Philippians

     A little more than 350 years before Christ a Greek ruler named Philip took control of an area in Macedonia in northeastern Greece.  He used gold from the area in his effort to unify Greece.  After his death he was succeeded by his son, who is known to us as Alexander the Great.  The major city in the area was named Philippi in honor of the father.
     Philippi rose to notoriety once again about half a century before Christ when Marc Antony caught up with Brutus and Cassius, two assassins of Julius Caesar, at a plain near the city.
     Paul begins his second missionary journey by visiting congregations established in eastern Asia Minor during his first trip.  Then he travels west.  According to Acts 16:6 the Holy Spirit does not allow him to preach in western Asia Minor at this time.  Instead, the apostle and his traveling companions are invited in a vision to cross over into Macedonia.  This is the first record we have of the gospel being carried into Europe.
     The evangelists journey to Philippi.  Remember that Paul's custom is to go first to the local synagogue and try to persuade the Jews gathered there to accept the Messiah.  Then he turns to the Gentiles of the area.
     Philippi, however, is different.  There is apparently not a large enough group of Jews to warrant a synagogue.  So on the Sabbath Paul goes outside the city gate to a river side where he hopes to find people gathered for prayer.  Here he meets Lydia, a merchant from the city of Thyatira.
     After hearing what Paul has to say, Lydia and her household are baptized.  Lydia insists that Paul and his co-workers stay in her house.
     As Paul and his companions are traveling to this place of prayer one day, a slave girl with a spirit of divination meets them and cries out that they are servants of God.  After several days of this, Paul becomes annoyed and commands the spirit to leave the girl.  This angers the girl's owners who have been using her abilities to make money.
     Paul and Silas are dragged to the local authorities, who proceed to have them beaten.  Then the two are cast into the inner prison.
     About midnight Paul and Silas are praying and singing when an earthquake releases all the chains and opens all the doors.  The jailer, who is held responsible for the prisoners, is about to take his own life when Paul calls out to assure him that they are all still in their places.  The jailer and his family listen to the gospel message of Paul and Silas and then are baptized.
     The local authorities are worried when they learn the next day that Paul and Silas are Roman citizens and have been beaten without due process.  The leaders beg the missionaries to leave, which they do after they have returned to the house of Lydia and encouraged the Christians meeting there.
     It is to people such as Lydia and the jailer that Paul sends the letter known to us as the Epistle to the Philippians.  The letter is written during a later imprisonment, perhaps during the two years Paul is held in Caesarea or maybe when he is in Rome.
     Paul's letter to the Philippians stands out because of its tone of joy, love and empathy.  Paul spent much more time in other cities, but he never developed a closer relationship with any congregation.
     The same jailer who places Paul and Silas in chains understands what the apostle is experiencing in a Roman prison.
     The same Lydia who insists that the physical needs of the missionaries be taken care of continues to be concerned with their well-being after they are gone.
     "I thank my God in all my remembrance of you," Paul writes in Philippians 1:3-7, "always offering prayer with joy in my every prayer for you all, in view of your participation in the gospel from the first day until now.
     "For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.
     "For it is only right for me to feel this way about you all, because I have you in my heart, since both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel, you all are partakers of grace with me."
     The brethren from Philippi stick with Paul from the beginning to the end.

     In chapter eight of Paul's second letter to the church in Corinth he points out the generosity of the Christians in Macedonia.  Remember that Philippi is the chief city in this region.
     "Now, brethren," Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 8:1-5, "we wish to make known to you the grace of God which has been given in the churches of Macedonia, that in a great ordeal of affliction their abundance of joy  and their deep poverty overflowed in the wealth of their liberality.
     "For I testify that according to their ability, and beyond their ability they gave of their own accord, begging us with much entreaty for the favor of participation in the support of the saints, and this, not as we had expected, but they first gave themselves to the Lord and to us by the will of God."
     Not only do the Christians in Macedonia give sacrificially to help those who are in need, but they also contribute to Paul's support as he spreads the gospel.
     "You have done well to share with me in my affliction," Paul notes in Philippians 4:14-16.
     "And you yourselves also know, Philippians, that at the first preaching of the gospel, after I departed from Macedonia, no church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving but you alone; for even in Thessalonica you sent a gift more than once for my needs."
     As Paul acknowledges the contributions of the Philippians, he wants them to understand two things.
     First of all, their gifts are not measured by the amount of money but rather by their generosity.
     "Not that I seek the gift itself," Paul explains in Philippians 4:17-18, "but I seek for the profit which increases to your account.
     "But I have received everything in full, and have an abundance; I am amply supplied, having received from Epaphroditus what you have sent, a fragrant aroma, an acceptable sacrifice, well pleasing to God."
     The other thing Paul wants to point out is that his primary concern is not his physical well-being.  Paul's observation in Philippians 3:7-14 is one of the most beautiful in the Bible in contrasting the values we place on physical and spiritual matters.
     "But whatever things were gain to me," Paul writes, "those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ.
     "More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish in order that I may gain Christ, and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, that I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.
     "Not that I have already obtained it, or have already become perfect, but I press on in order that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus.
     "Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead. I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus."
     Paul has so many beautiful things to say to such a beautiful group of people.  He warns them against false teachers.  He gives them one of the most profound passages about the personality of Jesus.  And he tells them to rejoice.
     "Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord," chapter three, verse one encourages.
     "Rejoice in the Lord always;" Paul admonishes in Philippians 4:4, "again I will say, rejoice!"
     And what does the apostle say to these special people as he closes the letter?
     "And my God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus," Paul says in Philippians 4:19.
     In 2 Corinthians 9:4 Paul makes another reference to the Macedonians as he encourages the Christians in Corinth to be liberal in their giving.
     "Now He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food," he writes in verses 10-11, "will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness; you will be enriched in everything for all liberality which through us is producing thanksgiving to God."
     "Because of the proof given by this ministry," Paul concludes in verses 13-15, they will glorify God for your obedience to your confession of the gospel of Christ, and for the liberality of your contribution to them and to all, while they also, by prayer on your behalf, yearn for you because of the surpassing grace of God in you.  Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!"
     What is God's great gift?  Romans 6:23 says it is eternal life in Christ Jesus.
     How is God glorified?  The passage in 2 Corinthians says He is glorified by our generosity and by our obedience to the gospel.
     Like the Philippians, we must be generous.  And, like Lydia, the jailer and all the others, we must be obedient to the gospel, the truth which will set us free.

Unless otherwise noted, "Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE(R), (C) Copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission." (www.lockman.org)