"True Confidence!"
Captivated by Christ: An expository sermon series on Paul's Letter to the Church in Philippi (message #20)
Pastor Jerry Ingalls
September 5, 2010
Philippians 3:1-4a (NIV), “Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord! It is no trouble for me to write the same things to you again, and it is a safeguard for you. 2Watch out for those dogs, those men who do evil, those mutilators of the flesh. 3For it is we who are the circumcision, we who worship by the Spirit of God, who glory in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh— 4though I myself have reasons for such confidence.”
Immediately in this passage, Paul points to the indestructible joy we have in Jesus Christ. He states in verse 1, "Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord!" We have already seen this imperative multiple times in this letter and we will see it again. Paul is not grabbing at straw, nor is he calling us to glib emotionalism, rather he is calling us to anchor our emotions in the orthodox faith of God’s word—the Word of Life!
We see this written by the Psalmist in Psalm 32:11, "Rejoice in the LORD and be glad, you righteous; sing, all you who are upright in heart!" Throughout the Scriptures, the Holy Spirit teaches us the importance of finding our joy in the only true hope of humanity—in the Lord our God!
Who are the righteous? Who are the upright in heart that they may rejoice in the Lord? Paul says that we, the brethren (followers of Jesus Christ), should rejoice in the Lord! We are the righteous and we are the upright in heart; therefore, we have reason to rejoice!
Praise be to Jesus Christ who is the only reason we can be called the righteous. It is in Jesus Christ that we find ‘right standing with God’ (righteousness). We have been justified by faith because the One who has right standing before God, Jesus Christ-the Righteous One, took all of our unrighteousness onto Himself on the Cross. Paul is proclaiming that we have joy in the Lord because in Jesus Christ we can lose all our earthly possessions, we can lose all of the people we care about, we can even lose our livelihoods, our health, and our reputations, but we can never lose our right standing with God through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ! Our righteousness is one that has been imputed upon us, not one that has been earned! We are saved by faith, not by works! This is the free gift of God!
We have true confidence because our joy is in the Lord and what He has done, not what we have done or think we can do! In this section of Scripture, Paul is jumping into a controversial situation so this command to rejoice in the Lord is very relevant. He wants the Church in Philippi (and through the Holy Spirit us today) to know where our true confidence is found. First, he makes it clear who or what our confidence should not be in. AS DISCIPLES OF JESUS CHRIST, WE PLACE OUR CONFIDENCE NOT IN THE FLESH!
Paul very pointedly writes in Philippians 3:2, "Watch out for those dogs, those men who do evil, those mutilators of the flesh."
Paul is dealing with a controversy that has been nipping at the heals of his ministry like a pack of wild dogs desiring to devour the firm foundation of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Who are these dogs, these men who do evil works, these men who proclaim a false circumcision (or as Paul literally writes here, ‘those who unlawfully mutilate the flesh’)?
In Acts 15:1-2a, Luke records of the Jerusalem Council, "Some men came down from Judea to Antioch and were teaching the brothers: 'Unless you are circumcised, according to the custom taught by Moses, you cannot be saved.' This brought Paul and Barnabas into sharp dispute and debate with them."
These men are from a group of Jewish Christians, some believe from the sect of Pharisees, who believed on the name of Jesus Christ, but refused to see belief in Jesus Christ as anything more than a sect of the existing Jewish religious system. They felt that rather than Jesus Christ being the fulfillment of the Old Covenant and initiating a New Covenant, that he was to be added onto the Old Covenant. Therefore, these Judaizers, as they were later labeled, were following behind Paul on his missionary journeys to the Gentiles (people of non-Jewish origins) and preaching to the people that to truly be saved, they had to become Jewish first, which meant getting circumcised and following the Law.
Paul is discussing these Judaizers in his letter to Church in the region of Galatia (Galatians 5:12-15), stating, "As for those agitators, I wish they would go the whole way and emasculate themselves! [Ouch!…Paul is clearly not happy with these guys!] You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature [sarx]; rather, serve one another in love. The entire law is summed up in a single command: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' If you keep on biting and devouring each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other."
In this passage, and we will see it again in the next verse of our Scripture lesson, Paul uses the Greek word sarx. This Greek word speaks of our flesh itself, but more so it sums up what we are, apart from the grace of God in Jesus Christ. Sarx is the human being as yet unchanged by God’s regenerating and redeeming work! When we are self-reliant; when we place our confidence in the works of our flesh then we place our confidence and reliance upon the unregenerate man, the old man! Not the Spirit who actively indwells in us upon justification, the new man!
Paul is very clear to the Church in Galatia and is strongly warning the Church in Philippi to watch out for these dogs because they will cause you to put your confidence in your works of righteousness and as you start to place your faith in works rather than in God’s grace then you will become like the dogs themselves, and you will bite and devour each other. Your reliance and confidence in the flesh will be to your destruction!
Do not listen to these men because their teachings will rob you of your freedom in Jesus Christ, who came to set you free! These men who do evil works, these men who put stumbling blocks before the people so that they do not have the full security of their salvation, are not limited to the first century church. These dogs, in sheep’s clothing, are still amongst us today throughout the Church of Jesus Christ. In the words of Paul, anyone who detracts from the sole sufficiency of Jesus Christ must be watched out for. Whether by adding membership to a certain church, or brand of church, as an essential of salvation, or by teaching people that they must perform secret rites or gain extra-biblical spiritual revelations to be saved. Or by teaching people to entrust their souls to liturgical practices or sacramental experiences. Or for those who proclaim that you are not truly saved unless you add to the work of Jesus Christ some additional experience of the Holy Spirit as essential for full salvation. These dogs are still with us and when we listen to their teachings and their focus on putting our confidence in spiritual merit badges, then we are guaranteed to become like them and bite and devour each other. We lose our freedom when we trust in the flesh!
The only remedy to the sarx is putting no confidence in it! The old man is dead! We must place 100% confidence in Jesus Christ! Paul makes the teaching ever so clear in Ephesians 2:8, "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."
The only joy that will last is the indestructible joy that is based upon true confidence in Jesus Christ!
AS DISCIPLES OF JESUS CHRIST, WE PLACE OUR CONFIDENCE IN JESUS CHRIST!
Paul continues in Philippians 3:3-4a, "For it is we who are the circumcision, we who worship by the Spirit of God, who glory in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh [sarx]—though I myself have reasons for such confidence."
“We are the true circumcision”! What does Paul mean by this? To understand this we must go back to the Old Covenant. In Genesis 17:10-11, Moses records of the ancient covenant first established between God and the chosen father of many nations, Abraham, "This is my covenant with you and your descendants after you, the covenant you are to keep: Every male among you shall be circumcised. You are to undergo circumcision, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and you." God covenants with these chosen people that He will be their God and they will be His people.
The physical act of circumcision was the sign of the chosen people of God who were in covenant relationship with God, heirs to the promises of God to Abraham. For Paul to write that we are the true circumcision means that we, Christians, are the covenant people of God, we are the heirs of the promise to Abraham.
How can this be if we do not practice the physical practice of circumcising our males on the 8th day as a sign of the covenant as commanded by God? The Bible teaches us that God’s desire was not the circumcision of flesh, but of the heart!
In Deuteronomy 30:6, Moses writes, "The LORD your God will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your descendants, so that you may love him with all your heart and with all your soul, and live."
The true covenant people, the heirs of the promises of God, no longer have to mutilate their flesh as a sign of the covenant. As children of the new covenant, foreshadowed by the prophets of ancient days and fulfilled through Jesus Christ, God now circumcises our hearts as the sign of the covenant. Physical circumcision is not to be replaced with the sacramental work of baptism; rather, circumcision has been fulfilled through the imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ for all who have faith! It is by faith and not by works…Amen!
Paul teaches this in Romans 3:21-25a, "But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. 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. God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood."
Jesus Christ came to fulfill the Law and usher in the Kingdom of God. And the Kingdom of God advances through the Spirit of God mobilizing the Church to put their true confidence in the work of Jesus Christ and not in the religious practices or works of the flesh. It is not by religious systems, but by relationship we are saved!
It is the Spirit of God who quickens and empowers us to offer true worship to the throne room of God. Jesus Christ stated in the Gospel of John 6:63, "The Spirit gives life; the flesh [sarx] counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life."
This is what it means to be the true circumcision: we place our true confidence in the Word of life, Jesus Christ, the One who has justified us through faith in His blood. The Bible declares that every promise of God has been answered Yes in Jesus Christ! He is our hope, our joy, and strength. Those who have been sealed for the day of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ have been quickened to life by the Spirit of God rebirthing that which was dead to sin. Our worship, which is the work of our everyday lives, is empowered by the Spirit of God.
Why in the world would you want to place your confidence in that which has no life apart from the Spirit of God? Don’t trust your flesh, trust the One who gives you life!
Words of the living truth from Titus 3:3-7, "At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life."
Those who put their true confidence in Jesus Christ are the heirs of God’s covenantal promises. Our circumcision is not visible on our bodies, but in our actions and attitudes. It is our hearts and minds, our very character and quality of life that are marked! Does your attitude and actions declare whose you are?
The dogs are marked by biting and devouring of one another. The world has seen, and we have experienced, enough of such behavior from the church. It is to our own destruction if we add anything to the assurances we have through faith in Jesus Christ alone.
Who or what are you putting your confidence in? Even one of the greatest men to walk this planet, the Apostle Paul, said that he had reason to have confidence in his flesh, but he still choose to put his true confidence in Jesus Christ! It doesn’t matter your resume or your reputation, your bank account or any other worldly measure; there is no life apart from the life freely given through faith in Jesus Christ!
Today is the day to start your walk with God and enter into true discipleship. Declare your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, the only Savior, the only worthy object of your praise. Confess that in your flesh dwells no good thing and that you fall short of the glory of God. Repent by turning toward the new life afforded to you through the Spirit of God, who has raised you from the dead to receive eternal life.
Prayer and Response Time
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