Philippians 3:8: The Loss of All Things
Philippians 3:8 reads (NASB):
I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ.
Those of us who are radical, deeply-committed Christians like to talk about “the loss of all things.” We like to talk about giving up everything for Christ and about a Gospel that demands utter abandonment.
We must never forget that the loss of all things is for a reason. Giving up everything is not an end in itself. According to 1 Cor. 13:3, you can give all your possessions to feed the poor and even give up your body to be burned, yet without doing the will of God—without love—it is of no benefit to you.
Here in Philippians 3:8 Paul gives a specific reason for losing all things. It is for “the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.”
If you don't know the surpassing value of knowing Christ, surely there's no motivation for suffering the loss of all things. Unless you are simply some sort of masochist, there is no good reason for giving up everything. You have to know what you're giving everything up for. In the case of the Gospel, it's for the surpassing value of knowing Christ.
The Scriptures say that in God's presence there is fullness of joy and at his right hand there are pleasures forevermore. Those of us who have experienced his presence know that this is true. Knowing Christ means living almost all the time in his presence. It means living our lives by the Spirit of God, and thus living by the omniscient guidance of God. Saying “not my will but thine be done” is not the path to misery. It is the path to fullness of joy, even when it's the path to suffering. Those who suffer in Christ are not miserable. When Jesus first prayed those words—“not my will, but thine be done”—he did it for the joy that was set before him, not for the misery. The Scriptures say that it was for that joy that he endured the cross. Yes, he suffered—greatly. But he suffered for joy.
So we too are to suffer for joy. We give up all things for the surpassing greatness—and the surpassing joy, the fullness of joy—of knowing Christ Jesus our Lord.
It is important that we never get confused. It is important that we never become sour-faced saints, delighting in our own misery and self-abasement. Bah, humbug. That is all meaningless. It will gain you no credit with God. It is not credit with God to deny yourself. It is credit with God to follow Christ, which will lead to you denying yourself. Denying yourself must be the side effect. It must be the product of going after the knowledge of Christ and not some sort of New Testament sacrifice to God.
Therefore, let us know Christ! Let us, as Paul goes on to say in Philippians 3, strive towards the mark. Let us deny ourselves along the way. Let us lose all things along the way, but let us always strive towards the mark, the prize, which is the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. There is surpassing value in knowing Jesus our Lord. Let us know of it and never lose sight of it.
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