Lesson for February 2, 2020
The Book of Philippians
Chapter 2:1-4
Occupation with Christ is the subject of this chapter. You become occupied with Christ when you obey the same mandates that He obeyed, concentrate on what He concentrated on (Divine Viewpoint Thinking), make positive decisions from a position of strength as He did and use the Problem-Solving Devices constantly, as He did. Christ was our perfect role model for the execution of the Christian Way of Life. Therefore, it is our responsibility to learn all that we can about the life of Christ. We do this through the study of Christology. Christology is the study of Christ our Savior, the God-Man. Christology is one of the most essential doctrines because it reveals the Person and the work of Jesus Christ on behalf of us all. We know that the Bible is a progressive revelation of Jesus Christ and it is God’s desire that we all come to know Him. This is why we must be consistent in studying God’s Word. (Hebrews 12:2; I John 4:2; II Timothy 2:15) The outline is four parts which brings unity to the body of Christ: 1) the function of occupation with Christ in verses 1-4 2) the object of occupation with Christ in verses 5-11 3) the progress of occupation with Christ in verses 12-16 4) the three illustrations of occupation with Christ in verses 17-30.
Verses 1-4
“Therefore if there is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any consolation of love, if there is any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion, make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose. Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.”
All the “ifs” in verse one are first-class conditions meaning, “if and it is true.” Encouragement comes from the source of our union with Jesus Christ beginning at salvation. Being in union with Christ provides everything a believer needs to fulfil the Protocol Plan of God. God sends His blessings to those who are His children and possess the righteousness of Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ indwells the believer in order to glorify Himself in the life of the believer. However, we must allow Christ to glorify Himself through our lives. We do this as we abide in Him (fellowship) and His Word abides in us. The word for abide in Greek is “meno” and means to dwell, to remain, to continue in, or to tarry. Abide means “to be at home with.” When Bible doctrine is dwelling in you and you are in fellowship with Christ, the potential exists to glorify Him through your life. (John 15:1-14)
Consolation of love means comfort or encouragement and uses the same Greek word for consolation that is used for the Holy Spirit, which is “paraklesis.” The word for love refers to the love Christ has for us, the love we have for Him and the love we have for one another (virtue-love). Our personal love for Jesus Christ should motivate each of us to do our best to bring glory to Him. The unmotivated life dishonors our Savior and brings shame to us at the Judgment Seat of Christ. (II Corinthians 10:17) There is no greater motivation than love. It was love that motivated the humanity of Jesus Christ to die in our place, paying the penalty for our sin. It was love that motivated God the Father to send Christ. It is love for Christ that should be our motivation for wanting to please Him. (John 3:16, 15:13; II Corinthians 5:14-15) Knowing and understanding the love of God, by means of study and application of Bible doctrine, is our motivation for serving Him. Spiritual advance reflects the glory of Jesus Christ Who dwells us. The indwelling of Christ also provides motivation for the execution of the Christian Way of Life. (Romans 5:5; II Corinthians 3:16-17)
Fellowship of the Spirit means a partnership with the Holy Spirit. Fellowship is the Greek word “koinonia,” which means partnership, communion or sharing in common. Partnership with the Spirit is the result of being filled with the Holy Spirit on the part of advancing believers. As spiritual maturity believers who are advancing to super-grace, partnership with the Holy Spirit takes on a more significant meaning. There must be maximum time spent in fellowship, partnering with God the Holy Spirit, relying on His power and guidance because Satan’s attacks will intensify as we advance. Therefore, the importance of using the Rebound Technique on a consistent basis.
If any affection and compassion is a believer’s appreciation responding to the teaching of accurate Bible doctrine. When emotion responds to Bible doctrine it is a legitimate response and means a believer is showing appreciation for what is being taught (affection) and it becomes a motivating factor to learn more. Compassion refers to grace in action, which is mercy. Grace in action means God is the One Who brings believers together under the teaching of the Word of God. This is a reference to true Christian fellowship, which is fellowship in the Word of God. This is confirmed in the next statement regarding unity in Christ.
Make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose was a challenge from the Apostle Paul to move as a united local church to the objective of spiritual maturity, super-grace and ultra-super-grace. The imperative mood is a command to all advancing believers to keep moving toward the objective of spiritual maturity and beyond. If you are not moving forward, you are moving backwards. A believer is to keep advancing in their spiritual lives until death or the Rapture of the Church. If you are not advancing you are retreating. Nothing gives a pastor-teacher joy more than seeing those he teaches advance in their spiritual lives. The greater the advance; the greater his joy.
Make my joy complete means Paul’s joy would be complete if these Philippian believers reached ultra-super-grace. This verse tells us what that status as a believer looks like. It begins with the Greek phrase for likeminded which is “phroneo tou auto.” “Phroneo” means to think and “autos” meaning “the same thing.” Together they mean to be thinking the same thing. The advancing believer produces the action by thinking Bible doctrine which is Divine Viewpoint Thinking. No one can advance spiritually in the Christian life by human activity, that is Satan’s distraction and lie to believers. The devil’s philosophy is to get believers to do human works as a substitute for spirituality. The more believers work the less time they have for spiritual growth. Transformation and spiritual growth take place in a believer’s mind and this was Paul’s encouragement to these believers – think alike (Divine Viewpoint Thinking).
Maintaining the same love is virtue-love, which is personal love for God and impersonal love for others, especially other believers. (Galatians 6:10) United in spirit means united in soul. Notice the absence of the article “the” before spirit, which tells us this refers to the soul or as some say, “the spirit of man (not the human spirit).” United in soul therefore means thinking in the same way regarding Bible doctrine. Intent on one purpose continues the thought of unity. In this case, unity of purpose is attainment of ultra-super-grace. In other words, moving as a cohesive unit, which is what God wants from every local church. We are to learn together, to love one another, to care for one another, to pray for one another and to encourage one another. (II Timothy 2:15; Romans 12:10; Galatians 6:2; Ephesians 6:18-20; Hebrews 10:24)
Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves is positive command from God to place others above yourselves so as not to be a stumblingblock but rather be an encourager and a positive influence in the lives of others which brings unity.
Selfishness is the Greek word “eritheuo,” which means faction, contention, self-seeking or strife. Empty conceit is the Greek word “kenodoxia,” which means vainglory or excessive ambition, and comes to mean “ambitious pride (arrogance).” Arrogance in the Christian life stops grace provision from God because the believer thinks he can advance by his own power. As we know, this is impossible.
Humility of mind is the opposite of ambitious pride or arrogance. Humility is grace orientation that results in teachability. Humility of mind is the true principle of thoughtfulness of others based on grace thinking. You cannot build your happiness on selfishness and arrogance because selfish, arrogant people are unteachable.
Arrogance is saying that we don’t need God or His plan; that we have a plan of our own. Arrogance is the first in a list of sins in Proverbs 6:17-19 that God hates. Arrogance is part of all sin if we really examine it. Any time we commit a sin we are, in essence, saying that our way is better than God’s way. Arrogance comes in many forms: self-justification, self-deception, self-absorption and self-righteousness.
Self-justification is illustrated for us in the Garden of Eden with Adam and Eve. According to Genesis 3:8-13, Adam blames Eve for his failure and Eve blames Satan. We would say today, “It’s not my fault, the devil made me do it.” Or “I’m a victim of my environment,” or “I have a disease” or “it’s my parent’s fault.” Self-justification rejects any personal responsibility for the actions of a person. Self-justification is a dangerous form of arrogance. Just look what it led to in the Garden of Eden!
Self-deception is another deadly form of arrogance as we see from I John 1:8-10. When a person is involved in practicing any pattern of sin over a prolonged period of time, it is easy to deceive oneself into believing that what you are doing is not sin at all. Self-deception can also be thinking about yourself in a conceited manner. For example, thinking that you are better, holier, more spiritual or closer to God that other believers. Self-deception can lead a person right into self-absorption.
Self-absorption is total preoccupation with self. The scriptural illustration of this form of arrogance is the Rich Young Ruler of Matthew 19:16-22. Here we have a story of a man that came to Jesus asking what he could do to inherit eternal life. Jesus illustrated to this man that he was a sinner in need of a Savior. It was the Rich Young Ruler’s self-absorption that kept him out of Heaven. Blinded by his riches and possessions, he was unwilling to recognize his need for a Savior.
Self-righteousness is self-righteous arrogance that totally ignores God’s righteousness in an attempt to establish one’s own righteousness. Believers are also guilty of this destructive sin. Paul recognized it in the nation of Israel in Romans 10:2-3. What we need to realize is that as believers in Jesus Christ we already possess God’s righteousness. Any attempt on our part to establish our own human righteousness as a means of gaining God’s favor, is a waste of valuable time. How can we recognize our own attempts to establish our self-righteousness? Our attitude towards others and towards God is the indicator. When our attitude towards others is one of criticism or judgment of their failures, whether real or imagined, we are exhibiting self-righteous arrogance. It is not our job as Christians to criticize or judge others. We need to take care of our own spiritual lives and leave the lives of other believers in the hands of God. When our attitude toward God is “Look what we have done for you,” we are exhibiting self-righteous arrogance. I Thessalonians 4:11-12 says, “Study to live a quiet life and mind your own business, working with your own hands, that you may gain the respect of the unbeliever and may have lack of nothing.”
The key to victory over arrogance is humility. Humility is a mental attitude of grace. Being humble is being grace-oriented to life. Humility recognizes that everything in life depends on Who and what God is and what He has done for us. Humility is not the “Milton milk toast syndrome,” telling everyone about your failures or attempting to show others how pitiful you are!
Do not merely look out for you own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. Humility causes a believer to think correctly about himself. For example, he knows that his production as a believer is through the filling (control) of the Holy Spirit, which is a grace function. He also knows that everything that he is or has is because of God’s matchless grace. Therefore, he can be relaxed, confident and single-minded about his life. Humility recognizes the rights of others, eliminating both inferiority and superiority complexes, which means our attitude is one of “live and let live.” Humility gives the believer a personal sense of destiny (one of the Problem-Solving Devices). (I Corinthians 4:7; Galatians 5:22-23; James 1:17)
Humility greatly increases the learning of Bible doctrine because it means that you are teachable. Arrogant believers already know all they need to know. Humble believers recognize that they will never know it all but strive to learn as much as they can on their way to spiritual maturity and beyond to super-grace and ultra-super-grace.