Sermon Tone Analysis

Intro

As we continue our study in Philippians this morning, we are going to pick up in Chapter 3:1-11.

We took a break last week as Jim Snyder who serves as director of mission for the Chilhoweh Baptist Association preached on the church and the marks of a healthy church.

I am thankful for him and thankful he came to be with us.

Jesus + Nothing = Everything.

As we read the New Testament, we read quite often of a tension between law and grace.

Much of Jesus’ teaching and much of the apostles teaching was addressing the issue that as Christians, we are saved and justified by Christ and nothing else.

I personally am a task driven person.

I love being able to mark things off my to-do list and feel like I have accomplished something.

I have this amazing app on my phone that allows me to type in all of my to-do list for the week and it gives me such a thrill to swipe that action off the to-do list.

If we aren’t careful, we can treat our walk with Christ like that.

I went to church this week… check

I didn’t do anything bad today… check

I spent 10 minutes in Bible study… check

You fill in the blank.

The aim of Paul in this passage is to point the believers that made of the church of Philippi to the hope that is only found in Jesus and that new life only comes from Christ and nothing else.

Paul is coming off discussing Timothy and Epaphraditus.

He begins this section with “Finally.”

Reading this does not necessarily mean he is using this as a closing remark to the letter but is making a transition to his next idea and more specifically picking up the theme of “rejoicing.”

We can translate the first sentence of chapter 3 as “So then rejoice in the Lord.”

He says’ in writing the same things to them is not trouble for him and is safe to the church is referring to the teaching he had done while he was originally with them and he didn’t mind repeating the same concepts and ideas he had taught them before.

What follows in the next few verses talk specifically about staying away from legalism and the false teaching that a person can be converted by believing in a system of rules or regulations as their justification.

This is such a dangerous teaching because legalism in essence is self atonement.

It’s self salvation that only leads to pride.

It’s pretty obvious that the church was dealing with this teaching and Paul gets pretty intense with them on the subject.

I love the words we read in these verses because they are simple to understand and it’s important that we read and study this passage in light of three basic ideas.

what a Christian is, what is Christian isn’t, and how to truly know Christ.

Before Paul gives a description for what a Christian is, he calls out the false teachers and calls them dogs, evildoers, and those who mutilate the flesh.

It’s evident that false teachers were poaching on these believers and causing them to stumble and fall away from the teaching they had received from Paul.

We read V. 3 and we see Paul’s tone and seriousness of this warning.

To call these false teachers “dogs” was a demeaning and harsh way to put it but also a warning that the false teachers needed to be looked at as only wanting to destory and tear the church apart.

Dogs were not looked at as cute pets in this culture.

I’m sure many of you have a dog for a pet and I do also, I have an English Setter at home that is wild as a buck but I love him.

Dogs were not pets in this culture but they were nasty, unclean, and dangerous.

They would get into things they weren’t supposed to and looked at as more as a nuisance.

Much like dogs, the false teachers were seeking to come into the church and cause problems and were becoming a nuisance.

Their teaching included telling the Gentiles that they had to become like the Jews before they became Christians, which is contrary to what the Gospel teaches.

Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life for eveyrone who belives in his name.

Maybe you have heard the statemet: “Jesus + Nothing = Everything” Paul wants to get this across to the church not to hold to the belief that you must follow some law or rule to bring about regeneration, but regeneration comes from God through Christ.

Look at V. 3 with me

Christians worship by the spirit and boast in Jesus Christ.

Paul answers the question: “What a Christian is” in this statement.

First a Christian worships by the spirit.

When we talk about worshipping by the spirit we are not just talking about coming to church to worship the Lord on Sundays.

This has the implication that a believer relies on the spirit that dwells within them as they live and serve the Lord.

A Christian life is a spirit-filled life.

The only way we can truly worship and serve the Lord is by walking in the Spirit.

Secondly, a Christian boasts in Jesus Christ.

A Christians confidence and hope comes from Jesus Christ and nothing else.

I told you earlier that I love checklists, I love being able to accomplish a task and it makes me feel good.

The Christian life is not what we do or what we accomplish but what Christ has accomplished for us.

Our boasting is in him.

Living a self-righteous life will lead to pride and will lead to a fruitless life.

Boasting in Christ involves dying to ourself and dying to putting our hope and trust in our achievements, etc.

When I was in college, I started really growing in my walk with Christ and as I was growing and developed a deep passion to know God and spend time with him in His word, I started to think I was pretty good.

I would look at students in my class and even my friends and look down on them because of activities they were participating in.

It gave me a sense of pride and achievement and I thought God was happy with me because I was staying away from things other college students were participating in.

Then one day, God put me on my face and made me realize that my boasting doesn’t come through my works or even my knowledge or growth in the Lord and the Gospel puts me in the same boat as everyone else.

I am a sinner in need of grace and mercy.

My only hope comes through Jesus.

It doesn’t come from Matt Doane.

I pray that I will not only reflect Christ in my actions and my boast in Christ and proclaim that my hope and my strength comes from Christ and nothing else.

So a believer worships by the spirit and boasts in Christ, now let’s read on and see what Paul says’ a Christian isn’t.

Philippians 3:

2. Christians put no confidence in the flesh.

Paul moves on to discussing his own life and the fact that he had to battle placing his trust in his own achievements and his heritage.

We see seven things that Paul says’ not to put confidence in and each of them appeal to the flesh.

1. Ritual: Paul says he was circumcised on the eighth day.

Although Paul went through this famous Jewish ritual, his confidence did not come through that ritual.

Ethnicity: He says he was “of the nation of Israel”, This means he is from the race of Israel and was a physical descendant of Abraham.

Instead of finding hope in that, Paul realized that Jesus is for all people that would call on His name to be saved and he had no special privilege because of his Jewish heritage.

2. Ethnicity: He says he was “of the nation of Israel”, This means he is from the race of Israel and was a physical descendant of Abraham.

Instead of finding hope in that, Paul realized that Jesus is for all people that would call on His name to be saved and he had no special privilege because of his Jewish heritage.

3. Rank: Paul also makes note that he belonged to “the tribe of Benjamin” which was a distinguished tribe.

When the promised land was divided among the 12 tribes, Jerusalem (the holy city) was Benjamin’s territory.

Not only that but when the kingdom split, Benjamin remained loyal to the Davidic dynasty.

So there was all the reason for Paul to find his hope and assurance in that, but he did not.

4. Tradition: Paul described himself as a “Hebrew of Hebrews,” Although he was fluent in Greek, he did not give up his Hebrew culture.

The point of Paul sharing this is that it didn’t matter his family tradition of salvation was, his salvation was in Christ alone.

5. Rule Keeping: Regarding the law, Paul was a Pharisee.

He was a part of a morally superior Jewish group who were morally upright by the way they followed rules, in fact they even added to the commands of the OT which made it hard to know what the actual Biblical commands were.

Paul didn’t care about any of that, salvation doesn’t come from rule keeping.

I don’t care how kind a person is or how well someone can follow rules, You can follow rules and still spend eternity separated from God if your confidence is not in Christ.

6. Zeal: Before Paul was converted by God, his name was Saul and he was so passionate and zealous for his law keeping, he persecuted the church.

1 Corinthians

Paul was converted and became zealous for the glory of the Lord.

But he is saying before his life with Christ that he was not justfied by his zeal.

I heard someone make the statement one time that “it doesn’t matter what you believe, as long as you are sincere and really believe it.”

There are many people who are sincere in believing in something other than salvation through Christ alone who are heading toward a path of destruction.

7. Obedience to the law: Paul is saying that his life was exemplary in following Old Testament Law and if he was justified through that, he would be doing pretty good.

All seven of those things that Paul lists all appeal to the flesh and is seeking to find salvation through things other than Jesus.

As we finish up these last five verses we see Paul describing his life before Christ and his life after Christ.

Philippians

3. Christians count everything as loss compared to knowing Christ.

Paul makes it pretty clear in these last verses of his life before Christ and his life after Christ.

The things that he held onto for justification were considered “rubbish” also meaning garbage or dung.

The law-keeping, the family heritage, the works that Paul did were absolute garbage in God’s eyes because at the end of the day Paul is saved by knowing Christ as Lord.

Paul is teaching that his satisfaction came from knowing Christ and Christ fulfilled what his garbage pile could not accomplish.

Imagine Paul having a piece of paper with one column that has his listed credits and one column with listed debits.

All of his credits would be moved to the debit column and Jesus would be written in the credit column.