Philippians 3.4-11

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.

You sharp-eyed Bible students will quickly let me know that I covered verses 4 through 6 two weeks ago…and you’re right…but as I have pored over this text, it became clear that passage -- one of Paul’s most personal and autobiographical, filled with details about his own life -- is a sort of fulcrum for the book…with regard to the earlier text in chapter 3, it silences the Judaizers as they realize their resumes can’t begin to match those of the Apostle Paul, but with regard to the text following it that we will examine today, it sets the stage for the comparison between the Judaizers and Paul’s own priorities and paradigms, drawing in the starkest contrast the differences between a life based on righteousness obtained by keeping the Law and righteousness obtained by grace through faith in the perfect life and atoning death of Jesus Christ

So, while I am compelled to address it twice, I will be brief this second time

Together, this passage helps each of us answer a very important question: what matters most in life? What life do I want to live?

Is it living a life of achievement and accomplishment in the eyes of ourselves, our peers, and the world?

Or is it living a life of service and devotion to the Lord Jesus Christ and His Kingdom?

This passage gives us perhaps the best understanding in Scripture to help us answer that question

As you probably noticed, verses 7 through 11 use a variety of terms that are consistent with accounting and financial management…words like “gain” “loss” “count” and “worth” …so I thought in keeping with the text, I would examine this passage through that lens

One important disclaimer: I have two business degrees, but neither one is in accounting, and you’re about to see why…in fact, I took the minimum number of accounting courses I had to take to complete the degree...and I admit right up front that I’m not going to try to conform to generally accepted accounting principles; for those who are expert in such things, God bless you and keep you, and please forgive me

There isn’t a great fit between the truths in this passage and today’s standard accounting documents, so I’m going to make up a new one: a “Spiritual Gain and Loss” statement

Live for the Law, Inc. -- Saul of Tarsus, Sole Proprietor (3.4-6)

Here’s the first Spiritual Gain and Loss statement for the firm, Live for the Law, Inc -- a sole proprietorship owned and operated by Saul of Tarsus

This passage in Philippians is only part of what we know about Saul…there are other biographical portions of Scripture written by and about Paul during his apostolic ministry

Notably Acts 7.58, first time we see Saul as he stands approving of the stoning of the martyr, Stephen…the next chapter, Acts 8.1-3, records Saul’s murderous rampage through the first century church, a reign of terror so notorious that it was well known at least as far away as Damascus, a walking journey of about 150 miles or two weeks…

As we learn in Acts 9, Saul is converted by Christ Himself on the road to Damascus, and when Jesus tells a man named Ananias to go to Saul and lay hands on him so that Saul would receive his sight again, Ananias hesitated, knowing who Saul is and how much death and destruction he had brought to the church in Jerusalem 

We learn in Acts 21.39 that Paul was a native of Tarsus of Cilicia, “no obscure city” as he calls it…a Roman citizen by birth…Tarsus is located not far from the northeastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea, in present-day Turkey and near the northwestern part of Syria

Paul presents his testimony, including his life as a firebreathing persecutor of the church, and also his conversion to faith in Jesus, in Acts 22 and Acts 26

Saul was implacably opposed to Jesus/His followers…he was the scourge of the NT church

So the Gain and Loss Statement is chock full on the Gains side of the ledger -- but on the Losses side, there’s nothing…he was an acknowledged leader among the Pharisees…a brilliant intellectual, as deeply steeped in Judaism as a young man could be…zealous for the faith of his fathers and deadly in his oppression of those who dared to follow Jesus…no one could fault him for his personal or religious life

RADICAL RESTRUCTURING (3.7)

But even the most successful firms sometimes have to go through radical restructuring…and that’s exactly what Jesus had in store for this young firebrand Israelite 

Here in Philippians 3, Paul says this -- Philippians 3.7

But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. 

The word “gain” here renders “kerdos” -- we see it again later in a slightly different form in verse 9…it means an advantage or benefit acquired; can be material, or immaterial, as it’s used here; it’s sometimes translated “profit” or “advantage”

When you think about it, it’s an incredible statement for Paul to make…it’s an admission that everything to which he had devoted his life -- his Jewish faith, following the Law and the traditions, his violent persecution of the followers of the Way -- was a total waste

He now considered everything that was on the left side of the ledger -- the Gains in his life -- all that he says in verses 4 through 6 -- as “loss” 

The word “counted” renders ‘hegeomai’ which means to regard or consider…so we need to see that Paul never renounced his Israelite identity, and he still recognized the benefits of being a Jew…Romans 9.1-4        

I am speaking the truth in Christ—I am not lying; my conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit— 2 that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. 3 For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh. 4 They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises. 5 To them belong the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen.

But it’s even more clear that Paul now saw all his personal history and achievements as “loss” -- this translates the word ‘zemia’ which means…loss. Or the disadvantage experienced from losing something

Everything Paul considered his greatest work -- being a Pharisee, being blameless under the Law, persecuting the church of Jesus -- was now worthless

This called for complete change -- everything in Paul’s life is now turned upside down -- all that he had worked and served for now means nothing…this represents perhaps the greatest paradigm shift, change of priorities, recorded in Scripture…at least equal to, if not surpassing, the transformation to which God called Abram as he journeyed to the land that God would show him, and Moses as he is called to be God’s prophet to Pharaoh and lead the nation out of Egypt

We find this moment for Paul in Acts 9.1-9

But Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest 2 and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. 3 Now as he went on his way, he approached Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven shone around him. 4 And falling to the ground, he heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” 5 And he said, “Who are you, Lord?” And he said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. 6 But rise and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do.” 7 The men who were traveling with him stood speechless, hearing the voice but seeing no one. 8 Saul rose from the ground, and although his eyes were opened, he saw nothing. So they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus. 9 And for three days he was without sight, and neither ate nor drank.

This is a life-changing moment…to be clear, all those who have come for salvation to Jesus experience a change in their lives as Jesus makes them new, but this experience was truly extraordinary…it could hardly have been more dramatic in scope and scale for Saul…

Paul recounts this conversion experience twice more in Acts, and in Galatians 1.11-2.1 Paul gives more detail about what happened next, describing his understanding of the gospel

12 For I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ. Made the point clearly that he was commissioned and taught by Christ Himself -- an extraordinary claim -- followed by three years in Arabia, then to Damascus; finally he meets the other apostles in Jerusalem, then serves in “the regions of Syria and Cilicia” for fourteen years

Picture how complete a change this is…Saul is in the very center of Judaism and Jerusalem, in positions of power and authority, doing what he completely believes pleases his God; undoubtedly married, though we never learn anything about his wife, for it is nearly unthinkable that a Pharisee would be unmarried; he is very likely wealthy; gifted intellectually and socially and politically

Now Saul turned Paul loses everything -- his professional life, his political connections, apparently his family, his friends, his wealth, perhaps his possessions…and instead now lives a life of deprivation, danger, constant travel, frequent imprisonment, beatings, shipwrecks, opposition from the Jews, and as he says, the daily pressure of his concerns for the churches…what an exchange to make to follow Jesus 

This is radical restructuring…this makes a person say “everything that I knew and valued and sought after before in my life is now worthless to me”

I wonder sometimes if some of us don’t fully appreciate the transformation that is ours in Christ…I wonder if sometimes we think we can ADD Jesus to our existing life and list of priorities, or just start attending church and think that counts as “life change” … I’m not saying our experience has to be just like the apostle Paul’s experience, but I do wonder if perhaps we haven’t fully appreciated the depth and breadth of what it means to forsake everything else and come to Christ…Jesus accepts no compromise when He tells us in Matthew 16.24-25

24 Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 25 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. 

Have we embraced God’s radical restructuring in our lives…or tried to get by with some minor adjustments? Just a question…

LIVE FOR CHRIST -- ALMIGHTY GOD, OWNER/OPERATOR (3.8-11)

Now starting in verse 8 we see the true extent of the change God has wrought in Paul…

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.

Ownership has changed, the name of the firm has changed -- and still just one bondservant

Look at Paul’s world now…

All that he had valued and sought before he met Jesus, his entire personal and professional life, is now in the “Losses” side of the ledger…his impeccable resume has become a liability…Paul learned much as he advanced in Judaism and studied the Old Testament Law, but even all of that can’t compare to what appears now on the “Gains” side of the ledger…

It’s pretty clear, isn’t it? What matters most to Paul now is just one thing: knowing Jesus. He describes it as being of “surpassing worth” -- this phrase translates one Greek word, ‘hyperecho’ -- ‘echo’ means ‘worth or value’ -- but this word adds the superlative prefix ‘hyper’ leading to the translation “surpassing worth” … to be or become superior in value; to be better than -- that’s a good way to describe what it means to know Jesus: it’s “better than” … better than what, the world might ask…the answer? Fill in the blank with anything you wish -- knowing Jesus is better than that -- He is of “surpassing worth”

Let’s examine what Paul says counts for everything

“That I may be found in Him”

Consider this: it’s been about thirty years since Paul’s Damascus Road 

experience…yet he still seeks to be found in Christ…reminds us of his words in 

Ephesians 1, when he repeated over and over that we are “in Christ”… when the 

Father looks for me, my desire and hope is that He will find me in His Son

“That I may have the righteousness that comes through faith in Christ”

Paul, more than anyone, knew how pointless it was to attempt to gain righteousness before God through keeping the Law…he had learned through bitter experience that was an impossible task, and he write about it in Romans 8.1-4

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. 3 For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. 

Paul understood that we are both saved and sanctified through faith in Jesus Christ, not by the works of the Law…he seeks God’s imputed righteousness, the righteousness of Jesus that is given to us by grace through faith, not earned through Law-driven obedience

“That I may know Him”

This is from the heart of a man who knows Jesus probably better than any of us, yet still is not content with the degree of his closeness to his Lord…there’s always more to know, to learn, to embrace from Jesus…the learning never ends in this lifetime nor the next…we’ll never understand all there is to understand in our limitless God…but the heart of love and devotion continues the quest until we enter glory, don’t we…my greatest desire is to know Him more…”know” here renders ‘ginosko’ or experiential knowledge…not knowledge that is confined to an academic or intellectual sense, that is solely of the mind, but it’s also that which one knows through experience…to put it in my personal terms, and fill this in for yourself, I know Jesus not just because I came to faith in Him in 1976, but more so because I’ve walked through life with Him for nearly 45 years…that’s how you KNOW Him…you understand that as well as I do…

“That I may know the power of His resurrection” -- same verb applies…let’s look at this phrase alongside the next

“That I may share in His sufferings (in the fellowship (koinonia) of His sufferings” -- Paul seems to consider these two together and then transitions directly into the next two statements as well very seamlessly…

The first phrase, “the power of His resurrection,” is a fitting description of the power of the Almighty God…we see it in Acts 2.32-33 as Peter preaches at Pentecost…

32 This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses. 33 Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing.

It’s the power the Father exercised in raising the Son from the state of being dead… Romans 8.11 says

11 If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.

This is GOD’S power, the power of resurrection, which is exactly how the Word describes our own conversion -- as a resurrection -- Ephesians 2.4-6 is clear: we were dead, and God made us alive, and we call that “being saved” or “being born again” but we could very precisely call it “resurrection” -- Paul wants to continue to know, through ongoing experience, the divine power of God, the resurrection power that takes that which was dead and makes it alive

The second phrase, “(to know Him) in the fellowship (Gr koinonia, sharing or participation) of His sufferings” (Gr pathema, agony, pain; a state of great suffering and distress due to adversity) is most clearly seen in the Suffering Servant chapter of the OT, Isaiah 53.10a Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him; he has put him to grief; even though the Father’s plan, and the Son’s obedience, were the cause of the suffering, they were no less real; and Paul wants to know by experience the fellowship, the deep sharing and participation, that only comes by suffering with and for Christ; Paul said repeatedly (I Thess 3.3-4, Romans 8.17) that suffering was to be the common experience of all believers; even in this letter, Paul makes the point clear in Philippians 1.29; there is great beauty and wonder here -- as we walk in suffering with Him and for Him, we are no longer a beneficiary of His death, but a participant in it…just as there are lessons in this life that are only learned through pain and adversity, so it is also true that in our walk with Christ, there are ways in which we only learn Him and His grace when we participate in His sufferings; said well by Karl Barth: “The grace of being permitted to believe in Christ is surpassed by the grace of being permitted to suffer for Him, of being permitted to walk the way of Christ with Christ Himself to the perfection of our fellowship with Him.” He was rightly known as the man of sorrows…as His path to the cross was on the Via Dolorosa, the way of suffering, so too will ours be

One final thought on this couplet of prayers from Paul -- he speaks of knowing the power of Christ’s resurrection first for good reason…we cannot walk with Him in the fellowship of His sufferings unless we have first known the power of His resurrection; yet we know His power best in the crucible of our suffering; as Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday are bound together, so are these two -- the fellowship of His sufferings and the power of His resurrection…God grant that we know them both

“That I may become like Him in His death” Paul takes the next step as he prays to become like Jesus even in His death…a more literal translation would be “conformed to His death” -- the Greek is ‘symmorphizo’…Paul is being acted upon here by God; single use word in the NT -- Paul likely coined this term…to be conformed to, that “forms” (morpho) would be the same; to be of the same likeness; Paul’s desire is that in his death, as in his life, that Paul would show forth the likeness of Jesus Christ…in Latin, ‘imago Dei’ the image of God…not so much the physical likeness, but spiritually…as Jesus died for others, so would Paul; as Jesus died an innocent man slain by the wicked, so would Paul; and as Jesus returned to the Father, so would Paul…thought expressed in the next phrase

“That I may attain to the resurrection of the dead” -- Paul’s dearest hope is that he would rise again with his Lord…like him, our hope is to spend eternity with our Lord, to rise from the dead as He did and because He did…”to attain” is Gr ‘katantao’ meaning “to arrive at, to gain with effort, as in arriving at a destination”; every traveler wants to arrive, don’t we? Every child on a road trip: “are we there yet? Are we there yet?” John Bunyan finished The Pilgrim’s Progress with a memorable description of the entrance of Christian and his fellow traveler, Hope, as they entered the Celestial City; Paul muses about his own katantao, his arrival day, in II Timothy 4.6-8 

“6 For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. 7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 8 Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing. 

So where is Paul now, as he continues to serve His Lord Jesus?

He now sees, with eyes of the Spirit, what he could not see as a younger man -- that a self-focused and self-directed life is a loss, not a gain…that the highest and best life one can live is a life given over to serving and honoring God and loving others…

And in typical Paul style, he uses a straightforward and clear word to describe the value he now places on all that he had spent his life trying to attain…”rubbish” 

Other English translations may read a little differently…few will literally translate it…in Greek, it’s the crude expletive ‘skybalon’ -- used to describe a dung heap or a pile of animal waste or a garbage dump…Paul makes it clear what he really thinks about his previous life choices…

So as we step back to consider the question we posed ourselves at the start -- what matters most in life? -- what is your answer now?

To live for yourself and the world?

Or to live for Jesus Christ?

What will you do this week to live out that choice?