(A) Introduction

In this passage Paul highlights four differences between genuine believers and false believers. There existed in the church those of a legalistic mindset who worked constantly to turn Christianity into a branch of Judaism. Paul opposed this movement throughout his ministry and he does so again here. We will look at the four differences Paul describes because, sadly, they remain relevant.

(B) The first contrast is between those who live according to the pattern we gave you and those whose god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame

The latter probably refers to those who stressed the need to comply with the dietary laws given to the Jews and taught the necessity of circumcision for all believers. The Judaisers and legalists were so strict about what they ate that they made a god of their stomachs. They gloried in their circumcision, and to Paul that was their shame. This pernicious influence in the early church concentrated on externals.

It is not quite clear what pattern Paul gave the Philippians. I expect it was pretty similar to the pattern that Jesus gave to his disciples in Mat5v3to10. Jesus does not emphasise the external trappings of religion but the internal virtues of a truly blessed life. It is possible to be regular in church attendance, eloquent in public prayer, strict over observing the Sabbath and dutiful in church service without displaying any of the Beatitudes in our lives.

I agreed to take the funeral of an old friend from my home village. He was a Suffolk man through and through; a gardener by trade. I used to meet him in the village shop when I was buying a packet of small cigars. It always gave him a lot of pleasure, as a former smoker, to tease me about my filthy habit. Well I went to see his son to discuss the funeral and I asked him if he could tell me what his father's good points were. He hummed and hawed and finally said, "I don't think he had any." After I pressed him further he said, "He were never wrong." It is a sad state of affairs to have no obvious virtues! What is even sadder, is not to recognise them in others! I wonder when you die whether you will be remembered for being: humble hearted, submissive to God's will, kind and helpful, a man of integrity, a doer of good works, prepared to make others feel good and able to accept injustices without complaint or bitterness. Secondly I wonder whether you can recognise these qualities in others. (See my series on the Beatitudes ) I think I can only lay claim to one on the list - integrity. However, it is worth far more than the trappings of a religious life. It is something if the words of George Herbert can be written of you:

I(Corrie) loved the work in the shop. The only thing I thought unpractical was that when a customer brought in a broken watch I always had to ask Father, or one of our watch-makers in the workshop, to look at what repairs were needed or broken parts needed replacing.
"Father, I believe it would be useful if I learned watch repairing - will you teach me the trade of watch-making?"
Immediately Father agreed. He had a great trust in my abilities.
"Of course I can teach you - and after some time I will send you to Switzerland to work as an apprentice in a factory. I hope you will become a better watch-maker than I am."

(C) The second contrast is between those who eagerly await a Saviour and those that live as enemies of the cross of Christ.

The enemies of the cross pray with the Pharisee, "God I thank you that I am not like other men." The Pharisee gloried in his own righteousness and had no need of a cross, a bleeding Saviour or a great and final work of redemption. There are still plenty who are pleased with themselves and who cannot accept that Jesus was a sacrifice for sin. They glory in their good reputation, respectable life style, religious observance, Bible knowledge and belief in God's existence.

I am glad that Jesus died on the cross to put away my sin for the following reasons:

(a) I am not anxious to rely upon my own efforts and worth to pass muster with God. I am quite happy to sing and mean:

(b) The cross assures me of Jesus' commitment to his own. Jesus said, "I am the good shepherd; .... and I lay down my life for the sheep." John10v15 Jesus established a new covenant, a new agreement, by shedding his blood. He has made a promise to men that cannot be broken - to give to all that believe on his name eternal life. Christ is the mediator af a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance - now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant. Heb9v15 (See sermon on the New Covenant.)

(c) I rejoice in the cross because it shows how much God loved me. As Paul, writing to the Romans, so stirringly puts it: He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all - how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?

He spared not His Son! 'Tis this that silences each rising fear; 'Tis this that bids the hard thought disappear- He spared not His Son!

So often when I come to pray my mind is on earthly things. Sadly it is often on the same earthly things that obsessed the Judaisers and legalists in Paul's day. They desired status in the early church, success for their cause and recognition of their orthodoxy. I suppose many of my difficulties, disappointments, frustrations and fears have lack of recognition, or acceptance, as their root cause. I need to remind myself frequently that Jesus taught us to pray, Our Father, who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven. Mt6v9and10. I should be praying as a citizen of heaven - acknowledging in the first instance God's otherness and making it my chief priority to do His will.

We must not deceive ourselves. God's will is not usually to give us success in our careers, relationships or Christian service. We shall do God's will if we obey his Son. We please God by doing what is right, carrying out the precepts of the Kingdom.

I expect Corrie ten Boom would forgive me for using one final illustration from her book, 'In My Father's House.' Mr ten Boom was facing a financial crisis at a time when a rich man came into his shop and decided to buy a very expensive watch. As the transaction was about to be completed the man criticised a young watch-maker called Van Houten from whom he had previously purchased a watch that failed to give satisfaction. Mr ten Boom asked to see the watch. He made a small adjustment and then he said:
"There, that was a very little mistake. It will be fine now. Sir, I trust that young watch-maker..... he is just as good as his father. I think you can encourage him by buying the new watch from him."
"But ten Boom!" the customer objected.
"This young man has had a difficult time in the trade without his father. If you have a problem with one of his watches, come to me, I'll help you out. Now, I shall give you back your money and you return the watch"

This incident horrified the youthful Corrie who protested strongly against her father's poor business sense. Her father had to remind her that he had conducted the funeral of the elder Van Houten and then he went on to say:
"Corrie, what do you think that young man would have said when he heard that one of his good customers had gone to Mr ten Boom? Do you think the name of the Lord would be honoured? There is blessed money and cursed money. Trust the Lord. He owns the cattle on a thousand hills and He will take care of us."

Some of us would have seen the opportunity to sell an expensive watch to a new customer as God's provision in a financial crisis; that would have been God's will. Mr ten Boom was a godly man who opened his workshop every day with prayer and Bible reading and who prayed over his work problems with Corrie, his daughter. So in a time of testing he knew God's will and was able to do it. He was a true citizen of heaven and did what was honouring to the Lord.

(E) The fourth contrast is between those whose destiny is destruction and those of whom it can be said, the Lord Jesus Christ will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.

This contrast makes clear, as do other Scriptures, two very different destinies for mankind. Those in the church who are concerned exclusively with the external trappings of religion, who dismiss the cross as an irrelevance and who are preoccupied with earthly matters like recognition, position and power will be destroyed. They will not suffer everlasting misery. That most emphatically is not the teaching of Scripture. Jesus said: "Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it. Mat7v13and 14. It is perfectly obvious what Jesus means by destruction. Those who reject the way of Christ will be wiped out as Sodom and Gomorrah and the people at the time of Noah were wiped out. Sodom and Gomorrah ceased to be.

Everyone who glories in the cross, lives by Christ's teaching and does God's will enters by the narrow gate and will live. The choice facing mankind is between living and not living. We shall never die if we believe in Jesus. He said to Martha: "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die." John11v25and26. We shall be resurrected when he returns to earth or, if he comes in our lifetime, changed in the twinkling of an eye. Our old, lowly, bodies will be transformed to be like his glorious body. This is one of the most precious truths of the New Testament. When we see Jesus we will be like him. We shall be given an imperishable, glorious, powerful and spiritual body just like the resurrection body of the Son of God and Lord of all. As Paul says elsewhere: And just as we have borne the likeness of the earthly man, so shall we bear the likeness of the man from heaven. 1Cor15v49.