Being Distracted from Christ by This Fallen Fleshly Culture: Though I myself have something to be confident of in the flesh as well. If any other man thinks that he has confidence in the flesh, I more: circumcised the eighth day; of the race of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; As to zeal, persecuting the church; as to the righteousness which is in the law, become blameless. But what things were gains to me, these I have counted as loss on account of Christ. But moreover I also count all things to be loss on account of the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, on account of whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as refuse that I may gain Christ Philippians 3:4-8. Notice carefully how Paul mentions his race, culture, ethnicity, and religion. It is easy for me to see that material things may be substitutes for Jesus Christ in our lives or may frustrate us from enjoying Him as a Person, even more so with all the technology which has been on the increase for the last several decades; but it is not easy to see that things that are not material, such as religion, philosophy, and culture, may also be substitutes for Christ. Throughout the years, I have met a number of spiritual people from different nationalities and Christian denominations who were genuine seekers of the Lord. However, although they were progressing spiritually to a certain extent, hardly any lived outside their national culture and ethical philosophy. This philosophy had been inculcated into them from their youth. This is not to say that these ethical teachings are wrong. They were used to preserve people for centuries. The point is that such ethical teachings are something other than Jesus Christ Himself. It is not Gods desire that we live according to certain ethical teachings. Ethics is not part of the Biblically based new creation in Christ Jesus. It is not something that originates of Christ, of the Spirit, or of resurrection life we call all enjoy right now at this very moment. Anything that is of Christ must be in resurrection, in the new creation, and of the Spirit. Oh, how I pray you can clearly see this my friends... The problem is not simply that they do not live outside their nationalistic ethical philosophy. A more serious problem is that people do not know the difference between nationalistic philosophical ethics and Jesus Christ. What is true of the Dutch, German, French, Belgian, or Korean Christians I have met concerning ethics is also true of Christians of different nationalities concerning their cultures; yes, even here in the United States. ...no matter how earnestly the Believers may seek the Lord Jesus, they are still under the influence of their national characteristics. As I personally grow in the excellency of the knowledge of Jesus Christ, I begin to realize how separate and distinct I am as a Born-again Christian from this fleshly domain. Sadly, many Christians have not achieved this in their daily living as they are influenced more by their culture than by Christ. When Paul said that he counted ALL things loss, he meant not only material things, but also things such as religion, philosophy, and culture. We may be willing to count material things as loss for Jesus Christ, but we may not count as loss our culture or our national characteristics. But religion, culture, and national characteristics were among the things Paul counted to be trash, refuse, yes, crap, in order to gain Christ and be found in Him. These things may be very good, but they are not in resurrection and they are not in the new creation. Moreover, they are not of Christ or of the Spirit, but of this sinful lost world of fallen man. Listen: See to it that no one enslaves you through philosophy and empty deceit according to human tradition, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ. For in him the whole fullness of God lives in bodily form. And you have been brought to fullness in him, who is the head of every ruler and authority. In him you were also circumcised with a circumcision performed without human hands by stripping off the corrupt nature in the circumcision performed by Christ. When you were buried with him in baptism, you were also raised with him through faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead. Even when you were dead because of your offenses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with him when he forgave us all of our offenses, having erased the charges that were brought against us with their decrees that were hostile to us. He took those charges away when he nailed them to the cross. And when he had disarmed the rulers and the authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in the cross Colossians 2:8-15.
Posted on: Sat, 13 Sep 2014 15:43:32 +0000
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