Sermon Tone Analysis

Walking in Joy.doc                                                                                          SD20

September 23, 2007                                                                                         File E

WALKING IN JOY

Principles for maintaining your joy

Philippians 3:1-11

 

/“Finally brothers, REJOICE in the Lord!

It is not trouble for me to write the same thing to you again, and it is a safeguard for you.”/

NLT /“Whatever happens, dear brothers and sisters, may the Lord give you joy.

I never get tired of telling you this.

I am doing this for your own good.”/

Joy is the watchword of Philippians!

In the verses that follow we find some principles that help us maintain our joy---help us have a joyful walk

 

Paul is about to give them some stern warnings and also reveal the dark side of his own past—some warning that will help protect their joyful attitudes…

So they must hear again the importance of being people of outrageous joy!

People who laugh in the face of the devil…

      No!

They don’t ignore, nor do they minimize life’s evils

            But they are learning to rejoice in spite of…

 

Paul again addresses some issues that can rob us of our joy and he gives us some timeless principles for maintaining a joyful attitude…

It comes in the form of warning and encouragement…

 

*Here are three safeguards for protecting your joy!*

* *

*1.

Resist legalistic attitudes*

vv-2-3 (GN) /Watch out for those who do evil, those dogs, men who insist on cutting the body.

…we worship God by his Spirit, and rejoice in our life in Christ Jesus.

We do not put any trust in external ceremonies.”/

There were those in Philippi (as there are those today) who will attempt to add their own list of “extra biblical” requirements to the performance of religious duty---and call it the way of salvation.

In Paul’s day they said that even the gentiles had to go through certain ceremonies of cleansing (such as circumcision) in order to be truly saved…

 

Paul is serious about this—he calls them “dogs”

      They were Christian Pharisees—who laid extra requirements on people that had nothing to do with salvation or growth or the matters of the heart

      It was outward religion without inward change!

It was ritual without reality

      It was tradition without value

      It was rules without reason

      It was law without grace

            That is what legalism is

                  Setting yourself up for failure because you cannot keep the very rules you have set for yourself—thinking they will make you more loveable in God’s sight…more acceptable!

And then you look at others who are not living up to your standards and judging their level of spiritual growth and commitment by your standard rather than encouraging them through God’s word and the message of grace and mercy which have come through Jesus Christ

 

Today it comes in the form of doing certain religious observations—or if it is not in the form of requirements for salvation we think that in order to receive God’s unmerited favor we have to somehow earn it!

As if a child has to grow up before he can be loved by his father…

 

Paul reveals his own background in order to illustrate the danger of legalism--

He gives us five examples:

1.

You begin to trust in rituals  v.5 /“circumcised the 8th day”/

We have our own rituals today.

Baptism, communion, catechism, baby dedicated, regular church attendance.

If you fall into this trap, trusting these for your salvation, you're in trouble.

There is nothing at all wrong with them—but you cannot count on the ritual to get you to heaven—or even to make you acceptable to God—you don’t’ get baptized to make God love you—you do it because it honors Him and simply is the right thing to do --- When you love the Lord you obey the Lord!

 

2.

You trust in race or heritage v.5 /“of the tribe of Benjamin, of the stock of Israel,”/

Benjamin was the purest tribe.

Paul was named after the first king, Saul, who was a Benjamite.

Paul says he used to trust in his heritage.

Have you ever heard anyone say, "Daddy's a Christian... My mom was a believer... My uncle was a pastor."

You can get religion by osmosis but you can't get Christ by osmosis.

You are not a Christian because you were raised by Christian parents—your Mom and Dad cannot give you a relationship with God!

Your heritage or race will not gain you favor with God---it is your life and responsibility to develop faith in God and trust Christ s your savior and live what you believe!

 

3.

You trust in religion v.5 “/a Hebrew of Hebrews,…”/

Paul was a religious person.

Jesus has nothing to do with religion except He's 100% opposed to it.

Religion is man's attempt to get to God.

Works.

Jesus Christ is God's attempt to get to man.

That's a relationship and that's a big difference.

4.

You trust in rules v.5  /“in regard to the law, a Pharisee…”/

Paul kept all the rules.

We use the term Pharisee as a synonym of hypocrite—but there were many sincere people who thought that by keeping all the rules and making others keep the rules they could earn favor with God

The Pharisees of Jesus’ day had taken the 10 commandments and expanded them to 619…Nobody could keep track of them much less obey all of them…

And they were legalists!

A Pharisee would not even eat an egg if it were laid on the Sabbath, because that was work…

I am surprised they didn’t stone the chicken for working on the Sabbath.

What rules do you have that you think will get you on an inside track with God???

 

5.

You trust in your reputation (legalistic attitudes) v6 /“concerning zeal, persecuting the church, concerning the righteousness which is in the law, blameless…”/

 

Today we have people saying, "I read the Bible, I witness, I go to church..." That's legalism.

The point is there is nothing wrong with any of these things.

The problem is thinking that they give me points with God.

And they don't.

He loves you unconditionally.

The point is -- Christianity is not a list of negatives—

      “don’t do this or that!”

There are some warnings that God gives for our protection but it is all for our GOOD!!!!

 

If Christianity were a bunch of don’t then a dead person would qualify as a Christian -- they don’t do anything!

Romans 14:17 "For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit."

Here is a safeguard to put in your life:

*Live every day by grace!*

* *

Grace is the key to joy.

The two words go together.

They have the same root word in Greek.

To realize that everything God does in you and through you is by grace, rather than working for it and earning it.

Grace is the secret of joy.

* *

Paul was the super-legalist and he realized that it was nothing but a pile of rubbish---all that he had done to gain God’s favor was worthless---

 

*2.

REEVALUATE YOUR ACTIVITIES *

A lot of people are looking for joy in all the wrong places.

He compares the value of religion to the value of a relationship to Christ.

There is no comparison.

He had been a very religious

person, but he was lost.

V.

7-8 /"But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ.

What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I have lost all things.

I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ."/

All the things he talked about he considered complete loss, worthless.

The translators here are being polite, delicate.