false circumcision

Phil. 3:1-3

Last time we looked at Philippians, Paul gave us three examples of Christian behavior that was modeled for us in human flesh.   After having presented Jesus Christ as our example of sacrifice, humility and servitude, Paul wanted to flesh that out lest we make the excuse that we are just human and so therefore cannot follow Christ’s example.  So he gives us three earthly examples of Christian living in human flesh.  Paul, Timothy and Epaphroditus are presented as examples of being a servant, a sacrifice and a soldier of Christ Jesus.

But there is an important point in these examples that needs to be underscored, and  that is what Paul is reiterating today.  And the point is that there is a real Christianity which is marked by righteousness accomplished by the Spirit working  through my flesh, and there is a false Christianity which is marked by my attempting to attain righteousness through works of the flesh.  And this is a very important distinction.  Because one is the result of a true salvation based on faith and the other results in a false salvation based on works.

So obviously, this is a matter of extreme importance.  And we need to be discerning in regards to the truth of the gospel and deviations from the truth which can result in shipwreck of your faith.  It’s important to know doctrine, and furthermore to be able to make distinctions between truth and error. 

Too many times we see a pendulum reaction to certain things, whether they be good or bad, and yet the pendulum swing in and of itself can lead to extremes that can be harmful.  For instance, the tragedy in Connecticut was heartbreaking.  But as people want to somehow respond to this tragic event, there is the real possibility that we as a society can overreact, and if the pendulum swings to far over, it is possible to add further error to injury. 

And to some extent we can have the same thing happen in the doctrine of the church as well.  As we respond to the legalism of the OT, sometimes the pendulum can swing too far in the other direction.   As we go from works to grace, from law to liberty, or from flesh to Spirit, there is the possibility  for error on either end of the spectrum.  For instance, liberty can easily become licentiousness if taken too far.  So the proper Christian walk must be balanced by what the Word of God actually says, as opposed to a knee jerk reaction that is based on sentimentality or emotion. 

So Paul is going to balance this out for us as he goes through this text and we are going to look specifically at the first three verses today.  He starts by saying “finally”, which is a preacher term that means getting a second wind.  It doesn’t really have anything to do with the amount of time it will take to finish.  In this case, it means Paul is only half way done.  So finally, in my case, I’m ready to leave my introduction and start the exegesis of the first verse.

Paul says in verse one, “finally then brethren, rejoice in the Lord.”  And by now we should know that rejoice or joy is a key word in this book.  Paul uses it over and over again.  And what it means, by way of a reminder, is that we find our joy in the Lord.  Not in circumstances which may change from day to day.  We don’t find joy in some fleeting happiness due to external situations that we find ourselves in.  But our joy is in the constancy of our relationship with the Lord.  He never changes.  His promises are everlasting.  Our joy is found in the hope of His appearing. And I don’t want to just string a lot of platitudes together in a row and hope it sounds spiritual.  I want you to understand the faith that finds joy in the Lord whether in pain or sorrow, sickness or health, fortune or poverty.  That can only be found in keeping our gaze fixed on Jesus Christ.  That can only be found when I am surrendered to Him completely.  And that can only be experienced when I have completely given Him my heart to do with what He wills.  When my life is committed to live for Him and for His purposes.  A joy like that endures like Paul and Silas had joy when they were flogged and thrown in prison and they sang hymns all night.  A joy like Peter and the disciples when they were flogged for preaching about Jesus and they rejoiced that they were considered worthy to suffer for Him.  That’s joy.

Vs. 1 continued;  “To write the same things again is no trouble to me, and it is a safeguard for you.”  Paul had either written them before or more than likely, some of his earlier letters to other churches had circulated through the church at Philippi as well.  But the point that Paul is making is that repetition is an aid to learning.  I sometimes am accused of repeating things from week to week.  And part of that comes from the fact that the same doctrines and principles are repeated over and over again in the Bible.  And so if you’re preaching book by book, you’re going to be repeating some of the same principles in each book.  Paul is alluding to that here.  And secondly, repetition is a great aid to learning.  This is how you memorize songs, or verses or your multiplication tables for that matter.  This is one of the benefits of good songs by the way.  Through repetition you can learn doctrine.  And this repetition is a safeguard for us.  It’s like first responders practicing a rescue maneuver over and over again to the point that when they are actually in a dangerous situation they know exactly what to do.  So Paul is saying “I don’t mind repeating these things because it will result in your confirmation.”

So much effort is being spent today in churches trying to find some new way of presenting the gospel.  But the true ministry of the gospel is not born out of novelty, but out of repetition.  Newness is something that the Holy Spirit brings to light through passages and pathways worn out with familiarity.   Each time you read some of these well worn passages, God can bring out something new and exciting and revelatory. 

And then starting in Vs. 2 Paul is going to compare and contrast true Christianity with false Christianity.  He says,  “Beware of the dogs, beware of the evil workers, beware of the false circumcision;   3  “for we are the true circumcision, who worship in the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh…”

First, he describes the character of the false teachers of false Christianity.  He says they are dogs.  Today in our culture, dogs are thought of as slightly superior to people.  We love our dogs.  I’ve even seen a prayer which says, “Lord help me to be the kind of man my dog thinks I am.”  But in Paul’s day, dogs were not viewed with the same kind of sentiments.  Dogs were not pets, they were vicious, unclean, snarling, barking feral animals that roomed the streets in packs.  Interestingly, the Jews of that day called anyone that wasn’t a Jew a dog.  It was a term of disdain, a slur on one’s character.   And this is what Paul is getting to here.  These false teachers were Judaisers.  They were people that were trying to lay Jewish ceremonial laws upon the backs of these people in Philippi, claiming that in order to really be of the real family of God, you must include rituals like circumcision.  And Paul turns the tables on these people who called the uncircumcised Gentiles dogs, and instead he calls them dogs.  He sees their character as unclean, vicious, snarling, barking dogs that bring unnecessary worry and distractions upon the church.

I’ve always had a fear of dogs.  And when I was a boy I had a paper route that seemed to have a vicious dog on every street.  My brother also had a paper route.  But he never seemed to finish his route.  Dad would come looking for him before dark and he would be playing football with some kids and his bike would be laying there with all his papers.  I tried to be conscientious and do my work, and for my labors my dad made me take over my brother’s route as well.  So I had two paper routes.  And anyhow, these routes were full of dogs that just ran loose back then.  There was some houses that I was scared to death to deliver the paper to.  I would try to creep down the street as quietly as I could until I got a house or two away, then I’d get my paper ready and start peddling as fast as I could and throw the paper.  I didn’t care if it landed in the street, my focus was on going past that house as quickly as I could.  And sure enough, that dog would hear my bike clanking down the street, baskets shaking and chain rattling and he would come out like a bear after her cubs.  It was a scary thing. I would be so afraid of those dogs that I would never collect from those houses.  I had to deliver the paper cause they would call the office and complain, but every week or so we had to go from house to house and collect .25.  And I wouldn’t go to those houses because the dogs would come out and try to bite me. 

That’s maybe the gist of what these dogs Paul was describing were doing to the church at Philippi.  They had them so worried and confused.  And what Paul was afraid of  was that they would end up depriving the church of the joy and peace that should have been theirs. So dogs describes the character of false teachers that worry and cause the believer undue alarm.

Secondly, Paul describes the conduct of the false teachers.  He calls them evil workers.  The word for evil can also be interpreted as depraved.  It’s referring to the inward motives of these false teachers.  Not only were they men of bad character, but they were men of bad desires that is worked out in their actions.  Their words promised peace but inwardly Jesus said in Matthew 7 they were ravenous wolves.  In  Matthew 23:28            Jesus said to the false teachers "So you, too, outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.”

Thirdly Paul describes the claims of the false teachers.  “Beware of the false circumcision.”  And the word there for false circumcision is “karatome”.  It literally means mutilation.  It was used in the OT to describe the prophets of Baal as they whirled and danced and slashed themselves with knives hoping to appease their gods and goad them to action.  So Paul is saying here that these Judaisers, these false teachers who are trying to add that in order to be saved you needed to be circumcised and keep the ceremonial laws of Moses, Paul is calling these guys mutilators. 

See, Jewish people distinguished themselves as a nation by the fact that they were circumcised.  The actually referred to themselves as being “of the circumcision,”  meaning they were Jewish.  They called Gentiles the “Uncircumcised”.  For them, it had lost it’s spiritual significance, and become a cultural, nationalistic significance.  They believed that it was a means of grace.  A means of securing God’s blessing.  And they failed to understand that like all the ceremonial laws, it was merely intended to be symbolic, an outward picture of what had happened inwardly.  So Paul uses a play upon words and calls these false prophets the mutilators rather than the circumcision. 

And this is still going on today in our modern churches. There are other rituals and ceremonies that certain false teachers are trying to lay on people by saying that to be full citizens in the kingdom of God, as a condition to full righteousness, then one must  add certain rituals and ceremonies and laws.  And perhaps they don’t call it circumcision, but they may call it baptism, or they say you have to take the sacraments, or you have to keep certain dietary laws, or keep the Sabbath, or keep certain feast days.  And to the degree that any of those things are a means of obtaining right standing or righteousness before God, they are in fact nothing less than this false circumcision that Paul is talking about here.  They teach a dependence upon a ritual for salvation and consequently Paul says they have fallen from grace. Paul said in Gal 5:4 that if you had circumcision as a requirement for salvation then “You have been severed from Christ, you who are seeking to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace.”  He says, “Christ is no longer any benefit to you.” 

It’s like the guy trying to swim across the Atlantic.  And a boat comes by and offers him a ride.  Nope, he says, I think I can make it, thank you very much.  He may have all the best intentions in the world.  He may even be a good swimmer.  But there is no way he’s going to swim the Atlantic.  And as the boat, his salvation, sails away, that offer of salvation is no longer any benefit to him.  It’s no benefit to him because he is not in the boat which was his salvation.  He has chosen to try to make it in his own power. So it is with salvation.  It’s either by faith in Jesus Christ by which we receive grace, or it’s by our own efforts at righteousness, by which no one the Bible says will see God. Rom 11:6 “But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works, otherwise grace is no longer grace.”

Now let’s look at what Paul says the true Christian life looks like.  Vs. 3. “for we are the true circumcision, who worship in the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh.”  First of all, we need to know what circumcision is, or what it was supposed to be.  It was an OT law given to Abraham and for his children, which preceded the law given to Moses at Mt. Sinai, and therefore was considered by Jews to be of greater importance than any of the other laws.  At 8 days old, a baby boy was to be circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin.  And though it is believed that it has some physical benefits in terms of hygiene, the main purpose that God imposed this ordinance was to be a symbol of salvation.  The act itself had little benefit.  It wasn’t exactly something that could be seen by the average person, so it obviously was not meant to be some outward manifestation of righteousness.  But it was an individual symbol of obedience to God, separation unto God, cleanliness and purity unto God, but most importantly  a reminder that there needed to be a cutting away of the flesh, so that we would be able to produce spiritual fruit for God.  It was a physical reminder that in the flesh, in our own efforts we could not produce true fruit for God.  It was also a reminder that this reproductive member of our bodies would always produce in it’s natural state, another sinful seed, just as from Adam’s seed, sin was passed on to every man that has been born.   So circumcision pictured the spiritual cutting away of the flesh, that enables the work of the Spirit.  Circumcision is the symbol of salvation, the cutting away of sin.

So Paul says we are the true circumcision.  The true Christian is one who has been circumcised in their heart. Col 2:11 says, “ in Him you were also circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, in the removal of the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ;”  Rom 2:29            “But he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that which is of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter; and his praise is not from men, but from God.”

In the new covenant, the ceremonial laws were set aside.  The pictures had now been replaced with the actuality.  Jesus had come in the flesh and fulfilled all the prophetic pictures in the law.  We no longer needed to ascribe to these veiled images that we performed in rituals and ceremonies.  At the cross, the veil of the temple was torn into from top to bottom. 

Hebrews 8 tells us that there were priests in the old covenant  “who offered the gifts according to the Law; who serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things,” but “if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion sought for a second.” However,  “THIS IS THE COVENANT THAT I WILL MAKE WITH THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL AFTER THOSE DAYS, SAYS THE LORD: I WILL PUT MY LAWS INTO THEIR MINDS, AND I WILL WRITE THEM ON THEIR HEARTS. AND I WILL BE THEIR GOD, AND THEY SHALL BE MY PEOPLE.” 

So what Paul is saying here is this exact same thing.  The circumcision of the old covenant has been replaced by a circumcision of the heart in the new covenant which marks the true child of God.    So firstly then, a true Christian has been circumcised in their hearts, the cutting away of the sinful flesh by the work of the Holy Spirit, as we yield our hearts by faith to the Lordship of Jesus Christ.

And then secondly, notice that the true Christian is marked by true worship. Vs.3 “for we are the true circumcision, who worship in the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh.”  Worship is such a misused, misunderstood term today in the church.  I hear pastors and music leaders refer all the time to “leading worship” as a time of singing songs or listening to the singing of songs.  I can assure you, that is not what worship is talking about. 

Notice also that it says, “who worship in the Spirit of God”.  And in some religious circles that gives license to all sorts of crazy, weird stuff that is believed to be of the Spirit simply because it’s crazy and weird.  And I would suggest that we are told to check the spirits, because there are many spirits in the world.

So first, let’s define our terms.  Here is the Greek concordance definition of worship. 

Worship; latreuō: 1) to serve for hire.  2) to serve, minister to, either to the gods or men and used alike of slaves and freemen.  a) in the NT, to render religious service.

b) to perform sacred services, to offer gifts, to worship God in the observance of the rites instituted for his worship.  c) of priests, to officiate, to discharge the sacred office. 

Obviously, this is a term used to describe the duties of a priest of God.  To minister to God by rendering service.  Now, you could make the point that praising God in song may be a part of that, and I would not argue with that.  However, I would rebut that argument with the verse found in Matt. 15:8            'THIS PEOPLE HONORS ME WITH THEIR LIPS, BUT THEIR HEART IS FAR AWAY FROM ME.  BUT IN VAIN DO THEY WORSHIP ME, TEACHING AS DOCTRINES THE PRECEPTS OF MEN.'"

Once again, we see this constant emphasis on the heart, the soul of man, the seat of the mind and emotions which must be changed, circumcised by the Holy Spirit in order to produce fruit for God.  People often wonder what it means to be in the Spirit, or to walk in the Spirit, and the best way I have been able to describe it is that it is the result of crucifying the flesh.  When the flesh is cut off, when the flesh is crucified, when the flesh is put to death every day, then the Spirit can work through my dead flesh to perform services to God.  It doesn’t mean that somehow I don’t struggle against sin.  It doesn’t mean that  a spiritual life does not take any effort or discipline on my part, it doesn’t mean that the Holy Spirit is somehow going to overwhelm me and I just need to put it in neutral and let the Holy Spirit move me like I’m some sort of robot or puppet. 

No, it means that when I submitted my life to Christ as Lord, the Holy Spirit changed my desires.  He has written God’s laws upon my heart.  I now want to do the things of God, to be pleasing to God. Gal 2:20 "I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.” To walk in the Spirit requires a sacrifice, a crucifixion of my flesh. This is what Romans 12:1 is talking about when it says, “Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.” 

See, we’ve been saved to become instruments of God, ministers of God, priests of God, that render true worship to God.  You were bought and paid for, you were ransomed from sin to become priests of the Most High God. Do you not realize that you are a priest of God?  1Cor 6:19 “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?  For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.”

1Pet 2:5 “you also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”  What sacrifices is Peter talking about?  What kind of services are we supposed to be rendering to God? 1Pet 2:9            “But you are A CHOSEN RACE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR God's OWN POSSESSION, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.”

We are to be a light unto the world that is in darkness.  Our behavior is supposed to be exemplary. Remember Phil. 2:15?  We are to “prove ourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world.”   We are to let no unwholesome word come out of our mouth.  We are to be witnesses of the gospel of salvation.  We are to be about the ministry of the kingdom of heaven, and not captivated by the kingdom of this world. We are to pray lifting up unsoiled hands, living holy, exemplary lives in our communities, to our neighbors, to our fellow workers, under the authority of our leaders.  This is our ministry.  This is the short list of our priestly service.

Finally, there is that word again finally… finally, vs. 3 sums it up with the two simple phrases which characterize the true Christian  “who… glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh.”  A true Christian glories in Christ Jesus not in his flesh.  See the false teachers glory in the flesh.  Their spirituality is nothing but a mask of pride in their flesh.  But the true Christian puts no trust in the flesh.  He sees the flesh for what it is, a sinful heart which needs to be cut away by the power of the Holy Spirit, which results in a transformation of our desires.  The unconverted heart of flesh has desires which are sinful, depraved, debased, lustful, prideful, constantly sinning, and which sooner or later are displayed in the body.  Whereas the transformed heart has desires which have been changed by the Holy Spirit because He has written the laws of God upon their hearts, and they result in works of righteousness, service to God, obedience to God, and true worship of God as priests as they continue to crucify the flesh and live in the Spirit.

Folks, until you have had a circumcision of the heart, you cannot please God.  You cannot serve God.  All your righteousness is nothing but filthy rags.  But the heart that submits fully to God in repentence, God will not turn away.  He will come in, and cleanse our hearts, and change our desires.  I hope that you have had that change.  A circumcision made not with hands.  A work not of the flesh, but of the Spirit.  Let’s pray.