NRSV
We aren't to be confident in what we have done or what we have (v. 3-4). We don't get to get circumcised to be saved - we are the circumcision, because God has made us that - He has set us apart as holy for His purposes.
v. 8: "For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish in order that I may gain Christ."
Luke 14:33 "Any of your who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple."
Francois Fenelon: "They sacrifice themselves, but to what they love most. They suffer, but they want to suffer, and they prefer the suffering to every false joy."
FF: "Happy are they who give themselves to God! They are delivered from their passions, from the judgments of others, from their malice, from the tyranny of their sayings, from their cold and wretched mocking, from the misfortunes which the world distributes to wealth, from the unfaithfulness and inconstancy of friends, from the wiles and snares of the enemy, from our own weakness, from the misery and brevity of life, from the horrors of a profane death, from the cruel remorse attached to wicked pleasures, and in the end from the eternal condemnation of God."
FF: "Many people [...] only know what religion exacts without knowing what it offers, and they ignore the spirit of love which makes everything easy. They do not know that it leads to the highest perfection by a feeling of peace and love which sweetens all the struggle. Those who are wholly God's are always happy. They know by experience that the yoke of the Lord is 'easy and light,' that we find in him 'rest for the soul,' and that he comforts those who are weary and overburdened, as he himself has said."
v. 9: "...and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but one that comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God based on faith."
Faith=trust. If I have faith in my husband, I trust him. If I have faith in my doctor, I trust she knows what she's talking about and that she has my best interest at heart...
"...and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but one that comes from actually trusting Christ to be trustworthy, the righteousness from God based on a relationship of trust." (RMB version :)
v. 11: "I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death..."
- I want to know Christ personally - to be related to him as a friend, a daughter, a sister, a pupil...
- I want to know the power of his resurrection - to be resurrected myself when he returns, and to be made new daily by the power of his Spirit.
- I want to share in his suffering as he did. I love him and want to experience everything just as he did - the good, the bad, and the ugly.
- I want to become like him in his death - courageous, compassionate, obedient to the end. And his death was not his end - he was resurrected, and I too, want my death to be just a short interlude before my resurrection and participation at that Great Feast in the Kingdom.
v. 12: "I press on to make it [resurrection from the dead] my own, because Jesus Christ has made me his own."
v. 13: "...but this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead..."
Paul is not living in the past - he's not wallowing in his past mistakes or resting on his laurels. He has a goal for the future, and he's laboring away right now to make that possible. The goal?...
v. 14: "I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus."
We are not to remain the same when we meet Jesus but to draw ever closer to him, and to grow in our faith and trust.
v. 16: "Only hold fast to what we have attained."
Let's hang on to the progress we've made so far, not backsliding, so that we can venture ever further!
The Message
"The very credentials these people are waving around as something special, I'm tearing up and throwing out with the trash - along with everything else I used to take credit for ... Yes, all the things I once thought were so important are gone from my life."
Can I say this? Do I rely on my credentials rather than valuing Christ above all? Do I take credit for my own successes, or do I thank God for all of his blessings and the opportunities I've been given? Am I willing to give up the sources of my pride for Christ?
"I didn't want some inferior brand of righteousness that comes from keeping a list of rules when I could get the robust kind that comes from trusting Christ - God's righteousness."
God want my obedience - and for my puny mind he's created rule lists. But those lists aren't exactly what it's about - he wants my character to become as true, as honorable, as just, as pure, as lovely, as gracious, as excellent, and as praiseworthy as Christ's. But as long as I'm clothed in this mortal body, my understanding is stunted (I need those lists!) and my obedience is faltering. God offers me Christ's beautiful righteousness instead!
"There are many out there taking other paths, choosing other goals, and trying to get you to go along with them."
And it's so easy for me to be caught up in that. I need to measure every offer against the standard of Christ.
"But there's far more to life for us. We're citizens of high heaven! We're waiting for the arrival of the Savior, the Master, Jesus Christ, who will transform our earthly bodies into glorious bodies like his own. He'll make us beautiful and whole with the same powerful skill by which he is putting everything as it should be, under and around him."
It's sometimes easy to think that the people "out there" have all the fun, and "in here" we're all cloistered up and restricted. But we're not. Here are some words this passage uses to describe the life in Christ we're called to: far more, high heaven, glorious, beautiful, whole, everything as it should be. That's most definitely not boring or restrictive!
NLT
v.1: "Whatever happens my dear brothers, rejoice in the Lord."
Just like what he says again in 4:4: "Rejoice in the Lord always, again I will say rejoice!" When I've been reciting memory verses on my morning walk and Phil. 4:4 comes up, I'm jolted to a sense of needing a big attitude adjustment. I need to be thankful and look at all God has given me and all he's protected me from, and think of what a wonderful Person he is and how much I want to be like him.
v. 3: "For we who worship by the Spirit of God are the ones who are truly circumcised."
What does it mean to "worship by the Spirit of God"? At the very least, I understand that the Spirit knows better how to pray than I do, and He makes intercession for me...
...Paul has quite the spiritual pedigree. Mine's not nearly so impressive, and looks kinda shabby next to some others' - like even my husband's. But even then I find *reason* to be self-righteous:
- I don't worship at one of those feelings-over-substance churches like _____.
- I know the truth about XYZ in the Bible unlike _____.
- I followed God's laws and did LMNOP unlike ______.
- I know much more about God's principles for health and follow a much better lifestyle and diet than ______.
But my righteousness doesn't come from any of this. All my righteousness is Christ's righteousness, and any of my righteous acts are merely what's rubbed off from Jesus. I can't claim credit!
v. 9: "I no longer count on my own righteousness through obeying the law; rather, I become righteous through faith in Christ."
And there is an interesting paradox - the less I claim the law as my righteousness and accept God's instead, the more I am enabled to do what the law requires... by God's grace!
v. 18: "For I have told you often before, and I say it again with tears in my eyes, that there are many whose conduct shows they are really enemies of the cross of Christ."
Paul is not judgmental towards such people. He, instead, is brought to tears thinking of them. That is a real attitude of love - he want their best and is tender toward them.
v. 20: "And we are eagerly waiting for him to return as Savior."
Am I? This should be my greatest hope!
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