Sermon Tone Analysis

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.

8 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 9 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— 10 that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.

There are moments in life when you realize the pursuits of the world don’t work and you look to God for answers.

I have a few friends outside the church who call me when things in their own life are hard.

They’re struggling to find joy, they think of God, and so they call me, the pastor.

There is this instinctual notion that real joy, the joy they lack, can be found in God.

It’s there, in the back of everyone’s minds, perhaps buried deep, that surfaces when the rest of life seems an uncertain mess.

What isn’t there, however, is an instinctual understanding of how to get it—of how to experience it.

The assumption is, “I must not be doing something right.

So if I can turn things around and do better, then joy will come.”

They try, feel better for a time, but then fade back into old habits.

Why is that?

For starters, they expect Joy to look like better circumstances and way to God giving you those better circumstances is to do more good.

Or they expect Joy to be a relief of guilt and the way to have that is to do better.

Do you see?

This is the nature of religion.

It says, here’s what you must do in order for God to bless you; in order for God to forgive you.

Hence, it leads to a very up and down relationship with God.

Paul wants you to rejoice in the Lord.

He keeps saying that in this letter.

Joy is on his brain and he is eager for the church to experience it with him.

It’s in this chapter that he gets to the heart of it.

We’ve already seen how it comes as a fruit of having our lives wrapped up in the good news and its progress.

But here we dive deeper.

We see how this is the case.

What does this good news actually mean?

How does it produce joy?

To answer this question, I want to focus on verse 8 as it brings this passage into focus.

8 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 9 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— 10 that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.

8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.

Be Found in Christ

One of the reasons people don’t find joy in the Lord is that they don’t know the worth of knowing Christ Jesus.

Paul did and he expresses that worth by comparing it to all of the former things from which he had derived his identity.

He counted them as rubbish compared to knowing Christ.

Jesus described in a parable.

“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up.

Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.

The Parable of the Pearl of Great Value

45 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, 46 who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it.

“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up.

Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.

So how do we realize the worth of knowing Christ Jesus?

So how do we realize the worth of knowing Christ Jesus?

Be Found in Christ

The first is by understanding what it means to be a Christian.

We see this in verse 9,

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

To be a Christian is to be found in Christ; to have a righteousness that comes through faith in Christ, rather than being a better person.

Until you get this, you’re not a Christian, plain and simple.

This was the lesson Paul had to learn.

Paul gives us his resume of righteousness and it’s a pretty good one.

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.

If you lived in the first century and tried to think of someone who was close to God, Paul was that person.

He had the pedigree, the training, the zeal, and the discipline.

Often people will ask me to pray for them because of my status as a pastor.

They think I’m somehow closer to God and have the inside track.

They assume that my good works resume (which includes seminary and ministry) is better than theirs and so they hope that I can be their advocate.

Paul throws all of this out the window.

He recognizes that, although it stacks up higher than anyone’s, it isn’t enough.

Jesus says some similar things.

For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

If Paul was the Pharisee of all Pharisees here we find that even that isn’t enough.

In his famous sermon on the mount, he summarizes how important it is to be righteous,

You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

The standard, in other words, is perfection.

He doesn’t grade on a curve, comparing you against your neighbor and saying, “well, you did better than him, so you can join me.”

He doesn’t say that.

So what must we have?

We must have a righteousness that is not our own, that replaces our own, and the only way to have that is through faith in Christ.

Through faith, God counts Christ’s righteousness as your own.

As Paul explains in ,

It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, 25 who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.

If you want to be able to rejoice, to know joy, as Paul keeps inviting us to do, then the first thing you have to understand is that a Christian is someone who is fully and completely acceptable to God because of the righteousness of Jesus Christ.

When Martin Luther understood this he wrote,

When I discovered that, I was born again of the Holy Ghost.

And the doors of paradise swung open, and I walked through.

You will never know the Joy of the Lord until you get this.

You might try religion, you might try to be better, you might actually overcome some of your guilt for a time, you might feel better about your life because you’re trying to be a better person, but you will not know the Joy that Paul invites us to know.

Know Christ

There is more of course if you want to experience the Joy that Paul describes.

There are lots of people who know this truth and yet suffer from all kinds of depression, who have highs and lows when it comes to their relationship with God.

Look at verse 10.

10 that I may know him

10 I want to know Christ

The intellectual understanding of what the gospel means isn’t an end in itself.

It is meant to lead us somewhere.

It is meant to lead us into a relationship with Christ.

When Paul says “I want to know him...” he’s talking about relationally.

Think about it.

He knows about Christ already.

He knows the gospel.

He teaches the gospel.

He expounds the gospel.