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Once again as we prepare to look into the word of the Lord, I’m reminding you and my heart that the only way we will ever see the Lord in the Bible is by the indwelling Holy Spirit; He’s the One who puts light on Christ, otherwise we end up with academics. The fact is, if all we have is academics and the more we study the Bible, the prouder we will become because knowledge puffs up. We don’t want knowledge; we want to behold the Lord.
Let me begin with Habakkuk 1:5, “Look among the nations, observe and be astonished, and wonder because I’m doing something in your days; you would not believe it if you were told.” That verse can stand by itself alone. In the context He’s talking about chastening; He’s going to bring Babylon. He’s letting them know that He’s working behind the scenes. But as Isaiah 45:15 says, “He’s a God that delights to hide Himself.” So, He’s always working, and His ways are always as high above ours as the heavens are above the earth. Even though we might think God is not doing anything, He’s very active. If He told us, I think we’d be shocked. With that in mind, and you’ll see how it ties into this lesson, let’s commit our little meditation to the Lord.
Our Heavenly Father, thank You again for gathering us together. We pray as we focus on the Lord Jesus, that our hearts might be thrilled. If it’s the season for light, dawn Christ on us. Otherwise, prepare us for the day You are going to dawn Christ on us. We commit our meditations unto You and trust Your Holy Spirit to protect Your people from all that is human and flesh and blood and on the level of earth. We pray that we might be taught of God. We ask this in the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.
We are in the book of Philippians and we’re studying Philippians, but not really; we’re studying our Lord Jesus Christ. All of our meditations have the same goal, and that is to behold the Lord. That’s why He gave us the Bible. Colossians 1:26-29 is a wonderful summary of why and how we gather, “The mystery which has been hidden from past ages and generations has now been manifested to His saints, to whom God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the gentiles, which is Christ in you the hope of glory, and we proclaim Him, admonishing every man, teaching every man with all wisdom, so that we may present every man complete in Christ. For this purpose, also, I labor, striving according to His power which mightily works within me.”
So, whether it’s a study in the Old Testament, in Genesis or Psalms or Zachariah or one of the prophets, or the gospels or the epistles, it’s always the same; we proclaim Him. We’re not going to proclaim doctrine, and not going to proclaim some creedal statement, we’re not going to proclaim some system of theology. Very simply, you gather here and the Lord has given me the privilege, and I want to proclaim Him, and I want to go into the grave proclaiming Him.
Two weeks ago, we began our introduction to the book of Philippians, and we’ve had two introductory studies so far, and I’ve called them the theological introduction. In other words, there’s a historical introduction which we’ll begin today, but there’s also the background. The question we asked at the beginning, and we need to answer it if we’re going to get the theme and the outline and the point of Philippians, we have to know what is the prevailing revelation of Christ in the book of Philippians. Every book presents Christ in a way that no other book presents it. So, we have to focus on that.
In our theological introduction, when we tried to answer that, we looked at Philippians 2:5-11, “Have this attitude in yourself which was also in Christ Jesus. Although He existed in the form of God, He did not regard equality with a God a thing to be grasped, but He emptied Himself, taking the form of a bondservant, and being made in the likeness of men, being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on the cross.” That’s His humility; He came from heaven and became man; He came down. Now, His exaltation, “For this reason, God highly exalted Him and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, those who are in heaven, on earth, under the earth; every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
So, we see in that theological statement, His humility and His exaltation. We see why He came. He came as man, as the last Adam, as the second Man, to live as God intended men to live. Adam failed and his whole race failed, and so, God said that He’ll start over. There’s another man; it’s a beginning; there’s a last Adam and there will be none to follow. And in this way, Christ came to earth in order to put on display how God intends us to live. When we went through that, I showed you the four steps that we drew from those verses. He laid aside who He was by nature, and He determined never again to reach back and grasp for what He willingly laid aside. Instead, He deliberately always trusted in the One who lived in His heart, His Father, and by doing that, He put His Father on display, “If you’ve seen Me, you’ve seen the Father.”
So, as He did, He laid aside who He was by nature, we lay aside who we are by nature. He determined to never again to grasp at what He had willingly laid aside, and we, also, determine never to put confidence in the flesh. We laid it down and we reckoned ourselves dead and we’re not going to reach back. As He depended on the One who lived inside of Him, now we depend on the One who lives inside of us. As He put His Father on display, so we put Him on display. That’s how God created us to live, to put Jesus on display. That’s why God redeemed us, so that we could live as God intended us to live.
Last week we looked at Philippians 2:9-11 which was His exaltation, and we saw that He was super exalted, and given a name above every name, and every tongue will confess that He’s Lord, and every knee will bow down, some in time, some in eternity, but every knee will confess Him. He was exalted over every power, every authority, all dominion, every rule in heaven, on earth, under the earth, in this age and in the age to come. Why did God give us such a graphic description of His exaltation? It’s because He wants you to know that’s the One that lives in your heart and lives in my heart. That’s the theological background of this book. Christ came to live as God intended us to live, and He has provided us with His indwelling life, so we, also, can live that exchanged life and put Him on display.
When you go through the commentaries, everyone has a different idea of the theme. Most commentaries say that it’s joy; the theme of Philippians is joy. But I’ve listed some of the others; unity, peace, strength, gratitude, heaven, missions, perseverance, victory over sin, and all of that is in Philippians. That’s not the theme. Those are by-products. If I am living the life that God intended me to live, I will have peace, I will not be anxious, I will have victory over sin, we will be one and a team of mules couldn’t pull us apart, two Christians who are looking to Christ at the same time. All of those things are the by-product. The theme of Philippians is Christ, Philippians 1:21, “For me to live is Christ.”
If you were to ask the Apostle Paul, after he wrote this letter, “How many times in these four chapters did you mention the Lord Jesus?” My guess is that he wouldn’t know, “I didn’t plan on it and I didn’t count them. You read the letter, how many did you find?” I found over a hundred times either the name Jesus or the combination of Lord or Lord Jesus or just a pronoun that refers to Him. Christ was his life. Paul wasn’t talking shop; that was his life, and he was just pouring out his life.
I’m going quote these verses machine gun style, just to illustrate from this book how Christ centered Paul is. Philippians 1:13 he was in prison for the cause of Christ, 1:21 “to live is Christ,” 1:26 his confidence is in Christ, 2:1, there is encouragement in Christ, 2:5, we’re to have the mind of Christ, 2:5-11, we have the humility and exaltation of Christ, 2:19, we’re to hope in the Lord, 2:24, we’re to make our plans in the Lord, 3:21, Christians are to receive one another in the Lord and we’re to rejoice in the Lord always, we are for all things to pray in the name of the Lord, 3:9, he said, “My prayer is that I might know Him, and be found in Christ,” 4:1, he wants to stand firm in the Lord and encourages them to live in harmony in the Lord, 4:13, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me,” and he said that all of our needs are provided in Christ Jesus, and he ends the letter with, “All the saints in Christ greet you.” He is full of Christ. This is a thank-you note and this thank-you letter is for sending him an offering; he’s saying thank-you. That’s why he wrote the letter, to say thank-you. He’s got such theology and such depth and such an overflow of a heart that is filled with Christ. And now, as the Father once lived in Him, He now lives in us. As He put His Father on display, we are to put our Lord Jesus on display. Philippians 2:15, “That you may prove yourself to be blameless and innocent children of God and above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in this world.”
As we enter into the message of Philippians, we become lights to our own generation. Philippians corrects the error that many Christians have, and it’s this; we will manifest Christ by living for the Lord. No. That’s not how you manifest Christ, by living for the Lord. Philippians turns that thing around; you manifest Christ by Christ living His own life. He’s not living for him; He’s living for Himself, and He’s living in you and in me and through you and through me. It’s His life; it’s not us living for Him; it’s us allowing Him to live for Himself. That’s the one thing Paul longed to communicate in this letter, that Christ lives in you and in me; it’s His life.
I need to make one clarification before we begin the historical introduction. I made the comment that every book in the Bible presents Jesus in a way no other book does in the same way. If we were to say, “What’s the revelation of Christ in Philippians? He’s the highly exalted Lord; He’s universal Lord living in your heart” But then I come to 1 Corinthians and I say, “What is the revelation of Christ in Corinthians?” I find it to be Christ as the absolute Lord. It sounds like the revelation of Christ in Philippians and in Corinthians is the same, but it’s not the same. What is the difference between the Lordship in Philippians and the Lordship in Corinthians? I think Ephesians 1:22&23 lays it out, “He put all things in subjection under His feet.” That’s the exalted Jesus. “And He gave Him as head over all things to the church.” Just take out the expression “as head over all things,” and get the point. He gave Him to the church. He gave Jesus to me as Lord over all things, which is His body, the fullness of Him that fills all in all.”
In Philippians, the Lordship of Christ is telling us that He is for us; His Lordship is on our behalf and for our benefit. All things work together for good to those who are in Christ Jesus and love the Lord Jesus. That’s why we can always rejoice, because He’s Lord. That’s why we can be victorious because there’s no enemy that He hasn’t conquered. He’s rules over all authority and power and every principality. He’s Lord for me; He’s Lord for you. He lives in you, so you can have joy and victory at all times. “All things for the church,” just that expression. When you think about the scope of that statement. Do you realize that all medical discoveries are for the church, and all technology advances are for the church; it’s for us. The computer was not made for the world of sin. The computer was made for the church. AI was made for us. The Romans thought they made those roads for their armies. They didn’t make those roads for their armies; it was for the church; it was for missionary activity. All things are for the church. Psalm 119:91, “All things are Thy servant.” It’s sort of like Joseph and his brothers in the Old Testament, he said to his brothers, “You meant evil; God meant good. You sold me; God sent me.” He had that understanding. Isaiah the prophet talks about Assyria; He’s going to use Assyria as a rod to chasten His people, Israel. Chapter 10 of Isaiah talks about it. It says, “I send it against a Godless nation, commission it against the people of My fury, to capture booty, cease plunder, trample it down like mud in the street.” God said, “I’m behind that; I’m the One sending Assyria,” but then He adds verse 7, “Yet, in does not so intend, nor does in plan so in its heart, but rather, it is it’s purpose to destroy and cut off many nations.” I like King James version, “Albeit, He thinks it not so.” Assyria is not thinking that way.
God is working a work in our day we wouldn’t believe if we were told all that He’s doing. All the uprising and the anarchy in our nation, do you believe that’s under control? Yes, indeed! The mindless decisions of our judicial system releasing the guilty to prey on the innocent. He’s Lord; He’s over all of that. The toothless laws that are passed by Congress; He’s Lord over all of that. All interruptions in your life are designed by God. All delays are designed by God. Every storm you face, every disease that comes into your life, any reversal, any blessing, any windfall profit is all under His Lordship. That’s Philippians; He’s Lord for you and He’s Lord for me, over everything. There’s nothing that a Christian should ever be concerned about. Concern, maybe, but not worried, and not anxious. He rules for us.
Now, in Corinthians He’s Lord; He’s Lord of all, but it’s not Lord for you; it’s Lord over you. He’s your Lord, submit. He’s your Lord, obey Him. In Philippians He’s Lord for you, but in Corinthians He’s Lord over you. 1 Corinthians 6:19, “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God; you are not your own; you’ve been bought with a price. Glorify God in your body.
They are both the Lord, but one is Lord for you, and one is Lord over you. Now, Paul didn’t ignore the Lordship of Christ as it’s presented in Corinthians. In fact, the first words of his letter begin this way, Philippians 1:1, “Paul and Timothy, bondservants of Christ Jesus.” What is a bondservant? He starts the letter by saying, “I’m writing you a letter, but I don’t own myself; I’m a slave and I’m owned by somebody else. I’m a bondservant of Christ.” That’s the message of Corinthians but Paul doesn’t ignore it.
The simple theme of Philippians is Christ, “For me to live is Christ.” That message is for everyone. May God open our hearts. Those that are here and those who might be listening, may God open your heart. That’s for everyone, and not just for some spiritual hotshots. You don’t have to have a college degree, and you don’t need to know Hebrew or Greek or Aramaic. This is for every Christian, to live as God intended us to live, how He created us to live, and how He redeemed us to live. If this message isn’t true in your life, this is the life for the normal Christian, and if it’s not true in your life, you aren’t normal; you are living sub-normal. Sadly, thousands of Christians are living lives below God’s standard. The reality of many Christians is that they’re abnormal.
Here’s an objective test. I’m going to word it in such a way, so you won’t miss the point. Is your life filled to the brim and overflowing on all sides at all times in all circumstances with the joy of the Lord. If it’s not, you haven’t yet entered into the message of Philippians. That’s God’s standard; that’s normal; that should be for every Christian. If your life is filled with Christ, it will be overflowing with joy.
That’s the theological background. Christ came to live as God intended man to live, and now He lives in us, so we can live as God intended us to live. Having said that, let me give the first part of the historical background; the specific background, the actual history in Paul’s life that led up to this relationship with the Philippians. His connection with the Philippians is a powerful demonstration. When he wrote this, he was thirty years in Christ. When he met the Philippians, he was twenty years in Christ. From the day he first met them until the time he wrote the letter is ten years. But twenty years in Christ, he was already enjoying the exchanged life. So, they read the message of Philippians in Paul before they read it in the letter that Paul sent. In other words, his life is a message of Philippians, and his first meeting, that first day describes that.
Let me share one thing that’s very important. My mother, she’s with the Lord now and I think she knows better, she did not like the Apostle Paul. She called him a woman hater, “He’s arrogant, he’s proud, he’s just trying to put himself on a pedestal.” That’s thirteen epistles that he wrote. She wouldn’t read anything that the Apostle Paul wrote. If fact, she got so bad that she said, “If it’s not in red letters, I’m not interested.” She had to have a red letter Bible. I tried to tell her that the whole Bible should be red. But she didn’t get it. Anyway, she knows better now.
What I want to show you is Paul’s inspired (that the Holy Spirit planned this) contribution to the history of redemption. In other words, why do we have the record of Paul, and the record of his life? God selected him on purpose to be a picture of something. I’m suggesting Christ lived the exchanged life, but I could say, “Yeah, that’s easy for Him; He’s God/man. He didn’t have an old sin nature.” If you call me to live it, I’ve got a problem. So, He said, “Let’s take the human illustration, the Apostle Paul. Let’s choose the Apostle Paul.” God chose him as the quintessential illustration of how to live the exchanged life. Not Peter; his contribution is progressive sanctification; he shows us how to live progressively. But Paul is the illustration chosen by God to live the life that God created us to live.
Listen to these verses. Again, I tried to share with my Mom that Paul wasn’t claiming that he had arrived. Philippians 3:12, “Not that I’ve already attained it or already become perfect. I press on, so that I may lay hold of that for which, also, I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus. Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it, yet. One thing I do, forgetting what lies behind, reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” Paul did not claim that he had arrived. 1 Timothy:16, “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all.” King James says, “I’m the chief of sinners.” That’ not a hyperbole; that’s not a figure of speech. He was; he was chief; he was the top. He’s the worst sinner because he was the most self-righteous man that ever walked on the planet. So, he was God’s choice for the perfect illustration, and he said, “Yet, for this reason I found mercy, so that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might demonstrate His perfect patience as an example for those who would believe in Him for eternal life.” To put Paul as the example is not my idea; it’s God’s. God did that. 1 Corinthians 11:1, “Be imitators of me, just as I am, also, of Christ.” He’s turning our eyes, “Look at me. Watch how I do it. Watch how I need to do it.” Philippians 4:9, “The things you’ve learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.” Acts 9:15, “Go; he’s a chosen instrument of mine to bear my name before the gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel. I’ll show him how much he must suffer for My name sake.” Paul is the extreme example of how to live the Christian life.
Jesus lived the exchanged life; He depended every moment on the One that lived in His heart. The Apostle Paul was chosen to show what it looked like if he depended on the One who lived in his heart, the Holy Spirit, our Lord Jesus Christ. He’s not putting himself on a pedestal, and I’m not putting him on a pedestal. God chose Paul to demonstrate this wonderful life. By choosing a human instrument exactly like Paul who is exactly like us. He’s got an old sin nature. 1 Timothy 1:15, “It’s a trustworthy statement deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am foremost of all.” Paul, like you, like me, have struggles, and had an old sin nature, was tempted.
I think the reason why the Holy Spirit gave us Paul is that some might try to have as an excuse, “Oh, Jesus is the illustration, but He was God/man. I’m not God/man.” Did Jesus have an old sin nature? I know He was tempted in all points, and I puzzle over that, but He didn’t have an old sin nature. Give me somebody like me, and so He said, “Alright, the Apostle Paul.” What was said of Elijah in James 5:17, “Elijah was a man with nature just like ours.” We can say that of Paul; Paul was a man with a nature just like ours. So, God is removing all excuses. Nobody can say, “I can’t live like God created me to live.” Yes, you can. If the worst sinner, and then when we come to chapter 3, at his best, if it can work for Paul, and he’s the most unlikely, it can work for you and it can work for me. Philippians 1:21, Paul ended up, “For me to live is Christ,” verse 3:10, “That I might know Him.” So, to live for Paul was Christ, not, “For me to live is theology,” or, “For me to live is doctrine,” or “For me to live is religion.” No, “For me to live is a Person – Christ.”
My point here is that before Paul wrote the letter, he was already living the message. I want to illustrate that for you. Paul told the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians 3:3, “You are the letter of Christ, cared for by the Spirit of the Living God.” We are all letters before we send letters. Paul was a letter before he sent this letter.
I want to look at Paul’s introduction to Philippi, the first time he ever met them because he arrived as the message of Philippians, and then ten years later he wrote it down in print. I’m singling out Paul. We’re going to tell the story of Paul in Acts 16 but it wasn’t just Paul; there were four people who arrived together. There was Paul, Silas, Timothy and there was Luke. Those four arrived at the same time. The Holy Spirit focuses on Paul and Silas, but there were four of them. So, this is the immediate background.
Jesus determined that He would not go anywhere or do anything unless He had a word from His Father who lived inside of Him. John 5:30, “I can do nothing on My own; as I hear, I judge. My judgment is just; I do not seek My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.” John 4:34, “Jesus said, ‘My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me to accomplish His work.’” John 8:42, “I proceeded forth and have come from God. I have not even come on My own initiative; He sent Me.” He went where He was sent. He moved where God moved Him. In John 7 his brother said, “Let’s go; it’s time for the feast.” He said, “You go because it’s easy for you; you don’t have to wait for a word from heaven. I can’t go yet because I haven’t heard from My Father.”
So, Paul and his companions did not choose their own path. Look at chapter 16 verse 6, “They passed through the Phrygian and Galatian region, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia. And after, they came to Mysia. They were trying to go to Bithynia, and the Spirit of Jesus did not permit them.” Those are interesting verses. I know this, the principle is clear; they had a keen sensitivity to the leading of the Spirit of God, and they knew when God was leading and wasn’t leading. How did the Holy Spirit forbid them to go to Asia, or they were trying to go to Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow it. How did that happen. The Bible doesn’t tell us, so we don’t know. Did they hear a voice, did they have a dream, did they get a vision, was it an inward intuition, an intuitive jab by the Holy Spirit, did God use some circumstance to close the door? If He wanted us to know, He would have told us. What we do know is this, that they didn’t go until they got a word from God. Acts 16:9, “A vision appeared to Paul in the night; a man of Macedonia was standing and appealing to him, saying, ‘Come over to Macedonia and help us.’ When he had seen the vision, immediately he sought to go into Macedonia concluding, ‘God had called us to preach the gospel to them.’”
Let me make this observation. They didn’t know where the Lord wanted them to go, but they know why, according to Acts 16:10, “Concluding God had called us to preach the gospel.” In other words, they knew wherever they went, they were to put Christ on display and preach the gospel. They weren’t passive. They weren’t just standing around, and just waiting for some word from heaven. They actually tried to go, and somehow they were forbidden, and they tried some place else. They were on the move, but they were focused on the God who gives direction and lives in their heart. I’m trying to say it in a way that becomes clear; they were not looking for the will of God; they were focused on the God whose will it was. They were willing to go anywhere. They weren’t saying, “Show me where You want me to go.” No. They were just saying, “Show me anything; we are Your servants. We’ll go anywhere.” They knew the exalted Christ lived in them, and they listened, and when He said, “Go,” they went, and when He said, “No,” they didn’t go. Very important; that’s part of the message.
In this connection I love Psalm 25:15. I love it because I misunderstood it for years. It said, “My eyes are continually toward the Lord; He will pluck my feet out of the net.” How were my eyes messed up for years? It’s because I thought my eyes should be on my feet, “Watch where you’re going; find the will of God,” and I focused trying to find the will of God. I had my eyes on my feet, and then I heard about spiritual warfare, and I got concerned about the net, and then I thought there are the wiles of the devil, and how can the enemy be toward me, and I put my eyes on the net. Here is what the verse said, “My eyes are continually on the Lord,” and He’ll take care of your feet and He’ll take care of the net. I don’t have to look at my feet and the path. I’ll tell you the secret of guidance. The secret of guidance is the guide. Keep your eye on the guide and you’re not going to miss the will of God. I’ve found, especially with a lot of young people whose hearts are so earnest, and they’re trying to find the will of God, I’ll tell you how not to find the will of God; try to find the will of God. If you go after the will of God, you are going to miss it. If you go after the Lord, you can’t miss it. You are going to end up in the will of God.
Now, in this case God used a vision to reveal His will. A man of Macedonia appealed to come over to Macedonia. I sometime wonder if that man was a woman because the first one he met was Lydia. God said to not go to Asia, and she was from Asia, so she came to him. It doesn’t matter.
Let me insert a little context here. Since the Lord selected Paul to demonstrate the life of the Lord, everywhere he went, he was just putting Christ on display. Have you heard about Paul’s missionary journeys? Everybody has. That’s not in the Bible. There is no place in the Bible where it talks about a missionary journey. Some say he had three missionary journeys. Some say he had four, if you include his last journey to Rome. That whole missionary journey idea is manmade. Paul was not on a missionary journey. Christ was on a missionary journey in the Apostle Paul. Paul wasn’t on a missionary journey. Paul was just living, and every place he went he was manifesting Christ. So, we study that and say, “Well, since the book of Acts divides and we see his itinerary, and in 13 & 14 he went along with Silas, and so on, and then in chapter 15 he went, and then in chapter 18 he went, so we call it a missionary journey, but it was Christ who was on a missionary journey. God has a worldwide heart. I’m not going through and map out the missionary journeys but according to those who do, they say this was at the end of the second missionary journey. I know about the first missionary journey because of his testimony for Christ, they stoned him and left him to die at Lystra. So, now he’s up and back again, just living.
This vision to go to Macedonia was strategic because up until this time he had only been in Asia Minor. Macedonia, for the first time we see God’s worldwide heart, “Go west; move west; go into Europe. This is the first time they stepped foot in Europe, and the first one to come to Christ in Europe was Lydia. Now, for the first time they are moving west. The man represented there in the vision, I think represents all the sinners in Europe. It’s like the vision of Cornelius who represented all of the gentiles, and so on.
You are sitting here as one who knows the Lord. That’s because Paul went west; he went into Europe and the gospel came all the way to you and me. Here is the beginning of that. So, the indwelling of the exalted Lord in Paul, even though Acts 16:6-40 tell one story, it’s really divided into three different individuals. Acts 16:14, “A woman named Lydia from the city of Thyatira,” she was a business woman from Asia and she made her business with a certain dye that she was selling. Acts 16:16, “It happened as we were going to the place of prayer, a slave girl, having a spirit of divination, met us who was bringing her masters much profit by fortune telling.” This was a demon possessed slave girl. Acts 16:26, “When the jailor awoke, he saw the prison doors open. He drew his sword and was about to kill himself, supposing the prisoners had escaped. Paul cried out with a loud voice saying, ‘Do not harm yourself; we are all here.’ He called for lights and rushed in trembling with fear and fell down before Paul and Silas, and after he brought them out, he said, ‘Sirs, what must I do to be saved?’”
So, you have the first day at Philippi. You talk about unity in the body. You have a rich business woman, you have a poor on the bottom of the ladder demon possessed slave girl, and you have a Roman official, a jailor, and that’s going to be the foundation of the church at Philippi. Later we’ll touch on that when we get into the unity of the body.
Some people think since Paul said in 1 Corinthians 1:16, “I baptized none but the house of Stephanus,” since this jailor, since he baptized this fellow, was the house of Stephanus. Most commentators won’t agree with that because Stephanus was from Corinth area, and this guy is in Philippi, but I don’t.
Anyway, the stories and testimonies of Lydia, the demon possessed slave girl and the Roman jailor, illustrate the fact that the Apostle Paul had already had the message in his heart and in his life; he was a walking letter of Philippians. Philippians 2:10, “At the name of Jesus every knee will bow, every tongue will confess,” this exalted one was now living in the Apostle Paul. Lydia bowed the knee before the Christ that lived in Paul. Lydia’s tongue confessed the Christ that lived in the Apostle Paul. The slave girl that was demon possessed bowed the knee before the Christ that lived in Paul, and her tongue confessed the Christ that lived in the heart of Paul and Silas and the servants of God. The Roman jailor bowed the knee, and his family, before the Christ that lived in Paul, and his tongue confessed the Christ that lived in Paul. The whole point was that Paul was already living the life of the message of Philippians, and before the exalted Christ the people are bowing and giving themselves to the Lord. The One that lived inside of him was Lord and so look at Paul’s experience. He had to be Lord over circumstances. Usually, when Paul went someplace, he would go to the Synagogue and worship. Evidently, there were no synagogues at Philippi; probably a very small number of Jews were there. That’s why he went to the riverside. God had to guide him to the riverside. Since Philippi was a Roman colony, I think they would have been a little strong against Jewish uprising. Acts. 16:13, “On the Sabbath Day they went outside the gate to a riverside where we were supposing there would be a place of prayer. We sat down and began to speak to the women who had assembled.” So, Christ has Lord in His heart who is controlling circumstances.
But now we have a problem with this demon possessed girl. The One that lived in Paul’s heart was also Lord over all powers, all authority in heaven and on earth and under the earth, this age and the age to come, and now He’s confronted with someone who is possessed by a demon. Acts 16:18, “Paul was greatly annoyed and turned and said to the spirit, ‘I command in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her,’ and it came out that moment. He’s not only Lord over circumstances; He’s Lord over Satan and enemies – demons.
The story of the jailor illustrates His Lordship over nature. Acts 16:26, “Suddenly there came a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison house were shaken. Immediately, all the doors were opened, and everyone’s chains were unfastened.” He’s Lord over circumstances, He’s Lord over the enemy, and now He’s Lord over creation and the earthquake. Jesus has a name above every name, and every knee will bow, and every tongue will confess. This is wonderfully illustrated in Paul’s first contact with the Philippians. Because Christ is his life, this good news now comes to a rich businesswoman, a slave girl possessed by a devil and this Roman official. Acts 16:37, “Paul said to them, ‘They’ve beaten us in public without trial; men who are Romans, and thrown us into prison, and now they are intending to send us away secretly. No, let them come themselves and bring us out.’” Paul claimed to be Roman, “And you have no right to treat Romans this way.” My question is why did Paul claim Roman citizenship at that point? Why didn’t he claim it earlier and save himself a beating. He could have said when they started the beating, “Hey, you better watch out; I’m a Roman citizen.” No, because of the indwelling Christ. He determined never again to grasp at what he had laid aside, and he’s not going to try to rescue himself. He could have claimed that, and then we would wonder would this jailor have come to Christ? See, that beating was redemptive, and he didn’t claim his citizenship at that time because he’s led by the indwelling Lord. God is using it and He’s going to bring this jailor and his family to Christ. Once again, we see the message of Philippians in the Apostle ten years before he wrote the letter, and how beautiful is this redemption of the jailor and his family. I think Silas and Paul had no idea when they submitted to the beating that God would send an earthquake and do what He did, and then save his jailor and his family.
There’s one final way the historical introduction in Paul’s life illustrates the message of Philippians, and that’s Acts 16:25, “About midnight, Paul and Silas were praying, singing hymns of praise to God, and the prisoners were listening to them.” See, there’s the joy in the book of Philippians. Paul and Silas didn’t say, “We’re Christians; we ought to leave a testimony. Do you know this hymn? Maybe we can sing it out loud.” That was their life; they were just overflowing with joy. Those stocks they put on their legs, they aren’t just chains to hold them in place; they’re torture instruments. They were stretching their legs, so that they’d have cramps in their legs. This is an amazing thing.
Once again, the message of Philippians, Christ lives in me, and He’ll show me where to go. Christ lives in me, and He’ll guide my circumstances. Christ lives in me; He’s over all the powers of evil. Christ lives in me; He’s over nature and He’s Lord over earthquake and weather and everything. I’m not going to reach back and grasp something that would help me get rescued, so I wouldn’t have to take a beating. I’m going to leave it with Him.
Everything is redemptive, and that certainly became redemptive, and they just burst out in song because that is the message of Philippians. The only reason Philippians 4:4 is true, “Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice,” the only way that’s possible is because Jesus lives inside. There is no other way that’s possible.
We have no clue how many others came to Christ that first day. We know when he went to Philippi, from there he went to Thessalonica and started a church there, and then he went to Berea, and he started a church there. We have no idea. I don’t know your schedule and your missionary journey, but God does it, and He’s inside of you, and He’s got a worldwide heart. Wherever you go today, to shopping, to the nursing home, to the hospital, you are going to go home…. It’s Jesus that went to Philippi, and he invited Paul to go with Him, and Paul said, “Let’s go.” This is how the Christian life is, and it’s so exciting. So, when Christ is your life, your life is going to be filled with joy and you are going to trust Him to guide, and you are going to trust Him to control all your circumstances, and you are going to trust Him to give joy in every circumstances. Everything is redemptive.
The point, and I’ll close with this, the Apostle Paul lived the message of Philippians long before he wrote the message of Philippians. Their first look was at an individual, a letter written not with ink but by the Spirit of the Living God. So, Paul came as a letter. Ten years later, he said, “Let me now describe that.” They had it the first day.
We’ll close there. There’s another part. I told you this was a thank-you note. We need to look at that background, as well. We’ll do that next time.
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