Developing an attitude of gratitude #7: what really matters

Further, my brothers and sisters, rejoice in the Lord! Philippians 3:1

These words come at the start of Philippians 3. At the end of chapter 2, Paul has been talking about Epaphroditus, who’d been so ill he’d nearly died. But now, Paul is bringing the focus of the readers back to joy. Joy is what underpins this letter to the Philippians. Whatever is going on, everything has to be undergirded by joy.

Paul warns the people to be wary of those who are trying to enforce the Jewish tradition of circumcision onto all the believers. This has been a common issue in all the new communities of believers. The Jewish Christians find it hard to leave behind the traditions that no longer serve their faith. Something that has mattered to them for so long as a crucial part of their relationship with the one true God is not longer necessary, no longer important. Jesus has done away with these rituals. He is the way to God. But letting go of a tradition that has been so key to their religion requires a huge amount of faith and trust. They’re so scared of getting it wrong and displeasing God that they struggle to move on into new life in Jesus Christ. Paul describes this as putting confidence in the flesh, in a physical act performed on the body to symbolise commitment to God. All that matters now is serving God by his Spirit.

Paul had had many reasons for believing he was a good Jew –

If someone else thinks they have reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for righteousness based on the law, faultless.

But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. Philippians 3:4-7

He’d ticked all the boxes. There was no one out there with better credentials. He’d got this Jewish religion nailed. And yet he’d come to see that none of that mattered before God – where you were born, the family you were born into, the way you were raised, the traditions you’d embraced, the acts you’d performed….none of this mattered. None of these things had brought Paul closer in any way to the one true God.

We look at these external factors and judge others for them, don’t we? There’s a sense of privilege and entitlement about being born into the right family in a Christian nation. The Christian faith has been appropriated by the white middle classes, as if it is their divine right to define and own the rights to Christianity. But what really matters is spiritual connection, what is going on in the heart and overflowing out into our relationships with others.

I’ve been guilty of this. I’ve assessed others as spiritual because of their knowledge of the Bible and their standing and their years of church attendance and their nice, middle class ways, rather than by their love for God and their love and compassion for others (which has been woefully absent in many cases). Don’t tell me how spiritual someone is if they mistreat and condemn others.

Paul lost all that had made him ‘spiritual’ in his previous life. When he came to know and accept Jesus as his Lord, his ultimate guide through life, he lost all those things that had previously defined him. He now had a new identity in Christ. He was starting over. His life was not built on the same things any more. He did not receive his sense of worth from the same things any more. All that now mattered was following Jesus as the way, the truth and the life.

What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. Philippians 3:8-9

What an example Paul is to us here. The way the world values people in our modern society is so seductive, isn’t it? We’re judged on how we look, how we dress, our job title, our exercise regime, our holidays, our fascinating hobbies, our family activities…and actually, none of these things ultimately matter, compared to knowing Jesus. Yes, we can find joy in such things – we are called to live life to the full, after all – but these things do not define us and give us our worth. It’s what’s going on on the inside that counts.

So maybe we need a different question to ask people when we meet them for the first time. Rather than asking ‘So what do you do?’, is there a different question that is less about the externals and more about what’s going on inside? Something not too threatening or deep as an initial conversation opener! ‘What makes you tick?’ Is that a good one? I need to give this some thought!

Paul’s goal in life is clear – to know Christ. That’s the motivation for all that he does. It’s the purpose for getting up each day. Every day is different because every day is about living as a new creation, walking into new life in Christ each day. It’s a journey of discovery, whatever our external factors happen to be. How exciting is that? It’s all too easy to lose sight of that goal, isn’t it? To get bogged down in the everyday, to maybe value these external factors more than we should – to make these things the main thing when they’re not the main thing at all.

Just to clarify. Knowing Christ is not all about hiding away, withdrawing from the world, studying books and praying in secret, although there is a place for that, for sure. I don’t see Paul modelling that. Knowing Christ is about getting out there and serving others, living in community, working out what love in action looks like.

Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. Philippians 3:12-14

I love that – I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. That sounds like a far more exciting way of looking at life!

What you actually do today matters far less than the way in which you do it. So yes, go ahead and do your day. Enjoy your day. Just remember though that your identity is not defined by those things. Nor is anyone else’s.

Just like the Philippian readers of this letter, you are a follower of the Way. That’s what they called themselves back then. So follow the Way today and see where he leads you!