When

pastors serve for a long time with the same congregation, sooner or

later they realize they are probably repeating themselves. “As you

have heard me say before . . .” can become a common

refrain ­after some years.

As

Philippians 3 opens, Paul notes that he is repeating some

instructions that are very important. “I know I have mentioned this

before, but it bears repeating,” he says, in effect: “Stay true

to God! Watch out for those who detract from God’s grace by making

you think you have to contribute to your salvation!” When the

matters at hand are important, reminders are a good idea.

Paul

knew that the situation required repetitions to warn about false

teachers who promoted things like circumcision as a way to make sure

you had salvation. Apparently teachers like this followed Paul around

and waited till he left town before sneaking in with false teachings.

We see evidence of this in Paul’s letters to the Galatians and the

Corinthians as well.

Some

people could not ­accept that salvation is by grace alone. They

figured they had to do something to seal the deal. But Paul’s

response was always “No!” As we have seen in this letter, being

saved by grace does change us into people who begin to act

differently. But those actions are a fruit of salvation, not the

root. Paul could not remind people of that idea often enough! And we

need constant reminders of it too.