Verse by Verse Devotional on Philippians by Pastor Jack #189

Their Glory Is Their Shame

3:19 whose end is destruction, whose god is their appetite, and whose glory is in their shame, who set their minds on earthly things.

Man not only does evil, he glories in it. Instead of being ashamed of what he does, he actually boasts about it. This is the final stage of moral disintegration listed in the poignant description found in Romans 1:18-32:

"Although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them."

This seems to be the kind of thing Paul has in mind when he says of the Judaizers that their glory is in their shame. They glory in the things they should be ashamed of. The Judaizers were boasting in fleshly regulations (like circumcision) and elevating themselves above non-Jews, the very things that they should have been ashamed of.

This attitude reflects the casual and even arrogant attitude man often has toward his sin.

Paul had to rebuke the Corinthians in 1Cor. 5:2,6 because they were not taking seriously the sin in their midst: "You have become arrogant and have not mourned instead, so that the one who had done this deed would be removed from your midst... Your boasting is not good."

It is very important that we take sin seriously, for God takes it seriously. Sin is so offensive to God that it required the death of His own Son in order to erase it. All through the Bible there are awesome displays of God’s hatred for sin: Noah’s flood, the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, etc. It is seen even more clearly in the promised great day of wrath that is to come. However, God’s hatred of sin can best be seen in His wrath poured out upon Christ our substitute on the cross.

Sin is nothing to laugh at or boast about or treat casually. Sin sends people to hell. Sin sent Christ to Calvary. The right response to sin is shame, which is the first step of repentance. Woe to the man who glories in the thing that should bring him shame:

"Why do you boast in evil, O mighty man? ... Your tongue devises destruction, like a sharp razor, O worker of deceit. You love evil more than good, falsehood more than speaking what is right. You love all words that devour, O deceitful tongue. But God will break you down forever; He will snatch you up and tear you away from your tent, and uproot you from the land of the living. The righteous will see and fear, and will laugh at him, saying, ‘Behold the man who would not make God his refuge, but trusted in the abundance of his riches and was strong in his evil desire!’" (Psalm 52:1-7)

Lord, help me to be ashamed of my sin. Forgive me for the ways I have treated my sin lightly. Forgive me for how I have dismissed it or rationalized it. Help me always to remember how sin offends You. Help me to remember that Jesus had to die because of my sin. Help me to be broken-hearted over it and despise it. Help me be miserable and mourn and weep; may my laughter be turned into mourning, and my joy to gloom. May I regularly know the refreshment that comes from true repentance.