We are in a study of Philippians and our text today is found in chapter 3, verses 1-7. Follow with me as we read from the New International Version.
“Further, my brothers and sisters, 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, those evildoers, those mutilators of the flesh. 3 For it is we who are the circumcision, we who serve God by his Spirit, who boast in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh— 4 though I myself have reasons for such confidence. If someone else thinks they have reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: 5 circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; 6 as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for righteousness based on the law, faultless.7 But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ.”i
The first word in this text indicates a transition. The NIV has correctly translated the Greek word loipos with the word “Further.” That word could be translated “finally.” In fact, Paul uses it that way in 4:8 as he brings this letter to a conclusion. But here in 3:1 the context would indicate a simple transition in which Paul is moving to a new subject. At the end of chapter 2 he talked about sending Timothy and Epaphroditus to the Philippians. Now he wants to warn them about the Judaizers who may come and mislead them. In 3:1 the Philippians would have understood loipos as a transition into a new subject. Paul is saying, “further,” or “furthermore,” or “in addition” rather than finally or in conclusion.ii
The insertion of the imperative “rejoice in the Lord” seems out of place. But that theme runs all through this letter. In these first two verses Paul tells Christians to “rejoice in the Lord” and to “watch out.” We can do both at the same time because our rejoicing is “in the Lord.” The basis of our joy never changes. “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever” (Heb. 13:8). We can continue to rejoice in the Lord regardless of what perils we may face. And we are commanded to do so. The theme of our text is a warning against false teachers who are likely to come to Philippi with a message that would corrupt the gospel with legalism. They are not there now. If they were, Paul would be addressing it more extensively and more harshly as he does in Galatians. But they will eventually come, and Paul wants these believers alert to the danger. This morning I want to talk about the value of such warnings. Next week we will address the specific warning in the text.
The Bible is a book filled with warnings. God warned Adam about the consequences of eating
from the forbidden tree. Noah warned his generation of the coming flood. Moses warned Israel
of what would happen if they disobeyed the commandments of God. In Deuteronomy 28 Moses
told the people what would happen if they obeyed the Lord and what would happen if they
disobeyed. He began with the blessings of obedience: “If you fully obey the Lord your God and
carefully follow all his commands I give you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all
the nations on earth. 2 All these blessings will come on you and accompany you if you obey
the Lord your God.” That is followed by an extensive list of the blessings they would experience.
Then in verse 15 he warns them of what will happen if they live in disobedience: “However, if
you do not obey the Lord your God and do not carefully follow all his commands and decrees I
am giving you today, all these curses will come on you and overtake you.” That is followed by a
list of the judgments they would experience.
David thanked God for the warnings given to us through the commandments. In Psalms 19
David celebrated the instruction he had received from God’s commandments. Then in verse 11
he said, “By them your servant is warned; in keeping them there is great reward.” The
commandments of God give us much needed warning and guidance. Stay within these lines of
behavior and you will be blessed. Cross those lines and you put yourself in harm’s way. When
you’re driving down the highway you see a double yellow line between you and the oncoming
traffic. Why is that line there? It is there so you can travel safely. If you stay to the right of that
yellow line, you are in a reasonably safe zone. But if you cross that line and drive against the
oncoming traffic, you are likely to have a wreck. We are blessed to have a road system that
provides warnings. A yellow light alerts us that we will need to stop. A yield sign tells us not to
proceed until the way is clear. Flashing red lights at railroad crossing are for our protection.
Image the chaos and destruction if none of these warnings were provided in our road system.
Like David, we should be very thankful for the warnings God gives us in His word. “By them
[God’s commandments] your servant is warned; in keeping them there is great reward.”
A study of the major and minor prophets will reveal warning after warning. When God called
Ezekiel, He said to him, “Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the people of Israel; so
hear the word I speak and give them warning from me. 18 When I say to a wicked person, ‘You
will surely die,’ and you do not warn them or speak out to dissuade them from their evil ways in
order to save their life, that wicked person will die for their sin, and I will hold you accountable
for their blood. 19 But if you do warn the wicked person and they do not turn from their
wickedness or from their evil ways, they will die for their sin; but you will have saved yourself”
(Ezek. 3:17-19).
John the Baptist came with a word of warning to Israel. Matthew 3:7-9: “But when he saw many
of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing, he said to them: ‘You brood
of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? 8 Produce fruit in keeping with
repentance. 9 And do not think you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ I tell
you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. 10 The ax is already at the
root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown
into the fire.’” John warned Herod about taking his brother’s wife. Giving warnings can be
dangerous business. Herod had John beheaded. People don’t always receive the warnings well.
Jesus warned about hell more than any other preacher. When He sent the twelve out to preach, He warned them about persecution. Then He added, “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matt. 10:28). In Matthew 23 He pronounced seven woes on the Scribes and Pharisees, then said: “You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell?” Can you image what the liberal media would do with that? It was about as far from politically correct as you can get.
Like Paul, Jesus often warned about deception. In the Sermon on the Mount He said, “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves” (Matt. 7:15). When teaching about the last days, the first thing Jesus said was “Watch out that no one deceives you” (Matt. 24:4). The RSV says, “Take heed that no one leads you astray.” I have given a few examples of warnings in the Bible. There are many, many more!
In Acts 20 Paul warned the elders at Ephesus saying, “I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. 30 Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them. 31 So be on your guard! Remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears.” Notice what he said in that last sentence. “I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears.” His warnings were with compassion. His warnings were continuous. And they were personal: “I never stopped warning each of you.” People don’t mind vague, general warnings. It’s when you apply the warning to them personally that you get the biggest response. The preacher can waltz around various topics without upsetting people. But when he applies biblical warnings to the listener, he will usually get a response. Sometimes it is positive. Sometimes the person heeds the warning and is helped. But sometimes they shoot the messenger.
In Acts 11:27-29 Agabus gave a prophetic about a famine that was coming. The people heeded the warning and sent help to the Christians in Judea. A warning can give us precious time to prepare for coming events.
A New Testament minister is commanded to include warnings in his or her message. Paul was not only an example of doing this, but in 1 Thessalonians 5:14 he wrote, “Now we exhort you, brethren, warn those who are unruly, comfort the fainthearted, uphold the weak, be patient with all” (NKJV). That verse provides a good balance. It is not all warning. We are to comfort and encourage. We are to be patient with people and compassionate. But we cannot leave the warnings out. If we do, we will be held accountable for not warning them just as God told Ezekiel. Many in today’s pulpits avoid warnings. They know that most people don’t like to be told they’re doing anything wrong. They know that people don’t always respond well to warnings. They know that you can lose popularity real fast when you speak a warning. It got John the Baptist beheaded. It got Jesus crucified. It got Paul stoned. Leonard Ravenhill pointed out, “If Jesus had preached the same message that ministers preach today, He would never have been crucified.”
People can easily listen to a preacher and never notice the absence of any warning. The positive affirmations feel so good. They are lulled into a comfort zone that says, “I’m okay; you’re okay.
Let’s don’t rock the boat. We’ve got it the way we want it. I won’t disturb you if you won’t disturb me.” When you listen to a preacher over time, see if there are any warnings in the message. Is it all flattering? Does it just say what I want to hear? Is it just a message of tolerance? Or does it challenge you to put away things that would hinder your walk with the Lord (Heb. 12:1). Again, it should be more encouragement and comfort than rebuke. But there should be some warning in there somewhere.
Our culture has moved so far away from the word of God, that if you speak a warning, people think you’re the one that’s off base. The standard has slowly moved away from biblical truth to political correctness—even in the church, even among professed Christians.
This transition is epitomized in Carlton Pearson’s departure from the faith. In a news interview he shared some of his reasons for rejecting orthodox Christianity. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Carlton Pearson I’ll give a little background. He is a graduate of Oral Roberts University and became a regent of that institution. In the 1990s He built a mega Pentecostal church in Tulsa Oklahoma including a TV ministry. He was an advisor to one of the presidents and the guest of national TV shows. For years he was preaching a biblical Charismatic message. Then he decided that was wrong and began preaching what he and others call a more progressive message. He embraced universalism which believes no one will go to hell. Like many who have departed from the faith, he claims his faith has “evolved” into something better and more accepting.
What happened? I’m not sure he was thinking right from the beginning. He talks about his years before the change. He tells how he “mastered the craft—knew what to say on the pulpit—knew what words they needed to hear.” That sounds more like a skilled crowd manipulator than a preacher of the word. I don’t think in terms of mastering the craft or maneuvering the crowd with the words I use. I seek to speak plainly what God is telling me from His word. I just want to be faithful to say what He wants me to say. I am not there to work the crowd as if I were giving some kind of performance.
The most telling thing Pearson shared was That question is partly his view of Scripture. I heard him say, “Instead of the Bible being the inspired word of God, it’s probably just the inspired word of man about God.” Once a person loses respect for the authority of Scripture, he has stepped on a slippery slope. He was then free to lean on his own reasoning and go with whatever sounds good to him. Pearson decided the concept of hell is too harsh for a loving God. He decided to not confront people about wicked behavior but to focus on being accepting and inclusive. That has become a hallmark of his current ministry.
This is the new spirituality that is actually as old as the devil himself. But it is packaged as “progressive” Christianity. Its followers say they have “evolved” into a higher understanding. They often use terms like progressive, evolved, freer, more accepting, and spiritual. They claim a spirituality that is not restricted by the commandments of God. Pearson says he has come “out of legal bondage.”iii
The ungodly media celebrates this rejection of traditional Christianity but seems very accepting of this type of “spirituality.” The error already has a lot of momentum. It is a very real danger right now! How are the mighty fallen? Paul warned in 2 Thessalonians 2:3, “Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day [the Day of the Lord] will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition.”
Pearson has fallen into a kind of spirituality that rejects the moral boundaries that God has set in His word. It is a form of antinomianism. In our text Paul is warning against a different error: the error of legalistic religion. We will talk about that deception next week. If the devil can’t lead people off the narrow way on one side of the road, he will try the other. Antinomianism is a destructive heresy, but so is religious legalism. We want to follow our Shepherd down the path He leads and not stray in either direction.
Enjoy the freedom you have in Christ—not a freedom to indulge the flesh, but a freedom to serve God with joy. Be alert and heed any warnings that God gives you. Like a good parent, he only does that for our wellbeing.
ENDNOTES:
i All Scripture quotes unless indicated otherwise are from the New International Version.
ii See Timothy Frieberg, Barbara Frieberg, and Neva Mille, Analytical Lexicon of the Greek New Testament (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2000) s.v. loipos. Accessed in Electronic Database: Bibleworks. v. 6.0. 2003. Also see B. B. Barton, M. Fackler, L. Taylor, and D. Veerman, Philippians, Colossians, and Philemon, Life Application Bible Commentary (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House, 1995) 81. Some scholars have wrongly understood loipon in 3:1 to indicate a note of conclusion and theorized that Philippians represents the “stitching together of two or more letters.” But Gordon Fee soundly defeats such assumptions: Gordon Fee, Paul’s Letter to the Philippians, The New International Commentary on the New Testament, N. B. Stonehouse, F. Bruce, G. Fee, and J. Green, eds. (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1995) 288- 293.
iii KJRH-TV Tulsa Channel 2, “Ministry falls after declaring Hell doesn't exist.” Accessed at YouTube: https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=cministry+falls+after+declaring+hell+doesn%27t+exist&&view=detail&mid=7F2392F0F8A991DB67FC7F2392F0F8A991DB67FC&&FORM=VRDGAR&ru=%2Fvideos%2Fsearch%3Fq%3Dcministry%2520falls%2520after%2520declaring%2520hell%2520doesn%2527t%2520exist%26qs%3Dn%26form%3DQBVDMH%26sp%3D-1%26pq%3Dcministry%2520falls%2520after%2520declaring%2520hell%2520doesn%2527t%2520exist%26sc%3D0-50%26sk%3D%26cvid%3DE41D0DBA5A5A4BD2B705ECBCC159FC0E.
