What’s important to you?
Philippians 3
Intro:
A. Philippians is the book of Joy. How to have a joyful Christian mind.
B. Paul gives us in these chapters thieves that rob us of joy.
1. Chapter 1 - Circumstances of life
2. Chapter 2 – People can rob us of joy
3. Chapter 3 - things can rob us
C. 11 times you will see the word things in this chapter
D. Things can rob you us of joy. Either things we have don’t have or things we want.
E. The bible speaks about things.
1. Gen 1:31 Things in and of themselves aren’t wrong.
2. Jesus said in his sermon on the mount Mat. 6:31-32. we have things. We need things, but it’s the place you give these things in your life that robs you.
Philippians 3 we find victory over things. How?
1. Joyful Christian mind- looking at things from a spiritual point of view.
2. Looking at things from an earthly point of view will cause you to be miserable.
3. Spiritual mind does not mean walking around in a daze, eyes rolled back in your head or walking 3 ft. off the ground.
4. Paul was a normal man but he had a spiritual mind.
5. Let’s talk about what it means to have a spiritual mind to get victory over things in life that robs us joy.
3 verbs to bring out in this chapter
1. V. 8: I count
2. V. 14: I press
3. V. 20: We look
I. I Count
a. It’s a bookkeeping term. The word is from the field of accounting.
b. He opens up the ledger of his life and gives a personal testimony.
c. He talks about the religious things in his life (v. 4)
If anybody could brag about religious things that could get him into heaven, he could brag a lot.
1. (v. 5) proper ritual: “circumcised the eighth day” That was the religious ritual the Jewish people required. He’s saying that if I could get into heaven by baptism I could.
2. Proper race: “the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, and Hebrew of the Hebrews” If color could get you into heaven Paul says I was the right color.
3. Proper religion- he was a Pharisee the religious of the religious crowd.
4. (v. 6) concerning zeal- he was on fire. He was a good moral person.
5. (v. 7) Paul realizes that all of the religious things he thought was going to get him into heaven was not going to at all.
1. On the road to Damascus he came face to face with the glory
Jesus and his religious credentials crumbles and ell at his feet and he saw that salvation is not a religion. Salvation is a relationship.
6. He says I counted all of those things loss for Christ. He lost a lot when he came to Jesus.
a. (v. 8) He was willing to throw everything away in order to get Jesus.
b. Nothing in life is worth holding onto if you can’t have Jesus with it.
c. Think about it what Paul lost.
1. Financial security
2. Physical Comfort
3. Paul was a Jew so coming to Jesus he lost his family.
4. He lost everything people would consider and think is important to them. He counted it lost
A. (v.8) Dung- Greek (skubalon)- human waste
1. He counts everything as junk and garbage. Everything I have when it’s compared to Jesus is garbage.
2. He’s saying you must learn to forsake all things for Jesus “ That I may have the Excellency of the knowledge of Christ”
3. All of his disciple forsook there own to follow Jesus. We must forsake sin to follow Jesus and everything that represents sin.
