Truth Today Newsletter: Philippians 3:1

Paul, in the next verse, would tell the church what to beware of, but now he tells them to rejoice in the Lord.

He wants them to focus on the Lord before anything else. The priority is the Lord; the gaze should be on him.

We may not have been emphasizing enough the need to rejoice in the Lord, for all He has done for us, who He is to us, and how He is always with us.

And we need to note how Paul regards repetition. He did not regard it as boring, nor should the church. For us, Christianity is not just about learning something; it is about dwelling in a new reality, which entails repetition.

It is like Jesus saying, You are already clean, but you still need your feet cleansed again and again (wash one another’s feet, John 13:10, 14).
It is like John saying the seed of God in you does not sin, but you still need to confess specific sins to be cleansed (1 John 3:9). And the writer of the book of Hebrews mentioned the need to stir up one another to love and good words so that we would not be swept away in the deceitfulness of sin (Hebrews 3:13, 10:24-25).
It is as if we already have victory in Christ (Colossians 1:13), but we still must put on the whole armor of God and quench the fiery darts of the devil (Ephesians 6:11, 16).
It’s like the battle is over —it is finished (John 19:30) —but the battle still continues.
It is like already having righteousness as a gift (2 Corinthians 5:21), but we still need to put to death the works of the flesh and walk day by day in the newness of life (Romans 8:13).

(This theme fills the scripture, and it takes spiritual understanding to recognize both at the same time. )

You are dwelling with Christ in the heavenly places (Ephesians 2:6), and you still have your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of feet on the earth (Ephesians 6:15). We are living out what is already accomplished for us in the realm of the unseen.
It’s Christ saying all authority is heaven and on earth is given to Him (Matthew 28:18-20), but we still have to go into the world and preach the gospel, tell the people about the king who died and is coming back again, so that they can believe and submit to His words, and that involves repetition. Repeatedly doing the same things, repeatedly reading the bible, going to church, preaching the gospel, proclaiming the truth day in and day out.

Paul said it is a safeguard for him to tell you to rejoice in the Lord, and then tells you about false teachers in the next verse.

What do we know about false teachers, and why should we beware of them? They are relentless and persuasive. They persuade you away from the Lord, away from our place of rest in Him.

They emphasize something else rather than the need to rejoice in the Lord. They may tell you that for salvation you need to do something like circumcision, rather than salvation as something already accomplished, and you are supposed to rejoice in that, in spite of the circumstances.

Rather than “rejoice in the Lord,” the false teachers unsettle your faith, recommending a focus on something else —your achievement, rather than on the Lord.

Not just learn about the Lord, but rejoice in the Lord. For example, singing to Him about what He has done for you is the way to go. It is more than getting information.

And sometimes people want you to get information and put it to use. But there may not be anything to put to use, rather just rejoice. That also glorifies God. There may not be any particular immediate application for those obsessed with doing stuff.

There may not even be anything to repent of; rather, you hear the message, and, as Paul says in the focus verse, rejoice, and that is all.

God is glorified in that also. Let me say that again: a message does not have to have an application; we may just hear it, and the response is to rejoice in what Christ has done —not to make a new year’s resolution, not to set up a three-point action plan, not to put anything to use —just rejoice. Praise the Lord!