Philippians 3:1–11 — Counterfeit Treasure

This sermon is from Philippians chapter 3, verses 1 through 11, and is entitled, Counterfeit

Philippians 3:1–11

Treasure.

It was delivered to Ecclesia Churches on Sunday, March 15, 2026.

Have you ever been having a good conversation with someone, and then right when you think

they're getting ready to wrap up the conversation, they start in on a weighty topic out of the

blue?

I feel like kids, or at least my kids, are particularly good at this, where they'll talk

your ear off for an extended period of time, and then when you think they're finished,

they'll say something like, oh, and also mom says the toilet is overflowing and she needs you.

There's this kind of weighty whiplash feeling that Paul's audience is probably experiencing

with chapter 3, verse 1. He has encouraged them to remain humble and to look to Jesus

into each other's needs. And he's even explained why he's sending Epaphroditus back to them.

In 2.29, he tells them to receive him with honor, which is probably Epaphroditus who's carrying

this letter back in the first place. And it feels kind of like we're wrapping up. And then Paul kind

of doesn't. He says, finally, and he tells them to rejoice in the Lord. And then he kind of says

the equivalent of, you know what, this won't take long and it will probably be good for you to know,

and then launches into the second half of the letter in chapters 3 and 4. But there's a good

reason that Paul has a lot to say. Remember, he's in prison. He's largely isolated from the people

that he wants to serve, and this distance from people like Paul and Timothy has made the church

in Philippi kind of vulnerable to certain ideas. If you remember, the makeup of the Philippian

church was probably largely Gentile Christians, but that made it a kind of target to some in a

very vocal Jewish minority. The problem for these particular Jews was that these Gentile Christians

were just so not Jewish. They didn't follow the religious laws and norms of Judaism.

They hadn't undergone the same rituals that the covenant people of God had.

And that was a problem for some who, though they had heard the news of salvation, that

was a free gift of God.

They really wanted to bring their performance-based religion with them.

And specifically, they wanted to make sure everyone else, especially these Gentiles, conform

to their performance requirements as well.

So today's passage is really a warning and a correction from Paul, not just to these Jewish

Christians that are confusing the church, but really to anyone who thinks that you can earn

a place in the family of God.

Because the true gospel of Jesus is that our performance has nothing to do with earning

our place in the kingdom of heaven.

Instead, we are invited to a place in the family of God because of the perfect performance

of Jesus in our place.

And that's a reason to rejoice.

So let's read this pivot passage from Paul and invite the Spirit to work in us today.

This is Philippians chapter 3 from verses 1 through 11.

Philippians 3 · chapter mention

Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord.

To write the same things to you is no trouble to me and is safe for you.

Look out for the dogs.

Look out for the evildoers.

Look out for those who mutilate the flesh.

For we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus

and put no confidence in the flesh.

Though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also,

If anyone thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more.

Circumcised on the eighth day, of the people 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 righteousness

under the law, blameless. But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ.

Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus,

my Lord.

For his sake, I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish in order

that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that

comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God

that depends on faith.

that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and may share in his sufferings,

becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible, I may attain the resurrection from the

dead. In the very first verse, there is a kind of halfway closing of a thought and halfway opening

up the next one. And Paul says, rejoice in the Lord. From a prison cell in Rome to a church in

turmoil, Paul says, rejoice. And because Paul's joy is in the Lord, he will not let his joy be

stolen by circumstance, but he turns to the next matter at hand and wants them to know what he is

about to say is for their safety. What does he mean by that? One of the greatest dangers to the

is not the persecution from the outside, but wrong teaching on the inside. Teaching that feels so

close to right that it almost passes for true. Teaching that takes something that is true and

twists it just a little bit. One of the reasons that we teach and preach from the Bible all

together on Sunday mornings is so that we remain securely centered on the truth of God's Word.

Because there is safety for the people of God in the clear and true teaching of Scripture.

So, who are these offenders that Paul is calling names?

I've kind of halfway introduced them already, but they are Jews who claim to be Christian,

but who take issue with grace being only the free gift of God.

And Paul uses some very specific words to make clear who he is accusing and what they are accused of.

Let's look again at verses 2 and 3.

He says, look out for the dogs.

Look out for the evildoers.

Look out for those who mutilate the flesh.

For we are the circumcision who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh.

Let's look at a few of these words.

First, he calls them dogs.

He says, look out for the dogs.

Now, calling someone a dog isn't very nice, but to say this to a legalistic Jew in the

first century was loaded with irony.

We've actually run into this before in Mark chapter 7, where Jesus talks with the Syrophoenician

Mark 7 · chapter mention

woman, because Jews were in the habit of referring to Gentiles as dogs, meaning they were outside

the covenant people. They were ceremonially unclean and separated. It was a way of proclaiming that

someone was outside the kingdom inhabited by God's people. And here, Paul turns that right around

and says essentially, who's the dog now? These are people who claim to have come to faith in Christ,

And yet, they've dragged their religious order right in the door with them, along with their feelings of insiders and outsiders.

In Colossians 3, verse 11, Paul will say this to the church,

Colossians 3:11

Here, there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free, but Christ is all and in all.

And so in trying to add requirements to the gospel of grace alone, through faith alone and Christ alone, they have failed to really convert to Christianity.

And in pronouncing this judgment on Gentile Christians as a kind of outsider, they have actually found themselves on the outside of the real kingdom of Christ.

The second thing that Paul says is don't listen to these evildoers.

Again, the irony is found in what these religious Jews thought of themselves.

Judaism had become a religion of works in which they were a morally superior people because

of the number of laws that they had and followed.

Holiness was something that they were perfecting, more or less, in themselves.

And Paul uses this word for evildoers not just as someone who did one thing bad or who sinned,

but rather someone who was completely incapable of doing good.

He's describing someone who himself is completely unable to do anything good

because all they consider and do comes from evil, selfish intent.

And this idea of humanity's condition doesn't actually come from Paul.

It comes from even earlier in God's word.

Isaiah chapter 64 verse 6 says,

Isaiah 64:6

We have all, referencing even the Jews, actually specifically the Jews,

become like one who is unclean and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment.

These people had come to be quite proud of their legalism

and thought they brought something to the table, that they had a reason to be invited because of

their own inherent goodness. And that is something that is completely at odds with the actual gospel,

which is an invitation of unrighteous sinners by a Savior who alone is good and righteous.

In Paul's final shot in this kind of opening salvo of remarks to these people

is a warning against those who mutilate the flesh,

which is a thinly veiled reference to circumcision.

Because, again, this was something they were forcing on Gentile believers,

saying you need to be circumcised.

But if they had put their faith in whether or not they were circumcised,

whether or not they were law-abiding Jews,

their faith was, again, in something that they had done

and not what God had done for them.

This Jewish practice of circumcision, if they thought it was going to somehow earn them salvation,

was not different than any of the pagan practices of a similar variety.

And what's really revealing about these people is that pushing the practice of circumcision on

Gentiles was not something the average Jew would do. This pressure for Gentile Christians to be

circumcised was specifically coming from Jews who said they were Christian. So we're going to kind

of fly through these next few verses as Paul describes everything he once valued. And certainly

he stood as a shining example of what these confused Jewish so-called Christians valued.

I'm going to read verses four through six again here. He says,

though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also.

If anyone thinks he has a reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more.

I was circumcised on the eighth day of the people of Israel,

of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews,

as to the law of Pharisee, as to zeal, a persecutor of the church,

as to righteousness under the law, blameless.

He's basically listing out his own resume.

according to what they considered great.

He says he was circumcised on the eighth day,

like a good Jew should have been.

He was set apart at the right day

to be a part of the covenant people.

He was from the nation of Israel,

meaning he was no convert to Judaism.

He was born as one.

And even furthermore, he was of the tribe of Benjamin.

There was no mixed blood situation here,

no Samaritan situation where his lineage was less Hebrew

than some of the others. And he was a Hebrew of Hebrews. What does he mean here? He means

he was raised in the Jewish traditions. His family could not be accused of mixing in

Greek or Roman traditions during his upbringing. He was raised purely as a Jew. And so he absolutely

passes the background check. Based on their criteria and based on his upbringing, he is a

spotless example of what a good Jew should be, the good stock that they came from. But he doesn't

stop there because his work history is even more impressive. Paul, he says, I was a Pharisee,

which was known as being the most strict interpretation of the law, the most rigorous

religious approach at the very least. He was a zealous persecutor of the church initially.

He believed so much in this old system that he actively opposed anyone who threatened it.

He stood by and held the coats of people who were murdering Christians.

And finally, he says he was blameless under the law.

This has caused some confusion for lots of people.

If he is saying that he was actually without sin, well, of course that's not what he's saying.

When we know it's in the context of this kind of boastful resume, and one that Paul is about

to cut to pieces, by the way, we can understand what he means.

He's saying he was exceptionally good at looking like he was following the rules.

No one could look at his outward performance and call him a lawbreaker according to Jewish

standards.

He had a self-righteous, self-centered, murderous heart on the inside, yes.

but boy did he look polished and cleaned on the outside. And these people that Paul is talking to

were doubtless struggling with the very same spiritual problems that Paul had once struggled

with. The difference is they are claiming to be Christians while failing to recognize their need

for Christ. Even in the first century church, one of the biggest threats to Christians

came from people who claimed to be religious Christians, but who had abandoned the truth

of the gospel of grace. Does this sound familiar at all to you? These are people who still exist

today. They believe that they have special insider status because of the age of their

denomination or their church, as if their historical heritage somehow carries authenticity

even while their teaching perhaps does not.

They believe they are spiritually superior because of an earned goodness,

either from their religious performance every weekend and holiday

or from rituals that are performed during the week.

And some of you who know me pretty well might be saying,

wow, Dan's really coming down hard on the Catholics today.

But here's the truth.

I am grieved over the number of Catholics who believe that they are in right standing before

God because of their religious performance and who have failed to grasp the salvation

that comes through the performance of Christ alone.

But I am also concerned for the number of Protestants that claim to be Christians but

believe that their salvation comes from their attendance or the time that they volunteer

or their patriotism or any other thing that makes salvation something that you can earn

and not something that you freely receive and respond to.

Because Paul says only those who know they are saved by the merit of Christ

are the real circumcision, the real set-apart people of God.

only those who rejoice in the Lord and his salvation are actually on the inside.

Only those who know we're outsiders undeserving of the invitation of Christ,

but have joyfully received it, are a part of his kingdom.

Those who treasure Christ alone are those who really have a treasure that is worth anything.

In fact, it's a treasure that is worth everything.

And this leads Paul to essentially take this very impressive resume of his qualifications

according to the law and tear it up in front of us.

In verse 7, he says,

Whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ.

Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus,

my Lord.

For his sake, I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish in order that I might gain Christ.

It's almost as though Paul is ripping up his resume one point at a time,

distancing himself further and further from everything he once valued and clinging more closely to Christ.

Like he's seen the ship of religious performance was sinking this entire time and he's now clinging to the Savior instead.

Whatever I thought I had gained by performance, I now actually count as loss.

I see my pride for what it was because of Jesus.

And I come to him in humility instead.

And it's not just my religious performance.

It's everything I had.

My position, my reputation, my honor.

It's all counted as loss.

Why?

because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord.

And all of those things that I have lost for the sake of Christ, I count them as rubbish.

And here's another one of those places that doesn't happen very often,

but I feel like the word chosen by the ESV translation is actually a little too polished.

It's a little too polite to really convey what Paul is saying,

because the word that Paul uses here means waste.

or refuse or dirt or manure. In short, it means filth. And why is a strong term like filth the

right word here? Because if you remember from Isaiah 64 verse 6, it says that what we wear on

Isaiah 64:6

our best day is filthy rags. So what I have lost is the filth of my unrighteousness and sin,

and what I gain is the treasure of Christ. Paul makes it very clear that the salvation that comes

through Christ is not something that we just kind of add on to our spiritual resume. We touched on

this last week. And here the comparison is even more jarring. Filth is being traded for eternal

treasure. It's a trade. It's not an add-on. So how do we obtain it? How are we found in Christ,

as Paul invites us to? Verse 9 through 11 probably offers the most concise and complete explanation

of the answer to that question. So while we could spend a lot of time here, let's keep it concise

like Paul does by reading through these three verses, starting with verse 9.

To be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which

comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith. This gospel is that

we have no righteousness of our own through following the law or otherwise. We are different

from modern Judaism, Hinduism, humanism, any other ism in that we don't work ourselves into good

standing with God, into righteousness. And the goodness of God isn't just mixed in with our

filthy rags to make us a little less dirty. We are put in good standing, made righteous by putting

our faith in Christ and his perfection. This is called justification. And our righteous standing

before God is a gift that depends on us completely trading our old in and trusting fully in Christ.

Verse 10 says that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and may share his sufferings

becoming like him in his death. Death? I thought I was getting eternal life here. Well, this is true.

And it is ours, the moment that we wholeheartedly trust in Jesus and begin to follow him. But where

does that start? Go back to the beginning of verse 10. It starts by knowing Jesus. This isn't a

religious process. It's a relational process that begins with us trusting Jesus and coming to know

Because when we trust him, we will follow him anywhere through anything, enduring to the end.

And what he leads us through is this process of being transformed to be like him.

First we're saved, and then we walk through this process of our transformation.

We're not just saved and left in our filth.

We actually become more like Jesus.

and this process that we call sanctification is achieved by the power of the Holy Spirit,

often through suffering and through dying to our old selves and turning our hearts to the things of

God. Verse 11 says that by any means possible, I may attain the resurrection from the dead.

Paul isn't lacking confidence in his salvation here when he says this. He's saying whatever it

costs, it is worth it. And he also recognizes that the hope of the resurrection is only secure

in the finished work of Christ. And so we have confidence that while we have earned nothing,

the finished work of Jesus has given us everything.

So as we finish up here, there's this thing that a lot of kids struggle with,

specifically kids who have been adopted out of the foster care system.

And it's called performance-based behavior.

Basically, after moving from one foster parent to the next,

even after being adopted into a family for good,

they still think and operate as though they need to earn their keep.

Their experience in various homes has been,

if I act right, I can stay.

And so they act right out of fear instead of out of the safety of their family relationship.

And I really think that there are many Christians who suffer from a similar problem.

They think that somehow if they perform right, if they have enough good deeds stacked up,

are part of the right church, try to be a good person, that they might earn the love of God.

But they get the order wrong because the gospel is that we are a people chosen and loved and saved

absent of anything that we could do for ourselves.

We have been adopted into the family of God by the finished work of the Son of God.

And now everything we do isn't because we think we're earning our place in the family of God,

but out of gratitude that we are fully known and loved children of God through the work

of Jesus Christ. And it's because of that that we rejoice in the Lord.

Ekklesia is a church of house churches gathering weekly in Council Bluffs, Iowa,

and in homes throughout the week. We are a Bible-centered church focused on preaching

from scripture and making disciples of Jesus. You can learn more about our statement of faith