We Can't Stop (Philippians 3) (Homecoming 2024)

Take a copy of God’s word and open it to the letter to the Philippians chapter 3.

If you are able would you stand as we read God’s word.

1 Finally, my brothers, 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 mutilation!

3 For we are the circumcision, who worship in the Spirit of God and boast 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 because 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 so that I may gain Christ

9 and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own which is from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God upon 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.

12 Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus.

13 Brothers, I do not consider myself as having laid hold of it yet, but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead,

14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

15 Let us therefore, as many as are perfect, think this way; and if in anything you think differently, God will reveal that also to you.

16 However, let us keep walking in step with the same standard to which we have attained.

When the apostles speak… We listen

It is my task this morning to consider with you the present. We have looked at the past in a number of ways, through history, through testimony, through recounting the deeds of the Lord in both word and song. We have seen the faithfulness of the Lord throughout many generations. But we are always left with the everlooming reality of the present. What is it the Lord requires of us now? Is He still being faithful? Are we being faithful? I want to asnwer these questions through three admonishments this morning. Three admonishments that are prevelant to each one of us no matter where we are in our walk of faith. Three admonishments from Paul that are timeless and urgent.

I. Don’t take the bait to glory in your flesh

The reality of our life, whether you are Christian or not, is that our flesh bids us come and worship and glory in it. And until we are released from the chains our flesh has bound us in by the grace of God we can do nothing else…

Paul begins this third chapter by calling on the church to rejoice! Rejoice in the Lord. But immediately he turns to a warning. Paul is not afraid to use a direct insult. Beware of the dogs… The evil workers. He is talking about those people who had been a part of their body, but had turned aside from the truth and become enemies of the cross. They put their confident in the flesh.

Their confidence was in what it was they had acomplished. The word evil workers could be paraphrased, “the evil advocates who require works”. They put a plus sign after Jesus. They are the ones who say, oh yes, Jesus is the way the truth and the life, but you must also have this and that and do this if you want to have salvation. Which is a very effective method for drawing people into your religion and keeping them there if you think about it.

Because our natural tendency is to boast in the flesh. We have a sin nature, a pride nature, that keeps itself alive through good works and acomplishments. Our sin nature is to make our stomachs our god. Always chasing more delight, always trying to get more pleasure and acknowledgment through accolades and recognition. I haven’t met a person yet that doesn’t battle this.

Paul says these dogs are people who used to be in the church but have turned away from Jesus. What they do is put confidence in the flesh. Paul says he doesn’t put confidence in his flesh but then makes a case for how he could!

Oh, he says, I could put confidence in the flesh and would have all the right to by worldly standards. He was a 4H champion and a state champion in basketball in highschool. In college he graduated from IU kelly school of business at the top of his class. He went to work for Lilly as an executive. Every indiana boy wanted to be him… Of course I am trying to say what he said in verse 5-6 in light of our own glory system. The point is, he was worldly, and he gloried in it! That was his confidence, that he would succeed in life, that he would be saved through his works.

To glory in our flesh is to take our eyes off of what really matters. It is to get too focused on the earthen things. Jesus said, His kingdom is not of this world. It is not fleshly but spirit… He told His disciples a hard saying. And as they were trying to figure it out he told them in John 6:63

John 6:63 ESV

It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.

The flesh will never suceed, it will fail. The flesh will burn away and all its works. The flesh is corrupt, and without the miracle of God’s mercy and being born again by the spirit, it will be burnt away for all eternity.

Which leads me to our second admonishment…

II. Recalibrate your glory system through the standard of Christ.

Paul really seems to understand the teachings of Jesus. In John 15:5

John 15:5 ESV

I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.

Apart from me you can do NOTHING. Paul seems to understand this when in verse 7-11 he basically takes all of his accolades, all of his trophies, and degrees, and prize ribbons, and past achievements and throws them into a garbage can. In verse 8 that is esentially what he calls them. They were rubbish. Trash. Refuse. Filthy rags.

And you know what has helped him see this? Suffering. He had lost so much, went happily to prision, endured so many lashes, beaten within inches of his life, etc. And he counts those scars as worthy accolades, he counts the jail testimonies as accolades, not because they have saved him. But because they kept him near the cross. Clinging to Jesus! They keep him walking forward, look at verse 9, not in a righteousness of his own, like he himself had done something right. But what suffering produces in him is a righteousness of faith.

He endures the trials, the suffering, the pain, the loss, in order that he might completely know Jesus. He says, that he might know the fellowship of his sufferings. Amazing... He calls sufferings his friend… Because what is it doing? It is keeping him near the cross. He looks to the life of Christ and desires to be like him. He desires to follow in His footsteps all the way to death. Why? Because there is no-one and no thing worth more value. Go back to verse 8. Paul says, everything earthly that I have done, everything marked by human applause is trash compared to the surpassing value… of knowing Christ.

Now look with me at verse 16… Paul says, however, let us keep walking in step with the same standard to which we have attained… What is the standard of the Christian life? Its Christ! What is salvation? Only Christ! The natural man sees good things like family and friends and food and values them accordingly. He responds to them as a natural man. And he naturally wants more of them and chases them through various veins because he thinks them his whole world. Yet, to what ends? If the natural man goes on gaining value in his family, friends, work life etc but loses his soul, what became of his valuables? Our Lord reminded us that treasure on earth will be destroyed. That one day our life will be required of us. What good will your money be for you then? What good will your awards and accolades be then? How will your family save you then?

There is nothing that could ever be of more value than Jesus because He holds the key to death and hades. He is God’s salvation. He is the only one who pleases and satisfies our creator’s. legal demands. Christ is the one who gives a new heart. He is the only name by which men can be saved. And though the cross looks like death, it is actually a portal to life. Jesus Christ was raised from the dead, he was ressurected. And that promise of new life is given to any of those who follow after him regardless of age, or sin issue, or gender. Come and lay down your life at the well where true life is found. We can enjoy our family and friends and food through Jesus. Because you have true freedom, true joy, true life when you know Christ.

Now we come to our third admonishment…

III. Keep reaching for a perfect faith.

The apostle Paul, being through all he has been through, says, not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect. Which should a real dampner on your spiritual pride. He hasn’t laid hold of his prize yet. But he presses on to lay hold of what was laid hold of by Christ. Verse 14, he presses on toward the goal of the upward call of Christ. Now, there is so much to say here, but what I want to focus on is how he goes about it. Verse 13… He hasn’t laid ahold of it yet, but here is one thing he does, he forgets what lies behind and is reaching for what lies ahead.

Paul intends to forget his past in a sense. He does not obliterate it from his mind, but keeps it in check through a rearview mirror of sorts. He will not regard it as having any significance as to how he is right now. Both the nostalgia of the former life and the “good ole days” of his Christian life would paralyze him in terms of what God wanted in the future.

I get a glimpse of this from time to time… I will stumble upon a video of me playing music in the past on a stage somewhere and fall into nostalgia. The summer before I married Emily I had a sort of mini tour of shows booked between indiana and illinois. I was in communication with a recording studio in Lousiville and growing in influence and connections. I was writing music and thought my life was going to be spent playing my songs in front of hundreds of people. But that is not what the Lord had for me…

Now of course, music is a huge part of my life. But what happens when I fall back into the longing nostalgia of the “good ole days”? I am distracted from what is in my hands now and what is ahead. I know the call on my life. And I know the surpassing worth of Jesus Christ. I have not obatined the prize yet, so I must carry on. And looking back or clinging to worldliness will do me no good. It will only slow me down.

My friends, the same is true in each of our lives and in this church as a whole. We recount the past. We remeber what the Lord has done for us. But we must not stay there. Paul says in verse 15, let us therfore as many as are perfect think this way. Not that he is perfect in the sense of eternal glory through ressurection. But he has been matured in Christ. He has grown to see that the world and all her applause is vanity. He says in 2 Corinthians 5:14-15

2 Corinthians 5:14–15 ESV

For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.

All of this to evaluate our present. What are we as a church controled by? Is it the hope of worldly success or promise, getting what we want, gaining money, outrunning death, seeming nice to the world and those therin? Or is it Christ. Where are your eyes? What is your focus on? Anything less than knowing Christ more and more, and running like Christ is a faulty place to set them. Let us run the race, setting our eyes on Jesus. Let us run, pressing on, seeking more knowledge of Jesus. Seeking more experience of His glory. Seeking more praise and adoration of His name.

Let me close with this… Paul writes to the thessalonians and says 1 Thessalonians 4:9

1 Thessalonians 4:9 ESV

Now concerning brotherly love you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another,

They needed no one to teach them or correct them or move them to brotherly love… They were doing great! But what does paul say next?

1 Thessalonians 4:10 ESV

for that indeed is what you are doing to all the brothers throughout Macedonia. But we urge you, brothers, to do this more and more,

This is my urging to us in the present this morning. Get a glimpse of the past and give God glory! Take a look at the great things happening. Give thanks for all the little babies that have been born and are about to be. Give thanks for healthy elders. Give thanks for new members. But let us ever urge one another on to rejoice in the Lord all the more. To not give up growing, that we may have more knowledge of Jesus, and more wonderful experiences, and even trials that will lead us to endurance, and endurance charcater, and character hope… Our hope is in Christ alone. Both now, and forevermore. Amen.