“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!
And that’s what it had been like for Paul when comparing his past life to his present life in Christ.
Paul had been a proud Pharisee, blameless under the law.
His past was and still could be an asset to him, not an embarrassment.
In the world’s eyes, Paul had it all.
He had been looked up to.
He was a leader.
But now it means nothing to him!
Starting in verse 4 Paul says in essence: “I know how futile it is to pin your salvation on outward ceremonies and laws because I spent most of my life doing it and no one did it better than me!
I kept all the rules.
I had an excellent religious pedigree.
I was so convinced that keeping the law was the only way to heaven that I persecuted the Christians who thought otherwise.
But then I met Jesus and I knew in an instant that all my shining religious accomplishments were no more than a pile of manure!”
That’s right.
The word in verse 8 translated as “garbage” or in some Bibles “rubbish” is a very strong word.
This is the only place in the entire Bible where it is used and small wonder: most commentators say it is a raw, gross, barnyard-type word that refers to excrement.
“And to think,” Paul writes, “that at one time I thought handing God this pile of manure was going to be my entrance ticket to the kingdom of heaven.”
Paul then goes on to say that now the only thing he wants to do is to know more about Jesus!
“What’s important is not that God knows what you’ve done but that you know what God has done!!!”
For most of his life Paul had been saying to God, “Look at me! Look at me! See what I’ve done.”
But now all Paul can say is: “Look at Jesus! See what he’s done.”
And I think THAT is going to be what will make HEAVEN-HEAVEN.
We will constantly and into eternity celebrate and worship God because of what He has done—because of how great God is—and because of the love God has for us.
And it won’t be forced.
It will be what we want to do more than anything else.
Eternity spent doing anything other than worshiping God would be garbage, rubbish, dung, hell!
Worshipping and praising God will be what makes us happy.
Have you ever experienced this on earth, maybe even in this sanctuary?
If so, you’ve had just a taste…a dim, dry, bland taste compared to what’s to come.
It will be, it will be—Perfect—better than anything.
And it will be that way because God will be there.
We will know Him just as He knows us, as Paul says in 1st Corinthians 13.
Can you imagine?
So, Paul knew that salvation was a free gift from God through His Son Jesus Christ.
He knew it was all about grace.
This is because at one time Paul had beaten up, arrested, belittled, and cheered on the murdering Jesus’ followers.
If Paul were to meet those people now he would hug and kiss them as beloved brothers and sisters in Christ.
But Paul could never forget that once in his life, he kicked those brothers in the ribs and dragged those sisters to jail by their hair.
What horrible memories!
So, if Paul seems a bit passionate in proclaiming grace, it’s only because he knows from his own experience how destructive it is to believe that you can pay your way to heaven.
He wanted nothing more to do with talking about what we must do to make God love us.
Or does he?
Paul no sooner finishes this awesome passage about salvation as a gift, and he instantly launches into verses 12-17 in which he writes about the need to press on, sprinting like a runner for the finish line to attain the goal of getting a better grip on Jesus.
Suddenly it seems like we are right back to square one in talking about all the things we need to do to be saved.
But I thought Paul had thrown all that kind of talk out the window by saying salvation is the sheer gift of God!
How can he start talking about works righteousness all over again?
We can’t answer that question until we quickly jump to the end of Chapter 3.
There Paul tearfully reminds the Philippians that some people in this world live as the enemies of the cross.
He says that these are people whose god is their bellies and who glory in their shame.
Who in the world is Paul referring to here?
If you take these words in isolation—and this is why CONTEXT is so important in understanding the Bible—if you take these words in isolation from the rest of the chapter you could conclude that Paul is talking about gluttons and sexually immoral people.
It sounds like Paul is saying that there are some people who are so caught up in worldly pleasures like eating, drinking, and sex that they don’t have room for God in their lives.
But that’s not what Paul means at all.
Instead, he is still talking about the Jewish legalists.
Paul’s reference to the stomach in verse 19 refers to strict food laws and his reference to sexual parts is a continuation of his conversation about circumcision.
Paul is saying that anyone who thinks they can get into God’s Kingdom by observing laws about food and circumcision is just plain wrong—so wrong in fact that they are enemies of the cross!
And that’s because they don’t think they need Jesus to die for them—they think they can do it on their own.
They think they can pay for their own salvation.
They can write their own ticket.
They can repair fallen creation by themselves!
But they can’t.
And that’s because it all comes down to the Cross!!!
We all know that this world is deeply, deeply broken and how desperately messed up this business of evil really is.
If even God Himself had to die to save us, then it’s obvious that this is not a problem we can ever solve ourselves.
In so much of life, our goal is to become as independent as possible.
We want to be able to do our jobs well without much help or supervision because those are the kinds of people who get noticed and promoted.
But in the Christian life the goal is not independence but an ever-increasing dependence on Christ and Christ alone.
And this is where freedom, joy, and true life is found.
And it’s a life that never ends.
For God has called you and me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
Will you pray with me?
Lord God, if there is anything that I value in this life more than Your Cross—show me that it is garbage compared to knowing you and being found in you.
If there is anything I am doing to try and gain salvation on my own please correct me and bring me to Your truth.
Lord, I want to know You, yes to know the power of Your resurrection and to become like You in my death, and to attain the resurrection from the dead.
Thank You Jesus for Your grace.
Thank you for Your Cross
Amen.
