Philippians 3 - THE SPIRITUAL MIND or THINGS CAN ROB JOY
Philippians 3:8-11 "Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, And be found in Him, not having mine own righteousness, which is through the faith of Christ the righteousness which is of God by faith: That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable unto His death; If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead."
The Old English of the KJV sounds very formal to us. Paul is beginning these verses (which are actually one long sentence) by making a contrast to the verses above. We have looked at the descriptions of the human things that Paul had accomplished and could brag about. In our casual English these verses set a tone of "Oh, yeah? Well if you think you're somebody special, let me just tell you who I AM!" The contrast words that begin today's section could be interpreted "Yeah, well, whatever." All of those great accomplishments really meant nothing to Paul.
Paul had listed all of the things he could glory in as a way of getting their attention. It was sort of like him listing off a resume that validated his right to speak on this subject. Here he gently turns their attention away from the razzle dazzle of his accomplishments and says "I count all of that as dung."
So, what is dung? In the walls surrounding Jerusalem, there are gates that all have names based on what they were used for. The Sheep Gate was near the section of town where the shepherds brought sheep into the city for sale or sacrifice. The Eastern Gate faced the east and the rising sun. It was all part of a system of organization. The Dung Gate had its purpose too. Outside of this gate was the landfill. Imagine a city with no trash pickup, no garbage disposals in the sink, and no sewer. If we had to collect all of our household's trash, garbage, and sewage for just one day think how that would stink! There were no Pampers or Kotex products. There was no refrigeration to keep food from spoiling if it was kept overnight and no garbage disposal to get rid of it before bedtime. Most of the people who do not like camping would be shocked and overwhelmed if they were transported back to this time!
Not a single one of us would keep a dirty baby diaper around any longer than we had to. There is no good use for it. There is no value to it. There is nothing enjoyable about it. Especially a cloth diaper that the poo has been mashed into the fabric. We're so proper in this day and age that even a conversation about such things makes us squeamish and uncomfortable. That is how Paul felt about his "great" accomplishments before his salvation. Talking about them made him squeamish and uncomfortable. He had no use for them and saw no value in them.
Paul counted all of his accomplishments as useless and vile compared to his new goal of knowing Christ. He did not have the idea of just getting familiar with Christ in a casual friendship way. He meant that he wanted to understand Christ and be a part of His glory.
Many people have speculated about Paul's marital situation. Just as it is today, society expects people to be married and consider it a part of their success. I do not claim to know the facts for sure, but if we consider for a moment that his Jewish heritage would value marriage and his Roman heritage would expect marriage, it seems logical that he was indeed married. His wife would have been very respected in the social circles. When we know of a man who has power and fame, we automatically wonder about his wife and she has "movie star" status. But Paul never talks about a wife. One thought on this topic is that Paul was indeed married, but when he became a Christian and embraced this new system of faith in Christ, that his wife left him. Imagine her shame. Imagine her anger. She would have lost all of her social status as soon as word spread that he had converted. There may have been pressures and threats for her to figure out what had happened to him. There may have been accusations of guilt by association that she had converted also. In my mind, I am afraid that if he were married that she would have felt betrayed and would have wasted no time whatsoever in getting as far away from Paul as possible.
And remember that he had military status. He would have been at the top of his pay grade. He maybe got bonuses for his brutality. He was probably quite wealthy. I suppose that the Roman government "froze his assets" when they heard he had converted. He probably had an impressive home and collections of weapons or memorabilia. What I understand of the Roman government, they probably went into his home and took back as many of this trophies of his conquests as they could because he was no longer worthy to keep them. His citizenship in Rome gave him certain alienable rights, but I can't imagine anyone talking to him in public any more. He was completely against the Christians one minute and completely against the government the next. His friends wouldn't have wanted to be associated with even his name now. The soldiers he had trained to persecute the Christians probably wanted to show him just how much they hated him for what they considered traitorous behavior.
Basically, everything that Paul had ever dreamed of and that he had worked so hard for all of his life, and everyone that he had chosen to have around him and worked to gain the respect and dedication of, had all been flushed down the toilet . . . where it belonged.
What things are precious to you? What positions in life or statuses do you value? What are the associations or titles that you use to identify yourself? What if it were all stripped away in a day? What if it were all stripped away in the name of Christ? Would that make it any easier to bear?
If you lost all of these things, would you lose your joy? Job said "Though He slay me, yet will I serve Him." The spiritual mind is focused on the right things.
Song: "There Is Joy In Serving Jesus"
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