The letter of the Philippians

So let's take our Bibles, please, to Acts chapter 16. As I said, I want us, if the Lord allows us, to study together the book of Philippians. Philippians has four chapters. And the reason why I want us to go to the book of Acts today before we get into the contents of the text of the letter of the Philippians, I want us just to see how the Lord started the church of Philippi. So let us come before the Lord and let us pray.

Let us ask the Lord that he will help us. Father, Lord, we're coming before you in the name of your son, Jesus Christ, where we give you thanks for your goodness, your patience towards us. We give you thanks once again for this opportunity that you give us, that we can be gathered here together, brothers and sisters, and even our children here present. Lord, I ask that you will bless us with your presence. Through your word, we have sang truths about the gospel, about who you are and what you have done.

And now as we come and we have the scriptures before us, Lord, we don't want this exercise to be wasted in the flesh. We want you to speak to us by your Holy Spirit. and through your words so that our hearts and our souls and our minds are edified and conformed to Jesus Christ. Lord, we need more of your Son, we need more of your Holy Spirit, that we will decrease, that he will increase, Lord. Help us, Lord.

We know that our faith is strengthened and is initiated and And it grows through the word of God. And for that, Lord, we ask that you will help us, that you will teach us. We want to learn about your word. We want to learn about your providence. We want to learn the ways, Lord, that you have established and built up your church and that which you require of your of your people.

I ask, Lord, you will bless us and be with us as we do this. And it's in Jesus name that I pray. Amen. OK, so, you know, who wrote Philippians, who wrote the letter of the Philippians? Who wrote it?

Paul. So Paul the Apostle, he wrote that letter of the Philippians. It's a group of letters. We call that the Pauline letters. And he's directed to a church, or perhaps a group of small churches in a city that is called Philippi.

I want us to have the context of how this church was initiated. Before we read the chapter, or before we read in Acts, does anyone have any idea how the Church of the Philippians started? Does anyone have any idea? Any, any, any, any idea? No.

Do you remember any famous story that happened in Philippi? The Jela. The Philippian Jela. What else? Remember about a girl who had a demon, remember?

Lydia. Lydia was in Philippi. Who else was in Philippi? Philippi you call it, right? In English.

Who else was in Philippi? So the jailer, also Lydia. Remember the demon possessed girl that had the spirit of divination? So all of that happened in Philippi. And does anyone know how Paul ended up in Philippi?

Does anyone remember how he ended up in Philippi? That's what we're Yeah, no, that was later. But what happened is that he was going to go to Asia and the Spirit of God is going to prevent him from going to Asia. You remember what is called the Macedonian vision? You remember that Paul has a vision and in that vision he sees a man and that man says, please come, come and help us.

And then Paul goes to Macedonia, and Philippi is going to be a city of Macedonia, and that's what we're going to be reading. So let us keep that in our mind. I want us just to go through the narrative of how these churches started. I want to point to two or three aspects that are going to be important for us to understand the letter of the Philippians. And then perhaps, depending on the time, I will give you a super quick overview of the letter of the Philippians.

Let us read from Acts chapter 16 verse six. This is how God started the church of the Philippians. Verse 6, And they, that is Paul and his companions, they went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia. And when they had come up to Nicaea, they attempted to go into Bithynia, but the spirit of Jesus did not allow them. They wanted to go into Bithynia.

Peter actually writes. The first Peter is written to people in Bithynia. But then the spirit prevents them. Verse eight. So passing by Misia, they went down to Troas and a vision appeared to Paul in the night.

A man of Macedonia was standing there urging him and saying, come over to Macedonia and help us." And when Paul had seen the vision, immediately we sought, that is Luke, we sought to go on to in Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them. Right? They received a vision, and now they are obeying this vision, and then they are going on to Macedonia. Verse 11.

So setting sail from Troas, we made a direct voyage to Samothrace and the following day to Neapolis and from there to Philippi. Now we need to pay careful attention because now we're going to have information given to us about Philippi. I'm going to ask you questions so that we will get those details from the text. Verse 12 and from there to Philippi. Philippi is how you pronounce it in English, right?

Philippi? Yes. which is a leading city of the district of Macedonia in a Roman colony. Right? That's the information that we have.

Philippi is a leading city of the district of Macedonia in a Roman colony. We remain in this city some days, Paul says with Luke and the others. We remain in this city some days. And on the Sabbath day, we went outside the gate to the riverside where we suppose there was a place of prayer. And we sat down and spoke to the women who had come together.

So we have the Philippi, verse 12. He's a district of Macedonia, right? Where's Philippi? Philippi is in Macedonia, which is a Roman colony. And then we're told that Paul on the Sabbath day, he went to the riverside to preach to some women that were praying there.

Verse 14. One who heard us was a woman named Lydia from the city of Thyatira. a seller of purple goods, who was a worshipper of God. The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul. And after she was baptized, and her household as well, she urged us, saying, if you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and stay, and she prevailed upon us."

So we have that Philippi is in Macedonia. It's a Roman city. And now we have another piece of information. Paul is going to preach on a Sabbath day, and he goes and preaches where? On the Sabbath day, where did he preach?

The riverside. Is there anything interesting with that? Do you see anything interesting there that he goes and preaches on the riverside? What was the custom of Paul when he went to a city? Where would he preach?

He would preach in a? Synagogue. In a synagogue. But for some reason, actually there's a reason, but in Philippi he doesn't go to a synagogue. And the reason why he doesn't go to a synagogue is because it's very likely that in Philippi there was not a synagogue.

So that meant that the population of Jews was very, very low in Philippi. Cities from the Roman Empire that would have synagogues, they would only have synagogues if there were 10 Jews or more. So that was kind of like the requirement to open a synagogue in a Roman city. If you have 10 Jews or more, then you will open a synagogue and they will come and worship on the Sabbath day. and then Paul will come to preach in the synagogue.

But in Philippi, we don't have a synagogue. They go to the riverside. And we found this woman, Lydia. Does anyone know if Lydia was rich or poor? She was a seller of purples, and purple was an expensive cloth.

It was very, very expensive. So Lydia was very wealthy. Very, very wealthy. Like not only middle class up, she was like really, really, really, really wealthy. Now this detail is going to be important to understand the letter of the Philippians.

Because Lydia is going to be the first convert in Philippi, right? But we are told that she's not converted alone. Who is converted with her? the households. And that meant not only the husband and the children, perhaps it meant the immediate family, like sisters and brothers.

So that meant that Liria, she was wealthy and powerful. in the city because of what she did she was converted now we're going to verse 16 all of these details are going to be important for the letter of the philippians verse 16 as we were going to the place of prayer now we know that is you know by by the river we were met by a slave girl who had a spirit of divination and brought her owners much gain by fortune telling she followed paul and asked crying out These men are servants of the Most High, who proclaim to you the way of salvation. And this she kept doing for many days. Paul, having become greatly annoyed, turned and said to the Spirit, I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. and he came out at that very hour.

When her owners saw that their hope of gain was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace before the rulers. And when they had brought them to the magistrates, they said, these men are Jews, and they are disturbing our city. They advocate customs that are not lawful for us as Romans to accept or practice. The crowd joined in attacking them, and the magistrates tore the garments off them and gave orders to beat them with rods. And when they had inflicted many blows upon them, they threw them into prison, ordering the jailer to keep them safely.

Having received this order, he put them into inner prison and fastened their feet in their stocks. Now, I just simply want to see with this story that we're having this. I just want you to see the hand of the spirit. rescuing the people from Philippi through the work of the Apostle. Because it was the intention of the Apostle to go to Asia.

That's what he wanted to do with the other men. But he and the others were prevented from going to Asia and to these other places and the Spirit of God gave a vision to Paul to go to Macedonia and then they ended up there in Philippi. And it was then through the salvation of Lydia that then they go to the marketplace to preach And then they found this girl with the spirit of divination. And next, when they cast out this demon, they end up in jail. And in jail, they're going to meet the jailer that we know he's going to be saved.

All of these events are under the providential hand of the Lord. that it was establishing through all of these series of events this church in Philippi. Let's go into verse 25. About midnight, now he's in jail with Silas. About midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God as the prisoners were listening to them.

And suddenly there was a great earthquake so that the foundations of the prison were shaken and immediately all the doors were open and everyone's bones When the jailer walked and saw that the prison doors were open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped. But Paul cried with a loud voice, Do not harm yourself, for we are all here. And the jailer called for lights, and rushed in, and trembling with fear, he fell down before Paul and Silas. Then he brought them out and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved.

You and your household. And they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their wounds. And he was baptized at once, he and all his family. Then he brought them up into the house and set food before them.

And he rejoiced along with his entire household that he had believed in God." Now, who are the first members of the church in Philippi? Who are the first people that belong to that church? the family of Lydia and the family of the jailer so the jailer would have been perhaps a middle class like a you know he would have been perhaps a soldier that was retired and like he's now looking after looking after the prison but we have a wealthy rich family Lydia and Her people and also the family of the jailer, all of them are added. So we may have perhaps 20 or 30 people or 40 people is the way that this church is initiated.

Verse 35. But when it was day, the magistrate sent the police. police, saying, Let those men go. And the jailer reported these words to Paul, saying, The magistrates have sent to let you go. Therefore, come up now and go in peace.

But Paul said to them, They have beaten us publicly, uncondemned men who are Roman citizens and have thrown us into prison. And do they now throw us out secretly? No, let them come themselves and take us out. The police reported these words to the magistrates, and they were afraid when they heard that they were Roman citizens. So they came and apologized to them, and they took them out and asked them to leave the city.

Now pay attention to verse 40. So they went out of the prison and visited Lydia. And when they had seen the brothers, here's not only brothers, right? But he's the brethren, brothers and sisters. They encouraged them.

and departed." Now, the brother here is very likely the family of Lydia and then the jailer, perhaps, right? The jailer family. Now, he's going to come and visit that church once again in the third missionary journey. This is the second missionary journey.

Now, so this is information that we have from the scriptures about Philippi. Now, it was a Jew city or it was a Gentile city, Philippi? You tell me. Gentile city. Now, why is it important for us to know that this was a predominantly Gentile city and that the Jew population, according to the information that we have, was very likely low?

Why do you think that this is important for us to know when we are trying to interpret or understand a letter of the New Testament? Can anyone think why is this a good piece of information to have? Anyone? the influence of the Jewish religion on that, as in many of the other churches? Yeah, like the Roman church, for instance.

Remember? The Roman church had a very strong Jew population, or part of the church, and also Gentiles. And because there were Jews and Gentiles, when you read Romans, you can see that there is conflict between Jews and Gentiles, the keeping of the law, the gospel, and this and that. These are the topics that Paul writes about, because there were many Jews and there were many Gentiles. You understand this context, and then you can understand the text in the context of the scriptures, so that you don't bring your mind or your ideas into the text.

So then the church in Philippi is a very different church, for instance, to the churches in Galatia, where there were many Jews. Or it's very different to the church in Rome, where there were many Jews. It's predominantly a Gentile church. Now, if we were going to say that the Philippian church was well-off or was a poor church, what would you say? Did they have money or did they didn't have money?

Well-off, right? So the Philippian church was a church that had resources. And this is important because when we read the scriptures, we learn of other churches that were not well-off, that were poor. You remember a church in the New Testament that was very poor? that actually Paul had to collect some money because they were in many difficulties.

What was a church that was poor? The church in Jerusalem, right? The church in Jerusalem, the first church, it was a poor church. That's right, he's actually going to collect an offering to bring to the people in Jerusalem, right? Also, we know that it was the providence and the spirit of the Lord to form that church as he formed all of the others.

Now, knowing that, you see that that is very important for us to know and to understand the context of a church. Now let us come to Philippians. I just want to show you, I just want to show you now the main point of the Philippian letter and I'm also going to show you some connections with what we have read in the book of Acts. Let me just show you first the connections so that we will be able to understand and to comprehend this. Pay attention to chapter 1 verse 3.

The Apostle says to the Philippians, let's just read from the beginning. Verse 1, Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, to all the saints in Christ Jesus were at Philippi. Now when we see all the saints, it's very likely that we can picture there Lydia or at least some of her relatives there, right? And the jailer and perhaps his family, or at least some relatives. To all the saints in Christ Jesus were at Philippi with the overseers and deacons.

Of course, now we can see that this church has now overseers and deacons. So then we don't need to know the time and we don't need anyone outside of the scriptures telling us about time. But just simply we know that now when Paul is writing this letter, that group of people that was left there in Philippi, they now have elders and now they have deacons. So it's likely that time has passed when he's writing this letter, right? So now pay attention to verse three.

3 I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy. Pay attention to the reason of this prayer of thankfulness and joy. Verse five, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. Now you tell me, what do you think that Paul means in verse five when he says that he's praying to the Lord, giving thanks to the Lord, in every one of his prayers, remembering the Philippians in every one of their prayers. And then he says, verse five, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now.

What do you think that that refers to? That's right. So the Philippian church was supporting financially not only the apostle, but also helping other churches. We confirm that when we come to the Philippians chapter four, if you come to Philippians chapter four, verse 10, it says, Now we understand the context. The Philippian church is a wealthy church.

I rejoice in the Lord greatly that now at length ye have revived your concern for me. You were indeed concerned for me, but you had no opportunity. Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance, and need.

I can do all things through him who strengthened me. Yet it was kind of you to share my trouble. And you Philippians yourselves know that in the beginning of the gospel, when I left Macedonia, no church entered into partnership with me in giving and receiving except you only. So that means now we don't have that in Acts. But then that means that when he left us, what did Lydia and her family and the others did?

Brethren, not only opened their house, but they also gave them some support, right? They gave them some support for their missionary journey. Can you see it there in verse 15? And you Philippians yourselves know that in the beginning of the gospel, when I left Macedonia, no church entering into partnership with me in giving and receiving except you only. Even in Thessalonica, you send me help for my needs once and again.

Not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that increases to your credit. I have received full payment and more. I am well supplied, having received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent, a fragrant offering, a sacrifice acceptable and pleasing to God. And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. To our God and Father be glory forever and ever.

Amen. the context of the passage is given, right? So the apostle received and then this church is blessed by the apostle that the Lord will provide for their needs according to the riches of the glory of God. Very good. That's what we see and that's what we know about the Philippian church.

Let me just simply now point you to the main point of this letter, which was actually my main intention tonight. Go please to verse 27 of chapter one. In verse 27 of chapter one, we are going to get the main point of the letter. When you write a letter to a person, most of the time you come and sit down to write because you have something that you want to communicate, right? Most of the time, you have something that you want to communicate.

There's just a few times in which you say, I'm just going to write whatever comes to my mind now, and I'm going to send it to that person. I don't think that we operate that way. Most of the time, if I'm going to send a letter to you, it's because I have a reason to send that letter to you. And when we are understanding the scriptures, we need to try to identify what is the main reason that the author has in mind to send to a church. Because from that main reason, all the other sub points are going to come.

And if we don't have an understanding of the main reason, we can make the sub and small points greater in meaning than what the author intended. You know what I mean? That's why the way to understand a letter is not by going line by line, but it's actually understanding the whole letter first. So you study the whole letter first, and then you go step by step, which is what we're trying to do now. As you can see, I'm not preaching, but I just wanted just to have a discussion about this.

If I was going to summarize the main message of Paul to the Philippian church, the word that I would use is unity. And I will say unity through humility. You remember the famous passage in Philippians chapter 2 about the exaltation of Christ? Do not look out for your own interests, consider everyone else as superior than you, have the mind that Christ Jesus had, who did not consider robbery or equality with God as something to be grasped, a humble himself. Remember that passage?

That is the heart of the letter. Paul is going to exhort this church to be united in different ways, to be united in mind, to be united in truth, but also to be united in action. Part of the action of the Philippian church was the giving. So that was a church that was gifted with financial resources, so part of their contribution to the kingdom was in giving. So Paul is going to exhort this church to be united.

And let us just read that from verse 27, and we will finish very soon with this. 27, only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ. This expression is actually very powerful. It says, let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ. The apostle has a very particular skill to persuade.

I don't know if he was doing it intentionally, but he was very smart. And he has a very strong ability to persuade and to communicate a message. So he says, let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ. So whether I come and see you or I'm absent, I might hear of you that you are standing firm. And this is going to be the key verse, in what spirit with one mind, striving side by side for the faith of the gospel.

That is going to be the key verse for Philippians. He's saying, whether I go or whether I don't go, whether I see you or don't see you, that your manner of life will be worthy of the gospel. And what is that? That you will be standing firm in one spirit, one mind, striving side by side for the faith of the gospel. If you jump quickly to verse two of chapter two, then the apostle is going to open that idea of unity.

Complete my joy by being of the same mind and having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. And then if you go through chapter 2, if you go to chapter 3, there are many verses. I was going to take you through all of them, but we don't have more time. One mind, one mind, one mind, one mind. Unity, unity, unity, unity.

If we were going to summarize the letter of the Philippians, he's writing this letter to this church or group of churches, perhaps it's more churches, that they will be united. And that is going to be the main idea that we're going to be breaking down when we go verse by verse. The word of God is only powerful if we understand the truth of the word of God. If we don't get the truth of the Word of God, then it's no longer what God intended us to read and to understand, right? If I take a verse out of context and I make that verse mean whatever I want it to mean to me, it's no longer what God intended us to understand by what was written.

You know what I mean, right? And our faith is only strengthened by the truth that God wills to communicate to us through the scriptures. So now we know who are the brothers and sisters in Philippi, how that church initiated the hand of the Lord upon them. And we can see the identity of that church in the letter of the Philippians. This was a Gentile church with very a small or low Jew participation in it.

The interesting thing, by saying that, and I'm sorry that I'm adding something more, if you go to chapter 3, go quickly to chapter 3, it says, Actually, the whole argument of the puzzle goes only for two chapters. And then he concludes this letter in other two chapters. So his conclusion is as long as his letter. So chapter 3, he says, finally, my brothers. So pay attention where he's putting the finally, in chapter 3, in the half of the letter.

Finally, my brothers, rejoicing the Lord, to write the same things to you is not trouble. To me, he's saved for you. Now pay attention to verse 2. Look out for the dogs. Look out for the evildoers.

Look out for those who mutilate the flesh. Without reading the rest of the text, do you know who he is referring to? Who are these dogs? Who are these evildoers? Who are those who mutilate the flesh?

How do you pronounce that? Mutilate? Mutilate the flesh. The circumcision. So the mutilation of the flesh is the circumcision.

Now, this city that was primarily Jew, now we know that some Jews have a right. And these Jews are not nice. He calls them dogs, he calls them evildoers. Verse three, for we are the circumcision who worship by the spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put the confidence in the flesh. Though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also, if one else thinks and he continues and he continues, and the apostle basically is going to say, if they believe that they are Hebrews and Jews, I am more than that.

Right? He's going to say, we are the circumcision. And then you remember, not that I have obtained it all, but I continue to advance to the goal of the supreme calling. We are not like the Jews, our heavenly Jerusalem. Remember, our citizenship, he will say later, our citizenship is not from this world.

It's a heavenly citizenship. This is the context of the Philippian church. That's why Paul is going to send Timothy to this church. He's going to send Epaphroditus. Why?

Because he wanted the church to be united. So when we read the letter of the Philippians, we are to learn that the church is to be united through the humility of Christ. And of course, the gospel is going to go through all of that. The apostle is going to appeal to his example. The apostle is going to appeal to his sufferings.

The apostle is going to appeal to obedience. Remember, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. He's going to appeal to obedience. Then he's also going to appeal to the servants that he sent. I sent Timothy, I sent Epaphroditus.

He's going to appeal to be careful with the dogs and evildoers. And then he's going to give us the final part of the letter. Unity through humility. That is going to be the main lesson that we'll learn from here. Very good.

Anyone has any comment or any question before we pray? Anyone? Any comment or any question or anything that you want to say? How do you see in these things before? Your brother, have you seen all of these things before?

I appreciate the methodology of reading the text, the book, the letters, and for the right context and the meaning of the letter. That's really important. To be honest, I don't really think about that when I start reading. Yeah, and the Book of Acts will give us a lot of context for many of the letters that we have in the New Testament. Anyone else?

You see now how that verse sounds like a, I can do all things through Christ who has strengthened me? You know, how people take that verse and they apply it to absolutely everything. But the apostle is speaking about the difficulties that he was going through because of the ministry, right? And in the context of the Philippian church providing for those needs. Let us pray then.

Next week, Lord willing, we will start section by section and cover the whole letter in the next couple of months.