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Phil. 3
What have you lost in order to gain Christ? What are you forgetting in order to press on to the goal? Again with the circumcision! But I can’t think of a more appropriate issue to demonstrate the truth of Salvation. Circumcision is a sign of belonging to God. The circumcision God ordered as a sign of the Old Covenant was physical, external, and administered by human hands. What an appropriate depiction of our efforts toward righteousness based on the Law! They are human efforts that only scratch the surface and have no deeper power. The law, the covenant, and its seal of circumcision are all about the flesh.
Jesus, however, came to overcome the flesh. He is the new covenant, whose sign and seal is the indwelling of God’s Holy Spirit within us. The Spirit removes the flesh – circumcises our hearts. All of this relies on God, not ourselves. That’s why Paul said of the Jews who were pushing circumcision for the Gentiles, “Watch out for those dogs, those evildoers, those mutilators of the flesh.” (Phil. 3:2). They were pushing a ‘gospel’ – which was really no gospel at all – that was based on human things. But the gospel is not based on ‘God and’. It is just God. Therefore, anything else that we rely on, no matter how good it appears on the surface, is taking the place of God.
1 Kings 21-22
Characterize Ahab in v. 25-29. What does that tell you about human beings? About God? Trace the actions of the prophet Micaiah in this chapter. What can you learn from him? Why is it so easy to find people willing to do evil yet so difficult to find anyone steadfastly faithful to God? The elders, nobles, and scoundrels in Jezreel went right along with Jezebel’s evil plot against Naboth. Did they have something against Naboth? Or were they offered some reward and their greed overcame any scrap of conscious they may have had? Or perhaps they were threatened and afraid to take a stand for what was right. All I can say is that, whether vengeance, greed, or fear, they most assuredly gave no consideration for God.
Then there were the false prophets. Four hundred of them, it says. That is a lot of people willing to stand up and say whatever the king wanted to hear, be it right or wrong. I really don’t get the motivation for that behavior. Were they so deceived that they couldn’t even tell they were lying? Did they not consider what might happen if their word did not come to pass? Whatever it was, there was likewise clearly no fear of God in them. In contrast, there was one prophet of God. One man willing to speak the truth regardless of the immediate consequences.
Clearly, it is far easier to follow our human nature than to courageously stand fast in faithfulness to the One True God. It makes no sense, looking at it from a distance. But somehow, when we’re in the middle of a situation, we can’t see the forest for the trees and we make poor choices. That’s why we need God’s help. And that’s why we need to be so diligent in recognizing that need and seeking God’s help. And we need to keep our minds on the ultimate outcome. No matter how difficult and unpleasant the short-term consequences in following God, we know the eternal consequences of going our own way are indescribably worse.