whatever things were gained to me I counted as loss because of Christ, counting all things as scubula
7 However, I consider those things that were gain to me as a loss for Christ.
8 Yes most certainly, and I count all things to be a loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I suffered the loss of all things, and count them nothing but refuse, that I may gain Christ
be found in him, not having righteousness of my own from the law but through faith in Christ
9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own, that which is of the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith;
not that I have already grasped it; forgetting what lies behind, pressing on toward the goal
12 Not that I have already obtained, or am already made perfect; but I press on, that I may take hold of that for which also I was taken hold of by Christ Jesus.
13 Brothers, I don’t regard myself as yet having taken hold, but one thing I do. Forgetting the things which are behind, and stretching forward to the things which are before,
14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
he will transform the body of our lowly condition into conformity with his glorious body
21 who will change the body of our humiliation to be conformed to the body of his glory, according to the working by which he is able even to subject all things to himself.
true companion help these women who shared Paul's struggle in the gospel, whose names are in the book of life
3 Yes, I beg you also, true partner, help these women, for they labored with me in the Good News, with Clement also, and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the book of life.
The message in order, in a few minutes of reading.
The sermon worked through Philippians 3:2 through 4:3, covering ground from the previous week and pressing further. The preacher's central concern was showing how both religious self-reliance and unchecked personal freedom are ditches on either side of the gospel road, and that Jesus is the answer to both. The passage closed with Paul's plea for two quarreling women to live in harmony, which the preacher held up as a picture of what the whole letter has been building toward.
What was said
Paul opens Philippians 3 with unusually blunt language, and the preacher leaned into that. Drawing on Frank Thielman's commentary, he rendered the three warnings as "beware the curse, beware the criminals, beware the cutters," and noted that Paul is using language the Jewish community had historically aimed at Gentiles and turning it back against the Judaizers, the ones insisting that Gentile Christians must also take up the law.
Paul then lays out his own religious resume, and the preacher walked through it carefully. Circumcised on the eighth day, tribe of Benjamin, Hebrew of Hebrews, a Pharisee, blameless under the law. The preacher's point was that none of it saved him. The inherited items, he compared to being brought up in a religious home, something the congregation had nothing to do with. The earned items were just as useless. When Paul met Jesus on the road to Damascus, everything he had counted as an asset flipped over into the loss column.
That accounting image carried the weight of the next section. Paul does not just quietly set those credentials aside. He calls them scubula, rubbish, filth, so that he might gain Christ and be found in him. The preacher kept returning to that phrase, "be found in him," describing it as union with Christ, which he said is what the whole letter is finally about. The righteousness Paul now has does not come from the law. It comes through faith, a gift, so that no one can boast.
Moving into chapter 3:15, the preacher tied the "therefore" back to everything Paul had just argued. The mature believer, Paul says, should be having this attitude continually, and the attitude he means is the one described in chapter 2, where Christ, though he was God, emptied himself, took the form of a servant, and humbled himself to death on a cross. The preacher called that a callback and read the Christ hymn to make the connection plain. If that is what Jesus did, that is the posture the mature believer is being called into.
The preacher then turned to the second ditch. Where the first half of the passage addresses legalism, he said verses 18 and 19 address what theologians call the antinomian error. People who walk as enemies of the cross, whose god is their appetite, whose glory is in their shame, who have their minds set on earthly things. He was careful not to name specific behaviors, noting that the text does not list them either, but he was clear that claiming freedom in Christ as a license to do anything leads to the same destruction as trying to earn your way in. Jesus, he said, is the answer to both ditches.
Paul reminds the Philippians that their citizenship is in heaven, and the preacher noted this would have landed with particular weight for people who understood Roman citizenship firsthand. That citizenship crosses every political and ideological line. The body that is prone to both legalistic pride and self-indulgence will one day be transformed to conform to Christ's glorious body. In the meantime, the congregation is called to stand firm.
The sermon closed with Paul's appeal to two women, Euodia and Syntyche, who are in conflict. The preacher did not treat this as a footnote. He said Paul writes this after everything he has just laid out about the gospel, about giving up self-righteousness, about the citizenship that transcends every ism, and then asks two specific people to live in harmony. Not unison, he clarified. They do not have to sing the same note. But they are to sing the same song. He also noted that Paul does not question their salvation, and said that congregations which start declaring the other side unsaved have lost the thread entirely. Salvation is not the result of a theological position. It is the result of the gospel.
Touch points
Things you could actually do this week.
Look back at something you inherited religiously or are proud of doing right, and ask honestly whether you have been trusting that instead of Christ.
If you have been at odds with another person in the church, pray for them this week without the goal of changing their position, trusting God to reveal what needs to be revealed to each of you.
Find someone in your congregation who is on a different side of a disagreement and choose to treat your shared citizenship in heaven as more real than whatever divides you.
Read Philippians 3 and 4 on your own this week so the theological ground the speaker laid is fresh before next Sunday when the series continues.
Sign up to volunteer with children's ministry, either Sunday school starting September 13 or Awana starting September 14, by scanning the QR code or speaking to Jenny, Amy, or Philip.
Doing a Bible study?
Here is a guide we have prepared for you: the passages
in order, questions for the group, and room to write.
Paul lists his religious pedigree, things like his tribe, his training, his zeal, and then calls all of it loss compared to knowing Christ. What are some things you have trusted in, religious or otherwise, that you have had to reckon with in a similar way?
The preacher talked about growing up thinking the church seven miles down the road could not possibly be saved, and mentioned being part of something called the Merit Baptist Association. Where have you seen the tendency to treat religious effort or affiliation as the thing that puts you right with God?
El pastor retomó Filipenses 3:2-4:3, una sección que había visto brevemente la semana anterior. Comenzó explicando las advertencias de Pablo contra los "perros", los "obreros del mal" y los "mutiladores", términos fuertes que apuntaban a los judaizantes, personas que insistían en que los nuevos creyentes debían volver a cumplir la ley además de aceptar a Cristo. Pablo repasa su propio pedigree religioso, circuncidado al octavo día, de la tribu de Benjamín, fariseo, estudiante ejemplar, perseguidor de la iglesia, todo eso que él consideraba un activo espiritual. Pero al encontrar a Jesús, entendió que todo eso era una pérdida, incluso basura, comparado con conocer a Cristo y ser hallado en él, no con una justicia propia sino con la que viene de Dios por la fe.
El pastor también habló de la trampa opuesta al legalismo: el error antinomiano, la idea de que porque hay libertad en Cristo se puede hacer cualquier cosa. Pablo llora al escribir que hay muchos cuyo dios es su propio apetito y cuya mente está puesta en las cosas terrenales. La respuesta a ambas zanjas, el legalismo y la licencia, es la misma: mirar a Jesús. Nuestra ciudadanía está en el cielo, y esperamos al Salvador que transformará nuestro cuerpo humilde a semejanza de su cuerpo glorioso. Por eso Pablo llama a los filipenses a mantenerse firmes en el Señor de esa manera, no de la manera legalista ni de la manera licenciosa.
Al final, el pastor señaló el conflicto entre Evodia y Síntique, dos mujeres que habían trabajado junto a Pablo en el evangelio pero que ahora estaban en desacuerdo. Pablo no toma partido ni cuestiona la salvación de ninguna, sino que urge a la comunidad a ayudarlas a vivir en armonía. El pastor conectó esto con la realidad de que nos salvamos por el evangelio, por Jesús, no por tener la posición teológica correcta dentro de nuestro grupo.
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Pasajes bíblicos mencionados:
Filipenses 3:2-4:7
Gálatas (mencionado en general, sobre el peligro de volver a la ley)
Efesios (mencionado en general: "salvados por gracia mediante la fe, no por obras")
Filipenses 2:5-11 (el himno de la humillación y exaltación de Cristo)
Read the full transcript6,756 words
Speaker 1Good morning, everybody. How are y'all? Doing alright? Well, I'm I'm kinda vamping till the band gets up here because there's safety in numbers. Good to see all of y'all.
Would you stand with us? And we're gonna lead off with a prayer to see if it'll slow my heart rate. Lord God almighty, I'm so thankful to be here among and amidst your people, Lord. And I pray that the song that is in our soul would be sung, Lord, for everyone around us. In Jesus' name, Lord, we ask you to bring us to a place of absolute unity in Christ.
Not uniformity. We're different, lord. But would you bring us to a place of absolute unity in the gospel. Thank you for drawing us out of our various little spheres, lord, and into the peace of God. And so, lord, we sing to you a song that's in our soul.
Amen. Here we go. Strength of God Oh, before. What's happening? We're empty.
Thank you. Oh, I'm in the wrong one. Thank you. I'm nervous. Thank you.
She made that a lot bigger than it was too. Okay. There's a reason I do what I do and not what I don't do. Alright. Here we go.
There's a song. Here we go. Here we go. There's a joy in my soul,
Speaker 3and it rises like one. This I know for sure that your grace is well, and you
Speaker 1Y'all can have a seat. I'm gonna ask Danny Sherwin to come up front and give us some announcements. What is going on?
Speaker 2Hello. There we go. Alright. So announcements. Go ahead, Blake.
First b BBQ. Next one is is it this Sunday, the sixteenth? No, next, September 20. All right, we got to fix that slide. No, but first, is that the last one?
Okay, make sure you make the last one if you've missed the others because they are awesome. Just a great time for everybody to get together and talk and share and fellowship. So September 20, Seeking Truth in Your Twenties, Sundays at 06:30 up at the McCooey's house up by the airport. The address is there. Up to 29 years old, and it's it's awesome for all the young kids to get together and do that too.
These two slides are very important to me. We do need volunteers. So if you're interested in getting involved at the children's ministry that we do at this church, either Sunday school or Awana, which is my next big announcement. Sunday school starts on the September 13. Awana, the first night is the fourteenth.
The Awana sign ups, this QR code sorry, Blake. The QR code on that last slide is for volunteers, but you can also speak to me, Jenny, or Amy, or Philip for Sunday school. And that QR code, you can go on there and sign up to volunteer. And we just need floaters and people around. We're not gonna make you work hard.
There's no major commitment. We just like to see faces and have parents involved, and it's just an awesome time. But Awana starts the fourteenth. We have early registration. That QR code there is for early registration.
We've sent out an email already to people that have been coming to Awana. So if you haven't seen that email, let us know. But you can sign your kids up there. We'd like to get as many kids signed up as early as possible just so we can get supplies and everything organized. But it is such a fun night, and it goes all through the school year.
The kids love it. You see the the faces shine. They they get to learn about Jesus. And as volunteers, we get the pleasure of being involved in that. So that's awesome.
Fundraising. Old Bills is coming up. You can give through Old Bills to the church, and your contributions will be matched. It's up to, like, 60 to 70% match that they do up to a certain amount. So it's an awesome way to give to the church through old bills, and they're a great organization that's very supportive of our community.
And I think that's all we have for today. So thank you guys very much.
Speaker 1Thank you, Danny. Danny's one of our elders. He's a younger elder, he's an elder. There he is. Aaron so Aaron Hauge is saying back in the back, we've got Meal Music and a Message also for in Driggs at the Driggs Fairgrounds, Wednesday evening, six to eight.
There it is. So Driggs Fairgrounds, six to eight this Wednesday. Pick him back up. Y'all, why don't you stand up, stretch a bit, I'll calm down, and we'll bring you back together with the song. Thank you lord that that's true.
Stepping up and into the breach, lord. Our fear does not stand a chance. We stand in your love and we're thankful. Lord, you are holy forever and would you keep on calling us more and more lord into your holiness. Would you empower us to do your will and your way in Jesus name.
Amen. Revelation song. We haven't sung this one in a while. I was reminded of it last weekend. If you're there, you were there.
Awesome power this blade. And that's the way he is all the time whether we see it or not. Worthy is the lamb who was slain. Holy, Y'all can have a seat. And we're gonna sing a song during the worship through giving time.
It's a chance to give back something that God has given to you. And that could be any kind of talent. It could be any kind of resource whatsoever. This is the time, obviously, when there are gonna be plates passing and it's the operatory time. If you want to, feel free to do that.
But I pray that we would worship through giving all week long and think about, wow, you've given me this, lord, this ability to understand or this thing that you've shown me how to do, lord and would you just let me use that for your glory, for their good, and for your glory. In Jesus name, I ask a blessing on this offering on the time when we contemplate what it is that we are to give and on the time that we're gathered in your name. In Jesus name, Lord. I'm thankful thankful to be here. Amen.
Lately, folks have been standing up. You can stand up if you want to. You don't have to stand up. Alright? Some people are waiting for the plates to pass.
I don't care what you do. Stand, sit, be contemplative. It really doesn't matter, but don't feel weird about it. Okay? That's the thing.
Don't feel weird about it. Is that what song we're singing, Here's My Heart, Lord? Sweating like James Brown up here. Golly. Goodness gracious.
Thank you. Alright. God almighty, you're so good to us. Just overwhelmed with it this morning, lord. May we sing a new song to the Lord and may we not forget that ancient boundary post.
I pray lord to never be an offense to another. Lord God almighty, the gospel itself divides. I don't wanna be having anything to do with dividing and running people off away from it, lord. God, help us find the middle, find the balance, find it, lord, for us. Lead us into it.
You say that by your spirit, you'll lead us into all truth. So, lord, I pray for open and receptive hearts, humble spirits, in Jesus name this morning. Receive your word. Amen. So, we're up to Philippians three fifteen.
I'm going to go up to four three, I think, and then have four four through seven as a benediction in anticipation of next week covering that. But this section is so good. I'm gonna drop back actually to do three two through 14 again. After going through it last week, if you wanna go look at that, it was kind of a hurried look and and we're going to hit it one more time because there's some theological underpinning for the rest of this that would help. So, we go.
Therefore, is the way 15 starts off and so we're dropping back to verse two to see what the therefore is. Therefore, And it starts off like this, beware of the dogs, beware of the evil workers, beware of the false circumcision. Now, you read that and you've read past it in the Bible over and over, you just go, okay, whatever, Paul. This is emphatic. In fact, it's a staccato, boom boom boom, really hits hard.
And it's stronger language than he usually uses and you all know Paul. He uses some fairly strong language. So Frank Thielman who's written in commentary about this says this is, beware the curse, beware the criminals, beware the cutters. And he says he's stomping his foot while he's saying it. So beware the curse are those ravenous dogs.
Don't think of it as prissy little Missy that is around the house. Okay? It's not that. It's street dogs. The Greeks didn't like them and the Jews didn't like them.
And they nipped at your heels and they're trying to get your food and they're trying to get in on what's going on. That's the dogs. And traditionally, the Jews had used it against the Gentiles and Paul is using it somewhat ironically here because he's speaking to Gentile Christians and uses it against the Judaizers, the ones who say you must follow the law. Even if you accepted Christ, you must now go back and pick it up. Now, we have the whole book of Galatians saying that's a bad idea but beware of the dogs, beware of the evil workers, the ones who do evil, and beware of the false circumcision.
I think that the beware of the evil workers might be about what's coming this today in the black slides, not the white slides. We covered this last week but the evil workers are the ones who are who are insisting that it comes by works. Yeah, maybe but it may also be those who are actually doing evil in the name of Christ like they're baptizing their sin in the name of Christ. I've got liberty in Christ. I can do whatever I want.
That sort of thing. Beware of the mutilators is what that says. Instead of the ones who cut around, it's pretty graphic. The ones who who destroy or mutilate, that's what that is. It's very strong language for Paul and that's out of the gate this morning.
He says, we are the ones who are the true circumcision. Those who accepted Christ recognized that he is the one who circumcises hearts. And so even in the old testament, if you didn't have a circumcised heart, the fleshly circumcision meant no difference, made no difference. But we are the true circumcision who worship in the spirit of God and take pride only in Christ Jesus. We put no confidence in the flesh.
The outward trappings of religion are we don't put any confidence in that. It's not what we can do in our own strength. We put no confidence in that. Although I and Paul drops back to this position, he's saying, if we're gonna talk that way, if we're gonna talk about things in religiosity, here's my pedigree. Although I myself, I could boast as having confidence even in the flesh.
Now, for the Judaizers, they would insist that the new Christians fall back into position of practicing the law, ceremonial stuff, eat the right way, and do this sign, the circumcision that Paul just called mutilation. Although I myself, I could boast as having confidence even in the flesh. I could. If we're going to have that argument, I can have that and I can stack what I've done up against these other folks. If anyone else thinks that he's confident in the flesh, well, I have even more reason.
Now, I was circumcised on the eighth day. That's the law. That's the way it's supposed to be. That says that your parents that cared about you and they cared about the law and so that's something he inherited. He didn't have anything to do with that.
Have you all ever heard you don't get into heaven on coattails? Mom and daddy ain't going to drag you in, right? So, circumcised on eighth day, he inherited that of the nation of Israel. Now, did he have a choice about that? None.
He inherited that. Lottery of birth. He was of the nation of Israel but he was so he can argue it. If he's going to argue, he's not right here. He's setting us up.
Of the tribe of Benjamin. You know Benjamin was the one that stayed faithful to David. Benjamin is the one that where Jerusalem, it's in the tribe of Benjamin's territory. It's not in Judah. Right?
It's not up north where they set up all these faults. So it's the best. Tribe of Benjamin. He inherited that too. And then he says, a Hebrew of Hebrews.
Now, he's saying, I excelled among my people. Not only did I inherit it, I've also won it by effort too. I was as Hebrew as a Hebrew could be, I went beyond my peers, he says in another place. I was a student of Gamaliel and I went was excelling beyond all of my peers. As to the law, I was a Pharisee, and they are the ones who are the most serious about the law.
If you're thinking about them in right wing, left wing, theological circles these days, the Pharisees are the right wingers, Sadducees are the left wingers. As to the law, a Pharisee. I knew it and I put it into practice. As to zeal, I recognized that this new thing, Christianity, the followers of the way. I recognize them as reinventing the wheel and I was a persecutor of that church.
I wanted to stamp it out. I don't want that kind of what I thought was heresy. So, they're not more zealous. The Judaizers are not more zealous than I was. I was killing people in the name of God.
I was taking writs to Damascus when I hit Jesus, right? Blinded by the light. As the zeal, I was a persecutor of the church. So, that was by effort. He didn't want anybody to outdo him and so he was going.
As to the righteousness which is in the law, I was found blameless. Now, people looking at Paul would have put him on a pedestal for the way that he handled scripture and for the way that he handled religion and he was an example to all of his people. Hebrew of Hebrews. He stood out from among the rest. He says, they would not have found any fault in me.
Now, we know what he says about the righteousness which is in the law in other places and he's about to say it here. There is no righteousness in the law. The the law only shows you where you lack and so Paul says, I was found blameless and there are a lot of theological debate about what exactly he means. Did he think he was He said, no. He he wouldn't have said that he thought he was perfect but he did everything to cover the bases when he messed up because that's what religion does is when you realize you're wrong, you gotta do something to make up for it and that's not God's standard.
We all fall short of God's standard. You can see that elsewhere. You can see it here. As to the righteousness which is in the law, as far as that goes, found blameless. So that's human effort.
Now, y'all been in church before. We know that there's nothing that you can do to earn God's favor. There's nothing that you can do to merit salvation and Paul is setting us up right here saying, all of these things I did do right. All these things I had right before I could even think about it. My folks had it right.
But this is huge. This is huge. I've said about the conjunctions in Philippians that they're just huge. It makes all the difference in the world. Like, as to the righteousness which is in the law, I was found blameless, but that's not true.
Whatever things were gained to me. So think of it as a CPA. You got your credits and your debits. And so he had for his whole life been stacking up what he thought were credits. He's got all these credits, all these assets.
And then when he met Jesus on that road to Damascus, in the light of his glory and grace, because it wasn't what he had done that had earned the favor. In the light of his glory and grace, he saw what he had had in the credit or the asset file switch ledger lines over into these things are lost. This doesn't mean anything. I was self righteous, not righteous. Whatever things were gained to me, these things I've counted as a loss because of Christ.
He's the only one that's truly true. He's the only one that's truly righteous and that is because he is God. But he practiced it in the flesh. When he saw this, all these things I've counted lost because of all of my pedigree. Now, some of y'all were brought into a religious home.
Your mom and dad took you to church before you could do anything about it. That's like being circumcised on the eighth day. It's inherited. That's not yours. That's some I'm glad that they did.
I'm glad that my mom and dad did too. But I remember being over holy. I remember thinking that that's what did it. I remember it and I was surrounded by people that felt it and thought it too. And we knew how to do everything.
I've told y'all before. I didn't even think West End Baptist Church which was seven miles away. West End Baptist Church, they couldn't be saved. I've seen the way they play softball. Like, seriously.
I'll tell you something else. The name and it's a name. It's got two r's and two t's, but the name of my Baptist Association that I grew up in, I still get their emails, is the Merit Baptist Association. Just let that sit for a second. Paul says, I look back on all that and I I changed my mind about that.
I I had always been proud of it and then I saw that what a shame I didn't see Jesus. What a shame that when I saw those people who were following the way, didn't recognize it immediately because I didn't. More than that, I count everything as lost in view of the surpassing value of having Jesus and knowing him, knowing him as my lord. That is the best thing all of the other self is lost. Knowing Jesus, my lord, for whom I'm suffered the loss of all things.
I gladly give it all away. I count them all as scubula, mere rubbish, trash, dung, filth. Why? So that I may gain Christ. I'm willing to give up all the religious nonsense so that I may gain Christ and be found in him.
Oh, to be found in him. Union with Christ is what it is all about. What are you gonna do with Jesus? Union with Christ is what it's all so that I may be found in him, not having any righteousness of my own that's derived from the law. It's not possible, but I have that which is through faith in Christ.
The righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith. Oh, that calls back to Ephesians, doesn't it? He just wrote the Ephesians letter. It says, you were saved by God's grace. Through faith, it's not so that if that's so that no one can boast.
It's a gift of God so that no one can boast. It's a gift of God. Grace, unmerited favor is what he's offered and you've accepted it just by believing him. Lord God almighty, may we all believe you. It's not because of what we do or what we did.
It's because of who you are. So that I may, that I may what? That I may know him, Christ, and the power of his resurrection. Resurrection. The same power that raised Christ from the dead is still available and working today.
He is calling us into understanding of our own sinfulness and of God's goodness and he is laying it out there before us to say, I'm dropping all of what I think, lord. I'm dropping all of what I'm trusting in and I'm just looking to you. Would you show me your way and empower me to walk in it? I don't have anything in my hand. Nothing in my hands.
I bring simply to the cross. I cling. I am naked and I come to you for dress. I'm hungry and I come for you for food. Lord God almighty, help me.
Bring me into that place of recognizing my need and then recognizing your supply. Amen. Being conformed to his death, if somehow I may attain to the resurrection of the dead, the somehow I mentioned last week, if you want to look at that, the somehow I think is a statement of humility saying, I don't understand how it works but I do know that it works, okay? So, it could be that that somehow is saying that, I don't know if I'm going be living or dead when Jesus comes back, right? Somehow, one way or the other, resurrection is my way and that's because of Jesus.
Here we go. Not that I've already grasped it. Another statement of humility. Not that I've already grasped it all or that I've already become perfect. Now, I've already talked about Paul is speaking to Judaizers who are legalistic.
If they are Christians, they are very legalistic Christians that feel like you must. Now, anything added to the gospel makes it not the gospel. So, I'm saying if they're Christians, that's gracious but legalist, he's been speaking to so far. He also is speaking to people who might still be in the same boat that he was in where he felt like they're blameless or perfect. Brothers and sisters, I don't regard myself as taking hold of it yet.
I'm not finished. I'm in the already saved but not yet completely sanctified, not glorified. So I am living in the already and not yet. I'm saved, but I'm also being sanctified and I want to take hold of that. And I will one day because just like he said to them in the beginning of this book, I trust that he who began a good work in you will complete it until the day of Christ Jesus.
He trusted for them, he trusted for himself. One thing I do, forget what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead. Now, he just told them what lie lay behind him. Why is he saying forgetting that? He's saying, I'm forgetting all that I thought was gain and it's hard.
Sometimes, it jumps back on us. We think but I'm a good little boy. I'm the one who did everything right. I didn't ever have that wild face. No.
Forget that. Go forward. Trust me. Do what it is that he has for you now. One thing I do, forget what lies behind and reach him forward what lies ahead.
I press on towards the goal for the prize of the upper calling of God in Christ Jesus. Alright. Here's where we start. Therefore, therefore, all who are mature. So he's speaking to the Philippians who have accepted Christ.
He's speaking to him about what to look out for, and so far, he's been speaking out to the Judaizers, the legalists among them and he's saying, all of y'all who are mature, you're in Christ. You know that the law only points out your sin and so, you're mature and you realize that you trust God for your righteousness. Therefore, all of y'all who are mature, let's be having this attitude. It's progressive for let's be having this attitude as a continual thing in the right now. Let's be having this attitude.
And as soon as he says attitude, it takes me back to chapter two. Have this attitude in yourselves, he's speaking to them, and now he's saying, let all who are mature, let us, he's including himself in that, Let's have this attitude. Let's have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus and this is the great Christ him who Christ. As he already existed in the form of God, he was God. He did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but he, kenosis, emptied himself by taking the form of a slave, bond servant, and being born in the likeness of men and being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself.
If that's what Jesus did by the power of the spirit, that's what we are to do. That's the attitude. Now, is a callback. I'm coming back to where we were in just a minute in chapter three. But chapter two says this, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on the cross.
And for this reason, because he humbled himself, God has highly exalted him and he bestowed on him the name which is above every name. We sang that two or three different ways this morning. So, that name of Jesus, every knee will bow. Those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth and so that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is lord to the glory of God the father. So, all of y'all who are mature, let's be having this attitude and if in then anything, you have a different attitude.
If in anything, you're not humbling yourself. If anything, you're holding pride to. You know, if you're holding on to it in pride. If there's anything that you're holding on to and have a different attitude, God will reveal that to you as well. Shut the door.
That's crazy, man. No. That's how you don't argue with people you disagree with. I trust God. If it's by his spirit, he's cleansing me and directing me.
I have to trust that it's by his spirit that he's cleansing you and directing you. Sit on this for just a minute. All of y'all who are mature, let's have this attitude. If in anything you have a different attitude, God's going to reveal that to you. I trust him.
I'll pray for you and I mean it. I'm not upset with you. I don't see it that way but I don't understand but you know what? I'm a finite human being that doesn't see it that way and doesn't understand completely and so, we've got folks on this end of the spectrum and that end of the spectrum, you know what? God's calling them into the marvelous light right there in Jesus and when you look at him, all of the positions that you have held, all of the positions you have held and I don't care which ones they are.
All of them dim to being absolute scubula. In the light of his glory, in the light of his grace. So, if you're mature, let's have this attitude. If any anything you have a different attitude, God's going to reveal that to you. I trust him to do so.
However, let's keep on living by the same standard to which we have attained. Sorry, that's in gray for some reason. However, let's keep living by the same standard to which we think. Don't go backwards. Alright?
Let's let's hold on to what we've got and not go backwards. Brothers and sisters, join in following my example. This is not the only place where Paul says, follow my example. In other books, he says, follow me as I follow Christ. I might get off path too.
Help me if I do. Brothers and sisters, join in. Follow my example and observe those who walk according to the pattern that you have in us. He just got through saying, I'm sending Timothy to you. He's a trusted quantity.
You know him. You can have confidence in him. He knows you and he loves you and y'all know that and so, I'm sending him to you. I don't have anybody else that gets this and this is what you need. Y'all are at each other's throats and in another place, he would say, be careful about chewing each other up.
You might just devour one another. It's not a good thing. So, brothers and sisters, joining my example, observe those who walk according to pattern that you have in me and Timothy and in us. For many, there are many who walk and this is the other ditch, okay? So, we've got the legalism ditches covered.
I covered that last week and then again today. Many walk of whom I have often told you and I'm saying it now through tears. As I weep, I'm writing down that, yeah, there are many that are actually enemies of the cross of Christ. And these folks that are enemies of the cross of Christ, this is what it looks like. Their end is destruction.
God their God, small g, is their appetite. It's their desire that has turned into a god and whose glory is actually in their shame. What they're the most vaunting the most is what's actually killing them. This can be either side of the spectrum by the way. Alright.
It can be anywhere along the spectrum. There's plenty of shame all over it. Who's in this destruction, whose God is their appetite, whose glory is in their shame, who have their minds on earthly things. Do you all know we're supposed to be a people of the means, not the ends? We're supposed to be doing the right thing, the next right thing as God reveals it to us, as the steps in front of us, he places and illuminates.
We're supposed to be walking in those things with an eye towards him and with an eye towards doing the right thing even when it's painful, even when it's shameful like Christ, humbled, humble ourselves, and walk forward. That's what we're supposed to be doing. We don't think, hey, I've got a glorious end so I'm going to connive my way to get there. I'm going to do an end around to get to what I think is the right thing. No.
Simple faith, looking to Jesus, walking towards him. Who's end is destruction, who's God's appetite, whose glory is in their shame, who have their minds on earthly things, mentions four things right there and this is what theologians would call the antinomian error. Namas means law in Greek and anti law. You can, you can today say, I'm so free in Christ. I can do anything I want to.
Paul says, yeah, everything's permissible but not all things are profitable. Not for you, not for the people around you. If you walk in antinomian error where you just think, well, I can do whatever I want And I could list if I start listing things, it's going to be the hot button items. He doesn't list the things. Right?
We've got our hot button items. I don't know what yours are. I know the ones that society know that the Christian industrial complex, what we've named. I know that. But if it's an earthly thing, if it's appetite driven, and if the scripture calls it shameful, the end is destruction.
There's a way that seems right to a person, but in the end, it's the way of destruction or the way of death. And so, boy, there are enemies of the cross. They're out there and they're trying to convince you from this ditch over here. It's not legalistic. It's completely free from that, but it's so free from that that we've gotten stuck in this other ditch over here.
I can do whatever I want to. That's not good for us though. Jesus is the answer for both of those ditches. I've been saying this for years now. Now, he's speaking folks from Philippi and Philip Philippians, a lot of them are soldiers and they've won their citizenship in Rome.
And citizenship comes up a lot actually in Philippians. And so, they understand what it's like to have Roman citizenship and what the benefits that brings. In a lot of ways, it's like having American passport. You know what mean? You you can travel anywhere, you can do anything, you kind of known our citizenship is in heaven.
He's reminding them that their earthly citizenship, you know what that's like. But if you recognize that it crosses all of those geopolitical little imaginary lines, and it crosses actually all of those isms that are all over the place. Our citizenship is in heaven. We should be subject to our king. And he says, our citizenship is in heaven for which we also eagerly wait for a savior and I think the capital s is warranted there because it's followed up with the Lord Jesus Christ.
If anybody else claims to be the savior, they ain't. Our citizenship is in heaven. We're eagerly waiting for a savior and that savior is the Lord Jesus Christ who will transform the body of our lowly condition into conformity with his glorious body. This body is subject to legalistic pride and it's subject to licentious behavior and pride, but there is a day coming when Jesus will completely redeem and glorify, and we won't have the same kind foibles that we all have now. He'll transform the body of our lowly condition into conformity with his glorious body, resurrection power.
By the exertion of the power that he has even subject all things to himself. He's holding it all together and we still have that walking around person with us all the time and we have the temptation and not live by the spirit but live by the flesh and that's not always gonna be the way that it is. We will be eventually glorified by God. The same power that raised Jesus from the dead is at work in us but we do need to walk in it. So therefore, my beloved brothers and sisters, because of all that, because of legalistic stuff you gotta avoid, because of the life sentience stuff you gotta avoid, therefore, my brothers and sisters, the ones who I long to see, I can't wait to get back and see you all again.
My joy and my crown, this is like number 14 or 15 where he's mentioned joy. My crown. I count it a joy that I got to spread the gospel among you and that it took root. My joy and my crown. Stand firm in the Lord in this way.
So, in this way, not that way, not that way, that shaky ground, stand firm in the Lord in this way. My beloved, he cares about him deeply. Now, the next verse, he says, I urge Euodia and I urge Centichi to live in harmony in the Lord. It's first time they've mentioned these two folks and these two folks, those are feminine names, don't matter, could be anybody, could be Bob and Bill. When I got here, they were I'm not joking.
Are these folks dead yet? When I got here, I think they are. When I got here, there were two people that were arguing and I'm not joking about this. They were arguing over whether Jesus' blood was a metaphor that cleansed sin or whether the chemical composition of Jesus' blood is what cleansed sin. They're arguing that because a spiritual guru for both of them had reversed himself.
This is crazy, people. Okay? Can you see that that does not matter at all? Okay. Neither one of them were named Bob.
Neither one of them were named Bill. Okay? Euodia and Syntychee. That's the way I pronounce it. I'm from Georgia.
He's urging them after he said this, after he said this, he's urging them to live in harmony in the Lord. He doesn't sing say sing unison. You don't have to sing exactly the same thing. You don't have to sing it exactly the same way. He recognizes that you're wired differently.
He's saying, I urge both of you to live in harmony in the Lord. You can sing and because you're singing the same song, but you're singing different notes to the same song, You've got it. I urge you Odeon and Ticki to live in harmony of the Lord. Indeed, true companion. I ask you also.
I don't know who that is. Not sure. Timothy is staying with Paul for a little bit longer. He's going to send him soon. Maybe it's Epaphras, maybe it's somebody else that's not named we don't know.
Maybe he's just saying indeed true companion to whoever reads this letter. You're my true companion. If you're in the gospel with me, you're a true companion. We're in this together. So, I urge all of y'all.
Indeed, true companion. I ask all of y'all also. Be helping these women. Be helping Euodia and Syntyche because they're having issues with each other and teams are starting to form and so what are we going to help them do? We're going to help them and wait a second, not just help them what?
We're going to help them. They shared my struggle in the cause of the gospel. They're valuable. They have been soldiers of the cross. There's no doubt about, let me go on.
Together with Clement as well as the rest of my fellow workers whose names are in the book of life. There's no question about salvation. Have you ever been a part of a fellowship? That when it came down to it and there was an argument, one side was saying the other side was not saved. I'm closing my eyes so I don't see this.
I know that it's true. And if you keep on like that, both sides are saying the other side is not saved. We're only saved not because of what we think or because of our ism. We're saved because of the gospel, okay? We're saved because of Jesus.
I don't care what your theological bent is. It falls apart in Jesus. Do you all get that? Okay. That's the end.
That's it. If you get that, you got it. Go out and do likewise. You know, that's amazing. Would you stand up?
We're gonna sing a song. I'm gonna try to lead it. If the elders are in the room, would you all come forward and just stand up here like at the at the bottom down there? And I don't need this. The elders that are here in the room, y'all standing up.
These guys are ready to pray for you. I'm going to try my best to just sing this song. Christ be all around. Lord God almighty, may we step away from our camps and step towards you. May we draw others in as we go forward.
In Jesus name, amen. Here it is. Philippians four four through seven and we'll go over this next week. Says, rejoice in the Lord always and again, I will say rejoice. Let your gentle spirit be known to all people.
The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything but in everything by prayer and pleading with thanksgiving, let your request be made known to God and the peace of God which surpasses all comprehension will itself guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Lord God almighty, may me dwell on that and live it out. Amen.
