Be Rich! Series
Philippians
1.
4/3--Be Rich! Background and chapter 1:1-11
2.
4/10--Capital Gains--Chapter 1:12-30
3.
4/17--Bankrupt--Chapter 2:1-11
4.
4/24--Dividends--Chapter 2:12-30
5.
5/1--Profits & Losses—Chapter 3:1-11
6.
5/8--Entrepreneur—Chapter 3:12-21
7.
5/15--Go Fund Me—Chapter 4:10-23
8.
5/22--Balance Sheet—Chapter 4:1-9
Being rich in this world is not only
determined by our own effort or hard work, but there is luck, opportunities,
and probably one of the key things that most of us never think about—where we
are born. Nick working making good
money, that would not happen in Nicaragua or Cambodia. He’s very fortunate he was born in the USA. Any one of us living in the USA is considered
rich in comparison to most of the world.
Rome was very similar and it’s citizens were rich in many ways.
Being rich in God’s eyes, however
Written towards the end of Paul’s
imprisonment in Rome around A.D. 61-62.
Philippi was a city in Macedonia, the
furthest Roman city or “colony” east of Rome.
It was an important place. Its inhabitants were Roman citizens that were
transplanted (that colonized Philippi), having the right of voting in the Roman
tribes (31 total that made decisions over the entire Roman world), governed by
their own senate and magistrates, and not by the governor of the province, with
the Roman law and Latin language.
In a sense it was a smaller scale Rome.
When Paul chose a place to work and to
preach the gospel, he always chose it with the eye of a strategist. He
always chose a place which was not only important in itself, but which was the
key point of the whole area. It has often been noted that, to this day,
many of the places which Paul chose as preaching-centers are still great road centers
and railway junctions. Philippi was such a place. Philippi had at
least three great claims to distinction.
1. In the neighborhood there were gold
and silver mines, which had been worked as far back as the time of the
Phoenicians.
2.
The city itself had been founded by Philip, the father of Alexander the
Great, and it is his name that it bears.
There was no more strategic site in
all Europe. There is a range of hills which divides Europe from
Asia, the east from the west. Just at Philippi that chain of hills dips
into a pass; and, therefore, Philippi commanded the road from Europe to Asia as
the road goes through the pass. It was for that reason that in 368 BC
Philip had founded the city of Philippi to command the road from the east to
the west. One of the great decisive battles of history was fought much
later at Philippi; for it was at Philippi that Antony defeated Brutus and
Cassius, and decided the whole future of the Roman Empire.
3.
These colonies had begun by having a military significance. It was
the custom of Rome to send out parties of veteran soldiers, who had served
their time, and who had been granted citizenship, and to settle them in
strategic road centers. Usually these parties consisted of 300 veterans
with their wives and children. These colonies were the focal points of
the great Roman road systems. The roads were so engineered that
reinforcements could speedily be sent from one colony to another. They
were founded to keep the peace, and to command the strategic centers in Rome’s
far-flung Empire.
These colonies had one great
characteristic. Wherever they were they were little fragments of Rome,
and their pride in their Roman citizenship was their dominating
characteristic. The Roman language was spoken; Roman dress was worn;
Roman customs were observed; their magistrates had Roman titles, and carried
out the same ceremonies as were carried out in Rome itself. Wherever they
were these colonies were stubbornly and unalterably Roman. They would
never have dreamt of becoming assimilated to the people amidst whom they were
set. They were parts of Rome, miniature cities of Rome, and they never
forgot it. We can hear the Roman pride breathing through the charge
against Paul and Silas in Acts 16:20,21: “These men are Jews, and they are
trying to teach and to introduce laws and customs which it is not right for us
to observe! for we are Romans.” Paul wrote to the Philippian
Church (3:20)—“Your citizenship is in heaven”. Just as the Roman colonist
never forgot in any environment that he was a Roman, so they must never forget
in any society that they are Christians. Nowhere were men prouder of
being Roman citizens than in these colonies.
Paul, with Silas and Timothy, planted
the Gospel there ( Act 16:12,
&c.), in his second missionary journey, in A.D. 51. It was the first church
planted in the continent of Europe. The Philippian disciples sent supplies for Pauls
needs, twice shortly after he had left them ( Phl
4:15, 16 ), and again a third time shortly
before writing this Epistle ( Phl
4:10, 18 2Cor
11:9 ). This strong bond on their part was,
perhaps, also in part due to the fact that very few Jews were in Philippi to
sow the seeds of distrust and suspicion.
Due to a lack of Jews in Philippi there
was no temple there, but merely a Jewish place of prayer, by the riverside. It
is thought that less than 10 practicing Jews lived in Philippi at that time. More than 10 Jews would have called for a
formal temple to be erected.
The persecution that Paul and the
disciples received in Philippi came from the owners of the fortune-telling girl
whose demon was driven out, Roman citizens who now had lost their source of
income.
The letter is general in nature—to
thank the church for sending Epaphroditus to help Paul and for the contribution
sent with Epaphroditus. Epaphroditus almost died from some illness while in
Rome and Paul also wanted to communicate to the church how much help he was to
Paul—Epaphroditus brought the letter back to the church.
Paul also wanted to warn the church in
Philippi regarding the Judaizers.
Encouraged the church to follow his example and some exhortations to a
few that were not being humble within the church.
The STYLE is abrupt and discontinuous,
his fervor of affection leading him to pass rapidly from one theme to
another. In no Epistle does he use such
warm expressions of love. It’s obvious
that Paul really loved the Philippian church.
Philippians 1:1-11
Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ
Jesus,
To all God’s holy people in Christ
Jesus at Philippi, together with the overseers and deacons[a]:
2 Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord
Jesus Christ.
Thanksgiving and Prayer
3 I thank my God every time I remember you. 4 In
all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy 5 because of
your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, 6 being
confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to
completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
7 It is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since
I have you in my heart and, whether I am in chains or defending and confirming
the gospel, all of you share in God’s grace with me. 8 God can
testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus.
9 And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and
more in knowledge and depth of insight, 10 so that you may be able
to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, 11 filled
with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory
and praise of God.
· Overall theme of grace, love and gratitude in these first 11
verses.
· It’s great to see how much Paul loved the disciples
· He is eager to help them see themselves from God’s viewpoint
· Paul was a very rich man (rich in grace, rich in love, rich
in understanding)
· Through his letters he tried to help disciples understand
just how rich they were in Christ
1. Diamonds in the Rough
· Diamonds are created by carbon being subjected to extreme
pressure and temperatures
· Rough diamonds are not pretty (lump of glass)
· Play-doh object lesson (2 volunteer artists and 3 judges)
Philippians 1:1-6
Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ
Jesus,
To all God’s holy people in Christ
Jesus at Philippi, together with the overseers and deacons[a]:
2 Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord
Jesus Christ.
3 I thank my God every time I remember you. 4 In
all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy 5 because of
your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, 6 being confident of this, that he who began
a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ
Jesus.
Philippians 1:7-11
7 It is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my heart and, whether
I am in chains or defending and confirming the gospel, all of you share in
God’s grace with me. 8 God can testify how I long for all of you
with the affection of Christ Jesus.
9 And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and
more in knowledge and depth of insight, 10 so that you may be able
to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, 11 filled
with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory
and praise of God.
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