Philippians — Zac Poonen

Let's turn now to Paul's letter to the Philippians, Philippians and chapter 1. We've been trying to see in each letter the main theme of that letter and we could sum up the theme of Philippians in one verse found in chapter 2, verse 5.

The Mind of Christ as the Theme of Philippians

Have this attitude in yourself which was in Christ Jesus. Having the mind of Christ or having the attitude of Christ. That is the theme of Philippians and everything he writes there basically works towards that goal.

There's a lot of emphasis on joy in this letter. He says in chapter 1, verse 4, Always offering prayer with joy in every prayer I pray for you. And towards the end in chapter 4, verse 4 also he says rejoice in the Lord always.

And again I say unto you rejoice. Now it's very interesting to see that Paul writes about joy so much from a prison. Philippians was written when Paul was in prison. And he's not writing in an easy chair, living comfortably and writing about joy.

It's one thing to talk about joy when all your circumstances are easy and comfortable. It's quite another thing to talk about joy when your circumstances are difficult and you're in prison. And Paul writing about joy in Philippians more than in any other letter shows that it's possible for a Christian to have joy under all circumstances.

Because that is the mind of Christ. That's the attitude of Christ. Do you remember when Jesus spoke about joy the most? In John chapter 15 just a few hours before he was crucified. On the last night he said these things have I spoken unto you that your joy may be full.

John chapter 15 and 16. No one can take away your joy. I want to give you my joy. It's like a man who's going to be hanged tomorrow going around encouraging people today. I just want to encourage you fellas.

I have so much joy in my heart. And he's going to be hanged tomorrow morning. That would be an amazing Christian testimony. And that's what we see here in Paul. Paul had the mind of Christ, the attitude of Christ.

And he was also full of joy. And those days prisons were much worse than prisons today. They were dark dungeons full of rats and mosquitoes and all types of creeping insects. And no beds. You just slept on the floor and maybe a little straw.

And no proper food. No light. And sitting there he was full of joy and writing this fantastic letter. So remember as you read this letter that this is a man living in a deep dungeon for preaching the gospel.

And he's got no tears for his own problems. He doesn't want any sympathy, feel sorry for me because I'm here struggling for the gospel. No. Full of joy. So many times you see believers trying to get other people's sympathy because they're having a little difficulty, a little trial here.

Paul's Joy and Prayer in Prison

What a lesson we can get from the apostle writing this letter to the Philippians. He says first of all he doesn't say a word about his sufferings. He says I thank my God in all my remembrance of you. I can imagine that he wrote that after a whole night of being bitten by mosquitoes.

And trying to avoid the rats that were crawling around the dungeon floor and the insects and things that were there. And he probably didn't even have a lot of warm clothing in the cold in that place wherever he was.

We don't know exactly part of the time he was in a house where he was permitted to stay. And even there he was a prisoner. Whether he wrote it there or in a dungeon we don't know. But it was certainly not pleasant circumstances.

And in the midst of that he says I just praise the Lord whenever I think of you Philippian Christians. His joy came not from his circumstances. His joy came from the result of his work in Philippi. Many years earlier he had got a vision saying come to Macedonia and help us.

He had followed that vision and he had gone there and led people to the Lord. He was imprisoned in Philippi and they had seen him praising the Lord there. And the Philippian jailer was probably an elder in the church now in Philippi by now.

And he would have remembered. He would have told other people I saw this man rejoicing in the prison in Philippi. And now he writes this letter and he thanks God. His joy was found in that he had spent his life usefully for the Lord.

You know when you come to the end of your life the thing that will bring you joy is the fact that in the days when God gave you health and strength you did not spend it making money. You spent it serving the Lord, building the church, gathering people to be established in his kingdom.

Think of it now so that when you come to the end of your life like Paul you can thank God for what has happened there. Always offering prayer for you. Paul was a great prayer warrior. He prayed for God's people all the time.

Everywhere. He did not just preach to them. He prayed for them. A true servant of God not only preaches but prays for his people. And he says to them, I'm absolutely convinced that what God has begun, verse 6, he will complete in the day of Christ.

Verse 7, it's right for me to feel like this because I have you in my heart. I told you in another session that if you want to have a prophetic word from God for his people you must have two things in your heart.

You must have God's word in your heart and you must have God's people in your heart. If you have God's word in your heart and those people in your heart then God will give you a word for those people.

If you've only got God's word and not those people he cannot give you a word for them. If you only have the people in your heart and not God's word, again he cannot give you a word for them. But if you have God's word and his people on your heart, you carry them there, he'll always have a word through you for those people.

So because Paul carried these people in his heart, like Aaron had the names of all the twelve tribes over his heart, Paul carried certain people. He couldn't carry everybody in the world but those whom God had given him responsibility for, he carried them on his heart.

If ever you serve God and you have to serve people, please learn to carry them on your heart and then you'll always, even if you speak one sentence, it will bless them. God will give you prophetic words to bless them.

And so God gave him a prophetic letter here to bless those people. The secret was he had those people in his heart. And he longed for them, verse 8, with the affection of Christ Jesus. And he prayed for them that their love would increase.

Love, Discernment, and Choosing What Is Best

There's one thing I want to point out to you in verse 9. He says, when your love increases, I know you love one another, I'm praying for you that your love will increase in discernment. Love without discernment can be dangerous.

Your love must increase in discernment so that you approve the things that are excellent above the things that are good. There's a proverb in English which says, the good is the enemy of the best. What is the meaning of that?

Supposing you're going to a shop to buy a pressure cooker or a tape recorder and you find one. Say, that's so good for that price. And you don't look around anymore and you buy it. And after you come home, somebody tells you, do you know that for the same price, you could have got another pressure cooker or tape recorder, which is at least three or four times better than this?

You got a good one, but the good was the enemy of the best. For the same price, you could have got a far better one. So, we don't do evil things, we do good things, but there's the best things. Like the other day we spoke about unrighteous, righteous and lawful.

So he says, I'm praying that your love will grow in discernment so that you can approve not just the things that are good, but the things that are excellent. In other words, not just a good way to serve the Lord, but the best way to serve the Lord.

Not just a good message to preach, but the best message to preach. Not just a good way to help people, but the best way to help people. That requires discernment. Not just a good word to share with a person who's in need, but the best word to share with that person who's in need.

Like a doctor says, I don't want to just give him a good treatment, I want to give him the best treatment. But for that, the doctor has to love that person. If it's the doctor's own relative, or son or daughter, he'll want the best treatment.

Yeah, if it's just some patient from the street, say, okay, I'll give him some good treatment. If you love people, you'll want to give them the best. Do you desire to give them the best? I often think of people who invite me for a meal, how they take so much trouble to prepare the very best for me.

And I say, Lord, when I stand in the pulpit, and I give God's word to people, I must do the same. As that housewife has taken so much trouble to make the best meal for me, I must give the best. But for that, you must love.

God's Purpose in Paul's Imprisonment

And then he talks about his imprisonment in verse 12 onwards. He said, don't be discouraged about my imprisonment, because my imprisonment has turned out, verse 12, for the progress of the gospel. Paul believed in Romans 8, 28, that everything works for my good.

How did Paul's imprisonment work for good? Well, let me tell you, first of all, here is one way in which that imprisonment worked for good, for us. You know, Paul was a man, I'll tell you where I learned this later.

Paul was a man who was always on the go. Even when he was 60 years old, 65 years old, he was on the move all the time. And I tell you, he wasn't traveling in buses or anything. He was walking a lot of places, in ships which could be exposed to shipwreck.

He was always on the go for spreading the gospel. He had only one life, and he knew it was running out, and he said, I can't afford to waste my time. I've got to reach as many places with the gospel as possible.

He had such a passion and a longing in his heart. But at the same time, he had such a close walk with God, who had been through so many trials and tests, that inwardly he had become such a rich man, spiritually.

But he had not written down most of those things. You know, in any type of written form, parchment or whatever they used those days, they didn't use paper. And God knew that this man has got so much wealth, there may almost never be another man like this in Christendom.

And what he has learned, he must put down in writing. But how to get this fellow to put down in writing? Because he never stops for one day anywhere. He has no time to write anything. He's always on the move.

So what did God do? He allowed Paul to be imprisoned. And because Paul was in prison, now he could not travel, travel, travel. He had to sit in the prison. He said, OK, let me spend my time profitably.

Let me write a letter. And he wrote to the Philippians, and he wrote to some of the other churches. And what is the result? His life has now become a blessing. His being in prison has been a blessing to millions of people for 2 ,000 years.

Was that imprisonment good or bad? Tell me. That was good. I remember many years ago, I think it was 15 years ago, I had to be admitted in a hospital for a very small bit of work the doctors had to do on me.

It was something the Lord could have healed me without going to a hospital. And I prayed much, but he didn't heal me without hospitalization. But he did heal me with hospitalization. But when I was in the hospital, I said, Lord, why have you put me in the hospital?

It was almost the first time and the last time I ever went into a hospital. And I said, why did you put me here? You could have healed me and I could have been busy serving you somewhere here or there instead of lying down in this hospital for so many days.

And the Lord said to me very clearly, I did not put you in hospital to heal you. I could have healed you without hospitalization. I put you in hospital so that you can just lie down for a little while and listen to what I have to tell you.

You're running around so much that I hardly get a chance to talk to you. I said, oh, is that the reason? Then I'm happy to lie down here as long as you want me to. I want to hear you. And I lay there and the Lord began to speak to me.

And as he spoke to me, I wrote down all that he was saying. And that was one of the, I'd say, one of the only articles that I've ever written, which I wrote almost as the Lord was speaking to me. It's a little tract called God Needs Men.

Just about six pages. It's in one of my books called New Wine and New Wineskins. And it's also in a book called Principles of Serving God. But that's a little tract that I now see God has used around the world in so many places.

But God gave me that because he put me in a hospital for about a week or ten days. I don't remember how long. And I see that sometimes God stops us from doing things by sickness or imprisonment to make us do something we would never do otherwise.

So learn to give thanks when God stops you from going around, traveling, preaching all the time. He has a purpose. That's one thing. The second thing is, it says here in verse 13, as I said, the first thing is the letter to Philippians and many other letters.

The second thing, he says, my imprisonment has become well known throughout the whole Praetorian Guard and to everyone else. And later on in the end of the letter, chapter four, verse 22, he says, all the saints greet you, especially those of Caesar's family.

Paul’s Witness to the Praetorian Guard

How did Caesar's family get converted? Because some of these people, these officers and prison guards were getting the gospel because Paul was there. I can imagine it must have been something like that.

In those days, I've heard that prisoners would be chained to one prison guard for because so that the prisoner doesn't run away. So here's Paul with a chain on his hand and chained to another Roman soldier for eight hours.

And what do you think Paul was telling this Roman soldier for eight hours? He was telling him about Jesus and the gospel. And this fellow cannot escape. It's not a one hour meeting. He cannot run away.

He has to sit and listen to this preacher for eight hours. And by the time the eight hours is over, the fellow has repented and he's ready to receive Christ in Paul says, let's pray. And he accepts Jesus as the savior.

And now he says, my eight hour shift is over. Another fellow comes for eight hours. This is OK. Let's start now with this new man. And number of people were getting converted like this. And gradually there was a little fellowship inside that Caesars household.

And Peter said, Paul says, these saints are also greeting you. Was his imprisonment good or not? Good. He wrote the scriptures. He converted people. That's not all. Something more. Because of my imprisonment, verse 14, many more people, the believers, have got tremendous courage now.

You know, all those timid believers who are all scared to speak to somebody about Christ. Oh, what will happen? What will happen? Now they heard Paul is in prison for the gospel. Who's going to preach now?

If Paul is gone, we've got to preach. And these quiet fellows suddenly became bold. And they got a chance to speak and share God's word. And they became bold. Was Paul's imprisonment good or not? It was good.

But he says, there are some people, verse 15, even in those days who were preaching out of jealousy. You know, even in the church in those days, there were people in competition with other people. Some people who said, we never got a chance to preach in this church because Paul would always come and preach.

Ah, now Paul has gone to prison. Now is my chance to preach. And he would get up in the church with the wrong spirit to show that I'm a better preacher than Paul. And when Paul heard that, that some of these fellows are jealous of you, Paul.

They don't have 1 of your anointing, but they want to show that they are great preachers. And they get up in the church. And what do you think about that, Paul? Paul says, praise the Lord. That's good.

They're preaching Christ. I'm not bothered with what motive they preach Christ. I'm just rejoiced that Christ is being preached. He says, some people preach Christ, verse 17, out of selfish ambition to cause me more pain.

What do I do? I rejoice, again that word joy, twice in verse 18, that Christ is proclaimed. Today I see so many people preaching Christ to make money. I rejoice that Christ is being preached. Even though I know God will one day send them to hell for preaching Christ to make money.

You can't preach Christ to make money and go to heaven. No. Preaching Christ for the sake of honor, for the sake of money. I rejoice that Christ is being preached. Let them do it with wrong motives, God will judge them one day.

Is somebody preaching to show that he's a better preacher than me? God bless him. Let him preach. Let him preach Christ. There are people who read my articles and books and preach those sermons. Who are ashamed to admit that they got those truths by reading my books.

Because they are a bit ashamed to admit that. Praise the Lord. Let Christ be preached. We don't want any honor. We don't want anybody to quote us. Let Christ be preached and let them bless other people.

And if they want to pretend that that was their own revelation, let them do it. God will judge them for all that. Christ is being preached. Somebody is blessed. That should be your attitude. Even when somebody you don't like is preaching the gospel.

Praise the Lord, brother. What does it matter if somebody else is preaching your message or your sermon? Just rejoice. Or somebody is doing it with the wrong motive. Let them do it. Christ is being preached.

Somebody is being blessed. He's doing it in a different way from you do it. Different from your convictions. Let him do it. I don't take collections in my meetings. That person takes collections and preaches the gospel.

Never mind. That's between him and God. Christ is being preached. I want to rejoice in everyone who preaches Christ. Even if he's unconverted. Here's an unconverted person who goes around distributing tracts.

Praise the Lord. Somebody may get saved through those tracts. Somebody may get saved through those gospels. Even though the fellow who distributed it will finally go to hell. It doesn't matter. I rejoice that Christ is being preached.

This should be the attitude of ours. We don't have to judge them. God will judge them all in the final day. These fellows who got up in the church and preached out of jealousy. You think God will spare them?

He'll really judge them in the final day. But Paul rejoiced. He did not have a bad spirit towards anyone who was preaching the gospel. That's a good example for us. And he goes on to say, verse 21, To me, to live is Christ.

To die is gain. If I live, that means I'll have many more opportunities to serve the Lord. But if I die, I'll be with Christ. And he says, I don't know which to choose. If I die, that's a gain to me because I'll be with the Lord.

If I live, I've got some more years to spread this wonderful gospel to bless others. That's also a great joy to me. And he says, I don't know which to choose. Should I live or die? Both are equally good for me.

But, he says in verse 24, I think I should live a little longer for your sake. And God allowed him to live for a few more years for the sake of those believers who still needed to be established for a few more letters that still needed to be written to complete scripture.

And because I'm convinced of this, he sensed in his heart, I'm not yet going to die. He knew later on when he wrote 2 Timothy, now my time is ready to go. This is my last letter. But here he says, I'm convinced, yeah, I feel in my spirit that God will allow me to live a little longer for your sake.

Standing Firm in Unity and Courage

And he says, only please conduct yourself in a manner, verse 27, worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I'm in prison or I come to see you, I'll always hear, this is his burden, listen to this, that you're standing firm in one spirit, with one mind, striving together.

See the expressions of unity there? One mind, one spirit, striving together, and not in any way alarmed, verse 28, by your enemies. Because when your enemies attack you and you're not alarmed, that is a sign of destruction for them.

But a sign of salvation for you. You remember when Pilate told Jesus, don't you know I have power to crucify you? And Jesus said, you have no power against me, except what my father gives you. Jesus was not alarmed.

And if a time comes in your life, or mine, where we have to stand like that before somebody, remember the words of Jesus, the confession he made before Pontius Pilate, you have no power over me, except what my heavenly father gave you.

No way alarmed. And that testimony is going to be a sign of destruction to your enemies. Because God has given us two privileges. What are those two privileges? Two degrees, we can say. Verse 29, one, to believe in Christ, second, to suffer for his sake.

Both go together. God has given you the privilege of believing in Jesus. God has given you the privilege of suffering for Jesus' sake. So he's continuing with this theme of unity, which he spoke of in verse 27.

One spirit, one mind. And he says the same thing in verse 2 of chapter 2. Be of the same mind, same love, united in spirit, in one purpose. You see, so many times he speaks about unity. At least seven expressions of unity in chapter 1, verse 27, and chapter 2, verse 2.

Overcoming Selfishness and Spiritual Pride

Seven times he speaks about unity, unity, unity, unity. And then he tells them the secret of this unity, how we can be one body like this. You must never do anything, verse 3, from selfishness or pride.

Do you know the two sins that will remain with us till we die are selfishness and pride? Dirty thoughts need not remain with us till we die. We can overcome them. Love of money, we can overcome. Getting offended, we can overcome.

Slandering, gossiping, bitterness, unforgiving spirit, we can overcome all of these almost totally over a period of time. But pride and selfishness are so deeply rooted in us that we can cleanse ourselves.

These are like two big onions. You peel off one layer, there's another layer underneath. You peel off that layer, there's another layer underneath. And I've discovered in my own life that it's so easy to be selfish in the way we live, in the way we do things, especially in the way we spend money and the way we spend our time.

Selfishness, and if you're getting light on it, you can cleanse away that selfishness. That means one more layer of the onion is taken away, your selfishness becomes a little less. And then next month you may do something where you get light on some more selfishness, peel it off.

And gradually you become unselfish and loving and Christ-like. But it's a very thick onion. But if you're not getting any light on your selfishness and you're not peeling it off, then you'll remain with this big fat onion of selfishness till the end of your life.

Make sure you keep on peeling off these layers of selfishness as you get more and more light on different areas of your life. The other area is spiritual pride. See, it could be pride of appearance, intelligence, but those things we usually overcome earlier on in life.

I hope you have. But then comes the dangers of spiritual pride. That's another massive onion. We sometimes say things, and afterwards God shows you, that was because of a little pride in you that you said that.

And you repent. Sometimes we give a testimony, and after we have given our testimony, the Lord says when we go back home, there was a little pride in that testimony. You didn't give all the glory to give me.

You gave me 90 of the glory, and you took 10 of the glory to yourself. And I say, Lord, forgive me. Have mercy on me. I peel off one more layer of that onion of spiritual pride. This is how we become more and more one with each other.

If you and I are faithful in peeling off this onion of selfishness and spiritual pride, gradually you and I will become more and more one with each other. And in this connection it says, have this mind in you which is in Christ Jesus.

This attitude, verse 5. You know, that with one verse, you can live all your life. Have this attitude in you which is in Christ Jesus. You don't need any other verse in the Bible for transformation. In every situation, ask yourself, did I have the attitude of Christ here?

You face another situation somewhere else, and you ask yourself, did I have the attitude of Christ here? Did I have the attitude of Christ in the way I conducted myself in the dining hall? Was I selfish in the way I conducted myself?

You know, there's a lot of selfishness in us in matters of food, in matters of seeking the most convenient place to stay, and making it a little more difficult for other people. Let them have the difficult, the most more inconvenient thing, and let me choose the convenient thing.

Let me choose the best bed and the best food and the biggest apple and the biggest slice of cake. Children are like that. They always grab. When we grow older, we don't grab like that because we lose our testimony.

But we're still like that inside. We hope nobody will grab that before we grab it. There's a lot of selfishness in us. And if we cleanse ourselves and have the attitude of Jesus. What was the attitude of Jesus?

Christ’s Servant-Minded Humility

When He was in heaven, He thought of the poor people on earth who don't have what He has. And He said, they must have what I have in heaven. That's the attitude of Christ. You look at other people and you say, they don't have what I have.

I've got forgiveness of sins. They don't have it. I've got victory over sin. Those believers don't have it. I must give it to them. They're suffering with so many difficulties. They don't have drinking water.

They're struggling. I must do something to help them. Even in these practical things. They don't have a blanket at night. I must provide for them. This is how it must be. On a cold night, when you cover yourself with a blanket, think.

Do the fellow believers you're responsible for all have a blanket? That's the spirit of Christ. When you eat some good food, think. The fellow believers in my church, do they all have food to eat? This is the mind of Christ.

In heaven, he thought, a lot of people down there on earth don't have what I have in heaven. I must go to them and give it to them. That is the attitude of Christ. And when he came here, that is unselfish consideration for others.

And then when he came here, he humbled himself. It says here in verse 6, though he was God, he gave up that equality with God and became a servant. He humbled himself. He came here, not only became a man, but became a servant of all men.

Amazing. Have this attitude in you which is in Christ. He knew that he can help people only if he serves them. Not if he's like a Maharaja, a king over them. That's why he refused to be a king. You can think that a king can help a lot of people.

But Jesus showed us, it's not a king that helps people. It's a servant that helps people. That's what Jesus demonstrated by his life. That's why he refused to be a director. He refused to be a chairman.

He refused to be a king. He said, I am a servant. And he spent all his life serving, serving, serving. Never taking a position or a title. The only title he had was son of man. What am I? Son of man. An ordinary son of an ordinary man.

He was God Almighty. Even on earth. But what did he call himself? Son of man. He was a servant, a servant, a servant. His whole mindset was that of a servant. It's not just a question of serving. Do you know the difference between serving and being a servant?

Serving for Honor versus Being a Servant

Have you seen these photographs in the paper sometimes? The minister is inaugurating the cleanliness campaign by sweeping the road. And everybody is taking photographs of the minister sweeping the road.

How long does he sweep the road for? About 10 seconds. And he wants all the photographs to come in the paper. This great minister is sweeping the floor. Is he a servant? No, he is not anybody's servant.

But for 10 seconds he is serving to get a reputation. There is a difference between serving and being a servant. Serving you can do like that for honor. Being a servant is an attitude of mine where I always think I am this brother's servant.

I'll tell you how the Lord taught me the truth of this in one situation. As I told you, I spent many years in the military where coming on time was very important. If we had a parade at 6 .30 in the morning, we had to be there at 6 .25.

Not at 6 .31. If you came at 6 .31, they teach you such a lesson that for the rest of your life you'll never come late again. So, I learned for 11 years in the military to be on time. And then I became an elder of a church where I found more than half the people don't come in time for the meeting.

We'd have a meeting at 9 .30 and they won't come on time. I said, this used to disturb me. And I used to say, listen, you fellows take your children to school every day at 8 .30 on time. But you can't come to God's house at 9 .30 on time.

It's because you're afraid of that principle. You're not afraid of God. And it's true. But the thing worst part of it was it disturbed me. And then I came to rest. When the Lord showed me, you're not a master in that church.

You're a servant. The servant must always be on time at the breakfast table. Master can come whenever they like. Right or wrong? Isn't that right? Master may say breakfast at 8 .30. Servant must be there at 8 .25.

Master may come at 9 o 'clock. That's up to him. And the Lord said to me, all these people in your church are masters. You are the servant. Let them come whenever they like. You're a servant. You come on time.

And if something needs to be done in the church, you do it. Come on time and do it. Then I came to rest. Then I realized it's not serving but being a servant attitude. It changed my whole perspective.

It didn't make me agitated with those people. I was agitated earlier because I thought I was the master and they were the servants. And when God changed my mindset and I saw that I am the servant and they are the masters, I stopped being agitated.

You know a lot of your agitation is because you think you're the master. No, you're not the master. You're the servant. That's what Jesus was. So that's a beautiful passage there. How Jesus humbled himself and therefore God exalted him.

The more you humble yourself, the more God will exalt you spiritually. He will exalt you over sin. He will exalt you over your lusts. He doesn't mean he will exalt you and make you a director. I never want to be one in my life.

I want to be exalted over sin. I want to be exalted over the world. I want to be exalted over the devil. I don't want to be exalted over people. Are you waiting to be exalted over people? Forget it. Seek to be exalted over sin, over the devil, over the world.

That's what I want to be exalted over. I want to humble myself so that God exalts me over these wretched things. And keeps me always as a servant of people. That's how we are called to be. And it says here, do all things, verse 14, without grumbling or disputing.

There are two things in salvation. One is what we have to work out, verse 12. Work out your salvation. And the other is, verse 13, what God works in. See this wonderful characteristic of Christ, of humility and unselfish love.