What Paul Might Appreciate For Clergy Appreciation Month

(Based on a sermon preached October 8, 2023 at First Baptist Church, Chamois, MO. This is not an exact transcription.)

Introduction: October is clergy appreciation month and I’m grateful for the men of God whom our Lord has placed in my life. Words can’t express how much gratitude I feel for them, even if I didn’t always feel that way in the past!

One preacher who might have some things to appreciate was Paul. He was given some things, he achieved some other things, but he realized at the last what was really important. Let’s begin.

Text, Philippians 3:1-11, KJV: 1 Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things again is no trouble to me, and it is a safeguard for you. 2 Beware of the dogs, beware of the evil workers, beware of the false circumcision; 3 for we are the true circumcision, who worship in the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh, 4 although I myself might have confidence even in the flesh. If anyone else has a mind to put confidence in the flesh, I far more: 5 circumcised the eighth day, of the nation of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the Law, a Pharisee; 6 as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to the righteousness which is in the Law, found blameless.

7 But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. 8 More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish in order that I may gain Christ, 9 and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of 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 in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.

1 What Paul had received

I may have mentioned this before, but it’s worth remembering that Philippi was a unique place in those days. Philippi was a Roman ‘colony”, a place made to look and feel like Rome, in honor of the Roman army veterans who were able to live there. I was shocked to learn that the typical Roman army recruit enlisted for 20 years (!) but, if he survived, was given a great number of privileges and benefits. One such benefit was the chance to retire to a colony, like Philippi.

With this in mind, Paul starts this third chapter of his letter to the Philippians with a word of exhortation (rejoice in the Lord) and a word of warning. Something to remember was that “dogs” were wild animals in those days, scavenging and basically not worth getting to know. I’ve never heard of anyone keeping a pet dog in those days.

He also warned the Philippians to beware of the evil workers and the false circumcision. We’re not told of any problems in Philippi which had plagued Galatia (see the letter to the Galatians and also Acts 15) but Paul knew full well what these false teachers could and did do.

Paul didn’t stop there, by the way. He emphasized that believers were the true circumcision and paraphrases a good bit of Romans 4 in the process. The main idea is that circumcision doesn’t save the soul but faith in Jesus Christ does.

After this, he begins to explain some of the things he had already received. I mean, nobody is able to choose their parents before birth and nobody I know of has been able to request, “God, I would like to be born to millionaire parents” or anything like that! Paul, then, couldn’t have had anything to do with his parents (and, interestingly, we’re not told who they were!) or where he was born. Tarsus was better than some other places, I’m sure!

Now Paul begins to list some of these inherited things or what he had received. First, he says he had been “circumcised the eighth day”, in accordance with the Law (Leviticus 12:3). This means his parents were devout, observant, Jews. I don’t read anywhere else that any male was required to be circumcised unless he was a descendant of Abraham. True, Paul did have Timothy circumcised but that was a special case.

Paul went on to say that he was “of the nation (“stock”, King James Version) of Israel”, meaning he and his family were truly descended from Abraham, not converts or proselytes. Certainly there was nothing wrong with this, as Rahab, Ruth, and others left their previous culture and religion/s to follow the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. This only means that his family had maintained their devotion to not only the God of Israel but also the nation of Israel.