Php 3:1-16, theme verse Php2:5
The praise and honor and glory be to our heavenly Father who seeks true worshipers who worship Him with the Spirit and truth.
In this eighteenth Sunday after the Pentecost, I pray that His grace of the application of all the benefits which Jesus earned for our salvation and also the glorious ministry of the proclamation of His kingdom by the power of the Holy Spirit may be full in our life. Last week, we learned that we have to live as the praise of glory of God, being united as one and growing in love and light being filled with the Spirit, since our calling and redemption targets toward the union in Christ in new humanity in Him. This week we would like to look at how Paul could rejoice even in suffering, to learn few lessons together.
1) The Epistle to the Philippians is one of four Captivity Epistle – Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and Philemon, which he wrote under his house arrest in Rome. After Paul finished the first missionary journey of AD 46-48 in which he preached the gospel in the Southern Galatia, the south-central region of Turkey. And then in the second missionary journey of AD 50-52, he visited again the churches in Southern Galatia that he planted during the first missionary journey, and then, guided by the Holy Spirit, he went to Macedonia to preach the gospel where the first city he preached the gospel there was Philippi. When Paul first arrived in the city, he could not find a synagogue. So, when he heard that there was a place where some women gathered to pray and call upon the name of God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, he went and preached there the gospel to the women so that Lydia and her family were converted. And since Lydia was a wealthy merchant, so staying in her house, he preached the gospel in that area. One day, when he cast out a demon from a slave girl, it angered the slave owner who made a lot of money from her. So the enraged slave owner brought Paul and Silas before the city magistrate and accused them of corrupting the public order so that Paul and Silas were stripped naked, beaten, and thrown into prison. Anyhow through this incident, the jailer was converted, and even after receiving an apology from the magistrates who had beaten and imprisoned Paul, a Roman citizen, without giving him a proper trial, Paul left Philippi, but the persecution of the Philippian church continued.
2) And after about ten years, while Paul was under house arrest in Rome, the Philippian believers sent him a donation through Epaphroditus to help him, so Paul felt the need to thank the Philippian believers, and also he heard the Philippians worried about Epaphroditus' sickness, he wrote a letter around AD 61-62, sending it via Epaphroditus back earlier than expected along with Timothy to comfort them. In this letter, he exhorted four things, I mean, a report on his gospel ministry among the persecution, a story about Timothy and Epaphroditus, an exhortation to cooperate with one another, and to always obey and work out their salvation with fear and trembling.
3) First of all, looking at the characteristics of this Epistle to the Philippians, following the ancient epistolary custom, Paul, after starting with the most common opening section, wrote also the most typical thanksgiving format in which he said whenever he thought of the Philippians, he thanked God for their participation in the Gospel ministry from the beginning so that longing for them with the heart of Christ, he prayed that they might be enriched with love and also that they may be able to discern what is good to be pure and blameless in the day of Christ Jesus. And finally, in the closing section, after he exhorted them to be like-minded, to help one another, to always rejoice in the Lord, and to pray to God for all things, he ended his letter with thanksgiving and greetings to the congregation for their generosity with the benediction of God’s grace.
4) And briefly summarizing the main themes of the body of this Epistle, first, despite his current situation of being imprisoned, he said that since the gospel was being spread within the garrison, he was so joyful because of this progress of the gospel. So to the Philippians who has been persecuted since his first visit to Philippi and the planting of the church, he exhorted them to rejoice too even in the midst of suffering, because the believer’s joy should be tied with the progress of the gospel, not to the physical comfort or social acceptance. And then, he exhorted to live worthy of the gospel, always to obey God’s will and work out their salvation without murmuring or arguing, rather with fear and trembling. Here, the Greek “κατεργάζομαι (katergazomai)” in the present tense can be translated as “continue to work out”, meaning to continue to grow spiritually through continuous exercise and practice of the salvation already given. And also, the phrase “with fear and trembling” does not mean fearing of losing their salvation or trembling by worrying their salvation, rather it means “with a heart of reverence for God,” so that he exhorted them to grow continuously in the salvation that God has given them already, by working out with a heart of reverence for God. And then, thirdly, he said that he was sending Timothy to comfort them. And also he exhorted them to welcome Epaphroditus with joy and honor him, since he did not care about even his life for the sake of the gospel, saying he sent him back earlier, since he heard they were worrying about him. Finally, after hearing from Epaphroditus that there was discord among them, he urged them to unite as one, by having the humble mind like Christ, who gave up the glory of heaven, emptied and humbled Himself obeyed even to death on the cross, to be the light of the world as Christians.
5) By the way, regarding his joy even in suffering, Paul says that the reason he can rejoice even in such a situation of being imprisoned and persecuted is because of Christ, since knowing Him is more precious than anything else in this world. Even though he could boast himself since he was originally a Hebrew of Hebrews, circumcised on the eighth day, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Pharisee in the law, a persecutor of the church in zeal, and a blameless man in keeping the law, in addition that his future was promising since he was also a disciple of Gamaliel, the greatest Jewish scholar of his time, but he gave up all these worldly pride, worldly success, and worldly honor, even counting them as rubbish, because he thought the knowledge of Christ is the most noble one.
6) And then he said that in order to know Christ and the power of the resurrection, participating in his sufferings and death, to take hold of it, he had been running to take hold of in Christ Jesus, striving for the prize of the divine calling, thinking that he had not yet attained and had not yet been made perfect, not counting himself yet to have taken hold of it, so that he exhorted the Philippians to run to Christ from wherever they may have reached.
7) In this way, the reason how Paul could rejoice in the progress of the gospel, even in prison, was because of Christ Jesus in Him. So, I hope we could check us too. I mean, whether do we have joy in Jesus Christ in us? Do we have joy in Jesus Christ that transcends any circumstances and situations? And are we always living with this joy? I think joy is a characteristic of the Christian life, as joy is a fruit of the Holy Spirit and also a gift from God. Therefore I pray that all of us here may know the true joy in our Lord Jesus Christ and live a life filled with joy that transcends any situations or environments.
Key Questions as Small Group Activity
Q1 According to today’s text, Paul says he was joyful even in the suffering of imprisonment, since Christ was in him. So, after we think whether we also have this joy in us, I hope we could share our thought and experience with our team members together to learn from each other.
Q2 And also in today’s text, Paul says that God works in us to desire and work for His pleasing will. So after reviewing our life, whether we are sensitive to the leading of God, I hope we could share our thought and experience with each other to learn from each other.
Love you. Thank you. God bless you.
Prayer Note
Dear ( God’s attribute which you found Today ) God!
Thanks for ( something you received through the sermon or even during the week )
Praise, gratitude and glory be to You, Lord!
Today, I realized my sin (pains) that ( the sin God reminded through the sermon ),
please forgive (or heal) me and help me not to repeat ( the sins you recognized ).
I learned that ( something you learned through the sermon )
Please help me to live in that ( learned way of life )
I pray in ( Jesus’ attribute you find ) Jesus’ name. Amen.
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