Philippians Sermon Notes Week 2
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Outline
Outline
Intro/Welcome
Intro/Welcome
Glasses: The lenses we look through matter
Golf: new opportunities emerge
How could Paul be so joyful in his situation?
Our deepest need has already been met in Jesus, living in light of taht
2. Phil 1:12
2. Phil 1:12
I want you to know - The relationship/partnership with the Philippians
That what has happened to me - Paul’s sufferings over the years (Acts 21-28)
Most likely he included all the events from his imprisonment at Jerusalem through his imprisonment at Rome. These were the riot, the two-year imprisonment at Caesarea, the appeal to Caesar, the threat on his life, the trip to Rome with its shipwreck, his house-arrest and restricted freedom, and the impending trial. However, the focus is on the Roman events. As Paul described them, he spoke in terms of the effect on the soldiers and the Roman church. (NAC)
Has actually - the surprise, contrast, the reason
served to advance the gospel - Paul rejoices b/c the gospel is advancing (Acts 20:24)
Not in his circumstance but the gospel (draw out contrast)
To ask Paul how he’s doing is to ask how the Gospel is doing.
Paul’s life was about the gospel.
What’s yours about? — What lens are you looking through? (a mirror or a window)
Why is this happening to ME?
vs. “Why IS this happening to me?”
I am in Christ
I am in Christ
Because I am IN CHRIST
I am in prison for Christ
"I am not a prisoner of Rome” rather “I am a prisoner of Christ” (for Christ and his purposes”
but you see we are prisoners either way, either of the world and sin or of Christ and his kingdom.
3. Paul’s Passion (Phil 1:13-14)
3. Paul’s Passion (Phil 1:13-14)
How do we grow in this?
Get inspired.
Who around you is infectious? You want to be more like them?
Paul is an example — be in the word
Look at this life
Paul proclaimed Christ through everything.
Paul and the Imperial Guard — The Gospel Advances
The Result:
The Other Brothers are emboldened - The Gospel Advances
Opponents of Paul — maddening
You can’t stop the gospel, you try to suppress it and it only gets expressed further
Where did Paul get his passion?
Where did Paul get his passion?
He was a great sinner, but knew a great savior
Paul met the risen Christ.
Why don’t we live this way?
Why don’t we live this way?
Suffering has a way of revealing out motives — our passion.
rivalry & envy — selfish motives
guard against this
God’s only called you to be who you were made to be
only God can tell you who you are.
how do we grow in our passion for the gospel?
how do we grow in our passion for the gospel?
Experiencing Grace
Confession and forgivness
I am a great sinner, Christ is a great savior.
What needs to be confessed?
vain facebooking
pornography
Can’t gather physically, but we can gather spiritually.
Share the gospel
Share Christ in your life
How can the present circumstances be an opportunity to advance the gospel?
The lens
Church — online
Easter, 10 million viewers, 70,000 new professions of faith
How can your present circumstances advance the gospel?
Share a post — 150 people 150 friends = 22,500 people, (500) 75,000 people
Church Online Platform: 70,000 all over the world. people said yes to Jesus.
During easter Week - from 3,000 to 23,000 churches
10 million signed on
Application Questions:
Application Questions:
Where is Christ in your life?
because he is there
Where is Christ in your circumstance?
Because he is in them.
How are you (how can you) proclaim Christ in your life?
seeing that this is God’s plan
That God is sovereign over this
That only he can turn evil for good. (Gen 50:20, Romans 8:28)
Are you proclaiming Christ in your life, wherever God has you? (to yourself, and others)
How has suffering (or failure) revealed your motives?
Are you living in the freedom of Christ? (how can you get there?)
4. Source of JOY
The reason for this remarkable attitude was that the advancement of the gospel was his primary goal in life. As a result, if his own adversity was the occasion through which the gospel could gain a wider hearing, then Paul could face that adversity with equanimity. If, in our own circumstances, we lack this kind of joy, then perhaps we should search our souls to be sure that our happiness is not more firmly connected to our physical and emotional comfort than to the goals of the gospel. (NAC)
When you tell your story? — Where is Christ.
When you answer how are you? — Where is Christ?
When you struggle? — Where is Christ?
When you rejoice? — Where is Christ?
What is Christ doing in me in this time?
What does Christ want to do in me in this time?
How can I proclaim his goodness in the midst of this?
Perhaps, it is precisely because you are suffering that God can be more glorified
Big Idea
Big Idea
The show must go on
The gospel cannot be hindered
Christ proclaimed prevails
The unbound gospel.
12 I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel,
12 Now I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that what has happened to me has actually advanced the gospel,
12 Γινώσκειν δὲ ὑμᾶς βούλομαι, ἀδελφοί, ὅτι τὰ κατʼ ἐμὲ μᾶλλον εἰς προκοπὴν τοῦ εὐαγγελίου ἐλήλυθεν,
The New American Commentary: Philippians, Colossians, Philemon Reactions to Paul’s Imprisonment (1:13–17)
Paul, therefore, saw the events as forging new territory for the gospel. They took Paul into contact with a select group of people, soldiers and Roman officials, who otherwise would have had no relationship to him, and they also prompted a renewed evangelistic effort in the city.
Church Online Platform: 70,000 all over the world. people said yes to Jesus.
During easter Week - from 3,000 to 23,000 churches
10 million signed on
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iatfxa6r2_U&lc=UgylrmbIkPTmAt4g5el4AaABAg&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=86613348&_hsenc=p2ANqtz--6eujf7LrFW5bma1Fh417VXIM3zy3rP8aqZEdlxO8Fp_RbMHq41uvVoJOsIc95SfuiWbV3YskQ_b1Bq5c6jqE3RqYkpg&_hsmi=86613348
Contrast Language
Contrast Language
What has happened to me (my circumstances)
rather than hindering the gospel it has helped it
rather than atrophying the advance of the gospel it has actually advanced it
rather than stopping the gospel it has accelerated it
rather than preventing the spread of the gospel it is actually progressing it
The inspiration here is that God really is sovereign and he acts in ways we cannot imagine.
He gets the gospel into places and ways we never could have thought
It means we can stop and ask not
Why is this happening to ME?
But rather, “How can the gospel be advanced through this?
or “What is God up to?
Or “Why IS this happening to me?”
What is God’s design, his plan in this?
All Paul cares about is that the Gospel goes forth
no matter the circumstance, barrier, hindrance or obstacle.
Can the gospel progress in spite of my current situation?
But it God’s world, it is his plan to use exactly the situation to further the gospel in ways you never imagined.
ILL: for us right now that’s the Digital Church and Digital Discipleship.
How is God using this? How might God want to use this?
Since he is sovereign, and since he is Good.
The Message of Philippians 2. The Present
Paul perceives that God turns events to advance the gospel, and he himself makes his daily decisions according to what he sees will best and most proclaim Christ.
What the world intended for evil, God turned for good
The Message of Philippians 2. The Explanation of the Fruitfulness
He did not see his suffering as an act of divine forgetfulness (‘Why did God let this happen to me?’), nor as a dismissal from service (‘I was looking forward to years of usefulness, and look at me!’), nor as the work of Satan (‘I am afraid the devil has had his way this time’), but as the place of duty, the setting for service, the task appointed.
What are you in prison for?
What
Because I am IN CHRIST
I am in prison for Christ
"I am not a prisoner of Rome” rather “I am a prisoner of Christ” (for Christ and his purposes”
but you see we are prisoners either way, either of the world and sin or of Christ and his kingdom.
Christ’s Purposes Prevail:
Christ’s Purposes Prevail:
Advancement 1: The whole imperial guard has heard the gospel.
Advancement 2: the brothers are now preaching the gospel more boldly
Advancement 3: The Gospel is preached even by those with false motives
Christ is proclaimed.
Questions:
Questions:
Where is Christ in your life?
because he is there
Where is Christ in your circumstance?
Because he is in them.
How are you (how can you) proclaim Christ in your life?
seeing that this is God’s plan
That God is sovereign over this
That only he can turn evil for good. (Gen 50:20, Romans 8:28)
Humility
Humility
Paul has joy because Paul is not primarily concerned with himself.
Paul rejoiced becuase that which is most important to him continues — proclaiming Christ
Paul is not concerned with himself, but rather is concerned with the progress of the gospel.
The NIV Application Commentary: Philippians Bridging Contexts
Instead of reporting how he was doing, Paul talks about how the gospel is doing
The NIV Application Commentary: Philippians Bridging Contexts
To the question how it is with him the apostle must react with information as to how it is with the Gospel.
The NIV Application Commentary: Philippians Bridging Contexts
What matters most is whether or not the gospel is going forward. If it is, then we should rejoice.
Application:
Where is Christ in your life?
Sharing christ in your story (instagram, facebook)
Share about out service.
150 people watching
each of those have 150 friends
If everyone shared on their timeline that would be 22,500 people reached.
Preaching Feedback
Preaching Feedback
Two groups of people
Those who do care about the advancement of the gospel
Those who do not really care about the AOG
We are partners in the gospel b/c we are partakers of the gospel.
What kind of life is Paul living that he can rejoice in this?
He cares only about the gospel?
How did this happen to him?
What is going on in my heart that I don’t care about the gospel?
what’s happened?
plays into the false motives if you get it backward — partners but not partakers
John’s story of blizzard.
NAC
NAC
All these things
All these things
The New American Commentary: Philippians, Colossians, Philemon Reactions to Paul’s Imprisonment (1:13–17)
Paul did not specifically mention his imprisonment. The Greek text says simply “the things to me” (ta kat’ eme). Most likely he included all the events from his imprisonment at Jerusalem through his imprisonment at Rome. These were the riot, the two-year imprisonment at Caesarea, the appeal to Caesar, the threat on his life, the trip to Rome with its shipwreck, his house-arrest and restricted freedom, and the impending trial. However, the focus is on the Roman events. As Paul described them, he spoke in terms of the effect on the soldiers and the Roman church.
Acts 21:27-28 (last 1/4 of the Book)
A Prisoner of Christ
A Prisoner of Christ
In this undesirable situation, the gospel spread through the ranks of the soldiers. Basically, Paul said that they knew he was a prisoner of Christ, not just of Rome
or “that I was a prisoner of Christ.” Since Paul lived for the gospel, perhaps he stated that he was not guilty of any charge brought against him and that the soldiers knew he could be released except for his commitment to Christ. In the truest sense, he was a prisoner of Christ
New Territory for the Gospel
New Territory for the Gospel
the idea here is that b/c of God’s plan that Gospel was now progressing in places previously unimaginable, into Caesar's high guard.
This is how God works
This is Paul’s perspective
Opponents:
Opponents:
Message, Method and Motive
First two seem to be ok, it is the last that he takes issue with
But only God can deal with the motive.
Thoughts:
Thoughts:
Contrary to expectations Paul’s imprisonment has actually advanced the Gospel.
The gospel cannot be stopped.
The power of the gospel in Paul’s life
b/c he is sold out for Christ. To live is Christ, because Christ lives in him.
What has become known?
That Paul is in prison b/c of his testimony and life for Jesus
“CSB” I am in Christ
The Result:
The brothers have become confident in their proclamation of the gospel.
leading by example.
A distinction:
Preachers
some out of selfish motives
others out of true motives
For Paul, Christ is being preached either way
Praise God for that!
What does this mean for us?
What does this mean for us?
How is God asking you to preach the gospel whatever situation you find yourself in?
in words and actions
Paul is in prison but is rejoicing
The brothers see this and are emboldened
Good leadership
Like seeing courage in a battle, rallies others to the cause
Two Types of Motives
False Motives (pretense)
Selfish ambition - to be the center of attention — this is bad
To make their name great, greater than Pauls.
competition — want to afflict Paul
This is silly, we are not in competition with other churches
I am not in competition with other Preachers (good word for me)
especially in this digital age where so much is available.
Self protection — out of fear, this is also selfish —
Neither is “to live is Christ”
Jesus had a God-centered ambition — to make his name great
Jesus didn’t self protect, but rather opened himself up to harm
True Motives
love of Christ
Holy Spirit filling, compulsive evangelism.
Suffering reveals our heart motives
Paul is rejoicing — b/c his motives are Christ centered
so even if some are trying to be better than him, he does not care
because Christ is being proclaimed.
What freedom there is in this.
Furthermore, the Paul is still proclaiming Christ right where he is.
Application
Application
Are you proclaiming Christ in your life, wherever God has you? (to yourself, and others)
How has suffering (or failure) revealed your motives?
Are you living in the freedom of Christ? (how can you get there?)
4. Source of JOY
The NIV Application Commentary: Philippians Contemporary Significance
The reason for this remarkable attitude was that the advancement of the gospel was his primary goal in life. As a result, if his own adversity was the occasion through which the gospel could gain a wider hearing, then Paul could face that adversity with equanimity. If, in our own circumstances, we lack this kind of joy, then perhaps we should search our souls to be sure that our happiness is not more firmly connected to our physical and emotional comfort than to the goals of the gospel.