SELECTED
STUDIES IN PAUL’S LETTER TO THE PHILIPPIANS
Today
we begin a study in the book of PHILIPPIANS.
This will be a different kind of study than we’ve been accustomed to but
I think you’ll enjoy it. In our first
pen pulpit in this series we will examine the background of this little book.
The
historical record of the founding of this church is recorded in
Acts 16:1-34. The events in this
chapter take place around A.D. 49. The
Book of Philippians was written in about A.D .61. A period of 12 years has elapsed between the founding of this
church and the writing of the epistle.
The thing you remember most vividly about Paul’s time in Philippi is his
period of imprisonment and his encounter with the pagan jailor. Now Paul is writing back to this church from
a jail cell or at least from a prison house.
Purpose
and Observation
1.
Paul
wrote to share his appreciation to this little church for their concern for him
in prison. There was a very close bond
between Paul and this church. They
alone ministered to him in prison (4:14-16,18). There was also a very close
bond between Paul and the leadership of this church
2.
Paul wrote to gently admonish these Philippians to humility and
steadfastness in the faith, which is necessary when a church is in a state of
spiritual health and productivity
(1:27-30; 4:1; 2:1-5).
3. He wrote to reveal himself as a living example of the power of God
in human weakness.
• 1:21 – “to live is Christ” is his philosophy
• 2:4,
5, 20 - to realize his philosophy, he has to discover and develop the mindset of Christ. You are what you think!
• 3:10 - This necessitates the
priority of pursuing Christ.
• 4:5,7 w/ 8,9,13 –When you are pursuing
Christ, allowing His mindset to control you, the peace of Christ
(vs.6,7); the power of Christ
(v.13) and the compassion of Christ (v.19) will exude from your life.
4. Paul’s desire to explain his circumstances in prison: he views himself a missionary in a mission
field (1:12-18).
5. You will note that there are no Old Testament quotations in this
book. He is not trying to establish any
messianic claims. There is no
Christological heresy.
6. Two words predominate in this book: JOY – 16 times; CHRIST - over 20 times. The only place joy can be found is IN CHRIST. Joy
is JESUS and YOU with nothing in-between - J-O-Y.
In our studies each week we plan to concentrate on
certain prominent passages in this book.
In our second pen pulpit we will examine Philippians 1:6 very carefully. I encourage you to read the book of
Philippians through at least once each day for the remainder of the week. You derive much more from a passage or a
book when you read it through repeatedly and think on what you’ve read. God bless.
In HIS love and grace,