It’s about Jesus

Asbury Free Methodist – February 13, 2022

By Rev. Dr. Brent Russett

Philippians 3:1-8

            When I originally planned this series, I had planned to preach the whole passage that was read to you. As I got into it, however, I thought that his passage deserves at least two sermons – So, this morning, we are only going to look at the first 8 verses.

            I believe these verses can be helpful in focusing our lives on what really matters. They can cut through a lot of noise to show us what true faith is. It can help us see what a Christian really is.

            I think now, more than ever, we need a word like this. It has got so bad in our world that I am reluctant to use the word, Christian – not because I am ashamed of Christ of the gospel, but I am ashamed of what has been done in the name of Christ.

            When I was growing up, after praying the sinner’s prayer, being a true Christian seemed to depend on what kind of church you went to, how you were baptized, and who you listened to. Everyone seemed to have a list of how good Christians would act.

            In some parts of the world, abstaining from drinking alcohol was the litmus test of whether you are a true Christian or not. In other parts of the world, drinking alcohol seemed to be accepted, but drinking coffee was not acceptable. Smoking was frowned on by many Christian communities, and other Christians grew tobacco.

            In some ways, I long for those conversations. They seem so benign compared to what we face today. The anger of Christians over masks and vaccines and truck convoys is startling – on both sides of the issue. Talk about a rabbit trail that we go down that keeps us from focusing on what matters.

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            Over the years, I have come to see that many of the things we focused on were just noise. Here is our faith in a nutshell – it’s about Jesus. Sometimes our focus gets turned from what matters. I want to remind you this morning, it’s about Jesus.

            Let’s let Paul help us refocus on what matters.    

Philippians 3:1 (NIV)

Further, my brothers and sisters, 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.

            Paul tells the church a Philippi to rejoice in the Lord. This is not some throwaway line. To Paul, this is the foundation of living out the Christian life.

            He has already demonstrated this in his own life. About a month ago, we looked at Philippian 1, and we saw that some people were preaching Christ out of envy and rivalry in hopes that they would cause Paul distress. What is Paul’s response to this?

Philippians 1:18 (NIV)

18 But what does it matter? The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached. And because of this I rejoice.

Yes, and I will continue to rejoice,

            Paul’s antidote to people trying to cause him distress was to rejoice in the Lord. It’s about Jesus. Not other people’s motives. Not other people’s actions – it’s about Jesus.

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            In chapter two, Paul talks about how serving the gospel, and the Philippi church has cost him a lot. What is his response?

Philippians 2:17 (NIV)

17 But even if I am being poured out like a drink offering on the sacrifice and service coming from your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you.

            His response to the cost is to rejoice in the Lord. It’s about Jesus.

Now we come to our passage this morning. Paul says this is really important for you to learn.

Philippians 3:1 (NIV)

Further, my brothers and sisters, 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.

            If you rejoice in the Lord, it will protect you; It will safeguard you. It has protected me from people trying to cause me distress. It has protected me from self-pity. People – rejoice in the Lord. My focus is not on the peripheral issues or the hardship; my focus is on Jesus and what he has done. When I am focused there, everything else falls into place. It is a safeguard.

            Paul is introducing the next number of verses about the supremacy of Christ. But his shorthand for what our focus is to be on is “rejoice in the Lord.” But before he gets there, he takes a slight detour in the form of a warning.

Philippians 3:2 (NIV)

Watch out for those dogs, those evildoers, those mutilators of the flesh.

            There were people around the early church who were saying that if you were going to gain God’s favour, then you need to be circumcised. Some were saying you need Jesus and circumcision. This is about as close to cursing as Paul ever gets. Why? Because what they are saying is a perversion of the gospel. They were saying, you need Jesus and… Whenever people say, you need Jesus and something else, you have a problem. It’s about Jesus – full stop.

            Paul says, here is what a real Christians looks like.

Philippians 3:3 (NIV)

For it is we who are the circumcision, we who serve God by his Spirit, who boast in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh—

            Paul says that truly spiritual people do three things. First. They serve God by his Spirit. Many translations say they worship God by his Spirit. The word means both things they serve in worship or they worship by service.

The second thing that true Christians do is, we boast in Christ Jesus. The third thing is that we put no confidence in the flesh. We put no confidence in human effort.

            I want to take some time and camp on this verse; I want to meditate on these three things – because they are foundational to who we are. Rejoice in the Lord. The focus is on Jesus. He is the focus of our rejoicing – not us, not our circumstances – it’s about Jesus.

            The way this is lived out is we worship and serve God by his Spirit. This is a reflection of the words of Christ when he was speaking to the Samaritan woman at the well. Jesus said,

John 4:23 (NIV)

23 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.

            True worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and in truth. That is who the father seeks. Paul says true followers of Jesus are those who worship and serve God by his Spirit.

            So, what does that mean? The whole focus of this passage is – it’s about Jesus and not human effort. So, when he is talking about worship and service, he is saying it is not so much about what you do but what God does in and through you. It’s about Jesus.

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            How does that work? It took effort for you to come to church this morning. You made a choice and got yourself dressed and got to church. It took effort to put together this sermon. So, what does it mean to serve and worship God by his Spirit?

            Let me give you a few examples. As I said, I put some effort into my preaching. But I am very aware of the fact that my effort alone won’t accomplish anything eternal. If the Spirit of God empowers my preaching, then the result will be that you will be helped on your spiritual journey. If he doesn’t, you will know more – but your heart won’t be changed.

            Every person who comes to Christ is given at least one spiritual gift and usually more than one. One of my spiritual gifts is preaching. So, when I speak, God will often empower what I say to help his people move towards him.

            When it comes down to it, my human effort to serve God only matters when it is empowered by his Spirit. At the end of the day, if anything of eternal value is accomplished – it will be Jesus who has done it.

            Here is another example. When you come to church, and we sing worship songs and hymns, it is just music until God moves by his Spirit. When he does, our voices become more than air over our vocal cord, but they become conduits by which our hearts pour out worship. One is just music, but when the music is infused by our hearts of worship, it becomes a spiritual act.

            One more example – many of you express love through serving because you have the spiritual gift of serving. Serving takes effort. But when serving happens with love and when it is empowered by the Spirit -something more than just the work getting done happens. That service carries a message of spiritual significance to the people who are served. That message is borne by the Spirit. When the Spirit of God is in the service, God’s love and grace are seen.

            That is why Paul goes on to says

Philippians 3:3 (NIV)

For it is we who are the circumcision, we who serve God by his Spirit, who boast in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh—

            We boast in Christ. Unlike the people who were saying you need Jesus and …, we say we need Jesus. We were saved because of what Jesus has done – not what we have done. Our part was only to receive his gift of salvation.

Ephesians 2:8–9 (NIV)

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.

            Paul could have ended that verse by saying – except in Christ. We can’t boast about our salvation because we didn’t work for it, and we didn’t earn it. We can’t boast about our spirituality – It is Jesus who has done everything. Our choice is only to follow him. Our choice is to make decisions of faith. Everything else is done by him.

            To drive to point home, Paul says

Philippians 3:3 (NIV)

For it is we who are the circumcision, we who serve God by his Spirit, who boast in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh

            We put no confidence in the flesh. We don’t put confidence in our human effort. The word “flesh” in this context can mean two things. It can mean human effort, or it could also mean Paul’s ethnic origin. Paul was a Jew and as such, was part of God’s chosen people. I think Paul means both things. He is saying that it is not about my ethnic origin or my human effort.

            The apostle then goes on to use himself as an example. I am reading this from the New Living translations because it is a little easier to understand.

Philippians 3:3b–6 (NLT)

… We put no confidence in human effort, though I could have confidence in my own effort if anyone could. Indeed, if others have reason for confidence in their own efforts, I have even more!

I was circumcised when I was eight days old. I am a pure-blooded citizen of Israel and a member of the tribe of Benjamin—a real Hebrew if there ever was one! I was a member of the Pharisees, who demand the strictest obedience to the Jewish law. I was so zealous that I harshly persecuted the church. And as for righteousness, I obeyed the law without fault.

            Paul is saying that if anyone could have confidence in what they have done, it would be me. He had the right spiritual rituals done to him, he came from the right family, he was part of God’s chosen people, he was part of the strictest sect, and he zealously did all that was required of him. He kept all the laws. If anyone could rely on human effort – it would be Paul.

            Most of us have our own list of what makes us good. There is the religious list – I go to church, I do my devotions, I give my tithe, I serve in a ministry. There is the community list: I volunteer, I look out for my neighbours, I try to do right by people. There is the internal list: I don’t do anything that will hurt anyone, I try to be a good person.

            Paul says of his list

Philippians 3:7 (NLT)

I once thought these things were valuable, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done.

            Paul would say to you, consider your list worthless too. It is all about what Christ has done for us. It is all about what Jesus has done and is doing. Paul goes on to drive the point home.

Philippians 3:8–9 (NLT)

Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ and become one with him.

            Paul says I used to count a lot of other things important but now I see them as worthless to the infinite worth of know Christ Jesus my Lord. It is about becoming one with him or being found in him. Or, to use Jesus’ language, it is about abiding in him and being connected to him. Everything else is a rabbit trail.

            It’s about Jesus.

            I don’t remember a time when there was so much noise around what it means to live a Christian life. In some churches, it seems to be about masking as a demonstration of loving your neighbours. In others, it seems to be about not masking as a demonstration of freedom. In some, it seems to be fighting abortion. In others, it seems to be about fighting poverty. In others, it seems to be about growing a big church. In others, it seems to be about raising a healthy family. In others, it seems to be about having a good marriage. In others, it seems to be about having a healthy body.

            In some, it is about healing from the wounds of the past. For others, it is about physical healing. For others, it is about getting our theology right. For others, it is about the church building.

            Listen, people, a lot of those things are good and right and helpful. But when we focus on any of those things more than we focus on Jesus – we miss the point. It’s about Jesus.

            So I would say to you, my brothers and sisters, rejoice in the Lord. Rejoice in the Lord. Rejoice in the Lord. It is no trouble for me to say the same things again to you, and it is a safeguard to you.

            What are you rejoicing in?

            Don’t miss the point of our faith – it’s about Jesus.

Sermon Questions – February 13, 2022

Philippians 3:1-8 – It’s about Jesus.

Connecting

1. What are you celebrating this week?

2. What are you praying about this week?

Digging In

3. Read Philippians 3:1-14 (We are going to focus on the first 8 verses.)

4. Re-read verse 1. How does rejoicing in the Lord safeguard you? How did it safeguard Paul? (See Philippians 1:15-18, 2:17-18)

5. Read verse 2 – what was Paul’s issue with those who said you had to be circumcised.

6. Read verse 3. What three things does Paul say Christians do/don’t do?

7.            a) What is the difference between serving God by his Spirit and human effort?

               b) What does boasting in something other than Jesus look like?

               c) What would it look like to put confidence in the flesh?

8. Read verses 3b to 6. What is Paul illustrating here?

9. Read verse 7. What are some things that we would consider “valuable” or “gains” in our world?

10. Read verse 8. Paul compares what he has accomplished in verses 6-8 as garbage compared to knowing Christ. What does he mean by this, and why does he say it?

11. How would you sum up these 8 verses in a sentence or two?