Well, again, welcome to this evening, guys. I've been really looking forward to this. Alan and I, as I mentioned before, have been catching up for the last sort of seven odd years and, it's usually not a short conversation, as we tackle scripture together and just life in Christ. And, Alan Alan's just, just through and through is a scholar of, of God's word. Like this man has dedicated his life, in the pursuit of knowing Christ, in and through the word of God.
And, and he has so much wisdom, so much more understanding than what I have. He, he said on Monday as we caught up for coffee, he's, oh, I think we should just do this. A bit of to and fro. And I said, I think what will bless the church is more to. Unless me throwing. And so, I'm just so excited to hear from him. He's gonna sum up, Philipp pins for us, to, you know, in the totality of the letter, and he's gonna do that in about 10, 15 minutes. So yeah, watch out everyone.
It's gonna be like a fire hydrant. But as he does that, I just want to bring to your attention, we've got a Slido that we're gonna be using tonight. So we're gonna spend more, most of our time, q and Aing, and having Alan speak into some of your questions around this letter. And so as a QR code just there on the screen, that will get you to the slider. It's open. You'll notice that there's some questions there already.
That was from some of our guys from Word and Way on Wednesday, had started posting some questions. And, and so then we're just gonna continue on with the evening. Just going through some of those, some of those questions that you have about the letter or the implications of what, Paul, what Paul is saying here to our lives today. And so Alan, I'm gonna hand it over to you and, let you lead us through this beautiful letter.
Thank you very much, Luke. I do feel an affiliation with this church, a sense of belonging together. I'm still on staff at Riverview a couple of days a week and some, some of you might know, have heard of Riverview Church. There's a bit of shared history and we connect with Adam and Dale, half of many years. So that's fantastic. And Luke tells me. You ever spent something like the last three months in the book of Philippians and you're all full bottle on the whole book? Is that, is that right?
Yes. So if you've got, so any questions left over tonight, I'd be happy to try to, address some of those. I think we always still have questions like, I grew up in church, but I still. When I read the scriptures, I'm going, oh wow, look at that. And there's always more for us to learn. So my prayer tonight is that your desire to know King Jesus through his word will be enriched as you share together as a community. And we wrap up the book of Philippians.
It's something to take home and to live together. Mm-hmm. That's good. That's good. So you want us to dive in and summarize the book? Go for it mate. Alright. It's all yours. You've done four chapters in the book of Philippines and just really, really quickly, I think the first 11 verses are all about the joy of participating in what God is doing. Amen. Have they got a way to put some of these things up on screen? Fantastic. So Philippians one is actually sharing the joy of suffering together.
The joy and the suffering because life is both. So if you have been a follower of Jesus for any length of time at all, I think you'll recognize that both are true. It's not like some parts of your life you have some happy times. Other times you have some sad times. Well, it can work that way, but often it's the two together. And so the joy and the suffering together is the theme that unfolds. 'cause Paul's in jail writing to his friends who he loves and he's full of joy about them.
But being in jail is not much fun, especially in the first century. So the joy of participating in the thing that God is doing is what he focuses on in the first 11 verses, God put Jesus in charge and it's all about Jesus being the one who is now the ruler of the world. And Paul writes this stuff while Caesar has him locked up. So who's right in the world? Not Caesar, Jesus. That's, that's his joy. The second part of the first chapter then is the Imperial Guard is hearing about Jesus.
And Paul talks about how the pretor, the guard that's there, that's holding him as prisoner is a captive audience. So who's the real captives? In this situation. And so as the guards hear this message and they begin to chat about it down the hallways, I think some of them are, hearing it and going, oh wow. Caesar isn't running the world. This Jesus has come back from the dead and he's running and some are believing it and others are mocking Paul about it to make it worse for him.
And Paul says, I don't care. Whatever their reasons are, I'm just glad they're all talking about Jesus. 'cause he's the one that will change everything. So that's the way he introduces the letter. And then I think he wraps it up at the end of the very first chapter, with the main message of what he's asking the Philippines to do.
Now, only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ is the way the English standard version translate translates that, but it's deeper than just conduct yourselves well. Live. Live. Well, the verb that Paul uses has to do with being a citizen. So what he's saying is, the only thing I'm asking from you, Philippi, is that you live as a citizen of King Jesus honoring the good news, the proclamation that he is king. That's what he's asking of the Philippians.
Now they, Paul's in jail. They've sent finance, they've, there's a connection between the two, but all that Paul wants is for them to live out what it looks like to be a community under the leadership of King Jesus. I think that's the point of the letter. So what we're aiming for by the time we finish tonight is have this sense of a desire to live out. What it looks like to be a community led by King Jesus.
What did you say The theme of the church was, Adam, that his will is done on earth as it is in heaven. That the kingdom, his kingdom come and he comes in us, in the community under his leadership. That's chapter one. Beautiful In chapter two. Then Paul is four examples of what this looks like in practice. 'cause in the end, that's all just talk until it's lived that way. So the first one who lives it in chapter two is Jesus.
We've got that magnificent poem to the way Jesus laid aside all of his powers and became the servant of humanity even down into death. And God raised him up and gave him the kingship. So that's the path we're gonna have to take this, this path of following Jesus. It's not going to be like, this is all hunky Dorian. Have a wonderful life in You're following Jesus. You are going to suffer in a world where other people are not following. God, because that's what Jesus did.
And the other three examples in the chapter are just like that. Paul himself, Timothy, who's one of Paul's friends, and Roers, who is one of the Ephesians. And so now, who should I name from the congregation that we're in tonight? Because you're the fifth example in this chapter. You are. That's what this is about. It's living out the reality that Jesus is king, Philippians three. Paul says, effectively the me better than You game is over.
Now, back in those first century churches, there were those who felt like their people had been the people of God for thousands of years. I'm talking about those that were part of the Old Testament story, the Jewish people, and they saw these. non-Jewish people that are now recognizes the the Jewish Messiah and come in under his leadership and they're thinking, oh, really? They're not leaving the way that we do. They haven't got themselves circumcised. They're not following the Torah.
It's like they're not behaving the way that the people of God ought to behave. And Paul writes to them and says, you know what? All that stuff about us being defined by how well we obey God's laws, that's all rubbish. That that's all trash. I used to live that way, but it's all nothing. The only thing that matters is that King Jesus has come back from the dead and he's in charge of everybody. So coming under his leadership is the one thing that matters. So come on value.
What King Jesus values your life in Christ is the way that God is transforming the world. That's Philippians three, sorry. And then the final chapter. Paul says that living the vision of Jesus is what we're on about because Jesus is the leader of the world. So it's time for us to let go of our hurts and to stand together in King Jesus. And he names a couple of people in the church that are having trouble getting on with each other. I know that we've never happen at Red Door No.
Or Riverview, but as we do life together, we are going to hurt each other. And there are going to be times when you'll feel like. Pulling back from someone else. It's important to face those hurts. It's important to acknowledge them and to get through them, but we can't divide up over it. Mm. Otherwise, the message that Jesus has made, peace, peace with God, and peace with each other doesn't work. So we've gotta find a way to get through our pain. We can't be at all with each other.
If the gospel is that God has made peace in Christ, I. So then it goes on to describe what it looks like to find peace in the world, and we find peace and joy by focusing on Jesus' agenda, not on mine. Typ. Typically, I'm happy if I'm getting what I want and I'm unhappy if I'm not getting what I want. Yeah, but that's not how Jesus lives. So if I'm living for Jesus' agenda, then just seeing you tonight.
Is joy because I'm seeing people for whom Jesus is Lord, and you are living this stuff and you are my joy. Isn't that what Paul said to the Philippians? Yeah. And and it's true. It's true. It's seeing you as servants of Jesus. You are the joy and the peace that comes by focusing on his agenda rather than my hurts. That revolutionizes the world, and then he finishes the letter up by saying, you're doing it. You're actually living this stuff. Fantastic. Keep going. Keep doing it.
I can do all these things through King Jesus, because he's present and his presence empowers us to live this in reality. So the end of the whole letter then is this statement that, we are God's household brothers and sisters in the Messiah. And that household is so much more powerful than anything else. Oh, and by the way, some Mac households getting this message too, learning how to be Jesus household. 'cause that's the bigger one.
These are the closing verses of the letter, and then it wraps it all up by saying the grace of our ruler Messiah, Jesus, be with your spirit, empowering you to be the agents of God's healing in his world. That's my prayer for you tonight. That was awesome. What a what? A what a joy it is to hear you. Help us remember and reflect on what we've just been through. It is a powerful letter. And a letter that is, that is speaking to people's contexts, isn't it? Yeah, absolutely.
Can you tell us just a little bit about what the Philippians are going through at that time? Like what are the things that, what are they being called away from pursuing? What is it costing them? Wow. Okay. Do you know a little bit about Philipp Pipe? Did you talk about what, where, where Philipp Pipe was? It's Yes. In a little bit. Yep. Yep. It's in the northern area of what is Greece today? Macedonia in those days, and it was an imperial town where Caesar's power was really, really big.
It was like if you were, if, if you get to Canberra today, it's all on the social scale levels about. What your government job is. So it's kind of like that in Philippi. Yeah. And this is the first town in Europe that Paul visited with the gospel. He'd been through the, the Asian side, which is like Turkey and, Antioch and what of Syria. He'd been through that region and when he crosses over into Europe, Philippi was the first town that, that he went to.
And he's looking for people who might be interested in King Jesus. And he finds a woman who's got a Jewish background. She's a. Pretty wealthy businesswoman actually. And so, she puts Paul up and looks after him. And then he tries to explain to the Philippian town what it would be like to live under King Jesus. And there's this slave girl with a spirit that enables her to predict the future. And she races around and she's constantly interrupting Paul, and he sets her free.
It's the first Christian emancipation of a slave in the New Testament. That doesn't go down too well. 'cause in Rome, the whole economy relies on having slaves, right? So what he's doing is not acceptable. They took Paul into prison and Paul eventually gets asked to leave the town. But there's already people who are followers of Jesus in that place. Yes, this is the church that Paul founds. It's a mixture of Jews and Gentiles.
It's a mixture of wealthy people like Lydia and those who are slaves and have had basically nothing, and they're trying to learn how to live together as a community of faith and represent King Jesus in Philippi. And Paul goes, the only way you're gonna do this is to do it unselfishly. Like what Jesus did, empty yourself. That that helps us get a little picture of what this small little church is made up of. Yep. And you can just see how in a community like that, there would be clashes.
Absolutely. And there would be issues relationally. Yeah. Thanks. Thanks Ellen. So our first question from our Slido is. Why does Paul refer to being content in Christ a secret in that fourth chapter? Can I pull this up on the, on the screen? In fact, this thing isn't getting power. Are we able to sort of follow that line and see where it needs to plug it? Lemme check. What's the verse for that? Luke, have you got a verse for that, Luke? So it's chapter, chapter four, verse 12.
Okay. I like to actually read the text, that's why I'm pulling it up on the screen here. Paul says, I know what it is to be in need and I know what it is to have plenty. I've learned at the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry. Looks like it's gone through. Hmm. Alright. That'll be okay. Yes. Yeah. Why is it a secret? That's the question. That's the question. Yeah. Why is it a secret? Secret is kind of like a metaphor.
It's not like, shh, don't tell anybody. It's not, not that kind of secret. Paul describes something that's not commonly known, not commonly understood. Most people in Australia will get up tomorrow morning to go to work to earn money, and we're actually driven by money. And Paul's not doing this. Paul has not been driven by money for a long time. He's traveled from place to place and sometimes he's been really well fed. I think at Philippi he would've been doing really well.
Lydia was a purple cellar. Now there was, there's two kinds of purple in the Roman. Well, one was just a cheap purple that the second time you washed it, it lost all the purple. The other one was made from a little tiny sea creature. And the die from that little sea creature cost an absolute fortune to buy. And so the wealthy Romans loved this particular purple, and Lydia was a business woman who sold this and made a business out of it.
So she, according to Acts 16, put Paul and Silas up in her house. And so she's really, really bad off. I mean, she would've been serving lobster and prawn cocktails. Paul's doing really, really well when he eats at her place, but other places he's not doing that. There's, there's other nights where Paul says to Silas, this isn't in the Bible. I'm making this up. But you get the picture, Paul says to Silas, you, you got me that bit of bread left.
And, and Silas says, no, we ate all that last night. Paul says, oh, I've got some. Pasta with nothing to put on it. Could we just boil it up and have it tonight? And it's enough to keep your life, but that's all you could say. It's not a, not a great meal. And Paul goes either way. It's not about how much can I enjoy life on the way through. It's all about. Being servants of King Jesus, and most people don't know this. That's why he calls it a secret.
I've learned the secret that it's not about how much pleasure I can have on the way through. That's that's not the point of life. The point is, who are you living for? Are you living for the restoration of a world under king Jesus, the way that God planted in the beginning? So in the end, we all finish up as brothers and sisters in a human family where everyone's cared for.
So. Or is it about having as much fun as you can now while other people are still starving and there's places in the world where babies haven't got enough to, well, which, which way are you living? The secret is serving Jesus, not living for pleasure. That's great. Well done. Okay. The phrase becoming like him in his death in Philippians 3 10, 1. What does Paul mean by this? How do we become like Jesus in his death?
I want you to know, Christ has to know the power of his resurrection and the participation in his sufferings becoming like him in his death, and so somehow attaining to the resurrection of the dead. In the context of the third chapter, Paul has been talking about people who wanna divide up over issues like circumcision, family background, who's, who's the top dogs and who's the bottom of the barrel people. And he said, what should Jesus do? Did Jesus live like the topped dog?
Did Jesus walk around? Glee going, get down and worship me? Don't you know who I am? But he's the king. Sent by God, the anointed Messiah, and he goes around looking for, oh my goodness, this person looks like they're in in trouble. I wonder if I could help this one. So he'll, he'll provide food for, he's, he's living out of that kind of servant motivation. You refer to that earlier, nightly. He did that so much that in the end. He did lose his life doing that.
Yeah. Becoming a servant for humanity. Now Paul says, I wanna live like that too. I am a says at the start of the letter, I am an ambassador for the highest government on the planet King Jesus. But I'm not wandering around Asia looking to be recognized for that. I'm chucked in jail. Because I'm claiming someone else is king instead of Caesar, and I'm happy to be that as long as his jailers are healing the story.
Yeah. Long as you guys are learning to understand that, so, so he's entering into a selfless life that within a few years will cost him his life. Paul will die. He will literally die put to death by Caesar and he knows. That Jesus will raise him up and give him the whole eternity in the reign of God, the way that God always intended the planet to be. He knows he's got all that coming 'cause God's already done that for Jesus. And God's doing that for us as well.
So then why would we live for me when I can live for Jesus when I can give my life? 'cause the one who gives it finds it. Yeah. But the one who keeps it loses it. So good. Given the call for Unity in Philippians four, how do you view conflict within churches, congregation, and leadership in some practical ways to resolve this today? Conflict in churches. Oh, my hat. But you've never experienced that. Because river view's perfect. Yeah, I won't go there Luke.
See, as I'm aging, I'm kind of understanding sin differently from what I used to, used to think of sin as kind of like doing some bad things. Everything from taking a paperclip, you know, to uh. But, but since more than that, sin is like a power that wants to actually control us. And if ever I step over the line and seek to get power over people, I am operating under the power of sin. Now, my wife Robin is here tonight. If I treat Robin like that, right? I'm operating under the power. Of sin.
And if my will is pitted against hers, then I'm not gonna give in and we're gonna be at loggerheads o over this. It's all about power. So craving for power is at the heart of what's wrong with the world? Yes. Ever since Eden actually. When the first couple said, we want the knowledge of good and evil for ourselves, and we want to be Gods and we want to be able to take power over this stuff.
And they tried to take power from God as that's the stuff that's wrong with the world, and therefore that's our biggest struggle. But I want to be in charge. I want to have my will done. I wanna impose my thoughts, my abilities, my perception on other people. I am doing damage as soon as I do that, and we do hurt each other.
So if we had a falling out, Luke, like you said, we've been talking to this for about seven years and if we had a falling out or we were strong, probably be my fault if we didn't. No, not necessarily because both of us are human beings with this power struggle thing. Right. And if I'm trying to impose my will and my beliefs on you, instead of us being brothers and seeking Jesus together, then you're gonna have to confront me about that. Yeah. And say, Alan, that hurts.
Yeah. 'cause you are imposing your will on me. We have to talk about it. We gotta be honest with each otherly. And I have to hear that feedback and then respond in a way where I'm going, oh, was it, or, or. Yes, I was. Yeah, because it's only in the humility that we can find that kind of healing that Jesus brings. I just love what Jesus did. If you wanna know what the judgment of God looks like, ask Jesus. Mm-hmm.
Jesus is in this moment where the leaders in Jerusalem are nailing him to a cross and hanging him up and saying, he's a false messiah. He's the king of the Jews. So he claims, and, and in that moment when they're doing that to him, Jesus prayer is not, get him for what they're doing to me. I know. What did he pray? Yeah. You remember? Yeah. Father, forgive them. They don't understand. Yeah. That's the example of Philippians two. So this is getting back to Philippians two.
That, that this is not just a piece of worship that we're reading. This is an invitation to come and live. And so where, where the church becomes rebels or usurers to the king, then we have, we have relational issues. That's right. Is that, is that, that's it. Yep, that's it. Yep. So it's a race to humility. Now Service. A faithfulness to image Christ to each other. It's only in laying my life down to care for you. Exactly. And vice versa.
Yeah. That we're going to overcome the tendency that we both have to want to be in charge. Yes. And that is to be in Christ. Yeah. So we model to each other what Jesus has already done for us, and we know how to do it. We know how to love because he first loved us. Right? That's right. So out of what he has done for us, we are empowered to love each other like that. That's great. Rather to seek to dominate each other. Yeah. That's great Alan. Thank you.
Why do you think Paul connects gentleness with the statement the Lord is near in Philippians four verse five? Philippians four and verse five. Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Um. There's different ways you can understand some of these. Text the Lord is near could mean Jesus is coming back soon. I mean, it's often read that way, but I tend to think Paul wasn't just imagining something that was likely to happen in a few thousand years time when he said, the Lord is near.
What he is saying is that the resurrected Jesus is already living here in the community and he's living in you. And I recognize Jesus in you. There's something really special when we get together. And talk because Jesus is in you and you've got this soft heart towards God. Right. And Jesus is living me. So we experience Jesus together. And out of that experience of who Jesus is, we learn to be gentle with each other. Yeah. Because that's what he's already done for us.
So it is the nearness of Jesus that empowers us to treat each other with gentleness instead of seeking to dominate each other. Oh, that's good. That's awesome. It's also encouraging 'cause I lent that way as well at word of way. So there you go. I took that. Yeah. That escal eschatological sort of, interpretation doesn't seem to flow too neatly there, but there's that sense that, hey, be faithful because he's, he's with us, you know, the presence. Yeah. Yeah. Beautiful.
What. It's, it's a horrible fever, that you can catch. No, escal logical just means the last things or, the end. So what was that? I missed that funny comment, but, yeah, so. As Alan just articulated, there is one interpretation the Lord is near that Jesus is coming soon. He, his his second coming, his his inauguration. He's bringing his kingdom, is coming soon or near, as opposed to the Lord is near. Let's act like that as faithful servants to him.
Yeah. There, there is a sense in which, Jesus' presence is not fully here yet. Correct. And when he returns. It'll be full of here, right? Yes. And I love how Philippians two describes that as every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord. So when there's a world ready to submit to his leadership, Jesus will return and his presence will be visibly here in a way that we don't experience now. That's how the story ends. So eschatological is how the story ends.
Yes. But the end of the story. Yeah, the end of the story. We're looking forward to that, but we're not having to wait until that moment before Jesus is here. Jesus is near now. Yeah. Not visibly, but in the community of people who recognize his leadership. He's already here. Yes. As, as Alan has once described it, Jesus is king and the reality of his kingdom is real. It's just that not all of us are bowing the need to the king, and that is the place that we, we find ourselves.
So what does it look like to be content in our modern day comfortable lives? Oh my, Ooh, that's a good one. What does it look like to be content? Paul talks quite a bit about being content in this story, and he says, whether I'm eating, lobster. And prawn cocktails at Lydia's house or whether I'm just cooking up some bare pasta with absolutely nothing to put on it, which is not so tasty Either way, I am. Content. So being content has to cover that kind of spectrum.
God is not the kind of God who wants us always to be suffering and always to be down and not having much right? God's. God's not that kind of God, but neither is God the kind of God who wants a few. Wealthy people to own everything while other people are starving on the planet. 'cause what is provided is enough for all of us. So those of us who have something need to be able to share it. And at the time when you haven't got much, there's a sense in which we learned to be content.
Now Paul was in jail when he was writing his letter. Yes. In a Roman jail. They did not feed you Well, the Philippians had actually sent some money with a paphitis so that Paul could get a decent meal. 'cause most days he's not getting it. So some days he's doing okay. Other days he's not doing so great as far as the world is concerned. He goes, either way, I am content. And why is he content? He's content because God has put Jesus in charge of the world.
And his whole world is under restoration, and he gets to talk about that even to the guards while he is in jail and doesn't have much. So he's content because Jesus is Lord, because Jesus is God's anointed ruler who's fixing the whole world, and ultimately will said all things right. Who would not be content with that regardless of what you're eating today? That's good. It's good. any, particular tips, on how to apply the message of Philippians to people struggling with anxiety or depression?
Oh, wow. Anxiety or depression? Okay. Let me back up to the beginning of your question. How do we apply this letter? Many of us, myself included over the years, have tended to read the text and straight away I go to, to me, if Paul says, I have learned the secret of being contained, then I, Alan, have learned the secret of being right. I find there's a middle step there that we've missed that helps us get, not not to get the message.
The middle step is to listen to Paul before I try to apply it to myself. What did, what was Paul experiencing? He's actually in jail. Mm. He's chained inside a cell in one of Caesar's jails in Rome as he writes this stuff, and when I take myself into Paul's position rather than just make it about me, then all the things that seem wrong for me, perhaps. Take on a different perspective. Yeah. It's easy for me to feel down if I didn't get that job that I wanted.
If a friend has hurt me, if I'm feeling rejection, if I'm unwell, it's, it's easy for me then to start feeling. What's my life worth? Yeah. 'cause it's the focus on me. It seems to me that the way Paul got around that was to look outside of the self and the self struggles and to go, sure, I'm in a jail cell. Who can I talk to? Oh, there's guards here. And so rather than focus on. How dejected I feel. And actually I'm sleeping on bare concrete and it's cold. Yeah. And it's not comfortable.
And I actually, I'm not sleeping very well and I'm grumpy in the morning 'cause I haven't slept. And, but instead of focusing on that, he's going on, you know what, the reason I'm here is that God sent Jesus to set the world. Right. And Caesar doesn't like it. So if this is how God's gonna fix the world, I'm okay. Yeah. With being cold, hungry. Grumpy not sleeping. I'm okay with a world that doesn't have to be centered on me and who I am because Jesus is fixing the world now.
He's doing that through you. Even when you're feeling squashed, anxious, fearful, depressed, concerned, rejected. Those feelings are real. Don't, don't pretend they're not real. But that's not the only reality. The other reality is that God is putting Jesus in front of the world, in charge of the world. And this story is gonna end well when every knee bows and every tongue confesses.
I'm in my seventies now, Luke, and I've started using a stick to get around and just not as active as what I used to be, but I'm not feeling down about that stuff. Yeah, because God's fixing the world in Jesus. Yes. What else is there to be more joyful about than God? Setting all things right in Christ. So the joy of who he is. Is my strength. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. And the contentment of the fact that it's in his hands and he's sorting it out, keeps me going when life's tough. Yeah. That's good.
That's so good. Great answer. Why do you think Paul connects gentleness? Oh, I've read that one. Mm-hmm. Let's mark that one as answered. Hey, why did Paul allow the Philippians church, the Philippian church, to share with him in the matters of giving and receiving? Okay. And maybe you speak out of that in their giving. That that is, that is not outta plenty. It's out of little. And Paul, Paul, commends them on partaking of hardship with him.
Yeah. Yeah, that it's really interesting that this didn't come up until the very last chapter of the book, isn't it Luke? Yeah. It's like Paul has, they, they've sent some money to, they actually sent Epaphroditus. 'cause there's no like Australia Post to carry this to them. There's no internet banking. Right? So Paphitis has actually had to take the gift that they collected and walk.
Or catch a boat all the way to Rome and find the prison that Paul's in and make and, and probably go buy some food, actually is probably what he's done with it. And then bring some food to Paul, maybe some clothes, maybe some Parchments so Paul could write them back a letter. You know, that's the sort of stuff I imagine that the Paradise has done with the, the, the money that they've brought. And then Paul writes this data to them and right near the end of it, he says, ah, and thank you so much.
For participating with me in this thing, it is so much bigger than what you are. So he's glad that they have an interest in proclaiming the gospel 'cause that's who Paul is. Paul's identity is as an ambassador for the king of heaven, for the governments of earth and the peoples of the earth to learn that God has put his man. King Jesus the Messiah in charge of the world and Jesus is our Lord. That's, that's the message Paul proclaims everywhere.
And the fact that this church wants to participate in helping to proclaim that message. Paul goes, thank you so much. And then he says, but you know what? I didn't need it. 'cause even if I'm just eating pastor without, with nothing on it, I'm content with that. I'm, I'm not asking you for anything, but I'm so thrilled that you did this because it shows me your values. My bank account tells you my values.
If you look at what I spend my money on, then you know what sorts of things are important to me, and I think that's true for all of us. So what does your bank account say about what you value in life? I think Paul's gratitude is these people value proclaiming the good news of Jesus. So how could we be involved in doing that both here at Red Dot? And with people in other places as well to ensure that the good news of Jesus gets proclaimed to all the peoples of the earth.
Yeah. Verses four, four through nine connect with verses four, one through three. Are we talking about the last chapter? Yeah, the last chapter. So chapter four, verses four through nine and chapter four. One through three. Is he discussing conflict resolution or has he changed the topic? Great question. All right, so in verses one to three, he says, therefore, brothers and sisters whom I love and long for with my joy, crown stand firm in the Lord in this way.
Dear friends, I played with Yoda and I played with sin. He being of the same mind in the Lord. So he is talking about conflict resolution, and then he says, rejoice in the Lord. Always, always. It's not a total disconnect. These people who are having trouble getting on with each other every time they get together at church and you're in trouble with someone else and you see that person, you walk in the door if you haven't got it resolved. It's a problem right then and there.
And how are you ever going to get through the memory of what this person has done to you? It's absolutely crucial that we learn how to resolve our conflicts with each other. And it doesn't mean we're always gonna agree, but it does mean that we need to be able to talk about it when we've heard each other, one of the. Wonder. Beautiful. I'm thinking about Robin because that's who I share life with, right?
Yeah. Robin's a very gentle person and it's important for me to give her the opportunity to say when I've hurt her. Yes. Because if I don't give her the opportunity, it just stays under the under the surface. Right. So I need to, I need to be open and listening to know when I've hurt her. I think we've gotta live that way with each other. Yeah. Listening to each other, hearing what the other, someone comes and says, you hurt me when.
Defensive reaction is normal, but the only way we're gonna be able to repair that relationship is to listen and go, really? Oh, I didn't understand. And think back and come to terms with what it is so that we can heal each other. And even if we're not able to agree yet, rather than to allow that to become the thing that dominates your thinking, so you're constantly thinking about what's gone wrong, he says, rejoice in who Jesus is. Now if I am thinking about how Jesus is treated me.
I'm so grateful for the grace, the compassion, the understanding, the generosity that he has shown towards me. Then rejoicing in who he is and what he's done is going to empower me to take the position of the cross. Yeah. And to cross that bridge. Yes. Uh. And to restore the relationship. So I think the following instructions about how you come to live at Peace do follow on from restoring the relationships.
And the reason it's so crucial we do that is that the gospel says that God reconciles humanity with himself and humanity with each other. The gospel says the war is over. The nations are used to fight each other. Are now being called under the leadership of Jesus. So the war is over and we've gotta live that. Yes, very good. How can I authentically live for Christ's agenda and truly love rejoice in what he loves? That's the question. That's the question.
Okay. Have you got some suggestions on that one? I'm not a hundred percent clear on how we go ahead and, and, and do that. Is it forgiveness to each other? Is that the starting point? Yeah, I think so. Is it generosity, understanding someone else's needs, seeing, listening, hearing, praying? I, I, I guess one of the things for me, is prayer as you pray for people.
You're listening to the spirit of God who will drop things into your heart about where someone else is, and it's out of prayer then that we gain awareness about other people when we need to. Yes. I love the fact that there were times when Jesus, went to people and asked a guy who was blind, what would you like? Because it's best if the person can say, but there were other people who couldn't say what they were doing. And the spirit gave Jesus the insight to know what to do in that situation.
So if someone's able to say, then listen to them. If they're not able to say, listen to the spirit and hear what the spirit's saying, and that will cause us to live together in harmony under the spirit who is embodying what the head wants. Yeah. Yep. Is that, no, it's good addressing. That's great. Is it too far fetched? To extend, Philippians one to fellow Christians in the nations that we don't know and they don't know us. It's that prayer in verses nine to 10.
Yep. When interceding for the nations. This is my prayer, that your love may abound more and more in the knowledge and depth and insight so that you'll be able to discern what is the best and maybe pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God. That prayer Paul used that prayer for his friends in Philipp High. He'd been there for only a short time.
There was some of the people he knew, there were others he did not. So some of them he's praying for. He understands who they are and what their, what their needs are. But primarily there are, there are people who want to know Jesus. So this particular prayer. Would be most useful, I think, for people who are followers of Jesus, that they will be able to have that kind of depth of insight into who God, who Christ is, and what it's like to live for him.
For someone who doesn't know Jesus yet, I think I'd probably be praying. God, give them a revelation of who Jesus is. 'cause that's the thing that they need before they even get to, to this spot. Just by the way, in church, we've sometimes thought that the way you get somebody saved is to tell 'em how bad they are. And the first thing you have to do is say, I'm a sinner, and pray the sinner's prayer and give your life to Jesus.
And after you've done that, then you can be one of us and we can pray this for you. Right? So we, we tend to like use judgment as the way in which we think we get people to say, oh, help want it to be saved. That's not the pattern in scripture. The pattern of scripture is that it's not a revelation of how bad I am that gets me saved. It's a revelation of who Jesus is. So Paul himself, yes. Wrote to Damascus, yes.
A revelation of who Jesus is, sees Jesus as Lord of all later, Paul goes, what was I thinking? Right? So a revelation of Jesus makes us aware of our need rather than the other way around. So for people who dunno, God, yet my prayer is Father, give them a revelation of Jesus, the Holy Spirit. Show them who Jesus is. Amen. And of course we're called to embody who Jesus is. So it's in the body of believers who represent Jesus, that they're most likely to see the revelation of Jesus.
Yes. So good mate. There is a, there is a, i I did enjoy this one. Should I go to prison to find contentment? Yeah, I suppose you could. Yes. Slaves to Christ. I like that. Yeah. We're in captivity under his rule and reign. There you go. Do you know as as funny as that is, it's probably important to say that when God sets us free. Yes. So we are no longer under the powers of sin and death. It's not freedom to be whatever I like. No, that's right.
It's freedom to be his people under his leadership. Yes. Yep. That's very good. Is unity always possible in this present moment? What if not all parties wish to lay down their own agenda? That's a great question. Yeah. I guess this is probably a question that's come out of real experience. I was struggling with these years ago, and I just could not make this thing right. Any relationship from two people upwards, each person has their will.
And if I'm trying to force you to come back and reconcile with me, then me attempting to force it, it's just evil. Yeah. So I have to be willing to talk, seek reconciliation and wait. Until you also want reconciliation. Because unless we both do, it's not gonna happen. And I can remember feeling the weight of that 'cause we feel like we should be able to fix this. Right? And I started to realize the patience of God.
God has had a whole world of people that broke relationship with him, and he's in the process of restoring a relationship and his method of doing that is across. That's Philippians two. And, and so, so God is still waiting. And today we probably have about 2 billion people out of the people on Earth. Who would say, yeah, okay. I'm, I'm with you on this one. God responding to the reconciliation and the rest of the world. It's still happening.
How long is it gonna take before every knee bows and every time, how, how long is this whole thing going and the patience of God? Mm-hmm. It's just like absurd. Yeah. Beyond my lifetime, beyond the patience that I have. God is still patient seeking, reconciliation, waiting for people to restore. And then I found a verse in Romans 12 that said that God's God wrote Romans 12. As far as it depends on you, be at peace with everyone.
Yeah. And I read that going, oh, some of these things don't defend on me. Yeah. And I can accept that. Live in that freedom. Do what a heavenly father's doing by not forcing his bond on everyone. Yep. And take that gentle reconciling approach for the people who are responsive and pray for God to help those who are not yet responsive to me as I try to keep my heart open. Very encouraging mate.
Philippians three, verse 10 Through two 11, Paul speaks of knowing Christ through the fellowship of his sufferings and attaining the resurrection. How does this align with salvation? By faith align. Ah, I thought you might like that. Oh, my hat. How long have we got on that one? We won't take all night to talk to talk about that one. That's, that's a big one. Becoming like him in his, that somehow attaining to the resurrection from the dead and attaining sounds like we're doing works.
Paul is not that. I've already attained it. I'm pressing on to take hold of that. So he is working hard for this and then the next verse he says, because it's God who's working us. Is it me? Is it God? There's a huge theological argument that comes out of this entire scripture. What I suggest, it works like this. God, even when humans were unfaithful, remained faithful because God remained faithful to the peoples of the earth. He did right by us. His doing right was providing Jesus 'cause.
God was faithful. He did right. He asked us to respond to him in the same way, to give him our loyalty to out of faithfulness, we will do right by God and ultimately by each other as well. So God is the one who sets us right and empowers us to do right, not because that earns our salvation, but out of faithfulness to the one who was faithful to us. So it starts with his faithfulness, him doing right.
The Christ who rescues us, our loyalty to him and then out of faithfulness to Christ, we end up doing right. I think that's the sequence. So good mate. In practice. Yeah. So good. So to wrap up Philippians, what do we walk away with? I think we work, walk away with this good news that God. Has made his anointed one. Yes. Messiah, Jesus. King of the world. Of the World Hall. Yeah. And as king, he has citizens.
Yes. And the invitation for us is to come and live as citizens in that kingdom under his leadership. Amen. Yeah, absolutely. And so this, sorry, that's how the world discovers who their king is. Yes. Because the king is known in the kingdom. That recognizes the king. Yeah. And so the work that we have to do in our lives is to continue to understand who this king is Yes. And what our kingdom responsibilities are as citizens of his kingdom. Absolutely. Amen. Absolutely. Beautiful.
To live the life that Jesus is living through You. So good. Mate, can we just thank Alan? Yes.