Philippians 1: Encouragement Doing the Work Of God

Philippians 1 is the first chapter in one of my favorite books of the Bible. I love it because Paul breaks the intentions of people and God down. God cares about us, he loves us so much that he sent his son to die. On the other hand, some people are preaching to make Paul’s life worse.

But it doesn’t matter as long as Christ is glorified. It messes with my head, but in some ways it makes sense. I’m doing my breakdown from the NLT translation, if you don’t like that, you can head over to Bible gateway and select a different one.

Philippians 1: Paul Sends His Greetings

1 This letter is from Paul and Timothy, slaves of Christ Jesus.

I am writing to all of God’s holy people in Philippi who belong to Christ Jesus, including the church leaders and deacons.

² May God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give you grace and peace.

Philippians 1:1-2

Philippians 1: Introductions And Greetings

Here we’ve got Paul introducing him and Timothy, I love how he refers to them as slaves of Christ. That means he’s fully dedicated to the cause Of Jesus, and his life’s work is to spread the gospel. I correct my last paragraph, I did find something deep in these two verses.

Also, I accept that grace and peace that he’s asking God to give, that’s for the believers then and now, I receive it, and you should too. I need all the grace and peace that I can get.

Philippians 1: Paul Gives Thanksgiving and Sends Prayers

³ Every time I think of you, I give thanks to my God. ⁴ Whenever I pray, I make my requests for all of you with joy, ⁵ for you have been my partners in spreading the Good News about Christ from the time you first heard it until now. ⁶ And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.

⁷ So it is right that I should feel as I do about all of you, for you have a special place in my heart. You share with me the special favor of God, both in my imprisonment and in defending and confirming the truth of the Good News. ⁸ God knows how much I love you and long for you with the tender compassion of Christ Jesus.

⁹ I pray that your love will overflow more and more and that you will keep on growing in knowledge and understanding. ¹⁰ For I want you to understand what really matters, so that you may live pure and blameless lives until the day of Christ’s return. 

¹¹ May you always be filled with the fruit of your salvation—the righteous character produced in your life by Jesus Christ—for this will bring much glory and praise to God.

Philippians 1:3-11

Philippians 1: Christians Should Love Each Other As Christ Loved Us

Verses like this make me happy, and sad at the same time. Here we get a true view of how we should treat each other as followers of Christ. Paul continues to state how much he loves us, and how much God knows. He also wants our love to overflow more and more, so we keep growing in knowledge and understanding.

If God is love, and he’s the source of love. The more love we have in us, the closer to God we can be. And a lack of love reveals that we don’t have Christ in us.

I think that’s a very profound and scary thought.

When we act in love, we are turning on the spigot and letting God flow through us, and reach another person. A lack of love is the reason some people hate the church today. There are groups out there that hate us, and to be honest we haven’t responded in the best ways.

I’m not saying we need to throw away theology and accept the sins that people do. But we can always love them. Think about the woman at the well. Jesus never said her lifestyle was ok. instead, he was able to show her love, and that love transformed her life. And the entire village she lived in as well.

It should be noted that samaritans hated Jews, and vice versa. Jesus went there to show love, and that made all the difference. Philippians 1 is telling us to reach out to our enemies.

Philippians 1: Paul’s Joy That Christ Is Preached

¹² And I want you to know, my dear brothers and sisters, that everything that has happened to me here has helped to spread the Good News. ¹³ For everyone here, including the whole palace guard, knows that I am in chains because of Christ. ¹⁴ And because of my imprisonment, most of the believers here have gained confidence and boldly speak God’s message without fear.

¹⁵ It’s true that some are preaching out of jealousy and rivalry. But others preach about Christ with pure motives. ¹⁶ They preach because they love me, for they know I have been appointed to defend the Good News. ¹⁷ Those others do not have pure motives as they preach about Christ. They preach with selfish ambition, not sincerely, intending to make my chains more painful to me. 

¹⁸ But that doesn’t matter. Whether their motives are false or genuine, the message about Christ is being preached either way, so I rejoice. And I will continue to rejoice. ¹⁹ For I know that as you pray for me and the Spirit of Jesus Christ helps me, this will lead to my deliverance.

Philippians 1: 12-19

Philippians 1: We Must Remember All Things Work Together For Good For Those Who Love The Lord

Persecution always has the opposite effect that the persecutors want. In historical situations whenever the church has been persecuted, it’s grown exponentially.

In the modern day, we have the Church in China, it’s been persecuted for years, and it’s seeing a huge explosion of believers. They’re desperate for bibles, training materials, and ways to stay ahead of the CCP.

In the recent past, we have Nazi Germany and the USSR. if you’ve ever read the book “Tortured For Christ” you can see the atrocities that were committed against Christians as well.

Even in the bible when persecution hit, you see the gospel spreading like wildfire.

I feel like the United States could be next in going after Christians. But what Paul says really encourages me. People will speak, whether it’s to hurt you, or because you’ve emboldened them. Either way, the gospel is being shared, and people are being transformed.

We need to prepare, because Christianity is under assault, and we need to share the love of Jesus that much more. That’s how we transform the world for him.

Philippians 1: Paul’s Life Is Focused On Following Christ

²⁰ For I fully expect and hope that I will never be ashamed, but that I will continue to be bold for Christ, as I have been in the past. And I trust that my life will bring honor to Christ, whether I live or die. ²¹ For me, living means living for Christ, and dying is even better. 

²² But if I live, I can do more fruitful work for Christ. So I really don’t know which is better. ²³ I’m torn between two desires: I long to go and be with Christ, which would be far better for me. ²⁴ But for your sakes, it is better that I continue to live.

²⁵ Knowing this, I am convinced that I will remain alive so I can continue to help all of you grow and experience the joy of your faith. ²⁶ And when I come to you again, you will have even more reason to take pride in Christ Jesus because of what he is doing through me.

Philippians 1:20-26

Philippians 1: Our Focus Should Be Heaven While We Live On Earth

The verses of Philippians 1 are beautiful and convicting to me. We need to remember that we are just traveling as visitors in this life. This isn’t our home, and God is preparing a place for us in his realm.

Something that God has been laying on my heart recently but it’s kind of dark. Would I be okay with dying and going to heaven right now? My first thought was YES!!! I want to go to heaven, beam me up now.

Then I started to think. I’m only down here for what, 80 or something years. I’ve only lived half that, and even then I’ve lived halfway. I’m in heaven for eternity, and while I want to be there. It’s more beneficial for me to be here until it’s my time.

I say this because I can reach more people, share the love of Jesus, and help reach my family better.

Do I wanna go, yes I do, but it’s more beneficial for me to stay. I don’t think God was asking if I wanted to go yet, I think it was a question to get me thinking.

What scares me is that some of us are excited about getting to heaven, but we aren’t worried about our families or friends who don’t even think about it.

That’s why we are here!!!

Philippians 1: What Is The Kingdom of Heaven

²⁷ Above all, you must live as citizens of heaven, conducting yourselves in a manner worthy of the Good News about Christ. Then, whether I come and see you again or only hear about you, I will know that you are standing together with one spirit and one purpose, fighting together for the faith, which is the Good News. 

²⁸ Don’t be intimidated in any way by your enemies. This will be a sign to them that they are going to be destroyed, but that they are going to be saved, even by God himself. ²⁹ For you have been given not only the privilege of trusting in Christ but also the privilege of suffering for him. ³⁰ We are in this struggle together. You have seen my struggle in the past, and you know that I am still in the midst of it.

Philippians 1: 27-30

Philippians 1: Live As Citizens Of Heaven

It’s called a few different things but it has the same meaning. Some say the kingdom of God others a citizen of heaven. It’s God’s realm, and that technically includes here as well. Satan has temporary custody of the sinful world, but we are children of God. And we aren’t of this world anymore.

Being a citizen of heaven means you’ll represent heaven as an ambassador. So we need to act like we are. This means we need to think about our actions before we do them (WWJD anyone). Make sure we are showing God in the best light.

It’s not like God needs a PR company to spin things, but he does use sinful people in his kingdom, which means we can do things that make him look bad.

Even when he had nothing to do with it.

Be encouraged today, and love the people around you. Focus on Jesus, because he’s the way.