Philippians #12 A Great Teacher

INTRODUCTION Philippians 3:1-8.

Read Philippians 3:1-8, what is the theme?

Paul is my kind of teacher.

Just when you think he is bringing the lesson to a close, he goes on for two more chapters.

Finally.

That single word gives us the idea that we are about done.

But in truth we are only half way home.

In fact, when you consider the previous lesson, and how odd it was to have that kind of text, I wonder if Paul wasn’t thinking it is finished.

But of course we know that nobody wrote of their own volition, but that the Biblical writers wrote as they were carried along by the Spirit of God.

So maybe Paul thought he was done, and the Spirit had another idea.

Read the text again, don’t look at my notes, and try to fill out the following fill in the blank statements. The heart of a genuine teacher makes sure……

He instills truth through repetitive teaching.

He warns His people of false teachers.

He builds up his church.

A GOOD TEACHER IS REPETITIVE

In vere 1 we see the heart of a genuine teacher.

To write the same things again, is no trouble for Paul, why would Paul feel this way? What is the value of teaching the same thing multiple times?

That makes me feel really good.

People have observed, that I repeat certain things a lot.

Now when it comes to illustrations it is because I like them and don’t have any better ones.

But when it comes to doctrinal truth, it is not because I can’t remember what I said previously, it is because that is the very best method of teaching.

I don’t base that on my opinion, or something I read or was taught in school.

I believe repetitive teaching is the best method because that is how YHWH teaches. Can you give any evidence that this is true?

Every NT Epistle has basically the same truths taught that every other epistle teaches.

It is this repetitive nature of the scriptures that help to cement the truth into our wandering minds.

Even Jesus told some of the same truths multiple times.

I also know, this is how I learn best.

When I was taught to really play top level golf, my teacher made me hit between 7 and 800 balls every day.

It was that repetitive motion every day that my muscles were trained to repeat.

The same is true in the mind.

When we hear things 2 and 3 times, it begins to sink in.

When we hear it hundreds of times, it really becomes our convictions.

So the apostle is not bothered by having to repeat himself.

That by the way is the meaning of the word translated trouble, it can also be translated bothersome.

It is no bother, to write the same things.

Some people think I have it all up here.

But the truth is, as part of my preparation for a lesson, I listen to Alister Begg, John MacArthur, Vodie Bacham, Paul Washer, and many others and I read quite a bit.

Sometimes I listen to their same message on a given text 2 or 3 times.

Because then I really understand what they think about the passage.

Paul understand the value of repetitive teaching and again I believe we see that in the Bible.

Did you realize that every book of the Bible teaches of the returns of Christ in some shape or form.

Some books devote whole chapters to His second coming.

The Revelation focuses almost exclusively on His second coming.

The NT refers to Jesus as Lord, are you ready for this, over 600 times.

I think the Lord is trying to drive home a point.

Because as we just learned, Lord is the name above every other name.

The atonement, the substitutionary atonement, one of the most important doctrines appears in Genesis 3, 9,12, and in every sacrifice ever performed throughout the OT, not to mention all the NT discussions.

So my conclusion is this, repetition is good.

A good teacher repeats the major doctrines and essential truths often.

And in this case, just as the Apostle warned the Ephesian church, he now warns the believers at Philippi.

Acts 20:29–31 LSB

“I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them. “Therefore be watchful, remembering that night and day for a period of three years I did not cease to admonish each one with tears.

This was one of those essential truths, that the apostle consistently repeated.

A GOOD TEACHER WARNS HIS PEOPLE

Not only do we learn better through repetitive teaching, but it also helps to protect us. Read Matt 7:24-27, does this have any bearing on our text, if so how? (focus on the value of a foundation)

The best defense is a good offense when it comes to false teachers, and that is where Paul is taking us.

The idea is this, if a false teacher hits me with a truth claim, and I have no real truth claim of my own to counter it, then I am vulnerable.

Let me illustrate with a story about CS Lewis.

In the 1920’s, Lewis was a devout Atheist.

But one night in his home, a fellow atheist stated, you know, as I look at the claims of Christianity, they really do make a strong case that it is true.

Lewis was shocked.

Later he would write, but my bigger problem was that I had no idea how to respond to that claim?

We all know that CS Lewis eventually became a believer and a strong defender of the faith.

But he admits, a chink in my atheistic armor was exposed that night in my home.

Well that night everything worked together for good.

But David Rice’s story goes just the other direction.

After months of trying to disciple David and bring him to a saving understanding of Jesus Christ, we all thought He was born again.

But then in just a few weeks, his actions said otherwise.

After having a conversation with a former pastor friend who denied eternal security, and really had a hatred for baptists, David went right back to his old ways.

The jury is still out on David.

But my point was, David was vulnerable to the lies of the pentecostal pastor because he lacked a firm foundation.

In the same way CS Lewis was vulnerable to the claims of the gospel because his atheism has no firm foundation.

Now I would like to think that I did everything I could to help him, but I often wonder was there more I should have done.

In fact, the way I teach now wasn’t always the case.

There was a time when I held back a little more.

Until one day, a family that had come to faith in Christ under my preaching left our conservative Bible believing church, and joined a denomination I consider to be heretical.

After talking to her, I realized I definitely could have done more to help safe guard her.

So in my mind, any teacher worth their salt is willing to wade into the deep and controversial issues of life and doctrine.

Paul demonstrates that very attitude as he warns his church about the dogs, evil workers, and false circumcision, ie. false teachers.

This is the second mark of a genuine loving teacher, he warns his people.

Beware is a word that can be used in a couple of ways in Greek.

Sometimes it means to see to it that something happens.

So in this case it could mean pay close attention to these types of people.

Watch them carefully.

Sometimes the word means to perceive something.

So in this case that would mean to be on the look out for this type of person.

Both offer some insight into this situation.

To really make sense of this we need to understand the culture of the early church.

It was very different than here.

India and Nepal are more like the early church in the way I am about to describe.

You see here, I could visit a church and nobody cares.

But in India and Nepal, when a pastor, even a former pastor visits their church, they ask them to preach.

In the days of the early church, there were a great many itinerate preachers roaming about going from city to city. When they arrived in a city like Philippi or Ephesus, they were given the opportunity to preach. List some pros and cons of this practice.

Now that can be both good and bad.

In Paul’s case, or Barnabas, or Silas or Timothy, this was a good thing.

They visited, and they were allowed to preach and teach.

But when false teachers arrived, they were not known as a false teacher, and they too were allowed to teach.

This had catastrophic consequences at times.

Paul would spend time, like in the Galatian churches, then he would move on.

No sooner had he left, than here come the Judaizers.

In Galatia, the Judaizers were winning the day.

They were effective in leading the churches into false doctrine.

We tend to go easy on new believers because they are young and immature. Did the apostle Paul go easy on the young Galatians churches when he heard what was going on there?

But you better believe Paul was hard on them.

Calling them foolish and bewitched.

That is pretty harsh.

Incidently, Paul wrote Galatians a few years before he wrote Philippians.

Perhaps the events in Galatia were his wake up call the same way that family being swept away by false teaching woke me up.

Paul does not appear to be angry or bitter at this time, nothing like the Galatian letter, but he is bold, direct and to the point.

There are three stated warnings, and best I can tell, they all point to the same group which is actually identified in the last, the Judaizers.

That is my thinking.

However, I will say there door is open for alternative thinking because…..

Gentiles are often referred to as dogs by Jews.

I just have a hard time believing Paul would use such an epitaph for the lost.

Even those who would destroy the church.

Some groups of people were more vile and wicked than others, more immoral.

It is possible that these were in view.

But the apostle doesn’t ever seem to concerned about those kinds of people.

He is however always very concerned about the Judaizers.

I am serious, as Paul went from place to place, their is significant evidence that they followed right along.

Their goal was to undo what Paul had done and install their own brand of religion.

We have a clue that these three epitaphs, dogs, evil workers, and false circumcision all apply to the same group. Do you see the clue?

It is in verse 3 where Paul says we are the true circumcision.

You see one of the marks of the Judaizers was that they taught people everywhere that to be a Christian, you had to first become a Jew, and then they basically fell back on the law and taught a salvation by works theology.

The first and primary tenet of the Judaizers was that you had to be circumcised before you could become a “Christian.”

So when Paul left a place, they swept in.

They then began to say Paul was only partly right.

Yes Jesus is the Savior, but it is Jesus plus, circumcision and the keeping of the law.

Notice in verse 2 Paul refers to this group of false teachers as the false circumcision.

Read Genesis 17, what is the purpose of circumcision? And what is the NT equivalent?

Circumcision was never meant to bring you into a right relationship with God.

Circumcision was a sign of the Abrahamic covenant.

It was a symbol that you were a follower of God.

Just like water baptism.

Paul refers to this group of Jews known as the Judaizers as the false circumcision because their sign of circumcision meant nothing.

They did not love God.

They did not honor God.

The Judaizers simply picked up where the Pharisees left off.

Remember Jesus said of the Pharisees, you burden the people and do nothing to help them.

Matthew 23:4 LSB

“And they tie up heavy burdens and lay them on men’s shoulders, but they themselves are unwilling to move them with so much as a finger.

This was also true of the Judaizers.

What do Judaizers or any false teacher gain by deceiving people?

The answer is primarily power.

If I alone have the truth, then I have power over you.

And so like the Pharisees, the Judaizers like the fame and power of being those who are in charge, even if it takes a lie to accomplish it.

The clearest condemnation of the Judaizers comes from the Galatian letter.

Galatians 1:8 LSB

But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should proclaim to you a gospel contrary to the gospel we have proclaimed to you, let him be accursed!

Accursed means to be damned to hell.

So this is an apt condemnation upon those who proclaimed a works based gospel.

Which Paul has something to say about as well.

Galatians 1:6–7 LSB

I marvel that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ for a different gospel, which is really not another, only there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ.

So lets break this down.

Read Galatians 1:6-8, If you believe the Judaizers, what are the ramifications?

First you are deserting Christ.

If you believe a gospel that includes works as a means of salvation, you have deserted Christ.

In my mind, this describes every single so called believer who denies eternal security.

This was exactly what I told David Rice.

His struggle with our church really came down to eternal security.

If he said it once, he said it a dozen times to me, but I have to do something to earn my salvation!

To which I said, that is a one way ticket to hell.

Second, the judaizers preached a different gospel.

Folks, Jesus spent His entire ministry fighting this battle.

Trying to convince them that they could never earn the favor of God by their self effort.

The true gospel is repent, confess, and believe.

All of which come as a result of God’s work in us, not our working for it.

The gospel of the Judaizers disturbs.

Literally the word disturb means to cause to move, in this case away from the truth and toward a lie.

The word was used to describe stirring a liquid.

We use it the same way, If I said quit stirring to pot, or you are sure stirring the pot metaphorically, you know I am saying you are causing trouble.

That is exactly how they used the word.

It was used to describe intense emotional distress.

That is exactly what they did.

They swept in and preyed upon these new believers, telling them you aren’t really saved.

You have to be circumcised to be saved, you have to keep the law to be saved.

And folks, if you think you are saved, and some guy with a PHD in Bible sweeps in and begin to tell you that you are not, that causes emotional distress.

Fourth, the Judaizers distort the Gospel of Christ.

Define distort?

Basically what I have been saying all along.

They take the true gospel and then add in a little works, and suddenly the truth is distorted.

You will like this word distort, it mean to transform something into something of an opposite character.

Boom.

That is so true.

What is the exact opposite of salvation by grace?

Salvation by works.

Now, after all of that I want to share with you how the LSB translated the phrase “false circumcision.”

Mutilation!

In other words, what they do has no meaning, all it accomplishes is to mutilate their body.

That is the same kind of word to describe what is done to make a boy a eunuch.

They mutilate.

A GOOD TEACHER BUILDS UP THE BODY

What are some of the benefits of a body of believers that is edified, built up?

The apostle begins to build up this body of believers because this is the best way to protect them against false teachers.

List the ways in which Paul affirms that the believers in Philippi are indeed the real deal? (vs 3 & 4)

First, we are the true circumcision.

Paul is here affirming what he previously taught.

You are the real deal, and therefore you do not have to listen to the false teachers.

You know the truth, you believe the truth, and you are born again.

Second, you worship in the Spirt of God.

This is a slam dunk.

Jesus told the Samaritan woman, John 4:21-24

John 4:21–24 LSB

Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe Me, an hour is coming when neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. “You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. “But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers. “God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”

The hour has come, that is now, when true worship will begin to take place.

This is significant.

Notice the conditions, in Spirit and in truth.

Those who try to worship in their own way, apart from the truth of God’s word, that isn’t worship.

Those who lack a saving relationship with Jesus Christ are not worshipping for two reasons, they lack the Spirit and they lack the truth.

Jesus is emphatic, you must worship in spirit and in truth.

Those who are not born again are spiritually dead, and therefore cannot worship the One true God.

But the Philippian believers are the real deal because they worship in the Spirit of God.

What do works based religionists boast about?

Next Paul affirms and builds up this church reminding them that they boast in Christ.

This too is a mark of a genuine believer.

The genuine believer understands that there is nothing in himself worthy of boasting.

All that we are and all that we have is due to the grace of Jesus Christ.

Therefore, the genuine believer boast in Christ, giving Christ the glory.

A mark of the unbeliever is self boasting.

And rightly so from that perspective.

Now hear me out.

If, and this is hypothetical, if I contribute to my own salvation, then yes I have something to boast about.

But in truth, one of my favorite Puritans has it right, he said, “everything good in me is due to Christ, and everything wrong and bad in me is my fault.”

Therefore, we have only one thing to boast in, Jesus Christ.

This was evident in the teaching of Jesus.

Jesus was adamant in John 15:5

John 15:5 LSB

“I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.

John 15:5 played out in the lives of the disciples very quickly after Jesus’ death. Can you explain how or how not this is true?

Remember even after they had witnessed the resurrected Jesus, even after they were recommissioned, nothing happened.

It wasn’t until the Spirit of God came upon them, that they began to accomplish anything.

The same is true of us today.

I cannot impart spiritual truth.

All I can do is put forth the words, give the Spirit something to work with, and He transforms lives.

I say frequently, the Spirit doesn’t work in a vacuum.

If the Spirit is to convict of sin, then sin must be preached.

If the Spirit is to convict of righteousness, then righteousness must be preached.

This is why I am so convinced we must include sin in the gospel so that the Spirit can convict and bring repentance.

But at the end of the day, I cannot boast if you learn, for the Spirit did the teaching.

I am merely an instrument He uses.

Thus He gets the glory.

Closely tied to this, last we see a genuine believer puts no confidence in the flesh.

Again, beating that same drum, if you deny eternal security, then you are saying I have to maintain my own salvation, I have do good to keep it.

Therefore, you are putting a great deal of confidence in the flesh.

You are in essence saying, I can do this.

Folks, this is why I say If salvation can be lost, I would have lost it long ago and so would have you.

The reason is very simple, the standard of God is perfection, absolute perfection.

Sinless perfection, 100% of the time.

You can’t do it and neither can I.

A genuine believer understands this, an therefore puts no confidence in the flesh.

Jesus said of those disciples, but it applies to us all, the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.

The reality is this, we are imperfect creatures, even though we are new creations, we still inhabit an unregenerate body and a mind that is in process of being renewed.

Therefore, we have no confidence is our flesh to live up to the standard of God.

Next we see that….

A GOOD TEACHER USES ILLUSTRATIONS

Illustrations are good teaching tools, and Paul takes us there next.

What is the primary point in Paul’s illustration in verses 4-8?

Just in case you think you have some thing to boast about, just in case you put confidence in your flesh, consider this;

I all the more because…

Paul was the epitome of the moral righteous Jew.

I was circumcised on the 8th day.

That is to say, I was raised in a devout law abiding family.

We obeyed God’s word to the letter.

Remember Timothy?

His mother and grandmother were Jews, Christians but Jews.

Timothy was never baptized.

A lot of Jews as they were far removed from the homeland failed to keep this commandment.

But a devout Jewish family did.

Second, I am of the nation Israel.

I am a full blooded Jew.

A descendant of Abraham is implied here.

And all Jews believed they were secure with God because they were of the Jewish blood.

Third, I am from the tribe of Benjamin.

On the surface this doesn’t seem like much.

But let me remind you, when one spy from each tribe scouted out the promised land, 1o gave a bad report.

Two of those spies gave a good report.

Caleb and Joshua who were of the tribes of Benjamin and Judah respectively.

Furthermore, when the nation split at the end of Solomons life, 10 tribes formed the northern Kingdom of Israel, and two tribes formed the southern kingdom of Judah.

Any guesses which two tribes remained loyal to the true king?

Benjamin and Judah.

Thus, even hundreds of years later, to be of the tribes of Benjamin or Judah gave one bragging rights.

Fourth, A Hebrew of Hebrews.

This is Pauls way of signifying that he was more devout than the average Jew.

In all religions, Christianity included, some people are 20% in, some 50% in and then there are a few pigs.

Remember, the chicken is committed to breakfast, but the pig is all in.

Paul was all in for God.

Fifth, a Pharisee.

I have said this a lot lately, the Pharisees were the most religious, these most moral, the most devoted men to God throughout all of human history, in appearance.

So devoted that they tithes even the tiniest herbs from their gardens.

Sixth, Paul was zealous.

So zealous that he persecuted the church.

Now folks, you have to look at this through his eyes.

He was so convinced that he was right, and that he was right with God for all the reasons just mentioned, that he saw the church as blaspheming enemies.

Therefore, in the same way that Jesus cleaned out the Temple, twice, Paul went after the church.

That is zeal, to believe in something so strongly that you cannot tolerated any challengers.

I would wish that the church to day was this zealous.

Not to the point where we persecute others, but that we would at least be intolerant of heresy.

Last, Paul says I was blameless in the eyes of the law.

Now again, you have to look at this from his perspective.

Paul kept every law he thought he was supposed to keep.

This was true of many of them.

Some of the Pharisees were very corrupt.

But some were very sincere and they obey the law so much as they understood it.

This is why Jesus had to redefine the law.

This was in reaction to their redefining the law.

The Pharisees had lowered the standard over the years.

Paul met the standard as he understood it.

Jesus came along and said no no no, that is not the standard, this is the standard.

Remember in Matt 5 all of those you have heard but I say passages?

You have heard thou shall not murder.

Most Pharisees could honestly say I kept that law.

But Jesus came along and said,, but if you are angry with a brother without cause, you have committed murder in your heart.

They lowered the standard, Jesus put it back where it belonged.

So when Paul says I was blameless under the law, he is sincere.

I would bet he was probably the most law abiding of all the Pharisees.

But in spite of all his earthly fleshly accomplishments, it wasn’t enough.

It wasn’t until the apostle Paul met Jesus on the road to Damascus, when he encountered real righteousness, that he came to understand, he was a sinful man.

Then Paul realized that all of his earthly accomplishments, all of his heritage, all of his passion, meant absolutely nothing.

He once counted all of those things as gain, as profitable.

But now he knows they are loss, they are of no value in the scheme of salvation.

Paul adds for the sake of Christ to emphasize, that Christ now gets the glory for who and what I am, not me.

And the same is true of you and I.

Christ gets all the glory.

A GOOD TEACHER EXALTS CHRIST

Paul now understands, that our highest pursuit is to know Christ.

There is nothing on this planet that can compare in value to knowing Christ Jesus, and Paul adds, my Lord.

Paul rightly understands, that Jesus is Lord.

In verse 8, list the ways Paul exalts Christ.

First he exalts Jesus by proclaiming the infinite value of knowing Him.

I think this is why the John study was so popular, all of us involved were focused on gaining a deeper understanding of Christ.

I am excited about our Luke study, because we are more focused on Christ.

I am excited about our Messianic Prophecy study, because it is focused on Christ.

Second, Paul exalts Jesus as Lord.

This is the ultimate exaltation of Jesus.

We already learned that, because there is coming day when every knew will bow and every knee will confess that Jesus is Lord.

To the glory of God.

Third, Paul exalts Jesus by his willingness to suffer for Christ’s name sake.

When we are willing to suffer for the cause of Christ, it is to the glory of Jesus.

Jesus also said, Blessed are those who are persecuted.

Matthew 5:10 LSB

Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

A true believer will endure suffering for the sake of Christ, and in that He is exalted.

It isn’t just persecution, it is loss in general.

Like when a Christian forgoes an opportunity for profit and or advancement.

Some Christians get passed over for promotion because they are Christian.

Sometime we suffer loss because we stand for Christ and lose friends or business.

Or even church members.

But when it is done for the right reason, Christ is exalted.

Last, Jesus is exalted when we seek Him more than anything else.

He is the pearl of great price and the treasure in the field.

And when we are willing to give everything for the sake of gaining Christ, He is exalted.

He is exalted when we sacrifice pleasure to gain a deeper understanding of Him through personal devotion, Bible study or church.

CONCLUSION

This is what life is really all about anyway.

The Puritans who gathered together and wrote the Westminster Confession had it right, what is the first article in that confession?

the chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.

When we pursue Jesus, we open the door to glorify and enjoy Him.

You can’t glorify Him if you don’t know what pleases Him.

And you can’t enjoy Him if you don’t know Him.

Both are satisfied as we pursue Him through the word.