"To Know Christ " by Rod Bayley, 20 January 2008, Philippians 3:1-4:1

[dann...@gmail.com]

Now I want to begin by sharing with you today some unimportant
qualifications which I once held. A few years ago I was a Certified
Professional in Erosion and Sediment Control, a CPESC for short.
You’re probably thinking that this sounds as interesting as watching
paint dry or grass grow, and if so, you’re not far off. But if you
had any large erosion problems on your urban development on
construction site, then I was once the sort of person you needed to
see. This certification was considered international, and the
accrediting body was in the United States. I had to sit a 2 hour exam
and also submit an assignment of several thousand words to get my
accreditation. Now unfortunately, unless government departments in
Australia recognise such accreditation, then it is not worth the paper
it is written on. The Department of Housing and Landcom who my old
engineering firm did a lot of work for, decided not to recognise such
qualifications, even though an Australian promotion was instigated.
Now that was disappointing enough - but you’d think that when another
body started up a competing system, they’d recognise my
accreditation. So when the Department of Agriculture backed a similar
certification process, I was hopeful that there might be some
consideration. But there was none - I may as well have told them that
I had a certificate from a cereal packet. So I went through a second
competing process and became a CPSS - a Certified Professional Soil
Scientist of course.

Well, that is a somewhat flippant example of having your
qualifications overlooked, as none of this affected my ability to
work. But, I’m sure you have heard terrible examples of doctors or
the like who had spent half their life studying overseas, who came to
Australia only to find that their many qualifications were not
recognised here. How shocking it is to find that something you have
worked toward all your life doesn’t count, and you are locked out as
it were - your many accomplishments treated as worthless.

Well, in the first part of our passage tonight, Paul makes such a
stunning assessment of some of his fellow Jews who had strived for
righteousness all their life, who thought they could know Christ
through their efforts. The context here of this first section from
verses 1 to 8 is that Paul is opposing a group who had infiltrated the
church at Philippi. They were basically saying that as well as
trusting in Jesus you have to supplement that faith with the additive
of circumcision. They had accepted Jesus, but had not given up on
seeking to obey all the OT law, and so were striving for righteousness
through personal obedience. If you like, they were mixing their
Jewish heritage with belief in Jesus, and wanting everyone in the
church to hold the same view. But notice Paul’s strong response in
verses 2 and 3: “Watch out for those dogs, those men who do evil,
those mutilators of the flesh. 3For it is we who are the
circumcision, we who worship by the Spirit of God, who glory in Christ
Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh.” In very provocative
language, Paul is saying that circumcision cannot add to a person’s
salvation. Verse 3 is indicating that the true people of God under
the new covenant are those who have the Holy Spirit, who have given up
on fleshly works, and who focus on Christ. Verse 3 is really a
summary of Paul’s argument which he expands on from verses 4 to 11.

In case we were wondering what Paul meant by “no confidence in the
flesh,” Paul spells it out for us in verses 4 to 8. Paul points out
in verse 4 that if there was anyone who had reasons for confidence in
the flesh, it was him. To prove that claim, he then lists his Jewish
credentials which the legalistic Jewish converts viewed as the means
of ensuring a right standing with God. Notice what he rattles off
from verse 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; 6as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for legalistic
righteousness, faultless.” Paul effectively says, ‘beat that’ - have
you got a better Jewish CV than that to commend yourself to God - not
likely. So having established himself as previously at the pinnacle
of such legalistic thinking, he then pulls the rug from under such an
approach in verses 7 and 8. He makes what must have been a shocking
statement to the legalistic infiltrators, and perhaps even to the
confused Gentile Christians at Philippi, that such credentials are
worthless - rubbish. Verse 7 states: “But whatever was to my profit I
now consider loss.” Paul effectively says: ‘Don’t work all your life
for your own righteousness - that’s empty - I know, because I’ve been
there.’ It’s a loss, like everything, “compared to the surpassing
greatness of knowing Christ” he states in verse 8. Paul’s conviction
about all these human accomplishments is that they’re “rubbish” - you
cannot know Christ through them. Paul realises that a right standing
with God, a genuine relationship with Christ is not his
accomplishment, it’s a gift. Rather than a righteousness of his own,
one that is sought through self-effort, Paul says in verse 9 that he
wants a righteousness “which is through faith in Christ” - this is the
starting point to truly know Christ.

Well, what is the application for us in this first section? I believe
it is clear, that if we are thinking today, even partially, that our
Christian heritage or our areas of service or efforts are somehow
adding to our faith, we are greatly mistaken, and we need to repent of
that. Anything that leads to us placing our sense of assurance of
salvation in anything additional to knowing Christ by faith, is
leading us astray and away from true righteousness. This is gospel
plus thinking - ie. I need Jesus plus my efforts in some area. Of
course we would probably immediately say, ‘No - that is wrong
thinking’, but we need to examine our thinking because such additions
can be so subtle, even sub-conscious.

See, I can list off my spiritual CV like Paul: “born to Christian
parents, in the tribe of the Congregationalists, and then the
Baptists, converted at age 9 by Billy Graham, served in this that or
the other at church, baptised at age 18, studied at bible college, now
a pastor.” But if I trust in any of that, my salvation is on very
shaky ground. We can’t trust in our church attendance, or our
family’s Christian heritage - you know, my father was a pastor or a
missionary, or my family are all Christian, or we’ve been in this
church for 40 years, or I’ve been a Baptist all my life. And this
danger doesn’t just exist at the point of conversion - it exists for
our whole Christian life. God effectively says to all of that: ‘So
what! - are you trusting in my son alone?’ If even a hint of our
assurance of salvation is placed in those things, then we are emptying
the Cross of its power to save - we are saying that Christ’s death and
resurrection was not enough. Even if we are still saying Christ’s
death is central, if we add to the gospel, then we distort the
gospel. Paul will have none of such thinking - because God will have
none of it.

In the second main section of our passage from verse 12 onwards, we
find that Paul presses on in living a Christian life, now that he has
life through faith in Christ. I want to start looking at this section,
however, from verse 15 because here Paul says: “All of us who are
mature (or complete) should take such a view of things.” So what Paul
is actually telling us in verses 12 to 14 is what maturity involves.
It involves two things in these verses - firstly, a correct assessment
of ourselves; and secondly, a zeal to keep pressing on in the
Christian life.

Firstly, let’s consider our self-assessment - look at what he says in
the first half of verse 12 - “Not that I have already obtained all
this, or have already been made perfect.” Paul would have had no time
for those people who say you can be perfect now. Look back at verse 6
- that was his pre-Christian understanding of himself - he says he was
faultless - “as for legalistic righteousness, faultless.” But now he
is a Christian he understands that he is not perfect, that he has not
made it - this is one mark of maturity - we need to understand
ourselves. The great reformer Calvin stated: “Wisdom consists of two
parts: the knowledge of God and the knowledge of ourselves.” Paul is
saying that maturity is found in a correct assessment of self - and of
course Paul wrote in 1 Timothy that he was the “chief of all
sinners.” That sort of self-knowledge is important for our maturity,
because we realise that we are not perfect, though saved, and that we
are to grow in godliness for the rest of our life.

In the second half of verse 12, Paul tells us the second aspect of
maturity, and it involves not wallowing in our past by focussing only
on our sinfulness. Rather he states: “but I press on to take hold of
that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.” The second aspect of
maturity is being single-minded or zealous, pressing on in the
Christian life till we receive our inheritance of heaven. In verse 12
he says “I press on”and in verse 14 “I press on”. And it’s the same
Greek word used for “press on” as used in verse 6 for the word
“persecuting” ie. Paul will relentlessly live the Christian life,
pursuing it to the very end. It’s like the French commandant who
pursued and persecuted Jean Val-jean all his life in the Victor Hugo
novel ‘Les Miserables’ - relentless pursuit. Paul will never stop
straining toward the goal of heaven - he is now zealous, not to
persecute Jews who have come to believe in Jesus as he was in Acts 9 -
no, now he is zealous to live for Christ.

And notice, Paul learns from his past, and realises his imperfections,
but he doesn’t focus on it. In verse 13 he says: “one thing I do:
forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press
on.” Paul doesn’t want to focus on his past - he wants to move on.
Why? Well the analogy in these verses is of the Greek athlete, who
strains toward the goal, the finishing line, the prize. They are not
distracted - they are not sidetracked - they are focussed on the
goal. You know when you see the running races in the Olympics,
particularly the sprints, that if the runner looks around him to see
where his competitors are, he or she loses momentum and will soon drop
back - you hear the commentators saying ‘they’ve lost it’ or ‘they’re
gone’ because they’ve taken their focus off the finishing line.

So why isn’t it good to dwell on your past? I believe the inference
here is that your past can simply be a distraction from living your
Christian life in the present. You can either be puffed up with
pride, and perhaps like the legalistic Jews, lose sight of knowing
Christ by faith alone, and start trusting in your good works. Or the
opposite is possible for some - that the sins of their past are so
many that they don’t believe they can be fully forgiven, and so they
are immobilised by them - they cannot get on with living their new
life in Christ because of being paralysed by guilt. We are not to be
distracted by our past - rather we are to press on towards heaven.
The apostle Paul’s orientation is future.

This mention of heaven in verse 14 leads on to his discussion in
verses 17 to 21. Here he outlines how you maintain this zeal for the
future, and so continue to grow in your knowledge of Christ. The way
to “press on,” to strain toward the goal of our inheritance, is to
focus on heaven. Notice in verses 20 and 21 what Paul states: “But
our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Saviour from
there, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21who 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 goes on to say in
verse 1 of chapter 4 that such a focus is how we can “stand firm in
the Lord.” We live consistently in the present by looking to our
future in heaven. Paul’s looking home, he’s looking to all that God
has prepared for him - he’s in Christ, one day he will be with Him.
This fuels his perseverance.

Do you have this single-minded focus on the future? Very few
Christians do - there’s often not a lot of encouragement for us to do
it either - everyone it seems, is living for now. Our lives are often
shaped by present pressures or circumstances. How long has it been
since you thought, like the English Puritans did in the first part of
every day, about the reality of heaven which you are heading for?
See, our pragmatism today means that we think such an activity is
irrelevant - but it’s not irrelevant - our lack of future orientation
is often a guide to how much we are consumed by our own lives. Such a
future orientation will put all of the rest of life into perspective,
and enable you to press on to that goal.

Of course the way Paul helps the Philippians to grasp this
revolutionary approach to life, is to talk about citizenship. It was
a great metaphor to use for the Philippians, because the city of
Philippi was unique in the Roman world. They had been granted full
Roman citizenship, although they were outside of Italy. This was
because Mark Antonny had pursued the armies of Brutus and Cassius who
had plotted and killed Julius Caesar, and he finally caught up with
their armies and won a great victory on the plains outside Philippi.
Such was the victory, that Philippi was declared to be a colony of
Rome, and every citizen made a citizen of Rome. And so Paul says to
them that despite this incredible status, they have a more important
citizenship - they are citizens not of Rome ultimately, but of heaven
he says. Our passports also, like those first Christians, are stamped
‘heaven.’

Having told us to press on to heaven, Paul tells us in the section
we’ve skipped over, from verses 17 to 19, about how we can be helped
to have this focus. Notice what he states firstly in verse 17: “Join
with others in following my example, brothers, and take note of those
who live according to the pattern we gave you.” The way we can be
helped to focus on heaven as we live, is to model our lives on people
who have this focus - to follow good examples. Paul firstly suggests
following his own example - but what was Paul’s example? Well, we
don’t have to go outside this letter to the Philippians to grasp
Paul’s overwhelming focus on the future - we read what is perhaps
Paul’s catch-cry in chapter 1 verse 21: “For to me, to live is Christ
and to die is gain.” He indicates in that section of chapter 1 that he
is longing for his goal of heaven, but until then he has an
opportunity to serve Christ and to progress the faith of Christians
such as the Philippians.

But Paul goes on in verses 18 and 19 - not only are there examples to
follow, but examples to avoid. Notice what Paul states from verse 18:
“For, as I have often told you before and now say again even with
tears, many lives as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their destiny is
destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their
shame. Their mind is on earthly things.” These people are those who
live as enemies of the cross. Their destiny is destruction - their
god is their bodily desires - they glory in shameful things, because
their mind is fixed on earth. The Lord Jesus died to deliver us from
such selfish living. Of course, the antidote to such thinking, if we
fall into it, is to not copy those who live this way, but rather to
fix our eyes on heaven.

Well, how does this apply to you and I? It’s fairly straight forward
isn’t it? What people are you modelling your life on? Take a few
moments to reflect on who it is that is shaping your life at the
moment. It’s often been said that continued growth in our knowledge
of Christ is caught, rather than taught. It’s not greater academic
knowledge that we need, but knowledge of how to live out our faith day
to day, which we can often see powerfully in the examples of others
around us. See, are you influenced by a Christian who provides a
clear example of taking their eyes off this passing world, and living
with eyes so fixed on heaven that they are consumed with maturing and
growing in their faith? Or is it your non-Christian family member or
friend, or work colleague, who lives only for themselves and what they
can accumulate on this earth, who influences you most? Do you find
yourself longing to have the clothes, or possessions or life that this
person has, wishing you could meet all your desires in this life? It
is an important choice - we can make a fatal error when we follow
those who live for this earth, because they have no hope beyond it.
On the other hand, how inspiring are people who are growing in Christ
as they fix their eyes on heaven.

What was it that drove Amy Carmichael, the famous missionary in India,
to take those little children off the streets where they were homeless
and were often being used as child prostitutes, and establish
orphanages, where the gospel was shared? What drove her from Ireland
to India was a little stanza from the hymn “In heavenly love abiding”:
Green pastures are before me, which yet I have not seen
Bright skies will soon be o’er me, where the dark clouds have been
My hope I cannot measure, my path to life is free
My Saviour has my treasure, and He will walk with me.

That drove her into the streets of India from the 1890s through to her
death in 1951. It was the hope held out in the gospel: “My hope I
cannot measure”. The devil, your accuser, will always want to take
you back to your past failings and accuse you, but Paul calls us to
look to the future, to focus on heaven. This year, as every year, as
individuals and as a church, we want to know Christ more. To do this
we need to firstly have the right foundations - to realise that we
have a relationship with Jesus by faith alone. And secondly, we need
grow in our knowledge by living out our faith with zeal, by growing in
godliness. To do this we must fix our eyes on heaven, and model our
lives on those who do also.