Back when I was about 11 or 12 my teachers taught my class a brief course in personal accounting. This was decades before personal computers, and for one of the lessons we were given ledger books with columns for gains and losses. We were to record income from an imaginary job, along with imaginary expenditures for several weeks, and hopefully at the end we would not be in the red. Many people practice a sort of “spiritual accounting” where they tally up all sorts of good deeds, religious rituals, and practices, hoping at the end to balance out. In our passage today we read what the Apostle Paul came to learn about this. Let’s take a look.
Prior to coming to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ as his Savior, Paul had been a very devout Pharisee, meticulously keeping the Old Testament Law. That was what he felt would earn him a place in heaven. In his “spiritual accounting books” things like eating kosher, keeping the Sabbath, being circumcised, obeying every item of the Law would be tallied in the “gains” or “profit” column. However, Jesus had shown him that this was not the case. All of his previous religious rituals were not a profit as he thought (vs. 7-8). They were in his loss column. They were worthless and damning. The only thing that would be in the gain column was knowing the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior. Paul knew that his own righteousness, that of religious rituals, ceremonies, and good works, can never save (vs. 9).
To “know” Jesus, as Paul speaks about in verse 10, is not an intellectual knowledge, such as knowing about a historical person, but a knowledge that leads to belief in Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection to save us from sin. Only those who have a saving knowledge of Jesus can become children of God, and dwell eternally with the Heavenly Father. Nothing will ever be as important as our salvation, and of knowing Christ.
Paul knew that he, like all believers today, was a work in progress (vs. 12-14). We are to be growing in Christ, seeking to draw closer to Him, and be more obedient. None of us have reached the goal of perfect Christ-likeness, but like a runner in a race, we pursue that goal. Our goal, like Paul’s was, should be knowing Christ, and to be all that He has in mind for us. Just like an athlete in training has a single-minded goal, that is what ours should be.
Paul had made some serious mistakes in his past, particularly having participated in putting Christians to death. However, he knew that when he accepted Jesus as Savior, those sins were forgiven. Paul was not going to dwell on his past (vs. 13). Just because we might have done bad things in our past doesn’t mean that God can’t use us. Don’t let past mistakes make us discouraged. Neither should we let past glories make us puffed up. Instead, we need to fix our eyes on Jesus, and let Him guide us to the finish line. While it is wise to learn from the past, we shouldn’t live in the past. We cannot redo or undo past mistakes, but we can press forward and serve God faithfully today, as we become more like Christ.
Paul had been through many physical trials, beatings, jail, and shipwrecks, but the one thing that affected him most, that brought him to tears, was knowing that some people were enemies of the cross (vs. 18). These people despised the symbol of what happened on that cross - that it was there that Jesus suffered and died for our sins. Jesus’ cross exposes us for who we really are - hopeless and helpless sinners in need of a Savior. Paul warned the Philippians, and warns us today, to watch out for these people. They are false teachers. Often they pose as friends of Jesus, but teach spiritually dangerous doctrines. Instead, Paul urges us to follow godly teachers, those who hold to God’s Word, the Bible, in everything they say and do (vs. 17).
In closing this Scripture passage, Paul reminded Christians that our true home is in heaven, not here on earth (vs. 20-21). We may have very little here on earth, but if we are followers of Jesus, then our real wealth is with Him in heaven, as His co-heirs. Paul focused his life on striving to be like Jesus, and so should we.
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