Christian Accounting

"Christian Accounting"
Philippians 3:7-8
Tommy Burrus
First Thonotosassa Baptist Church

Introduction:
A few years ago, a major Multinational company was looking for a new Marketing Director. After much advertising and many application, three candidates entered the final selection process. A mathematician, a statistician and a lawyer. The first to be invited in for the final interview was the mathematician and the Managing Director asked him a simple question: What is 2+2. The mathematician was surprised, thought about it for a bit, wondered if it might be a trick question and then simply answered 4. The Managing Director looked at the Board, shook his head and thanked him for coming, but he wasn’t the candidate they were looking for. The statistician was the next in and and the Managing Director asked him too the simple question: What is 2+2. He paused, thought about it for a bit and then replied that statistically it was a number between 3 and 5. The Managing Director smiled and Board were quite impressed. The candidate was thanked and ushered out. The last candidate, the lawyer was then invited in to the interview and the Managing Director asked him too the simple question: What is 2+2. Without batting an eyelid he replied: “What do you want it to be”. He was hired on the spot. (adapted from Martin Dale, Sermoncentral contributor #6307)
That kind of answer is responsible for the mess in which our country and its businesses find themselves, but only because of the depravity of those men who are corrupted by power. That is precisely the answer we are to give to God. Lord, what do you want it to be? As believers, we can’t evaluate our lives by the world’s system of accounting. Instead, like the Apostle Paul, we need to recognize that some things that seem valuable to the world are worthless to God. If we are going to please God, we must abandon the sinful and materialistic standards of this world.

I. ADVANTAGES-
Paul could list, and in fact has in this passage, a number of credits to his honor
He was born to the right family and had certain privileges as a result
He had the benefit of the best education having been the pupil of Israel’s premier teacher
Paul was a Pharisee and the son of a Pharisee
He was ultraconservative and had the respect and admiration of his superiors
He had exceeded his peers so that there was no one in his league
Paul was on the fast track to a successful life of authority and power and prosperity
Certainly, Paul had what most people only dream of, but he cast it all away
Paul was able to do that because he asked, “Lord, What do you want it to be?”
He could have put his confidence in the flesh and trusted his skill and talent
Instead, he placed his confidence in God and dismissed those things
The things most people would have listed on a gain sheet, Paul counted as loss
In Christian accounting, we have to learn to see the spiritual over the material
There were benefits beyond what was seen: God had shaped and prepared Paul
All of those things that could have made him successful in the eyes of men were instead employed to the service of God and furthering Christ’s kingdom
And by the language Paul uses tells us there was never a regret
When he says he counted them loss, the word means completed action that remains true
Even the losses of his life had benefits. We can’t always