3) Phil 3:3 "Worship by the Spirit"- Worship is an integral part of standing firm in Christ and His strength. It's an old English word that literally means to "assign worth to something." It speaks of values and priorities in our lives. In a general sense it focuses on the idea of What do we assign worth to in our lives. It deals with the heart issue of allegiance and often implies some measure of sacrifice. True worship always costs something. It requires us to let go; to no longer be in control and surrender to Christ and His purposes for our lives. Paul is reminding the believers that worship must be of the Spirit in order for it to really satisfy our spirits. This is why it is entirely possible to sing songs in a "worship service" and never once truly worship. Obviously, genuine worship is far more than going to a church service and singing songs, but it illustrates the point well. In Romans 12:1, Paul reminds us that true worship is to be aware of Christ's mercy and offer our bodies as living sacrifice, implying obedience and surrender. Then he says that this is your spiritual act of worship. True worship then is much more than singing, but obedience and surrender to Jesus. This requires a sensitivity to the Holy Spirit; a leaning and relying on His guidance. So let's ask the question: Are you listening to the Holy Spirit's still small promptings in your heart? Are you obeying them? Are you making every effort to surrender your life to His leadership and guidance? This is worship.
Having said that I don't want to minimize the importance of worship in the general sense of the word. Singing to the Lord with a worshipful heart of adoration and respect is essential in standing firm in the 21st century. I can't even begin to describe how many times worship of this nature has literally saved my life. I learned during a very trying season when disappointment, discouragement, despair, and depression were my lot that if I could just get my heart singing to the Lord and thinking about His goodness and greatness, I would soon become aware of His beauty, power, majesty, and greatness. This, in turn, broke the heaviness of hell over my life and gave me the courage and grace to continue standing. Often during these times of vocal worship, my heart would be captivated again by His love and I would feel the need to be quiet and contemplate the truths Holy Spirit was illuminating to my heart. Often, He would instruct me to surrender areas of my life as I engaged with what He was speaking to me. So let me summarize by saying that worship is essential to living in worship. And living in worship is essential to actually being able to worship. And both require an active relationship with the Spirit of God.
4) Phil 3:3 "Glory in Christ": The idea here is that our source and sense of delight in life is found in Christ. We allow Him to satisfy us. This is essential in standing firm. Many believers never learn the principle of allowing Christ to be enough in their lives. They are always chasing after "other things." For some it's new teachings, conferences, and methods, none of which are wrong, in fact, they are often very helpful provided that the main thing remains the main thing: Jesus Christ. For others, it's a need to have new possessions--cars, gadgets, gizmos, whatever. The idea is that they find their value or delight in things. They are continually trying to scratch some inner itch with external things when only Christ can truly satisfy the heart and soul of person. We are all born with an innate desire to champion a cause, or a purpose, a dream, or life calling. Paul is saying that Christ must be our cause, our purpose, our dream, and our calling. Where do we find our sense of satisfaction? Where do we find our sense of accomplishment? Where do we derive our sense of self worth? Ultimately, the foundation to all of these questions must center around Christ and His love towards us. Without this we will float from one thing to another, from one title to another, from one pursuit or hobby to another. Jesus is enough. This is message to those who would stand firm in this tumultuous hour. Delight in His love. Delight in His favor towards you. Delight in His all sufficiency for every trial and challenge that you face. In so doing you will soon be well on your way to learning how to Glory in Christ. Obviously, this isn't a one time deal. This is life-long process of learning to trust Jesus to be enough for whatever physical, spiritual, emotional, or mental need you are facing in your life right now. A great prayer to pray along these lines is "Lord teach me how to find my satisfaction in you in this area."
5) Phil 3:3 "No confidence in the flesh": This idea is very closely connected with the previous one. We must find our glory or confidence in Christ if we are ever going to hope to overcome the temptation to find our sufficiency and confidence in and of ourselves. It is so easy to boast about our accomplishments, titles, positions, finances, job successes, gifts and talents, etc... In so doing, we often acquire an over-inflated assessment of ourselves as if we have achieved or attained these things in our own abilities. Paul goes on to demonstrate in the following verse how he possessed both the pedigree and position to boast about all kinds of spiritual and natural success. He had a rich spiritual history, deep experiences, a fabulous mentor, and incredible credentials. Yet, he realized that it was all based on his own merits, strivings, and human efforts. None of which could even begin to touch the riches found in Christ. Confidence in the flesh is a sure way to become a slave of legalism and empty religious practices. Confidence in the Spirit and in what Jesus has promised and accomplished for us is a sure way to walk in freedom and authentic spirituality.
I like to think of it this way: If we depend on the flesh, we get what the flesh can accomplish. If we depend on the Spirit, we get what the Spirit can accomplish. I don't know about you, but I've tried in my own strength and seen what limited and weak results I've mustered. By contrast, I've also tasted the beauty of depending and relying on Jesus as my confidence and seen what incredible things He has worked in and through my life. Practically speaking, this is only possible as we learn to incorporate Christ into our daily activities. For me, this often looks like a praise break where I will just start magnifying Christ for a couple of minutes spontaneously; another good idea is short prayers of dependency throughout the day--one man of God used to say: "I never pray more than 30 minutes but I never go more than 30 minutes without prayer." Start the day out with an invitation for Holy Spirit to come and use your life to glorify Jesus that day. It's a prayer that I don't think has ever been unanswered in my life.
Finally, I find that many people have incredible latent talents and potential that they somehow have never been able to get on going with any kind of positive momentum. In my opinion, this is because we have never learned to find our confidence in Christ. Up to this point, I've referred to over-assertive people; however, the opposite is also valid, under-assertive people need to find confidence in Jesus. For me this has been a revolutionary idea that has brought a lot of momentum in my life. Finding our confidence in Christ doesn't mean that we forfeit our God-given talents. My confidence is in Jesus.
Can I give you a practical example? I knew I wanted to write. However, I always lacked the motivation to write. I thought it was due to this reason or the other. Only recently did I discover that the real reason was the I was afraid; afraid that no one would read what I wrote, afraid that it wouldn't make sense; afraid that.... It all stemmed back to insecurity which is the exact opposite of finding confidence in Jesus and learning to glory in Him. The past 2 years I have prayed fervently, "Lord let my confidence be in you; not in a sense of compensation for my own inner insecurities." I have just completed book number 2. And they are both in the edit process; soon to be published. One is a novel and one is motivational book on missions and Kingdom living. Will people ever read them? I don't know and I realize that is really isn't the issue anymore. My confidence is now in Jesus not in results, and I'm being true to the gifs that HE has deposited in my life. Find your confidence in Him and there is no limits to what you can accomplish for His glory.
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