YouTube video sermon

Philippians 3:1-11

Let me invite you to take your copy of God’s Word and turn with me to Philippians 3. It’s strange for you (I’m sure) not to hear me say Esther. It was certainly odd for me, as well.

If you’re visiting with us today, we just finished a 3-month study of the book of Esther, and today we’re hopping over to Philippians. Next week, there won’t be a sermon – at least not a preached one – although I pray that you might receive God’s Word as the choir performs their Easter music. Then, on Easter Sunday, we’ll be in another one of Paul’s letters: 1 Corinthians 15. And we’ll end the month of April in another one of Paul’s epistles, either Galatians or Colossians.

Hopefully, you’ve all found your spot in Philippians 3. Yes? Or you can follow along on the screens. We’ll read the first 11 verses:

1 Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you is no trouble to me and is safe for you.

2 Look out for the dogs, look out for the evildoers, look out for those who mutilate the flesh. 3 For we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh – 4 though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also. If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: 5 circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; 6 as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless. 7 But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. 8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For His sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith – 10 that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and may share His sufferings, becoming like Him in His death, 11 that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.

“Father, we pray now that you will come by the Holy Spirit and teach us from the Bible – that You will make the Book live to us, O Lord; that You will show us Yourself within Your Word, that You will show us ourselves, and show us our need for the Savior. Make the Book live to us. For Jesus’ sake we ask it. Amen.” (Hudson Pope, paraphrased)

Well, as I said earlier, it’s been a while since we’ve read anything that wasn’t situated in 5th century B.C., and wasn’t located in Susa – the capital of the Persian Empire. So, before we consider the text, let me begin by very quickly recalibrating our minds to the context of the letter.

Of course, the apostle Paul is writing this letter and he’s writing it from his prison cell in Rome. He’s writing to the church in Philippi. You might recall that Paul, Timothy, and Silas first visited Philippi during Paul’s second missionary journey. It was in Philippi where Lydia was converted. She was a dealer of purple fabrics. Rather apropos for today, right? It’s also where the group cast out a demon from a slave girl. That little act got them thrown in prison. They were worshipping and praying, and near midnight there was an earthquake that opened the doors of the prison, and the Philippian jailer and his family accepted Jesus.

Well, it’s probably this little collection of believers that eventually became the church that met in Lydia’s house, and that’s who Paul is writing to. His reason for writing is to express thanksgiving for their generous financial gift, but also to address some of their practical problems – and one of those problems was the teaching and influence of the Judaizers. That’s who Paul refers to as “dogs, evildoers, and mutilators of the flesh” in verse 2. They were Jewish Christians. That is, they were Jews that accepted Jesus as their Savior. But they had such a strong affinity and connection to the Old Testament and the Law of Moses that they preached a version of Christianity that we might call: Jesus, Plus.

Jesus is good. Confession of sin to Jesus and receiving the free gift of His grace is good, but we need to add a little something to that. And that “little something” that needed to be added was the old covenant, and in particular, circumcision. The Judaizers genuinely believed that you couldn’t call yourself a Christian, that you weren’t fully redeemed, that despite your faithful trust in Jesus you weren’t forgiven of your sins unless you were circumcised and also attended to the other ceremonial laws, like dietary restrictions.

Well, Paul wanted to set the record straight concerning this group and their erroneous teaching. At the same time, he wanted to encourage the Philippian believers in proper devotion to Jesus and the growth in holiness. So, in Philippians 3, Paul encourages them to have no confidence in gaining merit in God’s eyes through things that you do. And that admonition still needs to be heard today.

You say, “Pastor, I’m not sure that anybody does that. Doesn’t everybody know that our right standing before God only comes by faith in Jesus?” Well, no, all of us have a tendency – from time to time – to think that we’re earning a little extra credit with God. Think about it. If we’re all honest with ourselves, we’ve probably thought these things or even said them.

“I’m at church today. I could be playing golf. Surely, this counts a little.”

“I volunteered at the soup kitchen last week. And what about giving up my day to build houses for Habitat for Humanity?”

“I fasted this week and didn’t miss any Bible readings or prayer times.”

“Hey, the economy is getting tight and I gave an extra offering. I passed up buying that new fishing rod. You do know that it’s prime fishing season, right?”

Now, again, we may not preach that verbally, but there’s no denying that we think it sometimes. And, if we’re not careful, we can find ourselves feeling confident before God when we do these things and unsure of our eternity when we don’t. And what we’re doing in those moments is that we’re relying on our deeds, our achievements, and our accomplishments. We’re tempted to see the Law of God and our obedience to God as a ladder that we’re climbing – like in the corporate world – to gain another level of acceptance with God, rather than discovering that the Law of God is to be written into our very hearts.

So, that’s what Paul is addressing here in chapter 3. In fact, Paul even uses himself as an example of how this kind of thinking can show up.

Life Before Our Encounter With Christ

In verses 5-6, Paul lists 7 things that he used to have listed on the left side of the balance sheet – on the assets side of his theological account.

First of all, he says that he was “circumcised on the eighth day.” Do you remember Isaac’s brother, the half-brother that was born to Abraham and Hagar – Ishmael? The Ishmaelites were circumcised at the age of 13. If you were a convert to Judaism, then you got circumcised as an adult. Paul says, “I’m an eight day-er.”

Second, he says, “I’m of the people of Israel.” All the privileges of the people of Israel are his by birth. He wasn’t the child of proselyte parents. He’s what we call the real deal, the full Monty, the real McCoy.

Third, he was from “the tribe of Benjamin.” When you come to live on this mountain, or you’re from this part of the Dark Corner, you begin to hear some familiar names: Plumley, Gosnell, Harrison, Emory. That’s what Paul is saying: “My family tree is connected at the root of what it means to be Jewish.” I’m not out on some far-flung branch of the Jewish tree. Oh, no, I’m firmly established by family origin.

Fourth, he says he was “a Hebrew of Hebrews.” This is nothing more than piling words together. It’s Paul’s way of saying, “I speak Hebrew. I studied Hebrew. I’m a full-blooded, card-carrying Jew.” All he’s doing is building his case. And these first four were all as a result of his birth. He had no personal control over any of these. But the next three qualification are tied to his personal efforts.

Fifth, he says, “as to the law, a Pharisee.” The Pharisees were a sect of Jews that emerged in the second century before Jesus Christ, during what’s known as the intertestamental period – that time of history between what we have in the Old Testament and the New Testament. They were committed to not only keeping the Old Testament law, but they added a whole bunch of their own so that they could be seen to be doubly meticulous. That’s Paul: meticulous to the Law of Moses.

Sixth, he says, “Was I zealous? Was I passionate about being a Jew? You better believe I was zealous. I persecuted this new Jesus movement.” Paul hated Christians, and he hated the notion that Jesus was the Christ, the Messiah, the Promised One.

Finally, Paul says, “as to righteousness under the law, blameless.” In other words, you could ask Paul: Did you keep the Sabbath? Absolutely. Do you do the external washings before eating? For sure. What about observing holy days? You bet ya. Do you eat Kosher? Is there any other kind? In other words, as you looked at Paul’s life, he was sure to dot all the “I’s” and cross all the “T’s”.

Life At Our Encounter With Christ

And yet, despite all of that, Paul calls it “rubbish” (v. 8). The Greek word is skubalon. It’s a combination of two Greek words kyon, meaning “dog,” and ballo, which is the verb “to throw.” Literally, it’s garbage given to dogs. It’s table scraps. Figuratively, it’s dung. It’s dregs. It’s trash.

All of those seemingly good qualities that Paul had, all of those rites and rituals and external things that we do: being baptized, attending church, reading your Bible, praying, being a Sunday School teacher or a Deacon or an Elder, all of those things ultimately mean nothing if you don’t know Jesus. That’s what Paul says in verses 7-9.

We’re quickly approaching Tax Day; you know that, right? Paul thought that he was a spiritual millionaire, but he came to realize that he was spiritually bankrupt. He sat down, and he did a spiritual audit, and he reached the conclusion that what he had been entering in his ledger in the profit side should actually have been entered in the loss side. Paul was expecting a nice tax return from the IRS and instead he realized that he owed a massive debt.

The things he thought were making him acceptable to God were actually grounds for rejection. He thought that he was advancing in holiness; he wasn’t even on the path of holiness. The things he was counting on as using as arguments in his defense were actually being used by the prosecution.

Paul would say, “I used to be able to go into a city, and people would say, ‘Hey, it’s Saul of Tarsus! Good to have you here!’ I had my own table at the local restaurants. That’s the way I used to be able to move around. And now the people say, ‘Pfft! Saul of Tarsus? Pfft! Who’s he? Scumbag! Prisoner! Traitor!’ I’ve lost everything.” Do you see how radical this is?

What we have here is the doctrine of justification – God’s declaration of forgiveness towards the sinner on the basis of the sacrifice of His Son. Not on the basis of a righteousness of my own that comes by way of the law, but on the basis of a righteousness that comes from God and that it is mine by faith. The declaration is full and final. You cannot add to being justified with God. You cannot subtract from being justified with God. Justification is full, because God gives to us Christ’s righteousness. Justification is final, because it doesn’t depend on my keeping of the law, but on God’s gift of His Son. Justification cannot be reversed and can never be destroyed. Do you know Jesus in this way?

There are some of you here today and you honestly don’t know Jesus. Sure, you have an intellectual knowledge. You’ve heard the stories. You know the songs. But you’ve never thrown yourself down at the feet of Jesus and confessed your sin and received His gift of grace by faith. Might today be the day of your salvation.

Life After Our Encounter With Christ

For the rest of us it’s a question of discipleship. It’s an issue of spiritual growth. Can you and I join Paul in his impassioned statement in verses 10-11 and say that we want “to know Jesus and the power of His resurrection, share in His sufferings and become like Him in His death, and reaching our intended destination, which is fully realized at the resurrection” (paraphrased)? Are we finding our spiritual lives dull, or are we hungry to grow in godliness and holiness and intimacy with Christ?

You say, “Pastor, what does all of that mean?” Well, knowing the power of the resurrection is a two-part process. The first part is what happens to us at our conversion. Spiritually speaking, we go from death to life – resurrection. We get a new life in Christ. The second part is what we refer to as sanctification. It’s the daily discipline of dying to ourselves, seeking (by the power of the Holy Spirit) to show forth the fruit of the spirit in our lives, having our characters and inner constitutions and affections and desires changed so that we want to please Jesus, and glorify Jesus, and love Jesus.

It also means identifying with Jesus in His sufferings. Now, Paul didn’t expect to contribute to Jesus’ death, as if he would be able to take upon himself some kind of redemptive suffering like Jesus. That’s not what Paul is talking about. And he didn’t mean that he would seek to be crucified like Jesus. What Paul meant by sharing in Christ’s sufferings and being like Him in His death is being obedient to God.

If there’s sin in your life, then deal with it. Do you struggle with some besetting sin? We all do. What are you doing (with the help of the Holy Spirit and fellowship with other believers and prayer) to fight it? Or maybe you bump into the same person day after day, or you work with them, or you get paired up with them on the golf course, or you live with them, and you have this inner heartburn, this lump in your throat, this voice in your head that just won’t go away, and you know that God wants you to ask them if they know Jesus or would they be willing to come with you to church but you just can’t bring yourself to do it. These can be hard things. This is denying yourself and taking up your cross and following Jesus. In fact, the more obedient we are to Jesus the more we find that we’re conformed to His death. The more obedient we are to Jesus the more resurrection power becomes evident in our lives. And we begin to understand the truth of Galatians 2:20, “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”

“Father, look upon us in your mercy. We pray, that in an abundance of words we don’t miss the point. Give us ears to hear and eyes to see. Grant us repentance and faith and the grace necessary to lay hold upon Your great and precious promises. Save us from our pride and from thinking that we can come before You on the strength of all of our endeavors. Help us to do the calculations. Turn us the right way up. Let us take a spiritual audit. We offer this prayer in the name of Jesus, who, for our sake became sin so that we might become Your righteous ones. Amen.”