Where the Value Really Is

Transcript

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[0:00] Our sermon text today comes from Philippians 3, 1 through 14, and this is actually the end of Philippians because we did chapter 4 when Karen Sorenson visited a few weeks ago. So we are at the last part, and I'll be reading from the NLT.

[0:21] Whatever happens, my dear brothers and sisters, rejoice in the Lord. I never get tired of telling you these things, and I do it to safeguard your faith. Watch out for those dogs, those people who do evil, those mutilators who say you must be circumcised to be saved. For we who worship by the Spirit of God are the saved. We who worship by the Spirit of God are the ones who are truly circumcised. We rely on what Christ Jesus has done for us. We put no confidence in human effort, though I could have confidence in my own effort if anyone could. Indeed, if others have a reason for confidence in their own efforts, I have even more. I was circumcised when I was eight days old. I am a pure-blooded citizen of Israel and a member of the tribe of Benjamin. A real Hebrew if you will. If there ever was one. I was a member of the Pharisees who demanded the strictest obedience to the Jewish law. I was so zealous that I harshly persecuted the church. And as for righteousness, I obeyed the law without fault.

[1:46] I once thought these things were valuable, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done. Yes, everything else is a sin. I remember how ridiculous it was for me. I remember how ridiculous it was for others. I remember how ridiculous it was for others.

[2:06] I remember how ridiculous it was for others. I remember how ridiculous it was for others. I remember how ridiculous it was for others. I remember how ridiculous it was for others. I remember how ridiculous it was for others. I remember how ridiculous it was for others. I remember how ridiculous it was for others. I remember how ridiculous it was for others. I remember how ridiculous it was for others. I remember how ridiculous it was for others. I remember how ridiculous it was for others. Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead, I want to suffer with him, sharing in his death, so that one way or another I will experience the resurrection of the dead. I don't mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection, but I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing, forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead. I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God through Christ Jesus is calling us. Let's pray.

[3:11] Our gracious God, we thank you for your word. We ask for your blessing upon it and for your blessing on each one of us as we hear the words of Jesus. We pray in Jesus' name, amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

[6:15] Amen. that I harshly persecuted the church. And as for righteousness, I obeyed the law without fault. Paul was a known, a powerful, and a respected Jew. He was honored. He had authority. He had the eye of the people on him. And he had it all according to Jewish world standards. All the things that were valuable to the world, at least the Jewish world, Paul was there. And if anyone had motivation to enforce the adherence to Jewish law, it would have been Paul. Because it would have been easy for him. He would shine like a star above them. But he says, it's all garbage.

[7:09] He knew what was actually valuable. And he desperately wanted the church at Philippi to know this as well. Because the world is always, lying to us about what is truly valuable and what is not. And the Philippians, they might not have known it, but they were about to be bombarded with those lies from people who had seemed to care the most about their spiritual lives. So there were these people, the Judaizers, out there telling the Gentiles that in order to be saved, they needed to uphold the Jewish law. And Paul knew that this was a distortion of the gospel. And these Judaizers had already tried to infiltrate the church at Galatia.

[7:57] They weren't doing this as some sort of dedication to the law though. They were making these claims strictly for personal gain. And this is one of those price tag switches. They saw their own human glory as more important than the salvation, their own salvation or the salvation of the Gentiles that they were trying to save. And they were trying to deceive. So Galatians 6, 12 through 13 says, those who are trying to force you to be circumcised, want to look good to others. They don't want to be persecuted for teaching the cross of Christ alone can save. And those who advocate circumcision don't keep the whole law themselves. They only want you to be circumcised so that they can boast about it. And claim you as their disciples.

[8:53] So these people thought that adding more and more disciples to their number was something that would gain them glory. And maybe they thought not just glory on earth, but maybe they thought it was one way to get more glory in heaven. To kind of work, it's a works based salvation theory. They thought the more they worked, the more glory they had. On the earth, the more glory they could have in heaven, and they'd be closer to salvation. And that's certainly not true.

[9:27] Or maybe they were just satisfied with the glory it would get them on earth. But either way, they were deliberately adding conditions onto the grace of God, which he had poured out freely and without condition.

[9:43] And so this is what heresy is, plain and simple. And it certainly wasn't the last. It wasn't the last time that this crept into the church. I think every generation has major heresies. And this was one of them. Heresy is devious.

[9:59] Because it looks like true theology. Or it starts in a place that is very familiar theologically. And so people think, oh, that looks very, very much like the theology I already know. But there's a little distortion and something that deviates slightly from the truth. And that slight deviation can have major, major impact on the church. And it's always enough to damage how people view Christ.

[10:30] Now, we're very lucky today. Because we have a long history of these dedicated, faithful brothers and sisters and mothers and fathers in the faith who've gone before us to study scripture fervently. And to work together. To spell out the theology we know today. So that we don't have to fall into the traps of heresy. We have things like the Apostles' Creed and the Nicene Creed that lay our theology out for us. We have documents that define sound doctrine for us.

[11:08] And we can rely on and turn to those when we doubt or when we have questions. So we're very lucky. We have things that we know. We have things that can help us. And yet we do still allow heresy into our churches today. There's recently a common heresy that plagues our churches where people want to get numbers in the seats. And so they will say things that are nice and that feel good. Like there are many ways into heaven or many roads that lead to eternal life. Now, studies show that over 80% of Americans do not believe in the gospel. They believe in the gospel. And they even believe that one enters the afterlife after some form of judgment. They also believe that they're going to heaven. But fewer than 60% of Americans believe that Jesus is the way into this afterlife.

[12:08] And many people believe they are good enough in and of themselves that they have gained righteousness by their own accord. And they have secured their own salvation. They have found their own way into heaven just based on how they live. And there are many churches that call themselves Christian churches which are supporting these beliefs. But that's heresy, plain and simple. For a Christian church to claim that Christ is not the only way to heaven.

[12:37] And we've fallen into a time where we want to please everybody and where it's more important to have numbers in the pews than hearts that are reached. And we've fallen into a time where we want to please everybody and where it's more important to have numbers in the pews than hearts that are reached. And we've fallen into a time where we want to please everybody and where it's more important to have numbers in the pews than hearts that are reached. So people like to hear that they can choose their own way into heaven. And they like to think that it's by their own doing. And by preaching other things of God alongside this. It seems like solid theology.

[13:02] It seems like solid theology. This is why it's dangerous. Because it seems like it could be right. This is why there was danger in the church at Philippi. And in the church at Galatia. Because it seemed like this was right. This was part of Jewish life. law and Christ was a Jew and it seemed to be the right theology. So Paul needed to put a stop to it because there is nothing short of Christ's grace that has bought our redemption. So he needed to put a stop to the heresy in Philippi before it had a chance to really take hold as it had in other churches around the area. And he saw how these lies were hurting those other churches. They were deviated from true theology just enough to be disguised and that made it all the more dangerous. And so this light-hearted letter to the Philippians, it's been light-hearted so far, it's about rejoicing and unifying. This light-hearted letter turned into some really hardcore, amazing, and serious theology. In fact, I really think it's one of Paul's greatest hits. He didn't pull any punches. He just laid it all out. If Paul the super-Jew had nothing to boast about then nobody did. In fact anything that he could possibly boast about whether as a Jew or as a Christian or even as a human

[14:37] was considered garbage. And not just garbage. We think of garbage as something that we end up having for our end. we don't really need anymore, so we throw away. But actually the word that he used could also refer to as human waste. So it wasn't something that we just don't really need anymore. It was something that was repulsive, that not only did you not need, but you didn't want anything to do with.

[15:04] It wasn't just garbage, it was sewage. Paul did not believe that the old law was garbage, and I want to underline that. Paul was a true Jewish person and he loved the law, but he knew that the old law had washed away and God's way of making us to be in right relationship with himself was now by faith and faith alone. It is Christ who paid the price for our sin. And not our own works that made up the difference. And the price for sin had always been death. And Jesus paid that forever with his own death and resurrection on our behalf. So the result was grace that could not be earned by adhering to the law. There has never been a time, whether under the Old Covenant or the New, when God was impressed with human riches and power or even human endearment. achievements. But that was what these Judaizers were clinging to, which is why Paul felt it necessary to write out a list of his own achievements and credentials. He's usually a humble guy. He only writes out his credentials when other people are asking for credentials, basically. And Paul had them. He had all of them, but he counted them as garbage. And he told the Gentiles to adhere, sorry, telling the Gentiles to adhere to the law when these Judaizers couldn't adhere to it themselves,

[16:44] made it seem as though grace was impossible to obtain. It put a price on Jesus's gift that no person would be able to pay. And so people were turning away from the churches because it seemed as though salvation was out of reach when that was the exact option. And so he told the Gentiles to adhere to the law when these Judaizers couldn't adhere to it themselves, made it seem as though grace was impossible to obtain. And so people were turning Jesus came to be the new covenant, the one that made relationship with God free and open to everyone. So Paul set the people straight in Galatia, and he wanted to set them straight in Philippi before the Judaizers could influence them. But then how could they trust what he said? Because it was a matter of he said, they said, and who was right? So on the one hand, Paul says grace is free for everyone. And on the other hand, he's not free for everybody. And so he's not free the other hand the Judaizers are saying something completely different. Well the difference is that the Judaizers had something to gain by telling the Gentiles to follow the law. They had disciples to gain, they had power and authority to gain, they had glory to gain. But listen to what Paul says.

[17:52] He says, as for me, may I never boast about anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of that cross, my interest in this world has been crucified and the world's interest in me has also died.

[18:11] It doesn't matter whether we have been circumcised or not, what counts is whether we have been transformed into a new creation. And Paul had been. He had been transformed even though he was a really great person before, he'd been transformed into something that God counted as as great.

[18:31] And that's why we can rely on what he says because there's no self-motivation, no selfish ambition, he wants only Christ for the people and he wants what Christ wants for the people. Now most of us in this church will not believe outright heresy. Like I said, we have creeds and documents that form our beliefs but this does apply to us because for one thing, there are all these small details to our belief. divisions within the churches. There are denominations, there are arguments, and I'm talking the church at large, but I'm also talking about every individual church that's ever been. We see this at the church at Philippi. One of the reasons for writing this letter was because there was an argument between two women, and it had probably started some factions in the church. And one thing is clear, this argument was not over things that truly mattered. Paul wanted them to be unified. He didn't say how they should be unified, he just wanted them to be unified. He didn't say who was right or who was wrong.

[19:44] This major theological foundation that Paul was laying down is something that mattered. On matters of our theology, we should not divide. On the fact that Christ died for our sins, and that is the only way to heaven, we should not divide.

[20:07] We've spent a lot of the letter telling people to put aside these differences. Often, we today still allow these differences to divide us. There are some differences like infant or believer baptism. There are differences between the two. There are differences in how we use liturgy. There are differences in politics, and there are differences in our physical beings. It's still true that Sunday morning is the most divided hour in all of America. We divide based on cultural differences. We divide on issues like abortion and homosexuality, and none of it is worth dividing over, according to Paul. These divisions are not only unnecessary, like garbage. They are problematic. They are the repulsive things we need to stay away from. They are taking focus away from what is the gospel. Paul did throw people out of the church. In fact, in 1 Corinthians 5, he said there was some sin so absolutely appalling that even pagans were shocked. at what was going on in the church. The pagans found this repulsive, this sin that was happening in the church. It was incest, which he was talking about. It's not only a sexual sin, but it's abusive as well in its nature. And the church was not just allowing it, but celebrating it.

[21:38] The secular world knew how very wrong it was, but the church was proud of it. And that was a problem. When something is so debased that the world sees it, but the church who's called to a higher standard doesn't, that's a problem. That's something not to divide over, but to step in and speak into. And so Paul stepped in and spoke into things like that.

[22:06] The other line that Paul drew, other than like immense sin, was deep theological difference. Paul would not allow heresy. We need to stop separating over these small differences and differences that ultimately don't mean anything to God or the kingdom. And we need to start speaking against the big things. But instead, that price tag is switched, and we seem to care about the petty things that ultimately have no meaning. Now many Christians and non-Christians too have been deeply emotionally scarred by people within the church who claimed to be standing for God, and not for God's truth, but who instead were thinking only of themselves and their own interests. And they claimed to be guarding the gospel from distortion. And so they swayed the opinion of other people to capture positions of power and banish all who didn't agree with them. And suddenly, the message of Christ is perverted, and it looks nothing like what it's meant to be. And so it's ignored as it becomes buried deeper under unholy, unholy agendas. And people are hurt when these unholy human agendas take over. Not only that, but the gospel is rejected when people are hurt by it.

[23:28] So where is the value? That's the big question for today. Where is the value? In all of what affects your life, all the areas in your life, where does the value lie? When an issue arises in church, when something comes up in your life, when theological boundaries are drawn, or when you're tempted away from the gospel, or when somebody tempts you away from the gospel, or when you're tempted to tempt people away from the gospel, you need to ask, is this valuable?

[24:06] And if so, is it valuable by worldly standards or by kingdom standards? And how will you stand firm for what is truly important to the kingdom? Let's pray. Our gracious, loving God, we pray that you would work in our hearts and minds.

[24:29] Help us to learn and to know what is truly valuable to you. And help us to stay the course that we may discard the things that only benefit us and look toward the things that bring glory to you. These things we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.