Does it ever feel like you spend six days a week pursuing entirely different things than what you pursue on Sunday? Like me, maybe you pursue status, influence, authority, pleasure for six days, and then on the Lord's Day, we think in terms of faith, hope, love, meekness, humility, and religious things.
Paul in today's scripture reading passage in the MPC reading plan shows us that if we aren't finding our status and significance in Christ, then we are not only blunting our growth as Christians, but we may be becoming "enemies of the cross." Yikes! That sounds bad. Let's turn to Paul.
On the whole, Paul is warning the Philippians about those who would sell them short on what Christ has done. Why? One can either have confidence in Christ or in the flesh. Even religious preoccupations can fall under the category 'the flesh.' Paul begins to name off all the ways he found status and significance in Philippians 3:5-7: circumcision, a part of Benjamin's tribe in Israel, a Pharisee, a church persecutor, with a flawless righteousness as it pertains to the law. But this all builds to a disavowal of these things. They are nothing, they are garbage, not because they are not worth pursuing, but because he only really gets any of this from Christ. (v. 7-8) He goes on to show this. He gets righteousness from Christ (v. 9). As close as he is to Benjamin (his tribe), or to Israel, he is now closer to Jesus Christ: "I want to know Christ - yes to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings..." (v. 10) Christ is his identity and status. Finally, where circumcision was a sign of death in Israelite tradition, a sign of dependence on God's work alone, the Jews Paul is railing against have turned it into its opposite - a sign of confidence in oneself. But now Paul has a true circumcision in Christ's death. (v. 11) Only participation here, in Christ's death, will lead to resurrection. Each of the things Paul talks about in verses 5-7 - circumcision, having identity with the people of God, and being righteous - find their true fulfillment in Christ in verses 8-11. Paul's key point: I don't pursue them in and of themselves. That way, they are garbage. When we pursue Christ, we achieve all the status and significance we were hoping for from those things.
Let's return to our own priorities. What status and significance do you pursue all week? By investing in the work, the people, the projects, the goals that you do, what are you hoping to achieve? These things are not built or made to withstand your ultimate yearnings and hopes. Seek Christ first. A lot of what we do during the week is great. But a lot of it can be dehumanizing too. (Sit in traffic for an hour and tell me you are feeling the full glory of what it is to be human!) You need Christ to continue to show you both the great worth of what you pursue with your time during the week, and also that you are not defined or measured by your work in God's eyes. You have an identity and a righteousness with Christ beyond what you do.
Heavenly Father, we cling so much to the status symbols and markers of identity that the world gives us because we are desperate to know who we are. Thank you that you have left none of this to chance. Thank you that we are not our own, but belong in life and death to our Savior Jesus Christ, and that we have a heritage and an identity not only for the next life, but this day, today, right now. We pray this in Jesus' name, Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment