Surpassing Worth

Today I will share a snippet of my testimony. I was raised in a Christian home. We went to church. In high school, I attended a Christian school and a church where I began to study doctrine and study the Bible more in-depth. I even taught the first and second grade girls’ Sunday School. I went to youth group, and overall, I was a good kid. I wasn’t committing any serious sins after all. I may not have voiced it, but I thought I was a pretty good Christian, racking up brownie points with God.

Somewhere around age eighteen, God rattled my thinking. My good works were in reality filthy rags. I did not have an overflowing account of righteous brownie points. What God wanted was an intimate relationship with me based on Jesus’ righteousness not my own. God wanted me, His child, not the things I thought I was doing for Him. This is the place the Apostle Paul was coming from when he wrote:

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.[1]

Philippians 3:7-11

I have worked in some form of accounting since I was sixteen years old. When I look at a balance sheet, I want the assets (positives) to outweigh the liabilities (negatives). We call this being in the black. We have a positive balance. Paul uses accounting language in these verses. His impressive pedigree (vs 4-6) puts him exceedingly in the black from a human perspective. His plusses far exceed any negatives. Paul thought he heaped up deposits in his spiritual bank account, but God’s accounting is vastly different than man’s.

As we come to verse 7, Paul declares that whatever gain he had, he now counts as loss. He took all those plusses and put them on the liability side. On his own, Paul was in the red as an accountant would say. Why? Why would he say this? Paul’s answer is “for the sake of Christ.” What was now of value to Paul was whatever brought glory to Christ. Paul considered what he gained of far more value than what he lost, and he knew that all his previous gain was not what earned him righteousness before God.

The Geek word for knowing (vs 8) indicates a personal, intimate knowledge that comes through experience. It’s this relationship with Christ that was of exceptionally more value to Paul, infinitely more valuable than anything Paul had earned or achieved.

Paul elaborates that he not only counts his pedigree as loss, but he counts everything as loss compared to “the surpassing worth of knowing Christ.” For Paul, there is nothing this world has that compares to an intimate relationship with Christ. He also knows that his perfect pedigree (by human standards) will never be enough. Paul lost many things for the sake of Christ – family relationships, his earthly inheritance, his standing in the community, friends, stability, safety, comforts, steady income, liberty and ultimately his life – but none of this mattered in comparison to knowing Christ.

If anyone had a perfect pedigree worth clinging to, it was Jesus. He had equality with the Father and the Spirit, but He didn’t consider it something to be grasped (Philippians 2:6-8). He was willing to suffer the loss of all He had in the glory of heaven to come to take on flesh with all that entailed, suffer, and die a humiliating death in order to save us. In a sense, Jesus counted what His position and all He had as loss that we might be gain salvation through His atoning death and resurrection.

The word count is present tense. Daily Paul is considering those human plusses as loss. It is not a one-time act. Daily we need to remember that the temporal things of this world are not what is of true value. I know I need that reminder because I tend to fall back into thinking my good works earn me favor with God instead of considering them a loss in comparison to knowing Jesus.

Paul continues by saying that for Christ he suffered the loss of all things. It was by Christ’s loss alone in His atoning death that Paul was able to lose everything and yet rest in knowing it was gain. Paul’s suffering was not because he lost things of earthly value. His suffering was the result of persecution for following Christ. From a human perspective, Paul gave up all this great stuff and he gained suffering, but again he says he counts them as rubbish – garbage or dung. Paul’s perspective is amazing. Counter-cultural. Now this doesn’t mean we aren’t thankful for the good gifts God gives us, but we don’t cling tightly to them. We live knowing that what we have in Christ far surpasses God’s good, earthly gifts.

Paul then paints an amazing picture. He continues his thought of gaining Christ: “and be found in Him.” “In Him” – two little words that hold a wealth of meaning. In his letters, Paul uses the phrase “in Christ” or “in the Lord” over 160 times. We cannot look at all these instances today, but the book Found In Him by Elyse Fitzpatrick[2] draws out the fullness of what it means to be in Him. Paul used language here that echoes Numbers 35:25 describing the cities of refuge. If someone had committed what we would call manslaughter, an unplanned, unintentional killing, they could flee to a city of refuge and be safe from any punishment as long as they stayed within the city’s boundaries. When we are found in Christ, we are safe and protected. Christ took the penalty for us. We are free from condemnation in Him (Romans 8:1).

Not only did Christ take our penalty on Himself at the cross, but His righteousness was also imputed or credited to those who are found in Him (2 Corinthians 5:21; 1 Corinthians 1:30). More accounting language. In Christ you have been given His perfect, spotless, sinless record. No wonder Paul counted all the other things in his life as loss! What he gained was something he could never attain on his own. And all that God asks from us for this great gain is faith in Christ’s atoning work (Ephesians 2:8-9). This leaves me in awe, gratitude and full of love for my Savior.

But wait! There’s more. Paul says, “that I may know Him,” and he lists two of the ways we can know Christ more fully. The word for know, in addition to the idea of understanding something, is used to depict the relationship between a husband and wife. Paul is referring to an intimate, personal knowledge of Christ. Not general facts. First, he says that we can know the power of His resurrection. If we are in Him, we have the same Spirit who raised Christ from the dead indwelling us. The power of His resurrection means we have new life. We are free from sin. We are justified. Christ’s resurrection brought power over sin and death.

Second, we can share in His sufferings and become like Him in His death. Paul is talking about daily dying to our sin. Christ defeated our sin once for all on the cross and took the penalty we deserved, but until we are glorified in heaven, we still will daily battle sin. We must put sin to death and put on the things of God (Ephesians 4:22-24; Colossians 3:5-15). This daily dying to sin means suffering. It is not easy to put off our sin.

Sharing in Christ’s sufferings may also mean we face persecution for our faith. Persecution in the States has not reached what it is for some believers around the world, but it is growing. Being like Christ in His death further means that we will one day be resurrected and glorified. Paul eagerly looked forward to and longed for heaven. Any suffering in the here and now he viewed as a light and momentary affliction (2 Corinthians 4:17-18).

Paul’s perspective runs contrary to the world’s thinking. It’s even contrary to the way many Christians think and live. Paul knew that the only thing of importance, the one thing worth pursuing was knowing Jesus and being found in Him. Jesus and His righteousness were all Paul needed. Our God is enough.

For Reflection:

1. Do you view your relationship with Christ as gain? Do all other things in your life pale in comparison?

2. It is easy to focus on temporal things especially when they are good. What temporal things do you need to loosen your grip on, so you can grow in intimacy with Christ?

3. We often think of Christ’s taking our sin and paying the penalty for it, but I think we forget that in Him, we were also given His righteousness. When you sin, are you weighed down by guilt? Is it hard to believe that God has forgiven you, that there is there now no condemnation for those in Christ? Yes, we need to take our sin against a holy God as serious, but we can also rest in God’s gracious gift to us of Christ’s righteousness. God does not look on you and see your sin. He sees His Son’s perfect record. That is cause for rejoicing and thankfulness.

4. “Give Me Jesus” by Sovereign Grace Music goes with the study today. Take a listen. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gz-QfFOBI7Q

[1] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Php 3:7–11. [2] Fitzpatrick, Elyse M. Found In Him: The Joy of the Incarnation and Our Union With Christ. (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2013).