Islington Baptist Church
September 30, 2001
Philippians 3:17-4:1
Scripture reading: Hebrews 10:19-33
Please turn with me to Philippians 3:17-4:1 (read).
A few weeks ago we talked about how important it is to have godly Christian examples to look up to and model ourselves after.
Remember the example of Timothy that Philippians 2:19-30 set before us. Timothy was a man who genuinely cared for the needs and well being of others. Timothy was man with pure motives in serving. He was man who had his priorities straight in that Jesus and the kingdom of God came first. He was a man who became what he was because he had submitted himself to the mentoring process.
Remember Epaphroditus? Epaphroditus models to us a Christian man who was willing to give everything he had including his life for the sake of serving Jesus Christ. He didn’t hold anything back. He is the kind of person that we are to honor in our churches.
In the first verse of today’s text Paul says “Brethren, join in following my example, and note those who so walk, as you have us for a pattern"
Paul was a shining, yet not perfect, example of what it meant to be a follower of Jesus Christ. As we examined last week: a determined pressing on for the cause of Christ was the burden and goal of his heart. Paul was about following Jesus to the very end and he was doing so with an expectant joy in his heart. Jesus, the work Jesus had given him to do, the promises that were his in Christ, the future that was his in Christ, dominated Paul’s life and thought.
Such a man and such people, who example to us what it means to be a disciple of Jesus, we are to follow.
Here’s a general principal from this verse for all of us: I. To the degree that Christians model Christ like behavior and thought we are to follow them in their examples.
It goes without saying that our ultimate example of the way we are to be is Jesus Christ yet what is clear is this: when you see another Christian living for Christ learn from their example and follow them in their obedience to Christ.
We need to keep our eyes open for such people, tested people, mature Christians who are always striving forward in their walk with Christ.
II. In v.18 of our text a reason for Paul’s call to follow him and his example of what it means to a Christian appears.
It was not out of pride or with an arrogant attitude that Paul called people to look to him as an example of what it means to be a Christian. A terrible problem was hand that he was dealing with. Within the very walls of the church there were some who were proclaiming a different way to be a follower of Jesus Christ. These individuals here called “the enemies of the cross” in 3:2 are called by Paul. “dogs, evil doers, and mutilators of the flesh”. These ones, were at the same time Paul was calling the church to emulate him, were calling the church to emulate and follow themselves.
When it comes to the way of salvation the scriptures are crystal clear. It is by the grace of God that we are saved. Salvation does not come to us as a result of any of our efforts or so called goodness. Salvation is the gift of God. It is by faith alone in the person of Jesus Christ that we are saved, faith accompanied by a repentance from our sins.
In the church of Paul’s day there existed a strong group of people who started to add to the way of salvation. They started to preach a different gospel. They taught that if you were a man that you had to be circumcised to be saved. They taught that in addition to believing in Jesus that if you wanted to be saved that you had to obey the OT food laws and various other laws.
Not only did they add to the way of salvation, they shrank back from the way of salvation and the gospel message Paul preached. In particular, from the use of Paul’s own words, they shrank back from the message of the cross. They were ashamed of the cross of Christ. They did not hold up the preaching of the cross and the necessity of coming to the cross for salvation. In I Corinthians 1:18-25 listen to what Paul says about the cross, the cross these ones were rejecting and shrinking back from “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written: I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate. Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, god was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified; a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength.
Some people in the church were susceptible to these sorts of teachings and started to rally around those false teachers and their examples.
We need to continue to be on guard against false teaching and those who add to the way of salvation, change the way of salvation, or shrink back from preaching the message of the cross.
Paul’s response was swift. Such people who teach such things are no friends of Jesus. They are the enemies of the cross. They are not Christians. As Paul says in v.19, they end is destruction, their god is their stomach, their glory is in their shame, their mind is on earthly things.
The whole of the book of Galatians is dedicated to refuting such people as Paul has in mind here. In Galatians 1 he says this “I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, which is really no gospel at all. But there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be eternally condemned. As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be eternally condemned.” Galatians 1:6-9
III. Here’s something very important to note: the action of those Paul here identifies as the enemies of the cross- these ones who were leading people astray, brought grief and pain to Paul’s heart v.18
The rejection of Jesus by those whom we know and love is a very saddening thing.
Just think, Paul probably personally knew many of those who had turned their back on the true gospel. Paul might have been friends at some point with those who were now teaching a different way of salvation.
It hurts to see people reject and refuse Jesus. It hurts to see people walk away from Jesus Christ and the eternal life that he gives.
When we see people who have made a “profession of faith” turn their backs on Jesus to pursue their own agendas and the things of this world, it hurts. Day by day as we see friends and loved ones continue to live as the enemies of Christ, it hurts. It hurts and brings us pain to see people dying in their sins.
IV. In v.18 when Paul says “many walk as enemies of the cross” he first and foremost had people who are within the walls church in mind. However, equally true though is this fact, all who are not for Christ, whether they be church goers or not, are the enemies of Christ.
One is either for Christ or against him. There is no middle ground. There can be no neutrality. Neutrality and lukewarmness is just another form of rebellion against him.
The mandate is clear: come to Jesus on his terms-believing him to be God, believing him to be the only Lord and Savior, risen from the dead on the 3rd day, coming in faith and repentance to him, seeking the gift of salvation that is by faith alone.
If you don’t come to Jesus on his terms then you are his enemy.
V. In v.19 Paul tells us 4 things about those who are the enemies of Christ and his cross. 4 things that mark the enemies of Christ—these ones who have rejected Jesus, his work, the way of salvation he proclaimed.
1. The end of those who are the enemies of the cross is clear: destruction, judgment, Hell. v.19
The coming judgment of God is real and one that ought to strike terror into the hearts of all those who have not gotten right with God on his terms.
Hell is a real place. Hell is also a prepared place. The sad thing is this: Hell is a prepared for unprepared people. All those who reject Jesus actively or passively…..
2. Those who are the enemies of Christ show themselves to be by the fact that they have devoted themselves to the indulgence of themselves and their various appetites. This is in part what “their god is their stomach means”
Jesus has been rejected in favor of the pursuit of temporal and worldly. The satisfying of all of ones physical cravings is what the objective of such people is. It’s all about the pursuit of pleasure.
3. Those who are the enemies of Christ “glory in really what is to their shame”
Paul used to take pride or glory in what he came to realize was to his shame. Note chapter 2 where it says….. Note also what Paul came to realize 2:7-8.
There are many other examples of people “glorying in really what is to their shame”
Just think about all those who have taken to calling evil good, and good evil. (homosexuality, lying, cheating, stealing) These enemies of Christ have rejected the clear and objective standards that God has revealed and have come up with their own standards of right and wrong.
As Christians we at times are also guilty of glorying in what is really to our shame.
The so called “liberty” some Christians proclaim that they have in Christ is one such example. The thing is though: liberty is not a license to sin.
The Corinthians struggled with this sin of “glorying in their shame”. In I Corinthians 5:1-2 it says “It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that does not even occur among pagans: A man has his father’s wife. And you are proud! Shouldn’t you rather have been filled with grief and have put out of your fellowship the man who did this?
4. Those who are the enemies of Christ show themselves to be by their overall emphasis and focus on the things of this world—it’s pleasures, its vices, it’s priorities. Those who are the enemies of Christ give little thought to the things of God or the way He has declared to us in the scriptures.
Christians struggle with this as well –Matthew 16:23, etc but the citizens of this world are locked into this way of living.
VI. While the end of those who follow the path of these ones who are called “enemies of the cross” is an eternity in Hell, the end of us who follow in the path of discipleship that Paul set for us is very different; our end, our goal is Heaven with all of its joys and benefits.
Take note of v.20-21 where Paul says……
1. The end for us who are follow in the footsteps of faith and obedience that Paul blazed as a follower of Jesus Christ is Heaven and its glories.
While Hell is a prepared place for unprepared people, Heaven is a prepared place for prepared people.
Here in v.20 Paul speaks of how our citizenship in Heaven. This world is not our home, and we must continually remind ourselves of this fact.
As the followers of Jesus Christ, as partakers with him, as ones bought by him and freed from the power of Satan, we have Heaven to look forward to as our home.
2. As ones whose citizenship is held in Heaven we are further reminded to live as such citizens, exampling to our world what a citizen of Heaven looks like.
For this point Paul draws upon the fact that Philippi was a Roman colony. While located in a foreign land the citizens of Philippi lived as if they were in Rome. They did not adopt the customs, languages, and practices of the foreign land they were in. They lived as Romans. They did not teach their children the ways of the foreign land they were in, they taught their children in the ways, customs, practices, of Rome-where their citizenship lay.
The lesson is clear! We have learned in detail what a citizen of this world and of Hell looks like. We are not to live like the world does. We are to live up to our high calling in Christ. Our job is to be salt and light, beacons of purity, hope, and holiness in this dark world. We are to live in such a manner that clearly shows that our citizenship lies in Heaven.
3. As ones who are citizens of Heaven we are also live expectantly. From Heaven our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is going to be coming. His return is imminent and hence we must be found ready and speeding the day of his return.
4. The end for us who follow in the footsteps of faith and obedience that Paul blazed as a follower of Jesus Christ is a resurrected and glorious body.
As Paul here teaches, the Lord Jesus Christ, who is coming for us, to whom all authority and power has been entrusted-Jesus who has been given power and authority over all things, Jesus who is the creator and sustainer of all things- he will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body. (Col. 2:10, Eph.1:21)
Jesus is coming and he will finish the work he began in us, and wonder of all wonders we will share in his glory and reign with him.
The nature of this glorious body that we will be given and the timing of when we will receive it is discussed by Paul in such passages as I Corinthians 15 and II Corinthians 5:1-10.
CONCLUSION
Are you a friend or a foe of Jesus?
You are a friend of Jesus and heir to all of the blessings of God if the faithful example that Paul set is what you are following in. Paul started on the road of faith by first of all acknowledging and confessing that Jesus Christ is both Lord and Savior and that he rose from the dead on the 3rd day.
You are a friend to Jesus if……..
You can respond and I would encourage you to today. In Romans 10:9 it says “If you confess with your mouth, Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved”
There is only 1 way to Heaven and the Father.—by faith in Jesus Christ alone- faith in Jesus as Savior and Lord, faith accompanied by repentance from sin.
We are to latch on to those who are faithfully following the Jesus revealed to us in the scriptures. The faithfulness we see ought to inspire us in our walk with Jesus.
The end of those who are the enemies of Christ and the reason for their destruction is very clear as is the end of us who are his faithful followers
We need to be living in an expectant manner. At any moment the Heavens could be rent and our Savior return for us.
We need to live with the goal and his promises in mind. A glorious resurrection body awaits us.
I leave you with 4:1 which says…….
