Read Philippians 3:1-3 1 Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord! It is no trouble for me to write the same things to you again, and it is a safeguard for you. 2 Watch out for those dogs, those men who do evil, those mutilators of the flesh. 3 For it is we who are the circumcision, we who worship by the Spirit of God, who glory in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh

I’ll never forget that Sunday morning. I was hanging out with a bunch of my “cool” junior high friends before Sunday school. Walking toward us was a visitor to our class, wearing a chain of perfect attendance awards pinned to his lapel. As he approached, our attitude about him was anything but sanctified. We thought to ourselves: Who does he think he is? We immediately dismissed him as a candidate for the “in” group. Not one of my finer moments, I must admit, but a good illustration of what happens when people flaunt their own accomplishments.

The early church at Philippi had similar problems. In his letter to the Philippians, Paul spoke forcefully against the “Judaizers” who were flaunting the fact that they kept the religious customs of the law, including circumcision. Their self-righteous, holier-than-thou attitude was a source of conflict and division in the church. Paul’s advice? Stop rejoicing in your own accomplishments, and start rejoicing in the Lord.

When he commanded the Philippians to rejoice in the Lord, he wasn’t calling for glib expressions of “praise Jesus!” He was calling for something deeper: a call to forsake our absorption with things that elevate us and instead to live in a way that makes Jesus the focus of our “bragging rights”. To illustrate this, Paul gave a personal testimony in verses 4-6. After listing his own accomplishments, he said that he had learned to count it all “as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my lord”.

The lesson for us is that there are no “blue-ribbon” Christians. There is no spiritual caste system that separates the high performers from the others. We all have one blue ribbon: Jesus. Whatever it is in your life that you want to brag about - don’t. As Jeremiah said, “Let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth” (Jeremiah 9:24)

When we begin bragging about Jesus and His wonderful grace in our lives, we can replace the “Who does he think he is?” attitude with the desire to say, “Let me tell you who He is!”
- Joe Stowell -

Responding - In what ways have I felt tempted to flaunt my own accomplishments above the Lords?
Following - Jesus is the only Legitimate cause for rejoicing!

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