Right with God
Three Key Takeaways
Adding anything to Christ's work robs the gospel of its good news. False teachers told the Philippian church that believing in Jesus wasn't enough; they also needed circumcision, Sabbath laws, and food laws. Paul saw this as deadly serious. As soon as you add works to the gospel, you transform good news into bad news. You replace grace with performance, freedom with burden, and the joy of receiving with the pressure of achieving.
Righteousness is a gift received by faith, not earned through performance. Jesus, fully God and fully man, lived the perfect life of righteousness. That righteousness is credited to us as a free gift when we believe. We do not achieve it through circumcision, rules, or religious performance. We receive it through faith, which completely changes what Christianity means. It is not about what we do; it is about what Christ has done.
Joy is constantly under attack, so we must fight to keep it by remembering what Christ has accomplished. The Holy Spirit produces joy in our souls by revealing who Jesus is and what He's done. But this joy is constantly under attack from the pressure to perform, add rules, and prove ourselves. That's why we need daily reminders through singing, preaching, and communion. These are not optional add-ons. They are spiritual bread that keeps us nourished in the truth that sets us free.
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RIGHT WITH GOD
Philippians 3 confronts one of Christianity's greatest dangers: believing that Christ's work is somehow incomplete and needs to be supplemented by our own.
The Definition of Joy
Throughout Philippians, joy is not mere happiness but a good feeling in the soul produced by the Holy Spirit as He reveals the beauty of Christ.
When you become a Christian, you assume peace and joy will be part of the package. And you're right. They're meant to be. But many believers quickly discover it's harder to stay in the peace and joy of God than they expected. Peace and joy are under attack. If we don't learn to fight for them, we lose them.
A big part of remaining in joy is learning how to fight for it, renew it, and rediscover it afresh.
A Strange Warning
Philippians 3:1-2:
"Finally, my brothers and sisters, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you is no trouble to me and is safe for you. Look out for the dogs. Look out for the evildoers. Look out for those who mutilate the flesh."
The shift is striking. Paul moves immediately from "Rejoice in the Lord" to a forceful warning against false teachers, revealing how seriously he viewed the threat facing the church. His language is intentionally shocking because he understood that adding anything to Christ's finished work destroys the gospel's message.
The context explains the urgency. Paul planted this church about ten years ago by telling them about Jesus. They discovered the joy of knowing that God loved them and that Jesus forgave them. They became Christians. Then Paul left to start other churches.
In the meantime, some well-meaning Jewish leaders showed up in Philippi and started adding extras to what Paul had taught. They said to the believers, "It's great that you've started following Jesus, but if you really want to be a follower of the Jewish Messiah, there are other things you need to do as well."
"First, you need to be circumcised. Everyone knows the people of God are circumcised. It marks us out from the rest of the world."
"Second, there's a whole load of rules about Sabbaths. It's really important that you keep them."
"Third, there are all these food laws. If you want to be one of the people of God, you need to keep them too."
The Deadly Seriousness
So the believers who had discovered the amazing news that God loved them even though they were far from Him, and that He would forgive them and draw them near, then discovered there was more they needed to do.
God has forgiven us. It's amazing. But we must also be circumcised. We must also keep the Sabbath. We must also be careful about what we eat. And by the way, there are about 500 other laws you need to learn and keep if you're going to be part of God's people.
To modern ears, this might seem like a theological discussion. But for Paul, this was deadly serious.
Here's why: as soon as you start adding something to Christianity, as soon as you say, "Yes, Jesus and all that He did, and there are some things you need to do as well," you start robbing the gospel of its good news. Adding requirements does not sound like good news at all.
The good news of the gospel is that God forgives, justifies, and welcomes sinners through Christ alone.
The false gospel adds conditions: Christ has done His part, but now we must complete the work through our own obedience.
The Heart of the Matter
Paul's argument in Philippians 3 comes down to this: righteousness comes through faith in Christ alone, not through works of the law.
When you believe in Jesus, His righteousness, earned through His perfect life of obedience to God, is credited to us as a free gift.
This is the central dynamic that separates Christianity from every other religious attempt to reach God. You do not try to make yourself righteous. You do not perform or achieve. You look to Christ and receive what He has accomplished.
Verses 7-9 are Paul's personal testimony:
"But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith."
Paul had credentials. He was zealous for the law, blameless in his observance of the law. But he counted all of that as rubbish compared to knowing Christ and being found in Him.
Instead of trying to establish our own righteousness through works and laws, we receive Christ's righteousness through faith.
And here's what happens: all the pressure comes off. You're not here to perform as a Christian. You do not have to add circumcision, Sabbath laws, food laws, or the many other things we might think good church-going people should do.
You have Jesus. He lived the perfect life. His righteousness becomes yours. That is the good news.
Why We Need Daily Reminders
But once you understand this, you still need to defend it. You still need to fight for it. Because there is constant pressure to drift back into performance.
The culture around us says, "Prove yourself. Earn your worth. Perform to be accepted." The world says, "You are what you achieve. You are what people think of you."
And if we are not careful, we start adding things back. We start thinking, "God's forgiven me, but now I need to earn His favour through my effort. I need to be a good enough Christian. I need to do the right things."
That's why Paul says, "It's no trouble for me to write the same things again and again." The same message of Christianity is the central thing we need to hear repeatedly.
That's why we gather together and sing. The songs remind us of these truths. That's why we hear the same sermons preached again and again. That's why we take communion. Jesus said, "When you come together, eat this bread and wine. It reminds you of My death, which is for your forgiveness, and My resurrection, which is for your life."
We do these things over and over because the Holy Spirit in us needs to reveal again and again who Jesus is and what He's done. That ongoing revelation becomes the believer's daily bread.
Every day, believers need to be reminded that they do not earn God's favour. Christ has accomplished everything necessary, and His righteousness is received by faith, not achieved through performance.
The Fight for Joy
This is how we fight for joy.
The Holy Spirit produces joy in your soul by showing you who Jesus is and what He has done. But you must actively return to that revelation. You must refuse the pressure to perform. You must reject the lies that say you have to earn your standing with God.
One day, when believers see Christ face to face, the struggle to fight for joy will finally end. Until then, we need the daily bread of the gospel. We need to hear it, sing it, remember it, and celebrate it repeatedly.
This is how joy is sustained. Not through your performance. Through your reception of what Christ has done.
At Redemption
At Redemption, we want to be a church marked by receiving rather than achieving. We gather to be reminded that righteousness is a gift, not a goal we earn through our efforts.
Every day, we're fighting for the joy that comes from seeing Christ's beauty and receiving His grace. We're fighting against the pressure to perform, prove ourselves, and add our own works to His finished work.
One day we'll see Him in glory. Until then, we feast daily on the truth that sets us free: Christ has done it all. His righteousness is ours. That is very good news.
