Jesus, Our Joy Video 10 | Right With God By Grace Through Faith - Philippians 3:1-11

Published Date: 1/30/2019

Pastor: Drew Kornreich

Today we are considering Philippians chapter 3 verses 1 through 11 and today we are focusing on how our righteousness comes by grace through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Hear the word of God, “Finally, my brothers and sisters, 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.”

The Apostle Paul begins with the words, “Finally, my brothers and sisters, rejoice in the Lord.” Throughout this epistle, you'll notice -- and I encourage you to read the whole letter all the way through -- Paul tells the Philippians to rejoice -- to rejoice in the Lord, especially in the midst of difficult circumstances and situations. Earlier in the letter we saw that they were being persecuted and Paul says rejoice. He says rejoice in the Lord. He doesn't say to rejoice in difficult circumstances. What he wants the Philippians and us to do is to rejoice in the Lord Jesus Christ no matter what, to fix our eyes on Him, to have Him as our all in all, to rejoice in Him, so that we can see Him and His hand and His work in the midst of difficult and challenging situations. Remember what Nehemiah 8 in verse 10 said, “The joy of the Lord is your strength.” If we are to be strong in the Lord and in the strength or in the power of His might, we need to rejoice in Him and experience the God given joy that is ours in the scriptures.

The first main point here, is this: We need to be continually reminded of what is true. If you'll notice the second part of verse 1 says, “To write the same things to you is no trouble to me and is safe for you.” Paul is repeating himself and that's okay. One of the great effects of the fall of mankind into sin at the beginning in the garden through Adam and Eve is the effects that it had on our mind, on our memory; we tend to forget things. And Paul says here, “It's no trouble for me to write the same things to you and it's safe for you.” It’s a safeguard. We tend to be formed and strengthened by repetition. And one of the things Paul is saying here is this will safeguard you; this is safe if I keep reminding you of these things. Once is not enough. We need to be careful. You need to be careful when you hear a message that you've heard before as long as you haven't heard it from the same preacher week, after week, after week. You need to be careful not to say I've heard this before, I've heard this enough, I get it. I understand that perspective. But Paul here thinks and God thinks that we need to hear truth over again because it protects us. It keeps us safe. It reminds us of what we need to know and where we need to go. So, be receptive when it comes to hearing things from scripture you have already heard before.

The second main point is this: We enter into a relationship with God through faith in Christ or by grace through faith in Christ. Listen to verses 4 through 7, Paul says, “I 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 the righteousness under the law, blameless. But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ.” Paul is putting his confidence, his trust in the Lord Jesus Christ and that means in Jesus’s birth. It means in His perfect life. In His ministry but especially in His death, burial, resurrection and ascension, His session at the Father’s right hand, and His promised to come again in glory. That's what the Apostle’s doing here; he's putting his confidence in Christ. Here, the Christians were being pressured to get circumcised. They were being brought under the law by people who thought that the covenant boundary markers of Judaism should be carried over into Christianity: circumcision, the food laws, and the Sabbath. And Paul's saying, no, you come into a relationship with God by grace through faith in Christ, you put your trust and confidence completely in Him, not in the flesh, not in the circumcision of the flesh, but also not in personal history or personal accomplishments, and that's what Paul is saying here.

Before Paul was a believer in Jesus Christ, before he was apprehended by Christ on the Damascus Road, he put his complete confidence and trust and hope in his personal history and in his personal accomplishments. That's why he’s saying here, I have many reasons to boast in my flesh. I came from the people of Israel. This is my personal history, from the tribe of Benjamin. I was a Hebrew of Hebrews, which means his parents were Hebrews. As to the law, a Pharisee, as to zeal, he persecuted the church. He had all these accomplishments, personal history, personal accomplishment. He was a brilliant Pharisee. He would have had most of the Old Testament memorized. But what he's saying here is look, indeed I count all of these things, my personal accomplishments, my personal history, I count all of these things as loss. Why, Paul?

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. Christ had become so significant to Paul. He had become Paul’s all in all, Paul’s hope, Paul’s joy, Paul’s love, the goal of Paul's life, that Paul says my personal history and my personal accomplishments, in verse 8, I count them as rubbish. The Greek word is ‘skubula’ and it means dung. Oftentimes these translations try to tone down the literal nature of the Greek wording. Paul says, compared to knowing Christ Jesus and Him crucified, my personal history in which I used to place my confidence, my personal accomplishments, compared to Christ, they’re dung. They’re absolute garbage. They’re rubbish. They’re excrement. That should not embarrass us. That should make us jump and leap for joy. Now, that's not to say that we here in the 21st century wherever we are, around the globe, aren't thankful for our personal history, where we came from, our relatives, etcetera. There's a difference between being thankful for those things and trusting in them, putting our confidence them to make us right with God as the most meaningful relationship that we have in all the world. Paul says no, no, count it as loss.

Now, what we should be valuing is Christ's accomplishments on our behalf, not what we have achieved with our careers, the size of our home, the price of our car, and many other things -- our family traditions, our family histories, our education. We’re not trusting in these things, these accomplishments. You know, human beings have the view, he who dies with the most toys wins, but he who dies with the most toys, the most accomplishments, still dies and he has to leave everything behind. Or, also, people tend to get all they can, can all they get, and sit on the can, and then they just hold everything in. They want to preserve their accomplishments and the things that they have attained. And Jesus says - - Paul says here, “count them as rubbish.” It’s Christ and Him crucified. This is the vision God wants us to have. Can you see it? Be thankful for the things God has given you, the people he's put in your lives. Get to know them. Develop wonderful and meaningful relationships, but don't trust in them for Salvation. They can't forgive your sins. They can't reconcile you to God. They can't adopt you into Gods family, only God can in Jesus Christ and Him crucified, by the presence and power of the Holy Spirit working within us. So we come full circle and we see we are made righteous by God, by His grace through our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ -- not by personal accomplishments, not by personal history -- and this is the truth of Jesus Christ and Him crucified that has set us free from the performance trap, from trusting in personal history, and personal accomplishments. Trust in Christ and in Him crucified. Let's pray.

Father, we thank you for the Lord Jesus Christ, for your indescribable gift. We thank you, Lord, for what He has done for us in reconciling us to God. Help us to remember that, though, we are thankful for our personal history and for the things personally that you've enabled us to accomplish by your grace, we are not to trust in these things to make us right with God. We are not to trust in these things for Salvation. Help us to trust in the Lord Jesus Christ alone and in Him crucified. We pray in His name and for His sake, amen.