A few years ago, the Barna group took a survey of a large pool of Christians and discovered that 48% of the people surveyed believe that “if people are generally good, or do enough good things for others, and follow the 10 commandments...they will earn a place in heaven.” The president of the Barna group, George Barna, responded by saying the following: “There is plenty of reason for church to worry if nearly one-half of their people who believe in evangelism also believe in salvation by works. The central message of Christianity is salvation by faith in Jesus, yet many Christians seem to believe and be preaching a different message.” Pause / Transition. We have been studying Philippians for 6 weeks now, coming into our 7th week today, and so far most of what we have studied has had to do with the inner life of the church in Philippi, and then there were some personally notes between Paul and the church there as well. But the first century was the formation period of the church, it was not yet established, it was still new and vulnerable. It had been born out of Judaism, and there were many Jewish converts who were trying to twist and shape Christianity, and they posed a big risk to the church, so much so that Paul warns Christians about them all through his ministry They were known as the Judaizers. They believed that new converts should be made to follow the law, that they needed to be circumcised in order to be saved, they needed to become Jews first. If they wanted to be saved, they needed to earn it. And while we can’t relate to the threat of that group today, according to the Barna group, we are facing the same type of threat as a church, the belief that if you want to be saved, you have to earn it. You see, this group of people, these Judaizers, they put their faith in their heritage, their customs and laws, and their upright standing as God’s chosen people, keeping themselves separate from the unclean Gentiles, they took pride in these things. But we are not that different, are we? The church, throughout the generations have taken pride in being Christians, being good, decent people, descended from generations of church families, always trying to follow the bible and the ten commandments, not hanging around with the wrong type of people or saying bad words, we take pride in those things. We may not say it, but sometimes we are as guilty as the Judaizers of living as if being a good person, being from the right background, following the rules, as if these things can actually save us. We act as if they make us better than other people. But the truth is, compared to the value of knowing Jesus, our efforts are all worthless. Because Jesus is more.
Today we are studying Philippians 3 verses 1-14, and I’m reading from the New International
Version: “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. Watch out for those dogs, those evildoers, those mutilators of the flesh. 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—though I myself have reasons for such confidence. If someone else thinks they have reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: 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; as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for righteousness based on the law, faultless. But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”
Two things are important to mention right at the beginning, first being the word “finally”. While we translate this as finally, the Greek word that is used there is only sometimes translated as finally, it is also often used to transition between thoughts, this isn’t actually a conclusion to the letter. The second thing to take note of is that Paul says, “It is no trouble for me to write these things to you again”. We don’t know what exactly this means. It COULD mean that Paul had written them another letter that we don’t have, but the word used for write does not necessarily mean it was written, it can be translated “communicated”. So, it’s possible that Paul had just talked to them about this when he was with them. Either way, this is something he has told them before. And then he says this: “Watch out for those dogs, those evildoers, those mutilators of the flesh.” Strong words! Paul is here referring to that group called the Judaizers that I mentioned earlier, who travelled around preaching that people had to convert to Judaism before they could be saved by Jesus. So to understand this fully, you first need to know that calling someone a dog in the 1st century world that this letter was written in was not the same thing as calling someone a dog today. People in that culture, they didn’t had dogs as pets, especially the Jewish culture. To them, dogs were considered one of the most vile, disgusting, unclean and unholy animals, they were considered on the same level as pigs. Dogs in the eastern world, even today, are mostly untamed and vicious, they wander around streets and fields, eating and rolling around in excrement and corpses. So it is very ironic that this is what Paul calls the Judaizers, because they are the ones preaching that people must become Jewish, and be a part of the holy and set apart nation of Israel, before they can be saved by Jesus. He is saying that THEY are the unclean ones, the evil workers. He also calls them mutilators of the flesh. Here he is talking about circumcision again, but he doesn’t use the proper Greek word for it, he calls it katatome, which is a word that was used in the Greek translation of the Old Testament to describe the pagan worshipers who would mutilate themselves while worshiping false gods. Ironically, the word also can mean to emasculate or castrate, so these are not light phrases Paul is using, he is being very specific and using very inflammatory language, he is angry about these people, and what they are doing.
Verse 3, “For it is we who are the true circumcision, we who serve God by his Spirit, who boast in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh”, and that Greek word for true circumcision here is the proper one that he did not use before, peritome. And to understand what is really happening here, you need to understand what circumcision really was, because the Jewish people did not really understand. Those who were saying that it was still required to be saved, they didn’t actually get it. You see, circumcision was the sign that you were the covenant people of God. It was the sign of their commitment to follow God and his commandments. But from the very beginning, it was just as much a spiritual thing as a physical thing. Jeremiah alludes to this in chapter 6 verse 10, “To whom shall I speak and give warning That they may hear? Behold, their ears are closed (in Hebrew, their ears are uncircumcised) And they cannot listen.”. And then in chapter 9 verses 25 – 26, “Behold, the days are coming,” declares the Lord, “that I will punish all who are circumcised and yet uncircumcised— Egypt and Judah, and Edom and the sons of Ammon, and Moab and all those inhabiting the desert who clip the hair on their temples; for all the nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised of heart.” When Paul says that we are the TRUE circumcision, he is not talking about physical circumcision. He is talking about the idea that circumcision represents: We the church, have been made the covenant people of God. What does that mean? What does that look like?
Well first, we worship in the Spirit of God. John 4:24 says, “God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” Second, we boast ONLY is in Jesus Christ, not in circumcision, not in following the law, only in Jesus. Galatians 6:14 says, “May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything; what counts is the new creation.” And then third, we put no confidence in the flesh. And what that really means here, is that we do not put any hope in anything that we can do to save us. Romans 3:20 says, “Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin.” We cannot earn salvation. ALL have sinned, and ALL fall short.
From here, Paul gives a great reminder that if anyone COULD be saved through their lives work and living holy, it would have been him, he says, “though I myself have reasons for such confidence. If someone else thinks they have reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: 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; as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for righteousness based on the law, faultless.” He had been circumcised in complete and precise accordance with the law. He was not a convert to Judaism, or the descendant of one. He could trace his genealogy back as far as it was possible for any Jew to do. Not only that, but he was from the prestigious tribe of Benjamin, one of the two tribes that did NOT revolt against the Davidic line of kings. He could also speak Hebrew, which at that point in the world, was not nearly as common of a language as it had been before the exile. He spoke the ancient and holy language of God’s chosen people, faithful to their culture. As for following the law, he had been a Pharisee, and they were known for being the strictest interpreters of the scriptures, they loved the law. But he didn’t stop there. Unlike many of his fellow Pharisee’s, he personally and physically persecuted the church, for his love of God. He showed the greatest passion for the religion he believed to be true. As to righteousness, he was as blameless as it was possible to be, as we know that all have sinned. Before he was converted, he had supposed he had come as close to being saved by works as it was possible to be.
Verses 7-8, “But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ”. Despite EVERYTHING that he could boast about, despite everything he considered valuable to him before, he has given it all up for Jesus. They weren’t steps to heaven, they were obstacles blocking his path to God. He had relied on these things, and they had given him an incorrect estimation of his own character and standing. So he gave it all up. And not only are THOSE things worthless to him now, but compared to knowing Jesus, EVERYTHING is worthless. NOTHING has value in life compared to knowing Jesus. He considers everything else to be garbage. That word that we translate garbage or rubbish, is probably one of my favorite mistranslations in scripture. The Greek word he uses is skybalon, and it is the only time it is used in scripture. It’s literal translation is dung, crap, excrement, poop, filth, but it has a cruder sense to it even than that. I’m not going to swear in the middle of church, but you kind of get the idea of what Paul is really saying here. Compared to the worth of knowing Jesus, everything else in life, everything we put
our hope in, is as of much value as what is floating around in the sewage lagoon you drive by when you
cross the bridge into Stratford. That was the disdain Paul had for the things of this world, the things he used to put his hope in, and the things of this world are as much of use for us as they were for Paul.
Verses 9-14, “I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” This is the goal of life for us as Christians. We let go of all the things we used to put our hope in, because knowing Jesus is worth so much more than all that garbage and filth. We let go, and instead, we accept the righteousness that comes from faith in Jesus, NOT in anything we every have done or could do to earn it. It comes not from us, not from our actions or decisions, but from GOD. This is the solution to the worthlessness of our own efforts, the solution to our insufficiency is the total sufficiency of Jesus Christ. This passage brings a knowledge of how God makes his righteousness available: Through the faithfulness of JESUS, and our TOTAL and COMPLETE reliance on him. Knowing him means experiencing the righteousness of God, with the eventual end goal of attaining the prize at the end of the race, which is resurrection, and we will get into that a little more next week.
The lesson for them was that they couldn’t earn their freedom, their salvation. They needed to
let go of all the things that they were clinging too, and recognize that Jesus was so much better, so much
more, than all the garbage they used to put their hopes in. So what lessons should we take away for us, today?
First of all, Jesus is more than our doubts. We all have them. We all have things that make us doubt, or that distract us from the raw truth of the gospel of Jesus. For the recipients of this letter, it was the Judaizers. They had spent their lives believing that God and salvation worked a certain way, and so when these travelling preachers would come through and tell them that the Gentiles among them needed to be circumcised, that they needed to follow the law to be saved, it probably made sense to them, and maybe even appealed to them. Because it was familiar. Remember, the church in Philippi was started with the Jewish families first, they were the bedrock of the church in that city. But Paul reminded them, it isn’t about those things anymore! Don’t get distracted, don’t doubt what you already know to be true. Jesus is so much more than all that stuff, don’t get distracted by it. So for us, what distracts YOU from the truth of the gospel? What makes YOU question the sufficiency of his grace in your life?
Second, Jesus is more than our efforts. This can be hard for us to accept, because we don’t like to accept that we are sinners. I mean, no one is perfect, but it’s not like I’ve ever killed anybody! I go to church every Sunday, I try not to swear, I put my money in the plate, I read my bible every day, I try to be nice to everyone I talk to, and for the most part I haven’t broken the ten commandments, I’m a good person! But at the end of the day, none of it matters. When it comes to salvation, you might do all those things, and by the world’s earthly standard, you may very well be a good person, whatever that even means. But when it comes to salvation, it’s not enough. NOBODY can be saved by their works. NOBODY can earn salvation. You cannot keep enough commandments, you can’t give enough money to the church, you can’t read enough of the bible, and you can’t attend enough services at church, to earn your way into heaven. You can’t do it. You cannot earn salvation. It didn’t work for Paul, and it won’t work for us either. But fortunately, Jesus is more than our efforts. He WAS perfect. He DID keep all the commandments. You don’t HAVE to earn your way into heaven, you just have to accept that HE did it FOR you. That is the value of knowing Jesus.
Third, Jesus is more than life itself. This is the natural outcome of all of this. When Paul considered the value of knowing Jesus, he didn’t just consider all his past efforts to be a good person to be worthless, he considered EVERYTHING ELSE IN LIFE to be worthless compared to knowing him. He set aside his position as a Pharisee, his heritage, social standing and respect, he set it all side to know and
follow Jesus, because he knew that Jesus was so much more to him than any of those other things every could be. What about you? Are you willing to set aside everything for him? Are you willing to sacrifice it all, anything and everything that you once thought was worth something in your life, anything and everything that you have ever put your hope into, your time, your commitments? Are you willing to give it all up, and recognize that Jesus is so much more than all of it?
In conclusion, compared to the value of knowing Jesus, everything in this life is worthless. Jesus says in John 14:6, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” We can’t earn our way. We can never be good enough, follow enough rules, memorize enough bible verses, give enough money, to earn our way to heaven. The only way is through Jesus. Jesus is more than our doubts about him, more than our efforts to be holy, he is more than life itself. Compared to knowing him, everything else in life is worthless, it’s all garbage. Jesus says in Matthew 16, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?” To gain Jesus, we must let go of all the things we’ve held on to and put our hope in. To follow him, to run the race, means choosing him over what this world has to offer. It means accepting that you can’t earn your way. And my prayer for us as we leave today, is that we would be willing and able to let go, to accept our own insufficiency, so that we will be able to accept the total sufficiency of Jesus.
