Dailyword NOVEMBER 2,2014 (Phil. 3:7–8).but what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord: for Whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ What the Apostle is saying here is dramatic, to say the least. It was not sins that Paul surrendered in order to win Christ, but righteousness: his own personal righteousness. This is a tremendous truth. Christ died not only to expiate and abolish our sins, but also to expiate and abolish our righteousnesses. As an Old Testament example, the great Patriarch Job had to discover the “worthlessness of self,” and then the “worthfulness of Christ.” And to be sure, the latter cannot be reached until the former be passed through. As Job had to learn that, so did Paul, and so do we. First of all, to fully “win Christ,” one has to suffer the loss of all things. By that, we are referring to all the things that make one righteous, or so one thinks, other than Christ and Him Crucified. This refers to place, position, status, works, Church association, religious activity, good deeds, etc. While some of these things may need to be continued, they must be continued, if at all, with the understanding that the doing of them earns us nothing with the Lord. When Jesus died on the Cross, He died not only to save us from sin, but also to save us from “self.” The latter just might be the most difficult! This doesn’t mean that a person ceases to be a “self” when one comes to Christ, but rather that “self” is properly hidden in Christ. This is what Jesus was talking about when He said, “At that day, you shall know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you” (Jn. 14:20). This is also what He meant when He said, “If any man will come after Me (the criteria for Discipleship), let him deny himself (not asceticism, as many think, but rather that one denies one’s own willpower, self-will, strength, and ability, depending totally on Christ), and take up his Cross (the benefits of the Cross, looking exclusively to what Jesus did there to meet our every need) daily (this is so important, our looking to the Cross, that we must renew our Faith in what Christ has done for us, even on a daily basis, for Satan will ever try to move us away from the Cross as the Object of our Faith, which always spells disaster), and follow Me (Christ can be followed only by the Believer looking to the Cross, understanding what is accomplished, and by that means alone) (Mat. 16:24; Rom. 6:3–5, 11, 14; 8:1–2, 11; I Cor. 1:17–18, 21, 23; 2:2; Gal. 6:14; Col. 2:14–15). “For whosoever will save his life shall lose it (try to live one’s life outside of Christ and the Cross): but whosoever will lose his life for My sake, the same shall save it” (when we place our Faith entirely in Christ and the Cross, looking exclusively to Him, we have just found “more abundant life” [Jn. 10:10]) (Mat. 16:25). Most Believers, sadly, never truly follow Christ, simply because they do not desire to obey what He demands. As a result, they never really fully have all that He desires to give. That loss is the greatest loss of all!
Posted on: Sun, 02 Nov 2014 12:00:05 +0000
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