Restoring the Joy
Sermon # 7
“Three Things We Must Do To Keep Our Joy”
Philippians 3:1-11
When life goes well for people who do not know the Lord they feel elated. When hard times come they sink into despair. But true joy enables us to rise above the rolling waves of circumstance. Joy comes from a consistent relationship with Jesus Christ. When our lives are intertwined with Jesus, he is available to help us to walk above adversity without permanently sinking into debilitating lows and helps to manage the good times without moving into deceptive highs. But joy can be disrupted by life’s trials and our own sinful tendencies.
One of those tendencies is the tendency to define our worth in terms of our own efforts and achievements.“The 19th-century Bible scholar G. S. Bowes pointed out the ultimate futility of ambition that isn’t accompanied by dedication to God. Citing four powerful world rulers of the past, he wrote: “Alexander the Great was not satisfied, even when he had completely subdued the nations. He wept because there were no more worlds to conquer, and he died at an early age in a state of debauchery. Hannibal, who filled three bushels with the gold rings taken from the knights he had slaughtered, committed suicide by swallowing poison. Few noted his passing, and he left this earth completely unmourned. Julius Caesar, ‘staining his garments in the blood of one million of his foes,’ conquered 800 cities, only to be stabbed by his best friends at the scene of his greatest triumph. Napoleon, the feared conqueror, after being the scourge of Europe, spent his last years, in banishment.” No wonder Solomon warned of the poor prospects for anyone who strives to succeed without relying on God.” – [ H.G.B. Our Daily Bread, January 31 -//www.bible.org/illus/a/a-17.htm]
Charles Swindoll offers some advice in this area when he says, “Something within all of us warms up to human strokes. We are motivated to do more when our efforts are noticed and rewarded. That is why they make things like impressive trophies and silver platters and bronze plaques and gold medals… What does it do? It drives us to do more, to gain greater recognition, to achieve more valuable rewards, better pay, or higher promotions …. But how easy it is to forget that not one of those accomplishments gives a person what he or she may lack deep within – that’s why they can’t bring lasting satisfaction. And much more importantly, none of them earns God’s favor.” [Charles Swindoll. Laugh Again: Experience Outrageous Joy. (Dallas: Word, 1991) pp. 126-127]
Today we are going to take note of one of the chief joy stealers of our day – the demands of human achievement. This is a philosophy that is glorified in our day, the type A Personality - the workaholic.
This morning I want to Share with you “Three things We Must Do to Keep Our Joy.”
First, To Keep Our Joy We Must – Realize It Is Worth Safe-Guarding! (v. 1)
“Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. For me to write the same things to you is not tedious, but for you it is safe.”
Paul reminds these believers that they are to be a people characterized by joy when he says “rejoice in the Lord” or literally “keep on rejoicing.” We are to keep rejoicing because joy acts as a barrier against all those things he has warned against, such as dissension, grumbling and attitudes of superiority. He says that we must safeguard our joy because not only are there enough pressures of life to steal their joy, there are the ever present legalist on the loose who would rob them of their joy.
To Keep Our Joy We Must – Realize It Is Worth Safe-Guarding And …
Secondly, To Keep Our Joy We Must - Beware Of Those Who Would Have Us To Rely On The Wrong Things. (vv. 2-6) “Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the mutilation! (3) For we are the circumcision, who worship God in the Spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh,
Paul uses the word “beware” three times in verse one. Beware is a strong word meaning “look out for” or “be warned against.” Paul then uses three uncompli-mentary terms to describe those who try to add legalist additions to what is required to become a Christian.
First, He tells them to Beware of their Character – “dogs.” When he calls them dogs he is not referring to household pets, the dogs in Palestine at this time were large, wild scavengers that ran in packs through the streets and alleys ways of the cities. They posed a threat to anyone who got in their way.
Secondly, He tells them to Beware of their Conduct – “evil workers.” But the individuals he was talking about called Judaizers, were individuals who came along behind Paul and attempted to teach new believers in Christ that what they had was not enough. That something additional was necessary and in this case it was the ritual of circumcision. They taught that one must first become a Jew through circumcision in order to be a “real” Christian.
Third, He tells them to Beware of their Creed – “beware of the mutilation.” This is a purposeful play on the term “circumcision” the word translated here “mutilation” refers to their legalist requirement which was nothing more than confidence in an external ritual.
While there is nothing wrong with circumcision itself, Paul says that it is wrong to teach that circumcision is a requirement for salvation. At one time the act of circumcision set God’s people, the Jews, apart from the Gentile unbelievers. But after Jesus Christ, all people became a part of God’s family by believing in Jesus as Savior.
While Paul spoke about these individual in a rather derogatory fashion he was not rejecting everything Jewish. He was after all a Jew himself, he worshipped at the temple, he attended the religious festivals, and he had been circumcised as a baby. But most important of all to Paul was that nothing get in the way of the simple truth that salvation, for the Jew and Gentile alike, comes through faith in Jesus Christ ALONE!
As we have already noted the individuals being warned against were the Judaizers. They believed that their accomplishments would earn their salvation. So in verses four through six, Paul challenges these false teachers to a credentials “showdown.” He says, “though I also might have confidence in the flesh. If anyone else thinks he may have confidence in the flesh, I more so: (5) circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews; concerning the law, a Pharisee; (6) concerning zeal, persecuting the church; concerning the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.”
Paul is telling us about those years in his life when he worked so hard to impress God. At first glance it might appear that Paul was actually boasting about his achieve-ments. But he actually is doing just the opposite, he is showing that human achievements, no matter how impressive can not earn eternal life with God.
We may not identify at all with Paul’s list of credentials. You may say, “Who cares that he was a Benjamite?” But the same spiritual motivations still exist for us today. But for us, the questions for us might be, “What are you depending on to get you to Heaven? Are you depending on affiliation with the “right” church or baptism or being good to secure your place in heaven?” That is the very issue that Paul is now going to address. Paul warns the people of the church at Philippi to stay clear of the false teachers who taught that what people did, rather than accepting the free gift of grace, made it possible for them to go to heaven.
After showing the Judaizers that he could beat them at their own game (being proud of who they were and what they had done) he told them it was even the “wrong game.”
One day on the road to Damascus Paul met Jesus face to face and that changed everything (Acts 9). One glimpse of what true holiness looked like “was enough to convince him forever that he had spent his entire life on the wrong road traveling at breakneck speed toward the wrong destination for all the wrong reasons.” [Swindoll. pp. 134-135]
To Keep Our Joy We Must - Beware Of Those Who Would Have Us To Rely On The Wrong Things And …
Third, To Keep Our Joy We Must - Understand That Nothing We Can Do To Earn Salvation (vv. 7-10)
“But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. (8) Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ (9) and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteous-ness which is from God by faith; (10) that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, (11) if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.”
Paul uses an accounting metaphor with a gain and loss column. Paul had learned that nothing he could do would earn him salvation. Considering how much Paul had been taught to value these credentials and how hard he had worked to achieve them, it must have been difficult to cast them all aside. But Paul had learned that no amount of rule-keeping, attempts at self-improvement, or religious effort can ever make one right with God. (2 Cor. 5:21)
But what does Paul mean when he says, “that I may know him?” The word “know” or “knowledge” can mean; (1) to learn by serious study such as mathematics or physics, thus to understand, or (2) to know by intuition, as when we say, “Oh, I know what is going on!” But neither of these is what Paul is talking about. The word “knowing” (v. 8) speaks of a personal, experiential and progressive knowledge. To know Christ is more than merely knowing about Him, knowing facts or even doctrine, it is knowing HIM! Paul wanted to know Christ personally, by experience and to have it affect his day to day life. Paul wants to enter into the deepest possible union with Christ.
“I have walked life’s path with an easy tread,
Had followed where comfort and pleasure led;
And then by chance in a quiet place –
I met my Master face to face.
With station and rank and wealth for goal,
Much thought for body but none for soul,
I had entered to win this life’s mad race –
When I met my Master face to face.
I had built my castles, reared them high,
Till their towers had pierced the blue of the sky;
I had sworn to rule with an iron mace -
When I met my Master face to face.
I met Him and Knew Him, and blushed to see
That His eyes full of sorrow were fixed on me;
And I faltered, and fell at His feet that day
While my castles vanished and melted away.
Melted and vanished; and in their place
I saw naught else but my Master’s face;
And I cried aloud: ‘Oh, make me meet
To follow the marks of Thy wounded feet.’
My thought is now for the souls of men;
I have lost my life to find it again
Ever since alone in that holy place
My master and I stood face to face.”
[John R Rice. ed. “Poems That Preach”
(Wheaton, Ill.: Sword of the Lord Pub., 1952)
p. 18]
