Philippians - Introduction

1) like Colossians, Philippians is also a prison epistle.
- this is an important idea to keep in mind as we interpret the book,
and we'll come back to this idea often.

2) this is also a church that is doing a lot of things right.
- It is very sound in doctrine and order (there's no condemnation of
the church as a whole--there is a minor exhortation to two ladies
that we'll study when we get to chapter 4.

3) one of the things they've been doing right is sharing financially in
Paul's missionary work.
- in fact, you could look at this book as a "thank-you letter" for
all the Philippians had done for Paul.
- this idea will come up even in the verses we study today, and
even more-so in weeks ahead.

4) One of the themes of this book is our joy in Christ.
- of course since Paul's in prison, he's not talking about "joy from
without"--or joy that’s dependent on outward circumstances

- we're talking about joy from within, because of the privilege of
knowing Christ.
- that’s why one of the key verses is Phil. 1:21 - For to me to live
is Christ, and to die is gain.

5) the book can be divided as follows: (Scofield)

I. Christ, the Believer's Life - Rejoicing in Suffering

II. Christ, the Believer's Pattern - Rejoicing in Lowly Service

III. Christ, the Believer's Object - Rejoicing Despite Imperfection

IV. Christ, the Believer's Strength - Rejoicing Through Anxiety

- I would love to jump into the message of the first chapter of this book
because its so important, but I think it is probably in our best
interest if we begin with some introductory ideas so that we're in
the best possible shape to make accurate interpretations as we move
along in our study.

- we're going to talk this morning about:
I. The Location of the Church
II. The Founding of the Church
III. The Members of the Church
IV. The Memorable Acts of the Church

I. The Location of the Church

A. Commercially important

- map

- this city was on a main highway between Europe and Asia.
- it was a mining center, and an agricultural center

- so it was a large city with lots of people and lots of commerce

B. Militarily important

- because of the things we've already said, this was a natural
place to have a military post -- and as a result there were a
lot of soldiers who were stationed there.

C. Historically important

- Philippi was one of the colonies of the Roman empire
- these colonies prided themselves on being little replicas of
Rome on foreign soil.

- the point of all this is -- This was an important city with a
lot of people in it----and because Paul loved people, he went
to where they were.

- the issue wasn't - what was most comfortable for him?
- or, where were the best recreational areas?
- the issue was - where could he go to have the
greatest impact for Christ?

- its not surprising that one of the places God sent Paul was to
Philippi.

II. The Founding of the Church

- Pastor recently studied this with us from the book of Acts on
Sunday morning, so we won't spend as much time here.

A. In response to God's call

- please turn over to Acts 16
- read 16:6-9

- now of course we have to keep in mind that this was before the
completion of the NT
- missionaries do not get "called" to specific fields of ministry
today like Paul did before having the Nt.

- but its clear that the Lord wanted a church established in this
place.

B. Where hearts were prepared

- read 13-14

- INPUT - what about that story impresses you the most?
(that Lydia was a person whose heart the Lord opened)

- INPUT - how can that help us as we seek to reach out to those the Lord
has placed around us? (the confidence that God works in
hearts)

- there's a lot of other exciting things about the birth of the
Philippian church, like the salvation of the girl who was demon-
possessed, and the salvation of the Philippian jailer...but
suffice it is to say that this is a church that was very important
to Paul...
- it was clear that the Lord was in every aspect of it being
started and developed
- and it was clear that Paul paid a real price to see the
ministry get off the ground.

- now let's go to the book of Philippians itself to see:

III. The Members of the Church

- Paul addresses three groups in verse 1
- INPUT - who are they?

- this list gives us the opportunity to make some important points:

A. The saints

- INPUT - who are the saints? (every saved person in the church)

- when it comes to the way the Scripture uses this word, we're
not talking about a special group of people who are "super-
spiritual" and therefore should be elevated to a special class
of Christendom.

- every person who has trusted Christ is a saint--a holy one,
someone who has been set apart to God and to a life that is
growing in progressive holiness.

- the flipside of this, by the way, is a very important doctrine
that Baptists have always believed and emphasized...that is
that every member of a church has to be saved.
- some churches will allow a person to become a member
without trying to determine whether the person is
regenerate.
- you can imagine the effect that has on a church over
a period of time where unsaved people are making
decisions and exerting leadership.

- so saints aren't some special group of "ultra-holy" people...
- but on the other hand, only saints can be church members.

B. Bishops

- in the NT, the words bishop, elder, and pastor are used
interchangeably.

- a good example of that is Acts 20:

- read 17, 28

- elder - vs. 17
- overseer - vs. 28
- to feed (pastor) - vs. 28
- the point is -- in the church, there are two offices--pastors and
deacons.

- the reason there are three different words used to describe a
pastor is because of the different emphases:

- Bishop - (Overseer) - Office
- Pastor - Function
- Elder - Man

- INPUT - what are some things the NT tells us about what pastors are to
be like, and what they are to be doing?

1) Ephesians 4 -

2) I Peter 5 -

3) I Timothy 3 -

- the last group addressed in verse 1 is:

C. Deacons

INPUT - what are some things the NT tells us about what deacons
are to be like, and what they are to be doing?

- Acts 6

- with the time we have left, let's think about some of:

IV. The Memorable Acts of the Church

read 3-7

- one of the things that encourages Paul's heart while he's in prison
is the friendship and comradary of this dear church.

A. For your fellowship in the gospel

- read 4:10-19

- when Paul speaks of their fellowship in the gospel, undoubtedly
he was thinking in part of the support they gave him
financially.
- the Lord does not expect everyone to go to the mission field,
but he expects everyone to be involved in God's worldwide
missionary endeavor
- and one way we can be involved is by being generous
financially.

- INPUT - what are some other ways we can have "fellowship in the
gospel" with our missionaries?

- illustration - (one of the many ways we try to do that as a
church is through our internship program)
- cf. nursing home a couple of Thursdays ago
- you would have been proud of those guys
- (you would have been happy that they were
representing our church)

- they were warm and friendly and loving to those dear
folks
- it wasn't something they were putting on
- it was appeared to be coming from a heart that
genuinely wanted to minister
- "Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound."
- on "one level," to be honest with you, the sound
was anything but sweet.
- it wasn't the kind of thing that the average
record company would want to record.

- but on another level---a much more important
level, that was the sweetest sound in all the
world.
- to hear those dear people, many by their
own confession sincere believers in Christ,
sing praises to God.

- my point is -- it's been good for Jim and Mark to minister in that way
this year---and its been good that our church has the heart to have a
program like that
- that’s just one of many ways a church family can encourage others
to be good stewards of the ministry God has given.

- the overall point is that these believers had the kind of lifestyle and
testimony and ministry -- that could be a great encouragement to the
apostle Paul even though he was in a tough place.

- that gives us an interesting question to ask ourselves:
- If a member of our missionary family was having a difficulty of
their field of service, and they had the occasion to think of
me, would that be an encouraging thing to them, or a
discouraging thing?

- one other idea that encouraged Paul's heart was:

B. The belief that God would continue to work in them.

1:6