“But everything that was a gain to me, I have considered to be a loss because of Christ. More than that, I also consider everything to be a loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. Because of him I have suffered the loss of all things and consider them as dung, so that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own from the law, but one that is through faith in Christ—the righteousness from God based on faith.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

What are you most proud of in this life? What is the thing you point to that you think gives your life meaning and value? How did you come by that thing? Was it given to you? Did you labor hard to achieve it? Did it come by a path of suffering? What would your life look like if you didn’t have it anymore? In the last section, Paul laid out his resume for the Philippian believers and it was a pretty impressive resume indeed. In these next few verses, starting with these two, he reflects on it all and points to what matters most to him. Let’s check it out.

I’ve talked before about the metal models I build. I’m pretty proud of them. I have every one that I’ve made on display in my office. There are around 80, and I have several on backlog waiting to be finished or built. I’m proud of the fact that they were featured as a display in our local museum across the street from the church. I enjoy it when people visit my office and marvel at them. I never mind talking about the often painstaking process of constructing some of them. I actually remember building most of them, especially the more difficult ones. But compared with the pride I have when talking about my kids and what they have accomplished or how incredible my wife is, they don’t even register.

Those things—the models and my family—are the kings of things that make me, me. I’m not me without those things. Or so I convince myself on most days. If I didn’t have those things and a handful of other things, I wouldn’t know who I am any longer. My identity can get all wrapped up in them in ways that aren’t necessarily healthy.

Paul had his own list of things like mine. I suspect you do too. You have some things and perhaps some people who form the core of your identity. Without those, you wouldn’t know who you are anymore.

After reciting some of his resume for the Philippian believers, Paul turned to react to it all. His reaction, though, isn’t quite on par with my reaction to my models. Rather than expressing understandable pride in those things, Paul turns his back on them entirely. “But everything that was a gain to me, I have considered to be a loss.” Don’t overlook what a profound statement that is. Paul had a lot of things that he could have considered gain to him. He had just mentioned several of them before writing that sentence. It wasn’t simply that he considered them to be not as good as others would have considered them. They were a net loss. They actively took away from where he wanted to go, from who he wanted to be.

And why did he think about all these things in this way? “But everything that was a gain to me, I have considered to be a loss because of Christ.” Jesus is the secret here. Compared with being found in Christ, with knowing Christ, with being known by Christ, all these things that were a gain to him not only didn’t matter, they were actively unhelpful toward that goal. The key to understanding how Paul could think like this is found in two little words: “to me.” The things that built him up were all active temptations to trust in himself instead of Jesus; to count himself sufficient instead of relying on the sufficiency of Christ; to believe that he was making himself good enough over throwing himself on the goodness of God.

Paul goes on from here not merely to double down, but to up the ante. “More than that, I also consider everything to be a loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.” It’s not just the things that could have been considered a benefit to him that were potential temptations to trust in something or something other than Jesus, everything around him fit that bill. There wasn’t a single thing in his life that did pose a threat of pulling him away from knowing and being known by Jesus.

Make that more personal. There is not a single thing in your life or my life that doesn’t pose a threat of pulling us away from simply knowing Jesus and being known by Him. Those models I build could easily become a kind of idol in which I stake my identity rather than letting my identity be defined in and by Jesus. There are other things that compete for that position as well. What are yours? What things in your life threaten to get in the way of your trusting completely in Jesus? They may be people. They may be tangible things. They may be intangibles like habits or patterns or a reputation. If they take your eyes off of Christ, if they draw away your trust in Him, they are a net loss to your life. It would be better to lose them, to see them go, than it would be to hold onto them and lose Him.

Paul himself experienced this. All of those things that had once meant so much to him had in fact been taken away. His reputation among the Jews was trash. None of them were things that built up his identity anymore. He didn’t look to them for security and strength. They were gone. “Because of [Jesus] I have suffered the loss of all things and consider them as dung, so that I may gain Christ and be found in him.” The Greek word translated “dung” there would be more accurately translated with some other words that I try not to print on my blog. Translators have to clean up Paul’s language so they don’t get angry phone calls from parents asking why there are bad words printed in their kids’ Bibles.

In the final analysis, knowing and being known by Christ is all that matters. Gaining Christ and being found in Him is the only thing that will carry any weight. If our identity and worth are found in anything or anyone else, we will discover in the end that we don’t have any identity or worth at all. Jesus is the one who matters. His estimation of us is the only one that counts. Trusting in ourselves or thinking we are enough to generate what we need there is a delusion that has a grip on the hearts of far too many to our great shame and harm.

What Paul is seeking, and what Paul wanted the Philippian believers to be seeking was not anything that might lead them to think they could do something to make themselves right with God. To put that another way, they were not to be seeking any form of self-righteousness. Self-righteousness is a delusion. It is perhaps the delusion. We cannot make ourselves right with God. Nothing we do or have is up to that task. His holiness is simply too far beyond us. Our sin keeps us infinitely separated from Him. The only hope we have is for someone who has achieved that righteousness to share it with us.

Paul’s goal was “not having a righteousness of my own from the law”—that is, rooted in the things he was capable of doing, even the good things—”but one that is through faith in Christ—the righteousness from God based on faith.” Righteousness is not a status we earn by effort. It is a gift we receive by faith. Jesus achieved the mark of righteousness. Because of His kindness and mercy and great love for us, He is willing to share that status with all those who are willing to trust in Him, to accept Him for who He truly is, to put their faith in Him.

This isn’t something we do so much as something we believe. Now, there is plenty of doing that will be the natural result of this belief, and without this doing in place, there are not good reasons to accept that we believe it. Our natural tendency doesn’t flow in this direction. Without evidence to back up our profession of belief, no one should believe us. But the believing comes first. That’s the thing that is most foundational. We accept Jesus for who He is, we receive what He desires to give, and we stop looking to all of these other things to help us accomplish what He has already done and shared.

The payoff of all of this for you and me is simple: Are we trusting in Christ rather than all of the other things in our lives? The temptation of these other things is profound. Learning to let go of them for the sake of knowing Jesus is hard but vitally necessary. There’s a reason Jesus used such dramatic language when calling people to let go of the various things in their lives that posed a threat to their willingness to trust in Him and follow Him and Him alone. It’s really hard. But unless we get to the mental place that Paul had reached, the full wonders of our salvation will be lost to us. Salvation itself may be inaccessible to us. This really is serious business. I hope you will join me in striving with the Spirit’s help to take care of it.