Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Philippians 3 v1-11.

I recently led a Bible Study at church on Philippians 3 v1-11. The Apostle Paul tells the hard pressed church in Philippi to 'rejoice' and 'look out'. In fact one 'rejoice' to three 'look outs'. Paul is very concerned about a wave of false teachers about to fall upon this church.

It isn't difficult to see what sorts of things this new wave will be preaching. These teachers will be quite proud of their credentials and their authority. The Philippians will be tempted to respond in one of two ways; they will probably feel inferior to these people and/or will want to emulate them. Their qualifications as big fish however is undermined by Paul who points out that he has all the same religious credentials these characters have... but he counts it as rubbish!

The natural default setting of us humans is towards 'works religion'. We believe that, if God exists, he has nothing to complain about with us. Why should God need to forgive us anything? We haven't done anyone any harm we say... but if we are honest with ourselves we know that that is not true! We are not blameless. Nor can we can claim we are in God's good books because of our birthright or any supposed good deeds we have done. If we do we are literally being self-righteous, trusting in ourselves; just as these false teachers were.

What is the alternative? Paul wants the church to stand strong against the tsunami of false teaching he can see hurtling their way. Paul has all the same qualifications these phoney teachers have and a good deal more but paul counts all this as rubbish compared to the surpassing worth of Jesus Christ and what he accomplished for us on the Cross. Our security rests, not on our abilities or credentials, but solely on what Jesus has done for us already.

But he takes it a stage further. We are not to find our security in the 'Doctrines of Grace' as if theological rectitude will keep us safe. We are to 'Rejoice!' in the Doctrines of Grace. These will only keep us safe when we truly grasp what Jesus has done for us and respond appropriately. When we find our source of joy in Christ alone we won't be tempted or awed by anything else.

The only thing which will truly keep us safe is the joy of the Lord!