Gaining By Losing

Introduction

Tim Keller story about carrying the rock for jesus and carrying the rock for yourself.

Philippians 3:1–7 ESV

1 Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you is no trouble to me and is safe for you. 2 Look out for the dogs, look out for the evildoers, look out for those who mutilate the flesh. 3 For we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh— 4 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: 5 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; 6 as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless. 7 But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ.

Rejoice

For Paul it is no trouble to remind his brothers and sisters in Christ to rejoice in the Lord. A better way to understand this verse is Paul does not hesitate to write them again reminding them to Rejoice in the Lord. For Paul it is a joy to remind this church that is dear to him to rejoice in the Lord.

In the midst of suffering the best action a person can take is to take the position of rejoicing. Stability in the Christians life comes from rejoicing in the Lord. Think back to Timothy and Epaphroditus. Paul rejoiced in what God did through both of these men. Timothy drove Paul to rejoice in the Lord because of his proven worth, and his genuine care for the church. Epaphroditus as a source of rejoicing because he was willing to serve the cause of Christ even when it nearly cost him his life. Paul is rejoicing in God who showed mercy to allow these men to become who they were. Paul was not rejoicing in what these men did devoid of the source of their strength. Rather because their source of strength was the Lord, Paul rejoiced that God was working in these men as they were serving the purposes of Christ.

The rejoicing that Paul is stressing finds it source in the Lord. Paul was looking beyond the circumstances and the effort of the individual men and seeing who was the source of their movements, strength, and endurance.

What I find difficult with an idea like rejoicing is my lack of familiarity with rejoicing. It is often awkward to express joy in what God is doing. It can feel fake at times. But ultimately this is what we all need. We must exercise our rejoicing muscles so to speak so that it is no longer awkward, or difficult.

I envision at this moment Jesus making his way to Jerusalem riding on a donkey. Palm branches, and cloaks all being laid on the ground before he passes and every declaring, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!” It was the people rejoicing in God and in His Messiah!”

Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!”

How do we cultivate this habit of praise and rejoicing. Praise and rejoicing after all can be spontaneous but more often than not should be a regular habit. From looking at this text of Philippians the first step I see is looking for God at work in all situations and circumstances. Remember in this letter how Paul is rejoicing in his imprisonment because the gospel is being spread throughout the whole imperial guard. Paul is separated from his friends on trial for a crime he did not commit, and still finds a way to see God at work in this miserable situation.

Where is God at work around you? Where can God use you to bring glory to his name? How can you rejoice when nothing seems to go right? How can you rejoice in God when interruptions come your way? Where is God at work when things are going well? Who do you see God working in? When is the last time you rejoiced with that person by telling them how you see God at work in their lives?

Perhaps now writing a few notes down about where God is at work would be a good exercise. Making plans to share them with someone today so that your joy might spread.

The second step I see is to put into practice the mind of Christ, humility and sacrifice for the joy of it. I admit that the hardest behavior for anyone to cultivate is true humility and sacrifice. But if we truly consider others more important than ourselves and we look out for the interests of others before our own, joy will come. Joy will come in the self sacrifice because you are behaving like Jesus. And joy will come to the one served because you are being the hands and feet of Jesus.

I have a hard time asking for help, anyone else? And yet when I asked a few guys to help me carry on the task of patching my driveway, they humbly served and I cannot tell you the joy it brought to my heart.

Anyone else have a story similar to that. Where you served and you were blessed with joy and so was the one you were serving. How do we cultivate the attitude of rejoicing, we sacrifice and humbly serve like Jesus so that others can experience Jesus.

If you say you don’t have the time for putting others first, I would challenge how much you can grow to be like Christ.

Finally, we do everything for the glory of God and not my own glory. The “why” we do something is more important than doing that something. Who do we want to be praised at the end of the day, me or Jesus? What do we expect to get out of sacrificing and humbly serving? For the joy set before him Jesus endured the cross. The joy of honoring his heavenly father, the joy of completing his God given task.

Notice scripture does not say Jesus died so people would praise Him. Jesus laid down his life to prove the pharisees wrong. Jesus did all he did so Satan could finally be silenced from all his antagonizing. Jesus humbled himself before the father to the point of death on a cross and because Jesus honored the father, the father gave him a name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow and tongue confess Jesus is Lord.

Do we serve so we will hear well done from the people we serve or from the God we serve? Do we serve to have a favor to cash in later, or do we serve knowing Jesus cashed it all in for us?

Rejoicing is the way to saturate our lives in the gospel. We rejoice in God and what he has done. This is the remedy to our culture. Our culture tells us to achieve so that we can be valued. We should work hard and do right so we can earn our due rewards. But rejoicing in Jesus and what He has done changes our lives to know that we cannot be good enough we cannot earn enough, we will never be satisfied. “Our hearts remain restless till they find their rest in Thee, O God!”

And all around us we hear the false hope given by people driven to accomplish. In our jobs, hobbies, relationships it is not wrong to seek accomplishments, but it all comes back to motives. In religion a drive to accomplish is horrifyingly bad. The false hope of working hard to earn from God will leave all of use burnt out, disappointed, and potentially walking away from the faith.

The False Hope of Works

The False Hope of Works

Paul warns against working hard to earn God’s favor. That there is a minimum requirement of conduct to enter heaven. In Paul’s day it was the Judiazers who would come to gentile towns like Philippi and tell them Jesus is not enough, you have to have Jesus plus Circumcision. Paul cals circumcision a mutilating of the flesh. He calls them dogs and evildoers.

Our ears are not attuned to hear how vial Paul’s language is at this point. Dogs were not lovable, huggable pets and companions. They were regarded as they most despicable and miserable creatures around. they would eat anything including their own vomit. So calling religious leaders dogs was kind of like the worst your mama joke going. Not only that Paul calls these leaders who depend on works evildoers. They work evil because they turn people away from Christ and towards their good deeds like circumcision, and obeying the law more than the law of Christ. They are harming people tricking them into something that is Jesus plus.

Jesus plus anything ruins everything. Jesus plus circumcision was saying you can trust Jesus but there is a list of rules to follow as well and depending on how well you follow the rules determines how much God will like you. Oh and to be seen as one of God’s people there is a special sign each of us has, yes you heard me right we must circumcise you to prove you love God.

Not only this put in the pagan cultures of the gentiles who mutilated their flesh in order to gain favor from the gods they worshipped. the best picture of this is Elijah and the prophets of Baal in the OT. The prophets of Baal were praying and attempting to have Baal light the alter on fire through their prayers and they ended up cutting themselves. This is mutilating oneself to gain favor with a deity.

Religion is about what you do. The gospel is about what Jesus has done for you. Religious people do things out of duty to earn favor. Gospel driven people do things in response to the love that his been given to them.

Think of a birthday present made for you by a young child. Perhaps a son, daughter, or a niece or nephew, maybe a child you serve weekly at church. They put their heart and soul into this card. Cutting out pictures, writing their name, misspelling every word imaginable. You receive the card open it up and as soon as you look at it begin to laugh and make fun of the child who made that card. You point out every mistake. What kind of person would you be? You end up being the type of person who requires more than Jesus. You become a religious nut because loving you enough to make a card is not enough, it has to be a perfect card as well. That is what religious nuts do, they add to the relationship so that it is impossible to get Jesus. Any well meaning adult who receives a card from child looks at the heart behind the effort, not the effort itself. Jesus requires you act out of love, not act perfectly out of love. The truth is our best deeds are like filthy rages, or blood surgical garments.

Why does Paul so quickly point out that true circumcision is of the heart and it is seen in worship by the Spirit of God and glory of Christ, not putting our confidence in the flesh or what we do.

Worshiping by the Spirit is trusting in Jesus sacrifice, that He has accomplished for us all we need to be in right relationship with God and with others. So when Paul tells the Philippians and us that we are the true circumcision, he is saying we are to people of God who have been transformed not in the flesh, but in our hearts. We have been radically changed by the death of Christ and his gift of the Spirit. He gives us the Spirit as a guarantee of our salvation. Jesus not only gives us his death, but gives us His presence by the Holy Spirit. We have God in us. That is why it is God who works in us both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

The proof of salvation and true circumcision then is serving in the power of the Spirit, boasting in the work of Christ, and putting no confidence in the flesh.

For example, in Galatians Paul teaches that the presence of the Spirit is the distinguishing mark of belonging to the family of God’s people (; ), and the power of the Spirit, not the law, is the only adequate guide and power for life and service (). In keeping with his consistent emphasis elsewhere, Paul puts the empowering presence of the Spirit of God at the head of his list of distinguishing characteristics of the believer in Christ.

The Power of the Spirit, For example, in Galatians Paul teaches that the presence of the Spirit is the distinguishing mark of belonging to the family of God’s people (; ), and the power of the Spirit, not the law, is the only adequate guide and power for life and service (). In keeping with his consistent emphasis elsewhere, Paul puts the empowering presence of the Spirit of God at the head of his list of distinguishing characteristics of the believer in Christ.

Boasting in Christ. Throughout this entire letter Paul models and encourages the activity of boasting in Jesus. Paul thanks God in remembering the Philippians. Paul rejoices that whether in good or bad motives the gospel is proclaimed. Paul’s own life should be a reason for the Philippians to glory in Christ or boast in Christ. The whole concept of rejoicing is a boasting in Christ.

We are called to put no confidence in the flesh. A person who puts confidence in the flesh is one who says belonging to my tribe and observing my rituals makes me secure in my relationship with God.

Paul drives this point home. He will lay out for us and for the Philippians all that he has accomplished in his body and by his works. There is no one that had more success in doing what the law required than Paul. If God’s favor could be won by works Paul would have earned it.

If there is reason to have confidence in what someone has done, Paul had it. And far too often we try and prove ourselves to God by what we do. Instead our works should be done in response to the love God has given us. Like the child in the previous example we respond out of love, and God responds to us based on that love, not the quality of the card. Paul is going to demonstrate his accomplishments so that we and the Philippians would reject any propaganda that calls us to earn our right standing before God.

Paul begins by saying he was circumcised on the eighth day. He had parents who were strict and made sure that from the beginning Paul was on the right path. Of the people of Israel is pointing to his belonging to the right tribe according the OT. Being from the tribe of Benjamin represents being apart of the line of Jacob who produced Israels King David. He was a hebrew of hebrews means that his native language was hebrew and his cultural heritage was hebrew. He remained faithful to his heritage. As to the law a Pharisee. This means he is aligning himself with influential moral leaders. The pharisees where the conservative law believing and strict behavior guys. Pharisees means separated ones. This means Paul’s life was devoted to behaving so morally upright that he as far as actions were concerned honored the law and upheld it. For zeal he was a persecutor of the church. He loved the law of God so much that it drove him to persecute the church through imprisonment, and even death. “As to righteousness under the law, blameless.” This does not mean Paul was sinless but rather he observed the law to the extent that his sins were covered by the sacrifices and offerings required for the offenses he committed. His conscience is clean before the law because he did everything it required. He has no feelings of short comings when it came to his following the rules and earning his position.

But was all this religious activity enough? Did this bring him joy? What was the source of his joy?

This is the question we must wrestle with. What is the source of our rejoicing. If the source of our rejoicing is our accomplishments and behavior then when we do well we feel good. But when we fail to keep our standards and customs we feel ashamed. When we are living up to our personal law of Christianity we can easily become prideful and look down on others who do not do what we do or have not accomplished what we have accomplished. When we fail to live out our code of conduct we feel insecure and weak. We feel and behave as though we are unworthy.

Gaining By Losing

“But whatever gain I had I count it as loss for the sake of Christ.”

Is the Spirit of God at work in you so that you can see this statement taking hold of your heart and affections? Is there anything right now that you hold onto more tightly than Jesus?

What is the one thing, that if it were to happen, your faith and your life would be wrecked?

Paul laid down all his accomplishments and all his working. He gave up the praise of men, the comfort of a steady income, the prestige of power, to walk from town to town starting churches and being chased by religious zealots. What would drive a man to quit his job, pack up his home, and go on the road to endure the pain and suffering he did?

What keeps us from doing the same?

I think about this often. Why do I get so frustrated when my plans don’t go the way I want them to? Why am I more concerned with my to do list, than Jesus to do list? How do I work for myself instead of Jesus?

And each time I walk down this road, I am reminded that I will never be good enough. I will never accomplish enough. I will never receive enough praise to satisfy the longings of my heart.

But when I sit and think on the gospel and what God did to rescue His Church. When I read back on and realize the humiliation and sacrifice Christ made for us. I am reminded of this truth, “He died for me, I want to live for Him.”