The Wednesday Word
3 Features of the Gospel Believer.
by D.G.
Miles McKee
Philippians
3:3, “For
we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice
in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.”
Our
text is sometimes badly mis-used and mistreated. Indeed, it has
often been used to brutalize the saints as it makes imaginary,
legalistic demands on them. The verse has been used to insist
that we become worshipers and people who rejoice. Good luck with that
one!
Our verse, however, has nothing to do with mandates.
It’s a description of the believer’s lifestyle. You can
turn it into law by demanding that we worship and rejoice … but no
amount of legalistic preaching can get that desired result. Notice
how in this marvelous little verse we see three excellent truths.
-
True Believers Worship.
Worship
is like breathing, we don’t have to be told to do it. As
reborn people it’s what we want to do. When we obey the
revealed word of God we are worshiping. When we present our
body as a living sacrifice, we are worshiping (Romans 12:1).
It’s
interesting to observe the kind of worshippers God is seeking. He is
seeking for people who will worship Him in spirit and truth (see John
4:23). Worship, we should remember, is not an attempt to gain
heavenly approval. No indeed … that approval has already been
secured by the shed blood of Calvary. That’s why the gospel
provides the energy for all true worship.
No one can
worship who isn’t saved. Think about it, how can an unsaved
religious person worship when he has neither the Spirit in him nor
the righteousness of Christ on him? Yet, there he goes to his
church service, well-dressed and tidy and there he sings of matters
he knows not of … and calls it worship.
2 The
True Believer Rejoices in Christ Jesus.
The Spirit of God
energizes every true believer enabling them to rejoice in Christ
Jesus. No one can rejoice properly unless their joy is in Christ the
Lord (Philippians 4:4).
To ‘rejoice’ in our
verse (Philippians 3:3), means to ‘boast.’ The believer,
therefore, is one who boasts in Christ Jesus (1 Corinthians 1:31; 2
Corinthians 10:11; Psalm 34:2; Romans 15:17; Galatians
6:14).
“But brother Miles, why is
there so little true zeal for the Lord?”
It’s because
there is so little rejoicing.
Why is there so little
rejoicing?
It’s because we are not living in the
gospel.
We are instructed in scripture to rejoice in the
Lord but some believers I’ve met should have “Mourn in the Lord
always” imprinted on their Bibles. However, rejoicing is our
heaven given privilege. The Judge of all the earth could have justly
condemned us but instead laid the foundation of our joy in the blood
of His cross. Gospel truths are filled with reasons to
rejoice.
“But Brother Miles, do you always rejoice?”
No, I don’t, and I confess it as sin as I do my other
imperfections. Sometimes when I see the wretchedness of my own
heart (outside of Christ) I feel powerless to rejoice. This is
where the third part of our verse comes into play.
3. The
True Believer Puts no Confidence in the Flesh.
When we see
what we are outside of Christ and realize that our flesh is
unimprovable, corrupt and utterly worthless it is then we learn to
put no confidence in anything that the flesh tells us.
What the flesh tells us about us is not who we are. We have a
new identity in Christ. And when the flesh causes us to
despair, Jesus comes to us by His Spirit on the wings of the gospel
and tells us again of His Finished Work. I then am enabled to
put no confidence in the flesh and focus instead on the gospel and
learn to rejoice in Christ Jesus.
The believer never tires
of exploring the Finished Work and discovering how it applies to our
lives.
And that’s the Gospel Truth!
Note: to contact preacher Miles Mckee go to http://milesmckee.com/
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