Category: Philippians

“This letter is from Paul and Timothy, slaves of Christ Jesus. I am writing to all of God’s holy people in Philippi who belong to Christ Jesus, including the church leaders and deacons. May God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give you grace and peace.”

Today we begin Philippians, so invite your friends to read along with us through this series! In reading this letter from Paul to the church in Philippi, we will be challenged to assess our attitudes. Philippians is a book of the Bible I turn to when I need an attitude adjustment. Take time to open yourself to what God might speak to you through this series.

Even in these first two verses that may seem like a basic greeting, I am put straight to my knees. Paul introduces himself and his mentee, Timothy, as slaves of Christ Jesus. Slaves. That’s a complicated word for a lot of reasons. In this case, we are talking about voluntary slavery. We are imagining presenting ourselves to Jesus and offering ourselves to him fully. There is a transfer of ownership. Do I trust Jesus enough to embrace an identity of slavery to him?

We certainly don’t think of slavery as being set free. But think of it this way: if you are not a slave to Jesus then you are a slave to Satan. There are two kingdoms, and one of them is going to own you. When I just talked about a transfer of ownership, I thought about how I own myself and choose to surrender my life over the Jesus. Far from it! Satan wants us to think that we have a choice: me or Jesus. The option of Satan or Jesus is a whole lot more clear cut. When we present ourselves to Jesus and ask to become his slaves, we are asking him to take us from an evil master. When he does, he gives us grace and peace as Paul mentions. Jesus sets us free. I want to be so chained to freedom that I can’t escape it. Jesus is that good.

“Every time I think of you, I give thanks to my God. Whenever I pray, I make my requests for all of you with joy, for you have been my partners in spreading the Good News about Christ from the time you first heard it until now. And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.”

How’s your prayer life been lately? Chances are that the answer to that question will say a lot about what has been on your mind. Paul’s prayer life was centered on thanksgiving and on the mission. His requests were not things like, “Please help my day to go well.” Instead, he was asking God to help him and the Philippian church advance the Gospel.

Without a sense of mission, our prayer life will not be supernatural. Much of our earthly praying falls into two categories: anxious prayers and convenience prayers. Instead of connecting with a greater mission, we simply worry at God or ask him to make our lives easier. When we are connected with the mission of expanding God’s kingdom, our prayers aren’t focused on ourselves.

When I talk about “mission,” some people get stuck because they aren’t sure what their mission from God is. They wait for him to reveal it somehow and while they wait they feel disconnected. Don’t overthink things. Your mission is to bring the kingdom of God to earth. That is what unites all Christians. We accomplish that by imitating Jesus, loving God and our neighbors, and praying for others to come to know the love of God. If you have nothing else, start there. It should take your whole lifetime! When you let that mission drive your prayer life, you’ll uncover a passion and a freedom like no other.

“So it is right that I should feel as I do about all of you, for you have a special place in my heart. You share with me the special favor of God, both in my imprisonment and in defending and confirming the truth of the Good News. God knows how much I love you and long for you with the tender compassion of Christ Jesus. I pray that your love will overflow more and more, and that you will keep on growing in knowledge and understanding. For I want you to understand what really matters, so that you may live pure and blameless lives until the day of Christ’s return. May you always be filled with the fruit of your salvation—the righteous character produced in your life by Jesus Christ—for this will bring much glory and praise to God.”

If you are not working in full-time ministry, you may not realize the heart behind that kind of work. As a counselor, I am sure that my clients cannot understand how much I truly care about them. Hopefully they can see clearly from my demeanor that I accept them and want to help them. But there is a depth that is very real and very personal that they probably can’t imagine. Many of them may not feel that they are worth loving.

When Paul talks about having a special place in his heart for the Philippians, I get that. He wants deeply spiritual things for them — he wants them to know God’s love, to love each other, to get the mission so deeply that their lives are 100% different. He sees a potential in them that I see for my clients. He sees the fullness of who they can become when they go deep with God.

You will never arrive at freedom. There is always more of it. That’s one way you can tell it is from God’s kingdom — in his kingdom the resources are endless and they grow as you use them. When you give love, you somehow have more of it than you did before. When I walk in freedom and let others around me be free, I am even more free. Bank accounts don’t work like that. Paul had this heart for freedom for the Philippian church. Do you have that vision for yourself and for those around you?

“And I want you to know, my dear brothers and sisters, that everything that has happened to me here has helped to spread the Good News. For everyone here, including the whole palace guard, knows that I am in chains because of Christ. And because of my imprisonment, most of the believers here have gained confidence and boldly speak God’s message without fear.”

If Philippians doesn’t mess with your head and shatter you, you’re reading it too quickly. Everything that we think is true is backwards when we hold it up to Paul’s life. Imprisonment was one of the biggest assets to his ministry. Sit on that. Prison. You know you are operating in the supernatural when being punished for your message is the thing that strengthens it. That’s always been true of the global church. When the church is persecuted it gets stronger. So why are we always fighting for our rights?

As you know, I’m a big fan of freedom. Confidence is right up there too. Boldly speaking God’s message without fear? Yes. These are the things I want for myself. These are the fruits of what I want to produce in my ministry. How do I get that? Risk it all. Paul risked his life to spread the Gospel. He gave up everything he knew to follow Jesus. He didn’t hold on to any earthly thing.

What are you holding on to for your security today? What would “risking it all” look like? Most of us in America can’t imagine what faith is like when you can be thrown in prison and tortured for your faith. We get upset when people don’t like us. That’s not martyrdom, and when we act like it is we absolutely miss the power of the Gospel. All I know is that when Paul was willing to do whatever it took to spread the good news of Jesus, God turned that into win after win after win. Paul’s earthly life was not pleasant. It was supernatural. What life are you living today? What do you need to let go of to get there?

“It’s true that some are preaching out of jealousy and rivalry. But others preach about Christ with pure motives. They preach because they love me, for they know I have been appointed to defend the Good News. Those others do not have pure motives as they preach about Christ. They preach with selfish ambition, not sincerely, intending to make my chains more painful to me. But that doesn’t matter. Whether their motives are false or genuine, the message about Christ is being preached either way, so I rejoice. And I will continue to rejoice. For I know that as you pray for me and the Spirit of Jesus Christ helps me, this will lead to my deliverance.”

Have you ever been in that place where you feel like you are working harder and facing more hardship than everyone else, yet they seem to get all the glory? Paul would have every right to complain about how hard his ministry is and how people seem to keep hating him. Well, haters be hating and preachers be preaching whether they have the right motives or not. Doesn’t matter to Paul, if the Gospel is spread in the process he’s not keeping score.

I warned you that Philippians is all about attitude adjustment. If I were in prison knowing I had a call on my life to preach and other people were out there stealing all my thunder, I would most definitely not take it well. We don’t know what kind of wrestle Paul may have had to do to get to this place, but he sees it all as a part of the mission. He has no rivals because he’s unwilling to participate in petty rivalries.

Paul makes a deliberate choice to rejoice in the midst of persecution. It’s not just the non-believers that are against him — it’s the bad-attitude Christians! But God can spread the Gospel through anybody, pure motives or not. What we can learn from Paul here is how to align our perspective with God’s. Paul’s mission wasn’t about himself. It was about telling people about Jesus. Therefore, if other people are talking about Jesus too then the mission is working. One way we can tell if we are off-mission is when it becomes all about us. Jealousy when others have success or an inner pity-party may be signs that your mission is more about you than it is about Jesus.