True joy is found only in Jesus, but there are things that we hold onto from our past or presently that get in the way of us living for Christ. It is important to see the total message of this chapter before examining it in detail, so perhaps the following outline will be helpful.
| vv. 1-11 | vv. 12-16 | vv. 17-21 |
| Paul’s past | Paul’s present | Paul’s future |
| the accountant | the athlete | the alien |
| “I count” | “I press” | “I look” |
| new values | new vigor | new vision |
It is easy for us to get wrapped up in “things,” not only the tangible things that we can see, but also the intangibles such as reputation, fame, achievement. Paul writes about “what things were gain” to him (Phil. 3:7); he also mentions “things which are behind” and “things which are before” (Phil. 3:13). In Paul’s case, some of these “things” were intangible, such as religious achievements (Gal. 1:14), a feeling of self-satisfaction, morality. We today can be snared both by tangibles and intangibles, and as a result lose our joy.
But even the tangible things are not in themselves sinful. God made things, and the Bible declares that these things are good (Gen. 1:31). God knows that we need certain things in order to live (Matt. 6:31-34). In fact, He “gives us richly all things to enjoy” (1 Tim. 6:17). But Jesus warns us that our lives do not consist in the abundance of the things that we possess (Luke 12:15). Quantity is no assurance of quality. Many people who have the things money can buy have lost the things that money cannot buy.
The key word in Philippians 3:1-11 is count (Phil. 3:7-8, 13). In the Greek, two different words are used, but the basic idea is the same: to evaluate, to assess. “The unexamined life is not worth living,” said Socrates. Yet, few people sit down to weigh seriously the values that control their decisions and directions. Many people today are the slaves of “things,” and as a result do not experience real Christian joy.
In Paul’s case, the “things” he was living for before he knew Christ seemed to be very commendable: a righteous life, obedience to the Law, the defense of the religion of his fathers. But none of these things satisfied him or gave him acceptance with God.
Like most “religious” people today, Paul had enough morality to keep him out of trouble, but not enough righteousness to get him into heaven! It was not bad things that kept Paul away from Jesus—it was good things! He had to lose his “religion” to find salvation.
One day, Saul of Tarsus, the rabbi, met Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and on that day Saul’s values changed (read Acts 9:1-31). When Saul opened his books to evaluate his wealth, he discovered that apart from Jesus Christ, everything he lived for was only refuse. He explains in this section that there are only two kinds of righteousness (or spiritual wealth)—works righteousness and faith righteousness—and only faith righteousness is acceptable to God.
Works Righteousness (Phil. 3:1-6)
The exhortation (vv. 1-3). “Finally” at this point does not mean Paul is about to close the letter, because he keeps on going. The word means “For the rest,” and introduces the new section. Paul’s “finally” at Philippians 4:18 is the one that means “I am about to close.” Paul has warned the believers at Philippi before, but now he warns them again. “Look out for dogs! Look out for the workers of evil! Look out for the mutilation!” To whom is he referring in this triple warning? The answer takes us back into the early history of the church.
In the early New Testament times there were a group of people who said, “There are also some other things you must add onto your faith, Christ plus works.” They said they must keep every one of the Jewish laws to be a believer — the Sabbath laws, circumcision, dietary laws, etc. Those who said that were called Judaizers. In Philippians 3, Paul is attacking the Judaizers who are adding to the good news. V. 2-3 “Watch out for those who do evil, those dogs,
When we think of dogs, we think of warm, cuddly pets. In the New Testament times dogs were not pets. They were wild scavengers that would attack human beings. It was the worst thing you could think of to call somebody a dog.
Paul uses his life as an example. Paul was an ultra religious, law keeping Jew before he knew Christ. He had tried the rules and regulations way and it didn’t work.
4 I could have confidence in myself if anyone could. If others have reason for confidence in their own efforts, I have even more!
SPIRITUAL CONFIDENCE IS NOT FOUND IN
My Rituals
5 For I was circumcised when I was eight days old,
Paul says “I was circumcised on the eight day, of the people of Israel.” We have our own rituals today, sacraments, baptism, communion, catechism, etc. Never confuse the symbol with the substance. Rituals do not bring salvation only a relationship with Christ.
- My Heritage
having been born into a pure-blooded Jewish family
Don’t trust in heritage. Have you ever heard anyone say, “Daddy’s a Christian, My mom was a believer, My uncle was a pastor? ” You can get religion from your family but you can’t get Christ unless you accept him yourself.
- My Social Status
that is a branch of the tribe of Benjamin.
Benjamin was a noble tribe Israel. Paul was named after the first king, Saul, who was a Benjamite.
- My Traditions
So I am a real Jew if there ever was one!
No religious group or denomination has a copyright on truth or a patent on God.
- My Religion
What’s more, I was a member of the Pharisees, who demand the strictest obedience to the Jewish law.
Don’t trust in religion. Paul was a religious person. Paul kept all the rules. We think of the Pharisees as hypocrites but there were some genuine, sincere ones. They were the spiritually elite of that age. They took the Ten Commandments and expanded them into 619 other commandments. They were pros at religion. Jesus has nothing to do with religion. Religion is man’s attempt to get to God. Jesus Christ is God’s attempt to get to man. That’s a relationship and that’s a big difference.
- My Sincerity
6 And zealous? Yes, in fact, I harshly persecuted the church.
Maybe some of you think if your bad works are a minimum and are good works outnumber them then you will make it to heaven. But God doesn’t grade on a curve. He judges by a perfect standard — Jesus Christ. To be good enough to get to God you’d have to be as good as God.
- My Righteousness
And I obeyed the Jewish law so carefully that I was never accused of any fault.
Today we have people saying; “I read the Bible, I go to church…”The point is there is nothing wrong with any of these things. The problem is thinking that they give me points with God, and they don’t.
In all of the religious accomplishments Paul mentions in verse 4, God is not mentioned once. You can be religious and not know Christ. If you have religion and no relationship, you don’t have Christianity, you have churchianity. The answer to your problems and America’s problems is not religion. It is a person, Jesus Christ.
MY CONFIDENCE IS FOUND IN…
- Knowing Christ
7 I once thought all these things were so very important, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done. 8 Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the priceless gain of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.
Paul says his number one goal in life is to know Christ better and better. How well do you know Jesus Christ? I know a lot of Christians who have been Christians, 5, 10, or more years and they really don’t know Jesus Christ well. There is a big difference between knowing and knowing about.
Never stop growing and developing your relationship with Christ. So many Christians stay too close to where they “got in” to the Christian life. They haven’t grown one bit since they made that initial decision.
Paul says that his number one ambition in life is to know Christ at the end of his life. He’s in jail in Rome. He’s getting ready to die. He knew Christ already, but he wanted to know Him even better.
I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I may have Christ
The translators here are being polite, delicate. “Garbage” and “rubbish” are not the words. The word in Greek is the word for “dung”, “manure”.
COMPARED TO CHRIST, EVERTHING ELSE IS…
- Dung
Paul points out that life consists of trade-offs. That’s an important lesson we must learn in life. He said he gave up something in order to gain something else. He gave up his religion in order to have a relationship.
What I have is worth more than everything I gave up. We give up guilt and gain a clear conscious. We give up worry and gain a power for living. We give up frustration and lack of purpose in life and gain real meaning and purpose in life. We give up going to hell and gain going to heaven. We gave up trying to solve all our problems in our own power and gain having the resources of God to help solve our problems. That’s a pretty good trade-off!
What are you afraid of giving up for God? If you become a Christian, get really committed to Christ, really live for Jesus Christ, what are you afraid is going to change in your life that you don’t want to give up? Whatever that is, that is the very thing that needs to be given up.
9 and become one with him. I no longer count on my own goodness or my ability to obey God’s law, but I trust Christ to save me. For God’s way of making us right with himself depends on faith. 10 As a result, I can really know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead. I can learn what it means to suffer with him, sharing in his death, 11 so that, somehow, I can experience the resurrection from the dead!
In a transaction we cannot completely understand, when Jesus died on the cross, we died to our former life. Christ took our punishment on himself, so God looks at us as though we have died to sin and then have been raised, along with Christ, to newness of life. Believers must first die to self before they can live for God. This is described in what Paul wrote to the Galatians: “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20).
When we are united with Christ by trusting in him, we experience the power that raised him from the dead. That same mighty power will help us live morally renewed and regenerated lives. But before we can walk in newness of life, we must also die to sin. Just as Christ’s resurrection gives us his power to live for him, his crucifixion marks the death of our old sinful nature. We can’t know the victory of the Resurrection without personally applying the Crucifixion.
What are you really living for? Remember the game Trivial Pursuit? That name describes how a lot of people live. Spending their lives on things that won’t last. Acts 27 has a story of a ship that was beginning to sink. In order to be saved they took the very cargo they were carrying and threw it overboard to save the ship. That is a parable of life. The very things we’re carrying through life we have to let go of in order to really experience life and save our lives. What do you need to let go of to grab a hold of Christ?
Darrell
Message Audio/Video and Outline: https://upwards.church/leander-campus/watch-now-message-videos
Watch Messages: YouTube-Upwards Church
Read Along Daily Bible Reading: YouVersion (https://www.bible.com/organizations/370f8a6e-16bc-464f-8c43-0b7623fd2952)
Sources: Bible Exposition Commentary (BE Series) – New Testament – The Bible Exposition Commentary – New Testament, Volume 2.
Life Application Bible Commentary – Life Application Bible Commentary – Philippians, Colossians, & Philemon.
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