No Confidence in the Flesh
Philippians 3: 1-14
KV:
10-11 “ I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and
participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the
resurrection from the dead.”
Hi, I’m Joanna. I’m a senior at
Lincoln Park High School. And I am also part of Chicago HBF. I just want to say
congrats! You guys have made it to the last message. I thank God for the words
he has spoken to you guys through Deborah, Olivia, Jessica, and Joanne’s
messages. If we look back, we thought of the death and resurrection through
Deborah, Olivia, and Jessica. Yesterday we saw the importance of the Gospel and
grace in Joannes message. Today, we will focus on a passage also written by Paul
except this time in Philippians, a passage that looks at one person, Paul, and
how he lives his life according to what he gained through the gospel. Through
this passage I pray that the Holy Spirit may come and speak into your hearts.
I’m gonna say a quick prayer.
Part 1: No Confidence in the flesh (1-7)
Paul’s
letter in Philippians is a letter to the church in Philippi. He writes first as
an encouragement to them due to the pressure and large influence against the
word surrounding the church. Chapter three of Philippians is part of Paul’s
letter that serves mainly as a testimony to the power of resurrection faith
over his life and through this passage, Paul talks about not putting confidence
in our flesh. From verse 1 we know that this is not the first time Paul has
written to the church and that there is this importance in the repetition and
reminder of gospel lessons. He tells the church to “Rejoice in the Lord!” as not only a greeting to them but
also an encouragement of where to get joy from and a subtle reminder that this
is the basis of fulfillment. From then Paul warns the church in verse 2 to “Watch out
for those dogs, those evildoers, those mutilators of the flesh.” Because
of the occurrence of false prophets, persecutors of the church and those who
were bound to legalistic practices. Instead he encourages them that they should
not be bound by legalism. if ________
could read verse 3. “For it is we who are the circumcision, we who serve God
by his Spirit, who boast in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the
flesh.” Through verse 3, Paul reminds the church of
Philippi that they are more than qualified to claim that they are genuine
Christians because they do not rely on practices of the flesh which wereback in
the olden days, symbolized by circumcision. Rather that they serve God and are driven
by the spirit. That among everything they do not put any assurance of their
faith on practices of the flesh. Paul then uses himself as an example of how
limited we become if we value everything on our flesh because, if you look back
to his life when he was Saul, he was perfect in regards to the law. Verses 5
and 6 exemplify the qualifications that Paul had and it reads “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; as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for
righteousness based on the law, faultless.” Paul had
dedicated his life thus far to perfecting his accomplishments to be exemplary
and on the basis of the law his faith was close to perfect. Paul was qualified
from the very beginning of his birth and carries forward these qualifications
into his adulthood. Imagining someone like Paul today seems a little difficult
but if you think about it, Paul’s situation correlates to someone who is good
at everything. To put it into more realistic terms, it would be someone who has
everything. Like someone who seems to have everything, and I mean everything together.
(MENTION SOMEONE). Yet Paul discloses to us in verse 7 that
even with the utmost qualifications he possessed, all of it meant absolutely
nothing to him and because they meant nothing, he gave them up. Think of that.
He gave up comfort, stability, and everything else that he expected would give
him a sense of satisfaction. What could possibly have made Paul give those
things up?
Part 2: Knowing Christ (8-11)
While
we might view it as a huge loss for Paul, in reality it really wasn’t and he
lets us know in verse 8. Can I have _____ read verse 8. “What is more I consider everything a loss for the
surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost
all things.” Paul makes it clear to
mention that what became his gain was knowing Christ, and because of that he
was able to consider everything else that he had so far as garbage. It wasn’t
his higher education or pursuit of Christians but it was that he was able to
say he was striving to know Christ which was worth so much more. What Paul is
mentioning here in verse 8 is that realization of Jesus as his most basic
necessity, that his entire life’s work amounts to nothing, brings no lasting
fulfillment, and cannot and will not do anything for him if it is not rooted in
his strive to know Christ. It seems that the most common
misunderstanding of Paul’s mention of “knowing Christ” is that it is confused
with “knowing of Christ.” These are two very different things. Knowing of
Christ is the knowledge you have about him, alike the knowledge you have of any
other person. It requires no personal connection, no relationship, and
realistically never progresses past the relationship of two acquaintances. What
Paul had was very different, Paul knew Christ. What that meant was that he
talked to Jesus, got to know the in’s and out’s, and if you want to think about
it in a humanistic sense, he got to know what Jesus liked and disliked, his
favorite things to do, his favorite prayer activity, and what made him
passionate, all the characteristics of genuinely getting to know someone. In
verse 9 we learn even more so that getting to know Christ is only possibly
through the faith that was made possible in when Christ was crucified and
resurrected. Paul makes it very clear to mention that there is no more reliance
on the law, but instead there should be reliance on faith. (MENTION BEST FRIEND)
Paul’s
confession in verse 10 hits two major points that he wanted to point out to the
church in Philippi. One, that he views Christ as a necessity and because he
does so he is able to assert with confidence “I want to know Christ.” Paul mentions here that he wants to know
Christ. Paul WANTED to know Christ. When we want something, we get it. Whether
that be a candy bar from the store or to do well on a test . And this want that
Paul describes is as simple as that. As simple as spending time with Christ in
prayer. As simple as talking to him and as simple as reading a verse a day.
Because Paul declared that he wanted to know Christ, his heart was in the right
place to pursue it. Second, he was able to strive to know
who Christ was through the second half of verse 10 and verse 11 which states “to know the power of his
resurrection and participation in his suffer, becoming like him in his death,
and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.” Clearly,
what Paul meant was not that he was going to physically die or to get crucified
just to go through what Jesus went through. But what he meant by the
participation is Jesus’ sufferings was the hardships he faced. Through those
hardships he is able to come closer and closer to Christ and as result closer
to knowing Christ. So what Paul describes to us in
verses 10 and 11 is his confident claim in wanting to know Christ and the
process in which to do so. Paul’s very clear intention to know Christ motivates
his entire life and it is only possible through the power of Jesus’
resurrection.
Part 3: Pressing on toward the goal (12-14)
Paul’s
testimony of the changed life he lives does not end there, his encouragement to
the church in Philippi as well as to us is to press on toward the goal. He
tells us that even after he gave everything up, after he developed this passion
to know Christ that he is not at the goal yet. Fear not though. In verse 12 he
says “Not that I have obtained this or have already
arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold for which Christ Jesus has took
hold for me.” Paul is motivated to press on
because that is exactly what Jesus did for Paul. However, what is the goal that
Paul is referring to. The goal that he mentions and motivates us to look to is
to be able to fully know Christ. This might seem extremely difficult because we
are limited in our abilities to know the full extent of Jesus; however this is
exactly why Paul is encouraging the church in Philippi. He tells them how he
has changed and how he keeps pressing on toward what he now is able to say is
his true goal. Verse 13b reads “But one thing I do: forgetting what is behind
and straining toward what is ahead.” Now
you might think that if we cannot ever know the full extent of our Christ
Jesus, than what is the point of Paul trying to encourage us. The whole pursuit
is futile. Right then, Paul knows just the right thing to say and does so in
verse 14. Can _____ read it. “I
press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me
heavenward in Christ Jesus.” This is the reason for the pursuit.
Without knowing there is an eternal prize there is no comfort in the hardships
that we go through on earth. But we do have a goal and the result of which is
our prize, that is our calling to heaven to be reunited with our Lord in an
eternal life. This “eternal perspective” of our life and the hardships that
occur in them give us hope to press on as Paul says. The prize that we gain is
heavenward and thus it lasts forever. What we gain on this earth will only take
you so far and because of that we look forward to what will last forever and
what God has called us for. Our citizenship is heaven. Meaning that as citizens
we have an essential belonging to a particular community. More importantly our belonging is in heaven
and not on this world. This is our comfort, that we are not here to live for what
this world has to offer but our finality belongs with our Savior Jesus. And
because of this fact, our motivation is to life that focuses on developing a
relationship with God.
In the same way that Paul was
motivated to press on, we should also be encouraged that despite
hardship and struggle that our pursuit of Christ is not
futile by any means. That to know Christ is to live a life that is constantly
motivated by our strive to know Christ.
That by the death and resurrection, through our faith on the basis of
the spirit, that we WILL be reunited with God in heaven and when that happens
we will have arrived at our goal, our goal to know Jesus our Lord and Savior.
Reflection
So, flashback to these last 3
months. I felt as though I have been
working so hard to gain some type of success, to make me feel like I was worth
something more. I had channeled my inner Saul and decided that I was tired of
feeling so less than compared to those around me. I tried so hard to succeed in
school and I remember very vividly working so hard on this one Chemistry test
that I had coming up. I had made study guides, practiced problems, and reviewed
endlessly. Yet when I got the grade back I saw that I had completely failed it.
Just when I thought I was getting somewhere, and yes it is one Chem test but it
was difficult being told that the
one subject that I thought I was good at, the one subject that I liked, was
just another reminder of what I was not good at. What came
about in the months after was a vicious cycle of failure despite my effort,
limited success, and not long after, feelings of bitterness, hate for those
around me, and a sinking feeling of being completely worthless. Somehow I had
made up in my mind that my worth was completely dependent on what I was able to
succeed at, what successes I achieved and that is what fueled my everyday
mentality. Each failure was met with a mindset that said I would not be good
enough; I would not be worth enough until I achieved something. I got it stuck
in my head that God wanted only my success. That failure is not in his
dictionary and that to please him and to please myself that I had to gain value
in terms of this world. When the semester ended God blessed me and in his
accordance I was able to get straight A’s for the first time since like 7th
grade and a couple months later I got accepted into a top university and while
it seemed like I gained so much, I felt absolutely nothing. It seems so stupid
to complain about such a great success but in reality when it seemed like I had
achieved so much, is when I was reminded even more so how worthless I still
felt. I felt like I hadn’t actually gained anything of worth, that no matter
how many A’s I might have gotten on a report card that I wouldn’t be as good as
the next semester. That even though Northwestern was such a great school and
that so many people regarded it highly, that it was just another school. I
couldn’t celebrate even though I was expected to be overwhelmingly ecstatic
about my situation. This expectation of my self-worth to suddenly go up like
points on a scale faltered and instead of feelings of bitterness overcame me. I
was left completely at a loss. I expected fulfillment and happiness and yet
again I was left unsatisfied and full of frustration of why. But Paul lets us
know that God wants the exact opposite. Paul, while perfect in the legalistic
manner, was nowhere near perfect in what God actually wanted from him and his
faith. What He wanted from Paul was this pursuit to know Christ and that is what
Paul found.
Its funny because I went into this
message writing completely excited and ready to learn a new word and be able to
share it with HBF and MBF. Soon after the message writing process began, I felt
an overwhelming feeling of dread. I was no longer enthused, I was behind the
schedule every week and within a span of 2 weeks I felt completely unmotivated
to share any type of message and especially not on a passage that had no
connection to me whatsoever. Paul was cool, he was admirable, and he gave up
his accomplishments to seek Christ. Objectively speaking, Paul was encouraging.
And while I was 100% sure it encouraged thousands of people over hundreds and
thousands of years, I, myself, found no source of encouragement. Each week I
became less encouraged and with the dread of writing and sharing a message
piling up, it was purely a source of stress and nothing more.
While sharing testimonies within our
senior message group one Friday, Miriam, an HBF leader told me something along
the lines of “I think you just need to wrestle with the Word.” And while my sounded
really helpful, I still left the meeting feeling underprepared, under qualified,
lacking any ability, and confused about how I would go about “wrestling” with
God’s word. While I would like to say that something in me changed, it didn’t.
I spent that long weekend with those same feelings. On the following Monday, I
decided I should just muscle through it and at least have something even if it
wasn't good. That evening I had what I would like to call a little scuttle with
God’s word. God had made it very clear to me as he did to the women in Olivia’s
message and the disciples in Jessica’s message and I was able to see where Paul
was coming from and that what was important was the shift that he had when
viewing what were gains to him. What Paul considered as his wins and losses,
his priorities, his values all came down to his will to know Christ. And
consequently, it made me question what I considered as my values and priorities
especially considering my confident claim that I am a Christian. Even though I
knew that the right answer was to “Know Christ”, it really was not. My first
realization was that my priority was not in knowing God and that my life was
not motivated by my pursuit to know Christ.
Fast forward to later that week, I
had actually wrestled with the word. I had sat down to write the second half of
my message and for some reason I still felt unmotivated despite having my first
realization earlier that week. While reading V.10 again I felt a sense of rebuke.
God asked me why I had put all my confidence in my own abilities and into my
own I accomplishments. Why had I amounted my worth to what I could accomplish
by my flesh alone. Thinking back to that one Chem test, God was saying here, this is what
failure feels like. Then in reference to NU here this is what this world’s
vision of success feels like. And while of course they are different in the
initial feelings I had toward them, they both quickly ended and as result I was
left in the same place. This is what God wanted to say, that here is failure
and success in this world. But what good is any of it if through it all, you
don’t have me. What I realized was that I was not looking at God. God had made
it very clear as to what I was missing and why I had felt no sense of happiness
in my “success.” Our souls are from God and because
they are, they cannot be satisfied with the things of this earth. That even if
I achieved the bucket list of accomplishments Paul had, that is will never fill
the desire that I actually want.
And while it wasn’t as graceful and
a complete turn around like Paul, I ended up in the same place as him. God
brought me back to him while I was bitter and completely lost in what I thought
mattered to me. He reminded me that none of this matters, shattering this idea
that all I had and could possibly offer was only good if it was based on the
limited success this world offers. Yet, NONE of it matters because what is my
everything is Him. What my everything is, is God. Every time I was brought back
to God I was reminded that what mattered was not the small gains I got through
this world but that the greatest gain I have is through the gospel. That
because of Jesus’ death and resurrection I can confidently say, like Paul, that
I want to know Christ. That I want to walk with him and talk to him and like
Jesus who suffered, to live proclaiming this gain despite the possible
persecution, nonetheless living a life walking with my Lord and Savior. And
because of this I can again with confidence strive towards this prize in heaven
for which God has called me.
Conclusion:
While I have this confidence in
saying I want to know Christ, it was a very difficult process full of tears,
hardships, but most importantly peace that I know can be found through Christ.
However, it is worth it all, Christ is worth it all and because of that I
encourage you guys to find why you want to know Christ. If you don’t want to
know Christ, why not. I pray that we may
experience what Paul testifies about through Philippians 3, to be able to live
out a life centered on the pursuit of knowing Christ. That each one of us may
be able to recognize the overwhelming worth and gain we have in Christ in
comparison to what the world has to offer and in doing so may be able to confess
with confidence as Paul did that “I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power
of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in
his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.”
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