Philippians 2 Bible Study with Brian Housman 3/10/2010

Philippians 2 (New International Version)

1If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, 2then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. 3Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. 4Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.
5Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:
6Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
7but made himself nothing,
taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
8And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
and became obedient to death—
even death on a cross!
9Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name,
10that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.

12Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, 13for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.
14Do everything without complaining or arguing, 15so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe 16as you hold out the word of life—in order that I may boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor for nothing. 17But even if I am being poured out like a drink offering on the sacrifice and service coming from your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you. 18So you too should be glad and rejoice with me.

19I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon, that I also may be cheered when I receive news about you. 20I have no one else like him, who takes a genuine interest in your welfare. 21For everyone looks out for his own interests, not those of Jesus Christ. 22But you know that Timothy has proved himself, because as a son with his father he has served with me in the work of the gospel. 23I hope, therefore, to send him as soon as I see how things go with me. 24And I am confident in the Lord that I myself will come soon.
25But I think it is necessary to send back to you Epaphroditus, my brother, fellow worker and fellow soldier, who is also your messenger, whom you sent to take care of my needs. 26For he longs for all of you and is distressed because you heard he was ill. 27Indeed he was ill, and almost died. But God had mercy on him, and not on him only but also on me, to spare me sorrow upon sorrow. 28Therefore I am all the more eager to send him, so that when you see him again you may be glad and I may have less anxiety. 29Welcome him in the Lord with great joy, and honor men like him, 30because he almost died for the work of Christ, risking his life to make up for the help you could not give me.


Interesting points of Discussion:

• Theme of attitude of the mind characterizes the passage, more specifically, being like-minded as Christ
  
• [See verse 3] To Jesus, 'humility' was not being equal with God and being human
  
• 'Humility' was also being obedient to death- how far would we go to be obedient ? Are we willing to sacrifice ? To be obedient despite circumstances ?
  
• [See verse 12] 'Continue to work out your salvation'- God is enabling us to do what He wants and it's up to us to work hard at it
  
• [See verse 12] 'With fear and trembling'- We have to sober up and take it seriously and be aware because even if we do work hard we may fail
  
• Paul gives this journey towards salvation a "joint effort" feel to it i.e. God and us, Paul and the Philippians
  
• In Philippians 1, Paul was more concerned about the preaching of the gospel than the underlying motivations behind it; in this passage [see verse 3], Paul makes it clear not to preach out of 'selfish ambition or vain conceit'- that is, self desires or pride
  
• Paul has higher ideas this time and gives commands instead of the hugs and kisses of encouragement he gave in the first letter (Philippians 1)
  
• Philippians are Paul's work (except the rival preachers) and he has expectations and hopes of them
  
• [See verse 4] To be humble you have to pay attention to your own problems and not those of others
  
• Timothy, who is sort of Paul's ambassador, is being cultivated as his replacement
  
• [See verses 19-23] Paul prepares the Philippians for his arrival by raising Timothy's profile by singling him out as the only one being with him in Jesus
  
• His impending arrival after Timothy has the built-up tone of "Wait until your Pops gets home"
  
• [See verse 21] Looking out for the interests of Jesus Christ seems to literally mean "Do unto others as they would unto you"
  
• Paul once again has a mentality that is comparable to that of an athletic coach; his message to the Philippians can be summed up with this statement: "I did this for you, so now go run your race"
  
• A good coach is one that believes in the kids' potential
  
• Paul's approach in this letter is more distant from God than it was in the first letter (Philippians 1), shifting the focus to his relationship with the Philippians
  
• Paul's relationship with the Philippians is a joint effort and he seems to be suggesting, "I'm doing something for you, so do something for me"
  
• [See verse 9] Jesus' exaltation by God was not preordained; rather, it was consequential because of Jesus' choices to not be God, to instead be a servant (slave) and to accept the ultimate humble act of death on a cross (restricted to the lower class)
  
• Thus, by lowering ourselves, we open ourselves up to be raised by God
  
• [See verse 17] 'Poured out like a drink offering on the sacrifice'- this was a ritual where wine was poured out onto the meat to be burnt; Paul seems to be implying here, "I'm waiting for the match, it's up to you"
  
• In prison, Paul displays a surreal joy awaiting his fate
  
• Epaphroditus, Paul's messenger, thought of Paul and the Philippians when he was dying
  
• [See verse 27] 'Sorrow upon sorrow'- In much the same way, Paul thought of Epaphroditus and the Philippians (and the Philippians of Paul and Epaphroditus); everyone was looking out for the interests of the others- and behold, everything worked out and Epaphroditus did not die thanks to the Lord!
  
• Paul gives Timothy and Epaphroditus as examples of those who 'shine like stars' [see verse 15] because they embody the humbleness that Paul is preaching
  
• A way to gauge our own humbleness in our lives is by seeing how much we complain or whine- this often has a spiral effect that moves us backwards rather than forward
  
• The solution is to work together and don't argue