Intro:

• Continuing JOY
  • Joy in Jail
  • Killing the Joy Killers
    • Our Promotion
    • Our Praise
    • Our Plan
  • There is Joy
    • When we SUBMIT to God, SERVE one another, and SACRIFICE our lives

Let’s move to Chapter 3 - Rejoicing in the Lord

Philippians 3:1 (NLT) — 1 Whatever happens, my dear brothers and sisters, rejoice in the Lord. I never get tired of telling you these things, and I do it to safeguard your faith.

Context

Philippians 3:2–3 (ESV) — 2 Look out for the dogs, look out for the evildoers, look out for those who mutilate the flesh. 3 For we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh—

• Look out for the dogs - Jesus was always doing this, Paul had to do this constantly
  • People who made God feel out of reach and unattainable. 
• The marks of a true believer
  • Worship by the Spirit
  • Glory in Christ Jesus 
  • Put no confidence in the flesh

Paul gives us three places of joy

1. The joy of TRUSTING Christ
   1. The disappointment of trusting yourself
   2. Philippians 3:4–7 (NLT) — 4 though I could have confidence in my own effort if anyone could. Indeed, if others have reason for confidence in their own efforts, I have even more! 5 I was circumcised when I was eight days old. I am a pure-blooded citizen of Israel and a member of the tribe of Benjamin—a real Hebrew if there ever was one! I was a member of the Pharisees, who demand the strictest obedience to the Jewish law. 6 I was so zealous that I harshly persecuted the church. And as for righteousness, I obeyed the law without fault. 7 I once thought these things were valuable, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done.
   3. Paul has perfect PEDIGREE
   4. Paul has perfect PREPARATION
   5. Paul has perfect PASSION
   6. Paul has perfect PERFORMANCE 
   7. This is so good for Christians to understand!
      1. People disqualify themselves because they didn’t come from a Christian home
      2. People disqualify themselves because they didn’t get a Bible degree
      3. People disqualify themselves because they didn’t demonstrate wild zeal
      4. People disqualify themselves because they didn’t live perfectly. 
   8. Paul said that now these things are a total net loss
   9. All humans are on a level playing field because of what Christ has done
   10. What’s the point? There’s joy when we trust in Jesus 
       1. For our righteousness
       2. For our acceptance 
       3. For our lives today and tomorrow
2. The joy of KNOWING Christ
   1. Philippians 3:8–11 (NLT) — 8 Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ and become one with him. I no longer count on my own righteousness through obeying the law; rather, I become righteous through faith in Christ. For God’s way of making us right with himself depends on faith. I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead. I want to suffer with him, sharing in his death, so that one way or another I will experience the resurrection from the dead!
   2. The art of minimalism - getting rid of everything 
      1. One guy lived with only 47 items
      2. One guy lived with 33 articles of clothes for 3 months
   3. Paul was going for one thing - KNOWING JESUS
   4. John 17:3 (NLT) — 3 And this is the way to have eternal life—to know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, the one you sent to earth.
   5. Paul wanted to gain Christ
   6. Paul wanted to be one with Christ
   7. Paul wanted to experience the power of Christ
   8. Paul wanted to suffer with Christ
   9. Paul wanted to share in the death of Christ
3. The joy of PURSUING Christ 
   1. Philippians 3:12–14 (NLT) — 12 I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. 13 No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.
   2. I love this verse! 
   3. Paul presses
      1. To possess that perfection 
      2. To reach the end of the race
      3. To receive the heavenly prize
   4. To do this, I have to cut ties with the past.
      1. My merits
      2. My failures 
   5. Christ is all in all, He’s all that matters, knowing Him and becoming like Him. 

Philippians 3:20–21 (NLT) — 20 But we are citizens of heaven, where the Lord Jesus Christ lives. And we are eagerly waiting for him to return as our Savior. 21 He will take our weak mortal bodies and change them into glorious bodies like his own, using the same power with which he will bring everything under his control.