Lose it all for the Lord! – Philippians 3:7-9
Lose it all for the Lord! – Philippians 3:7-9
By Pastor Lee Hemen
May 24, 2009 AM
What would you be willing to die for? The love of your life? Your family? A pet? Job? Perhaps you would dare sacrifice yourself in order to save someone else’s life like for a kidney or heart transplant or a blood transfusion? The Reverend Thomas Baker went as a missionary to the Fiji Islands and died there in July of 1867 and was eaten by the local populace. They did not eat him because of his missionary work but rather he lost his life for messing with the local chief’s hair – actually the head man’s comb that kept his hair in place. One villager who took part in the cannibals’ feast was quoted in contemporary accounts as saying “we ate everything but his boots,” and one of Baker’s boots is reportedly on display along with his Bible, the fork and the bowl used to dine on him, at the Fiji Museum in Suva. Don’t worry about going there now, the cannibalistic decedents apologized in 2003 for their ancestor’s role in the culinary faux pas.
A lot of folks willingly lose their lives for the silliest of reasons. Drinking and driving, the “recreational” use of drugs like marijuana, sexual promiscuity, or like one young man who went swimming on a hot spring day and disregarded the near freezing water of the Sandy River. Now, let me ask you again the sobering question: What would you be willing to die for? Paul teaches us that he was willing to lose all he had gained in life for the sake of Jesus Christ. He was willing to lose it all for the Lord. Let’s discover why…
READ: Philippians 3:7-9
Do you consider your life worthless? Some do because they either see their life as futile or they have simply wasted it. How different are the lives of two young men when you compare them side-by-side. One, having won multiple gold medals, the most of anyone in the history of the Olympics, who lost the respect of million when he willingly and blatantly smoked pot. While the other, an NBA star known for his community service and compassionate heart, has lost almost everything due to Parkinson’s disease. One by choice and the other not, but both have lost. In losing it all for the Lord…
I. Paul considered everything in life worthless compared to knowing Jesus! (Vv. 7-8a)
1. Spiritual poverty is found in the presence of the Lord when the riches of His grace enter into the souls of man! All the things Paul had just gotten through listing (Vv. 5-6) that many in his day and age considered worthy, he now saw in a different light. He related, “But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss!” Why? For Paul it was a matter of a changed heart. His life’s focus was now “for the sake of Christ.” In our economy today a lot of folks have lost everything. They measure their lives through their personal profit or loss. Paul did as well and when he looked at his life he realized its true worth. “What is more,” he dramatically writes, “I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things.” Everything in life took on a whole new perspective for Paul when he met Jesus on the road to Damascus. He finally saw that what he once saw as so important in life did not matter anymore. His life had changed just as it does for anyone who places their faith and trust in Jesus Christ. When Paul looked at the world around him he now saw it through different eyes. The eyes of eternity. The scales of his eyes had fallen off and they were now wide open to the urgent need of the saving grace of God for the world. Proverbs rightly states that “A man's riches may ransom his life, but a poor man hears no threat.” (Proverbs 13:8) Paul saw his own spiritual poverty and found riches in the presence of the Lord and His grace! Do you? What are you willing to die for? Paul considered everything in life worthless compared to knowing Jesus!
EXAMPLE: There is an old joke about a man who loved old books. He met an acquaintance who had just thrown away a huge old Bible that had been stored in the attic of his ancestral home for generations. “I couldn't read it,” the friend explained. “Somebody named Guten-something had printed it.” “Not Gutenberg!” the book lover exclaimed in horror. “That Bible was one of the first books ever printed. A copy just sold for millions of dollars!” His friend was unimpressed. “Mine wouldn’t have brought a dollar. Some guy named Martin Luther had scribbled all over it in German.” As someone once quipped, “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.” Paul considered everything in life worthless compared to knowing Jesus!
Many have given up gas-powered vehicles in order to ride bicycles or have chosen to recycle and reuse everything. There is nothing wrong with that kind of mindset but it can become more than a lifestyle and be more like a religion. However, I wonder what would happen if Christians today believed as passionately about the gospel as many do about recycling? How many Christians are willing to give up everything for the gospel’s sake? In losing it all for the Lord…
II. Paul considered everything in life garbage for the sake of the gospel! (Vv. 8b-9)
1. What we value most in life says a lot about what we believe! We can lose finances, a loved one, or priceless object but not see them as Paul did. Paul willingly “lost all things.” Do you understand what he is saying here? He willingly gave up all he had once considered to be important in life, he now considered “them rubbish,” (literally “dung”) that he “may gain Christ” -- the good news! But there was more in it for Paul than just this because he also wanted to “be found in him.” Job’s friend, Zophar the Naamathite, told him that although man’s “pride reaches to the heavens and his head touches the clouds, he will perish forever, like his own dung.” (Job 20:6-7) Wow! He knew, as did Paul, that everything in life is nothing but rotting refuse compared to knowing God. However, Paul understood that he could come to know God intimately whereas Zophar did not have this insight. You see Paul knew what he now truly wanted in life: “not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith.” Paul wanted to not only intimately know God through Jesus, but be known of God and stand totally holy before Him! Paul knew that “God made him [Jesus] who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Corinthians 5:21) Few people in this world are willing to die for something other than themselves. Truly for Paul, “to live is Christ and to die” well was truly “gain” for him because he now knew that righteousness can only come from faith in Jesus. This was the good news, the great news, the gospel. Paul considered everything in life garbage for the sake of the gospel!
EXAMPLE: There are three things you can do with garbage: You can collect it, scatter it, or dispose of it. Some people are garbage collectors. They collect the trash of life and hold onto it like it was treasure. We can collect things and make them more important than people. We can collect money and make it our lifelong goal to collect as much as possible. We can collect prestige or diplomas thinking that they will outlast our lives and perhaps someone somewhere will place a plaque in a public square where people sit and pigeons roost. But whatever we collect in life is so much trash when we finally come to life’s end. None of it matters as we lay in a hospital bed waiting for our final breath. Paul was once the proud owner of life’s achievements, of things that in our day would seem rather odd. And just as we see these things as kind of weird, so too will the garbage of life we hold onto so dearly seem to those who come after us, unless we are willing to give it all up for the gospel message. A message that many have tried to place on the trash heap of history but still is revived whenever anyone gives their life to Christ. Paul considered everything in life garbage for the sake of the gospel, do you?
Conclusion:
On this Memorial Day we remember and honor those who willingly died for their country. They saw its freedom, liberty, and justice as worth dying for. What are you willing to die for? In losing it all for the Lord Paul considered everything in life worthless compared to knowing Jesus, and Paul considered everything in life garbage for the sake of the gospel!
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This article is the copyrighted 2009 © property of Lee Hemen and may not be copied or reproduced in any way shape or form without using the full text of this entire article, and getting the permission of its author.
By Pastor Lee Hemen
May 24, 2009 AM
What would you be willing to die for? The love of your life? Your family? A pet? Job? Perhaps you would dare sacrifice yourself in order to save someone else’s life like for a kidney or heart transplant or a blood transfusion? The Reverend Thomas Baker went as a missionary to the Fiji Islands and died there in July of 1867 and was eaten by the local populace. They did not eat him because of his missionary work but rather he lost his life for messing with the local chief’s hair – actually the head man’s comb that kept his hair in place. One villager who took part in the cannibals’ feast was quoted in contemporary accounts as saying “we ate everything but his boots,” and one of Baker’s boots is reportedly on display along with his Bible, the fork and the bowl used to dine on him, at the Fiji Museum in Suva. Don’t worry about going there now, the cannibalistic decedents apologized in 2003 for their ancestor’s role in the culinary faux pas.
A lot of folks willingly lose their lives for the silliest of reasons. Drinking and driving, the “recreational” use of drugs like marijuana, sexual promiscuity, or like one young man who went swimming on a hot spring day and disregarded the near freezing water of the Sandy River. Now, let me ask you again the sobering question: What would you be willing to die for? Paul teaches us that he was willing to lose all he had gained in life for the sake of Jesus Christ. He was willing to lose it all for the Lord. Let’s discover why…
READ: Philippians 3:7-9
Do you consider your life worthless? Some do because they either see their life as futile or they have simply wasted it. How different are the lives of two young men when you compare them side-by-side. One, having won multiple gold medals, the most of anyone in the history of the Olympics, who lost the respect of million when he willingly and blatantly smoked pot. While the other, an NBA star known for his community service and compassionate heart, has lost almost everything due to Parkinson’s disease. One by choice and the other not, but both have lost. In losing it all for the Lord…
I. Paul considered everything in life worthless compared to knowing Jesus! (Vv. 7-8a)
1. Spiritual poverty is found in the presence of the Lord when the riches of His grace enter into the souls of man! All the things Paul had just gotten through listing (Vv. 5-6) that many in his day and age considered worthy, he now saw in a different light. He related, “But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss!” Why? For Paul it was a matter of a changed heart. His life’s focus was now “for the sake of Christ.” In our economy today a lot of folks have lost everything. They measure their lives through their personal profit or loss. Paul did as well and when he looked at his life he realized its true worth. “What is more,” he dramatically writes, “I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things.” Everything in life took on a whole new perspective for Paul when he met Jesus on the road to Damascus. He finally saw that what he once saw as so important in life did not matter anymore. His life had changed just as it does for anyone who places their faith and trust in Jesus Christ. When Paul looked at the world around him he now saw it through different eyes. The eyes of eternity. The scales of his eyes had fallen off and they were now wide open to the urgent need of the saving grace of God for the world. Proverbs rightly states that “A man's riches may ransom his life, but a poor man hears no threat.” (Proverbs 13:8) Paul saw his own spiritual poverty and found riches in the presence of the Lord and His grace! Do you? What are you willing to die for? Paul considered everything in life worthless compared to knowing Jesus!
EXAMPLE: There is an old joke about a man who loved old books. He met an acquaintance who had just thrown away a huge old Bible that had been stored in the attic of his ancestral home for generations. “I couldn't read it,” the friend explained. “Somebody named Guten-something had printed it.” “Not Gutenberg!” the book lover exclaimed in horror. “That Bible was one of the first books ever printed. A copy just sold for millions of dollars!” His friend was unimpressed. “Mine wouldn’t have brought a dollar. Some guy named Martin Luther had scribbled all over it in German.” As someone once quipped, “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.” Paul considered everything in life worthless compared to knowing Jesus!
Many have given up gas-powered vehicles in order to ride bicycles or have chosen to recycle and reuse everything. There is nothing wrong with that kind of mindset but it can become more than a lifestyle and be more like a religion. However, I wonder what would happen if Christians today believed as passionately about the gospel as many do about recycling? How many Christians are willing to give up everything for the gospel’s sake? In losing it all for the Lord…
II. Paul considered everything in life garbage for the sake of the gospel! (Vv. 8b-9)
1. What we value most in life says a lot about what we believe! We can lose finances, a loved one, or priceless object but not see them as Paul did. Paul willingly “lost all things.” Do you understand what he is saying here? He willingly gave up all he had once considered to be important in life, he now considered “them rubbish,” (literally “dung”) that he “may gain Christ” -- the good news! But there was more in it for Paul than just this because he also wanted to “be found in him.” Job’s friend, Zophar the Naamathite, told him that although man’s “pride reaches to the heavens and his head touches the clouds, he will perish forever, like his own dung.” (Job 20:6-7) Wow! He knew, as did Paul, that everything in life is nothing but rotting refuse compared to knowing God. However, Paul understood that he could come to know God intimately whereas Zophar did not have this insight. You see Paul knew what he now truly wanted in life: “not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith.” Paul wanted to not only intimately know God through Jesus, but be known of God and stand totally holy before Him! Paul knew that “God made him [Jesus] who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Corinthians 5:21) Few people in this world are willing to die for something other than themselves. Truly for Paul, “to live is Christ and to die” well was truly “gain” for him because he now knew that righteousness can only come from faith in Jesus. This was the good news, the great news, the gospel. Paul considered everything in life garbage for the sake of the gospel!
EXAMPLE: There are three things you can do with garbage: You can collect it, scatter it, or dispose of it. Some people are garbage collectors. They collect the trash of life and hold onto it like it was treasure. We can collect things and make them more important than people. We can collect money and make it our lifelong goal to collect as much as possible. We can collect prestige or diplomas thinking that they will outlast our lives and perhaps someone somewhere will place a plaque in a public square where people sit and pigeons roost. But whatever we collect in life is so much trash when we finally come to life’s end. None of it matters as we lay in a hospital bed waiting for our final breath. Paul was once the proud owner of life’s achievements, of things that in our day would seem rather odd. And just as we see these things as kind of weird, so too will the garbage of life we hold onto so dearly seem to those who come after us, unless we are willing to give it all up for the gospel message. A message that many have tried to place on the trash heap of history but still is revived whenever anyone gives their life to Christ. Paul considered everything in life garbage for the sake of the gospel, do you?
Conclusion:
On this Memorial Day we remember and honor those who willingly died for their country. They saw its freedom, liberty, and justice as worth dying for. What are you willing to die for? In losing it all for the Lord Paul considered everything in life worthless compared to knowing Jesus, and Paul considered everything in life garbage for the sake of the gospel!
---
This article is the copyrighted 2009 © property of Lee Hemen and may not be copied or reproduced in any way shape or form without using the full text of this entire article, and getting the permission of its author.
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