I Want to Know You More

Philippians 3:1-3

Elaine Breeden is in her junior year at Stanford University. More notably, she won a silver medal at last year’s Beijing Olympics, but when she started at Stanford, she was what is often called a “churched unbeliever.” Part of her testimony is recorded in the most recent Sports Spectrum magazine. “I really became committed to Christ in college. I had gone to church all my life, but once I got to college I realized that I needed to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and it was in college that I really accepted Him as my Savior and dedicated my life to Him.”[i]

This is a mini-version of Ms. Breeden’s testimony. With every Christian, there is a lot more behind the story, but I want to focus on one thing she said. Even though she was a churchgoer her whole life, she said, “I realized that I needed to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.” Can anyone give me a Bible verse for this phrase: “having a personal relationship with Christ”? That’s kind of a trick question, because you could search the entire Bible and never find a phrase close to this. But we use it all the time. Many of us have probably used it in our own testimonies. It’s a very common phrase that seems to be the dividing line between someone who is a cultural Christian and someone who is truly saved.

I am not criticizing this phrase, but I do think it is interesting how often we use it and how difficult it might be if we were asked to explain it. What Scriptures would you turn to if someone asked you, “what do you mean you have a ‘personal relationship with Jesus Christ’?” I have had people ask me that question, or else I have used the phrase and led myself to a point where I needed to explain it. Where would you start? The next section in Philippians is just the passage to help. It will give us an answer to that question if it arises, but it’s not only useful for evangelism—it is a vital question to be answered for every believer. Our relationship with Christ is intensely personal. In fact, it is not possible to have a more personal, intimate relationship with anyone other than the Lord. Paul wrote about this intimate relationship in Philippians 3, which is also one of his ‘mini-testimonies’.

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.

^2 Watch out for those dogs, those men who do evil, those mutilators of the flesh. ^3 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— ^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: ^5 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; ^6 as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for legalistic righteousness, faultless.

^7 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.

The first thing to notice about Paul’s testimony is that he began with a song—rejoice in the Lord! Rejoice is the language of the Psalms and is used dozens of times. The exact same phrase, “rejoice in the Lord,” is used many times in the Psalms.[ii] Even this phrase is a statement of intimacy. Anyone can celebrate a victory. I don’t have to know anyone on the winning Superbowl team to celebrate with them. (Though, does anyone have a favorite team left this year? I would like to see Kurt Warner bring home another Superbowl ring.) You can celebrate from a distance, but to rejoice in someone requires a personal relationship. All of this is to say that the phrase, “having a personal relationship with Jesus Christ,” is not something Christians invented in the last few decades. It not only goes back to Paul, but statements of personal intimacy are woven throughout the O.T. Even though David lived before the incarnation and resurrection of Christ, I can almost bet that the intimacy he experienced with the Lord would exceed anyone’s in this room. We can confidently say that David had A personal relationship with the Lord.”

Therefore, when Paul began with “rejoice in the Lord,” he was not only restating the major theme of this letter, but he was singing a song of intimacy from the O.T. However, he immediately changed his tone to one of dire warning. It is no trouble for me to write the same things to you again, and it is a safeguard for you. ^2 Watch out for those dogs, those men who do evil, those mutilators of the flesh. To have genuine intimacy with the Lord requires ongoing discernment. Paul warned against false teaching in almost every one of his letters and here is warning against the Judaizers. A Judaizer was a Jewish convert to Christianity who was still caught up in their Jewish customs and legalism. A Judaizer believed in Jesus but he also taught that a Christian must be circumcised, observe the Sabbath and follow ceremonial food laws.

Can you tell what Paul thought about these people?! It’s not difficult, is it? He called them dogs, evildoers and mutilators of the flesh. The force of the warning is somewhat lost in the NIV because the phrase “watch out” is only used once, but in the original it is repeated three times for emphasis. The ESV has a better translation.

Look out for the dogs

Look out for the evildoers

Look out for those who mutilate the flesh (κατατομή).

The warning is repeated three times to make sure we understand just how dangerous and deadly these Judaizers were. If you were going to visit a friend at their house and you saw a sign in the yard which read, BEWARE OF DOG, would you be frightened? You might slow down and look around for a second, but these BEWARE OF DOG signs are so common that you needn’t be afraid. But Paul’s triple warning is like continuing down the sidewalk to the house and seeing a second sign: BEWARE OF BIG DOG. Now you might start to get a little nervous and wonder whether or not you should turn around. Finally you see a third sign: BEWARE OF BIG, FEROCIOUS DOG LURKING AROUND THE CORNER WHO WILL BITE YOU FOR THE SHEER JOY OF TASTING YOUR FLESH. OK, time to run!

Before we even know the true reason for concern, this three-fold warning should make us stop and listen very carefully. Even with this dire warning, at this point some of you might be thinking that this passage does not apply to you since you do not struggle with things like circumcision and OT food laws. Before you tune out, let me say this. Paul’s warning applies to every Christian, because Paul is warning against works-based righteousness. We may not have to worry about circumcision, but there are endless other things which we can trust in to give us favor before God. You may put too much emphasis on your baptism. If I asked you point blank, you may not say that baptism saves you, but you might come pretty close. You might put too much emphasis on your Christian upbringing. I asked a teen one time about how they were doing in their walk with Christ. He told me that he and his brother were brought up in a Christian home, so they would be alright. What?! What does that have to do with my question? Does being raised in a Christian home—even a really good Christian home—make you a Christian? No more than being circumcised makes you a Christian. You might trust in your good works, the fact that you have been faithful to your spouse, your consistent record of evangelism, your singing on the worship team. There are endless things which can get in the way of trusting in Christ alone for our salvation. This warning is for all of us, so I implore you to stay with me.

Paul’s warning gave me the idea of a “beware of dog” sign, but he actually called these people dogs. Again, the force of this accusation is lost on our modern ears. Our nation spends nearly $40 billion every year on their pets. We love our dogs. Our dogs are treated like little children and sometimes they are treated better than our own children. So to call another person a “dog” is not really all that bad. Sometimes it is meant as a compliment! But I can tell you that Paul did not intend this as a compliment. In the Bible, dogs are ALWAYS bad and disgusting. Always. No exceptions. Dogs eat the flesh of dead people. Dogs return to their vomit. Dogs lick up blood in the streets. Dogs lick festering sores. In the Bible, dogs were like large rats—scavengers, nasty, unclean and menaces to society. If you have a dog, go home today and remind him or her how lucky they are. J

Just as Paul gave a threefold warning, he also gave a threefold accusation. These Judaizers were not just dogs—unclean and menaces to society—they were also evildoers and mutilators of the flesh. That sounds like a strange accusation, doesn’t it? When our kids fight at home they might say something nasty to one of their siblings, like, “you dummy,” but I am guessing you never heard them yell, “You mutilator of the flesh!” Paul is using a play on words here. The Greek word for circumcision is peritome (περιτομή), which means to “cut around,” but here he used the word katatome (κατατομή), which basically means to cut up—hence the word mutilate. I won’t elaborate on this word, but I can tell you that it is at least as bad as you are thinking it is. You can almost feel the sting of accusation against these Judaizers.  Paul was saying, “You who teach and trust in circumcision are not circumcising anyone. You are not helping anyone—you are mutilating people’s flesh.”

There is no way Paul could have offered a more offensive rebuke to these people. Let me try to help us feel the force of his accusation. Let’s say that you were a connoisseur of fine steaks. What if you invited me over to your house and served me one of your steaks? (which isn’t a bad idea, actually!) What if you chose your finest, prime quality cut and grilled it to perfection over an open flame. (Is anyone getting hungry yet?) What if you served me this gorgeous steak and after one bite, I spit it in your face and yelled, “You call this a steak?! This tastes like a maggot-infested, rotting corpse!” The level of offense you would feel at that moment only scratches the surface of the phrase “mutilators of the flesh” to the ears of Paul’s enemies.

Before we go further, I want us to answer two questions:

1.                  Who is Paul mad at?

2.                  Why is he so mad?

Who is Paul mad at? I’ve told you he is angry with the Judaizers, but who are these people? Specifically, are they inside the church or outside? The men and women teaching this false gospel are inside the church. My point is that Paul always reserved his harshest criticism and most biting words for those inside the church. This letter to Philippi is a good example. Paul is writing from a Roman prison, but do you hear any complaints about his captors? There is not the slightest hint of complaint in this letter. In fact, if you weren’t familiar with the letter or were not reading it carefully, you might even miss the fact that he was in prison. He didn’t complain about the government or the prison guards—just the opposite! He was delighted to report that his imprisonment was advancing the gospel among the Roman guard. Although we might think he had reason to do so, he did not criticize those outside the church, but he was upset about some inside the church—those who were preaching the gospel out of selfish motives.

When Paul stood trial before Felix and Festus in the book of Acts, he did not personally attack them or call them pagan scum, but instead the showed them respect and spoke with clarity and love. Compare this with the Christian man in Corinth who had been sleeping with his father’s wife. He said, “[This is] sexual immorality…that does not occur even among the pagans…hand this man over to Satan.” (1 Cor. 5:1-5) Later in that same chapter he wrote, “What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside?” In Galatians 1:8 he wrote, But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned! You cannot get stronger language than eternal condemnation!

I am not saying that Paul did not call out the sin of unbelievers. He warned unbelievers about their sin and the wrath of God that was resting upon them. But he did not level caustic accusations against them. He spoke the truth in love to those outside the church, but for those false teachers inside the church he reserved his harshest accusations. Which leads to our second question—why was Paul so mad? He was hopping mad because his own disciples were being taught false doctrine around issues of eternal significance. If you add anything to the gospel other than justification by faith alone in Christ alone, you have not merely added to the gospel, you have presented a different gospel. This is why Paul was so harsh with the Judaizers. By adding circumcision, they had preached a different gospel. But so many people were not able to see it as a different gospel. The Judaizers could have rightly said, “Don’t be so hard on us. We preach Christ crucified and raised form the dead, just like you do Paul. We are Jewish believers, just like you are Paul.” Did Paul say, “Oh well, in that case, let’s just cast aside our small differences and start working together to reach all of Philippi with the gospel?” Not unless calling them dogs, evildoers and mutilators of the flesh was some strange way to build a friendship with them!

Paul knew full well what we often forget: our greatest temptations for losing the gospel will come from within the church, not from without. This is why I sometimes use examples of other pastors or teachers to warn you against false teaching. I don’t have the guts to call them dogs and mutilators of the flesh, but warning are often necessary. But someone might object to these examples and say, “Why are you so hard on these people? After all, they preach Christ crucified and risen, just like we do.” Yes, most of them do, but so did the Judaizers in the first century. So do most every church throughout the world, but do all of these people have personal relationships with Jesus Christ?

In the next verse, Paul gives us both the number one answer to the Judaizers and the number one reason for intimacy with God. 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

Remember that word circumcision that the Judaizers used to teach a false gospel? Well, Paul stole it right back from them. It was his word to begin with, but the Judaizers had stolen it and redefined it. He didn’t tell them that they should not be circumcised or that circumcision is sinful, but he said, we are the circumcision—not that they had been circumcised, but that they are the circumcision. And who is the circumcision? Those who worship by the Spirit of God, who glory in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh. Those who worship by the Spirit of God don’t worship according to the written code. Those who glory in Christ Jesus don’t boast in anything they have done) And those who put no confidence in the flesh testify that our confidence is in Christ alone.

What Paul is saying is that he did nothing and Christ did everything. This is expressed so well in the hymn, Rock of Ages.

Nothing in my hand I bring

Simply to your cross I cling

Naked here before your face

Helpless I cry out for grace

Do you see—the less we bring to the table, the more intimate the love. If I am totally and completely unable to save myself, then every ounce of effort must come from God. His love for us is not earned love, it pure love. It is sovereign love. It is intimate love. But why did he love us this way? Let me show you three passages that tell us why.

The Lord did not set his affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples. ^8 But it was because the Lord loved you and kept the oath he swore to your forefathers that he brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the land of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt. (Dt 7.7-8)

In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will. (Eph 1.5-6)

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Ro 5.8)

Why did God love us so perfectly and intimately? He loved you simply because he loved you. It was his choice to do so. If we did anything at all to secure our relationship with Christ, we don’t have a relationship—we have a contract. If I did something to earn my salvation, then it is owed to me like any other contract—like any other purchase. I have a right to demand it because of what I offered in return. But that is not the way God has worked. If you have come naked and helpless asking for grace, then you already have a “personal relationship” with Christ. This kind of intimate love is as personal as it gets. Later in the passage we will see that this relationship can deepen and become more intimate, but it already exists.

Rich Maurer

January 18, 2009