Philippians 3:7-11 - In the Likeness of His Resurrection
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
[READING - PHILIPPIANS 3:7-11]
7 But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. 8 More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, 9 and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, 10 that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; 11 in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.
[PRAYER]
Context
Context
Jesus established the Philippian church through His Apostle, Paul. Acts 16 records the birth of this fellowship and tells the story of its first converts, among them being a seller of purple goods named, Lydia, who was still a prominent member of the church when Paul wrote this letter from prison.
It would have been easy for the Philippians to turn their backs on Paul when he was incarcerated for preaching about Jesus, but instead they sent a gift to help support Paul during his incarceration.
These folks treasured Paul and he treasured them.
He was encouraged not only by their material support but also by reports of Philippian faithfulness.
Even so, a big reason why Paul wrote this letter was to encourage the Philippians to press on in faithfulness to Jesus, to press on Christ-centered, Gospel-focused living.
Living that way might land us in prison. It may even cost us our lives. But Jesus is more valuable than freedom. He is even worth dying for.
Jesus and Paul
Jesus and Paul
Paul is the last one who should’ve been writing these words to the Philippians. He’s the last one who should’ve been going this hard after Jesus.
There was a time when Paul hated Jesus. You understand that he was indifferent to Jesus; no—he hated Jesus, and he hated anyone who followed Jesus.
In fact, Paul thought he was serving God by persecuting those who claimed to trust in Jesus and follow Him. He seethed with murderous threats against Christians and even stood by holding coats and giving approval when Stephen, the first Christian martyr, was stoned to death for preaching Jesus as the Christ.
Jesus could’ve struck Paul dead and sent him to hell for all eternity, but instead Jesus saved Paul and put him to work preaching the message of Jesus as the Christ—the same message that Stephen had preached.
Jesus said about Paul in Acts 9:15-16...
15 But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is a chosen instrument of Mine, to bear My name before the Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel; 16 for I will show him how much he must suffer for My name’s sake.”
And Paul did suffer. He was whipped, beaten, stoned, shipwrecked, stranded at sea, hungry, thirsty, cold, and exposed (cf. 2 Cor. 11:24-27).
But Paul also suffered in another way. Paul had been an up and comer in Jewish religious circles. Look at Philippians 3:4 starting in the middle of the verse…
4 although I myself might have confidence even in the flesh. If anyone else has a mind to put confidence in the flesh, I far more: 5 circumcised the eighth day, of the nation 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 the righteousness which is in the Law, found blameless.
These are the ‘whatever things’ of Philippians 3:7 that were once gain to Paul—once valuable to him—but now are things that he counts as loss for the sake of Christ.
These ‘whatever things’ were valuable to Paul in terms of identity.
But now Paul’s identity was found in the surpassing value of knowing Jesus.
These ‘whatever things’ were valuable to Paul in terms of acceptance.
But now Paul’s acceptance was found in the surpassing value of knowing Jesus.
These ‘whatever things’ were valuable to Paul in terms of righteousness.
But now Paul’s righteousness was found in the surpassing value of knowing Jesus.
Rubbish
Rubbish
These ‘whatever things’ that Paul once held dear were now rubbish to him. This is the only time this world is used in the New Testament.
It is a vulgar term meaning refuse, dung,waste, or excrement.
That’s how Paul viewed this ‘whatever things’ that he once thought valuable.
But notice that it is not just the ‘whatever things’ of vv. 4-6 that Paul now counted as rubbish; Paul also counted ‘all things’ to be rubbish—to be refuse, dung, waste, excrement—in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus.
There is no mystery here. ‘All things’ means all things. Paul counted all things as rubbish compared to Jesus.
Paul counted freedom as rubbish compared to the surpassing value of knowing Jesus.
Paul counted comfort as rubbish compared to the surpassing value of knowing Jesus.
Paul counted safety as rubbish compared to the surpassing value of knowing Jesus.
He counted food and water as rubbish compared to the surpassing value of knowing Jesus.
He counted fun as rubbish compared to the surpassing value of knowing Jesus.
He counted me-time as rubbish compared to the surpassing value of knowing Jesus.
He counted immorality as rubbish compared to the surpassing value of knowing Jesus.
He counted money as rubbish compared to the surpassing value of knowing Jesus.
He counted the world as rubbish compared to the surpassing value of knowing Jesus.
He counted his very life as rubbish compared to the surpassing value of knowing Jesus.
We sometimes sing, “I’d rather have Jesus than anything,” but Paul didn’t just sing it—he lived it!
And he lived it so that he might gain Christ.
Gaining Christ
Gaining Christ
What does Paul mean by gaining Christ in v. 8? Does he mean that if he sacrifices enough or suffers enough or counts Jesus as valuable enough that he will earn his salvation? No. Paul is probably alluding to the teaching of Jesus in Matthew 16:25-26, which says…
25 “For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. 26 “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?
Rather than forfeit Christ, gain the world, and lose his soul, Paul has decided to forfeit the world, gain Christ, and save his soul.
He aims (v. 9) “to be found by Him, not having a righteousness of (his) own derived from the Law, but that which through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith.”
The false righteousness derived from the Law was apart of the ‘whatever things’ of v. 7 that used to hold value for Paul as a Pharisee of Pharisees. Paul now considered that false righteousness as loss for the sake of Christ, knowing Christ, and being found righteous in Him.
Only perfect obedience to the Law—e.g., the Ten Commandments—equates to righteousness before God.
No one as kept God’s Law perfectly, so no one is saved by keeping the Law.
A lot of religious people think they are saved because they are ‘trying’ to keep God’s commands.
But God’s Law—His Ten Commandments and all the others too—reveal just how far short we fall of the perfection that God demands.
But Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ, the Son of God—He has kept the Law perfectly just as God demands.
And He has taken our law-breaking—our sin—upon Himself as He died as the sacrifice for our sin on the cross.
And He has given us His perfect righteousness so that we can stand before God redeemed, faultless, cleansed, saved.
In Jesus, we stand before Almighty God clothed in a holiness that matches God’s own holiness.
This is the Gospel of Jesus Christ that we must believe if we want to be saved from the wrath of God that will come upon all sinners who refuse to repent of sin and follow Jesus.
Notice in v. 9 that Paul says that this righteousness is through faith.
What is faith?
Hebrews 11:1 describes it as the assurance of things hoped for and the conviction of things not seen. In other words, faith is being sure and convinced that something is the case without having yet seen with the eyes that it is the case.
We haven’t seen Jesus with our eyes. We didn’t see Him crucified. We didn’t see Him resurrected. But if the Spirit of Christ is at work in us, we are sure that Christ was crucified as the sacrifice for our sin—and we are convinced that God raised Jesus from the dead, proof positive that God accepted Him and accepts us in Him.
We cannot earn salvation. We must receive it on the basis of faith.
Notice in v. 9 that Paul says that this righteousness is in Christ.
Our Savior, our Sacrifice had to be perfect and only Christ Jesus is perfect. Only He had no sin (1 Pet. 2:22, 1 John 1:8). Only He was perfect.
This is why Jesus says of Himself in John 14:6, “I am the way, the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.”
This is why the Apostles preach in Acts 4:12, “there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.”
We cannot be saved by any other. Only Jesus saves.
Notice in v. 9 that Paul says that this righteousness is from God.
Why would God send us this righteousness to us in Jesus?
16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.
It was out of love that God sent His Son, Jesus, for us—to live perfectly for us—to die sacrificially for us—to rise triumphantly for us—so that we would believe in Him and not perish, but have eternal life.
Power and Suffering
Power and Suffering
Now, Paul doesn’t just want this belief in Jesus in theory; he wants it in practice. He wants to experience (v. 10) “the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings.”
What is the power of Jesus’ resurrection that Paul wants to experience?
It is the power of living as dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus (Rom. 6:11).
It is the power of not letting sin reign in our mortal bodies so that we obey its lusts (Rom. 6:13).
It is the power of not continuing to present the members of our bodies to sin as instruments of unrighteousness (Rom. 6:13).
It is the power of presenting ourselves to God as those alive from the dead through faith in Jesus—the power of presenting the members of our bodies to God as instruments of righteousness (Rom. 6:13).
It is the power of holiness.
It is the power of sanctification.
It is the power of continual repentance and increasing obedience.
Our brother D. A. Carson has a good word for us on this. He writes....
“It takes extraordinary power to change us… In fact, it takes nothing less than the power of God that raised Jesus from the dead. What (Paul) wants, then, is not power so that he might be thought powerful, but power so that he might be conformed to the will of God. Only the power that brought Jesus back from the dead will do.”
The resurrection power of Jesus conforms us to the image of Jesus—the One who is forever dead to sin but alive to God.
Are we becoming increasingly dead to sin but alive to God?
Is the resurrection power of Jesus working in us?
The fellowship of Jesus’ sufferings (v. 10) is a willingness to suffer for obeying the will of God so that sinners can be saved. This is what Jesus did, and—to a lesser degree—what Paul did.
It was our sin that hung Jesus on the cross, but it was the Father’s will to crush Him (Isaiah 53).
No one took Jesus’ life from Him; He laid it down of His own accord; but this was a charge that He received from His Father (John 10).
Jesus prayed, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from Me,” but He also prayed, “yet not My will, but Yours be done,” (Luke 22:42).
Jesus obeyed the will of His Heavenly Father as suffered on the cross, and His suffering meant our salvation if we trust Him.
Paul knew that his suffering was light and momentary compared to the suffering of Jesus.
Paul knew that his suffering was not atonement—i.e., it wasn’t going to atone for his sins or anyone else’s.
But Paul suffering did mean that people got to hear about the One whose suffering did atone for their sins.
Paul was in prison with a possible execution hanging over his head, and yet he writes to the Philippians that he is ready to be “conformed to (Jesus’) death.”
Jesus gave His life so that sinners could be saved.
Paul is ready to give his life so that sinners all across the world can hear about Jesus and be saved.
Attain to the Resurrection
Attain to the Resurrection
Paul lived like this because He lived with the End in mind.
Paul had met Jesus on the road to Damascus. He knew Jesus was real. He knew Jesus had been crucified. He knew that Jesus had been raised from the dead. And He knew that one day the end would come and He would stand before Jesus in judgment.
In fact, in Acts 17:30-31, when Paul was in Athens, he said…
30 “Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent, 31 because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead.”
Paul knew that he—and indeed all human beings—would be judged by the resurrected Jesus. He knew that he—and indeed all human beings—must appear before the judgment seat of Christ (2 Cor. 5:10).
So Paul counted it all rubbish compared to the surpassing value of knowing Christ (Phil. 3:8).
So he disciplined his body and made it his slave in the pursuit of holiness through the power of Jesus resurrection (Phil. 3:10; 1 Cor. 9:27).
And he was willingly to suffer—even to the point of death—if that meant others heard about Jesus (Phil. 3:10).
Paul didn’t know how he was going to die. He didn’t know how he was going to be ‘conformed to the death of Christ,’ but he knew it would come somehow—and however it came, afterward he would ‘attain to the resurrection from the dead’ (Phil. 3:11).
Eternal life with Jesus in the joy of Heaven awaited the Apostle Paul…
…so he lived the Christ-centered, Gospel-focused way that he called on the Philippians to live.
Conclusion
Conclusion
Paul is not telling about his way of living to brag, but to comfort them in their concern for him during his imprisonment—and to call them to live the same way even if it lands them in prison, even if it means they die.
Imprisonment is nothing compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Jesus.
Death is nothing compared to the surpassing value of knowing Jesus who died and rose again.
Paul knew this.
He wanted the Philippians to know it.
God wants us to know it too.
More than that, He want us to live it.