Latest / Scripture Central / #42 Scripture Central Come Follow Me Insights (Oct 9 - Oct 15) Philippians; Colossians

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#42 Scripture Central Come Follow Me Insights (Oct 9 - Oct 15) Philippians; Colossians · Scripture Central

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Hello everyone. Thanks for listening to Come
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Follow Me Insights with Taylor and Tyler presented by Scripture
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Central. We use a lot of visuals in our
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videos, so if you want to see the visuals, we invite you to
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find us on YouTube. Thanks for listening and enjoy.
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I'm Taylor and I'm Tyler. This is Scripture.
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Central's come, follow me insights this week.
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Paul's epistle to the Philippians and to the
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Colossians. So let's set the stage for for
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today's scripture verses that we're going to cover with a
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quick review. Philip, I remember, is where
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Paul baptized Lydia. She was our first known European
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convert. And it's in Northern Greece and
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it is a metropolitan, metropolitan city.
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It is. It's a happen in place in the
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1st century. And keep in mind, there is an
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incredible sense of national pride and identity rooted in
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their Roman citizenship. Now, it might sound strange that
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here we are in northern Greece talking about Roman citizenship.
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But remember that as the Romans are taking over, they're having
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massive wars, not just in Italy, but they're having civil wars in
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Greece and in parts of Turkey and in other places in the
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Mediterranean region as well, Northern Africa.
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And what happens is, is when those wars end, they leave
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behind all of these soldiers and these, these captains and
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generals and these powerful people, and they don't want them
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rising up in rebellion. So they give citizenship and set
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them up with power to be under control of Rome.
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But give them just enough power to say OK, you you've got your
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your own domain here. And they're very loyal to the
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office of Caesar. Caesar is the name of the man
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Augustus, who transitions the Roman Empire from a Republic,
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what we might call a democracy into.
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Essentially A dictatorship, although they would never use a
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word like that, they wanted to convince themselves that they
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still had some sense of of liberty.
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And so these people in Philip I, particularly the people in
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power, were deeply aligned and loyal to the king or Caesar.
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Now again, they never used the word king.
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That was like the bad word. But the person who was in power
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essentially acted like the king. So, so I'm trying, I'm not a
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great artist. I'm trying very hard to draw a
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very simple throne to symbolize this, this power that that
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emanates out from Rome throughout that that
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Mediterranean region. Now this is, this is hard for us
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to wrap our head around sometimes because we don't
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experience this level of adoration towards an an office
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or an individual usually in our world today like they did back
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then. But keep in mind, they see
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Caesar as a God, son of a God and this this powerful being.
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And that means that you're giving your focus to him.
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You're serving him. You're giving your loyalty to
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him and to the to the throne, so to speak.
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Your identity is rooted in your citizenship and the privileges
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and the rights and the powers that he's bequeathing to you
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giving to you. You you will sacrifice,
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literally and figuratively, for for he who sits on that throne.
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You'll notice Caesar's image is everywhere back in the 1st
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century. He's on your coins, so you're
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carrying him in your pocket. Every time you make a purchase
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or an exchange of anything, he's right there.
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He's he's part of that. He's he's centered and he's
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always looking over your shoulder and he's always behind
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you because there are idols of him everywhere and there are
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images of him everywhere. Are you noticing this, the
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struggle that it's not just Caesar, it's also the pantheon
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of gods and goddesses that symbolically are enthroned and
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you have their idols and their altars, and you do sacrifice and
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obeisance to them. Now let's make this, let's make
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this a little, hopefully a little clearer why Paul is
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saying some of the things he's saying in these epistles to the
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Philippians and Colossians and others, quite frankly.
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But this is the this is a a good set of of books to discuss this
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because here's what's happening in the 1st century in that Greco
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Roman environment, your local city has a patron God or
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goddess. For the Ephesians it was Diana
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and she would they they believed she was protecting their city.
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Overlooking them, they build a temple To her.
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It becomes one of the seven wonders of the ancient world.
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They buy statues of all sizes and varieties to to give
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obeisance to her, give loyalty to, to serve, to focus on, to
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sacrifice. For their identity is rooted in
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that goddess in that particular instance.
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In in fact, there was a riot that breaks out Paul's preaching
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and the people that who are creating these statues dedicated
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to Diana feel like they're. Their status, their employment,
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their access to money is going to be diminished and they
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basically cause a riot in the theater and it's over.
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Like we want to keep serving these gods.
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And Paul is saying, actually there's a God who has focused on
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you and served you and been loyal to you and sacrificed for
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you and he's going to give you a new identity and.
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People just didn't want it. Yeah.
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See, now, now, keep in mind, it is much more than hitting these
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people like Demetrius's story that you're just sharing there
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from acts. It's more than hitting them at
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the pocketbook. This is, this is their cultural
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identity. This is in the very fabric of
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their of of the way they live is that if something goes wrong in
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our society or in our city, if there's a famine, if there's a
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drought, if there's a flood, an earthquake, a volcano a a
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pestilence a disease a plague. If there's something bad that
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goes on in our city. Their mindset is 100% wired to
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say we didn't we didn't make enough sacrifice or we didn't
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please our God or our goddess or our group of of deities enough
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and they're angry at us so they're punishing us because we
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didn't we didn't keep the feast or the festival the right way or
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we didn't perform enough sacrifice.
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Now watch this scenario. You've got that mindset, that
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cultural identity is in the fabric of their of their DNA as
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a people. And now Paul and company show up
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in these groups of people and say actually that's ridiculous
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as as Taylor saying that these gods and goddesses and this
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Caesar, no, there's only one God and you've got to worship him.
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Stop going to those festivals, stop performing those rights and
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those ordinances associated with that idol worship, stop making
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sacrifices at their altars and start worshiping the living God.
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Well, people, people are going to take notice.
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Well, hey, we're having the festival for our for our patron
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God or our goddess. And where are the Joneses and
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where are The Smiths? They're not here.
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Then if something goes wrong in the next little while, guess
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who's going to get blamed? Guess who's going to get the ire
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of all of the people? The town's folks saying it's
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you. You're the reason the God or
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goddess is mad at us. And you can see for 2 to 300
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years, this is going to happen to Christians all the time.
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They become the the scapegoat. If something goes wrong, Rome
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burns. Who does Nero blame?
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Even though he did it? He blames the Christians for the
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disaster. If there's a loss of a battle or
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a war, we get up in arms and throw the Christians to the
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lions. That is.
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That is, their solution is their at fault.
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We're going to punish them. And so you get this intense
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persecution of Christians because of their strict belief
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in one God and not worshipping Caesar, not worshipping, not not
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giving in to the idols of the of the culture in the society.
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And that's not going to change in any major way until the 4th
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century when you get Emperor Constantine coming in.
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What's really sad is that human nature hasn't been upgraded that
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much over the centuries. That we still sometimes the
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societies like to choose certain groups of people who aren't like
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us and blame them if things are going bad.
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It doesn't take a lot of effort for any one of us to go online
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today and see who are the groups that we're blaming for problems
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that we are experiencing. And furthermore, people still
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seem to be want to be pulled into the worshipping of
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individuals who have power. And let's just make a brief
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example. If you remember the the Germans
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used to have the ruler was called the Kaiser.
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That word is a variation from the Latin word Caesar.
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So the Germans were basically saying we have a super powerful
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single individual who's going to sit on the throne.
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We'll call him the Kaiser and even the Russians.
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They had their one powerful ruler called the Czar, and it's
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actually a variant from the word Caesar.
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So we all have in our fallen nature this propensity to want
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to worship a single human or a set of humans and give them all
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of our love and loyalty, and to then exclude others who are
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children of God should be our neighbors and to blame them when
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things don't work. And so among the things we might
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ask ourselves is are we willing to listen to Paul and focus on
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who the real king is, who has done all these things for us?
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He's sacrificed for us, He's been loyal to us.
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Or are we going to stay in our fallen nature and mistreat
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people because something didn't go well in our lives or in
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society? Or they weren't part of my tribe
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worshipping this human that seemed to have a lot of power?
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So this is, I think, a cautionary opportunity for all
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of us to reconsider our own, our own perspectives.
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So now, as we get ready to jump into the Epistle to the
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Philippians, it it's fascinating to watch how true love can be
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given to the true king, the the God of heaven and earth.
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As opposed to our history's attempts at giving love and
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loyalty and sacrifice and service to the pantheon of false
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gods that are that that can't give anything in return.
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Because they don't have that power.
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They don't have that love to return.
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And as we get ready to dive in, just ponder for a moment.
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Have things really shifted that much in 2000 years?
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We don't have Caesar all around us in our physical and visible
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world today, but we we have other potential idols and false
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gods and false prophets that we do carry in our pockets if we
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want to access them that way. And they are looking over our
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shoulder, and they are persecuting and mocking when you
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don't worship at their altar, when you don't do things their
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way. And there's a variety of those
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that exist in our world today. So hopefully with that
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foundation, as we jump into Philippians, we'll be able to
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keep our focus fixed and locked on the true throne of God and He
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who is worthy of our sacrifice, our focus, our service, our
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loyalty, our love and rooting our identity in him.
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That's that is the message of Paul the apostle to these
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Philippian Saints. So let's with that foundation,
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let's dive in, noticing how hard now, maybe, maybe you haven't
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picked up on this reality, how hard it was to be a true
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follower of Christ in the 1st century in this Greco Roman
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world. This was this was not the path
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of least resistance for a citizen in that in that day and
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age. So he he begins by writing as he
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always does, introducing himself, and in this case
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Timothy is with him, and extending that grace and
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mentioning God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ in verse
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two, as he always does. And he's so grateful.
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He's thanking God for his remembrance of them because the
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people at Phillip High were so good to him and have continued
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to be good to him. And he's in prison and they've
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sent somebody with some gifts to to cheer him up and to help him
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in his in his bonds. And it's just touched his heart.
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And in response, he's written this letter and let's pick it up
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in verse 6, being confident of this very thing that he which
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has begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of
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Jesus Christ. It's that idea of discipleship
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is a long game. It's not a short event.
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It's a long process. And he's saying, I know of the
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grace that has begun with you, and I have confidence it's going
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to continue until the end. Verse 7.
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Even as it as it is, meet for me to think this of you all,
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because I have you in my heart. In as much as both in my bonds
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and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel, ye
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are all per takers of my grace. Those are good words coming from
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Paul to the Philippians. I wonder if we translated those
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and use those words as being spoken messianically, as words
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coming from Christ to us today, and see if they still apply even
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as it is. Meet for me to think this of you
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all, because I have you in my heart, in as much as both in my
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bonds and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel, ye
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are all partakers of my grace. It it fits beautifully, this
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idea of this outward turned set of arrows coming to us from God.
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And now Paul is reflecting that Christlike attribute to these
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Philippian Saints so they can experience some of the grace
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that God has granted to Paul coming through Paul to them.
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It's it's a beautiful concept that you can apply in your home,
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you can apply in any church calling you ever get or in any
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relationship you ever have. What an amazing thing happens
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when we live our life in such a way to say Heavenly Father, here
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I am. Please make of me an instrument
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of thy grace. Help people when they have
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interactions with me. Walk away from those
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interactions saying God is good and there's hope for my future.
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They they feel uplifted. They feel edified.
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That's the kind of person we all want to be in an environment
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that is surrounded by all kinds of other selfish motivations and
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temptations, quite frankly. In verse eight, he continues, he
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says, for God is my record. How greatly I, long after you
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all in the bowels of Jesus Christ, makes me think about
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church leaders. Who?
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Often say in general conference in other settings, how they pour
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out their hearts in prayer to God on behalf of the Saints.
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That people who've been asked to serve in any leadership position
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in the church, it's not for their own benefit.
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It's so they can be serving others.
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And we see this in Paul. We see this in modern day church
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leaders. Their interest is to have God's
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love spread abroad in the hearts of the people they serve.
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Love that now you go to verse 10, that ye may approve things
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that are excellent or or test or prove, put them to the test and
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show this is this is actual as opposed to the world you live
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in. Philippian Saints where people
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are saying make all these offerings to to our our gods and
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goddesses. He say no.
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Let's prove things that are excellent.
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That ye may be sincere and without offense till the day of
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Christ being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which
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are by Jesus Christ unto the glory and praise of God.
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But they lived in a world, and we today live in a world that is
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all about the praise and the glory of men and women, of
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humans. And he's saying, get above that,
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don't worry about what what the world is seeing, and look for
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the praise and the glory of God. And then he goes on to describe
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how that since he is now in bonds and in prison, it's
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actually led to good things happening.
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Are you are you seeing the the Messianic connection here?
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That it's in the bondage that Christ willingly took upon
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himself, were allowed to be placed upon him?
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That all of these good things flow into our life, because he
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became a a servant, a a a bond servant in his infinite atoning
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sacrifice as well as throughout his ministry.
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Then all these good things happen.
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Will Paul's using himself as an example, saying look at verse
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13, so that my bonds in Christ are manifest in all the palace
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and in all other places, and many of the brethren in the Lord
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waxing confident by my bonds, are much more bold to speak the
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word without fear. Have you noticed that Paul's
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been spending a lot of time in prison and he's going to
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continue to spend a lot of time in prison?
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He's not popular among the the magistrates, the rulers, the
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leaders of the different regions that he's been preaching in
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because he is literally seen as a public threat if if this guy
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is allowed to keep spreading his word and more people stop going
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to the temple. And making their sacrifices and
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joining in these feasts and festivals and ordinances to our
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God or goddesses, then we're going to be overrun.
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Or we're going to have floods or droughts or pestilence.
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We've got to stop this guy. And yet he's saying, because I'm
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now in bonds and everybody knows that I'm preaching Jesus, others
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are more emboldened to start preaching Jesus.
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That is not the logical conclusion most would draw, but
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that's what's happening. As you noticed for those first
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300 years until Constantine in in the 4th century, the
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Christians are being persecuted like crazy, sometimes more than
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others, But lots of persecution and you would expect that that
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would decrease the numbers. But isn't it fascinating that
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the external persecution actually deepened the faith and
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and deepened the roots of their their discipleship and the work
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grew amidst the persecution? Now I wonder how we could apply
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that today. I wonder if you look around at
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external pressures on your faith, external pressures on
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your testimony, they don't have to destroy your faith, brothers
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and sisters. They can actually cause a
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deepening of trust in God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ
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rather than a a weakening of our foundation.
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The only time that we struggle is when we let those external
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negative voices and and pointing fingers of accusation when we
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let them become internal doubts and fears that start driving our
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behavior in in shaky ways. Where we start to abandon the
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roots of our faith and start embracing more what we don't
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know rather than rooting deeper in what we do know.
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And so it's it's this fascinating conclusion that he's
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drawing here. My bonds are actually leading to
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great benefit for all of you and for everybody here in the Palace
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where he's where he's in prison it.
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Reminds me of something we talked about a few episodes ago,
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this phrase, this happens to me versus this happens for me.
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And Paul seems to be so empowered by the love and truth
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of God that he no longer sees himself as a victim, which is at
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the pretty common fallen nature perspective that we see things
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are happening to us. Paul is seeing things happening
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for him and essentially declares the bonds I'm in have created a
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positive opportunity to spread the gospel.
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And he says I'm willing to die because if I die I get to hang
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out with Jesus. But I'd prefer to stay here so I
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can act like Jesus and suffer as he suffered in order to spread
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his love. So it's a very interesting
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perspective. It causes me pause to say.
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What am I doing in my life? Am I looking at my circumstances
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and choosing to see them in a positive light of things
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happening for me? Or am I choosing to be a victim?
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Now, what's interesting, we all know the power and the principle
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of agency, but if you think about it, most things that go on
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in the world we have no control over.
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If you really think about, what do you truly, truly only control
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in your life? It's not a lot.
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So most things that go on are outside your control.
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So you can either choose to be a victim or you can choose to be
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empowered and say these are things that are happening for me
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and I'm going to use my agency to receive things that I didn't
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choose, but I'm going to choose to receive them for good.
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So now Taylor already alluded to this, but he gives this little
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it's this moment of reflection starting in verse 21.
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It's it's similar to to William Shakespeare's Hamlet character
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when he gives the the famous to be or not to be sequence.
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He knows very well that death is an absolute possibility in his
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in his condition in. And he knows that it there are
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certain things he could do to basically guarantee that that
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would happen. So look at verse 21.
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For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.
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But if I live in the flesh, this is the fruit of my labor.
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Yet what I shall choose I what not?
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Or I I don't know what to choose.
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I'm. I'm struggling between these two
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things. I'm in a straight betwixt 2,
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having a desire to depart and to be with Christ, which is far
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better. Nevertheless, to abide in the
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flesh is more needful for you once again.
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Are you seeing a reflection of the divine attributes of Jesus
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Christ here as He works his way through the infinite atoning
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sacrifice process at any given point of time throughout that
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event? He could have said, I am free to
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give up the ghost at any time and it would be so much easier
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to to die, would have been freedom for him.
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But he chose to live all through that awful ordeal until he could
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say those 3 words. It is finished.
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And why did he do that? You'll notice all of these
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arrows that we've been using for us, focusing on him his entire
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life, culminating at infinite proportions through his.
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His atoning sacrifice experiences involves every
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single one of these arrows coming from the throne, from him
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outward to us. His focus was on us, not
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himself, his sacrifice. It was for us, not for what he
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could gain, but for what he could help us gain.
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His identity was focused on helping us have an actual
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identity, a purpose for existing, and a focus to the
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future on what we could become. His service was all on us, His
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loyalty was to us, and ultimately this act of love was
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to us. So isn't that fascinating that
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the Lord Jesus Christ did all of these things because of his
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faith in us and his love for us and his loyalty to us?
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And then after doing that in infinite proportions, he turns
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to us and says, now, will you give me your loyalty?
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Will you give me your faith? Will you give me your love?
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And our love is so much smaller. Our loyalty and our devotion and
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our sacrifices are infinitesimal in comparison to his, but he's
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okay with that. He's okay as long as we keep
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striving to focus on him. I I love, I love this concept
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here. When you look at it beyond just
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Paul talking about himself and see it as a metaphor if you
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will, a a parable for the savior himself and his interactions
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with us. So to conclude Paul's little to
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be or not to be portion, I love something that that elder Detod
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Christopherson shared in his talk called the Divine plan of
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becoming more, he says. When we see mortal life in
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context, we see that it is not a question of to be or not to be,
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but rather to become more or not to become more.
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That's really the choice in the decision that faces each of us
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today is am I going to take as Taylor saying all of these
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things that are happening, and am I going to choose to have
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them be opportunities for me to strive to become more,
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especially in this case, more like the Savior?
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Or am I going to shrink? Am I going to become less
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because of what's happening? Which now brings us to Chapter
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2, which contains one of the most sweet hymns in in the
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entire history of the the Bible and some of your saying, wait a
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minute, a hymn? Yeah, this.
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There's a there's a song here. The Philippians letter contains
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this song in chapter 2, verse six through 11.
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So to set the stage for that song that that hymn, look at
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verse 3 through 5. First let nothing be done
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through strife or Vainglory but in lowliness of mind let each
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esteem other better than themselves.
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Now that would be an amazing world to live in if everybody
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was esteeming everybody else as better than themselves,
30:02
appropriately. Not in a not in a self loathing
30:05
way, not in a scrupulosity way. I'm never going to be good
30:08
enough, but in a looking at other people with genuine love
30:12
and respect. Verse four Look not every man on
30:15
his own things, but every man also on the things of others,
30:20
and let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.
30:23
Remember, these Saints would receive these letters.
30:26
Somebody would read the letter to the Saints, so people would
30:29
be hearing these words, not reading them on a page.
30:32
It wasn't like they had a photocopy machine and said
30:35
everyone just read this on your own.
30:36
And there may have been an opportunity for them to pause
30:40
and actually sing this hymn together.
30:44
So we're going to now read the words of this hymn that that
30:47
describes Jesus Christ and his qualities.
30:52
So Jesus Christ, who being in the form of God, thought it not
30:56
robbery to be equal of God, but made himself of no reputation,
31:02
and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the
31:05
likeness of men. And being found in fashion as a
31:08
man, he humble himself, and became obedient unto death, even
31:13
the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly
31:17
exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name.
31:22
That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow of things in
31:27
heaven and things in earth and things under the earth, and that
31:31
every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the
31:36
glory of God the Father. That's a beautiful, beautiful
31:41
hymn loaded with all kinds of things.
31:43
Let's go back and unpack some of these, some of these principles.
31:47
If you look starting in verse 6, you get this doctrine of
31:51
deification or doctrine of exaltation, this ascension,
31:57
where he's in the form of God and we learn from Genesis that
32:01
that you and I are created also in the image and likeness of
32:05
God. And he thought it not robbery to
32:09
be equal with God. So this exaltation but made
32:14
himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of a
32:18
servant was made in the likeness of man.
32:21
So he who was in the form of God, of God before the world
32:25
was. If you look at John chapter one,
32:26
verse one through 5 kind of gives that that perspective of
32:30
of his identity that he emptied himself that the Greek word.
32:36
Here it has this connotation of of emptying his His godliness so
32:42
to speak, to come down this condescension to become like us.
32:48
And then in the form of man he's he dies the lowest form of death
32:55
possible. In the 1st century, a Roman
32:59
crucifixion on a cross and it mentions that at the the bottom
33:03
of verse 8 even the death of the cross.
33:07
So the highest God comes down and dies.
33:12
The lowest death. So that verse 9.
33:16
Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him and given given him
33:21
a name which is above every name.
33:25
Oh the the symbolism and the irony are thick on the cross
33:31
what did what did Pilot put on the the title for the cross?
33:37
The King of the Jews. What do you What he should have
33:42
labeled it is the king, period. King with a capital K He is the
33:49
king of kings. He's the king of heaven and of
33:53
earth, and of all things that in them are he is the king.
33:57
But he was being mocked by men with this lowliest of deaths and
34:04
that's that's how the world judged him.
34:06
But how did God judge him as the the highest of all and gives him
34:12
the name above all? Here is God himself who descends
34:16
to become like man and see these see this inversion of humans who
34:20
are grasping to make themselves like gods.
34:24
And yet God himself makes himself like a human so he can
34:28
uplift everybody to be like God. And I love how Paul, he just
34:33
uses and this is just like Jesus as well often as teachings would
34:36
use these parallel contrasts. And just show these inversions
34:41
that the way we think of reality sometimes is quite different
34:44
than what it truly is, That the low will be exalted and the high
34:49
will be abased. And Speaking of the abased, look
34:54
at verse 10 at the name of Jesus every knee should bow.
35:01
That's 100%. That leaves nobody out at the
35:05
coming of the Lord. And at the name of Jesus, every
35:07
knee will bow. And he says in verse 11 and
35:12
every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the
35:17
glory of God the Father. He's quoting Isaiah chapter 45,
35:24
verse 22 and 23 here. And if you go back and read
35:27
Isaiah 45, you see that the context there is Speaking of the
35:32
Lord God. And So what Paul is doing with
35:35
these Philippian Saints is he's helping them to see that the
35:40
Lord God of the Old Testament, the God that Isaiah is referring
35:43
to, the God that has performed all these mighty miracles with
35:47
all these, the children of Israel and back with Adam and
35:50
Nina Kenoa and Abraham before that, being that every knee is
35:55
going to bow and confess him, well, he now has a name.
36:00
It's Jesus Christ. It's not just Jehovah.
36:03
The Old Testament, it's now God came down, became one of us, and
36:09
it is Jesus Christ, the divine king of heaven.
36:13
And when he comes back, as it is in many cultures through the
36:17
history of the world, when the king comes in, everybody bows
36:20
down. Well, when Jesus comes, every
36:23
knee will bow and every tongue will confess.
36:25
Now we hear that, and that makes us excited.
36:28
And we're thinking, oh, that's wonderful.
36:30
To the Philippian Saints, surrounded by people who are
36:34
insisting that they bow the knee and confess to their gods and to
36:39
Caesar, and to to pay their loyalty and their sacrifice and
36:43
their obeisance to the to the idols and to the gods of the
36:46
world. This is this is powerful.
36:50
And it's bold even in the ancient Roman world.
36:55
The soldiers when Caesar would walk by, they would symbolically
36:59
treat Caesar as if he was the glorious sun shining.
37:03
Now, what do you do when a bright light or the sun is
37:05
shining in your eyes? You cover your eyes.
37:08
And so the Roman soldiers would go like this.
37:11
Now that has passed down to us today in our military, you
37:15
salute. And the word salute is a Latin
37:17
word, means health. So you want health to Caesar, so
37:21
you salute him. And you've covered your eyes so
37:24
the bright shining light is not penetrating your eyes.
37:28
And that's where that idea comes from.
37:30
And Paul is saying actually. The one who gives us salute or
37:35
help is Jesus Christ and His light shines on us and we're
37:38
supposed to receive it fully. Don't hide from the light.
37:42
And he wants to uplift you into the light.
37:45
Now those words don't show up here, but contextually the
37:48
Philippians would have understood this and that Paul
37:51
isn't going on to say it like because of what Jesus has done,
37:55
we all should follow his example, be willing to suffer
37:59
that we can spread light and love.
38:03
And that goes back to what Paul was talking about in chapter
38:06
one. He'll talk about it in chapter
38:08
three. That because of the story of
38:10
Jesus Christ, Paul wants his own life to model the story of
38:14
Jesus. And frankly, if we're going to
38:16
take upon ourselves the name of Jesus Christ, we, like Paul,
38:20
need to get on that path and be willing to allow things to
38:24
happen for us for the greater good.
38:28
So the the hymn to Christ concludes here, which, by the
38:34
way, have you noticed that here, at this early period of the
38:39
church's beginnings, they're singing hymns to Jesus?
38:44
Well, the the Greco Roman citizens around them are
38:48
noticing, wow, they're even singing songs to this, this man
38:52
that that was crucified. And they're finding this very
38:56
odd. We'll look at verse 12.
38:58
He continues on. Wherefore, because of this,
39:02
because of all this incredible doctrine contained in that
39:05
little hymn verse 12 Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always
39:11
obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my
39:14
absence, work out your own salvation with fear and
39:20
trembling. Now some of you are probably
39:22
thinking yourself, wait a minute.
39:23
I thought fear was the opposite of faith, and I thought,
39:26
tremble. We shouldn't be afraid to move
39:28
forward. And doubt not, what he's doing
39:31
here is he's quoting Psalm 2, verse 11.
39:37
It's this. It's this necessity for us to
39:41
focus on connecting with the Lord so that we can work out our
39:47
salvation. I can't live the gospel for my
39:49
children. I can't eat a meal for you.
39:53
I can't go and have an experience for Taylor.
39:56
There are certain things that we each have to to accomplish.
40:01
Through our own use of agency. And he's encouraging that.
40:05
And now he says, for it is God which worketh in you both to
40:10
will and to do his good pleasure.
40:15
So if you use the Savior's example through the Atonement as
40:18
a as a model here, and if you picture a sacrifice altar, well,
40:26
I bring my will and I sacrifice that.
40:32
On the altar of the Lord I place my desires, my goals, my money,
40:39
my talents, everything that I have.
40:42
I put it on the altar encapsulated with my will.
40:48
And what do I get in return? I get His power and His will.
40:56
Not my will, but thine be done well.
40:58
His will is not to have me be a miserable person, or to be an
41:04
unsuccessful person, or to be an unfruitful person.
41:08
His will is actually for me to grow and expand and be fruitful
41:15
and at times suffer tribulation, bondage, affliction, disease,
41:21
death, loss. And if I just continually stay
41:29
at the altar of the Lord and keep sacrificing my will in
41:35
exchange for His, and then totally trust and love and
41:39
sacrifice for Him, then I can let go of the the anxiety of not
41:44
feeling like I'm in complete control and why are all these
41:47
bad things happening to me? But rather take that perspective
41:51
the two was talking about and say, oh, here's another
41:55
challenge coming my way. I wonder what the Lord would
41:58
have me learn from this one. It's it's easier said than done.
42:03
I get that it's easy for me to stand here and preach this
42:07
doctrine, and it's hard for me to go home and now live it.
42:12
But it's true doctrine. And the Savior showed us the
42:16
perfect example of what that actually looks like throughout
42:19
His life and especially in the the Infinite Atonement process.
42:23
And so it's it's that opportunity for us to strive to
42:26
be more like him. What's really I find intriguing
42:30
about the quote from Psalm Chapter 2 is that it's one of
42:33
these royal psalms which is about divine kingship.
42:37
And ultimately, what we're talking about here is God
42:40
himself is the divine King, and if we allow his will to work
42:46
through us, we also become divine.
42:50
Kings and Queens, We've talked in the past about how the word
42:53
Melchezidic, like the Melchezic priesthood, literally means king
42:58
of righteousness. And to make it more inclusive,
43:00
it's kings and Queens of righteousness.
43:03
So the priesthood, God's power doing his will is so that we can
43:08
have Thrones and powers and principalities and be like him.
43:12
And Paul's saying we might suffer for a while, the greatest
43:17
king of all. He suffered, and it brought
43:19
good. So it's okay we can be on that
43:22
same path. And he gives us some cautions.
43:24
Then in in verse 1415 do all things without murmurings and
43:29
disputings that ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons
43:32
of God without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse
43:36
nation, among whom he shine as lights in the world.
43:41
So I know you're getting pounded with persecution there in
43:45
Phillip High, but keep holding on to the King of of Heaven,
43:52
Christ, and you'll you'll be this light.
43:56
I think about these Christians who didn't have access to print
44:01
scriptures on a regular basis or satellite TV with general
44:05
conference beamed into their homes, or even having a a mobile
44:09
device where you can be reading general conference talks every
44:12
day. Imagine how precious these words
44:15
were. To the Philippians and other
44:17
Christians, the point that they're in this really tough
44:20
environment, they've received these amazing, powerful words of
44:24
doctrine and consolation, you can see why this letter was
44:28
preserved over so many centuries.
44:31
It wasn't like Paul had nothing else to say in his life.
44:34
But this one resonated so much with these people under deep
44:38
challenge that they shared it, they memorized it, they wrote it
44:42
down, and they kept spreading it.
44:44
To the point that we now have access to it in our time.
44:46
I just find that so powerful. Heartwarming.
44:49
It's powerful. Now look at verse 17.
44:53
Yay. If I be offered upon the
44:55
sacrifice and service of your faith, I joy and rejoice with
45:00
you all once again. I think you can hear the
45:05
messianic reflection coming through here, that this is, this
45:11
is Paul simply reechoing what the Lord himself did for us,
45:18
that he was sacrificed for all of us, and he joyed in that
45:23
sacrifice, and he rejoices with you all in the sacrifice that I
45:29
love that the Savior's natural response to his sacrifice for us
45:33
is an overflowing love and kindness and compassion and
45:39
mercy and grace. So now we turn to Chapter 3,
45:43
where Paul begins by talking about a little bit of his, his
45:47
autobiographical history, what what he's done, where he's been,
45:53
the the prices he's paid, so to speak, to get where he is.
45:58
But notice what he says in verse 7.
46:00
But what things were gained to me?
46:02
Those I counted? Loss for Christ, Yeah,
46:06
doubtless. And I count all things but loss
46:09
for the Excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my
46:12
Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do
46:15
count them but dung that I may win Christ, He's saying
46:20
everything this world has to offer me.
46:22
And you're there in Philip. I this metropolitan, very rich,
46:26
prosperous, powerful, famous place in the in the Roman
46:31
Empire, one of the one of the central places of power.
46:36
And he's saying, I count all of that as dung compared to the
46:41
Excellency of the knowledge of Christ.
46:44
Fascinating that we live in such a prosperous world today.
46:48
And if Paul were standing here today, I I think he would be
46:52
fascinated with all the amazing things we have available.
46:55
But I don't think he would change his sentiment.
46:57
I think he would say it's still what we're doing right here,
47:01
right now, studying, digging in, trying to find the truth of the
47:06
gospel of Jesus Christ and the reality of of the King so that
47:10
we can more fully serve him, love him, sacrifice for him, and
47:14
build our identity around him and in him.
47:17
Again, Paul is trying to convince the Philippians, and us
47:21
by extension, that Jesus's story should become our story.
47:26
This we can see throughout the text Paul is trying to say.
47:30
Jesus gave everything up. He was God in heaven.
47:33
He gave it all up and suffered the deepest cruelties that
47:37
humans could imagine. And he gained all.
47:40
And I, Paul, am willing to do the same.
47:43
And Paul has invited us to also just look around us and say let
47:46
us not get distracted by the trappings of the world and
47:50
realize that we also have a divine origin and we too are in
47:55
a humble state in a fallen nature and we can suffer like
47:59
Jesus. And receive that for good, so
48:02
that we can be exalted back into divine presence of God.
48:06
Beautiful. Now look at verse 12.
48:08
Not as though I had already attained either were already
48:11
perfect, but I follow after. Or you look at the footnote
48:17
there 12B. I press forward.
48:19
I'm striving. That word that shows up in the
48:22
temple recommend interviews in multiple places.
48:25
I'm. I'm pressing forward I'm.
48:28
I'm putting my very best effort here.
48:31
I follow after if that I may apprehend that for which also I
48:38
am apprehended of Christ Jesus. The wording there is is a little
48:43
complicated, but look at the the incredible analogy here.
48:48
Paul's saying, look, I'm seeking after Jesus I'm apprehending.
48:54
I'm following in the path I'm trying to attain unto Christ to
48:59
be able to to achieve all that he has to give me.
49:04
And then he gives this. As Taylor had mentioned, Paul
49:08
likes doing these reversals. He says basically this last
49:13
phrase. Also, I am apprehended of Christ
49:19
Jesus. So here we are thinking we're
49:21
doing all of this, reaching after Christ.
49:24
When he says, truth be told, it was Christ Jesus who apprehended
49:29
me. He reached for me, and now he
49:34
asks me to reach for him. Second, and you know Paul's
49:39
history, You know what he was doing before, and you know the
49:42
story of the the road to Damascus and Jesus apprehending
49:47
Paul 1st. And now Paul spends the rest of
49:52
his life apprehending the Lord. What a beautiful example for all
49:56
of us to not get too prideful or overconfident, thinking.
50:01
Look what a good person I am, doing all of these amazing
50:03
things, trying to come under Christ.
50:06
This is Paul's gentle reminder. Long before you sought for
50:10
Christ, Christ already sought for you and he apprehended you.
50:16
Now it's our turn to reciprocate and strive to be more like him
50:21
in doing the the mirror apprehending of trying to find
50:27
him. Look at these beautiful words in
50:30
verse 13, brethren. I count not myself to have
50:35
apprehended, but this one thing I do for getting those things
50:39
which are behind and reaching forth under those things which
50:43
are before. Once again, we know Paul's past.
50:47
We know the struggles. We know his.
50:50
He's not proud of that. And he's saying in Christ, I can
50:55
forget those. I'm not going to completely
50:58
forget them. I'm.
50:58
I've learned from it. But I'm now going to turn and
51:02
face the future. I wonder if many of us spend too
51:07
much time feeling silly or shamed or guilty or regretful
51:16
because we're spending so much time turning and looking to our
51:19
past. The invitation, one of the many
51:22
invitations of the gospel of Jesus Christ, is to repent in a
51:25
Hebrew context, to turn toward Christ.
51:29
Face the future in Christ rather the past.
51:34
In my weakness, you generally walk the direction you're
51:39
facing. If we spend too much time
51:42
looking at the past in shame and regret and remorse, we're
51:46
probably going to end up feeling pretty bad about ourselves and
51:50
about God, and about others for that matter.
51:54
But if we can figure out how to allow the Savior to actually
51:58
carry those burdens for us, leave them in our past, His
52:02
words, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching
52:05
forth unto those things which are before and truly taking the
52:10
hand of the Almighty Son of God, saying, please allow me to take
52:16
your yoke upon me, walk with me, help me move forward, not
52:22
backward. Then miracles can happen.
52:23
And he says, verse 14, I pressed toward the mark for the prize of
52:28
the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
52:33
That's something to look forward to, is this exaltation, this
52:39
enthronement that Christ promises us if we'll press
52:44
forward with steadfast faith in him and a love of God and of all
52:49
men. And this gets us to the
52:51
conclusion in chapter 4 where he tells people, OK, it is now your
52:56
turn to follow my example and I'm simply following the example
53:00
of Jesus Christ. And then it concludes with a
53:03
typical beautiful Thanksgiving. So this is a really, really
53:08
powerful letter and in our own lives.
53:10
Sure, this was written 2000 years ago, but it still matters
53:13
because we all strive to be followers of Jesus Christ.
53:19
If you have taken upon yourself the name of Jesus Christ, like
53:22
Paul, we can glory in afflictions and suffering.
53:25
We can see that the things that are happening for us allow us to
53:29
be like Jesus Christ and that good can flourish because of the
53:32
challenges we face and that ultimately, like Jesus Christ,
53:37
we are brought back into the presence of God and we are
53:40
glorified and made divine. That's powerful.
53:43
And and by the way, for those of you who love the 13th article of
53:47
faith in that 13th article of faith, it tells us that we
53:53
indeed we may say we follow the admonition of Paul.
53:57
Well, the admonition of Paul is found here in Philippians
54:01
chapter 4, verse eight that says finally, brethren, whatsoever
54:07
things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever
54:10
things are just. Whatsoever things are pure or
54:14
lovely or of good report. If there be any virtue, or if
54:18
there be any praise, think on these things, these things which
54:22
you have both learned and received and heard and seen in
54:25
me do, and the God of peace shall be with you.
54:31
This is an important point here because many people in the
54:34
world, they read only certain portions or selections of Paul's
54:39
writings and they'll focus only on the grace or the faith
54:43
aspects and they'll completely skip the works, the the doing
54:48
parts of Paul's epistles. And here's a classic example of
54:53
Paul saying you've seen all these things, now do them and
54:58
then God's peace shall be with you.
55:00
Paul is not just sit back and let Jesus do everything for you.
55:06
He's he's the kind of an apostle that is teaching God's grace is
55:12
going to help you do all the things you need to do to become
55:17
the person you need to become. And by the way, verse 13, that
55:24
the youth theme is really powerful.
55:27
I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.
55:32
It's that very grace. That's it.
55:35
Grace is the oxygen in our spiritual lives that makes our
55:40
lives possible. It's not just our spiritual
55:42
lives. So grace is the core
55:45
foundational element that animates our ability.
55:48
To do so, we need to receive the free gift so that we can enact
55:55
what grace looks like. So that brings us now to the
56:00
Epistle to the Colossians, now the Colossians, these these
56:04
people living in colossi. It's about a two to three day
56:09
journey from Ephesus in inland in Turkey.
56:15
It's a small it's it's a smaller town and there's a a body of
56:22
Saints there. The leader of that group seems
56:25
to be Fileman and will cover his letter in a in a future lesson.
56:31
So these people in Cole say they're facing many of the same
56:35
issues as the the people in the huge metropolitan city of
56:38
Philippi or the big city of Ephesus.
56:42
It's just on a smaller scale, but it's the same imperial
56:47
sacrificial expectations and and the devotion to their gods.
56:52
And you're in a smaller town where everybody knows everybody
56:55
a little bit better. It it's still very, very
56:58
difficult to be a Christian at this time in those places.
57:02
So Paul wants to convince them that because of the liberty of
57:07
Jesus Christ of what he did, we can live in the presence.
57:11
And experience God's Kingdom now.
57:14
So if you're a Jew, it also means you can move on or upgrade
57:20
from the laws. If you're, say, a Pagan who's
57:24
now become a Christian, you no longer are bound down to the
57:27
religious expectations that you may have found in your Pagan
57:31
religions, that Jesus provides liberty and a new identity, and
57:37
perhaps one of the most powerful passages here.
57:41
Again, there's another poem that is similar to the hymn we saw in
57:45
Philippians. But if you look at Colossians
57:47
verses 15 to 20, this is maybe one of the most important
57:52
aspects of this particular letter, where Paul is expressing
57:57
key characteristics of who Jesus Christ is, to empower the people
58:01
with this new identity that we've been talking about.
58:04
So Paul introduces this poem or quote in verse 15.
58:09
In verse 14, talking about Jesus, he says in Jesus, in whom
58:13
we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of
58:16
sins, who is the image of the invisible God, the first born of
58:23
every creature? For by him were all things
58:26
created that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and
58:31
invisible, whether they be Thrones or dominions or
58:34
principalities or powers, all things.
58:37
Were created by him and for him, and he is before all things, and
58:43
by him all things consist. And he is the head of the body,
58:47
the church, who is the beginning, the first born from
58:50
the dead, That in all things he might have the preeminence.
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For please the Father, that in him should all fullness dwell,
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and having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him
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to reconcile all things unto himself, by him I say, whether
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they are by things in earth. Whether they be things in earth
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or things in heaven. Now you imagine for these early
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Christians this is a really powerful, dense summary
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statement of core characteristics of who Jesus
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Christ is. And in this Greco Roman
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environment where you have gods dedicated to almost every kind
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of natural phenomenon you can imagine, Paul is saying none of
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that matters. There is one individual who was
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God is God came down and. Lived like us, suffered that we
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might be liberated, He died, that he might make everybody
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free from the bonds of death. So I think about these early
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Saints and colossus where it would have been so empowering
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for them to know that their identity as Christians, that
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they have chosen to follow this man, Jesus Christ, that they are
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now rejecting the powers and forces of the world but instead
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of lying themselves. With what is true and real that
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Jesus Christ created all things, you don't have to go worship
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gods of wood or stone or wind or water.
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You can worship the One who made all things, and all things were
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for Him. And what is it for him so that
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he can deliver salvation to all of us?
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So in chapter two, he gives us a couple of of beautiful little
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gems. Here look at verse 6.
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As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk
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ye in him. Remember what he said in John
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14. Six I am the way, the truth in
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life. No man cometh under the Father,
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but by me he's saying, walk in him Another way.
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He could have said, that is, walk in the way.
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That's Christ. #7 rooted and built up in him and established
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in the faith as you have been taught, a bounding therein with
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Thanksgiving. I love this concept that Tom
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Wright shares. He's a New Testament scholar, NT
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Wright. He says Paul's epistle to the
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Colossians is a lot more than just showing you how to live a
1:01:23
life of Thanksgiving. Giving your thanks to God.
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If we were to add that to the list.
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But he said he's actually showing these Colossian Saints
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thanks. Living how to change how to how
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to enhance Thanksgiving into thanks.
1:01:43
Living where you live your life and how do you do that How do
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you do. Thanks.
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Living. You do it by walking in Christ
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with Christ in his way. Look at verse 8.
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Beware, lest any man spoil you through philosophy.
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This is, this is a a beautiful caution to these Christians in
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Colossei who have external pressures being put upon them by
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the Gentiles, by the Greek philosophies of their time and
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setting and place. So these This is a Greek caution
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here. Beware lest any man spoil you
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through philosophy and vain deceit after the tradition of
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men, after the rudiments of the world and not after Christ.
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So he's given the the, the Greek caution, and then in the next
1:02:40
column he says you're also getting pressure from the Jewish
1:02:45
side as well to come back to the law of Moses and abandon your
1:02:48
faith in Christ. So verse 16 Let not let no man
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therefore judge you in meat or in drink, or in respect of a
1:02:56
holy day, or of the new moon and of the Sabbath days which are a
1:03:00
shadow of things to come. But the body is of Christ.
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He's saying keep everything focused on Christ and what
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you're learning from the apostles, not from these
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pressures from both sides in your setting and culture.
1:03:15
And then he introduces this, this worshipping of angels.
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In verse 18 as well, that's intruding into those things
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which he had not seen vainly puffed up by his fleshy mind.
1:03:28
I sometimes feel for Paul just the the challenges he would have
1:03:32
faced both against the Judaizer, Judaizers as well as the Greco
1:03:37
Roman philosophies. And it wasn't like Paul was
1:03:39
saying everything in this present world is worthless and
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just reject everything there is good in the world.
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There is good that comes from other sources besides revelation
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and Scripture. But Paul is being very clear
1:03:52
there. You you have to filter through
1:03:55
everything through the revelation, we and liberty we
1:03:59
receive from Jesus Christ. And I.
1:04:00
Just my heart goes out to Paul. Just the challenge to create
1:04:05
that freedom to help his audience know that they are free
1:04:08
in Jesus Christ and they no longer need to be bound down by
1:04:12
the false traditions of people who maybe were well-intentioned
1:04:17
but didn't have the fullest understanding.
1:04:21
So in chapter three he he gives them some additional
1:04:26
instructions for how to live a life of things living.
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Verse two, set your affection on things above, not on things on
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the earth. Don't you love that your
1:04:37
affection Your. Your.
1:04:39
Your mind, the things that you focus on and and seek for, and
1:04:43
love, have them be above verse 5.
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Mortify therefore your members, which are upon the earth,
1:04:50
fornication, uncleanness in ordinance, inordinate affection,
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evil, concupiscence, covetousness, which is idolatry,
1:05:01
for which things sake, the wrath of God cometh on the children of
1:05:06
disobedience. Did you notice the symbolic
1:05:10
irony here, that the wrath of God comes because people are
1:05:16
worshiping idols? But what is the tradition of
1:05:19
those very people? It's if you don't come and
1:05:22
worship this idol with me and sacrifice to this idol.
1:05:25
Then the God of this idol, whose spirit we're hoping comes and
1:05:30
occupies this idol we've built for it or in this temple we've
1:05:33
established for it, is going to be angry with us and the wrath
1:05:37
of this God is going to destroy us in one form or another.
1:05:40
Paul's using that cultural norm to say yeah, when bad things.
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If if the wrath of God is going to come, it's because you've
1:05:50
been spending too much time at the feasts and festivals and
1:05:54
idol. Ceremonies of the these Pagan
1:05:58
practices, as well as doing a lot of other evil things that he
1:06:03
summarizes in verse five with some kind of difficult English
1:06:07
words that we don't use commonly today.
1:06:10
The summation for me of chapter 3 is in verse 11, where there is
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neither Greek nor Jew. Circumcision nor uncircumcision,
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barbarian, Scythian bond nor free.
1:06:25
But Christ is all and in all he's saying.
1:06:30
Stop doing this division and find the unity in Christ.
1:06:35
It's all centered in Christ. Which brings us to Chapter 4,
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where he's going to close the epistle.
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And it's here, by the way, where you you are introduced to Luke
1:06:49
in verse 14, the Beloved physician.
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So you've heard us talk multiple times back when we were doing
1:06:55
the Gospels in the Gospel of Luke, how he's this physician
1:06:59
and he pays attention to suffering and healing and
1:07:03
people's on the margin of society.
1:07:06
And here's where Paul mentions him as one of Paul's missionary
1:07:10
companions as being the beloved. Physician I love the fact that
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Luke is once again reflecting what we've talked about with
1:07:22
Paul, reflecting the divine attributes of Christ.
1:07:26
Because at the end of the day, Luke may be called here the
1:07:29
beloved Physician, but Jesus Christ is the beloved physician,
1:07:36
the greatest healer of all time. And so we love Luke because he's
1:07:40
reflecting that attribute of the divine.
1:07:42
We love what we're getting from Paul because we can see through
1:07:46
the lens of Paul the Lord Jesus Christ.
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And hopefully, as we continue to study and immerse in these
1:07:56
scriptures to learn more about Jesus Christ and interact with
1:08:00
people and practice these principles, then people will be
1:08:04
able to look through us and see Jesus Christ as well, rather
1:08:10
than have the focus be on us. So in closing, these are
1:08:15
incredible epistles written to people with incredible, deep,
1:08:20
sincere needs at that time 2000 years ago.
1:08:25
But the principles aren't all that different today.
1:08:28
It's as if Paul were writing through space and time to us
1:08:35
today to come unto Christ. Give him our focus.
1:08:40
Give him our service, our loyalty, our love, our thanks,
1:08:43
our sacrifice and root our identity in him today.
1:08:49
Because he is the king, in spite of all of the world's gods and
1:08:54
goddesses that have been set up to compete for our time.
1:08:59
And we know that he lives, and we leave that with you in the
1:09:02
name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
1:09:05
Know that you're loved and spread light and goodness.