Illus: Three boys are in the school yard bragging of how great their fathers are.
• The first one says: "My father runs the fastest. He can fire an arrow and start to run, and he gets to the target before the arrow."
• The second one says: "Ha! You think that's fast! My father is a hunter. He can shoot his gun and be there before the bullet".
• The third one listens to the other two and shakes his head. He says: "You two know nothing about fast. My father works for the government. He is so fast that he stops working at 4:30 and he is home by 3:45!"
In this passage of scripture, Paul deals with boasting.
Look at Philippians 3:4, we read, “Though I might also have confidence in the flesh. If any other man thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I MORE.”
To put that in modern day language, Paul was saying, “IF YOU THINK YOU HAVE SOMETHING TO BOAST ABOUT, I HAVE MORE TO BOAST ABOUT THAN YOU DO!”
Paul begins to list all the things he could brag about if he so desired. For example:
(1) He could brag about his birth. Look at verse 5, we read, “For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.”
(2) He could brag about his past. Look at verse 6, we read, “Concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.”
Illus: Dr. Odell Belger tells about a man who professed to be saved. He could be with a group of Christians and they could share with each other how God has graciously saved them. When they gave the details of their salvation, he would say, “Well, I do not want to brag about my sins,” but he would light up like a Christmas tree telling people how:
• He used to lay out all night long drinking
• He used to break his marriage vows
• He used to fight
• He always wanted to give everyone the impression that he was once the meanest sinner in town. He also wanted to give the impression he was not proud of his sinful life, BUT HE WAS PROUD OF IT! He loved to brag about the evil life he lived.
Have you ever heard some of these folks, who were in an evil gang in one of the large cities before they were saved, give their testimony?
Many of them will spend an hour telling everyone how evil they were and then take five minutes to brag on the Savior who saved them.
Something is definitely wrong with a testimony where sin is more honored than the grace of God.
Paul must have felt this way also, because look at the things that Paul wanted to BOAST in.
He started this chapter off by telling these Christians to REJOICE.
That is, he was saying you will never have joy if you spend your life REJOICING IN THE WRONG THINGS.
In the remaining verses, Paul elaborates on the previous two chapters in which he exhorted the Philippians to be joyful in the Lord, as they looked to Him as their Savior and Lord.
Let’s look at-
I. PAUL’S REMINDER TO THE PHILIPPIAN CHURCH
Look at Philippians 3:7, we read, “But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ.”
Paul said he counted all the things that these folks were rejoicing in, as dung.
DO YOU KNOW WHAT DUNG IS?
Paul said that all the things that people of the world consider so important, to him were no more than a manure pile.
The lost people of this world, and many professing Christians, place a high premium on the things of this world.
Illus: They remind me of a motorist driving by a Texas ranch. He hit and killed a calf that was crossing the road.
• The driver went to the owner of the calf and explained what had happened. He then asked what the animal was worth
.
• "Oh, about $200 today," said the rancher. “But in six years it would have been worth $900. So $900 is what I want for the calf."
• The motorist sat down and wrote out a check and handed it to the farmer.
• "Here," he said, "is the check for $900. It is post-dated six years from now."
We all have a different value system.
Paul saw the things that people were placing their faith in as DUNG!
Paul was saying that the righteousness that will assure us a place in heaven can not be found in:
• Having godly parents
• Having a godly spouse
• Having observed all the rituals and ceremonies of mankind
All the things the Jews placed a high premium on, Paul possessed. For example, the Jews felt they were the people of God, and Paul was saying he had the national heritage. Paul said that …
• He was a Hebrew of the Hebrews
• He was from the tribe of Benjamin
• He was a Pharisee
Paul is reminding the Philippians, that HE HAD IT ALL!
He reminds them of how he once fought for his Jewish religion and persecuted the church. He is saying, “I have been there, I have done it all!”
Also, notice the word “blameless” in verse 5. Is Paul claiming to live a perfect life? No, he was saying that when he sinned he took a sacrifice to the temple to be offered for his sins so that he could be blameless!
Paul is saying that our righteousness is not found in our ancestors nor in some social superiority.
Illus: We Americans can certainly relate to what Paul is discussing. We feel that we are from a so-called Christian nation, and this makes us more acceptable than those in other nations who are idol worshippers.
Paul came to realize that all these things the Jews had placed their faith on were of no value. He was willing to give them all up.
Look at Philippians 3:7-11, we read, “But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith: That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.”
II. PAUL’S REMEDY FOR THE PHILIPPIAN CHURCH
John Piper explains this by putting Paul’s transition in the analogy of a list: It is as if Paul had a piece of paper with two columns drawn on it.
• At the heading of one column, Paul wrote “GAINS” in big red letters.
• At the heading of the second column, Paul wrote “LOSSES” in big red letters.
Before Paul became a Christian, Paul had power, prestige, and admiration in his “GAINS” column, while having among other things, Christ in his “LOSSES” column.
But when Paul became a Christian, he crossed out those things in his “GAINS” column and replaced them with a big spelling of “Christ,” and in his “LOSSES” column he crossed out Christ and replaced the name with power, prestige, and admiration.
It was a complete 180 degree turn in Paul’s life.
He went from directly destroying the work of Christ to directly promoting the work of Christ.
This new direction defined the way in which Paul pursued joy in his life, and the joy that he found was joy in Christ Jesus.
Paul experienced true joy in Christ. Instead of pursuing a false joy that came from a self-righteousness by the law, Paul pursued his joy by seeking the righteousness that comes through faith in Christ.
We need to look at the word “all” in verse 8. Paul said, “Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ.”
Notice, verse 8, does NOT read, “Yea doubtless, and I count (SOME) things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of (SOME) things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ,”
To be consistent with other Scriptures, the usage of “all” and “everything” is in the literal here.
For example, look at Mark 8: 35, we read, “For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel's, the same shall save it.”
This is to be taken literally, for example, Mark 8:35 does NOT say, “For whosoever will save (SOME OF) his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose (SOME OF) his life for my sake and the gospel's, the same shall save it.”
Notice two things:
• Finding joy in Christ requires suffering loss
• The gaining of joy in Christ is often painful
Think of the many things Paul had to painfully give up in order to gain his joy in Christ.
Surely the giving up of his powerful position, fame, admiration, and his financial status was a painful process.
And even after he became a Christian, the increase of Paul’s joy in Christ came only through the loss of physical comfort.
• He suffered numerous beatings of 39 flesh-ripping lashes
• He suffered shipwreck and starvation
And what did Paul say about these sufferings? He said that he counted them as nothing compared to the joy of knowing Christ.
If, in the end, these things brought joy to Christ, then Paul wanted these sufferings to take place.
Illus: It is like a mother giving birth to a child. She does not look forward to the suffering, but she knows once she holds that new life in her hands it will be worth all the suffering.
This is why Paul could look at his sufferings as nothing, knowing what they would bring to him inwardly.
• How many of us can honestly say that if we had been unfairly beaten as Paul was , we would consider it to be nothing?
• How many of us would instead hold a grudge or even count such a suffering to be something worthy of praise and admiration?
• How many of us could say, “Compared to experiencing the joy of knowing Christ, that beating has absolutely no significant place in my life except as much as it leads me closer to knowing my Lord”? Or would we want recognition or compensation for being so mistreated?
Conclusion:
We must seek to know Christ as Paul sought to know Christ. This means counting Christ as superior to all things of earthly value.
As Piper says, “We will see this joy display itself in our actions of choosing Christ over everything else.”
• “We will deal with worldly things in such a way that we become closer to Him.”
• “We will pursue our joy even through suffering, in order to show that Christ is our treasure, not the things which may make us more comfortable.”
• “Our joy will be displayed by our firm confidence that even if everything is lost, we will still have our joy, because our object of joy, who is Christ, is eternal and imperishable.”
“May God help us in the pursuit of finding joy in His Son.”
Paul had to give up his SELF-RIGHTEOUSNESS and count it as a loss in order to have the LORD’S RIGHTEOUSNESS.
Look at these closing verses of scripture that Paul stated in verses 12-16, we read, “Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you. Nevertheless, whereto we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us mind the same thing.”
Notice, Paul never claimed he reached perfection. He is believed by many to be the greatest man, other than the Lord Jesus, to ever walk on this earth. If Paul never reached perfection, it certainly shows us how far we are from perfection.
But we can only reach the spiritual level God wants us to when we start focusing in on the right things.
We have looked at:
I. PAUL’S REMINDER TO THE PHILIPPIAN CHURCH
II. PAUL’S REMEDY FOR THE PHILIPPIAN CHURCH
