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)
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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.
