This is the last part in this series of messages about 3P's. You can find the first two articles below:
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7 But whatever were gains to me I have considered loss for the sake of Christ. 8 What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, . . .
In the second part of this series, I argued that our generation, driven by power, pleasure, and profit, suffers from a spiritual gap that made us undermine the gospel and value human accomplishments beyond their proper place as gifts of God. In this post, I would like to add that a generation motivated by 3 P's doesn’t consider human accomplishments as loss because our understanding of value is the exact opposite of that of the Christian worldview.
The Balance Sheet Metaphor
Observe how the apostle Paul used the balance sheet metaphor. Such a metaphor is borrowed in the business world. He used the popular business terms such as "profit" and "loss." The Word Biblical Commentary (WBC) identifies that this metaphor refers to the balance sheet with its columns marked as “assets” and “liabilities” (p. 135).
I don’t know how the ancient world understands “assets” and “liabilities.” I assume their understanding is similar to modern-day accounting, which sees assets as valuable resources a company owns, like cash, equipment, and property, while liabilities are the company's debts or financial obligations, such as loans and accounts payable. In financial literacy, it simplifies the meanings of these terms. Assets are anything that adds money to your pocket, and liabilities are anything that takes money out of your pocket. It is no wonder that from this monetary perspective, net worth is considered king.
However, Paul, using this metaphor, wanted to provide a perspective that is contrary to the world’s standards. In his “balance sheet,” all the achievements that he mentioned in verses 5 and 6, such as religious heritage, family background, and cultural identity, are counted as liabilities, and the knowledge of Christ as a priceless asset. If anyone doesn’t see Christ as a “priceless asset,” this tells us that such a person is still clinging to and taking pride in human achievements. Even though human achievements are good in themselves, considering them as gifts from God, a false estimate or valuation of them leads to pride. And when we see pride, it is a sure sign that the knowledge of Christ is taken for granted, given lip service, and ignored.
As for this balance sheet metaphor, we are called to re-examine the way to measure true value in life. The world trains us to build our personal “balance sheet” with assets such as education, achievements, social standing, wealth, and connections. However, Paul’s radical use of the profit-and-loss metaphor challenges us to reverse our valuation system. This insight urges us to audit our hearts like spiritual accountants, honestly identifying what we treat as “assets” in life and asking ourselves whether these assets draw us closer to Christ or subtly make us glory in ourselves.
Inclusive
By adding the word “everything,” the apostle Paul implies that anything in human achievements is a potential rival to Christ’s Lordship over our lives. With this additional word “everything,” there is nothing in human achievements that is excluded. It could be a financial breakthrough such as a higher salary, business success, financial freedom, and higher ROI. It could be a technological one like the Internet, AI, blockchain, robotics, and cryptocurrency. It could be a political breakthrough such as the legalization of same-sex marriage, though that’s a loss for conservative Christians, but for LGBTQ+ rights and their supporters, that was a major breakthrough and considered a great achievement in our generation. On a personal level, what we consider achievements include academic scholarship, career and financial success, winning gold medals, and buying a dream house or a property. Again, though they are gifts from God, if they rival him in our hearts, they become our idols and a potential competitor to the Lordship of Christ.
Skubalon
Lastly, our generation, driven by 3 P's will not only be surprised to hear us saying human accomplishments are a loss; they will even be shocked and consider it foolish if they hear us count human achievements as garbage.
Here we see that the apostle Paul used a stronger term and changed “loss” into “rubbish” or “garbage.” The Greek word “skubalon” has a diverse range of meanings that include dung, excrement, trash, food gone bad, a half-eaten corpse, and a lump of manure. This is a vulgar term stressing the force and totality of Paul’s renunciation.
Renouncing our achievements as loss is difficult enough for us to do. How much more are they considered as garbage? Such a renunciation is painful to human nature. It is easier to give external consent, but deep within, we know that this will be a constant struggle for us. A decisive break—a total rejection of anything that could rival the supreme worth of knowing Christ—isn’t easy. There are times that we need to undergo severe trials in life to see the reality of such a spiritual detachment. If any of these “treasures” were taken away from us, would Christ still be enough? If he is, then Christ truly is the only treasure you have in your life.
Conclusion
Remember that power is fragile. Today, you have it. Tomorrow, it is gone. A business empire can fall. A celebrity can lose their following. A leader can lose his office.
What positions or influence have become more important to you than Jesus? What power do you need to surrender? What pleasures do you need to lay down? What profit must you place under Christ’s lordship?
Counting human achievements as loss is radical in a generation driven by power, pleasure, and profit because it overturns society’s value system. It is radical because the world clings to earthly assets, but the believer clings to an invisible inheritance in Christ. The gospel is radical because it runs contrary to the gospel of self-sufficiency of humanism and promotes the message of surrendering power rather than accumulating it. The gospel is radical because it embraces sharing in Jesus’ sufferings—something that stands in direct contradiction to the pleasure-driven mindset of the world. It is radical because the world avoids suffering at all costs, but Christians find joy in trials and sufferings when they draw us closer to Christ.