There were two primary contexts believers gathered together in the N.T.
• "...in the temple courts..." That was the large group, corporate gathering of believers. Where believers gather to worship and hear
• "...from house to house..." This was the small group gathering. Where believers gathered for worship, fellowship, encouragement, affirmation and accountability.
I love the corporate gathering of believers at a2 I get jazzed when we worship, celebrate and sing to our great God as a body of believers. There's really nothing like it in all the world.
Here's the scoop on yesterday's corporate worship experience at a2 Church.
Say Say by Michael Gungor Band
Marvelous Light by Christy Nockels
Glorious One by Hillsong London
Bill Robbins gave shared the exciting new of all that's going on for a2's 2nd Anniversary Celebration. Check out the announcement...
Open Up The Skies by Deluge
MESSAGE: Taking out the Trash. Finding Your Treasure.
Philippians 3
We closed the service by singing "One Pure and Holy Passion" by Passion.
Now, here are the extended notes from yesterday's worship experience at a2 Church.
Taking out the Trash. Finding Your Treasure.
Philippians: Finding Joy in a Broken World – Part 7
EXTENDED NOTES
October 17, 2010 • Chris Goins
THOUGHTS: Philippians 3 gives us a glimpse into the heart and passion of Paul…
Paul was a guy who was on the fast track to power, prestige, success, admiration and first century fame… He was a guy who was an uptight, Type-A, performance driven, religious power player, when all of a sudden, he was ambushed by GRACE…
Now, after at least 25 years of doing life with Christ… (The Damascus Road experience probably occurred in 37 A.D…. Paul wrote the book of Philippians somewhere around 62 A.D.)
In Philippians 3 Paul gives us a glimpse of what makes his heart beat fast… Paul says, “Guys, this is my passion... This is what keeps me up at night… This is what gets me going in the morning… This is my magnificent obsession… I want to know Christ… I want more than fire insurance… I want more than a passport to heaven… I long for an intimate, up close, growing, vibrant, dynamic, personal relationship with Jesus.”
Five Big Ideas Contained in Philippians 3:
1. Joy is a major by-product of sanctification and spiritual growth.
Philippians 3:1 (NLT), Whatever happens, my dear brothers and sisters, rejoice in the Lord. I never get tired of telling you these things, and I do it to safeguard your faith.
THOUGHTS: Paul was serious about joy! Not some superficial, fake “joy” where we pretend everything is okay when we know it’s not okay… But deep, abiding, lasting joy that is not based on circumstances, but is based upon Jesus!
When Paul says, “Rejoice in the Lord!” He was saying, “Consider Christ so precious, so valuable, so important… Consider Christ such a great treasure, that whether life brings prison, poverty, affliction, pain, setbacks or success; that knowing Christ, loving Christ, belonging to Christ becomes what defines you and gives you lasting JOY…"
“Joy is a deep, abiding sense and the confident expectation that God is with me, that God is for me, and that our sovereign God is working everything together for my ultimate good and His great glory!”
2. Legalism is one of the oldest, most deadly and relentless joy killers on the planet.
Philippians 3:2 ((NIV), Watch out for those dogs, those men who do evil, those mutilators of the flesh.
• Dogs…
THOUGHTS: When Paul refers to legalists as dogs he was not thinking of some pet we refer to as “man’s best friend.” He was not talking about some loyal, obedient, loving pet you pamper or nourish…
These dogs were wild, dirty, disease carrying scavengers that ran through the streets in packs… They snarled and growled…. They were unable to be controlled and potentially dangerous… They were often rabid… They would fight one another and sometimes even attack people… They posed a threat to anyone who got in their way…
Paul looks at this church and says, “Beware of those people who self righteously call other people dogs, they’re the dogs… Legalists are dogs… They’ll fight one another and attack the truth… Legalists will growl, snarl, threaten and attempt to intimidate you… They are vicious, dangerous and even deadly…”
• Men who do evil…
THOUGHTS: Legalists taught that people were saved – people were made right with God – not because of what Jesus accomplished on the cross when he died for our sins, in our place… Legalists taught that people were saved as a result of what Christ accomplished PLUS our good works… PLUS keeping the law… PLUS observing some kind of religious ritual like the Jewish ritual of circumcision…
And because this group was so into “works righteousness” – keeping their little scorecard, putting a check by all the boxes, making certain they performed all the rituals – they liked to think of themselves as “workers of righteousness…”
Paul says, “Are you crazy? These Judaizers or legalists aren’t workers of righteousness… They’re workers of evil… Because anybody who thinks that by their feeble efforts they can add anything to what Christ has done on the cross and puts pressure on others to do the same is evil…”
IMPORTANT: ANYBODY who teaches ANYONE that they can add ANYTHING to what Christ has accomplished on the cross… Anybody who would suggest that the work of Christ was not SUFFICIENT is a worker of evil…
• Mutilators of the flesh…
THOUGHTS: This specifically deals with the Jewish ritual of circumcision… The Jews prided themselves in the rite of circumcision…
But in Philippians 3:2, Paul gets kind of graphic… He uses a play-on-words and basically says, “You legalists love to think of yourselves as ‘the circumcision.’ But that rite and ritual was supposed to be a symbol of a heart that was soft and pliable towards God… You guys have made it into the equivalent of a pagan ritual… It’s lost its meaning… It doesn’t have anything to do with your heart and life in relation to God… You guys have become superstitious, pagan, ritual worshipers… In fact, it’s so meaningless to you, that you’re really not ‘the circumcision’ any more, why don’t you just call yourself ‘the castration.’” That’s actually the word Paul uses…
Paul is saying, “Any attempt to win God’s favor and approval that doesn’t begin and end on the grounds of what Christ accomplished on the cross, is basically self mutilation…”
Paul is rejecting any theology of Christ PLUS anything… In fact, in Paul’s mind whenever you try to add anything else to Christ, you’re actually subtracting from Christ… You’re saying, “Christ isn’t enough…” And Paul says, “Salvation is by Christ alone through faith alone...”
Philippians 3:3 (NIV), For it is we who are the circumcision, we who worship by the Spirit of God, who glory in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh–
Three Marks of an Authentic Believer:
• A heart overflowing with worship…
• A person who boasts or glories only in the cross…
• A lack of confidence in human effort, external ceremonies and human credentials… Trusting only in Christ and what He has accomplished for your salvation…
Philippians 3:3-4 (NIV), …[we] put no confidence in the flesh–4 though I myself have reasons for such confidence.
If anyone else thinks he has reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more…
Philippians 3:5-7 (NLT), I was circumcised when I was eight days old. I am a pure-blooded citizen of Israel, and a member of the tribe of Benjamin—a real Hebrew if there ever was one! I was a member of the Pharisees, who demand the strictest obedience to the Jewish law. I was so zealous that I harshly persecuted the church. And as for righteousness, I obeyed the law without fault.
3. Getting to the “top of the ladder” is great, as long as the ladder is leaning against the right wall.
4. Jesus Christ is the ultimate treasure. My achievements, accomplishments, performance, resume and religion are trash (_________) compared to the privilege of knowing Christ.
Philippians 3:7 (NLT), I once thought these things were valuable, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done.
Philippians 3:7 (NIV), But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ.
Philippians 3:7 (NET), But these assets I have come to regard as liabilities because of Christ.
Philippians 3:7 (MSG), The very credentials these people are waving around as something special, I’m tearing up and throwing out with the trash—along with everything else I used to take credit for. And why? Because of Christ.
THOUGHTS; Paul didn’t view himself as some kind of ascetic… He isn’t saying that he had to give up all this stuff… He’s simply saying, “When I encountered Jesus… When I met Jesus… All of a sudden I realized that Jesus was more valuable, more precious, more important than anything… And anything that could possibly stand between me and Jesus had to go…”
EXAMPLE: Jesus described what Paul was saying with this parable in the Gospel of Matthew.
Matthew 13:44-46 (NLT), The Kingdom of Heaven is like a treasure that a man discovered hidden in a field. In his excitement, he hid it again and sold everything he owned to get enough money to buy the field.
THOUGHTS: The keys phrase in Matthew 13 is the little phrase, “…in his excitement…” Or, NIV, “…in his joy…” Here’s the way one author described it:
“When that great joy, surpassing all measure, seizes a man, it carries him away, [it] penetrates his inmost being, [and it] subjugates his mind. All else seems valueless compared with that surpassing worth.”
Matthew 13:45-46 (NLT), "Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a merchant on the lookout for choice pearls. 46 When he discovered a pearl of great value, he sold everything he owned and bought it!
Philippians 3:7-11 (NIV), But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8 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…
Underline the word, “rubbish.”
The ASV uses the word “refuse.”
The Amplified uses the words, “rubbish (refuse, dregs)…”
The NLT, CEV and GN use the word, “garbage.”
The NCV uses the phrase “worthless trash.”
The ESV and NAS use the word “rubbish.”
The Holman Standard Bible uses the word “filth.”
The KJV and NET use the word “dung.” The KJV is the closest to the actual meaning of the text…
The actual Greek Word is the word skubala…
Daniel Wallace is a guy who has a PhD from Dallas Theological Seminary and has taught Greek at the graduate level since 1979. He is Senior New Testament Editor of the NET Bible. Here's what he says about this word:
"In Hellenistic Greek, it seems to stand somewhere between "crap" and "s**t." (His words, not mine.)
R. Kent Hughes in his commentary on Philippians says that the word is an "indelicate expletive."
THOUGHTS: In Philippians 3, Paul said, “Everything I’ve worked so hard to achieve… All of my religious efforts and accomplishments are nothing but a steaming pile of manure, when compared to Christ…”
4. Jesus Christ is the ultimate treasure. My achievements, accomplishments, performance, resume and religion are trash (skubala) compared to the privilege of knowing Christ.
Philippians 3:7-11 (NIV), But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8 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 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ–the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith.10 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, 11 and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.
Knowing Christ in the power of His resurrection:
• Forgiveness of sin. (Justification) vs. 8-11
• Freedom from and power over sin. (Sanctification) vs. 12-16
(Also see Romans 6:3-13)
• Ultimate victory! (Glorification) vs. 10-11, 20-21
Philippians 3:8 (AMP), …I count everything as loss compared to the possession of the priceless privilege (the overwhelming preciousness, the surpassing worth, and supreme advantage) of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord and of progressively becoming more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him [of perceiving and recognizing and understanding Him more fully and clearly]…
Philippians 3:10 (AMP), [For my determined purpose is] that I may know Him [that I may progressively become more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him, perceiving and recognizing and understanding the wonders of His Person more strongly and more clearly]…
5. Stay focused. Don’t get distracted by past success or failure. Your future is in front of you and your future is Christ.
Philippians 3:12-15 (NIV), Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.13 Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead,
14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
15 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.
16 Only let us live up to what we have already attained.
Philippians 3:17-21 (NLT), Dear brothers and sisters, pattern your lives after mine, and learn from those who follow our example. 18 For I have told you often before, and I say it again with tears in my eyes, that there are many whose conduct shows they are really enemies of the cross of Christ. 19 They are headed for destruction. Their god is their appetite, they brag about shameful things, and they think only about this life here on earth. 20 But we are citizens of heaven, where the Lord Jesus Christ lives. And we are eagerly waiting for him to return as our Savior. 21 He will take our weak mortal bodies and change them into glorious bodies like his own, using the same power with which he will bring everything under his control.
IMPORTANT: Christ is our ultimate treasure. We should treasure Him above and over all.
I’d rather have Jesus than silver or gold;
I’d rather be His than have riches untold;
I’d rather have Jesus than houses or lands;
I’d rather be led by His nail-pierced hand
Than to be the king of a vast domain,
Or be held in sin’s dread sway;
I’d rather have Jesus than anything
This world affords today.
I’d rather have Jesus than men’s applause;
I’d rather be faithful to His dear cause;
I’d rather have Jesus than worldwide fame;
I’d rather be true to His holy name.
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