It All Comes Down To The Cross

“It All Comes Down to the Cross”

Philippians 3:1-21

As we read our Scripture Lesson for this morning, it quickly becomes apparent that the church in Philippi had been infiltrated by a group of Jewish teachers who were telling them that salvation could only come to people who followed certain strict rules, and the main rule they were pushing was that all males had to be circumcised.

And since the church was made up of people who were mainly Gentiles, that is non-Jewish people, very few, if any of them had been circumcised.

Understandably, this had thrown them into a frenzy.

Have they gotten it all wrong?

Are they doomed?

But Paul says in verse 3 that the Philippians have already been circumcised.

What does he mean by that?

How can a person be circumcised if they aren’t?

If we were to look way back in the Old Testament in Deuteronomy we would find God promising that one day: “The Lord your God will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your descendants, so that you may love him with all your heart and with all your soul, and live.”

And in Romans Paul says, “A person is not a Jew who is one only outwardly, nor is circumcision merely outward and physical.

No, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code.

Such a person’s praise is not from other people but from God.”

That’s why Paul says, “We serve God by his Spirit…and put no confidence in the flesh.”

And in verse 2 he calls those who are demanding circumcision “dogs, evildoers and mutilators of the flesh.”

Those are strong words.

After all, for at least two thousand years circumcision had been a sacred, biblically mandated sacrament for God’s people.

Paul himself had been raised to see circumcision as a sign of God’s covenant—a sign that began with Abraham.

Now Paul calls it “mutilation!”

To put this into perspective, just imagine if one day you heard a pastor somewhere describing the Lord’s Supper as a nauseating display of gross cannibalism!

How shocked would you be?

So, why does Paul say this?

Because he knows that in the light of Jesus, circumcision has become a stumbling block to grace.

And to make this point as powerful as possible, Paul makes it clear that he is speaking from experience.

And it’s a strong argument.

But suppose I, Ken Sauer, said to you, “My friends, let me tell you something about being rich.

It’s underrated.

Money doesn’t mean a thing in life.

The life of a rich person is empty indeed.”

If I said this to you--you might be a bit skeptical because you know that I am not talking from experience.

But if a billionaire were to stand here and talk about the emptiness of being rich, then we’d all pay much closer attention because here’s someone who knows what they are talking about!

That’s what it’s like for Paul to talk about the uselessness of trying to earn one’s way to heaven.

The late Fred Craddock told a story about a missionary family from China that was forced to leave the country sometime after the communists took over.

One day, a band of soldiers knocked on their door and told the missionary along with his wife and children that they had two hours to pack up before these troops would escort them to the train station.

They would be allowed to take with them only two hundred pounds of stuff.

Thus, began two hours of family wrangling and bickering about what they should take.

“What about this vase?”

It’s a family heirloom, so we’ve got to take the vase.”

“Well, maybe so, but this typewriter is brand new and we’re not about to leave that behind.”

“What about some books?

Got to take a few of them along.”

On and on it went, putting stuff on the bathroom scale and taking it off until finally, they had a pile of possessions that totaled two hundred pounds on the dot.

When the soldiers returned they asked, “Are you ready?”

“Yes,” they answered.

“Did you weigh your stuff?”

“Yes, we did.”

“Two hundred pounds?”

“Yes, two hundred pounds on the dot.”

“Did you weigh the kids?”

“Um…no.

Weigh the kids?!!!”

In an instant the vase, the typewriter, and all the books became trash.

None of it meant anything compared to the surpassing value of the children.

Sometimes things happen in our lives in such a shocking way that we are instantly forced to view all of life in a new light because of it.

What had previously been of value to us comes to mean absolutely nothing—we are more than happy to leave it behind—as a matter of fact, we wouldn’t dream of doing anything but leaving it behind!