Your Place In His Plan - Philippians 3:1b-3a Series

Philippians 3:1 Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord! It is no trouble for me to write the same things to you again, and it is a safeguard for you. 2 Watch out for those dogs, watch out for those men who do evil, watch out for the mutilation. 3 For it is we who are the circumcision, we who worship by the Spirit of God, who glory in Christ Jesus, and who have put (perf) no confidence in the flesh

Introduction

Be Careful!

On Friday I took my family rafting through the Royal Gorge, and we had a pretty bad accident. I was over-confident in my abilities as a boatman, and so I didn’t take several of the normal safety precautions that should always be in place. But I was so sure of myself that I just bypassed several safety precautions. That was a huge mistake that could have cost us our lives. Right under the Royal Gorge Bridge there is a Class IV rapid that is especially dangerous because the whole current of the river slams into an undercut cliff. I made a critical error in judgment in the way I approached that rapid and I hit a rapid at the top that is way too big to hit. The boat folded in half, Nikki washed out the left side, then hydraulic just whipped the boat upside down and we all took a very nasty swim. No major injuries, thankfully – just cuts and bruises, but it could have been much worse. That’s the kind of thing that happens when you don’t take proper precautions.

Warning!!!

We have been studying through the book of Philippians and last week we just started chapter 3, which begins a new section. The word translated “finally” at the beginning verse 1 doesn’t always mean “finally.” The word literally means, “As for what remains…” and in a context like this, it’s not signaling the end; it is just signaling a transition to a new topic. And the new topic in chapter 3 is this: knowing Christ. Paul doesn’t want a righteousness of his own that comes from the law. What he does want is to know Christ, to gain Christ, to be found in Christ, and to have the righteousness of Christ that comes through faith in Christ. So this is a chapter about knowing Christ. But before describing to us exactly what it means to know Christ, and how a person can come to know Christ, Paul gives a warning about a serious threat to knowing Christ. If somebody told your spouse a bunch of lies about you, and your spouse believed those lies, that would be a threat to your marriage relationship. Or if your spouse became attracted to someone else beside you, that would be a threat to your relationship. All relationships are vulnerable to threats, and your relationship with Jesus Christ is no exception. So in a chapter about how to know Christ, the whole thing begins with a warning about a huge threat. Three times in one verse Paul repeats the warning: Watch out… Watch out… Watch out! The threat is real, and the danger is severe. The warning sirens are going off, and this is not a drill.

The Threat

And what is this terrible threat? Legalism - trying to be a good person by living up to some ethical standard. Putting your confidence in yourself, or in some earthly thing. Legalism is the dominant philosophy in all other religions; it is the dominant philosophy of atheists, agnostics, and secularists. And it constantly tries to worm its way into Christianity. And when it manages to do so, it is not a little, minor problem. It puts your very relationship with Christ in jeopardy.

The Protection (Warning)

So how can we keep ourselves safe from this horrible threat? Is there some kind of safeguard that can protect us from it? Yes, there is a safeguard.

1 …It is no trouble for me to write the same things to you again, and it is a safeguard for you.

The safeguard that will protect us from threats to knowing Christ is yet another warning, and so in verse 2 Paul breaks out of his very positive, happy, joyful tone that dominates the entire letter, and in this one verse there is a fierceness and the hardness in his voice that is downright scary.

2 Watch out for those dogs, watch out for those men who do evil, watch out for the mutilation.

That is very strong language. And not only was it strong, it was also repetitious. It is so repetitious that he feels like he has to give an explanation in verse one for why he is repeating it yet again. Look what he says down in verse 18: I have often told you before and now [I] say again even with tears… So he keeps warning them, even though it sounds like there wasn’t any current problem with these people in the church in Philippi at the time Paul’s writing this. But he writes it anyway as a safeguard. And we can learn from that.