St. Paul’s Rubbish Sale
Philippians 3:4b-14 If anyone else thinks that he has grounds for confidence in the flesh, I have more: 5circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; 6in regard to zeal, persecuting the church; in regard to the righteousness that is in the law, blameless. 7But, whatever things were a profit for me, these things I have come to consider a loss because of Christ. 8But even more than that, I consider everything to be a loss because of what is worth far more: knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord. For his sake, I have lost all things and consider them rubbish, so that I may gain Christ 9and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own, which comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness that comes from God by faith. 10I do this so that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings, being conformed to his death, 11in the hope that in some way I may arrive at the resurrection from the dead. 12Not that I have already obtained this or have already reached the goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus also took hold of me. 13Brothers, I do not consider myself to have taken hold of it yet, but there is one thing I do: Forgetting the things that are behind and straining toward the things that are ahead, 14I press on toward the goal, for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
My flesh and my heart fail, but God is the rock of my heart and my portion forever (Psalm 73:26). Amen.
St. Paul is in prison in Rome. There isn’t a lot of room in his prison cell. He decides to downsize. He needs to get rid of a few things. There are a few items that Paul once valued highly that are no longer valuable to him. He asks his guard to hang a sign outside his cell door. The sign reads, “St. Paul’s Rubbish Sale.” Not “Rummage” Sale. “Rubbish” Sale.
Paul lists what is for sale. “If anyone else thinks that he has grounds for confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; in regard to zeal, persecuting the church; in regard to the righteousness that is in the law, blameless” (Philippians 3:4-6).
Before Shelley and I move to Casper, we will have a rummage sale. We want to decrease our stuff by at least half. When you decide to move from your house into a condo, you need to downsize. We must select a price for the once-prized, new items that are now the well-used and once-loved items. Then we allow people to rummage through our old stuff.
St. Paul’s sale is different. His items are well-used. They were once well-loved. But he doesn’t want them anymore. These are items tell his life story. They aren’t rummage items. They are rubbish items. They are items that were the result of his “confidence in the flesh.”
First on the sale list is Paul’s circumcision on the eighth day. Every Jewish male infant would have received the mark of God’s covenant one week and a day after he was born. That made the child one of the “people of Israel.”
Next on the list is that Paul is from the tribe of Benjamin. Paul’s birth name was Saul. He was named after the most famous person to come from the tribe of Benjamin – King Saul, the first king of Israel.
Paul used to be stuck-up about the next few items on the list. They were like trophies proudly displayed for everyone to see. He was a “Hebrew of Hebrews” – he had an impeccable ancestry. “In regard to the law, a Pharisee.” Among the Jews, Paul was a religious leader whom everyone looked up to. “In regard to the righteousness that is in the law, blameless.” When Paul graduated rabbi school, he was at the top of the class.
That’s the good stuff. The stuff Paul used to be proud of. The stuff that is all clean and neatly polished. This next item is dirty and grungy. It’s shameful stuff. It’s embarrassing to have it sitting on the table for everyone to see.
“In regard to zeal, persecuting the church.” Paul is rightly ashamed about this last item. He had once gone out of his way to persecute, imprison, and kill Christians. He was so good that he describes it as being “zealous” in his persecution. He was passionate about it. And his passion made Christians know and fear the name of Saul of Tarsus.
What does Paul say about all these things on his list? “Whatever things were a profit for me, these things I have come to consider a loss because of Christ. But even more than that, I consider everything to be a loss because of what is worth far more: knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord. For his sake, I have lost all things and consider them rubbish” (Philippians 3:7-8).
Rubbish! That’s a pretty strong word in the English. It’s even stronger in the original Greek. It means dung, excrement, cow pies, meadow muffins. There’s no polite term for what Paul has laying the table at his rubbish sale.
Everything set out on these tables had been used to create his identity as a Hebrew of Hebrews. His identity was wrapped up in what he had accomplished. These items had been originally prized by Paul. Now that he had a greater prize, these items were rubbish. Now that Christ became number one, all these items became number two.
Only one kind of event could cause this kind of reversal in Paul. That one event is the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It was the event of meeting the resurrected Christ on the road to Damascus that knocked Saul on his butt (Acts 9:1-9). Seeing the risen Christ blinded Saul’s eyes but opened his heart.
What about you? What have you relied on to create your identity? Do you find your identity in your job, your degree, your income, your athletic ability, or your children’s athletic ability? On our podcast this week, I teased Pastor Klusmeyer that my college and seminary diplomas are bigger than his. He rightly reminded me that the grades on his diplomas are higher than mine.
We had an older pastor at a recent pastor circuit meeting mention that when he was having health issues, he thought he might no longer be able to be a pastor. He really struggled with that. He properly warned the rest of us pastors not to find our identity in the title or vocation of pastor. As good and godly as it is to be a pastor, we need to find our identity elsewhere.
What about you? Where do you find your identity? Where do you find your value? What do you value?
Which do you value more – being in God’s house to worship or your house to sleep and relax in?
Are you clinging to the things of this world – money, titles, degrees, vehicles, or vocation? Or are you using the things of this world – money, titles, degrees, vehicles, and vocation – to support God’s kingdom work and demonstrate Christian love to your neighbor?
As we remember today’s Gospel, how have you treated God’s Son? How have you treated God’s servants of prophets and apostles, his servants of pastors and teachers? Do you love them, listen to them, and honor them to their face and behind their back? Or do you ignore them? Do you beat them up with your words and actions to their face and behind their back? Do you abuse the Father’s grace by abusing the Son he sent to save you?
In your mind, do you make a list that’s much like Paul’s? Do you put on your list your baptism as an infant, your confirmation as a youth, your great worship record, or the amount of your
offerings? If you do, then you are putting your confidence in your flesh. That’s counting up points thinking they are making you right before God. Those are exactly the kind of things Paul used to do. But now Paul realizes those things are rubbish when it comes to salvation.
Join Paul in getting rid of those things in a rubbish sale of your own. You need to downsize from the trash to make room for the treasure. “But even more than that, I consider everything to be a loss because of what is worth far more: knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord. For his sake, I have lost all things and consider them rubbish, so that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own, which comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness that comes from God by faith. I do this so that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings, being conformed to his death, in the hope that in some way I may arrive at the resurrection from the dead” (Philippians 3:8-11).
From trash to treasure! From rubbish to wealth! From manure to inheritance! That’s what happens when we get rid of the garbage of our own righteousness and rely solely on the righteousness that comes from God through faith in Christ.
Jesus didn’t look like much. This is the way Isaiah describes Jesus. “He had no attractiveness and no majesty. When we saw him, nothing about his appearance made us desire him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man who knew grief, who was well acquainted with suffering. Like someone whom people cannot bear to look at, he was despised, and we thought nothing of him” (Isaiah 53:2-3). Humanity treated the Son of God like trash.
Jesus didn’t look like much. He was born among the cattle. He was the foster son of a poor carpenter from Nazareth. And can anything good come from Nazareth? As a traveling rabbi, he had no home, bed, or pillow. His friends were smelly fishermen, a reviled tax collector, and a greedy traitor. He ministered to other reviled tax collectors, damaged prostitutes, and despised lepers.
Much of the world still considers Jesus to be either a nice guy with some pithy sayings or a raving lunatic. Many consider Jesus as nothing more special than yesterday’s trash.
Yet Jesus is our righteousness! Christ is the only-begotten Son of God. He came down from heaven to take on human flesh. He was perfectly righteous according to God’s law. Everything that we think we do well, Jesus did better. Everything that Paul thought he had done more than other Jews, Jesus did perfectly. We find our identity in Jesus who took on our human identity – except without sin.
Jesus was circumcised on the eighth day. That’s when he first shed blood for mankind’s salvation. He was of the people of Israel. A true Hebrew of Hebrews. He was from the tribe of Judah. He was the heir of King David, yet he was also King David’s greater King. Jesus never sinned … not even once. He was truly blameless. He did everything he was supposed to and he didn’t leave anything out.
Our righteousness always fails. It is dung. But Christ’s righteousness works. It is a treasure beyond compare.
As Christians, we do not find our identity in who we are or what we do. Our identity is not in our titles or diplomas. Our identity is in what Christ made us to be. It is Christ putting his name, his righteousness, and perfect works on us. If you want to find your identity in any certificate, let it be your baptismal certificate. That’s a valuable document. Its value is not in what you did, but what Jesus did for you in baptismal waters. That’s when you received what Christ gained for you
in his resurrection. And that was Paul’s whole desire: “I do this so that I may know him and the power of his resurrection” (Philippians 3:10).
When someone in your neighborhood puts up a rummage sale sign, suddenly others in the neighborhood start going through their homes and garages to try to sell their junk. Well, St. Paul is having a rubbish sale. It is a good time for us to get rid of our rubbish, as well.
When we get rid of our rubbish of righteousness, then we can exchange it for a true treasure. This treasure is the righteousness that makes us right with God – not by our flawed and filthy works, but by the perfect redeeming works of Jesus Christ. This righteousness is ours through faith in Christ. It is completely free, and it will keep its value for eternity.
Pretty good pick-up at a rubbish sale! Amen.
As for me, God’s nearness is good for me. I have made the Lord God my refuge, so that I can tell about all your works (Psalm 73:28).