Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition, when infinite joy is offered to us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in the slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.
C. S. Lewis
Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you is no trouble to me and is safe for you. Look out for the dogs, look out for the evildoers, look out for those who mutilate the flesh. For we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh...Philippians 3:1-2
Do you like to be reminded of something that you already know? You know that you have that doctor’s appointment. It is written down on your calendar at work and at home. Then the day before the appointment the secretary from doctor’s office calls to “just remind you that you have an appointment tomorrow.” That night before you go to bed your spouse says, “Honey, don’t forget about your doctor’s appointment tomorrow.” At breakfast as you are enjoying that bowl of corn flakes your teenage daughter greets you with a kiss and she says, “Hey, don’t you have a doctor’s appointment today?” Being reminded of what we know can be a little frustrating. Yet if it is an important matter that we should not forget then we might be more willing to receive reminders. This is the case for example with your anniversary or your mother’s birthday.
How important a matter is the Gospel of Jesus Christ to you? As Paul is writing his letter to the Philippians, while under house arrest awaiting word of Caesar’s decision about whether he would be released or executed what do you think is upper most in his mind? What do you think he really wants to communicate to these Philippian believers? We have already seen what little concern Paul has for his own welfare. His concern rests with others. His interest is in their welfare. He wants to make sure that they do not forget something. What is it? It is the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and the implications that the Gospel has for their lives. He begins reminding them of what they had already heard from him by commanding them to rejoice in the Lord.
Rejoice in the Lord! Joy is a theme that runs throughout this letter. Some have called it the epistle of joy. Yet this joy comes from faith in the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is joy that rises from faith in Jesus Christ and the benefits that he brings into your life. This command implies the existence of vital saving faith in your heart. This command assumes that Jesus Christ is the great and glorious object of your faith. You cannot rejoice in what you do not have stock or something vested. To rejoice in the Lord implies that you know Him. To rejoice in the Lord means that you understand the value and worth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ – that it has weight in your life and upon your heart and mind. It is to the Lord that you are to look for your joy. In fact it is joy that comes from your faith that fuels a life of obedience to God that honors and glorifies Him. So this command, “rejoice in the Lord” is also a call to keep fighting for your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. For you cannot rejoice in the Lord without your faith functioning in a vital way.
One of the reasons that we may not rejoice in the Lord is because joy killers have hijacked our faith. Paul tells us that it is no bother for him to remind us of the Gospel (this is what does beginning in 3:7-11). In fact it is a safeguard for us. Then he gives us a warning “beware of the joy killers.” He doesn’t say it quite like that but that is what he means. “Beware of those dogs, those workers of iniquity, those mutilators of the flesh…” Wow, this is pretty strong and even coarse language coming from the sanctified pen of an Apostle!
Paul is referring to those who were teaching that while it is important to believe in Jesus Christ as your savior and Lord it is not enough. You must add to your faith in Jesus the practice of keeping all the ceremonial Laws of Moses and especially the rite of circumcision. This in essence did two things. First it diminished the sufficiency and centrality of the Lord Jesus Christ as the only Savior of sinners. In doing this it then killed the joy that comes from believing that Jesus Christ alone is the sufficient and complete savior of sinners. Whatever eclipses the inherent value of the Lord Jesus Christ before the eyes of your heart is a joy killer. Whatever exalts, promotes or enhances our self-centeredness (this is what Paul means by the flesh in verse 3) by default eclipses the Lord Jesus Christ and destroys our joy.
True circumcision occurs when through faith in Jesus Christ you die to self-centeredness and are raised to a new way of life that is Christ-centered and God-centered. This means that the "self" that is focused on self is cut off and thrown away. Now the self begins to focus as it was created to function. Paul captures this new focus that the Gospel of Jesus Christ creates in your life when he says that “we are the true circumcision who worship by the Spirit of God, who glory and boast in Christ Jesus and who put no confidence in the flesh.” The result is that we are able to really rejoice in the Lord and in that joy live a completely different life – not a life of the flesh but a life empowered by the Spirit and centered exclusively on Jesus Christ. Paul’s concept of the flesh entails both self-centered pride and self-centered pleasures. In this passage he is concerned with fleshly pride. In Galatians 5:16-26 he is concerned about fleshly passions or perverted pleasures. When the self is centered on issues of pride or the pursuit of selfish self-satisfaction it is turning from the Gospel and heading down a path of woeful destruction. Teachings or ways of thinking that promote such steps and thereby cast a dark shadow over the pure son/sun of the Gospel are joy killers because they are Gospel detractors and grace deniers. So Paul here does two things. He calls you to rejoice in the Lord by believing the Gospel but also to beware, beware, beware of all joy killers!
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