Philippians Series Pt. 7 - Pastor Greg Addison - October 20, 2024

Ministering to the heart of Western Arkansas's River Valley for over 165 years, welcome to Chapter and First, the Bible teaching ministry of Fort Smith's First Baptist Church.

You'll find sermons and teachings from Pastor Greg, our ministry staff, and guest speakers.

Thank you for listening.

The video describes a word that I want to put in your mind for this morning.

Turn with me in your Bibles to Philippians chapter 3 as we continue our study in Philippians and we step into this next chapter.

Philippians 3 · chapter mention

There's a word definition that I want you to think about.

Life should have a definition.

That's what that video, the young man, was sharing in that.

What is my identity?

What is my purpose?

What is my definition of life?

Who am I?

Why am I here?

Definitions are very important in life.

What does that mean?

Let's take a minute, think about definition.

It is a formal, concise statement of the meaning of a word or a phrase.

It is the specification of the essential properties of something or the unique criteria that identify that.

That idea, that word, that thought.

I like that.

The unique criteria that identify that.

Definitions are important because definitions help us communicate.

Definitions provide purpose.

Definitions get some sense of clarity.

Definitions give us a framework.

If you're using a word and I'm using a word and the definitions are different, we get confusion.

On our trip in London, we had finished painting the church in Dartford early on Friday, and so we thought we have a moment here, we're going to go and let everybody get another little piece of history in.

So we were, we ordered some taxi cabs, and we were going to try to go to a to a uh to a castle that was near there and look at that.

And the taxi cabs came, and it was a day of traffic, and there were all kinds of struggles.

So it was hard to find some taxicabs that day.

The two that came when they got there were very clearly uh Muslim.

Now I'm not being critical about that, but in a place like London, where there's very, it is very, it's a very tense, difficult kind of a cultural exchange and all of that.

And so here they are, they pull up to a Baptist church, and they have a bunch of American Baptists, and we started to have a problem.

They really didn't want to drive us, and they began to wrestle, and they were making up excuses, and you got to pay more, and they're doing all this kind of stuff, and we're facing this kind of presidential thing, and we get in this kind of a tense discussion.

Pastor Joel was trying to lead us through that discussion, and a bunch of us are sitting around walking, and then this guy, one of them, says, Well, you're just a bunch of cowboys.

And we thought, that's what we thought.

Yeah, we are.

We come from Fort Smith, Arkansas.

We're famous because we're this, we're cowboys, went out and conquered the West, right?

We're the marshals here, man.

We love cowboys.

And he looks at us like somehow he had offended us deeply, and we're thinking, yeah, we are.

You see, there's a different definition of the word cowboy there.

Joel is, Pastor Joel is laughing, and he, after it's all over, and they left, and we decided that wasn't a good thing for us to go.

So we so Joel comes over and he says, Did you not understand what they meant when they called you cowboys?

And we said, Well, we know what the word cowboy means, but we know y'all have definition problems all the time.

You call French fries chips, you call bread pudding, you don't even know what pudding is.

A cookie is a biscuit, and y'all don't even have biscuits here.

I mean, how educated can a country be that doesn't even have biscuits?

Or know what a biscuit is?

So what do you think a cowboy means?

And he said, Well, that means like a criminal or whatever.

And I said, Well, that word didn't come from here.

Y'all don't know what that word is.

We invented that word.

We know what we are, and we'll just be proud to be cowboys.

Because we know what the definition of the word actually is.

Right?

Definitions matter.

Definitions matter in serious situations, they matter in culture.

People are trying to redefine things.

We talk about pro-choice, we talk about gender-affirming care.

When what we really mean is giving young people hormones to change their bodies as God made them.

Definitions matter.

We have definitions in church.

We talk about what a Christian is, and we talk about what theology is, and we have all these ideas, and a lot of times we get wrapped up in this is what I think this is, or this is what I think this theological position is, this is what you think it is, and we get in this deal and we're wrestling with definitions, and one of the ways that you can try to win arguments is you create a rhetorical device where you redefine something as a new definition.

My uh, I'm I'm as a lot of you probably know I'm a lawyer by training.

I don't talk about it a lot.

I enjoyed being a lawyer, it was great.

When I went to law school, the very first class I had on the very first morning of law school, our professor told us this.

I told someone the uh the story the other day was on my mind.

He said, This is what your job is as a lawyer.

Now he was from South Carolina, so he had a very uh very Charleston, South Carolina brogue.

So we weren't lawyers, we were lawyers, right?

Your job as a lawyer is to argue in the morning that the world is round and the afternoon that the world is flat and do both do both with equal facility.

That's what he told us our job was.

So, how do you do that as a lawyer?

How do you argue one point one time and one point another time?

Well, they would tell us the lawyer who can properly define the issue is the one he wins.

Because if you can say this is what the issue is, then all the ripple effect of that decision-making process is predetermined.

The definition of the issue establishes the results.

And that's why in culture today people try to redefine things and re-establish things.

In church, sometimes we struggle with concepts like worship, discipleship, evangelism, because we redefine them in a different way from what scripture is.

Definition is important in the book of Philippians because Paul is trying to help us understand what the definition of being a follower of Jesus Christ, a Christian, of what that means, what it actually means.

And the definition of that matters because it establishes the perspective of how we move forward, of how we make decisions, of how we assess, am I hearing the Holy Spirit?

Is he convicting me?

Am I being obedient?

Do I know how I'm supposed to live this life?

I want you to read with me in Philippians chapter 3.

Philippians 3 · chapter mention

We've already had in chapter 2, as Pastor Jared and Pastor Matt preached incredibly well in those sermons, that picture of the gospel that Jesus did not think it robbery to be equal with God, but he stepped out of heaven and he humbled himself and he became a man, and there he humbled himself to the point of even death on the cross, and he died for us there in that place, and he paid the price for our sin.

He rose again, conquering death and sin.

That's why his name is the only name under heaven where we can be saved.

That's why God has given him the name which will be elevated above every other name, and every knee will bow and call him Lord because he is the author of life and the author of salvation.

Work out your faith in fear and trembling, it says in chapter 2.

What does that mean?

How do I work that out?

What is that talking about?

It means that when the gospel has changed my life, I have to begin to understand what that means and how the ripple effect of that decision guides me through life.

Now he picks up here in chapter 3.

He says, Finally, my brothers.

Now, when I say finally, or this is my last point, y'all know there's about 20 minutes left, right?

Paul's not doing that here.

This word finally actually means because of that, or therefore.

So what he's saying, because of chapter 2, because of the gospel, because you're to work out your fear, your salvation in fear and trembling, because you're supposed to be obedient to these things in Scripture, because of that, rejoice in the Lord.

To write to you again about this topic is no trouble for me.

It is a protection for you.

Watch out for dogs.

He's just being ugly there.

These are not your pets, these are wild, mangy dogs that ravage in the streets.

Watch out for evil workers.

Watch out for those who mutilate the flesh.

Now, the context of the folks in Philippians would understand exactly who he's talking about now.

As you remember, Jesus was the God, was the Savior that came through the Jewish people.

Salvation started with the Jewish people, and then it began to expand to the world because for God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that whosoever believes in him will never perish, but have everlasting life.

And so now the gospel has been to spread from Jerusalem and people who understand what the Messiah is and what the Messiah came to do and who he is because of their Jewish faith, and now it begins to go out to Gentiles and Romans and people all over the world, people like those who live in Philippi.

As the gospel spread to people who were non-Jewish, then there became a struggle where people who were Jewish in their background, who adopted Christ as their Savior as they saw him as the Messiah that God had promised, they began to say things like, Well, Jesus is the Jewish Messiah, so you guys, it's great you're getting saved there in Philippi, but you've got to become Jewish like us.

And they would begin to layer on that things that they had learned in the Old Testament form of Jewish faith, and they'd say you need to do that.

And so one of the things that they had a major argument about in the early church was that once you got saved, you had to be circumcised, like actually physically, medically circumcised, if you had not as a Jewish person or whatever.

And then there was a dispute in the church, and Peter and Paul stepped into that, and they resolved that.

No, that's not, that was a part of the Jewish people being set apart as God's plan to bring the Messiah into the world.

But when Jesus came, he accomplished all of salvation.

He fulfilled all that teaching in the Old Testament.

And now the only thing that you have to do to be saved is to place your faith in Jesus Christ and you're surrendering your life to him.

And then this group, as this argument got worse, some people got mad, and so they became what are referred to in Scripture as Judaizers.

And they had doubled down on this idea that you have to be circumcised.

And so what he's talking about with mutilation here, mutilating the flesh, is a play on words on that issue of circumcision.

And so what he's saying is, you got to watch out for people who are telling you that salvation comes through Jesus plus something else.

That salvation only comes through your faith in Jesus Christ, through acknowledging that you are a sinner and there is nothing that you can do to change your spiritual condition whatsoever.

You cannot affect your sin, you cannot forgive your sin.

You cannot clean yourself up enough to deserve to go to heaven and be saved.

That our faith is in Jesus and Jesus alone.

And so now what he's doing is he is setting up a definition for them.

It's no trouble for me to write to you about this again.

It's a protection for you.

Watch out for those folks, because we, the church, those who are saved, are the circumcision.

In other words, he's saying we go from physical symbol of surrendering our life to Christ to now an actual spiritual surrendered our life to Christ, and we are now the people of God because we have trusted in our faith, our dependence spiritually in the person of Jesus Christ.

We are the circumcision.

You don't have to do this, you don't have to do that, you don't have to clean yourself up to come to Jesus, you don't have to meet any other obligations.

You come to Jesus and you give your life to him and he saves you.

Paul says, We are the circumcision.

And then he gives the definition of what it means to be a follower of Christ.

The ones who serve by the Spirit of God, the ones who boast in Christ Jesus, and the ones who do not put confidence in the flesh.

That's who he says or say.

And then he goes into his own testimony.

He says, listen, this idea about putting our confidence in what we do and the decisions that we make, the choices we make, that's just bogus.

He says, Listen, if it depended on something we did, Paul says, I would earn it before anybody else.

That's what he says here in verse 4.

Although I once also had confidence in the flesh.

You remember Paul is a Jew.

He is a Jewish man.

He is elevated and educated to the point of being a Pharisee.

He is so faithful to the Old Testament Jewish faith that he is appointed to put Christians in jail as heretics.

They are worshiping Jesus, and the Pharisees as a whole had rejected Jesus as the Messiah, and if you follow him, you're a heretic to the Jewish faith.

And Paul was putting people in jail and persecuting the church.

Paul says, Listen, although I once had confidence in the flesh, if anyone else thinks he has grounds for confidence in the flesh, I, Paul, more.

I was circumcised on the eighth day of the nation of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews.

Regarding the law, I was a Pharisee.

I knew more and educated more and obeyed it more than anybody else.

Regarding the righteousness that is in the law, in other words, following the Old Testament version, I was blameless.

He says, Listen, I in zeal, in zeal for the Old Testament version, I was persecuting the church.

Paul says, Listen, if there's anybody who could earn their way to heaven under the law, under the Old Testament structure, it was me.

And he says, now, if you'll read on in verse 7, everything that was gained to me I have considered to be a loss because of Christ.

More than that, I also consider everything to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord.

He says, listen, it doesn't matter who you are, it doesn't matter where you were educated, it doesn't matter where you were born, it doesn't matter who you were born to, it doesn't matter when you were born, it doesn't matter how you were raised, it doesn't matter anything.

There is no one so good that they do not need to be saved, and there is no one so bad that you cannot be saved.

It is Jesus Christ who saves.

That's why to the church in Ephesians, he gives that verse that we quote often for by grace are you saved.

Grace means that I don't deserve to be saved.

I can't fix my salvation.

I can't do anything that God chose to create a means of salvation because he is gracious, loving, forgiving, and merciful.

For by grace are you saved through faith.

He places before us a choice, and you have to choose whether you're going to follow Jesus or not.

Whether you're going to accept the salvation that he created, for by grace are you saved through faith, and then he makes it clear that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast.

And that's what Paul is saying here, the definition of a Christian.

That's why he says, I'm writing to you about this again.

He is giving that definition, and he gives three pieces to that definition.

He says, You are a follower of Christ if you worship by the Spirit of God, if you boast only in Christ Jesus, and you do not put confidence in the flesh.

Now that definition is important because as you continue to read through the rest of this chapter, he's going to say some very challenging and astounding things.

You count everything as loss in your life except for the person of Jesus.

He's going to say the only thing that should matter to you in your life is to understand that you are to pursue the person of Jesus and knowledge of Him, and you are to forsake everything else that you can come up with or think of in life.

He's going to say that everything that you've created, everything that you have, everything that you think you have developed, that it is all garbage and dung compared to your salvation and your identity in Jesus Christ.

He is going to say this.

It doesn't matter what you've done, it doesn't even matter the spiritual things you've done at this point.

Paul has been a missionary, he's been planting the church, he has talked about in the first two chapters, we've shared that.

He is in prison for the gospel, and the gospel is spreading because of what's happening.

And here's what he says: forgetting the things that are behind.

I only pursue one thing, and that is to be and to take hold of the spiritual truth that Jesus took a hold of my life for me to be.

Man, that's a standard that is astounding.

And if you spend a few minutes in your quiet time this week and you start to unpack, have I given up everything for Jesus?

That's a tough quiet time.

Have I literally counted everything that I've ever done as garbage and sacrificed it to him so every moment of my life moving forward, whatever it is, is going to be in pursuit of Jesus.

I mean, it's astounding.

But here's what you've got to understand.

When you understand the definition of what it means to be a Christian, those things are not astounding to us.

When you understand the definition of what it means to be a Christian, that I am worshiping by the Holy Spirit, that I am following and serving him because of how he speaks to me and what he says, that I am boasting only in Christ Jesus and what he's done in my life and everything that I have, everything that I do, everything that I understand, all of the blessings, all of that, it comes only from Jesus, and it's only him.

Then it's easy to say I've counted everything as a loss and pursue him.

If I'm not putting any confidence in my flesh and my ability to do things and the money that I make and the brain that God gave me and the successful nature of the business that I do, and so now I've learned all these things, and so I'm good at all this stuff, and so I can do all that.

If you put all that aside, why wouldn't you put it all aside if you only boast in Jesus Christ?

You see, all those things are not that radical when you have the proper definition of what it means to be a follower of Jesus.

Now, definitions are important.

Here's a couple of things that definitions do for us that Paul highlights in this passage of Scripture.

Look at what he says in verse 1.

It's not trouble for me to write this to you again.

It is a protection for you.

It defines our identity, and since it is the definition of who we are, it automatically defines our purpose.

Our identity and thus our purpose.

Look at what he says in verse 8.

More than that, I consider everything to be a loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.

Because of him, I have suffered the loss of all things.

This is written by a guy who is in prison for preaching the gospel.

Because of him, I have suffered the loss of all things and consider them filth, so that I may gain Christ and be found in him.

It sets the framework for our decision, guidance for us in life.

He says in verse 10, My goal is to know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings being conformed to his death.

Verse 12, not that I've already reached the goal or am already fully mature, but I make every effort to take hold of that because I also have been taken hold of by Christ Jesus.

One thing I do, Paul says, forgetting what is behind and reaching forward to what is ahead, I pursue as my goal the prize promised by God.

God's heavenly call in Christ Jesus.

His whole framework for life is set by worshiping God, by boasting only in Christ Jesus, and by setting aside every confidence in the flesh.

And then it allows an assessment of our maturity level.

How am I doing in this journey?

Verse 15.

All who are mature should think this way.

And if you think differently about anything, God will reveal this also to you.

In any case, live up to whatever truth we have attained, and join in imitating me, brothers, and observe those who live according to the example you have in us.

Assessment for our maturity level.

Now let's look at those three things again.

This definition defines the decisions that we make.

Remember, when you properly define the issue, the ripple effect of that is set in a specific direction.

And so Paul sets the definition of what a follower of Christ means, which leaves us in a specific direction.

Worship by the Spirit of God.

One version says worship, another version says service.

The version I'm preaching from says service.

Now, again, definitions matter.

The word worship, as language changes, words like cowboy change across cultures or whatever.

The word worship has changed in English language from what its original definition was.

Now, in us trying to define church and clarify what church is and all of that, we we use the word worship to talk about the part where everyone is singing and they're praising and we're doing music and you're singing and we define that as worship.

That's not the definition of worship.

It's a part of worship.

This word, original worship, actually means the service that is due.

And the Old Testament picture of the faith of Jesus, which is what he's building on here, when he does this play on words with mutilate the flesh, but we are the circumcision.

And then he says, the ones who serve by the Spirit of God or worship by the Spirit of God, and that word worship actually means service.

It calls to the image of the priests in the Old Testament who would go and they would do the work and service in the tabernacle or in the temple.

They're serving God, and their service is an act of honor to him that is directed by his instruction.

When they would go light the incense, when they would do the table of showbread, when they would do all that stuff that you learned by studying the tabernacle and the temple, all of that was the direct instruction of God.

And so when they're going and doing that, they are following the direct instruction of God.

And now he has made this picture between the Old Testament Jewish faith and now Jesus, who has fulfilled all that.

And we are the circumcision, and now we are led by the Holy Spirit.

And what he's saying is that your act of worship is a life spent in the service due to God as directed by the Holy Spirit on a daily basis in your life.

That's what worship is.

It's the same thing he says in the letter to the church in Rome, chapter 12, verse 1.

By the mercies of God, I urge you that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, which is your reasonable service or act of worship.

Because you've surrendered your life to Christ, the one who saved you.

And so worship, as we work through this, just think about worship, my act of service in response to the direction of God.

When you give your life to Christ, the Holy Spirit comes and lives inside of you.

And now what our lives should look like, what a true heart of worship is, is that I come into the church, for example, and I've prayed myself up.

God, what are you going to speak to me today?

And God, what place of service to elevate and strengthen the body have you given me and how I'm going to do that?

And God, who is the person that you're going to put in my path today in the church that the Holy Spirit is going to go right over there, Greg.

Go talk to them.

See what that person needs.

Go ask this question in that person's life.

You see, church looks completely different.

We have too many times where we come to church and we're demanding that the church feed me.

And I had a rough week, and I shouldn't have to do those things.

And I need somebody to minister to me, and I'm going to decide whether I like that or not, or I'm going to like that song or not, or whether I'm getting fed in the message or not, or I'm getting whatever and this and not and all that.

And we get in this mode where we are thinking about ourselves and what we need when that is not the definition of worship.

We define worship sometimes by this is the type of song that I like, and this is the type of thing that I like, and this is the type of whatever that I like, and this is how it works, and I got fed and I'm comfortable in that, so when that's not it.

To render the reasonable service to the one who has saved us, to render my service as led by the Holy Spirit who speaks into me because I've given my life to Jesus Christ, how can I worship Jesus and not have a passion for other people, especially lost people who need Jesus?

There is no worship if I don't have an understanding of people who need Christ, people who have a definition of life that is creating problems for them that they are struggling with.

I come in and I realize this has got to meet their need and communicate the gospel to them.

And when my life is built that way, it has credibility.

Because I am coming and I have given my life to Christ and I boast only in Him.

And now I am following the leadership of the Holy Spirit, rendering that service to him in the way that I sing, in the way that I pray, in the way that I come to church, in the way that I serve, in the way that I give, in the way that I minister to the people around me, when I've come and I am giving that reasonable service to him because of what he's done in my life, and I start to sing about Jesus, it makes sense.

It's authentic, it's powerful.

I am living a sacrifice life in response to Jesus.

And when I sing about the person of Jesus, when I pray to Jesus, when I give love to someone in the body that comes from the love of Jesus, that message is credible and it is powerful.

You see, the definition is important.

And we always need to come back to the definition.

We always need to be driven by the definition of who we are.

This is not just basic Christianity 101, and these are first grade Christians, and we've learned about salvation, and then we move to second grade, and then we move to high school, and then we go to get a graduate degree from seminary and whatever.

It is always the foundation, and the definition always matters, and the definition needs to be clear.

And Paul is encouraging them in their lives.

Listen, we, he says, we are the circumcision.

We understand, and then he defines what that means.

He says, I know I've written this to you before, I know I've taught this to you before, but it is a safeguard for you.

Imitate me as I live this out.

If you are not mature and you don't think this way, you need to think this way.

This is the definition.

You are worshiping by a life given in reasonable service to the one that you worship.

You are boasting and trusting, elevating in your life, pursuing Christ Jesus and Him alone.

He is the most important pursuit in your life to the exclusion of everything else.

And it doesn't matter what I've done, it doesn't matter where I grew up, it doesn't matter what church I went to, it doesn't matter what I did.

We're all three quiet times away from stupid.

Every day.

It doesn't matter what I did yesterday, it doesn't matter what I know, it doesn't matter what I've done, it doesn't matter what I've served.

Today I've got to follow Jesus.

Today I cannot trust my own wisdom, my own thought process.

I need Jesus to direct me today.

As you go this week, I want to encourage you to get your book or get your notebook or however you're studying.

Assess your maturity level.

If you know Jesus, you're like most of us.

You have some areas you're doing well and some areas that God needs to work on.

Surrender those to Him this week.

If you've never trusted Christ as your Savior in a moment, I'm gonna pray.

God's people are gonna stand and sing in testimony about what it means to be saved, and I'm gonna invite you to come be a follower of Jesus Christ.

I'm gonna ask you to set aside what you think you've done and what you think you deserve.

If you think you're too good and you don't need to be saved, I'm gonna challenge you.

Jesus said, all have sinned and fallen short of God's glory.

You need to trust Christ as your Savior to have your sins forgiven and be saved.

It is by his grace that he stepped out of heaven, died on the cross for you, and offered you a way of salvation.

If you think that you have messed up so bad that God would never save you, you're wrong.

None of us deserve to be saved.

It doesn't matter what you've done.

But by grace are you saved through faith.

And Jesus died on the cross to pay the price for every sin.

And if you're struggling with guilt and you're struggling with that thing, and you think that keeps you from God, I need to give you the definition of what grace is.

Jesus died to pay the price for your sins, and he offers you salvation and forgiveness.

If you'll just come to him, he'll save you.

That's the definition of God's grace.

He will save you.

If you'll place your faith in him.

I'm gonna invite you, if you need to be saved, you come.

Lord, we thank you for this incredible passage of scripture that Paul's given us that gives us a clear understanding of what it means to be saved.

And this morning, I want to thank you for my brothers and sisters who have trusted Christ and Him alone to save us.

And I pray that you'll use this definition.

Help us to embrace it and deepen our walk with it to assess our maturity and follow you stronger.

Speak to us and grow us as we pursue you.

And Lord, I pray this morning, if there's someone else who needs to be saved, I pray Andrew's testimony will speak to their heart.

I pray the scripture will speak to their heart.

I pray the Holy Spirit will speak to their heart.

And this morning they'll know that Jesus died for them because he loves them.

He conquered death and sinned for them.

He rose again to offer life to them.

And if they'll come and give their life to Jesus, he'll save them.

And I find the Lord, help them to come.

We pray these things in the saving name of Jesus and all God's people since.

We pray this message has been a blessing to you and helped to strengthen your walk with Jesus.

Please know we want to minister to you and pray for you.

Send an email to contact us at fsfbc.org and let us pray for you and help you in any way we can.

Thank you for listening to chapter and first, the Bible teaching ministry of Fort Smith's First Baptist Church.