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Philippians in a Phlash
Philippians Overview
If you would, please take out your Bibles now and turn in them to the book of Philippians, in the New Testament. If you don’t have a Bible, there should be one under a chair in front of you, and you can take that Bible and turn to page 154 in the back portion, and you would be at the book of Philippians.
I know it’s early in the morning, and I’ve already talked to a number who were up late last night doing many different things, but I want to ask you a question this morning. I want you to think about it, and I want you to respond by putting your hand up. How many people here in this room want to have a joy-full life? So, how many people want to have a joy-full life? There are a few of you who are still asleep. You didn’t get your hand up.
We all want to have a joy-full life. Specifically, how do we do that? How do we experience that? If someone said to you, “Well, I’d like to have more joy in my life, I’d like to have a life full of joy, I’d like to experience joy in my life,” where would you go in the Bible to get information about that? What points to how to have a joy-full life? Well, the answer to that question…if you’ve been with us for a while…is the book of Philippians, which we have sub-titled Spiritual Essentials for a Joy-Full Life.
There are four chapters in the book, 104 verses, and we have spent a number of weeks giving 20 different messages unpacking from the book of Philippians what it means to have a joy-full life. By the way, you’ll notice you have a little insert which is a revised outline…having gone through our study of this book…that I want you to use as a little bit of our outline for today. But if you haven’t been involved in any of this and haven’t heard the messages, they are available on our website at www.wildwoodchurch.org. They’re also available on podcast, and I would encourage you if you’ve missed some of this to get a hold of that.
It has been suggested it would be helpful for us today to take the whole book of Philippians in one bite. And as we’ve really taken it apart, to put it back together again, and to see how it makes sense as it fits together. So, I have entitled our message today Philippians in a Phlash. What we’re going to do, Lord willing, is 104 verses in one message. So, are you ready? Well, here we go.
I want to remind you that Philippians is one of what is called the prison epistles in the New Testament, along with the book of Ephesians, and the book of Colossians, and the book of Philemon. But the book of Philippians is unique, and it is the most personal book Paul wrote. Look at chapter 4 for a moment and verse 15. He says there, “You yourselves also know, Philippians, that at the first preaching of the gospel, after I left Macedonia, no church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving but you alone.” There was a tremendous connection Paul had with these people.
If you go back to chapter 1 and look at verse 7, he says, “For it is only right for me to feel this way about you all, because I have you in my heart.” And then in verse 8, he says, “God is my witness, how I long for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus.” So, it’s an interesting book, the most personal book Paul writes, and it’s a book centered on the person of Christ. In 51 of the 104 verses, the Lord Jesus is mentioned by name.
So, how do we experience a joy-full life? Well, you’ll notice we’re going to break down the chapters again and give you an overview of them. The first, we have chapter number 1. If we’re going to have a joy-full life, there is an essential perspective we are to have. The key idea is that we need to realize that difficulty is common in the spiritual life. The key response we are to have…this is all on your outline…is to keep centered on our life with Christ.
Paul starts out telling us that God is a God we can count on. Look again at verse 6 of chapter 1. He says, “I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.” We have a God we can count on. Our salvation is secure. What He starts, He finishes. Ultimately our destiny of being with Him, we learn in verse 23 of chapter 1, is very much better. The salvation He has won for us is secure, and it is very much better. We are going to revel in it for all eternity.
In the meantime, God is shaping us, and that is part of His plan for your life and mine. We’re eventually going to be like Christ, but He needs to chip away for a while in the meantime to make us into the image of Christ. Our destiny is to be like Jesus, but He needs to change you and me, so He is going to utilize difficulty in our lives to shape up and to teach us to depend on Him.
Now, as I was looking back on all we’ve covered over 20 different messages, I wanted to share again with you my favorite illustration out of our whole study, which is the one by James Boice, where he talks about spending a number of summers at a Christian camp in Canada. You’ll remember this.
“One summer,” he said, “I spent several hours watching one of the campers learn to climb a telephone pole. This boy was one of the campers who can only partially pay for their week, and they do that by working at the camp, and since the camp needed more adequate wiring, he had the job of stringing the wires, and for that, he had to learn how to climb a pole.
And the secret of climbing a telephone pole is to learn to lean back, allowing your weight to rest on the broad leather belt that encircles yourself and the pole, allowing your spikes to dig into the pole at a broad angle. Climbing a pole is easy as long as you lean back. Of course, if you fail to lean back, and pull yourself toward the pole, then your spikes will not dig in, and you’ll slip. It isn’t very pleasant to slip because the pole is covered with splinters that easily dig into your body.”
So, he goes on to say, “At first, my friend would not lean at all, and as a result, he never even got off the ground. The spikes simply would not go into the wood. It was frustrating, and after awhile, he learned to lean back a bit, and got started. But as soon as he was a few feet off the ground, he became afraid and pulled himself close to the pole. Down he would go with a bump, getting covered with splinters in the process. This practice went on until he learned that he had to lean fully into the belt that held him. When he learned this, he began to climb.”
And he goes on to write this. He says, “It’s the same in the Christian life. God wants you to climb, to be more like Christ, and this is His purpose in saving you. He wants you to rise to Christ’s own stature. What is more, is He is going to insist on it. He’s going to teach you to climb by resting on Him, and there will be times when you think that you can hold on better by grasping the pole than by leaning on the belt, and when you do, you will slip spiritually, and God will let you get covered with splinters. He will do it because He knows that it is the only way you learn to trust Him. And to trust Him is the only way to climb. What is more, He will keep at you. He will not let you quit. He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”
He wants us to learn to be like Christ, and part of that means that we have to lean on Him. And part of that means, men and women, we have to respond rightly even when life unravels in front of us. In chapter 1, Paul talks about that in verses 12 and following. Remember, he is in prison, and he needs to learn how to deal with that because God is using that in his life. When we have life unraveling, we should not lash out at God, we should not go into a pity party, and we shouldn’t start questioning God because there are no accidents with Him.
Every obstacle He places in our lives is designed ultimately to be an opportunity. Every setback we think we’re having is actually a setup by God to help shape us into the image of Christ. And so, we need to have this perspective. Difficulty is going to be common, but we need to keep centered on our life with Christ. We need to keep the main thing the main thing. And the main thing in chapter 1 is the gospel. We see the gospel mentioned in verse 5, verse 7, verse 12, verse 16, and verse 27. When we have that kind of a perspective, you see, when we keep centered on our life with Christ, when we keep the main thing the main thing, then we will experience a joy-full life.
Now, chapter 2 has a slightly different theme to it. You might remember this. If we’re going to have a joy-full life, we not only need an essential perspective about things, but we need an essential mindset. The key idea in chapter 2, we saw, was that humility in serving is integral to the spiritual life. The key response we are to have is we are to live distinctively as children of God.
There is something you struggle with every day, and it’s something I struggle with every day, and that is to toot or not to toot our own horn [boast and talk about yourself]. We struggle with that on a daily basis. I want to talk about me. Me, me, me. I want to think about me. Me, me, me. I want my focus to be about me. Me, me, me. We all struggle with that. There is a word for that, and that word is selfishness, and we all struggle with selfishness naturally. But that is not the way to a joy-full life.
Notice in chapter 2, verse 3. Paul writes to these believers he was so connected with, and he says, “Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves.” What an amazing verse that is. Have you ever thought about that as one of the keys to having a joy-full life?
“With humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves.” Don’t think less of yourself. Think of yourself less is what Paul is saying. And then, to inspire us in that arena, he gives us the example of Jesus in chapter 2 and verses 5 to 11. And verses 5 to 11 are one of those gems of the Bible. It’s one of the crown jewels of Scripture. It’s one of those summit passages we ought to be in from time to time. And you notice it begins with a statement in verse 5. “Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus.” Now, remember, this is part of the key to experiencing joy in our lives, a joy-full life. We need to have the attitude which was also in Christ Jesus.
Then the verses go on to explain what He did for you and for me. And in verse 7, it says He “emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men.” In other words, He wanted to serve others, and in order to do that, He subjected Himself to some things. The God of the universe subjected Himself to hunger. He subjected Himself to thirst. He subjected Himself to distress. He subjected Himself to harassment. He subjected Himself to poverty. He subjected Himself to pain. Humility in serving is integral to the spiritual life.
I don’t know if you’ve discovered it or not, but serving others is actually hard. There is a price to be paid in serving others, but that is what we’re called to do. Amazingly, it’s a key to a joy-full life. Our natural spirit doesn’t think that way. See, our natural spirit says, “I look out for me, and I’ll be happy.” But remember, Jesus Himself…as it says in Mark 10, verse 45…did not come here to be served, but to serve. Humility in serving is integral to the spiritual life.
Now, humility in serving is not something we’re going to have to fake in some way because that is what we’re supposed to have. It’s not something we fire up [stoke or power up] the flesh to do. “Okay, now, humility in serving. Let’s just grit [tough it out] that out!” We learn that in chapter 2 and verse 13. It’s not something we churn out on our own, for God is at work in us both to will and to work for and to do His good pleasure.
If we’re going to have humility in serving, here is what we need to understand. It’s not that you play no role in that. It’s not that just God does it all. See, that is a very passive approach to things. It’s not, “Okay, there is no role. You don’t do anything.” But it’s also not all on our back, where we’re just self-powered. “Okay, there needs to be humility in serving others. I’ll just churn that out.”
What we learn here, in chapter 2, is we do it, but we do it in diligent dependence on Him. It’s us who does the serving but He who does the empowering, you see. We looked at Galatians, chapter 2 and verse 20, where Paul says, “It’s no longer I who live, although I am living, but it’s Christ who lives in me. And the life that I live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God.” So, I’m involved in humility in serving other people, but it’s not ultimately me because I’m doing it in reliance on Him. It’s faith in His working through me. That is what He called you and me to be…people who serve other people.
And we are to live distinctively as children of God, and that comes out very clearly in verse 15. “Prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you…” this is speaking of you and me, “… appear as lights in the world.” We are to be counter to the culture. We’re not to be like the culture. We are to invest our lives, not just spend our lives.
We have examples of living distinctively. Right here in chapter 2, we have the example of Timothy starting in verse 19 and following. And remember what he says about Timothy. He says in verse 20, “I have no one else of kindred spirit who will genuinely be concerned for your welfare. For they all seek after their own interests, not those of Christ Jesus.” Timothy had a caring heart.
Here is what Timothy understood. He understood people are the most important commodity in all of the world. We’re in a time of the year when it’s easy to get into things, but people are the most important commodity in the world, and God is in the people business.
And then, living distinctively, another example we see in chapter 2 is the example of Epaphroditus. We see him in verse 25 and following, and he was a very empathetic and a very committed person. He was someone who felt anguish over the anguish of others. We see that in verse 26. “He…was distressed because you had heard that he was sick.” He could feel what other people were feeling, and he was a guy who was willing to serve behind the scenes. We learn that at the end of verse 25. “Who is also your messenger and minister to my need.”
He served Paul, and Epaphroditus was also a guy who didn’t play it safe. Notice verse 30: “He came close to death for the work of Christ, risking his life to complete what was deficient in your service to me.” Epaphroditus was willing to take risks when it came to serving other people. He didn’t serve other people just when it was convenient, when there was no risk.
See, men and women, when it comes to serving other people in humility, we can’t meet all the needs. Do you ever get overwhelmed by that? There are so many needs out there, we can’t meet all the needs, but all of us can meet some needs. And selfishness…listen to me carefully here…will sap the life of an individual. Selfishness will sap the life of a church. It will drain the joy from your life.
And so, we have an essential perspective in chapter 1, an essential mindset in chapter 2, and then in chapter 3, there is an essential dependence. If we’re going to have a joy-full life, there is an essential dependence that must be involved, and we see there that the key idea is reliance on the flesh submarines the spiritual life. The key response we are to have is to press on to daily dependence on Jesus.
What a great chapter this is! We learn reliance on the flesh is a disaster when it comes to establishing a relationship with Christ. We learn that from Paul, and he had to face that lesson in his own life. Notice in chapter 3, verse 4, he says, “I myself might have confidence even in the flesh. If anyone else has a mind to put confidence in the flesh, I far more: circumcised the eighth day, of the nation of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the Law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to the righteousness which is in the Law, found blameless.”
Reliance on the flesh, when it comes to establishing a relationship with God, he said, “Man, I would be at the top of the list, but it’s a disaster to attempt to stack your goodness up high enough to establish a relationship with God.” Goodness in a quest to earn a relationship with the living God leads to total failure…total failure.
Perhaps my favorite word in Philippians is found in verse 8, where he says, “More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish…” that is the word skubalon in the original language. It’s a word that was used of manure. It was a word that was used of something that was rotten and decaying. In my personal translation of skubalon is stinky crap. “My goodness being stacked up to establish a relationship with God is nothing more than skubalon,” he said.
Reliance on the flesh is a disaster when it comes to establishing a relationship with Christ, and reliance on the flesh…this is very important for us to remember…is a disaster when it comes to living out our relationship with Christ. This is not a matter of gritting our teeth, but how are we to live out our relationship with Christ? Well, we learn that in this chapter. From verse 12, the first thing we need to do is we need to press on. It’s a word that means to pursue and chase after, developing and living out our relationship with Christ. I will put it this way…he says, “If you’re going to grow in your relationship in your spiritual life, don’t coast. Don’t settle for complacency. Be all that Christ wants you to be.”
I think a good question for us to ask from time to time about our own personal, spiritual life is this question…Have I settled? Have I just settled? I think the longer you have known Christ, the greater that temptation is. Just to settle and to coast. So, if we’re going to live out our relationship, we need to press on, not coast.
Secondly, we need to focus forward. We see that in verse 13. He says, “It’s not that I’ve laid hold of it yet, but forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead.” The greatest enemy, perhaps, in the spiritual life is to live in the past, and a lot of us will do that. When we live in the past, by dwelling on our failures, and we think about the failures and the things we’ve done wrong, and the mess-ups we’ve made. You know what we’re feeding to our flesh? We’re feeding to our flesh self-pity, and we sit around, and we have self-pity parties, and “Woe is me,” and all these things, and all these failures, and “Oh, this is horrible,” and we’re just having a self-pity party, and we’re feeding our flesh when we do that. We need to focus forward, not live in the past.
When we focus forward, and we do not live in the past, it also means we don’t rest on past successes. That happens so much with people in their spiritual lives. “Well, I did this, and I went on this spiritual mission trip, and way back I shared the gospel with somebody, and I actually saw them come to trust Christ, and that was like nine years ago. I still remember that.”
That is not what we do if we’re going to continue to develop our spiritual relationship with Christ. When we rest on our past successes, we’re basically stroking our flesh again, and we’re making excuses.
Well, we need to remember something very, very important that comes out in chapter 3, and it’s found in verse 20, and that is this…our citizenship is in heaven. We need to remember that we are…if we’re going to have a joy-full life…temporary tenants here. We’re just here for a short time. Our true home, if we know Jesus Christ, is our home in heaven. And the only permanent things in this world are people and the Word of God, and we need to remember that. So we need to ask ourselves a question I think on a regular basis…How can I advance the gospel of Jesus Christ? How can I advance the good news of Christ? How can God be honored on this earth? How can He be honored with my life?
We’ve talked about the need to do what we used to do as kids in school, and that is every day that we get up, and that we pledge allegiance to Jesus Christ and the kingdom for which He died. That is what leads to a joy-full life! To start every day out saying, “That is what I do, God. I pledge allegiance to Christ and the kingdom for which He died.” Where do we get the strength for all of that? Well, the first verse of chapter 4 connects back to chapter 3, and that is we find the strength in Him. We stand firm in the Lord. That is where we get the strength and the power.
So, if we’re going to have a joy-full life, there is an essential perspective we need, an essential mindset, an essential dependence we need, and then, we come to chapter 4, which is some essential living that we need if we’re going to have a joy-full life. The key idea in chapter 4 is that maintaining right choices is vital to the spiritual life.
I want to just ask you the question again…Where are your choices taking your life? We make choices every week. We make choices every day. You want to have a joy-full life? Where are your choices taking your life? There are a number of choices brought out for us here in chapter 4. The first one is to choose to diffuse disharmony, which we see in verses 2 and 3. We could call it live in peace with one another. There is a real secret to a joy-full life.
Listen, it’s important for us to understand, people are strange. Alright? When you look in the mirror, remember that, okay? People are strange, and people will frustrate us, but if we want to have a joy-full life, we need to live in harmony with one another. By the way, you could star verse 4 in your Bible because that is one of the keys to living in harmony with one another, when it says, “Rejoice in the Lord.”
Isn’t it true that when we’re having a squabble with somebody, it seems to be a pretty big thing? You may be having a squabble with a sibling or with your spouse or with a friend, and it seems to be a pretty big thing. But there is nothing as significant as rejoicing in what God has done for us. There is nothing as significant as knowing you are forgiven, knowing you are an heir with the Son of God for all of eternity, that the God of the universe chose to call you His friend, that He has guaranteed yours and my future destiny. There is nothing as significant to know…we actually have the truth of God in this book, the Bible. There is nothing as significant as knowing the Holy Spirit, that God Himself is come to dwell inside of us, and that His power is in our heart.
You start rejoicing in all of that, and you think…What’s the big issue of this squabble I’m having with somebody? See, that is the way it works. We need to diffuse disharmony. In verse 5, he says, “Let your gentle spirit be known to all men.” We’re to be kind, considerate, and gracious, not contentious, and rude, and harsh. Listen, when you’re contentious, rude, and harsh, it will just drain the joy out of your life. Remember what Jesus said in Matthew 5:9? He said, “Blessed are the peacemakers.” Peacemakers are going to be blessed.
Second choice we need to make is to choose prayer over anxiety, and we see that in verses 4 to 7. See, it’s a very easy thing to do, it’s the natural thing to do to start fretting and wringing your hands [nervous fidgeting due to worry], and when we fret and we wring our hands, it will drain the joy out of our lives! We are reminded in verse 5 here that the Lord is near. Remember, the Quakers used to say, “The Lord is at your elbow.” We need to remember that when there are things coming at us that make us anxious. We need to remember God is large and in charge, and that God cares deeply. We need to have a settled confidence in that, and as we choose prayer over anxiety, notice what happens in verse 7, “the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
And then, the third thing we’re going to do in terms of essential living if we’re going to have a joy-full life is to choose to focus wisely, and we see that in verses 8 and 9. Our society, our world, is fixated on what is wrong, and what is dark, and what is negative, and what is evil. You look at these magazines that come out…sort of the scandal magazines…and that is all they’re thinking about, and all they’re focused on. The newscasts we see all the time are focused on what is wrong and dark and negative and evil.
See, it’s okay to be informed by the news, men and women. It’s not okay to be consumed by the news. You have this principle of garbage in, garbage out. What tends to occupy our minds tends to leak out into our speech and into our actions. And so, in verse 8, he gives us menu for our mind. He says, “Ponder these kinds of things: the things that are true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and of good repute, and are excellent. Dwell on these things.” I want you to think about taking verse 8 and comparing it with the conversations you’ve had in the last week. How do your conversations stack up with what is in verse 8? Or, maybe even more revealing, your private thoughts.
If we’re going to have a joy-full life, the fourth thing we need to do in terms of choices is to choose contentment daily. We see that in verses 10 to 13. Notice again there verse 11, “I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am.” Can you say that? Can I say that? See, sometimes, the only choice we have in a situation is a choice of attitude. Now remember, we talked a lot about how a lot of us run our lives around the “If only (fill in the blank), then I will enjoy life.” If only this happened, if only I had that, if only, if only! But the secret is to be content in whatever our circumstances are. And the secret to that is verse 13. “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.”
What we need is the reliance on the reality of our relationship with Jesus. We need to understand the sufficiency of His provision no matter what the situation may be. No matter what the situation is that you ever face, that I ever face, the Lord Jesus is adequate for it. He will give you the grace for the place.
And then, fifthly, if we’re going to have a joy-full life, we need to choose to invest in the kingdom, which is what we just looked at recently in verses 14 to 19. Generosity brings blessing to our lives. The only money you’re ever going to see again is the money you invest in the kingdom of God, and Jesus said, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” And under that, you could write the word joy-full. It’s more joy-full to give than to receive.
When we give, there is that fourfold blessing: the recipients are blessed, God is blessed. As it says in verse 18, it is a fragrant aroma to Him, well pleasing. Then thirdly, we are blessed now because we experience joy by giving, and we are blessed in the future as treasure in heaven is laid up for us. And so, I might just ask this question…Is God smiling when He looks at how you and I are investing our resources?
Then Paul closes Philippians with several verses. Beginning with verse 20, he says, “Now to our God and Father be the glory forever and ever. Amen.” And he talks about, “Greet every saint in Christ Jesus. The brethren who are with me greet you.” And then, an amazing statement in verse 22, he says, “All the saints greet you, especially those of Caesar’s household.” What an amazing thing! There were believers in Caesar’s household. Nero was the most outspoken enemy of Christianity.
We don’t know exactly who these people were in the household. They were probably some soldiers in the Imperial Guard because some of the Imperial Guard had to spend time guarding Paul, and they were led to Christ who led other people to Christ. And probably, some of the cooks, and the maids, and the civil servants, and maybe even some of the relatives of Nero had come to know Christ personally.
And then you come to verse 23, where he says, “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.” God’s grace will go with us wherever we go.
John Newton wrote the words,
Through many dangers, toils, and snares,
I have already come;
‘Tis grace hath brought me safe thus far,
And grace will lead me home.
That, men and women, is Philippians in a Phlash.
I want to close by just telling you one quick story, and then we’ll be done. When Lawrence of Arabia…I don’t know if you knew Lawrence of Arabia was a real guy…but when he was in Paris after World War I, he took some of his friends from Arabia to show them the sights of the city of Paris. So, he took them to the Louvre, he took them to the Arch of Triumph, he took them to Napoleon’s tomb, but amazingly, they found very little interest in those touristy places.
These friends of his from Arabia…what really gripped their imagination was the faucet in the bathtub of their hotel room. Yeah! They spent a lot of time turning it on and off. They thought it was wonderful. All they had to do was to turn the handle, and they could get all the water they wanted. And then, later on, when they were ready to leave Paris and return to Arabia, Lawrence found them in the bathroom trying to detach the faucet.
He said, “What are you doing?” And they said, “Well, it’s very dry in Arabia, and what we need are faucets. If we have them, we’ll have all the water we want.” And he had to explain to them that the effectiveness of the faucets did not lie in themselves, but in the immense stream of water works to which they were attached. Behind the water works was the rain and the snowfall on the Alps.
Well see, our pipeline is the life of Christ, and as we are connected to Him, and as we are refreshed in our relationship with Him, and as we look to Him, we will have a joy-full life.
20.
Let’s pray together: Father, we know that You have not promised us that we will be happy, but You have promised by Your grace and by Your power that we can experience a joy-full life. We thank You that the pipeline of the life of Christ is available to us when we go to work, when we go to school, when we live life every day, and we thank You for that. We thank You in Jesus’ name, Amen.
Philippians
Spiritual Essentials
For a Joy-Full Spiritual Life
Chapter One
Key Idea: Difficulty is Common in the spiritual life
Key Response: Keep Centered on your life with Christ
Chapter Two
Key Idea: Humility is integral to the spiritual life
Key Response: Live Distinctively as children of God
Chapter Three
Key Idea: Reliance on the Flesh submarines the spiritual life
Key Response: Press On to daily dependence on Jesus
Chapter Four
Key Idea: Maintaining Right Choices is vital to the spiritual life
Key Responses: Live in Peace with one another (2—3)
Rejoice and Rest in the Lord (4—7)
Stay Focused on the right things (8—9)
Make Contentment a priority (10—13)
Keep Investing for eternity (14—19)