Pastor Nate continues our study through the Bible in the book of Philippians.
[00:00:01] You are listening to the Through the Bible Studio series with Pastor Nate Holdridge
[00:00:07] Join us as we continue our study through the New Testament book of Philippians. Here's Nate
[00:00:14] One of the main tactics of Satan is to
[00:00:21] destroy a people of God
[00:00:24] from within
[00:00:25] And Paul and Philippians chapter 2 understood that the Philippian church had a wonderful
[00:00:31] thing going. They had begun well
[00:00:34] They had proclaimed the gospel throughout that entire region. They were a
[00:00:41] praise report in all of Macedonia. The Philippian church was strong and healthy, and they'd begun
[00:00:48] really well. And so Paul as he shifts in
[00:00:52] Philippians chapter 2, he begins now to encourage them to maintain and to develop a
[00:00:58] unified spirit
[00:01:00] within their fellowship and within their city and within their church. And so he's going to now encourage and exhort them
[00:01:09] to maintain the unity that is theirs in Christ. And the first thing that he mentions is a
[00:01:18] motivation for that unity by saying in verse 1, he says, so if there is any
[00:01:24] encouragement in Christ, you know, if you've received any blessing from being a Christian,
[00:01:29] if there's any comfort from love, if your heart has been comforted by the love of God, if there is any
[00:01:38] participation in the spirit, and they had certainly all been
[00:01:41] baptized into the body of Christ by the Spirit of God, and if there is any
[00:01:47] affection and sympathy, you know, if there's any, you know, interest and love and compassion,
[00:01:53] sympathy coming from your heart to your fellow believers. If any of these things exists,
[00:02:00] even in the slightest, Paul then says in verse 2,
[00:02:04] complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love,
[00:02:12] being in full accord and of one mind. Paul in a few different ways
[00:02:20] describes the kind of unity that he's looking for in the Philippian church, but he says it first of all by saying,
[00:02:28] complete my joy. One of the first things they needed to know is that as an apostle and as they're in many senses
[00:02:37] spiritual father, they would be bringing joy to this imprisoned man
[00:02:44] by living a
[00:02:47] unified kind of life, having the same mind, the same love being in full accord and of one mind.
[00:02:54] And so Paul tells him, like a father looking at his children saying, if you get along, if you play
[00:03:01] well together, my heart will be comforted and
[00:03:05] encouraged. Paul looks at the Philippian church and says, listen, complete my joy by being of the same mind,
[00:03:11] the same love in full accord and of one mind. And I think it's important for us to understand that,
[00:03:17] you know, here's this man who has a great
[00:03:22] perspective, a great
[00:03:24] mentality, and you know, I think of anybody that we would say their priorities were dead on.
[00:03:30] And the priorities that they carried in life were the priorities of God himself.
[00:03:36] You would say it about Paul the apostle. His mind is seemingly in the right place.
[00:03:43] And he looks at the Philippian church and says, listen, with that background of his priorities,
[00:03:50] he says, listen, if you are able to dwell with the same mind and have unity in Christ,
[00:03:56] it will be such a joyful thing for me to watch and for me to experience.
[00:04:03] And so it's just true that our unity with Christ produces a like
[00:04:08] mindedness, or at least it should. Now this doesn't mean that we are
[00:04:13] exactly the same minded. There will be within the body of Christ a variety of views concerning
[00:04:21] all kinds of topics, the gift of tongues, the second coming, the millennial reign of Christ,
[00:04:28] free will versus the sovereignty of God. There will be these
[00:04:32] diverging views within the body of Christ, but there ought to be a
[00:04:37] commonality that centers around the cross of Christ. I'm not speaking of some kind of false
[00:04:44] unity where every major doctrine is just thrown away and we can't even agree on the essentials
[00:04:52] of the faith. But when it comes to the cross of Christ, we are to absolutely love it the common
[00:05:00] message of the saving grace of God found in the cross of Calvary that mankind is dead,
[00:05:08] indeed in trespasses and sins, but can be raised through faith and trust and belief
[00:05:15] in the substitutional death of Christ on the cross of Calvary. And so he's telling them,
[00:05:20] he's saying, listen guys, center around that. Be of the same mind, have the same love, be of full
[00:05:25] accord and of one mind. But this had more to do with just practical everyday life
[00:05:34] than it did with some kind of doctrinal perspective. That's why Paul says in verse 3,
[00:05:40] do nothing from rivalry or conceit but in humility count others more significant than
[00:05:46] yourselves. Let each of you look out not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.
[00:05:54] And one of the most difficult things to purge from new believers life and a believer in general
[00:06:03] is selfishness. And so Paul tells them, listen, you need to set aside selfish ambition. You
[00:06:10] need to care for the interests of others. You know, this selfish attitude can really cripple
[00:06:18] the entire body of Christ. You know, back in the book of Exodus when God was bringing the people
[00:06:27] out of their bondage and out of their slavery, Pharaoh who was the most powerful man in the
[00:06:34] world at the time could do nothing to stop the people of God. But the way that they stopped
[00:06:42] themselves was when they finally got out on the wilderness and Moses went to the mountaintop and
[00:06:47] they began to worship this golden calf that Aaron had created. And as a result of that,
[00:06:54] they experienced the wrath of God in miniature but they experienced the wrath of God
[00:06:59] and it crippled them for a moment. The thing that Pharaoh could never do, they did to themselves
[00:07:06] through that selfish ambition and that idolatry within their hearts. You might remember in
[00:07:16] the book of Joshua when the people of Israel were going into the Promised Land and they won
[00:07:23] a radical and incredible victory against the city of Jericho and the walls had fallen down. It was an
[00:07:32] impressive victory and after that, the next city that was on their list was this little town called
[00:07:37] A.I., much smaller than Jericho, not as well defended and with confidence brimming over,
[00:07:45] they foolishly rushed into battle only to suffer defeat at the hands of the army of A.I.
[00:07:53] and they began to seek the Lord. Joshua actually began to really complain and crowd to God and say,
[00:07:58] Lord what happened here? And the Lord spoke to him and explained to him that there was sin in the
[00:08:04] camp. What had happened is this man Akin had taken a Babylonian garment and a wedge of gold
[00:08:11] for himself during the conquest over Jericho. Something that was expressly and completely
[00:08:20] and clearly forbidden for the people of God. You're not to take these spoils for yourselves,
[00:08:27] these things belong to the Lord and they are an abomination. And so he takes this for himself
[00:08:37] and the people by and large suffer as a result of Akin's selfish ambition and when a believer
[00:08:44] decides to engage in premarital sex or decides to live a life of disobedience, decides to steal from
[00:08:52] their employer. When a believer decides to do these things, they are bringing the body of Christ
[00:08:59] into sin and are hurting the overall church. None of us operates as an island and so Paul says,
[00:09:09] think not only of yourselves but think of the interests of others. The church should be a place
[00:09:15] where we are thinking of neglected children and those who are suffering in this world. Think
[00:09:24] of the interests of others if mankind would just do this, if the church would just be
[00:09:29] thinking about others, thinking about children and spouses and friends and generations. If we
[00:09:36] would think about the interests of others, great unity and blessing would flow and come.
[00:09:42] And then in verse 5 Paul goes on to describe the mindset that is required. He says, have this mind
[00:09:51] among yourselves which is yours in Christ Jesus. There is this mindset now. Paul has told them
[00:09:59] about unity and oneness and there's this mindset now that he wants to introduce them to.
[00:10:04] That is, notice it, there's in Christ Jesus and ours as well. Something that we can put on.
[00:10:12] Romans 13 verse 14, put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh to fulfill
[00:10:20] its lust. There is an ability to put on this mindset. It is ours in Christ. And he then
[00:10:27] goes on in verse 6 to speak in a beautiful way about Jesus. He says, who though he was in the form of
[00:10:35] God did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped but made himself nothing, taking the form
[00:10:45] of a servant, being born in the likeness of men and being found in human form. He humbled
[00:10:53] himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Now what Paul is doing here,
[00:11:03] this is an amazing little text because theologians have marveled at it for years and it really is
[00:11:11] a major point of theology here in the book of Philippians but when Paul writes it, the thing
[00:11:17] that's on his mind is to tell the Philippian church of the kind of mindset that Christ had
[00:11:24] that could also be theirs as they served the other believers within the church in Philippi.
[00:11:33] And he sort of lays out these steps that Christ took within his mind. The first
[00:11:40] element here is that you have to think of the starting place of Jesus.
[00:11:46] Verse 6, though he was in the form of God. In other words there's no one higher than Jesus and for
[00:11:53] the Philippian church for them to think about this and to wrestle with this they would have to
[00:11:58] then look at their brothers and sisters in Christ and think about how Jesus came to serve all of
[00:12:06] humanity even though he was above all of humanity and not just above all of humanity
[00:12:12] but far above all of humanity. And so for the Philippians they would have to wrestle with the
[00:12:19] fact that there would be no one who would fall outside of the lines of them needing to minister
[00:12:28] to because Jesus who is far greater than all minister to all and so that was the starting
[00:12:37] place for Christ this expression of deity being found in the form of God himself.
[00:12:45] And one of the first things that Jesus did in verse 6 it says that he
[00:12:49] did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped. In other words there was this moment
[00:12:58] where the Son became willing. He decided that this privilege of deity the privileges of his
[00:13:09] divine nature were not something to be held on to. In other words he as the NIV says he did not
[00:13:16] consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage. He decided that he would
[00:13:24] let go of his rights and you know for many of us when it comes to unity and equality and being a
[00:13:34] blessing to others so often the first thing on our minds are our own rights we're asking the
[00:13:40] question what about me and we can go to a Bible study and nudge someone and say this is a good
[00:13:46] word for you but the Lord looks at us and says listen you need to also let go of your position
[00:13:56] let go of that place of privilege like Christ himself had done and he verse 7 emptied himself.
[00:14:05] This is the word Knozis he became emptied he emptied himself of his self interests
[00:14:14] but not his deity but of his self interests and so this royal king divesting himself of his own glory.
[00:14:23] He verse 7 took the form of a servant he becomes a servant within the trinity itself.
[00:14:33] You know he you have the father son in spirit the son takes this position of being the slave
[00:14:40] of all the servant of all and so a servant of God but also of course the servant of man as he came to
[00:14:47] seek and save that which was lost and to die for the sin of the world. He came
[00:14:52] verse 7 in the likeness of men he actually became a man took on human flesh the God who
[00:15:03] created all became one of us the God who as it says in Colossians 1 verse 16 that by him all things
[00:15:11] were created that are in heaven and that are on earth this God became a man and added this humanity
[00:15:22] fully God and yet at the same time fully man and just the great step that he took to serve us
[00:15:32] and to care for us and he humbled himself verse 8 he became a lowly kind of man you know born in an
[00:15:40] insignificant village with a humble birth in a barn to a carpenter and a lowly mother not born
[00:15:51] in a palace but he humbled himself not only came in the likeness of men but also humbled himself
[00:15:58] and experienced verse 8 death and not just death but verse 8 even death on a cross and so you have the
[00:16:10] seven downward steps of Jesus Christ to serve us and to care for us like I said packed with theology
[00:16:19] but here Paul is telling the Philippian church listen guys serve each other care for each other
[00:16:25] if Jesus was willing to do this for you and if this was the mindset of Christ then you need to arm
[00:16:32] yourself with the very same mindset be a servant be a blessing lay your life down and it's interesting
[00:16:43] because so often we make the Christian life about other things we think about you know the
[00:16:50] things that we know and the information that we've received and that somehow this is the definition
[00:16:58] of Christian maturity but the definition of Christian maturity is a person who has adopted the mind of
[00:17:05] Christ and they're busy in serving one another and caring for the body of Christ first and
[00:17:13] primarily but also caring for the needs of this world and Paul goes on in verse 9 to demonstrate
[00:17:21] for the Philippians that this paid off in the life of Christ and so would therefore pay off for them
[00:17:27] he says in verse 9 therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is
[00:17:33] above every name so that so that at the name of Jesus verse 10 every knee should bow in heaven
[00:17:40] and on earth and under the earth and in and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory
[00:17:47] of the Father there is glory coming to Christ because he allowed himself to be humbled so greatly
[00:17:56] there will be a day where every knee will bow and every tongue will confess him for some it will be
[00:18:03] with great regret in their hearts that they did not receive him sooner and for others it will be
[00:18:09] with great joy because they bowed the knee in this life but that glory belongs completely and eternally
[00:18:17] for Jesus because of that great sacrifice and his great willingness to serve us so have this mind
[00:18:26] in and of yourself be a servant and a blessing to others you know it's so hard for a Christian
[00:18:33] to you know just rise up above the flesh you know our our natural tendency is to be all about us me
[00:18:42] me me but the tendency and the and the heart the nature of Christ is not to be self and inward
[00:18:50] focused but to be thinking about others and to be caring for others not to to come home and
[00:18:57] at the end of a long work day and make demands and all of that but to be a blessing to your family to
[00:19:03] be serving your family and caring for your family and so he points these elements out to say to
[00:19:09] the Philippian church listen be a blessing to one another now in verse 12 through 18 Paul goes on
[00:19:17] to speak of their witness in this world says therefore verse 12 my beloved as you have always
[00:19:23] obeyed so now not only as in my presence but much more in my absence he knew that there was maturity
[00:19:32] that could be found in being willing to be obedient to God with without Paul being present
[00:19:39] you know to to to obey the Lord strictly because you long to obey the Lord rather than because
[00:19:46] your spiritual mentor or leadership is present he says because of that work out your own salvation
[00:19:54] with fear and trembling for this God verse 13 who works in you both the will and to do for his
[00:20:00] good pleasure here Paul tells them to work out their own salvation with fear and trembling
[00:20:10] now obviously Paul is not telling them to earn their own salvation with fear and trembling even
[00:20:19] the way that Paul says it is so perfect because he doesn't say earn your salvation with fear and
[00:20:24] trembling but he says to work it out if there is this salvation that you've received you are
[00:20:30] now placed in Christ as you fellowship with Christ and take on the mindset of Christ make
[00:20:37] sure you are working out your salvation in other words that it's becoming evident to the people
[00:20:44] around you that you have come face to face with this great God and King Jesus Christ who so lowered
[00:20:52] himself for us and so work it out and it's interesting because in this part of the exhortation
[00:21:01] he's placing the burden and the responsibility upon the Philippian church he's saying listen you
[00:21:10] need to work out your own salvation with fear and trembling with this lack of self-confidence
[00:21:16] and you know self assurance but you know with a real respect and reverence for God work out
[00:21:23] your own salvation and you know this doesn't mean that you can earn your salvation by being
[00:21:30] you know living in community with other believers or being in the Word of God and Scripture and
[00:21:37] and meditating upon it being a person of prayer and crying out to the Lord being steadfast and
[00:21:43] worship and giving serving in your local church being obedient to the Word of God evangelizing
[00:21:50] other people it doesn't mean that you can earn salvation by doing any of these things but these
[00:21:55] are evidences of the salvation that is within you and so to be diligent about them to be all about
[00:22:01] the Word of God and prayer and worship and giving and serving and obedience and evangelism and living
[00:22:07] in community with other believers these are important things for a person who's in Christ
[00:22:13] and received salvation to work out within their lives let your light shine Paul is saying
[00:22:20] but in verse 13 he then talks about the God word motivation for it is God who works in you both to
[00:22:28] will and to work for his good pleasure and so just as Jesus told the disciples before he departed
[00:22:36] he said listen a day is coming I'll pray to the Father he will send you another helper the
[00:22:41] spirit of truth and that helper would come and live within those disciples and us as well
[00:22:48] enabling and empowering us motivating us internally to serve the Lord and so it is God who is working
[00:22:56] in you to will and to work for his good pleasure you know every time I've made a concerted effort
[00:23:03] and said I'm going to you know pay attention to this particular area of my walk and I've
[00:23:10] moved forward in that direction looking back I can always say that I've seen the hand of God
[00:23:17] in being the one to strengthen me and empower me I would never take any of that credit for myself
[00:23:23] because it's so clear to me that it was God who was working in me to will and to work for his
[00:23:30] good pleasure but we need to lay down our lives as a living sacrifice the tension of the Christian
[00:23:37] life the responsibility that is ours coupled with the promise and the responsibility that is
[00:23:44] God's he expounds on this a little bit this working out the salvation in verse 14 by saying do all
[00:23:51] things without grumbling or questioning that you may be blameless and innocent children of God
[00:23:58] without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation among whom you shine as lights
[00:24:04] in the world one thing the world needs to receive and needs to see from believers is not a
[00:24:12] false sense of positivity but an absence of grumbling and as he says here disputing you
[00:24:22] know just a a willingness to not be a a complaining kind of person but a person that has you know
[00:24:32] gratitude within their lives and hearts and I find that there is usually great victory when I cry
[00:24:39] out to God with thanksgiving on my lips and just begin to thank him for what he's doing in my life
[00:24:45] and has done in my life it leads me to a place of great victory the Christian should have that kind
[00:24:51] of mindset holding fast he says in verse 16 to the word of life there's truth that's emanating
[00:24:58] from this person's life so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run
[00:25:04] in vain or labor in vain Paul is thinking of that final day and saying you know hold fast Philippian
[00:25:11] church I do not want to have run in vain even verse 17 if I am to be poured out as a drink
[00:25:17] offering upon the sacrificial offering of your faith I am glad and rejoice with you all likewise
[00:25:24] you also should be glad and rejoice with me Paul tells them that there would be great rejoicing
[00:25:31] if in heaven on his account if they would continue to walk with the Lord now to close out this chapter
[00:25:39] Paul mentions a couple of wonderful men verse 19 he says I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy
[00:25:46] to you soon so that I too may be cheered by news of you for I have no one like him who will be
[00:25:55] genuinely concerned for your welfare Timothy was a man that was very close hearted with Paul the
[00:26:01] Apostle a young man who really overcame quite a lot if you look at various scriptures it seems
[00:26:09] clear and apparent that he struggled with fear and even the Corinthian church may have rejected
[00:26:17] Timothy for a season there was some kind of sickness in his body for Timothy 5 23 had to
[00:26:24] drink wine for his stomach's sake perhaps it was an ulcer maybe he was sensitive and nervous
[00:26:30] and he was young there was a lot for him to over overcome his fear his sickness in his body his
[00:26:36] age but the Lord used him greatly there was no one like minded with Paul like Timothy because he
[00:26:47] says in verse 21 they all seek their own interests not those of Jesus Christ but you know Timothy's
[00:26:53] proven work worth how as a son with a father he has served with me in the gospel I hope therefore
[00:27:00] to send him just as soon as I see how it will go with me and I trust in the Lord that shortly I
[00:27:06] myself will come also one of the greatest gifts Paul could send was Timothy his his great thank
[00:27:12] you note to the Philippian church would include this man Timothy I've thought it necessary verse
[00:27:17] 25 to send to you Epaphroditus my brother and fellow worker and fellow soldier and your
[00:27:25] messenger and minister to my knee now Paul says now to the Philippians listen I'm sending Epaphroditus
[00:27:31] back to you and Paul owns him he says he's my brother he's my fellow worker my fellow soldier
[00:27:39] but then he says but he's your messenger and your minister to my need they had sent Epaphroditus
[00:27:46] to care for Paul's needs and Paul explains now why he's sending him back he says for he has been longing
[00:27:52] for you all and it's been distressed because you heard that he was ill you you heard that he was sick
[00:27:59] and he clarifies verse 27 and says indeed he was ill near to death he's making it clear why
[00:28:06] Epaphroditus needed to come home lest anyone say that Epaphroditus was weak or shouldn't have
[00:28:12] come home or came home too soon Paul says no he had to go home he was sick and near to death but God
[00:28:17] had mercy on him and not only on him but on me also lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow I am the
[00:28:25] more eager to send him therefore that you may rejoice at seeing him again and that I may be
[00:28:30] less anxious so receive him in the Lord with all joy and honor such men it is so important to
[00:28:37] honor those who have served Christ well and Paul wants Epaphroditus to return back to Philippi
[00:28:44] with nothing but a parade of honor for the good and great work he had done for he verse 30 nearly
[00:28:51] died for the work of Christ risking his life to complete what was lacking in your service to me and
[00:28:59] so Paul explains to the Philippian church this man was a selfless man and oh that God would
[00:29:06] raise up more selfless Christ-hearted men like Timothy and like Epaphroditus for the work of
[00:29:15] the ministry God bless you and amen thank you for listening for additional resources and teachings
[00:29:24] or to contact us please visit us at nameholdridge.com