June 3, 2001

Philippians 3:1-11

How to Stay Focused in the Midst of Troubles

1. Introduction

1. Illustration – In Sojourners, Henry Nouwen wrote, Our vocation is to follow Christ on his downward path and become witnesses to God’s compassion in the concreteness of our time and place. Our temptation is to let needs for success, visibility, and influence dominate our thoughts, words, and actions to such an extent that we are trapped in the destructive spiral of upward mobility and thus lose our vocation. It is this lifelong tension between vocation and temptation that presents us with the necessity of formation. Precisely because the downward mobility of the way of the cross cannot depend on our spontaneous responses, we are faced with the question, "How do we reach conformity to the mind and heart of the self-emptying Christ?"
2. Context – Nouwen makes a good point – we have problems separating ourselves from a worldly focus and taking on the attitudes of Christ. Paul had a good grip on this concept, and he writes about it in Philippians 3:1-11. Let’s read those verses together.

1. Scripture Passage

1. Philippians 3:1-11 – Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord! It is no trouble for me to write the same things to you again, and it is a safeguard for you. ² Watch out for those dogs, those men who do evil, those mutilators of the flesh. ³ For 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— ⁴ though I myself have reasons for such confidence. If anyone else thinks he has reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: ⁵ circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; ⁶ as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for legalistic righteousness, faultless. ⁷ But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. ⁸ What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ ⁹ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. ¹⁰ I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, ¹¹ and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.
2. Paul had a single-minded focus, and if we’re going to make an impact on our world today, we’ve got to have the same focus.

1. Paul’s Message

1. In verse 1, Paul says that repeating what he had earlier taught them was not a burden, but a safeguard. It literally means that his desire is that they have certain, dependable knowledge. Why is that so important? Because if our knowledge is correct, we have a much better chance of relating to Jesus Christ in ways that are honoring and pleasing to Him. On top of that, certain, dependable knowledge of Christ gives us the ability to teach the truth wherever we go. Paul repeating himself simply left no grounds for serious theological error.
2. Then Paul follows the safeguard with a warning in verse 2. Watch out for those dogs, those men who do evil, those mutilators of the flesh. The Greek puts it more strongly, including a command voice before each one of these descriptions. Paul writes, "Continually be on the lookout for the dogs, continually be on the lookout for the evil workers, continually be on the lookout for the mutilation." He uses strong words to describe these people. "Dogs" were considered by the Jews to be the most despised and miserable of all creatures, and in this case was used to describe those who prowl around Christian congregations, seeking to win converts. They are devourers of the filth of error. They are evil workers, and if they are evil workers they work for the devil himself. "Mutilation" is used to describe those who circumcised for the wrong reasons, in order to lead people into error. These are the people who do what appears to be the right religious stuff with the wrong motives. They oppose the holiness of God and His people! I hate to tell you this but those kinds of people will always be around until Christ returns, so we have to watch out for them. Paul considered them enough of a threat to use some of the strongest language available to describe them, so we should likewise take this warning seriously. Our very souls depend on it.
3. Then Paul combated the error with truth. He said, "We are the ones set apart to God, we are the ones who know how to truly worship God by the power of His Spirit, we are the ones whose only glory is Christ Jesus. We are the ones who don’t trust in anything worldly." This is a sharp contrast to verse two. The shift is from an earthly, selfish focus to a heavenly, Christ-centered focus. Paul is shouting, "Remember what Christ means to you! Drop the focus on yourself and focus on Him!"
4. Then he shows us the futility of focusing on our earthly qualifications. He says, using our modern church jargon, "I’ve been a Christian from the dawn of time. I was raised in the church; I was baptized in the church when I was an ankle-biter. I’ve never missed a Sunday. I’ve always done what the Bible says. I’ve never violated the rules of the church. I’ve been a leader in the church since before you were born. I’ve always done everything right. I don’t drink, I don’t smoke, I don’t do drugs. I have my spiritual act together." So what? What does that have to do with what Christ has called us to be? Is there some stuff in that list that is important to do or not to do? You bet! But we can’t base who we are and whether or not we’re going to heaven on that list! We can’t base our standing in the church on that list! That list can’t save us! It doesn’t matter if we run around doing everything right if we don’t have a close and personal relationship with Jesus Christ! That is what Paul is getting at.
5. In verses seven and eight, he writes, But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. Paul is saying, "Don’t tell me about your religious credentials, tell me about your relationship." Paul gave up his right to his credentials and thought of them as being garbage in his own mind. Does that mean that he was giving up fulfilling his leadership obligations? No! It means that he fulfilled the obligations without taking advantage of the privileges. He says that nothing on this earth could possibly matter compared to knowing Jesus. And he’s right.
6. Most of you have probably noticed that I read a lot of books and articles and subscribe to email services that give me other stories and quotes. And I use them weekly to illustrate the points of my sermons. But one thing I am very careful about when doing this – I may stretch the illustration to fit the Scripture, but I never allow the illustration to determine my theology. I don’t care what anyone has experienced or written about or heard of, if it does not match up to what is in the Bible it is garbage. Grabbing hold of anything you can, even God Himself, is the current theological fad. And some authors and speakers find Scriptures to back them up. The only problem is that what they are teaching does not hold water when held up against the light of the entire teaching of the Bible. Those who say to simply grab hold of whatever you want no matter who you step on must have never read John chapter 13, where Jesus strips down like a slave and washed His disciples’ feet, or Philippians 2:1-11, where Jesus’ attitude of humility is brought out beautifully. Those who promote a prosperity gospel must have never read far enough into the Bible to grasp the concept of the suffering servitude of Christ and the apostles. Paul says we’ve got to watch out that what we believe is the truth! It doesn’t matter what anyone teaches if it does not match up with the truth found in the whole of Scripture. Why am I spending so much time bringing out this point? Because if we don’t get this into our heads then we will misunderstand and misuse and misapply one of the most important passages of Scripture in the Bible. Verses ten and eleven describe what is supposed to be the focus of our faith. They are so important that I asked Emma to make the banner hanging above the double doors that has written on it the first five words of verse ten.
7. I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, ¹¹ and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead. It’s easy to stop at "I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection" because then we have power without cost. We have love without obedience. We have God in a nice little box to do our bidding no matter who we have to step on to get there. But that isn’t what Paul says. "I want to know Christ through experiencing Him." There is no experiencing Christ without experiencing all of Who He is. "I want to know the power of the resurrection through experiencing it." There is no experiencing Christ’s resurrection power without experiencing the cross of Christ. "I want to know the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings through experiencing them." There is no experiencing Christ, no experiencing the power of his resurrection, no fellowship of sharing in Him without sharing in His sufferings. We can’t share in His sufferings if we do not crucify our own wants and desires and experience through that the anguish He suffered in being falsely accused, tried and convicted, scourged within an inch of His life, then brutally executed on an instrument of terror so horrible that the Roman soldiers often had to get drunk before they could put someone on it and watch them die. There is no experiencing all of Who Christ is and what He wants us to be without becoming like Him in His death – without putting our selfish wants and desires to death. Verse ten is the only way to accomplish verse eleven. Verse ten is the only way to eternal life! The driving purpose for our lives has to be knowing Jesus on HIS TERMS, NOT OURS, if we are going to receive eternal life. You want to know how to stay focused in the midst of troubles? KEEP YOUR DRIVING PURPOSE IN LIFE CENTERED ON KNOWING CHRIST ON HIS TERMS. Then you’ll have no problem keeping your focus.

1. Conclusion

1. I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, ¹¹ and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead. Say it with me. I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, ¹¹ and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead. Knowing Christ on His terms is the only thing that matters in life.
2. What is your driving purpose in life? Where is your focus? If your focus has been on yourself or on someone else’s teaching or on the stuff of this world, you’d better get your focus on Christ. Otherwise you are playing a dangerous game, one that will eventually cost you your very own soul. It’s time we get serious about sin, and having anything else but knowing Jesus Christ on His terms as our driving focus in life is sin.
3. If you’ve been guilty of this sin, and you want to turn your back on it and begin to get to know Jesus as He really is, now’s the time to do so. All you have to do is make a conscious decision to turn your back on it, ask Him to forgive you, ask Him to come into your heart and clean it out, and trust Him to do it. And, when you leave this place, follow through on it. Do you want to do that right now? If you want to change your focus in life to Christ, come forward right now and ask Him to forgive you and to get you started on the right path. If this is you, come forward now.
4. Let’s pray.