"Into the Word: Philippians" by Neal Pollard - Part 3

handed out 100 of those worksheets.

That wasn't enough. We did 150 last week. We've done 200 this week.

So there should be, if you want one, I believe there should be a sheet.

Tommy is walking around with those right now. Just raise your hand if you want

one and you haven't gotten one. It'll make it maybe easier for him. There's some

on this side, Tyler, that would like some.

Theoretically, this should be the shortest class. Philippians 3 is the shortest

chapter and we'll strive toward that end.

I thought though I would begin, as we are getting those sheets,

I wanted to ask a question because I believe that the way

to break down Philippians chapter 3 as it fits into the overall purpose of the

Philippians 3 · chapter mention

letter is some ways to have joy. I think that fits in

with the overall theme of the book of Philippians. As we have stated in

both of the weeks, this is a church that has some difficulties,

some problems, and we're going to see what that is. And Paul is going

to construct the letter to show what causes problems in just

about any congregation, and that's putting ourselves above others.

And so Paul has set about in the first half of the letter, and I

think you can look when we start chapter 3 tonight to see that there's 2

distinct halves to this letter. Paul began by telling them what he

was praying for, for them, that he wanted them to increase

in their knowledge and in their discernment that they may excel toward the

coming of the day of Christ. And then immediately he starts giving examples

of the mind that he wants to exist in them. And that's a mind

that puts others above self. Paul is going to use himself as an example in

chapter 1:12-26. He is going to exhort them to put that principle into

play in 1:27 through chapter 2 and verse 4.

Then he is going to give a second example. That's the example of Christ and

how he put others above himself in chapters 2:5-11. And then he is going to

exhort them again to put that principle into play in their lives in chapter

2, verse 12 through either 16 or 18, depending on how you look at that.

Or perhaps Paul gives himself as a third example of the mindset

that he wants them to put into play by showing how he had given up

for the cause of Christ and had laid himself out as a drink offering.

And then he gives the next example, and that's of Timothy, of putting others above

self. And then in chapter 2, verse 25 to

the end of the chapter, he gives another example, and that's of Epaphroditus.

And in between there in 2:12-16, if we didn't say it, he has

exhorted them again to put that principle into play. So examples

and exhortations. And then that's when we come to this spot

in the letter. Before we look at the content in chapter 3, I wanted to

ask you a question. What robs a church of

its joy? Any church.

What keeps it from being joyful? Okay, in a very

broad sense, conflict. All right, if there's something brewing

among the members, is there anything else outside of conflict

that can take joy out of a church's heart?

Lack of unity. Apathy.

All right, if we just are indifferent and don't care. And lack of unity can

look a lot of different ways. It can show itself up between personality

conflicts, maybe pockets of different ideas that

want to go in different directions. Anything else?

What's robbing the joy? What potentially could rob the joy of

the church at Philippi? What I want to do is to walk you through some

of what Paul has already shown. A lack of knowledge and discernment can

rob a church of joy. Would you agree with that? Chapter 1, verse 9 and

10. Do a lot of the problems that we have in the body of Christ

stem from not really knowing the Word of God,

and even more fundamentally, not knowing the God of the Word

and not being able to discern the principles of the Word. It robs

joy. A second is divisive conduct. And so Paul is

really going to drill down and make his strongest appeal to the church

as a whole in chapter 1, verse 27 through chapter 2 and verse

4, to not be divisive, but to be of one mind, one heart,

one purpose, one love. And then selfishness and

arrogance is going to rob a church of joy.

If you have a church filled with people who are very selfish,

there is no way that that's going to be an environment in which

we're going to find joy or bring others into that. And arrogance in

the different ways that it displays itself, arrogance in leadership,

arrogance in those who fill the pulpit, arrogance in the Bible classroom,

arrogance against those who are in positions of any kind of leadership,

There's no joy in a circumstance like that. Then when we saw again last

week is grumbling and disputing where there's the murmur. Let me

ask you, when you think about the congregation of Israel for

40 years, what words would you use to describe them?

What? Complain, grumbling,

grumbling, disputing. What word would you not use?

Happy. They are not joyful.

And so what Paul is doing along the way, alongside of these examples and

these exhortations, is he is kind of pointing out some of the landmines of joy

in the congregation. And I think no matter who we are, we want to be

a part of a joyful congregation. And there is a recipe, there's a way

for that to take place. And Paul is laying it out in this letter.

And so I want us to see that as we go along. And when

we do get to some of the things that we're going to see in this

letter, I think Paul is giving us another thing that robs

joy in chapter 3 and verse 1.

Look at chapter 3 and verse 1 is what I think is kind of

a bridge into the second part of the letter. He says,

finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same

things again is no trouble to me, and it is a safeguard

for you. Anything stick out in that verse that's

a little bit odd to you? Okay, he's going to say the same things again.

All right, but we're going to look at that in a little bit more detail

in just a moment. Anything else that's a

little, just a little odd, just a little bit maybe out of place?

Okay, we're going to— we need to ask ourselves, what does he mean by the

word safe there? How does that word finally

strike you? When do you typically see the word finally?

The end. Are we at the end of the letter? So what

does Paul mean by saying finally right here with half of the letter left?

Okay, this really is— does any other version say it differently? I don't think

that it does. The translators would be doing a little bit of interpretation there,

but he's basically saying we've sewn up the last subject and

we're going to move to a different significant point that still falls within

the purpose of this letter, which is to put the interests of others above our

own. And so he says, finally, my brethren,

rejoice in the Lord. For me to say the same things to you is no

trouble for me, but it's a safeguard for you. What is he talking about

when he's saying to say the same things again is no trouble for me and

is a safeguard for you? Is he saying

that it's no trouble for him to say rejoice in the Lord?

Perhaps. Let me tell you what I think makes better sense.

I think what Paul is saying is, I have taught you

some things in the past. Remember we talked about this in the first week?

He was there with them on the first missionary journey, and it seems like he

goes back on the third missionary journey and he does some strengthening and

some teaching there. And he's taught them some things about what it takes

to be a Christian, how to live as a Christian. And if you look at

what's going to take place next in the letter, it looks

like Paul is going to be talking to them some more about some things that

he has talked about, he is going to address a subject to a church

in Asia Minor, in Turkey,

in the Gentile world that seems

to be a problem that they face throughout the first-century church. Now, and it

doesn't trouble us as a church, at least in this specific way,

but do you find it significant that New Testament writers keep coming,

especially Paul, keeps coming back to this same subject over and

over again. If you've done your homework and you've read ahead, what is Paul going

to be talking about in the next several verses? What kind of stuff?

What kind of trouble?

Okay, having confidence in the flesh. And we're going to do some deduction.

Who in the New Testament seemed to put a lot of confidence in the flesh?

The Jews. Who am I?

Where did I come from? Here's the blood that's coursing through my veins,

and that gives me a reason to have pride in myself. Paul explodes

that all the time, and he's going to do it some more here.

Now, and you have that kind of a mindset that's in some way

influencing the church. You may remember in week 1 that in

the city of Philippi itself, probably not a lot of Jews.

There are a lot of religious groups, maybe not a lot of Jews, But this

influence, this pressure is all throughout the church of the

first century as they're adjusting to Gentiles being in the body of Christ with Jews.

This problem keeps popping up and it must be significant

enough that Paul has to talk to this Gentile church about

this issue. But if you have people who are

pressuring you from outside or are within who

are arrogant and they're putting their confidence

in their flesh, who they are, what they've done, Can you imagine

that that would rob joy in the church? So we're going to look at some

things that rob joy and how to, how to combat that in Philippians chapter 3.

Philippians 3 · chapter mention

Paul's going to say several things. Here's the first thing that he says, and if

you have that sheet, we're going to do as we've been doing throughout this entire

class is this is going to guide you all the way through the class as

you have that sheet. He says, number one, that joy comes in avoiding the

wrong influences. Notice verse 2, it says, beware of the dogs

Beware of the evil workers. Beware of the false circumcision.

Just a couple of things there with regard to that. Paul highlights

the urgency of what he's about to say. How does he do it?

Beware, bleipete, beware,

beware, beware. He's saying,

this is urgent enough that I want to make sure you don't miss it.

I want you to hear what I'm saying. Beware. Does that ever happen anywhere else

in the Bible? Where they triple down on something?

Can you think of anywhere in Scripture? I thought one

might come to mind. How about Isaiah 6?

Isaiah's commission. He sees the seraphim with 6 wings

and what do they say to each other?

Holy. We sing it. We sang it this morning. Holy,

holy, holy, absolutely holy.

Jeremiah does it a couple of times. He says to the

folks who are living sinfully throughout the week and then they come on the Sabbath

day to worship, Jeremiah 7:4, they say, the temple of the

Jeremiah 7:4

Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord are these. We are

all good because we're in the house of the Lord. Doesn't matter

what we're doing to each other and to everybody else, to ourselves during the week.

We're delivered to do these things. And then Jeremiah, in some

of his prophecy in the middle of the book, in Jeremiah 22:29 says, oh earth,

Jeremiah 22:29

earth, earth, driving it home. And so Paul says,

beware. Now here's a question. What do you think?

Is Paul talking about 3 different groups or is he describing

one group in 3 different ways? Beware of the dogs. Beware of

the evil workers. Beware of the false circumcision.

One group. Why do we think it's one group?

No, I think— I agree with you. I think it's one group. Okay.

That's a great answer, Gary. Read on down in the text.

How many problems is Paul dealing with here in the immediate context?

One. So here's what I think he's doing. I think he is giving us different

characteristics of these folks, whoever they are.

And I think it's going to be a good deduction by the time we get

through that these are Judaizers. These are Jewish Christians who

are saying that you've got to do things in addition to obey

the gospel of Christ in order to be a Christian.

Things that the gospel doesn't say you've got to do. So here's just

a real quick question before we dig into that. Does that happen in the body

of Christ? Do people add to what the Word of God says? Do they

add requirements to what the gospel says?

Which is the bigger problem? Saying that we don't have to do as much

as the gospel says or telling people they have to do more than the gospel

says? Okay, it's a trick question. So can

I go to the right or the left? Which one does the Lord endorse or

sanction? It's right in the biblical center. That's where we've

got to be. And so what Paul is doing is he's saying, look, these guys

who are coming in and they're laying down these requirements that

are in addition to the gospel, they are to beware.

You are to beware of them. All right, so let's look at some of those

things that he says. He says that these influences are dogs.

Beware of the dogs. And I know you've heard this, so help me

with this. What's the significance of calling them dogs?

Okay, they're homeless, they're aggressive, they attack passersby.

So Paul's painting a picture for us and he says, these individuals that

you are to beware of, they are dogs. They are

hungry mongrels who are waiting for somebody to

come by so they can attack them. Now,

dogs, if you'll look in the Old Testament, are one of the unclean animals.

And so this picture existed in the ancient world, but then you

get into the New Testament context and you think about during Jesus's work

during the Gospels, what was the way the Jews looked at

the Gentiles? Matthew 15:27,

Matthew 15:27

they're dogs. Do you find it a clever

and an ironic thing that Paul does is he turns this on its ear.

He is using this terminology against

The Jews who are trying to add to the gospel of Christ.

By the way, at the end of the New Testament in Revelation 22:15,

Revelation 22:15

John says, without, that is outside of the

haven and safety of heaven, are the dogs.

And so what Paul is saying is, I want you to beware of

these individuals who are lurking about, who are violent,

maybe not physically violent, but spiritually violent. And they are attacking

those who are believing in and trying to follow New Testament doctrine.

Christianity. All right, but then second, he calls them evil workers. What would be the

significance of that apart from calling them dogs?

That just describes the nature of what they're doing.

This is these men. They themselves are workers that are evil.

It's not just their legalism. It's not innocent.

It's not harmless. They're active, but they're active in doing the

wrong thing. So Paul is highlighting what he's about to say,

and he's going to masterfully address this by saying,

these guys that would set themselves up as the experts,

the ones who know everything, who are trying to tell you the

work they're doing is evil. Now, that then makes this 3rd

description seem pretty clear. The false

circumcision. Who's the true circumcision?

Okay, those who have circumcised their heart, who have let

the gospel cut and convict their heart.

Now, why would he mention circumcision of all the things that there are in the

old law? Okay, it's the covenant sign,

right? And so he says this false circumcision, they're practicing physical

circumcision, but Paul is not going to call that word that they use

to describe themselves. He uses a word that literally means flesh cutters.

It's a mere cutting of the flesh. It has no spiritual

significance whatsoever. And so Paul says, here's the guys that we're dealing with.

They are dogs, they're attackers, they're violent spiritually, they're evil

workers. What they're doing is not innocent. It's not harmless for them to press

their matters of judgment. And they are the false circumcision. They're cutting the

flesh. There is no spiritual significance to what they're doing. And so Paul writes

to safeguard them. These are people who are contentious and

they have a selfish spirit. Now, it makes sense that he would say this about

them because this entire letter is about trying

to get rid of that attitude in individuals who make up the congregation.

Do not be self-centered. Do not be self-serving. You put the interest

of others above yourself. But Paul's going to come along and say, I've got to

safeguard you against these folks who are making laws

where I have not made them. They're cutting and they're mangling

the body of Christ and that can't go unaddressed.

Yes, sir. Right. So you— and you've got

2 different problems there and Paul is definitely going to be honing in on the

one, that spirit, that mindset that was in the Pharisees is going to exist in

these Judaizing teachers for sure. And by the way, you want to supplement this,

go to the book of Galatians and you'll see how Paul really addresses

this problem of Judaizing. All right, so these are the influences. Any comments on

verse 2 before we move on to the second? All right,

second thing Paul would indicate here is that joy comes in

putting Christ above fleshly accomplishments. We're going to see that in verse 3

through verse 7. Now notice that with me. He says, 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, although I myself

might have confidence even in the flesh. If anyone else has a mind to put

confidence in the flesh, I far more, circumcised the

8th day, of the nation of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin,

a Hebrew of Hebrews, as to the law, a Pharisee,

as to zeal, a persecutor of the church, as to the righteousness which is

in the law, found blameless. But whatever things were gain to

me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. So here

in verse 3, Paul contrasts the Christians with these Judaizers.

I wouldn't say that verse 2 and verse 3 are exact parallels, but they come

close to that. You think about this from the terms of they're

dogs, they're evil workers, they're the false circumcision. What does Paul say

about true Christians, which he's trying to remind

the Philippians that as you stay with Christ, that's who you are?

How does he describe them? What do they do?

Verse 3. All right, they,

first of all, spiritual worship. Now contrast that to the Judaizers.

It didn't, they didn't center on physical acts like circumcision.

It didn't bind observations of the old law on them and

those who are converted to Christ. And so he says, we worship God in the

Spirit according to the Spirit and truth, John 4:24. What else does he say?

John 4:24

They glory in Christ. It was not a religion that

gloried in your pedigree or your heritage. That didn't matter in

Christ. No matter who you are coming into him, that was the

source of your glory. What else does he say about them?

They put no confidence in the flesh. What about those Judaizers?

Oh, it was all about the flesh. And so he's saying, and by the way,

this is the way Paul likes to use this, the flesh are those who are

dominated by their baser nature, by their religious arrogance. And so Paul says,

You already have the truth. You're going to give this up

to take on the Judaizers. Now, to drive

the point home, Paul is saying, all right, who is it

that's telling you this? Who is this that's addressing this legalism problem

of the Judaizers? Somebody who,

if anybody knows anything about it, is him. Now,

Paul is going to lay out his credentials. He's not some disgruntled guy on

the outside who's just resentful and envious of other people who have achieved something that

he hasn't achieved. Paul has been to that mountaintop already.

If you wanted to put it in the modern vernacular, maybe he's saying,

I have a PhD in Old Testament and I studied

under the best teachers that there are. I was the star

student in the class and I have a pedigree

that is the envy of all those around me. Now,

let's break down the actual things that he says there. What does he say are

his accomplishments that he has achieved?

All right, first of all,

circumcised the 8th day. What's significant about that?

What are these Judaizers wanting the Philippian Christians to do?

Be circumcised. Adult men or mature men,

those who are in Christ, What's Paul saying about

himself? The original covenant promise

that God made with Abraham, Genesis 17:12, I submitted

Genesis 17:12

to that. So there, you can't do it any better than

I did it. I followed that law, being under

that law at the time, as scrupulous as you could.

Then he says, I'm of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin. What's the significance

in that? Say it again, Joey.

Okay, he is of Abraham's seed. So first of all, I am a

Jew, but I think he's saying even more than that.

What happens to the Israelites first in 722

BC and then in 606 BC?

First it happens to the Northern Kingdom, then it happens to the Southern Kingdom.

They go into captivity. And as they go up there and they come back,

Some of the people by Paul's day, a great many of them, couldn't tell

you about their lineage. They don't know who they are. They know they're Jews,

but they don't know. They can't give you any pedigree, any papers to show that.

Paul says, not only am I a Jew, not only am

I of Israel, but I'm of the tribe of Benjamin. Any significance in that?

What did the tribe of Benjamin give us?

The tribe of Benjamin. Somebody said it. I heard it. Saul, the first

king of Israel, perhaps his namesake.

I wish I knew exactly, you know, the paperwork.

We got papers on Peaches when we got her, you know, that said she's a

registered cow, and that means something in the animal world. In the

Jewish world, if that gives you any appreciation, any of you that have that in

your background, Paul says, I've got the paperwork.

I go all the way back to the tribe that gave us the first king.

And then, I'm a Hebrew of Hebrews. Well, what's the significance of that?

Now, Paul's raised in Tarsus of Cilicia, but he knew the mother

tongue. Look at the book of Acts and it shows us how he could speak

Greek, he can speak Hebrew, and he's

conversant in their culture and in their customs.

And then he says, I'm a Pharisee. Well, what's significant about that? Talking to

Judaizers. All right, they believed in the resurrection.

They believed in the afterlife, Acts 23:8. What else?

Acts 23:8

Who were the Pharisees? The religious

leaders. They're the caretakers of the law, Matthew 23:3-4.

Matthew 23:3–4

They were strict. Barclay calls them the spiritual athletes

of Judaism. They were the caretakers of the law.

So Paul says, I've walked a mile in their shoes. I know

who they are. I'm a strict— and by the way,

Jesus condemns a lot about the Pharisees. Does he condemn

them for their militancy? Does he condemn

them as long as they're not pressing this for personal strictness?

It's their hypocrisy. And so Paul is saying,

look, here's who I am. I wasn't just a Jew. I was

among those that were looked up to the most as religious

leaders. And then he says, I was a persecutor

of the church. And we know all about that from the book of Acts.

He was wreaking havoc on the church, Acts 8:1-4.

Acts 8:1–4

And so Paul says, I've been where you are. I know the zeal

of these folks who would press the law so much. And then with

regard to righteousness blameless, is Paul saying he's sinless?

What's his point? He held the law in

high regard. He knew the rituals, the rites, and the

rules, and he followed them. So here's the question.

Why has Paul gone to all of this trouble by saying, look, beware of

these— this group of people over here, these dogs, evil workers, false circumcision,

who put the glory in the flesh. We don't do that.

But by the way, here's all the stuff that I had. Why does Paul

use himself as an example in this way?

He knows about what he speaks, but what does he say in the text?

What does he do with all of that?

For sure, if that was important, then I

would have put that up front in this letter. You would know that. But he

says something else in the text. So in your

mind, if you will, take those 6 things that he said specifically and think

of them as like pieces of paper. He wads them up and he throws

them in the trash. He says, these things that were

glorying by earthly standards, everybody that I

had rubbed elbows with looked up to me because of who I was and what

I had done. And he says, I threw all of that away. Why did he

throw it all away? For Christ.

This is another example. Now, I want you to walk back through the book for

just a moment. As Paul walks through this,

The thread that has been tied together in all these examples is

that these individuals put something

or someone ahead of themselves.

And for— they put Christ ahead of themselves. What did

Paul do in chapter 1? What did he give up for Christ?

Chapter 1, verse 12 through 26, the first example. What does

Paul give up for Christ?

His freedom. He's a free man. He preaches Christ.

He's in prison for that. That's— this is a prison epistle. He's writing it from

there. Number 2, what did Paul— sorry, what did Jesus

give up for us?

Divine equality, home in heaven,

the position that he held. Came to this earth. What did Timothy

give up for Christ and for Paul and

for others? Look at chapter 2 and verse 21,

his own interests. What did Epaphroditus give up

for Paul and for the Philippians?

Concerned about his own health and his own safety for them. What is Paul

giving up in order to promote Christ?

The trophies, he's thrown them all in the trash.

He said, those things that were gained to me are counted but lost.

Before we move to the next point, why is he telling Philippi this?

They're probably rank-and-file Gentiles.

Here's an example of people who are putting pressure on them, who are trying to

get them to turn away from the true gospel and to follow their additions

to what he is telling them. And Paul is saying, you've already got the truth,

but here is a group of people who are putting themselves ahead of Christ and

look at the result of that. I don't want you to follow that. All right,

any thoughts on verses 3 through 7 before we move to the next section?

Third thing that Paul says is that true joy comes in

knowing Christ. Look at verse 8 through verse 11. Paul says,

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's saying it's not who we used to be.

It's who Christ has made us to be. In verse 8, Paul says he sees

the surpassing value of knowing Christ. Right here

is why to die is gain, and it's also how you quit looking out

for your own personal interests. Your viewpoint on

the journey to joy, climbing the mountain of joy, depends on where

you've reached, the point where you are. I don't know if any of

you have ever hiked up a mountain,

you typically start down low and you begin

to make your way up. You can't see the summit from

the foot of the mountain. And what we may call this, the contrast,

is the valley of self and the mountaintop of Christ.

It's only when you— and by the way, Paul's saying you're going to be climbing

all the way until you cross out of this life into eternity,

but you're heading toward that peak. To see the perspective

of Christ. And that's where great joy comes, in being like

Christ, in pursuing Christ. And so Paul says joy comes

when you know Christ. Now, if you look in verses 9 through 11, Paul evaluates

the trade he made from Judaism to Christianity.

He traded his righteousness for Christ's righteousness.

He trades the knowing someone or something To

knowing Christ. Now, what do you think Paul means when he says,

I want to know Christ? He says

it in verse 8 and he says it in verse 10.

Okay. Okay. Intimacy.

To be found in him. What does that mean?

Okay. All right. So it's the whole life experience of being in Christ and growing

in him as he directs us in that. Here's what's significant.

Paul's not a new Christian when he writes this. Think about where Paul

has already been. By the way, where is he again? How did

he get there? Preaching Christ.

He's been a Christian for a couple of decades by this point.

He not only has been a Christian for a couple of decades, but look at

what all he has done. He has gone around the known world

throughout the Roman Empire. He's gone to every major place in the empire

and he's preached Jesus. Do you feel like he knows Christ pretty well?

As Bill says, this is about more than just head knowledge. This is more

than about information. It's about what we do as we come

to know him and by not being satisfied at the level at which we

know him. And I, perhaps this is a dumb analogy,

way to illustrate this, but the biblical idea of

knowing is about relationship. It's not just information.

I'm still getting to know Kathy and I always will be.

It's a relationship. And in any relationship, you think about whatever

relationship you want to parallel that, it's always about growing in your

knowledge of the person. And notice the order that Paul puts it in. It's to

do and then to know. Paul had done what it

took to become a Christian. Acts chapter 22 and verse 16, and in doing God's

Acts 22 · chapter mention

will, he came to know Christ. Relationships don't come without information.

So how do you build your relationship with somebody? You've got to know them.

You've got to know about them. You've got to know their likes and their dislikes.

You've got to know how to please them. And as you do, and as you

act in the relationship with that person, you know them based on their responses

and based on their reactions, whether they're positive or negative. And that's

what Paul is saying. This deep deeper level, this experiential knowledge that he's talking

about comes on the basis of doing, putting principles

into practice. And so in his relationship with Christ,

Paul says that he had suffered much for

him. He needed to know how to be covered

with his righteousness, verse 9, and he wanted to share in his glorious resurrection,

verse 10 and verse 11. He needed him past, present, and future.

But then number 4, joy comes in forgetting the past and forging toward

the future. Notice verses 12 through 16, Paul says, not that I've already attained it,

that I've already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold

of that for which I also was laid hold of by Christ Jesus.

Brethren, I don't regard myself as having laid hold of it yet, but one thing

I do, forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead,

I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God

in Christ Jesus. Let us therefore, as many as are perfect, have this

attitude. And if anything you have a different attitude, God will reveal

that also to you. However, let us keep living by the same standard

to which we have attained. Real quickly, when did Christ lay

hold on Paul? On the road to Damascus.

And when he did, his life changed in a dramatic way.

It led him to the pivotal point in his life in which he's imprisoned for

preaching Jesus Christ. Notice very quickly that Paul mentions the

purpose in verse 13. As runners focus on what's ahead,

Paul's not distracted by the past. In his case,

past accomplishments. Maybe you look at your own life and you think

past mistakes, past failures, past shortcomings. Paul had

plenty of both. In this context, he's talking about all the things that he had

that were behind him. You know, a church is not doing its

best, a person, a relationship, if they're focused on what they have been,

and what the past looks like and not on what's coming.

And so that's the goal. Verse 14, Paul mentions in verse 14,

finish the race. And then he mentions the effort in verse

14. Paul's reaching forward, he's stretching toward the finish

line, and he urges them to do the same thing, to have the same attitude

and the same standard. Paul says, we're not mailing this

in. We're not just going through the motions.

We are striving to our very best until we get

to the end, and we're not going to stop till we get there. And then

finally, Paul shows that joy comes in working toward the right goal.

Before Paul gets to really what is the climax

of the letter, he is going to close with another example. In verse 17

through 21, starting there, he says, brethren, join in following

my example and observe those who walk according to the pattern you have in us.

For many walk, of whom I often told you and now tell you again weeping,

that they are enemies of the cross of Christ, whose end is destruction,

whose god is their appetite, and whose glory is in their shame, who set their

mind on earthly things. For our citizenship is

in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus

Christ, who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with

the body of his glory, by the exertion of the power that he has even

to subject all things to himself. All right,

so think about the 5 or 6 examples

that we have already seen in the book. What do they all have in common?

Paul, Christ. Timothy, Epaphroditus.

Paul, Paul. What do

they all have in common? They are examples.

Can you follow those guys? To the man.

Now he gives this example. Are we to follow these guys?

We're not. Why? Why at the heart of it are we not to

follow the guys in verse 18 and verse 19?

Somebody tell me, how does he describe them?

They're enemies of the cross. What else?

Their end is destruction. Their God

is their belly. Let's just

walk through them. Their end is destruction. That's their destiny.

So if the Philippians line up behind them, what's going to be their end?

That's Paul's point. Number 2, their God is their appetite.

How does that fit into this? These Judaizers serving

self, the flesh, Some say maybe it's the food laws of Judaism.

I don't know, whatever it is, these are guys that are very fleshly oriented.

It's who you are in the flesh that matters. And so Paul

says, that's how you would describe them. Their glory is in their shame.

They're boasting of things that they ought to be ashamed of.

And then he says, their mind is set on earthly things.

Judaism is centered not on the will of Christ and the will of heaven because

there's a new covenant. It's centered on the

fleshly things. Paul says in Colossians 3:2, in another prison epistle,

Colossians 3:2

set your affections on things above and not on things of the earth. And then

down in verse 5, he says, therefore consider the members of your body as dead

to immorality, impurity, passion, and evil desire and greed that amounts

to idolatry. They have the wrong God, they have the wrong goal, and they have

the wrong glory. And so then Paul ends the discussion, as we've seen,

with a positive in verse 20 and 21. He says, unlike them,

you're citizens citizenship is in heaven. You are looking to

the reward that Christ is going to bring. And then

not only that, He is going to change your vile body, the body of

this humiliation that's wracked with pain, that's destined to die.

The God with this kind of power that raised Jesus from the dead is going

to do that for you as well.

We can describe this as the sure return. Christ is

coming again. The splendid redemption where he is going to—

and just read in Romans 8:17-39

Romans 8:17–39

or 1 Corinthians 15:34-58 to see what he's going to do with these

1 Corinthians 15:34–58

bodies according to his power and the sufficient resource to make that

happen. Paul is saying, this Christ that I want you to follow,

the one who was raised from the dead, is the one who has the energy

and the power to make this happen in the end. How this fits in the

overall context of the book of Philippians is Paul has said,

there are people on the outside who are pressuring

you to believe that what you have been taught is not right.

And they are an example in this of what not to do.

They put the glory in themselves and on this earth,

and it cannot save. You've already been taught you have to turn away from that

in order to do it. And what you're turning away from is what you were

taught at the beginning is the only thing that will suffice. And it

makes you miserable. Paul wants this church to have joy.

Paul wants this church to have joy.

And there are a lot of different ways that joy can be deprived.

But one way that we don't often look at is those who come along and

try to add to the requirements that God makes to make Christianity harder

than God does. That can't be allowed to stand any more

than those who try to undermine the foundations of the authority

of Christ. Now Paul is going to take all of that and apply it

to a very specific situation on his way to

encouraging them to seize the joy that he wants them to have

by the task that he's going to give them. We'll see more about that next

week. Let's pray. Father, thank you so much for the

power of your word and the beautiful truth that it contains.

Thank you for the words that you inspired

your writer Paul to write down,

to remind us that we don't have reason to glory in

who we are and what earthly position that

we occupy, how other people look at us. But what matters most of all

is knowing your Son. And God,

we never can sufficiently know him. We're never satisfied

with how much we know him. We want to know him better. We know,

Father, that requires us to continue to walk faithfully according to the same

rule as that which was laid down in your word.

Help us, Father, to build our knowledge and information of who Jesus

is. But help us, Father, to trust you more and through that to know

him through the experience that comes from a true knowledge of

your word. Help us, Father, through that to put the interests of others above

ourselves. And out of that, Father, help us to,

to be fulfilled with the joy that you intend for us to have through

your Son Jesus, in whose name we pray. Amen.

We are dismissed.