Sermon Title: GIVING UP TO GAIN

Philippians 3:3-14 (New Living Bible text)
"We put no confidence in human effort. Instead we boast about what Christ Jesus has done for us.
Yet I could have confidence in myself if anyone could. If others have reason for confidence in their own efforts, I have even more!
For I was circumcised when I was eight days old, having been born into a pure-blooded Jewish family that is a branch of the tribe of Benjamin. So I am a real Jew if there ever was one!
What’s more, I was a member of the Pharisees, who demand the strictest obedience to the Jewish Law. And Zealous? Yes, in fact, I harshly persecuted the church. And I obeyed the Jewish Law so carefully that I was never accused of any fault.
I once thought all these things were so very important, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done. Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the priceless gain of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I may have Christ and become one with him.
I no longer count on my own goodness or my ability to obey God’s law, but I trust Christ to save me. For God’s way of making us right with Himself depends on faith. As a result, I can really know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised Him from the dead. I can learn what it means to suffer with Him, sharing in His death, so that, somehow, I can experience the resurrection from the dead!
I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection! But I keep working toward that day when I will finally be all that Christ Jesus saved me for and wants me to be.
No, dear brothers and sisters, I am still not all I should be, but I am focusing all my energies on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I strain to reach the end of the race and receive the prize for which God, though Christ Jesus, is calling us up to heaven."

Lesson

Salvation of a man or woman, boy or girl, is a sovereign act of God in which He invades

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sinners’ darkness with the glorious light of His truth, and redeems them. Paul describes the miracle from the inside that transformed him from the arch-persecutor of Christians into their most beloved leader. That day on the Damascus Road the living Christ broke through the spiritual blindness of the proud, self-righteous Pharisee, Saul of Tarsus. As a result, his trust in his religious accomplishments was shattered and the root of his self-confidence was forever uprooted as conviction and truth flooded his darkened soul. In the verses just preceding our text, Paul has just attacked the Jewish teachers and insisted that it is the Christians, not the Jews, who are the truly circumcised and covenant people of God. According to Jewish belief, circumcision was ordained upon Israel as a sign and symbol that they were the people with whom God had entered into a special relationship. But if a man is to be in special relationship with God, something far more is needed than a mark in his body. Long, long before this, the great teachers and the great prophets had seen that circumcision of the flesh is by itself not nearly enough and that there was needed a spiritual circumcision. In Leviticus the sacred law-giver says that the uncircumcised hearts of Israel must be humbled to accept the punishment of God (Leviticus 26:41). The summons of the writer of Deuteronomy is: "Circumcise the foreskin of your heart and be no longer stubborn" (Deuteronomy 10:16). Jeremiah speaks of the uncircumcised ear, the ear that will not hear the word of God (Jeremiah 6:10). Paul writes to the Romans these words: "For you are not a true Jew just because you were born of Jewish parents or because you have gone through the Jewish ceremony of circumcision. No, a true Jew is one whose heart is right with God. And true circumcision is not a cutting of the body but a change of heart produced by God’s Spirit. Whoever has that kind of change seeks praise from God, not from people." (Romans 2:28-29).
So what Paul says is, "If you have nothing to show but circumcision of the flesh, you are not really circumcised-you are only mutilated! Real circumcision is devotion of heart and mind and life to God!
Now that is the defense and argument that Paul has just presented. His opponents might have attempted to say, "But you are a Christian and do not know what you are talking about; you do not know what it is to be a Jew." So Paul sets out his credentials, not in order to boast but to show that he had enjoyed every privilege which a Jew could enjoy and had risen to every attainment to

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which a Jew could rise. He knew what it was to be a Jew in the highest sense of the term, and had deliberately abandoned it all for the sake of Jesus Christ. In this passage, Paul speaks of salvation as a transaction or an exchange. He even uses business and accounting terminology in verses 7 and 8 which form the heart of the passage. Kerdos ("Gain") describes what is in the profit column; Zēmia ("Loss") describes what is in the loss column; Hegeomai means "to count," or to reckon. Paul spent his life accumulating what he imagined was personally earned righteousness that would achieve salvation. But when he met Christ, the apostle realized that all those things were actually in the loss column. He exchanged that all for the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. That exchange is the theme of this text.
Paul’s testimony may be divided into two parts, based on the accounting terminology as indicated in verses 7 and 8. The apostle first lists those things that he once imagined to be in the spiritual profit column, purchasing eternal life for him, but which, in reality, were in the loss column damning him! That column might be titled "religious credits that do not impress God."
The true spiritual profit column might be headed "The surpassing benefits of knowing Christ."
Paul lists seven items that he once put in his spiritual profit column, but now places in his loss column. When he understood the gospel of Christ, the apostle realized that all of these credentials, achievements, privileges, and rights were worthless.
SALVATION IS NOT BY RITUAL.
Paul states that he had been circumcised when he was eight days old. He begins with circumcision because that was the major issue for the Judaizers, his critics. The Greek text literally reads, "with respect to circumcision an eighth-dayer." By this claim, Paul makes it clear that he is not an Ishmaelite, for the ishmaelites were circumcised in their thirteenth year (Genesis 17:25), nor a proselyte who had come late into the Jewish faith and been circumcised in manhood. He stresses the fact that he had been born into the Jewish faith and had known its privileges and observed its ceremonies since his birth. Salvation does not come by any ritual or ceremony, whether Jewish circumcision, infant or adult baptism. Salvation comes by placing our trust and faith in Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior, repenting and turning from our sins, and living a life obedient to God’s Word.

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SALVATION IS NOT BY RACE.
Paul states that he was of the race of Israel. When the Jews wished to stress their special relationship to God, in its most unique sense, it was the word ISRAELITE that they used. Israel was the name which had been specially given to Jacob by God after his wrestling with Him (Genesis 32:28). In point of fact, the Ishmaelites could trace their descent to Abraham’s son by Hagar; the Edomites could trace their descent to Isaac, for Esau, the founder of the Edomite nation, it was Isaac’s son; but it was the Israelites alone who could trace their descent to Jacob, whom God had called by the name of Israel. By calling himself an Israelite. Paul stressed the absolute purity of his descent. Being a member of a certain race does not in any way affect or assure our salvation. "After all, God is not the God of the Jews only, is He? Isn’t He also the God of the Gentiles? Of course He is. There is only one God, and there is only one way of being accepted by Him. He makes people right with Himself only by faith, whether they are Jews or Gentiles (Romans 3:29-30).
SALVATION IS NOT BY RANK.
Another of Paul’s seemingly impressive credentials was that he was a member of the tribe of Benjamin. Benjamin was the younger of the two sons born to Jacob’s favorite wife, Rachel. Of all the twelve patriarchs, he alone had been born in the Promised Land. It was from the tribe of Benjamin that the first king of Israel had come (1 Samuel 9:1). When Paul stated that he was of the tribe of Benjamin, it was a claim that he was not simply an Israelite, but that he belonged to the highest aristocracy of Israel! But family status has nothing to do with salvation!
SALVATION IS NOT BY TRADITION.
The history of the Jews had dispersed them all over the world. But wherever they lived, they stubbornly refused to be assimilated to the nation amongst whom they lived. And a true Hebrew retained the Hebrew tongue, even though speaking the language of the nation in which he dwelt. A true Hebrew maintained his family’s traditional Jewish heritage and customs. So tightly did Paul cling to his Jewish heritage that he could confidently declare, "So then, all Jews know my manner of life from my youth up, which from the beginning was spent among my own nation and at Jerusalem" (Acts 26:4).
SALVATION IS NOT BY RELIGION.
Paul states that, as to the law, he was a Pharisee. To become a Pharisee was to reach the highest level in devout, legalistic Judaism.

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In fact, the word PHARISEE probably derives from a Hebrew verb meaning "to separate," signifying that they were set apart to the Law. The term Law is not limited to the Pentateuch or the Old Testament, but includes the whole rabbinic system of rules and regulations.
Paul’s cherished status as a Pharisee was but one more item in his spiritual loss column. No priest, monk, theological scholar or member of a devout sect can achieve salvation by such involvement.
SALVATION IS NOT BY SINCERITY.
Paul states as to zeal, he persecuted the church. Here’s the record in Acts 9:1: "Meanwhile, Saul was uttering threats with every breath. He was eager to destroy the Lord’s followers." The Jews viewed zeal as the supreme religious virtue. It is a two-sided coin; one side is love, the other hate. To be zealous is to love God and hate what offends Him. Paul’s zealous but misguided love for God caused him to hate and persecute the Christians. In terms of zeal, Paul went the Judaizers one better. They only proselytized the church; he had persecuted it. His zeal for God led him to relentlessly, unsparingly, and mercilessly try to stamp out Christianity. The world is full of people who, like Paul, are sincere in their religious beliefs. They may pray, fast, or live in poverty, and seek to do human good, but religious zeal guarantees nothing!
SALVATION IS NOT BY LEGALISTIC RIGHTEOUSNESS.
Those who observed Paul’s life could testify that according to the Law, his life was blameless. He was not sinless, but his rigid keeping of the law was without question. Paul seemingly had it all! He had undergone the proper rituals, he was a member of God’s chosen people, he was from a favored tribe in Israel, he had scrupulously maintained his orthodox heritage, he was one of the most devout legalists in Judaism, he was zealous to the point that he persecuted the Christians and he rigidly conformed to the outward requirements of Judaism. Yet he saw these things as useless for salvation, and the reality of salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ was revealed to him.
False religion deceives the mind and consequently damns the soul!
All human achievements had to be laid aside, in order that Paul might accept the free and unmerited grace of Jesus Christ for salvation. And then he gives us his summation: "Yes, I still count all things loss, because of the all-surpassing value of what it means to know Jesus Christ, my Lord."

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When a man’s life undergoes an absolute spiritual transformation, he has an altogether different perspective. His outlook on life, his value system and lifestyle are completely changed. He has been born again, and now the indwelling presence and power of the Holy Spirit of God makes him a new creation in Christ.
Before Paul’s conversion, he took great pride in things that now lost their importance. When Paul’s eyes met the gaze of God’s Son, he turned his back on the balance sheet of former years and a brand new perspective on life grips him! "But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ." (Philippians 3:7)
Verse 7 begins with a very interesting phrase which is an untranslatable string of five Greek particles. Literally it reads: "but indeed therefore at least even."
It strongly emphasizes the contrast between the religious credits that do not impress God and the incalculable benefits of knowing Christ.
The Amplified Text reads: "But whatever former things I had that might have been gains to me, I have come to consider as [one combined] loss for Christ’s sake. Yes, furthermore I count everything as loss compared to the possession of the priceless privilege (the overwhelming preciousness, the surpassing worth and supreme advantage) of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord and of progressively becoming more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him [of perceiving and recognizing and understanding Him more fully and clearly]. For His sake I have lost everything and consider it all to be mere rubbish (refuse, dregs) in order that I may win (gain) Christ (The Anointed One). (verses 7,8)
In this passage, the keyword is righteousness. Dikaiosune is always difficult to translate in Paul’s letters. The trouble is not that of seeing its meaning; the trouble is that of finding one English word which covers all it includes. Righteousness nearly always for Paul has the meaning of a right relationship with God.
He says, "All my life I have been trying to get into a right relationship with God. I tried to find it by strict adherence to the Jewish Law; but I found the Law and all its ways worse than useless to achieve that end." I found it no better than skubala. This Greek word has two meanings. In common language it was popularly derived from kusi ballomena, which means that which is thrown to the dogs, and in medical language it means excrement (dung, as the Authorized Version translates it).

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So, then, Paul is saying, "I found the Law and all its ways no more than refuse thrown on the garbage heap to help me to get into a right relationship with God. So I gave up trying to create a goodness of my own; I came to God in humble faith, as Jesus told me to do, and I found that fellowship I had sought for so long."
Now that this experiment in religion was now over, listen to his heart as he expresses his spiritual ambition and goal. "For my determined purpose is that I may know Him [that I may progressively become more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him, perceiving and recognizing and understanding the wonders of His person more strongly and more clearly], and that I may in that same way come to know the power out-flowing from His resurrection [which it exerts over believers], and that I may so share His sufferings as to be continually transformed [in spirit into His likeness even] to His death, [in the hope] that if possible I may attain to the [spiritual and moral] resurrection [that lifts me] out from among the dead [even while in the body]. "That I may know Him..." Paul uses a Greek word which always indicates personal knowledge. It is not simply intellectual knowledge, the knowledge of certain facts or even principles. It is the personal experience of another person.
We may see the depth of this word from a fact of Old Testament usage. The Old Testament uses to know of sexual intercourse. "Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived and bore Cain (Genesis 4:1). So the word indicates the most intimate knowledge of another person. It is not Paul’s aim to know about Christ, but personally to know Him. Paul’s aspiration is to come to know the Lord Jesus in that fullness of experimental and experiential knowledge by identifying himself with Christ and being like Him. Such learning is the highest kind of knowledge attainable, for experience is the best teacher. There is nothing shallow or superficial about the man who has set such knowledge as his goal in life!
Paul sees the possibility of gaining a knowledge of Christ by a threefold experience. For Paul, the resurrection was not simply a past event in history, however amazing. It was not simply something which had happened to Jesus, however important it was for him. It was a dynamic power which operated in the life of the individual Christian. Romans 6:4-5 says: "We were buried therefore with Him by the baptism into death, so that just as Christ was raised from the dead by

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the glorious [power] of the Father, so we too might [habitually] live and behave in newness of life. For if we have become one with Him by sharing a death like His, we shall also be [one with Him in sharing] His resurrection [by a new life lived for God].
Paul writes in Ephesians 1:17-20: "[For I always pray to] God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, that He may grant you a spirit of wisdom and revelation [of insight into mysteries and secrets] in the [deep and intimate knowledge] of Him, by having the eyes of your heart flooded with light, so that you can know and understand the hope to which He has called you, and how rich is His glorious inheritance in the saints (His set-apart ones), and [so that you can know and understand] what is the immeasurable and unlimited and surpassing greatness of His power in and for us who believe, as demonstrated in the working of His mighty strength, which He exerted in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His [own] right hand in the heavenly [places].
In ourselves we are too weak for the conflicts of life. If we are to conquer the daily habits of sin and live in holiness, we must draw from the power of Christ’s risen life. To live in the power of Christ’s resurrection is to become more and more dead to the ways of the world and the lusts of the flesh, and to be more like Christ.
Paul states that he desires to know Christ in the fellowship of His sufferings. There are sufferings in which a Christian may have, such as being misunderstood, or being the object of ridicule and persecution in our stand for Christ. Paul prayed for these so as to know Christ intimately.
Paul continues to express his spiritual goal: "Not that I have now attained [this ideal], or have already been made perfect, but I press on to lay hold of (grasp) and make my own, that for which Christ Jesus (the Messiah) has laid hold of me and made me His own. I do not consider, brethren, that I have captured and made it my own [yet]: but one thing I do [it is my one aspiration]: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the [supreme and heavenly] prize to which God in Christ Jesus is calling us upward.
We are commencing a new year of our Christian life, filled with potential opportunities to serve our wonderful Savior. Let’s set aside all our failures and accomplishments, and ask God to give us a spiritually blessed new year filled with growth in knowledge and power of our Christ!