Know Christ

Philippians 3:1 CSB

In addition, my brothers and sisters, rejoice in the Lord. To write to you again about this is no trouble for me and is a safeguard for you.

To Know Christ means to Remain Vigilant!

Philippians 3:2 CSB

Watch out for the dogs, watch out for the evil workers, watch out for those who mutilate the flesh.

Know that this world is filled with False teachers!

To Know Christ means to be reminded Whom we are!

Philippians 3:3–6 CSB

For we are the circumcision, the ones who worship by the Spirit of God, boast in Christ Jesus, and do not put confidence in the flesh—although I have reasons for confidence in the flesh. If anyone else thinks he has grounds for confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised the eighth day; of the nation of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews; regarding the law, a Pharisee; regarding zeal, persecuting the church; regarding the righteousness that is in the law, blameless.

We are the Circumcision. What a statement! But. . . What does that mean?

What does it mean to be the circumcision? Is Paul really writing, and saying that everyone who received this letter, everyone who is part of the family of God, is circumsized? Because in another letter, Paul says that we do not need to hold to that tradition, and that there is neither the circumsized or the uncircumsized.

NO. This means that we are the PEOPLE OF GOD! We need to remember this. If you have asked Jesus to be your Lord and Savior, YOU ARE A CHILD OF GOD!

What Paul is telling us here is plain and simple: Keep your eyes our for false teachers. How do you do that? Do you learn what all the false teachers look like?

When we want a Doctor to learn how to identify when something is wrong, what is the first thing we train a Doctor or Nurse to know: What does RIGHT look like.

Paul says: watch out for false teachers and evil doers! Remember WHO YOU ARE! You are People of God. The ONES WHO WORSHIP BY THE SPIRIT!

How do we Worship? By the Spirit. By the BREATH that God gave you. And if you have breath in your lungs, you should worship with that breath. But it is deeper than that: we must worship in spirit and in truth. So we worship by the spirit - our breath, but we also worship by the spirit - the Holy Spirit living inside of us, WHICH BROUGH LIFE TO US when we were BORN AGAIN! AMEN!

And we WORSHIP with out breath, due to the abundance, the OVERFLOW, of the SPIRIT Inside us.

and you know what: God lives in our praises.

The ones who BOAST in Christ Jesus!

What does it mean to BOAST in Christ?

You know what it means to boast in your kiddos don’t you.

Its like that with Jesus!

It means we are PROUD of what Christ has done! BECAUSE CHRIST HAS DONE EVERYTHING!

and that becomes real easy when you realize that everything you have done means nothing!

Which is why Paul says: We WORSHIP in Spirit, we BOAST about Jesus and

And NOT put confidence in the flesh. Things of this world.

Philippians 3:7 CSB

But everything that was a gain to me, I have considered to be a loss because of Christ.

Know Christ means KNOWING the Surpassing Value of Christ

Philippians 3:8–9 CSB

More than that, I also consider everything to be a loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. Because of him I have suffered the loss of all things and consider them as dung, so that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own from the law, but one that is through faith in Christ—the righteousness from God based on faith.

Philippians 3:10–11 CSB

My goal is to know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings, being conformed to his death, assuming that I will somehow reach the resurrection from among the dead.

Knowing Christ means desiring to be with Christ