Sermon Tone Analysis

Does anybody here still watch American Pickers with Frank, Rob, and Danielle?

I guess Frank is gone… They search for rusty gold.

Which sometimes looks like this.

Rusty Gold

Or the house make overs that tell you to treasure houses like this

Rich Makeover

The world seems confused AMEN?

What is trash and what is treasure?

Different people tell us different things.

But at the end of our lives most peoples treasure looks like another popular reality tv show.

Hoarders

Hoarder

God created us, and knows what we really need.

He uses Paul to teach us us what we really need to treasure and how treasure Him.

The title of the message is only Jesus, and the text is found in Philippians 3:1-14.

A personal relationship with Jesus is the only way to have right standing before God at the final judgment and be given eternal life in heaven.

Therefore, anything hindering your relationship with Jesus needs to be tossed in the trash.

Philippians 3:1–14 (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.

13 Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself to have taken hold of it.

But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and reaching forward to what is ahead, 14 I pursue as my goal the prize promised by God’s heavenly call in Christ Jesus.

Only Jesus: The Text In Its Context

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 wrote this text to remind Christians to rejoice in the Lord.

No matter how badly you are persecuted, or how difficult the trials are that you face, focus on Jesus.

He has proclaimed the Gospel to them before, and he will continue preaching it as often as God gives him the opportunity.

It is no problem from him, and it helps keep the people who hear the good news safe!

Knowing we are right with God we must rejoice- regardless of our circumstances.

Habakkuk 3:18–19 (CSB) 18 yet I will celebrate in the Lord; I will rejoice in the God of my salvation!

19 The Lord my Lord is my strength; he makes my feet like those of a deer and enables me to walk on mountain heights!

Philippians 3:2 (CSB) 2 Watch out for the dogs, watch out for the evil workers, watch out for those who mutilate the flesh.

Please don’t call PETA to report Paul was a dog hater.

If Paul knew your pet in your context I am sure he would love the pup.

You have to remember the time and culture Paul was writing too.

Dogs were not pets.

They either did a job or they were feral- wild, nasty, unclean, and dangerous often wandering in packs where they didn’t belong.

The Jewish people often referred to Gentiles as dogs because they thought they were unclean.

The Judaizers were Jewish Christian teachers who tried to make people convert to Judaism and keep the Law so that they could be saved by Christ.

Paul called them mutilators because they would make Gentile get circumcised.

[Judaizers: During the time of the early church many devout Jews were willing to accept Jesus as Messiah, but they wanted to hold on to forms of Judaism.

They believed that Gentiles had to become Jews before becoming Christians.

This involved the act of circumcision and taking on the law of Moses (Carson, Basics, 81).

We read about them in Acts 15.

They were saying, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom prescribed by Moses, you cannot be saved!”

(Acts 15:1).

But the leaders of the church, including Paul, Barnabas, James, and Peter, denied this claim and preserved the gospel of grace.

Salvation comes through Christ and Christ alone, apart from works of the law.

--Tony Merida and Francis Chan, Exalting Jesus in Philippians, ed.

David Platt, Daniel L. Akin, and Tony Merida, Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary]

There is irony in Paul referring to them as the dogs- AMEN?

They wanted to add keeping the Law as a requirement to salvation- and in doing so they become unclean!

Only Jesus leads to salvation and peace with God.

John 14:6 (CSB) 6 Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.

No one comes to the Father except through me.

The Judaizers added thing other than a saving faith in Jesus before a person can be saved.

The biggest thing they added being the circumcision.

And Paul describes that as mutilation!

Under the Law it was a visible mark that the person belonged to God.

Jesus offers salvation that us a free gift.

The Master’s Marks

Do you know what a master mark is?

It is a mark or stamp that a master artisan put on his work.

You see them in pottery, smithing (including gun smithing, even fine carpentry work.

Sometimes apprentices or journeymen will do a piece that resembles the work of the master, but they don’t bear his mark.

The shop may even sell some works the master made, but didn’t mark, because he feels that it isn’t representative of his best work.

The mark affects the value of an object.

The work of the master craftsman is better than the work of the people he is teaching.

When you are buying a fine piece of art it is important to know that it is real- AMEN?

That the master made it?

and is satisfied with its quality.

God is the master artisan- AMEN?

Isaiah 64:8 (CSB) 8 Yet Lord, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we all are the work of your hands.

And we are all made in God’s image.

Genesis 1:27 (CSB) 27 So God created man in his own image; he created him in the image of God; he created them male and female.

But not every person has the Master’s Mark.

God made them, and offers them the free gift of salvation through a saving relationship with Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.

But they have rejected that gift.

They fight and rebel against God as He tries to mold them into masterpieces.

So what are the signs of a person who is truly being molded by God? Paul identifies three very important traits that mark a true follower of Christ.

Philippians 3:3 (CSB)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—

Paul is saying that the covenant sign of belonging to God is no longer physical circumcision.

The new sign of belonging to God is now a circumcised heart.

He says it even more strongly in

Galatians 6:15 (CSB) 15 For both circumcision and uncircumcision mean nothing; what matters instead is a new creation.

It is harder to verify a transformed heart then it is to verify a circumcision.

AMEN?

But they can be seen in our lives.

Serving Through God’s Spirit

Philippians 3:3 (CSB)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—

Christians serve the Lord as led by the Spirit.