Made New: The Gospel Changes You Part 2
Notes
Transcript
In Christ
In Christ
Welcome and Mission/Vision
Please Turn to Philippians 3
This is part 2 of our sermon series on the Gospel next week I am excited for us to jump back into Genesis.
Read Philippians 3:4-11
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.
Main Idea: Remain in, treasure and know Christ for salvation
Illustration: Money and ascribed worth
Personal accomplishments and heritage are nothing in Christ (3:4-6)
Paul begins a list of his birth rights and accomplishments that could give him reason to be proud of himself in human terms. If anyone had the capacity to think highly of himself and his standing, Paul does.
“confidence in the flesh” would be exactly what the Judaizers of Paul’s day are doing as “opponents to the cross of Christ.”
He could take pride not only in his religious background but also his race if he so chose. Racial and religious allusions here. He was not only a Benjamite Hebrew but from the sect of the Pharisees who zealously pursued strict enforcement of the law of moses.
“under the law….blameless” should not contradict what we know to be true elsewhere in Scripture. That you cannot keep the law. Paul is speaking here of the observable aspects of the law.
My friends, do we boast in our heritage? Do we boast in our nation? Do we boast in our observance of religious practice? Paul says this is dung from the heap in comparison to the surpassing worth of Christ. If we possess greater allegiance to America than to Christ, we’ve missed it. If we have greater pride in our racial persuasion and ethnic background than our pursuit of Christ, we missed it.
2. Union with Christ is of supreme value (3:7-8)
In these next few verses Paul contrasts the concepts of loss and gain. What originally seemed to be “gain” is actually “loss” in comparison to the worth I now place in being united with Christ. When we become a believer, what we once valued and thought to be important becomes loss. The money I made used to be gain but now is loss. The heritage I used to think we gain is now loss. The noteriaty or fame I used to think was gain, I now count as loss.
Verse 7 is the central statement of this passage making clear the disposition of Paul as he encourages the Philippian Church.
The blamelessness that Paul once held in high regard under the law is fully renounced as loss in light of Christ. There is now no distinction! Paul says in Ephesians 1 that only in Christ are we chosen people holy and blameless before him
Verse 8 heaps up phrases as if to highlight the immense extravagance of truly knowing Christ in this way where all else is strangely unimportant.
What does it look like for a people to be so utterly enthralled with the glory of Christ Jesus we are so utterly unaware of what others count as important? “the things of earth grow strangly dim in light of his glory and grace.”
The “rubbish” in verse 8 is such a vulgar term its difficult to explain. Paul seems to purposefully be highlighting the depth of disparity between what used to be gain which is now loss. Rubbish, refuse, or dung here is poop or trash thrown to the street dogs. It’s not an accident that Paul calls those who boast in their circumcision in chapter 3 verse 2 “dogs.”
What does it look like to gain Christ? All else must be less important if we are to truly gain Christ. He demands our lives, allegiance and devotion. Does Christ take second place or worse in your priority structure? I submit to you it is likely not a minimization of the concerns in your life that needs to happen but an expansion of your view of God.
Do you treasure Christ above all else? If Jesus is not your highest treasure, he is not your Savior
3. By His righteousness, we are redeemed (3:9-11)
Paul here highlights the difference between righteousness we attempt to gain on our own verses that which is imputed through being in Christ.
Righteousness from the law does not save but faith in Christ as our righteousness put on by faith not only leads us to be united with him in suffering but we are united with him in his resurrection. Fully redeemed and made alive not just in this life but also in the next.
“knowing him” is a key piece to receiving this new life in Christ. Jesus told his followers many would come to him claiming religious practice and deeds done in his name. But Jesus will say to them “I never knew you.” Do you know him or simply know of him?
To receive redemption there is a clear causality between “knowing him” and receiving his righteousness as your own. We said last week, its not what you have done its who you know. So do you know him? Or do you simply know of him.
Lets not neglect Paul is indeed concerned with the nature of right living but what is the predicate of our right living? The foundation must be Christ otherwise our motivations are based on our own fame and flesh. If we are truly in Christ, our lives will be radically changed in an instant.
“sharing in his suffering and become like him in his death” reminds us that to be in Christ is to truly die to ourselves. What are the ways you have died to yourself in pursuit of gaining Christ? Have you suffered on his behalf? If you haven’t suffered in some ways, its not wrong to question your level of devotion to the suffering servant Jesus Christ who was marked by ridicule and scorn.
Lets ask the question as we finish our text here, is Christ worth it? Is he worth remaining in, treasuring and knowing? What does the Bible say about being in Christ?
In Christ, you are blessed, chosen and blameless
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him.
In Christ you have redemption and forgiveness
In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace,
In Christ you are created for good works
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
In Christ your old life is gone
I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
In Christ you have a new beginning
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
In Christ you become righteous
For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
In Christ the old body of sin is made nothing and you are made free
For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin.
In Christ there is no condemnation
There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
In Christ you will never be separated from the love of God
For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
In Christ you are raised eternally and hidden in God
If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
In Christ you are saved, called and holy before the ages began
who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began,
These are the many blessings we have in Christ and when you turn your life over to him truly you are made new. The Gospel of Jesus is that through our union with Christ we are fully transformed by knowing and treasuring Jesus above all else. He is worth it all and in Christ alone by faith alone are we redeemed.
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