Adult Bible Study

Well, good morning, I speak on behalf of Ed and Mike it's been a real privilege and joy to Zoom through Philippians.

We're looking forward to James which will start next week If you would join me, yeah, hopefully you have your handout.

There's a second handout that we'll give you Michael be passing that out at the end.

That's a summary that we've put together This is an impossible task There are instructions were to take each of our lessons and condense it to a paragraph

Just an impossible task, but the guys did a good job. So Michael be handing that out at the end

You don't get it now because I know what you would do with it You'd read it.

So put it down. Thank you. Okay So join me in Philippians the final chapter

We're going to have three basic points as we go through today an introduction an exposition of the verses and then a conclusion kind of summarizing the last

Chapter as you know from your own reading and as you have noticed as we have shared the teaching time there are

Artificial breaks in the Bible. In other words, we have chapters We have paragraphs and we have verses and yet especially in the

Greek and especially the way Paul would write Some of his sentences could go on for 20 verses

How would you like to have to diagram those? How many of you remember diagramming? I see no hands under the age of 25

Yeah, okay So What we have to do is we start out is

I'm gonna have to back up just a little bit and tie in So our first section the introduction We want to look at the five principles of contentment

That flow from a seemingly mundane conclusion to Paul's letter to the

Philippians and that actually that section on Contentment starts in verse 10 and it goes all the way down to verse 20

So as you recall last week Mike taught on that I'm gonna back up just cover it very briefly because I want you to see it's a large section

It's not just verses 10 through 13 So let me read verses 10 through 13 of Philippians Chapter 4

I Rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at length you have revived your concern for me

You were indeed concerned for me, but you had no opportunity Not that I'm speaking of being in need for I have learned in whatever situation

I am to be content I know how to be brought low I know how to abound in any and every circumstance.

I have learned the secret of facing plenty and Hunger abundance and need

I can do all things Through or in him who strengthens me?

so the first principle of a contented person we get from verse 10 and that is the idea of Confident in God's providence if you look at the phrase in verse 10,

I rejoiced in what in the Lord Paul Realized his ultimate contentment was found in the

Lord that he worshipped and served verse 11 We don't have to read it again.

The second principle of contentment For a contented person is that they are satisfied with little that's tough to do

The third is that they are independent of their circumstances. We see that in verse 12 verse 13

They are strengthened by divine power and we'll kind of conclude our lesson come back and look briefly at verse 13

And then in verses 14 through 19, which is new for this morning The fifth principle of contentment is that they are preoccupied with concern for others

John MacArthur makes this Observation those who live only for themselves will never be content

Because contentment for them can come only when their circumstances are

Exactly as they want them to be and that will never happen How true is that?

How far -reaching is that do we live in a contented world? Do we live with all the wealth and things that we have do we live in a contented society?

No, and I think John MacArthur sums it up quite well. So let's move on then to verse 14 and do a kind of a verse by verse exposition

So we come to verse 14 and it starts at least in the ESV with an interesting word

It starts with yet or some translations use the word Nevertheless, and this introduces an important transition verses 10 through 13 again

Mike Spent a good amount of time and covered those well, but verses 10 through 13 could have sent the wrong message

Let's go back and look at verse 11 Not that I am speaking of being a need and actually if we go back and look at verse 10

Paul is basically saying hey, thanks for the gift that you sent me But then he gets in verse 11 and he says not that I am speaking of being a need

For I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content Now think about that He's saying thanks for the gift, but you know,

I'm content So as I was thinking about this my mind went back to a situation

I can't remember how old I was Maybe I was 13 14 15 years of age

You know when you buy Christmas presents or birthday presents for your parents it can be really really tough and So one year

I think I got this all figured out and I went down to Sears and I bought a big shop vac

With the two and a half inch hose, you know the big hose and it had all the accessories and I gave it to my dad

And I was just all excited And what did he say? He said

I already have one of these Well, I knew he did but it was an old one and he ended up taking it back

Well, you have to understand my dad grew up. He was old enough to understand the Depression. So that was his mindset

I couldn't understand that for a while, but it was just like I gave this really great gift to him and What did he say?

I'm content with what I have and it kind of crushed me so Paul by saying in verse 14

Yet or nevertheless it was kind of you to share in my trouble

Had my dad said gee son. This is great I Already have one, but I'm gonna start using this one

So he wasn't the wisest in his response to my gift Paul expressed great wisdom

He wanted the Philippians to know though. He was content. He still appreciated the gift

So they may have concluded that Paul neither needed or appreciated their sacrificial gift

So he reinforces in verse 14 That it was

Kind it was noble. It was beautiful in character for them to share or join in his partnership

He really let them know that he appreciated their gift. Although was he content?

He was but he appreciated their gift Verse 15.

Let me go ahead and read that for you In you Philippians yourselves know that in the beginning of the gospel when

I left Macedonia No church entered into partnership with me in giving and receiving

Except you only you can really appreciate he's just now he's pouring it on He's letting them know how special they were to him for over 10 years

Now they have been faithful in their support to him So The clock in verse 15 actually rewinds about 10 years to the first time he preached to the folks in Philippi he reminds them of their partnership and of the giving and the receiving of the gifts

Verse 17 and we can read 16 even in Thessalonica. You sent help for my needs once again

So here's two or three verses that are dealing with this I'm content in the

Lord and yet I really do appreciate over the years what you've done what you've done what you've done for me

Are we people like that that are appreciative to others? Within the family the church family within our family and within society in general

Do people realize or do we come across as people who are?

Appreciative of every little thing that's done for us Could we do more?

I think we could you'd like to be appreciated. Don't you? And I'm getting all these blank faces.

Yes, we do. So just an encouragement along this line Looking at verse 17 if I can read that for you

Not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that increases to your credit

This is an imparable. This is a powerful verse Paul could rejoice over their gift

Yet still be content in God's sovereign provision for him because he was totally selfless this

Selflessness of his had led him to write verse 17 Their gift brought

Paul joy Not primarily because of its personal material benefit to him

But because of its spiritual benefit to them. Do you catch that?

What really got Paul excited about their giving To him was that it was for their spiritual benefit

Even if they didn't mean it that way and hopefully they didn't But Paul realized the more that they were giving to him the love gifts

Helping them out in this it was being counted to their credit So join me over we're gonna do a little finger exercise

We're not going to look at all the verses posted in your notes I put those there so that you can look additionally, but let's look at 2nd

Corinthians chapter 9 verse 6 2nd Corinthians chapter 9 verse 6 a

Familiar verse The point is this Paul says to the church at Corinth Whoever so sparingly will also reap sparingly and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully so reinforcing this idea that Paul Really appreciated their gifts not for himself, but because of the spiritual

Benefit for them That was being stored up in heaven so three statements if we're back in Philippians verse 18 three statements summarize

Paul's joy and gratitude So verse 18 if I read that for you,

I have received full payment and more I am well supplied having received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent a fragrant offering a

Sacrifice acceptable and pleasing to God So looking at those three short phrases

He has received full payment And then he does this little phrase and more the end more just means it's an abundance

Not only did they meet his needs That they perceived but it was even way beyond what he even needed and Then the third phrase in verse 18,

I am well supplied and notice this Paul describes their gifts in Old Testament language again the last part of verse 18 a fragrant offing

Offering a sacrifice acceptable pleasing to God you do recall that Paul Was a phenomenal

Old Testament historian. He knew the scriptures We find scripture, oh

I find it the older I get scripture memory more and more difficult These folks had no problems memorizing

Chapters upon chapters upon chapters and it was just fresh in his mind So even as he's dealing with the folks from Philippi, he puts this

Old Testament language Let's go ahead and look at a couple of these a fragrant offering

So if you would join me back in Genesis chapter 8 And for most of these

I've given you more than one but I found these to be the Just to blend in so well

In Genesis chapter 8 verses 20 and 21 The Noah built an altar to the

Lord and took some of every clean animal and some of every clean bird and Offered burnt offerings on the

Lord and when the Lord smelled the pleasing aroma the Lord said in his heart

I will never again curse the ground because of man for the intentions of man heart is evil from his youth

So here's the idea of the fragrant offering and I've given you additional ones in Exodus and Leviticus But let's go ahead and move down the second phrase that Paul used back in verse 18

Was an acceptable sacrifice So for this join me, please in Leviticus chapter 19

Leviticus chapter 19 in verse 5

When you offer a sacrifice of peace offering to the Lord you shall offer it so that you may be accepted and Then over to Isaiah Isaiah 56 in verse 7

Isaiah 56 in verse 7 these I will bring to my holy mountain and Make them joyful in my house of prayer their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted in my altar for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples and Then pleasing to God if you would look at Psalm 51

Psalm 51 and I'm going to start in verse 16 and read through the end of the chapter

For you will not delight in sacrifice or I would give it you will not be pleased with burnt offering

The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit a broken and contrite heart.

Oh God, you will not despise Do good design in your good pleasure build up the walls of Jerusalem Then you will delight in right sacrifices in burn offerings and whole burn offerings then bowls will be offered on your altar

So do you see the condition tucked away there in verse 17? God does not delight in burnt offerings and he does not delight in sacrifice until as we read in the last in verse 17 a

Broken spirit a broken and contite heart. So if we come with those

Anything that we offer up will be acceptable. It will be a fragrant offering

It will be acceptable and it will be pleasing to God so continuing in our notes

Paul saw the Philippians gift as a sacrificial act of worship to God Was he happy that he had actually received

Things like money. Yes. He was he said he didn't need them He still appreciate him, but he really viewed it as a sacrificial act of worship to the benefit of the

Philippians to God Such spiritual sacrifices are required of New Covenant believers instead of the animal sacrifices of the old

Covenant and that of course is important for us to understand So I want to look at these three passages

Join me first in Romans chapter 12 and verse 1 so Fortunately, we don't have a great big altar up here where we bring in in dead animals every

Sunday That would get a little we wouldn't have carpet. I can tell you that it would be tiled all the way up big big floor drains

I mean what a messy system it was But God still demands what of us he demands of us

Spiritual sacrifices Romans 12 1 I appeal to you therefore brothers by the mercies of God to present your

Bodies as a living sacrifice holy and acceptable to God which is your reasonable or your logical spiritual worship and Then if we go back to Hebrews chapter 13

Hebrews chapter 13 verses 15 and 16 Which we'll be doing shortly in the worship service

Verses 15 and 16 through him. Let us then continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God That is the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name

Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have for such sacrifices are pleasing to God and Then finally first Peter chapter 2 in verse 5

First Peter chapter 2 verse 5 You yourselves

Like living stones are being built up a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood to offer

Spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ So back in Philippians, what do we see?

We see the simple act of the Philippians sending Paul things to help him in his ministry

Paul views those puts them in New Testament terminology And he also includes the

Old Testament terminology, but what a beautiful picture that is Okay, Philippians chapter 4 verse 19

Let me read it and comment and my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus Paul knew that the

Philippians would receive spiritual blessings in heaven for their generosity and Reminds them that God would supply which needs

Every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus So a hard stop right there.

We are so familiar with that verse Take 10 seconds and read it quietly to yourself

Is that a simple concept? It is a very simple concept

He will supply Every need not want but every need of ours

According to his riches in glory. They're up in glory

They're not sitting in the Federal Reserve Bank somewhere. They're up in glory So it's simple in concept, but are his riches beyond comprehension?

It's kind of like heaven no, it's not bad to think about heaven

But is heaven beyond our wildest comprehension So sometimes when

I see a book on heaven or some pastor wants to tear into a series on heaven

It's kind of like timeout. You're wasting your time We know this much but it is beyond comprehension our

God's riches in glory beyond our comprehension Yes, and it is from that that he will supply every need

Okay verse 20 To our God and Father be glory forever and ever.

Amen So here is another one of these Pauline doxologies and I have this in your notes doxa means glory and logos is word

So we know Paul used to do a lot of these and it's essentially what it is.

It is a word about glory outburst of praise and Adoration that honors and ascribes glory to God Now, I know that all of you on occasion as you've heard pastor preach or you're hearing somebody else preach and they just say something that really hits you through the

Working of the Holy Spirit in your heart and you can't help but shout out an amen

Well, this is what Paul is doing all the time. I mean he's sitting there Writing this down or dictating it for his secretary to write it down and as the truce

Revealed to him by the Holy Spirit hit his mind and he grasped it. He just blurts out a

Doxology it's like a super. Amen He does this frequently jump back to we'll look at a couple of these quickly go back to Romans chapter 11

By The way, this would be a good study for us to do one day just individually find all of these little doxologies that Paul Writes and then read why he wrote it.

So in Romans chapter 11 verse 33 And hang on a second.

Why is he doing this? Well in essence has he just gone through 11 chapters of incredibly wonderful doctrine

And he gets this far along and he just can't contain himself and he explodes with praise

This is what we see in verses 33 through 6 all the depths of the riches in wisdom and knowledge of God How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways?

Inscrutable just means you can't Unscrew it. He's got it. So well put together

For who has known the mind of the Lord or who has been his counselor or who has given a gift to him that he might?

be repaid For from him and through him and to him are all things to him be glory forever

Amen, I would have loved to have been in the room when all of this just hit him and he exploded with praise

Let's look at one more place Ephesians chapter 3 Ephesians chapter 3 in Ephesians chapter 3

Basically, what's happening is we start in verse 14 and I'll go through this very very quickly

For this reason he writes chapter 3 14 for this reason I bow my knees before the

Father and from whom every family in heaven on earth is named That according to the riches of glory

He may grant you to be strengthened with power through his spirit in your inner being So that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith that you being rooted and grounded in love may have strength to comprehend

With all the Saints what is the breadth and the length and the height and the depth and to know the love of Christ?

That suppresses your knowledge that you may be filled with all the fullness of God What happens he goes uncorked again?

we get to verses 20 and 21 now to him who was able to do far more abundantly than although we ask or think

According to the power at work within us to him be glory in the church in Christ Jesus Through all generations forever and ever another outburst of Paul because he's overwhelmed with who

God is so what Paul is basically addressing in this part that we've talked about in verse 20 of Philippians in It is true worship

So MacArthur says this Worshiping the true God cannot be done in ignorance

Ignorant worship is unacceptable Because it is a form of idolatry

Idolatry is not only worshiping false gods But also entertaining thoughts about the true

God that are untrue and unworthy of him That is a high standard folks

We can have our all sorts of opinions on all sorts of things, but when it comes to God we really need to know who he is and We do that of course by knowing his word as it's revealed to us through the

Holy Spirit the truth of it then Tozer In his wonderful book the knowledge of the

Holy this is a fairly long quote But I think it's so good for us Among the sins to which the human heart is prone

Hardly any other is more hateful to God than idolatry For idolatry is at bottom a libel on his character the idolatrous heart assumes that God is other than he is in itself a monstrous sin and substitutes for the true

God one made after its own likeness Always this God will conform to the image of the one who created it and will be base or pure cruel or kind according to the moral state of the mind from which it emerges a

God begotten in the shadows of a fallen heart Will quite naturally be not true likeness of the true

God Let us beware lest we in our pride accept the erroneous notion that idolatry consists only in kneeling before visible objects of adoration and That civilized peoples are therefore free from it

The essence of idolatry is the entertainment of thoughts about God that are unworthy of him

That's very very sobering Okay verse 21, please of Philippians Let me read that greet every

Saint in Christ Jesus the brothers who are with me greet you all The Saints greet you especially those of Caesars household so the use of the individual it individualistic term every instead of the collective term all

Reveals that every Saint was worthy of Paul's care and affection

So who are the brothers? these include Timothy Epaphroditus and possibly a host of other well -known individuals as I read different commentators the list

There was Titicus Philemon Onesimus Aristarchus Mark Luke all of those could have been because all of them probably visited him at one point in time so we don't know how many of there were but the brothers sent their greetings and then in verse 22 all

The Saints greet you especially those of Caesars household So we go from the brothers we go to all the

Saints and then it goes to those of Caesars household This is to include members of Caesars family those in his direct employee both slaves high -ranking freemen some of the

Praetorian Guard Can you imagine sitting in the church at Philippi when this letter is read and They understand that there's going to be a greeting from Paul They understand that it's going to be all the

Saints which would be the members of the church in Rome But there's also greetings from where?

this source of evil Caesars in his household And yet they began to realize what

God could break through From really the source of evil at that point of the

Roman Empire Right. He could do a work on the hearts of so many folks

And we don't know how big of a circle that was but so many folks in Caesars household including the

Praetorian Guard What an encouragement to the Philippian believers and to us the power of the gospel in a hostile environment

So that brings us then to verse 23 The grace of the

Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit Did we start out verse 1 of chapter 1 with the word grace?

So, what do we see in Philippians? from grace to grace

So, let's do some conclusion with this Three factors helped

Paul to master his circumstances Notice what these are they're underlined

Christian generosity Christian discipline and Christian trustfulness, so let's conclude with this first of all

Christian generosity We need as we said earlier we need to recognize this and be a part of this

Are we as Christians? Known individually and corporately to be a generous people

That goes against the grain of so much of society So verse 10 it we won't go back and read this.

You can reference this on your own They the church or the individuals at the

Church of Philippi had a continuous concern that's from verse 10 They were swift to grasp opportunities to be generous

Their giving as we looked at talked about their giving was another means of Christian fellowship

Number four their generosity laid up treasure in heaven Paul tells them this in verse 17 and it was acceptable to God a fragrant offering

The second thing that helped Paul to master his circumstances was his own

Christian discipline He had and we need to have a good attitude towards our circumstances

If we believe in the providence of God nothing comes into our life that doesn't pass through the filter of his providence and his sovereignty

So this is a discipline of self whereby one understands that we seldom need more than we have

This is so contrary to our culture just it is just astoundingly

Again the year that we were The year that we were in Africa and then we came back.

I believe And this is a goofy thing to remember but it stuck in my mind when we got back the first week

We didn't even fill a garbage bag with stuff Now we're back up to the normal thing of filling one or two

Containers and you think you're strange. Well, I know but it was the idea of Just we didn't waste anything when we get back

And so much of the world is like that and we're just not too content. We just have to have more and more and more

So We must decide not to covet let's look at that verse again very very briefly verse 17

Not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that increases to your credit. I have received full payment.

I am well supplied He just is content Because Paul had freed himself from a covetous spirit

He was able to ride or get through every sort of circumstance back in verses 11 and 12

Which Mike talked about in depth last time? What does it say in verse 11? I have learned

I Have learned this is the idea of the Christian discipline contentment doesn't come easily

We have to go through it. We have to work on it with the power of the Holy Spirit and be content therein

So contentment verse 11 is something that is learned Paul purchased it at the price of exacting discipline

So to paraphrase Paul, this is basically what he said in those verses I have made my way up from the things of the world its comforts and its discomforts alike and Finally I have reached maturity in this point.

I know the secret Circumstances can never again touch me No, he's not being arrogant.

He's saying by the grace of God. I have learned to be content That is spiritual grace an inner adjustment to outer circumstances

And then finally as we conclude Christian trustfulness Paul learned to be content because he learned to trust in first Personal experience verse 12.

I know how to be brought low I know how to abound in any and every circumstance

I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger abundance and need

So personal experience No circumstance could ever arise that would be too much for Paul's God and Therefore no circumstance could ever beat

Paul. It is the power of victory over the demands of every day this power

This Christian trustfulness arises from another sort of power Not inherent in Paul, but derived from somewhere else and that's in verse 13

The one that is God who strengthens me now Do you see the

Greek word that I've jotted in there in the parentheses? Dunamu or doing a mouse from which we were get our word dynamite

Paul is able Only when he is operating

Again in verse thing 13. I can do all things in him who?

Strengthens me So when he is operating within the power of the

Lord He can do all things including be content

So Moitra closes with this The key to it all is in Christ Jesus.

He mediates to us all the benefits and blessings of God More than that.

He himself is the sum of all the blessings For the preposition in verse 13 is not through but in He is not a channel along which they flow but a place in which they are

Deposited it is finally because of Christ that Paul is contented and it is

Christ whom he offers to us as the means and guarantee of our contentment

For Paul the person who possesses Christ Possesses all Let's pray

Father we are so thankful for the truth of Philippians as the

Holy Spirit gave it to Paul And that you have preserved these truths down through today for us so father help us to be a generous people help us to be a content people and Even in those two venues that we will be a more effective witness to the world around us