The Great Reversal (Philippians 3:4b-9)

"The Great Reversal!"

Captivated by Christ: An expository sermon series on Paul's Letter to the Church in Philippi (message #21)

Pastor Jerry Ingalls

September 12, 2010

God's Word from Philippians 3:4b-9 (NIV), for a message entitled, "The Great Reversal!", "If anyone else thinks he has reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: ⁵circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; ⁶as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for legalistic righteousness, faultless. ⁷But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. ⁸What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ ⁹and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith." [prayer]

Show Youtube clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfkcD4kxZJA&feature=related

"The Great Reversal!" is a message dealing with the paradigm shift that must happen in our minds and hearts, to move from a paradigm (or world view) of self-reliance to God-dependency; from works-based religion to grace-based relationship.

But this is not an easy shift to make; no paradigm shift is easy! There is a tug of war that happens in our hearts and heads between the simple faith of a child and the seduction of hard work, acclaims, and accomplishments. From that which our culture holds true in an age of tolerance to the truths of the ancient Scriptures. We live in a culture where the Gospel has been compromised (by adding to it and taking away from it). We need to hear the truth as proclaimed through the reading and preaching of God's word. This is a war for our souls and we must know in whom to place our full confidence.

Does righteousness come from us being good people as measured by our good deeds (our works)? We live in an age of tolerance where a majority of people, even those who claim to follow Jesus Christ, argue that it does not matter what you believe about God because there are many roads to heaven and being a good person is what really matters. Is this true?

Let's jump into our Scriptures lesson and watch Paul unpack the great reversal. He starts by sharing his own testimony gathered from his previous world view that said he had to work, under the Law, for his righteousness (his right standing with God). The bottom line of Paul’s testimony: RIGHT STANDING WITH GOD IS NOT EARNED THROUGH WORKS!

In Philippians 3:4b-7, Paul shares, "If anyone else thinks he has reasons to put 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; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for legalistic righteousness, faultless. But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ."

Last Sunday, we spent a good amount of time unpacking verses 1-4a where Paul was directly warning the Church in Philippi about the “dogs" who were a group of Jewish Christians, the Judaizers, who would not let go of the Jewish Religious System, the Law, from being the basis of being "righteous" before God. Therefore, they were following Paul from town to town and adding to the Gospel the requirements of the Law to include circumcision. They added to the Gospel works of the flesh.

Paul made it very clear that we could put no confidence in the flesh, but rather, as Christ-followers, we placed our full confidence in our covenant relationship with God through the imputed righteousness placed upon us through faith in Jesus Christ.

Paul is now listing his credentials as a Jew to further refute the Judaizers not to boast or bring credit upon himself, but to bear witness to the truth of the great reversal through his own testimony. Paul has every reason to be able to put confidence in his flesh because he lived faithfully under the Law. In verses 5 & 6, Paul demonstrates how from birth, he was a God-fearing, Law-observing Jew.

His parents were faithful in the Law and as according to the Scriptures had Paul circumcised on the 8th day. We read in Genesis 17:11-12a, "You are to undergo circumcision, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and you. For the generations to come every male among you who is eight days old must be circumcised."

Paul was "of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin". Paul was not a proselyte, who came out of Greco-Roman society and converted to Judaism. Paul was pure blood, not an Ishmaelite from Abraham's son with Hagar, but from the line of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. We read in Genesis 32:28 "Then the man said, 'Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with men and have overcome.'" He had pure lineage who belonged to one of the two faithful tribes that did not rebel against the Davidic Line, the tribe of Benjamin. This is the tribe that the first King of Israel, Saul, came from and most likely Paul's namesake as his Hebrew name was Saul (1 Samuel 9:1-2).

Paul was a Hebrew of Hebrews, meaning he was raised in the studies of the language and culture of his racial and religious heritage. In order to get a fuller grasp of who Paul was prior to Christ and the credentials that brings to the table listen to Paul's account in Acts 22:3-8 where Paul is addressing a Jewish audience at the Temple in Jerusalem (he states this after they have been beating him and trying to kill him before the Roman guard arrives).

"Then Paul said: 'I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city. Under Gamaliel I was thoroughly trained in the law of our fathers and was just as zealous for God as any of you are today. I persecuted the followers of this Way to their death, arresting both men and women and throwing them into prison, as also the high priest and all the Council can testify. I even obtained letters from them to their brothers in Damascus, and went there to bring these people as prisoners to Jerusalem to be punished. About noon as I came near Damascus, suddenly a bright light from heaven flashed around me. I fell to the ground and heard a voice say to me, 'Saul! Saul! Why do you persecute me?' 'Who are you, Lord?' I asked. 'I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting,' he replied.'"

Paul continues, but in the opening section of this testimony, he is doing exactly what he is doing here in verse 4-6, he is laying down his credentials to be the one who can declare the great reversal! Both from his past and from his personal encounter with the Risen Lord, Jesus Christ.

Paul was not just of pure Jewish decent, he was the exemplar of a God-fearing, Law-observing Jew! He had walked the life of a Pharisee (which means, "The Set Apart Ones") meaning that he had separated himself from all common tasks in order to make it the one aim and duty of his life to keep every smallest detail of the Law. Paul devoted his life to this rigorous and unbending observance of the Law. He had experienced Judaism at its highest and most demanding peak.

As we just heard from Acts 22, Paul had a burning zeal for the Lord, a badge of honor in Judaism, that manifested in himself doing what they were currently doing to him--persecuting Christ-followers. According to the Law, Paul had followed every aspect and every detail to have his sins atoned for so that on a daily basis his works through obedience to the Law would find him faultless before God; meaning, he believed his works had given him right standing with God (righteousness)!

Of all people, God chose this one man whose life was a living argument for the great reversal! Paul was fully qualified to be the one to refute the old paradigm carried forward by the Judaizers and state, "whatever was to my profit [the old paradigm] I now consider loss for the sake of Christ [the new paradigm]." The Old Covenant was fulfilled through the Messiah, Jesus Christ, who is the fulfillment of the sacrificial system as the final atonement for all sin. Jesus Christ brought fulfillment to the Temple through Pentecost and we, those who believe on the Name of Jesus Christ are now the Temple of the Holy Spirit.

The Old Covenant has been fulfilled through the Righteous One, Jesus Christ. It is Jesus Christ who brought the great reversal where we no longer have to work for right standing with God (an impossible venture in the first place!), but we now receive it through faith. As Paul declares in Ephesians 2:8-9 "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast."

For nearly 2000 years, the great reversal has been in effect, but we still find many who are seeking right standing with God through works. We do not have any righteousness of our own, not by church membership, sacramental obedience or liturgical rites, nor by extra biblical revelation knowledge or spiritual experiences. Paul has made it clear that he, of all people, has lived a life that would bring about right standing with God, but when he came face to face with the Lord Jesus Christ on the road to Damascus, his paradigm was forever shifted. He realized that everything he has strove for, worked for was now loss and gladly so because RIGHT STANDING WITH GOD IS THROUGH FAITH IN JESUS CHRIST! And through Jesus Christ, Paul found eternal life!

The only way to the indestructible joy Paul speaks about in Philippians 3:1 and the peace of God that transcends all human understanding he speaks about in Philippians 4:7, is to abandon the way of self-reliance and accept the way of grace, God-dependence. The mature in Christ rest in God because they have found a security that cannot be lost. When joy and peace are lost it is because our eyes have moved from Jesus Christ back to ourselves!

Paul continued in Philippians 3:8-9 "What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, 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 is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith."

In Acts 22, we listened to Paul's testimony of his personal conversion on the road to Damascus. Paul was on his way conducting business as normal as a Pharisee showing great zeal for the Lord by making his way to Damascus to arrest anyone worshipping Jesus Christ as God. This is critical to understanding the great reversal because Paul's life was in every way turned upside down by a personal encounter with Jesus Christ! His encounter with Jesus Christ changed his worldview, shifted his paradigm, overwhelmed his life experiences, and fulfilled all that he had been becoming as a God-fearing Law-observing Jewish Pharisee. Let me say that last part again: His personal encounter with Jesus Christ fulfilled all that he had been becoming as a God-fearing Law-observing Jewish Pharisee.

Later in Acts 22, in verses 14-15, Paul continues in his personal testimony to share how God spoke through a faithful Christ-follower (Ananias) of the purpose for which he was now to serve God, "Then [Ananias] said: 'The God of our fathers has chosen you to know his will and to see the Righteous One and to hear words from his mouth. You will be his witness to all men of what you have seen and heard."

God gives Paul an experience that cannot be denied and a command that cannot be overturned at a cost that is unimaginable. Paul must now completely turn away from all that he has ever known and believed and become a witness for the great reversal—from a man whole-heartedly committed to works-based religion to a man enraptured by faith-based relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.

Paul shifts from a life of self-reliance and earthly success, to a life of God-dependency and earthly suffering. Paul is a living testimony to the promise of Jesus Christ found in the Gospel of Matthew 16:24-25, "Then Jesus said to his disciples, 'If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it.'"

The Great Reversal is a call to, in faith, willingly give up all that you thought was gain so that you may gain that which you thought you would lose by giving it up—real life, indestructible joy, everlasting peace, true love, fresh mercies every day, hope no matter the circumstances, and eternal life through the imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ!

Here lies the dilemma: are you willing to lay it all down in faith so that you may gain all this and so much more through faith in Jesus Christ?

Paul brings it all together in verse 9: “not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith.". We cannot have right standing with God through our own efforts. He has tried it to the extreme; he thought (like millions still do today) that he could have right standing with God (righteousness) of his own that came through the religion. The reality is that no religion can save you, no human effort to rise to God will succeed. God had to come to us and He did so for all humanity through Jesus!

The testimony of thousands of years of history, empirical data of countless lives, is that we can only be saved by grace; not by works! This gift must come from God. The Bible declares in Romans 3:23-24, "This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus."

Righteousness, right standing with God, depends absolutely on you gaining Jesus Christ and being found in Him. When you stand before God on the Day of Judgment, what are you going to trust to bring you right standing with God? Are you going to stand before God and hope that your credits outweigh your debits (I’m a good enough person…)? Here is the bad news, even one sin tips the scales against you and you do not have right standing with God. Righteousness is only possible through the justification given to us by the shed blood of Jesus Christ! The Bible teaches in 2 Corinthians 5:20b-21 "We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God."

I implore you today, to put your trust in Jesus Christ, the Righteous One who took all of our sin onto Himself so that when you stand in front of God on the Day of Judgment, God will not look to your good deeds or even bad deeds, but He will see only one thing: righteous by the blood of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the only way to God; all the other roads lead to eternal separation!