Philippians, Colossians, I & Ii Thessalonians Series

PHILIPPIANS, COLOSSIANS, I & II THESSALONIANS

Sermon 8

Introduction: In the previous lesson we studied the books of Galatians and Ephesians. In this lesson will complete a survey of the Books of Philippians and Colossians. The Book of Philippians is a book about rejoicing. The Book of Colossians is a complement to the book of Ephesians. Where Ephesians places the emphasis on the Body of Christ, Colossians emphasizes the Head of the body.

PHILIPPIANS

I. SURVEY

A. Writer: The Apostle Paul

B. Date: About A.D. 62

C. Key Word: “Rejoice”

D. Purpose: Philippians is the love letter of the Apostle Paul to the dear people at Philippi. There is no censure

mentioned. The word sin does not occur in the entire book. Not a single word is drawn from the Old Testament.

The word “others” can be found written throughout the entire book. The Purpose for this book is simply to say

I love you!!!

II. OUTLINE - Many great outlines have been composed from the Book of Philippians. Many Bible commentators declare that Philippians has four natural divisions, which are correctly divided into four chapter divisions. In can be divided in this way:

Chapter 1 - Christ: The Believer’s Life

Chapter 2 - Christ: The Believer’s Example

Chapter 3 - Christ: The Believer’s Object

Chapter 4 - Christ: The Believer’s Strength

Knowing that the key word of this book is rejoice, I present the following outline.

A. REJOICING IN THE COMRADES - Philippians 1:1-6

1. The Servants - vs. 1a

a. This Epistle was written, as we know, by the Apostle Paul from his prison in Rome.

b. At this writing his son in the faith, Timothy, was with him; and he includes him ni the introductory remarks

2. The Saints - vs. 1b

a. The word “saints” here includes all born again believer in the City of Philippi

b. The Bishops, or overseers, were the pastors, and the deacons were the other officers of the local churches.

3. The Salutation - vs. 2-6

a. Salutation of Grace - vs. 2a

b. Salutation of Peace - vs. 2b

c. Salutation of Love - vs. 3

B. REJOICING IN THE CHAINS - Philippians 1:7-30 We have pointed out before that the Book of Philippians

is a prison letter written by Paul at Rome. He rejoiced in that he was a prisoner of the empire; it was not

because of any misdeed or breaking of any national law, but simply because of his stand for Christ and his

preaching of the Gospel. He rejoiced in these bonds, he rejoiced in the chains, praising God that he was

counted worthy to suffer such persecutions.

1. His Bonds affected the Phillipians - Phil. 1:7

a. The Philippians well knew of the persecution and bonds endured by Paul when he was at Philippi.

b. The knew that he was enduring in Rome the same afflictions for the same cause.

c. How Paul’s Testimony must have made an impact on the lives of these Philippian People. Here is a Man of

God in the most terrible circumstance with a song in his heart of praise to God.

d. How many times do we moan and belly-ache over things that are really not hardships in comparison to what

Paul faced. These times are opputunities for us to show others that God’s grace is sufficient.

2. His Bonds Affected the Palace - Phil. 1:13

a. The Palace spoken of is, in reality, the Praetorian Guard; this was the barracks which housed the chiefest of Caesar’s soldiers.

b. The soldiers numbered in the thousands and were used on special occasions as his bodyguards. They were soldiers of valour and men of renown.

c. As Paul was a prisoner of the state, he was placed under the supervision of these soldiers, with several taking guard of him.

d. Acts 28:16 tells us that each guard kept company with Paul in Paul’s own hired house.

e. Most anyone would be discouraged at even the thought of being imprisoned, but Paul was rejoicing in these bonds, because was using his imprisonment to spread the Gospel as he was using no one else in Rome.

f. Many of these tough, rugged soldiers were converted as a result of Paul’s Chains.

3. His Bonds Affected the Preaching - Phil. 1:14-18

a. He we see the jealousy of the brethren abounding. You will notice that Paul called them “brethren in the

Lord”; the brethren are not Israelites, but rather those who were born again believers.

b. Paul’s bonds led to more preaching of the Gospel than ever before.

c. Those preaching the Gospel were now divided into two classes: those who were preaching because of envy, and those who were preaching because of sincerity.

d. There were brethren who were preaching because of envy and they could not endure Paul’s successs; so they preached not in sincerity, thinking that their boldness would move Paul to envy them in his condition.