Philippians - Lesson 3

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Bible Study 4 – A THEMATIC STUDY OF PHILIPPIANS

Series: THE JOYFUL CHRISTIAN MIND (PART 3 OF 4)

Lesson 03: Philippians 3.1-21 THE JOYFUL MIND OVERCOMES THE PROBLEM OF THINGS

In the year1900 a major company in America did a survey and asked people how many things they would have to have in order to be happy. Back then the people said that in order to be happy they had to have a minimum of 72 things.

In the year1950 the same company did the same survey and asked the same question and the people said in order to be happy they had to have a minimum of 496 things.

In the year 2016 if someone did a survey of the people in our country I wonder how many things people would say it takes in order for them to really be happy.

A lot of people have the idea that the whole purpose of life is the accumulation of things. A lot of people think that's what life is all about and that is why we are here. A lot of people think the whole purpose of living and the whole meaning of existence is just to accumulate a whole variety of things. Their motto is “Get all you can, can all you get, and sit on the rest.” I haven’t seen it but I have been told that there is a bumper sticker that says "When we die the one with the most toys wins?” I heard there is a new one that says "But the one with the most toys still dies.” It's not just the accumulation of things; there is more than just things in life.

We are looking in Philippians at the thieves of joy. Those thieves would rob us of our joy. The book of Philippians is the book about the joyful Christian mind - how to have it. Along the way the Lord gives us in these chapters some things that rob us of our joy.

In chapter 1 Paul talks to us about the thief of circumstances because circumstances of life can cause us to lose our joy. Victory over the thief of circumstances is found in the single mind, which is the mind that is focused upon exalting Jesus and extending the Gospel.

In chapter 2 he talks about the thief of people and points out to us that people can rob us of our joy. However, the victory over people robbing us from our joy is found in the submissive mind, which is the mind that is like the mind of Christ, willing to give ourselves for others. Understanding that the key to joy is: Putting Jesus first - that's chapter 1. Putting others second - chapter 2. Putting ourselves last - chapter 3. Then we have real joy.

In chapter 3 we are going to look at this thief of things. Eleven times in this chapter the word, “things,” is used. “Things,” without a doubt, can rob us of our joy. Either things we don't have or the things we do have. A lot of people lose their joy because they don't have some things they want. Some people say, "I don't have a house, and I don't have any joy." Other people say, "I don't have a car and if I just had a car I could have joy.” Other people say, "If I just had an I-Phone and could download lots of my favorite music to listen to all of the time I would have my joy.” Sometimes the absence of things – the things we do not have – can rob us of our joy.

On the other hand the presence of things sometimes can rob you of your joy. It's possible for people to have a lot of things and those things themselves rob them of their joy. Aristotle Onassis was the Greek tycoon that Jackie Kennedy married. You may remember at the time he was one of the richest men in the world. His first wife wrote these words about him, "His great wealth has not brought me happiness with him, nor as he well knows has it brought him happiness with me.” Here was a man who had all kinds of things. He had boats, he had yachts, and he had homes all over the world to live in. He had an accumulation of things, but those things couldn't bring him joy. In fact, things can rob us of our joy.

The Bible makes it very clear to us that there is nothing wrong with things. Things in and of themselves are not wrong. In Genesis 1 the Bible says after God had created the world, it says God saw everything that He had made, and He saw that it was very good. So, things in and of themselves are not wrong. The Apostle Paul puts it this way in I Timothy 6:17, "The Living God gives us richly all things to enjoy.” God has given us things and the purpose of these things is to enjoy them and to have pleasures out of them.

The Lord Jesus had something to say about the subject of things. He talks in the Sermon on the Mount and says, "Therefore take no thought saying what shall we eat, or what shall we drink, wherewithal shall we be clothed. For after all these things do the Gentiles seek? For your heavenly father knows that you have need of all these things." Jesus is saying here that the Heavenly Father knows that we have need of things. We have to have things. There are certain things we just cannot get along without. So, things in and of themselves are not wrong. So it is not the things themselves that rob us of our joy, it's the place we give these things in our life. If we allow ourselves to become preoccupied with things then things can rob us of our joy.

In the Gospel of Luke chapter 12 Jesus said, "And beware of covetousness, for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things that he possesses.” To illustrate that he gave the parable of the rich man. He tells how his crops brought forth plentifully. I don't have room for all of this. Nevertheless, he said, “I'll just tear down my barns and build bigger barns and greater.” Then it says God says to him, "Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee. Then who shall these things be which thou hast provided.” If we live our life for things, if we spend our life accumulating things and give them the wrong priority in our life then the Bible says we will come down to the end of life and where will all of these things be. They will be gone and we will have missed the purpose of existence, the purpose of our living.

Therefore, in Philippians 3 we find victory over things. The joyful Christian mind. What kind of joyful Christian mind do we have to have in order to get victory over things? It will become apparent as we move through this chapter together that the victory the believer has over things is a spiritual mind. I mean by that - looking at things from a spiritual point of view. If we just look at things from an earthly point of view, then we are going to be miserable. If we can learn to look at things from a heavenly, spiritual point of view then we can be joyful. That's what we are going to find as we move in this third chapter and see what the Word of God says about a spiritual mind.

I need to explain what a spiritual minded person is. A lot of people have the idea when you talk about being spiritual minded it means we walk around looking like we are in a daze, eyes rolled back in our head and we are walking about three feet off the ground. No, that's not what it means to be spiritual at all. Paul was a perfectly normal individual. He was not some religious “kook” wandering around in a spiritual fog. That's not what it means to be a spiritual Christian. Paul was an ordinary man. Paul sneezed. Paul scratched his nose. Paul walked on two feet just like we do. Yet, he was a spiritual minded man.

We are going to talk about what it means to have a spiritual mind and get victory over the things in life that would rob us of our joy – how THE JOYFUL MIND OVERCOMES THE PROBLEM OF THINGS. I read where once someone prayed this prayer: “Oh Lord, help us to be genuinely spiritual and perfectly natural.”

There are three verbs I want to isolate in these chapters. Around these words I want to paint three word pictures in this study.

The first verb is in verse 8 where Paul says, "I count.”
The second verb is in verse 14 where Paul says, "I press.”
The third verb is in verse 20 where Paul says, "we look.”

Therefore, these are the three main themes of this chapter. Here we have the three word pictures Paul paints for us and they shows us what it means to have a spiritual mind.

LOOK AT THE VERB IN VERSE 8 – “I COUNT.”

This is the picture of a bookkeeper because it is a bookkeeping term. This is a word taken right out of the field of accounting. The Christian life is depicted here like a bookkeeper. He is saying that we must learn to forsake all things. What Paul does here is put himself in the role of a bookkeeper and he is opening up the ledger of his life. He is basically giving us a personal testimony of what had transpired in his own life. In a sense he became a bookkeeper. He opened up the ledger of his life and in one column there was all of his assets. In the other column there was all of his losses. Then there was the third column that gave him the bottom line.

PAUL HAS THE PROPER PEDIGREE.

In this particular instance Paul is talking about the religious things in his life. He is talking about his own religious pedigree. If there is someone who thinks they are going to get into heaven on the basis of their religion I want them to be sure to compare their religious pedigree with Paul's pedigree and see how they stack up. Paul says in verse 4 - "Though I might also have confidence in the flesh. If any other man thinks that he has confidence in the flesh, I more.” He is saying if anybody wants to brag about the religious things in his life that might get him to heaven he says I have more to brag about than anybody. Then he just starts laying them out.

PAUL HAD THE PROPER RITUAL.

Paul said in verse 5, "Circumcised the eighth day.” That was the religious ritual that the Jewish people required. He had it. He was circumcised. To compare that to where you and I live today we could put the word baptism. "I'm going to heaven because I was baptized in the baptistery at the Church.” Do we think that being baptized is going to get us into heaven? Do we think that some wet water on the outside of our body can bring about a spiritual transformation on the inside of our life? Paul had the proper ritual.

PAUL HAD THE PROPER RACE.

Paul said in verse 5, “The stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews.” He was in the proper race. However, the color of our skin is not going to get us into heaven. Do we think because we are white that's going to get us to heaven? Do we think because we are black that's going to get us to heaven? Do we think because we are polka-dotted that's going to get us into heaven? Race is not going to get people into heaven. He goes on down the list.

PAUL HAD THE PROPER RELIGION.

Paul said in verse 5, “as touching the law, a Pharisee” A Pharisee was the religious of the religious crowd. Most of us don't even begin to approach the moral standards the Pharisees had during those days. The equivalent of that today would be zealous in Christian works. Just working ourselves to death. Teaching Sunday School, serving in the Youth Ministry, singing in the choir. Do we think those things we are doing in our church life are the things that are going to get us into heaven?

Paul said in verse 6, “concerning zeal, persecuting the church.” He had the proper fire in his life. He was zealous, on fire, enthusiastic. "Touching the righteousness which was in the law, blameless.” He was saying you cannot find anything in my life and point out anything as being wrong. He was a good, moral person. See what he's doing? He's checking off the religious things that he has in the asset column of his life.

Paul said in verse 7, "But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss.” There came a day in Paul's life when he made the stunning, startling discovery that all of these religious things that he had counted on to get him into heaven weren't going to get him into heaven at all. He found himself a spiritual pauper. He was absolutely bankrupt when he came to all of these religious things. There came the day when Paul was on the road to Damascus. He had a face to face encounter with the Lord Jesus Christ and all of his religious pedigree just crumbled and fell at his feet and he saw that salvation is not a religion. Salvation is a relationship. It is a relationship with God through the person of His Son the Lord Jesus Christ. He said I counted all of these things loss for Christ.

Paul said in verse 8, “Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus.” Paul lost a lot of things when he came to Jesus. There came the day when Paul was willing to throw everything he had overboard in order to get the Lord Jesus Christ.

There was a man on the Titanic as it was sinking and he had both hands filled with bills of money. He plead with people on a life raft to give them all of the money to exchange places with him. No one took him up and he drowned with his money. He came to the point in his life that he realized there was something more valuable than money. Life itself was more valuable. There are a lot of people who are holding on to some things but the day needs to come in our life when we find out that none of these things are worth losing Jesus Christ. Paul was willing to just give it all. He learned you must forsake all things. That is, be willing to give up all things to get Jesus.

Have we ever stopped to really consider all that Paul lost? Paul lost his financial security. We have evidence to believe he was a very prosperous, quite well-to-do person before he was saved. He lost physical comforts. We read what Paul says about his journeys and the shipwrecks he endured and the stoning and the beatings. He lost all of his physical protections for Jesus. We think about the fact that when Paul, being a Jew, came to Jesus Christ evidently lost his relationship with his own family because he came to the Lord Jesus Christ. He lost his security. He lost everything that some people think is the most important thing in all of life. He said I counted it all loss.

Paul said in verse 8, "Doubtless I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my lord; for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and do count them but dung that I may win Christ.” The word, “dung,” there is the Greek word, skubalon, which literally means human waste. He is saying he counts everything as junk and garbage. Everything I have when you compare it to Jesus Christ he says it's garbage. Wise indeed is the person who comes to the point in their life that they begin to calculate correctly and compare all things to the Lord Jesus Christ and is willing to declare everything dung - garbage - junk - in order that they might have the Lord Jesus Christ.

Paul is a bookkeeper here. He is saying you must learn to forsake all things for Jesus. "That I may have the excellency of the knowledge of Christ.” Which means the surpassing worth of knowing Jesus.

If we had a dump heap here where we live and someone came from New York City and said, "I will swap you ten square acres in New York City for your square acre of garbage.” We would have to be a fool not to take a swap like that. In essence, that is what Paul is saying. He is saying I looked over at this little garbage dump of the things that were so important to me and against them I saw the surpassing worth - the excellency of the knowledge of Jesus. He said I chucked it all overboard and I took Jesus. Everyone would be extremely wise to give our life to Jesus Christ. The most intelligent decision we will ever make is to come to Jesus Christ. Paul says you have to have a spiritual mind. We must be like a bookkeeper. Learn to forsake all things for Jesus.

LOOK AT THE VERB IN VERSE 14 – “I PRESS.”

The picture here is that the Christian is like a runner. Paul said in verse 14, “I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” The point there is that we must learn to forget all things. It's a beautiful picture. Paul evidently was interested in athletics because he uses word pictures from the realm of athletics. He talks about the Christian as being a runner.

Paul said in verse 12, "Not as though I have already attained, either were already perfect. But I follow after if that I may apprehend (lay hold of) that for which also I am apprehended (laid hold of) by Christ Jesus.”

Paul said in verse 13, "Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended:" He says in verse 12 I haven't attained and I'm not already perfect.

Paul said in verse 15, "Let us therefore, as many as be perfect...” This sounds like a contradiction. In verse12 he says “I'm not perfect.” Now down in verse 15 he says “we are perfect.” What's he talking about? He's talking about absolute perfection versus relative perfection.

THERE IS THE POWER OF CONTINUING.

There are several aspects of the races that are very interesting to me. One of the greatest of all is the mile. They will have four laps around the track. They clock each one of those laps by the runner of a world record venture and they break it down into four laps and calculate what the time has to be for the runner at every lap. So he makes that first lap, he's gone a quarter of a mile and they click the time and they say, "that's perfect.” He's just exactly where he ought to be. That doesn't mean the race is over. It doesn't mean he's set the world record. It just means at that stage of the race he's right where he ought to be. Then he gets to the halfway point and they click that stop watch again and say, "that's perfect.” It doesn't mean absolute perfection, or that he has hit the tape, it just means he's where he ought to be at this stage in the race. On the third lap they do the same thing. He's coming now on that final lap. He is on a world record pace. Sure enough he's going to make it. He comes to the tape and he hits the tape and they click it – WORLD RECORD! – ABSOLUTELY PERFECT! He's saying that's the way it is in the Christian life. We're not perfect in the sense that we are all we ought to be. However, it means that every stage of the life as runners in the race of life that Jesus has put us in, we ought to be where we ought to be at this stage. The question for each of us is: How are we coming in our spiritual progress? Are we where you ought to be? Are we right where we ought to be at this particular stage of the race so that when we get to the finish line and hit the tape God will click the clock and God can say, WORLD RECORD! – ABSOLUTELY PERFECT?

Paul said in verse 13, "Forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before." That's the perfect picture of a runner. We don't run a race constantly looking back. We run a race looking forward. By God’s grace we start where we are and pick up the spiritual pace by "Forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before" and get to where we ought to be in our own particular stage of the race.

THERE IS THE POWER OF CONCENTRATION.

Paul says in verse 13, "…this one thing I do…" How does that apply to a Christian's life? In this matter of how to relate to things if we have the spiritual mind God wants us to have, that means that we learn to put total concentration on running the Christian race. "This one thing I do."

Have you ever seen these place kickers? These guys make big bucks to be place kickers. They go to football practice and they practice place kicking. They do it all afternoon. All they do is just kick the ball. “This one thing I do.” A problem with many Christians is instead of saying with Paul "this one thing I do" it can be said of them "these many things I dabble in.” Christians have so many different things they are trying to do. That is one of the problems with many churches. If we want to be blessed personally as a Christian and corporately as a church we need to have a "this one thing I do" mentality. There is a lot of good things going on in this world. Nevertheless, the main thing is to win people to faith in Jesus Christ and help people grow in the Christian faith. We don't have time to dabble in a lot of other wonderful things. "This one thing I do."

THERE IS THE POWER OF CONTROL.

Paul said in verse 13, "…forgetting those things that are behind..." We are not supposed to live our life looking to the past. We know that psychologically it's impossible to forget. We really can't forget. They tell me we don't ever forget anything. It's all right up there in the computer. If you know the proper signal to give that computer you can pull up anything that's ever been put in that mind. Isn't that an amazing thing? What does it mean when it says, “forgetting?” It means don’t let the past influence you. Don't let the past control you. I know it's not as simple as I'm going to say it. I know I'm over-simplifying it. But there are a lot of people who constantly dwell on the past when if they could just learn to no longer let their past influence them and live not looking backward, but live looking forward. We can't live all of our life saying “Oh, if I had just had a better family. If my mother and daddy had done right. If my marriage had been better. If I could have had better health.” We can't spend our life looking to the past. I know it's more difficult than I've said it but the point I'm trying to get across is that we can't be looking constantly to the past. We can't be dwelling on our past sins, failures, short-comings and hurts and expect to advance in the race.

We can't be dwelling on our past failures. We can't be dwelling on your past victories. Some Christians are constantly dwelling on what they used to do for the Lord. Get your mind on the future. "Reaching forth unto those things...” See that runner? He is stretching every nerve, straining every muscle; his eyes are riveted on that finish line. Paul said in verse 14, "I press toward the mark of the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” He has his mind on the finish line. We have to learn to forget all those things of the past and get our minds on the things of the future. We have a wonderful future as a Christian. Tomorrow is going to be the greatest day of our life. We can't lose, so we need to forget the past and get our eyes on the future. Press toward the mark.

THERE IS THE POWER OF COMMITMENT.

Paul said in verse 14, “I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling…” When the runner would finish the race in those days they would hit the tape then they would call them up into the emperor's box and the emperor would put a crown on the heads victorious athletes. That's what they ran for. To get that crown. "I press toward the mark for the prize of the high (or upward) calling.” One of these days we are going to get an “upward calling” and these things down here in this world aren't going to amount to a whole lot when we get to glory.

Picture in your mind a good checker player. He makes a move and his opponent jumps that checker. He makes another move and his opponent jumps that checker. He makes another move and his opponent jumps that checker. Then about that time he turns around and jumps all his opponents checkers and says, crown me! You see, we can afford to lose a few checkers on our way when we are headed for a crown! These things of this world are just like checkers on the board. We are heading for a crown. Paul says, "I count.” He's a bookkeeper. We are to be bookkeepers also. We must learn to forsake all things. Paul says, "I press.” He was running through life willing to leave everything behind in order to receive the prize of the high calling. We must learn to be like a runner and learn to forget all things for the sake of Jesus and press toward that mark for that prize of the high calling of God in Jesus Christ.

LOOK AT THE VERB IN VERSE 20 – “WE LOOK.”

Paul said in verse 20, “For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.” Our conversation is in heaven. The picture here is that a Christian is like a traveler. I like to travel. There are places in this old world I don't guess I'll ever see that I sure would like to see. Whenever we travel, wherever we go, we travel as an American citizen. When we travel to other places outside of America, we constantly compare everything to America. The food, the hotels, the accommodations, and about anything else we can think of are not quite as good as they are in America. Everywhere we go people ask “Where are you from.” We say, "I'm from America. My citizenship is in America.” We look at everything from America's point of view.

Paul says our citizenship is in heaven. When you and I get saved we become citizens of two worlds. We are already citizens of this old world where all these old things get in our way. However, when we are saved we become a citizen of heaven. Our conversation, our citizenship is in heaven. That means that we are to look at everything from heaven's point of view. We have a spiritual point of view about it. There are two ways to live our life. We can live our life from an earthly point of view or from a heavenly point of view.

Here is the earthly point of view. Paul said in verse 19, "whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things.” This is the only world some people have. We can't blame lost people for just living for the things of this world when they know nothing about another and better world because this is the only world they have. I was reading Revelation and this hit me like a ton of bricks. Reference to that phrase occurs in the Great Tribulation passages. After the church has been raptured and everybody that is saved has been caught up to meet the Lord, it talks about "them that dwell on the earth.” Really it is a word that means to dwell DOWN in the earth. It is simply referring to people who have made up their mind that this world is the only world there is and they have put their whole life and future and everything they are into the things of this world. A person who rejects Jesus as Savior and Lord is a fool to live their life only for the things of this world because all of this is going to pass away.

Here is the heavenly point of view. We don't have to spend our life minding earthly things. We are to be like a traveler. We must learn to filter all things through the heavenly perspective. That would solve a lot of problems for people. That would handle lot of the difficulties people run into in learning how to handle and relate properly to things. We need to ask yourself the questions – “How does this look from heaven's point of view? What does this look like in God's eyes?” Jesus wrapped up the spiritual mind for us like this in Matthew 6:33 when He said, "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness (get a spiritual mind) and all these things shall be added unto you.” He'll just bring into our life whatever things we need.

Paul said in verse 20-21, “For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself.” That word, “subdue” means to put in the proper order. If we allow the Lord Jesus to give us a spiritual mind and begin to look at things from heaven's point of view then Jesus is able to put things in their proper order in our life. "Seek first the kingdom...and all these things" he'll put in the proper order.

Here's how we deal with things from a spiritual point of view. We ask ourselves about things:

What will this thing do toward bringing into my life what really matters?
How will these things affect bringing into my life what really matters?
Will it bring peace of mind?
Will this thing give me a clean life?
Will this thing give me a clear conscience?

(This book I'm thinking about reading. These companions I'm thinking about associating with. This social event. This entertainment I'm thinking about participating in.)

What will this thing do toward bringing the things that really matter – (peace of mind, a clear conscience, and a clean life) – into my life?
How do these things look from an eternal point of view?
A hundred years from now how important will they be?

We are to be like a bookkeeper. (We must learn to forsake things.)

We are to be like a runner. (We must learn to forget things.)

We are to be like a traveler. (We must learn to filter all things from heaven's point of view.)

Do you know the Lord Jesus as your Savior?

DO YOU NEED SOME HELP?

To find more help in receiving Jesus Christ as your personal Savior please go to the Bible Study Title Page “ETERNAL LIFE.” Please send me an email and let me know about any decision for Christ you make so that I may pray for you. Feel free to send me any questions, comments, or responses you may have as well. For those who are already Christians I invite you to also please let me know of any decisions you make in your Christian life for Jesus. Please send me your questions, comments, or responses and let me know if the Bible Studies are helping you.

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ALWAYS REMEMBER!

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