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Introduction to Philippians
Philippians 1:1-2
Turn in your Bibles to 2 Timothy and the third chapter. If you don’t have a Bible, there should be one under a chair in front of you, and you can turn in that to page 166 in the back, and you will be at 2 Timothy, chapter 3. What I want you to do, as we begin today, is look at two verses that really are an expression of the passion of my heart, about the things I feel deeply about, that motivate me, that give me a strong enthusiasm. Those two verses are found in chapter 3, verses 16 and 17, where it says very simply that all Scripture is inspired by God. All of the Book that you hold in your hand is inspired by God, literally God-breathed. They are the words that came directly out of the mouth of God.
All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for a number of things. It is useful for, first of all, teaching. The Bible teaches us what is true, and we need to know what is true in our world today. It is inspired and profitable for teaching, but also for reproof. It will refute error. It will point out what is wrong, and again, we need to know about what is wrong in our culture today. It is profitable for teaching, for reproof, and for correction. The Word of God will straighten us out. When I am off the proper path, it will help return me to the proper path. It is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness. The Bible will teach us to do right. It will build your character and my character as we intersect with it.
Then it says, in verse 17, “So that the man of God (the woman of God, the people of God) may be,” (in my version it says), “adequate.” Technically, the word adequate has a good meaning to it, but in our culture, it has a weak connotation attached to it. I mean, who wants to just be adequate? What’s your home like? Well, it’s adequate. That’s not really what the intention of the original was. “So that the man of God might be fully competent, might be thoroughly equipped, might be prepared in every way, so that we are equipped for every good work.”
What does that mean, men and women? It means that it is an awesome privilege to own a copy of the Bible. Most of the followers of Jesus throughout the centuries have not had this opportunity that we have, and it is a profound privilege to have the opportunity to open up the Bible and gain these benefits that are listed here so that we can be equipped for every good work, every good thing that we should be doing as we live out our life.
Now that is my heart’s passion. That’s what gets me excited. Today we’re going to launch a new study of a new book of the New Testament, which is the book of Philippians. You can turn with me to the left several books, to the book of Philippians, and chapter 1. You can turn to page 154 if you’re using a Bible from underneath the chair, and that will get you to Philippians 1.
Now this is an intriguing and interesting book we have before us, but what is really interesting to me is that I think it is likely that we’re more familiar with bits and pieces of Philippians than we are with the book overall. Part of the reason why is because Philippians is chock-full [packed with] of memorable phrases. It is chock-full of scriptural sound bites [short phrases] that we have often heard or maybe we’ve even passed along to other people. Let’s just look at a few of them. For example, in chapter 1, verse 3: “I thank my God in all my remembrance of you,” and then in verse 21, “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.” Those are very common sound bites that we’ve often heard.
Look at chapter 2, verses 3 and 4. “Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves. Do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interest of others.” Another sound bite that we’re familiar with comes in verse 14. Maybe this is one that you’ve shared with your children if you have children. “Do all things without grumbling or disputing.” See, these are common things that we’ve heard, memorable phrases.
Look at chapter 3, toward the end of verse 13. “Forgetting what lies behind, and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on,” verse 14, “towards the goal, the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” Very memorable phrases that we have heard. Then chapter 4 is really loaded. For example, verse 4, “Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice.” Then verses 6 and 7, maybe these are verses that you have memorized, about how we are to be anxious for nothing, but by prayer and supplication and so forth, and then the peace of God will guard our hearts.
Then maybe even verse 8 is another one that you’ve memorized. For example, we have verse 8 on the wall in our home. “Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence, and anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.”
How about another sound bite? Verse 13, “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.” And then verse 19, “And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory, in Christ Jesus.” A lot of memorable phrases and scriptural sound bites that we are very familiar with if we’ve been around the church at all, but here is one of the concerns I have, I think there is a potential, because we are so familiar with a lot of these phrases, that we may miss the fullness of the message of Philippians, and we don’t want to do that.
Now, we have entitled our study of the book of Philippians this way…Spiritual Essentials for a Joy-Full Life. What we are going to do this morning is simply introduce the book of Philippians to all of us. Today’s plan has three portions to it. The first thing we are going to do is look at some key background. Background is very important when you are studying a book. You need to have the feel, the ambiance of what’s going on.
Then we’re going to look at the special nature of the book of Philippians. This book is very unique in a lot of ways in the New Testament. Then we are going to end by looking at the opening greeting of the book, in verses 1 and 2. So that is our plan, that’s where we’re going. We’re going to look at some key background, we’re going to look at the special nature of the book, and then we’re going to look at the opening greeting.
So here we go. Now, in order to look at the key background, we need to go to the book of background, which is the book of Acts. Turn several pages to the left, and I want you to come to Acts, chapter 16. We’re going to go back in time, space, history, in essence, and look at the beginning, the founding, the starting of the church of the Philippians.
Now, what is happening is Paul is launching off, in Acts 16, on what is called his second missionary journey. This happened about 50 to 52 A.D. We have a map for you, and I want to orient you a little bit, because you get a better feel for things if you can see the map, which is what I initially forgot, which was my laser pointer. I just want you to see up here that Israel was down here in this corner. This is the Mediterranean Sea. This whole piece here is called Asia Minor, and over here you have Greece and you have Europe. So, this is the Middle East over in here, and as the second missionary journey is starting, it is starting from Antioch of Syria, right up there, north of Israel.
In particular, I want you to notice the last verse of chapter 15. It says that Paul and Silas were traveling through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches. So, they started out here in Antioch, and they went up through parts of Syria and into Cilicia right here, and that’s where they were beginning to teach in the churches.
You’ll notice, in verse 1 of chapter 16 it says: “Paul came to Derbe and to Lystra.” They started here, and they went over there, and they came to Lystra and Derbe. I know you can’t all see these names, but that’s what it is talking about right there. “And while he was there,” and this is something Pastor Mark talked about recently, “a disciple was there named Timothy who was the son of a Jewish woman who was a believer, but his father was a Greek, and Timothy was well spoken of by the brothers who were there in Lystra and Iconium, and Paul wanted this man to go with him on the second missionary journey, and he took him and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in those parts, for they all knew that his father was a Greek. Now, while they were passing through the cities, they were delivering the decrees which had been decided on by the apostles and elders who were in Jerusalem, for them to observe. So, the churches were being strengthened in the faith and were increasing in number daily.”
This is one of the reasons why, when you go through a section of the Bible like this, you should have a map out, because you are going to see all these places being mentioned, and if you don’t even have a map, you don’t even know what in the world is going on. I want you to notice what it says in verse 6. It says, “They passed through the Phrygian and Galatian region, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the Word in Asia.”
So in other words, they started here in Antioch of Syria, they went up this way through Lystra and Derbe, and then it says they were going through the Galatian and Phrygian regions here, and the Holy Spirit had forbidden them to go over here into Asia, which is a province, a Roman province, and this is where Ephesus was, and it was in Asia where you have the letters to the seven churches in Revelation 2 and 3.
In other words, Paul wanted to hit the places he had hit before. He traveled up through here, and he wanted to go over here to the province of Asia, and the Holy Spirit said, “No…no, I don’t want you to go there at all.” Then notice what happens in verse 7. It says, “After they came to Mysia, they were trying to go into Bithynia, and the Spirit of Jesus did not permit them.” So, they started out here, they traveled over here, they went up here, they wanted to come here, but the Holy Spirit said, “No, you can’t go there.” They came up here to Mysia, and then they wanted to go straight East into Bithynia, but for a second time, the Holy Spirit said, “No, you can’t go there.”
You know, you’re beginning to get an idea that the Spirit of God has a plan in all of this. He wanted to go to the province of Asia where he had been before, and the Holy Spirit said, “No.” He went on a little bit to the North and to the West, and he said, “Let’s go straight East into Bithynia.” The Holy Spirit said, “No.” What’s going on here? Well notice it says at the end of verse 8 that they came down to Troas, and so they wanted to come to Asia, the Holy Spirit said no, they wanted to go East, the Holy Spirit said no, so they came to this seaside town called Troas, right on the edge of the Aegean Sea, and I want you to see what happens there.
After the Holy Spirit had said no to Paul and to two areas, verse 9, “A vision appeared to Paul in the night, and a man of Macedonia was standing and appealing to him and saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” So, if you picture it, he is right here at Troas. Macedonia is this area across the Aegean Sea, and this was part of Greece…this is what is so significant about the church of the Philippians…part of Europe.
You see, up to this point in time, the gospel message had just been centered around the Middle East, and now, after the Holy Spirit has said no to two different places, there is this vision of a man who is in Europe, a Macedonian, probably dressed in unique clothing, and he is saying to Paul, “Will you come across the Aegean Sea? Come over here and help us.”
So, what do they do? Well, in verse 10 it says, “When he had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.” God is calling us to go over to Europe now. Which eventually of course would lead to a wide spread of the gospel, all the way into Rome. “So, putting out to sea from Troas, we ran a straight course to Samothrace and on the following day to Neapolis and from there to Philippi.”
So, in other words they were here at Troas, and they took a ship across here. Samothrace is a little island off the edge of Macedonia. They went to Neapolis which is right here, but then they traveled very quickly to the city of Philippi, which is located right there.
Now, I want you to see what was involved in Paul deciding, as he traveled over to Macedonia, why Philippi? Why did he stop there? Why did he stop in Philippi? Well notice it says in verse 12, Philippi was a leading city of the district of Macedonia, a Roman colony. What’s really interesting is if you go today, you can see the ancient cities, some of the ruins of the ancient city of Philippi. Philippi was named after a guy by the name of Philip of Macedon. You go, Big deal. Well, it is somewhat of a big deal because he had a famous son, Philip of Macedon did, by the name of Alexander. Perhaps you have heard of Alexander the Great.
So, the city of Philippi was named after Alexander the Great’s father. It was a very key area. It was a fertile area. It was surrounded by gold and silver mining, but that, I don’t think, is the whole reason why Paul said, “I think I’m going to start in Philippi.” There were two other reasons why I think it influenced that. One is that Philippi was on what was called the Egnatian Way. It was really, in its day, a superhighway that had been built from Rome to the East, and Philippi was located right on the Egnatian Way. When you go there, you can see ruins of what was in that day truly a superhighway.
A second reason why I think he chose Philippi was because of…the Gangites River was right there. For example, if you went outside the ancient wall, about half a football field, you would come to the Gangites River. You say, “What is the significance of all that? I don’t really understand.” Well, here is the idea behind it. The equivalent of that today would be to come to a city that was right on the interstate, and not only that, but it had a major airport nearby, because you see in that day, travel up and down the river was very much like our travel from an airport.
Then you had this major superhighway that went right by Philippi. The idea in Paul’s mind was, “If I am going to start sharing the gospel, what better place than a place where the gospel can go upriver and downriver, and the gospel can go to the West and to the East on the Egnatian Way?” So, he says, “You know what? If I’m going to go into Macedonia, if I’m going to go into Europe, that’s the place I want to start.” So, he goes to Philippi.
Now, what is really interesting about Philippi, and we learn about it from verse 12, is that it was a heavily Roman city, and there were very few Jews there. There was no synagogue there, and if you know the book of Acts, that was Paul’s first order. He would go into a town and he’d go to the synagogue because there were people there who had the Old Testament, and he could build on their knowledge of the Old Testament to bring them to the person of Christ. But there is no synagogue in Philippi. In fact, it took 10 Jewish men…were required…to have a quorum for a synagogue, which they called a minyan. There weren’t even 10 men who were Jews. This was a heavy Roman city.
I want you to see that this is fascinating because this is how it all gets started in Europe, which is of course what ultimately led to us getting the gospel. Notice what happens. It says, “On the Sabbath day,” verse 13, “we went outside the gate to a riverside,” (about half a football field out there), “where we were supposing, even though there wasn’t a synagogue there, that there would be a place of prayer, and we sat down and began speaking to the women who had assembled.”
I just want you to feel all of this, okay? Paul wants to go out. He wants to reach out with the gospel. The Holy Spirit says, “No, not over here, no, not over there,” and then there is this vision, Come over here and help us! And then he shows up. Then he us looking for “Who am I going to talk to? I’m going to go just down by the river and see if there is a place of prayer,” and so they began talking to some women who were there. Verse 14, “And there was a woman named Lydia from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple fabrics.” The first person he came upon was really an entrepreneur, a woman from Thyatira who sold purple fabrics.
Now what we need to know is a little bit of background here. There was, in Thyatira, a special purple dye. It was a dye that was fabulous. It was actually squeezed out of a shellfish drop by drop. It was very, very rich in color, and very, very high quality, and yet very expensive. So, we have this entrepreneur, this lady, Lydia, who was involved in a business where she would buy garments that had been dyed from her hometown with this very expensive, rich, purple dye. So, she had a thriving business.
We learn that she was also, there in verse 14, a worshipper of God, which means she was a convert to Judaism. Paul begins to talk to her and notice what happens. She “was listening and the Lord opened her heart to respond to the things spoken by Paul” as he laid out the gospel message of who Christ really was. She chose to believe, and then notice what happens. She and her household, those who had also heard the message, who believed, were then baptized. So, there you have the launching of the “Riverside Community Church” in Philippi, the very first church in all of Europe. What an incredible experience this was.
Then you’ll notice, in verse 15 she goes on to say, “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, will you come to my house and stay?” And she prevailed on them to stay. We know that she had to have had some sort of a villa. She was very wealthy, but in order to take Paul and Silas and Timothy and Luke into her home, it had to be of some great size. That’s how it all began.
Then we get some more insight in verses 16 and 17. It says, “It happened, while we were going to the place of prayer, a slave girl, having a spirit of divination,” she was demon-possessed, “met us who was bringing her masters, those who owned her, much profit by fortunetelling.” Somehow the demonic being would get insights into events, and these guys were making a lot of money, a big killing, off this girl.
Well, notice what happens. “After a while she was following after Paul and us,” Luke is writing this, “and she kept crying out, saying, ‘These men are the bondservants of the Most High God, who are proclaiming to you the way of salvation.'” Now was that true or not? Yeah, that was true. They were the bondservants of the Most High God who were proclaiming the way of salvation, but there was a little problem with all of this, and that is, one day Paul would be leaving, and what if people just thought, “That girl has such incredible insights. Maybe with Paul gone,” in the future, “we’ll just follow after her. Whatever she says is what we’re going to do.” That was a potential problem.
I really, really enjoy verse 18. It says, “She continued doing this for many days, but Paul was greatly annoyed.” It’s like, “I’m getting tired of this! I’m getting sick of this! I’m thinking of the ramifications of this, and what this could mean after we go.” So, he turns and says to the spirit that was inside the girl, “I command you, in the name of Jesus Christ, to come out of her.” And it came out at that very moment. The implication seems to be that we added to the new church, the
“Riverside Community Church,” a second member, a second group of people that came in, Lydia and the people in her household, and now we have the servant girl, but I want you to notice what happens.
Verse 19, “But when her masters saw that their hope of profit was gone,” They’re going, “Now wait a second now! This girl is bringing us in big bucks! You can’t do that! You’re robbing us, basically.” So, what do they do? “They seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace before the authorities.” That’s where the authorities would gather. “And when they brought them to the chief magistrates, they said, ‘These men (these guys over here) are throwing our city into confusion,” and I like the way they throw this one in, “being Jews…” We don’t have very many in here, but this is what happens when you let Jews into town. It’s just going to throw our whole community into confusion and it’s going to cost us money.
Notice he says in verse 21, “They are proclaiming customs which are not lawful for us to accept or to observe, because we’re Romans and they’re Jews.” That’s how the whole thing begins. Well, notice how the crowd gets excited, and they rise up together against them, and the chief magistrates tore their robes. That’s showing complete frustration. They proceeded to order Paul and Silas to be beaten with rods, just grabbing these sticks and basically baring your body, and just whacking on you. Beat them with rods.
Verse 23 says, “When they had struck them with many blows…” This is how it all began in Europe, the outreach to Europe. “…they threw them in a prison, commanding the jailer to guard them securely, and having received such a command, the jailer threw them into the inner prison,” which was the worst part, “and fastened their feet in the stocks.”
Now I want you to just stop reading for a moment and look up at me. Put yourself in their position. What would your reaction be right about now? You know what my reaction would tend to be? I’d be going, “Did I really understand that the Holy Spirit said no to the province of Asia, and to Bithynia? Did I really see a vision of a guy in Macedonia, saying, “Come over here”? Because this isn’t exactly what I was bargaining for, you know, to get whacked with sticks and then thrown into prison, and here I am sitting in stocks. This is horrible. This is tragic. This is terrible. I don’t know if God knew what He was…” That’s probably what I would have done, but I want you to notice the reaction of Paul and Silas in verse 25.
“About midnight, Paul and Silas were praying,” I would have been doing that, believe me, but they were also singing hymns of praise to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. I’m sure it wasn’t just the prisoners, but those who were involved in guarding, were listening to them. What are they thinking? Who are these guys? They’re so different from us. I mean, think about it. They come into this town, they get hassled, they get beaten with rods, they’re thrown into prison, they’re in the stocks, and they’re thanking God! This is really strange. This is really weird.
Do you know what was really going on here, men and women? Paul was living part of what he’s going to write to the Philippians about. You’re going to see how part of what’s in this book comes out of real-life experience. He’s not just giving us this “high and mighty” [lofty] stuff way up here [points to ceiling]. Paul is saying, “No, I lived this. You can live this too.”
Well, the spiritual concert of praise ends up bringing the house down. Verse 26, “Suddenly, there came a great earthquake so that the foundations of the prison house were shaken, and immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone’s chains were unfastened. When the jailer woke up and saw that the prison doors were opened, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself. Do you know why? It was because if you allowed prisoners to escape, you were going to be executed, and it wouldn’t be in a very pleasant manner. He’s thinking, The jail is completely open, everybody has run off…I don’t want to die in agony, so I’ll just go ahead and fall on my own sword and get it over with in an easy manner.
Notice what ends up happening: “Paul cried out with a loud voice, saying, ‘Don’t harm yourself! We’re all here! I know that all the doors are open, and all the chains are off, but friend, we are all still here.’ So, the jailer called for lights, and he rushed in, and trembling with fear, he fell down before Paul and Silas. After he brought them out just to talk with them, he said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?'” I heard you singing. You’re different. Then some miraculous thing happens, and…what must I do to be saved?
“They said, ‘Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and all your household who believe.’ And they spoke the word of the Lord to him together with all who were in his house. And he took them that very hour of the night and washed their wounds.” They were very bloodied from the beating with the rods, “…and immediately he was baptized, he and all his household who also believed.” So, we added more people to the “Riverside Community Church” in Philippi.
I want you to notice what goes on from there. “And he brought them into his house and he set food before them, and rejoiced greatly, having believed in God with his whole household.” Then daylight came, and the chief magistrates sent their policemen to the jail, saying, “You know what? We beat them with rods. They hung around in the stocks all night. Now we’re going to let them go. Release those men.” The jailer reported those words to Paul, saying, “The chief magistrates have sent to release you. Therefore, you can just go in peace.”
I love this. Verse 37: “And Paul said to him, ‘Whoa, whoa, whoa! Time out. Lil’ time out right here, because,’ he says, ‘they have beaten us in public without trial, men who are Romans? Wait a minute!'” They hadn’t stopped to ask that question. They were Jews, but they never asked, “Are you Roman citizens?” because it was just like in our country. It was completely illegal to levy a punishment on someone without a fair trial. You do that and you are in hot water. He said, “We are Romans, and you have thrown us into prison, and now you want to send us away secretly? No, I don’t think so.” He said, “Let the magistrates come themselves, and they can just walk us out of here.”
The policemen, verse 38, report these words to the chief magistrates. I love this again. “They were afraid when they heard that they were Romans.” Oh, my goodness! We could be thrown out of office! We could receive the same kind of punishment they got, because they were Romans! We have violated the law! So, they come to Paul and Silas, and they appeal to them. They kept begging them, verse 39, “Will you guys just go, please? I mean, we messed up here, but would you just kind of quietly go off? Just kind of leave town?” I get what they do here. Paul goes, Yeah. We’ll be leaving, but we’re just going to talk to the people in the “Riverside Community Church” before we go. Any problems with that? “So, they entered into the house of Lydia, and when they saw the brethren, they encouraged them, and then they departed.”
This is all part of the background, the feel of the book of Philippians. In fact, what is interesting is, if you follow through the book of Acts, you’ll know that in chapter 22, Paul gets arrested. He gets moved around to several different places in the book of Acts, and then, if you’ll turn with me to Acts, chapter 28, I want you to see what happens toward the end of the book of Acts. As the book of Acts closes, Paul gets shipped to Rome, in Acts 28:16. It says he was allowed to stay by himself with a soldier who was guarding him.
When you were under house arrest you could rent an apartment, but you were still under arrest, so you had to have a soldier chained to you. So, for three eight-hour shifts, you had one guy with Paul for eight hours, then another guy for eight hours, then another guy for eight hours. That is the way he was held in house arrest in Rome. Then, in verse 30, one of the last couple verses of Acts, “And he stayed there for two full years in his own rented quarters…” People could come and go and see him, but he was still chained, you see, to that guard, because he was still under arrest, “…preaching the Kingdom of God and teaching concerning the Lord Jesus Christ with all openness, unhindered.”
Now, go back with me to the book of Philippians. We see how the church got started, the “Riverside Community Church” in Philippi, and we see that Paul ends up being arrested, and he ends up being in Rome, in prison. We can see in Philippians that he is in prison when he writes this. He mentions his imprisonment in verse 7. He mentions it in verse 13 and in verse 14. He mentions his imprisonment in verse 17.
So, it is about ten years later, about 62 A.D., from when he first came to Philippi. Now, ten years later, he is writing a letter. Many of you have heard about the “Prison Epistles” in the New Testament. They were letters written while Paul was in prison, or while he was under arrest. We have Ephesians, we have Colossians, we have Philippians, and we have Philemon…the Prison Epistles.
Now that is just some key background, all right? I just want you to have a feel, when you pick this book up and read it, for what was happening. That leads us into the second thing we want to look at, which is the special nature of the book. This is a very special, unique book in the New Testament. It is the most personal of all of Paul’s letters. It has a shepherding friendship feel to it.
What is missing from Philippians is a strong stance that he has to take in some other letters, on his apostolic authority. You don’t see the tight theological reasoning, the in-depth arguments. It’s not here in this book. It’s very personal, very much a friendship-style book, and I think there are two reasons why that is true. One is that I believe the Philippians had had a special impression on Paul. He just felt a special affinity for them, for the “Riverside Community Church.” They were the first church of Europe. That was big time, and how it all started was so unique to Paul.
Another reason why I think it is personal, and there is a friendship feel, a shepherding feel to the book, is that these people had a special connection with Paul. He’d been a lot of places, he started a lot of churches, but the Philippians had a special place. Look at chapter 4 and verses15-16. He says, “You yourselves know, Philippians, that at the first preaching of the gospel, after I left Macedonia, after I got out of the area, no church shared with me in the manner of giving and receiving, but you alone.” Out of all these churches I reached, you are the only ones who thought about my financial needs. He says that in verse 16, “For even in Thessalonica, you sent a gift more than once for my needs.” He just had a special connection with this church.
There’s a very, very special nature to the book. It is the most personal, and here is the thing I like about the book, is it hits right where we live, because the culture of Philippi is a lot like our own. In fact, when you read through the book, you can just catch the smell, a strong whiff, of something from the culture of their day, and that was pride and self-focus. There was a lot of pride, a lot of self-focus. People in that culture were interested in what interests me. I’m interested in my interests. I’m interested in my experience. I’m interested in my needs. That was their culture, and it’s a lot like ours today.
He has to write to them, and if you look at chapter 2, verse 3, he says, “Do nothing,” Don’t be like your culture! “Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind, regard one another as more important than yourselves.” That’s radical thinking. “Do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.” And then in verse 21, he talks about how there are a lot of people running around in the religious community, and he says they all seek after their own interests and not those of Christ Jesus. That was the culture in which they lived.
Think about the people that you work with, that you live near. They look after their own interests, not those of Christ Jesus. The idea seems to be that this kind of pride and self-focus will sap an individual’s life. It will sap the life of a church. It will rob you of the sense of joy in how you live and relate to other people, how you serve them. It’s a very real kind of a book.
These believers were experiencing, in their life, suffering and difficulty. We know that. There are a lot of us gathered here today who find ourselves in the midst of some suffering and difficulty. He writes to them in verse 29 of chapter one. He says, “For to you it has been granted for Christ’s sake, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake.” Then, in chapter 3 and verse 10, he says, “My desire is that I may know Jesus and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His suffering, that I might experience some of what Christ went through.”
We know that they were experiencing suffering and difficulty because why else would you need verse 14 of chapter 2? “Do all things without grumbling.” Don’t whine; don’t complain about what you’re going through. This is real life stuff. Part of his thrust is, when you have that suffering and difficulty, it will foster anxiety. You will become very anxious. That’s why he says, in chapter 4 verse 6, “Be anxious for nothing.”
See, these people were very much like us in our culture. Part of what he says to the Philippians is, and I think he is saying to us, “You need to reorder your thinking. You need to adjust your perspective. Don’t think like the people around you.” In chapter 2, verse 2, he says, “Make my joy complete, being of the same mind.” You need to think in a similar manner, folks, intent on one purpose, united in spirit. “Have this attitude,” verse 5, “in yourselves, which was also in Christ Jesus.” Your thinking should be more like that of Christ than like that of the culture.
Then, in chapter 3 and verse 15, he says, “As many of us as are perfect,” or mature, “have this attitude.” This is the way that you ought to think! See, right thinking looks at circumstances differently. It looks at circumstances and difficulty as an opportunity, not as an obstacle. Was that a guy who was just talking theoretically when difficulty came into his life? See, he was thinking that way. That’s what led to him singing hymns of praise. Difficulty had come, and he said, “This is an opportunity, not an obstacle.”
Right thinking affects how we serve. We need to have right thinking about the gospel, right thinking about how we are to live our lives. One of the thrusts in this book is this…he is saying to the believers in Philippi and to us, “Focus. You need to have a central focus on the presence and power of the Savior as you live your life.”
Someone has calculated that in the 104 verses in the book of Philippians, 51 of them mention the Lord Jesus by name. Paul is saying, “That’s where your focus needs to be; on the presence and the power of the Savior.” There is, of course, an undercurrent of joy in this. Some have called the book of Philippians the “Epistle of Joy.” But it’s not a superficial kind of joy, a “Don’t worry, be happy…” kind of joy.
It’s a joy that we can experience apart from the circumstances we’re in. It’s a joy that we can experience apart from the way people treat us. It’s a deep joy that can be sparked in our life even when we are in dark places. I love what Sam Gordon has said about Philippians. He says, “This is a delectably delicious piece of mail that sparkles with practical truth.” We have an adventure ahead, men and women.
I want you to notice the outline we gave to you on the book, as it talks about Spiritual Essentials for Joy-Full Life, and I’ll just review through basically the thrust in the chapters as I see it. Chapter 1…a spiritual essential is essential perspective. The key idea? Difficulty is common in the spiritual life. The key response? Keep centered on your life with Christ. In chapter 2 he talks about an essential mindset we ought to have. The key idea is…Humility in serving is integral to the spiritual life. The key response we are to have is…Live distinctively as children of God.
In chapter 3 he is going to talk about the essential dependence we are to have and the key idea is…Reliance on the flesh submarines the spiritual life. The key response we are to have is…Press on to daily dependence on Jesus. In chapter 4 he is going to talk about essential living. The key idea is…Maintaining right choices is vital to the spiritual life. He is going to give us some key responses that we are to have as we work through all of that.
So, we said we were going to give you some key background because I wanted you to feel the book of Philippians. We have talked a little bit about the special nature, and we want to end now, by talking about the opening greeting in chapter 1, verses 1 and 2. What we have is the very common tri-opening to New Testament letters, where it says, “This is from,” then, “This is the people to whom,” and then there is a greeting given.
Notice, in verse 1 it says, “Paul and Timothy, bondservants of Christ Jesus,” literally, it’s “slaves of Christ Jesus.” Isn’t it interesting how he does not lead off with them? He does not say, you know, “Remember the guy with a sensational no-one-can-top-this testimony? I’m writing to you now.” He doesn’t say that. He says, “a slave.”
You know, a slave is someone who is bought and owned by the master. Paul says, “Timothy and I, we’re slaves. Jesus is the first cause of all that happens. Nothing happens except it comes through His fingers.” He says, “I am a slave and Timothy is a slave.” A slave is subject to the master. He will do things according to the agenda of the master. Whatever the master wants, he does. Whatever the master asks, he does. Whatever the master calls him to, he does.
By the way, he is not the only one who is a slave; we are too. Paul writes, in 1 Corinthians 6:20, and he says, “You are not your own.” For those who have come to know Christ, “You have been bought with a price; therefore, glorify God in your body.”
These servants of Christ Jesus are writing, and it is to the saints of Christ Jesus who are in Philippi. Now, when we see “saints,” it doesn’t mean those guys that the Vatican got together and decided to honor. A saint in New Testament lingo [terms] was not some superstar that is looked upon. Out of all the followers of Jesus, we’ll pick out the superstars. No, it wasn’t that way at all. The saints are a reference to those who have been set apart to Jesus, who God called into His forever family, and he is writing to the saints, the believers, who are in Philippi.
Then it says, “…including the overseers and deacons.” By the way, this is the only time in any of Paul’s letters he ever did that, where he highlighted the leaders in this way. The overseers were the overseers, the elders, the leaders of the church. The deacons would be like the assistants to the elders, much like a lot of our staff here. You think, why here does he mention them? I think there are a couple reasons why.
One is, we’re going to learn from chapter 4 verse 18, that they had sent another financial gift to him, so he wants to thank the whole church including the leadership for it, but I think there is another reason why he mentions the leaders here. That is that there was friction in the church, in chapter 4, verses 2 and 3. I think even some of the leaders were involved in that. It was one of those deals like, “I’m writing to you now, to all of the believers, and I also want you leaders to understand that I am writing to you too. You need to heed what is in this letter.”
Then in verse 2 he says, “Grace to you and peace from God our Father, in the Lord Jesus Christ.” Grace to you, God’s unmerited favor. To those who did not deserve anything, God gave to us everything, right? We deserve punishment, but through Christ we are pardoned and justified. He says, “Grace to you,” and then, “peace.” Peace is a tranquility that is the result of having been recipients of God’s grace. Grace frees us from the fear of death and judgment, and then peace comes along and calms our spirit, even when we walk in dark times. Hey, we have a great adventure ahead of us as we study the book of Philippians.
I want to close, just before we sing, with some life response today. Every time we come in contact with the Word, we need to be thinking about a life response. My life response is basically this, to ask everybody here this question…What is your relationship with Jesus Christ today? Perhaps you are here today, and we think this is true of many of us, and you are, like I am, a slave of Christ Jesus. You have been bought and owned by the Savior. What ramification should that have?
Well, Romans, chapter 12, verses 1 and 2 talks about that, where Paul says that we are to present our bodies to Him as a living sacrifice and that we are not to be conformed to the world around us, shaped by the world, but we are to be transformed, we are to be different people than the people we work with and live near, by the renewing of our minds. If you are a follower of Jesus, and you are a slave, you’re bought and owned, that’s what He wants out of you, for you to present your body to Him as a living sacrifice.
It is likely that there are others of us though, who could be here today, who don’t have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ yet. What does he want from you? Well, I think of those words from Acts 16, verses 30 and 31, when the jailer said, “Paul, what must I do to be saved? What must I do to be rescued from sin and judgment and from myself?” The answer? “Believe on the Lord Jesus, and you will be rescued.”
You see, when we choose to believe in, and to trust in, and to rest in who Christ is, what He came here to do, to die for you and be raised again from the dead, and to offer you new life, that’s the response, if you don’t yet know Him, that you ought to have. Make that life decision to turn and trust in Him.
Let’s pray together. Father, we just thank You for the Word of God that is inspired and profitable for us. We thank You that You have given us Bibles, that we have access to it. We thank You, Father, for those of us who know You, for the opportunity that we have to honor You with our lives. Oh, what a great privilege!
Father, I do want to pray for those who may be here, who don’t know Christ personally, that they would realize that the response God wants from them is that they would turn to Him, admit their own failures, believe in and trust in the Lord Jesus as the One who bled and died for them, and by doing that they can be rescued. They can come to know the One, to whom to know is to receive life that is everlasting, not only for now but for all eternity. We just thank You. We would pray that any who don’t know You would trust in You. We pray these things in Jesus’ name, Amen.
Philippians
Spiritual Essentials For a Joy-Full Life
Chapter One – Essential Perpspective |
Key Idea: Difficulty is Common in the spiritual life |
Key Response: Keep Centered on your life with Christ |
Chapter Two – Essential Mindset |
Key Idea: Humility in Serving is integral to the spiritual life |
Key Response: Live Distinctively as children of God |
Chapter Three – Essential Dependence |
Key Idea: Reliance on the Flesh submarines the spiritual life |
Key Response: Press On to daily dependence on Jesus |
Chapter Four – Essential Living |
Key Idea: Maintaining Right Choices is vital to the spiritual life |
Key Response: 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) |