Sermon Tone Analysis

Philippians 3:15-4:3

Introduction

Where do your loyalties lie?

Which banner do you wave?

Is it with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers or with the Saskatchewan Rough Riders?

Will it be with Toronto or Saskatchewan at the Grey Cup next Sunday?

For many years, my brother has had a significant loyalty to the United States of America.

Are you enamoured with the US or are you loyal to Canada?

Perhaps some of you are loyal to Britain.

The banner we wave is revealed in a lot of ways in our life.

Carla was really hoping to cheer for Winnipeg in the Grey Cup next Sunday, but she will settle for cheering for Saskatchewan, or Toronto, or BC or anybody except Montreal.

My brother has tended to take most of his vacations in the US, whereas we have taken most of ours in Canada.

Where do your loyalties lie?

What place does the banner of Christ have in your life?

We want to examine this thought as we look at Philippians 3:15-4:3.

Where Do Your Loyalties Lie?

 

Enemies Of The Cross Of Christ

 

In the middle of this passage, in verses 18,19, Paul talks about those who “live as enemies of the cross of Christ.”

As he speaks about them, we notice that he speaks with great concern.

He has mentioned them before and mentions them now with tears in his eyes.

Why was he so sad about them?

Why such a deep compassion for them.

Paul was concerned about the lost and diligent in seeking to bring them to Christ, but his concern here seems to be somewhat deeper and more painful even than his love for the lost.

I think that the reason is that these people were those who were believers, but who were not living according to the way of Christ.

They knew the way of salvation, they knew the life God could bring, but they were rejecting that life.

They had chosen a banner to fly in their life, but it was not the banner of Christ.

Trying to identify which specific group Paul has in mind is tentative at best.

Some have suggested this is another reference to the “dogs” he mentioned in 3:2 and others that they were Gentile Christians who but rejected all principle and lived for themselves.

Either one could be possible.

Identifying them would be interesting, but it is more important that we understand how they lived because as we will see, some of their actions are not far from how some of us live.

The text gives five characteristics of them.

First of all, they are “enemies of the cross of Christ.”

It is not that they do not believe in Christ, but they do not rely on the cross.

If they are those who want to add circumcision, they are, as Paul says in 3:3, people who “put confidence in the flesh.”

By doing this they, and we if we follow the same path, reject the sufficiency of the cross of Christ to forgive our sins.

Or perhaps they are people who have not realized that the Christian life is a life that must always be lived in discipleship, in taking up our cross and identifying with the death of Christ by being willing to sacrifice our own lives for Him.

Instead, they have chosen a life of self indulgence and self satisfaction.

On the other hand, they may be people who are hesitant to identify with Christ so as to avoid ridicule and persecution.

There is an African fable about a turtle who wanted to fly.

He persuaded two birds to hold a stick with their feet and he would bite the stick and then they would fly and he would be able to experience flight as well.

The story is about how he was unable to keep his mouth shut and so part way through the flight he opened his mouth to say something, but in so doing, released the stick, which was keeping him safely in the air, and went crashing to the ground.

When we become enemies of the cross of Christ in any of these ways, we let go of the one thing that is giving us life.

For those who are the enemies of the cross, when they let go of the stick, the cross of Christ, they let go of that which is life and the result is that their “destiny is destruction.”

Why are they willing to go this route?

The reason is that their “god is their stomach.”

Our stomach is a symbol of our appetites.

In all of life, if what we desire is stronger than what we know is good for us, we lose control.

For example, if food is more important than the diet we are on we gain weight.

If making a purchase is more important to us than sticking to our budget, we get into financial trouble.

But how much more serious when living to satisfy our pleasures is more important to us than living for Christ.

One big problem is that some people who choose this banner to fly under are proud of it.

As Paul says, “whose glory is in their shame.”

They should perceive their behaviour as shameful, but instead they glory in it.

They glory in being undisciplined, in choosing the poorest, in settling.

They don’t see it as glorying in their shame, but it is.

One person that I knew had grown up in a Christian home, but wanted fame.

She married a performer and gave up her faith life in the mean time.

She gloried in fame and gave up the glory of Christ and that is the shame of it.

The banner they fly is obvious.

Their mind is not on heaven, nor on Christ, nor on the things of God.

As the final statement indicates, “their mind is on earthly things.”

In other words, they have a worldly mindset.

Paul’s “weeping” concern is that none of the Philippians be like that.

I would share that concern.

Heavenly Citizens

 

Paul goes on to remind the Philippians that they have something much better than settling for a life that leads to destruction.

Philippians 3:20 says, “our citizenship is in heaven.”

This concept is particularly unique for the Philippians.

Although Philippi was in Macedonia, or the Greek region, it was a Roman colony and so would have had a fairly strong component of Roman allegiance.

The people of the city would have accepted the lordship of Caesar, the Roman ruler who was ruler over most of the known world from Arabia to England.

Citizenship was important to them and they were citizens of the Roman empire, but Paul reminds them of their allegiance to a much greater, more extensive kingdom and that is the kingdom of heaven.

I have here a passport which identifies the owner as a citizen of Canada.

With a passport, wherever you travel in the world, it will identify you as Canadian.

Probably most of you do not carry your passport with you to church, but do you have any documentation which identifies you with your other citizenship?

What identifies us as citizens of heaven?

In one way, the document which identifies us as citizens of heaven is in heaven.

In Philippians 4:3, Paul talks about some of them whose “names are in the book of life.”

In another way, our heavenly citizenship is identified in us by the fact that the king Himself lives in us by His Spirit.

The mention of citizenship reminds us of our current dual citizenship.

Although citizens of Philippi, or Canada or any other nation, we are also citizens of heaven.

We are already citizens of heaven and yet in a way that identification is obscured by our other citizenship and so we look forward to what is yet to come.

In a moment we will examine that promise.

Live Up to It

 

Before we do, however, we need to examine what is the central purpose of this passage and that is to encourage the Philippians and us to live according to the heavenly citizenship.

The mention of those who are enemies of the cross of Christ sets before us a choice to declare under which banner we are living our life.

What do citizens of heaven live like?

A Mature Mindset

 

He actually begins this line of thought in 3:15 where he encourages them that “all who are mature should take such a view of things.”

What is he talking about?

It seems that he is referring to what has just preceded in the passage.

A few weeks ago we looked at this passage and at Paul’s testimony about where he was flying his banner.

He did not put confidence in the flesh even though he had reason to do so.

Rather, he had discovered the glory of living his life in a deep and intimate relationship with Jesus Christ.

He had declared with great conviction, “I want to know Christ, I want to know the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings and also the experience of resurrection.

Paul desired a Christ directed mindset and in verse 15 he urges all who are mature in Christ to “conform their lives to their knowledge of Christ…”

 

Flying under the banner of Jesus Christ means having such a goal in life, having such a hope in Christ as the primary directing force in all of life.

God’s Lessons

 

It is interesting that he mentions those who are “mature” in vs. 15, when he has spoken of not having arrived yet in verse 12.

This is an acknowledgement that we are all on a journey of faith which will bring us into a greater maturity.

What is most encouraging is his assurance that it is God who is at work in us.