In today’s text, the Apostle Paul deals with the topic of religious pride and false spiritual confidence…
“FINALLY, my brothers, delight yourselves in the Lord! It doesn’t bore me to repeat a piece of advice like this, and you will find it a safeguard to your souls. Be on your guard against these curs, these wicked workmen, these would-be mutilators of your bodies! We are truly circumcised when we worship God by the Spirit; we pride ourselves in Jesus Christ and put no confidence in the flesh. If it were right to have such confidence, I could certainly have it, and if any of these men thinks he has grounds for such confidence I am assure him I have more. I was born from the people of Israel, I was circumcised on the eighth day, I was a member of the tribe of Benjamin. I was in fact a full-blooded Jew. As far as keeping the Law is concerned, I was a Pharisee, and you can judge my enthusiasm for the Jewish faith by my active persecution of e Church. As far as the Law’s righteousness is concerned, I don’t think anyone could have found fault with me. Yet every advantage that I had gained I considered loss for Christ’s sake. Yes, and I look upon everything as loss compared with the overwhelming gain of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I did in fact suffer the loss of everything, but I considered it mere garbage compared with being able to win Christ. For now, my place is in him, and I am not dependent upon any of the self-achieved righteousness of the Law; God has given me that genuine righteousness which comes from faith in Christ.” Philippians 3:1-9, Philip’s Translation
Many people find their confidence before God in their religious good deeds and accomplishments. What Paul is saying to these people is that they are putting their trust in the wrong things. Paul demonstrates in this text that if anyone had a reason to boast before God, it would be him. Yet, now, knowing what he knows, he realizes that all his religious confidence and pride was misplaced. And in reality, the only grounds for spiritual confidence is confidence in Christ, His work on the cross and what He has done and will do for and in us.
The Lord God said it this way in the Old Testament…
“Thus says the LORD: “Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, Let not the mighty man glory in his might, Nor let the rich man glory in his riches; But let him who glories glory in this, That he understands and knows Me, That I am the LORD, exercising lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth. For in these I delight,” says the LORD.”
Jeremiah 9:23, 24, NKJV. Pastor Mike