Dwell in the Word Philippians 3:1-11

Consider these questions as we dwell in Philippians 3:1-11:

1. How does Paul's use of language challenge the prevailing cultural and religious perspectives of his time, particularly in relation to circumcision and works-based righteousness? What is Paul emphasizing about the true essence of faith and salvation?

2. Paul describes his former religious accomplishments as "rubbish" or "dung" compared to knowing Christ. What is the significance of this strong language, and how does it reflect Paul's understanding of the sufficiency of Christ's righteousness? How can believers today apply this perspective in their own faith journey?

3. Paul expresses a deep desire to "attain the resurrection from the dead." What does this statement reveal about Paul's ultimate hope and longing? How does this perspective on resurrection impact the way believers view their own mortality and the promise of eternal life through Christ?

Transcript:

There is so much richness and depth to this part of the Book of Philippians. This is just eleven verses just coming at you one statement after another, talking about the essence of the faith. Now, there's some stuff in here that we may not understand very well because we don't necessarily speak the language that Paul would have been speaking. And by that I don't mean Greek or Hebrew or anything like that. I mean, the things that he would have said might not resonate with us. For example, he says, Look out for the dogs. Look out for the evil doors, look out for those who mutilate the flesh. Well, that would have been the Judaizers who were saying that, Yeah, Jesus was good and you need him, but you also need to be circumcised. They were telling people that in order to even be Christians, the Gentiles had to be circumcised as they did under the law in the Old Testament. What Paul does is he does a turn of phrase here. He says, Look out for the dogs. The reason that is interesting is because the Hebrews would have seen those Gentiles as dogs. They would have seen them as the outsiders, as less than.

What Paul does is he turns that against the Judaizers. He says, No, they're the dogs. It's not the Gentiles who are outside of being the Hebrew people. No, it's the Hebrews. It's the people who are Judaizers who are the dogs. They're the ones who don't get it. What Paul is saying is here, he says, For we are the circumcision who worship by the Spirit of God in the glory in Christ Jesus, put no confidence in the flesh. What he means there is he's saying, we're not putting our confidence in salvation, in something physical that's been done to our body. We're not actually saying that this is what you need to do. This is how you get in. What we're saying is that the real circumcision isn't actually the cutting off of the foreskin. It is when God, through the power of the Holy Spirit, comes to you and you put your faith in Christ. That is what circumcision was pointing to. That's the actual circumcision that we care about, functionally a circumcision of the heart, having faith, trusting in something outside of yourself to save you. We see this that Paul talks about his background.

Paul talks about all the religious things he did, all his background. What does he say? He says here in verse 8, that he counts all of those things as rubbish. Now, that's an interesting word there, that this idea of rubbish. Now, in some older translations, it's been translated as dung. In other words, it is... Yeah, it's what we throw away. Rubbish does work. But you get the idea a little bit better with the word with because the Greek word skubolon is probably best translated as dung. What is Paul doing? He's saying, You have held this up as being the highest thing, this circumcision, these works, these things that you do, but instead, they're the lowest thing. They are skubolon. They are dung. Why does Paul turn those things away? Because he has something greater. He has Christ. He says that he has suffered all this stuff that was lost to him. He has suffered that. And now what does he have? He has gained Christ, and he's found in him. And notice what it says here in verse 9, not having a righteousness of his own that comes from the law, but instead having faith in Christ, a righteousness from God that depends on faith, not a righteousness from up within me, but instead a righteousness that's from God, an alien righteousness that comes to me and makes me holy, not because of anything that I've done, but because of what Christ has done for me.

That's the righteousness that Paul wants, and that's the righteousness that you and I need. Because if a righteousness is going to come from me, it's going to fall short. No matter how good I do, I am going to fail, and I'm going to need someone to help me. Like I said, an alien righteousness, a righteousness from outside of me to come in and make me clean, to make me holy and acceptable before God. And notice what Paul says here. He wants to know the power, or he wants to know Christ and the power of his resurrection. He wants to share in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death. Notice verse 11, That by any means possible, I may attain the resurrection from the dead. What Paul is saying there is not that, Well, I'm going to do anything to get this because I have to do it. That would go against everything he said because he's talking about a righteousness from outside of him. He's talking about a righteousness from God. What he means by that is, This is all I've got. This righteousness from outside of me, it seems strange. It seems like a foreign idea because we believe that we can make ourselves righteous.

But what Paul is saying is, I need this from outside of me, and I'm going to take it. I'm going to relish in it. I'm going to pursue it because this is all I've got. This righteousness of Christ is the only thing I have. It's the only hope I have in salvation. I've tried all the other stuff. He's tried all the law. He's tried it all. But he counts those as scuba, and he counts them as dung, as rubbish compared to knowing Christ. Why? Because that righteousness that Christ gives us from outside of us is the only one that will do, is the only thing that lets us stand in the presence of God. White and holy clothed in robes of righteousness before God. It's all we've got. So, may we rest in that. As we step out of the world today, may we be pursuing that righteousness. Not that we earn it ourselves, but that we pursue a greater faith to trust in Christ alone, because it's all we've got.

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