The Book of Philippians

Pocket Blessings

Here in America we have a tendency to think that the world revolves around us. Sure, we have a political and economic strength that merits some of that attitude, but there is also a personal sense in which we can easily look at the world “according to me.” We use phrases like “my truth” or “my path” as a means of explaining our perspective. We sometimes even come to scripture that way - looking at some verses in the Bible as God’s Word for ME today.

Casting Crowns addresses some of the self-centered and consumeristic nature of American Christianity in their song “Start Right Here.” Among the many convicting phrases, they state “we want our blessings in our pockets.”

What would happen if we looked at Philippians like that? How would we use these “pocket blessings”? Let’s just consider a few.

For those days when we’re feeling a bit discouraged:

Philippians 1:6 ESV

And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

...we could even rephrase that as God’s not finished with me yet.

When we’re thinking a bit too much of ourselves:

Philippians 2:3 ESV

Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.

When we need a little attitude check:

Philippians 2:14 ESV

Do all things without grumbling or disputing,

Or for those days when we are a bit blue:

Philippians 4:4 ESV

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice.

When we are fighting worry:

Philippians 4:6 ESV

do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.

When we need a check up from the neck up:

Philippians 4:8 ESV

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.

When we’re fighting with contentment:

Philippians 4:11 ESV

Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content.

When we’re feeling a bit week and insecure:

Philippians 4:13 ESV

I can do all things through him who strengthens me.

When money is tight and the paycheck is a bit too far away:

Philippians 4:19 ESV

And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.

And that is just a few verses from Philippians that we might be tempted to treat like “pocket blessings.” Now, I’m not saying we should not be memorizing scripture and I’m not saying that all of these applications are untrue - but when we look at scripture only like this, we miss the point of the biblical books.

The Babylon Bee, a media source that takes a satyrical look at news and events recently ran this headline:

“Dozens of Bible Verses Come Forward to Accuse [ a famous pastor] of Abuse”

The question is, could we be in that headline?

Part of the reason that we’re doing these overview sermons is to get a clearer grasp of the context of each book. If all we ever do is look for the nugget for the day, we fail to see the big picture.

Introducing Philippians

It might be tempting to use the book of Philippians in that way because it is such an encouraging and uplifting book. Paul likely wrote the book while he was imprisoned in Rome. The church heard that he was there and may be in need, so they sent Epaphroditus to Paul with a generous gift. In many ways, Philippians is a long thank you note.

The church in Philippi was founded by Paul and Silas. You can read about that some in Acts 16. Religiously, there were only a handful of Jews in Philippi at the time of its establishment. The other citizens were wrapped up into the worship of the Roman Emperor and the Greek pantheon. The few Jews and the growing number of Christians were odd to the general populace and may have experienced some persecution - just as Paul and Silas did- when they exorcised a demon from slave girl, costing her owners some extra profit (though they freed the girl from this spiritual enslavement). In addition to that, it seems like there was a great deal of Roman pride in the city as the people demonstrated excessive patriotism.

One of the challenges of looking at Philippians is that it does cover a lot of ground in just a few pages. In fact, a couple of the commentaries that I looked at this week identified up to 9 different themes or purposes in the book. Mark Dever in his sermon on Philippians made seven observations, which made up the primary points of his message.

If you’ve not yet joined in on the Adult Bible Study, let me encourage you to do so, as they are taking a deep dive with Matt Chandler through the book. In fact Chandler covers these four chapters in about 12 sessions.

The guys at the Bible Project outline the book beautifully, but in 8 sections (I have added the numbers and indention):

The Opening Prayer (Phil. 1:1-11)

Paul’s Imprisonment (Phil. 1:12-26)

Following Jesus Example (Phil. 1:27-2:18)

The Messiah Poem (Phil. 2:6-11) - centerpiece of the book

Two Examples (Phil. 2:19-30) - Timothy and Epaphroditus)

Paul’s Example (Phil. 3:1-4:1)

Challenge to live the example (Phil. 4:2-9)

Closing Thanks (Phil. 4:10-23)

As you can imagine, our short time together is only going to scratch the surface of what Philippians entails.

Today, as we look at Philippians, we’re going to briefly consider four of the major themes that seem to run throughout the book.

First of all,

The Christian life is marked by joy - no matter what!

Even if we were to read the entire book over the next 15 minutes, this theme of joy would be quickly seen as Paul uses the word “joy” or “rejoice” some 18 times in the 104 verses of the book.

Joy is the attitude of Paul’s prayer as he reflects on their prolonged partnership in the gospel ministry. (Phil. 1:4)

Even in the midst of people preaching the gospel out of selfish means, Paul rejoices that Christ is proclaimed (Phil. 1:18). We see that frequently here in America and around the world - that Christ is proclaimed in many churches, even the ones that are led by “rock star” preachers. Paul still finds joy in that.

Even though Paul is in prison and is willing to graduate to eternity, he believes that God will have him remain for a time so that the Philippians might continue to mature in their faith and find joy in their continued partnership with him (Phil. 1:18-26).

Paul hopes that they will complete his joy by growing in unity and humility - following the example of Jesus Christ (Phil. 2:1-11).

Paul is sending back Epaphroditus - a brother who brought their gift to Paul and also fell gravely ill - in order that they might rejoice in his well being and will receive him with joy (Phil. 2:28-29).

He tells them that they are his joy (Phil. 4:1) and encourages them to rejoice in the Lord about three different times (Phil. 3:1; 4:4).

Paul rejoices in their ongoing concern for him (Phil. 4:10). Just as it’s easy for us to get busy and forget those that we can’t see all the time, they ran that risk - and yet Paul was joyful over their remembrance of him.

As an aside - think about how much we can encourage brothers and sisters who are in prison or shut in because of this pandemic; or our missionaries who are often alone in places with little gospel witness - by simply reaching out, remembering them in prayer and somehow letting them know. Would you consider looking through your church directory and calling or emailing someone you haven’t seen in a while? What a joy that would be to them - and I think to you.

But with all of this talk about joy - what is it?

The Greek word that Paul uses for “joy” is the word “chara” (khara) - which refers to a general sense of cheerfulness or calm delight. It seems to exude this outlook no matter the circumstance.

Paul could find joy in prison or in the pulpit.

He could find joy in others preaching selfishly or in persecution.

He could rejoice in trials. He rejoiced in the fellowship with other believers.

How are you and I doing with joy? Is there are calm, even confident delight that we have in any circumstance - recognizing that God is in control?

So, one of the major themes we see in Philippians is this idea of joy as a marker of believers. Another thing we learn here is that...

Unity with Christ and each other comes through humility

Throughout the book we get to see some small hints of divisions - in fact this topic of unity has come up in virtually all of Paul’s letters that we’ve studied so far - it must have been a significant threat to the early church - I think we should certainly take note. In Chapter 2, Paul urges the Philippians to...

Philippians 2:2–4 ESV

complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.

As with the challenge in Galatians, it seems that there were some who were trying to encourage a sort of adherence to the law through circumcision. These “dogs” as Paul calls them seem to place confidence in their own achievements - or in the flesh (Phil 3:2-6).

Paul uses his own testimony and his own worldly or religious strengths as a means of helping the Philippians see that he has nothing to be proud of but recognizes all of his accomplishments as “rubbish” or “dung.”

Philippians 3:7–11 ESV

But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.

Later on, he urges two women in the church to lay aside their disagreement and be reconciled to one another (Phil. 4:2-3).

We’ve seen this in some of the other epistles as the Jewish and Gentile Christians are divided because of their views. The central element to this letter is the example of Jesus Christ - who humbled himself - laying aside all of his rights as part of the trinity, for our sake. His humility is not only an example of how we should live (an example that Paul illustrates through Timothy and Epaphroditus - Phil. 2:19-30), but his humility is the means of uniting us with God. (this would be a great passage to memorize this week)

Philippians 2:5–11 ESV

Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Jesus had every right to think much of himself. He had every right to be exalted - and yet he laid it all down. He humbled himself.

Where are you and I holding on to our own sense of self-worth and pride? Where are our opinions on any matter, causing divisions?

Beloved - we willingly humbled ourselves before the cross - admitting our sinfulness and our need of a Savior - that attitude should remain with us as long as we live!

Friend - if you are not yet a follower of Christ, I know that humility is not an attribute that our society celebrates - and yet maybe it should. Humility is counter-intuitive to human understanding - and yet - in God’s economy - it’s the way to eternal life. It begins by humbling yourself before God - admitting your sin and your need of a Savior. Will you do that today?

Philippians seems to reveal the values of joy and humility. The book also reveals...

Paul’s perspective of partnership in ministry

As I mentioned before, in many ways, this letter is a long thank you note to the Philippians. But Paul doesn’t just see their gift as an encouragement or as a means of meeting a need, but as a representation of their ongoing partnership in ministry. In fact, there are a couple of ironies in this book in that regard. Paul uses personal pronouns a lot - I, me, my. But he also uses an extreme amount of partnering language. In Greek, he uses the word “syn” - meaning together - in order to form a lot of compound words - helping the Philippians see that they are in ministry with him, they celebrate joy with him, they are partners.

David deSilva notes some of the language that Paul uses (I’m not going to pronounce the Greek, but I want you to see how they might have read/heard it):

An Introduction to the New Testament: Contexts, Methods and Ministry Formation Opponents of Paul at Philippi?

They are Paul’s “fellow sharers” (syn-koinōnous, Phil 1:7), who “shared with him” in his sufferings (syn-koinōnēsantes, Phil 4:14), who are called to “compete together” (syn-athlountes, Phil 1:27), and be “like-souled” (syn-psychoi, Phil 2:2). They are called to “rejoice together” with Paul even as he “rejoices together” with them (syn-chairō, syn-chairete, Phil 2:17–18). Epaphroditus is Paul’s “fellow worker” and “fellow soldier” (syn-ergon, syn-stratiōtēn, Phil 2:25). Paul seeks to be “formed together” with Christ in Christ’s death (syn-morphizomenos, Phil 3:10), even as he calls the believers to become “imitators together” of Paul’s example (syn-mimētai, Phil 3:17), so that they all will be “formed together” into the likeness of Christ’s resurrected body (syn-morphon, Phil 3:21).

And he continues more through chapter four.

The point that I think we need to see that we don’t stand alone as individuals or as a church, but we get to labor together with other believers.

In addition to that, when we partner with missionaries, we are not simply sending money so that someone else can do gospel work, but we are co-laborers with them - joining with them in the ministry.

There is a great deal of value in the Cooperative Program - as we get to cooperate with other baptist churches in mission work both here and abroad. One of the downsides is that we don’t often get to know the people we are partnering with personally. This is a bit why we’re showing these video clips of the North American Mission Board activities so that we can understand more and can pray more effectively in our partnership.

This is also why we’re working to keep information about the individual missionaries that we’re partnering with in front of us so that we can pray more effectively. It is also why we’ve tried to enlist a team around each missionary family who can be intentional about that partnership. In fact, if you’d like to be a part of one of those mission support teams - we are always looking for more team members. The Basses, Dilworths, and Kelsey are encouraged by that support!

I pray that we are encouraged about the work that is happening around the world as we partner with so many different people in the advancement of the gospel.

In addition to joy, humility and partnership, one final theme that we’ll consider today is...

Perseverance in the face of persecution

We don’t get a clear picture of what the Philippians were encountering when it comes to persecution, but we can clearly see Paul’s attitude toward his own imprisonment. He can see how God is working through his chains - both immediately where he is and in the broader Christian community because of his perseverance in the face of persecution.

There is a lot of discussion about which imprisonment Paul was in when he wrote this. There are suggestions about some time in Ephesus and Caesarea and Rome. No matter where he was, he spent quite a bit of time in prison for the sake of the Gospel. If this was written from Rome - then his combined imprisonment and journey there would have been close to 4-5 years.

Paul uses his own circumstance as a means to encourage the Philippians and then challenges them to persevere:

Philippians 1:27–30 ESV

Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel, and not frightened in anything by your opponents. This is a clear sign to them of their destruction, but of your salvation, and that from God. For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake, engaged in the same conflict that you saw I had and now hear that I still have.

Later on, he urges them to do all things without grumbling or complaining, but rather to persevere in faith (Phil. 2:14-18).

Some have suggested that the Philippian Christians were encountering persecution because they saw Jesus as their true King and refused to succumb to the imperial worship found in the Roman Patriotism. Christianity is a threat to political and economic systems because it operates on different values. Being a threat means that a natural reaction from the secular world is persecution. Our brothers and sisters in a variety of other contexts are very well familiar with this.

Our society is becoming less and less tolerant of divergent beliefs and views. It’s as though society is saying - “Believe my way or be cancelled. Celebrate my way or get cut off.”

In the face of any persecution - Paul seems to be urging that we persevere as citizens of another Kingdom.

Closing Thoughts

This week, I was listening to a podcast that talked about how a national Christian adoption agency “pivoted” in their definition of marriage because of pressures from political powers. They were faced with the very difficult challenge as cities and states legalized marriage and essentially forced the hand of anyone who would refuse to define marriage the way that the states do. This ministry seemed to have compromised their Christian values for the purpose of being able to continue in ministry - but at what cost? The podcaster suggested that maybe they buckled before the fight had even begun as there are some cases going before the supreme court.

On a related note: As you may know, the House of Representatives recently passed the Equality Act and sent it to the Senate. This act seeks to provide equal justice and standing for everyone regardless of anything - sex, sexual orientation, gender identification, etc. There are some reasonable elements to this law, but there are some ramifications that are far reaching - especially when it comes to churches, religious organizations, christian schools, etc. There are also big ramifications for women’s athletics - and not good ones in my opinion.

I don’t know if this bill will go anywhere in the Senate. If it is passed by the Senate and signed by the President, then we need to be prepared to face persecution. We need to be prepared to stand firm in the face of morals and values that run contrary to Scripture.

Hear me clearly on this - I think that as a church we need to minister to people of all background - all ethnicities and races, all religions, all orientations - they all need the gospel. But our ultimate standard for practice and perspective is the word of God. When it comes to whom we will hire, whom we covenant with as members, how we label our restrooms, how we handle retreat accommodations - Scripture is our guide.

In order for Scripture to be our guide - we need more than pocket blessings. We need a deep and profound understanding of God’s Word - because in it, we get to see...

how we can face every circumstance with joy

how humility works toward unity with other believers - it also speaks volumes to the opposing world

how we are not alone in this struggle

how we can and must persevere in the face of persecution

It is in this kind of attitude, this kind of full knowledge of the Word of God, that Paul could say with confidence...

Philippians 1:21 ESV

For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.

Let’s pray.

Memory Verse: Philippians 2:5-11

The Lord’s Supper:

What do we do when we celebrate the Lord’s Supper? Early Christians used to gather in what was called “love feasts” as they sought to obey Jesus command to love one another and also to celebrate his life, death and resurrection. When we gather together, we make a public testament about who we serve. When we celebrate the Lord’s supper - breaking bread and drinking from the cup - we proclaim that we are here because of Jesus. It is only by his life, death, resurrection that we have any standing before God. He gave his life as a sacrifice for us. He humbled himself for us.

Benediction:

Philippians 4:23 ESV

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.

References:

https://bibleproject.com/explore/video/philippians

Crossway Bibles. The ESV Study Bible. Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2008.

deSilva, David Arthur. An Introduction to the New Testament: Contexts, Methods and Ministry Formation. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2004.

Dever, Mark the Message of the New Testament: Promises Kept, Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2005

Foulkes, Francis. “Philippians.” In New Bible Commentary: 21st Century Edition, edited by D. A. Carson, R. T. France, J. A. Motyer, and G. J. Wenham, 1245–1259. 4th ed. Leicester, England; Downers Grove, IL: Inter-Varsity Press, 1994.

Gromacki, Robert G. New Testament Survey. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 1974.

Strong, James. A Concise Dictionary of the Words in the Greek Testament and The Hebrew Bible. Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software, 2009.