Today’s Scripture
Reading (February 4, 2015): Philippians 3
Theodore
Roosevelt is often credited with coining the phrase “people don’t care how much
you know until they know how much you care.” Although there is some dispute
over the attribution, in many ways these words seem to make sense flowing from
the man who redefined what it meant to be the President of the United States in
modern times. For Roosevelt, being President was more about the character of
the man than it was about the policies of his administration – something that
we still hold to today, but admittedly we seem to be moving away from.
Roosevelt believed that character trumped everything else. If a person had character,
then it was possible to trust his actions even when you disagreed with them.
And historian Henry Adams proclaimed that Roosevelt “was pure act.”
And this is
the danger of those who walk among us parading their education. The reality is
that education is good and necessary, but what is even more critical is the
character that stands behind the education. Character seldom calls attention to
itself – and it is always revealed by actions, and never by education. I have
to admit that I am suspicious of anyone who demands to be honored by an
educational title because, albeit unfairly, it makes me wonder if there is any
character within the person to hold up the title. Or is a stress on the degree
a cry that there is nothing else within the person which can define them – the educational
degree is all that they are. In a recent seminary class a prof addressed the
issue of what his students should call him. And he said that he allows his
student to call him Dr. (he has an earned PhD) or Pastor, but he prefers to be
called by his first name. And from knowing him I can understand that, his
actions continually reveal his character, so he has no need to be held up by
his degree.
As Paul
speaks of boasting in Jesus Christ, he reveals the things in his life that once
he thought truly revealed who he was. The first four things he mentions were
essentially accidents of his birth. He was circumcised on the eight day in
accordance with Leviticus 12:3. He was a citizen of Israel by birth rite, a
member of the chosen people of God on the earth. He was of the tribe of
Benjamin, a proud group of people who had provided the first King of Israel,
King Saul; a tribe who had backed Judah when the other ten tribes had abandoned
her during the reign of Rehoboam, son of Solomon; and a tribe which held the
Holy City, Jerusalem, within its ancestral boundaries. Paul adds to this that
he is a Hebrew of Hebrews, which basically means that he was brought up to be
proud of his Jewish heritage in a time when many weren’t – and many of Paul’s
contemporaries tried to hide their Jewishness, even to the extent of
cosmetically reversing their circumcision.
And then
Paul adds his educational element. He was a member of the Pharisees, an elite
Jewish sect known for their commitment to keeping the entire law. There were
never many Pharisees within Israel, with 6000 being about the maximum number,
but Paul had achieved this elite standard – he was one of the Holy Ones of
Israel. And his journey to this elite group was never just an intellectual
pursuit for Paul, he had zealously prosecuted those who undermined the teaching
of the Hebrew Scripture, putting to death those who broke the law of God, and among
these offenders stood the Christian Church. Paul was a man of action, his
knowledge informed everything that he did. And because of that, Paul was proud
that he could stand up and say that he had kept the whole law – all of it. He
guarded his actions so that there would be no weak areas that could ever be
exploited by his enemies.
Paul’s point
was that if there was anyone who could claim to be child of the law, he
fulfilled that qualification more than even his enemies and accusers had. And
yet, he regarded all of this, both the accidental characteristics of his birth,
as well as the work and dedication that he had infused into his life, as being
worthless. As he had written to the Corinthian Church –
But God chose the foolish things of
the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame
the strong. God chose the lowly things of
this world and the despised —and the things that are not—to nullify the things
that are, so that no one
may boast before him. It
is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom
from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. Therefore, as it is written: “Let the one who
boasts boast in the Lord” (1 Corinthians 1:27-31)
Paul understood
this, and would boast in nothing other than Jesus – even though others with
less qualifications boasted in themselves. But Paul saw clearly that others were
wrong, and the only one Paul could boast in was Jesus.
Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading:
Philippians 4
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