The Latest From Our Blog…

So we are beginning our study of Philippians tonight. Lord willing, we’ll team-teach through the letter, Mike and Brian each taking two weeks back to back per chapter. Brian will do the intro this week, and Mike will do chapter one for the two weeks after that. The letters in the new testament (that’s everything between Acts and Revelation) are our chief source of knowledge about what it means to be a Christian and live out our faith in our day and age. They are very deep, and very practical, full of all the things that make walking with God so exciting.

We have a plan to memorize the whole letter for you to download, just click on the “resources” link above. Can’t wait to dive in with you all tonight! Let’s allow God’s work to form us every time we’re together. 

An introduction to Paul’s letter to the Philippians :: 3.16.11

Before we  jump into the letter, it’s important to remember the back story behind this letter, which stretches from Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection, and goes to His followers, to Paul himself getting saved, to the founding of this church in the city of Philippi, which is recorded in Acts 16:7-40.

What were the letters in the New Testament? After Jesus ascended into heaven and left His followers to do His work, the Holy Spirit filled them and also empowered them to remember, understand, and proclaim what Jesus said and did and what it meant. Eventually they wrote down what they taught. They wrote letters to the new communities of Christians that were forming wherever the message was proclaimed. These letters explain who Jesus is and what He did, and tell Jesus’ followers how to live as followers of Christ when He is not on earth to be seen.

 Why was Philippians written?

 1. The church sent Epaphroditus to Paul with a gift of support. Paul is sending him back and he uses the “free shipping” to send a thank you note back to the church.   (4:10-20, 1:3-5, 2:25-30)

2. Paul’s friends in Philippi knew he was in prison waiting for his trial, and they were concerned about how he was doing. He uses this letter to give them a “status update.”  (1:13-14, 2:23-4, 4:10-13)

3. Paul has heard (maybe from Epaphroditus) that there are some false teachers giving the church trouble. In chapter 3 he gives them warnings to watch out for these people.  (3:1-4, 17-19)

4. Paul also seems to have heard that there were some divisions creeping into the church. He addresses two fighting women in particular, keeps coming back to the idea of how important it is for Christians to stand united.  (2:1-2, 4:1-2)

5. Paul also uses the letter to remind the church about how much the Gospel is his whole life. It has become their whole life too so he encourages them to live in a way that makes sense with what they believe.  (1:12-14, 1:21, 1:27)

 What is Philippians about?

 Ch 1:   Paul loves the church, and he’s confident that God’s work in their lives will continue till the end.  He wants them to know that what seems bad (imprisonment) is working for good and also, that they can expect suffering too, so…

Ch 2:   They need to live in humble unity like Jesus. In the meantime, he wants to send Epaphroditus to help them until He can come to them.

Ch 3:   Also, he warns them about false teachers and offers himself as a better example. He laid everything from his old life aside because Christ is better.

Ch 4:   Finally, he reminds them they don’t have to worry about anything, but can pray. He is their example in this, with Christ as His strength.  But still, He appreciates the gift they sent.

 What kinds of things can we learn from all this?

1. God is working in History. (Eph 1:10). God was using Paul to work out His plan… is He using you?

2. Faithfulness brings fruit. Paul obeyed God in a tough environment, and a church was born.

3. This letter contains a great model for how we should care for each other. The Philippians loved Paul and sent a monetary gift to support Him. They had all sacrificed for each other. Paul uses the word “brothers” 9 times and “beloved” three times.

4. What we believe is the truth about Jesus as it was revealed to and taught by the Apostles, including Paul. (The term for this is “Apostolic Doctrine.”) We know what we know about God because he had men write it down. (1 Pet 1:21) Philippians is one of those documents.

Read this the other day and got blessed. Wanted to share it…

 “Our best times together as a family are at dinner.  At home after a meal, we push our dishes aside and linger together over coffee or hot chocolate.  We have no particular agenda; we simply enjoy one another.  Listening, talking and laughing.  If you experience the same thing with good friends or family, you know it is a little touch of heaven.

 When Jesus describes the intimacy He wants with us, He talks about joining us for dinner.  “Behold, I stand at the door and knock.  If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with Me.”  (Revelation 3:20)

 A praying life feels like our family mealtimes because prayer is all about relationship.  It’s intimate and hints at eternity.  We don’t think about communication or words but about whom we are talking with.  Prayer is simply the medium through which we experience and connect to God.

Oddly enough, many people struggle to learn how to pray because they are focusing on praying, not on God.  Making prayer the center is like making conversation the center of a family mealtime.  In prayer, focusing on the conversation is like trying to drive while looking at the windshield instead of through it.  It freezes us, making us unsure of where to go.  Conversation is only the vehicle through which we experience one another.  Consequently, prayer is not the center of this book.  Getting to know a person, God, is the center.”

 From “A Praying Life” by Paul E. Miller

Here are the notes from last night, our last study in James. Next week, Lord willing, we’ll start studying through Paul’s letter to the Philippians. We plan on doing an intro/overview next week, so you can read ahead to get ready if you want. And if you really want to dive in, go to our resources page and download the plan to memorize the whole letter. In just a few months, you could say it all from memory! More on all that later. Here’s what we talked about last night…

James 5:13-20 :: 3.9.11
Prayer: Alone, Together, With the Church

James has already spoken about prayer in this letter (see: 1:5-6 and 4:2-3). He also has just discussed trials again in 5:7-12. One kind of Trial is sickness, and in tonight’s section he says we need to pray as well.

 v. 13
The mature response to suffering: Prayer. 
The mature response to happiness: Praise.
In prayer we let suffering turn our hearts to God to make Him our only deliverance.
In praise we let happiness turn our hearts to God to make Him our true happiness.
The point: in everything, our hearts turn to Him, and we glorify Him. Anything less is idolatry.

 v. 14-15   
Response to sickness in general: Involving the church by calling the elders.
That is, we involve Christ’s body. In doing this we acknowledge God as the true source of all healing.

Verse 15 seems to mean one of two things:
1. “The prayer of faith” is a special kind of prayer, when God gives the person praying a special gift of faith to pray and know God will heal (like when Paul mentions the spiritual gift of faith in 1 Cor 12:9). or…
2. It is only prayers offered in faith that God will answer to bring healing, that is prayers offered in total reliance on God and trust in Him to do His will.

Either way, James is not saying that “if you have enough faith” you will be able to heal anyone you pray for. He is setting out the kind of praying God is looking for. It is praying in faith.

v. 16a 
Response to sin: Prayer with each other.
We “confess” sins: 1. that affect other people, and 2. when that person will be able to support us by prayer. This puts God at the center of our relationships.

 v. 16b-18 
An Example and Encouragement to Pray: Elijah
The second half of verse sixteen can be can be kind of confusing, even for Bible translators. You’ll notice, if you look at different translations, that they all sound a little different.  (For example: “The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.” (NKJV) “The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.” (NIV); “The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.” (ESV); “The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.” (NASB)) So maybe a good way to get across what James is saying in this sentence would be something like: “Don’t be fooled into not praying: Prayer works!”

 His example to encourage us is the prophet Elijah. Now, if we say, “yeah, but he’s Elijah,” James says: “No, he was just like us!” And he prayed fervently, or, to translate wprd for word, he “prayed in his praying” or “in prayer he prayed.”This basically means that he put his heart into it. Elijah meant it when he prayed.

v. 17
Now, why would he pray this? Because he knew God’s word! See Deut 11:16-17, where God promises to hold back the rain if His people turned to other Gods. This means that Elijah prayed for a specific promise from God’s word to happen, and it did.

The point?
1. Know your Bible, so you can know God’ will
2. pray in line with God’s will as it is revealed in the Bible
3. mean what you pray, trust God and his power and his control

v. 19-20   
James’ Ending: Look out for one another. The stakes are high!
 “Truth” and “How you live” are intertwined… thus you can “wander” from the “truth.” We shouldn’t only make sure we ourselves grow to maturity, we should want to see others do these things too.

One of the things Mike and I don’t talk with you guys about a lot is false teaching. Maybe that’s because we know the average 9th or 10th grade student probably gets bored by those kinds of discussions. Probably it’s because we’d rather teach truth so well that when you run into the false things you can just know they’re false. (We want you to just be able to smell it.) But part of the truth is that there is such a thing as false teaching, and there are lots of people who teach false things. And that’s not just guys in weird clothes with weird looks in their eye. The more dangerous kinds of false teachers look and sound way cooler and more intelligent than Mike and Brian. (Oh well.) And they talk Christianity very well. And they sell books and make beautiful videos.

I was thinking about this when i read this quote today. It’s from guy who lived in the 1800s, but like all good quotes, it sounds like it was written yesterday (Except that he uses the word “fancy” for the word “think”). He lists eight things that make false teaching (“doctrine”) so dangerous. Read it and let us know what you think.

Many things combine to make the present inroad of false doctrine peculiarly dangerous:

1. There is an undeniable zeal in some of the teachers of error: their “earnestness” makes many think they must be
2. There is a great appearance of learning and theological knowledge: many fancy that such clever and intellectual men must surely be safe guides.
3. There is a general tendency to free thought and free inquiry in these latter days: many like to prove their independence of judgment, by believing novelties.
4. There is a wide-spread desire to appear charitable and liberal-minded: many seem half ashamed of saying that anybody can be in the wrong.
5. There is a quantity of half-truthtaught by the modern false teachers: they are incessantly using Scriptural terms and phrases in an unscriptural sense.
6. There is a morbid craving in the public mind for a more sensuous, ceremonial, sensational, showy worship: men are impatient of inward, invisible heart-work.
7. There is a silly readiness in every direction to believe everybody who talks cleverly, lovingly and earnestly, and a determination to forget that Satan often masquerades himself “as an angel of light” (2 Corinthians 11:14).
8. There is a wide-spread “gullibility” among professing Christians: every heretic who tells his story plausibly is sure to be believed, and everybody who doubts him is called a persecutor and a narrow-minded man.

All these things are peculiar symptoms of our times. I defy any observing person to deny them. They tend to make the assaults of false doctrine in our day peculiarly dangerous. They make it more than ever needful to cry aloud, “Do not be carried away!”

[J.C. Ryle; Warnings to the Churches, “Divers and Strange Doctrines”, [Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1967], 76, 77.]