One Confidence (3:4-11)

One Confidence: Christ’s Righteousness (Philippians 3:4-11) Pray & Intro: A grand marketplace; haggling over prices and trades, etc. Read Passage & Discuss: (last week review) No confidence in the flesh – what does confidence (trust) in the flesh look like? (negatively from Paul’s past, then positively what Paul places confidence in now) I. Paul’s Past – The privileges (of Jewish descent) and achievements (related to Mosaic law) of Paul’s past. FOR a relationship with Christ. A. 7 items in Paul’s “winning” column (4 privileges of Jewish descent, 3 he achieved regarding the law) – ethnic and spiritual privileges 1. First is circumcision (on the 8th day, of course, according to OT law) b/c that’s the very religious ritual he’s gunning for. 2. The next two demonstrate that he is a true Israelite, a direct descendent of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Israel)  He even knows his tribe: And it’s an elite tribe, at that. The only other tribe besides Judah who didn’t defect from the Davidic dynasty. (Together they formed the southern kingdom.) 3. A Hebrew of Hebrews probably emphasizes that, although from Tarsus, he was born of Hebrew parents and raised in the traditions and language of the Hebrews (Aramaic). 4. The Pharisees were the strictest religious sect with regards to the law. Legalist of the highest order—check. 5. Zeal (extreme fervor) was a supreme virtue in the Jewish faith – relentlessly persecuted the church. (Taking people from their houses and dragging them off to jail, Acts 8:3, publicly breathing out murderous threats against any disciples if Jesus, 9:1; And of course we remember well that Paul was an accomplice in the stoning of Stephen 7:58 & 8:1) 6. As to following the rules and regulations of the law, as blameless as you can get. B. Paul was religiously the elit-est of the elite.  I was born from the right people, raised in the right tradition; as for religious zeal – top shelf; as for outward conformity to the rules – spotless.  But that’s a pile of trash, a dung heap. (What? Let’s follow his thinking.) 1. Paul’s accounting. – Gains (Profits) and losses: He had considered his ethnic pedigree, his posh religious education, his power and persuasion (influence and zeal)… to be in the column considered spiritual merit with God. He also considered this so-called Jesus following to be a complete and total loss.  But then Paul had an abrupt face to face with Jesus on the road to Damascus. And what took place outwardly in the account in Acts 9 we see in these verses occurring internally in his heart and mind. 2. Paul’s exchange: Put his “stuff” in the right column (loss). – You only do that when you see the gain column rightly. His version of value became inverted.  Passionately pursue Christ b/c of his surpassing worth, his supreme value. C. The only pedigree of value is to be found in Christ (citizen of heaven, family of God). The only achievement worth pursuing is knowing Christ—a growing personal relationship with him, in communion with him and submission to his commission for your life. 1. What does it look like when we place confidence in the flesh? – pedigree and posh education, power/influence and money/possessions, even spirituality and religion  Get out your measuring stick. 2. Have you come to see those things and all your efforts toward them for what it is? Do you see the dung heap? Do see the surpassing worth of Jesus? II. The great exchange – So simple yet so profound that it changes everything!  Christ gave up the privileges of deity to achieve for us what we could not. A. 2 Cor. 5:21 – For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.  “He humbled Himself, to exalt us; He made Himself a servant, to set us free; He became poor, to enrich us; He was sold, to buy us back; a Captive, to deliver us; Condemned, to procure our pardon; He was made a curse, that we might be blessed; the Oblation for sins, for our justification; His face was marred, to re-beautify ours; He Died, that we may have life.” (John Calvin – Christ the End of the Law) B. Which side of the great exchange divide are you on? (2 Cor. 5:20b We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.) Do you live like you believe the great exchange? [Stopped at the gallows and set free from death row – 3 possible responses: party hard the way you lived, close the cell door back and live by the rules and regulations of the prison regime, or demonstrate gratitude by living a life of obedience and ever-increasing closeness to Jesus. III. Living the Great Exchange – Knowing Christ  apparently even solid saved people need reminding (Philippians) A. One confidence: Christ – all based on the righteousness of Christ at the great exchange  Justification, sanctification, glorification (vv. 9-11) 1. Justified (b/c the righteousness of Jesus fulfilled the law, and by faith in Him Paul’s death in sin and dung heap of righteousness are traded in for life in Christ and his imputed righteousness) – Paul can live unashamed, guilt-free, running passionately with endurance the race marked out for him.  By faith he is confident in the righteousness of his Savior on his behalf. Paul is unashamed to be deemed a fool, unafraid of what others might do to him. His confidence is in Christ. 2. Sanctified (growing relationship with Jesus that conforms us to his holiness and love) – Paul keeps going after intimacy with Jesus. Though he cannot see him or touch him, he knows him and feels his presence— a. Experiences his supreme power (the kind of power that brings dead people back), the dynamic power God’s grace at work (in his heart and life, and in the hearts and lives of others), as the Holy Spirit takes the word of God and instills the value of Jesus, which changes everything.  Don’t you just exalt in Christ from the power of the grace of God at work like that? b. Experiences Jesus’ closeness and comfort in trials and suffering (trusting God’s plan and Christ’s love to be working for GOOD)  Don’t you just embrace and thank Christ Jesus for consoling and teaching you in this turbulent life? c. Paul wants to live and die like Jesus – poured out for the sake of others to the glory of God in Christ.  Don’t you just want to be this clear headed about the value of Jesus as compared to other pursuits? (Your life is a brief as a mist but in Christ is as beautiful as a morning flower.) 3. Glorified – Paul does not in any way mean “earning it.” He means that even if it takes suffering and dying like Jesus, having given all, to reach the culmination of his hope and joy, to reach perfect completion and be with his Savior—then bring it on!  Don’t we desire this kind of eternal perspective? B. Christ followers, have we traded in our just deserts for just dessert?  NO! We have traded in our sin for his righteousness, traded in our death for his life, traded in our defeat for his victory, traded in our sorrows and suffering for joy and hope in Christ, traded in our priorities and purpose in life for His, traded in our ultimate eternal destruction for eternal life—forever celebrating His goodness.  Live the great exchange. Christ is your righteousness; Jesus is your life. – When we that view of Christ and that vision for living, we will say like Paul, “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.”