The Church at Philippi, Part 1

Well, I guess we're in a new year now. I don't know if you heard anything go off last time. My wife said there were fireworks at 12 o'clock down at our place, but I slept through it. I didn't hear a thing. We did have some people in Flint that called. About 9 o'clock, and the phone rang, and they're all hooping and hollering. And, what in the world? Who's this? Is this a crank call? Well, it was some friends of ours back in Flint. They said, we wanted to call you, and we knew you were the only ones that were still up that we could talk to.

So, it was 12 o'clock back there. They were starting the new year, so, supposedly. They weren't celebrated. They were just having fun. But, anyway, as we begin a new year, at least according to our Gregorian calendars—wouldn't be necessarily according to God's calendar, but according to the calendar we use today—as we begin that, I want to look at a particular letter that the Apostle Paul wrote.

And it's a letter you can read, and I've read many times. A lot of good stuff in there, especially ties in with Mr. Court. I was talking about humility and his sermonette. There's a lot to say about it in this particular letter. But there was a particular problem in this letter you wouldn't think of in the service. You could read this letter and not realize the problems that Paul was addressing in this particular letter.

But he's addressing in this letter an age-old problem. It's an age-old problem that we, as the United Church of God, are facing right now. And that is brought about this change that's taken place with so many ministers resigning. But not very long after the Jerusalem Conference, which took place around 49 AD, when they had to address this question regarding circumcision, whether those coming to the church had to be circumcised or not. And that's recorded in Acts 15. It wasn't long after that that possible Paul had a vision. It's recorded in the book of Acts 16, which is the chapter after this Jerusalem Conference that's talked about in Acts 15.

It took place in 49 AD. So this is probably the next year, 50-51 AD somewhere, and this takes place. Let's go to Acts 16. Let's pick it up in verse 9, where Paul has his vision, right after this Jerusalem, or probably within a year or so after the Jerusalem Conference. Acts 16, verse 9 says, and a vision appeared to Paul at night. It says, a man of Macedonia stood and pleaded with him, saying, Come over to Macedonia and help us.

God knew these people were people over there that they needed to understand the truth. And God was bringing this to the attention of the apostle Paul in a dream. Verse 10, now after he had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go to Macedonia, concluding that the Lord had called us to preach the gospel to them. There are people over there that need to understand. Therefore, sailing from Troas, we ran a straight course to Sumatras.

The next day came to Neopolis, and from there to Philippi, which is the foremost city of that part of Macedonia, a colony. Philippi was a Roman colony. Roman colonies were established in certain cities to keep the peace and to command strategic centers in Rome's far-flung empire. They are very important cities. And as a Roman colony, Philippi would have probably had about 300 Roman soldiers and their wives and families living there in Philippi, who had been stationed there. And as this verse goes on to say, Paul and his companions stayed in Philippi, as it is, for some days, for quite some time.

They stayed there. And as we see, as we read on here, we see that in all probability at that time, the Apostle Paul established a church of God at Philippi. It's going on in Acts 16, verse 13. And on the Sabbath day we went out of the city to the riverside, where prayer was customarily made, and we sat down and spoke to the women who met there. So these women were meeting out there by the river. And a certain woman named Lydia heard us, and she was a seller of purple from the city of Thyatira, who worshipped God.

And the Lord opened her heart to heed the things spoken of by the Apostle Paul. So this was undoubtedly then the fledgling beginning of a church of God at Philippi, this Roman colony. And Lydia would have become one of the first members of this little congregation, or this church at Philippi. Now, one thing to think about here is it's interesting that she was a seller of purple. Purple was extremely valuable at that time, very costly. So as a seller of purple, this lady would probably have been fairly well-to-do, as a pretty lucrative trade. So she's probably a fairly well-to-do member.

I'm just bringing this up because we can understand a little bit here of the cross-section of people that would have made up the church of Philippi that Paul established, probably around 50 or 51 A.D. Going on to verse 15, And when she and her household were baptized, she begged us, saying, If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and stay. So she persuaded us. As you go on here, read the end of this chapter, here you realize that after this, this church was established, they began meeting at Lydia's house.

So she probably was fairly well-to-do. She had a nice house there, and that's when the church began meeting, was in her house. Verse 16, That happened as we went to prayer, that a certain slave girl, possessed with the spirit of divination, met us, who brought her masters much profit by fortune-telling. I just read that verse to point out that Philippi also had slaves, a lot of slaves in the Roman Empire and all their cities. There are undoubtedly many slaves here in the city of Philippi as well.

And undoubtedly, over time, as the church became established and growing, some of those slaves came into the church. So you had, on the top end, you had people like Lydia, fairly well-to-do, and you had slaves who were extremely poor. So the church of Philippi also had some middle-class members, because some of the Roman soldiers who were there, the 300 or so Roman soldiers and their wives and families, some of those would have come into the churches all well, and they would have even been in the middle-class section.

So you had a total cross-section of society at Philippi, yet some were very poor. You had some that were more upper-class, well-to-do, and some that were just middle-class. You had all segments of society, and different nationalities, and so on. You had a very good cross-section of society, even as God's Church is made up of today, but quite a cross-section of people.

So with that background, then, we'll jump forward about 10 years to around 61 AD. By this time, about 10 or 11 years after this, Paul is now a prisoner. He's a prisoner in Rome, and he writes a letter to his beloved church that he founded in Philippi. That letter we'll look at today. Today I want to look at Paul's letter to the church at Philippi, and we want to look at a problem that he addresses in this particular letter, and at the solutions. Today we'll look at the problem.

Next time we'll look more at the solution, and this is going to be a two-part sermon. It's interesting, I want to just mention this before I give you the title. Before we came out here last summer, we were shopping at Sam's, and Evelyn saw this particular Bible. It's a Thomas Nelson Bible, but it was originally printed like a published in 1982 in New King James. But in 2006, Thomas Nelson put a new introduction to each of the letters of this entire Bible.

Very interesting introduction it gives to each of the letters in each of the books of the Bible. I want to read to you what it says in the introduction here to Paul's letter to the church at Philippi.

It puts it in context to why he wrote this letter and the problem he was dealing with. And you'll see, he was dealing at Philippi with a very problem we are now experiencing in the United Church of God. Here's the introduction. It says, his central thought is simple. Only in Christ are real unity and joy possible.

With Christ as your model of humility and service, you can enjoy a oneness of purpose, attitude, goal, and labor. A truth, as Paul illustrates from his own life, and one the Philippians desperately need to hear. Within their own ranks, fellow workers in the Philippian church are at odds, hindering the work and proclaiming new life in Christ.

Because of this, Paul exhorts the church to stand fast, be of the same mind, and rejoice in the Lord always. So Paul, in this introduction, says that Paul here had a problem there, a problem of disunity and contention. So the title of my sermon here this afternoon is The Church of Philippi, Part 1, Disunity, The Cause.

The Church of Philippi, Part 1, Disunity, The Cause. Now, it's also interesting to note that the Apostle Paul here, since he started this church and founded it about ten years prior to when he writes this letter, he considers all the members of the Philippian church to be his very dear friends.

Let's go to Philippians and let's begin. Let's just take a look first at chapter 4, verse 1, where you can see how the Apostle Paul felt towards all those who were members of the church at Philippi. He was very, very endeared to them. Here's what he says in Philippians 4, verse 1. He said, Therefore my beloved and longed forebrethren, he had a very, very loving, warm relationship with them. He thought of them very fondly. He had a great deal of love for them.

My beloved and longed forebrethren, my joy and my crown, stand fast, O Lord beloved, stand fast. Look to Jesus Christ and stand fast. Of course, he was dealing with a huge problem. That's why he was saying that to them. But he's appealing to them as a friend to a friend. Focus on and stand fast in Christ. Don't focus. Are we bothered by what you are outwardly experiencing, individually or collectively?

That's what he's telling them there. Stand fast. You know, what's interesting about this letter that's pointed out by commentaries, there's no indication whatsoever in this letter that there are any doctrinal problems in the Church of Philippi. And there's no indication in this letter that there were any outstanding gargantuan sins or problems, personal problems, that he was addressing in this letter.

But there is a problem, which I just mentioned there in the introduction, which also Paul gives evidence of in Philippians 2.2, where he implores them to be like-minded and to have the same love and to be of one accord of one mind. Obviously, there were some things going on that were disrupting that unity. See, the one danger which threatened the Philippian Church and which threatens us today was that of disunity. That's why it's such an important letter. Here's what William Barkley says in his New Testament commentary in regards to disunity when he's commentary on this letter in the Church of Philippi.

He says, very interesting comment William Barkley makes. He says, it is when people are really in earnest and when their beliefs really matter to them that they are apt to get up against each other. The greater their enthusiasm, the greater danger that they may collide. It is against this danger Paul wishes to safeguard his friends in the Philippian Church. You know, with that in mind, notice how Paul opens this letter.

He opens in a very unique way. The only other letter that kind of partially opens in this way is his letter to the Church of Rome, the Romans. But he opens Philippians in a very unique way. Philippians 1, verse 1. He says, Paul and Timothy bond servants of Jesus Christ. In almost all of his other letters, with the exception of Romans, he says, Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ. But here he says, not an apostle of Jesus Christ. He says, a bond servant of Jesus Christ. That's very significant. To all the saints in Christ, Jesus, who are in Philippi, with the bishops and deacons.

That's interesting. He doesn't know, he doesn't say, he's all the saints. But here he includes the leaders as well. He wants to make sure the leaders understand what he's writing here as well. So he says, Paul and Timothy, a bond servant of Jesus Christ, rather than an apostle of Jesus Christ. See, Nepal was a prisoner of Rome, but that mattered little to the apostle Paul. Because first and foremost, whether a prisoner or whether free, didn't matter because first and foremost, Paul was a slave of Jesus Christ. The point being made to those in Philippi, that in that regard, you know we're all in the same boat.

We all should be slaves to Jesus Christ. Regardless of our office, regardless of what title we might have, or responsibility we might have, regardless of our circumstances, good or bad, regardless of what might be going through, what may be happening to us that's fair or unfair in our mind. So regardless of any of those things, whatever they may be, we're all slaves of Jesus Christ, which means our life is not our own. See, Paul may have had a high office and high responsibility, but he's still only a slave. He was a bond servant of Jesus Christ.

See, if Paul realized that everybody in Philippi understood that, there'd be no cause for disunity in the church. Why not? Because when everybody understands that, it puts everybody in the same boat. It reduces everybody to a common denominator, to that of a slave, a slave of Jesus Christ. And a slave has no rights, except to do what his master tells him to do.

It's the only right he has. Slaves do not have control, or they don't own their life. Their master owns their life. Like I mentioned, another unique way in which Paul opens this letter, he not only addresses it to all the saints, but to the bishops and deacons. He's telling the leaders in Philippi that they also need to see themselves as bondservants of Jesus Christ. As Paul and Timothy view themselves. And again, what does it mean to be a bondservant or a slave? Well, it means, Christ's sin is our only master. It means he bought us for a prize, the prize being his own blood and giving his life for us.

It means we can never belong to anyone else, not even to ourselves. It means that our life is not our own. It means that we can never follow our own will, our own agenda, only the will of Jesus Christ and God the Father, because we're slaves to Jesus Christ. See, our will must always be the will of our master, must always be the will of Jesus Christ.

And Paul is writing this letter as a friend to his friends, going on to Philippians 1 verse 2. He says, "'Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who is our master.' I thank my God upon every remembrance of you." And you're sure he was in prison. He thought of them often in a very loving way. I'm sure he was very troubled by what he heard was going on, was taking place. He couldn't be there with him, but he wrote them this letter from his heart.

I thank my God, excuse me, upon every remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine, every prayer, every prayer. He remembered his wonderful friends, his dear friends in Philippi, and what they were facing, the difficulties they were going through. Always in every prayer of mine, making requests for you all with joy for your fellowship in the Gospel from the very first day until now, from the very first day, over 10 years ago, when this church was established, until now. Being confident in this very thing, that he has begun a good work in you, that being Jesus Christ, that he will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ, until Christ returns.

So that's why he said, as we read in chapter 4 verse 1, Stand fast in the Lord.

Don't be swayed by what is happening. He's telling them.

Or we could say, as it says in Revelation 3, 11, let no man take your crown.

Because if we stand fast and Jesus Christ, God will complete the work that he's begun at us.

He will bring it to completion. Going on in verse 7, just as it is right for me to think this of you all, because he said, I have you in my heart. You can see how endeared he is to this church at Philippi, to all the members there. I have you in my heart. Inasmuch as both in my chains and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel, you all are partakers with me of grace. We're all in this together. We're all partakers of God's grace and mercy. He's bestowed upon us his forgiveness that we didn't deserve or earn. But we're all partakers of the same thing, of the same loving God who's granted us forgiveness and who's granted us favor, although we don't deserve it.

Verse 8, For God is my witness now, for God is my witness, how greatly I long for you all, with affection of Jesus Christ, he says. Verse 9, And this I pray that your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment. He's saying, I hope you have the love of God, because you can take the love of God, you can take Jesus Christ's Hinyu to be able to discern between what's happening. Ask for the love of God. Ask for Christ's discernment.

He says, you need discernment. You need to understand the right kind of knowledge and focus on the right knowledge. That your love may abound still more and more.

Verse 10, You may approve the things that are excellent, as you have the love of God and you look and have the right kind of knowledge. Look at what things are really excellent, what's really building people up and helping people and encouraging people and causing people to build well together in peace and unity. Those things are excellent.

He says, approve those things. Don't approve some of the other things. He says, that you may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ, being filled, verse 11, with the fruits of righteousness that comes only from Jesus Christ living in us, which are by Jesus Christ. He says that there. It's not our righteousness.

Be filled with the fruits of righteousness which come from Jesus Christ living in you.

And of course, when you have that righteousness and you go, it's not for our glory.

We can't take any claim for that. It's all to the glory of God and to the praise of God, as he says there in verse 11.

See, true fruits of righteousness can never come from without. They only come from within, and they only come from within by Jesus Christ living his life in us and producing those fruits.

Thus, they are by Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God, as Paul says here.

You know, we can never take credit for our righteousness or for what we accomplish, or even for what we may seek to accomplish, because we're all slaves of Jesus Christ, and whatever we accomplish can only be attributed to our Master.

You know, a lot of bad things happened to the Apostle Paul.

Even as he was writing this letter, he was a prisoner.

And you might think as a prisoner, well, boy, that's it. It's all over. I can't do anything now.

How can I further spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ and teaching the things about Jesus Christ as a prisoner?

He was a prisoner of Rome, and Nero at that time was the emperor of Rome, and he was awaiting a very probable death sentence at that time.

Notice what he says next in Footpins 1, verse 12. He said, but I want you to know, brethren, that the things which happened to me, that allowed him to be there and as a prisoner in Rome awaiting a death sentence, he said, the things which happened to me have actually turned out for the furtherance of the gospel.

Wow. Do we still believe that today? Can things that happened to us, good or bad, even as individuals as a church, can they turn out for the furtherance of the gospel?

Will our present disunity and the actually now the separation that's taken place here in United turn out for the furtherance of the gospel?

You see, with Christ as our master, with Christ as the head of the church, as Mr. Lucas emphasized over and over again, it can turn out no other way.

It will work out for good because Christ is the head of the church and will ultimately lead to the furtherance of the gospel.

I mean, let's just look to hear what happened as a result of Paul being a prisoner of Rome.

This is amazing. There's so much background to this letter, but this is amazing. Let's go back to Acts, chapter 28, the very last chapter of Acts, Acts 28. And I'll first read verse 16. Acts 28 verse 16 says, Now when we came to Rome here, speaking of the apostle Paul, when we came to Rome, the centurion delivered the prisoners to the captain of the guard, but Paul was permitted to dwell by himself with the soldier who guarded him.

And then going on to verse 30 and 31, the last two verses, Then Paul dwelt two whole years in his own rented house, with this Roman guard there, changed to this Roman guard as a prisoner, and said he received all who came to him, preaching the kingdom of God and teaching the things which concerned the Lord Jesus Christ with all confidence, no one forbidding him. So for two years, Paul was changed to a Roman soldier who guard him day and night, and while he was at the wedding trial in Rome, having appealed to Caesar. It says in verse 19, the same chapter, he had made an appeal to Caesar. He was waiting for that appeal to be heard by Caesar. That was scary because Nero was a Caesar.

It wasn't long after this he went mad.

It was during this time that Paul wrote his letter to the Philippians.

And when he wrote, as we just read, that all things which happened to me have actually turned out for the furtherance of the gospel, as we just read in the first chapter of Philippians.

You know, as you look at things, things turned out to the furtherance of spreading the gospel in a very, very remarkable way, as a result of Paul being a prisoner in Rome for two years.

As indicated in the very closing greeting of Paul's letter to the Church of Philippi, Paul was a prisoner in Rome, appealing to Caesar. He was chained to a Roman guard for two years, as we just read, receiving all who came to him, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, and teaching the things which concerned the Lord Jesus Christ with all confidence.

And when Paul was a prisoner there for those two years, how far did Paul's preaching go?

What impact did it have? Who were some of those who came to him during that time?

Did any from Caesar's own household hear of Paul's teaching and come to him? And come into the Church? As a result of that, did any of Caesar's household become members?

Notice how Paul closes his letter to the Church of Philippi. Let's go back to Philippians 4.

And notice how he closes this letter. Philippians 4. And I'll begin in verse 20. Philippians 4, verse 20. Paul writes, Now to our God and Father be glory forever and ever. Amen.

Verse 21, he says, Greet every saint in Christ Jesus.

And he says, The brethren who are with me, who are with Paul, as he was a prisoner in Rome, would come to him, and were still coming to him, to give him encouragement and so on. He says, And the brethren who are with me, greet you. Greet you Philippians. He's writing this letter to the Church of Philippi.

Who are some of those brethren who are now with Paul at Rome, and who are now along with Paul, sending their greetings to the Church of Philippi? Verse 22.

All the saints greet you, but especially those who are of Caesar's household.

Now, that doesn't necessarily mean they are part of Caesar's immediate family or had a kinship with Caesar. It doesn't necessarily mean that. As commentators will point out, it refers to those who were in the imperial civil service of Caesar.

That would have included his palace officials, his secretaries, those in charge of imperial revenues, those who were part of Caesar's day-to-day administration, all who were part of Caesar's government.

So, with Paul as a prisoner in Rome, the presence of the Gospel penetrated to the very center, to the very top of the Roman government, into the highest positions of the greatest and most powerful kingdom of the world. You can't get any further than that with preaching the Gospel.

So, Paul used that situation to further the preaching the Gospel in a remarkable way, taking it all the way to the very top officials in the most powerful empire in the world, to those who were part of the administration of Caesar himself.

Let's go back to Philippians chapter 1.

Read this again, Philippians 1 verse 12.

But I want you to know, brethren, the things which happened to me have actually turned out for the furtherance of the Gospel, as sure did.

They've paired it all the way up into the very high echelons of the Roman government and to those who were serving Caesar, and they're part of Caesar's administration.

Verse 13, so that it has become evident the whole palace guard and Caesar's government, and to all the rest that my chains are in Jesus Christ. Then Paul begins... well, let's go on verse 14.

And most of the brethren in the Lord, having been confident by my chains, are much more bold to speak the word without fear because of the fruits of Paul's life and his preaching and his boldness and his confidence. Then Paul begins to address the problem of discord and disunity, which seems to have come from some in leadership positions. Verse 15, he says, some indeed... he's talking to the leaders in the church of Philippi.

He says, some indeed preach Christ even from envy and strife, and some also from goodwill.

So some were preaching the truth, but they were envious of others who were now in positions of leadership, apparently. Thus, they were stirring up strife and division.

Yet others were promoting goodwill.

What was the difference between those who were stirring up strife and those who were promoting goodwill? What was the main difference? How do you recognize it?

Verse 16, the former, those who are stirring up envy and strife, preached Christ from selfish ambition.

He had selfish ambitions.

What are those who might have been?

Not sincerely. And in doing that, disposing to add affliction to my chains.

See, that was the most affliction Paul was suffering because of what was being stirred up.

Some had selfish ambitions.

But the latter, those who were preaching Christ out of goodwill, the latter out of love, knowing that I am appointed for the defense of the Gospel.

Now, remember how Paul opened this letter calling himself a slave of Jesus Christ?

Think about that. See, a slave cannot have any selfish ambition.

There is no such thing as selfish ambition with the person who is truly a slave.

A slave's only ambition can be that of serving and pleasing and carrying out the will of his master.

That's the only ambition a slave can have.

Can't be any selfish ambition with a slave.

But some, apparently in Philippi, were seeking power and control out of selfish ambition.

And yet, here's an amazing thing what Paul says next. Even with all that going on, notice the overall attitude that Paul has here.

Notice the overall attitude that Paul has in his confidence in Jesus Christ as the head of the church. It's indicated by what he says in verse 18 of chapter 1. What then, he says, with that being the case, with this disunity that was taking place here in the leadership, only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is being preached.

He said these people, they were doing this. They know Jesus Christ. They know who he is. Maybe there's a wrong motive. There's some things going on wrong there, but he says Christ is being preached. And in this, he says, I rejoice, and I will rejoice. He's not going to get discouraged, not going to get upset, not going to have any ill feelings towards these individuals. He says, I'm going to rejoice that they're still going to, in their own way, be preaching Jesus Christ. You know, that's amazing. In other words, Paul here had absolute faith and confidence in Jesus Christ as the head of the church. And he had such confidence in Christ that he knew, even those who had selfish ambition and who were only making a pretense of really following the will of Christ, but they're really more or less promoting their own will, he knew that God could still further his purpose and still further his plan of salvation, even through those individuals in the long run. And he bore them no ill will whatsoever. So this reveals the true heart of the Apostle Paul. You know, he didn't care who received the credit or who received prestige or position or glory. He didn't care what others said of him behind his back or how contemptuous they may have been towards him. Instead, he fit to the matter above all of that, above all personalities, and put the matter totally into the hands of Jesus Christ and God the Father.

But at the same time, Paul was not naive.

He understood that this was a very serious situation, and he wanted to safeguard the members of the church at Philippi. You know, as you go through this, I'm going to get to chapter 2 next time. That's the heart and core of this letter, but it gives a solution. But I want you to notice chapter 3, because just when you might think he's concluding this letter, somebody takes a sudden and dramatic turn. So much so that some have thought that this might have actually originally been two letters combined into one, but W was one letter. It just shows that Paul was aware of the problem of disunity, and that he... so he makes... tells him who they were. Philippians 3 verse 1.

Finally, my brother, and he says... you know, it's not like he's going to add wine to the letter. He says, finally, my brother, rejoice in the Lord. Finally, my brother. It almost sounds like he's about to include the letter. Then he goes on. Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord.

And he said, for me to write the same things to you is not tedious, but for you to say. And that was just to indicate that he might have written other letters, or he's repeating some things in those other letters, but he doesn't mind repeating them, because I want you to understand these things, because it can safeguard you against the problem of disunity and the confusion that might rise from that. But then all of a sudden, in verse 2, is a sudden and dramatic change.

Just out of the blue, he continues and picks it up another thought, and he says, verse 2, these are Paul's words. These aren't my words. They're Paul's words to the situation he was addressing in the church of Philippi 2,000 years ago. I wouldn't use these words today, but these are the words Paul used. I just want to say that he was addressing the problem and not being naive. He said, beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of, as he calls it, the mutilation.

Pretty strong statements. Although we might read those and not really understand what Paul was getting at. But he starts out, he says, beware of dogs or be on guard for dogs. Now, back then, you would understand what he meant by that. Today, you know, dogs are lovable creatures.

We have them as pets. We have a little dog. But back then, there were a lot of dogs that just roamed the streets of Rome. They roamed around and they just were on their own. They're out there sometimes in packs and they survived by eating food out of garbage dumps. And sometimes they would attack people, visually attack people. So, as far as Paul's wins, beware of people that may be digesting garbage. Beware of those who might be attacking and defending their territory. These dogs did. In other words, people could make analogies from this at that time that we wouldn't think of today. And he said, beware of evil workers, be on guard for evil workers. Now, you have to realize that those he was talking about there, those people that he was calling that, saying that would not have considered themselves to be evil workers. They would consider themselves to be workers of righteousness.

But the evil work that Paul's referring to here is those who had selfish ambition.

The work of someone maybe promoting what was in his will, or his agenda, rather than the agenda and the will of Jesus Christ. Then he adds something that would be hard for us to understand. He says, beware of the mutilation. Or as it could be translated, beware of the party of mutilation.

Now, there's quite a bit of meaning to that particular thing that we wouldn't pick up on or understand today. But as William Barkley points out in his commentary, there's a play on words here. Because if you look up the Greek words for circumcision and the Greek word for mutilation, they're very similar. They're long Greek words and they're very similar, only slightly different in the way they're spelled and pronounced. So what point is Paul trying to make? Well, there were some leaders in the Church of Philippi who consider themselves to spiritually being the party of the circumcision. But Paul and Dixit had been decided over 10 years ago at the Consul in Jerusalem in 49 AD, as recorded in Acts 15.

But there were some, when you understand the history of that time, and there were some in the Church that still felt superior to others because of who they were.

They were Jews. They were of the circumcision. They had the law.

They were special people.

And because of that, some still felt superior because of who they were.

Now, I'm not saying that's necessarily true today. I don't know. I'm not going to judge anybody in the situation we face today. I'm just saying this is what Paul's getting at here in addressing this problem at Philippi 2,000 years ago. Some are judging who they were by our circumstances of how they came up, who they were. They were of the circumcision.

Many Jews at that time judged they were superior because they were Jews and they were of the circumcision. And they had been the ones, the defenders of the law and the ones who perpetuated the law. See, our true relationship with God and our true standing with God cannot be judged by outward appearances or by outward signs or by who we are, how long we've been the church, what our positions have been. It can only be judged similarly by what goes on within our hearts, within our minds, as we judge by Jesus Christ, who is the only one who knows our hearts and minds.

It can only be judged by our character, by whether or not we truly show love toward our brother and toward one another.

See, some in Philippi were claiming righteousness based on who they were outwardly, by their position in the church, by their maybe their long standing in the church, made by their record of service to the church.

All that may be well and good, but at those same individuals, are now tearing the church apart, as they were back then, the church of Philippi, then even their spiritual circumcision has become a form of mutilation. That's what Paul is getting at.

As Paul here calls the party of circumcision, he says you're really the part of mutilation because you're tearing the church apart. You're mutilating the church.

Then Paul goes on here to give three signs of how to identify those who have true circumcision of the heart, who have the true inward signs of real conversion, and all three signs are given in the very next verse in Philippians 3 verse 3. He says, we who are the circumcision, we who are truly circumcised inwardly of the heart, who are inwardly converted, in other words, deeply converted by having Jesus Christ living in us.

Number one, he says, we are those who worship God in spirit.

Worship God in the spirit and not just according to the letter of the law.

Here's what William Barkley says. He says, Christian worship is not a thing of ritual or of the observation of details of the law. It is a thing of the heart.

It is perfectly possible for a man to go through an elaborate liturgy and yet have a heart that is far away from God.

It is perfectly possible, Barkley says, for him to observe all the outward observances of religion and yet have hatred and bitterness and pride in his heart.

And that mutilates conversion if you have those things.

So one sign Paul gives here to identifying those who are the two fathers of Christ is that they worship God in spirit, which one turn to be manifested by what proceeds out of their heart and the love that they have for one another. Number two, he says, they are those who rejoice in Christ Jesus. See, a true Christian will not rejoice or boast over what he has accomplished or about what his office is or what his position is or how maybe he served the church over many, many years.

A true Christian will only rejoice and boast about what Christ has done for him or her in their own personal life. That's the only thing we can boast about. Come here because Jesus Christ has been merciful to me, because he's forgiven me. We can only boast what Christ has done for us. We can never boast of anything we do for Christ. We can only boast about how Christ suffered and died that we might live. This is Paul says, is they are those who rejoice and boast only in Christ Jesus.

Not in any of their own accomplishments or who they are. I think that even the God has accomplished through us. Number three, he said, they are those who have no confidence in the flesh.

They are those who have no confidence in themselves, of no confidence in their righteousness or in their abilities. They have no confidence in the flesh. Their only confidence is in Jesus Christ. And their only confidence for the future of the church is in Christ as the head of the church.

Now, undoubtedly, these individuals, whoever they were, were saying things against Paul, attempt to discredit him. So Paul then goes on to list the things he could, along with them, proclaim in the flesh if he were so inclined. Verses 4 and 5, he said, though I also might have confidence in the flesh, if I wanted to, I don't have any confidence in the flesh, but if I were going to have confidence in the flesh, if anyone else thinks he may have confidence in the flesh, well, I could do both more if I wanted to. He said, I will circumcise the eighth day of the stock of Israel, the tribe of Benjamin. He was very unique. He was the tribe of Benjamin.

But Paul in the elite category. Benjamin was the son of Rachel, the one whom Jacob loved, and she died giving birth to Benjamin. In the first king of Israel, King Saul, after whom Paul was originally named, was of the tribe of Benjamin. And Benjamin was the only tribe of Israel which remained faithful to God, along with Judah at the time of the two kings who became divided.

In the tribe of Benjamin were ferocious fighters. They held the place of honor whenever Israel went into battle. They were the first ones. They led the way into battle for the whole trial, all of Israel. In the Song of Deborah, after Israel's defeat of the Canaanites, it is recorded, after you, Benjamin, with your peoples, Judges 5 verse 14, Benjamin was the tribe that led the way into battle. So Paul could have boasted a great deal about his credentials because he was a Benjamin. Going on in verse 5, I was circumcised the eighth day of the stock of Israel, the tribe of Benjamin. I was a Hebrew of the Hebrews concerning the law. I was a Pharisee concerning zeal, persecuting the church. I was more zealous than anybody if I wanted to brag about being zealous.

If I wanted to brag about being a holder of the law, I was a Pharisee of Pharisees. I was a Christian in the law of Pharisee concerning the righteousness which is in the law, blameless. If the righteous was in the law, but it's not. Our only righteous is in Jesus Christ.

See, but none of those things really mattered in the long run, as indicated by what Paul says next, verse 7. But what things were gained to me, these that I have counted lost for Christ, I can't brag about anything. I gave up all my rights and all my things that I would want to boast about. I can only have one thing to boast about, and that is Christ has been merciful to me and forgiven me.

Yet indeed I also count all things lost for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things. And I count them as rubbish that I might gain Christ. So he said, I have nothing in the flesh to boast about.

And I can be found in Him not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Jesus Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith.

That's the only righteous I can claim to. Verse 10, that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings being conformed to His death, if by any means I may attain to the resurrection from the dead by the very grace and mercy of God.

But again, the main cause of disunity in the Church of Philippi was selfish ambition.

As he mentions again in chapter 1, verse 16, the former preached Christ from selfish ambition. And again in chapter 2, verse 3, let nothing be done to selfish ambition.

I'll conclude part 1 on Philippians for now. I want to finish this two-part series next time. We will go into the heart and core of this extremely important letter.

It's going to be relevant especially to what's happened now in the night Church of God.

Next time, we will look at more specific causes of disunity within the Church of Philippi, and we will look at Paul's solution to disunity. And we'll look at the meaning of this concluding scripture, which I'll read to conclude. We'll look at the meaning of this scripture, which is very, very important for the Church of Philippi to come to understand as they're sorting through these different problems that are going through in this disunity that was threatening them.

And this very scripture, especially now, applies to all of us and to all of God's people.

We'll conclude with this scripture. Philippians 2, verse 12, Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.

I believe we are now entering such a time today, and we must do the same.

And we'll go into that next time in part two.