Philippians 3

Rejoice in the Lord. This is the command that Paul uses to starts this section of Scripture. Rejoice! Meriam Webster’s dictionary defines rejoice as:

To feel or show that you are very happy about something.

Are you very happy about your relationship with the Lord? If you truly know Him, you should be so excited about the fact that He is in a relationship with you! The Lord, God, is willing to spend time with you and cares for you. That is something so worthy of rejoice! Are you hurting? Are you sad? Are you struggling? Are you discouraged? Remember who you are — you are a child of God. Rejoice in that!

There was a group of people known as the Judaizers. They were a group of people that believed that the gospel needed something more than simply the grace of Jesus Christ — they added works of the law. Circumcision was a big deal to them. Paul felt the need to warn the church at Philippi to watch out for these dogs. These lowlifes. These people who twisted the gospel and did more harm than good. They made much of who they were and their acts of the flesh — not of their acts in the Spirit.

Paul reminds the church of his resume:

From his birth and nothing of his choice:

• Circumcised on the 8th day (upholding the Abrahamic covenant and law handed down from the Jews)
• Israelite
• Specifically of the tribe of Benjamin (this was important because the first king of Israel came from the tribe of Benjamin and held a special place of honor among the Jews)
• Hebrew (not adopting Greek traditions and the like)

Personal choices:

• Pharisee (strictest sect of the legalistic rulers who followed the Law of Moses)
• Zeal for persecuting the Christian believers (remember, Paul was there when Stephen was martyred)
• Blameless in his legalistic righteousness (he knew the law better than most and followed to the letter)

There were very, very, very few people who could even come close to touching Paul’s resume. He as a Jew of Jews and a Pharisee of Pharisees. However, his next words would had to have rocked the church reading this letter:

7 But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. 8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— 10 that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.

Paul tells the believers that all of this was absolute crap (pardon the language here, but Paul is being extremely direct and candid in his use of language) as compared to knowing Jesus Christ. He would gladly suffer everything he went through in order to know Jesus Christ. Paul didn’t want the Judaizers or anyone else to take a higher position than Jesus Christ. In order to help the saints recognize that he, himself, could certainly have made much about his position, his prominence, his power… but he didn’t. It wasn’t about him but it was about the power, the prominence and the position of Jesus Christ. He wanted Jesus Christ central in his life. He wanted Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection to count for him.

Many people had to look up to Paul as THE role model of what a mature Christian looked like. However, he puts his own successes and accomplishments in perspective by reminding the church that he has not attained perfection or even the goals that he had stated (verse 10 and 11). He was pressing on, straining forward and staying diligent to live a life worthy of Jesus Christ. He wasn’t done and ready for retirement. He wasn’t going to go pick seashells on the beach (if you have never read Don’t Waste Your Life by John Piper, I would highly recommend it). He was chosen by God to share the gospel with unbelievers. He was called to something much bigger than himself. He would not stop pushing forward to that goal until he died.

Are we pushing forward towards that goal? The Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20) states:

All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.

Jesus wasn’t speaking these words only to His disciples or to Paul. He was speaking those words to us. Are we going out and making disciples of all nations? Are we teaching others to observe what Jesus has commanded us? If not, why not? Is it too hard? Is it too uncomfortable? Is it too scary? I completely understand! I feel all of those things. However, Jesus Christ died for our sins on the cross not so we can sit around and live comfortable lives with ourselves at the center but that we may make a difference in our communities, in our work, in our schools for the kingdom and glory of God.

Prayer:

Father, give me the strength and boldness of Paul. Through the Spirit, guide me and direct me to have more spiritual conversations with people in my life. Change my heart to love those around me and to care for them more than I care for myself. I want to live a life worthy of the gospel, Lord. Not so that people would look at me and be in awe of me but that they would look at me and be in awe of you. Amen.

  JASON WORTHEN | Elder

 Jason and Larissa were part of the founding members of Hutto Bible Church in 2007. Previously, they attended Hill County Bible Church Pflugerville for nearly six years. They have been married for 16 years and have three daughters: Elisabeth, Sarah and Rebekah. Jason is employed by General Motors and Larissa is a stay-at-home mom who works three times as hard. Jason put his trust in Christ in 2003 when he was attending Bible Study Fellowship in Austin. Both Jason and Larissa have served in Children’s Ministry, Student Ministry and in an elder capacity.