2. The Perfecting Work of God

Philippians

1. Slavery, Gratitude, & Gospel Work

Philippians 1:1-5

Overview of Philippians

A Letter of Joy?

Is Philippians primarily about the joys of the Christian life, or a reminder that we as Christians have joy in the Lord? No doubt this letter is upbeat in nature, with many positive exhortations, & many thanksgivings & encouragements Paul has for the Philippians. Even the root word for joy or rejoice appears almost 20 times in this short letter, which shows a definite priority Paul has in instilling a joyful outlook on the Christian life. However, Paul is not joyful for joy’s sake. He is not trying to impress on the Philippians simply an optimistic outlook; one where we just need to find the silver lining, but one where joy comes from Christ, the progress of the gospel and our hard work in partnering with it, the joys of union of mind & care for each other as the Body of Christ, and the joyful desire to work out our salvation with fear & trembling.

Joy is definitely “a” theme of this letter, but I would not say it is the unifying theme of the letter overall. In looking at the broad scope of what Paul writes to the Philippians, I would summarize the letter in this way:

A pastoral letter written to encourage and edify the church. Paul thanks them for their partnership & support in the good work of the Gospel, updates them on his ministry because of their deep love & concern for him, encourages them to grow in love for each other, and to be humble, obedient, and unified, using the examples of himself, Timothy, Epaphroditus, and centrally Jesus. In this joyful striving of the sanctified life, he reminds them that their justification was not of their own, and thus neither is their sanctification; Christ has made the Church his own, and is faithful to carry out His work in His people until His return.

This letter does have an upbeat nature to it. It doesn’t have the striking rebukes of Galatians, or the many corrective passages of the Corinthian letters. Although there are some mentions of false teachers and warnings against their heresy, it does not have the flow of Colossians, which emphasizes the nature of Christ, warnings against legalism, & Gnosticism in general. Throughout, Paul is sharing his deep love to them over & over again, showing his circumstances & ministry as a means to encourage the Church, the roles of Timothy & Epaphroditus in working hard not for themselves but for the Church, and the hope we have in the finished work of Christ & His continuing work through the spread of the Gospel & the sanctifying work of His Spirit.

This is by no means an all-inclusive summary of the letter, nor a means by which we should interpret every verse of Philippians. Rather, this is a simple summary to help us see the big picture of what Paul has written to the Philippians, and how we as the Church universal can read & harness Paul’s encouragements & exhortations in our own walk. As a reminder though, this is not written for us to take & mold to our benefit; rather it was written for us for our benefit. In our generation, several passages of this letter have been taken out of context to suit our own means. As is the custom of nominal, lukewarm evangelicalism, I can do all things through a verse taken out of context.

When we approach the text of Scripture, we need to be careful that just because a word is used over and over again, it does not make the book about that word by default. It does mean that it is of course a prevailing theme, but the Greek root or stem for “work,” ergon, with all its cognates, or word variations, occurs about 20 times as well. Does this mean that we need to look at this letter through the lens of the biblical doctrine of work? Well, if we did, what work would that be? The work of Christ? The hard work of evangelism & preaching the Gospel? The sanctifying work of the Spirit within us? All of them? Some other work entirely?

We need to keep these recurring themes in mind when we look at Philippians, but we should not let them skew our reading of the text, or we may get something else out it other than what Paul & the Holy Spirit meant. Note this when we get to Verse 6 (regarding justification vs. sanctification). Some have said that 1:1-11 is a thematic table of contents, showing in brief what will be seen all throughout the letter. While some may say this is not necessarily the most accurate, we see some of these themes nonetheless.

Outline of the Letter

I.Greeting & Thanksgiving 1:1-11

II.The Progress of the Gospel 1:12-18

III.Paul’s Example: Living for Christ & the Church 1:19-26

IV.The Exhortation of Unity 1:27-30

V.The Exhortation of Humility 2:1-4

VI.Christ’s Example: Humble Obedience & Glorious Exaltation 2:5-11

VII.Following Christ’s Example: Fearful Obedience & Joyful Labor 2:12-18

VIII.Timothy’s Example: Selfless Service 2:19-24

IX.Epaphroditus’ Example: Sacrificial Service 2:25-30

X.Confidence in Christ, Not the Flesh 3:1-11

XI.The Perfecting Work of Christ 3:12-21

XII.Joyful Unity & Peace 4:1-9

XIII.Paul’s Closing Thanksgiving & Blessing 4:10-23

Outline of Philippians 1:1-5

I. Greeting: Slaves of Christ V. 1-2

A. Authors: Paul & Timothy, Slaves of Christ Jesus V. 1a

B. Recipients: Saints in Christ Jesus . . . With the Overseers & Deacons V. 1b

C. Customary Blessing V. 2

II. Encouragement Via Thankful Prayer V. 3-5

A. Who Paul is Thankful to V. 3

B. When Paul is Thankful V. 3b-4

C. The Reason for Paul’s Thankfulness V. 5

Main Points

Address the Importance & Content of Paul’s Greeting V. 1

Note the Significance of Paul’s Blessing for Our Lives V. 2

See & Adopt Paul’s Gratitude to God & Prayerful Love for the Church V. 3-4

Seek to Promote & Proclaim the Gospel, in Our Church & in the World V. 5

Greeting: Slaves of Christ V. 1-2

Authors: Paul & Timothy, Slaves of Christ Jesus V. 1a

Paul does not use his official title, Apostle. This letter was not written as an apostle who needed to reprove a wayward church, but as a Father who gives personal affection to his children. There are times we must be hard & stern, or that we need to gently reprove someone, but how much to we long to just love & build up those closest to us? Fathers do need to be warned to not exasperate their children, but what a joy when we are just enjoying the peace that comes from companionship & community. Paul surely did not enjoy writing his many letters to the Corinthians, but I am sure Paul enjoyed writing this letter to the Philippian Church.

Paul refers to himself & Timothy as slaves of Christ. Paul usually addresses himself in the opening of his letters as an Apostle & sometimes as a slave. The way in which he chooses to label himself usually bears a striking resemblance to the content of the letter in some fashion. We can clearly see this later in chapter 1 in how he lives & dies for Christ. Usually, we do not want to be ashamed because we do not want someone to see our character maligned or disfigured. We do not want people to see us in a negative light. In Philippians 1:20:

according to my earnest expectation and hope, that I will not be put to shame in anything, but that with all boldness, Christ will even now, as always, be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death.

Paul does not want to be ashamed because he does not want to bring reproach upon Christ. He has no care for how others see him; he cares how they see Jesus.

We can further see this slave mentality in the mention of Timothy & Epaphroditus in 2:19-30. Timothy, also mentioned as a slave in 1:1, is given by Paul as a prime example of putting others before himself, even using the word serve in V. 22.

19 But I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you shortly, so that I also may be in good spirits when I learn of your circumstances.

20 For I have no one else of kindred spirit who will genuinely be concerned about your circumstances.

21 For they all seek after their own interests, not those of Christ Jesus.

22 But you know of his proven worth, that he served with me in the furtherance of the gospel like a child serving his father.

Epaphroditus was sent by the Philippians to Paul with a financial gift, and seemed to stay with him for a time in support of the preaching of the Gospel.

The only other time the Greek word doulos is used in Philippians is to point to the greatest example of all, our Lord Jesus Christ, in 2:5-8.

Have this way of thinking in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although existing in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, by taking the form of a slave, by being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

Among all the examples that Paul uses in this letter to teach us to have the mindset of a slave, to embrace the reality that we serve, live, & die for Jesus, that Christ Himself is the great Example for us, to teach us what it means to love our brothers unto death, in obedience to the Father, that we may forsake all that is “due” us and to look to others and their needs, serving them over & above ourselves, & serving Jesus, our Lord & Master.

Slavery is the mindset Paul & Timothy had among themselves, & it is the mindset Paul impresses upon the Church again & again in this letter, by way of example & direct exhortation. We see this many places in this letter, but especially in 2:1-4. In a commentary on Philippians, Dennis Johnson notes that:

The Philippians need to see dramatized in Paul and in Timothy the counterintuitive truth that these men bear God’s authority because Christ has captivated them as his slaves. Paul and Timothy are living proof that those whom Jesus saves he enslaves. In their self-centered preoccupations and competing agendas, Paul’s Philippian friends need to see what joyful slavery looks like, up close and personal.

He says that “Christ has captivated them as His slaves.” Has Christ captivated your heart, your mind, your lifestyle, to see all that you do is as one who is beholden to their Master, existing to do His will? We need to look at the Gospel, and understand that Jesus owns us! 1 Corinthians 6:18-20:

18 Flee sexual immorality. Every other sin that a man commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral man sins against his own body.

19 Or do you not know that your body is a sanctuary of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?

20 For you were bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.

We know that Paul here is talking about sexually immorality, but this an invading reality in every aspect of the Christian Life. We were bought, purchased, and thus we belong to Christ. We are living, breathing slaves of Jesus!

We, as Christians, followers, disciples, & slaves of our Lord Jesus Christ, live to serve Christ. In all that we do, we live to honor Christ & magnify Him in our bodies, whether in life or in death, in prosperity or in hardship & suffering.

Examine yourself. Do you see yourself as a slave of Christ, living to serve Christ according to all of His righteous commands? Do you submit yourself to the gift of suffering that has been granted every believer, entrusting yourself to the Master Who works all things according to the counsel of His will? Is your shame of sin because you have let down the One Who lavishes all of His mercy & grace on you, or because you have not lifted up the name of Christ & rather have profaned it? Yes, there should be a godly sorrow for sin, but is that sorrow placed in our moral failure ALONE, or in that the name of Christ was not honored & glorified in your sin?

Do you shed tears because you desire to live a more sanctified life for the Lord & fail? I hope you do.

Do you shed tears because you have sinned against your First Love?

I hope you do.

Do you shed tears because you have profaned the name of God among those who need to have Christ proclaimed & exalted among them for the sake of His name? Ponder these things, and seek to honor God in all things that He may be exalted. We seek to obey Him not because we lift ourselves up in our strivings & work toward Spirit-driven holiness, but that in our strivings & work of Spirit-driven holiness, His name may be proclaimed & exalted as holy, not ours. God’s name & reputation is on the line, not ours. May the name of Christ so captivate our hearts that we see all that we do as a means of exalting Him in our obedience.

Recipients: Saints in Christ Jesus . . . With the Overseers & Deacons V. 1b

Saints in Christ Jesus. Paul’s use of Saints here is not the Roman Catholic understanding of Saints, meaning those who achieve a certain level of holiness, produce a miracle, and recognized by the Church as a special Saint that can intercede for them to God & will grant protection in a certain discipline or field (St. Augustine, Patron Saint of Brewers, Printers, & Theologians; St. Anthony of Padua, Patron Saint of Lost Items, the Poor & Oppressed, & Travelers; St. Teresa, Patroness Saint of Religious Orders, Headaches, & Spain; St. Ignatius of Antioch, Patron Saint of Throat & Lung Diseases).

Paul loves to address the church as Saints, or literally holy ones. Paul starts off his letter with the reminder to us all that we are indeed holy ones of the Lord, not of our own doing, because we are saints in Christ Jesus. This reminds us that we do not source our holiness within ourselves, that we belong to Christ, and that we do not work on our own. We are set apart from the world, because Christ has set us apart.

With the overseers and deacons. I am not sure why Paul chose to include the elders & deacons here in this opening greeting; he does this no where else in any of his letters. The only thing that I can think of is that because of the great ministry the Philippian Church has partnered in with Paul, taking care of him & laboring in the spread of the gospel, that he wants to make it clear that he is addressing everyone, especially those who have been instrumental in making sure Paul has all that he needs. Outside of this, I am not sure.

Customary Blessing V. 2

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. This customary blessing is found in just about all of Paul’s letters. This is an intercessory blessing, praying that God may bring great blessing & peace upon the Church. By this, we may understand two things:

The underserved favor & peace of God given to men may only come through our Lord Jesus Christ. No other means may be employed in which we can find lasting peace & help in our time of need. The grace He pours out on us comes by way of the finished work of Christ on our behalf. There is indeed a common grace poured out among all men, one that does not strike them dead immediately upon their first sin, but the grace here is the divine lovingkindness given to us as His beloved children. This blessing of Paul is placed upon the church so that God will grant us a deeper measure of His peace & love that faithfully comes through Christ.

Paul is not being overly ambitious when he blesses the Philippian Church in this manner. This blessing is based on the great covenant promises that God has adopted us & made us His children, who He loves infinitely beyond measure, & promises to be with us, comfort us, & grant us peace & rest in the name of Christ:

Matthew 11:28-30:

“Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

1 John 3:1:

See how great a love the Father has given to us, that we would be called children of God; and we are.

Ephesians 1:3-6:

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him in love, by predestining us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He graciously bestowed on us in the Beloved.

Seeing that Paul says this blessing in almost all of his letters, we learn that it is not wrong to be repetitious. When Paul says this, he must be saying this with full conviction & meaning. We must indeed be wary of vain repetition, as Jesus warns in regard to prayer (Matthew 6:7), saying things just because we are traditionally used to saying them. There must be weight behind our words, for, as Jesus also said, we will be judged for every idle word that comes out of our mouths (Matthew 12:36-37). We must let our repetition be done according to the passion behind it. We celebrate the Lord’s death every week because of the great love we have for Christ & the desire to proclaim Him until He comes. This is why when we take it, the warnings for self-examination and the sacred representation of the bread & the wine are repeated every time.

Encouragement Via Thankful Prayer V. 3-5

Who Paul is Thankful to V. 3

Paul does not thank the Church for their faithfulness, or their partnership in the Gospel. He thanks God! The focus is that God is the One who is blessing Paul & the progress of the gospel through the work of the local church. We can very easily forget to thank the Lord for His servants and their work because we are so focused on what they have done for us. This is not wrong as long as it is not idolatrous, but it becomes idolatrous when we do not think to give honor & glory to God first in it. He is the initiator & executor of all great works of the Body of Christ. When we say that the Book of Acts is the Acts of the Apostles, this is not wrong. However, we must make sure to know that ultimately, it is the acts of the Risen Christ, moving through the Church by the power of His Holy Spirit. Acts 1:1: The first account, O Theophilus, I composed, about all that Jesus began to do and teach.

When Paul is Thankful V. 3b-4

In all my remembrance of you. In every one of his prayers, Paul prays thanksgiving to the Lord for the Philippians whenever he thinks of them. The brethren are seated in his soul.

Paul, as we see later on in this chapter, has suffered a lot for the sake of the Gospel (Philippians 1:12-20). In 2 Corinthians 11, Paul lists many of his hardships that he had faced up to that point in his Apostleship. But what is curious is the way he ends this list. He had been telling the Corinthians all the ways in which he had suffered as a servant of Christ in stark contrast to the so-called Super Apostles that had been boosting themselves up to the Corinthians. Here is the end of Paul’s list of sufferings in 2 Corinthians 11:27-28:

I have been in labor and hardship, in many sleepless nights, in starvation and thirst, often hungry, in cold and without enough clothing. Apart from such external things, there is the daily pressure on me of concern for all the churches.

In Acts 9:16 God said He would make sure Paul knew how much he would have to suffer for the sake of God’s name.

But among this suffering, he lists at the end the pressure upon him of his concern for all the churches. Receiving 40 lashes minus 1 from the Jews five times, stoned near the point of death, beaten with rods three times, shipwrecked three times, but the worst of them all was my concern for all of you!

The hurt in my heart that you may be in danger of falling away from Christ, Corinthians, being led astray from the sound truth of the Gospel by imposters & your flesh! The aching in my soul to encourage you Ephesians! The grieving I have that you may suffer well for the sake of the Gospel, Thessalonians! And oh, Philippians, that you may continue to grow in the grace & love of the Gospel that you have shown me so often in your support of the Gospel!! My heart bears up under the burden for you all! May that God heap suffering upon suffering on me, that if only for a time the holiness & faith & love toward God & man of the churches would be sustained & increased!

On Father’s Day, I was the recipient of a beautiful message from Ephesians 3:14-21 on the deep, incomprehensible love the Father has for us, and just as children do not understand the deep love their fathers have for them, we do not really comprehend the breadth & length & height & depth of the love of Christ. In a similar, but obviously lower caliber way, we do not understand the love that the Apostle Paul has for his spiritual children. And I do think that with elders who rule well, who sacrificially give their all for the sake of their churches, for their spiritual nourishment, their growth in holiness & humility & brotherly love, we do not understand their care & love either. The men who pour out their lives faithfully each week for the sake of the flock their Father has entrusted to them, in preaching & counsel, in teaching & support, in the comforting gospel reassurances they give to their people, they have a deep, deep love for you. This is the love that Paul wants the Philippians to understand, and have among themselves. He wants them to grow in sincere love & humility, becoming unified with one mind & one heart as they strive side-by-side in the progress of the gospel. This is what Paul wants us to have, what work God is doing within your very souls. Be encouraged by the care & affection your leaders have for you, how with such care your elders come alongside you to shepherd you, to fight alongside you in the good fight of faith & the promotion & progress of Gospel work! Find comfort, knowing that God has entrusted faithful men who have love & care for you, who constantly have you in their prayers, and seek the Lord that you may be built up into unity & humility, being lights in a dark & dangerous world for our Lord Jesus Christ!

Why does Paul tell them of his prayers to God for them? Is he going against Jesus’ command to not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing? Is he trying to make them see how holy he is in his prayers to God? Why does Paul feel the need to share this with them?

Paul is using this as a means of encouragement to the church. He does not care about puffing himself up; rather by communicating the deep gratitude he has to the Lord, the Church may:

Be emboldened in their walk & work for the Lord, knowing that they are making an impact among the brethren, that their work is beneficial & edifying to the Body

See the deep care & love Paul has for them, feeling loved by the Apostle whom they themselves love, dearly miss, & seek to care for when the opportunity arises

That they may see God at work in His church. With Paul’s thankful recognition to the Lord for their work in the Gospel, they may be encouraged in seeing the hand of God at work in themselves, and be strengthened in their faith in the Lord in carrying out His work. This clearly leads into V. 6.

When we see the hand of God at work in the Church, we should be glad to heap us thanksgiving to God, & to bless the church in the work God is clearly doing in it. Take care to tell others of your prayers for them; not out of a self-righteous motive, but one that wants to encourage & build them up instead. In letting each of us know how thankful we are to the Lord for the work we see Him doing in the life of the Church, the Body may be encouraged, strengthened in its faith, & moved to further holiness & obedience, knowing that it results in praise & honor to God & a further work by others in the Church.

The Reason for Paul’s Thankfulness V. 5

Philippians 4:14-17 tells us that Paul is thanking them for their partnership.

Nevertheless, you have done well to fellowship with me in my affliction. And you yourselves also know, Philippians, that at the first preaching of the gospel, after I left Macedonia, no church fellowshipped with me in the matter of giving and receiving but you alone. For even in Thessalonica you sent a gift more than once for my needs. Not that I seek the gift itself, but I seek the fruit which increases to your account.

Why? Because they were the only ones in the beginning to do so. This letter is, at least partially, prompted by the thankfulness Paul has for their steady devotion to him & the preaching of Jesus Christ. They were willing to step out & support Paul in his needs & in the preaching of the Gospel. It seems that Epaphroditus was not only a courier of the church’s gift, but also a capable minister alongside Paul in the spread of the Gospel.

This legendary help is also alluded to, I believe, in 2 Corinthians 11:9, showing Paul’s affection & gratitude for their help:

And when I was present with you and was in need, I was not a burden to anyone; for when the brothers came from Macedonia they fully supplied my need, and in everything I kept and will keep myself from being a burden to you.

The Philippians’ relationship to Paul that he mentions here is specifically in regard to the Gospel. They took care of Paul on numerous occasions so he would be free to preach the Gospel. Is your giving (financially as well as in other ways) such as that it allows your elders to freely preach the Gospel, minister to the needs of the Church, and care for your souls? Are we doing what we can, sacrificially, to promote the Gospel of Jesus Christ in Lake Havasu City?

Are we making much of our time & brotherly & sisterly relationships to have someone be thankful for our fellowship with them in . . . fill in the blank. We don’t just come on Sundays to worship God, praise Him for what He has done, shake a few hands, and then glide out the door to the rest of our lives until next week. This is our lives!! This is our family, this is, as JJ told us in 1 Timothy 3, the Household of God! We are the family of God, children of God. I love that John sees the recipients of his first letter as fellow family members and not simply “congregants.” What can we do for one another? What is in our wheelhouse that we can use to build up the Body of Christ, whether it’s just one person or the Church as a whole? Or, what can someone teach us that is not in our wheelhouse so they can exercise their gifts and in turn help you go forth and help others? Getting to know those in the congregation you know least. Asking for prayer requests, listening to struggles each other is having, meeting up with each other one-on-one to pray and study the Bible, or just have a meal & talk and have a good time. Ministering to the needs of the Saints should be primary in our walk in the Lord.

The preaching of the Gospel is not what only the elders are called to. We are all meant to proclaim the excellencies of Christ to a lost & dying world.

Evangelism though is not bringing someone to Church. Church is not the mission field. Church is the house of worship. The Gospel is preached here, don’t get me wrong, but we do not get to call bringing someone to church evangelism. My old pastor, when he was alive, told me once that a certain person was not ready to come to church & that I should not invite them. He held me to account to preach the gospel to them in full, their lostness in sin, their rebellious life before a holy & just God, and that they needed to repent. When we seek the lost, we must do so with full conviction that the Holy Spirit will do His work He has promised to do. We must be faithful in stepping out & proclaiming repentance from sin & faith toward God in Christ Jesus.

Conclusion

Praise God for exemplary men who show us the attitude we must have in our walk toward God & others; living selflessly in pursuit of the progress of the Gospel & brotherly love & care, all to the glory of God. May you read this letter with the same open hearts the Philippians surely had, growing in the grace & knowledge of God, that we all may live as slaves of Christ, fearlessly supporting & proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ, that we may, at all times, magnify God in our bodies, whether by life or by death.