Monday, January 17, 2011

Philippians 3:1-11 Week 7 Questions

Philippians 3:1-11
Week 7 Questions

Read Philippians 3:1-11

1.   What factors under your control prevent your days from being joyful?




2.   What has Paul found that brings joy and what has he found that destroys joy?



3.   What would the old Paul have been like as a friend? (vv. 4-6)



4.   In verse 6 Paul speaks of legalistic “righteousness.” What legalisms are today’s Christians pressured to keep?



5.   What is the danger of legalism as far as knowing Christ and having joy?



6.   What are Paul’s goals in life?

7.   How are suffering and death involved in helping us know Christ? (v. 10).



8.   How has following Christ been costly for you?



9.   Philippians 3:7-11 seems to characterize Paul’s life and could be seen as his life purpose. If you were to sum up your life purpose, what would you say?



10.                 If you haven’t already done so, prayerfully consider adopting a life verse. Commit it to memory. Share with your small group.





Prayer Requests:

Philippians 2:12-30

Philippians 2:12-30

Review: Because verse 12 starts with the word therefore it is a reminder that we need to back up and see what Paul had been saying in the previous verses. When you see the word therefore you need to see what it is “there for?”
As you will remember he had been talking about the humility exhibited byChrist;

          ~Humility that allowed him to come to earth as a baby and grow to be a servant of so many;
~A servant willing to die a painful, humiliating death. 

Paul was asking that we would do nothing out of “selfish ambition” or “vain conceit, but “consider others as better than ourselves.

And because of the example that Christ set we are therefore (onto verse 12) to obey and continue to work out our salvation with “fear and trembling;” For it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.”

What does Paul mean when he says we are to work out our salvation?

Is salvation something that can be earned?

Ephesians 2:8, 9 says that “it is by grace you have been saved, through faith-and this not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s workmanship created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”

Once we have accepted the free gift of salvation, our work is just beginning.

We aren’t working for our salvation but we should then put our attention and effort towards doing the good works that God has prepared in advance for us to do.
Why with fear and trembling?
….fear and trembling?

Being human we can sometimes go to extremes, either we become legalistic and have so much fear that everything gets scrutinized and we are so much about performance we forget our love relationship with God

 or we go the other extreme and focus so much on our love relationship with God and our justification by faith that we take advantage of God’s forgiveness and mercy and allow ourselves too much freedom to sin.
I call this “easy grace.”
I see too much of this operating in this world of tolerance in which we live.

Sometimes I fear I am too quick to offer easy grace.

Not long ago someone came to me to confess a sin in her life. I was grateful that she did so but struggled with my response. I found that out of compassion to her I wanted to offer mercy and forgiveness.

But I was at war in my spirit. God is a merciful, loving and forgiving God. That is true.

But He is also a right living God who expects His children to obey His principals. He has given us guidelines that work.

Everyone just wants to forgive and forget and live and let live.

God has a right to expect us to take sin seriously.
~In our lives and in the lives of others; we fear this because we don’t want to be labeled judgmental and have been conditioned to believe that judgment is wrong. We have all heard; judge not, lest you be judged.

And yet in 1 Corinthians 5, Paul has this to say;
“It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that does not occur even among pagans: A man has his father’s wife. And you are proud! Shouldn’t you rather have been filled with grief and have put out of your fellowship the man who did this? Even though I am not physically present, I am with you in spirit. And I have already passed judgment on the one who did this, just as if I were present. When you are assembled in the name of our Lord Jesus and I am with you in spirit, and the power of our Lord Jesus is present, hand this man over to Satan, so that the sinful nature may be destroyed and his spirit saved on the day of the Lord. Down to verse 9: I have written you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people~not at all meaning people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy and the swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world. But now I am writing you that you must not associate with anyone who calls himself a brother but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or a slanderer, a drunkard or a swindler. With such a man do not even eat. What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? God will judge those outside. Expel the wicked man form among you.”




We are not to make judgments in regards to unbelievers.
They do not know Christ and therefore cannot be held to the same standards. We are called to judge believers within the church but this is regarding their actions, not their hearts. We cannot judge another’s heart or motives because we don’t have access to that. Only God can judge the heart. But this judgment is for repetitive sin.

This doesn’t really relate to the person that came and confessed to me because it was obvious she recognized her sin and was repenting of it. The reason I brought that up was because it raised a question within myself about where and how to land on the continuum of mercy/forgiveness vs. right living judgment.

We are to work out our salvation with fear and trembling not because we have to worry that we will lose our salvation. We need to have fear and trembling because we need to remember that we have a responsibility to obey Christ and do God’s will.
Our lives should be becoming more holy.
Jesus says in Matt 5:48: “Be perfect, therefore as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

Just as a child fears displeasing his father we need to fear displeasing God. One day we are going to be judged for everything we have done in this life. That should be a sobering thought.


The encouraging part of this thought is found in verse 13: “For it is God who works in you to will and to act according to His good purpose.”

Not only does God give us the work to do, He gives us the desire to do the work and the ability to accomplish it.

But what you need to know is this: you have free will. You have a choice, you can refuse to obey God’s will, you can continue in sin without repenting. But if you choose to accept his grace and obey Him, then He has promised to help you.

Admonition:
Do everything with complaining (grumbling) or arguing

Why? So that you may become blameless and pure and shine like the stars in the universe.

Our witness will not be tarnished. We can share the gospel, the good news of Jesus with no fear that our talk won’t match our walk.

This is not just “behavior modification.” This is from the heart. This is taking control of your thought life so that your thoughts are pure form grumbling so that the complaining never hits your mouth.

What are some common complaints?
Weather, work load, children, husband, health, fatigue, business, stress

Where does complaining come from?
Lack of gratitude, inability to see God’s hand in circumstances

What is the antidote for complaining?
Gratitude:
1 Thessalonians 5:16: “Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”

Philippians 4:8: “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.”


Vs. 17: We are to be glad and rejoice if we are poured out like a drink offering.
Paul is referring to the drink offering based in the Old Testament. It was an offering of wine that was prophetic as a symbol of Christ’s blood. Jesus gave his life as an offering so that we might live and we are to be willing to spend our lives as an offering to Him. Without complaint.

At this point in the letter Paul talks about the 2 men that are meeting his needs. They are Timothy and Epaphroditus. We learn here that the Philippian church sent Epaphroditus to Paul to take care of his needs but while there Epaphroditus became ill and almost died. Paul’s praise of Timothy comes through loud and clear. He says in verse 20:

“I have no one else like him, who takes a genuine interest in your welfare; For everyone looks out for his own interests, not those of Jesus Christ. But you know that Timothy has proved himself, because as a son with his father he has served with me in the work of the gospel.”





Everyone looks out for his own interests, not those of Jesus Christ.
What causes us to be self focused?
How can we become more kingdom/others focused?

In the concluding portion of this chapter we see Paul encouraging the Philippians to welcome Epaphroditus home with great joy and to honor men like him, because he almost died for the work of Christ. We also should be encouraged to care for those that are risking all for the gospel. Paul makes it a point to give honor to those who serve Jesus.


Questions:
Are you soft on sin?
Is your life reflecting holiness?
Are you looking for the work God has for you?
Do you grumble and complain?
Do you have a thankful spirit?
Does your life reflect Christ enough so that you have the reputation to share Him with others?

Application:
Commit to obedience.
Concentrate on the work He has for you.
Conscientiously follow His will.
Create a thanksgiving journal.
Commend those who serve.

Sunday, January 2, 2011

Next Bible Study Jan. 4th

Happy New Year!
It feels like a long time since we have been together! If you are confused as what we will be studying on Tuesday, join the club! The last time I taught was November 16th, can you believe that? We met again on Dec. 7th and had the pleasure of hearing Ann Hillyer speak. So.....this Tuesday we will be discussing Philippians 2:12-30. The questions are on the blog and they are titled Week 6. So feel free to review your notes and re-read the chapter. I know I have been. I am looking forward to seeing all of you and getting back into this book.
Cindy