05-26-13THAT I MAY GAIN CHRIST

Phil. 3:2 Beware of the dogs, beware of the evil workers, beware of the false circumcision;

Phil. 3:3 for we are the true circumcision, who worship in the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh,

Phil. 3:4 although I myself might have confidence even in the flesh. If anyone else has a mind to put confidence in the flesh, I far more:

Phil. 3:5 circumcised the eighth day, of the nation of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the Law, a Pharisee;

Phil. 3:6 as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to the righteousness which is in the Law, found blameless.

Our study of Philippians has taken us through

Chapter 3 verse 6.

For most of the past month

we’ve been looking at Paul’s warning to us

concerning enemies who will infiltrate

the family of God,

disguised as friends,

dressed in our form,

using our favorite words,

and singing our songs,

enemies who can cause a tremendous amount of destruction

and confusion in the lives of God’s people

if we are not on guard against them.

We have seen Paul prepare us

for these enemies

by offering us a picture of the real thing,

and then telling us that

if those who are seeking input into our lives

don’t look like this, REJECT what they are saying.

You see, the Lord wants us TEACHABLE,

but He does not want us GULLIBLE.

He wants us OPEN,

but He does not want us UNPROTECTED.

He wants us RESPONSIVE and SUBMISSIVE

to the leadership He gives us,

but He does not want us to FOLLOW BLINDLY after anyone who

uses our language

and speaks with an authoritative voice.

And I very much want to be sure

we don’t leave this passage until we understand

at least at some level

the true nature of the warfare we face every day of our lives.

I’ve told you before

and I’ll keep telling you as long as I stand before you

that the real warfare we face every day of our lives

is the warfare to once again that day

rediscover and reaffirm the truth about our God -

His love for us that has no limits and no end,

His absolute wisdom and integrity in the way He handles each of our lives,

His commitment to live through us and to work all things together for good in our lives.

And what we’re looking at here in this passage

will have no real power to prepare us for the enemies who work against us

if we fail to realize

that frequently the most authoritative voice attacking us

is the voice inside ourselves.

Just this past week

on a single day I had two phone calls

from two men in whose lives I have been deeply involved.

Both of them have unquestioned commitment to their Lord Jesus Christ

and a fierce determination to understand what it means

to live truly Christian in this pagan society.

And both of them called

because the a very authoritative, very hideous voice inside them

was telling them their life had no purpose,

and their God had no future for them.

Welcome to the warfare.

I mention this simply because we must know

that some of the worst liars we’ll ever face

are the ones who speak with our own voice from within.

Before we move on in our study

I might make one other observation here

concerning those people outside of ourselves

that Paul is warning us about.

It has been my observation that these people

fall into two distinctly different groups of individuals.

First, there are those who know they’re running a scam,

people who intentionally target the people of God,

because they know

that they can clothe themselves in our words

and our music

and our culture

and we will trust them

and allow them to move into places of influence

and financial gain.

And he gives us these warnings

because he knows that it is the very work of the Spirit of God in our lives

that some can make us especially vulnerable to their abuse.

As we grow in Christ

He gives us eyes to see the needs

in the world around us

in a way that we have never seen them before.

We find ourselves feeling the pain

in the lives of those around us,

and our Lord fills us with a longing to reach out to those needs

in a way that helps bring healing.

But, without wisdom and discernment,

that longing to make a difference

can make us easy picking

for those who are looking for a target.

These men and women

know exactly what they’re doing.

They know it’s a scam,

they know they’re playing a game

and they know all they have to do

is to maintain their public image

in order to keep it working.

Peter warns us about these people in II Peter 2.

If you want to see Peter enraged, listen to this:

2 Pet. 2:1 But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves.

2 Pet. 2:12 But these, like unreasoning animals, born as creatures of instinct to be captured and killed, reviling where they have no knowledge, will in the destruction of those creatures also be destroyed,

2 Pet. 2:13 suffering wrong as the wages of doing wrong. They count it a pleasure to revel in the daytime. They are stains and blemishes, reveling in their deceptions, as they carouse with you,

2 Pet. 2:14 having eyes full of adultery and that never cease from sin, enticing unstable souls, having a heart trained in greed, accursed children;

...2 Pet. 2:17 These are springs without water, and mists driven by a storm, for whom the black darkness has been reserved.

2 Pet. 2:18 For speaking out arrogant words of vanity they entice by fleshly desires, by sensuality, those who barely escape from the ones who live in error,

2 Pet. 2:19 promising them freedom while they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by what a man is overcome, by this he is enslaved.

He tells us in that passage

how to recognize these men and woman.

Basically he says you will know them

because their public life

and their private life don’t jive.

...having eyes full of adultery, and that never cease from sin, having a heart trained in greed...

And in that statement he’s giving us the two biggest areas to watch -

their sexual conduct

and the way they handle the money.

Both Paul and Peter are telling us

that we have both a right and an obligation

to look not just at the words of those around us,

but to look at their lives as well.

And if what we see in their personal lives

doesn’t line up with what’s coming out of their mouths

or what our Lord has told us,

run like the wind!

But I think there is a second group of deceivers within the Family of God as well,

made up of those

who aren’t running a scam,

and who aren’t consciously trying to deceive.

They are people who are deeply committed to their religious system -

to all of the rules

and the rituals,

and the forms and structures of that religious system,

and they don’t realize there’s anything else.

Paul warns us about these people

in Colossians chapter 2.

In Col. 2:16-17 he says,

Therefore let no one act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day– things which are a mere shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ.

and in verses 20 - 23 he says,

If you have died with Christ to the elementary principles of the world, why, as if you were living in the world, do you submit yourself to decrees, such as, "Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch!" (which all refer to things destined to perish with the using)-- in accordance with the commandments and teachings of men? These are matters which have, to be sure, the appearance of wisdom in self-made religion and self-abasement and severe treatment of the body, but are of no value against fleshly indulgence.

These deceivers are often far more difficult to recognize

because their performance looks great!

This is the elder brother in the parable of the prodigal son.

If we would have talked to any of the neighbors of that family in that parable

they would all have praised the elder brother

because his performance was flawless.

He fulfilled his duties well,

and clothed himself in excellent external

choices and performance.

Just under the surface there was a rigid,

judgmental,

self-righteous egotism,

but externally no one could fault him.

This was Paul prior to the healing work of Christ in his life.

This was Paul -

...circumcised the eighth day, of the nation 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 the righteousness which is in the Law, found blameless.

And concerning both those who are running the scam on the people of God,

and to those who are addicted to their religious system,

Paul says BEWARE!,

and tells us that we can measure them

by three qualities.

#1. Do they worship in the Spirit.

Are their lives being lived

from the inside out

on the basis of the life of God’s Spirit within them?

Are they in love with Jesus,

or are they simply immersed in the Christian system?

#2. Do they glory in Christ Jesus,

or do they glory in themselves -

what they have done,

what they can do,

what they believe they have produced for the Lord?

#3. Do they put no confidence in the flesh...?

Does the message they present

with their words and with their life

communicate the message that

success in the Christian life

comes from learning the skills

and the techniques

and having the talents

and determination

and abilities to pull it off?

Christianity,

true Christianity is not a system

or a technique.

It is a Person - Jesus Christ...

... it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, ...

And this is exactly where Paul takes us

in the next few verses of Philippians 3.

He sets up a contrast

between all that he was

and all that he had accomplished on one side

and the Person of Jesus Christ on the other.

Phil. 3:5 circumcised the eighth day, of the nation of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the Law, a Pharisee;

Phil. 3:6 as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to the righteousness which is in the Law, found blameless.

Phil. 3:7 But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ.

Phil. 3:8 More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish in order that I may gain Christ,...

And in order for this to make any sense

we have to see the contrast-

the two sides,

the either-or Paul is presenting.

You see, Paul is not even remotely suggesting that we should invite Christ

to help us with our life.

He is not talking about Jesus Christ

as a Divine source of strength

to empower us to achieve our goals.

He is taking all that we have achieved,

and all our right choices,

and all our productivity,

and all our talents,

and determination,

and self-discipline,

and creativity,

he is taking all those things

that enable us to succeed in this world’s system,

and he is placing all of that on one side,

and then on the other side he is placing the Person of Christ,

and he is saying - now choose!

Choose to place your confidence

and your hope

and your security

in one or the other.

And what in the world does that mean???

Paul goes into some detail in the verses that follow

to explain just exactly what it does mean to choose Christ

rather than to put confidence in the flesh.

We’re not going to get to those verses

until next week,

but I’m not going to just leave this thing hanging here, either.

I know that some of you are dealing with

tremendous confusion

and pain in your life right now.

Some of you have shown up here today

because you don’t know where else to turn

or what else to do

and you’re desperately hoping that

just maybe there might be something more to this religion thing

than dropping a few bucks in the offering plate

and promising to try harder

to be a better person this next week.

Paul’s words here are carefully designed

to communicate the heart and soul

of true Christianity.

Paul says, “What I have gained is Christ.”

It’s not Christ’s system,

or Christ’s teaching,

or Christ’s morality.

It’s Christ Himself.

I don’t know how else to say this

other than just simply to say it -

what we’re looking for

and what we need

is not the right answer,

it’s the right PERSON, Jesus Christ.

Now, I want to be very careful with what I say right here,

because I do not want to be misunderstood.

We have some things working against

good communication right now.

For one thing, we are IN CHURCH -

all of us have made a decision

to get all dressed up

and come to a place where religious talk takes place.

You hear me standing up here

talking about Paul “gaining Christ”

and “being found in Him”

and you naturally filter that through

your religious mental grid,

and unless both you and I are very careful

you could leave here believing

that “gaining Christ” is just a religious catch-phrase

for trying to be a better Christian

or choosing to accept

the Christian moral value system.

That is not what Paul is talking about at all.

He is not talking about the teachings of Christ,

or the ideas of Christ,

or the message of Christ,

or the example of Christ.

He is talking about Jesus Christ Himself,

the Creator-God of this world.

And he is talking about establishing

a literal

personal

eternal union between Christ

and ourselves.

Now, if this is sounding a little weird to you,

and you’re wondering why in the world you ever came this morning,

and you have this sudden inner longing

to quietly slip out the back I understand.

You see, I remember what it was like

not to know Him.

That is the way every one of us

enters this world - separated from our Creator.

I remember what it was like

to relate to Christ on a purely intellectual level,

examining the historical records,

forming opinions about who He was

and what He taught.

But I also remember that night

in the fall of 1966

when this Jesus Christ intruded into my life

and clarified the issues for me.

He made it easier for me in some ways -

there was no church

and no guy up front labeled “preacher”

and no group around me of any kind.

It was just Him and me alone in my dorm room.

And in His own perfect way

He made all the issues clear and simple.

He was more real than the bed I was sitting on,

and He wanted my life on His terms.

He wanted no lame promises that I would try harder,

or do better,

or go to church more often.

He simply wanted me to choose to place myself,

my sins,

my past,

my future,

my life into His hands,

knowing full well He had the right

to do with all of them whatever He chose to do.

I said, “Yes”,

and nothing has ever been the same since.

I certainly don’t mean by that

that my whole life instantly changed...

I was a mess then,

and I’m still a mess in a lot of ways.

But from that day until this

He has never left me,

never forsaken me,

never rejected me,

never stopped showing His love to me.

...that I may gain Christ and be found in Him...

That’s what Paul is talking about here.

That’s all He’s talking about.

Nearly 2000 years ago Jesus Christ

barged into Paul’s life

and said simply,

“Saul, I want your life on My terms.”

Paul said, “Yes”

and it changed his life literally forever.

A little over 45 years ago

this same Jesus Christ

barged into my life and said the same thing -

“Larry, I want your life on My terms.

No negotiation,

no bargains.

And just so you understand what I’m talking about,

be warned - I might even make you a preacher!”

I said “Yes”,

and it changed my life literally forever.

And this morning

I think this same Christ

has been saying the same thing to some of you.

“My child, I want your life on My terms.

No negotiation, no bargains.

I’m your God, and I claim My right to take over your life.”

Based on my 47 years of life with this God

I have just two words of advice for you - “Say Yes!”

If what I’ve just said makes sense to you

and you want to talk more about it with someone

come talk with me, or with some other Christian you trust.

There really is no mystery to this thing -

it’s just a very real God

asking us to place our life into His hands.

And all we have to do in response is to tell Him, “Lord, if you want my life, you can have it. Amen.”