Philippian Framents

Model and Motion of the Christian Life.

Chapter 1 The Marvel of the Christian life, which is love.

Chapter 2 The Model of the Christian life, which is Jesus Christ.

Chapter 3 The Motion of the Christian Life; going forward.

Chapter 4 The Marks of the Christian Life. Joy and Peace.

Chapter 2 is the Model of the Christian life, which is Jesus Christ.

:1-4 Humility towards Others.

1 Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, 2 then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. 3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, 4not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.

5-11 The Humility of Christ

5 In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:

Relationship/Partnership; Partnership translates the Greek koinonia. Koinonia means “association,” “fellowship,” or “close relationship.”

Anders, M. (1999). Galatians-Colossians (Vol. 8, p. 218). Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers.

Jesus becomes the model. Especially in the area of humility.

The greeks hated humiilty. A humble person was a weak person.

Jesus loved it.

James 4:10 Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you.

Ephesian 4:2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love,

Colossians 3:12 So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience;

1 Peter 5:5 You younger men, likewise, be subject to your elders; and all of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, for God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.

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So next Paul gives us the Model of Christ.

6Who, being in very nature God, {Morphe}

Form of God or character that never changes. And so although Jesus body changed embryo-man, his nauture, that nature of God , {Morphe} never did.

did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;

7rather, he made himself nothing

"emptied himself" rendered void. What did he empty himself of? Not his diety; 100% man, 100%God. He emptied himself of the rights of diety. He had the right, power and authority to call down fire from heaven and consume. Even from the cross he called have called down angels, but he didn't. He emptied himself of the right to.

He emptied himself of his choosing. He was always submitted to the Fathers authority; "But not my will but yours be done". "I always do the things that please him".

When I traveled I had interns who traveld with me. They helped when my family traveled with me, the helped in ministry. But there were different mindsets. I had Jason who would let it be known that he was with the speaker if he wanted something. Someone would tell him who could park in some spot; he would let them know he was with the speaker. He wanted to get at the front of the line at dinner, he would let them know he was with the speaker. Then there was Seth. Seth was doing the same work as Jason, but you never would have known it. If we had a sound check, ministry stuff to set up and he was at the back of the line, he would wait. He had all right that if he would have gone to the front of the line and told them who he was, what he was doing, they would have let him at the front of the line; but he never did. He had the right, but he emptied himself of that right.

by taking the very nature of a servant,

being made in human likeness.

8And being found in appearance as a man,

he humbled himself

by becoming obedient to death—

even death on a cross!

9Therefore God exalted him to the highest place

and gave him the name that is above every name,

10that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,

in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

11and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,

to the glory of God the Father.

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Chapter 2 The Model of the Christian life.

1st we get the ultimate Model of the Christian Life; CHRIST.

Next we get human examples of the Crhistian life: Paul & Epaphroditus.

2:19 I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon, that I also may be cheered when I receive news about you. 20I have no one else like him, who will show genuine concern for your welfare. 21For everyone looks out for their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ. 22But you know that Timothy has proved himself, because as a son with his father he has served with me in the work of the gospel.

Only time in the New Testament that we see this word; "Equal Souled"

23I hope, therefore, to send him as soon as I see how things go with me. 24And I am confident in the Lord that I myself will come soon.

25But I think it is necessary to send back to you Epaphroditus, my brother, co-worker and fellow soldier, who is also your messenger, whom you sent to take care of my needs. 26For he longs for all of you and is distressed because you heard he was ill. 27Indeed he was ill, and almost died. But God had mercy on him, and not on him only but also on me, to spare me sorrow upon sorrow. 28Therefore I am all the more eager to send him, so that when you see him again you may be glad and I may have less anxiety. 29So then, welcome him in the Lord with great joy, and honor people like him, 30because he almost died for the work of Christ. He risked his life to make up for the help you yourselves could not give me.

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Chapter 3

1Further, my brothers and sisters, rejoice in the Lord! It is no trouble for me to write the same things to you again, and it is a safeguard for you. 2Watch out for those dogs, those evildoers, those mutilators of the flesh. 3For it is we who are the circumcision, we who serve God by his Spirit, who boast in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh— 4though I myself have reasons for such confidence.

If someone else thinks they have reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: 5circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; 6as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for righteousness based on the law, faultless.

7But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ 9and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. 10I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.

12Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

Following Paul’s Example

15All of us, then, who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you. 16Only let us live up to what we have already attained.

17Join together in following my example, brothers and sisters, and just as you have us as a model, keep your eyes on those who live as we do. 18For, as I have often told you before and now tell you again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. 19Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is set on earthly things. 20But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.