Philippians 3:1b-11 (NRSV) To write the same things to you is not troublesome to me, and for you it is a safeguard. 2 Beware of the dogs, beware of the evil workers, beware of those who mutilate the flesh! 3 For it is we who are the circumcision, who worship in the Spirit of God and boast in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh— 4 even though I, too, have reason for confidence in the flesh.If anyone else has reason to be confident in the flesh, I have more: 5 circumcised on the eighth day, a member of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; 6 as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless.7 Yet whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss because of Christ. 8 More than that, I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard 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 one that comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God based on faith. 10 I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death, 11 if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead.
“I am a good person. I do not believe that salvation is through Jesus. If there is a God, He (or She) will certainly judge people by what they do, not by what they believe, about a savior. I am good enough as I am. No one is perfect but I live the right kind of life. I follow a healthy diet. I get my exercise and rest. I have lots of friends. I am working my head off to keep my family together. If someone is good, they will get rewarded in the next life. If they are wicked, they deserve what they get in the future, but that is certainly not me. I enjoy the good things of life, the hunting, fishing, sports, being close to God in nature. I am an honorable spiritual person.”
Paul had gone that route, being a good “Jewish” person. He had been circumcised, sought to punish the people who put works down and said the relationship with God depends on God’s gifts to sinners. He knew he was not one of those! He obeyed Sabbath laws, did everything he thought God would expect of him. He tells us here that he was among the best at what he did, until …
The resurrected Jesus, the Lord of all life, met him on the road to Damascus in a vision. He left the place blind and later confessed faith in Christ. He spent his life telling about the love from God in Christ that did not begin every sentence with the word “I.” It is so much different to acknowledge we are not in control, whether of our health, our wealth, our world. Our efforts will never make everything perfect. Christ clothes us with His righteousness and makes us holy. When we worship, we hear the Good News about what God has made us to be. Our life is not with us “in control” but with us “in response”: To hear Good News, to praise and worship the Triune God, to see ourselves in the Creator’s promise of restoration that delivers the benefits of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection through the Holy Spirit. “I am a good person (in Christ) forever, through His grace and righteousness.” See you at the weekly celebration!
Pastor Tom Trapp, Mission Pastor
Walking the Emmaus Road with the Risen Lord!
(Originally published in Emmaus Footprints, Vol. XV, Number 12, July 2014)