Paul's epistle or letter to the Philippians is a book filled with life lessons.
Specifically it teaches all of us believers in Christ Jesus how to live "in" this world, but not to be "of" it. It's amazing how two little words can make a huge difference in the context of a thought or sentence. In Philippians chapter two we go from being "stars" shining as an example of Christ to chapter three where Paul looks around at himself and sees nothing but rubbish.
This is an amazing dichotomy of the Christian faith, isn't it? There always seems to be contrasting ideas of what is normal for the world and its belief systems versus those of God. God has an entirely (and seemingly upside down) economy as to how He is accomplishing His plans and purposes.
God uses the weak to show His strength. We are made whole when are finally broken. Light is "highlighted" when things or circumstances seem their darkest. Loosers are actually winners in the long run of life. In order to live more abundantly, we have to die. All of this is confounding to the natural world, but not to God and hopefully not to us believers.
Here is what the Holy Spirit wrote to us through Paul in Philippians chapter three:
"Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord! It is no trouble for me to write the same things to you again, and it is a safeguard for you.
"Watch out for those dogs, those men who do evil, those mutilators of the flesh. For it is we who are the circumcision, we who worship by the Spirit of God, who glory in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh — though I myself have reasons for such confidence.
"If anyone else thinks he has reasons to put 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; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for legalistic righteousness, faultless.
"But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead." Philippians 3:1-11
We'll go through this passage verse by verse.
Paul starts on a high note: "Rejoice in the Lord!" No matter what, rejoice. I'm writing this piece on Thanksgiving morning. The house is still and quiet. I just finished putting the stuffed turkey in the oven and figure that I have about 2 hours before the rustling of bodies. It's been a hard couple of weeks with some family and teenager issues, but you know what? God is still in control. He's on His throne. He holds all of my problems in His hands. Our daughter and grandson are with us. A friend is visiting from out of town. My mom will be coming by for lunch. The sun is rising on a crisp November morning. I have the privilege of writing another lesson about living the Christian life. God is good.
And I will rejoice! I can honestly write as Paul did, "It is no trouble for me to write the same things to you again". Teaching God's Word and principles is a joy. Those of us who have been called to teach, preach and reach people with His Word find that this is not work. Many biblical lessons have to be taught over and over again because each of us is going through a different struggle at a different time in a different place; and God often begins teaching with His teachers. Where we once read a particular verse two weeks ago and glossed over it, a different yet similar verse at the other end of the Bible now jumps out and grabs us. God's Word is active; it is living. It is Life!
That is a really good reason to rejoice. And as we remember, re-read and rejoice, we see and understand that God's Word stands there as a safeguard for our lives.
Paul then goes on to further remind us of who we are as Christians. We are the circumcised. Whether male or female, when we accepted Jesus Christ and His atoning death on the cross as our salvation by faith alone, God circumcises our hearts. We are not just circumcised physically, we are circumcised spiritually. The old and sinful nature has been cut off and God has placed on us a new godly nature.
In time we will be conformed to the image of Jesus Himself. Two weeks ago we saw that our salvation is to be worked out with fear and trembling. The Christian life is a journey. Dying to self is a process. For some (like me), there are parts of my sinful nature that just want to hold on to and live. Like the bittersweet root that is growing in my flower beds around my house that has to be constantly pulled out and killed, so too the annoying vestiges of sin that hound me and continually vex me; I have to keep pulling them out and placing them before God for my ultimate healing.
Legalists or legalism (religion), those "mutilators of the flesh" only want us to live by a new set of rules. We become human doings following rules and regulations rather than simply living a life according God's purposes and God's Plan. Rather than seeking after God, we seek to live a life that turns out to be just another hamster wheel. God wants us to be liberated from any and all worldly hamster wheels. In order to do that, we are to actively seek Him. As we actively seek Him in daily and regular times of prayer and reading His Word, we end up being with God. We are gradually transformed from human doings to human beings. We come to an inner and intimate knowledge of God rather than simply knowing about God.
Then Paul starts a little tongue in cheek boasting of his earthly position. Notice verses 4 through 6:
"If anyone else thinks he has reasons to put 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; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for legalistic righteousness, faultless."
If anyone could boast about his piety it was Paul. From a Jewish and religious point of view, he had almost reached the pinnacle. He was born into the right family of the right tribe of Jewish society. He followed the Law as he understood it. His faulty understanding caused Paul to have a misdirected zeal to "protect" the Law as it were and therefore persecute the fledgling Church. His righteousness was not Godly as it turned out. It was self-righteous and therefore in the end, self-aggrandizing. Paul wasn't building up the Truths of God as much as he was building up his own self-righteousness and those of the reigning priesthood.
They (the Jewish authorities including Paul - previously known as Saul) had the Scriptures and read them each day, but there was something missing. They understood the letter of the Law but not its eternal Spirit. They saw rule after rule rather than an all-encompassing story that spoke of God's mercy, grace and sovereignty as He guided all of mankind to that particular moment in time where God Himself would cause the natural to be reconciled to the Divine. Instead of living in Godly liberty, people like Saul placed more and more chains on themselves and fellow followers of the Law.
Paul, like many of us, had credentials. When asked by whichever governing authority he acted, he could "show" his credentials. We do similarly. Each of us was brought up in a particular town and attended a particular school. We did this or that. Many of us have alphabet soup after our names listed on our business or calling cards that tells others our credentials. Credentials are usually meant to impress others of our accomplishments either academically or professionally; especially to those who we would consider important in our respective spheres of influence. Frankly, to the average person, they mean little if anything. We rely on our earthly credentials rather than the only credential that God recognizes: the blood of Jesus Christ covering our (my) sins. We judge one another by these credentials rather than how God sees us: His friend, His child of the Kingdom and His ambassador to the world.
And now Paul sees the Truth. As God revealed Himself to Paul, He purposefully reveals Himself to all of us, to each of us. We come individually to Him. There is no corporate salvation. Paul now understands the "filthy rags" he has up to this point, clothed himself in. God had opened not only Paul's eyes, but his heart and mind to the Truth of who he was and now whose he was.
Notice what the apostle writes in verses 7 through 8. Three times he writes the word "loss". He has come to the realization that earthly gain (credentials) is heavenly loss when compared to God.
I think, I'm not entirely sure, but I think Paul upon seeing God for Who He is was completely pummeled by that fact. We have each had a similar time in our life when as an individual we finally come to an understanding of our maggot sized and shaped life as compared to the utter Majesty and Beauty and Grace and Sovereignty of God and we are finally humbled. Every piece of our lives that we have tried to construct to make ourselves look good in the eyes of the world (other people, who actually don't really care), we now understand as a supreme loss.
In fact, Paul puts it very well when he writes that it is all "RUBBISH" (actually quite a bit more graphic in the original Greek text). That's right, rubbish. And here comes the dichotomy of God's economy: God uses rubbish - the junk in our lives and this world - to display His majesty and bring Glory to Himself.
Just think about that. That's amazing!
Knowing God through Jesus Christ is the only thing that matters in this life. Everything else is rubbish. Paul's righteousness (like yours and mine) is self-righteous. Christ is the only thing that matters. In fact Christ and the Cross are always central to Paul's letters. Just go back and read this little book to the Philippian church. Each passage within the chapters makes a point, focusing in on Christ and the Cross then panning out in a tangible or real life application.
Jesus Christ and His Cross are all that truly matter to this world. Everything else is rubbish. Look again at verses 8 and 9: "What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him..."
Knowing Jesus Christ, knowing God. Not having a knowledge of God, but intimately knowing God is all that matters. When we know God (keep in mind that we will never know Him completely), we are complete. God provides us with credentials that, I dare say, even the angels in heaven are envious of. Angels cannot be redeemed. Only we humans carry that distinction. We remember that we men and women have been created in God's image, not the angels or anything else in all of Creation. Jesus came to die and provide eternal life to mankind, not to angels.
And so we have two take-aways from this passage to apply to our lives: One: So what? And Two: At the foot of the Cross we are all equals.
So what about "so what?" We have credentials in this life. When a potential employee comes to me for a job and tells me that he or she has graduated from this school or that or worked here or there, I frankly don't really care. What I do care about is the real person inside. What is he or she made of? What makes them "tick"? Where do they find their fulfillment in life? What's their passion?
That's what I want to know. At that point we can have a relationship. I know that they can do certain things; those are the qualifications that we should be interested in. The idiosyncrasies of the job can be taught provided the person has a willing spirit and attitude.
Even when it comes to teaching or preaching or working out God's Word. Unless you have a passion to live His Word out in this life and direct others to the Cross, you can have read the Word, but is it in there? As Dr. Howard Hendricks puts it, "you've gotten into the Bible, but has the Bible gotten in to you?" So what if you've read the Bible 10 times, are you (am I) living it to God's glory? Are you being transformed to the image of Christ? Is your life so shining as to attract others to the Gospel of God and to Salvation? Those are the only things that matter.
Finally, it's all about the Cross. The Cross of Jesus Christ is the great equalizer of all men and women in this universe. We come as individuals. We come alone to the foot of the Cross seeking God's grace and forgiveness for sin in order that we (I) may have fellowship with Him. Yes, someone may lead us there, but we come alone, responsible for our own life, drawn by God Himself.
The Cross of Christ doesn't care whether we are rich or poor, black or white or whatever color God designed us as. The Cross doesn't care whether we are young or old, male or female, whole or disabled, slave or free.
The Cross of Christ does care that we come. God wants us to be reconciled to Him. By His Grace and Mercy God has provided a way - ONE way - of Salvation and everlasting life and fellowship with Him: the Cross of Jesus. Let's take our new and God given credentials and show those to the world. They are the only ones that matter.
Click here to return to the study of Philippians.
Music video: Jeremy Camp, "There Will be a Day"
