Philippians
“Living above the Clouds”
Main Teaching: 3:1-21 Joy in spite of things
3:1-11 Past
3:1-7 “Can’t get to heaven in a row boat”
Vs. 1 The mark of spirituality
Vs. 2 The menace of religion
Vs. 3 The measure of devotio
Vs. 4-7 The mistakes of man
Intro.
Last week we closed the 2nd item that will attempt to rip you off from joy in Christ, PEOPLE. We have already noted that Paul in the 1st chapter dealt with the first thing that will attempt to rip you off from your joy in Christ, CIRCUMSTANCES. The third category that will attempt to rip you off from your joy in Christ is, THINGS. The first THING that will rip you off from your joy in Christ may surprise you and is hidden in plain sight in the first 7 verses. These seven verses Paul warns against the “dogs” and “evil workers” , the so-called “mutilation” (verse 2) then moves to what true faith is; only to finish off with this personal autobiographical section..
It is a little confusing to see what he is trying to convey as the number 1 THING that will try to rip you off of your joy in Christ. According to Paul the number 1 thing that will try to rip you off from your joy in Christ is the “thing” known as RELIGION! There was a lady that was arguing with a pastor about religion versus relationship when she said. “I think that getting to heaven is like rowing a boat,” “One oar is faith, and the other is works. If you use both, you get there. If you use only one, you go around in circles.” Her pastor replied, “There is only one thing wrong with your illustration, nobody is going to heaven in a row boat!”
Vs. 1 The mark of spirituality
In outlining these seven verses I see four movements of two each as Paul describes two positive traits of true spirituality and two negative traits that describe religion as he alternates between the two.
- Positive Vs. 1 The mark of spirituality
- Negative Vs. 2 The menace of religion
- Positive Vs. 3 The measure of devotion
- Negative Vs. 4-7 The mistakes of man
Positive Vs. 1 Mark of spirituality: Starting a section with the word “finally” usually indicates that it is the beginning of the end. It seems as though it takes Paul a long time to come to the conclusion (like the pastor I know). But if we look the word up in the Greek we find that the word doesn’t mean in conclusion it means “with regards to the rest of the matter”. The answer to the problem no matter what it is that is trying to steal your joy is always “Rejoice in the Lord!”
Paul knows that this phrase sounds a bit trite so he says, “For me to write the same thing is not tedious, but for you it is safe.” Rejoice in the Lord: Is the Christian equivalent of the Old Testament exclamation, Hallelujah. It is the mark of a spiritual life, a sign of the victorious Christian. The phrase is distinctively relational; in fact Paul uses it twice in this little letter here and 4:4! Paul had already defined obedience in 2:14 as without grumbling and complaining which are the signs of unbelief. Thus the sign of faith is rejoicing, “God said it, I believe Him, time to rejoice!”
Our rejoicing is not based upon our enjoying the difficulty, neither is it based upon God working the situation out according to our plans. Our rejoicing is in the reality that irrespective of our challenge God will be glorified and this difficulty will make us more like Him! The world’s view of followers of Christ is no smile or joy. There are some Christians who are just like Eeyore of Winnie the Pooh, that dismal donkey who always seems to find the cloud in the silver lining. The mark of a Christian is a smile of confidence, despite the circumstances. Not a forced one, but a genuine smile, sometimes through tears. It arises from a quiet trust, living out of our adequacy in the Lord despite living in the inadequacy of our flesh. We have within us One who is completely competent to meet every situation through us. It’s the kind of rejoicing that caused David to write the 23rd Psalm saying, “The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want!”
Vs. 2 The menace of religion
Negative Vs. 2 Menace of external religion: Immediately Paul switches from the true mark of spirituality (rejoicing in the Lord) to the mark of religion which is dwelling on external evidence as a sign of spirituality. What religion gages spiritual health on outward things such as events or rituals as being the sign that one is right with God. Such outward reliance as a sign of spiritual health will inevitably destroy joy.
When we are being ripped off of joy we will turn to the outwards sign of what makes us right and complain that it’s not fair that this is happening to us because of all the things we are doing to be right with God. Christian joy that cannot be taken comes not from what you do to maintain spirituality but from what the Lord has done to ensure your relationship to Him. Paul calls these peddlers of works three things:
- Dogs: This isn’t your house pets; instead the word refers to the wild, snarling animal that sifts through the trash for its meals. Paul calls them this because they continue to “hound” believers to get them to leave the home of a relationship with God for the streets of religion.
- Evil workers: They were called this because of their overzealous work in trying to get people to leave relationship for religion. The harder they worked the bigger their claim on blessings from God, so they went door to door ready to convert folks to religion.
- The mutilation: They had a special mark called circumcision which they had picked up from the law only they made it the only sign of spirituality. Paul doesn’t use the word for circumcision instead he uses a play on words as he calls them “flesh cutters” referring to them as those who cut themselves making marks on their flesh that have no real meaning.
Religion has an appeal to people because it has a show of devotion that by our own hard work and effort we have become worthy of acceptance before God. It appeals to our egos as we can separate ourselves from the person next to us as being less worthy as we have done more to earn God’s blessings. It destroys rejoicing because we are in competition against others for that elusive prize of joy and only harder work will give us any possibility of achieving the reward we so long for.
Vs. 3 The measure of devotion
Positive Vs. 3 Measure of true devotion: In contrast to religions threefold description Paul offers three marks of the spirituality of relationship. Worship is the partaking of Jesus; as we take in all of who He is and use who He is as the basis of who we are throughout the day! Fellowship, singing praise and studying the Word can and should cause us to take in all of who He is but those things on their own aren’t worship and must never be worshiped. They are just tools to lead us into taking in more of who Jesus is so we can see who we are throughout the day. Religion happens when we worship the tools, the instrument, instead of the Person of Christ! Immediately you notice that the three marks of true devotion are the exact opposite of the three traits of religion.
- Worship God in Spirit: True devotion doesn’t glory in our activity and effort we glory in Christ’s effort and activity. True worship has only one source, one center of glory Jesus; He alone is who we glory in. We don’t worship in our activity, our denomination, theology or ritual.
- Rejoice in Christ Jesus: Jesus is our one and only source of joy! There is nothing in our worship that is distinctively ours that would give us some mark of privilege over someone else.
- Have no confidence in the flesh: The last trait of true worship is that we put no confidence in our self-effort. All of humanity wants to be “special” and looks to the flesh and effort to distinguish this. True worship isn’t about self-confidence, it’s about placing all of our confidence in Christ.
Vs. 4-7 The mistakes of man
Negative Vs. 4-6 Mistakes of Paul: Here we come to this autobiographical passage where Paul uses his own history not as a badge of honor as he used to but rather as the mistakes of religion. Nothing in his background, training, talents, accomplishments, the time he spent in prayer, the number of chapters of scripture he read, the number of verses he memorized. Paul had no confidence in the power of his eloquence to persuade people or his devotion. The only one in whom Paul had confidence in was Jesus Christ. There was a time prior to his relationship with Jesus he took pride in four things of his religion:
- Vs. 5a His ancestry: “Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin”.
- Vs. 5b His orthodoxy: “A Hebrew of Hebrews; concerning the law a Pharisee.”
- Vs. 6a His activity: “Concerning zeal, persecuting the church.”
- Vs. 6b His morality: “Concerning the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.”
Vs. 7 In each and every case Paul said that this was how he felt prior to knowing Christ as he uses this in the past tense. Most folks feel as though all of these areas were changed in one day as Paul rode to Damascus but I think that only one changed that day and that was with regards to his activity in persecuting the church.
Looking at his own words in other letters it appears that the other four areas took time for him to understand that he had only replaced the religion of Judaism with the religion of Christianity as he was still worshiping his own effort. Paul had been confident in his flesh prior to his conversion and he had been confident in his flesh after his conversion. According to 2 Corinthian chapter 4 it wasn’t until 14 years after his conversion that he began to understand what true worship and spirituality was. In 2 Corinthians 11:30 Paul writes “If I must boast, I will boast in the things which concern my infirmity.” Then in the 12th chapter of that same letter in verse 10 he writes “Therefore I take pleasure, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
The things that caused him to be weak and dependent upon the Lord were now the things that he was most thankful for. Paul stepped out of religion and into a relationship and in so doing discovered the secret of the Christian life that only in dying to self, do you find lasting joy and peace. Paul swore off religion as worship and started worshiping only the work and effort of Jesus.
Philippians
“Living above the Clouds”
Main Teaching: C. 3:1-21 Joy in spite of things
3:1-11 Past
3:8-12 “Counting a loss a gain”
Vs. 8 What counts
Vs. 9-12 Three things to lose if we are to gain
Intro.
Paul has described in verses 4-7 how religion dominated his life prior to becoming a believer and even as a believer for the first 14 years. But in verse 8 Paul found in Christ the One that made religion obsolete so much so that the loss of everything religious was seen as a gain. Jesus is the missing person of everyone’s life He alone is what makes living a blessing ill respective of adverse circumstances and adversarial situations. Saints, a good thing can become a bad thing if it keeps out the best thing! It is important to see the total message of this chapter before examining it in detail, so perhaps the following outline will be helpful.
- Vs. 8-11 Past “I count”
- Vs. 12-16 Present “I press”
- Vs. 17-21 Future “I look”
Vs. 8 What counts
Vs. 8 That little word “indeed” in verse 8 in the Greek, stresses the idea that “Though, indeed, therefore, at least, doubtless,” I have counted all things but loss that I might gain the surpassing worth of Christ. Notice also that he changes verb tenses here between verses 7 and 8. In verse 7 he says, “but whatever gain I had I counted (past tense) as loss”. In v. 8 Paul writes “but indeed, now, therefore, doubtless I count, am counting (present tense) everything as loss.”
In Acts chapter 9 verse 25 we are told the day that all that Paul had placed on his training, his background, his intellect, his achievements, his morality, came crashing down around him, as he was let down the wall of Damascus in a large basket. Next we are told that Paul went up to Jerusalem and was rejected by the apostles who wouldn’t have anything to do with him.
Neither his Jewish nor his Christian friends would take him in, and discouraged, defeated, he went to the temple for consolation and there the Lord met him and sent him home to Tarsus. We are told that for some five to seven years in Tarsus he did not minister or preach or at least there is no record of any of it occurring. All of that is summed up in verse 8 where we read “Yet indeed I also count all things lost for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ.”
I know of no greater loss in human existence than the loss of our dreams and hopes because for the most part we have so much invested in them and have paid so much to indulge them. Yet with that said Paul makes this remarkable statement that the “loss of all things” was well worth the price for what he had gained in the “excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord.” The use of the word “count” at the end of verse 8 ought to be rendered “I am still COUNTING” the things lost as rubbish.
The word for “rubbish” is a word that means dung, not just worthless but offensive. This indicates that Paul saw the loss and gain as a process that the more he lost of the “things” of religion the more he gained “excellent knowledge of Christ Jesus.” Looking at the first century church and comparing it with the Westernized Church of today we can see that the fundamental difference between the two can best be explained in what essentially would be their practicing mission statements:
- Modern Westernized Evangelical Church: Showing the world how much WE can do for Jesus!
- First Century Church: Demonstrating to the world how much Jesus has done for us!
Which of those two mission statements is religion and which one is a relationship? Which one represents your life or the life of this fellowship? Do these things define you or are you now defined as Paul said by the “excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord”? In Jeremiah 2:13 God spoke through the prophet and said to Israel “For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, And hewn themselves cisterns–broken cisterns that can hold no water.” We cannot drink from our empty cistern of religion and at the same time drink from the inexhaustible rivers of water that flow from Christ. Are we free from our broken cisterns that cannot hold water because we will not be free to drink from the fountain of living waters until we are!
Vs. 9-12 Three things to lose if we are to gain
Paul goes on in verses 9-12 to give us three areas where the loss of religion gained him the superiority of the “excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord.”
- Vs. 9 Morality: The phrase “be found in Him” is one that suggests investigation by others. Paul wasn’t concerned about passing the test as to being Holy and right because His rightness wasn’t external based upon his works but it was internal and based upon God’s work! Paul’s right standing wasn’t a list of things he didn’t do, instead his morality was found in the rightness of Jesus that had positive traits expressed in, “Love, patience, kindness, compassion, and forgiveness.”
- Vs. 10 Ministry: Another thing that changed for Paul was what ministry was all about: It was no longer about doing things for God; instead it was about personal, experiential, relational knowledge and friendship with God. Paul is very careful not to say that this was academic as he doesn’t say “That I may know ABOUT Christ”. Someone has well said, “Knowing about something has value; whereas knowing relationally has vitality!” Paul is not speaking of knowledge that can be learned through a book or a casual acquaintance, he is speaking of a deep continual abiding relationship where two share experiences together. Paul says that in this shared experience that there were three experiences he continually walked with Jesus in that deepened their relationship. And these three areas changed how ministry operated through him:
- The power of His resurrection: POWER! Paul’s ministry went from the power of humanity and self-effort to the power that raised Jesus from the dead. And in this new resurrection power, Paul found a power supply that was more than adequate for every possible circumstance a person could ever encounter. This “resurrection power” works when all other hope is gone, and every situation has been exhausted. It was at work when Jesus’ lifeless body was on the cross. It was at work when his dead body was placed in that tomb and sealed for three days! It was always at work even though human despair and doubt covered it and encased it. Resurrection power turns: “Failure into victory, sorrow into joy, and despair into hope.” Walking with Jesus in the “power of His resurrection” each and every day Paul found the only power to transform life!
- The fellowship of His sufferings: COMPASSION! The amazing thing about the sufferings of Christ is that they were always for someone else. Paul was gaining a new compassion as he shared in those sufferings he understood the sufferings of others. Our sufferings are not for ourselves primarily, they are for the benefit of others. Loving anyone always involves suffering with them, as parents we know this all too well. Paul said that walking where Jesus went in His sufferings gave him a new compassion for people that religion never did.
- Being conformed to His death: PURITY! Being conformed to His death meant that Paul had come to the end of his self-pleasing life. By walking with Jesus in the area of being conformed to His death Paul’s ministry wasn’t about him it was truly about others. He wasn’t concerned with what happened to him, how he may be inconvenienced, instead his concern was about what happens to Jesus and His glory and the benefit of others. Self-living was gone and replaced by being an instrument of God’s abounding grace. All these things were not a by-product of study, hard work and effort. No, they were a by-product of walking with Jesus in those three areas.
- Vs. 11-12 Motive: The last area where the loss of religion gained Paul the superiority of the “excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord” is to be found in a change in his motives. This verse sounds as if Paul was concerned that he would not be resurrected but that is because the word for resurrected isn’t the same word used in verse 10. In fact the word for “resurrection” in verse 11 only appears this one time in all the New Testament and means a selective resurrection of believers from among all that will be raised from the dead.
We know Paul isn’t afraid he won’t make the resurrection of the dead as he already wrote in Romans 8 that “those whom Jesus justified He will also glorify.” What Paul is saying is that his motivation in life has changed because his concern is no longer about himself, it’s about others! He knows that one day he will be “perfected”; God has begun a good work in him and will see it to the day of his completion. His concern now is that he will take as many as God enables him to take with him.
Paul’s pressing on was that he may lay hold of as many as Jesus had for him to lay hold of. Dear ones, there is a sense that every believer has access to other people’s treasures and we have the great opportunity to distribute their winnings to them! Paul is saying, “I want so to lay-hold of him that he might use my life as an instrument to lay hold of everything he had in mind when he arrested me on the Damascus road, hoping it might fulfill the purpose of his coming and we might all be together at the out-resurrection of the dead.”
This all boils down to a great question we need to ask ourselves: What am I living for? Though it may seem as though this is true, religion is self-centered as our concern has to do with ourselves. Paul discovered that the loss of religion gained him power, compassion and purity.
Philippians
“Living above the Clouds”
Main Teaching: 3:1-21 Joy in spite of things
3:12-21 Present and future
3:12-21 “He died Climbing”
Vs. 12-16 Five essential of winning your race
Vs. 17-21 Heavenly Citizenship
Intro.
Last week we saw the benefits of losing one’s religion for a relationship with Jesus. That primarily dealt with the past today Paul concludes this with a look at the present and future benefits. In the final section of the 3rd chapter of Philippians it appears as though Paul sees his life from two other vantage points.
- You will recall in verses 4-7 Paul looked back in his past in an autobiographical account of his life and as such it appears as though it was the “accountant” stage of his life as he said “I count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus.”
- In this section in the present he sees himself secondly as an “athlete” (verses 12-16) as we are told in verse 14 that he “pressed towards the goal for the prize of the upward call in Christ Jesus.”
- And 3rd, he sees himself in the future as an “alien” in verses 17-21 as we are told in verse 20 that his “citizenship is in heaven.”
Vs. 12-16 Five essential of winning your race
You may not think of yourself as competitive but I believe we all have some of this in us and as such ought to all desire to be “winning Christians” as we long to fulfill that for which we have been called. What I love about this passage is the detailed process in which Paul speaks about the day to day way to lose your religion. This “pressing on” of leaving behind religion has according to verse 14 a “prize” attached to it called the “upward call of God in Christ Jesus”.
Did you notice that the prize wasn’t at the end of the journey, as Paul says that the prize is the journey? Oh saint’s what a great revelation this is to us that the prize is the call itself and not the benefits that come from the call. The prize isn’t heaven, the prize is the journey with Jesus that will never end! That means that we don’t have to wait to start enjoying the prize. We can start enjoying the prize today and each day after. In verses 12-16 Paul will give us five essentials of winning our race in the upward call in Christ Jesus:
- Vs. 12-13a Dissatisfaction: Paul says “Not that I’ve already attained!” Nothing will inspire a person who is competitive more than not attaining the goal they sought after. Paul’s dissatisfaction wasn’t with his salvation it was with his sanctification as he was driven to lose more of his religion that he may gain more of Christ. Saint’s there is one thing that we can and should always covet more of… JESUS! In my book we could all use a bit more of sanctified dissatisfaction! The Christian life is not a race against others it’s a race against our self as Paul stated in verse 12 that he “May lay hold of that for which Christ has laid hold of me.” The mark of his maturity was that he realized that he hadn’t arrived and wasn’t about to rest on his laurels.
- Vs. 13b Devotion: I love the simplicity of this as Paul says, “One thing I do” and that one thing was to specialize in devotion to Jesus not to work on religion. One of the differences of religion versus relationship is that religions focus is multidirectional and relationships are single in nature. A river that overflows its banks makes everything a muddy mess. A river that is dammed and controlled powers a city; saints live for what matters the most.
- Vs. 13c Direction: This is rather obvious if you have ever been involved in a race as you don’t want to look back, you want rather to keep looking forward. If we are going to lay hold of that which Christ has laid hold of us then we will need to be “forgetting those things which are behind” and it doesn’t matter if those things were positive or negative as we ought to no longer be influenced or allow those to negatively affect our race to the prize.
The sin we’ve committed in the past can place us in paralysis in the present. The good we’ve done in the past can puff us up in the present with pride. That’s why it’s a good practice to forget those things which are behind! We may not be able to change the past but we sure can change the meaning of the past! Running from the regrets of the past as well as running to the distractions of the successes of the past will certainly hinder your race in the present and the future.
- Vs. 14 Determination: The phrase “I press” carries the idea of intense endeavor and the Greeks used the word to describe a hunter pursuing his prey. A person doesn’t become a winning athlete by listening to lectures, watching “how to videos” they become a winner by getting into the game and being determined to win. What would Jesus’ church look like if we put as much determination in our upward call in Christ as we do our hobbies and interests? In this we must avoid both being an activist (thinking that it is all up to us) as well as a pacifist (thinking that it’s all up to God and we can just kick back). The balance is that we must realize that God works in us for His good pleasure. Some folks I’m afraid have miss understood “dying to self” as they have never come back alive!
- Vs. 15-16 Discipline: In the Greek games a runner who was not disciplined and disobeyed the rules was disqualified in the competition and thus forfeited his opportunity for the prize. If you are going to gain the upward call in Christ Jesus then it will be essential that you remain disciplined in training as well as in the race set before you. Church history is full of folks who began their race well but failed because they didn’t remain disciplined. We need to keep looking to the author and finisher of our faith until we are looking at Him face to face!
Vs. 17-21 Heavenly Citizenship
Vs. 17 In a letter that has as its theme JOY it is a bit odd to find Paul speak of his weeping as his tears were on the behalf of those who had succumbed to abandoning their relationship with Christ. The truth is the Church is God’s colony of heaven here on earth. The believer must continually, daily, moment by moment make a choice to walk on with their Master and friend or stay awhile in the valley of religion. As Hebrews chapter 12 said of those Old Testament saints that we are “surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race set before us.”
Paul says that we not only have a “cloud of witnesses” cheering us on, we also have fellow runners to run with us so we will continue to run towards the upward call in Christ Jesus. Just as in our homes so too in our churches people will imitate and pattern themselves after those that lead them both for good and bad! There will always be those who set a pattern contrary to the upward call in Christ and towards religion and the world and it is beneficial to note those who are on a different road then us with Jesus.
Vs. 18-19 Paul is not naïve; he realizes that there are those “enemies of the cross of Christ” and I believe that he is thinking of two.
- There are those who use “liberty as a license” in Christ to indulge their worldly appetites. And in so doing deny the cross of self-denial.
- There are those who pursue “religion as righteousness” and in so doing deny the cross and the death of self-righteousness.
The only agreement these two have is in their mutual hatred for the “upward call in Christ Jesus”. Yet in the end if a person chooses the world or religion it will ultimately destroy them. Paul says of them that they have three characteristics:
- Whose god is their belly: The word “belly” here has a broader reference to living for the pleasures of the body, mind and soul. They live for their fleshly appetites. The point here is that Paul is showing that both those who have used “liberty for license” and those who have chosen “religion as righteousness” share in common idolatry, albeit different gods.
- Whose glory is their shame: They live to make a name for themselves. They also both share misplaced priorities as they glory about things they should be ashamed of.
- Who set their minds on earthly things: They live for that which is temporal. Finally they share in common the wrong focus in life as neither makes their life about a relationship with Jesus and the worship of Him but rather to advance in this world and life!
Vs. 20 As you may recall Philippi was a Roman colony that prized its citizenship greatly. So Paul uses this fact that as much as they saw themselves as Romans it would be far more beneficial for them if they saw themselves as citizens of heaven. “We have our home in heaven, and here on earth we are a colony of heaven’s citizens.” They were not to await the emperor’s visit but the Lord’s return. In 48 B.C. Julius Caesar was declared to be “the universal savior of mankind.” It then became a common title for the ruling Caesar and idolatry to bestow this title to any other. It wasn’t long after the time of Paul that Christians were martyred for refusing to call Caesar Lord and savior, as they proclaimed that only Jesus is Lord and savior.
Vs. 21 The last superiority that a relationship with Jesus can accomplish that neither the pursuit of “liberty for license” nor “religion as righteousness” can ever do is our complete transformation as we will have the type of body that Jesus Himself had when He was resurrected.
In a small churchyard at the foot of one of the great mountains of the Swiss Alps lies the grave of an English mountain climber. On his tombstone directly under his name is a three word epitaph that I pray every believer in Christ would ascribe to, “He Died Climbing”!