Finding Joy in Christ, Week 5

We're at it again! Last week as Wes preached, we looked at Philippians 2:19-30, about Finding Joy in Christ through Friendships. We talked about the difference between living out a Philippians 1:21 lifestyle "For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain" and living out a Philippians 2:21lifestyle "For all seek their own, not the things which are of Christ Jesus."

In our small groups we talked about what our lives would look like if we lived only for ourselves and not for anyone else (we'd gossip, we'd lie, we'd do whatever made us feel good), versus what it would look like if we were living for Christ and loving His people (we'd say "Thank you" more, we'd not expect people to do so much for us, we'd do things for the people, especially the ones that always do things for us).

We're carrying those same goals for a Christ-centered life into this week, as we start of in chapter 3.

Philippians 3:1-11

"1Whatever happens, my dear brothers and sisters, rejoice in the Lord. I never get tired of telling you these things, and I do it to safeguard your faith.

2 Watch out for those dogs, those people who do evil, those mutilators who say you must be circumcised to be saved. 3 For we who worship by the Spirit of God are the ones who are truly circumcised. We rely on what Christ Jesus has done for us. We put no confidence in human effort, 4 though I could have confidence in my own effort if anyone could. Indeed, if others have reason for confidence in their own efforts, I have even more!

5 I was circumcised when I was eight days old. I am a pure-blooded citizen of Israel and a member of the tribe of Benjamin—a real Hebrew if there ever was one! I was a member of the Pharisees, who demand the strictest obedience to the Jewish law. 6 I was so zealous that I harshly persecuted the church. And as for righteousness, I obeyed the law without fault.

7 I once thought these things were valuable, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done. 8 Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ 9 and become one with him. I no longer count on my own righteousness through obeying the law; rather, I become righteous through faith in Christ. For God’s way of making us right with himself depends on faith. 10 I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead. I want to suffer with him, sharing in his death, 11 so that one way or another I will experience the resurrection from

the dead!"

 If you have your hard-copy Bible while you're reading this, pull it out. Open to Philippians chapter 3 and highlight, underline, or circle verse one where Paul says, "rejoice in the Lord."

Is Paul here rejoicing in the circumstance? Is he saying to the Philippians, "Rejoice! I'm in jail! Rejoice! I may die soon! Rejoice! You may never see me again!"

No. He says rejoice in the Lord. Because Paul knows that God is the one in control, He's the point of everything Paul had the privilege of suffering. He wasn't suffering for funzies or just to suffer, he suffered for God. (Remember in chapter 1:29, "For you have been given not only the privilege of trusting in Christ but also the privilege of suffering for him.")

Paul suffered for a higher call and a higher purpose--the Lord.

So what is Paul talking about in verse 2 when he talks about "dogs" and "evil doers" and "mutilators"?

 

Dogs in verse 2 doesn't refer to your cuddly house dog (yes, I'm guilty of any excuse to look up puppy memes!) but if you've ever been to poor areas of the country or other countries where there are stray dogs that turn wild and are thin and have to scavenge for scraps, they are dangerous. In Israel there were such dogs, and they barked and belonged to no one. Those are the types of people Paul is warning the Philippians about. Pharisees, judging and condemning everyone and belonging to no one, not belonging to God.

  

Mutilators here is referring people that are still stuck on Jewish religious laws where they think they are holy and God's people because they obey the letter of the law and are circumcised.

Paul in verse 3 talks instead about the true circumcision, where God does a work on your heart and cuts out the parts that leads to death and let's grow the things that lead to life. Paul lists attributes of what true circumcision can lead to:

• Worshipping God in the Spirit
• Relying on what Jesus Christ has done for us
• Putting no confidence in human effort as a means to reach God

 If you could be saved by works, Paul would be. He lists this pedigree, these Jewish laws and standards that he lived by, not to boast ("7 I once thought these things were valuable, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done."). Paul lists these works to say that he's not objecting to works because he can't fulfill them, but he objects to works because he fulfilled the standards and they didn't mean anything, it didn't save him.

"7 I once thought these things were valuable, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done. 8 Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ 9 and become one with him. I no longer count on my own righteousness through obeying the law; rather, I become righteous through faith in Christ. For God’s way of making us right with himself depends on faith. 10 I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead. I want to suffer with him, sharing in his death, 11 so that one way or another I will experience the resurrection from the dead!"

If you were handed this paragraph and someone told you this was a post-summer camp testimony, what would you think? Would you think this person was going to feel this way years later? You might! You might also think, "Eh, give it a couple years. They're just all excited now, but it gets harder."

Now look down at the Bible that you pulled out to highlight. Look at verses 7-11. This paragraph was written by a man 30 years in his faith. Thirty years after he turned his life away from works, toward a life for God. And this is what his testimony was. This is what he had to say.

You know, we often talk about our past experiences with the Lord. We talk about summer camps and how God touched us and we felt His presence for the first time. Or we talk about how some Christian impacted our life on God's behalf or maybe even how we impacted someone's life because God led us to do that. We bring up these past experiences.

Let me say it this way: these past experiences have to be translated into our presented relationship with Jesus Christ or they'll only ever be memories. Tonight, I want to know how your relationship with Jesus Christ is today! If it's lousy, let's get in small groups and as a community speak life into each other, if it's great then share with those who aren't quite there how you got to be where you are in your relationship with God. Share how your past experiences with God were great but they're no where near over and that's why your faith has picked up momentum.

 Thank God for these experiences, they're great! But what are they worth if they are not propelling you forward in your relationship with Jesus Christ?

This was Paul's faith, well into his years of believing in God. And he says all this, that he'd still choose God over that lifestyle of works, of counting on his own efforts to please God. Paul is in jail and He is doing more than making the best of the situation, he's rejoicing! In himself? No, in Christ.

"8 Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ 9 and become one with him. I no longer count on my own righteousness through obeying the law; rather, I become righteous through faith in Christ. For God’s way of making us right with himself depends on faith."

So why is the knowledge of knowing Christ so excellent? Why is it worth so much to Paul? To Us?

Paul says I will treat my former gains as rubbish, garbage because the true gain is in verse 8, that he could gain Christ and be found in Him. That's worth tossing out everything you had worked up before you really understood who Christ is and what His life means for us today.

True righteousness (being made right with God) is a matter of faith and not of works. True righteousness is God's righteousness that comes through Christ, not of ourselves. Basically, do you want to work and labor and strain your whole life for God, obeying every Levitical law, every command, only for the hope of God being pleased? Of a ticket to Heaven? OR do you want to put your faith in Christ and believe in what He can do through you and then believe that He will give you the power and means to do it (remember 2:13? ^"For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.")

"9I no longer count on my own righteousness through obeying the law; rather, I become righteous through faith in Christ. For God’s way of making us right with himself depends on faith. 10 I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead. I want to suffer with him, sharing in his death, 11 so that one way or another I will experience the resurrection from the dead!"

Paul wanted to humble himself in obedience to God, just as Jesus humbled himself in obedient to God (chapter 2, verse 8). And Jesus was obedient even to death.

Today, we may never due for outrightly proclaiming faith in Jesus Christ. But having that same attitude of humility in obedience to God will mean that we will have to die to some things.

You will have to die to fitting in with everyone else's opinions about how the world works. Jesus in Matthew 10:32 said, "Everyone who acknowledges me publicly here on earth, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven." So if our friend is judgmental and condemns everyone for what they wear or how they act or what their background is like or what sport teams they favor, you will have to die to the desire to just go along with it. Honoring Jesus before men may means stating your faith in your actions by saying, "I don't see that person that way. That's not fair to treat them that way."

These are the questions that we're going through in our small groups tonight, maybe if you're at home and you couldn't make it to youth group tonight, or are a blogging visitor and aren't involved in Ignition Youth Group, find a fellow believer, a friend in the faith and go through these questions with them:

1. What things were gain, seemed good to you before you really understood who Jesus is? What ideas did you have about life and people and yourself that you realized were worthless once you knew Jesus?

2. What does your righteousness look like vs. God's righteousness. How are they different? Why can't we have them both equally?

3. What can we die to this week in order to live more fully for Christ? What can we give up in our lives that would give us more freedom to pursue God in our everyday? What may we have to suffer in order to live an obedient life for God?