LifeLink Devotions for Thursday, August 15, 2024

Philippians 3:1 “Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord!”

Paul begins the third chapter of Philippians by telling us to rejoice in the Lord. But wait, hasn’t he been telling us to rejoice all along?  He told us to rejoice because we are partners in the work of the Gospel. He reminded us to rejoice in the power of prayer.  We can rejoice because of the unity we have within the church because our focus is on Christ. And Paul convinces us that we can have joy even when we are suffering because of our intimacy with Jesus. So why now is he telling us to rejoice?

Look closely at what he says – “Rejoice in the Lord.” In the lord.  Not in circumstances, not in the results of the Gospel. We are to rejoice in our relationship with Jesus. He just finished telling us to rejoice in suffering and in serving because we have intimacy with Jesus, but now he explains that intimacy is possible only if the relationship is based on truth. We can only rejoice in the Lord if we know the truth about Jesus and stand up for that truth consistently. Being theologically pure produces rejoicing.

Over the next few days we are going to discover four things from Philippians chapter three that are essential to our theological position in Christ. Don’t let the word theology scare you from this study. I promise I will make it simple and applicable to our lives.

In Philippians three, verses two through four, Paul gives us theological principle number one: we can rejoice because our confidence is not in the flesh but in the finished work of Jesus Christ in our lives.

“It is no trouble for me to write the same things to you again, and it is a safeguard for you. Watch out for those dogs, those men who do evil, those mutilators of the flesh. 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-though I myself have reasons for such confidence.”

We do not depend on what the flesh can provide for us, but we glory in what Jesus has provided for us, and we worship Him by the power of the Spirit of God. There is not much reason to rejoice when our hope is in the finite and failing system of the world, but there is every reason to be filled with joy when our hope is in the eternal and the never-failing power of God to save us through the blood of Jesus Christ shed on the cross.

So many people today are stuck in the bondage of earning their salvation by good works. That’s why there is so much hopelessness. You see, when good works are motivated by a need to purchase God’s favor they become joy suckers and leave us lifeless. But when good works are the product of salvation by grace through faith alone they become joy producers.

As you read on in chapter three you see Paul declaring that if anyone has a reason to rejoice because of the flesh it is him. He did everything religiously right. But it was all for the wrong reason. He then says this. “I consider them rubbish, 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 is through faith in Christ-the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith.” Everything Paul did to earn God’s favor was rejected and by faith alone He received salvation as a gift of God’s grace.

That theological truth is the starting point of being able to rejoice in the Lord.

Pastor John