Epistles – Philippians 1-2

In my visits to other countries, I have the chance to visit some of their musuems and historical attractions.  Interestingly, quite a number of national heroes were once imprisoned for various political reasons.  But even in prison, these heroes were able to exert their enormous influence to revolutionize the country.  Something about their confinement, uncertainty and mistreatment that they suffered seems to have helped them focus their minds on their fundamental convictions… and inspire their fellow countrymen.

Most of these prisoners take the approach of a martyr – rallying the people against the oppressive system that they are against. But apostle Paul was very different.

We are looking at a new epistle today – Philippians – which Paul wrote while he was in prison.

Paul focused on the Christ centred life and the hallmark of this life is JOY!

This is indeed remarkable – given that Paul was facing the prospect of death by execution.

Can Paul’s message have any relevance to us today since  we live in a free society without any threat of imprisonment or death for believing in Jesus?

Yes!  And I challenge you to find that when you read through Philippians.

Paul shows us what ultimately matters.  In the midst of our affluence, freedom and opportunity, it is very easy for us to lose perspective and to pay more attention to things which are attractive – but peripheral, or to things of little value – rather than substantial things that have great value.

You will find that for Paul – the ultimate value is Christ.

Whatever state we may be in – we need to centre our lives on Christ.

Whatever happens – we need to hold on to Him.

Whatever …. He alone must be our ultimate source of contentment, joy and life.

Bible Passage:  Philippians 1-2

There is simply so many things one can share from Phiiippians and it is one of my favourite epistles.  So many of the verses have inspired songs and hymns.  Many of the verses are oft quoted.  And many life changing teachings can be found here.  And I struggle to decide what exactly do I want to share.

And as I was reading through the epistle again, something struck me consistently.  Paul had the“Mind of Christ” and that is what we should all strive to have as well.

My family and I spent a fascinating few hours at the Leonarda Da Vinci exhibition held at the Science Centre last week.  Leonardo was a genius that seemed to know about everything.  And two of his major art pieces were the main subject of the exhibition – the painting of Mona Lisa and the Last Supper.

For both of these art pieces, an incredible amount of study was made into them.  The art pieces were photographed at all angles and magnified.  Special photographic equipment was manufactured so that the scientists could reproduced how the original painting looked like.  The hand gestures of the figures in the art pieces was discussed.  Details of how the paint was made, the kind of plaster used etc was all discussed.  Even mathematical angles and perspectives were analyzed.

And as I was looking at all these explanations and exhibits, I could not help wonder that if people are willing to spend so much time, effort and energy to study and know more about some paintings whose only benefit seems to be aesthetic beauty – how much more we Christians should make the time and effort to know more about the mind of Christ – as it is infinitely of more value and benefit.

Let’s see what are some of the things we can learn from Paul today from the 1st 2 chapters of Philippians…

“To Live Is…”

Philippi was a proud and affluent city and many of the believers were living in this prosperous community. Paul used to be familiar with all this power and position but now, he had surrendered everything to Christ and could say…

For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.

Phil 1:21

I always wondered what drove Paul to do and say what he did.  Here was Paul – facing the prospect of execution.  And yet, when faced with this – he came to the conclusion about what matters most to him.

He felt that Christ not only made his life worth living, but death worth dying.

Do you feel the same way?  Maybe you did once in the past but now… because of your various commitments and distractions, you have lost this mind of Paul.

When you read Phil 1:21-26, you find that Paul’s mind was always focused on what Christ wanted and what he can do to accomplish Christ’s goals – e.g. saving the souls of men.  Paul’s own benefits and wants come in a distant second.

What makes life worth living for you?  Your family?  Your work?  Your legacy?

What makes death worth dying?  Your family?  Your work?  Your legacy?

Take your time to consider this as  I share this familiar hymn with you.  The words of the song tells us that its worth the living … just because Jesus lives.  Do we share the same mind?

My Chains Are in Christ

It seems a bit ironic but Paul although Paul was in prison – he chose to focus upon himself as a prisoner of Christ, rather than a prisoner of the worldly order.

He was a prisoner of the love of Jesus.  And now these chains of love inspired him to continually preach Christ.

And in so doing – he inspired others to do likewise (Phil 1:12-14).

So let us not look down upon what we do or can for Christ.  Because if we do it faithfully and out of love for Christ, we can encourage others to be more bold and step out and do the same work and even improve it!

When I read the passage, I could not help but remember a song “Crucified with Christ”.   For Paul, although he was a prisoner, he was actually crucified with Christ – and that is what made him preach and rejoice…

When one is crucified with Christ – he is nailing his lot together with the Saviour.  He is telling everyone that he is now together with Christ – in all that he says and do.  His will is no longer important – but his Master’s will is.  And he will do everything that the Lord wants… throughout his life.  Pretty much like a bondservant (Phil 1:1).

The Mind of Christ

Philippians 2:5 starts off with Paul appealing to them to…

Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, …

We will read next week about how Paul was determined to follow the footsteps of Christ and experience His sufferings, death and resurrection (Philippins 3:10-11).

But this passage really emphasizes to me how Paul taught the Philippians how to translate their relationship with Christ into their daily lives.  And this is how we ought to as well.

When I look at Philippians 2:1-11 – it is as though Paul painted a picture of what it means to have the mind of Christ.

What is this mind which is also in Christ Jesus?

Humility.

If we have never read this epistle before and we were asked this question, I am sure many of us would not have gotten the right answer the first time.

Humility is something alien to the culture during those days.  Like us, the Greeks and Romans exalted the lifestyles of the rich and famous.  Pride and self importance was pretty much part and parcel of Philippian life in Paul’s days (hmm…. sounds like today isn’t it?).

So when Paul recommended “lowliness in mind” (Phil 2:3), Paul was firing at the vey heart of the minds of the people during those days – a culture very much like ours today.

Lowliness of mind?  Who would want that?

When we think about “lowly” – we think about a servant or slave – a servile, groveling, wretched individual.  And when Paul associated the word “lowly” with “mind” – it was like a laughable contradiction because people often associate lowly people with lower intelligence.  Everyone else honoured higher thinking and self conceit.

But Paul was attacking it directly by telling the members to have this lowliness in mind.

When Paul tells Christians to cultivate humility – it means not to think oneself more highly than is true (Rom 12:3).  We must learn to accept and acknowledge what we are – with all our strengths and weaknesses, pluses and minuses, successes and failures.

True humility means seeing ourselves in relation to God.  It is no wonder that this virtue runs counter to the views of the Romans as their concept of god is very similar to their concept of humanity.  If we know the stories of the mythological Roman gods, we will know that their gods are hardly noble and a very far cry from the Lord God that we worship and love.

We all know that Jesus praised the humble, the “poor in spirit” (Matt 5:3).  What would that attitude look like?

If you recall, when we read Psalm 39:4-6, David said this…

⁴ “LORD, make me to know my end,
And what is the measure of my days,
That I may know how frail I am.
⁵ Indeed, You have made my days as handbreadths,
And my age is as nothing before You;
Certainly every man at his best state is but vapor.  Selah
⁶ Surely every man walks about like a shadow;
Surely they busy themselves in vain;
He heaps up riches,
And does not know who will gather them.

Likewise, the prophet Micah reminds us that humility is one of the three virtues that ought to govern our lives in Micah 6:8…

He has shown you, O man, what is good;
And what does the LORD require of you
But to do justly,
To love mercy,
And to walk humbly with your God?

Humility is not an option for us as believers.  It is an essential if we want to walk with God and if we want to have the mind of Christ.

Over and over again, we read in the Bible that we are to walk humbly with Him or not at all (Psa 138:6; Isa 57:15l 1 Pet 5:5-7).

I think John the Baptist said it best when he said, “He must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:30).

One Final Word and Song…

Everytime I read Philippians 1, this song will come to mind.

It is a great comforting song.  It is a song of promise.  It is a song of faithfulness.  It is a song that echoes what Paul wrote in Phil 1:6

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;

Paul’s confidence in the Lord Jesus to finish the good work that He has started in us motivated him to continue to do all that he did for the Lord and His Church.

And this teaches me one thing too.  That in all my work for God – even when the work is tough and the results does not seem to go the way we imagine it would – we have a God who is faithful and just and in His time and will, will complete the good work in us.

Let me know what you think of this song…

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