09 What To Do When You Keep Sinning (Philippians 3:12–21)

Speaker: Good morning, I'm Krisan Marotta, and this is the Wednesday in the Word podcast. Thank you so much for downloading it. Today we're studying Philippians chapter 3, verses 12 through 21. This is the ninth talk in our series on the book of Philippians. You can find lecture notes for today's talk by going to our website. Just go to wednesdayintheword.com slash Philippians 9. Thanks so much for joining us. What do you do when you sin repeatedly? I'm talking about what the literary world calls character flaws. What do you do when you see something about yourself that you hate and you want to change and you can't change it? Maybe it's quick temper or selfishness of some kind or sarcastic tongue or a pattern of thoughtlessness. You learn this trait exists and you decide you want to change it, you muster up all your resources, and it doesn't work. Say you resolve to be a better wife or a better friend, a better student, a better daughter, you're determined, you read all the books, you pray, you memorize verses, and you fail. Maybe not immediately, but eventually. Or maybe the effort to keep yourself in check takes such a toll that a different kind of sin flares up until you crack. Well, how do you handle that situation? Now some of you may be surprised to learn that this type of failure would describe anyone at a church. In fact, I would say it describes all of us. It's just that most of us are probably too spiritual to admit that we struggle with sin, particularly if it's a specific sin that we're aware of and we desire to change. Say you resolve to try harder, you pray more, you enlist the supportive friends, ask them to hold you accountable, and you have a success for a short period of time, but eventually you slip and you fail. Anger gets the best of you, or that just vicious sarcastic remark just slips out of your lips before you can stop it, or you take your husband for granted, or degrade your boss behind your back, or blow off a project or homework that you know you should be doing or something. Flirt with a married man at the Starbucks counter. Despite all your efforts, all your best intentions, and all your resolve, you've slipped up again. Now what? Well that's a question we're gonna be able to answer by studying our passage today. We're looking at the last part of Philippians chapter 3, but just to review, in the section we looked at last week, Paul said the power of the resurrection was working in him and he was looking forward to the resurrection. In this section, he's gonna clarify what he means by perfection, and in the process, I think he gives us a very valuable perspective on how we should view our struggles with sin now. But first let's review. Paul wrote this letter during his first Roman imprisonment, which would date it somewhere around 60 to 62 AD. The Philippians have sent him a gift of financial support. Paul and the Philippian Church are on good terms, they have a warm and caring relationship. As a church, they are doing basically well. Paul is writing this letter to thank them for their generosity and sending him a financial gift. He also wants to assure them that he's doing well even though he's in prison, and primarily he wants to encourage them to persevere in and live out their faith. So he's been writing through the first two chapters about their common hope and their faith and how that can bring them together in spite of the many ways they disagree. He's encouraged them to work out their salvation with fear and trembling, and he's not just urging them to be nicer or get along and behave better, he's confronting them with the issue that embracing their salvation has implications for how they live and conduct themselves on a daily basis. So starting in chapter 3, he shifted to a new but still related topic. His major concern is still that they sincerely embrace the gospel and live consistently with their faith. But now he warns them against the Judaizers. The Judaizers were a group of Jewish Christians who taught that in order to be saved, you not only needed faith in Jesus, you also had to keep all the laws of Moses. Part of Paul's response to that issue was to tell his biography and how he had all the supposed advantages of keeping the law, but he didn't count on any of that in order to be saved. In fact, he considered all that, his pedigree, his Jewishness, his stellar ability to keep the law as a detriment because it kept him from seeing that he needed a savior. So, insofar as it encouraged him to believe that he was doing okay and led him to believe that he was right before God and that he didn't need the blood of Christ, he says that was actually a disadvantage to him. Instead he had to let go of all that and learn to count on only on faith in Jesus. So to set the stage last week, I'm going to back up to verse eight, he ended with this thought. Indeed, I count everything as loss for the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish in order that I may gain Christ, and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith, that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead. So he's been urging them to live their lives in a manner worthy of the gospel. He's been arguing that the gospel should make a difference in the way they live and speak and act. He's talked about the problem of the Judaizers and their false teaching and the fact that you don't have to keep the law in order to be saved, and that could lead to some confusion. Because on the one hand, he said you don't need to keep the law, and on the other hand, he said you have to live like that you believe the gospel. So how much difference does believing the gospel make? If I'm still struggling with sin, does that mean I don't really believe? If I'm not keeping the law, if I'm failing in the law, then what does that mean for living out my faith? So should I be worried about whether I true or not I truly believe if I'm still sinning? That's part of the confusion that could arise. And I think that's the question he's gonna go on to address, or at least clarify. I see this section as a bit of a tangent, or at least a pause. It's a kind of let me be clear, here's what I'm saying, and here's what I'm not saying. He's just said that he wants to obtain the resurrection from the dead, and he's gonna clarify and say, here's what I'm mean by that, and here's what I don't mean. After saying then in 3.8 to 11 that he counts all his personal accomplishments, his pedigree, his law keeping as a loss in order to gain Christ and to obtain the resurrection from the dead, he then goes on in 312 through fourteen. Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own, but one thing I do, forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. So the this in 312, not that I've already obtained this, refers back to the resurrection from the dead in 311. And that raises the question, why is it necessary for Paul to say, not that I've already obtained this, this resurrection? Wouldn't that be obvious? Anyone talking to him would know that he is the same physical Paul that he's always been. Well, the New Testament writers talk about the resurrection as having both a present sense and a future sense. The future sense is what we often refer to as glorification, the physical resurrection that will happen at the second coming of Christ when our bodies are transformed from earthly bodies that are mortal and that die to heavenly bodies that will never die. That's the future sense. The thing that will happen to us at the second coming of Christ. But there's also a present sense, and that is the idea that the same power that's going to bring that resurrection about, and that already brought about Christ's physical resurrection, is at work in us now. It's maturing our faith, conforming our characters to be more Christ-like. And I think that's the sense he means. Yes, it's obvious he has not been physically raised or perfected or resurrected yet. But what about being freed from sin? Has that happened? And to that he answers, no. If you think that living a life worthy of the gospel and living out what you believe means you will now live a life of perfect obedience and never struggle with sin, then you have misunderstood me. That's not something I mean to imply. So I think it's in that present sense that he says, not that I've already obtained this or am already perfect. That power is still working in me. I have not yet reached that perfect goal of faith and perfection. The process is not finished. God has begun a work in me, changing me, but his work is not yet complete. We know from 2 Timothy 2.18 that there was some kind of false teaching circulating about the resurrection. In that verse, Paul talks about some men who have gone astray, seeing that the resurrection has already taken place. Now we don't know exactly what they were teaching other than that the resurrection had already taken place, so we don't know if they were teaching that glorification, that future resurrection has already taken place, or if they were teaching some kind of present resurrection such that believers ought to be living a sinless life now. There's lots of speculation about what they were teaching, but we know at a minimum that there was a false teaching circulating about the resurrection. And given that that is out there, it's likely that Paul's saying, I don't want you to misunderstand me. You may have heard what these men who have gone astray are teaching, and I don't want you to think that I agree with them, whatever it was in particular. I don't agree with them, I have not already obtained the resurrection. So there is a present sense in which the power of God is at work in me through his spirit, but it's a work in progress. I press on to make it my own, to reach the place where that power will be fully realized and reach its goal, but I'm not there yet. So, yes, the power of Christ's resurrection makes a difference now. Yes, we have died with Christ, we now live with Christ, but don't misunderstand me. I, Paul, am not saying we've got the power to live a perfectly obedient life. Lest you think this idea of perfect obedience is an ancient heresy, you still run into this teaching today. It's in the victorious Christian living movement from several years ago, it pops up in the emergent theology movement today, it's lurking behind some of the teaching today on spiritual disciplines and spiritual formation. It was popular several years ago in the no reckon yield theology. It comes up over and over again. This idea that we can be completely free from sin now, and all we have to do is appropriate the power in some way. It's just an idea that keeps coming back with a new name and a new face. And Paul is rejecting this kind of theology. Just in case you missed it, he repeats himself three times. In 3.12, he says, not that I've already obtained this or I'm already perfect, but I press on to the gold. In 3.13, he says, I don't consider myself to have made it. And just in case you missed it, one more time in 3.14 he says I press on toward the prize. Well, why am I pressing on toward the prize? Precisely because I don't yet have it in full. So he really wants to emphasize this idea that he does not think he has arrived at the full power of resurrection now. He wants to make it clear that there is still a future hope and that one day at the coming of Christ he will obtain a resurrection that is promised, but he is not there yet. He uses this language of an athlete running a race. Look at 313 and 14. Brothers and by brothers, you could say brothers and sisters, he means everybody in the church. I do not consider that I have made it my own, but one thing I do, forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. This is the language of a runner, focusing totally on the finish line, straining with each step to reach the goal, not looking back to what's behind him, but continually focusing on the finish line and what lies ahead. So he's looking ahead to finish the race to arrive at the goal so that he can lift the trophy. That's the metaphor he's using. When I was in junior high, all of us were forced to compete in a field day competition, which was a day I dreaded with all the angst and anguish only a seventh grader can imagine. My one and only compulsory event was the 440-yard dash. It was one time around the track, and I picked it because it was the least amount of torture. I was a basketball player and I had no idea how to pace myself, so I took off the starting block the way I would sprint down the basketball court, and consequently, somehow, I got myself way out in front of the pack. About halfway round the track, I realized something was up because of the way the crowd was cheering and reacting. I tried to look over my shoulder to see what was happening, and my best friend who was skipping around inside the track to coach me started yelling, Don't look back, don't look back, keep going, don't look back. Because she was actually a runner, and she knew that looking back would slow me down and would increase the chances that I would fall. And I think that's the metaphor Paul's using here. Like a runner were to press on toward the finish line, just keep your eyes focused on the end of the race and run toward it. So there's no point in worrying about what happened in the race so far, that's over and done. The runner has to focus on what lies ahead at the finish line. So forget the past mistakes, the goals in front of me. That's what I'm thinking about, that's where I want to go, that's my focus. So the resurrection is a present reality, not in the sense that we have fully arrived at all its power. It is a present reality in the sense that the power of God that raised Christ from the dead is now working in us to ensure that we will cross that finish line, that we will make progress toward that goal. 314 then finished his biography that he began in 3.4. So he said, Don't listen to the Judaizers, don't let them tell you that your focus should be on keeping the law of Moses. Even though I, Paul, was a stellar Jew and an expert at keeping the Mosaic Law, that's not what I'm counting on. I consider all that law rubbish. I've put my focus on Christ. I'm looking forward to the forgiveness and the fulfillment of all the promises that come through faith in Christ. I'm focused on faithfully following Him, even if it means joining Him in His sufferings and being rejected as He was rejected. I count on His power that is already at work in me to keep me faithful and to one day raise me completely, get me across that finish line, and give me the prize of the glorious resurrection and life with Him. That's the sense of what He's saying. What he goes on to say in the next verses then is how he thinks about His life now. And he says, I tell you this because I want you to think the same way. In 315 through 17, then, let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you. Only let us hold true to what we have attained. Brothers or sisters, brothers and sisters, he means everybody in the church, join in imitating me and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us. Well, right off the bat we have an interpretive issue. In 312, he says, not that I am already perfect, and here in 315 he says, Let those of you who are perfect, it's the same word in Greek. Now the English Standard Version, which I just read, has tried to clue you in that he means something different in each verse by translating it with two different English words. They use perfect in 312 and mature in 315, but in Greek it's the same word, and we want to ask the question, how do we put that together? So first let's make sure we understand what this word perfect means. Paul uses this word a lot, as does Jesus and James too. But our English word perfect doesn't quite capture the idea of the Greek word. We tend to think of the English word perfect as being without flaw. So something is perfect if it has no blemish, no defect or no imperfection. But the Greek word focuses more on the idea of arriving at a goal. Most often in New Testament usage, this word means something has arrived at what it is intended to be. So an acorn has the potential to be an oak tree, but it has not yet arrived at that goal. Once the acorn has become a mature oak tree, it is perfect. It has grown into that which it was meant to be. It has arrived at the goal. It's not perfect and complete in the sense that it has grown into what it was intended to be. The oak tree may be weathered, it may have lost some branches, it may be worse for the wearer, scarred by lightning strike, it's blackened in a few places, maybe blemished and broken. So it may not be perfect in the English sense to look at, but it has become that which was intended to be. It has grown from an acorn into a sapling, into a large and fruitful oak tree. So it has matured, it has reached its goal. Now I would argue that a mature Christian believer is not perfect in one sense, and is perfect in another sense. We are not perfect in the sense that we have arrived at our ultimate goal. We are still sinners. We still fail, we still falter, we still act selfishly, and we still experience all the corruption and the futility of the world. I think that's what Paul's getting at in 312 through 14. Not that I have already obtained that sense, not that I've already become perfect in the sense that I no longer struggle with sin. There is still an ultimate goal that we have not arrived yet, and that is our future hope. We want to arrive at a place where God raises and transforms these mortal bodies into something glorious and releases us fully, finally, and completely from a corrupt and fallen world into newness of life through faith in Christ. We will become the people He intended us to be, holy and worthy and blameless before Him. So like an acorn that is grown into an oak, we will become that which God always intended us to be, but we're not there yet. So in that sense, we're not perfect. But there's another sense in which we can be perfect, and often the New Testament translates this word mature in those instances as we see there. So the issue is not our ultimate transformation into a sinless life, but the issue is where are we on that journey from acorn to oak? So faith goes from being small and tentative into strong and mature and established, and that's a process. That's a journey that we are steadily making progress on and moving towards. And we can talk about how far into the journey we are by talking about how mature we are. Are we a little sprout just barely poking up from the soil? Are we a two-foot sapling, a six-foot tall tree, or somewhere in between? So how perfect, how mature are we in that sense? How much have we grown? Given we've not reached our ultimate goal, but our faith has made progress. Our faith has been tested and stretched and established such that we have reached some level of maturity or growth, and I think that's what he's getting at in 315. So Paul is saying, those who have been walking with Christ a few years, those who have been tested and beaten and weathered by the storms think this way. We have gained this perspective on life through the journey. Our faith has become closer to what it ought to be, and we have made some progress toward maturity. We don't arrive at a complete, sinless perfection in this life, but we are getting stronger. We are getting more mature. We are arriving at a goal of a strong, mature faith that perseveres through trials and holds fast to the word of life. I would paraphrase 15 to 17, something like this. I have shown you the priorities of my life. That is, I want to be justified by faith in Christ. I want to follow Him, even if it means suffering with Him. I want the focus of my life to be running the race and arriving at the goal of a new resurrected life. Those of us who have arrived at a mature faith, join with me in thinking this way. Now, I know that we may not agree on everything, you may disagree with me on a particular issue, but God will help you. Understand better one day. But as for now, we have arrived at a common understanding of what the fundamental truths of the gospel are, and I urge you to keep living in light of what you already know. My life is an example of this, and there are others who live this way, and you should observe them closely and seek to emulate them. So he is saying, look to me as an example, and there are others around you who can be an example of this same perspective on life, demonstrating this kind of mature perspective. But, he goes on to say, there are those you don't want to look to for an example. This is 318 through 21. For many of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their end is destruction, their God is their belly, and they glory in their shame with minds set on earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself. Now note in this section the contrast between the earthly and the heavenly. The enemies of the cross of Christ have set their minds on earthly things. They do not have in mind the race that Paul just talked about and the prize at the finish line. So they're in this for what they can get now. Their God is their appetite, they're all about satisfying themselves now. In this age, that's their priority. Their glory is their shame. In other words, the things they think are glorious about their lives now, because they're cool or hip or beautiful are actually to their shame. The things that they would look at and say, look at me, isn't this glorious? Whether it's beauty, wealth, education, intellectual achievement, hipster pride, resume stars. Paul says they should be ashamed because they're focused on the wrong goal. They have set their minds on this world rather than the salvation that comes through faith in Christ, and their end will be destruction. And we might ask at this point, is Paul still talking about the Judaizers or is he talking about some other group? It's possible that he could still be warning about the Judaizers, but this seems to me to be a more general warning about the sorts of things they might run into rather than a particular group of people or warning about a particular group of people. The language of 318, I've often told you about this kind of thing, suggests to me that this is a more general warning about a general type of people. Now the Judaizers would most likely fall under this umbrella, but I think lots of other people might be under there with them. What's important here is note the contrast. Are you a citizen of this world seeking fulfillment now, seeking the joys and comforts of this life only, seeking the approval of your peers and reaping or trying to reap the rewards of this life? Or by contrast, are you a citizen of heaven? Are you counting the attractions of this world as a distraction, as rubbish, as a hindrance? And rather than counting on them, you're focusing on the prize that lies ahead, waiting for Christ to rescue us and transform us into a new and glorious existence. To try to put all this together, I want to focus on three final ideas. Throughout this whole chapter, the focus is on Christ's role in bringing all this about. It starts with a warning against the Judaizers about counting on faith and wanting to be resurrected and setting our eyes on the goal. But notice how many times he tells us that we have all this because of Jesus Christ. Look at three three. We are the true circumcision who worship in the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus. 3 7, I count it as lost for the sake of Christ. 3 8, I count everything as lost because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish in order that I may gain Christ. And then three nine, and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes through the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ. three ten, that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings being conformed to his death. But I press on in order that I may lay hold of that for which I also was laid hold of by Jesus Christ. three fourteen. Christ is our model for suffering, he's our model of the resurrection life. We need the same power that raised him to work in our lives. And notice Paul says that Christ Himself is instrumental in bringing all this about. 320 and 21, but our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself. This hope that we have is something that Jesus Himself will bring about. Christ is at the beginning, the middle, and the end. He is our entrance into eternal life, he's our model for how we live now, and finally through his power, he will transform us into glory when he returns. All religions are not created equal. Faith in Jesus Christ is absolutely central and necessary to finding eternal life. It begins with him. He's our example through the weight, and he is the one who will bring it all about. A second striking feature of this passage is the contrast between the heavenly and the earthly and the focus on this world or the next. There's a contrast between living in this present age and our future hope. Living by trying to keep the law versus living by counting on faith in Christ. Living by focusing on the things of this world, the comforts of this world, the glories of this world versus focusing on the finish line. Paul has continually made this contrast and encouraged us and the Philippians to focus on the heavenly, to run like a runner to the finish line. That's the focus we ought to have. So, what does it mean to be heavenly focused? What would that look like in our lives as we try to focus on the finish line? Well, the analogy that makes the most sense to me to explain this is that we are travelers on a journey. Think about travelers. Travelers are still very involved in the day-to-day issues of life. They still need to eat and sleep and take care of business and their fellow travelers. They need to be prepared for the hardships that may come their way or the obstacles that may lie in the journey. So they're still living daily life. They find opportunities to sit around the campfire and encourage each other. We travelers find opportunities to scale rocky walls and struggle with each foothold. Travelers have times of feast, they have times of famine, times of sunshine, times of storm. But through it all, we see ourselves as travelers. We are on a road to someplace else. We are not settlers. We're not expecting this land that we are traveling through to satisfy us and fulfill us. We're not looking around for a place to set down roots, we're not looking for a place to dig in and really make home in that sense because ultimately we know this place is not our home. We are going someplace else. We're not expecting this land to satisfy us because how could it? It's not our destination. As we travel, our decisions are informed by our ultimate destination. Our goals, our needs, our wants, our wishes are shaped by where we think we're going, where we know we're going, and we are focused on making sure that our journey is successful and we reach that final destination. Sure, we try to treat people well as we travel, but we have a particular kinship with our fellow travelers. And many of the settlers and the lands we pass through aren't going to like us. We're foreigners, we're interlopers, we're not one of them. So this focus on the finish line, on the heavenly goal, doesn't remove us from life in the present age, but it gives us clarity. It gives us a perspective on what's important and what isn't. We can be patient and accepting and concerned about other people's problems because we're fellow travelers. We ought to want to help and encourage each other to get to the finish line. It doesn't give us an excuse to say, oh, don't bother me with your whiny needs because I'm so focused on the finish line. That's not justified. Rather, we ought to want to help each other reach that goal, to endure to the end, to make it to the finish line. Settlers are the ones who are focused on their appetites, on making the most of their time here and now. They're focused on getting this place wherever they are, this place to pay off, while travelers are looking ahead to the ultimate destination. And finally, the third striking thing about this passage is I find this contrast between not being perfect but being mature very helpful to daily life. Faith is something real and substantial. It changes the way we live, it changes the way we think, it changes the way we act and speak every day. A mature faith looks to the cross of Christ for salvation, a mature faith is willing to suffer for believing in Christ. A mature faith sets its hope on the coming inheritance and the kingdom of God and the glorious transformation Christ will bring with him when he returns. And Paul sees himself as having that kind of mature faith that holds fast to the hope and the word of life. He is calling us to follow his example. That's real, that's real change. That's something about us we can look at and say, I'm different today. My life is different now than it was five years ago. I have this inner rock of faith that I didn't have before. And yet, Paul insists he is not arrived yet. He is mature in faith, but he is still not the person he wants to be. In fact, he says he's very far from it. He's still struggling with the futility of this world, the fallenness of his age, and he doesn't want us to think that he or we are perfect now. He doesn't want us to think this is it, this is as good as it gets, and we have everything we're ever going to have. Paul is confident that God is at work in our lives now, but he is not done yet. And a mature faith recognizes how far we still have to go, that we're not there yet. It seems to me we get those two things mixed up. Yes, our lives are about these two kind of perfections, but we mix them up. We look at our selfishness and our failures, and we get discouraged because we have not yet crossed the finish line. We compare ourselves to others and think, oh, I'm such a loser. Look at how I'm struggling, and she doesn't seem to have a care in the world. We yell at our kids or blow off a coworker and we beat ourselves up because, oh look, I've blown it again. And I think from Paul's perspective, we would have to say, why does that surprise us? The fact that we're not perfectly obedient should not come as a surprise. Paul said three times in this short little passage, I'm not there yet. Well, if he's not there yet, why do we think we've reached the goal? So we beat ourselves up over yesterday's failures, but then we barely notice when our faith holds fast through a trial or through that failure or through selfishness. And I think we should instead rejoice in that perseverance. We should be grateful and thankful that God has given us a faith that is still holding on. So I raised the question in the beginning, what should I do when I sin and sin repeatedly? What should I do if I struggle with, say, anger or impatience, and the struggle just never seems to end? Well, here's my best advice. Repent. Repent and ask God to change you, and then trust and wait. We recognize sin is sin, we recognize that we're sinners, we recognize that we need the power that raised Jesus from the dead to deal with our sinfulness. All of that is true. We don't want to excuse sin, we don't want to justify it, we don't want to discount it, we want to recognize it for the problem it is and humbly ask God to both forgive us and change us. Then we trust and wait. Or as Paul says, forgetting what lies behind, we press on toward the goal. I think God's goal now in this age is to mature our faith. All the being perfect and without blemish in that sense is for the next age. We ought not to be surprised when we see yet more evidence of sin and futility in our lives. Rather, we want to shift our focus to asking the question, where is my faith in this? Who am I counting on to change me? Where does my hope lie? It's not in trying harder, it's in the blood of Christ. And then we ought to rejoice when we see our faith standing firm and strong and growing toward the church.