Week 7: Joy in Death (Philippians 3:1-11) Discussion Questions! 1. If you re really honest, what gives you confidence in life? Has that changed over time? 2. What are the areas of your life in which you feel least secure? 3. Why do you think so many people in Australia feel insecure despite very good living circumstances compared to the rest of the world? Read Philippians 3:1 4. How is rejoicing in the Lord different from rejoicing in our circumstances? 5. In what was is rejoicing in the Lord a safeguard? How easy do you find this? Read Philippians 3:2-9 6. How serious is Paul s accusation against the opponents in verse 2? 7. How was the view of the opponents potentially undermining of the Gospel? 8. Why does Paul consider all his previous achievements/credentials now loss/rubbish? 9. What is it about knowing Christ Jesus that makes Paul say it has a surpassing worth compared to all things? 10. How can our own credentials/achievements sometimes distract us from trusting in God? 11. Why do you think we are so prone to trying to earn salvation ourselves? 12. What is the difference between having confidence in the flesh and confidence in Christ? How practically can we make Jesus bigger in our lives and our church? Read Philippians 3:10 13. What does Paul mean by wanting to know Christ in his resurrection, sharing of sufferings, and even death? 14. How does a perspective of resurrection help us to focus our confidence on Jesus? 15. How can we encourage each other to remain confident in Jesus? The Anglican Church of Noosa
Talk 7/10 (Philippians 3:1-11): 26/5/13 Joy in Conflict by the Rev d Adam Lowe Australians and a Sense of Security A few weeks ago when we were looking at Philippians 1:18b-30, you might recall that I asked a very personal question: what defines your life? And we saw how for Paul, because his life was defined in Christ, as a Citizen of Heaven, he could say with complete authenticity, to live is Christ, and to die is gain. He knew that his citizenship of Rome was a temporary one, and his citizenship in heaven was a permanent one. Well today, I want to ask an equally probing question: where does your confidence lie? What gives you confidence?...to get up each day amidst suffering and pain?...in the midst of uncertainty?...in the midst of prosperity?...about who you are? Or even bigger picture: what gives you confidence for eternity? The Social-Scientific Research... You know Australians are a pretty interesting people. When you travel, there s a particular bravado that ensures Australians stand out. You know the image we project: sun-tanned, a land of sweeping plains, we re young, we re free, we love our leisure, we work hard, but we play hard too. The OECD - Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development - carry out extensive research when it comes to various measures of wellbeing. They have a project called the better life index. And when we look at that index, we see that when it comes to wellbeing, Australia is above average in almost every criteria....disposable income - above average....employment rate - 7% above average....student scores in literacy, maths, science - all above average....life expectancy - above average....water quality - above average....sense of community - above average. {BLANK} In general, Australians are more satisfied with their lives and live longer. At face value you might expect that a nation like this wouldn t be one that feels very insecure. Yet when we look at research specifically on the Insecurity of Australians what we see is a different story. A study in 2004 by the NCLS said this: One conclusion from this survey is that there are high levels of insecurity in Australian society. (p.25, NCLS Research Occasional Paper 4). {BLANK} There are major forms of insecurity in terms of concerns for one s future finances, work, and relationships. Insecurity in choice. Lack of trust in people and systems and institutions. Insecurity in relation to the environment, technology, and society. And insecurity in purpose and place. The Rev d Adam Lowe 1
Friends, when we look at those two lists you might think that it doesn t seem to stack up. But it does. All of those criteria on the left - they re great, they re wonderful blessings. But they will never give us a deep and lasting confidence. Why? Because they re all temporary; they come and they go. If Australians want a confidence for eternity, a confidence about a relationship with God, there s only one place we ll find it - in Jesus Christ. Rejoice in the Lord is a Safeguard (v.1) So up to this point the letter has been full of wonderful encouragement. Paul has certainly been challenging to the Philippians as well, but we as enter into chapter 3 you will have heard quite a dramatic change of tone, especially as Paul speaks about the protagonists who are causing trouble. And at the heart of Paul s concern is that the Philippians don t fall into the trap of having confidence in the wrong things. And so we re going to see why that question where does your confidence lie is actually critical. Because if it is on all those other things, you will have a temporary security, sometimes just an allusion of security, but never real security. So he begins this section in an amazing - albeit subtle - way. Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord!... (v.1a) The finally denotes a transition point in the letter. Having encouraged the Philippians to shine like stars he reminds them to ground their joy in Christ. He s said rejoice several times already in the letter, but this is the first instance of Paul grounding the sphere within which our rejoicing is to be found. He knows that they will be noticing the repetition: It is no trouble for me to write the same things to you again, and it is a safeguard for you. (v.1b) So he s not just saying it over and over because it seems nice, he keeps telling them, it s no trouble for me to write the same things to you again, because it is a safeguard. It will keep you safe! What will it keep us safe from? Primarily ourselves. Because it seems in the case that Paul is dealing with here, the people thought they they earned their own righteousness. It s a classic human trap. And so Paul is reminding them straight up front that safety is found in only one place - rejoicing - in Jesus Christ. We ve got to take the spotlight from ourselves and shine it on Jesus. And so the next part serves as a little case study on where we ought not to place our confidence. Case Study: Unknown Protagonists (vv.2-9) Have a look with me at verse 2 at Paul s description of the protagonists... Watch out for those dogs, those men who do evil, those mutilators of the flesh. (v.2) The Rev d Adam Lowe 2
We don t know exactly who these people were but they re probably Jewish outsiders who are challenging others that in order to be able to truly worship God - you need to do all of these things (following laws and being circumcised remembering that circumcision was the marker of being God covenant people). A Serious Indictment But our translation of verse 2 actually underplays the strength of what Paul is saying. It sounds harsh, but it is much more cutting in the greek. It s a very serious indictment. Ble pete tou\ß ku/naß ble pete tou\ß kakou\ßeṙga taß ble pete th\n kata tomh/n Three times in quick succession Paul is saying: Observe! Observe! Observe!...Observe! Those dogs....observe! Those evildoers....observe! Those mutilators. {OBSERVE} Don t Make the Same Mistake This is not a lesson is being subtle! Friends, my dear Philippians, observe these people and do not make the same mistake! Paul is less concerned with these people infiltrating the Philippians and more concerned with their misplaced confidence. That s why he emphasises the word observe, he wants them to be an example of what not to do. Comparison A: Their Confidence was in the flesh (vv.2-6) He s making such a big deal of this, because it is so easy humanly speaking, for us to think that we re set right with God by our own doing, instead of what God has done. It s so easy to pull out our resumé, and say God you know what I m good enough, look at me. Thanks for the offer of salvation, of Jesus being a Saviour, but I don t really need it. An irreligious person does that when they say I don t need God, I m fine by myself. A religious person does that when they say I don t need a Saviour, because I m so good by what I do. Both end up having confidence in the flesh, in themselves. So at the heart of the issue is that their confidence was in the flesh. So their emphasis on those physical rituals - which should have been spiritually significant to point them to God - had instead become a means through which pride in personal achievements had been bolstered. So they prided themselves on their privileges of their pedigree, their ethnicity, their purity. The Rev d Adam Lowe 3
Their confidence was in what they had done, not what God had done. They had rejected the true Gospel - of what God had done in Christ - in favour for a lesser gospel (of what they themselves had done). And of course Paul speaks with good authority on this issue! 3 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 4 though I myself have reasons for such confidence. If anyone else thinks he has reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: 5 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; 6 as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for legalistic righteousness, faultless. So this is Paul pulling out his credentials - his resume....circumcised on the eight day: he s saying his a proper Jew from a child not a convert...tribe of Benjamin: he s one of the faithful tribes...hebrew of hebrews: he s primary identity is a Hebrew not Hellenist...Law: a Pharisee who teaches and knows the law, persecuting those who opposed...legalistic righteousness: he followed it completed. Paul is waving his resumé around if anyone could claim confidence from the flesh - of their own doing - that would be me. But you know what, all of these things have been surpassed. 7 But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8 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 9 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. Comparison B: Our Confidence is to be in the Lord (vv.7-9) So Paul is waving around his resume, his multiple degrees from Oxford or Harvard, his fine ancestry, his track record in the Law, and he says I count them as loss for the sake of Christ. Or even more I consider them rubbish that I may gain Christ. Now the translation underplays some language here once again to be nice and polite, but actually the Greek word translated as rubbish you know what it also means - excrement. I consider them excrement that I may gain Christ. All of these other things, they tend to make me think that I ve earned being right with God. So that s why I consider them loss, because I don t want them to get in the way of being confident in Christ. I don t want to accept a lesser thing instead of the surpassing thing - or more literally the super thing. Our achievements, our credentials, tend do that. People can spend their entire lives building up credentials and achievements - none of which are necessarily bad or evil. But when those things take the place in our lives that make us consider ourselves as worthy or good, then we are mistaken. If you ve ever been up from quite early in the morning watching the stars it is really quite incredible. The stars seem so incredibly glorious. But when the sun comes up, the stars fade into the background because this super-thing has surpassed the lesser things. Paul is looking at his resume and saying you know what, God s son has risen, and the things that I thought were glorious have been completely surpassed. The Rev d Adam Lowe 4
Often I hear people say, that so and so are in heaven because they were a good Christian person. And often, what is meant by that is because they did some nice things. But of course doing nice things doesn t make you a Christian. Going to church doesn t make you a Christian anymore than going to McDonalds makes you a hamburger. 4 But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, 5 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, 6 whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life. (Titus 3) Our confidence is not in our achievements or our ethnicity, but in our Saviour. The source of my righteousness is not of my own doing, but of Christ s doing. And so we re found in him which means when God looks upon us, he sees us no longer alone but in Christ. He s not looking at what we ve done, but what Christ has done. Do you get how liberating this is? It means all those things that you think brings you security, well, you could lose them all and whilst you would hurt, you won t be devastated. It means that all those things - that resume that makes you feel acceptable to your friends, your spouse, your kids, your workplace - they no longer have control over me. Because the one thing which now defines me, this one thing that gives me complete confidence of eternity, is Jesus Christ. God sees you no longer alone, but in Jesus. To Know the Power of the Resurrection (v.10) So what does Paul want to know above everything? Jesus In the past, Paul thought there was power in his qualifications. But of course when we look out our own qualifications and achievements I m sure we re tempted to do the same, because that s certainly how our culture operates. But there s only one source of power can give us a confidence even over death. There s only one source of power that give us confidence over the stranglehold of sin. And that s to know Christ and the power of his resurrection. That our sin is bound to him upon the cross and that we too will rise due to his triumphant resurrection. That leaves us too with a daily choice. To take confidence in ourselves? To take confidence in our Saviour. The Rev d Adam Lowe 5