- Chapters: [[Philippians 3]]:1-21 # Intro: A mathematical problem - When can you add two numbers together and get less than began with? When you add positive and negative numbers together - Many say that you have to be circumcised to be a Christian, but [[Paul]] refutes them - Warns his listeners that adding anything to their faith in [[Jesus]] will not only diminish it, but bring it to nothing! - [[Christ]] plus anything is nothing - Most exclusive place for a Christian to ever be is in [[Christ]] - Cannot cling to him and/or someone or something else, without losing something - There's all sorts of things people may want to insist on in their particular flavour of Christianity, but [[Paul]]'s appeal is to a clean vanilla approach -- our confidence should be to rest in [[Jesus]] alone # How [[Paul]] addresses this mathematical problem ## **Warning** about lordship (v.1-3) - [[Jonathan Gillepsie]] has a presbytarian background - Sometimes, Christians are not known for their joyfulness - [[Paul]] encourages Christians to be joyful - What matters is that [[Christ]] is preached - Chapter 2: rejoice in our sacrifice and giving - Chapter 4: rejoice in our concern for him - [[Jesus]] is to be both the basis and the focus of our joy; the heart of everything we do - Those who say that non-jewish believers must tick extra boxes if they were to become genuine parts of God's people (i.e. circumcision) are warned against with considerable force by [[Paul]] - [[NIV]] is a bit timid in translation here; does not contain the literary punch of the original Greek - E.g. verse 2 says "Beware" three times! - [[Paul]] is trying to subvert the jews who would demean the gentiles as dogs, by calling them the wicked themselves - **Now that [[Jesus]] has come, the identity of God's people must lie solely in him** - The symbol of the promise are no longer law and circumcision, but [[Jesus]] - So to insist on the previous markers of true faith, that they be retained, only diminishes [[Jesus]]'s position, and actually negates it completely, for you can only trust in one thing - Verse 3: it is we who are the circumcision, jews and gentiles together under [[Christ]] # Gazing - [[Paul]] wrote the book of [[Philippians]] to teach you how to gaze - Three pictures to gaze on: ## The accountant who calculates nothing (v. 5-11) - [[Paul]] was initially the perfect "card-carrying" jew - Royal lineage, circumcised, living flawlessly under the law, religious zeal, etc - In an accounting metaphor, [[Paul]] has very good financials - Yet when [[Paul]] tallied up all his gains in his spreadsheet, he realizes that his balance is actually in the red (verse 7, 8) - Only faith is worth tallying up - "You can pin as many bits of medal on your chest as you like, but it will never make you a soldier" - Many of these actions won't change who you are; but faith in [[Jesus]] will ## The athlete who presses on (v. 12-16) - [[Paul]] is careful not to imply that he's some sort of superhero - But just like the [[Philippians]], he is a plodder -- still jogging on the track towards the finish line - Verse 13: "I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold" of what [[Christ]] has taken hold of him for - Verse 14: "This one thing I do" -- he presses on. - We can learn from the past, but we mustn't live in the past - Now [[Paul]] thinks about his past differently - Each of us has a past, but it is within that past that [[Jesus]] finds us and points us to a new direction, giving us a new purpose to live for - Verse 15: all of us who are mature should take such a view of things (to strive after [[Christ]], having put the past behind, then strive forwards to model our lives after him) ## The alien who does not belong (v. 17-21) - Sets out two destinies that result from two different ways of living: living for today, or living for tomorrow - Can't have both -- can't look up (towards heavenly things) and look down (towards earthly things) simultaneously - Verse 19: "their God is their stomach" etc. Their focus is on themselves, trusting in their own efforts to deliver themselves, controlled by powerful passions rather than the power of [[Christ]] - Yes, they will have their successes and their day in the sun, but in the end, it will prove to be their shame and destruction - Death is the great leveller -- eventually everything goes back in the box! - For the unbeliever, it is glory now, but death tomorrow. - But not for the Christian -- their focus is on eternity. Their citizenship is in heaven rather than on earth - Does the Christian miss out on glory then? No, said [[Paul]] -- when [[Christ]] comes our lowly bodies will transform to be like his. Will be perfected in his image and share in his glory - "Jam tomorrow, but never jam today" # Conclusion - Anecdote: seen an [[AirBnB]] ad that said "Travel has gone from being a pleasure to being a checklist" - Would be a shame for that to happen in the church as well - [[Paul]] says that true joy comes not from self effort or worldly achievements, but from trust in [[Jesus]] alone > [!summmary] AI Summary > - **Christ + anything = nothing:** Paul warns that adding extra requirements (like circumcision or other religious “flavours”) to faith in Jesus not only dilutes the gospel but cancels it. True identity, confidence and joy for God’s people rest solely in Christ, not in law-keeping, lineage or personal achievements. > - **Three vivid pictures drive the point home:** > > 1. _The accountant_—Paul’s impeccable religious résumé turns out to be a loss compared with the surpassing worth of knowing Jesus (vv. 5-11). > > 2. _The athlete_—still “pressing on,” he refuses to live in the past but strains forward toward the heavenly prize (vv. 12-16). > > 3. _The alien_—citizens of heaven look up, not down; those who live for earthly appetites end in shame, while believers await transformation into Christ’s glorious likeness (vv. 17-21). > > > - **Living application:** Christian joy is meant to be unmistakable; it flows from resting in Christ alone rather than ticking spiritual checklists. Like a traveler who forgets the pleasure of the journey by obsessing over an itinerary, churches risk losing their joy when they place confidence in anything besides Jesus.