Rejoice in the Lord!

Philippians chapter 3 begins with Paul saying, "Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord." As pastor Michael pointed out, we as believers in the Lord Jesus have much to rejoice about. Because we are in the Lord, we can rejoice in the Lord! We can rejoice that our sins are taken away, we have been given the righteousness of Christ, and have eternal life in Him! Amen!

Paul then issues a warning to "beware of the dogs." Of course Paul is not talking about our pets, but about those who would deceive believers by putting them back under the Mosaic Law. They were known as "Judaizers" and wrongly believed Gentiles had to follow the Jewish religious laws to become Christians. Paul had harsh words for them in Philippians and especially Galatians. Why? Because we are not to trust in our works for salvation, but only in Christ's work on the cross, where He paid our sin debt IN FULL (John 19:30) and gave us eternal life (John 5:24).

Something to think about: If believers in Christ are not to rely on the Mosaic Law to gain righteousness and salvation, even more so following our own rules and traditions fall short in making us right before God and certainly cannot save. Paul learned that and shared it with us (Philippians 3:4-7).

So I rejoice with Paul that I don't have to earn my way into God's favor and into His presence by being good; He knows I can't. Instead, He grants salvation and righteousness as a gift to those who want it and want to know Him (v. 9). And in this we can rejoice in the Lord!