Easter Sermon
“Metamorphosis”
Philippians 3:1-11
George Orwell, the author of “1984” said in 1939 "We have now sunk to a depth at which restatement of the obvious is the first duty of intelligent men." Well I think in western Christianity we have sunk even further since then, and what a better time than Easter to restate the obvious about what it means to be a Christian. A true follower of Christ.
J. I. Packer, on his 80th birthday, said that “the greatest challenge of evangelicalism is to re-catechize our churches. More than ever, Christians need to be able to speak intelligently and courageously about the hope that lies within”. That’s one of the reasons I gave you the basic Bible Doctrines package in January. We need to strengthen the basics of our faith to be effective in the world.
Charles Colson states: “The most obvious thing to be said about Christianity is that it rests on historic facts: the Creation, the Incarnation, and the Resurrection. Since our doctrines are truth claims, they cannot be mere symbolism. This is important to remember as we celebrate the Resurrection, which is often clouded by the pageantry of Easter.”
Since I started here in September my goal has been to take us through these three major historic events, and here we are today at the resurrection. There’s a fourth, the ascension, which we will cover in a few weeks.
We need to know what we’re talking about if we are going to be proper ambassadors of the faith. Today as we go back to the beginning of Philippians chapter 3 we complete our study of this extremely practical book, by looking at the resurrection of Jesus as a metamorphosis, but the primary message I want to give you is also how we as Christians are to go through a metamorphosis as Paul did because of the resurrection of Jesus.
We know about Jesus’ metamorphosis from death to life in an eternal body, that we celebrate this Easter weekend. But Paul as a human being like us, went through a monumental metamorphosis which for us is the example of the effect that Jesus death and resurrection should have on a Christian believer. Because of Jesus’ metamorphosis each of us as mortal human beings can go through one as well even before our physical death.
So let’s begin with the:
I. Inner Versus Outer Transformation (vv 1-3a)
Who are these dogs, evildoers, mutilators of the flesh that Paul warns us about? They are the Judaizers who are proclaiming a false doctrine of salvation by legalistic works.
They wanted everyone who claimed to be a Christian to also adhere to the Jewish religious traditions including circumcision. Paul has no confidence that the mutilation of the flesh will do anything for us spiritually. And he is circumcised Jew.
These people followed Paul everywhere he went trying to discredit him and turn the Gentiles into Jews. This is how serious Paul considered false doctrine, by using these very serious names. Dogs were what the Jews called all the Gentiles and pagans, so when Paul used it for them, it was quite an insult.
Anything but the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ as sufficient work for the salvation of sinful humanity was wrong to Paul. Circumcision was simply an ancient sign that you belonged to God’s people, but it’s kind of like infant baptism, it by itself does not reflect our faith.
We have a much broader selection of “dogs” in our world today. Media has brought the world closer to us and we have many different religions, cults and philosophies feeding false teachings to the world, so Paul’s warning to the Philippians is possibly even more valid today.
True Christians experience a circumcision of the heart or a spiritual transformation. Here’s what Paul says a few pages ahead in Colossians 2:11-15. In Romans 4:9-10 talking about Abraham, the father of the Jewish people, Paul asks “is this blessing then only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? We say that faith was counted to Abraham as righteousness. How then was it counted to him? Was it before or after he had been circumcised? It was not after, but before he was circumcised.”
This is how off course the religious Jews had gotten, they didn’t even see that God counted Abraham, their hero, as righteous by his faith before he was circumcised. Paul says that Abraham then became the father of all the faithful whether circumcised or not.
We also have:
II. Worldly Confidence Versus Heavenly Confidence (vv 3b-8)
Paul knows what he’s talking about. He was a faultless Pharisee who kept the law perfectly, but there he was persecuting followers of Christ, participating in the stoning of the first Christian martyr Stephen. He was a perfect Hebrew from the favored tribe of Benjamin, yet there he was struck blind on the Damascus road by Jesus himself after Jesus had died and risen.
This fact tells us so much. First of all it proves that indeed Christ had risen. A legend or myth cannot strike a person blind and talk to someone. Secondly that Christ had done away with the Law as a means of salvation, otherwise Paul would have been his favorite even before his conversion. And Paul’s transformation becomes the model of Christian conversion and repentance for the rest of Christian history.
This allowed Paul to say that he has no confidence in the flesh anymore. In fact he counts everything he ever had as rubbish and gave it all up just to know Christ and claim the righteousness that only Jesus can give through his atoning death on the cross. We sing a song “Jesus gave it all, all to him I owe, sin had left a crimson stain, He washed it white as snow”.
Paul, believing this gave it all up and repented or turned his zeal completely for Christ, as it was before against Christ. Jesus gave him a task and he devoted every minute of his life from then on to this task. Paul’s task, by the way, is exactly the same as ours, bring the good news to the Gentiles, whom we all are unless we are pure Jews. He then goes on to clarify what he means by:
III. Righteousness By Works Versus Righteousness by Faith (v. 9)
What does Paul mean when he says “that I may be found in Christ” at the beginning of verse 9. It means to be fully united with Christ in a personal saving relationship, not just at some point in the past, but currently. In a sense if you were to open up Christ there would be Paul, if you open up Paul, there would be Christ. As believers, if we were to be opened up, there should be Christ as the Holy Spirit dwelling in us.
Let’s look at Jesus words in John 14 starting in verse 9… (to 12). Whoever has seen me has seen the Father, why? Because I am in the Father and the Father is in me. The words he speaks are the Father’s, the works he does are from the Father. Being a Christian is not about being part of an organization or club. It is about a personal relationship with the living God through Jesus Christ.
And this is a very crucial statement for us, “Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves.” Jesus says it right there – if you can’t believe in what I profess with my words, look at what I do. In other words my actions, my works, demonstrate what is true about me and what I say and believe.
Now then, he goes on to say that whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. He really means what he says when he starts the sentence with “Truly, truly I say to you”. Did you see the two reasons the believer will do these great works?
1. Because we believe in Jesus, and 2. because he is going to the Father. Why is that important, because then he will send the Holy Spirit to be in us and empower us to do the works. Here’s where it gets really interesting.
A better translation of the word believe is actually “have faith”, or trust and obey, and here is how Vine’s Expository Dictionary defines the word: (1) a firm conviction, producing a full acknowledgement of God’s revelation or truth, His word (2) a personal surrender to Him, (3) a conduct inspired by such surrender. Prominence is given to one or another other of these elements according to the context.
In the context Jesus uses it, it always means the latter two, surrender and conduct inspired by that surrender.
We usually use the words believe and faith as something we have, a noun. No! Jesus himself is using a verb and these words are used almost 600 times in the New Testament. As I was studying, it occurred to me that one of the greatest disservices we have done to our faith is to use these words faith and believe in a distorted way. Maybe you would join me in an experiment where I am going to try and replace the words faith and believe with trust and obey, and just see what a difference it makes. “I trust and obey in Jesus”.
So to make what is already a long story, less long, when our English Bibles say righteousness by faith not works, here is a more accurate translation from the original language:
We are seen as equal to Jesus in innocence, by God, through trusting and obeying Jesus, who (took away our guilt) or justified us on the cross, instead of by toiling, or making an effort to be right with God in our own way or according to the Law. Let me repeat that.
If we pay attention to the original Greek language it is saying that we are simply to trade legalistic or our own made up works, for doing what Jesus tells us to do. What Jesus did saves no person unless one believes, or more accurately trusts and obeys Him.
Saying I believe that he died on the cross for my sins is not enough. We see this time and time again when Jesus talks about the cost of discipleship, and what a person needs to give up to be a follower. He will say to many professing believers: “I never knew you”.
The definition of faith and righteousness came from Abraham not just by believing in God, but by trusting him so completely that he was about to plunge a knife into his long awaited son to sacrifice him according to God’s command. God stopped him though, provided a sheep instead, and counted this act unto him as righteousness. That is what the Bible says.
Now this weekend we can celebrate because God actually followed through with sacrificing his only son, the lamb, so that we could all be counted as righteous in God’s eyes if we trust Jesus so completely that we die to ourselves and be willing as Abraham was, to sacrifice that which is most dear to us, to follow the one who bled and died for us. We don’t have to necessarily follow through on these sacrifices because God did, but we need to be willing to.
Do we have faith that because of what Jesus did, we can give up everything and be fully supplied by God? This takes us to the last two verses where Paul shows us the:
IV. Resurrection Through Death to Self (us) Versus Resurrection Through Physical Death (Jesus) (vv 10-11) - He modeled physically in death, what we need to do symbolically in life.
Good Friday means nothing if Jesus was not resurrected on the third day. That’s why we are here today. There would be no church, no Easter, if he had just died for us. Jesus is risen and Paul wants to know the power of this resurrection. We need to go to Ephesians 1:17-20 to get a better idea of what the power of his resurrection means:
“I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe.”
That power which is where we get our word dynamite from, is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in heaven. No other has such power. And this is what differentiates Christ from all the other prophets who died. We can find all of their bodies, they did not rise from the dead.
Two things; 1. The power is the Holy Spirit which gives us wisdom and revelation, and 2. power like I just mentioned, which he exerted in raising Christ from the dead and bringing him to heaven, defeating death.
So Paul wants to know, and the word “know” here means to have a present experience of, the Holy Spirit and the full power that God used in raising Christ from the dead. And he wants to share Jesus sufferings, and here is the key phrase in terms of metamorphosis, becoming like Him in his death. What is Christ like in his death?
Well for one he’s dead. His old self here on earth in a jar of clay is dead. His nature didn’t change (thankfully ours will), but he is now in an eternal, unlimited body not bound by time and space, with no need for physical sustenance, living off the light of God. He is interceding for humanity at the right hand of God with unlimited power and reign over the universe which was created through him. This is just some of what we know.
Paul wants to experience all of this in life, why? So that he may by whatever means (he is willing to go through anything, just like Christ) attain the resurrection of the dead. Do you hear what Paul is saying here?
Here is the super Christian of all time saying that he wants to get rid of everything to know Christ in the present and experience his power, to suffer in the present, because he is not even sure he is going to attain the resurrection from the dead. All of this up until the last half of the last verse “So that … I may attain the resurrection of the dead”.
The Apostle Paul is evaluating his faith and striving to know Christ more, to assure his own resurrection. What do we come up with when we evaluate our faith, if we compare ourselves to Paul who after all he has done and gone through is evaluating his own faith?
Remember this letter to the Philippians is near the end of Paul’s life. Notice though, he is not saying that he needs to do more good things, he says he is striving to know Christ, because he knows that this will naturally produce the desire to be like Christ.
He wanted to suffer not for the sake of suffering for a cause or being a martyr, but because we can’t know Jesus intimately unless we know his suffering, and the power that comes from God through the suffering. When we are weak God can be strong. When we die to ourselves, God can be seen. Imagine the intimacy with Christ if we had been crucified right beside him. Sometimes I envy the prisoner who Jesus saved on the Cross beside him just before he died.
Paul wanted to know Christ. Not like us when we meet folks and say that we are glad to know them. We don’t really know them. We know their names, what they look like and where they work or a few other facts about them, but we don’t really know them. Too many professing Christians only know the Lord this way.
They have an image of what they think He looks like and they know where He works and a few facts about Him, but they don’t really know Him. One day, He will assure them of that fact when He tells them to depart from Him for he never knew them. (from Matt 7:21-23)
Others belong to Christ and are part of His Body, but they don’t really know Him either. It’s like a couple getting married after one date and then he is called off to war for four years. When his barracks buddies ask him about his wife, he can show her picture and say her name, but he knows very little about her. She also, has a time talking about him to the girls at work or even to the ladies in church. They spent one date night, a one-night honeymoon and all they have now is some letters that they are trying to communicate through and learn about each other.
Paul said that he was crucified with Christ. That speaks to death. No one was ever crucified and lived to tell about it except Christ. When you are dead there is nothing on this earth that appeals to you any longer. I can stick a wad of money in your face and you won’t want it. I can hold the keys to a Corvette and ask you if you want to take a spin and you won’t show any interest at all.
You name it, you won’t want it. What are the things you want the most in this life and work the hardest for? … If you died right now, how much would they matter? Paul said that he died with Christ.
Ah, but he’s still alive!!!! But wait a minute who is living? Looks like Paul. Sounds like Paul. Walks like Paul, but it’s not Paul. He says that it is Christ living in him. Paul and all his old desires and plans are dead in the grave. Now, he can testify, and that is what the whole thing is about. Our Christian testimony is a story of how we died, and rose again a new person because of Christ’s death and resurrection.
It is the story of our metamorphosis. Have we gone through a metamorphosis that is plain to see? Let me suggest that many in the church of Christ have not.
The meaning of Easter Video - Easter has become a celebration with a bunny, chocolate eggs and a four day long weekend if you’re lucky. I didn’t know what Easter was really about until adulthood. At least Christmas has Christ in the word. Do you know why Easter and Christmas are the busiest Sundays in the church year?
I’m afraid it’s because usually people’s kids are involved in some kind of pageant, or because it’s a ritual part of the holiday in North America that they have a habit of doing twice a year. Many people in churches on Easter Sunday attend about twice a year.
My friends, this is resurrection Sunday, the day that changed the world forever, and we are Easter people. We are here to testify to this day through the way it changed us, because if it didn’t change us, what’s so special about it? My question to you is, Does the resurrection affect you?
Because of this day you and I don’t have to die – ever. Because of this day we will not only see Jesus face to face, but we will fully be like Jesus with his glorified body. How bad do we want it?
I want to celebrate today because Jesus rose from the dead, and I will. But that celebration is muted by the fact that I and many of my Christian brothers and sisters take it for granted so often, and refuse to use the power of that event to do what he asked us to do because of his death and resurrection.
Will you join me in using this Easter as a springboard into a new season of trusting and obeying the Lord, letting the world see our testimony, our metamorphosis because our lives reflect the greatness of what Jesus did for us?
Will you take that leap with me into risking that God will act in all his might through our total surrender to Him, and bring us into the oneness with Him that Jesus had?
Let’s Pray
O Lord Jesus, like Saint Paul, may we count everything as loss in comparison with the supreme advantage of knowing you. We want to know you and what your passion and resurrection can do. We also want to share in your sufferings in the hope that if we resemble you in death we may somehow attain to the resurrection from the dead. Give us grace to make every effort to supplement faith with moral courage, knowledge with self-control, self-control with patience, patience with devotion, devotion and obedience with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. May these virtues keep me both active and fruitful in the Vine, and bring me to the deep knowledge of you, Lord Jesus Christ. In whose name we always pray. Amen.
