Sermon Tone Analysis
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*“In Christ Alone”*
*Philippians 3.1-11*
* *
We are in the book of Philippians, chapter 3. Please turn there in your Bibles.
I trust you remembered to bring your copy of God’s holy Word with you today.
God has revealed himself and supernaturally preserved these words for thousands of years to inform us and to challenge us as we seek to understand his nature and how to live in response to his nature and work.
I hope that you understand how precious this is for us who profess to know him.
Many people have given their lives because they recognized its importance - that all should have access to the Scriptures in their own language.
Last Sunday, we examined two of Paul’s faithful partners for the gospel.
We noted Timothy’s value to Paul – how he was like a son to his father.
Timothy had a genuine concern for the church.
He had learned from Paul.
He listened to his words and witnessed firsthand how Paul modeled what he had taught Timothy.
And then we considered the challenge to have these intentional relationships with one another.
We need to learn from others and we also need to teach each other what it means to know Christ and to live to honor him.
And then we looked at Epaphroditus who, by all observations, was merely a humble and willing servant sent to represent the church in ministering to Paul.
In Paul’s eyes, however, it was service unto Christ that warranted a hero’s welcome.
Epaphroditus had risked his life to press on in his mission despite acquiring a serious illness.
He served as an encouragement to Paul and was an example of godly ministry for his Lord.
And Paul anticipated sending both of these men to Philippi for mutual encouragement.
We now begin chapter 3 of Philippians.
Let me just say at the outset: If you retain nothing else from my ramblings today, I hope that you will see that our salvation, our growing in faith, and our hope for eternity is in Christ alone.
I know that as I looked at the text today, I cannot fully nor adequately deal with these glorious truths.
Please hear Paul’s heart in his words.
Because in these verses today, we can comprehend the gospel.
We come to know what it is that drives the apostle Paul.
It is Jesus Christ alone that he counts of any value.
So if you tune me out or I am inadequate in my dealing with this text, listen to the passionate and intense words of Paul and allow them to penetrate your own heart this morning.
It is all about knowing Christ.
It is all for Christ, acquiring Christ, and faith in Jesus Christ.
Let’s read vv.
1-11 as we get under way.
*READ.*
* *The first point we will undertake is *Spiritual Identification*.
We find this in the first 6 verses.
Paul begins with what is translated in our Bibles as “finally.”
On the surface, it would appear as though Paul is drawing things to a close.
And then we flip the page and notice that there is yet another chapter.
But if we understand that this phrase is often used as a transition and not necessarily a closing word, it helps out a bit.
It has the sense of “so then” my brothers…
This is also reinforced by the fact that Paul immediately follows with writing the same things again.
Verse 1 is a bit disjointed and seems to tie the sections together.
It appears as though the command to rejoice in the Lord is because of the two partners identified previously and their pending visit.
And the latter portion of the verse points to what follows in the text.
And basically he says that he doesn’t mind repeating himself with these words.
They are no trouble to Paul and yet they bear repeating for their own protection.
And then he elaborates in the next few verses.
In verse 2, Paul repeats the command to “watch out” three times.
He refers to a group of people and identifies them with three different descriptions.
He first calls them “dogs,” then “evildoers,” and finally as those who “mutilate the flesh.”
And these all refer to a group of people known as the “Judaizers.”
We would find a more complete argument to these Judaizers in the book of Galatians.
And we will note some of the parallels.
Let’s begin by looking at some of these descriptions that he implements.
Paul will incorporate biting irony here for he likens them to “dogs.”
This doesn’t have so much a derogatory sense as it does a religious one.
You may recall that the Jews would consider the Gentiles to be “dogs.”
This is in light of the fact that they were outside the covenant community and considered ritually unclean.
When we went through the Gospel of Mark, we recall the Syrophoenician woman who considered herself a dog by these standards.
When she begged Jesus to cast a demon out of her daughter, Jesus tested her by indicating that the children be fed first, for it is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.”
She didn’t flinch, nor did she reject this statement.
She merely replied, “Yes, Lord; yet even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.”
At that point Jesus granted her request and her daughter was free of the demon.
Hold this thought for a moment.
Next, Paul says that the Judaizers are evildoers.
I don’t think that he is saying that they actively commit evil acts.
I believe rather that he refers to their attempts to acquire their righteousness by the law.
Galatians 3:10 10 For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.”
And in this case, he would be referring to circumcision.
This is what Paul refers to when he says that it is those who “mutilate the flesh.”
Galatians 5.3 “3 I testify again to every man who accepts circumcision that he is obligated to keep the whole law.”
So, what Paul is doing here is reversing the identification of dogs.
The Judaizers prided themselves on their external adherence to the law.
But in the end this turns out to be a sign of their destruction.
Paul likens the Judaizers to dogs and the Gentiles as the true believers.
Look at the next verse.
“For we are the circumcision.”
It is not the ones who mutilate the flesh who are the circumcision.
That is merely an attempt to gain righteousness by the law.
The true circumcision is the one who has a circumcised heart.
Paul uses a similar argument in Romans 2 when he distinguishes between an ethnic Jew and a spiritual Jew.
He says in verse 28, “For no one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical.
But a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter.”
The prophet Jeremiah says to “circumcise yourselves to the Lord; remove the foreskin of your hearts…”
And so Paul elaborates on this inward circumcision.
In verse 3, “the” circumcision worships by the Spirit of God.
It is as the Holy Spirit of God indwells and enables that we are set apart for Him and his purposes.
This is consistent with what Paul said in Romans – a matter of the heart, */by the Spirit/*…” Not the law.
The coming of Christ has ushered in the new age of salvation where the Holy Spirit is the sign of salvation.
He sets us apart for him.
And it is only because of the Holy Spirit that we are able to truly worship God.
Romans 8:8–9 “8 Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. 9 You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you.
Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.”
Those who are “the” circumcision glory in Christ Jesus.
We’ll deal with this more fully in the following points.
But the contrast is glaring here.
They glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh.
Those belonging to the Spirit are not in the flesh.
To operate in the flesh is to strive for righteousness by human effort and achievement.
Or as John Calvin succinctly put it, the “flesh is everything that is outside Christ.”
And those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
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