Sermon Tone Analysis

4-6

Last time we found out that because we have the Holy Spirit living in our lives we now worship God how we ought…in Spirit and truth, that is with wholehearted devotion.

This may not be completely evident in our daily lives as it should but it says in:

This groaning reflects that we want to go to be with God and to be in fellowship forever in unbroken communion.

More proof of this is found in:

For this reason we know that we can have no confidence in the flesh, that there is no room for boasting:

There is no room for boasting about anything in ourselves, as I said this morning God hates pride.

As Paul says: we have no confidence in the flesh but we rejoice and glory and boast in Jesus Christ.

So, on one hand he says we have nothing to boast about and then, it seems, that he goes onto boast!

But there is a point to all this: He is saying beat this if you can!

More than anyone else he should have confidence in the flesh but it did him no good at all in the realm of salvation or since.

The only good that has come out of it is now showing that even if you are as good then it is not going to help you with God.

Paul has already set out Christ as an example in Chapter 2 and earlier on we had Timothy and Epaphroditus as examples and now Paul sets himself out as an example.

Let’s have a look at Paul’s credentials:

 He was circumcised on the eighth day, just as specified in Leviticus 12:3—a full-blooded Israelite even though he hailed from Tarsus.

Like a proper Jew he went through this rite.

 And he’s not just any Israelite.

He is not, as some, converted into Judaism but the credential is clear – He is of the physical children of Abraham.

He was a true member of the covenant people.

He declares this again in:

 He’s from the tribe of one of Jacob’s two most-favoured sons: Benjamin.

Why were they special in the eyes of the Jews?

Well, for one, the first Israelite King was a Benjaminite and his name was Saul, Paul’s own birth name.

And the other reason was that they were the only tribe besides Judah to remain faithful to the House of David.

Their inheritance also included parts of Jerusalem.

 A Hebrew of the Hebrews.

‘Hebrew was Paul’s native tongue.

Unlike some of the Israelites, he did not adopt Greek customs.

He knew thoroughly both the language and customs of the people of God.

He was

a Hebrew son of Hebrew parents

This then moves on to the practices of his life rather than simply heritage:

 As far as religious education, his reference to being a Pharisee implies adherence to a strict interpretation of the Torah according to their customs.

Even the name ‘Pharisee’ means ‘Separated one’.

We read in Acts that he was taught by the famous Rabbi Gamaliel.

 His statement about persecuting the church makes him a bona-fide Pharisee.

No one else had the zeal that Paul had.

And Pharisaic zeal was shown very much by opposing foreign gods and governments.

But he took it further than his colleagues by carrying out physical attacks on people to eradicate Christianity.

Paul orchestrated a terror campaign against the church and had achieved a growing infamy as a Pharisaic terrorist

And, in fact, in Galatians he makes it clear he was on the path, as a Jewish leader, to great heights and ambitions:

 His connection to Pharisaicism was more than casual; it singularly directed his actions.

His lifestyle also bore out his commitment to living a righteous life.

Paul lived a life characterised by strict obedience to the Pharisaic code; he lived it out blamelessly, without fault.

This survey of Paul’s religious credentials proves that if anyone had a right to claim a favored status and to wield religious influence over his peers, it was Paul far more than the Judaizers he references in 3:2.

If the Philippians wanted to put someone on a religious pedestal, Paul is the guy who deserves it.

What he was by birth and what he had become by conviction and achievement were enough to tally a high level of superiority compared to any who might be preaching circumcision and righteousness by the law.

Privileges of birth and human achievement, however noble, count nothing.

But how could Paul have been so wrong in his former life?

And this is a question that has to be asked today of the many people who are religiously passionate.

I do meet such people today.

Surely there is nothing wrong with this is there?

It depends.

I hope to God that we are passionate for Him.

But if this passion is about appeasing God or about pleasing man then it is here that it goes wrong.

It is here that Paul also was wrong.

People today still think that they are good, especially when comparing with others, not realising how far short they fall of God’s ways.

But as we find in Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount the outward doesn’t always reveal what is really going on in people’s hearts:

When Paul looked at himself he would certainly have considered himself righteous for he had an outwardly perfect record and was above reproach but it was not until he discovered the righteousness of Christ that he realised he had got it completely wrong and was, in fact, spiritually bankrupt.

Everything we read about Paul’s heritage and life should have meant that he had self-confidence for he had not failed in his own religion.

He then shocks his hearers by saying that I count all these things as loss, as rubbish, as nothing, as things to be discarded and not to be considered worth anything.

Paul made the grade on the surface for a person of God because of his heritage and life but once there he found it inadequate and worse than useless.

In fact, Paul says that it is these very things that make the Jews stumble at the gospel.

They think that

1) they are a Jew therefore in God’s good books and

2) they can make the grade by obeying the law.

Not realising that in both cases the impossibility of this – it did not put them right with God.

Paul is the example put forward as a man who did it better than anyone and was more zealous, more passionate, more law-abiding and, if were possible, more acceptable to God.

He had attended Synagogue every time, was of God’s chosen ones, did all the right things at all the right times and was on the road to being the star of the Jews.

There are many today who are also striving, many today who go to Church not just every Sunday but two or three times on Sunday and not only that go every day to services and always celebrate high days and holy days.

There are many today who seek to please God through all their striving in obeying commandments and not only that but many more besides, some even beating themselves up over mistakes quite literally until they believe they have got what they deserved.

But true Christians would never do this, right?

We would never become like these people?

You would never beat yourself up over mistakes made when failing God’s or men’s or our own commandments?

My suspicion is that it is all too easy to fall into the trap of being legalistic, of trying to keep the law or a bunch of rules for our lives and when we fail, as we most certainly will, we will be emotional wrecks because we have consciences attacking us.

My friends, the purpose of all that Paul has written here about his own experience is to show that we cannot be righteous in the sight of God without first being clothed in the righteousness of Jesus.

We have no righteousness of our own.

It is one thing for us to have objectives for our lives but it is another to think that somehow we can please God by living according to them.

How can we please God?

It is faith that pleases God and faith alone.

Paul is showing the futility of trusting that what Country or religion we were born into or our actions can put us on a better footing with God.

Yet it seems we still try but the Gospel of Jesus Christ is a gift: Once we have received it then we have the gift of righteousness, the gift of salvation, the gift of eternal life where we are new creations and we have been made right in the sight of God.

We cannot improve this situation.

We are accepted in the beloved.

It is when we realise this that our strivings cease.

Then we really start to live for Him in response to all He has done for us.

His Spirit lives in us and then we can walk in the Spirit by faith, hearing our master’s voice.

He empowers us to live the lives He has given to us if we let Him.

We’ve come full circle – it is only by the Spirit that we can live godly lives – all this as a result of receiving Jesus as Lord and Saviour into our lives.

Nothing we do, nor who we are, can make us right with God.

Paul is proof.

We cannot be righteous but Jesus is our righteousness and He has clothed us with righteousness.

Our righteousness is found only at the cross covered by His blood – the proof that He paid the penalty for our sins so that we could be clean.

It is all about what He has done not what we can do that puts us right with God.

All strivings can now cease.

Benediction

Bibliography

Barry, J. D., Mangum, D., Brown, D. R., Heiser, M. S., Custis, M., Ritzema, E., … Bomar, D. (2012, 2016).

Faithlife Study Bible.

Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.

Dunnam, M. D., & Ogilvie, L. J. (1982).