When Losing Is Gaining....
Philippians 3:7: But what things were gain to
me, those I counted loss for Christ.
No other man of that first century stands out as
much as the apostle Paul when considering what one has given up in order to
attain something which can only be gained through spiritual renewal.
Paul's influence and acquaintance with those of
authority in his day are obvious when we read from
Acts 9:1,2:
And Saul, yet
breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the
disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest, And desired of him letters to
Damascus to the synagogues, that if he found any of this way, whether they were
men or women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem.
It was no small thing to have an audience with
the high priest to such a degree as to be able to obtain such letters of
authority from him. This speaks of Paul's position in the eyes of men of
stature.
To get an understanding of Paul's position in
that society, we can note what he himself has to say in Philippians 3:4‑6:
Though
I might also have confidence in the flesh. If any other man thinketh that he
hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more: Circumcised the eighth day,
of the stock of Israel, {of} the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews;
as touching the law, a Pharisee; Concerning zeal, persecuting the church;
touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.
This passage also gives us insight into Paul's
background. He had plenty of reasons to boast in the flesh. His family tree was
something of which to be proud.
This is a very impressive set of credentials
which he presents to us.
There are some who feel that Paul was at one
time a member of the Sanhedrin. We have no scriptural support for this, but it
is obvious that he possessed a lot of influence with those in high positions of
authority.
We have no way of knowing Paul's age at the time
of his conversion, nor at the time when he penned these words to the church at
It is that bright future which Paul turns his
back on that he might know the Lord Jesus Christ in a greater way. Obviously,
the man paid a tremendous price.
v. 7 But what things were gain to me...
How often do we find a man who is willing to
give up the things which are obviously a gain to his personal life just to
follow a religious conviction!
The “gain” to which Paul is referring is obviously
the things which he enumerated in the preceding verses. The word “gain” is
plural in the Greek, so we could say, “what things were GAINS
to me.”
Gains in what manner? The things which he
mentions would set well with the Jewish community. They would place Paul in a
good light with those who judge men for religious purposes among the Jewish
community. In his efforts to achieve righteousness through the observance of
the Law ‑ which he was dedicated to doing before his conversion ‑
these things would certainly work well in his favor toward achieving that goal.
His decision made on the
Let's suppose you had labored, studied, and
worked for twenty years in seeking a higher education to become a brain
surgeon. This would be a position in which you would find immediate
recognition, and which would afford you a lifestyle which you could have
anything you would ever want in life to make life comfortable for you,
monetarily speaking. Your skills would probably be sought out by people all
over the world. Then you find yourself just a few months away from obtaining at
last that long‑sought‑after degree that would afford you the
privilege to begin your practice. You have paid such a dear price, and just
before reaching your goal you give it all up to become a missionary to the
natives in the Amazon jungle. Your family and friends would probably say you
were a fool, a religious fanatic that got carried away with your religion.
Those who were more worldly minded would probably deride your decision and call
you a fool. Your peers would probably go on to achieve their degrees and enter
lucrative practices, while you find yourself in a continual financial strait,
depending on people back home to support your work.
Would you be a fool? ‑ NO!
Would you lose in the long run? ‑ NO!
You may not drive that new Mercedes, but you
will walk on gold....
You may not own that palatial house on the
hillside ‑ but you will inherit an entrance to that Golden City of God...
You may never have a large bank account, but you
will have access to the treasures of heaven's storehouse, and the assurance
that God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory.
Those I
counted as loss for Christ.
Christ must be our goal. His will for our lives
must be our desire. To know Him, must greatly occupy our thoughts and desires.
If we gain the world and lose Christ, we are not
gainers but losers...
Mark
Nothing must be as valuable to us as our
security with Jesus Christ, nor anything as important as our position with
Christ.
All of the gold in the world will not buy us one
moment inside those gates of pearl...
All the wealth that could ever be possessed in a
lifetime could never purchase a right into that city.
One moment in that place of eternal darkness in
the lake of fire, and one would be willing, more than willing, to give up
everything he ever possessed just to have another chance to repent of his sins.
But those who find themselves in that condition
someday will realize that their temporary possessions, which they refused to
surrender to follow the Lord, have capitulated to death and judgment. They will
have none of those prized possessions in hell. Neither will they have
opportunity to pray and come to Jesus.
Those who refuse to give up position ‑ or
pleasure ‑ in this life to obey the Lord, will find that the time will
come when they will surrender these very same things whether they want to or
not: But they will never have an opportunity to find God either...
WHAT DO YOU SEE?
You know, what we seek in life is what we see.
If what you see is position, then that is what you will seek. If it is money, then that is going to be your obsession.
Those who view money, see it as their chief goal. To them, money is not a
means, but an end. Whatever it takes to obtain it, that's what they will do.
While money is one of the things necessary to
exist in life, and there is nothing scripturally
wrong for God's people to be blessed with financial wealth, it should never be
the thing which controls us completely.
While possessing money is good, the worship of
it is just as wrong, and just as pagan, as
Those who permit money, or possessions which
money can buy, to control their attentions at the expense of losing their souls
to the god “money”, will find that they will never become fully satisfied with
money. The more they obtain, the more they desire to obtain.
Solomon informs us in Ecclesiastes 6:7: All
the labour of man is for his mouth, and yet his
appetite is not filled.
Haggai describes such people, 1:6: Ye have
sown much, and bring in little; ye eat, but ye have not enough; ye drink, but
ye are not filled with drink; ye clothe you, but there is none warm; and he
that earneth wages earneth
wages to put it into a bag with holes.
Paul informs us in 1 Timothy
6:10: But the love of money is the root of all evil.
OUR STANDARD OF VALUES
When we come to Jesus we are compelled to change
our standard of values; not only the values themselves, but also the standard
by which we judge those values.
The way in which we determine what is valuable ‑
and what is not valuable.
Our motives; our aims;
our ambitions, all come up for judgment when we come face to face with the
cross of
The revelation of Jesus Christ into one's life
reveals a man to himself. What we value will show what we are. If we value
carnal things, we are carnal. If we value the things
of this world, we are still of this world.
If we value things spiritual, we are a spiritual
man. If we value our fellowship with Christ, we are His child. If we value the
promises of heaven's glory, we are heaven‑bound.
All things which Paul speaks of turning his back
on are not to be thought of as evil things, necessarily. He had a right to be
proud of his ancestry. His position in the world was nothing to be ashamed
about. There is nothing bad about being thought well of by dignitaries. His
ambition for future elevation and recognition is not wrong. Pity the person who
has no ambition.
GIVING UP LITTLE TO
ATTAIN MUCH
The giving up of things in order to obtain
greater things should not cause us to have a second thought. The surrender of
position to attain to a greater, and more lasting, position should pose no
regrets.
To attain to positions in Christ, there will
necessarily come sacrifices. We will have to sacrifice
time, personal desires, personal feelings. This is
when we see the goal as being more important than things of this life.
Jesus said: If any man will come after me,
let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me, Luke
9:23.
Paul is talking about denying self. Selfish goals. Selfish desires. Selfish
possessions.
He is talking about losing self in Him.. And to attain that position, it will be necessary to give
up some things ‑ deny self of things.
Spurgeon wrote: “When the captain leaves the harbour he has a cargo on board of which he takes great
care, but when a tremendous wind is blowing and the ship labours,
being too heavily laden, and there is great fear that she will not outride the
storm, see how eagerly the sailors lighten the ship.
They bring up from the hold with all diligence
the very things which before they prized, and they seem rejoiced to heave them
into the sea. Never men more eager to get than these are to throw away.
There go the casks of flour, the bars of iron, the manufactured goods: overboard go valuable bales of
merchandise; nothing seems to be worth keeping. How is this? Are not these
things good? Yes, but not good to a sinking ship. Anything must go to save
life, anything to outride the storm. And so the apostle says that in order to
win Christ and to be found in Him he flung the whole cargo of his beloved
confidences over, and was as glad to get rid of them as if they were only
dung.”
We must be willing to give up anything, or
everything, in order that we might attain unto that place in Christ where joys
will never cease, and peace will rule the day.
Wise is the person who makes such a commitment
with his life.