18) Strength in Suffering Series
Last week, Paul warned his brothers and sisters in the faith to watch out for the “concision,” the division that was tearing the Church apart at that time. One of the teachings of this false doctrine was that Christian men had to be circumcised to be part of the Church, the Lord’s body. Paul speaks against this corrupted teaching.
for we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God, and glory in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh:
Philippians 3:3
The circumcision in Christ is a spiritual circumcision today. It is not the circumcision God required of Abraham or those under the law of Moses. Paul explains this spiritual circumcision in Colossians 2:8-15, where he explains to the Colossian Christians that being baptized into Christ circumcises one with a “circumcision made without hands.” All Christians, women included, have undergone this spiritual operation, this surgery on the heart (Romans 2:29). Paul reminds the Philippian Christians they are the true circumcision, granted the privilege of worshipping through God’s Spirit. A woman who does not have the Spirit of God cannot worship Him. It is the operation that God performs on her heart that causes her to be made alive in Christ by the Spirit of God (Romans 8: 9-11). The life given by God’s Spirit is not some physical feeling or miraculous gift. That idea is as much a false doctrine as the lie that was spreading through the Christian world that taught Christians to believe physical circumcision was required to worship God.
Paul reminds the Philippians their glory is in Christ Jesus. Jesus is God who came to Earth to keep us from eternal death. That is the shining, glorious news of our lives. What you and I do, our accomplishments, are nothing compared to that.
“though I myself might have confidence even in the flesh: if any other man thinketh to have confidence in the flesh, I yet more: circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee; as touching zeal, persecuting the church; as touching the righteousness which is in the law, found blameless.”
Philippians 3:4-6
Paul is, again, an excellent example to these Christians of what doesn’t work. This time he is an example of a successful man according to the world. He was privileged to be born into a chosen, earthly kingdom. He was raised to become a leader in that chosen nation, highly educated and trained. He followed that path with enthusiasm; he was the best of the best. He had every benefit, every “right” to be confident. But this, and all worldly confidence works against the genuine confidence God wants us to have when we live in Christ.
Recently, my son called to talk with me. He’s in college at a Christian university, and he admitted he was losing confidence. “The things you and Dad taught me are not the things my friends here were taught.” He discussed some disagreements he’d had that week. He also told me that it hurt him to notice how many of his fellow Christian students talk about the Bible but don’t apply the things they preach to their lives at all. “I don’t even think they know they are being inconsistent. I used to point it out, but then they told me I was judging them. Now I feel guilty for noticing and considering the things going on here that aren’t right and focused on growing in God.” He confided that he felt alone. “I just don’t know what to think anymore. I know you and Dad aren’t right about everything, but I also know what I’m seeing isn’t right, too. I feel like I don’t know what God wants or who to trust.” My son’s confidence, which had so recently been formed and anchored in his life at home was being shaken. I reminded him of a little animated film, Boundin’ about a happy lamb that gets his wool taken away. When the lamb loses his wool, he loses his confidence until he realizes who he is doesn’t come from his wool at all.
Each of us trusts in something earthly. We trust in traditions and organizations and people, especially the people who raised us. It’s human nature to commit our hearts to earthly things in this life. When that earthly thing is taken from us, it is then that we learn to lean on God, trust God, and develop greater confidence in Him. Paul’s confidence could have been placed on other factors during his life, but God brought him to understand that those didn’t matter at all.
Howbeit what things were gain to me, these have I counted loss for Christ.
Philippians 3:7
Paul chose to place his confidence in the One who would always be faithful and never let him down. That is the crucial lesson of losing what we love—whether it’s a position in life, the comfort of something we value, or the people who mean so much to us. These trials we go through can be a series of confidence shakers that are necessary to develop in us a greater confidence in our King. God doesn’t take these loves away to hurt us, but to bring us to what is ultimately the far greater love.
Next, Paul gives the foundational thoughts of unsinkable faith.
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