Lesson 5 Classroom Goals of this time together: * here to see and meet and learn of Jesus * not to learn about another book in the Bible, but to MEET HIM...here and now; not to finish another epistle, but to grow in each one of our own personal lives/relationships with Jesus * to grow in our daily day-today JOY IN Him * to grow in our vision /understanding of Jesus as our SAVIOR everyday in the midst of our lives in a pagan world ROE: * all questions are encouraged all the time * we are not obligated to agree with me or each other Obligations: * ONLY ONE - TO LOVE ONE ANOTHER THROUGHOUT OUR TIME TOGETHER, WHETHER WE AGREE OR NOT WE MUST LOVE EACH OTHER SUMMARY: 1:1-11 Greetings and Gratitude JOY/REJOICE FELLOWSHIP IN CHRIST 1:12-17 Two different responses to his circumstances: 1st: Braver christians and a Bigger Witness; A captive audience; others who speak from "goodwill" (v15b); out of love (v16a) {agape}: WHAT love?? the same Paul prays for them in vs9; love for WHO?? For Jesus, for His body, and specifically for Paul who could not help but rejoice at their new found boldness "to speak"; 2nd: Men of "envy and strife", "of contention, not sincerely"; WHAT WAS FALSE WAS NOT THEIR TEACHING, BUT RATHER THEIR MOTIVES!; ie the reasons behind their teaching of the Gospel; "Envy and strife..." WE CAN ACT THE SAME WAY IF WE'RE NOT CAREFUL!!! How easy it can be to let mere irritation or personal contention with another brother in Christ cause us to develop such contentitious spirits, lead us to cultivate a bitter heart that secretly or maybe even NOT so secretly DELIGHTS in troubles that person may have; And what about the brother or sister who truely WRONGED us or someone we love and then goes on to suffer trials and struggles, maybe even caused by their wrongful behavior?? WE MUST LOVE THEM EVEN AS OUR LORD JESUS LOVES THEM; WE MUST GRIEVE FOR THEM IN THEIR WRONGFULNESS AND IN THEIR TRIALS; to do less is WRONG, and IT IS SIN; 1:18-26 PAULS response to the above, both his own circumstances and the varied responses it has evoked; IT IS CRUCIAL THAT WE UNDERSTAND THIS SECTION; because it is HERE that Paul MAKES SENSE of the seeming mass of contradictions these just accounted events comprise; He goes from looking at the past events to addressing their FUTURE meanings and implications; It is here that he says: THIS is what this all means to ME both NOW and for ETERNITY; both in an immediate/local sense and from an ETERNAL DIVINE perspective; 1:18 Paul begins this section with a summary statement of magnificant proportions; he is determined that they get the essential issue right from the start: If Christ is proclaimed accurately, then he will rejoice; the petty motives of others pale in comparison to the marvelous fact that JESUS is proclaimed; 1:19 He rejoicED (past tense) because Jesus was proclaimed; He was GOING to CONTINUE to rejoice BECAUSE WHY??: Deliverence/Vindication through PRAYERS and SUPPLIES; WHY THEIR "PRAYERS"?? Paul so loves his precious converts, he constantly appeals for all his "spiritual" children to pray for him (Rm15:30; 2Co1:11; Col4:3; 1Th5:25); I think he desires deeply for them to participate (ie fellowship) in God's active supernatural work in the world, and so to do that they MUST be praying so that when He answers they CAN WITNESS God's provisions for their prayed needs; Paul knows that THEY NEED to be a praying kind of people; WHY THE "SUPPLY" AND SUPPLY OF WHAT?? "supply" {epichoregia} means "help which undergirds and strengthens the object being supplied"; the word also implies a BOUNTIFUL source; The context and words allow us to translate this passage as meaning BOTH the supply furnished BY the HS AND the supply WHICH IS the HS; When the Lord gives TO us, He ALWAYS gives ALSO OF Himself; He doesn't mail it to us, HE IS what He is giving; You can't separate WHAT is given from WHO is giving it: THEY ARE ONE AND THE SAME; One way to look at a part of this passage is that Pauls life had become so intertwined and blended into that of the LORD that what happened to him was what was happening to, in for and with the LORD; So lets look at vss18-20 in that light: 1:18 Christ Proclaimed 1:19 Christ Vindicated 1:20 Christ Exalted: 1:18 Christ Proclaimed (in his chains and amidst hostility aimed at him, ONLY that Proclaimed Gospel mattered) 1:19 Christ Vindicated (because any vindication of Paul was actually a vindication of CHRIST'S Gospel as far as Paul was concerned) 1:20 Christ Exalted: the "vindication" of Paul ONLY mattered if JESUS was Exalted and Glorified REGARDLES OF THE PERSONAL CONSEQUENCES FOR PAUL; Paul meticulously outlines this exaltation; it's NOT to occur in the midst of disgrace nor shame; it's NOT something that will put Paul to shame or cause him to regret what happens; It's a triumph of personal FREEDOM and COURAGE; lest there be ANY question as to whether Paul REALLY expected this exaltation, he uses a word that some think he might have cobbled together himself: (KJV) "earnest expectation" {apokaradokia}; It carries with it a sense of KEEN anticipation of that future he was seeing in his minds eye, even as he decribed it for the worried Phillipians; It was a craning of the neck to catch a glimpse of the object of his attention; "the concentrated intense hope which ignores other interests and strains forward as with outstretched head"; (AMP): "...eager desire and persistent expectation and hope..." NOW WAIT JUST A MINUTE! He says he won't be put to shame; but DEATH would seem the ULTIMATE humiliation, the greatest "shame" that the Phillipians (or anybody ELSE) might fear for both Paul AND themselves; We're NOT talking about some sanitized Hollywoodized death, like on TV, where the guy clutches his chest, falls to the ground with JUST enough breath left to make a few well chosen parting remarks while the music swells and everybody says: "Gosh, now THATS pretty slick!"; NO!! We're talking REAL death; the filthy foul sweaty dirty painful humiliating kind; the kind that makes people scream in agony, and throw-up in disgust and faint from horror; And we're SURE NOT talking about some HERO'S death, where people smile or whistle in admiration and say "What a guy!"; NO!! We're talking death as a common criminal, like any murderer, rapist or thief; Now THAT sounds pretty SHAMEFUL to ME!! BUT PAUL SAYS NO!!; WHAT'S WRONG WITH THIS GUY?? Why doesn't something like DEATH MATTER to him? BECAUSE, whether he lives OR dies, CHRIST WILL BE EXALTED, INEVITABLY, INEXORABLY AND IRREVOCABLY; AND THAT'S ALL HE CARES ABOUT! WHY will Jesus be exalted regardless??? If he's released, his ministry goes on; if he dies, his martyrdom is a faithfull witness unto death; 1:21 NOW, Get ready for one of the greatest battle cries of all Christendom; Lit trans: For to me (emphatic) the living CHRIST; and the dying GAIN. A driving battering ram of a declaration for ALL to hear, stripped of ALL extraneous words, like the pounding of a jack hammer, one after another they ring out a shattering truth; He smashes down any doubts that any might have as to HIS view of Life AND Death and the meaning and purpose of BOTH; "...to live..." WHAT DOES HE MEAN HERE? HOW CAN THIS BE SO?? "...to die..." the Greek here is meant to describe the act of, the FACT of dying, rather than the process itself nor the state of death; and what GAIN: (AMP) calls it "...the gain of the glory of eternity..."; Is it JUST Paul's gain? or does the LORD also gain as well?? 1:22-23 with v22 begins an expression of that crystalline and keen workings of Pauls marvelous intellect; for if v21 REALLY IS TRUE, THEN A VERY REAL DELEMMA EXISTS FOR PAUL AS WELL AS FOR EVERY CHRISTIAN; IF HE LIVES: he can continue to live a life full of Christ and filled with His Divinely guided and energized activity; "...fruitful labor..." BUT IF HE DIES: he gets to go BE WITH JESUS; to experience the very LIVING PRESENCE of Jesus; TO FINALLY BE FREE OF SIN AND DEATH AND FEAR AND PAIN AND EVERYTHING THAT WEIGHS US DOWN AND GRIEVES US; What does death mean to you?? Is it a true and real GOAL for your life?? vs23 {sunechomai} (KJV)"...in a strait..."; (AMP)"...hard pressed between..."; lit trans: "I am held together" or "...I am constrained..."; BY what?? BY "the two" the Greek implying that the pressure comes from both sides; Do you think Paul has any REAL problem figuring out what it is that HE wants? NO! look at vs23; vs23 Paul KNOWS what HIS desire is; he KNOWS exactly where HE wants to be; the Greek is not "a desire" but rather "THE desire" "...to depart..." another military term often used for "striking camp or breaking camp"; a total and complete leaving, with NOTHING IMPORTANT left behind; They're OUTTA THERE, no question, no hesitation, NO DOUBT as to IF their gone; "to...be with Christ..."; lit trans: "...with Christ to be..." using the word order to put the strongest emphasis on the WITH CHRIST part; AN ASIDE: Note that the ONE (to depart) automatically and directly leads STRAIGHT TO THE OTHER (with Christ); There's NO waiting indicated here; there's NO hint of any stops along the way in "purgatory" or "limbo" or "reincarnation" or ANYTHING ELSE between leaving here and BEING WITH HIM; to Paul, they were opposite sides of the SAME EVENT; His delemma was the Christians frequent conflict between: "what do I want" AND "What does JESUS want of me?" Try to imagine what Pauls guard must be thinking of all this! To a soldier the greatest test of his obedience to his cause, of his own personal discipline, was to somehow face death, even though he did not want to die; To Paul, HIS greatest test of obedience and discipline was to REMAIN ALIVE, even though HE'D much rather DIE; How shocking a thing this would be to a soldier guarding Paul, that the thing HE (the soldier) feared most, that he steeled himself against with the harshest of disciplines was the FEAR of DEATH, the very thing Paul YEARNED for the most; that for Paul, the greatest sacrifice was to GO ON LIVING; What manner of belief was this Christianity that the BEST part of it's promised eternal life began AFTER death?? What manner of Savior was this Jesus that those who knew Him yearned to be with Him SO MUCH, that death was seen as a blessed REUNION with Him, and life on Earth was instead a voluntary SEPARATION from the greatest JOY possible??; Lest we have ANY doubt as to which is preferable: (KJV) "...far better"; (AMP) "...far, far better" (NIV) "...better by far"; lit trans: "...much more better"; Is it that way for US too?? What REALLY is "better" to us? Do WE yearn to be with Him? Does the prospect of finally being with the Lord Jesus fill US with such longing? 1:24 Paul knew what the Lord wanted him to do: "...to remain in the flesh..." AND he knew WHY: "...for your sake..."; And why should WE remain?? OUT OF LOVE FOR OUR PRECIOUS JESUS AND FOR EACH OTHER; HIS love for us COMPELLS us to be with Him; but it's HIS love in us that constrains us to remain; 1:25 Here's that word {prokope} again, only here Paul here makes that {prokope} for THEM: (KJV) "YOUR furtherance..." (AMP) "to promote YOUR progress..."; Note that it's BOTH (KJV) "...furtherance AND joy of faith"; (AMP) "..to promote your progress AND joy in believing"; "progress and joy" BOTH apply to (KJV) "...of faith"; (AMP) "...in believing"; (NIV) "...in the faith"; Paul saw that the Phillipians would not ONLY grow in their faith, they would ALSO REJOICE BASED ON that faith; his remaining with them would BOTH advance or enhance/enlarge their faith, and ALSO their JOY derived from that faith; 1:26 (KJV) "rejoicing", trans from the Greek {kauchema}, also sometimes trans "boasting", as in you think that something is SO great you HAVE to tell everybody just HOW great it really IS; BUT better trans "glorying" or even "exultation"; What is the OBJECT of their "abundant" exultation? Paul's presence? NO!! It's STILL and ALWAYS ONLY "IN CHRIST"!; The NIV is the best trans of this vs; [READ NIV VERSION] The glory would be given to the Lord whose mercy would be recalled, AND Paul's triumphant experience would be the occasion, the light, that would focus their attention BACK to that Precious Savior's grace which CAUSED his release and return to them; As they hear from Paul's own lips what the Lord had done for him, their "GLORY" would rocket higher and higher, their exultation would run riot as they RECOGNIZED WHO IT WAS THAT BROUGHT THEIR BELOVED BROTHER BACK TO THEM; It's NOT: HOORAH, PAUL'S BACK!! NO!! It's RATHER: PRAISE JESUS!! FOR HE HAS BROUGHT PAUL BACK TO US!; Oh HOW I want us to learn this lesson; to learn to see past the immediate event that has made us glad, to see beyond to the Precious Savior who has MADE that joyful thing OCCUR; to ALWAYS rejoice IN HIM with EVERY blessed and wonderful experience we enjoy BECAUSE HE has MADE it so BECAUSE HE LOVES US SO; 1:27-2:30 Ryries "The Pattern of Christian Life: the Humility of Christ" except I start it at 1:27.