OUR STRONG CONFIDENCE

PHILIPPIANS 3:1-3 NKJ 
3 Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. For me to write the same things to you is not tedious, but for you it is safe. 
2 Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the mutilation! 3 For we are the circumcision, who worship God in the Spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh, 

OBSERVATION:

Confidence is a really good thing. Providing that it is based on fact, not illusion.   

Paul writes encouraging the believers at Philippi to rejoice in the Lord. He called his repetition of this encouragement a safeguard for them.   

At first glance, we can ask how rejoicing in the Lord is a safe place? 

Safe from the standpoint that rejoicing is a position of faith. And rejoicing is an effective weapon against depression and discouragement.  

But there is another place of safety that Paul is referring to. Rejoicing in the Lord means that we are placing our confidence in Him. Not in who we are or what we have in the flesh.  

We see Paul reference this confidence in the Lord in his warnings about people to avoid. The dogs he warned about were not poodles and pit bulls, but the Judaizers who kept preaching circumcision. Dogs, evil workers, and mutilation are pretty strong words. This was a group of Jews who followed Paul and would distort the gospel of Christ by insisting that the Gentile converts had to be circumcised to be saved. Paul was openly contemptuous of these people.   

We are the circumcision. We are the ones with a relationship with the Lord. But it's a spiritual relationship, not based on anything in the flesh. Our confidence is in Christ and in Him alone. Not our works or our own efforts. Our conduct is now a reflection of what God has done in us. Not an effort to earn acceptance.   

So, we rejoice because our strong confidence is in Christ.   

APPLICATION: 

We do not encounter too many people today preaching circumcision. Thank God! But we still come across those who can be legalistic in their Christianity.   

It's not about what we eat, drink, and the clothes we wear. It's not about our political party or the church we affiliate with. Our strong confidence is in Christ. What Jesus had done for us in His death, burial, and resurrection. Our strong confidence is in Him. Anything else is weak sauce 

PRAYER: 

Thank You, Lord, for what You have done for me. My confidence is in You. Period.