Philippians 3
1 Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things {again} is no trouble to me, and it is a safeguard for you.
No matter what our situation is, if we understand that God is at work in us to will and do His good pleasure then we can rejoice in that fact. This is a good thing to always keep in mind, and that is why Paul keeps reminding the Philippians about it. We should also remind each other of it too.
2 Beware of the dogs, beware of the evil workers, beware of the false circumcision;
The dogs and the evil workers and the false circumcision, all refer to the same set of people – people who, in the name of God, lead you astray. There were many such people in Paul’s time, and there also are many such people today. As Paul told Timothy in 1 Tm 1:5-7, there are lots of Christian religious teachers, who say thing very confidently, and yet they don’t understand the matters they speak about.
If you aren’t aware of such people, you will end up swallowing their garbage and you will go astray.
If you are a new Christian, you need to watch out for such people. If you’ve been a Christian for a while, but you didn’t realize until now that such people exist, then chances are that you have already been brainwashed into their wrong teaching.
3 for we are the {true} circumcision, who worship in the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh,
To put no confidence in the flesh means to not trust your own mind, or that of others, when it comes to the things of God. If you look at how the church operates today, you will see that it operates very differently from what the New Testament teaches. For example, most churches take a collection. For another example, most churches celebrate Christmas and Easter and Harvest (which is a substitute for Halloween). The early church never did these things.
To worship in the Spirit and to glory in Christ Jesus is to do things the way God wants us to do it, and not in the way that we want to do it. This is particularly important when it comes to building His church.
When God commanded Moses to build the tabernacle (the place where God met man – which is a picture of the church), God gave Moses very detailed instructions regarding how to do it. Moses built it exactly the way God wanted. In the same way, when we build God’s church today, we must follow God’s instructions (laid down in the New Testament) exactly – nothing more, and nothing less. In doing that, we worship in the Spirit of God, and glory in Christ.
4 although I myself might have confidence even in the flesh. If anyone else has a mind to put confidence in the flesh, I far more:
5 circumcised the eighth day, of the nation of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the Law, a Pharisee;
6 as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to the righteousness which is in the Law, found blameless.
Before Paul became a Christian, he was a very important person in the Jewish community. He could have stayed that way, and his life would have been convenient and easy, and he would have a large community to respect him and support him.
However, Paul was not like that. He was more interested in truth than in being well respected in the community and having a good support network. Therefore, once God showed him that he was wrong, he changed his position on things and believed the truth.
God showed Paul where he was wrong because God saw that Paul was interested in the truth. If God senses that you are not interested in the truth, he will let you be deceived (2 Thess 2:7-12).
There are a lot of people sitting in the churches today – pastors, teachers, members – who are not interested in the truth; rather, they are interested in community. Their confidence is in the flesh (i.e. the group thinking of their community, even if it isn’t grounded in truth). God allows these things to exist for now (remember the parable of the wheat and the tares (Mt 13:24-30; 36-43)?) but He will remove them at the right time. You have to make sure that you the wheat and not the tare.
7 But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ.
8 More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ,
9 and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from {the} Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which {comes} from God on the basis of faith,
10 that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death;
11 in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.
Paul threw away all his original false beliefs, and in doing so, endured the wrath of the community. He threw away all support and all previous friendships because he was more interested in truth than in community.
In Paul’s time, the big issue was whether Judaism or Christianity was the way to go – that is, whether righteousness is based on following the Law, or based on faith in Christ. Paul chose the narrow way at that time. Today, there are many teachings in Christianity that don’t match the truth of the Bible. Which ones do you follow? How do you know that what you are following is the truth? Remember what Jesus said in Mt 7:13-14 about the strait gate and narrow way to the way of life? He said that few find it.
And what did Jesus say immediately after that?
Immediately after that, Jesus spoke of false prophets, who teach wrong things about God, and who lead people through the wide gate and on the broad way – the path that leads to destruction. These false prophets are not ‘out there’. Rather, they are in the church! If you do not know how to recognize them then you will be led astray.
In order to attain to the resurrection from the dead you have to count as loss whatever is false and suffer whatever inconvenience is required to find and hold on to the truth.
He who has ears to hear, let him hear.
12 Not that I have already obtained {it} or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus.
13 Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of {it} yet; but one thing {I do:} forgetting what {lies} behind and reaching forward to what {lies} ahead,
14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
God has called you and me to follow Jesus. It is an upward call – a call that leads us higher, a call to become more and more like Jesus. If we are faithful in our pursuit of that goal, there is a prize.
It is not that we are already perfect. Neither have we walked so far without making mistakes, and sometimes, even blunders. But we don’t dwell on our past mistakes or blunders or even our successes and all that we have already accomplished for His kingdom.
Whenever God shows us truth, we shake off anything that might hinder us from following that truth, and we cling to that truth and make it real in our life. For example, if God shows you that you need to repent (and not just believe), then you pursue repentance and make it a habit. For another example, if God shows you that you need to forgive others, then you pursue forgiving others until you have forgiven everyone in the way that God expects you to. For another example, if God shows you that you need to be baptized in the Holy Spirit, then you pursue baptism in the Holy Spirit until you receive it.
15 Let us therefore, as many as are perfect, have this attitude; and if in anything you have a different attitude, God will reveal that also to you;
16 however, let us keep living by that same { standard} to which we have attained.
There are many truths in Christianity, and one by one, we each must discover them and make them our own. Perfection is to discover each one, and make it our own.
Most people tend to get stuck somewhere – they hold on to a different attitude (from the truth) at some point and stop moving up. How should we behave towards them? We don’t fight with them but let God reveal things to them as He may see fit. Our only hope for them, and for ourselves, is that no one backslides – that is, no one who as attained some truth should give it up at any point later.
17 Brethren, join in following my example, and observe those who walk according to the pattern you have in us.
18 For many walk, of whom I often told you, and now tell you even weeping, {that they are} enemies of the cross of Christ,
19 whose end is destruction, whose god is {their} appetite, and {whose} glory is in their shame, who set their minds on earthly things.
Since we have a spiritual enemy (who is Satan), every valuable spiritual truth will have an alternate counterfeit. For this reason, there are many traps on the Christian landscape. We must expect that.
Paul witnessed that many (not a few) Christians fell into these traps, and it left him weeping and heartbroken. Similarly, when the apostle John received revelation on the identity and nature of Babylon, he wondered greatly (Rev 17:6). That is, he found it hard to believe what he saw.
We have to make sure that we are not, and that we never become, enemies of the cross of Christ – for their end is destruction.
Paul mentions three characteristics of the enemies of the cross of Christ. Let’s examine each of them…
Firstly, their god is their appetite. That is, they live for pleasure rather than for God. If you do things because they bring you pleasure, rather than because you are under God’s direction, then you are enemy of the cross of Christ.
Secondly, their glory is in their shame. That is, they think that living for pleasure is an awesome thing to do. If you listen to them speak, and look at what the write about, you find that they mostly talk and write about the things that bring them pleasure – the games and movies they watch, the vacations they take, the tasty food and drink they imbibe, the sexual exploits they recently engaged in – life, for them, is all about that.
Thirdly, they set their minds on earthly things. That is, their focus is mostly on amassing earthly treasure (i.e. making more money), gaining more power and influence on earth, and being someone important in the eyes of men, whether in the world or in the church. They don’t wonder what God thinks about them, they have little time to read the Bible, and they have little time to build God’s kingdom.
Where do you stand on these three characteristics?
20 For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ;
21 who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself.
In contrast, those who focus on heaven are waiting for their bridegroom, and are seeking to please God, and are cleansing themselves from all filthiness of the flesh, and constantly fighting to overcome temptation, and eagerly waiting for the day when they will no longer be tempted.
Are you that kind of person?
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