9.7 - Finding Joy in Christ, Part 1

Paul encourages the Philippians to "rejoice in the Lord," and proceeds to remind them that joy and confidence can ultimately only be found in Christ, not in the flesh.

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Paul and Noah both preach and teach with the Cedar Park church of Christ in Cedar Park, TX. You can visit our site at: https://www.cedarparkchurchofchrist.org/

Transcript

Noah: 0:30

Well, good morning and welcome back to the Stand Strong podcast. I just realized I did take for granted that you're listening to this in the morning. If you're not, that's okay too. But hopefully you've had a good day and you're ready for some time in the book of Philippians. We've been working through this letter of Joy Paul and. We are, oh, a little over 50% of the way done, I think at this point. Mm-hmm. By word count. We, we are coming into chapter three and chapter three, I mean, the whole book of Philippians is pretty well known as far as New Testament scripture goes. There's a lot of memorable statements made in this letter not least of which we'll come across in chapter four. Philippians four 13 you know, probably is in the top 10 most well-known verses. Mm-hmm. In all of scripture I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. But I think that chapter three, but you know, not, not to get on a soapbox right off the right off the bat, but when we get into chapter four and we read that verse, chapter three sets the context for what he's gonna be talking about. Correct. When we get there. Correct. And I think that's one of the beautiful things about this letter is just how everything fits so neatly together, we have all of these themes that kind of revolve around joy. And I would, I would kind of argue that chapter three is almost the, the heart of it all. It's the, it's the centerpiece of the letter to the Philippians. Because this is where Paul talks about finding joy. In Christ.

Paul: 2:09

In Christ. You know, finding joy in the gospel. Chapter one, finding joy in service. In chapter two, he starts chapter three. Finally. And that's not unusual for Paul, by the way. He'll do that to the Thessalonians. Mm-hmm. And first Thessalonians four, he'll say, finally, and then you've got the rest of chapter four and another chapter for those of us who pay attention to chapter divisions. But so it's not uncommon for Paul to say finally and again, scholars have, have, have been confused to. To some extent, Noah here, you know, from, they think, you know, from chapter three and verse one the soul, verse two all the way through chapter four, verse three, they think he, he's shifted focus. Like maybe this was something that Paul wrote at a later time.

Noah: 2:51

Mm,

Paul: 2:51

no. Yeah. But, but I'll admit that just as a casual read, you're thinking, boy, that because the tone changes. I mean, he's using some very severe sharp tones that were very common when he would write through the Galatians. Mm-hmm. So his tone does change, but the theme of joy, the focus does not, and like you said, in fact he'll say, rejoice in the Lord, chapter three and verse one. To my knowledge, this is the only time that in the Lord is connected to the joy. In the language. Right? But it's all over the book, right? So here it's joy in Christ. So it's, there's a lot that's here in chapter three, but you're right, if we're gonna get the rest of the letter, we need to really take in some things that Paul says here in chapter three.

Noah: 3:38

Yeah. Yeah. And the tonal shift is it, it can throw us off for a moment, but. What Paul issues here, like for instance in verse two, the, the warnings about the dogs and the evil doers and those who mutilate the flesh he is, he's simultaneously going to be addressing some false teaching and some, some dangerous people. But he's going to contrast it against where true joy and ultimately true identity can be found. And he's going to use himself as kind of a, as kind of a case study of that. And so there is, while there is a tonal shift, the, the main theme hasn't changed. And also really if, if, if even more than that. Paul is pushing even further into the point that he's trying to make to the Philippians. So the, the warning in verse two that I just referenced obviously can be the center of a lot of discussion. The fact that he uses terms like dogs and evil doers, but the mutilation of the flesh. It certainly seems to be referencing the same kind of circumcision party that he talks about in his letter to the Galatians, and that is made clearer in verse three when he seems to contrast this to we are the circumcision correct who worshiped by the spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confide. In the flesh. That's the line that sets up the rest of chapter three that he says, you need to watch out for this because that's not us. We are the circumcision. We are bearers of the mark of the new covenant, and that means we don't put confidence in the flesh.

Paul: 5:25

Right, you're right. He doesn't mention this group by name, but he, he uses these terms to highlight the same group of people Jewish, whether these were unbelieving Jews or Judaizing teachers, Jewish Christians. I have my view on that, but the point that Paul is making is pay attention to what they're teaching and how they're behaving. Mm-hmm. And he uses strong language In the Greek, we miss things or I miss things because I don't know Greek the way others do. Yeah. But in the point, a Greek common language of the Dave, the Apostle Paul, this word, this term beware, would, would be used all three times. In the new King James, you've got beware only once in the Greek. Beware. So Paul is making a point. Beware, beware, beware. Because I think potentially he's not deviating from his focus, potentially this group of people, men who, who were teaching things and behaving in a certain way. It was gonna rob them of their true joy and unity.

Noah: 6:27

Mm.

Paul: 6:28

In Christ. One of the ways perhaps is when you start putting confidence in something other than Christ.

Noah: 6:35

Yeah.

Paul: 6:35

So that's your point. We are who is the true circumcision, and Paul mentions that those in verse three who worship and serve by the spirit who rejoice in glory in Christ. They're not, they're not rejoice or undertaking glory in Jewish law tradition and, and have no confidence in the flesh. Our righteousness does not come through or by what we do. Right. It comes through our faith. And he'll mention that later on in chapter three, our, our faith in Christ. Yeah. And so that's his, his point is where confidence is in

Noah: 7:09

Christ. Exactly. Where, where are we gonna put our confidence in and what, what's our measuring stick? Yes. And he, these people that he's warning against, they're measuring stick is. Circumcision from the old Covenant, and he says that is putting confidence in the flesh, right? I, I think that it would be appropriate with that context to go ahead and read verses four through probably 11 here to get kind of Paul's.'cause what Paul engages in here is a really, I mean, it's kind of a string of. Information, but his point is going to be the same. We put no confidence in the flesh and to emphasize that point, he's gonna say in verse four, though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh. Also, if anyone else thinks he has reason for 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. As to the law, a Pharisee. As zeal a persecutor of the church as to righteousness under the law, blameless. But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord, for his sake, I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish in order 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 comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God. That depends on faith that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and may share in his sufferings becoming like him in his death. That by any means possible, I may attain the resurrection from the dead. You can't stop halfway through that. Paul just keeps going. He just keeps going. Right? But it does, I, at the very beginning, it almost sounds like he's going back on what he's saying. We put no confidence in the flesh, but I have confidence in the flesh. Well, his point is there in verse four, if anyone else thinks he has confidence, I have more. He said, basically he's saying if we're gonna start pulling out resumes. Right? No, nobody wants to go up against me,

Paul: 9:27

right?

Noah: 9:27

My resume is top shelf. You know, I if in, in the modern LinkedIn culture if there were headhunters going around, they were looking for Paul. Okay, he's got it all. He's the, the whole kitten caboodle. How many different ways can we say the same thing? Paul recognizes that from a carnal perspective, he has what it takes. And his point is, that's not us.

Paul: 9:55

Yeah. Yeah. You know, you say, how many ways can we put it? How about this religious MVP most valuable fair Pharisee. And, and Paul. Paul was it. Yeah. Years ago, I, I came here from Amarillo and a friend of mine when I was in Amarillo called me and he said, Hey, Stephen Covey is coming to Amarillo. You wanna come hear him? Speak Well, yes. And of course, a lot of what Mr. Covey has to write and say is worth reading. Sure. And repeating one of the things in one of his books, Stephen Covey says this, it, it's easy to get caught up in the activity of working harder and harder climbing the ladder of success, only to discover it's leaning against the wrong wall. Ooh. Well, people, preachers have repeated that and use that in, in different situations to teach different lessons. Now the, the ladder leaning against the wrong wall when Paul was confronted. With Jesus Christ on the road to Damascus. He wasn't saved on the road, but he realized on the road to Damascus that his ladder was leaning against the wrong wall. Right? When do we realize, or do we realize, and again, like you said, there's so much here in chapter three, and Paul says all of these things you want to talk about boasting. You wanna talk about having confidence, okay? You Jewish. Guys who are coming in trying to rob people of their joy and trying to convince people of something o other than Christ or, or justification some other way than righteousness, which is by faith. Mm-hmm. And Paul says, look for me to write some of these things, same things to you, church, I'm, I'm gonna say some things and write some things I've already shared with you.

Noah: 11:40

Right.

Paul: 11:40

Well, maybe that was when he planted this church. I don't, I don't know. But the point was Paul saying it's, it's for you as safeguard. It is always safe in our preaching when we remind people regularly where our confidence lies. We got too many this is gonna sound harsh. I don't mean it to when I say we got too many self-righteous Christians. But we, we've, we have to be careful. I have to be careful. Of putting my confidence in something. Mm-hmm. Or someone other than Christ. Yeah. Yeah. That's a real dangerous thing. It was for this church in the first century. It is for our churches in the 21st century.

Noah: 12:24

Yeah, absolutely. You know, there's, it, we are all susceptible to what I would call maybe the spiritual sunk cost fallacy. Hmm. I, I don't know if you're familiar with the sunk cost fallacy in other areas of life, but it's the the idea that, well, I've come this far down this road, it's very similar to the ladder leaning against the wrong wall kind of situation. Mm-hmm. I've gone, I've come this far down along this road. I've invested this much time, energy, money, whatever it is into this thing, and it's. I'm starting to realize it's not the right thing, but I'm this far in already. Maybe if I keep pouring into it, something good will happen. You know, you could apply it to that, that car that just keeps finance way into a shop, right? And you're like, well, at this point I've spent 1000, 2000, 3000,$4,000 repairing this car. At what point have I sunk too much in it? At what point on the ladder? Do we say, we look down, we're like, well, I know I'm against the wrong wall.

Paul: 13:27

Hmm,

Noah: 13:28

but I'm this far in already. And we can be susceptible to this idea that, well, I followed these authors, podcasters, et cetera, this far. Now they're saying some things, teaching some things, writing, some things that I. Before I would've balked at, but I'm this far in already. Mm-hmm. Right. I have believed X for 20 years, 30 years. This is, this has been my established belief, public position on this passage, on this doctrinal issue. I can't go back now. There's an irony there because we, I think a lot of times we think of it from the aspect of saving face, right? Like it would be embarrassing to go back on it now, but what's more embarrassing? Saying I recognize now that I have believed the wrong thing or stubbornly arguing? No. This is correct when, when it's now been clearly demonstrated. No, no, it's not. Those are specific applications of the greater principle that Paul is talking about here. And, and all of those things are examples of somehow putting confidence in the flesh instead of humbly saying, no, no, all that matters. All that matters. Is Christ.

Paul: 14:52

Yeah. All that matters. I mean, think about how many times Paul says just in few verses, I count it, but lost. Mm-hmm. I count it. But depending on the translation, you'll have rubbish you know, there's, there's arguments. How strong a word right? Is this, but the point is. Paul gave up everything. If Paul changed and gave all of it up, and he considered all of these things that he said, I could boast of more, you Jewish guys, he'd be called dogs. Mm-hmm. He said, if I gave all that up willingly for the sake of Christ to be found in Christ, to know Christ, to attain to the resurrection of the dead, I considered all of this loss. Then you guys can too. Yeah.

Noah: 15:40

Yeah. You know, this to me is kind of a spiritual parallel to the to the warning that Jesus gives that how hard it is for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. I think we see it. We see that those who are not. Blessed with wealth, like we so often are here in, you know, the western world, in the United States of America. It's easier for people who aren't blessed with physical wealth to appreciate. The spiritual wealth of scripture. Hmm. Right. Similarly here, Paul, from a, from a spiritual perspective, you earlier said the religious MVP, right? Like from a quote unquote spiritual perspective, he is wealthy, he's influential, he's got position and education on his side, how hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of heaven, whereas those who don't have that privilege and that position. More, can more readily accept the rags of Christianity. Mm-hmm. And I think that that's, that's part of what Paul's laying out when he goes through his whole, I mean, he talks about circumcised on the eighth day pe you know, tribe of Benjamin, Hebrew of Hebrews, a Pharisee, which to 21st century ears we go, that's not a good thing. Nobody wants to be a Pharisee. But that would've been seen as, I mean, that's the, that's the tippy top of the, of the Jewish religious pyramid. And he counts it as loss. He counts it as rubbish. You just mentioned a moment ago. And then he goes on he says, I have suffered the loss of all things. So there's a very real thing that he's giving up. I, I think we shouldn't skip over the fact that this is an element of suffering. Mm-hmm. That when he says he counts at as loss, it's not that these things have no value at all. It's that their value is meaningless compared to Christ, and so he's willing to suffer their loss. I, I think that that can challenge us in a very real way to recognize that there are good things or things that are perceived as good in the public eye. That we need to be able to give up if it means sharing in Christ,

Paul: 17:56

right? There's, there is no true joy and contentment. I'm emphasizing true joy, right? That's what Paul is doing. Genuine, true joy. There is no true joy and contentment apart from a relationship with Christ. You stack everything up over here. But without Christ, nothing matters. Paul gave up everything. Mm-hmm. There. It's not to say we have to give up everything, but Paul's point to these Christians and Philippi. What, what was driving Paul? What was it that gave Paul true joy and contentment? It's, it's the, the knowledge of Christ Jesus. I have gained Christ, I'm, I'm found in Christ. And I, and I love verse nine. Being found in Christ, not having my own righteousness, which is from law.

Noah: 18:50

Mm-hmm.

Paul: 18:51

But that which is through faith in Christ. Now listen to him, the righteousness, which is from God. From God through Christ, by faith.

Noah: 19:04

Mm-hmm.

Paul: 19:06

You know, if, if you wanna talk about the, the new international version in renders instead of righteousness under the law, Paul said righteousness. Under the law I was considered faultless. Mm-hmm. By its Jewish contemporaries. The, the new international calls it legalistic righteousness. Mm-hmm. I, I kind of like that be because Paul is saying if anybody's gonna make the grade when it comes to being under the law found. Blameless and on human terms.

Noah: 19:33

Yeah.

Paul: 19:34

Paul said, I, I I would make the great, but I, I only discovered it was inadequate because Paul began to realize what true righteousness is and where is it sourced.

Noah: 19:49

Yeah.

Paul: 19:50

And we're not gonna have true joy and contentment apart from a relationship in Christ. We cannot save ourselves.

Noah: 19:56

Right.

Paul: 19:56

We, we cannot do enough. To put God in our dead. Paul realized that. And when he did, or because he did, he was willing to give everything up. He went from persecutor to preacher.

Noah: 20:12

Mm-hmm.

Paul: 20:13

Because he understood the joy of being found in Christ.

Noah: 20:18

Yeah, that's, that's what's on the line here. He says it several different ways that he can gain Christ, that he would be found in Christ, that he would have the righteousness that comes through faith in Christ. And then verse 10 and 11, kind of tie it all into a bow that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and then. Resurrection Sounds good, right? And may share his sufferings becoming like him in his death. That verse 11, by any means possible, I may attain the resurrection from the dead. This is what's on the line, is that being in Christ means sharing in his suffering, sharing in his death. Ultimately sharing in his resurrection just as Jesus humbled himself and suffered and then was exalted, which we've talked about on this podcast before. We see that Paul sees that and he wants that too. All he wants is to be found in Christ. You've said that's where true, true joy is found. True contentment is found. That's where true life is found. The, the, the life eternal, the resurrection that we have in Jesus. And Paul says that that's all there is for him. That's all there is.

Paul: 21:47

Yeah. You know, we could have spent a lot of this podcast emphasizing according to the flesh Paul's zeal. Mm-hmm. If you wanna talk about people with passion. And purpose and energy and drive. Put the poster of the Apostle Paul up on the wall. Right. But a zeal was misguided. And he, and he acknowledged that to the, to the church. I had a zeal, but it was misguided. He'll, he'll mention that to the Romans in Romans 10, having a zeal, but not according to knowledge, but right the point when Paul's talking about true zeal. True zeal finds its. Place in a right relationship with Jesus Christ. Now, when we think about Pharisees, I call Paul the most valuable Pharisee. Mm-hmm. Sometimes the Pharisees, you know, like Paul, they get a bad rap'cause Jesus says so much, such strong language to the right. But Paul was a genuine under the law. Hebrew of Hebrew. He was the Pharisee.

Noah: 22:51

Yeah.

Paul: 22:52

And but Paul's point was, I was serving God. Or so I thought

Noah: 22:59

mm-hmm.

Paul: 23:00

Jesus made the point in, in John 16 to his apostles that there would, there would come a time when people would kill them thinking they were offering service to God. Paul or Saul, who became Paul, was persecuting Christians, thinking he was serving God.

Noah: 23:17

Yeah.

Paul: 23:18

And when, when he was confronted. It with Jesus Christ. He was willing to change. I know we're getting up on time. This is a question I usually ask when I'm teaching from Philippians three, from a very practical standpoint for people to think about when you're reading Philippians chapter three, make it very personal. Look what the Apostle Paul gave up to, to be found in Christ and willingly he gave it up.

Noah: 23:43

Mm-hmm.

Paul: 23:46

What would I be willing to give up? When I am confronted with a knowledge of the truth,

Noah: 23:53

yeah,

Paul: 23:56

what would I be, would I be willing to give up a marriage? Would I be willing to give up a relationship here or there? Would I be willing to quit a job? Would I be, I mean, a lot of these hard things that you could fill in the blank. Look what Paul gave up. Why did he do that? Jesus Christ, salvation in Christ, being found in him, pleasing him. Now, understand where true righteousness comes from and what it means to be saved by grace. When I'm confronted with the truth, will I change like Paul did?

Noah: 24:37

Only in conforming ourselves to Christ, will we find joy?

Paul: 24:42

Yes. Good point, good point.

Noah: 24:46

Well, like you said a moment ago, we're running up on our time. This is such a rich section of scripture. We could spend several episodes probably just in these verse, these 11 verses here in chapter three. But we'll continue working through the book of Philippians next week. We hope you that you can join us as we continue this study. And until next week, we pray that you stand strong.