…they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things.(Philippians 3:19 – ESV)
You need to find joy in the right things. When we mind earthly things, our greatest intensity is toward earthly not spiritual things. Compare this with Philippians 3:16, instead of minding the same things as Paul, and those maturing in Christ, we have our own agenda, the same as the world’s, the same as we were before we supposedly forsook all for Christ.
Where do your passions lie? God will reveal if you are passionate about the wrong things, and He will do so in community. In the context of this passage, Paul is saying let’s all be passionate about the same things, growing in the knowledge of Christ, and if anyone isn’t God will reveal this, and He does it in the context of community, so follow those who are pressing on and make sure you follow what you already know to do. We also need to watch out, there are some who are passionate about earthly things first and foremost.
We’ll use an obvious example here. Considering how important and necessary money is, it can easily be perverted and become our passion more so than God, and we won’t give up our habits. Think about passages such as James 4:13-16 / Matthew 6:19-21 / Luke 12:16-21; wealth is not wrong but is it controlling you? Are all decisions based upon its production and protection, the “get it or keep it” idea being the most important thing to you (Colossians 3:1-3)?
The opposite of joy in a sense is lust. If I have joy in God I can wait on His plan and timing, even considering my sanctification. Joy is patient, and impatience is pride. Pride leads to lust, which says I deserve it now, or why do I have to wait, or why do I have to deal with this situation, or why am I here? Lust is “I want it my way and in my time, and that time is now”. It wants to go outside God's guidelines to find satisfaction.
Paul says these persons who are like this are enemies and their desire is to find joy in whatever way they deem necessary. They will not mature and they will do it the way they want to. They will not follow others as a pattern, and they think they know better, but they are wrong. They think they have found easy street, a better way, a Christian life and afterlife without a true Christian testimony. They might think they are covered by Christ’s blood, but they are only filling their veins with the virus of vanity.
7 comments:
The opposite of joy in a sense is lust.
I had tended to think of lust as the opposite of self-control. But I think you are at least closer to correct. Joy fuels self-control and lust fuels lack of restraint/rebellion/sin.
The Bible speaks of those who have a zeal without knowledge. Is it possible for us to have a "lust" for knowledge (an inordinate desire to know)? If so, is it true knowledge we desire, or something else? If we are relishing in our knowledge, and are not humbled by our knowing, is our mind really set on heavenly things?
Anything other than the Joy found in the knowledge of Christ perverts our thought process. Lust, vanity, lack of self control all of which creates a depraved mind. Deceived by that very thing they hold so dear. It's a circular event, one huge deceptive 360degree rotation.
(teeth chattering) Zoinks!! Scooby, do you see what I do?
That was for the picture, but in regard to the text: Yup; their “cravings” were bad.
Joy is not the same as happiness, and the full on, fully engaged, fully developed, fully encompassed pursuit of happiness is the venerating of vanity...
that's a very interesting comparison between joy and lust..thanks for the insight.
The Bible speaks of those who have a zeal without knowledge. Is it possible for us to have a "lust" for knowledge (an inordinate desire to know)? If so, is it true knowledge we desire, or something else? If we are relishing in our knowledge, and are not humbled by our knowing, is our mind really set on heavenly things?
The insatiable thirst for knowledge you describe is to my mind a quest for control, and not a godly thing, vis a vis Deuteronomy 29:29, and the Trinity, lets say, or any number of parallels...
As I said in my sermon this Sunday, "Knowledge of God rightly understood brings humility, not pride, which is what was happening to certain Jews and moralists" (Romans 2:17-24 was the text)...
Deuteronomy 29:29 came to my mind as well. Believers at some point have to give up the quest to know and resort to doxology, like Paul in Romans 11.
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