Our joy is found in a growing relationship with Jesus, not religious performance...

At the church where I serve, we have been looking at a letter that was written by the Apostle Paul and that is recorded for us in the New Testament of the Bible called the book of Philippians. This week I would like for us to spend our time together picking up where we left off last week. And as we jump into the next section of this letter that the Apostle Paul wrote to early followers of Jesus while in prison facing the possibility of death that we will discover another timeless truth when it comes to finding joy. So let’s discover that timeless truth together, beginning in Philippians 3:1:

Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things again is no trouble to me, and it is a safeguard for you.

Paul begins this section of his letter by commanding the members of the church at Philippi, and followers of Jesus throughout history, to rejoice in the Lord. Paul here is commanding followers of Jesus to have an attitude of delight in life that takes the long view and that is based on the relationship that we have with Jesus and not on our current circumstances. The Apostle Paul is commanding followers of Jesus to have a mind-set that produces a quality of life that is based on, and that flows from, our relationship with Jesus in a way that reveals and reflects Jesus to the world.

Paul then provided the members of the church of the church at Philippi two motivations that drove him to repeatedly call them to rejoice in the Lord.  First, Paul was motivated to repeatedly call followers of Jesus throughout history to rejoice in the Lord, because to write these things again is no trouble to me. Paul’s point here with this phrase is that he had no hesitation to continually command them to find joy in their relationship with Jesus.

Second, Paul was motivated to repeatedly call followers of Jesus throughout history to rejoice in the Lord, because it was a safeguard for you. In other words, Paul was motivated to command followers of Jesus to rejoice in the Lord because, as followers of Jesus, it is in our best interest to find our joy in the Lord. It is our best interest to find our joy in the Lord, because finding our joy in the Lord keeps us from getting off track by attempting to find joy in things other than the Lord and that cannot produce joy.

Now a natural question that arises here is “a safeguard from what? What is Paul trying to protect us from?” We see Paul provide the answer to that question beginning in verse 2:

 Beware of the dogs, beware of the evil workers, beware of the false circumcision; 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, although I myself might have confidence even in the flesh.

In these verses, we see the Apostle Paul provide a timeless command that reveals for us a timeless truth when it comes to finding joy. However, to fully understand what the Apostle Paul is commanding here, we first need to define some terms. First, when Paul commands followers of Jesus throughout history to beware, this command, if communicated in the language we use in our culture today, would have sounded something like this: “You you better watch your back; better look out.”

Paul then explains that followers of Jesus were to watch their back and look out for “the dogs, beware of the evil workers, beware of the false circumcision”. When Paul uses the word dogs here, this phrase was used during this time in history as an invective to describe an infamous person. In addition, when Paul refers to evil workers here, he is referring to false prophets and false teachers.

Finally, when Paul refers to the false circumcision, this phrase was used to describe the religious legalists of the day. As we have talked about previously, the religion of legalism views the claims of Christ and the message of the gospel as being too easy, too simple. For the legalist, there has to be more than faith in God’s grace. So what a legalist does is make a list of religious rules to follow in order to be right with God. The legalist lives a life that is driven by faith in Christ plus works for God in order to be right with God.  Or the legalist is driven by works for God apart from faith in Christ in order to be right with God.

Paul here is commanding followers of Jesus to watch their back and look out for false teachers who were promoting a religious centered lifestyle instead of a gospel centered lifestyle. For Paul, those who promoted the religion of legalism over the message of the gospel were dogs; those who promoted the religion of legalism over the message of the gospel were false teachers who were promoting a message that directly contradicted the message and teachings of Jesus.

Paul unpacks this reality in verse three by stating “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.” But what does that mean? Paul’s point behind this phrase is that while these dogs, these false teachers, were promoting a religious centered lifestyle that was based on keeping a list of rules for God, like circumcision, it is a gospel centered lifestyle that is based on responding to God’s transformational activity in our lives through the Holy Spirit by believing, trusting and following Jesus by faith that results in a right relationship with God.

And it is here that we see that Apostle Paul reveal for us a timeless truth when it comes to finding joy. And that timeless truth is this: Our joy is found in a growing relationship with Jesus, not religious performance. Just as it was for the Apostle Paul, just as it has been for followers of Jesus throughout history, our joy is found in a growing relationship with Jesus, not religious performance. And in Philippians 3:1-16, we see the Apostle Paul reveal three different reasons why our joy is found in a growing relationship with Jesus, not religious performance.

First, in verse 2, we see Paul reveal for us the reality that we are to watch out for religious performance because it opposes the gospel. Religious performance promotes serving God in the power of the flesh instead of the power of the Holy Spirit. In addition, as the Apostle Paul points out in verse 3, religious performance takes pride in what they do for God instead of what God has done for them through Jesus. Religious performance trusts in our performance for God and our physical circumstances instead of God’s performance for us.

Then in verse 4, Paul hammers his point home by beginning to share his religious resume. Paul states “although I myself might have confidence even in the flesh”.  Now a natural reaction to Paul’s statement here is “well that sounds arrogant. Paul seems to be saying that he was better than everyone else.” But this morning, is that the case? Is that what Paul is getting at here?

Paul’s point behind this statement is that as followers of Jesus, we are to watch out for these false teachers because their teaching is tempting to follow. Paul’s point is that the religion of legalism, the desire to earn a relationship with God through religious performance, is tempting to follow, even for Paul. And yes, Paul did believe that he was better than anyone else.

In addition, Paul did believe that his religious performance was better than anyone else’s religious performance. And Paul was not being arrogant; Paul was being accurate.

Tomorrow, we see the accuracy of Paul’s statement by looking at his religious resume…