Saturday, September
22, 2012, 7:47 a.m. – the Lord woke me with the song “For Our Nation” playing in my mind. Speak, Lord, for your servant
is listening. I read Philippians 3:1-4:1
(NIV 1984):
Finally, my brothers,
rejoice in the Lord! 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.
If anyone else thinks
he has reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the
eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of
Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; as for zeal, persecuting the church;
as for legalistic righteousness, faultless.
But whatever was to my
profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider
everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus
my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. 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. I want to know Christ and the power of his
resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him
in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.
Not that I have
already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to
take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not
consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting
what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal
to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
All of us who are
mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think
differently, that too God will make clear to you. Only let us live up to what
we have already attained.
Join with others in
following my example, brothers, and take note of those who live according to
the pattern we gave you. For, as I have often told you before and now say again
even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their destiny is
destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame.
Their mind is on earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven. And we
eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power
that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our
lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.
Therefore, my
brothers, you whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, that is how you
should stand firm in the Lord, dear friends!
Watch out For Dogs!
The term “dog” was used in the Old Testament (Bible) to
describe people or groups of people who were considered despicable or unclean,
such as Gentiles (those outside of faith in the one true God), who were
spiritually unclean. More often in the New Testament the term was used to
describe false teachers who tried to promote “another gospel,” which was no
gospel at all, in order to lead followers of Christ away from the true gospel,
and away from their pure devotion to Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. And, that
is the case here. The “dogs” Paul referred to here were the Judaizers who tried
to get the Gentile believers to be circumcised and to follow the old Jewish ceremonial
laws and requirements.
Though, certainly, legalists still exist today, I believe they
are of much smaller numbers than they were 50 years ago. In the place of
legalism, another false gospel has risen to fame, which has swept across
evangelical Christianity here in America, and is far more dangerous and
deceptive than the requirements of externals, though that is bad enough. This
false gospel removes the cross and the purpose of what Jesus did in dying on
the cross for our sins. It makes a mockery of all that he did as it requires no
death to sin (no repentance) and no walk of obedience to Christ and his
commands for salvation. It obliterates the very reason for which Christ died
which was to free us from slavery to sin. Jesus did not die just so we could go
to heaven one day. He died that we might be free of captivity to sin while we
are still on this earth, and so we could walk in the Spirit of God and follow
our Lord Jesus Christ in full surrender and obedience to his will for our
lives, and so we could have sweet fellowship with our Lord daily, hourly and
moment-by-moment.
Yet, there is another level of “dogs” that exist within our
nations, and those are people in public office or governmental authority who
lie and deceive the people of their nations into believing and trusting in them,
convincing us they have our good in mind, and that we can believe their words
and promises to us. Many of them claim to be Christians or claim to believe in
Jesus Christ, yet their words and actions do not support that notion, as their
words and actions often speak the opposite. Not one of us is perfect, mind you,
so I am not suggesting that they must live in sinless perfection, but that
there are many political figures who are hypocrites in that they claim one
thing yet live another, and that their goal is to deceive the people and to
take advantage of them and of their trust. Jesus talked about such men in John
10, who enter the sheep pen by another way and their goal is to destroy the
flock. Ezekiel (chapter 34) also spoke of such men who only take care of
themselves.
So, this calls for much discernment. We must, must spend
time each day in the study of God’s word so we know the truth, so we are not
easily deceived by these “dogs” who do evil but who claim to do good. And, we
must check out everything we hear and stop believing everything we read or hear
in the news or in sermons or in books written by men. Not everyone is who he
claims to be. We need to stop trusting in men, and put our trust in God alone,
and we need to be so discerning and test everything against the word of God. We
need to stop being so gullible, and we need to pray through everything we hear
to see if God shares the same assessment of people and situations as are
presented to us daily.
For, as I have often
told you before and now say again even with tears, many live as enemies of the
cross of Christ. Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and
their glory is in their shame. Their mind is on earthly things.
I Now Consider Loss
Paul had reason to boast in his flesh for he had been a
staunch Pharisee and faultless in his zeal for legalistic righteousness, even
to the point of persecuting the church. Yet, all those things that he once
claimed as important he now considered loss for the sake of Christ and his
gospel. Yet, his statement here says so much more to us than just being a
testimony of having forsaken a life of legalistic righteousness (trying to earn
his salvation).
What Paul described here, and in many other places in his
writings, describes the true meaning of the cross of Christ in our lives, i.e.
what our salvation is truly all about. When we come to Christ in faith, we die
to our old lives of sin and of pleasing ourselves and of following after other
gods or false religions, etc. Everything we once considered important or
essential for our lives we now lay at Jesus’ feet and surrender our wills to
his will for our lives. Whatever we once boasted about in our flesh is now
rubbish. The things of this world, the sinful pleasures of this life, the pride
of life and the boasting of what one has or does in the flesh is gone! We trade
in our old lives of sin for our new lives in Christ, created to be like Christ
is true righteousness and holiness (see Ephesians 4:17-24). We no longer walk
after our fleshly desires, but we walk after the Spirit to do what is pleasing
to God.
Paul said he wanted to know Christ and the power of his
resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him
in his death, and so somehow to attain to the resurrection from the dead. He
was not speaking of works-based salvation. He was speaking of the true faith
response to the gospel and to the cross of Christ. To know Christ and the power
of his resurrection means to die to our old lives of sin and self and to take
up our cross daily and follow Christ, for the power of the resurrection was
that it freed us from slavery and the ultimate punishment of sin. So, to know
Christ means to die to sin and to be alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
When we have this kind of experience and relationship with Jesus Christ we will
be persecuted and hated for our faith in Christ and thus will share in Christ’s
sufferings, because we will be treated like he was treated, and even by our
own.
Yet, Paul’s comments that follow give us much hope, because
he explains that the Christian life is a process of growth and maturity in Christ.
We are not perfect, yet we should never use our humanness or imperfection as an
excuse for willful and continued sin. When we sin, which we will, we should get
on our knees before God in all humility and repentance and pray the Lord will
help us not to go that direction again, by his strength and the power and
working of the Holy Spirit within us. And, we should press on “to take hold of
that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.” For what did Christ Jesus take
hold of us? He took hold of us so that we might be free from slavery to sin,
from the ultimate penalty of sin (eternal damnation), and so we might be free
to walk in holiness with God as Lord of our lives.
Paul was not perfect and neither will be until we reach
heaven one day, but we should aim for perfection in Christ, not having a
perfectionist attitude about our lives to the point of kicking ourselves all
the time for not measuring up, but we should have the attitude of humility and
repentance when we sin, of thankfulness for God’s grace, with a desire in our
hearts to live lives pleasing to God, and with the goal to overcome our flesh
in the power of the Spirit within us. We have to let go of our pasts and press
on for what God has for us in our future. We can’t change our pasts, but we can
change what we do in the present, one day at a time. So, instead of having a “Woe
is me” attitude or wallowing in self-pity when we fail, we should confess our sin,
turn, and keep moving forward in God’s grace.
Our World Around Us
We are going to face a lot of stuff in this life – some good,
and some bad. We will face sickness, trials, tribulations, things that test our
faith, hardships, persecutions, mistreatment, betrayal of friends and trusted
relationships, etc. These should not shake our faith, but should drive us to
our knees in prayer, and in seeking God’s face for answers. These times that
test us should drive us even more to follow Jesus Christ with wholehearted
devotion and commitment to obey him and to live lives pleasing unto him. They
should drive us to self-examination of heart and mind so that we know, without
a shadow of a doubt, that we are following Jesus Christ to the best of our
knowledge, so that we are pressing on toward the goal to win the prize for
which God has called us heavenward in Christ Jesus.
For Our Nation /
An Original Work / September 11, 2012
( ) Indicates descant (Soprano)
Bombs are bursting.
Night is falling.
(Jesus Christ is)
Jesus Christ is gently
calling
(Gently calling)
You to follow Him in
all ways.
(You to follow)
Trust Him with your
life today.
(Him in all ways.)
Make Him your Lord and
your Savior.
(Make Him your Lord)
Turn from your sin.
Follow Jesus.
(And your Savior.)
He will forgive you of
your sin;
(Turn from your sin.)
Cleanse your heart,
made new within.
(Follow Jesus.)
Men betraying: Our
trust fraying.
(On our knees to)
On our knees to God
we’re praying,
(God we’re praying,)
Seeking God to give us
answers
(Seeking God to)
That are only found in
Him.
(Give us answers.)
God is sovereign over all
things.
(God is sovereign)
Nothing from His mind
escaping.
(Over all things.)
He has all things
under His command,
(He will work all
things)
And will work all for
good.
(Out for good.)
Men deceiving: we’re
believing
(We’re believing)
In our Lord, and interceding
(In our Lord , and)
For our nation and its
people
(Interceding)
To obey their God
today.
(For our nation.)
He is our hope for our
future.
(God is our hope)
For our wounds He
offers suture.
(For our future.)
He is all we need for
this life.
(He is all we)
Trust Him with your
life today.
(Need for this life.)
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