Dear brothers and sisters, pattern your lives after mine, and learn from those who follow our example. For I have told you often before, and I say it again with tears in my eyes, that there are many whose conduct shows they are really enemies of the cross of Christ. They are headed for destruction. Their god is their appetite, they brag about shameful things, and they think only about this life here on earth. But we are citizens of heaven, where the Lord Jesus Christ lives. And we are eagerly waiting for him to return as our Savior. He will take our weak mortal bodies and change them into glorious bodies like his own, using the same power with which he will bring everything under his control. [Philippians 3.17-21]
What does an enemy of the cross look like? Paul is not exhaustive in his list that defines an enemy of the cross, but he does reveal a few telling evidences: They are headed for destruction. Their god is their appetite, they brag about shameful things, and they think only about this life here on earth.
They are headed for destruction. This seems to be a general statement about enemies of the cross. It is a sad state of being.
Their god is their appetite. Who would have thought that eating could make a person an enemy of the cross? It's not so much that food or eating is the problem, but instead that their life is focused on food and eating. So important is food in their lives that much of their decision making revolves around it. But, it would seem, Paul's use of the word "appetite" (NKJV "their belly") speaks more broadly of everything that pertains to "self" with "appetite" or "their belly" representing the epicenter of "self." "Appetite" then represents any and everything that pertains to "self" - thus the are self-focused - they have become a god unto themselves. Most everything they think and therefore most everything they do is for themselves.
They brag about shameful things. The NKJV translates this: whose glory is in their shame. This merely speaks of focusing on the wrong things. In other words, the things they focus on are not things of God - thus they are shameful. While this could include vile and disgusting things, it most certainly also includes anything that is not Kingdom-focused - which segues right into the last thing in Paul's list...
They think only about this life here on earth. How a person lives life on a daily basis tells the story of what they think about most. What they do reveals what they really believe. People's lives today are filled with many things that occupy their thoughts and their time: work, family, sports, hobbies, health, music, entertainment, retirement, security, wealth, and comfort (to name a few). This fact is a reality: the very day a baby is born establishes that a day of death will indeed follow. However, almost nothing a person does on a daily basis prepares that person for that imminent day of death and eternity that follows - all is done only for the days of life (which, in comparison, are quite few).
What all this says is that an enemy of the cross is not some monster figure lurking around the corner, but most likely the figure one faces every day in the mirror. "Self" is the enemy of the cross.
Jesus said:
Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need. [Matthew 6.33]
It can be concluded from what Jesus said and Paul confirmed that, if one is not habitually and purposefully seeking the Kingdom of God above all else (especially including themselves), they are enemies of the cross.
Well, that's harsh, huh?
When Jesus said His followers should take up their cross daily (Luke 9.23), He meant it. The only way NOT to be an enemy of the cross is to get out of bed every day looking for that cross and embracing it as priority number one. This doesn't mean there won't be distractions and even failures, but it means one's intent remains constant - the cross. Just a few sentences earlier, Paul confirmed this:
I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. [Philippians 3.12]
In 1971, US toy maker Hasbro introduced a line of toys called Weebles (see Wikipedia). The catchy marketing phrase was "Weebles wobble, but they don't fall down" based on their engineered design to always right themselves to a default standing position. Nothing describes more accurately what the life of a cross-seeking Christ follower should look like! The default standing position is seeking first God's Kingdom and the cross that gets one there. The problem for most however (as Paul warns above) is that their default standing position if self and not the cross - they are not a friend of the cross, but, in fact, an enemy of the cross.
Yes, this is hard. However Paul also gave us a wonderful promise (unfortunately abusively taken out of context most of the time) that speaks to this end:
I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little. For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength. [Philippians 4.12-13]
As hard as taking up one's cross daily sounds, Paul makes it very clear that Christ, our strength, makes it do-able. For the record, it is not a mistake that Paul's letter to the Philippians describes not only the weightiness of the cross, but also the joy and rejoicing in so doing...
Always be full of joy in the Lord. I say it again—rejoice! [Philippians 4.4]
It might be concluded here then, that the reason one would not rejoice is because he or she is, in fact, an enemy of the cross - They are headed for destruction. Their god is their appetite, they brag about shameful things, and they think only about this life here on earth.
The cross is not just another Bible topic for occasional discussion. The cross is mandatory for any believer just as it was for Christ in order to rejoice in God and His Kingdom. The cross was priority number one for Jesus as it will be for any true and genuine Christ-follower (Christian). Hanging on to this life is the sure way to lose it (as an enemy of the cross), while giving up one's life (seeking his or her own cross every day) for Jesus is the only way to save it.
Then he said to the crowd, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross daily, and follow me. If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it. And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but are yourself lost or destroyed? If anyone is ashamed of me and my message, the Son of Man will be ashamed of that person when he returns in his glory and in the glory of the Father and the holy angels. [Luke 9.23-26]
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