Confidence in Christ

Intro

Philippians 3:1-11

Warnings and cautions! Insults and comparrisons. Paul starts chapter 3 with a series of bangs and doesn’t hold back any punches. He is starting to get into the meat of what he is saying to the Philippian believers. And considering this is the midpoint of the letter, it’s about time. Opponents have arisen from without and within. It’s easy to identify those who are not of the family of believers and who seek to oppose, but more subtler are the enemies from within that try to pervert the gospel to fit a specific agenda. Such still happens today and we see evidence of it scattered throughout every denomination.

So, what are we to do then?

In the passage we are looking at today, let us consider Paul’s warnings to the Philippians and try to understand how those warnings might also apply to us.

As we progress through this part of Paul’s letter, I want us to pay attention to the progression of Paul’s argument here. Ultimatley, Paul is concerned about spreading the gospel and that the people would do as it says in Philippians 1:27 “Only conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or remain absent, I will hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel;”

Paul begins this part of Philippians by identifying opponents to be aware of… Judaizers. Simply put, these are “christians” who have put their trust in Jewish heritage over and above what Christ did. Condensed down to a nutshell, they would preach that you need to become a Jew first before you can become a Christian. Their message might sound like “trust circumcision and then trust Jesus.” Paul then appeals to his own experience as a Pharisee whose confidence was in his own actions and heritage and the failings therein. And then Paul developes his argument further to state that all such is loss. His confidence is not in what he has done, nor in what was done to him when he was a baby, but in what Christ has done.

Therefore, the question is passed down to us… where do we put our confidence? In our own strength and accomplishments, or in what Christ has done?

Trust the Flesh?

Philippians 3:1–4 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:

I won’t say too much about verse one except to draw attention to the recurring theme of joy penetrating every nook and cranny of this letter. It also is interesting that Paul has no problems repeating himself. Why does a person repeat themselves? They do so in order to emphasize the important parts they really don’t want to be misunderstood about.

Paul then lays into those who would oppose the true gospel of Jesus Christ. Verse 2 can’t be read without hearing the biting words Paul uses. It is rather abrupt and almost rude if not for the warning against false doctrine that is attached to it. Look out for the “dogs.” This wasn’t a time in history where dogs were seen as cute little companions, but rather as scavengers and invaders. It wasn’t a compliment, but an insult. The “evildoers” is a lot more straight forward and needs little additional explanation. “Mutilators of the flesh” however might need more comments, but Paul provides a fairly quick explanation of what he was talking about.

But for those of us who might not be aware of the troubles the early church was facing, there were divisions from within that threatened to tear everything apart. A group that we will call the Judaizers arose from within the church that opposed the doctrine that the apostles would put into place, particularly regarding gentile believers. The Judaizers believed that you needed to become a Jew before you could become a Christian… as in, males needed to be circumcised before they could believe in Jesus. It should sound ridiculous to our ears, but it was a major issue for the early church. And there are still certain groups that hold to similar beliefs to this very day.

You can actually read the debate that arose between the early church groups in Acts 15 in what is known as the Jerusalem Council. There was a great divide that even required far flung missionaries to come to Jerusalem to bring reports about what they had seen and heard the Lord doing in and among the gentiles. In this chapter, these missionaries give testimony, as does Peter, who shares about his encounter with the house of Cornelius earlier in Acts. Evidence was shared that the Holy Spirit indwelt Gentile believers who had not been circumcised and this was understood to be evidence that circumcision was not a requirement for believers before coming to faith. From that council, a letter was written and distributed by Paul and Barnabas, and others to the churches all around that says the following: Acts 15:28–29 ““For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay upon you no greater burden than these essentials: that you abstain from things sacrificed to idols and from blood and from things strangled and from fornication; if you keep yourselves free from such things, you will do well. Farewell.””

Back in Philippians where we find ourselves today, we see that the Judaisers didn’t stop and were threatening to come to Philippi. Paul sternly warns them against these false teachers and calls them the “false circumcision.” Ironically, they preached a message that requires traditional circumcision, but Paul counts it as false because to go through with the ritual would lessen our dependence on Christ. Therefore, he calls himself, and all true believers in Jesus Christ, the “true circumcision” and qualifies that statement by declaring “who worship in the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh.”

But what does it mean to have confidence in the flesh?

Paul’s Fleshly Confidence

Philippians 3:4–6 NASB95

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.

Paul launches into a discussion with the Philippians saying that if there were ever anyone living who could have confidence in pedigree and profession, it was Paul. Of anyone alive at the time, and possibly since, Paul was as devout as they came. He was a circumcised Jew and could trace his lineage back to the tribe of Benjamin. More than bloodline, Paul also chose for himself the ascetic path of a Pharisee and did so with zeal. In his devotion to Pharisaism, he saw the newly formed church and this movement following Jesus Christ as a threat to his order and to the traditions that came with it. And so in his zeal, he persecuted the church to the point of death.

Paul is declaring that if you could have confidence in things that we could do as human beings, he did them all. He could have had all the confidence in the world. Even when looking at the Old Testament Law, he considered himself blamelss. And yet he was wrong.

You can read Paul’s conversion encounter in a few locations in the book of Acts, but the thrust of it is that he has an encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus and he is confronted with the risen Savior and the ultimate proof that his convictions were wrong. It radically transformed his life and leaves him claiming what he now says in verses 7-11.

Advantage or Disadvantage?

Philippians 3:7–11 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, 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.

Everything Paul used to count towards his personal righteousness is now counted as a complete waste of time. This is not to say that good and moral behavior isn’t important (we talked about this topic already in our walkthrough of the letter to the Philippians), but to try to earn righteousness through righteous acts is a waste of time. It won’t work. Salvation is purely given by the grace of God, not on the basis of works of the individual, but purely on the basis of what Jesus did on the cross.

To trust in good works as though it could earn you salvation is to diminish the work of Christ on the cross. It was His sacrifice, not our suferings that earns us our salvation. It is a gift from Him, plain an d simple.

Verse 9 is worthy of consideration for those wanting to memorize some scripture. “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.” It’s all from God through Christ. It’s all through faith and the gift of grace.

And Paul makes no qualms about the fact that he is seeking for the resurrection from the dead and has found it no where else than in Christ Jesus and in walking the path of a believer.

Conclusion

The question is passed down to us… where do we put our confidence? In our own strength and accomplishments, or in what Christ has done?

History is filled with examples of those who put their trust in their own strength. The church is filled with people who think that if they do enough good, it will outweigh the bad and they’ll get into heaven.

Let me say this clearly so there is no misunderstanding. You will never get to heaven if you are relying on the good you can do. It will never be enough. There is a better way!

In today’s text, we saw that Paul pulled no punches when it came to a specific group that wanted to circumcise new believers before they could welcome them into the church. Paul made it clear that to trust in circumcision means that you trust in Jesus less. And circumcision earned Paul nothing. Rather, it became a stumbling block to his faith until he encountered Jesus who opened his eyes to what was really going on.

Paul used his own life story as an example, or as a cautionary parable of what it looks like to trust in the flesh. He layed out his qualifications and his pedigree and made it clear that if anyone could trust in their own personal righteousness or actions, it was him. And yet he knew the truth that it was not enough. There is a better way!

Our salvation is from the Lord Jesus Christ and in Him only. So, if there is any lesson we can learn from Paul, let it be to pursue Christ first and foremost, above all things. Count all things in life as loss if we can but only gain Christ because that is enough! That is the better way! Christ is the only way!