Sermon Series: Jesus-Everything We Need 

Who Let the Dogs Out? 

Philippians 3:1-3 

CBC, June 29, 2003

In a nutshell: The world desperately needs to see what true Christianity really is. True Christians are those who worship by the Spirit of God, who glory in Jesus Christ, and who put no confidence in the flesh.

I. Introduction

A. Where we'll be going in the fall

Well, we've finally made it to chapter three of Philippians. It looks like we'll be finishing this book by early September. Then I plan to start a new series that is designed to give answers to misconceptions that many of your non-Christian friends and acquaintances have about the Christian faith. In fact, I'm calling that series, Misconceptions about Christianity. And we'll be addressing current perceptions about our faith: like Christianity is boring, judgmental, out of date, untrue, or just one path of many that leads to heaven. We'll publish the topics later this summer, so you can know the issues coming up, and take that opportunity to invite your non-churched friends to attend a service with you.

But in the mean time, we need to get our act together in following Jesus more closely. That's what this letter to the Philippians is all about. So, if you have your Bibles, please turn to Philippians 3, and today we'll be looking at the first three verses…

Philippians 3:1-3 1 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-

B. Negative toward Christianity

Have you noticed that the general attitude in our society seems to be getting more and more negative toward Christianity? Now, here in Bishop, we're fortunate that our local paper prints articles about Christianity that are written by Christians. I can still go before our City Council and pray in Jesus' name. In Palm Springs I was forbidden to do that. At Chamber of Commerce meetings here, I've been asked to give an opening prayer. That also was forbidden in Palm Springs. So, we are somewhat "wonderfully insulated" here in Bishop. But if you watch the national news on TV, or read the L.A. Times or Reno Gazette, you know that it's not like that in most of the rest of the United States.

There is a hostility growing toward Christianity. Much of this hostility has to do with our liberal media focusing on persons or Christian ministries that are either extreme or corrupt. Rarely do you hear or read a story that shows the positive impact of a Christian or a Christian ministry.

I have no doubt that the devil is hard at work to highlight our flaws and discourage non-believers from finding faith in Jesus Christ.

C. Another Reason

But friends, if we're honest, there is another reason why Christianity is often perceived in a negative light. It's because there is a whole bunch of stuff out there that passes for Christianity, that is not Christianity at all. To put it bluntly, there is a lot of phony Christianity out there. -There are those who are deceived and who are deceiving others. -There are those trusting more in rituals and church membership than a relationship with Jesus Chrsit. -There are those claiming to speak for God and using their "ministries" to line their pockets with money from gullible people. -And there are some who claim that every weird and strange experience they have is a sign from God.

Illustration: One of the strangest is something I heard just a few months ago. There are some people who call themselves Christians, who are living out east, who have begun wearing diapers because Jesus said that you must be like a little child.

Folks, can I tell you something…That's just stupid! It would be funny if it didn't further the idea that Christians are dumb. But it's not funny. It just more evidence of how biblically illiterate many people who are attending church, have become.

Well, this is nothing new. The apostle Paul had to confront people who did dumb things in the name of the Christian faith. In the first century church, there were some people who wanted to add certain requirements to Christianity. They said that the Jewish rite of circumcision was still necessary to be practiced if you were a true Christian. They also believed that Christians still needed to keep the Jewish ceremonial law. These weirdoes were called Judaizers. And in the verses we're looking at today, Paul warns against these people. He calls them dogs.

D. Big Dog

When I started taking part in the motorcycling world, I was given the nick-name, "Big Dog". The "dog" stood for Depends On God. And for a while, even my staff, the members of the Chamber of Commerce, and City Council members in Palm Springs were using that name to refer to me. I loved it, because it usually gave me a public forum to remind people what D.O.G. stood for.

But in mid-eastern culture, to call someone "dog" was and still is a very degrading thing to do.

Illustration: This was brought home to me by a dentist in our Palm Springs church who was from Egypt. One of his sons called me "Big Dog" one day, in fun, and this man just about had a cow! He made his son apologize to me. Then he explained that in his culture, dogs were not viewed kindly. In the mid-east, traditionally dogs were more like ravenous wolves. They traveled in packs. And they attacked the defenseless. They were not nice household pets. So, someone who was called a "dog" was someone who preyed on others and was not respected at all.

So, when Paul called these Judaizers, "dogs", he wasn't using a term of endearment. He was saying that these guys were perverting Christianity. They were trying to add something to faith in Jesus Christ. And any time you add something to faith in Jesus, alone…you get a false faith.

And in this case, the Judaizers were trying to add the physical act of circumcision to the spiritual circumcision of the heart that God had always desired. Look at these Old Testament verses from Jeremiah that were spoken by God…

Jeremiah 9:25-26 25 "The days are coming," declares the LORD, "when I will punish all who are circumcised only in the flesh-- 26 Egypt, Judah, Edom, Ammon, Moab and all who live in the desert in distant places. For all these nations are really uncircumcised, and even the whole house of Israel is uncircumcised in heart."

You see, even in the Old Testament, God intended circumcision to be a reflection of an inward devotion to Him. Paul wrote about this in his letter to the church in Rome.

Romans 2:28-29 28 A man is not a Jew if he is only one outwardly, nor is circumcision merely outward and physical. 29 No, a man is a Jew if he is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code. Such a man's praise is not from men, but from God.

These Judaizers were wanting to substitute human effort and outward acts for faith alone. But friends, there is nothing we can add to Jesus' finished work. When we accept what Jesus did on the cross to pay for our personal sin, then we become circumcised of heart. That's what makes us true followers of Jesus Christ. That's what makes us Christians. And our world desperately needs to see what true Christianity really is. So this morning, I want to explain to you the three things that Paul lists in our text this morning that identify people as true believers in Jesus Christ.

II. 3 Key Things that Identify True Believers

A. Worship by the Spirit of God

The first key identification mark I want to show you has to do with worship. Paul uses the phrase, "we who worship by the Spirit of God " in verse 3. In other words, a true follower of Jesus Christ will have a genuine desire to worship God. True faith inspires spiritual worship. Jesus said…

1. Spiritual Worship

John 4:24 24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth."

What does it mean to worship God in spirit and in truth? -It means that we worship him in intimate spiritual communion-- in other words, the things that are part of our spirit: things like our emotions, our wills, and our deep desires…connect with His Spirit. So that His desires become our desires. -And it also means that we worship Him by understanding the reality of who He is and the reality of who we are in relation to Him. He is God. He is at the center of everything in our lives and in the universe. We ARE NOT!

2. The Whole Person

But worship also means that our faith in Jesus includes our whole person. In other words, our worship should extend to every area of our life. In fact, the word in verse 3, that's translated "worship" could also be translated as "service." And that gives us a hint as to the Bible's definition of worship.

Worship, is not just something you do on Sunday mornings. What we do here is an expression of worship but it is not the totality of worship. But worship doesn't end when the service ends. -The way you live your life is an act of worship. -The way you do your job is an act of worship. -The way you treat your spouse is an act of worship. …That's why at the end of our Sunday mornings I say, "The worship service is done, but the worship isn't." And I quote for you the words from…

Rom 12:1 12:1 I urge you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual act of worship.

Everything we do can be done as an act of worship, by including God in it.

So friends, worship includes our Sunday worship celebration, where we give God our sacrifices of praise in the form of singing, clapping, shouting, saying "Amen", lifting hands, and playing instruments of all kinds. But we also have to remember to offer God the sacrifices of lives that are fully devoted to him every single day.

So there's one of the marks of true Christianity…true believers worship by the Spirit of God. But there's a second mark of being a true believer. Paul says, true believers...

B. Glory in Christ Jesus

…glory in Christ Jesus. When you begin to really know Jesus, He will become the one in whom you place your confidence. Glory here, means boasting. You'll stop boasting in your own accomplishments, and you'll start boasting in Jesus.

Paul is actually developing a theme that's found in the book of Jeremiah. I've already shown you Jeremiah 9:25-26. But let me show you the verse just before it…verse 24.

Jeremiah 9:24 24 but let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight," declares the LORD.

Our boast, as Jesus' followers, cannot be in ourselves or in our accomplishments. It must be in Him. Our desire should be to lift Jesus up higher than ourselves in what we say and what we do, and what we think.

After all, look what He's done for us. -He loved us while we were unlovable. -He left the glory of heaven and came to this earth to die a horrible death for us. -On the Cross, He paid the penalty for our sins. -He reached out to us in love and offered us the free gift of salvation from our sin. -And one day He's going to take us to heaven. -While in the meantime, He offers us a life of abundance when we keep Him first. -And He has sent us the Holy Spirit to lead and guide our conscience, our actions and our decisions. We have so much to be thankful for, and it's not any of our doing-it's all Jesus!

There is a little poem that expresses this for me. It's called Look--See Christ,

Look backward ... See Christ dying for you. Look upward ... See Christ pleading for you. Look inward ... See Christ living in you. Look forward ... See Christ coming for you. (author unknown)

True believers glory in Christ Jesus. They're excited about Him. They want to boast about what He did to others. They have confidence in Him. They glory in Him.

1 Corinthians 1:30-31 30 It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God-that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. 31 Therefore, as it is written: "Let him who boasts boast in the Lord."

So, are you with me so far? Are you holding these things up to your life as a template for real Christianity? How does your faith measure up? True believers worship by the spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus. But there is one more thing Paul includes. True believers...

C. Put no confidence in the flesh

…Put no confidence in the flesh. Now basically that means that a true believer in Jesus Christ trusts God-not themselves.

Now, what's he talking about? He's talking about a common temptation that every human being has. It's a temptation that's driven by pride. It is the temptation to try to accomplish something eternal, by our own power. In other words, it's the temptation to trust in religion, not a relationship.

Illustration: From 1992 to 1999 I pastored in two churches, that were a part of a denomination that was leaning toward the liberal end of the theological spectrum. A lot of pressure was placed on me by the Bishops and Superintendents to do certain things in our worship services that were of a "religious nature". I had to wear robes, I had use liturgies, I had to preach from one side of the chancel, and read the Bible from the other. And so on. Can you see me doing that? Naturally I rebelled. Because those were things that were religious, and I wanted to teach people about a relationship with God.

One of my parishioners asked me one time, "What's the difference between our church and the Baptist church down the street?" And I replied, "As long as I'm your pastor, nothing!"

I discovered that a large number of people in those two churches thought that they earned their salvation from sin by doing religious acts. They believed that the rituals of the church had a part in saving them. They thought that things like confirmation class, getting baptized, participating in the Lord's Supper, and joining the church had the power to get them to heaven.

But folks, none of those things have the power to take care of a person's individual sin problem. It is only through trusting in Jesus' perfect, sinless sacrifice on the cross; and His resurrection from the dead…that our sin is paid for, our lives are redeemed and we can dwell in the presence of the holy God in heaven for eternity.

But liberal denominations and liberal churches aren't the only ones that can get caught up in religion rather than a relationship. I've seen it in Baptist churches, non-denominational churches, Bible churches, and a whole host of other theologically conservative groups of people. So many people who come to know Jesus Christ as their Savior, and start that relationship with Him, mistakenly think that after that start, it all depends on them. They roll up their sleeves and go to work trying to be better Christians.

Unfortunately, what often happens is that they buy into a mentality where they think they now have to earn God's continuing favor. Paul talked about this in one his other letters…

Galatians 3:2-3 2 I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by observing the law, or by believing what you heard? 3 Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort?

We were not saved by our good works, and we will not be brought to Christian maturity by our own power.

Now, this doesn't mean that we don't need to be faithful and work at serving the Lord. But we must never fall for the lie that, "it's up to us." We can't serve the Lord in our own strength. He wants us to depend on Him daily. God's desire is that we daily go to the well of His power and draw on His strength through consistent times of prayer and study and meditation on His Word. Like someone once told me, "We must BE first, and then we DO."

Unless we honestly understand who we are in comparison to God…, …we will always be trying to earn God's favor by trying to be good enough. …we will always think the answer is to work harder and do more.

But that is never the answer. The answer is always found in drawing near to God in our relationship with Him..

One time, some people came to Jesus and asked…,

John 6:28-29 28 …"What must we do to do the works God requires?" 29 Jesus answered, "The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent."

God wants us to put our faith in Jesus alone, live in His power alone, and trust in His love alone. And quit trusting ourselves.

In that Old Testament passage from Jeremiah that Paul has been using, it says

Jeremiah 9:23-24a 23 This is what the LORD says: "Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom or the strong man boast of his strength or the rich man boast of his riches, 24 but let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD,

III. Conclusion

Friends, our society is confused and ignorant about true Christianity. I'm convinced that it's because it has seen so little of the real thing. There have always been those who claim to be followers of Christ, but they don't have God's agenda on their hearts, they have their own. People today have been exposed to too many "dogs" who offer a counterfeit religion that is not at all like a true relationship with Jesus Christ.

William Wilberforce, that great English statesman who, because of his relationship with Jesus Christ, took a strong public stand against slavery back in the early 1800's when such a belief wasn't at all popular, said the words that I put on the front of your worship folders this morning…

"The main distinction between real Christianity and the system of the bulk of nominal Christians chiefly consists in the differing place given to the gospel. To the latter, the truths of the gospel are like distant stars that twinkle with a vain and idle luster. But to the real Christian these distinctive doctrines constitute the center in which he gravitates like the sun of his system and the source of his light, warmth, and life." (William Wilberforce, Real Christianity).

Paul gives us the things everyone of us needs to have at the center of our lives and gravitate toward, like the sun… -worship by the Spirit of God; -glory in Christ Jesus; and -put no confidence in the flesh

What the people of the Owens Valley need to see today is more of true Christianity lived out by true Christians. They need to see that Christianity is bread for daily use, not cake for special occasions.

Amen.