If I say the term, 'P&L' many of you know immediately
Pastor Mark Darnstaedt Shepherd of the Hills Lutheran Church Georgetown, Indiana Philippians 3:4-11
SOLI DEO GLORIA Philippians 3:4-11 March 13, 2016
What is your Spiritual ‘P&L?’
If I say the term, ‘P&L’ many of you know immediately what I am talking about. In financial lingo a P&L refers to a Profit and Loss balance sheet report. The Profit and Loss balance sheet gives a quick review of the financial status of a business over a month or a quarter comparing profits against losses and summarizes the financial status of the organization. A P&L is good if it shows a profit; not so good if it shows a loss. Now in those years when the great St. Paul was known as Saul, he was very attuned to his personal spiritual ‘P&L’ report. In fact he referred to his personal ‘P&L’ balance sheet to evaluate his relationship with God. Saul pursued righteousness with God like an aggressive businessman. He kept close tabs on his spiritual profit and loss. Now yes, Saul knew that he was a sinner. Pharisees knew they sinned against God. But they believed that they balanced the losses of their sin with the profits earned by their good works. Saul the Pharisee worked hard to keep his P&L balance sheet in the black. Saul lists the kinds of things tallied in his profit column in Philippians 3:5-6. -circumcised on the 8th day. (check) -born of the tribe of Benjamin (check) -a Hebrew among Hebrews (check) -a strict Pharisee (check and check) -zealous for the law (check) -kept a legalistic righteousness under the law (check) -hunts down and arrest those of the Christ follower cult (check) Saul tallied up these items in profit column of his ‘P&L’ and checked the result against the loss column of his sin and proudly
determined, at the end of each month, that his balance was looking ‘pretty good’. He knew, of course, that he had to keep increasing his production to keep up against the accumulating losses of his sin, but he was confident that he could keep up his goodness production month after month, year after year. Maybe he could even build up some equity so he could slack off a little in his golden years. In the end he could only hope that when he stood waiting at heaven’s gate while God reviewed his P&L report that he had enough points to earn heavenly citizenship and not just be granted a work visa! This was Saul’s life until the day when he was on a particular spiritual business trip to Damascus to add to his profit margin. On the road he came face to face with the living Christ. Christ’s glory knocked him down to the road and the living Christ challenged Paul saying, “Saul, Saul why do you persecute me?” Saul asked, “Who are you Lord that I am persecuting?” And the answer, “I am Jesus whom you are persecuting.” Now this unexpected business meeting on the road to Damascus shredded all of Saul’s carefully tallied spiritual ‘P&L’s’. All that time he thought he was building up equity by persecuting Christians he was actually adding to his losses! Saul found that he was blind and his companions had to lead him into the city. It is no wonder that Saul holed up in a cheap motel without food or water for three days as he wrestled with the complete destruction of everything he had worked so hard to achieve. But at the end of those three days Paul was baptized into the Christian faith. Something like scales fell from his eyes. Paul tossed all his P&L’s into the shredder and by the Spirit of God he wrote these words in Philippians 3:7 “Whatever was to my profit I now consider a loss for the sake of Christ. What is more I consider everything as a loss compared to the surpassing worth of knowing
Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, 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.” How do your spiritual P&L’s tally up? Ever since the Fall into sin mankind has treated God like a business deal, turning in our monthly P&L’s seeking His reward. In our way of thinking most of us determine that we are setting pretty good before God and think we deserve a promotion. Yes, like good Pharisees, we know we sin, but hasn’t everyone and aren’t we basically a good person? We review our ‘profit’ column with pride, -I was born into a church family, -I do my best raising my children, -I work hard at my job, -I am honest in my business, -I go to church every Sunday, -I say my prayers every night, -I give money to church, -I bussed tables at the German Supper and even stayed late to clean up. But have you honestly listed everything that should go into your loss column? Do you list every of thought, word and deed? Have you taken into account original sin, which holds you accountable for the sin all mankind’s rebellion against God; the sin which led Adam and Eve to eat the forbidden fruit, and led Cain to murder Abel? The sin that moved mankind to crucify the Son of God? Do you see what Isaiah was talking about when he pronounced that all our righteousness is nothing more than filthy rags? Like St. Paul, we see that even the things we thought were good were opposing the sacrifice of Jesus. The Scripture says, “If you say you have no sin you deceive yourself and the truth is not in you.’ God opened St. Paul’s blind eyes to see the truth about his personal spiritual P&L statements. Paul saw that they were all worthless. He threw them out and
confessed that Christ alone is his righteousness earned by His sacrificial suffering and death, and His glorious resurrection. The loss column in our spiritual P&L sheet goes on for pages and pages. There is only one valid entry in the profit column. And that is Jesus Christ. But that single entry is sufficient to save our soul. Paul continues on in Philippians 3, “(I do not) have 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. I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings becoming like him in his death and so, somehow to attain resurrection from the dead.” Christ in his great love has come to us to apply His righteousness to our personal spiritual P&L’s. He offered Himself as the sacrifice to atone for our sin. He presents His righteousness to us as a free gift. There is only way to receive this gift, and it is by faith; trusting in Christ and not in ourselves. Christ’s righteousness is a gift of God, not by works so that there is nothing for us to boast about. This faith that trusts in Christ transforms our lives as this new found faith transformed St. Paul’s life. Paul shredded all his P&L statements and their endless complications and he moved forward in life by faith in Christ. So also Christ sets us free from the entrapment of our self-righteousness to live lives that glorify the Savior who has set us free from bondage to sin and good works to live to celebrate his grace and love at work in our lives. You don’t need spiritual P&L statements. Christ has set us free from such foolishness. We live by faith rejoicing in the victory that He has won and the certain hope of eternal life promised in his name. Amen.
SOLI DEO GLORIA Philippians 3:4-11 March 13, 2016
What is your Spiritual ‘P&L?’
If I say the term, ‘P&L’ many of you know immediately what I am talking about. In financial lingo a P&L refers to a Profit and Loss balance sheet report. The Profit and Loss balance sheet gives a quick review of the financial status of a business over a month or a quarter comparing profits against losses and summarizes the financial status of the organization. A P&L is good if it shows a profit; not so good if it shows a loss. Now in those years when the great St. Paul was known as Saul, he was very attuned to his personal spiritual ‘P&L’ report. In fact he referred to his personal ‘P&L’ balance sheet to evaluate his relationship with God. Saul pursued righteousness with God like an aggressive businessman. He kept close tabs on his spiritual profit and loss. Now yes, Saul knew that he was a sinner. Pharisees knew they sinned against God. But they believed that they balanced the losses of their sin with the profits earned by their good works. Saul the Pharisee worked hard to keep his P&L balance sheet in the black. Saul lists the kinds of things tallied in his profit column in Philippians 3:5-6. -circumcised on the 8th day. (check) -born of the tribe of Benjamin (check) -a Hebrew among Hebrews (check) -a strict Pharisee (check and check) -zealous for the law (check) -kept a legalistic righteousness under the law (check) -hunts down and arrest those of the Christ follower cult (check) Saul tallied up these items in profit column of his ‘P&L’ and checked the result against the loss column of his sin and proudly
determined, at the end of each month, that his balance was looking ‘pretty good’. He knew, of course, that he had to keep increasing his production to keep up against the accumulating losses of his sin, but he was confident that he could keep up his goodness production month after month, year after year. Maybe he could even build up some equity so he could slack off a little in his golden years. In the end he could only hope that when he stood waiting at heaven’s gate while God reviewed his P&L report that he had enough points to earn heavenly citizenship and not just be granted a work visa! This was Saul’s life until the day when he was on a particular spiritual business trip to Damascus to add to his profit margin. On the road he came face to face with the living Christ. Christ’s glory knocked him down to the road and the living Christ challenged Paul saying, “Saul, Saul why do you persecute me?” Saul asked, “Who are you Lord that I am persecuting?” And the answer, “I am Jesus whom you are persecuting.” Now this unexpected business meeting on the road to Damascus shredded all of Saul’s carefully tallied spiritual ‘P&L’s’. All that time he thought he was building up equity by persecuting Christians he was actually adding to his losses! Saul found that he was blind and his companions had to lead him into the city. It is no wonder that Saul holed up in a cheap motel without food or water for three days as he wrestled with the complete destruction of everything he had worked so hard to achieve. But at the end of those three days Paul was baptized into the Christian faith. Something like scales fell from his eyes. Paul tossed all his P&L’s into the shredder and by the Spirit of God he wrote these words in Philippians 3:7 “Whatever was to my profit I now consider a loss for the sake of Christ. What is more I consider everything as a loss compared to the surpassing worth of knowing
Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, 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.” How do your spiritual P&L’s tally up? Ever since the Fall into sin mankind has treated God like a business deal, turning in our monthly P&L’s seeking His reward. In our way of thinking most of us determine that we are setting pretty good before God and think we deserve a promotion. Yes, like good Pharisees, we know we sin, but hasn’t everyone and aren’t we basically a good person? We review our ‘profit’ column with pride, -I was born into a church family, -I do my best raising my children, -I work hard at my job, -I am honest in my business, -I go to church every Sunday, -I say my prayers every night, -I give money to church, -I bussed tables at the German Supper and even stayed late to clean up. But have you honestly listed everything that should go into your loss column? Do you list every of thought, word and deed? Have you taken into account original sin, which holds you accountable for the sin all mankind’s rebellion against God; the sin which led Adam and Eve to eat the forbidden fruit, and led Cain to murder Abel? The sin that moved mankind to crucify the Son of God? Do you see what Isaiah was talking about when he pronounced that all our righteousness is nothing more than filthy rags? Like St. Paul, we see that even the things we thought were good were opposing the sacrifice of Jesus. The Scripture says, “If you say you have no sin you deceive yourself and the truth is not in you.’ God opened St. Paul’s blind eyes to see the truth about his personal spiritual P&L statements. Paul saw that they were all worthless. He threw them out and
confessed that Christ alone is his righteousness earned by His sacrificial suffering and death, and His glorious resurrection. The loss column in our spiritual P&L sheet goes on for pages and pages. There is only one valid entry in the profit column. And that is Jesus Christ. But that single entry is sufficient to save our soul. Paul continues on in Philippians 3, “(I do not) have 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. I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings becoming like him in his death and so, somehow to attain resurrection from the dead.” Christ in his great love has come to us to apply His righteousness to our personal spiritual P&L’s. He offered Himself as the sacrifice to atone for our sin. He presents His righteousness to us as a free gift. There is only way to receive this gift, and it is by faith; trusting in Christ and not in ourselves. Christ’s righteousness is a gift of God, not by works so that there is nothing for us to boast about. This faith that trusts in Christ transforms our lives as this new found faith transformed St. Paul’s life. Paul shredded all his P&L statements and their endless complications and he moved forward in life by faith in Christ. So also Christ sets us free from the entrapment of our self-righteousness to live lives that glorify the Savior who has set us free from bondage to sin and good works to live to celebrate his grace and love at work in our lives. You don’t need spiritual P&L statements. Christ has set us free from such foolishness. We live by faith rejoicing in the victory that He has won and the certain hope of eternal life promised in his name. Amen.
