August Passage: Philippians 3:1-11
Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you is no trouble for me and is safe for you.
Look out for the dogs, look out for the evildoers, look out for those who mutilate the flesh. For we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh—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: 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.
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 might gain Christ 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
—that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and may share in His sufferings, becoming like Him in death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection of the dead. (ESV)
Throughout each month, we will post short articles to give some depth of understanding regarding our text. Today we will discuss...
Jesus is Better
Repentance is not simply a matter of turning away from or stopping a sin. It is turning away from something lesser for something better.
When you empty your life of a sin, you must fill up the space in your heart that the sin used to take up with the truth of God. When you don’t your repentance will never take hold in a lasting and satisfying way.
That’s the principle we see at work in the passage today.
In the last article we saw that Paul threw away his old Spiritual Resumé and that he was instead going to find his value and his worth and his acceptance in Jesus. “…whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ.”
What’s that look like? If you are going to follow Paul’s example, you need to know how to do so. He goes on to tell us.
“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 might gain Christ 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…”
1. Jesus Is Worth It
“Indeed I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.”
We all know that we should LOVE Jesus. But sometimes we love Jesus like a distant cousin that we don’t really know that well. If someone asks, “Do you love him?” You’d say yes. But it wouldn’t be a passionate, love that dictates how you live your life. It’s more like, “Well, I know I should love Him, so sure.”
But Paul loves Jesus so much that he can count EVERYTHING as a loss because he knows Jesus. Some of you have been able to know a person that way, a husband or wife, a child or parent. Someone whom, if all else fell away, you could still be happy and feel good, because that person was there.
In order to lay down the sin of trying to save yourself by your own works; to lay down the sins of self-righteousness or self-hatred; you need to KNOW Jesus as your Lord. You need to KNOW Jesus as your king who loved you so much that He suffered the death that you deserved in order for you to get eternal life with Him.
When you KNOW Jesus intimately. When you KNOW Him, not just know ABOUT Him, you will love Him and EVERYTHING else can fall away and you will still feel blessed, secure, treasured and satisfied.
2. See Your Accomplishments, Successes & Failures Correctly
“For His sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish…”
Rubbish is a very polite word in the ESV translation. The original word in the Greek was used for animal waste (dung) or for the worthless pieces of food scrap that is thrown to the dogs.
In the context, Paul is saying that all of his accomplishments and all of his high social standing because of the family he was born into and all of the respect that he could command because of his intensive Biblical training was as good as dung.
None of what Paul had done, apart from Jesus, had any worth toward salvation. No “good” Paul had done could outweigh the “bad” of his sin. No accomplishments could pay the sin debt and no social clout with the world could change the fact that Paul was an enemy of God. The same is true for you and me.
Without Jesus, there is nothing that we can turn to as payment for our sin, or rescue from God’s wrath.
But, Jesus is so valuable, so worthy of our worship that ALL of the other things we have looked to as prizes or trophies of our virtue look like dog scraps in comparison.
I do think we can also look to this verse for another comfort though.
Some of us have been so tarnished by sin (sin we have committed and sin done against us) that we cannot help but always go back to the dirtiness of that sin and be captured in our heart and mind by what we’ve done or what’s been done to us.
Even in our disgust with that sin, we still end up clinging to it like Paul used to cling to his accomplishments.
Like Paul we can see the sin(s) as the dung that they are and instead of dwelling in that, we can be lifted up by clinging to Jesus instead. Enjoy the “loss of all things” including your past for the sake of Jesus today.
3. Loss = Gain
“…in order that I might gain Christ and be found in Him…”
Be found in Jesus, be covered by his righteousness, wear the robe of purity that He bought for you at the cross, abide in the peace of His Spirit who dwells in you, and live as His ambassador in the world instead of a Slave to your former way of life.
These are the things that you get in the Great Exchange. This (in addition to eternal life) is what you get when you truly put your faith in the FACT that God, “made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”
4. You MUST BELIEVE That Jesus’ Righteousness is Better Than Yours
“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”
A broken record can fix your soul. Hear it and hear it and hear it again. Say it and shout it and sing it aloud!
NOTHING in my hands I bring, ONLY TO THE CROSS I CLING.
You are saved by faith in Jesus Christ ALONE. You cannot, nor should you even want to, boast in your accomplishments.
God Gets the Glory.
God Gives the Grace.
God provides the Faith.
Jesus is the object for your Faith.
Believe. Believe. BELIEVE. He Loves you! Trust in Him today and enjoy Him forever.
