Salem Lutheran Church

Pastor Jon Enter

April 6, 2025

Theme: How to Win By Losing

Text: Philippians 3:4b-14

Back in 2012, a seventeen year old West Liberty High School junior made national news. She was in last place in the 3200 meter track meet race. Sounds like cruelty to teens to me. (I don’t like running.) As she rounded the final corner on the last lap, she caught up to an Arlington High School sophomore whose body had given out on the race. Instead of zipping past her to avoid finishing in last place, she lifted her up, put her arm around her shoulders and half dragging her/half carrying her, she got through the last thirty meters to the finish line. She then pushed her opponent across the finish line first. That’s pretty amazing. That’s winning by losing. She lost the race…she got last place. But she won. She won in a different way; she was by sacrificing, by literally putting someone else before herself. She won by losing.

That story made national news because her actions were counter-cultural; they were counter instinctive. We want to win. Vince Lombardi, the Hall-of-Fame coach of the Packers once said, “If it doesn’t matter who wins or loses, why do they keep score?” We agree. We want to win.

We are culture obsessed with winning and recognition. We see it from the dad at the little league game belligerently screaming his head off making a fool of himself. We see it as we jockey for positions of love in our families. We see it from parents comparing their child’s accomplishments to others’. We see it in how we fight for the boss’ approval and praise at work. We want to win at life. We constantly are keeping score of how we rank; if we’re winning or losing at life.

Do you feel like a winner? Do you think you should win MVPP—Most Valuable Person on the Planet award? Or are you sick and tired of losing? Of not measuring up? Failure hurts.

Sometimes you have to go backwards in order to go forwards. Sometimes you have to lose in order to win. What do you need to lose from your life to gain in Christ?

The author of our sermon text had a great deal to lose. Paul had it all. At least, that’s what he originally thought. Just look at how he described his life before he was a Christian believer—how he described his life of winning and recognition. “If someone else thinks they have reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more.” (Philippians 3:4) Then Paul gave a list of seven different reasons why he thought he was winning at life. We only have time to examine two of them today, we will go through the rest in Growth Groups Bible study this week.

Paul said one of the reasons why he thought he was winning at life was this fact. “In regard to the law, a Pharisee.” (Philippians 3:5) Paul’s participation as a pharisee gave him the most respected religious position in the culture of his time. Jewish mothers would have pointed at Paul and said to their sons, “This is what I want you to be like when you grow up!” Fathers would’ve looked at a pharisee like Paul and been proud if their daughter married a man of conviction and confidence like that. Paul was proud, popular and a well-known pharisee.

But Paul’s popularity in the world made him self-focused and not Savior-focused. Paul’s popularity in the world pulled him from God rather than leading him to God.

There are two lessons Paul is pleading with us to learn from his past through this sermon text. Both of these faith-lessons teach us How to Win By Losing. Here’s the first one: LOSE Longing For The World’s POPULARITY. Popularity in this world is here today and gone tomorrow. King Solomon, who was the world’s wisest, wealthiest and most well-known man of his time, once said chasing after popularity and recognition from this world is meaningless. “I have seen all the things that are done under the sun; all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind.” (Ecclesiastes 1:14) Focusing on popularity and praise from this world is meaningless. But we desire it. We want it. We chase after it. Even if you think you don’t, then why is it that you are hurt when people don’t ask your opinion or show their appreciation for what you’ve done? We desire recognition in this world. When we do, we focus on self and not Savior. It is meaningless.

Popularity from this world doesn’t last. Each year, the who’s who of Hollywood throw a party for themselves to celebrate themselves at the Oscars and Emmys. At each awards show, they remember those who died during this last year in their industry. We are barely into 2025, so far these well-known celebrities have lost their lives. Gene Hackman (actor), George Foreman (boxer), Bob Uecker (baseball announcer), Val Kilmer (actor). When I did this research, there were dozens and dozens of people I’ve never heard of who were supposedly famous. I doubt my ten year old knows who Gene, George, Bob or Val are.

Five minutes after you die, it doesn’t matter how popular you were in high school or college. Five minutes after you die, it doesn’t matter how successful you were in your career. Five minutes after you die, it doesn’t matter how many trophies you won or awards you earned. Five minutes after you die, it doesn’t matter if mom or dad liked you best. Five minutes after you die, it doesn’t matter the kind of car you drove, the size of the home you lived in or the expense of the vacations you went on.

Five minutes after you died, the only thing that matters from this world is your relationship with Christ while you were in the world. The only thing that matters is where or not you loved and lived for Christ. The only thing that matters is if you were more concerned about what Christ thought of you (guided by your faith) that what the world thought of you. In other words, LOSE Longing For The World’s POPULARITY.

Before Paul came to faith in Jesus as his Savior, he not only chased after popularity in the world but Paul also focused on following the persuasion of this world rather than simply following God’s Word. The Pharisees, Paul included, were all about obedience and self-control. That sounds good at first but they twisted it. Paul refrained from all 39 types of activity banned on the Sabbath day of rest as given in the Bible. But the Pharisees also made up their own rules following the Mitzvot; they made up 613 man-made laws developed to promote self-righteousness.

Paul and the Pharisees followed their own standards over God’s. And they were persuaded to think this made them righteous before God. Pual himself described his old way of life by saying, “as for righteousness based on the law, faultless.” (Philippians 4:6) Paul was convinced he was faultless before God because he followed his own laws; he thought he determined what was right and wrong instead of God.

That perfectly describes the society we live in. The world around you is trying to persuade you to think there is no absolute truth. Don’t listen to the world; listen to God’s Word! Learn from the Apostle Paul pleading with you through this text to learn How To Win By Losing! It’s done this way: LOSE Listening to the World’s PERSUATION.

The world around you is trying to persuade you to think that no one, no book, and nobody can tell you what is right and wrong. The world proclaims whatever makes you happy, that is what’s right. The world is trying to persuade you to follow whatever made up rules you make up for your life and then when you follow your own rules, you’re faultless.

King Solomon didn’t just call this attitude, “meaningless” but in Proverbs 16:25 he wrote, “There is a way that appears to be right but in the end it leads to death.” Many people think they are right by choosing to walk a pathway of unrighteousness that leads away from God but it only leads to death and destruction.

Jesus gave us the same warning. “What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, and yet to lose or forfeit their very self?” (Luke 9:25) When we listen to this world over the Creator of the world, we put ourself and our soul in danger.

I asked the question earlier, what do you need to lose from your life to gain in Christ? What unrighteous actions do you need to lose from your life in order to gain in Christ? What worldly attitude or sin has become comfortable in your life that you need to lose to gain in Christ?

Here’s the problem. You can’t get rid of it. Like the giant that stood before David that he couldn’t defeat on his own, you can’t lose these problem without Christ. He fixes the problems and pains of life when we focus on Him instead of them. David didn’t see the giant; he saw God. Noah didn’t see a flood; he saw God. Joshua didn’t see walled cities; he saw God. Daniel didn’t see lions; he saw God. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego didn’t see a fiery furnace; they saw God. Paul didn’t see a jail cell; he saw God. Look past your problems and see Jesus.

Jesus Himself didn’t see a problem when He saw the cross; He saw His Father in heaven and the plan of salvation. Jesus saw you. He saw the victory He was going to win for you—that you were going to gain—as He lost His life upon the cross.

Oh, the devil thought he had won on Good Friday. The devil thought he had triumphed over God. But he lost. He lost his power over you. He lost his dominance over your life. He lost his grip of your soul for all eternity. The devil lost as Jesus lost His life upon the cross; as He paid the full price for the atonement of your sins. And so you have gained.

Paul understood just how wide and how long and how high and how deep is the love of Christ. Paul’s life was changed forever as soon as he came to know the mercy and full forgiveness of Christ in faith. This text is a beautiful proclamation of Paul’s faith and trust in the redemption that was won by Christ. The first half of this text reveals Paul’s past when he was focused on the world and led a meaningless life of loss. The second half is full of words of praise and trust in God thanking Him for the victory Jesus, the Lamb of God, gave to Paul and to all.

“Whatever was to my profit, I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. I consider them rubbish…not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law but that which is through faith in Christ.” (Philippians 3:7-9) We are like Paul. We have placed in our past too much focus, too much attention, too much care into what others thought of us and not what God thinks.

Guess what God thinks of you. He doesn’t see your sins; He sees your Savior. He sees your soul washed, made clean. He sees His daughter, His Son. He sees someone He loves. He sees you. The one He loves. Amen.