This week’s promise: God promises that you will work out your salvation
Philippians 3:17-4:1 Join with others in following my example, brothers, and take note of those who live according to the pattern we gave you.For, as I have often told you before and now say again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ.Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is on earthly things.But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ,who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.Therefore, my brothers, you whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, that is how you should stand firm in the Lord, dear friends!
Yesterday we looked at some of the basics of working out our salvation. Today we’ll look at how Paul ended this particular portion of advice to us. Remember, he had just told them that if they didn’t agree with him that God would make it clear to them, so he was quite sure of what he was saying. Of course today, knowing that this is part of God’s Word, we know that what he said is being said with the full authority of Christ behind it. He then finished by telling them to at least live up to what they had already attained.
Today’s portion begins with Paul saying that they should follow his example, as well as the example of the others who live according to the pattern of pursuing Christlikeness he has just given them. The next sentence comes as a bit of surprise, because Paul now tells us that the reason he wants us to live this way is because there are so many false teachers! Even back then this was a problem! We know that during our time this problem is even worse though simply because Jesus Himself told us it would constantly get worse until He comes to get us. Are you wondering if I’ve jumped to a conclusion thinking that these are false teachers? I wondered that myself so I had to do a little research. Paul talks about these same people here:
This verse alone makes it clear that they were masquerading as Christians. If they weren’t pretending to be Christians, then Paul would not have had to go to the trouble of warning us about them. Now Paul gives us some of the characteristics of a false teacher. He says first that their God is their belly, meaning they care more for their sensual appetites then for God. Second their glory is in their shame, meaning that they not only sinned but boasted about it when they did! Instead of being legalists like the judaizers, they went in the opposite direction and took their freedom in Christ to be a license to sin. Third, their minds are on earthly things, which is the exact opposite of what Christ commands us to do. Jesus has told us to set our hearts and minds on the things of heaven. Instead of having the mind of Christ, they thought like the world does. They had a secular worldview rather then a biblical worldview. We see a lot of that today! These people call themselves Christians, but the fruit of their lives condemns them and shows them for what they really are. Although they pretend to be religious, they really deny the cross, love the world and live after the flesh.
We can know for sure these people are not our brothers and sisters in Christ who have simply taken a wrong turn because Paul says that their destiny is destruction. All true Christians will live forever with the Lord, so these people are not backslidden Christians. As Paul says when he continues, our citizenship is in heaven, and we are eagerly waiting for Jesus to return for us. These other people are the total opposite. Oh they may say the same thing, but their lives don’t show it.
Obviously if we can tell a false teacher by the way they live their lives, we can also tell a true Christian by the way they live their lives. This is what Paul was talking about earlier. Our lives should be characterized by the things we discussed yesterday. We should be constantly pressing on towards our goal of being more like Jesus. When we do that, we will be doing the things that Paul discussed and our lives will show the fruit of that.
When we look at the verse from Galatians which I’m sure we’re all familiar with, the one thing that often gets us confused is where it says that those who belong to Christ have crucified the sinful nature. Often people think that means that we don’t sin, and we know that’s not true. What it actually means though is that those who belong to Christ, deny themselves. It’s not that we’re not tempted, it’s that when we are tempted we respond by denying ourselves which is crucifying the sinful nature—putting it to death. We don’t do that once, we do that constantly, over and over and over, every single day. That’s why the next line says, “since we live by the spirit, let us keep in step with the spirit.”. He is encouraging us to continue to deny ourselves, to continue to crucify that sinful nature each time it rears it’s ugly head. The fruit of the spirit that Paul lists is what we exhibit in our lives when we are constantly pursuing the goal of being more like Christ. Let’s close today’s study with Paul’s words of encouragement:
