For God's Glory and Your Joy, Knowing The Surpassing Worth of Jesus!

Open in Prayer.

Please turn in your bibles to Philippians chapter 3. We are going to camp out in verses 1 through 11.

I’m task

In our highly sensuous society, there is always, at any given time, any number of comforts and pleasures vying for our affection and attention. Indeed we Americans are the supreme indulgers of earthly comforts. In fact we are so good at acquiring comfort and pleasure for ourselves that we actually have a term for those who excel most at pursuing their highest self preserving comfort and pleasure, this term is the American Dream. We say of those who are well to do and living quite comfy lives, that they are living the “American Dream.”

And while, I’m not here to bash the American Dream, I’m certainly here to help gives us biblical parameters by which to analyze and critique and think about concepts such as the American Dream. Because brothers, the American Dream is not a biblical concept and it is not what God calls us to as Christians. And though there is certainly nothing inherently wrong with comfort and pleasure, or even success and wealth. There is, due to our sinful and idolatrous hearts a real disadvantage as Christians to living in such an affluent country where widespread and institutional persecution for our faith is absent.

Nominal Christianity is running rampant in the church and in the world, because we cloak our idolatry in Christian piety, being just close enough to Christian fellowship to fit in, but secluded enough to never have your card pulled so that it is not discovered that your greatest treasure is not Christ but your own comforts! Objective Biblical Christianity leaves no room for nominal christianity, it demands complete surrender, and by God’s grace those who see Christ as the Treasure He truly is can echo the sentiments of the Apostle Paul which we are about to read in just a moment.

Paul finds himself in a first century prison cell, which for all intensive purposes, makes a 21st century American prison seem like a 5 star all inclusive resort. This is a degrading and utterly depressing place to be. Yet, Paul by the will of God finds himself in this prison, writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, this letter to the Philippian saints as a means of warning and encouragement.

As a secondary observation, scholars disagree as to where exactly Paul was imprisoned when he wrote Philippians. Although it is believed he was either in Rome or in Ephesus, Some of his other epistles as well as the book Acts, lead a majority of scholars to believe it to be Rome where he was when he wrote Philippians.

In either case, the Christ centered and Trinitarian tone and emphasis of the letter given the circumstance Paul is in is absolutely remarkable. In an effort to convey that tone to you, I’d like to repeat the entire letter to you from memory and then we will hone in more closely on . Feel free to follow along in your bibles or just listen and try to ascertain the heart of God through Paul’s love for the Philippians.

Recite the whole book of Philippians.

Now that we have gotten a contextual overview of the entire epistle, lets look more closely at Chapter 3:1-11.

In verses 1-3 we see Paul’s warning to the church and his call to discernment against false brothers.

In verses 4-6 we see Paul’s credentials and his grounds for boasting

Finally In verses 7-11 we see Paul denouncing of his credentials and ground for boasting, and his prizing and treasuring of christ as supreme.

In this

In this short passage which is inexhaustibly rich, we see the beckon of the Christian call, namely Christ is supremely valuable and worth treasuring. The Christian call before anything, is a call to a person, a call to a treasure, a call to satisfied by the lover of your soul, the Christian call before anything is a call to Jesus Christ!

Verses 1-3 (read)

Humans are creatures of habit and repetition, and as such it is fitting that Paul would right that writing the same things is no trouble to him, and is safe for you, for the Philippians no doubt, safe for us as well, to be sure! In an day where everyone within mainline evangelicalism is seeking fresh revelation and new words from God, brothers we do well to remember, the Scriptures are sufficient. We can not exhaust the Holy Writ, let us pour over the text ad nauseam and find safety in its sound and unchanging counsel.

A call to discernment is fitting as well, for many are they who though claiming to belong to Christ are actually, inwardly dogs or rather ravenous wolves. This is a sharp warning since first century jews saw dogs as unclean. Those who mutilate the flesh in the immediate context has to do with self righteous boasting in a perversion of what was perceived to be the keeping the law of moses, namely circumcision. The gospel however is not means of external rituals or ordinances, we are the true circumcision who having been circumcised in our hearts now worship by the Spirit of God!

Glory in Christ Jesus and put NO CONFIDENCE in the flesh, no faith in our flesh. With the infiltration of morality and pragmatism in the Church, I need to labor this point a bit. It is imperative that we beware not to cloak our unbelief and feelings of condemnation with facades of humble service, when inwardly what we’re seeking is not the glory of God but rather the affirmation of man.

Hear me, rather hear our brother Paul, He says We are the Circumcision who worship by the Spirit of God, and glory glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh. Want to know if your doing is rooted in confidence in the flesh, or in faith toward God? Search your heart and see if you find joy in your regeneration by the Spirit, and whether you glory in Christ Jesus; look at Jesus isn’t He lovely to Him belongs the praise. Or whether you glory in yourself, look at me, don’t I preach great, don’t I serve often? This is utter confidence in the flesh, and the Gospel liberates us from that bondage to Know Christ and He alone is deserving of all glory!

It is rare to find someone in our world and society who doesn’t have at least one one thing for which they can feel proud to boast about. Paul was no different in that he was an absolute perfectionist and he had the accolades to prove it. See his credential;

Philippians 3:4–6 ESV

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.

Philippians 3:4

Here is a man, who under the law of God considered himself to be so law abiding that if anyone could be saved by works he would stand assured that he was blameless. Now this may seem arrogant to our pious and sophisticated ears, and indeed if Paul didn’t follow with the remarkable realization of his own unworthiness and Christ’s ultimate worth, then yes it would be arrogant. However, it is actually an honest and humble self assessment. Look at how he follows his resume as it were.

Philippians 3:7–9 ESV

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—

Philippians 3

Saints, I’m pleading with you, see the treasure that is offered to you in Christ, namely Himself. Nominal Christianity dies at this point, because it can’t bare the reality that all of one’s comforts and accomplishments and pleasures and accolades are rubbish, literally dung in the greek, compared to Knowing Christ and being found in him.

It is a shallow nominal pseudo-christianity that sees Christ as a means to an end. Jesus is fine so long as he’s there to tend to my every beck and call. The moment the call to take up your cross and die on it for the sake of Christ arises, the nominal christian is disillusioned and unsatisfied with Christ. Jesus is not there to give us what we want if what we want is something other than Him, He’s there to fall as a heavy boulder upon the molehill of your idols and become the cornerstone to all that you love and Cherish namely the glory of the sufferings of Christ to ransom His bride. The contrast between those who treasure and cherish Christ and those who don’t is clearly seen in verses 17-21.

Philippians 3:17–21 ESV

Brothers, join in imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us. For many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.

The message is clear, forsake yourself and trusting in your own self righteousness and hide yourself in Christ and cling to him as the all satisfying treasure of your soul, so that with Paul you can say; Indeed I count everything as loss for the sake of Christ!

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the LORD JESUS Christ!