AN EXAMINATION OF THE TRUE AND COUNTERFEIT OF CHRISTIANITY.
Philippians 3:1-3 Charles e. Whisnant July 11, 2010
PAUL’S MAIN THEME: LIVING ABOVE THE CIRCUMSTANCES: REJOICE.
Yet few Christians experience Christian joy in their daily life.
WHAT IS JOY: “Joy is a supernatural delight in God and in God’s goodness.”
· There is a difference between JOY and HAPPINESS. Happiness is closely related to CHANCE. Thus, if things work out in a way which we approve, we are happy; if they do not happen, we are unhappy. Happiness then becomes circumstantial. JOY is an inner quality of DELIGHT IN GOD.
DEPRESSION AND CHRISTIAN JOY CANNOT GO HAND IN HAND. Depression is a lack of trust in God’s promises to do what He has promised. Anger multiplied by self-pity = depression.
JOY IS A SPECIAL QUALITY OF THE TRUE CHRISTIAN.
Two groups of people: Those who know they are not Christians, but who think that the fruits of Christianity can be grown without the life of Christianity, that which comes from Jesus Christ.
· Then those who are not Christians, but who think they are Christians. They have not actually committed their lives to Jesus Christ, and thus cannot understand their failure to experience the fruit of such commitment.’
Thus, Paul is helping us see who is the true child of God: Philippians 3:1-7.
· The false Christians 3:2 and the true in verse 3. Each has three character qualities.
· Paul points out a clear distinction between the religious and the righteous.
· Those who have an inward change and those who have an outward mark.
The Bible has a major theme, and a secondary theme:
1. Major: The setting forth of the gospel according to Jesus Christ.
2. Secondary: The matter who is a true Christian.
KEY: Once the Gospel has been clearly delineated, the goal is to see if you are in it. Matthew 7:21-23.
THEME: Jesus, Peter, Paul, James, Jude, and John all confronted false teachers.
SO MANY ARE RELIGIOUS BUT NOT RIGHTEOUS.
THE TEXT: Philippians 3:1-3
Three Christian duties are enjoined in this brief paragraph: We are to rejoice in the Lord; we are to beware; and we are to examine ourselves that we be of the true circumcision
‘Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you, to me indeed is not grievous, but for you it is safe. Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the concision.2699 (short and compressed in order to be brief.) For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.’
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 2 Beware of the dogs beware of the evil workers, beware of the false circumcision 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.
· Paul uses this illustration of circumcision to illustrated the difference between the false and the true Christians.
BACKGROUND ON CIRCUMCISION THEN IS NECESSARY TO UNDERSTAND WHAT PAUL IS SPEAKING ABOUT.
JEWISH PERSPECTIVE
· From the Jewish mind, circumcision was a mark of identity into the covenant relationship with God. That mark affirmed their right to be called Children of God supernaturally. They believed by that mark they were secured with God, and that they would receive the Kingdom and the glory.
THE TERM CIRCUMCISION EXPLAINED
Circumcision (4061) (peritome refers literally to cutting and removal of the foreskin. Both the Old and New Testament also use the concept of circumcision in a figurative or metaphorical sense,
· God established the practice: Genesis 17:1-14. For a sign, a spiritual reminder, which was this: “No where, or at no point, is a man’s depravity more manifest then in the pro created act.” Why? Man is a sinner by what he says, does, thinks, and in attitude. And at the root of his existence, where he creates, we know he is a sinner. In that, what he creates he produces a sinner. Which is the reason Jesus had no human father. You do not see the deeds of sin, but the nature of sin passed on to the next generation.
What is the connection here?
· When God said to cut away the foreskin, he was reminding them that man needed cleansed at the point of his body, and to be cleansed at the deepest part, the root of his being.
· Man needed to be cleansed of his sin through a spiritual surgery at the very root of his nature.
SO WHAT WAS THE PROBLEM?
The Jews were committed to the ritual but not committed to the spiritual reminder. Genesis 34; 1 Samuel 18:17-30; Jeremiah 4:4; Ezekiel 44:7 They could see the natural fleshly things but not the supernatural on the inside. Religiously doing their duty on the outside, poorly not doing the spiritual on t
