Philippians 1:27-2:18.  IN yesterday’s reading we saw the amazing attitude of Paul.  He had been in jail for 3 or 4 years just because some guys half way around the world had plotted to kill him, and the politicians of the area were trying to use him as a pawn for political advantage.  Sitting in Rome waiting for a hearing with Caesar he didn’t know what the outcome would be.  His amazing attitude is seen best in Philippians 1:21-22, “for me to live is Christ and to die is gain.  But if I am to live on in the flesh it means I can continue to tell people about Jesus.”  As I said yesterday, Wow!  The death and resurrection of Jesus happened around 33AD.  Paul became a believer not too long after that, one source says about 37AD.  Paul belonged to a Jewish religious group known as Pharisees, appears to have been a leader within the group, and had a public ministry.  Generally a person could not have a public ministry within Judaism until they were 30 years old.  One ancient source tells us that Paul was born about 2AD.  Philippians was written around 61 AD so Paul was about 60 at the time of it’s writing.

In today’s reading he tells the believers at Philippi to live up to their faith.  He tells them that that will be the best kind of encouragement for him.  In verse 27 he tells them to be united in mind and action.  In verse 28 we see that they are not to fear their opponents who will be destroyed.  But there is a twist in verse 29, the Philippian believers will suffer like paul has suffered.  I can just imagine them thinking, “But wait, wait.  You just said that our faithfulness to God was a sign of our salvation.”  Remember Philippians 1:10 when Paul talked about “the day of Christ”?  And think about Philippians 1:22 when Paul talks about living on “in the flesh”.  We need to remember that our physical life is not all there is to our existence, we have an immortal part of us, our soul or spirit, it exists forever.  The question is where will it exist forever, with God in Heaven, or without God inn Hell?  I think that is what Paul has in mind here, their faithfulness to Jesus is a sign to them that they really have put their eternity into Jesus’ hands and will be with Him in eternity.  They will have trouble now but in the end will be save, that is why they do not need to fear their opponents.

In chapter 2 Paul takes off on this idea of winning in the end; in the “day of Christ”.  He tells them if there is any encouragement in Jesus, if the love of God comforts them, if the Spirit of God has brought them together, that they can encourage him by sticking together both in their attitudes and their actions.  They are on the same team headed for the same goal and need to act like it.  In verses 3-4 Paul warns them about attitudes and actions that can get in the way; selfishness and pride.  Instead they need to see each other as important and care for each other.

As if he were not enough of an example Paul uses Jesus as an example of how to act in verses 5-11.  And what an example Jesus is.  If pride is an issue look out because Jesus could have been the most proud person ever to live.  Why?  Because he was God in human flesh.  But Jesus was not proud, in fact just to take on a human form was  the greatest act of humility ever in all of time and space.  In “Aladdin” the “all powerful” genie lived in an “itty bitty living space” in reality we have the creator God of the universe taking on a limited human form, forever.  Not only did jeus become a man but he became a bont-servant.  That is a person who willing submitted himself to the will of another.  According to Matthew 20:28 Jesus came to serve us by dying in our place for our sins.  That Idea is fond here in Philippians 2:8 when it says he became obedient by dying on the cross.  But his death was not the end of the story, just like death is not the end of the story for Paul or for any Philippian believers who might suffer or die for following Jesus (actually we all eventually die anyway, but they were probably worried about the near future).  Jesus overcame death and was raised up to life again (resurrection) and that is proof for us all that he has the power to give us both new physical life and a new spiritual life; a new fixed relationship with God.  Not only was Jesus restored to life but God the Father (see “Three or One?”) also made sure he was honored and will be honored, not just by the believers but by everything which lives on earth or exists in Heaven.

In verses 12-18 Paul uses both his relationship with the Philippian believers and the truth about Jesus and the future to encourage the Philippian believers to follow God (obey, verse 12), to work together (no grumbling or fighting, verse 14), and to keep trusting (verse 16).  In this way they will show the world the right way to live (light in the world, verse 15).  He wants this because the world is crooked and twisted, that may be good for a roller coaster but not for human souls looking for a good relationship with God.  The Philippians have the opportunity to show the world the straight path to God.  This will be a great comfort to the old man Paul not just now but on that fateful day of judgment, “the Day of Christ” (verses 16-17).  He hopes that they will find that same kind of peace that he has (v. 18).

Last night I was reading a part of the book “Bruchko” to the Friday night Bible study group.  It’s the story of a guy named Bruce Olsen who gave his life to Jesus and Jesus sent him into the jungles of Columbia when he was nineteen, over 50 years ago.  Bruce was not much of an outdoor kind of guy, he was very “bookish”, you might say a “nerd”.  In last nights part of the story he returned to the jungle and talked about how it was his purpose in life.  Bruce’s life has been filled with the craziest situations but through it all that sense of purpose has given him an unbelievable amount of peace.  We can all have that sense of peace when we find the purpose God has for each of us.  It starts with Jesus.  Last night I shared that Jesus told the people of his day that the way to please God is by loving God with all we are and loving others as much as we love ourselves.  That is what God wants for each of us and makes possible by what Jesus did for us on the cross and what the Holy Spirit can do for us each day.  Get to know God through the Bible and listen for the Holy Spirit’s little prompts and you too will find your purpose and gain the kind of peace Paul had.

God help me listen.  Help me honor you with my life.  Help me serve others.  Help me not try to make my life easy.  Let me walk the straight path.  Let me be a light to the world, showing you to them.  Let me have joy in all that I do for you.  Let me make you happy with my life.

Philippians 1:12-26.  Yesterday I mentioned that the Philippian believers might have been getting tired and discouraged.  In today’s reading Paul deals with the thing that may have been the biggest discouragement to them; his imprisonment.  Instead of focusing on the way being a prisoner was effecting him personally Paul looked at his situation from the point of view of his mission in life; he was the “sent one” to the Gentiles.  Now here he was in Rome being watched by the Praetorian Guard.  Praetorian was a Latin term designating things associated with the governor of a region, in this case the region was Rome and the head of the area would have been the Caesar. The Preatorian Guard would have been Caesars personal army unit.  If Rome had been a strict monarchy then this group might have been called “The Royal Guard”.  I’m sure if Paul had just wandered into Rome and started preaching that these guys wouldn’t have listened to him for a moment (unless he started a riot, which did happen a few times when he was in a city).  But as a prisoner in their care one of them would have been with him 24/7.  According to verse 13 the whole platoon or whatever they called their group had heard the “good news” about Jesus, and a lot of other people too.  Talk about a gentile audience.  No wonder Paul told the Philippian believers that this situation had “turned out for the greater progress of the gospel”.

According to verse 14 there was another benefit of his being in prison, some of the believers in Rome were encouraged to become more bold for Jesus.  Paul was in town and making a stir and people were talking about it, even the laid back believers.  When I was in college they had an area called the “free speech platform” anyone could walk out on this slab of concrete and give a speech.  One time there was a guy there talking all about God and Hell and Jesus and other things from the Bible.  A large group was standing around listening and I happened to be going by.  I stopped and listened for a minute then asked a total stranger what was going on.  They answered me and we had a small conversation about God.  I probably wouldn’t have talked to anyone about God that day if it hadn’t been for the situation.  I still wasn’t very bold but I said more than I would have if the guy hadn’t been there.  I think that is what was happening in Rome.

Verses 15-17 indicate that there were two groups of people who were talking about Jesus; some who were basically supporting what Paul was saying and those who were trying to cause him trouble.  Paul isn’t very specific about what the trouble-makers were saying but in verse 18 he does say that in some way their message supported Jesus.  My guess would be that the one group was a group of Judaizers.  Judaizers were people who sort of believed in Jesus but wanted to keep all of the Old Testament Law in place too.  The New Testament is clear that the Old Testament Law never makes things right between us and God it just points out how we have failed (Romans 3:19-20).  Judaizers seem to have realized that Jesus was the promised Messiah (Christ or “Chosen One”) but they didn’t seem realize that only by his “beating were we healed” (Isaiah 53:5; 1 Peter 2:24) not by their own works.  It also seems pretty unclear how anyone would benefit at all by talking about Jesus but the Jewish religion was officially recognized and maybe these troublesome preachers were trying to keep things cool with the government.  In verse 18 Paul says he is very happy that Jesus is being talked about.  This reminds me of a story in the book of Mark.  Jesus’ followers saw someone casting demons out of people in “the name of Jesus” and they tried to stop the person; after all this person wasn’t part of their group.  Jesus told them to leave the person alone and then told his followers that someone using his power to perform miracles would not be able to say anything negative about Jesus later (Mark 9:38-39).  The truth about Jesus is the truth and that truth is irrefutable.  If miracles can be done because of some authority and power Jesus has then we all need to listen to and respect Him.

At first verses 19-20 seem to tell us that Paul expected to be released and that all this talk about Jesus was helping his cause in that way.  But when he is talking about deliverance I think he is talking about not being discredited.  At the end of verse 20 he tells the Philippian believers that he is sure that Jesus will be honored by his life, even if he is executed.  Wow!  That is amazing his who view of life revolved around Jesus’ reputation, that is amazing, especially for a guy who completely denied Jesus as a young man (See “Paul: “Sent One” to the Gentiles”).

In verses 21-23 we see that his life was no picnic.  If life was all easy and wonderful he probably would not have the great desire to go to Heaven.  The tension was that he wanted to stay and continue to help the Philippian believers (and others no doubt) grow stronger in their faith.  Although he was confident that Jesus would gain honor by his death in verses 25-26 he comes to the conclusion that it’s not his time yet.  God still has things for Paul to do in the lives of the Philippian believers and others.

Paul’s outlook on his life was amazing, it was all about Jesus.  Just amazing.  I could only hope to have a fraction of that in my life.  I hope I do.  In the end (like “the Day of the LORD” end) everything else will not matter.  What will matter is our relationship with God.  Did we live for God or were we just flirting with him.  It’s a hard question and I am so glad that God is so forgiving, because in the end we all fail God to one degree or another.  What we need to do is put our faith in the fact that Jesus took our punishment for us and try to live a life of appreciation for that gift, that “grace” (Philippians 1:2).  Maybe with a little practice each day we too will grow to have the faith and trust that Paul did, but don’t expect it to come without some trials.

God help me appreciate the trials that come into my life.  Help them increase my faith and trust in you.  Help me have the perspective of Paul.  Help me want only for you to be honored, in my life and in how I deal with circumstances.  Be honored God.  Thank you for eternity with you.