Righteousness Through Faith

Thesis: Find your joy and confidence in Christ, not in your works.

Application:

Reading of the Word

Philippians 3:1–11

“Finally, my brothers and sisters, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things again is no trouble for 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 take pride in Christ Jesus, and put no confidence in the flesh, although I myself could boast as having confidence even in the flesh. If anyone else thinks he is confident in the flesh, I have more reason: 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, these things I have counted as loss because 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 mere rubbish, so that I may gain Christ, 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; if somehow I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.”

Intro

One of my favorite things to see in a story, is a tonal shift. I love when I’m watching a movie or reading a book and I have this experience of a sudden shift from lightheartedness to gripping dread. I just love when a storyteller is able to be so effective in their storytelling that they are able to create this great sense of tension out of nowhere.

Today’s passage from Philippians contains a tonal shift. Up til this point, Paul’s letter to the Philippians has been joyful, hopeful, focused on unity and partnership, etc. Even in chapter one when Paul brings up people who are troublesome, he quickly moves to simple joy that the gospel is being preached. And here as Paul begins to complete his argument, he gives a clear call for the Philippians to rejoice in the Lord. The language here can convey the sentiment that if the Philippians are to remember anything from this letter, the one thing they ought to remember is to daily rejoice in the Lord. It’s as if Paul’s call to rejoice in the Lord naturally sums up all of his arguments about partnership, perseverance, humility, and service. It’s a great, lighthearted picture.

But then there’s this tonal shift, and Paul’s language immediately becomes quite harsh as he turns his attention to a new point….

Harsh Language in the Midst of a Joyful Letter

There has been a grace and poeticism to Paul’s argument, but as we enter into chapter 3, we see a sharp turn into combativeness. Paul is not arguing against the Philippians in this passage, rather, he is warning them of false teachers. Paul is not joking around in this text. He is deadly serious in his objection to these false teachers and their message, and he starts using extreme language to convey his point.

First, Paul uses the terms dogs (κύναδ), then evil doers (κακούδ), and finally mutilators (κατατομήν) to describe his opponents. Paul hasn’t lost his poetic edge here, and instead uses intentional wordplay in utilizing fun alliteration and assonance in name calling. So what’s going on here? Why the sudden shift in tone?

As the early church was continuing to form, there rose a group of people who believed that following Christ required strict observance to the Jewish law, especially in regards to circumcision. See, circumcision was one of the primary signs that marked the Israelites as the people of God. The sign of circumcision predates the law given to Moses as seen in the story of Abraham. For the Hebrew people, this is one of the most fundamental and foundational signs of the covenant between God and the Israelites. These people believed that one could not be saved if they were not circumcised and demanded that all Christians (both Jews and Gentiles) conform to the Jewish law.

Now here’s the thing, God’s Law, and gifts, and signs are not bad. God’s Law is good! His gifts are good! His signs are good! But the fundamental problem with Paul’s opponents is that they fail to understand Christ Himself, and in doing so, distort God’s good gifts. Paul’s opponents place the work of circumcision as being a necessary addition to the work Christ in order for righteousness to be obtained. It is a belief that Christ’s sacrifice plus our righteous works are needed in order to be made right with God. Any kind of message that says you need something in addition to Christ Himself is a false gospel. Our own works can never save us. Our own works are not to be added onto the work of Christ. It is is not Christ + something which saves us. PAUL TRIP QUOTE ANYTIME YOU ADD PLUS YOU JUST DESTROYED THE GOSPEL.

We are saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. It is this message which Paul holds so dear and will fiercely defend.

Paul’s Faithfulness to the Law

Paul continues to turn up the snark, which I find quite entertaining. Paul puts the spotlight on himself and says, “if anyone could count their own works as righteous, it would be me.” He goes on to list all the ways that he faithfully held to the Jewish law and tradition, even leading up to his zeal in persecuting the church for the sake of the law. You have to realize, Paul himself used to be like his opponents. Paul failed to see who Jesus truly was, and placed the gifts God had given His people in place of God Himself. Paul was practically the ultimate Jew, taking observance of the Law to the extreme. Paul used to look at all the good things he had done and believe that he was righteous because of them. Paul looked at his morality, his service, and his sacrifices, and thought that they were what made him right with God. In doing so, He missed God Himself.

And yet when Jesus appeared before Paul in a powerful way on the road to Damascus, none of Paul’s self-righteousness mattered. In fact, when comparing his works to the person of Christ, Paul would continue to use harsh language and call them σκύβαλον, which means dung or garbage. The righteousness of Christ is far more majestic and beautiful and valuable than anyone’s self righteousness.

Understanding the Relationship Between Faith and Works

There are two ways in which we must approach this passage. The first way is to understand this in the context of salvation which Paul himself clearly depicts. Paul compares his old life to his new life. Before he knew Christ, he counted all of his works and statuses as wonderful and life giving, but after coming to know Christ he knows that his prior works are worthless in comparison. Paul’s life has changed and transformed, and as he looks back on his old life without Christ, he knows there is nothing of value there.

Paul’s words are reminiscent of a person who is always craving that next success, that next achievement, that next promotion, that next purchase. In his old life, his works seemed valuable, but they never brought the righteousness and satisfaction which he was seeking. The more Paul accomplished, the more empty he felt. This is why he works before Christ are considered rubbish! They could never give him the life he sought.

So it was with us. How many of us lived lives of continual seeking and striving and hungering only to be left continually unsatisfied? How many of us felt more worthless the more we accomplished?

But when we came to know Christ, the endless rat race had no appeal to us any longer. We knew it would give us nothing but emptiness in the end, and we rejoiced in Christ who satisfied our eternal longing.

But we should not only think of this passage in the context of a person coming to faith, we must also approach this passage as a reminder to our lives today.

How many of us who are saved, who know Christ, who have tasted that satisfaction, have fallen back into the lie that we must work to find peace and true life? How many of us have fallen back into the patterns of the old life and have begun to depend on our works and add them to the work which Christ has done?

Now please hear me clearly. The Christian life is not a life which is meant to be sedentary and workless. Paul is crystal clear in his letter to the Ephesians:

Ephesians 2:10:

“For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.”

And James likewise says:

James 2:20:

“But are you willing to acknowledge, you foolish person, that faith without works is useless?”

And in fact, we are going to see Paul explain the ongoing active work of the Christian in next week’s passage to the Philippians. But here is the distinction between the good works the New Testament calls us to and the rubbish works Paul just described: Any work done in attempt to obtain salvation is worthless. It’s not good enough. It never will be. But any work done in response to the righteousness we have obtained from Christ will bring even more joy.

See our work as Christians must always be born out of a response to the work which Christ has already done in us. Our work as Christians is the result of faith, not the cause. And the enemy loves to twist good things to lead us away from our savior. Do not believe the lie that your work will earn you anything. Instead, know Christ, and in your knowing of Christ, and out of the satisfaction and peace which it brings, do good work in imitation of your Savior.

Our Christlike Joy is a Defense Against Division

So how does this passage connect with the letter to the Philippians as a whole? Remember, the New Testament letters function as cohesive developing arguments. How does Paul’s combative defense of the theology of justification play a role in his message of partnership? First, let’s do a quick recap of the letter, then we will examine the “hinge” statement in Philippians 3:1, and then we will do a direct comparison to last week’s passage (and I promise this will be really cool and won’t take long. You will get your potatoes soon).

Quick recap:

Philippians chapter 1 discusses:

The joyful and thankful partnership between himself and the church in Philippi

The impact of partnership as it relates to the spread of the gospel

The acknowledgement that Paul’s current calling is here on this earth for the betterment of his Christian partners.

Philippians chapter 2 discusses:

How the humility of Christ is the basis and model for Christian partnership.

How Timothy and Epaphroditus function as faithful and relational partners to Paul and the Philippians.

So Paul talks in length about working together, suffering together, and growing together all while keeping Christ at the center of the Christian life. Then he says this,

“Finally, my brothers and sisters, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things again is no trouble for me, and it is a safeguard for you.”

It would be easy to overlook this verse or see it as a random aside, but this verse serves as an important hinge statement between Paul’s comments about Timothy and Epaphroditus and his opposition to the mutilating dogs. Last week I urged you to be like Timothy and Epaphroditus - to relate to other Christians as sons and daughters, fathers and mothers, coworkers and fellow soldiers. Make no mistake, this is a work which we are called to do in response to the righteousness we have received in Christ. But be careful to not fall into the temptation to replace Christ with this work.

If we continually find our joy in the person of Christ and not in our own works or accomplishments, we will be kept safe from the sin of pride and envy and comparison.

I can imagine Paul thinking about Timothy and Epaphroditus as he wrote about himself. Paul describes the call to rejoice in the Lord as a safeguard. He just put a spotlight on how great Timothy and Epaphroditus were! He just spoke in length about their good works, service to the Church, and Christlike humility. I can almost hear Paul say, “Timothy, Epaphroditus, your service is good. You’re doing great work for the Kingdom of God! But remember to find your joy in Christ Himself, not your work. If you place a higher importance on your work then you should, you will end up replacing Christ with your work. You’ll replace the righteousness of Christ with a self-righteousness.”

Paul’s opposition to the mutilating dogs serves as a caution for Timothy and Epaphroditus and everyone listening. We must strive to do the good work Christ calls us to, but we must never elevate that work to the saving place of Christ.

If your joy is found in Christ alone, you will be excited to serve and satisfied in Him. If your joy is found in your work, you will end up either feeling pride and self-righteousness about your work, or devastating envy that your work doesn’t compare to someone else’s (probably both). Let us daily find our joy in the Lord, and in doing so, be unified together in our worship and service to Him.

Outro

So rejoice in the Lord. For this day you know that you are free from the old life. This day know that Christ gives you something far greater than you could ever earn. Rejoice in the Lord, and you will find that you will be more unified with your brothers and sisters, more eager to serve, and more satisfied in what Christ has led you to.