Philippians The Fellowship of the Gospel
The letter of Paul to the church at Philippi is not all about ‘joy’ although this is a large aspect of the letter. It is about joy when facing adversity. Paul was imprisoned in Rome, chained to soldiers of the Imperial Guard, and facing a capital charge. So the joy he is speaking about is that deep-seated peace and satisfaction that the Lord Jesus has everything under control.
Gentile believers in Christ did not have to be circumcised or follow Jewish regulations in order to be saved. This was a critical decision and meant that Gentiles could now become equal members of the Christian church with Jews, but it resulted in considerable opposition from some Jewish Christians who felt that their Jewishness was being undervalued. Paul was spurred on to continue the work for which he had been called.
Paul and Barnabus separate, Paul being joined by Silas on his second missionary journey and they were joined by Timothy when they passed through Lystra. They began by revisiting the churches that were founded on his first missionary journey and then planned to visit Bithynia, which is now northern Turkey, facing the Black Sea. However this plan was thwarted by God. As they were staying in Troas, by the mouth of the Dardanelles Luke joined them. Paul was then given a vision of a man in Macedonia appealing to them to ‘Come and help us.’ Paul had no doubt about what they most needed to help them,
“ . . . concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.” Acts 16:10
There is nothing that people need more than to understand who made this universe and what he has done for us in Christ.
Philippi
So they set sail to Neapolis and then walked the nine miles to Philippi. This city had around 10,000 inhabitants. The city was built on a narrow shoulder of rock and was crowned by the Acropolis. The city overlooked the Via Ignatia, the main route from Rome to the Eastern Empire. It had been founded in the mid fourth century BC by Philip of Macedonia and it was named after himself. This Philip was the father of Alexander the Great. Philip employed the great philosopher Aristotle to train Alexander from the age of 13.
In AD 42 Mark Anthony and Octavius (later to be called Emperor Augustus) defeated the forces of Brutus and Cassius who had been involved in the assassination of Julius Caesar. Later, in 31 BC Augustus defeated Mark Anthony at the naval Battle of Actium and so became the undisputed leader of Rome.
Philippi became a Roman town, the only language spoken was Latin. The inscriptions found in the town were exclusively in Latin, no Greek was permitted. The citizens wore Roman clothes. The leadership and the aristocracy were all Roman. The town was called ‘Little Rome’. This meant that Greek speakers were an underclass.
The Gospel of Christ Spreads
Yet it was to the Greek speakers that Paul came primarily to help, these would be the tradesmen and construction workers. Paul’s usual custom when visiting a new town was to go first to the synagogue of the local Jews. In the book of Acts this is mentioned five times. In Philippi however there were so few Jews that there was no quorum (ten men) for a synagogue. He did discover that a group of god-fearing, Gentile women met every Sabbath by the river outside the city walls and the group went to meet them. Just fifty yards from the city.gate flows the river Gangites and it is possible to go to the exact place today. There the band of Christians expalined the Christian gospel and one lady, Lydia, committed herself to Jesus Christ.
“The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul’s message.” Acts 16:15
Then she and her whole household were baptised in the Gangites and she subsequently welcomed the four to stay in her house.
Then the opposition from Satan grew. A slave girl with a ‘Pythonic spirit’, who was under demonic control and was used by her owners to make money, incessantly identified the Christians publicly. What she said was true:
“These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved.” Acts 16:17
Perhaps it was the scornful way this was said that irritated the Christians, but after being harassed for several days, Paul acted and said to the demon:
“In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her.” Acts 16:18
At that moment the evil spirit left her. The owners of the slave girl quickly realised that their hope of making money through this girl was gone and they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them to the ‘agora’, the market place, to face the authorities. The accusation reflected the fact that Philippi was a very Roman city:
“These men are Jews and are throwing our city into an uproar. By advocating customs unlawful for us Romans to accept or practise.” Acts 16:20
The crowd joined in this anti-semitic attack and both Paul and Silas were stripped, tied to a whipping post and severely flogged by the ‘lictors’. They were then thrown into the local gaol under close guard. The two were consequently put is an inner cell in the prison with their feet in stocks. However, far from feeling depressed and defeated the two were rejoicing. They prayed and sang hymns to God. Real hymns are always addressed to God in worship. Doubtless they also took the opportunity to explain the gospel to others in the prison who were ‘listening to them’.
God was very much with his representatives and an extraordinary coincidence occurred.. There was a violent earthquake and everybody’s chains fell off and the prison doors flung open. For a prison warder to let prisoners escape was a capital offence so when the warden saw what had happened he was about to ‘fall on his sword’. Paul saw what was happening and called out,
“Don’t harm yourself! We are all here!” Acts 16:28
Doubtless the warden knew something about Paul’s message, perhaps he had heard the message of the slave girl,
“These men are servants of the most high God, who are telling you the way to be saved.” Acts 16:17
He may have overheard what Paul and Silas had been saying to others in the prison. The response was dramatic, the guard rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas and said,
“What must I do to be saved?” Acts 16:30
What better question can anyone ask? The reply is one that is just as relevant to us today,
“Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved – you and you whole household.” Acts 16:31
To allow myself to come under the authority of the Lord God, the Lord Jesus, is the only was to being made right with God. Clearly this apostolic message, that we have in our Bibles, all needed to be carefully explained and this is then what Paul and Silas proceeded to do:
“Then they spoke the word of God to him and to all the others in his house.” Acts 16:32
It was only then that the gaoler washed their wounds. He and his whole family were then publicly baptised as being followers of the Lord Jesus. This is remarkable as it was because Paul and Silas had been openly aligning themselves with Jesus that they had got into such trouble.
So a new church was established consisting at first of an upper middle class business lady and her family, an ex slave-girl ‘pythoness’ and a Roman ex-soldier and his family. This was not a homogeneous plant yet it became a church that was very special to Paul; he could write to them,
“I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers I always pray with joy because of you partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. . .” Philippians 1:3-5
Partners in the Gospel for Christ
‘Partners’ is a key word in the book of Philippians coming in various forms five times in this book. The Greek word koinonia is a term used in business to show that people are partners in an enterprise. Today ‘fellowship’ can used loosely to denote any form of friendly meeting. Thus the ‘Wednesday afternoon ladies fellowship hour’ can simply mean a get together for a gossip, cakes and biscuits! Paul uses the term to mean a mutual commitment for the advance of the gospel. He talks about ‘the partnership of the gospel’. This is the core business of God’s church. In Tolkien’s ‘The Fellowship of the Ring’ there was this common understanding of the nine disparate members of the ‘Fellowship od the Ring’ to oppose the power of evil.
Some ten years after Paul’s short visit to Philippi (AD 60-62) he was again languishing in prison chained to guards, this time in Rome. The Philippian church sent Paul a monetary gift that was carried by one of their members, Epaphroditus. He had almost died getting to Rome to deliver the present. Paul then sent this letter to the Philippians back with Epaphroditus. It is full of gratitude and joy. He says that Timothy will be coming to visit and encourage them. He warns them against the many false teachers, ‘the dogs’, who were troubling them. But behind all this there is the repeated encourgaement and reminder that they are members of the ‘Fellowship of the Gospel’.
Paul’s Greeting in Christ
It was standard practice to include the name of the sender and that of the recipient at the beginning of a letter in those times, yet in this letter the opening is carefully tailored. He omits his title of authority, ‘apostle’ instead saying that he is a servant or slave of Jesus Christ. In little Rome, which relied so much on slavery, this was highly significant. Paul and all Christians are willing slaves of the beneficent Jesus Christ. We find total security and satisfaction by being in his service. The use of this word is intentional as he uses it once again in the letter, but this time it refers to Jesus himself,
“Your attitude should be the same as that of Jesus Christ: Who being in very nature God, did not consider equality with god something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a slave/servant . . .” Philippians 2:7
Timothy is also named at the beginning but later in the letter he is an associate and not co-author. It is addressed in familiar tones to the whole church in Philippi. All Christians are called ‘saints’, it is not a term reserved for ‘super-Christians’ God has no favourites. This forshadows what he goes on to say in the letter about Christian unity. Karl Barth astutely comments,
“A hero, a genius, a religious personality stands alone. That’s not Paul. An apostle has others stand beside him, like Paul, on his own level.”
The heart of the letter is clear, there must be church unity:
“Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel.” Philippians 1:27
Our Purpose is Christ
Evangelism, partnership in the gospel, goes alongside a real caring for other Christians, both are fundamental,
: . . . because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now,” Philippians 1:4
“If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose.” Philippians 2:1-2
“Each of you should look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.” Philippians 2:5
“Your attitude should be the same as that of Jesus Christ.” Philippians 2:5
Paul longs to encourage these Christians to work hard for the glory of Jesus Christ.
“Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed - not only in my presence but now much more in my absence – continue to work our your salvation with fear and trembling. . . .” Philippians 2:12
Paul lifts up the example of two key workers. Timothy,
“I have no-one else like him, who takes a genuine interest in your welfare . . . Timothy has proved himself . . . he has served with me in the work of the gospel.” Philippians 2:20-22
Epaphroditus is described as “My brother, fellow-worker and fellow soldier . . .” Philippians 2:25
However the obvious focus of the letter is Jesus Christ. No other name occurs in this letter more than that of Jesus, his name comes seven times in the opening 11 verses!
Paul’s description of Jesus given in the famous Carmen Christi passage sets Jesus up as the greatest example for us to follow:
In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” Philippians 2:5-11
If we find living as a Christian is easy, something is wrong. I was once asked to lead a midweek Christian Basics course in a large local Roman Catholic Church. Attendance was remarkable. At the last evening there were around 120 present. After the first evening an Irish lady came up to talk to me, saying
“Thank you so much. That was wonderful. I don’t know why everybody isn’t a Christian . . .”
I smiled and nodded appreciatively, but then came the bombshell,
“ . . . after all, all God wants is one hour a week!”
I had clearly failed to make it clear that a Christian is someone whose whole life is committed to Christ. True worship occurs every hour during the seven day week. The book of Philippians is about people who are in fellowship with Christ and therefore in the ‘fellowship of the gospel’. We are co-citizens in heaven because Christ has given to us his perfect righteousness. Without the gift of being counted righteous no-one can enter heaven.
Joy is given to those serving Christ
The presence and service of Christ always gives great joy and peace. This whole letter sparkles with this joy that the imprisoned Paul experiences.
“I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel.” Philippians 1:5
“The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached. And because of this I rejoice.” Philippians 1:18
“ . . . I will continue with all of you for your progress and joy in the faith.” Philippians 1:25
“Then make my joy complete by being like minded.” Philippians 2:2
“Even if I am being poured out like a drink offering on the sacrifice and service coming from your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you. So you too should be glad and rejoice with me.” (In Greek joy comes four times in these verses) Philippians 2:17-18
“ . . . so that when you see him (Epaphroditus) again you may be glad . . . “ Philippians 2:28
“Welcome him in the Lord with great joy.” Philippians 2:29
“Finally my brothers, rejoice in the Lord.” Philippians 3:1
“Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!” Philippians 4:4
“I rejoice greatly in the Lord that at last you have renewed your concern for me.” Philippians 4:10
In addition Paul longs for them also to experience the peace of God that coes as we learn to rejoice in all he is and all he has done for us.:
“Rejoice in the Lord, . . . with thanks, giving 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
What a wonderful promise this is, one that the Lord Jesus wants all Christians to experience. We need to train our minds to think like Paul. Everything is in our Lord’s hands, we need fear nothing, not even death if we are active in fulfilling our Lord’s commands and are partners in sharing the gospel with others. Joy is so infectious. Robert Louis Stevenson once said,
“When a happy man comes into a room it is as if another candle had been lighted!”
When the spirit of gladness and thankfulness rules our hearts, light springs up all around us to dispel the darkness and gloom. An elderly Christian lady was suffering for many months with painful illness. She said to her pastor: "
“I have such a lovely robin that sings outside my window. In the early morning, as I lie here, he serenades me.”
Then, as a smile brightened her thin features, she added,
“I love him, because he sings in the rain.”
That is the most beautiful thing about the robin. When the storm has silenced almost every other songbird, the robin sings on – it sings in the rain. That is the way the Christian who is with Christ should live. Anybody can sing in the sunshine; but Christians should sing on when clouds pour out their rains, for Christ is with us. We should sing in the rain.
This book of Philippians has so much to say to us all. How about reading it through every day for a week? It only takes 15 minutes and there is so many precious truths to be found.
BVP
