Philippians 3:1-11

Introduction:

People are incredibly susceptible to examples. How often have you seen trends rip through friend groups. One person wears a jacket, and then a few months later, the whole group is wearing it. The right example can be a powerful thing. When I was in high school, I thought the character of Patrick Jane, from The Mentalist, was the best thing ever. I loved how he could read people’s minds. I couldn’t do that, so I did the next best thing: I dressed like him and bought a teacup to imitate him. My parents will never stop teasing me about it, but it illustrates the power of examples in our lives.    

In the context of the Philippian church, examples were necessary. You see, even though Paul loved this church and they had recently and sacrificially raised money to support him, they were experiencing some issues. In particular, it seems that several pressures, including false teachers, were causing some leaders in the church to disagree with one another, resulting in division within the congregation.

Paul has chosen to address this in the letter so far by example. In chapter 2, we have the marvelous picture-example of Jesus Christ, exalted Lord, who left His position of exaltation to serve others. Paul uses this image to encourage them to make the sacrifices to which they are called.

He then spoke about Timothy and Epaphroditus, two of his coworkers. He wishes to send them to help, and already in his language concerning them, we can see why Paul wishes to send them—they exemplify the virtues that Paul desires to see the Philippians embody, such as pursuing Christ rather than selfish gain (2:21).

But there was another threat to the Philippian church. Apparently, there were some false teachers creating dissension within the church. These false teachers, called Judaisers, essentially taught that non-Jewish Christians needed to hold to all the marks of the Jewish law, like circumcision, food laws, Sabbath-Keeping, and the like, to be true followers of Jesus.

In our passage tonight, we will see Paul use his own example to refute the theology of these false teachers by showcasing his credentials as a covenant member and revealing that, when compared with gaining Christ and the resurrection from the dead, these credentials are ultimately worthless. To see this, we’re going to look at how Paul introduces a contrast between genuine and false covenant membership. Having introduced this distinction, Paul subsequently illustrates this through his own life, portraying his past credentials as loss and his new life in Christ as gain.

The Contrast – vv2-3:

So, in our first point this evening, we’re going to see Paul’s initial contrast, where he argues that it is those in Christ, not those who adhere to the Old Testament Law, who are the true covenant members.

The first thing Paul writes in v1 is for the Philippians to “rejoice in the Lord.” This is an essential command for this passage, and an important connector in the letter, so don’t forget it. But for reasons that will be clear later, we’re going to start in v2.

In verse 2, Paul warns about the false teachers the Philippians must avoid. Remember, as I said a moment ago, these people thought you needed the Jewish law to be a true follower of Jesus. Looking at Paul’s threefold description of these false teachers, it’s not hard to see what he thinks of their teaching. In Greek, it’s as articulate as it is insulting. Paul is giving them a theological rebuke as he insults them.

He calls them “Dogs,” which is an insult Jews usually reserve for outsiders. Already, Paul is showing what he thinks about their theology. Rather than showing people how they should follow Christ, they are making their followers outsiders.

Paul also calls them the “workers of evil.” This plays on what they would term their practice of observing the Jewish law, which is “good works”. Their good works are evil.

He further refers to them as “mutilators.” This is a cruel characterisation of their practice of circumcision. It seems that Paul is equating their act of circumcision with what other cults of the day do when they cut themselves.

In other words, the full impact of what Paul conveys about this viewpoint—the idea that a Gentile Christian must become a Jew before they can properly enter God’s kingdom under Jesus—is that it is gross, it is wrong, and it holds as much value in God’s sight as any other pagan ritual. To try and follow God in this way, Paul is saying, is worthless.

So, if circumcision, that is, keeping the Old Testament law, does not define us as members of God’s new kingdom as it did the old, what does? Well, Paul answers this in v3. He states that we are the circumcision. In other words, you, the Philippian church, and we, Tokai Community Church, are the circumcision (circumcision here acting as a symbol, meaning we are the people living in God’s new covenant.)

What characterises a member of the covenant is not food laws. It involves worshipping and serving God through the Spirit.

We do not boast in the flesh; that is, we do not bear the marks of the covenant on our physical bodies as the people of God once did. Instead, we glory in Christ. It is in the finished work of Christ on the cross that the true identity of God’s new kingdom rests—not merely rests, but glories. Through the power of God, manifested in the world by Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit, God’s true covenant people live and serve. It is Christ, his righteousness, and his power that define the new covenant. 

So, in essence, the point Paul is making is to warn the Philippians against a group of false teachers, people who want them to become Jews. What they are peddling, Paul says, is rubbish. It is as valueless as pagan nonsense for drawing you close to God. What you have in Christ, and through his Spirit, is all you need.

To get the contrast, imagine if an English person came to South Africa, assuming it was still a colony. He has his British Passport, and his pounds, and for that reason, he thinks he belongs as a citizen of South Africa. We might say to him, “Yeah, that worked once. But something incredible has happened, and that’s not what makes you a South African anymore.” It’s the same here. Paul’s opponents are like the British guy. They think things still work like they did before Christ, but now there’s a Messiah. But Paul is telling the Philippians that something magnificent has happened. Your citizenship is no longer in keeping the law. It is found in glorying in Christ alone.

Paul’s Example as Loss – vv4-8b

Having explained this dynamic in principle, Paul now illustrates it by using his own life as an example. The first thing Paul does is show us how all that he previously considered gain or meritorious in the sight of God is actually loss.  

Paul starts this section in v4. He’s just spoken about how the true people of God don’t boast in the flesh, but then he says, “But I do have a boast in the flesh. In fact, if anybody thinks they have a better boast than me, they’re wrong. I have the best.” You can almost imagine Paul clicking his neck as he walks up to the challenger. “Bring your Jewish credentials,” he’s saying, “because mine are just better.”

He then provides a list, akin to what the Romans once did, known as a cursus honorum, or course of honours, which describes all the notable achievements attributed to him. The first three, as noted in v5, are aspects he was born with. He was circumcised on the eighth day, demonstrating that his family kept the covenant. He was born an Israelite, not a convert of lesser status. He originally belonged to the tribe of Benjamin, a significant tribe in Israel’s history. Overall, he was a “Hebrew of Hebrews.”

But he wasn’t merely born into it. As we see in v6, he worked hard at it. He was a Pharisee, the sect in Jewish law that was deeply committed to following the Torah and oral tradition for maximum moral purity. When he still believed the church of Jesus Christ was a sect, he persecuted them to keep Israel pure; such was his devotion to his people. In short, regarding his adherence to the covenant and his participation in the markers of the law, he was blameless. He was the perfect Jew.

To get the idea, think of Michael Phelps. Phelps was born with the ideal physique and talent for becoming a great swimmer. He possessed all the physical attributes, including height, strength, and large feet. Furthermore, he worked diligently to achieve success, dedicating himself to the pursuit of excellence in swimming. Likewise, Paul, through both his birth and his training and commitment, devoted himself to following the God of Israel, in the best way he knew how.

But how does Paul think about all that he had? How does he consider of all these markers of righteousness before God now? He thinks they are all loss (v7). In fact, it goes deeper than that. He considers everything, all his earthly gains, to be loss. And he considers the marks of his previous success to be nothing. In fact, Paul uses a potent, vulgar word here, which I will politely translate as dung, to describe how he now thinks of his previous achievements.

Why? What happened to Paul to create such a reversal? Well, to put it simply, Paul encountered Christ. When Paul encountered Christ, and when he thought through all that the risen Jesus meant for his life, he realised that all the previous things he had directed his life towards, everything he thought was of value, were as nothing in the light of his new north star, Jesus Christ.

It’s a bit like Romeo and Juliet. At the beginning of the play, it’s a bit confusing as there is no Juliet. Instead, it appears that the love story is about Romeo and Rosalind, because Rosalind is the woman with whom Romeo is frantically in love. So deeply in love, in fact, that he wants to die because he cannot be with her. However, when he encounters Juliet at a party, everything changes. His affections are instantly, yet irrevocably, transformed, so that Juliet becomes his everything. Upon seeing Juliet for the first time, he proclaims, “Did my heart love till now? Forswear it, sight! For I ne'er saw true beauty till this night.” Such was Paul when he encountered the risen Christ.

Paul’s Example as Gain – vv8-11

In our final point for tonight, we will look at what Paul says he had gained when he laid aside his previous righteousness as loss and dung for the sake of knowing Christ. And we will see that Paul, in knowing Christ, gains four magnificent things.

The first thing that Paul says he gained, and perhaps the most marvellous, was Christ himself. If you look at v8, Paul says he considers everything, all his previous claims to merit and all possible claims to merit, as loss for “the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.” Knowing Christ. That is the fundamental, the greatest gain that Paul has discovered when he laid everything aside for Christ’s sake was that Jesus was worth it all. The commentators all agree that this knowing of which he is speaking is not just a ‘knowing about’. It is a profound relational knowing, the kind that was promised to the Jews in the Old Testament when the New Covenant came, that they would know their God and live in his favour and presence. This is what Jeremiah says in Jeremiah 31:3-4,

“I will be their God, and they will be my people. No longer will they teach their neighbour, or say to one another, ‘Know the LORD,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest,” declares the LORD.”

In the face of Christ, the risen and exalted Lord, Paul has found this to be true. In the face of Christ, Paul has found God and now enjoys fellowship with him. What could be greater than that? 

Secondly, if you look at v9, Paul has also found a true righteousness. Paul says that in knowing Christ he finds, a righteousness that is, “not his own, according to the law” but instead one which comes through faith in Christ, a righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith in Christ.” Righteousness here refers to right standing with God, and Paul now realises that it is not by his efforts, not by right keeping of the law, but by faith in Christ, that he is set right with God. Not based on all that he had done, but because of the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. He does not need to earn his righteousness or do anything according to the law to achieve it. Instead, it is given to him by God based on his faith in Christ alone. He no longer needs to rely on his Jewishness to mark him as God’s person. Instead, it is the faith in Jesus alone that shows that he is a part of God’s new covenant. As he said in v2, instead of putting his trust in the flesh, he now glories in Christ and the work done for him. How magnificent is that?

But not only does he have righteousness in God’s sight. The third thing he finds is that his very life is now conformed to Christ’s. In knowing Christ, he also knows the power of his resurrection. By this, Paul means that he knows the power of Christ’s resurrection in his everyday life. Because of what Christ did for him, in other words he has the ability to live faithfully for Christ.

This resurrection power is necessary because Paul is also conformed to Christ in his sufferings and in his death, too. In other words, Paul’s life is now shaped by the example of the suffering servant. Remember what I said before, how Paul is offering himself as an example to teach the Philippians? This is a clear teaching moment. Both Paul and the Philippians are struggling, but Paul is putting it into perspective. In his sufferings, all he’s doing is living the life exemplified by his beloved Messiah. In being conformed to his death, he is experiencing nothing more or less than what the Messiah experienced. So great is life with Christ that Paul delights to be conformed to Christ’s sufferings.

But he has the same hope. The fourth thing Paul gains in Christ is resurrection. Paul lives his current life of suffering and death with the power of Christ’s resurrection, but looking forward to his own. Paul looks forward to a time when he will join with Christ, the firstfruits of the resurrection, and glory in a world made new, where he lives in perfect, endless fellowship with his Lord. This is his sure hope.

And so, in Christ, Paul finds the relationship with God he had been craving. In the face of Christ, he finds the face of God. In Christ, he finds the true righteousness from God. In Christ, he finds the resurrection power to live a life of taking up his cross, all with the sure hope that he will be resurrected in Christ. Do you see now why he considers all else loss? In the face of gain like this, what wouldn’t seem like loss?

Application:

Can you see now why Paul writes the command he does in v1? Rejoice in the Lord. Knowing what he does about Jesus, how can he not rejoice in him? It is a safeguard for you. If the Philippians rejoice in Christ, the way Paul knows Christ to be worthy of, how can they not be safe from false teachers?

So, friends, what does this passage mean for us? How can we take the truths that Paul has expressed here and bring them into our own lives?  

I think the overall call is to follow Paul’s example. That’s what he wanted the Philippian Church to do, and I think that’s how we faithfully take this passage out of its context, and into ours.

Look at Paul, and all that he had that he thought would recommend him to Christ. He was the man, a Hebrew of Hebrews, a Pharisee who wanted to make Israel pure enough for her Lord. He was blameless by the law. But in the light of Christ, friends, he called that all dung. It was worthless.

So let me ask you, what is it that you cling to? What do you hold up to the Lord in your heart as evidence to let you in? Is it your tithing? Is it your Bible reading? Is it the fact that you are a part of the mercy ministry? Is it that you came to the evening service on a cold Sunday evening? Friends, whatever it is, it’s not enough. It doesn’t work. Nothing short of the blood of Christ shed for you will get you in.

But the encouragement, friends, is that the blood of Christ was shed for you. Jesus has died for you to welcome you in. He died to pay for you sins, he rose and declared Satan’s power over you gone forever. So, whether you’re sitting there, realising all you thought was righteousness has fallen like a house of cards, or whether you’re scoffing because you’ve never felt like you had any righteousness, can I encourage you? Christ has died for you. If you would just look to him, all that life with him has to offer is yours. Just believe.

Another thing to think about is what it means to be a member of Tokai Community Church. I don’t mean on the roster, like we saw this morning. I mean, what kinds of people do we really welcome in? Who comes to TCC and feels like they belong? When I was at Rhodes, I joined a Christian society, full of people I love dearly, who are friends to this day. They welcomed everybody, in theory. But if you went there with an ESV Study Bible, a membership to the Dance Society, and a few other things, you were king. Theoretically, everybody was welcome. But really, only certain people belonged. Who are those people at TCC?

And, I think it is fitting that we end our application where Paul began. Rejoice in the Lord. That is your safeguard. I say this with caution, because I don’t know where all of you are. But I do know this: Whatever your season, Christ will be shown good. If you trust him, if you follow him, if you put your faith in him, you will find the power of Christ working through you as you are conformed to his sufferings, and you will reach resurrection, because of what Christ has done. Rejoicing for you might look like praise and dancing at God’s goodness. But it can also be barely whispering the words of a praise song through tears, broken by life, but trusting somehow that God is good, and that you will see that in Christ. Friends, wherever you are, rejoice.

In conclusion, friends, we have here a picture of Paul, losing all he thought would grant him favour with God to find Christ, and realising that with that, he got all he sought and more. Can I urge us to follow Paul’s example? Let us pursue Christ by welcoming in all who know and love him. Let’s pursue Christ by leaving behind all that would get in our way. Let’s live the life of the suffering servant in Christ’s power, that we might attain to his glory. And let us glory in the Christ through whom our God is shown. Friends, there is no greater life than this.