Ep. 31 | A New Identity | Philippians

Listen in as Pastor Eddie Blalock shares today’s daily devotional featuring Philippians 3:9. Let’s be Formed by The Word together!

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome to Formed by the Word, a podcast where we don't just read the Bible, we invite it to shape our lives. In each episode, Pastor Eddie Blaylock will provide daily devotionals seeking to connect real scripture to real life. We'll be starting with the book of Philippians. This incredible letter clearly reveals how life in Christ shapes a resilient faith and a joy that is not dependent on circumstances. So wherever you're listening, whether you're driving, working out, or just scrolling for something meaningful, lean in, open your heart, and let's be formed by the word together.

SPEAKER_01 0:38

Well, after a bit of a hiatus during the Holy Week, it's good to be back in Philippians. We're now in chapter three and verse number nine. Well, in 1979, Coca-Cola released a commercial that became famous. In fact, you might be saying, Well, I can't remember that. I was nowhere around in 1979. However, it it did come back during after 2000. I don't recall the exact year, or maybe you've heard about it. It's so well known. It was a Super Bowl commercial at first, and it featured the defensive lineman of the Pittsburgh Steelers named Mean Joe Green. Now, his nickname probably tells you all you need to know about Joe Green, a towering mammoth defensive end, Mean Joe Green. Well, in this particular commercial featuring him, he walked off the field after the game. Clearly, he's dirty, he's muddy, he's tired, beat up, and he walks into the tunnel, heading for the locker room. There he encounters a young boy. The young boy stops him. He's nervous, the little boy is unsure, but he's hopeful. He simply looks at the football player and says, Hey, mean Joe, want my coke? And the beauty of the commercial is that Green hesitates for a moment. Then he takes it and drinks the coke, completely gone, and starts to walk away. But then the moment comes. Just when you think that's the end, he turns back, takes off his jersey, and tosses it to the kid. Wow, you can see the kid's excitement on his face. Now you know what I thought about that kid, and that kid didn't earn that jersey. That kid didn't deserve that jersey. He didn't perform for that jersey. He just came with what he had, a coke, and he walked away with something far greater. Now, that is a great picture of the gospel. Not a perfect one, but I think a good one. Remember what Paul says. He says in verse 9 that this great desire is to be found in him. Here's what he says. Let's read it. Not having a righteousness of my own from the law, but one that is through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God based on faith. Now let's think about that for a moment and let's kind of break it down and see if we can hear what he's saying. He starts by saying, I don't want to have a righteousness of my own. But what does that mean exactly? Well, for starters, it means that we don't bring a perfect resume to Jesus. We simply come to him with what we have, and that is our weakness, our need, our empty hands. Jesus doesn't want our stuff, he wants our hearts. So we offer him what little we have, and he gives us what only he has. When you receive Christ into your heart, when you surrender your life and efforts at living right, when you trust his finished work on the cross, you receive a new identity. Paul says we actually receive his righteousness. He doesn't make ours better. We receive his righteousness. That means we have a new relationship, a new power, and then it comes with a new future. In the first part of Philippians 3, Paul listed his religious credentials. You remember those? He boasts of his Jewish heritage. He boasted of his religious seal and his meticulous keeping of the Torah, the law. Yet he concludes that they are all to be considered as a loss when compared to what he has gained in Christ. And now, verse 9 hinges a little bit, and Paul explains what he gained instead. Paul actually mentions several games, but this morning I just want us to look at the first one. And then tomorrow and the next day, we'll continue on. But the first one is important. He said, I want to be found in him, found in him. Paul's greatest desire was to be found in Christ, not in himself. So the greatest thing, here he says, the gain for me is that I am found in him, in Christ. Paul contrasts two types of righteousness here. There's self-righteousness, which a righteous man of my own derived from the law is self-righteousness. That is when we we base our righteousness on human effort or we base it on our rule keeping ability, or but yet it's always incomplete. If you're basing that on any of those, Paul is saying it's not enough. You can't base it on human effort or rule keeping because there's no righteousness there. As a matter of fact, Isaiah says in Isaiah 64, 6, our righteousness, all of our righteousness, he says, are like filthy garments. The very best that we have to offer will never be enough. Paul had spent years building his own righteousness, but when he met Jesus on that road to Damascus, he discovered something crucial, and that is that the best human righteousness is still insufficient before a holy God. There's a key doctrine here that we call justification. Paul describes this doctrine very clearly here as being one of imputed righteousness. What does that mean? It means when a person trusts Christ, he is declared positionally righteous. Our sin is credited to Christ, and Christ's righteousness is credited to us. Can I say that one more time? I want to make sure you get that. What happens at that moment when a person trusts Christ, my sin is credited to his account, and his righteousness is credited to my account. Wow. Paul said it this way to the Corinthian church. In 2 Corinthians 5 21, he wrote these words, He made him, Jesus, who knew no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. In other words, he took my sin, put it on his account, took his righteousness and put it in my account. So Paul says, My hope is not in my performance, my hope is in the glorious gift of Christ. You see, you don't clean yourself up and then come to Jesus. You come to Jesus and He hands you a whole new jersey. I know so many people who are trying to earn their way into a right standing with God. If I can just be holy enough, if I can just live well enough, if I can perform well, if I can come to church enough, if I can clean up my language, if I can give enough in the offering plate. And Paul is saying, no, no, you don't clean yourself up and then come to Jesus. You come to Jesus and He hands you that whole fresh new jersey, His righteousness. You just bring what you have, and He tosses you what only He has. So today's application of this part of the text, I think, is pretty simple. I would say today we all need to examine our hearts very carefully. Are you trusting Christ with your eternity or are you trying to be good enough? Are you walking in your new identity, reminding yourself daily that you are now a child of God? And when the devil comes against you, the enemy tries to persuade you that you are good for nothing. My friend, listen, you have a new identity. Yes, the old me was worth nothing, but the new me is clothed in the righteousness of Christ. And final question: Are you reminding yourself that God never forsakes his kids? He's always faithful. My there is so much here, but we're going to pick it up again tomorrow and just kind of continue this same thought as we learn more and more. But today's takeaway, here you go. Grace tosses us everything we need, but could never earn. Ah, just in in honor of the old Super Bowl commercial, Grace tosses us everything we need, but could never earn. Lord Jesus, thank you for the day and thank you for your incredible love. A love that is not earned, that we don't deserve it, we didn't do anything to earn it, we can't perform well enough to win it. It's just something you toss our way by your grace. Thank you, Lord. Amen and amen.

SPEAKER_00 9:03

Thanks for joining us today. We are so glad that you chose to spend a few moments with us in God's Word. If this episode has encouraged you, we ask that you leave us a review or maybe share this episode with a friend. Also, would you consider sending us a note to let us know what God is doing in your life? Pastor Eddie would love to hear from you. You can find this email in the show notes. Until next time, stay in the scriptures, keep following Christ, and allow your life to be formed by the Word.