Submission to the Word of God

     "Paul and Timothy, bond-servants of Christ Jesus, To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, including the overseers and deacons:  Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.  I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always offering prayer with joy in my every prayer for you all, in view of your participation in the gospel from the first day until now.  For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.  For it is only right for me to feel this way about you all, because I have you in my heart, since both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel, you all are partakers of grace with me.  For God is my witness, how I long for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus.  And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve the things that are excellent, in order to be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ; having been filled with the fruit of righteousness which comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God" (Philippians 1.1-11)..

1.1  To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, including the overseers and deacons: 

“Saints in Christ Jesus”, Christ is Exalted by the Sainthood of the Church.

    Because of Christ’s purchase of us with His blood on the cross (1 Peter 1.18,19), believers belong to God.  Yet, Paul addresses them not as bond-slaves but as saints.  In ourselves, we are unrighteous.  In Christ, we are righteous.  In ourselves, we are filthy sinners.  In Christ, we are holy children.  In ourselves we are separated from God to sin.  In Christ, we are separated from sin to God.  We are separated unto God.  There is no saint without a separation to God.  This word is linked with another word that gives it the connotation of, “a matter of sacred awe”.  The word in Greek, then means, the devotee of his God.  It affirms the separation and focuses the practical walk of the Christian to be separated from what is wicked unto what is holy.  Lev 11.44  “For I am the Lord your God.  Consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I am holy.”  In Jesus' Prayer from John 17, He says, "And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one." (John 17:11 ESV)  "I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth. “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me." (John 17:14-23 ESV)

“in Christ.”
      In Christ has to do with the believer giving up his own life, he is dead with Christ, and Christ becomes his life.  Progressive Sanctification, we are being made holy.  And so is Ultimate Sanctification, we will be made holy )Eph 5.27; 1 Jn 3.2).  But in regards to our earthly sainthood, we are holy through faith in Jesus Christ.  We are able to be called saints because of the finished work of Jesus Christ.  Though we are not holy here on earth, we are holy because our Sacrifice is accepted and reigns at the right hand of God.  It is this reality, sin present on earth and the Sacrifice for that sin accepted in heaven, that Paul is able to call the immature Corinthians saints (1 Cor 1.2).  Not saints because of their maturity or godliness(1 Cor 3.1-3) but because of their call to salvation (Rom 8.29-30).
      It is interesting to note how the truth of "in Christ Jesus" is used through this book.  The Philippians’ confidence will abound ‘in Christ Jesus’ (1.26).  The Philippians are to have the same attitude which is ‘in Christ Jesus’ (2.5).  The Philippians are not put confidence in the flesh but glory ‘in Christ Jesus’ (3.3).  The Philippians’ prize of the upward call of God is ‘in Christ Jesus’ (3.14).  The Philippians will have their hearts and minds guarded by the peace of God ‘in Christ Jesus’ (4.7).  The Philippians will have all their needs supplied by God’s riches in glory which is ‘in Christ Jesus’ (4.19).  Because Christ is an heir of all things, we gain all things in Him when we are joined to Him.  Eternal life is ‘in Christ.’  Therefore, we must be in Christ.  Only by salvation does God graft us to Christ.

When we are saved, we join ourselves to the Lord, (1 Cor 6.17).  We become one in covenant and eternal life (1 Jn 5.12).  We must hate what he hates and love what He loves.  A divided house can not stand. 

“including the overseers and deacons”, Christ is Exalted by the Superintendence of the Church

    In the epistles we have from Paul in the New Testament canon, never does he refer to the overseers and deacons in the greeting.  Although Paul does not rely on his apostolic authority, it seems like he wants to convey a special message and reminder to those who are guarding the flock.  He wants the leaders to understand that God knows what has happened to us, what is happening to us and what will happen to us, as with His church.  In Acts 20.28, Paul exhorts the elders from Ephesus with this “Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.”  They are entrusted with a very precious thing by the Lord, the church which He died to purchase.  If the Shepherd was willing to die for the flock, the value is far more valuable that the lives of the overseers.  Therefore, through His messenger, Paul exhorts the leaders to be on guard for the flock and to be in conformity with the Word.

1.    Be on Guard for the Flock

A.    A Church in Danger of Exhaustion (1.29)
     Here, Paul is reminding the overseers and deacons that the church needs exhorting, especially in times of trials.  The leaders must run with those who run the race of faith.  It seems like the Philippians must be wondering why Paul is suffering and why they are suffering at the hands of their opponents.  Paul tells both the church and the leaders, “For to you it has been granted for Christ’s sake, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake.”  Leaders are to remind the believers that suffering is in the hand of God.  God grants us suffering.  It is apart of the race.  Paul explains why in 3.10, “that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings,”.  We learn about the Lord in our suffering.  We learn about His character and compassion when we see His response in adversity.  We learn to trust in Christ alone in suffering.  We learn to rejoice in Christ alone in suffering.  Therefore, Paul reminds the leaders to exhort the church and to not allow them to collapse from the exhaustion of running the race of suffering for the faith. 

B.    A Church in Danger of Division (1.27; 2.2)
      Paul reminds the leaders that the unifying element that must be prevalent in Christ Jesus.  He must be exalted at all costs, and this alone will destroy division.  Paul entrusts this to the Leaders that he may “hear of [them] that [they] are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel.” (Php 1.27).  When man is exalted, division for prevalence arises.  But when Christ is exalted man is humbled in the unification of servant hood.  In Romans, Paul expressed his eagerness to preach the gospel to the Christians at Rome.  He wanted to create unity in the believers.  For, the Gospel “removes pride, we are all under sin.  It removes stations of life; we are all slaves of sin.  It removes prejudices.  All nations, not just white nations, deserve to have the gospel preached to them.  Are you better than those who are not saved?  Are you smarter?  Is that why you are saved and they are not?  No, you are saved because God brought you to salvation.  If you are saved, you are in indebted to everyone.” (Exposition of Romans 1.17).  The gospel creates unity.  Let us gather together in unity to Jesus Christ and encourage one another.

C.    A Church in Danger of Disqualification (3.12-13)
     Paul reminds the leaders not only to encourage and to exalt Christ that united might be created, but he also points to Christ as the consummation of our prize.  Some of the believers may have believed that this life was perfection, and that there was nothing left to attain.  Paul says in 3.12-14, “Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, but 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; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”  Some were about to be disqualified by running a totally different race for a different prize, but Paul reminds the leaders to point to the perfection of Christ as our goal.

D.    A Church in Danger of Consumption (3.2)
     Paul warns the leaders and believers, who may have already erred in their view of perfectionism, about the Judaizers.  “Philippians 3:2  Beware of the dogs, beware of the evil workers, beware of the false circumcision.”  Paul describes them as dogs.  They attack in packs and hunt down those that are vulnerable.  They are evil workers, Paul calls them.  These men stand opposite grace.  Concerning those that know the truth and deny it, Christ says, “Woe to you…For you have taken away the key of knowledge; you yourselves did not enter, and you hindered those who were entering.” (Lk 11.52).  Paul goes on in warning even stronger in Acts 20, “Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock . . . which . . . you . . . shepherd . . . I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; 30 and from among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them.”  Pastors are sheep in a supernatural position, while guarding other sheep.  They are not above error.  Paul warns the leaders to be on guard for the church and be on guard for themselves.  This is why he writes to them the Word of Truth.

2.    Be in Conformity with the Word.
     Paul, inspired by the Holy Spirit of God (who knows the needs of the church) "picks up his pen” and sets forth the Word of God concerning the church at Philippi.  2 Peter 3.14-16 “Therefore, beloved, since you look for these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, spotless and blameless, and regard the patience of our Lord as salvation; just as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given him, wrote to you, as also in all his letters, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which the untaught and unstable distort, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction.”  Although Paul does not stamp His authority, i.e. his apostleship, on the letter to the Philippians, God does.  This is His Scripture.  Receiving the letter as if a prophet had said, ‘Thus says the Lord’, the leaders are to combat the dangers that surround the church at Philippi. 

     Now, I hope something has jumped out at you in verse 1.  There is Someone else besides Paul, Timothy, and the Philippians in verse 1.  Paul and Timothy are bond-servants of Christ Jesus.  Paul’s life is not about Paul, but about Christ.  This verse is not about Paul, but about Christ.  This book is not about Paul, but about Christ.  “The central truth[of Philippians] is the greatness of Christ, not the sacrifice of Paul” (Shannon Mckenzie).  If you miss this at the beginning, you ruin the book of Philippians.  The book of Philippians is Paul testifying to the divine sovereign joy of living in Christ especially when dying is gain.
    There is a lot of Paul in Philippians.  But we are not interested in Paul.  We do not gather around to study Philippians because Paul wrote the letter.  We do not gather around Philippians to hear what Paul has to say.  We gather around Philippians because God wrote Philippians.  We gather around Philippians to hear what God has to say.  This is the same reason the Philippians read Paul’s letters.  They heard about Christ.  We want to see his worth as well.  We want to feel the breath of God and hear the inspired words of God in His Scriptures (2 Tim 3.16).  God exalts Himself in Philippians, and with Moses we cry out, “Lord, show us your Glory.”  God said to Moses, “You cannot see My face, for no man can see Me and live!” (Ex 33.20)  We cry out with Paul, “Kill me that I might see your glory.”  Php 1.21, “To live is Christ and to die is gain.”

     As we gather around Philippians, let us gather around the Word of God.  “Conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ.”  “Regard one another as more important than yourselves.”  “Work out your salvation with fear and trembling.”  “Rejoice in the Lord.”  “Be anxious for nothing.”  These are not suggestions from Paul, these are commands from God that cannot be performed apart from the grace that is at work in His true church.  Ps 119.24, 25, 28, 35. “Your testimonies are my delight; They are my counselors.  My soul cleaves to the dust; Revive me according to Your word.  My soul weeps because of grief; Strengthen me according to Your word.  Make me walk in the path of Your commandments, for I delight in it."