Level Up July 14

Level Up – The Epistles Summer 2024 Philippians ◼ Introduction – NIV Study Bible o Author ▪ Paul (Philippians 1:1) o Date and Place of Writing ▪ A.D. 61 ▪ Rome, written when Paul was under house arrest (Philippians 1:12-14). o Recipients ▪ The church in Philippi ▪ Paul in Philippi: Acts 16:11-39 ▪ The city of Philippi was named after King Philip II of Macedon, father of Alexander the Great. It was a prosperous Roman colony, whose citizens were proud Romans. (Acts 16:16-21). The city was filled with retired Roman soldiers who had been given land in honor of their service.

▪ There is no indication that there was a synagogue in Philippi – not enough Jews to have one. It explains why Paul does not quote the OT in Philippians – his audience is overwhelmingly Gentile. o Purpose – Why did Paul write this letter?

▪ To thank the church for their gift they sent when they heard he had been imprisoned in Rome (Philippians 1:5; 4:10-19).

▪ To report on his own circumstances (Philippians 1:12-26).

▪ To encourage the Philippians to stand firm in the face of persecution and rejoice regardless of the circumstances (Philippians 1:27-30; 4:4).

▪ To exhort them to humility and unity (Philippians 2:1-11; 4:2-5).

▪ To commend Timothy and Epaphroditus to the Philippian church (Philippians 2:19-30).

▪ To warn the Philippians against heretical voices within the church (Philippians 3:1-21).

▪ Philippians 2:5-11 is the centerpiece of the letter. o What does the beginning of the letter tell us?

▪ 1 Paul and Timothya, servants of Christ Jesus, To all God’s holy peopleb in Christ Jesus at Philippi, together with the overseersc and deaconsd: 2 Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 3 I thank my God every time I remember you. 4 In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy 5 because of your partnershipe in the gospel from the first day until now, 6 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 (Philippians 1:1-6).

• aPaul includes Timothy in his greeting, reminding the church of his importance to the work and prepare him for his potential arrival in the near future (Philippians 2:19-24).

• bThe word used is “saints.”

• cThe word “overseer” is where we get our term “elder.”

• dThe word “deacon” means “one who serves.” The term is used over two dozen times in the New Testament, sometimes referring

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to a position of authority but most often speaking of a person in the church given a responsibility to carry out. eThe word “koinonia” is used three times in Philippians: o 1:6 – partnership in the gospel leading to God fulfilling His will o 2:1 – fellowship in the Spirit leading to shared purpose o 3:10 – participation in the sufferings of Christ leading to glorious resurrection

◼ The Bible Project – highlights o The church in Philippi was the first Jesus community Paul started in Eastern Europe. That story is told in Acts chapter 16.

▪ Philippi was a Roman colony in ancient Macedonia. The town had been set up by Emperor Augustus Octavian for soldiers. Not surprisingly, the people were very loyal to the emperor, proclaiming him “lord and savior” (emperor worship). This brought them into direct conflict with Christians (Philippians 3:20). Paul was a prisoner of Rome (1:13) and the Philippians were indeed having the same struggles (1:30).

▪ There Paul faced resistance when he was announcing Jesus as the true king of the world. o After Paul moved on from there, those who became followers of Jesus continued to suffer resistance and even persecution but they remained a vibrant community, faithful to the way of Jesus.

▪ Paul sent this letter from one of his many imprisonments.

▪ The Philippians had sent one of their members, Epaphroditus, to take a financial gift to Paul to support him in prison.

▪ Paul sent back this letter with Epaphroditus to say, "Thank you," and to do a whole lot more. o 1:1-11 – Paul opens the letter with a prayer of gratefulness.

▪ He thanks God for the Philippian's generosity, for their faithfulness and he expresses his confidence that the life transforming work that God has begun in them will continue into greater and more beautiful expressions of faithfulness and love. o 1:12-26 – Paul then focuses on their obvious concern at the moment, which is his status in prison. Being in a Roman prison was no picnic. But, paradoxically it has turned out for good to advance the good news about Jesus.

▪ So all of the Roman guards and the administrators all know that Paul is in prison for announcing Jesus as the risen Lord.

▪ His imprisonment has inspired confidence in other Christians to talk about Jesus more openly. o Paul is optimistic he will be released from prison but it is possible that he could be executed.

▪ As he reflects on it, that actually would not be so bad because, ▪ "For me," Paul says, "Life is the Messiah. So dying would be a gain."

▪ For Paul, his life in the present and in the future is defined by the life and love of Jesus for him.

▪ If he is executed, that means he will be present with Jesus, which would be great for him.

And if he is released, well that would mean he could keep working to start more Jesus communities, which would be better for other people, so that is what he hopes for.

▪ Notice how his train of thought works here. Dying for Jesus is not the true sacrifice for Paul. Rather, it is staying alive to serve others.

▪ That is Paul's way of participating in the story of Jesus, to suffer in order to love others more than himself. o 1:27-2:18 – Paul then turns to the Philippians and he urges them to participate in Jesus' example by taking up the same mindset.

▪ He says your life as citizens should be consistent with the good news about the Messiah.

▪ These Christians in Philippi were living in a hotbed of Roman patriotism, but their way of life was to be shaped by another king, Jesus.

▪ That might bring persecution. But they are not to be afraid because suffering for being associated with Jesus is a way of living out the story of Jesus himself, which leads Paul into the great poem of chapter 2.

▪ It is a beautifully condensed version of the Gospel story.

▪ Before becoming human, the Messiah pre-existed in a state of glory and equality with God. ▪ And, unlike Adam, who tried to seize equality with God, the Messiah chose not to exploit his equal status for his self advantage. Rather, he emptied himself of status. He became a human. He became a servant to all. And, even more than that, he allowed himself to be humiliated. He was obedient to the Father by going to his death on a Roman execution rack.

▪ But through God's power and grace, the Messiah's shameful death has been reversed through the resurrection. Now God has highly exalted Jesus as the king of all, bestowing upon him the name that is above all names so that all creation should recognize that Jesus the Messiah is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

▪ Now, that last statement is astounding.

• Paul is quoting from Isaiah chapter 45. It is a passage where all creation comes to recognize the God of Israel as Lord.

• Paul's point here is very clear. In the crucified and risen Jesus, • we discover that the one true God of Israel consists of God the Father and the Lord Jesus.

• For Paul, this poem expresses his convictions about who Jesus is, and it does more. It offers the example of Jesus as a way of life that his followers are to imitate. o 2:19-30 – Paul immediately goes on to tell two stories – first about Timothy, then about Epaphroditus, because they are both examples of people living out Jesus' story.

▪ Timothy is like Jesus because he is constantly concerned for the wellbeing of other people more than his own.

▪ Epaphroditus, who the Philippians sent with their gift, ended up risking his life to serve Paul in prison. He got so sick he almost died trying to help Paul.But God had mercy on him and Paul by sparing him the loss of a friend.

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Paul's point here is that these are the kinds of people who are living breathing examples of the story of Jesus. They are worthy of imitation.

3:1-14 – Paul then turns to his own story as an example.

▪ Those Christians who had been demanding circumcision of non-Jewish Christians, remember his letter to the Galatians, these people are still stirring up trouble for Paul.

▪ They keep reminding him of his own past when he used to persecute Jesus' followers, when he tried to show his right standing before God by his zealous obedience to the laws of the Torah.

▪ But, like Jesus, Paul has given up all of that status and privilege. He now regards all of it as filth. The word he uses is actually much less polite.

▪ He has given it all up to become a servant like Jesus, to participate in his suffering and sacrificial love and he does all of it in the hope that Jesus' love will carry him through death and out the other side into resurrection.

3:15-21 – Paul says that for followers of Jesus, their true citizenship is in heaven.

▪ For Paul, this does not mean that we should all hope to get away from Earth and go to heaven one day. Rather, heaven is the transcendent place where Jesus reigns as king.

▪ He says we are eagerly awaiting our royal savior to come from there and return here to bring his kingdom of healing justice and transforming love; to bring about a new creation.

4:1-23 – Paul then challenges the Philippians to keep living out the Jesus story.

▪ He first addresses two prominent women leaders in the church who worked alongside Paul. They are in some kind of conflict. So, Paul pleads with them to follow Jesus' example of humility to reconcile and become unified.

▪ Paul then urges the Philippians not to give in to fear but, despite their persecution, to vent all of their emotion and their needs to God who will give them peace.

▪ That peace, Paul says, comes by focusing your thoughts on what is good and true and lovely.

▪ There is always something that you could complain about. but a follower of Jesus knows that all of life is a gift and can choose to see beauty and grace in any life circumstance.

▪ Which leads Paul to his conclusion.

• He again thanks the Philippians for their sacrificial gift.

• He wants them to know that his imprisonments, that his times of poverty, are not true hardships for him. They have actually become his greatest teachers, showing him that no matter his circumstances, he has learned the secret of contentment.

• It is simple dependence on the one who strengthens him.

• Paul has come to see his own suffering as a participation in the story of Jesus.

The result? 4:22 – All the saints send you greetings, especially those who belong to Caesar’s household (Cf 1:13).

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o Key verses

1:9-11 - 9 And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, 10 so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, 11 filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God. 1:27 - 27 Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ.

2:5-11 - 5 In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in very nature[f] God,

did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; 7 rather, he made himself nothing

by taking the very nature[g] of a servant, being made in human likeness.

8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross!

9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

3:10-14 - 10 I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead. 12 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13 Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

4:6-7 - 6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Practice – Words What does Paul mean when he uses various words for “think?” How should we define the term in these verses?

The most common verb in Philippians is phroneo, to think.

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Chapter 1: 1:7 Chapter 2: 2:2; 2:5 Chapter 3: 3:15; 3:19 Chapter 4: 4:2; 4:10

What does Paul mean when he uses various words for “joy?” How should we define the term in these verses? ◼ ◼ ◼ ◼

Chapter 1: 1:4; 1:18 (2x); 1:25 Chapter 2: 2:2; 2:17; 2:18; 2:28; 2:29 Chapter 3: 3:1 Chapter 4: 4:1; 4:4; 4:10

The most common verb used in Philippians is phroneo (to think, to have an opinion).

The significance of this word is that it speaks to the mind ” our thinking, our opinion, our mindset.

Instead of intellectual theory, this verb is used of our mental attitude toward conduct in life and relationships.

In Phil. 1:7 Paul asserts his right “to feel this way” of these Christians, “because I hold you in my heart.” His thinking of them included thankful prayers, joy, and confidence in their spiritual maturity (read context of 1:3-6). It was a mental attitude that welled up emotion.

In Phil. 2:2 the Apostle commend these saints to be “of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.” Two times the verb is used to communicate not a mere philosophical agreement, but an attitude of mind that seeks unity in love and fellowship.

In Phil. 2:5 he implores us to “have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus.” Again, the command is deeper than intellectualizing the philosophy of our Lord ” but having a mental attitude that would humble us to the point of death as He, Himself had done (2:6-8).

In Phil. 3:15 the mature are called to “think this way.” What way? The all-out, world-forsaking, straining-toward-the-completion-of-God’s-glory-through-his-life way: “forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (3:13-14). Verse 15 continues, “and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you.”

In Phil. 3:19 the enemies of the cross have their “minds set on earthly things.” Their evil is not intellectually knowing the earthly things, but having a mind that enthralls itself to its appetite and shame (3:19) In Phil. 4:2 Paul exhorts fighting sisters to “agree in the Lord.” Not an agreement to cease fire, but the genuine harmony that comes in the mental appreciation of the character of Christ our Lord.

Finally, in Phil. 4:10 this verb is used twice to speak of the “concern” of the Philippians for Paul. This was not sentimentalism, but a mental attitude that resulted in material and financial support of Paul during his ordeal.

Although a bit technical in nature, the consideration of the use of phroneo in Philippians opens our understanding to a very particular truth: to live right, we must think right. Not merely adopt intellectual philosophies that are accurate, but to meditate on truth until it compels us to action.

People will sometimes wonder, “is love an emotion or an action?” It becomes action only when our minds have formed such a strong conviction of what love means, that we are compelled to live it out.

Phroneo is the bridge between sympathy and action; between duty and devotion, between intention and lifestyle, between the theory and the living. Let’s learn to love the Lord with all our mind!