Worship and Glory in Jesus

DEVOTION

THE LETTER TO THE PHILIPPIANS

WORSHIP AND GLORY IN JESUS

Phil 3:1-14

3:1 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. 2 Watch out for those dogs, those men who do evil, those mutilators of the flesh. 3 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— 4 though I myself have reasons for such confidence. If anyone else thinks he has reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: 5 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; 6 as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for legalistic righteousness, faultless.

NIV

It is difficult to break up this third chapter as it seems it is all one continuous thought. However, at the same time, there are nuggets of truth along the way. We see Paul reminding them again about those Jewish Christians who think the gentiles need to be circumcised in order to be a true Christian by first following the law as a Jew. Paul calls them dogs. This gives us the sense that we too should not get too caught up in following the law, but rather live by faith. We cannot put our confidence in the flesh. Although Paul is making that point regarding being circumcised, it applies to follow the law in general. Of course, we are not following the Jewish law, or the Law of Moses, yet, it appears we make a great deal of the Ten Commandments. That has always posed a question as to if we follow those ten then why do we reject the rest of the Law. Why do we say we live by faith, but adhere to a portion of the Old Testament Law? Paul makes the point that if anyone was living fully by the Law, it was him. Yet he will go on to say, as we will get to, that he counts it all loss, but Christ as gain. However, before he says that, we can take note he tells the Philippians they have no need to get circumcised in the flesh for they are already circumcised, they are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God, who glory in Christ Jesus, and put no confidence in the flesh. Here we can learn this lesson about not putting any confidence in our abilities, or our efforts to live according to the law, or our rules and regulations we set up as some standard in order to be a “good Christian”. The fact is, if we allow God to circumcise our heart, then we will live and worship by the Spirit of God and we will glory in Christ Jesus. That is we walk in glory, we live in the joy of peace of Jesus. Do we have trouble in this life? Sure, there are always things that happen which may not be the greatest moments in life. Yes, we get sick once in a while or have some infirmities we have to deal with. Paul had a thorn in the flesh, but he made sure he let people know that he was content in whatsoever condition he was. God has told him, His grace was enough. That is the same for us. It does not matter what situations or conditions we find ourselves in, for we are always in Christ. It is not up to us to work for our salvation, or to work to keep it, or to look like a “Good Christian”. Of course, we want to live in a manner that pleases the Lord, but it would appear that manner is one of faith. It pleases God if we have faith in Jesus. It would not appear that it pleases God that we have faith in our behavior or our abilities to live righteously. That would be having confidence in our flesh, doing all the right things, or what we think are the right things. Yet, at the same time, we do need to do whatever God requires of us. Perfection is not one of them. Appearing to be the perfect Christian isn’t either. We look at the one man who God testified was a man after His own heart. David was far from a perfect man, but the reason God said that about him, was that he knew David would do everything God told him to do. We think this is the key. Not so much doing what we think God requires of us, that is to live righteously, or sinless, because that is not possible and God would not ask us to do the impossible. What God requires is for us to do whatsoever he asks us to do for His purpose. Living by faith in one of them. Worshipping him by his Spirit is another. Having glory in Christ Jesus is also his desire. In other words, the center of our life is not our self, but Jesus, not in how we live, but in how he lives in us. So we glory in Christ Jesus.