Introduction to Philippians
Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet this week.
Transcript
I've had my mic on all morning and turned it off before I came up so if you thought the singing sounded extra good um I have the distinct pleasure this morning of uh catching everybody up who who has not already been caught up on how our give projects finished up this past uh Christmas so in December we um take time to focus our attention on generosity um in the middle of when we can get whipped into a consumer frenzy we try to take some time to to give some money away as a Church and this past year we did something a little different we picked three different give projects and we announced them over time.
The first one was Shop with a cop and we raised $2,000 for that to help KCPD yeah excited to get to do that the second one was uh for Providence home to redo their flooring in a men's home they have in downtown Columbia and we raised $10,000 for that in a week and we're able to to do that and the third one which was a little more open-ended was our uh work we got to do with Oliver Gospel Mission we contacted Oliver Gospel Mission and we asked them uh what can we do how can we partner with you is there anything that you need and they said we need a new roof and we said.
Well how does half a roof sound uh because we don't think we'll be able to you know be able to do all of that but we'd love to be able to Kickstart that we'd love to be able to get that started if you went around to other donors and said hey somebody's helping us get a roof and so they thought it was going to be about $43,000 and that's well beyond anything We've Ever Raised Even in our whole give project we'd already given away 12.
And so we just said hey let's try to see what we can do to get this started for them they uh contacted us and let us know that someone came walking in off the street which doesn't usually happen and just says walked in and said I'd like to make a donation people come in off the street all the time that happens at Oliver Gospel Mission people don't walk in off the street and say I'd like to make a donation and uh got to talking with them and they that person uh puts roofs on buildings and they said hey interesting uh and they started talking to them and that person works with an organization that will.
Um offer a cheaper uh prices on materials and they'll offer cheaper prices on labor and so they were actually able to get a bid for a nicer material for less money and so they got a bid for nicer material for $33,000 instead of $43,000 so less $10,000 less and uh nicer material that was going to have a longer warranty on it at that same time our Church was raising money and uh had been doing pretty well and then at our Christmas Eve Gathering raised another $177,000 and we raised $39,000.
For all ofer Gospel Mission so they're going to get to do a whole roof and we got to participate in that which means that over Christmas our Church was able to give away $51,000 praise the Lord and so let's just take a second I just want to pray as we consider that let's pray and then we'll study the Bible together this morning Lord you are so generous and you provide all things and Lord we're thankful that we got to participate in you blessing that we got to participate in seeing how you provide and how you work and how you orchestrate and how you take care of your people.
And so Lord we're thankful for your generosity to us in Christ we're thankful for your generosity to us Us in every blessing we've ever received in every day that we've ever eaten and lived and breathed and we're thankful that we got to participate in just a taste of your generosity and we ask Lord that by your grace our Church will get to continue to do that in Jesus name amen so happy New Year do you make New Year's resolutions is that a thing is that a thing you do every year I my assumption is.
If you're the type of person who makes New Year's resolutions you're also the type of person who doesn't mind raising your hand so raise your hand if you make New Year's resolutions this is the thing you do yeah we got a handful of people okay anybody doesn't make New Year resolutions but did this year like you're like I'm in this year I'm going to do it yeah all right anybody usually makes uh New Year's resolutions and we're just like I'm done I'm not doing it this year I'm out all right cool that actually is almost the amount of people that make them that's interesting we got we're falling off here the um here we're going.
To look this morning and we're going to start the book of Philippians so if you'll turn to Philippians chapter 1 we're going to work our way through the book of Philippians at the beginning of this year and there's something as we start this book and we look at it today we're going to see a characteristic of Paul an aspect of who he is and how he lives that I think if you could have this become part of your life a characteristic of yours an aspect of who you are and how you live you would be blessed by it your year would be better whether you make New Year's resolutions or not that you would.
If you could take on this characteristic of Paul it would be good for you and if you could get to the end of 2024 and that be a reality for you if you can get to the end of 202 if that could be how the rest of your life looked you would be blessed and so as we study this this morning we're going to try to understand this characteristic of Paul and how it's actually accessible to us in Christ and how we can live this way and have this and I want to tell you what it is as soon as I introduce Philippians.
So I'll tell you what that characteristic is in just a second but look at chapter 1 verse one Paul and Timothy Servants of Christ Jesus okay so this this is a letter and at the beginning of their letters they put who it's from so we put that at the end so you know it's a real surprise you get to the very end you don't know who this Letter's from and then you finally see who wrote it but they don't do that they tell you right at the beginning who it's from.
Okay Paul and Timothy Servants of Christ Jesus to all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi with the overseers and deacons grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ so it's to all the saints in Christ Jesus now Saints just means all those who belong to Jesus all Christians there's not a special class of Christians that are Saints it's all Christians have been made Holy by Jesus and so it's all of them.
Then it says and to the uh overseers and deacons and those are two offices in the Church overseers or elders and then deacons and Deacon just means the word servant but it's a a specific set aside office and so he says to the whole Church and then to the overseers and deacons and this is the Church at Philippi so let's get to know the city of Philippi for just a second so that we can a little bit understand uh what the city's like.
And then why Paul's writing this letter to them and what his relationship to the Philippians is and so this is a map that I got from the internet and that's why Antioch is on there even though we're not going to talk about it Jerusalem Philippi Rome so Jerusalem is where the Gospel starts that's where Jesus uh where Pentecost happens where Jesus has been crucified where his Church is praying where the Gospel spreads and then it works its way around and we're in the city of Philippi.
Now now Philippi was originally called kennedies and it was uh a part of the thian people live there and then Philip of Macedon conquered it and he renamed it and can you guess who he named it after he named it after himself yeah so if I was a more violent man there might be more places in South Carolina named Chester but there's just the one so he renames it Phillippi and Philippi is strategically located so it's Inland from a bigger Port City it is next to a big plane where there's uh fertile crop growth opportunities it is at the base of and on top of an acropolis which just means Hill it's the Greek term.
For Hill so that's why the Acropolis is in Athens but all of their cities were on Acropolis which is a strategic position to be able to defend the city so the top part is on the top of the Acropolis and the bottom of Philippi is at the base of it and so uh it was conquered by first it was thians then the Greeks move in and then the Greeks are conquered by the Romans and Philippi becomes a Roman city and then they build the ignatian way that runs all the way across the top of uh from this area over here that's galatia all the way across Macedon right there.
And so it's this large road that runs across here and so there's this large fertile area an acropolis and a mountain that had gold people liked Philippi and they F about it a good bit it's also the place where Octavian and Mark Anthony right in that same big plane defeat Brutus and cassus that the the Brutus and cassus that killed Julius Caesar at two brute and all that o Octavian and Mark Anthony kill them defeat their army right there next to Philippi.
And then it was shocking to everybody Mark Anthony and Octavian start not liking each other as soon as the other guys are out of the way and they battle and then Octavian wins and he becomes Augustus Caesar and he relocates a whole bunch of retired Roman soldiers to Philippi to accomplish two things one get them out of Rome that has too many people and two make Philippi very very thankful and gracious to him so that's the Augustus Caesar that you read about at Christmas that s a decree that all the world would be taxed that's that guy.
And so that all happens so the city of Philippi large city well off filled with Greek people and Roman people and very loyal to Rome and the Gospel begins to spread from Jerusalem Paul becomes a Christian begins to travel around he's trying to go to a couple of different places and the Holy Spirit's not letting him and then he has a dream and this is all in Acts 16 he has a dream of a Macedonian man saying come so he wakes up says Silas we're going to Macedonia which is where Philippi is and it says they went to Philippi.
Because it was one of the leading cities probably traveled right along the ignatian way as they're going to proclaim the Gospel they go to Philippi they show up to Philippi it was normal for Paul to go to a synagogue on the Sabbath and proclaimed the Gospel but it doesn't seem like there was a synagogue or he couldn't find one and it says that he went to the river where he assumed there was a place of prayer he goes to the river there are some ladies there praying one of those ladies Nam is Lydia he shares the Gospel with Lydia Lydia is a seller of purple goods and has her own household she's a well-off lady.
She becomes a Christian and then she says to them where are y'all staying and they tell her and she says no you're staying with me and they're like no we're fine and she's like that wasn't a question and that's basically how it reads it says she she impressed upon them uh that they're going to stay with with her so they go stay with her while they're in the city of Philippi to continue sharing the Gospel this again acts 16 so they're sharing the Gospel.
While they're sharing the Gospel in Philippi there is a slave girl who begins to follow them around it says that she is demon oppressed and she begins to follow Paul and Silas and yell loudly walking behind them these men serve the most high God and preach to you the way of Salvation it's interesting probably helpful she does this for 3 days straight and then it says Paul becoming greatly annoyed sends the the demon out of her he turns around and rebukes the demon and sets her free from demonic oppression I find it very interesting that his reasoning was annoyance.
But it was a blessing to this girl but her uh she was a slave her Masters are not happy because they used her to do fortune telling and now they've affected a a business they were running a side hustle and so they go complain to the authorities Paul and Silas are taken just a complaint taken arrested stripped beaten and then it says they were put in stocks and their ankles their feet were put in stocks in the in the prison so this is all in Philippi they're in Philippi having been beaten in the center part of this this jail and they are singing and praying and it says the whole jail was listening to them.
I don't know if they sang well if it was just odd that anybody would be singing and being happy some more amount of joyfulness I don't know what they were seeing I don't know how lamenting this was what was going on but it says that they're praising God and then there's an earthquake and all the doors open all the chains fall off all the stocks break that around the ankles and everything which is just so you know earthquakes shake things they don't usually pop every chain in a room you know.
But this one's special because the Lord s it and so everybody's suddenly free the Jailer wakes up looks sees that all the doors are open and thinks oh oh no worst thing that could possibly happen if you run a jail and then all the doors are open you're going to get fired probably but in his case he's pretty sure he's going to get executed so he goes to kill himself Paul yells don't do that we're all still here he comes in and and is like what what on Earth.
So he takes them out cleans their wounds they share the Gospel with him him and his whole household become Believers so you've got Lydia who's well off her whole household has become Believers you've got this Jailer who's Lydia's probably most likely Greek this Jailer most likely Roman he's he's a Roman Centurion or a Roman Jailer and he's his whole household becomes Believers and then you've got the slave girl who we don't know if she became a Believer or not she did.
If she listened to herself she said these are Servants of the most high God and they're telling you the way of Salvation And then she was set free from demonic activity so it's possible she did but the text doesn't tell us that's the beginning of this Philippian Church well-off Greek working class bluecollar Roman potentially a slave girl we know that the the Church spread amongst uh people who were in slavery like and so if you've ever thought your community group was awkward it's possible they had a hard time figuring out things to talk about other than how good.
Jesus was and the the people come to Paul in jail the Jailer comes they they basically say y'all can let Paul and Silas free now I think I always read this text and I think that I would have said thanks Paul says no no no no um we're Roman citizens we didn't have a trial they stripped us and beat us we're not leaving quietly tell them to come down here and talk to us we'd like to know why they treated Roman citizens like this and they freak out.
Because they should not treat Roman citizens like that they show up they tell them they're sorry for the beating yesterday walk them to the edge of town and say will you please leave Paul goes to the Church encourages them and then leaves we see in the book of Acts that he does come back a couple of times it's not Philippi is not mentioned but uh they go through the Macedonian churches and so it would be highly unlikely that they would go through the Macedonian churches and circle through and encourage everybody and not not go to Philippi.
So they go back through about twice to re encourage this Church now move ahead from acts 16 about 10 years Paul got arrested in Jerusalem they they found out there was a plot to kill him so they moved him to cesaria which which is up towards Antioch and then he appeals to Caesar and they move him to Rome Paul's in Rome in prison when he writes this letter and the way this works is if you got arrested in Rome you would quickly have some sort of a trial usually usually would happen fairly quickly depending on what it was they would often beat you and release you make you pay a fine release you they could.
Put you in a debtor's prison where you worked off a debt there were underground prisons for people who weren't Roman citizens or who people were people who were going to be executed quickly Paul's not put there if you're a Roman citizen but you're not well off you were put in house arrest but you were chained to a guard that seems to be the situation that Paul's in he's under house arrest chained at all times to a Roman guard um that's why he refers to his chains multiple times in his letters.
Remember my chains he says I write this chain as a criminal we don't think he was being uh dramatic we think he had chains um but we know he was under house arrest and when you're under house arrest you have to supply your own needs they don't feed you they don't take care of you so you're on the the mercy of your friends and family to take care of you and so he was chained to a uh just so you know.
If you're a well-off Roman you could be under house arrest and not be chained up but Paul fits in the not well-off Roman situation the Philippians find out Paul's in in jail in Rome he's under house arrest and they decide to send him a gift 800 miles away this Church says no this is Paul this is Paul that helped us get started this is Paul that we love this is Paul that's our missionary that helped us plant us and has gone on we've helped sin and they've partnered with him throughout and they.
So they send apodus to take a gift to them apodus almost dies trying to do this but he gets the gift to him Paul now receiving this gift to help provide for his needs while he's in house arrest writes this letter and sends it back with aitis it probably took aitis he would have taken the ignatian way we don't know if he walked rode a horse paid for somebody to take him on a cart but it probably took him and then he could go up and around or he could go across the water.
And then up which is probably what he did but it probably took him six weeks to six months depending on how he traveled to to to deliver this then he would have stayed with Paul a little bit and was sent back that's the letter that Paul's writing back to the Philippians in thanks for their partnership look at verse three I thank my God in all my remembrance of you always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy.
Because of your partnership in the Gospel from the first day until now now something interesting shows up right here in this text and that's what I want to point out to us today as we begin trying to wrap our head around the message of Philippians and and the tone of Philippians arguably things aren't going great for Paul he's been under arrest for quite a while now from Jerusalem to cesaria and over to Rome and if you'll read in Acts his trip to Rome wasn't a nice one there was shipwrecks and problems he got they he got Shipwrecked he survives that they build a fire to dry off a snake comes out and bites him that's.
A bad day y'all like it just is a continual just everything's kind of going poorly and he's in jail now and in prison now in house arrest in Rome and he's having to he needs people to supply his own needs like he's he's in trouble and he writes this letter and do y'all see the word joy in verse four says always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy that's the first time it shows up in Philippians.
But it's not the last time it shows up in Philippians people refer to this as the joy epistle the The Joy letter that's what epistle is so if you ever hear of someone called refer to the Pauline Epistles they just mean the letters written by Paul but this is the joy one he's joyful y this whole letter the tone of it Paul's posture his heart in this letter is joyful hopeful and confident joyful hopeful and confident now I imagine whether you make New Year's resolutions or you don't and since we raised our hands earlier most of you don't.
But I imagine that if you could know that at the end of 2024 the way your year would have been described was joyful hopeful and confident you'd be like yeah sign me up sounds great if you could know that your life played out and on your on your Epitaph on your Tombstone was a couple of dates a little Dash and it said joyful hopeful confident okay that sounds good because I'm not sure that's how you would describe 2023 maybe it is by Lord's Grace may maybe it is maybe that's how you would describe this past year maybe you'd use words like anxious sad maybe just things like tired bored fine y'all Paul's Paul's in prison.
So so this tone of life for him is not based off of his circumstances but so often ours is when someone asks how are you doing I can answer that question but I report on it like I'm reporting the weather I can just tell you what it's like but it's just based off of what's going on are things good or are things bad like I'm somehow just I'm I'm a victim to it I'm just participant in it I just see it.
But I I don't have any control over it there's it's based off of my circumstances it's what's going on around me and if you'll think about a lot of the goals that we set in life whether you make them every year or you just have them going on in your head but a lot of the things that you're striving for looking forward to chasing after are circumstantial things things that you can gain or lose things that can be good and if you don't have them can be bad and much of your life has been after circumstantial things it's been a a relationship or a job or a house a physical trait it's been something you.
Could own that therefore could be broken or stolen like it's circumstantial but Paul evidently is a part of something tapping into something existing in a situation where it's not circumstantial because if it were circumstantial this letter would read differently but let me show you how this reads I want to show you joyful hopeful confident we're going to go through all of this whole book together uh over time but I'm going to show you some highlights today look at verse six which we'll spend time on next week I am sure of this that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of.
Jesus Christ if you're looking at asking what does Paul have that helps him exist in a non- circumstantial way where there's joy and hope and confidence in the middle of difficulty well here's the first answer Jesus he says I'm sure of this he who began a good work in you I'm I'm certain of who Jesus is I know who I believe in I know what he's like I know how good he is I'm trusting in Jesus and if you're surprised to hear that it's.
Jesus we're glad that you're here at mil City Church but that's what we talk about it's Jesus that's who we talk about and how good he is and how wonderful he is because that's what the Bible talks about that's what Paul's talking about that he has Jesus we're going to see he has something else as well but he's got Jesus vers uh chapter 1 verse 20 it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed but that with full courage.
So we already saw he's sure now he's got hope and courage full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body whether by life or by death for to me to live is Christ and to die is gain so if some of you were thinking well maybe he's hopeful because it looks like it's going to go in his favor he just says I'm fully courageous fully hopeful that whether I live or die because he's facing execution as a real possibility that Christ will be glorified.
So it's not that he's hoping his circumstances will get better it's that he has something beyond that chapter 2:10 he says so that at the name of Jesus he's talking about Jesus and who he is and what he's like he says every knee should bow in heaven and on Earth under the Earth and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the father that Paul's eyes are on Jesus that's what he says in chapter 3:20 our citizenship is in heaven and from it we await a savior the.
Lord Jesus Christ who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious Body by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself Paul's in prison and he says oh my eyes are on Jesus and my eyes are on that day when every knee bows and every tongue confesses my eyes are on that day when this lowly chained up body is transformed that I have hope Beyond these four walls that I have hope Beyond these circumstances because I have Christ and everything's in him that's that's good that's a wonderful place to be chapter 4.
Verse 4 he says rejoice in the lord always again I will say rejoice Rejoice means to show joy to participate in to experience joy we don't use the word Rejoice much it's not like like what you probably didn't use it yesterday you weren't like my team won we must Rejoice probably didn't happen and for Colts fans it definitely didn't he says to show joy to experience joy and here he says why let your reasonabl be known to everyone the Lord is at hand here's why there's joy here's why there's rejoicing.
Jesus he's imminent he's King he rules He reigns he'll return all of our joy is bound up in him the Lord is at hand he ends of the book and my God Will Supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus Paul's in prison but goodness doesn't he sound happier than us to hear the way he speaks the where his heart is where his head is where his Joy is and the way we walk around.
See he doesn't just have Jesus he does and I think Paul might would I don't like the way I said that because I think Paul might would argue with me when it boils all down he does he just has Jesus but because he just has Jesus he has something else that I want us to see he's got purpose he's got a why Beyond his circumstances there's a a man named Victor Frankl who was a Jewish man who lived in Austria uh was born in 19 teens 1920s.
And so was just coming of age uh getting out of school getting married when the Nazis began to take over Austria and as a Jewish man his his world was getting tightened in on him where he was allowed to work what he was allowed to do was tightening and tightening and I want to read this quote about his life it says this in 1942 just nine months after his marriage Frankle and his family were sent to Terin zad concentration camp his.
Father died there of starvation and pneumonia in 1944 Frankl and the surviving members of his family were transported to aitz where his mother and brother were murdered in the gas Chambers his wife Tilly died later of typhus in Bergen bellson Frankl spent three years in four concentration camps he was rescued he was released and he wrote a book called man search for meaning because he was a a doctor and a psychiatrist and he said that when he was in the concentration camps that there was it did things to people that there were three primary things that it did there were some people who kind of just turned into animals they went into survival mode they.
Became brutal and harsh and did whatever they had to do to make their life and existence there better he said some people with all hope and all joy and everything taken away from them just gave up all their Circumstances had gotten so so bad they just they just quit and they died before they died and he says there was a third type of person that remained human continued being able to show compassion continued to be able to exist in this sort of framework and he said he noticed that about those they were able to.
See something beyond the Concentration Camp they had something further out to hold on to there was something Beyond the Horizon for them and so in trying to discuss this he puts it this way he says those who have a why to live can bear with almost any how another way he puts it is in some ways suffering ceases to be suffering at the moment it finds a meaning Paul has Jesus but the reason he's in prison is for the sake of the advancement of the Gospel which is.
So that other people might have Jesus some of us need to get a better why in 2024 need to get a better meaning in 2024 because so much of what we're aiming for is circumstantial so much of what we've planned out for this year and what we're hoping for in this year that we could get or lose or gain or lose but at the end of it if you get it does it matter in two years does it matter matter in 10 does it matter in 5050 does it matter a 100 million years later.
When we're in eternity proclaiming the glory of Christ see Paul says this in verse 3 45 he says this I thank my God and all my remembrance of you always and every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy because of your partnership in the Gospel from the first day until now he said you've joined me in the Gospel you've joined me in the proclamation of the Gospel you've joined me is going to later say in my imprisonment and my defense of the Gospel that y'all have participated in something that lasts and matters some of you should be full-time foreign missionaries and some of you should participate in a Church plant some.
Of you should go into preaching Ministry pastoral Ministry but there's a whole lot of people in our Church that are lyas and Ethiopian and jailers and Philippian jailers we're going to work but my goodness what if this year instead of losing 10 pounds you pray daily for three co-workers what if that was on your list what if this year instead of running a half marathon you invited every person on your street to eat dinner at your house and you labored that there might be more tongues and mouths proclaiming the glory of Christ in eternity what.
If we participated in the Gospel and so that at the end of all of this at the end of our Lives when anything ran into us to cause US problems or to mess us up when our circumstances changed it actually didn't matter because we were eternally focused on the Glorious King and his goodness and rescue and hope in the Gospel and so our circumstances are just our circumstances but our mission stays our mission and so suffering isn't wasted because it has a meaning and honestly suffering can't take it away from us difficulty can't take it away from us.
Because the hope of the Gospel remains and the glory of Christ remains I'd love for you to lose 10 pounds and run a half marathon put the sticker on the back of your car we're proud of you that takes work it takes Focus but Paul says it's good but when you die it's over your abs don't go to heaven but there are people around you who might and they might not up and there's a hope of a Gospel that's worth it.
So by God's grace and as we study Philippians may we tap in to partnership with Paul in the Gospel for the glory of Christ in all of eternity let's pray oh Lord we're thankful because of Jesus our circumstances won't win our sin won't win the enemy won't win because you have gloriously redeemed a people for yourself and Lord we ask that we would lift our eyes and that we would await a savior from heaven and that our life would look like that's where we're at that that's where our hope is that that's where our courage is that that's where our joy is and may we be a people who participate in the Gospel praying.
Laboring for our neighbors and our co-workers and our friends hosting and welcoming and sharing and declaring for the sake of the glory of your name among all the nations Lord may you call people right now to quit their job pack their bags and go to another Nation Lord may you call people right now to begin to commit to participating in a Church plant in an area that needs one and Lord may you call people right now and bring to mind those people that they already work with that they already live near and may they participate fully in the Gospel and partner just as the Philippians did with Paul and by your grace may we get.
To do this in Jesus name amen band's going to come back up we're going to sing I would encourage you to take a moment and to consider where your energy going where your efforts going what your meaning is what your why is and begin to ask the Lord to help you see how you might partner in the advancement of the Gospel who you might begin to pray for who you might begin to labor for what you might begin to take on what you might begin to get rid of.
So that you have more room to the praise of his glorious name.