Philippians 3:1-11

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 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.  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.

The true Gospel will always have enemies.  Some of those enemies come from outside of us while others come from within us.  No matter the source, they are extremely dangerous, and we must do all we can to avoid them and cling to the only true Gospel.  These reminders will be important for us and we must be faithful to remind others of these truths as well.

 

BEWARE OF LEGALISM: It takes courage to stand up for truth against powerful people who have the ability to make life difficult and even dangerous for us.  We must be committed to doing what is best for the advancement and the defense of the Gospel.  Paul warns the church about the dangers of dogs, evildoers, and mutilators of the flesh.  It is most likely that all three of these terms are meant to describe the Judaizers who considered themselves to be “clean” because of their legalistic adherence to rituals and regulations.  In reality, they are called “dogs” which was not any type of a compliment.  They were filthy and the circumcision they were so confident in was nothing more than mutilation of the flesh.  The same could be said for any other type of self-confidence.  Any time we trust in anything or anyone other than Christ and His sacrifice on our behalf, we are in this same category of false teaching.  We must never trust in our own efforts.

 

FORGET SELF-RIGHTEOUSNESS: Paul uses himself as an example because he has a very impressive pedigree when it comes to the standards of self-righteousness.  However, he considers all of his family status, religious background, education, titles, and works of the flesh to be as nothing or even as loss.  Certainly, anything that detracts or distracts from the truth and beauty of the Gospel must be cast aside and rejected.  There are many advantages to being born in a Christian home and to avoiding the scars that a life of sin can leave.  However, if we place our trust in a Christian heritage, holy lifestyle, or biblical worldview instead of on the person and work of Jesus, those advantages turn into “loss.”  We must guard our hearts from anything that takes away from the Gospel.

 

TRUST IN CHRIST ALONE: The only hope we have for salvation is having the righteousness of Christ credited to our account through faith in His work on the cross.  In salvation we trade all our sin for His righteous standing.  However, we must make this trade.  There is no way we can obtain salvation while trusting in our own self-righteousness.  He is our only hope and only means of salvation.  We can have assurance of our salvation and of our coming resurrection from the dead because Christ as suffered on our behalf and was raised from the dead.  There is no amount of pride or self-reliance that can replace the eternal hope we have in Christ because of the Gospel.

 

APPLICATION: Don’t fall for any false teachings that depend on legalism or any form of good works for salvation.  Never trust in a Christian heritage or lifestyle as a means of salvation.  Turn from every form of pride and self-righteousness to truth Christ alone for our hope and salvation.