Citizens
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Faith in Christ
Faith in Christ
Philippians 3:1–11 (ESV)
Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you is no trouble to me and is safe for you.
Look out for the dogs, look out for the evildoers, look out for those who mutilate the flesh. For we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh— though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also. If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people 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 righteousness under the law, blameless. But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. 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 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— that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.
Faith in Christ leads us to change.
Rejoice in the Lord. --Verse 1
“Joy is the serious business of heaven.”
C. S. Lewis
Chapter 3 begins with an exhortation to gladness—rejoice in the Lord. There is no reason otherwise to rejoice. Life is hard; the consequences of sin are difficult to bear.
Look out for the dogs. —Verse 2
As a father protects his children, Paul wanted to keep his spiritual children from harm. He warned them in strong language of opponents who would tempt them to false doctrine. The apostle employed sarcasm to describe those who had lost the true significance of circumcision. These men mutilate the flesh. They are unclean dogs, not qualified to enter into spiritual worship. They do evil. Be on the lookout. Know where such people are and what they are doing. Do not follow or imitate them.
Paul was writing to preserve the fellowship from the false doctrines of the day. Those doctrines pointed people to a false salvation apart from Christ.
We must be ever mindful of wrong teachings. Wrong teaching lead to destruction.
Think about wrong beliefs in the world. None of them lead to God.
Know Christ. —Verse 8
We must daily strive to know Christ more.
We must get past the consumer driven idea of Christianity. We must be a people who get lost in the awesome God who is beyond comprehension.
we are not trying to sell a product, We are simply showing people a God who is indescribable.
Two Mistakes about God
People make two big mistakes about God.
1. Heaven is attainable by good works.
“All of our righteous acts are like filthy rags” (Isa. 64:6).
“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast” (Eph. 2:8–9).
Good people do not go to heaven, because goodness is not the requirement to get into heaven. Perfection is. Like Paul in this passage, we can be a very good, religious person; but without Christ, we can never be good enough to go to heaven.
2. People think they have forever to place their faith in Christ.
We must not take advantage of this period of grace. It will not always be available. Trust today!