Anything you can do I can do better. These words from a popular song sum up the rat race we call life very well. From the moment we are born to the day we die we are thrust into a race against time with death for a finish line. We feel the pressure of death all around us; it motivates us to work harder, to accomplish more, to achieve success.

We work for our paychecks. We labor for healthier, more sculpted bodies. We build our public image. We stress over the disfunction in our families. We fight against addictions of all kinds. We scrutinize our bank accounts and we try to bolster our resumes. Death is coming and we want the dash between the dates to boast of our significance.

What do you want deposited between the dates of your birth and your death? He was a great father. She was a loved mother. He was a successful businessman. She was a gifted entrepreneur. He always knew what to say. Her wealth helped millions. His artwork can be found in every business in town. Her political influence was strong. His community projects will benefit generations to come. Their kids were geniuses and their legacy will not be forgotten. Such is the resume that many of us wish would fill in that little dash between the dates of our birth and our death.

While the pursuit of these good things is a good thing, when good things become ultimate things, superior things, they become destructive things. This is the concern that the apostle has for the Philippian church. He wants them to live their lives in a manner that is worthy of the gospel (Phil. 1:27) and he knows that no other thing will hinder them like the threat of legalism which is the belief that Jesus plus something equals everything.

Nothing will hinder the spiritual vitality of a believer quite like the superiority of legalism. This is why the apostle Paul spoke so boldly in 3:1 – 3 when he exhorted the Philippians to rejoice in the Lord, to keep watch for legalists, and to remain confident in who and whose they are.

For the Philippians, to live their lives in a manner that is worthy of the gospel of Jesus Christ, they need to be reminded that it’s not Jesus plus something that equals everything but it’s Jesus plus nothing that equals everything. Look at what Paul says to the Philippians in 3:4 – 9…

PHILIPPIANS 3:4 – 9

4 – though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also. If anyone else thinks he has a reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: 5 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; 6 as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless. 7 But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. 8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith…

The Philippians needed a lesson in what is superior and what is not superior. This is why the apostle Paul begins with his superior resume before moving on to his superior account.

1: PAUL’S SUPERIOR RESUME (VS. 4 – 6)

In verses 4 – 6 Paul says, “I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also. If anyone else thinks he has a reason 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; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless.”

This is one heck of a list of credentials! Notice that Paul basically begins by saying that his resume is superior to anyone else’s. He’s basically saying, “top this if you think you can” and then he launches into a detailed description of his resume that boasts of four inherited privileges and three personal achievements.2

Think about some of the things you’ve inherited from birth that give your life some kind of value (things like a good family, a good education, born in America, etc., etc.). This is what Paul lists first; he lists four inherited privileges under the chart toping headlines of: Circumcised, Israelite, Benjamin and Hebrew. In other words, he points to his religion (circumcised), his ethnicity (Israelite), his nationality (Benjamin) and his education (Hebrew) to show that his resume is far superior to anyone else’s. If some legalist thinks he can boast, Paul’s got him beat! And that’s not all!

After Paul lists these four incredibly superior inherited privileges, he lists three chart-topping personal achievements that would leave most people sucking their thumb in the corner; Paul has literally accomplished more than 99 percent of his opponents could ever hope to achieve.3 What do you hope to achieve in this life that will push you to the next level?

Paul was a Pharisee which means that he was a “separated one” or one who was separated from the filth of this world.4 He was a zealous persecutor or religious terrorist of the early church, like a new Phinehas from Numbers 25 and Joshua 22. He was blameless in everything, meaning that he followed the letter of the law in regard to performing rituals for forgiveness and purification; he knew what it meant to rely on the law to make him right with God or to prove that he was right with God.

Once again, Paul’s resume is astoundingly superior to anything, anyone else could write up. His resume made him look like a man of extreme focus, extreme confidence, extreme self-mastery, extreme discipline and an iron will that put others to shame.5 Who wouldn’t want this resume on their headstone? Who wouldn’t want this list of inherited privileges and personal accomplishments in their pocket? Someone with this kind of resume gets the job, gets the girl, gets noticed, gets into the family and typically possesses a nice bank account. Notice how Paul moves from his superior resume to his spiritual bank account.

2: PAUL’S SUPERIOR ACCOUNT (VS. 7 – 9)

In verses 7 – 9 the apostle Paul says, “But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith.” Paul’s spiritual bank account is a superior account because he wadded up his quote unquote superior resume and he tossed it in the trash like the rubbish it really was!

Paul knew that what appeared to be a full account, because of his inherited privileges and his personal achievements, was actually a bankrupt account in need of an eternal deposit.6 The eternal deposit that Paul speaks of here is the person and work of Jesus Christ. When Paul literally calls Jesus “my Lord” or “my Yahweh” he’s referencing the fact that Jesus is the one who fills his once bankrupt account.7 There’s no other more personal name for Jesus than the name “Yahweh” and when Paul uses this special name, he claims that he knows Jesus intimately. Is there really anything that could be gained in this life that holds a candle to a vibrant relationship with Jesus?

Notice the mathematical accounting terms that Paul uses to describe his superior account (his relationship with Jesus). Paul was overjoyed at the concept of losing his superior resume so that he could gain the credit of the surpassing worth of knowing Jesus as his Lord and Savior.8

In Paul’s mind, all of his inherited privileges and all of his earthly accomplishments couldn’t hold a candle to the flame of his relationship with Jesus and he knew that because of Jesus his spiritual bank account was in fact superior to anything his legalistic opponents had to offer! Paul was no longer depending on or boasting in his self-righteousness, he was depending on and boasting in Christ’s righteousness through faith!

APPLICATION…

Why does this matter? What difference does it make? I think it’s really hard to admit when you’ve begun to think of yourself as more superior than someone else. I also think it’s really hard to see when we’ve begun to add something to the message of the gospel. If legalism is the idea that Jesus plus something equals everything, then I think it can be really hard to identify what the “plus something” actually is. What is the “plus something” in your life? What is the present positive behavior or the absent bad behavior that has become the “plus something” in your relationship with Jesus?

Remember that for Paul the temptation would have been to boast in or rely on his religious, ethnic, nationalistic or educational credentials. It would have been easy to boast in or to rely on his status as a Pharisee or his fight to keep God’s people pure from the filth of the world or his performance of religious rituals. On the flipside Paul would live in fear and insecurity when his performance didn’t match his self-composed resume. These would have been the “plus something’s” that Paul would have been tempted to add to his relationship with Jesus which would have made his relationship with Jesus null and void like a check written on an empty account.

I would imagine that this was a daily battle for the apostle Paul. I would imagine that the apostle Paul of Romans 7, who described himself as someone who sinned daily and was is in need of being saved from this current body of death and sin, this Paul, would struggle with the pride of legalism. So, I would think that if Paul struggled with legalism then surely you and I struggle with it even though we may not be able to articulate it very well.

Where do you find yourself relying on and boasting in your religion or your ethnicity or your nationalism or your education? Where do you see yourself relying on or boasting in your ability to stay clean from the world’s filth or your fight to keep others pure or your performance of religious rituals? What is it in these categories that gives you comfort and security? When do you feel the most superior? What does your resume or your script in your pocket look like? What do you wish your friends and your family would file in the dash between the dates of your birth and death?

CONCLUSION…

The apostle Paul wanted Christ and Christ alone to occupy that dash between the dates of his birth and death. He knew that his manmade resume was worthless and that his relationship with Jesus was valuable beyond measure.

He knew that the only way that the Philippians would live their lives in a manner that is worthy of the gospel is if they relied upon and boasted in the truth that Jesus plus nothing does in fact equal everything.

He knew that the rubbish of their manmade resumes would need to die at the foot of the bloody cross, in the doorway of the empty tomb in light of the hope of eternity. That’s the place where legalism dies, and freedom comes alive. – Amen!

1 Unless otherwise specified, all Bible references in this paper are to the English Standard Version Bible, The New Classic Reference Edition (ESV) (Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers, 2001).

2 R. Kent Hughes, Philippians, Colossians and Philemon: The Fellowship of the Gospel and the Supremacy of Christ (Wheaton, Illinois: Crossway, ESV Edition, 2013), 132 – 133.

3 Ibid., 133 – 134.

4 Ibid., 133.

5 Ibid., 134.

6-7 Ibid.

8 Ibid., 135.