Profit and Loss

“But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ” (Philippians 3:7).

In business, all that matters is the bottom line. For CEOs, CFOs, presidents, the board of directors, and stockholders, it’s all about the Benjamins. Profit and loss. You might think all this talk of capitalism and cash sounds crass when it comes to following Christ. But Paul goes all Fortune 500 to describe his relationship with Jesus. “But whatever gain I had, I coined as loss for the sake of Christ” (v7). That’s because His grace is a game changer. Our Savior transforms our portfolio. Suddenly all of the items we considered assets junk compared to Jesus. 

All this talk of profit-and-loss statements really shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise if you’ve been reading along in the apostle’s letter to his friends back in Philippi. He just got through sharing his religious resume (Phil 3:5-6). The man from Tarsus has some impressive qualifications. Top of his class. One of Israel’s up-and-comers. Number one draft pick. He was so devoted to Judaism he hunted and murdered followers of that radical Rabbi/Carpenter from Nazareth. But the dude we once knew as Saul soon realized his resume was big steaming pile when he met Jesus face to face. Everything he’d spent his life accumulating was suddenly worthless. His profits instantaneously shifted over the loss column. Yeah, Christ has a huge impact on our bottom line.

Paul starts his evaluation of his P&L statement with earnings. “But whatever gain I had” (v7). He uses an accounting term (Gr. kerdos), which means profit, advantage, or earnings. There is a strong sense of working hard to obtain something. All those bullet points on his resume came with a cost. The former Pharisee busted his tail to pile them up. Hours of study. Years of obedience. He had hoped to pile up enough profit to buy himself into God’s kingdom. He dedicated his life to legalism and self-salvation. Let’s face it, if anybody could pull this off, it was this young Hebrew superstar. But there’s just one little problem. You can’t do it. Not then. Not now. Not ever. Not through church attendance. Not by reading your Bible. Not by devoting your life to Habitat for Humanity. Not by helping old ladies across the street. Most of us have spent a lot of time and effort believing we can pile up enough profits by being a good person that God would have to accept us. Not so much.

The entrepreneurial tentmaker from Tarsus continues the assessment of his financial statement. Suddenly all of the profits “I counted as loss for the sake of Christ” (v7). Here’s another business term, “counted” (Gr. hegeomai). It describes how an accounted sharpens their pencil and really looks closely at the ledger. The term means to figure, reckon, consider, be of the opinion, regard, or hold a view. Jesus’ kid brother James writes, “Count (Gr. hegeomai) it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness” (James 1:2-3). Paul has gone down the list of the profit column. Like a top CPA, he’s looked hard at each item listed. He’s done the cost-benefit analysis. The apostle has run the numbers and they suddenly don’t add up.

We’re shocked to see the bottom line is a “loss for the sake of Christ” (v7). Paul goes back to his business vocab once again with the word “loss” (Gr. zemia). This means disadvantage, damage, forfeiture, or a worse situation than before. It also carries the undeniable implication of hardship or suffering. Back during his cruise from hell for his hearing in Rome, the apostle tried to tell the captain and crew of the ship of the suffering they were facing. “I perceive that the voyage will be with injury and much loss (Gr. zemia), not only of cargo and the ship, but also our lives” (Acts 27:10). We might believe with every fiber of our being we know what we’re doing. But without a relationship with Jesus, we’re going to crash on the rocks and lose everything. Paul makes it clear all I work to gain as a blessing will actually turn out to be a hardship when it comes to following Jesus. It’s going to hurt when God pulls all the stuff I’ve thought was of value out of my hands. It hurts because I have to them go and have to lay them down.

Christ made the point of false profit to His posse over and over again. “Any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be My disciple” (Lk 14:33). It’s not about our stuff. It’s all about following Jesus. The Lord even went so far as to say it was a complete waste of time to be rich enough to own the planet and everything on it. “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul?” (Mt 16:26). It’s all Monopoly money compared to what’s really valuable. “The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy, he goes and sells all he has and buys the field” (Mt 13:44-45). That’s something that even Moses realized almost 1,400 years before Jesus showed up. “He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward” (Heb 11:25).

So just what does Jesus use to turn our profit-and-loss statement upside down? What incredible blessing does He give us? Money? Power? A big house? How ‘bout Creflo Dollar’s jet? I’m not saying God won’t financially bless you or me. But that’s not what leverages our ledger. Jesus is the blessing! He is the the reward! What Christ gives is SO much better that anything we can grab on our own! Himself!! His grace is a game changer. Our Savior transforms our portfolio. Suddenly all of the items we considered assets junk compared to Jesus.