I want you to picture something with me.
Imagine you’ve spent your whole life building the perfect résumé. Not for a job … for God. You show up to church faithfully. You know your Bible. You help wherever needed in the church. You give every week. From the outside, nobody would question your credentials.
Now imagine God looks at that résumé and says, That’s not what I’m looking for.
That’s essentially what happens in Philippians 3. And honestly, it’s one of the most unsettling and freeing passages in the entire New Testament. In Philippians 3:4, Paul boldly declares, If anyone else thinks he has grounds for confidence in the flesh, I have more. He’s not being arrogant. He’s making a point. And to make it, he lays out his credentials. Read verses 5 and 6 slowly because this list is not small:
Circumcised the eighth day. Of the nation of Israel. Tribe of Benjamin. Hebrew born of Hebrews. Pharisee. Zealous. Blameless under the law.
Think about it. He had the right heritage, did the right rituals, possessed all the right knowledge and discipline. If there were a religious hall of fame, Paul’s portrait would be hanging in the lobby. But then we come to verse 7:
But everything that was a gain to me, I have considered to be a loss because of Christ.
Paul doesn’t say those things were wicked. He doesn’t say his upbringing was worthless. He says he re-evaluated it. What once looked like spiritual profit? He now calls it loss. Not because the credentials were evil in themselves, but because they had become the thing he was trusting in. And that’s the danger.
I’ve been in preaching long enough to see this more times than I can count. Good and faithful people who have been capable bible teachers, able to quote Scripture from Genesis to Revelation — and somewhere along the way, that became their confidence. Not Christ. Instead, it was all about their track record, consistency, and knowledge.
We must never forget what Jesus taught. In Matthew 15:8, He said, This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. External compliance. Internal distance. That combination is more dangerous than outright rebellion because at least rebellion knows something’s wrong. Going back to our Philippians text, the principle Paul is teaching is that righteousness isn’t achieved. It’s received. His credentials couldn’t reconcile him to God. His zeal couldn’t remove guilt. His discipline couldn’t produce life.
Only Christ could do that.
Anxiety grows when your standing with God depends on maintaining a résumé. Think about that for a second. If your peace with God is built on how consistent you’ve been lately, what happens when you have a bad week? What happens when you miss church three Sundays in a row? What happens when you fail in a way that makes you feel disqualified?
You spiral. Because the foundation shifted.
But Paul’s not living like that anymore. And he’s inviting us not to live like that either.
So, what have you been tempted to trust as proof of your standing with God?
Your reputation? Your ministry record? Your Bible knowledge? Your giving? None of those things save. They may have genuine value. But they cannot secure your righteousness. When credentials lose their grip on us, that’s when grace finally has room to breathe. When Christ becomes the only ground of our confidence, the soul stops performing and starts resting.
That’s the freedom Paul found in Philippians 3.
And it’s still available to all of us today.
