Sermon Tone Analysis

Philippians 3:2-14

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I.     Introduction

What a great time we had last weekend at the Franklin Graham Festival.

The music was great, it was marvellous to hear the testimonies of Cindy Klassen and Milt Stegall and the others who shared their stories of salvation.

The message was clear and direct and many responded to the invitation.

I understand that over 2000 responded and about 1200 were first time decisions.

That is a lot of new people who are no longer dead, but alive.

Some of those people come from our community and even our church and it is up to us now to encourage them and help them grow in faith.

A question that becomes relevant at such a time is, “what is it that we need to teach them?”

When we were being trained as counsellors, we were taught that we were not to give enquirers a list of do’s and don’ts that they had to follow if they wanted to be a good Christian.

Whenever there are new believers or whenever we are involved in discipling people we have an opportunity to show them how a Christian lives.

What is it that we will focus on?

What are the things that ought to be included in being disciples of Jesus?

The text which will help us answer this question today is Philippians 3:2-14.

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II.

No Confidence In The Flesh

!! A.  Adding Something

There has been quite a brouhaha in parliament this last week or so because Peter McKay allegedly called Belinda Stronich a dog.

I wonder what the press would have done in Paul’s day when he went on the attack and called a certain group of people dogs in Philippians 3:2? Paul was quite direct in his invective against this group who wanted to add circumcision and keeping laws to Christian faith.

Whether these people were active in Philippi is uncertain, but Paul certainly was hounded by them all his ministry life.

His use of the word “dogs” is interesting.

Dogs were looked down upon by Jewish people, almost like pigs and here he turns their own derogatory term against them.

He has another play on words which adds strength to his statement.

The Greek word for circumcision is “peritome.”

Paul uses the word “katatome” which means mutilation.

Why is Paul so angry, so passionate about what these people are doing?

The problem was that there were teachers who were saying that it was necessary for Christians to become Jewish if they really wanted to be accepted by God.

These teachers were saying that a person who had already been saved, who had his sins forgiven needed to also be circumcised in order to be a real Christian.

We need to understand that Paul is not talking here about how a person becomes a Christian.

These people were not saying that the way of salvation is through the law.

They were saying that after your sins are forgiven by Christ, you need to add the Law of the Jews to your lifestyle if you really want to experience God’s acceptance.

Paul categorically rejects this way of living the Christian life.

He immediately talks about what it means to live as God wants us to in verse 3.

He says, “we are the circumcision.”

Circumcision was a Jewish ceremony which symbolized the cutting off of sin and joining the covenant people of God.

Paul’s point is that as Christians, we have already cut off sin by repentance and through Christ’s death and have joined the covenant people of God by faith.

Adding the physical ceremony adds nothing to being a Christian.

Rather, we are the people who are accepted by God and who live in that acceptance by serving God in the power of the Spirit, by having our glory not in the things we do but in Christ Jesus Himself and so putting no confidence in the flesh.

By pointing this out, Paul is saying that there are only two ways of living, “according to the Spirit” or “according to the flesh” and those two ways are mutually incompatible.

!! B.  Paul’s Testimony

Paul knew very well the futility of putting “confidence in the flesh.”

If anyone had reason to think that they could live a life pleasing to God by the things they did, Paul was at the top of the heap.

In Philippians 3:4-6, he has a list of all the things that would make him a person who would be acceptable to God.

He was circumcised when he was 8 days old.

He belonged to the right family.

He was a member of the strictest sect of Judaism – the Pharisees.

He had demonstrated his zeal for God by persecuting Christians and had kept the outward details of the law perfectly.

If there was anyone who could put confidence in the flesh, that is in the ability of any individual to do all that is required to be pleasing to God, Paul was the one.

He was saying, If you want to play the “Jewish” game, I can do it better than anyone.

But Paul has utterly rejected living by the law as the way to be pleasing to God – whether in the way we come to Him or in the way we live as His people.

Paul clearly goes on to say that “confidence in the flesh,” hope in the ability of any individual to do it is a dead end.

!! C.  Balance Sheet Thinking

In his strong statement against legalism as the way to live the Christian life, Paul spreads it out on a balance sheet.

On one side of the balance sheet was a list of all his family, religious, ability, education, strength and spiritual credentials.

On the other side was knowing Jesus.

At one time, he considered knowing Jesus as loss and all his credentials as gain, but when he met Jesus, he wrote a big LOSS, on the side that he had considered gain and on the column once considered loss he wrote, GAIN.

The word used for LOSS is actually a word which means damage.

Not only is “confidence in the flesh” useless as the way to come to Christ and the way to live the Christian life.

It actually causes damage to that way.

It can destroy that which really is the way to live for God.

In verse 8, NIV also uses the word rubbish.

I won’t use the word which one can actually use to translate this word.

It is a “well attested vulgarity referring to excrement.”

Figure that one out and you will know what I mean.

It can also refer to the garbage that is thrown out to the dogs.

What Paul is so vehemently asserting is that we can put no confidence in the flesh, that is in our own ability.

And remember, he is speaking to Christians, not to people who are coming to faith.

He is telling us in no uncertain terms that adding laws to our salvation in Christ will do absolutely nothing to make us people who are pleasing to God.

Fee says that for Paul, “grace plus anything cancels out grace.”

In spite of this strong statement rejecting the way of legalism, Christians continue to want to add something to grace.

We continue to build systems of rules by which we think that God is looking down on us with favour.

We continue to judge each other when we see others fail to live up to our system of obedience.

Paul clearly states that those who belong to Christ “put no confidence in the flesh.”

Fee says, “it has the effect of adding a plus factor to grace, and thus of eliminating grace altogether by exchanging it for boasting in ‘one’s flesh.’”

There is no such thing as a good Christian.

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III.

I Want To Know Christ

So how do we live the Christian life?

What do we tell these new believers about what it means to follow Jesus?

!! A.  It Is About Jesus

If it isn’t about adding anything, what is it about?

The theme which is repeated over and over in this passage is Jesus.

Just look at the repetition and the power of this theme.

Vs. 3 - “we glory in Christ Jesus.”

Vs. 7 – “for the sake of Christ.”

Vs. 8 – “knowing Christ Jesus my Lord” and “I may gain Christ.”

Vs. 9 – “through faith in Christ.”

Vs. 10 – “I want to know Christ.”

Fee says, “the Judaizers have trivialized righteousness by making one’s relationship with God rest ultimately on observance, on the performance of religious trivia…” But Paul points out that it isn’t about perfection, it’s about a relationship.

Paul says, “I want to know Christ.”

He uses the word “know” and that word in the Bible is always about an intimate relationship such as that between a child and a parent or between husband and wife.

In verse 8 Paul uses the unusual phrase “Christ Jesus my Lord” by which he once again reveals the intimacy of relationship with Christ which defines our walk as Christians.

It isn’t about head knowledge by which we understand the truths of the gospel.

It isn’t hand knowledge by which we can do all the right things to make us good Christians.

It is heart knowledge by which Jesus is our best friend.

He is the one we always go to, the one who is always nearby, the example for our life, the one who defines our existence because we know Him so well.

!! B.  Knowing Christ

As we read Philippians 3:10,11, we learn a little more about what it means to know Christ.

Using that familiar literary device of a chiasm, which we have talked about before, Paul speaks about knowing Christ as knowing the power of His resurrection and participating in His suffering.

The pattern is as follows.