Sermon Series: Philippians, Part 22
Philippians 3:15-21
The Way of the Cross Leads Home,
The Way of the Cross Leads Home,
Part 2 (3:17–19), Following
and Marking
15
Let us therefore, as many as be
perfect, be thus minded: and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall
reveal even this unto you. 16 Nevertheless, whereto we have already
attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us mind the same thing. 17 Brethren,
be followers together of me, and mark them which walk so as ye have us for an
ensample. 18 (For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now
tell you even weeping, that they are
the enemies of the cross of Christ: 19 Whose end is destruction, whose God is
their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly
things.) 20 For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we
look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: 21 Who shall change our
vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to
the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself.
Outline:
I. The Same Rule, The Same Mind (3:15-16)
II. Following and Marking (3:17-19)
III. The Heavenly Conversation and the Great Change (3:20-21)
II. Following
and Marking (3:17-19)
17
Brethren, be followers together of me,
and mark them which walk so as ye have us for an ensample. 18 (For
many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross
of Christ: 19 Whose end is
destruction, whose God is their
belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly
things.)
1. Followers of Gospel Loyalists (3:17)
2. The Reality of Gospel Enemies (3:18)
3. The Marks of Gospel Enemies (3:19)
1. Followers of Gospel Loyalists (3:17)
Brethren,
be followers together of me, and mark them which walk so as ye have us for an
ensample.
1) Followers — Brethren, be followers together of me
2) Markers — and mark them which walk
3) Exemplars — so as ye have us for an ensample
1) Followers — Brethren, be
followers together of me
Source: Eddie Eddings, “Roads Lead Somewhere” (20 MAY 2017), on Calvinist Cartoons at http://calvinisticcartoons.blogspot.com/2017/05/roads-lead-somewhere.html
[accessed 16 DEC 2018].
This is such a good answer that I wish I had thought of it before.
When someone says “All roads lead to God,” it is helpful to confront that
heresy with a Scriptural response. Examples provoked by this little cartoon
would be: “Yes, but all other roads lead to His judgment, not His grace.”
“Oh, you are quite right. All roads lead to God, but only one of
them leads to His Son, and that is the only one that avoids His judgment.”
“All other roads besides Him who is the Way, the Truth and the
Life will ultimately end before God, but that is not the end of those roads.
Those who follow any of those other roads will follow them to the Second Death,
once God speaks His words of condemnation in the ears of those who have insisted
on following them to their final end.”
“Paul knows wherein he imitates Christ who is the real standard of
orthodoxy and orthopraxy (cf. 2 John 9).”
— A. T. Robertson, Paul’s
Joy in Christ: Studies in Philippians, A. T. Robertson Library (Grand
Rapids: Baker Book House, 1917; 1979 reprint), pg. 211.
2 Jn. 9 — Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine
of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath
both the Father and the Son.
2) Markers — and mark them
which walk
Notice the change of object here in
the person and number of the pronoun from the first person singular of the
previous clause to the third person plural here: “me….them.”
“to consider something critically
and then to hold something before one as a model on the basis of the
inspection,” [1]
Lk. 11:33-36 — 33 No man, when he hath lighted a
candle, putteth it in a secret place, neither under a bushel, but on a
candlestick, that they which come in may see the light. 34 The light
of the body is the eye: therefore when thine eye is single, thy whole body also
is full of light; but when thine eye is evil, thy body also is full of
darkness. 35 Take heed therefore that the light which is in
thee be not darkness. 36 If thy whole body therefore be full of
light, having no part dark, the whole shall be full of light, as when the
bright shining of a candle doth give thee light.
Rom. 16:17 — Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and
offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them.
2 Cor. 4:18 — While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the
things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the
things which are not seen are eternal.
Gal. 6:1 — Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which
are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering
thyself, lest thou also be tempted.
Phil. 2:4 — Look not every man on his own things, but every
man also on the things of others.
How is this to be done if we are to heed the multitude which
repeat as a shibboleth, “Judge not!”?
3) Exemplars — so as ye have
us for an ensample
Notice the change of object here in
the person of the pronoun from the first person singular of the first clause to the third person plural in the
second, and now to the second person plural: “me….them….us.”
“Moses spent forty years thinking he was somebody; then he spent
forty years on the backside of the desert realizing he was nobody; finally, he
spent the last forty years of his life leaning what God can do with a nobody!”
— D. L.
Moody (1837-1899)
“To show them how
to walk, those first generation believers, with no precedents or history, with
no New Testament, with few preachers and most of them itinerant, struggling as
a small minority in a pagan culture, no better textbook could be offered than
the lives of those who stood before them as leaders.”
— Fred
B. Craddock, Philippians, in
Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching, eds. James
Luther Mays, and Paul J. Achtemeier (Louisville: John Knox, 1985), pp. 67-68.
2. The Reality of Gospel Enemies (3:18)
(For
many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross
of Christ:
The critical significance of the Pauline instructions in verse 17
is heightened by the necessity for them contained in the parenthetical reality
that follows in the next two verses. This content answers the question of why
Paul commands them as he does in the previous statement leaving no doubt about
the basis for it.
Verses 18-19 are enclosed in parentheses in
“Parenthetical Theology,” e.g. 1 Cor. 9:21; Rom. 2:13-15; Eph. 2:5
Rom. 2:13-15 — 13 (For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the
doers of the law shall be justified. 14 For when the Gentiles, which
have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having
not the law, are a law unto themselves: 15 Which shew the work of
the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and
their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another;)
1 Cor. 9:21 — To them that are without law, as without law, (being not without
law to God, but under the law to Christ,) that I might gain them
that are without law.
Eph. 2:5 — Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us
together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)
1) The Sad Seriousess of this Reality — (For many
walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping
2) The Supernatural Substance of this Reality — that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ
1) The
Sad Seriousess of this Reality — (For
many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping
The issues of opposition from within and without the church has
been a focus since early in Paul’s letter to the Philippians. There are those
who oppose Paul, and there are the enemies of the Gospel. The former may be
joyless, and the latter would certainly steal the joy of the saints, but Paul’s
primary focus is not on rejoicing as so many suggest. Rejoicing is a response,
and joylessness is a symptom. Paul is here, as he has consistently done since
the beginning of the letter, focusing on the diagnosis and the cure in the face
of such opponents.
2) The
Supernatural Substance of this Reality — that they are the enemies of the cross of
Christ
The ongoing debate among scholars over attempts to identify this
group.
3. The
Marks of Gospel Enemies (3:19)
Whose
end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their
shame, who mind earthly things.)
1) The End of Gospel Enemies — Whose end is destruction
2) The God of Gospel Enemies — whose God is their belly
3) The Glory of Gospel Enemies — and whose glory is in their shame
4) The Mind of Gospel Enemies — who mind earthly things
“Paul is pitiless in his picture of these men.”
— A. T. Robertson, Paul’s
Joy in Christ: Studies in Philippians, A. T. Robertson Library (Grand
Rapids: Baker Book House, 1917; 1979 reprint), pg. 215.
1)
The End of Gospel Enemies — Whose
end is destruction
This does not mean annihilation as many suppose.
“Ἀπώλεια in the N.T. specially represents the lot
of those who go on the broad path (Matt. 7:13), who set themselves against the
Gospel (Phil. 1:28), who live a carnal life (Phil. 3:19), who yield to lusts
and covetousness (1 Tim. 6:9), who draw back from Christ (Heb. 10:39), who deny
the Lord that bought them (2 Pet. 2:1, 3), and wrest the Scriptures (2 Pet.
3:16), and are, in a word, ungodly (2 Pet. 3:7).
The infliction of
this ἀπώλεια is synchronous with the Day of
Judgment and the burning of the heaven and earth that now are (2 Pet. 3:7); the
whole event being prefigured by the destruction that came upon the earth at the
Deluge, when the then world perished (ἀπώλετο),
and also by the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrha. The word also occurs in John
17:12, of Judas, the son of perdition; of another son of perdition in 2 Thess.
2:3; in Rev. 17:8, 11, of the Beast; also in Acts 8:20 [25:16] and Rom. 9:22.” [2]
— Robert
Baker Girdlestone, Synonyms of the Old Testament: Their Bearing on Christian
Doctrine, 2nd ed. (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., n.d., 1976
reprint of 1897 ed.), pp. 275-276.
2)
The God of Gospel Enemies — whose
God is their belly
“You don’t have
to go to heathen lands today to find false gods. America is full of them.
Whatever you love more than God is your idol.”
— D. L. Moody (1837-1899)
— D. L. Moody (1837-1899)
“Perhaps more people make a god of their stomachs than will admit
it. We have a proverb to the effect that we dig our graves with our teeth.”
— A. T. Robertson, Paul’s Joy
in Christ: Studies in Philippians, A. T. Robertson Library (Grand Rapids:
Baker Book House, 1917; 1979 reprint), pg. 216.
3)
The Glory of Gospel Enemies — and
whose glory is in their shame
What is their “glory”?
How is that their “glory” is also “their shame”?
What is our glory?
Source: Eddie Eddings, “Absolute Fact!” (16 MAY 2017), on Calvinist Cartoons at http://calvinisticcartoons.blogspot.com/2017/05/absolute-fact.html
[accessed 16 DEC 2018].
4)
The Mind of Gospel Enemies — who
mind earthly things
What do the enemies of the Gospel mind?
“What do modern people care most about? Face the facts. Statistics
tell some things rightly. On any Sunday in our modern cities the moving
picture-shows will be crowded when the churches are thinly attended. On a
pretty Sunday in the summer the baseball park will be full.”
— A. T. Robertson, Paul’s
Joy in Christ: Studies in Philippians, A. T. Robertson Library (Grand Rapids:
Baker Book House, 1917; 1979 reprint), pg. 217.
Remember that those under consideration in this context are not
“out there.” They are within the church!
What do you mind?
Conclusion:
“For
Christianity the pattern of ethical teaching is embodied not in a written code
of precepts and maxims covering every possible contingency of life, but in a
life—pre-eminently the life of the Lord Jesus, and secondarily in the lives of
His earliest and closest followers….For us today, access to that pattern is possible
through the opened Bible in which we read of the life which was the light of
men, and the renewing Spirit (2 Cor. iii. 6) who enables us to apply gospel
teaching to our modern situations. But the lives of many outstanding men and
women of God, in whom His grace has shone, must also be considered.”
— Ralph
P. Martin, The Epistle of Paul to the
Philippians: An Introduction and Commentary, Vol. 11 in The Tyndale New
Testament Commentaries, gen. ed. R. V. G. Tasker (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1959), pg. 157.
1 I
must needs go home by the way of the cross,
There's
no other way but this;
I
shall ne'er get sight of the gates of light,
If
the way of the cross I miss.
Chorus:
The
way of the cross leads home, (leads home,)
The
way of the cross leads home; (leads home;)
It
is sweet to know as I onward go,
The
way of cross leads home.
2 I
must needs go on in the blood sprinkled way,
The
path that the Savior trod,
If I
ever climb to the heights sublime,
Where
the soul is at home with God. [Chorus]
3
Then I bid farewell to the way of the world,
To
walk in it nevermore,
For
the Lord says, “Come,” and I seek my home
Where
He waits at the open door. [Chorus] [3]
[Sermon preached 28 MAY 2017 by Pastor John T. “Jack” Jeffery at
Wayside Gospel Chapel, Greentown, PA.]
Hymn Suggestions:
Lead On, O King Eternal
May the Mind of
Christ, My Saviour
Take My Life and Let it Be
The
Way of the Cross Leads Home
Follow on
Follow, I Will
Follow Thee
Jesus, I My Cross
Have Taken
Jesus Calls Us,
o'er the Tumult
Where He Leads I'll
Follow
Art Thou Weary, Art
Thou Troubled?
We Would See Jesus
When We See Christ
Complete
Outline:
I. The Same Rule, The Same Mind (3:15-16)
1. The Mind of the Mature (3:15)
1)
The Challenge Introduced — Let us
therefore
2)
The Challenge Qualified — as many as be
perfect
3)
The Challenge Specified — be thus minded
4) A
Consideration of Possible Exceptions — and
if in any thing ye be otherwise minded
5)
The Cure for Possible Exceptions — God
shall reveal even this unto you
2. The Union of our Walk (3:16)
1) Different Levels of Maturity — Nevertheless,
whereto we have already attained
2) One Rule — let us walk
by the same rule
3) The Same Mind — let us mind
the same thing
II. Following and Marking (3:17-19)
1. Followers of Gospel Loyalists
(3:17)
1)
Followers — Brethren, be followers
together of me
2)
Markers — and mark them which walk
3)
Exemplars — so as ye have us for an
ensample
2. The Reality of Gospel Enemies (3:18)
1) The Sad Seriousess of
this Reality — (For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you
even weeping
2) The Supernatural Substance
of this Reality — that they are the enemies of the
cross of Christ
3. The Marks of Gospel Enemies (3:19)
1) The End of Gospel Enemies
— Whose end is destruction
2) The God of Gospel Enemies
— whose God is their belly
3) The Glory of Gospel
Enemies — and whose glory is in their
shame
4) The Mind of Gospel
Enemies — who mind earthly things
III. The Heavenly Conversation and the Great Change (3:20-21)
1. Our Heavenly Conversation (3:20)
1) Identification: For our
conversation is in heaven
2) Expectation:
from whence also we look for the Saviour,
the Lord Jesus Christ
(1) This is a Corporate
Look! This is not a lonely look.
WE look for the
Savior!
(2) This is a Hopeful
Look! This is not a hopeless look.
We EAGERLY AWAIT the return of the Savior!
(3) This is a Personal
Look! This is not an impersonal
look.
We look for THE SAVIOR!
2. The Great Change (3:21)
1) Transformation: What is
He going to do? Who shall change our vile body
2)
Glorification: Why is He going to do this? that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body
3)
Subjugation: How is He going to do this? according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things
unto himself
End notes:
[1] Fuchs, E. (1964–). σκοπός, σκοπέω, κατασκοπέω,
κατάσκοπος. G. Kittel, G. W. Bromiley, & G. Friedrich (Eds.), Theological dictionary of the New Testament
(electronic ed., Vol. 7, p. 415). Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans.
[2] Girdlestone, R. B. (1998). Synonyms of
the Old Testament: their bearing on Christian doctrine. (pp. 275–276). Oak
Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.
[3] Jessie Brown Pounds (1906); on Hymnary
at http://hymnary.org/text/i_must_needs_go_home_by_the_way_of_the_c
[accessed 13 MAY 2017].
