So this is Philippians for Beginners,
this is lesson number 4, The Mature Christian Stands Firm and Imitates
Christ, Philippians 1:27-2:13. In a letter to a church that Paul
established during his second missionary journey some 12 years before his
Roman imprisonment, the Apostle greets and blesses and prays for a group of
Christians that he loves dearly because of their faithfulness and their
generosity. After having given them information about his personal condition
and his prospects for eventual release from prison and assurances that he would
be with them soon, this is all material that we've looked at previously, Paul
sets the course for their continued spiritual development. So beginning in
verse 27 of chapter 1 Paul will encourage them to make a continued
effort to mature in Christ and he provides them with six examples of
Christian maturity that they can follow in their quest to grow and be more
mature spiritually. And so that first example that he gives is that the mature
Christian stands firm. What does the mature Christian do
and what does the mature Christian look like? And so the first thing he says is
well the mature Christian stands firm verse 27-28 he says,
"Only conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ,
so that whether I come and see you or remain absent, I will hear of you that
you're standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith
of the gospel; in no way alarmed by your opponents- which is a sign of destruction
for them, but of salvation for you, and that too, from God." So Paul is coming off
of his comments about those who are preaching the gospel in order to make
him jealous, remember we talked about that last time,
some were preaching out of love some were preaching out of envy they thought
they would make him jealous if they were preaching successfully somehow Paul
would be jealous of that because he was confined to prison and couldn't be out
doing what he normally did. We looked at Paul's response to these in a
previous verse where he states that no matter the motivation if the gospel is
preached he says it'll have its effect and in this he rejoined. Whether
you preach the gospel with good motives or bad motives as long as the gospel is
being preached he's happy and the gospel it'll bring back fruit. So he uses this
sinful attitude by some as a bridge to make a first exhortation to the church
concerning their conduct. Now some are acting this way in regard to the gospel
he says, some are having a bad attitude if you want, but you he says you
conduct yourselves in a different manner. He says your conduct which should
be worthy of the gospel and inline or reflective of the gospel and its message
and its subject Jesus Himself, your conduct, as opposed to their conduct,
which is proclaiming the message but not doing it in the correct spirit, your
conduct should be such that whether Paul is released or not their conduct will be
the same. He thinks he'll be released and eventually be with them in person but
he's saying to them even if he is not he wants them to act in a mature way okay
and not like these other guys. So this first example of spiritual maturity he
describes is the ability to stand firm in the face of opposition and he says it's possible you can stand firm in
opposition because they all share the same spirit. They all share the same
spirit which is their spirit animated by the Holy Spirit which each one of them
have received when they were baptized, Acts 2:38. They can all stand firm because they're united in one mind, we
all believe the same thing as being the truth from God which is the gospel and
so your ability to stand firm against opposition he says is based on the fact
that you all share the same spirit, you all share the same truth, you all share
the same mind about what God has taught. And thirdly, you're all working toward
the same goal and that is to maintain the teaching or the
content of the gospel. Sometimes they have an
interchange they call it the faith or the gospel, when there's an article in
front of the word faith the faith it doesn't mean trust it means doctrine
the faith, the body of teaching of Jesus that's the faith okay. And so to maintain
the teaching and content of the gospel against change or compromise. So they're
standing firm, together in one spirit, one mind and one purpose. They don't want the
gospel to change. So to do these things without fear he says is a sign of their
growing maturity in Christ; they don't get excited, they don't lose their
confidence just because there's some opposition just because there are
trials and tribulations. Shows they're growing maturity in Christ and a reason
that Paul rejoices when he thinks and prays for them, when he sees them going
through problems like this and finds out that they're standing firm, they're
not giving in, they're not quitting for example this gives him great to joy. In
addition to this he says standing firm without fear of their
opponents indicates two things: first of all the destruction of their opponents.
If their attackers cannot frighten them to change course or abandon their faith
it's an indication that they have lost the battle, their attackers have lost the
battle even though on the surface they may seem like a
formidable enemy. And secondly, it's the confirmation of their salvation,
if what they believe is true provides them with the strength to stand firm
against their enemies in other words people and actions that they can see
then what they believe about their salvation something they cannot see but
must accept by faith must also be true as well since God will administer both
the judgment on their enemies and their entry into heaven. So they're standing
firm, they're not letting the enemies destroy them or discourage them or get
them to quit, and Paul is saying when you're not quitting when you're
standing firm it means what's inside of you is stronger that what's inside of
them, they may seem bigger and more powerful they may seem to have the upper
hand but the fact that they're not able to destroy you demonstrates that
eventually they're going to lose and it also shows that eventually you're going to
win, that your faith is true and it'll be realized and the promises that God has
made to you and the ultimate promise of course is to be in heaven with Him
that's true and that will come to pass. A couple of verses verse 29 and 30 he says,
"For to you it has been granted for Christ's sake, not only to believe in
Him, but also to suffer for His sake, experiencing the same conflict which you
saw in me, and now hear to be in me." so Paul adds this observation as a way to
both encourage them to remain standing firm against those who are attacking
them and also put into a larger spiritual context the suffering that
they are experiencing as disciples of Jesus. The Apostle explains that
suffering is not in opposition to belief, very very important to understand.
As if to suffer for Christ were a failing on God's providential
care for His children or some kind of aberration in the Christian experience,
some people think I become a Christian I've obeyed the gospel I'm
doing what God wants and then all of a sudden the roof
in on me, I get sick I lose my job I'm attacked I'm accused of
something I didn't do and so on and so for what happened? They think becoming a
Christian means well no more suffering you're good to go.
And so Paul is addressing this idea that suffering as a Christian somehow is
wrong or unusual or shouldn't happen. And so he says suffering excuse me the
Apostle explains that suffering is not in opposition to belief, suffering in
various ways for example attacks on our faith like these Philippians were
experiencing or perhaps the loss of friendship or family conflicts because
of our faith or the emotional and physical discomfort felt as a result of
resisting temptation. It's hard to resist temptation, it's
painful to fight the flesh psychologically sometimes physically,
sometimes Christians suffer actual violence against themselves because of
their faith. So these were natural parts of the Christian experience and life,
they're not exceptions to the rule they're the rule. So Paul summarizes this
section about standing firm by stating that God is the source of all that the
Philippians are experiencing, some of which is understood. For example God is
in charge of everything, God sends everything, God permits everything. And so
he says to them God has sent Christ to atone for their sins and thus made
salvation possible God did that, God has provided the faith or the teaching of
salvation in the gospel God is the one that provided that not man, God has
chosen and sent the Apostles like Paul to bring the gospel God is the one that
sent the Apostles, God has sent the Holy Spirit to dwell within them and lead
them to spiritual maturity evidence by their firm stand against opposition
and the attacks on their faith God has done that, and finally and this is the
point he's making here God has permitted them the privilege of experiencing
suffering on account of their faith. It's not that God sends the evil but God
permits it in our lives, God doesn't send evil God doesn't tempt us to sin ever
but He permits us to suffer. He could make it so that there's never any
suffering in our life, He's God, but He chooses not to do that. So this wasn't
discomfort or inconvenience or pain because of their mistake or sins in
other words what the Philippians were suffering wasn't because of something
they did wrong and it wasn't the suffering that all human beings
experienced because we live in a fallen world like you know tornadoes and floods
and accidents and disease, this wasn't suffering because mankind is sinful
we're victims of crime and corruption and human error.
No, the suffering of the Philippians was experienced only by those who follow
Christ, people who don't believe are not attacked for their disbelief,
have you ever noticed there are no atheist martyrs they don't attack
people who don't believe in Jesus they don't lock them up, no it's
the believers that are attacked it's the believers that have opposition
not the disbelievers. So Paul says that God allows in other words he could have
spared them but He chose to allow believers to suffer and here's the point
because of their faith in Christ in the same way that Christ suffered to save
those who would eventually believe in Him. In doing this God grants believers
the experience of both the spiritual which is the knowledge of God
and the presence of the Holy Spirit in their lives He sends the spirit to give
them the experience of the spiritual as well as the human side of Christ,
suffering because of his faith and his obedience to the Father. So as
believers you get to experience what Jesus experienced, the spirit, the understanding
of who God is, the joy of knowing that our sins are forgiven and that God will
welcome us into the heavenly abode, Jesus knew and experienced
these things and we get to experience those things but Jesus also experienced
suffering rejection and so Paul says He's allowed you to suffer some of the
things that Jesus suffered: rejection, difficulty, opposition; and he says if you
both stand firm as a consequence and suffer for your faith you are
experiencing the complete life of a disciple of Jesus Christ. To show that
this experience is universal Paul refers to his own suffering over a long period
of time, he says the things which you saw in me and heard in me for
the gospel well he's referring to the things they saw and heard, they've heard
about him being in prison some of them have visited him in prison many of them
know of the lashes he's received and the suffering and opposition and beatings
they thought they'd killed him one time they stoned him and they thought he was
dead. So he says you're suffering and Christ suffered but you know what all
the believers suffer and he points to his own experience to confirm that idea.
So the point here is that even Apostles are subject to this phenomenon of
belief and suffering as part of every Christians experience. A lot of
Christians they fall away because they're
surprised that they have to suffer, they're surprised that they have
doubts, they're surprised that the world sometimes puts them in a
position to compromise their faith. They're surprised at that, they think
that shouldn't be but no that's exactly the life of a Christian.
Another indicator of maturity that Paul as we move into chapter 2, he
says the mature Christian imitates Christ. So Paul leaves off his
encouragement to stand firm in the face of attack and adversity and
suggests the kind of things necessary to help remain strong in the faith while
enduring opposition. So we read chapter 2 verses 1-4 he says, "Therefore if there
any encouragement in Christ, if there is any consolation of love, if there is
any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion, make my joy
complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in
spirit, intent on one purpose. Do nothing from selfish or empty conceit, but with
humility of mind regard one another is more important than yourselves; do not
merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of
others." So those on the outside of the church are attacking and putting
obstacles in the way of believers but those on the inside of the church must
also be involved in countering these attacks by providing things to help
fellow believers be still and unmoved. So Paul goes from what he believes that are
he starts from what he believes they're already doing okay, so what they're
already doing they're giving each other encouragement in Christ, mutual
edification as Christians when they sing together and pray together, the comfort
of love their love for one another they provide comfort and consolation to
each one in the assembly the word here is the Greek word is that for
encouragement they encourage each other, fellowship of the spirit, the
strength that comes from consciously sharing the Holy Spirit the type of
relationship that only to spirit-filled people can have. As I've said
before you can have a friendship with someone you can be best friends with somebody you can
have you know your best buddy and you go play golf or something but if he's not a
Christian then you can't have fellowship you can have friendship and all the good
things that friendship brings but you can't have fellowship you can only have
fellowship with someone who's a believer okay. And so Paul says share that
fellowship of the Spirit is a very strong thing it helps you to be strong
it makes you realize you're not in this by yourself. And then of course
affection and compassion, this is the actual expressed love and human interaction
seen as physical affection and service and the knowledge that other Christians
know and understand share our burden. We have every service when we gather
here we have the prayer cards the blue cards where one of the elders will read
about the needs of a particular family or individual and offer a prayer on
their behalf, I'm convinced that that action doesn't stop there with just the
prayer I'm sure that after that prayer is made and people find out about the
needs of that individual phone calls are made, visits are made, food is prepared to
go and take care of an individual who's ill or someone who's taking care of of
another individual. This is the kind of affection and compassion that lifts our
spirits and enables us to be strong in Christ and resist the opposition, resist
many times the discouragement that tells us you got to quit you gotta stop
believing, stop going to church. I always think yeah I get more love when I come
to church then when I go to work on the shop floor or go to work at
the office, here people love me because of who I am because of what I
believe. So Paul is saying that if as he assumes these things are there
then keep doing these things and then he says add the following and in so doing
you'll complete his joy because they are growing in Christ. Well add what he
says? Well he says be of the same mind so that all of you believed the same
thing and preached the same gospel, maintain he says the same
mindset concerning one another which includes some things already
mentioned like love and unity and having the same goals to be faithful, to be
saved, and get rid of selfishness and pride he says. A practical way to
bring this about, how do we get how do we get rid of selfishness and pride? He
says humble your mind and your estimation of yourself and raise others
above yourself so you can clearly see them and their worth, and consider and see
other people's needs not just your own needs. We hear that all the time
don't we? It's not just about you it's not just about you and in the
church it certainly is not just about ourselves. So Paul says these things he
says you know about these things and you can implement these things and continue
to do these things until Jesus appears. He continues now in verse 5 he says, "Have
this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He
existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be
grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in
the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself
by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on the cross." So here
Paul leaves off the things he knows that they have: they have faith, they have love,
they have unity, humility, they have compassion, and he calls them to go
beyond these things to imitate Christ Himself. Wow, to go beyond these things,
you mean there's more? And he says yes there's more, go beyond these things to
the end state of Christian maturity. Well what does that require, what does this
imitation of Christ demand of us? Well in a word: the emptying
of self. Now for Jesus the emptying of self required that He submit to God's
plan to save man from condemnation due to sin resulting in spiritual death, this
idea Paul explains in several stages: first of all he says Jesus is God has
always been God and because of this did not either aspire to be divine
you know grasp, He already was God He didn't grasp after being divine He
already was God, nor did He refuse to alter His divine nature in some way in
order to save mankind. Secondly he says Jesus altered His divine nature by
taking on a human nature incorporated into His divine nature, in other words He
gave up nothing of His godly nature in doing this He merely altered His
nature to include and thus permit His interactions with human beings as a
human being Himself thus becoming fully human while remaining fully divine. He
then He, Paul says, He then emptied His human nature of any glorious appearances
and effects that His divine nature would impart on Him as a man. Now think of
what Jesus appeared like on the Mount of Transfiguration right, His
glorified body was shining brightly but this state was revealed only to His
closest three Apostles, Matthew 17:2-4. Only
a few Apostles saw that glorified state of His body,
Jesus instead was born to poor people and He experienced normal human life and
suffering and temptations, Hebrews 4:15. And in addition to taking on a
human nature in order to complete His divinely appointed
mission He allowed Himself to be unjustly executed as a common
slave because only slaves were subject to execution by crucifixion according to
Roman Law. Now you know some people think when they read
that He emptied Himself, they think that He emptied Himself means
that He emptied Himself of part or all of His divine nature and He replaced
that with a human nature, but this is incorrect and it's incorrect for several
reasons, first of all God cannot become less than God or else He would not be
God. And secondly, if Jesus exchanged His divine nature for a human one then He
would only be human while on earth and this is not what the Bible teaches,
in John chapter 1, the Gospel of John 1:1, In the beginning was
the word and the Word was God and then a little further down and the
word became flesh and in Colossians 1:15-20 where Paul talks about Jesus the
exact image of God. So here both John and Paul explain
in detail the dual natures of Jesus, He was God and He was man simultaneously. In
context here in Philippians Paul is not asking the Philippians to somehow submit
to a cruel and unjust death in order to imitate Christ, in other words you all
got to be martyrs if you're going to imitate Christ, although many have had to
do that throughout the years, the broader lesson for all Christians who see
Christian maturity is that our imitation of Christ really begins when we start
the process of emptying ourselves of self. As God Jesus had no need and no
possibility of becoming less divine, however He did have options as far as
the human nature He incorporated into His divine nature. For example was He to
come as a king or as a common man when He became a human?
Was He to be rich or poor, respected or rejected, was He to gain victory through
power or victory through weakness, was He to refuse the cup of suffering or drink
the cup of suffering, was it to be His will or the Father's will? So as Paul
writes, Jesus emptied Himself to the point of dying a cruel death
like a common criminal. His emptying of self was dictated by the
will of the Father in completing the plan for man's salvation. Let's just jump
out of Philippians and go to John for a moment John 6:38 he says for Jesus says,
"For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who
sent Me." In the same way the emptying of self in our lives resulting in Christian
maturity as we imitate Christ requires us to constantly seek and obey God's
will instead of our own will for our life. So if someone's saying, well how do
I empty myself of self? You obey God's will. Jesus emptied His human self of
self, how? By obeying God's will. To be born poor, to suffer, to
die on the cross. Now this does not necessarily mean we will be poor
or unjustly accused or executed for our faith it might but not necessarily so, it
does mean however that we will suffer the emotional as well as physical pain
that comes as a result of denying our own will and desires and flesh in order
to do the will and purpose of Christ in our lives.
Paul does not give specific examples of this emptying of ourselves but he
provides the glorious result of this as it took place in the life of Jesus. verse
9-11 he says, "For this reason also, God highly exalted Him," for what reason?
Well that He emptied Himself, that's the reason. "For this reason
also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is
above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who
are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of the Father."
So Jesus emptied His human nature, He emptied His human nature of any glory
that it might have exhibited because it was embedded in His divine nature, but
now that His mission was completed God raised Him from the dead not as His
emptied self but as His glorious self. We see this as the gospel writers described
His appearances after His resurrection in the glorious and exalted form that
Paul speaks of here. In addition to His glorious appearance Jesus's resurrection
also confirms that He now is exalted above every other human, prophet, leader
and Savior who ever lived or who will ever live. Peter states this in Acts 4:12
he says, "..and there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under
heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved." So Jesus was
rejected, put on a cross, but now the way of salvation can only be accessed
through Him, His name. So Paul declares that this is so now and will be so until
the judgment and beyond, Jesus the god man is Lord above all. Now it's not said,
it's merely implied here that the emptying of ourselves in order to be
filled with Christ will also after our own resurrection yield similar glorious
and eternal results, and if you want to read about that read I Corinthians
15:50-58. So let's summarize he says in verses 12 and 13, "So then, my beloved, just
as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my
absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling; for it is
God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good
pleasure." So Paul adds a word of encouragement to all those who would
seek maturity by initiating this emptying of self primarily achieved by
the effort to obey God's will. He's happy to note that they have done this in the
past when he was with them and have continued to do so despite his absence,
don't forget four years he hasn't seen these people well for longer than that
but he's been confined for four years. Working out their salvation and fear and
trembling, who are we supposed to be afraid of? This is not, he's not preaching hellfire and damnation to them, no this
is an encouragement to keep the faith and maintained their walk with God
recognizing that Satan through his lies and the draw of the world these are
constant threats to their soul, fear and tremble because the danger is real and
they need to be careful. The good news however is that God Himself through the
Holy Spirit and His word and His church are partners with Christians who seek to
know and imitate Christ and when all of these agree on what they desire there's
great joy and confidence for success. I can therefore be confident that what I
desire to empty myself of self and fill myself with Christ I'm confident that
this is according to God's will and He through the spirit and word in church
will joyfully accomplish this. This is a prayer that God answers, dear Lord
please help me to do what you want me to do, very simple but very profound. So Paul
describes an important indicator of the maturing Christian: the desire to imitate
Jesus. This he says is accomplished as the believer empties himself of self
much as Jesus emptied His human nature of all reflective divine glory and
filled the void with God's will in the mission of saving mankind. This not
only led to the salvation of mankind but the glorifying of Jesus Christ as
the Lord of lords forever. In the same way God works at filling us up with the
things of Christ so that we too will be raised up with glorified bodies to live
with Christ forever and ever one day. All right, nobody can say that there's not much to say and talk about in the book of
Philippians but we'll just stop right there and we'll continue on next
time, thank you for your attention.
