The Lord’s Day
Morning
April 6, 2008
Philippians 3:1-6
Fighting for Joy, Growing in Humility,
Knowing Christ and the Peace that Passes
Understanding: A Study of
Philippians
“Put No Confidence in the Flesh”
Dr. J. Ligon
Duncan III
I love that hymn, “For All the Saints.” Every line, every
stanza is designed to bring to mind a biblical truth that both comforts us in
midst of the sorrows of this life by which we’re surrounded on every side, and
to give us strength to persevere to the end. And in a sense this song does
exactly what the Bible passage that we’re going to study today does: it brings
to bear biblical truth on the living of the Christian life, and it gives us
strength and comfort and courage and joy for the living of these days.
Let me invite you to take your Bibles in hand and
turn with me to Philippians 3. Now last Lord’s Day, we looked at just the first
part of the first verse of Philippians 3. In Philippians 3:1, Paul begins by
saying, “And finally…” and then two chapters later, he’s still going! And you
say, “I’ve seen this pattern before. It is a pattern which is inherent in
preachers. They say, ‘And in conclusion…’ and they still give you four more
points and twenty more minutes!” But there’s a sense in which Paul is not doing
that. Paul has perhaps purposed to end this letter at this point, but of course
Paul is not simply a human author; he is an author writing under the guidance
and inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit has impressed upon him
to bring home important truth. And the truth that he’s going to bring home (and
you’ll see it in this doctrinal exhortation in verses 1-11 of Philippians 3) is
not unrelated to the point that he was making. And of course the point in verse
1 is what? “Rejoice in the Lord.” And the doctrinal truth that he’s going to
press home in verses 1-11 (although we’re only going to look at verses 1-6
today)…the doctrinal point that he’s going to make is not unrelated to that
exhortation to rejoice in the Lord.
You see, the Apostle Paul is serious about joy. He’s
so serious that he tells us in Philippians 1:25 that he is ready and willing to
forego the immediate experience of the greatest desire he has in life. The
greatest desire he has in life is to enjoy fellowship with Christ in glory, and
he knows that if he dies, immediately he is going to experience that fellowship
with Christ in glory. And yet he says he’s willing and ready, and even desirous,
of staying to work for what? “To work for your progress in joy.” How serious
must he be about your joy, that he is ready to forestall his immediate enjoyment
of his greatest desire in life? Paul is pretty serious about joy.
But we also said last Lord’s Day that the kind of
joy that the Apostle Paul is willing to suspend his immediate enjoyment of
fellowship with Christ in glory for is not superficial, fake joy — where we
pretend everything is all right when it’s not — nor is it a joy that comes
through denying the very real, very hard realities that all of us face in this
fallen sinful world, so filled as it is with tragedy and trauma and misery. No,
the kind of joy that Paul is talking about is real joy, not fake joy. Deep joy,
not shallow joy. Gospel joy, not circumstantial joy. It’s grace-wrought gladness
in the heart that remains even when your eyes are clouded with tears and
blood-shot with weeping, and when trouble surrounds you on every side. This joy
remains and triumphs because it is not derived from us, nor is it based on our
circumstances. It comes from God himself. In fact, the Lord Jesus Christ at one
point could describe the whole mission of His work in this world this way to His
disciples: “I came that your joy might be made full [or complete].”
How serious is God about joy, that He would send His
Son to the cross to implant in your hearts a joy that cannot be erased by any
circumstance? “And for the joy set before Him,” the author of Hebrews says, “He
endured the cross and despised the shame.” So this is a joy which, if Jesus can
hold before His eyes the joy that is to come and despise the cross…this is a joy
that can endure any trial that you encounter in life. That’s the kind of joy
that we ought to be interested in. It’s the kind of joy that we ought to want to
show.
Well, why then does Paul stop talking about that and
go into this eleven…or maybe even more, depending on how you break it up…this
eleven-verse doctrinal exhortation? Here’s the answer. Because what Paul is
talking about in the second half of verse 1 all the way down to verse 11 is not
unrelated to his exhortation about joy. In fact, the doctrine that he is going
to expound here is absolutely integral to and connected with, inseparably, the
joy that he’s talking about in verse 1. In fact, one of the truths that we’re
going to learn today is that this doctrine is for your joy. So let’s read God’s
word. And before we do, let’s pray and ask for His help and blessing.
Heavenly Father, this is Your word. It’s not the
word of man. It’s not even the word of Paul, though You used him to write it,
and it bears all the marks of his personality and his enormous intellect, and
the truth that he held so dear in his own heart and life and ministry.
Ultimately this is Your word. Paul himself once told the Thessalonians that he
thanked God that they didn’t receive his words as if they were the words of men,
but the very words of the living God. This is Your word, too, O Lord; so help us
to receive it not like the words of men, but the very word of the living God,
knowing that Your word is truth and Your word is for our salvation and our
godliness, and for Your glory and our good. Open our eyes, then, to behold
wonderful things in it. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Hear the word of the living God:
“Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things
to you is no trouble to me and is safe for you.
“Look out for the dogs, look out for the evildoers, look out for
those who mutilate the flesh. For we are the real circumcision who worship by
the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the
flesh–though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also. If anyone
else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised
on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew
of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church;
as to righteousness under the law, blameless.”
Amen. And thus ends this reading of God’s holy, inspired,
and inerrant word. May He write its eternal truth upon all our hearts.
So why does Paul go from talking about joy to
giving a warning about false teachers (in verse 2), to giving a description of
Christians (in verse 3), and to describing what he once was (in verses 4-6)?
Why does he do that? Why does he go from talking about joy to entering into a
doctrinal exhortation? Because the Apostle Paul knows this: false teaching kills
joy. False teaching kills the kind of joy that he is seeking to engender in the
hearts and lives of the Philippians. If they don’t understand the truth, they
won’t be able to have joy. And specifically, the kind of false teaching that is
coming to these Philippians from the false teachers that Paul describes here
undermines their assurance and robs them of the joy that they ought to have in
the salvation which has been given to us by Jesus Christ.
More specifically, Paul is especially concerned
about any kind of false teaching that tells you to do what? To put your
confidence in the flesh. In other words, any kind of false teaching that
says, ‘Look, for your standing with God, for your acceptance by God, for your
salvation you need to put your hope and assurance and trust not just in Jesus
the Messiah, but also in certain things and rituals that you do.’ And the
Apostle Paul is concerned that any kind of putting our confidence in the flesh
of that nature will kill joy in the Christian life, and so there is a direct
connection between his exhortation to joy and the doctrine that he is going to
announce in this passage. In fact, the overarching theme of this whole passage
is that doctrine — true doctrine…not false doctrine but biblical, rich,
truthful, biblical doctrine — is for your joy. It is designed to foster your
experience and expression of joy in the Christian life. You never thought of it
that way perhaps, that doctrine is for your joy. Yes, it is! The Catechism
is for your joy. Biblical truth recorded for you in The Apostles’ Creed
is for your joy. The labors of the Westminster Assembly of Divines from 1642 to
1647 — a thousand sessions they met to do The Westminster Confession of Faith
and Catechisms — is for your joy.
That’s what the Apostle Paul says right here, and
notice how he does it. He asks you to think about three things in this passage.
I. Be on guard against false
teachers.
After he says “rejoice in the Lord,” then he says
this: Think of who they are (verse 2)…the false teachers, think of who they are;
then (verse 3) he says think of who you are; and then (in verses 4-6) he says
think of who I was. Think of who they are, think of who you are, think of who I
was. And all of this will show them that the false teachers are just that; that
their false doctrine will kill joy and won’t work; and that doctrine is for your
joy.
Let’s look at this passage then together, beginning
in verses 1-2. Paul says,
“To write the same things to you is no trouble to me, and is safe for you. Look
out for the dogs, look out for the evildoers, look out for those who mutilate
the flesh.”
This is an exhortation to be on your guard for
false teachers. He’s saying to the Philippians, ‘It’s important that you
think carefully about the teaching that’s being given to you, and that you be on
guard for teaching which is not according to my teaching, which is according to
what Jesus taught…what Jesus told me to teach, what Jesus commissioned me to
teach, and which is in accordance with all of the apostles’ teaching. Be on the
lookout for any kind of teaching that deviates from the apostles’ teaching about
salvation in the Christian life.’ Now why would he say this, and why would he
say, ‘I don’t even mind writing you again about this’?
Apparently Paul had either already preached or written
— or both — to them about this false teaching, but he doesn’t mind saying it
again because truth bears repeating. He’s a good teacher, and good teachers do
what? They repeat themselves. They say the same things lots of times, many
different ways. Why? To get it through our thick skulls! We’re slow, we need
some help! Good teachers repeat themselves. So Paul says ‘I don’t mind saying
this again.’ And then what does he say? “Look out for the dogs, the evildoers,
those who mutilate the flesh.”
Paul is countering the claims of the false teachers.
These are Judaisers. That is, they are Jewish followers of Jesus the Messiah who
think that all Christians — especially Gentile Christians — are required, in
addition to believing in Jesus as the Messiah, to keep the Mosaic ceremonial
ritual. They need to be circumcised, they need to follow the food laws, they
need to follow the ritual practices of the ceremonial law that Moses set down at
Mount Sinai. In other words, they need to believe in Jesus plus all of these
ceremonial requirements if they are truly going to live as the people of God in
this world. And Paul turns the tables on these teachers.
Notice first of all, he calls them dogs.
[Now that doesn’t refer to any particular mascot for state colleges, OK?]
This is a derogatory term that was used by Jews to describe Gentiles. Dogs
is a term not uncommon in first century Palestine for Jewish believers to use
about Gentiles. You remember it from a story in the Gospels, where the
SyroPhoenician woman (or the Canaanite woman) comes to the Lord Jesus Christ in
desperate need and asks for His help. And you remember Jesus has a point to make
to His disciples, because His disciples don’t think that Jesus needs to be
fooling with Gentiles. And so, to make a point, Jesus says to her in response to
her importunate pleading, He says, ‘You know, ma’am, it’s not appropriate to
give the food that belongs to the children to dogs.’ And it doesn’t faze her. It
doesn’t faze her. She just comes right back, and she says, ‘But You know, Lord,
even the dogs eat the scraps from their master’s table.’ And then you remember
what Jesus does. Jesus turns to His disciples, who are Israelites, and He says
to them — what? “I tell you, I have not found faith like this in Israel.” What’s
His point? Whereas Israel has all these claims (according to the flesh) to be
the people of God, what is Israel by and large doing? Rejecting Him. And yet
this woman — why, not even using a derogatory name — can stake her faith in
Jesus the Messiah. And He answers her prayer gloriously. And it’s a rebuke to
the Israelites and it’s a compliment to the work of grace that has been done in
this woman’s heart by the Holy Spirit. This Gentile….
Well, Paul here calls these circumcised Jewish
followers of the Messiah who want to require of all Christians that they follow
the ceremonial code, including circumcision, He calls them dogs. You’re
the dogs! You’re not part of the true circumcision. You’re the dogs. Then Paul —
notice what he says — he calls them evildoers. In other words, he says,
‘These works of the law that you want all Christians to do — well, let Me tell
you something: your works are evil, because you are asking Christians to add to
the work of Christ as if the work of Christ were not sufficient. You don’t
understand that those Old Testament ceremonial laws….’ What’s the whole book of
Hebrews about? The final, perfect, finished work of Christ! That work has been
done. To go back to the Old Testament ceremonial law is to suggest that Jesus’
finished work is not enough, so the works that you’re asking these Christians to
do are in fact evil, because they purport to add to something that’s already
perfect. And to add to Jesus’ perfect work is to call into question its
perfection, and anything that calls into question the perfection of Jesus’ work
is sin. And so in fact while you encourage these Christians to obey these
rituals because you think they’re good and right and commanded in the Old
Testament — actually it’s evil, because those things have been completed and
fulfilled by Jesus Christ.
And then look at what he calls them. He calls them
“those who mutilate the flesh.” Of course, one of the things that they wanted is
for all male followers of Jesus the Messiah to be circumcised according to the
law of Moses. And Paul says, ‘You know what? You have turned circumcision into a
pagan ritual. You’re just like the nations around you who practice circumcision.
They’re mutilators of the flesh. You’re superstitious, pagan, ritual
worshipers.’ And so the Apostle Paul in the first place is directing his focus
on these Judaisers.
But you need to understand more broadly that what
Paul says here applies to anyone who suggests that you do one of two things:
either that you put your confidence anywhere else but Christ. If you put your
confidence anywhere else but Christ, and if you teach others to put their
confidence anywhere else but Christ, Paul’s saying ‘That’s the false teaching
that I’m talking about. Reject it.’
There’s another thing going on here. It’s not
just those who put their confidence anywhere else but Christ, it’s those who put
their confidence plus anything else. You know, it’s entirely possible that
if you ask these Judaisers, ‘Is salvation by God’s grace?’ it’s entirely
possible that they would have said yes. And then they would have turned right
around and said, ‘But to be a Christian, to be a follower of Jesus, you must
obey the Mosaic ceremonial law.’ And the Apostle Paul is rejecting a theology of
Jesus plus anything. It is Jesus and Jesus only. Salvation is in Christ alone,
not Christ plus anything else! Because when you add anything else to Christ,
you are actually subtracting from Christ. You’re saying that Christ is not
enough.
And, my friends, this kind of teaching is all around
us in the world. Have any of you seen the online videos of “the church of
Oprah”? It’s in big bold letters, exactly what Paul is talking about here. But
my friends, you can even hear this teaching in churches — Jesus plus. And Paul
is saying, ‘No, no, no, no! That false teaching will rob your joy! It will kill
you, because God’s truth nourishes faith and humbles pride, and brings joy and
exalts Christ and promotes assurance, and establishes grace. But false teaching
kills!’ Do you see the connection? This is why he goes into the doctrinal
exhortation, because if you put your confidence in the flesh, it will kill joy.
But if your confidence is not in the flesh — that is, if your confidence is
according to true biblical doctrine — it sets the stage for your experience of
the joy and assurance and hope and confidence that God intends for His people to
have. So look out for anyone who tells you “Believe in yourself,” or “Believe in
something other than Jesus, because there are many ways to God,” or “Believe in
Jesus plus something, and you can have hope and confidence and assurance.”
No, the Apostle Paul is saying, ‘Anyone who tells
you to put your confidence anywhere else but Jesus is not preaching my gospel.’
And of course Paul’s gospel didn’t come from Paul. You remember Paul was given
his gospel by the Lord Jesus Christ himself.
Well, there’s the first thing: Look at them. Who are
they? They’re false teachers, because they don’t teach salvation in Jesus
alone.
II. Remember who you are.
Secondly, he says realize who you are. And I
wish that I had an hour to go over this four-part description, this definition
of who Christians are. Look at it; it’s just glorious! Verse 3:
“For we are the real circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in
Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh….”
Paul is basically giving you a four-part description
/definition of Christian there. What is a Christian? A Christian is the
true circumcision. See, these Judaisers were saying to the Philippians, ‘If you
want to really be the people of God, it’s Jesus plus circumcision; Jesus plus
the Mosaic ritual law.’ And Paul is saying, ‘You are the true
circumcision! Don’t you understand that? You are the recipients of God’s
promises to Abraham. How? In Christ alone! You’re already the recipients of
those promises. You’re the people of God, you’re the true Israel as you trust
in Christ alone.’
And you do what? You worship by the Spirit.
What does that phrase remind you of, when you hear Paul talk about worshiping by
the Spirit? Where else does that phrase occur in the New Testament? John 4. Do
you remember where it happens? Jesus is talking to the woman at the well on the
subject of ‘Are we supposed to worship in Samaria where the Northern Kingdom
worshiped ever since the time of Jeroboam, when he set up those golden calves?
Or are we to worship in the temple in Jerusalem?’ Now the Old Testament answer
to that question was emphatically the temple. But Paul says here we worship by
the Spirit. What’s he talking about? Do you remember what Jesus said to that
woman?
“I tell you, woman, a time is coming when we will neither worship in Samaria nor
in the temple in Jerusalem, because God is seeking worshipers. And God is
spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and in truth.”
In other words, a time is coming when the temple
will no longer be the place where God manifests His presence amongst His people,
but wherever people gather in Jesus’ name they will worship God through Jesus in
spirit and in truth. And the Apostle Paul is saying that. We worship by the
Spirit. We’re not under the old temple ritual any more. We worship by the
spirit. Again, it’s the whole point of the book of Hebrews.
Third, he says we glory in Jesus Christ.
The implication is if you say you need Jesus plus something, you’re not
glorying in Jesus Christ. You’re not glorying in the sole sovereign sufficiency
of Jesus the Savior. But Paul says that here’s one thing that all Christians do:
they glory in the fact that Jesus has paid it all. It’s not that Jesus…you know,
how horrible it would be if we had to sing, “Jesus has paid most of it”! Jesus
has paid it all, so to add to that is to say what? ‘Well, I guess You
didn’t pay it all, Jesus.’ So Christians glory in the fact that Jesus has paid
it all. He is sole and sovereign and sufficient in His salvation, and therefore
Christians — what? Live by this phrase, friends: “Put no confidence in the
flesh.” In other words, don’t look to the flesh for your hope. Don’t look to
these rituals for your hope, for your assurance, for your certainty of belonging
in the people of God and being right with Him.
And in those four phrases, Paul just describes
what a Christian is. A Christian is the true Israel, who worships by the
spirit, glories in Christ, and puts no confidence in the flesh. And Paul just
says, ‘Philippians, just think about that for a little bit. That’s what you are.
It’s not just what you do, it’s what you are. Now what are these guys selling to
you? They’re selling something to you that you’re not. You put no confidence in
the flesh. What are they selling to you? Confidence in the flesh!’
III. Remember who I was.
And then he says, ‘OK, if that’s not enough, do one
more thing. Remember what I was. If this stuff worked that they’re trying to
sell you…if this stuff worked, who, among all human beings on planet Earth would
it have worked for? Me,’ he says. ‘Take a look at me. Take a look at the life
that I lived.’ Look at verses 4-6. Paul says, ‘Consider that if anyone could
have been confident in the flesh, it’s me.’ And he tells you seven things about
himself in that passage:
‘I was circumcised as an infant, according to the law of
Moses.
‘I was a Hebrew by birth. I’m not a convert to Israel. I’m
not a former Gentile who’s now a worshiper of the God of Israel. I was born into
Israel.
‘Furthermore, I’m a Benjamite. [He’s saying.] A lot of Jews
in my day don’t even know what tribe they’re a part of, because they got sent
off to the exile and the records got lost. They don’t even know where their
heritage leads back. They know they’re Jewish, they know they’re descended from
Abraham, but they don’t even know their tribe. I know my tribe. I’m from
Benjamin. I can tell you about the Benjamites. I can tell you about my
great-great-great-great-great-great-grandfathers.
[And he says] ‘Furthermore, I have a distinguished pedigree
amongst Israel. I’m a Hebrew of Hebrews.
[And he says] ‘You think I’m kind of loosie-goosie about
the law? Well, let me tell you about it: I was in the party of the Pharisees. We
were the law guys. We loved the law more than anybody else.
‘And you question my zeal? Well, let me tell you how
zealous I was: I killed Christians.
‘How about my commitment to the law of Moses? Maybe my
reaction to the law of Moses here is because I fell short? No, no! In fact [he
says], with regard to the outward observance of the Mosaic law, I was flawless.’
And then, what’s the next thing he’s going to say,
in verse 7? “I count it all as loss.”
What’s Paul saying? He’s saying, ‘Look, if this could work
for anybody, it would have worked for me. But it didn’t. Because believers glory
in Christ, and they put no confidence in the flesh.’
My friend, if you are
here this morning and you’re trusting in anything or anyone other than Jesus
Christ, or if you are trusting in Jesus Christ plus anything else for your
standing with God, for your acceptance by God, for your eternal salvation, then
you are saying that Jesus is not enough, or that Jesus is not necessary.
And the Apostle Paul says Christians glory in Jesus
Christ. The name of Jesus never occurs in the sentence “is not necessary” or “is
not enough” in the Christian vocabulary, because Christians glory in Jesus. So
you may believe that and not be a Christian, or you may be a Christian and not
believe that, but you can’t be a Christian and think that Jesus is not enough
or that He’s unnecessary.
But if you’re here today and you really believe that
nothing in your hand you bring, simply to His cross you cling, then Jesus is
more than enough. He’s sovereignly sufficient. And that, my friends, is the
foundation for a life of joy. Because they can take
everything else from you, but they cannot take that from you, because He will
not let them.
Let us pray.
Heavenly Father, it’s easy for us to say that we
trust in Jesus and yet to trust in ourselves, or trust in something else, or
trust in Jesus plus something else. Lord God, by Your mercy, don’t let us do
that. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Take your hymnals and turn with me to No. 461, as we
close with Not What My Hands Have Done.
[Congregational hymn.]