WEBVTT 00:00:17.519 --> 00:00:22.320 The reading today is from Philippians three, verse one to eleven. 00:00:24.559 --> 00:00:27.280 Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord. 00:00:27.600 --> 00:00:32.560 To write the same things to you is no trouble to me and is safe for you. 00:00:32.799 --> 00:00:39.200 Look out for the dogs, look out for the evildoers, look out for those who mutilate the flesh. 00:00:39.520 --> 00:00:52.000 For we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus, and put no confidence in the flesh, though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also. 00:00:53.439 --> 00:00:58.159 If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more. 00:00:58.799 --> 00:01:15.120 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 to zeal, a persecutor of the church, as to righteousness under the law, blameless. 00:01:15.519 --> 00:01:20.239 But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. 00:01:20.560 --> 00:01:27.040 Indeed I count everything as loss, because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. 00:01:27.280 --> 00:01:57.599 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 his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead. 00:01:57.760 --> 00:01:59.599 And so reads God's Word. 00:02:00.799 --> 00:02:01.439 Welcome to you. 00:02:01.840 --> 00:02:04.480 My name is Mark, one of the leaders here at City Church. 00:02:04.719 --> 00:02:08.960 Very welcome if you're uh new uh or visiting with us. 00:02:09.039 --> 00:02:13.039 Uh we're going to be looking at the passage that Arena read for us from Philippians chapter three. 00:02:13.120 --> 00:02:20.240 So if you have a Bible, uh you could uh flip that up if you've got it on your phone, or uh you could look online, go to Bible Gateway. 00:02:20.319 --> 00:02:25.759 Uh we're reading from the English Standard Version uh of the Bible if you if you want to know. 00:02:25.919 --> 00:02:34.800 It's important that people have the scriptures in their hands so that you see that what is being said is coming from the passage and not just from my brain. 00:02:34.960 --> 00:02:38.319 Uh that actually the authority rests uh with God. 00:02:38.479 --> 00:02:42.400 That's our conviction that when God's word is read, his voice is heard. 00:02:42.479 --> 00:02:48.639 And so you come now to hear the voice of God on a Sunday morning, not just uh not just some Northern Irish man. 00:02:48.719 --> 00:02:53.360 Uh although I think God probably sounds like this, uh, and that's okay. 00:02:53.520 --> 00:02:59.039 Um but it would be good for you to have Philippians chapter three uh open in front of you. 00:02:59.439 --> 00:03:02.560 Uh what is the uh what is the Christian life like? 00:03:02.800 --> 00:03:05.439 Or what do people think the Christian life is like? 00:03:05.919 --> 00:03:15.360 I'm sure some of you, at least at some point, and perhaps now, think that uh the Christian life is a a life of uh of abstinence, of giving stuff up. 00:03:15.520 --> 00:03:20.879 It's a life of uh of repression, uh of forsaking certain things. 00:03:21.039 --> 00:03:24.800 It's kind of uh God's a uh a cosmic kill joy. 00:03:24.960 --> 00:03:29.520 Maybe that's what you thought, maybe that's what your colleagues, your friends, or people in your family think. 00:03:30.560 --> 00:03:34.240 Or maybe others uh still think that it's a life of hypocrisy. 00:03:34.319 --> 00:03:38.479 It's all people who say one thing and they do another. 00:03:38.639 --> 00:03:41.360 Uh the Christians are just hypocrites. 00:03:41.680 --> 00:03:47.680 Or uh even in your own expression, say, well, I can't really bring how I really am into this space. 00:03:47.840 --> 00:03:53.919 I've got to paint on the smile before I come in and pretend like everything's okay. 00:03:54.080 --> 00:03:59.280 And so I feel this internal tension, this hypocrisy, and that's just what I gotta do. 00:04:00.479 --> 00:04:05.039 Others still think that perhaps the Christian life is a life of ritual. 00:04:05.280 --> 00:04:12.560 It's about ceremonies to perform, penance, to undergo uh pilgrimages to go on. 00:04:12.960 --> 00:04:17.759 It's a uh it's a a life of insiders and outsiders. 00:04:17.839 --> 00:04:26.240 You've got to do the right thing, say the right thing, uh, be part of the right people, be from the right background. 00:04:27.600 --> 00:04:32.879 But when you read the book of Philippians, you don't see any of that. 00:04:33.839 --> 00:04:52.560 What you see from the whole book of Philippians is that the Christian life is a life of one dominant and overriding emotion standpoint, and that is that the Christian life is marked by joy. 00:04:53.680 --> 00:04:58.240 What is essential, what is at the heart of the Christian life? 00:04:58.480 --> 00:04:59.680 It's joy. 00:05:00.160 --> 00:05:05.680 Joy is the golden thread that runs all the way through this letter, right from chapter one. 00:05:06.399 --> 00:05:14.879 It's the golden thread that runs through the letter because it's the golden thread that is at the very heart and seam of the Christian life. 00:05:15.120 --> 00:05:24.800 The Christian life at its core is not simply about moralistic abstinence, nor is it about the performing of ritual, nor is it about saying one thing or doing another. 00:05:24.959 --> 00:05:33.600 It is about living a life that is full of and increasing in measure of joy, increased rejoicing. 00:05:33.920 --> 00:05:40.720 And that joy that we feel in coming to know Jesus, well, it shapes how we act. 00:05:40.879 --> 00:05:50.160 It shapes our values, it shapes our desires, it sweetens our good days and it sustains us through the bad. 00:05:52.079 --> 00:05:54.959 Joy is not like happiness. 00:05:55.360 --> 00:06:05.600 You can pursue happiness and have it for a moment, and like a delicate flower, see it wither in front of you, or like sand, see it slip through your fingers. 00:06:06.240 --> 00:06:11.439 You could pursue satisfaction your entire life and never really achieve it. 00:06:11.920 --> 00:06:15.040 Find that it always eludes you. 00:06:15.600 --> 00:06:33.759 You could pursue success and enjoy it for a time until that one failure comes and undermines everything that you are, or you look over your shoulder and you see the person who is better than you coming at fast pace up behind to overtake you. 00:06:34.160 --> 00:06:35.920 And then you wonder, well, who am I? 00:06:37.759 --> 00:06:50.399 But when you pursue joy, real joy, Christian joy, it comes and it takes up residence in your life permanently and with increasing measure. 00:06:50.639 --> 00:07:32.319 It's like a a tree that grows and puts deep down roots into your soul that sustain and preserve you, and in its shade you are sheltered from some of the scorching heat that suffering and trial in this temporary existence would throw at you, and its fruit sustains you until it all gives way to unending, eternal and everlasting joy. 00:07:32.800 --> 00:07:34.160 What is the Christian life about? 00:07:34.240 --> 00:07:35.360 It's not about giving up. 00:07:35.439 --> 00:07:36.879 God's not a killjoy. 00:07:37.519 --> 00:07:41.199 God wants to maximize your joy, not your happiness. 00:07:41.839 --> 00:07:45.120 He wants to maximize your joy this morning. 00:07:45.360 --> 00:07:48.639 That's why Paul keeps on banging this drum. 00:07:49.600 --> 00:07:52.240 That's why he starts, verse one, finally. 00:07:52.480 --> 00:07:54.079 Paul's a great preacher. 00:07:54.399 --> 00:07:58.000 Paul says, Finally, right in the middle of his letter. 00:07:58.800 --> 00:08:03.360 Uh, it's like when I get up and I say, and lastly, and then speak for another 15 minutes. 00:08:04.879 --> 00:08:23.279 Finally is actually better translated as uh so so, in light of brothers, he's just been talking about how uh how God sustained uh Epaphroditus, who had been nearly ill, and his heart was to be with the Philippians, and and and God was merciful to him and merciful to Paul. 00:08:23.360 --> 00:08:30.079 That's what you looked at last week, and say, because of God's mercy and Epaphroditus's love to come and to serve you. 00:08:30.560 --> 00:08:41.519 So, in light of all of that, again, but brothers, brothers and sisters, that word brothers is uh is encompassing the whole church family, brothers and sisters, therefore rejoice. 00:08:42.399 --> 00:08:51.440 And so Paul begins again by saying, Because of this, again, please, brothers and sisters, rejoice, pursue joy. 00:08:51.600 --> 00:08:52.639 That's the first point. 00:08:52.879 --> 00:08:56.000 Pursue joy this morning. 00:08:57.600 --> 00:09:08.159 The word rejoice, it's a it's an active verb, it's a keep on doing this, chase after that, pursue that sort of word, rejoice. 00:09:09.840 --> 00:09:16.720 Put it another way, it's uh it's as though Paul is saying, choose to rejoice. 00:09:18.080 --> 00:09:19.840 Choose to rejoice. 00:09:21.679 --> 00:09:26.799 Don't be a passenger in your own emotional life. 00:09:28.799 --> 00:09:36.879 This week for me uh particularly, and perhaps even in these last weeks, you know, there've been a number of challenges, frustrations. 00:09:37.120 --> 00:09:49.679 I've just been tired, like I've been kind of dealing with kind of like a low-level sickness and tiredness, and just feeling a little bit kind of discouraged, in the sense that actually the discouragements are just easier to see. 00:09:50.159 --> 00:09:51.120 You ever feel like that? 00:09:51.279 --> 00:09:55.440 Where it's actually you just end up focusing on the negative stuff, you just focus on the discouragements. 00:09:55.679 --> 00:10:08.639 So, one of the things that I've been trying to do this week is to actually choose to turn away from just the discouragements and go, actually, no, I can see I can see the Lord at work here and here and here. 00:10:08.720 --> 00:10:12.639 And actually, that meeting went much better than uh than I than I thought. 00:10:12.799 --> 00:10:18.240 And uh the Lord is really working in this person's life, and and there's joy to be had in that. 00:10:18.399 --> 00:10:21.120 And and so, do you get my point? 00:10:21.279 --> 00:10:28.879 That we can so often be be passengers in our own emotional life, we can get taken along by all of the negatives. 00:10:29.120 --> 00:10:31.759 And so when Paul says rejoice, he's like, Do you know what, guys? 00:10:31.840 --> 00:10:40.080 Choose joy, choose to look at the fact that aphroditus nearly died, but God spared him and he's made his way to you because he loves you. 00:10:40.320 --> 00:10:45.600 And so I know that there's suffering, I know that you're uh you're losing your job, which is what was happening. 00:10:45.679 --> 00:10:53.200 You're losing your jobs because of uh being a follower of Jesus, because you can't be part of the guilds anymore because of uh idol worship and all of these things. 00:10:53.279 --> 00:10:59.039 I know that that's happening, and that's not that that's insignificant, but that can so overwhelm and crowd you. 00:10:59.200 --> 00:11:07.679 Whereas actually the Lord's being so unendingly kind, he started this good work in you, he's gonna bring it to completion on the day of Christ Jesus. 00:11:07.840 --> 00:11:09.519 He loves you, he's given himself for you. 00:11:09.600 --> 00:11:15.039 The Lord Jesus laid down his life, he humbled himself by becoming obedient on the death, even death on a cross. 00:11:15.200 --> 00:11:17.759 He is highly exalted, he is ruling, he is reigning. 00:11:17.919 --> 00:11:22.080 So Philippian Christians and City Church don't could you choose to rejoice? 00:11:22.399 --> 00:11:27.039 Could you set all of this stuff in light of that? 00:11:27.279 --> 00:11:30.320 And it's not to say that it makes it insignificant, but it does relativize it. 00:11:30.399 --> 00:11:31.840 Could you choose joy this morning? 00:11:32.080 --> 00:11:34.960 Rejoice, brothers and sisters, he says. 00:11:35.279 --> 00:11:36.320 Does that make sense? 00:11:37.519 --> 00:11:38.799 Yes, amen. 00:11:39.279 --> 00:11:39.919 Amen. 00:11:40.639 --> 00:11:48.240 And not only that, not only is he saying choose joy, he's saying choose to rejoice together. 00:11:48.399 --> 00:11:52.000 I want to just press this, just massage this in a little bit. 00:11:52.960 --> 00:11:57.840 That this word that this word, Adelphoi, brothers, is brothers and sisters. 00:11:58.080 --> 00:12:02.240 Some of your translations will will show that actually it's an inclusive word. 00:12:04.480 --> 00:12:07.039 Who can know gospel joy? 00:12:07.279 --> 00:12:10.399 Who can know Christian joy? 00:12:12.000 --> 00:12:13.039 Christian people. 00:12:15.039 --> 00:12:23.360 Non-Christians, those who perhaps don't describe themselves as a follower of Jesus, they can they can know happiness for a time, but never really this joy. 00:12:23.919 --> 00:12:27.039 Not this joy that is eternally unending. 00:12:28.480 --> 00:12:33.120 But nor is this joy reserved for the special super holy Christians. 00:12:34.080 --> 00:12:44.159 We kind of have this image in our mind's eye of Paul, you know, standing on the on the on the corner of a building, you know, with his cape kind of fluttering in the wind, as some as some super Christian. 00:12:44.399 --> 00:12:48.320 So, well, of course he should have joy because you know he's he's a real Christian. 00:12:48.399 --> 00:12:49.120 But what do I mean? 00:12:49.440 --> 00:12:53.360 No, no, Christian joy is for all brothers and sisters. 00:12:53.600 --> 00:12:55.919 Christian joy is for Christian people. 00:12:56.399 --> 00:13:01.840 And so he says, finally, brothers and sisters, all of you together, rejoice together. 00:13:02.720 --> 00:13:06.879 Lift up your voice, clap your hands, stomp your feet. 00:13:08.080 --> 00:13:11.279 Most joyful person that song was, you know, it was Cameron. 00:13:11.360 --> 00:13:12.879 He was bopping away. 00:13:13.039 --> 00:13:13.679 It was great. 00:13:13.840 --> 00:13:19.600 I'm gonna have him down the front so that uh so that he can show you all next time I could see him from that row. 00:13:19.759 --> 00:13:21.120 It was wonderful. 00:13:21.440 --> 00:13:23.759 It's supposed to be a shared experience. 00:13:23.919 --> 00:13:29.919 So we lift up our voices and as we rejoice in the Lord, unless we encourage one another with what the Lord has done to us. 00:13:30.000 --> 00:13:33.840 And sometimes there can be joy in our heart and we can forget to tell our faces. 00:13:35.759 --> 00:13:37.840 And maybe maybe that's an application point. 00:13:37.919 --> 00:13:40.480 Maybe if you take a note, you're like, tell your face. 00:13:40.960 --> 00:13:43.919 Uh I have joy deep down. 00:13:44.240 --> 00:13:44.799 Yeah. 00:13:45.120 --> 00:13:50.240 That it is supposed to be something that's shared because, well, what is I mean, joy is infectious, isn't it? 00:13:50.559 --> 00:14:00.159 When somebody is just uh effusive uh about something, you can't help but you you start by almost kind of laughing at them, but you end up laughing with them. 00:14:02.000 --> 00:14:10.720 Paul understands that Christian joy is something to be shared, not something to be kind of kept away in our own little uh safe hearts. 00:14:10.879 --> 00:14:15.039 It's like, no, give it away, let it infect the whole community. 00:14:15.519 --> 00:14:18.320 And he says, pursue pursue joy, pursue joy in what? 00:14:18.480 --> 00:14:22.080 So finally, brothers, brothers and sisters, rejoice, rejoice in what? 00:14:22.240 --> 00:14:27.360 So joy has an object, it has a direction, it has a focus. 00:14:27.600 --> 00:14:30.399 Rejoice in the Lord. 00:14:31.360 --> 00:14:33.120 Rejoice in the Lord. 00:14:33.360 --> 00:14:41.759 Now, Paul will go on and we'll come back and unpack it more in the rest of these verses to show just how much reason we have to rejoice in Jesus. 00:14:41.840 --> 00:14:58.000 But it's worth just noting here that actually the source of and blazing center of Christian joy is Jesus Himself, both his person, who he is, and what he has done for us. 00:14:58.720 --> 00:15:11.759 The joy is not a uh a nebulous emotion that you need to uh to search for in some uh in some deep and dark and unknowing corner of your psyche. 00:15:11.919 --> 00:15:18.000 No, no, it comes from a source, it has an object. 00:15:18.399 --> 00:15:21.120 Rejoice in the Lord. 00:15:22.000 --> 00:15:36.080 That as you reflect and meditate and ruminate, uh, Christian meditation is uh is most akin not to emptying your mind, but uh but filling your mind with the right sorts of things. 00:15:36.399 --> 00:15:39.679 Christian meditation is like uh it's like a cow in a field. 00:15:39.840 --> 00:15:45.679 Uh if you ever look at a cow in a field, it's just chewing all the time. 00:15:46.240 --> 00:15:47.519 Christian meditation is like that. 00:15:47.600 --> 00:16:17.120 It's like chewing over in your mind, in your heart, what who the Lord is, what his promises to you are, how he has been to you in the past, what he has done for you on the cross and by his empty tomb, what he has declared over your life, what he has promised about your future, to chew and ruminate on all of those things, and to find that your heart begins to ignite again with joy. 00:16:17.440 --> 00:16:20.080 Finally, brothers and sisters, rejoice. 00:16:20.320 --> 00:16:21.279 Rejoice in what? 00:16:21.440 --> 00:16:23.360 Rejoice in the Lord. 00:16:23.840 --> 00:16:25.919 Pursue joy. 00:16:29.120 --> 00:16:31.519 But Paul does not conclude there. 00:16:31.679 --> 00:16:35.279 Paul does not say uh that all is fine or rosy. 00:16:35.440 --> 00:16:40.399 No, interestingly, he immediately pivots, and this will be our second point. 00:16:40.559 --> 00:16:44.720 He immediately pivots uh to this idea of guarding your joy. 00:16:45.039 --> 00:16:48.559 So, point number two, guard your joy. 00:16:50.399 --> 00:16:56.399 It is possible, brothers and sisters, to have your joy stolen from you. 00:16:58.000 --> 00:17:01.039 It is possible to have your joy taken. 00:17:02.639 --> 00:17:14.480 There are people, ways of thinking, ways of believing or acting that would steal your joy and leave you spiritually impoverished, leave you joyless. 00:17:15.200 --> 00:17:21.599 And so Paul wants to warn you this morning, and he does it emphatically. 00:17:21.759 --> 00:17:29.279 Did you notice in verse 2 how he repeats this little phrase, look out three times in one verse? 00:17:29.440 --> 00:17:30.400 Look at it with me. 00:17:30.559 --> 00:17:38.240 Look out for the dogs, look out for the evildoers, look out for those who mutilate the flesh. 00:17:39.440 --> 00:17:45.759 Who are those people that Paul is saying that you need to guard yourself from that are going to steal your joy? 00:17:46.000 --> 00:18:05.200 Well, in the in the ancient context, Paul here is talking specifically about uh about Jewish legalists who were who were saying that if you really want to be a follower of Jesus, if you really call yourself a Christian, then you should also, if you're a male, be circumcised. 00:18:05.440 --> 00:18:16.960 That was uh the marker of entering into the people of God in their mind that you need to go through this ritual, through this ceremony in order to truly be a Christian. 00:18:17.119 --> 00:18:21.920 They're adding on a ritual, a work onto being a Christian. 00:18:22.160 --> 00:18:28.400 And Paul says, no, they're they're evildoers, they're they're not, this is not a ritual, it's a mutilation. 00:18:29.680 --> 00:18:35.359 Because Jesus plus anything equals nothing. 00:18:36.319 --> 00:18:40.559 You cannot, must not add anything onto the gospel. 00:18:42.480 --> 00:18:50.079 Now, I don't know if uh how many of you have experienced or come from legalistic backgrounds. 00:18:50.160 --> 00:18:53.200 I know that uh that certainly some of you have. 00:18:53.440 --> 00:19:07.920 Um I know I joke about my Northern Irish accent, but there's uh there's plenty of dear, wonderful, gospel-centered, Bible-loving Christians uh in uh in Northern Ireland, but there's also lots of legalists. 00:19:08.240 --> 00:19:17.920 People who would uh chain the swings together on a Sunday on the Sabbath uh so that the children couldn't play because that would be seen as work. 00:19:19.359 --> 00:19:25.359 Or they would say, uh, you can uh you can call yourself a Christian, but Christians, do you know what? 00:19:25.519 --> 00:19:30.240 Uh they uh they don't they don't drink, you shouldn't be seen in a pub. 00:19:30.640 --> 00:19:31.839 Or they don't go to the cinema. 00:19:32.000 --> 00:19:33.359 Don't know what we can do with all of me. 00:19:33.839 --> 00:19:34.880 Sorry guys. 00:19:36.400 --> 00:19:40.079 Um you wouldn't you shouldn't go to the cinema. 00:19:40.240 --> 00:19:43.680 It's the uh the devil's picture house. 00:19:44.559 --> 00:19:46.720 Or you should dress a certain way. 00:19:47.359 --> 00:19:51.119 Ladies should wear hats in church, should only wear skirts. 00:19:52.480 --> 00:19:56.960 You should think a certain way, speak a certain way, look a certain way. 00:19:58.000 --> 00:20:14.400 I remember when when I was about 19 or 20 years old, uh, me and a friend of mine, uh a couple of friends actually, we've been praying for uh for a friend of ours who um who eventually said yes to an invitation to come into the church that we were going to. 00:20:14.559 --> 00:20:19.680 It was a pretty traditional church, and so it was a big deal that uh that he said yes. 00:20:20.079 --> 00:20:27.680 And uh and he arrived with a with a like a beanie on and sat through the service and we didn't think anything of it. 00:20:27.920 --> 00:20:34.160 And at the end of the service, an old lady came up and said, You take your hat off in in the house of God. 00:20:37.200 --> 00:20:39.359 And you laughed, but he never came back. 00:20:42.640 --> 00:20:45.599 Because that's what legalists do, they steal your joy. 00:20:47.200 --> 00:20:49.279 Paul's saying, look out for those people. 00:20:50.480 --> 00:21:12.960 Those people who add on to simply trusting in Jesus, seeing that he has done everything necessary for salvation, that you do not need to go through some additional ritual, that you do not need to give up certain foods or certain things. 00:21:13.200 --> 00:21:17.680 No, it's kind of bad is like Christian life has Christian ethics. 00:21:17.759 --> 00:21:32.480 There are it is going to change the way you live, but it's not in order to gain uh salvation, it's not in order to gain Jesus liking you, it's as a consequence of God sending his love for you that he changes how you think and act and uh and things like that. 00:21:32.640 --> 00:21:39.680 So, but these people were saying, no, if you really are a Christian, or if you really want to be like a true believer, then you should go through that. 00:21:40.640 --> 00:21:42.400 And that is wicked. 00:21:43.039 --> 00:21:45.519 He's right to call them evildoers. 00:21:46.480 --> 00:21:47.599 They are dogs. 00:21:47.759 --> 00:21:59.519 And the the irony there in calling them dogs is that uh the uh the Jews looked at uh looked at the the Gentiles and called them dogs, and he said, No, actually, they are the ones like uh like scavengers. 00:22:00.079 --> 00:22:03.119 No, uh, don't think uh little Bichonfries in your purse. 00:22:03.359 --> 00:22:11.200 Um uh think feral, rabid uh dogs that are looking for someone, something to devour. 00:22:12.079 --> 00:22:13.440 Snuffling through the trash. 00:22:13.599 --> 00:22:15.759 It's that sort of idea. 00:22:17.039 --> 00:22:22.640 And again, I just want to uh just press the the strength of Paul's language. 00:22:22.960 --> 00:22:26.079 Dogs, evildoers, those who mutilate. 00:22:27.519 --> 00:22:30.400 Paul here is being a good shepherd. 00:22:33.039 --> 00:22:39.599 He's being a good shepherd in telling us to watch out for these people. 00:22:40.880 --> 00:22:44.319 Good shepherds don't play nice with wolves. 00:22:45.519 --> 00:22:48.799 Good shepherds don't play nice with false teachers. 00:22:49.279 --> 00:22:54.240 We warn people say, look out, look out, look out. 00:22:55.920 --> 00:22:58.559 Well, Paul's language is very harsh. 00:22:59.119 --> 00:23:06.400 Yes, it is necessarily harsh, so that he might guard the flock and preserve their joy. 00:23:08.160 --> 00:23:12.720 Why does legalism steal your joy? 00:23:13.599 --> 00:23:33.680 Well, because it moves your source of confidence, your boast, your the thing that you glory in from Christ and places it again on yourself, on your own performance, on your own doing. 00:23:35.039 --> 00:23:45.200 So Paul in verse three essentially is saying that the mere ritual, circumcision, uh, can never be a substitute or lead to vibrant faith. 00:23:46.319 --> 00:24:00.000 Circumcision that was all the circumcision that was always necessary was the circumcision of the heart, that the heart would be set apart, not just the physical flesh, that the heart would be changed. 00:24:00.880 --> 00:24:02.559 That's what's necessary. 00:24:02.799 --> 00:24:04.480 That's where you get joy from. 00:24:04.640 --> 00:24:07.200 So he says verse 3, for we are the circumcision. 00:24:07.359 --> 00:24:09.599 You've already been circumcised. 00:24:09.759 --> 00:24:12.160 Didn't expect so much talk about circumcision on Sunday morning. 00:24:12.240 --> 00:24:12.880 You're welcome. 00:24:13.039 --> 00:24:15.200 Uh but we are the circumcision. 00:24:15.359 --> 00:24:16.720 The circumcision happens when? 00:24:16.799 --> 00:24:21.359 When we worship by the Spirit of God and glory not in ourselves, but in Christ. 00:24:21.519 --> 00:24:27.680 We glory in Christ and put no confidence in the flesh. 00:24:28.480 --> 00:24:42.240 And then Paul now goes on to show that if putting confidence in your flesh is what would lead you to enduring Christian joy, then he never would have become a Christian in the first place. 00:24:42.640 --> 00:24:50.319 Because all that was necessary for him to fulfill by legalism and by rule keeping, he did it. 00:24:50.640 --> 00:24:57.119 So he goes on and he lists essentially his CV, his resume in verses four to six. 00:24:57.200 --> 00:25:03.279 He gives himself as an example of how he had confidence in the flesh. 00:25:03.519 --> 00:25:06.559 So let's just let's just go through Paul's resume. 00:25:06.640 --> 00:25:10.400 He begins by saying that he himself was circumcised on the eighth day. 00:25:10.559 --> 00:25:13.359 That was uh the perfect day. 00:25:13.599 --> 00:25:23.039 That was the day that was laid down in the Old Testament law that if a baby boy was born, then eight days later he would undergo a small operation. 00:25:23.519 --> 00:25:29.519 He'll be circumcised on the eighth day, marking him out as part of the people of God. 00:25:29.920 --> 00:25:33.359 And so Paul is saying, I had the right beginnings. 00:25:33.759 --> 00:25:38.880 And he goes on and says, verse 5, circumcised on the eighth day of the people of Israel. 00:25:39.039 --> 00:25:42.880 So he's not somebody who converted into Judaism, he's not a proselyte. 00:25:42.960 --> 00:25:46.640 He said, I'm from the right people, from the right nation. 00:25:47.599 --> 00:25:53.759 He focuses in and saying I'm on the tribe of Benjamin, one of the best of the 12 tribes. 00:25:53.920 --> 00:25:59.680 He had the right family, a Hebrew of Hebrews, the right upbringing. 00:25:59.839 --> 00:26:02.319 Paul's saying, I have the I have the right pedigree. 00:26:02.480 --> 00:26:03.839 I have the perfect pedigree. 00:26:04.000 --> 00:26:05.759 I have the perfect bloodline. 00:26:06.799 --> 00:26:11.519 I'm better than these guys who are coming along and saying that you should get circumcised. 00:26:11.680 --> 00:26:15.519 If you want to go resume to resume, mine beats theirs. 00:26:18.240 --> 00:26:41.039 He goes on, says, as to the law, a Pharisee, then not only was he a zealous uh Jew, that he was part of the inner circle, the most religiously zealous and particular and legalistic group of people, the Pharisees. 00:26:42.880 --> 00:26:49.359 As to zeal, verse 6, says, You want to you want to judge my religious fervor? 00:26:49.519 --> 00:26:56.000 Well, I was so religiously fervent in my Judaism that I became a persecutor of the church. 00:26:57.279 --> 00:27:20.000 I went to the high priest when I was still a Pharisee, and I asked for arrest warrants, and I would travel around uh the uh around Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria, and I would arrest people who were following Jesus because they were they were, in my mind, polluting the uh Judaism. 00:27:20.559 --> 00:27:23.039 They were a heretical sect. 00:27:23.200 --> 00:27:25.839 And so I would go and I'd round them up and I'd throw them in Jesus. 00:27:25.920 --> 00:27:33.680 I was a persecutor of the church, and it was on my way to persecute the church in Damascus to arrest more Christians. 00:27:35.039 --> 00:27:37.119 But the Lord changed my heart. 00:27:38.559 --> 00:27:41.920 He says, as to the law, blameless. 00:27:42.799 --> 00:27:50.079 Paul here is not saying that he was sinless, but that he always fulfilled what the law required. 00:27:51.200 --> 00:28:09.839 Every sacrifice, every festival, every ritual, every Shabbat, everything, every observance, every tithe was given, blameless as to the law. 00:28:14.480 --> 00:28:20.079 And yet he concludes that self-righteousness came to naught. 00:28:20.799 --> 00:28:24.480 Self-righteousness can either be religious or non-religious. 00:28:24.799 --> 00:28:34.000 You could come from a background that you could map on some of these, even from your Christian, uh, Christian upbringing, from your from your legalistic church. 00:28:34.079 --> 00:28:37.599 You say, well, I went to I went to church twice on Sundays. 00:28:37.680 --> 00:28:39.039 There's a Bible study every week. 00:28:39.119 --> 00:28:41.519 I I served in the in the worship band. 00:28:41.599 --> 00:28:43.599 I did all of these things. 00:28:46.160 --> 00:28:48.480 Or it can be non-religious. 00:28:49.839 --> 00:29:01.759 Might be saying, well, look at look at what I've achieved, look at what I've done, look at the family that I was born into, look at the background that I have, look at my moral superiority without religion. 00:29:02.160 --> 00:29:03.440 I'm a good person. 00:29:05.200 --> 00:29:09.039 Or look at my success, my prestige. 00:29:10.400 --> 00:29:16.799 Self-righteousness can either be religious or non-religious, but it only has one of two results. 00:29:18.400 --> 00:29:26.480 Self-righteousness will either lead you into pride or despair. 00:29:27.440 --> 00:29:30.319 Self-righteousness will either lead you into pride. 00:29:31.200 --> 00:29:33.920 I did it! I've achieved it. 00:29:34.319 --> 00:29:35.759 Look at those people. 00:29:36.000 --> 00:29:40.160 They're weak and better than them. 00:29:41.359 --> 00:29:45.519 Pride or despair, I can't do it. 00:29:45.759 --> 00:29:48.559 I feel crushed under the weight of expectation. 00:29:48.640 --> 00:29:51.039 And this is what legalistic churches do to people. 00:29:51.279 --> 00:29:57.680 I feel crushed under the weight of expectation to be a certain way, to think a certain way, to act a certain way. 00:29:58.559 --> 00:30:00.960 And I can't do it, I keep on failing. 00:30:01.119 --> 00:30:03.359 And it's making me more of a hypocrite. 00:30:03.519 --> 00:30:10.720 And because I'm leading more of a double life, and it's driving you to despair. 00:30:11.039 --> 00:30:15.440 Where self-righteousness never takes you is to joy. 00:30:16.240 --> 00:30:19.200 It never takes you to joy. 00:30:21.920 --> 00:30:23.359 So how do you find it? 00:30:23.839 --> 00:30:25.200 How do you find joy? 00:30:25.279 --> 00:30:27.359 And that's this is our third and final point. 00:30:28.079 --> 00:30:32.160 So pursue joy, guard joy, find joy. 00:30:33.440 --> 00:30:34.799 How do you find joy? 00:30:36.000 --> 00:30:42.880 Joy comes from loss and from gain. 00:30:44.319 --> 00:30:53.920 Joy comes from the strategic loss of certain things in order to gain something of infinite value. 00:30:56.960 --> 00:31:00.880 What does Paul conclude in verses seven and eight? 00:31:02.400 --> 00:31:10.559 But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. 00:31:11.440 --> 00:31:20.400 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord. 00:31:21.920 --> 00:31:32.400 Paul puts his entire CV in one column on the balance sheet, and over it he writes one word, he writes loss. 00:31:33.839 --> 00:31:36.000 It was all loss. 00:31:37.279 --> 00:31:44.079 And in the other column, he writes two words Jesus Christ. 00:31:45.680 --> 00:31:46.960 Jesus Christ. 00:31:47.279 --> 00:31:48.400 And knowing him. 00:31:52.720 --> 00:32:05.119 Indeed, he goes on in verse 8, for the say for his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish in order that I may gain Christ. 00:32:07.200 --> 00:32:10.079 Lots of ink being spilt over this word rubbish. 00:32:11.119 --> 00:32:14.559 It is sometimes translated trash. 00:32:15.039 --> 00:32:20.640 In other places it is it is translated as the coarse word for excrement. 00:32:21.200 --> 00:32:21.519 Okay. 00:32:25.279 --> 00:32:40.960 In a sense, Paul is saying that all of my straining for perfection, all of my straining for achievement, all of my straining for God to accept me, I may as well have been straining on the toilet. 00:32:44.240 --> 00:32:53.119 Just before he died, uh Johnny Cash uh recorded a cover uh of uh a nine-inch nails song. 00:32:53.440 --> 00:32:59.680 Uh I'm sure you're all massive nine-inch nails fans, so you'll be right there uh with me. 00:33:00.079 --> 00:33:08.880 Uh but uh but in it uh there is a uh there's a lyric where and the image is very evocative. 00:33:08.960 --> 00:33:24.079 I encourage you to look at it on YouTube where Johnny Cash at the end of his life, you know, June Carter, his his his wife has died a few months prior, and and he's he's sitting with this this large banquet in front of him and this kind of quasi throne. 00:33:24.960 --> 00:33:51.759 And the uh the records, uh the platinum records are are lying smashed on the on the floor, and they the pictures are all broken and faded, and there are uh there are rats kind of running over the table, and he picks up with his shaking hand his goblet of wine, he pours it all over the food as he sings the line, you can have it all, my empire of dirt. 00:33:53.039 --> 00:33:58.559 At all of the things that he had achieved, all of the success, all of the adulation. 00:33:58.960 --> 00:34:01.440 He looks at it all and he says, You can have it all. 00:34:01.519 --> 00:34:05.039 It's all just an empire of dirt. 00:34:07.680 --> 00:34:17.599 Brothers and sisters, be very careful that you are not pursuing in the end what will amount to an empire of dirt. 00:34:20.960 --> 00:34:26.239 I consider it all loss for the sake of knowing Christ. 00:34:28.000 --> 00:34:29.440 That is where joy comes from. 00:34:29.599 --> 00:34:37.920 You know, people think that people think that freedom is having unlimited choice and options. 00:34:38.079 --> 00:34:39.039 It's not. 00:34:40.239 --> 00:34:51.039 Freedom, true freedom, comes from the strategic loss of certain freedoms in order to uh gain those things that would maximize your joy. 00:34:51.280 --> 00:34:52.960 You do that every time you fall in love. 00:34:53.039 --> 00:34:54.719 You do that when you marry someone. 00:34:54.880 --> 00:35:03.840 You're saying, uh, you're saying to that person, I am no longer free with respect to every other uh member of uh the species. 00:35:04.400 --> 00:35:06.719 I'm no longer available to them. 00:35:07.280 --> 00:35:16.079 I am limiting my freedom with respect to them because I am binding myself to you, and that's what gives me joy. 00:35:16.639 --> 00:35:23.840 Or you limit uh your your freedom now as you study or as you work, you're you're building a future, you're building a career. 00:35:23.920 --> 00:35:28.960 And so what you do now is uh you say, no, actually, I'm I'm not gonna I'm not gonna do that thing. 00:35:29.039 --> 00:35:34.480 I'm not gonna go out five five nights a week because, well, I can't afford it, and I'm trying to save up for this thing. 00:35:34.639 --> 00:35:45.119 And if I did that, then actually I wouldn't I wouldn't be able to kind of progress in the in the chosen field of study because I wouldn't be able to do very well come exam time, I wouldn't get those assignments done. 00:35:45.280 --> 00:35:52.719 So you limit your freedom in order to gain something, in order to gain that thing which gives you joy. 00:35:53.039 --> 00:35:55.760 And so this loss-gain dynamic happens all the time. 00:35:55.840 --> 00:36:16.000 And Paul is saying, you need to look at your life, you need to look at your your CV and all those things that are giving your you identity and meaning and value and worth and significance and comfort and control and say loss in order that my eye might know the surpassing worth of knowing Jesus Christ. 00:36:17.360 --> 00:36:41.840 The only way to find true and lasting joy is to look at your life and see it as loss, to see success as loss, achievement as loss, wealth and comfort and security, as loss, position, as loss, power and prestige, as loss, food and clothes and stuff, as loss that I might gain Christ. 00:36:45.519 --> 00:36:55.119 And just take a moment just to focus on the beauty of of these words that he he goes on to say, let's pick it up again uh in the middle of verse 8. 00:36:55.280 --> 00:37:02.559 For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish in order that I might gain Christ. 00:37:04.400 --> 00:37:08.159 And be found in him. 00:37:10.559 --> 00:37:37.360 Not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ Jesus, the righteousness of God that depends on faith, that I might know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share in his sufferings, and may become like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection of the dead. 00:37:39.440 --> 00:37:42.800 I'm gonna park verse 11 and move it into next week. 00:37:42.960 --> 00:37:52.000 But just for now, what Paul is not saying is he's not just said, uh, don't try and achieve your salvation, and then at the very end say, what I'm trying to do is achieve my salvation. 00:37:52.079 --> 00:37:52.239 Okay. 00:37:52.880 --> 00:38:04.480 Um it is it is that unbelievable that some way I'm just as Jesus was raised, he might raise a sinner like me, that I might, that I might get to be raised. 00:38:04.719 --> 00:38:05.440 It's more like that. 00:38:05.599 --> 00:38:06.400 More on that next week. 00:38:06.480 --> 00:38:10.639 It's a little trailer for you since we're in a since we're in since we're in a cinema. 00:38:13.119 --> 00:38:17.199 But those words that start verse 9 and being found in him. 00:38:19.039 --> 00:38:29.039 That all of my all of my restless wandering, trying to figure out who I am, looking for myself. 00:38:29.199 --> 00:38:33.599 The world tells you to look to look inward in order to find yourself. 00:38:39.679 --> 00:38:41.280 When you are in Christ. 00:38:42.559 --> 00:38:47.199 That's where you begin to truly know yourself and being found in him. 00:38:48.239 --> 00:38:52.480 That he would embrace me, that he would make me his own. 00:38:53.840 --> 00:39:04.320 Again, I had lots of songs in my head, obviously, as I was writing this uh this week, but I was thinking of uh I was thinking of the Foy Vance song, Indiscriminate Act of Kindness. 00:39:04.480 --> 00:39:11.280 In that that song, that beautiful song, uh, there's a line that says, How is it that you can see past me as I am? 00:39:16.159 --> 00:39:19.039 Each of you here know what you're like internally. 00:39:21.599 --> 00:39:39.119 And that you might come to Jesus and say and say, How is it that you can see past me as I am and have him embrace you warts and all, sins and all, darknesses and all, secrets and all and be found in him. 00:39:42.239 --> 00:39:59.920 Not, Paul goes on, having a righteousness of my own that comes from legalism, law keeping, moralistic achievement, not having a righteousness of my own, but having a righteousness that is gifted to me. 00:40:00.800 --> 00:40:03.199 A righteousness that comes through faith. 00:40:05.519 --> 00:40:11.760 One of the things that that is required of all of us as we are followers of the Lord Jesus. 00:40:11.840 --> 00:40:21.280 So if you're looking at becoming a follower of the Lord Jesus, one of the things that is required of you is to admit that you uh come to him with empty hands. 00:40:23.280 --> 00:40:34.320 To admit that you come bringing nothing of any consequence, nothing in my hands I bring simply to thy cross I cling. 00:40:36.559 --> 00:40:40.480 And it's so freeing, it's so liberating. 00:40:40.960 --> 00:40:58.960 This is why it results in joy, because you're no longer twisted and distorted by pride, or crushed by despair, or given to anxiety, constantly looking over your shoulder to think, will somebody be a better version of me than I am? 00:41:00.719 --> 00:41:06.880 But you can rejoice that you come with empty hands and you receive grace. 00:41:06.960 --> 00:41:10.000 You come naked and find yourself clothed. 00:41:10.159 --> 00:41:10.880 Clothed with what? 00:41:11.039 --> 00:41:21.679 Clothed with the righteousness of Jesus, not having a righteousness of my own, but a righteousness that comes from faith in Jesus. 00:41:22.079 --> 00:41:29.519 You, believer, brothers and sisters, sisters, are clothed in the righteousness of Jesus. 00:41:31.280 --> 00:41:36.639 This is seen for us, Jesus describes this for us in the in the story that he tells us about the prodigal son. 00:41:37.440 --> 00:42:05.840 The prodigal son, he wants his father dead, and he uh he runs away with half the inheritance and he squanders it all on uh on you know fast living and fasting, you know, whatever, all of the uh all of the hedonism that this world can offer, and he finds himself with nothing destitute and at his lowest ebb, starving and longing to eat the the pods that the that the pigs are snuffling up. 00:42:05.920 --> 00:42:09.920 He says, I'll go back to my father and I'll say, Don't treat me as a son anymore. 00:42:10.000 --> 00:42:13.199 I'll be a slave and I'll and I'll work in your in your fields. 00:42:13.280 --> 00:42:17.360 If you just give me a job, if you if I could just have a roof over my over my head. 00:42:17.440 --> 00:42:19.440 And and he begins to make his way back. 00:42:19.519 --> 00:42:21.039 And and and what do we read? 00:42:21.119 --> 00:42:22.480 What does Jesus tell us? 00:42:22.719 --> 00:42:31.920 He tells us that the father is looking for his son, and when he sees his son, he runs to him and he embraces him. 00:42:32.079 --> 00:42:39.360 And he doesn't let his son get to, uh, if I could just be, if I could just be a slave, if I could just kind of work in your in your fields. 00:42:39.440 --> 00:42:41.760 He doesn't hear any of that plan. 00:42:42.320 --> 00:42:49.840 He looks to the to his to his people, to the people in his household, he says, come and bring the best robe and put it on him. 00:42:50.079 --> 00:42:51.840 Come and put it on my son. 00:42:53.679 --> 00:42:59.599 Have you ever thought in that parable, who owned the best robe? 00:43:01.679 --> 00:43:02.559 Father. 00:43:03.679 --> 00:43:05.440 Father owns the best robe. 00:43:05.679 --> 00:43:06.960 He's the head of the house. 00:43:07.119 --> 00:43:08.800 The best robe belongs to him. 00:43:09.360 --> 00:43:11.440 He's saying, go and get it. 00:43:11.920 --> 00:43:13.280 It's in the wardrobe. 00:43:13.760 --> 00:43:15.360 And put it on my son. 00:43:16.719 --> 00:43:19.920 You're clothed in the righteousness of God. 00:43:20.239 --> 00:43:22.400 How could that not well up in you? 00:43:22.639 --> 00:43:28.480 Joy and thanksgiving and gladness as you consider and ruminate on it. 00:43:30.480 --> 00:43:41.119 Joy is found when we lay our deadly doing down, all down at Jesus' feet, and find ourselves in Him alone, gloriously complete. 00:43:44.639 --> 00:43:47.360 You can know joy this morning. 00:43:48.000 --> 00:43:59.599 You can this morning rejoice with brothers and sisters, who together, perhaps even with state with tear stained face faces, cry out in favor. 00:44:00.320 --> 00:44:02.480 And thanksgiving to Jesus. 00:44:04.000 --> 00:44:07.360 Say, Jesus, we thank you, we love you, we worship you. 00:44:08.559 --> 00:44:13.360 That you might see past us as we are and clothe us in your righteousness. 00:44:13.840 --> 00:44:25.440 I might look at all of this effort, all of this exhausting wandering, trying to make myself something or someone. 00:44:28.800 --> 00:44:33.039 When I say I am invited to discover who I am in you. 00:44:33.840 --> 00:44:35.440 You are our boast. 00:44:36.079 --> 00:44:37.679 You are our glory. 00:44:38.320 --> 00:44:43.519 You are our righteousness, our king and our God.