Philippians 1.3-11

After Friday's LONG post, let me try to bring some pieces together for you guys. There is tension in the church in Philippi. Division is occurring, as well as false teaching. Yet Paul needs this church to partner with him to advance his missionary work. The key for this church to partner with him is to get them to act as true kingdom citizens, to develop the humility that Jesus demonstrated, the humility of a slave. The outline of the book is as follows:

• The Past Partnership of Kingdom Citizens: 1.1-11 
• The Slavery of Kingdom Citizens: Philippians Introduction-1.2 
• The Philippians as Kingdom Citizens: Philippians 1.3-11 
• The Perspective of Kingdom Citizens: Philippians 1.12-30 
•  In chains advances? 1.12-14 
•  False motive preaching advances? 1.15-17 
•  Life or Death Advances? 1.18-26 
•  Suffering Advances? 1.27-30 
• The Examples of Kingdom Citizens: 2.1-30 
•  Jesus as Kingdom Citizen: Philippians 2.1-11 
•  Paul as Kingdom Citizen: Philippians 2.12-18 
•  Timothy and Epaphroditus as Kingdom Citizens: Philippians 2.19-30 
• The Characteristics of Kingdom Citizens 
•  The Definition of Kingdom Citizens: Philippians 3.1-11 
• The Resolution of Kingdom Citizens: Philippians 3.12-4.1 
•  Paul’s Resolution-3.12-14 
•  A Call to Maturity of Resolution-3.15-16 
•  Positive and Negative Examples of Resolution-3.17-19 
•  The Kingdom Citizenship mindset required for Resolution-3.20-21 
• The “Peace” of Kingdom Citizens: Philippians 4.2-9 
•  Peace with Unity-4.2-3 
•  Peace of Heart--4.4-7 
•  Peace of Mind--4.8-9 
• The Future Partnership of Kingdom Citizens: Philippians 4.10-23 

 The first thing that Paul does is reminds the church how the people in the church in Philippi used to partner with Him by being Kingdom citizens.

Look at what he says in his Greeting:

 3 I thank my God every time I remember you. 4 In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy 5 because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, 6 being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. 7 It is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my heart; for whether I am in chains or defending and confirming the gospel, all of you share in God’s grace with me. 8 God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus. 9 And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, 10 so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, 11 filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God. 

 What Paul emphasizes in thie passage is unity through self sacrifice. Count how many times that he uses the word, "all". It is used five times from verse 3-8. Paul wants them to understand that partnering for the mission of God requires unity in the church. We see Jesus emphasize this in his last prayer to God before he is arrested. Look at what he says:

 John 17.20-21 "My prayer is not for them alone, I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us so that they world may believe that you have sent me."

 Jesus believed that the unity of the church would validify whether or not the world would believe that the Father sent Jesus. This is HUGE!!! And Paul believes that this is a requirement for the Philippians partnering with him in ministry.

 Yet how do they do this? The answer is found in Paul's prayer in verses 9-11.

9 And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, 10 so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, 11 filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.

 The answer...LOVE!!! And not just feeling, but the word for loving someone in spite of what they have done to you. It is self-sacrificial love. This is the answer to unity of the church, for partnering as kingdom citizens. It is to love people the way Jesus did. Namely, by sacrificing himself for the good of others. This is the mark of what it looks like to be a part of God's kingdom. And this is the key for us in carrying out God's ministry here on earth. We are called to partner with all those before us and with us by loving self-sacrificially.

 So my prayer for you today is the same as Paul's... that your love may abound more and more.