Respectfully Distant
Sean Flanagan · Tidal Church Miramichi · November 1, 2026 · Joy Anyway series
Sean Flanagan looks at Philippians 3:1-11, where Paul counts his impressive religious résumé as loss compared to knowing Christ. A relationship with God comes through trusting Jesus and His righteousness, not through church attendance, giving, or good behaviour.
More from Sean Flanagan · The Joy Anyway series
Topics: Faith, Grace, Discipleship
Transcript
[0:00] You've been walking through this letter to the Philippians, and it's the most joyful, joyful letter, joyful book in the Bible. Paul's in prison, and he's just having a great time, right? He's just, he's so happy because people are finding out about Jesus, right? The gospel's going out, and so Paul is so pleased. Despite his circumstances, he has this joy in his heart, and he's on actually a death row. They might execute him, and they say, even better, even better, if they kill me, I get to be with Jesus, that would be even better, right? And so Paul is just so, so joyful because he's got this relationship with Jesus. And this morning in Philippians 3, we're gonna talk about something that I think is really relevant to all of us, and I think to most people in Miramichi, I think if you ask them this question, they'd say, yeah, I wanna know the answer, is how do you have a relationship with God?
[1:05] How do you have a relationship with God? And this is something that has come up. I've had conversations with people over the last couple weeks, and I think most people in Miramichi believe in God. I think they've studied this, statistics, like most people say, yeah, I'm a Christian, I believe in God, but if you ask them, do you have a relationship with God? Do you really have a personal relationship with God? I think that number would go down. But I think a lot of people would say, I want to have a relationship with God, I want to know God, they're either confused, they don't know how, or they feel guilty and I'm not worthy, or maybe they just feel, oh, that's too overwhelming, I couldn't do it, I couldn't do all the things I've gotta do. And I think even for us, if we feel like we have a relationship with God, how do we grow in it?
[1:53] What is it we've gotta do to really, really know that our relationship is good? That we've got the solid foundation, the solid relationship with God. That's what we're gonna look at this morning. We're gonna go from verse one down to verse 11. I'm just gonna take it a couple verses at a time though, because this is a really dense passage, so we're gonna read a little bit and then we'll discuss it, read a little bit more, and discuss it some more. So in verse one, chapter three, verse one, it says further, my brothers and sisters, rejoice in the Lord. It's no trouble for me to write the same things to you again, and it is a safeguard for you. Watch out for those dogs, those evil doers, those mutilators of the flesh, for as we who are the circumcision, we who serve God by his Spirit, who boast in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh, though I myself have reasons for such confidence.
[2:52] Whoa, Paul, chill out, like what's going on here, Paul? Like suddenly, you know, this has been the happiest letter. He's super joyful, full of, you know, just happiness, and then watch out for those dogs. Watch out for those mutilators of the flesh. It's like, whoa, Paul, this is this. This has taken 180 degree turn here very quickly. What is ticking Paul off? What's he so upset about? So what was going on in the early church? All of the first Christians were Jewish. Jesus was Jewish. 12 disciples were Jewish. All the first converts were Jewish. But Jesus, when he told his disciples to go out into the world, he wanted them to go to everyone, even the non-Jews, right?
[3:43] And so what happened was they started converting non-Jewish people to be Christians. And then they stopped and they're like, wait a second. Do non-Jewish Christians have to become Jewish in order to be a Christian? Do they have to be circumcised? Do they have to follow kosher laws? Do they have to follow all the Old Testament laws, right? This was a debate. And in Acts, I think it's 15 or 16, the early church leaders all got together, they prayed about it, they discussed it, they read the Old Testament, and they said, no. No, if you're not Jewish, you don't have to become Jewish to be a Christian. But certain Jewish Christians didn't agree with that.
[4:31] There's certain groups who say, hey, if you want in the club, yes, you need to have a relationship with Jesus, but you also have to be circumcised. You also have to do this other thing. And so that really drove Paul crazy because it's basically like saying Jesus is not enough. His death on the cross wasn't enough. It's good, but you actually have to do something a little bit extra. If you really want in the club, if you really want to have a relationship with God, what you've got to do is, yeah, have a relationship with Jesus, but then this other thing. Now, how is this relevant? How is this relevant to you and me? Because I don't know that I've ever been to a church that has circumcision as a requirement for membership.
[5:18] And if you don't know what circumcision is, got to ask your mother or your father because I'm not going to explain. I'm not going to explain. But that was the sign in the Old Testament, right, that you were part of the people of God. And it almost feels like not relevant now. It feels like, well, this was like an ancient, you know, 2,000 year old debate between ethnic groups. Like, what does this have to do with us today, right? I don't know that any church requires this, right? Like the Presbyterians, do they require it? No, no, the Anglicans, no, the Catholics, nobody requires it, right? So what does this have to do with us? I think if we can get underneath the surface, if we can really see what's the heart of this issue, we'll see that this is not only a relevant problem, but it's almost the problem.
[6:14] It's the biggest problem that we have as Christians because it's related to this question of how do you get right with God? How do you have a relationship with God? And so 2,000 years ago, they had this debate, well, you know, to show that you're a Christian, to show you how to write relationship with God, it was circumcision. It was an identity marker, right? Just like you have a Canadian passport, right? This, oh, this is my passport, I'm a Canadian. This is my Costco membership card, I belong to Costco, right? They say, okay, here's my identity marker, I'm part of God's family, right? What would be some modern identity markers for us as a Christian?
[7:00] What's our Costco membership, right? Because it's not circumcision. What would it be to say, yeah, I'm a Christian, I have a relationship with God? Some easy answers might be say, well, maybe, you know, wearing a cross necklace or something, right? Okay, that person's a Christian, they're wearing a cross. Or maybe just self-identifying, people just say, I'm a Christian, right? And I've identified myself as a Christian. Maybe being baptized, right? Maybe as an infant or maybe even as an adult. What about this? And let me just hear me out on this. What if coming to church was an identity marker?
[7:47] Are you a Christian? Yeah, I'm a Christian, I go to church, right? That's a very normal sounding sentence. I'm a Christian, I give tithes and offerings. I'm a Christian, I pray. I'm a Christian, I serve. I'm a Christian, I'm a good person. I'm a good person, I'm a Christian. These external things can become identity markers for us. It's not circumcision, but maybe it's coming to church. Maybe it's how we act. And you say, well, Sean, don't we want people to come to church? Don't we want people to pray and give?
[8:33] Yes, yes, absolutely, right? Yes, yes, those are all important things. But what I would say is, is it not possible that somebody would do all of those external things and still not have a relationship with God? Isn't it possible that somebody could come to church, they could give money, they could pray, they could read their Bible, they could be a good person, but really, all of that's just on the outside. It's just an identity marker. And they don't actually have a relationship with God. And that's actually the position that Paul was in. That's exactly the position he was in. He did all these right things on the outside, but on the inside, he was dead.
[9:23] So let's look here in the next verse. Verse, where are we here? We'll go in verse four. Though I myself have reasons for such confidence, if someone else thinks they have reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more. Circumcised on the eighth day of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews in regard to the law of Pharisee, as for zeal persecuting the church, as for righteousness based on the law, faultless. Faultless. Paul is saying, and Paul is not doing some anti-Jewish polemic, right? Paul was Jewish, Jesus was Jewish. This is not, there's nothing wrong with being Jewish.
[10:10] There's nothing wrong with circumcision. Those are the people of God. But what Paul is saying is he followed all the rules. He followed every rule faultlessly. He did everything right. I mean, if he was coming here before his conversion, I think he would be an upstanding member of this church. He would come every Sunday and he would be giving and he would be praying and he'd be serving. Paul would have been awesome, right? He would have been a super Christian. He would have been zealous. But he didn't have a relationship with God. Jesus, in Jesus' earthly ministry, as he was traveling around Israel, he ended up getting into a lot of, not fisticuffs, not actually fighting, but a lot of arguments with the Pharisees, right?
[11:01] And the Pharisees were, they're kind of like a denomination in a way, like we're part of the Westland denomination. There's Baptists, Anglicans, Presbyterians, Catholics. The Pharisees, they were like a denomination and these were serious guys. Really righteous, faithful, praying, worshiping, just doing all the right things. But Jesus just kept on challenging them. And he said to them, you know what you are? You're whitewashed tombs, whitewashed tombs. You think about that image of a tomb. On the outside, it looks so beautiful and elegant and it's been whitewashed. It's been cleaned and plastered and maybe painted. It's this really beautiful, you know, image of sophistication, a whitewashed tomb.
[11:55] But what's inside a tomb? It's a death. And that's what Paul said for these group of people who took their face so seriously. He said, you're like whitewashed tombs. You look right on the outside, but on the inside, you don't actually have a relationship, right? Jesus said it another way. It's like a cup, right? As if somebody had washed the outside of the cup, but didn't actually wash the inside. It's why would you do that? Why would you wash the outside of the cup, but not the inside of the cup? And I know my personality, the way that I'm wired, I'm a natural Pharisee. This is just my disposition.
[12:41] I'm just naturally, I just kind of care about the external. I care about the rules. And I would say as a pastor, I think that that's my greatest fear for us as a church. Not that we would have an empty church, right? That would be bad if we had an empty church. But I think even worse than an empty church would be a full church of whitewashed tombs, right? If this place was packed and we're all Pharisees, that would be a nightmare, right? That people come in here and okay, they're behaving certain ways. They look right. On the outside, they're doing everything right. They're giving money, they're praying, they're serving, they're not swearing, they're not drinking, they're not dancing.
[13:29] They're doing all of the things right on the outside, but they actually don't have a relationship with God. And I think that's possible. I think it's possible for us. It's possible for me to be coming to church and just focusing on the outside. And we become like these tombs. So that's not what I want. It's not what I want for myself. It's not what I want for you. It's not what God wants for us. So what do we have to do? We say, okay, and maybe think about what you would say to your neighbors. If you had neighbors or friends or colleagues and they said, I wanna have a relationship with God, what do I do?
[14:15] And I think a lot of people would say, well, go to church, say your prayers, give money, serve more, right? And again, those are all good things. Those are fine things. But you can do all those things and be dead inside. So what have we got to do? Paul gives us a very, very simple answer. We've got to know Christ. In verse seven, Paul says, whatever were gains to me, any of these external things, any of these things that I did that were really great, these things about me that I would've thought define my relationship with God, whatever were gains to me, I now consider loss for the sake of Christ.
[15:16] What's more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord. For whose sake? I've lost all things. I consider them garbage, 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 is through faith in Christ, the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. I want to know Christ. Yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings. Becoming like him in his death and so somehow attaining to the resurrection from the dead.
[16:06] I want to know Christ and I want you to know Christ, to know him more and more. And when Paul is saying know Christ, he's not saying I want to know about Christ. I want to know Christ, like a friend, like a brother. I don't know, for me, I don't just know about my wife. I know her. We have this deep relationship. And Paul is saying, if you want to have a relationship with God, you've got to have a relationship with his son. You've got to know him, trust him, commit to him. All those other things, all those other good things are really nothing.
[16:54] They're really, he even says they're garbage. They're garbage. It's not like it's bad to do those things, to go to church and pray and tithe. And those are good things that we've got to do. But when it comes to having a relationship with God, that's not how you get there. That's not how you get there. How you get to have a relationship with God is through putting your faith in Jesus, through trusting him of saying, it's not my own righteousness. It's the righteousness that comes through Jesus. Paul realized that he was a whitewashed tomb. Paul realized he was doing everything right. He was following all the rules.
[17:41] And one day he was on the road to Damascus. And a bright light from heaven burst and it blinded him actually for multiple days and he fell on the ground. And he hears a voice calling his name, saying, why are you persecuting me? He says, Lord, Lord, who are you that I'm persecuting? And the voice said, it's Jesus whom you're persecuting. And that was the start of the process for Paul, for him to realize that he had been following all the rules, doing all the right things. But if you really wanted to have a relationship with God, he needed to know Christ. And when he met Jesus, he was so overwhelmed by his love that he had been persecuting the church.
[18:33] And Jesus said, you were persecuting me. And yet Jesus loved Paul so much that all of that was forgiven, that Jesus forgave Paul, forgave him his past, gave him a mission and a purpose in his life and Paul just fell in love. Paul fell in love with Jesus and he became obsessed with Jesus. One thing he wanted to know was more about Jesus. He wanted to know more about Jesus and to become more like Jesus. So I wanna know Jesus and I wanna know his power, right? To admit that I don't have the power in myself to live the way God wants me to live.
[19:21] But if I know Jesus and every day I say, Jesus, I want your power. I want your Holy Spirit in me. That that's where the transformation comes from. That's where the whitewashed tomb, new life enters in and springs of living water come out, right? And that's where the transformation and the change happens as we receive Jesus into our hearts and life starts flowing out. That's where I start coming to church and praying and giving and all those things. But it's not a means of getting right with God. That comes through my relationship with Jesus. And if you've already made that decision and this is kind of old news for you, I just wanna remind you that this is good news. This is the best news in the world because could you imagine if it were otherwise?
[20:11] Could you imagine if we had to tell people, yeah, you wanna get right with God? Well, here's what you gotta do. You gotta be perfect. You gotta come to church. You gotta pray. You gotta tithe. You gotta do all of these things. And if you're good enough, then he'll accept you. You've gotta be so good. You've got to ascend the mountain. Go to the monastery, right? Fast and pray for months and months. Do all these things. And if you're good enough, maybe God will accept you. That would be bad news. It'd be bad, bad news. But the good news is that God loves you. He wants to have a relationship with you and that we don't have to work our way up to him.
[20:58] He's come down to be with us. That he sent his son Jesus to be with us, to die on the cross for the forgiveness of our sins, raised him back to life. And if we trust Jesus, if we put our faith in him, if we commit to him, that life enters into our hearts and makes us new, makes us new people. So that's what I want for all of us. I don't want us to be Pharisees. I don't know that we are. I'm not trying to accuse anyone of being Pharisees here, but I just know we all have this tendency. I know that I do, right? To start thinking it's about these external things that we're doing, rather than knowing Christ.
[21:46] So I want you to know Christ. I want you to know his power. I want you to become like him, even in suffering, even in death, to become like Jesus. I'm gonna invite the worship team up now. And just as they're coming up, and I'll lead you in a time of prayer, I just want to guide us to respond to this, because I know many of you have made this decision already to put your faith in Jesus. But I think that this is a daily practice that we should do. To renounce our own righteousness. To admit that it's not how we live. It's not being good enough that earns our favor with God. It's through Jesus that our sins are forgiven.
[22:31] It's through Jesus that we're given new life. And so let's bow our heads now and just pray to God. Heavenly Father, we thank you for sending Jesus. We thank you that you sent him to die on the cross to wipe away our sins. Father, if any of us here have been relying on our own righteousness, relying on our own goodness, thinking that that somehow earns our way to you, Father, I just say forgive us. Forgive us our sins. And Father, we know that you are faithful and just to forgive our sins.
[23:17] If we confess our sins to you, you forgive them. So Father, we thank you. We thank you for forgiving our sins. And I pray that you would help us to know Christ more. To not just know about him, but to know him. To know him as a friend, as a brother. Help us to know him and to know his power. We pray all this in Jesus' name, amen.