Day 2 - Practicing Scripture
Ok, you made it to day two. If you are new, check out yesterday. We laid a lot of groundwork. Go ahead and get your Bible out now, we are in Philippians Chapter 2. Let’s pray, “Holy Spirit, please speak to me today in your word.”
Don’t forget the treasure we are looking for here!
What made the Philippians so impressive to Paul? What can I learn from them?
What is Paul communicating that he is saying is ACTUALLY important?
1Is there any encouragement from belonging to Christ? Any comfort from his love? Any fellowship together in the Spirit? Are your hearts tender and compassionate? 2 Then make me truly happy by agreeing wholeheartedly with each other, loving one another, and working together with one mind and purpose.
Ok, this is a great text to start with. Verse 2 jumped right off the page for me. “Agree wholeheartedly with each other”? Typically when I see something challenging, I attempt to look at what the original language might say. The original language here (Greek) doesn’t actually say to agree wholeheartedly but to “be of the same mind.” It’s an appeal to unity for a “purpose.” If we stop reading here we might miss the “purpose” Paul is referring to.
If we only read these two verses someone might say, “I have to agree wholeheartedly with my brothers and sisters.” That would be the wrong way to look at this. Paul is communicating something more here - He is imploring them to be unified around something, not EVERYTHING. (Thank God)
3 Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. 4 Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too. 5 You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had. 6 Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. 7 Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form, 8 he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross. 9 Therefore, God elevated him to the place of highest honor and gave him the name above all other names, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue declare that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Wow, beautiful. I think we are seeing one of our treasures here. Paul is imploring the believers to agree wholeheartedly on humility. Paul seems to point out HUMILITY as one of the things that matter most.
Be humble, put others first, follow Christ’s example. If there was ever anyone that walked the earth that “deserved” something I would say that it is Jesus. He deserved a palace but was born in a manger and suffered the death and torture of a criminal.
12 Dear friends, you always followed my instructions when I was with you. And now that I am away, it is even more important. Work hard to show the results of your salvation, obeying God with deep reverence and fear. 13 For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.
Verse 12 is a really popular verse in certain translations. You might recognize it this way, “…work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.” If we stop there we can come up with a lot of great things to say about how your faith is your responsibility and you need to work it out with the Lord. However, read one more verse and we see the miraculous work of the Gospel!
Verse 13 says God is working in us giving us the desire and the power to do what pleases Him. Thank God!
The scripture here points out that we work out our salvations with “fear and trembling” which can see like a troubling grouping of words. Fear in the original language is closely attributed to reverence. Trembling is exactly what it means. It implies though that there is a quaking due to a lack of self reliance. You quake because you lack confidence… and here it seems to be communicating that we revere God and lack confidence in our own power… That is a GREAT place to be. However, very un-American. LOL - But Paul has already told us we are part of a different Kingdom. Paul then takes the pressure off in Verse 13 as I just pointed out… We don’t have to rely on our selves. His Spirit shows us when we are wrong and then helps us do what pleases God.
Ok, I knew we would need to do this to last the entire week. We are going to stop here for today and pick up with the rest of Chapter 2 tomorrow.
Here is my personal summary and how I think this can and should apply to my life. Paul is speaking to the church in Philippi giving direction by calling for unity and humility. We live in a world that pushes us to be selfish, but I have to remember that I am part of something different. God, would you help me with my own selfish desires? I desire to do what pleases you, thank you for your promise in scripture: you have given me that desire and you will give me the ability to change! Come Holy Spirit and change my life! Amen.
See you tomorrow!
-Pastor Brian
