Philippians 1:3-11
Notes
Transcript
Intro/Background
Last week we started a new study in the book of Philippians
If you remember some of the background we covered, you’ll remember that this letter was written by Paul & Timothy to the church in Philippi
Paul was in jail at the time, under house arrest in Rome, waiting to stand trial for his faith before Caesar Nero
The Philippian church had sent their pastor, Epaphroditus, with a gift for Paul. So Paul writes a thank you note back to them.
Paul had founded this church about 10 years earlier
We covered much of the account found in Acts 16 on it
Paul, on his 2nd missionary journey, went and preached to the couple of Jews that were gathered for a prayer meeting and some of them get saved, including Lydia and her family.
Paul went around the city sharing the gospel which ultimately led to him and Silas being beaten and thrown in prison
While in prison, God sent an earthquake which freed them and all the other prisoners.
The jailer, expecting all the prisoners to run, was going to kill himself rather than suffer the penalties Rome would have handed out for letting the prisoners go
But Paul cried out that they were all there, none had left. And Paul ends up preaching the gospel to the jailer and he and his entire family get saved.
The gospel message was doing a work and transforming lives in this city
This church then forms with those who had gotten saved and they start to meet in Lydia’s house
Paul & Silas stayed for a bit and encouraged the church before continuing on with their trip and heading to the next city.
This church meant a lot to Paul
And they stayed in touch. Some scholars say that they sent 4 or 5 different gifts to Paul over the years to support his missionary work.
Acts outlines 4 different journeys that Paul goes on, so this church would have had a picture of Paul up on their missions wall
We also saw that the theme of this book is joy
The words joy or rejoice appear in some form 16 times in this short epistle, and we’ll read the first instance of that this morning.
We didn’t get very far in our actual study, just the first two verses, Paul’s introduction and greeting to the church.
Let’s go ahead an hop back in and re-read that intro and then get into our study.
Verses 1-4
Paul starts off by telling the Philippian church that every time he thinks of them, he is filled with thanks.
Like we mentioned before, this church meant a lot to Paul.
He had been through a lot with them and for them. They had stuck with him through thick and thin, they had supported him financially. Paul had a lot of fond memories of them.
I know that I am so grateful for you Calvary Christian Fellowship
I’m grateful that God has allowed me to serve in this community, our home
I’m grateful that I get to serve you as one of your pastors
He also says that he prays for them regularly, prays for their needs, and prays with joy
Regularly
I picture Paul as a mighty prayer warrior. He talks about prayer quite a bit in his letters and we get an idea of his prayer life
Paul would write in 1 Thess 5:17, and I believe that’s exactly what he did.
17 pray without ceasing,
He says he is always praying for this church, in every single prayer of his
For their needs
The word for “request” in vs 4 means “prayer or supplication”
Supplication is a type of prayer that is for the needs of someone else
Paul’s prayer life wasn’t selfish, he was always praying for the needs of others
Joy
Our first mention of joy in the book is here
What is joy?
Joy is different than happiness
Happiness is circumstantial - I’m happy b/c the Broncos are winning. Oh no, now I’m sad b/c they fumbled and they’re losing.
Joy is so much more than happiness
It’s based upon your eternal destination
I can have joy b/c no matter what I go through, I know I have a home, not made with human hands, being prepared for me in heaven by Christ and I will get to see Him face to face one day
It comes by the Holy Spirit - it’s a supernatural thing that we as humans can’t normally produce
One of the fruits (byproducts) of the Holy Spirit in Gal 5:22.
6 And you became followers of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Spirit,
It doesn’t turn on and off
Joy is not based on circumstances.
Remember Paul is in prison right now. He’s not sure if he’s going to live or if he is going to die.
But he can still have joy because joy is a resolute hope in the heart of a follower of Jesus
So Paul prays with joy, a fondness or gladness when he prays for the Philippians
This heart of prayer isn’t just the heart the pastor or missionary should have, it’s one all of us should have
Think about those who you get to minister to
The kids in your Sunday School class. The people in your small group study. Maybe its not here at the church, it’s your employees that you manage, or the kids at home
Are you thankful for those you get to minister to?
But that person is so hard to deal with!
I’m sure Jesus could say the same about many of us. Yet the heart of Christ is one of thankfulness for us
2 looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
That joy is you and me
The treasure described in the parable of the hidden treasure in Matthew 13, the one that the man (Jesus) gives everything He has to posses it, that treasure is you
Do you pray regularly for those you minister to?
Do you pray for their needs?
And do you pray with joy?
Let’s face it, people are hard to deal with.
I’ve heard it said that ministry would be great if it wasn’t for the people
Dealing with people means dealing with sin, with brokenness, with selfishness.
If you’re in a place where you’re ministering to non-believers, it can be even more difficult b/c they’re not living for the Lord. Their values don’t align with yours
You’re trying to be a missionary and a light at work and you just want to grab people by the shoulders sometimes and shake them. “No! Bad! Stop that! Just accept Jesus you sinner!”
People are difficult, but our job is to joyfully pray for them and their needs. With a heart of meekness
Not, “I pray you hit them with a bus God,” but pray in joy.
Like we mentioned before, joy is not a natural product for us human beings.
It can only come through the Holy Spirit, as we are spending time at the foot of the cross, at the feet of Jesus
Then He can empower us to have that joy and love for others.
Verses 5-6
Paul says that he’s also thankful for their fellowship in the gospel together - they were partners with him on his missionary journeys
By giving to him and supporting him financially, Paul says they were partners with him in sharing the gospel.
Not all of us are called to go, some are called to stay and work. But when you pray and when you give, you are a part of that work that is going on
Paul then says that he is confident that the work that Jesus started in the hearts of each and every believer will continue
The word for “confident” means “convinced” or “sure” - some of your translations might even use those words
This work is a certain thing that Jesus does in our lives.
What is that work?
It’s our salvation in Jesus
29 Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent.”
The moment you put your faith in Jesus, that is when the work begins
26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
God is making you new, He is changing your heart
Theologically, this is called justification - it’s taking someone who in unrighteous and declaring them to be righteous/pure before God
It’s growing us to make us more like Jesus
13 for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.
1 Cor 1:8 speaks of God conforming us into the image of His Son
He is the Master Potter, taking us, lumps of clay as the Bible would say, and shaping us, molding us, tearing us down sometimes, but then building us back up into the work He wants us to be
That’s a journey. The Bible calls this sanctification. It’s a continual process where God is actually making a person righteous.
When you come to Jesus, the blood of Christ washes us clean from our sin, and we are clothed in righteousness so that in the Father’s eyes, He sees us a perfect.
So when we die, we get to go to heaven. Only perfection can be in His presence, and that’s what the blood and forgiveness of Jesus does for us.
But we all know that practically, we’re still sinners. We have rough edges.
Sanctification is the work that God does to refine us, to sand off those rough edges.
Another part of sanctification is the work God does through our lives to minister to others
11 And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ,
God will continue that work until the day of Jesus Christ
Either when we are raptured, or the day that we are called home to be with Him.
That is the end of the Christian journey, glorification, where God removes all of our sin and we are with Him in heaven, complete.
God doesn’t just desire to save you (Yes, more than anything, He wants people to turn to Him so they can spend eternity with Him), but He wants to do a work in you. He wants you to walk this journey from justification, through sanctification, to glorification.
One last thing on this verse, that work is a good work - notice that
The journey of faith God takes us on is a good or excellent thing.
The way of the world can seem so attractive. It can seem more fun, there’s more acceptance when you live for the world
The way of Jesus is the narrow path, there are few who go down that road
But it is the most excellent road, it is a good thing to be on.
Verses 7-8
We continue to see Paul’s heart here, the heart of a shepherd who cares for the flock.
Although he’s not the pastor of this church, he feels like he is it’s spiritual father b/c he planted the church
He longs to see them, they are continually in his heart
Verse 9
Paul gets into his specific prayer requests for this church - first that they would love more and more, and that love would be filled with knowledge and discernment
This was a church that was already filled with love
They showed in to Paul in how they took care of and supported him
But Paul wanted them to grow even more in that love (“abound still more and more”)
That love needs to have 2 things though - knowledge and discernment
It’s not a blind love. It’s not the idea that is espoused today that you can love whomever, however, whatever
Love should be based on knowledge
And that knowledge comes from God’s word. His word will instruct us on how we are to love others
And it should have discernment
Discernment = understanding, insight, judgement
Discerning love is not blind, it knows the difference between right & wrong.
Discernment is not something I think our society is very good at anymore, at least for the Google generation
We can lack discernment b/c we can just ask Google any question we want, no thought or discernment required
In fact, I was curious, I looked up some of the dumbest questions people have asked Google, the internet is a treasure trove of this
#1 search result when I typed in, “what should I” was, “what should I make for dinner?”
Also on that list, “What should I do today?”
People have also asked some very dumb questions which show a lack of discernment
Where do lost socks go when they go missing?
Can cow saliva cure baldness?
What is a magical way to gain weight?
What are the best investment opportunities in Nigeria?
In the book of 1 Corinthians, there was an issue of love w/o discernment that Paul had to deal with.
There was a man in the church who was having an open affair with his father’s wife (step mom).
The church was supportive of them, they were loving on them and continued to accept them and what was happening
Paul calls them out for it. That’s sin! You need to love the guy, but don’t flaunt his sin! Don’t support what they are doing!
He tells them a little leaven or yeast can leaven the whole lump of dough -that acceptance of sin can spread throughout the church
Love needs to have knowledge (how to love) and discernment (what is right or wrong - what should we love and what should we reject [sin])
Verse 10
Next prayer requests
That this church would approve of the things that are excellent
Word “approve” means to “test or examine” at it was often used in regards to testing a metal or mineral.
Like back in the gold rush days, a miner would find a rock that they thought was gold, and they would take it to an assayer who would test that rock to see if you had struck gold, or if you had pyrite.
Sometimes it can be easy to approve or examine the things that are excellent or good for our faith - God’s word comes right out and says it
For this is the will of God, that you abstain from sexual immorality
Let no unwholesome word come out of your mouth, but only what is good and edifying for the body of Christ
But other times it can be more difficult to distinguish what is good for us
Is this friendship/relationship good, should I be spending time with this person?
Is this thing I want to do, is it from the Lord, does He want me to move in that direction?
We need discernment, we need to be able to test or approve it
Part of the journey of sanctification is making sure we are walking down the path God has for us, that we are testing things to make sure they are of the Lord
Paul also prayed that this church would be sincere
The Greek word for “since” is “eilikrines” which literally means “to be tested by sunlight”
So back in this day, before the Romans conquered the known world, the Greeks were in charge.
The Greeks were known for their culture and artwork. They made a lot of pottery and statues
When the Romans took over, some of these got destroyed as they wanted to spread their culture
Well, over time, those items became viewed as valuable antiques. Everyone who was anyone wanted to have a Greek statue or pot in their house. So a big market for those items arose
Some sellers would find an imperfect item, a statue that was missing the tip of the nose, or a vase that had a piece broken, and they’d try and fix them with wax
You could glue together the pottery or put the wax in the spot that was missing something, and some sellers got pretty good on passing these off as being in mint condition
So to counter this, buyers started to put these pieces in direct sunlight and let them heat up
If there was wax, that wax would melt and the genuineness of the piece would found out
Genuine sellers would put the latin version of this word up in their shops - sine cera - to show their pieces had been tested by the sun, they were genuine
God wants us to be genuine in our walks
He doesn’t want us to play Christian or to fake it. It’s more than just talking the talk, it’s walking the walk.
We know that one day, everything we’ve done for the Lord will be revealed by the light of His holiness (Luke 8:17).
7 that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ,
Our lives should also be without offense
In our love that we are abounding more and more in, we should have a heart that doesn’t want to stumble others
Not a crass, “This is me, I don’t care what you think” kind of thing, but a soft heart that is concerned for the spiritual well-being of others.
Verse 11
We’re talking about this journey of faith today, Paul’s prayer for this church, and my prayer for our church, is that we’re growing, we’re allowing God to sanctify us.
He’s going to do that work in us to change us to be more like Him, and then to work through us to minister to others.
As He does that work, He is going to fill us with the fruits of righteousness
Think fruits of the spirit (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, etc) - Gal 5:22.
One important thing though, these fruits are “by Jesus Christ”
They’re not naturally produced in our lives (just like how we talked about joy at the beginning of the study).
We need to be tapped into Jesus, sitting at His feet, for these fruit to show up.
God wants to do a work in you.
If you have given your life to Him, He has started that work in your heart, you are justified.
But He wants to continue it, He wants to sanctify you.
He wants to grow you in love - love towards Him and love towards others
He wants you to grow in knowledge and discernment - being in His word, learning what is right and wrong.
He wants you to test/approve the things which are good/excellent for your faith - comparing it to the light of His word
He wants you to become genuine in your walk
And pray for those you have the opportunity to minister to
And as we sit at the feet of Jesus, He is going to do that work in our hearts until we are glorified - until the day of Christ.
Pray & Close