The Divine Audit: Recalculating The Worth Of Your Life

Title: The Divine Audit: Recalculating the Worth of Your Life

Text: Philippians 3:7-8 (KJV)

At certain times in our lives, it’s wise to take stock. We do a financial audit to check our assets against our liabilities. We do a performance review at work to measure our accomplishments. We look in the mirror and calculate the worth of our reputation, our education, our family name, and our good deeds. We all have a ledger in our minds, a balance sheet where we list everything we count as a "gain," the things that give us value and identity.

In the first-century world, no one had a more impressive balance sheet than a man named Saul of Tarsus, whom we know as the Apostle Paul. If you were to audit his life by any religious or cultural standard of his day, his assets were off the charts. He had the perfect pedigree, the finest education, impeccable religious credentials, and a zealous passion that was second to none. His "gain" column was overflowing.

But in our text today, Paul invites us to look over his shoulder as he conducts a radical, divine audit of his own soul. He takes the ledger of his life, with all its impressive assets, and he submits it to a new and absolute standard of value: the person of Jesus Christ. What we witness is the greatest recalculation in human history, a great exchange that teaches us this: knowing Jesus Christ is an asset of such infinite and surpassing worth that it completely redefines the value of everything else, forcing us to joyfully reclassify our proudest achievements as garbage in order to gain the treasure of Him.

Principle 1: Identify Your Perceived Assets

Before any audit, you must first list your assets. Paul does this just before our text. He lists his "gains": circumcised on the eighth day, a pure-blooded citizen of Israel, from the proud tribe of Benjamin, a "Hebrew of Hebrews." He was a Pharisee, the most respected and devout religious party. He was zealous, even to the point of persecuting the church. And according to the law, he was blameless.

These were not small things. In his culture, this was the equivalent of having degrees from the top universities, a powerful position in society, a flawless public record, and a family name that opened every door. These were the things Paul trusted in to make him right with God and respected by man.

The first step in our own divine audit is to be this honest. What is on your balance sheet? What are the things you count as "gain"? Perhaps it is your successful career here in the city. Perhaps it is the honor of your family name. Maybe it is your reputation for being a kind, generous, and moral person. Maybe it’s your long record of church attendance, your service, your giving. Be honest. What are the assets that you believe give you worth?

Principle 2: Apply the Christ-Standard of Value

Every audit needs a standard of measurement. For Paul, his entire life was turned upside down when he met the new standard. He writes, “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.”

Here is the turning point. The person of Jesus Christ is not just one more asset to be added to the "gain" column. Jesus is the absolute standard by which every other asset is now to be measured. When Paul held up his perfect religious resume next to the glorious reality of his risen Lord, the resume was suddenly exposed as worthless.

Imagine you spent your whole life collecting beautiful seashells, believing they were the most valuable things in the world. You have the most impressive collection imaginable. Then one day, someone places a flawless, ten-carat diamond in your hand. The diamond doesn’t just add to your collection; its surpassing worth instantly makes your entire seashell collection look like what it is: a pile of empty, fragile trinkets.

Jesus is the diamond. The "excellency," the surpassing worth, of knowing Him personally, intimately, as Lord and Savior, is so great that it re-evaluates everything else. All our achievements, all our good deeds, all our religious efforts are just seashells in comparison.

Principle 3: Write Off the Losses to Gain the Prize

When an auditor finds that an asset is actually worthless, it is written off. Paul does this with the strongest language imaginable. “…for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ.”

He doesn't just count his former gains as a "loss," as in a bad investment. He counts them as "dung"—the Greek word is skubala, meaning refuse, garbage, excrement. Why such a vulgar and shocking term? Because Paul realized that anything he trusted in besides Jesus for his righteousness was not just useless, it was damning. His self-righteousness was toxic waste, actively keeping him from the grace of God.