Phil3v1to11 PAUL THE ACCOUNTANT(A) Introduction I think, perhaps, most of us could identify with the first part of this great passage and honestly agree with what Paul says about the mutilators of the flesh. However it is doubtful whether many of us have the intense commitment to Jesus that Paul expresses in the closing verses. It is his passion for Jesus that challenges us. (B) People who didn't count Paul had absolutely no time for those dogs, those men who do evil, those mutilators of the flesh. Paul is referring here to so called believers who insisted that all Christians should be circumcised. Paul is their implacable opponent. He attacks their position in his Epistle to the Galatians. He writes, Mark my words! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all. ...... For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love. Gal5v2and6. The same problem exists today. Anyone who says that a proper Christian is one who believes in Jesus and..... must qualify for Paul's condemnation. I know an old lady who thinks that only members of the Church of England are proper Christians. I am fond of this old lady and visit her regularly. I always wince when she tells me that I belong to a sect and am little better than a tub-thumper. The Grace Baptists are no sect whatever their weaknesses and nor am I a tub- thumper. My friend obviously thinks you have to be respectable to be a Christian! There are others who insist that a proper Christian must be baptised in the Spirit and be able to speak in tongues. I am inclined to think that there have been some very improper Christians who have spoken in tongues. I believe it is a very good thing to be baptised in the Spirit but numerous saintly, devoted, servants of Jesus have never had this experience. I knew a very enthusiastic Christian who longed all his life to have a Pentecostal blessing but it was denied him. He wasn't an inferior variety of Christian! Sadly there are those amongst my own people who claim that the only proper Christians are Reformed or Calvinist. I cannot attend the pastor's and elder's meetings of my own Association because I am not committed to the Calvinistic articles of faith in their entirety. I may be a Christian, a baptised believer, a member of my own church for over 40 years, an elder for 12 of those years but I am not a proper Christian because I am not Reformed. I think this is a very sad state of affairs. I have campaigned against it but got nowhere.
Paul says that the true circumcision, the genuine people of God:
Once I knew the price of the planned gift, the calculations began: How many morning snacks would I have to skip in order to have enough for the book? It always took several months: thus the book came together, bit-by-bit. The temptation to actually buy a doughnut just once, like some of my schoolmates, and eat it in front of them, was insignificant against this goal. On the contrary, I enjoyed standing close to someone consuming a doughnut and with something like a feeling of pleasure - I can't put it any other way - I pictured Mother's surprise when we handed her the book. Elias didn't have to buy his mother a gift. He was motivated purely by love. Love for God should motivate our worship and service. (b) Glory in Christ Jesus. He is our chief delight. We exult in him. We do not glory in our denomination, church, orthodoxy, status, success or good works - we glory in him. As Christians we stand or fall by our living Head. We are nothing without him. We don't preach the Doctrines of Grace - we preach Christ crucified. He is the Captain of our Salvation, our Great High Priest, the Great Shepherd of the Sheep and the Author of our Faith.
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(C) What Paul didn't count Paul had no confidence in:
(b) His education. Paul was in regard to the law a Pharisee. v5. He had been a student of Gamaliel, a teacher with a great reputation. It is ironical that whilst Paul was studying under the eminent Gamaliel he could have been sitting at the feet of the carpenter of Nazareth! Paul knew that his education in the Jewish Law was nothing compared to the teaching those 12 disciples received. He also said, If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge..... but have not love, I am nothing. 1Cor13v2. Now a good education is a great gift. I am grateful for the excellent, free, education I received at University College London in the 1960's. It did give me confidence, a worthwhile career and a special way of looking at the world. However there are dangers in being highly educated. It can breed arrogance. It can make us dismissive of the uneducated. It can render us incapable of learning anything from the less educated. It is clear that the Jewish religious leaders had a contempt for the uneducated. We read in John7v15 their opinion of Jesus, "How did this man get such learning without having studied?" Later when the ruling class sent the temple guard to arrest him and they returned empty handed because they had been so impressed with how Jesus spoke, the leader's dismissive attitude to the common people is evident in their reaction: "You mean he has deceived you also? Has any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed in him? No! But this mob that knows nothing of the law - there is a curse on them." John7v47. I think there is a tendency for Bible scholars and theologians to be dismissive of laymen. I do not believe even C.S.Lewis got his due from the religious professionals. I think it is very hard to get an article accepted in a theological magazine as a non-academic student of the Scriptures yet - JESUS WAS A LAYMAN. (c) Religious observance. Paul could say that he was, as for legalistic righteousness, faultless. Paul observed all the rituals, ceremonies, forms, rules and regulations of Judaism. This took some doing! Yet Paul could claim he kept them faultlessly. He knew that for all the care he took, the attention to detail and devotion to the rulebook, it was all worthless so far as his credit with God was concerned. I think there are still those who believe that their church attendance and allegiance will save them. It is not common in Grace Baptist churches where salvation by grace and through faith is regularly and consistently preached. We have to be fair minded and accepted that different denominations have their strengths and weaknesses. People are more likely to believe that religious observance will save them in ritualistic and legalistic churches with an authoritarian leadership. This was Paul's background and he knew better than almost anyone just how worthless legalistic righteousness was. I suffered a bit from this as a boy so far as Sunday observance was concerned. I am glad that I was encouraged to attend Sunday school and church but I still resent the fact that I wasn't allowed to play football or cricket on Sunday afternoon. I got so bored on Sundays it gave me asthma. In the end my father let me do my homework. I would have been better by far playing a game! Some older Christians still have a legalistic attitude to Sunday. They forget Jesus' words, "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath." Mk2v27. Jesus, himself, suffered a great deal at the hands of those who were legalistic about the Sabbath. (d) Religious enthusiasm. Paul's zeal for God may have been misguided but it was abundant. He was so enthusiastic for God's reputation that he vigorously persecuted the heretical Christians throwing both men and women believers into prison. Indiscriminate enthusiasm is worthless. None could be more zealous than the modern football supporter. The way they talk it would almost seem that it is to their credit that they support Liverpool, Manchester United or Ipswich Town. Enthusiasm is only as good as its cause! Even when we are enthusiastic for the best of causes we need to be careful. Our zeal cannot save us. I can remember many years ago, for reasons that I cannot remember, getting a letter from a fellow Christian accusing me of lack of commitment. I was very indignant and wrote back listing all my works! I wouldn't do the same again. It is possible to be a bit too aware of what we do for the Lord. Whatever we do we are only doing what Jesus calls our duty. "So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, 'We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.'" Lk17v16. Now we do not always react like this. We can sometimes say to ourselves, "Lord, think of all the favours I have done for you - you owe me one." God doesn't owe us anything! (D) What Paul did count.
There were three things that Paul reckoned worth having:
Some people are very hard to know. They are secretive and don't like anyone knowing their business. They do not talk about their beliefs and are reluctant to express an opinion. These secretive, suspicious, private individuals are not a bit like Jesus. You might say, "You're biased; it's obvious you don't like buttoned up types." It is true that I do not like secretiveness. I think it is pathetic that Christians cannot be open with one another. However that does not detract from the point that Jesus is easy to get to know. He was open with his followers. He let them know what they were in for. He told them that he would die and rise again from the dead. He answered the questions of his enemies. Jesus made the standards of the Kingdom of Heaven abundantly clear. He was honest about himself. He never masked his emotions. All you secretive Christians should be ashamed and open up to your brothers and sisters in Christ. Other people are disappointing to know. One dinner break I was talking to Lesley and Donna. I suppose my admiration for Lesley must have been obvious. She was very pretty, vivacious, affectionate, loyal and fragile. Donna said rather sourly as Lesley walked away, "Mr Reed, you don't know her." I did know her! I realised that she could be shallow, brittle and spiteful. Those three qualities were a disappointment. We are all more or less like that. I once gave an assembly talk on the verse in Ecclesiastes: Whoever breaks through a wall may be bitten by a snake. Ecc10v8. It was a very dramatic talk! The gist of my message was that there is a nasty old snake in all of us. In some it is buried deep while in others it lies just below the surface. However, if you keep probing and worrying away at a wall eventually the old snake will strike. You may not be expecting it but, sssschNAP, when it strikes does it strike! The children identified very closely with this assembly because they had proved it true. Jesus is not disappointing to know. He just isn't. The better I know him the more I admire him. There are many, many, things that I do not understand and some of them trouble me greatly but when I am tempted to doubt, despondency and despair I turn to Jesus. He was the genuine article; a man of complete integrity, wholeness and soundness. He is like a matchless gem that can withstand the closest scrutiny and retain its flawless reputation however searching the examination. Just imagine how easy it would have been for Jesus to come down from the cross and prove all those cocksure, crowing, arrogant bastards wrong. It would have been too much of a temptation for me. I would have wiped the sneers from their faces. Mankind was hardly worth dying for from the evidence of the crucifixion. But he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent. Is53v7. What courage, what resolve, what forbearance, what self control, what a Saviour! Finally a few people are unrewarding to know. They turn out to be thoroughly self-centred. They have nothing to give. Most people have something to give. I used to take old Jack Finch to chapel twice a week. He used to keep me waiting, never showed any appreciation and was sometimes even grumpier than me. However when he was in a good mood he would tell me amusing stories about village life as it used to be. One Sunday I happened to say I could do with a few lumps of pitch to bind the edges of a path I had tar macadamed. It is impossible to buy a few lumps of pitch or bitumen anywhere. Next Sunday Jack bought me a few lumps! It is amazing what he had 'picked up' in a far from blameless life. Some people, like my uncle David, are wonderful to know because they delight in giving enjoyment to others. My uncle gave me some lovely holidays in South Devon. Paul reckoned it was great to know Jesus. So it is - because he: grants forgiveness, reconciles us to God, gives eternal life to all who believe on his name, bestows his Spirit to challenge, cheer and comfort and ever lives to intercede for us in Heaven. (b) Gaining Christ Paul emphasises that he considers all the things he has lost so much rubbish if thereby he might gain Christ. He writes, 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 is through faith in Christ ....the righteousness that comes from God .... Peace of heart and a sense of complete well being often accompanies benefiting from the competence of another. Incompetence on the other hand produces discontent and dissatisfaction. One lovely summer's evening we had a staff outing from Debenham High School to go punting on the river Cam in Cambridge. No one could punt on my skiff. I had to do it. The other two skiffs glided up the river propelled by two colleagues who handled their heavy poles with dexterity and practiced ease. Our skiff zigzagged from one river bank to the other, collided with oncoming craft, became entangled in low overhanging branches and shipped water - so much water! After 40 minutes floundering monotonously in the same stretch of river and being overtaken by everything that floated including ducks I heard a plaintive Irish voice say, "Can't we go back now?" My father would sometimes go up to Ipswich to work on his father's nursery. Whenever he did this my grandfather would take the opportunity to do non-essential tasks. He took a break because he knew his oldest son was more than able to cover for him. It used to annoy my grandmother! Isn't it a huge relief to have someone of competence to take over? Suppose we are first to a nasty accident - we don't really know what to do - we worry lest we do more harm than good. What a relief when the ambulance arrives and we can hand over to the paramedics - the experts. Anyone who has seriously tried to live a life pleasing to God and who has known nothing but failure and despair experiences a wonderful relief when they realise, as did Paul, that righteousness comes through faith in Christ. We do not have to rely on our competence but instead we can trust to his. We can share in his righteousness if we but believe in him. In gaining Christ we gain a sacrifice for sin and a blessed Saviour. (c) Identity with Christ. Paul desired to be like Jesus even if this meant suffering like him; suffering injustice, loneliness and pain; even dying unjustly and prematurely - if by so doing he might, somehow, attain to the resurrection from the dead. There are a lot of people who might vaguely support the objectives of a good cause without being actively involved in it. There are many who would accept that on balance the Christian church is a good thing - it does more good than harm. Such people are not genuine Christians. A Christian is an activist. A Christian is prepared, if need be, to share in the sufferings of Jesus and to stand shoulder to shoulder with his persecuted brothers and sisters. Paul says that it is worth it! If we share in his humiliation, in his suffering and in his death we shall share, too, in his resurrection.
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