Philippians by Scott Risley (2021)

Although Paul is in Rome under house arrest, chained to Roman guards, he is overjoyed at the good work God is doing in the lives of his friends in Philippi. He knows that the good work that God began in them at the moment of their justification, he will complete it until the day of their glorification, and even so, during their sanctification in the mean time. This is a work God does, not us by our fleshly effort. The question is whether we will cooperate with him in this ongoing work.

Paul, the greatest Christian evangelist of all time, sits in prison, chained to guards day and night. What appears to be a devastating blow to the spread of the Gospel, is actually part of God's plan so he can do an even bigger work. Rather than being frustrated by his chains, by his loss of freedom, Paul lets God use him right where he is, in prison. His immobility actually allowed the Gospel to be spread to the far reaches of the Roman empire through those very guards chained to his wrists.

As Christian's, we carry dual citizenship of both heaven and a hostile, earthly world. We are under fire here, while we wait for heaven. Paul calls the Philippians, and us, to stand firm, and strive together, remembering who we are and why we are here. We are united in faith in Christ, as we hold forth the Good News

We often minimize the humanity of Jesus. it is tempting to focus upon Jesus' divinity, his omniscience, his omnipotence, his omnipresence rather than his humanness. But it is these very divine attributes that make his action of coming down to earth as a mere human so unimaginably off the charts amazing. He truly was human while here on earth accomplishing his mission to save us. He emptied himself, or set aside, the use of his divine attributes so that he could be fully human and thus experience all the things humans experience in life on earth. If we minimize his humanity, we detract something from the enormity of his sacrifice for us. Someday his divinity will be recognized when every knew bows and every tongue confesses that Jesus is Lord.

Here, Paul discusses how we should respond to Christ's example of humility. He humbled himself by being obedient to the point of dying on a cross for the humans he so loves. We are called to follow his example of humility and obedience by "working out" in the example of our lives the salvation God has worked in us from the moment we accepted the free gift of forgiveness. This does not include grumbling or complaining! Instead our lives should be so different from the world that we shine like the stars.

Legalism or living under law is the greatest enemy of joy. Paul reserves his harshest words for anyone who weighs down believers with the false burden of legalism. As believers, we live under the law of grace where we do not work to secure our salvation but instead live with the reality of forgiveness, freedom, peace, rest and joy.

Paul longs to experience the power of Jesus' resurrection, not the resurrection to eternal life, but the resurrection power of living a victorious life. The same power that raised Jesus from the dead is available to us to live a life for Jesus, but it requires sharing in his suffering. As we allow suffering to strip away our self-sufficiency it allows God's power to shine through us to his glory.

As believers, when we die our body is temporarily separated from our spirit but a day will come where our spirit is reunited with our transformed, resurrected body. It will be a glorious body that will retain its original identifying features but will have amazing new abilities! Christ will transform our body of humble state into conformity with the body of His glory. Not only will our bodies be transformed but also our desires will be sanctified and fulfilled on the New Earth. Although while on this earth, our bodies are broken and our desires are corrupt, God offers hope. Don't miss out on the glorious transformation God offers.

How does God enable us to have peace with one another? He does this by calling on each one of us to initiate resolution of conflict. He calls on the rest of the church to assist those stuck in conflict. He also has given us a mission that is bigger than our egos and he meets our deepest needs. How does God want us to deal with anxiety? He calls us to pray and pray with thanksgiving. Instead of fighting our anxiety, we can use it as a springboard to bending our hearts to God and give our anxiety to God. We will find we are continuously praying because in reality, we are always completely dependent upon God.

It seems that humans are innately biased toward negativity. Certainly, there is enough in this world that is negative. We are a fallen people living in a fallen world. But to focus on the negative is to deny the reality of a good God, a very good God. Christians have access to a reality that has overcome the evil in this world. Paul calls us not to focus on the negatives but on all the good things that come from God.