THE INADEQUACY OF THE FLESH!

Philippians 3:1-17 TLB

Whatever happens, dear friends, be glad in the Lord. I never get tired of telling you this, and it is good for you to hear it again and again. [2] Watch out for those wicked men-dangerous dogs, I call them-who say you must be circumcised to be saved. [3] For it isn't the cutting of our bodies that makes us children of God; it is worshiping him with our spirits. That is the only true "circumcision." We Christians glory in what Christ Jesus has done for us and realize that we are helpless to save ourselves. [4] Yet if anyone ever had reason to hope that he could save himself, it would be I. If others could be saved by what they are, certainly I could! [5] For I went through the Jewish initiation ceremony when I was eight days old, having been born into a pure-blooded Jewish home that was a branch of the old original Benjamin family. So I was a real Jew if there ever was one! What's more, I was a member of the Pharisees who demand the strictest obedience to every Jewish law and custom. [6] And sincere? Yes, so much so that I greatly persecuted the Church; and I tried to obey every Jewish rule and regulation right down to the very last point. [7] But all these things that I once thought very worthwhile-now I've thrown them all away so that I can put my trust and hope in Christ alone. [8] Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the priceless gain of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. I have put aside all else, counting it worth less than nothing, in order that I can have Christ, [9] and become one with him, no longer counting on being saved by being good enough or by obeying God's laws, but by trusting Christ to save me; for God's way of making us right with himself depends on faith-counting on Christ alone. [10] Now I have given up everything else-I have found it to be the only way to really know Christ and to experience the mighty power that brought him back to life again, and to find out what it means to suffer and to die with him. [11] So whatever it takes, I will be one who lives in the fresh newness of life of those who are alive from the dead. [12] I don't mean to say I am perfect. I haven't learned all I should even yet, but I keep working toward that day when I will finally be all that Christ saved me for and wants me to be. [13] No, dear brothers, I am still not all I should be, but I am bringing all my energies to bear on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, [14] I strain to reach the end of the race and receive the prize for which God is calling us up to heaven because of what Christ Jesus did for us. [15] I hope all of you who are mature Christians will see eye-to-eye with me on these things, and if you disagree on some point, I believe that God will make it plain to you- [16] if you fully obey the truth you have. [17] Dear brothers, pattern your lives after mine, and notice who else lives up to my example.

 

Disappointment! We've all been through it. It's a matter of life. There's disappointment in every corner of life. We get disappointed daily, either by natural things, it's raining and it's stopping you, or the weather's so cold, there's heavy snow, or the transport's not working, the car didn't work, the children didn't get up on time, the phone failed, the internet failed. Or whatever, it could be anything.

You can't do what you want because you don't have the resources.

Disappointment!

Whatever way disappointment comes, it remains disappointing and painful. But there is one who doesn't disappoint - the Lord.

Disappointment is shrouded in Ego! Self-conferred confidence! We often fail to realize or remember that people are humans, just like you and I, and they are fallible. They fail even when they don't intend to or plan to. A fitting verse for this thought is James 3:2, which says that “we all stumble in many ways,” reminding us that every human being is prone to failure and mistakes. That’s life!

There’re so many inadequacies in the flesh, so, we must trust God above people as declared in Psalm 118:8: “It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in man.” This shifts confidence from self and others to God, who alone is perfectly faithful and cannot fail. The flesh will always fail!

Jesus said we should have confidence in him. The things of the flesh breeds death. The thing of the spirit breeds life, according to Galatians 5:16.

No matter what we think we know, we get to a stage where we realize it's of no use. No matter how smart we think we are, we get to a point where we realize we're not as smart or the smartest person on the block.

We don't have confidence in ourselves. Paul knew is very well as he tells us in verse seven. Yes, he was circumcised. He was a Jew. He was educated. He was this. He was that. Everything he was counting was egocentric. self-confessed confidence until, that is, Jesus met him on the way to Damascus. Oh boy, did he meet with Christ? And then he realized he had to surrender to God and not to his flesh.

How about you, are you doing what your flesh dictates as seen in Romans 7:18?

Are you like Paul, counting all the things that you have so much faith and confidence in, that was failing and disappointing.

But when he depended on the Lord, things changed. How about you? Are you dependent on God? Isaiah 64:6 says everything we do that we pride ourselves in doing is like a filter rag before God. When the rich man or the rich ruler in Matthew 19 came to Jesus to ask, Master, what can I do to be saved? Jesus told him what to do, recounting the Ten Commandments. And this young man's response was that he had kept all the law. You can just hear the ego sounding there. I have kept all the laws. Can you really keep all the laws? No. Jesus knew that. And then Jesus went for that to say, okay, that's good. If you've kept all the law, now go sell all your goods and give the proceeds to the poor. Oh boy, he didn't like that because that was killing the flesh completely.

The men of the law, the Pharisees, the Sadducees, all these teachers of the law, they knew the law, the word, and the commandments, but didn’t know Jesus. And Jesus is saying that those things will disappoint us. As believers, we must get our orientation from the word. We must trust in the word of God and not in ourselves, our deeds, accolades, qualification, knowledge or whatever. Do we whatever we do to sound important or Christ potent? Life gets disappointed at every angle, but Jesus never disappoints. So, remember Christ is trustworthy, and can transform you. Stop being self-confessed righteous and allow the righteousness of God to be yours, lead, guide, encourage, and above all, teach you to be who you're supposed to be. And as Paul says in verses twelve. Press on! Knowing the pain. Knowing the disappointment, tears, and everything else you’ve been through because God will not disappoint you. Forget the flesh, the flesh will fail and disappoint you. It's inadequate to handle spiritual things.

Let the spirit handle spiritual things.

REFLECTION QUESTIONS

-        Have I experienced disappointment because I trusted in people or myself instead of God? How did that affect me?

-        What areas of my life show signs of self-reliance rather than dependence on the Spirit?

-        What “ego-driven” achievements or qualifications am I still holding on to, like Paul before his encounter with Christ?

-        Do I genuinely believe that Jesus never disappoints, even when life does? How can I live out that belief daily?

PRAYER: Father, forgive me for the times I’ve been hurt because I trusted in man instead of You. Heal my heart from every disappointment and remind me that You never fail. Help me to rest in Your unfailing love in Jesus’ name, amen.

https://open.spotify.com/episode/5jdx1hmfgQBiJzfF7rGws7?si=X8dbxkSQTsmTWlh8TXed8A

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