For a lot of people, winning the lottery is the epitome of the American dream. But for many actual lottery winners, the reality is more like a nightmare.
Evelyn Adams won the New Jersey lottery not just once, but twice, in 1985 and then again in 1986, to the tune of $5.4 million. Today the money is all gone and Adams lives is worse off than when she won the lottery. “Winning the lottery isn’t always what it’s cracked up to be. I won the American dream but I lost it, too. It was a very hard fall. It’s called rock bottom. Everybody wanted my money. Everybody had their hand out. I never learned one simple word in the English language—‘No!’ I wish I had the chance to do it all over again. I’d be much smarter about it now.” She also lost money at the slot machines in Atlantic City.
Sometimes what we consider a profit can actually be a loss, and sometimes what we consider a loss is actually a profit. Profit and loss are often thought about in terms of money and material possessions. A Profit & Loss report shows how much money has been earned and spent during a particular period of time. If you have ever owned a business, been the treasurer of an organization, or kept a strict personal budget, you know what a profit and loss report looks like.
Many people also keep track of their spiritual profits and losses. Now I don’t know anyone who actually does this on paper, but in their minds, they tally up their good deeds and compare them with the sins they have committed, and as long as their good deeds (profits) outweigh their sins (losses) they believe they will go to heaven when they die.
But just like the financial world, profit can be loss and loss can be profit in the spiritual world. This is the lesson that the Apostle Paul learned in his own life and it is the lesson he wants us to learn this morning. Let’s see what he means!
True Christians (1-3)
Paul begins by contrasting false teachers with true Christians. He says that believers comprise the true “circumcision”. His use of the pronoun “we” shows that he includes himself and the Philippians in this group. Paul, or course, was a circumcised Jew, and the Philippian church was probably composed of entirely uncircumcised Gentiles. The common ground between them is their commitment to the gospel. As believers, Paul says, they are the true people of God, the true circumcision. (Thielman 167)
Physical circumcision was no longer a sign of right standing with God. Now the true people of God are known by three characteristics: They “worship by the Spirit”, “glory in Christ”, and “put no confidence in the flesh”. Christians are the ones who worship properly because they are directed by God’s Spirit rather than be trapped in external rules and rituals. True Christians do not put confidence in themselves, neither in the ritual of circumcision, nor in obeying the law. They do not take glory or boast in anything they do. They only boast and brag about Jesus Christ!
This stands radically opposed to the false teachers who said the Gentiles had to be circumcised to be acceptable to God. The Philippians had to make a choice—glory in Christ or in human religious achievement.
And we also have to make the same choice today! Are we going to glory in Christ or are we going to rely on our moral and religious achievement? Genuine believers have their complete hope and confidence in Christ’s finished work on the cross, not in themselves being good people, law abiding citizens, morally faithful, or even being religious. The Judaizers were religious people and moral citizens, but they were not Christians. Where do you put your confidence? (Anders 243)
Paul’s Profits (4-6)
If anyone had the right to brag about religious status and human achievement, it was Paul. Paul had more credentials and better accomplishments than any of the Judaizing false teachers. He was born into the right family and made all the right decisions.
His list of profits beings with “circumcised on the eighth day.” This was one of the proudest claims a Jew could make, namely, that he was in strict conformity to the Law because he was circumcised on precisely the right day. Next, he asserts that he is from “the nation of Israel.” By this, he possesses all the rights and privileges of God’s chosen people because he belongs to them by birth. Furthermore, he was from the tribe of Benjamin. Again, there is a note of pride expressed as the apostle writes these words. The tribe of Benjamin, though small, was nevertheless highly esteemed. He was a “Hebrew of Hebrews” which means that he spoke the language of his ancestors. Ability to speak the ancient languages was a mark of faithfulness to the old culture.
After he alludes to his inherited credentials and status, he moves on to boast about his personal achievements. First, he was a Pharisee. In regard to the law, the Pharisees were the strictest of the Jewish sects. He had the highest academic and religious credentials one could have. And as for zeal and passion, no one could question him. As a Pharisee, he intensely persecuted the church and sought to destroy it. And as for legalism, he was faultless. He obeyed the Law right to the letter. He was as righteous as any fallen human being could be. (Hawthorne 132)
George Whitfield, in his Easter sermon The Power of Christ’s Resurrection said:
Without this, though we may be moralists, though we may be civilized, good-natured people, yet we are no Christians. For he is not a true Christian, who is only one outwardly; nor have we therefore a right, because we daily profess to believe that Christ rose again the third day from the dead. But he is a true Christian who is one inwardly; and then only can we be styled true believers, when we not only profess to believe, but have felt the power of our blessed Lord’s rising from the dead, by being quickened and raised by his Spirit, when dead in trespasses and sins, to a thorough newness both of heart and life.
Were you born into a good Christian family? Are you an upstanding citizen? Have you lived a good moral life? Do you have a good education? Are you good at what you do? Are you patriotic? Have you achieved a high degree of success? Do you attend church regularly? Do you put a lot of money into the offering plate?
Don’t get me wrong; these are all good, but none of them can get you to heaven. So many people fill in their profit columns with these types of things, thinking that God will accept them because of their personal achievements. But nothing could be further from the truth. As far as God’s favor is concerned, human profits mean nothing to him; they can actually be losses when it comes to heaven.
Paul’s Losses (7-11)
And yet, in spite of all of these impressive profits, Paul put no stock or confidence in them. Jewish observers would place him at the top of the religious elite, but he placed it all in the loss column. For him, nothing belonged in the profit column except Christ. As a matter of fact, Paul considers “everything” to be a loss compared to the greatness of knowing Jesus Christ. He gave up all of his religious status and human achievement so that he could solely pursue his relationship with Jesus Christ. In comparison to Christ he considers all of these other things as rubbish. The word translated here as “rubbish” is the Greek word sku,bala which literally means “dung”. All of his credentials and human achievements were as worthless as dog dung compared to the surpassing greatness of Christ.
But why does Paul give up his religious status and human achievements? So that he may gain Christ and be found in him. All attempts at human righteousness fail. Humans, regardless of how hard they try, can never attain a righteous standing before God.
So, how does one obtain righteousness? Paul says that righteousness comes from God himself and is given through faith, the only way to God. This is why god sent his son Jesus. Humanity is lost and sinful. No one is good enough to get to heaven. But God sent Jesus to live a perfectly righteous life, die on a cross, and be resurrected from the dead so that anyone who puts their faith in Christ receives Christ’s righteousness.
None of Paul’s credentials or achievements could guarantee resurrection after his death; only Christ could do that since he was already resurrected. Therefore, he wanted to Know Christ in the power of his resurrection. And to know Christ in his resurrection meant that he also had to know him in his sufferings. For like Christ, he first must experience suffering and death before we are resurrected.
Paul came to the point where he opened his ledger book. He looked at what he had accumulated by inheritance and by his efforts and reflected that these things actually kept him from Christ. He then took the entire list and placed it where it belonged—under the list of liabilities. He called them “losses” and under the profit column he wrote, “Jesus Christ alone.”
Have you exchanged your profits for losses? Have you exchanged confidence in yourself for confidence in Christ? Or are you trusting in a kind of goodness that will never be accepted by God? If you are, let me warn you that your goodness will take you to hell. But if you are willing to lay your goodness aside, counting it a loss, God will credit Jesus Christ to your account and your “account” will be secure in heaven! (Boice 170)
Accumulating human righteousness is a lot like playing Monopoly. The game has colorful money and is enjoyable to play, but only a fool would try to pay their bills with it or take it into town to buy groceries. A different kind of currency is used in the real world.
It is the same spiritually. There are people who think they are collecting assets before God when they are only collecting human righteousness. God tells them they must leave the play money. Our goodness has no value in heaven.
Sometimes what we consider a profit is actually a loss, and sometimes what we consider a loss is actually a profit. The only thing we need to get to heaven is true faith in Jesus Christ, nothing else. And Paul says to beware of anyone wh teaches anything to the contrary!