“What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ 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 on the basis of faith” (Philippians 3:8-9).

In the verses for today, along with those from yesterday, Paul reflects on the salvation that comes, as Pastor Michael talked about yesterday, exclusively through Christ. The verses for today continue that reflection and look back to earlier in the letter, to the poem about Christ in chapter 2:5-11.

This poem, and Paul’s words in yesterday and today’s verses, talk about two people who begin with elevated status. Jesus, being in very nature God. And to a far lesser degree, of course, but still of religious and cultural significance, Paul who, as Pastor Michael described yesterday, had a strong Jewish pedigree. He was righteous, well-educated, and zealous for the law.

But Paul has come to understand, and expresses in today’s verses, that his version of superiority was never actually any such thing. How does he know that? He looks at Christ and recalls his poetic description in chapter 2. Christ’s adoption of the form of a slave, his obedience to God and willingness to take on the humiliation of the cross, required his willful self-emptying of what was a genuine superiority. Paul, on the other hand, comes to understand that to follow Christ in his own self-emptying requires a change in his self-perception.

This kind of reversal is critical for we who are Christ’s followers to grasp. Certainly, as Pastor Michael described yesterday, because we have to rightly understand the source of our salvation. And also because, when we have recognized the grace of our salvation, we respond by becoming increasingly like Christ by the work of the Spirit. And to follow the one who took on human likeness, who was obedient to death–even death on a cross–requires, as the Christ poem reveals to us, deep humility.

This is not the kind of humility that says, "Although, in reality, I am superior because [fill in the blank], I will follow Christ and humble myself.” If we are honest with ourselves, this is often how we practice humility. But Paul says there is nothing we have that can fill in that blank. It’s all garbage. All we have is Christ, and the privilege to follow in his footsteps and mirror his downward motion for our sake.

So the gift of faith leads to humility, and humility leads to Christ’s service, not to earn our salvation, but as a response to grace. As we undergo a change in our self-perception, a change in understanding where our value is from, because we no longer consider any of our privilege, power, intelligence, money–you name it–as valuable in themselves, they can be transformed into tools used in service of the faith we profess, in service of Christ. And this is the “righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith.”

So as you journey on, go with the blessing of God:

May the peace of the Lord Christ go with you: wherever he may send you. May he guide you through the wilderness: protect you through the storm. May he bring you home rejoicing; at the wonders he has shown you. May he bring you home rejoicing once again into our doors.

If someone else thinks they have reasons to put 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; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for righteousness based on the law, faultless. But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ (Philippians 3:4-7).

No confidence in the flesh, Paul says, speaking firmly against any sort of “Jesus-and” faith. Like a faith that says salvation comes by Jesus, and circumcision; or Jesus and following the law; or Jesus and good worship; or Jesus and good kid’s programs; or Jesus and good ethics. Certainly, these things are important in the life of the church and the life of the Christian—but they have no place in securing our salvation.

In the shifting sands of culture and technology, we tend to reach for something more than Jesus—something tangible we can hold on to, to know we’re safe and secure. We build up walls of policy and doctrine, or of research and knowledge, or of wealth and possessions, or of whatever. Something tangible that we can control so that we can keep the sky from falling on us. This has been going on since the beginning of the church—like it does here in Philippians. There’s nothing new under the sun.

But the Christian faith is not a “Jesus-and” faith. It’s just Jesus that saves us. Him alone. We put no confidence in the flesh. No confidence in any of the things that we can see, achieve, hold on to, or control.

Paul gives an example. As far as Judaism goes: Paul was at the top of the class. Not only was he born into the privilege of a strong, practicing Jewish pedigree—but he also had the smarts and the drive to pursue that Jewish faith to the Nth degree—not content with the achievements of joining the legally righteous Pharisaical sect, but also pursuing an absolutely faultless life and a zealous persecution of all those who stepped outside it—like Christians. But now: all these things he once considered gain he counts as loss.

Paul does not see his previous privilege and achievements as garbage—they were gains! But considering the surpassing greatness and sufficiency of Jesus and him alone—he considers all else loss. Even what he had previously considered as gains.

So it is for our wealth and our institutions, our success and our knowledge—they may very well be gains in any other sense. But they don’t save us. There’s nothing there to put confidence in. In fact, compared to the surpassing sufficiency of Christ, they are a loss. Or perhaps better said, they are to be lost. Our need for them must die, such that we hold on to nothing else but Jesus. This is what Paul’s getting at.

What gains in the world of the flesh do you rest your spiritual security upon? That is, your salvation? Does it rest on nothing but Jesus? Do you hold onto Jesus and some other things? What do you need to lose?

How do we go about losing those things? Two things to start: as Kyra said yesterday, worship the triune God, including within the context of public worship. Second, get to know Jesus. You will discover that he is up to the task of saving you.

As you journey on, go with the blessing of God:

May the peace of the Lord Christ go with you: wherever he may send you. May he guide you through the wilderness: protect you through the storm. May he bring you home rejoicing; at the wonders he has shown you. May he bring you home rejoicing once again into our doors.

“Further, my brothers and sisters, rejoice in the Lord! It is no trouble for me to write the same things to you again, and it is a safeguard for you. Watch out for those dogs, those evildoers, those mutilators of the flesh. For it is we who are the circumcision, we who serve God by his Spirit, who boast in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh— though I myself have reasons for such confidence" (Philippians 3:1-4a).

Having spent some time commending partners in the gospel to the Philippian church, Paul now turns to another subject somewhat abruptly, and his tone changes with it. He has described those who are exemplary models for the community, but he now does the opposite, warning against those he calls “dogs, evildoers, mutilators of the flesh.” This is very strong language coming from a letter which, up to this point, has been full of joy and encouragement even in the midst of suffering.

Paul’s warning here might be familiar to you if you’ve read some of his other writings. In his letter to the Galatian church, Paul warns against a group of people that scholars of Paul’s letters call “Judaizers.” These were people who would follow along the path of Paul’s missionary journeys, teaching that groups of Gentile converts (like the church in Philippi) had to be circumcised in order to join Jewish Christ-followers as a community of faith. In Galatians, Paul writes a pretty strongly worded letter to those tempted to heed the false teaching of this group of people, rather than recognizing and teaching that the grace of Christ meant that to be included in the family of God no longer required the physical symbol of circumcision. To preach the opposite, Paul said, was to “pervert the gospel of Christ” (Gal. 1:7). It is these teachers and their message that most scholars believe is being addressed in today’s verses as well.

For the believers in Philippi, and for all believers, the thing which unites them is not a sign in the flesh like circumcision, but a unity achieved by God’s presence among them and working through them by the Holy Spirit.

The exhortations that Paul gives the Philippian church just before and after his warning against false teachers begins to give us an indicator of the practices Paul encourages the community to pursue which will shape them to be resilient to false teaching. He encourages them both to “rejoice in the Lord” (v. 1) and “boast in Jesus Christ” (v. 3). In essence, he’s encouraging them to worship and to testify to the truth of who God has revealed himself to be in Christ.

These are practices that believers like us today can also trust to help us as we encounter false teachings, whether those that come from within the church or outside of it. We don’t necessarily always think of worship as an antidote to false teaching. We may first think of doctrinal debate or apologetics as the right approach. Perhaps we wonder, or have heard others wonder, why regular worship practices, including attendance at weekly services, are important. In this passage, Paul indicates that communal practices of rejoicing and testifying about who Christ is–things the church does weekly in Christian worship–orient believers repeatedly to what is true and what is not. Being saturated in the word, active in praise and worship, and joined with a community of faith in fellowship–these provide us with the knowledge, the posture, and the accountability structures of community to help shape our minds and our hearts for discernment. And most importantly, of course, worship fosters relationship with God, and in so doing, makes it only natural that we would rejoice.

So as you journey on, go with the blessing of God:

May the peace of the Lord Christ go with you: wherever he may send you. May he guide you through the wilderness: protect you through the storm. May he bring you home rejoicing; at the wonders he has shown you. May he bring you home rejoicing once again into our doors.