Sermon Tone Analysis

Text: Phil 3:1-4:1

Theme: Stand firm in the faith.

Doctrine: Perseverance

Image: running a race

Need: apathy

Message: push on toward the goal

 

*Standing Firm in Faith*

Philippians 3:1-4:1

*Intro*

New years is always a time when we make resolutions.

We decide to stop eating so much chocolate.

We decide to spend more time at home, to take a more active interest in our families, to make money less of a concern in our homes.

In the passage we read this morning, we are reminded of what our New Years resolution should really be.

Those others are good, but they are not the goal, but the product of our resolution.

God is urging us through Paul to stand firm in the faith.

Our New Years resolution should be, “This year I will not put any confidence in the things of this world, but I will work hard to strengthen to deepen, and to mature my faith in Christ.”

Paul writes this letter to the Philippians from prison and sends it back with Epaphroditus.

He is writing them to thank them for their gift and for sending Epaphroditus to serve him.

He is also preparing the way for Timothy to be sent to them.

We are not certain exactly from where Paul writes this letter.

In this letter Paul thanks God for the Philippians, and he prays for them.

Paul has much love for this congregation, it was founded by him and they have supported him well throughout his journeys.

The main purpose of this letter is to encourage the Philippians to continue growing in their faith and to stand firm against opposition.

The section that we read warns the Philippians to be on their guard against Judaizers, a group of Jewish Christians who taught that the gentiles had to follow Jewish ceremonial law to become Christians, the Gentiles had to become Jews before they could be Christians.

This group seemed to follow Paul around everywhere he went and they tried to get gentiles circumcised, even though the council at Jerusalem decided against this teaching.

*Paul tells the Philippians to put no confidence in the flesh.*

Paul is quite abrasive in this section.

“Watch out for those dogs, those mutilators of the flesh,” Paul says.

This might not seem like much to us, but to the Jews this would have been a horrible insult.

Now, “dog” is a  term of abuse which the Jews use toward the Gentiles, but here Paul is using this term against the Jews.

See, dogs were the lowliest of creatures.

They were wild.

They were not kept as pets.

They roamed the countryside in packs.

They were dirty.

They were mangy, and they scavenged through garbage for food to eat.

Here Paul rudely calls the Judaizers, Gentiles.

He does this to make a point.

The Jews can no longer rely on circumcision as the sign of God's covenant people.

Ever since the time of Abraham, circumcision was the sign of the covenant people of God, but that has been changed because of what Christ came to do.

We are reminded by the Christmas season that God entered into the world and placed the curse of sin on his own son.

The new circumcision, says Paul, are we who worship by the Spirit of God, who glory or boast in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh.

The Judaizers were placing the confidence of their salvation in what they did by following the law.

They put their confidence in the fact that their foreskin had been removed.

They put confidence in their flesh, quite literally.

“You can't get to heaven if you don't follow the law,” they said.

You can imagine them saying, “Jesus was a Jew, Jesus came as the messiah of God's covenant people Israel, thus if you want Jesus sacrifice to have any meaning for you, you have to become a Jew, you have to do something for your salvation.”

“Let's see how far following the law can get you.”

Paul challenges.  “If you think that you have reason to put confidence in the flesh, in what you have accomplished in the law, I have more.

I was circumcised on the eighth day, I am from the nation of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, I was a Hebrew of Hebrews because I followed the strict Pharisaical form of the Law.

I was so zealous for the Law that I persecuted the church.

And in the eyes of the Law, I was faultless.

I was perfect.

I thought I had everything I needed to get to heaven, but I was wrong.

My earthly success contributed nothing to my salvation.”

Paul had everything going for him, from a earthly point of view.

He was born a Jew, part of God's covenant people.

He was part of the tribe of Benjamin, a tribe descended from one of the favoured sons of Jacob, a tribe which had not rebelled against David when Absalom tried to take his throne.

Paul was trained by a famous Rabbi, Gameliel.

He followed not only the prescriptions of the Law of Moses written in the Pentateuch, but he also followed the vast oral tradition which had been added to the Pentateuch.

He was so committed to the Jewish religion that he pursued and killed followers of Jesus, whom he considered a pretender.

Paul was no ordinary Hebrew, he was a Hebrew of Hebrews.

“Look here,” Paul says, “if you want to compare yourselves to me on an earthly plane, I outrank you 100:1.”

From a standpoint of the Law, Paul was faultless, he was blameless, he was perfect.

But Paul is not boasting here.

He is not tooting his own horn.

He is not trying to gain accolades for himself, or put himself on a pedestal.

On the contrary, he was showing the Philippians how foolish it is to put confidence in the accomplishments of the world.

If anyone had any reason to do so, surely it was Paul, yet he was adamant that Christians have no right to do so.

As Paul states in Romans 3:23, “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”

No one can boast in their own works, because everyone has fallen short of what is required of the law.

Those who try to earn their salvation by any part of the law are subject to the whole law (Gal 5:3), and since no one can fulfil the whole law, they are sentencing themselves to eternal punishment.

Thus, Paul tells the Philippians not to put any confidence in the flesh.

*God tells us not to put any confidence in the flesh.*

Through Paul, God tells us not to put any confidence in the flesh.

The world tells us that success is measured by its terms.

If we want to live on, we have to do something memorable, or we have to build a dynasty that can be passed on to the next generation.

This is how the world measures success.

But we live by a different measuring stick.

We live by the grace of God, and are not to place our trust in wealth or riches, fame or glory, recognition or prestige, or anything else the world holds dear.

We are not to place our trust in the outward manifestation of our religion; in following the ten commandments, in being kind to our neighbour, or our family, or other church members.

We are not to place our trust in providing monetary support for our church, for missions, or for other Christian endeavours.

We have no reason to boast in our success.

All that we have is a gift of God, including our faith.

He has called us and made us his own.

Our salvation rests not in our hands, but in God's.

A lady was talking with her pastor about this matter of faith and works.

“I think that getting to heaven is like rowing a boat,” she said.

“One oar is faith, and the other is works.

If you use both, you get there.

If you use only one, you go around in circles.”

“There is only one thing wrong with your illustration,” replied the pastor.

“Nobody is going to heaven /in a row boat!”/

No one rows their way to heaven, by faith or by works.

We are brought to God by /his/ work, not ours.

God brings us to himself on eagle's wings, just as he carried the Israelites out of Egypt.

Nothing the Israelites did got them out from under the rule of Pharaoh, it was all God's doing.

Nothing we do gets us out from under the rule of Satan, it is all God's work.

Our only hope of salvation is through faith in our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, just as Paul's was.

Our good works are done out of response to this grace God has given us.