Whatever Gain I Had, I Counted as Loss

January 18, 2025 · Van · Philippians

Series · Philippians · Week 32 of 47

Scripture referenced 12 passages

The passage this message was preached from, in full, with every other passage it reached for.

Philippians 3:7-11 read aloud before the sermon as the main passage

7 However, I consider those things that were gain to me as a loss for Christ.
8 Yes most certainly, and I count all things to be a loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I suffered the loss of all things, and count them nothing but refuse, that I may gain Christ
9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own, that which is of the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith;
10 that I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, becoming conformed to his death;
11 if by any means I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.

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Philippians 3:1-14

the full passage Van preached through verse by verse

1 Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you, to me indeed is not tiresome, but for you it is safe.

2 Beware of the dogs, beware of the evil workers, beware of the false circumcision.

3 For we are the circumcision, who worship God in the Spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh;

4 though I myself might have confidence even in the flesh. If any other man thinks that he has confidence in the flesh, I yet more:

5 circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; concerning the law, a Pharisee;

6 concerning zeal, persecuting the assembly; concerning the righteousness which is in the law, found blameless.

7 However, I consider those things that were gain to me as a loss for Christ.

8 Yes most certainly, and I count all things to be a loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I suffered the loss of all things, and count them nothing but refuse, that I may gain Christ

9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own, that which is of the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith;

10 that I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, becoming conformed to his death;

11 if by any means I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.

12 Not that I have already obtained, or am already made perfect; but I press on, that I may take hold of that for which also I was taken hold of by Christ Jesus.

13 Brothers, I don’t regard myself as yet having taken hold, but one thing I do. Forgetting the things which are behind, and stretching forward to the things which are before,

14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

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Acts 9

Paul on the road to Damascus, blinded by light, encounters Jesus

1 But Saul, still breathing threats and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest,

2 and asked for letters from him to the synagogues of Damascus, that if he found any who were of the Way, whether men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.

3 As he traveled, he got close to Damascus, and suddenly a light from the sky shone around him.

4 He fell on the earth, and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”

5 He said, “Who are you, Lord?” The Lord said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.

6 But rise up, and enter into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”

7 The men who traveled with him stood speechless, hearing the sound, but seeing no one.

8 Saul arose from the ground, and when his eyes were opened, he saw no one. They led him by the hand, and brought him into Damascus.

9 He was without sight for three days, and neither ate nor drank.

10 Now there was a certain disciple at Damascus named Ananias. The Lord said to him in a vision, “Ananias!” He said, “Behold, it’s me, Lord.”

11 The Lord said to him, “Arise, and go to the street which is called Straight, and inquire in the house of Judah for one named Saul, a man of Tarsus. For behold, he is praying,

12 and in a vision he has seen a man named Ananias coming in, and laying his hands on him, that he might receive his sight.”

13 But Ananias answered, “Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he did to your saints at Jerusalem.

14 Here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on your name.”

15 But the Lord said to him, “Go your way, for he is my chosen vessel to bear my name before the nations and kings, and the children of Israel.

16 For I will show him how many things he must suffer for my name’s sake.”

17 Ananias departed, and entered into the house. Laying his hands on him, he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord, who appeared to you on the road by which you came, has sent me, that you may receive your sight, and be filled with the Holy Spirit.”

18 Immediately something like scales fell from his eyes, and he received his sight. He arose and was baptized.

19 He took food and was strengthened. Saul stayed several days with the disciples who were at Damascus.

20 Immediately in the synagogues he proclaimed the Christ, that he is the Son of God.

21 All who heard him were amazed, and said, “Isn’t this he who in Jerusalem made havoc of those who called on this name? And he had come here intending to bring them bound before the chief priests!”

22 But Saul increased more in strength, and confounded the Jews who lived at Damascus, proving that this is the Christ.

23 When many days were fulfilled, the Jews conspired together to kill him,

24 but their plot became known to Saul. They watched the gates both day and night that they might kill him,

25 but his disciples took him by night, and let him down through the wall, lowering him in a basket.

26 When Saul had come to Jerusalem, he tried to join himself to the disciples; but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he was a disciple.

27 But Barnabas took him, and brought him to the apostles, and declared to them how he had seen the Lord on the way, and that he had spoken to him, and how at Damascus he had preached boldly in the name of Jesus.

28 He was with them entering into Jerusalem,

29 preaching boldly in the name of the Lord Jesus. He spoke and disputed against the Hellenists, but they were seeking to kill him.

30 When the brothers knew it, they brought him down to Caesarea, and sent him off to Tarsus.

31 So the assemblies throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace, and were built up. They were multiplied, walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit.

32 As Peter went throughout all those parts, he came down also to the saints who lived at Lydda.

33 There he found a certain man named Aeneas, who had been bedridden for eight years, because he was paralyzed.

34 Peter said to him, “Aeneas, Jesus Christ heals you. Get up and make your bed!” Immediately he arose.

35 All who lived at Lydda and in Sharon saw him, and they turned to the Lord.

36 Now there was at Joppa a certain disciple named Tabitha, which when translated, means Dorcas. This woman was full of good works and acts of mercy which she did.

37 In those days, she became sick, and died. When they had washed her, they laid her in an upper room.

38 As Lydda was near Joppa, the disciples, hearing that Peter was there, sent two men to him, imploring him not to delay in coming to them.

39 Peter got up and went with them. When he had come, they brought him into the upper room. All the widows stood by him weeping, and showing the coats and garments which Dorcas had made while she was with them.

40 Peter sent them all out, and knelt down and prayed. Turning to the body, he said, “Tabitha, get up!” She opened her eyes, and when she saw Peter, she sat up.

41 He gave her his hand, and raised her up. Calling the saints and widows, he presented her alive.

42 And it became known throughout all Joppa, and many believed in the Lord.

43 He stayed many days in Joppa with a tanner named Simon.

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Philippians 2:6-11

quoted in full as a poem describing who Christ is and his humility and exaltation

6 who, existing in the form of God, didn’t consider equality with God a thing to be grasped,

7 but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men.

8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, yes, the death of the cross.

9 Therefore God also highly exalted him, and gave to him the name which is above every name;

10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, those on earth, and those under the earth,

11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

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Jeremiah 9:23

quoted as dovetailing with the sermon, boasting only in knowing the Lord

23 Yahweh says, “Don’t let the wise man glory in his wisdom. Don’t let the mighty man glory in his might. Don’t let the rich man glory in his riches.

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Galatians 6:14

Paul saying he boasts only in the cross of Christ, the world crucified to him

14 But far be it from me to boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.

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2 Corinthians 5:17

anyone in Christ is a new creation, the old has passed away

17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new.

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Matthew 13

parable of the man who finds treasure in a field and sells everything to buy it

1 On that day Jesus went out of the house, and sat by the seaside.

2 Great multitudes gathered to him, so that he entered into a boat, and sat, and all the multitude stood on the beach.

3 He spoke to them many things in parables, saying, “Behold, a farmer went out to sow.

4 As he sowed, some seeds fell by the roadside, and the birds came and devoured them.

5 Others fell on rocky ground, where they didn’t have much soil, and immediately they sprang up, because they had no depth of earth.

6 When the sun had risen, they were scorched. Because they had no root, they withered away.

7 Others fell among thorns. The thorns grew up and choked them.

8 Others fell on good soil, and yielded fruit: some one hundred times as much, some sixty, and some thirty.

9 He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

10 The disciples came, and said to him, “Why do you speak to them in parables?”

11 He answered them, “To you it is given to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven, but it is not given to them.

12 For whoever has, to him will be given, and he will have abundance, but whoever doesn’t have, from him will be taken away even that which he has.

13 Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they don’t see, and hearing, they don’t hear, neither do they understand.

14 In them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, which says, ‘By hearing you will hear, and will in no way understand; Seeing you will see, and will in no way perceive:

15 for this people’s heart has grown callous, their ears are dull of hearing, they have closed their eyes; or else perhaps they might perceive with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their heart, and would turn again; and I would heal them.’

16 “But blessed are your eyes, for they see; and your ears, for they hear.

17 For most certainly I tell you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see the things which you see, and didn’t see them; and to hear the things which you hear, and didn’t hear them.

18 “Hear, then, the parable of the farmer.

19 When anyone hears the word of the Kingdom, and doesn’t understand it, the evil one comes, and snatches away that which has been sown in his heart. This is what was sown by the roadside.

20 What was sown on the rocky places, this is he who hears the word, and immediately with joy receives it;

21 yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while. When oppression or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he stumbles.

22 What was sown among the thorns, this is he who hears the word, but the cares of this age and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful.

23 What was sown on the good ground, this is he who hears the word, and understands it, who most certainly bears fruit, and produces, some one hundred times as much, some sixty, and some thirty.”

24 He set another parable before them, saying, “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field,

25 but while people slept, his enemy came and sowed darnel weeds also among the wheat, and went away.

26 But when the blade sprang up and produced fruit, then the darnel weeds appeared also.

27 The servants of the householder came and said to him, ‘Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Where did these darnel weeds come from?’

28 “He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ “The servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and gather them up?’

29 “But he said, ‘No, lest perhaps while you gather up the darnel weeds, you root up the wheat with them.

30 Let both grow together until the harvest, and in the harvest time I will tell the reapers, “First, gather up the darnel weeds, and bind them in bundles to burn them; but gather the wheat into my barn.”’”

31 He set another parable before them, saying, “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field;

32 which indeed is smaller than all seeds. But when it is grown, it is greater than the herbs, and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in its branches.”

33 He spoke another parable to them. “The Kingdom of Heaven is like yeast, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, until it was all leavened.”

34 Jesus spoke all these things in parables to the multitudes; and without a parable, he didn’t speak to them,

35 that it might be fulfilled which was spoken through the prophet, saying, “I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things hidden from the foundation of the world.”

36 Then Jesus sent the multitudes away, and went into the house. His disciples came to him, saying, “Explain to us the parable of the darnel weeds of the field.”

37 He answered them, “He who sows the good seed is the Son of Man,

38 the field is the world; and the good seed, these are the children of the Kingdom; and the darnel weeds are the children of the evil one.

39 The enemy who sowed them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels.

40 As therefore the darnel weeds are gathered up and burned with fire; so will it be at the end of this age.

41 The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will gather out of his Kingdom all things that cause stumbling, and those who do iniquity,

42 and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be weeping and the gnashing of teeth.

43 Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the Kingdom of their Father. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.

44 “Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like treasure hidden in the field, which a man found, and hid. In his joy, he goes and sells all that he has, and buys that field.

45 “Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a man who is a merchant seeking fine pearls,

46 who having found one pearl of great price, he went and sold all that he had, and bought it.

47 “Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a dragnet, that was cast into the sea, and gathered some fish of every kind,

48 which, when it was filled, they drew up on the beach. They sat down, and gathered the good into containers, but the bad they threw…

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1 Corinthians 15:10

Paul saying he worked harder than any of them

10 But by the grace of God I am what I am. His grace which was given to me was not futile, but I worked more than all of them; yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.

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Colossians 1:28-29

proclaiming Christ, toiling with his energy that powerfully works within

28 whom we proclaim, admonishing every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus;

29 for which I also labor, striving according to his working, which works in me mightily.

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Philippians 4:13

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me

13 I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me.

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John 9

blind man healed by Jesus on the Sabbath, one thing I know I was blind and now I see

1 As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth.

2 His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”

3 Jesus answered, “Neither did this man sin, nor his parents; but, that the works of God might be revealed in him.

4 I must work the works of him who sent me, while it is day. The night is coming, when no one can work.

5 While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”

6 When he had said this, he spat on the ground, made mud with the saliva, anointed the blind man’s eyes with the mud,

7 and said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means “Sent”). So he went away, washed, and came back seeing.

8 The neighbors therefore, and those who saw that he was blind before, said, “Isn’t this he who sat and begged?”

9 Others were saying, “It is he.” Still others were saying, “He looks like him.” He said, “I am he.”

10 They therefore were asking him, “How were your eyes opened?”

11 He answered, “A man called Jesus made mud, anointed my eyes, and said to me, ‘Go to the pool of Siloam, and wash.’ So I went away and washed, and I received sight.”

12 Then they asked him, “Where is he?” He said, “I don’t know.”

13 They brought him who had been blind to the Pharisees.

14 It was a Sabbath when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes.

15 Again therefore the Pharisees also asked him how he received his sight. He said to them, “He put mud on my eyes, I washed, and I see.”

16 Some therefore of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, because he doesn’t keep the Sabbath.” Others said, “How can a man who is a sinner do such signs?” There was division among them.

17 Therefore they asked the blind man again, “What do you say about him, because he opened your eyes?” He said, “He is a prophet.”

18 The Jews therefore did not believe concerning him, that he had been blind, and had received his sight, until they called the parents of him who had received his sight,

19 and asked them, “Is this your son, whom you say was born blind? How then does he now see?”

20 His parents answered them, “We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind;

21 but how he now sees, we don’t know; or who opened his eyes, we don’t know. He is of age. Ask him. He will speak for himself.”

22 His parents said these things because they feared the Jews; for the Jews had already agreed that if any man would confess him as Christ, he would be put out of the synagogue.

23 Therefore his parents said, “He is of age. Ask him.”

24 So they called the man who was blind a second time, and said to him, “Give glory to God. We know that this man is a sinner.”

25 He therefore answered, “I don’t know if he is a sinner. One thing I do know: that though I was blind, now I see.”

26 They said to him again, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?”

27 He answered them, “I told you already, and you didn’t listen. Why do you want to hear it again? You don’t also want to become his disciples, do you?”

28 They insulted him and said, “You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses.

29 We know that God has spoken to Moses. But as for this man, we don’t know where he comes from.”

30 The man answered them, “How amazing! You don’t know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes.

31 We know that God doesn’t listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshiper of God, and does his will, he listens to him.

32 Since the world began it has never been heard of that anyone opened the eyes of someone born blind.

33 If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.”

34 They answered him, “You were altogether born in sins, and do you teach us?” They threw him out.

35 Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and finding him, he said, “Do you believe in the Son of God?”

36 He answered, “Who is he, Lord, that I may believe in him?”

37 Jesus said to him, “You have both seen him, and it is he who speaks with you.”

38 He said, “Lord, I believe!” and he worshiped him.

39 Jesus said, “I came into this world for judgment, that those who don’t see may see; and that those who see may become blind.”

40 Those of the Pharisees who were with him heard these things, and said to him, “Are we also blind?”

41 Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you say, ‘We see.’ Therefore your sin remains.

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Recap

The message in order, in a few minutes of reading.

Van preached from Philippians 3:1-14 on what it means to stop placing confidence in yourself and place it entirely in Christ. He worked through Paul's argument that every earthly credential, no matter how impressive, is rubbish compared to knowing Jesus. The message landed close to home, since Van arrived in Jackson just two weeks earlier and spoke openly about his own need to depend on Christ rather than his own experience and ability.

What was said

Paul opens the chapter with a command to rejoice, and Van pointed out that Paul writes this from prison, which means rejoicing is not tied to circumstances. The warning that follows, "look out for the dogs," is directed at the Judaizers, people who were telling Gentile believers they needed to add law-keeping to their faith. Paul's three-fold warning gets the reader's attention, and the contrast he draws is sharp: true circumcision is not an outward mark but worship by the Spirit of God, with no confidence in the flesh.

To show he has standing to make this argument, Paul lists his own credentials. Tribe of Benjamin, Hebrew of Hebrews, a Pharisee, blameless under the law. Van noted that Paul's persecution of the church was not hatred of God but the result of a genuine zeal that had simply missed the point. He was passionate, educated, and well-regarded, and he had completely missed who Jesus was.

The turn comes in verse seven. Everything Paul had accumulated, he counts as loss, and then he says it again in verse eight and uses the word rubbish, which Van noted could be translated more bluntly as waste. The reason for the reversal is the road to Damascus. When Jesus met Paul with blinding light, Paul received physical blindness and spiritual sight at the same moment. What he had been persecuting became the greatest gain imaginable, and everything he had been proud of shrank by comparison.

Van walked through three eternal gains Paul lists in verses nine through eleven. First, being found in Christ rather than in a righteousness earned by law. He drew on N. T. Wright's image of the sun: we are in its orbit, not the other way around. Second, knowing Christ and the power of His resurrection, which Van grounded in the Christ-poem from Philippians 2, where Jesus empties Himself, dies, and is exalted above every name. Third, sharing in His sufferings toward the resurrection from the dead. Van used the shed shell of a cicada as a picture of the old life, dead and empty, set alongside the new creation described in 2 Corinthians 5:17.

Van connected all of this to Jeremiah 9:23, which Ray had preached from the previous week. The Lord's word through Jeremiah is that the wise should not boast in wisdom, the mighty not in strength, the rich not in riches, but only in knowing God. Van said plainly that he needs to hear that, and that it is a perpetual problem for all of us.

The closing section, verses 12 through 14, calls for pressing on and straining forward, and Van was careful to separate this from earning salvation. The working and straining is not to achieve righteousness, he said. Salvation is secure. The motivation for the hard work is that Christ has already made Paul His own, and that reality produces a drive to keep going. He tied Paul's "one thing I do" to the healed blind man in John 9 who, when pressed by the Pharisees, simply said he was blind and now he sees. The point was the same: Paul was spiritually blind, he encountered Jesus, and now everything looks different. The press forward is the natural response of someone who has seen.

Doing a Bible study?

Here is a guide we have prepared for you: the passages in order, questions for the group, and room to write.

Paul warns against putting confidence in the flesh, and then lists his own impressive religious resume. What kinds of things do people today, including ourselves, tend to treat as a spiritual resume or a source of confidence before God?
Van described Paul's encounter on the road to Damascus as the moment when his physical blindness brought him spiritual sight, and everything on his resume flipped from gain to loss. Has there been a moment in your own life when something you valued highly started to look different once you understood more of who Christ is?

and 3 more questions in the guide

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Well, good morning. If you're coming in, go ahead and come on in. We'll sing together. This is one of my favorite. Would everyone please stand as we sing the wonderful grace of Jesus.

Oh, I love that so much. I just wanna keep singing the chorus over and over again. If you have a hymnal out, which probably is a pretty good idea now if you have to sing a song like that. But we can go ahead and turn to hymn number five seventy five. We'll sing Leaning on the Everlasting Arms.

Hymn number five seventy five. Hang on just a second. If you've got a hymnal, this is really great because you can sing the really cool part. There's a really cool part in there. Really, we don't have them in here, do we?

Oh, here. Stack here. Stack here. If you want one. This is hymn number five seventy five.

We're gonna start the second verse. Go ahead and have a seat.

Hey, good morning, everybody. Welcome to First Baptist Church. We're delighted you're here. There's always lots of programs going on around here, but not a wanna. Tomorrow, you have the day off.

It's our kids program. Be praying for them and those kids as they're not here this week. But thank you all for for those of you who participate with Awana. It's such a blessing to those kids, and we'll see you next week. The men's lunch study is on this week though for all men of all ages.

Would you show up down the hall? We don't provide the lunch, but we do provide a great message, and it's great conversation. And it's neat to see men opening up and feeling safe to be able to share in so much abundance. It's really great. There is an Easter youth choir starting on February 1.

I don't think anybody in this room oh, we've got one person who's eligible. Alright. Hey. I'm looking right at you. Here, come on by and sing with us.

But all the information is on the website. Would you sign up if you wanna be a part of it? It was super cool for Christmas when we had that. And the First Baptist Church directory, directory, I think this service is the most well represented service of them. But would you please get us a photo and your information?

And if you can, make it be a horizontal photo. You don't have to be a member or anything like that. It's for people like me in the office when you come in and you say hello and I can't remember what you're supposed to look like. I I lean over to my directory and I find your face and I'm like, oh, that's who it is. Yeah.

Mary Kadol. I've known her for seventeen years. Oh, thank goodness. She's in the directory. So would you please help me out?

It's a it's a personal favor to me. Would you please help us out with that? And would you be praying for the meal music and message event that's going on starting January 28? Over the hill, they're starting a little almost church service. Is that the right kinda is it almost.

Almost. Something like meal music and a message. It's a message light. It's anyway, it's gonna be great. Would you be praying for them?

It's over the the fairgrounds over there. It's a really cool opportunity to be able to reach that valley over there. And something new. It's it's neat that we're trying stuff around here, and Van's a big part of that. The men's snowmobile retreat is also coming up.

Keep Ben on your calendars for the end of February. We're asking men to sign up early if you would. And the women's community Bible study is also going on as well. Information for that is on our website. Pastor Ray is not here this week because his his uncle passed away.

And and can we lift up that family to us? It's always hard when somebody passes away, and let's just be praying for them. Lord Jesus, thank you so much for who you are and, Lord God, that Ray's uncle loved you, Lord God, and that he's in your arms now. And I just pray for the family, Lord. Would you give them peace and rest?

Would you give them comfort in this moment, Lord God, and be able to heal any old wounds that might be around and be able to say the nice things that they need to say? Would you just draw them together, and would you draw them towards you, Lord Jesus? Thank you so much for who you are and for who you've made that family to be. In your holy name, amen. Okay.

Well, for everything else, you can go to the church website, firstbjackson.org, and I guess we'll go back to some singing. Thanks so much for letting me interrupt for a moment.

Last job, Nick. It's okay. If you do have the hymnal, it's 342 as our next one. It's rocket I'm sorry. 343.

I read the wrong one. Amazing Grace. Go ahead and stand up. Amen. How can you not pay attention to words when you're reading singing a song like that?

In moments like these, number 91.

Father, we're thankful for the opportunity to come and worship you, to study your word, to sing hymns to your name. Father, we're thankful for the privilege of being able to give of ourselves, give of our love to each other, and to give what resources that we want to give to you so that your work in this, your kingdom will advance and will, that we will, understand that it is you that does these things. It is not us. It is you. And we're thankful for that.

In Jesus' name, amen.

Alright. How about that? Is that better? Good morning. I'm gonna do the scripture reading this morning before Van comes up.

But first, I just wanna say, said this in the first service too, but thank you to Van and Lauren and his whole family for being here and just being open to the call of God on their life and just for for their obedience in in following that call. And we know I heard the message already. So when you hear the message, you're gonna go, man, some of that dovetails with, like, their story of how they got here. And so, you know, thank y'all. And also, Van is here preaching today on short notice because of a death and Ray's family.

So thank you for for being here on short notice too. So Philippians three, seven through 11, but whatever was to my profit, now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus, my lord. For whose sake I have lost all things, I consider them rubbish 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 and is by faith. I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death and so somehow to attain to the resurrection from the dead.

Thank you, Philip. Good morning, everybody. How are you all? Y'all, that's from Alabama. Oh, man.

So good. Yeah. So we're two weeks ago, we got here Sunday night and yeah. Just suddenly found myself up here preaching, which is a great it's a great honor to to get to be here this morning. Relieve Ray as he's with his family.

And it's really good to see all of you here. Yeah. Can't couldn't couldn't tell you how thankful I am for the Lord's clarity in this step. So Philippians three has been really good for me this this week preparing and it it has brought a lot of consolation and and comfort as the the main focus is really on not depending on yourself, not depending on your works or or your own ability, but really putting all of your dependence on Christ. And most of my experiences in construction, And if I, as your new associate pastor, put all confidence in my own ability, flesh, knowledge, whatever, I will fail you.

I will be doing all I can no matter how much experience I gain to to always put my dependence on Christ and look to him to lead this body. So, I hope you are also encouraged that the pressure is not on you and your performance. It's it's it's on all of us to to have faith in Christ, right? And and and trust him for the work that he does through us. So, I'll I'll get started with a prayer first and then we'll dive into it.

Lord, thank you so much for today for this opportunity for each of us in the room to to read your word, hear your word, and we pray that you open our eyes and open our ears to receive your truth. In Jesus name, we pray. Amen. Amen. It wouldn't be a a great sermon without a map, right?

At first beast. So, you got your map. Philippi is where the Philippians are. Of course, and Paul is writing to them from prison in Rome. So, just a little visual representation.

That's all that's all I'm gonna give you there. We got a lot to go through. We're going from one all the way to 14. I know we read just the the meat in the middle, but verse one through three, Paul gives some encouragement and some warning. And then verse four through six, it's like his fleshly resume.

So it's his his gains from the past. And verse seven and eight, there's this this twist, this turning of the gains counted as rubbish. In verse nine through 11, he he kinda gives us reason why it's flipped with these eternal gains that that he lists out for for believers. And in verse 12 through 14, is this journey to the price. And so, we will get through all of that today.

Verse one, finally my brothers and sisters, rejoice in the Lord to write the same things to you. There's no trouble to me and it's safe for you. So he's saying rejoice and he's I'm gonna move this because I think I'm gonna kick He's saying rejoice like he's riding from prison. He's been suffering and still he can say rejoice. And so let's have that mentality of of rejoicing as we go through the rest of it.

So that's his encouragement and then the warning, verse two, says, look out for the dogs. Look out for the evildoers. Look out for those who mutilate the flesh. So he's given them this warning to these certain people. Right?

Who are they? So not just in Philippi, but Galatia and other areas, there are these people called the Judaizers, and they are people who place tradition or these laws at this unhealthy high status. Okay? So so you've got the Gentiles who are not circumcised, but they they put their faith in Christ. They're going to this church, the Philippian church, but there's these people coming in and they're saying, hey, y'all need to do this, this, this and this, right?

You need to be circumcised. And Paul is saying, no, like, that's wrong. And he says, look out for the dogs. And so for us, we've got neighbors across the street that have awesome dogs. They're so sweet and like in an outdoor culture, we love our dogs.

Right? Man's best friend. So, it doesn't really make sense why he would say look out for the dogs to us. But in the culture over there and still today in The Middle East, Arab culture does not place a high value on dogs. Like, it's a negative connotation.

Like, imagine like nasty mangy dogs. You know, like that you don't wanna touch you or lick you or anything like that. So that's kinda why he's saying that and then he's also calling them evildoers and mutilators of the flesh because of the the circumcision. Okay? So he's saying, look out three times.

We gotta pay attention to it. And then he continues to dive into to to really what that means. So verse three, for we are the circumcision. We, the the body of Christ, Christ are the circumcision. Those set apart.

So, you know, circumcision in the Old Testament is this outward sign of being set apart for God, like God's people. Right? But now, he's saying those who worship by the spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh. No confidence in the flesh. Okay.

So stark contrast with that. So hopefully that makes sense. This is the part where I was talking about is kinda like his resume. So this gives him some credibility as he's writing to the church and warning them of these people that are trying to authoritatively tell them, hey, you need to do these things. He's listing out his own set of fleshly gains here.

So though I myself, Paul, have reason for confidence in the flesh also. If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more. So he's hinting at these Judaizers. Right? Circumcised on the eighth day of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin.

So trace back multi, multi, multi generations. You're like, I know for some of us like, what family we're a part of is a big deal, right? Like, he's traced way further back than most likely any of us have to the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews as to the law of Pharisees. So, you know, Pharisee, they were given a lot of grief by Jesus, right? For good reason because they they're really strict and they added laws to help them make sure that they were just doing exactly what they should.

And sometimes, like in Paul's sake, it was out of a zeal. Like, he was zealous for God. He wanted to make sure that he was one of God's people. Right? So, he's a highly, you know, status, high status, prestigious type guy that's a pharisee out of a zeal for God.

And then but his zeal back then before he meets Jesus is a persecutor of the church. So, a persecutor of the church, why? Not because he hates God. And I think it's easy for us to see this and be like, man, what was he thinking? But in fairness, like all of his past and his studying and all of that rich Jewish knowledge that he has at face value, he can't understand how Jesus is the answer.

Like he just doesn't At that point in time, that's why he was persecuting the church, was out of his zeal for God. And as to righteousness under the law, blameless. So he's he's got all this stuff that he has going for him, but he's like, he totally missed it. Right? You can be so zealous and and so passionate, but but then just completely miss the miss the point.

And then he says in verse seven, but whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Like, seriously? How could all that great stuff be counted as loss? And he says it again, in case you missed it. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord.

If you really take a step back and think about who he was at that time, like when he walked into the temple, like everybody knew like, oh man, like there's there's Paul or Saul or whatever they called him. Like, he's really smart. He teaches a lot. He whatever. Like, he's attained this status, this prestige.

Right? And then he's counting it all as lost, but how? Like, man, I know y'all recently went through Acts, studied Acts here. In Acts nine, if you remember, he's on the road to Damascus to do what? To persecute the church, like to persecute believers.

But Jesus meets him there with this blinding light and his thundering voice, you know, and asked him, Paul, what are you doing? Why are you persecuting me or persecuting my church? And it's so cool to think like, with his physical blindness that he got from that blinding light, he receives this spiritual sight. And he and he starts to understand that all of these gains that he's achieved in his life, all those things we listed. And then his the the lowest thing would be like Christ who he's trying to persecute.

Right? In this moment, everything changes. He's counting all those gains as loss, and that which he was persecuting is now the greatest gain, the biggest thing going on. And so that's what's going on in verse seven and eight as he's describing this. And he makes sure we understand by three times, verse seven and eight, three times he says loss.

Like, his gains are counted as loss for the sake of Christ. He counts everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord. For his sake, suffer the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, which the translators when they wrote rubbish, I mean, they could have used maybe a more accurate word which would be poop. He counts it as poop. All those things, that's that's wild to think about.

And why? Because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ. And so in this section eight through 11, the the eternal gains, there's kind of three sections, and I'll have them underlined as we go through each one. So this first one, for his sake, I've suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ, and be found in him and be found in him. Right?

And so that perspective, I was reading a book by N. T. Wright this week, and it was really cool that he has a quote like describing the perspective of, you know, thinking of Jesus as small and then not. So the sun has risen. I know I'm going out of order.

The sun has risen and it turns out we are in its orbit. Right? Not the other way around. Like, God's so big. And when we're until this this happens, right, that happened with Paul, like, it's hard for us to wrap our minds around what's actually happening.

Like, the conclusion is not so that he may be my savior. The conclusion is, so that I may be found in him. Like he he he is who he is whether we know it or not. You know, like, but we have that opportunity to know him, be found in him. Jim Elliot, y'all probably know this quote.

He's echoed Philip Henry from the sixteen hundreds here. He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep, to gain what he cannot lose. And and he was saying this on his way to the mission field. He was he sold all his stuff and was leaving his his life behind, the gains behind, to go pursue what God had called him to do. Like, he gaining Christ and he can't lose that, right?

He can lose all this stuff but you can't lose Christ and and I I thought that was a really cool quote to bring in to kind of help us see how this works.

Got your own.

Okay. I am pressing the button. It's not me. There we go. Alright.

So next, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law. Okay. So, he's he's thinking back as a Pharisee, as a a Jew. He is was counting on his works to show God like I am doing everything I can to to be righteous, to be one of God's people. But that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith is what we have to enjoy.

Right? So he's saying, 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. So that I may know Christ. That's infinitely valuable.

Right? That I may know Christ in the power of his resurrection. Earlier in chapter two, he really does a great job writing this little poem song in verse six through 11. Talking about who God who Christ is, you know, and just thinking how do we know Christ? This is Christ.

Though he, Jesus, was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped. But he emptied himself by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men, and being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore, God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that the name of Jesus, every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Amen. That's who he is.

Like, what do you see in there? We see humility. We see power. We see that he loves us so much that he he didn't even count equality with God a thing to be grasped. It's kind of a tough word.

But he emptied himself. Why? For us, because he loves us. And now he's exalted, and every knee will bow. Like, I love like thinking through, if I'm about to have a conversation with somebody, maybe here in the valley that is opposed to who Jesus is.

Man, I know that at the end, everyone will know who he is. Every knee will bow. Every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord. That's who we have the opportunity to know. Last week, Ray was in Jeremiah and Jeremiah nine twenty three really like dovetails well into the into what we're talking about today.

Thus says the Lord, let not the wise man boast in his wisdom. So this is just think about like fleshly confidence, earthly gains, like the list from Paul earlier. Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom. Let not the mighty man boast in his might. Let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boast, boast in this, that he understands and knows me.

That I am the Lord Yahweh, who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the Lord. Like, it pleases God for us to know him and not boast in our list of stuff but only in him and you know, back then in in Jeremiah's day, the the people needed to hear that like they were really not doing great and then, clearly, in Paul's day, man, they needed to hear it too. Like, he's having to say basically the same thing and in our day, honestly, I need to hear this too. Like, we all need to hear this.

It's a it's a perpetual issue that we're dealing with. And and in his in his letter in Paul's letter to the Galatians, he says, but far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me and I to the world. What is he saying there? He's saying, man, the surpassing worth of knowing Christ is so high up here that anything the world has to offer is really way, way, like way down there. That's what he's saying here.

Last eternal gain we'll go through, and may this is the last thing he's he's gaining here, share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible, I may attain the resurrection from the dead. Wow. Like, share in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death so that any means possible, I may attain the resurrection from the dead. There's a cool picture that that the Lord has given us to look at with this cicada bug. Okay?

Y'all have these here. Right? We have them in Alabama. My kids love to take the shell, and, you know, the legs are still really sticky, and they'll they'll place it on mom's little shoulder secretly, and she'll be like, oh gosh, you know. And it is fun to like put them around the house or whatever, but it's just a shell.

It's empty. It has no value. It doesn't do anything. It's dead. Right?

And this is I was just thinking like, this is a cool picture of like, that's our flesh over there. Like, we're dead, we're dying. Like, this stuff that we thought was so valuable, it's more it's like that show. Like, it's just it's worthless, you know? Compared to the the the life with Christ, second Corinthians five seventeen, therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he's a new creation.

The old has passed away, behold the new has come. How amazing. And like that that transformation can look a lot of different ways. But in Paul's life, you know, like we read about or or talked about in Acts nine, he goes from his zealous. What does his zealousness look like before Christ?

It looked like killing, persecuting Christians. And then the zealousness looked like sharing in the sufferings of Christ and being persecuted with the Christians. He's still zealous, but it looks so much different, right? Jesus' disciples. Man, what did it look like for them with the power of the resurrection?

Totally different. They went from hiding in the upper room when he was being killed, And then, but most of them died a martyr's death because they had confidence, they had the spirit in them, and they they had the power of the resurrection that they knew. And they proclaimed boldly the gospel that they were previously afraid of. In Matthew 13, there's the parable of the man who finds the treasure in the field. Okay, y'all tracking?

I like to think that that man probably walked by that field every day, and he just saw a field and you know, who cares? Right? It's just a it's just a field. But when he discovered the treasure that was in the field, what did he do? Man, everything changed in his life.

Right? All the stuff that he had, all his belongings, everything he had, and the field went like this. He sold it all and bought the field because he knew the treasure that was there. Do we live like we actually value knowing Christ to the point that he's infinitely more worth anything else in our life. I struggle with that.

And I imagine that most people struggle because we can see these things that are temporary, and Christ and spiritual things are unseen, and so our bodies have a tough time with them. So is that the end? No. We have a little bit more time. We got this last section of kind of like the action, the call to action.

Here's the truth. We don't place confidence in the flesh. We place confidence. We boast in in Christ and who he is. So, let's read verse 12 through 14.

Now that I've already obtained this. So, he's saying like, Paul knows that his his journey at this time is not done. He's got more suffering to do. He's got more writing to do, more proclamation of the gospel, more work to do. Right?

So he's not he's not complete. He's not perfect, but I press on to make it my own because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider that I have made it my own, but one thing I do, forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead. I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. You see, press on, straining forward, press on.

What? Like, didn't we just talk about it's not by works? We're not saved by works, by faith alone, in Christ alone. Right? So what's he talking about?

Why is he saying work, strain, press on. It's not to achieve righteousness. It's not for your salvation. Your salvation is taken care of. Jesus paid it all.

You don't need to do anything to earn your salvation. No, absolutely not. You are secure, eternally secure, even if your emotions tell you otherwise. This training, this working is happening because Christ Jesus has made me, Paul, his own. Like, there's a motivation that comes from this, I'm being found in Christ.

I have a savior, and he has called me to this eternal purpose, right? So he Yeah. He's acknowledged he hasn't reached this goal. He's got more to do, and because he is Christ, he press He wants to press on, and and continue the hard work. Right?

Paul is not afraid of some hard work. First Corinthians fifteen ten, he says, I worked harder than any of them. And I I worked with some guys in construction that sound like that. I don't know if Paul made it like had that same tone or not, but he was a hard worker. Colossians one twenty eight through 29, him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom that we may present everyone mature in Christ.

For this I toil, for this I work, struggling with all his energy. Wait, whose energy? Yes. With his energy that he powerfully works within me. Right?

And and Philippians four thirteen, often misquoted, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. It's him that gives us the ability. It's not us. It's not our list of stuff. Right?

It's him. Man, so good. Like, I love this part. He says, but one thing I do, and it and it made me think about in John nine, the it's a big parable. It takes up or not a parable, sorry.

John nine, Matthew 13 was parable. John nine, blind man who's born blind is healed by Jesus when Jesus tells him to you know, he makes mud and then he tells him to go wash, and then all of a sudden, after he washes, he can see. And the Pharisees, this happened on the Sabbath. Jesus loved to do this on the Sabbath, right? And he liked to mess with the Pharisees.

The Pharisees got really upset about that. And they so much so they're like questioning his family like, hey, mom and dad, this your son, right? He's like, yeah. Was he really born blind? Yes, he was born blind.

Are you sure? Yeah, he was born blind. He was blind yesterday, you know? And then they questioned him like multiple times, and they're like, hey, blind man, were you really born blind? Yes, I was born blind.

And they kept saying like, what about this guy that healed you? Did he heal you on the Sabbath? He's like, hey, one thing I know, I was blind, and now I see. I was blind, but now I see. It's like Paul was spiritually blind, but after his encounter with Jesus, now he sees.

It's like us, like the disciples, like us. We were blind, and now we see. This one thing I do, forgetting what lies behind, and straining forward to what lies ahead. What are we gonna do with the reality that that we're not dependent or focused on this stuff that's worthless? But now we see who Christ is and his worth, his eternal worth, and the gain that we have, and and what are we gonna do?

We're gonna press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. So we rejoice like verse one. We rejoice. He's given us new life. We're not the little dead bug thing.

Right? The life Jesus offers in relationship with him is infinitely better than trying to grasp for these things that the world pushes in front of us. May we know him, worship him in spirit and truth and praise him, and may we toil. May we work hard, joyfully submitting ourselves to him, so he may work in us and through us to accomplish his will. Let's pray.

Lord, thank you so much for for the truth that you've given us, for the perspective, for opening our our eyes to who you are and what you have done for us, Lord. We love you and praise you. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. Amen.

Is there another song? Yes? Okay.

Let's go ahead and stand. And you know, I learned my lesson from two weeks ago. I'm ready. K? But I just want Judy, you picked those you picked these hymns out right?

I was. You you picked these songs out. Is that correct? And did you know what he was preaching on today? No.

What? Did you know what he was preaching on today? No. No idea. This this is,

you

know you know, what was it? The thirteenth verse? Is that right? We forget what is behind us. We follow him.

May the Lord bless you and keep you. May the light of his face shine upon you. Have a great week.

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