Philippians 3:1-9 January 31, 1999
Updating Our Resume

I have a confession to make. I’ve been working on my résumé this week. Often whenever I’m down, or out of sorts, I know its time to dust off the résumé . Now before you begin to wonder whether I’m looking for another church or that I’m frustrated here, I need to tell you what I mean by a résumé.

A résumé is a list of your merits, all the great things about you, your accomplishments, your skills, your qualifications. The résumé is your card of admittance into a position or place to which you previously did not have access. It is an argument, a case made for your acceptance.

If you apply to college, you fill out an application form, you create a résumé to describe your extra-curricular activities, your worthwhile qualities which will make you an asset to that institution.

When you go for a job, your résumé lists your qualifications, tells what you have done, how much you benefited your previous employer. It is a catalogue of your merits with the purpose of getting you into a new job. A résumé is meant to open doors.

Making a list of our merits, coming up with a résumé as a way of obtaining a better position is something we do at every level. Our entire society and culture demands a résumé, not just for jobs or college entrance.

We use résumés for friendships - how should I look, how should I act? People size you up, determining whether to let you into their group. It gets more complicated in romance - you look at their looks, their income generating possibilities, what they will be like in the future. How you get in - waive a résumé - look how smart I am, how witty, how pretty, what a great personality.

You use a résumé on yourself - you will shut the door on yourself if you don’t measure up to what you think you should be and do. How often do you beat yourself up, allow those voices in your head to tell you you’re no good? Your résumé is talking when you defend yourself, when you try to build yourself up. When your self worth suffers or grows depending on your activity - that is your résumé.

So, when I say "I’ve been working on my résumé," what I am really saying is I’ve been trying to make myself a better person, I’m trying to improve my image, bolster my ego, lift my self esteem. And that is a problem. It is an issue Paul combated in Philippians 3. But it is a problem we don’t often consider. We know God is never pleased with our sins, but what should we think when we go about trying to improve ourselves, try to boost our résumés?
 

1.  Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord! It is no trouble for me to write the same things to you again, and it is a safeguard for you. 

 2.  Watch out for those dogs, those men who do evil, those mutilators of the flesh. 

 3.  For it is we who are the circumcision, we who worship by the Spirit of God, who glory in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh-- 

 4.  though I myself have reasons for such confidence.   If anyone else thinks he has reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: 

 5.  circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; 

 6.  as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for legalistic righteousness, faultless. 

 7.  But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 

 8.  What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ 

 9.  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 and is by faith. 

 10.  I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 

 11.  and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead. 

There is another term for "résumé," a term that is full of theological content, a term that is laden with biblical concepts: righteousness. Just as the résumé is the listing of your qualifications for a job, you and I constantly write spiritual résumés, trying to convince ourselves, our family, our friends, our world, that we really are good people. That résumé, that list of our righteousness is a deep need you and I have. We need to know if we are acceptable. Paul understood this when he gave his résumé in 3:4-6.

Righteousness is our greatest need

Paul outlines an impressive list of qualifications. He gives a drop-dead résumé. He lists his advantages at birth and those acquired in later life.
 

He was not a convert, but was born a Jew.

In order to show his real Jewishness, Paul alludes to his membership of a special tribe. Benjamin was, with his brother Joseph, the only son of Jacob by Rachel and the only son born in the land of promise. The first King Saul belonged to this tribe and the future apostle shared his name before his own name was changed. Benjamin’s tribe was the only clan who remained loyal to King David’s line, who kept the covenant. The Holy City Jerusalem was located in the borders of their land.

He was a Hebrew of Hebrews, a badge of untainted blood line as well as untainted by Greek culture. Many Jews in the first century were thoroughly Hellenized, affected by Greek culture. Paul’s ancestry, his upbringing, his speech all pointed to that wonderful heritage.

Paul chose to be a Pharisee whose reputation was for careful observance of the Mosaic law and its tradition. Zeal was a well known characteristic of the Pharisees who in part traced back their line to the Maccabees, noted for their zeal of Israel’s covenant. In striving to show his earnestness and devotion he opposed fiercely the followers of Jesus in a hatred of Christians.

Paul acted in good conscience, so he was considered to be blameless. He had no blemishes on his record - he scrupulously adhered to the Pharisaic interpretation of the Law, with its finely honed regulations of Sabbath observance, food, and ritual cleanliness.

There is no fat on this résumé. He lays out good case to feel good about himself. He demonstrates that quest we all have to justify ourselves, to make ourselves look good.

What’s on your résumé?

Your résumé is what gives you confidence, what you waive to others to define who you are, what enables you to look in the mirror. If your résumé is shoddy, if it is not up to snuff, if others’ résumés look better - they’ll get in and you’ll be the loser. What on your résumé gives you special standing before others and ultimately before God?

Life is full of all sorts of résumés. Résumés speak of friendships, status, home, reputation, moral stature. A good résumé will be short on criminal record, long on kudos from others. Our résumé will list a stable home, a good upbringing, a quality education, a fine job. Our résumé will certainly include time spent reading God’s Word, telling others about Christ. It will list all the moral qualities we have been taught that is right and proper.
 

Mothers have résumés which include well behaved children, clean house, happy husband. Is there anything inherently evil about those things? Of course not.

Men’s résumés will point to their well paying job with responsibility, advancement. That they spend time with their kids, don’t cheat on their wives.

Pastors’ résumés list the hours they spend studying God’s Word, it will point out the people counseled, the lives changed, the growing church.

The student’s résumé certainly lists the GPA, the institution they attend, the course load they carry, the job they juggle to pay the bills.

This is the most profound need; we all want a good résumé; we all need righteousness. We are all trying to live up to something. These résumés all say the same thing, "You should accept me, because&ldots;" "I am a good person because&ldots;"

But notice what Paul does. He trashes his résumé. What everyone sees as gain, as profit, as beneficial - he says is loss. He is so intent on dumping his résumé, on rejecting this wonderful pedigree that he calls it "rubbish." Now the translators are more polite than the apostle, than God himself. These attributes are nothing but excrement.

Why does Paul trash such an impressive résumé? Because he knows that this résumé, his listing of his good qualities are his greatest problem.

Righteousness is our greatest problem.

Paul warns us about good people.

In verse 2 Paul issues a threefold warning: "Watch out for dogs! Watch out for evil workers! Watch out for mutilators of the flesh!"

When we read this we easily envision some nasty, dastardly depraved, pernicious people. Paul’s invectives are stunning as he launches in a tirade, dropping all sense of decorum, civility is out the window. His personal attacks are enough to make James Carvelle blush.

To call someone a dog was a biting metaphor since canines were the zoological low lifes of the first century. Paul’s not referring to the cuddly lap dog, but the vicious scavengers which all ancient people considered unclean. Next he calls them evil doers which normally was used of those who broke God’s Law. But then the final cutting remark designates these people as: "mutilators of the flesh."

Again, Paul’s terms will not win him the Miss Manners award for polite language. With a play on words Paul makes reference to these infiltrators as those who katatome - cut up. This is juxtaposed in verse 3 where Paul refers to himself and the Philippians as the peritome - those who cut around.

The Philippians are to be on their guard against these evil people for the simple reason that they are calling for believers to be circumcised. To us this seems a minor issue, but the agenda behind circumcision is obedience to the Law as a means of filling out your spiritual résumé.

The possession of the sign of the covenant in circumcision does not equate with the reality of being adopted by God. The presence of morality is not the same as presence of Christ.

In the 80’s at the height of the Preppy trend, an Izod shirt was the fashion statement that you were somebody. So it came as no surprise that some clothes conscious sorts took to removing little alligators and stitching them on cheap imitations. A swoosh does not make a shoe a Nike.

Paul says that those who are demanding you obey God’s Law, who say that faith in Christ plus obedience to the Law of God are mutilators. They are evil because they demand you work for God’s favor. They are dogs because they scavenge to create a good résumé. Doing good to make oneself pleasing to God makes one an evil-doer.

But that doesn’t seem so wrong! The problem is the diversion from God to their résumés. This is a warning against moral people. It is hard to attack good people - but it is necessary when goodness replaces God, when morality replaces the Cross.

Paul’s adversaries are not immoral - and that is a huge problem.

What is most dangerous to our relationship with God as well as with others is not our sin, but our morality. There is nothing so deadening than to think we are good. Repenting of your righteousness, ripping up your résumé and ceasing to present yourself as good is critical to being a Christian. But there is nothing which stands in our way more than those résumés. There is nothing more deadly than that list of good attributes you possess which you hold up to others, to yourself and to God. This is what is so surprising in this passage. Paul’s concern for the Philippians is not their sin, but their righteousness. He worries not about their criminal record, but their performance.

Sin is not the main problem that screws us up. It is not what keeps us from God. Sin is not the main reason we struggle with the Gospel. It is your righteousness! It is not your attitude toward your sins that fouls you up, that messes your emotions, that psychologically undermines you; it is your attitude toward your own goodness.

There are plenty of people who know they are sinners, but that knowledge is not enough. That’s why Paul was a Pharisee. That’s why so many people are religious. But Paul had to reorient the way he looked at his good deeds, his accomplishments. That is the moment he turned to Christ.

The Bible tells us that the Gospel is so radical that what makes a person a Christian is not that they move from being irreligious to religious. There are a tremendous number of people who think that being a Christian means "Stop being irreligious and come to church. Stop ignoring God and start praying. Stop breaking the 10 Commandments and start obeying them."

Dorothy Sayers told the story about a misguided, pharisaic missionary who tried to get a tribal chief to become a Christian. The chief wanted to clarify what it meant to be a Christian. He said: "Let me get this straight, if I become a Christian I can’t kill my neighbor, cut off his head and shrink it?" "Yes, that is right." "I can’t kidnap another tribe’s wives and take them as my own and use them as my wives?" Yes." "I can’t loot their villages?" "Well, I’m 70 years old, I can’t do those things anyway, so I guess I’m already a Christian."

Here is the Gospel: you come to realize that those who are irreligious as well as those who are religious are to control their lives and to be their own saviors. They are all trying to write their own résumés. We all want to keep control of our lives. We don’t want to give God control.

What makes you a Christian is to repent of your righteousness. You now see that even and especially when you are religious you are trying to be your own savior. I use Jesus as an example, a model, a hero, but I was my own savior. I thought I was doing enough, my life was my résumé to open the door for me.

A Christian is the one who says, "I used to repent of my sins, but now I repent of my righteousness as well." This is what it means to be a Christian. It is not "I’m a bad person and need to live a better life." But to say, "I see that I am good, but that goodness is useless."

Righteousness is our greatest gift

Why does Paul trash his résumé? Why does he call moral, good people who call for personal obedience to God’s Word "dogs, evil, mutilators"? Because there is good news for you and me. Instead of trying to constantly update our résumés, rather than always applying duct tape to our sinful heats, and covering the holes in our souls with spackle, there is a résumé that is offered to us, that is a gift.

This is why Paul begins with the command to rejoice&ldots;in the Lord.

That is where your joy must be found! The chapter opens with a call to rejoice, to have joy, but the place of that joy is critical. He is not just telling the Philippians to be happy, but points them to the place where real satisfaction can be found. It is not found in trying to make yourself presentable, but is found in Christ alone. Paul finds it necessary to repeat this truth again and again because we forget it again and again.

Paul elaborates on this in 3:8-9. As Paul looks at his résumé, he willingly throws out the tattered shambles that he has written by his own good works for another one: the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus as my Lord.

When the sun comes out the glorious stars can’t be seen any more. The things that in our eyes: accomplishments, money, influence, power, morality, stability, goodness - those things which shine so brightly in our eyes, Paul says that something has come out that is so brilliant that he can no longer see the accomplishments any more. What was so important in the past have been surpassed by something far superior.

This is an all or nothing proposition. Paul does not think of Christ as the ultimate prize after a series of other achievements. The gift of righteousness comes not to those who strive to do their best and then look to God for grace, but for those who have abandoned all hope of ever pleasing God. The gift of God’s résumé comes to those who not only turn from their sin, but turn from their righteousness.

The gaining of Christ requires the loss of all former things, because to be rich in Christ means to be rich in Him alone, not in Him plus in other gains. For Paul, it is a theological truism that grace and self-confidence are in radical antithesis: grace plus anything cancels out grace.

Think back to your first job. You probably didn’t have a sterling résumé on quality parchment. In fact you had no work history which you could hold up. You may have gotten the job by a different means.

My first job came to be because of the word of my father. My first job was working for Huber Nurseries tending to over sixty thousand gerbils. I had no experience in rodent care, I had no skills to boast about. But my father talked to his friend, the owner, and the job was mine. His reputation became mine. My brief stint there included my share of mistakes, which at times resulted in the demise of scores of gerbils. But the job remained mine, not because of my ability, but because of my father’s reputation.

That is the gift God gives when we have eternal life based on Christ’s résumé.

With Paul we can boast in Christ Jesus; we can serve God by means of the Spirit, we can claim the true circumcision, perfect obedience to God’s demands; we can toss out that résumé we’ve created and consider all our goodness as rubbish - because we can gain Christ, we can be found in Him. Forget your résumé that comes from the Law, from working hard to obey God. Instead there is a righteousness, a résumé which comes from God and is by faith.

How is this going to change the way you live now? If my résumé is not about me, not about my performance, not about my good qualities, not about my obedience to God’s Law, but it is about Christ’s perfect keeping of the Law for me, then my life will be different. No matter what happens, no matter if life trashes my trophies, if everything I’ve worked for comes crashing down, if I fail or if God takes away that which is very important to me, who I am is not so wrapped up in that résumé, in that good thing, that I will come crashing down, too.

If my kids do not turn out the way I want them to, will it hurt? Sure. But does it mean my standing before God is any lower? Never. If I lose my job, will I be frustrated, certainly. But am I any less a child of my Father for all eternity? Of course not.

These things no longer have control over me; they no longer jerk me around. So I can lose something now and not have it devastate me. It doesn’t mean I don’t weep, it is not that I no longer care, it still hurts - but I’m not destroyed. If you are found in Christ, if your résumé is His, then the rug can never be pulled out from underneath you.

It is then we can understand the words we will sing now:

Jesus, thy blood and righteousness my beauty are, my glorious dress;

‘Midst flaming worlds, in these arrayed, with joy shall I lift up my head.