Choosing Joy

Introduction

Will you join me again this morning in the book of Philippians? This morning’s lesson will be found in Philippians chapter three. If you are a regular attendee, you know that we’ve been looking at a series of lessons from the book of Philippians that we’ve simply entitled Finding Joy in Our Lives. And we’ve been going through section by section where Paul ironically in a Roman prison is talking about joy. We said at least 19 times in this brief letter, four very short chapters. At least 19 times, the Apostle Paul uses the word joy or rejoice. And so Paul teaches us, and if you get nothing else out of this series, get this.

That you can have joy despite what you’re going through, despite the hardships of life. And we saw that in our series, first in chapter one, he talked about the joy of fellowship. He says, I have you in my mind. He thought about these brethren. He loved these brethren. I have you in my heart. And that had an outflowing of him expressing that to God. I have you in my prayers. And remember, we urged you, we begged you to be the joy in this fellowship. And to find the joy in this fellowship. It’s here. If you’ll cultivate it and seek it and find it, and maybe most importantly, be it. But then we talked about joy and adversity. That could be the theme of the entire book of Philippians, couldn’t it?

Paul saw what might have otherwise been viewed as an obstacle. He saw it as an opportunity. I’m in prison, but guess what? These prison guards are hearing the gospel. What a glass, half full kind of attitude is that. No wonder Paul could speak of joy and rejoice in the Lord. And so we must begin to see our obstacles also as opportunities. We also can see our suffering as an opportunity for us to serve others. Paul says, yes, I’m probably going to die, but it’s for your benefit. And so I rejoice. We begin to see our suffering as an opportunity to serve. And then we must decide whether we’re going to live in doubt or live in trust. Paul trusted despite his adversity, despite his circumstances, he says, God will deliver me.

And we talked about maybe how he meant to be delivered from that prison. And then we talked about the joy of serving. Paul was an example of that. Timothy and Epaphroditus were examples of the idea of suffering. And so we saw servanthood is commanded. It’s as much a doctrinal issue as anything else that we can speak about in the New Testament. God made us to serve. And He wants us, He demands that we serve. And again, we saw that exemplified in the person of Paul and Timothy and Epaphroditus and the lessons from them. But this morning, as we turn the page to chapter 3, we’re going to talk about the idea of choosing joy. Paul is going to talk a lot in chapter 3 about loss.

And I don’t know about you, but I don’t like losing.

Maybe I’ve lost so much that I’ve gotten used to it. I’ve gotten better. But I don’t like losing.

That immaturity was seen in other ways. I would watch a football game, and I was known to change allegiance at halftime. And then maybe late into the fourth quarter, so I wouldn’t lose.

And as we’re going to see, Paul is going to tell us that there is joy in choosing. And yes, there’s joy in losing. Let’s look at that text with me, would you? In Philippians chapter 3, the apostle Paul begins by saying, Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. For me to write the same things to you is not tedious, but for you it is safe. Beware of dogs. Beware of evil workers. Beware of the mutilation. Now let’s pause there and talk just a little bit about those first two verses, particularly verse 2, when he says, beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, and beware of the mutilation. With what follows, we quickly determine what Paul is talking about, or seems to be talking about, are the Judaizing teachers.

We remember that one of the false doctrines that permeated the church in the first century was this idea perpetrated by those early, some of those first early Jewish Christians, that in order to become a Christian, you had to first be a Jew. That’s what they had done. And so they demanded that same pathway of the Gentiles. That the Gentiles needed to be a Jew and then a Christian. And then that kind of evolved or devolved into the idea of almost a blending of religions, Judaism slash Christianity. And so they demanded of the Gentiles that they be circumcised as the old law had commanded and keep other certain parts of the old law. And Paul, of those Jewish false teachers, he said they were dogs. Now, that doesn’t have quite the insult to most of us today as it would have in the first century.

We think of a dog as just our lovable little pet. But they would have viewed dogs as something that was disgusting, something vile. In fact, we can read even in the scripture the idea that many Jews would refer to Gentiles as dogs. We would say dirty, smelly, mangy dogs. That’s the way they viewed the Gentiles. But Paul turns it around on them and says, No, if you’re teaching this, which is wrong, you’re the dog. You’re the dirty, smelly, mangy dog. And they were evil workers. Workers is usually a good thing. This is really kind of the concept, the word here for almost like evangelism. And but they were evil evangelists. They were going out and recruiting people, not to God, not to Christ, not to holiness, righteousness, and salvation.

They were going out and recruiting people to damnation, to their false doctrine. And so they were evil workers, and then they were the mutilation. That’s a play on words from the word that he uses in the very next verse, and that’s the idea of circumcision. He goes on to say in verse 3, we are Christians. We are the circumcision. And so they’re forcing circumcision on this Gentile audience while at the same time as Jews not living up to the principle of circumcision. Because you see, circumcision was a physical act, but the physical act by itself had no meaning if there wasn’t the spirit behind it. That someone had been dedicated and devoted to God. And so he says they’ve just mutilated. That’s a mutilation, not a circumcision.

And he goes on to say, verse 3 again, we are the circumcision, who worship God in the Spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh. And so now through this chapter, Paul is going to contrast the flesh with the spirit. Now, we’re used to that contrast, aren’t we? Flesh versus spirit. The New Testament, Paul’s writings are prolific with the idea of flesh versus spirit. But many times when Paul uses that language, other New Testament writers, and when we think of that language, we’re thinking of flesh versus spirit. Flesh means just giving in to the basis, most carnal things of life fornication, adultery, drunkenness, all of those kind of things that the Gentile world had been involved in. But here he uses the term flesh to not talk about fleshly lust and those kinds, but taking pride in fleshly accomplishments, fleshly heritage in this context.

To illustrate the way the Jewish mind in probably the majority worked in the first century, before, during, and after the first century, really. The Jews seemed to have the concept that they had this special relationship with God that was to borrow a modern term was a get out of jail free card. That they had this little card that said, I’m an Israelite. And if it was possible, they’d had that card laminated. And they would have carried that with them. And anytime somebody tried to correct them, they would pull that card out and say.

1. There’s Joy in Choosing

And all they had to do was to show that card. And oh, well, then you can bypass the judgment because you have this relationship. You were born the seed of Abraham. You were circumcised the eighth day. And so you don’t have to live the life and do those things and make those changes. Just show your card. That was the flesh that Paul was saying. We worship God in the Spirit, not in the flesh, he says, speaking of the children of God. And we have no confidence in the flesh. Paul is saying, and here’s our first point, there’s joy in choosing. He had chosen the things of Christ. Remember how he started this chapter. Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. That’s where Paul’s joy was. It wasn’t in his fleshly accomplishments.

It wasn’t in things that he could achieve. It wasn’t in his status and his heritage. He was rejoicing in the Lord. There’s joy in choosing. Have you ever had a big decision to make in life? And maybe it was a difficult decision. You didn’t know really what choice to make. It wasn’t so cut and dry, black and white, that it was just so easy. It was just like, I don’t know what to do here. And maybe you wrestled over that and worried over that. And maybe ask other people, what should I do? What should I do? But it came to a point where a decision had to be taken. And you made your choice. And there was some kind of relief in just having that decision made, wasn’t there?

To know that you have decided, maybe the pathway of your life where it was going to go. And there was just some relief, and to use our term, maybe some joy in just having chosen something.

And knowing that now that’s what I’m going to do. That’s where I’m going to spend my energies and my time. Not this other way, but this way. And so I’m going to rejoice in that. Paul says, rejoice in the Lord. We have no confidence in the flesh. Paul is saying, my joy is in that I’ve made a choice. So if there’s joy in choosing, then maybe it stands the reason Paul would tell us that there’s a lack of joy in indecision. And I’m nobody’s judge. But it’s my opinion that too many Christians have allowed themselves to be robbed of this joy. Because they haven’t fully made this choice. Oh, they kind of chose to be a Christian. They kind of decided to follow Jesus. We sing the song sometimes as an invitation song.

I have decided to follow Jesus. Maybe some of us need to take a pencil in the songbook and out beside that put sorta. I’ve decided to follow Jesus, sorta. I’m not going to be a fanatic about it. I’ll give you my Sunday mornings, but then we wonder why I don’t have the joy that Paul talked about. Wonder why I don’t have the joy that maybe I see some of my brothers and sisters in Christ having, and why it’s harder for me to live this life than it is for others. Paul says there’s joy in choosing.

To give up. I have no confidence in the flesh because I didn’t have anything in the flesh. Be like me saying, I don’t take any pride in physical appearances and good looks. And you might say, Well, we see why. Paul says, We have no confidence in the flesh, but I could have. I could have. Notice what he says. You remember this text, Philippians 3, verse 4, though I might also have confidence in the flesh. If anyone thinks he should have confidence in the flesh, I more so circumcised the eighth day of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrews of Hebrews, concerning the law, a Pharisee, concerning zeal, persecuting the church, concerning righteousness which is in the law, blameless. Paul says, I could have.

In fact, he probably could say, I did have confidence in those fleshly things. But now I have no confidence. I’ve made a choice.

2. There’s Joy in Losing

And now he’s going to say that not only is there joy in choosing, but there’s joy in losing. Verse 7, but what things were gained to me? These I counted loss for Christ. I had confidence in those things. I had pride in those things. But I counted them loss. Do you remember the story? We won’t turn back there. You remember the story in Acts chapter 27? Paul is on the ship that is being shipwrecked, and they’re there, and the waves and the storm is battering this ship, and they’re afraid they’re all going to die. And so they start to eat what may be their last meal. And it says in Acts chapter 27 and verse 38 that they started taking the cargo of the ship and throwing it overboard in hope that would lighten the load of the ship and save their lives.

Can we not assume that cargo was valuable at some point in this journey? That’s why the ship was going where it was going, carrying that cargo. It was going to make money for the captain of that ship and the investors and even the maybe the workers on that ship. Their livelihood, everything depended upon getting this cargo from port A to port B. But circumstances changed. And that valuable cargo became very expendable. Get rid of it. Paul says that’s what I’ve done with my life. I had confidence in those fleshly things. I had that status, that heritage, that pedigree. But I counted them but loss.

For the cause of Christ. So there’s joy in making the right choice to rejoice in the Lord and have no confidence in the flesh. But I’m going to tell you this morning there’s joy in losing. There’s joy in just letting something go. Continue reading. Yet indeed, verse 8, I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him. Not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is God from God by faith that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings being conformed to His death.

Paul says, I count those things as garbage.

Because they’re my past.

Choose. Fully choose to serve God. And find the joy in throwing some things overboard. Because they really don’t matter. Now, Paul’s past, the things that he could expel from his life to find that joy were good things in the world’s eyes at least. But for you, it might be the bad things. Might be the sins that you’ve committed, the guilt and the shame that you’re dragging around with you that is tremendous thief of joy. Why not lose that? For the sake of Christ, that, as Paul would say, that you might know him. That’s not saying no about him. Saying know him. It’s an intimate relationship with God and with Christ Jesus his Son. Because there’s where the joy is. And choosing him, losing everything else so that you might know him.

Conclusion

That’s joy. Would you make that choice this morning? Would you choose to know Him? Would you choose to let everything else go that you might grab a hold of that which is most important, and that’s Christ Jesus our Lord. Would you repent of your sins this morning? Confess your faith and to be baptized for the remission of your sin. And pardon this metaphor. But as you’re baptized into those waters, picture as if your sins and all of the things of this world have just been washed away. They’re loss so that you might gain Christ. Would you gain him this morning and the joy that comes with it? Then why not come right now as together we stand and as we sing?