Gains and Losses

PHILIPPIANS 3:4B-14

^4bIf anyone else has reason to be confident in the flesh, I have more: ⁵circumcised on the eighth day, a member of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee;⁶as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless.

⁷Yet whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss because of Christ. ⁸More than that, I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ ⁹and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but one that comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God based on faith. ¹⁰I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death, ¹¹if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead.

¹²Not that I have already obtained this or have already reached the goal; but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. ¹³Beloved, I do not consider that I have made it my own; but this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, ¹⁴I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.

Kids are making grand plans for their Halloween costumes. They visit stores, try on masks and let their imaginations run wild. Pinterest moms are probably already sewing something adorable and creative.  This month, some of us will intentionally put on masks and costumes to be someone or something else.  But most of us don’t think about the every day masks that we depend upon to get by in the world.

The apostle Paul realized this when he encountered Jesus. Before meeting the resurrected Jesus he depended upon the masks of education, his religious identity, his family lineage and his work as a Pharisee. He built up his identity piece by piece from the outside in.

His confidence was bolstered by who he was on the outside. He could brag about his importance. Paul spent his early life putting on the things that would make him feel important in this world.

^4bIf anyone else has reason to be confident in the flesh, I have more: ⁵circumcised on the eighth day, a member of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee;⁶as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless.

If we interpreted Paul’s opening paragraph with our culture’s values. It might read something like this:

If anyone has reason to be confident, it’s me. I was baptized in a beautiful church, I’m a cradle Presbyterian (or Episcopalian or Methodist), my family came to America on the Mayflower. I have a Harvard education and have been very successful in my career. I have never been arrested and my record is spotless.

Paul had solid, respectable mask. His mask was so good it allowed him to get away with murder as he participated in the persecution of Jews who were joining the new Jesus sect. He did whatever it took to put a stop those who had the audacity to proclaim Jesus is the messiah, follow the Way of Christ and proclaim the resurrection. Putting on the mask of cultural respectability led Paul to some big gains—prestige and importance.

Then or now, these are the people that we often lift up as a success; the people many of us measure ourselves against. They seem to have gained it all.  Their life is good.

But when Paul encountered Jesus on the road to Damascus and his whole outlook changed and the passage today shows us one of the changes.

When Christ met him and confronted him with the words, Why are you persecuting me? Paul’s mask was shattered. Encountering Christ he realized, My God, NONE of this matters. None of it is important.  Everything he thought he had gained, was actually a loss. In the end, all that education didn’t matter. His family heritage was nothing. His zeal for protecting his religion and his blamelessness under the law were unimportant. His past was meaningless when faced with a future in Christ.

The self-declared righteousness of which he was so proud was false. It was not the eternal righteousness of Jesus Christ. When Paul encountered Jesus, he realized that righteousness was not attained by following laws, but it was a gift from God. Righteousness was not something he did for God, but something God did for him.

He says, I do not “have a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but one that comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God based on faith.” 

Paul’s experience on the road to Damascus is the equivalent of what we call being saved. It’s coming face-to-face with the power of God and recognizing how small and sinful we are by comparison. It’s trembling in the fear of the Lord AND being overwhelmed with the love and forgiveness of Christ at the same time.  Martin Luther called this simul justus et peccator. We are simultaneously righteous and a sinner. Too often we overemphasize one side of the other.

The letters of Paul seek to describe this inner duality of our faith experience. We saw it last week when Paul talked about being both empty and exalted. This week he’s talking about gains and losses and he contrasting his own confidence and insecurity. The man who was so sure of his righteousness loves his new life in Christ. He no longer proclaims himself judge and jury (well, most of the time).  He hands over power to Christ.

I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death, if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead.

This is a powerful man who has been humbled. A religious zealot who puts his faith in God instead of himself. He became a man who trusted God wholeheartedly.

God shattered Paul’s masks and his understanding of who God is, and Paul followed him in response.  Jesus came to him while he was yet a sinner. The light that blinded Paul also gave him new vision.

The British theologian C.S. Lewis explains this action of God in his book A Grief Observed. He says God is a great iconoclast. God is the great shatterer of institutions and images used religion. Lewis writes:

My idea of God is not a divine idea. It has to be shattered time after time. [God] shatters it himself. [God] is the great iconoclast. Could we not almost say that this shattering is one of the marks of his presence? The Incarnation, [Jesus coming to the world as a baby], is the supreme example; it leaves all previous ideas of the Messiah in ruins.

This is what Paul learned. It’s what we have to learn.  When the people in the Bible forget God and lift themselves up, God shatters them in new and surprising ways. Like with a baby in a manger as a savior or a redeemer who dies to give life.

So what are the masks we have today?  What needs to be shattered for us to come closer to Christ. What are our masks?

Maybe they are degrees and resumes masking our feelings inadequacy or unworthiness.

Leaving the house with just the right clothes and perfect make up may hide our fear of being unloved or rejected.

Maybe being attached to our phones or computers masks feelings of emptiness or loneliness.

Money could be a mask our dependency. If we have enough money we don’t have to depend on the goodwill of others. 

We can use our education and jobs, our beauty, our busyness, our money and other things as masks. 

These masks can make us more palatable and powerful in the world. They can gain us prestige, friends, and power. But they are masks. They are false. They distance us from Christ. Paul tells us in to uncertain terms: These things are garbage—and that is really hard to hear. He writes:

More than that, I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ ⁹and be found in him.

The masks Paul was wearing were shattered. But this loss was a gain. He looked at those broken pieces and realized that they weren’t him. Much his writing calls us to do the same thing. He says forget who you were before and embrace who you are as one of God’s beloved. Let go of the masks that keep you from connecting with Christ and each other.

Paul threw away the broken pieces of his mask and found Jesus instead. He left his masks in the trash and walked into a new future. One that was less about him and more about Christ. He traded in his prestige for a hard life on the road. He traded his power and authority for a jail cell. He lost everything he thought was important, but gained a life of love in Christ.

Did he win it or earn it or work for it? No. God revealed what was there all along—a deep, forgiving love. God so loves the world that you and I are a part of. Come, let’s live as the beloved community of Christ.  Let us take off the masks and reveal that love to each other and to the world.