Grace OPC Sewickley PA

Sermon Series: Philippians

  • Two Orders of Creation

    Two Orders of Creation

    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, March 29, 1992.

    About this sermon

    God befriends the humble, and sinful pride toward others stands against him. 1 John 2:16 and Galatians 6:15-16 describe two orders of creation, flesh and spirit, that run through Scripture as rival allegiances. The proud cannot accept God’s grace, because pride and grace cannot stand together.

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    Sermon transcript

    In our reflections upon Philippians 3, verse 3, we have been reading consecutively through the chapters of Paul’s letter to the Galatians, and we have arrived this morning at Galatians 6. Listen to the word of God. Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such a one in the spirit of meekness, considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.

    Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. For if a man think himself to be something when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself. But let every man prove his own work, and then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone and not in another. For every man shall bear his own burden.

    Let him that is taught in the word communicate unto him that teacheth in all good things. Be not deceived, God is not mocked, for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption, but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. And let us not be weary in well-doing. who in due season we shall reap if we faint not. As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith.

    See how large a letter I have written unto you with mine own hand. As many as desire to make a fair show in the flesh, they constrain you to be circumcised. only lest they should suffer persecution for the cross of Christ. For neither they themselves who are circumcised keep the law, but desire to have you circumcised, that they may glory in your flesh. But God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me. and I into the world. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything nor uncircumcision, but a new creation.

    And as many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them and mercy, and upon the Israel of God. And henceforth let no man trouble me, for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus.” Brethren, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen.

    And then turning over to Philippians 3, beginning with verse 3. For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and put no confidence in the flesh. Though I might have confidence in the flesh, if any other man thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more circumcise 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 of blameless, that what things were gained to me, those I count lost. for Christ.

    Father, humble us before you, and Father, may we stand in awe of your greatness. The greatness, Lord, that is being told throughout the creation, by the creation itself and also by servants whom you’ve raised up. to declare your will. So even now, your people are gathered to hear you speak to them. Speak, Lord, for your servants here. Amen. Recently I had one of those painful experiences when an incident from my youth was brought to mind. I was in a discussion with my parents and they were reminding me of this instance from my youth.

    We were talking about the time my sister and I decided to look for summer jobs in Chautauqua, New York. Now I know that some of you are aware of Chautauqua and maybe some of you have even visited Chautauqua, a lovely lakeside resort near Jamestown, New York.

    A community so quaint that they still ban all motorized vehicles from the grounds. A community so unique that it offers up a rich and rare collection of lectures and sermons and concerts and opera performances, film repertoire, all of this in an atmosphere of comfortable inns and remarkable little shops. It’s idyllic. An atmosphere both exhilarating and relaxing, if not a little exclusive. A wonderful place to vacation, if you can afford it. a wonderful place to work if you can find a job, which neither my sister nor I could. We covered the ground on a late spring Saturday afternoon.

    We went into the inns, we went into all the shops, we were turned down every place we inquired. It was quite disappointing for us. It was even embarrassing. But I hardly was prepared for the greater humiliation that awaited me in the parking lot as we prepared to leave.

    You see, we were come upon by two of my closest friends. and they were already well-tanned and gainfully employed and thought nothing of gloating about their good fortune, but especially about their good connections. Their meaning was clear. How could you let alone their sister. How could you have ever thought that you would get a job here?” They swaggered, they were insufferable, and they left me quite ashamed. And that even worse, They left me fuming internally with what I now recognize in retrospect to be nothing short of out-and-out hatred.

    It was as if the entirety of the history of the world settled in on that moment, was bound up in that encounter late on that spring afternoon. As if in that moment all of us who were there had struck the primary nerve. As if that event laid bare a fundamental ingredient to the basic depravity of the human condition. I won’t speak for my sister. I’m sure she handled it much better than I. But the ordeal exposed in my friends and in myself an abominable arrogance, an indomitable vanity.

    At work in us, was a spirit that we have been cultivating since birth and improving upon. A spirit intent upon gaining the advantage, never looking the fool, never being embarrassed, is a spirit intent upon gaining the advantage and then wielding that advantage in self-interest and cruel consistency. This spirit, full-blown, gives vent to envy. to covetousness. It is concerned never to be viewed lagging behind or inferior to anyone.

    But it was obvious that spring afternoon that I was definitely lagging behind I hadn’t even chosen the right parents. And obviously I was clearly in the minds of my friends inferior. I do recall the rage rising within me driving me in that instance never again to accept such an insult.

    The Bible warns repeatedly about crime. Money will go to their grave never having dealt with it. The Bible speaks especially pointedly in two passages about pride. Two New Testament texts, each playing off an Old Testament passage. I have in mind James chapter four, verse and 1 Peter 5, verse 5.

    These New Testament passages, pulling off of Proverbs 3.34, restructuring that statement from the Old Testament in this way, God resists the proud that gives grace to the I heard those passages paraphrased this way once, God is at war with the proud, but befriends the humble.

    Now I think that it is obvious to you the way the passage is structured for you there that we have set before us two mutually exclusive ways of life. There is the way of pride and then also the way of humility. Two entire orders of existence set out for us there in stark contrast As you move down through the chapters in which these verses appear, James 4, 1 Peter 5, you suddenly become aware that you have many descriptions that then can be lined up on either side of the ledger with respect to these two orders of existence.

    On the one side, You have that order of existence that knows submission to God and acceptance of His will. You have that promised freedom that is so expansive and so profound that it excludes anxiety. this order of existence to the one side. Proclaiming submission to God, acceptance of His will, promising even freedom from anxiety, promises as well the reverence from Satan’s domination. And even though this order of existence presently knows privation and even sufferings for the sake of Christ, it stands in expectation of the coming exaltation by way of Christ and by way of the powerful, loving presence of God, our dear eternal friend.

    So that, to the one side, the side of humility, but then there is the other order of existence, which, according to James and Peter, proclaims friendship with the world to the extent that there is demanded the exclusion of God. There is a rejection of Christ and his ways, despite the vocabulary, despite the rhetoric that you may hear, a rejection of Christ, evident in an unrepentant and willful soul, a soul, then, that wittingly or unwittingly serves Satan and his legions by choosing this world over God and life within in another world altogether.

    I tell you, pride is damning. It is as lethal a weapon as Satan possesses. And it is basic to man’s sinful nature. Fundamental to his depravity. But if James and Peter are not enough for you, maybe you would be convinced if we look to John and his writings. Let him make his contribution, an amazing contribution at that. For in John’s writings he will reduce our sinfulness to something like a compact formula in his first epistle, the second chapter, the sixteenth verse. Remember that passage.

    For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life is not from the Father, but is from the Word. The world is passing away, and also its lusts, but the one who does the will of God abides forever.

    John, like James and Peter, sets in contrast, in keeping with his own vocabulary, sets in contrast the two orders. The one order he calls the world, which is passing away with its evils, but the other is denominated by the person of the Father, by God himself. Isn’t it interesting that in John’s formulation of things, he will not put a world over against this world that is passing away, but rather he puts over against this world the Father. Nothing less than God in his deity, in his fatherly care, in his love, in his graciousness, the person of God, that one then upon whom our desires are focused. So John, there is then the world which is passing away with its evils.

    There is also the Father whom we love, whose will we seek to do with the promise that we will abide with him forever. At the center of the one world, or the center of the one order of existence, is love of the Father. At the center of the other is love for the world, a love now which John tells us expresses itself in the lust of the flesh. by which he means that selfish gratification of our desires apart from and contrary to God. This love for the world, this love of the world, which expresses itself, says John, in the lust of the eyes, that is, in the focusing upon what we can see, and the satisfying of ourselves with the sufficiency of reality’s externals.

    A way of life, a view of life, that excludes faith altogether. as if saving the most lethal to the end. This love of the world expresses itself in the pride of life, that is, the arrogant self-assertion with respect to life itself, whereby we exalt ourselves and our importance over others, even over God, and claim life to be our own sovereign domain.

    Paul, in concert with Peter, James, and John, speaks to the subject of pride. For the Apostle Paul, it is not just a fundamental ingredient with regard to human depravity. mentioned possibly in passing. The pride is dealt with pervasively throughout the entirety of the Apostle’s writings. Paul’s vocabulary is varied and expansive. With a multiplicity of words and expressions he will cover the territory survey the territory that was surveyed by James and Peter and the lay of the land is precisely the same for Paul with the others sees two orders of existence the one exhales pride in glorying a rejoicing, a boasting in oneself, a boasting, a glorying that belongs to the order of the flesh. But on the other side, as if to match boast with boast, the apostle speaks about boasting in the Lord exclusively.

    He speaks in Galatians 6.14 of boasting in the cross of Christ, and that exclusively. Here is this Galatians passage 6.14 that proves to be most instructive, because it is Paul further says his boast in Christ’s cross is due to that cross’s power to destroy the other world that is categorized by the flesh, and that that cross has the power to deposit him in the new creation, that is, in the order of the Spirit. This is what he means in the fifteenth verse. of that sixth chapter, for neither is circumcision anything nor uncircumcision but a new creation. But Paul goes on.

    He declares in the sixteenth verse that this is his canon, this is his standard, this is the rule that he has for his gospel. than the mutually exclusive nature of the two orders of existence. On the one side, the flesh, known to us by its boast, the boast that rises from within the self. On the other side, the realm of the spirit and the boast that is expressed with respect to God and Him exclusively. And that boast focusing upon the work of God, in Christ’s cross.

    It is precisely in the interests of this canon, this standard, this rule, this gospel that Paul works so hard in the case of the Philippians. Paul’s gospel allows for no boast in the flesh no pride born of this world, even if fanned by the finest of Jewish sentiment and devotion. Paul is merciless with regard to himself when it comes to pride. The religious world Paul knew through his Jewish upbringing, through his Jewish education, proved to be, in the end, as liable to the flesh as the paganism around him, because that order of things, in his Jewish upbringing, belonged to a provisional and temporary order of things, and in the end could be categorized as belonging to the order of the flesh. Religious zeal becomes the occasion for evil, Paul suggests, when it becomes the excuse for worldly pride, and we see that worldly pride blossoming amongst those who have held most strenuously to the law and its demands.

    The pride born of the flesh. leaves all who express it short of God and contentment in him. Such pride leaves all in whom that pride finds expression short of Christ’s cross and the that is conferred upon those who have been humbled. Our pride stands opposite grace. Our pride stands opposite the gift of God. The proud cannot accept the gift.

    Does not our pride convince us of our own superiority? Does not our pride convince us that we are not in need, that we lack nothing, that we have a right to all that we imagine we deserve? Does not our pride drive us and compel us toward an attitude that is marked by competitive greed, and blind anger in the interests of holding on to a world we believe is ours? Pride, pride born of the flesh, will you not bear testimony to this yourselves? pride born of the flesh is itself excluded from the world of God’s grace.

    It cannot exist there. You standing before the presence of God, as John himself envisioned it, looking unto God the Father, pride melts away. It cannot exist in the present. of God’s grace in the presence of this person. In the language then of Philippians 3, verse 3, that pride is excluded in the realm where we worship God in the Spirit. That pride is excluded amongst all of us who will glory in, rejoice in Christ Jesus. Such pride as rises from the flesh has no place amongst those who put no confidence in the flesh, but whose confidence is in and of the Spirit. I did not realize it those many years ago That encounter, however, was indicative of a pattern of life. Unlearning, unlearning such a pattern is a torturous affair. It is brutal.

    We who are being humbled, should have no difficulty admitting the operations of God in us. Those operations to the end that we might be humbled and not placed in the company of the proud. Hear us, Lord. Vanity rises, pride deals death, and we are slain. But your grace preaches a better end, for in front of that cross and standing in the presence of your glory. We, Lord, through the work of your Spirit, are humbled. Knowing, Lord, that you will multiply grace to us, you, our friend, help us, Father, in all of our dealings in this creation, that we may not express the vanity of pride to the undoing of our souls. Preserve us, O God, for yourself.

    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.

  • Christ Welcomes the Children

    Christ Welcomes the Children

    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, March 22, 1992.

    About this sermon

    The disciples thought children beneath Christ’s attention, and that was only one of their wrong ideas about him. Christ deliberately welcomes the children in Luke 18, and in that welcome the New Testament overtakes an Old Testament assumption. What the disciples got wrong about children, they also got wrong about Christ.

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    Sermon transcript

    our reading of Paul’s letter to the Galatians, and this morning we have arrived at chapter to this marvelous declaration of the gospel. Stand fast, therefore, in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.

    Behold, I, Paul, say unto you that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing. For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law. Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law, ye are fallen from grace. For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision but faith which worketh by love.

    Ye did run well. Who did hinder you that ye should not obey the truth? This persuasion cometh not of him that calleth you. A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump. I have confidence in you through the Lord that ye will be none otherwise minded, but he that troubleth you shall bear his judgment, whosoever he be. And I, brethren, if I yet preached circumcision, why do I yet suffer persecution? Then is the offense of the cross ceased. I would, I would they were even cut off which trouble you.

    For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty, only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another. For all the laws fulfilled in one word, even in this, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another.”

    This I say, then, walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh, and these are contrary the one to the other, so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these. adultery, fornication, uncleanness, deciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, endings, murders, drunkenness, revelings, and such like, of which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God, that the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance.

    Against such there is no law, and they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.” If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another.

    Then, turning back to the Gospel of Luke, the 18th chapter, reading verses 15 through And they brought unto him also infants, that he would touch them. But when his disciples sought, they rebuked them. But Jesus called them unto him and said, Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not, for of such is the kingdom of God. Verily, I say unto you, whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child shall in no wise enter therein.” Hear us, Lord, that we may be benefited, remove from us those barriers that sin has caused, that we might hear you with the whole heart, intent on obeying you with all of our energy. We ask it for the sake of your Son, in whose name we pray, amen.

    North of Jericho, in the Jordan Valley, along the roads that lead down from Galilee to Jerusalem, while Jesus is on the last of his journeys to the great city, he is confronted by a congregation, an assembly. coming to him with a unique request. These are parents out of Israel who have brought to Jesus their children, that he might touch them and bless them. This congregation is made up of many.

    The reason why it has gathered may, in fact, have a diversity of reasons, for there may be some in the company who have heard about Jesus and his marvelous works and may have thought of Jesus as something of a shaman. something as a talisman, something of a magician, someone able to work wonders.

    And in the world that they know, seeing all of the complications, seeing all of the difficulties, knowing the ravages of disease and the threat that those diseases pose even for their young, they have come to Jesus that he might touch them and cast, as it were, a spell over those children in order that those children might be protected from all malice.

    There may have been some who were quite superstitious in the company and looked upon the touch of Jesus as something magical. There may have been others who, in hearing about Jesus, had had their religious interest piqued. They were greatly interested in religious personalities. They were drawn to them as metal to a magnet. All that was necessary for them was to hear that there was one more religious teacher, one more religious phenom who was performing wonders or speaking as no one else had spoken before, and they were at the door, off for one more trip to hear this new religious genius. For some, undoubtedly, Jesus was something of a religious celebrity, and you would certainly not want to pass up the opportunity of hearing him or seeing him. And what if in later years you could say to your children, hardly able to comprehend these things themselves, What if you were able to say, well, you know, you were actually touched by the famous preacher from Galilee, Jesus. But while there may have been these types in the company, the superstitious and those interested in religious phenomenon, undoubtedly what rises within the soul of this company comes out of a covenantal background and consciousness.

    They are drawn to this person of Jesus. Yes, whole families of them are drawn to this person of Jesus because they recognize in him something of the realization of Israel’s hope. Could this be the Lord’s Messiah? Could this be the promised one? As they assemble and as they make their trek, as they come for their meeting with Jesus, we cannot dismiss from them faith itself as they look to this One, recognizing in Him, then, the proportions, the dimensions of the covenant’s promise.

    It’s realization set before them. And with that kind of consciousness coming in this frame of mind as they do, they come almost as if they were Israel as a whole. Parents and children, the whole of Israel. embodied within them and their little congregation, parents and children, has in Israel so with them, they knowing then that if this one is the Messiah, he must touch the entirety of what they are, the entirety of their lives. He will touch them in the comprehensiveness of the covenant itself. And what of their children in this connection? Why, their children are but an extension of themselves. They cannot be left out. for they yearn not just for themselves, but for their households.

    That the marvelous, great, benefit, provision, blessing of the Messiah might be bestowed upon them in full. So it is the covenant, as they had learned it well within the schoolhouse of Israel, it is the covenant that constrains and draws them to Jesus. But they are stopped They are stopped. Between them and Jesus are Jesus’ disciples. The disciples rebuke the parents.

    They say, Now, you might think that the reason why they say no is that they’re in a big hurry. Jesus doesn’t have time for this. You might think that the reason they say no is because, well, children are a nuisance. and embarrassment, and we don’t really want them here getting in the way. Jesus has more important matters to attend to. He has more important people to speak to. It may well be that the rich young ruler, whose story appears next, is waiting in the It is not because the disciples are embarrassed by the children or think that the children will be an annoyance to Jesus. It is not because the disciples have concluded that Jesus doesn’t have time for this.

    In actual fact, the disciples themselves are acting out of their covenantal consciousness. They keep the children at a distance because of their commitment to the covenant. They are committed to Jesus as the Messiah. They see him as the one who is bringing in the kingdom of God in keeping with the promises to Israel, in keeping with the promises of the covenant. They are devoted to Jesus. Their understanding, however, of that kingdom, their understanding of the covenant, go hand in hand. And in the interest of that covenant and in the interest of the kingdom of God, they keep the children at bay.

    And now you’re confused. You’re saying to yourself, how can this be? I mean, the parents have come in the interest of the covenant, seeking Jesus’ blessing, and now you’re telling me that the disciples, also in the interest of the covenant, keep the children at bay. How can this be?

    How can the covenant be at base? the commitment of both the parents and the disciples. The disciples are convinced But whatever Jesus means in terms of the fulfillment of the promises with respect to that covenant, whatever Jesus means with respect to the kingdom of God, he will not contradict essentially the administration that had been, in effect, under which these parents themselves had lived. The disciples are on their way to Jerusalem with Jesus, hoping to be sure, hoping that the arrival at the great city will mean the arrival of the kingdom in unprecedented form and power. But the arrival of that kingdom will not mean the destruction of, the laying aside of, the administration that had been. How is that administration worked out under Israel? How is the covenant expressed under Israel?

    Does it not focus in the tabernacle service and in the service rendered in the temple? Have you looked at the floor plan? of the temple and its courts, the layout, the topography of the precincts of the temple recently. Have you reviewed that? You know of the sanctuary, the holy place and the holy of holies, surrounded by a court, the court of the priests.

    Only the priests could walk in that court and approach the sanctuary. When outside to the east was the altar in front of the altar with the court of the Levites, and the Levites would take the offerings from the people and they would set those offerings upon God’s altar. But in front of the court of the Levites was the court of the men, for only the men in Israel could come and present the offerings to the Levites for sacrifice on the altar. And behind the court of the men was the court of the women and the court of the children. The kids could not approach any more than their mothers. And then these four courts were surrounded, as you know, by the court of the Gentiles. Now, it’s that blueprint that the disciples have in mind when they respond to these parents the way they do.

    Yes, we believe with all of our heart that Jesus is the Messiah, he is the King. With him comes the kingdom and the fulfillment of the promises of the covenant. But this will not mean an essential change of that administration, and when we arrive in Jerusalem, the temple in its present administration will be so perfected that it will be cast, as it were, with God’s iron, never to be tampered with again. What does Jesus say to all of this?

    It must have been startling. It must have been a shock. to them, to hear Jesus say what he did. Instead of joining in the rebuke of the disciples, he rebukes them. for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Truly I say to you, whosoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it at all.”

    We might miss the full power of what Jesus is saying here, but it certainly was not missed by his disciples. You see, ordinarily, we from this passage conclude that all that Jesus is doing here is making a moral and religious point. In other words, a point about character. All that he is saying here is that those who must approach him, those who are acceptable in the kingdom, are those who have the humility and the unpretentiousness of a child. This is adults who have learned such lessons. Had Jesus meant that, there would not have been the shock registered upon the disciples that day. But what Jesus is actually saying here is, Those who you think have right and interest to the kingdom and the temple are those who must come by other ways than those they imagine.

    For foremost in the kingdom is the child. foremost in the kingdom is the child. The child comes first, and then those who are like the child follow. And isn’t that interesting? Because as you look at the four courts of the temple, it would be the child who is virtually the last, even lower than the mothers that held them in the court of the women. The last is brought in first.

    And now it becomes apparent to us just how much Jesus is turning the whole of the disciples’ expectation upon its head in the interest of the fulfillment of that covenant which these parents are recognizing in bringing their children to Christ. For in the administration of the kingdom of heaven now, the children, with their mothers, with the men, all go into the sanctuary itself, there to commune with God, there to live in his presence. In the old administration, the covenant, in a sense, worked against itself. in the interests of a better and greater day. Yes, parents with their children in Israel, coming unto the Lord, but yet even in the coming a barrier. This far and no further.

    But now that tension that exists within the old administration is resolved in the arrival of the new. And in the administration of the new order, the little child shall lead them. Is it not interesting that in the triumphal entry, the children go in first, and in Matthew’s gospel we are told of the children’s praise within the temple precincts by which they acknowledged the superlative character and personage of Jesus. or it is distress. I will say it with gentleness, I will say it with love. There are still those who will keep the children out.

    In their reflections, in their theology, in their doctrine, they conceive of things this way. They are doing the Lord’s service. They are the agents of the new covenant, they say. It was the disciples as the agents of the old who kept the children at bay. Let us learn from a marvelous text such as this. the incalculable worth and value of God’s new administration in Christ, wherein even the barriers that the covenant itself had raised are torn down.

    As the children, the babes, the babes in lead the way. Let us pray. Our Father, as we would acknowledge your covenant and the glories that are found in all of the promises and wonderfully in the blessings We fully acknowledge the inadequacy of the old administration and glory in the fullness, the comprehensiveness and the perfection of the new. Lord, we ask that as in fact we would present our children not out of presumption, but in We might also be determined in ourselves to live godly lives before you, truly becoming as children ourselves, that we, with our children, might enter the kingdom of God. We pray that in Christ’s name, that one who touched and blessed the children on his way

    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.

  • True Circumcision

    True Circumcision

    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, March 8, 1992.

    About this sermon

    Galatians 3 keeps its pairs distinct: circumcision and uncircumcision, bondage and freedom, law and faith. Paul resolves the tension of Galatians 5 and 6 through covenantal obedience, faith working through love. True circumcision was never primarily a physical mark.

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    Sermon transcript

    You will notice that in our morning Scripture readings, I have been reading with our consideration of Paul’s letter to the Philippians. The chapters in Paul’s letter to the Galatians consecutively, and we have come to the third chapter of Galatians this morning, Galatians chapter 3.

    O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you? This only would I learn of you. Receive ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh? Have ye suffered so many things in vain, if it be yet in vain? He therefore that ministereth to you the Spirit, and worketh miracles among you, doeth he it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?

    Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness, Know you, therefore, that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham. And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed. So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham.

    For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse. for it is written, Cursed is everyone that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them. But that no man is justified by the law on the sight of God, it is evident, for the just shall live by faith. And the law is not of faith, but the man that doeth them shall live in them.” Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us, for it is written, Cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree, that the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.

    Brethren, I speak after the manner of men. Though it be but a man’s covenant, yet if it be confirmed, no man disavoweth or addeth thereto. Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made, and he saith not, and to seeds, as of many, but as of one, and to thy seed, which is Christ. And this I say, that the covenant that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of none effect. For if the inheritance be of the law, it is no more of promise, but God gave it to Abraham by promise.

    Therefore then serveth the law. It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made, and it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator.” Now, a mediator is not a mediator of one, but God is one. Is the law, then, against the promises of God?

    God forbid, for if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily, righteousness should have been by the law. But the Scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe. But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith, which should afterwards be revealed. Wherefore, the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.

    But after that faith is come, we are no longer under the schoolmaster, for ye are all the children of God, by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ, there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female, for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. And if ye are Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed and heirs according to the promise.” So we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh.

    Father, according to your promise, be with your Church in power. May she this day be convinced all over again of the certainty of her mission, and may she give herself afresh to that mission. in her service of the word, as servants of yours are raised up to proclaim that word with integrity. As there are those within the church gifted for rule, and they rule with wisdom and judiciousness, and as there are those who are gifted in service, Lord, may they serve to the fullness of their capacity which they have gained in Christ through your blessing of grace. Our Father, help us all, for surely we are all those who are subject to your word and called to obedient service in imitation of your Son. To this end, Lord, may this word be profitable to us. We ask it in Jesus’ name. Amen.

    We are continuing this morning somewhat along the lines of the detour. that we embarked upon a couple of weeks ago. This detour is not unrelated to what we have been looking at in Philippians chapter 3, but it does take us into other territory in the Apostle’s writings. We are looking at his letter to the Galatians this morning, and looking at a particular aspect of it. and then he will try to relate what we find there to what we have read in the third verse of Philippians 3.

    In Galatians chapter 5, Paul strikes out against circumcision. In Galatians chapter 5, which we didn’t read this morning, Paul strikes out against circumcision. You hear his rather startling statement in the second verse of that chapter. Behold, I, Paul, say to you that if you receive circumcision, Christ will be of no benefit to you.

    Now, he doesn’t let up. In verse 4 of that chapter, he engages in something of playful reflection upon the imagery of circumcision, when he says, you have been severed, cut off from Christ. You who are seeking to be justified by the law, You have fallen from grace, he states boldly, uncategorically. Verse 11, he speaks even more strikingly.

    Circumcision there is connected with the absence of persecution. But I, brethren, if I still preach circumcision, why am I still persecuted?” he asks. Then the stumbling block of the cross has been abolished, he states. Circumcision here set over against the offense that is found in the cross of Christ.

    It’s as if, through these verses, Paul were drawing a line. And on the one side of the line he is placing circumcision, and that as some sort of shorthand for the Old Testament legal administration. Circumcision and the Old Testament legal administration on one side of the law. This of no profit, this offering no price, this conferring no freedom. On the other side of the line, the Apostle puts, as it were, uncircumcision. He places a removal from the law and its legal administration.

    He places on this side those things that are of infinite value in his estimation. He places on this side Christ, his cross, and the affluence of grace. He places on this other side of the line the freedom that is found nowhere else but in Jesus Christ.

    Verse 1 of that chapter, it is for freedom that Christ sets us free, therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to slavery. Verse 13 of that fifth chapter, for you were called to freedom, brethren, only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.

    Paul draws a line. That line is sometimes very hard for us to understand. For it seems that the Apostle here means no mere supplement to the Old Testament administration. It’s not as if the New Testament has come in Paul’s estimation as an addition, as a supplement to what has gone before. He speaks here in such absolute terms. He speaks as if he has in mind a replacement.

    You can’t live in two places at once, he said. You must live in one place or the other. Either you must live in an environment that is dominated by circumcision, by the Old Testament legal administration, an environment which spells out for you bondage, I might add, or you must live in an environment where there is no circumcision, where that Old Testament legal administration has been removed, where you will find them, those things of infinite value belonging to the kingdom of heaven, namely Christ, his cross, and the affluence of grace, and the abundance, of course, of freedom. But how is this possible? How is this possible?

    Did not God himself give the law? Did he not command circumcision? Is the Old Testament legal administration then of no value? What is Paul speaking of here? It sounds as if he were an antinomian, someone who was against the law. And even more dreadful for us who are of a preformed persuasion, it sounds here as if Paul were more a proto-dispensationalist rather than a proto-Calvinist. Let me say it. That Paul was no antinomian. Paul is no dispensationalist. Let me state my own personal belief that Paul was a proto-Calvinist, a forerunner, indeed, of the gospel that we have embraced in the Reformed faith.

    The law in fact does have continuing value. The Old Testament legal administration does have continuing value. Even circumcision itself has continuing value if we understand the nature of the value indeed. And it is to this end, then, that we must not ever lose sight of Paul’s central concern, a concern that is working itself out in this epistle to the Galatians, and most specifically in those antitheses that are spelled out for us in that fifth chapter as he sets various things on opposite sides of the line. You see, above all else, Paul refuses to compromise.

    At all costs, and to the fullest extent, he will press upon his readers and upon the church that he serves, the radical change, the radical change that has been effected by God in sending his son into the world. It is that radical change that makes all the difference for this Son of Israel, for this Son of the Law. This man can never view anything the same ever again, not even his heritage, not even that Old Testament administration. He cannot view it the same in light of what God has done.

    This monumental work of God in Christ is what then undergirds the entirety of the apostles’ teaching and his approach to these Galatians in the midst of their present doctrinal confusion. Hear him out as he makes his point to them. Let’s know in this fifth chapter. Notice how Paul expresses himself in the sixth verse.

    He says, for in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything but faith working through love. Here, in effect, the apostle is declaring his indifference to that which was so central to his obedience previously, to his estimation of what obedience was. Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision amounts to anything but faith working through love. The latter part of that verse is a summation now of the Apostle’s understanding of what New Testament covenantal obedience is all about, faith working through love.

    And he is setting that over against what was available and expressed under the Old Testament legal administration. But I call your attention to this passage. because Paul will repeat himself in the sixth chapter, the fifteenth verse, with words that are almost identical. In fact, you can place these verses side by side and read them in terms of each other.

    From that fifteenth verse of the sixth chapter, Paul says, for neither is circumcision anything nor uncircumcision. Sounds familiar? But now, how does he conclude? But a new creation. The conclusion of that 6th verse in the 5th chapter will match up with the conclusion of that 16th verse, or that 15th verse in the 6th chapter.

    The active obedience spoken of in that 6th verse of the 5th chapter, that is faith working by love, is possible only because a new creation has been effected by God. A new creation has begun in God through Christ. It is this monumental shift, this monumental transition of the ages, this change. this radical change that has come about because of God’s activity that now constitutes our understanding of our position and whatever responsibility, obligation, duty, or obedience we might render. God has himself effected What about the new creation?

    That is what he has done. We have been made part of a new world, a new order. We have been made part of a heavenly administration. We have been made participants in a transcendent realm. And now in that transcendent realm, in that new creation, the obedience which is laid upon us is worked out in terms of faith working by love. And this is the fulfillment of the commandments. Only faith working by love. is the fulfillment of the commandments.

    But in saying all of this, we must maintain But even that Old Testament law, that Old Testament legal administration, and even circumcision itself maintain value for us, importance for us. As we read in the third chapter of Galatians this morning, the Old Testament legal administration is the indispensable prelude to the coming administration of faith. It is the tutor, the schoolmaster, that brings us unto Christ. But even more, the Old Testament law, the legal administration and circumcision itself continue their relevance and positive work as they now are made relative to the new creation that has been brought about by God in Christ. It’s not as if we live without the law, the law of Christ. It’s not as if we are lacking in a standard or a canon, if you will.

    You will note what the Apostle Paul says as we move on in the sixth chapter of Galatians from that fifteenth verse. For neither is circumcision anything nor uncircumcision, but a new creation and those who walk by this rule, by this canon, by this standard, peace and mercy be upon them and upon them as the Israel God. At the very foundation, then, of all that the Apostle would lay upon these Galatians with respect to obedience is this point, is this principle, is this standard, the standard of the new creation out of which now arises all obligations and duties. And all commandments must be filtered through that grid in order to understand them aright, in order to judge them properly, in order to comply with them according to God’s intention.

    We do not approach the commandments or the law as if we were Old Testament Jews. Everything has changed now that Christ has come. You cannot even view the law the same. You are part of a new order, a new world. The positive value and relevance of that Old Testament legal administration, even circumcision itself, avails for us in the context of this new administration of which we are a part.

    So it is, as we think about our responsibilities of our compliance of our obedience. We turn to a passage like Galatians 5, 13-15, “…for you were called to freedom, brethren. Now only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.” That is the cross of Christ. That is the principal point within the establishment of the new order by God. That is the cross of Christ and the administration of the heavenly order, the administration of new creation coming to bear upon the church in Galatians. That you love through love serve one another, for the whole law is fulfilled in one word in the statement, you shall love your neighbor as yourself.

    But if you bite and devour one another, take care. lest you be consumed by one another. Do you love circumcision specifically? It’s not as if circumcision now has no value whatsoever. The old order failed. despite a circumcision in the flesh, but looked for a circumcision of the heart.” Jeremiah 4, verse 4. With the coming of the new order, the new creation, that which was formerly viewed as the estimably valuable, namely circumcision in the flesh is now judged to be utterly irrelevant. And those who are without circumcision are now described as the circumcision.

    Why? Because they in their hearts have been cleansed. Here are the true people of God. Here is the assembly of the Lord. And as all those Old Testament saints were privileged because of the sign of the covenant which they bore, you now are the privileged unto an eternal inheritance reserved in heaven for you.

    Is it any wonder then that the Apostle Paul can call the Philippian saints the circumcision? Is it any wonder that Paul can call the Galatian saints the Israel of God? And that is who you are. So as you consider the problem, and a knotty problem it is, a phony problem, of the relationship of the law to the gospel, do not lose sight of this faithful fact and concern for the Apostle Paul.

    A monumental change, a radical change has been effected by God. and bring about a new creation through Jesus Christ of which you have been made a part and by his grace now you are those in whom the law itself is fulfilled by Christ and you are the circumcised the Israel of God How great your work, O God.

    How great our obligation to you that we have been made of your grace part of a new creation, residents in a new world. And Father, it is not that we would lose sight of your law, but we know that your law could not bring about the new creation, and we, by keeping it, could not enter into the new creation, but were wholly passive as you worked this mighty work for us. But we living in this new creation cannot do anything but live in light of the great work which you have performed in Christ yourself. So then Lord, with regard to all of our duties and responsibilities, With regard to every aspect of our obedience, we will keep your great and glorious work central in our hearts and minds, and we will remember the Lord Jesus Christ and all that he has accomplished for us. O Father, our obedience will be then that of faith, working through God. We pray, our God, that you will strengthen us to this end for Jesus’ sake.

    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.

  • Looking Away From Ourselves

    Looking Away From Ourselves

    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, February 23, 1992.

    About this sermon

    Religious television is a real, contemporary foolishness. Paul’s conversion was unique, and it offers no template for a generic testimony-style faith. The alternative to both is to look away from ourselves and enter the change Christ himself underwent.

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    Sermon transcript

    This morning we are beginning our scripture reading in the 2nd chapter of Galatians. This is Galatians chapter 2. Then fourteen years after, I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas and took Titus with me also. And I went up by revelation and communicated unto them that gospel which I preached among the Gentiles, but privately to them which were of reputation, lest by any means I should run or had run in vain.

    But neither Titus, who was with me being a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised. and that because of false brethren unawares brought in, who came in privily to spy out our liberty which we had in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage. To whom we gave place by subjection, no, not for an hour, for the truth of the gospel might continue, that the truth of the gospel might continue with you. But of these who seem to be somewhat whatsoever they were, it maketh no matter to me, God accepteth no man’s person. For they who seem to be somewhat in conference added nothing to me.

    The contrary wise, when they saw that the gospel of the uncircumcision was committed unto me, as the gospel of the circumcision was unto Peter, for he that wrought effectually in Peter to the apostleship of the circumcision, the same was mightily in me toward the Gentiles.

    And when James, Cephas, and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace which was given unto me, they gave to me and Barnabas the right hands of fellowship, that we should go unto the heathen and they unto the circumcision. Only they would that we should remember the poor, the same which I also was forward to But when Peter was come to Antioch, I was stood into the face, because he was to be blamed. For before that certain came from James, he did eat with the Gentiles, but when they were come, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing them which were of the circumcision. And the other Jews dissembled likewise with him, insomuch that Barnabas also was carried away with their dissimulation. When I saw that they walked not uprightly according to the truth of the gospel, I said unto Peter, before them all, If thou, being a Jew, livest after the manner of Gentiles, and not as do the Jews, why compelst thou the Gentiles to live as do the Jews?

    We who are Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles, knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ. Even we have believed in Jesus Christ that we might be justified by the faith of Christ and not by the works of the law, for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified. But if while you seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners, is therefore Christ the minister of sin?

    God forbid. For if I build again the things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor. For I, through the law, am dead to the law that I might live unto God. I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. And the life which I now live, in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” I do not frustrate the grace of God, for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.

    Let’s pray again. We do beseech you, Lord, in your mercies, for the full benefit of your word. We ask, Lord, that we would not put up any barrier, and that barriers may be found in us, that those may be taken down. O Lord, work in us mightily so that your word may have its full impact and we may be found pleasing to you. For surely, Lord, we wish to be found pleasing in that we love you with all of our hearts.

    We pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen. This message this morning is something of a detour, not that it is unrelated to what we find in Philippians chapter 3, and most particularly what we find in the third verse of that third chapter, where Paul speaks so wonderfully about the identity of those Philippian Christians and of all Christians.

    But I feel compelled to take this little detour this morning, and I do so in all humility, and I pray that I may do so with all compassion. My intent is to be of help, because I know the severe struggle that some of you have. It may well be that you are filled with frustration and even overcome with doubt at times. In fact, the frustrations that you experience in your life may well be leading you deeper and deeper into doubt. What I have in mind is this. We all know that Christianity proclaims to us a change of heart, a change of life.

    But as you look at yourself, you may be confused and deeply frustrated because you are not convinced that there is any significant difference in you. You’re not certain there has been any change. You wrestle with the same old problems of attitude. You are at war with yourself because of the same old sins. and things don’t seem to be getting any better. In fact, things seem to be getting worse.

    It may well be that your response has been, as you’ve looked with frustration upon your life, to turn something of a deaf ear, developing something of a callousness of soul. For it may well be that you strain internally. Others aren’t aware of the strain. It may be that you strain internally and your own spouse doesn’t know of the pain that you have. Those who are closest to you are unaware of it. But yet, as the frustration continues, the problems of doubt intensify to the point that you may secretly doubt whether you are a Christian at all.

    And that does bother you because there is still that within you that tells you that life and death are in the balance that heaven and hell are actually in the balance. It may well be, as you have surveyed your own situation, that you have been drawn repeatedly to stories and examples of change. You have read the accounts in the various publications. You have seen the stories that have been reviewed on religious television. You have even embraced for a time a program that was guaranteeing to you change, inner reformation.

    I dare say, Matt, the reason why. People turn almost as if they were addicted. People turn to the multiple testimonies. That are given to us on religious television is because they are looking. For something in those testimonies that might be a help to them. That might confirm within them that change is actually possible and that success can be found after all.

    It has been agonizing for you, it has been disappointing because you have turned, you have heard the stories, you have even read the accounts, you have engaged in the various reformation programs and it all seems to come to nothing. Rather than turning to religious television, rather than turning to the stories that are multiplied so many fold in our time, rather than turning to the account of the celebrity who has recently been transformed, so he says. Rather than turning to one of these programs that are guaranteeing for you inner reformation, I commend to you the Bible. I know it sounds simple, and it may even sound silly to you. I do commend to you the Bible, and suggest to you that in the Bible you will find what you are looking for.

    Yes, you will find there accounts of transformation, of change. And I guess I couldn’t do better than to hold out for you the figure of the Apostle Paul. who had, who experienced a more dramatic transformation than he. You remember the account in Acts 9, the road to Damascus, so famous is it that we now talk about religious conversions as if they were Damascus road experiences. Well, the Apostle Paul stands out Here is someone that we judge experienced a remarkable transformation. He was changed.

    Now, at first glance, you may be completely disappointed. You may say to yourself, Well, I am not. I am not of the habit of walking on roads from Jerusalem to Damascus. And I certainly know better than to expect a brilliantly blinding light shining out of heaven with me thrown to the ground in the balance.

    So, you are holding out to me here an experience of one whose experience seems rather remarkable and extraordinary. Yet on the other hand, you may conclude that there are factors here in the change of Paul that don’t differ significantly from what you’ve seen on religious television. The stories that you’ve read in guideposts or some other publication Here is a man who met God, and having met God, he was determined to live differently. Or, here is a man who met God, and because of that experience, because of that confrontation, he was changed internally. But I want you to think about the similarity that exists between this version or this assessment of Paul’s transformation and the transformations that you are confronted with day in and day out in the religious press.

    In both, such an assessment of the apostle and in these so-called religious experiences The focus is almost exclusively on the change itself, as if the change were the center of the religion, as if the change were the center of faith. It goes so far in the vocabulary of some that they actually talk as if the experience of change were the focus of faith or the object of faith.

    What is it that I believe in? I believe in change. I believe in transformation. I believe in regeneration. I believe in being reborn. I believe in my experience. I believe in what happened to me. And when I go and I share the gospel, what I tell them is my story.

    Now you may say, isn’t that exactly what Paul did? If I move on from Acts 9 and I read about his testimony in Jerusalem in Acts 22, didn’t he just simply recount the story of what had happened to him? And isn’t that what he does before Agrippa in chapter 26 in Acts? Doesn’t he just tell his story, give his testimony? Now there is that recounting by Paul of his experience in Acts 22 and again in Acts 24.

    Yet as we go on and receive the full testimony of this man with regard to the change that was wrought in him, we find out that there are remarkable differences indeed between his approach to what happened to him and the approach of so many with regard to what they claim has happened to them.

    I want you to note this fundamental difference You see, there are those who have made a religion of change and transformation. And that religion is very compelling. There will always be a crowd. The crowd is guaranteed. When there’s one who is recounting changes that have taken place and promising new change as well. There will always be a crowd. I might say, with some, there will even be profit.

    But I want you to note now and mark the remarkable difference that stands between the Apostle Paul and those who have believed in the religion of change and transformation. And it has to do fundamentally with where we see the change occurring. Is the change first of all in the Apostle, or is the change somewhere else? Is the change first of all found with the Apostle, or is it found with someone else? The Apostle is very clear. The change isn’t found, first of all, in Him. It is not found foremostly in Him. The change is found in God. It is found with respect to Him.

    It is found with respect to what God has done. And what is it that God has done? God has sent forth His Son. and in the sending forth of his Son, he is brought to consummation the entirety of the ages from the beginning of time. When the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son.

    What does the apostle mean by that phrase in Galatians 4.4? He means that history, time itself, had come to an end point, had come to a conclusion. a change had been effected in time, in history, because God now came in the form of human flesh. It is the consummation, that is the summation, of the fullness of the times that has been realized in the revelation of Jesus Christ.

    And it is that which makes all the difference. So therefore, it is not a change in Paul, first of all, but rather a change that has been affected in history. And that change cannot be blotted out. It cannot be undone. It stands inviolable, irretrievable. It is set. It is a change. that cannot be changed.

    But at the center, you see, of this transition, transformation of the which the Apostle Paul now declares is the change that has taken place in that figure that stands at the center of the transformation of the ages. That figure is none other than Jesus Christ.

    I want you to look at a text. I want you to look at 2 Corinthians 3 verse 18. 2 Corinthians 3 verse 18. And this is how that reads in the New American Standard, that we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror, the glory of the Lord are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory. There is the change for which we long and for which so many There’s the change. We are being transformed, that is, changed into the same image from glory to glory. But I want you to note the conclusion of the verse. Just as the Lord, the Spirit. Now, who’s going to explain that for us? What in the world is Paul talking about? Just as the Lord, the Spirit.

    Well, you see, the transformation that is being affected in us as we move from glory to glory is a transformation that has already been affected in Christ as he moved from his estate in the flesh to his estate in the spirit, just as the Lord, the spirit, just as the Lord was transformed by moving into the realm of the spirit.

    The change is not in you, it is in Him. He was changed. At the resurrection, He was changed. What about now this change that we would look for in the Apostle Paul? What about the change that the Apostle claims for himself? You see, it’s not the Apostle looking at the change that takes place in him, even as he is changed on the road to Damascus. Rather, it is the apostle looking at the transformation of the ages and saying, I, by grace, have been made a participant in that. And even more, he is looking at the change that has come about in Christ himself, and he says, I have been made by grace a participant in that. So marvelous is that change.

    But Paul now sees himself in relationship to that one who has been changed. He says, I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. So whatever change that the apostle is going to, speak about as change pertains to him, he will speak of it only as an extension of that change that has been affected in Christ. We are crucified with Christ, but not just crucified. We are resurrected with Him and in Him. And in Him we are changed. And we are being changed.

    This means then that the priority always belongs to God in his sovereign activity, only he can change history. And preeminence must always be given to Christ, that one in whom we are found, so that his change becomes our change. There is a marvelous illustration of this that arises out of the passage that we have been memorizing in morning instruction, Isaiah chapter 35. The first three verses are very, very instructive for us. Not personal change first, not inner reformation or rehabilitation.

    No, but a change that is affected by God, whereby the creation itself is transformed. The wilderness and the desert will be glad The arabal will rejoice and blossom like the crocus, it will blossom profusely and rejoice with rejoicing and shout of joy. The glory of Lebanon will be given to it, the majesty of Pamela and Sharon. They shall see the glory of the Lord, the majesty of our God. There is the transformation that happens outside of you and a part of you, but then you are called to participate in it. Encourage, be exhausted. strengthen the feeble. You are invited to enter into the transformation that is effected by God.

    So what about all this spinning of your wheels? What about all this futility? What about all this, what some would call, religious juggle activity? Do you not look away from yourself? Will you not look to God and what He’s done? Will you not look to Jesus, the one who has been transformed? And will you not, by faith, enter into Him?

    His change becoming your change. Here alone is finality. Here alone you will settle the matter. Father, even as we think about change, changes in us, changes in attitude, changes so that we are no longer continuing in the same behavior as we have so long. Oh Lord, draw us out of ourselves that we might behold your mighty work draw us out of ourselves that we might see that in faith we are included in Christ the one who has been changed even the Lord who has entered the realm of the Spirit O God, may we bless you, may we acknowledge your priority, may we acknowledge the preeminence of Christ. And Lord, may we delight in the transformation that is occurring in us. as we are transformed into the same image as our Savior, even from glory to glory. 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.

  • Dogs and Concision

    Dogs and Concision

    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, February 16, 1992.

    About this sermon

    Paul ridicules the enemies of the gospel to expose how evil their ways are, far beyond a personal insult. He calls them ‘dogs’ and ‘concision’ for specific reasons. Against all of it stands the plain glory of the true gospel of Christ.

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    Sermon transcript

    This morning we begin our scripture reading in Paul’s letter to the Galatians. This is Galatians 1. We are reading from verse 1 through verse 12 this morning. Listen to the word of God. Paul, an apostle not of men, neither by man. but by Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised him from the dead, and all the brethren which are with me unto the churches of Galatia. Grace be unto you and peace, and God the Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world according to the will of God and our Father, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

    I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel, which is not another, that there be some that trouble you and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I now again, if any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed. For do I now persuade men or God, or do I seek to please men? For if I yet please men, I should not be the servant of Christ. But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man, for I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ.”

    Finally, brethren, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. 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 have whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more circumcise 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. that what things were gained to me, those I counted lost for Christ, yea, doubtless, and I counted 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 then 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 may know him, the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings being made conformable unto his death, if by any means I might obtain unto the resurrection of the dead.”

    Pray with me now. Father, by your word you created all things, by your word you have inaugurated the new creation of which we have been made apart, we ourselves having been renewed in the image of God by the very workings of your Spirit in us. How we plead, Father, for the full benefit of your word in our lives. And Lord, we are asking for your servants who proclaim the word today, and those who would sit hearing that word, who would receive that word. We ask you, Lord, for the strength of your servants and for their integrity. May they proclaim the word of Christ honestly. We ask, Father, for the fruitfulness of that word to be made plain to them, and may they have the confidence that they have not labored in vain.

    We pray, O God, that this would be so here and throughout the world. For Jesus’ sake, amen. Paul doesn’t beat around the bush. He minces no words when he goes after those potential troublemakers who now pose a threat to the Church in Philippi. He is very direct. He is very candid. He tells the Philippians, verse 2 of that third chapter, beware of the dogs, beware of the evil workers, beware of the concision.

    These comments by Paul have proved to be somewhat troublesome for some in our own time. These comments have been described by many a sensitive Bible reader in this modern age as intemperate, abusive, insulting. For the enlightened and the religious, These words are hardly appropriate for someone seeking to advance the cause of at least their brand of Christianity and religion. In fact, so they say, outbursts like this greatly limit for Paul whatever credibility or usefulness he might have in the modern Church. After all, so they go on, despite Paul’s disagreement with these people that he so describes, these people are human beings with a right to their own opinion. And the highest cause of religion, is it not, is to bring divergent positions together to effect harmonious and balanced environments in which we might all learn and profit from one another. Besides, if we agree, and how can we not agree, if we agree that religion’s goal is the mutual maintenance of our collective self-esteem, how can Paul’s words not be destructive?

    Words like these obviously reveal a dim and dark side to Paul’s personality. They render him incapable of reinforcing positive assessments and attitudes within the community. And so it is that Paul, in our judgment, is without a doubt unsuited for leadership. Well, actually, These people have hardly gone far enough. Paul’s words here are far worse than the modern religious sophisticates and the fossils of self-esteem imagine.

    For there has never been anyone more capable of taking the steam out of self-esteem than the Apostle Paul. Paul is not only deliberately insulting, he is not only going after in an insulting way these troublesome apostates who are leaning now at the doors to the church in Philippi, that this fellow has the audacity to make fun of them. If offending them is bad enough, what if the guy ridicules them, to boot? This being the case, then, how far beyond social reclamation and reasonable defense has Paul placed himself in the minds of men? But I want you to understand just how deep the Apostle cuts. And then I want you to understand why he feels it’s so necessary to do that. First of all, he calls these people dogs. Why in ancient society Such a description as this carries us far from the quaint domesticated scene of the family gathered together around the fireplace with their faithful loving dog, is it a golden retriever? At their side. Maybe it’s a beagle.

    As much as we love our dogs, In Paul’s day, dogs were a handy image for impurity, shamelessness, greed, cunning, influence, intrusiveness, ferocity, and scavenging. For the Jews especially, dogs were a figure of uncleanness, if for only one obvious reason. Dogs don’t understand kosher. Dogs feed indiscriminately. And in Paul’s day, they sat on chariot, filth and garbage. When the Jews were looking for an appropriate label to put over top of the Gentile world, they found the most appropriate in their mind, in the label, dogs. The Gentiles are unclean. They are dogs. Now before you get too hard against Paul for using such a description, I want to remind you about Jesus. Jesus uses this term himself. He uses it twice. In Matthew 7 verse 6, He uses it in a general application.

    He says in the Sermon on the Mount, don’t give that which is holy to dogs. His point being that his disciples shouldn’t foolishly extend the priceless treasures of the kingdom to the profane. That is, to those who resolutely have set themselves against a holy thing. But Jesus uses the term one more time in the 15th chapter of Matthew, verse 26, and here in a more restricted sense. He uses it here to refer specifically to the Gentiles, to those who are outside of the covenant.

    You may recall in this passage, Jesus has been addressed by that Canaanite, or that Seraphimician woman, whose daughter is demon-possessed, and he says to her, it is not good to give the children’s bread to dogs, by which he means he should give what is intended for the house of Israel to Gentiles. The woman doesn’t quibble with Jesus, but responds, even the dogs, which I am, eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.

    Now turning back to Philippians chapter 3, and taking up Paul’s use of this term once more, we see that as Paul uses it, a new dimension improves. You see, these church enemies at Philippi were of a special sort. They were the kind who had overlaid the gospel with Jewish trappings. They were somewhat like the Jewish bull worshippers in the Old Testament. the ones that were sure to worship Jehovah, but they added to their worship of Jehovah the worship of Dale. Well, here you have mixture as well. These enemies in the church at Philippi were the kind who had overlaid the gospel of Christ with Jewish trappings. And not only that, they boasted in their Jewish connections and in their Jewish observances.

    Do you catch then what Paul is doing when he calls these people, specifically, dogs? He appalls to them a term. He appalls to them a term. that actually sets upon them the very description that they have reserved for those for whom they have the greatest contempt. Paul applies a term to these so-called Christians who pride themselves in their Jewishness and force their Jewishness on the Church. Paul applies a term to these which Jews have reserved for the unclean and the Gentiles. These people, then, so Paul suggests, are just the opposite of what they claim. Instead of being clean as Jews, they are unclean as Gentiles. Paul then follows suit with his other descriptions. His next description of them is as evil workers. By calling these enemies within the Church by that description, he turns on its head their estimation of themselves.

    For these very people preached worse righteousness. They preached that they were the doers or the workers of good. Paul sizes them up as those who would boast of a righteousness all their own derived from the law. These people pride themselves in fulfilling the law, in doing the works of the law. Paul, however, classifies them not with the workers of good, but among the workers of evil. And just how scathing this statement is registers when we realize that the background for this description by Paul rises out of the solitary.

    And the multiple blasts that we hear in the Psalms directed against the workers of iniquity. Here are those, so say the psalmists, who devour the word’s people like bread, Psalm 14, verse 4. Here are those, so say the psalmists, whom the world hates, Psalm 5, verse 5, whose image the world despises, Psalm 73, verse 20. These belong among the wicked who are described throughout the extent of that seventy-third psalm, and they are not among the righteous whose reward is God.

    But Paul reserves his deepest and most sarcastic cut until the end. He calls these people the concision. That’s the King James translation. The New American Standard translates this description as the false circumcision. In actual fact, neither of these translations communicates what Paul is saying.

    These people are not the circumcision, even though they are champions of the right of circumcision. In fact, they are quite insistent upon that right, that it be observed even by the Christian Church. These people are not the circumcision. Rather, they are the mutilation. It’s a rather graphic, candid, direct statement. These people are the mutilation.

    They bear no sign in their circumcision of their inclusion amongst the people of God. They bear no sign comparable to the circumcision of the Old Testament, even. that this sign which they bear now as the source of their religious boast links them not with Israel, but with the pagans who lacerated their bodies as an indication of their devotion to their deities. A practice you may recall employed by the prophets of Baal in their confrontation with Elijah on Mount Carmel.

    Paul could not be more caustic, he could not be more declamatory, he could not be more brutally frank, more crushing, more sarcastic about the self-proclaimed friends of Jesus, ambassadors of the gospel, who are, in actual fact, Jesus’ most outstanding foes. But what is it that drives Paul to the point that he would jeopardize his place in polite religious society? It’s nothing personal. He isn’t driven by jealousy. because he is anxious to hold on to this Philippian church for himself, and these people who are coming in pose a threat to him. That’s not his motivation. His motivation is a matter of greatest importance, greatest moment.

    In the balance, as he will go on to argue in the remainder of this third chapter, is the gospel of saving grace in Jesus Christ. A gospel which, by the faithfulness of Jesus Christ, confers upon unrighteous sinners the superlative righteousness of the Heavenly Father. A gospel that so perfectly magnifies the excellence of God’s gift of Christ. the one in whom we are given a new identity and made to be, by grace, citizens of an entirely different realm, the kingdom of heaven. A gospel that proclaims the futility of the deeds of the flesh, the futility of boasts in the flesh. but a gospel that proclaims instead the power of God and the freedom found in the Spirit. It is a gospel that insists upon its exclusive truth over against any and all who would manage, mangle, minimize, or mistake its clear and beautiful intent.

    Paul knows Absolutely. That his salvation and the salvation of these Philippians, together with their mutual joy, are in the balance. And he is determined to fight with all of his might against any form of religious pretension. against all enemies who might rise from within, against all dogs, evil workers, mutilators, against all who would boast finally in their flesh, in their ability, in their works, in their goodness. As if by that root they could place God in their debt. Such is Paul’s stand, and he is adamant.

    He will not recant, and he will not recoil. Our stand can be nothing less. we must stand with determination for this gospel, this gospel which the Apostle preached, and we must stand for it without embarrassment and without apology. our Father we rejoice in the Spirit which drove the Apostle and now drives us that we would hold fast to the Gospel of Christ and insist upon its proclamation, its full and complete proclamation. May we have nothing to do with compromise when it comes to the gospel of Christ.

    We ask our God, that we may be bold as the apostle was, to stand against all boasts in the flesh. Yes, with regard to enemies that would rise within us, but also with regard to that pretense that may rise within us. O God, be pleased to give us strength and a clear eye, that we might put far from us all vanity, all boasting, to the end that we may glory in the sufficiency of our God and the adequacy of Christ’s merit. We pray it in his 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.

  • Persecution From Inside and Outside

    Persecution From Inside and Outside

    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, February 9, 1992.

    About this sermon

    Persecution from inside the church and persecution from outside are two different threats. Earthly-mindedness, more than outside opposition, is the church’s ongoing danger. Paul writes his warning about enemies of the gospel from real, present danger, and that gives it extra weight.

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    Sermon transcript

    This morning we begin our scripture reading in Philippians 1, backing up a bit, reading once more from verse 12, and we will be reading through the 18th verse. Listen to the word of God. But I would ye should understand, brethren, that the things which happened unto me have fallen out rather unto the fulness of the gospel, so that my bonds in Christ are manifest in all the palace and in all other places. And many of the brethren in the ward, waxing confident by my bonds, are much more bold to speak the word without fear.

    Some indeed preach Christ even of envy and strife, and some also of goodwill. Do one preach Christ of contention, not sincerely supposing to add affliction to my bounds, but the other of love, knowing that I am set for the defense of the gospel? What then, notwithstanding every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is preached And I, therein, do rejoice, yea, and will rejoice.”

    Then in chapter 3, once more, beginning at verse 1, “‘Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord, for life is saying things to you. To me, indeed, is not grievous, but for you it is said, Beware of the gods, 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 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 staff 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, no 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 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 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.

    Pray with me now. We plead with you, our God, to build up the Church in far and distant places where your word is proclaimed this day. Do grant grace to ministers of the word, and may they preach with power, may they preach with integrity. Have fear, Lord, in our own land, and close at hand, even in our own community. May the word of God be proclaimed in all of its excellence. Lord, draw us to yourself, that we who are poor and needy may receive that which you have designed for us, in order that you may give to us good things out of your word. We ask, Lord, that we may be filled, and being filled, Lord, satisfied. We ask it in Jesus’ name. Amen.

    In many ways, the key to Paul’s letter to the Philippians is the parallel that we find expressed in it, the parallel between Paul’s circumstances and those of these Philippian believers. This means, then, that the description Paul has given of himself, the description that he has given of his situation, in the so-called missionary report of the first chapter verses 12 through 26, provides the pattern for what he has to say to these Philippians in the remainder of his letter. Paul’s contention is this. What is happening to me is also happening to you. I cannot emphasize too often or too loudly the thirtieth verse of the first chapter, where Paul states that what these Philippians are experiencing is virtually the same conflict which they saw to be in him and now hear to be in him. Paul’s contention then is this. what is happening in me is happening in you. But Paul’s contention runs further than this, for he is also suggesting to these Philippians that the way in which he is responding to what is happening to him is the way they ought to be responding to what is happening to them.

    Now, lest we think that this sounds awfully close to vain posturing, lest we think that this sounds awfully close to insufferable arrogance on the part of the Apostle, we need to keep in mind exactly what is transpiring in and through him. To be sure, the apostle does set himself up as something of a standard. He is calling these people to, in effect, be imitators of him. But while this is true, we need to remember at all times the magnificent self-effacing statements which the Apostle makes. For example, the way in which the Apostle speaks in the 18th verse of the first chapter.

    There, he seems to be unconcerned or unperturbed about the motivation of certain unscrupulous as long as Christ is preached. And if Christ is preached, he is determined to rejoice. Christ, therefore, is foremost. Christ has a preeminence. The apostle goes further. He states uncategorically his preoccupation with his absorption into Christ himself. Paul gives expression, then, to this underlying foundation—union with Christ. And he expresses it In these words, in the 21st verse of that first chapter, words that I hope are being invariably impressed upon your consciousness. For what you need to live is Christ, and to die is gain. The apostle, therefore, deliberately gives way to Christ. He gives place to Christ. He boasts of and in Christ, and he calls upon these Philippian believers to do the same.

    But how does this third chapter into which we have now entered, how does this third chapter of Philippians fit into this overall scheme of things? How does this chapter particularly bring out the parallel that the Apostle is endeavoring to underscore? How does it bring out the parallel between his position and the Philippians’ position?

    Let’s take stock one more time of Paul’s description of his own condition. You will notice that Paul is faced with opposition. He speaks about that opposition in those verses that we read this morning. First of all, in verse 13, he tells us that he is imprisoned, and that for the cause of Christ. Here is opposition. Paul is in jail. He is in jail for the sake of Jesus.

    But in this, you see, he is experiencing opposition from those who are outside of the Church. Those who are not believers are set against him who is a believer. There is that opposition then, experienced by Paul, described here by him in that first chapter. But there is a second form of opposition that Paul faces. He tells us further that he is victimized by some who are inside the Church, not just those who are outside, not just those who are unbelievers. He is victimized, he is opposed by some who are inside the Church, these who are claiming to be Christians. In fact, some who are preaching Christ. These Paul describes. as those who are driven by envy and strife and possessed of selfish ambition.

    So that’s Paul’s situation. But our thesis is that there is a parallel between Paul’s situation and the Philippians’ situation. And so it is, as we review Paul’s speech to the Philippians, we find, we discover, that their predicament is the same. Notice chapter 1 verse 28, where Paul speaks about the opponents to these Philippians.

    Here Paul is making mention of those who are outside of the church of Philippi, who are troubling those believers. And in the following verses, Paul deals with the problems this external pressure has produced upon the assembly. And as he runs through the course of dealing with their problems, he periodically will of his own reaction to his own circumstances, and in it all always pointing to Jesus Christ and Christ’s paradigmatic service, which was rendered even to the point of suffering, a suffering that peaks in the cross. But when we reach Philippians 3, the focus shifts away from the enemies who are outside of the Church, causing these pressures and difficulties within the assembly, to that enemy that threatens from within.

    Just as Paul then must deal with enemies from within at Rome. These Philippians must deal with potential enemies that will arise from within at Philippi. But who are these potential enemies who rise from within? At the beginning, at the outset of our consideration of these enemies, it is important that we make certain things clear.

    It must be said to start with that Paul’s church enemies, that is, his enemies from within the church at Rome, are most likely different in certain ways from those leaning in Philippi. Paul, for instance, could still rejoice in the preaching of these church enemies at Rome. He contends in verse 18 of that first chapter that as wicked as these men might be, they are still preaching Christ, and in that he will rejoice. But it is safe to say that Paul would never rejoice in the preaching of the gods, the evil workers, who are the object of his remarks in Philippians 3. So there is, in certain ways, a difference between those whom Paul faces and those whom these Philippians will face.

    But despite that fact, these two groups, the one in Rome and the one potentially in Philippi, have something in common. And here is the tie. The selfish, ambitious preachers of Rome in chapter 1 are more or less the champions of than the dogs at Philippi in chapter 3. In the end, it will be proved that these two distinct have a great deal in common. They have a common bond, they have a common goal, they share a common commitment, and thus they are common enemies to the cause of Christ and his Church. Indicative of them is their commitment to the flesh.

    That which Paul says no true Christian can glory in will be the source of their glory indeed. Paul will go further in the nineteenth verse of the third chapter to speak of these people as those who are hopelessly, critically, earthly-minded. And the earthly-mindedness of these people stands over against the heavenly citizenship that Paul speaks of then in the twentieth verse, following upon the views of that nineteenth in the third chapter. For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior. If there is anything the Church needs to be set straight on more desperately than this, especially in light of the fact that regardless of who the enemy may be from within, that enemy will always be characterized by a fleshliness, a worldliness, an earthly-mindedness. I’m sure you’ve heard the old adage, the old proverb, that people delight in throwing in the face of those within the Church who would dare mention heaven with any seriousness whatsoever.

    It doesn’t matter that these self-same people sing lustfully the hymns in their hymnal, hymns that repeatedly underscore the heavenly orientation of the Church of Jesus Christ. That doesn’t even seem to bother them. The inconsistency of it doesn’t seem to affect them at all. It doesn’t seem to deter them in their freshliness, their worldliness, and their hopeless, earthly-mindedness. So it is that we can always count on them to come up with that old adage and throw it in their face.

    You people who take heaven seriously are so heavenly-minded that you are no earthly good. Well, we’ve all heard of heavenly. Well, let me say that the Church has become so earthly-minded that she is no good to heaven whatsoever. Let me go further. If the Church is not heavenly-minded in the biblical sense, she will be of no earthly good in the service of her Savior.

    The bottom line will be futility, vanity, emptiness. even for wickedly motivated preachers, of whom it can still be said that they preach Christ. In the end, does it really matter whether we are talking about envious, contentious, ambitious pastors of Rome, or dogs at Philippi? Does it really matter whether we are talking about those weevils, the Pharisees, or the disciples, who in their gross and dark immaturity fight among themselves as to who is greatest in the kingdom, or who might be destined for chief seats? Does it really matter whether we are talking about the domineering, gospel-denying, ecclesiastical hierarchy of the Middle Ages, which had forsaken the city of God for the city of man, or the worldly, moralistic, establishmentarian sophisticates of the Protestant Enlightenment, who had done the very selfsame thing? Does it really matter whether we are talking about current liberalism and its gospel of social betterment and its promise of justice, but especially wealth for all as the sum total of all religion, or the current evangelicalism and its gospel of personal peace, popularity, and prosperity, if you will but come to Jesus?

    And what about pray tell? And I’ll try to contain myself here. And what about pray tell? These modern church-growth gangsters, and I am not equivocating here, these modern church-growth gangsters, these goons, and bullies. You know the ones that are determined to sell your Church protection against stagnation and boredom, the greatest sin of our age, I might add. Sell your church protection against stagnation and boredom, and at the same time promise you a full house and a bigger parking lot. If you will just play along. Sounds like something right out of Faust. Or maybe more to the point, something very much like what happened in the wilderness mountains of Judea when Jesus was tempted by Satan.

    Here are the ones that will tell you what kind of bulletins to use, what kind of paint, I’m What kind of paint to buy in order to spruce up your buildings so that they will be attractive enough to the unbeliever? What kind of signs to put up? What kind of music to play so that everybody knows that your church is a happy place? What kind of message to preach so that no one is driven away? What kinds of clothes to wear? We’re still talking about dressing for success, believe it or not. In the 90s we were talking about dressing for success. So that you so that your church can make an impression, make a sale, and build your little wonderful corner of the empire within the great big empire.

    I ask you, what is the difference between these? Some of whom I tell you with tears. are in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. What is the difference between some of these, between these and a carnival flim-flammer? I think I’ve insulted the carnival flim-flammer. But more to the point, with respect to the passages that we are looking at this morning, what is the difference between these?

    And the carnal, fleshly, worldly, envious, contentious, ambitious, earth-bound whores of Rome. What is the difference between them? and the earthbound dogs, evil workers, mutilators at Philippi. They are all panderers of the flesh, who mind the things of man, not the things of God.

    May we beware of them all. May God in his grace deliver us from them all. But it is necessary, in conclusion, for me to say something else here at the beginning of our consideration of these enemies that rise from within. Paul’s detractors at Rome are a real and present danger for him. While those mentioned in Philippians 3 are a potential threat, a threat that has not as yet materialized, in Philippi. Paul is certain that they will. They are liable to appear momentarily. Wolves may scavenge the countryside far from the fold, but invariably, inevitably, they smell out the sheep. Paul’s words, therefore, are warnings of the most severe type. He is sounding the most serious of alarms.

    With these words and by his ministry, a loving ministry, I might add, Paul stands opposite the so-called sweetness and light crowd, which itself has been such an internal threat to the people of God. all along. The Sweetness and White Crowd, you know who they are? These are the people who deny that wolves exist, and cruise blithely on their way, but especially bitter to anyone who might suggest that wolves actually do exist, and are a threat. The difference between these folk, the sweetness and white crowd, and the wolves, are that the wolves are merely wicked, while the sweetness and white crowd are both wicked and stupid.

    May we, by the mercies of Christ, be neither. Let’s pray. Our Father, do protect us May we be well warned by your word and also kept from foolishness by which we would be deceived. May it please you not only to grant great strength to us in your spirit, but greater strength still to all of your people who in sincerity seek you and profess with integrity that they love you. Hear us, Lord, unto the day when we shall be brought into your presence, safe from all those who would oppose us, be they external or internal. 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.

  • Dogs That Threaten Rejoicing

    Dogs That Threaten Rejoicing

    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, February 2, 1992.

    About this sermon

    Philippians 3:1’s transitional placement carries real doctrinal complexity, more than its brief wording suggests. The ‘dogs’ Paul warns against in the verses that follow threaten to destroy the Philippians’ own rejoicing, a real danger rather than rhetorical flourish. Paul expends himself joyfully in response, precisely because Christ first expended himself the same way for Paul.

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    Sermon transcript

    Our scripture reading this morning is Philippians chapter 3, 3rd chapter of Philippians, beginning at verse 1. Hear the word of God. So then, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you, to me indeed, is not grievous. But for you it is said, beware of the gods, beware of evildoers, 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 circumcise 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.

    But what things were gained to me those I count 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. 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 that this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward 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.”

    In my messages here on Philippians chapter 3, the point that I want to set out before you at the beginning is this, that these verses, and especially the opening verses of this chapter, pose special problems for us. Last week, as we opened our messages on this third chapter of Philippians, we saw that these verses confront us with some of the most annoying conundrums we will encounter in Paul’s letters. These problems that we face are of two sorts.

    They are what we might call structural or grammatical on the one hand, And on the other hand, what we might call doctrinal or theological. Now we’ve already looked at the opening statement of the first verse. And this is the way we’ve rendered it. So then, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. And we’ve handled this opening statement in terms of the structural problems presents us, and also in terms of the doctrinal complexity. This morning we move on to the second part of that first verse in the third chapter, and focus upon it the same way we focused upon the opening statement. First of all, we want to look at the structural difficulty. the grammatical problem.

    I know how you might be reacting. You may be saying to yourself, this is where I go to sleep. This is where I tune out. It may be especially difficult for you if you don’t have a Bible in front of you and you can’t see what’s going on in the text, admittedly. And structure and grammar may not be your province. It might not really excite you. And I can understand that. There’s only a few of us nuts that get excited about points of grammar, structure, and syntax. But I ask you to hang with it, to stay with it for the course, because if you put a little bit of energy into it, I am certain the rewards will be great.

    The grammatical problem, broadly speaking, or the structural problem, first of all. A statement reads this way in the King James, to write the same things emphasize those words, the same things, to write the same things to you, to me indeed is not grievous, but for you it is safe. Here’s the problem. To what is Paul referring when he speaks about the same things? You may think, as you read through it innocently, that this is all very clear to you, but it hasn’t been clear to the translators of Scripture. There are various opinions, which are held with a great amount of dearness.

    Some translators, for instance, have decided that Paul’s reference here is to the matters that he has been discussing in the broad context beginning in verse 27 of the first chapter, especially as those matters have focused upon the issue of the Philippians rejoicing.

    There are others, however, who say that the context must be focused even more specifically. and that Paul has in mind particularly that message that Timothy eventually will bring to the Philippians, and the message which Epaphroditus, who is presently bearing this letter to the Philippians, the message is in fact that they will bring verbally to these Saints in Philippi when they arrive on the sea. that then focusing upon the close of the second chapter, verses 19 through 30. Both of these positions then would join verse 1 of chapter 3 with the conclusion of chapter 2. And that being the case, they would suggest that there then is a remarkably abrupt break between verses 1 and 2 of Philippians 3, so that verse 2 begins Paul’s discussion of an entirely new matter. But we have these translators, as it were, on one side. disagreed over some particulars, but yet agreed in assigning that first verse of the third chapter to the second chapter, there are other translators, or creatures that there are, who take the exact opposite position. No, Paul doesn’t have in mind here what has gone before, he has in mind what is coming after. So the break doesn’t occur between verses 1 and 2 of chapter 3, actually the break occurs in the middle of verse 1.

    The first part of verse 1 belongs to chapter 2, the last part of verse 1 belongs to chapter 3. That’s how they interpret it. I know a lot of you aren’t reading the New English Bible. If someone is reading the New English Bible, they will find that that is precisely how the New English Bible breaks the text.

    So then, according to this latter position now, the same things mentioned by Paul in the latter part of that first verse are a reference to what follows and pertain specifically to what Paul is about to say as a reminder to these Philippians of what he has already said to them on previous occasions when he had written to them other letters or had been present with them personally.

    Well, here are the opinions. Now for the truth. Actually, Paul’s words here are intended to be the most general of references. His words are intended to be the most general of references. And as a result of that, His words are meant to be taken parenthetically, as an aside, as if he were speaking as it were under his breath. These words at the end of verse 1 in Philippians 3 are a general reference, they take in the of Paul’s entire teaching to these people, whether he has written to them or whether he has been physically present with them. As it pertains to what he writes here in Philippians, the letter we have in our Bibles, that broad sweep includes what he has been saying to this point and what he will say. This means, then, that the entirety of Paul’s direct and pointed address to these Philippian Christians, which began properly with verse 27 of chapter 1 and does not conclude until the end of the letter, the entirety of Paul’s direct and pointed address is a single, unified message.

    It is to be viewed as a whole. There are sections of it, there is progression in it, but it is to be viewed as a whole. Paul’s words, therefore, here at the end of the first verse in Philippians 3, are parenthetical. They are an aside. If you have a pen or a pencil, put parentheses around the statement. But this being the case, As you know is true with all parentheses, the flow is meant to move from what is stated previously to what follows, as if what is in the parentheses weren’t there at all. This means then that we can move in Paul’s thinking from what he says at the opening of the third chapter, or the first verse, to what he says at the beginning of the second verse. We can move from his statement, “‘So then, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord,’ to his statement at the opening of verse 2, “‘Beware of the dogs.’” As if the intervening words weren’t there at all. They are parenthetical. Paul, then, is moving from one imperative, the imperative to rejoice, to another imperative, the imperative to beware.

    The intervening words meant as an aside, and could very well disappear without affecting the sense of the message. But let’s consider further. By taking these words out of the text, temporarily of course, I’m not suggesting that you get out your scissors. But taking these words out temporarily, we are faced with more than the connection of more than the connection of commands. We are faced with the connection of ideas. This means, then, that the command to rejoice, in verse 1, is connected with the command to beware, in verse 2. And these two imperatives are connected by contrast.

    In other words, if the Philippians are not on the alert with regard to these dogs, whoever they are, these dogs will devour, will eat up their joy. The dogs pose a threat specifically because of what they mean for the rejoicing of these Philippians. If the dogs win, your joy is dead. Why is this the case?

    Paul alludes to why this is the case when he gives a purpose statement in verse 3. We are getting ahead of ourselves here, I realize. And you’ll note at the end of that third verse that Paul says that these Philippian saints and all Christians are those who put no confidence in the flesh. Later, Paul will add to this description. The Christians put no confidence in the flesh, which means, by way of contrast, the dogs are those who put confidence in the flesh. In verse 19 of this third chapter, Paul will describe those he has in mind as those who mind earthly things.

    They stand over against the saints who are described in that third verse as the true circumcision. These people, spoken of as gods, as evildoers, do not understand the true spiritual identity of the Christian Church. They do not understand the nature of the true circumcision. They do not understand the fact that the Church is the true Israel of God. nor do they appreciate the grace of God that has conferred such an identity upon the Saints, enabling, as you move through that third verse, enabling the Saints, enabling us to worship God by the Spirit and glory that is rejoiced in Christ Jesus. Such worship and such joy in Christ Jesus stands totally opposite the doctrine of these dogs, these evil workers, the concision, as they are called. Their doctrine will rob you of your joy, because it robs you of grace.

    Grace positions you in Christ. That’s the significance of the statement, Rejoice in the Lord. It’s a positional statement. You rejoice in Him because you are in Him. You glory in Christ Jesus because you are in Christ Jesus. You have been positioned in Him by grace.

    The dogs are those who will rob you of that. tell you it’s not true, do everything in their power to countermand it. The doctrine of these dogs will rob you of your joy because their doctrine will rob you of grace, of what has been granted you in the Lord and in Christ Jesus. but I might have. The converse is also true. Your genuine rejoicing in the Lord robs these gods of their power over you.

    Rejoicing in the Lord, understanding your spiritual identity, by the Spirit, glorying in Christ Jesus. These sins are the divine inoculation against the religion of the flesh, a religion that robs you of grace, of God’s gift. But returning now briefly to that concluding statement in the first verse.

    To write the same things is no trouble to me. It is a safeguard for you.” Returning to that statement, we have said that we could easily remove that statement and the statement itself would not be missed. And if this is true, why is the statement there at all? A statement appears there, not merely as a parenthetical reminder to the Philippians of that message

    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.

  • Filling Up What Is Lacking

    Filling Up What Is Lacking

    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, January 19, 1992.

    About this sermon

    Colossians 1:24’s notoriously difficult claim, filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions, gets careful handling here, weighed against passages that insist on Christ’s own sufficiency in his sufferings. Paul’s preaching, rather than any deficiency in the cross itself, is what actually ‘fills up’ that gap. Philippians 2:25-30’s account of Epaphroditus’s own near-fatal service supplies a concrete instance of exactly that filling.

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    Sermon transcript

    We begin our scripture reading this morning in Paul’s letter to the Colossians. This is Paul’s letter to the Colossians, chapter one. Beginning with verse 19. For it pleased the Father that in Christ should all fullness dwell. And having made peace through the blood of his cross by him to reconcile all things unto himself, by him I say whether they be things in earth or things in heaven.

    And you that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreprovable in his sight, if ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven, whereof I, Paul, am made a minister, who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is lacking of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake, which is the church, whereof I am made a minister according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you to fulfill the word of God. Even the mystery which has been hid from ages and from generations but now is made manifest to his saints, to whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory, whom we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus, whereunto I also labor Thriving according to his working which worketh in me mightily Then turning back to Philippians chapter 2 Verse 25 to the end of the chapter Yet I supposed it necessary to send to you a paphroditus my brother and companion in labor and fellow soldier but your messenger is and he that ministered to my wants.

    For he longed after you all, and was full of heaviness, because that he had heard that he had been sick. For indeed he was sick, nigh unto death, that God had mercy on him, and not on him only, but on me also, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow. I sent him therefore the more carefully, that when ye see him again, ye may rejoice, and that I may be the less sorrowful. Receive him therefore in the Lord with all gladness, and hold such in reputation, because for the work of Christ he was nigh unto death, not regarding his life, to supply your lack of service toward me.”

    Our father, time and again, you have taught us. About the sufficiency. And the blessing of your word. And sadly, father, we confess that. Too often, we must be dragged back To you and your word. Through the circumstances that overtake us. We having forgotten your word. We having wandered from you. But Lord bring us back.

    To your word that we might be filled with it. And no Lord that you have given this word as a comfort to us. And also, as our faith lays hold of it, this word proves to be a source of certainty for us that we indeed belong to you. Oh, God, we are ready to receive from you what you say to us. For Jesus’ sake, amen. There is a text here in Colossians 1 that has proved to be a Gordian knot since the church’s earliest days. The verse I have in mind is verse 24.

    You will note in this verse the strange, the very strange language that the Apostle Paul uses. He writes, and I’m rendering this now from the New American Standard, I do my share on behalf of the church in filling up that which is lacking in Christ’s affliction. Do you catch the language? Do you grasp the strangeness of it? I do my share on behalf of the church in filling up that which is lacking in the afflictions of Christ.

    Now there have been many suggestions made over the course of the church’s history, as to what exactly the apostle is getting at here. In fact, in 1956, a very, very large book was published in Bonn, Germany, dedicated to the history of this verse’s interpretation. The major problem is this, how can Paul speak as if there is a deficiency, a deficiency in Christ’s sufferings? How is it possible for Paul to speak as if there’s anything lacking in Christ’s affliction?

    Has not Christ died? Is not His death a finished fact? Has He not been raised from the dead? And in light of this marvelous work of His, are not His sufferings complete? These sufferings by which we, His people, are rescued and set right with God again? Is there, can there be anything lacking in Christ’s sacrificial atoning offering on the cross by which our sins have been, past tense, have been pardoned?

    Of course, we confess There is not, nor can there be, any deficiency in Christ’s affliction. For we know that there are too many passages in the New Testament, and from Paul himself, which bear contrary witness. In fact, we need look no further than Colossians itself for testimony. I want you to look at the first chapter, a little earlier than the section that we read from, verses 13 and 14. For he, that is, God, delivered us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. Here, a clear, unambiguous testimony to the sufficiency of Christ’s sufferings. What clearer presentation do we need than this statement? But in case you need further evidence, look at verse 20.

    And through him, that is through Christ who reconciled all things to himself, having made peace through the blood of his cross, through him I say whether things on earth or things in heaven. And moving further into the letter to the Colossians, the second chapter, verses thirteen and fourteen there, and when you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, he made you alive together with him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us and which was hostile to us, and he has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. statements in which we find the clear testimony to the sufficiency of Christ’s suffering and his affliction. So here is the problem. If Paul doesn’t mean, in fact cannot mean, a deficiency in Christ’s sacrificial saving work on the cross, what does he mean when he speaks? about filling up that which is lacking in Christ’s afflictions in Colossians 1 verse 24.

    As if this text wasn’t strange enough in itself. Even more strange is the general obtuseness of many interpreters for failing to appreciate A related construction in the immediate context of that 24th verse. A construction, the unraveling of which goes a long way in helping us to understand Paul’s meaning.

    I want you to look closely at verse 25. If you have the New International Version, it won’t help you much. as is the case too often with the New International Version. But at any rate, I want you to look at verse 25. For this verse seems to suggest to us a lack somewhere else. In addition to the lack that is spoken of in verse twenty four with respect to the afflictions of Christ there is a lack that is in view here in verse twenty five. That lack is with regard to the word of God. Now, if we weren’t caught off guard by the suggestion of a deficiency in Christ’s sufferings in verse 24, we most certainly will be shocked and startled by any suggestion of a lack, a deficiency in the Word of God in verse 25.

    The literal rendering of that verse states that Paul intends by his ministry to make full or complete the Word of God. Of this church I was made a minister according to the stewardship from God bestowed on me for your benefit, that I might make full The Word of God, the last part of that verse there being literally rendered from the Greek. That I might make full the Word of God. But in what sense is the Word of God dependent upon Paul for its completion? What is it that the Word of God lacks which now Paul, in his ministry, supplies.

    Well, hardly. The epistles he is presently writing, by which the table of contents of the New Testament would be completed in itself. No, rather, Paul has in mind the place his ministry has in bringing to completion the message of the Word of God, namely, as he plainly states in the following verses, verses 26 and 27, the making known to the Gentiles the riches of the glory of God’s mystery. That mystery kept hidden until now in God’s plan of things. What the Word of God lacks is the fulfillment of God’s full purpose for the Gentiles. And Paul is the servant of God to bring that design of God to completion, seeing that he is specifically designated as the apostle to the Gentiles.

    But now returning to verse 24, what do we find? We find that the lack or the deficiency spoken of there with respect to the sufferings of Christ parallels the lack or the deficiency spoken of in verse 25 with respect to the word of God. Christ’s sufferings fall short of fulfillment.

    How is this possible? How is this possible? Christ’s sufferings fall short of fulfillment in the sense that those sufferings yet need to be realized That is, come to expression in the life of Christ’s people. Paul, therefore, assures the Colossians that he is doing his part.

    In other words, the sufferings of Christ are particularly being realized, are particularly coming to expression in him. We can even say the sufferings of Christ have this as their mission and their objective, that they would be realized in the likes of Paul. The sufferings of Christ are therefore incomplete in a deep and very perplexing way if they fall short of this goal, this goal of their being realized in coming to expression in the people of Christ. But what exactly does it mean that Christ’s sufferings yet need to be realized to come to expression in Christ’s people?

    As we have already said, let me underscore it once more. This cannot mean that we somehow contribute to the efficacy of Christ’s sacrifice for our sins. We know this. Our sufferings do not atone for anyone’s sins, least of all our own. Christ’s sufferings in that respect are utterly unique. But our sufferings are the expression of our union with Christ. In that, after Him, and by Him, and through Him, we are found to be willing to suffer for His sake.

    Peter speaks of it. He speaks of it in his first letter, the fourth chapter, the thirteenth verse, as he tells his audience that they are partakers of Christ’s suffering. And Paul himself speaks of it elsewhere in Philippians, the third chapter, the tenth verse, where he makes mention of the fact that we are called to a fellowship in his suffering. Now admittedly, both of these references, the one in Peter and the one in Philippians, both of these references have in you the anguish and extremity that comes to us because we are numbered with Christ, whom the world hates. The Scriptures singularly, that is, with one voice, call us to rejoice in such afflictions, since in them we understand, we know, that we are actually being conformed to the image of Christ.

    As our Lord suffered and was oppressed, so we who are his servants likewise suffer and are oppressed. As he was hated, so too we are hated. The situation hasn’t changed since the first century. The world does not anymore like us than it liked Christ.

    But even more now, as we get to the bottom of Paul’s interest as he speaks about the afflictions of Christ which are being filled up by him. The afflictions of Christ that yet need to be realized in our lives are not only those that come to us involuntarily because of the world’s hostility. Rather, at the deepest level, here are afflictions that must be consciously taken up, voluntarily chosen, as we, for Christ’s sake, give ourselves in the service of others, just as Christ gave himself for us.

    It is not then merely the involuntary sufferings that come to us, but those afflictions which we must voluntarily choose that are in view when Paul speaks as he does in Colossians 1.24. Paul says in that first chapter, the 24th verse, that his own sufferings are for you, the Colossians. He says that he is willing to undergo afflictions on behalf of the body of Christ. In this, then, These words from Paul in that 24th verse, we have a further extension of Jesus’ own words, when in the 16th chapter of Matthew, 24th verse and following, he said, if anyone wishes to come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.

    For whoever wishes to save his life shall lose it, and whoever loses his life for myself, my sake, shall find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul?” I know how those words have been ordinarily interpreted, those words from Christ. The interpretation usually moves along the lines of personal private holiness. But that’s all that Jesus has in view, personal private sanctification.

    But their meaning, the meaning of these words from Jesus, is found explained, explicated in Paul’s statement in Colossians 1.24. And in the life of this man who has so surrendered himself to Christ that he, like Christ, willingly and consciously takes up suffering for the sake of others.

    But what kind of a message is this? Have you turned on a media evangelist lately and heard such a message as this? Is this the message that is certain to sell amongst the religious American empires of our day. It won’t wash. It won’t bring in a dime. How can Paul really seriously think. That this message of his this message of suffering. will go over in colossi, or anywhere else. And how can Jesus, at the right hand of God, seriously think that this message is going to go over in 20th century America?

    Yet the Apostle knows that in the cross and the afflictions of Christ, ironic as it may sound, he has found the source of deepest joy. Not just that the cross of Christ is God’s means of forgiving his sin, as glorious as that is, as incomparable as that is, but this as well, that the cross of Christ is the divinely appointed sign of maturity and fullness in which the believer finds his deepest joy.

    Paul is able to say at the beginning of that 24th verse, I rejoice in my suffering for your sake. I’m moving back to the Philippians. He tells the Philippians at the opening of that second chapter, his joy is made complete when he sees the same Christlikeness in them that is coming to expression in him. This is the background of his commendation later on in that second chapter of Philippians, his commendation both of Timothy and Epaphroditus. Because such joy is found in both of them, that is a willingness to give themselves over to afflictions and sufferings. For the sake of others, they knowing that in this their affinity to Christ is discovered.

    Is that affinity with Christ known by you? or will you whistle through life, content to sing yourself a song of self-importance as the world around you goes to hell and you declare you couldn’t care less? Move us Lord by your spirit. By the sufferings of our Savior. is incomparable sufferings for our sake, that our sins might be forgiven. But also, Lord, move us by the pattern of those sufferings, that we might discern within them the pattern for our own life. And may we consciously and willingly, voluntarily, take up those sufferings and those afflictions so that others may be served, so that they may be helped. Oh God, may the very light of Christ come to us, and may we not be denied the deepest joy. that is found in the cross of our Savior. 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.

  • Sending a Kindred Spirit

    Sending a Kindred Spirit

    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, December 22, 1991.

    About this sermon

    Paul’s own rejoicing in the Philippians shapes why he sends Timothy specifically, naming him both ‘kindred spirit’ in 2:20 and ‘son’ in 2:22, terms chosen to demonstrate Paul’s real integrity toward them. Luke’s annunciation narrative supplies an older instance of God sending someone to prove his love concretely. God proved his love, finally, by sending Christ himself, the pattern behind every lesser sending that follows.

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    Sermon transcript

    Morning, we are turning to Luke’s Gospel, chapter one, Luke’s Gospel, chapter one. And we are reading from the twenty six verse. Here, the word of God. And in the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph of the house of David. And the virgin’s name was Mary. And the angel came in unto her and said, Hail, thou that art highly favored. The Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women. And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be. And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary, for thou hast found favour with God.

    And behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest, And the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David. And he shall reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there shall be no end. Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man? And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the highest shall overshadow thee. Therefore also, this holy child which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. And behold, thy cousin Elizabeth, she hath also conceived a son in her old age, and this is the sixth month with her, who was called barren. For with God nothing shall be impossible. And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord. Be it unto me according to thy word.” And the angel departed from her. Then turning to Philippians chapter 2, beginning with verse 17.

    Yea, and if I be poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I joy and rejoice with you all. For the same cause also do ye joy and rejoice with me. But I trust in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy shortly unto you, that I also may be of good comfort when I know your state.

    For I have no man like-minded who will naturally care for your state. For all seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ’s. But ye know the proof of him, that as a son with the Father he hath served with me in the gospel. Him, therefore, I hope to send presently, so soon as I shall see how it will go with me. But I trust in the Lord that I also myself shall come shortly.

    Yet I supposed it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother, and companion in labor, and fellow soldier, but your messenger, and he that ministered to my wants. For he longed after you all, and was full of heaviness, because that he had heard that he had been sick. For indeed he was sick, nigh unto death, but God had mercy on him, and not on him only, but on me also, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow. I sent him therefore, the more carefully, that when ye see him again ye may rejoice, and that I may be the less sorrowful. Receive him therefore in the Lord with all gladness, and hold such in reputation, because for the work of Christ he was nigh unto death, not regarding his life, to supply your lack of service toward me.”

    Let’s pray together. Our hearts have been willing, Lord, made willing by you, for by your Spirit you have indeed introduced us to the marvels of your mercy in your Son. Our God, we rejoice in what your word has done in us and for us. May we delight greatly in what it is accomplishing for our brethren who are in the world and in this present circumstance, this present evil age with us. May we with them persevere, endure, faithful to the end.

    May you be pleased our God with our stand as we buy your spirit confess your name Paul is in jail He is in jail in the city of Rome. And he is in this circumstance in about the year 61, A.D. 61, some thirty years after the death of Jesus. And while in this situation he writes letters to churches. And one of those letters is written to the church in the city of Philippi, a city of Macedonia, north of Achaia, some 1,200 nautical miles distant.

    He writes this letter in order to express his great love for this beloved congregation. In this letter, he will tell these people about the extent to which he is willing to go in his love for them. Here is how he puts it. And even if I am being poured out upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I rejoice and share my joy with you all.” Verse 17 of that second chapter. Paul is saying in these words that he is willing to go the limit, and that he will go the limit gladly.

    So now he communicates with these Philippians his gladness and his joy in his service for them. But Paul has been educated in the covenant. He understands the reciprocal nature of the bond that exists between God and his people. And he brings the reciprocal nature of that covenantal bond to bear upon this relationship that exists between him and these Philippian believers.

    So it is, he doesn’t hesitate in the 18th verse of the second chapter to urge these saints also to rejoice. He is rejoicing in his service to them, and now he is urging them to rejoice as well in their service. Yes, they’re very willing to rejoice in their service for him, but Paul wishes them to rejoice in their service, even their sacrificial service, for one another. And even more, Paul presently longs to hear about them, that they are in fact rejoicing in their sacrifice for each other. He so longs because he realizes that when the communication comes to him from Philippi about the willingness of these servants to live in this manner, there will be then the confirmation of his bold confidence with respect to them.

    Then Paul will see in clearest light how much Christ has been formed in these folks. It is then against this background, you see, that Paul sends out Timothy. Verse 19. For he wants from Timothy, and Timothy’s ministry amongst these Philippians, he wants from Timothy a report, a report of encouragement with respect to the conditions that exist that exist within that church. Precisely, quite pointedly, just how well these people are serving each other.

    But I want you to know, the manner in which Timothy is dispatched For the deputation of Timothy will convey the very spirit Paul wishes to impress upon the Philippians. It will not merely be the letter that he is sent by Epaphroditus, who is mentioned later here at the end of this second chapter. No, it will not merely be the letter which Paul has sent by way of that emissary. It will be the sending of Timothy itself that conveys the very spirit Paul wishes to impress upon these believers.

    This means, then, that Timothy’s visit to Philippi will not be some sort of administrative or ecclesiastical junket. you know, the sort of thing that churches and organizations take up for the sake of extracting information, information that they may be able to use to their advantage. Paul is not sending Timothy in order to spy upon the Philippians. His interest is not keeping the troops in line. Instead, Paul is sending Timothy as a marvelous proof to these Philippians of the Apostles’ integrity. Now you have to understand, in following this thought through, the magnitude of the sacrifice Paul makes in sending Timothy. Do you hear him as he speaks? to the Philippians about Timothy?

    No one else, so says Paul, no one else presently in Rome with him, not even from amongst the ministers who have multiplied in that capital city. No one but Timothy qualified. And the reason why no one qualifies but Timothy is because no one but Timothy has the heart of the Apostle.

    This means then that when Paul sends Timothy, he is sending the one person, the one person who affords him the greatest personal support and comfort. Here is the one so close to the apostle that Paul even mentions him at the very beginning of the epistle in his greeting. Here is one so close to the apostle that Paul is able to say in the 20th verse of that second chapter that they have, as it were, the same spirit. Not even going further, they have the same soul. Here are true soul brothers. He goes even deeper, as is suggested by the 22nd verse.

    Paul goes so far as to compare Timothy with a son, not just a son, rather a faithful son who is shared with him steadfastly. the ministry. When Paul sends Timothy, then, he sends the one dearest to him, the one who is the greatest source of consolation in his present circumstances. In other words, Paul could not be making a greater sacrifice. But why should Paul make such a sacrifice as this? Why should he give up such a great source of consolation and personal joy.

    Is it not true that our tendency is to hold on to those persons and those happy circumstances that bring us great joy and comfort? Would we not be especially concerned to do this very thing, to hold on to these persons, if we were under pressure, if our situation cried out for those very things, for comfort and joy. How tragic it is, as we look about us and as we look within us, and perceive that tendency to hold on to people, even to succumb to manipulation in order to hold on to them because of their advantage to us, because of what they mean to us. And how tragic it is when these expressions within ourselves become explicative of the most unattractive attitudes, the desire to control, the will to power, expressive of jealousy and envy, expressive of a destructive possessiveness.

    How many marriages have been destroyed on these grounds alone. How many children have been scarred and emotionally crippled because they become the objects of their parents’ possessiveness. How many children have become the center of domestic wars as parents have vied for the affections of their children? and treated their children as if they were, in fact, possessions. How many companies had been run aground? How many ships of state had been ruined because of a demonic possessiveness spurred on by jealousy and envy? How many social and professional relationships have been destroyed.

    Over against our built-in desire to hold on to control for our own benefit, for our own selfish ends, stands the figure of the Apostle. He is prepared to give up the comfort and joy he finds in this son of the faith, Timothy. and that for the benefit of the Philippians, whom he lost. As a matter of fact, Paul, who finds such great comfort and joy in Timothy, will find even greater comfort and joy in giving Timothy away to the Philippians. as a gift. He is willing then to send Timothy, and Timothy becomes an expression, one more expression, an expression in the realist sense of deepest and greatest significance, an expression of Paul’s own selfless love. Here, then, is one as close to Paul as a son, whom Paul sends out as the proof of his integrity and the genuineness of his affection.

    But where does such love come from? Does it arise from within the apostle naturally? We have already reviewed what arises within us naturally. Does it rise out of a mere sense of duty, a determined, dogged devotion to principle, which the Apostle is determined now to set before these Philippians in order to prove himself right and even admirable? My, my, what a man of principle.

    He’s willing to sacrifice so much for principle. Well, the key The key to the source of Paul’s love comes in that 22nd verse where Paul mentions Timothy as his own child. For Paul’s sending of Timothy to these Philippians, a love for them parallels the sending of another son. There is another father-son relationship that stands behind the relationship between Paul and Timothy. And this scene from a Roman jail reminds us of all that.

    And Gabriel, the archangel, said to Mary, the Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. And for that reason, the Holy Offspring shall be called the Son of God. And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

    For God loved the world in this way. He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. But God demonstrated his love for us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. But when the fullness of time was come, God sent forth his son born of a woman born under the law in order to redeem those who were under the curse of the law here in his love. not that we love God, but that God loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins.

    Paul is constrained. He reads his entire life against the backdrop of the gospel. It informs his every thought and his every action, and he is determined to bring every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ Jesus. He is constrained in his love for these Philippians by the love of God, that love that is revealed when God sends forth his Son, giving his all for his own. of the integrity of Paul’s love is seen in the clear selflessness of his sacrifice for them. Just as the proof of the integrity of God’s love for us is seen in the clear selflessness of his sacrifice for us. Paul gives up his greatest joy and comfort in his son Timothy, but he has learned such behavior from God the Father, who gave up his only begotten son, Jesus Christ. It is this then that clarifies for us the opening words of the nineteenth verse in Philippians 2. words that have caused some difficulty for translators.

    The King James reads, but I trust in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy. The New American reads, but I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy. What is Paul speaking of here? Is he speaking of his own personal faith that he hopes in the Lord Jesus, that he trusts in the Lord Jesus? Is it a declaration of personal faith that Paul has in view here? Some translators, in order to bring the sense through, have retranslated the opening words of that verse this way, I hope through the Lord Jesus Christ, or through the Lord Jesus, rather to send Timothy to you. What is the force? of Paul’s words.

    What is the sense of this statement? What Paul means is that he will send Timothy in and through the living reality found nowhere else but in Jesus. And that living reality is nothing other than the magnificent self-sacrificing disposition that is expressed in him as he now sends out his Son, as Jesus himself, the Son, was sent out.

    But you will note that in this prepositional phrase, Jesus is called the Lord Jesus. And that has significance as well. For Paul here calling Jesus the Lord Jesus indicates the fact that Jesus Lordship is carried out presently by precisely the kind of behavior and in precisely the kind of spirit that Paul is exhibiting.

    That’s the current mode of Lordship. That’s the way Christ exerts his power presently in the world. That’s how he presently manages his kingdom. There is no other way. You see, for Paul, Christmas is not a season. It’s a way of life. It’s a way of life.

    We would have more perfectly formed in us, Lord, the full implications of the mind of Christ. And we desire our God that consistency within ourselves that preaches so eloquently the fact that we are citizens of heaven. May it be our Father that the Lordship of your Son would come to expression in us in precisely the same manner in which it came to expression in the Apostles. May we be imitators of Him, even as He is of Christ. 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.

  • Preaching Christ, Living Christ

    Preaching Christ, Living Christ

    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, December 15, 1991.

    About this sermon

    Biblical ignorance runs deep in the contemporary church, and it comes from underestimating the depth of Paul’s Biblical Theology in 2:14-18. Preaching Christ is common enough, while living Christ as Paul did is rare. At the chapter’s close, Paul answers that rarity by sending Timothy.

    More sermons from Philippians · Browse all sermons

    Sermon transcript

    morning from Philippians chapter two, beginning of verse seventeen. Philippians chapter two, verse seventeen. Listen to the word of God. If I be offered upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I joy and rejoice with you all. for the same cause, also do ye joy, and rejoice with me.

    But I trust in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy shortly unto you, that I also may be of good comfort when I know your state. For I have no man like-minded who will naturally care for your state, for all seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ’s. But you know the proof of him that has a son with the father. He has served with me in the gospel him. Therefore, I hope to send presently so soon as I shall see how it will go with me. But I trust in the Lord that I also myself shall come shortly. Yet, I suppose it’s necessary to send to you a paphrodite is my brother and companion in labor and fellow soldier, but your messenger and he that ministered to my wants.

    For he longed after you all, and was full of heaviness, because that ye had heard that he had been sick. For indeed he was sick, nigh unto death. But God had mercy on him, and not on him only, but on me also, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow. I sent him, therefore, the more carefully, that when ye see him again, ye may rejoice, and that I may be the less sorrowful. Receive him, therefore, in the Lord with all gladness, and hold such in reputation, because for the work of Christ he was nigh unto death, not regarding his life, to supply your lack of service For me.

    Paul has been opening his soul in this letter to the Philippians. He has taken us deep within his own soul by what he tells us about himself in the first chapter in this epistle. And he has taken us still deeper now with verses 17 and 18 in this second chapter. But he will go deeper still as he opens up his soul even further by what he has to say in verses 19 through 30 of this second chapter. In these verses, we find the proofs of the man’s integrity.

    You see, Paul goes at his ministry with more than just rhetorical flourish. He goes at his ministry with more than just fine words and great lines. Language, for some, is an art form at which they work very hard in framing fine lines and great words.

    To my own way of thinking, the seventeenth verse of this second chapter in Philippians achieves great wine status. The King James reads, “…yea, and if I be offered upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I joy and rejoice with you all.” The New American Standard reads even better. to me, but even if I am being poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I rejoice and share my joy with you all. What makes this a great line, simply from a literary point of view, is Paul’s twofold play upon the idea of sacrifice. the Philippians sacrifice and his own. The power of the image he uses with respect to himself, portraying himself as a drink offering with its suggestion of his own death.

    And the poignancy of his expression of love for these Philippian believers. And notwithstanding, in the English translation, the nice way the phrase, the sacrifice and service of your faith reads. All of this adds up to a great line, literarily. This is a first-rate classic.

    Paul, however, is interested in more than scoring points with the Philippian church with his literary ability. by the same token. Paul goes at his ministry with more than a doctrinal competence and a biblical, theological expertise. Please don’t misunderstand me at this point.

    I am the first to acknowledge the crying need of the church presently. The fact that she is suffering from a doctrinal and a biblical malaise. The crying need within the church in our time. is that the church would cast off its ignorance and be freed from the shackles of the tyranny of that ignorance. We are wallowing in one of the worst periods of doctoral and biblical ignorance. It’s almost as if the Protestant dark ages have come upon us. And sadly, we aren’t helped much by those who should be helping us the most.

    Recently, I read an essay by the president of a conservative reform seminary. He was joining the chorus heard now in America, chiding the educational establishment with the fiasco that has overtaken this land in its schools. But he went on, and he railed against the Church and against Christian parents for their part in contributing to biblical and doctrinal ignorance. I was anxious to read the conclusion of his essay. How did he end up? Predictably, I’m afraid, that’s right, with an appeal for funds.

    Because his seminary, amongst all the seminaries, had been doing such a good job in stemming the tide. For as it turns out, His seminary has been doing such a good job in curbing Christian ignorance that it no longer requires its students to learn the original biblical languages, Hebrew and Greek. A real model for us, indeed. We should all be inspired by such examples. What would be more helpful is a willingness from someone like this president to lead us in repentance for the mess to which we all, including him and his institution, have contributed.

    So when I say Paul pursues his ministry with more than a doctrinal competence and a biblical theological expertise, I trust you understand I don’t wish, by this, to denigrate doctrine or biblical literacy in either the Apostle or ourselves. As a matter of fact, if Philippians 2 verse 17 exhibits Paul’s literary ability, verses 14 through 18 establishes mastery of doctrinal and biblical material.

    I have pointed these matters out to you before, but in the space of these few verses, we move through references and allusions to Genesis, Exodus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Isaiah, Daniel, and the Gospel of Matthew. All of that crammed into those few verses. We touch upon creation, the deliverance of Israel from Egypt, the wilderness experience of the people of God, the institution of the Levitical system of sacrifice, the captivity of Judah, the promise of the servant of the Lord, the glorification of the elect, and the arrivals of the new heaven and the new world. And in doctrinal and biblical summary, in short, we can say that Paul treats this Philippian congregation as if it were the new Israel of God, the center of God’s new creation, to whom belongs the previous revelation from God and the precious promises that are pertaining to that revelation which he gave.

    As far as verse seventeen is concerned, the Philippians do not offer up lambs from their plots or produce from their fields at a central altar in Palestine, but they offer up the fruits of their faith. and offering, not adorned with the customary flask of wine, but with the loving sacrifice of the Apostle, who, with Christ’s likeness, places himself at the disposal of these saints, even to the point of pouring out his own life’s blood for them.

    Fine words. Finer theology. But so what? So what? Words are cheap. Even when they drip with sincerity. Church throughout her two thousand years has never lacked for fine words. She has even been blessed from time to time with truly great theology. But what is at a premium? Beyond all those artistically crafted liturgies and exquisite prayer notes. Beyond that company that actually believes that they will be heard for their fine words. Beyond all those thoughtful theologians with their impressive theology that masks hollow souls. What is at a premium is a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ, who is never content with preaching Christ, but must, because he preaches Christ sincerely, honestly, with integrity.

    To see how that sets Paul apart from those who were his distractors in Rome. Remember the first chapter where he’s talking about those who preach out of envy and strife, verse 15 of that first chapter. Those who do not preach out of love, those who preach from impure motives, who preach out of selfish ambition. In verse 18, Paul says that he will rejoice even though these preach, because they preach Christ. But what sets Paul apart is what we find in verse 21 of that first chapter. Not only will Paul preach Christ, he tells us there he will live Christ. For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is We meet, therefore, in the Apostle Paul, one who is fully capable of a great line, one who is zealous for the doctrines of the Word, but more than this, one who fights to administer his affairs so that those he says he loves With the doctrine he is so concerned to maintain are not forgotten or even worse, reduced to a mere constituency. You see what the Apostle Paul is up to them in chapter two verses nineteen and following.

    To be sure, he has just spoken eloquently with doctrinal cogency to these dear saints about his joy in serving them, even if it means his death. But now he prepares to send to them Timothy to determine if they are ready to crown their faith with joyous sacrificial service, not just for him, but for one another. And only this will encourage him. Since only by this means will he be assured that Christ is formed in them as surely as Christ is formed in him.

    The apostle Paul would have little regard for the present-day itinerating ministries that have overtaken the evangelical world. The apostle Paul was no whistle-stop evangelist. breezing along from city to city, pumping audiences for decisions and dollars, then turning them over to an impersonal follow-up campaign. The Apostle Paul was driven by Christ to give himself completely, to offer himself completely to those he served. He was driven by Christ to be satisfied with nothing less than Christ shining in them in these folks proved through their own self-sacrifice. In fact, they would offer themselves up on behalf of one another. There’s another point.

    As Paul is no whistle-stop evangelist, neither is he a mahogany desk executive. Nor is he a steel desk official, from officialdom. And it’s almost as if Wandering into these latter verses of the second chapter of Philippians, we have set before us by God the divine answer to arrogant managerialism and unresponsive bureaucracy. It’s a marvelous antidote. Think about that managerialism Think about bureaucracy. Those monsters of efficiency that are brought now into the church, and when they are, they so effectively rout genuine love for the very people they so self-righteously claim to serve. In the hands of managerialism and bureaucracy, These dear souls, for whom Christ died, become a faceless mass, names on a computer list, potential donors, statistics to be employed for selfish ends. But Paul sends Timothy.

    Nothing less will do than that personal contact, a demonstration of the love that this one bears to those to whom he sends this emissary. And shortly, Paul says, I plan to come myself. Paul knows because of God’s own involvement with us in Christ. God himself was not guilty of managerialism, presiding over an immense bureaucracy from his mahogany desk in heaven. He sent his son And in sending his son, he sent himself. And for the Apostle Paul, nothing else will do. Here, as we move into the latter part of the second chapter of Philippians.

    Is God’s answer? To those things that have now begun to play even the church. She endeavors to do what is right in serving the same. Intimacy that is demanded. The sacrifice. That is demanded. The law. Is called for. that must be expressed. All of this now being concretely demonstrated before our eyes as Paul sends out this emissary, Timothy, with the promise that he shall shortly follow. Our God, we do rejoice in the love that you have shown us. would deal with others, and especially those whom we say we love, that we would be pressed by this devotion which you have shown, whereby we would be willing to offer ourselves as sacrifice in the service of our Savior, to the end that others may be helped. deal with our selfishness, our self-centeredness, deal with our unwillingness to be of help, to be of comfort, to be a strength and an encouragement to those we profess we love. We ask 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.