The apostle Paul would agree: Philippians 3:1 (NIV) “Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord! It is no trouble for me to write the same things to you again, and it is a safeguard for you.”
Paul is about to launch into his past—those intense, difficult years, where he worked hard to impress God. But, before he does that, he wants to make sure that his readers hear again the importance of being people of outrageous joy.
Notice that Paul calls JOY a safeguard! How true! Not only are the pressures of life enough to steal your joy, there are also plenty of self-promoting, legalistic, grace killers out there that would love for you to join them in their misery. You know the types right? ...People so uptight and legalistic they haven’t smiled in years!
Paul wanted to make sure his Philippian friends continued to enjoy their freedom in Christ and to not allow anything or anyone to take their joy! Paul never got tired of telling them that, Walter never got tired of telling me that, and I will never tire of telling you that!
Today I want to talk about CONFIDENCE and where to place it because it has a lot to do with joy.
#1 Do not place your confidence in your RELIGION of your TRADITIONS!
25 thousand people came to faith in Christ in China TODAY! How do I know that? Because it is happening every day in China! More people are coming to know Christ than has ever happened in the history of Christianity! North America is the ONLY continent on the planet where Christianity is on the decline! Consequently, its arrogant and ignorant to assume Western Christian “tradition” is working. It's not working because real Christianity is not about religion or tradition. Religion and tradition will always leave you wanting!
There was a mean group of men in Paul’s day that taunted him and his converts constantly. The JOYLESS jerks were confused about the gospel. They added works of the law to faith in Christ. Paul had strong words for them: Philippians 3:2 (NIV) “Watch out for those dogs, those men who do evil, those mutilators of the flesh.”
STRONG WORDS! When Paul refers to them as “dogs” he wasn’t picturing family pets. The dogs of his day were dirty; decease carrying scavengers who ran in packs through the streets. Unable to be controlled and potentially dangerous, they posed a menacing threat to anyone in the city. “Watch out” he says—Beware of Dogs.
Paul called them "evil." He wasn’t talking about Hells Angels he was talking about religious legalists. Paul wasn’t talking about church skippers, he was talking about regular attenders. These people taught that works saved people. They were “Jesus PLUS” people. Their voices are still heard today: Do more, work harder, you're not good enough. You know what? NO ONE IS--including them! No one is good enough!
There will always be evil people that are anxious to snatch those who are vulnerable—they do not have any of their own joy so they feed off of the joy of others. Watch out for them! Colossians 2:8 (NIV) “See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ.”
#2 Do not place your confidence in your RÉSUMÉ or your TROPHIES.
Something within all off us warms up to the applause of others. We love it when people like us. We are motivated to do more when our efforts are noticed and rewarded. However, placing our confidence there is a mistake because trophies gather dust. Records will be broken. The applause will fade.
Be careful on which wall you lean your ladder. The last thing you want is to get to end of your life and find out everything you did in your climb to the top was for naught.
Nobody’s trophy case was a large as the Apostle Paul's: Philippians 3:4b–6 (NIV) “If anyone else thinks he has reasons to put 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; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for legalistic righteousness, faultless.”
Paul writes as though he were challenging his critics to a showdown. No matter what level of self-righteousness they might bring to the table, Paul had them beat.
• If he wanted to, Paul could be proud of his HERITAGE: His parents were both Jews (Hebrew of Hebrews) unlike some of the Judaizers causing problems. He could trace his family lineage all the way back to Abraham. Plus, he was a Benjamite--that tribe held a special place of honor in Israel’s history.
• If he wanted to, Paul could be proud of his HARD WORK. In today’s terms, the proud Pharisee would have won all the awards. Paul would have got the Pulitzer, the Nobel, the Medal of Honor. If they had a Hebrew Heisman, he would have won that too. Paul was the MVP—the Most Valuable Pharisee. Had they had newspapers back then, his face would have been on the front page above the fold. His name was name dropped by everybody that was anybody. Any search of a model to follow would have lead to the scholar from Tarsus.
Paul had it all but when he met Christ none of it mattered. Philippians 3:7 (NIV) “But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ.”
#3 GIVES US THE SECRET TO LASTING OUTRAGEOUS JOY: Do place your confidence in your RELATIONSHIP with THE LORD.
Philippians 3:8–11 (NIV) “What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, 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 is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in His sufferings, becoming like Him in His death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.””
The word translated "rubbish" in the NIV can mean food scraps or dung! In comparison to the surpassing greatness of Jesus everything else is like garbage.
It wasn’t about him (Paul) IT WAS ABOUT HIM (JESUS)! The Bible is a HIM book!—Its all about JESUS!—and your eternity is all about your relationship to Jesus!
What would things look like if Satan took over a city? Over a half-century ago, Donald Grey Barnhouse, pastor of a Philadelphia's Tenth Presbyterian Church, gave his CBS radio audience a picture of what it would look like: He said, “All of the bars would be closed, pornography banished, pristine streets and sidewalks would be occupied by tidy pedestrians who smiled at each other. There would be no swearing. The kids would answer "Yes, sir," "No, ma'am," and the churches would be full on Sunday but Christ would not be preached.”
Trophies do not matter. Whether or not you have a relationship with Jesus…that DOES matter.
Morality cannot save people. Jesus saves people..and that is something to be joyful about.
I know Walter Knight is sure joyful about that!
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