Author Archives: Phillip

Sat 16th May – Read Philippians 1:27-30

V27: Now he urges them, whether he is able to come to them again or not, to live to God’s glory in faith and obedience living out “gospel values”, so he will rejoice to know that they are standing firm in their faith, united in love for one another and in service together.

V28: In effect, he is praying for God-given courage as they face opposition and persecution. Those who oppose and persecute believers are demonstrating their own lost spiritual condition. Believers who, by God’s grace stand firm despite persecution show, in contrast, the reality of their faith, and that they are truly the Lord’s redeemed people.

V29-30: And if they do suffer for Christ’s sake, they should see this as a blessing – as a gift (“granted to them”). This is consistent NT teaching (see e.g. Matthew 5:11-12; James 1:2-4.) He reminds them of his own experience and example. Are we prepared, not only to accept suffering for Christ’s sake, but to rejoice in it and count it a privilege?

Fri 15th May – Read Philippians 1:22-26

V22: If Christ preserves his life and sets him at liberty, it will be for further fruitful gospel service. But would he prefer to continue in His earthly life and service, or to be with the Lord? He really is unsure which he would choose. How different from most of our thinking. Have we not grown too comfortable with this world?

V23: He knows that to be with Christ would be the better state, and in part he longs for this most of all. How real, how precious the prospect of heaven is to Paul. Is it so to us?

V24: Yet in his continued love for them, and ministry to them ( even now, from prison ) he believes it will be better, for their sakes, to remain alive. How dear these believers are to him – but in all this, he will willingly submit to God’s will.

V25-26: Thinking this through, and as the Spirit leads him, he is ( almost ) sure that God will deliver him to continue to minister to them ( and to others ) and be a means, under God, of their further growth as Christians and their greater joy. If he is set free he will come to them again, and this will be a further cause to give glory to the Lord. In fact scholars disagree whether Paul was set free from this particular imprisonment, and we cannot be sure. Only let us know, as Paul himself did , that all things are in God’s sovereign hand.

Thurs 14^th May – Read Philippians 1:18–21

V18b: Paul will rejoice whenever the gospel is proclaimed, for the power is in the Word of God, not the human messenger ( see 2 Corinthians 4:2.)

V19-20: Paul expresses a belief that God will yet deliver him from this captivity, in part through their prayers for him, but above all through the Holy Spirit’s sovereign work. Yet he is not trying to “dictate to God” what He should do – he is ready for death if that is God’s will for him, only praying for strength and courage to receive and submit to that will, and give glory to God, whether by his life or death. Is this true of us?

V21: What a statement of committed and assured faith! If God means him to continue in this life – and indeed here and now, in his captivity, the whole meaning and centre of his life, the greatest thing in it, is to know and follow the Lord. And if God takes him home to glory, that will be an even greater blessing – he will be with the Lord, safe and secure for all eternity. Is this our assurance too?

Wed 13th May – Read Philippians 1:12-18

V12: He doesn’t want them to be dismayed by his imprisonment, rather he assures them it is all in God’s plan and purpose, and has actually served to advance the spread of the gospel. Truly, how remarkable are God’s ways!

V13; For he has been able to witness to the imperial guard ( ESV). – the Emperor’s own bodyguard, his ” crack troops”, who it seems are entrusted with the custody of Paul. They, and others with them, have thus heard his witness, heard the gospel from him and know he is a prisoner because of his Christian faith and gospel witness.

V14: And, as God has worked through Paul’s imprisonment, other believers in Rome have become bolder in their witness, through Paul’s example.

V15: A difficult verse, but where some preach the gospel sincerely and in a true commitment to Christ and His Word, others it seems are not preaching with these motives, but out of envy of Paul’s ministry, and as his rivals.

V16: Those whose motives are sincere and right want to show their love for Paul, they desire to support and encourage him in his captivity and know they do this best by proclaiming the gospel as he has done. How do we seek to encourage those who minister to us? Surely, there is no better way than this.

V17: But those who seek their own glory, not Christ’s, think they are adding to Paul’s troubles. ( We don’t know the exact circumstances behind these verses.) But let them remind us, we need to be discerning about the preaching we listen to and receive!

V18a: Yet Paul can rejoice because Christ IS preached, even with the wrong motivation, if the message is the true one. God can use His Word, even through an unworthy preacher – and remember, NONE of us is worthy in ourselves. But how we need to uphold those who do declare God’s Word to us in prayer, that God will keep them faithful and use them to His glory.

Tues 12th May Read Philippians 1:7-11

V7-8: He expresses his heartfelt love and longing for them, grounded in their shared experience of God’s grace, and this real gospel partnership – he is no different from them in Christ, and in His service – remains true in his imprisonment. He is in Caesar’s prison because of his goslel witness – and he is confident they still bear that witness, standing for the truth of the gospel. But note the depth of his love for them – he can call on God as witness to that love. Do we have, and show, that same love to one another in Christ?

V9: And he prays that they may continue to grow in their love, yes for one another and for Him, but surely for the Lord too. (Compare Ephesians 3 v17-19.) This love is not a “fuzzy warm feeling”. It is – as in Ephesians 3 – grounded in knowledge, true and growing knowledge of the Lord, and in spiritual discernment, given to us by the Holy Spirit Himself.

V10: This discernment enables them – and us – to approve the real truth of the gospel (nothing is more “excellent” than that. Yes, to approve it with our minds, to hold it and agree with it, but also to live by it, as God enables us. Only by His work in us, that ministry of the Spirit in making us more Christ-like as we walk in obedience, can we be ” pure and blameless” before Him when He comes again. Not by our own efforts,
but by His work in us – which, as v7, He will complete.

V11: The “fruit of righteousness ” is not our own righteousness, of course. We have none. It is Christ’s righteousness, given to us as He took our sin upon Him and made us “right with God”. (See 2 Corinthians 5:21.) How amazing, that this is not only to the praise of God, but to His glory – the glory He has set in the finished work of His Son, and our salvation!

Read John 17:24-26

V24: Jesus now speaks in His prayer of His desire for His people to be with Him in glory – not that we are to think this is in any doubt, it will be the fruit of His finished work. His prayer lays before the Father what He has already ordained, in faith. Does this mark our praying? His people will be with Him, to see Him as He truly is, and always has been – the eternal Son of God, the Lord of glory But how wonderful the words of the familiar hymn – “When I survey the wondrous cross, On which the PRINCE OF GLORY died!”

V25-26: The righteous and Holy Father is unknown to a world in rebellion against Him, and in rejection of His truth, but the Son who has (eternally) known the Father makes Him known to His redeemed people – remember, not just those first disciples, this prayer is now for ALL His people. – ” I will continue to make it known”. The prayer ends with the desire that all His people will be indwelt by God’s love, and by Jesus Himself. The work of the Holy Spirit is the only way this can be so, but He is given to every believer.

Read John 17:20-23

V20: Now the prayer reaches beyond these first disciples, to those who will believe through their witness and the gospel they preach. This speaks not just of that “second generation”, of course, but of the whole ongoing work of the gospel throughout the age. Of us, if we are believers today – Jesus was praying for US before He went to the cross for us.

V21: Again, a main emphasis on the oneness of love they should know and show to the world, the true unity Jesus means His people to have – like the oneness between Him and His Father – how awesome! This is to be a prime part of our witness to the world, ( John 13:35)

V22: As He has received glory from His Father, so He gives it to His people. He showed that glory in and through His own life of committed obedient service to God. So should we, and let it be seen in how we love one another.

V23: Again, the Oneness of Father and Son is to be the pattern for the unity of true believers, a key factor in the “different lives” we are to show the world. But let us realise, this is not “unity at any price” – it must be unity in the truth, that sanctifying truth of God’s Word spoken of in v17.

Read John 17:15-19

V15: Jesus does not ask the Father to remove them from the world and all its dangers, for they are to be His witnesses to that world, the means of bringing others to Him, as God is pleased to work through them – as are
we still today. His prayer is that God will keep them from the Devil’s snares.

V16: Now identified with Jesus, their Saviour and Lord, they no more belong to the world than He did. Do we realise this, as Christ’s people today, or have we grown too comfortable in the world at times?

V17: To be “sanctified” is first to be set apart/separated for God, and for His service, and secondly to be made progressively more like Jesus, as the Spirit works in us. The means of this sanctification is God’s Word – the word of truth. Those who receive it, believe and obey are being sanctified.

V18: The mission of Christ, now all but complete in His earthly life, is to be continued in and by His disciples -He sends them, as His Father sent Him. The word “apostle” which they would receive, means literally ” sent
one”.

V19: For these, His people, Jesus says He”consecrates Himself” – sets Himself apart for the redeeming work of His cross, in full obedience to the Father. Through His work in them, they too will be set apart for God’s service and in His truth.