Philippians by Dennis McCallum (2021)

Christianity is unique among the world religions in that love is the highest goal where as other religions place duty, or enlightenment or self-improvement as the highest goal. Although the church at Philippi was doing well in loving, Paul calls them to "abound still more and more" in love. But it is not enough to merely abound in love, one must excel in love "in real knowledge and discernment" as the world is overflowing with deception and lies. Our love must be based in truth.

Paul's vertical perspective enabled him to endure the frustrations and trials of being imprisoned in Rome while his heart's desire was to roam the far reaches of the world to spread the Gospel. Yet, while chained to Praetorian guards for four long years, God was accomplishing that very desire. God used Paul's "down time" to do far greater work than if Paul had been free to go about. The Guards he was chained to heard him preach the Gospel to his visitors. They in turn took the message to the outer regions of the Roman empire. Paul wrote four important epistles that reached across the centuries to reach millions of people. And finally, his imprisonment emboldened the believers in Rome to preach more boldly.

Paul's eternal perspective allowed him to view his potential impending death at the hands of the Roman court as an opportunity to exalt Christ in his body whether he lives or dies. If he lives, then he can continue to minister to believers, and witness to non-believers. If he dies, then he will go to his death without fear, proclaiming the Gospel before his judges. And upon his death, he will be in the presence of his Lord immediately. For him, to live is Christ, to die is gain.

Paul uses military language of the type of unity soldiers exhibit in battle to describe the unity the Body of Christ must have. God's people must strive together in one spirit, with one mind to intrude into the enemy's territory to liberate people from the power of the evil one. We have been given a mission to spread the Gospel and we will encounter opposition that requires deep unity to overcome.

The concept that Jesus was fully God as well as fully human can be difficult to comprehend for our limited human minds. nevertheless, Jesus, fully divine, chose to set aside his supernatural powers in order to live fully as a mere man on earth. He emptied himself of his godly powers and relied entirely upon the Holy Spirit as he lived as a man. He did this so that he could be our faithful high priest and intercede for us on the cross. Because he was fully God, he had the infinite nature that could take on an infinite judgment against sin. And because of his obedience even unto death on a cross, God elevated him to the place of highest honor and gave him the name above all names.

To work out your salvation with fear and trembling may at first glance sound like we must work for our salvation with fear and doubt, but that is not at all what Paul is saying here. As believers, our salvation from the penalty of sin is eternally secure. Paul is encouraging us to live out the reality of the forgiveness that God has put into us at the moment we received his forgiveness. As we live in light of that truth, we will shine like stars to a watching world.

Paul exhorts the Philippians to beware the dogs, the false circumcision, who want to return believers to the shackles of the Law. Paul and Jesus reserved their harshest condemnation for those who tried to introduce legalism into the believing community. The worst thing about legalism is the negative, untrue picture it paints of God. Under legalism, God is a hard-to-please grump, who is looking to find fault in his followers. That image could not be further from the truth!

The afterlife is what makes this life have any sense at all. If you are a billionaire in this life, it only lasts for the blink of an eye in light of eternity. If we understand where we are headed in eternity, it should dramatically influence how we live, the choices we make, the attitudes we adopt. We will accept suffering, forget what lies behind, reach forward to what lies ahead, press on, and have an eternal perspective.

As Paul begins to wrap up his letter to the Philippians, he gives a final call to live in harmony in the Lord and to rejoice always in the Lord. He exhorts them to pray with thanksgiving to God who guards their hearts and minds with a peace that is beyond comprehension. Like the Philippians, we have a choice between trying to generate peace by our own efforts or we can accept the immeasurable peace God offers.

Paul is countering an existing bias humans have toward negativity. Fallen humans don't see reality accurately. They shift reality toward the negative. Some of the ways to deal with negativity are to acknowledge the negatives but also focus on the positives, get into the Word, and remember your history with God. Victory over negativity will light up your life, but it may need to re-won periodically.

Paul's greatest secret was having learned to be content in all circumstances. He didn't learn this secret in one momentous moment but it came to him over time, bit by bit. God had to stress his faith in order to make it grow. Growth comes in the areas of life when no one is watching. Your little steps of faith grow over time and you learn to to trust God with the bigger things. When we learn to trust God with our money and start giving it away as a "sweet-smelling offering" God will reimburse us. Just as the Philippians had no idea their simple monetary gift resulted in untold number of people benefitting from the prison epistles Paul wrote, we have no idea how our giving freely may be used by God to bless people we have never met.