Devotional Thoughts: Don't listen to the dogs

Am turning to Philippians 3:1-11 for today's reading.

Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord.

Rejoice!

There are a handful of words that I think capture the spirit of Christianity. Love for instance. Jesus told us the greatest commandment is love God and love your neighbor.

Another one is joy.

Think about two things:
(1) human beings are lost and dead in sin separated from God
(2) God sent Jesus to forgive us of our sins, grant us righteousness and restore us to Himself.

Is this not a cause for joy?

To write the same things again is no trouble to me, and it is a safeguard for you.

Repetition.

In my life, I must have heard hundreds if not thousands of sermons by now. I can't say I remember that many specific sermons but nonetheless, the truths of God in the Scriptures are slowly becoming a part of my life.

We eat every day and it is likely we don't remember what we ate 3 weeks ago. But if we have been eating right, we have the benefits of it.

So it is with the spiritual life.

Beware of the dogs, beware of the evil workers, beware of the false circumcision; 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 ...

Paul calls them dogs. He calls them evil workers.

Why is he so ticked off?

"false circumcision" = katatomen

"true circumcision" = peritome

In some translations, the word used for katatomen is mutilate.

Makes me cringe to even hear the word.

The point appears to be that in those days some false teachers demanded people get circumcised as part of becoming a Christian.

Paul says, no. What you need is Jesus not deeds of the flesh or anything pertaining to self righteousness. He goes on to explain ...

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:
circumcised the eighth day,
of the nation 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 the righteousness which is in the Law, found blameless.

He cites seven credentials.

In the following, he then tosses them aside as worthless compared to Jesus.

But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. 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, 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, that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.

Wow!

Am going to have to spend the next blog post unpacking this meaty part of Paul's amazing letter to the Philippian believers.

So what is today's "three-point" sermon?

What do we need to live in this crazy mixed up world?

1. Rejoice in the Lord
2. Repetition of the truth
3. Realize the worth of Jesus

Lord, help me to live this out. Help me to encourage others to live this out. Amen!