This study on Phillipians over the past few weeks have taught us to love more, to be more joyful, to place our trust in God, to live as citizens our heaven, to be humble in our citizenship, to honour God and to develop a mindset like God’s.
This book has been very challenging and full of incredible wisdom. I hope that you have enjoyed studying it with us.

Looking into chapter four of Phillipians we find another great truth that will help us in our walk with God. Peace!

Phillipians 4:7
7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

It is the peace of God that will help us to guard our hearts. In other words God’s peace protects you. How? Verse eight gives us the answer:

8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable–if anything is excellent or praiseworthy–think about such things.

Peace comes from focusing on worthy, lovely, commendable and excellent things. Focusing on the things of God brings peace. We guard our hearts by focusing on Godly things which bring a peace to us.

Think about this a bit more. The reason peace protects us is because it “transcends understanding!” When we try to understand something we are trying to achieve something. We do it in our own strength. Peace in our hearts comes from trusting in God regardless of our understanding of current circumstances.

It’s easy to trust in God when you focus on Him. He is great, powerful, mighty, graceful, loving, peaceful, trustworthy, reliable, constant and merciful. When you focus on Him you begin to trust Him as He reveals Himself to you. Our need to understand is superseded by our love for Him and our trust in Him. Peace comes from a decision to trust God and not trust in ourselves.

Trusting in our own ability often brings anxiety and doubt. Trusting in God brings peace because He has proved Himself undoubtedly trustworthy.

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As we study Phillipians chapter three we can find three main point that show us how to live as citizens of heaven.

1. Be on your guard
2. Know your heritage
3. Move forward

Be on your guard
Verse to tells us to ‘watch out’ for people you do not honour God (vs 2). It is important to be aware of those people who live in such a way because it stops us from being caught up in their ways. We need to be constantly on our guard from any idea’s, concepts, ways of life and actions that do not honour God.

Know Your Heritage
To know God and what He has done for you will always put your heart right in every circumstance. To understand that your righteousness comes from God and not your works (vs 3-7) keeps us humble. God is able to use a humble person because they are more reliant on Him than themselves.
Knowing our heritage as a citizen of heaven gives us an better understanding of who we are, what we believe and how we should live. The only place that explains our heritage is the Word of God and this is why we need to spend quality time reading His word. In order that we may know our heritage in Christ Jesus.

Move Forward
Paul asks us to move forward continually. To press on toward the goal (vs 14). In our lives as Christians we should always be seeking and striving for more. More fellowship, more intimacy, more obedience, more understanding and more wisdom from Christ. We do this because we have seen Christ in our lives and we have chosen to live in for Him in His kingdom. According to His purpose.
As citizens of heaven we acknowledge God as our King. We are proud of our heritage in Christ and we stay on guard of those who come against our King.

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Are you dead or alive? Are you driven by Godly passion that leads to towards God’s will in your life? When last did your heart beat for the purpose of God?

Last week we looked at how Timothy had a heart for the Phillipian Church and as we read further we see Epaphroditus with the same attitude. These men are mentioned in this passage because they are examples of what Paul is talking about.
In Phillipains 2 vs 1-3 we see the encouragement of Paul saying:

“If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like‑minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.”

Paul says that if we feel anything for God then we should be like-minded, having the same love and be one in the same spirit and purpose. You see we need to focus on having the same mind as God so that in the future He is able to impress His will in our lives.

As you love God and are obedient to what you read in His word, you will become like minded, you will start to love others in the same way that God love others and you will start to have the same mindset as our Father. When you choose to love God first He will make your heart beat for His will and purpose. Just like Timothy and Epaphraditus had hearts that desired to be with the Phillipian church.

The desire on their hearts lead them to their purpose. Simply because the desire on their hearts was placed there by a perfect God who was in a loving relationship with them.

Is God calling you to something? If not, I encourage you to search through His word - not to find His will but rather to learn how to love Him. The rest will come in His time.

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Christian, God has a new name for you. You don’t know what it is yet, but this what
Revelation 2v17 says, that to those who overcome, God will give a white stone with a new
name written in it, that only you will know! The name Timothy means Honouring God, so do
you wonder what the name is that God will give you?
Today we are going to carry on through the next part of the book of Philippians 2v19→23,
and in this section we will get to meet a Christian whose name was Timothy. There isn’t
space here to discuss the life of Timothy, but if you want to learn about him have a look
here.
To remind ourselves of what is going on here, Paul is in prison and he is writing a letter
to his friends that live in Philippi. In this part of his letter Paul tells his friends
that he really wants to send Timothy to them so that he (Paul) can hear how they’re
keeping. What is really interesting is why Paul wants to specifically send Timothy, and
this is something we can lean about ourselves today.
Paul wants to send Timothy for one main reason; Timothy cares about them. Timothy really
cared about Paul’s friends in Philippi, and therefore Paul wanted to send him to them.
Timothy cared more about the Philippians than he cared about himself. Now for us today,
this whole idea of really caring more about another than we care about ourselves is a crazy
idea. Practically nowhere in modern culture will anyone understand that there is any
benefit in caring more about someone else above themselves. The only time that there is
anything nearly like this in modern culture is in the realm of family, but this is not
frequent.
So what about us, we are all part of God’s family, as Christians we have brothers and
sisters all over the world. Do we care for them more than we care for ourselves, do we
actually care for them at all? Take this opportunity to develop a Timothy (God honouring)
care for your brothers and sisters in the Lord, pray for them, take care of those that you
can. If you’re from South Africa have a look at this website else look here. Remember God has
a white stone with a new name on it for you, what will your name say about you?

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Politeuesthe!! Here is a greek word that we really need to understand. Paul is using it here to show the phillipian christians how to live their lives.
Our passage today is Phillipians 1: 27: 30

²⁷Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Then, whether I come and see you or only hear about you in my absence, I will know that you stand firm in one spirit, contending as one man for the faith of the gospel ²⁸without being frightened in any way by those who oppose you. This is a sign to them that they will be destroyed, but that you will be saved—and that by God. ²⁹For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for him, ³⁰since you are going through the same struggle you saw I had, and now hear that I still have.

This portion of scripture encourages us to walk in a way that is worthy of the gospel. You see Paul’s suffering for the gospel is for the sake of the gospel. To see the gospel working out in peoples lives. Even though Paul finds joy through his suffering, the purpose of suffering is to see Jesus Christ glorified. Therefore it is important to note that Paul’s encouragement in Phillipians chapter 1 is to live a life worthy of the gospel of Christ. In other words:

• To overflow with love (vs 9)
• To live pure and blameless lives (vs 10)

The encouragement is not to suffer but should this lifestyle bring suffering, then suffer in the knowledge that it is for the gospel of Christ – and this will bring you joy.

Politeuesthe means to behave as citizens worthy [of the gospel of Christ]. The keyword in this definition is ‘citizens’. A citizen is member of a town, a city, a nation and we are members of God’s kingdom.

A citizens lives by the law of the land, supports the land and it’s people and ultimately is united with the other citizens of the land to a common desire and purpose.

Our citizenship in Christ’s kingdom should lead us to live a life worthy of the gospel. A life that calls us to behave as citizens of a most holy, wonderful, glorious, mighty Lord of Lords and King of Kings.

Our citizenship approach that Paul asks of us here, would mean that we obey the law of Christ, live for the body of Christ and be focused on God’s plan rather than our own. That way we will experience joy as we see God’s plan work out and advance in the lives of people all over this world.

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Paul carries on in his letter to the Philippians and as we read through Philippians 1v19→26 we get an awesome sense of how Paul just totally trusted Jesus, He knew that everything would turn out exactly as it should. We can learn some awesome lessons about who God is, and how we should live in light of that, as we go through this section of Paul’s letter to his friends in Philippi.

Paul is sitting in prison as he is writing this letter, and yet he is rejoicing. The reason that Paul could rejoice was because he didn’t let his life be directed by the circumstance he found himself in, he let God direct his life. That is why as Paul was sitting in horrendous conditions he could rejoice! Paul’s greatest concern was not for himself, it was not for material things, it was not for anything except that Jesus would be honoured. Paul’s greatest desire in life was that God would use him, all of his life, to bring honour to Christ, Paul’s drive was to make Jesus famous.

Because of Paul’s motivation in his life, he could honestly say those famous words – For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. Paul’s earthly life was sold out to Jesus, and when he died, Paul knew that he would be with Jesus; so whether Paul lived or died, there was no loss for him! Imagine living your life like this, knowing that everything in your life is working towards the one thing that you are most passionate about, and that when you die, that passion will be ultimately fulfilled! Welcome to Christianity, this is what it is to be a Christian…

However, there should be a question bugging you; how can every single moment and aspect of your life bring glory to Jesus? The answer to that question is not found within you, rather it is found in God. God is sovereign, everything that God sets out to do, He will do. No person or thing can get in the way of what God sets His will to do. Acts 4v24→30 speaks about God’s sovereign plan in sending Jesus, even though the rulers of the day thought they were thwarting Jesus’ plan, they were in fact fulfilling it! Because God is sovereign, you can trust that, if you desire to live for Jesus, that God can use every moment of your life to make Jesus famous, even when you are mowing the lawn, or whatever you’re doing.

Therefore, we see that Paul trusted in the sovereignty of our awesome God, and that he knew that whatever his circumstance was that as long as he tried to live as God would have him to live that his life would be of eternal value. Christian, this is what God is calling you to today, that you would really trust Him, and fully surrender control of your life to God, that God will take every moment of every day of your life, and make it count towards the ultimate purpose, God’s glory! There is no other way you will find joy.

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Paul is in prison, things weren’t going well, he was living in the will of God, he was ministering for God, his heart was set on God, and he was in prison. Today as we carry on into Paul’s letter to the God worshipers in Philippi, we’re going to be looking at Philippains 1v12->18 and seeing Paul’s example of living in joy. In this passage we will look at two aspects of Paul’s reaction to what was happening around him and to him.

What happened to him…
Paul was in jail, and we would expect that he would be a little depressed because of the situation in which he finds himself. God has called him to preach the Gospel to the Gentiles, and now he is stuck here in a jail, how frustrating! But this isn’t how Paul reacts, in verse 12 we see that instead of expressing his frustration, he sees God’s sovereign hand in what has happened to him. Paul knows that God is sovereign, and that God had allowed Paul to be in the situation that he found himself, so Paul doesn’t spend energy and emotion questioning and advising God, rather he throws all of himself into making the most of the situation that he finds himself in. Paul speaks about Jesus to the palace guard and his fellow prisoners, and Paul hears that other Christians are becoming more and more bold in proclaiming the Gospel because of what happened to Paul.

What motivated him…
Even though there is all this good news in Paul’s situation, there is still some bad news, some people are telling other people about Jesus out of impure motives. Some people were preaching the truth about Jesus, but they were doing so to try and gain things (status, recognition, profit, etc) for themselves, and to try and hurt Paul. But how does Paul react to this news? Again, he does not throw himself a pity party, nor does he feel hard done by because it is just so unfair. No, rather Paul is deeply joy-filled at the situation because Jesus is being spoken about to people who didn’t know Jesus.
This is the secret to Paul’s joy, and this can be the secret to your joy too; Paul was more concerned about Jesus than he was about himself. Right there, that is how Paul could live in unshakable joy, how even when everything around him was falling apart, as long as he had Jesus, and Jesus was being made famous then Paul had true (not fake) joy. This can be you in your life, God wants you to be joyful, in what do you honestly find your joy, if it isn’t in Jesus then you will never ever have true joy.

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Our passage today is Titus 2. Here Paul tells Titus what teaching he should be giving to the members of the church. Verse one tells Titus to teach with a sound doctrine, a complete understanding of the scriptures that is not distorted by his own ideas but specifically focused on the Word of God.

• Lessons for older men – To have a controlling temper, worthy of respect, self controlled and to have a sound faith
• Lessons for older women – Live reverently, teach what is good, do not speak falsly against others, do not live addicted to alcohol, be self controlled, busy at home, kind and support your husbands.
• Lessons for young men – Be self controlled, be a good example, teach with integrity, soundness of speech and seriousness
• Lessons to slaves – Be subject to your master, try to please him and do not talk back to him and be trustworthy.

Whats important to see here is not the lessons that Titus is asked to teach. Rather lets look at why they should be taught.

1. So that no-one can malign the Word of God (vs 5)
2. So that those who oppose you may be ashamed because they have nothing bad to say (vs
3. So that the teaching about God is attractive (vs 10)

Two weeks ago we looked at living a life beyond reproach. We saw that we are all windows that people see God through. Chapter 2 of Titus echoes this same theme. Here we are asked to live a good life, free from sin and beyond reproach so that God is represented correctly to this world.

If all Christians were to lives lives beyond reproach then there would be no way to malign the Word of God and no way to oppose it. Most importantly God would be attractive to this world!!

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Read: 1 Corinthians 13: 1-3
Focus: 1 Corinthians 13: 3

Verse 3: “If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.”

God has gifted us with the ability to achieve many many great things. We can acquire wealth. We can show compassion on those in need. We can rally people up to give to a very meaningful cause. We can give our time, resources and energy to the church, or any other cause that may seem Godly.

The people around us may thank us and we may receive a lot of positive feedback because of what we have done but if we did it without the love that God instills in us – we have nothing.

We need to realise that the almighty God created us. He created us in His image. Surely that means that we can do pretty incredible things in our own strength. Bill Gates designed windows and subsequently became the richest man in the world earning millions a day. He did that on his own. Hitler raged a war on the Jewish nation that shocks the world even to this day. He did that on his own. Oprah Winfrey has become the most influential women in the world and she did that on her own.

People are beautiful creations and are capable of many great things. That’s how God created us! However, like we have seen in the previous verses, without love guiding our thoughts and actions, without love guiding us to obedience, without love moulding our success – we have nothing.

We can look at it another way as well. God created us in His image. Is it possible then that we are designed perfectly to carry the love of God? I believe we are, and I believe that our primary purpose is to display God’s love to the people around us. As we obey God in loving those around us, we love God in our obedience to Him.

You see, unless we are fulfilling the purpose we were created for, the purpose God created us for – we have achieved nothing in the eyes of our God. That’s because ‘love is our purpose.’ in Matthew this is commanded to us by Jesus as the Greatest Commandment (Matt 22: 36-38)

“”Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied: ” ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment.”

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READ: 1 Corinthians 13: 1-3
FOCUS: 1 Corinthians 13: 1

“Verse 1: If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal”

A man decides that he wants to marry the girl that he is currently dating. He surprises her with tickets to Cape Town for the weekend and they spend the Saturday driving around the garden route and stop for lunch at a quiet wine estate. That afternoon they are driving back the Cape Town and the gentleman surprises her once again with a Hot Air Balloon ride. She has always dreamed of this moment and now it is finally happening.

Up in the balloon with the Ocean on the one side, lapping the shore beneath them, and the Cape Winelands stretching out on the other side. He turns to her and recites a poem that he has been struggling to write for the last few months. The words are the most eloquent words she has ever heard, they touch her deep in her heart. She feels so much in love with the man before her. He asks her to marry him and she accepts.

Heres the hiccup:

Later on in life the man becomes complacent and his new wife starts to feel unloved because of his selfish behavior. As much as he says he loves her she will not feel loved. He can buy her all the presents in the world and she will not feel loved. What she needs is obedience… That man promised to love her, to care for her, to respect her, to build her up, to help her and to support her.
As he became complacent in their relationship he started spending more time at work, less time with his wife, more time with friends on the weekends and less time helping her around the house, more time in front of the TV and less time talking to her like they used to.

This man has become disobedient to the very promise that he made to his wife.

My wife once said to me when I told her I loved her that I don’t need to tell her, but rather my actions towards her would tell her that I love her. (This is why I love her so much!!)

How often do we proclaim our love to God. We sing “How Great is our God”, “I Love You Lord” and “Blessed be your name.” But it is our obedience to the laws in His Word that gives those words meaning, that brings those words to life in Gods eyes.

Our words and even the words of angels are a resounding gong. A loud harsh noise that only attracts the attention of those around us. If we want our words to mean something more than a ‘resounding gong’ to your heavenly father then we should make sure that our lives are obedient to His laws, to His ideals, to His will, so that He can see that we really mean the words we say to him.

ACTIONS SPEAK LOUDER THAN WORDS!!

1 John 5:3 gives us a litmus test of how our love for God is shown to God.

“This is love for God: to obey His commands. And His commands are not burdensome.”

Everything you do at church or at home in your attempt to show God that you love Him will only been seen as love if your heart is in such a place that you are not burdened by God’s commands. Rather you see the purpose of His commands and how they actually set you free.

Note: God’s commands are not designed to restrict us but rather to aid us in living fuller lives in Christ who saved us and the God who loves us

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