Series on Philippians #13

REJOICE!
Philippians 3

Lot's of text to cover tonight, let's pray and then jump in...

Okay, turn with me to Ephesians 2 {Page 869 in CITG bibles}(read and unpack “joy bits”)

My whole point is to bring you to a place of joy and I’m going to try to do that, not with my clever words. I’m not going to tell you some jokes, I’m not going to tell you a bunch of entertaining stories. I am going to try to show you over and over in the Scriptures that we have ample reasons to REJOICE, to respond in joy to the LORD.

Let’s go…

1 As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2 in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. 3 All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath.

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4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. 6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus,

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7 in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast.

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10 For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

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11 Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called "uncircumcised" by those who call themselves "the circumcision" (that done in the body by the hands of men)— 12 remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ.

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14 For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, 15 by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, 16 and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. 17 He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. 18 For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.
19 Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. 21 In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. 22 And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.

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Okay now turn back to Luke 10:17-20 (page 773) {give background, talk briefly about who the 72 were and what they had been sent out to do.}

17 The seventy-two returned with joy and said, "Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name."
18 He replied, "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. 19 I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you. 20 However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven."

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Okay, now go to John 10:27-30 (page 799)

27 My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father's hand. 30 I and the Father are one."

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All right, that was all introduction. Now for the meat. Turn to Philippians 3.
Friends, I know we usually take a verse or two at a time, but there is no good way to cut this one up. It is one complete thought and, at least on our first pass, I could not bring myself to cut it up. So let’s dig in.

Read it with me.

1 Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord! It is no trouble for me to write the same things to you again, and it is a safeguard for you.

REJOICE IN THE LORD! That's the point, people. That's why we're here tonight, that's why we are here on earth! That's one of the KEY REASONS We WERE CREATED!
To REJOICE IN THE LORD!
Find Your JOY in the LORD! I had to cut so many texts from this sermon. Over and over and over we are told to rejoice and over and over we are given this multitude of reasons why.
Again for the sake of time, we have to stay in Philippians 3, but when you get home look up Psalm 16:5-11; Psalm 144:15; and Isaiah 12:2, they are beautiful.
Now back to Philippians 3:2 Paul said rejoice and then we'll see him tie in some of the other things we've already read tonight from other passages.

First rejoice, but watch out for those who might take your joy away.

2 Watch out for those dogs, those men who do evil, those mutilators of the flesh.

Paul's warning here against the Judaizers and other people who had come behind him into other cities where he had planted churches and they tried to lock new converts into the old Jewish laws that had been completed in Christ, It's what we just read about in Ephesians 2:12-15:

12 remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ.
14 For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, 15 by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace...

Paul had to preach on this a lot because a lot of people missed the point. The point that all of the ceremonial laws were fulfilled in Christ. The sacrifices of old were all pointing to Him to Jesus and His ultimate sacrifice on the cross. So there was now no need for the observance of the old laws.

In the same way, if you have been kicking the tires of Christianity and someone has been talking it up by telling you all the things that you need to do or all the things you need to stop, then let me clear it all up.
You and I are called to turn from sin and turn to God, that is to REPENT.

But that’s not the over arching theme of the Bible. The ultimate message is to TRUST in JESUS for the salvation of your soul. Then, through faith the Holy spirit will place a desire to repent and obey God’s design for your life.

If someone has been trying to tell you to clean up before you come to faith then tell them to get lost. All the cleaning up and behavior modification that you do is useless if your not in Christ yet.

Without Christ, at best, you are just going to be a very moral hell-bound sinner.

But when you START with faith and dependence on Christ to be your savior and believe that He has paid the price for your sins, then you are no longer hell-bound, you are a saint! Saved by grace and being purified by the word, and the Spirit and the loving help of the body of Christ, the Church.

Paul continues on this in Philippians 3:

3 For it is we who are the circumcision,

We who? Who's Paul talking about?

...We who worship by the Spirit of God, who glory in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh—

Now Paul's going to put away any notion that we should be finding our main source of joy in anything that we do, or accomplish or even how much we know or how well we behave. He's going to SMASH that kind of thinking.

4 though I myself have reasons for such confidence. 
If anyone else thinks he has reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: 5 circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; 6 as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for legalistic righteousness, faultless.
7 But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8 What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish...

Rubbish is a very tame translation. The Greek is “skybalon” (skoobalon): the excrement of animals, offscourings, rubbish, dregs
In the King James it's dung. In The Message it is dog dung.

...I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith.

A side note here: Paul is preaching against the Judaizers and this can apply to us as well in the church when we begin to look at ourselves as holier than others because we are beginning to show the signs of a transformed and regenerate heart. Or when we start to say it takes Christ's saving work on the cross and... (Fill in your own blank).
Remember, the Bible is clear, It is by faith that you, you, you, I, WE have been saved. It is by faith and not of our works so that we cannot boast.

Now, will there be evidences of our faith? Absolutely! Do believers walk out their faith and go public with their faith in ways prescribed by the Scriptures? YES!

But salvation, what happens at the start that seals us and changes us instantly from the enemies of God into the children of God is that faith in the Cross. Jesus did it all! Nothing in our hands we bring, ONLY TO THE CROSS WE CLING.
Are we all tracking with that?
It is by faith alone in Christ alone and that is from the grace of God alone. No works of the hand, no works of the flesh, NONE are required for salvation. Please don't miss that. The Bible is clear and we want to be equally clear. Faith in Christ is what saves you.

That's the end of my rant. Paul continues.
After saying he thinks of all his “good” deeds and his pedigree as garbage, as dung.
After that he continues that all he wants to know, the thing that he rejoices in is not in his own works it is in Jesus and not only in the idea of Jesus, but the joy of sharing in the perfection at the resurrection. He says:

10 I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.
12 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13 Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

We've hit the text of verses 12-14 so many times, I was talking about tattoos the other day and said if I ever got one, I'd probably get a scripture passage. Philippians 3:12-14 would be a good one.

Let me reiterate. We are not perfect, but instead of using that as an excuse, what do we do, we see the perfection as the goal of our lives as the shared destination that we all have in Christ. We see the perfection and Christ-likeness and we know that THAT is what we are co-laboring with the Holy Spirit to achieve.

And with that goal in mind, we shed all of the extra weight of sin and all the distractions of this world that slow us down in our marathon race to the finish.
Moving on...

15 All of us who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you. 16 Only let us live up to what we have already attained.

In other words, don't get sidetracked on side issues that are not key to the core of our faith. Don't argue in circles, stay in the Gospel. And read the Scriptures and through the Word and through the Holy Spirit, God will continue to reveal to us where we are off track and where we need to reform our thinking.

But, Paul says in verse 16, let us live up to what we have already attained, that is, our saving faith in Christ and our pursuit of the holiness He has called us to in response to His love and grace filled gift.

Now for the hard bit of rejoicing that we don't like to talk about...

17 Join with others in following my example, brothers, and take note of those who live according to the pattern we gave you.

{That takes us back to the piece about finding Godly role models. We talked about that last week. Now Paul’s going to warn against un-godly role models.}

18 For, as I have often told you before and now say again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. 19 Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is on earthly things. 20 But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21 who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.

Paul ends the chapter by reminding us that we are to rejoice because for whatever reason, God saved us from a destination that not all people will inherit. It's the reminder of

John 10:27-28 (page 799)

27 My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give eternal life, and themthey shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand.

Which we said we can rejoice over. But remember that is because We are the Sheep!

And Jesus says it even clearer in John 6:44

44 "No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day.

We rejoice because, for no merit of our own, only the sovereign choice of God, we have been brought into new life and as Jesus says will be raised up on the last day.

Jesus says, that's a guarantee!

But don't you take this for granted! Rejoice and be filled with wonder and be filled with gratitude, because not everyone will come to Jesus, only those the Father draws in.

One more thing. Then we're done. Turn to Job 1:21
You know the story, Job was rich and successful and had a good reputation and a great family and good health and in all of that Job praised God.

So, Satan said to God, He wouldn't be so quick to REJOICE IN THE LORD if he didn't have it so good.

And so God said go ahead and do your worst, but don't kill him. We'll see.

And so Satan took everything, EVERYTHING except Job's life.
He took his health, wealth, reputation, killed his children!

And then Satan sends in Job's well meaning, and stupid friends who tried to comfort Job but ended up telling him that all this death and destruction came about because of some secret sin in Job's life... Satan just sacked him.

And what was Job's reaction in Job 1:21-22, after he had just lost everything and learned of his children's deaths?

Job said: 


"Naked I came from my mother's womb, 
and naked I will depart. 
The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; 
may the name of the LORD be praised."
In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing.

If you are blessed with it all tonight, great relationships, good health, a job, money in the bank, common sense, etc.

Then by all means praise God for that. If He has transformed your heart to the point in which you live a righteous life and feel guilt and quickly repent when you stray from His will. Again Praise God. You are being that role model that I called you to be last week.

But, more than anything more than your stuff, your behavior, your station in life – More than rejoicing in what Jesus can give you – I'm begging you and the Scriptures in Philippians 3:1 command you to REJOICE IN THE LORD! Rejoice in who He is.

Bask in the light of His glory. Anticipate, not the streets of gold or the eternity without pain, anticipate being in His presence on that day when we are no longer hindered by our own sin.

Let's pray...