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I'm drawn to this hymn again this morning and am especially touched by the word "daily". Daily nearer, daily freed, daily taught, and more. It reminds me of the importance of being life-long learners, poor in spirit (open, emptied, unloaded to receive), and redeeming our time, valuing every day for more progress. 🎶 Oh, make me daily through Thy grace more meet to bear Thy name. 🎶 Thank You, Lord, for this wonderful prayer hymn!
(j) For Them to Gain Him by
Counting All Things Loss and Refuse
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Christ lives in us for us to gain Him by counting all things loss and refuse. In Philippians 3:7 and 8 Paul says, “What things were gains to me, these I have counted loss on account of Christ. But surely I count also all things to be loss on account of the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, on account of whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count them refuse that I may gain Christ. ” The Greek word for “gain” in verse 8 means to secure, to obtain, to lay hold of. According to the Greek, the noun form of the word gain is in verse 7 and the verbal form is in verse 8 . Therefore, Darby translates verse 8 this way: “That I may have Christ for my gain. ” To gain Christ is to gain His very person. Christ is the embodiment of the fullness of the Godhead (Col. 2:9) and the reality of the shadows of all positive things (Col. 2:16-17). To gain Him is to experience, enjoy, and take possession of His unsearchable riches (Eph. 3:8).
In order to gain Christ, we need to count as loss the things that were once a gain to us. We need to count every gain as loss for Christ. There is no comparison between any gain and Christ. If we make such a comparison, we shall count everything loss. The reason we regarded certain things as gain in the past was that we did not know Christ. But once our eyes were opened to see Christ, we began to realize how foolish it was to keep those other things.
I'm deeply touched by this hymn. What insight and rich experience the brother had in the 1700s to write such a precious hymn - an earnest prayer to the Lord. Much thanksgiving to our faithful God for such a rich and bountiful heritage of faith.
In 2:19 Paul says that the Body “grows with the growth of God. ” With God Himself there can be no growth, for He is complete and perfect eternally. Nevertheless, the Body still needs to grow with the growth, the increase, of God in us. The more God is added into us, the more we grow. This is what it means to grow with the growth of God.
In order for any living organism to grow, there must be some element which causes it to grow. We must have something with which and by which to grow. For example, if children do not eat, they cannot grow. The way we grow spiritually is to have God added into us. This means that we grow with the addition, with the increase, of God, by having God added into our very being.
The little word “with” in 2:19 is important. With what does the Body grow? Does it grow with doctrine or Bible knowledge? No, the Body grows with the growth of God. We grow with the increase of God within us. God in Himself is perfect and complete, but there is still the need for Him to increase within us.
As I was praying over 2:19 , the Lord showed me that although He is eternally perfect and complete, I did not have that much of Him within me. I realized my need for God to grow in me, to have Him added into me. At that time I was enlightened to see the meaning of Paul’s expression in 2:19 , “grows with the growth of God. ” We all need God to be added into us more and more. We need to have Him grow in us, to increase in us.
As we consider 2:19 , we must realize that the word God is not merely a term, and God Himself is not simply the object of our worship. God is rich in every way. He is rich in glory and in all the divine attributes. He is rich in love, kindness, mercy, light, life, power, and strength. Oh, God’s riches are endless! Now this rich God is adding Himself into us. This is implied by the phrase, “grows with the growth of God. ” God’s riches are the element and substance by which we grow.
Lord Jesus, we praise You & love You. You are the Resurrection and the Life. we believe in You (John 11:25). Thank you for dispensing your Resurrection & Life so that we can grow together & overflow, we need You, Lord. Have mercy on us.
We must notice one further matter. The requirement for service in the army is twenty years of age, while the requirement of the priesthood is thirty years of age. The duration of service in the army is from twenty to sixty years of age, while in the priesthood it is from thirty to fifty years of age. In both the army and the priesthood there must be full growth without any kind of deterioration. Both the priesthood and the army depend upon the growth in life. We must take this seriously. We must grow; otherwise, there will be no priesthood and no army among us. How the Lord’s children need to grow! May the Lord open our eyes and show us how much we need the growth of life. Only by growing to a certain standard can we assume the responsibility of the priesthood and be formed into an army. Only then can we be spiritually organized into a people with the Ark as the center, the tabernacle as its enlargement, and everyone kept in order with submission. It is a beautiful picture. Then we will be ready to cross the river Jordan and take possession of the land.
Our growing is for the unique purpose of God, that is, the building up of the Body of Christ through transformation (Eph. 4:12b; 1 Pet. 2:2, 5; 1 Cor. 3:12). The first stanza of hymn #395 (Hymns) begins, "O Jesus Christ, grow Thou in me." We all need to pray, "Lord, grow in me." Two additional hymns, #548 and #750, concern the matter of transformation. The young people need to spend their time on their education, and the working ones need to have a job in order to make a living, but the goal is not merely for us to have a proper daily living. The goal of our living is the building up of the Body of Christ. We need to be built up.
"That I am nothing, Thou art all" in stanza 2 of Hymns, #395 conveys the same meaning. Recently I read a biography of John Nelson Darby. On the first page he says, "O the joy of having nothing and being nothing, seeing nothing but a living Christ in glory, and being careful for nothing but His interests down here." This was a word spoken in his old age, in which he longed to be nothing, to have nothing, and to care for nothing but to have only Christ and care only for His interests on earth. What a joy this is! Hence, "Be not and He will be; / Wait and He'll all things give." Through the generations there were saints who experienced this. Today we should have this experience even more.
Now let us consider the hymns for the fellowship meeting. Suppose the saints are like plain water that is neither sweet nor sour nor spicy and thus are indifferent toward the Lord when they come together for the fellowship meeting. Which hymn should we select for opening the meeting? Someone may suggest Hymns, #395, "O Jesus Christ, grow Thou in me, / And all thing else recede." This hymn is not appropriate. It is not a general hymn but rather has a specific purpose; such a hymn can be used in leading to a particular subject. Another person may suggest Hymns, #960, "My King will soon come back again." This hymn is acceptable but still not adequate. Because it is a longer hymn, it is suitable as an opening hymn, to give the saints time for their hearts to be settled and for their spirits to be uplifted. This hymn is a better choice than Hymns, #395 because it reminds us of the condition at the Lord's coming back.
c. Giving the Lord the full way to grow in our heart will make our heart the duplicate of God's heart, and we will live a life fully according to and for God's New Testament economy to carry out His heart's desire—Hymns, #395, #1132.