Skubalon

Read Philippians 3:5-21

“But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake
of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared
to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord,
for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish,
that I may gain Christ and be found in him…”
(Philippians 3:7-9)

Thoughts… “What is more…” Those three words in the Greek language of the New Testament are an untranslatable string of five participles used to introduce the next thought. Literally, Paul is saying, “but indeed therefore at least even!”

What was he doing? He’s contrasting in the strongest possible way what he previously did to find significance and satisfaction in his life with the joy that he discovered on that Damascus Road when he dramatically met Jesus Christ. And having met Christ and made him Lord of his life, Paul now considers all of his previous efforts to gain righteousness pure rubbish.

That word in our modern translations for “rubbish” is far too nice. The Greek word is “skubalon” — the strongest word Paul could think of. It literally meant dung, waste, or manure, and that’s still too nice. It was used for human excrement. Get the picture yet? In graphic honesty, Paul says when he met Christ, “skubalon hit the fan!”

That day on the road to Damascus, Paul discovered a new purpose in life which he now describes in verses 10-11, “I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.”

“To know” is from the Greek noun, “gnosis”, which describes a transcendent communion with Christ compared to an intellectual or even an experiential knowledge. The Hebrew counterpart to the word is “gnosis” is “yada” — which for our benefit, helps explain what Paul was getting at.

“Yada” was often used to denote an intimate knowledge or even a love bond. It was sometimes used in the Old Testament euphemistically for sexual intercourse: “Adam knew his wife and she conceived…” for example,

You read that a lot in some translations, like the King James Version: So and so “knew” his wife and she conceived…then he “knew” his wife and she conceived… again he “knew” his wife…”yada, yada, yada”. But “yada” also described God’s intimate love bond with Israel. Amos 3:2 says, “You only have I known of all the families of the earth.”

So Paul says, when it came to his previous efforts at righteousness, it was a no-brainer to flush them down the toilet—because by comparison, that was what they were worthy of—in order to exchange them for a true righteousness that comes from God solely on the basis of faith.

In other words, righteousness—right standing with God, the pinnacle of success and the zenith of joy—comes by relationship, by knowing—not knowing about, not knowledge of—but an intimate love-bond with Jesus Christ.

Paul wants to know Christ in a personal and deep way. He is no longer trying to earn points, he is trying to know Christ. He wants to know the power of Christ’s resurrection. He doesn’t want to wait till heaven, he wants that resurrection power to impact now!

But he also wants “to know the fellowship of sharing in His sufferings, becoming like him in his death.” He’s not is saying that he wants to suffer. But he understands that following Christ will inevitably bring some suffering. Paul wants to face the sufferings and even death with the same kind of perspective that Jesus had. Scottish clergyman Robert Murray McCheyne wrote, “You will never find Jesus so precious as when the world is one vast howling wilderness. Then he is like a rose blooming the midst of the desolation, a rock rising above the storm.”

And finally, Paul says he hopes to “somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.” That is not a statement of doubt— it is a statement of humble gratitude to God for the grace and mercy that has made it possible to know Jesus Christ and Savior and Lord. Through God’s grace and mercy, Paul knew who he was and he knew where he was going!

Back in 2000, 80-year-old Billy Graham was honored at a banquet in his home state, North Carolina. His Parkinson Disease was worsening, making it increasingly difficult to stand and speak. After a glowing introduction, Billy stepped to the podium, looked the crowd over, and said, “I’m reminded today of Albert Einstein, the great physicist, who has been honored by Time magazine as the Man of the Century. Einstein was once traveling from Princeton on a train when the conductor came down the aisle, punching the passenger’s tickets. When he came to Einstein, Einstein reached in his vest pocket, but he couldn’t find it. So he frantically search his pants pockets, he looked in his briefcase, he checked under the seat, but he couldn’t find his ticket anywhere. The conductor said, ‘Dr. Einstein, I know who you are. I’m sure you bought a ticket, don’t worry about it.’

“Einstein looked at him and said, ‘Young man, I too, know who I am. What I don’t know is where I’m going.’”

Billy then said, “See this suit I’m wearing? It’s brand new. My family tells me I’ve gotten a little slovenly in my old age…So I went out and bought a new suit for this luncheon and one more occasion. You know what that occasion is? This is the suit in which I’ll be buried. But when you hear I’m dead, I don’t want you to remember this suit. I want you to remember this: I not only know who I am … I also know where I’m going.’”

Billy Graham could say that because he had made his highest pursuit in life to know Christ. Nothing else compared to that. So had the Apostle Paul. Everything else was “skubalon” compared to intimately knowing the Savior.

If you want the joy of knowing who you are, and where you’re going, then make every other pursuit, every other effort, every past accomplishment, a distant second to knowing Jesus.

Prayer… Father, thank you for the mercy and grace that saved me. Thank you for the promise of eternal life. Thank you that I don’t have to earn it—Jesus earned it for me on the cross. I humbly accept it with gratitude and with the promise to never forget the gift of love that brought me to you.

One More Thing… “Jesus Christ is not valued at all until He is valued above all.” —Augustine