March 15, 2025 -- Philippians 3:1 -- What is safe for you

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Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you is no trouble to me and is safe for you.
Philippians 3:1 ESV
 
For those who are memorizing, by constant repetition of sentences like this, will no doubt find themselves stumbling over these words. They seem out of place. He says finally but he goes on for two chapters; how can this be finally? It highlights the problem of the chapter break. Paul had just written he would send Epaphroditus back to the Philippians. Finally they would see him. More importantly, they are urged to rejoice in seeing him, but their greater joy is always joy that is anchored in Jesus Christ.
 
Paul also picks up the theme of rejoicing even as he transitions into a new section of his letter. He’d written how he’d rejoice, even if he is to be poured out in Christian service to the Philippians. Now he is urging the Philippians to rejoice in the Lord as they prepare for the hard road ahead of them.
 
Paul is writing about rejoicing in the Lord, despite false teachers and those who preach Christ out of envy and rivalry. He is distinguishing what is safe for the people who receive this letter. The word safe means something that can be relied on, something that is firm. When a believer confronts heresy, false doctrine, or even doctrine that seems mostly true, he is on solid ground. In fact, helping the young-in-the-faith members of the Philippian church distinguish truth from falsehood is one of the reasons why Paul wrote this letter.
 
He makes a distinction between those within the church who are disputing (when he entreats Euodia and entreats Syntyche to agree in the Lord) and those who are heretical. Sometimes the heresy can be hard to detect. Think of those who are preaching from false motives. The Lord sees the heart. He knows those who are submitted to Him and walking in His ways over against those who seem to be His but are in fact building up their own ego and their own following.
 
On the Day of Judgment Jesus He will judge the wicked but also His own people:
Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven,
but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day
many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast
out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And
then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers
of lawlessness.’
Matthew 7:21-23 ESV
Ask yourself, on what are you basing your confidence in the Lord? Are you paying lip service to Him but doing what you want? Are you saying you serve Him, but praying for Him to do what you want so that your service to Him is manipulation, not submission? Are you on the one hand calling out to God and telling others what the Bible says, all the while choosing what you will believe and what you will discard? Either the Bible is true, completely cover to cover true, and nothing can be added to it or subtracted from it, or it is a book you are treating like a smorgasbord, picking what you like and leaving off your plate what you don’t. That is not safe for you. It will lead to estrangement from God.
Father in heaven, thank You for those who are faithful to You. In New Testament times, the followers of Jesus and those whom the Spirit prompted to write the Bible. Thank You that in our era You have appointed faithful Bible readers who follow Jesus as well as those who are teachers and preachers. Such leaders who rejoice in the Lord and speak the word with boldness so that it is safe for those who hear it. Spirit of God, show me where I am manipulating the word, or appearing to be submissive while doing what I want, or am cherry-picking what to believe and what to leave. Spirit lead me so that I rejoice in the Lord in all humble service to Him and Him alone and this unto the glory of the Father. Amen.
 
https://youtu.be/cY6k2QhdCn0?si=UUCQPPnkNHqPIEST How Firm a Foundation
 

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