Daily Reading February 1 2010 from Philippians 3:1-11 NIV

Day 22

Congratulations! If you have been reading these daily posts for the past 21 days you have now developed a habit. Physicians suggest that it takes 21 days of repeating the same thing over and over to form a new habit. This theory appears to have originated with a plastic surgeon, Dr. Maxwell Maltz. Dr. Maltz noted that it took an average of 21 days for an amputee to quit having phantom feeling after amputation. This research has continued and appears to have been confirmed by many. So, if you have been reading your bible daily through these posts you have just formed a very good and beneficial habit. Now keep it up!

Philippians 3:1-11 NIV

1 Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord! It is no trouble for me to write the same things to you again, and it is a safeguard for you. 2 Watch out for those dogs, those men who do evil, those mutilators of the flesh.3 For it is we who are the circumcision, we who worship by the Spirit of God, who glory in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh– 4 though I myself have reasons for such confidence. If anyone else thinks he has reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more:5 circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; 6 as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for legalistic righteousness, faultless. 7 But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ.8 What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ–the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith.10 I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death,11 and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.

Rejoice in the Lord!

This first sentence is the headline of today’s reading. Paul puts it very clearly that the Lord is the only reason for rejoicing. I cannot help but think about those who do not know Christ. They cannot have true joy! Without Christ we can think we are free, have peace, and are happy but once you really know Him it becomes obvious that without Him we can do nothing. Paul begins this passage by warning believers not to be deceived by men who want to put them back under the law. Paul uses strong language calling these deceivers dogs. He goes on to write that we can have no confidence in the flesh but must rejoice in what Christ did.

If anyone had reason to boast about his credentials, education, or bloodline Paul certainly did. He states his pedigree in the verses of our reading. Paul was a Pharisee taught by the best. There was a time that Paul walked around with great prestige and authority because of what he had accomplished. Things however changed on the road to Damascus when he realized just how little he knew about the God he claimed to serve. Paul describes this change in verse 8 when he says “I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord”. He says it was “for His sake I have lost all things.” Paul isn’t complaining or lamenting but rather rejoicing in Christ that he has been set free from the legalistic religious way he once lived. He goes on to compare all the things he had earned to garbage. Paul had lived a religious and even zealous life where he had brought all his talents and abilities to God expecting God to bless his earthly efforts. This attitude was that of a Pharisee. The Damascus encounter changed not only the name of this man but also the attitude of his heart. Paul had come to realize that he had nothing at all to offer God and that is was only by the gift of God that he could have a relationship with God. Paul had come full circle and rejected the self-righteous training he had once enjoyed. He had lost the prideful way of living and was not walking humbly under the yoke of Jesus, his savior.

The passage ends with “I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection”. That should be our aim as well, to know Christ and only Christ. Paul would say elsewhere that He only knew Christ and the resurrection. That was the purpose of his life. The life changing power of God had forever changed this man! Have you been changed? Have you had your Damascus road encounter with the living God or are you walking in self trying to do all the right things to be accepted by God? We need to learn as the Apostle did that we are only acceptable because of Jesus. Rejoice today because your sins are forgiven and if they aren’t repent and then rejoice. Jesus paid it all!

Blessings,

Pastor Larry