Knowing Christ: Glory in Christ Jesus

Beloved People of God,

There is something special about stepping back into Philippians after spending the summer in the books of Ruth and Job. In those two old stories we find people God loves struggling to understand their suffering. Naomi was at first convinced God was dealing bitterly with her for the past decisions she and Elimelech had made (Ruth 1.20-21). Job was bewildered, knowing he wasn’t suffering because of sin—no matter how much his friends tried to convince him so. Naomi and Job are wisps of witness that overshadow Paul’s life as a Jew.
 
He writes to the church in Philippi, hoping to root their faith in the joys of knowing Jesus! He believes life, real life, is being in Christ. No matter what his circumstances might be, being alive is Jesus (Philippians 1.21). Death holds no sting for Paul because it ushers him eternally into the thing he longs for most: to be with Jesus (1 Corinthians 15:55-57). This is a timely perspective for the Apostle because Paul was writing from a prison cell! For Paul, the only thing mentally keeping him here is his pastoral responsibility to his brothers and sisters in Christ, like the Philippians (1.23-26). 
 
Convinced of this, he calls out the troublemakers—like Job’s friends—who are teaching a false way of self-righteousness (Philippians 3.2-3). Paul personally knows the slippery slope of their way, where we do things in the name of God but don’t reflect His character. In his past, Paul dotted all the i’s and crossed all the t’s of religiosity and discovered it was all loss, waste, refuse! Friend, the whole Bible testifies to this truth. On our own we end up with a landfill full, oversaturated with a lack of fulfillment. But Naomi found the restoring love of God in His way lived out by Ruth and Boaz. Job found the renewing presence of God in the challenge of Elihu and the whirlwind. Paul found everything he was looking for in a flash of divine light on the road to Damascus (Acts 9.1-9). It was there he met Jesus.
 
Naomi, Job, and Paul found God in the place they least expected. Each one was transformed by His presence. May the same be said of us.
 
For His Name’s Sake,
Brett