A Big Steaming Pile

“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” (Philippians 3:8).

I treasured my collection of music. We’re talking rock from the 70s and 80s. Couldn’t get enough of it. Bought everything I could find from the Beatles, Eagles, Bachman Turner Overdrive, Styx, and anybody else who appeared on the Midnight Special. This timeless music would be around forever! There was just one little problem. I bought it all on 8-track tapes. What? Never heard of this fabulous method of recording and playback? Consider yourself blessed a thousand times over. Just about the time I was at the peak of assembling my musical stash, 8-track PLAYERS disappeared. Poof. Thanks to the invention of CDs, my entire collection was worthless. I had no way of rocking the house once my 8-track deck went to the big electronic dumpster in the sky. I thought this was a great investment in my entertainment future. Big mistake. My treasured collection of 8-track gold was nothing more than a big steaming pile.

What in the world do my misguided musical purchases have to do with Paul’s letter to the Philippian church? I’m so very glad you asked. The apostle goes out of his way to let his readers know he made a massive mistake. Earlier in his life, he invested in things he truly believed mattered over the long haul. He built an incredibly impressive religious resume! The former Pharisee had quite a pile of accomplishments and awards. That all changed the day the resurrected Jesus supernaturally mugged him outside Damascus. Suddenly Paul realized his credentials and achievements were a lot like my 8-track collection. A. Big. Steaming. Pile. 

The apostle desperately wants his Philippian friends to not make the same mistake. Following Jesus is about a deepening and growing relationship with our Savior. It is NOT about trying to earn God’s favor by filling up the trophy case. It’s NOT about turning our lives into one big self-salvation project. That’s exactly the spiritual snake oil a team of false teachers was spreading among local churches at the time. They were duping folks into believing a counterfeit gospel that Jesus may get you into God’s kingdom but it’s up to us to stay in. According to these knuckleheads, that happens when we follow a long and complicated list of religious rules and regulations. From his prison cell in Rome, Paul pleads with the people not to fall for this garbage. 

His warning is also for you and me, 2,000 years later. There are plenty of these goobers still around today peddling not-so-good news. We trust in Jesus and what He’s done. Christ lived the perfect life I’ve failed to live. He died the death for my sin I should have died. He rose to new life I certainly don’t deserve. I depend on His spotless resume, not mine. But my trust in Him doesn’t stop there. I deepen my relationship with Jesus through my obedience to Him. He’s not just my Savior but my Lord. He’s not just my Rescuer but my Leader. I follow out of my overflowing gratitude not because He’s given me some sort of divine to-do list. Our relationship grows through my obedience. That’s when I truly understand the mind-blowing value of knowing Jesus compared to everything else. Compared to Him, it’s all a big steaming pile.

“I count everything as loss” (v8), says Paul. He picks up on the image of the profit-and-loss statement he started in the previous verse. Once Christ became part of the equation, He flipped the ledger of his life on its head. Profits became losses. Losses became profits. The apostle continues and says when all the calculations were complete, he suddenly realized everything in his life outside of his relationship with Jesus was a big fat zero. The word “count” in the ESV is the Greek verb hegomai, which is actually an accounting term. It means to figure, calculate, or reckon. Whether you use a computer, calculator, abacus, or number two pencil, you’ll get the same result. There’s not one single thing that measures up to a relationship with the radical Rabbi/Carpenter from Nazareth. Nothing.

That doesn’t mean God doesn’t shower us with some awesome blessings. Family. Friends. A home. A job. But when we stack them up next to Jesus, they’re worthless. That’s because God’s greatest blessing to us is God Himself. It’s about the Giver and not about His gifts. He wants us to see His gracious fingerprints on everything in our lives. Everything from a beautiful sunrise to a great ribeye is a gift from the ultimate Giver. They’re to be enjoyed. But don’t make the mistake of worshiping His blessings. They pale in comparison to Christ. Nothing measures up to a relationship with Jesus. 

Just how valuable is this friendship? According to Paul, it’s of “surpassing worth” (v8). He drops a cool word in the original language (Gr. hupercho) which literally means have something that’s over the top! The value of a friendship with Jesus is far and away better than anything else in our lives. It doesn’t mean the other stuff is worthless. Quite the contrary. The apostle is simply raising the price of his relationship with Christ. In comparison to all of the other things he values highly, what he has in Jesus makes them seem pointless. His relationship with Jesus is over the top! 

“Knowing Christ Jesus” (v8) is not knowing ABOUT Him. We’re not to simply acquire facts about the Son of God. It’s never a bad idea to gather important info about the people you love. Birthdays. Anniversaries. Likes. Dislikes. Where are they from? What do they do? But those facts allow you to dive deeper into the relationship (otherwise, you’re just some sort of weird, creepy stalker). Paul calls us to something so much better than a fact-finding mission or a Google search on our Savior. It’s the difference between reading someone’s autobiography and actually becoming their friend. Let’s get to know Jesus personally and intimately and not just build a dossier of intel. 

You might think this idea of a personal friendship with God is something your weird, Bible-thumping neighbors made up. Interestingly, the Bible is full of the importance of the privilege of this relationship. Seven hundred years before Jesus, God spoke through Isaiah about our desperate need for a relationship with His Son. “By His knowledge shall the Righteous One, My Servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and He shall bear their iniquities” (Is 53:11). One hundred years after that, Yahweh used His spokesman Jeremiah to warn folks to stop bragging about what they have done and start bragging about a relationship with God. “Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the LORD” (Jer 9:23-24).

That theme keeps rolling in the New Testament. Rocky, the crew chief of the apostles, prayed that we each have a relationship with the heavenly Father and His Son which puts us under the waterfall of God’s goodness. “May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus Christ our Lord” (2Pet 1:3). The Apostle John wanted the world to know his best Friend came on His mission not just to rescue us from our sin but to open the door for a relationship. “The Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ” (1Jn 5:20). Jesus and talked to His Dad about how a relational connection with them is THE definition of everlasting and abundant life. “And this is eternal life, that they know You the only true God and Jesus Christ whom You have sent” (Jn 17:3). Yeah, a personal friendship with God through Jesus is kind of a big deal. 

Jesus is a total game changer for Paul. “I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish” (v8). Christ caused him to reevaluate everything in his life. When he did, a funny thing happened. The apostle realized everything else is “rubbish” (v8). Here’s the deal. Bible translators don’t know what to do with the word in the original Greek text. It’s skubalon. Some other versions say “garbage” (NLT) or “refuse” (YLT). Here’s a place where the good ol’ King Jimmy nails it: “dung.” It’s the only time the term shows up in Scripture. We’re talking manure. Feces. Poop. You might roll your nose at the though of such a disgusting term being in the Bible. But it’s important to use strong words when talking about strong ideas. What Paul thought was priceless eventually turned out to be a big steaming pile compared to a relationship with Jesus. Kind of like my 8-track collection.