Circumcision of the Heart
1Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you, to me indeed is not tiresome, but for you it is safe. 2Beware of the dogs, beware of the evil workers, beware of the false circumcision. 3For we are the circumcision, who worship God in the Spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh;
Paul earnestly urged the church in Philippi to rejoice always. Because spiritual joy can be had only when we live out our faith, he exhorted them always to live by a good faith.
In the course of life people meet many problems. Whenever they suffer hardship through money, health, or their children, they forget the grace of salvation and complain. When we forget to be grateful for our salvation, the world looms larger, and unless our hope is set on heaven we cannot keep our joy. That is why the apostle Paul urged them to have a faith that rises above the world and to rely on God alone. If our gratitude for the salvation God has given us is greater than the world, we can endure suffering as well. If we believe that God is our surest refuge from Satan’s attacks, we can enjoy peace and rest whatever comes, just as Moses was safe in the basket among the reeds. The apostle Paul teaches again and again that believers who know this heavenly secret must live lives that give thanks in all things in the Lord. For unless faith changes us, we cannot generously cover and make up for a brother’s small mistakes and shortcomings.
We mature in faith when we are filled with the Holy Spirit. Once our faith matures, we are not ashamed to serve our brothers and sisters from a lowly place, and we can serve the church and its members with a sincere heart. Complaints, discontent, and quarrels arise in a church because people do not think of the church’s work as God’s work, and because they are hungry to show themselves and be recognized. We must be grateful to one another and serve one another well. When we love one another with an honest faith, the kingdom of God will expand and the church will stand firm.
The work of God is to believe in Christ. To believe in Christ is to entrust our lives wholly to the Holy Spirit and to live in obedience as the Spirit leads. When believers live humble lives, God will receive glory in the name of Christ through their faith. In other words, we do not give glory to God directly; it is through the name of Christ that God receives glory.
The faith of believers who trust in Christ and live filled with the Holy Spirit is itself what honors Jesus Christ, who is the head. Without such faith we will end up acting proudly, as though we could do God’s work by our own ability, without Christ. For we will lift ourselves above Christ, and that pride will lead us into the sin of judging and condemning our brothers and sisters.
This does not mean that only those who are full of the Spirit should do the church’s work, for faith grows precisely as we strive to walk well with God. It is when we lay down human righteousness, as Paul did, and are faithful with our whole life that we come to understand God’s will and are sanctified; the call, then, is to walk in the truth.
I hope you will think back to the heart you had when you were serving wholeheartedly. When you were full of the Spirit, you would have quietly done your part with the talents you had been given, looking only to God, whether or not other believers were watching, whether or not they praised you. You may well remember times when you served faithfully without drawing attention to yourself, and yet others praised and thanked you as if they had seen your labor. But if we cannot let go of human righteousness, we want to be honored; and if we keep complaining and grumbling, only judgment and condemnation remain, and we are no longer full of the Spirit. A faith that serves only when it is recognized has no reward. As I always tell you, the work of the church is not like the work of the world. It is not a matter of volunteering; it is spiritual warfare against Satan.
Our faith now is what decides, the moment we leave this body, whether we will enter heaven and share in God’s glory or go into hell with Satan. The holy life you live as a member of the body, obeying the commands of Christ the head, is what decides between heaven and hell. Because the life after death matters this much, God works through his angels as well, and the Holy Spirit walks with you and rules over your life.
But Satan, too, does not simply stand by while you serve faithfully under the Holy Spirit’s leading. Because he sows seeds of discontent, doubt, and anger in your heart and pushes out every good faith you have toward God, you must not be deceived. We believers have no wisdom of our own, so unless we rely on the Holy Spirit, we fall to Satan’s attacks. When someone who was serving faithfully falls into temptation one day and drifts away from the church and from worship, it is because they have been taken in by Satan’s scheme. Of course, since people who lived in the world have come together in the church, their opinions may differ. But this is what I earnestly ask of you: unless it is a matter of salvation, yield to one another, serve one another, and share the love you have received from God. Mature Christians who can eat solid food and those who, like little children, can take only soft food are all members of Jesus Christ; if we do not care for and help one another, the church will fall sick. Just as there is work for the hand and work for the foot, if we help one another do our part well, God will protect every member of Christ’s body and keep it healthy. This is the blessing God gives to those who work together for good.
The Christians beside you now may look weak, but they are people of God’s kingdom, precious ones for whom Christ gave his own life. It was because of your brothers’ and sisters’ intercession that God resolved your problems. Intercessory prayer gives you wisdom and understanding, brings you to know God’s will, and moves the heart of God. Knowing God’s will, you will walk worthily of the Lord, and you can receive the blessing of bearing good fruit in all things.
Yet if, after crossing a rugged mountain on the intercession of your brothers and sisters, you grow proud again, those who prayed will receive their reward, but the proud will be severely rebuked. Only by paying close attention to the heart of God, who is so full of love, can we enjoy peace and rest and live wise and discerning lives.
Matthew 18:17
17If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the assembly. If he refuses to hear the assembly also, let him be to you as a Gentile or a tax collector.
Matthew 18:20
20For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there I am in the middle of them.”
Jesus said that if a brother sins, you who know the word better than others should be the first to go and exhort him. If he accepts the exhortation, the one who spoke and the one who listened will be bound together as good brothers, and they will even enjoy the blessing of God’s answer. But if he will not listen, take one or two others along to stand as witnesses; if he still will not listen after being exhorted, tell it to the assembly; and if he refuses to hear even the assembly, treat him as a Gentile or a tax collector.
When a person of faith offers exhortation, they are not voicing their own opinion but passing on the will of God, so their counsel must be heeded. Jesus said plainly that anyone who still will not listen after the church has exhorted them need no longer be treated as a believer. He said this because refusing to listen to the church means a person already has no interest in salvation. There is, however, a condition attached: the church and the believers who do the exhorting must themselves be walking rightly with God. The church and its faithful members carry an authority God has given them. If someone still will not obey, God himself will rebuke them, so we need the wisdom to open our hearts and listen to exhortation.
Jesus promised that if his people agree together in prayer, he will surely answer. His saying that where two or three are gathered together in his name, he is there in the middle of them, means that wherever two or three gather in faith, there is the church. It is his promise to be the head of the church and to protect those who are its members. When we pray together, our prayer moves the throne of God, and we will see God at work in the answer.
You have likely already experienced these words of Jesus. When you interceded for brothers and sisters suffering under the troubles of the world or under illness, you saw them receive an answer and rejoice. Even for a small problem, an answer that comes through prayer is a miracle. We tend to think a miracle has happened only when a great problem is solved, or to call it a miracle only when someone at death’s door lives; but the very fact that God accepts the prayers of believers is itself a miracle. Intercession offered to God is that precious. If, then, a brother or sister interceded for you and your prayer was answered, you should treasure them all the more and serve them as you would serve the Lord. If the church prayed together over a hard problem you could not solve alone, and God answered, you should give yourself to whatever the church lacks, because only those who are faithful for the church’s growth are believers who truly understand grace. God answers intercession because he wants both those who pray and those who are prayed for to grow as soldiers of his kingdom. Thanks to Christ’s protection and the intercession of your brothers and sisters, you were able to resist Satan and to rest in peace within God’s grace. Only with a truly grateful heart can we have an honest faith that rejoices in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, alone.
For nearly twenty years I have been preaching the same message to you: look to Christ alone. Only the word of truth can keep you alive in this dark world, and only Jesus Christ can be your absolute protector. Is there anyone among you who does not know that Jesus is the atoning sacrifice who redeemed us from our sins? Though you all know this, I keep speaking to you about Christ’s sacrifice, his resurrection, and his return, because the gospel matters that much. You are fighting not a war of the flesh but a spiritual war, so even if I preach the same message to you over and over, it will not be too much.
Philippians 3:1
1Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you, to me indeed is not tiresome, but for you it is safe.
The apostle Paul praised without reserve the Philippians who served in faith. Yet he firmly rebuked the evil of complaining, grumbling, criticizing, and judging within the church. They knew that only by living according to the word they had learned from Paul could they live filled with the Spirit. But as their own righteousness grew, they watered the word down. They had heard countless times that they must rejoice in Christ every day and must not judge and condemn their brothers and sisters; yet as their human righteousness swelled, they became proud without even realizing it.
Reading Paul’s letter calling them to repent, they would divide into the obedient and the disobedient according to the state of their faith. Those who rightly heard Paul’s call to be born again by the truth would discern the spirits; those who resented Paul’s rebuke would lose their discernment. Even knowing that Paul rebuked them because he loved them, once they lost their discernment it would not be easy to tell good from evil and act on it. If they resented not only their brothers and sisters but even Paul, then when Satan and heretical teaching came near, they could never recognize it, for their spirits would already be wounded. Paul therefore told them to guard against a complaining heart.
When people arose in the church who opposed the truth and insisted that believers must receive circumcision of the flesh, Paul asked the church not to be shaken from the word. These people shook the faith of believers like dogs that bite, so Paul writes the same things again: if you are not careful, you may be bitten. Even after reading Paul’s earnest letter, people would choose their own faith, and in that choosing they would be divided into wheat and chaff. Some would even abandon the truth out of envy for the worldly power and authority the legalists held.
Others, on the other hand, would realize that Paul, though in prison, was pleading with them so earnestly in order to save them, and they would turn back. Whatever choice a person makes is theirs to make, but the choice will lead those two kinds of people into entirely different worlds after death. Knowing how much hangs on choosing the truth, the apostle Paul spared no effort, exhorting them without ceasing in the hope that they would listen to him.
When we stand firm in the truth, the deeds of faith show themselves naturally. But those whose aim is the reward measure everything by their own righteousness rather than by God, and so they cannot do good. This is also why, while the Judaizers insist on circumcision of the flesh, Paul stresses that circumcision of the heart matters more.
People try to offer God their devotion. They say that though they are worn out, though times are hard, though there are more urgent things to do than worship right now, they are still doing God the favor of worshiping him, and they want to be rewarded for their pains. Some come to church parading their worldly power and position and behave as though their worship were some great sacrifice. It is unthinkable that sinners who were saved only by the sacrifice of Jesus should behave proudly toward Christ because they own much in the world.
Believers who strive to live by faith enjoy the privilege of the Holy Spirit’s protection. Those who know that their peace comes wholly by the Holy Spirit’s grace, who give thanks for that grace and show a good faith, are therefore the true believers, those whose hearts are circumcised. Paul wanted the Philippians to fear God and to walk faithfully with him, free of quarrels, as those with circumcised hearts do.
Jesus also said that with whatever judgment we judge, we will be judged, so if we do not want to be judged, we must not judge others. To criticize others is the folly of seeing the speck in a brother’s eye while failing to see the beam in our own. What Jesus and the apostle Paul tell us not to do, we must not do, since anyone who pushes their own ideas through with reasons and excuses, though Jesus has spoken, shows that they are already outside the gospel.
Friends, obeying the word is the quickest road to blessing. If you leave the narrow way God has made through Jesus Christ and follow those who insist on circumcision of the flesh down the broad road, you will never meet God. Jesus bore the agony of the cross and opened the way of salvation because that way alone leads into the eternal world. If believers who know this cannot let go of their own righteousness and so defy the word of God, they will make themselves servants of Satan.
Paul resolved to preach nothing but the word of truth for as long as he lived. Preaching the truth every day did not weary him, and preaching the gospel for the salvation of believers to his last breath was his true joy. It grieved Paul that he, shut up in prison, had to preach to and exhort the Philippians, who were enjoying their freedom outside. But because this was the only way to save their souls, he begged them earnestly to be careful, not to complain, and to live by faith.
If you read the Bible, you will find that though each passage is different, in the end they all proclaim Jesus Christ alone, since whatever part of Scripture you take up, the conclusion is Jesus Christ. Today the world is overflowing with sermons that tell people to believe in God and be blessed. Yet in sermon after sermon I bring you hard words: do not sin against God, repent, be humble, die with Christ on the cross, cast the world out of your heart. I am sorry for that. But only if I preach the word one hundred percent will you, going out into the world and fighting fierce spiritual battles, still have fifty percent left even if you lose fifty. That is why I cannot give ground. Proclaiming the word is not passing on my own thoughts but proclaiming Jesus Christ, so if you believe and follow, I will be grateful.
Friends, I hope you will always rely on the Holy Spirit. Then the Holy Spirit will intercede for you and will help you discern every problem you meet, in body and in spirit.
Satan is gaining ever more strength in the world today. He draws his strength from people’s sins, so denying God, chasing pleasure, and falling into sexual immorality all lend Satan power. His servants are at work everywhere, so you who believe must be all the wiser, more upright, and holier; only then will you escape deception and win the victory. Unless God permits it, Satan can do nothing. Suppose a drop of black paint falls on a sheet of white drawing paper. The white disappears from view and only the black can be seen. Then people give up, thinking it is all ruined, though plenty of white remains where they could still paint. But if you mix in more white paint, and more again, the black will fade. If you do not give up but hold on to your faith, God will work from there.
Look at Satan, who tormented Job: he acted only after receiving God’s permission, and from that we can see that he can do nothing without it. May you not fear Satan’s attacks, but trust in God and lean on him. God will surely remember the service of those who are faithful for the name of Christ, and he will glorify that name.
May you always love God and be believers who, filled with the Holy Spirit, lift high the name of Jesus.