Life in Christ is the Passionate Pursuit of Christ

Life in Christ is the Passionate Pursuit of Christ

Philippians 3:1-21

Forrest Frank is a singer who was invited to attend the Dove awards. If you don’t know what the Dove awards are, they are the equivalent of the Grammys for Christian-based Musical Artists. Recently, Forrest took to social media to share his own public opinion on the Dove awards, and why he is convicted of not attending. He said, “As Christians, it’s hard to know where the line in the sand is between being in the world and not of the world… I’m convicted, personally, that a line that I can draw is that I will not receive a trophy for something that is from Jesus, and for Jesus… I hope to be an example to the youth that our trophy is salvation. The trophy is that my name is listed in the Book of Life, and I have eternal life. What good is a piece of metal going to do compared to that?”

Forrest isn’t condemning receiving the award, nor people attending. He’s simply stating that his conviction is to not receive praise for his God-given gifts, rather to turn that into more of a praise to Jesus, and that his salvation is the most important thing, his greatest gift.

This is a real time experience of someone leveraging everything they have for the sake of knowing Jesus.

Paul in our text today, explains how he leverages his whole life for the sake of knowing Jesus and encouraging the Philippians to do the same; by warning them about pointless pursuits. While highlighting the value of pursuing Christ using his own life as a template to encourage them about what they ought to pursue with their own. With our text today, I am going to highlight Paul’s big idea in this chapter into three major points:

1. Renounce Trivial Pursuits (3:1-6)

2. Set Your Eyes on Christ (3:7-11)

3. Pursue What Caught Your Eye (3:12-21)

“In addition, my brothers and sisters, rejoice in the Lord. To write to you again about this is no trouble for me and is a safeguard for you. Watch out for the dogs, watch out for the evil workers, watch out for those who mutilate the flesh.” (v.1-2)

In v. 1-6, Paul shares a warning to the Philippians to watch out for one group of people who are selling a lie. They are trying to deceive this church into pursuing other things than a relationship with Christ. This group of people are called “Judaizers,” and they followed Paul around maliciously teaching the Christians in the churches he started to follow the Old Testament law as a means of maintaining their relationship with God, thus prizing and emphasizing their obedience to the law over the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. Many of Paul’s letters have some sort of mention of this group of people and you can see traces of their actions in Acts 15. Paul has some pretty strong language to describe these people each withtheir own meaning in context:

1.“Dogs,”

→ In the historical context, being referred to as a “dog,” usually meant dangerous, or mangy, it was an insult specifically used by Ancient Near-Eastern people groups to describe one another. So here, Paul is warning the Philippians about people who are coming into the church and damaging it, polluting the joy in Christ Paul is trying to instill in them.

2.“Evil workers,”

→ Paul called them evil workers to point to their intentions. What would be considered as good work is building one another in their faith in Christ. However, the Judaizers were teaching legalism to the churches. Instead of them saying, “Take joy in pursuing Christ!” They taught, “The only way to be in relationship with Jesus is by following the Old Testament Law.” This in turn places a level of pride in how well one can follow the law and takes away how much we should appreciate the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.

3. “Those who mutilate the flesh.”

→ Circumcision was an Old Testament symbol for Jewish men to be descendants of Abraham. Once a mark of pride, Paul is now removing the pride from that. The Philippian church was predominately composed of Gentiles (non-Jewish people who would not have practiced circumcision) and being taught by the Judaizers, “In order to be accepted by God, you have to look like us as much as you possibly can.”

With the very next verse Paul flips this notion on its head. V. 3

“For we are the circumcision, the ones who worship by the Spirit of God, boast in Christ Jesus, and do not put confidence in the flesh.”

Paul rejects the legalism the Judaizers are teaching with one descriptor and three markers:

1. The Descriptor: “The Circumcision,”

→ In the Old Testament, circumcision was a physical one. Here, Paul is referring to a spiritual circumcision. Removing the old habits, and replacing them with new ones which are these three markers.

2.“The ones who worship by the Spirit of God,”

→ Christians have the Holy Spirit, and so in worship (like Sunday gatherings), or in our own service to God, our worship and service is an expression of the Holy Spirit working in us. Are you genuinely worshiping God? Are you excited to serve God whether that’s volunteering in church or serving your family well? Do you have a love of God’s word, and His people? If yes to any of those questions, that is some evidence of the Spirit of God working in your life.

3.“Boast in Christ Jesus,”

→ Christmas is coming up, when you ask a child what they got for Christmas, you see them light-up, and some will just beam with joy and excitement telling you about their favorite gift. When we approach the Lord with child-like faith that’s what we look like when we’re boasting about Christ, like we’re a child on Christmas that just received the greatest gift ever! This is the boasting in Christ Paul is referring to.

4.“Do not put confidence in the flesh.”

→ This last marker is similar to the second one. That we are a people who don’t look at our own efforts, gifts or abilities to justify why we are good, why we deserve a better life than the one we live, or as a means to justify why we are better than anyone else. Instead, we are so focused on bragging about Jesus, that everything else doesn’t even compare to how good He is. When we do this we understand two things:

○ I’m on the same level as the next person. No one is perfect, no one is better than anyone else.

○ We see Jesus as that much more glorious, because He is perfect, and inHis perfection chose to elevate us through His life, death, and resurrection, instead of holding our imperfection against us. (remember the hymn in chapter 2).

Paul, though, adds some razzle dazzle to it. He doesn’t just say, “Don’t listen to them,

you have the Holy Spirit, worship and serve God.” He says, “although I have reasons for

confidence in the flesh. If anyone else thinks he has grounds for confidence in the flesh, I have more:” (v. 4). In other words, been there–done that. Everything the Judaizers have put their confidence in, everything they prize, Paul is saying, “I’m him!” and he brought the receipts:

● “Circumcised on the eighth day,”

→ Meaning from birth, he was confirmed as a Jew by a Rabbi.

●“Of the nation of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews,”

→ Not only can he trace his lineage to one of the original 12 tribes, he can trace ALL of his ancestors back to the original ancestor, Benjamin, a rare feat even in those days. It’s like me trying to tell you the tribe my ancestors came from in west Africa before being brought to the states without using 23 & Me.

● “Regarding the law, a Pharisee;”

→ Paul held the title of Pharisee, his title means that Paul’s knowledge is the equivalent of a Ph.D in Old Testament studies and theology. Paul knew the scriptures, and he’s the guy you want on your team for Bible Trivia.

● “Regarding zeal, persecuting the church;”

→ Very few cared about the law and prophets more than Paul. He was zealous and passionate. Everything he did was a strategic move to obey the law, so much so that his expression led to him actively persecuting the church (of which you can read in Acts 8).

●“Regarding the righteousness that is in the law, blameless.”

→ This caps off Paul’s entire resume. Paul was in good standing with the law, not sinless, not perfect, but he was a good example of what it meant to obey the Old Testament law. Now if you were the president of a seminary or dean of a religious studies department, you see this resume come across your desk, you almost don’t care about anything else other than the salary negotiations. Paul was for, all-intents-and-purposes, “the Man.”

All that for him to then say in the very next verse: “But everything that was a gain to me, I have considered to be a loss because of Christ.” (v. 7)

Paul reached the goal for Pharisees, he has the accolades, the achievements, and yet when he set his eyes on Jesus none of that mattered.

Paul had the status the Judaizers were telling the Philippian church to have and yet, he found something more worth it. He found SOMEONE more worth it, or should I say, that someone more worthy found him. If you look in Acts 9 you come across Paul’s conversion story, and when you read the rest of Acts you see what Paul experienced just so that people know Jesus and see him as “more worthy.” Once a prominent Pharisee, but now that resume he has he just throws it away. He’s set for life, but he throws it away. He had status, and he threw it away. He had prestige, and he threw it away. Why? Because Paul saw Jesus as infinitely more worthy than any of the accolades he got. In fact, he saw them as a means to leverage spreading the Gospel.

Paul uses his knowledge of the Old Testament to explain the excellencies of Jesus when you read his letters. That zealous Pharisee from the tribe of Benjamin that was persecuting the church, became a zealous missionary planting churches to predominantly Gentile audiences BECAUSE Jesus is infinitely more worthy. So in comparison, Paul sees that knowing Christ is more important than all of those things. That if he didn’t have any of these things and all he had was Jesus, then he has everything he needs.

“More than that, I also consider everything to be a loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. Because of him I have suffered the loss of all things and consider them as dung, so that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own from the law, but one that is through faith in Christ—the righteousness from God based on faith. My goal is to know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings, being conformed to his death, assuming that I will somehow reach the resurrection from among the dead. ” (v. 8-11)

Paul set his eyes on a greater prize. His goal is no longer obeying the law, in fact he calls it, “dung,” which in its original Greek is strong language that gives a bit of a shock factor. In using this specific term it’s driving home the point that Paul counts it as worthless for the sake of knowing Jesus. Paul had all of the accolades and accomplishments and yet he threw them all away to know Jesus. Paul experienced the sufferings, more than once, we talked about the things he experienced and yet he remained constantly fixed on knowing Christ, and going everywhere he could so others could know Him as well.

When Paul set his eyes on Jesus, he saw the one who perfectly fulfilled the requirements of the law. Where Paul still sins, and falls short Jesus took that condemnation. When you read Romans 7 & 8 that is what Paul refers to. That he has been set free from the weight of sin because of Jesus. Now he’s free to live a life following and pursuing Christ, with a restored relationship with God based on faith, not obedience to the Old Testament law. This faith that Paul has is the divine certainty that Christ Jesus has made him right with God, and that Jesus will come again. Paul is convinced of that and believes it with his whole being, by faith.

Paul’s new goal starts a whole new pursuit.

“Not that I have already reached the goal or am already perfect, but I make every effort to take hold of it because I also have been taken hold of by Christ Jesus. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and reaching forward to what is ahead, I pursue as my goal the prize promised by God’s heavenly call in Christ Jesus.” (v. 12-14)

Paul is now pursuing a new goal. This pursuit is filled with roses, full of beauty and thorns. Christ has taken hold of Paul’s heart, leading him to drop everything he was doing, and pursue knowing Christ even if that means enduring the suffering, enduring the pain, enduring the rejection, enduring the loss of every earthly thing he worked so hard to gain. Paul pursues Christ by doing this one thing: “Forgetting what is behind and reaching forward to what is ahead.” Everything he lost, it was okay, probably not in the moment, but he certainly pressed on

towards the goal, and the prize promised which is eternal life that he now has with Jesus. Paul doesn’t just leave it there he invites the Philippians to join him in their own pursuit.

“Therefore, let all of us who are mature think this way. And if you think differently about anything, God will reveal this also to you. In any case, we should live up to whatever truth we have attained. Join in imitating me, brothers and sisters, and pay careful attention to those who live according to the example you have in us.” (v.15-17)

This is an invitation to join Paul in this passionate pursuit to know Jesus, to leave the past in thepast, who you were before you knew Christ doesn’t matter, seek Him now. As you pursueknowing Christ, God will reveal more about what it means to pursue Christ to you. One way todo that is finding faithful examples. For the Philippians, it was Paul himself. Paul went frombeing an example of obedience to the law, to being an example of obedience to Christ. For you,maybe someone in our church whom you have a relationship with. Who do you see is trying tolive a life following Christ? Knowing Him? Loving Him? Our pursuit of Jesus is a lifelong one, weneed godly examples to help us follow Him. As we pursue Christ, we also have to avoid thethings that may get in our way of that pursuit. Paul goes on to say:

“For I have often told you, and now say again with tears, that many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their end is destruction; their god is their stomach; their glory is in their shame; and they are focused on earthly things. Our citizenship is in heaven, and we eagerly wait for a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ. He will transform the body of our humble condition into the likeness of his glorious body, by the power that enables him to subject everything to himself.” (v. 18-21)

Philippi as a city was a proud Roman colony. The city was modelled after Rome itself, so

imagine a group of heavily patriotic people proud to be Roman, and Paul is saying live as citizens of heaven. It’s a play on the idea to model their church after being a little colony of heaven on earth as they eagerly await Christ’s return, because their prize is the transformation of their earthly bodies into a heavenly one that is free from sin, decay, and death.

To live as a citizen of Heaven means to live in allegiance with God and heaven in our sight as our home. My bodily citizenship is American, yours Canadian, or wherever you may be from if you’re on a permit like me, but our spiritual, permanent citizenship is in Heaven. Our first allegiance should be to the Kingdom of God, our first culture should come from our heavenly home before it ever comes from our earthly ones.

Paul lived his life with faith in Christ knowing what Jesus has done in his life, and looking forward to the promise of Jesus’ return. How then, can we leverage our lives, living in light of what Jesus has done for us, and looking forward to the promise of His return?

Here are three steps you can take, and live out in your own life now:

1. Renounce → What do you need to give up? What in your life is pulling you away from your walk with Christ? If you can’t answer that, then pray for the Lord to reveal to you what those things are, like if a child asked their parents, “How can I help you around the house, Mom/Dad?” (Parents, I’m sure you’ll light-up like a kid on Christmas. I know someone out there is thinking, “Yeah, you definitely don’t have kids”).

a. When you’re in a position to make a choice between something and pursuing Christ, make the choice that draws you closer to Jesus. Yeah, I can watch one more episode of Love is Blind, but I can also take that time to pray, or read. Yeah, I can go to Gogi, or Fusion for all you can eat, or I can take a day to fast and pray.

b. When you hear someone sell you a lie in exchange for the truth of the Gospel, telling you that the only way to actually know God is by following some rule. You don’t have to buy it, remember obedience is the effect of faith not the cause. In other words, as you grow in faith your desire to obey and please God will grow as well.

c. What would it look like for you to seek contentment in Christ, based on what Jesus has already done and knowing that He’s bringing you towards eternity with Him?

2. Set Your Eyes on Jesus → Reread the Gospels, and look at what Jesus did, don’t gloss over it, stop, enjoy and be in awe of what Jesus did. Look forward to His return, talk about it, imagine the day that you get to be in glory with him. When the bills stack higher than your paycheck, in the midst of that diagnosis, when you don’t know where else to look, look to Jesus.

a. Set your eyes on Jesus when you read His word, in prayer, your own personal devoted worship, and congregational worship. When we gather together, view it as a time for you to pour out your own praise to God for what He’s done, and if you don’t see what He’s doing now, praise Him in advance for what He will do that will shock you.

b. Maybe you should find a Faithful Example and learn from them, we have plenty of them in our church, if you need help finding someone, I’ll be more than happy to help with that.

Pursue → As you pursue Christ, do so with humility, do so with conviction, do so with passion. James 4 says, “Therefore, submit to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you…Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.” If your pursuit leads you to mourn your sin, mourn it, but don’t sit there, repeat step two, forget what lies behind and press on towards what lies ahead. Because in Christ we are restored from our sin. Yes we still struggle, but God is so rich in mercy that He made us alive in Christ. So that means we can pursue Christ, humbly, passionately, freely, and faithfully so keep your eyes on the prize. We will be rewarded.

Take some time to reflect, do you have things in your life you need to renounce that fight against your passionate pursuit of Jesus? Can you identify them? Have you set your eyes on Jesus in this season? Have you pursued knowing Him and the power of His resurrection?