LESSON 25

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 religions are characterized by ONE overriding principle: ALL their hopes are BASED ON VARIOUS APPLICATIONS OF PERSONAL WORKS;
Whereas Paul is presenting to the Philippians and to us a DIFFERENT IDEA:  He presented to the Philippian Christians ONLY JESUS AS THE SOLE WORTHY SOURCE OF HOPE FOR THEM (and US);


3:17-21  Here is the LAST contrast of hopes that Paul offered in this chapter; the previous two addressed a contrast between the real value of what Christ offers and the false hopes of those trying to trust in personal works in religious efforts; NOW the apostle presents a new and different group: people who have decided that trying to be "good" isn't much of a goal, and so they seem to have decided instead that they may as well "live it up"; they've decided to follow the advice from all those beer commercials  and "grab all the gusto they can"; they're going to do what ever they want and do what ever feels good to them; Their "hope" is in whatever they can grab RIGHT NOW that feels good and satisfies if even only for a moment; 
There were those who were NOT following the example Paul and Co had set; They had decided to place their hopes for a satisfying and meaningful life in something ELSE; WHO are these people he describes in these vss?? 
THESE WERE PEOPLE PROFESSING TO BE CHRISTIANS; 
These people apparantly claiming to be Christians had decided that for them ANYTHING goes; Whatever ELSE they might be thinking about their eternal destiny, they CLEARLY had decided that for NOW what was IN and OF the world was ALL THAT MATTERED TO THEM; 
WELL?? ARE they saved?? I don't know!! I DO know that true Christians can get decieved, suckered and seduced by all that glitters or giggles; And so often it lead to the destruction of their world here on earth; 
BUT THAT IS NOT FOR US TO DETERMINE HERE!! 
RATHER, WE must decide WHAT ABOUT OURSELVES??!! How easy it is to seek to fill our bellys!! to endulge our own fleshes desires; NOT just to immorality!! BUT to justify ALL our OTHER fleshes desires: our anger, our bitterness, our selfishness, our harshness, our hard heartedness and heartlessness; 
How easy it can be for US to BECOME LIKE THESE THAT PAUL WEEPS OVER; 
3:20-21  Now here's the contrast with the above, starting with the Gr trans as "for" but even better trans as "however, to be sure..."; 
As one put it: "we have our home in heaven, and here on earth we are a colony of heaven's citizens"; How I want us to all develop an attitude that views all that we are and all that we do as if we were JUST PASSING THROUGH, not planning to settle down, because we know where OUR home is and there's nothing quite like home for us; 
SO that we remain tender and aware that we are ALL missionaries in a foreign and pagan land THAT SO DESPERATELY NEEDS TO HEAR ABOUT JESUS!!

"Saviour" is a VERY infrequently used term as a title for Jesus in Paul's writings ; It is only used here and in Ep 5:23; 2Ti 1:10; and Titus 1:4, 2:13, and 3:6; 
WHY?? 
Because it was common practice then to use this very same term in greek religions where pagan gods were hailed as "saviours" and in Caesar-worship which refered to the Emperor with this term; 
BUT PERHAPS THAT WAS WHY PAUL CHOSE THIS TERM THIS TIME; He was writing to a people acutely aware of the worlds "saviours" and he was contrasting for them the WORLDS "saviours" and the REAL AND ONLY TRUE SAVIOUR, JESUS; 
"we look" trans from Gr verb usually used to describe the hope which is set on many things in the future; this contrasts the destruction awaiting the above in vss18-19; The word further denotes a withdrawal of attention from inferior objects; 

3:21  Paul never misses a chance to expand on WHO Jesus IS and WHAT ONLY HE can do; And NOW Paul tells them what it is that we will recieve in exchange for the world's helpless "hope" in human indulgence; 
We will be "changed" (KJV); better trans "TRANSFORMED and fashioned anew" into conformity or to be like "the body of His glory"! that is, the body in which He now appears in His present glorified state; 
Paul used the gr word summorphon to describe this process of transformation; By this use he is saying: IT WON'T BE JUST AN EXTERNAL RESEMBLENCE; 
As one commentator puts it: "...the point of connection will be a sharing in the very NATURE of that exalted body, a partaking of its life and inherent qualities..."; 
HOW OFTEN WE GRIEVE AND STRUGGLE AND FAIL AS WE LIVE OUR LIVES IN THIS HUMAN FRAME; How often we shed our bitter tears of hurt and dismay; How often the temptation is to fall back into despair and frustration as we survey the wreckage that clutters the landscape of our lives, that constantly calls out to mock us and jeer at us, reminding us of our flaws and limitations; 
BUT OUR BATTLE CRY IS NOW AND FOREVER MORE WILL BE: NOT FOREVER!! AND NOT FOR LONG!!! FOR HE WILL TRANSFORM US TO BE LIKE HIMSELF!! Oh what a precious and indestructible HOPE this is for us!! 
In all the places in the world that my travels have taken me, no matter how desolate, how bleak, how lonely a place might have been, I NEVER WOULD DESPAIR BECAUSE I ALWAYS KNEW THAT I WOULD ULTIMATELY GET TO COME HOME HERE TO MY PRECIOUS FAMILY AND DEARLY BELOVED FRIENDS; 
Even so for us now in Jesus!! We are not those without the Lord who are trapped here with only this world and this life to offer their meager comforts; There is a transformation that awaits us, that HE has promised to come and make happen for us Himself; 
KJV "...vile..." is a LOUSY translation; MUCH better trans as "lowly" [NIV] or "humble state" [NAS] or even "humiliation" [AMP]; as one commentator put it: "Ours is a lowly body because it belongs to the state of humiliation caused through sin. It's characteristics are frailty...and weakness...which sin finds...so easy to command and use...But the body itself as God's creation is good (1Co6:13, 19-20). There is no disparagement of the human body as inherently evil..."; 

KJV "...according to the working whereby he is able..."; LIT TRANS: "the energy of His being able"; 
"working" is trans from Gr "energeia" meaning "power in effective action" used only of superhuman power; 
the words trans as "whereby he is able" expresse ability, faculty;
Calvin puts it: "Paul notes not only the power of God as it resides in Him, but the power as it puts itself into [action]"
"subject" The work of God in Christ is therefore not only to transform, but to subject, and that not only the body, but all things; 
Look in the entire 15th chapter of 1st Corinthians for a greater discussion of our resurrection; 

Lest we forget where we've been, let's make a quick review:
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"
3:1-21  "The Hope of the Christian Life: The Knowledge of Christ"

And NOW we start the final section of Pauls letter: 
4:1-23  The Peace of the Christian Life: The Presence of Christ
4:1-4  Peace with Others
4:5-9  Peace with Ourselves
4:10-23  Peace with Circumstances

[HAVE THEM READ THE 1ST 4 VERSES; THEN READ THE NAS]
4:1  Some think this verse was really the end of the above section as trans in the NIV [READ THE NIV]; Others think he was introducing them to his words of exhortation that followed [READ THE NAS]; 
BUT WHATEVER ELSE THE PURPOSE OF VS1 WAS, Paul DOES begin this chapter 1st with words that show how deep his affection and tender love was for these people! what terms does he use for them in this 1st verse alone??
KJV trans word as "...longed for..."; this is the only time this word is used in the NT, yet it compares to his words in 1:8;
the word trans "...crown..." is stephanos; this word was commonly used to denote the festive garland worn as a sign of gladness; 
it was also used to denote the wreath of victory given to the winner of an athletic contest; perhaps Paul was thinking about what he had just written in 2:16 [HAVE THEM READ IT]; The Philippians would be his crown at the final day
4:2  

4:12  There have been men in history who seemed to have learned something of this idea of being able to live in any kind of circumstance; HOWEVER, THEY so often lose sight of the point Paul had here; To THESE men, the very fact of their indifference was an end in itself; to remain indifferent had become the whole point of their efforts; BUT to Paul, the issue was that the circumstances really DIDN'T matter because of the REAL focus of his attention; He was SO consumed with the reality of Jesus in his life that he really WASN'T caught up in the "trivial" issues of his surrounding circumstances; EVERYTHING HE SAW AND EXPERIENCED WAS VIEWED ONLY THROUGH THE LENS OF WHAT JESUS WAS DOING IN THOSE CIRCUMSTANCES; 
In Paul's life, the circumstances DID NOT define who or what Jesus was; INSTEAD, IT WAS WHO HE KNEW JESUS TO BE THAT ENABLED PAUL TO DEFINE WHAT HIS EXPERIENCES REALLY MEANT;