Latest / Chapel Talks / Why Your Success Is More Dangerous Than Your Failure | Philippians 3:3–10 | Eric Ortlund

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Why Your Success Is More Dangerous Than Your Failure | Philippians 3:3–10 | Eric Ortlund · Chapel Talks

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We're in Philippians 3, and beautiful and wonderful
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as this whole chapter is, we're just looking
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at verses 3 through 10. And I want to especially
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consider with you something shocking in this
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chapter. I'm not going to say anything you don't
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already know, but it's really shocking, and if
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this weren't in the Bible, I would not believe
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it. We're going to look at how Paul reviews his
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former life as a Pharisee, and Paul says it wasn't
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his sins and failures that was keeping him from
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Jesus, it was his success. The thing that was
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keeping Paul from Jesus was his obedience. Now,
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Paul was a sinner who had violated God's law
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and needed God's forgiveness. That's absolutely
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true. Paul will say that. But in this particular
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passage, it wasn't Paul's failures. It was his
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success. Can I draw everyone's attention just
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to the very end of verse 6? As to zeal, persecutor
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of the church with regards to righteousness under
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the law. Blameless. Just keep that phrase in
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mind. Skip down to verse 8, the end of verse
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8. For Christ's sake, I've suffered the loss
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of all things and count them as rubbish, murder
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that I may gain Christ. In verse 8, when he says,
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suffer the loss of all things, he's talking about
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his former life as a Pharisee. Everything he
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had there, he suffered the loss of it. And you
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probably know that the translation rubbish really
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kind of undersells that word. It's not just something
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you throw away. If any of you have had to clean
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out a trash bin that's been used for several
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years, never been cleaned out, and it smells
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putrid and foul, yes? Yeah? That's what Paul
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says. That's the sense he has. Now, how shocking
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is that? Paul does not say, I was obeying rabbinic
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tradition, but not God's word. And that was the
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problem. And then I found Christ. He does not
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say, I was getting Torah completely wrong in
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verse 6. I just misunderstood what it was about.
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I was getting it wrong all the time. Then I found
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Jesus and things got better. He does not say,
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Torah obedience was good, but Jesus was better.
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He doesn't even say to our obedience was neutral,
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but Jesus is better. He doesn't even say it's
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bad. Paul says his obedience to the oracles of
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God. Paul could point to chapter and verse in
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this book, the same verses we try to obey. And
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it's not that he failed to obey them. He did
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obey them and he knew them. And Paul doesn't
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just say Jesus is better. He doesn't just say
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that was bad. He said that was something filthy
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and foul. Wow. You look at the Sabbath laws in
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the Old Testament. They're not terribly burdensome
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or difficult to obey. They're kind of like traffic
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laws. When we speed or disobey traffic laws,
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it's not because they're too complicated. We're
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just in a hurry, right? Paul could look at those
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verses and say, I obeyed them and I know I did.
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You hear stories about Martin Luther before he
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became a Christian, confessing his sins and he's
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so troubled and conscious and he goes back and
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confess some more, but he can't ever do it enough.
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That was not Paul. Paul got a tight eight hours
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every night. He had a good conscience before
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God. And friends, he really actually did obey,
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and that was the problem. Why does Paul look
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back on his biblical obedience and use such a
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strong, shocking, emotive word to describe that?
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Well, you see in the passage, at the end of verse
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3, having confidence in the flesh. It wasn't
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a failure of obedience on Paul's part. He succeeded,
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but he did it in the flesh. That was the problem.
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And that's why Paul looks on all his past successful
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obedience as something so foul. Can everyone
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look at verse 9? We're going to see in the same
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way, this is really the verse I want to look
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at, in the same way that there is an infinite
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abyss between creator and creature. Not just
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a quantitative, but an infinite one. And if we
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don't get that right, nothing in our thinking
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about God will get right. So in the same way,
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every human being falls into one or two states
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before God, and there's no in -between. And we
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see it in verse 9. Paul wants to be found in
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Christ, not having a righteousness of my own
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that comes from the law. That's the first sign
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of the equation. A righteousness of my own that
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comes from the law comes from performance and
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obeying God's rules. That's fleshly obedience,
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a righteousness of my own. Paul does it of himself
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and for himself, yes? That's flesh, right there.
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Second half of the equation, verse 9. But that
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which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness
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from God, that depends on faith. Not performance
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of God's rules, but faith alone. Not of himself
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and for himself, but looking beyond himself,
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a righteousness from outside himself, from God.
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Actually, check the Greek this morning. It's
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ten ek tha 'u dikaiosune. Right? We all know
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that. The righteousness from God. That's the
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contrast there. That Paul just receives. He contributes
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nothing to it. He just opens up and receives
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purely on basis of faith. And all humanity falls
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into one or two places. And what is amazing is
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the thing that was keeping Paul from actually
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being right with God was his success and his
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obedience. Wow. I want to suggest to everyone
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that our failures as Christians, whether moral
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or in ministry or professional or whatever, of
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any kind, those are problems that can get in
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the way of our relationship with God. Our successes
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are worse. They are more dangerous. I want to
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consider that. But please can we all look at
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verse 9 and let's think. I want to think through
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the second half of verse 9 doctrinally and theologically
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and experientially. A righteousness from God
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by faith in Christ. I'm not going to tell you
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anything you already know, but this is useful
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to think through. Okay, I'm not as successful
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as Paul was, so I'm going to slightly shift gears
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here. But every time I've had my devotions, every
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single time in my life, by the time I say amen,
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I have sinned in some way. I have fallen short
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in some way. Some evil has come out of me, or
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I fail to understand something, or I haven't
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engaged the way I should. And yet I have this.
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perfect, flawless, spotless righteousness before
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God, because I'm united to Christ by faith. So
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Christ comes as the second Adam in new Israel,
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and the earthly life he lives out, he offers
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to God the flawless obedience that both God's
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people, and in a sense all humanity, owed God
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who could never give him. And because I have
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Christ as my covenant head, he is the head, I'm
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a member of his body, he's my spiritual husband.
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And he's the tree on one of the branches. And
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in a certain sense, and there's a certain sense
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in which this isn't true, but in a certain sense
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before God, there is one mystical person there
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with head and members. So in his representative
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role as covenant head, I have Christ's righteousness
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and he has my sin. So even though every single
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time I have my devotions, I fail in some way.
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When Jesus was opening up his Torah scroll, reading
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Deuteronomy, apparently his favorite book, he
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was the only human being. Everything inside him
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responds to God. and prays and gives himself
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and takes God's word into his heart. And before
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God, not because God is viewing me through rose
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-colored glasses. That is my reality before God.
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That is the righteousness I have, not on my own,
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obeying God's rules, but from God through faith
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in Christ. And friends, do you think that on
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the basis of Christ's flawless, sprinting his
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way through all of God's rules, do you think
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he's going to be moderately happy with you? Do
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you think he's giving you a B - right now? If
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Christ is your covenant and his obedience is
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yours, yes, no, amen, yes. Thank you, that's
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overwhelming. That's the doctrinal level. Let's
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think this through experientially, and we're
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going to get to the success and failure a bit
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later, okay? I think experientially, we all kind
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of get this at a gut level. You can write very
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nuanced articles about what righteousness means,
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but biblically, at least in the Old Testament,
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it means three things. Righteousness means...
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Again, sorry, I don't want to go too quickly.
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We thought about it doctrinally just in terms
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of everyday experience. We're going to think
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this through. Righteousness means a standard,
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an ethical standard. It means behavior, doing
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right by people, and it means a state. You're
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in the right with someone. You're right with
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someone. We all know what this means. We have
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friends, completely relaxed. No outstanding issues.
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We just be friends and relax. Some people are
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not quite sure where they stand. Tragically,
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every once in a while, you really fall out with
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someone. And you're in the wrong with them. Things
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are broken with them. It's a state of wrongness
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with them. Yes? Okay. In my early years of being
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married, my wife and I would connect a lot. Sometimes
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we would disconnect. Sometimes it just happened.
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We don't know why. Sometimes I would mess up.
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Sometimes her. Sometimes both of us. I distinctly
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remember when I was in a state of wrongness with
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her, when I was not in a state of rightness with
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her, if we weren't connecting and things weren't
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okay, It didn't matter what went right in my
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day. It was like gloomy, overcast skies. Everything
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was crying. It just didn't matter. And when we
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could reconnect, and I could apologize, she could
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apologize, whatever. When we could reconnect,
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it didn't matter what went right with my day.
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The sun came out, or the birds were singing.
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It was just great. It was wonderful. This is
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how I made this real for me. I vividly remember
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the times when I was in the wrong in relation
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to my wife. I had failed that standard, that
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behavior, and as a result, I was in a wrong state
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with my wife. And like literally before her gaze,
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before her eyes and under her gaze, that sense
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of wrongness and that there was nothing I could
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say before this beautiful person who I looked
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up to so much. I just found that unbearable.
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I couldn't stand it. Going to the dentist would
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be way easier than that. And for my wife, before
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her gaze for her to say, You're forgiven. It's
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canceled. Don't worry about it. Let's just move
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on. Oh, the wave would lift off and the sun would
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come out of the bridge. What a release. How wonderful.
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Now, friends, for a person, not of earthly beauty,
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but of infinite beauty, for the most worthy,
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the most important person of the universe, for
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you to be before his gaze and in the wrong, and
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you know you're in the wrong, and there's nothing
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you can say. That's the essence of hell itself.
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That is absolutely unbearable. Physical torture
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would be easier to bear than that. But to have
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the most important, most beautiful person in
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the world look at you and say, we're good. We're
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fine. You are forgiven. We're friends. No outstanding
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issues. There's nothing we need to talk about.
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You can just relax. That's heaven itself. For
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the most worthy, most beautiful person to look
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at you and say, you and I are right. We're in
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the right with each other. Experientially, that's
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what that's like. Yes? Simply on terms of faith,
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you look beyond yourself and you forget about
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your performance and you receive from outside
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that you don't contribute to. Now friends, here's
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the thing. It was Paul's success that was the
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problem here. I find for myself, when I mess
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up, when there's some stain on my conscience,
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I mess up in class. Wouldn't it be the most embarrassing
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thing I ever said in class? No? All right, fine,
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let's move on. I was teaching Isaiah once and
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I just... I was just going too quickly, and the
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students just, it was a no -look to them, they
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couldn't catch up. And I asked questions, and
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it was just silence. It was just no -look. It's
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a universal law of teaching, when a student looks
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at their Bibles, you're not allowed to call them
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up. You just can't. Nobody would make eye contact.
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And I was trying to say that, so it was kind
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of a grind to get through, and I knew, like it
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just was a warning, and I tried to say the phrase,
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liberated from the oppressor, but instead I said
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liberated from the professor. And I just lost
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the whole class for a moment, right? We all just
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had to laugh, right? If you're like me, when
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you mess up morally, professionally, in ministry,
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whatever, whatever, that's bad. But I can find
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my way back to Jesus somehow, usually. For whatever
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reason, the thing that lodges in my mind, I remember
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sending off an article to get published, got
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back rejected. I get rejected all the time. Like,
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my record with publishing is very, very low.
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And I remember getting really frustrated, and
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it was funny to gauge my own reactions. When
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I got the email, the first time it was very prickly,
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you know? It was just like, well, what do you
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mean you reject me? I reject you, you know? It
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was like, how can you not recognize how brilliant
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this piece of writing is, right? About five minutes
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later, the prickliness subsided, and the depression
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set in, and it was like, I suck at this. I'm
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never going to publish anything again. So I felt
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sorry for myself for 15 or 20 minutes. And after
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about half an hour, I thought, wait a minute.
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God has given me to read this book in Hebrew,
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Aramaic, and Greek for the rest of my life. Who
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cares if I never get to write? Who cares? I get
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to enjoy this and have God as my friend forever.
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Who cares if I don't publish anything? Now that
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was an example of failure that led to me enjoying
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the Lord Jesus and all the gifts he's given me.
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Yes, that's failure. What about success? When
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I get an email saying, Thank you, this boring
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article that three people will read is accepted.
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And you come up to me and say, Eric, you are
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right with God. It had nothing to do with what
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you accomplished. Those words will be borderline
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meaningless to me. I find when I succeed, it's
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harder for the gospel to be real to me. I never
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forget having a student in Canada over a decade
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ago came to me, confessed a problem with porn.
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And I said, and he wanted to pray with me. I
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said, God bless you, brother. No judgment. You're
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behaving as a Christian, well done, well done.
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And he came to me once and said, Eric, last night
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I was tempted to get on the internet and I just
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switched the computer off and went to bed. And
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I said, well done, good for you, well done. Then
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I asked him, if you had given in, despite your
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appropriate horror and anguish over what you
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had done, not really nada, but if you had given
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in, could you rejoice in the righteousness that
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is yours from God by faith in Christ? And he
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has zero to do with you. And you know what? He
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hung his head, and he couldn't say anything.
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Now, it was doubtless good that he had not given
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in to temptation. That's a good thing. But notice
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what happened. The real gospel was more dim and
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distant and vague to him because of his success.
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In his 3, verse 130, John Owen says that the
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devil will try to get you to sin, but that's
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not the only thing. Because if you sin, you can
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find your way back to Jesus and actually be a
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stronger Christian. The main thing he will try
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to do is destroy your confidence in the gospel.
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Destroy the clarity about that. The devil will
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be happy for you to be very moral, very well
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behaved, not many stains on your conscience,
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as long as Philippians 3 .9 is distant and theoretical.
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I want to do an experiment. This is a bad application
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because it won't be for a number of months. But
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when you graduate, when you publicly succeed,
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when you graduate, you're dressed in the funny
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clothes, you walk across the stage and they say
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your name. Repeat to yourself, I am right with
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God purely on the basis of faith. It has nothing
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to do with my performance. And see if those words
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mean anything to you. If you're anything like
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me, they don't mean much when I succeed. And
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that's the whole paradox here. The problem here
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was not Paul's failure. It was his success. Now,
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friends, I want to be extremely clear. Our justification
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before God has nothing to do with our perception
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of our justification before God. We all have
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those wonderful moments where we really feel
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forgiven. And we're able to just rest in it and
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bask in it. And everything in life feels different.
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And we all have those moments where we're just
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kind of grinding along with the treadmill. We
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still, our beliefs don't change, but how real
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is it, right? You are justified irrespective
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of how you feel. Irrespective of your grasp and
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apprehension. Irrespective of how well you rest
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in God. And nothing to do with your justification.
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In high school in Chicago, I was a lifeguard.
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And as part of the training, if someone's struggling
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in the water, sometimes they won't always be
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fully conscious. And they can actually fight
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the lifeguards that are dragging them back to
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shore. When I was training in this big swimming
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pool, our teacher would be swimming and then
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start to show signs of distress. We had to blow
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the whistle, dive in, and drag them back. And
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she would fight us on the way back, even though
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she wasn't actually drowning. Because people
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will do that. And I remember, I had to wrap my
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arm around her and pull her back to shore. Your
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justification has nothing to do with how sincerely
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you ask for help when you're drowning. You can
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even find him on the way back. You just look
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beyond yourself and you forget about yourself.
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Okay, is that all clear? Okay, at the same time,
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we don't want justification just to be a theory.
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We want to enjoy it, right? And it's hard to
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do that, and it's hard when we succeed. John
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Owen again, I don't remember where he said this,
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but he said, one of the reasons it's hard to
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believe the gospel is that almost every other
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relationship in our life is based on a principle
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of works. If you get good grades at Oak Hill,
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who is the one working? You. If you fail one
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of my classes and you make an appeal to the academic
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novice and say, okay, yeah, my performance wasn't
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up to stuff, but I have faith in Eric as a teacher,
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so his academic competence can be applied to
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me vicariously. and I get an A+. I recommend
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you don't do that. It probably won't work. I
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saw a documentary. I won't go on for too much
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longer, but I saw a documentary about Navy SEALs
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years ago, and I'll never forget. They weren't
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in the Army yet. They were training, and they
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had to swim into this bay, set up some bombs,
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put tigers on the bombs, and swim out, and they
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messed up. The bombs went off sooner than they
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were supposed to. They get back on shore, and
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their commanders are just hammering them and
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shouting at them. Because if that had been a
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real war, they would have killed their own men.
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And no one could say, well, I have faith in my
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field commander, so I'm righteous. No one. It
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just doesn't work that way. And God's economy
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runs differently. And friends, when you succeed,
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man, if you're anything like me, it is ten times
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as hard to really rest in the gospel when I succeed.
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It's hard when I fail, but I can kind of get
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there. Okay, how do we do this? How do we keep
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the second half of verse 9? from just being a
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theory, knowing that the reality doesn't depend
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on our enjoyment of it, yes? I'm following the
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lead of the passage when I say this, because
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look at verse nine. Where does justification
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lead in verse 10? That I may know him. That's
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what justification is for. That you may know
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Christ and have fellowship with him and receive
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from him and hear him speak to you and speak
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back to him and embrace him and be embraced by
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himself. And all the language we have for human
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relationships, which adequately but imperfectly
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talks about fellowship with the Lord Jesus. That's
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where justification is. So how can we keep this
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from being a theory? Well, one way is to not
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succeed too much. But that's probably not a good
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idea. If this isn't already clear, at some point
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in your working lives, you're going to have your
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worst day in ministry. It may not be the same
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as what you think is your worst day. It may not
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be. And God looks at you and says, that doesn't
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impress me in the slightest. I am still absolutely
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happy with you. And at some point in your working
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life, you're going to have your best day in ministry.
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And it may be very public. And when that happens,
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God looks at you and says, I am so not impressed
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with that. I am absolutely happy with you. Yes?
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Yes? How do we stay in that reality? Well, there
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are different ways to do that. We've all heard
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the phrase, preach to ourselves, you know? I
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find hearing from other Christians, Eric, you
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are forgiven on basis of faith, not performance.
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I need to hear that a lot from other Christians.
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There are different ways to do this. But how
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can we connect? The doctrine in verse 9 with
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the knowing in verse 10. More than one way to
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do that. I find, maybe this is just me, there
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is no substitute for praying the words on the
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page back to God. For turning to Philippians
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3 or Isaiah 53 or Romans 5 or it is finished
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in John or whatever. And you talk it back to
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God. The most remarkable stuff starts to happen
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inside when I do that. This example is sticking
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in my mind. I don't know why. I'm in Matthew
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of my devotions. End of chapter three, Jesus
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says, now John baptized me to fulfill all righteousness,
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right? I can give you a perfectly competent exegesis
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of that verse. But with God helping me, when
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I read that, I said, Lord, you fulfilled everything
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I was supposed to do on my behalf. And when I
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prayed that, inside, I just sort of felt that
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lift and that release, and I was able to go,
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oh, it's wonderful to be a Christian, right?
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Can you take Isaiah with me next semester when
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we get to chapter 53 at the end? We're going
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to pray it, and we're going to change the pronouns
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from he was pierced for our transgressions to
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you were pierced for my transgressions. And it's
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going to be hard to get through in a very good
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way. Friends, as we're all working so hard this
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semester, we're sort of into the semester now,
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we're feeling the press and the strain of it.
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You are right with the most important person.
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He is beaming with pride over you, and it has
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nothing to do with you. As much as possible,
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As much as possible, can we stay experientially
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in that, even as we're working really hard and
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we all get graded at the end of the semester,
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so that we may know him. The reason you exist
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is not because God needs slaves. He does not
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need you. The reason you exist is so that God
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can love you and perfect you in his love, and
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so that in some way you can speak his love back,
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your love back to him. And it all happens in
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the second half of verse nine. A righteousness
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from outside myself to which I give love. Amen.
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Let's take a moment to think and I'm going to
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sit down.