A Better Righteousness

Some things are worth repeating.

As I get older, I find myself repeating a lot of things.

And I imagine that habits only going to get worse.

There are fond memories that I have, that I love reliving.

There are things that I never want to forget.

January 11, the day that Amanda and I were married.

The day the church voted on me becoming the senior pastor.

A week later, I took the high schoolers to youth camp.

That week at camp, I thought I broke my ankle.

Then there was my first sermon as senior pastor, just a week later.

I had to preach sitting down in a stool, because my ankle was so swollen, I couldn’t get a shoe over it.

These are memories that I like to repeat.

Then there are biblical truths that I’ve repeated.

I’ve repeated the Gospel.

I’ve repeated the call to salvation.

I’ve repeatedly called for you to examine yourself and to make sure you are a Christian.

And there have been times, where others haven’t enjoyed hearing the same things over and over again.

I remember, after preaching one week, a man came into my office to tell me what he thought of the sermons.

It wasn’t a subtle critique of how to better deliver the message.

It wasn’t a question of my conclusions or that I said something wrong.

He started yelling, “I don’t need to hear the Gospel!”

This man, though thinking he’s a Christian, thought the Gospel was old news and not something that needed repeating.

Which is interesting, because in the middle of Paul’s letter to the Philippians, he did exactly that.

He said something that he’d said over and over again.

He repeated the Gospel.

says, “Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you is no trouble to me and is safe for you.”

He’s going to say some things that the Philippians have already heard before.

He doesn’t say these things to be condescending to them.

Remember from last week, he’s Joy Bringer, he wants them to rejoice.

“Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord.”

What he’s going to say isn’t meant to bring them down.

It’s not to belittle them.

It’s to uplift them.

If anything, it’s he who might tire of saying the same thing over and over again, but even he rejoices.

“To write the same things to you is no trouble to me ...”

He likes talking about what he’s going to talk about, it’s not a burden.

Additionally, it’s good for the church to hear it.

He says, “and is safe for you.”

It’s for our benefit to hear the same things over and over again, especially the Gospel.

This is a reminder, that whatever is preached should always be an old truth.

It should be something you’ve heard before.

We may use different illustrations or analogies, but the central truth should never be a new one.

Beware of any speaker or religion that says, “Here’s something brand new that’s never been known in 2,000 years of Christendom.”

Let’s go ahead and hear Paul’s repeated message.

Open your Bibles to .

Read Philippians 3:1-11.

Paul begins by looking at those who Add To The Gospel

Look at verses 2-3.

“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—”

Sometimes in our conversations we bring up other religions.

People ask:

Are Catholics Christians?

Or are Seventh Day Adventists Christians?

And they say these things because they have friends and family who are in those religions.

Those friends, those family members are super nice.

They are devoted to their religion.

They even acknowledge some of the basic truths of Christianity.

The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Jesus died on a cross for sins.

Forgiveness of sins.

Understand, that’s not the problem.

The problem isn’t that they affirm some of the same things.

The problem is that they add to the Gospel.

Here in , Paul is addressing a group of people called The Judaizers.

The Judaizers were Jews had converted to Christianity.

The problem is that they still clung tenaciously to their Jewish traditions.

They required Christians to hold to those Jewish traditions.

Including:

Diets

The Sabbath

Jewish feasts

Even circumcision.

Essentially, they believed that the death of Jesus was not enough.

If you wanted sins to be forgiven, you needed to be:

Circumcised.

Eat kosher.

And follow the Jewish holidays.

Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Paul had some rather strong words to say to them.

Speaking of these Judaizers he says to look out for them.

3 times in verse 2, he says to look out.

Look out for the dogs.

Look out for the evildoers.

Look out for those who mutilate.

Paul doesn’t say:

“Welcome these brothers in the faith.”

He doesn’t say, “Welcome them and their good deeds.”

Speaking of them and their requirement of circumcision.

Circumcision was commanded back in Israel.

It was a sign that people belonged to God.

It was supposed to be an outward demonstration of an inward change.

It was supposed to be a picture of God cutting away the sinful heart of man.

How does Paul describe the Judaizers’ circumcision?

He says they are those who mutilate the flesh.

He doesn’t describe their circumcision as a holy rite, commanded by God in order to receive forgiveness of sins.

In fact he doesn’t even say the word circumcision.

He says they mutilate the flesh.

He uses a word that means to make an incision.

He says they are dissecting their own body.

In , he says, “I wish those who unsettle you would emasculate themselves!”

While they are cutting a bit of flesh off, they might as well cut it all off.

So, how does Paul feel about those who say you need to do something else to be saved?

That you must add to the Gospel.

He’s strongly opposed to them.

He says “Look out” for them.

In , Paul says, “As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.”

And that word for accursed, it means damned.

So what does Paul think about those who add to Christianity?

What does Paul think about those who affirm Christ plus something else?

He says they are accused.

And here in , Paul says, to watch out for them, look out!

Going back to the question earlier about different religions that affirm core Christian doctrines, but then add more to it?

Paul would say they aren’t in the faith.

He would say to watch out for them.

There are some who believe good truths, but then they add to the Gospel.

Then my question would be why is she in the Catholic Church?

Some of you know people who affirm Christian truth, but then say that there is more that needs to be done.

They add baptism or even communion as a requirement to have your sins removed.

Because at this point, she’s not a very good Catholic.

Paul would say, “Look out for them! They’re preaching a different Gospel.”

And

You might say,

“But they’re really nice people.”

“They believe a lot of truth.”

“They believe a lot of the same things.”

But in reality, they believe truth, but also think there is more.

And the more, the extra, is satisfied by ourselves.

They may say Christ alone, but then they also say, “but Christ wasn’t enough.”

That says Christ wasn’t enough.

We both believe in Jesus.

Just one of us thinks Jesus is weaker than the other.

He then contrasts those who add to the Gospel.

In verse 3 he says, “For we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh—”

Now he uses the word circumcision.

He doesn’t say emasculate or mutilaters, here he says circumcision.

Now he uses the word circumcision, and who’s he use it for?

The true believer.

The true believer, the true Christian is one who:

Is filled with the Holy Spirit.

Boasts only in Christ.

And puts no added confidence in the flesh.

So how do we not be one who adds to the Gospel? By Subtracting Your Best

You subtract your best.

Look at what Paul says about himself in verses 4-7.

“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.”

If you want to avoid being one of those who add to the Gospel, you must subtract your best.

Paul, describes his best in those verses.

The Judaizers used their Jewishness to brag and say they were the standard.

And if that’s the standard … then Paul says, he’s even closer to that standard.

And if that’s the standard … Paul says he’s even better.

He was circumcised on the 8th day, something all good Jewish boys should do.

He was of the people of Israel.

There were some who had converted to Judaism, but were previously Gentiles.

Paul didn’t convert, he was born Jewish.

Not just an Israelite, but he even knew which tribe he was from.

Because Israel split, and then was conquered, not many people knew which tribe they were from.

But Paul, was one of those lucky individuals who knew his lineage, and he was from the tribe of Benjamin.

And being from the tribe of Benjamin, even that’s a big deal.

The tribe of Benjamin was a beloved tribe.

And after the kingdom split, they were one of the tribes that remained loyal to David’s descendants.

Basically, they were a good tribe to be associated with.

Not only was he Jewish, but he practiced his religion.

Many people today may be Jewish by birth, but they don’t practice their religion.

It’s nothing more than a culture or a heritage to them.

But not with Paul.

He practiced his religion.

He was a Hebrew of Hebrews.

He obeyed the law tenaciously.

Careful to obey every detail.

In fact, there even extra laws, and he obeyed them.

And how aggressive was he in being a Pharisee?

He was the lead persecutor of the church.

Acts records his attacks upon the church.

He went house to house ravaging the church.

By the way, these were things he could brag about.

People love to do what Paul did, we love to brag.

We love to compare ourselves.

We love to say how we are better than others.

What is it you are most proud of in yourself?

What sets you apart?

Is it your:

Job?

Your money?

Your virtue?

Your morals?

Your family?

Your nation?

Is it America?

Is it your race?

Is it your heritage?

Is it your education?

What is it you are most proud of in yourself?

Naturally, we think are good people.

Naturally, we think that better than others.

When Jesus summarized the Law he said that we are to love God with all our heart, strength, soul and mind, and also to love our neighbor as ourselves.

That wasn’t a command to love ourselves.

The assumption is that we already love ourselves, and if anything, we love ourselves too much.

We have a hard time thinking there is anything wrong with us.

There was a time a rich young man came to Jesus.

He came to Jesus and said, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

Jesus then asked him about the commandments.

Do not commit adultery.

Do not murder.

Do not steal.

Do not lie.

Honor your father and mother.

And the young man said, “I’ve obeyed all those laws. What else could I possibly do?

You see, he thought he was pretty swell.

He wanted to hear Jesus say, “You’re right, you’re just as good as you think you are.”

But Jesus told him to sell all he had and give it away to the poor.

The man walked away said.

Not because he was going to actually do it.

But because he realized he wasn’t as good as he thought he was.

Hell has become a very unpopular subject.

Not just because it’s not pleasant to think about.

It’s becoming unpopular, because people increasingly think that they are good enough already to go to heaven.

People have a hard time thinking that God will send good people to Hell.

Because like the rich young ruler, they think they are better than they are.

Paul listed all these good things about himself, and then notice what he says in verse 7, “But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ.”

He threw it all away.

If you want to avoid being like those who add to the Gospel, then you need to lose whatever it is that you brag about in yourself.

Subtract your best.

And how do you subtract your best?

Verse 8 says, “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 ...”

You subtract your best by seeing the surpassing worth of Christ.

I know we don’t see a whole lot of real cameras anymore.

Remember when people used to walk around with real cameras and take pictures with real film.

And you’d hope everyone would smile because you wouldn’t know how the picture turned out till the film was developed in 3 months.

Remember when people would have their little dinky cameras, and they’d be outside and take a picture and always want the flash on.

You’re at the beach.

Not a cloud in the sky.

You finally get everyone together for that one memorable shot.

You can only take it once before all the kids scatter, and the baby cries.

The picture is taken.

And the person taking the picture says, “Oh I forgot to turn the flash on. Let’s do it again.”

Everyone collectively sighs, because that flash isn’t going to do anything.

The sun is too bright.

The flash is useless.

The sun overwhelms whatever the lumens are on that little camera.

In the same way, Christ is way better than our goodness.

Whatever good we think we have … it’s nothing compared to Christ’s.

I’ve done a handful of nice things in my life.

And yet, they mean nothing because I’ve also done a lot of sinning.

Even just one sin counters whatever good things I’ve done.

Why? Because God’s standard is different from man’s standard.

We all are sinners.

Some sin more, some sin less, but all sin.

We think that because someone sins more than me, that therefore he’s worse.

So we use phrases like:

“Nobody’s perfect.”

And “I’m only human.”

But that’s not how God judges.

The standard that God uses is perfection.

In Jesus said, “You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

And so, if perfection is the standard, then even 1 sin violates the standard.

says, “For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it.”

Yet, Christ was absolutely perfect.

He never sinned.

Think of 2 lights.

One is the flash of a small camera at the beach in the middle of a summer day.

The other is the sun.

The sun drowns out whatever small light the camera puts out.

And in the same way, whatever small amount of righteousness you think you have, is drowned out in Christ’s perfect righteousness.

The right response when looking at the goodness that God requires from us is to say, “I have nothing.”

In verses 4-6 Paul listed all his accomplishments.

Then in verse 8 he says, “I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish ...”

Those great things he’d done and he says they’re rubbish.

Rubbish is the worst waste, dung.

We’ve all got trash service.

Once a week, you put out the trash and the trash man comes and picks it up.

We’ve got the big purple container for normal trash.

We’ve got the silver one, that’s for recyclables.

Then we’ve got the green one for compost.

You ever thrown something away on accident, or lost something and thought maybe you threw it away on accident.

I have.

I go outside.

Very angrily.

I open up the purple container and start wading through the trash.

Trying not to touch anything too much, cause it kind of grosses me out.

Carefully pull out bags filled with trash, trying to guess where my lost item would be within all the trash bags.

Then we have the green one.

The green one gets lawn clippings … and dog poop.

If I thought maybe something got thrown in the dog poop one, I’d just leave it.

If Amanda threw her wedding ring in the dog poop container, I’d say, “Sorry, it’s gone. Gonna have to get a new ring.”

Paul says his righteousness was in the green container, it was dog poop, it was rubbish.

It’s not worth going through.

How many of you are willing to say that your best deeds;

The things that set you apart from everyone else.

Your biggest accomplishment.

Your education.

Whatever it is you brag about …

How many of you are willing to say it’s dog poop?

Yet that is where we need to get to.

Paul said, “… I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish ...”

This is what Isaiah meant back in when he said, “We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. ...”

But until you get to this point … you don’t understand Christ.

You are still clinging to the thought that on some level, you’re good enough.

When I was a kid, up until I was 21, my mom would take us to Chuck E. Cheese for our birthdays.

Get some pizza.

Play in the arcade it was fun.

I was a skii ball fan.

Kind of like bowling, except there’s a ramp.

You take these little softball sized balls, and roll them up the ramp, and try and get them into various holes that are worth different amount of points.

Based on how many points you got, you’d get a bunch of tickets.

And you could redeem those tickets for a prize.

Imagine, I saved all my Chuck E Cheese tickets, and then went to Outback Steakhouse to buy myself a steak.

That won’t happen.

It’s the wrong currency.

They’ll laugh at my feeble attempt, and then expect real money.

Because those Chuck E Cheese tickets are worthless at Outback Steakhouse.

We must come to the realization that our best deeds … are worthless before God.

They are rubbish.

They are what’s in the green container.

Like paying for a steak with Chuck E Cheese tickets.

That’s why Jesus said, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

You must subtract your best.

In our worship you’ve sung that.

In the hymn, Rock of Ages, we sing:

Nothing in my hands I bring, Simply to Thy cross I cling; Naked, come to Thee for dress, Helpless, look to Thee for grace: Foul, I to the fountain fly, Wash me, Savior, or I die.

Only when you subtract your best can you gain Christ.

Paul said that he counted these things 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—”

We must realize that we are lacking something, because the something that we have is rubbish, and only then can we gain anything.

This puts us in a scary situation, because many people don’t like depending on others.

That makes us vulnerable.

It means our livelihood is dependent on someone else following through.

It means our livelihood is dependant on someone else.

But trust me, there is much to gain here.

Verses 10-11 say, “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.”

There are 3 things here that we gain in those words.

We get to know Jesus.

Not know of Jesus.

Many know of Jesus.

We get to know Jesus, personally and intimately.

Jesus described Himself as a shepherd.

Back in the day the shepherds would keep all their sheep in a giant fenced in area.

There would be different flocks that belonged to various shepherds all in one area.

But when required the shepherd of a particular flock would come to that collective sheep area, and he’d call his sheep.

And his sheep, would come, because they know his voice.

This is what Jesus meant in when He said, “… The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.”

I love the song, My Worth Is Not In What I Own, by Keith and Krysten Getty.

One of the verses says,

I will not boast in wealth Or human wisdom’s fleeting light. But I will boast in knowing Christ At the Cross

While on one hand we are acknowledging our inability, we get to acknowledge, boldly, knowing Christ.

Our faith is that we get to know Christ and that He knows us.

We are not strangers.

But we will be welcomed into paradise as brothers and sisters and coheirs with Him.

Not only do you know Jesus, but you get to know the power of His resurrection.

This is such a cool thing.

In our passage there are 2 powers at work.

There is the power of the self, self-righteousness.

And there is the power of Christ.

We’ve already learned that the power of the self is weak.

Paul said we are to put no confidence in the flesh.

We are to consider the efforts of our life as rubbish.

says, “Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.”

I feel so bad for those who say that they cannot trust another, or want to do it themselves.

Because they are on a path only of disappointment and damnation.

The power of the self is useless.

And each of you must come to the conclusion, that the strength of self is powerless and cannot save anyone.

But there is a power that is affective. And here he says it is the power of His resurrection.

Consider Christ’s power greater.

Not only greater but it accomplishes something.

The resurrection of Jesus means that Christ’s goodness is acceptable and can be applied to us.

One of the verses says,

I will not boast in wealth Or human wisdom’s fleeting light. But I will boast in knowing Christ At the Cross

God requires us to be good.

Or human wisdom’s fleeting light.

But I will boast in knowing Christ.

At the Cross

I will not boast in wealth or might

Remember, we are to be perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect.

Or human wisdom’s fleeting light

The power of Christ is so great, that His perfection, can actually be applied to us.

But I will boast in knowing Christ

Don’t believe me, listen to these words from .

At the cross

“For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.”

Our righteousness is no good, but His is.

And we receive it.

This is called imputed righteousness.

Martin Luther said that in Christ we receive an alien righteousness.

Meaning, a foreign goodness, a foreign righteousness is credited to us.

This means that our faith is that we experience the power of Christ.

Which is good because our power is rubbish.

And lastly, our faith is that we get to share in his sufferings.

Literally, we have fellowship with His sufferings.

We join in the suffering of Christ, we are bonded with Christ though His suffering.

I love the song, My Worth Is Not In What I Own, by Keith and Krysten Getty.

The song opens with:

My worth is not in what I own Not in the strength of flesh and bone. But in the costly wounds of love At the Cross

Our faith is that the cross is affective for us, so much that we become like him in his death.

That means we are no longer the way we were previously.

We become new creations in Christ.

In fact, we are progressively becoming more and more like Him.

Your faith isn’t that you remain the way you were … your faith is that you get to become Christlike.

Sound too good to be true?

says, “For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.”

And becoming like Christ, mean’s we will receive everlasting life.

Isn’t that what we want?

But to get there, it means we’ve got to lay down our lives.

We’ve got to acknowledge some truths about ourselves, and cling to Christ.

Have you done that?

It’s good to repeat somethings.

Have you acknowledged your sin before God?

Have you ever examined your own inability?

Yes, I’m near the end of the sermon, you can probably tell that because of this call to examine yourself.

But it’s good for you to always consider this.

If you are in Christ … you get to rejoice.

And know that you are living in and under the mighty power of Christ, redeemed.

You know Him.

And you will be resurrected.

I like to hear things like that.

But if the answer is no, you’re not in Christ ....

Then I’m glad I am asking you to consider these things.

Because your eternity is on the line.

I want to rejoice about the nature of your soul.

I want to rejoice that you know Christ, live in His Power and are being conformed to him.

And if you are not sure of these things … then consider them.

Cry out to God.

Talk with me.

Because really, this is the most important thing you can ever dwell on.