As I mentioned in my previous post, my roommates and I are trying to memorize the entire book of Philippians (only four chapters) before Easter. What I did not mention, however, is that we are also doing our weekly Bible study on the verses that we were supposed to have memorized the previous week. We began this Bible study on Monday, January 17 and will have continue to do so every Monday. This week we looked at Philippians 1:1-6. I thought that it would be a good idea to let my readers into our little Bible study meetings (without any personal details my roommates share with me) so that they can learn what I am learning, and also so that I can learn what I am learning better than I would have learned it had I not written about it. So here goes:
Philippians 1:1-6 (typed from memory, so excuse any punctuation errors or slightly different words used. Version memorized is the English Standard Version or ESV)
1 Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, to all of the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi, with the overseers and deacons.
2 Grace to you and peace from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ
3 I thank my God in all my remembrance of you
4 always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy
5 because of your partnership in the Gospel from the first day until now
6 And I am sure of this, that He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ
What immediately catches my eye is how completely humble Paul and Timothy are through writing this letter to the church that they began at Philippi. Paul most likely wrote this letter from a prison in Rome, so it also shows his complete devotion to this church plant of his. But it is crazy how humble these great men are. They claim to be servants of Christ Jesus. They are in no way trying to get any glory for themselves. They are servants, or slaves. They do not follow their own will but the will of God the Father. The thing that interests me the most is how they are trying to live their lives in accordance with how Christ lived his life. Jesus came to this earth as a servant himself, so the fact that Paul and Timothy readily recognize themselves as servants of the servant in Jesus shows how much they love God and that their agenda is in no way trying to promote themselves. The next thing to not is who the letter is written to. It is written to the saints in Philippi who already know Christ. It is written as a letter of praise and encouragement to those who are faithfully serving the gospel. I am not sure how long transpired between the starting of the church of Philippi and Paul writing this letter, but verse 5 shows that the church has in no way wavered from the original goal that is the gospel. This was a hard thing to do in this time period when Christians were persecuted heavily (hence Paul being in prison). But this church was faithful in the Gospel from the very beginning and have not wavered at all. My roommate Eric pointed out that Paul always has a rebuke in his letters to churches, but has nothing negative to say about the church at Philippi. Quite the contrary, Paul adores and loves this church very much which is evident in the way he talks about them in these first few verses and also in the way he prays for them. We need to follow some examples here of Paul's prayer live. "Always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy." Paul loves this church. He prayers for them with a joy that can only be found in Christ. We need to do the same for our church today. Whenever we pray for our church we need to do so joyfully, as Paul did. If we love our church, this should come naturally. I often find myself praying and getting in the routine of prayer and I realize that I am not being sincere at all. Prayer is not simply something we are supposed to do. Prayer should be the act of us talking with the creator of the Universe. That should send chills up our spines. I have always wanted to know famous people and have the opportunity to talk to them. However, I know and have easy access to the Almighty God who created the universe, and I don't do so with joy and reverence? How the heck does that work? There are times when I get so excited to see friends I haven't seen in a while or to talk to somebody that I really care about. WHY DO I NOT FEEL THIS WAY WHEN I AM TALKING TO GOD?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?! I honestly do not know the answer to this question but you can believe that I am searching my heart trying to figure it out. Paul prays with joy. This shows that when he prays, he actually believes that his prayers are going to come to fruition. Why pray if we don't believe our prayers are heard and that God will fulfill them? I can tell you one thing with a hundred percent certainty, if we do not believe our prayers will work, they won't. We have to KNOW that God can accomplish our prayers. Paul is joyful while praying because he knows that prayer is successful and that prayer actually works. Finally, the last verse. Life is hectic and sometimes we can all get depressed and start worrying about tomorrow and all the things we want to accomplish and we forget about today. We forget about what we are doing and why we are doing it in the first place. I don't like New Orleans. I have not made that a secret. However, I know that God put me here for a reason and I know that I have a purpose for being down here. God began a work in me that led me here, and God will be faithful in completing that work. God does not simply send us down a cliff with a little bit of rope and expect us to find our own way down. God expects us to step of the ledge in complete faith and find a stair. And then another stair, and then another stair. At no point in this cycle is God going to take away the next stair. God will complete anything that He started and we can have faith that no matter what we are doing, where we are, or who we are with, that God will lead us to the next step if we are willing to trust him. I don't know about you, but I find this trust really hard. I find it hard to trust God when I cannot see him actively doing stuff in front of me. The thing I try to realize though is that it is in no way about me. God's will is going to be done, and it is my choice on whether or not I want to be used in accomplishing it. I don't want to take the next step. I want to see the bottom. God does not work like that my friends, and unless we are willing to take the next little step in faith, how are we ever going to reach the bottom? So many people feel like me in wanting to know the end result. If you really want to know the end result, the only way to find out is to take the next tiny step and slowly make your way to the bottom.
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