Philippians - Chapter 4 (Week 5)

This chapter has been very much on my mind as I have been working on memorizing verses 4 through 9... Thoughts by translation.

NRSV

Lots about joy here: verses 1, 4, and 10. Joy is fruit of the Spirit. If I'm missing joy, I'm missing out on part of my walk with God.

v. 13: "I can do all things through him who strengthens me."

It's not a vending machine verse - "I can do whatever I want, because Jesus will help me." Nope. It's a summary of verses 11-12. Paul has learned the secret of living through hardship, riches, full-pantry, hunger... that secret is dependence on Christ!

v. 17: "Not that I seek the gift, but I seek the profit that accumulates to your account." Wow. Giving blesses the giver maybe MORE than the recipient. I need to become more generous, not to receive the blessings, but there are side benefits. :-)

v. 19: "And my God will fully satisfy every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus." Paul can tell them this, because he's experience it himself.

NLT

v. 1: "Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stay true to the Lord."

Therefore... because the Lord will return soon and transform our bodies into one like his, using the power he has to put everything under control (3: 20-21). And furthermore, it's only right, because HE's been faithful to us.

v. 4-9: "Always be full of joy in the Lord. I say it again - rejoice! Let everyone see that you are considerate in all you do. Remember, the Lord is coming soon. Don't worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God's peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and your minds as you live in Christ Jesus. And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me - everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you."

v. 13-14: "For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength. Even so, you have done well to share will me in my present difficulty."

Two questions to self:

1)Have I shared with others in their present difficulty? hmm...

2)Have I allowed others to share with me in MY difficulty? yes.

Is there an imbalance here?

v. 19: "And this same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from his glorious riches..."

What ARE God's glorious riches? Well, he certainly owns all the wealth of the world - we are only stewards of it. But he has untold greater riches beyond this: all the powers of "magic" in the Universe and beyond are his. Do I EVER need to worry about anything with a God like this? I guess not!

The Message

"Stay on track, steady in God."

"God doesn't want his children holding grudges."

"Make it clear as you can to all you meet that you're on their side, working with them and not against them. Help them see that the Master is about to arrive. He could show up at any minute!"

This version really brings it home to me - I'm often working from my own sense of irritation in others not conforming to me. But my job is to be on THEIR side. And furthermore, the whole point is that we have an urgent message. Jesus is coming. Soon. Jesus wants them to be on his side, too.

"It's wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life."

I'd like that to be a permanent feature of my life.

"Our God and Father abounds in glory that just pours out into eternity."

Imagine glory that big - bigger than the Universe. Bigger than all the time that every has been and ever will be. It's inconceivable! And yet this incomprehensible, magnificent, astounding God invites us to know him personally and has shown us the most tender and beautiful of love. If I thought about that more frequently I might be a little kinder to the people around me.

NIV

v. 6: "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God."

What am I anxious about? ... When there is something I am to ask God about it - with thanksgiving! I have so much to be thankful for already, and sometimes I forget all the wonderful blessings he's given me in pursuit of that "one thing" which isn't mine. Note to self... God has been very good to me and answered so many prayers in unexpected and beautiful ways. We have a good God, and rather than grumbling and being anxious, I ought to every sing his praises!

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

If I am talking to God about my worries rather than worrying about them, and I realize that He is near, and I am coming to God with an attitude of thankfulness, I will experience God's peace. God's peace will guard my heart. Does it mean my heart will never be broken? Probably not... But maybe it means I'll have my heart set on the right things. God's peace will also guard my mind. Does it mean I'll never be confused or wrong about something? Surely that's not it. But maybe it means that when I'm seeking God, my knowledge and thoughts will be headed toward truth - toward Christ.

Philippians - Chapter 3 (Week 4)

Well, this is a bit late. Again three translations...

NRSV

We aren't to be confident in what we have done or what we have (v. 3-4). We don't get to get circumcised to be saved - we are the circumcision, because God has made us that - He has set us apart as holy for His purposes.

v. 8: "For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish in order that I may gain Christ."

Luke 14:33 "Any of your who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple."

Francois Fenelon: "They sacrifice themselves, but to what they love most. They suffer, but they want to suffer, and they prefer the suffering to every false joy."

FF: "Happy are they who give themselves to God! They are delivered from their passions, from the judgments of others, from their malice, from the tyranny of their sayings, from their cold and wretched mocking, from the misfortunes which the world distributes to wealth, from the unfaithfulness and inconstancy of friends, from the wiles and snares of the enemy, from our own weakness, from the misery and brevity of life, from the horrors of a profane death, from the cruel remorse attached to wicked pleasures, and in the end from the eternal condemnation of God."

FF: "Many people [...] only know what religion exacts without knowing what it offers, and they ignore the spirit of love which makes everything easy. They do not know that it leads to the highest perfection by a feeling of peace and love which sweetens all the struggle. Those who are wholly God's are always happy. They know by experience that the yoke of the Lord is 'easy and light,' that we find in him 'rest for the soul,' and that he comforts those who are weary and overburdened, as he himself has said."

v. 9: "...and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but one that comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God based on faith."

Faith=trust. If I have faith in my husband, I trust him. If I have faith in my doctor, I trust she knows what she's talking about and that she has my best interest at heart...

"...and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but one that comes from actually trusting Christ to be trustworthy, the righteousness from God based on a relationship of trust." (RMB version :)

v. 11: "I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death..."

1. I want to know Christ personally - to be related to him as a friend, a daughter, a sister, a pupil...
2. I want to know the power of his resurrection - to be resurrected myself when he returns, and to be made new daily by the power of his Spirit.
3. I want to share in his suffering as he did. I love him and want to experience everything just as he did - the good, the bad, and the ugly.
4. I want to become like him in his death - courageous, compassionate, obedient to the end. And his death was not his end - he was resurrected, and I too, want my death to be just a short interlude before my resurrection and participation at that Great Feast in the Kingdom.

v. 12: "I press on to make it [resurrection from the dead] my own, because Jesus Christ has made me his own."

v. 13: "...but this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead..."

Paul is not living in the past - he's not wallowing in his past mistakes or resting on his laurels. He has a goal for the future, and he's laboring away right now to make that possible. The goal?...

v. 14: "I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus."

We are not to remain the same when we meet Jesus but to draw ever closer to him, and to grow in our faith and trust.

v. 16: "Only hold fast to what we have attained."

Let's hang on to the progress we've made so far, not backsliding, so that we can venture ever further!

The Message

"The very credentials these people are waving around as something special, I'm tearing up and throwing out with the trash - along with everything else I used to take credit for ... Yes, all the things I once thought were so important are gone from my life."

Can I say this? Do I rely on my credentials rather than valuing Christ above all? Do I take credit for my own successes, or do I thank God for all of his blessings and the opportunities I've been given? Am I willing to give up the sources of my pride for Christ?

"I didn't want some inferior brand of righteousness that comes from keeping a list of rules when I could get the robust kind that comes from trusting Christ - God's righteousness."

God want my obedience - and for my puny mind he's created rule lists. But those lists aren't exactly what it's about - he wants my character to become as true, as honorable, as just, as pure, as lovely, as gracious, as excellent, and as praiseworthy as Christ's. But as long as I'm clothed in this mortal body, my understanding is stunted (I need those lists!) and my obedience is faltering. God offers me Christ's beautiful righteousness instead!

"There are many out there taking other paths, choosing other goals, and trying to get you to go along with them."

And it's so easy for me to be caught up in that. I need to measure every offer against the standard of Christ.

"But there's far more to life for us. We're citizens of high heaven! We're waiting for the arrival of the Savior, the Master, Jesus Christ, who will transform our earthly bodies into glorious bodies like his own. He'll make us beautiful and whole with the same powerful skill by which he is putting everything as it should be, under and around him."

It's sometimes easy to think that the people "out there" have all the fun, and "in here" we're all cloistered up and restricted. But we're not. Here are some words this passage uses to describe the life in Christ we're called to: far more, high heaven, glorious, beautiful, whole, everything as it should be. That's most definitely not boring or restrictive!

NLT

v.1: "Whatever happens my dear brothers, rejoice in the Lord."

Just like what he says again in 4:4: "Rejoice in the Lord always, again I will say rejoice!" When I've been reciting memory verses on my morning walk and Phil. 4:4 comes up, I'm jolted to a sense of needing a big attitude adjustment. I need to be thankful and look at all God has given me and all he's protected me from, and think of what a wonderful Person he is and how much I want to be like him.

v. 3: "For we who worship by the Spirit of God are the ones who are truly circumcised."

What does it mean to "worship by the Spirit of God"? At the very least, I understand that the Spirit knows better how to pray than I do, and He makes intercession for me...

...Paul has quite the spiritual pedigree. Mine's not nearly so impressive, and looks kinda shabby next to some others' - like even my husband's. But even then I find *reason* to be self-righteous:

• I don't worship at one of those feelings-over-substance churches like _____.
• I know the truth about XYZ in the Bible unlike _____.
• I followed God's laws and did LMNOP unlike ______.
• I know much more about God's principles for health and follow a much better lifestyle and diet than ______.

But my righteousness doesn't come from any of this. All my righteousness is Christ's righteousness, and any of my righteous acts are merely what's rubbed off from Jesus. I can't claim credit!

v. 9: "I no longer count on my own righteousness through obeying the law; rather, I become righteous through faith in Christ."

And there is an interesting paradox - the less I claim the law as my righteousness and accept God's instead, the more I am enabled to do what the law requires... by God's grace!

v. 18: "For I have told you often before, and I say it again with tears in my eyes, that there are many whose conduct shows they are really enemies of the cross of Christ."

Paul is not judgmental towards such people. He, instead, is brought to tears thinking of them. That is a real attitude of love - he want their best and is tender toward them.

v. 20: "And we are eagerly waiting for him to return as Savior."

Am I? This should be my greatest hope!