For it is we who are the circumcision, we who serve God by his Spirit, who boast in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh— … Philippians 3:3

Today’s Scripture Reading (March 7, 2018): Philippians 3

When it comes to faith, the intangibles weigh more than the tangibles. You can’t prove your faith by pointing to some aspect of your life.  True faith is wrapped up in the things that no one will ever see. If you think that your worship or your church will prove your faith, you are wrong. Faith is different. It has to be.

This is the message of Paul to the Philippian Church. Paul’s detractors had pointed at circumcision (what Paul calls a mutilation of the flesh) as an outward sign of faith. But as far as Paul was concerned, their eyes were fixed on the wrong spot of the body. Circumcision was proof that a piece of skin had been removed from the male anatomy and nothing more. It was not a symbol of Paul’s faith. (And all of this in spite of the fact that Paul had been circumcised. Even Paul’s circumcision meant nothing.) True circumcision, and therefore true faith, lay elsewhere.

And Paul doesn’t leave the church hanging on wondering where. He quickly lists three characteristics of true faith. And the first is that we worship God in Spirit. True faith is not what you do in a worship service, but rather it is found in the dance of your worship when no one is watching. All of us can worship in the presence of other people. Every Sunday there are thousands of church services that prove that point. And all of the services look oddly similar. We go through the dance of Christianity in the sanctuary, always being careful to follow the local norms (Do you say amen or not? Do you lift your hands in praise, or in the international language of “touchdown,” or leave them hanging loosely at your side? The answer is never far from you. Just watch what the others are doing.) But the true dance of faith happens when you are alone, or when your faith is challenged. It is our spirits that worship God, and the spirit inside of us never bothers to ask what everyone else is doing. It already knows how to worship.

Second, Paul says that true faith points to Christ. It can’t do anything else. The reason for being, for getting up out of bed, for going to work, the reason that we behave the way that we do is all because of Jesus presence in our lives. We are not perfect, but any perfection that can be found in us is because Jesus has stepped into our lives and made a difference. So if there is any good, the praise goes to him, not to us.

And, finally, Paul writes to his Philippian brothers and sister that we have no confidence in the flesh. We don’t point to circumcision, or to our favorite tattoo, as the reason for why we are good. Our faith has nothing to do with our achievements, no matter how numerous the accolades might be. It has nothing to do with where studied; it has nothing to do with us. It is only Jesus.

And these are the marks of our circumcision, and the marks of true faith. These are the things that the world will never see, and only we know if they are in place in our lives.    

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Philippians 4