April 21, 2012 A friend of mine who does research for a living told me of a conversation he recently had with a professional pollster. The pollster knew that my friend was a Southern Baptist. He told him that his company had developed a new strategy for checking the margin of error in results which also doubled for doing a poll immediately when clients wanted an instant result. The method was to gather 15 Southern Baptists and ask them their opinions. The reason they can depend on such a shortcut in their research he explained was that the “Southern Baptist Church has the purest picture of America in the streets.” This statement was not meant to be a compliment. We have changed what the people in church believe but not how they live. We have taught them to know better but not to do better. This state of affairs explains why individual Christians can make statements like, “I know that this is not right but . . .”. Think about how often you behave in a way contrary to your stated beliefs. How quickly do you discount what you know to be right for a course of action that is either more convenient or more desirable? Paul had discovered the true value of knowing Christ and it so changed his behavior that he could write: 8 . . . I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ. Philippians 3:8 (ESV) Saul (who later became known as the Apostle Paul) was educated at the Harvard of his country. 3 “I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city, educated under Gamaliel, strictly according to the law of our fathers, being zealous for God just as you all are today. Acts 22:3 (NASB) While no one can know for certain, it is reasonable to assume that prior to being knocked off his horse by Christ while on the Damascus road (and converted), Paul was well off and married. All Pharisees were married as a matter of custom. They did not think that one who was not married had either the social status within their community or the accumulated wisdom to teach others. Although a Jew, Paul was also a Roman citizen. His Roman citizenship provides us another clue to both Paul’s social standing and wealth. Roman citizenship was purchased only at a very high price. Either Paul or his family would have had to have purchased his citizenship. When Paul says “I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord” we need to realize that his relationship with Christ really had cost him plenty. 23 Are they servants of Christ? . . . I more so; in far more labors, in far more imprisonments, beaten times without number, often in danger of death. 24 Five times I received from the Jews thirty-nine lashes. 25 Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, a night and a day I have spent in the deep. 26 I have been on frequent journeys, in dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my countrymen, dangers from the Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers on the sea, dangers among false brethren; 27 I have been in labor and hardship, through many sleepless nights, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. 28 Apart from such external things, there is the daily pressure on me of concern for all the churches. 2 Corinthians 11:23–28 (NASB) Paul clearly placed knowing and obeying Christ above everything else in his life. What are you willing to loose because you so value “the surpassing worth of knowing Christ?” Some people mistakenly want to know Jesus without losing anything. Southern Baptist’s whose lifestyle is so like American culture that pollsters can describe them as the “purest picture of the American street” are practicing a form of Christianity which would be unrecognizable to the Apostle Paul. Today’s American Christian so values pursuing the American dream that he is unable or unwilling to be inconvenienced in order to gain Christ. Think about your own lifestyle. What have you lost and what are you willing to loose to in your pursuit of Christ?