Philippians 1 | The Upward Way | Bible Study with A. Z. Adams — Transcript

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1. 0:00So the book of Philippians is written by
2. 0:02Paul to a church at Philippi.
3. 0:06Um and Philippi was a colony that had
4. 0:09become a Roman colony and they were very
5. 0:11proud of their Roman citizenship. So
6. 0:14Paul makes that a point. The theme of
7. 0:17the book is basically
8. 0:19that you need to have joy no matter the
9. 0:22circumstances.
10. 0:24And Paul speaks of joy and instructs
11. 0:28about joy 16 times, 16 different times
12. 0:31in the six chapters.
13. 0:33And
14. 0:35he wants to encourage unity. Another
15. 0:38theme of the book is unity. Be of the
16. 0:40same mind, have the same heart. He
17. 0:43really wants to encourage unity.
18. 0:46And um probably the most quoted section
19. 0:49of the book is
20. 0:51the description of Jesus. And it's it's
21. 0:55something that we understand about Jesus
22. 0:57that we don't get anywhere else when he
23. 0:59says, "Let this mind be in you which was
24. 1:01also in Christ Jesus." And he describes
25. 1:04how God being fully man and fully God
26. 1:07was able to relate to us in an emptied
27. 1:10state. and that that's an example for
28. 1:13how we should be with one another. He
29. 1:16warns about pride and how pride leads to
30. 1:19the divisions that destroys the unity.
31. 1:22And um so we'll begin here Philippians 1
32. 1:28verse one. Paul and Timothy, bondervants
33. 1:32of Christ Jesus, to all the saints in
34. 1:35Christ Jesus who are in Philippi,
35. 1:39including the overseers and deacons.
36. 1:43Grace to you and peace from God our
37. 1:45father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I
38. 1:48thank my God in all my remembrance of
39. 1:50you, always offering prayer with joy in
40. 1:54my every prayer for you all in view of
41. 1:57your participation
42. 1:59in the gospel from the first day until
43. 2:02now. This is where Paul brings out
44. 2:05another theme that I didn't mention and
45. 2:07that is participation in ministry. He
46. 2:10really wants people to understand that
47. 2:13even though they are not writing the
48. 2:15letters to the churches or starting the
49. 2:17churches, if they are supporting the
50. 2:20ministry that does, then they are
51. 2:22partners in the ministry. They are
52. 2:24participants in the gospel. He's writing
53. 2:27this letter from prison from Rome and
54. 2:30it's about 61 AD. It's after any of the
55. 2:33other letters that we have read.
56. 2:36For I am confident of this very thing,
57. 2:39that he who began a good work in you
58. 2:43will perfect it until the day of Christ.
59. 2:48There we go. Paul's saying, "What God
60. 2:51started, God will keep perfecting until
61. 2:54the Lord returns.
62. 2:57For it is only right for me to feel this
63. 2:59way about you all because I have you in
64. 3:02my heart. Since both in my imprisonment
65. 3:06and in the defense and confirmation of
66. 3:08the gospel, you all are partakers of
67. 3:12grace with me. Again, partakers,
68. 3:16participation, partnership,
69. 3:19for God is my witness. How I long for
70. 3:21you all with the affection of Christ
71. 3:24Jesus.
72. 3:26And this I pray that your love may
73. 3:30abound still more and more in real
74. 3:34knowledge and all discernment
75. 3:38so that you may approve the things that
76. 3:40are excellent in order to be sincere and
77. 3:44blameless until the day of Christ. So he
78. 3:48says, "God's my witness. I have
79. 3:49authentic affection for you and I want
80. 3:52to come see you. But this is what I'm
81. 3:54praying for you. I'm praying that your
82. 3:57love may grow, may abound more and more
83. 4:00in real knowledge and all discernment.
84. 4:05And in that he's saying that there's a
85. 4:07lack of discernment that they need to
86. 4:08outgrow and there's a false kind of
87. 4:10knowledge that they need to leave aside.
88. 4:13So he wants them to instead have real
89. 4:14knowledge and discernment. Why? so that
90. 4:18they can approve the things that are
91. 4:20excellent. In other words, his prayer is
92. 4:24that they'll stop tolerating and
93. 4:25approving what's subpar, what's not
94. 4:28excellent, and instead let love grow
95. 4:31with discernment so that they can
96. 4:33approve the things that are excellent in
97. 4:35order to be sincere and blameless until
98. 4:40the day of Christ. There were things
99. 4:42that they were tolerating that
100. 4:44compromised their claim to sincerity.
101. 4:47And what were those things? They were
102. 4:49they were blames. They were faults. They
103. 4:51were things that they could get rid of.
104. 4:54Having been filled with the fruit of
105. 4:56righteousness which comes through Jesus
106. 4:58Christ to the glory and praise of God.
107. 5:03Now I want you to know, brethren, that
108. 5:05my circumstances have turned out for the
109. 5:08greater progress of the gospel.
110. 5:11So that my imprisonment in the cause of
111. 5:14Christ has become well known throughout
112. 5:16the whole Ptorian guard and to everyone
113. 5:19else and that most of the brethren
114. 5:22trusting in the Lord because of my
115. 5:24imprisonment have far more courage to
116. 5:27speak the word of God without fear. So
117. 5:30he says my witness has gone through the
118. 5:34whole guard the whole Ptorian guard that
119. 5:37is keeping him knows about the gospel.
120. 5:40And he says,"Most of the brethren also
121. 5:43have been encouraged to act more boldly.
122. 5:45Apparently, some were not.
123. 5:48Some, to be sure, are preaching Christ
124. 5:51even from envy and strife, but some also
125. 5:54from goodwill." So, he says, "Most of
126. 5:56the brethren are encouraged to speak
127. 5:58more boldly. Unfortunately, some are
128. 6:01preaching from envy and strife. They're
129. 6:04trying to find their gift. They're
130. 6:05trying to move in their place, but
131. 6:07they're full of envy. They're full of
132. 6:08strife. The opposite of that is
133. 6:12goodwill, a heart to help, love. The
134. 6:16latter do it out of love,
135. 6:20knowing that I am appointed for the
136. 6:23defense of the gospel.
137. 6:26The former proclaimed Christ out of
138. 6:28selfish ambition rather than from pure
139. 6:31motives, thinking to cause me distress
140. 6:34in my imprisonment. So there are people
141. 6:38who see Paul's
142. 6:40incapacity in chains as an opportunity
143. 6:43to step up and show what great gifts
144. 6:45they've got. But their motivation is
145. 6:48selfish ambition, envy, and strife. But
146. 6:52the others who do it out of goodwill or
147. 6:54literally love is what he says. They're
148. 6:57a blessing. What then? only that in
149. 7:00every way whether in pretense or in
150. 7:03truth Christ is proclaimed and in this I
151. 7:07rejoice.
152. 7:09So he says I can't control the situation
153. 7:12beyond these walls. I can't help that
154. 7:16there are people who are doing the right
155. 7:17thing for the wrong reason. I can't do
156. 7:19that. I can't I can't bother myself with
157. 7:21that. But I'm just going to praise God
158. 7:23that they're talking about Jesus. He'll
159. 7:26deal with them with about their motives.
160. 7:28God will deal with them about their
161. 7:29motives, but at least they're talking
162. 7:31about Jesus.
163. 7:34Yes, and I will rejoice
164. 7:36for I know that this will turn out for
165. 7:39my deliverance through your prayers and
166. 7:42the provision of the spirit of Jesus
167. 7:44Christ. According to my earnest
168. 7:47expectation and hope that I will not be
169. 7:50put to shame in anything, but that with
170. 7:52all boldness, Christ will even now as
171. 7:56always be exalted in my body, whether by
172. 8:00life or by death. So he says,"I just
173. 8:04don't care. I don't care why they're
174. 8:06doing it. I just want people to talk
175. 8:07about Jesus. I just want it to be more
176. 8:09about him. And I am confident God's
177. 8:12going to deliver me." But then in the
178. 8:14last sentence, he says, "He's going to
179. 8:16be glorified in my body, whether by life
180. 8:19or death." So there's a deliverance that
181. 8:21Paul can get by being freed from the
182. 8:23sword. And there's a deliverance that he
183. 8:25can get by being killed by the sword.
184. 8:28But God is going to be exalted in his
185. 8:32body one way or the other.
186. 8:36Verse 21, one of the most famous quotes
187. 8:39from Paul.
188. 8:41For me
189. 8:42to live is Christ and to die is gain.
190. 8:50He doesn't say for me to live is freedom
191. 8:52for Paul.
192. 8:54He so surrendered himself to his
193. 8:56hiddenness in Jesus that he says for me
194. 9:00to live it's just him more of him and to
195. 9:04die that's success too.
196. 9:07This is what it means for in his view
197. 9:10Christ to be exalted in his body. For me
198. 9:13to live is Christ and to die is gain.
199. 9:17But if I am to live on in the flesh,
200. 9:19this will mean fruitful labor for me,
201. 9:22and I do not know which to choose. But I
202. 9:25am hardpressed from both directions,
203. 9:28having the desire to depart and be with
204. 9:30Christ,
205. 9:32for that is very much better.
206. 9:36Yet to remain in the flesh is more
207. 9:39necessary for your sake.
208. 9:42Paul is not in love with his earthly
209. 9:44existence. This is a man living in the
210. 9:46squalor of imprisonment. And he says,
211. 9:50"I'm pressed both ways. To go and be
212. 9:54with the Lord is very much better in my
213. 9:56view.
214. 9:57Yet to remain on in the flesh is more
215. 10:00necessary for your sake." Convinced of
216. 10:03this, I know that I will remain and
217. 10:05continue with you all for your progress
218. 10:07and joy in the faith, so that your proud
219. 10:10confidence in me may abound in Christ
220. 10:14Jesus through my coming to you again.
221. 10:19only conduct yourselves in a manner
222. 10:21worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that
223. 10:25whether I come and see you or remain
224. 10:28absent, I will hear of you, that you are
225. 10:32standing firm in one spirit with one
226. 10:37mind, striving together for the faith of
227. 10:41the gospel, in no way alarmed by your
228. 10:45opponents, which is a sign of
229. 10:47destruction for them, but of salvation
230. 10:49for you and that too from God. For to
231. 10:54you it has been granted for Christ's
232. 10:56sake not only to believe in him but also
233. 11:00to suffer for his sake experiencing the
234. 11:03same conflict which you saw in me and
235. 11:07now here to be in me.
236. 11:10So we remember what he told the
237. 11:12Ephesians walking worthy looks like in
238. 11:14the Corinthians. But here, walking
239. 11:17worthy means Paul is going to hear about
240. 11:20them. And that what he's going to hear
241. 11:22is that they're standing firm in one
242. 11:26spirit
243. 11:28with one mind, striving together for the
244. 11:32faith of the gospel, in no way alarmed
245. 11:36by their opponents. Those are the five
246. 11:39things that Paul wants. He wants their
247. 11:42witness to be so great that it's
248. 11:45spreading around to others. So worthy
249. 11:48looks like witness.
250. 11:50And the witness that he wants spreading
251. 11:52around is that they're standing firm in
252. 11:54one spirit. They're not entrenched
253. 11:56against each other. They're firm
254. 11:58together.
255. 12:00He wants to hear that they are striving
256. 12:03together for the faith of the gospel.
257. 12:06Not striving with each other. Striving
258. 12:08together. And he wants to hear that they
259. 12:11are not alarmed by trouble because he
260. 12:15tells them that they have received the
261. 12:16same calling that he has received which
262. 12:19is not only to believe in Jesus but to
263. 12:22suffer for him. And that's a calling
264. 12:25because God is going to be exalted in
265. 12:28that. God is going to be revealed in
266. 12:31that. And that's what he was saying was
267. 12:33going to happen in his own life.