Identifies three primary enemies of the mind of Christ: fleshly confidence, fleshly conversation, and fleshly contention. Fleshly confidence is characterized by trusting in one's own abilities or religious performance, exemplified by the Judaizing teachers who insisted on legalistic practices. Fleshly conversation refers to a manner of life focused on earthly things rather than heavenly pursuits, as seen in those whose God is their belly and glory is in their shame. Fleshly contention arises when believers quarrel and fail to maintain unity, hindering spiritual development. The sermon contrasts these enemies with the believer's spiritual circumcision and the pursuit of knowing and appropriating Christ, urging a focus on Christ rather than self-reliance.
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But our time is short tonight. I hope that you've memorized something of the background of this lovely epistle, remembering that it is Christological in character, and that is obvious from its subject matter. It deals with the mind of Christ. And it was written by the Apostle Paul while he was a Roman prisoner. Or rather, in his own words, a prisoner of Jesus Christ. There are four things that we are dwelling upon during this week, two we've covered, one we cover tonight, and then we have another one reserved for tomorrow night.
We talked first of all about the evidences of the Christ mind. You remember what they were? There were four of them, and they were all spiritual things. There was spiritual... You remember? affection. That's right. Spiritual affection. Can you give me another one? Spiritual discernment. That's a second one. Spiritual reality. That's a third one. And spiritual fruit. That's the fourth one. And very interestingly noticed in our first study that these things are requested in Paul's prayer.
and they are revealed in Paul's posture, and they are recommended in Paul's plea. And he sums it all by saying, Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. Now, just as we saw four evidences of the mind of Christ, so we talked about four examples of the mind of Christ. And can you remember who those examples were? There was the Lord Jesus, first of all, of course, that his mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. And he becomes, of course, the embodiment of it, the first example of the mind of Christ.
Can you give me another of the other three? The Apostle Paul, that's right, whose name means little, and who manifested that that was what he thought of himself. when he said, what you're doing is the big thing. My effort, my expending of myself, is but the drink offering poured out on the top of the main sacrifice. Then there were two others, examples of the Christ mind. Timothy and the last one, Epaphroditus. Do you remember what the meaning of Timothy's name is? God honored, honored of God. And what about Epaphroditus?
Lovely or charming, and we saw what a lovely and charming man he really was, manifesting indeed the mind of Christ. Now having talked about the evidences of the mind of Christ and the examples of the mind of Christ, now we come to a study on the enemies of the mind of Christ. You've sung each night, we've all sung together, may the mind of Christ my failure dwell in me from day to day. Now there's someone who doesn't want that to happen at all, and that of course is Satan. And he's going to do everything he possibly can to prevent the mind of Christ being developed in you because he has no time for spiritual affection.
And he would be very soon caught out if we have spiritual discernment. He doesn't want us to be spiritually real, and he certainly doesn't want us to bear fruit. So he's going to interfere, if he can, with the development of the mind of Christ in the individual believer. Now the Spirit of God is seeing fit to warn us about certain things that are opposed to the mind of Christ. And we have three of them, not four this time, but three of them in chapter three. And our portion runs from the first verse of chapter three through the third verse of chapter four.
Now you know that your Bible is inspired, but you know that your chapter divisions are not. And sometimes they do interfere with a train of thought. You'll remember that our first division spilled over into chapter two, and our third division spills over into chapter four. Let's read, first of all, from verse one. Finally, my brethren, now this is not an indication that the Apostle Paul is bringing his letter to a close at this point. I have heard there are two kinds of preachers, those who say in closing and close, and those who say lastly, And last, now the Apostle Paul is not about to bring his letter to a close.
The word that is used here in the Greek is used a number of times in the New Testament, and it is used to say, in effect, this. Now, what I've said to you must be followed by something that's very important. There is something that remains. And this is what he's going to deal with in the chapter three. because we need to be warned about these things. Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. And actually again, in the original language that is, keep on rejoicing in the Lord. Keep on rejoicing in the Lord. To write the same things to you, to me, indeed, is not grievous, but for you it is safe.
Beware of dogs. Beware of evil workers. Beware of the concision, for we are the circumcision which worship God in the Spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no what? Confidence in the flesh. Do you know what the flesh is? Do you know what the flesh is? Take the word and cancel out the H. and then turn it backwards and you have it. S-E-L-F. That is the flesh.
And the first enemy to the mind of Christ is fleshly confidence. Fleshly confidence. And God knows and God alone knows how often we, although we believers, manifest it. Here we are warned about it. and we are going to come back to it. Let's look now at verse seventeen. Brethren, be followers together of me, and mark them which walk so as ye have us, for an example, for many walk of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ, whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things.
But our conversation is in heaven. Now that is a contrast to what has just been said. The enemies of the cross of Christ, whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, and who mind earthly things. But we in contrast have a conversation, a manner of life that is in heaven. The second enemy of the mind of Christ after fleshly confidence is fleshly conversation. And that word conversation means manner of life. If we put confidence in the flesh, we shall not develop the Christ mind.
And if we live in a fleshly fashion, we shall not develop the Christ mind. Look at chapter four, verse one. Therefore, my brethren, and when you see that word, therefore, you ask what it's there for. And it's there for this reason. What follows has a bearing on what has gone before. Therefore, because of all this, my brethren, dearly beloved and longed for, my joy and crown, so stand fast in the Lord, my dearly beloved. I beseech you, Odeus, and beseech Sintakee, that they be of the same mind in the Lord.
And I entreat thee also true yoke fellow, help those women which labored with me in the Gospel, with Clement also, and with other my fellow labourers, whose names are in the Book of Life. I beseech you, Odeus, and beseech Sintakee, that they be of the same mind in the Lord. Now, obviously, they were not of the same mind in the Lord. There had been a falling out, and here is a third enemy of the mind of Christ, and we are going to call it fleshly contention.
When believers fall out with one another, when they quarrel, And they don't speak to each other, and so they can't work together. They work against the development of the mind of Christ in the individual life. So we have fleshly confidence, fleshly conversation, and fleshly contention, and all of the time you'll notice it's the flesh. Did you ever observe when you studied God's plan for the future? that when Satan is bound a thousand years, there'll still be a lot of trouble on the earth. I know that the millennium will be taking place.
I know the Lord Jesus will be reigning, but any kind of wrongdoing he will put down, he will deal with, with an iron glove. But it'll rise. It will arise. And when eventually men get afraid of the dealing of the Lord Jesus with them, they still in their hearts cherish things against him, so that when Satan is released, he has a mass of men, Gog and Magog, that he can lead in rebellion against the Lord Jesus. That teaches me how dreadful are the things that dwell in my own heart. When Satan is bound for a thousand years and powerless, the heart of man doesn't change.
And those evil things still rise up and create problems for the ruler, for the Lord Jesus, during the millennium. This is fleshly confidence, and it's fleshly conversation, and it's fleshly contention. It comes from the human heart and from the old nature. Now there are three things about fleshly confidence that I want you to look for in our verses here, in the verses one through sixteen. There are certain who manifest it, verses one, two, and three. Paul could have been guilty of it, verses four, five, and six.
But Paul would have nothing to do with it, verse three, and verses seven through fourteen. I'll give those to you again, and we'll look for them. There are certain who manifest fleshly confidence. Paul could have been guilty of fleshly confidence, but Paul would have nothing to do with fleshly confidence. Let's look at verse two. And the writer has already indicated his desire for the safety of his reader. He says, Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, Beware of the concession. Beware of doves.
If you go back to the book of Deuteronomy, you will find that it was forbidden to bring into the house of the Lord the pay of a prostitute. It was also forbidden to bring into the house of the Lord the price of a dog. The same verse tells us about both things. The reason being the dog was unclean. It says he was an abomination to the Lord. Now here, the apostle is warning about those that are unclean. And God knows how many times we come into contact with the unclean.
And as the last few years have gone by... we find we cannot avoid it. Even on our television screens and after, in the midst of a good and profitable program, suddenly we'll hear something very suggestive, something that immediately causes us to recoil, and we realize that we are in contact with the unclean. we've got to be very very careful that we don't get conditioned it can happen very quietly very subtly and very certainly that's the reason why paul warns the believers he's concerned about their safety when you and i come into contact with the unclean We've got to pray that God will keep us sensitive, so we'll never get to the place we're coming into contact with it.
We don't recoil. In other words, we get so conditioned as to become tolerant toward it. Beware of dogs. Avoid the unclean because the unclean will render you incapable of developing the mind of Christ. Uncleanness. is part of fleshly confidence, and it's an enemy of the Christ mind. Beware of evil workers. Now if the dogs represent the unclean, the evil workers represent the unscrupulous. And we know we live in a world of unscrupulous men.
There are very few Americans in the congregation here tonight. I didn't say anything about Canadians, and I wouldn't for a moment mention Mr. Trudeau, but there are, I doubt if there's an American here in the congregation tonight, but who has a sneaky, but who has a sneaky suspicion that it's very, very hard to find an honest man, an uncorrupted man in Congress. Every day we live, we're getting ripped off by the men we put in office, who were concerned with feathering their own nest, making things good for themselves, and let the ordinary American fall by the wayside.
It really isn't very much to them. We had such a tragic demonstration of it in a past precedent. And when we learned about the language that he used, and the kind of things that he thought about, and illustrations that he used, We were absolutely a guest, but it's going on all the way around us. We're constantly in contact with the crooked. Do you realize that even in your ordinary business of living, in your shopping here and shopping there and going here and going there, doing business with this one and doing business with that one, at some time you are actually going to do business with the mafia.
and not even know it and so in your unknowing way support or help to support syndicated crime it is so interwoven in american life in these days the unscrupulous now we can also begin to lower our standard And imagine that because we are not as bad as so many other people around us, we can give a little here, give a little there. The Word of God hasn't changed. No believer should ever have to be accused of being unscrupulous.
I am not a cook, said Mr. Nixon. But nobody believed him, and they don't believe him today. And I certainly don't. I believe he was crooked. But... It didn't just happen at Watergate. It's been going on for years and years and years and years. I remember a man in prison telling me one day, mind you, he was on one side of the bars and I was on the other. He said, there's no difference between you and me except that I got caught. I think perhaps he had something there. Evil workers, the unscrupulous. There are unscrupulous Christians, you know. And then it says, beware of the concession. Now this is the only time this word is actually used in the New Testament.
And immediately afterwards, to give us a clue, comes this word, but we are the circumcision. Now circumcision was the ordinance of cutting off, and it had its roots in the past, and we find it taught and presented as an ordinance in the Old Testament. Now the concision also has to do with the cutting off. But the word that is used here is a word that actually means mutilation. Mutilation. He's talking about the Judaizing teachers and he isn't going to use the Bible word circumcision. He uses that word concision because he says you're not pleasing God with the cutting off.
You're just mutilating yourselves and it isn't pleasing God at all. Why? because these men were exhibiting freshly confidence. They were trusting in what they were doing, and they were trying to tell other people and other Christians. It's all right for you to believe in the Lord Jesus. It's all right for you to be converted, but you must keep the law. You must practice circumcision and this and that and the other. And so they sought to bring believers into bondage. They were very legalistic. The dogs were unclean. The evil workers were unscrupulous, and the concession was unbending. Now, some of us sitting here tonight have been delivered from a background that was just like that.
Absolutely unbending. There was a time, and maybe some of our children were driven away. Maybe we in our early days were driven away, like many in other family, under a legalistic father. They get shocked at these things and at their earliest opportunity give them up. You mustn't wear a necklace, you mustn't wear a brooch, you mustn't wear a ring, and it's a sin to have radio in your home. Many of you, most of you have heard this. And do you remember the days when you almost believed it? And at least you, if you didn't believe it, you abided by it, bound. Do you remember the day you got delivered? Somebody who said...
There were two happy days he thanked God for, or two things in his life he thanked God for. He thanked God that he was brought up among certain brethren, and he thanked God that he was delivered from them. Those who are legalizers and would bind us down are going to prevent us from developing the mind of Christ. Let no man judge you in respect of an holy day. Do you remember that? Or a Sabbath? Don't allow yourself to be brought into bondage. It will only interfere with your spiritual development. Here, then, is the warning, and these were the ones who manifested fleshly confidence.
Dogs, evil workers, and the mutilators. The concision. Those that were unclean, those that were unscrupulous, and those that were unbending. They knew nothing of the elasticity of divine grace. Now Paul could have been guilty of this. Look at what he says. We are the circumcision which worship God in the Spirit. Now that word worship again is a very interesting one. I hope you're interested in word studies. Do you remember in Romans chapter twelve you do? I know. You needn't turn to it. I'll read the verse to you. Listen. I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God.
that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. Now the word service there is not the usual word for service. Now listen to our verse again. We are the circumcision which worship God in the Spirit. The word for worship there is not the usual word for worship. But the word for service in Romans twelve... And the word for worship in our chapter three of Philippians is exactly the same word in the Greek. The reason being what we have here is worshipful service.
Both of these thoughts in that Greek word, and it rendered service in the one chapter and worship in the other, and both of these thoughts belong to the word that is used here. says he, we are the circumcision which worship God or worshipfully serve God in the Spirit, or worship through or by the Spirit of God, and rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh. Though I might also have confidence in the flesh. Now look what he says about himself. If any other man thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more.
Circumcised the eighth day. He was subjected to circumcision as an infant only eight days old. What he's saying here is, I am not a proselyte. I am of Jewish blood. Circumcised the eighth day as an infant. I'm a man of Jewish blood. Then he goes on to say, of the tribe of Benjamin. Now here he mentions his stock. Well, he mentions Israel first here, of the stock of Israel and of the tribe of Benjamin.
Now the stock of Israel, he says, I'm not a proselyte. I'm an Israelite. And he says, I come from a favored tribe, the tribe of Benjamin. Now you will remember that Benjamin was the tribe that was true to the Lord along with Judah. And from these two tribes, the nation was renewed. Benjamin, the tribe of Benjamin, was very highly thought of. So Paul is saying, I'm not a proselyte. I'm of Jewish blood. I'm an Israelite. And he says, I'm of the tribe of Benjamin. I'm not only an Israelite. I'm a favored Israelite. He goes on and says, an Hebrew of the Hebrews.
He was brought up in a home where they spoke Hebrew and he spoke Hebrew. He was a learned Israelite. Many Israelites couldn't speak Hebrew, you know. They had to read the Scriptures in the Greek. But he said, I have learned the Hebrew language. And he goes on and says, making mention of his creed as touching the law of Pharisee. And everybody knows that the Pharisees were the most prominent sect in Jewry. And so he's really piling it on here. I'm not a proselyte, he says. I'm an Israelite. More than that, I'm a favored Israelite.
I'm also a learned favored Israelite and a prominent one. For my creed was that of the Pharisees, and he says I was very active. Concerning zeal, persecuting the church, why I was up against these Christians and sought to wipe them out, and I did it out of zeal toward God, and because I thought I was doing the will of God and had the mind of God. And then finally he says, as touching righteousness which is by the law, absolutely without blame. Now I doubt whether there was another man who read this letter who could say those several identical things about himself.
Paul is piling it on so that he is saying to them, now I've just mentioned those who have confidence in the flesh. Now if they think that they have reason to have confidence in the flesh, I have more, and here are the reasons. Number one, number two, number three, number four, and so on down the list. But he says, but. But. My, that's a very important little three-letter word, but. In spite of not being a proselyte, in spite of being in Israelites, in spite of being a favored and learned and prominent Israelites, and in spite of being a zealous and sincere one.
He says, But what things were gained to me, those I counted loss for Christ, yea, doubtless, and 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. Paul would have nothing to do with fleshly confidence. He says, I don't trust in my circumcision in the flesh. He says, I belong to a spiritual circumcision. A spiritual circumcision, a people that worshipfully serves the God of heaven.
He said, instead... of not trusting in the flesh. He said, I am going to boast in something else. He says, look at verse three again. We are the circumcision which worship God in the Spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus. And that word rejoice there is actually boast. I'm not going to boast in the flesh, he says. I'm going to boast in the Lord Jesus Christ.
He knew for the first he'd have to apologize in spite of that imposing list. But for the second, there was no need for any apology. The man who boasts in Christ Jesus is the man who can boast without any fear. He would have nothing to do with fleshly confidence. because he belonged to a spiritual circumcision, and because he chose rather to boast in Christ than to boast in the flesh. Now there is an antidote for this fleshly confidence, and the secret is in that little expression that I may. Look at verse eight, that I may win Christ.
Verse ten, that I may know him. Verse twelve, that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. That last little thought, and my time has gone, apprehend. I lived in Brantford, Ontario with my wife and children for a number of years, and I haven't been in Brantford very long before the young people came into me and said, Mr. Woodhouse, We would like you to be the speaker at our Friday night service, young people's service, and we have a series going, and we would like you to take one of the topics.
Well, I said, what's the series? They said it's the football game. Now, football to me was soccer. I used to look at American or Canadian football. I couldn't even understand why they should have a ball that looked as though it had been sat on. You know, and goalposts, it looked as though they'd sprouted twice their size or more. I couldn't understand why they call that. I still don't understand why they call it football when they spend half their time bent to double, you know, looking through their own ledge of somebody else's, that very unsanitary thing called the huddle. And, well, however, I said, what am I supposed to talk about? They said, the touchdown.
The touchdown. I was glad later on that they gave me that topic because I found a lot of very interesting and striking lessons about it. But I also learned some lessons about this word apprehend. I stood or I sat and watched a football game after football game on television to try to get some, make some head or tail of the whole strange business. And I noticed those times when the crowd suddenly began to roar and the people rose on their feet and they watched a fellow streaking down the field there and then suddenly dodged the other couple of men nearby and then watch. And unerringly the ball would come into his direction and he would jump up and grab it and then he would tuck it under his arm and then, regardless of the danger to himself, would plunge toward a touchdown.
Now, this word apprehend is beautifully illustrated in the receiver in a football game, because it means four things and four things that the receiver does. It means to reach up, to lay hold, to pull down, and to hang on to. Now, that's actually a four-fold meaning of the word in the Greek, and that's exactly what the receiver in the football game does, says the Apostle Paul. that I may reach up, lay hold of, pull down, and hang onto that for which God has reached up and laid hold of and pulled down and hung onto me.
I want the will of God in my life, he says. I want the mind of Christ. I want to be what God wants me to be. I want to lay hold of that. for which God has laid hold of me. A man who has that kind of ambition, that kind of desire, that kind of passion, is certainly not going to be tripped up by confidence in the flesh. That I may win Christ. That is, that Christ may be appropriated by me and be found in him. that Christ might be manifested through me, that I might know him, and the Greek means by experience, that Christ might be precious to me, and that I may lay hold of that for which he laid hold of me.
Is the Lord Jesus precious to you? There's a little verse in the New Testament which says, it's a concern of the Apostle Paul's again that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith. Do you remember that verse? Do you know what it means? That Christ may be at home in your heart. Have you ever been in a home where you weren't at home? The Lord Jesus dwells in every believer's heart, but he's not at home in every believer's heart. Paul was anxious that the Lord Jesus shouldn't feel out of place in your heart. He says that Christ may feel at home, be at home in your heart.
Now I've gone five minutes over, it's twenty-five to nine, but we'll come back to these other two enemies tomorrow night and see where we end up. Shall we pray? Our Heavenly Father, once again, very earnestly, we have a concern about these things. We are here in this service tonight because thy word means something to us. Because we want to hear thy voice speaking to our hearts. Grant, Lord, that something shall have been said tonight to encourage us, to challenge us, to be a blessing to us in one way or another.
Above everything else, grant that what we are reading in this lovely letter to the Philippians shall make us very, very anxious to let the mind of Christ dwell in us day by day. We ask in His name. Amen.