Some Things Are Worth Remembering

A Closer Look at the Book: PHILIPPIANS “Some Things Are Worth Remembering” Philippians 3: 1-3 Pastor Steve N. Wagers March 27. 2010

1. Stay Happy in the Lord A) Obediently Happy B) Observantly Happy 2. Stay Holy to the Lord A) Be Guarded B) Be Grounded 3. Stay Hungry for the Lord A) The People of Grace B) The Provision of Grace

A lady once asked her husband, "How was your golf game, dear?" He said, "Well, I was hitting pretty well, but my eyesight's gotten so bad I couldn't see where the ball went." She said, "But you're seventy-five years old, Jack! Why don't you take my brother Scott along?" Jack said, "But he's eighty-five and doesn't even play golf anymore.” She said, "But he's got perfect eyesight. He could watch your ball,"

The husband finally agreed. The next day Jack teed off with Scott looking on. Jack swung, and the ball disappeared down the middle of the fairway. "Do you see it?" asked Jack. Scott answered, "Yup, sure do." Jack peered off into the distance and said, "Well, where is it?" Scott said, "I forgot!"

According to Karen Bolla, a Johns Hopkins researcher, people remember:

Names--83% Where something is--60% Telephone numbers--57% Words--53% What was said--49% Faces--42%

And if you can't remember what you just did, you join 38 percent of the population.

Some things are worth forgetting. Past mistakes, failures, sins, hurts, and offences should all be wiped off of the hard drive of our mind. However, some things are worth remembering, and should never be forgotten.

1 (1) “To write the SAME THINGS to you, to me indeed is not grievous, but for you it is safe.”

The “same things” that Paul referred to were things that he had previously written them about. He had written them once about certain matters, and now writes them again about the same matters. He repeats himself and reiterates himself.

He adds that it was not “grievous” for him to do so. The word “grievous” speak s of that which is irksome or troublesome. Paul was saying that it was not irksome or troublesome for him to say the same thing twice or more than once. Instead, he says that it safe for them if he does.

Preachers are often maligned if they are found guilty of repeating themselves. On a few occasions, the Lord has brought back a message I had preached years before to my mind, and I would revise it a bit and re- preach it. Once someone said, “That was good preacher, but I heard you preach that before.” I replied, “I have heard the songs we sang tonight thousands of times, but it doesn’t seem like anyone is tired of singing them.”

I have heard a few sermons that I wished I had never heard the first time. I have preached a few that I wished I had never heard, and I’m sure the sentiment of the congregation was the same. But I have also heard a few that I wanted and needed to hear again.

Paul was saying that it was safe and needful for them to hear again what he had to say. He was reminding them that some things are worth remembering. What does Paul want us to remember?

1. Stay HAPPY in the Lord!

(1) “Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord.”

Someone has said that Paul is the prince of all those preachers who, when they say "Finally, brethren," are really indicating the fact that they have now gotten their second wind.

The word “finally” does not indicate that Paul is about to conclude his letter, because he is only halfway through his letter. Wuest translates the word “finally” to mean, “As for the rest.”

2 It appears that the apostle jubilantly is saying, "As for the rest, my brethren, nothing remains but to rejoice in the Lord.”

In other words, Paul writes of these “same things” to remind us one more time that, as believers, nothing remains but to stay happy in the Lord.

A) OBEDIENTLY Happy

(1) “Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord.”

(3) “Rejoice in Christ Jesus.”

The tense of the word “rejoice” indicates that this was not a suggestion, but an instruction. Rejoicing is not of marginal importance, and it is not an optional extra. It is commanded of us as believers. Just as we are commanded to be holy, we are also commanded to be happy. In the book of Philippians Paul more than once stated that the Christian life should be a joyful one. The book has been rightly called, “The Epistle of Joy.”

(1: 18) "I therein do rejoice, yea, and will rejoice."

(1:26) "That your rejoicing may be more abundant in Jesus Christ...”

(2:2) "Fulfill ye my joy."

(2: 18) "For the same cause also do ye joy, and rejoice with me."

(4:4) "Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice.”

Paul reminds these believers that God never meant for the Christian life to be a burden but a blessing. It is not to be the kind of life that should make you look like you are about to pout; it should be the kind of life that makes you want to shout.

A song leader who couldn't get the congregation to sing, paused between stanzas and pointed to an uncooperative man and said, "Sir, would you stand and lead us in a frown."

Spurgeon once remarked that some preachers he had known appeared to have their neckties twisted around their souls.

3 Robert Louis Stevenson must have known some preachers like that because he once wrote, ironically, in his diary, "I've been to church today and am not depressed."

Here is something worth remembering: Don’t let your heart become cold and callous, but keep your heart hot and happy. Trade in your garment of heaviness and exchange for a garment of praise. God not only desires it, and deserves it; but He DEMANDS it!

B) OBSERVANTLY Happy

Are we to rejoice in our circumstances? Are we to rejoice in our calamities? Are we to rejoice in our chaos and confusion? NO! Paul says that we are to rejoice in Christ.

(1) "Rejoice IN THE LORD!”

When you consider Paul’s surroundings as he penned this letter, you see that from a human standpoint Paul had very little, if any reason to rejoice. He is writing from the Mamertime prison in Rome, on death row, awaiting execution, from the confines of a dark, damp, depressing dungeon. Yet, he exclaims, “Rejoice in the Lord!”

He reminds us to be obediently happy to the command, as well as observantly happy in Christ. If your happiness depends on good things then when bad things happen, you are stripped of your joy.

The word “rejoice” is the Greek word charis. It is the word which yields the English word “charity.” The foundation of our rejoicing is the fact that God loved us when we were unlovable, reached us when we were unreachable, and saved us when we were unsaveable. His love for us is more than reason enough to rejoice.

The source of our rejoicing is not life, it is the Lord. The source of our rejoicing is not earthly, but Heavenly. The source of our rejoicing is not external, but Eternal. When He is the source of our rejoicing, in good times or bad, in happy times or sad, in sunshine or rain, in health or pain, I still have a song to sing in the midnight hour.

I think of a man who visited Metropolitan Tabernacle and wrote Spurgeon a letter after his visit. In his letter he said, “He was convinced that it wasn’t a Baptist church. For one thing, the crowd was too large; and, for another thing, the people seemed so happy.” He said, “When I watched the joy on

4 their faces, I knew that these people did not recognize the depravity of their own heart, else they would not have been so happy.

I submit to you that it is because I know the depravity of my heart that I have reason to be happy and rejoice. I know where I was, what I was, and who I was before God reached down and picked me up out of a horrible pit, set my feet on a solid rock, and established my goings.

I was there when it happened, so I know what He did for me, what He did in me, what He did to me, and what He did with me. You can have every last dime, dollar, or piece of clothing I’ve got, but YOU CAN’T HAVE MY PRAISE!

I’ve got a song to sing, so I’m going to sing it. I’ve got a hand to raise, so I’m going to raise it. I’ve got a hanky to wave, so I’m going to wave it. I’ve got a Savior who is worthy of my praise, so if it hair lips the devil, I’m going to do it!

The next time you find very little reason to be happy, here’s something worth remembering, “Rejoice in the Lord!”

2. Stay HOLY to the Lord!

With spiritual eyes like a hawk, Paul saw a need to remind these Philippian believers of some prevalent dangers among them. While their fellowship may have been sweet on the inside, there was a fight awaiting them on the outside. Thus, he admonishes them to remember to stay holy to the Lord.

A) Be GUARDED

(2) “Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the concision.

When he spoke of dogs he was not talking about cultured canines. He was speaking of the filthy scavengers that existed in his day. In those days there were packs of mangy, flea-bitten, vicious, starved scavengers that ran the streets and garbage dumps. They did nothing but devour and destroy.

These dogs were commonly referred to as “pariah dogs” which roamed the streets, sometimes in packs. They would hunt amidst garbage dumps, snapping and snarling at people. They were known to attack people,

5 especially children. In the Bible, dogs stand for the lowest thing people can think of.

Paul uses the term “dogs” to refer to the false teachers who sought to corrupt the Philippians doctrinally and spiritually. These dogs were Jewish leaders who were perverting the Gospel. They were men who professed to be Christians, but still considered it necessary to be bound to the Mosaic Law. Paul was saying, "Watch out for the infiltration of mere professors of Christ.”

God’s people are sheep. These dogs wreak havoc on sheep. They had no other interest but to divide the sheep, devour the sheep and destroy the sheep. They may be clad in sheep’s clothing, but they seek no interest but their own in creating trouble among the people of God.

These false teachers did not all die in the 1st century, they are still on radio, TV, internet, and their books can be found in bookstores. They are plentiful, popular, and persuasive. They water down the truth of God and present a “social, feel-good, do-the-best-you-can gospel,” denying the deity, authority, and finality of the work of Christ.

Paul says, “Be guarded! Watch out! Beware of slick, smooth-talking scavengers.”

B) Be GROUNDED

(1) "To write the same things to you, to me indeed is not grievous, but for you it is safe.”

The word "safe" is an interesting word. It comes from the Greek word asphales. It helps form our English word "asphalt." The word means "firm, that which can be relied upon, certain or true." It is formed from two words, a, (used as a negative particle) and sphallo which means "to fail." It carries the idea of "not failing.”

Paul does not want these believers to fail, thus he admonishes them to be grounded like asphalt in the truth of God. Why?

(2) “Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the concision.

A. R. Laurin says that there was no difference in character between "dogs" and "evil workers," the only difference being in method. The "dog"

6 exemplifies devouring error with animal-like rapacity. The "evil worker" exemplifies deceitful tactics. (1)

F. B. Meyer writes of the evil workers, "They are not set upon doing all the harm they can in the world, but are fanatical, unbalanced, and unable to distinguish between a part and the whole, magnifying some microscopical point in Christianity until it blinds the eye to the symmetry, proportion, and beauty of Heaven's glorious scheme. These people are the 'cranks' of our churches; they introduce fads and hobbies; they exaggerate the importance of trifles; they catch up every new theory and vagary, and follow it to the detriment of truth and love. It is impossible to exaggerate the harm that these people do." (2)

Evil workers are masters of disguise, dishonesty and deception. They claim to be doing the work of God, when the truth of the matter is they wouldn’t know God if He smacked them in the face. They are doing the work of the enemy of God, seeking to disguise it as the work of God.

There was another group Paul called the “concision.” This word was a spinoff of the word circumcision. There was a group in that day called the Judaizers. They did not deny that faith was an essential element in salvation, but they added works as a prerequisite for salvation.

While still in office, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Jr., was taken ill with a strep infection of the throat. A new medicine call “sulphanilamide” was tried with amazing success. The publicity of the case caused the drug to be in great demand. A pharmaceutical company in Tennessee conceived the idea of preparing the drug in a liquid instead of a powder form. They dissolved it in diethylene glycol -a substance very much like anti-freeze for automobiles. It proved to a costly and fatal preparation. Before its use could be stopped 61 people had died. A harmless lifesaving drug in one form became a fatal death-dealing potion in another form. It was not something that was taken away that made the drug deadly, but something that was added.

The Judaizers could boast that they were circumcised according to God's covenant with Abraham, and even though they professed to believe in Christ, they insisted that all who confess Him must be circumcised according to the law. It wasn’t what they had taken away that made it deadly, but what they had added in that made it deadly.

False teachers say a lot that is right. But it is the wrong they add to the right that is deceiving. That’s how people get hooked on religious celebrities and televangelists. They say many “right” things, and may not

7 take anything away from the fundamental truths of God’s Word; but, then they add their own personal views, thus perverting the truth of God and lead people astray.

The Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard told a story of thieves who broke into a jewelry store and didn't steal anything; they simply rearranged the price tags. The next morning the expensive jewelry was sold as junk, and the junk jewelry was sold as expensive. His point is obvious. We live in a world where someone has rearranged the price tags.

The religious world has, in many ways, rearranged the price tags. They have “dumbed down” the wisdom of the Word of God, and are seeking to propagate a gospel that is convenient, cheap, and carnal. They will not tell you not to believe the Bible, but that we should be more concerned with being culturally relevant than theologically reliable.

Things like holiness, separation, doctrinal distinctiveness, and Holy Ghost conviction are outdated to them, and they label such as “old fashioned, narrow minded, Bible thumping conservatism.”

Paul says, “Beware! Beware! Beware! Be guarded! Be grounded!” Don’t give them your time, your money, or your hearing. Don’t give them a chance to corrupt or confuse you. Stay holy to the Lord!

3. Stay HUNGRY for the Lord!

I recently read of a man who got hurt on the job. He was out of work for some time; and in fact, he was out of work for so long that when he went back he said he had lost his taste for it.

The problem with many of God’s people today is that they have lost their taste for the things of God. It’s not that they’re not hungry, they’re just hungry for the wrong things.

Paul writes these “same things” to help us remember to stay hungry for the Lord.

A) The PEOPLE of Grace

(3) 3 For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.”

8 The Judaizers, false teachers, and deceivers were referred to as the “concision.” But, Paul distinguishes the people of God as the “circumcision.” After he rebukes the false, he reveals the true.

The false teachers emphasized the outward act of circumcision in order for one to be saved. However, Paul seeks to remind them that the saving work of circumcision is not an outward act, but an inward adorning. God does His work of saving grace on the inside, not the outside.

Outward circumcision dealt with the skin of a man. Inward circumcision deals with the soul of a man. Salvation is the circumcision of the heart.

Under the Old Covenant, a knife was used as the instrument of circumcision. Under the new covenant we are circumcised, not in the cutting of the body with a knife, but in the death of Christ as the cutting edge of the cross is brought to bear upon our hearts.

There is nothing external that can save a man, no matter how many times it is practiced. The only hope of man’s salvation is an INSIDE job! A person’s hope of heaven does not rest in an outward rite, ritual or routine, but in an inward redemption, rescue and regeneration.

The outward man, “flesh and blood,” cannot inherit the kingdom of God. Thus, nothing the outward man does could ever merit grace. The day God saved us; He circumcised our hearts with the Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. He peeled away the old hide of deadness, and replaced it with the new heart of life.

Let me try to explain it this way. Every other religion in the world could be categorized as the “concision,” because they each seek to add something to salvation. Only Christianity can be categorized as the “circumcision,” because, by grace through faith alone, it accepts the finished work of Christ, plus nothing and minus nothing.

Muslims, Seventh-Day Adventists, Mormons, Jehovah Witnesses, and even Catholics are the “concision.”

But, those who have been saved by the good grace of God, have had their robes washed white in the precious blood of the Lamb, translated out of darkness into light, names written in the Lamb’s Book of Life can bear the blessed distinction and say, “We are the circumcision!”

B) The PROVISION of Grace

9 (3) “…Worship God in the Spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.” Notice the 3 benefits that grace has provided.

1) “Worship God in the Spirit."

To a Jew access to God was limited. "It involved a special place and a special person. But Paul declares that we all have access to God and the privilege of worshipping Him.

We have an unlimited access. We have an unhindered access. We have an unrestricted access. It is "in the Spirit," or "by the Spirit." We have a personal relationship with God that allows us the privilege of being of being in God's presence.

To the Jew, God dwelt in a building. But Paul declares God dwells in a body. As believers we don't need a priest to get to God, God has come to us.

2) “Rejoice in Christ Jesus.”

The word "rejoice" means to "boast in." Paul is saying that our ground of boasting is the Lord Jesus.

It is not by “works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he hath saved us.”

We ourselves have nothing to commend us for approval before God or man. We are saved by grace, secured by grace, and sustained by grace. Left to ourselves we would fail utterly.

We are part of the twenty-four elders who fell down before the throne to sing:

"Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory…Saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing" (Rev. 5:11-12).

We, who are the “circumcision,” who “worship God in the Spirit,” and “rejoice in Christ Jesus,” must say with the songwriter: Nothing in my hand I bring Simply to Thy Cross I cling.

10 My hope is built on nothing less, Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest frame, But wholly lean on Jesus’ name.

On Christ the solid rock I stand All other ground is sinking sand

3) “Have no confidence in the flesh.”

Paul was well acquainted with the power and propensity of the flesh. He was well aware of the fact that “that which is born of the flesh is flesh,” and it could never be trusted, because God makes no attempt to improve it.

The flesh cannot be enhanced or enriched; it can only be eradicated and exchanged. Thus, the only confidence we can have, and the only thing that can be trusted is not the power of the flesh, but the presence of the Spirit.

A lady was arguing with her pastor about this matter of faith and works. "I think that getting to heaven is like rowing a boat," she said. "One oar is faith, and the other is works. If you use both, you get there. If you use only one, you go around in circles." "There is only one thing wrong with your illustration," replied the pastor. "Nobody is going to heaven in a row boat!"

The flesh is the row boat, but forgiveness is the redemption boat. One boat will dock at the lake of fire; the other will port on the sunny banks of sweet deliverance.

Until that day, these things are worth remembering: stay happy in the Lord, stay holy to the Lord and stay hungry for the Lord.

Endnotes 1) Philippians: Lehman Strauss Commentary, Word Search 2) IBID.