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. 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, 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. 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. Philippians 3: 1-11
Paul loved to remind Christians to rejoice in the Lord.
It is one of his favorites—one of the most used phrases in his writings, as we find in the New Testament.
Today, for us, rejoicing is one of the safeguards we must stay connected with our Lord.
It is pretty easy for us to neglect to rejoice in anything we can see – and much more difficult to rejoice in who or what we cannot see, or hear, or touch.
I think we can all agree that the times around us seem to be getting worse.
We hear harsh words all too often. I don’t mean cursing or anything like that.
The harsh words I am looking at are layoffs, cutbacks in everything related to economics or jobs increases in interest rates, and rumors of wars between nations—all those things that affect our pocketbooks, our way of life, or both.
Times around us seem to be going from bad to worse in the world.
When we hear all these terrible words and conditions, we can become fearful and begin to ask how much worse it can become.
Many people, when faced with these dreadful happenings, will become fearful, depressed, and develop an attitude of despair and fearfulness, with a definite lack of anything to rejoice over.
All of that can be extremely depressing for some. But they don’t need to experience depression and a sense of hopelessness.
So, where does hope come from?
What can help us overcome the fear and helplessness we sometimes feel as hopeless?
The Apostle Paul tells us we don’t have to feel hopeless and helpless about the things that often drag us down.
Paul tells us we have anchors we can latch onto to dispel our fear and hopelessness.
These are those blessings in which we should find joy.
First, Paul speaks about his own behavior earlier in his life.
He says that if anyone has reason to have confidence in his humanity, he does.
After all, Paul was a Jew – he was circumcised on the 8th day – he was of the tribe of Benjamin – he was a Hebrew of Hebrews – a pure Jew.
In regard to the Law, he was a Pharisee; he was zealous in persecuting the Church.
His legalistic righteousness was faultless.
But – could he place confidence in all of this human abundance of being “just right”?
No! Paul knows that all the attributes he just listed were to be considered as NOTHING. He considers and understands that, compared to life in Christ all his former life means nothing compared to the greatness of life in Jesus Christ.
Now, there is a lesson for us today in what Paul has said and will continue to preach from that day on throughout the remainder of his life.
We may not be a Hebrew of Hebrews or a Hebrew at all. We don’t have all the things Paul possessed in the flesh.
But look at the things that make up our lives of flesh.
Don’t we sometimes cling to who we are – in a social sense?
Are we sometimes guilty of relying upon where we came from to be greatly beneficial to get us where we go?
Don’t we sometimes pride ourselves on knowing every legalistic detail of practice in the church?
Don’t we often persecute the church—our brothers and sisters in Christ—because they are different from us in various unimportant ways?
We do these things, even though we don’t intend to. Maybe we don’t even know we do them.
And we need, like Paul, to say, “Whatever was to my profit, I now consider loss for the sake of Christ.
We can continue by saying: I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus as my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things.
I consider them rubbish (trash, garbage), that I may gain Christ Jesus, and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own….but that which is through faith in Christ – the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith.
It is not because of what I have done or because of who I am. It is because of WHOSE I am!
We occasionally need to examine ourselves in our relationship with Christ Jesus.
Can we count everything as lost for the sake of Jesus Christ?
Can we look at our misfortunes and still say – “I count it all joy because of Jesus Christ?”
It is very possible that trials that come our way – job lay-offs, reduced work hours resulting in less income – depressions, recessions, any number of catastrophic events can come our way – unexpectantly.
If we are willing to accept it, it is possible that some of these trials, depressions, and so on are allowed to give us an opportunity to take a good, long look at who we really are in our relationship with our Lord Jesus Christ.
Are we relying on the good things money can buy to make us happy and secure? Are we relying on friendships with prominent, influential people – again relying on things or people?
Or, are we people who, even in the face of a crisis, realize that we are those who have been redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ?
Can we really experience and practice rejoicing even when confronted with the loss of earthly security we once had?
It is easy—and it is becoming easier and more popular—to trust in the security of the idols of earthly life and what they provide.
But what happens when the company closes its doors temporarily or permanently and regular paychecks stop coming in?
What happens when we find it necessary to lower our standards of living to accommodate limited—or totally wiped-out—income?
The answer to all these questions is found here in the Word of God.
It says that those events – setbacks – disappointments – are of no real consequence anyway in a heavenly or eternal sense.
What really matters is righteousness that comes from faith in God, not faith in things—built by ourselves—or riches.
We learn here that the power of the resurrection of Jesus Christ and the fellowship of sharing in His sufferings, becoming like Him in His death – these things, which we cannot see or touch or hear – these are more important – more lasting – more joy producing than all those material things that we can see, and hear, and feel.
Everything, except knowing Christ Jesus as Lord, is to be considered loss. Knowing Him as Master and Lord is all that will bring us lasting profit.
That profit is eternal life with Him.
The Word does not tell us, “Don’t have a job; don’t spend time earning a living; don’t buy the things that make life more pleasant and enjoyable.
But the Word does say that all these things must have their own priorities, just as knowing the Lord Jesus Christ as our Lord, as our Master, and as our Savior is more important than all that we call ours in this life.
Nothing is ours to claim as permanent and lasting except knowing Jesus as our Lord, and having as our goal – living eternally with Him in glory.
Comments