Scripture: Philippians 3

Getting The Last Word In (v. 1)

Philippians 3:1 ¶ Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord! It is no trouble for me to write the same things to you again, and it is a safeguard for you.

Paul uses two methods to emphasize the importance of what he has to say.  One is the word finally.  I remember the idea of speed reading through collateral at school.  They told us that you could garner the basic message in a book from the first and last sentences of a paragraph.  And then often toward the end of a chapter it would be summarized.

We say last words to people everyday of our lives.  The last things that we say before we leave the home for the day set the tone for the return at a later point and either make it something that we look forward to or something that we dread.  The last things that we say before we go to bed at night.  The scripture tells us that we should not let the sun go down upon our wrath.  When the last words spoken in a given day are anger then they too take their toll, contributing to a restless night and a joyless morning.  Last words are significant.

What do people think about on their death beds, and what do they say?  Here is a sample:

Murderer Richard Loeb was a trifle optimistic about his survival after being stabbed 56 times by a fellow convict in 1936:  "I think I'm going to make it!"  James Rodgers replied to the question whether he had a last request before facing a firing squad:  "Why yes, a bulletproof vest."  Legendary swashbuckler Douglas Fairbanks must have been confused before giving up the ghost in 1939 because his famous last words were:  "Never felt better." William Palmer, who was hanged in 1856, was told to step on the scaffold's trap door.  "Is it safe?" he asked.  Charles Wood, a murderer who died in the electric chair in 1963, faced witnesses and quipped:  "Gents, this is an educational project.  You are about to witness the damaging effect electricity has on wood."  Finally, Phineas T. Barnum, believed by some to be the greatest ballyhoo artist in history, was interested in the almighty dollar right up to his last moment on earth.  His last words:  "How were the receipts today at Madison Square Garden?"  It's really tragic their thoughts are not on the God they are about to meet.

   -- The Last Time When By George Gipes

I have always felt that people would save the most important things to the last.  I believe that folks who are forced to look death in the face and reconcile themselves to it have a particularly rich perspective on life and so I listen to their words.

Good News:  You baptized seven people today in the river.

Bad News:   You lost two of them in the swift current.

Good News:  The Women's Guild voted to send you a get-well card.

Bad News:   The vote passed by 31-30.

Good News:  The Elder Board accepted your job description the way you wrote it.

Bad News:    They were so inspired by it, they also formed a search committee to find somebody capable of filling the position.

Good News:  You finally found a choir director who approaches things exactly the same way you do.

Bad News:   The choir mutinied.

Good News:  Mrs. Jones is wild about your sermons.

Bad News:   Mrs. Jones is also wild about the "Gong Show," "Beavis and Butthead" and "Texas Chain Saw Massacre."

Good News:  Your women's softball team finally won a game.

Bad News:   They beat your men's softball team.

Good News:  The trustee's finally voted to add more church parking.

Bad News:   They are going to blacktop the front lawn of your parsonage.

Good News:  Church attendance rose dramatically the last three weeks.

Bad News:   You were on vacation.

Good News:  Your deacons want to send you to the Holy Land.

Bad News:   They are stalling until the next war.

Good News:  Your biggest critic just left your church.

Bad News:   He has been appointed the Head Bishop of your denomination.

          and finally....

  Good News:  The youth in your church come to your house for a surprise visit.

  Bad News:    It's in the middle of the night and they are armed with toilet paper,

Oreo cookies, and shaving cream to "decorate" your house.

And then he says it again.  It is no trouble for me to write the same things to you again.  The importance of what Paul is about to advocate is

Who Let The Dogs Out? (v. 2-6)

Philippians 3:2  Watch out for those dogs, those men who do evil, those mutilators of the flesh.  3  For it is we who are the circumcision, we who worship by the Spirit of God, who glory in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh--

Unfortunately our joy in the Lord is stolen by people many times. 

These were those who advocated to the newer, Gentile Christians that mere faith was insufficient.  Salvation required an adherence to the Jewish rite of circumcision.  Can you imagine?

There are those today as well who consciously or unconsciously want to create hoops for people to jump through that are unbiblical.  They want to lay extra-biblical rules, regulations, traditions upon people as they approach the gates of faith.

They cause people to feel guilty.

They speak for God when God is well able to speak for himself.

They are the qualifiers of truth.  For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him . . . and they struggle to get beyond the bare truth of scripture wanting even there to qualify the word “believe”. God communicates himself in His word that the living out of belief is an active thing.

The bottom line is this – if you are going to live and rejoice, you need to be on guard against those who will look down their spiritual noses and judge your experience through the lens of their own bondage.

Galatians 5:1 ¶ It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.  2  Mark my words! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all.  3  Again I declare to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is required to obey the whole law.  4  You who are trying to be justified by law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace.  5  But by faith we eagerly await through the Spirit the righteousness for which we hope.

 6  For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.  7  You were running a good race. Who cut in on you and kept you from obeying the truth?  8  That kind of persuasion does not come from the one who calls you.

Profit/Loss Statement (v. 7-9)

Philippians 4:7  But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ.  8  What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, 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 is through faith in Christ--the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith.

q      The things that used to work for me no longer work.

q      The things that held value to me have lost their value

q      Whatever contributed to my own agenda is relatively useless when it comes to God’s agenda

Getting What You Want (v. 10,11)

Philippians 3:10  I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death,  11  and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.

It takes a few years in our lives to discover what it is that we really want.  I have discovered that some of the things that I once thought that I wanted bring stress into my life that I didn’t want.  Our possessions have a way of “possessing” us. 

There are times when God doesn’t give us what we ask for so that we can get what we want.  Even our ability to pray at times is skewed and we don'’ pray for the things that ultimately will give us what we are looking for.  I have lived long enough to thank God for not granting my requests.

I want to know Christ

Putting The Past To Bed (v. 12, 13a)

Philippians 3:12  Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.  13  Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind. . . “

If the best days of your life are past then you must be dead.  I think that today is the greatest day that I have ever known in my life and I thank Him for it as a gift.  You see, you can’t go back.  There’s no way back.

Understanding the past for what it is.  For the Israelites:

q      It’s about God – not about us

q      God came through – He’ll do it again

q      Don’t give up

Not something meant to define or restrict our methods today.  The past has no legitimate right to tell us that something cannot be done.  God’s methods for the past are rarely his methods for the future.  The Bible spans 16 centuries of God’s dealing with man and rarely did he do things the same way.  With God there are no encore presentations.  The Creative nature of God delights in doing a “new thing”.  If one of us were God there would be little variety in life.  I stopped picking out ties because when I do they all have stripes on them.

We’ve all know wonderful moments and precious times but in order to experience Christ fully we must find Him today.  We have to discover what He would like to do in and through me today and embrace it.  We cannot recreate the present or the future in the image of the past.  The things that were special to me in the past can be a burden when laid on the current generation.  (I wanted to let Kristie use my new pair of skates.- ill.) 

Shoot For The Moon (v. 13b-16)

Philippians 3:13b ” . . . .straining towards what is ahead,  14  I press on towards the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenwards in Christ Jesus.  15 ¶ All of us who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you.  16  Only let us live up to what we have already attained. “

It is essential that we learn how to “move on” – how to “keep moving”.  If we are to learn to live in a spirit of rejoicing we must learn to find and hold perspective on things.

.We need to allow ourselves room to “grow”.  A person can be motivated by what they are not or you can be beaten to death by it.  I think that’s the difference between God and the Devil.  God says that you can “become” – the Devil says that you are a failure and a loser and you can never change things in your life.  We can spend our lifetimes trying to convince this world that we are something that we are not or we can spend our lifetimes pursuing the goal and developing as people spiritually, emotionally, physically and socially.  This was the picture of the Apostle Paul – he spent his lifetime pursuing the guy who knocked him off his high horse.  You know what the important thing is – having a goal – something to pursue.

Follow The Leader (v. 17-21)

Philippians 3:17 ¶ Join with others in following my example, brothers, and take note of those who live according to the pattern we gave you.  18  For, as I have often told you before and now say again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ.  19  Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is on earthly things.  20  But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Saviour from there, the Lord Jesus Christ,  21  who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.

q      There are a couple of significant phrases here to me.  One is “join with others”.  God help us when we feel that we don’t need other people.

q      The other is the importance of selecting proper models to pattern our lives after.