Video Talk
Philippians 3:2-3,13b-21 ESV
“Look out for the dogs, look out for the evildoers, look out for those who mutilate the flesh. For we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh.”
“But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you. Only let us hold true to what we have attained.
“Brothers, join in imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us. For many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.”
This passage of Scripture (I recommend reading the whole
chapter) has a dual lesson. One part is against legalism and the other part is
for righteousness, holiness, godliness, and walks of obedience to our Lord. For
it isn’t either a free-for-all, or it is legalism, as our two choices. We don’t
follow all the Old Covenant ceremonial, liturgical, and dietary laws and
restrictions or on the opposite end is total anarchy and absolute freedom to
keep on sinning now that we have been supposedly saved by God’s grace.
Yes, we are not saved by our own fleshly works of our own
doing. There is nothing that we can do in and of ourselves to earn or to
deserve our own salvation. But our salvation is not absent of works. It is just
that they are the works of God which he prepared in advance that we should walk
in them. And his grace instructs us to say “No!” to ungodliness and fleshly
passions and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives while we wait
for our Lord’s return (see Ephesians 2:8-10; Titus 2:11-14).
So the “dogs” (false teachers) which we are to watch out for
are on both ends of this see-saw or pendulum. And neither extreme is the truth.
The truth is somewhere in the middle. For we still have to obey our Lord and
his commandments (under the New Covenant), and we still have to live godly and
holy lives in righteous living, all by the grace of God and in his strength. Yet
we are still to avoid and cast off trying to earn God’s favor via our own
fleshly works, and we are not to add on legalistic requirements, not of God.
But pay attention to Paul’s wording here. Putting no
confidence in the flesh isn’t just about fleshly works. For the works of the
flesh are idolatry, sexual immorality, lying, cheating, stealing, and bearing
false witness, etc. We are neither to be legalists who add on to our salvation
what is not of God, nor are we to be those who ignore and/or who remove from
the truth of the gospel God’s requirements for obedience and righteous living
and his requirement that we no longer walk in sin, according to the flesh.
For in verse 10 (not quoted above) Paul spoke of faith in
these terms: “That I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may
share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means
possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.” And when Jesus suffered
on that cross it was to put our sins to death so that we, by faith in him,
could die with him to sin and live to him and to his righteousness. It was so
that we could be crucified with him in death to sin and raised with him to walk
in newness of life in him, free from the control of sin, and free to obey God.
But then Paul talked about pressing on, and forgetting, and
straining forward, which are all words of doing something, and so he was not
teaching a “do nothing” gospel for sure. For those who are enemies of the cross
are those who are opposed to what Jesus did for us on that cross. For in his
death on that cross he put our sins to death with him in order to free us from
our slavery to sin so that we would now walk in holiness and in righteousness
in obedience to his New Covenant commands.
For those who are enemies of the cross of Christ, their god
is their own fleshly appetites, and their minds are set on earthly things. But
our minds are to be set on things from above, and we are to be those who are
following our Lord in walks of obedience to his commands, and who are walking
in holiness and in righteousness, in conduct, in practice, in the power of God,
and for the glory and praise of God. For if we do not obey our Lord, and if sin
is what we practice, we will not inherit eternal life with God.
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My Sheep
An Original Work / June 24, 2012
Based off John 10:1-18 NIV
My sheep hear me.
They know me.
They listen to my
voice and obey.
I call them and lead
them.
They know my voice,
so they follow me.
They will never
follow strangers.
They will run away
from them.
The voice of a
stranger they know not;
They do not follow
him.
So, I tell you the
truth that
I am the gate, so
you enter in.
Whoever does enter
Will find
forgiveness and will be saved.
Nonetheless whoever
enters
Not by the gate;
other way,
He is the thief and
a robber.
Listen not, the
sheep to him.
Oh, I am the Good
Shepherd,
Who laid his own
life down for the sheep.
I know them. They
know me.
They will live with
me eternally.
The thief only comes
to steal and
Kill and to destroy
the church.
I have come to give
you life that
You may have it to
the full…
They know my voice,
so they follow me.
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