Sermon Tone Analysis

# Philippians Lesson 1

## Intro to the Study of Philippians

I’ve been given the privilege of teaching the opening weeks of this study through the book of Philippians.

Before we get to the text of Philippians I am going to take a few minutes to refresh your memory of the background of the Philippian churches founding from the book of Acts.

### Background

About two years after the success of their first missionary journey, Paul and Barnabas, set out again desiring to revisit the churches which had been established.

[Read Acts 15:36]

Almost immediately on this second journey however, difficulties began to arise.

Barnabas wants to take John Mark, who had started with them on the first journey but turned back.

Paul disagreed.

The disagreement was so sharp that the great missionary duo of Paul and Barnabas parted ways.

The difficulties did not end there.

[Read Acts 16:6–8] J.A. Motyer in his commentary described this as “the sense of running ones head into a stone wall”.

We are not told exactly how the Holy Spirit communicated this prohibition, nor are we given any information about the thoughts of Paul’s company, but I think we can safely assume that there was some perplexity, and even perhaps frustration.

The perplexity did not last long however, [Read 16:9–10].

The word rendered concluding in the ESV is to “bring together”.

It is the idea of laying one thing next to another—Paul’s vision along side the closed doors in Asia and Bythenia.

Clearly they were to go to Macedonia.

And so they made their way to the first major city in Macedonia—Philippi.

### About Philippi

Philippi was located just a few miles inland from the port of Neapolis.

It was situated upon the Egnatian Way—The great road that connected Rome with the East.

The city was named for Phillip of Macedon, the father of Alexander the Great, who captured it from the Thracians in 360 BC.

It was later the sight of important military victory in the rise of Augustas.

In commemoration of the latter event it was made a Roman colony.

Being a colony meant that it was identified with Roman a unique way (think modern embassy).

Being a Roman colony meant that the citizens of the city were also citizens of Rome, they were exempt from the taxation levied on occupied territories and had the right to due process in Roman courts.

This was a point of civic pride to the Philippians who wanted to be just like Rome.

William Hendriksen in his commentary called it “Rome in miniature”.

### Ministry at Philippi

It was typical of Paul when arriving in a new city to begin by speaking at the local Synagogue.

However, in Philippi, no mention is made of this.

While we do not know for certain, it may be that no synagogue existed because the Jewish presence there was too small.

Regardless, on the Sabbath they found some people gathered out side the city by the river for prayer.

Here Paul began to preach the gospel and a woman named Lydia, a seller of valuable purple cloth became a believer.

Soon after, a slave girl who had a demonic spirit by which she preformed divination, began to follow them crying out.

Eventually Paul commanded the demon to come out of her, and she was delivered.

This caused no small conflict with her owners who profited from her abilities.

They drug Paul and Silas before the authorities.

They were stripped, beaten and thrown into prison without trial, yet at midnight as they prayed and sang, there was an earthquake which freed the prisoners.

The jailer, fearing they had escaped, was about to take his own life when Paul called out to him, “Do not harm yourself, for we are all here.”

Apparently the jailer heard the gospel either through their preaching, or through their prayers and songs for responded, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”

He and all his house became believers that night.

The next day they were freed.

The authorities fearing more trouble upon discovering that Paula and Silas were Roman citizens, ask them to leave the city.

And so, after visiting the believers again, they departed, however we know that Paul made subsequent visits to Philippi (cf.

Acts 20:6)

## Letter to the Philippians

Paul is writing this letter to the church from prison (cf.

1:12–30).

There is some debate about where he is imprisoned.

It does have some bearing on how we understand a few verses, however, I will leave that for those who cover those passages.

I think that the traditional view, that he is writing from his Roman imprisonment described in Acts 28 around 61AD, best fits the references to the “imperial guard” and “Caesar’s household”.

Out of concern for Paul in prison, the Philippians church had sent a man named Epaphroditus to Paul with a gift.

While there Epaphroditus had become very ill and was unable to return.

Paul is now writing:

1. to thank them for their gift,

2. to let them know that Epaphroditus had recovered and was returning to Philippi,

3. to encourage them to remain firm in the faith

4. and to address some problems he has been made aware of including a disagreement between two women in the church.

There are a number of themes that run throughout the letter.

A few that stand out to me are:

1. Paul’s affection for his readers (This is evident through out the letter and we will be looking at this more closely next week.)

2. Live lives worthy of the gospel

3. Identity in Christ (Identifying with Christ’s death and resurrections and imitating his example of humility.)

4. Unity of the believers

5. Joy, even in the face of opposition

Were I to try and summarize the book of Philippians in a sentence (which is a good exercise to try with any book of the bile you are studying) it would be like this: _Paul encourages the Philippians to behave like the citizens of heaven that they are, living lives worthy of the gospel, being unified in humility, and remaining steadfastly joyful in the face of opposition._

## Salutation & Greeting

Now with the background in our mind, let’s turn to the text of the letter.

[Read Phil 1:1–2]

Here we have a salutation typical of letters from that time.

At the start of the letter you have the name of the one writing the letter.

This is followed by those to whom the letter is addressed, and a short greeting.

This seems more logical than the modern convention which forces you to flip to the end of the letter to identify who wrote it.

Now, this opening is likely familiar to you as Paul’s other letters begin in a similar way.

In fact you have probably read over these words quickly before without giving them much thought.

Yet, if we believe our doctrine of inspiration, then we must recognize that the Holy Spirit did not include these salutations simply to fill up space.

We should give them the attention they are due as part of God’s Word.

One of the benefits of being assigned a text is that it can force you to look at a passage differently than you otherwise might.

For example, being assigned a long passage means that you cannot focus on every detail, but must pull back to see the “big picture”.

Inversely, being assigned two short verses causes you to look a bit more closely.

In our remaining time I want to take a closer look at these two verses.

Specifically I want us to note two things about the author; three things about the recipients; and then we will look at the greeting as well.

### Author

The first thing we notice about Paul in this salutation is his characteristic humility.

We might expect the letter to be addressed from Saint Paul to the servants of Christ Philippi, but this is inverted.

As most of you know the underlying word _dulos_ refers to one who, like a slave or bond-servant, is not a free agent, but is wholly owned by another.

Paul and Timothy are identified as the servants of Christ, and their ministry—indeed their purpose in writing— is to serve Christ by serving the believers who are the body of Christ.

This is an essential characteristic of the leaders whom Christ appoints to care for his church.

They are not lords to rule over the believers.

There is only one Lord, one head of the church, and those whom he appoints are charged to care for and serve the body.

The second thing to note about Paul is closely related to this, and it is the inclusion of Timothy.

Paul is the author (note the pronouns), but he includes Timothy in this salutation.

Having experienced those events recorded in Acts 16 together, there was no doubt a bond between Timothy and the Philippian believers.

But more significant than that perhaps, is that the apostle Paul was pleased to have this young man with him participating in the work of the ministry.

The relationship between Paul and Timothy gets at something that I think is an essential part of The NT pattern for ministry.

An indicator that you are growing and maturing as a leader in the church that that people will want to follow you and learn from you, and you in turn, will want to invest in the lives of other believers.

This is essentially the model of one on one discipleship or mentorship, and it is not limited to those in vocational ministry.

In fact, Paul’s letter to Titus indicates that this should be true of women as will as men.

Ladies, a mark of maturity as a believer is that by your words and actions you are teaching younger women, and men likewise with younger men.