Consider All Loss To Gain Christ & Life
1. Consider All Things Garbage for the Sake of Christ
Paul uses accounting language — gains/profit and loss to bring across the message that we must consider all things garbage for the sake of Christ in order to gain Christ and life. He makes this point with four statements that increase in intensity and comprehensiveness.
Consider a loss whatever were gains — In the previous passage we saw that Paul had a very impressive resume. These were real gains, real achievements. They were not wishful thinking or potential gains. He had excellent reasons to boast, and once, Paul had put his confidence in these things. But then something, or rather someone, so radical, so revolutionary happened in Paul’s life that he considers all these gains, these profitable things, a loss, these advantages as a disadvantage. He encountered the resurrected, living Christ. Christ is the decisive difference. He is the cause, the reason for this amazing, radical change in Paul’s values and worldview. And for the sake of Christ he now considers these a loss — his heritage, legacy, racial and national identity, as well as his personal and career achievements — all these gains he now considers a loss. Not merely as unimportant or indifferent, but as harmful because they may prevent Paul from gaining, knowing, and being in Christ, from boasting in the Lord alone.
But Paul goes further and says, what’s more, I consider everything a loss. It is not just his past privileges, personal heritage, and achievements that he sees as a loss. No, everything, past, present, and future achievements or gains, anything else in which he might place his confidence, anything else which may stand between him and Christ—everything he sees as loss. This is no impulsive act of breaking with the past. This is a deep-seated resolution, a radical turning point, turning to Jesus Christ as Lord. He considers everything a loss for the sake of the incomparable, matchless value of knowing Christ Jesus his Lord. And to know Christ Jesus is to live in a close, intimate relationship with Him, to abide in Christ, and He in us. Our close, intimate relationship with Him supersedes everything.
Be willing to suffer the loss of all things — For the sake of Christ Jesus, his Lord, Paul not only considers everything a loss but he suffered the loss of all things. He lost all the things that were already gains to him. But he lost more — his status, position, privileges in Jewish society, wealth, friendships, and family relations. He lost also any possible future gains — a promising career as a Pharisee and teacher of the law, perhaps even one day becoming a member of the Sanhedrin, the Jewish council. He who once was an insider became an outsider. On top of this, he embraced a life of hardship, abuse, suffering, and persecution.
Consider all things garbage — And then to make sure that we get this message loud and clear Paul uses very strong language. English translations softened the intensity of this word by using rubbish or garbage, but it refers to animal dung and rotten food. Paul did not look back. He had no regrets. He was not missing or longing for the things he had lost. His former accomplishments had become disgusting to him, not because they were bad, but because they kept him from Christ. And now in his new life, he continues to regard everything outside Christ, everything in which he might be tempted to place his trust as worthless and disgusting.
Do we consider all things garbage for the sake of Christ? What are we willing to lose for Christ? What have we lost? What are we still holding onto? Do we truly value knowing Christ above all other things in this world? What is preventing me from knowing Christ more and deeper? Is Christ our obsession?
2. To Gain Christ & Be Found in Him
Paul has given up all gains and profits. He considers them all as loss, as garbage, in order to gain Christ. His ambition is to gain Christ perfectly, and so, day by day, he continues to consider earthly things as nothing, as loss, so that he gains Christ daily in an ever-deepening relationship. Now Paul explains what it means to gain Christ — it is to be found in Him, to know Him fully, to become like Him, and so gain the resurrection from the dead.
To be found in Christ — When we gain Christ we are found in Christ and we have the righteousness that comes from God. We have been reconciled. We have a new status and identity. We are now full members of God’s people. This righteousness does not come from our own works. It is not based on our performance and obedience to the law. That is self-righteousness. No, this righteousness comes from the faithfulness of Jesus Christ. He obeyed the Father’s will perfectly and fully. He remained obedient to the cross, and through his suffering and death, He fulfilled God’s loving purpose of saving us. And because of Christ's faithfulness, the Father now declares us righteous and justified. We receive this righteousness on the basis of faith, through faith in Christ. This is saving faith. Everything else is garbage and cannot save us. “May I (we) never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything; what counts is the new creation” (Gal 6:14-15).
3. To Know Christ Fully
To gain Christ is to know Him fully; not just to know about Jesus but to know him in a deep, intimate personal relationship, to know and experience Him in our daily lives, to have an ever-deepening, ever-widening, personal knowledge of Christ. Is this the desire of our hearts, the ambition of our lives? Let us make this our daily prayer, “I want to know you, Lord—to really know you.”
To know Christ is to know the power of his resurrection — This is God’s power, his life-giving power that raised Jesus from the dead. This is the power of the Holy Spirit that gave us new life when we were born again. This is the power that sustains the new life we have in Christ, the power that enables us to live the kingdom life. “… you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. … But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus …” (Eph 2:1-2,4-6). This power is working in us and is available to us. “… his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms …” (Eph 1:18-20). This power is with us always.
To know Christ is to know the fellowship of his sufferings — We have seen in Philippians 1:29 that we are called not only to believe in Christ but also to suffer for Him. All believers experience suffering. We participate in his suffering when we die to self and take up our crosses daily; when we give up our selfish ambitions and look out for the interests of others, serving them in self-sacrificing love. These are the physical sufferings we experience as we live in this broken and sinful world. These sufferings are the persecutions and tribulations that we experience as followers of Jesus. “We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God” (Acts 14:22). Paul encourages the Thessalonians in their faith, “… so that no one would be unsettled by these trials. For you know quite well that we are destined for them. In fact, when we were with you, we kept telling you that we would be persecuted. And it turned out that way, as you well know” (1 Thess. 3:3,4).
We suffer in Christ so that we may be glorified with Him. “Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory” (Ro 8:17). Paul continues, “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us … And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose … If God is for us, who can be against us? … in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Ro 8:18, 28, 31, 37-39).
The more we become like Christ, the more we will suffer. But the power of his resurrection strengthens and motivates us. When we have gained Christ, we are found in Him and we know the power of his resurrection. This enables us to endure and rejoice in our sufferings.
4. To Become like Christ & Gain Eternal Life
To gain Christ is to become like him in his death. We are united with our Lord in his death and resurrection, and so we attain the resurrection from the dead. We gain the new, eternal life in Him. “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Gal 2:20). In this life, this is an ongoing process. We are called to put to death the deeds of the body and whatever belongs to our earthly nature (Ro 8:13; Col 3:5). Daily we take up our crosses daily and die to self, and daily we are resurrected with Him, to follow Him and live the new life.
And because we are becoming like him in his death, we know that one day, when we die physically, we will be resurrected from the dead, and enter eternal life. But now, in this life, we consider all things, everything as loss, as garbage for the sake of Christ so that we may gain Christ, be found in him, and through Him gain this new and eternal life.
When I value worldly things above Christ, when I don’t have time to spend with Him to know Him deeper and more, when I don’t die to self and take up my cross every morning, then when the storms of life hit, my life is a mess. I am anxious, filled with worry and fear, and I give in easily to the temptations of sin. I don’t behave in Christlike ways. This is not a prosperity gospel that says that if you do all these things your life will be smooth sailing with no problems or suffering. No, life will still happen. Things will still go wrong. We will still suffer pain, failures, disappointments, loss, etc.
But here is the difference. When I value Christ above all things and consider everything garbage so that I might gain Christ and know Him, when I am found in Him and abide in Him, then I will be able to handle these things. I will be able to respond to them in a Christlike manner, in a kingdom and loving way. I will know the power of his resurrection and this power will enable me to endure and persevere through the storms of life.
What is more valuable, what is more profitable than getting the new life, than being reborn, than becoming a child of God, a member of his family, becoming a citizen of heaven, a member of God’s people. But there is more. This new life is eternal. On that last day at the end when our Lord returns, we will be resurrected from the dead, raised with new, glorious heavenly bodies. We will live and rule with our Lord in his new creation forever. Can there be anything more valuable or better than this?
To gain Christ, to be found in Him, to know Him fully, and gain life — for this, I am willing to suffer for my Lord. I am willing to die for Him. And I can do this because the power of his resurrection sustains me and empowers me to endure and persevere whatever sufferings may come my way. And this I know for sure, that if I am killed or when I die one day, I will be resurrected and live eternally with my Lord. Therefore, let us consider all, everything a loss, so that we may gain Christ and gain life, the new, eternal life.