Amen. A recent credit union ran a commercial with the following soundbite. No dream is too big or too small or too impossible to achieve if you have a belief in yourself. At Virginia Credit Union, we in the business of confidence, we deal in yes, you can do it, and why not? The selling point of this credit union is not unique at all. Confidence is branded and it's sold across various marketing platforms today. And we see this on the TV and on online ads. If you take a pill, if you wear these shoes, if you go to this university, you'll feel like this or that. Our social media accounts tend to reinforce this idea. We typically post our best pictures. so as to make us feel more confident or even appear just a little bit more confident than we actually are. And our text this morning addresses the issue of confidence. Where does our confidence lie? What gives us a sense of true well-being, a sense of worth and of status? And when push comes to shove, what is it that we really trust? Well, these five verses from verse four through eight unfold in three sections, three Cs, confidence, counting, and Christ. Our first C is the word confidence. The first three verses of chapter three give us some needed context as we consider our text this morning. And Paul says in verse two, look out for the dogs, look out for the evildoers, look out for those who mutilate the flesh, is exhorting the Philippians to be careful, to pay careful attention to the teachings of the Judaizers who desired to draw you away from the truth of the gospel and to make you adherence to their false teachings. In short, these Judaizers believed that Christ and his finished work just simply wasn't enough, wasn't enough for salvation. You see, in order for you to be saved, you had to have Christ plus something. And the something was the Old Testament mark of circumcision. This added something is what ultimately gave them confidence, confidence before God. And then in verse three, Paul says that one of the true marks of believers is that believers put no confidence in the flesh. which is in direct contrast to the Judaizes. Paul is emphatic. If you act like these false teachers, you have no part in Christ. You have no salvation and you do not belong to the people of God. Before we move any further, we need to understand what Paul means when he speaks about putting no confidence in the flesh. See, the term flesh is used 147 times in the New Testament. It has a wide range of meanings, and it can refer to one's physical flesh, to our bodies as a whole, to our sinful nature, to being worldly and outside of the people of God, as well as a variety of other uses. But here, Paul uses the word flesh to refer to anything and everything that man puts his trust in outside of God. In the light of the Judaizers, Paul says, if anyone else thinks he has reason for the confidence or for confidence in the flesh, I have more. And this is where it gets really interesting. Paul does something in the text that you and I cannot see without a little help from some Roman history. He's about to list in short rapid fire a summary of his pedigree and his accomplishments, and these are patterned after the Roman cursus honorum of the day. Now, Joseph Hellermann, he helpfully explains that the elites in Rome, they competed with one another to ascend what was known as the cursus honorum. It was an honors race that marked out an aristocrats social climb through the series of prestigious public offices. The various titles that were accumulated along the way were in turn publicly proclaimed. in order of importance by means of inscriptions in various public places, erected either by those who were so grateful for blessings and benefits that they'd received from these nobles or by the nobles themselves. You see, the various personal honors were to be inscribed on stone with a hammer and chisel. And thus, because of the reality of the mode of inscription, we find that they are abbreviated, these honor titles, just a couple of words each. And the practice took place throughout the Roman Empire. All those who were not part of the elite, in fact, some of the non-elites or so-called non-elites were of lesser status, they adopted this pattern of behavior. Various trade associations and religious groups each mimicked this honor race. What's remarkable is that what we find in verse five and verse six is this is exactly what Paul does. He's using the honor race codes of the day to drive his point home. If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, things that you put true trust in, I have more. And here it is in verse five, circumcised on the eighth day. of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews, as to the law, a Pharisee, as to zeal, a persecutor of the church, as to righteousness under the law, blameless. Paul follows the typical pattern of the day, short pithy honors, moving from inherited traits to personal accomplishments, with each inscription building and ascending in honor. With the Judaizers in mind, he plays the honor game and he says, I exceed you all. The list of my honors, my many accomplishments, and the purity of my pedigree outstrips you all. Let's compare lists, Judaizers. Let's see who's more noble, who's more honored, who's more elite, who's climbed to the highest rung on the religious ladder of the day so that we can claim a measure of confidence before God. Circumcised on the eighth day, Paul writes, this was an inherited right from his parents. a sign that Paul is incorporated into the household of God from birth. And see, Paul, what is Paul stressing is that although he was born in the Roman city of Tarsus, he's not a Gentile convert incorporated into the household of God later on in life, but actually from his very birth, the very eighth day circumcised, he is a member of the people of Israel. And here Paul is highlighting his bloodline, the genealogical purity of his heritage. He's not a proselyte. He's not a Jewish, a non-Jewish convert. He is an Israelite of the people of Israel. He is an Israelite by birth. In fact, from the tribe of Benjamin. And what's fascinating is that many first century Jews didn't know the tribe to which they belonged. The reason for this is that many of the genealogical records were destroyed during the Babylonian captivity. Another reason is that there would be much intermarrying between the tribes, and thus the distinctiveness between the tribes was negated. But Paul says, not so with me. He says, I can unequivocally state that I am a true Israelite of the tribe of Benjamin. I am a Hebrew of Hebrews. In other words, Paul says, I am a son of Hebrews. He is not a Hanalist. Those Jews that were associated with Greek speaking synagogues who adopted the Greek way of life. Instead, he was brought up in Jerusalem, quite like he received receiving his boyhood education there. He learned Aramaic and Hebrew before entering the esteemed school of Gamaliel, an expert in the law, a member of the Sanhedrin, and the leading Pharisee of the day. And after noting his pedigree, his upbringing, he continues down this Roman honor code, next listing three significant accomplishments that he had done. As to the law, he writes, a Pharisee. As a disciple of the Pharisee Gamaliel, Paul not only observed the law of Moses, but also the hundreds of laws found in the oral tradition, which had been deemed to be equally binding to the law of Moses itself. As to zeal, he is a persecutor of the church. Paul's zeal for God, his zeal for the law was demonstrated in his persecution of the church, which he tried to destroy. And then most consummately, Paul writes as to righteousness under the law, blameless. Now, Paul is not saying that he found salvation by means of a blameless life. but rather that the righteousness that could be attained through the law as understood from the vantage point of a Pharisee is he was without faults. No Pharisee or scribe could point anything out to him and say, you, Paul have erred. You see, in short, Paul paints himself as the epitome of what it means to be a zealous and blameless Pharisee. As to lineage and religious fidelity, Paul says, if anyone else thinks he has reasonable confidence in the flesh, I have more. Whether by inheritance, by birth, or legalistic perfection, I can outmatch any of you Judaizers who put their confidence in something other than in Christ. Then, after playing the honor game, he burns it to the ground and says that such confidence is rubbish in comparison to gaining Christ, our second point, the sea of counting. Three times Paul uses the language of counting in our text. Like a businessman or an accountant that considers the profit and the loss on a balance sheet, he says in verse seven, he says, but whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. In other words, at one moment in time previously, he had boasted to the absolute max before God in his pedigree, in his achievements. He said, I had gained an esteemed standing in the eyes of the Pharisees and scribes, the tradition in which I'd been trained under. The seven honors that are inscribed in his literary honor code were at one time all found within the prophet column. For his conversion, these were the greatest assets that he possessed. And now that he is in Christ, everything he put his trust in, whether being circumcised on the eighth day or as to the law being a Pharisee, now stands in loss or as a loss in regard to gaining Christ. See, Paul is comparing one gain to another, one profit to another. He's weighing up two things. It's either one thing or the other. And in our world today, there's a growing aversion to life being viewed through a binary lens of things being either black or white, yes or no, left or right. Things are said to be not only far more complex, but far more fluid. In addition, much of the self-identifying language today is expressed by what one is against. But what hasn't changed is that much of our culture today actually looks a lot like the Judaizers 2,000 years ago. Not so much in the outward appearance, but in their fundamental tenets. And you might be thinking, Pastor, what on earth are you talking about? You see, the Judaizers' sense of identity wasn't found outside of themselves. Their confidence wasn't in Christ, but it was rather within themselves. It was a confidence in their so-called circumcision, a mutilation of the flesh, that Paul tells us about. And Paul himself goes beyond the seven times describing the confidence that he has within himself of who he was and what he had done. Nothing being external to himself, resting not in the transcendent or the sacred, but only in the imminent, which is fancy speak for oneself. And in contrast to this, in verse eight, Paul comprehensively states, indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord. He can say this. How is it that he can say this? How is it that Paul can view things as such? The question is, this is, have you seen Christ? Have you considered Christ in comparison to all other confidences? Have you seen him in his beauty and in his splendor? Have you seen the depths to which he has loved you of Christ crucified and raised so that you can join with Paul and say, when I compare Christ to anything else that I have trusted in, even blessings that originate from God's hands, Christ does not merely outperform these things, these confidences in the profit column by a few dollars or a few pennies, but they are like rubbish in comparison to the surpassing greatness of knowing Him. And this is the focus of Paul's gaze. Like a scope on a target or the tape at the end of a finishing line, This is the center of Paul's letter to the Philippian church. It's about Christ, Christ Jesus, our third C. If you ever wondered what it was like to be on that Damascus road when Paul and his pharisaical zeal armed with letters from the high priest to drag Christians away to trial was stopped in his tracks. On his way to persecute Christ, seething with venomous hatred for Christ and trying with all his might to put an end to the church, Paul isn't canceled. He isn't deemed a persona non grata, banished from view and dismissed. But rather, in the grace of God, in all its lavishness and kindness, It showered upon a man who put his confidence quite tragically in other things. And Paul comes face to face with the one whom he hated the most, Jesus Christ. And in undeserving mercy, Christ shows him what is most valuable. He forgives him his sins. He orders his affections. He anchors his identity. He brings to an end the unremitting and exhausting pursuit of finding one's worth in the fluidness of oneself and what one does. Christ says to Paul, as he says to each and every one of us here, come, follow me. I will satisfy the longing of your soul as you drink deeply from the wellspring of life. In Matthew 13, Jesus tells his disciples two parables. One is about a hidden treasure. The other is about a pearl of great value. Jesus says the kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field when a man found and covered up or which a man found and covered up. Then, in his joy, he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it. One wonders, why this reaction? Why does the man who stumbled upon a hidden treasure in a field And the merchant who found a pearl of surpassing value go away and sell everything that they had to gain what they have now found. Well, the reason is quite simple. They understood the value of what they had found in relation to everything else. There just was no comparison one to another. See, just six chapters later in Matthew 19, we find a young rich man eager to gain eternal life. And he asked Jesus a relatively straightforward question. He said, what good deed must I do to have eternal life? To which Jesus responds, if you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven and come follow me. See, it's here where our text drives this point home. The rich young man never did end up following Christ. The Bible says that he went away sorrowful for he had great possessions. In other words, when the rich young man weighed things up in the profit loss column, the loss of his possessions was just too great for this rich young man. He wasn't like the merchant that found a pearl or the man discovering the treasure in the field. He also wasn't like Paul who had more reasons than any of the Judaizers to put confidence in the flesh. But in comparison to Christ, chose Christ over everything else. See, what's so sad about the story about the rich young man is that he never saw Christ for who he truly was. He didn't know who was actually standing in front of him. And thus he didn't count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ. You see, to follow Christ, Simon Peter says, involves leaving everything. And this is not without loss, as Paul describes. To follow Christ is exceedingly costly. Paul's credentials and his accomplishments as a Jew in service of the law were at one time a great gain. They gave him many advantages. But all of that changed one day when Christ met him on the Damascus road when he was converted by the Spirit. Previous gain is now seen as loss in comparison to the inestimable profit of gaining Christ. Paul suffered the loss of all things, counting all fleshly confidence as rubbish, or more precisely translated as human waste and excrement. so that he would gain Christ. Paul wants to show us that the loss is real, but he also wants to remind us that the riches of gaining Christ is beyond anything else in all the world. See, in conclusion, what we find in this text is that Paul turns the social norms found in the Roman colony of Philippi on their head. The gospel just doesn't follow the way of honor codes, ladders of accomplishment that distinguish the so-called elites of society from the so-called non-elites, so that personal status and confidence and identity come from within. No, Paul says, the way of the cross is to put no confidence in the typical societal and economic gains. The way up in the kingdom is the way down. just as Christ made himself nothing, becoming obedient to the cross or to death, even death on a cross. Friends, our security can never ever be in Christ plus any other confidence, whether that's your added confidence of choice is letters behind your name, a large 401k or what's on your LinkedIn portfolio. or whatever else you prize that tends to compete with the surpassing value of knowing Christ. What is it for you? What competes with Christ that tempts you to place your trust in something other than God? Blaise Pascal said many centuries ago, all men seek happiness. C.S. Lewis would later say, we are far too easily pleased. And both are true. Temptations abound. They aim to draw us away from Christ. Will you count everything as loss today, so as to gain all of Christ, no longer being satisfied with the pleasures, other pleasures, or that just a little bit of Jesus is actually enough? Will he join Paul in suffering the loss of all things so as to gain what no money, no relationship, no corporate profile, or any other worldly confidence could ever buy, and in turn gain the sweetest and experiential intimacy of knowing? the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's pray. How we praise you, Lord God, that Christ is offered to us in the gospel today.