Forsaking our own righteousness for the sake of Christ's.

Philippians 3:1–8 NASB95

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. Beware of the dogs, beware of the evil workers, beware of the false circumcision; 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, 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: circumcised the eighth day, of the nation of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the Law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to the righteousness which is in the Law, found blameless. But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. 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 so that I may gain Christ,

Introduction

As many of you know life has its seasons. As the years go on things tend to change as we encounter transitions in our lives and very little tends to stay the same. From very early on we’re faced with having to leave behind good things for better things.

As high school students approach graduation they face a life transition, a transition that means leaving family and gaining some independence in pursuit of a career.

When college comes to an end every student leaves behind the friend group they’ve come to love to step into a career.

As marriage comes into view everyone leaves behind the independence they enjoyed for companionship and a life-long commitment to a spouse.

As kids are on the way, that season of freedom is left is behind. That season of being able to travel together with such ease and go on date night without a second thought.

As a new job presents itself, we’re faced with saying goodbye to the accomplishments and progress of our former career.

For some there comes a season of saying goodbye to kids heading off to school and that season of kids at home is left behind.

Now, not everyone is given all of these opportunities, but at some point or another we’re faced with leaving something good behind for a better thing. We can look back on those decisions and think, I’m glad I let go of one good for another.

As you look back on those decisions imagine if you had held onto the lesser good as the supreme good.

You decided never marry your spouse for the freedom of singleness.

You decided never to have kids.

You decided never to leave college life and get a job.

When you look at the good you have today it’s hard to imagine yourself without it.

I hope we see Paul’s similar reasoning regarding much deeper spiritual realities. There are certain goods in this life that simply do not compare with the good that is ours in Jesus Christ, and when those lesser goods get turned into a means of our righteousness, turned into supreme goods they become difficult to let go of. Paul concludes in our text today that…

Main Point

There is nothing worth keeping that keeps us from all that Christ has to offer.

A Righteousness of Flesh

A Righteousness Forsaken

A Righteousness of Flesh

Notes:

Philippians 3:1–6 NASB95

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. Beware of the dogs, beware of the evil workers, beware of the false circumcision; 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, 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: circumcised the eighth day, of the nation of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the Law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to the righteousness which is in the Law, found blameless.

At the heart of this matter of Righteousness in the Flesh are two fundamental questions that need be answered.

1. What sets us apart?

2. Where do we find our confidence?

As we’ll see, the early church in Jerusalem wrestled with these questions and Paul is going to make sure the Philippian church has the correct answers.

Paul begins by addressing a common tendency to forget about safety and security when no harm has come to us for some time. It’s nearly universal. We may stop locking the door, stop wearing safety glasses, or stop wearing our seat belt because no harm has come to us without it. Paul recognizes this tendency in all of us and makes sure to remind the church at Philippi of the harm that follows complacency towards false doctrine.

(vs.1)“To write the same things again is no trouble to me, and it is a safeguard for you.”

He proceeds to say three times, “Beware, Beware, Beware”

Specifically, (vs. 2)“Beware of the dogs, beware of the evil workers, beware of the false circumcision.”

In a moment, Paul is going to address the matters of faith surrounding the true and false circumcision, but there’s a lot of contextual and background elements that the Philippian church would have understood that we need to be aware of.

What sets us apart?

When Paul is talking about the false circumcision he’s talking about a particular movement during the time of the early church that firmly tied salvation to a bodily circumcision. In essence, “You must be set apart form the world like the Jews were if you want to be saved.”

From very early on, the church has been wrestling with the question, “What sets us apart?” “How are we saved from the demise of the rest of the world?”

Flashback to roughly ten years before in Jerusalem just before Paul meets Lydia in Philippi and establishes the Philippian church.

Acts 15:1 NASB95

Some men came down from Judea and began teaching the brethren, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.”

Acts 15:4–11 NASB95

When they arrived at Jerusalem, they were received by the church and the apostles and the elders, and they reported all that God had done with them. But some of the sect of the Pharisees who had believed stood up, saying, “It is necessary to circumcise them and to direct them to observe the Law of Moses.” The apostles and the elders came together to look into this matter. After there had been much debate, Peter stood up and said to them, “Brethren, you know that in the early days God made a choice among you, that by my mouth the Gentiles would hear the word of the gospel and believe. “And God, who knows the heart, testified to them giving them the Holy Spirit, just as He also did to us; and He made no distinction between us and them, cleansing their hearts by faith. “Now therefore why do you put God to the test by placing upon the neck of the disciples a yoke which neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear? “But we believe that we are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, in the same way as they also are.”

The greater church understood the fundamental importance of this doctrine of justification. The called a convention if you will and settled the matter in accord with Scripture.

1. Cleansing their hearts by faith.

2. We are saved through grace.

3. The grace of the Lord Jesus.

We are saved by

Faith alone.

Grace alone.

on account of Christ alone

This is how we are set apart!

Paul in his letter to the Philippians is making them aware of the threat of this group of Pharisees who are demanding circumcision for salvation. He doesn’t reference the council explicitly, but Paul has this experience in the back of his head having experienced first hand the threat of this legalism against the Gentile church. Furthermore, he has experienced the necessary posture of defense the church needs to have against false doctrines if the gospel is going to be preserved.

Having established a little bit of background, let’s come back to Paul’s warning to the Philippians.

Where is Paul going with his warning?

Paul is beginning to lay the groundwork for the biblical doctrine of justification: the means by which we are declared righteous before God.

When we talk about the doctrine of justification there may be a tendency to join justification with other tertiary or less than fundamental doctrines, and say, “That’s for the theologians and the academics to debate over and no hard stance need be taken on the matter.” Now there are certainly doctrinal positions that have room for debate and brothers and sisters even in the same church can disagree on, but we need notice, The doctrine of justification is not one of them!

When Paul says, “Beware, Beware, Beware” he’s working to raise the awareness of the Philippian church because this doctrine cannot be more treasured or protected. Remember as well that this letter is not exclusively for the elders of the church.

Philippians 1:1 (NASB95)

Paul and Timothy, bond-servants of Christ Jesus,

To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, including the overseers and deacons:

Paul is encouraging every believer in the church at Philippi to be on guard and defend against this threat because of how important this doctrine is.

It’s something to put in the safe under lock and key because of how precious it is, and just because it has not been under threat for some time doesn’t mean we don’t keep our awareness in defense of it.

Transition

What then is this safeguard set against exactly? Who are these dogs, evil workers, and the false circumcision?”

Paul immediately begins to contrast the nature of the church with that of the false circumcision.

Where do we find our confidence?

(vs.3-4) “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, 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:”

By means of contrast Paul describes the nature of the true circumcision. The true character by which we are set apart from the rest of the world.

1. Worship in the Spirit of God

2. Glory in Christ Jesus

We’re going to circle back to the nature of this true circumcision in the future, but let’s briefly address Paul’s description. The fundamental thing which sets us apart from the world is the truth or persons in which we set our confidence. Paul says, “our confidence is in Christ!” We worship Him not by man made means or religion but in the leading of the Holy Spirit Himself. In this Spirit led worship, we glory in Christ. In Christ alone do we glory and establish our confidence”.

With this true circumcision in the foreground, what is the false circumcision of evil workers which Paul is saying we must avoid.

Notice again another repetition of three in these two verses.

“(we) put no confidence in the flesh.

I might have confidence in the flesh

confidence in the flesh, I far more.

With emphatic warning Paul says Beware, Beware, Beware.

Mirrored on the other side of the True circumcision,

Paul lays out the matter we are to beware,

confidence in the flesh

confidence in the flesh

confidence in the flesh.

Paul does this in an interesting way too. He does not set this confidence in the flesh off in the distance as something which he hasn’t actually seen or experienced.

Have you ever looked at reviews on google or heard in conversation where someone said, “I haven’t tried it, but I wouldn’t recommend it.” It brings into question that persons warning. If you haven’t tried it yourself, how can you make a judgement about it?

Paul isn’t an inexperienced bystander when he says, “Beware, put no confidence in the flesh.” It would be easy to say if he were already an outsider. Paul’s warning is coming from an insider. He’s saying, “I’ve been there, done that, and I had every reason to put confidence in the flesh.”

(vs. 5-6) “circumcised the eighth day, of the nation of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the Law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to the righteousness which is in the Law, found blameless.”

It might be difficult for us to relate to having a sense of confidence in being a Benjamite or a Pharisee, so I’d like to identify five categories of confidence that Paul lists here. With some more general categories hopefully we can identify those places of confidence that we ought to beware. As we walk through these, don’t try to take them all to heart. Maybe just take one with you that may be true of you. When we come to the sufficiency of Christ and the extent to which he is worthy of confidence, we can hold up that place of worldly confidence, confess it, and see how it pales in comparison to all that Christ is for us.

Ritual:

“circumcised the eighth day”

Since God made his covenant with Abraham, the men of Israel were to be marked by the sign of circumcision: A sign of the covenant which God made with them to bless them. The Pharisees of Paul’s day made the fatal mistake of turning signs and rituals into their means of blessing. There’s nothing wrong with signs and rituals as long as they serve their intended purpose of pointing us to God. Should we put our confidence in rituals, piety, or sacraments in lieu of God himself we have made the same mistake. No amount of ceremony or piety can sanctify a godless ritual.

Now let me be clear, there are forms of ceremony and piety which we do practice and are God-honoring. We take the Lord’s Supper together. In many ways this is a ritual that demands a degree of holy piety, yet it is not the eating of the bread which brings us blessing. It is not the drinking of the wine which brings us blessing. It’s the remembrance of Christ’s sacrifice for us that our faith would be strengthened, our hearts would rest in the sufficiency of Christ and our confidence would be firmly established in Christ alone.

Furthermore, we put no confidence in the act of baptism. In baptism we confess the confidence we have in Christ and all that He has done for us knowing we have been raised with Him to walk in newness of life. We come back to our ‘therefore’ question. On which side of therefore is your baptism? Christ has saved me through faith in His death and resurrection for me. I’ve experienced the blessing of salvation in Christ, therefore I will be baptized in obedience to Christ, that all may see what Christ has done in me.

When pious behavior in the form of rituals, ordinances, or ceremony become the fundamental means by which we are set apart and made righteous, we’ve made a grave mistake. How do we know we’ve made this mistake? If our confidence in ourselves is increased by our piety and rituals then they’re not functioning as God intended. When rituals and piety help to increase our confidence in Christ, then we have done well! Nothing we do can substitute for what Christ has done for us.

Heritage:

“of the nation of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews”

You may recall the instruction God gave to Israel not to intermarry with peoples surrounding the promised land that their worship of God alone, their confidence in God alone, would not be undermined by the idolatry of the surrounding nations. The Pharisees of Paul’s day had once again missed the point by turning the preservation of right worship into the preservation of Hebrew heritage. Paul had reason to boast on the grounds of this false religion in which these Pharisees found their confidence. He was a Hebrew of Hebrews, his family having never intermarried with the surrounding peoples.

Today, we do not have the same sense of identity or pride in our heritage, and yet there seems to be a growing interest in the sins of our grandparents and great-great grandparents. This interest is driven by an assumption that we somehow bear the guilt of wrongs committed by our grandparents or somehow stand guiltless if our parents grandparents were free of such wrongdoing. Some would like to think that their upbringing under godly parents somehow attributes merit to their account. Some mistakenly think they bear the burdens of their parent’s, grandparent’s or great-grandparent’s sin. The search for guilt or justification in our heritage are both errors of false religion. When we stand before God on judgement day as Christians, our sins will be no more because Jesus has paid the price and His righteousness has been credited to our account.

Romans 8:33 NASB95

Who will bring a charge against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies;

No amount of sin or righteousness in our heritage ought to sway our confidence when our confidence is in God who justifies us based in the merits of Christ.

Position:

“as to the Law, a Pharisee”

Because of Paul’s upstanding heritage and behavior, he found himself in a position of honor as a teacher of the law. In this position of leadership and authority many put their confidence in the days of Jesus’ ministry and Paul’s ministry.

There’s nothing special about being a religious teacher. In just about every religion known to man there are those who rise to positions of authority and influence. At the time of Paul, Hebrews had their Pharisees. Today, Muslims have their imams, Hindus have their gurus, Shamanism has their Shamans, Secularism has their scientists, and unfortunately I’m afraid we have so called pastors today peddling false religion along with all the rest.

Holding a position as a religious leader or teacher is nothing special in the grand scheme of things and is no basis for confidence before God. What is special is to serve in the power of the Holy Spirit with the gifts God has given us for the advancement of His eternal kingdom, and this service is not unique to teachers and pastors. We all serve in this unique service. And should we find confidence in that work, it is the confidence in the faith that is in Christ Jesus.

1 Timothy 3:13 NASB95

For those who have served well as deacons obtain for themselves a high standing and great confidence in the faith that is in Christ Jesus.

Whatever position we may hold, our confidence is in the position Christ took for us on the cross and the position He now holds at the right hand of the Father having accomplished salvation for us.

Passion:

“as to zeal, a persecutor of the church”

This may be hard for us to understand, “How could Paul, Saul at the time, find confidence in persecution. If we consider for a moment the amount of time Saul had spent studying the stories of the Kings of Israel and how many failed to engage in battle with all the enemies of Israel which God called them to, perhaps due to a lack of zeal and passion. A younger Saul, standing at the stoning of Stephen perhaps viewed himself as a bystander at the execution of the evil kings which God commanded Israel to remove from the land. Thinking himself as an agent of God’s will, he found confidence in his zeal which Israel lacked when they conquered the land. He soon would hear the words of Christ, “Why are you persecuting me?” and recognize just how misplaced his zeal was.

Let me be clear, there’s nothing wrong with zeal or passion.

Titus 2:13–14 NASB95

looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus, who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds.

We are to be a people characterized by zeal for good works, but we make a mistake when we put our confidence in that zeal as if it adds to the righteousness of Christ which has already been accounted to us. There’s no degree of passion we can work up within ourselves that amounts to the passion Christ had for the glory of the Father and the redemption of His elect. Why would we put our confidence in the wavering passion of our hearts when we can put our confidence in the unwavering, steadfast love of Christ?

Morals:

“as to the righteousness which is in the Law, found blameless.”

This is perhaps the crown of false confidence. No matter what law man may adhere to, the law of God, the law in the Quran, the laws of cultural norm, the laws of the conscience, there is a perpetual reinterpretation of that law so that man can consider himself blameless. Either the law is made smaller so that it’s achievable or some form of man-made justification is created to make atonement for guilt. In either case, man in his sin nature is devoted to His own blamelessness by his own means.

Perhaps you’ve heard the reasoning, “Well I’m a pretty good person, I’m not as bad the other guy.” In this case, the law is brought down so the top 50% of the population can consider themselves justified. Since when does a good law and a good standard depend on the median behavior of a people?

Perhaps we’ve heard others say, “I go to church, I’ve been faithful to take communion, perform the sacraments, I went to confession, I’ve been baptized, I give generously, I was a good kid, I don’t drink etc. etc.

A degree of good deeds may make us blameless before men, but no amount of our own good deeds will let us stand blameless before a holy God.

When we look at the law of God, we ought to first view this law as a call to perfection, holiness, blamelessness in action, thought and emotion. This law demands the absence of every evil, the smallest sin, and also perfect adherence and faithfulness to all that God has called us to do.

Galatians 3:10 NASB95

For as many as are of the works of the Law are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the law, to perform them.”

If our response is, “Then who can stand?” That’s exactly where we need to be.

If our response is, “No one can do that!” Perfect.

Galatians 2:21 NASB95

“I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the Law, then Christ died needlessly.”

Should we put our confidence in righteousness which comes from the Law then we confess with that confidence, “Christ did not need to come, and He died for no reason.”

Before we come to the law to instruct us as Christians with the power of the Spirit, we must first come to the law acknowledging our guilt and powerlessness. Only then can our confidence be wholly in the sufficiency of Christ’s righteousness and our works which God prepared beforehand be done in faith and humility as the Lord intended.

In short, Paul has every reason to find confidence in Himself if righteousness is to be found in the flesh.

He’s been faithful to the law by ritual.

He has the heritage, the position, the passion, and the morals.

Yet, all of this he recognizes with eyes of faith is nothing, because it is man-made and not of God.

Illustration

Application

A Righteousness Forsaken

Notes:

Philippians 3:7–8 NASB95

But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. 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 so that I may gain Christ,

Notice firstly, the value which Paul attributes to His relationship with Christ.

“in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord..”

What we have in Christ as our Savior and Lord is something of insurmountable worth!!

Paul’s reasoning from the very beginning to beware false doctrine functions as a fence to keep the sheep in the fold, but it’s not as if the sheep have nothing in the fold to enjoy. The Shepherd is among His sheep!

I’m afraid sometimes some may look at these verses as draftees called to war we have no interest in fighting, but because we’re good citizens we fall in line.

I don’t think that’s the demeanor at all. Paul is telling us that the only reasonable thing to do is to forsake his own righteousness and everything of himself in which he put his confidence for that of Christ’s.

It is one of the simplest yet profound parables which Jesus gave to us in His ministry.

Illustration

Matthew 13:44 NASB95

“The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field, which a man found and hid again; and from joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.

When we see clearly the treasure of Christ’s righteousness freely given to us through faith, the only appropriate response is joy. In this joy and pursuit of this treasure, we will let go of whatever is holding us back to have it.

Paul is resolute when he says, “whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ.

We started our time with Paul’s emphatic warning.

Beware, Beware, Beware,

What exactly?

Confidence in the flesh

Confidence in the flesh

Confidence in the flesh

He’s listed all the things in which he might put his confidence for his righteousness, and yet in view of Christ he says,

I have counted as loss

I have counted as loss

I have counted as rubbish

Paul’s concluding statement is emphatic. Three times he says “I count, but the third time he doesn’t merely count them as loss, he counts them as rubbish. The word is literally, excrement.

I can’t help but think of the prophet Isaiah.

Isaiah 64:6 NASB95

For all of us have become like one who is unclean, And all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment; And all of us wither like a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.

The things which every other religion would prize, cherish, and use to build themselves up in confidence, Paul and Isaiah compare to filthy rags and excrement.

Paul and Isaiah both have a clear Spirit-given view of God and his law. Remember Isaiah stood in the throne room of God. Paul stood before the glory of the risen Christ and was blinded by it. With this clear view of God and His law, they conclude, “The best I have to give is but filth and rubbish.”

And yet, praise be to God for the righteousness of God freely offered to us in Christ through faith.

As we enter into the Christmas season, might we take time to consider what Christ came to accomplish. The very reason Christ needed to come was because we cannot save ourselves by any means of our own making. We are utterly dependent on a righteousness outside of ourselves given to us through faith.

Might we let go of any confidence we may have in a righteousness of our own making in light of that glorious righteousness given to us in Christ.

Application

Conclusion

Jan 5

A Righteousness through Faith

Philippians 3:9–11 NASB95

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, that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.

The only true righteousness is found through faith in Jesus Christ.

In this righteousness we are united with Christ in His resurrection, His suffering, and His death.

In this union we will live forever in glory with Him.

Illustration

Application

Summary

Conclusion