Grace OPC Sewickley PA

Sermon Series: Philippians

The Bible’s Own Humor

This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of the “Philippians” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, July 5, 1992.

About this sermon

Scripture’s own sense of humor gets real attention here, evident in Paul’s sarcasm toward saints who claim a perfection they plainly don’t have. Real perfection, paradoxically, means confessing that we lack it rather than achieving flawlessness. Humility, laying claim only to Christ’s perfection rather than one’s own, is where this whole passage actually lands.

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Sermon transcript

We continue our reflections on Philippians chapter 3, and we are reading this morning from the 3rd chapter, the 7th verse, through the 4th chapter, the 1st verse. This is Philippians 3, verse 7. Here is the word of God. Those I counted lost for Christ lay doubtless, and I count all things but lost 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 dumb, that I might win Christ and be found in him, not having mine own righteousness which is of the law, that that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith, that I may know him, and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings being made conformable unto his death, if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead. Not as though I had already attained either were already perfect. But I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended, but this one thing I do, for getting those things which are behind and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

Let us, therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded. And if in anything we be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you. Nevertheless, whereto we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule. Let us mind the same thing.” 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. for our citizenship 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. Therefore, my brethren, dearly beloved and longed for, my joy and crown So stand fast in the Lord, my dearly beloved. the power of your word.

By your word, we are convicted. By your word, we are converted. Our Father by your word, we are congregated here, an assembly that belongs to you. Father, as such, we would hear your word. We would hear it with fear, reverence. We would hear it with love, with understanding, that you might glorify yourself in us. Through Christ we pray, in the power of the Spirit.

Amen. directory for worship for the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. had this entry. In time of public worship, let all the people attend with gravity and reverence, for daring to read anything except what the minister is then reading or citing abstaining from all whispering, from salutations of persons present or coming in, and from gazing about, sleeping, smiling, and all other indecent behavior. I think you understand the force of this entry. It was intended to encourage a proper decorum in worship, that the people might not be concerned so much with the people about them, but rather with God, his presence, and his word. I have read that statement many times, and I always stop, linger and reflect a bit about that entry, smiling.

I know what has happened in our own time, and I’m sure that you are well aware of it too, that some worship has become characterized by a frivolousness. and that humor is used inappropriately as a tool of manipulation and entertainment. Nevertheless, at her forefather’s notwithstanding, humor is rightly used. It is rightly used throughout Scripture. It will not do for us to miss the sense of humor expressed so often, so persistently, and so effectively throughout the Bible. The examples are endless. From the beginning, We are all aware of the humor of the story of Noah. The humor of that story has not been lost even on secular audiences. What about the Tower of Babel? That story conjures up all kinds of images, does it not?

People living and working together one moment, and the next not even able to understand a word that a friend or neighbor says. The laughter of God, answering the laughing, mocking Sarah, who laughs when she is told that she’ll have a child in her old age. And then the memorializing of that child with the name Isaac, which in fact means laughter. Let me get a good laugh. out of those two proud tricksters, Laban and Jacob, trying to outwit each other.

May we be reminded of Balaam’s ass? We have been having some excellent lessons in our morning instruction period from Jonathan Stark on Numbers chapter 22 and that hilarious story. where it seems as if, as Jonathan reminded us this morning, the prophet becomes the ass, and the ass becomes the prophet. Further on in that story, what do we make of Balak?

He wants Israel cursed, you know. And since Balaam won’t curse Israel from one mountain, Balaam takes them to another. Maybe another point of view will help you, Balaam, to get this thing right. What shall we say about the uproariously funny story from 2 Kings 6, in which we have Ben-Hadad sending that army down from Syria because he’s fed up with Elisha. He sends the army to Dothan to capture Elisha, but upon their arrival the army is struck blind, and then Elisha says, Well, let me lead you home. He takes them to Samaria, right into the capital city. And then they realize that the gig is up. We can mention the fate of Amon, who builds the gallows for Mordecai. We have this story in the book of Esther, but then he is hung on his own gallows.

There are the repeated ironic twists that appear in the books of the prophets, the word plays, the puns that abound. The Gospels themselves are rich in humor, from the descriptions of jealous, bickering disciples, to Jesus’ very words in which he dresses down disciples and detractors alike. You have his description of a feast, a great feast, conjuring up images of guests who are climbing over one another in order to get the chief seats. He calls Herod, humorously, that fox. He chides Peter’s preposterous limitation on the extent of forgiveness, seven times more, by telling him to forgive seventy times seven. And in that marvelous way, divinely humorous story.

Jesus welcomes a paralytic whose entry before him is on a litter let down through a hole in the roof. The book of Acts is filled with humor too. You hear Peter saying, The feet of the fellows that took your husband out are at the door presently waiting to carry you out as well.” Then there is that outrageously funny story from Acts 19, the story of the sons of Sceva, the Jewish priest. who thought they could command demons if they just used the name of Jesus, even though they didn’t believe in him, even though they didn’t belong to him, even though they had not been called by him. So they attempt an exorcism, and we are told that the demon left its victim and fell on them so that they fled the scene naked and wounded.

Invariably, the humor we witness in the Bible expresses deep iron. In other words, in view is a significant reversal of circumstances so that things are turned on their head. Evil, which seems to have everything going for it, including human nature, is thwarted and good, which, humanly speaking, has nothing going for it.

God himself laughs. We are told that in Psalm 2. He has the wicked and their evil devices in derision. His laughter is a laughter of mockery. The Apostle Paul is thoroughly alive to the Lord’s laughter. He is schooled in the Scriptures and by the God of Scripture. As an instrument of the Holy Spirit, he often turns his pen as if it were a knife, and then cleverly carves up the Gospel’s enemies.

We have an example of him so turning his pen in the second verse of this third chapter in Philippians. He tells the Philippians, Beware of dogs, beware of the evil workers, beware of the mutilators. That’s how it should be translated, beware of the mutilators. In our messages on that text, you will recall that the apostle is turning on its head, the description these very people have of themselves. They’re not dogs in their estimation, they’re holy, pure, clean. They’re not evil workers, they are the workers of righteousness. They are not mutilators, they are the servants of circumcision.

Paul mocks them. He laughs, inspired by the God who himself laughs. But Paul, like Jesus, does not hesitate to use the knife ever so deliberately, ever so carefully, ever so delicately, he does not hesitate to use the knife even on the faithful saints, those whom he loves dearly. He turns the knife of humor I use the word, he even becomes sarcastic in dealing with the faithful, the beloved. His objection is not to hurt or to damage, his objective is to correct. He will use this tool of humor, of sarcastic wit, in order to bring his beloved readers to a state where they will be attentive to their sinful and even ridiculous behavior.

At this point I know what is often done by commentators, by preachers, They want to make sure that you understand that the Apostle, others in Scripture are not laughing at us, but they are laughing with us. I don’t think so. I don’t think that’s the way it’s working out. That’s a very clever twist of a phrase, but I don’t really think that that’s what the apostle is doing, I don’t think that’s what others in Scripture are doing either. No, the apostle is laughing at the saints in their ridiculousness, in their foolishness.

Paul is laughing at the Philippians. Yes, he laughed at the enemies that are threatening, verse two of that third chapter, but now he laughs at the Philippians in the fifteenth verse of this third chapter, where he says, let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded you, catch the note of sarcasm in his words.

Therefore, I’m trying to read it in order to communicate it a bit there. Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded. Humor falls out of his use of that word perfect. Now, we all know that there are examples in scripture where that word perfect is used as a synonym for maturity. And yes, the apostle here is using this word as a synonym for maturity, but with an ironic twist.

The ironic twist enters the picture because the apostle is addressing this church. a church in which an epidemic of disunity and contention and competitiveness has attacked the body. That epidemic has progressed because some within this assembly, these people in fact whom he loves, This congregation that he speaks so endearingly to, as you note in the opening of that fourth chapter, this epidemic has progressed because some in this church have become convinced about their own superiority, a superiority that has led to boasting and to claims of perfection, that is, claims of maturity.

But now to these perfect little saints, Paul has a couple of things to say. He has been preparing them for this. We’ll note in the twelfth verse that there also he uses the word perfect, there with respect to himself. He uses the term in that twelfth verse this way, not that I have already obtained the resurrection from the dead or have already become perfect, but I press on in order that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus. First of all then, Paul, with respect to this word perfect or perfection, sets about to rob these Philippian believers of their use of the term. He’s going to steal it from them.

He tells the Philippians that he has not attained perfection, by which he means that he has not attained as yet to the resurrection of the dead. Any claim, therefore, by these Philippians to perfection must be measured by the Apostle’s confession and set in the context of the expectation of that perfection that comes on the great day of resurrection. So, my friends, if we are going to talk about perfection, let’s get the record straight. Let’s start with a discussion about the resurrection from the dead.

In light of this, it is obvious now, is it not, and certainly Paul expects this to register well upon his readers, upon his hearers, neither they nor he are perfect. And since all are on the road, all are en route, the boast that really and truly emanates from the flesh, this boast to superiority The prayer isn’t done. He robs them of their use of the word in verse 12, but now he’s going to give it back to them in verse 15. But it won’t come back to them with the meaning they had attached to it.

For them, perfection, maturity, meant this. It meant pride of place. It meant privilege. It meant respect, and that automatically. By what route they came to this position, we can only surmise. possibly because they thought they had superior knowledge, or they were concerned with the really important matters.

And even though this church was going through hard times, even though this church was experiencing persecution, the mundane acts of ministry and service to the congregation were beneath them. These folk, considered themselves immune when it came to certain tasks. And if an attitude of servanthood was to be expected from below and meek, it certainly could not be expected from them. There were certain activities and certain habits of mind that were beneath them. After all, They were perfect little saints.

Paul, however, now says that perfection is found in the confession that we lack perfection. Paul says that maturity is found in the confession that we lack maturity. He tells the Philippians in this fifteenth verse that they ought to have this attitude which he has been expressing. They are to be numbered among the perfect and the mature. And that is just the opposite of what they thought. The whole of the statement of Paul there at the beginning of verse 15 reads like this, Thus therefore, as many as are perfect, have this attitude be of this mind. What is the attitude, the mind of which the apostle speaks? He speaks of that attitude, that mind, that is expressing itself in abject humility. That is what the apostle has been doing as you move through this third chapter. No more boast in the flesh for him. No more concentration upon his achievements. No, there is this focus upon Christ. Christ alone.

What is coming to expression in Christ is coming to expression in him.

The attitude that the Apostle sets before the Philippians is that attitude which he personally is expressing to them presently in this chapter, but it is the attitude as well that has been expressed by Christ. for all of this, then drives us back to the second chapter of Philippians, where Paul says to the Philippians in the fifth verse of that chapter, have this mind, have this attitude in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. If then we are to speak about perfection and maturity, maturity comes in this uncommon way, in this surprising way. It comes in humility and service after Christ himself who knew pride of position and privilege as one equal to God who gave it up his place in glory that he might take to himself human flesh be considered a bond slave and obedience to his father even to the point of death. The mind, the attitude that the Apostle Paul then sets so wonderfully here, so ironically and even humorously before the Philippians, is that which is evident in Christ. The one who was first, but made himself last, that others may be served. To take the name of Christ to oneself, to insist that you belong to Him to say that you are numbered with Him and that you reside in fact in Him means nothing less than that the life of your Savior now becomes expressed in you you relinquishing your pride and your boast you even sacrificing your privilege and position that you, like your Savior, might serve humbly and willingly.

For the life of a servant, for the sake of others, We then who claim such descriptions as ours are those who then can lay hold of the maturity of which the Apostle speaks.

And if we do otherwise, may we all be assured of how silly we look in the eyes of God and in the face of hell. Let us pray. Our Father, which they would ever be in us, a claim to strength, a claim to maturity. If we would ever speak about perfection as being a present position, may it be, Lord, that we are trained well by the Apostle himself. May we understand our perfection in light of the resurrection promised us that we one day will stand before you perfected, and that for all eternity. But presently, Lord, if we are to use that term with respect to ourselves, may we do so advisedly, knowing that maturity rises from a confession of immaturity, That perfection expresses itself in us as the Lord Jesus Christ in his servanthood expresses himself in us. We ask Lord that we might be perfect and mature in this sense.

The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.

July 5, 1992
Winning the Race by Sacrifice

This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of the “Philippians” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, June 28, 1992.

About this sermon

The already and not yet runs through the Old Testament, the Gospels, and ordinary Christian life alike. Paul’s athletic imagery of running a race shows what pursuing Christ looks like in practice. Believers win that race through sacrificial service, and never by simply outpacing others.

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Sermon transcript

In that day shall this song be sung in the land of Judah, We have a strong city. Salvation will God appoint for walls and billboards. Open ye the gates that the righteous nation which keepeth the truth may enter in. Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee, because he trusteth in thee. Trust ye in the Lord forever, for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength. For he bringeth down them that dwell on high, the lofty city, he layeth it low, he layeth it low even to the ground, he bringeth it even to the dust. The foot shall tread it down, even the feet of the poor and the steps of the needy.

The way of the just is uprightness. Thou most upright dost weigh the path of the just. Yea, in the way of thy judgments, O Lord, have we waited for thee. The desire of our soul is in thy name, and to the remembrance of thee. With my soul have I desired thee in the night. Yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early. For when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.

Let favor be showed to the wicked, and yet will he not learn righteousness. In the land of uprightness will he deal unjustly, and will not behold the majesty of the Lord. Lord, when thy hand is lifted up, they will not see. that they shall see and be ashamed for their envy of thy people, yea, the fire of thine enemy shall devour them.

Lord, thou wilt ordain peace for us, for thou also hast wrought all our works in us. O Lord our God, other lords beside thee have had dominion over us. but by thee only will we make mention of thy name. They are dead, they shall not live, they are deceased, they shall not rise, therefore hast thou visited and destroyed them and made all their memory to perish. thou hast increased the nation, O Lord, thou hast increased the nation, thou art glorified, thou hast removed it far unto the ends of the earth. Lord, in trouble have they visited thee, they poured out a prayer when thy chastening was upon them.

Like as a woman with child that doth near the time of her delivery is in pain and crieth out in her pain, so have we been in thy sight, O Lord. We have been with child, we have been in pain, we have, as it were, brought forth wind. We have not wrought any deliverance in the earth, neither have the inhabitants of the world followed. Thy dead men shall live Together with my dead body shall they arise, awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust, for thy due is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead.

Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee. Hide thyself, as it were, for a little moment, until the indignation be overpassed. For behold, the Lord cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity. The earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain.”

Then from Paul’s letter to the Philippians, chapter 3, beginning at verse 12. not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect that I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended, but this one thing I do, forgiving those things which are behind and reaching forth unto those things which are before I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded, and if in anything ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you. Nevertheless, whereto we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule. Let us mind the same thing. Brethren, be followers together of me.

Our God, we would have strength from you. We might seek it elsewhere. We might look for it in ourselves, we might look for it in some other person, we might even look for it in some thing. But Father, we would confess that all the search for strength apart from you is vain and empty. We come, therefore, to you, our God. and most particularly we come to your word. Lord, now by your spirit strengthen your people whom you love. For Jesus’ sake, Amen.

It goes without saying that Paul’s letter to the Philippians confuses many. In fact, it even confuses Brockwood Calvinists on occasion. After all, this is the epistle in which the Apostle speaks with such grand confidence, such certainty, a certainty that is certainly rooted in God’s sovereignty. in his predestinating plan and purpose, his election of grace, but then there seems to be all these qualifiers. There seems to be all of these comments that speak to us about striving and straining. comments about working out your own salvation with fear and trembling. Well, I thought that was a settled matter. What are we doing here, working out our salvation with fear and trembling, if we already have our salvation?

And here, in the third chapter of Philippians, the Apostle is speaking about He speaks in the eleventh verse of attaining the resurrection. He tells us flat out in verse twelve, he hasn’t attained or obtained, and suddenly the whole climate of the epistle to the Philippians becomes quite sweaty. filled with testimony to exertion, work, hard work no less. Well, as I said, it’s not without reason that many a saint coming to Philippians becomes confused, maybe even somewhat disoriented. Even Calvinists have been known to stumble a bit in Philippians. But I want you to know that there is this consistent theme for Philippians as well as other epistles from Paul.

There is this consistent theme, the theme of possessing yet to possess. the theme of having yet to have. This language in which the Apostle says he’s got it, but he’s still gaining it. Now, understand what’s in the balance. no peripheral matter here of which the apostle is speaking. He is speaking about salvation. And he is speaking as a saved man.

As such, there is this magnificent ring, this magnificent ring of confidence, this affirmation of gospel truth, inclusive of all that that gospel sets before us. Yes, Christ’s divinity. Yes, Christ’s humanity. Yes, Christ’s life, His death, His resurrection, His ascension, and all of this for the sake of God’s elect.

Therefore, the Apostle Paul speaks as one who is seemingly absolutely confident, confident of the living, resurrected, reigning Savior who, by his Spirit, has intervened in his life in order to rescue him, in order to save him. He has done this by working faith in the Apostle, thereby uniting the Apostle to himself. So real is Paul’s salvation, his sense of salvation, so alive is Paul to his Savior.

So compelled is Paul by the truth of this salvation and by his Savior that this man cannot think of his Savior or the salvation that has become his as objects that are out there somewhere. As if they were articles objects that might be sitting on a coffee table somewhere, to be picked up, admired, enjoyed, then to be laid down again. It is out of his confidence and the confident assurance that salvation is his, that the Apostle Paul doesn’t do something like this.

He doesn’t pick up Christ to put him down. Paul uses the language repeatedly. He puts on Christ. He wears him. It’s a garment that he hopes never to put off. Such is Paul’s experience of Christ and such is his confidence of salvation that he has said, I cannot underscore this enough, I cannot repeat this verse too many times. The Apostle Paul has said, for to me, to live is Christ. To die is gain.

Now that’s Philippians 1.21, but Paul now is in his third chapter and he’ll take up the theme with respect to this confidence again.

He says in verse 9 of this third chapter, I am found in him. It’s not the prospect of being found that the apostle is concerned about at this point. He is speaking definitively about His experience over against the loss of all things, losing them for the sake of gaining Christ. This is how He expresses His confidence. I am found in Him. My place presently is in Him. That’s what He’s saying.

And I am found in him, my place is in him, not depending upon any self-achieved righteousness from the law, but rather the righteousness from God, supplied in the faithfulness of Christ, received by faith, and that only. But it isn’t done. goes on. Not only is he found in Christ, his place is in Christ, he says now boldly, I know Specifically, I know the power of his resurrection by which I am assured the strength to arrive at glory even though I am called to share his sufferings. So then, be aware of just how adamant and insistent the apostle is. He possesses Christ. He has salvation. He can say, I am saved. Yet, still, but, however, Nevertheless, furthermore, he must yet attain.

He must yet, in the apostles’ vocabulary, be saved. but he must as well be saved the apostle knows so well the already category dimension of redemption that he is also fully aware of the not yet dimension he knows the already but simultaneously he knows the not yet so he speaks of having been saved he will also speak in language that communicates salvation future He speaks about a future salvation, for instance, in that first chapter of Philippians, the 19th verse.

If you recall our treatment of that text, we concluded that the apostle there is not merely talking about getting out of jail and rule. He is talking about final deliverance, final redemption. He speaks similarly in the eleventh verse of the third chapter when he speaks about attaining unto the resurrection from the dead, that certainly being a future event. And now he will explain that eleventh verse more fully as he progresses from the twelfth verse on. Paul, now in this twelfth verse, openly confesses that he has not attained his salvation as far as his own resurrection from the dead is concerned. to rob language that he has applied to the Philippians themselves, to rob language from the second chapter, the twelfth verse, where he tells them to work out their salvation with fear and trembling.

Now the apostle applies it to himself. He also is working out his salvation with fear and trembling, by pressing on toward the resurrection from the dead. that in the future he may lay hold of the very thing for which Christ, the risen Christ, has taken hold of him.” How beautifully the Apostle holds together the already and not yet in that 12th verse of the 3rd chapter as you come to its conclusion. that he may lay hold, but not yet, for which also I was laid hold of by Christ.” So then, the Apostle Paul knows full well that his salvation must as yet be completed in the resurrection from the dead. But he also knows, and this is something with respect to the weight of his argument in the letter thus far, he also knows that his salvation and his participation in that resurrection lay in siege presently from the things of this world.

The things in which the flesh boasts, if in fact the flesh has its way. But the Apostle Paul tells us in that thirteenth verse that he’s leaving all of that behind. It’s like a rocket shot, as if the apostle is leaving an entire world and its existence behind. The world of the flesh and its ghost. He escapes through the deliverance effected through Christ.

He presses ahead, he tells us, toward the goal. for the prize of his salvation here understood as the resurrection from the dead the veritable goal belonging to life above through Jesus Christ. It is then the possessing yet to possess that having, yet to have, of which the apostle speaks. He has it, he tells us, still he’s gaining it.

As we suggested at the beginning of the message, this kind of talk sometimes bothers the saints. sometimes confuses the saints. They become a little disoriented when such language is set before them. But let me remind you that this language is not peculiar to Philippians, nor even to the Apostle Paul. It is part and parcel of Scripture truth. from beginning to end. The Old Testament itself is full of it.

Does not Abraham have God, yet there is a gaining of God yet for him? In the fifteenth chapter of Genesis, does not God come and tell Abraham that he God is Abraham’s reward that he presently is given to Abraham as possession, yet Abraham is one who will come into a fuller realization of his possession of God, and that through trial and testing. Thus Mount Moriah, thus the offering of Isaac and the confirmation of Abraham’s faith.

Then what shall we say about the children of Israel? Are they not called the son of God? Called out of Egypt to serve their father, yet in the wilderness they are tried and tested. They have that sonship, but yet they must prove it. And how many times in the Psalms do we read about God being a fortress and a refuge and a city for his people to dwell in, yet his people are portrayed as pilgrims coming up into the city. Yes, they have God who is their citadel, but yet they are coming up to God at the same time. They have him, yet they are attaining him.

And in this respect, there is no more dramatic description of this very thing than that which we read in Isaiah 26 this morning, where in the opening of that chapter, God is described as that magnificent city in which the people of God dwell. But then, as the chapter progresses, it’s obvious to us that the people are en route seemingly two places at once, in the city, with God, yet on their way up into the city, secure and at home, but also on a journey.

What shall we say about Jesus Christ himself? Is he not declared to be the Son of God from the waters of baptism? You remember the scene? The voice out of heaven, Thou art my Son, in thee I am well pleased. And immediately the Spirit drives this one who is so described by the Father into the wilderness for testing. to what end? That he might obtain sonship.

Isn’t it interesting, then, that later on the apostles apply that verse from Psalm 2 to Christ, but specifically with respect to Christ’s resurrection? Psalm 2, where it says, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee. What day? The day of resurrection. From sonship then unto the attaining of sonship.

That is the pattern that we find. Having yet not having. Possessing yet not possessing. How many examples can we multiply in our own lives? the son who has the inheritance, in fact, who lives off the inheritance but yet doesn’t have the inheritance in full those of you who are homeowners you say you own the house the bank says you don’t you live in it He possessed it, but there comes that day when they will hand over the deed to you. But as you notice in this text, the Apostle Paul has his own example. It’s not an economic example.

He’s been using those previously in this chapter. His imagery shifts here as we move into the eleventh and twelfth verses and following. Now he’s using athletic language, sports language. He’s a runner in a race. He’s striving to attain, to obtain. He’s pressing for the prize. Now I think that we can all see how this applies to the not yet category. He’s striving to get something he doesn’t have. So the illustration seems to be a bit one-sided. Paul is in motion.

But while that is the emphasis, Paul, as we have indicated, has not lost sight of the already dimension, the possession that is his. For you see, the one who has already laid hold of him is himself a runner and is himself the prize. Paul runs the race with the prize in hand. You run the race with the prize in hand. And in heaven, Christ Paul possesses not only the certainty of the race’s conclusion, he possesses the power to run it. And nothing less than the power of the resurrection is at work in heaven. But even more, he has, as we’ve said, the prize itself. firmly in grip.

He runs with and in Christ, the very one who has finished the course. Do you want to read about the course that Christ ran? Read Philippians 2 verses 5-11. There is the race of the Son of God. Paul then runs with Christ, firmly held in grasp, or even better, being firmly held in Christ’s grasp. The race’s conclusion and its prize are already seen in the apostle as he writes. But now, in conclusion, having made this observation, seeing that Paul has Christ the champion in the race, this should most certainly tell us something about the race itself.

How is it that Paul runs? Or is he really running at all? Paul really isn’t interested in races, is he? He’s not really chiefly concerned here about an athletic event, is he? Not at all. Paul is concerned about life And the race is an illustration and metaphor. Paul is concerned about his life. He’s concerned about the Philippians’ life. He’s concerned about Christ’s life. Christ’s life then being the source, the wellspring.

And how is it that Christ lived? Do I really have to answer that question? How is it that Christ ran his race? He lived by giving up his life. He lived by giving himself over to death in service to God and to God’s elect. That is why the apostle stresses the fact at the end of the tenth verse that he is being conformed unto the image of Christ’s death. Here is a race that you win by dying. Dying to yourself and dying to the world. Here is a race that you win by losing. just as Christ won his race.

And now Paul wins, if we can speak in this language. Now Paul wins as the very life of Christ shines through him in his sacrificial service even for these Philippians to whom he presently writes. Paul gives his life for them, as Christ gave his life for all of us. But this is stuff meant not merely for saviors and apostles.

It is meant for all who will then run the race. For there is no other way to run but that way that is seen in Christ, imitated by Paul. Notice how strange the race is. We’ve already noted that it is a race that is won by losing. But notice also this anomaly.

Paul, in gaining the prize, doesn’t mean the prize is now captured, possessed, and no one else can get it. What does it mean that there is only left to us lesser metals? In fact, the very way Paul runs is so that the Philippians to whom he writes might gain the very prize he has in you. It’s not, then, I win, you lose. My prize, not yours. I’ve got it, I’m not sharing it. It’s my glory, another reason for me to boast in the flesh, I’m not in a reason for me to feel proud about myself. This isn’t ordinary athletics. Paul lives in such a way that everybody else will get the prize. The very prize he wants. The very prize. that Christ himself has given. That prize is the resurrection and Christ now will have all of his people blessed with that prize for glory.

I possess, yet I do not as yet possess. I have, yet I am to attain. Let us pray. Oh God, may we glory in so wonderful a salvation, so full, complete and rich, affording us confidence and comfort and yet inspiring us in our labor that we might be diligent to work out our salvation with fear and trembling unto the procurement of the resurrection from the dead. O Father, may we be mindful of the way in which we are to run this race assigned to us, running it with Christ firmly in our grasp, being held in His grasp. O Father, We ask that the very service of our Savior, His love, might be evidenced in us for the benefit of others who with us would attain such a prize. We therefore press toward the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Nothing less than the resurrection from the dead.

The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.

June 28, 1992
Abandoning Boasting for Glory

This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of the “Philippians” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, June 21, 1992.

About this sermon

Paul abandons every ground for boasting in order to gain something greater, the glory of Christ himself. That glory includes Christ’s divinity, a new definition of what humanity is, his perfection, and the sufferings he bore in his people’s place. Ephesians 2 gives the fuller account of what Paul receives in exchange.

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Sermon transcript

This morning we are reading from Ephesians 2. We will be reading the entirety of the chapter. Let’s start with verse 1, then. And you, Hathi Quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins, wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now workest in the children of disobedience, among whom also we had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.

But God, who is rich in mercy for his great love wherewith he hath loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ By grace we are saved, and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.

For by grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. for we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. Wherefore, remember that he being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called uncircumcision by that which is called the circumcision in the flesh made by hands, that at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus ye who were sometimes far off were made nigh by the blood of Christ, for he is our peace, who hath made both one and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us, having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances, for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace, and that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby.” and came and preached peace to you which were far off, and to them which were nigh. For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father.

Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and of the household of God, and are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto a holy temple in the Lord, in whom ye also are built together for the inhabitation of God through the Spirit.” Turning over to Philippians chapter 3, verses 12-14, not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect, but I follow after that if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. I count not myself to have apprehended that this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” Father, we know of the opposition your word faces, but who is as powerful as you? We know, our Father, that in many lands your people are distressed because of hostile forces and even hostile governments.

We thank you for freedoms that we enjoy here. May we prove to be good stewards of such freedoms. But Father, we thank you for the freedom that we find in Christ. And in this, Lord, we are bound with others who share this freedom, regardless of what governments may say or what governments may claim.

So protect your people, Lord. May our hearts be with those who suffer for the sake of Christ, and may we be even willing to participate in that suffering with them, that their burden may be lifted. Hear us, Lord, that your Word may prosper according to your appointment. May we see the prosperity of your Word in the world. We ask it through the living Word, Jesus Christ. Amen.

To this beloved congregation in Philippi, Nephasu Paul, writing directly and intimately, bears his soul. He opens up. He does it repeatedly throughout the epistle. He is doing it here again in the third chapter. And by so doing, he is giving expression to that which is at the very center of his existence. He is speaking about what drives him, what motivates him, that constrains him to rise in the morning, what accompanies him when he goes to bed at night, he was speaking about the sleep and breath of his existence. He speaks so directly about the life of his soul, so directly about that which is true of him from the inside out. He speaks about his spiritual state, his spiritual condition.

Now he does this not because he’s some sort of spiritual exhibitionist, it’s not because He’s like so many we hear in our present century who are continually telling us about their own spiritual and religious experiences. Now the apostle is not some sort of spiritual exhibitionist Nor is it that he wishes to boast about himself and his religious superiority. This should be obvious to us, should it not? If we have been hanging with the Apostle through his argument, as we have progressed through the Epistle to the Philippians, for him to boast about himself and his own religious superiority would be a blatant contradiction of the very thing that he has been trying to establish. You recall the burden of his message even as he moves into this third chapter.

He presents his case, had he wished to make matters an issue in a bragging contest, so he contends there isn’t anyone who was his equal. That’s the nature of bragging, isn’t it? If you’re going to brag, you might as well set yourself up as the standard. You’re going to brag, obviously, there isn’t anyone better than you, is there? There cannot be. Why brag, then, you say?

But rather than moving along the lines of braggadocio, the apostle expresses himself in such a way that it is clear that all that might have been ground or foundation for a boast in himself, he forsakes and forfeits for the sake of the surpassing excellency of knowing Jesus Christ.

That’s verse 8. It is unmistakable then as the apostle presents himself, even as he speaks in the first person and uses the personal pronoun, I. That here is one that has been absorbed into the person of Christ, that is consumed with Christ. It is Christ, then, that he wishes to set forward, not himself. He now defines his life in terms of being found in Christ, verse 9, in terms of knowing Christ, verse 10.

It’s as if nothing, nothing matters to Paul but Christ. Everything else, he says, is but rubbish, he uses. even more explicit in graphic language, you may recall. Paul, therefore, has lost himself in Christ, so that the presentation of his present thinking is not, nor can it be, an exercise in vanity. as if he were somehow, after claiming humility, introducing a claim to superiority by the pastoral. His personal comments.

We hear them again and again throughout this epistle. His personal comments then are for the purpose of setting before us Christ, not himself. There is, of course, for that very important reason, why the apostle should be so consumed by the person of Christ. You might misunderstand this.

You may think that the apostle gives place to Christ and that out of necessity, because after all, Christ is divine. Christ is God. The apostle coming to that conviction then, of course, gives place to Christ because of Christ’s essential deity. Now, to be sure, Paul glories in the divine Son of God. His heart, his very soul, is set upon Christ as they would be upon God himself. For, you see, in this one, Jesus Christ is the substance of the Godhead. And as the very being of man, the very life of man, having been made, created by God, depended upon God, destined for God, as that very being of man longs for God and is to give place to God, so Paul, knowing Jesus Christ to be God, longs for Christ and gives place to Him as God.

Paul, therefore, is well aware of the claims of Christ. He is convinced of those claims. Those claims appear expressed by Paul explicitly and indirectly in this very epistle. The explicit references given to you in the sixth verse of that second chapter, where Paul writes about Christ as that one who, although he existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as a thing to be grasped. And how many indirect, indirect references are there to the deity of Jesus Christ?

We think of the opening of the epistle. We think of the greeting, the salutation, Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. The Father and the Lord Jesus Christ are to be read on a line. The deity of Jesus Christ is here in view. you move down to the sixth verse of that first chapter, and at the end of that verse you have mention of the day of Christ Jesus, where you would have expected a reference to the day of the Lord, the Lord being in that context no one else but God. So once more, reference to the fact that yes, the Apostle Paul sees Jesus Christ as God. We turn to the twenty-ninth verse of that first chapter. For to you it has been granted for Christ’s sake not only to believe in him, belief in him reserves, you would think, for God but here to be directed towards Christ, the object of our faith. Yes, Christ is God.

Paul therefore sets Christ before us in all his compelling splendor, because Christ is God. Paul dares not obscure the glory of God in Jesus Christ by his puny sinful self. But while this is correct, While Paul is certain, with respect to Christ’s deity, as much as the divinity of Jesus Christ is an absolute and indispensable tenet of Paul’s gospel, it is not the reason why Paul sets Christ before us here with such thorough conviction He is not the reason why Paul here expresses himself as he does, as one who is thoroughly consumed with the person of Jesus Christ. No one else but Christ can be presented in him, not because Christ is divine and God, as if by some sort of relationship with Christ, Paul might himself become divine. Rather, it is because of Christ’s humanity. The passion with which Paul now expresses himself with regard to Christ focuses specifically upon Christ’s humanity. For what Christ has accomplished is a redefinition of humanness and humanity for Paul. Paul cannot look to himself, nor can he look to others.

For humanity and humanness as expressed by him and others really end in that sinful vanity the Apostle has been expressing all along throughout this epistle. The vanity that comes to expression in the obnoxious brothers of Rome who seek to add weight to Paul’s bonds in prison. Those whom Paul describes as preaching Christ out of envy and strife, but not of goodwill. by sinful vanity and pride also being what in some ways is at the center of things at Philippi, generating a combative and competitive spirit that is tearing the church apart. This sinful vanity and pride will always end in silly boasting, such as Paul describes in the third chapter. Humanity and humanness has reached a tragic conclusion in the self. Sin has ruined us. However, humanity and humanness has had rebirth in Christ. It has had rebirth in the man, Christ. Here in Christ, humanness finds perfect quintessential expression. the ruin of humanity being the backdrop.

The human therefore demands of Paul a radical conformity to Christ. He is drawn into Christ, yes, as he is. He is confronted with God, for Christ is God, but Simultaneously, he is drawn into Christ, and there he confronts true humanness, what it means to be a human being before God. He is found to be in Christ in verse 9 of that third chapter. He does not mean that he has come to share Christ’s deity. Instead, he means he now stands in the new man, Jesus Christ. This new man obviously possessing in himself the requisite righteousness by which humanity would hope to stand before God justified. And then Paul says he knows Christ in verse 10. He does not have in mind a knowledge of Christ in his essential deity, although he does know Christ as God.

Instead, as Philippians 3.10 goes on to say, Paul’s knowledge of Christ is specifically that pertaining to the dimensions of Christ’s life and experience as man, for it is not as deity that Jesus undergoes resurrection, but as humanity, as man. It is not in his deity that Christ and Paul have fellowship in suffering. It is specifically in his humanity that Christ dies. And in Paul’s humanity, he is being conformed to Christ’s death. It is precisely in Christ that Paul sees what it means. to be a human being. And he now, as a human being, literally has no life but Christ.

For to me, to live is Philippians 1.21. Paul expressing such passion for Christ means that now his own true humanness may express itself Paul glories in Christ because Christ means the reclamation by way of saving redemptive work means the reclamation of Paul’s own humanness Paul leads Christ because that to Paul is what it means to be a human being It now thoroughly informs his consciousness. It has penetrated him so deeply. It has become the expression of all of his notions. His very words are informed not only by Christ, but with Christ.

It’s not a matter of engaging Christ when you happen to pick up the Bible, or when you have an occasion to prayer, when you bow your head at a meal. It’s not merely a matter of thinking about Christ when you walk through the doors of this building or some other place of worship. It’s a way of life. Have you ever noticed how little time the Apostle Paul spends on the specifics of formal It’s almost as if he isn’t interested in it. Of course, that’s not true. He’s very much interested in formal worship, but he will not allow his vocabulary and his descriptions to be rolled up within some sort of building someplace or some sort of assembly. No, Christianity is a life lived in which Christ is manifest and seen.

It has to do with all of your moments. It’s not just a few words, it’s all of your words, it’s not just a few of your actions, it is all of your actions. This is what has happened to the Apostle. Though he speaks in the first person, he speaks with the first-person pronoun, I, that pronoun is giving way at all points to Christ. Christ himself is displacing Paul. You might not like the Apostle’s description of things. Especially as you look at that 10th verse and you hear the Apostle speaking about fellowship in his suffering, being conformed to his death. The Apostle here is setting before us the description of our true humanity. This is what it means to be human.

I’m not interested, you say. I’m not interested in suffering. I’m not interested in being conformed to the image of Christ’s death. me another gospel, will you please?” Unfortunately, that is what has happened to the majority within the Christian Church of our own time.

They have asked for and they have received another gospel. What has it done to live in Christ, wants it to be human in terms of this new humanness found in Christ. And I don’t want to start out with mention of fellowship with Christ’s sufferings, because that’s not where Paul starts out. To be human now, according to the apostles, to be aware at the very center of your being of that indestructible life that is at work in you, that which Paul calls the power of the resurrection. Here is the wellspring of our joy. Here is the fountain for our relief. Here is the fountain of our exhilaration. Here is the stream of our zeal and our passion. What earnestness is ours because we, in our humanness, now know the power of Christ’s resurrection. He, in his humanity, has been raised. You, in your humanity, have been raised in him.

But as the Apostle goes on to say, being human as defined in and found in Christ means present sufferings with and for Christ. Christ himself suffered for the sake of the kingdom of heaven at the hands of those who love the kingdom of this world. He, as the epitome of the new humanity, suffered at the hands of the old humanity. And so it is with respect to all of those who are bound to him. We are not part of the kingdom of this world, we belong to the kingdom of glory. And as such, we will suffer at the hands of those who love this world and love it above all else.

Christ not only suffered in this fashion, He suffered by entering into the desperate straits of those destined for participation with Him in glory. He identifies Himself with them. There is a vicarious character to Christ’s sufferings, and that is essential to the gospel proclamation. But though we cannot die for the sins of others, we can enter into their sufferings and bear their sufferings with them and even for them. Finally, Christ suffered by making himself servant, by making himself last, that others might become first, that they might be blessed by root of his sacrifice.

Here is the definition of our humanity, our humanness, blessed and secured by the power of the resurrection at work in us. Our humanness expresses itself in suffering as we bear the opprogrium of unbelief and opposition to the gospel, as we suffer because of our identification with Christ’s elect, as we suffer through the daily exercise of servanthood, as we give place to others, they being exalted by our sacrifice and served by our good works. use the objects of our compassion and kindness, our forbearance and patience.

Indeed, as the Apostle now goes on in verses 12 through 14, he is able to say, I forget those things which are behind. What an embarrassment, what a tragedy. My expression of humanness prior to my introduction into Christ Jesus. I forget those things that are behind and I press on. that the life of Christ might be expressed in me, this being my sole reason for living.

Lord, we would not be gods, and we would not displace you, but we would be men and women. We would express the fact that we are your creatures, made by you and for you. And how will we express that? How will true humanity be expressed in us and by us? And how will we be humanity indeed?

Only through Christ, that man who is set for us as mediator between you and us. that one who in his humanity served and suffered, died and was raised, and in his humanity, now in glory, gives us a picture of that which awaits us in glory also. Forgive us, Lord, Indeed, by your grace, may we forget those things that have passed, and may we press on toward the prize that we might be all that we ought to be in Christ Jesus’ eyes.

The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.

June 21, 1992
The Purpose of Philippians

This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of the “Philippians” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, June 14, 1992.

About this sermon

Paul’s journey to Philippi sets up an outline of the whole letter, with encouragement, rebuke, and warning woven together. Joy in the risen Christ runs beneath all three and gives the letter its purpose. Every part of the letter connects to that center.

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Sermon transcript

We are reading this morning Philippians 3 in its entirety, and also going to the fourth chapter, the first verse. Listen to the word of God. This is Philippians chapter 3. Finally, my brethren, rejoice 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 confidence in the flesh. Though I might also have confidence in the flesh, if any other man thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more. circumcised the eighth day of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, and Hebrew of the Hebrews, as touching the law, a Pharisee concerning zeal, persecuting the church, touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.

But what things were gained to me, those I counted lost for Christ.” 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 might win Christ and be found in him, not having mine own righteousness which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith. that I might know him, and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings being made conformable unto his death, if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead. Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect. But I follow after, if that I may apprehend, that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. I count not myself to have apprehended, but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded. And if in anything ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you. Nevertheless, whereto we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us mind the same thing. 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. For our citizenship is in heaven. For once also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change our vile body, that it might be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby He is able even to subdue all things unto Himself. Therefore, my brethren, dearly beloved and longed for, my joy and crown, so stand fast in the Lord, my dearly beloved.”

Our Father, we would remember your servants who carry your word. We have prayed for ourselves that our speech may be pure, seasoned with salt, that we might speak with integrity. honestly testifying of the things we know to be true. But Lord, we also ask for those whom you have raised up, who are set in the midst of your people for the declaration of your word, may they declare it with power. And may it please you today, Lord, to use the messages presented to bring many to yourself And may it please you also, Lord, to build up the company of your redeemed, your elect, that they might know even better how great your love is for them and how much they are to love you. We are asking for servants the world over, those who would proclaim your word today in Asia, in Africa, in Europe, in South America, here in North America, throughout all of the continents of this world. And may there be that testimony to your truth, and may men who have loved you proclaim your word with integrity, we pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.

We have come to a point in our messages on Philippians where it might be well for us to take stock of ourselves and where we have been. We have been working with Philippians for quite some time now, and I know that as we’re going through looking at all the trees, we might lose our grip on the forest. In order to put the fourth back in perspective or bring it before our view once more, let’s take a look then at Philippians as we have presented it. First of all, let’s remind ourselves this morning of the situation, the situation that the Apostle Paul encountered at Philippi. that which led up to the production of this letter.

The church at Philippi had been founded by Paul on his second missionary journey. This is the second of three, if you’re familiar with the Book of Acts. The congregation in Philippi had been founded by the Apostle Paul during his second missionary journey. Early in the fifties, this would be about twenty years after the crucifixion of Christ, Paul’s founding of this congregation in the Book of Acts, Chapter 16, and there are certainly a number of passages that you know from that story that are quite famous.

You might recall the Philippian jailer and what happens when Paul and Silas are caught in jail and earthquake strikes. Jailer comes to Paul and throws himself down at his feet and cries out, What must I do to be saved? And Paul’s response to him was, Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house. And we have the salvation then of the Philippian jailer and his household, and surely they’re part of the foundation of that congregation that was established by Paul during his second missionary journey.

Paul visited this congregation more than just that once. On his third missionary journey, he visited at least two more times. We can read about this journey and his visits in Acts 19 and 20. This places us in the mid-fifties now, so we’re moving away from Christ’s crucifixion and towards the sixties and the eventual execution of Paul himself in Rome. Paul had visited then the Philippian congregation after he had founded it. At the conclusion of that third missionary journey, you may recall Paul returns to Israel, he returns to Jerusalem where he is confronted with the Jews, he is arrested, and he is facing trial.

That trial takes about two years to unfold. We are now at the years 57 to 59 AD, and we are looking at chapters in Acts, Acts chapter 21 through Acts chapter 26. You know, the conclusion of Paul’s trial there in Caesarea, the seaport city, he makes appeal to Caesar. And by reason of that appeal, he is then shipped off to Rome, where he will face further trial.

The journey from the land of Palestine to Rome is recorded for you at the end of the book of Acts, chapters 27 and 28, Acts itself ending with Paul’s arrival in Rome. This places us at about the year 59 A.D. Paul is now in prison in Rome, and it is partway through that imprisonment that lasted for a few years that he writes his letter to the Philippians. He usually dates the letter to the Philippians around the year 61 A.D., and this would place it about ten years after the founding of the congregation in Philippi and about thirty years after Christ’s crucifixion. Well, that’s things as they are for the Apostle as we are brought up to the production of this particular letter, this letter to the Philippians. What about the situation for the Philippians themselves?

They were very proud of their city. Their city was one of historic note, situated in Macedonia. It bears the name of Alexander’s father, Philip. It was named for him, he being a great conqueror and then instructing his son in many of the arts of war that helped his son then go off and conquer the world. Philippi was proud of its heritage and its history and it had special status within the Roman Empire, these people having been made citizens outright of the Roman Empire and very proud of that citizenship. Paul was very close to this church that formed in this city. He was very dear to the folks in that church as they were to him.

And because of this close bond that existed between him and these Christians in Philippi, when they found out that he was in prison in Rome, they sent to him an emissary by the name of Epaphroditus. You can find him mentioned in the second chapter, the twenty-fifth verse, and also again the fourth chapter, the eighteenth verse. This man was a leader in the church of Philippi, and we don’t know much more about him. We don’t know how he was converted, how he was brought into the church, but at any rate he was a leader in the church at Philippi, and he now is entrusted with a gift and sent off to Rome to visit Paul who is presently in chains. Now, while he is there ministering to Paul, he remains on the scene in Rome ministering to Paul. While he is there, he reviews with Paul the situation in the Philippian church.

Now, there are encouragements that come to Paul from Epaphroditus’s report that there are also discouraging things as well. The word comes to Paul through Epaphroditus that the Philippians are experiencing persecution and the suffering is somewhat severe. You have reference made to that at the end of the first chapter of Philippians verses 29 and 30.

For to you it has been granted for Christ’s sake not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for his sake, experiencing the same conflict which you saw in me and now hear to be in me.” So the Philippians are hard-pressed presently. They are undergoing a persecution, and that for the sake of their faith. They are suffering as a result of their relationship to the gospel.

Therefore, the apostle is concerned to send to them a message of encouragement, a message of hope. And I think that you will agree as you read through Philippians that here we have an epistle of hope and encouragement par excellence. In fact, many of you might have turned to the epistle to the Philippians when you were especially hard-pressed because you were especially in need of some encouragement. Paul’s words certainly were a blessing to those folks. and they are a blessing to us, as the Spirit is pleased to use those words.

But Paul has not merely received word about persecution and subsequent sufferings that have come to the Philippian Christians. He has also received word that the Philippians, in the midst of this present distress, are turning on one another. They are at each other’s throats. The stress has been great, the difficulty has been extreme, and in the midst of all of this now they have turned on one another.

So while the apostle is giving them this word of encouragement in the midst of their present difficulty, he is also administering to them something of an admonition, a rebuke, if you will, calling them to be like-minded, to be of one mind. Note what he says at the end of the first chapter, the twenty-seventh verse, “…only conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or remain absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel.” Turn down to the second chapter, second verse, “…make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose. And of course then you have his encouragement and admonition blended together in verse 5 of that second chapter, have this mind in you which was also in Christ Jesus. The common mind that he would have them express is that which is found in Jesus Christ. Now, the particulars of this strain within the congregation are also brought out to us throughout the letter.

We can infer some things from the conclusion of Chapter 2 that maybe even Epaphroditus was in the midst of things, and his reputation not enhanced all that much now because he’s the tail-bearer who’s gone to Rome and reported all of these things to Paul.

So maybe it’s not going to be such a royal welcome when Epaphroditus returns to Philippi and brings word from Paul to the Philippians and brings his comments with him concerning their condition. In addition, we have mention made in the fourth chapter, the second verse, about the difficulty that has arisen with regard to two women in the church. Erodian sympathy seemed to be at each other’s throats, and Paul is urging them to live in harmony. So you see, the word now that has come to Paul about the Philippians concerns not just the persecution that this Church is undergoing, they then being in need of encouragement, but also it involves the discord that has erupted within the Church so that people are at one another.

And we have then the rebuke that is delivered by the Apostle with regard to their circumstance. Now, there’s one other dimension to this predicament, this situation that the Apostle is addressing, and that is, with the Church in this weakened state, weakened by persecution and weakened by internal discord, they have become easy prey for those who would take advantage of them.

Most specifically, those who are experts in boasting in the flesh. Those who are experts in boasting about their credentials. Those who live for the world. Those who are worldly-minded. Those who really have no place in their consciousness whatsoever for heavenly things, because after all, in their estimation, religion as it is evaluated by them, religion pertains to getting on in this life and making the best of our circumstances and making things good for ourselves regardless of what might be the consequences with regard to the enslavement, the religious enslavement of those whom we profess to serve.

So, we have encouragement coming from the Apostle with regard to the situation faced by the Philippians, the persecution, we have rebuke with regard to the internal discord, and finally we have warning, warning given to them with regard to the threat that is posed. You have Paul specifically speaking about that threat in the second verse of the third chapter where he tells these Philippians, beware of the dogs, beware of evil workers, Beware of the concision, or the mutilators, as he calls them.

Now, that gives you a feel for what Paul is dealing with here in a general way. What about the letter specifically as it works itself out, in keeping with the apostles’ ordinary pattern for letter writing? You have his salutation, his customary salutation in 1st chapter, verses 1 and 2, followed by his thanksgiving and prayer, verses 3 through 11. This thanksgiving and prayer working itself out consistently with what he places before these Philippians later on in the 4th chapter, the 6th verse. He tells them, be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God. When you back up to the first chapter, verses 3-11, and you find there that pattern worked out by the Apostle as he presents to these Philippians his thanksgiving for them, and then his prayer, his supplication on their behalf. This thanksgiving and prayer by the Apostle is followed by what has been called his missionary report in verses 12-26 of that first chapter.

It is a remarkable passage, we spent a great deal of time working through it, but Paul gives a review of his circumstances in Rome, how he too is experiencing persecution and opposition, not just from those who are outside, but even from so-called Christians who are taking advantage of his change and sort of enhancing their own reputations at Paul’s expense. Paul speaks very pointedly about these folks.

He says that they are preaching Christ from envy and strife. They are not preaching Christ out of goodwill. They do not preach Christ out of love. They proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition. They do not have pure motives. They think to cause me distress in my imprisonment.

Paul, though distressed, is not at the point of despair, for he realizes that nonetheless Christ is proclaimed, and because Christ is proclaimed, he will rejoice and continue to rejoice, knowing that even these things that are occurring to him in prison shall work out for his salvation through the prayers and the provision of the Spirit of Jesus Christ. One might well ask, how can the apostle be so sure that he too doesn’t preach Christ of selfish ambition? How can the apostle be so sure that he doesn’t preach Christ out of envy and strife, trying to take advantage of others and build his own reputation at their expense? And that’s precisely what he goes on to prove as you fill out that missionary report. especially verses 21 through 26 of that first chapter.

For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain, he says. So thoroughly absorbed is he by Christ that personal ambition does not intrude. He is determined to fight that personal ambition at every turn, to suppress it. For to me to live is Christ, and to die is man. This day he comes, the Apostle’s Vindication, as he not only proclaims Christ but lives Christ, lives Christ before the face of the whole Church. He is not seeking advantage. He pursues Christ for the sake of service in his name. The course that he follows is not the gain of life, but rather the losing of life for Christ’s sake.

It’s a marvelous report given by the Apostle. We could hope that missionaries reporting to us would speak similarly. This then, beginning with the twenty-seventh verse of the first chapter, this then is followed by the main body of the epistle, and that main body will continue through the fourth chapter of the first verse, and essentially this is divided into three parts. First of all, there is the call for sanctification, verse twenty-seven in chapter one through the eighteenth verse of the second chapter. What can we say about this call for sanctification. Once more we note that the heavenly mindedness, the citizenship, the heavenly citizenship of the people of God is foremost. That is what is in view in verse 27 of that first chapter as this section begins. It is the working out of that heavenly mindedness, that heavenly citizenship, that is what is coming to expression. That is why unity is so much on the mind of the Apostle. Is there unity in heaven? Yes. What kind of unity? The very unity of Christ. The harmony that is found within Christ.

The Apostle then is pressing home this heavenly consciousness. this expression of heavenly citizenship and it works itself out in terms of a common mind it works itself out also in terms of service for the sake of the other even as Jesus Christ himself forwent his prerogatives in glory Having existed in the form of God, he did not regard that equality a thing to be grasped.

He emptied himself, took upon himself the form of a bondservant, which made him a likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Meanwhile, in Philippi, people are grumbling at one another because they don’t particularly like serving each other, and they don’t like serving each other because they don’t like one another.

The apostle reminds them to work out their salvation with fear and trembling, by which he means, may there come to expression in you this heavenly point of view. May there come to expression in you this Christ-likeness. Do all things without grumbling and disputing, he says.

So there is the call for sanctification, the first installment of the main body of the is charged to these people, chapter 1 verse 27 through chapter 2 verse 18. Then there comes the proof of integrity, verses 19 of that second chapter through verse 30 to the end of that chapter. The proofs of integrity. The fact that the Apostle sets forth his integrity. The fact that the Apostle sets forth Timothy and Epaphroditus as Again, proofs of integrity.

They themselves proving their integrity before the Church and specifically with respect to these Christians who are Philippians. And this then being the ground upon which then the Apostle calls for a proof of integrity on the part of the Philippians.

Here you have these people who are living for you, in fact even willing to die for you. What about you then, in light of these? And then the section that we are currently dealing with, the fight for integrity, chapter 3 in its entirety, including 1st, 2nd, and 4th chapter. warning these Philippians about those who will seek to enslave them and rob them of their joy, who will set their minds upon earthly things and rob them of their transcendence.

They will be incapable of getting above the affairs of this world simply because of the religious tyranny that is espoused by these people that are coming in for the express purpose of enslaving these folk religiously. At stake is the gospel, the gospel of freedom, the gospel of liberty. If you let go of that gospel of liberty and its transcendent, namely, heaven and heavenly citizenship, you will in fact be enslaved, and in the end you will be destroyed.

We haven’t reached the end of this epistle as yet. The conclusion begins with the second verse of the fourth chapter, and you have Paul’s final remarks that carry you to the end of the epistle. So that then gives you the outline for the epistle. One more time, the salutation, the first two verses of the first chapter, the thanksgiving and prayer, verses three through eleven. of that first chapter, the missionary report, verses twelve through twenty-six, and the main body of the epistle, verse twenty-seven of the first chapter through the first verse of chapter four in the final remarks, round things up, verse two through verse twenty-three of the fourth chapter. We have then the situation, we have then the epistle and outline. What specifically is the burden? of the Apostle as he writes.

Paul wishes to communicate in the power of the Holy Spirit the reality of that inner strength which is given to him of grace, the inner strength that is found in Jesus Christ, his risen Lord. Paul wishes to communicate through the Holy Spirit the reality of that inner strength that is his in and through the risen Christ.

Why is this so important? We have spoken about the liberty in the gospel which is in the balance. But you know as you read through Philippians, what receives such emphasis in this epistle? Is it not the theme of joy and rejoicing? Fourteen times in this epistle, Paul speaks of joy and rejoicing. In the balance is the joy of the believer, and the Apostle Paul is saying to us that that joy is directly bound to the living Christ.

The living Christ. That means that the apostle is absolutely assured that Christ is presently alive. He is serving a risen Savior. He is serving that one who came out of the tomb on the third day, that one in fact who confronted him on the road to Damascus, He is serving specifically that resurrected Savior. Nothing can undo the resurrection of Christ. Christ cannot die again. And because Christ’s resurrection is permanently set, cannot be undone, because Christ ever lives, The apostle now understands his joy to be unmovable. My joy is as permanent as Christ himself.

Therefore he does not hesitate to call these Philippians to rejoice, even in the midst of their persecution. Nor does he hesitate to describe his own rejoicing he be in the midst of persecution.” And at the conclusion of the epistle, he will underscore it, will he not, when he says in the fourth verse of that fourth chapter, “…rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say, rejoice.” Everybody at Philippi was saying, we don’t have any reason to rejoice, and Paul was saying, you have every reason to rejoice if in fact you have laid hold of the risen Christ, this one who has been raised again, who is the source of your inner strength.

In another context, the Apostle Paul says that though his elder man is passing away, dying, he is being renewed in the inner man day by day. So the burden of the apostle then is to communicate the reality of that inner strength which is his in union with the risen Christ. I am not dislodged in my joy, regardless of what comes, because Christ has been raised from the dead.

Death itself does not have the last word. Now this is not only the rejoicing epistle, it is also the thinking epistle. For as many times as words about joy and rejoicing are used in this epistle, words about thinking and attitude are also used. So this joy that the Apostle puts in front of us is not some sort of mindless mystical trip, it’s not some sort of flight of fancy, or the expression of some sort of effervescence. Far from it, it is a contemplative a reflective, a meditative type of rejoicing. It is a meditation that focuses upon the Christ who is exalted, that one who is at the right hand of God. Have this mind in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. Be of one mind. Think on these things.

All of these than be in places that are lifted right out of Philippians, encouraging us then not to allow our joy to become irresponsible silliness, but rather filled with content, substantive, filled with Christ, the realities that we find in Christ. and the truths of the eternal kingdom that belongs to him.

It is then our meditation upon Christ, our thinking on him, our thinking like him, that works maturity in us, so it would be as the Apostle Paul looks to his beloved congregation in Philippi, that they would mature by such thinking that their joy would be unshakable, that their confidence in the risen Christ would be absolute. Let us pray. Hallowed Father, refresh us with your word and even with this epistle that the Apostle has written to the struggling, sometimes confused and bewildered congregation in Philippi. May we in our bewilderment and confusion also find consolation, encouragement, even rebuke as we need it, and warning as is appropriate. all to the end, Lord, that we might share with the Apostle his joy in the risen Christ. We pray, Father, that we might be immovable in this, that we might be steadfast, that we might abound in joy, because our minds are set upon Christ himself and upon the kingdom which is above. O Lord, we pray for your help. May the very spirit that inspired the Apostle dwell in us so that we would abound with such thinking and with such expressions of joy.

The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.

June 14, 1992
Glorification and the Answer to Vanity

This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of the “Philippians” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, May 31, 1992.

About this sermon

Scripture and the catechism both define glorification, and the resurrection should shape ordinary Christian life now, well beyond a distant future doctrine. In 2 Corinthians 4-5 Paul meditates at length on that shaping. Christ’s resurrection answers the vanity of Ecclesiastes.

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Sermon transcript

The scripture reading this morning begins in 2 Corinthians 4. This is 2 Corinthians 4, verse 13. We are reading from the 13th verse, and we will be reading into the 5th chapter through verse 10. Listen to what God says through his servant Paul. We, having the same spirit of faith, according as it is written, I believed and therefore have I spoken, we also believe and therefore speak, knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus and shall present us with you.

For all things are for your sakes. that the abundant grace might, through the thanksgiving of many, redound to the glory of God, for which cause we faint not. But though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day, for our light affliction which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.

While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen, for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal. For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God and house not made with hands eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven, if so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked. For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened, not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon that mortality might be swallowed up of life. Now he that hath wrought us for this, for the selfsame thing, is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit.

Therefore, we are always confident, knowing that whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight. We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord. Wherefore, we labor that whether present or absent, we may be accepted of Him for we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that everyone may receive the things done in his body according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.” Then turning over to Philippians 3, reading verses 8-11, Yea, doubtless, and I count all things but lost 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 done, that I may win Christ and be found in him, not having mine own righteousness which is of the law, but that which is through faith, through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith, that I may know him.” and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings being made conformable unto His death, if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.

I’m wondering if you have ever noticed the beautiful symmetry to the shorter Catechism. That symmetry, that wonderful development and balance, is a matter which in itself makes the study of the Catechism worthwhile, rewarding. Now, with respect to this symmetry and balance, this morning I have in mind the first part of the Catechism. namely questions 1 through 38. If you need to refresh yourself about those questions, you can look them up in the back of the Trinity Hymnal. I think the Catechism begins on page 666, that’s not a hard number to remember. Questions 1 through 38 are the questions I have in mind, and of course, I don’t need to introduce you to question and answer number one. You know that quite well, I’m sure.

What is the chief end of man? Man’s chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever. But it is specifically question and answer 38 that I want to call your attention to this morning. We have the question, what benefits do believers receive from Christ at the resurrection?

And the answer is this. At the resurrection, believers being raised up in glory shall be openly acknowledged and acquitted in the day of judgment and made perfectly blessed to the full enjoying of God to all eternity. You pick up the symmetry and the balance as we move from question number one to question number thirty-eight. You see how these two questions and answers go together. Answer number one speaks about our chief end.

That chief end being to enjoy God forever. And then Answer 38 speaks about that glorious end in these words. It speaks of that glorious end as the full enjoying of God to all eternity. To enjoy God forever, the full enjoying of God to all eternity. Our goal Our purpose, our chief end, is the enjoyment of God. The means now by which we shall attain that goal is the resurrection, the resurrection specifically of our bodies from the dead.

There is no other route by which we then can enjoy God forever. Now, this is the doctrine of glorification, the doctrine of glorification, this doctrine pertaining to the glorious transformation that shall be effected for our bodies at the last day, so that our bodies so that our bodies will be fit for the enjoyment of God forever.

We read, with respect to this doctrine, a general reference in a familiar text to us from Romans 8. There are many here this morning who can rattle off the concluding verses of Romans 8 from memory, but you remember one of those verses, a very important verse, because of the lengths and the pattern, the flow, the cadence of it all, and whom he predestinated. These he also called, and whom he called. These he also justified, and whom he justified, these he also glorified.”

The doctrine of glorification given general reference in that verse, the eighth chapter of Romans, verse 30. The more specific reference is found in Philippians chapter 3, verse 21, a bit beyond where we have read this morning, verse 21. where Paul speaks of Jesus Christ. Notice the end of verse 20, where he speaks of Jesus Christ, who will himself transform the body of our humble state, the King James says, our vile state, into conformity with the body of his glory. by the exertion of the power that he had even to subject all things to himself. Here is then the doctrine of glorification spelled out more fully, more explicitly for us, and you will note in this that as it has been for Christ, so it shall be for us. There is this bond that exists between the Savior and the saved, between those who have been redeemed and the Redeemer himself. He has been raised to glory, his body has been transformed, he has been glorified, and we will be glorified too.

Now, it is specifically glorification that Paul has in mind in the 11th verse of Philippians 3, backing up a little bit from that 21st verse. If by any means, so writes Paul, I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead. Now this is wonderful, this statement by Paul, this is wonderful in many regards. You see, what Paul has given us here in this eleventh verse is the filling out or the completion of his three-verse doctrinal seminar, as we have called it.

Remember, verse nine dealt specifically with the doctrine of justification and the question of Paul’s right standing before God. By extension, our right standing before God. Verse 9 then, justification. Verse 10, dealt with sanctification and the question of Paul’s personal holiness and the holiness, the specific holiness of his life.

By extension, one more time. By extension, one more time, we too are imbued, verse 10, dealing with sanctification not just for the apostle, but he expressing that doctrine as we too are related to it. Our personal holiness, our holiness in life. Now consider this for a moment.

Justification, verse 9, stands most proximate spiritual birth, that is, being born again, that is, regeneration. You know the terms. Verse 9, in speaking about justification stands most proximate spiritual birth and regeneration than sanctification stands most proximate to the ongoing Christian life. Verse 9, the beginning. Verse 10, the continuation.

But this means then that verse 11, and the glorification of which it speaks, stands most proximate the conclusion of life, the conclusion of life in this world, and even the end of the world itself, bringing into view Paul’s life in the world to come.

This being the case, then, these three verses are even more glorious than we thought originally, for not only do we have in them a compressed doctrinal course of instruction from the Apostle, we have in short compress, then, in these three verses, a survey of the entirety of the Christian existence. from regeneration to resurrection, from grace to glory, from rebirth to the consummation of the age. You would do well to memorize these three verses. They are a diamond a gem of incomparable value, of greatest worth, all pouring so much into so little space. But now, this all being as we have suggested, We, with this eleventh verse, have come face to face with the end of the matter, that to which the other verses were present, that to which the Apostle himself was present. This eleventh verse becomes not just important, it becomes most important, in itself the goal, the end. to which the apostle has written the end to which he in his life is pressing. Justification, we can say then, is unto this end, unto the end of glorification. Sanctification also, it is to this end, it is to the end of glorification, if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection from the dead.

Here is the grand, grand objective. How comprehensive, how comprehensive it is. We have read from 2 Corinthians this morning, starting in that 4th chapter towards the end, but then moving on into the 5th chapter, the 2nd verse, notice what the Apostle Paul says in that second verse of the fifth chapter of 2 Corinthians, for indeed in this house, namely in our body, we groan, longing to be clothed with our dwelling from heaven. How earnestly, how zealously the Apostle Paul sets this as the end point, the objective of his life. It was all, every bit of it, for the sake of the resurrection.

Did you catch the force of the fifth verse of that fifth chapter in 2 Corinthians? I hope you didn’t tune out at that point, but caught a little bit of the force and power the Apostle intends, the fifth verse of that fifth chapter in 2 Corinthians, now he, that being God, who prepared us for this very purpose, is God. Now he who prepared us for this very purpose is God who gave to us the Spirit as a pledge. The Apostle here isn’t speaking about many possible purposes of which this is one. This is the purpose. There is no other purpose. You understand now why the resurrection itself, the historical event of the resurrection of Christ, is so utterly indispensable to the Apostle Paul. He can’t do without it.

Here is the goal. and for those to come along in the 19th and 20th century within the Church of Jesus Christ and suggest to us that the resurrection of Jesus Christ as a historical event never occurred. How ludicrous! How absolutely ludicrous for them to go on and suggest that they can retain the gospel and deny the resurrection. How absolutely ludicrous!

Remember what the Apostle Paul says in Romans 8, prior to that 30th verse, the 22nd chapter, I’m sorry, the 22nd verse is the one I had in mind. There he tells us that the entirety of the creation, the entirety of the creation groans for this very thing, namely the resurrection of the sons of God and the redemption of their bodies. So it’s not just we who groan, the creation itself groans. It is not just we who have this purpose, the creation as a whole, in its entirety, has this purpose.

How sad it is. How sad it is. But this most important point is lost, cited so easily, by too many Christians. The resurrection is too nebulous, they say. They can’t get any proper fix on it. It doesn’t conjure up in their mind any real images that they can hold on to, they say. It’s too remote. It’s too abstract. It’s too far distant.

It relates to things that are far beyond what concerns me here. For I am pressed on every side with concerns and worries and problems and difficulties And these things seem to me to be more important than something as remote as the resurrection. Much better I focus on these other matters rather on something that is too far away for me to be concerned with a great deal. Of all this understanding, I am interested in the resurrection, I do want to be raised someday, but that’s way down the road somewhere.

But to suggest to me that this is the very center of my life, that this is the most important thing for me, I can name a thousand other things that are more important to me. Just give me an opportunity here. I’ve got a house table due tomorrow. I need a job. I’m worried about my kids. The economy is a mess. This is an election year. What’s the feature of democracy? The state of the church. All of these things, they’re important, are they not?

Then the remote, distant subject of the resurrection. how different the Apostle Paul is since it is his unshakable confidence in the resurrection fact and the resurrection hope that molds and shapes his existence now. The prospect of that resurrection and its realization in Jesus Christ compels him to define correctly, honestly, the issue of justification and right standing before God. It compels him presently to live a holy life knowing that in his body he will appear before the judgment seat of God. Far from being impractical and remote, the resurrection becomes the most practical and the most proximate for the informing of a Christian with respect to current life and thought. The resurrection informs Paul, glorification informs Paul, not only of his hope, but also of his present duty.

Remove the resurrection and nothing remains to the Christian message or to the Christian life. There is no reason for it. If you want an example of a resurrection-less theology, I encourage you today to pick up the book of Ecclesiastes in the Old Testament and read it. And it is specifically the resurrection of Jesus Christ that supplies us the answer, the divinely given, the graciously given answer to the despair and the confusion of the book of Ecclesiastes.

And came then glory, glorification, resurrection, and the gospel which you have embraced stands. You yourself shall stand. that message from God, that by way of the resurrection of his Son in the body, the gates have been opened for the full enjoyment of God to all eternity. May your life, may my life, be a credit to that goal and may we press toward it with all deliberate determination. If by any means I, we, might attain unto the resurrection from the dead, Our Father, we would glory in you, for while we celebrate and remember the death of our Savior, how great it is for us to remember the sufferings of the Christ for our sin. We rejoice, Father, that you have raised him to newness of life and to glory in your presence. and we shall certainly follow. May this, in fact, be the content of our faith, that not only did our Savior die for our sins, he was raised for our justification. Hear us, Lord, we ask in Jesus’ name.

The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.

May 31, 1992
Knowing Christ Like a Marriage

This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of the “Philippians” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, May 17, 1992.

About this sermon

Philippians 3:8-10 has a careful structure, and it gives an already-and-not-yet account of sanctification. Paul knows Christ covenantally, the way a husband knows a wife, far beyond acquiring information. Hosea and Jeremiah supply the Old Testament’s covenant vocabulary for that intimate, binding knowledge.

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Sermon transcript

This morning we begin our scripture reading in Jeremiah chapter thirty-one. We are beginning with verse twenty-seven. This is the word of God. behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man and with the seed of beast. And it shall come to pass that like as I have watched over them to pluck up and to break down and to throw down and to destroy and to afflict, so I will watch over them to build and to plant saith the Lord.

In those days they shall say no more. The fathers have eaten a sour grape and the children’s teeth are set on edge. But everyone shall die for his own iniquity. Every man that eateth the sour grape, his teeth shall be set on edge. Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel. and with the house of Judah. Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, which my covenant they break, although I was a husband unto them, saith the Lord. But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord. I will put my law in their inward parts, and I will write it in their hearts, and will be their God and they shall be my people.

And they shall teach no more every man his neighbor and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord, for they shall all know me from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord. And I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”

I’m turning over to Philippians chapter two as a reminder to us from that chapter, verses five through eleven. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of men. And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him and given him a name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow of things in heaven and things in earth and things under the earth. and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. And from the third chapter, verse ten, that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings being made conformable unto his death.

Our Father, do not leave us untouched by your word and its power. Though we find ourselves here possibly even with that hint of unwillingness, we ask you, Lord, to take away that spirit of resistance by the spirit which you have given to us and to all of your people. Our Father, your word is life to us, and truly at our better moments we confess this. We ask, Lord, that if this is in fact one of our worst moments, we may find again with you that grace which you have given to us and restore us, then, Lord, to the fullness of that salvation which you have granted us in Christ. We pray, our God, that you would be merciful, in fact, to those who are without faith, that by root of faith they may be born again, that by root of faith that birth from above may be evidence in them, and that they may show forth the excellencies of your mercy. We do pray these things in Jesus’ name. Amen.

It goes without saying that this 10th verse in Philippians 3 is a great and significant text that I may know him, the power of his resurrection, the fellowship of his sufferings, being conformed to his death. And being important, being also an explication of Paul’s doctrine of sanctification, this text demands our careful attention. We will want to move through it slowly and patiently, We will concentrate this morning on the opening of this 10th verse, what Paul says at the outset, that I may know him. And we will look at this patiently, hopefully in faith, expecting from the Holy Spirit, the one who offered it through the Apostle, a rich reward.

Now you have noticed that this verse catches us mid-screen. which actually is mid-sentence, if you will. The sentence itself, of which it is a part, began with verse 8. These opening words here in verse 10, that I may know him, stand in parallel to Paul’s words at the conclusion of that 8th verse. You note what he says here at the end of that 8th verse. that I may gain Christ, that I may gain Christ.” These words at the end of the eighth verse then are in parallel with what we read at the beginning of the tenth. I might also point out to you that they are also in parallel with what we find at the beginning of verse nine. that I may be found in him. So, if you’re stacking statements, you can begin with what Paul says at the end of verse 8, add to that what he says at the beginning of verse 9, and then again what he says at the beginning of verse 10.

And he, therefore, is virtually building for us his case seen variously as we move through these verses, an explication of what appeared there in verse 8 itself. Now, in that 8th verse, Paul was setting forth before us what he called the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord, or, as the New American Standard puts it, the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus. Here, then, in this eighth verse set out in this language, is the incomparable prize for the Apostle, the treasure beyond Christ. In the language of Christ, it is the pearl of greatest value. For the sake of knowing Christ, then, for the sake of this knowledge of Christ Jesus, the Apostle willingly surrenders everything of value.

In fact, he tells us all those things which others, all those things which he himself at one time valued, all these things are now of negative value. They are worthless. But even more, they are offensive and even detrimental to his spiritual well-being. They work against him as far as spiritual life is concerned.

All of these things, then, are on one side, and Christ is on the other. Paul is telling us that he has chosen Christ, the knowledge of Christ, And he has left these other things go. As we have pointed out in the past, Paul here, at the conclusion of the eighth verse, isn’t all too delicate about it. The New American Standard translates Paul’s indelicacy by the word rubbish. Other translations have supplied the word refuse.

King James gets it right. It’s dunk, pure and simple. The apostle is not being delicate about the matter. It is pure, unadulterated dunk when compared with Christ. And therefore it is worthless. Now, when Paul says he counts all but done in order that he may gain Christ, there in the eighth verse, you must understand what he is saying. He is not here suggesting that he hopes to gain Christ, that he is giving up everything so that he might someday gain Christ. No, not at all.

What the Apostle is saying is that he has, in fact, gained Christ, and it is for the sake of this Christ, whom he has gained, that he has let everything else go. This is not to say that there is not that future aspect in Paul’s understanding of his relationship to Christ, for surely Christ shall come and he shall see his Savior, But presently he is concentrating upon that which he presently has.

The gain is present possession, similarly with the parallel statements, then, that appear in verses 9 and 10. These come to us along the same lines. When he says that he counts all but done so that he might be found in Christ, he is not saying he hopes to be found in Christ some day, Rather, his sacrifice of all things means a surrender to Christ presently, whereby he has been benefited by the faithfulness of Christ with the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. He is presently justified, we have stated.

But by the same token, when Paul says that he counts all but dung in order that he might know Christ, verse 10, he is not saying that he hopes to know Christ someday. Rather, he has deliberately given up everything because the knowledge of Christ is so precious to him and his present possession for him.

Now, to be sure, Paul elsewhere speaks about a knowing which is in part. He speaks about knowing fully in the coming great day, even as he is perfectly known. You may possibly know where Paul so speaks. That comes from 1 Corinthians 13, verse 12. But in this text, Paul does not have in view some future knowledge of Christ. rather, the knowledge he presently has of Christ, which is actively engaged and operating. Paul is saying this knowledge is absolutely indispensable to him, for apart from it, he is spiritually in darkness and he is spiritually there. What is the nature of this knowledge without which Paul, is dead towards God, without which Paul remains in darkness towards God, for the sake of which Paul forsakes everything else.

What is the nature of this knowledge? It is, above all, covenant knowledge. Covenant knowledge. Now what do we mean by covenant knowledge? It is that knowledge belonging to an exclusive and intimate bond. It is that knowledge belonging to an exclusive and intimate bond. The most powerful illustration that we have of this in the common affairs of men, according to the scriptures, is marriage. Marriage is to be an exclusive and intimate bond. It is set before us in scripture as that which is inclusive of a unique knowledge Thus, you see, Scripture speaks about the most intimate union between a man and a woman as knowing, as knowledge itself.

The knowledge that is in view here in Philippians 3.10 is covenantal knowledge. It has in view an exclusive and intimate bond. an illustration of which is found in the marriage relationship.

How often this marriage relationship is used in scripture to speak about the relationship that exists between God and his people. An entire Old Testament book is built upon this imagery. The Old Testament prophecy of Hosea. speaks against the background of the marriage relationship that exists between God and His people, and the fact that God’s people have become faithless, adulterous. The people of God, according to God, are bound to Him in covenant, like a woman is bound to a man in marriage.

It is an exclusive and intimate bond. The knowledge and view, as Paul speaks about knowing Christ, has as its background the covenantal relationship between God and His people. It is this bond of exclusivity and intimacy that the apostle has in view. Jeremiah also speaks about the knowledge that pertains to this covenantal bond.

He prophesies a coming day when the covenant, though spoiled, though ruined by faithless Israel, that covenant will be renewed. And God’s people will again know the Lord. As we have read this morning from Jeremiah chapter thirty-one, verse thirty-four, they will know the Lord from the greatest to the least. And you might note in that section that we read this morning in verse thirty-two, that the Lord specifically compares himself to a husband in relationship to Israel and Judah. But earlier, in Jeremiah’s prophecy, he has presented the Lord’s challenge to faithless Israel in language quite similar to what we find in Jeremiah 31, and then again in Philippians chapter 3. Jeremiah writes these words in the ninth chapter of the twenty-fourth verse.

Let him who boasts in this that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who exercises loving-kindness, justice, and righteousness on earth. In the day God renews his covenant bond upon earth, the exclusive intimate knowledge of himself is that is associated with the revelation now of his Son. That day in which he renews his covenant bond upon earth and fulfills the prophecy that was given in Jeremiah 31, in that day the exclusive intimate knowledge of himself is that which is associated with the revelation of his son. Jesus will pray, and this is eternal life, that they may know thee, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent.

John 17, verse 3. It is now apparent that there is no knowledge of God, no fulfillment of Jeremiah’s prophecy, no real fulfillment of God’s covenant, no boast of the Lord apart from the revelation of God in Jesus Christ. It is not without reason, then, that all the marriage language which we find in the Old Testament applied to that relationship between God and Israel is now applied to the relationship that exists between Christ and His Church. Christ’s Church is His bride.

But this knowledge, this covenantal knowledge, must also be understood to be more than just an awareness of certain information. To know Jesus Christ is to know more than just certain facts about Him. Even in the Old Testament, the knowledge of the Lord spoken of by Jeremiah. had in view more than acquaintance with certain facts about the God who had created the world, the God who had opened the Red Sea and rescued the children of Israel from slavery in Egypt. Even there in the Old Testament, the knowledge of the Lord was more than just an awareness of certain facts and information.

This knowledge is in keeping with its covenantal character. once more, not just the exclusivity of the relationship, but the intimacy of the relationship. And you, and you is such a knowledge of the Lord that it brings with it a conformity to Him. The relationship is such that in this intimate bond, we who are brought into this relationship become like the one with whom we are bound.

So it is, you see, as Jeremiah promises the day of a new covenant that he speaks about God’s writing his law upon our hearts. This writing of the law upon our hearts means nothing less than a conformity to God. This is also the reason why we have there in Jeremiah 9 verse 24, which we quoted earlier, not simply the fact that God himself is merciful, just, righteous, as is spelled out for us there, but that in intimate communion with him, the people of God would themselves become merciful, just, and righteous. It is the New Testament that makes this clear to us, but also spells out for us to what lengths God will go in order to realize his covenant bond with his people.

For not only are his people to be conformed to him, but he would conform himself to them. The reason that we backed up then to Philippians 2 this morning is because it is important that we set that before ourselves once again. We, in fact, are being called to conformity to Christ.

Christ, God’s Son, has conformed himself to us. Although he existed in the form of God, he did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped. But he emptied himself, taking the form of a bondservant, and was made in the likeness of man. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”

Philippians 2, then, spells out for us the greatness of this covenantal knowledge. That knowledge that comes from the side of God as Christ conforms himself to us out of his great love for us. And now the knowledge that is ours as we in relationship to this Christ are conformed to him. Philippians 2 speaks about God’s conformity to us in the interests that true knowledge and covenantal fellowship, as Christ takes our condition to himself, may in fact be realized for us and in us. Christ knows us, and we know Christ.

But our knowledge of Christ means that there is then such knowledge in us that expresses itself as does the Apostle in chapter 3, verse 10. We are conformed to him, knowing him by way of the power of the resurrection that is found to be in him and now in us. but no less the fellowship of his sufferings as we are being conformed unto his death. Here is the foundation, then, as we move from Old to New Testament, as we consider the nature of covenantal knowledge that provides us with that grounding for better comprehension of our doctrine of sanctification. As we move on to consider more explicitly how the doctrine of sanctification rises out of this text, let us not lose sight of these fundamental points. The covenantal knowledge of which the Apostle speaks is in fact bringing before us the bond that exists between God and His people, and that God knows us. We now, by grace, know Him. And such knowledge is sealed by conformity. His conformity to us as He became like us, and our conformity to Him as we are made new in His image.

Let’s pray. Our Father, may it be our confession that we, along with the Apostle Paul, know Christ. That for the sake of knowing him, we have forsaken all, we have forsaken everything else. That Lord, we pray and plead with you that our confession of this may match his confession, so that our confession is not hollow. so that it is not empty. We pray, Father, therefore, that ever more perfectly would we grasp hold of the significance of this knowledge as we in fact are bound to our Covenantal Lord and in fellowship with him made more and more like him. We ask this in Christ’s name. Amen.

The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.

May 17, 1992
Sanctification, Definitive and Progressive

This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of the “Philippians” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, May 10, 1992.

About this sermon

Scripture and the catechism both define sanctification, and they distinguish its definitive, once-for-all side from its ongoing, progressive side, a distinction several popular ideas collapse. Hebrews 12 fills out the progressive side with the language of endurance. God’s act comes before ours at every point, and that makes the elect ‘holy ones’ in the first place.

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Sermon transcript

We begin our scripture reading this morning in Hebrews chapter twelve. Hebrews chapter twelve, beginning at verse one, and moving to verse seventeen. This is the word of God. Therefore, seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down. at the right hand of the throne of God.

For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds. Ye have not yet resisted unto blood this striving against sin, and ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto us as children, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him.

For whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons. For what son is he whom the Father chasteneth not? But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards and not sons.

Furthermore, we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and who gave them reverence. Shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits and live? For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure, but he for our profit that we might be partakers of his holiness.

Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous Nevertheless, afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby. Therefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees, and make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is laying be turned out of the way, but let it rather be healed. Follow peace with all men, and holiness without which no man shall see the Lord. Looking diligently, lest any man fail of the grace of God, lest any root of bitterness spring up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled, lest there be any fornicator or profane person as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright. For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected where he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears.”

And then from Philippians chapter 3, beginning with verse 7, “…but what things were gained to me, those I counted loss for Christ. They doubtless and I count all things but lost for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the last loss of all things, and do count them but dumb that I may win Christ and be found in him, not having mine own righteousness which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith, that I may know him.” and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings being made conformable unto his death, if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.

If we are hungry, Lord, we eat. If we are thirsty, we drink. But Father, if we are famished spiritually, should we not come to you that we might be filled with your word? Our God, reveal to us just how famished we are with respect to you, in order that we might come, and in coming, Father, be satisfied with the food you would give us. Not only us, our God, but all who would attend to your word today, may there be that blessing from you for them. unto glory. For Jesus sake.

So far. in Philippians 3, with regard to these verses that we have been looking at here most recently, this is what we have seen. We have had set before us what we might call Paul’s resume, verses 4 through 6. We have also had set before us what we might call the Apostle Paul’s 1040, including his Schedule C, that is, his profit and loss, in verses 7 and 8. But now we come to that section which we have identified as Paul’s little seminar, verses 9 through 11. This little seminar in which he will present to us the fundamental doctrines of his gospel. We have matched the verses up with three doctrines that are of such importance to the apostles.

We have said that verse nine speaks of justification, that verse ten speaks about sanctification, that verse eleven talks to us about glorification. We have dealt with verse 9, we have come now to verse 10 and the subject of sanctification. What is sanctification? Let me give you a few verses that have that particular subject in view.

Leviticus, Chapter Twenty. In Chapter Twenty of Leviticus, this is what we are told, verse seven, “…you shall concentrate yourselves, therefore, and be holy.” We could read that, “…you shall sanctify yourselves, therefore, and be holy, for I am the Lord your God.” Turn over to verse 26 of that same chapter, “…thus you are to be holy to me, for I am the Lord. I the Lord am holy, and I have set you apart from among the peoples to be mine.”

Turning to the New Testament and to the passage that we read this morning from Hebrews, chapter 12. Again, the matter of sanctification, where the holiness of God and our holiness are in view. Verse 10 of that twelfth chapter. For they, that is, our earthly fathers, disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them. That he, that is, God, disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness.” And then, of course, verse 14, you already picked up on this.

Possibly in the New American Standard, this is the way in which it reads, “…pursue after peace with all men.” and after the sanctification, without which no man will see the Lord.” Holiness, the holiness of God and our holiness, that is in you in sanctification. If you want it spoken of a bit more expansively, you can check out the Westminster Confession of Faith, Chapter 13, three short paragraphs. There may be a document that isn’t looked at too often.

The larger catechism, Question 75, asks, what is sanctification? Sanctification is a work of God’s grace whereby they whom God hath before the foundation of the world chosen to be holy are in time, through the powerful operation of His Spirit, applying the death and resurrection of Christ unto them, renewed in their whole man after the image of God, having the seeds of repentance unto life and all other seeding graces, put into their hearts, and those graces so stirred up, increased and strengthened, so that they more and more die unto sin and rise unto newness of life.” Now that is glorious stuff.

We get the shorthand version in the shorter catechism, and I think that many of you know that from memory. Question thirty-five asks the same question. What is sanctification? The answer is given. Sanctification is a work of God’s free grace whereby we are renewed in the whole man after the image of God and are enabled more and more to die unto sin and live unto righteousness. So, there you have it.

I want you to look a little more closely at that shortened version in the Westminster Shorter Catechism, question thirty-five. A pattern that is followed through on from the Confession, chapter thirteen, and the larger catechism, question thirty-five. And if you want to remind yourself of what exactly that question and answer say, you can check them in the back of the Trinity Hymnal. You’ll find the question and answer there for you.

Now, when looking at this catechism definition of sanctification, our attention is ordinarily called to three things. First of all, sanctification is a work of grace, underscore that. Sanctification is a work of grace. That is to say, sanctification is not, cannot be, our work. Rather, it is God’s work in us. A work which He performs in us through His Spirit. A work which He performs in us through His Spirit by His grace, underscore grace. What does grace mean? Grace is God’s undeserved love. his unnarrated favor. So first of all, sanctification is a work of grace. Secondly, sanctification is an indispensable, definitive work of God in which we, by virtue of our union with Christ, break once for all with the realm in which sin reigns.

I know that’s a mouthful. in there, move through what I just said to grab the force and power of it. Sanctification is, in the second place, an indispensable, definitive work of God in which we, by virtue of our union with Christ, break once for all with the realm in which sin reigns. In other words, our catechism teaches us We are, that is, we have been renewed in the whole man after the image of God, a definitive, completed work. Romans 6, verse 6, tells us, the old man has been, past tense, please, the old man has been crucified with Christ. In Christ we have died to sin, past tense again, that we might live to God.

First point, once more, sanctification is a work of grace. Second point is, sanctification is that indispensable, definitive, once-for-all-time work of God. Hold that. is that progressive work of God. Simultaneously, it is a definitive work, but at the same time, even mysteriously, that progressive work of God in which we, because of the continuous work of the Holy Spirit in us, mature in Christ by putting on more perfectly our Savior and putting off, more perfectly, the old nature with its sin. The Catechism speaks of it this way, we are enabled more and more to die to sin and live unto righteousness.

Now that’s the outline. Nice three-pointer, isn’t it? And I want you to realize that the Catechism here is doing more than setting before us three important considerations with respect to this doctrine of sanctification. It is putting these three considerations into context, where they are then the consequence, as you move through the definition, the consequence of one another. They are in relationship.

These three aspects or elements of sanctification develop out of each other, and that in such a way so as to reinforce the distinctive character of the Reformed gospel. We are not merely Reformed at the point of justification. We are Calvinist and Reformed at the point of sanctification, and that just as essentially, as I think you will see as we move through this whole matter.

You note once more how the Catechism begins with this obvious emphasis upon the grace of God. Who emphasizes, stresses, underscores the grace of God as the Reformed Church? And is it not a tragedy within the Reformed Church when the grace of God is lost sight of? It is forgotten. It is eclipsed. so that the message that comes forth from the pulpit or from the instruction of a particular congregation or a particular institution is nothing more than words.

Right, therefore, where the catechism begins, it begins with this strong, this emphatic focus and emphasis upon the grace of God. Sanctification is the work of God’s three graces. This means that even at this point, at the point of our holiness, we cannot surrender our commitment to the grace of God. And how many have made that tragic mistake? simply by suggesting that justification is God’s act of declaring us righteous for the sake of Christ, and this by grace through faith. But when they come to sanctification and to the matter of our holiness, the holiness of our lives, they say that this is purely a matter of our own effort. Testification is God’s act, they say, but sanctification is ours entirely. We should understand that not even here, in the matter of sanctification, in the matter of our holiness, in the matter of our obedience, do we escape the gracious gift character of the biblical gospel. Even our sanctification is an undeserved gift of God’s love.

And as such, it must be something held within the sovereign power of God himself, since we, the undeserving, can lay no claim to him or any of his gifts. God gives this grace, this grace of sanctification to those whom he has chosen for holiness from before the foundation of the world, and that is why I specifically read to you from Question 75 of the Larger Catechism, which stresses that very thing. Even here, then, we must honor the doctrine of God’s sovereign electing grace. Moving on from that point, sanctification, the gift, is not in any sense deficient or inadequate for the elect. Sanctification maintains the gospel of God’s grace and preaches the sufficiency of that grace. As God in sanctification confers upon us the fulness of holiness.

How does he do this? He does this in Christ. in the one who himself has been sanctified in the experience of his death and resurrection, through which he has been brought into the realm of the Spirit, which is none other than the realm of holiness. Christ himself has moved out from under the domain of sin, This one who is made in our likeness, made in the likeness of our sinful flesh, he has been taken out of that realm by virtue of his death and resurrection. He has undergone a sanctification himself and been translated from the domain and the dominion of sin into the domain and dominion of the Spirit, the regions, the domain of holiness.

Jesus himself is holy. this one to whom you belong. You are bound to him, and in him you are holy.” Jesus is holy. He belongs to the dominion, the domain of holiness. And we, who by the sovereign act of God have been united to him, have become partakers of that holiness which is found nowhere else movement in front of him.

As Paul says in 1 Corinthians 1.30, Christ has become our sanctification. His renewal, this sanctification which is his, is complete and definitive. And this then means for us a renewal in the whole man after the image of God.

Now think about this for a minute, if what in fact I am saying is correct. If the catechism is correct at this point, if we are reading the scripture aright, this doctrine of sanctification according to Reformed confession It sets right the claim which every believer has to the title saint. You see the logic of it?

What does the word saint mean? It means holy one. So Paul, in his letters, addresses these Christians to whom he writes as saints. He calls them holy ones. The title in some churches is reserved for special folk. But for us, it is a title that is conferred upon all who are savingly united to Jesus Christ. You are a saint.

And this reformed doctrine of sanctification also argues against those who have contended that sanctification has no definitive or completed sense to it whatsoever. Not in this life. Many have held, for instance, that regeneration, being born again, becoming Christian, merely places inside that person who is a believer a new man who must now do battle continuously with the old man, and the outcome of the struggle is up for grabs. No telling who’s going to win. Such teaching as this cannot do justice to God’s election, to the sovereignty of His grace, to the doctrine of union with Christ. Such teachings as this are more than weak, more than deficient, they are destructive to the gospel.

This marvelous gift, full, complete in itself, found in Christ, who is himself our salvation, must also work itself out in us, the elect, so that the perfections of Christ, the very beauty of His holiness, the beauty of that holiness attended to the sanctuary above where He serves, comes to concrete expression in you and me.

We are a holy people set apart for God, made holy by God’s glorious call, his regenerating grace, his act of justification, the definitive work of sanctification in us. We are a holy people who abide in a holy God as if God himself were our dwelling place. We abide in his holy Son, bound to him. and who are citizens in their holy kingdom, called to holiness, to be holy while we live in this world, and that in keeping with our identity and the nature of the kingdom into which we, by grace, have been brought.

The reformed faith gets it right. The act of God must always precede any act of our own. That’s the marvelous glory of the Reformed faith. The act of God must precede any act which we perform ourselves. The foundation for our actions is found in Him. The strength and the power for our performance is found in Him. When we do something that is in keeping with God’s Word and obedience to His law, it is because of our union with Him. We are bound to Him who has already acted for us and in us, and now is presently acting through us. We make no progress unless we are found to be in him.

Unless that definitive character of the doctrine is maintained, then the entirety of the structure melts away and we are left in the end with a religion of works regardless of what anyone may claim to the contrary. Our progress then in holiness, our obedience, is possible only because we have holiness in and through Christ Jesus our Lord.

Yes, indeed, we battle against sin. Yes, indeed, the battle is real and the sin that we face is real. We are not perfectionists who believe that we are perfect, free from sin already. Nevertheless, we are men and women filled with the spirit of holiness who, in this battle with sin, realize by faith the certainty of the outcome.

We shall, in fact, persevere. so that even at this point, the point of sanctification, we not only preach God’s coordination and His election with regard to us, we preach the outcome, our own perseverance, that it is guaranteed we shall endure. And those of you who will not improve upon your holiness and try not to give that in you, no desire, no interest, You who cannot discern any progress in yourselves, what does that say about you? Have you somehow missed the point with respect to the definitive work of grace on your behalf? Is it a mystery to you? We who believe and are safely joined to our Savior are men and women filled with the spirit of holiness, who in this battle with sin and against the flesh realize by faith the certainty of the outcome.

Believe it or not, just as all of this is crammed into the brief answer to question 33 in the Shorter Catechism, it is also crammed into the few lines of Philippians 3. Just how and to what end all of this is pressed in that verse is the subject of another message. Suffice it to say this morning, all these things are wrapped up in what Paul speaks of as knowing Him. Do you see the words with which that 10th verse begins? Knowing Him. If you truly know Him, that is, if you truly love Him, You know the things of which we have been speaking this morning are so.

Your holiness is but the holiness of Christ coming to expression in you. You set your soul upon your Savior and the holiness found in Him. You pursue Him and that holiness with every ounce of your spiritual energy. all to the praise of God and his marvelous mercy, his amazing grace.

Our Father, we may have thought that the doctrine that we embraced was right on a few points that it correctly identified your sovereignty, the election of your own, even the preservation of the saints, that may it become apparent to us, our God, that in many, many other matters, and most specifically this morning now, in this matter of sanctification. Those who preceded us, who spoke out of your word with regard to this matter of holiness, spoke correctly. May we read, may we rehearse, may we think, may we meditate, And in all of these activities, our God, may the evidences of that holiness found in Christ be all the more apparent, and may we glory in your grace, even as that grace is the foundation of our sanctification. We pray it in Jesus’ name. Amen.

The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.

May 10, 1992
Paul’s Seminar in Doctrine

This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of the “Philippians” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, April 26, 1992.

About this sermon

Philippians 3:9-11 amounts to a compressed seminar in doctrine, moving through justification, sanctification, and glorification in just a few verses. Justification by faith alone anchors the whole sequence, tested against Luke 5’s healing of the paralytic as a narrative instance of the same principle. Christ’s own righteousness and faithfulness, rather than the believer’s, are what the seminar actually teaches.

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Sermon transcript

We will turn this morning for our scripture reading to Luke’s Gospel, Chapter 5. This is Luke 5, beginning at verse 18. Here is the word of God. And behold, men brought in a bed a man which was taken with a palsy, and they sought means to bring him in and to lay him before him. And when they could not find by what way they might bring him in because of the multitude, they went upon the housetop and let him down through the tiling, with his couch into the before Jesus.

When he saw their faith, he said unto him, Man, thy sins are forgiven thee. And the scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, Who is this which speaketh blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone? But when Jesus perceived their thoughts, he answering said unto them, What reason be in your hearts? Whether it is easier to say, Thy sins be forgiven thee, or to say, Rise up and walk. But that ye may know, that the Son of Man hath power upon earth to forgive sin.

He saith unto the man sick of the palsy, I say unto thee, Arise, take up thy couch, and go into thine house. And immediately he rose up before them, and took up that whereon he lay, and departed to his own house, glorifying God. And they were all amazed, and they glorified God, and were filled with fear, saying, we have seen amazing things today. I’m turning over to Philippians chapter 3, beginning with verse 7. But what things were gained to me those I counted lost for Christ, yea, doubtless, and I count all things but lost 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 dumb that I may win Christ and be found in him, not having mine own righteousness which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith.” that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings being made conformable unto His death, if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.”

Let a foundation, Lord, you have given to your church, Jesus Christ himself, your word, upon which the church then is built. And so, Lord, even the interior of that building is fashioned and formed according to the pattern that is found in your word. So, Father, frame and form and mold and shape us that there would be that correspondence for us with regard to things pertaining to this church and those things that are found there within the scriptures. Build up this church, O God, as you would build it granting to it the ministry of the Word and also the offices that are meant for rule and for service. May we who gather, Lord, benefit greatly as we are instructed in our faith, as we are encouraged, as we are corrected, as we are shown the right and proper road. We ask this for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

Paul is giving a seminar. Now, it’s not one that interests all. It’s not one that interests everyone, because this seminar has to do with doctrine. But at least we can say this about Paul’s seminar. It’s brief. The seminar is over the course of three verses, verses 9 through 11 in that third chapter in Philippians. And in those three short verses, in this seminar, this doctrinal seminar which Paul is giving, he will speak very pointedly about three most important doctrines.

In verse nine, he will speak about the doctrine of justification. In verse ten, he will speak about the doctrine of sanctification. And in verse eleven, he will speak about the doctrine of glorification. This morning, we are taking up his first point from his seminar, verse nine. and the matter of justification.

What is justification? Should we recite the answer? Justification is an act of God’s free grace wherein he pardoneth all our sins and accepteth us as righteous in his sight only for the righteousness of Christ imputed to us and received by faith alone.” That’s the Catechism’s answer to that question. It is a wonderful answer, a wonderful definition of justification. in itself being the product of the church’s reflection on what the Bible has to say in a comprehensive manner. Now, what the Bible has to say about this subject justification.

You see, then, what the catechism is. The catechism is a concentrate. We’re all familiar with concentrates, aren’t we? juices and other things? Well, the catechism is a concentrate, like those concentrated juices you buy at the store. After all, how many oranges go into that one can of concentrate? How many scripture passages are taught into this catechism answer to the question, what Well, one Scripture text for sure that is packed into that catechism answer is this one, Philippians chapter three, verse nine. in order that I may be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith. If the catechism answer is wonderful, if it is in itself delightful, what then of the real stuff, which we might call the freshly squeezed juice, pulp and all. If the concentrate is good, the real stuff is magnifique.

Paul, we say, has just finished His spiritual 1040, his Schedule C, in verses 7 and 8 of this chapter. Those things, he tells us, which others, even Paul at one time, thought to be of greatest value, those things are now reckoned as worthless. In fact, Paul willingly—stress that, willingly—Paul willingly counts all things, he tells us in verse 8, as loss, even going so far as to call them contemptible, noxious. He’s rather direct. He’s rather indelicate about the whole thing. He is so, in order that we might not miss the point, he calls all of these things dumb, pure waste.

Over against these things, then, that appear to him valueless, over against these things valued most by his countrymen, the Jews, over against these things valued most by the world, even the Gentiles, Paul now has set the person of Jesus Christ. This one who is the greatest gain, this one who offers in himself That excellence surpassing the value of all things is one who enters into intimate communion with all of those who put their trust in Him. This situation now, as the Apostle describes it here, must be appreciated for its extremity. you hear the extreme language which the Apostle Paul is using in these verses. We are not dealing in these lines with an exaggeration as if Paul were actually saying, I must use these most extreme terms, but you know, do you not, that I hardly mean to sacrifice everything In actual fact, the Apostle Paul is saying, he cannot have it both ways. He is speaking in the most absolute fashion.

He cannot have those things that might be gained to him. He cannot have those things gained to him from the law, nor those things that the world would offer, if he is to have Christ. is either one or the other. He cannot have both. Any attempt to hold on to whatever is gained to him in this world, such things of which he might boast, be they even the benefits of the law, any compromise whatsoever for the sake of these things, forfeits for him Christ.

In the way in which the Apostle Paul poses the problem, we hear the echo of Jesus himself. No man can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will hold to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and man. On another occasion Jesus says, he who is not for me is against me.

And still on another occasion he says, you must in fact lose your life for my sake if you are to find it. Paul says, therefore, he gives everything up. Paul gives everything up, so that, in order that, he may have Christ. If he does not give everything up, he cannot have Christ. for it cannot be both ways. He gives everything up then so that he may win Christ, gain Christ. Verse 8. And moving into the ninth verse, he gives everything up so that he may be found in him. This, then, is what the apostle is saying. Unless he surrenders all, he cannot gain Christ, he cannot be found in Him.

But what is it, then, about Jesus Christ that makes this one so important, so indispensable? to the Apostle? What is it about Jesus Christ that now has so captivated the Apostle that draws him to Christ? Does Paul merely see in Christ, in this Jesus and overwhelmingly attractive personality, someone so generous, so magnanimous, so loving, someone even heroic in devotion with respect to the things he believes in?

It may well be that the Apostle Paul sees these things in Jesus Christ, but he sees much more. And most particularly, he sees in this person, Jesus Christ, the answer to the great question about righteousness. Here is where you may gauge your own spiritual interest. You may have a concern about Jesus, a formal interest in the things that pertain to the faith, but the question about righteousness is not one that much concerns you. This question consumed the apostle. This question is the proper, the correct religious interest. Martin Luther got it right. John Calvin understood this point.

The supreme religious question becomes the one that pertains to righteousness. And the apostle Paul is saying in this person, Jesus Christ, the great question about righteousness is answered. But what is it about righteousness that makes it the great question? Precisely this, the question about righteousness sets before us the issue of eternity.

The Jew, Paul, understood righteousness rightly as that indispensable entrance ticket into the eternal presence of God. And in seminars, it’s good to repeat. The Jew Paul understood righteousness rightly as that indispensable entrance ticket into the eternal presence of God.

With it, that is, with righteousness, you enter. Without it, you don’t. It’s that simple. And what if you don’t enter? What then? then the opposite becomes true. You see how this bears down upon this man’s consciousness, how it bears down upon his heart. If he does not enter, then he spends eternity separated from God. To put it directly and bluntly, he goes to hell. Nothing then seems to compare with this question in its seriousness, in its weightiness. In fact, it is difficult to think of a question that is more pressing, more monumental. Now, Paul’s understanding of things as a Jew has been this. One must strive. Get this now.

One must strive for himself, within himself, to fulfill the works of the law in order to build up for himself his own righteousness for the purpose of presenting that righteousness to God in the day of judgment. That is how Paul, the Jew, thought. He must strive to fulfill the works of the law in order to build up for himself his own righteousness for the purpose of presenting that righteousness to God in the day of judgment. His hope is the adequacy of his own performance. His hope is that his performance will in fact satisfy the divine requirement. But what does Paul now see as a Christian?

Here is the gospel. That righteousness for which he had hoped on the day of judgment That righteousness by which he had hoped to present himself to God, that righteousness which would be his indispensable entrance ticket into God’s eternal presence, that righteousness God himself has supplied.

As Philippians 3.9 states it, This is the righteousness of God. That is, this is the righteousness from God that stands over against the righteousness which is from the law. Those two set in contrast. This righteousness, then, of which Paul speaks, which he now claims because of the gospel, this righteousness comes forth from God. It comes forth from that future day of judgment and ushers Paul himself into the presence of God now, so that he already has begun to enjoy God’s eternal fellowship.

That righteousness which now the Apostle Paul claims, the very righteousness of God, the righteousness from God, has been revealed in the faithfulness of Christ. Now, there has been an argument as to that particular phrase in this ninth verse of Philippians You have a New American Standard version in front of you. You can see how it reads there, and that’s the line that most translations, most modern translations now take.

It may be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ. There the faith in Christ becomes objective. If you read the King James, I’m sorry, there the faith becomes subjective. If you read the King James, it’s objective. It’s the faith of Christ. What the Apostle Paul is actually saying, and the King James gets it right, is that now, presently, that righteousness which he enjoys has been revealed in the faithfulness of Jesus Christ. The faith, or faithfulness, of Jesus Christ.

That faithfulness then being the ground of Paul’s justification. It cannot be my works. It can’t be any combination of my faith and my works. The ground of my justification is the faithfulness of Jesus Christ. Such righteousness, this righteousness which comes out of glory, this righteousness that comes out of the future from the day of judgment itself, comes as a heavenly gift granting eternal life and felicity. And say it again, and emphasize it as the Apostle Paul would emphasize it to you. It is not, it cannot be appropriated by works. In fact, such works actually disqualify.

Since even if they are the works of a blameless Jew, Paul, so describing himself in the sixth verse of this chapter, even if they are the works of a blameless Jew, they will constitute invariably a boast in the flesh, a boast in oneself before God’s presence, and that boast, a sin sufficient in itself to disqualify you in its pride and to cast you out of the presence of God eternally. What then of boasting? Paul asks in Romans 3 verse 28. What then of boasting? It is excluded by what law? By the law of works? No. In the law of works, it’s included by the law of faith.

Such righteousness coming from glory, coming from God as the heavenly gift granting eternal life and felicity, is appropriated now only by faith. Trust. There is no other way. Here is the only means of appropriation. Faith. You must believe in the work of God. And trust Him with your whole being. It is, as Paul says at the conclusion of that ninth verse, the righteousness which is of God by faith. Such faith gains Christ, wins Christ. By such faith and such faith alone we are found to be in Him, not one whose faithfulness avails for us. there now being for us no condemnation, since we, by faith, are in Christ Jesus.

Romans 8.1. For by grace are ye sinning through faith, and not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast.

Ephesians 2.8-9. Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God. Romans 5, warning. It was this matter of justification, you see, that was in the balance that day when those friends, those dear friends of that impaired man lowered him through the roof. Upon seeing their faith, Jesus said to that man, your sins are forgiven you.

The Pharisees’ reaction was not that Jesus was claiming a prerogative of God in forgiving sins, and was thus blaspheming. No, not just that, but more. Jesus was claiming the prerogative preserved for God on the day of judgment. And if Jesus were right, the entire system in which the Pharisees had placed their stock would fall to the ground, would utterly collapse. Forgiveness and justification must be a future, a holy future matter. So said the Pharisees. So Judaism was saying.

Jesus says, no. He says to the man, your sins are forgiven you now, today. You go free. Truly the people that were there that day were right when they said, today we have seen amazing things. And that is then what gives power to Jesus’ response to the Pharisees. In order that you may know that the Son of Man has power, has authority on earth, that he is right now here to forgive sinners. I say to this man, rise up and walk. Why don’t you say?

Today I am forgiven. Today I am just before God. Today, I am justified in the presence of God. Today, I am assured of remarkable things. Today, entrance by way of righteousness, which God himself supplies, is given to me that I might enter into his eternal presence.

That is such a confession. be the confession of all who are gathered here today, and if you are unable to make that confession, may you give yourself no rest until you can. Our Father, we rejoice in your mercy to us, you who would justify the ungodly, and in such a way so as to exclude boasting at every turn. May our boast be of Christ, may we glory in him, for he has meant the resolution of the great question about righteousness.

That which is indispensable if we are to stand before you. How great your gift freely. How marvelous that gift. In light of our undeserving situation and condition. How blessed you are in saving us. wretched sinners that we are. And Lord, we would plead for others here and elsewhere who may not understand. We are asking that your spirit would in fact instruct them that they may be found in Christ having that righteousness that is from you by faith.

The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.

April 26, 1992
Seizing the Kingdom

This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of the “Philippians” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, April 19, 1992.

About this sermon

Jacob and Esau’s deal over the birthright has real consequences, and Matthew 11:12 speaks of the kingdom being seized. In Philippians 3:7-14 Paul gives up everything to seize Christ, the church’s true inheritance. What Esau traded away carelessly, Paul pursues with everything he has.

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Sermon transcript

This morning our scripture reading begins in the book of Genesis, chapter 25. This is Genesis, chapter 25. We begin reading at verse 27. Listen to the word of God. And the boys grew, and Esau was a cunning hunter, a man of the field. And Jacob was a plain man, dwelling in tents. And Isaac loved Esau because he did eat of his venison. But Rebekah loved Jacob. And Jacob sought cottage, and Esau came from the field. and was faint. And Esau said to Jacob, Feed me, I pray thee, with that same red potage, for I am faint.

Therefore was his name called Edom. And Jacob said, Tell me this day thy birthright. And Esau said, Behold, I am at the point to die. And what profit shall this birthright do to me?” And Jacob said, “…swear to me this day.” And he swore unto him, and he sold his birthright unto Jacob. Then Jacob gave Esau bread and pottage of lentils, and he did eat and drink and rose up and went his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright.

Then turning to Philippians chapter 3, beginning with verse 3. So we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh, though I might also have confidence in the flesh. If any other man thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more. Circumcised the eighth day of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, and he ruled the Hebrews as touching the law, Pharisee, concerning thee, or persecuting the church, touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.

But what things were gained to me, those I counted lost for Christ.” 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 dumb that I may win Christ and be found in him, not having mine own righteousness which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith, that I may know him. and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death, if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead. Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect. But I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended, but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

Your word, Lord, is means of grace to us whereby you would communicate with us that regular refreshment and encouragement and that continual correction and even reprimand where necessary. Father may your word be so wonderfully helpful to us and Lord may it be helpful for your elect in the world as they would be gathered even today in order to praise your name from this day onward and forever. Hear us for the sake of Christ the living word. Amen.

Now I’m sure that Jacob and Esau played out that scene so many, many, many centuries ago without the slightest thought about that scene’s eternal significance. Now I think that you realize that the events on that day spoken of here in the book of Genesis revealed things about each one of those boys. Things at the very center of each of their personalities. Speaking about even the secrets of eternity.

Esau was quite the man. He was a hunter, quite gifted, very powerful. And he had been hunting this particular day. But now he drags himself home, famished it seems, only to come upon his brother, Jacob, who seems to have built his own diner on the edge of the field. Some have suggested that this was the first delicatessen. The stew with cimerek smelled mighty good. And Esau, the first born, salivates.

He wasn’t a man to hold back when it came to his desires. He was rather impetuous, in fact. He was a man of action, after all. So he says to Jacob, give me some stew. Now, Jacob was not known for ever giving something for nothing. And Jacob says, all right, I’ll give you some stew if you give me your birthright. Interestingly, Esau doesn’t say it. my birthright for a bit of stew?

Obviously, Esau is taking this as something of a game among brothers. He’s having a good time. Kids for cats, you know. A little exchange on the edge of the field. All of this with the tents of his father and you, presumably. A few more steps and he can be eating with his dad, right? What’s a birthright to me? I’m about to die from hunger!”

So in effect, so says the scripture, Esau sells to Jacob his birthright. In addition to the game quality of his exchange, the fun and games that Esau and Jacob are having. There is also a thought in Esau’s mind, even if I say I sell my birthright, what can this wimp do? After all, I’m stronger than he is. After all, I’m my father’s firstborn. After all, I’m my father’s favorite. What can Jacob actually do? I can enter into this game without any fear whatsoever of losing my birthright.

As to the significance of these events, however, the Spirit of God makes this judgment Thus Esau hated his birthright. This is nothing to play with, Esau. This is nothing to joke about, Esau. Thus Esau hated his birthright. and seemingly the inheritance to which that birthright entitles him.

At the same time, we have Jacob presented here for us, and he comes across, does he not, as the opportunist? Oh yes, he may enter into the spirit of the game with Esau, but In all seriousness, this is no game for Jacob. He is the opportunist, he is in fact a devilish conman. But simultaneously he is one who thinks that that birthright and the inheritance to which that birthright gives him the right, these things are the most important things in all the world. The implication is, despite the con, despite the conniving, despite the sneaky deceit, Despite the wickedness that is in the heart of Jacob, Jacob at root level loves the inheritance. Esau hates it.

In fact, nothing in the world is as precious to Jacob as that inheritance. As the story of Jacob works itself out in the remaining chapters of Genesis, it will take him all of his life to even begin to realize what the nature of the inheritance is. It will take him all of his life to realize that that inheritance is given as a gift, it is not secured by conniving deceit. Still, even though that’s true, and even though we see these negative features in Jacob, Jacob is admirable to this extent. His heart is set upon the inheritance above all else. Jesus will take up the matter of this admirable quality that appeared in Jacob, and he will latch that admirable quality onto the appearance of the kingdom of heaven.

Matthew 11, verse 12, is a very, very difficult verse. It is truly a tough nut to crack. In the King James it reads like this, and from the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence and violent men take it by force. Now I think that it is admitted by most everyone today that that is not a very good translation of the Greek.

Even here, in this somewhat opaque translation, two things are communicated clearly for us. First of all, the kingdom of heaven is not something that is viewed by Jesus as future or distant, rather it is viewed as a present reality. First of all, that much is clear.

The kingdom of heaven is viewed as something that is present and operating. Secondly, despite the opaque nature of the translation given us in the King James, it is clear to us that those who are drawn to this kingdom are energetically grabbing hold of it. This verse then communicates the energy and determination with which the kingdom of heaven is being seized. And in light of this, maybe a better translation of this verse would be, and from the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven forcefully shows itself. Forcefully shows itself. and determined men see it.”

Now this whole idea and notion, this reality which Jesus is commenting on here in Matthew 11, will receive further exposition when Jesus speaks to his disciples in parables. Matthew 13, beginning at verse 44. Here is the famous parable about the treasure hidden in a field which a certain man discovers. And in order to secure the field in which that treasure is hidden, this man goes and he sells everything. everything he has, that he might have the treasure.

Jesus is saying the kingdom of heaven is like that treasure. So determined men cast aside restraint. They even seem to cast aside all sense and seize hold of that kingdom because of its incomparable worth, even though it means the loss of everything else. I must have the kingdom. And Jesus goes on.

He tells us next in that thirteenth chapter, verses forty-five and forty-six, that the kingdom of heaven is compared to a merchant in quest of fine pearls. But when he finds the one pearl of matchless value, the pearl of great price, he liquidates his holdings so that he might hold in his hand this possession. of inestimable worth.

It is this mercantile language, this language of commerce that Paul employs in Philippians 3. This language about buying and selling. Reminiscent of Esau selling Jacob buying the birthright. Reminiscent of the man selling all he had to buy the field with the treasure. Reminiscent of that language used with regard to the merchant who buys the pearl of great price.

All this overlaid with language that breathes, as it were, the most intense, maybe even violent determination. I must have it!” So Paul then fills out his 1040, his Schedule C, in Philippians 3 verses 7 and 8. He speaks about gain, that is, he speaks about profit. The language used has in view monetary profit and gain.

He also speaks about loss. He speaks about suffering loss, and in view is bankruptcy. over against gain is bankruptcy. And from the reading of things on the surface, it seems as if Paul has lost all of his senses. He is deliberately choosing bankruptcy. And forfeiting whatever was gained to him. so great is that which he gains through his bankruptcy.

The apostle then becomes one in whom the story of Jacob is finally explained. He becomes one in whom the parables of Jesus take on flesh and bone. no longer just parables, no longer just stories, but real life. Here is someone living them out. We are not dealing then with make-believe.

Here is one in the Apostle Paul for whom the kingdom of heaven has forcefully shown itself in the risen Christ. and who has, with the greatest and fiercest determination, seized hold of it, even though this has meant the loss of everything else for him. Now, in reckoning his loss, the apostle has been playing a game of his own, having a bit of fun in games himself, at the expense of those that threaten the freedom and vitality of the Philippians. The apostle has been having a bit of fun at the expense of those who brag in what they consider their worth. And for the sake of bragging rights in a contest with braggers, Paul has portrayed himself as the greatest Jew of his time.

There was no one like me. That’s what verses 4 through 6 are all about. We have to take them somewhat tongue-in-cheek, you see. But now he goes on. His tone moves from the ridiculous of verses 4 through 6 to the sublime of verses 7 through And in those verses, verses 7 through 11, truly we have presented for us one of the most succinct and powerful presentations of Paul’s gospel.

One conveyed in the most intimate and moving terms, Paul is saying, even if I were the greatest Jew of my time, whatever things in fact may have been profit to me, from such a status, I forfeit them all, I give them up. I go even further. Not just whatever benefits from Judaism may have accrued to me, be they even the most superlative, but whatever in all the world may have accrued to me, I forfeit it all. And may it be known to you that no one takes these things from me with me putting up a fight in an effort to keep them for myself. It is I, Paul, who reckons the loss, who willingly forfeits everything.”

Here is the religious soul struck by the grace of God. the religious soul at its very best. Not in fact what we read in verses 4-6 that boast in the flesh, but what we read in verses 7-11 that boast in Christ. In this late and final epoch of God’s dealings with this world, in this epoch of the administration of the gospel, there falls away the duplicitous craftiness of a Jacob to gain first place in his family for the sake of an inheritance that would be given him from his father Isaac at the expense of his brother Esau. it falls away, fields with treasures buried in them, pearls of infinite worldly value and even such things as make for a kingdom be it even the kingdom of heaven and that one that remains in whom all these things find their meaning so that they, even they are eclipsed by his surpassing excellence. That one who remains is Jesus himself. The inheritance to which your birthright in the kingdom entitles you. the inheritance of incomparable value. Jesus himself. Your reward.

Ever since then all that the religion of Judaism can offer, over against all that this world can offer, is this one for whom all those things are intended. Over against all of this is set Jesus Christ alone, the All in All. says Paul, who is himself my inheritance, my treasure, my priceless pearl, my kingdom. I have willingly forfeited everything.

And what a bond now exists between that apostle and his Savior. What he finds coming to expression in himself is because of what came to expression in his Christ. He finds that his willingness to surrender everything, even if he had everything, his willingness to surrender everything, to give everything up for Christ, rises in him because Christ who truly had everything, gave up everything for him. How he loves him.

Don’t you love him too? Aren’t you giving up everything for Him as well? Father, set well in our hearts and souls your word that going from this place we will not forget. And Father, grant us strength that in living for you we may understand that there is nothing that compares in value to Christ our Savior. We are determined, O Lord, to give up everything for him. Amen.

The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.

April 19, 1992
Paul’s Sarcastic Boast

This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of the “Philippians” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, April 12, 1992.

About this sermon

Paul boasts of his credentials in 3:4-6, but he does it sarcastically, with deliberate irony. The arrogance of evangelists in general comes under the same scrutiny. Christ’s cross gives believers the only boast they have, and they can take no credit for it.

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Sermon transcript

We are reading from Philippians chapter 3 this morning, beginning with verse 1. We will be looking at especially verses 4 through 6 in our message this morning. Through the Word of God. 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 confidence in the flesh. Though I might also have confidence in the flesh, If any other man thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more, circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, and Hebrew of the Hebrews, as touching the law of Pharisee, concerning zeal, persecuting the church, touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.

What things were gained to me, those I counted lost for Christ, lay doubtless, and I count all things but lost for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and who count them but done that I may win Christ and be found in him, not having mine own righteousness which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ.” the righteousness which is of God by faith, that I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made confirmable unto his death. If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead, not as though I had already attained, if it were already perfect, that I follow after that if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended, but this one thing I do, forgiving those things which are behind and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded, and if in anything ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you. Nevertheless, whereto we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us mind the same thing. Brethren, be followers together of me, and mark them which walk. and mark them which walk so as ye have us for an example.

What obstacles remain yet for us, Lord, in our understanding of your word? It may be, Lord, that those blocks which we have set in place woefully those that would in fact block our understanding. We also know, our God, that there is that ruthlessness of life which carries us away as we would shield our sin. But Father, draw us back to your word, that we might look intently into it and there behold the provision for our sin and the mercy that is given us in your forgiveness.

We thank you, our God, for the grace of the gospel, the death of Christ our Savior, that death by which we have been cleansed and set right before you. We glory in our Savior, we exalt in his name. and who are ready, Father, to hear what you would say to us. For his sake.

Amen. in earnest to Philippians 3, and in coming back to this text, we are coming back to a familiar place in order to take up this discussion with an old friend. As we return to Philippians 3 and concentrate on it again, As we look specifically at verses four through six this morning, we are reminded of things that we have met previously in Paul’s dealings with the Philippian church.

We are reminded of Paul’s literary ability, his literary skill and brilliance. the way in which he is able to put things so well for us, to draw us on, and also to draw us into his discussion. At the same time, we are reminded of Paul’s masterful wit, his very clever twists of phrases and ideas that are able to confront his audience with the truth about themselves. And very importantly, of course, we are confronted by the Apostle’s tremendous doctrinal insight, his spiritual excellence, as he would set before us the purpose and plan of God and convince us afresh of Christ’s excellence. First of all, with regard to Paul’s literary skill, as that comes to the surface in verses four through six. These verses are beautifully crafted. The fourth verse rises out of the third naturally, easily.

Paul, at the conclusion of that third verse, about how these Philippian Christians, with himself, glory in Christ Jesus and put absolutely no confidence in the flesh, trust not one bit in the flesh. Then, in verse Paul carries over this theme of boasting and confidence specifically with respect to himself as he sets himself now before these Philippians as an example. Paul introduces himself then here into the discussion at verse 4, because he would set himself before these Philippians apparently as one with the greatest confidence possible in the flesh. He states, in effect, whatever qualifications anyone else might have for boasting in their flesh, for boasting in their accomplishments, my qualifications are greater and even more valid.

Then he goes on to list his credentials in verses 5 and 6, presenting them almost in resume fashion. I know that some of you have been busy, maybe recently, maybe in times past, with constructing resumes. Well, here is a wonderfully compact resume given you by the Apostle Paul. It comes in wonderful resume-clipped style. low excess words, compact, it’s almost as if he’s worked on it for a while, to get it down to this compressed form. The first four categories he gives to us here in this resume he’s presenting, the first four categories set before us is pedigree. Now think of this pedigree, if you will.

As to circumcision, he’s an eighth-dayer. Sets him apart, you know the Old Testament law. After birth, male child circumcised on the eighth day. This was part of religious obligation and duty set upon the Jewish people. And Paul fits the bill. He is an eighth-dayer with regard to circumcision.

If you’re going to boast in your flesh, even in the marks that are on your flesh, well, here you are. I can boast as well as anyone else. With respect to the nation, I am an Israelite, but even more, you see, even more in setting out his credentials, Paul is making a racial statement, an ethnic statement.

He is an Israelite. He is of a pure race. He is of that special race. He is of that favored race. As far as his family is concerned, that is tribally, he’s able to trace his lineage. He has the family tree all well worked out. He is of the tribe of Benjamin. He has the papers to prove it. How’s he doing?

This man is a Hebrew of the Hebrews. He’s Hebrew stock from purebred Hebrews. No half-breed, not infected by Gentile blood, not infected by Samaritan blood, not infected by Hellenistic blood, by the Greeks. He’s a fine Jewish boy with Jewish parents. This fellow’s family connections are impeccable. But you might be thinking, how is Paul able to boast in these things?

After all, he didn’t have anything to do with them, did he? In these things that he’s listed so far, he was wholly passive. Isn’t that true? Did he circumcise himself? No, he didn’t circumcise himself. Did he have anything to do with the fact that he was born into the Jewish race? No, he didn’t have anything to do with that. What about his family, the tribe of Benjamin? No, he didn’t have anything to do with that. How about being a Hebrew from Hebrew line, pure? No, he didn’t have anything to do with that.

Paul isn’t able to take credit for any of these things, but yet, it is precisely because he is passive with regard to these things that his boast actually increases. Well, how is that possible? You see, Paul in his religious estimation of things is convinced of God’s providence and his sovereignty. It’s no accident that he has the lineage, the family that he does. God has obviously specially favored him with these family ties of which he can boast. Paul is special. But not only is he special by God’s providence, by God’s sovereignty, by root of his fortuitous As he goes on to say, he’s special because he improved on these natural endowments.

A lot of boys out there with the advantages I had, but they just went up to improving on them as much as I did. I never missed a step. No one got ahead of me. I was always at the head of the class. I would not allow myself to be inferior to any. So Claude then improves upon his natural advantages. He makes choices. And by all of those choices he improves his standing and his boast. After all, isn’t that what life’s all about? He who can boast best? He whose pride is insurmountable? Like a mountain in itself? Isn’t that what it’s all about? Putting yourself in a position where you’re above the criticism of others? So by his choices, he improves upon his standard. He joins the strictest sect of establishment Judaism. He joins the Pharisees. Now, that wasn’t an obnoxious group.

In Paul’s estimation, it was the highest station to which one could ever aspire, to become a Pharisee, that was to become a separated one, one who delighted in God’s law, in God’s law with respect to holiness and purity, to stand apart from uncleanness and impurity. Give oneself no rest when it comes to the law and the particulars that are extracted from that law. To be rigorous, infinitely rigorous, with regard to oneself.

In Pharisee, pursuing righteousness and thinking that while you are pursuing righteousness, pursuing holiness, pursuing godliness, that you are all actually paving the way for God’s entrance into the world with his final administration of the kingdom through his Messiah. If the Messiah were to come, He would have congratulated me first for my righteousness, because it was actually my righteousness above anyone else’s that prepared the way for his coming. And then proving his worth, he sets about this Pharisee, Paul, to defend Judaism against all enemies, he tells us, as to zeal in persecutor of the Church. So precisely here, against this enemy of Judaism, the Church, the Church of Jesus Christ, the Church made up of these followers, these followers of that heretical and false Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth.

And finally, as his crowning touch, in terms of his performance, his decisions, his choices, he has absolutely no doubts whatsoever. He says, as to the righteousness, the end of verse 6, the righteousness which is in the law, found to be blameless. Now, Paul isn’t here saying that he is sinless. What he’s saying is that he knew how to take care of sin under the old administration and did it scrupulously. He went to the temple, he offered sacrifices, he pled with God for forgiveness. So now, Paul here isn’t claiming sinlessness. He can’t, however, allow himself no excuse with respect to sin, and pursued with sincere deliberation and scrupulous integrity the prescriptions of God’s law down to the letter. And before the law, with its provision of forgiveness in sacrifice, Paul is found in his own estimation to be blameless. No one could fault him.

Well, here, in the space of these two brief verses, you have the Apostle’s resume. He has surveyed for you his life, that life before he became a Christian, and he is setting himself forward here as the cream of the Jewish crop. with fine artistic ability.

Maybe we would wish we had such ability when we were making up our resumes. With fine literary skill, he builds his case for personal excellence, commending himself on the basis of these works of the flesh. This flurry of mounting phrases carries us along the path of Paul’s apparent superiority. But what do we do with these words? I hope you’ve noticed that as I’ve been going through this I’ve been smiling a lot. My wife tells me it’s a grimace that I try to convince myself that it’s a smile.

Taken in one sense, don’t these words, even if Paul is merely reflecting upon his past Jewish experience, don’t these words sound somewhat elegant? Does Paul really think that he was the cream of the Jewish crop? That he was the best Jew that ever lived? Don’t these words betray a bit of pomposity? In suggesting that he has grounds to boast with regard to that former life with respect to those privileges and the performance observed in him.

It does sound, does it not, as if Paul with all seriousness is saying of all the Jews in my time I was the greatest. Now you all have to admit it, don’t you? I just told you, didn’t I? I am the greatest. And would it be the height of condescending insolence to say then, in effect, as it seems Paul is doing, if I, the greatest, gave up everything to follow Christ. What’s the matter with you lesser blokes, who are hardly as fine as myself?

Now, you should all be prepared for this. especially if you’ve been wandering around in evangelical circles for a number of years. I grew up in those circles. I know how it went. The convert would come to town, the convert turned evangelist. And what would he do? He would tell you how great he was. Or how great he used to be. And don’t you wish you were that great? And if you were just like me, you could be that great. Doesn’t it wear you out?

Those kind of people always attract a crowd. Maybe that’s the reason that there isn’t a scowled crowd here today. That many people find the message that is preached from this pulpit uninteresting. All those converts then, turned evangelists, were ones who seemed to glory in the descriptions of their pre-regeneration days, making sure you know just how lucky Jesus is to have them on his team. But it’s a truly false intention to use a sort of backdoor arrogance.

A boasting about his ability that sets him above others. A boasting about his ability that allows him to boast about his boasting. Do you see how ridiculous it’s getting? If I’m laughing up here, you’re supposed to be laughing. It is becoming comical. And that’s exactly what Paul intends.

The thing that we must remember is that Paul is not just a fine writer. but he is possessed with a very sharp and fine and clever wit. There is a biting, and I don’t hesitate to say it, I have said it before, there is a biting and even sarcastic twist of Paul’s words. Is it somehow impious to be sarcastic? Is that a mark of a lack of piety? Not according to the Apostle Paul. He was a master. Remember what he says at the end of verse 2 in Philippians 3? Remember how we dealt with that?

He’s describing these dogs. these evil workers who think of themselves quite the contrary, of course, but he comes to the last phrase. He calls them the mutilators. They think of themselves as the circumcisers. Paul calls them the mutilators. He’s being funny. There are other passages where Paul is equally sarcastic. I’m convinced that that’s why we can’t read 1 Corinthians 13 properly. Every time I hear that passage read in public forum, it’s done with Samoan tones. Paul is having one good time at the expense of those who think too much of themselves. have a sarcastic twist to them. For certainly, and you have to admit, Paul knows that there are others, maybe even some, in the company of those troublemakers that are threatening the Philippian church who would brag about their pedigree and their performance.

They would bring out all of the particular items with which they would make up their But isn’t that precisely the nature of bragging or boasting? Isn’t that the very nature of the flesh and the way in which the flesh behaves? Isn’t the way of it always this, that you must vie for and claim the very best spot? You must always insist on your own superiority?

So there’s a bit of tongue-in-cheek here on the apostle’s part, as he playfully enters into the spirit of the thing. His true intent is to expose the utter folly of the vain show in the flesh. That vain show is always reduced in the end to a contest. Who can make the greatest claim? And then subsequently, who is awarded with a following of those who are most impressed with that sort of thing?

Now, you haven’t misunderstood the apostle if you see him here as being a bit ridiculous. He intends by way of this boast to make fun of boasters. So then Paul is the fine writer. And Paul is the penetrating witch. But above all, Paul is the consummate theologian and doctor of the soul. In speaking this way to enemies that threaten the Philippian assembly, he is speaking to the Philippian assembly itself. And confirming these Christians with the liability to their soul.

Not just that somebody will come in and begin to insist that they practice circumcision and some other Old Testament rites, but that there would be in them a spirit born of the flesh that cultivates a boast in the flesh, a confidence in the flesh, over against that exaltation in Christ, and that glorying in Him and in Him exclusively.

You may well be asking, if my life is not given to boasting, then to what can it be given? If I cannot live my life being proud of myself and insisting upon my own superiority, then what’s left to life? Why go on living? After all, that’s what life is all about. The doctor of the soul has just removed the excuse of the flesh. And the boasting, the pride, the arrogance that is born of the flesh.

What will be the nature of your dust? I’m white. I’m white. I’m black. I come from the heights. I come from across the tracks and I’m proud of it. I’m good. I’m very good. I’m good with women. I’m good with money. I’m good with religion. I’m really a genius when it comes to the things of religion. I’m a superstar. I’m an athlete. I’m a student. I’m the best there ever was. Laugh at yourself.

And the foolishness of such arrogance exposed now so narrowly. because of the appearance of Jesus Christ who robs all everyone of their boast in the flesh and provides us with the only solid boast the boast that is found in him and nowhere else Do you remember what the Apostle Paul says in Galatians 6.14? Here is Paul speaking, this time without his wry wit, without his clever sarcastic twists.

Here he is, in all of his genuineness and sincerity, may it be. that I never should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ through which the world was crucified to me and I to the world. Here is one robbed of his boast in the flesh who says I still have every reason, even the best reasons to live in the service of my God. to the glory of my Savior. Amen.

Speak to us, our Father, in your Word and by your servant the Apostle, that we too may be addressed and robbed of our boast in the flesh, even to the point where we see just how ridiculous that boast is. And Father, train us well with regard to the only boast that remains, the boast that is found in Christ, the confidence that is discovered with Him. May we be pleased, our Father. to live with such confidence as you give us, for service in your name, that we might glorify you in our love for Christ. We ask it through Christ.

The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.

April 12, 1992