Sermon Tone Analysis

*Philipians** 10.*

At the beginning of the last chapter Paul warned the believers in Philippi – three times he told them to BEWARE! *[P]* [*Philippians 3:2-3*/ Beware of the dogs, beware of the evil workers, beware of the false circumcision; for we are the true circumcision, who worship in the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh./]

He is not complimentary!

There was a real danger to the church and he wanted to alert them to it.

Now some say that we should not be critical – but if there is danger, is it not best to be alerted to it?! Christians tend to be trusting people, that is an essential aspect of faith – but with it we can be gullible and therefore vulnerable.

Because let’s be frank about this – we have enemies.

That is how it was in Paul’s day – there were enemies of the Gospel who threatened the church.

In fact it was danger of exactly the same type that totally dominated the church at one stage and is a threat to this day.

We need to be aware of the threat and beware of the danger – it is subtle and has an appeal to the flesh.

Paul has not one good word for these men – they were false!

What was this false influence?

– they were dogs, evil workers, false circumcision – they were demanding that men be circumcised, adhere to the Jewish law and ceremonies *[P]*.

Do all that the law required.

It was a fleshly doing.

You had to do certain things – it depended upon your performance.

They focused on circumcision – and it hurt, it was costly, a real sacrifice – if you did it you had something that made you that bit superior to those who were unwilling to do it.

It is based in pride because you have to do a particular thing, and having done it you are proud of your accomplishment.

And the danger is here today!

I have seen a woman crawling on her knees across Saint Peter’s square in Rome – fulfilling a costly religious observance.

You will find it in every religion (other than true Christianity) the requirement for you to do something, something sacrificial and costly.

It depends on what YOU DO!

That is the FLESH – fleshly religion!

We see it in the animist sacrifices, in Buddhism, Hinduism, in Islam, in Judaism in its dependence on doing what the Torah required.

But it is closer to home – we see it in Catholicism – it is a religion of works.

And the cults are the same – JWs, Mormons they have to do certain works in order to earn favour with God.

But it comes even closer – Seventh Day Adventists hold people in bondage to the Sabbath law plus a lot of other dietary laws.

But the danger is even nearer to home – and we need to beware.

Still there are those that maintain we have to keep the law, the 10 commandments, certain food we are not to eat, you have to fast, attend church, pray – all these things that you must do – requirements added by men, it is the flesh.

How can you tell? – does it appeal to pride?

Does it give you something to boast about?

It is subtle – Derek Prince, whose teaching I greatly respect, was teaching on the radio on fasting, a week or so back.

He spoke about his practice of fasting and let it slip that during his Christian life he had spent a total of 8 years fasting – what is that?

Boasting!

It is the flesh!

I attended a church where there was a keen and zealous group.

You were made to feel an inferior Christian if you weren’t up at 0500 seeking the LORD.

The earlier you were up, the longer you spent praying, the better Christian you were!

It is boasting, it is the FLESH!

See what the subtle danger is?

It is depending on what you do, not what on Jesus has done.

You get the glory and not Jesus!

In utter contrast, to the false circumcision, Paul claimed to be the true circumcision *[P]* – they worshipped in the Spirit, not in the flesh.

They didn’t boast in what they had done but gloried in what Jesus the Messiah had done!

Praise His Name!

They had no confidence in the flesh, in what they had done, their confidence is in Jesus alone.

Those in the Spirit do not boast of what they have done or accomplished.

But remember what Paul did?

He went on and did that very thing – boasted of the very things that those in the flesh do!

He had all these trophies of his religious accomplishment *[P]*.

But why did he boast?

To show that there was something of far greater value *[P]*.

He gave up the lot, counted them lost for what was of surpassing value.

But He not only gave up these accomplishments, he gave up EVERYTHING! *[P]* Why?

What was it that was worth so much more than absolutely everything else, he would give up all for?

– The surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus! *[P]* That is the only thing that matters.

It is of far greater value than everything else, it is worth giving up everything for – and that is what Paul did.

But he did more than that – all the things that people are so proud of, he didn’t just give them up in exchange for something of greater value – he considered them rubbish *[P]* (and I pointed out last time that the language is even stronger than that).

All these things that people value are absolutely valueless.

It is not a matter of sacrificing them; rather, it is good riddance to bad rubbish.

You may recall that last time I used the illustration of picking up some junk at the dump and being offered true treasure – you could only take hold of the true treasure when you let go of the junk you were holding on to.

Paul realized those things that he used to be so proud of for what they were: filthy refuse!

He used to be proud of and value his own accomplishments – but now he had something of real value – he had gained Christ! *[P]* He was found in Him – in Christ!

A simple phrase, a lovely expression – but what does it really mean?

What are the implications?

Why did Paul get so excited about it and value it so highly?

Why was Paul so down on these religious people and so taken with this treasure of knowing Christ Jesus and being found in Him? Let’s read what he says to these believers in Philippi *[P]* [*Philippians 3:7-11*/ But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ.

More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead./]

Paul gave up all in order to gain Christ, everything else was dung; he just wanted to get rid of it!

Yet, here were these people coming in to the church in Philippi telling them about these things that they had to do in order to be right with God.

Remember Isaiah said that the very best we do, our righteous acts, that which we want everyone to notice and applaud; were filthy and defiled, a menstrual rag! [*Isaiah 64:6*/ For all of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment; and all of us wither like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away./]

That is our righteousness – it doesn’t make the grade!

Paul was blameless (Phil 3:6) as far as doing it according to the law was concerned.

He did it far better than these who were coming into the church with this teaching.

But he knew it was no good – he had found something far far better!

*[P]* He had found Christ! – was found in Him!

And being in Him he had a righteousness that wasn’t his own – no longer did it depend on Him doing it.

He’d been released from that awful bondage of performance – of having to make the grade.

That righteousness that he’d worked so hard at was through the law – keeping all the requirements of a written legal code.

He’d probably done it as good as anyone but it wasn’t good enough.

But this righteousness that he had now was not a product of keeping the law – it was the product of God Himself.

And this is why Paul got so excited about gaining Christ *[P]*.

What did Paul gain when he gained Christ?

The word gain has the idea of profit or procuring an advantage – back in (Phil 1:21) we had the idea: “/For me to live to die is gain”/ – it was to his advantage – what gain was there in Christ?

When Paul gained Christ does this mean he came to know about Him? Or perhaps, is gaining Christ: knowing Him personally?

No, it is far more even than that!

Paul had made a sacrifice in order to obtain – you actually obtain Jesus for your own! No  longer I, but Christ!

You have Jesus Himself!

Now remember this is the Son of God, the One who is God!

You have Him – His life!

His nature!

When He gained Christ – he gained all that is Christ’s – that is why Paul could say in [*Ephesians 1:3*/ Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,/].

The implications of this are staggering!

And I am not going to pretend that I realise them, but it is a deep thing.

Having gained Christ, he was then: Found in Him *[P]* – most of us know very little Greek, but there is one Greek word that people often know: we know the story of Archimedes when he jumped in the bath and the water level went up – an astounding discovery!

As if he was the first one who noticed!

He jumped out again and cried: …..? “Eureka!” He’d found it!

– made a discovery.

The same word as used here: we are discovered to be in Christ.

Colossians says: [*Colossians 3:3*/ For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God./] – our life is hidden, where is it found?

We are found in Him – that is where our life is found.