Disciples are striving to have mature thinking in this life. This daily devotional looks at God’s way of thinking and the results of following it — or not.
Nuggets
- All believers are to possess God’s way of thinking.
- Those who do not possess God’s way of thinking — even believers — face destruction.
- Those who do possess God’s way of thinking are citizens of Heaven.
Devotions in the Joy in the Gospel series
If our goal is to gain perfection in the next life, we must grow to possess mature thinking in this life. To do that, we have to follow God’s way of thinking.
However, not all — even believers — follow God’s way of thinking. Paul wanted to warn the Philippians so they would not be tempted to follow their lead.
Let's Put It into Context
Here is a running list of what we’ve discussed previously.
Possessing Mature Thinking
“Therefore, let all of us who are mature think this way. And if you think differently about anything, God will reveal this also to you. In any case, we should live up to whatever truth we have attained. Join in imitating me, brothers and sisters, and pay careful attention to those who live according to the example you have in us” (Phil. 3: 15-17 CSB)
All believers are to possess God’s way of thinking.
We’ve been talking about moral perfection for months. However, Maclaren said that is not what we are talking about here. He contended it was a physical growth.
Maybe. I doubt I could find which devotion, but we just talked about it was better to be saved when we are young. That isn’t to say we can’t be saved later, but there are advantages to being saved when we are young.
Sill, Paul was all about growing in the grace and knowledge of God. Not only his own growth, but he was also concerned with the growth of others. “Therefore, let all of us who are mature think this way …” (Phil. 3: 15 CSB).
Pope interpreted the mature as to mean all those who have nearly completed their lives. He wrote, “Those are perfect who have already finished their course as far as it leads through carnal ordinances, and from them to Christ the end of the law. They have this preparatory or first perfection, in that they have put away childish things (1 Corinthians 13:11), became spiritual (1 Corinthians 2:6), and are so far made perfect in grace.”
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Paul used other words to describe maturity: adult and strong. However, Pope went on to say that it “… has no more reference to moral perfection than ‘saints’ has to sanctity.
Does that sound like Pope is talking out of both sides of his mouth?
I hooked that to what we talked about in the Making the Connections section of the last devotion. Watkinson told us that sin is not the opposite of being perfect. Rather, it is in disagreement with perfection.
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What I am getting here is that, though we are mature, adults, or strong in our faith, the stain of the sin is still there. It will still be there while we are imperfect disciples.
Maclaren said it this way. He wrote, “‘Not as though I were already perfect,’ [Phil. 3: 12] etc., shows us that true Christian perfection has in it a constant consciousness of imperfection.”
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We know we won’t be perfect in this lifetime. God will make us perfect when He calls us home.
If we could be perfected in this lifetimes, you would think we wouldn’t need the “… And if you think differently about anything, God will reveal this also to you” (Phil. 3: 15 CSB). This is, basically, what Jesus said. “If anyone’s will is to do God’s will, he will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own authority” (Jn. 7: 17 ESV).
We have God’s Word. If we are buried in His Word as we should be, we will know God’s doctrine. The Holy Spirit prompts us to understand what we read and to reveal even more of what we need to know.
We will know when false teachers try to sell us a bill of goods. We will know when our way of thinking is off.
Our goal is to live up to that doctrine God has revealed to us. This can’t be hit and miss. We have to persevere.
God calls us to walk in the Spirit daily. We aren’t to turn left or right (Isa. 30: 21). Let’s apply left and right as we think of them today.
To read a related devotion, click the button below.
In today’s world, the left wants to be seen as inclusionists. They interpret the second greatest commandment as allowing people to have their own beliefs.
Glossary
Unfortunately, in the process, they want to rewrite Scriptures. They want to be able to say what is a sin and what isn’t.
Whichcote reminded us that won’t fly. God is definite about His laws and commandments.
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The right, though, suffers from the Eve Syndrome. They see a law and commandment and take it to the extreme. God told Adam and Eve not to eat of the fruit. Eve interpreted that as don’t touch.
God doesn’t want us to be extremists. He wants us to follow His path.
What Paul is saying is the Philippians should imitate him because he is imitating Christ (I Cor. 11: 1). He also acknowledges there are others that they could imitate.
God does give us godly men and women from whom we can learn much. Through them we see God’s laws and commandments in practice.
That goes back to the community that God wants us to build. He wants family, fellowship, and unity. It would be logical that it would include role models.
It is all predicated on love. Lyth reminded us that Paul even loved those who differed from him. He wanted them to know the truth.
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Paul knew it was hard to not sin. We are changing who we’ve come to be through training and experience into what God expects us to be. Add to that our sinful nature as a foundation, and it may seem downright impossible.
It may be a slow growth on the Sanctification Road, but it will be a complete change eventually.
What Happens When We Don’t?
“For I have often told you, and now say again with tears, that many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their end is destruction; their god is their stomach; their glory is in their shame; and they are focused on earthly things” (Phil. 3: 18-19 CSB)
Those who do not possess God’s way of thinking — even believers — face destruction.
Paul was well aware if the fact that not all make a sincere profession to accept Jesus as their Savior and submit to God as Sovereign Lord. He knew what awaited them.
- “Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things” (Rom. 1: 22-23 ESV).
- “For it is written, ‘I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart’” (I Cor. 1: 19 ESV).
When we compare this with what Paul had just been talking about — what we have to gain in Christ — it is a stark contrast. Lyth reminded us that their character and spirit were wrong.
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Paul, as the consummate minister, did not want any under his charge to get deceived by these people. So, he didn’t sugarcoat it. He called it like he saw it.
Still, Paul was a compassionate man. The knowledge that those who haven’t ABCDed set their own destruction moved him to tears. Spurgeon said he cried for their guilt, their actions, and their doom.
The ABCDs of Salvation
If you have not become a believer in Christ, please read through the
Plan of Salvation and prayerfully consider what God is asking you to do.
A – admit our sins
B – believe His Son Jesus is our Redeemer
C – confess God as Sovereign Lord
D – demonstrate that commitment by making any changes needed in our lives to
live the way in which God has called us
The Disciple’s Job Description
Paul saw people who had made a profession of faith but did not repent of their sinful ways. Repentance is acknowledging our separation from God and expressing sorrow for breaking God’s laws and commandments by making the commitment to changing ourselves through obedience so that we no longer do the wrong things.
Since they didn’t set their affections on things above, they were still coveting earthly things. We’ve talked before about how we are to set our affections on things above. We are not supposed to focus on earthly things.
To read a related devotion, click the button below.
These people were still mired in their sins. Paul didn’t want the Philippians to be deceived. Spurgeon wrote, “It is honourable to be defeated by enemies, but disgraceful to be betrayed by friends.”
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“… their god is their stomach …” (Phil. 3: 18-19 CSB) is an interesting phrase. Pope noted, “Many of the Gentile moralists had used these very words to condemn Epicureanism. ‘The worship of the belly’ had become a current phrase (1 Romans 16:18; 1 Corinthians 15:22).
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Paul knew how easy it was to fall back into and be tempted by worldview ways.
Citizens of Heaven
“Our citizenship is in heaven, and we eagerly wait for a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ. He will transform the body of our humble condition into the likeness of his glorious body, by the power that enables him to subject everything to himself” (Phil. 3: 20-21 CSB)
Those who do possess God’s way of thinking are citizens of Heaven.
Paul had ended Chapter 1 by calling us citizens of Heaven. Mackennal noted that “citizenship” is a good interpretation of the common definition of political standing and privilege given by a government to its inhabitants.
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Those who do possess God’s way of thinking are citizens of Heaven
The head of the Country of Heaven is Jesus. We are to be loyal to our country.
However, with the Country of Heaven, we will be transformed into the likeness of Jesus.
Can’t we see now why Paul was moved to tears because some who proclaimed they were believers were not loyal or reverent to God? When people proclaim to be believers and do not live that way, their witness dissuades non-believers from believing.
Because we are citizens of God’s kingdom, that gives us hope.
Glossary
Remember, Paul is in prison in Rome. The only reason he made it to Rome was because he told his captors in Caesarea that he was a Roman citizen. Being a citizen of Rome meant protection and special treatment.
That would have been fresh on the minds of the Philippians. Now, Paul is saying that he is a citizen of Heaven. How much more that means than being a citizen of Rome.
Making the Connections
Maclaren gave us a really good nugget. He wrote, “The main thing about a character is not the degree to which it has attained completeness in its ideal, but what that ideal is. The distance a man has walked is of less consequence than the direction in which his face is turned. Men are to be ranged according to their aims rather than their achievements. The visionary who attempts something high and accomplishes little is often a nobler man than he who aims at marks on the low levels and hits them.”
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We’ve talked before that it is direction, not distance, that God is goal for us. He wants us to shooting for being like Him. He knows we aren’t going to totally succeed in these bodies.
We can be a good person. We can be a murder. Both are equally welcome to ABCD.
What is important is that we ask Jesus to be our Savior and Lord and that we submit our lives to God. We can’t do one without the other.
How Do We Apply This?
- Possess God’s truth.
- Be humble and sober.
- Submit to God.
- Love the truth.
- Bag our willfulness.
- Acknowledge that we still have this sinful nature within us.
- Don’t condone sin, but don’t act as if sins can’t be forgiven (Gal. 6: 1).
- Seek God so that we may know right from wrong, good from evil.
- Use our loyalty to God to help us resist temptation.
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God is Sovereign God. He is in control. His way of thinking is best.
If we choose not to think His way, that is our choice. We should not, then, influence disciples to share our way of thinking. We also need to be prepared to suffer the consequences.
God will be glorified in the end.
Father God. Your way of thinking is higher than ours. We want to grow in it until we are mature thinkers. We want that to lead to Your perfection. Lord, we want to glorify You now and for eternity. Amen.
What do you think?
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