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The Glory of Knowing Christ Philippians 3:1-11 My (Tony) Parents Recently Brought Me Four Tubs of Stuff That I Used to Value. Th

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The Glory of Knowing Christ Philippians 3:1-11 My (Tony) Parents Recently Brought Me Four Tubs of Stuff That I Used to Value. Th The Glory of Knowing Christ Philippians 3:1-11 My (Tony) parents recently brought me four tubs of stuff that I used to value. The contents included baseball cards, trophies, a letterman’s jacket, and more sports related material. They were tired of having my former treasures fill up their storage space. As I looked through these things, I was first excited. Then I stepped back and evaluated the whole thing. Here was eighteen years of my life…. placed into four plastic tubs. It was pretty sobering. I used to spend countless hours playing sports, and trading baseball cards. While I’m thankful for my childhood days and for my days playing sports, I really wish I had some different goals growing up. I wish I would have lived with Philippians 3 in mind. What do you treasure? Is there anything of surpassing value? Is there anything that deserves our life-long, passionate pursuit? The answer is “yes.” Paul describes it in verse 8: More than that, I also consider everything to be a loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. (Phil 3:8) Paul reminds us that nothing on earth compares to knowing Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. You will never regret pursuing Christ. I (Francis) took my wife with me to Memphis for a speaking engagement. Nothing is more romantic than being near Elvis. It’s amazing at how crazy people are over this person, who is dead. In Philippians 3, Paul has crazy love for Jesus, who is alive. This is the love we need also. This passage is extremely important because it tells us what it means to know Jesus; what it means to find eternal salvation and ultimate satisfaction in life. Paul describes what a Christian isn’t, what a Christian is, and how one can become a Christian. So, if you’re reading this commentary, and you’re unsure as to weather or not you are a Christian, I pray that this passage would change your life as you consider it carefully. Elsewhere in the Bible, the idea of “knowing Christ” or having the “knowledge of God” involves the idea of salvation. Jesus said these very important words in John 17: This is eternal life: that they may know You, the only true God, and the One You have sent Jesus Christ. (Jn 17:3) So salvation is about knowing Jesus. It doesn’t mean to merely know about Him. It means that you have a relationship with Him. And those who know Christ want to know Him better and better. Consider Paul. The risen Christ appeared to him and totally changed his life (Acts 9:1-9), as a he describes in several places in the NT (cf., 1 Tim 1:12-17; Gal 1:11-17). Now, some thirty years later, he still wants to know Christ more and more. No Trouble to Me, Safe For You (3:1) This passage is also important because it reminds believers of their need to stay focused on the true Gospel of Jesus. As mentioned, salvation isn’t about knowing some things about Jesus. But it’s also not about doing religious things to be accepted by Jesus. This text really speaks against the problem of legalism; that is, the temptation to derive your justification before God, your acceptance by God, and forgiveness from God by your own religious works. We’re reminded here that you can’t earn salvation. It’s a gift to be received. But even Christians, have a tendency to forget the Gospel daily. They have a tendency to revert back to legalism, as the book of Galatians so powerfully points out (cf., Gal 3:1-9). Legalism is self-atonement. It’s a self-salvation project that only leads to pride or despair. We must resist the gospel of human achievement. Paul begins the chapter saying, “Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you is no trouble to me and is safe for you” (3:1, ESV). Many like to compare Paul’s word “Finally” to contemporary preachers who seem to never know when to end a sermon. But the word could be translated something like “So then” (Carson, 80). Paul isn’t indicating that he’s finished with the letter. He’s only half way through it. He’s picking up the theme of “rejoicing” (2:17-18), and carrying on the idea of emulation. Here, he’s providing an example that includes a passion to know Christ Jesus as Lord. Paul says that he’s told the Philippian congregation the “same things” before. He’s probably referring to what he taught them in person. Previously, he taught them the Gospel. Now he’s still teaching them the Gospel. Paul says it’s no trouble for him to repeat these things, and it’s safe for the congregation. In other words, the church would be protected from legalism and false gospels by studying the true Gospel. Every church should be a “same things church.” Oh, we must change some ministry methods, but the message must never change. And the "same thing" has numerous implications, but we must be about the same things, namely the truths of the Gospel. We must constantly remind one another of the Gospel, rehearse the Gospel, sing the Gospel, and proclaim the Gospel not only for the good of the unbeliever, but for the building up of the believer. This is an expression of love for one another. If you’re a teacher, don’t grow cold to the Gospel. Look at Paul’s example here. It doesn’t trouble him to remind them of what it means to know Christ. It’s an expression of his love for the Philippian congregation. And it protects them. To understand what it means to know Christ, and to understand what we must avoid, let’s look at this text in two parts: (1) marks of those who know Christ, and (2) how to know Christ. By understanding these things, and by embracing Christ, we too can “rejoice in the Lord.” Marks of Those Who Know Christ (3:2-6) Paul provides three distinguishing marks of a genuine Christian in verse 3. They are contrasted with what he says in verse 2. 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— (Phil 3:2-3, ESV). For those of you who like dogs, you must realize that Paul had a different context. Dogs weren’t viewed as cute little pets. They were nasty, unclean, and dangerous. They often wandered where they didn’t belong. Paul viewed these false teachers like dogs. They were entering the church, and damaging it. These particular teachers were known as “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 the Gentiles must become Jews first. That involved the act of circumcision and taking on the law of Moses (Carson, 81). We read about them in Acts 15. They were saying, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved” (Acts 15:1b). 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. What’s striking about the reference to dogs is that the Jews often called the Gentiles “dogs” because they viewed them as unclean (cf., Mark 7:28-29). But Paul states that a dramatic reversal has taken place through the work of Christ. Now it’s the Judaizers that must be regarded as dogs. He calls the Judaizers “evildoers” and “mutilators of the flesh.” They were evildoers because their mission was evil, not good. Their mission wasn’t heroic, but hellish. We’re reminded here that false teachers have missionaries too. Just because someone goes on a mission trip, doesn’t mean they’re to be commended. If they’re exporting a distorted Gospel, then they’re dangerous and deadly. The phrase “mutilators of the flesh” speaks against the value of circumcision. They were trusting in a physical operation, instead of God’s gracious work of salvation in Christ. Silva says, “Here in Philippians Paul takes the Judaizers’ greatest source of pride and interprets it as the surest sign that they have no share among God’s people” (148). When Gentiles accepted this pressure to be circumcised in order to gain God's blessing, they were acting like pagans, who also mutilated the flesh in order to gain the favor of the gods (Hanson, 220). They didn't need mutilation, they needed regeneration. About fifteen years ago or so we used to sing the song, “Who let the dogs out?” It was sort of light-hearted song. But this is no laughing matter in Philippi. Who let these dogs out? Answer: the evil one. The devil would wants to destroy people’s confidence in Christ’s sufficient work. He would like nothing more than to have people believe in a false gospel. So beware of dogs. Like physical dogs, there are all sorts of spiritual dogs. Many dogs do the same thing that these Judaizing dogs were doing, namely, adding to the Gospel. When you add to the Gospel, you lose the Gospel! It’s not Jesus + your good works (whatever your own version of good works may be).
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