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Sermon 2019-02-03 Brian Sorenson

 

Righteousness Through Faith in Christ

Philippians 3:1  Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you is indeed not grievous to me, but for you it is safe.

2  Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the circumcision party.

3  For we are the circumcision who worship God in the spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh;

4  though I might also have confidence in the flesh. If any other thinks that he has reason to trust in the flesh, I more.

5  I was circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews. As regards the Law, I was a Pharisee;

6  concerning zeal, persecuting the church; regarding the righteousness in the Law, blameless.

7  But whatever things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ.

8  But no, rather, I also count all things to be loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them to be dung, so that I may win Christ

9  and be found in Him; not having my own righteousness, which is of the Law, but through the faith of Christ, the righteousness of God by faith,

10  that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable to His death;

11  if by any means I might attain to the resurrection of the dead

Introduction

In our study last week, we looked at Paul’s pastoral instruction to the church in Philippi concerning their new pastor Timothy which Paul had appointed to the Church and a new Elder Epaphroditus whom Paul arranged to personally deliver the letter

Transition

This week we begin our study of chapter 3 and will cover the first 11versus. Paul commences this final section of his letter with a polemic defence of the Gospel of righteousness by grace through faith and attack on what he had been brought up to believe, righteousness through keeping the Law of Moses. (Polemic definition: a piece of writing or a speech in which a person strongly attacks or defends a particular opinion, person, idea, or set of beliefs)

Follow me in your Bibles and I will start at verse 1

Paul’s Strong Attack  and Defence                                               verses 1-3 

• beware dogs and evil workers v 2
• beware of the circumcision party v 2
• we are the circumcision v 3             

 

Philippians 3:1: Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you is indeed not grievous to me, but for you it is safe.

Paul changes the tone of his letter here with his strong attack on opponents of the gospel and an equally strong defence of his total commitment to it. He begins by explaining it is not hard for him to make these strong polarising statements because it was part of fighting the good fight and for their safety

2  Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the circumcision party

Beware of dogs and evil workers are reference to pagan unbelievers who opposed Paul and the Gospel of Christ

Dogs were an unclean animal under the Law of Moses and. by association. Pagans were unclean people to the Jews.  Their opposition to the Gospel was base, unprincipled and violent.

Evildoers were those who opposed Paul and the Gospel by casting evil spells, disrupting his message with fortune tellers, necromancy and other forms of witchcraft. Their craft like their father the Devil is by deception, deceit and infiltrating the church with doctrines of demons

Beware of the circumcision party is a reference to Jewish believers who opposed Paul’s gospel because he claimed circumcision was no longer necessary to achieve righteousness before God. They held rightly, that Jehovah had commanded circumcision as the sign of the Abrahamic covenant. Whereas Paul argued, Abraham was justified by grace through faith before the covenant with Jehovah establishing circumcision as the sign was given. Paul argued, therefore, righteousness by grace through faith predated righteousness by the law and was not new teaching; rather new gentile converts to the Way of Christ were by association children of Abraham, the Father of the Faithful

3  For we are the circumcision who worship God in the spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh;

We are the circumcision who worship God in the spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus. Not worship God in the Synagogue in Philippi or Temple in Jerusalem, or this mountain or that mountain but in Spirit and in truth, anywhere

The phrase, ‘we are the circumcision’ is difficult to interpret. Paul develops his argument that we are the circumcision in his letter to the Romans chapter 2.  I support the view that Paul is using this phrase in a logical argument, rather than a theological statement

Romans 2:25 For circumcision truly profits if you keep the Law, but if you are a transgressor of the Law, circumcision becomes uncircumcision.

26 If then the uncircumcision (the Gentile believer who) keeps the ordinances of the Law, shall not his uncircumcision be counted for circumcision?

27 And the uncircumcision which is by nature (natural knowledge of right and wrong through human conscience), if it fulfils the Law, shall it not judge you, who through letter and circumcision become transgressors of the Law?

28 For he is not a (true) Jew who is one outwardly (only), nor is circumcision that outwardly in flesh (only);

29 but he is a (true) Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is of the heart (also); in spirit and not in letter (only); whose praise is not from men, but from God.

 

Notes:

It may help to understand Paul’s logical argument if applied to the covenant of marriage:

We could say marriage truly profits but only if you keep the marriage vows you made. If you commit adultery your marriage logically becomes unmarriage.

Further, Paul argued if a de facto couple who have followed nature and their own consciences and lived together for many years and raised a family; could not their unmarriage be counted as marriage?

Paul is not arguing here that Gentile believers become Jews, as argued by Covenantal Theology; any more than arguing that a de facto couple are married. It is a logical argument only. Being Jewish is a matter of birth with a bloodline to the Patriarch Jacob; nothing more nothing less.

Paul is making his doctrinal point here by comparing a Jew who is only circumcised in his flesh and breaks the law of Moses, with a Jew who is also circumcised in his heart and keeps the law; the latter Paul argues is the true Jew

Note: Contemporary Messianic Jews who have found their Messiah tend to call themselves completed Jews rather than true Jews.

Paul’s Amazing Lineage – verses  4-6  

• Paul’s confidence in the flesh      v 4
• Pauls preparation from birth v 5    
• Paul’s zeal for God v 6 

My second point is Paul Amazing Lineage

4 though I might also have confidence in the flesh. If any other thinks that he has reason to trust in the flesh, I more.

Paul’s uses the term flesh here as a metaphor is in contrast to his use of spirit as a metaphor. By flesh, he does not mean the physical body or biological life which God created and declared very good.

Paul’s confidence in the flesh was founded on good evidence.

4 though I might also have confidence in the flesh. If any other thinks that he has reason to trust in the flesh, I more.

5  I was circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews. As regards the Law, I was a Pharisee;

Paul’s circumcision on the 8^th day after birth was a literal cutting of the flesh as commanded by Jehovah. This was the sign of the Covenant which Jehovah made with Abraham and his descendants through Isaac and Jacob; in fact, if a Jew was not circumcised, he was not a part of Israel and outside the covenant. Therefore, cutting the flesh in circumcision was very important to a Jew.

In Summary, Paul taught circumcision of the flesh was not as important as circumcision of the heart by the spirit which is a sign of the New Covenant sealed by the blood of Messiah. By analogy, if you have not been circumcised in the heart you are not part of the Body of Christ and outside the New Covenant.

Paul’s preparation from birth was planned by God for the good works which he had foreordained in Christ Jesus.

In Ephesians 2:10 Paul taught, ‘We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to good works, which God has before ordained that we should walk in them.’

Paul’s very Jewish lineage, family upbringing in Tarsus as a Roman Citizen in a multilingual society, training in the OT scriptures at the feet of renowned scholar Gamaliel, and his position as a Pharisee were all part of God’s preparation for the work He had planned for Paul.

David expressed sublime wonder at the revelation God had planned his life:

Psalm 139:13 For You have possessed my inward parts; You have covered me in my mother’s womb.

14 I will praise You; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Your works are marvellous and my soul knows it very well.

15 My bones were not hidden from You when I was made in secret and skilfully formed in the lowest parts of the earth.

16 Your eyes saw my embryo, and in Your book, all my members were written, the days they were formed, and not one was among them.

17 How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How great is the sum of them!

Paul’s zeal for God was a gift from God

6  concerning zeal, persecuting the church; regarding the righteousness in the Law, blameless.

Paul set a high benchmark, but there is a difference between blameless and faultless:

Blameless has to do with intent; innocent; not meriting censure.

Faultless has to do with outcome; free from guilt, crime or offense.

For example, Paul may not have intended to offend the circumcision party by his polarising statements as he was just setting out his argument for the Gospel and against their opposition that all believing males should be circumcised; however, the circumcision party may have taken offence and held Paul was at fault or guilty of a blasphemy law.

Christians are not called to be faultless, but we are called to be blameless; it is a requirement for Elders and Paul payed for the Thessalonian believers:

1Thessalonians 5:23 And may the God of peace Himself sanctify you and may your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

1Th 5:24 Faithful is He who called you, who also will do it.

Paul acknowledged that it was zeal of God but not according to knowledge.

Romans 10:1  Brothers, truly my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is for it to be saved.

Romans 10:2  For I bear record to them that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge.

Romans 10:3  For they, being ignorant of God’s righteousness and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves to the righteousness of God.

Romans 10:4  For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness for everyone who believes.

Note: the Wesleyan doctrine of prevenient grace holds that God’s grace extends to all men generally to enable them seek after God even if they do not know him. The biography of the Indian physicist I mentioned last week revealed he sought God from his childhood, and still seeks God through regular meditation with the hope of reaching Brahman their creator god. In another biography, Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus, a devout Muslim Nabeel Qureshi sought Allah from a young age and eventually found Isa in a revelation of the risen Christ. I have a Muslim friend who seeks Allah and prays every day, and sometimes with me. They like Paul have zeal for God but not according to knowledge.

When the Holy Spirit leads you to such seekers, pray they will find Christ who is the end of the law for righteousness for everyone who believes.

Beyond Lineage – verses  8-11

• Paul willing to lose all to gain Christ                           v 8
• Paul could never gain righteousness through the law v9
• Paul’s goal was resurrection of the dead v10-11

 

My third point is Beyond Lineage

8 But no, rather, I also count all things to be loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them to be dung, so that I may win Christ. 

Paul was willing to lose all to gain Christ; but Paul could not lose who he was, a Jew, of the Tribe of Benjamin. Rather he reckoned the Excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus his Lord was far greater than his Jewish lineage and Roman Citizenship. His consuming passion was to know Christ.

He would have agreed with pioneer missionary CT Studd who wrote, ‘if Jesus Christ be God and died for me, no sacrifice can be too great for me to make for Him’

9  and be found in Him; not having my own righteousness, which is of the Law, but through the faith of Christ, the righteousness of God by faith, 

Paul could never gain righteousness through the law.

Paul of all Jews along with the disciple Nathaniel of whom our Lord said, ‘Behold an Israelite indeed in whom is no guile’ (John 1:47), would come closest to keeping the law, blameless. But they did not come close enough; the law demands a perfect pass. The Lord revealed to Paul that righteousness before God could only be achieved by grace through faith.

Paul explained this revelation in his letter to the Romans chapter 9 by comparing Israel’s Unbelief with the Gentile’s righteousness of faith.

Romans 9:30 What shall we say then? That the Gentiles, who did not follow after righteousness have taken on righteousness, but a righteousness of faith.

31 But Israel, who followed after a law of righteousness did not arrive at a law of righteousness.

32 Why? Because it was not of faith, but as it were by the works of the Law. For they stumbled at that Stumbling-stone;

33 as it is written, “Behold, I lay in Zion a Stumbling-stone and a Rock-of-offense, but everyone believing on Him shall not be put to shame.”

Paul’s goal was resurrection of the dead. 

10  that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable to His death. 

Paul was ready to use all means and at any cost, even suffering and death,

to achieve his goal. In his second letter to the Corinthians, he spoke of his suffering for Christ up to that point: 

2 Corinthians 11:23 Are they ministers of Christ? (I speak as beside myself,) I am more! I have been in labours more abundantly, in stripes above measure, in prisons more, in deaths many times.

24  Five times from the Jews I received forty stripes minus one.

25  Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked. I have spent a night and a day in the deep.

26  I have been in travels often; in dangers from waters; in dangers from robbers; in dangers from my race; in dangers from the heathen; in dangers in the city; in dangers in the wilderness; in dangers on the sea; in dangers among false brothers.

27  I have been in hardship and toil; often in watchings; in hunger and thirst; often in fastings; in cold and nakedness;

28  besides the things outside conspiring against me daily, the care of all the churches.

29  Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is caused to stumble, and I do not burn?

30  If it is right to boast, I will boast of the things of my weakness.

31  The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is blessed forever, knows that I do not lie.

Philippians 3:11 If by any means (he wrote to the Philippians) I might attain to the resurrection of the dead.

Paul considered he was least worthy of being saved by Christ; he had persecuted the church and presided over the execution of many believers including the disciple Stephen, the first Christian martyr. He also was among the Pharisees who conspired to have the Messiah arrested and at Messiah’s trial before Pilate; he would have added his voice to the mob shouting, ‘crucify him!’ ‘Away with him’!  Paul who was worthy of death for his violet past never stopped thanking God he was chosen to attain the resurrection of the dead.

Paul comments on his pre-Christian past in his first letter to Timothy:

1Timothy 1:12  And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who strengthened me, because He counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry–

13  the one who before was a blasphemer and a persecutor and insolent. But I obtained mercy, because being ignorant, I did it in unbelief.

14  And the grace of our Lord was exceedingly abundant, with faith and love in Christ Jesus.

15  Faithful is the Word and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief.

16  But for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show forth all long-suffering, as a pattern to those being about to believe on Him to life everlasting.

 

Take Away    

• Righteousness through the law is not possible as the pass mark is perfection.
• Righteousness is possible through Christ alone by grace through faith.
• Righteousness through Christ qualifies us for the resurrection of the dead.

  

Let us conclude this part of our Service with Paul’s Doxology in that letter to Timothy –

17  Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory forever and ever. Amen.

 

 

 

Transition to Communion Service

As today is the first Sunday in the month, we will conclude our service this morning by remembering the death and resurrection of Our Lord in Holy Communion

Would the Communion stewards please come forward?

Communion Reflection

We who are in Christ and indwelled by the Holy Spirit should have no confidence in the flesh or our own outward effort to achieve righteousness before God. This communion remembrance reminds us we accept our righteousness is imputed by God’s grace through faith and that not of ourselves; it is a gift of God, who works in us both to will and to do His good pleasure.

Definition: to impute is to hold that something is the cause of something else.

Imputed righteousness is a concept in Christian theology proposing that the righteousness of Christ is imputed to believers and treated as if it were theirs through faith. Thus, this doctrine is practically synonymous with justification by faith.

Remember, faithful is He who called you, who also will do it!

 

Prayer of thanks

For the bread and wine and what it symbolises.

Communion Stewards serve the bread and wine.

 

Concluding Prayer

We worship you Almighty God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who through his death and resurrection was in your Son reconciling the world unto yourself

We thank you that through His sinless life, His substitutionary death and resurrection from the grave to life everlasting, we may receive His imputed righteousness today as if were our own and stand before you holy and blameless. We thank you for your Holy Spirit who bears witness to this in our hearts this morning

We pray, that we who have been justified by faith may live lives worthy of the Gospel and always ready to give an explanation for the hope that is within us.

Grant that we may prosper and be in health, even as our souls prosper.

May the blessing of the LORD that maketh rich, and addeth no sorrow with it be our portion this week and the next.

Hear our prayer Father and receive our thanks which we ask in the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.

Go in Peace