What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. (Phil 3:8-9)
These couple of verses follow up Paul talking about how, if anyone was qualified by their works in God, He was. He then lists a long list of righteous obedience to the Law. Verse 8 and 9 then turn it around to say it's all rubbish…it's worthless. The very temptation of the flesh, sin-nature, is to justify it's ability to ‘work' itself into God's acceptance. This is a constant battle with our humanity, sin-nature.
In our own mind we try to place boundaries and rules on ourselves and other's that would make them acceptable before God but the reality is only Christ and the completed work He's done on the cross, can do this. Notice that it's often referred to as the “work” of Christ. That's because the only work we need to aspire to is His. The moment you notice yourself looking to rules for acceptance before God, you're relying on your own strength to attain righteousness. This is often referred to as “legalism” and the Bible says the “letter of the law kills but the Spirit brings life”. (2 Cor 3:6).
It's actually the Holy Spirit that leads us to Jesus and in turn to repentance and so our job is to seek the counsel and direction of the Holy Spirit always. Our job is to teach and empower other's to seek the direction of the Holy Spirit too! People are far more willing to trust, follow and obey God when they hear direction from Him themselves. When we tell other's what they should do it only creates rules and regulations which brings us back to legalism. Don't underestimate the power of grace to convict and correct.
It's your flesh that's telling you otherwise! Remember it's the “kindness of God that leads you to repentance…” (Rom 2:4) . Live in the power of His work today…we love you!
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