Philippians 3:1-21. Yesterday I mentioned how personal god is and how he is concerned with our feelings but that does not mean that God just lets us run our lives just by our feelings. He does not indulge us like little spoiled brats. When we read through Amos we talked about God’s “holiness”; God has standards, and those standards influence what he does. We should want the same things he wants for us and when we do, and ask him for them, he gives them to us (John 16:24). Asking in “his name” means asking for the kinds of things God would want for us, and because he cared he always wants what is best for us (Matthew 7:7-11).
This next part of the letter turns back to the people among the Philippian believers who are giving them bad advise about God. Paul wants to keep the Philippian believers focused on the truth about their relationship with God. Remember that I suggested that these people might be “Judaaizers” (1/12/13 post), Christians who had followed the Old Testament Law before becoming believers in Jesus and still wanted to make things right with God by following those sacrifices and rituals. Paul uses pretty strong language to describe these false teachers; dogs, evil workers, false circumcision. Circumcision was a surgical procedure that the Jewish people performed on infant boys to permanently mark them as Jews. Any male convert to Judaism, at any age, also had to undergo the procedure. Bu using this term Paul almost certainly identifies the people who were making trouble as Judaizers. In the culture of the time “dogs” was a term used by Jewish people to put others down, it was one of the worst insults to call someone a dog. To call a Jewish person a dog would be doubly insulting. Paul also calls these people “evil workers”. Paul makes it very clear that he disapproves of these people.
Paul tells the Philippian believers that they are the “true circumcision” they are the ones who are really part of God’s family, really God’s people. He says this is true because they honor God from their hearts rather than just by trying to follow some physical rules and perform some religious rituals. One time Jesus was talking to a woman by a well in Samaria. The woman came to the conclusion that Jesus was a prophet, a person who spoke for God. So she asked him about the differences between the way Samaritan people honor God and the way Jews or Israelites honor God, who was right? Jesus’ answer was that really honoring God was a spiritual thing and involved certain facts about God (“worship in spirit and truth”). Paul is saying a similar thing here, “If you think that religious practices fix your relationship with God you’ve got it all wrong. It’s not about what you do it’s about what Jesus has done and about listening to the Holy Spirit in you.” And Paul knows what he is talking about because he had been a very strict follower of the Law of Moses; very religious even to the point of hunting down and killing believers in Christ (the church) (verses 4-6).
In verses 7-11 Paul tells the Philippian church that all that effort he had made following the Law (the Old Testament Law given to Moses by God) had been a waste, they did not bring people closer to the Christ or Messiah (Jesus) but actually interfered with people finding Jesus. nI verse 8 he begins to explain a second reason why following the Law so strictly had been a waste of time, they had also kept him from having a relationship with Jesus. Why is that so important to Paul? Because of what Paul really wanted, to be right with God. The word “righteousness” means living the “right” way, the way that makes God happy. The Jewish people thought if they obeyed the Old Testament rules, the Law< that they would be right with God. Paul told the Roman church that the Law could never make us right with God, that it actually showed us haw messed up we are (Romans 3:19-20). The good news is, the Good News, that our relationship with God is made right through Jesus (Romans 3:21-22). According to Paul we all fail (Romans 3:23). But Jesus didn’t, he lived a prefect life, he didn’t deserve any sort of punishment so when he did die on the cross it was in our place (Romans 3:24-25; 1 John 2:2). So now as many people as accept who Jesus is (“God with Up”, “God in a Bod”) and what he has done (taken our punishment for us as the only way to be friends with God again) can have a new forever relationship with God, and I do mean forever, into eternity. That is why Paul said in Philippians 3:8 that everything he had done before was worthless. He wanted Jesus who would be the only way for him to be “right” with God. Our part is to believe it, trust Jesus as the only way, that is what Paul was putting his “faith” in. In verses 10-11 he talks abut “resurrection”. The word means to “rise up “ and is talking about coming back to life after we die. That is part of God’s plan for us to live forever with him in new bodies (1 Corinthians 15:51-54).
In verses 12-16 Paul tells the Philippiian believers that he hasn’t arrived there yet but he is living his life with his eyes on Heaven, that is why he can put up with the suffering and even the possibility of death. In verse 15 he word “perfect” means mature. He is telling the Philippian believers that if they are mature then they will live their lives the same way. In verse 16 he talks about the fact that being right with God and being resurrected are a fact (a future fact but he is sure they will happen) so we should live each day with that truth in mind.
In verse 17 he encourages them again, to follow his example and the example of others like him (Epaphroditus and Timothy might be two examples). In verses 18-19 he warns them not to follow the example of others who live with their eyes on their earthly lives, living for fun and pleasure. They really have no sense of right and wrong (when they live shameful lives they act like it is “cool”). Those people are not headed for heaven but for eternal separation from God. The word for destruction can have the meaning of being put out of the way or set aside and that is what happens to people who do not trust in Jesus, they are put out of Heaven. In verses 20-21 Paul assures the Philippian believers that we will not be “put out” though, we are citizens of Heaven and will be rescued by Jesus who will give us our new immortal bodies, he has the power and will use it for us. That is how he could live with pain, suffering, and even death and how we can and should too.
God thank you for the hope of Heaven. Thank you for using your power for me. Help me live each day with my eyes on Heaven. Give me peace and strength to keep my eyes on eternity as I Help other find you here and now.