[Prayer]
Today’s message is from Philippians 3:1-11. The apostle Paul is going to tell the Philippians (and us) how to think about Jesus and how to think about our relationship to him and what our goal should be. He’s going to tell us about what his goal is and how his thinking changed (and I’ll give you a hint—from self-centered to Christ-centered). He’s going to tell us about his own experience.
As always, as we read the passage, remember that we are reading the word of God. We will not be just reading what someone speculated about or thought. We will not be reading men’s ideas or something that was arrived at by human reasoning. We will be reading what God, who made the entire universe including each of us and who sustains all things, including our lives, said through the apostle Paul. Do you think it’s important to pay attention? It’s very important!
Also, as always, I encourage you to read the Bible every day. Read the entire Bible over and over. It’s the word of God. I say these things in various ways every Sunday. Don’t tune them out.
Now let’s read the passage—Philippians 3:1-11:
1Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord. To write to you again about this is no trouble for me and is a protection for you. 2Watch out for “dogs,” watch out for evil workers, watch out for those who mutilate the flesh. 3For we are the circumcision, the ones who serve by the Spirit of God, boast in Christ Jesus, and do not put confidence in the flesh— 4although I once had confidence in the flesh too. If anyone else thinks he has grounds for confidence in the flesh, I have more: 5circumcised the eighth day; of the nation of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; 6as to zeal, persecuting the church; as to the righteousness that is in the law, blameless.
7But everything that was a gain to me, I have considered to be a loss because of Christ. 8More than that, I also consider everything to be a loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. Because of Him I have suffered the loss of all things and consider them filth, so that I may gain Christ 9and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own from the law, but one that is through faith in Christ—the righteousness from God based on faith. 10My goal is to know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, 11assuming that I will somehow reach the resurrection from among the dead. (Philippians~3:1-11)
The passage starts out, “Finally...” Literally, “The remaining thing...” “Finally (the remaining thing), my brothers, rejoice in the Lord.” To rejoice in the Lord means to rejoice because of the Lord, because of his presence in you and his power that works in you and through you, because that power is making you pure and holy just as he is pure and holy, because he is the Lord, because he loves you. Rejoice in the Lord.
“Rejoice in the Lord.” Paul says that to write this to them again is no trouble. He wrote it before. In last week’s passage he said, “I am glad and rejoice with all of you.” He said, “In the same way you also should rejoice and share your joy with me.” What should we do?
Here’s what we should do. One, we should rejoice. Two, we should share our joy with each other. Paul says to the Philippians that rejoicing is a protection for them. God says to us that rejoicing is a protection for us. What does it protect us from? Well it doesn’t say right here in this passage. But rejoicing (rejoicing in the Lord, that is) certainly will protect you from doubt and unbelief, from discouragement and fear, and in general, from every kind of sin. Rejoicing in the Lord focuses your attention on the Lord and away from yourself. (I’m preaching to myself as well as all of you.) And, by the way, Paul says that it’s no trouble for him to tell the Philippians again to rejoice in the Lord. In fact in chapter 4, he’s going to say it two more times: “Rejoice in the Lord always (the third time). I will say it again: Rejoice (the fourth time).” (Philip. 4:4) And notice that he says, “Always.” “Rejoice in the Lord always.” So let’s rejoice in the Lord always. And let’s share our joy!
And now Paul is going to tell the Philippians (and us) what to watch out for. And this is extremely important. It’s a matter of life and death, in fact—a matter of eternal life and eternal death—eternal condemnation and punishment.
Paul says, “Watch out for ‘dogs,’ watch out for evil workers, watch out for those who mutilate the flesh.” (verse 2) Paul is talking about circumcision, the outward sign that a man is a Jew. He calls it mutilation of the flesh. Paul talks about the issue of circumcision in several other letters. We’ve talked about it before. There were Jews who were going around teaching that you had to be circumcised and keep the Jewish rituals in order to be saved. Paul absolutely condemned that teaching as false and destructive. In fact he said to the Galatians that if they allowed themselves to be circumcised, Christ would be of no benefit to them at all! (Gal. 5:2)
Salvation is only through Christ. There is no other way of salvation. “Many paths lead to God” is absolutely a false statement. Only one path leads to God. That path is Jesus Christ. He is the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Jesus. (John 14:6) Paul was telling the Galatians that if they thought they needed to be circumcised in order to be saved, they would be lost—condemned to hell. (Of course circumcision doesn’t condemn you to hell. Paul was circumcised and so were all of the apostles. Thinking that performing some ritual saves you is what he’s is talking about. That’s what keeps you from salvation.)
We—we Christians do have rituals. Jesus commanded us to baptize. When the apostle Peter preached at Pentecost and they were convicted of sin— literally, pierced to the heart—they said to the apostles, “Brothers, what must we do?” Peter told them, “Repent and be baptized, each of you, in the name of Jesus the Messiah for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” (Acts~2:38) But it’s not the baptism that saves you. It’s repentance— “Repent and be baptized”. It’s faith in Jesus. (Mooma and I had some of our kids, maybe all of them, baptized as babies. It didn’t save any them. Only faith in Jesus saves you.)
We also observe the Lord’s Supper, Communion, every week. It’s a ritual that Jesus gave to his disciples. We do it to remember that Jesus suffered for us and that he died for our sin. But it doesn’t save anyone. You either believe in Jesus and have eternal life, or you are lost. Observing the Lord’s Supper doesn’t change that in any way.
Look at verses 3 and 4a: “For we are the circumcision, the ones who serve by the Spirit of God, boast in Christ Jesus, and do not put confidence in the flesh—although I once had confidence in the flesh too.” What Paul is saying is that we who are Christians are the circumcision. “The phrase “the circumcision” normally refers to the Jews, God’s chosen people. But the apostle Paul (God’s Holy Spirit speaking through the apostle Paul) says that true circumcision is circumcisions of the heart: “For a person is not a Jew who is one outwardly, and true circumcision is not something visible in the flesh. On the contrary, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is of the heart—by the Spirit, not the letter. His praise is not from men but from God.” (Rom.~2:28, 29)
Now, Paul is going to tell us about his own experience with these things. Let’s look at verses 4b through 6: “If anyone else thinks he has grounds for confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised the eighth day; of the nation of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, persecuting the church; as to the righteousness that is in the law, blameless.” Well, Paul sounds like he did a lot better than any of us have ever done. But he wasn’t really blameless as to righteousness that is in the law. He admitted in Romans that he had struggled with the tenth commandment, “Thou shalt not covet.” He had struggled with covetousness. (Rom. 7:8) Paul, apparently didn’t steal, didn’t bear false witness, didn’t commit adultery, and so forth. But he did covet. All of the other commandments are things that you do outwardly. But coveting is something you do in your mind. If you are careful enough, you don’t need to let anyone know. But God knows. And I personally believe that what Paul coveted was the status of being a better Pharisee than anyone else. It was like a competition for him. If he thought that someone else was more zealous—looked better—than he, he was envious. He wanted to outdo that person.
All the things Paul talked about, his pedigree, of the nation of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews—his religion, a Pharisee, a member of the strictest sect of the Jewish religion—and zealous to uphold what the Pharisees thought was right, persecuting the Christians.
And how different the religion of the Pharisees was from the religion of Christians. The religion of the Pharisees was based on performance. Our religion is based on faith and on the love of God: “For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing will have the power to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord!” (Rom.~8:38, 39) (That’s Paul speaking, too, by the way.)
The things Paul is talking about when he speaks of putting confidence in the flesh are the things that you can boast about and say, “I did all these things myself. Don’t you think I’m great?”
And at this point, I can’t help thinking about a musical and a movie called Camelot. It was about the days of King Arthur’s court. I never saw the movie, but I saw part of it on TV. I could not help remembering Sir Lancelot’s song because it was so hilarious. It’s called C’est Moi (which is French for “It’s Me”. I’m going to read the lyrics:
Camelot! Camelot!
In far-off France I heard your call.
Camelot! Camelot!
And here am I to give my all.
I know in my soul what you expect of me,
And all that and more I shall be. (Wow! –my comment)
A knight of the Table Round should be invincible,
Succeed where a less fantastic man would fail.
Climb a wall no one else can climb,
Cleave a dragon in record time,
Swim a moat in a coat of heavy iron mail.
No matter the pain, he ought to be unwinceable,
Impossible deeds should be his daily fare.
But where in the world
Is there in the world
A man so *extraordinaire*?
C'est moi! C'est moi, I'm forced to admit.
'Tis I, I humbly reply.
That mortal who
These marvels can do,
C'est moi, c'est moi, 'tis I.
I've never lost
In battle or game;
I'm simply the best by far.
When swords are crossed
'Tis always the same:
One blow and au revoir!
C'est moi! C'est moi! So adm'rably fit!
A French Prometheus unbound.
And here I stand, with valour untold,
Exeption'ly brave, amazingly bold,
To serve at the Table Round!
The soul of a knight should be a thing remarkable,
His heart and his mind as pure as morning dew.
With a will and a self-restraint
That's the envy of ev'ry saint
He could easily work a miracle or two.
To love and desire he ought to be unsparkable,
The ways of the flesh should offer no allure.
But where in the world
Is there in the world
A man so untouched and pure?
(C'est moi!)
C'est moi! C'est moi, I blush to disclose.
I'm far too noble to lie.
That man in whom
These qualities bloom,
C'est moi, c'est moi, 'tis I.
I've never strayed
From all I believe;
I'm blessed with an iron will.
Had I been made
The partner of Eve,
We'd be in Eden still.
C'est moi! C'est moi! The angels have chose
To fight their battles below,
And here I stand, as pure as a pray'r,
Incredibly clean, with virtue to spare,
The godliest man I know!
C'est moi!
We can laugh at it, but that’s what the confidence in the flesh that Paul talks of is really all about. C’est moi! It’s me!
And, you know, after the apostle Paul accepted Christ, it wasn’t just smooth sailing from then on either. And I’m not talking about the fact that he was persecuted for his faith. I’m talking about the fact that he still struggled with the flesh. He talks about that in Romans. Listen to this:
14For we know that the law is spiritual; but I am made out of flesh, sold into sin’s power. 15For I do not understand what I am doing, because I do not practice what I want to do, but I do what I hate. 16And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree with the law that it is good. 17So now I am no longer the one doing it, but it is sin living in me. 18For I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh. For the desire to do what is good is with me, but there is no ability to do it. 19For I do not do the good that I want to do, but I practice the evil that I do not want to do. 20Now if I do what I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but it is the sin that lives in me. 21So I discover this principle: when I want to do good, evil is with me. 22For in my inner self I joyfully agree with God’s law. 23But I see a different law in the parts of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and taking me prisoner to the law of sin in the parts of my body. 24What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? 25I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord! (Romans~7:14-25a)
It’s not us. It’s Jesus.
Now let’s look at verses 7, 8 and 9 in today’s passage. The apostle Paul is going to tell us about how he changed his mind. And that’s what repentance means, by the way. It means to change your mind—really, to completely change the way you think about things. That’s what Paul did. He completely changed the way he thought about things—in particular, the way he thought about Jesus. (We say we’ve repented when we confess our sins before God. But really, we have not changed our thinking. We knew it was sin when we did it.)
Now, let’s look at verses 7, 8 and 9:
7But everything that was a gain to me, I have considered to be a loss because of Christ. 8More than that, I also consider everything to be a loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. Because of Him I have suffered the loss of all things and consider them filth, so that I may gain Christ 9and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own from the law, but one that is through faith in Christ—the righteousness from God based on faith. (Philippians~3:7-9)
All the stuff that Paul could boast about he now considered a loss—and not just a loss, but filth. All stuff that Paul could boast about (and probably did, but subtly so as not to seem conceited), was of no value to him. It didn’t store up treasure in heaven for him. It didn’t earn him a crown of righteousness. In fact, it didn’t even save him from hell. It was a wasted life. He considered all these things to be a loss. He had not only wasted his time—not only had not stored up treasure in heaven, but had stored up wrath. He had persecuted the church of Jesus Christ!
But in one sense it was not a total loss. He knew the Bible very well. Pharisees generally memorized large parts of the Scriptures. What he had learned served him well as a Christian. And what we learn before we are Christians—both the good and the bad—can also be useful to us after we are Christians—really, useful to Christ, as we do his work. (With regard to the “bad”, if you have sinned, you can better identify with other sinners and counsel them—and that is not to say that you should go out and sin so that good can result from evil!
In today’s passage Paul is comparing the value of knowing Christ Jesus with the value of anything else you might think of—the value of knowing Christ Jesus as his Lord. He was willing to give up everything and anything in order to gain Christ. How many of us can say that—we are willing to give up everything and anything. Jesus says that if anyone wants to save his own life, he will lose it. I know we can say that we are willing to give up our own lives, our own fleshly wants and desires, and that we can reason intellectually that we need to do it. But what happens when the test comes? Paul says, “I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” He is able to keep us from falling. We are not righteous because we keep the law. We are righteous because of the faith in Christ Jesus that God has given us and continues to give us. We have the righteous from God that is based on faith.
Let’s look at verses 10 and 11:
10My goal is to know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, 11assuming that I will somehow reach the resurrection from among the dead. (Philippians~3:10, 11)
Before I go on I want to say that I think the translation of verse 11 is misleading: “...assuming that I will somehow reach the resurrection from among the dead.” When we say we will do one thing, “b”, assuming that something else, “a”, is true, we generally mean we don’t know that “a” is true. If you read everything else that Paul has written, it’s clear that he certainly believed that he would somehow reach the resurrection of the dead. He knew it. He knew that it depended on Christ, not on him. Here’s what the English Standard Version says:
10that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead. (Philippians~3:10, 11~ESV)
Can we say, “...that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.” Can you pray to know Jesus and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings? Can you pray to become like him in his death? To finish, I’m going to read Paul’s prayer from Ephesians chapter 3:
16I pray that He may grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man, 17and that the Messiah may dwell in your hearts through faith. I pray that you, being rooted and firmly established in love, 18may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and width, height and depth, 19and to know the Messiah's love that surpasses knowledge, so you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
20Now to Him who is able to do above and beyond all that we ask or think—according to the power that works in you— 21to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen. (Ephesians~3:16-21)
If we know how great the love of Christ is, we can pray to share in his sufferings and become like him in his death knowing that we will attain the resurrection of the dead.
Now, let’s go back to verse 1 of today’s passage: “Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord.” It’s only through the power of the Holy Spirit that we rejoice.
[Prayer]