Week of January 7, 2024
Journey of Grace
Our entire journey with Jesus is powered by God’s grace, his “gift of love” offered to us through the saving work of Jesus. Daily we need his forgiveness, his sustaining strength to resist temptation, and his empowerment to fulfill our calling. One thing you’ll notice beginning this week is that sections of Philippians will occasionally be repeated as we look at them from different angles of the discipleship journey.
Monday | Philippians 1:2,7
“Grace to you and peace” seems like such a familiar greeting that readers can quickly rush by these words and move on to the rest of the letter. But the standard Greek beginning to such letter would be “Greetings and good health.” It was not common to include the divine. But Paul knows that the basis for his relationship with them is in God’s grace and peace given through Christ Jesus and his prayer is that they would experience the full measure of that grace and peace in their daily lives. Mark Keown writes, “The greeting, then, is not paying lip service, but is a prayer for them to receive … salvation, perseverance under pressure, ministry, protection, provision, generosity, harmony and unity, joy, hope, love, and eternal life.” (Mark J. Keown, Philippians, vol. 1, 111.) What does it mean to you to receive God’s grace? Which of the benefits Keown lists above do you most treasure?
Tuesday | Philippians 2:5-11
Philippians is not a detailed theological presentation like Paul’s letter to the Romans. It does, however, contain one of the most beautiful statements in Scripture of Jesus’ mission in what many scholars think was an early Christian hymn. It describes the greatest act of gracious service as Jesus sets aside divine honor to become a human being and go to the cross for us. Lynn Cohick comments: “The point of this passage, then, is to show the character of God. From our human wisdom vantage point, we might think Christ would seek his own power, yet Christ shows that God does not grasp; rather, God gives himself. In this reading, the verb “emptied” or “made himself nothing” (2:7) is understood as further explaining what “being in the form of God” entails. It is both a rejection of taking advantage of his equality with God and an acceptance of or embracing of servanthood.” (Lynn Cohick, Philippians, p.117). React to the idea of God being a humble servant. How has Jesus served you through his life and death? How does God serve you every day?
Wednesday | Philippians 3:2-11
In this passage, Paul is countering the message of the so-called Judaizers who want the Christians of Philippi to keep following Jewish traditions like circumcision. Paul states that so powerful is the draw of God’s grace in Jesus, that he has left his Jewish attainments behind. For he knows that his righteousness, his becoming right with God, comes not by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ. What do you think the old Paul (before his conversion) would have been like? How had God’s grace in Jesus changed him? How has it changed you?
Thursday | Philippians 3:20-21
Paul looks forward to his eternal destination but is also challenging us to live as citizens of heaven now. NT Wright comments: “ ‘We are citizens of heaven,’ Paul declares in verse 20. At once many modern Christians misunderstand what he means. We naturally suppose he means ‘and so we’re waiting until we can go and live in heaven where we belong’. But that’s not what he says, and it’s certainly not what he means. If someone in Philippi said, ‘We are citizens of Rome,’ they certainly wouldn’t mean ‘so we’re looking forward to going to live there’. Being a colony works the other way round. The last thing the emperors wanted was a whole lot of colonists coming back to Rome. The capital was already overcrowded and underemployed. No: the task of the Roman citizen in a place like Philippi was to bring Roman culture and rule to northern Greece, to expand Roman influence there” (Tom Wright, Paul for Everyone: The Prison Letters: Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and Philemon, 126.) Why is having heavenly citizenship such good news? What responsibilities does it include? How do you experience your earthly body being “lowly” or “weak” (depending on the translation)? What do you imagine your heavenly body being like?
Friday | Philippians 4:6-7
Living in God’s grace, we can experience far less anxiety and far more of the peace that Paul describes as “surpassing all understanding.” In what ways would this “peace” have been so important to Paul as he was in prison (see 1:19ff)? In what ways would this “peace” have been so important to his readers as they faced persecution and uncertainty in Philippi? How is this “peace” important to you in your current life situation? What helps you experience this peace?
