“This is the true joy in life, being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one: being thoroughly worn out before you are thrown on the scrap heap, and being a force of nature instead of a feverish selfish little clod of ailments and grievances, complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy.” This week we are beginning a new series on a community of Christians that really understood the meaning of this quote, the Philippian church. and we will be in this letter for the spring, until right around the end of June. Philippians is one of my favorite New Testament letters. The church in Philippi was one of the strongest, most faithful church plants of Paul, and it is clear that Paul had a deep, deep love for them. This was a church that found joy in sacrificial love in the name of the Gospel. They understood the joy to be found in being a part of a mighty purpose, and they gave sacrificially of themselves and their resources to advance that purpose. When Paul first came to Philippi to preach the gospel, he was thrown into jail, but he found the people of the city immediately receptive and welcoming to the gospel. The first Christian in the city of Philippi was a woman named Lydia, who immediately invited Paul and Silas to her home, and through Lydia and her household, the church in Philippi grew. They were close to Paul’s heart, and he became very close with the people of Philippi. And as Paul’s ministry went on and he eventually was imprisoned, the Philippians sent money and support to Paul, people came from that church to testify on his behalf before the Romans. They also financially supported other churches that were not as blessed financially. They were a church that was filled with love and joy in the gospel, and Paul says that he thanked God for them every time they came into his thoughts. Whenever they came to mind, he was filled with joy and happiness. But like every community of believers, they also had struggles. There were problems that needed to be addressed. They had plenty going for them, and we are going to see that today in this prayer of Paul, a prayer of thanksgiving. But what we will also see today, and during this study, is that no matter where we are in our walk with Jesus, there is always room to grow. There is always room for more maturity, to grow closer to God and closer to each other. There is always room to become more Christ-like. And it is my hope that as we study this letter to the Philippian church, that we will share in the joy that Paul felt, and that we will learn much both from their example, and the words that Paul had for them.
This week we are going to start off right in chapter 1, and we are going to cover verses 1-11. This is a prayer of Paul for the church in Philippi. And while we are going to be taking some deep theological dives during this series, this week is meant to not be TOO heavy, but to be an introduction to the letter, and to start to get our minds and hearts ready to receive the word of God over these next few months. So with that in mind, lets read these first 11 verses of chapter 1 of Philippians: “Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, To all God’s holy people in Christ Jesus at Philippi, together with the overseers and deacons: Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. It is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my heart and, whether I am in chains or defending and confirming the gospel, all of you share in God’s grace with me. God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus. And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.”
So this letter is introduced as being written by: “Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus.” We believe that this was written while Paul was in Rome under house arrest, and it is a part of what we call the “prison epistles”, which are Philippians, Ephesians, Colossians, and Philemon. And Timothy is there with him. They identify themselves as “servants of Christ”, or “Doulos” in Greek, otherwise translated as slaves. They are bound for life in service to God. And while the church knows that Paul has authority as an apostle, this title carries a sense of humility as well. We are all servants of Jesus, carrying out his work and his will. “To all God’s holy people in Christ Jesus at Philippi, together with the overseers and deacons.” This is the only place that these specific Greek words are used in the introduction to a letter, and we translate them here as overseers and deacons. Overseer is sometimes translated as bishop, elder or pastor, but the English translation in this passage gives the sense of the word rather than a title, to the ones who oversee things, whatever we call them today. And then deacons. A literal translation of the Greek word deacon would be “Those who serve” And then when it says, to all God’s holy people, that word Holy is translated as “saints”. This is to all the believers in Philippi, all the leaders, and all of those who serve in some capacity. Verse 2, “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” This is a combination of both Greek and Hebrew words and concepts. Grace is the free, spontaneous unmerited love of God to sinful humanity, making its appearance in the redemption that came through Jesus. And then peace is the fruit of this love in the lives of those who have accepted that love, and its main characteristic is reconciliation to God through Jesus.
And then we come to this prayer. Verses 3-6, “I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always offering prayer with joy in my every prayer for you all, in view of your participation in the gospel from the first day until now. For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.” Whenever Paul thinks of his friends, he thanks God for them, because the Philippians have been great friends to Paul from the moment that he first preached the gospel to them, and they became very close over the time that he spent there, most likely a few years. He cares for them deeply. They have helped him when he needed it, both prayer and financial support. And they have been incredibly faithful to God and the cause of Christ. And the irony here is that Paul is in prison when he is writing all of this. Despite being in prison, facing a potential death sentence, he is filled with joy. Why? Because of the faith and the works of his good friends in Philippi. He is overcome with joy because of their participation and partnership in the gospel. They received the good news that he brought them about Jesus, they have been obedient to God, and their faith is shown to be genuine by their actions. And Paul uses strong language here. When he says that he is confident, he means that he is fully and firmly persuaded or convinced that the Holy Spirit will continue to work in them and perfect them until Jesus returns. Now when he says this, he doesn’t mean this in a threatening way or as a warning. He had come to this conclusion about the Philippian church prior to this and remains confident and convinced that it is still true.
Verses 7-8, “For it is only right for me to feel this way about you all, because I have you in my heart, since both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel, you all are partakers of grace with me. For God is my witness, how I long for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus.” Throughout his imprisonment, they have been by his side, defending the gospel and supporting both him and the church. In a time when the church was growing, but facing struggles and persecution, he had nothing but love and praise for the Philippian church. Paul is a prisoner for Jesus, and he is at the same time, suffering on behalf of the churches. Not all of the churches have been faithfully by his side! Just read through the New Testament letters. Most of the letters written to churches were to straighten out poor theology, convince Christians to actually DO something with their faith, to stop fighting and division in the churches, or to encourage churches and Christians to not just give up and bail completely on the church. But the Philippian church, while still a community of sinful humanity, has been by Paul’s side, faithfully serving Jesus and defending the gospel. Considering the amount of work Paul had on his plate with the churches in the first century, it makes sense when he says, “For it is only right for me to feel this way about you all”.
And then we come into this prayer of exhortation. Exhortation just means to urge someone to do something. And this is where we are going to focus most of our time. Verses 9-11, “And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve the things that are excellent, in order to be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ; having been filled with the fruit of righteousness which comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.” With all of the good things that the Philippian church has going for them, Paul prays that they would be filled with even more love, but that it would begin to express itself in new ways. While the Philippian church has so many things going for them, they, just like every other church, still had some problems that needed to be dealt with. Or at least, if they didn’t have problems per sea, there was still room for them to grow, and become more Christ-like. Paul has spoken in depth about how much love and joy they have, and how strong their faith is, and then he brings it to this point: I pray that your love would abound even MORE! But I pray that it would express itself in real knowledge and discernment. Knowledge generally conveys the idea of a mental grasp of a truth, but the sense of the Greek here is knowing God in an intimate way made possible through his self-disclosure. What Paul is saying in regard to knowledge, is, I pray that your love would grow even more, and that through it, you would come to a deeper and more intimate knowledge and relationship with God. A greater knowledge of God and his ways will in turn promote greater harmony within the church and give the Philippians a better understanding of their relationships and their faith. Discernment, however, is a spiritual gift. This can also be translated as depth of insight, or perception. Hebrews 5:12-13 says, “You need milk, not solid food, for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since they are a child. But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.” So right there at the end, we see what discernment is: It’s good judgment, understanding, and most importantly, the ability to distinguish good from evil. It means to put something to the test, and then as a result of your test, accept or reject that which you tested. So having a deeper knowledge of God, and having the gift of discernment, are both very necessary qualities in a community of believers. And the Philippians were no different. We will see as we go on through this series, that despite everything good that Paul had to say about them, they had problems too. Paul begins this letter with this prayer of exhortation, before he moves on to the meat later on. And this is something that we should take note of, because often, the most effective way to resolve issues is to pray for the people involved, and if a word of rebuke or correction has to be spoken, it should be prayed over FIRST, and then spoken in love. This is the example that Paul gives here in his introduction of the letter to the Philippians.
And then Paul gives the reason why they should strive for all this: So that you may approve the things that are excellent, in order to be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ This is the overall reason that they needed knowledge and discernment. The fulfillment of this prayer will be that Paul’s friends will have the ability to discern, and then to practice, the righteousness of God in their church life as a community. And as a result, they would experience a closer harmony as a church, and cultivate a family spirit, which would replace any division. And as a result of THAT, they would become pure and blameless in preparation for the final judgment. And this is one of many places where we realize in scripture that, while the penalty for our sins have been paid, and we WILL inherit eternal life, our actions still matter. We are to allow ourselves to be sanctified by the Holy Spirit, which means that every day, we grow more and more like Jesus. But the catch is, you actually have to let the Holy Spirit do its work in you. That is the goal that we have all signed up for. And it is a theme we will see again before this series is through.
And then finally, he says that it would be because they have been filled with the fruit of righteousness which comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God. The wish of Paul is that they would abundantly show by their lives that Jesus lives in them, by the way that they live together as a community. This is more than just a prayer for holiness. If we wish to honor God, it should not be just with our lips. It should also be with our lives. And this all comes through Jesus.
This is the tone that is being set as Paul begins this letter to his friends. And as we begin to read and study through it together as a church, what should we take away from this prayer of Paul, and what should we keep in mind as we continue into the rest of the letter?
First of all, the church should be praying for each other with a joyful heart. This is something that we sort of get, but we also sort of don’t. We do pray for each other when someone is sick, as we should! James 5:15 says “and the prayer offered in faith will restore the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up, and if he has committed sins, they will be forgiven him”. But this is not the only time that we should be praying for each other. We should be praying for each other always. Here in Philippians, we see Paul praying that they would grow
and deepen their relationship with God, and therefore grow and deepen their relationships with each other. He also thanks God for them in his prayers. And he prays that they would develop discernment. So we kind of get the sense here that we should be praying for each other regarding all things, including our individual walks with God and with each other. And we all have a role to play in this! We should all be praying for each other, that we would each grow closer to God, and that we would grow in love and in our relationships with each other. We should also be praying for our church as a body, and for the community at large. And then yes of course, we should continue to be in prayer for each other when we are sick. We should all be praying for each other, with joyful hearts, to the benefit of all.
Second, the church should be an example of the grace they have received. We see a number of different situations in the various churches in the first century. But one thing that is unique about the Philippians, is that while they do have some issues to work through like everyone else, their lives are living proof of the good news of Jesus. They are not afraid to show the love of Jesus to the world, and because they are so committed to the work of the gospel, Paul is overcome with joy when he thinks of them. From the moment that Paul first shared the gospel with them, they have been committed to the cause. They have stood by Paul’s side, and they have been there for all the other churches as well. The Philippians were living proof of the power of the Holy Spirit to change lives. They were an example for others to follow, an example of the grace that they had received through Jesus. Like the Philippians, we should strive to be examples to the world and the community around us. We should live lives that point straight back to Jesus like a mirror.
Third, the church should be continually yearning for knowledge and discernment. And this is so, so important. I’ve been studying the bible academically for the past ten years, on and off, part time. And I have noticed that people start to think that I am some kind of bible expert. But the truth is, I’m really not. Yes, I’ve taken some time to study the bible, and to learn HOW to study it, and to learn how to teach it. But do you want to know what my biggest lesson was from MCC? The biggest thing I learned, the biggest takeaway, is just how much I don’t know. Maybe you’ve heard the saying, “you don’t know what you don’t know until you know it”? Well, for me, I always seem to find that the more I learn, the more I realize just how much I don’t know about God, and just how much I don’t know about the bible. And the truth is, no matter how far you go, no matter how deep you go, there will always be more to learn. Likewise, no matter how long you have been a Christian, you can always, ALWAYS, grow closer to God. Paul had so much to be thankful for when it came to the Philippians. When you compare the words of Paul to this church, with the words he had for other churches, it really shows just how awesome the Philippian church was. And yet, Paul’s prayer for them is that they would go FURTHER. Grow MORE. That God would CONTINUE what he was already doing in them. That they would have MORE love, MORE knowledge, and MORE discernment. Paul’s prayer was that they wouldn’t become stagnant, but that they would continue to allow the Holy Spirit to work in them, to sanctify them, and to make them more like Jesus. And like the Philippians, we should also be yearning and seeking more knowledge, and more discernment, so that we too can grow closer to God, and closer to each other as a church.
So as we wrap up, both Paul’s introduction to this letter, and my introduction to this series, I hope that you have been left with some things to think about. Paul had so many things to be thankful for when he thought of the Philippians, and his heart was filled with joy whenever they came to mind. But even so, Paul knew that they could grow further. They could grow closer to God, and closer to each other. So my hope is that as we begin this study, no matter if you are a new believer, or have believed your whole life, that you will prepare your hearts with me, so that we can grow together. Because no matter where we are in our walk with Jesus, there is always room to grow. PRAY
