Philippians pt 2b

Ode to Joy
A Study in the Epistle to the
Philippians
1:7-11

By Samuel E. Ward

1

Introduction
I. This Letter Is an Expression of Joy

A. Paul’s Joy Is the By-product of Thanksgiving
for the Philippians, Phil 1:3.

(Phil 1:3 NIV) I thank my God every time I
remember you.

2

B. Paul’s Thanksgiving Brings Joy from Two
Precious Realizations, Phil 1:4-6.

1. The Philippians have been his partners in the
gospel since “day one,” Phil 1:4-5.

(Phil 1:4-5 NIV) In all my prayers for all of you, I
always pray with joy {5} because of your
partnership in the gospel from the first day
until now,

3

Ponder the level of appreciation expressed in in
these words!

a. “I always pray with joy for you.” What a
compliment!
b. “You have been my partners in sharing the
gospel from the first day.” What a
commitment!

4

2. God will complete His ongoing work in them
until Jesus Christ comes back, Phil 1:6.

(Phil 1:6 NIV) [I am] confident of this, that he
who began a good work in you will carry it on
to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

5

Ponder the depth of confidence in the outcome
of God’s work in the Philippians.

a. This is confidence that is beyond the
“shadow of doubt” that has been fostered
by the Philippians’ own proven confidence in
God. Their faith has been back up by their
works.
b. This is confidence in God’s ability to finish
what He starts in those who cooperate with
Him.
6

b. This is confidence in God’s ability to finish
what He starts in those who cooperate with
Him.
c. This is confidence in God’s continuance until
the all the work is done and Christ returns.

7

C. Paul’s Prayers for Them Springs from the Joy
of Because of the Bond of God’s Grace
Between Them, Phil 1:7-11.

1. They were supportive of Paul’s ministry of
God’s grace whether he was a prisoner or
free. This fact could have repercussions
from the government if Paul lost his case
before Caesar, Phil 1:7.

8

(Phil 1:7 NIV) It is right for me to feel this way
about all of you, since I have you in my heart;
for whether I am in chains or defending and
confirming the gospel, all of you share in God's
grace with me.

9

Later in this letter, Paul speaks in more detail
concerning the support he had received from
the Philippians.

(Phil 4:14-16 NIV) It was good of you to share
in my troubles. {15} Moreover, as you
Philippians know, in the early days of your
acquaintance with the gospel, when I set out
from Macedonia, not one church shared with
me in the matter of giving and receiving, except
you only; {16} for even when I was in
Thessalonica, you sent me aid again and again
when I was in need.
10

2. They were the objects of Paul’s deepest
affections and longing for fellowship with
them in Christ, Phil 1:8.

(Phil 1:8 NIV) God can testify how I long for all
of you with the affection of Christ Jesus.

11

Paul was not emotionally detached from the
churches he had labored so arduously to
establish in the faith. We observe this in what
he wrote to the Corinthians.

(2 Cor 11:28-29 NIV) Besides everything else, I
face daily the pressure of my concern for all the
churches. {29} Who is weak, and I do not feel
weak? Who is led into sin, and I do not
inwardly burn?

12

3. They were the subject of Paul’s prayers for
their full experience of Christ.

a. He desired that their love would overflow as
their knowledge of God and insights from
His truth increased, Phil 1:9.

(Phil 1:9 NIV) And this is my prayer: that your
love may abound more and more in knowledge
and depth of insight.

13

1) The knowledge of God should certainly lead
to the practice of love according to the
biblical standard, 1 Cor 13:4-7

(1 Cor 13:4-7 NIV) Love is patient, love is kind.
It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not
proud. {5} It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it
is not easily angered, it keeps no record of
wrongs. {6} Love does not delight in evil but
rejoices with the truth. {7} It always protects,
always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
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2) The practice of love is proof that we belong
to the truth, 1 John 3:18-19.

(1 John 3:18-19 NIV) Dear children, let us not
love with words or tongue but with actions and
in truth. {19} This then is how we know that we
belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts
at rest in his presence

15

3) The model for love is God’s own love for us,
1 John 4:9-11.

(1 John 4:9-11 NIV) This is how God showed his
love among us: He sent his one and only Son
into the world that we might live through him.
{10} This is love: not that we loved God, but
that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning
sacrifice for our sins. {11} Dear friends, since
God so loved us, we also ought to love one
another.
16

b. He desired that their knowledge and insight
would enable them to always choose what is
best and pure so that they would be without
blame when Christ returned, Phil 1:10.

(Phil 1:10 NIV) so that you may be able to
discern what is best and may be pure and
blameless until the day of Christ,

17

Peter understood the importance of living with
righteous discernment and made his point
quite persuasively when he wrote:

(1 Pet 4:1-5 NIV) Therefore, since Christ
suffered in his body, arm yourselves also with
the same attitude, because he who has
suffered in his body is done with sin.

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{2} As a result, he does not live the rest of his
earthly life for evil human desires, but rather
for the will of God. {3} For you have spent
enough time in the past doing what pagans
choose to do--living in
debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousin
g and detestable idolatry. {4} They think it
strange that you do not plunge with them into
the same flood of dissipation, and they heap
abuse on you. {5} But they will have to give
account to him who is ready to judge the living
and the dead.
19

What should Christians take away from this
passage?

1) Christians should be done with sin especially
in view of what it cost Christ of redeem us
from it.
2) Christians, from the day of their
salvation, should give themselves
completely to the will of God rather than to
evil human desires.

20

3) Christians should be ready to accept the
ostracism and abuse from those who do not
understand their commitment to purity for
Christ’s sake.
4) Christians should understand that those who
once sought to lure you into their ungodly
behavior will not escape having to give and
account of themselves to God both in this
life and in the hereafter.

21

c. The desired that their lives result in all that
come from living righteously in Christ for the
purpose of bringing glory and praise to God,
Phil 1:11.

(Phil 1:11 NIV) filled with the fruit of
righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ--
to the glory and praise of God.

22

The following is God’s word to ancient Babylon
but communicates well the attitude of any
people or person who has deceived themselves
into thinking no One watching or caring in the
heavens about how they live on earth.

23

(Isa 47:10-11 NIV) You have trusted in your
wickedness and have said, 'No one sees me.'
Your wisdom and knowledge mislead you when
you say to yourself, 'I am, and there is none
besides me.' {11} Disaster will come upon you,
and you will not know how to conjure it away.
A calamity will fall upon you that you cannot
ward off with a ransom; a catastrophe you
cannot foresee will suddenly come upon you.

24

After humans have sufficiently shown
themselves incapable of defining, producing,
then practicing a universal moral consensus to
do what is right for their brothers and sisters
on the planet, God, Himself, will come forward
to judge the world. Then He will establish His
kingdom on earth, filling it with all those who
have repented from their own sin, have
accepted Christ as the one who paid the price
of their sins by His own death on the cross, and
have become His servants of righteousness.

25

Here’s something to look forward to.

(Rev 21:10-11 NIV) And he carried me away in
the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and
showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem, coming
down out of heaven from God. {11} It shone
with the glory of God, and its brilliance was like
that of a very precious jewel, like a jasper, clear
as crystal.

26

(Rev 21:22-27 NIV) I did not see a temple in the
city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb
are its temple. {23} The city does not need the sun
or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God
gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. {24} The
nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the
earth will bring their splendor into it.

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{25} On no day will its gates ever be shut, for
there will be no night there. {26} The glory and
honor of the nations will be brought into it.
{27} Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will
anyone who does what is shameful or
deceitful, but only those whose names are
written in the Lamb's book of life.

28

(Rev 22:17 NIV) The Spirit and the bride say,
"Come!" And let him who hears say, "Come!"
Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever
wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of
life.

29

Are you thirsty? Have you drank from the
Source of Living Water that gives eternal life?
Are you tired of running from God?

If you are, then come to Him. Find peace, find
hope, find love, find Jesus.
30

Philippians pt 2b

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