Philippians Chapter 2 Review
Philippians · Andrew Molloy · Jun 9, 2024
Philippians (2021-24), No. 22
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/49261935291901

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

Great, okay. Cooking with gas here. Okay. You're dating yourself with that expression, you know. Right, well, I'm old. Not that old. So we begin, we're reviewing Chapter 2 today and I was going to go into a little of Chapter 1 but it was so big And I said, oh, I got to cut this out. And I wanted to start with a little of chapter one, because there's a big therefore in chapter two.

Therefore, if there's any encouragement in Christ, if there is any consolation of love, if there is any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion, Paul says, make my joy complete. Make my joy complete is an imperative command. By being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose. Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind, regard one another as more important than yourself. Do not merely look out for your own interests, but also the interests of others.

It's what Paul says here. And the therefore is just everything he put out in chapter one, and there's a lot there, and it's beautiful stuff. You know, for me to live is Christ to die and gain, verse 21, and he goes on to, if he's going to continue in the flesh, or if he's going to be taken home to be with the Lord, he's hard pressed either way, and all those things go into this therefore that you see in verse 1 of chapter 2. So that's it. That's where we begin.

And it's a review, so we don't have to go into too much detail there. But I just wrote some thoughts, some major emphases. Emphasis. from chapter 2. And we want to keep in mind that others is a big emphasis. Other believers. Being of the same mind is an emphasis. Service is an emphasis. Same spirit is an emphasis of chapter 2. Unity of the body is an emphasis. This is and being of one purpose is also an emphasis.

Are you guys still there? We're here. We're here. Okay. Oh good quiet, right? Okay Yeah, no, I just thought Jimmy guys. So I was going to Okay. Oh great. Okay Okay, and Roger you stated that these These of These words here, if there's any encouragement in Christ, if there's any consolation of love, or if there's any fellowship of the Spirit, that translates to, since you have encouragement in Christ, and since you have consolation of love.

And so those are realities for being in the body of Christ. And you went through that in your study, so we just want to keep that in mind. there from chapter 1 of chapter 2, verse 1 of chapter 2. That's what I'm trying to say. So we go on here and in verse 2 we have, make my joy complete, that's the imperative, by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit and intent on one purpose. And that's Make my joy complete is bring my joy to its logical end, right?

By thinking the same things, having the mind of Christ. And again, Roger, you brought that out. And be together type of souls is that united in spirit. Together type of souls. from your lesson and it's, do you remember the Greek word? I didn't put it down there. Something suki, right? It's not isosuke. It's, I might think of it. Okay. Together type of souls. And all united in one spirit, in one agape love there.

But you guys know all this, we're just reviewing. It's amazing how quickly we forget. And when you do a review, a chapter review in school, that usually always meant there was going to be a test. You know, we're having a review today. And that always stressed me out. But don't stress today. There's only 39 questions on the test.

So looking out for the interests of others, the lowliness of mind and the commonality with fellow believers should have us focus not on ourselves, but on others. And that's one of those key words I brought out in the last slide. as Christ himself is always focused on us up there where he is and our spiritual well-being because he's our common life source as a body. We are in him and he is in all of us and so that has unity of spirit and others in mind here and that's what Paul is bringing out here is serve others. He's making a very very pointed request for that. And then in verse 5 of chapter 2 we have, have this attitude in yourself, which is also in Christ Jesus. And Miles, Miles the Younger, who's sitting in our class today, he brought out, it's not a It's not emulation, but it's occupation.

I really like that from 2 Corinthians 3.18 to bring this about. So you can't emulate that, but you have to be occupied with the source of the Lord Jesus Christ in order to do that.

Yeah, is there a question? No, just a comment. Ultimately, the New Testament, the New King James Testament reveals this section as the humbled and exalted Christ. I mean, you know, it's kind of the seek those things that are above. That's where the mind of Christ is, right? Yeah. It's not trying to emulate his earthly walk. This is... Yeah. It's the right hand. That's where our position becomes real, right? And I've read a... I've just read a little booklet by Denet, E.G. Denet, called, and it used to be in the foyer there.

It was called The Immoral Glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. And it just goes through his walk on earth. And it was making the point that you can't, you cannot follow Jonas. You can't do the things he did because he was so morally perfect and glorious. And So it's not following him or walking his footsteps. As Miles said, not emulation, but it's occupation.

You would say, Bob, it's the life, right? That's your phrase that you always bring up. What is the name of that book again? Oh, it's called The Immoral Glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. And it's a Dennett, D-E-N-N-E-T-T. It's a little thing. He calls it a little booklet, but it's actually like 80 pages long. But it's probably a small print, right? Yeah, and it's a little book too. kind of a pocket-sized thing.

Okay, have this attitude in yourselves, which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although he, and this is this, Bob was just saying this, this low and high of, of the, of the life of Christ or his, he went down to the low, he went to the highest high. So now Paul goes into that in 6, 7, and 8. who, although he existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, not of his deity, by the way, but his privilege and he left his glory up in heaven to come down here. And he took the form of the bondservant and being made in the likeness of men, Being founded in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. So, the lowest, the lowliest of the lows. And again, Bob had this point in his lesson. Becoming obedient suggests something novel for Christ.

Never experienced, and here unto death, the death on a cross. Bob mentioned this in his lesson and a lot of other commentators that the most humiliation he could have suffered or the lowest he could have gone is death, right? And death on a cross, that's even worse because that's execution. So, and he went down into death when he died for our sins.

But for this reason in verse 9, God highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name which is above every other name. And that's the highest of highs. And this is still from Bob's lesson. When he says that God highly exalted him, that's huper-upsuo. There's the Greek transliteration there. And it means that God has exalted the Lord Jesus Christ to the highest rank and power and raised him to supreme majesty.

And those couple of verses there, you can't even describe it because we can't fathom the height, right? Mike was talking about last week, what shall separate us from the love of Christ. neither height nor depth, and this is part of that height that we can't imagine because we don't know how high or how infinite things are out there. So it's just interesting to think about, and it sort of makes your brain go on tilt, right? At least for me. You guys are probably fine with it. Yeah.

So that he, so that in verse 10, there's a purpose clause, that at the name of Jesus, every knee will bow of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of the Father. And this is our future reality, is it not, from And this is from Revelation chapter 5 verse 11 through 14.

Then I looked and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne and the living creatures and the elders. And the number of them was myriads upon myriads and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, worthy of this little lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing. And everything which is in heaven, and on earth, and under the sea, and on the sea, and under the earth, and on the sea, and all things in them, I heard saying, to him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, be blessing, and honor, and glory, and dominion forever and ever. And the four living creatures kept saying amen, and the elders fell down and worshiped. And we're there, aren't we? Because the elders are representative of us. And we'll be, I think we'll be in the scene that John saw in his revelation. And that's the glory that we'll see. And that's how God will hide.

I think he had glory with the Father before the world was. But after he came down to earth and then suffered death and then was raised again, I think it's, he goes back to the place he was, but it's more glorious. I think there's more glory. At least he shares it with us now, because before the world was, we weren't there, so we weren't able to see it.

But someday we'll be able to see all this, and that's just a wonderful thought. Any thoughts about that? Yeah, one of the things I struggled with in teaching this is the fact that exaltation, he was already fully exalted, but after he became man and then died and then was resurrected, that was the highest of highs. I like the way you've summarized that. It's even more exaltation because of the sacrifice that he made. I mean, it's, you know, these superlatives can never end, can they? The greatest of humiliation, the lowest of lows, and the highest of highs. And I felt that the best way to get it all in is just to read the text, because it says it all there. And so it's hard to add on to it, you know? Because all you're doing is adding on adjectives. It's just so, it's a big subject. It's wonderful.

So then Paul says, with our same mind, same minds, or our unity in spirit, he asks the Philippians to do this in 12 through 15. Not only in my presence, but much more now in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who is at work with you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure, do all things without grumbling or disputing. And here's some really practical stuff here, right, in 14 and 15. So that you will prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation among whom you appear as lights in the world.

I think Miles gave this, these passages, and I was going to stop the class and say, hey Miles, There's no crookedness or perversity in our generation, is there? We live in great times. That's not true, is it? It's always a wicked and crooked and perverse generation. So this phrase, working out your own salvation, And this is from, Bob had this, and he said that it is not working for your salvation, because these people are already saved, the Philippians.

It is not a salvation of ourselves, but it's a work of God, appropriate by faith, from Philippians 3.9 and Titus 3.5 tell us that.

And then it's not working, and I thought, Point number three here. During that class, I thought, I was going to say this because I kind of thought it was this, point number three. It's not working that which is within, out. Working that which is within, out.

So that people see our salvation or working out our inward salvation, as we said. And I kind of had the thought that that's what it was, but After, you know, being enlightened by Bob's lesson and some other reading for this review, I found that not to be true. Weiss says this in his Golden Nuggets, a little book, and this is nice. Working out your salvation is like working out as taking a pencil to paper and solving a mathematics problem. working out by logical means to come to a conclusion or an ultimate goal. And I kind of like that because, I mean, if you think about it, it seems right because God saves us and we're saved, but he has to work that salvation into us, especially with regard to salvation from the power of sin, right? And then we have to kind of work that out within us to figure out what that is in practice. And I knew it took me a long, long time and struggle after struggle.

And you can go through a Roman seven experience. And I think that's what working out your own salvation is. I think that's really good. Yeah. I was going to say, I think that's really similar to the word reckoning, right? I mean, it's a consideration of the facts. And on the basis of considering the reality of the facts, what does that mean, therefore? So, that's really good. Yeah. Yeah. And as I said, you know, before this series, I would have said it's point number three.

It's letting people know see our salvation or working what's inside out but and it is that in a way but it's it's that for for ourselves and it's gonna be different for each one of us and it's it's really Romans 6 and reckon it and who knows what that means when you first encounter that you know I remember reading and reading Andrew Murray and years ago and just It wasn't doing anything. I was like, but I liked reading it. I kind of understood it. But it just and it just sort of, but it was being worked into me and it didn't work itself out for a while. Right. It takes like Miles Stanford, Miles Senior. Oh, no, go ahead. I thought you were done. I'm sorry. Okay. It could take several years, you know. Decades. A lifetime. Yeah, I think Bob had a point though. Go ahead.

Yeah, I think Paul's going to get to that a little bit in Chapter 3 where he says that I may know him and the power of his resurrection. Yeah. The fellowship of his sufferings. He even made conformable unto his death in terms of... Anyway, I think that that... Paul's going to outline that some more in detail in Chapter 3, but Then I may know him. That's working out our salvation, right? Getting to know the Lord Jesus Christ. He did 2 Corinthians 3, 18 or many scriptures that talk about reaching out for things above. That's where, in fact, our salvation gets worked out.

Solving a mathematical problem seems like it's kind of Overly mathematical, excuse me. Oh yeah, it could be. But doesn't scripture talk about, like, reckon yourself dead? That's an accounting term, right? So, I mean, it's your accounting. Well, I have these resources. and God has given me these resources, then this is the way I should be acting. So there's some way. How much do they have in the bank? You're saying because we put our pencil down. Well, if you have a lot in the bank, you don't need a pencil, right? It's okay. It's a digital aid.

And what about this? When you're solving a complex mathematical problem, like you've seen those in movies where it takes up the whole chalkboard, right? But to work it out, they're using theorems, aren't they? Well, you can talk to this, Roger. And there's rules, right? And they're using theorems. And those theorems and rules, I think, are the facts, the facts in the Word of God, right? Andrew, just to amplify your point, I had a friend at work. He wasn't a believer, but he was kind of a very basic guy.

And he said, well, let's solve this problem. His name was Kerwin E. Johnson. He said, He says well let's see we got the real numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. We got the irrational numbers and he would go through all these things that we have on one side of the page. We have all these.

Therefore, we can do this. And actually, think about what we've learned from Scripture. We have these blessings. And as a result of these blessings, this is what... So it is that kind of logical thing that you've worked through in your mind. We have these resources. And this is what it's to be about. Roger, what you just said there, connected with 4.13. I can do all things. We have all these things. Therefore, I can do all things. Exactly. Sorry, Andrew. Right. Yeah, go ahead. Thanks.

Sorry to barge in but I was I've used this particular verse hundreds of times Rightly or wrongly, but I've always used it in the sense and I draw on those those last words where it's with fear and trembling But you know, I think as when we when I fellowship with others and just thinking my own life It's just there's so much suffering.

There's times of great faith. There's times of weak faith and There's times of going between Romans 7 and Romans 8. And there's just a lot of consternation and difficulty in our walk. And I always go to that verse, work out your salvation with fear and trembling. It's turning back to faith, turning back to walking in the Spirit. And it's like, you know, that's the solution is going back to the Lord.

It's a constant ebb and flow in the Christian life. I love this verse. That's how I use it so often. Yeah, great point. And then to your point too, and the solution is in the second phrase of that, which I'm not covering because for lack of time, but it's God who is at work within you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

So he's the one in there working this out for you. He's going to work in trials and tribulations and circumstances, right? And all things, he's going to work together for good. And so we just need to be humble about it and go through the process with fear and trembling or respect and just dependence on him.

Good stuff. Yeah. Andrew, what you just said, I noticed where it says, work out your work out, and in the next phrase, it's because God is working in. So the reason you can work out is because God is working in you. Right. Yeah. Good point. And I was going to say that I was thinking of of God kneading it in like he has a lump of dough for bread and he's kneading it in whatever yeast or whatever. He's kneading you as a lump of dough and he's working that into your, as a baker would, a lump of dough. And then, yeah, it's a good point though, Bob. He's working that in and we are to work it out. Good stuff. Oh, Bob's famous today because I used a lot of his stuff. Bob Eccle. And he said, do you agree with Macaulay in this point?

And Macaulay says, verse 12 points to a weakness on the part of the believers at Philippi. They tended to be a bit lax in their Christian lives when Paul was not present. And he's pointing to working out your own salvation and do all things without grumbling and complaining. And it's sort of like, you know, did the Philippians kind of go on holiday after Paul left?

Or did they get lax? Or did they, did they, when the cat's away, the mice will play, I guess. And Bob posed that as an open-ended question. And I think we kind of said, I don't know. I think we said, no, no, these Philippians were good people. Because the letter is so high and wonderful, and he's not really addressing any problems. But we'll look at that a little later here at the end of the lesson. But Weiss and Macaulay have something similar.

They say, when Paul was with them, his teaching instructed them. His example inspired them. and his selfless Christ-likeness and his humble service, his encouragement urged them on in their own grace. Now in his absence, they were thrown upon their own initiative. And that's true because they were on their own now. So I like this, they must learn to paddle their own canoe without Paul there and work out their own salvation. to carry to its ultimate goal, your own salvation with fear and trembling.

For God is the one who constantly is supplying you with the impulse, giving you both the power to resolve and the strength to perform his good pleasure. From verse 13 there, that's a weast. And I just thought of this, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me, from Philippians 4, 13.

But I don't know. Put that in your mind and see if you agree with that. And at the end of the lesson, as I say here, we'll look at that one more time. So verse 15, so that you prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in this crooked and perverse generation among whom you will appear as lights in the It lights in the world. My little screen was covering that up. So that's another purpose clause. You might appear as lights in a crooked world. J.B. Stoney calls this a service of not like doing anything, but simply of moral influence in the world.

And from Luke chapter 11, verse 34, The Lord Jesus says, the eye is the lamp of your body. When your eye is clear and your whole body is also full of light, but when it is bad, your body will be, it's also full of darkness. Or how about Psalm 119, 105, thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. First John 1, 7, but if we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, We have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his son, cleanses us from all sin.

So Stoney says, Christ, the light of the world, has been rejected from this world. But he would have thousands, I would say millions, of bodies shedding forth his light. All light in the world comes from the sun. We are to be like the moon, borrowing our light from our absent sun and shedding it forth here where he was rejected. And I like that commentary he gave on so that we appear as lights in the world. And I think this is what J.B. Stoney meant by being a moral influence in the world, as being lights in it.

So then, Paul moves on to the examples of Timothy and Aphrodite in verses 19 through 30 here in this review. And since we just sort of did that recently, we don't have to spend too much time on it. But I'll just give a couple points here. So Paul gives examples of two fellow workers in Christ, and he hopes to send Timothy to Philippi.

And Roger explained this, and depending how things went in Rome, and he hoped to go if Christ would allow him to go. But he definitely sends Epaphroditus there because After all, Epaphroditus delivered this letter we're reading this morning. So it got there. So Epaphroditus got there.

For Timothy, Paul gushes over as a kindred soul, a proven equal souled one to him who demonstrated genuine concern for the Philippians. And he was an invaluable voluntary servant or doulos. to Paul, he was like a son to a father, how he served Paul. And Paul just says some really magnificent words about Timothy in this passage. And then Epaphroditus, he moves on to him as the second example. He describes him as a brother and a fellow soldier in the Lord, one who is experiencing dangers as a soldier would on the journey from Philippi to Rome and back.

He's a commissioned messenger because he's delivering this letter and he's a minister to Paul's needs is how he describes Timothy and Aphrodite as examples he's putting forward into this Christ-like selfless service. Some words from C.H. Macintosh which I like. on this theme of self-sacrifice in Chapter 2, which is a very overarching theme of Chapter 2. And keeping Timothy and Epaphroditus in mind here, he says, but Christianity not only gives us eternal life, it also gives an object to which that life can be occupied. a center round which the affections of that life can circulate.

And of course that object is the Lord Jesus Christ. A model on which that life can be formed, thus it gains its mighty moral triumphs. Thus it gains its conquest over a fleshly nature and a selfish world. It gives divine light and a divine center. And as the life moves around that center, we are taken out of self. This is the secret of self-surrender, like Epaphrodites and Timothy had. And it cannot be reached in any other way.

When I think of that picture, I think you had that in your lesson, Roger, of you know, the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ at the center, and then us revolving around that, beholding his glory, and we go through various trials, and we go from perseverance to proven character to hope and we keep going around that circle, but we have our focus generated on that center, which Christ is that object at the center that we're beholding.

So that's what he's saying in a much more eloquent manner there in that quote. So here's this, to wrap up this slide, is this little question about, you know, were Did they go off to deep end? Was there a big problem with them? Were they lax, as Macaulay said? But Macintosh and others give this exclamation, and I like this.

There might be a very critical occasion for Epaphroditus seeking out Paul in Rome for guidance, for Philippi, not in Philippi, for the Philippines, not so much that everything was going haywire over there. He says the attentive reader will observe in the course of this most charming epistle certain delicate touches from the inspired pen leading to the conclusion that the keen and village vigilant eye of the apostle detected a certain root of evil in the bosom of the beloved and cherished assembly at Philippi. To this he addresses himself, not with a sledgehammer or a long whip like he does in Galatians or Corinthians, but with refinement and delicacy far more powerful than either one or the other. The mightiest moral results are reached by those delicate touches from the hand of God, the Spirit, the Holy Spirit. And I really think that really describes Philippians very well, that it's delicate and refined. I just like his words there. Instead of what we see in this, quotation from him.

He says, what was the route to which we have referred? It was not the splitting into sects and parties as in Corinth. It was not the return to the law and ritualism as in Galatia. And you remember he called the Galatians, you foolish Galatians, you know, who has bewitched you. He's really harsh with them. It was not hankering after philosophy and the rudiments of the world as he wrote to Clause. What was it then?

It was the sprouting of this root of envy and strife is seen distinctly in the collusion between two sisters. Iodia and Suntuke in chapter 4 verse 2 but it is glanced at earlier in earlier portions of the epistle a divine remedy supplied and when I put in my mind that those two sisters Iodia and Suntuke why he's writing this in the gentlest of terms, it just makes all the sense in the world. So Macintosh goes on to say that the Holy Spirit acting as divine physician knows the root of the disease and the division between these two sisters. Whatever they had going on between them, it might have been big, it might have been small, but The Holy Spirit gives Paul the insight to the diagnosis and he offers the same true exacting cure for the small problem at Philippi. And to think that Paul didn't approach it in a hard and harsh way, kind of like he did with the Galatians, is really wonderful because you'd never know it.

I wouldn't know that till you get to the end of this letter. You know, he just gives a little, a little admonition to these two sisters at the end, doesn't he? But before that he gives us all these wonderful truths. So I just go on to say here what I just said, but I put up some verses and see what you think about this. It's almost like he's saying, only conduct yourselves in chapter one, verse 27, in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Or in two, one through three, in verse two of chapter two, If we add, make my joy complete, by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in the same spirit, etc, etc. And then in chapter 2 of verse 14 through 16, do all things without grumbling or disputing, you two sisters, so that you will prove yourselves to be whole, blameless and innocent children of God, etc. So I think that's that little kernel nugget purpose of this letter, and it makes a lot of sense.

But Paul, instead of addressing them, he gives it to everybody, all, and in such a wonderful way. Yeah, Andrew, it makes me think of the other two sisters that Christ talked to. You know, one was at his feet, worshipped him, and one was serving. One was upset with the other sister because she wasn't helping with the serving.

And yeah, interesting that it's kind of that picture seems to be kind of here again. Yeah, right. And it's Yeah, I thought of that to marry Martha, you know, and it could be the kind of same thing. And these two sisters, I think, are probably ones that were at the beginning of this church. They were probably the gatherers at the river and they were probably, it could have been Lydia and Euodia and Suntuke as three main women who kind of are the core of this church.

So these are very important women and I think it also says to Epaphroditus that as a pastor there, he's so concerned about this little issue between them, and he's so heartbroken about it, he makes a trek all the way to Rome to ask Paul to say, hey, you remember these two sisters? Well, they're having these, you know what I mean? It's just a wonderful thing. And the way that it breaks Epaphroditus' heart that These two sisters aren't getting along or something.

So, and I think this letter did it for them. I think, you know, because it's, there's so much in this letter for them. So do you guys kind of agree or? on a scale from 1 to 5 with... You get a 10. Okay. Yeah, I think it's a good way and if we keep that in mind when we get to chapter 4 and verse 2, then we'll know all about these two sisters. It's kind of a neat thing. So... Okay.

Oh, I better close up here. Our Heavenly Father, we thank you for the study of your word and all the wisdom and treasures this letter of Philippians contains and pray that you'll just work it into us so that we might work it out again in our lives. We pray these things in Christ's name. Amen.