The Church of Christ Won’t Save You

Phil 3:1-10

A preacher friend of mine has a very cool bragging point in his family. His great, great, grandfather was baptized by Alexander Campbell himself and his family has been a part of the restoration movement ever since then. That’s pretty impressive. Others I have known have talked about their long history with their religious group and could never change to anything else. Long relationships are great and loyalty is important, but if we are tied to the wrong thing, it doesn’t matter how loyal we are to it.

Being a member of the Churches of Christ or any other religious group will not save you. Thinking you have done all the religious things your church demands, will not save you unless you are first and foremost committed to a right relationship with Christ. Paul makes that fact very clearly in this text.

PRAYER

I. Rejoice in the Lord

A. Salvation is a matter of rejoicing

1. The Amish consider it a sin of arrogance to believe you know you are going to heaven.

2. Many Christians have a very similar belief even if they don’t formally have as part of their doctrine like the Amish do.

3. Here is the problem I have. How can we rejoice in our salvation if we are always living in fear of hell?

a) It is impossible to live a life that rejoices in our Christianity and also lives in fear of hell at the same time.

b) If we are faithful to God, he gives us salvation through his grace.

c) As Paul says in 4:4 - Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!

B. Rejoicing enlivens our faith

1. I remember several years a picture of a man and woman with really sour expressions on their face and the caption underneath read, “I am so excited about Christianity.”

2. We need to remember Christianity and our worship is a celebration, not a funeral.

3. We need to live a life that is so full of rejoicing for what God has done with us that people look at us and want what we have.

4. God has saved me from my sins, He has set me free from Satan. I have every reason to rejoice!

5. When we come to worship together it shouldn’t feel like we’re dead and simply going through the motions.

6. Do we have to jump up and down to be spiritual? No, we can be quieter in our worship and be just as sincere in our love.

7. However we choose to express ourselves in worship it needs to be done from a sincere heart that has God as first place.

II. Rejoice In the Lord, not in the church

A. Paul goes on to make a very strong point to the church.

1. He tells them to rejoice in the…Lord

2. Notice he didn’t say rejoice in being a member of the Philippi church of Christ.

3. He didn’t say rejoice in being a Roman, Jew or American.

4. He said to rejoice in the Lord.

B. Being Jewish was what saved people

1. Paul tells the church at Philippi that there are those who are insisting that to be right with God you must become a Jew first, then you can become a Christian.

2. He blasts those who taught that theology as dogs and those who do evil.

3. Man, that is strong language.

4. He was dealing with people who believed the rite of circumcision was what saved them.

5. Nope, sorry. That isn’t good enough.

6. Paul reminds them that if that was true he had it made.

a) He was circumcised on the 8^th day.

b) He was part of the people of Israel.

c) The tribe of Benjamin.

d) Hebrew of Hebrews

e) A Pharisee.

f) Zealous.

g) faultless in keeping the law

h) He was the best of the best in Judaism.

C. Sectarians need not apply

1. I was a good Church of Christ person.

2. Son and grandson of preachers.

3. Lived the missionary life.

4. I could almost trace my spiritual roots back to the very beginning of the restoration; at least 6 generations of my family have belonged to the churches of Christ.

5. I grew up being told that only the church of Christ is going to heaven.

6. I still believe that today, but not the way I was taught.

a) I believe that the church that belongs to Christ are the only ones going to heaven.

b) However, membership in a group with the name Church of Christ, doesn’t guarantee us a spot in heaven.

c) My heritage won’t save me just as Paul’s wouldn’t save him.

7. Unless you are in the Lord, your heritage simply doesn’t matter!

III. I Want to Know Christ

A. to know and to know

1. There is a big difference in the way we use the phrase “know Christ”

2. I know Phil Thompson, our mayor. I know him and he know me well enough to say hi and small talk a little, but that doesn’t mean we have a deep abiding relationship.

3. I know Helene. I know pretty much everything about her and she know pretty much everything about me. We share our lives, our goals, our hopes and sorrows. We have a mutual need of each other’s presence.

4. There is an incredible difference in how I know Mayor Thompson and Helene.

5. We need to know Christ like I know Helene.

B. Nothing compares to knowing Jesus

1. If your faith is built on the church, you’re missing the main point.

2. The church can’t save you; no matter how committed you are to it.

3. A very dear friend is about as committed to the church as you can get, but he is often spiritually dry because he is more committed to the church than to Christ. He looks to the church for his meaning in life rather than Christ. Throughout his life he constantly go up and down in his faith because of his relationship with the church that he is worshipping in at the time.

4. People, the church, are a great support, but the church isn’t the foundation; Jesus is, and until we realize that our relationship with God will never be all it can be.

5. And, it could jeopardize our salvation because as sincere as we may be in our faith in our religious group, we can be sincerely wrong. Not everyone who says “Lord, Lord” is known by the Lord.

6. Know Christ first, then the fellowship of the church takes on a whole new meaning.

7. I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection…Do you?