Amen. Please turn with me to Philippians chapter 3. The passage today will be the first 11 verses of Philippians 3. And I will read that for us now. Finally, my brothers and sisters, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you is no trouble to me and is safe for you. Look out for the dogs, look out for the evildoers, look out for those who mutilate the flesh. For we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh. Though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also, If anyone else thinks he has reason for 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, as to the law, a Pharisee, as to zeal, a persecutor of the church, as to righteousness under the law, blameless. But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake, I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish in order 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 comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith. that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible, I may attain the resurrection from the dead. Father, I likewise pray and offer up this worship service to you today, Lord. I pray that your word would go forth through me in power and in grace and in love and in truth. and that your saints would be filled and encouraged and exhorted, and that you would not let your word fall. In Jesus' name I pray, amen. As of last week, we completed the first two chapters of Paul's letter to the Philippians. So today we move into this third chapter. So we're about halfway through the book, but I think it's gonna take us actually less time to get through the second half than it did the first half. I think we'll probably be done in another five weeks or so. The first thing to say about this new chapter is that there's a significant shift in the content as now we move forward. There's such a significant shift, especially moving into verse 2, many people have claimed that this chapter has been grafted in from another source, or to use more modern terminology, that it's been cut and pasted from another letter. In other words, some hold the opinion that a later editor of manuscripts, what we would call a redactor, some redactor has compiled a few fragments of source material into one supposed letter. I'm not gonna present you with all the evidence one way or the other, but having examined the arguments myself, I contend that there's every reason to believe that the order of the letter we see before us is the way Paul produced it, as all one letter. and that this is not some later redacted version with imported material into chapter 3 from some other source. But having said that, we should look at the differing content itself. Much of the previous two chapters included a greeting and prayer, Paul's missionary report, his exhortation for the church toward humility of mind, and then his examples of this humility of mind. Now, all of a sudden, Paul delivers a warning, a warning to watch out for a certain group of people that has been opposing the true gospel message. Now this is not the only letter in which Paul uses such strong language against opponents of the gospel. He does this, for example, in 2 Corinthians 11, where he speaks strongly against false apostles, false teachers who are perverting the true gospel. He does this as well in a few places in Galatians. Here, he warns about such opponents with a three-fold epithet. Watch out for the dogs. Watch out for evildoers. Watch out for those who mutilate the flesh. For this last term, a few other translations, the NESB says, for example, watch out for the false circumcision. And I really like the way the New King James does with this phrase. They say, watch out for the mutilation. This verse shows the immense rhetorical force Paul displays as he writes about this issue. Now, many people through the years have suggested that Paul is intentionally insulting here, or maybe that he's intentionally using extremely vulgar language, as they also say about one of the words in verse eight, which we'll get to a bit later. But I believe, along with Dr. Silva and Varner and many others, that what Paul's doing is not so much insulting as he is actually using intense irony, intense irony. These opponents that Paul's speaking of, by the way he responds, are clearly what we call Judaizers. Judaizers were not simply unconverted Jews. They actually identify themselves with the Christian community. But they teach that you have to follow the ceremonial commands of the Mosaic law in order to be a Christian. You have to follow, for example, the kosher food laws. You have to be circumcised. And with each one of these three epithets, Paul demonstrates an ironic transfer of roles that has taken place. So first, dogs has always been an expression used by the Jews about the Gentiles. Remember that in that culture dogs were not seen as family pets the way that we see them today. No, at best they were used as guard animals and at worst they were mangy strays that ran in packs like jackals or coyotes. Now, when it comes to this expression used by the Jews regarding the Gentiles, again, it wasn't so much merely an insult, although Jesus had said, do not give what is holy to dogs, he says that in Matthew 7, but it wasn't merely an insult as much as it was they were simply the ones who received the scraps. The Jews, in their own minds, received the full blessings of God. The Gentiles got the scraps, whatever was the worst of the leftovers. We see this idea in Matthew 15, in the passage that Chris read for us just a moment ago, in the gospel account of the Canaanite woman who came to Jesus seeking healing for her daughter. And after she persisted in pleading with him, Jesus told her, it is not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs. She said, yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master's table. So the dogs received scraps. But look, now in Philippians 3, the situation is reversed. Christians, even Gentile Christians, or we might say especially Gentile Christians, as a focus here in this context, because the Judaizers, they didn't have any trouble with Christian Jews. So Christians, and especially Gentile Christians, are the new blessed of God. And the Judaizers are the dogs. The roles have been reversed. It says, watch out for those dogs. The same goes for the expression evildoers. This is probably turning the opponent's own claims back on themselves because they were likely claiming to be doing the true works of the law by demanding circumcision and external adherence to the Mosaic law. Yet the works they were doing at this point were merely outward signs, no better than pagan rituals, rather than true works of the law of God, because the true work of the law of God by this time in redemptive history was to repent and place faith in Jesus Christ. So once again, Paul is ironically turning the tables on the Judaizers. The Gentiles had been considered by the Jews to be those who worked lawlessness or iniquity. Now the Judaizers, in claiming to do the proper works of the law, have become evildoers. The third expression, it's fairly obvious, but Paul's using a relatively obscure word to communicate this idea. The Jews claimed to be the circumcision, which was an expression they used to show how they had been set apart for blessing by God, as they followed Abraham in the rite of circumcising their young males. But Paul calls them not the circumcision, but the mutilation. Instead of circumcising their hearts inwardly, they were merely following what had essentially become a pagan ritual by which they claim the blessings of God, by which, in their minds, they merit the blessings of God. So Paul says emphatically, we are the true circumcision. Christians, we are the ones with circumcised hearts. In us, the spiritual meaning of the physical sign of circumcision is fulfilled. We are the ones who worship in the Spirit of God or by the Spirit of God. It's the Spirit who enables true worship. We put no confidence in the flesh any longer. We don't boast in the flesh. And because of that, it's important to understand what Paul's doing in verses four through six by listing all these credentials. He's not doing what he does in some of his other letters when he feels he has to display his worthiness as an apostle or give his apostolic credentials. Remember his pattern through this letter has been to downplay his status, to build up the others, like the elders and deacons of the church at Philippi, like Timothy and Epaphroditus. Now his display here of his me-wall, just like you see in the office of a doctor or a lawyer or a scholar, where they have all their degrees framed and their awards hung on their wall, or say even a military shadow box at the end of your career. His me-wall is a presentation of his credentials of the works of the flesh. In this instance, he's showing that if anyone has any right to boast in the flesh or put any confidence in the flesh, it's Paul. Why? Because he's a Jew, circumcised on the eighth day as the law required, and not at some later time when it merely became advantageous for external reasons to become circumcised. Next, of the race of Israel, he's truly descended from Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, not a proselyte who became a Jew by choice as, for example, Ruth did, who was of the race of Moab. of the tribe of Benjamin. This is included to further display Paul's pedigree, because the tribe of Benjamin, even though it was the smallest tribe, was one of the only two tribes along with the tribe of Judah, as well as many of the priests and Levites, that actually returned to the land from the Babylonian exile. We know this from the Old Testament books, Ezra and Nehemiah. A Hebrew of Hebrews, he says. Now, this phrase has been taken to mean a couple different things. Some simply take it as a superlatives construction, similar to the way we call Jesus the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, or as we heard in Deuteronomy 10 earlier, where Yahweh is called the Lord of Lords. But by the specific words Paul uses here, he seems to be speaking more culturally. That is to say, a Hebrew born of Hebrew parents, who speaks Hebrew, not just Greek, and follows the Hebrew traditions rather than the Hellenistic traditions. That is to say, rather than the traditions followed by the Greek-speaking Jews who had been scattered around most of the rest of the Roman Empire. He goes on to say, as to the law, a Pharisee, he was recognized as an expert in the law. As to Zeal persecuting the church, you know from the book of Acts, Paul was the one who stood by and gave his blessing to the stoning of Stephen, the first martyr. and then went about seeking authority from the Sanhedrin to actively persecute and pursue the church. And that pursuing aspect is important because he indeed tried to hunt them down, even as they fled to other places outside Jerusalem. And this provides a contrast to what he will say later in the letter, in verse 14, next week passage, about what he is now pursuing. Now that he's a Christian, now he pursues not the church to persecute them, But now he pursues the heavenly prize that is in Christ Jesus. And the last of his fleshly credentials, as to righteousness under the law, blameless. Now, Paul's not claiming to be perfect here. This is the same description that was used of Job in the Old Testament, and I believe of Noah as well. And it's the same description used of the parents of John the Baptist. Zechariah and Elizabeth in Luke's gospel account. It's simply a way to explain that no charge had ever been brought against him, that he had willfully, openly violated the law. It was, as Dr. Silva says, a standard way of expressing exemplary conformity to the way of life prescribed by the Old Testament. All this was to say for Paul, if anyone has reason to be boastful about my Jewish heritage, my credentials as a Jew, that's me. But what is Paul's response to the prospect of boasting in the flesh? Well, we see it in verses seven through the beginning of nine. But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him." If it were possible to reduce the gravity of the complete gospel message into just a succinct summary. These three verses, especially if you go to the end of verse nine, they've got to be one of the front runners for such a summary. It's also, at the same time, both forthrightly doctrinal and intensely personal. It's both forthrightly doctrinal and intensely personal. The terms Paul uses in this section, they're terms that were used in accounting practices, loss, gain, and so forth. Imagine it this way. Paul has just lined up everything in one column, everything about his past, about his background, everything that made him who he was before his conversion, and put them into one column, like a ledger or on a spreadsheet. In the accounting spreadsheet of his old life, these were all the assets in the gain column. These were all the credits in the ledger. But now that he's gained Christ and is found in him, everything in that list, everything, all the credits in the ledger, all those items of his own righteousness, all of those have been moved from the gain column to the loss column. All the credits are now debits. All the assets have become liabilities. And there exists now only one thing in his gain column, one thing, the righteousness that belongs to him through faith in Christ. And if you're an accountant, you sum up all the items in the losses column, and you sum up all the items in the gains column, and it's really important for a business for the sum of the gains to be greater than the sum of the losses. But look what Paul's saying. all the items that he used to reckon as gains, as credits or assets, now they're all considered losses or liabilities. And there's only one thing in his gains column, only one credit now, and that's the righteousness that comes through faith in Christ. And the sum of all those items that are now in his losses column, all those debits, that sum doesn't even come close to comparing to the value of the one item in his new gains column, the one credit. That's what he calls the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord. And this here is the only instance in all of Paul's letters where he actually says, my Lord. This one item, this one gain, this one credit is worth far more than anything else that he ever once considered to be to his credit. In fact, the difference in value between all the items in his losses column, all of his background and his Jewish pedigree, everything that Judaizers were trying to convince Christians they had to consider necessary, Paul says he considers all those things as rubbish so that he may gain Christ and be found in him. He has to consider them rubbish in order that he won't be attempting to consider them as his own righteousness from the law. So this word that I've said here, Paul considers all his own righteousnesses as rubbish. This word has been translated in many different ways. And I mentioned earlier, some people here like to say that Paul's using intentionally very vulgar language for the sake of shock value. And that's become an even more common opinion lately, especially since so many more modern pastors are resorting to such methods themselves, frequently using vulgar language intentionally for the shock value. And it is reasonable, at least, to translate that word as, say, dung or manure. The noted early church father John Chrysostom, who had a thorough knowledge of the Greek language, indeed treats this word as manure. and not even in an entirely negative sense, and that'll become apparent in a minute. But there's another meaning of this word which I think makes even more sense within the context of what Paul has been communicating since back in verse 2, which is the concept of table scraps or kitchen refuse. Remember back in verse 2, we explained that the dogs were only worthy of table scraps. And this is what I believe Paul refers back to, that all the things he once considered to be the pinnacle of the blessings of God are mere table scraps in comparison to the feast of what he has in gaining Christ and being found in him. Those table scraps, they're not utterly worthless. This is the mildly positive aspect Chrysostom noted. They had their place. They were how God began to convey his revelation to the world through the nation of Israel and through the covenant he had made with Abraham and with the nation through Moses. Without those, there would never have been a foundation for understanding the revelation that eventually came through Christ. In God's wisdom, that's the way he arranged redemptive history. Paul's looking at what the Judaizers are relying on, what he himself, more than any other, used to rely on, and he's saying, compared to the feast I have in Christ, these are table scraps, refuse, what gets thrown to the dogs. And if that's what the Judaizers still want, that's all they get. If all they want is the scraps, the kitchen refuse, all they'll get is the scrap, that's all they're good for. And I've used this analogy before in a different way. It's like the dwarves of Narnia near the end of C.S. Lewis's last book in that series, The Last Battle. When they're locked in the stable, even though everyone else around them sees that the inside of the stable is really the lush, true world of beauty and fullness, a symbol of the new creation. The dwarves can only see and smell and taste what they expect to find in a stable. Cattle fodder and soiled hay. That's what they expect, that's what they want, so that's all they get. Here's one more illustration. I'm a little wary of using too many illustrations from my own personal life. I think it can be dangerous if a preacher does that too often. But I think there are some illustrations from my own life that dovetail very well here, especially considering how intensely personal Paul makes this passage. And I communicate this to you, not so that you will see the example in my life, but perhaps so that you may identify something similar in your own lives. I was born into a Roman Catholic family and I received an excellent education. I was also trained at an excellent Jesuit Catholic high school, which at the time was pretty widely regarded as the best high school in the state of Arizona. I also have an extremely broad education with four degrees in four different subjects. Three of those are master's degrees. Two of those degrees and most of a third were completed before I was even converted. I'm sharing with you my own me wall. And at that time, before I was converted, I used to say things like this, I pretty much believe that people make their own breaks. And I meant it. I specifically remember saying that to a good friend who had eventually turned out was heavily involved in praying for my conversion. And then not long after my conversion, the Lord brought a series of situations my way. And in the circumstances I ended up in, there was no way out except by fully trusting in Christ and relying on his word. That's what the Lord utilized to show me how valuable it was to know Christ and to be found in him. But that series of situations in my life, which lasted many years, that's how the Lord showed me his hand on my life, his role in orchestrating my circumstances, and how valuable Christ is compared to all the other things in my life I'd been relying on. Now, some of you also know I love time travel stories. I always have. Simply the concept of being able to go back in time and change things about your life is an idea that's always appealed to me. And I think about questions like, what if I had repented the first time I heard the gospel when I was 15? Or even the second time when I was about 20? How would life be different? Would I have avoided some extremely painful situations? Would I have gone to seminary sooner? Would I have gotten into vocational ministry a little sooner? But even as I ask those questions, I think about how those trials in the meanwhile were the experiences the Lord used and the situations he intended to make me who I am today. A few years ago already, there was a Christian song on the radio by a band called Mercy Me. A song is titled, Dear Younger Me, in which the lyrics describe a man writing a letter to his younger self. And in the part of the lyrics, he says, Dear Younger Me, I cannot decide. Do I give some speech about how to get the most out of your life? Or do I go deep and try to change the choices that you'll make? Because they're the choices that made me. We're not God. We cannot see all the intricate ways in which he intends the situations we might go back and change. And he intends them not only for our good, but for his larger, good, sovereign plan. even when we look at situations in which we made clearly sinful choices. In the Bible, we never see the apostolic authors of Scripture saying, I wish I could go back in time and change what I had chosen to do there. No. We do see them repenting. We see Paul, for example, look back on his life and continue to describe himself in terms that show deep awareness of the sinful life the Lord brought him out of. Toward the end of his life, he referred to himself as the chief of sinners. So just as I described how the rubbish or refuse Paul speaks of isn't completely worthless, those parts of my background and those parts of your background aren't completely worthless either. I have an ability to understand where many Roman Catholics are coming from because I lived as one. I have an ability to understand where people who put their trust in science are coming from because I've spent time doing that and I've been educated in science and mathematics. All those items that I used to consider gain even now retain a certain value, but in comparison to what I've since gained in knowing Christ and being found in Him, they cannot be compared. I could have Christ and have none of those things. And in the end, I would still have what was far above all those other things put together. Had I not made some sinful choices that put me eventually into that very drastic situation in which I had to rely on God and His word and no one and nothing else, would I have ever learned to trust God that deeply? I can repent of the choices, but I also have to receive the way in which God grew me through those situations. And in the role as your pastor, that's what should matter the most to you as well about me. It may be that there are times when my background is useful in communicating aspects of truth to you, but what should be of supreme importance to you is that I know Christ and am known by Him. that I have the Holy Spirit living in me. Because the Holy Spirit is the one who illuminates and reveals the truths of God's word to us. If I do not have the Holy Spirit, you will be seriously limited in what truths are illuminated to you as I preach. Also, it's only through the Holy Spirit that we can worship God rightly, as Paul says back in verse three here. If I don't have the Holy Spirit living in me, then I can't lead you in right worship of Almighty God. These things are of utmost importance, not only for me in my life and for you in your own personal lives, but in our lives in the church and as my role as your pastor. And this should be of utmost importance in the lives of any other elders and deacons we eventually have in our church. And Paul's pedigree, the things he once considered gain that he now reckons as loss, didn't just include the family he was born into, but it includes specific sinful choices he had made. As to zeal, I pursued and persecuted the church. Paul never says he wishes he could go back and change that. He repented of those decisions and actions. He seems to have grieved those choices to the end of his life, but he also acknowledges that the depth of his sin reveals the vastness of Christ's saving grace. Just as the converted English slave trader John Newton said later in his life, I remember two things. I am a great sinner and Christ is a great savior. And in addition to the way Paul looks back and assesses his situation, the testimony of the rest of scripture is that the persecution he spearheaded was the primary impetus God used for the initial spread of the gospel outside Jerusalem as the Christians scattered in order to flee the persecution that had been led by Paul. This is, of course, not to say that we should look back on our sin and try to excuse it. And I've said publicly that I think it's a little silly to look back on our life and say we have absolutely no regrets. But it is true that too much time spent on regret for our sinful choices, rather than simple heartfelt repentance, can actually hinder our growth in Christ moving forward. Too much time and regret. And that growth in Christ comes from what Paul gets at in verse 9, what we call our union in Christ, this gaining Christ and being found in Him. It's another example of an expression where two things are really two ways of saying the same thing. To gain Christ is to be found in him. And although our union with Christ does include our being justified in Christ, that is to say being declared righteous because of Christ, as Paul says here, Paul then moves into discussing the power and the fellowship he experiences because of this union with Christ. And there's a difference here that's important to distinguish. To paraphrase R.C. Sproul, even two things that cannot be separated can still be distinguished. And we're not separating our justification and our union with Christ. They can't be separated. If you have justification, you have union with Christ. But the two must be distinguished. Because while justification happens by the action of the Holy Spirit regenerating us, which leads to our repentance and faith in Christ, which leads to God's declaration of justification over us, our union with Christ While present is not present in its fullness because our union with Christ is something we must be aware of to walk in. And it's something that we're called to grow in as believers. Theologian, Louis Burkhoff says it this way. While this union is effected, that is to say generated or created, when the sinner is renewed by the operation of the Holy Spirit, he does not become cognizant of it and does not actively cultivate it until the conscious operation of faith begins. Then he becomes aware of the fact that he has no righteousness of his own, and that the righteousness by which he appears just in the sight of God is imputed to him. But even so, something additional is required. The sinner must feel his dependence on Christ in the very depths of his being in the subconscious life. Hence, he is incorporated in Christ, and as a result, experiences that all the grace which he receives flows from Christ. The constant feeling of dependence is an antidote against all self-righteousness. Now this union with Christ secures for us many things. It secures for us and we share in all the blessings which Christ merited for his people. We see that in Ephesians 1 verse 3. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavens in Christ. And Paul speaks of that here in Philippians 3 verse 10. His goal is to know him and the power of his resurrection. The power of walking in all the spiritual blessings he has blessed us with, including being resurrected from the dead when the time comes. But Paul adds something else to his goal. He adds that his goal is also to know the fellowship of his sufferings. Just as we share in his blessings, we share in his sufferings as well. Burkhoff has this to say. Just as Christ shared the labors, the sufferings, and the temptations of his people, they are now made to share his experiences. His sufferings are, in a measure, reproduced and completed in the lives of his followers. They are crucified with him and also arise with him in newness of life. The final triumph of Christ also becomes their triumph. And now what about you? What items have you tallied up in your gain column should really be marked in the loss column in the leisure of your life? Perhaps you're still trying to use those items to prove to God or to yourself that you really are a good person and that you'll be able to take those before God and present them to him as all the reasons he should let you into heaven when your life on this earth ends. I assure you, your list will never be long enough to overcome your sins, the sin that keeps you at enmity with God. Only Christ and His righteousness imputed to you by faith in Him is enough to justify you before God. But what about for those of you who have experienced and have repented of your sins and have trusted in Christ and experienced His grace? What items may still be in your ledger that you consider gains should really be viewed as losses in your own eyes compared to the value of knowing Christ and being found in Him? Maybe such items include an air of superiority that you carry with you because of your theological knowledge. Or maybe it includes a list of external things that you do because you're such a conscientious Christian. It could be something small like wearing a long beard and smoking cigars because that's what all the cool young reformed bros do these days. And nothing wrong with those, but is your external act more than an external act? It could be even very good things like reading your Bible daily, like a box to check on your list of righteous deeds. is relying on those kind of external items preventing you from constant dependence on Christ and full fellowship with him, both in his blessings and in his sufferings. Perhaps even are such items hindering your ability to walk in love with other believers. I urge you, pray, ask the Holy Spirit to illuminate for you any perspectives you're holding onto about your abilities and your gifts and your practices that may be keeping you from trusting him with full dependence and hindering your walk with him or with others. This doesn't mean you have to discard everything about your past and present life, but it may mean that you have to look on those aspects of your life with new eyes. Let's pray. Father, only you can reveal to us those things that we've either idolized in our heart or perhaps we've gone through the motions once too often and we're just practicing a religious rite rather than spiritual worship in your eyes. And I pray that you would do that for all of us, Lord. Reveal any areas that may be, well, hindering first the very salvation, perhaps, of some here. But for others, Lord, please reveal anything that may be hindering their walk with you, their union with you, and thus their union with the body around them. And I know, Lord, that as you reveal those things, not only will you bring to mind the pain and the hurt, Lord, but you are the consummate healer. And as we're able to repent by your grace, you are able to heal and restore. And I pray you do that now in Jesus' name, amen. Well, let's take our opportunity to live in love and brotherly and sisterly affection with one another. We'll share the Lord's Supper together and then we'll share a fellowship meal together.