 So before the break we stopped at Philippians chapter 2 verse 13 so we will continue from verse 14 onwards Philippians chapter 2 if we could have someone read out for us verses 14 to 18 Philippians 2 14 to 18 please yeah if anyone has come back from the break and you have logged in please if you could unmute and read out for us Philippians 2 14 to 18 So all things without complaining and disputing that you may become blameless and harmless children of God without fault in the midst of a good and perverse generation among whom you shine as lights in the world holding fast to the word of life so that I may rejoice in the day of Christ that I have not run in vain or never in vain yes and if I been poured out as a drink of wine on the sacrifices on the sacrifice and service of your faith I am glad and rejoice with you all for the same reason you also be glad and rejoice in me yes so he says to all things without complaining and disputing that you may become blameless and harmless children of God without fault if you notice complaining disputing quarrels all of this generally comes out of an attitude of self centeredness where your interests matter more than the interests of others and that leads to you know complaining and disagreements and quarrels in fact we see that mentioned by James you know in James chapter 4 verses 1 to 3 if we could have someone read out that because what he says over there in that portion James makes a lot of sense so if someone could turn to James chapter 4 and read out for us verses 1 2 and 3 James 4 1 to 3 please from whence come wars and fighting among you sorry I will take NKJV I was reading KJV where do wars and fights come from among you do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members you lust and do not have you murder and covet and cannot obtain you fight and war yet you do not have because you do not ask you ask and do not receive because you ask amiss that you may spend it on your pleasures James makes a very valid point over here he says if you look at most of the infighting and the quarrelling and the disputing which goes on in any church setting it's because of the desires that are at war inside the person you know they a part of them wants to serve the Lord and and have a godly set of priorities but then the other part of the believer is filled with all these selfish desires you know where you want self promotion where you would like to do things which would bring you personal pleasure rather than you know serve the purposes of Christ so he says because of these attitudes there's a kind of competition between all of you you know each of you wants to get those things that all of you are you know craving for maybe position and you know influence and all of that so you fight with each other you compete with each other he says you murder and covet and cannot obtain so I mean obviously they're not committing physical murder over here but they're trying to drag each other down you know blackening each other's names so that they can go further in this race of fame so they're doing all of this because of the selfish self-centered worldly desires that are there in them and James in fact he says yet you know you'd not yet you do not have because you do not ask so you fight among yourselves you have all these worldly goals and you want to reach them and you fight with each other to be able to get these worldly goals and instead of asking to asking the Lord you know to lift you up in his time instead of asking the Lord to provide whatever he considers right instead of depending on him and relying upon him you choose to start fighting with one another to gain whatever you can and he makes a point and he says even when you ask you don't receive from the Lord because you're asking for so that you may spend it on your own pleasures you know for instance you want to be lifted up to a higher position as an elder of the church why because it will add to your status not because you want to serve the church so all of this he says it leads to wars and fights and competitions among you so here you know in the Philippian letter Paul is saying almost a similar thing he says do all things without complaining and disputing please don't let there be disputes and quarrelling and competition among you because you need to be blameless and harmless if you are hurting each other then you are a harmful person you're a dangerous person but that is not the way a child of God should be a child of God should be harmless not bringing harm or hurt to anyone and a child of God needs to be blameless no one should be able to point fingers at us because of the way we are conducting ourselves so if we are disputing with one another disagreeing with with one another because I mean I want my opinion to finally win out in an argument if I'm having that attitude then I'm harming the other believers and I'm in fact bringing blame upon myself and the church through my attitude he says it's so important the attitude with which we conduct ourselves because you see we are living in a crooked and perverse generation that's what the whole world is doing out there you know fighting each other dragging each other down competing with one another grumbling and complaining about each other they're doing all of that but we are supposed to be different we are supposed to be the lights shining in a dark dark world so when people look at us they should see us shining they should see that we are so different from them and that should make them wonder why is this person not competing the way I compete why is this person not opening their mouth and criticizing and condemning others the way I am doing and they should ask themselves that and they should want to come to Christ so especially because we are living in such a dark world which is involved in this you know 24 7 in dragging each other down in in trying to backstab one another in trying to you know lift themselves up and promote themselves when we are living in such a dark dark world if you have even a small handful of people who are standing apart and living so differently then automatically they shine and everyone notices so he says we need to be very careful about our conduct because we are those little lights shining in a very dark world in a very crooked and perverse world so we should not be like the world if we are like the world and we will be as dark as them and there would be no shining at all you know so he urges the Philippian believers to be different to stand apart from the crowd and we see the early church leadership you know so beautifully actually exercising this I mean I'm always reminded of you know James the leader of the Jewish church and you know Paul who was the leader of the Gentile church you know when they meet up and they they have to take decisions regarding ministry you know when Paul goes over there to Jerusalem the beautiful way in which they conduct it there's no competitiveness there's no disputing there's no you know okay my interests matter my church's interests matter that whole attitude is not at all there because you know James when Paul goes over there James says see this is the situation that we are facing here there are thousands of Jews who have come to the Lord and for them the law is so important the mosaic law and James is like very frank you know he knows that Paul has taken a stand against the mosaic law and Paul has no interest in following it but he says you have come over here and now all these new believers are watching to see you know what you're going to say what actions you will take so therefore for their sake could you please go to the temple along with a bunch of other you know Jewish I mean people who have made some commitment go and take a vow along with them you know shave your head along with them because when you do that then all these new Jewish believers who have been added to the church they will see and then they will realize that okay you're you're also part of the kingdom of God and you're not crooked in any way or you're not evil in any way and Paul obliges he doesn't say my belief system is different so I don't need to do that you know after all I mean we don't need to follow the law he doesn't grumble or fuss he says he understands that this is for the benefit of that you know new church which is growing among the Jews so he agrees in fact he goes with those people in fact he pays for their for their rituals you know whatever needs to be whatever payment needs to be done he pays on their behalf and he undergoes this rituals along with them even though he is very very clear that in no way is his salvation dependent on any on any of those things in the same event when you know when you look at James in the way he treats the Gentile believers you know he says yeah we will not put all these pressures on the Gentile believers they don't need to follow all of these things and so he he stands up in that Jerusalem Council and he you know proclaims a decision saying that the Gentile believers don't have to follow any of these mosaic laws and then they just mentioned two or three things which you know the Gentiles should observe one of course is to avoid idolatry the other is not to partake in having anything which you know having any sacrificial food which has got blood in it and I know basic things like that so so James goes out of his way to help the Gentile church grow and Paul the leader of the Gentile church he goes out of his way to help the Jewish church grow I mean look at the way they partnered with one another humbled themselves and submitted to one another they did this because they were not trying to promote their ministries they were interested in promoting Jesus kingdom his church that is what mattered to them so Paul didn't say this is my belief system so I don't need to go there to the temple and do that he didn't say that in the same way James did not say you know because the Jewish believers will be affected you know let's impose the rules upon the Gentiles no they cared for each other's churches so they demonstrated you know that blameless harmless attitude which children of God should have and so they were like shining lights so the way they conducted themselves would have greatly influenced the new the new believers you know who are watching who are see who are watching to see how these leaders will conduct themselves when the men that when that whole crisis came you know about the Jews and the Gentiles and all of that so Paul talks about having the importance of having the right attitude so that you will stand apart from the crowd and shine in this very very dark world you're the only light available in this very very dark world where all the principles and values and conduct to the people is so fallen and so when you stand apart and you portray Christ's values you automatically shine and people will you know will wear you you'll patch the attention of people and then they will want to know more about this Christ that we are following so in verses 17 18 Paul says this is the imagery he uses over here he talks about himself as the drink offering he talks about the Philippine the ministry of the Philippine believers as the sacrifice and service which they are offering to God and he says I am being poured out on the sacrifices which you guys are making you know it's like it's using the image of the old testament sacrifices where you would have the the sacrificial animal being brought and then you would have the drink offering poured on the sacrificial animal so he says the sacrifice service which has been coming from your faith you know that's something honourable to the Lord it's a pleasing aroma to him and I am the drink offering which is being poured out on your sacrifices so it's like they both are beautifully partnering with each other to lift up Christ's church to build his kingdom so from their side the Philippians are sacrificing making their sacrifices you know doing whatever they need to do to partner in the gospel and from Paul's side he has allowed himself to be arrested he is now you know facing imprisonment and he's not sure whether you know his life is going to end very soon because he doesn't know what the outcome of Caesar's tribunal will be so he says it looks like I know I'm being poured out like a drink offering and I'm being poured out as a drink offering on the sacrifices which you have been offering to the Lord he says because these Philippian believers we saw that in Philippians chapter 1 verses 27 to 30 where he says you know don't be afraid of the opposition that you're facing he says continue to you know share the gospel the way you have always done so it gives us a hint about what these Philippian believers were going through I mean the local population over there would not have been happy that these believers have gone away from the heathen ways and now they have become part of the Christian church so they probably the believers were facing a lot of opposition now these are people who had Roman citizenship and Roman privileges and rights but now after becoming believers I'm not sure to what extent they were allowed to even access those privileges and rights you know so maybe that's the reason why they became impoverished because I mean people of Philippi were not supposed to be really poor so if they have become that poor and you know in 2nd Corinthians Paul refers to them and he says that they are extremely poor he says so maybe it's because they lost their rights and privileges you know maybe they were no longer being treated well by the by the rest of the society so in Philippians 1 27 to 30 Paul in fact he urges the Philippians and says do not be afraid do not be frightened by the opposition continue to hold on continue to share the gospel he says so these people were making sacrifices they were offering a fragrant sacrifice unto the Lord a service unto the Lord and Paul from his side he was being poured out like a drink offering upon this how beautiful it would be if you know our churches could function like that where what we are all offering to the Lord you know in our in our own personal way in our own spheres of influence if we are all serving sacrificially and then the leadership of the church what they are doing is also sacrificial so while we are all producing and providing the sacrifice those leaders are like the offering which is being poured out on the sacrifices which we are offering so all of us together are offering to the Lord a fragrant aroma put together what we are offering rises up to him rises up to heaven like a fragrant aroma that is the way it should be full partnership at the congregation is not just the audience they are also actively involved in ministry they are also doing whatever they can in their offices in their colonies so they are making their sacrifices they are offering their service the leadership on the other hand is also working very hard and so the people's sacrifices and the leadership's offerings together combine to become one beautiful sacrifice and service unto the Lord that is what the Lord wants those are the kind of living sacrifices in which Romans chapter 12 talks about that is the goal that you know we should all work towards and now he talks about two persons who deserve special commendation so versus in verse 19 he talks about Timothy and then later on he goes on to talk about Epaphroditus so dwelling a little bit upon what he says regarding Timothy if we could have someone read out for us versus 19 to 22 about Timothy specifically Philippines 2 versus 19 to 22 well I trust in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you shortly that I also may be encouraged when I know your spirit for I have no one like minded who will certainly care for your spirit for all see their own not the things which are of Christ Jesus but you know his proven character that as a son with his father he served with me in the gospel therefore I hope to send him at once and as soon as I see how it goes with me but I trust in the Lord that I myself shall also come shortly yeah so he wants to send Timothy to them to know to encourage them maybe to help them and he gives him the highest compliment that he's ever given anyone he says I have no one else like him so I imagine that this Timothy probably was just like Paul very sacrificial never putting his own interests first always placing the interests of Jesus Christ first I mean was probably a very exceptional man which is why finally you know Timothy I mean Paul appoints him as the leader of the efficient church even though he's just a youngster because this man Timothy has proved himself in that manner where he places Christ's interests always first never thinks about himself he's so you know and Timothy says about Paul says about Timothy he says who will show genuine concern for your welfare so here is a man who cares about the name of Christ about promoting Christ and about looking after the welfare of the people that that have been placed under him he doesn't even think about his own interests what a exceptional person so Paul says I have no one else like him the highest compliment that Paul could ever give to anyone you know he says that about Timothy because if you remember Paul he he gives up so many rights and privileges to serve you know for to serve Christ if you if you remember the first Corinthian you know passage in 1st Corinthians chapter 9 you know where he talks about how you know we to have a right to expect payment for the ministry that we are doing but have we ever taken any payment from any of you you know is what he says to the Corinthian people he says Peter and some of the other apostles you know they take their wife along when they go on ministry trips ministry trips but then he says people in my team you know we we don't even take our families along even though we have a right to do that because then if they take their family along then the church will have to you know provide for them and take care of them so they don't want to burden the churches that they are visiting in that manner and so they choose not to take their family members with them they choose not even to ask for any payment or support rather they themselves earn and they themselves support them you know their food and lodging and all of that so in the in the 1st Corinthians 9 passage this is what he says or is it only I and Barnabas who lack the right to not work for a living so they they do they do they they do their tent making on the side you know along with the ministry work which they are doing the entire day so that they will not be a burden to the churches in any way and this is what he Paul says in 1st Corinthians 9 verse 11 he says if we have sown spiritual seed among you is it too much if we reap a material harvest from you so he says because we are spiritually providing for you you have an obligation to actually provide for us materially but we have never ever asked you know such things from you so he says in verse 12 but we did not use this right on the contrary we put up with anything he says we put up with anything rather than hinder the gospel of Christ so this Timothy was probably somebody like that who was willing to put up with anything so that the gospel of Christ will not be hindered I mean these are very high you know values that are being very high standards which are being placed for us are we people who will put up with anything to serve the interests of Christ are we people who will put up with anything to show genuine concern for the people who have been placed under us are we willing to put up with anything to be able to serve Christ in that manner and to serve the church in that manner so Timothy was one such person and so here he speaks highly of him and he says don't worry I will send him to you soon you know so that you know you will be benefited and then he goes on to talk about Epaphroditus the other person that he wanted to especially mention because Epaphroditus was somebody from Pilpai he was basically from the Philippine church but he had gone to Rome to help Paul during his arrest and imprisonment so he was probably serving Paul over there you know while he was under house arrest he was serving him and taking care of him and helping him with ministry matters because Paul was under arrest you know he would not be able to move around he would be basically stuck in the place where he's been imprisoned but the people who are with him would would be able to move around and take care of ministry matters and assist in so many different ways so Epaphroditus had gone from Philippi to help him over there and then it says we get to know in this passage what happens and that shows the level of commitment that this man had towards ministry so if we could have someone read out those verses for us uh verses 25 to 30 yeah chapter 2 verses 25 to 30 please if I considered it necessary to send you to Epaphroditus my brother fellow worker and fellow soldier by your but your messenger and the one who ministered to my need since he was longing for you all and was distressed because you had heard that he was sick for indeed he was sick almost unto death but God had mercy on him and not only on him but on me also lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow therefore I sent him the more eagerly that when you see him again you may rejoice and I may be less sorrowful receive him therefore in the Lord with all gladness and hold such men in esteem because for the work of Christ he came close to death not regarding his life to supply what was lacking in your service toward me yeah so it looks like when he was serving Paul in Rome he became sick at some point of time but then you know he didn't want to just leave and go back because he is sick because Paul needed him over there and so he continues to stay over there in spite of his sickness until it almost affects him I know to a stage where he almost dies so here again was another person who was willing to put up with anything so that he will not hinder the gospel in any way so even though he is sick even though he needs care if we had gone back to Philippi the Philippian believers would have looked after him but he chooses to continue staying over here because if he goes away who will be there to help out who will be there to take care of things and so he continues over there and risks his life where you know he almost reaches the point of death so that which is why Paul says you know and it's generally believed that the letter when it is sent it's Epipharoditus who would have carried the letter back home you know to the Philippian church so he says welcome him in the Lord with great joy and he says honor people like him because he almost died for the work of Christ he says so in the next sentence he says he risked his life to make up for the help you yourselves could not give me so he put his life at risk continue to stay over there he became sicker and sicker until it almost looked as if he would you know die so that is the way he served so the kind of people who are talked about over here in this Philippian letter very high beautiful examples I mean these are the kind of people that we should aspire to be you know so are we serving in that manner are we willing to you know put up with the kind of opposition that these people were facing and were they you know the same way they were willing to not allow anything to come in the way of you know honoring Christ in serving the church are we willing to you know put up with anything in the same manner all of these things are you know matters that we would have to ask ourselves because that is the kind of example which is being set for us you know in this particular letter so moving on from there into chapter three here now in this chapter three he touches upon this whole idea of the Judaizers like we saw in the introduction there are no Judaizers as such in the Philippian church but Paul is concerned that maybe you know they would come from Galatia or from other places and start troubling the believers over here so he kind of wants to warn them about these people in fact it looks like he's already warned them about these people earlier as well but now he again makes mention of this topic because he is concerned that they will you know come and create harm in this in this lovely church um so um looks like they were you know um creating a lot of confusion wherever they went these Judaizers so we'll just look at three verses here um if someone could read out for us the verses one two and three of chapter three yeah Philippians chapter three verses one two and three please finally my brother rejoices the Lord for me to write the same things to you is not tedious but for you it is safe beware of dogs beware of evil workers beware of the mutilation for we are the circumcision who worship God in the spirit rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh yes um so he says it is no trouble for me to write the same things to you again which means earlier also on some other occasions he's already talked to them about these Judaizers and warned them to stay away from these false teachings he feels very strongly about this because you know he humbled himself decided that he would only talk about Jesus and Jesus crucified and nothing else and now here are these people who are saying that they have to add something to this crucified Christ that you have to add something more and only then you will gain your salvation so he finds that deeply distressing and if people say that you know they want to trust in Jesus and also the law that's not going to lead them to salvation I mean you've got to place your trust in Jesus alone so what would happen is you would end up with an entire church of believers who think that they are believers and who are not even believers because they're placing their faith in law they believe that Jesus is not adequate that what he did on the cross is not enough so it would destroy the entire church I mean none of those people would ever go to heaven so it is a very distressing thing so which is why Paul is deeply troubled by these false teachers so he again warns very very strongly against them and these are the terms that he uses you know he says watch out for those dogs that's the derogatory term that he uses regarding these people he says evil do versus what he calls them and then he says you know watch out for the mutilation or rather in the NIV like it says they are the mutilators of the flesh so these are the terms that he uses when talking about the Judaizers and their teaching you know as we know dogs were not considered something respectable or noble in the Jewish culture I mean now we have a very different opinion of dogs we consider them as you know man's best friend we consider them as faithful and loyal so for us this term does not make much sense but then back then if someone were referring to a dog they would refer to that animal in a very in a most derogatory manner dogs were considered low they were considered unclean so imagine Paul is using that term to refer to these to these believers these fake believers who are promoting the mosaic faith rather than placing their faith in Jesus work on the cross alone okay so he says watch out for those dogs now it's true that some people kept dogs in their homes as pets but then that was very very very few in number most people looked down upon dogs now this was a term which was generally used for the Gentiles if you remember you know in the Gospels when Jesus has that encounter with that Syrophoenician woman he makes a reference to that term which the Jewish people used to apply to the Gentiles so he says I have been sent to the children of of Israel I have not been sent to the dogs the Gentiles so he deliberately uses that term which the people of that time were applying to the Gentiles and the Gentiles were familiar with that I mean they knew that the Jewish people had a low opinion of them that this is how they referred to them they were very much aware of that and in on that particular occasion Jesus deliberately uses uses that term just to see how she would respond and then her response is amazing I mean Jesus is impressed greatly by her faith and the way she responds so this term dogs was a term that was used for Gentiles the Jewish people used this term for the Gentiles because the Gentiles had not been given the mosaic covenant God did not come down to the Gentiles and say I will make you my chosen people you will be a set apart for me and I will do great miracles among you I will provide for you I will bless you God did not come down and say that the Gentile nations especially came and gave that status to the Jewish people so the Jewish people always regarded themselves as superior as somebody very exclusive I mean of course God never intended them to think of themselves that way because he always made it a point you know when he gave them those mosaic laws to say anyone who is willing to come and join you or your community you are meant to welcome them you're supposed to treat them in the right manner and then after the third or fourth generation you know their descendants would be able to start attending the temple but they would become part of the as a light community so I mean they were all these rules and regulations given so the Jewish people were never supposed to regard themselves as exclusive in the sense regard themselves as superior but they kind of developed a superiority complex and they looked down upon the others who had not been given the law and if you remember the two tablets which are given to Moses God literally writes the commandments the 10 commandments with his own hand on those two tablets so they are the nation they are the only nation to whom something that was literally written by God's hand was given you know so no other nation had that kind of a special status so therefore the Jews had a very high opinion about themselves and they referred to the Gentiles as dogs now here what is Paul doing he's turning the tables on them he said he says you have always regarded the Gentiles as dogs but now if you hold on to this mosaic law that you are so proud about you know what you are going to end up with that status of dogs because the law can no longer deliver or save so you will be on the same level as all the Gentiles whom you were condemning and regarding as you know outside the outside the you know the saving grace of God so you will be on the same level as them if you consider them as dogs you'll also be one of the dogs if you hold on to the mosaic law so he's basically that's the statement that he's making so he's equating them with with the dogs in the sense the same status that they had given to the others they are now going to be having that same status themselves as well if they choose to hold on to the law the second thing that he says here he calls them mutilators of the flesh because the Jewish people regarded themselves as the circumcised people of God for them circumcision was a mark of honor it is a mark that sets them apart as the chosen people of God but now Paul says that circumcision that you know that you consider something so valuable and something that's so respectable it's it's just a mutilation and the term that he's using is again very very derogatory because mutilation is something that you do to the enemy you know during a war when when you would have two two you know armies fighting each other the the victorious army when it captures the you know the the defeated enemy soldiers it would mutilate them you know cut off certain organs you know maybe you know mutilate them in some way or the other so that term is now being used over here by Paul that's the Greek term that he uses over here so he says what you have always considered as a very as a mark of respect you know the circumcision now it's no longer a mark of respect now it's just a mutilation it's basically what you this derogatory thing which you do to your enemies that's basically what it is now it's no longer a mark of respect so when he calls them dogs and when he calls them mutilators he's equating them with the Gentiles whom they have looked down upon all their lives so he's saying you're in no way different or any better than the Gentiles if you choose to hold on to the law now because now the new covenant has come in so you've got to accept the fact that the old covenant is gone and now you've got to submit to Jesus and place your faith in him and give up on the old covenant and if you're not willing to to do that you're now on the same level as the Gentiles whom you have despised all your life is the point that you know he's trying to make so if you if there were any judas listening to this letter when it was being read out to the congregation these terms which Paul uses would have hit them they would have understood what Paul is saying when he's speaking these words so he says in verse 3 for it is we believers you know 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 so now who are the circumcised the the judicers they're just mutilated that's it they're not even circumcised on the other hand the believers who are probably many of them Gentiles who are not even circumcised in the flesh they are actually the circumcised now so this this honourable title of circumcised people is no longer being held by the people who have a physical circumcision rather it's the believers who get to have this honourable title of being called the circumcised people of God so Paul is saying it is we believers who are the circumcision we are the ones who serve God by his spirit so this was a concept in fact which God introduced in the Old Testament itself he never said that just physical circumcision is enough I mean if you go back to the Old Testament right from Old Testament times itself he made it very very clear that simply undergoing a physical ceremony of circumcision is not going to set you apart for God we see that right in Deuteronomy itself so in fact if we could have any one person read out that for us um Deuteronomy chapter 10 verses 15 and 16 Deuteronomy 10 15 and 16 please the Lord delighted only in your fathers to love them and he chose their descendants after them you above all peoples as it is the day therefore circumcise the foreskin of your heart and be stiff necked no longer so right then in the mosaic law when when God first established that mosaic law that time itself he was very very clear what kind of a circumcision he is he's talking about yes they would be physically circumcised but that is pointing towards the circumcision of the heart that is the important thing so at that time the Lord says to them please circumcise your hearts and stop being stiff necked we talked about that earlier right in one of our classes a stiff neck is one which is you know which refuses to bend and you bend your neck and you submit and say okay I accept what you're saying oh Lord I humble myself and I repent that shows that you have a um willingness to learn that you have a willingness to correct yourself on the other hand a stiff necked person is one who who sticks up their neck and says no I refuse to listen to what you're saying I refuse to accept what you are saying I refuse to bow to what you're saying so the Lord says right in deutronomy itself you need to circumcise your hearts and the same thing is talked about in Ezekiel 44 9 you know where it says um no foreigner uncircumcised in heart and flesh is to enter my sanctuary it was not enough that people should be circumcised in the flesh they also needed to be circumcised in their heart so both heart circumcision and flesh circumcision were required in the Old Testament so now why are believers called the circumcised people of God because we have chosen to submit to the Lord Jesus so in that sense our hearts are circumcised so now it's no longer important to be physically circumcised that's not required anymore because in the heart itself believers have now chosen to become circumcised so believers are the true circumcision they are the true circumcised people of God now and they have now they are now serving him by his spirit because if you remember again going back to your Ezekiel there we are told that um in Ezekiel 36 verse 27 it says I will put my spirit in you and move you to follow my decrease so to the believers today the Holy Spirit has been given and he moves us in our inner person to follow him to obey him so in that manner because of the work of the Holy Spirit inside us we have become the true circumcision so therefore we don't boast in physical circumcision we don't boast in the Old Testament laws which we are keeping what do we boast in it says over here in verse 3 who boast in Christ Jesus who put no confidence in the flesh whatsoever so our confidence is not in whether we are circumcised or not our confidence is in Jesus Christ and the work which he has done on the cross for us that has made us into his people so we are not dogs anymore whether we are Gentiles or Jews we are no longer dogs we are rather God's people because of what he has done on the cross for us okay so so those are the points which Paul is trying to bring out over here in this third in this third verse way when he says that the believers are the circumcised people of God yeah I think maybe we can just stop over here all right yeah so yeah let's just close with the word of prayer Lord we just thank you so much for the many things that we have learned from this letter to the Philippians we pray Lord that just like the Philippian believers we would offer our sacrifices and service to you we pray that whatever we give to you will be like a pleasing aroma unto you we pray a lot that we would not see ourselves as an audience and leave all the ministry work to the leadership but we would actively do whatever we can from our side even though it may involve a position so like the Philippians so Lord we pray that we would be brave we would not give in to the to fear because people are against us but that we would go forward and do whatever we can from our side to promote the kingdom of God and we pray O Lord that even as we are doing this it would be like an honorable offering unto you thank you Lord in Jesus name amen amen thank you