LESSON 23

Classroom Goals of this time together:
* here to see and meet and learn of Jesus; 
* to grow TOGETHER in our own personal lives/relationships with Jesus
* to grow in our daily day-to-day JOY IN Him
* to grow in our vision /understanding of Jesus as our SAVIOR and REDEEMER everyday in the midst of our lives in a pagan world

ROE: 
* all questions are encouraged all the time
* TO LOVE ONE ANOTHER THROUGHOUT OUR TIME TOGETHER, WHETHER WE AGREE OR NOT ON ISSUES OF VARIOUS THEOLOGICAL THOUGHT, WE MOST CERTAINLY MUST AGREE ON THIS: THAT WE HAVE BEEN BOUGHT BY THE PRECIOUS BLOOD OF A MOST LOVING SAVIOR AND BECAUSE OF THAT WE MUST LOVE EACH OTHER

SUMMARY:
1:1-11  Greetings and Gratitude
1:12-26  "Pauls Personal Circumstances: the Preaching of Christ"
1:27-2:30  "The Pattern of the Christian Life: The Humility of Christ"
1:27-2:4  The Exhortation to Humility
2:5-11  The Epitome of Humility 
2:12-18 The Exercise of Humility 
2:19-30  The Examples of Humility  Timothy and Epaphroditis
3:1-21  "The Hope of the Christian Life: The Knowledge of Christ"

We have been examining how Paul has been contrasting in this chapter what the HOPE of the Christian really is AS OPPOSED TO the false hopes that the world proposes;  
We discussed how ALL human efforts are characterized by ONE overriding principle: ALL their hopes are BASED ON VARIOUS APPLICATIONS OF PERSONAL WORKS;
Here in this chapter, Paul is presenting to the Philippians and to us a DIFFERENT IDEA: he presented one of the fundamental distinctions that makes real Christianity TOTALLY OPPOSITE and ABSOLUTELY DISTINCT FROM EVERTHING ELSE PROPOSED IN THIS WORLD: He presented to the Philippian Christians ONLY JESUS AS THE SOLE WORTHY SOURCE OF HOPE FOR THEM (and US);


3:4-14  Here we come to finish up the second big contrast of this chapter: a hope based on GENUINE and PURE form of Judaism vs a hope based SOLELY in Jesus Christ.
In vs 4-6 Paul presents himself as the prime example of one who had placed all his hopes in the strict and vigorous pursuit of true Judaism; He proved beyond all doubt his personal credentials as a honest and absolutely pious man UNDER THE LAW; 

3:7-14  And then he enters the 2nd half of this contrast of hopes; he says " compared to and because of who and what JESUS is in my life EVERYTHING ELSE IS A WASTE, not just a lesser priority" NOT just neutral, BUT a LOSS;

NOW what was it Paul said he wanted in exchange for all that "loss"?? Starting in vs 8 and progressing on through vs11, he related a number of HIGHLY PREFERED alternatives, WHAT WERE THEY?

We've covered vss 8 and 9 before. One commentator summed up these verses well when he wrote: "The initiative is with God in His provision of a saving righteousness in Christ, and human faith is the grateful acknowledging of this provision and acceptance of it." 
Last time we talked some about faith; we saw that it is NOT that we "have" faith; faith is NOT some magical power that we wield to make things happen; It is the OBJECT of our faith, it is that Jesus can be trusted to DO what he says He will do; We don't need to "exercise" our faith for the sake of faith; Far better we spend our time focused on the OBJECT of our faith: JESUS; and in doing so our confidence in Him will grow, which is ultimately what faith IS; CHAIR EXAMPLE: Faith is our confident expectation in WHO Jesus IS; 

Last time we saw what Paul described in vs 10 as his gain in Christ; 
"That I may know Him"; 
"and the power of His resurrection"; 
"and the fellowship of His sufferings"; there's that word again: koinonia; [WHAT IS THIS FELLOWSHIP?? WHAT SUFFERINGS??]
It is a participation or sharing in Christ's sufferings; OUR experiencing at least a little bit what it was He had to endure here on earth for our sake; 
"being made conformable unto His death"; [WHAT DOES HE MEAN?? HOW DOES ONE CONFORM TO JESUS DEATH??]
This is really a continuation of the previous "fellowship of His sufferings"; that is, those sufferings result in a transformation in the believer who is sharing in them with the Lord; [READ THE AMP]; this transformation or conforming to "His death" implies much more than just suffering to the point of physical death; it rather points to that ongoing process of being made to conform to His likeness in character and person, to His spirit and temper of meekness and submissivness; 
DON'T EVER THINK that ANY of the things that seem to be trying to overwhelm you are pointless or accidental or a waste of your life's happiness; ALL THINGS ARE WORKING TO CONFORM US TO HIS LIKENESS!!
[READ ROM 8:28] We are familiar with this verse, BUT, have we asked ourselves WHY??? all these things are being worked for our good?? OR WHAT THAT "GOOD" REALLY IS??
[HAVE THEM READ ROM 8:29]; THIS is that sharing in Christ's death described by Paul in much greater depth in Rom 6:1-11 [HAVE THEM READ THIS PASSAGE OUTLOUD!!]; 

3:11  What does vs 11 offer in Paul's list of excellencies gained in exchange for his "losses"?? 
"If by any means I might attain" in the KJV is NOT an expression of doubt as to what he "might attain", it is really an expression of HUMILITY; It is better trans by NASB: "in order that I may attain"; "attain" WHAT?? [WHAT DOES HE MEAN HERE??]
Paul seems to be telling them that the completion of the above process described in vs 10 will ONLY occur in that FINAL resurrection; THERE is when that final resolution of a believers inner conflict with his own sinful nature will occur; 
Paul used a phrase here NOT often used in the NT concerning the resurrection; It lit trans "the out-resurrection from among the corpses"; It is apparantly a purposefully MORE vivid description of a rising from the earth; 
Some commentators feel that Paul used this phrasing because there might have been the same heretical teaching starting to circulate in Philipi as was mentioned in 1Co 15:12 and 2Tim 2:18, which taught that the only resurrection hope the believer could have had ALREADY been fulfilled in the experience of their new birth, hence there was no hope of a PHYSICAL resurrection into an ETERNAL CONSCIENCE LIFE WITH CHRIST after death; Interestingly, there was evidence of this heresy in Philipi as seen in the Early Church Father Polycarp's letter to the Philippians (7:1, for you early church father trivia buffs); 
Other commentators feel that the Gr phrasiology implies a different "resurrection" as expressed in the AMP [READ THE AMP VS 11]; They might go on to say that the next vs (12) reinforces this implication of a spiritual moral "resurrection" or sanctification process; 

vs12: The description of a Christians situation: the struggle between what we yearn for and what we are; but this tells of hope, the hope found in "pressing on"; a hunting term also used of foot racing
[What was he pressing on FOR?]
Sanctification unto that ultimate salvation:
saved from the penalty 
saved from the power 
saved from the presence; the resurrection out of sin into His presence; 

vs13: [Not apprehended by WHAT??]
full knowledge of Jesus (vs10) or resurrection form the dead (vs11); 
"But one thing..." 
[What was he "forgetting" behind??] Past Jewish accomplishments? AND past CHRISTIAN accomplishments?? The verb trans "forgetting" implies a continuous ongoing act of forgetting; a purposeful refusal to consider his past as having any bearing or influence on his present spiritual outlook or conduct; 
[What was he "reaching forward" to?? what lies ahead??]
vs14: [WHAT is the prize??] note that we didn't earn it, HE called US; 
to Paul, heaven is only a continuation of His life in Jesus NOW OCCURING; so he wants as MUCH NOW as he can get, knowing that to die is only to continue on the same course in which he is now going; he doesn't want to wait for ANYTHING, knowing that he can gain as much HERE as he can inleu of what heaven holds for him later; 

vs15: "as many as are perfect" [?what does he mean??] [READ AMP OF "PERFECT"] mature;