Christ, Not Religion, Brings True Righteousness

Philippians 3:1-14

People always want to increase, maintain, preserve, or defend their worthiness. That’s human nature. We want to think we’re good, or at least we’re not that bad. In the courts of law, people fight for their innocence. They’re wrongly accused and hope the courts can vindicate them. Many also fight for a lesser sentence. They’re guilty of a crime, but using character witnesses or other ways, try to lessen guilt and diminish culpability. Why? The penalty for crime is high. They hope the courts can excuse their guilt. Worthiness can also be in terms of reward. Some desire honor for their performance. I’ve met and surpassed my KPIs! I outdid my peers. I deserve honor for my achievements. I’m worthy! Similarly, some fight for their rights during redundancy exercises. They must prove their worth.

At the same time, we’ve all met people, or may be them ourselves, who deny our guilt or poor performance. We lack self-knowledge - we think we’re worthy when we’re not, or think we’re something when we’re not. Today we see how people think they’re righteous. And while they may have some guilt, they’re not that bad. They think they’re undeserving of judgment! So because of their general righteousness, they should be excused other minor guilt. Some even believe they should be rewarded. In this message, we examine the biography of the apostle Paul. He preached Christ and forgiveness from sin. But he didn’t always do that. In fact, he once hated Christ. But after he learned about Jesus and heard about forgiveness, he admitted his sins and looked to Christ for true righteousness. We’ll see his biography in 2 points - firstly, the hindrances to true righteousness, and secondly, the way he took to true righteousness.

Firstly, the hindrances to true righteousness. Paul was an apostle of Jesus Christ. He was sent by Jesus to teach the Christian message. And he planted this church to whom he was writing. He taught them about Jesus - how he died for sinners to remove their sins. Whoever trusts in him is accepted by God and forgiven. Simple message! But not all like this message. People don’t like the idea of forgiveness. Forgiven? Why must I be forgiven? I’m alright. Others believe that religious works can outweigh guilt. Go to the temple, give to charity, do some ritual. To be worthy, just keep the laws and be moral. Keep certain religious rituals. These are ways to be good and righteous. You have to put in effort. But listen to Paul’s response to this thinking in verses 3 and 4 - “we should put no confidence in human effort! Though I could have confidence in my own effort if anyone could. If any man thinks he has reason to be confident in his own efforts, I have even more!” And there were three things he had pursued for worth and righteousness. But he realized they were actually hindrances to true righteousness. What were they? In verses 5-6, he lists those things he once felt gave him worth. He was “Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee; Concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.”

Firstly, it was his background or breeding. He was circumcised on the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the Tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews. These words tell us that his background was a credit. Jews in Paul’s day were a proud race. They were proud of their heritage as God’s people - an ancient people with ancient roots and customs. When God chose them as a people, he gave them circumcision as a sign that they belonged to him. Roughly speaking but not equivalent - Singaporeans have a red passport. It’s the world’s most powerful passport - competing with Germany, Japan, and South Korea for top spot. These things mark us out as citizens and give a sense of pride. So circumcision had significance. It symbolized how God had cut away their sin so they’d be his holy people. And the fact he was circumcised on the eighth day shows he was a true Israelite. Jews were required by law to be circumcised 8 days after their birth. But non-Jews who converted were circumcised as adults. Like how Singaporeans get their citizenship at birth, but others get it through naturalization. So Paul stressed he was a true blue Jew. An ethnic Hebrew. Also, he was from the tribe of Benjamin - the tribe that supplied Israel with her first king. Historically, Jews have achieved a lot. They’re still a proud race. More Nobel prizes are awarded to Jews than to any other race. But this worth became a hindrance to Paul in his conversion. He was a true blue Jew. He had the mark of God’s choosing. His breeding, birth, background - all gave him assurance that he was alright.

And that’s the same with some people. Their breeding, birth, background assure them they’re okay - they don’t need forgiveness. They’ve grown up in respectable homes, have respectable jobs and families; are respectable in society - why would they need forgiveness? Forgiveness is for those who are guilty of crime - whose less fortunate breeding led to that life. But not me. When a rich young ruler came to Jesus to ask how he could be saved, Jesus tested him - keep all the commandments - don’t kill, don’t commit adultery, steal, lie, or cheat; honor father and mother. The young man answered from his privilege - I’ve obeyed everything. Testing him again, Jesus said - ok, go and sell everything and follow me. But the man couldn’t - it was too hard. And it showed how guilty he was of covetousness. His breeding blinded him to his sins. He wasn’t truly righteous.

Secondly, another thing that hinders true righteousness is qualification. Paul said in verse 5 that concerning the law, he was a Pharisee - an expert in the law of God. They were an elite group of scholars and lawyers. It was hard to become a Pharisee. Rigorous training from childhood included memorizing the five books of Moses, and studying the oral law and the commentaries - the Talmud and Midrash. Paul was a trained who had an elite education. His teacher was Gamaliel - a renown teacher in the first century. He was also a member of the Sanhedrin - the ruling council of Israel. As such, he had to master subjects of mathematics, politics, oratory, philosophy, history, and even science. Now, education and qualification by themselves don’t hinder true righteousness. There’s no dichotomy there. Neither am I saying that the eminently qualified are unrighteous. I’m simply saying this - worth, worthiness, and righteousness are not determined by qualification. But those who are qualified assume worth, prestige, and eminence. They must be good - how dare you suggest they’re unworthy? When Jesus healed a blind man on the Sabbath Day, which was against the Pharisee’s teaching, they took the man and interrogated him. Who’s this Jesus that healed you? The man said - I don’t know - but he must be from God. I was blind, but now I see. And their response was this - you were born in sin! How dare you teach us? Qualification does do this.

But thirdly, it was his morality that hindered true righteousness. He said - concerning the righteousness of the law, his morality and obedience, he was blameless. As a Pharisee, he was an expert in the laws in the Bible. From Genesis to Deuteronomy, you’d find 613 laws given by God to the Israelites to obey. Of these 613, 248 are positive commands - what God requires; and 365 are negative commands - what God forbids. The Pharisees spent much time and energy trying to figure out how to keep the law. And so important were the laws, that they added more laws like fences to protect the original laws. For example, God says to avoid drunkenness. They’d set up another law to say - don’t drink alcohol at all. And then another fence which said - don’t even think about drinking. Or God says don’t commit adultery. The fence is - don’t dance because that’s sensual. Or God said don’t lie, the fence says - don’t associate with anyone who lies. They’d do this so much so that the fences would move further and further away from God’s actual laws. This is why verse 6 says that he persecuted the church zealously. Now, this doesn’t seem like moral behavior. In fact, how could the Pharisees, being so apparently moral and religious - in keeping the laws, have persecuted Christians? Why did the Jews put Jesus to death? It’s because the Christian message was counter-religious. It angered them to know that despite their morality, they weren’t actually truly righteous. For all the keeping of their religious rules, they hated, lied, were bitter, angry, and covetous. Jesus opposed that kind of hypocrisy. And that’s the same with all of us. We make and break our own laws. We establish man-made standards, judge others by them, ironically being clueless that the pride we feel, the self-sufficiency we feel, and the contempt we have for others are all sins before God - our self-righteousness blind us to the fact that these are sins.

And there were people in the church trying to promote such religiosity and worth. They taught that to be worthy, you had to be circumcised, obey the laws, be outwardly righteous. But they weren’t true blue Jews. That’s why Paul called them the concision - the mutilation. They mutilated themselves thinking it was spiritual. They were ultra moral - setting up fences and extra laws. These things don’t make you worthy - breeding, qualifications, and morality are rubbish. Only Jesus makes you worthy and righteous. That’s the second point - the way to true righteousness.

Paul came to realize that these things don’t promote worth, but actually hinder ones reception of true worth. This is why he counted these gains as loss. Paul says in verse 7 - “But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ.” What does counting as loss mean? It simply means to count as inferior. Everything is inferior to Christ. But it’s so inferior that Paul calls it dung - in verse 8. The word dung refers to refuse – rubbish. In the ancient world, there was no sewage system. Cities had large pits dug outside its walls. Citizens would bring all their rubbish and bodily waste there to be burned. But sometimes lazy citizens would just throw their morning business onto the streets. This was dung. Counting as loss also means regarding as dangerous. Paul was once on board a cargo ship that was caught in a great storm. In order for the ship and passengers to survive, the precious cargo had to be jettisoned – to be counted as loss – to preserve a better gain – the lives of men. The reason why he counted these things as loss was because he knew that his righteousness was not enough. He had guilt - like the rich young ruler, he had an inflated view of himself. Like the Pharisees - his religion had made him judgmental - critical of others. For all our breeding and qualifications, we still sin in thought, word, and deed. For all our morality, we are still immoral. The Bible tells us that all have sinned and come short of God’s glory. Our righteousnesses are like filthy clothes used to cover our filthy bodies. Compared to the righteousness that God demands, ours is not worthy or sufficient enough. And that’s why the Bible says that the penalty of sin is death - even for just one sin. Jesus warned - “Every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.” If birth, qualifications, and morality count for nothing, it’s no surprise that Paul says he counts them as loss - they’re inferior and dangerous. By comparison, they’re dung. But compared to what? Compared to Christ.

To get true righteousness, we must not only count as dung those things which people commonly see as gain, but we must also be made righteous by Christ. In verses 8-11, Paul said he would count these things as dung to win Christ - to be found righteous and worthy in him - not having his own righteousness that comes from morality, but one that comes from faith in Christ. That he could have this perfect righteousness by faith. That he would be counted worthy and one day be received by God into heaven. And we see why. Our birth and breeding and background are nothing compared to Christ’s. He is God. There was never a time he didn’t exist. He was all powerful, wise, and present. But Jesus became a man - he relinquished his rich and exalted status for a time to be humbled - to be born in a stable, to a carpenter and his wife. To be raised in obscurity. To be despised. He had no formal qualification in his teaching - but surpassed the holiness of the Pharisees. In fact, he was perfectly holy and never sinned. If sinners look to him and trust him for salvation, rather than trusting in their worthless dung of birth, qualifications, and morality, they will have his perfect righteousness. Sinners can’t look to themselves to save themselves. They must look outside to someone else to make them righteous. But Christ’s perfect holiness had another purpose. Because of our guilt, we must be judged. But Christ offered himself to be judged in our stead. The Bible says that God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ. Christ gave himself to pay for the sins of unworthy people. Romans 5:8 tell us that a person will sacrifice his life for a good person, but God demonstrates his love toward us - while we were sinners, Christ died for us. Many think they’re worthy and moral because they make sacrifices - behold Christ, who made a true moral sacrifice - he died for the wicked. That’s the kind of worthiness and morality level we must have to be worthy to God.

And that’s why as a Christian, Paul continued to pursue after Christ. His salvation and worthy came not because of his birth, qualifications, and morality. It came from Christ - who paid for his sins and gave him a perfect righteousness. And it was out of that awe and humility that he continued to pursue Christ. In verse 13 he said that he would forget those things in the past - all his pursuit of self-worth - he would leave behind, and he would reach forward to pursue after Christ. The word for “reaching forward” means to stretch a muscle to its limit – it’s very graphic, it pictures a runner straining every nerve and muscle and sinew as he keeps running toward the goal. And the phrase “press toward” means to constantly pursue the goal. This was Paul’s attitude. He pursued Christ not because he needed to be made righteous, but because he owed his life to Christ. He would continue to forget his past righteousness which was no righteousness. He would continue to forget his past effort which was done in vain. He would continue to forget his background - which was a liability. He wanted to know his savior more.

Friends, Christianity is not a religion that teaches you to be good, to up your worth by your effort. We recognize we can’t. We teach that to be worthy, we can’t generate it. Your background, qualifications, and morality are all grossly insufficient. You’re in extreme debt that must be paid with your life - eternally. No character witness can speak for you, as moral as you may think you are, as worthy as you may claim to be. But if you are humble to receive the worth and righteousness of Christ, to have him remove judgment, you will have an alien righteousness - which makes you worthy. Christ, not your birth, qualifications, morality, or religion can bring you true righteousness.

1. The Hindrances to True Righteousness

A. Background

B. Qualification

C. Morality

2. The Way to True Righteousness

A. Count gains as loss

B. To be made righteous

C. To pursue Christ