to an unbeliever? If so, how?
2) Who do you think is the next person in your life that God would have you explain the gospel to?
3) Which treasures in this world threaten to move up into the same “ballpark” as Christ in your affections?
4) Is there anything you have to give up to follow Christ that sometimes feels to you like loss instead of gain? Or anything that used to feel that way but now feels like gain?
5) Can you share a time in your life when following Christ “cost” you some specific thing, and, looking back, you can see that what you gained was for greater than what you lost?
