Philippians 3:1-11 • Anderson Shore

Hello, brothers and sisters of Christ the King and those of you joining us online. My name is Anderson Shore, and I'm on staff here at Christ the King. I hope that you are well today, and I'm excited to open up God's word and share with you what I have learned from the apostle Paul and his letter to the Philippian church. We'll be looking at Philippians 3:1-11, and I'll go ahead and read that for us.

Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you is no trouble to me and is safe for you. Look out for the dogs. Look out for the evildoers. Look out for those who mutilate the flesh. For we are the circumcision who worship by the spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus, and put no confidence in the flesh. Though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also. If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more. Circumcised on the eighth day of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews. As to the law, a Pharisee. As to zeal, a persecutor of the church. As to righteousness under the law, blameless. But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord. For his sake, I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ. The righteousness from God that depends on faith, that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible, I may attain the resurrection from the dead. — Philippians 3:1-11

The word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.

A couple of weeks ago, you were all given the opportunity to sit in on another YouTube concert, where you had the privilege of hearing from our very own James Sutton. And if you missed that, he did a wonderful rendition of the Wise and Foolish Builders. I'm not sure if I have a good enough voice to dive into singing today, but in the words of the famous nanny, somehow I will impress them. I will be firm but kind. And all those children, heaven bless them. They will look up to me and mind me. With each step I am more certain. Everything will turn out fine. I have confidence the world can all be mine, and they'll have to agree, I have confidence in me.

Of course, I'm talking about Maria from The Sound of Music and her song "I Have Confidence." Now, if you haven't seen The Sound of Music, no worries, because I'm pretty sure we can all hear what Maria is trying to say, what she's trying to do here. She's trying to instill confidence in herself. She's on her way from leaving her fellow sisters at the convent and heading to her first job in the real world where she wants to show the seven children of Captain Von Trapp that she is worthy of being their nanny. But she's trying to muster up the courage. She's trying to be confident in her abilities and who she is.

Now, if this illustration has gone completely over your head, then how about the confidence of Michael Jordan? The boasting in his ability, his championships, him being the GOAT. I mean, it's obvious that he has confidence in himself if you watch his Hall of Fame induction speech. The important thing to see about MJ's and Maria's confidence is that they are both trying to prove that they are worthy. Maria to the children and Captain Von Trapp and Michael Jordan to his father, which he mentioned in the recent docuseries The Last Dance. They're both trying to gain the approval of somebody.

And the more I live my life, the more I see that I'm actually singing Maria's song. I believe that if I build up a list of things to brag about, then I can have confidence and gain the approval of my peers, my parents, my pastors, and then everything will turn out fine. Are you with me in this? Do you seek comfort in your own abilities? Do you take pride in who you are and take credit for all of the amazing things you do? Here's an important question to ask yourself: Where does my confidence lie today? Where does my confidence lie today?

You know, what I want us to see is that when we have confidence in the type of person we are or the list of accomplishments we have, we will end up missing out on the beautiful gifts that God wants to give to us. When we put our confidence in ourself or put confidence in the flesh, we won't earn God's approval, we won't grow in our faith, and we won't have the mindset of eternity. Today, as a people, we have the opportunity to believe that in Jesus, we can be confident that his work is better than our own. In Jesus, we can be confident that his work is better than our own.

Let's get into it. I have two points for us today.

The first is our false confidence in the flesh, and the second point is true confidence in Jesus. Let's look at what Paul is trying to show us.

There's somewhat of a pause that happens in this letter as Paul is warning the Philippians. He's taking a pause from all the talk of joy, and he's saying, "Hey, look out for the dogs, the evil doers, those who mutilate the flesh."

As verse two says, Paul is referring here to the Judaizers, those that believe that in order to be a Christian, one must obey all of the Old Testament laws.

So when he says that they are evildoers, he's really calling them evil workers—as in evil people that advocate the necessity of works. They don't see Jesus as the sole way into the family of God, but believe that the addition of personal works of righteousness is needed to be God's people.

The phrase "mutilate the flesh" is talking about the act of circumcision. The Judaizers, these dogs, would require males to try and make themselves clean before God by being circumcised. Certain Jews would use the phrase "dogs" to describe the uncleanness of Gentiles. But what Paul is doing in his writing is he's reversing that title. He's reversing the title of "dogs" onto the Judaizers because they are the ones that cannot stand before God. They are the ones that are unclean because they are trusting in their works. They are putting confidence in their flesh and influencing others to believe that as well.

This fake gospel that they are spreading is one of, "Look at what I can do. Look at what I have done." They're finding confidence in their heritage and their works rather than finding confidence in what has been done for them by Jesus.

Our Culture's Love of Works

I think our country, our culture knows all about this. People love to achieve something all by themselves. People love getting the credit for the projects that they do at work. People get a big head for thinking that they are really good at making pizza. We love works. We love works of righteousness. We need to look at ourselves in this example because we love being confident in the things that we have done. We are trying to gain the approval of our friends, our parents, and even ourselves.

But through this false confidence that we are trying to build up, we are running ourselves ragged as we try to bring glory to ourselves.

A prime example of this is about ten years ago when I worked at a summer camp called Kids Across America. All the guys' side of the camp would get together for breakfast, lunch, and dinner in the cafeteria and eat together. That's 144 kids, ages six to 12, and about 24 counselors. You can imagine all the mess that the cafeteria is after these meals are done.

So I thought to myself, "I'm gonna do the kitchen staff a favor. I'm gonna sweep up the whole cafeteria for them." But let me give you a peek into what my mind was saying to myself during that time. I was saying, "Man, I'm a pretty good dude. Look at what I'm doing. This kitchen staff is gonna love me for doing this. I'm gonna make sure that I do a really diligent job, that I take my time sweeping all of this cafeteria up so that when I'm late for something, I can have the excuse that I swept the whole cafeteria, and people can think I'm a pretty awesome guy."

My goal was to get the credit so that I got the glory rather than God. I was trading in the opportunity to serve the other for the opportunity to be seen, for the opportunity for people to see the good works that I had done.

This might be a small example from ten years ago, but it still is going on. It still is something that I'm battling. I most likely need to repent right now because as I'm preaching to you today, there's probably a goal to impress you. There's probably a goal to receive a couple of text messages after this because of how good of a job I've done today, rather than wanting the glory of Jesus Christ to be on display today, rather than encouraging you with the truth of what Jesus has done for you. I probably need to repent. I continue to try to add on to my own righteousness.

As I've been thinking more about what confidence and self means, I started thinking about what we carry around with us that makes us confident, how we portray ourselves to other people. In the previous example, it was what I was doing that brought me confidence because I was seeking after my own glory. But there are some things—whether it be where we are born, where we live, or what we wear—that can project confidence. So I wanna look into that example.

I want to look at what we carry around with us in our clothing. It might be a little weird, but listen to me for a second. I was listening to a podcast this week about knock off clothes, and it was interesting to hear how people took advantage of the popularity of brands and started making counterfeit clothing. Brands like Louis Vuitton, Oakley, Rolex, Gucci products. But the interesting thing about this was the lengths that people would go to wear brand names and how that made them feel.

Carrying around a purse with a brand stamped on it or wearing sunglasses that say Ray Ban has an impact on how people feel. They walk a little bit taller because of how they think others are viewing them. Even though the clothes they are wearing are fake, people still have this confidence in them.

And the truth is we find confidence in who we are. We dress ourselves up with identities of our jobs. We dress ourselves up with being reformed or Presbyterian and doing church or ministry the right way. We're saying things like, "Yeah, I'm a pretty good person. I serve once a week." These clothes that we put on to make us feel good. But deep down, we know that we're just people putting confidence in fake clothing. We are putting our righteousness in who we are rather than whose we are.

With all the injustice and racial tension that our country is going through right now, it is easy for me to not realize that I actually have a blind confidence in being white. I also think that having a couple of black friends is something to brag or boast about, and how that should omit me from the conversation of whether or not I have prejudiced tendencies in my heart. I say these things to myself so I can ignore my sin. I believe that who I think I am and my righteousness omits me from being part of the problem, when really, my sin separates me from entering into God's mission to bring justice to this world.

This is just another example of how we are clothing ourselves with works of the flesh. And what we need to believe is that there's nothing we can do, nothing we can put on that will bring us enough confidence to stand before a holy God and say, "Look what I've done for you. Save me." What we need is better clothing. What we need is better clothing.

Paul's Better Clothing

Paul is showing us that there is better clothing, and while we are seeing our fleshly achievements as gains, Paul sees it as a loss. Look with me at verses four through seven. Paul lists out why he would have had every reason more than anyone else to boast in himself, to have confidence in the flesh. According to the law, Paul had a pretty good resume. He would have been accepted to any job because of the people that he knew and the work that he had done.

Paul organizes his resume in verses five and six with four lines and then three lines. The first four are what have been given to him—his Jewish heritage—and then the next three are his personal achievements. It's how Paul had kept the law, how he had zeal for the law, and how he was so zealous that he was persecuting the church because they weren't following the law like he was. If anyone had reasons to be saved by the law, it was Paul.

But Paul, after being confronted by Jesus for persecuting his church, realizes that his own righteousness was not enough. Paul says this in Romans three: he realizes,

All have sinned and all have fallen short of the glory of God

This includes himself. Paul knows that true righteousness, true right standing before God, true confidence that we can live in peace is found through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. Faith in Jesus means Jesus is your everything, and that is how Paul, in verse seven, is able to say:

But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord.

Paul realizes that the fake clothes that he had been wearing was not enough, and the clothes of righteousness that he had received from Jesus was all that he needed.

Have you put away your old clothes? Do you put confidence in yourself to be able to stand before God believing that you are righteous enough, believing that you are sinless enough to be in relationship with him? I know I can't live up to my own expectations of myself, so there's no way that I can live up to the expectations, to the perfection that the law requires.

Just like Paul, you can turn from your old ways. You can put away the idea of what you think is righteous, and you can trust in Jesus, the one who lived perfectly and the one who wants to give you his perfection, the one who wants to give you his righteousness.

And it comes by faith in him, the one that was perfect for you. I love the salvation story of Paul. It says in Acts 9:18 that something like scales fell from his eyes and he regained his sight. And it's evident that Paul was giddy in wanting to tell people about Jesus' grace. Paul rose up, he was baptized, and then immediately proclaimed the grace of Jesus. Paul realized that this new, real, authentic clothing was worth showing off to people, was worth telling everyone immediately. He just had to tell people about the grace that Jesus offers.

Here's a question for you, CTK. Does the work of Jesus make you excited to tell everyone about his grace? Have you gained the sight through Jesus to go and help others see what he has done? I know I'm lacking in this area, and I continue to turn to confidence in my flesh. But Paul, thankfully, Paul doesn't leave us hanging. He actually has a blueprint for us of how we can tap into Jesus' amazing power to walk faithfully and to have true confidence in Christ.

True Confidence in Christ

That's our next point, true confidence in Christ. You see, when you are in Christ, when you have faith that he lived perfectly for you and took all of your sins upon the cross, then you can walk in true confidence through the present hope and the future hope of Jesus. The present hope you have in knowing Christ, and the future hope in the resurrection.

Our present hope is laid out in verses 8 and 10. Let's reread that. Paul says:

Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth or surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. — Philippians 3:8

And then later on, we see in verse 10:

That I may know him and may share in his suffering. — Philippians 3:10

So what does it mean to know Jesus? It means having a personal relationship with him. And part of having a relationship with someone is knowing who they are and what they do. This is going back to Paul's resume and him sharing his heritage and showing what he has done. So we need to remind ourselves of who Jesus is and what his heritage is, and that is that he is the son of God that came to earth as a man. He's the son of God. If he is the son of God, then we can count on his righteousness. What has he done? He has given us his perfect righteousness. He has taken his life, and he did everything perfect so that you don't have to. And then what else did he do? He gave his life up for us so that we don't have to pay the penalty for our sins.

And the beautiful thing about the Christian way and about the gospel is that the gospel is as deep as it is wide. There is so much to tap into in the person of Jesus. I know that someone standing behind a pulpit has said this before, and it might be repetitive, but grace is being offered to you in Jesus. And this might be repetitive as well, but spiritual disciplines are important.

You know, I help with community groups here at CTK, so shameless plug. Being a part of a community group will help remind you of who Jesus is and what he has done. And if you're a part of a community group, the question for this week to be asked and answered is how do you build up your own righteousness? And how does that take you from turning to the person of Jesus?

More application. Maybe it's reading the Bible in order to hear from God or to see what the person of Jesus wants to reveal to you. Because the truth of the matter is we know things about Jesus, but do we intimately know him? Do you know him better than you know your spouse or your closest friend? Do you have open lines of communication with him?

You know, I probably quote Paul Miller in every one of my sermons, but there's something about him that is just so captivating. Paul is a writer and the executive director of See Jesus Ministries, and he also has a great podcast you should check out. But if you have ever heard him speak, or if you ever read his book, it is plain to see how much he loves Jesus. Not just his works, but Jesus as a person. And after listening to him, you just wish that you could love Jesus that much, and it encourages me to dive deeper and deeper into my relationship with Jesus.

You know, I believe that this is where abiding comes in. We wrap ourselves around Jesus like a vine wraps around a trellis. So we give ourselves every opportunity to know him more. As John 15:4 says, this Jesus talking:

Abide in me and I in you, as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine. Neither can you unless you abide in me. — John 15:4

Abiding means connecting ourselves to the person of Jesus in a daily personal relationship with him. And there's something amazing that happens in our lives as we abide. You know, verse 10 says:

That I may know him and the power of his resurrection and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death. — Philippians 3:10

Real quick, everyone is gonna say yes to receiving the power of Jesus. Right? Like, hey, do you wanna receive the power of Jesus? Yeah. Sign me up. But how do we answer the question, do you wanna suffer? Do you wanna become like Jesus in his death?

Friends, abiding in Jesus means enduring through the suffering with Jesus to become more like him. Let me say that again. Abiding in Jesus means enduring through the suffering with Jesus to become more like him.

You see, you will be met with the comfort that Jesus is suffering with you as you walk through this life. Jesus took the cross and knows what suffering is. And he wants you to pick up your cross, to suffer so that you have the opportunity to become more like him. It's hard, but Jesus is with you.

Are we suffering right now? We are suffering to understand what our day to day still is supposed to look like in the midst of the coronavirus. We are suffering through close quarters with family. No offense, kids. We are suffering with lost jobs. We are suffering with lost loved ones. We are suffering with trying to understand how our black brothers and sisters are feeling right now. We are suffering with being alone maybe in our apartments. We are suffering through the injustice that is taking place in our country.

But church, you are becoming like him. You are becoming like Jesus. This is good news. Keep abiding.

The apostle Paul is trying to tell us that our greatest goal in this life is to become more like Jesus. If you are feeling like you are suffering in this life, in this messed up world, then you have the opportunity to become more like Jesus. Lean into it. Call upon Holy Spirit to change you, to become more beautiful, to become more like Jesus, to become more like your savior.

There's something beautiful about the present hope that we have in knowing Jesus, but we also have confident assurance as we look forward to the resurrection.

That I may know him in the power of his resurrection. — Philippians 3:10

Man, it just keeps getting better—that we have the power of his resurrection. When you trust in Jesus as your confidence, you get an extra jolt of confidence because you have him with you through the Holy Spirit.

Reinking Wilborn says this: "To belong to Christ means to have his spirit, and to have his spirit means having the risen, ascended, reigning Christ within you wherever you go."

Man, that should give us confidence to know that you have the power to get through this suffering. You have Holy Spirit with you.

During this time, I believe that all of us are worrying about the future, and it manifests itself in many ways. We're checking our bank accounts to make sure that we have enough in our emergency fund, or we're checking our retirement accounts and seeing how the stock market is affecting it. We're trying to look forward and see how these things are gonna affect our future. We're checking the news to see if there's any clarification of what's happening with COVID and when it'll ever be normal again. And we're even turning to technology, Netflix, our phones, because we're just trying to numb thinking about the future.

This time that we are living in is bringing our idols to the surface, and we want to know what is gonna happen.

When studying this letter, verse 11 really stumped me. Paul is questioning something as he says, "by any means possible, I may attain the resurrection from the dead." I looked all over to try and figure out what that phrase means, what Paul is trying to communicate by saying that.

The question that is in doubt is not whether the resurrection of the dead will happen, but rather what will our imperfect journey of walking with Jesus look like? There are gonna be ups. There are gonna be downs. But we can keep trying to walk faithfully with Jesus until the resurrection of the dead, until the day that he comes back to make all things new.

This assurance, this truth of seeing our savior face to face is our future hope.

The Comfort of Knowing the Ending

You know, something that I love doing is watching movies more than once. And the movies that I like doing this with are action and adventure movies. It's fun to be able to watch through and see little details that I didn't see the first time around or to watch through moments where I think someone is about to die, but I know that they're gonna make it because I know the end of the movie.

The moments of tension, stress, and fear that the movie won't go in the direction I want it to go are softened a bit because I know the end of the movie. It's awesome to know that Darth Vader saves Luke from Darth Sidious. That Rev from Remember the Titans runs all the way and scores a touchdown, securing the state championship for TC Robertson. And to know that the first snap that occurs in Avengers Endgame brings the dead back to life.

The second snap defeats evil forever. Church of Jesus Christ, brothers and sisters of the faith, we can walk in this life knowing the end of our adventure. We might not know what detail is going to be revealed to us or what different feelings or stresses and hardships that might occur, but as we live, we can know that we have been saved from the domain of darkness because of Jesus. We can know that the power that raised Jesus from the dead is in us so that we might finish the race, and that we might become more and more like Jesus.

And on the day when the dead are raised again and evil is defeated forever, our suffering will end, and we will be like Jesus. The resurrection is coming. You know the end of the movie. Hope in that truth. Look to that truth.

Prayer

Dear God, you are good to give us the righteousness of Jesus. So many times we are trying to earn our own righteousness. So many times we are just trying to impress people. But Father, thank you for showing us a way that in Jesus, you love us, that in Jesus, you see perfection. And Father, as we live through the suffering of this world, as we live through the hardships of this world, let us look to the true confidence that we have in Jesus and the true hope of the resurrection. It's in your name we pray. Amen.