This morning I had a few minutes so I checked my e-mail to see if we had any updates from anyone participating in the Bible Study. Justin Harris had sent a message inviting more people to come and updating everyone on what we studied last week. Please take a little time to read what he had to say. It touched my heart and even though I was at the Bible Study last Tuesday it did me a lot of good having God's word emphasized to me again.
Hey guys,
So I thought Tuesday night went really well. It was good to have three more people join us and I'm excited about what God is doing through this bible study. For those of you who couldn't make it this week, we missed having you there and hope to see you next week. As most of you know we are studying the book of Philippians. We started in chapter 1 last night and covered all of the verses through chapter 2 verse 18. For next week pick up with Chapter 2 Verse 19 and finish the book. We may not finish the entire book next week, but it is possible, so just to be safe, finish chapter 2 and then read chapters 3 and 4.
I will do my best to give some highlights of what we covered this week, but this will no doubt be incomplete, so if anyone has anything to add to this, please do so.
Ok, so the first thing we noticed when we were reading this letter is who it came from. Verse 1 tells us that Paul and Timothy are the authors responsible for this letter. As we touched on Tuesday, it is interesting to point out that these two guys referred to themselves as "bond-servants of Christ." This word "bond-servant" means slave. As Cainan mentioned, these guys were compelled to serve Christ; they had no other choice. But it should also be noted that this is something they did joyfully. Throughout the letter Paul makes references to his suffering, but he is always quick to rejoice in them.
Philippians 1:3-4, 9 show us that Paul is constantly praying for the church at Philippi. He not only tells them that he is praying for them, but he specifically tells them what he is praying for. In verse 9 he writes that he is praying that their "love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment." This is something that we all could use, and as Cainan said, this is something we are praying that God will bless us with through studying His word and going to Him in prayer.
I want to take a second and talk about chapter 1 verse 6. This is one of those verses that I run to when things are not going so good in my life. Paul is telling the believers at Philippi that he is confident God will perfect the good work that He began in their lives until the day of Christ Jesus. What does this verse tell me? Well, first and most importantly this verse tells believers that it is God who began this good work in us and it is Him who will carry the work through to completion. And what is this good work? Well, this good work, as Paul references in verse 7, is salvation, which is from the grace of God. So God is working in believers to perfect the salvation that He began. This also tells me that the believers at Philippi were not perfect. Because if they were already perfect, then God would not need to continue "performing" or "perfecting" the work in them until the day of Christ. When we fail, not if, we can take comfort in this verse knowing that God is working in our lives and eventually we will be perfected on the day when we are united with Jesus.
The next section we talked about was Philippians 1:12-20. In this section of his letter, Paul tells the church about his imprisonment. During this time Paul was in prison at Rome. However, instead of being sorrowful over his circumstances, Paul rejoices because his imprisonment has "turned out for the greater progress of the gospel." (c1,v12) He then tells the church that many have believed in Christ because of what has happened to him. Talk about selflessness! This guy was in prison and people were trying to cause him harm, yet the only thing he cared about was the spread of the gospel of Jesus. He goes on to say that he will not be put to shame because Christ will be exalted in his body, either in life or death. Paul is prepared to die for this gospel. Verse 21 even suggests that Paul is not only prepared for death, but in a way he welcomes death. He writes that "to live is Christ and to die is gain." This verse is overwhelming because Paul is saying that death is like a promotion or an improvement on his current condition. This type of thinking is very foreign to our culture today, but when I pause and think about what Paul is saying, it actually makes perfect sense. For any believer, death should not be something we are terrified of, because those who have faith in Jesus will be with Him when they die, and that is definitely "gain" as Paul puts it. Still, Paul follows this thought with another that when he says he is torn from both directions because he knows it is much better for the church at Philippi for him to remain with them instead of going to be with Christ. Again, here is another example of Paul's selflessness. Yes, Paul is actually being selfless by wanting to stay alive!!!
One more note on this section comes from verse 29 of chapter 1. Here Paul writes that it has been granted (to the church) not only for them to believe, but also to suffer. He straight up tells the church that they are going to suffer. In fact, he says that it has been granted them to suffer. However, this suffering should not be something that keeps us down, because we have a Spirit of power with us. Paul does not really say much in this chapter to comfort them about the sufferings they will face, but he gets to that later in the letter.
Ok, chapter 2 has several points of interest. From the very beginning of this chapter Paul is telling the church at Philippi how they should act. As Heather said on Tuesday, this was probably addressing some of factions within the church because Paul is telling them to be "of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose." (c2,v2) He tells them that they should regard one another more important than themselves. This is one of those verses which may be easy to say, but it is impossible to put into practice without some help from above. Jesus said love your neighbor as yourself, and Paul is telling us to consider others more important than our ourselves. I think at the root of both of these commands is a simple 4 letter word: love. Christians are commanded to love others, because this is how the world will see a difference. What we say means nothing without love. I guess the Beatles were right, all you really need is love!
Verses 5-8 deal with the person of Jesus Christ. Here is a place in scripture which points to the validity of the Trinity. Paul says that Jesus existed in the form of God, but He emptied Himself to take on the form of a bond-servant (slave), and was made in the likeness of men. Paul tells the believers to have this attitude that Jesus had, who "did not consider equality with God a thing to be grasped." (v6) He is telling them to be humble and do things for others in love.
The last thing I want to mention are verses 12-14. Paul tells the believers to "work out your salvation." It is important here to realize that Paul is not telling them to work in order to gain their salvation. In other places of scripture, Paul is adamant that salvation is by faith in Jesus Christ alone! Instead, here he is saying that one who has received salvation will be compelled to obedience because "it is God who is at work in you." (v13) Salvation is not based on anything we do, and if it was we would all be in trouble. But thankfully God has made another way which is by faith in His Son Jesus Christ. So take heart in knowing that you don't have to be good enough, moral enough, religious enough, or smart enough. God has made the way for us, and that way is by faith in Jesus. I'll leave you guys with a story I heard once and I think it is a wonderful illustration of the gospel.
There was this guy from India who was a Buddhist. He compared life to a journey; a journey up a tall mountain. He viewed his religion as a path up the mountain. At the top of the mountain was God, or in his view "enlightenment" or "nirvana." One day this guy came in contact with a Christian missionary. The man shared his philosophy about the mountain to the Christian. He told the missionary that he did not necessarily disagree with Christianity, but that he thought his path was more efficient to reach the top of the mountain. But he assured the missionary that the Christian faith was also a path that led up the mountain, just a different one. So the missionary asked the man if he believed all religions would make it to the top of the mountain. The man affirmed this statement and said that all religions are basically the same because we are all trying to work/earn/pray/fast/meditate our way to the top of this mountain where God is. The Christian missionary then looked at this man and said, "What if I told you about a religion where God has come to the bottom of the mountain and carries you with Him to the top?" The man said, "Well I would want to know that way" The missionary looked at him and said, "That way is Jesus Christ." Again, take comfort knowing that we don't have to try to make it up the mountain. We have a God who has come to us and if we have faith, He will carry us the entire way.
I can't even imagine a way that I could make it up the mountain without God. I just want to say thanks to Justin for his commitment to this Bible Study and let you know that I am praying for you this morning as you set up for the services in Warner Robins.
I hope this touched some one's heart the way it did mine.
Keeping you all in my prayers,
Cainan
