Righteousness

Philippians 3:4b–14

I, too, have reason for confidence in the flesh. If anyone else has reason to be confident in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, a member of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless. Yet whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss because of Christ. More than that, I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but one that comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God based on faith. I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death, if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained this or have already reached the goal; but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Beloved, I do not consider that I have made it my own; but this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on towards the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.

When we think about stewardship, it’s so easy to become self-focused on how we use our time, our money, our talents, that we forget the core tenet of stewardship: All that we have and all that we are belongs to God—our time, our talent, our treasure, our very selves. In today’s reading, Paul reminds the Philippians (and us) how easy it is to slide into the temptation to clothe ourselves in earthly glory. Yet our righteousness comes not from anything we have done, but from what God has done for us. I am reminded of Luther’s reflection on the third article of the Apostles’ Creed: “I believe that by my own understanding or strength I cannot believe in Jesus Christ my Lord or come to him, but instead the Holy Spirit has called me through the gospel, enlightened me with his gifts, made me holy, and kept me in true faith.”

Prayer: God of abiding love, we confess that we often seek to find righteousness on our own terms, forgetting that you have already called us and claimed us. Teach us to rest in your embrace as we live deeper into our identity as children of God. Amen