Courage to Sacrifice
Philippians 3:1-11
November 19, 2023
Have you ever known anyone who seemed to have it all, they were on the fast track to success. It seemed like their star power was increasing more and more. When someone looked at them, they whispered to others . . . “they’re going to go far! Wow, look at their wisdom, they’re going to be president of the company.”
We’ve heard about missionaries, people who believed they were called by God to give up what we might call their normal lives to serve God in a foreign country. They gave up their American way of living for something many of us would commend them for, but would never dream of doing.
I mean, I don’t like bugs and insects and to go to the far reaches of Africa or Central America isn’t really appetizing. You know what I mean?
So, when we think about God calling us to do something out of what we believe is our comfort zone, we often balk at it. We’re kind of like ----
video of dog
that dog who’s about to have his bone taken away too soon. Not that I’m saying we’re dogs, but we struggle to give them up.
The bone represents our pride, anger, jealousy, money, bitterness, our independence, or control. That’s the bone and we don’t want to give it up, and God goes, “Drop it, drop it.”
Sometimes we equate that call from God as a sacrifice. I guess I need to sacrifice to give more money, to give more time, to serve more.
This series has been about having the courage to sacrifice. And sacrifice is not always easy! Because, you see, we often equate sacrifice with losing something.
So, what happens when Jesus gets ahold of us?
We’re in our final week of looking at sacrificing for Jesus. Today, we’re looking at Philippians 3 and Paul is one of those great examples of someone who had it all. He was on the fast track to success, yet he gave it all up for Jesus. We’re going to look at Philippians 3 in sections. Let’s look at Philippians 3:2, as Paul comes out swinging - - - -
2SLIDE Look out for the dogs, look out for the evildoers, look out for those who mutilate the flesh.
Paul was talking to his own people. He’s talking to the Jewish Christians. He’s talking to the legalists. And he’s not holding back his thoughts about them.
Paul refers to them as dogs, now it’s not a cute little dog we might want to have as a pet. Dogs were not endeared family members for Jews. The Jews viewed dogs as unclean scavengers and evil. They referred to Gentiles as dogs, because they were considered unclean.
So, Paul is speaking with lots of irony, maybe a bit of sarcasm as well. Paul’s stating that the Judaizers, not the Gentiles deserve that label. Paul’s irony continues as he labels those who trust in good works of the law as evildoers and those who mutilate the flesh.
It’s a play on words as he’s talking about circumcision. The Judaizers’ supposed badge of pride turns out to be the sign of their destruction.
Paul’s not so much angry, as he is concerned for the misleading by the Jewish legalist Christians. He wants them to hold onto what is at the heart of the faith in Jesus.
In Paul’s way of looking at the faith, if you cut this out, if you dilute the faith, if you’re willing to compromise the faith, then you’ve lost the heart of the faith we are to have in Jesus. So this is worth fighting for, Paul says.
He continues in verse 3, stating - - - -
3 For we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh —
Now Paul explains that those who have accepted Jesus on the basis of faith, not by works or the law are the real circumcision. They are those people who worship by the Spirit of God. They glorify Jesus and don’t put confidence in good works.
Their hearts are changed! In fact, their lives have been changed because of their faith in Jesus.
We’ve all met people who seek to follow all the rules, which on the surface isn’t bad, but sometimes you need to look at what’s the spirit of the law. What’s the real intent, the deeper value of who God is calling us to be. That’s what we’re to be doing. So, Paul is pretty blunt in his irony and sarcasm. We need to be people of faith, not the law.
Now, Paul explains all that he had, in fact, his point in what he’s about to say is not to puff himself up, but to show how he had the pedigree of the most righteous of the Jews. He wrote - -
4 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:
5 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;
6 as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless.
That’s a great resume for Paul. He had it all. He was being trained by the great rabbi Gamileal. He was possibly on track for a high position in the Sanhedrin. Paul was one of those guys who was on the fast track to success. He’s one of those guys you would have said, “he’ll be the CEO and telling us what to do.”
Paul had a great life. He was highly esteemed by the other Jews he associated with; and most likely they were the leaders in the community.
Paul’s opposition to the Judaizers was not because he lacked a Jewish “pedigree.” When it came to the things of the flesh — Paul had perfect credentials. He was an ethnic Israelite and knew the tribe from which he came. He was from the strictest religious sect — the Pharisees. He was so passionate about Judaism, that he was a persecutor of the early church and was there and in favor of the stoning of Stephen.
If anyone could be said to be blameless in following the law, it was Paul.
There’s a huge BUT, here! Paul had it all, but then he helps us to see what he needed to do, and that’s where the courage to sacrifice comes in.
Paul then wrote - - - -
7 But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ.
8 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
9 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 —
10 that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and may share His sufferings, becoming like Him in His death,
11 that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.
But before God it was not righteousness, even though Paul thought he was pleasing God, in persecuting the church, he recognized through the Holy Spirit - - - -
15 that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. - 1 Timothy 1:15
Paul believed he had a great life before Jesus came to him. Then, Paul met Jesus on the road to Damascus, where he was going to persecute more Christ followers.
Paul was blinded, it was traumatic and God said he was going to live a life of suffering for His sake. Now, since he’s known Jesus, it’s been difficult. He’s been shipwrecked, stoned, beaten, threatened, imprisoned, had bounties on his head. He doesn’t know if he’s going to make it out alive from his next missionary journey. But he no longer cares about that. Yet, he says, I’m going to follow Jesus no matter what happens to me.
Paul’s telling us he had status and achievement. If you looked over his resume, you’d want to hire Paul. When you spoke to him, you’d see the passion for living as a Jew. He went to the right schools, knew the right people, had the right references.
You could see all that he achieved. He had it all, but he gave it all up for Jesus.
If anyone could put together a great résumé, it was Paul. Three times he used the phrase, I had confidence in the flesh. He trusted in his abilities and what he could do.
This was part of his identity. He had significance and esteem. Then Jesus came into his life and - - - BOOM - - - - everything was ripped out from underneath him. What he thought he believed wasn’t true. It was a radical transformation. Nobody knew who this new Paul was. He was so different.
Notice what Paul said in verse 7 - - - -
7 But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ.
8 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
Paul says “FOR HIS SAKE. . .” For Jesus’ sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish. Understand the word rubbish literally means — — waste thrown to dogs, like filthy scraps of garbage, what is good-for-nothing except to be discarded; excrement and dung.
All those degrees and pedigrees and status . . . Paul now counts them as rubbish. You should only give those accolades to the good for nothing, unclean dogs.
In essence, Paul’s saying . . . . “All those degrees and pedigrees and status . . . Paul now counts them as rubbish. You should only give those accolades to the good for nothing, unclean dogs.”
Daniel Wallace is a professor at Dallas Theological Seminary, and he explained this word RUBBISH - - - - “took on the nuance of a vulgar expression with emotive connotations.” In other words, it’s not a nice word you used in a polite conversation. This is the only time it’s used in the Bible.
So, what does this all mean for us? What accolades or trophies are you holding onto? What accomplishments are you basing your life on?
Do you have the image . . . ‘if I didn’t have this job, I’d be a nobody? If I didn’t have my family, or my income, or my good looks, or whatever it is you’re holding onto?’
What is it that you’re holding onto that’s stopping you from saying what Paul said - - - it’s all poop! It’s all worthless. All I need, all I want is Jesus. If I have Jesus - - - - I have everything.
Not that accolades are bad. I’d like to receive an honorary PHD, or a noble prize. Those would be great. But that’s not my identity. I’d like to have some great uncle I never heard of give me a few million. I’d like people to tweet about everywhere I go, so that Debbie and I would be more famous than Taylor and Travis. That’d be cool!
But that’s not my identity. My identity is wrapped up in who Christ has called me to be. And there’s times when I have to step out of that comfort zone, times when I have to move beyond myself and whatever I’ve accomplished and say it’s all rubbish. If I didn’t know Jesus, I’d have nothing!
It means sacrifice! But it’s having the courage to sacrifice. It’s proclaiming, but it’s more than proclaiming and this is the rub for many Christ followers - - - - it’s easy to say “Yup, I believe in Jesus!”
And that’s great! But what’s next? Is that it? Is your journey over, or is it that every decision you make is contingent upon your relationship with Jesus?
In my Bible study last Sunday, we were talking about this. We were looking at Philippians 2, the Christ hymn and the fact that Paul calls us to be humble, and to treat others as more significant than ourselves.
How difficult is that? We don’t like to do that. We want to esteem ourselves, we want others to think of us as significant, yet, we struggle to do that for others. And when we do that, we’re pushing Jesus away from us.
And consider how God views us. Can you imagine if God looked at us in the same way? We would have no chance to know Him, let alone to have any hope of eternity. Can you imagine that? If we listed all of our accomplishments before God, God would patiently listen to us, and would finally ask us, BUT did you know me? Did you give your heart to me? Did you confess with your mouth and believe in your heart that Jesus is Lord? Did you?!
As Paul said - - -
9 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’s what we are to have as well. That we would be found in Him, and He in us. It’s not from doing good works, it’s not from following the law to perfection. It’s all based on the question Jesus asks - - - DO YOU KNOW ME?
It’s a righteousness that comes from our relationship with Jesus. It’s not because we’re righteous on our own. We’re sinners in need of the grace of God. As Paul said, ‘it’s the righteousness from God that depends on faith!
Why? Paul said - - - -
SLIDE10 that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and may share His sufferings, becoming like Him in His death,
SLIDE11 that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.
Notice what Paul said in verse 10. “That I may know Him.” That’s it. I’m not building my righteousness project. I just want to know Him. I want to know the One who now views me as righteous, even though I’m not. Because of Christ’s death, I’ve found forgiveness and grace and mercy.
No matter what you’re going through right now, no matter how you’ve fallen flat on your face, no matter how tough life might be right now, or no matter what kind of dead end you feel like you’re at, there is no dead end with Jesus - - - -
there’s the power of his resurrection.
And then Paul says he wants to share in Christ’s sufferings. Now, let me preface this as we come to the end of our time . . . that we don’t just suffer for the sake of suffering. We don’t just say, ‘yup, God, afflict me, give me suffering.’
That’s not what Paul means. He’s willing to suffer! He knows it’s a life of suffering. Nobody wants to suffer. But it can be a by-product of a relationship with Jesus. Because we’re called to submit to Him, to surrender our lives to Him, to count all things as rubbish when compared to His all surpassing greatness . . .
So we come to Jesus and say, Lord, take my life. Change me, transform me. Make me and mold me into who you want me to be and I’ll be obedient.
It may mean giving more time to the church.
It may mean stepping out of your comfort zone.
It may mean you volunteer to serve when you’ve never done that.
It may mean you consider how God has blessed you and you give more monetarily to the church.
It may mean you seek forgiveness from someone you’ve hurt.
Or on the flip side, you forgive someone and release yourself from a bitter heart.
There’s lots of possibilities when we really accept who Jesus calls us to be.
Will it be easy!? NOPE! But it will change your life, and in the process you will change the lives of others. And that my friends is what it’s all about.
When everything in life is stripped away, when all the stuff we think is so important is stripped away—and it will be someday—there is one thing for those who believe in Jesus that will remain: The supreme worth of knowing Jesus Christ. I want us to recapture that this morning, to recapture the wonder of that.
Maybe your life is a train wreck, maybe you feel pretty good about your spiritual résumé right now. Maybe you’ve been a Christian a long time and it’s grown stale. Maybe you need to come to Jesus for the first time. Wherever you’re at this morning, this message is for us. Christ himself is our treasure. How would you live, what would you do today if you knew that he is the supreme treasure? Reach out to him today. Reach out to Jesus; he is the treasure.
