Wednesday
Evening Bible Study
November 20, 2002
Introduction
We now enter a new section in Philippians.
:1-3 The warning
:1 Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord.
finally – loipon – remaining, the rest; hereafter, for
the future, henceforth; at last, already; for the rest, besides, moreover
This is not just a preacher trying to tell the people he’s making his final
point, but is only half way through the message.
This means literally, “as for the
rest …”. Paul is now going to move on from the issue of the internal
divisions in the Philippian church and to move on to other concerns.
rejoice – chairo – to rejoice, be glad; to rejoice
exceedingly. Present active imperative.
in the Lord –
Lesson
Joy in the Lord
I don’t think Paul is just saying one of those, “Praise the Lord” phrases
that we often say, without having any idea of what we’re saying.
He’s sharing a command that they need to rejoice, but to rejoice in the
Lord.
Don’t rejoice in your “stuff” or your accomplishments.
Rejoice because of what Jesus has done for you.
:1 To write the same things to you, to me indeed is not grievous, but for
you it is safe.
to write – grapho – to write, with reference to the form
of the letters; to write, with reference to the contents of the writing
grievous – okneros – sluggish, slothful, backward, irksome; from okneo – to feel loath, to be slow; to delay, hesitate
safe – asphales (“not” + “fail”) – firm (that which can
be relied on); certain, true; suited to confirm
Lesson
Hearing the same old thing
When you’ve been a Christian for a few years, there is a danger of always
looking for some “new” thing from the Lord. When a teacher gets to a certain
lesson or application, we can say to ourselves, “Oh, I’ve heard that before.”
Peter wrote that it was important to keep reminding his readers of certain
truths.
(2 Pet 1:12-13 KJV) Wherefore
I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things,
though ye know them, and be established in the present truth. {13} Yea, I think
it meet, as long as I am in this tabernacle, to stir you up by putting you in
remembrance;
Illustration
I heard a story about a pastor who had preached a beautiful sermon on
“Loving One Another”. After the service several people came up to him and told
him what a fine message he had given. The following week, the pastor gave a
message on “Loving One Another”. It was the same, exact message. Same points. Same
illustrations. Same jokes. Some of the people thought to themselves, “Well,
maybe he’s had a bad week and forgot that he preached this message last week.” The
following week, the pastor got up and preached a message on “Loving One
Another”. You guessed it, the exact, same message. One gal in the church got
the courage to ask the pastor what was going on. “How come you’ve preached the
same sermon three weeks in a row?” she asked. The pastor responded, “When I
start seeing the church doing what the message says, I’ll preach a different
sermon.”
:2 Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the concision.
Beware …beware … beware – blepo – to see,
discern, of the bodily eye; to turn the eyes to anything: to look at, look
upon, gaze at; to perceive by the senses, to feel; to discern mentally,
observe, perceive, discover, understand; to turn the thoughts or direct the
mind to a thing, to consider, contemplate, to look at, to weigh carefully,
examine
dogs – kuon – a dog; metaph.
a man of impure mind, an impudent man
evil – kakos – of a bad nature; not such as it ought
to be; base, wrong, wicked; troublesome, injurious, pernicious, destructive,
baneful
workers – ergates – a workman, a labourer;
usually one who works for hire esp. an agricultural worker; one who does, a
worker, perpetrator
concision – katatome (“down” + “to cut”) – to cut up,
mutilation; NAS – “false circumcision”
Paul is talking about people we call “Judaizers”.
These were men who went around teaching that for a Gentile to be saved,
they first had to become Jews, especially, they had to first become
circumcised.
These people tended to follow in Paul’s footsteps and disrupt the churches
that Paul plants.
Paul didn’t like these guys. When he wrote to the Galatians, he wrote
mostly as a warning against these guys. Paul said,
(Gal 5:12
KJV) I would they were even cut off which trouble you.
He uses the word “mutilate”, he wishes these guys would
mutilate themselves.
The Judaizers called the Gentiles “dogs”. Now Paul turns the term on them. They
are not people who teach “circumcision”, they were teaching “mutilation”.
This was a major issue in the early church. The church started off being
entirely Jewish.
When Peter went to Cornelius’ house and some Gentiles ended up being saved
and receiving the baptism of the Holy Spirit, many in the church didn’t know
what to do.
As Paul began his ministry among the Gentiles throughout the world, again,
there were questions raised as to what the Gentiles should be taught.
In response to these issues, the church held its first big “council” in Jerusalem
in AD 50 (Acts 15).
The final verdict of the church regarding Gentiles was written in a letter:
(Acts 15:23-29 KJV) And they wrote letters by
them after this manner; The apostles and elders and brethren send greeting unto
the brethren which are of the Gentiles in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia: {24} Forasmuch as we have heard, that certain
which went out from us have troubled you with words, subverting your souls,
saying, Ye must be circumcised, and keep the law: to whom we gave no such
commandment:
These were the Judaizers, commanding people to be
circumcised.
{25} It seemed good unto us, being assembled with
one accord, to send chosen men unto you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul,
{26} Men that have hazarded their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
{27} We have sent therefore Judas and Silas, who shall also tell you the same
things by mouth. {28} For it seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and to us, to lay
upon you no greater burden than these necessary things; {29} That ye abstain
from meats offered to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and
from fornication: from which if ye keep yourselves, ye shall do well. Fare ye
well.
All the early church decided a Gentile needed to be
concerned about was not eating meat sacrificed to idols, not eating things
strangled (because it still had the blood in the meat, something offensive to
Jews), and to abstain from fornication (sex outside of marriage).
Nothing about circumcision. In fact, they mentioned that
it was not an issue.
Lesson
Importance of warnings
This apparently was part of what Paul was willing to repeat over and over
to the Philippians (vs. 3:1).
We need to be careful to guard ourselves against the kind of naiveté that
blindly accepts everyone and their doctrine, all in the name of love.
We need to be careful of people who would say that we need to be doing
anything other than trust in Jesus to be saved.
(Gal 1:9 KJV) As we said before, so say I now again, If any man
preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be
accursed.
These are not things to be taken lightly. These are not things to say,
“Well it doesn’t really matter much”. It does.
:3 For we are the circumcision,
circumcision – peritome – circumcised; the act or rite of
circumcision, "they of the circumcision" is a term used of the Jews;
of Christians gathered from among the Jews; metaph.
of Christians separated from the unclean multitude and truly consecrated to God
Lesson
True circumcision
The concept of circumcision is not a bad one.
It is a picture of the cutting away of the fleshly sin nature.
kind of interesting to see how the word “circumcise” if used in the Old
Testament.
The first time it’s used, it is the actual command to circumcise, given to
Abraham:
(Gen 17:10-12 KJV) This is my covenant, which ye
shall keep, between me and you and thy seed after thee; Every man child among
you shall be circumcised. {11} And ye shall circumcise the flesh of your
foreskin; and it shall be a token of the covenant betwixt me and you. {12} And
he that is eight days old shall be circumcised among you, every man child in
your generations, he that is born in the house, or bought with money of any
stranger, which is not of thy seed.
But the next three times you find the word “circumcise”, it refers to the
heart:
(Deu 10:16 KJV) Circumcise
therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no more stiffnecked.
(Deu 30:6 KJV) And the
LORD thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love
the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest
live.
(Jer 4:4 KJV) Circumcise
yourselves to the LORD, and take away the foreskins of your heart, ye men of Judah
and inhabitants of Jerusalem:
lest my fury come forth like fire, and burn that none can quench it, because of
the evil of your doings.
Paul tells us this spiritual “circumcision” is something that Jesus does.
(Col 2:10-11 KJV) And ye
are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power: {11} In
whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in
putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ:
True circumcision is a life that has chosen to live after the Spirit and
not after the flesh.
:3 which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have
no confidence in the flesh.
worship – latreuo – to serve for hire; to serve, minister
to, either to the gods or men and used alike of slaves and freemen; in the NT,
to render religious service or homage, to worship; to perform sacred services,
to offer gifts, to worship God in the observance of the rites instituted for
his worship; of priests, to officiate, to discharge the sacred office
God is to be worshipped not by our outward works like the cutting of the
flesh in circumcision, but through the Spirit.
(John 4:21-24 KJV) Jesus
saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in
this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father. {22} Ye worship ye know not what: we know
what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews. {23} But the hour cometh, and
now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in
truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. {24} God is a Spirit: and
they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.
rejoice – kauchaomai – to glory (whether with reason or
without); to glory on account of a thing; to glory in a thing
Paul’s confidence was not in that he was circumcised by a rabbi, though he
was. His boasting and glorying was in what Jesus did for him on the cross.
Illustration
flesh – sarx – flesh (the soft substance of the
living body, which covers the bones and is permeated with blood) of both man
and beasts; the flesh, denotes mere human nature, the earthly nature of man
apart from divine influence, and therefore prone to sin and opposed to God
no confidence – peitho – persuade; be persuaded; to trust,
have confidence, be confident
A person who is trusting in their keeping of the Law, in the performance of
good works, is a person who is trusting in their flesh.
How do you respond when people ask you, “What have you been up to lately?”
It would be neat to learn to talk about what Jesus has been doing rather
than what we’ve been doing.
Lesson
True followers
These are the qualities of the true followers of the Lord.
They learn to serve the Lord under the power and direction of the Holy
Spirit.
They learn to boast in what Jesus has done for them, not what they’ve done
for Jesus.
They learn not to trust their own abilities, but the Lords.
:4-7 Paul’s confidence
:4 Though I might also have confidence in the flesh. If any other man
thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more:
confidence – pepoithesis – trust, confidence, reliance
thinketh – dokeo – to be of opinion, think, suppose; to
seem, to be accounted, reputed; a subjective judgment growing out of an
inclination (leaning towards)
he might trust – peitho – persuade;
be persuaded; to trust, have confidence, be confident
Lesson
Some think they can trust their
flesh
They think that on their own, they can handle everything.
If anybody could trust in the flesh, Paul could.
If you want to learn from someone who “had it all”, listen to Paul.
:5 Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel,
of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a
Pharisee;
circumcised – peritome – circumcised; the act or rite of
circumcision, "they of the circumcision" is a term used of the Jews; of
Christians gathered from among the Jews
the eighth day – oktaemeros – eight days old; passing the eighth
day
It was Jewish Law and custom to circumcise little boys on the eighth day.
Abraham was commanded this (Gen. 17:12)
Jesus was even circumcised on the eighth day (Luke 2:21)
the stock – genos – kindred; offspring; family; stock,
tribe, nation
the stock of Israel – Paul considered himself blessed,
having been born a Jew.
tribe – phule – a tribe
the tribe of Benjamin –
this was the smallest tribe in Israel,
but it was also the tribe of the first king, Saul, and so it was considered a
special tribe. It was the tribe that stayed loyal to David and was formed with
the tribe of Judah
to rebuilt the nation after the captivies.
Hebrew of Hebrews – Hebraios – Hebrew
There were “Hebrew Jews” and “Greek Jews”.
The Hebrew Jews knew and spoke Hebrew and practiced the Law
carefully. The “Greek Jews” (Hellenists)
adopted much of the prevailing Greek culture around the world.
as touching – kata – down from, through out; according to,
toward, along
as touching the law, a Pharisee
– The Pharisees were the strictest sect, being careful to do everything
according to the Law and their traditions.
:6 Concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the righteousness
which is in the law, blameless.
zeal – zelos – excitement of mind, ardour, fervour of spirit
persecuting – dioko – to make to run or flee, put to
flight, drive away; to run swiftly in order to catch a person or thing, to run
after; in any way whatever to harass, trouble, molest one; to persecute
Paul could be considered in the elite among the Jews, believing so strongly
in his faith that he had others put to death who disagreed with him.
It might be like saying, “I follow Islam so strongly that I will join a
terrorist organization and kill Jews”
We might look at this today as a negative thing.
But to Paul in talking about his passion for Judaism, this was a mark of
greatness.
righteousness – dikaiosune – in a
broad sense: state of him who is as he ought to be, righteousness, the
condition acceptable to God; the doctrine concerning the way in which man may
attain a state approved of God; integrity, virtue, purity of life, rightness,
correctness of thinking, feeling, and acting
blameless – amemptos – blameless, deserving no censure, free
from fault or defect; one with whom no fault is found. This of course refers
particularly to the verdict of others upon one. No one knew of anything wrong
in Paul.
Not blameless in the sense that Paul was actually in a perfect standing
with God.
But blameless in the sense that as far as he knew as a Jew, he was doing
everything he was supposed to do.
Paul had it all.
:7 But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ.
gain – kerdos – gain, advantage
counted – hegeomai – to lead; to consider, deem, account,
think; this word is different from the word “thinketh” in verse 4 in that this
isn’t subjective in nature or based on inner feelings, it is a conclusion based
on considering external facts, the weighing and comparing of facts.
loss – zemia – damage, loss; disadvantage
everything that was once valuable has
now in my estimation lost its value for me.[1]
Lesson
The danger of your strengths
I think that sometimes we can fall into the trap of trying to become
something great so God can use us.
The problem is that we then become a person who learns to trust in their
own strength, and not in the Lord’s.
When Gideon raised an army to fight the Midianites, God said that there
were too many men:
(Judg 7:2 KJV) And the LORD said unto
Gideon, The people that are with thee are too many for me to give the Midianites
into their hands, lest Israel
vaunt themselves against me, saying, Mine own hand hath saved me.
It’s not what you can do for God that counts, but what God can do for you.
God wants to do a bigger work through you than you could do by yourself.
But for that to happen, you need to get out of the way.
You need to become dependent upon the Lord. To “rejoice in the Lord”
Have you ever listened to Pastor Chuck and said, “Gee, I can teach better
than that!”
That’s a dangerous place. Not because Chuck might be “threatened” by you,
but because you don’t see what’s really going on.
As a pastor, I can fall into the trap of thinking that if I could just
“teach as good as Chuck”, then I will have the same results in my ministry as
Chuck.
The “success” of Chuck Smith isn’t due to his skills. It’s due to the Lord.
The issue is not learning to be “as good as” someone else.
The lesson is always about learning to stay as close to Jesus as possible and
being more and more dependant upon Him.
Lesson
It’s only Jesus
There is only one way that you can get to heaven, and that’s by trusting in
what Jesus has done for you on the cross.
Everything else is worthless.
Illustration
Warren Wiersbe writes, “A lady was arguing with her pastor about this
matter of faith and works. “I think that getting to heaven is like rowing a
boat,” she said. “One oar is faith, and the other is works. If you use both,
you get there. If you use only one, you go around in circles.” “There is only
one thing wrong with your illustration,” replied the pastor. “Nobody is going
to heaven in a rowboat!””
The only “work” that will get us into heaven is the finished work of Jesus
on the cross.