Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:4-7)
The Happiest Letter
I love the New Testament letter to the Philippians. God the Holy Spirit moved the Apostle Paul to write it to a 1st century church in ancient Greece and supernaturally preserved it for our encouragement in the 21st century. It is Paul’s most hopeful letter. He mentions joy or rejoicing 16 times in 104 verses. God’s way to joy involves knowing, loving, and following the Lord Jesus, who is mentioned almost 50 times.
Some recent posts concentrate on Philippians 4:8-9, which says, “Think about and practice Christ-like virtues, and the God of peace will be with you.” Jesus Himself is the highest embodiment of all that is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy. So let me give a brief overview of the whole letter to the Philippians and encourage you to read it for yourself.
Chapter 1: Christ Is Our Life and Reason for Joy
The Holy Spirit moved Paul to write to a small Christian congregation while he was in jail in Rome, when he had few outward reasons to rejoice. But Paul did not pity himself or complain. He focused first on all the advantages he enjoyed from God’s hand and then on the needs of his fellow Christians, including us, his future readers.
Paul prayed that our mutual love would overflow more and more, and that we would keep on growing in knowing the Lord. God wants us to understand Jesus better and serve Him better. Paul prayed that we would live pure and blameless lives until the day of Christ’s return. He asked the Holy Spirit to fill us with the fruit of our salvation. That means righteous character and conduct produced in our life by our connection to Jesus. All this brings glory and praise to God. Spiritual maturity is our biggest need and what we ought to pray for most.
At this time, Paul had no guarantee that he would be released from prison. (Scripture says that after two years he was freed for a while before being beheaded.) Paul wanted us to have courage in Christ as we face troubles and the possibility of death. Paul said, “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.”1 When he died, Paul was certain that his soul would go to heaven, where Jesus is the center attraction. The same is true for all Jesus’ followers. But Paul wanted to live a bit longer on earth to do fruitful work for Christ and bless others.2
Chapter 2: Christ is our Example and Pattern
Paul gives an eloquent summary of Jesus’ humiliation and exaltation, His suffering and glory. The poetic form of verses 5-11 sound like Paul is quoting from an early Christian hymn or creed (statement of belief). He reminds us about the Son of God’s incarnation (in-flesh-ment), subtracting none of His God-ness, but adding on a human body and soul. Jesus became the Lord’s Suffering Servant foretold in the OT, and humbled Himself by becoming obedient to death, taking our place on the Cross.
But we know that Christ did not stay in the grave.3 He was raised from the dead on the third day by God the Father and God the Spirit. Then after forty days, Jesus ascended back into heaven, where He now sits on God’s throne. Christ will come again from Heaven to earth to rescue His followers and judge the world as He promised.
God has exalted Christ to the highest place and given Him the most exalted name. One day, everyone in the universe will bow to Jesus and acknowledge that Christ is Lord, to God’s glory. What a day that will be!
While Jesus’ suffering and glory is unique as our God-Man Mediator, most of Chapter 2 concerns Christian believers imitating Christ’s humility and living godly lives. The Lord commands us through Paul, “Live in harmony, love one another, work together with one mind and purpose. Don’t be selfish or conceited, but value others above yourselves. Have the same humble attitude and mindset that Christ had.”4
The Lord Jesus’ chief work was to save His people from our sins by laying down His life on the Cross and rising again. Now that Christ reconciled us back to God, He says, “Come, follow Me in all the details of your life. Live like who you are, like members of God’s family!”
Chapter 3: Christ is our Confidence, Goal, and Prize
Paul writes about the preciousness of Jesus, our ever-living Savior. Paul warns the Philippians to beware of the Judaizers who claimed that the ceremonial laws of the Old Testament (especially circumcision) were still required for Gentile (non-Jewish) Christians. Paul refutes that false teaching here (and even more strongly in his Letter to the Galatians).
Paul recites his own impressive Jewish credentials, but says that now that Christ has saved him, Paul considers all his previous accomplishments garbage and loss by comparison. This is the freeing truth for us as well. Now our confidence is in Jesus, who saves us by His unique life, death, and resurrection, not because of anything we are or achieve.
Christian faith believes the facts about Christ in our head, is convinced in our heart that these things are true, and runs out to Him by faith and calls on Him. We receive and rest upon Christ as our only hope in life and death. But our faith doesn’t save us; Christ does. Because of Jesus’ saving work, Christians stand by faith on Christ’s perfect standing with God. Hallelujah!
Paul is already a saved-by-grace man when he writes, but he wants to know Christ better and better, and he wants the same for us. We want God’s resurrection power to help us be like and live like Jesus. We are still far from perfect, but we want to press on in following Christ, forgetting the past and keeping our eyes on the prize of going home to Jesus. We are to be like Olympic runners who persevere until the end of the race. So we must resist sin’s distractions and run straight towards the finish line to receive God’s gift that Christ has earned for us.
Chapter 4: Christ is our Energizer and Power Supplier
Paul returns to the themes of Christian joy, thanks, prayer, and peace and how to practice these things. All through Philippians, Paul has urged Christians to be united in Jesus, and he does it again here. He encourages us to agree in the Lord because of all the Christ-centered things we have in common and because our names are recorded together in God’s book of life. Jesus has bound us together, so let’s stop bickering!
Scripture teaches us:
In essentials, to practice unity;
In non-essentials, to allow liberty;
In all things, to demonstrate charity (love).5
God calls us to Christ-like character and conduct, including Christian contentment, which is the opposite of coveting, envy, and jealousy. Paul has learned how to be content whether well-fed or hungry, with plenty of stuff or little. It’s the opposite of our materialistic culture.
Then Paul says in Philippians 4:13, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” Our own abilities and resources can never make us Christ-like. No, we must depend and rely on Jesus, Who saved us by His grace and empowers us to live by His grace here on earth. Trying to please God in our own strength is like trying to climb to the moon on a rope ladder of sand!6
Prayer
Lord, You are our ultimate source of strength! Thank you for reminding us. Apart from You we can’t do anything good. Teach us to rely on You for everything. Your power is made perfect in our weakness, so help us to submit to You and obey You. You are our fortified tower. Help us to run to You for safety and everything else. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.7
Notes (various Bible translations used): 1 Phil 1:21. 2 John 11:25-26. 3 1 Cor 15:1-8, and the ending of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. 4 Philippians 2:3-5, my paraphrase. 5 This sentence is adapted from Augustine of Hippo (354-430 AD). 6 Adapted from a quotation from George Whitefield (1714-1770). He used this illustration in the last sermon he would ever preach. 7 Prayer draws on John 15:5; 2 Cor 12:9; Prov 18:10.