Sermon Tone Analysis
Overall tone of the sermon
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Extraversion
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The Text
Philippians 3
Everything hinges on the prepositional phrases in vs 8.
“Because of the worth of knowing Christ”
“For the sake of whom.”
A command to Rejoice
Paul starts a new passage in his letter by commanding his recipients to rejoice.
Paul talks about rejoicing 8 times in this short epistle.
I believe that that the church in Philippi needed to be reminded of this need.
Paul has been telling them that to live is Christ, and to die is gain.
What does that mean, Paul?
Imagine it this way...
Made to walk an extra mile...
Spit on for being an “atheist”...
Made to walk a mile
Cheated by the tax collector...
Receive word that your cousin in Rome has been crucified for proclaiming Christ...
You gather with the church to hear this letter read from Paul who is in prison...
“Finally brothers rejoice!”
“To live is Christ to die is gain!”
You’d be muttering, this is a crazy person!
Paul wasn’t crazy, but he possibly more than any other man in history was able to grasp and hold onto the truth that reality is about being found in Christ.
Paul would say to the man or woman who had that terrible day, “Brother, are you found in Christ?
Then rejoice?”
phil 1:
He then unfolds the why.
Be Watchful
One particular group in Paul’s day was especially guilty of putting confidence in the flesh.
These were the Judaizers.
They plagued Paul and his converts constantly.
Confused about the gospel, they added works of the law to faith in Christ, both for salvation and for Christian living.
The Old Testament rite of circumcision was of special concern to them.
They insisted that it was necessary for salvation.
They did not omit faith in Christ but added works of the flesh.
Paul called such men “deceitful workmen” (2 Cor.
11:13).
So it is in the context of men teaching these things that Paul firstly reminds his readers who they are in Christ.
Identity in Christ
For we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh
Wait Paul!
I thought circumcision WAS about the flesh.
God had told his people all the way back in Deuteronomy that He would circumcise their hearts.
Circumcision of the flesh, all along was representative of what God was doing in the heart.
colossians
So we worship by the Spirit, glory in Christ Jesus, and put no confidence in the flesh.
Now that he has shown the believers what their identity in Christ means, he gives them an example from his own life what finding our identity in the flesh looks like.
Identity in the flesh
Paul then proceeds to roll out an impressive resume of righteousness.
The search committee has been going through tons of resumes, and this is basically what Paul is doing here.
If we are evaluated by our works, then Paul was the leader of the pack.
Circumcised on eighth day.
Pureblood Jew
Benjamite.
Highly esteemed tribe
Hebrew of Hebrews.
Leader amongst peers, Hebrew son of Hebrew parents
Pharisee.
Strictest Sect
Zealous for the Jewish religion to the point of persecuting “dissenters”
Paul even goes so far as to say that he is blameless as to the law.
This term in scripture was reserved for a select few.
People who understood repentance and placed their faith in God.
But we knew these men to be prone to sin as well.
Job, Noah, David.
These men all knew something Saul did not.
Righteousness is found IN God.
Not out of God.
Everything the Pharisee’s did was about export righteousness, meaning it comes from us.
The thread we see through the entirety of scripture however, is import righteousness.
It is not from us, but from God.
The beautiful thing about the Gospel however is that import righteousness BECOMES export righteousness.
It is only through abiding in Christ that we are able to be seen by God as righteous.
Paul did not realize this when he was a young man named Saul
All the works he had amassed he began to see in a new light.
Paul had created a proverbial mountain of righteousness.
But the dawn of the revelation of Christ cast a new light on his work.
Imagine working all night to build a mountain, and then when the sun comes up, you realize it’s a trash heap.
That’s what happened to Paul.
What was missing in his equation?
God.
God turned Paul’s mountain of righteousness into a trash heap.
He did this simply by being a holy God.
Even Paul who by our worldly standards was “blameless” was found to be completely sinful when exposed to a holy God.
Paul even tells us this himself in
When Saul met Jesus on the road to Damascus, he was exposed to the full son blast of the glory of God in the face of Christ.
And it struck him blind.
He didn’t eat or drink for 3 days.
The sun was starting to shine on the garbage heap.
This experience was not unique for Paul.
This is the experience of everyone in Scripture who encounters the Holy God.
Turn to
Isaiah 6:1-
Isaiah became explicitly aware of his fallen sin nature when he was in the presence of God.
This is how Paul must have been feeling as he lay in his bed, blind in Damascus.
Before long the full sunblaze of the revelation of Christ had fully exposed Paul’s past works.
And his perspective shifted.
Throw away past works for Christ
Phil 3:7-
Paul is willing to exchange everything to gain Christ.
Paul is even willing to exchange his life to gain Christ.
We are called to exchange our life daily to gain Christ.
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