Journey Through Philippians

Do you have a favorite book of the Bible? On our journey, we come to my favorite today. The Enjoying the Journey broadcast began with a study of Philippians. We have spent a lot of time in it. Let us begin our journey through Philippians.

Listen: Journeying through Philippians

Overview of Philippians

Philippians only has 104 verses, and is much more practical than some of the other books. Philippians is also deeply personal. It is one of the most personal things the Apostle Paul ever wrote. He loved the people at Philippi. You can read the story in the book of Acts of his coming to Philippi. It was there that Lydia, the seller of purple, got saved, and the church started meeting in her house. It was there that a demon-possessed girl was set free — the only recorded miracle of the Apostle Paul. 

Did you know that it was in that city that Paul and Silas sang hymns at midnight, gave praise and thanks to God, and a jailer got gloriously saved. He heard the message, “…Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved…” (Acts 16:31)

The church at Philippi was the fruit of Paul’s obedience to a vision he had when he saw a man saying, “…Come over into Macedonia, and help us.”  (Acts 16:9) I tell you, when you obey God, you never know what is going to come out of it. You never know what your obedience to God’s call on your life will produce. And so, the church at Philippi, I believe, was very dear to the Apostle Paul. Three times in four chapters, he calls them his beloved.

Background of Philippians

The book of Philippians was written about 30 years after Christ ascended, about ten years after Paul first preached the gospel in Philippi. By this time, they were fairly established. Paul begins his letter by addressing the bishops and the deacons who are there. It was an established congregation.

Paul is writing from a prison in Rome. He is going to have a message delivered to them. Now, think of this. Paul wrote this book, filled with glory, filled with gladness, from a prison cell. It is just a reminder that you can be happy in Jesus, no matter what your circumstances are. Amy Carmichael wrote: “There is always something to be happy about if we look for it: Two men looked through prison bars, The one saw mud, the other stars.” Which one are you looking at today?

Key Verse of Philippians

The key verse of the book is Philippians 4:4. It simply says, “Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice.” That word, alway is a sticking point at times. We are not alway rejoicing, are we? Somebody said, “Well, my circumstances are not always good.” That is not the point. It is not about your circumstances. You see, joy is actually different from happiness.

Theme of Philippians

The word ‘happy’ is rooted in happenstance, in chance, in circumstance. But joy is not rooted in that at all. Joy is rooted in Jesus. And that is the theme of the book, joy in Jesus Christ. The goal of this book is to teach believers that their lives should not be controlled by what is happening on the outside, but by what they have on the inside.

Graham Scroggie often spoke that happiness is like the calm beneath the surface of a rough sea. It is not according to the weather. The storm on the surface does not change it. No, it is the calm beneath that surface. Friend, joy is like the still water deep down. One of the great benefits of this letter is the encouragement it gives to believers, not just in Philippi then, but also in churches today. I go back to it again and again and again because I need encouragement. I long to be a rejoicing Christian today.

A Duty to Rejoice

G. Campbell Morgan, one of my favorite authors, commented on Philippians 4:4. He asks in a manner such as this:

“Is that a rule? I maintain that it is. Paul does not speak of joy as a privilege, but as a duty. It is our duty to rejoice. We ought to sing. We ought to be glad.” He goes on, “We owe it to our Lord to go through the streets of London on a foggy day with a smiling face. We ought to be the most cheerful people in the world.”

I want to say amen and amen to that. I have been in London on a foggy day, a misty day, a dreary day. But wherever in the world you are living today, and frankly, sometimes you can have a foggy day, when the sun is shining, you can have a dark day; emotionally, the clouds have rolled in, even though everything seems to be good around you, and on those days, this verse should be the keynote of your life.

“Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice.” God repeats Himself because you have to do this over and over and over again. I love this thought: that joy is not only a gift — and it is, it is the fruit of the Spirit — but it is also a choice. You see, it is a command, and God would not command you to do something that He did not give you the power to do. He wants you to be joyful. He wants His church to be joyful.

Choose Joy

Personally, I have found that many mornings I do not want to sing, and I do not want to be happy. I want to be grumpy, and I want to fuss, and I want to start with a negative. And it is at those moments that I most need to sing. I most need to choose to rejoice.

You see, so many people live by their emotions, and that is why they are on this roller coaster. They are in and out and on and off, up and down, hot and cold. They are riding the emotional roller coaster. Friends, if you let emotions run your life, they will ruin your life. And so, the book of Philippians tells us you have something beyond mere emotion. You have a will, and you should choose to rejoice in the Lord.

Let me tell you what I have discovered. Your emotions will catch up. That is right. They will catch up, and in time you will begin to feel again what you first had to “faith.” We must choose to rejoice in the Lord.

Key Words in Philippians

There are so many good words in this book. As a matter of fact, there are 65 words used in the book of Philippians that are not found in any of Paul’s other epistles.

That is fascinating. An interesting little fact, but one of the words that I believe stands out is the word joy or rejoice. Some form of it is used about 18 times. And there is another word that’s used repeatedly, given special prominence and emphasis, used nine times, and that is the word gospel. For example:

• In chapter one, you have the fellowship in the gospel, the confirmation of the gospel, the defense of the gospel, living the gospel, and the faith of the gospel.
• In chapter two, you see the service of the gospel.
• In chapter four, there is laboring in the gospel and spreading the gospel.

The Source of Joy

What does gospel mean? Gospel means good news. Remember this connection. Our joy is rooted in the good news of Jesus Christ. It is not rooted in what you hear on the national news. It is not rooted in what you listen to on your local news. Your joy is not to be found in the phone call you get today and the news from a friend. It may be good, or it may be bad, but friend, the news from Jesus is always good. The news from God is always news that God loves you, and God has His eye on you, and God holds you in the palm of His hand. Find your joy there. Find your joy in Jesus Christ.

As someone has suggested, the Christ-centered life is more vividly portrayed in the book of Philippians than anywhere else in the New Testament. I believe that’s true.

• In chapter one, Christ is the believer’s life.
• In chapter two, Christ is the believer’s mind.
• In chapter three, Christ is the believer’s goal.
• In chapter four, Christ is the believer’s strength.

Apart from Jesus Christ, there is no true joy.

Key Passage in Philippians

I want to end our journey through Philippians by drawing your attention to one of the most famous passages in the Bible. It is Philippians 2:7-11. It is the classic passage on Christ’s humiliation and Christ’s exaltation.

Christ “…made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

Graham Scroggie said that this portion of Scripture is as profound as anything written about Christ anywhere in the New Testament, and indeed it is. It is the mind of Christ. How can you be a rejoicing Christian today? Develop the mind of Christ. That does not mean that every thought you think is about God. It means that every thought you think is God’s thought. You see, God thinks differently about people and circumstances and even about you and your future than you do.

Pray today, “Lord, let me think like you. Let me think your thoughts after you.” And if you do that, you will have joy in Jesus.

*Click HERE to learn how to get a free audio book of Philippians.

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About Scott Pauley

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Related Broadcast: Taking a Trip to Philippi

Taking a Trip to Philippi