Gospel Joy
The Empty Prize
In 1997, at just 27 years old, Matt Damon won an Academy Award for Good Will Hunting. An Oscar. Hollywood’s golden crown. But that night, as Damon sat alone with the statue on his sofa, something strange happened—he felt devastated.
He looked at the trophy and thought, “Imagine chasing that and not getting it, and getting it finally in your 80s or 90s with all of life behind you and realizing what an unbelievable waste of your life... It can’t fill you up. If that’s a hole you have, that won’t fill it.”
What Damon realized in that moment is something Scripture has said for millennia: the human heart cannot be filled by performance or praise, success or security. You were made for something more. Someone more.
And that’s exactly what the Apostle Paul discovered in Philippians 3.
Today’s passage reveals that the true prize, far greater than Oscars or achievements, is knowing Jesus Christ.
The Greatest Prize Is a Person (Philippians 3:7–8)
Paul knew something about success. He had the resume. Tribe of Benjamin. Pharisee of Pharisees. Blameless under the law. He had status, respect, and religious prestige. And yet in verse 7, he says:
“Whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ.”
Why? Because knowing Jesus is better than anything he had or ever could have.
Not knowing about Jesus. Not checking a religious box. But truly knowing—deeply, relationally, intimately. The same word used in the Old Testament for marital intimacy. “Adam knew Eve.” It’s the same idea. The Hebrew word is yada. It's not head knowledge—it's heart-level, soul-deep communion.
Augustine once prayed:
“You were with me, but I was not with You... I tasted, and it made me hunger and thirst; You touched me, and I burned to know Your peace.”
That’s what we were made for. Not success. Not applause. Not comparison. But Jesus.
And this is what leads to gospel joy: a relationship that fills what nothing else can.
What Jesus Has Done — Justification (Philippians 3:8–9)
But to know Jesus, something has to change in us. Paul describes that change in verses 8–9:
“...not having a righteousness of my own... but that which comes through faith in Christ...”
This is called justification. And here’s what it means:
Jesus has justified us—declared us righteous.
Not because we nailed the rules, but because He nailed our sin to the cross.
Paul calls all his old religious effort skubalon — a Greek word that literally means garbage, filth, or worse. Think sewage. He’s not being polite. He wants us to understand the danger of trusting in what we can earn. It’s what Andy Dufresne swam through to get out of Shawshank. If Roman chariots had bumperstickers, a popular one would’ve been “Skubalon Happens.” You get the point.
The prophet Isaiah said it like this:
“All our righteous acts are like filthy rags...” (Isaiah 64:6). That’s us at our best and that’s why when it comes to choosing which kind of righteousness we want - our own or Christ’s, the better choice is obvious. No more self-justification. Righteousness is not something we achieve. It’s something we receive.
Richard Hooker put it this way:
The righteousness wherein we must be found, if we will be justified, is not our own... Christ hath merited righteousness for as many as are found in Him….I must take heed what I say: but the apostle saith, "God made Him who knew no sin, to be sin for us; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him." Such we are in the sight of God the Father, as is the very Son of God Himself. Let it be counted folly, or frenzy, or fury, or whatsoever. It is our wisdom, and our comfort; we care for no knowledge in the world but this, that man hath sinned, and God hath suffered; that God hath made Himself the sin of men, and that men are made the righteousness of God.“
That’s the gospel.
Jesus took your sin and gave you His righteousness. You are justified—as if you had never sinned and always obeyed. Not because of what you’ve done, but because of what He has done.
Step Off the Treadmill, Step Out of the Cell
Some of you are stuck on the performance treadmill. You’re trying to impress God—or others—by how good you are. Let me lovingly tell you: step off. That treadmill leads nowhere but exhaustion.
Others of you are locked in a shame prison. You think, “I’ll never be good enough.” And you’re right. But that’s exactly why Jesus came. He bore your sin. And by His wounds, you are healed.
Justification is your freedom. Rest in Christ’s righteousness and rejoice in his grace.
What Jesus Is Doing — Sanctification (Philippians 3:10–14)
But the gospel doesn’t end at justification. Paul continues in verse 10:
“That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and may share His sufferings, becoming like Him in His death...”
This is sanctification:
Jesus is sanctifying us—changing us day by day.
The God who accepts you just as you are loves you too much to leave you that way. He grabs hold of your heart and begins reshaping it—purifying, pruning, refining.
Think of the Israelites. God rescued them from Egypt—that’s justification. But then He led them into the wilderness—sanctification. It’s where idols are broken and trust is tested. Paul says in verses 12–14 that he’s still in that process, still pressing on.
So are we.
Maybe it's the single mom who keeps showing up to church with a heart full of questions. Maybe it's the businessman learning how to serve quietly in a season of obscurity. That’s sanctification. God at work in the shadows. He’s leading us in the narrow way, learning humility, acquiring patience, growing in mercy, being more concerned about the logs in our eyes than the specks in others, growing in dependence on God that’s expressed in prayer, serving with perseverance…
You are not a finished product—you’re a work of art in progress. And the Artist is not done.
What Jesus Will Do — Glorification (Philippians 3:11, 20–21)
Finally, Paul looks forward in verse 11:
“...that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.”
This is the final act—glorification:
Jesus will glorify us—resurrect us into glory.
One day, what began in your soul will transform your whole body. Philippians 3:21 says Jesus will transform our lowly bodies to be like His glorious body.
1 John 3:2 says:
“When He appears, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.”
No more sin. No more suffering. No more struggle. Just eternal joy with Jesus.
The Offer Is Real
Let me leave you with a picture.
Imagine you're buried in debt. Hopeless. On the brink of despair. Suddenly, there's a knock at the door. A registered letter from a respected law firm is handed to you. In it, you read of a billionaire you met once in a restaurant who has died and left you a million dollars because something about you touched him.
Your first thought? "Scam." But... you call the number just in case.
Don’t leave the envelope sealed. Don’t walk away wondering. Call the number. Take the gift. Receive the joy.
In a world that says you are what you earn, what you produce, or what you post, the gospel says: you are loved, forgiven, and made new—before you lift a finger.
All the best this world has to offer—fame, money, status—is skubalon compared to knowing Jesus.
He is offering you Himself.
Take the prize.
Take the joy.
Take Christ.