Prison Letters: Pressing On (Pt.1)

(Part 1)

"12 I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. 13 No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.-Philippians 3:12-14

 I love how Paul never allowed his physical limitations to define his spiritual possibilities. Paul was imprisoned when he penned these words about “pressing on”.  How do we press on (how do we move forward) when we are physically locked down? Paul understood that spiritual growth and growing in our relationship with Christ were not confined or defined by the space we occupy. Often, the biggest obstacle or barrier to our own spiritual growth is our own mind. 

Let’s be honest, Paul was in a forced quarantine, where we are under self-quarantine for a greater good. Although, I would never go as far as to say that self-quarantine is more difficult, it does pose some unique challenges. Where Paul’s freedom was taken from him, we in essence are laying ours aside to accomplish an expressed purpose. 

Jesus has a perfect plan and purpose for each of our lives. Paul recognized that to embrace that perfect plan, he had to solely pursue Christ. Pursuing Jesus would ultimately lead to the place of perfection that Jesus had in store for him. However, it often took Paul places that didn’t seem suited to help him accomplish God’s will. 

Paul understood that there is a big difference between being perfect and being perfected.  One claims you’ve reached the pinnacle of God’s purpose, plan and design for your life. The other humbly recognizes that possessing perfection will be a lifelong pursuit. That pursuit requires us to stay focused. Paul said that his focus was straight forward: forgetting what is behind and pressing for what lies ahead. 

The past for many can be a catalyst, but for others it is as anchor that weighs them down, keeping them from moving forward. That is why the writer of Hebrews wrote:

 “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. 2 We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith.-“Hebrews 12:1-2

How do we break free from the weight of sin and shame that can so easily weigh us down?  Keep our eyes fixed on Jesus! Paul could have focused on a number of things that were keeping him from moving forward, but instead he chose to focus on Jesus. Regardless, of what you are facing, you can choose to be anchored to your circumstances or you can choose to press on towards the high calling Jesus has planned for you. 

Scott Burr

Prison Letters: Relapsing into religion (Pt.2)

“Though I could have confidence in my own effort if anyone could. Indeed, if others have reason for confidence in their own efforts, I have even more! I was circumcised when I was eight days old. I am a pure-blooded citizen of Israel and a member of the tribe of Benjamin—a real Hebrew if there ever was one! I was a member of the Pharisees, who demand the strictest obedience to the Jewish law. I was so zealous that I harshly persecuted the church. And as for righteousness, I obeyed the law without fault. I once thought these things were valuable, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done.”-Philippians 3:4-7

To the circumcised believer it was hard for them to understand that circumcision of the flesh, was no longer the sign of being in covenant with God, but rather a life surrendered to Christ was true circumcision. 

 It wasn’t long before a contingency arose within the church (influenced by these circumcised believers) that began to elevate tradition over a relationship with Christ. They began to pervert the gospel by teaching that you can put your faith in Jesus, but you still must be circumcised. Paul’s obvious frustration and strong words with them were directed towards the fact that they were perverting the truth of God’s Word and causing people to believe that somehow our human effort helps bring us into a right relationship with God. 

If we embrace this thinking we will soon begin to believe that Christ’s sacrifice wasn’t enough on its own, that we must perform by human effort something to make our salvation complete. 

Paul, goes on to make the argument that is anyone had reason to believe that “human effort” could gain us heaven or salvation then he would have the pedigree for it.  Paul admits that he, too, used to place a lot of value on those things, but now compared to what Christ has done, he counts it all worthless. 

Paul then emphasized how important it was that he release that way of thinking so as not to relapse into that religious mindset:

“Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ and become one with him. I no longer count on my own righteousness through obeying the law; rather, I become righteous through faith in Christ. For God’s way of making us right with himself depends on faith. I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead. I want to suffer with him, sharing in his death,  so that one way or another I will experience the resurrection from the dead!”-Philippians 3:8-11 

God’s way of making us right with Himself depends on faith! Paul saw nothing of value to hold onto aside from complete faith in Christ. 

I just want to say, that I am not anti-tradition, but we must not allow our tradition to take away the necessity of complete dependence and faith in Christ alone. The first sign of a relapse is that we begin to believe that our human effort is necessary for salvation. When we begin to weigh our own righteousness on the scales alongside Christ’s, we have devalued the sacrifice Christ made at Calvary. 

Scott Burr

Dayspring Community Church 

Prison Letters: Relapsing into Religion (Pt.1)

(Philippians 3:1-11)

“Whatever happens, my dear brothers and sisters, rejoice in the Lord. I never get tired of telling you these things, and I do it to safeguard your faith. 2 Watch out for those dogs, those people who do evil, those mutilators who say you must be circumcised to be saved. 3 For we who worship by the Spirit of God are the ones who are truly circumcised. We rely on what Christ Jesus has done for us. We put no confidence in human effort.”- Philippians 3:1-3 

One of greatest threats that Paul had to confront, in regards to the church, was the tendency of believers to relapse into religion. Many Jews were coming to Christ during Paul’s ministry, however, although they were placing their faith in Christ, many remained trapped in their traditions. 

This is what happens when we are indoctrinated into a tradition before we ever actually meet Jesus. 

 If you were born to a Jewish family, in Paul’s day, you were not simply born “in Israel”. You were born into Judaism. You were raised in it, educated in it, and participated in it. You studied the Torah, participated in Sabbaths and Festivals, and identified closer to your religious faith than your country of origin. 

Many Christians today have had similar experiences having been born into a Christian home. They were raised going to church, attending Sunday School, hearing Bible stories, and participating in things like communion and baptism; all before or even without having had a personal encounter with Christ, themselves. 

In the Old Testament, circumcision was the sign that God gave Abraham that identified them as being God’s covenant people.

10 This is the covenant that you and your descendants must keep: Each male among you must be circumcised. 11 You must cut off the flesh of your foreskin as a sign of the covenant between me and you. 12 From generation to generation, every male child must be circumcised on the eighth day after his birth. This applies not only to members of your family but also to the servants born in your household and the foreign-born servants whom you have purchased. 13 All must be circumcised. Your bodies will bear the mark of my everlasting covenant. 14 Any male who fails to be circumcised will be cut off from the covenant family for breaking the covenant.”-Genesis 17:10-14

 Although, none of the people of Paul’s day were around when God established this with Abraham, they had been indoctrinated in it over hundreds of years. So, much so, that being circumcised became what marked you as being in covenant with God, without any real regard to faith. It marked you as being one of God’s people, even if you really didn’t live for God at all. The emphasis was placed on the tradition rather than faith in God. 

Many Christians today have had similar experiences. Baptism is a very similar type of tradition among Christians. One that is suppose to be expressed as a public profession of our faith in Jesus. However, many parents often push to have their kids baptized worried that without it they won’t make heaven. The emphasis is placed on the tradition rather than on faith in Jesus Christ. By placing this kind of emphasis on tradition, we gravitate towards putting confidence in our flesh over simple faith in Christ. 

Scott Burr

Dayspring Community Church