Philippians 3:1-11
Philippians 3:1-11
New King James Version (NKJV)
All for Christ
1 Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. For me to write the same things to you is not tedious, but for you it is safe.
2 Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the mutilation! 3 For we are the circumcision, who worship God in the Spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh, 4 though I also might have confidence in the flesh. If anyone else thinks he may have confidence in the flesh, I more so: 5 circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews; concerning the law, a Pharisee; 6 concerning zeal, persecuting the church; concerning the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.
7 But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. 8 Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; 10 that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, 11 if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.
My Thoughts:
So many things today, but I will keep it to three and I will leave it up to you to talk about the rest.
- Let’s start with (v. 2) we read “2 Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the mutilation!”
- “Beware of dogs” a reference to defilement, some Jews would refer to the Gentiles as dogs. Paul is dismissing those who clam perfection, as defiled and deformed, he tells then that these people do not have the Spirit of God in them.
- “beware of evil workers” most of the Jews disregarded to Gentiles, and as such were working counter to Christ teachings.
- “beware of the mutilation” this was the physical circumcision, Paul’s a Jewish opponents in Philippi.
- In (v. 3) we read “For we are the circumcision, who worship God in the Spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh,”
- Paul is telling them that they are the chosen ones, the seeds of Abraham. This comes from believing and worshiping Christ.
- Paul lets them know that, it is because of their faith not their actions that this they are the circumcision, and for no other reason than their faith.
- Let’s finish with (v. 9) “and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith;”
- The Law will never bring salvation; on through faith in Christ will we be saved.
- Faith in Christ means the removal of all other grounds of confidence.
Thought of the Day
“Our greatest riches are the riches we have in Christ.”
What things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Philippians 3:7
I was rummaging around my son’s garage and found all the trophies he had won in his years of athletic competition. There they were in a box about to be thrown out.
I thought of the blood, sweat, and tears that had gone into gaining those awards, yet now he was putting them in the trash. They no longer had any value to him.
It reminded me of a whimsical children’s poem by Shel Silverstein called “Hector the Collector.” It describes all the things that Hector collected over the years. He “loved them more than shining diamonds, loved them more than glistenin’ gold.” Then Hector called to all his friends, “Come and share my treasure trunk!” And all the people “came and looked and called it junk.”
So it will be at the end of our lives. All our possessions the things we’ve spent a lifetime working for will be nothing but junk. That’s when we’ll surely know that the best things in life are not things.
But we can have the right perspective now, as Paul did. “What things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ” (Philippians 3:7). We can keep a proper attitude about our possessions, because we possess the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus our Lord.
David H. Roper
I’d rather have Jesus than silver or gold,
I’d rather be His than have riches untold;
I’d rather have Jesus than anything
This world affords today.
Miller
Personal Reflection and Discussion
- What do think Paul meant in (vv. 5, 6)?
- What can we learn from (v. 8)?
- What other things do you see in the text?
Prayer Activities
- Call your Partner and discuss this devotional.
- Continue to have a prayer list and continue to praying for them.
- Pray with them and ask for the following;
- For God to help us avoid the dogs, and the evil ones.
- For God to strengthen us through Christ.
- For the individuals on your pray list.
- Let’s use (Isaiah 42:1) for today’s prayer verse.
About bobh6
40 Days of study 
God is rich above imagination and yet we see Jesus lay it all down and would of given it all up for us. He came as a lowly carpenter and even till his death we was considered poor. He came here into poverty trying to gather for himself and father people. Not just a cumulation of people but a selective people of common love….the love of mankind. Not Jesus could of tried to draw people to himself and his father through shinny riches (which would of worked) but then he may draw lovers of self and riches and crowd and confuse the way for the poorer simple people. He drew people with love for mankind hoping to find others of common love drawn to him. Even though Jesus truely owns everything in heaven and earth he restricts himself in these trying times. Where is our hearts and what are we really after in this selfish confusing world. Jesus made it simple to see it’s all about love and relationships.
Diffcult times and natural disasters cause us to question and re-prioritze what’s truely valuable to us. If we have to walk away with something most of would choose people and forsake the stuff. No one would really want everything and be alone and unloved, The joy of stuff wears out quickly.
When I met David (my husband) my family went through one of our rough times where we had to move into the cheapest motel indefinetly untill we could save enough for a down payment for another rent. It was embarrassing enough to have the whole family of 6 squish into living into oner oom, but it topped it when the High School bus had to pick me up right in the parking lot by our room. But through it all David would travel an hour away (where we first met 4 months before) to often visit us and even added to our money pot. He loved me and my family through it all…and it almost seemed like it deepened his love for us. I knew I liked him alot before, I don’t know if I loved him before this but, seeing this made me fall in love with him. I tell you, to me that was the true test of his love.
God knows what we need we just need to see it also. thanks for your story
Verses 5 and 6 find Paul telling us about his life before he came toknow Jesus. He never hid the fact that he was not who he was now. He tells how he was circumsiced on the proper day after his birth. He can call himself stock of Israel because he is able to trace his origins back to the true line of Israel(Jacob not Esau). He tells of being from the tribe of Benjamin which is highly regarded. Hebrew of Hebrew shows his parents (both) were jews, and that once he had been a pharisee. He is not bragging on these things but trying to show that one cannot depend on the things of this earth (confidence in the flesh) to save you. Only your faith in Jesus, calling on Him to save you can do this. Then Paul says “don’t forget, I even hunted down christians and killed them as part of my confidence in flesh.” Since Paul was saved he knew how wrong he once was and wanted to get this message tothose jews who were still opposing the work Paul was doing for God. As for verse:), I can honestly say, I am not sure but I bet God can use it. 🙂 I also liked verse 7 for I think it is trying to say that the things Paul once thought to be imortant became unimortant when confronted by Jesus resurrected.
Many times we accept our leaders in Christ to be perfect, and think they grew up with the understanding that Christ was the one and only. But the truth God takes the lowest of the lowest and makes them His strongest leaders. I think it takes us hitting bottom before we can truly understand and accept Christ and His gift. Reading your comments made me think of (Matt. 19:24) Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” I for one am glad that our leaders are not perfect, if they were how could they understand what we are going through