The Goal is Resurrection

August Passage: Philippians 3:1-11

Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you is no trouble for me and is safe for you.

Look out for the dogs, look out for the evildoers, look out for those who mutilate the flesh. For we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh—though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also.

If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the Law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless.

But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of know Christ Jesus my Lord. For His sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I might gain Christ and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the Law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith

—that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and may share in His sufferings, becoming like Him in death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection of the dead.  (ESV)

Throughout each month, we will post short articles to give some depth of understanding regarding our text. Today we will discuss...

The Goal is Resurrection

Some not-yet-believers scoff at Christians and say we are simple-minded or deluded people who ignore the problems in our lives and the obvious wreckage of the world while setting our sights on the “Pie In the Sky.”

In other words, they think that Christianity is not much more than a blind trust in an unprovable future. 

It’s More Than “Pie in the Sky”...

Now, we should spend time with anyone who will listen and explain that our faith is about more than Pie in the Sky in the Great By and By. Our faith is about more than a mansion in Heaven. Our faith is about more than a future hope for what we cannot yet see.

Our Faith transforms who we are RIGHT NOW. 

It is true that we are looking forward to the day when our bodies will not be subjected to the decay of time or the impairments of illness and injury. 

But even now, we who are giving our lives to the will of Jesus and the empowerment of the Spirit, are finding that our bodies are no longer tied to the slavery of addictions that used to control us. Some of us have experienced miraculous healing from disease. And all of us are finding ever-greater control over temptations. It’s slow growth sometimes, but we can honestly and tangibly point to the affects of faith on our mind, and body. 

Our Faith also transforms what we do RIGHT NOW. 

It is true that there will be a day when there will be no need for things like social justice, or giving assistance to the poor, or even missionary evangelism.  

But even now, we who are giving our lives to the will of Jesus and the empowerment of the Spirit, are finding ways that we can bring the reality of Redemption and the “First Fruits” of the final Restoration into the broken reality all around us. We do so through our Good Works. 

As we’ve made very clear up to this point in this month’s articles, our Good Works are no basis for our salvation or for our eternal security. 

Instead, after coming to faith in Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord, we GET To do Good works as a simple expression of gratitude to Him and as an expression of His love to others in our family (the Church) and as an expression of care and concern to and for the not-yet-believers around us. 

If you are an unbeliever, please understand, we are not blind our unconcerned with the brokenness in our communities or in the world at large. But, we are also NOT without hope. All things will be made new. Every tear will be wiped away and mourning will be replaced with joy. We are not blind to the brokenness, we are simply living lives of restoration (forgive us when we don’t demonstrate this well. We are learning as we go).

...BUT, The Future Promise is the Goal

With all that said, The end is going to be pretty great. And even if it is TERRIBLE on this side of eternity, the best is always yet to come for those who are in Christ. Paul says at the end of this month’s passage, that he is defending on the righteousness of Jesus to cover him from his sins and the wrath to come so that, “…I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and may share in His sufferings, becoming like Him in death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection of the dead.”

Paul knows that he is safe in Christ, and that knowledge of the present safety and the faith in the future Glory keeps Paul going through all the brokenness of the world around him. 

Remember, Paul is writing from prison. He has posers trying to undermine him. He has legalists causing division and confusion. He is grieved by the idolatry that grips the hearts and lives of not-yet-believers in every city he has visited. He is troubled over some of the church plants he has started. He knows that his brothers and sisters in Christ are suffering persecution and martyrdom throughout the empire. And yet his constant command to Christians is, Rejoice. 

Why? Because the present struggle is not the eternal reality. It gets better. In Christ, life in this broken world will be hard, but it will be worth it. We will one day have resurrection hearts that are capable of handling the overwhelming love of God which we cannot fathom right now. We will one day have resurrection eyes that will be capable of looking upon the glorious light and beauty of our King - a glory that is too bright for our feeble eyes to take in right now. 

We will one day have resurrection bodies that will be capable of living forever in divine bliss and joy with our Jesus in a perfect new Heavens and New Earth. 

Our faith is not JUST about the Pie in the Sky, but Oh! that will be a glorious day, worth anything that happens in between. Perhaps The Apostle Peter told Paul what Jesus told him before He went to the cross. 

“If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul? For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done.” ~ Jesus (Matthew 16:24-27 ESV)

Jesus is Better

August Passage: Philippians 3:1-11

Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you is no trouble for me and is safe for you.

Look out for the dogs, look out for the evildoers, look out for those who mutilate the flesh. For we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh—though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also.

If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the Law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless.

But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed 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 might gain Christ and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the Law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith

—that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and may share in His sufferings, becoming like Him in death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection of the dead.  (ESV)

Throughout each month, we will post short articles to give some depth of understanding regarding our text. Today we will discuss...

Jesus is Better

Repentance is not simply a matter of turning away from or stopping a sin. It is turning away from something lesser for something better.

When you empty your life of a sin, you must fill up the space in your heart that the sin used to take up with the truth of God. When you don’t your repentance will never take hold in a lasting and satisfying way. 

That’s the principle we see at work in the passage today.

In the last article we saw that Paul threw away his old Spiritual Resumé and that he was instead going to find his value and his worth and his acceptance in Jesus. “…whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ.” 

What’s that look like? If you are going to follow Paul’s example, you need to know how to do so. He goes on to tell us.

“Indeed 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 might gain Christ and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the Law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith…”

1. Jesus Is Worth It

“Indeed I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.”

We all know that we should LOVE Jesus. But sometimes we love Jesus like a distant cousin that we don’t really know that well. If someone asks, “Do you love him?” You’d say yes. But it wouldn’t be a passionate, love that dictates how you live your life. It’s more like, “Well, I know I should love Him, so sure.”

But Paul loves Jesus so much that he can count EVERYTHING as a loss because he knows Jesus. Some of you have been able to know a person that way, a husband or wife, a child or parent. Someone whom, if all else fell away, you could still be happy and feel good, because that person was there. 

In order to lay down the sin of trying to save yourself by your own works; to lay down the sins of self-righteousness or self-hatred; you need to KNOW Jesus as your Lord. You need to KNOW Jesus as your king who loved you so much that He suffered the death that you deserved in order for you to get eternal life with Him. 

When you KNOW Jesus intimately. When you KNOW Him, not just know ABOUT Him, you will love Him and EVERYTHING else can fall away and you will still feel blessed, secure, treasured and satisfied. 

2. See Your Accomplishments, Successes & Failures Correctly

“For His sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish…”

Rubbish is a very polite word in the ESV translation. The original word in the Greek was used for animal waste (dung) or for the worthless pieces of food scrap that is thrown to the dogs. 

In the context, Paul is saying that all of his accomplishments and all of his high social standing because of the family he was born into and all of the respect that he could command because of his intensive Biblical training was as good as dung. 

None of what Paul had done, apart from Jesus, had any worth toward salvation. No “good” Paul had done could outweigh the “bad” of his sin. No accomplishments could pay the sin debt and no social clout with the world could change the fact that Paul was an enemy of God. The same is true for you and me. 

Without Jesus, there is nothing that we can turn to as payment for our sin, or rescue from God’s wrath. 

But, Jesus is so valuable, so worthy of our worship that ALL of the other things we have looked to as prizes or trophies of our virtue look like dog scraps in comparison. 

I do think we can also look to this verse for another comfort though. 

Some of us have been so tarnished by sin (sin we have committed and sin done against us) that we cannot help but always go back to the dirtiness of that sin and be captured in our heart and mind by what we’ve done or what’s been done to us. 

Even in our disgust with that sin, we still end up clinging to it like Paul used to cling to his accomplishments. 

Like Paul we can see the sin(s) as the dung that they are and instead of dwelling in that, we can be lifted up by clinging to Jesus instead. Enjoy the “loss of all things” including your past for the sake of Jesus today. 

3. Loss = Gain

“…in order that I might gain Christ and be found in Him…”

Be found in Jesus, be covered by his righteousness, wear the robe of purity that He bought for you at the cross, abide in the peace of His Spirit who dwells in you, and live as His ambassador in the world instead of a Slave to your former way of life. 

These are the things that you get in the Great Exchange. This (in addition to eternal life) is what you get when you truly put your faith in the FACT that God, “made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

4. You MUST BELIEVE That Jesus’ Righteousness is Better Than Yours

“not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the Law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith”

A broken record can fix your soul. Hear it and hear it and hear it again. Say it and shout it and sing it aloud!

NOTHING in my hands I bring, ONLY TO THE CROSS I CLING.

You are saved by faith in Jesus Christ ALONE. You cannot, nor should you even want to, boast in your accomplishments. 

God Gets the Glory.

God Gives the Grace.

God provides the Faith.

Jesus is the object for your Faith.

Believe. Believe. BELIEVE. He Loves you! Trust in Him today and enjoy Him forever. 

Throw Away Your Resumé

August Passage: Philippians 3:1-11

Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you is no trouble for me and is safe for you.

Look out for the dogs, look out for the evildoers, look out for those who mutilate the flesh. For we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh—though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also.

If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the Law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless.

But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of know Christ Jesus my Lord. For His sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I might gain Christ and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the Law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith

—that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and may share in His sufferings, becoming like Him in death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection of the dead.  (ESV)

Throughout each month, we will post short articles to give some depth of understanding regarding our text. Today we will discuss...

Throw Away Your Resumé

In the last article, we saw Paul’s warning about those who would lead you to think that you need Jesus AND good works, or Jesus AND ceremonial rituals and rites, in order to truly be saved. Look out and be on guard for those dogs. 

But before Paul goes any further, he makes it clear that IF he wanted to live up to the requirements of the Judaizers, it would have been no problem for him to do so. Before Jesus rescued Paul, he had been a lot like the Judaizers in his heart. He loved keeping rules and trying to force others to do the same. He wasn’t arguing against the extra rules of the Judaizers because he couldn’t reach their standards. He wasn’t trying to lower the bar of “good works” to a point that he could finally get over it. 

No! Paul had been an incredible rule keeper. If keeping a bunch of rules were enough, Paul would surely been able to secure a spot in Heaven. 

But Paul is arguing against the Judaizers’ “Jesus AND good works” plan because, before He was saved, Paul had done everything he thought he was supposed to do, and still found himself lacking the one thing he needed.

When Paul (Saul) was confronted on the road to Damascus, and later when he was converted, he realized that Jesus ALONE could give him the security and satisfaction that the Law could not ever give. AND when he saw Jesus and the fullness of God in Christ, Paul was given humility to replace the PRIDE that had grown because of his good rule keeping of the past. 

A pastor named Darrin Patrick teaches that, without Jesus we are all trying to build up a “spiritual resumé” or a list of things we do, and a list of things we don’t do, and a list of things we know, etc., so that we can point to those things as evidence that we are ok. 

Paul’s Spiritual Resumé

Brought up “Right” in a “Good” family

— Circumcised on the 8th day (according to Leviticus 12:3) 

— A Hebrew of Hebrews (Not only Jewish, but out of all the tribes of Israel, he was from the elite tribe of Benjamin) John Gill helps us understand this comment better:

“Of the tribe of Benjamin; who was a genuine and legitimate son of Jacob, whom (Jacob) had by his lawful and beloved wife Rachel. Of which tribe was the first king of Israel, whose name was Saul, and which was the apostle's first and Jewish name, and which perhaps was common in that tribe on that account. In this tribe stood the city of Jerusalem, and the temple of the Lord; this tribe retained the true worship of God with Judah, when the ten tribes revolted and worshipped the calves at Dan and Bethel, and returned with Judah from captivity, when the others did not. And the apostle was not only able to make himself appear to be of the stock Israel, but could name the tribe to which he belonged, which many of the Jews, that were of one, or rather of the ten tribes, were not able to do…” ~ John Gill Exposition of the Entire Bible

— A Hebrew of Hebrews (both parents were full blooded Hebrews)

Not only was he brought up right in a good family, Paul’s resumé states that he also did well on his own after he was raised:

— As to the Law a Pharisee (He understood the Scriptures better than most Jews and He was diligent in following the Law and even followed more rules on top of the Law).

— As to zeal, a persecutor of the church (before he was converted, Paul let His zeal spill over past personal obedience and into persecution of people who he saw as missing the mark).

— As to righteousness under the law, blameless (Before Jesus showed him how hypocritical and blind and unloving Paul had been under the law, Paul had thought of himself as blameless)

Your Spiritual Resumé

Do you do the same thing Paul did? Do you try to prove to God, to others or to yourself that you are a “good person” or even a “Good Christian” because of a list of things you do, and a list of things you don’t do, and a list of things you know? 

Not-yet-believers point to a lot of things, including how they interact with the needy; how they vote; how they treat the environment; how they spend their money; what they watch or read or listen to; where they shop or don’t shop; etc…

But, we Christians fall into the same trap (sometimes with the same list as the not-yet-believers, but also how faithful our relatives are or were; what we eat and drink (or don’t eat and drink); mission trips we’ve gone on; number of people we’ve given a tract to; how we dress for a Sunday gathering; prayer meeting attendance; amount of time we study the Bible; which Bible translation we read; how much money we give to the local church and to people in need; how long we’ve gone without cussing, etc…

If you are like me, we all can recognize some area where we want to pat ourselves on the back and take some credit for the reason God SHOULD love us. Paul fell into it at a time in his life. So did the Judaizers. We are all prone to do it. 

But it’s time to throw away your Spiritual Resumé and completely depend on Jesus.

You may have worldly reasons to put confidence in the flesh, but remember, “we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh”

So, join Paul today and let us agree together today to say with him, “…whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ.”

We will talk about WHY we count it all as loss in the next article. Until then, practice NOT boasting in yourself and turn all praise toward Jesus.  

Look Out

August Passage: Philippians 3:1-11

Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you is no trouble for me and is safe for you.

Look out for the dogs, look out for the evildoers, look out for those who mutilate the flesh. For we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh—though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also.

If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the Law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless.

But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of know Christ Jesus my Lord. For His sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I might gain Christ and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the Law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith

—that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and may share in His sufferings, becoming like Him in death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection of the dead.  (ESV)

If you are new to this reading plan, follow the instructions on the right side of this page or click here to read the "Why Just One Letter" introduction article.

Throughout each month, we will post short articles to give some depth of understanding regarding our text (see the archive links on the lower right of this page for review). Today we will discuss...

Look Out!

One of the things we like to do in our church family is to give information in repetitive ways. The Bible does the same thing and it does so for two important reasons. 

First, when you see themes over and over and over in the Scriptures, you will begin to recognize them in your own life and in the culture around you, and that helps you connect the ancient truths of the Word with the messy reality of your daily life and you understand more fully with every passing year and with every passing page how relevant the Bible is to you.

The second reason, the reason we will talk about in this article is that the Bible uses repetition to catch our attention to particularly important information. 

We see repetition in the Psalms where One repetitive truth is unpacked in-between verses about that truth (Study Psalm 136 or 150 for good examples). 

In the book of Isaiah, we see the angels trying to catch our attention with a three-time announcement of the most important truth — The HOLY, HOLY, HOLY nature of the Lord God Almighty. 

Our Lord Jesus often taught key truths with the introduction, “Truly, Truly I say to you…” If a person nearby hadn’t been paying attention before, Jesus announced with the double “truly” that it was time to focus in. 

In the same way, Paul uses repetition to pull us into his next point, and this point - understood and believed - could be the difference of your eternal existence being in Heaven or Hell, with Jesus or without him. 

“LOOK OUT!” Paul says it three times. Wake Up! LISTEN! 

Look Out for What? For Whom?

“Look out for the dogs, look out for the evildoers, look out for those who mutilate the flesh.”

Paul isn’t talking about three different groups, he’s describing one group who are evil-doing dogs, who mutilate the flesh. While this may not be a familiar group for you, in the time Paul was writing, he was likely warning the Philippians about a well known group called the Judaizers. We see evidence of this group in the book of Acts:

But some men came down from Judea and were teaching the brothers, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.” And after Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and debate with them, Paul and Barnabas and some of the others were appointed to go up to Jerusalem to the apostles and the elders about this question. So, being sent on their way by the church, they passed through both Phoenicia and Samaria, describing in detail the conversion of the Gentiles, and brought great joy to all the brothers. When they came to Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church and the apostles and the elders, and they declared all that God had done with them. But some believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees rose up and said, “It is necessary to circumcise them and to order them to keep the law of Moses.”

The apostles and the elders were gathered together to consider this matter. And after there had been much debate, Peter stood up and said to them, “Brothers, you know that in the early days God made a choice among you, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe. And God, who knows the heart, bore witness to them, by giving them the Holy Spirit just as he did to us, and he made no distinction between us and them, having cleansed their hearts by faith. Now, therefore, why are you putting God to the test by placing a yoke on the neck of the disciples that neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear? But we believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will.”

(Acts 15:1-11 ESV)    

The Judaizers were a group within the early church, many who came from the old group of Pharisees, who, though they had accepted that Jesus was truly the Messiah, they couldn’t help but hold onto some notion that salvation was a “Jesus + Works” equation. And, goodness knows, from the Pharisees track record, they loved rules so much that they were going to do their best to force the rules on other people, too. 

So they would come into town just as Paul is starting to get some Gospel traction and they’d upset the new church saying, “Yes, Jesus is great. But, you also have to fall in line with all the ceremonial laws in the Hebrew Scriptures. Eat this way… Dress this way… And, also…You’ve got to be circumcised.” 

That’s why Paul calls them “those who mutilate the flesh.” It wasn’t a problem with the physical act of circumcision. It was that they were teaching that salvation ONLY comes through faith AND that physical act. LOOK OUT! 

Look Out when ever ANYONE comes in and says, you’ve got to believe in Jesus PLUS do _______, in order to be saved. They will make you into twice the son of Hell if you fall for that. 

There is plenty of truth that once you ARE SAVED by FAITH ALONE, THEN you will do GOOD WORKS. That’s the growth in the Gospel that gives every Christian assurance that they are on the right track. But the moment you mix up the order of Good Works FOR salvation instead of the truth of Good Works BECAUSE OF Salvation, then you are on a collision course of rebellion against God. 

That’s true, whether you are a Roman Catholic who thinks you MUST confess to a priest, be baptized and have last rights said over you to get to heaven. But, it’s also true if you are an evangelical who thinks you must give a certain amount of money to the church, or vote for a particular party, or read a particular translation of the Bible, or wear certain clothes, or do a certain number of good deeds each day, or avoid particular people, or follow any number of other man-made rules - in order to be a “real” Christian. 

Paul says LOOK OUT, because we are all prone to fall for this line of thinking. Peter, who defended Paul against the Judaizers in Acts 15, had to be confronted by Paul later because Peter fell into the same trap of stone dead legalism and favoritism that he fought against before. 

We are all prone to drift if we don’t stay on guard and protect ourselves and one another with the Powerful and life-giving Word of God. 

Our indwelling sinful hearts always want to make a way for ourselves to be saved. Sometimes that is  because we don’t believe God would save us, sometimes because we don’t believe God could save us and unfortunately, sometimes because we want to win the comparison contest between ourselves and others. 

The cross makes it clear that God can and will save everyone who will put their trust in Christ alone for their salvation. The cross also makes it clear that there is no comparison contest. We are ALL equally sinful and in need of rescue. 

So, we are the circumcision (the ones who have the circumcision of the heart - a WORK done by Jesus), who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh.”

So, when you think you still need to perform, or DO more in order to be loved by God, then LOOK OUT! Those dogs are still out there and they want to drag you down with them. 

As someone has said, The Gospel is not about what we DO. The Gospel is about what Jesus has DONE. 

As Jesus said, “It is finished.” 

Find your rest in Him. 

Paul Says it Again REJOICE

August Passage: Philippians 3:1-11

Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you is no trouble for me and is safe for you.

Look out for the dogs, look out for the evildoers, look out for those who mutilate the flesh. For we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh—though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also.

If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the Law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless.

But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of know Christ Jesus my Lord. For His sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I might gain Christ and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the Law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith

—that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and may share in His sufferings, becoming like Him in death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection of the dead.  (ESV)

If you are new to this reading plan, follow the instructions on the right side of this page or click here to read the "Why Just One Letter" introduction article.

Throughout each month, we will post short articles to give some depth of understanding regarding our text (see the archive links on the lower right of this page for review). Today we will discuss...

Seriously, Paul Says it Again – REJOICE!

“Why Philippians?” 

That is the question asked most often about the One Year 1 Letter reading plan. The one word answer to the question is JOY. The Apostle Paul wrote other letters that some would argue are more robust in their theology. Some of the other New Testament letters have a wider scope of information. We agree. But no other letter is as relentless in its declaration that a living faith is a faith worth rejoicing over. 

The Apostle Paul talks about joy and rejoicing ten times in Philippians, sometimes he seems to be tripping over himself to talk about it again, right after he has talked about it before. 

Paul prays with with JOY (1:4)…he REJOICES when Jesus is proclaimed (even when the proclaimers are full of themselves) (1:18)…Paul REJOICES because the church is praying and the Holy Spirit is helping to insure that even bad things will be used for Paul’s deliverance (1:18-19)…he says his JOY will be complete when the Philippian church is unified in Jesus (2:2)…he teaches that your and other Christians’ obedience to Jesus gives a cause to REJOICE (2:17-18)…we can REJOICE when God returns someone to health (apply that to physical, emotional or spiritual health) (2:28)…And, we can receive godly example setters or “heroes in the faith” with JOY (2:29). 

And in this month’s passage, Paul shows us the grand reason for JOY. We rejoice in the Lord. 

We do not rejoice in our accomplishments as though our accomplishments earn us God’s favor. We don’t rejoice in our social standing our our family’s reputation. No! 

As we’ll see this month, all of that - everything else in life that we want to grab hold of and treasure in our hearts - everything we want to boast in - all of that is piddly compared to the joy of being “in the Lord.”

Because of our sin, we need shelter from God’s glorious presence. As one pastor says, when God’s Glory and our sin meet, it is like a bug zapper. Instant death. Who can stand before Our Holy God.

The prophet Isaiah understood this when he was taken into the throne room of God. He knew that, even as a man of God, his indwelling sin nature made him unfit to stand in God’s presence. 

When Simon Peter witnessed the awesome power of God the Son over nature itself, Peter begged Jesus to depart because Peter knew his sinful self should not be so close to God. 

If that was the end of the story, then JOY would have no place to live in our heart. Joy would have no place in Philippians and we Christians would have reason to be non-celebrating, mopey, angry, bitter sad-sacks and downers. But the story doesn’t end with our sinfulness, it continues on. The story reveals a loving, gracious God who pursues us and makes a way for us to enter back into relationship with Him. 

In the Old Testament, God protected Moses from the fullness of His Glory, by sheltering Moses in the cleft of a rock. Today we find our shelter in a better place. We can cover our sinfulness and be clothed in perfection by Jesus Himself. 

His wounds to His hands and His feet spilt His blood as a sacrifice on our behalf. Now, with our faith placed squarely on His perfect life in our place and His death for us, we can be covered, sheltered from any wrath that was due to us, and we can not only survive an encounter with God - We THRIVE when we are nearest to Him. 

In another place, Paul writes that God made Jesus, who knew no sin, to be our sin bearer, so that IN JESUS, we could have the righteousness of God. 

So now, RIGHT NOW. When God the Father looks at you, he doesn’t see the sin stained rebel that you once were. He doesn’t see the self-righteous person who used to try to EARN His love, as if you could have ever made up for your sin with a few “good” deeds. 

No, RIGHT NOW, if you have put your faith “In Christ” or in the Lord for your rescue, then the Father sees you as perfect, covered in Jesus’ righteousness. 

It doesn’t depend on your effort, it doesn’t matter what kind of past you have, it doesn’t matter what kind of family you come from. It matters that you are sheltered in the cleft of the ROCK who is Jesus Christ. Your Lord. Your Savior. Your Redeemer. 

My brothers and sisters, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you is no trouble for me and is safe for you. REJOICE.