Free From Me (Philippians 3:1-11)

Introduction (1-3)

When we were kids, my brothers and I watched a lot of action movies. And after the movies were over, I would always pretend to do the crazy things that we saw the hero do. But my brother Stuart would actually try to do the things.

Can you guess which Jackson boy had the most scars? One movie we watched had bungie jumping in it and my brother decided that he was going to bungee jump from the second story of our treehouse.

But here’s the most important part about bungee jumping—the rope has to be bungee, a regular rope doesn’t work.

My brother put a lot of confidence in his expertly crafted bungee jump apparatus—that he made himself— which consisted of a rope tied to a tree and then tied around his waist.

Now, in his mind he was going to jump and the rope would save him—but in reality the rope was the most dangerous part of the whole ordeal.

My brother leapt, gravity did it’s thing—and the non-bungie rope slipped up his body and tightened under his armpit and neck leaving him dangling and screaming

So, I ran to get dad. He was okay—just a little bruised up.

My brother put his confidence in the wrong place.

And in our passage Paul warns us against making the same mistake. Let’s read the passage together.

Read Philippians 3:1-11

Philippians 3:1–11 ESV

Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you is no trouble to me and is safe for you. Look out for the dogs, look out for the evildoers, look out for those who mutilate the flesh. For we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh— though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also. If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people 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 righteousness under the law, blameless. But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.

He is giving a warning to the Philippians—and by extension to us—that we need to hear because there is a real temptation illuminated in this text that you and I certainly struggle with today.

God’s word begins by giving us our application—what we are to do in response to His word here in this passage.

We are to, “Rejoice in the Lord.” —Why?

Verse 3 gives us the why. Philippians 3:3 “For we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh—”

We are to rejoice in the Lord and put no confidence in the flesh.

In verse 2 Paul says, “Look out for the dogs, look out for the evildoers, look out for those who mutilate the flesh.”

Verse 3 interprets the warning in verse 2.

We aren’t talking about literal dogs—evil people—and people who want to cut you.

I mean, look out for those things too—but what Paul has in mind is more dangerous than the literal meaning of these things.

Because the danger that we are being warned about is putting our confidence for salvation in our own flesh—We’re being warned about rejoicing in our own ability to be righteous—our own ability to be morally acceptable to God.

Paul is warning the Philippian believers against the false teaching of the Judaizers. These were Jewish Christians who said that, “Jesus is necessary for salvation—but you also need to follow the law of Moses and be circumcised.”

Friends, let me tell you, Jesus+anything=false gospel. And a false gospel is not good news. Because a false gospel cannot save you.

Jesus+anything, even something as important as circumcision was, is a blending of Jesus’ efforts and your own.

Circumcision was required under the law of Moses. It was an act of worship God required of man.

But the significance of circumcision was who it pointed to. Circumcision pointed to Jesus and when Jesus came the sign was no longer needed because the substance of that sign—had come.

Circumcision was a bloody sign that pointed to the need for sin and humanity to be separated in order for humanity to be in relationship with God.

But when Christ redeemed His people on the cross by His own perfect blood—his own righteousness—the Mosaic law passed away because Jesus fulfilled it on our behalf by his own keeping of it. This is the gospel.

This is the good news—that you and I won’t be judged for our sin because Jesus traded his keeping of the law for our breaking of the law and died in our place—and 3 days later he rose from that death defeating the condemnation of death for all those who look to His righteousness to save them.

That’s why this passage is so important for us.

What we are being warned against here in this text is our temptation to turn away from the free grace of the gospel and instead to turn toward an inadequate righteousness built on the strength of our own flesh. It’s a temptation to misplace our confidence.

There’s two people who need to heed this warning. Those who have never put their faith in Christ—who try to build up a life of being a “good person” so that they’ll be acceptable to God.

And those who have placed their faith in Christ—but are drifting in where they place their confidence—the danger for believers is a disordered heart. A disordered heart always produces a disordered life and disordered worship.

So there’s the warning—for believers and non-believers alike—don’t put your confidence in your flesh.

Putting confidence in your own strength doesn’t provide any real security, does it? It doesn’t provide any real peace, does it?

I have good news for you—there is a much better person to put your confidence in than yourself.

You can be free from you.

Friends, Rejoice! Because Jesus has given us His own Righteousness.

In the rest of the passage I want us to see two major truths that I hope will dissuade us from putting our confidence for salvation in the strength of our own flesh.

One, I want us to be aware of Temptations for False Confidence

Two, I want us to see that Jesus is Our True Confidence

Pray with me [Pray]

I. Temptations for False Confidence (4-6)

When we think of false teachers and looking out for them—we naturally think about looking for this danger outside of ourselves.

But Paul in vv.4-6, turns the lens inward—and inspects his own heart and reveals what he found confidence in outside of Jesus.

And here in vv.4-6, Paul makes us aware of 3 Places we are tempted to have false confidence: Paul says, if anyone has reason to feel confident in the flesh I had more—and these are the things I placed my confidence in:

1. Confidence in your identity. (5a)

Philippians 3:5 “circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews…”

God chose that the messiah would come through the Jewish people. He set them apart from all other peoples in the world. And Paul belonged to that group of people.

And not only that, but he belonged to the tribe of Benjamin—When the kingdom of Israel split the tribe of Benjamin stayed loyal to King Rehoboam and the kingly line of Judah—they were considered faithful. It was a point of pride for Paul.

For Paul and other Jews, simply being Jewish was a source of false confidence.

Jesus regularly rebuked Jewish people who were breaking God’s law and their response was, “We are sons of Abraham—We belong to the right people—who are you talking to Jesus?! We aren’t Gentiles!”

And you and I are tempted to do the same sort of thing…to put false confidence in belonging.

We probably don’t appeal to our ancestry…but maybe we appeal to where we went to school—or if we went to school. Maybe we point at where we work and what kind of position we hold. Maybe we take pride in where we can send our kids to school—or what clubs we belong too—or how nice our hobby equipment is…

If I show up on the pickle ball court with my off-brand, pickle ball paddle would you feel superior?

Maybe it’s our clothes—the right kind of shoes, the right kind of shirts, the clothes that the right kind of person wears.

Maybe it’s who we voted for—what we choose to eat or not eat—drink or not drink…

I could go on and on—the options are endless.

They are just different versions of the same false confidence, “I’m this kind of person which is the right kind of person. Surely, God will accept me.”

Tranisition: So Paul says be careful not to put your confidence in your identity.

2. Confidence in your beliefs. (5b)

Philippians 3:5 “circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee;”

Paul was a Pharisee—that is opposed to being a Sadducee. Pharisees and Sadducees were religious/political parties with different beliefs about the same scriptures. For instance, the Pharisees believed in a resurrection and the Sadducees didn’t, “that’s why they were sad—you—see?” That joke is proof of sin.

Paul says, “I believed the right things.”

I was a Pharisee—I had the right beliefs!

And here too is a temptation that you and I face—to be on the right side of belief. The right kind of people have the right beliefs.

And the span of this temptation is just as vast, and just as hollow as the first.

It can be as benign as what sports team we support to as serious a topic as the sanctity of human life.

There’s one thing that is for sure—we all have opinions and we all are tempted to define whether a person is “good or bad” depending on what they believe. And usually the “good people” believe what we believe.

We can very easily base our righteousness—on what we believe or don’t believe—support or don’t support—we can get a sense of moral superiority over others.

We see examples of this right in scripture—Luke 18:11 Jesus tells a story about two men praying in the temple—a tax collector and a Pharisee. He says, “The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.”

Friends, we’re lying to ourselves if we say we don’t look at others with beliefs we don’t hold and think, “I’m better than that person—At least I’m not like them.”

The temptation behind that is the same that Paul is highlighting here—to have confidence, not based on Christ but instead in our flesh by having the right beliefs.

The heart that gives in to this temptation, says I’m righteous because I believe the right things—I have the right knowledge!

I’m not saying that we shouldn’t try hard to understand our Bibles—or that we shouldn’t have conversations about theology—what I’m saying is that getting it right doesn’t make you righteous—right beliefs don’t make you acceptable to God.

Correct beliefs matter but they are not our source of confidence.

Transition: We are tempted to place confidence in our identity—and confidence in our beliefs. We’re also tempted to place…

3. Confidence in our actions. (6)

Philippians 3:6 “as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless.”

Remember the Pharisee from Luke 18:12 the next thing he says after thanking God for not being like the tax collector is to appeal to things that he does—his actions. He says, “I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’” In short, I do the right things! You can tell that I’m righteous because I do the right things.

And here again, church, we too are tempted to base our righteousness on our own strength to do the right things.

I follow the law—I’m respectful to people—I work hard—I don’t bother anyone—I take care of my parents—-I don’t curse—I’m nice to puppies.

And this list too could go on and on—But there is no righteousness outside of the righteousness of Jesus Christ!

All of those found in Christ are truly righteous—but it’s not a righteousness of our own—it’s Jesus’ righteousness applied to us. Our ledgers were full of debt and he paid it all.

Paul says, “I thought I was righteous because of my actions—I was zealous and persecuted the enemies of God. I worked hard to be blameless under the law—to do the right things. I took confidence in the fact that I did the right things.

And you and I are tempted to have a false confide in our actions too.

Transition

Friends, we can do all the “right” things—we can have all the right beliefs—we can belong in all the right places and be the “right” kind of people but if that is all that we have then we should have no confidence to stand before God when we die.

Hear me—if you’ve never placed your faith in Jesus you have no confidence before God—you can only expect judgment.

All 3 of these false confidences are our attempts to say the same thing, “God, you should accept me because I’m a good person!”

Confidence in the flesh is the foundation for a righteousness we can earn—it’s why we like it so much—and the indignant cry of those who want to approach God with their own righteousness is, “I’m a good person.”

But scripture is clear, Romans 3:23 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death…”

The thing about human goodness—human righteousness—is it’s a moving target and we all define it differently.

Paul’s culture said these things—we’ve been talking about make a good person.

Paul wrote this letter to the believers in Phillipi and their culture had their own boundaries for what made a good person.

And so do we—and our version of a “good person” falls short of God’s definition—and His definition is what actually matters.

We have no true confidence as long as that confidence to approach God is built on our righteousness.

And perhaps, for some of you in this room this is really bad news—you’ve never placed your faith in Jesus and so confidence in yourself is all you got.

But Paul wants to show us a better way—that…

II. Jesus is our true confidence (7-9)

Philippians 3:7–8 “But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord…”

1. Jesus is worth more than our works. (7-8a)

Paul looks at the life he built outside of Christ and compares all of it to actually knowing Jesus and says, “Everything I held dear, everything that defined me, everything that made me feel secure before God—I realized all of it was loss when I put my faith in Christ!”

He says, “I counted it as loss, for the sake of Christ.”

In order to grasp Jesus Paul had to let go of his confidence in all that other stuff—and so do we.

But it wasn’t even a struggle because seeing Jesus and his “surpassing worth” revealed how worthless all of his confidence in the flesh actually was.

Here’s something you might not know about me—I like to paint miniatures—it’s a bit nerdy, that’s okay. I’m already married. God uses all kinds.

And I usually think I’m pretty good at painting. Do you know when I think I’m the best? When I look at my work compared to my work—or compared to my kids painted minis. But when I compare my work to someone who is really, really good. It sheds light on all the areas that I need to improve.

The righteousness of Christ is like that—we think we’re doing pretty good until we compare our righteousness to Jesus’.

Jesus is perfect—he is flawless—he has a body just like ours, lived in our world, faced our temptations but he never sinned once.

Seeing his perfect righteousness highlights just how insufficient our best efforts are—most of us don’t even compare to Paul, much less Jesus.

Isaiah tells us, “that all our righteous acts are like filthy rags”.

Illustration: It would be like owing a great debt to the bank and it comes time to pay you bring what you think is a briefcase full of crisp 100 dollar bills but then you open it and it’s just a bunch dirty napkins folded neatly. “Is this sufficient? Will this pay my debt?”

The answer would be no—dirty rags can’t pay a debt AND Isaiah says all the things that we would look at in our life that we think would impress God are like those dirty rags!

Hear me right—I’m not saying that you are the very worst and God takes no joy in you—what I’m saying is that when it comes to the debt of our sin our own work is insufficient—but Jesus’ isn’t.

When we come to see that our own righteousness is insufficient to save us we might become depressed—but instead we should rejoice!

We should rejoice because Jesus is not an example of righteousness meant to grind us into the dirt—He’s our savior—if you need a rescue you want your rescuer to be better equipped than you are.

If I’m drowning—I don’t want someone who has the same swimming skills as me to save me—we’ll both drown.

When we come to the end of our own righteousness we shouldn’t despair because God has provided for us His own righteousness and it will never fail to rescue us!

Breath a sigh of relief—you can be free from the burden of being good enough by turning to Jesus who was good enough for you.

Friends, let go of putting your confidence in your own flesh and instead put your confidence in Jesus.

The second truth Paul wants us to see about Jesus is…

2. All our hope must be put in Jesus. (8b-11)

Philippians 3:8–11 “…For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.”

Paul says, “I gave it all up for Jesus and I’ll give it all away for Jesus.”

Remember, Jesus+anything isn’t trust in Jesus.

We can be a lot like the Judaizers, putting our confidence in Jesus plus other things. It probably isn’t circumcision but maybe it’s these other things we’ve been talking about.

The call of our passage today is to be resolute to turn away from putting any confidence in our own flesh.

Philippians 3:3 “For we worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh—”

Our youth are going to Modgnik and I asked them for prayer requests and one of them said, “Pray for me that I would let go and let God.”

What about you? Will you let go and let God?

If you’ve never placed your faith in Christ I’m asking you today to put it all down—aren’t you tired? I know you are.

God knows—and He desires that you would come and let the righteousness of Jesus cover all your sins. He desires that you would come and rest in Him.

Salvation comes when we come to Christ with nothing in our hands but a need for a savior. Give it all to Jesus and come to Him today.

And if you’ve placed your faith in Christ, if He really is your savior but you know this morning that your heart has drifted to trusting in your own strength more than God’s—I’m inviting you to do the same thing—abandon putting your trust in yourself.

Maybe, you’re disappointed in how God has handled something in your life—and you’ve turned to yourself for confidence. I’m sorry that you’re disappointed and angry—your Father loves you and wants you to come back to Him.

Take your suffering heart to the one who loves you—you can trust Him—even in the pain. He is a good God who has given you His own righteousness.

Conclusion

Paul looks at his life before Christ and knows that everything that defined his righteousness was worthless to save him.

This morning my prayer is that you and I would come to the same conclusion and would put no confidence in the flesh for our salvation. But instead we would put all our confidence in the work that Jesus has done on our behalf.

Church, this morning let us rejoice because Jesus has given us his own righteousness.

Pray with me.