Welcome to Day 2331 of Wisdom-Trek. Thank you for joining me. This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom Philippians-8 Human Rubbish vs Divine Righteousness – Daily Wisdom Putnam Church Message – 01/28/2023 Joy in Sharing – Human Rubbish vs. Divine Righteousness Philippians 3:1-11 Last week, we discussed Paul being thankful for two close friends, Timothy and Epaphroditus, in a message, “A Son and a Brother.” Today, we begin the 3rd section in the letter to the church in Philippi, Joy in Sharing. True joy is a fruit of the Spirit in the life of believers. It ranks second, after love, in Paul’s list in Galatians 5:22–23: But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things! Like all manifestations of the Spirit’s work in our lives, joy is constantly attacked by the world, the flesh, and the devil. The deeds of the flesh will try to weaken our joy through things like hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, and envy. (Gal. 5:17–21). The world will try to stifle our joy through pain, suffering, tragedies, and stress. The evil one will try to thwart our joy by taking our attention away from Jesus Christ and tempting us to find joy in things that cannot satisfy, as is mentioned in our closing hymn, “Fill my Cup, Lord.” The real threat to the joyful Christian life comes into focus in the third part of Paul’s letter to the Philippians. Remember the overarching purpose of Paul’s letter to the Christians at Philippi: to encourage them to find Christ-centered, Spirit-empowered joy in living, serving, sharing, and resting. Paul reinforces this theme in the opening line of chapter 3: “Rejoice in the Lord.” Yet, knowing that there are threats out there, he wants to share with his readers a “safeguard” for their joy (Phil. 3:1). This comes first in the form of a warning about putting confidence in the flesh rather than worshiping God in the Spirit and glorying in Christ in today’s message (3:2–11). Paul also shares the goal of joyful Christian living—the upward call of God in Christ in next week’s message(3:12–16)—and calls his readers to follow the pattern he has shown them, until the glorious day when their mortal bodies will be transformed to be like Christ’s in two weeks (3:17–21). This week's focus is a comparison message titled Human Rubbish vs. Divine Righteousness. Today's scripture passage is Philippians 3:1-11 on page 1828, in your Pew Bibles. 1 Further, my brothers and sisters, 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 evildoers, those mutilators of the flesh. 3 For it is we who are the circumcision, we who serve God by his Spirit, who boast in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh— 4 though I myself have reasons for such confidence. If someone else thinks they have reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: 5...
