• Philippians is the Epistle of Joy. 

 

• It is written as a thank you letter of sorts by Paul the Apostle. 

 

• It is very personal and as we study it, it is increasingly evident that this letter truly bears Paul's heart.

 

• Philippians contains essential doctrine.  Another word for doctrine is principal > fundamentals.  Philippians truly is a fundamental epistle and that is one of the primary reasons why I believe God would have us to study this book as this fellowship was just recently established...the foundation being Christ, now we turn to a Book this morning that details deep, profound, doctrinal foundation...or fundamentals.

 

• Philippians is a book of decisions.  Paul is in Rome, chained to a Roman guard.  He has been in captivity for several years already.  He is without rights, he is without comfort, he is without proper nutrition, he's older and most likely physically weak...yet the words joy and rejoice are repeated time and time again throughout this book.

 

• How is it that Paul is so full of joy when he finds himself in constant affliction and chains?  You may be thinking...well Jesus is in his heart...may I say to you this morning that you may be born again sitting here...but not joyful? 

 

• It is true...Jesus is faithful and God is not mocked...and the Bible says that anyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved...and we know that the point of salvation is the moment that the ministry of the Holy Spirit in your life goes from the outward encouragement and conviction, to the inward dwelling of the Spirit, making all things new and vitalizing your spirit into a conscience relationship with the Father.  You may have your salvation..but do you have real, sustaining joy?

 

• I was listening to commentaries and studying this week and I heard Jon Courson say something very profound...”God will change your heart, but He won't change your mind..that is up to you.”  We have the responsibility to make the decision that Jesus will sit upon the throne seat of our lives.  God will not force Himself upon us...He must leave that up to us if we are to be engaged in a true, close-love relationship with Him.

 

• This was the problem in the Corinthian church.  Turn over to 1 Corinthians Chp. 3.

 

• James 4:8 says draw near to Me and I will draw near to You...Drawing near to Him...is our choice.  He will give you the desire to draw near to him...but the deliberate step towards God is your response to His love and grace.  He will change your heart but He will not impede upon your free will...out of bounds as that would simply break the principal, the fundamental, of free will. 

 

• How do we draw near to God?  Turn over to John Chp 8, verse 31 and we'll read down to 38...

 

• We have the capacity to choose Jesus as our Hope. We have the capacity to choose Jesus as our focus. We have the capacity to choose Jesus as our purpose...and if we do > the desires of our heart align with the aroma of our lives and exceeding joy blossoms. 

 

• Paul is in chains.  But he is full of joy.  Paul is stripped of his rights.  But he is full of power.  Paul is constrained underground all day.  But he is encouraging to others.  Where do you find yourself today?  Are you the victim?  That mentality is wicked. 

 

• God has left the decision up to you, righteously.  Turn over to 2 Corinthians chapter 8 verses 10-12.

 

• And so we encounter Paul again this morning in his love letter to his spiritual children there at Philippi.

 

Philippians Chp 1; Beginning at Verse 1

 

• The relationship between Paul and Timothy we covered last week, in addition to the title that they affix to themselves of bondservant so this week we pick up in the  middle of verse 1.

 

• To whom was this epistle written....to all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi with the bishops and deacons...

 

• The word for saint is hagios and it literally means “holy”.  It doesn't mean you lived a life of good works and then after you died there were miracles attributed to you...the Bible teaches that nowhere...but rather the Bible teaches that you are made holy by One who lived not a good life but a perfect life and even today continues to work miracles...which my salvation is...

 

• It is God who is the author of hagios.  He is set apart from us, the Bible teaches that He is Other than us....yet He humbled Himself and endured the cross because He loves us to the uttermost.  Paul says that it is no longer I that live but Christ that lives in me...and so nothing of me makes me holy...only His righteousness imputed to me through a faith that He Himself has miraculously given to me as a gift (1 Cor 12).

 

• Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 

 

• Grace and peace the common greeting of Paul...

 

• The common greeting from the one who understood well that to have peace with God one must accept and His grace. 

 

• The Bible teaches that we have peace with God through the blood of Jesus....but still some feel so condemned...like your God's black sheep...God doesn't have any black sheep...the Bible says that behold though your sins were as scarlet, I make you white as snow....and so His grace, His unmerited favor > you are accepted simply because you are one of His children....apprehend it today and experience that peace with Him that He so desires you to know. 

 

• Peace with God is freeing...exhilarating...to actually think that a Holy and Perfect God would view me as acceptable....POWERFUL! 

 

• The bible teaches that our sin has separated us from God...we must come to the place where we realize we are apart from God and that we are sinking in our sin...we must hear of the good news that Jesus has made a way for us and then we must believe, set our faith upon Him and repent of the sin in our lives...then and only then do we experience God's grace and peace. 

 

• Paul says “grace to you.”  I love that because that’s not always my heart.  “Judgment to you”....that’s typically my heart...maybe you're like me...someone in your life is just offensive, terrible, deceived, living in darkness and hurting you and maybe others that you love...we so often say “judgment to you!” but that God, in His mercy and grace which emanate from his love that he did not say that to me and to you...is there someone this morning that just popped into your head that you need to give a little grace to?  Do you know that we are but His children....just little children?  Give each other a little grace....

 

• Paul says from God our Father....why unmerited favor Lord?  Because you have made us your sons and daughters...I often say that if Madison asks me for a quarter I'll give her a twenty...why?  b/c she is my daughter!  Not because she is good, not because everything she does pleases me....no simply because my heart is with her....Matthew 7:11

 

• Paul says AND the Lord Jesus Christ....two things here, Paul introduces God the Father and Jesus as two separate persons...the Trinity is essential doctrine and we need to understand it because it has already come under attack and will so more and more as the day approaches...

 

• To call Jesus Lord is to signify lordship....so many want the heaven that Jesus provides but they don't want to recognize Him as Lord....the Bible says that there is a form of godliness but they deny its power...to submit yourself to the Lordship of Christ is to experience and witness His power over your life...your attitudes, your actions....there is no power apart from the God...

 

• Paul gives praise to God every time he thinks of these people...are you the kind of person that people thank God for?  I mean he just thinks of their genuineness and love and it causes a Selah moment. 

 

• That is a good after taste...you know we each have one of those...oh as we come and go with people we leave more than an impression...we leave a thought...a hypothesis...ever thought of that?  When people think of you do they thank God....do they thank you?  Hmmm hope not....do they dread the next time they have to talk to you....lol > are you genuinely following Christ?  These are all related questions...

 

...always in every prayer of mine making request for you all with joy....

 

• Paul was a man of prayer...if we don't talk, how is it that we have a relationship?  We don't. 

 

• Prayer is essential in the life of a Christian.  Prayer is not an opportunity for you to get your wish list...God is not the heavenly seven-eleven or the cosmic Santa clause....in prayer we align our wills with the Fathers...

 

• Jesus said that anything you ask in My Name, you have it...some folks have taken this completely into the realm of the flesh and we have the word faith movement nowadays which espouses that if you just show God that you have enough faith then you can have anything you want...but that really puts prayer into the category of aligning God's will to ours....that is simply a glorified, Christianized form of idolatry. 

 

• God says that if you want to follow Me then you will have to endure suffering...but it’s for your own good. Paul now finds himself homeless, penniless but not Godless...he is God-full...

 

• God's ways are not man's ways...you can have much or have little, doesn't matter > your faith sustains you, it doesn't lavish you with material things...that would only take your focus off the spiritual and place it on the physical and the Bible says that no flesh and blood will inherit the Kingdom of Heaven...

 

• What does Paul pray for?   The newest lambs leather chariot?  No he prays for you all (the Philippians) and that brings him joy!  Jesus first, others second, yourself third....

 

• Who do you have beef with today?  I challenge you to pray for them, sincerely pray for them...and if you do....joy.  Jesus said you have heard it say love your neighbors and hate your enemies but I say love your enemies and pray for them.....why?  Because IT’S A BETTER WAY!  Love never fails, hate fails....love never fails, you being right will fail....love never fails...EVERYTHING ELSE DOES....

 

• Jesus loves you...you are His child and so He gives you good direction and correction to pray for your enemies because He wants you to be filled with JOY, He wants you to say GRACE TO YOU to those around you just as He has said Grace to you through the cross!!!

 

 

 

• Paul thanks God through prayer for the fellowship that he has with the church of Philippi.  Fellowship (koinenia)....simply put....is love.  When you and I come together, we place Jesus first and each other second....just as Jesus commanded....we have fellowship. 

 

• 1 John 1:3 says that truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ.  Interesting statement from John...you and I hanging out...that’s just us...that’s just the phileo love...but when we are both Christ minded then Jesus comes into the equation...becomes our focus and therefore our fellowship is first with Him and that is the catalyst to the agape koinenia we then have with each other. 

 

• Being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ. 

 

• Paul just said that he has fellowship with them in the gospel and now he expands upon that saying that he is confident in their faith and the end of the faith being maturity. 

 

• You know that is part of the gospel..that God so loved the world that He gave His only Son that whosoever believes upon Him shall not perish but have everlasting love...and He loves us too much to leave us in the same state in which He captured us....
• God is continually working out the wrinkles of your life to one day present you as His bride, perfect and beaming to His Father on that day. 

 

• Paul calls it the Day of Jesus Christ...It’s when all He has done will culminate in all that He did it for. 

 

• Jesus did not defend Himself when He was being interrogated, scourged...even killed > why?

 

• Because the Bible says in the Book of Isaiah that God sees the end from the beginning and Jesus knew His day was coming...God says in the Book of Psalms...I will make thine enemies thine footstool...Jesus says all judgment has been given Him by the Father in the Book of John...He will be announced with the voice of the trump as described in 1 Cor and His people will be  gathered to Him to be with Him forever and ever....Jesus had you on His mind as He had lashes across His back...you're worth that much to Him...

 

• And so He is working in you even now...to conform you into His image and therefore bring you peace, love, joy, kindness, long suffering, perseverance, patience, gentleness, meekness, humility, wisdom..

 

• All these things are good and the Bible says that every good and perfect gift comes down from the Father of Lights in whom is no darkness and no turning...it’s all from Him. 

 

• What do you have this morning that is noble, what do you have that blesses others...reject the personal credit and give the glory to God. 

 

• What do you have that is not noble...what do you have that so often causes strife...stop hoarding the junk...open that part of you up to Jesus and invite Him to work that out in you so that you may better bring Him glory...so that you may better represent Him to a lost, confused, terrified world....

 

• And also, give yourselves some grace.  Paul starts out with “grace to you” and how important it is to see each other for which we really are...God's kids just in need of love, acceptance and security...but remember you too are just a child...a child of the Most High. 

 

• Give yourselves a little grace...when you fall, the Bible says though a man fall seven times he rises eight...don't stay down, get up, repent and forgot those things which are behind and reach forward to the upward calling of Jesus Christ. 

 

 

• Forgiveness is so essential in marriage, in business, in parenting but it is also so essential in the mirror. 

 

• Be confident not in the flesh...Paul says I have no confidence in the flesh...but be confident that God is faithful and that He is not going to just bring you this far to drop you off...wisdom learns and changes...pride sulks and mopes and is stubborn.

 

• Verses 7 and 8 are Paul just really telling them how much he truly loves them to the point that even in his chains, the thought of them comforts him.  We all have pictures of our families at work and pictures of our families on facebook...why?  Because when we look at them the world calms...our hearts calm...our hearts well up and stress for a moment is defeated...This church in Philippi...Paul's family.

 

Verses 9-11

 

• To know Him is to love Him...the more you grow in your knowledge and experience of Jesus you will just be taken with how completely righteous He is, how completely holy He is, how completely compassionate He is, how completely unlike you He is....

 

 

• The reason why Jesus Himself said “Learn of Me” (He said in Matthew 11) is that He wants us to know how much He loves us and if you continue in Matthew 11 you will find that Jesus says “...that you may find rest for your souls.” 

 

• There is R E S T in the love of Jesus.  Learn of His love that you may discover mercy, grace, power and deliverance.  He wants you to know how much He loves you...The more we know how much He loves us, the more response we will have to Him in every detail of our lives. 

 

• “Sincere” is from the Greek “Sincere” which literally means without wax.  Artisans making mistakes in marble statues would fix them with ground marble mixed with wax.  It would cause the flawed statue to look nice and sell well but first hot/sunny day and the wax would wither and melt...and so sincere...no phonies...why?

 

• Well Paul says be sincere and without offense...let me amplify that for you....if you are a phony, a fruit faker then you will cause others to stumble and fall...you will cause others pain...I call this vain pain.  Pain for no reason other than as a result of the destructive nature of sin....

 

• Pain for the Lord...suffering for righteousness sake is very precious in the sight of the Lord,  the place of secret sorrow is that place where God dwells and El-Roi...

 

• But pain as a result of pride...as a result of a fake that says they know God but deny Him in their actions...vain pain.  Useless, pointless, damaging, and Paul says “till the Day of Christ”...it’s going to end when Jesus comes to take His bride why?  Because the fakers will be left in fake land while the real deal followers/disciples of Christ go with Him to the Father!  Paul would say comfort each other with those words....

 

Verses 12-18

 

• Paul, arrested in Jerusalem and held in prison in Caesarea for two years until he appealed to Caesar.  Now he has been taken to Rome and he is chained 24 hours a day to a Roman guard and here he has been for 2 more years. Tradition says that he was in a place called the Marmertine prison which was actually underground...so buried alive, in chains...

 

• Many times we just don't understand why God allows certain things and from our viewpoint sometimes we feel forsaken or that God has made a mistake....my circumstances, my condition, surely there is a mistake here but even in times of personal disadvantage God is at work. 

 

• It is marvelous to see the hand of God working but we may not always...that is precisely why faith is required...faith is strength...faith is power...faith is a gift...1 Cor 12...Jesus is the author and the finisher of your faith...do you have the strength to trust Him through this...whatever this is....God is seeking those that will be faithful to Him...and let me show you a bit about faith.....and I'll end here....

 

• Faith is not belief...it is action....faith is not believing that God exists...it is conducting your way in a manner that is pleasing to a living, holy, just, loving and righteousness God....are you faithful to your wife?  Does that mean you believe she exists?

 

• How well God equips us to overcome.  How well He equips us to live an abundant life...not predicated on our outward circumstances but anchored in His unwavering love and promise of that Day, when all will once again be made perfect.  His desires are in your heart, align your will with His through your conscious decisions and find yourself content in the den of the lions, find yourselves cool and calm in the midst of the fiery furnace.  That is God's desire for you today.