Gtcotr/ws032322
Conclusion
from Part 1 last week:
·
Life is a long game.
o We cannot afford to
judge our successes based on our last or our worsts days.
o God is bigger than our
past and Life is always filled with future.
·
God will work with anything we give Him.
o From the Damascus Road
to the Philippian Prison …
o From Antioch to Ephesus
… Take the next step towards
God.
o There is always
something we can do to please God.
§ Philippians 1:19 For I know that this will turn out for my
deliverance through your prayer and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ.
·
Philippians 1:21 To live is Christ, and to die is
gain.
o
Philippians 1:24
Nevertheless to remain in the flesh is more needful for you.
o
You see life, with all its troubles, trials, and decisions, is not
always all about you.
o The next crowd is waiting to hear about your faith in Jesus.
This week we are going to continue reviewing the Holy Spirit led admonitions which the Apostle Paul wrote to the Believers in the Church at Philippi. Paul was 58 years old at this point in his life and had suffered many things from mainly religious people because of his preaching of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to both Jews and Gentiles.
It had been 10 years since Paul first entered the city of Philippi with Silas and the rest of his missionary team. After only a few days in Philippi, Paul and Silas were dragged into the city marketplace, accused of stirring up trouble in the city by speaking against the Roman government. The account in Acts 16 says that after hearing these false accusations, the crowd in the streets rose up against Paul and Silas so the city magistrates, no doubt afraid of not pleasing the rioters, stripped Paul and Silas naked, beat them with rods, and threw them into the lowest part of the prison, fastened them with chains, and put their feet in stocks.
It is sometimes amazing what people in government positions will do to please angry mobs in attempts to keep the loud angry crowd from turning on them. These things are played out over and over and over throughout history. We have seen nothing less in our day. People with an evil agenda spreading false accusations and working a crowd up into an angry mob demanding injustice in the name of justice.
Thanks be to God that Paul and Silas turned to the God of all justice Who miraculously set them free, saved the prisoners, the jailer, and his whole household, and birthed a great Church in Philippi. Now, a decade later, it’s AD62 and the Apostle Paul is in another prison. Paul is a prisoner in Rome under the Emperor Nero.
Paul was allowed to receive visitors while under arrest and of recent the Church in Philippi had sent one of their Church leaders to carry an offering to Paul. This man named Epaphroditus was a beloved Believer and represented the Church well, catching Paul up on all the news of the Church and the people and their welfare. Paul was excited to hear things were going so well in Philippi and he was very thankful for the financial offering the Church had sent to help him take care of his needs while in prison.
This evening we will begin reading with verse 1 in chapter 2. I will be reading from the New King James Version and will supply commentary along the way so as to paint the picture God wanted the Believers in Philippi in that day, along with us in our day, to see. Let’ begin as we read the letter from this older, settled, well-seasoned man of God:
Philippians 2
1 ¶ Therefore if there is
any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the
Spirit, if any affection and mercy,
2 fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.
One accord: Souls that beat together in harmony and in tune with Christ
Be of one mind: (Thinking the same thing) This is the one thing lacking which if Believers in Jesus Christ would ever agree, the world could not resist and righteousness before God would be the order and the expectation of the day.
3 Let nothing be done through
selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others
better than himself.
4 Let each of you look out not only for his own
interests, but also for the interests of others.
5 Let this mind be in you
which was also in Christ Jesus,
6 who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God,
He is indisputably equal to God.
7 but made Himself of no
reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness
of men.
8 And being found in appearance as a man, He
humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the
death of the cross.
9 Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and
given Him the name which is above every name,
10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should
bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth,
11 and that every tongue should confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
12
¶ Therefore, my beloved, as you have
always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence,
work out your own salvation with fear and trembling;
13 for it is God who works in you both to will
and to do for His good pleasure.
14 ¶ Do all things without complaining and disputing,
2 Peter 2:7 ¶ And delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked:
1 Corinthians 15:33 Don’t be fooled by those who say such things, for “bad company corrupts good character.”
15 that you may become blameless and harmless,
children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse
generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world,
16 holding fast the word of life, so that I may rejoice in the day of Christ that I have not run in vain or labored in vain.
Conclusion for this evening:
·
There is power in unity
o Which, if the devil
can destroy, he will succeed in slowing down the work of God and perhaps
holding souls captive from hearing the Gospel.
o Psalms 133
o The devil cannot
divide us unless he can get one of us to work with him.
·
What you say and what you hear makes a
difference.
o There is power in
unity but perhaps there is no greater power in the world than the power of your
words.
o There is certainly no
greater power at work in your life than the power of your words.
o Matthew 12:37 “For by your words you will be justified, and
by your words you will be condemned.”
o God’s Word is the
greatest power in the universe. Jesus is the Word of God.
o Watch the words you
say and the words you entertain in your mind.
o Do all things without
complaining and disputing.
·
Take on the mind of Christ
o Practice humility
o Practice being a
servant to others
o Practice sacrifice
o Let God take care of
your reputation when it’s all over.
§ Jesus did; Paul did;
We can too.
