Title: “Giving Up to Gain” Script: Phil. 3:4ff
Type: Expository series Where: 8-3-25
Intro: Recently read a blog written by Melissa Chu. I know nothing about her, however, her article was entitled: “20 Habits to Give up if you Want to Succeed in Life.” Give up to Gain! Here are a few of those habits: 1. Give up daydreaming about the future. 2. Give up looking for a good reason to get started. 3. Give up waiting for your situation to change. 4. Give up doing something just to fit in. 5. Give up blaming others. 6. Give up worrying about things outside of your control. 7. Give up dwelling on past mistakes. 8. Give up fixating on things about yourself you cannot change. 9. Give up neglecting the present. 10. Give up purchasing objects in order to attain happiness. As I said, there were more, but that is enough for now. The Bible actually speaks of “giving up so as to gain.” It relates to the most important topic facing any individual: salvation! Let’s take a look into Philippians today so as to see the Apostle’s teaching.
Prop: In Phil. 3:5ff Paul shows us what must give up in order to gain eternal life.
BG: 1. IN this passage Paul speaks of salvation as a transaction or an exchange.
2. Using accounting terminology in vv. 7-8, loss, gain.
3. Jesus described salvation as a exchange or transaction in which all a the sinner exchanges all that he/she is for all that Jesus is.
Prop: Look at Phil 3:5ff to see what must be given up so as to gain eternal life.
I. Salvation is Not Granted on the Basis of Ritual, Race, or Rank vv.5
A. Paul Clearly begins by Stating that Salvation is NOT a Matter of Ritual.
1. Salvation is not a matter of performing rituals.
a. Illust: This is arguably the most highly autobiographical section in all of Paul’s writings. Paul begins with the matter of his own circumcision because this is what the Judaizers, his opponents, stressed. According to OT Law, Paul’s parents, being devout Jews, had their son circumcised on the 8th Day. IN fact, the text reads: “with respect to circumcision, an 8th dayer.”
b. Man made religions stress the importance of “rituals” in order to reach God. Catholic Church teaches 7 Sacraments in order to stand right before God: Baptism, Eucharist, Confirmation, Penance, Anointing of the Sick, Marriage, Holy Orders. Muslims have a list of 5 Pillars: Shahada: Faith. Salah: Prayer. Zakat: Charity. Sawm: Fasting. Hajj: pilgrimage to Mecca. Shinto has purification rituals, Buddhism has rituals, Mormonism has their own. Man has an innate desire to want to “do” certain things in order to “know” he is right with God. Orthodox Judaism has their incredibly complex set of rules.
2. Circumcision never saved anyone.
a. What was Paul saying in his statement? He was not some recent convert. He was a Jew from birth and had followed all the rituals from the beginning. ON the 8th day he had gone thru the rituals to make him a member of the covenant people.
b. Illust: However, as a young man, Paul had forgotten that part of the purpose of circumcision was to remind one how very sinful one was and his need for real cleansing. However, confusing that truth, they made a surgery out to be a badge of righteousness. Illust: By comparison think if this was the case today: “You must have your tonsils taken out in order to really be saved and follower of Christ!” What does that have to do with??? Paul here, is almost acting the part of an accountant: “Circumcision, the most important ritual in Judaism counts for nothing. Rather, it clearly lines up under the “Loss” column of spiritual accounting. Christ’s righteousness, not man’s rituals, save!”
B. Paul Clearly States that Salvation is not a Matter of Race.
1. Paul unashamedly declares his ethnic heritage.
a. “the Nation of Israel”. Some scholars think that Paul was writing this to show up some of the Judaizers who may actually have been gentile converts who were so zealous that they not only adopted the law but submitted to the act of circumcision as well! Now we know that God gave ethnicity. We know that ethnic groups/nations and reaching them with the Gospel are important to the heart of God. However, also cause of a lot of negative pride, contention, and conflict. It’s easy to give oneself over to boastful superiority. The Judaizers certainly did. Although claiming to be Christians, they believed their ethnic “Jewishness” made them a better Christian than any Gentile believer could be.
b. Illust: Listen to how bigoted these Judaizers were. In their minds something was so inherently missing in the DNA of the Gentile that only the utilization of “Jewish Rituals” could help them be truly savable. Yet, Col. 3:8-11, informs us that the grace of justification and sanctification is operative in all who had believe, in all who had put off the old man and put on the new man. If you read between the lines you realize that what’s being inferred is that God cannot save or sanctify a certain group of people (Gentiles) without the help of prescribed rituals. Friend, no ethnic group gets a head start or 5 point lead in either justification or sanctification “points”. Everyone is culpable before God! Everyone needs God’s grace for salvation and everyone needs God’s grace for sanctification.
2. What is Paul saying here? Salvation is not based on race!
a. Illust: Paul was physically descended from Abraham, Isaac, Jacob. Amazing heritage. Jewish people rely on heritage, along with ritual…yet these are both unable to save anyone! No standing with God is based on one’s birth! Do not be fooled to think your supposed ethnicity contributes!
b. Illust: Back in 2018 very prominent US Senator had shocking surprise. This Senator had often campaigned on her minority Native American heritage, this positioning of heritage status helped land her first teaching position at U. Penn Law School, and possibly later as well at Brown and Harvard. Critics challenged her to DNA testing. Whoops, found out less than 0.09% Native American! Her tribal enrollment was revoked. Now, I don’t tell that story to pick on that famous senator, but rather, to warn all here today, don’t fool yourself into thinking you have some special standing with God based on who you think you are or who your great grandparents might have been! God has a myriad of children, but He does not have grandchildren.
C. Paul states that Salvation is not Based on Rank!
1. Paul lists his membership in the tribe of Benjamin. Benjamin was 1 of 2 of Jacob’s sons by Rachel, his favorite wife. Last son, and the only one born in the land of promise.
2. Saul, Israel’s 1st king, was a Benjaminite. Originally, Jerusalem was in Benjamin’s territory. Mordecai, Esther’s cousin was a heroic Benjaminite. Benjamin was a proud tribe! A lot of people receive good things in this life based on the fact of their “rank” or station in life. Illust:“CCR “Fortunate Son.” Rank begets privilege. Not in God’s kingdom!
D. Applic: Paul begins by stating that salvation is not a matter of Ritual, race, or rank.
II. Salvation is Not on the Basis of Tradition, Religion, or Sincerity. Vv. 3:5d-3:6a
A. Salvation is Not Secured by Tradition.
1. “ A “Hebrew of Hebrews”.
a. Illust: As Americans we seem to have bred into us a disdain for anyone who inherits a fortune or position without working for it or earning it, and a love and respect for those who “pull themselves up by their own bootstraps”, and earn it on their own. Kentucky’s famous/infamous Senator Henry Clay first coined the term “Self-made man.” in a speech in 1832, making distinction between industrialists who made their money and planters who had inherited.
b. In the first list that we examined, Paul lists several items that he inherited and did absolutely nothing to earn. Well’ that is not the case now. The next list we examine we realized that Paul put in effort and work in order to earn and friend, did Paul ever advance!
2. Paul zealously adhered to his religious traditions.
a. Paul had grown to manhood strictly maintaining his family heritage and traditions. Now remember that Paul was born in Tarsus, a city in Asia Minor, not in Israel. But many Jews in the Diaspora let their heritage begin to slip. Paul continued to speak his language, traditions, and customs of his ancestors.
b. Paul never allowed himself to be “Hellenized” as a Jew. By that I mean that he never allowed Greek culture to overwhelm his convictions, beliefs, and actions. In fact, we read in Acts 22& 26 that he had studied under the prestigious rabbi Gamaliel. Illust: Today, Christians need to be prepared just as in the days of Daniel, the world wants you to conform! However, you can be prepared! There are four main areas the world will attempt squeeze the Christian so he/she will be shaped into its mold: Isolation, Indoctrination, Assimilation, Confusion. Isolation from other believers and immersion into a world of false assumptions make it difficult to maintain your Christian convictions. The only way to resist the lure of assimilating to the world is to rest in the love and approval of God. All Christians are to live as sojourners and exiles, blessing the world around us by refusing to conform to its patterns of thought and behavior. As Augustine said, sometimes we must stand against the world for the good of the world.
B. Salvation is Not Secured By Religion.
1. Paul, as a Pharisee, had attempted to earn his way to heaven through his religion!
a. “as to the law, a Pharisee” – Paul was so committed to his Jewish heritage that he went to the extreme. He was so zealous for the Law of God that he became a Pharisee. We know this in his testimony before the Sanhedrin in Acts 23:6; trial before Agrippa (Acts 26:5). Devoted and dedicated.
b. Illust: The Pharisees had perverted judgment by concentrating on self. My money, my house, my reputation, my power, my morals, MY religion that I do to MAKE SURE that I am right with God. It was truly a "me" generation. Mercy never entered their minds—even for themselves, for they felt they needed none. As Christ noted, they would stand in the Temple, proclaiming their righteousness to God and man, while demeaning the publican, who would not so much as raise his face to God, praying "God be merciful to me a sinner" (Luke 18:9-14).
2. Self-Righteousness only condemns and never saves.
a. Our Savior Jesus Christ shows in Matthew 23 that the scribes and Pharisees had perverted judgment and were terribly unmerciful to anyone "beneath them," as viewed from their own exalted position. This self-exaltation reached the point where they placed themselves above God. Matthew 23:18-19 explains that they honored their gift on the altar as more important than the altar itself. God's altar sanctifies or sets apart other things as holy. A person's "goodness" placed on the altar for all to admire is worth nothing! This form of idolatry destroys faith true in God. The Pharisees reckoned their salvation automatic because they paid such attention to minute details of the law—even adding more restrictive rules to it. Their over-carefulness bred an attitude of deserving salvation. They saw no need for a savior, for was not their obedience a guarantee? Surely God could not deny salvation to any so righteous as they!
b. Illust: Our Daily Bread, March 15, 1994 The 19th-century Danish theologian Soren Kierkegaard identified two kinds of religion--Religion A and Religion B. The first is "faith" in name only (2 Tim. 3:5). It's the practice of attending church without genuine faith in the living Lord. Religion B, on the other hand, is a life-transforming, destiny-changing experience. It's a definite commitment to the crucified and risen Savior, which establishes an ongoing personal relationship between a forgiven sinner and a gracious God. This difference explains why for many years Northern Irish author C. S. Lewis had such great difficulty in becoming a Christian. Religion A had blinded him to Religion B. According to his brother Warren, his conversion was "no sudden plunge into a new life, but rather a slow, steady convalescence from a deep-seated spiritual illness--an illness that had its origins in our childhood, in the dry husks of religion offered by the semi-political churchgoing of Northern Ireland, and the similar dull emptiness of compulsory church during our school days."
C. Salvation is not even Secured Through Sincerity. V.6a
1. Before coming to Christ, Paul was very sincere, yet sincerely wrong!
a. Paul tells us how deadly sincere he was: “as to zeal, a persecutor of the church”. That’s pretty sincere! Paul believed what he said and he acted on what he said. You see, to the Jews, zeal was a supreme virtue.
b. However, and even as we have seen in our own era, Religious zeal can often times be a two sided coin. On the one side we see love. On the other side of extreme religious zeal we can see hate. To be zealous is to love God and hate what He hates. Yet, we see this daily in the news. One religious group after another persecuting and hating their fellow man… all so as to please their God!
2. One can be sincere and still be sincerely wrong.
a. Illust: The President of my seminary, Dr. Robertson McQuilkin, once said: “The problem is that if sincerity ‘saves’ in religion, it is the ONLY realm in which it saves... Neither does sincerity save in chemistry. We do not say, ‘If you drink arsenic, sincerely believing it to be Coca-Cola, according to your faith be it unto you.’ Sincerity does not alter reality.” (Robertson McQuilkin, The Biblical Historical Foundation).
b. Does God hold us accountable if we seek the truth but come to a wrong conclusion? Is there a wrong conclusion? The answer matters. In school we learn at a very young age that there are right and wrong answers. On an assignment, getting one wrong answer will get points taken off. Getting too many wrong answers will get a failing grade. On some tests, some answers could be worth more points than others (like essay questions verses multiple choice questions). The important thing we learn, however, is that THERE IS A RIGHT ANSWER AND THERE IS A WRONG ANSWER. In the Bible, Jesus tells us in John 14:6, “I am the way, the truth, the life. No man comes to me unless the Father draws him.” This is a pretty exclusive claim. For someone to believe in the claims of Christ they must believe that Jesus is the one door. The one right answer. Jesus didn’t say He was A way, but THE way. And that no one comes to the Father except through him. He also says that “no one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him” in John 6:44.
D. Applic: Are you trusting in tradition, religion, or even sincerity for salvation? DON’T! Trust Christ alone!
III. Realize that Salvation Comes from Knowing Christ! Vv.7-11
A. Paul clearly states the Dramatic Change that Changes Everything in his life.
1. Paul relates a new knowledge by which he saw the true way by which salvation is secured. Vv.7-9. Paul is looking at the things that should have been of value for his salvation, what should have been in the “credits” column, and he dramatically moves them into the deficit column! Religious “credits” that man does in his/her own strength NEVER impresses God for salvation. However, the benefits of Christ’s finished work are INCALCUABLE! Paul even goes a step beyond that and says: “ALL THINGS THAT I PREVIOUSLY COUNTED AS GAIN ARE NOW COUNTED AS LOSS!”
2. Look at those two words: “I count”. They are in the present tense. Paul had meritoriously counted on his works to save him and put him in good standing with God. Yet they don’t! Illust: Several years ago watched a BBC program (Broken Windows) where Sean Bean plays a parish priest in an impoverished Northern English town. He is counseling with a woman who is considering suicide. He tells her to promise him she won’t do it. She has embezzled 200K Sterling. from her employer and will come to light soon. She asks him if he has ever done anything so heinous. He answers that yes, as a young man, he did some very awful things. She asks him how he copes with the guilt. His answer is: “I became a priest and daily I attempt to atone for my sins. I hope that when I die, I will have atoned enough.” NO! NO! NO! Paul says: “Count your clerical collar as nothing! Count your serving communion as nothing! Count your extreme unction and every other rite as a LOSS for the “OVERWHELMING” value to knowing Christ! Paul even refers to these works people trust in as “rubbish” – literally waste, dung, manure…You get the idea. Not a lot of value placed on those things.
B. Paul Clearly States where True Righteousness Comes from. V.9
1. Paul had spent his entire adult life futilely trying to obtain a righteousness that was derived from an attempt to keep the OT Law. Self effort! External morality! Religious ritual! Moral works! All produced by the flesh had become a crushing, unbearable burden! Even though Paul did his best and arguably better than most, he fell far from God’s standard of complete righteousness! (Rom. 3:23).
2. Read Romans 7:9-13 – Even though Paul thought he was devoted to the law of Judaism, he was living and thinking apart from the law of God. When, however, he came to Christ on the Damascus Road and saw the true, divine law, he saw himself as a sinner DEAD in sin and head for eternal death. When he saw his own sinfulness he utterly renounced his works of righteousness and accepted the free gift of God’s righteousness that comes by grace. Illust: “Decision” magazine recounted following story: Rev. Franklin Graham was preaching in Blackpool, England. One Peggy Ratlcliff was in the audience due to the influence of her neighbor, David Barnfield. Barnfield is a Christian who often attempted to speak to Ratcliff about Christ. Ratcliff had quit going to church decades ago. When Barnfield would speak about Jesus, her reply would be: “I don’t need Him. I have never done anything wrong!” That’s quite a boast for a 2 or 3yr old. Ms. Ratcliff, however, was 100yrs! On Saturday, September 22, 2018, Ms. Ratcliff agreed to go to the meeting and there, at 100 years of age, she realized her need and ask Christ to forgive her of her sins and save her!
C. Applic: Friend may I ask you who or what are you trusting in for your salvation? Ethnic heritage? Religious heritage? Religious rituals? Human effort? Listen to what Paul says: “Count it all as rubbish, and cling to Jesus Christ!”
