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Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
Brothers and sisters, looking at the reading from St. Paul’s letter to the Philippians as the text today, please be seated.
The New Testament part of the Bible was originally written in the Greek language. And in Greek, there are certain words that just stick out. And we have one of those today in that Philippians reading.
And that word in Greek is skoubalon. In the reading it’s translated rubbish. But skoubalon can have a little stronger meaning than that. Skoubalon can also mean waste. Digestive waste. Digestive waste that’s been expelled from the body. Now the King James Version translates it as dung, so they’re kind of right on with that, but maybe that’s a bit harsh of an image for a sermon. But I think rubbish is too wimpy, so I’m gonna find something in between here that I think we can work with. I’m gonna use trash. We can all relate to trash; we understand trash. We all generate trash, and most likely at some point we’ve had to take out the trash. Even if you don’t like taking out the trash, it’s trash.
Things we don’t like, things we don’t need, things we simply throw away and get rid of because trash can be gross, disgusting. Trash can be rotten, rancid, filthy. And that’s what St. Paul is getting at in that reading today: that all of the things of his earthly life, everything, compared to Jesus, he considers a loss. He considers it rubbish. Everything is trash, he says. Everything is skoubalon. Yeah, that means earthly things, what Paul is talking about: money, property, education, positions, accomplishments, awards, etc. They’re all very temporary. They don’t last. They get lost. Maybe even get taken away from us. And compared to knowing Christ, Paul says, they have no worth. They’re trash. They’re scubalon, he says.
But for Paul, trash also includes sins. In fact, Paul once called himself the chief or worst of sinners. He considers himself the greatest trash generator when it came to sins. Paul was well aware of the trash of his sins, of his failures, of his brokenness, of his imperfections, but his sin trash was something he wanted to get rid of. Like all trash, he wanted to lose it. He wanted his sinful trash taken out to be a loss. But how? How can that be done? Because sin can be gross and disgusting. Sinful trash can be rotten and rancid and filthy. Especially those sins that seem particularly trashy; sins that make you feel like trash when you do them, like hurting a very good friend, taking advantage of a completely innocent person, promoting yourself at the expense of someone else’s reputation, sins that are sexual in nature, or doing something disgusting that you swore you’d never, ever do, and you did it.
Failures, brokenness, imperfections, sin. Not things that people like to be reminded of, much less want to deal with. We don’t want to deal with our trashy sins sometimes. And they can sit in the house of your heart and your conscience and become even more rotten and rancid and filthy. No one wants to touch their sinful trash, much less take it out. So what do we do with it? Maybe we want it taken out, but how do we get it out? How do we get our sinful trash out?
Well, Homer Simpson of the TV show, The Simpsons, I think can help illustrate. Stay with me, okay? Stay with me. Alright? If you’ve never seen an episode of The Simpsons or don’t even like The Simpsons, that’s fine. I’ll explain. Homer is the father of a mostly dysfunctional TV family, himself being no exception to that. Homer often has some very well-meaning but very unrealistic solutions to things. Homer once ran for the office of city sanitation commissioner. And his whole campaign was based on the promise that if he’s elected, not only will the sanitation workers pick up your trash from the curb, but with 24-hour service, they’ll come into your house, bag your trash, and carry it out and also do all of your housecleaning. I’d vote for that. They’ll even pick up your pet’s scoobalon.
But it’s Homer’s campaign motto that I think is helpful for us today because in regards to taking out the trash and sanitation overall, Homer’s motto was this: “Can’t someone else do it?” Can’t someone else take out my trash, do my cleaning? Again, the trash of sin can be so disgusting, so rotten, so rancid, so filthy, so much so that you can’t deal with it, and you’re left asking, “Can’t someone else do it? Can’t someone else deal with my trash, my scubalon, and take it out away from me?” And the answer for Paul and for you is, yes, there is someone else who does it.
And as Paul points out in the reading, it’s for the sake of Jesus Christ that all things are trash, all things are scubalon, and are to be considered lost, to be taken out. It’s Jesus who takes out the trash of your sins, and He takes the trash of sins out by suffering and dying on the cross. In fact, that’s where He took your trash. Jesus carried the trash of your sins to the cross and nails it there and dies with it there. In fact, if you want to see how bad the trash of sin is in your life, how disgusting it is, how rotten and rancid and filthy it is, if you want to see the digestive waste that’s expelled from your body that’s called sin, then look at the cross. Look at the beaten and bloodied body of Jesus hanging on the cross because of the trash of your sin.
The cross, Jesus is hanging on it and dying on it. That is indeed a rotten, rancid, and filthy, trashy place. But it’s for your sake, for your benefit. Christ’s suffering and death are for you, for the loss of your trash. So your sinful trash is taken out, but also to give you something in return. Paul lost all things so that he might gain Christ. He considers everything lost, everything taken out so that he can gain Christ. And it’s the same for you. Jesus takes out the trash of your sins and gives you Himself instead. You gain His righteousness. And as Paul says, by faith you receive that righteousness given to you. You gain that righteousness by the power of Christ’s death and resurrection from the dead, Paul talks about there.
Jesus’ death is the taking out of your trash, and His resurrection gives you life. Jesus is the one who makes you righteous. Jesus dies on the cross; He takes your trashy sin out, and then He does all your cleaning for you, giving you righteousness instead. Jesus really is the one who turns trash into treasure. Jesus takes the trash of your sin out and gives you the treasure of righteousness, forgiveness, and eternal life.
Yeah, Paul was well aware of the trash of sin, but he was also very aware of the forgiveness offered in Christ. He was well aware that it’s Jesus who has taken out that trash. He no longer possessed it. It was considered loss. He didn’t have it anymore, and neither do you. The trash of your sin has been taken out. It’s gone. Don’t try to drag it back in, okay? Leave your trash in the dump. Leave it where Christ has taken it. Leave it on the cross. Don’t try to take the trash of your sin out of Jesus’s hands. I know that there can be things that you’ve done—trashy things, disgusting, rotten, rancid, filthy things—but Jesus has taken it out. Count it as loss. Don’t keep dragging it back into your house.
Yeah, confess it. Confess your sinful trash and let Jesus take it out. Trash is supposed to be taken out. It belongs out. Your scubalon, your rotten, rancid, filthy, digestive waste of sin belongs away from you. That’s how Jesus wants it. That’s why He did what He did to make that happen. Like John the Baptist, we look at Jesus and say there: There is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Not just taking it away from the world, but taking it away from you.
And Psalm 103 reminds us, as far as the east is from the west, that’s how far your sin has been taken away from you. It’s like infinitely away from you. Like Paul, count all of that loss compared to what Christ has done for you. It’s a loss; it’s worth nothing; it’s gone; it’s taken out. His death, His resurrection, those things He’s done for you are far greater than anything you’ve done, no matter how seemingly trashy. May Christ take out all of your sins, and instead, receive the righteousness He gives to you. May you be found in Christ, not in the trash.
“Can’t someone else do it?” Praise God, Jesus has. In Christ may you always be trash-free people. Amen.
Now may the peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
