Make it Count

Student Reading the Text

Philippians 3:1–12 CSB

1 In addition, my brothers and sisters, rejoice in the Lord. To write to you again about this is no trouble for me and is a safeguard for you. 2 Watch out for the dogs, watch out for the evil workers, watch out for those who mutilate the flesh. 3 For we are the circumcision, the ones who worship by the Spirit of God, boast in Christ Jesus, and do not put confidence in the flesh— 4 although I have reasons for confidence in the flesh. If anyone else thinks he has grounds for confidence in the flesh, I have more: 5 circumcised the eighth day; of the nation of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews; regarding the law, a Pharisee; 6 regarding zeal, persecuting the church; regarding the righteousness that is in the law, blameless. 7 But everything that was a gain to me, I have considered to be a loss because of Christ. 8 More than that, I also consider everything to be a loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. Because of him I have suffered the loss of all things and consider them as dung, so that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own from the law, but one that is through faith in Christ—the righteousness from God based on faith. 10 My goal is to know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings, being conformed to his death, 11 assuming that I will somehow reach the resurrection from among the dead. 12 Not that I have already reached the goal or am already perfect, but I make every effort to take hold of it because I also have been taken hold of by Christ Jesus.

Intro (People Watcher)

This morning, i’m gonna be transparent with y’all for a few second. I have a secret hobby. A hobby that i know that few of the rest of you have. As a matter of fact, i would say that to most people this hobby would be the most boring thing that you can think of. I’m a people watcher. I KNOW… none of you can relate, but humor me for a minute. I’ve watched people at Walmart, I’ve watched people at sporting events, i’ve watched people at restaurants, Jessica and I will sometimes see people having conversations from afar and create crazy dialogue as if we are them. We’re lame, I know.

All Jokes aside, i Love people. I love watching the way that we interact with each other, and the different ways that people approach life.

But one thing that everyone has in common, is that We want our lives to Count.

Context

This isn’t something new. The people in Paul’s day wanted the same thing! They were all trying to figure out the answers to the same questions that we ask today.

When we find him, Paul is currently writing this letter from a prison cell. A man named Epaphroditus had been sent to Paul by the Philippian church with resources.

and while He was with Him, Epaphroditus updated Paul on what was going on back at the church and in the town.

He spends the first part of the letter giving thanks, and encouraging the members of the Church. Telling them not allow his imprisonment to discourage them because it has actually led to more people stepping out and telling people about Jesus!

He then begins to address an issue that Epaphroditus had shared with him in Chapter 3, He begins by telling the Church to:

1. Be Alert!

Philippians 3:1 CSB

1 In addition, my brothers and sisters, rejoice in the Lord. To write to you again about this is no trouble for me and is a safeguard for you.

Paul begins by encouraging the people who may feel like they’ve heard Paul’s message before. To those people He says I rejoice in being able to share this with you again. Why?

To be a safeguard for us. Look at our history. We are a very forgetful people, and thus We need to hear God’s direction daily!

To Paul, the people and the Message of Jesus are all that matters. And in the same way that we stand up for the people and things that we care about, Paul is “Sounding the Alarm” on a group of people who were called the Judaizers!

Philippians 3:2–3 CSB

2 Watch out for the dogs, watch out for the evil workers, watch out for those who mutilate the flesh. 3 For we are the circumcision, the ones who worship by the Spirit of God, boast in Christ Jesus, and do not put confidence in the flesh—

The Judaizers

were a group of people who taught that in order to be a Christian you had to first become a Jew and submit to their rituals and ceremonies.

Not dissimilar to Today

Which is Not dis similar from the lies that the many groups are teaching today! Do this thing, do that thing, one more ritual, one more ceremony.

Paul refers to the people that are teaching these lies as: Dogs, Evil Workers, and Mutilators:

Dogs

“During the firs century, dogs roamed the streets and were basically wild scavengers. Because dogs were such filthy animals, the Jews loved to refer to Gentiles as dogs. Here Paul refers to the Judaizers as dogs because of their vicious, sinful, and uncontrolled character” - MacArthur

Evil workers

The Judaizers took pride in their work being righteous, but Paul is calling them out because they are trying to be righteous under their own power and were taking the attention away from Christ’s sacrifice and putting it back on traditions and ceremonies!!

Mutilators

Paul is calling out their push to new believers into the Jewish tradition as pointless and without any spiritual significance.

We are the Circumcision by our spiritual surrender, not by cutting on our bodies.

Paul’s goal in these first three verses is for us to see that our salvation has nothing to do with any amount of effort that we can put forth, any amount of pain that we can endure, or any amount of morality that we can maintain!

Go Get Em Paul

You may be thinking, “Amen!” “You tell ‘em Paul!!” “Get those false teachers!!” but some of us aren’t ready for what has to say next.

In our second Observation Paul says:

2. Don’t Misplace your Confidence

Paul transitions here from talking about them, to talking to us! From talking about the Judaizers, to talking to the Christ Followers.

Paul knows about all of the accolades and all of the accomplishments that these men are proclaiming to be necessary for Salvation!

Philippians 3:4–6 CSB

4 although I have reasons for confidence in the flesh. If anyone else thinks he has grounds for confidence in the flesh, I have more: 5 circumcised the eighth day; of the nation of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews; regarding the law, a Pharisee; 6 regarding zeal, persecuting the church; regarding the righteousness that is in the law, blameless.

David Platt points out that:

Paul had all of the Accolades

Family Heritage Vs. 5a

Social Status Vs. 5b

Bible Knowledge Vs. 5c

Religious Activity Vs.6a

Moral Lifestyle Vs. 6b

is Paul Bragging?

Some may look at this as Paul “Bragging”, but in reality He was establishing credibility with those of us who would read this letter.

Paul wants for it to be clear that He’s already put in the time, He had a seat at the table, He knew the answers, but even with all of those trophies sitting atop his mantle, it never counted for anything. His life , to that point, had been for nothing.

What Accolades do We Lean on

Raised in Church or in a “Good” Home

Well Respected in the Community

Read our Bible every day

We Help people when “we can”

Always try to do the right thing

And the thing that makes this difficult for us today is that none of these things are bad things… These are all good things.

However, if these things are the seeds in which we are planting, hoping that they produce right standing with the Holy God, we will make it to the end of our time here on earth and hear the chilling words spoken by Jesus himself in Matthew 7:23

Matthew 7:23 CSB

23 Then I will announce to them, ‘I never knew you. Depart from me, you lawbreakers!’

John 5:39–40 CSB

39 You pore over the Scriptures because you think you have eternal life in them, and yet they testify about me. 40 But you are not willing to come to me so that you may have life.

Paul’s Radical Transformation

But guess what?! Paul explains how the Lord radically transformed his life in Acts 9:18

Acts 9:18 CSB

18 At once something like scales fell from his eyes, and he regained his sight. Then he got up and was baptized.

and it was in this moment that Paul understood something.

That brings us to our third observation, That you must:

3. Balance your Spiritual Ledger

First bank Account Story

One of my fondest memories was getting my first bank account! I remember my mother taking me to our local bank and basically holding my hand by helping me answer questions as i stumbled through the process of setting up the account. I remember how excited i was to have “MY OWN MONEY”. Believe it or not, this was before online banking, so my mother had to teach me how to Balance my checkbook or my account “Ledger”.

An important lesson that taught me was that everything has specific value, and that some things are more valuable than others.

Paul Takes Ownership

Here Paul takes ownership of how much he LOVED the STUFF and the ACHIEVEMENTS from His “Pre-Jesus” lifestyle. He says that those things were “Gain to Him”

Realizes Check Book out of Whack

But now that He has been saved by Jesus, the true Value of all of these things became clear, and He realized that His spiritual Checkbook was all out of Whack!!

Vs. 7-9 say it this way:

Philippians 3:7–9 CSB

7 But everything that was a gain to me, I have considered to be a loss because of Christ. 8 More than that, I also consider everything to be a loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. Because of him I have suffered the loss of all things and consider them as dung, so that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own from the law, but one that is through faith in Christ—the righteousness from God based on faith.

and yes, Paul compares everything that isn’t Christ to Dung… other translations may say Rubbish or garbage, but the point is that all of these other things that we work so hard on, count for nothing without Jesus.

The works of Man are not the Seeds that sprout into your ticket to Heaven, but are the fruit that comes only from Salvation through Faith in Jesus Christ!

So that brings us to our Final Observation: that we should:

4. Let Jesus Reset your Goals

Paul says:

Philippians 3:10–11 CSB

10 My goal is to know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings, being conformed to his death, 11 assuming that I will somehow reach the resurrection from among the dead.

Have you gone through life setting Goals, doing things, and then Asking God to Bless the decisions that you made in your strength?

Are you at a place in your life where you just feel overwhelmed? You work and you work and you work, but it feels like you’re just spinning tires. Like not matter what you do, it’s just not enough.

Let me take some weight off of your shoulders this morning by telling you that it’s not enough, and no amount of work that you ever put in will be enough!

That’s what Paul is trying to tell the Philippian Church, and that’s what the Lord is telling us this morning! The only way that your life counts, is if we surrender it and place it under the Banner of Jesus!

The altars are open, there are people hear that would love to pray with you!

Come and give your life to Jesus!! He’s waiting for you!

Make it Count!