Convinced of God's plan
Philippians 1:25-27 · JD McCulley · Mar 4, 2012
Philippians (2012), No. 09
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://www.hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/492634341697

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

Alright, so we're in Philippians 1.25-26. We've titled this lesson, Convinced of God's Plan. I hadn't thought much about that title. It actually works into verse 27 where Roger will be picking up next week. But I had this title given to me, and I think that it's a really good one. And I think that I'm pretty positive that we would all struggle at times to be convinced of God's plan. So this morning's verses should be quite appropriate given the nature of conviction.

So what I thought best today, I'm trying some different things. I mentioned last week we just ran right into the verses. We did no review. Other lessons I've done quite an extensive review. This morning I just want to read chapter 1 verses 1 all the way up to 26 and actually we'll stop at 24 and then I will read 25 and 26.

So if someone could volunteer to to use their radio voice for us and begin at Philippians 1 And just try to pay attention to the words that Paul is using and allow yourself, I'm not trying to be weird here, but allow yourself to get in the mind of Paul. Because we really want to focus in on what's going on this morning. You come in, you've got a nice day's drive, but we all have a commute and we've got plenty of things that can enter our minds as we drive. Let's see if we can't just let the Lord speak to us through His Word and really focus in on the book of Philippians here.

So someone might read verses 1-24 please. Paul and Timothy, bondservants of Christ Jesus, to all the saints in Christ Jesus, Lord and Philippi, including the overseers and deacons. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always offering prayer with joy in my every prayer for you all, in view of your participation in the gospel from the first day until now. For I am confident of this very thing, that he who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus. For it is only right for me to feel this way about you all, because I have you in my heart. Since both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel, you all are partakers of grace with me. For God is my witness, how I long for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus.

And thus I pray that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve the things that are excellent in order to be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ, having been filled with the fruit of righteousness which comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God. Now I want you to know, brethren, that my circumstances have turned out for the greater progress of the gospel, so that my imprisonment in the cause of Christ has become well known throughout the whole Praetorian Guard and to everyone else, and that most of the brethren, trusting in the Lord because of my imprisonment, have far more courage to speak the word of God without fear. Some, to be sure, are preaching Christ even from envy and strife, but some also from goodwill. The latter do it out of love, knowing that I am appointed for the defense of the gospel, and the former proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition rather than from pure motives, thinking to cause me distress and my imprisonment. What then? only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in this I rejoice.

Yes, and I will rejoice, for I know that this will turn out for my deliverance through your prayers and the provision of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, according to my earnest expectation and hope, that I will not be put to shame in anything, but that with all boldness, Christ will even now, as always, be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death.

For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain. But if I am to live on in the flesh, this will mean fruitful labor for me, and I do not know which to choose. But I am hard pressed from both directions, having the desire to depart and be with Christ, for that is very much better. Yet to remain on in the flesh is more necessary for your sake.

Great, thanks. And if you want to follow along with me up here, I'll just read these last three verses. Actually, I'll read 27, but that will be an introduction to next week. I ended up just focusing on the first two verses. So as Paul says that he is yet, in 24, yet to remain on in the flesh as more necessary for your sake, but convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all for your progress and joy in the faith, so that your proud confidence in me may abound in Christ Jesus through my coming to you again. Only, and this will deal with next week, only conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or remain absent, I will hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind, striving together for the faith of the gospel. It's going to be a fun verse. 25 and 26.

What are some of the things that we see, I mean we're just looking at one verse following what we're looking at today, but if you think of these two verses being sandwiched in the middle of two particular, several, well, what kinds of themes do you see these verses sandwiched between? We just read the first 24 verses. But here we see some concepts here. What do we see in verse 27? Gospel of Christ. Here he's talking about whether he's there or he's absent.

Standing firm in one spirit, striving together, faith, gospel. So what are some of the things that he talks about quite often through the first 24 verses? I see a pretty clear theme throughout this entire first chapter of it's all about the gospel and it's about these Philippian believers and how they're handling this gospel and how that relates to Paul all the way in Rome being chained to this Praetorian guard. But he's very concerned about how this church conducts themselves, whether he's there or not, and how they conduct themselves with regards to the gospel. I think it's pretty neat that in Paul's stress of situation, he is very, very concerned about the church's focus on the gospel and how, and next week you'll see, how they stand firm together in one spirit. This is really good church body stuff.

Striving together. And these are really, but what? Why would they want to be doing that? For the purposes of what? Why is unity so important? So just some observations we're doing together before we jump right into these verses. Why is unity so important to Paul? Unity with themselves?

In fact, we talked about fellowship as a theme to Philippians. Why is Paul's teaching of fellowship with himself and the Philippians, the Philippians amongst each other, and fellowship with Christ, so critical. What seems to be the outcome of that fellowship? A more solid gospel. So fellowship and unity in the body is not just for the sake of unity in the body.

Paul has in mind, you're standing firm, your unity is all for the purpose that your partnership with me is all for the purposes of getting a clear gospel out there and introducing those who don't know Christ to Christ. Paul has a very gospel mindset through this first chapter and it just kind of gleams in every single verse as you read it kind of in one setting like that. Let's look at 25 and 26 and see what he's thinking about here. Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all for your progress and joy in the faith. So we've got some conviction here. Convinced of God's plan is what we taught in this lesson. The word convinced, let's take a look at it. This particular word means to persuade. Paul is persuaded in his heart.

He's become settled on this. This isn't something that he hasn't mulled over. In fact, the tense of this particular word has a settled conviction from a result of past contemplations. In other words, I've been thinking about this and thinking about it. mulling it over in my mind, working it through, looking at every single angle, and I'm convinced. I'm settled. Completely settled and persuaded on this particular issue. Now, what is the issue?

What is he persuaded of? See, Paul had turned over in his mind the need which the Philippian saints had of his ministry. Is it pretty clear in this book that the Philippians needed Paul? He says it. He says it quite often. They need it for several reasons. In fact, these verses have to do with that. But Paul is sure. I mean, here we are 10 years later, 800 miles away. I know I've said that a lot, but I'm trying to put context into the letter itself. He's positive that these Philippians still need Paul's ministry.

Why do you think they needed it? I mean, what are some of the reasons, given the timing of Paul's ministry and so forth? Why do you think they needed him so much? So the verses tell us in some cases, but just kind of allow your mind to think contextually. Why would they need him so bad at this particular point in time? We know it has to do with the gospel. Do you think that the early church being developed was a pretty big part of why Paul's relationship, even though he's far away, why would he write this letter to encourage them in these ways about these things? What is it that they needed so bad? You would think so because this being so new, there's probably a lot of old ideas that needed to be corrected. Yeah.

I mean, the Gospel that we preach and teach in this church, is it new? How old is it, roughly? And how old was it for them? We're talking 60's Philippians. Christ's death, burial, and resurrection happened some 30 odd years before. Does that sound about right? So they're dealing with a 30 year old message.

Paul wanted to make sure, and his ministry was actually to make sure, that these these folks, these Philippians, had a clear understanding of the Gospel message. What was Paul's ministry? Just a bigger picture. To bring the good news to the Gentiles, basically. That's right.

And whether he was working with the Jews or whether he was working with the Greeks, He wanted to make sure that their context and understanding of the gospel was clear, because at some point, there's going to be the next generation that we don't read in the scripture a lot about, but these are the next generations of people that would have preserved a clear gospel message and also preserved this very letter.

I mean, these guys would have had to preserve this letter and make sure that it was available to us. So there's some interesting things that are going on here, but But Paul, even more than just being concerned about the clear presentation of the gospel, He was wrestling, as we looked at last week, whether it was better for him to stay or better for him to be with Christ face to face. And I've mulled over and I'm convinced of some of the things that we talked about last week with regards to life and death and the comparison of those two with what Donna said is that, yes, death means separation, but separation to what were we looking at? What was it that Paul would be separated unto?

That's right. So that's why it was a really good choice and an even better one. And we looked at life and death, and death in our minds tends to carry a negative perspective. But I like what we discussed last week. It's really life and greater life that Paul was hard-pressed to decide between. But, between that hard-pressed decision, at some point, he came to a conviction about which was better.

He had come to a conviction about that. And what was this? It says that he is convinced of this. And that's what the text reads. I'm convinced of this very thing. And what is that thing? Convinced of this I know that I will remain. And in this particular use of the word this, he's referring to something that he already mentioned.

And what does Philippians 1.24 say? So to abide in the flesh is more needful. He needs to stay in his body for the sake of these saints. He's convinced of it. How do you think he came to that conviction? It was his whole ministry and Christ working through him there. He saw that there were results and he was encouraged by that. It's encouraged believers. God was working out his plan and purpose in the Philippian church there.

I think it's interesting here because if I put myself in Paul's shoes, I'm not an apostle, I don't hear directly from God in the same way that Paul did. And a lot of times when you think about, and you all would have great teachers in your mind that left early, that departed to be with Christ early, not because they made that choice, but because they were hard pressed, obviously, to stay and continue to minister with you, but yet the Lord took them a little bit earlier than you might have liked. I know of certain teachers in the faith that, you know, they had heart problems in their fifties and they left, but they had such an amazing ministry, and you think, well, Lord, why couldn't they have stayed and continued to minister? They could have had 30 more years. Could a person in that setting be convinced like Paul was convinced? You think? I don't think so, and here's the reason why. Paul's an apostle.

He's writing the Word of God and he knows what needs to get done. He has a direct line of communication with the Lord that is so matter-of-fact that he can write it down and be sure. Because this means that he is 100% settled that he's going to be here at least for a little bit longer. So he had some way of being convicted that is a little bit different than our not quite sure if we're going to be here tomorrow or not. Do you see what I'm saying?

He was building the early church, and he had a conviction that he was supposed to stay, and that conviction was deep-seated and decisive. Just some thoughts there, in that we can be convinced that it is good for us to minister, and it is good for us to be with Christ, but we can't be sure in the same way that Paul is sure here, I don't think. Any thoughts about that? Paul knew specifically what his job was and how long it was to last, at least with regards to the Philippians.

So he had some future knowledge that was made available to him that allowed him to be settled on the fact that I want to go be with Christ, but I'm convinced that God is going to have me right here doing this very thing, to remain in this body, in this flesh, to do this job. I'm not going anywhere, so it's okay. Now, why do I need to remain? Question? Well, we just keep thinking of all in Christ together out there in the wilderness and what transpired there, what was actually told to him exactly, you know, this is what I want you to do.

Maybe that part of it. There's something really neat about Paul's conviction here and about his decision to communicate that to the Philippians because they basically, with this letter, ensured that they were going to get future ministry, at least from the remainder of the letter and whatever else ministry that he had, possibly through Epaphrodites and so forth.

That's pretty cool that they know, OK, we're going to get some more from Paul here. You know, even if it's not directly from him, it's going to trickle back down to us. And we're not, 30 years into this message, we're not going to be left yet. And he knows this.

But I think it is interesting that we, I don't think that we can say quite the same thing, but I think that we can still have the same attitude here. To be in a situation where we choose between staying and ministering to those that God has put in our life versus being in fullness of life, what we would call in Christ, our position or our condition unite, hard-pressed decision, we can still rest in the fact that Well, until I'm no longer here, I know where I need to be and what I need to be doing. But I can't tell everybody how long it's going to last. Paul at least foreshadowed that he would be there for some time.

Yet to remain on the flesh is more necessary for your sake. Again, we talked about that. Why would it be so necessary for their sake? He talks about that a little bit here. But Paul anticipates the continuing of his ministry for the Philippians good. He says, convinced of this, and we just talked about what the this means. He says, I know. He knows.

Let's look at that word. I got this particular slide from Vern's previous lesson that he taught. And you can read the title, Not All Knows Are Created Equal. What do you think he had a big picture of in there? A nose. I was like, I'm not going to put that. I'm going to tell that story. I took it out, and Vern left it. Not all noes are created equal.

That's his way. But the point that he's making here is exactly the case. Paul uses the word no a lot in Philippians. Just some of the little clips of verses in that way, every time it's in green, it's the same word. Every time it's just in the standard text there, it's not. Oops, I got another one there.

So the word in green is the one that we're looking at here, and the word gnosko, which is not what we're looking at, are the other uses of the word gno. So it uses two different Greek words for the word gno. What we want to figure out is... And Roger, how would you pronounce that word up there? Oida. Oida. That's how I'd pronounce it. That's how I would have said it. Oida. So, Oida is the, and I'm still looking for Greek pronunciation tool.

You know, if you learn it, but the thing is, even when you have Greek, it's hard. They still pronounce them different. It's a dead language in pronouncing it. Yeah, you can't hear it. So, anyway, if anybody knows a tool where you can hear Greek pronounce, you can put the word in.

Well, actually, the one some of the aides have up Word search has it, but it's the strong's talking concordance. Strong's talking concordance. Very cool. Alright. So we'll bring him into class next time. I like studying, I just don't like speaking it. Especially from the rap that Vern gave Texans in Greek. I learned Greek from Texans. Agape. So that's the word we're looking at here in verse 25.

I Oida that I will remain. I know. So what's the difference? So we've got two different definitions here. I kept it simple. Oida, in Greek, means to know by perception. The verb here is perfect, active, indicative, which tells us that Paul perceived this truth in the past and that his perception continues to have an impact into the future. Interestingly, the word gnosko means to know very thoroughly. So, just looking at, let's go back to that verse. Gewiss of this I know through perception. A little difference than knowing something thoroughly, he knows it through perception.

What do you think about that? It seems a weaker no, but... It seems a weaker no? I mean, maybe not, but I'm saying... Oh, I actually thought that too. He chose to use this word a little differently. I know through perception. How do you think he perceived this? Vivian, talking with the Lord, kind of said, That's kind of what I want you to do and a few reasons that he should be there longer. I think that's a good point. And I just thought of this, so if it becomes heretical, stop me. Really, I'm serious.

Gnosis is used of knowledge, that kind of knowledge that you can you can settle on, you can build your house on, you can be firm, foundation, set upon, and you can teach it, and you can continue to teach it over and over, right? Knowledge, gnosis, it's the word for that deep-seated conviction of something, of a truth. And here he's saying that he perceived this, and he knows it, and it's a knowledge of perception, but it's not the knowledge that you build a doctrine on top of, it's a personal knowledge that he had before the Lord. In Zodiatus, he says here, to perceive with the outward senses, particularly with physical sight.

So, what do you think of that? Well, I would ask you what you think of that. Isn't that Bob's approach? Whenever he gets a pet, he's just like, what do you think? Ingrid? That might be based on experience. Going back to verses 13 and 14, just a couple of things that he has seen. the benefits of him being alive, or it talks about in verse 13, as a result, it has become clear throughout the whole palace guard and to everyone else that I am the chains for Christ. So his being there has, you know, the gospel has spread through the palace guard and everybody that is in contact with them. And then also verse 14, because of my chains, most of the brothers in the Lord had been encouraged to speak the word of God more courageously and fearlessly. So he can see not just the palace guard, but all the brothers in the Lord had been encouraged too.

I think that's a really good observation. What do you guys think? He could see and observe in perception a knowledge of him staying because he sees the good of what's happening even in the Roman Praetorian. And the Philippians could have even perceived it to some degree too. And so it could have been a knowledge through perception. Even physical sight. in that way.

Yeah, I think that's really good. I think as a group we delved into that word a little deeper than I had anticipated, but I think it's a more clear observation. Both with the idea of having a sense, this is a sense knowledge, and then having that past experience of Paul having seen these things take place in his surroundings. Thought? Well, and this is another thought too. Oida seems more outward where the Gnosko seems more inward? I think so. I think those are some good initial observations of it. We could obviously get delved deeper into that.

I think Oido many times focuses on the facts, and kind of back to what Ingrid kind of pointed out in those verses, that looking at the facts of the situation, you deduct from that fact A, fact B, fact C equals God is working here and he's doing his work and therefore I can be confident of that. I think it's something called factual knowledge. And is it knowledge that can be, and we're just delving into this obviously, but is that knowledge, are those facts able to be perceived by humans? Because sometimes knowledge is given directly from God of which we can't perceive, we can't look at, we can't analyze, we can't put in a logical set of premises, premise, premise equals argument.

You have to get rid of the context. Yeah, I think of the context. Vine, in Vine's thing, he has a comparison between Gnosko and Oida, It's hard. Sometimes they seem very similar, but sometimes they seem very different. And that seems like, well, how do I figure this out? Context really is important. I've included some verses here that I think as you kind of explore the difference between those two, you can at least compare them.

And obviously, we're going to hit this again. So I don't think we have to slay the dragon necessarily today. I'll let Roger do that after he goes home. Thank you. Or Bob, or whoever. But we're going to hit it again in 2.22 and again and again and again. So this difference, we can grow. This will be a foundational discussion for it. We can kind of grow on this discussion and know. It's been introduced a little bit before, but I thought it'd be good to pull it out because Paul definitely repeats it over and over.

Okay, so those are the two differences there, at least to start the definition of that word, oida. He says, convinced of this, I know that I will remain. So, this is a real difficult word to understand. In fact, some of these are a little bit more obvious than you. don't require a whole lot of delving into, but remain, abide, stay.

It's a future active indicative, so Paul actually sees himself and his mind staying on into the future, not just tentatively for now. That's the tense of that, has that future active remaining. So he's going to, I'm going to be here for a while. And I know that what's happened in the past by way of the gospel going out, that those same types of activities are going to continue. And that it is good for you that that continues to happen and that I'm remaining in that. In context, this has the meaning that Paul sees his need to remain on earth in order to continue ministry, most particularly with the saints at Philippi.

Any thoughts on remain? Probably not. Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you, all for your progress. What do you think that means, progress? Progress in what? In the gospel? I thought it was growth. Knowing Christ. The word means furtherance. So taking what they have and his conviction of remaining will be a part of their furtherance of something. Their progress, their growth. All those words are there.

But I do think that it would specifically have to do with the gospel. But would it be limited to that? I don't think so. I included a final statement there that expanded what would potentially be included in the furtherance there, but referring to the pioneer advance of the gospel there, remember 30 years old here, some odd 30, some odd years, to the Christian progress which the Philippians would make under the ministry of the apostle, a progress in new paths of Christian conduct and service which would otherwise not be possible.

So I do think that it has to do with their conduct, how they can conduct themselves. In fact, verse 27 talks about how they do that, how they as a body will conduct themselves, and how Paul asks for them to stand firm and stick together. And so he does have in mind that they, as a body, and it's interesting, he's not pinpointing a person here, he's pinpointing a body. That's one of the things I really like about Philippians is that it's a letter written to us together and how we're going to do what we're going to do, not how you're going to go out there and get in your car and live your Christian life individually.

Although there's plenty of those letters in the New Testament, this particular book has to do with us and our game plan and how what the Philippians were experiencing, while not completely applicable to today, there are a lot of applications in how we How we continue the furtherance of the gospel even some two thousand thirty years later, whatever. My math is fuzzy I'm not an engineer I'm a feelings guy.

Oh, no. I feel like it should be about two thousand something All right I have to get corrected Remember Oida So here's what I've done with Philippians 1.25 using Weeks Expanded.

So to kind of draw it out a little bit. And having come to this subtle conviction, namely that to remain in the flesh is more needful for you, I know that I shall remain and continue alive with all of you for your progress and joy in your faith. Now, we didn't touch on this, but I thought, why don't we do that? I think I'm doing okay on time. Progress with joy and faith. So he talks about progress and joy in your faith.

So is this something that Paul considered something that was just going to be difficult to the point of depression, you know. You might think that it would be that way considering what they were up against. I mean, the Roman world was a pretty intense place to be. Philippi was pretty intense. Well, I would think that they obviously were very encouraged that Paul, in prison, could impact the Roman cohort, the Praetorian Guard, which I guess were the elite of the elite, and things happened. I mean, that's got to be kind of, whoa, we do have a God that does miraculous things. It's sort of like if all of a sudden in the White House people were getting saved. For those listening on the internet, that was Roger. I think that's a good analogy. That's a good analogy.

It is interesting that not only did Paul have his conviction of staying and remaining in the flesh to the benefit of their progress in the gospel and conduct and so forth, but also the joy of their faith. When we've talked about faith, we've talked about it being both personal and being the faith, and I was told that Hal's study on faith covers the differences, and so that would be a good place to go to further identify. In this case, he's talking about your faith. And so it gets, it's obvious he's talking to the Philippians and he's saying the Philippians faith, your faith.

But there's a joy in their decisions. That's what's neat. I mean faith is a decision, right? Trust, believe, those would be synonyms. So joy in your trust, joy in your belief. He has that factor in mind, and I'm not going into those words in great depth today by any stretch, but I think it's neat that he kind of caps that verse off that way. But there's a reason that he continues on, not only for progress and joy in your faith, but he moves on in verse 26, So that your proud confidence in me may abound in Christ Jesus through my coming to you again. Okay, so that's where we're going to finish out today. What's up with this proud confidence thing? Is it okay to be proud and confident in something? What do you think, before I define it?

Oh, you're all looking at the handouts. I didn't give handouts for these reasons. I always wanted to have the ability to surprise people. And then you've got these study Bibles. Proud confidence. What are the two different ways we could potentially take that? Just by observation. You could take it negatively. You could say he's boastful. which is contrary to what's gone before. Okay. And the other way is this. Okay, so let's compare. And hold on to that word boastful. I like that that came up. So, proud confidence, rejoicing, delighted, expressions of support, glorying in Christ.

I have a hard time saying that word. Do you know that I came up with the word once? I got confused and I came up with the word gloriful. in a Bible study, and I was like, you know what, I'll never forget that. That just impacts me in a huge way. This was a gloriful experience. People looked at me, and I can make up words.

Somebody has to do it. So in this case, we're talking about not a fleshly bragging, the kind that would be a fleshly boasting, or bragging. It's not hollow, it's not something that's coming for the purposes of satisfying some self-interest here. Paul's not talking about it in that way, but rather joyful expression of support consistent with the active participation Paul had seen in the saints in Philippi since the very beginning of the days he had with them. So how about we say that a little bit better, maybe, given that we can expand this proud confidence to saying a rejoicing and a delighted expression? I think there are some other verses throughout the scripture that have to do with boasting and use the same word, even, that Paul uses here.

In 2.16, he talks about that kind of thing.

1 Thessalonians 2.19, and also in 2 Corinthians, they all make reference to Paul boasting about those being saved and growing through his ministry. Remember, Paul's an apostle, and he is sharing a message that's new, and his responsibility is to get this message out. And so he is confidently communicating what God is doing in the lives of those that have heard this gospel.

And yeah, it's a direct result of my ministry. Not because I... I mean, I was a rabbi. I was the worst of worst, he says. But because Christ did what he did in me, he made this ministry effective. And it's having fruit. And I can boast in that. There's nothing wrong with that. That's what God gave me to do. This is my job. This is exactly what he said to do. And now there's fruit coming out of it. And you're part of it. And I'm part of it.

And that's something to be excited about and bring glory to the Lord for. And he talks about boasting as well throughout the scripture. He even seemed to have no problem with the churches boasting in him. 2 Corinthians 1.14 and Philippians 1.26, what we're looking at. There's no reason that the Philippians could not have pride in a biblical sense or a boastful thinking about what God was doing to save people through the message of the gospel in their ministry. Mine reads that your rejoicing may be more abundant in Christ Jesus for me. And what version is that? This is the New King James. Does anybody have English ESV here? I really like that one too. But read that one again. I think that one works well.

It says that your rejoicing may be more abundant in Christ Jesus for me. And what's good to know here is that you can translate it that way, and it's a really good and consistent translation for the context of this verse, but that same word is used for boasting. So it's good to know. I didn't want to avoid the fact that there's a contrast between the negative understanding of that and the positive. So I left this translation from the New American Standard in here. But I actually like the way the New King James and the ESV translate it better just for that verse.

But in other instances, the boasting is pretty critical to understand it that way. Because that boasting brings direct attention to the Lord Jesus. And there is a biblical boasting that Paul has. Galatians 6.14 uses the exact same word, but may it never be that I would boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ through which the world has been crucified to me and I to the world. That's the same word. And you translated in New King James, there is a rejoicing, abundant rejoicing. But here he's saying, I wouldn't boast in myself, I wouldn't boast, I'm sorry, but may it never be that I would boast except. And so Paul's saying, I'll boast. Don't get me wrong, I'll do it, but I'll always be doing it for the direct attention of the Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me and I to the world. He boasts in his position in Christ. It's not negative. What it does is it says, hey, here's what's happened. I'm pointing the attention right where it belongs, right to Christ. But it happened to me. It's real. And it brings about a certain confidence that comes from that.

And the church had confidence in Paul in that same way in Philippians. But this, even in verse 3, 3, chapter 3 of Philippians, verse 3, he uses this word again. For we are the true circumcision who worship in the Spirit of God and glory, here are the words translated glory, in Christ Jesus. So whether it's boasting or glorying or rejoicing, where's the attention always being pointed to? That's right. In Christ Jesus. And I put no confidence in the flesh.

In fact, Philippians 3.3 is going to really help us clarify this boasting concept. It's always to Christ Jesus and he puts no confidence in his flesh. So whatever has happened and is worth being boasted about has nothing to do with me, in my flesh.

It's Christ doing the living through me. And I think that comes out in the remainder of this verse. So that your pride or your rejoicing abundantly in Christ Jesus may be more abundant. So let's look at this word abound or the idea of abundance, this rejoicing or this boasting. He's talking about a super abundance, more than enough. I think about that and it's like wow. Try to figure out how you do that. How I take to heart some of these things and rejoicing abundantly. not only in my heart, but also in my words with others, and in this case, in the presence of unbelievers.

I oftentimes try to be so careful about what I say in terms of being around unbelievers. I've used the term Christianese before. We have a real church-anity Christianese that we use. And sometimes it comes out a lot in the presence of other believers.

But I can tell you, I personally have sat in the presence of folks that have honestly been excited about things and used a lot of words. So blessed and so, you know, so thrilled and so touched and and I'm you know I'm not saying that those words aren't meaningful and they don't have their place But there seems to be a charisma in rejoicing in the Lord. It's almost like look how well I can explain my relationship with God listen to how I prolific I can be with these words that are really unique to our church. That's not what's going on here. But I can contrast that because I've spent enough time with people to a boasting that is almost a humility of words. And a lot of times the boasting in Christ includes a lack of confidence in self.

And those are the kinds of expressions I think in Philippians 3.3 we have a clear picture of. It's more of, not I, but Christ. And it includes that kind of understanding. And definitely for those that have no idea who Christ is, they would be quite taken with the conundrum of, not you, but Christ? What are you talking about? Well, what if I came and said, Oh, the Lord is amazing. He's just wonderful. He has blessed me beyond measure. I can't. And they're like, oh yeah, whatever. But coming at it from the perspective of, I don't put any confidence in my flesh.

Anything that happens that is giving God glory is God's doing in my life. And even if you said it in such a tone, in a humility in that way, that's a boasting in what Christ is doing and not what you're doing. And just to compare those, because I don't think we have a lot of that going on around us necessarily in this church, but being boastful has nothing to do with your prolific exasperation of spirituality with Christ. It has to do with making clear, not I but Christ. And even being able to do it in simplicity of terms like Paul did in chapter 3, verse 3.

Thoughts? The thing is, is this word has the idea of overflowing. And I don't think it's overflowing in the sense of charisma. It's overflowing in the sense of, I am convicted, I am subtle in the truth. In fact, that's the word, no confidence in the flesh. My full and complete confidence is in Christ. And that kind of boasting or rejoicing or glorifying God comes out in an abundant, overflowing way. I hadn't planned on comparing charismatic, and I'm not speaking specifically of the flavor of Christianity, but I'm just talking about charismatic discussions of Christ versus true, heartfelt, humble, positional, conditional understanding.

And that just came out as I've been teaching here this morning. But I can tell the difference between when people are convinced of what they're saying and then they're just kind of caught up in a verbiage. And Paul had it down. I mean, he understood it. And he uses this term in Christ Jesus.

You know, the term in Christ is a pretty big part of what we communicate in this church, isn't it? It should be in every body of believers because this is the good news for those of us that live in the church age, is that we can be, what? What is this? What does in Christ have to do with here? Position, condition, both? Yeah.

Our position and our identity are entirely within Christ Jesus. We'll have plenty of time to exhaust this concept and we do in all the different electives at this church, but it's Paul's and it's the Lord's intent that the believers, glorying and rejoicing, are entirely within Christ Jesus. That's where this boasting or this giving glory or this rejoicing all takes place in the position of Christ. So I don't think of it as I'm giving glory to Christ up there seated in the heavenlies, you know, and I'm down here. That's not the picture, is it? But that's how you would read it if you didn't understand other verses of Paul.

Where are we seated? It's almost like a silent, not silent, but it's almost like an intimate, it should be intimate, it's an intimate conversation you're having with Christ as you glorify Him, as you boast in Him, because you're in Him and He is living His life through you. God, I give you glory up there. I hope you can hear my clapping. It's not like that. It's a quiet conversation often. And even when it becomes public, it's still It should come from an intimate place with Christ that you're boasting out of.

Not, this is what Christ did for me way back then, and da da da. It's, yes, the history is there. You have all of Christ's history to boast about, but you have a present position in Him too. I think it's really key for us to grasp in this verse. So that your proud confidence in me may abound in Christ Jesus through my coming to you again.

Okay, the word coming here, just real quick, not a big factor in this verse, but it's used in a sense of a special coming, not just a casual arrival, but to be beside or alongside. So it was something to be looked forward to. And Paul was using that word to make sure they would look forward to his arrival there.

This word, in some context, refers to the Lord's coming, such as Matthew 24.3, but that's not what Paul's meaning is here. This has to do with Paul's coming to the Philippians.

So let's look at an expanded translation here. In order that your rejoicing may abound, which is actually the way the New King James does it, and I like that. But again, the reason I didn't skirt it and just focus on it here is because the word comes up again in chapter 3, and it's also used in Galatians, the same word, and it's translated in different ways. So now we've got a little bit of a flexibility of understanding of what's the best way to render it in certain contexts. And here, I think this might be the better way to render it. In order that your rejoicing may abound in Christ Jesus through me by reason of my personal presence with you again. So I feel like, feel, there's the word. I get this really mushy feeling.

As I study through verse 25 and 26, I think it was ideal that we ramp up with the previous verses to remind ourselves of the fact that Paul has a specific relationship with these believers through his partnership in the gospel and that this letter is so different than all the others that we have in the New Testament in that it expresses a thankfulness and a relationship with the body of believers that he's not correcting a lot of doctrine here.

He's clarifying specifics about their time and place in history, the growth of the gospel message and their involvement with it, and how they need to stick together, as we'll see next week, as a body and stand firm in their relationship to Paul and his ministry of the gospel. And, you know, that's what we're getting out of these verses. And there's a confidence that we talked about. We talked about a knowledge that Paul had about coming and remaining in the flesh, even though he was hard-pressed between the decisions of life and more life with Christ. He knew that he needed to stay and remain present with them for the purposes of their joy and their faith and their progress, and also the advancement of the gospel and Christian conduct. So that's my thinking with regards to Philippians 25 and 26.

Roger's got a really cool verse next week. So, any questions or thoughts in the last couple minutes here? Any corrections? I take public correction very well. especially here. I learn so much when I get to hang out with you guys. This is my classroom, too. We use that term, but I end up learning so much by doing this, so I appreciate you letting me work through the ups and downs of it all. Somebody want to close in a word prayer, Roger, if you don't mind? Dear Father, we thank you for our time today, Lord. We thank you for wonderful word that we have Lord preserve for us and we thank you for our time this day to study it. In Christ's name, Amen.