But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. (Philippians 3:7-11, NKJV).
Being self-righteousness is dangerous. Human beings in their natural state, that is without a personal relationship with God through faith in Christ, avidly desire to believe that they are, in reality, what they imagine themselves to be. They want to prove to themselves and to the world that their self-image is accurate. Sometimes great effort and time will be expended to reach this ephemeral goal, and for some, it is the ultimate purpose of existence, at least when the basic necessities of life aren't at stake.
This priority is the exact opposite of what the Bible teaches. In fact, we are told that self-righteousness is despicable in the eyes of God because at its root is Pride, the foundation of sin and rebellion. Humans, being cunning and clever, have the ability to disguise this raw and blatant Pride in any number of devious ways: personal achievement, success in the world, power, prestige, reputation, even feigned humility. But underneath, it is all filthy rags in the eyes of the Lord (Isa 64:6).
In the passage cited above, Paul makes this truth undeniably clear, and uses himself as an example. Consider for a moment that the apostle, before his conversion, was at the pinnacle of achievement in his sphere of life. He was of pure Hebrew stock (Phi 3:5), born a Roman citizen (Ac 21:39), schooled by the best (Ac 22:3), given great authority (Ac 9:1,2), and very successful in his career as a professional scholar and lawyer (Ga 1:14, Php 3:4-6). He was a man with all the right pedigrees, credentials and certificates, and he had worked hard for them, devoting all his life to achieving these very things. He knew much about God, and believed fiercely in His existence, and was willing to strive mightily to protect all his own beliefs with whatever it took (Ac 9:1). Yet he did not know God.
Because Paul was so convinced of his own righteousness, it took dramatic divine intervention in his life to show him the truth. He was literally knocked off his "high horse" on the rode to Damascus, made blind so he could see, emptied of himself so he could be filled with the Spirit, and transformed from a formidable opponent of the infant church to a fugitive apostle (Ac 9). That transformation laid him low so that God could use him to fulfill His divine purpose for Paul's life (Ga 1:15). His delusional, inflated self-image was replaced with the truth; he was a wretched, vile sinner (Ro 7:24, 1Ti 1:15).
The contrast between what he thought of himself before and after encountering Christ was so drastic that it changed his entire world view, his self-assessment and even his name. As Paul wrote above, all that he had achieved beforehand he now considered "rubbish", or "refuse" (the KJV translates it "dung"), Paul realized the truth of what Jesus spoke about it being worthless for a man to gain the world, but lose his eternal soul (Mt 16:26). He understood that what is valuable to man is an abomination to God (Lu 16:15).
The Christian life is full of these paradoxes partly because we cannot see the truth without God illuminating it through His Word, and partly because in our long war against our Creator, we don't want to see that only from being humble can exaltation come, that only from losing one's life (and self-image and pride and self-reliance) can one truly gain that life, and that only through recognizing our own condemned nature can we escape the eternal judgment that our wickedness so richly deserves.
So we, like Paul, must strive "by any means" to enter into His rest (He 4:11), forsaking any and all delusion of self-worth, and replacing it completely with "the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things…"
