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When I was in college, I developed a friendship with someone my first year who lived on my floor, and we became really good friends, and all the way through college we maintained our friendship. And then after college, we grew apart a little bit, but we're still friends, and he started a blog, and he started to get lots of people to follow him on his blog, and I started to read his blog, and some red flags came up as I was reading his blog when he talked about matters of the Christian faith.
It occurred to me that he was steering away from what would be considered orthodox, and he was teaching some false things. And so what I did was I confronted him and told him, you know what, you need to stop doing this.
People liked what he was saying, it was kind of a feel-good message, but he wasn't teaching the truth. And so I was telling him, you know, you're being a false teacher by doing this. And he did not receive that well, and he actually cut off our friendship, unfriended me on Facebook, and we know how big of a deal that is, and our friendship was over.
And I wondered, you know, should I pursue this friendship? Should I pursue reconciliation here? And in this case, on the basis of Scripture, it was wise for me not to pursue reconciliation, and that is because 2 John verse 10 says that we are not supposed to even greet a false teacher.
We're not supposed to associate with them. We're not supposed to be friends with them. And this means that if a Jehovah's Witness comes to your door, you should not greet them, you should not let them in.
It doesn't mean you can't talk to them to try to win them to Christ, but you should not be their friend, because you are actually contributing to their work by associating with them in that way. Now, being a false teacher, this is the one circumstance where you should not pursue reconciliation with that person.
And so, on the basis of Scripture, I was convinced that I should not pursue this with my friend. Now, every other friendship or relationship that we have, we should pursue reconciliation. The verse that I read this morning, Romans chapter 13, verse 18, says that as far as it depends on us, we should be at peace with all people.
And so that's what we must do, especially with those who are believers. And that's going to be the topic this morning of our sermon, as we continue our sermon series through the letter of Philippians.
We're in Philippians chapter 4, verses 1 through 5, and our sermon is titled, Conflict Resolution. Philippians chapter 4, verses 1 through 5. Therefore, my brothers, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm thus in the Lord, my beloved.
I entreat Jodea and I entreat Sintik to agree in the Lord. Yes, I ask you also, true companion, help these women who have labored side by side with me in the gospel together with Clement and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the book of life.
Rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand. So this sermon this morning is calling you to seek to be at peace with fellow believers.
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 circumcision who worship by the Spirit of God in 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 more 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.
But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake, I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith, that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.
So this sermon this morning is calling you to rejoice at the position you have in Christ. To rejoice at the position you have in Christ. And there are three reasons why that I'm going to show you in this passage.
The first reason why is that you have experienced spiritual circumcision. You have experienced spiritual circumcision. Two weeks ago, our sermon was titled, A Few Good Men of God. In that passage, we looked at the life of Timothy and Epaphroditus.
We saw that we were to follow their godly characteristics by caring sincerely for the good of others, proving yourself in gospel ministry, and taking risks for the sake of Christ's mission. That's what we looked at two weeks ago.
So, we are to follow their example as they follow the example of Christ. Remember we talked about that? As you follow others who follow Christ, really what you are doing is following Jesus. This morning, we are going to see that this text is calling us to rejoice in the Lord.
Paul begins in verse 1 by reminding them something he has done numerous times in this letter. And that is, he tells them to rejoice in the Lord. Paul does not have a problem reminding them of this. As he writes in the second half of verse 1, he says to write the same things to you is no trouble to me and is safe for you.
Believers in Christ should be joyful people. This is because the one from whom true joy comes dwells within you. Jesus said this in John 15 .11, he says, I say these things to you that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be full.
So Jesus has this fullness of joy. And when the Holy Spirit is given to you, this fullness of joy dwells within you. So joy is rooted in the Lord. True believers have this joy. And Paul commands the believers to rejoice in the Lord because they can.
Paul then transitions to warn the church in Philippi about false teachers. False teachers are all over the place. And the church of Philippi had these teachers around them as well. Paul writes here, look out for the dogs.
Look out for the evildoers. Look out for those who mutilate the flesh. For we are the circumcision who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh. Paul calls out a group of teachers that were known as the Judaizers.
These were Jewish false teachers. These were people who believed and taught that a Gentile when becoming a believer in Christ needed to be circumcised and continue with the Old Testament law to be accepted by God.
So in other words, yes, believe in Jesus, but you still have to keep the Old Testament law. That's still binding on you. But Paul and the other writers of scripture make clear that it is by grace through faith in Jesus that one is accepted by God and saved.
And Paul said, if anyone preaches a different gospel, let him be accursed. And these people would fall into that category. These are not Christians. When Paul uses the word dog here, he is spinning it back on these false teachers because these Jewish false teachers insulted Gentiles by calling them dogs.
Now Paul is calling them dogs for teaching a false gospel. So you can see this would have ruffled some feathers when they saw this. We know these were unbelievers because Paul calls them evildoers in verse 2.
When he writes at the end of verse 2 that they mutilate the flesh, he is referring to circumcision. Some of your babies, many of you here have had children, male children, many of your male children have been circumcised.
This was something the Jews were commanded to do. All the males had to be circumcised. So that's where circumcision comes from. Now these Jewish false teachers, known as Judaizers, were teaching a gospel that Jesus' work on the cross was not enough.
Your obedience to the Old Testament law was also required to be saved. So what does this sound like today? Have you ever heard this in your conversations with people? Maybe a Jehovah Witness knocked on your door.
Jehovah Witnesses and Mormons, they both teach that Jesus died for your sins, but they also say you have to do more. Jesus made a way for you to be saved, but you're the one who's going to earn your way to heaven.
That's not what the Bible teaches. Even Roman Catholics have a works salvation teaching that you will be accepted by God at the end based on the full body of work. They would say Christ's sacrifice aids in that, getting the grace from Christ's sacrifice, but the whole body of work of your life, from the grace that God has given you, determines whether you're saved.
That's not what the Bible teaches. The Bible teaches that when you believe in Jesus Christ, you are saved, and you are justified in that moment. And yes, your works are important because they prove your salvation, but they don't earn your salvation.
Now in verse 3, Paul explains what physical circumcision was always pointing to, and that is spiritual circumcision. In verse 3, he says, God never intended for physical circumcision to save anyone, and those who believe that were misunderstanding its intention.
It was meant to point ahead to a circumcision of the heart. This is what Deuteronomy 36 says. Deuteronomy 36 says,. The people who can love the Lord with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength are those who have been circumcised in heart.
And what these Jewish false teachers understood, what they thought was right, was that external obedience, not a change in the heart, could make you accepted before God, and that was a major mistake. God's design for the people of Israel was to set them apart from the other nations.
He gave them many, many instructions to do so. He wanted them to be a city on the hill, a wholly set-apart group. And one of the ways he did that was by giving them circumcision. And that's one of the ways they were distinguished from the pagan nations surrounding them.
But what God really wanted from his people was a heart change. The only way those circumcised in the flesh would have a true relationship with God is if they were circumcised in heart. And actually the Apostle Paul labors to the point in the book of Romans to prove that Abraham was actually saved before he was circumcised physically, because he had a spiritual circumcision.
And that's what the Bible was pointing to all along. Now when Paul says that they are the circumcision, he was referring to Jews and Gentiles. Now Gentiles are non-Jews. He's pointing to Jews and Gentiles who were true believers.
These Jewish false teachers teaching a false gospel were not among the circumcision that Paul describes. They were circumcised in flesh, but not in the heart. Not spiritually. The remainder of verse 3 tells us how the spiritually circumcised worship.
It says that they worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus. True believers do this. And that is where their confidence is in, not in the flesh. Your acceptance with God is from God through Christ and the Spirit that has been given to you.
It is not from external obedience like these Jewish false teachers thought. And a lot of people out there think that. They think, you know what, if I'm good enough, if I do enough external things, then God has to accept me.
And that's not what the Bible teaches. So this is the first reason why you must rejoice at the position you have in Christ. You have experienced spiritual circumcision through Jesus. The second reason why you must rejoice at the position you have in Christ is your religious credentials get you nowhere.
Your religious credentials get you nowhere. Paul, in verses 4 through 7, is going to explain his resume to these Jewish false teachers. So follow along with me here. Verses 4 through 7. 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.
But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. If a true follower of God was based off of one's position in Judaism and obedience to it, Paul would be in better shape than any of these teachers who are teaching a false gospel.
Externally, Paul was the perfect Israelite. He checked off all the boxes. He did everything. But what does Paul say here? It means nothing before God. And that's a humbling reality when you realize that, that your religious credentials mean nothing before a holy God.
And Paul gave this up for Christ. When Jesus appeared to Paul on the Damascus road, Paul was going on this road, it's called the road to Damascus, to persecute more Christians. This guy wasn't even anywhere near becoming a believer in Christ.
And Jesus appears to him on this road. And as a result of that appearance, Paul becomes a believer in Christ. So when Paul sees him, everything changed. Everything changed. Paul realized how futile his past life was.
All of his striving was for naught. Do you think this has relevance to us today? Of course it does. How can this be applied to you? You may have grown up in a Christian home. Your parents are believers.
Your church attendance is great. You stay out of trouble. You tithe regularly. But that cannot get you to heaven. Only Jesus can. Your salvation relies 100 on the finished work of Christ. Now what I will say is that those are evidences that you are saved.
We talk a lot about that. Jesus saves you, and then your works prove that you are saved. So church attendance, following in the footsteps of your parents, giving your resources to the advance of the gospel, being involved in ministries here at Eureka, etc., are evidence that you are circumcised spiritually.
And so be encouraged by that. It's evidence that you are saved, and that one day you will enter the presence of God holy and blameless before Him. But of course, you cannot earn your way to heaven. Your credentials in the Christian faith will not get you that.
If you look in my office, I have my Master of Divinity certificate, or degree, on the wall. It's just a piece of paper. I mean, think of all the hours I spent studying. I spent a lot of time, you know, for that piece of paper.
And when I look at it, I'm just like, it doesn't get me anywhere with God. It doesn't do anything for me. You know, some days I'm like, okay, I'm glad I did that, but it doesn't help me before God. It does none of that.
And I am sure there are people who are ordained, who have far more degrees than I have, who have PhDs in theology, or have their books published, who are not spiritually circumcised in Christ. They have all the credentials, but they are spiritually dead.
And then there's people who don't even have a high school education who are spiritually circumcised, because they know Jesus. So it's not based on your credentials. Christ alone places you in a right standing before God.
The credentials you build up in the church are wonderful, because they are probably evidence of your true faith. But they don't improve your standing before God, because that is based on Jesus Christ.
The gospel of Jesus Christ is liberating, because our standing before God is dependent on Him, not us. If you have a bad day walking with God, He does not think of you less. If you think that if I had a bad day, God thinks of me less, then you're not believing the gospel, because that's not what the gospel says.
Religion says I need to keep striving to please God, so that He will accept me. The gospel tells you to rest in Christ, and trust what He did for you through His death and resurrection, and therefore, God accepts you.
And His righteousness is your righteousness. We're going to see that here in a few minutes. Last week when my parents were visiting, we watched a movie about John Wesley. That might be a name that you recognize.
A lot of the hymns we sing were written by Charles Wesley. Charles Wesley is John Wesley's brother. John Wesley is a famous preacher from the 1700s, and he was someone who spent many years trying to earn God's favor in order to be saved, and he never had peace.
He just kept on working and working and working. He did these missions all because he wanted to go to heaven. He didn't care about the people. He thought he had to do it in order to earn God's favor, and then some fellow preachers who believed the gospel shared the gospel with him, and he finally came to an understanding.
The light turned on, and he realized, I don't need to keep striving. I just need to trust Christ's finished work, and he did that, and then the rest of his ministry took off, and we remember him this day as someone who preached the gospel because he knew he was accepted by God, and he preached the grace of God to people, and many people were saved as a result of his ministry.
Your obedience is joyful obedience as God changes your desires, and God gives you the ability to obey through the presence of the Holy Spirit. First John 5 .3 says that God's commands to us are not burdensome, but you do them because you have a genuine love for God.
John Berridge, an Anglican hymnist, said, Run, John, run, the law demands, but gives me neither feet nor hands. Better news the gospel brings, it bids me fly and gives me wings. I'll read that one more time.
Run, John, run, the law demands, but gives me neither feet nor hands. Better news the gospel brings, it bids me fly and gives me wings. So the gospel is liberating, and it also gives you the ability to obey.
So that you don't come on a Sunday morning to church because you have to, you come here because you want to. It's an opportunity to grow, it's an opportunity to be with the fellowship of believers, it's an opportunity to be closer to God than maybe you can't be when maybe you're on your own.
The gospel liberates us. As a Christian, you should have a tremendous peace as you walk with God, not constantly worrying if he is going to accept you. That's what the gospel does to us, and it's like this major burden is lifted from you.
And you can enjoy life as you follow God. And your joy doesn't come from just enjoying life, your joy comes from God. So this is the second reason you must rejoice at the position you have in Christ. Your religious credentials get you nowhere.
The third reason you must rejoice at the position you have in Christ is to have Christ is to have everything. Verses 8 -11, Paul continues to say here, Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.
For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith, that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.
Paul begins this section by writing that he has counted everything as loss compared to knowing Jesus. Think of how hard it was for Paul to build up those credentials. Paul was probably in his 30s when he became a believer in Christ.
He worked hard to get to that point. Year after year he studied, he was rising the ladder in Judaism. Think of how hard it was for him and he gave it all up in a short amount of time. He is saying now that he knows Jesus.
He is saying now that he knows Jesus. All of that means nothing to him. Paul found his identity in Judaism. So when Paul became a believer in Christ, he gave up his identity. Can you imagine doing that?
When we become believers in Christ, sometimes you come to faith when you're young and you don't remember your past life, but if any of you here today became a believer in Christ later in life, you can remember, you know, my life changed, my identity changed.
The people who once knew me and had this perception of who I was, that completely changed when I became a follower of Christ. Some of you maybe remember the show Growing Pains. I think it was late 80s, early 90s.
I remember watching that show a little bit. Kirk Cameron was a rising star. He was the young guy on that show that, you know, honestly all the women liked him, apparently. And I wouldn't know, I'm not a woman.
But many thought he was a rising star and he became a Christian. He realized that he was going to die. He said, I'm a part of the statistic that 10 out of 10 people die, and I know that I'm going to stand before God one day, and that persuaded him that he needed to put his trust in Jesus Christ, and he did so.
And it's interesting, on that show, they tried to put him in compromising situations with women after he became a follower of Christ and he wouldn't do it. And so they had a really hard time with him after that.
But they still needed to keep him on the show, but they had a hard time with him. And instead of his career launching into Hollywood where he became a big movie star, or a television star, he devoted his life to ministry.
And some of you maybe see some of the ministries that he's done. He does street evangelism a lot, and all these different, he runs a camp for children who are terminal, who have terminal illnesses. He's doing all these wonderful things for the Lord, and he could have been a Hollywood star and he gave it up.
And some of you maybe have a story similar to that. Not that high of a scale, but you gave up something to follow Jesus. You gave up your identity in some way in order to follow Christ, and he made you a new creation.
And you no longer found your identity in something from the past, but you now find your identity in Jesus. You gave up the position you held in the world for something greater, someone greater, Jesus Christ.
This begs the question, how great must he be for one to give up their identity? He must not be equal or slightly better for one to leave what used to give them joy and fulfillment in life. He must be the greatest.
He must be far superior. He must satisfy you unlike anything has ever been able to satisfy you before. You leave your past, what you once loved, because you found the meaning of life. People ask you that.
What's the meaning of life? And you can tell them, you know what? I know what it is. Life's about Jesus. And he came to this earth 2 ,000 years ago to set things right, to reconcile us with God, a holy God and sinners.
Jesus brings us together. Life is about him, and he's going to interrupt everybody's plans someday in the future when he comes back to the earth. And people are going to find out life is about him, because people are going to have busy lives when he comes back.
Their priorities are going to be somewhere else, and Jesus is going to interrupt them and say, what did you do with me? Because life is about me. So when you become a Christian, you found the one for whom you were created.
And the world can't explain this when people leave their life behind in order to follow Christ. Unless you have experienced it, you will not understand it. Unbelievers do not get it. Why would someone go to the mission field and risk his or her life in the process?
And people will ask, who is this Jesus? At the very least, it will cause people to stop and think about him and hopefully believe. Now Paul in verse 9 here explains what Jesus did that he could never do in his old life of external obedience to the law.
Verse 9. He says, And be found in him not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith. Paul is saying that by having faith in Christ, he is not relying on his own righteousness like he was before.
Rather, he is relying on the righteousness of another. There's a verse in Isaiah, I can't remember, I think it's Isaiah 64 something, I can't remember the exact reference, that says, the Lord says that your works are like filthy rags.
In our works before God, apart from Christ, are like filthy rags. So Paul, instead of relying on external obedience, is relying on the righteousness of another. He is relying on righteousness that comes from God, God's righteousness that comes through Christ.
And this is what we call justification. That's kind of a big word, but it's a theological term that means you are declared righteous before God. The reason you are declared righteous through faith is that faith demonstrates your helplessness.
You're saying, I can't do it. When you say that to God, he says, bingo, you're right, you can't do it. But I know the one who can do it, and he did it for you, and that is Jesus. So Jesus is your righteousness.
You need the righteousness of another to be able to stand before God wholly. And when you trust in Christ, you begin to know him. You don't just believe in Christ just to believe in him and then move on with your life.
You believe in Christ to know him. We're going to see that in verse 10 here. That I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death. The goal of trusting Jesus is to know him, to have a personal relationship with him.
It's wonderful that he doesn't just save us, but he also wants us to enter into a personal relationship with him. Sometimes we can think that God is far off, and that's not the case. God is close. The one who created you and gives you eternal life is also your friend.
He desires to be with you. He desires to have a personal relationship with you. This is what Jesus calls believers in John 15, 15. He calls them friends. So if you are following Jesus today, Jesus considers you a friend.
Once you believe, you ought to have a closer relationship with Christ than anyone else in your life. And as I was thinking about that this week, it struck me, because I had to ask myself, is that the case in my own life?
That's a big statement. Is Jesus the most important person in your life to you? The effect of knowing him is that you will know power, specifically the power of his resurrection. As verse 10 says, you will know him and the power of his resurrection.
You have this power as a believer in Christ. The power of fellowship, your power comes from your association with the conqueror of death. There's only one man who's conquered death, and that's Jesus. And we celebrated that last week.
But Easter Sunday is actually every day. I know we recognize it on Easter Sunday, but the reality that Jesus is raised from the dead is something we must hold tightly to every single day. Now, this power you have as a Christian, the power that God gives you, it's not just that you have an easy life because you have all this power.
You actually face many difficulties in your life. The end of verse 10 says, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death. One of the ways that you will become like him is that you will suffer in this world just as he did.
You are his disciple and you're going to follow in his footsteps. But your suffering is only temporary. That's because verse 11 says, that by any means possible, I may attain the resurrection from the dead.
As you go down the joyful yet difficult path of following Jesus, you will achieve the resurrection from the dead. Your body will be like the body of Jesus, as we talked about last week. As you endure trials in your life with Jesus, realize what this is pointing toward.
It's not just trials and then that's it. It's trials and the resurrection of the dead that is waiting for you. This is an emphasis that I have made. The hope of the Christian is the final resurrection, where you will be glorified and have fellowship with Jesus forever.
When a believer dies, their spirit goes to be with the Lord. But the final resurrection is coming. When Jesus returns, he's going to raise from the dead all who belong to him. And that is the hope of the believers, that you will be a spirit.
Yes, but you will be an embodied spirit. You'll be a physical human that will be perfect forever. That's what the Bible is pointing to. And in that way, you will be like Christ. So think about how wonderful your destiny is in Christ.
So this is the third reason why you must rejoice at the position you have in Christ. To have Christ is to have everything. So rejoice at this position. And there's three reasons why, according to this text.
You have experienced a spiritual circumcision in Christ. Your religious credentials get you nowhere. And to have Christ is to have everything. Paul began this passage by saying, rejoice in the Lord. We have so much to rejoice over.
So may this joy be present in each of our lives. Remember that as a Christian, circumstances should not dictate the steady joy that you have in the Lord. If your circumstances dictate your joy, it's going to be quite a roller coaster ride.
But as a follower of Christ, it's the steady joy that you have throughout your life. Because in life, there's many ups and downs. But this joy is going to be what sustains you over the long haul. That even when you face all of these trials, you're able to persevere.
And you're able to have a joy. Not a fake joy that the world has. This is real joy. This isn't like the comedians on the late night shows. That's not real joy. Real joy is found in Christ. As you push through your trials, and you're able to say, you know, I have this joy because I have Jesus.
I have this joy because of the joy that's rooted in God. And God dwells in me. Nehemiah 8 .10 says, the joy of the Lord shall be our strength. So let us rejoice in the Lord as we ponder how wonderful God is.
And the position he has placed us in with his son, Jesus. Let's pray. Father, thank you for this passage of scripture. It truly is a treasure. And we praise you for giving it to us. And we can hold tightly to this truth.
And live by it. And look forward to the future. Father, I thank you that you have not placed us in a position of hopelessness like so many are facing today. But you position us in a position where the hope could not be greater.
The future could not be brighter. And Father, if there's anyone listening to this sermon who maybe has this hopelessness feeling, I pray that you take it away and show them the hope that comes through knowing Jesus.
And may we live this out, Lord. May this show in our lives. May this joy show in us. And may other people see it. And then ask, why do you have this joy? Where does it come from? And then we can say, this joy comes from Christ.
And his joy is full. In Jesus' name, amen.