Paul had much to brag and boast about. He was on top of his game and in his prime. He was a superstar, the Michael Jordan of following God. He was circumcised on the eighth day, like all right and proper Jewish boys. He was of the people of Israel and of the tribe of Benjamin, “men of valor.” Paul was a Hebrew of Hebrews, a Pharisee and expert in the law and totally righteous in obeying the law. He was blameless. He even had so much devotion to God that he persecuted the early church as heretics. No one surpassed Paul; he was “numero uno, the top dog, the big kahuna.”
Yet he wrote to the Philippians, “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 may gain Christ and be found in him (Phil 3:7-9).” What was he talking about? How could he say this and throw away all he achieved?
All of his accomplishments, credentials, record, prominence and position were worthless, “counted as loss.” He says that three times, “counted as loss, count everything as loss, suffered the loss of all things.” He labeled all that he had done as “rubbish.” Dung, excrement, feces – poop. There was something better, something worth more, something beyond all he owned and done. His “Tom Brady seven Super Bowl rings” meant nothing compared to this better thing; what was it?
The sake of Christ. The surpassing and better worth of knowing Christ, my Lord. To gain Christ and to be found in Christ. He is the greatest possession, the greatest desire to want. Your greatest source of joy, comfort, peace, and hope can only be found in Jesus. Satisfaction is in Him and in Him alone. Relationships will fail or end. Spouses and friends will let you down. Stuff will break or be stolen or destroyed. Records and ambitions will be broken, achieved, or abandoned, but Christ remains. He is of surpassing worth.
What you do or earn in this world will not satisfy you and do not justify you before God. Can you say, like Paul, that all you own and have and done in your life is “rubbish?” You were meant for something more, some One more, than what this world has to offer. CS Lewis wrote, “We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in the slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.” Only Christ the Lord is of surpassing worth.