Philippians Lesson 2

Philippians Chapter 1:1-30
Chapters 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 in Motyer

This week we start with another prayer from Paul. In this case, we have an apostle praying for people he loves as inspired by the Holy Spirit. We should naturally pay attention to all of Scripture but when we have this week’s situation we really need to pay attention if only from a selfish point of view. We are going to find out what an inspired apostle prays for those he loves.

Philippians 1:8-11 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 until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.

First of all Paul acknowledges that the basis of his pastoral care is the affection that is within him from Christ Jesus. Paul is always careful to acknowledge the work of the Holy Spirit within him. The desire for blessing in the lives of the Philippians that Paul feels is a product of the Holy Spirit. We all have various gifts from God to use in the world and we need to remember where these gifts come from. This isn’t false humility on Paul’s side but we need to guard against false humility on our side. When God uses us, and He will, then thank Him and acknowledge the Holy Spirit in your life. It isn’t just being humble it is being truthful.

Secondly, Paul prays that they would abound in love. Paul is asking for a continual progressive growth in love. This means we are to be increasing in the fruit of love for all our lives. According to Paul our love is to grow, not in a fuzzy warm feeling of bluebirds and bunnies, but rather in knowledge and depth of insight. We need to know and grasp the significance of it. We need to have more than knowledge of facts. We must grasp the significance so that our hearts are moved by the knowledge. How does that work? Well God’s love has been shown in all points of scripture and is demonstrated in nature and in our lives personally. You could memorize all those facts but not be changed. Grasping the significance of God’s love is transformative and changes your behavior. You will never exhaust the knowledge and depth of insight of His love available to you in scripture, if you did, then nature would remain and our knowledge of His love as shown in nature is still limited, and if you finished with those two then you would still have your one life to live and you won’t be finished experiencing His love until you are finished and standing before Him. It is really easy to be slack about our understanding of His love in grace, justification, sanctification, and Old Testament sacrifice and deliverance but they all testify of God’s love for us. We are new creatures in Christ and we are told to let love grow. We are not told to be what we are not; on the contrary, we are told to be what we are in Christ Jesus.

When God had gotten my attention again in about 1973 after being saved as a child years earlier, we had a pastor on staff doing nearly all the foundational teaching. He was very good. Somebody asked him one time how they could get knowledge and insight in scripture. He said something like, “get a pick and shovel and go at the Bible for 30 years or so” that will help. We aren’t praying for a short cut. If we are then we are wasting our time. What we are praying for is that we would run with patience the race that is set before us. Motyer says, “The Christian, then, is a person with an objective, a deadline to meet, a Lord to please, or, in Paul’s harvest metaphor, someone with fruits of righteousness to produce to the glory and praise of God.”

Thirdly then Paul explains why we want to know and have depth of insight in the Love of God. It is so that we can discern what is best and be pure and blameless until the day of Christ. We typically spend lots of our resources deciding what is best in sports, sports equipment, and vehicles. If, “Hey y’all watch this” are the famous last words of many guys (and you may want to stop what you are doing if you find yourself using that phrase) then “Well it seemed like a good idea at the time” is the famous lame excuse for an activity. I still remember the newspaper story of the land owner near Lake Oconee who turned loose a bunch of emus and figured he’d have a game ranch. They started turning up all over the county. When asked why he did that he just said, “Well it seemed like a good idea at the time.” We will give a full accounting of our life decisions. I’m afraid I’ll be tempted to use that phrase in front of God. He will probably not be amused. The Means of Grace, if applied diligently over time, crying out for more Grace are powerful. If I can stand before God and know that I sought Him in prayer, I studied scripture, I was in fellowship, I worshiped him, I made use of baptism and communion as He instructed … well at least then if I say “it seemed like a good idea at the time” it won’t ring so hollow. However, if I haven’t, and God asked me what would make me think that whatever I came up with was the best course of action, then I’d hope to have the guts to just say it was dumb and inexcusable and not offer an excuse because I won’t have one worth hearing. Of course, after reading this and praying it, neither will you.

And if I work with God who is at work within me to will and to do His good pleasure, then on the Day of Christ I will be filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God. His glory and His praise because the foundation to my progress is to daily and moment by moment submit myself to His lordship. Boy is that hard to remember to do. Motyer says, “We are often neglectful, frequently failing, ever inadequate; yet the end is secure, for God is at work.”

Philippians 1:12-14 Now I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel. As a result, it has become clear throughout the whole palace guard and to everyone else that I am in chains for Christ. Because of my chains, most of the brothers in the Lord have been encouraged to speak the word of God more courageously and fearlessly.

Paul wants to point out how his imprisonment has actually been a good thing. He was seeing the Gospel spread at Caesar’s Palace so he was rejoicing. He makes me feel like such a whiner. He has led the charge and in the middle of the battle looks back and gives thanks that others are following and showing courage and fearlessness. Paul was unjustly imprisoned and lied about. Nothing was “fair” about the way he was treated according to the laws of Rome. Yet He looks past the treatment of men to the impact on the Church and the success of the Gospel. He had his eyes open looking for opportunities to minister while in chains. I hope that from my back row seat in heaven I get to see him someday. According to him, he was the least of the apostles.

Philippians 1:15-18a It is true that some preach Christ out of envy and rivalry, but others out of goodwill. The latter do so in love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. The former preach Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing that they can stir up trouble for me while I am in chains. But what does it matter? The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached. And because of this I rejoice.

Paul is good at seeing the big picture. He is leaving motives to God for judgment as long as the Gospel is being preached. This reminded me of a scene in the movie “Lord of the Rings”. It was written by a Roman Catholic and has lessons in courage and values. However, there are two of the main characters that are always in competition in the battle so they keep score on who is taking care of more of the bad guys. At one point the bad guys come mounted on elephants and one character climbs up an elephant fighting and shooting arrows and finally gets in position to shoot into the back of the elephants head and bring it down and he sort of surfs down the head and lands on the ground as the elephant crashes down. Then the other character who has been on the ground the whole time shouts, “That still just counts as one!” Paul has taken out elephants in opposition to the church and he really doesn’t care about anyone’s count but God. We don’t need to worry about someone else’s success because God is the one who is in control and He is the one we serve. When we stand before God we certainly don’t want to be found to be, as Motyer says, “people whose hearts were at war with their testimonies.”

Philippians 1:18b-20 Yes, and I will continue to rejoice, for I know that through your prayers and the help given by the Spirit of Jesus Christ, what has happened to me will turn out for my deliverance. I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death.

Paul does cherish the prayers of the Philippians. Remember that by prayer you can change what would otherwise be. You can’t usurp the sovereignty of God but He will respond to your yielding yourself to pray in accordance with the Holy Spirit. Paul looks for deliverance as a result of their prayers and the Holy Spirit. When you pray for your pastorate it isn’t a pointless activity. You are participating with God in spiritual battle. Whenever we pray we need to realize that we are acting as God has commanded us to and we are participating with the Holy Spirit as part of the Body of Christ. We should never think that God is so limited that He can’t be sovereign AND respond to our prayers. I praise God that He is sovereign and omniscient so that I can pray. I can’t think of anything scarier than a God who was sovereign and yet not omniscient. He’d be likely to give me something dumb when I asked for it.

In Paul’s mind (and in our minds as we grow up in Christ) deliverance is equated with displaying courage in the face of the enemy whether he lives or dies. Now call me crazy but I have a little different view of being delivered. But I know I’m wrong. I need the attitude of Paul and of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego (Daniel 3:16) that says God will deliver me by taking me through the fire; however, my body may or may not be usable afterwards. In any case, I’ll pray for sufficient courage so that Christ will be exalted whether I live or die. I don’t have any desire to be a martyr (I don’t even want to be yelled at) but I will admit that scripture and history show that martyrs for Jesus Christ don’t waste their lives. I pray God would take us as we are and make us all what He would have us be.

Philippians 1:21-26 For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body. Convinced of this, I know that I will remain, and I will continue with all of you for your progress and joy in the faith, so that through my being with you again your joy in Christ Jesus will overflow on account of me.

This Scripture is one that convinces me that this epistle was written late in Paul’s life. This is a guy who has been faithful and knows he doesn’t have much longer to work before he’ll be with Christ but also has a deep love for the Philippians and wants to see them again. We’ve noted it before but here again Paul shows a real pastor’s heart. Paul’s purpose was Christ in death or in life.

Philippians 1:27 Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Then, whether I come and see you or only hear about you in my absence, I will know that you stand firm in one spirit, contending as one man for the faith of the gospel

To live in “a manner worthy” we must be engaged in the things of Christ. The means of Grace will not be absent. We’ll be running with patience. Motyer points out that the Philippians would have taken this in the context of their Roman citizenship. They would have thought of the ways they functioned with the privileges and responsibilities of Roman citizenship. They were privileged as children of the King of Kings and a member of the household of God. They were responsible to live a holy life and be true to the Gospel.

We know that Paul never compromised on the Gospel message but he also stressed the importance of unity. We shouldn’t let things that are not a fundamental part of the Gospel, such as types of buildings, pews, and room colors split us from other brothers. If we can contend for the gospel without compromise then we should stand firm in one spirit and not allow ourselves to be separated by nonessentials. Only the Gospel is essential to our service in a place. Other matters need to be handled by “esteeming others better than yourself” and by serving others.

Philippians 1:28-30 without being frightened in any way by those who oppose you. This is a sign to them that they will be destroyed, but that you will be saved—and that by God. For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for him, since you are going through the same struggle you saw I had, and now hear that I still have.

I was studying this scripture years ago and I still like to think of it in the King James Version. I had just found a subway token. It was a New York subway token and looked like a little coin with a star cut out in the center. I got it in change somehow. I read verse 28 in the King James that says we should be “in nothing terrified by your adversaries: which is to them an evident token of perdition, but to you of salvation, and that of God.” I really liked the idea that when the enemy of my soul attacks and I’m not scared it is as if I gave him a token that on one side says, “you are going to hell” and on the other side says “because this one is saved by God”. It doesn’t even matter which side he reads first. Of course the KJV didn’t mean a subway token and the NIV is clearer. We are not to be frightened so that it will be a sign to them that they are going to be destroyed and we will be saved.

While we are not suffering to the degree that Paul and the early Church suffered we still are called to go through the same spiritual struggles they went through.