LESSON 24

Classroom Goals of this time together:
* here to see and meet and learn of Jesus; 
* to grow TOGETHER in our own personal lives/relationships with Jesus
* to grow in our daily day-to-day JOY IN Him
* to grow in our vision /understanding of Jesus as our SAVIOR and REDEEMER everyday in the midst of our lives in a pagan world

ROE: 
* all questions are encouraged all the time
* TO LOVE ONE ANOTHER THROUGHOUT OUR TIME TOGETHER, WHETHER WE AGREE OR NOT ON ISSUES OF VARIOUS THEOLOGICAL THOUGHT, WE MOST CERTAINLY MUST AGREE ON THIS: THAT WE HAVE BEEN BOUGHT BY THE PRECIOUS BLOOD OF A MOST LOVING SAVIOR AND BECAUSE OF THAT WE MUST LOVE EACH OTHER

SUMMARY:
1:1-11  Greetings and Gratitude
1:12-26  "Pauls Personal Circumstances: the Preaching of Christ"
1:27-2:30  "The Pattern of the Christian Life: The Humility of Christ"
1:27-2:4  The Exhortation to Humility
2:5-11  The Epitome of Humility 
2:12-18 The Exercise of Humility 
2:19-30  The Examples of Humility  Timothy and Epaphroditis
3:1-21  "The Hope of the Christian Life: The Knowledge of Christ"

We have been examining how Paul has been contrasting in this chapter what the HOPE of the Christian really is AS OPPOSED TO the false hopes that the world proposes;  
We discussed how ALL human efforts are characterized by ONE overriding principle: ALL their hopes are BASED ON VARIOUS APPLICATIONS OF PERSONAL WORKS;
Whereas Paul is presenting to the Philippians and to us a DIFFERENT IDEA:  He presented to the Philippian Christians ONLY JESUS AS THE SOLE WORTHY SOURCE OF HOPE FOR THEM (and US);


3:17-21  Here is the LAST contrast of hopes that Paul offered in this chapter; the previous two addressed a contrast between the real value of what Christ offers and the false hopes of those trying to trust in personal works in religious efforts; NOW the apostle presents a new and different group: people who have decided that trying to be "good" isn't much of a goal, and so they seem to have decided instead that they may as well "live it up"; they've decided to follow the advice from all those beer commercials  and "grab all the gusto they can"; they're going to do what ever they want and do what ever feels good to them; Their "hope" is in whatever they can grab RIGHT NOW that feels good and satisfies if even only for a moment; 
3:17  Paul begins this section with an appeal to his precious Philippians; To avoid any uncertainty as to just what he meant about living that Christ-life he had just finished expounding on in the previous verses, he says WHAT?? 
KJV "...be followers together OF me..." What did he mean by that?? Better trans of "followers" is "IMITATORS"; WHY HIM?? Why not of JESUS?? They had never really been able to "watch" Jesus day to day, BUT PAUL they had, and he knew they needed  a concrete example to refer to, to visualize for themselves; 
THEN he said: KJV "...mark them..."[READ THE REST OF THE KJV]; Whats he trying to say, to recommend?? "Examine the lives of those who really do love the Lord and demonstrate His living indwelling presence in their hearts"; 
THIS ADVICE IS STILL GOOD TODAY!! READ the lives of precious brothers and sisters who have gone on before us; READ those Godly biographies; YOU'LL BE SURPRIZED TO SEE HOW MUCH THEY HAVE TO SAY TO YOU RIGHT HERE AND NOW!!
Does Paul mean for them to just blindly mimic anything he does?? NO!!! [READ 1 CO 11:1] Paul clearly meant for them to be descerning in what they chose to "follow"; 

WHY was Paul calling them to FOCUS on HIM and others LIKE him; to scrutinize their lives??
3:18-19  Because apparantly there were those who were NOT following the example Paul and Co had set; They had decided to place their hopes for a satisfying and meaningful life in something ELSE; WHO are these people he describes in these vss?? 
What CHARACTERIZED THEM?? [HAVE THEM READ THE 2 VSS]
THESE WERE PEOPLE PROFESSING TO BE CHRISTIANS; 
WHY do I say that?? 
1st, Paul uses the same word of them "...who walk..." as he does of himself and other Christians; 
2nd, Paul seemed especially upset by their wicked behavior, SO upset that it made him weep; NOTE THIS!! PAUL WASN'T FILLED WITH ANGER AND BITTERNESS AT THEM; HE WAS BROKEN HEARTED OVER THEM!! [HAVE SOMEONE READ ACTS 20:29-31]
3rd, what they did seemed to reflect so badly on Christ that, he called them "enemies of the cross", a term he doesn't use of your basic pagan; 
3:19  What does this verse tell us about them??
"...whose end is destruction..."  ARE they saved?? The AMP interprets the word "destruction" as  "....they are doomed and their fate is eternal misery (perdition)..."; 
"...whose God is their belly..."
"...whose glory is in their shame..."
AND then the final SUMMARY: "...who mind earthly things..."; 
These people apparantly claiming to be Christians had decided that for them ANYTHING goes; Whatever ELSE they might be thinking about their eternal destiny, they CLEARLY had decided that for NOW what was IN and OF the world was ALL THAT MATTERED TO THEM; 
WELL?? ARE they saved?? I don't know!! I DO know that true Christians can get decieved, suckered and seduced by all that glitters or giggles; And so often it lead to the destruction of their world here on earth; 
And I ALSO know that there are LOTS of folks out there claiming to be something without even a CLUE as to what they're talking about! [RE: WHEN EVERYONE WAS CLAIMING TO BE "BORN AGAIN"] 
BUT THAT IS NOT FOR US TO DETERMINE!! 
FIRST WE must decide WHAT ABOUT OURSELVES??!! How easy it is to seek to fill our bellys!! to endulge our own fleshes desires; NOT just to immorality!! BUT to justify ALL our OTHER fleshes desires: our anger, our bitterness, our selfishness, our harshness, our hard heartedness and heartlessness; 
AND FURTHER! What are we to do, HOW are we to respond to those professing to be Christians but "...who mind earthly things..."??

3:20-21  Now here's the contrast with the above, starting with the Gr trans as "for" but even better trans as "however, to be sure..."; 
Paul refers back to those who "mind earthly things" in vs 19 in his reference to what the KJV trans the Gr as "conversation", but a better trans is in the NIV/NASV: "citizenship"; and where IS that "citizenship"?? 
It "...is in heaven..."; the gr word Paul chose to use for "is" is unusual; It has a backward look, as if to say "our citizenship exists NOW in heaven, having been established there of old"; 
As one put it: "we have our home in heaven, and here on earth we are a colony of heaven's citizens"; this would have had special meaning to these people who colonized this area of Philippi so far from Rome but were allowed to remain Roman citizens; 
BUT HOPEFULLY ALSO FOR US; How I want us to all develop an atitude that views all that we are and all that we do as if we were JUST PASSING THROUGH, not planning to settle down, because we know where our home is and there's nothing quite like home for us; SO that we remain tender and aware that we are ALL missionaries in a foreign and pagan land THAT SO DESPERATELY NEEDS TO HEAR ABOUT JESUS!!

"Saviour" is a VERY infrequently used term as a title for Jesus in Paul's writings ; It is only used here and in Ep 5:23; 2Ti 1:10; and Titus 1:4, 2:13, and 3:6; 
WHY?? 
Because it was common practice then to use this very same term in greek religions where pagan gods were hailed as "saviours" and in Caesar-worship which refered to the Emperor with this term; 
BUT PERHAPS THAT WAS WHY PAUL CHOSE THIS TERM THIS TIME; He was writing to a people acutely aware of the worlds "saviours" and he was contrasting for them the WORLDS "saviours" and the REAL AND ONLY TRUE SAVIOUR, JESUS; 
"we look" trans from Gr verb usually used to describe the hope which is set on many things in the future; this contrasts the destruction awaiting the above in vss18-19; The word further denotes a withdrawal of attention from inferior objects; 

3:21  Paul never misses a chance to expand on WHO Jesus IS and WHAT ONLY HE can do; And NOW Paul tells them what it is that we will recieve in exchange for the world's helpless "hope" in human indulgence; 
We will be "changed" (KJV); better trans "TRANSFORMED and fashioned anew" into conformity or to be like "the body of His glory"! that is, the body in which He now appears in His present glorified state; 
Paul used the gr word summorphon to describe this process of transformation; By this use he is saying: IT WON'T BE JUST AN EXTERNAL RESEMBLENCE; as one commentator puts it: "...the point of connection will be a sharing in the very NATURE of that exalted body, a partaking of its life and inherent qualities..."; 
KJV "...vile..." is a LOUSEY translation; MUCH better trans as "lowly" [NIV] or "humble state" [NAS] or even "humiliation" [AMP]; as one commentator put it: "Ours is a lowly body because it belongs to the state of humiliation caused through sin. It's characteristics are fraility...and weakness...which sin finds...so easy to command and use...But the body itself as God's creation is good (1Co5:13, 19-20). There is no disparagement of the human body as inherently evil...";