Philippians 1:1-11
A new look
As you can see we have a new look starting today, I would like to thank Rosie for spending 2+ hours on the phone with me setting it up, but we now have links to resources and information so if you have a favorite website let me know and I will take a look. We also have a new page “sermons” this will be a collection of not just my weekly sermons but sermons from others pastors I though others may like to here.
Philippians 1:1-11
New King James Version (NKJV)
Greeting
1 Paul and Timothy, bondservants of Jesus Christ, to all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, with the bishops and deacons: 2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Thankfulness and Prayer
3 I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, 4 always in every prayer of mine making request for you all with joy, 5 for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now, 6 being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ; 7 just as it is right for me to think this of you all, because I have you in my heart, inasmuch as both in my chains and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel, you all are partakers with me of grace. 8 For God is my witness, how greatly I long for you all with the affection of Jesus Christ.
9 And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment, 10 that you may approve the things that are excellent, that you may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ, 11 being filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.
My Thoughts:
- Let’s start with (v. 6) we read “being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ;”
- God wants to finish what He started; He wants to restore Himself in us. To see the purity and holiness that is in Him reflected in us.
- I also see Paul saying that no matter how hard we try we are not the ones that can do the work. Only through Christ can we reflect His character.
- And lastly we see Paul telling us that this perfection that we will receive will only come when Christ returns. We are not and never will be perfect until Christ returns.
- In (v. 8) we read “For God is my witness, how greatly I long for you all with the affection of Jesus Christ.”
- I think Paul is reflecting the type of love that is called “agape” love. Why do I say this? It is because Paul states that God is his witness and when I read this I see Paul saying that his love is so deep in his heart that only God can see it, and that is the love we all long for.
- We read “how greatly I long for you all with the affection of Jesus Christ.” Again we see Paul referring to a deeper love a love that we associate with Christ.
- Let’s finish with (v. 11) “being filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God”
- What are these “fruits of righteousness” Paul speaks of? I favor the understanding of this phrase as the standard for testing the character. We read in (Matt. 7:15-20) “15 “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. 16 You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? 17 Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Therefore by their fruits you will know them.”
Thought of the Day
“God loves us too much to let us stay as we are.”
End of Construction
One day Billy and Ruth Graham were driving through a long stretch of road construction. They had numerous slowdowns, detours, and stops along the way. Finally they reached the end of all that difficulty, and smooth pavement stretched out before them. This sign caught Ruth’s attention: “End of construction. Thanks for your patience.” She commented that those words would be a fitting inscription on her tombstone someday. As a matter of fact, those words fit all of us as believers, because in this life we are “under construction.” When we accept Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, we begin the lifelong process of spiritual growth. The Holy Spirit works in us to remove our selfishness (Php 2:4-note), to renew our thinking (Ro 12:2-note), and to develop qualities in us that are more and more Christ-like (Col 3:5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 -see notes on Colossians 3:5ff). Paul described this process as a work of God. He said, “He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1:6). As we travel heavenward, let’s cooperate with God’s construction of our lives. When His work in us is complete, “we shall be like Him” (1John 3:2), perfectly conformed to our Savior’s likeness.
-V C Grounds-
Personal Reflection and Discussion
- What are your thoughts on (v. 8)?
- What do you think of when you read (v. 11)?
- What other things do you see in the text?
Prayer Activities
- Call your Partner and discuss this devotional.
- Continue to have a prayer list and continue to praying for them.
- Pray with them and ask for the following;
- For God to give you the understanding of this Agape love we speak about.
- For God to strengthen your fruits of righteousness.
- For the individuals on your pray list.
- For today’s prayer verse let’s use (Psalms 5:1-3).
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Verse8 shows that Paul loved the Phillipians with all his heart. Paul revea that his love was as the love of Jesus and so he had the “heart” of Jesus. Verse 11 talks about the fruits of righteousness. These fruits can only come from the Holy Spirit. Righteousness also describes the nature of the fruits. We could say these fruits were morally correct conduct. So we are to love one another as deeply as Jesus loves us. So easy to do for some people and so hard to do to others, unfortunately. We are to remember to be righteous in our love and our actions to all. Wow.
You are right about how people love. We live in a time of disposable things, plates, TV’s, well you name it we throw it away, things are not made to last. The problem I see it that we treat our marriages and our friends the same way. We need to stop casting them aside and hold on to what God has brought together.
Paul loves the church like a father loves his child. I would say Paul made a good role model of fatherly love. Vrs 7 shows that the love for the church seems to have got him in the chains. The whole time he’s praying for them that they may to grow to their potential, trusting that God is faithful to continue the good work he saw in them.
When you think of how much someone is willing to scarifice for your religious freedoms, how can they not want to grow and not let the scarifice be made in vain. That should be in our forefronts. Jesus scarificed himself for us, not to mention so many after him, how dare we sit back in our comfey homes and do nothing to spread the message. We tend to forget the scarifices made and the work to be done, since we have relative peace.
It’s easy to assume everyone heard the message by now, especially in the US or in our Bible-belt Texas. But the truth is we don’t want to rock any boats, we don’t want to bother anyone or offend anyone by assuming they don’t know Jesus like we know. We surely don’t want to pass judgement. We live in a political correct society. Even things that are obviously wrong in the Bible we don’t want to point out…maybe for fear of having a civil suit against us.
Boy, what would Paul do in our time? Would he take such a stand hoping we would grow and stand for Jesus also. Would he see in our church what he saw in the church of his time? Would we (or better yet I) be willing to approve the things are are good and excellent, be sincere and withour offense in Christ? I think it really can’t be done, unless we first let our love abound in knowledge and discernment. Only with sincere love, grounded in knowledge and being able to rightly judge, can any real growth and stand be made in Jesus. Then, and only then, can there be sincere fruits of righteouness (or right living) be made.
How would that look in our individual lives today? I pray that I would boldly love righteouness and hate all unrighteoness. Ps 82 speaks on this topic.
I realy like what you said, keep up the post.