Phillipians 1: Citizens of the Kingdom

We continue our series on Philippians. The letter, written from a nasty dungeon in Rome where Paul was chained to an imperial guard. Last week we saw Paul’s concern was for the gospel. He believed it to be an unconquerable gospel. This week we are going to look at unity. Paul had been describing his own personal situation before, now it leads him to talk about the Philippians and to exhort them in their behavior.

Phil 1:27-30 Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Then, whether I come and see you or only hear about you in my absence, I will know that you stand firm in one spirit, contending as one man for the faith of the gospel 28 without being frightened in any way by those who oppose you. This is a sign to them that they will be destroyed, but that you will be saved-and that by God. 29 For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for him, 30 since you are going through the same struggle you saw I had, and now hear that I still have.

I. CITIZENS OF THE KINGDOM
Phil 1:27-30 Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ.

The word that is translated “conduct” is literally "to act as a citizen." The Philippians were very proud of being citizens of Rome, but Paul wanted them to focus on a different citizenship.



A citizenship has standards of conduct. Rome had certain standards for its citizens. But Paul persuades them that their greater citizenship is of the Kingdom of God. There are standards for Kingdom citizenship, and we should be even more aware of living up to those. We should be aware of our higher citizenship. We don’t behave to get into heaven, we behave as a result of who we ARE-- citizens of a new kingdom.

What does Paul expect of them?

Phil 1:27 Then, whether I come and see you or only hear about you in my absence, I will know that you stand firm in one spirit, contending as one man for the faith of the gospel

Paul here begins to talk about specifically what he wants from the Philippians. Living as citizens of the Kingdom is going to result in two things:

Standing firm in one spirit

and working as one man for the faith of the gospel.



Notice the word "one" appearing twice. Obviously Paul was concerned about the unity of this church. He gives them two commands. First. …

A. "Stand firm in one spirit"-

He does not want them to play down their Christianity but to stand fast in it--to hold firm. He does not want them to be swayed by the popular culture--but to be persevering in the faith in the face of all opposition. And he wanted them to do this in one spirit. Meaning that they should be united in thought and mind and purpose with regards to the gospel.



What does he mean by this? Why did they need to stand firm? Obviously there was factors that were tempting them to shrink back in fear. There was opposition that would sway them. Yet unity was key to standing firm. The next phrase is

B. "Working Together for the faith if the gospel.”

The emphasis is on Teamwork- Paul insists that they stand as one man for the faith--without being frightened by opposition. See, we have to realize, that Paul expected opposition for the true Christian life. He said that we must stand in the face of opposition and persevere in it.

Unity is essential in such an endeavor.

Unity illustration: united we stand , divided we fall. Paul did not want the church to be arguing amongst itself. Remember that later Paul will address two women who were quarrelling at that time.



Phil 4:22 I plead with Euodia and I plead with Syntyche to agree with each other in the Lord.


The word he uses in 1:27 is sunathlo which literally means striving together as athletes. Everybody has a role to play in the church. We need to

Are you conducting yourself in a manner worthy of the gospel? Do you consider your first citizenship being of the Kingdom?

Are you striving for unity and teamwork in the body of Christ?

C. Confidence in Light of suffering.
28 without being frightened in any way by those who oppose you. This is a sign to them that they will be destroyed, but that you will be saved-and that by God.

Paul encourages the believers not to shrink back from the fight. The fact of their perseverance and boldness in the face of opposition will prove or be sign to the opposers that they will be destroyed.

One might be reminded of the martyrdom of Stephen, and how his boldness led to the salvation of others. The testimony of boldness always is impressive to unbelievers--but it is also an encouragement to the church that they are saved, because our boldness is supernatural.

29 For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for him, 30 since you are going through the same struggle you saw I had, and now hear that I still have.

1. The Battles prove you are saved. Suffering for the gospel is proof that they belong to Christ because this is what was appointed them. The presence of conflict is a privilege. The suffering has been granted by God. We don’t like to think of the privilege of suffering, but we realize that it is, we can look for the value of it in promoting the gospel.

2. We need to remember that others are going through the same struggles. We know that we are not alone in our struggles. Others are struggling through similar things. God uses our struggles to help us grow .

Do we see the redemptive value of trials and how your boldness in them will work for the sake of the gospel?



Remember you are a citizen of the kingdom of God. You are a new creation. Act like it by standing firm in your faith, working together as a team for the promotion of the gospel, and being confident in the light of persecution that God knows what He is doing.

Philippians 1: Standing Firm To the End

Philippians 1: 18 Yes, and I will continue to rejoice, 19 for I know that through your prayers and the help given by the Spirit of Jesus Christ, what has happened to me will turn out for my deliverance.

Now we see the great design of Paul’s life and that is to exalt Christ.

Paul again mentions his rejoicing state of mind. Yet, here he is rejoicing in his two sources of power:

A. Prayer and the Spirit of Jesus
Paul describes his desire for the prayers of the saints, demonstrating his humility and his dependence on them.

Again Paul shows his need for the spirit of Jesus to help him.

Paul says that he is confident that through these two agencies that God will deliver him. The deliverance refers to God’s confidence that through these two agencies he will be released. He will elaborate on this more in a few verses.

It is remarkable that through Paul’s closeness with God, that it would be revealed to Him that he in fact would be released. Paul does not brag about this. We remember other times when Paul had been given a revelation--such as when he was on the ship and the Lord warned that though they would be shipwrecked, that none would be killed.

Do you believe in the power of prayer and in the power of Christ to really pray?

B. It’s all about glorifying Jesus.
Phil 1:20 I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. 21 For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. 22 If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! 23 I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; 24 but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body. 25 Convinced of this, I know that I will remain, and I will continue with all of you for your progress and joy in the faith, 26 so that through my being with you again your joy in Christ Jesus will overflow on account of me.

Paul’s ultimate aim or goal is neither life nor death. On the contrary, life or death are both inconsequential to him. The ultimate goal is that Christ is exalted in his body through either. This was his expectation. Either way it was all about Jesus. His only concern is that he would not let Jesus down by lacking in courage in the proclamation of the gospel. That he would be worthy of the calling he had received.

Is your main concern faithfulness to the gospel?

Paul said that to live was all about serving and glorifying Jesus--and to die it was better, because he would be in Christ’s presence, away from pain and every infirmity, and he would be better off.

Any hope of annihilationism is annihilated here. There is not a cessation of consciousness upon death but you will either be in Gods’ presence or not. If the decision was up to Paul, which would he choose? Incredibly even Paul's choice of life or death is made based on other people’s needs and not his own. Because he sees the need of the Philippians, he knows that God is going to keep him around for a while to be a blessing to them.

Paul evidently has a confident expectation about the future.

Do you have a confident expectation about the future? Even if face with possible death would you be thinking of the impact of that death for the sake of the gospel?

Phllipians 1: The Unconquerable Gospel

Yesterday we saw that Paul's prayer was that the Philippians be filled with love. To what end? Well we repeatedly see Paul's concern for the witness of the gospel.

Philippians 1:12 Now I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel. 13 As a result, it has become clear throughout the whole palace guard and to everyone else that I am in chains for Christ

Now we go back to Paul’s attitude in the midst of his trial. First of all ,we see that he actually is concerned about the spread of the gospel. The key to this whole section is v 18 where Paul says the important thing is that Christ is preached.

Suffering can promote the cause of Christ
One great thing about Paul is that every event in his life is measured by whether or not it advances the gospel. He wants to encourage the Philippians to think the same way. How often do we measure our trials by whether or not they help spread the gospel? We tend to think about ourselves in our trials. But in Paul’s example we see trials measured by the Great Commission.

Here again, Paul was in the midst of horrific circumstances. He was chained to the Praetorian guard in some dungeon. But Paul's attitude was not so much " I am chained to him". It was "He is chained to me" I have a captive audience for the gospel. And in fact Paul started winning over the palace guard to Christ. Paul doesn't ever complain about his situation, but is always looking for the cause fo the gospel in any situation.

So let me ask this question.
How are the trials or difficulties you are going through helping to advance the gospel? Have you asked this question? Can you rejoice in that purpose?

Paul says it has become clear to everyone that he is in chains for Christ. In other words, his imprisonment was due to the fact that he was a Christian and in the service of the gospel.

. v 14 Because of my chains, most of the brothers in the Lord have been encouraged to speak the word of God more courageously and fearlessly.

Paul says that because of his chains, many of the brothers have been encouraged to preach the word of God with even more boldness. Isn’t it true that zeal is contagious?

When we are zealous, others are inspired to be zealous. But when we are lax, no one is inspired. Here Paul’s zeal for the gospel got him incarcerated and was an inspiration to others.

Is your zeal contagious? Are you an inspiration to others or one that discourages others from the faith?

Preaching with False Motives
15 It is true that some preach Christ out of envy and rivalry, but others out of goodwill. 16 The latter do so in love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. 17 The former preach Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing that they can stir up trouble for me while I am in chains. 18 But what does it matter? The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached. And because of this I rejoice.

It is so interesting that Paul was not necessarily concerned with those who were preaching with a false motive. He was only interested that Christ was being preached.

Nowadays, we are sometimes so concerned about the motives of why people do things. We also are concerned with what man thinks about our ministry. Here, it seems that Paul is not as concerned with these things. His focus is really on the gospel . He has a gospel-centered life. This is the thing that makes him rejoice: the gospel going out.

Sometimes we are so intent on getting our motives right with regard to the gospel that we get paralyzed from sharing.

Does the gospel going out make you rejoice? Are you more concerned that the gospel is communicated than that the motives are perfect ?

Phillipians 1:Prayer In Affliction.

We continue our series on Philippians. The letter written from a nasty dungeon in Rome where Paul was chained to an imperial guard. Last week we saw that Paul in spite of his horrific circumstance was not thinking of his circumstances but was thinking of the church. Paul considered himself Christ’s slave and was more concerned about others that himself. Paul wrote to the church that was faithful in supporting him.

I. Prayer In Affliction.

Now this leads to this glorious prayer that we have in the following verses.

Phil 1:9-11 And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, 10 so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, 11 filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ-to the glory and praise of God.


Love
His primary concern is that the church demonstrates love to one another-- but an interesting part of this love is that the love is informed by something. What kind of love are we talking about? Again the word is "Agape."

Paul is always concerned about love. The word agape love is the selfless kind of God love that the Holy spirit creates in us. It is distinguished from eros, the romantic love, and phileo, the brotherly love. Both of these have a reciprocal component--"I love you if you love me." But agape has this giving selfless, sacrificing aspect to it. Paul wants this love to abound more and more among them.

Where do we get it? God . In order to have agape love for others we must be immersed in God's agape love for us. If our agape account is full , we can make deposits in other's bank. If not, we can't .

But then he qualifies the Agape by saying that it should grow in ….

Knowledge. – the word is epignosko. It is to be a love that is fully informed . Not a blind love. A love that is not based on feelings, but on facts. See, usually we think of love as primarily a feeling, but Paul is talking about self sacrificing actions based on facts.

What facts? Obviously the facts about the gospel. The fact that God sent his only son for them. That they have been adopted into his family, made new creations, and that they worship an incredible God who is faithful and true full of love and mercy and faithfulness.

Depth of Insight- The word there is aisthesis. Wisdom, discernment. In other words, not only is the love supposed to be based on knowledge. But the knowledge will lead to understanding about the application of that love. In other words, the Who, The What and the How of demonstrating love. Love does not mean giving drugs to a drug addict. It means using wisdom in your love. This will lead to a

Approving—the word here is dokimzo which means to test and approve. He is praying for the ability of the Philippians to test things. So that they may be discerning about all matters. That they would know the difference between right and wrong and what things are of more value. ….

Sincere and In offensive- the word here means literally “judged by sunlight." – If they are sincere they are sincere unto God and if that is the case they also will not cause others to stumble. Finally this leads to ……

The Fruit of righteousness. This is in the singular and refers to the righteous conduct of the Philippians . Notice that this is near the end. It is a RESULT of all that has gone before. All of these things seem to be built on one another.

To the glory and praise of God- This righteousness will lead to the glory of God and receiving commendation from him.


So look at the progression. His prayer is that we love with a love that is informed about God, and that as we do, we will gain more discernment about right and wrong. Therefore,we can test all things accordingly, and therefore make right choices and therefore glorify God. This is really a great "life" prayer.

Are you richly getting love deposits from God in your bank so that you can make plenty of deposits in others lives without asking for something in return. ?

Phillipians 1: I Have You In My Heart

Paul continues that it is right for him to feel this way, because I have you in my heart.
That is a beautiful expression . Paul had not only them in his mind but in his heart. It shows the tenderness that Paul had for the church and how he longed for their progress in the gospel. Do we have other believers in our hearts, or are we too busy for that?

I confess I have often been a victim of distractions that I did not have people in my heart for prayer. We want to be used in one another’s lives. To become conformed to the image of his son.
We should have one another in our hearts. We need to have the affection of Christ. That is not a natural state, but this love comes into us only as we meditate on the Lord.

We need to sit soak and serve. Not sit, soak and sour. We need to love one another. No matter what the circumstances. You are all partakers of grace. It is the grace that is involved in suffering and in the ministry. I want the grace of God to be working in our lives.

Do you view suffering as a privilege to demonstrate the grace of God. What is your attitude towards suffering? What is your attitude towards fellow believers? Have you kept short accounts with them, that you have their best interests in mind.

Phillipians 1:Partnership In The Gospel

Phil 1:5-8 because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, 6 being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. 7 It is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my heart; for whether I am in chains or defending and confirming the gospel, all of you share in God's grace with me. 8 God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus.

One of the things that gives Paul joy is given to us in verse 5, where we learn that the church in Philippi, which Paul had founded ten years prior to the letter, was partners with him in the gospel. What did this partnership look like?

Well, we know that Phillipi was a supportive church. In fact it was the only church from whom Paul received financial help in the early days.

Phil 4:15-17 Moreover, as you Philippians know, in the early days of your acquaintance with the gospel, when I set out from Macedonia, not one church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving, except you only; 16 for even when I was in Thessalonica, you sent me aid again and again when I was in need.

They had a history of provision for Paul from the time that Lydia had given the apostles a place to live, to the present. The Phillipians were always helpful to Paul.

But the Philippian partnership went far beyond the pocketbook. In 2:25 we learn that they sent one of their own, Epaphroditus, as their messenger to represent them and to stay with Paul for a while and be of any practical help he could.

And their partnership went even farther than this. They didn't just participate in the gospel at a distance through other people—as important as that kind of participation is. They didn't stop there, they themselves LIVED for the advancement of the gospel in their own neighborhoods and at their own work places.

They had joined together in a common task. They were "partakers" of God's grace. Paul stressed the commonality that was between him and the saints--namely, the gospel--the mission. They were sharers in the gospel. The were committed to the furtherance of the gospel.

The church is to share in this activity. Every one of us as believers shares in common in the furtherance of the gospel.

How does God want us to participate as partners in the gospel? Am I a spectator or a participant?

"He who began a good work in you"

Their participation in the gospel was a proof that God was involved in their lives. That is an evidence to Paul that God will bring the work to completion, because it was a supernatural work. Paul has confidence of God working in the lives of the Phillipians because they are bearing the evidence or the fruit of that grace. So this is not an unconditional promise but a conditional one. We have a right to expect the faithful work of God in our lives because we participate-- because we bear fruit. God is faithful.

Phillipians 1: Praying with Thanksgiving and Joy

Phil 1:3 I thank my God every time I remember you. 4 In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy 5 because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now

A. Thanksgiving.
Paul’s response of thanksgiving and joy is remarkable because of the horrific circumstances that he was presently in. One would be wise to remember that Paul was chained in a dungeon when he wrote this. In spite of this, he writes with great thanksgiving and prayer.

Paul said that he thanked God every time he remembered them. Boy, that’s a nice way to be remembered. Again, Paul’s thankfulness is something that we need to practice. Too often we forget to give thanks for all the blessings in our lives. We need to be a thankful people. If Paul could be thanking God while chained in a jail cell, should we not give thanks?

Every time we pray, notice how much time is given to intercession and how much time is given to thanksgiving. Did you ever notice that it is easier for us to dive in with our petitions than to just thank him? Sometimes we just need to force ourselves to meditate on all the blessings that we have received.

Someone has said that thanklessness is the root of all sin.
We aren’t made happy by what we have but by what we are thankful for.

B. Joy
Then we see this characteristic of joy. Can you see the connection? Joy is a fruit of thanksgiving. As we are giving thanks, we are meditating on good things. Like Julie Andrews says. I simply remember my favorite things and then I don’t feel so sad.

The joy spoken of in scripture is not a superficial one.

From what source have I been pursuing joy?Have we been joyful because of circumstances or because of some new possession? Or because of what people think of you?

If our joy never runs deeper than our day to day circumstances then we are doomed to being emotional yo yo’s .

Are you consistently giving thanks for the good things in your life are are you bitter and grumbling? Does your joy come from your immediate circumstances or is your joy found in belonging to Christ.