The Life of Christ Continues #5 (Studies in Philippians)

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Text: Philippians 3:2-16

Earlier this summer, it is hard to believe but Sara & I passed the 10 year mark in preaching. I remember my grandmother talking to me as I was about to begin and she said that I had chosen the most frustrating work to be a part of and then she said but it is the most rewarding. Over 800 sermons later there are a handful that really stick out in my mind. One of them that has been my favourite was taken from the text in Genesis 17:1-‘When Abram was 99 years old the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, ‘I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless.’’
El Shaddai!
I am the God who can do wonders. I am the God who not only set the laws of nature in place I am the God who can break those same laws—walk before me and be blameless.
This is so important for us to remember today in our walks of faith-we serve not only God but God Almighty. We serve the God of a power that is beyond our thinking ability.

Are we the finished product?
This question can be asked with at least two different slants:
Negatively—we can be discouraged when we look at our progress, our difficult situations we are in and wonder if this is all there is to being saved by Jesus?
Positively—we can get to the point that we honestly think we are all that and have it all together and instead of being humble (or even realistic) we have reached the goal—there is nothing left for us to conquer, nothing left for us to grow into.
Years ago some of the more popular commercials on TV were the ‘how do they get the caramel in the caramilk bar? There is one that had the Devil offering two men the secret for the right price:
1-we are willing to pay 1 million dollars? Devil- Not enough 2- we are willing to pay 10 million dollars? Devil- Not enough 1- we are willing to pay anything? Devil- anything???
I don’t know if this is absolutely true or not, but I wonder if all of us have something that we would be willing to pay anything for?
Jesus recognized this—Matthew 16:26

The apostle Paul wrote to his friends at Philippi that they were to rejoice in the Lord. In the Lord ability comes that couldn’t come elsewhere. It is amazing what you can do in the Lord that you normally couldn’t. One of those is finding the ability to rejoice. You can even rejoice when life isn’t going ‘your’ way.
He is about to enter a wonderful section that should put everybody on the same page:
3:2-16- the supreme pursuit.

Vs.2,3- I want you to notice the connection with rejoicing in the Lord. We are to rejoice in the Lord and not in the flesh—find our joy in what we have in Jesus not what we can get in the world!
(Remember what Jesus said-treasures in the world cannot provide the joy and peace you can get from the treasures in heaven—Matthew 6:19-21)

The connection here is where should our confidence be?
In the Lord and not in the flesh. (Galatians 6:14,15) How we truly answer this question will help us in our earlier question of 'are we the finished product?'.
Paul warns the Christians there to watch out for some men who are harmful. He calls them dogs & evildoers. Who are they?
Those who mutilate the flesh.
This is a reference to people who circumcised. These are not Jews but Christians who believed you had to become a Jew to be saved. In other words these are people who had confidence in the flesh. But notice, circumcision which was something good had become simple mutilation. Why?
It was simply a showing in the flesh.

Look where Paul goes with this—‘we are the real circumcision’-> who?
  1. We worship God by the Spirit of God—not just true circumcision but true worship. Not just showing up somewhere physically, but being involved spiritually.
  2. We glory in JESUS! He is our only boast. We don’t boast that we did this or came from this. We don’t boast in anything to do with us but only in Him!
  3. We put no confidence in the flesh. We don’t brag that we were circumcised or anything else. Even the fact that we were baptized and could quote all the books of the Bible backwards.
Listen to what Paul is setting them up for here:
confidence in your own personal worth and accomplishments is worthless but boasting in Christ is far valuable.

Vs.4-6- Paul gets personal here and uses himself to show the reason nobody should think they are ‘all that’ or the great ‘I am’.
Listen to his resume- I am a Jew right from the start—through & through, did not become a Hellenist—I am a purist when it comes to Jewish heritage. By birth I was an Israelite, by education a Hebrew and by choice a Pharisee. I was energetic in my religion (I persecuted the church—this by the way shows how zeal for one’s religion can become very negative) That one doesn’t sound like a bragging point for the church but it is offered as his standing as a Jew. He performed his religion—blamelessly. He was not sinless, but he performed his religion blameless! (Pride in performance of religion)
Listen to Paul now—I had all privileges as a Jew—they were mine by right. What did it all mean?
Vs.7- whatever gain I had (whatever advantage I had—I thought I was one up on all others) counted it loss for the sake of Christ. Why?
Boasting in outward things keeps you from Jesus.
Vs.8,9- Yes, I count everything as loss. Paul still agrees that this is a good policy. Because nothing compares with knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. This is not simply knowing about Jesus. (Paul is not discounting that by the way—but boasting in knowing about Jesus is the same as boasting in the flesh). Nothing compares with knowing him. My Lord!
I belong to him---there is a close communion between me & Jesus.

Paul goes on and says it for his sake I suffered the loss of all thing—Paul suggests that this was the price to pay to know Jesus—giving up special bragging rights.
Don’t cry for me though—I count them as garbage (or worthless) so I might possess Christ. Imagine if you were reading this letter and you were one of the people who felt you had a reason to brag?
Basically to Paul the loss of everything in this world is nothing compared to the joy of gaining Christ. Paul knew firsthand the opposite of Matthew 16:26.
1 Corinthians 3:21-23.

One of the reasons living for yourself even in religion is so hurtful is that you miss the real prize.
My goal is to be found in him not having my own righteousness. Remember he used to have that—I was blameless—when we perform our religious services properly we can begin to believe we have our own righteousness. What this also does is we begin to be the owed and forget we still owe a lot. Paul says, my reason to boast is not found in keeping all the rules but it comes only from God through faith. For me this is the ultimate pursuit:
righteousness with God that comes only from Christ. Why?
Vs.10,11- that I may know him! (John 17:3)
Again, not just know about Jesus or know the facts about Jesus are true but to have the truth about Jesus a real influencing power in my being! I want to know him, how?
  1. the power of his resurrection! El Shadddai!
    The God who breaks his own logical reality. What kind of power did God display when Jesus rose from the dead?
    This power Paul wants to know in his own life—Eph.1:18-20!
  2. share in his sufferings becoming like hiim in his death. Paul may see his own death approaching again—the ultimate goal is to die like Jesus.
    He may also be advising about the daily dying to self—Galatians 2:19- being crucified with him.
    One of the reasons the table remembrance is so important is it reminds us of this—2 Tim.2:11,12a.
    Sharing in resurrection means sharing in sufferings.
If by any means I may ‘attain’—here is where Paul is really going—there is still more to come. There is still something else to be obtained. We do not yet possess the ultimate blessings—we are not yet the finished product.
Vs.12-14- I haven’t obtained this (his friends may have thought Paul was the finished product) and I am not already perfect. Instead Paul was still working out his salvation—if there were those who thought they were in a better standing listen to Paul.
Instead I must press on to make it my own, because Jesus made me his own. Jesus reached out to save me so this inspires me to keep going because I haven’t done it yet. As such, I forget what lies behind me and press on. I was a better Jew than most, if not all, but I do not claim to be as good a Christian.
So I forget! What?
His Jewish achievement?
His failures as a Christian?
His successes up to that point?
Could be anything that would make one have confidence in himself.
Table remembrance—brings something of the past and makes it alive in the present. Paul’s forgetting—won’t let the things of the past come alive in the present.

I strain forward!
I go beyond—I don’t rest in what I did—I strain forward.
I press on!
I will not fall back, I will not stop my journey.
The goal (my perfection) for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ.

Vs.15,16- let those of us who are mature!
This is the same word sometimes translated as perfect. If you are mature—think this same way. What way?
  1. to persevere towards the end.
  2. Give up claims to legal righteousness. Isaiah—our righteousness is like filthy rags to God
  3. Seek only the righteousness that comes from Christ
  4. To know only Christ.
The goal:
let us hold true to what we have attained. What had they attained?
Not this-vs.11
Not this-vs.12
Not this-vs.13
Let us simply not fall back—keep building on how far we have already come. Listen to Paul:
I am not perfect, I am mature
What is a mature Christian?
There are many things it involves but one of them is this:
he is someone who has not yet achieved perfection but is still striving. He is not the bar, the measuring stick; he is still striving for him.

Bragging about who we are and coming to the point we don’t need to go anywhere as far as growth is concerned.
You know I am a Canadian. I enjoy all the privileges of being a citizen of this great nation of ours. In 9 years my family name will have been in this nation for 400 years. If anyone is a Canadian it is me.
I enjoy a rich heritage in the Churches of Christ. My family has preached the gospel message in all continents of the world. Personally, I was raised and went to church 3 times a week and then every night of our annual 2 week gospel meetings. Baptized at the age of 15 and teaching adult classes and preaching regularly at 17. At the age of 22 my preaching duties were even more intense until finally at 24 I became a fulltime preacher. I have enjoyed participating in some of the most spiritually thrilling events you can. Yet, all these are nothing compared to knowing Jesus Christ. I am not right before God because I have done any of these or by birth am some of these. I am not a great Christian because I have been to the Tulsa Workshop or buy Christian music and movies. I have not made the grade because I make sure I pray every day. Are these things not important?
Is there no value in prayer, church attendance or learning the Bible?
Not at all, but these do not put you a grade above!
What matters is knowing Christ and the power of his resurrection.
What matters is seeing the truth that I have not made it yet and I must still grow and press on.
What matters is seeing that only by recognizing that it is God who makes one right can one be right.
What matters is giving up everything that might make me boast or place myself as more important than another and seeing the Christ who is far superior to all.
Colossians 3:1-4

When we do---we can know that God is not finished with us yet but is constantly working on us, us with all of our faults and disappointments and bringing us to the place of perfection.
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