Christ Exalted in My Body, Philippians, 1:19-20
Philippians 1:19-20 · Vern Peterman · May 4, 2003
Philippians (2003), No. 15
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/48262255135609

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

All right. As we go through this book of Philippians here, we keep, especially in this first chapter, Paul keeps dealing with aspects of his imprisonment. But what's very interesting, and you probably noted it as well, he doesn't sit there and center on his imprisonment. That's not the point. And yet he's talking about all the repercussions and his perspective on it. But he's not sitting here sniveling and complaining about the fact that he's chained up to these guards, one to the next, and they're all nasty. Or most of them. Instead, he zeroes in on what God is doing in and through his imprisonment.

So we'll continue on with that this morning. Before we do, somebody had a question this last week, and I want to take some time to address it. And that has to do with Bible translations. Somebody's saying, well, I'm accustomed to this, and we're used to that.

And so what we want to do is take a look at these Bible translations, just to address it briefly here. One of the things you may have noticed, I typically will quote the New American Standard Version, but just so that there's some insight here. The translations on this end are examples of those that are more word-for-word from the original Greek and Hebrew into English. And then there are some that say, well, I'm not going to go just word-for-word. I want to kind of convey the thought over into English. And those are a little bit more paraphrased and looser translations, we might call them.

And some of these, like the New Living Translation or the Message, you may have heard of on this end. In the middle somewhere is the New International Version, the NIV. So there's a spectrum out there, okay? Typically, I'll quote from the New American Standard because it's intended to be more word-for-word. I think there's a couple of perspectives here.

Word-for-word is generally better for personal study, if you're really looking at studying what does the original text say. On the other end of that, though, it may be a little bit rougher when it comes to reading through it. Thought-for-thought, things at this end, They read more smoothly, and if you're just kind of reading for general flow and to get an idea, especially for historical books of the Bible, Acts, the Gospels, some of the historical books in the Old Testament, it reads much more smoothly and easily, and there's, I guess, some value in that as well. Here at Holly Hills, however, I think one of the things to point out we have in our doctrinal statement, we look at the original text, as that is what is inspired.

We don't grab, as some do, a particular English version and say, this is the inspired version. That's frequently done with, for example, the King James, which has a real richness of language and a powerful history. However, the version most people read, they say, I stick with the King James, is the fifth revision. It was revised most recently about the 1760s.

Instead, we look at the original language, and one of the reasons we do that is because that was what was originally inspired. That was what was written by the apostles, by the writers of the Old Testament, etc. And so what we do is we seek to, for example, most of your pews in the pew pocket will have a Greek interlinear to help study that yourself. We have a Greek class that Hal's teaching. A number of people are taking advantage of that. And what we'll do here on Sunday mornings and at other times is to try to provide every insight we can into the original language, because that is what we're wanting to convey.

So I'll use the New American Standard. It's not the inspired translation. I think it's useful and helpful. But ultimately, no matter what translation you're talking about, our intent here is to convey the meaning and understanding of the original text. That was what was inspired for our benefit. That was what Paul wrote about, and he said all scripture is inspired.

Let's take a look here at our passage Philippians 1, 19-20. Christ exalted in my body, is Paul's phrase there that we'll center on here this morning. As we do that, let me just read through it once again. Doug Rudd threw it once. Here in verse 19 it starts off I know that this will turn out for my deliverance through your prayers and the provision of the Spirit of Jesus Christ According to my earnest expectation and hope that I will not be put to shame in anything, but that with all boldness Christ will even now as always be exalted in my body whether by life or by death Now one thing to point out here is In the content and flow, Paul has told them in verse 18 that he is rejoicing and that he will keep on rejoicing. Remember that? The present I am rejoicing and I will continue to rejoice in the future.

He's laid out both of those truths. Now he proceeds on in these verses 19 and 20 to give his whole perspective on this thing. It shows us why he's continually rejoicing. And in fact, it is kind of amazing. He is rejoicing in the face of a very hazardous and dangerous Roman legal system. And as he also noted in the passage we looked at last week, there's also these antagonists, people who are preaching the gospel just to get at him, just to bug him. He shows here why it makes good spiritual sense. What's this spiritual perspective that can make this make sense.

Now, there are some cultural factors as we look at this passage that I think are helpful to keep in mind. And by the way, when I bring up cultural factors or cultural background, there's an important distinction to make. We look at cultural background to the Bible to illuminate the Scripture's meaning, not eliminate the Scripture's meaning. Get the distinction there? We're looking to illuminate the Scripture's meaning, not eliminate it.

The first one is that the pagan people of Philippi were in their region famously meticulous about how they dealt with people, whether they lived or died. Once a person died in Philippi, there were special societies to tell you, here's how you treat the body, and here's all the things we have to do to the pagan gods to make sure everything works out right for them. And so they were real particular about how things were handled. That was one thing to make note of. When we go to Philippi now, you find all sorts of carvings on stones. The hillside above Philippi has a whole bunch of these kinds of symbols and similar symbols.

There was a men's society of the Thracian horsemen because they wanted to make sure that these people were dealt with just right because you don't want to get your loved ones in the wrong place. And whether you lived or died sure mattered a lot, and if you died, they had to die just right. That's weird, huh? Okay. Now, here's the other thing that's kind of amazing to put together.

Paul's appeal to Caesar. The Philippians were in great part Romans. Philippi was a Roman retirement city. If you had been a Roman soldier, this was the place to be. It was a place to retire tax-free. And if you retired as a Roman soldier, you got Roman citizenship.

So a great many of them were citizens. Paul was a Roman citizen by a different route, but he was also a Roman citizen. So Paul appealing to Caesar was something, okay, they knew what that was all about, and it was something that they themselves might even think of doing. But what was real different from the culture was for Paul to be far more concerned about his stance before Jesus Christ. than before Caesar, and we'll see that in this passage this morning. They considered the Roman emperors gods, and they even had temples in many of the Roman cities. They had temples to the emperor, and they would go and sacrifice to the emperor as a god, as one of them. They didn't care how many others you had, just as long as you also had Caesar as one of them. So this was in sharp contrast with the pagan culture, Furthermore, since Paul was a Roman citizen and now a Christian in legal trouble, whatever happened to Paul was going to establish a legal precedent for them.

You see that? So they're going to get very concerned. How is this turning out? What's this going to say about my future if I get into some kind of legal trouble as a Roman citizen and as a Christian? Well, we'll get to that later. But just so we have that understanding.

The last thing is that it was very important in the Greco-Roman culture to have maintained your public honor. To have gone to prison was a great blow to that public honor. That public honor was so important. It is one of the reasons why the Romans would crucify people as part of the punishment. Not only was it exceedingly painful, But it was also very shaming, because they would typically strip someone down to a loincloth or less.

And that is why we read in Hebrews 12.2 that, for the joy set before him, the Lord endured the cross, despising the shame. This imprisonment here was a shame in the Roman and Greek culture. And here Paul was imprisoned, and we'll see that very point brought up in this passage.

Let's take a look at it. Paul says here, as he starts into this, I know this will turn out for my deliverance. So what we have here, just kind of a line diagram to help us get the picture, here's his present situation, and he says, I know this will turn out for my deliverance. He's looking for deliverance at the end of this process. From where he is now in his current situation, being chained up to Praetorian Guard constantly, to being delivered at some point in time. We know that. He says He knows that.

It says, "...through your prayers and the provision of the Spirit of Jesus Christ." So here He is in this present situation. How is He going to get from here to there? By means of, and He spells out the first thing, your, that is, the Philippians' prayers. That's the first aspect of it. The second aspect of it is the provision of the Spirit of Jesus Christ. Those two things are going to be the means to take him from his present situation to the place of deliverance.

He spelled that out for them. Now, according to my earnest expectation and hope, his earnest expectation and hope, which we'll dig into a little bit more in a bit, address this whole process here. Everything is involved in that earnest expectation and hope. entirely consistent with Paul's expectations about the future. Paul has specific expectations about the future. His perception of this whole thing, from start to finish, where he is now to his point of deliverance, is all consistent. That's why he says, according to. It's consistent with Paul's expectations about the future. It's also entirely consistent with Paul's confident anticipations, his hope. That's biblical hope.

We'll get into that in a bit. that I will not be put to shame in anything. Here is this process taking place, this present situation. Here's deliverance. In the end, not shame. He's not going to be delivered in the midst of shame. That's not going to be one of the end results. Paul's shame before the unbelievers, and even other believers, remember there are believers who are trying to shame him, is not an issue with Paul. That's not an issue. It doesn't bother me in the least. That's not what I'm concerned about.

The issue is, how does Paul stand before the Lord Jesus Christ? That's all he's concerned about. Basically, he is admitting and setting aside, remember the issue, public honor was most important in the Greek and Roman culture? And he just said, it doesn't mean one bit. How I stand before Jesus Christ, that is what matters. He's basically admitting, I know before the world, I'm already shamed. Forget it. I've been in prison enough times, and here I am in prison. I'm chained to a Praetorian guard. You have no respect for me.

And so, before the world, it was not an issue. Paul's entire concern was about how he stood before Jesus Christ. So then he goes on, but that with all boldness, Christ will even now as always be exalted in my body. What we see in this whole process here, is Christ will be exalted in his body.

He states that clearly. He doesn't say, I think so, probably, 50% odds, something like that. No. It is precisely where this is aimed. Christ will be exalted in my body. It is done boldly. How about that? He describes the character. Christ will be exalted. Not possibly, not likely, but he will be. not once in a while or at brief moments, whether by life or by death.

This whole process here, and everything he's described about it, is going to conclude this deliverance and not shame will happen one of two ways. It's got two possible physical outcomes. You see that? Two possible physical outcomes. Both of those outcomes will result in Paul's being delivered and not put to shame. Both of them he called deliverance. Both of them he said, either way, I'm going to stand before the Lord Jesus Christ without shame, regardless of which outcome. Let's take a look at the key words in this passage, because I think they're going to help us get some insight into what Paul is saying and the specific things about what he's telling them.

This first one is, is knowing by perception. But the thing to note here is a perfect active indicative. It is a statement of fact. I know in the past and that knowledge has its impact on into the future. I know completely in the past and it has its knowledge in the future.

It isn't simply I'm knowing right now or I'm just catching up to it. He's already had a settled conclusion in his mind. It's already fixed in his mind sometime in the past. His perspective that he has here is not one he's just sort of catching on to and it's kind of growing on him. He's already had that perspective and now its impact is continuing as time goes on. The next keyword that shows up there is turnout, or the King James Version simply has turn.

The Greek apobaino is to from walk. This was a shipping term, and when you would walk from a ship, which Paul did lots of, they would describe it as apobaino, you would disembark. Apobaino is used as an expression for how things would turn out at journey's end, where you would end up, what circumstances you would find yourself in. So here's Paul using this term and it makes plenty of good sense because this blue line here where he started off over in Israel, he did a lot of travel to get where he was in Rome, on a ship.

So it's a very appropriate term. another one, deliverance. The King James has salvation there. The Greek is Soteria. And this has several meanings in the New Testament, and the meaning is determined by the context in which you find it. It can include initial salvation.

I think we can exclude that from what Paul's talking about now. He's already saved, so that's not an issue. But it can also mean spiritual growth, going to be with the Lord, or even preservation from, or deliverance from, particular harmful circumstances. Deliverance actually best fits the context here in terms of what's being conveyed, and the reason why that comes out, based on Paul's other comments and what we see in this very verse, he was not talking about being saved initially, like we talk about here, but he's saying, There's two ways here that this is going to end up. I'm either going to get let out of prison and set free, in that case I'll be delivered from harm, or I'm going to go home and be with the Lord, in that case I'll be delivered too. So either way, he says, I'll be delivered out of this set of circumstances that I'm in now.

That's the way he's looking at it. Now, another word that comes up, this is a fascinating one. the kind of the background picture you see there is one of the Philippian theater. Here's why Paul would use that that word and the Philippi of course had a very prominent theater. Everybody in town could see it. Provision or supply in the King James is epichoregia is the word and the word was originally used in the Greek language when a wealthy benefactor would underwrite the cost of a choral theatrical performance. Isn't that interesting? One of the things you notice here, see this choraggias there, that has a common root with our word chorus.

That was the original meaning of the word. The use fits well here because all that the Spirit supplies to us is at His expense. Isn't that neat? all that the Spirit supplies to us as believers, and certainly to Paul in this circumstance, is entirely at his expense. So Paul picked a word that would convey not only that the Holy Spirit was providing, but also that the provision was entirely at the Lord's expense, and also using a term that would fit very well with the Philippians, who had a very prominent theater right in front of them. There's another few words here, earnest expectation. Paul loves these compound words. Apokaradokia.

A way-head watch is what that basically means, lumped together, and the idea is of somebody, typically like in a military context, it would be somebody who's on a ship looking intensely for some sign of land. or it would also be used like for a military sentry looking for an approaching invader or some kind of a signal. The idea is looking intensely. The head is looking away and watching and focused entirely on that. So here's this word that he uses there. It's that kind of word. This isn't a casual or incidental kind of glancing towards something. This is looking intensively and intently. Alright, let's look on this next one.

Greek Elpis. Hope. A confident expectation. It isn't hoping for a possible outcome like, boy, I sure hope this happens, or I sure hope that doesn't happen. It's not like that. This is a different one. It's an expectation and it's founded on something that is certain, that is known, this is what's going to happen. Not an I hope so, but a confident hope. It's looking for a particular outcome.

And this last one, exalted her and the King James magnified. Greek megaluno. Remember when we were going through the loud voices in Revelation? When we were going through that, some of you may have missed that, but I won't repeat it. The loud voices, this is a related word. Megas was the word that stood out.

So this one is similar. glorifying, magnifying the Lord. Now, the truth is, the Lord is as great as He's going to get, and I can't help Him get greater, right? So what is it doing? It is giving Him credit. It is showing Him to be glorious. It is showing Him to be worthy of honor, of majesty, of power, those things. It is revealing Him for what He is.

I can't make the Lord more glorious. I can't make the Lord greater. I can't make the Lord more full of honor. but I can show him to be those things." That's Paul's intent here. Now, let's look. There's a phrase here that pops up. It's the only place it shows up in the New Testament. The Spirit of Jesus Christ. Is this referring to the Holy Spirit or the Spirit of the person of Jesus Christ? Which one?

While this is the only place this is used in the New Testament, the Spirit of Jesus is used in Acts 16.7 and the Spirit of Christ in Romans 8.9 and in 1 Peter 1.11. And we have some advantage here.

In Romans 8.9, Paul uses phrases in succession there that I think clarify this. So let's take a look at it.

However, you are not on the flesh, but in the Spirit." And notice it's just very plain, in the Spirit. "...if indeed," and then he uses the synonym, the Spirit of God, "...dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, it does not belong to him."

So he uses these, and I see these as Paul's basically using synonyms. So this answers our question here. This is basically a term for the Holy Spirit. Why? It's because it is the Lord Jesus Christ who sent the Holy Spirit, and it is the Holy Spirit whose job it is to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ.

Now, let's go back to this passage here. We've taken a look at parts and pieces, haven't we? We've taken a look at his general thrust, where he's going with. As we look at this here, we want to examine some other things here. We want to expand and explain the passage, kind of put these parts and pieces together.

In verse 19, he says, For I have in the past come to the complete understanding, remember it's perfect tense, I have come to the complete understanding that this legal appeal to Caesar, and notice, I mean, think of Paul's talk, and he's used legal words, talked about the defense of the gospel. That word is a legal term, okay? Paul is very much speaking in a legal context because that's what brought him here, that's what he's looking forward to. One of the things that's apparent is even the book of Acts focuses substantially on Paul's legal process in the last half, doesn't it?

So this is very central in his thinking. So he has this legal appeal to Caesar, and it's taking place in the midst of this bold proclamation of the gospel that has people of mixed motives, two different categories of motives, carrying that out. That legal appeal in the midst of this proclamation of the gospel here in Rome, and it's happening under incredible circumstances, will result in journeys in. Remember, he uses that term is translated turn or turn out in a lot of our translations.

Basically it's the idea of, you know, when I get off this ship, so to speak, when I disembark from this whole thing, will result a journey's end for my deliverance from these current circumstances of being constantly chained to a Praetorian guard. Constantly. All the time. Chained to a Praetorian guard.

By means of your prayers on my behalf, which is a part of your greater participation with me." Remember, this is a missionary letter. He's talking to them because of their participation with him. So now, he's saying, look, this is all a part of your participation with me. You have been, up till now, supporting me in various ways, and now I'm sharing with you that your prayers are a part of this process.

Then he goes on, and the freely given provision by means of the Spirit. Freely given, I take it from the meaning of that word where it originally came from underwriting the expenses of a choral or choral theatrical group. Freely given provision by means of the Spirit who is sent by Jesus Christ and who always directs my attention to him. The Spirit of Jesus Christ, he uses that term not by accident, but it is because of Jesus having sent the Spirit, one, and two, the Holy Spirit's job to glorify Christ, that he would use that term, and it would make perfect sense.

Next, in verse 20, all of which is entirely consistent with my intense anticipation. Remember, this is the one away head to watch. He is intensely anticipating what he's telling them here. This isn't a casual glance. Once in a while I'm looking at it. Occasionally I'm thinking about it. Instead he's intensely focused here. And confident expectation. That's what we use for hope. Because it's not an I hope so kind of hope. Boy, it sure would be nice if it turned out this way. It is a confident expectation. which are entirely in Jesus Christ.

Notice he doesn't put his hope... Well, I'm going to put my trust in the Lord, but just in case that doesn't work out, I think I'll put a little bit somewhere else, too. He doesn't kind of split it down the middle, you know, you don't want to put all your eggs in one basket. In case the Lord doesn't come through, I've got this other stuff here. No, he doesn't do that.

His hope, his confident expectation His looking intently is entirely focused on the person of Jesus Christ. Nowhere else. He doesn't have a plan B. No plan B. "...that I will not be put to shame before my Lord Jesus Christ in anything." Now, this is, I think, a key thing. This part of it, and the fact that he was only concerned really about his shame before the Lord Jesus Christ, because there was no question he had already been shamed before everybody else. He was concerned entirely about his stance before the Lord Jesus Christ, and he says, I have no concerns there.

I have no worries. It's not a problem. I am not anxious about it. It's not an issue. He didn't say, in most things, he didn't say, oh, give me about 80 or 90 percent. That's pretty good. About like that. Not too bad. No, he says completely. Not be put to shame. Absolute statement. But that, with all boldness. Everything he is doing here is done with all boldness, nothing to cower about, nothing to keep quiet about here.

He's not trying to keep his imprisonments a secret, because ultimately his imprisonments is going to be, and is, an instrument for the proclamation of the Gospel. So why should he withdraw from that? Why should he shrink back from that? All boldness.

Christ will, in the present and in the future, it's true right now, it's going to be true as time goes on, however long that is, be exalted and glorified and honored and magnified, and notice that this is not This is not anything... Paul is not going to make the Lord more glorious, make the Lord more honourable. That's not what he's doing here. Instead, he's saying, no, I will show the Lord to have the glory and honour and majesty that he already has in my body, whatever the outcome.

That will take place. Whether by means, and this is alternate one, he's going to be given life and freedom. He says, yeah, that's one option. That's one means by which I'll be delivered. Or alternatively, by means of this legal appeal, if it doesn't turn out real well, sort of, in my death. He says that really turns out just fine too. Either way, I will be delivered, Paul says. Either way he's laid it out. He will be delivered.

As we look at this passage, I think one of the things to think about here is, first of all, it's an amazing thing. While his being delivered, the process from where he is in his circumstances until the time he goes home to be with the Lord, He's looking at two things. One is the Holy Spirit is involved in that, and what's real interesting, he points to the prayers of the Philippians. He says, and you're involved in that. Well, this is fascinating. The Lord is going to use the prayers of the Philippians in Paul's life, in carrying out this entire deliverance process.

And to me, I think about that and I think, you know, that is a neat thing because what that means is that we here who are sitting amongst each other, we here have the opportunity to share in each other's lives with that same kind of impact. We have the opportunity in praying for one another to be involved. Paul didn't just say, you know, Philippians, it's nice that you're supporting me, but it has no impact.

Instead, he said, no, your prayers are part of what the Lord will use to deliver me however this comes out. And my being sustained through that process, you're involved in it. It's one of the reasons why at the very outset, he says, I thank the Lord for you every day. I pray for you and thank the Lord for you."

Why? Because the Lord, in His life, had the Philippians intensively involved in participating in the Gospel. We have that awesome privilege of being able to participate in one another's lives in the various things that go on, taking us to that point of deliverance, whatever that is.

I think the other aspect that comes from this is This world is very concerned about what happens here on planet Earth. There's all these expressions, you only go around once, those kinds of things. Grab all the gusto you can get, or all the money, or whatever. The world is very concerned that way.

You don't get that impression from what Paul just said, do you? And frankly, this was in such stark contrast to the Philippians kind of cultural background, this must have been shocking words for them. What? You don't care one way or the other how this happens? I mean, we have whole societies in our city that are set up for this. Make sure it's done right. He said, you don't care one way or the other. That was shocking stuff. That was phenomenal stuff. And to have a certain hope, not a, boy, we better handle this death right or else it's not going to work out. Paul's not the least bit concerned about that. And I'm sure that must have been just They must have been delighted as well as shocked to read this.

There was a couple weeks ago, I did a funeral. Nancy and I flew to Carson City and I did a funeral for a gal who I've known for 45 years. She and Nancy were born at the same hospital, same day. And as I was thinking this thing through, I thought, well, you know, This gal, Susan, a couple years back, she called and said, hey, I've got breast cancer and it doesn't look real good, but we're going to fight this thing through. Back in February, she called and asked if I could do her funeral.

But one of the things she said is, she said, the Lord's going to heal me through this. She says, I don't know how He's going to do it. He will either heal me physically or He'll heal me by taking me home. In either way is fine. And it's very similar to what Paul was saying here. Frequently, we'll end up saying, boy, I sure hope it's this outcome and not that one. We want this one and not that one. And yet, Paul's perspective here is, no, either way the Lord does it, it's fine.

Either way, I won't be ashamed before the Lord. I know that you've been involved with this, and I know that the Lord has been providing all the way through it. I know I've got nothing to be concerned about. Either way, I have a confident expectation.

And that's the same as our friend Susan had, a confident expectation. And that's why I could encourage the people that were there at the funeral and say, you know, hey, we're just dealing with leftovers here. Susan is with the Lord and she's a lot better off than we are. But no matter how the Lord had answered her prayer, Susan could be confident in what the Lord was doing. I think that as we look at this, that's the marvelous thing about Paul's perspective here.

He's not saying, boy, we really better pray for this outcome because this other one here is just really awful. I have no idea what the Lord could do any good with that one. Instead, no. He says, the Lord is going to make good of this either way. The Lord will be glorified in my body, either way. And that's just fine. I'm happy with that.

Let's pray. Lord, what a marvelous hope we have. A certain hope, not an I hope so hope. A certain and confident expectation. We thank you for every way that you have provided for us, even even in means through other believers' prayers, Lord, and their involvement in our lives. And Lord, as we depend upon you, we just look at this marvelous example that Paul brings up of this interdependently depending upon you. And we just pray that you would teach this, Lord, not just to our minds, but to our very hearts, and that it might be lived out here in this church body, that we might be people who can before one another and before the world say that we indeed have a confident expectation and are earnestly looking for your deliverance. We just thank you and we praise you and we attribute you all honor and glory. In Jesus name, Amen.