WEEK 5 ● Day 3
READ PHILIPPIANS 3:9-11
I am a rule follower to the core. As a kid, I’d get in trouble simply because I looked so guilty! Even the idea of doing something wrong—or someone else thinking I’d done something wrong—made me break out in a sweat and a big ol’ nervous smile.
I’ve rarely colored outside the lines, rarely done things I knew I wasn’t supposed to. I recently had to go to court for leaving our garbage cans visible too long. No, I’m not kidding. I got the date wrong and missed my first court appointment, so I got a letter saying if I didn’t appear this next time, there’d be a warrant out for my arrest. I told my kids, this is why you follow the rules!
People seeing me as a goody-goody rule follower was sometimes annoying, so when I was younger I’d occasionally try to do something I considered really bad to seem more relatable. (Once, in high school, I decided to use a minor curse word for a day . . . and immediately felt like I should wash my own mouth out with soap.)
Just following the rules doesn’t get you anywhere with God. My husband has quite a non-rule-follower story, and when he met Jesus, our heavenly Father helped him out of the muck and mire of his past, present, and likely his future—just as He did for me. No matter where we’ve come from or what we’ve done, we all find ourselves in need of God’s extravagant grace.
That’s what Paul is talking about today in Philippians. In Philippians 3:8-9, he says,
8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith.
As a zealous Pharisee, Paul had been addicted to trying to follow all the Jewish laws because he felt he was right. Being right and perfect—or at least feeling like he was better at it than everyone else—gave him his feeling of worth.
But this is what Paul realized—and this is important:
We will never be good enough for God.
I know we don’t like hearing that. Except it’s not even like when your boyfriend’s sister comes up to you and says, “You’ll never be good enough for him,” because we literally won’t ever be good enough for Him! God is the Creator of the universe, the Creator of you and me, and is good and holy and perfect in a way we can’t even fathom. But that’s what’s so incredible about grace and mercy: God meets us where we are through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.
Let’s dive into Philippians 3:9 in the BLB to learn more about what Paul means by “righteousness.”
1. Looking through the Interlinear for this passage, what does the word righteousness (dikaiosynē; δικαιοσύνη, pronounced di-kai-o-soo-nay) mean?
2. If you were to write in those phrases and descriptions of dikaiosynē (δικαιοσύνη), how would you use it to rewrite verse 9?
. . . in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a _______________ of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the _______________ from God that depends on faith.
3. What is the difference between achieving righteousness on our own and understanding that righteousness comes only through faith in Christ? How can you consciously set aside your elevation of the things you think make you “right” with God and rest in the faith that He has already made you right?
Pursuing self-righteousness means a life of striving and failing—a life of trying to live apart from God. Living a life of God-focused righteousness means living in relationship with Him because He has made us right. We are enough because He has made us enough.
Last night I was texting back and forth with a sweet friend who is on the run from her abusive husband. This past fall, when she and I were at a retreat, her aunt and uncle sneaked her out. She’s been in hiding for the past few months. She’s about to face her husband in court for the first time, and as you can imagine, she is so stressed out about seeing him again. Over the years of abuse, she’s begun to believe the lies this man has spouted over her. His words and his actions spoke death into her sense of self.
Abuse makes us believe that we will never be good enough, that we must constantly strive for worthiness, that our efforts can somehow change the darkness in the other person. And whether we’ve experienced abuse or not, our hustling for worthiness[1] can affect our relationship with God, as well. For my friend, the idea of never being good enough for God hurts because she doesn’t feel good enough for anyone right now.
We must hold on to this important truth: self-righteousness, striving, and success are not what God is looking for. Neither is feeling shame and dwelling on the idea that we’re not good enough for His love. His love is not dependent on us being good enough—and that’s incredible news, because not one of us is. God’s love means that He welcomes you as you are and will never leave you the way He found you. You are worthy because He calls you worthy, and you become more like Him because He makes you more like Him.
Talk to God about the truth that you can come to Him just as you are. Ask for Him to help you rest in any places where you are striving for worthiness. He welcomes you whether you feel dirty and beaten down or buttoned-up and shiny.
Amen.