Monday, December 9
Philippians 1:1-2
Salutation
Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, with the bishops and deacons: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Today we are beginning a two-week study of the book of Philippians. This book is a letter that the Apostle Paul wrote to people who lived in Philippi. Paul traveled to Philippi on his second Missionary journey. His experience in Philippi was shared in Acts 16:11-40. If you have extra time today, read these verses.
These verses share a story of incredible events and brutal danger.
Paul mentioned in his letter that he was in jail when he wrote Philippians. Some believe that he wrote Philippians while jailed in Rome waiting to see what would happen to his case. Eventually Rome is where Paul was killed.
So even though Paul’s circumstances were dire, the tone of Philippians was not. Often the letter is described as a letter of joy. The word “joy” occurs six times in the letter and the words “rejoice” and “be glad” occur eleven times.
This is significant to us. We often think of joy as intense happiness, but it’s much more than that. In his sermon series Pastor Paul has been defining joy as connection. It’s the result of what happens when we experience connection to God or to each other.
Do you have an experience of experiencing joy when you were not happy or life was not going well? Please share.
Tuesday, December 10
Philippians 1:3-11
Paul’s Prayer for the Philippians
I thank my God for every remembrance of you, always in every one of my prayers for all of you, praying with joy for your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work in you will continue to complete it until the day of Jesus Christ. It is right for me to think this way about all of you, because I hold you in my heart, for all of you are my partners in God’s grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel. For God is my witness, how I long for all of you with the tender affection of Christ Jesus. And this is my prayer, that your love may overflow more and more with knowledge and full insight to help you to determine what really matters, so that in the day of Christ you may be pure and blameless, having produced the harvest of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ for the glory and praise of God.
On Sunday Pastor Paul preached about praying with joy. The Apostle Paul wrote at the beginning of this letter that he was praying with joy for the people who were in Philippi.
We might think of praying with joy as a prayer of praise. Praise is when we extol someone for a quality the person possesses. We often think of praise in terms of praising God. Praising God is extolling God for a quality or characteristic of God.
Praise does something to the person who is sharing praise. When someone is sharing praise that person’s spirits are often lifted. Praise can be very intentional and relational. A person in a committed relationship is connected to another person because of a quality or characteristic of that person. We praise the person for that quality. We can turn our prayer into a prayer of thanks—which is similar to praise. Try this prayer today. “I give thanks for (a person) and for (a particular quality in that person.)
Meister Eckhart, a mystic who was born in 1260, said “If the only prayer you said in your life was ‘thank you” that would suffice.”
Sharing prayers of praise are healthy for our spirits. You might consider writing down ten qualities of God that you appreciate. Then praise God for those qualities. Your prayer could look like this, “I praise you God for ______.” Say that prayer deliberately and share it over and over.
Do you have experiences of praise in prayer that have been meaningful to you? Please share.
Wednesday, December 11
Philippians 1:12-18a
Paul’s Present Circumstances
I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that what has happened to me has actually resulted in the progress of the gospel, so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to everyone else that my imprisonment is for Christ, and most of the brothers and sisters, having been made confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, dare to speak the word with greater boldness and without fear.
Some proclaim Christ from envy and rivalry but others from goodwill. These proclaim Christ out of love, knowing that I have been put here for the defense of the gospel; the others proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely but intending to increase my suffering in my imprisonment. What does it matter? Just this, that Christ is proclaimed in every way, whether out of false motives or true, and in that I rejoice.
Yes, and I will rejoice,
Even though Paul was in prison, he was full of joy. He saw that his imprisonment was helping to spread the gospel. So though he probably wouldn’t have chosen to be put in prison, the result was something that he appreciated.
In the last part of this passage Paul talked about the motivation of sharing Christ. Some shared or claimed Christ from love, others out of selfish ambition. It didn’t really matter to Paul what a person’s ambition was for proclaiming Christ. What mattered to Paul is that Christ was proclaimed. In this he rejoiced.
This idea might be contrary to our own beliefs. Would you give thanks for something that ended well, but the motivation was not right. You might think that the means did not justify the ends.
Have you had an experience like this? Please share.
Thursday, December 12
Philippians 1:18b-30
What does it matter? Just this, that Christ is proclaimed in every way, whether out of false motives or true, and in that I rejoice.
Yes, and I will rejoice, for I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ this will turn out for my salvation. It is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be put to shame in any way but that by my speaking with all boldness Christ will be exalted now as always in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me, living is Christ and dying is gain. If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me, yet I cannot say which I will choose. I am hard pressed between the two: my desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better, but to remain in the flesh is more necessary for you. Since I am convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with all of you for your progress and joy in faith, so that, by my presence again with you, your boast might abound in Christ Jesus because of me.
Only, live your life in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that, whether I come and see you or am absent and hear about you, I will know that you are standing firm in one spirit, striving side by side with one mind for the faith of the gospel and in no way frightened by those opposing you. For them, this is evidence of their destruction but of your salvation. And this is God’s doing. For he has graciously granted you the privilege not only of believing in Christ but of suffering for him as well, since you are having the same struggle that you saw I had and now hear that I still have.
Paul was at a place in his life where it didn’t matter to him if he lived or died.
“For to me living is Christ and dying is gain.” Philippians 1:20
This is quite an advanced and mature thought. Paul looked forward to death as this meant he would experience salvation. This is how for him dying was gain.
But his life was so significant and so many significant things were happening that he wanted to live. He saw that through his life in prison Christ was being proclaimed.
We might not be in a place where it doesn’t matter to us whether we live or die. We might not look forward to death or we might not be enjoying our life.
Have you had an experience in your life where living is Christ and dying is gain? Please share.
Friday, December 13
Philippians 2:1-11
Imitating Christ’s Humility
If, then, there is any comfort in Christ, any consolation from love, any partnership in the Spirit, any tender affection and sympathy, make my joy complete: be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or empty conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. Let each of you look not to your own interests but to the interests of others. Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who, though he existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, assuming human likeness. And being found in appearance as a human, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death—even death on a cross.
Therefore God exalted him even more highly and gave him the name that is above every other name, so that at the name given to Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
The verses that Paul shared in six to eleven are known as a Christ hymn.
Verses seven and eight talk about Christ’s life and death in terms of his obedience to what God wanted.
Verses nine through eleven mentioned what God—the first person in the Trinity—did for Jesus.
In verse eleven we read that Christ is Lord. This is the one requirement for being a member or disciple at Chain of Lakes. Everyone acknowledges that Jesus is Lord. This means that Jesus is first in our life.
Praying about how Jesus is Lord in our life can be helpful to us. This might be a prayer of yours today, “Lord, may I acknowledge in my words and actions that you are first in my life.”
What does it mean to you to say that Jesus is Lord? Please share.
Saturday, December 14
Philippians 2:12-18
Shining as Lights in the World
Therefore, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed me, not only in my presence but much more now in my absence, work on your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who is at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for his good pleasure.
Do all things without murmuring and arguing, so that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, in which you shine like stars in the world, holding forth the word of life so that I can boast on the day of Christ that I did not run in vain or labor in vain.
But even if I am being poured out as a libation over the sacrifice and the service of your faith, I rejoice, and I rejoice together with all of you; in the same way also you should rejoice and rejoice together with me.
Paul shared that we are to work out our own salvation. This doesn’t mean that our salvation or eternal life comes to us because of one particular prayer or from our own goodness. What it means is each of us is responsible for our own faith journey. No matter what happens to our faith, we are ultimately responsible for how that faith is lived.
Paul was thankful for the relationship he had with the people at Philippi. He was glad and rejoiced at their connection—even a connection that he experienced while he was in jail.
What are some connections that have been meaningful to you recently? Please share.
