Philippians 2:12-30
Notes
Transcript
Philippians 2:12-30
Philippians 2:12-30
Philippians 2:13–30 “for the one bringing forth in you both the desire and the effort—for the sake of his good pleasure—is God. Do everything without grumbling or arguing, so that you may be blameless and pure, children of God without blemish though you live in a crooked and perverse society, in which you shine as lights in the world by holding on to the word of life so that on the day of Christ I will have a reason to boast that I did not run in vain nor labor in vain. But even if I am being poured out like a drink offering on the sacrifice and service of your faith, I am glad and rejoice together with all of you. And in the same way you also should be glad and rejoice together with me. Now I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon, so that I too may be encouraged by hearing news about you. For there is no one here like him who will readily demonstrate his deep concern for you. Others are busy with their own concerns, not those of Jesus Christ. But you know his qualifications, that like a son w…”
INTRODUCTION: TBD
So then, my dear friends, just as you have always obeyed, not only in my presence but even more in my absence, continue working out your salvation with awe and reverence,
Awe and reverence (gk fear and trembling) a phrase that gets used in the old testament. Is not “fear” and “trembling” in the sense of sheer amazement at the glory and power of God
Top 10 Most Cherry Picked Misquoted Bible Verses of All time.
Never Read a Bible Verse. The Bible is Not God’s Love Letter to You. The Bible is a Historical Document.
Need to read in context
Context:
Paul is Writing to the “Saints” and the Bishops and Deacons. He’s writing to people who have already been saved.
Paul is writing to a Group of Christians, and has spent the entire First and second chapters talking about how important Unity is, and how important it is for each person to NOT think about themselves, but instead think about other people and put others as more important than yourself.
Paul has also spent the first Chapter talking about his time in prison, and discussing the fact that he might not get out of Prison and be able to come see them.
Key: the word “you” and the phrase “work out” are in the plural. Y’all work out Y’all’s salvation.
Therefore:
This is Not a statement asking the question “What must an individual do in order to be saved. Why? Because nowhere before this and nowhere after this does paul even talk about an individual person’s salvation.
Paul is talking about the collective “salvation” or “deliverance” of the Church, who is made up of individuals who have already been delivered from Sin. Book of Acts, Paul’s stay in prison, answering the question, what does this church look like if our founder and guy we look up to gets executed in Prison.
That’s why Paul has been encouraging them to be united around the Gospel.
The phrase “work out your salvation” is not a statement which says “do work so that you can be saved without God.” It’s saying “Do work so that you can continue being saved without Paul. IHow do we do that?
phil 2 13
for the one bringing forth in you both the desire and the effort—for the sake of his good pleasure—is God.
“Effort” same root word. Work out your salvation because God is putting the “work” in you.
It’s not Paul’s Church, it’s God’s Church. It’s not Paul’s work it’s God’s work.
It’s not mine, or Rons or Stews church it’s God’s church.
For members of Chloe’s household have made it clear to me, my brothers and sisters, that there are quarrels among you. Now I mean this, that each of you is saying, “I am with Paul,” or “I am with Apollos,” or “I am with Cephas,” or “I am with Christ.” Is Christ divided? Paul wasn’t crucified for you, was he? Or were you in fact baptized in the name of Paul?
We’re not a church built around Personalities
Do everything without grumbling or arguing,
This is a reference to the Israelites, same word, “grumbling” in the wilderness
Paul is signalling to the Church that they are the new israel, and encouraging them to do better than the Israelites did
[TANGENT] There’s a good chance that the church in Philippi didn’t even get the reference. This is one of the few letters where Paul never quotes the old testament directly in the entire letter. He uses references they would understand. Sports metaphors, military metaphors, roman metaphors. Chances are they weren’t bible superstars.
Gordon Fee: “The overflow of a mind steeped in Scripture”
People of Israel were called to be “Holy” a word that means “set apart” That’s what Paul is calling them to
so that you may be blameless and pure, children of God without blemish though you live in a crooked and perverse society, in which you shine as lights in the world
“Blameless and Pure” “Children of God” This is a description of What God’s people should be.
“Without Blemish” is the way the Lambs were described in the old testament. Spotless. Without Blemish”
In a crooded perverse society. (gk generation) It is plain to see that is true, look outside, turn on the news.
As the church we are called to be a beacon of light/hope/love in the middle of the world of Darkness.
If someone comes into our church, and we’re no different than the rest of the world, we have a problem
If we are “worse” than the rest of the world, we have a bigger problem.
People go from the church to the bar, and “at least the people at the bar are nice to me, give me the shirt off their back.”
The church should be a place where people of all shapes and sizes and backgrounds can feel like they have a home.
If we do it right, our response should be “it’s not me, it’s not my pastor, God is the one bringing forth the desire and effort for his good pleasure.
How do we get there?
by holding on to the word of life so that on the day of Christ I will have a reason to boast that I did not run in vain nor labor in vain.
[TANGENT] Paul is using more imagery that would be familiar to a roman audience. Sports metaphors, laborer metaphors.
Word of Life—the good news of Jesus Christ. That’s what we anchor our church around
Not around a preacher, not around a building, not around a denomination. If the building burned down and I got hit by a bus, someone should step up and read Philippians Chapter 3. God’s word is what we anchor around not me.
Out of everything I preach, the parts that you can take home as gospel truth are the parts from the Bible. Everything else is just one man’s attempt to explain it. I try to introduce history, language, culture, etc. But God’s word is the true part.
Open invitation to disagree with me on anything I say
When you build churches around personalities, those churches will die. When you build churches around the word of God, the church lives on, even as people come and go.
But even if I am being poured out like a drink offering on the sacrifice and service of your faith, I am glad and rejoice together with all of you.
And in the same way you also should be glad and rejoice together with me.
Paul is just happy for the opportunity to have served God and served the church.
Sports Analogy Next Man up
Now I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon, so that I too may be encouraged by hearing news about you.
Again, Timothy is one of the co-authors of this letter, see verse 1.
Timothy was one of the founding members of the church in Philippi, they would have been thrilled to have him come in and help out in the church
Timothy was Paul’s closer/Fixer
Paul is giving Timothy praise for displaying the kind of attitude that we read about earlier in chapter 2
For there is no one here like him who will readily demonstrate his deep concern for you.
Others are busy with their own concerns, not those of Jesus Christ.
Apparently Paul was looking around at the church in whatever city he was in prison and didn’t think anyone had the passion and concern for the church like timothy did. They had some growing to do before he was willing to send them to a church.
But you know his qualifications, that like a son working with his father, he served with me in advancing the gospel.
Served with me “gk, δουλεύω” (slaved)
“like a son with his father” in the roman context, paterfamilias.
So I hope to send him as soon as I know more about my situation, though I am confident in the Lord that I too will be coming to see you soon.
As much as Paul wanted to send his “fixer” apparently there was still other work timothy needed to do. Either for Paul, helping in his legal defense, or squaring things away in the local church there.
Next man up
But for now I have considered it necessary to send Epaphroditus to you. For he is my brother, coworker and fellow soldier, and your messenger and minister to me in my need.
Roman context: cursus honorum. Used for senators and military. list of accomplishments, rattled off in succession
Foot soldier, centurian, senior centurion, legion deputy CDR, Legion CDR
Modern military still does the same thing at promotion ceremonies and change of command
Similar thing for Politicians. Proconsul, consul, governor, senator, emperor....
Paul is playing off this cursus honorum for Epaphroditus. But the “honors” are lower and lower, instead of higher and higher.
Brother, laborer, “foot soldier, i.e. private” messenger, minister (gk servant)
Paul’s ranking system is upside down. Just like Jesus. Upside down kingdom, went from being equal to god to taking on the form of a slave.
In the Bible the church “authority” position titles are all titles which denote “lowness”
Minister (gk servant)
Pastor (shepherd)
fellow worker
fellow soldier
Epaphroditus next step would be to move “up” (or down) from being a servant to being a slave.
Indeed, he greatly missed all of you and was distressed because you heard that he had been ill. In fact he became so ill that he nearly died. But God showed mercy to him—and not to him only, but also to me—so that I would not have grief on top of grief.
Apparently somewhere along the way he got sick, maybe malaria, to the point that he almost died.
He was “distressed” not because of his illness, but because the whole time he was worried about the people in philippi
Paul looked at that and said “that’s leadership material”
Therefore I am all the more eager to send him, so that when you see him again you can rejoice and I can be free from anxiety.
So welcome him in the Lord with great joy, and honor people like him,
Paul’s giving epaphroditus the “nod” saying he’s you’re guy, he’s ready, he’s capable
Not because of his skills, but because of his heart and concern for the people
since it was because of the work of Christ that he almost died. He risked his life so that he could make up for your inability to serve me.
Apparently at some point the church in philippi wanted to help Paul out in prison. But they couldn’t. either a lack of funds or resources, or something
Epaphroditus— never mentioned anywhere else in the bible—stepped up. Next man up.
Conclusion:
Are we a “next man up” church? Every single member should feel prepared to say a word, read a passage of scripture, lead a song, share some personal thoughts about communion
Are we a church centered around the word of life instead of the word of man. Are we stuck on the building and the “leadership” or are we centered around god’s word?
Are we a church who is using God’s word to enable us to shine as lights in the middle of a dark, crooked world? Not “working” through our own power, but allowing god to work through us, because the one bringing forth both the desire and effort for the sake of his good pleasure is god.
Pray.