From Pirate Gold to Eternal Treasure: Counting All as Loss for Christ -Phil 3:8-11

Good morning, and welcome to the preaching of Dillingham Moravian Church.

We are thankful the Lord has led you to hear the Word of God with us this morning.

My name is Pastor Simon Flynn, and here at Dillingham Moravian Church,

we delight in making disciples for Christ as we learn God's Word together with you.

My father was an amateur treasure hunter.

He devoured stories of pirate loot that was buried or lost and had not been found yet.

Growing up, Dad told us so many stories of pirate treasure, of sunken ships

with precious cargo aboard, people buying houses only to find vast amounts of

money hidden in the walls.

Most of our vacations involved metal detecting on beaches and in campgrounds,

or in caves with the hope that we would find something really valuable.

Dad had always dreamed of finding that big treasure, especially a pirate treasure,

and becoming wealthier than his wildest dreams.

Dad's favorite show, if you can guess, was The Curse of Oak Island.

Towards the end of Dad's life while battling cancer, watching those six seasons

repeatedly brought him great happiness.

You see, most treasure hunters look for and find treasure so that they could

have it and then spend the proceeds.

And yet for us as Christ believers, Christ is to be our greatest treasure above

everything else in our life so that we may find Him and stay in His love. Let's pray.

Oh, Heavenly Father, we're thankful for the wonderful opportunity to hear from

You, to hear from Your Word, Your very truth to us, Your very communication, Your very Word.

Teach us, Lord. Open up our hearts and our minds through Your Spirit so that

we can hear you, so that we can apply what you're teaching us.

Give us your spiritual wisdom and knowledge to be able to do that.

O precious God, thank you so much. Please work in us.

In your precious Son's name, Jesus Christ, we pray, and the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Well, here at Dillingham Raven Church, we are continuing in our preaching series

in Paul's letter to the Philippians.

Last week, we learned that Paul was explaining to the Philippian Christians

that the Church of Christ is the true circumcision which God has set apart as the people of God.

We also were taught that in contrast to the Jews who worship God through the

priests and through atoning for their sins through animal sacrifices,

Christians worship God and give glory to Christ by and in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Moreover, we also learned that as Christ believers, we're not to rely on the

law and on worldly things for our identity as God's people. But we were to rely on Christ alone.

Additionally, God through Paul taught the Philippians and us that salvation

is not found within the Mosaic Law or from our accomplishments or from our genetic

line, but in Jesus Christ alone.

Lastly, Paul viewed that he considered Christ as his greatest worth and value,

and in comparison, everything was as lost to Paul.

And today we're going to continue on in our study of Paul's letter.

And flip in chapter 3, verse 8 through 9. But we're going to read to verse 11 here to get the context.

And this is what Paul wrote. More than that, I count all things to be lost in

the view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord,

for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish

so that I may gain Christ and may be found in Him,

not having a righteousness of my own derived from the law, but that which is

through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith,

that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of

his sufferings, being conformed to his death, in order that I may attain to

the resurrection from the dead.

Since this is one of Paul's longer run-on sentences, and there's a lot of biblical

meat in this passage, we're going to study this section in two parts.

In this first part, in Philippians chapter 3 verse 8 through 9,

Philippians 3:8–9

Paul teaches us as Christians two overarching truths.

The first truth that I would like to help us unpack today is that as Christ

believers, we are to count all things as loss and compared to knowing Christ.

Malala Yousafzai is a Pakistani education advocate who defied the Taliban in

Pakistan and demanded that girls be allowed to receive an education.

When Yusuf Fai was 10 years old, the Taliban took control of the area in which,

she and her family lived and banned girls from attending school.

After the Taliban started attacking girls' schools, Yusuf Fai began speaking out.

She gave speeches and started blogging about living under the Taliban's threat

to deny her an education.

Her activism resulted in a nomination for the International Children's Peace

Prize in 2011, and she was awarded Pakistan's National Youth Peace Prize that year.

Unfortunately, her growing platform and international reach also caught the

attention of the Taliban.

On October 9, 2012, Yusufi was riding a bus with her friends on their way home

from school when a mass gunman stormed the bus and demanded to know which girl was Yusufi.

Her friends glanced towards Yusufay, giving her location away, and he shot her.

She was struck on the left side of her head, the bullet traveling down her neck.

Two other girls were also injured in the attack. The attack left her in critical condition.

She was then airlifted to a hospital in Peshawar and later moved to an intensive

care unit in Birmingham, England.

Nine months after being shot by the Taliban, after having gone through intensive

rehabilitation, Yusufi gave a speech at the United Nations.

Her speech focused on education and women's rights, and she urged world leaders

to change their policies.

In 2013, Yusufi and her father co-founded the Malala Fund, which is an international

nonprofit organization that fights to ensure education for girls around the world.

In October 2014, Yusufi became the youngest person to receive a Nobel Peace

Prize. at just 17 years old.

Albeit this is a secular story, Malala didn't care about her life in comparison

to the dream of getting women's education made legal in countries where education for women is banned.

This concept of not caring about something for the sake of something or someone

else was what Paul was teaching about in Philippians 3, verse 8.

Philippians 3:8

More than that, I count all things to be lost in the view of the surpassing value of knowing.

In this first part of Philippians 3, verse 8, I want to bring to your attention

Philippians 3:8

that Paul counted all things as loss in comparison to knowing Christ.

I want you to understand two words that are essential to knowing what Paul was teaching in this verse.

The first word that Paul used was for loss, which referred to having to do with

suffering, the loss of something with the implication of sustaining hardship or suffering.

Meaning that Paul willingly suffered loss and suffering for the sake of knowing Jesus Christ.

The question we'd ask here is, what did Paul lose in his life,

or how did he suffer for the sake of Christ?

For the sake of Christ, Paul suffered not having a family or a normal life of

going to work and coming home and having stability in his life.

Paul explained in 2 Corinthians 11, verse 21 to 28, much of the suffering that he endured.

2 Corinthians 11:21–28

And this is what Paul wrote in verse 23. Are they ministers of Christ? I speak as if insane.

I more so In far more labors In far more imprisonments In beatings without number,

In frequent danger of death Five times I received from the Jews Forty lashes less one,

Three times I was beaten with rods Once I was stoned Three times I was shipwrecked

A night and day I have spent in the deep Meaning hanging on to the debris In the Mediterranean Sea.

I have been on frequent journeys, in dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers,

dangers from my countrymen, dangers from the Gentiles, dangers in the city,

dangers in desolate places, dangers on the sea, dangers among false brothers.

I have been in labor and hardship and many sleepless nights,

in starvation and thirst, often hungry, in cold and without enough clothing.

Apart from all such external things, there is the daily pressure on me of concern for all the churches.

So the question we need to ask here is why would Paul endure so much hardship

and persecution in his life?

Because to Paul, the value of knowing Christ Jesus far outweighed the value

of having a comfortable and stable life.

Paul used the word surpassing value to refer to surpassing quality or value,

or the surpassing greatness of personal acquaintance.

And so this surpassing greatness that Paul attributed to Christ was more than

just to find Christ, as you would when you seek after and find a treasure.

Rather, the surpassing value Paul was after was to have a personal relationship with Jesus.

Now, combined in the concept of knowing or the knowledge, which is the psychological

result of perception and learning and reasoning,

sometimes simply endowed by God, often with a focus on, and here it is,

the application of the knowledge.

For Paul, the seeking and learning and acquiring the knowledge of Christ was

so that he could have the deepest relationship with Christ that he could.

I want you to understand that the knowledge that Paul wrote about was not simply

head knowledge, but it was knowledge that would lead to a greater relationship with Jesus.

For example, it was like before I met and started dating my wife,

Abigail, I heard about what a beautiful and great woman she was.

And when I started dating her and she told me about herself,

at that point, it was only head knowledge about Abigail.

But as I spent time with her and eventually we got married, I began to learn

more about her and almost 24 years now to know her as my gorgeous,

loving wife and mother whom she is.

What Paul was explaining was that he would suffer any loss So that he can have

the knowledge of Christ That led to a full and lasting relationship with Jesus,

Paul wanted that relationship with Jesus so very much.

That he was willing to die for it. However, integral to knowing Christ for Paul

was to apply the knowledge that he had in faith filled loving obedience to his Lord Christ.

In order to know and love Christ, Paul had to not only obey God in the moral

laws, but also God's missional laws to bring the gospel to the ends of the earth

and to make disciples of Christ and of,

everyone who wants to know was the surpassing greatness of the Almighty and

gracious Lord Jesus Christ.

And we know from the book of Acts and his writings, Paul had found Christ and

was staying in Christ's love.

For us as Christians, the key takeaway from this first part of verse 8 is that

we must be willing to suffer the loss of everything for the sake of knowing,

the surpassing greatness of Jesus Christ.

However, there are two perspectives that we need to understand so as to view

knowing Christ as our greatest treasure.

The first perspective is that knowing Christ is impossible for us to do on our own.

For this task, we desperately need the strength and power of Christ Jesus and the Holy Spirit.

The truth is that if we have been born again through faith in Christ,

Christ is working in us and living in us, and we do have the Spirit of God dwelling in us.

Unless we do have access to the power of Almighty God to begin making the change

necessary in our lives to view Christ as our surpassing treasure of all greatness.

Paul, in 2 Timothy 1, 6-7, wrote this.

In verse 6, For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God which

is in you through the laying on of my hands. And here it is, verse 7.

For God gave us a spirit, not of fear, but of power, love, and self-control.

You see, in Christ, we have access to the power and love and self-control of

the Holy Spirit to be able to view knowing Christ as their surpassing treasure.

And please listen to this. We cannot know Christ and have a deep relationship

with Him unless we obey Him in faith-filled obedience, both morally and missionally.

To know and love Christ is to obey Him in all that He commands and teaches us.

We cannot have a relationship with Christ any other way.

This is an area where we as the American church really fail in.

There is an unwritten sense amongst American Christianity that if we just live

morally, then it's sufficient to being a good Christian.

Yet God never divorces His moral laws from His mission, which was to make disciples

of all people in the name and power and authority of Jesus so that all the earth

will worship Christ as God and King to the glory of the Father.

The question is, are we willing to suffer loss for the sake of knowing Jesus Christ our Lord?

Are we willing to suffer the loss of comfort or time on our screens to be in

God's Word and in prayer in order to know Christ deeper?

Are we willing to suffer the loss of recreation or our various pastimes?

Maybe it's hunting or fishing or berry-picking for the sake of witnessing to

someone about Jesus Christ.

Or can we intentionally invite non-believers on our hunting,

fishing, and berry-picking expeditions and use that medium to be able to share

the surpassing greatness of our Lord?

We are so addicted to many things in our culture, and one of the biggest things

that we are enslaved to is ease and comfort in doing what we want.

I know this is very hard for us to hear, but for us to know Christ,

according to Paul in God's word, we must be willing to suffer any loss and any

suffering for the purpose of knowing Jesus Christ as our surpassing great Lord.

You see, to know Christ as our supreme treasure, we must, and this is a must,

let go of our comforts, our own desires, even our own needs and rights.

And I'm speaking to myself here because I must be honest with you, I am not there yet.

You and I, we all need Christ's grace and power to seek out and know Christ

as our greatest love and delight.

The second reason Paul considered all things as loss was that he counted all

things as rubbish to gain Christ and be found in him.

According to the Smithsonian, in June 2026, archaeologists discovered an ancient

Mayan city that was hidden in the Mexican jungle for more than a millennium.

Located in the Calamacul Biosphere Reserve in Campeche at the base of the Yucatan

Peninsula, the city is uniquely intact.

After examining an aerial LIDAR scan of Monomones, roughly 40 acres,

archaeologists explored it from the ground.

They hacked through three miles of jungle with machetes to get there.

And what they found was a city composed of urban plazas surrounded by palaces,

religious buildings, and terraces flanked by water channels.

No old logging paths led to this site, unlike others in the jungle.

It was very difficult to access.

Researchers named the place Manabe, a combination of Yucatan Mayan words meaning

roughly there is no road.

Manabe's remoteness worked in the archaeologist's favor.

Archaeologists said that it was the first intact, seemingly unlooted ancient

city his team has found in three years.

My point is that this city was never discovered until this year,

and it was only found because of the technological advances in laser mapping

that modern science has developed.

And this concept of discovering something or someone is what Paul was getting

at in Philippians 3, verses 8-11.

Philippians 3:8–11

This is what Paul wrote. More than that, I count all things to be loss in the

view, in the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord,

for whom I have suffered loss of all things.

This is where we are now. And count them, but rub us so that I may gain Christ and may be found in him.

Paul continued in verse 8 to declare that the apostle Paul considered all things

as loss because Paul counted all things as rubbish in comparison to gain Christ and be found in him.

The word that Paul used for rubbish was used only right here in Philippians

Philippians 3 · chapter mention

chapter 3, and translators translate this word as rubbish because it conveys

a nicer image, like paper waste or sorted trash.

However, the word literally meant dung, human or animal waste.

Years ago, before we moved here to Dillingham, our cat, Ariel,

used to wait for me to come home.

And when she believed that I was late, she could hear the car coming up the road to our house.

She would deliberately go in, do her stinky business right in front of the door to our house.

Well, one such time, it was summertime. It was hot. I took my sandals off outside of the door.

And I opened the door and I stepped it with my bare feet right into the fresh,

warm pile of stinking cat doo-doo.

And unfortunately, the pile oozed through my toes and up onto the top of my feet.

I was so mad, I grabbed the spray bottle by the door and chased that cat around

the house, hobbling on one foot and shouting at her what I would do to her when I caught up to her.

My point is that there are a few things that are so stinky and plain awful as

fresh, wet cat or dung from a dog.

Now, we need to understand that Paul was not saying that everything in life

in his family line and being part of Israel or having a nice,

comfortable life was inherently dung.

Rather, in comparison to the surpassing and overwhelming beauty and greatness

of gaining Christ and being found in Him, everything else in his life was like

stinking and terrible-smelling dung.

Another word that I want you to see that Paul used in Philippians 3.8 was found,

which meant to be discovered, like my illustration of the Mayan city that had

been discovered this year.

However, I want you to notice that the concept of being found in Christ is different

than finding christ for paul christ was his treasure but paul did not seek after

christ only to get benefit out of christ,

rather paul wanted to find christ and be found in him to stay in him that paul

wanted to find christ and then stay in him and make his home spiritually with his savior and lord,

and one day forever in heaven. Once Paul found Christ, he didn't want to leave Christ.

Paul was willing to suffer any loss, any torture, any discomfort for the goal

of gaining Christ and being found in him.

What then can we learn from this last part of our passage today?

The main truth that I want us to understand is that to discover Christ and stay

in him, we must desire for Christ to be our supreme value and whom we find our

delight in and find everything else as garbage in comparison.

I mean, this is a huge reality shift from the way the world sees things.

As a result of Adam and Eve's sin, all people have been cursed to be depraved,

meaning that without God, we are completely self-focused and cannot seek God

without God's intervention.

Without Christ and the Holy Spirit's work, even our good acts towards others

are somehow for our personal desires.

Even if we do not understand that they are, we, you and I, need to pray and

ask God to change our viewpoint from being focused on our own needs and our

own wants and our rights to being centered on Christ.

Through prayerful surrender, God can change our understanding of reality in two ways.

First, through God's truth from the Word of God.

I want to encourage us to get as much of the Bible, of Bible reading and listening

to sound Bible messages, because as Jesus taught in John 8, verse 31 to 32,

John 8:31–32

if you abide in my Word, then you are truly my disciples, and you will know

the truth, and the truth will make you free. God also.

And modify our perspective on reality by leading us to discover that the lies

that Satan through the world has taught us all of our lives.

One such lie that we is is that we need the love of our spouses,

our children, and others, or

things, or addictions, or the applause of people to be of worth and value.

Billions of people are deceived by this lie in a variety of ways.

This is only one of the thousands of lies that have been ingrained in us since

birth. And yet, how do we fight Satan's lies?

The truth of Christ, the truth of His Word. The truth is that true happiness,

worth, and power, and purpose that truly satisfies is Jesus and His love.

Now, I'm not saying that we do not need our families and others,

or that we do not need to love them, or that we should not value them.

Of course we love them. Of course we value them.

In knowing and staying in Christ, we then have the love and power to love our

families and others joyfully and sacrificially the way Christ loves us.

But the truth that I'm trying to help us understand is that we cannot truly

be happy or find joy or meaning and purpose in anyone else or anything but Jesus Christ, our God.

What I'm getting at is that we treasure God.

What we find value, worth, and delight in.

You see, this concept of delighting in someone is so integral to treasuring. This is so important.

We love and treasure someone who we find delight in. Let me show you what I mean by this.

Let's look at John 14, verse 21, where Jesus wrote, or said rather,

John 14:21

he who has my commandments and keeps them is the one who loves me.

That's the word I want you to see.

And he who loves me, there it is again, will be loved by my Father,

and I will love him and will disclose myself to him.

The word that Jesus used for the one who loves meant to delight in.

We, you and I, are called to strive after and seek knowing Christ as our surpassing

treasure because we find our true delight, our true joy in him.

And yet for us to seek after and gain Christ as our true delight, we must,

we must, as we surrender to the Holy Spirit, embrace and trust in God's truth

from His Word, and we must reject the lies of Satan that have kept us in bondage for so long.

What truths can we take away from our passage in Philippians 3, 8-9?

First off, as Christians, we must be willing to suffer the loss of everything

for the sake of knowing the surpassing greatness of Jesus Christ.

The second truth we have learned is that to discover Christ and stay in Him,

we must desire for Christ to be our supreme value in whom we find our delight

in and find everything else as garbage in comparison to Him.

I want to encourage you today that if you are here or listening and you've never

placed your trust in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior,

the one who has saved you through his sacrifice blood on the cross,

then I strongly urge you to repent of your sins and acknowledge in faith with

all of your being that Christ is your only Lord and Savior.

However, I also plead for all of us to pray and to ask God to transform us,

to view knowing Christ as our greatest treasure that surpasses everything else,

so that we will seek him and be found in him. Let's pray.

Heavenly Father, thank you for your word. Thank you for teaching us.

Lord, we pray that as we go out, wherever we are, as we interact with the people

around us, may we seek you. May you be our treasure.

May you be the one that we love people with and share your truth with.

And through, help us, O Lord. You are our God, and we can't do it without you.

But in you we can share about the greatest treasure in this universe and that is your son jesus christ.

So help us father for your glory and your honor in your precious son's name

jesus christ i pray amen i'll leave you with this benediction from romans chapter 15 verse 13,

Romans 15:13

may the god of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing,

so that by the power of the Holy Spirit, you may abound in hope.