Philippians 3:1-21
Key Verse 3:10-11

 “I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow to attain to the resurrection from the dead.”

 This morning we want to study what made the Apostle Paul such an excellent Bible teacher and disciple maker. We all know that Paul was a great missionary. He eventually went to Rome in chains, to preach the gospel of Jesus.  Later, it was said that Paul influenced the spreading of the gospel in Rome and through the whole world because of this visit. In fact, later, Rome became a Christian nation. The Apostle Paul set the example for all future missionary work. He raised men of God such as Timothy, Titus and women of God such as Lydia and Phoebe. He also raised many influential house churches such as Priscilla and Aquila.  What was the secret of his success?

His secret came from his continuous learning mind towards the word of God and the work of God. In verse 10 he said he wanted to know Christ. This is amazing coming from the Apostle Paul. His main goal and vision was to get to know Christ better and better and deeper and deeper. His desire to know Christ  was so great that he even wanted to participate in Christ’s sufferings and be like him in his death. This morning we want to learn from the Apostle Paul how to be an excellent Bible teacher and disciple maker in 2001. May God give each of us a learning mind that wants to know Christ better every day. May God give each of you the vision to know Christ better through participating in his life and his sufferings.
 
Part 1. No Confidence in the Flesh (1-11)

 Look at verse 1, “Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord! It is no trouble for me to write the same things to you again, and it is a safeguard for you.” The Apostle Paul wrote this letter with a great shepherd heart for the believers at Philippi. He was greatly concerned about their faith in the Lord. He heard that they were going through many sufferings and many troubles. Because of this, they might become angry, fatalistic and depressed. He wanted them to renew their faith in the Lord. He wanted them to focus not on their problems, but on the Lord himself. One way to help renew one’s faith in the Lord  is to remind them the importance of  rejoicing in the Lord.   In this letter the word “joy” and “rejoice” are repeated fourteen times. How could Paul write this since at this time he was in a Roman prison cell?

The reason was because he had Jesus in his heart. Real joy does not come from what someone has. Nor does it come from circumstances and situation. Real comes from knowing Jesus. The Lord gives us joy as one of the fruits of the Holy Spirit when we know Jesus. God gives us this joy when we remain in Jesus through obeying his words. An important way to obey God’s word is to participate in the work of God.  When we participate in God’s work, we have joy.  Jesus said in John 15:10-11, “If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.”

A good example Jesus gives us is in the parable of the talents in Matthew chapter 25. In this parable, a man gave his servants talents according to their ability. To one, he gave five talents, to another, he gave two talents and still another he gave one talent. Then the man went away for a long time on a journey. When he came back from his journey, he wanted to settle his accounts with them. The one who had been given five talents and the one who had been given two talents had each gained more. They were rewarded by being given more talents and by sharing their master’s happiness. This happiness from the master is the joy in the Lord. It comes from the Lord like a wellspring of water.

When we have this joy, then we can endure many sufferings, hardships and trials. Take Paul’s example. He was in a Roman prison. They were dark, dirty and full of rats and cockaroaches. He did not know if he would live another day or be executed. Nevertheless he had joy because he was obeying the will of God and proclaiming the gospel (1:18) Let’s pray that we may taste the Lord’s joy by remaining in Jesus this year by obeying his words which tell us to preach the gospel and to love each other. May God give you his joy in your sufferings, trials and hardships.
 

Let’s read verse 2, “Watch out for those dogs, those men who do evil, those mutilators of the flesh.”   Paul’s words to the flock of God  are words of warning. He said, “Watch out!” Paul heard that there were some men who tried to emphasize circumcision as a necessity for salvation. They were saying that unless a person is circumcised he is not saved. These men did not have gospel faith. They were not shepherds, but instead they were dogs.  Dogs only care about themselves. Dogs are only concerned with their appetites. Sometimes dogs roam around in packs looking to pick on some helpless stray dog. They want to intimidate it and bully it and make their own. These dogs Paul wrote about only cared about their authority and not people’s salvation. They were a bad influence. They were false teachers.

In every generation there are people in the church who insist that salvation by faith in Jesus is not enough. Some say, “Unless you speak in tongues, you are not saved.” Others may say, “If you can not physically heal someone and do a miracle, you have no faith. You are not saved.” Whenever anyone emphasizes that you have to do something besides having faith in Jesus for salvation, don’t listen to them. According to the Apostle Paul, they are evil people. The Apostle Paul said this because he  knew the seriousness of compromising the gospel with religious works and human traditions. The whole book of Romans which he wrote emphasizes faith in Jesus alone as our only way to righteousness with the holy God.

Let’s read verses 3-4, “For it is we who are of the circumcision, we who worship by the Spirit of God, who glory in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh---though I myself have reasons for such confidence.”

Paul did not stop his warning in verse 2. He wanted to make sure that the flock of God in Philippi accepted that they should not be intimidated and led astray by these false teachers who were emphasizing works for salvation instead of faith in Jesus alone. In these next few verses, Paul introduces himself and all the works he did. If there was anyone who could say they were saved by works it could be Paul. If there was anyone who could put confidence in the flesh, it was Paul.  Paul wanted to emphasize that one should not put any confidence in the flesh. To be an excellent Bible teacher and disciple maker this year we need to heed to Paul’s advice.

Let’s see what great things Paul did before his conversion. Let’s read verses 4b-6, “…If anyone else thinks he has reasons to put 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; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for legalistic righteousness, faultless.”

 His name that his parents gave him was Saul which means “great one.”  Paul grew up expecting to be a great man. He studied to be a Pharisee under the teachings of Gemalial, an expert in the law.  Paul studied hard and received a 4.0 every semester. He was so diligent and able that he completed his Pharisee degree in record time. He was valedictorian of his graduating class. He was voted as most likely to succeed. Through his self-discipline, determination and hard work he became a successful Pharisee. In his eyes and especially in the eyes of the people, he could boast that he was faultless. Through his success, his  expertise in the law and his love for his people, he was given the title, “Hebrew of Hebrews.”  .”

However Paul was a very proud man not living for God’s glory, but his own glory. He only wanted to receive human praise and recognition. He had zeal for God, but it wasn’t zeal for God’s suffering sheep who needed the word of God. His zeal was misguided and misdirected in order to receive more human honor and recognition. This zeal led him to persecute the young church of Jesus. Paul became the number one persecutor, having many Christians arrested and even personally dragging them off to prison. He also approved of Stephen’s stoning, thinking he was doing God a favor.

Through doing all these things, Paul could boast. It was easy for him to put confidence in the flesh. However,  Paul did not have salvation. He had no peace with God because he was putting confidence in his flesh. On the inside, he felt wretched. All his human effort, human zeal and all his human accomplishments could not save him from his sins. So he cried, “What a wretched man I am! Who will save me from this body of death?!”

Then one day on the road to Damascus to have more Christians arrested, a bright light from heaven came and blinded him. This light was Jesus, shining on Paul who had been living in darkness. Through this conversion experience, Paul’s spiritual eyes were opened. He realized that he was doing wrong. He realized that he was being harmful to others. He accepted that he was saved not by his own religious and human accomplishments and works, but by faith in Jesus. He realized that it was the grace of God alone and the mercy of God alone.

From the time after his conversion experience, Paul began to taste the goodness of salvation in Christ alone. The grace of God was so powerful to him. He saw that the riches of experiencing and knowing Christ and serving Christ were by far greater than anything he had accomplished in the world.  It couldn’t even compare. He said in Romans 1:5, “Through him and for his name’s sake, we received grace and apostleship to call  people from among all  the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith.” From this time on, Paul’s value system changed. Let’s read  verses 7-9, “But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of  Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own which comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ----the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith.”

To Paul, human glory did not matter anymore.  Now his life’s value and treasure was in  Christ. All of Paul’s human achievements were in his eyes just like rubbish to him now. He had achieved it all. He had been so humanly successful and honored by men, yet when he compared them to knowing Christ, it was like rubbish. What is rubbish? Rubbish is unusable trash.  Moses had a similar value system like Paul’s. Hebrews 11:25-26 says, “He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a short time. He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than all the treasures in Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward.”

To be excellent Bible teachers and disciple makers like the Apostle Paul, we need to have the right value system. We must consider what is greater: valuing the things of this world like human glory and material things which perish and fade and spoil away; or valuing knowing Christ and serving Christ who greatly rewards us. When we seek to know Christ and his grace and when we serve him, we begin to experience the greatness of knowing Christ. We experience that there is nothing greater than growing in faith and serving his mission. When we gain Christ, we come to know that we have the best, so we can freely give up, without any reservations. One time Jesus used a parable about a treasure and about a man who found a pearl in the field to illustrate this.

It is  Matthew 13:44-46. It says, “The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all that he had and bought that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.”  In this year let us pray that we may value Christ. Let us earnestly pray that we may be the people of God. Let’s not go back to rubbish by putting any confidence in our flesh.

Like Paul, let us have vision for ourselves in 2001:: to know Christ better .Let’s read verses 10-11, “I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.”

These verses show us the reason why Paul was an excellent Bible teacher and disciple maker. In this verse Paul said that he wanted to know Christ. This is amazing coming from such a man as Paul. When we read his epistles, we would think he knew Christ enough, far better than any man. However, Paul was not satisfied with his spiritual condition.  Paul wanted to be like Christ.  Paul wanted to grow in Christ continually. His vision and prayer topic was to come to know Christ. How can we come to know Christ better and not be complacent?

In order for us to want to know Christ, we must make every effort to remain in Christ. We have to work at it, like the dance teams worked on the Columbian dancing for a long time. We have to keep practicing and practicing morning, afternoons and into the  night. Knowing Christ is not like a 9 to 5 job. It is not just when we have sheep around us. It is at the job, at school, in our families and by ourselves. It is not just having head knowledge. Many people know about Christ. But knowing about Christ is different from knowing Christ. Our earnest prayer is to want to know Christ personally. It is to go deeper and deeper into the heart of Jesus.

In Shepherd Paul Sambuco’s message yesterday we learned one way to know Christ. It is to know the great love of Jesus for us personally. We must personally accept that Jesus washed our dirty and smelly feet. We must believe that Jesus patiently endured all my mistakes and weaknesses. He did not condemn me but kept on loving me and forgiving me. He forgave all my dirty and smelly sins on the cross. He said, “As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” Then as Jesus loved us, we can love each other by washing each others feet. Then we are blessed as Jesus said.  And why are we blessed if we serve as he did? Because in this way we come to know him.  When we obey his commands. Then he lives in us. When we practice loving and forgiving and serving like Jesus did in John 13, we can have many sheep and bear much fruit. This is because sheep will see Jesus in us. From listening to the reports last night on how to have a successful fishing ministry and discipleship ministry, we learned one clear thing. When we make it our own effort to know Christ personally, then we can have a fruitful mission life. Missionary Deborah Lee confessed her success was from knowing the grace of God deeply the more she personally read and studied and meditated on the Bible.

There is another way in which we may know Christ. It is the fellowship of sharing in Jesus’ sufferings, becoming like Jesus in his death. This way we experience Christ’s resurrection power. This means that we must practice to deny ourselves and take up the cross of mission. Jesus said in Mark 8:35, “Whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and the gospel will save it.”

The Apostle Paul did this. He said that he died everyday (1 Cor.15:31).  He died daily to his ego, pride and worldly passions. He did not get involved in civilian affairs. He only wanted to please God. He worked hard day and night like a hardworking farmer expecting to bear a good crop.  Paul did this because he knew that when he gave himself to God to be a good Bible teacher and shepherd, he would know Christ and experience the power of living by faith in Jesus.

Shepherdess Mahmia Richards and Missionary Maria Kim taught us this last night. They said they went fishing despite the weather and even when they didn’t feel like it. They did not let themselves become ruled by their feelings or any condition or excuses. When they denied themselves and gave their life to Jesus for the fishing ministry, God gave them great resurrection power. Missionary Maria could feed 12 sheep even though she was in full term pregnancy. Both Mahmia and Maria could have great joy and be explosive, filled with the resurrection power of Jesus.
Mahmia and Maria both fellowshipped in Jesus’ suffering. Their suffering was Christ’s suffering which gave them joy and power and a victorious spirit. The more we fellowship in Christ’s suffering the more we begin to taste the power of the resurrection because God opens our spiritual eyes and gives us more faith.

This past year I volunteered to attended the Russian Summer Bible Conference. In the past I said that I wanted to go to Russia, but it was only with my mouth. In my heart I had fears and anxiety about such a journey. I worried about how my wife could survive without me and take care of the children. Also, by nature I am very stubborn and become set in a routine kind of lifestyle in which any thing new makes me uncomfortable and inwardly rebellious. Simply speaking I was not putting God’s will and desire for me over my self. Due to this attitude I could not grow to know Christ. I began to realize this sin which made me spiritually stagnant. Without world mission vision, my life of faith is no life of faith at all. Through this, God helped me to make a decision to go to Russia for the Conference. Through the journey and the conference, God opened my spiritual eyes to accept his world mission command. I began to pray for America to send one million missionaries into the world in the 21st  century. I saw that when I  obey God’s great will for me and broaden my heart, then God opens my eyes to know Christ better.  I accept that now to know Christ is to accept and obey his world mission command. It is no longer what I will, but what God wills. It is no longer doing what I always want to do and going where I want to go, but it is doing what God wants me to do and going where God wants me to go. I pray that I may know Christ become like Christ by fellowshipping in his sufferings by doing his will and not my own will. Please pray for me to know Christ this year by doing what God wants me.
 

I pray that each of us may make knowing Christ our vision for 2001. Whatever key verse we chose may it be to know Christ better by participating in his life

Part 2 Pressing on Toward the Goal (12-21)

 Let’s read verses 12-14, “Not that I have already obtained all of this, or have been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining on towards what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”

 The Apostle Paul was an excellent Bible teacher and disciple maker because he had a goal. A goal is the same thing as having a vision for ourselves. Last night we learned from Missionary Daniel Hong that we need a goal for our discipleship making ministry. Without a goal, we become lazy and useless. Goals are good to make. They are something to shoot for.  Some of us make the goal to get straight A’s in school. Some of us make the goal to get up early in the morning to pray. All dance teams had the goal to win the award as the best dance team. The competition was fierce. Each team thought they had won. Which team won? It was the C team. Why did they win? It was because they practiced the hardest.

The Apostle Paul’s goal was to know Christ. In order for Paul to achieve this goal, he had the attitude of an athlete running a race. He said he pressed on to take hold of Christ. He said that he strained ahead. Here we see that we must make a great effort to know Christ. One effort is to forget what is behind you. How can you press on to know Christ if remain in the past? You must go forwards, not backwards. We sometimes fail to grow because we only remain in the past thinking about our mistakes or about what we did for Jesus in the past. So just forgot what happened in 2000. It is over. Start fresh this year with the goal to known Christ very personally.

What made Paul such a great Bible teacher and excellent disciple maker was that he forgot what was behind him. He pressed ahead to the final goal. It was the heavenly prize of eternal life. This is shows us that the Christian life is rewarded by God with an eternal reward. When Missionary Maria Kim received the award for best fisherman in 2000, she was estatic. She held the trophy up with a big smile. But one day when baby Luke is in his terrible two’s he might just find that trophy and thinking that it is a toy will break it and it will be no more. However, we all have a prize that will never perish or spoil or fade away. It is kept in heaven for us.
 

 Let’s read verses, “All of us who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you. Only let us live up to what we have already attained. Join with others in following my example, brothers, and take note of those who live according to the pattern we gave you. For, as I have often told you before and now say again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is on earthly things.” The Apostle Paul was grieved by these false teachers who ignored the cross of Christ and who thought the Christian life was about eating and doing shameful things. He grieved because these people’s minds are on earthly things. No one can grow to know Jesus if his or her mind is only on earthly things: What to wear, what to eat, and to sleep and who to marry.

 Paul encouraged the Philippians to put hope in heaven. Here we see the last way mentioned in this passage in which Paul was an excellent Bible teacher and disciple maker. It was because he knew the key point of the whole Bible. When the Apostle Paul had the desire to want to know Christ, God gave him the key point and final hope of faith of faith. It is the kingdom of God. With this point and hope we can encourage ourselves and our sheep to have hope to eagerly wait for Jesus.
 

Let’s read verses 20-21, “But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.”  We must have heavenly vision. We must have vision to be transformed. We must have vision to have new bodies. We must have vision to be like Jesus. This is God’s goal for you. God wants you to know Christ. God wants you to fellowship in his sufferings so that you may be like Christ.

I believe that God has begun a good work in all of you. He wants to carry out his work in you to completion. So what must we do? We must want to know Christ. We must ask God to give us the holy desire to want to know Christ. Then we must be humble to keep learning like the Apostle Paul. May the Lord give you the want to know Christ in 2001.