Philippians
1:1-30
“Paul
and Timotheus, the servants of Jesus Christ, to all the saints in Christ Jesus
which are at Philippi, with the bishops [Greek: overseers] and
deacons: grace be unto you, and
peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank my God upon every remembrance of you,
always in every prayer of mine for you all making request with joy, for your
fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now; being confident of this
very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ: even as
it is meet for me to think this of you all, because I have you in my heart;
inasmuch as both in my bonds, and in the defense and confirmation of the
gospel, ye all are partakers of my grace [margin: partakers with me of grace]. For God is my record, how greatly I long
after you all in the bowels of Jesus Christ. And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in
knowledge and in all judgment; that ye may approve things that are
excellent; that ye may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ;
being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto
the glory and praise of God. But I would
ye should understand, brethren, that the things which happened unto me
have fallen out rather unto the furtherance of the gospel; so that my bonds in
Christ are manifest in all the palace, and in all other places; and many
of the brethren in the Lord, waxing confident by my bonds, are much more bold
to speak the word without fear. Some
indeed preach Christ even of envy and strife; and some also of good will: the one preach Christ of contention, not
sincerely, supposing to add affliction to my bonds: but the other of love, knowing that I am set
for the defense of the gospel. What
then? notwithstanding, every way, whether in pretense, or in truth, Christ is
preached; and I therein do rejoice, yea, and will rejoice. For I know your prayer, and the supply of the
Spirit of Jesus Christ, according to my earnest expectation and my hope,
that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as
always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it
be by life, or by death. For to me
to live is Christ, and to die is gain. For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be
with Christ; which is far better. Nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more needful of you. And having this confidence, I know that I
shall abide and continue with you all for your furtherance and joy of faith;
that your rejoicing may be more abundant in Jesus Christ for me by my coming to
you again. Only let your conversation
[Greek: “conduct”] be as it becometh the gospel of Christ: that whether I come and see you, or else be
absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one
mind striving together for the faith of the gospel; and in nothing terrified by
your adversaries: which is to them an
evident token of perdition, but to you of salvation, and that of God. For unto you it is given in the behalf of
Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake. Having the same conflict which ye saw in me,
and now hear to be in me.”
Paul’s First
Visit And The Founding Of The Philippian Church
“In
the course of his second missionary journey Paul set sail from Troas,
accompanied by Silas (who bears the full name Silvanus in 2 Corinthians 1:19; 1
Thessalonians 1:1; 2 Thessalonians 1:1), Timothy and Luke, and on the following
day reached Neapolis (Acts 16:11). Thence he journeyed by road to Philippi, first crossing the pass some
1,600 ft. high which leads over the mountain range called Symbolum and
afterward traversing the Philipplan plain. Of his experiences there we have in Acts 16:12-40 a singularly full and
graphic account. On the Sabbath [which
yes, the apostle Paul was observing], presumably the first Sabbath after their
arrival, the apostle and his companions went out to the bank of the Angites,
and there spoke to the women, some of them Jews, others proselytes, who had
come together for purposes of worship. One of these was named Lydia, a Greek proselyte from Thyatira, a city of
Lydia in Asia Minor…she accepted the apostolic message and was baptized with her
household (Acts 16:15), and insisted that Paul and his companions should accept
her hospitality during the rest of their stay in the city [of Philippi].” [For a full background history of Philippi
see, http://bibleatlas.org/philippi.htm]
“Introduction to the Epistle of
Paul the Apostle to the Philippians”
“As
Paul was writing his letter around A.D. 62 to the church in Philippi (which was
located in present-day Greece and was a capital city), he was in prison in
Rome, waiting for his final appeal before Caesar. He was in the Mamartine Prison, down in the
lower dungeon, and was chained to a prison guard. Epaphroditus and Timothy were both with him,
helping with his writings, and waiting to carry his letters to the various
churches. Epaphroditus would deliver the letter to the church at Philippi, and
Tychicus would take his letter to Ephesus. This letter to Philippi is a very special letter. Paul had obvious love for this church and he
wrote to them to thank them for a gift they had recently sent to him. He used this occasion to thank them and also
to give them some instructions on unity within the church. The theme of the book is joy, which is
especially notable since he was writing from an uncomfortable and ominous
position in prison, awaiting his fate at the hands of Caesar. Despite the terrible circumstances, Paul had
learned the secret to contentment and joy and wanted to share this with a
church for which he had so much affection. Paul had founded the church in Philippi on his second missionary
journey. He and Silas had been thrown
into jail there and were miraculously delivered by the Lord, which let to the
conversion of the jailer. Acts 16 tells
this story, as well as Paul’s encounter with Lydia and of the girl who was
delivered from demons. These people
comprised the early church at Philippi, and the church grew into a healthy body
that supported Paul more than any other church. It was appropriate that Paul would write to them from prison, exhorting
them to have the joy of the Lord, since he had been in prison in Philippi and
was singing while in chains there years earlier. These Christians had seen firsthand how joy
can come while in the most difficult of circumstances, and Paul was encouraging
them so they would know that nothing had changed and that God was still in
charge. Philippians is a special book
that shows us how to live above the present circumstances, rising above
adversity not just by surviving, but by thriving in the joy of the Lord.” [p.
1559, The WORD FOR TODAY, NEW KING JAMES VERSION, opening commentary on the
letter to the Philippians, by Pastor Chuck Smith]
“We
come to this Epistle to the church at Philippi, very emotional Epistle, very
warm. Paul doesn’t open defending his
apostleship, he doesn’t address them about any particular heresy in the church,
he calls them his beloved. The personal
pronoun “I” is so many times mentioned, I start to count, but Paul just sharing
his heart with this church. There are
some problems. Chapter 4, verse 2,
there’s two women there [laughter], that are at each other’s throats, causing a
division. That hasn’t happened in 2,000
years, but there was there at Philippi. [he’s being facetious] Now that’s
not, in the realm of problems, that’s not bad, just two. And in the end of chapter 3 Paul quickly
mentions those that were trying to spread false doctrine, the Judaizers, but
there’s no sense that it had taken root in Philippi. It speaks of them saying their god is their
belly. In chapter 2 he mentions a
problem with Epaphroditus, who was coming to Rome, to bring probably the fifth
offering from the church at Philippi to Paul, and became sick on the way, to
the point of death. And evidently he
recovered then in Rome, and Paul sent him back to the church at Philippi with the
Epistle that we have this evening. And
in the first chapter Paul talks about the fact that whether he lives or dies,
he’s waiting to appear before Caesar, that it doesn’t make any difference to
him. He’s ready for whatever the Lord
has for his life. So it isn’t that there
aren’t problems touched on throughout. But there’s no major particular theme like there was in the Epistles to
the Corinthians, Galatians or so forth. So, a very warm letter. Paul on
his second missionary journey with Silas and Timothy had desired to go into
Asia Minor and do a work in Turkey, and it says there that the Holy Spirit
forbid them. And then it said the Spirit
of Jesus specifically forbid them to go to Bithynia. It’s very interesting in Acts 16 to see the
Holy Spirit both opening doors to the mission field, and closing doors to the
mission field. We normally wouldn’t
think that way. But the whole Spirit of
Jesus forbid them to preach the gospel in a particular area. But we see the Holy Spirit in charge of
opening mission doors and closing mission doors in Acts chapter 16. And Paul
was frustrated, because he was zealous, and he wanted to move forward, and at
night he was given a vision, and a man from Macedonia, calling Paul to come
over into that area of Macedonia. It’s
interesting, it’s a man from Macedonia calling, and Lydia [a woman] is the
first convert. And so often we use the
Macedonian call in the wrong way, that was part of Paul being forbidden going
in other areas, and then this Macedonian call. And it’s through that Macedonian call that you and I are here. It’s through that, that the gospel goes to
Europe, the first preaching of the gospel in Europe, and the spread of the
gospel westward, was because of this set of circumstances in Acts 16. And that’s primarily why so many of us at
least are here this evening, the gospel spreading westward from there. Paul comes to Neapolis by ship, and then ten
miles inward is the city of Philippi. When he comes to Philippi there’s no synagogue there [Paul usually evangelized
in the local synagogue first whenever he arrived in a new location], so on the
Sabbath day he hears there’s a place of prayer down by the river, the Gangities
river [or also called the river Angites], a mile outside of town. He goes down, and there’s a few prominent
women there, one named Lydia who was from Thyatira. She wasn’t even a European [i.e. she wasn’t a
Macedonian, a Greek], she’s from back in Turkey, but she’s there, and she is
selling scarlet garments [as a living, not today on the Sabbath, where they’ve
gathered to worship], scarlet dyed garments, there was a particular type of a
shellfish that produced a red dye in its throat, and they would, I don’t know
how you grab the throat of a shellfish, but anyhow, however you do it, you get that
out of there, and of course in Rome scarlet robes and so much of the garb, the
coloring very important. And evidently
she’s wealthy, and they receive Christ, and then she asks Paul, Silas, Timothy,
and by the time we get there [in Acts 16], the personal pronoun “we” is being
used, so Luke is with Paul there in Philippi. [This would be on Paul’s first visit to Philippi, on his second
missionary journey.] As Paul then goes
into the city to share, a young demon-possessed girl begins to follow Paul
through the town, screaming “These are the servants of the Most High God come
to show us the way of salvation.” They’re much more orthodox than some denominations today, the demons are
orthodox, they believe there’s one God. And it’s very interesting, for three days she follows Paul around
screaming this out. Now that would have
given me a headache. And it’s very
interesting to see Paul doesn’t immediately react by saying ‘I bind you, I
do this, I do that, I put chains on you,’ you know, all that
deliverance stuff. Three days [you know what, it was free
advertising, and the advertising was accurate]. Until it finally says ‘He’s grieved in the spirit.’ Finally the Holy Spirit gives Paul leave, and
he turns around and in a word he rebukes the demon, the demon comes out of the
girl, the girl falls down, delivered, and her owners are now mad, because she
had the spirit of divination, you know, like Jean Dixon, Nostrodamos, you
know. She had her own psychic hotline I
guess, I don’t know. Now their means of
income is gone, so they lay hands on Paul, these guys, and Silas and get them,
and they beat them, because they delivered this girl from a demon. So they’re getting beat for this, and handed
over to the prison-keeper in Philippi, who when he hears what they’ve done, and
it’s interesting, they say ‘The thing that these guys are teaching is not
proper for us to give ear to, because we are Romans.’ Very interesting, in Philippi. They put Paul down in a dungeon with Silas,
down in the basement, and they would be changed spread-eagle, sitting down,
legs spread as far as possible, extremely painful. And they’re chained down there in the prison,
and Paul says to Silas, ‘You know any good worship songs?’ Now if you and I were there with Paul he may
have been singing solo, huh? But Paul
says, ‘I know that one,’ so they start singing, down in the
blackness. Now, you have to understand,
Paul’s not singing saying, ‘Wait till you see what happens, this is great,
we’re gonna start to sing, there’s gonna be an earthquake, we’re gonna get
out.’ He never read the
chapter. It isn’t like he’s singing with
an ulterior motive other than he loves Jesus. So, with that kind of heart he begins to sing, and Silas is singing, and
all of the prisoners are listening, and God starts to listen, starts to tap his
foot, Philippi shakes [laughter], not a normal earthquake because all the
prison doors open and all the chains fall off everybody’s wrists, great
earthquake. The prison-keeper grabs a sword,
he’s going to kill himself. Paul says, ‘No,
no, we’re all here, don’t do that.’ Because Philippi was a Roman colony, Philippi has all the rights of a
Roman city, the soil is considered Italian soil. Philippi named after Philip of Macedon, the
father of Alexander the Great, who had a victory there about 360AD, changes the
name of the city to Philippi. And by now
there’s a long Roman name, it’s four names, it’s long, but it’s Philippi. 42BC Cassius and Brutus, who murdered Julius
Caesar, I’m catching up, mustered their troops there and fought with the Roman
troops and were defeated. When they were
defeated the Caesar who took the throne for Julius asked a large number of the
soldiers to stay in Philippi, and in 31BC it becomes a Roman colony, which is
just Italica, that is considered Rome. And it has all of the privileges of Rome, the official language is
Latin. I’m sure most of them spoke
Greek. You weren’t allowed to flog
someone there, you’re not allowed to scourge someone, you couldn’t touch a
Roman citizen there without being put to death yourself. So it’s a military colony, it’s considered
part of Italy itself, of Rome. So they
cry ‘It isn’t right for us to listen to these guys, because the stuff
they’re spreading isn’t right for us to listen to, because we’re Romans.’ So the problem is, when the prison opens
up, and the prison-keeper thinks the prisoners are escaping, in Rome, back in
Italy, if a keeper let someone escape, he was put to death in their place. So he immediately takes a sword and he’s
going to kill himself, and Paul says, ‘No, no, no, no, we’re all here.’ And then the prison-keeper comes down and
starts to talk to him. No doubt the
prison-keeper knows the earthquake was extra-ordinary, heard the girl following
Paul around for three days [like I said, free and accurate advertising, which
did serve a purpose], and says, ‘OK, what’s the deal?’. Paul shares Christ, he’s saved, along with
his household, they’re baptized [see http://www.unityinchrist.com/baptism/What%20is%20Baptism.htm]. They clean up Paul and Silas’ wounds, because
it says he had been beaten, the word is “flayed”, there skin had been ripped
off. He puts them back in the prison, he
goes to tell the magistrate, ‘Hey, these guys, we need to get them out of
here, you beat them, they’re Roman citizens.’ The magistrate hears that Paul is a Roman
citizen, they come to him and say ‘Hey, get out of here, leave town.’ Paul says, ‘No way. I’m a Roman citizen. You beat me, you threw me in prison, you
could be put to death for this. I think
I’m going to wander around Philippi for awhile.’ [laughter] Now you know that not only is that Paul’s nature, but he does that for
the sake of the church that he knows is going to be born. I mean, the three prominent characters in the
church right now are Lydia, a girl that was demon possessed is delivered, and
the prison-keeper and his family. And
Paul wants the magistrate and the civil leaders to recognize that there is no
law against Christianity, that they have no right to beat any other Roman
citizens who live in the town, and he stays for awhile just for the sake of
this newborn church.
Everybody Is A
Slave To Something, Has A Master
Now,
this is ten years later, when he’s writing this Epistle to the
Philippians. They have sent him at least
four, possibly five offerings. He never
asked for it, and they were poor themselves. They sent him one or two in Thessalonica, one in Corinth. They had sent him a number of offerings. And now he’s in Rome, he’s chained to a
Praetorian Guard, he’s awaiting his first appearance before Caesar, they have
word of that, they remember when Paul was incarcerated in Philippi, so they’re
sending an offering to him again. And
through the years Paul has had an extremely warm relationship with this church
at Philippi. He mentions it in Romans,
and he mentions it in the end of 2nd Corinthians chapter 8. So as he writes there’s a lot of warmth to
what Paul has to say to this church that is so beloved to him. “Paul and Timotheus,” which was
Timothy (I wonder how Timothy felt about being called Timotheus?), “Paul and
Timotheus, the servants of Jesus Christ, to all the saints in Christ Jesus
which are at Philippi, with the bishops [Greek: overseers] and deacons:”
(verse 1) Paul and Timothy, the
servants of Jesus Christ. Now you notice
he’s not saying ‘an apostle by the will of God,’ he’s not going to
defend himself. This church has not
challenged who he is, they haven’t attacked him, they haven’t said he’s small,
his voice is squeaky, we like Apollos, none of that is going on, this church
loves Paul. ‘Paul and Timothy, the
servants of Jesus Christ,’ is how he begins. The doulos [Strongs 1401, a
slave...:--bond(-man), servant] servant sounds bad enough, if somebody’s
hiring, somebody’s working in their house as a servant, you might consider it
if they paid enough. You can call me
whatever you want if you pay me that much. But this is a slave, a bond-slave, someone whose owned, no rights. Paul and Timothy, bond-slaves of Jesus
Christ. And he’s going to reflect that
attitude throughout this Epistle. I
mean, Paul’s going to say, “to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” His life is completely given
over to Christ. Now, everybody here is a
slave to something. Everybody here has a
master. There’s only one Master that
sets you free. When I took drugs, it was
a master. It was a cruel master. It did you in, it gets you involved, and then
it wants to take control, it doesn’t want to set you free. Lust and sexual sin, pornography, cruel
master, seeking to gain complete domination over someone, not set someone
free. Alcohol [the abuse of it], the
same thing. Gambling, the same
thing. There should be no sense of
grating on us when we hear ‘Paul and Timothy the slaves of Jesus Christ.’ You know, the beautiful picture of that is in
Exodus 21. Exodus 20 gives us the 10
Commandments, the next chapter talks about someone whose a bond-slave whose
sold to be a slave into the household of a man, and it says, ‘if he stays
there, and he loves his master, when his seven years is up and it’s time for
him to be set free, if he says in his heart, ‘no, since I’ve come to serve this
master, I’ve got a wife, I’ve got children, I’ve got a life, there is greater freedom
serving this master than I had when I was out on my own.’’ But then he was taken to the door of
the house, and they put his ear against the door and took an awl and pierced a
hole through his ear, you know, just like they do at the mall today, only with
a door and a big piece of iron. They
poked a hole in your ear and put a golden ring in your ear, and it meant that
you would never leave now, that master, you would be his slave willingly for the rest of your life. Because that
slave had fallen for him, ‘In this master’s house I have found
blessing. I have found a family, I have
found life, I never want to go out again.’ And Paul is committed to his Master, Paul and Timothy bond-slaves,
servants of Jesus Christ.
What Is A
Saint?
And
he’s writing to the “saints in Christ Jesus, which are at
Philippi.” Now again, those that are
separated, hagion, hagios [Strongs #39 and 40, a sacred thing, one]
those that are set aside. We have an
idea of sainthood today, primarily from the Roman Catholic church, and that
would be someone like Mother Theresa that’s lived a life self-sacrifice and
that’s exemplary in some way, drawn the attention of a lot of people, and
somewhere after that there are people praying somewhere near where she’s
entombed, or interned or someone touching her casket, there’s a number of
miracles then that are, you know, recorded, and that are bonafide, genuine,
then there’s a possibility they might make you a saint, and then you get to be
in somebody’s front yard or on their dashboard. And you know we have this idea of sainthood,
that you have to do it perfect, you kind of have to float off the ground a
little bit, and if they’re really a saint you can tell, because if you see
somebody you think they’re a saint, you turn the lights out and if they glow in
the dark you’re probably a saint. But
the New Testament doesn’t know anything of that. If you want to know what a New Testament
saint looks like, look at the person next to you. Look around. Now, ok, look, you don’t have to go tell your religious relatives they
aren’t saved, that you’re a saint, they’ll want to put you away. The Bible recognizes that you’re a saint, by
the power of the blood of Jesus Christ, you’ve been saved, you’ve been sealed
by the Spirit of Promise, your life has been set aside. And it is on the merit of God’s completed
work that he calls us saints, not on the merit of your performance. Now that’s no excuse to live carnally [Paul
in 1st and 2nd Corinthians covered that subject pretty
clearly and thoroughly]. But here we
are, Wednesday night, saints. Feels
good, doesn’t it? I like it, here we
are. I’d much rather be here than on a
dashboard, I’ll tell you that, especially on a day when it’s this hot, you know
what I mean [laughter]. OK, I’m
sorry.
The Simplicity
Of The Apostolic Church Structure
“with
the bishops and deacons:” (verse 1d) there, so the church has taken some structure there at Philippi, there are
“overseers” [Greek for the King James English word “bishops”] and
“deacons.” The only particular office of
church government that Jesus prescribes is the “pastor”, the poymay, the
pastor. Lightfoot says by the end of the
first century there were already Episcopal, Congregational and Presbyterian
forms of government. Now that’s hearing
right from the apostles who heard right from Jesus [that the only particular
office of church government that Jesus prescribes is the pastor and of course,
under them, the deacons, cf. Acts 6]. So, it didn’t take the Church long to get confused. But the [early] Church does recognize that
those with spiritual gifts of oversight, and often through the New Testament,
whether it’s saying that an elder, a presbytus, is the office of the overseer
is the function, or whether there is an overseer in the sense of a senior pastor
with those assisting. Ah, certainly the
spiritual care of the Church is dependent upon those whom the Lord calls and
equips to oversee, and to watch, and to tend and to feed the flock of God. A spiritual gift, it can’t be earned, you
don’t get it at graduation, it isn’t something that man confers upon you, it
has to come from the Lord. [That, for
instance was the job of Calvary Chapel’s senior Pastor, Chuck Smith, overseeing
more than 1,600 Calvary Chapel’s worldwide. He was a wonderful man whom God used greatly, right up to the time of
his death on 3 October 2013. See, http://www.unityinchrist.com/history/smith.htm. All Calvary Chapels are semi-autonomous, as
the early churches of God were that Paul and John established throughout Asia
Minor. They try to emulate and follow
the early Church governmental structure as much as possible, and have thus
avoided the dangers and pitfalls of the Catholic model, that of hierarchal
church government.] What’s probably
destroyed the Church in America is ordination being lowered to something that
somebody can earn by so many years of academic work. But ordination has never been that. It’s by the hand of God. And no doubt there are those that are called
to take that route, and then it’s a great asset to them if they go in that
direction. But it’s all dependent upon
the calling of God. So there’s some form
to this church. [But it’s simple,
pastors and deacons.]
Grace &
Peace, Charis & Shalom
Verse
2, he begins
as he so often does, “Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our
Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.” You know it’s always this order, you’ve been
here for years, you’ve heard this many times, I’m going to say it again. Because repetition is always the best way to
learn. It is always “grace and peace”,
it is never “peace and grace.” People
who seek for peace in this life without knowing the grace of God first, never
find peace. Peace in this world is
dependent upon experiencing first the grace of God, and that is the unmerited
favor of God given to us through his Son Jesus Christ. It’s certainly, charis would reflect
so much the Greek way of welcoming or saying hello to someone, the
greeting. Peace, would reflect the
Hebrew shalom. But the order is
always “grace and peace.” We remember,
you and I, that Jesus died on the cross and said “It is finished.” He didn’t say ‘it is almost finished,’
he didn’t say ‘it’s gonna be finished, pretty well finished,’ he said, “It is finished”, the work of salvation is finished, that comes to us now
through God’s grace. Religion is ‘It
is started, and it keeps going,’ that’s religion. Grace is, “it is finished.” Religion is people continually trying to be
religious, trying to be holy saints, trying to be something in their own
effort, and then constantly living frustrated lives because they don’t measure
up to the standards that they set. Grace
is something that God has pronounced upon us judicially, and now we are growing
in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. And what we believe in, what God has
pronounced upon us, is becoming, as time goes on, should be becoming more and
more a reality in our lives. So grace,
then peace to the saints at Philippi that he loves.
They’ve Been
Partners With Paul From The Very Beginning
Verses
3-6, “I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, always in every prayer of
mine for you all making request with joy, for your fellowship in the gospel
from the first day until now; being confident of this very thing, that he which
hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus
Christ:” Paul says, ‘I think of the Corinthian
church, ah, you know,’ he loves them, he thinks of the Galatian church, you
know, there they were, they were Gentiles, they started circumcising
themselves, he thinks of the church in Thessalonica, he told them about the 2nd coming, they all quit their jobs, staring around looking up at the sky. You know, when he thinks of this church in
Philippi, they’ve had a koinonia, a partnership from the beginning. Not just in financial support, that was part
of it, but the idea is they have stood with Paul, they have been committed to
be partners with Paul in his missionary endeavors. And remember, Paul as an apostle was not just
a missionary going from place to place preaching, he was a church-planter. He would go somewhere, share Christ [usually
in a synagogue, see: http://www.unityinchrist.com/history2/earlychurch1.htm],
unless he was driven out of town then, he would do his best to see a church
planted and leave that behind. And he
said, ‘They have been partners with him,’ and he said, ‘I have sweet
memories, you know,’ thinking back to the beginning. In fact, he says ‘I’m here chained to a
guard right now, it reminds me of Philippi, I’m thinking about you guys all the
time, that was my first experience there with you all.’ And he says, “I thank God upon every
remembrance of you,” no doubt that vision, no doubt ‘Thank you Lord, you
didn’t let me go to Bithynia. That you
Lord, that your Spirit forbid us from going in that direction. We didn’t understand at first, Lord, we were
frustrated, but Lord I see your wisdom now, as I think of these saints in the
church at Philippi again, Lord how I thank you.’ ‘Longing’ he says, ‘to fellowship
with them,’
God’s
Committed To Continue The Work He’s Begun In Us
But
in verse 6 he says this, “being confident of this very thing, that he
which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of
Jesus Christ:” ‘I long to see
you, it’s been years,’ Paul would see them again, but he has no certainty
of that, he said ‘I long to see you,’ he didn’t say, ‘Whether I see
you or not,’ he’s going to say that at one point. Paul says, ‘You know, I have this
confidence when I think of you. I long
to see you again, I always give thanks when I pray for you guys. But I know this, that he who began a good
work in you, is gonna complete it unto the day. I know I’m going to see you again, sooner or later, here there or in the
air,’ he’s saying to them. Because
he knows they’re saved, that’s what, he’s professing his confidence in the fact
that they’re saints. Paul knows there’s
two groups of people, the saints and the ain’ts [laughter]. And he knows that those in Philippi are the
saints, and he’s saying ‘I have this great confidence that he who began a
good work in you is going to complete it till that day, I’m going to see you
again.’ Now look, that flies in the
face of so many deists and deist theology, who say, you know, God set the
world in motion, and he’s uninvolved, since, and lets everything roll out
however it rolls out. No, Paul says, ‘No, no, he’s concerned with our spiritual birth, and then after that he’s
concerned with our spiritual growth and maturity. That he is a Father and a Shepherd, he is our
Lord, that he never takes his hand off of our lives, we are his blood-bought
children, and he is intimately involved with us every day of our lives.’ He’s not standing at some distance. See, when he died on the cross, he said “it
is finished.” But the Bible doesn’t
say ‘he is finished,’ it just says “it is.” The issue of sin and death and salvation,
that’s finished. But he’s not. He’s committed to continue the work that he’s
begun in us, in each of us as individuals, and complete it to the day of
Christ. What a great thing. We’ll get to see those Philippians soon.
You Can Do The
Work Of God Without Doing The Will Of God
“Even
as it is meet [fitting] for me to think this of you all, because I have you in my heart; inasmuch as
both in my bonds, and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel, ye all are
partakers of my grace.” “in my heart,” not just in his mind. “For God is my record, how greatly I long
after you all in the bowels of Christ.” (verses 7-8) Paul says, ‘he prays this way, and he
thinks of them, because he loves them, because it’s in his heart.’ No wonder they’re such a great…you know,
sometimes we think of Paul as a pragmatist, the theologian [and he was all of
those], you know we see Paul, he’s got that edge, ‘God will smite you, you
whitewashed tomb!’, you remember when he got smacked there in front of the
Sanhedrin, you know, he forgot Jesus said “turn the other cheek”, and he
said to the high priest, ‘God will smack you, you whitewashed tomb.’ And then you remember at the end of his life,
in 2nd Timothy there [we’ll get there, God willing], where he’s
passing off the scene, emotional, ‘everybody’s forsaken me, Demas hath
forsaken me for the world, Luke alone is with me and I’m here. When you come bring those parchments from
Troas, and my cloak, it’s cold here in prison, I just want to sit with the
Bible, and that Alexander the coppersmith, God will get him…’ I mean, he’s got that edge to him. But evidently he has a very tender edge
too. And he says he loves, that he loves
these saints, that they’re in his heart, and he says he yearns for them with
the very bowels of Christ. You know,
it’s interesting, we can do the work of God without doing the will of God, and
I’ve seen it. And I can fall into it. You know it’s the will of God, first and
foremost, for us to love one another, ‘as I have loved you,’ that’s what Jesus says. And that our
motivation for serving should be serving
Christ, and not serving man, not to get attention, not to be seeking
recognition, not just moving in empty momentum, ‘Oh this is the right thing
to do, so I have to do it…I signed up for Sunday-school so I have to go today.’ You know, you can do the work of God,
without doing the will of God. The will
of God is to serve him with a right attitude, out of the right heart. And part of the greatness of Paul, as he says
this, and he’s not saying this lightly, that they’re in his heart, and that
he’s yearning after them with the very bowels of Christ, remarkable.
He Wants Them
To Grow In The Grace And Knowledge Of Jesus Christ, Without Compromise
“And
this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment; that ye may approve things that are excellent; that ye may be
sincere and without offense till the day of Christ;” (verses 9-10) Look what he says here. ‘And this I pray,’ after he yearns
after them, as he thinks about them, give thanks for them, ‘this I pray,
that your love may abound more and more,’ agape, now what it’s telling us
is, the fruit of the Spirit is love, agape: joy, peace, longsuffering, meekness, temperance, patience and so forth,
against such things there is no law. But
what it’s saying is, Paul says, ‘I want the agape that you have to abound
more and more until the day of Christ.’ [What
is God’s agape-love? See, http://www.unityinchrist.com/Agape/Agape%20I.htm] So whatever measure of agape we have today
can be increased. And he doesn’t want
them just to grow in agape, but to grow in ipignosis [Strongs 1922, ipignosis:---recognition,
full discernment, knowledge…] knowledge and understanding also. In other words, just a foolish and open love
without understanding causes all kinds of problems in the Church. If you look at some of the strange doctrines
and some of the cookooboos in the Church today, and you know, because people
think, ‘Well we’re supposed to love one another…’ and they see somebody
doing something crazy and they say, ‘Well, I don’t know, doesn’t seem right to me, but we’re
supposed to love one another.’ Now
wait a minute, he wants them to grow in [agape]-love and in knowledge, in love
and in knowledge. Very important. [One of my best friends has a saying, “Don’t
be so open-minded that your brains fall out.”] Grow in grace, and in the knowledge of the
Lord Jesus Christ. He says here, “that” the reason being, “ye may approve things that are excellent; that ye may be
sincere and without offense till the day of Christ;” (verse 10) ‘I want you to abound more and more in
love and in knowledge, and in all judgment,’ which is discernment,
understanding, the reason, ‘that you may approve,’ that’s a word for
trying metals, putting them in a crucible and trying them, to see whether
they’re pure or whether there’s an alloy there, where there’s dross. ‘that you may approve,’ and for a church to be a church that is
discerning, and a church to be a church that is not just a loving church, but a
church that is knowledgeable, that has the Word of God at the center. And look, there are a lot of churches that
have other things at the center, holy laughter, health & wealth,
seeker-friendly drama, experience [over the Word of God], money. No, no, the Word of God is supposed to be at
the center of the Church. ‘That
you grow in love, and in knowledge, that you might be discerning, and thereby
you should be able then to approve, to try,’ he says, ‘the things
that are excellent.’ Now that’s
a very interesting word, it means “to differ”, try the things that are
“excellent, the things that differ.” But
it’s “differ” in this sense, “try the things that are excellent,” the things
that differ. But it’s “differ” in this
sense, what is our goal? What is our
standard? Our standards should be
excellence, not just ‘I’m gonna mope my way through this world, get into the
Kingdom of heaven by the skin of my pants,’ no, we should make a
difference. There are things that are
expedient and there are things that are not expedient, that’s why he uses the
word “to differ.” Excellence is based on
my ability and your ability to divide [i.e. properly divide the Word of God,
properly interpret the Word of God] and say, ‘That’s carnal,’ or ‘That’s
not carnal, it’s not wrong, but it’s not expedient. This is the more excellent way for my life,
for my family, for my church, for my walk, for my thoughts, for my meditation,
for my health, this is the more excellent way.’ And that should be our standard. And he says he wants them to grow in love and in knowledge (verse 9),
and he wants them to be discerning so that they might try, like they’re trying
metal, the things that differ (verse 10), the things that are excellent…Now we
want excellence to be the measure of our lives. I’m not content, I want more of Jesus Christ. I want every last drop, I want the things
that are not Christ-like in me that are selfish and carnal, I want them to be
lessened and to be gone. And I want to
grow in grace and the knowledge of Christ. I want more of Jesus and less of me. That’s the standard that should be for all of us. And he’s saying that to these Philippians, “That
ye may approve the things that are excellent; they ye may be sincere and
without offence till the day of Christ;” (verse 10) “And that you may be sincere,” that’s without
admixture, “and without offence,” not putting a stumbling block in somebody’s
way, “until the day of Christ.” So, look
at the remarkable thing he says [summing up verses 1-10]. He says ‘I love you, I’m writing this to
you, you know that Timothy and I are slaves, we’ve given up all of our rights
to serve Christ. And you are saints, by
the blood of Christ and by the work of God, he’s set your lives apart. Every time I think of you guys, my heart is
filled with warm memories. You’ve been
partners with me from the very beginning. And I’m longing to see you again. But I am certain of this, that he who has begun a good work in you will
complete it until the day of Christ. I
know I’m going to see you again, one way or another. And I feel this way because you are always in
my heart, I’m yearning after you with the bowels of Christ, I love you when I
think of your leaders, when I think of your church, I think of the faces of the
men and women and the children, when I think of kids that run around the
sanctuary.’ Paul says, ‘I love
you guys, and it’s on my heart. And
because of that, I’m praying, that first of all your agape’ would abound more
and more. And that you would abound more
and more in knowledge and understanding and in discernment, so that you
wouldn’t be deceived like the Corinthians were deceived and filled with
admixture, and filled with compromise, that you wouldn’t be deceived like the
Galatians were deceived and were embracing this Judaism and legalism. That you would be able to try, like testing
metals, and discern which way is excellent, making a difference between the
things that are right and the things that are wrong, the calling of the Spirit
and the calling of the flesh. That you
might be able to make a difference in these things,’ he says, ‘so that
you might be without admixture.’ He wants them to be pure, ‘And that you
wouldn’t be putting a stumbling block in front of anybody, like the church in
Corinth was stumbling so many.’ “till
the day of Christ. Being filled with the
fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise
of God.” (verse 11) Notice, “which
are by,” they’re not by the Philippians, they’re not by our strength, “which
are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and the praise of God.” What a great longing he has for this church
whom he loves.
What’s
Happened To Me Is For The Furtherance Of The Gospel
“But
I would ye should understand, brethren, that the things which happened unto me have fallen out rather unto the furtherance of the gospel; so that my
bonds in Christ are manifest in all the palace, and in all other places; and many of the brethren in the Lord, waxing confident [in Rome] by my bonds, are
much more bold to speak the word without fear.” (verses 12-14) e Now they heard that Paul’s in prison in Rome. That’s why they sent Epaphroditus, they sent
an offering, they hear what’s going on in his life, they loved him, they kept
track of him. He said, ‘I want you to
understand this, that the things that have happened, have fallen out to me,
have fallen out to me for the furtherance of the gospel.’ He says, ‘I don’t want you guys to be
freaked out over this, it’s God’s will for my life.’ In fact, it’s an interesting phrase there
where he says “the things”, the King James says, “which happened” in italics,
some translated it “the things dominating.” Paul’s acknowledging that circumstances in his life have dominated where
he is and what’s happening. Just before
he had gone there to Jerusalem, prayed with the elders of Ephesus on the beach
at Miletus, and said, ‘I know that the Spirit tells me bonds and afflictions
are waiting, none of these things move me, I want to finish my course.’ He’s warned by Agibus. He goes to Jerusalem anyway, shaves his head
[in a ceremonial ritual], goes into the Temple, and a riot starts. And the Romans come and rescue him, and when
they get him up in the Temple steps he starts to speak to the crowd in Hebrew,
everybody settles down, and they listen to him until he says the word
“Gentiles.” Then the riot starts up
again. And Paul is in the prison cell
that night, bummed. I guarantee you he
was bummed, because all along he kept
thinking, ‘If I could only get to my brethren, if I could only get to
Jerusalem, I’m a Jew of the Jews, of the tribe of Benjamin, circumcised on the
8th day, I know where they’re at, I could really talk to them, it’s
like Generation X, I’m cool, so I can relate to Generation X, and if I could
just…’ He started a riot. They almost tore the whole Temple apart. And he’s bummed out sitting in prison, saying
to himself, ‘oh yeah, I was a big help,’ and Jesus appears to him, and
says, ‘Paul, be of good cheer, you did a great job. And now I’m taking you to Rome.’ Now you’d think when Jesus takes you
to Rome, you’re going on Lufthansa or Swissair or something. Well how he gets to Rome is, there’s a plot
and forty guys swear they’re going to kill Paul, they’re not going to eat until
he’s dead, and then the Romans have to get him out of town, and they’re going
by night, galloping to get him up to Caesarea, and he’s there in a prison for
two years, held. Before finally they put
him on a, he makes an appeal to Caesar…he makes his appeal to Caesar, and then
they put him on a ship, and he gets hit by a Euroclidon, as though a hurricane
wouldn’t be bad enough. He gets hit by
this big storm and then shipwrecked. Finally he survives that and he goes to warm himself by a fire and a
snake jumps out and bites his hand [a deadly poisonous snake]. He says he shakes the varmint into the
fire. He doesn’t say ‘That’s a
beauty, isn’t it?’ He doesn’t say, ‘Oh,
let it go.’ He flips that varmint
into the fire. I like Paul. And when they see that nothing happens to
him, he doesn’t die, a revival starts on the island [of Malta], he sees
Publius, and takes you through the whole thing, and finally he ends up in
Rome. ‘That wasn’t the way I wanted to
go, Lord.’ Finally he ends up in
Rome. And he says, ‘The things
that are dominating, these experiences of these last few years, that many would
look at and say ‘are out of control, things are out of control,’ Paul
says, ‘No, no, they have happened, and I want you to understand this, to
the furtherance of the gospel,’ and he uses a very interesting term
that comes from Classical Greek that deals with pioneering, when the Roman
troops would go into an area and cut down forests, and make a pathway, that’s
the word that he uses, it’s happened “to the furtherance” of the gospel. ‘God is sovereign, he’s in all of this, I
don’t see why you’re freaked out over all of this, because God has allowed this
to happen.’ Look what he says, “So
that my bonds” notice “in Christ” he’s not the prisoner of Rome,
he’s the prisoner of Jesus, “that my bonds in Christ are manifest in all the
palace, and in all other places;” “palace” is the “Praetorium” in
Greek. “And many of the brethren in
the Lord, waxing confident by my bonds, are much more bold to speak the word
without fear.” (verses 13-14) He
says, ‘Look, what’s happening to me is helping the furtherance of the
gospel, in fact, I’m here in the palace, in the Praetorium.’ Now we know he’s in Rome because he talks
about Caesar’s household. In fact, at
the end when he signs off, he says, ‘The saints greet you,’ and then he
says, ‘especially those of Caesar’s household.’ So he’s making converts left and right in
Caesar’s household. But he’s at the
Praetorium. Now it’s very
interesting. Before Christ, one of the
Caesars formed the Praetorium, there were only one thousand of them. And they were the Navy Seals, they
were the Special Ops of the time. They were taken from all of the different regiments, and they were the
toughest and best, and they put together this special group called the
Praetorium. And they were
indestructible, they were remarkable. But by this time, now, the years have gone by, Caesar in Rome keeps
10,000 Praetorium in Rome with him, just to keep him safe, because Caesars
weren’t always loved by everybody. But
the Praetorium by this time, much like the Knights Templars, have become
wealthy, they’ve become bankers, some of them are in the Senate, they are a very,
very influential group of military and retired military and security, and you
know, intelligence of the intelligence community, very influential. And Paul is saying to these Philippians, ‘Hey,
the Praetorium is chained to me, and they can’t get away.’ [There is a spiritual warrior for you!] That’s the way he looks at it. ‘I have a captive audience.’ How’d you like to be a non-believer and
be chained to Paul? [laughter] And that’s his perspective. ‘I’m the prisoner of Christ, and Rome’s
the prisoner of Paul, they’re chained to me. And not only that, because of my attitude, and because of my boldness to
share, many of the brethren here are bolder now, they’re sharing Christ.’
Two Ways
Christ Was Being Preached---God Used Both
Verse
15 he says
this, “Some indeed preach Christ even of envy and strife; and some also of
good will: the one preach Christ of
contention, not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to my bonds: but the other of love, knowing that I am set
for the defense of the gospel.” (verses 15-17) Now look, he’s going to name some things here. “Envy”, number one, because they’re jealous
somebody else is influential or seeing fruit, number two, “some of
strife.” Look down in verse 16, there is
one that preaches “of contention,” “not sincerely,” with insincerity, “supposing
to add affliction to my bonds,” they’re presumptuous in what they’re doing,
supposing to add affliction. Paul says, ‘Look,
there’s others, verse 17, that are sharing the gospel and have love, “knowing
that I am set for the defense of the gospel. What then? notwithstanding, every way, whether in pretence, or in truth,
Christ is preached; and I therein do rejoice, yea, and will rejoice.” (verses
17c-18) ‘Notwithstanding, I don’t
care, every way, whether in pretence or truth, Christ is preached. I’m rejoicing.’ Paul says, you know, ‘It’s
interesting’ he said, ‘There are those now that are preaching out of
envy. There are others that are
preaching out of sincerity. Some are
preaching out of contention.’ That
happens today. Somebody goes and sits
down in a bar, sits down next to somebody and starts talking. ‘What are you doing here?’ ‘Ah, my wife, she’s driving me nuts.’ ‘Yeah, I got one of those.’ ‘What’s she doing to you?’ ‘Ah, she goes to that Calvary Chapel.’ ‘Yeah, I drop her off and come down here and
get pickled. I’m going to have to listen
to her after church.’ ‘What do you mean,
what does she say?’ ‘Ah, she says Jesus
died for us, he loves us, and if we give our life to him, he’ll give us hope
and he’ll forgive us of our sins, and he’ll bring healing.’ And the other guy’s sitting there because
his wife just left him and his heart is broken, and this guy sitting next to
him is saying, ‘Yeah, yeah, Jesus loves us, he’ll forgive us, give us
hope.’ And this guy is crying ‘Really? Tell me more about Jesus.’ And he ends up getting saved, and the
other guy’s preaching out of contention. [Comment: Ray Comfort, a
hilariously funny Australian Messianic Jewish evangelist described something
like that happening, where in British countries, in public squares, they have
this quirky freedom of speech (quirky to us Americans), where anyone who wants
can set up his soapbox in a corner of the local square and speak on anything he
wants. Preachers often use this venue,
drawing a crowd. He said once this
Satan-worshipper set up his soapbox at one end, and Ray was at the other with
his soapbox. This Satanist speaker so
disgusted some of his listeners, that they were driven over to Ray, heard him
speak, and accepted Christ into their lives. It was hilarious how he described it.] Paul says ‘I could care less, as long as Jesus Christ is preached,
I’m rejoicing. Some of them are blabbing
it because they are miserable, and they’re striving, they’re contentious, and
presumptuous, I don’t care, let them tell the truth under that covering, others
are preaching out of sincerity and love, either way, I’ve infected the whole
place,’ he says, ‘this is great, I could care less. Whether in pretense or truth Christ is
preached, and I do therein rejoice.’ “yea,
and will rejoice”, ‘I’m going to rejoice more.’ “For I know that this shall turn to my
salvation through your prayer, and the supply [or “the undergirding’] of
the Spirit of Jesus Christ.” (verse 19) ‘I know this is working out for the good.’
What’s Your
Earnest Expectation And Your Hope?
Paul’s
going to encapsulate his life for us here. “According to my earnest
expectation and my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in
my body, whether it be by life, or by death.” (verse 20) Now what is your earnest expectation and your
hope? For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” (verse 21) Paul encapsulates his entire life in those
verses. And that’s why he had the
influence that he did, because those words were real to him. “Earnest expectation” is taken from a group
of Greek words that means “to have outstretched head.” You know that song we sing ‘She’ll be coming
around the mountain”? Well the idea is, somebody’s
stretching their head out to see what’s coming. It says ‘The creation with earnest expectation is waiting for the
manifestation of the sons of God,’ in Romans 8, same phrase, he said ‘the
creation has got their neck stretched way out, waiting, to be set free again
when Christ comes and sets up his Kingdom.’ Paul says here, ‘This is the way I live, I can’t wait to see Jesus, I
live that way, it’s my earnest expectation and my hope. I live with my neck stretched out every day,
they got me in prison, I’m looking out this little slot at the sky, waiting for
the clouds to come down, Jesus to come and blow the trumpet.’ What’s your earnest expectation and your
hope? You see because he says, “For
me to live is Christ,”---can we say that? The way you can test that is, by the second
half. Because you can always say the
second half if you can say the first half. The second half is, “and to die is gain.” ‘To live is Christ’ and if to live
is Christ, and if all you live for is Jesus Christ, and all you long for is
Jesus Christ, then to die is gain because then you really get to be with
him. If to live is to acquire wealth,
then to die is not gain, that’s to loose it all. If to live is to get a Ferrari, then to die
is not gain. If to live is to get a
wife, then to die is not gain [ouch J]. ‘If
we live is Christ, and to die is Christ’ Can we say that? I’m putting me in the we there. OK? I’m not talking down at anybody, I’m talking here we are all convicted
together, one big convicted family. Paul
could say, ‘for me to live is Christ,’ it’s the only reason to
live is Jesus Christ [for those of us that are real Christians,
believers]. Not to get a career, not to
graduate, not to get a family, not to move somewhere, not to make more per
hour. To live is Christ, to die, that’s
where it’s really at baby. [Another
Scripture says “Beloved is the death of his saints.”] Not that he would die, that means to him, to
move. He knows that he would never die
in that sense, to live is Christ, to die is gain. Verse 22, he sounds a little depressed, “But if I live in the flesh, this is the fruit of my labour: yet what I shall choose I wot [know] not.” ‘Yet what I would choose
I’m not even sure.’ “For I am in
a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which
is far better: nevertheless to abide in
the flesh is more needful for you.” (verses 22-24) So he says, ‘I’m torn in two, one is to
depart and to be with Christ, to depart is the strike the tent, to take the
tent down.’ It says in the beginning
of John’s Gospel, ‘that the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us.’…it
gets over to verse 14 and says, ‘the Word was made flesh, and dwelt’ that’s ‘tented, tabernacled among us.’ That the Word of God [Jesus, the Word, Logos]
put on a tabernacle. Peter, knowing
that, in his second Epistle says, ‘The Lord has shown me that I must
shortly put off this tabernacle, this tent.’ Paul says, ‘I’m longing to take my tent
down.’ It’s our tent [tapping
his chest], that’s what it is. It’s a
spacesuit, a tent. The Old Testament
says it’s a carcass. It says their
carcasses fell in the wilderness. We
spend a lot of time on our carcasses, I do, I get vitamins, and you know,
people buy juicers for their carcass, get carcass lifts and tucks and dress
their carcass up real nice, and join the health club to get that carcass in
shape. We’re very carcass oriented, I’ll
tell you that. We look around the room
and judge each other by the tents we’re in. Paul says, ‘I’m torn between two, because I’d like to take this tent
down, and depart, and be with Christ.’ He doesn’t say, ‘I want to take this tent down and do some
soul-sleep,’ he doesn’t say he wants to take this tent down and go to
purgatory, ‘I don’t want to take this tent down and lay in the grave
somewhere until the resurrection,’ he says to take down this physical body
is to be with Christ. He says when you
close your eyes in this world, you open them up in the next. And he says, ‘And
that is what it is all about.’ You
remember Elijah that had prayed for the widow’s son that had died, that after
the third time he prayed it says, ‘His soul come into him again,’ it
wasn’t there sleeping in his body, it had departed. It came into him again. Revelation chapter 6, you see the souls of
those that were beheaded under the altar in heaven, crying out to God, ‘How
long before you avenge those who have killed us Lord?’ They’re not sleeping, their souls are in
heaven with the Lord, waiting for the resurrection of the physical frame.
[Comment: Calvary Chapels believe the soul, which is the human spirit-in-man,
stays conscious upon death, and for believers goes up to God’s third heaven,
God’s throne. Others believe the
spirit-in-man upon death goes unconscious, until re-united with our new
immortal spirit bodies during the resurrection to immortality at the blowing of
the 7th Trumpet in Revelation 15. But lets reason this out a bit,
and now here is where this doctrine gets real secondary. If soul-sleep, as some believe, is a reality,
that their interpretation of Scripture proves it, when you die, you are totally
unaware of your being dead until you are resurrected, so your next waking
moment you are in the resurrection to immortality and go to be with the
Lord. Within the next nano-second of
going unconscious in death, you’re awake again in the resurrection, immortal
and with Christ, since the dead know no passage of time if they are truly
unconscious. So either way, it doesn’t
matter. Does it? Why make such a big deal out of soul-sleep,
soul-awake, some end-result, so who cares? See http://www.unityinchrist.com/plaintruth/battle.htm to read about the variety of secondary beliefs held in this area of
doctrine.] Paul says this is a tent, ‘I’m
torn between two things, one is to strike the tent, take down the tent, be with
Christ, which is far better, or “nevertheless, to abide in the flesh is more needful for you. And having this
confidence, I know that I shall abide and continue with you all for your
furtherance and joy of faith;” Paul is willing to make the sacrifice for
them, “that your rejoicing may be more abundant in Jesus Christ for me by my
coming to you again.” (verses 24-26) He’s longing to see them again.
If You’re
Going To Talk The Talk, Walk The Walk
“Only
let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ: that whether I come and see you, or else be
absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one
mind striving together for the faith of the gospel;” (verse 27) “Only let your conversation be as becometh
the gospel of Christ,” “your conversation,” he plays on a very interesting word
there, it’s “your politics, your citizenship.” Because Philippi was a Roman colony, they had full Roman
citizenship. Paul says, ‘Let your
heavenly citizenship, let your politic be as it becometh the gospel of Christ,’ that word “becometh” is a word that is taken from the market place, and it’s
when they used the balances and they put the weights on one side and what you
were purchasing on the other, and it has the idea of axiom, weighing as much
as. Paul says, ‘Let your politic,
your citizenship, be equal to, balance out, weigh as much as the gospel of
Christ.’ He says if you’re gonna
talk the talk, you need to walk the walk. That’s what Paul says. He said that earlier, ‘That you might
divide, chose that which is excellent, that you grow in love and the knowledge,
that there’d be no admixture in your church, that you wouldn’t be carnal, and
you wouldn’t be stumbling anyone.’ Here he says it again, ‘Let your citizenship, oh yeah, it’s
wonderful, you have Roman citizenship, the soil in your town is considered
Italian soil.’ He says there’s
something far better than that, and that’s in regards to the gospel. ‘Only let your walk [conduct is the
definition for the King James word “conversation” in almost every case] weigh
as much as your talk.’ You know,
there isn’t any greater disservice we can do to the gospel of Christ than to
tell people about Jesus and then live like the world. There is no greater disservice that we can do
to our children than to tell them that we believe Jesus Christ is our Lord,
that he is coming again, that all authority in heaven and earth is his, and
then go out and get drunk on the weekend, watch pornography in their home. Please [if you’re doing that], just don’t
even talk about Jesus. Because there
isn’t any greater disservice we can do than to tell one story and to live
another story, and it just causes confusion. And Paul because he loves them, he loves them, he’s yearning for them in
the bowels of Christ, he says, ‘Look, let your citizenship, your politics,
weigh as much as the gospel of Christ.’
Don’t Be
Afraid
“and
in nothing terrified by your adversaries: which is to them an evident token of perdition, but to you of salvation,
and that of God.” Now Caesar-worship is beginning to be
enforced by this time, to a degree. The
fact that they are adversaries of the gospel of Christ is a testimony against
them, that perdition is down the road for them, ‘but to you it is an
evidence of your salvation.’ “For
unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but
also to suffer for his sake;” (verse 29) “it is given,” now this is a word that means “it is given with
favour, God has favoured you.” “But also
to suffer”, yea! You know, I’m working
on it. I know that when the time comes
God will give us the grace. I remember
Corey ten Boom said she talked to her father, ‘Dad, what if they come, and
what if they take us [the Nazis], and what if they put us in one of the death
camps? I’m not ready, I don’t have the
strength, I can’t face that.’ And he
said, ‘Corey, when you’re getting ready to go into town on the train, when
do I give you the money for the ticket?’ And she said, ‘Well Dad, you give me the money right before I go.’ And he said, ‘That’s right, and that’s
when God will give you the grace, when you’re ready to make the journey.’ These Philippians were facing a harder
situation than we face, day in and day out. You know, we have that little puny judge on the West coast saying, ‘You
can’t say ‘One nation under God.’ Oh
yea? Let’s say it. ONE NATION UNDER GOD, Ah, that feels good, I
like that [loud clapping]. Hey look,
they were facing genuine persecution. Paul says, ‘Don’t be terrified, don’t let it get you down. Because you’ve been given the privilege not
only of believing on Christ, but also of suffering for his sake.’ “Having this same conflict which ye saw
in me, and now hear to be in me.” (verse 30) Paul said, ‘You saw me when I was in
prison there. You have the same conflict
now, you saw what they did to me when I was in Philippi. Just remember, if they put you down in the
dungeon, just start to sing that song, God will start to tap his foot. You know what happens then.’ Paul says, ‘You remember what happened
to me, and that you know that I’m in a similar situation now. Don’t be terrified. Don’t be terrified.’ “To live, Christ, to die, to strike this
tent and go into his presence…I don’t think any of us, when we stand around the
throne of God, if you can imagine what will be before our gaze, I don’t think
any of us will be tempted to come back. Boy Lord, couldn’t I go back for a day? Just want to go to Nifty Fifties one time. That is not gonna happen. We live in a troubled world, we have it
better than 90 percent of the people in this troubled world. We still have the freedom to gather and to
worship, to share our faith…[transcript of a connective expository sermon given
on Philippians 1:1-30 by Pastor Joe Focht, Calvary Chapel of Philadelphia,
13500 Philmont Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19116]
related
links:
Paul’s
evangelism was aggressive, usually targeting synagogues throughout Asia Minor
and wherever he went. See,
http://www.unityinchrist.com/history2/earlychurch1.htm
The
early church congregations were simple, semi-autonomous, composed of pastors
and deacons, cf. Philippians 1:1. For a
modern-day example of that, see,
http://www.unityinchrist.com/history/smith.htm
Paul
wanted the Philippians to be filled with God’s Agape-love. What is that? See,
http://www.unityinchrist.com/Agape/Agape%20I.htm
For
a full background history of Philippi, see,
http://bibleatlas.org/philippi.htm
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