Gain, Loss and Value Added

Sometimes people fear living for Christ because they think that they have to give up so much.  There is a fear of giving up a dream career or the love of your life, so they put off coming to Christ in order to have that which they fear losing.  The Apostle Paul was a man who knows something about gain and loss.  Paul called himself "a Pharisee of Pharisees" he was a distinguished member of the Sanhedrin, having been taught by one of the greatest Rabbis of his time, Gamaliel.  Saul as he is also known was a man of position and esteem and yet when he met the resurrected Christ on the road to Damascus he left it all behind to spread the teachings of Jesus Christ.  Paul exchanged the life of prestige and privilege that he held as Saul the Pharisee for one of hardship, beatings, stoning and imprisonment.  We see an incredible account of how Paul viewed this exchange in Philippians chapter 3:  "But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead." (Phil 3:7-11 NKJV)  What an incredible declaration!  This man, who at one time had been zealous for the Law and persecuted the followers of Christ has come to a point where he says that he counts all things as rubbish or garbage so that he can have Christ and be “found in Christ.” He desires the righteousness that is found in Christ and not in the Law.  Clearly Paul has found something that is worth more than any of the things that previously held such great importance to him; and he did it all in order to know Christ fully.  Not just to know Him but to know his suffering, to be conformed to His death, in other words Paul wanted so much of Christ that he wanted to be a companion in His suffering and he wanted to match His death.  Wow!  Can we say that we have made that same exchange for Christ?  Are you there yet?  I don’t know that I am, but I long to be!  Paul’s willingness to give up everything in order to gain Christ indeed cost him everything, including his life; but in that there was “value added.”  As his life came to an end Paul wrote to his “son” in the ministry, Timothy:  “For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure is at hand.  I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.  Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing.” (II Timothy 4:6-8 NKJV)  Value added…Paul knew that while the Emperor Nero was ordering his death and that of his fellow Christians simply for sport, the Righteous Judge had already declared him a victor!  Despite the persecution, the rejection by his own people and even his death, Paul remained faithful and continued to trust the one who had “arrested” him on the Damascus road so many years earlier.  As a result of having given up everything, the Apostle knew that Jesus, the Righteous Judge” would award him a crown of righteousness because he was willing to give up everything!  Paul’s encouragement to Timothy and to us is that if we are willing to do the same that we too have a crown of righteousness awaiting us.  When I consider all that there is to gain, crowns to cast at the feet of my Lord, the privilege of reigning with Him in His Kingdom, and an eternity with my Lord and with God the Father, the questions that I always come back to are these, “Why do you hesitate to sell out?”  “Why do you look longingly at the piles of rubbish that you consider valuable?”  “Where is the loss in a life that is surrendered to Christ?”  I don’t know about you, but I am ready to cast it all aside so that like Paul I can say: "But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him…” Be encouraged dearly loved ones…the exchange is so great that you will never even miss the “rubbish” that you give up!  Let’s go for it!  All in and at all cost!  That in the end we too can receive the Crown of Righteousness that has been laid up for us!