If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: 5 circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; 6 as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless. 7 But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. 8 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 9 and be found in him, 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— 10 that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.The Word of the Lord.
12 Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. 13 Brothers, 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, 14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
Thanks be to God.
In this portion of his letter to the church in Philippi, Paul begins by offering what is sometimes called a “humble brag.” In seven concise statements, Paul presents his credentials: he is a member of God’s covenant people; an Israelite by birth; a descendant of one of the faithful tribes; a son of Hebrew parents; a strict observer of the Law; a zealot for God; and blameless.[i]
And while his speech may sound arrogant to us, Paul is using language that his hearers would have recognized, a kind of cultural currency that would have been important to them. In the same way that I would introduce our North Carolina synod bishop by saying that he is a cradle Lutheran who grew up at St. John’s in Salisbury, graduated from Chapel Hill and most recently served at Redeemer Lutheran Church in Atlanta before his election as our bishop, Paul lists his qualifications to bear witness to the church.
But then he surprises us all because he says that even though these are the facts, they are not the things that carry value and worth for him; they are not the things in which he store his identity or his faith. Paul writes that these things are nothing more than σκύβαλα (v 3:8) or sewer trash.
Writing about this chapter of Paul’s letter in Because of This I Rejoice, Methodist pastor and author Max O. Vincent describes how years ago he took down what he called his “I Love Me” wall. That’s his name for the wall in his office where he had hung his credentials — framed diplomas and awards — so that whoever came to meet with him would be impressed.[ii] He doesn’t go so far as to call them dung, which is the meaning of the Greek word in the text, but in their place he has hung artwork from the children of his congregation and a crucifix that he says “remind him to be a human, to be a fellow pilgrim on the path of discipleship, and to look for hope in the most unlikely places.”[iii]
In Paul’s letter he invites us to step out of a threshold where the past is clearly visible and strive for what lies ahead.
In the “bracketology” that led up to the seeding for the NCAA men’s basketball tournament, even as experts described how the University of Virginia Cavaliers had won 35 of their 38 games this past season, the pall of the season-ending defeat in round 1 of the 2018 tournament overshadowed anything they had accomplished this year. After all, they had been the unexpected phenom the year before, ascending into the Top 25, winning the ACC championship and earning the overall #1 seed for the tournament before they fell in the first round to the #16 seed University of Maryland Baltimore County with a dramatic twenty-point loss. So when this year’s tournament opened and UVA faced Gardner-Webb in the first round, the Cavs were standing on a threshold between what was behind them and what was ahead.
Remembering that thresholds are both exits and entrances, Duke Divinity School professor Susan Eastman describes the threshold that Paul describes in his letter as a “cruciform” threshold, a place where we leave behind the past, forgetting whatever is there and discover “our life, our purpose, our identity” in Christ.[iv]
Often we think our identity is bound up in the past but, in Christ, we are called to slough off the past. And while stories about the transforming power of faith frequently focus on people who have hit bottom in some way, experiencing a failed relationship or business, an illness or addiction, or like the Cavs, a team that lost everything, Paul reminds us that even when we have “made it” in the world, it counts for nothing.
That doesn’t make any sense at all in a world where credentials remain the cultural currency in many places and the judgment of a person’s worth is still based on their title or position, degree or affiliation. But the gospel is counter-cultural and Paul instructs us to define ourselves by the grace we have received in Christ.
Luther, too, teaches in his Small Catechism that, lost and condemned, we are redeemed by Jesus and “cannot by [our] own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, [our] Lord.” It cannot be said more plainly: our score-keeping is garbage. This shouldn’t be news to us, but it is Good News for us!
If you didn’t follow March Madness after Chapel Hill and Duke fell, or if you don’t watch basketball, UVA managed to advance through every round of this year’s tournament. They kept focused on the prize and didn’t let the critics, on the broadcasts or in their own heads, beat them. And on Monday night, they won their first-ever NCAA Championship in overtime to take home the trophy and the title.
The upward call and prize that Paul writes about isn’t accompanied by trophies or parades. He calls Christ-followers to strive for what is ahead, forgetting what is behind, and placing our confidence in the cross and the power of Christ’s resurrection for our identity and our purpose that we might enjoy now and always the fullness of life lived in Christ.
Let us pray…
Holy God,
We give you thanks for Your Son Jesus whose life, death and resurrection shows us the power of faith to make a way where there is no way.
By Your grace alone You redeem us and make us Your children.
Give us courage to press on, counting all as loss except what we have in faith in Christ.
Instead of keeping score, teach us to keep faith that we would be witnesses of your love and mercy in all we do and say.
We pray in the name of Your Son Jesus.
Amen.
[i] Elizabeth Shively. “Commentary on Philippians 3:4b-14.” WorkingPreacher.org. Luther Seminary.
[ii] Max O. Vincent. Because of This I Rejoice. 96.
[iii] Vincent. 97.
[iv] Susan Eastman. . “Commentary on Philippians 3:4b-14.” WorkingPreacher.org. Luther Seminary.
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