OVERVIEW:
Christ our LIFE (chapter 1); Christ our PATTERN (chapter 2); Christ our RIGHTEOUSNESS (chapter 3); Christ our SUFFICIENCY (chapter 4).
HIGHLIGHTS & INSIGHTS:
As we get started in the book of Philippians, let’s take a few minutes to talk about the THEME of the book. What is this book really about? What was God’s purpose in putting the book of Philippians into the canon of scripture? Just how are we to determine that?
One of the best pieces of advice I’ve ever received in terms of Bible study is simply, “Learn to emphasize what God emphasizes.” God doesn’t have a volume control on His voice (i.e. His word) that He uses when He wants to accentuate a particular principle or concept. Nor does He provide a highlighter to accentuate His major themes or points of emphasis to the men He was inspiring who actually wrote His words down. What God uses, to emphasize His point, is REPETITION! I said, what God uses, to emphasize His point, is REPETITION! (I thought that if it works for God, maybe it would work for me!) It is amazing the things that can be gleaned in the word of God by simply observing the repeated words, phrases, ideas and/or concepts in a passage, a chapter, or an individual book of the Bible. A great case in point, is the book of Philippians.
In this short book, the word “rejoice” (or some form of the word: rejoice, rejoiced, rejoicing), is found 12 times, and the word “joy” is found six times. As we are reading it today, recognize that this is an incredibly positive book! It is obvious that Paul had an extremely positive attitude when he wrote this letter. In fact, so positive that we might get the idea that he’s in about the third month of a six-month sabbatical, and he’s just “chillin’ out” at some incredible five-star oceanfront condo in some resort city along the Mediterranean coastline, with the sun brightly beaming down upon the beautiful terrain, while he’s leisurely sipping Frappuccinoes and eating pistachio nuts out of a hammock!
But there’s also another word that keeps popping up in this book that lets us know that that isn’t the case. It’s the word “bonds”. Paul keeps referring to his “bonds”. In fact, he talks about them four times in chapter one alone! To what he is referring is the fact that far from being in some resort hotel on the beach in some Mediterranean city, he is actually in prison, in “bonds”, or in other words, chained to a Roman guard! What’s interesting about Paul’s “sunny disposition” that shines all the way through this book, is that he was not in prison for doing something wrong. If that would have been the case, at least Paul could just face the reality that there are always consequences for wrong behavior, and he would just have to make the best of his self-inflicted consequences. The fact is, Paul had not done anything wrong. He was in bonds because of a false charge!
It wasn’t that Paul had been able to keep this incredibly cheery and positive attitude because he had only been there a couple of days, and so he was still able to keep himself psyched up, not to mention the fact that this would be an incredibly cool story for his monthly missionary letter! No, check this out…by the time of the writing of this letter, Paul had been in bonds for five whole years!
We might also want to factor into Paul’s impeccable attitude, that it also wasn’t that Paul was over-the-hill, and had already passed his window of effectiveness anyway, so where he rode out his waning years was of no real consequence. No, when he was cast into this prison, his ministry was at its absolute pinnacle! These five years he had been in prison should have been the best and most productive years of his entire ministry! Yet, day after day, he’s in bonds, chained to a Roman guard.
Oh, and don’t miss this—it wasn’t that he was in prison because that dirty, nasty devil had caused lost people to lie about Paul, and orchestrate some devious plot to have him cast into prison. No, he’s there because of GOSSIP! That’s right, gossip. Gossip that began and spread amongst Christians, nonetheless! (You can read all about it in Acts 21.) He is in prison because of a rumor that was being spread by believing Jews, who were still hanging on to, and were zealous for, the law. Wow! Knowing he was there because of gossiping Christians would seem to make his situation even more difficult to come to grips with! But that’s why he’s there!
I’m going through all of these things to make sure we understand that there was absolutely no human explanation for Paul to have the attitude of rejoicing that he has as he’s writing this letter! He has every right, humanly, to be bitter, angry, disillusioned, frustrated, depressed, and worried. It’s important to note, because chances are real good, that in some way, shape, or form, every one of us feels, at least to some degree, that we’re in a prison. Not necessarily a prison with bars, as in Paul’s case, but a “prison” nonetheless. Perhaps there are things that have taken place in your life that have left you feeling that you are “locked in”. They’ve “hindered” you, or “restricted” you in some way. They’ve “tied your hands”, so to speak. The bars are invisible; the chains can’t be seen with physical eyes; but they’re just as real as the ones that were restricting Paul! Perhaps you’re in a job you absolutely hate, but you see no other options, and it’s a ball and chain to you every weekday of your life. Or maybe you don’t have a job at all, and feel that you’re in a prison of a dull, unfulfilled life. Or maybe yours is a prison of loneliness. You feel imprisoned because you’re single. Or maybe on the opposite extreme, you feel imprisoned because you’re married! Or maybe like Paul, you’ve been the victim of gossip, and the hurt you have inside has left you feeling that your freedom has been taken away, and you find yourself bound by your own emotions. Or perhaps you’ve been the victim of some injustice, and your mind keeps you behind bars because you can’t stop thinking about it.
I don’t know what kind of prison you may be in with its invisible bars, but both the human writer and the divine Author of the book of Philippians want to let you know that it is possible to be in a prison, and yet find freedom and joy in life and ministry, regardless of your circumstances, no matter who was responsible for making them that way, and even if they never change! The key to living in that kind of victory is the other key point of emphasis God makes through repetition in this book: our ATTITUDE!
The word “mind” is found 10 times in this little book. The word “think” is found five times, and the word “remember” is found once. In all, 16 times God is trying to get us to see that JOY is a CHOICE we make because of right thinking, which is actually the theme of this book. Some of us have faced circumstances in our lives like those mentioned above. They have left us discouraged, depressed, and/or imprisoned. But watch how God ministers through the inspired words of this book:
In chapter 1, He tells us that we can find joy in our CIRCUMSTANCES because Christ is our LIFE. The key verse in the chapter is verse 21, where Paul says, “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” Some of us have had people who have injured us in some way, and we wrestle with bitterness and anger.
In chapter 2, God says that we can find joy in our RELATIONSHIPS because Christ is our PATTERN. The key verse in this chapter is verse 5, which says, “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:” Some of us wrestle with our flesh: worldliness on one hand, and good deeds on the other, but both driven by the same carnal source, the flesh!
And, in chapter 3, Paul says, we can find joy in our WALK because Christ is our RIGHTEOUSNESS. The key verse in this chapter is verse 9 where Paul says, “[That I may (verse 8)] be found in him, not having mine OWN righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith.”
Then, some of us are gripped by worry and fear. In chapter 4, Paul says that we can find joy in our ADVERSITIES because Christ is our SUFFICIENCY. The key verse in this chapter is verse 13, where Paul says, “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.” As you can see, the book of Philippians is an extremely practical book that addresses real-life issues, and points us toward the joy that is found in and through Christ alone. Oh, may it be ours as God ministers to us through this powerful book today!