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There is an ancient Greek fable about a beautiful woman named Atalanta and the long line of men who wanted to marry her. Atalanta loved to run, and legend had it she was the fastest runner in her city.

Since her parents insisted that she choose a suitor, she decided to challenge them all to a race, with one condition: she would marry the man who won the footrace against her, but all those who lost would be put to death. Well, that is one way to end your dating life. Still, several men tried and lost the race and then lost their lives. 

But then a rather clever young man named Hippomenes accepted her challenge, and he had a secret for winning the race: three small apples made of gold. When the race began, Atalanta began to pull ahead fairly easily, but Hippomenes took from his pocket a golden apple and tossed it off the path in front of her. The glitter of gold caught her eye, and as she ran to pick it up, he raced ahead of her. 

She recovered and caught up. The race was halfway over, and she began to outdistance him once again. Another golden apple rolled off the track ahead of her, and she couldn’t resist it, and Hippomenes ran ahead of her once again. 

The goal line was now in sight, and Atalanta ran like she had never run before. As they neared the goal, she was once more ahead; but then one last time, an apple of glittering gold rolled down at her feet. For a moment she wavered, and Hippomenes swept past her and won the race. Legend has it that they were married and lived happily ever after. I seriously doubt that.

Well, just like Aesop’s Fables, there is a moral to this story. And the moral is not how to catch a wife with jewelry, although that might help your case. No, the moral is to keep your eye on the goal, no matter what glitters just off the path.

The Philippians were running the race well, but Paul knew the danger and the temptation along the path. As we set sail today into chapter 3 of his letter to the Philippian church, Paul reminds them to find their joy in Christ. He writes in verse 1, “Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord.” He will give this same command again in Philippians 4:4, where he writes, “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice.” To rejoice in the Lord means to consider him our source of joy.

Paul adds here in chapter 3, verse 1, “To write the same things to you is no trouble to me and is safe for you.” Rejoicing in Jesus gives believers safety. It builds a spiritual defense system around our hearts.

Now understand, biblical joy is not constant feelings of happiness. Nobody can feel consistently happy with our fallen emotions, as we live in this fallen world. Our feelers are fallen. But joy is not so much a feeling as it is an understanding, a settled understanding that God is on His throne and we are in His hands.

Paul then warns of some danger, writing, “Look out for the dogs, look out for the evildoers, look out for those who mutilate the flesh” (verse 2). Back in Paul’s day, dogs were not pets. They were roaming scavengers and rather dangerous, like coyotes or wolves are today. The apostle’s reference to dogs, evildoers, and mutilators all describe the danger of false teachers roaming around.

This phrase, “those who mutilate the flesh,” gives us a clue that Paul is referring to legalistic false teachers who were demanding Christians follow the law through circumcision in order to be saved. But Paul explains that circumcision of the flesh has been replaced with another kind of circumcision:

We are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh. (verse 3)

In other words, we have been cleansed internally, not by a surgical procedure on our flesh, but by the forgiveness of sin in our hearts.

Ceremony and self-effort are not going to cleanse anybody. And Paul uses himself as an example. If anyone’s résumé could impress God, it would have been Paul’s. He could outrun anybody in the Jewish community. He proves this by checking all these impressive boxes in verses 5-6. Circumcised? Check. On the eighth day? Check. A true Israelite? Check. From the favored tribe of Benjamin? Check. Fluent in Hebrew? Check. A follower of the law? Check. A Pharisee? Zeal for the things of God? Check.

Paul’s résumé outdistanced any Jewish leader of his day. But in verse 7, he makes this stunning statement:

But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesu my Lord.

His résumé might have glittered like gold, but it was nothing compared to the treasure he found in Christ.

Paul continues in verses 8-9:

For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith.

Paul is saying that everything in his life went from the credit column to the debit column in light of who Christ is. In fact, Paul waved goodbye to all the assets of his life—respect, comfort, social standing, religious approval. Of all those things he writes, “[I] count them as rubbish.” The word he uses is rather shocking; we could translate it “sewage.”

Paul is warning the Philippians that the things of this world might look like little apples of gold, but they are not worth it. In Christ Jesus, we discover real, lasting, genuine treasure.

Then he reminds the Philippian believers—and you and me—of three valuable treasures in Christ. He lists them in verses 10-11.

The first treasure is knowing Christ personally. Paul writes, “That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection.” Because of our faith in Christ alone, we have been given spiritual life and eternal life in Him. What can compare to that?

The second treasure Paul lists might be a little surprising. He continues in verse 10, “That I . . . may share his sufferings.” Your translation might read, “and the fellowship of his sufferings.”

Suffering for Christ is one of God’s precious ways of binding us closely to our Savior and to one another. Beloved, suffering moves us into a fellowship with Christ and His Word like nothing else. And it also paves the way in our race of faith for this third and final treasure.

The apostle Paul writes in verse 11, “That by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.” He does not mean that he has to earn his way there. When he writes “by any means possible,” he is simply saying he does not know what kind of path God has for him to run. He does not know if it is going to be uphill and challenging or, at times, downhill and a little easier. It also means that Paul does not know when or how his life will end. And neither do we.

Just do not stop running your race, no matter how many glittering apples of temptations and distractions get thrown along your path. Stay the course, keep your eyes on Jesus, all for the glory of God.