We just finished the dig-in, our intense bible study of Philippians. There was plenty of lively, insightful discussion. A lot of people were there: Peter B, Robb M, Tim J, me, Skippy, Katherine L, Grace T, Vivian H, Madeleine Y, Luke B, Stephen W, Jonathan G, Laura P, and Jay P. I've asked them to post their five most salient points from the discussion as comments below. (I'll also add my own.) Enjoy!
Sam
Only five? You always make things hard, Sam Elder :-/ (just kidding, just kidding. Five's a good number :) )
ReplyDeleteI had to leave Saturday at noon, so I only got up to the first half of Philippians ch2, so I'll only mention those parts :P
1. "filled with the fruits of righteousness which come through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God" (1:11)
The fruits mentioned here are fruits which can be plucked; they are reachable. Thus, our lives are reachable for others; we bear fruits for others. It's all fine and dandy and great to grow in Christ and become more loving and caring and have all these great character traits, but it's no good if we stay away from the community and don't share it with anyone. It's like hiding the light under a bowl (which you shouldn't do!) Another way to think of this is that we are in the world, but we are not of the world.
2. "But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account. Convinced of this, I know that I shall remain and continue with you all, for your progress and joy in the faith" (1:24-25)
Two things: 1) the Philippians gave Paul a reason to keep living and to continue on; in a similar manner let us also encourage our fellow siblings!(especially if you see someone who's depressed/ needs comfort). 2) skin= the full glory of God (which we get in heaven), so to be in flesh on earth is to not have skin (the original greek refers to flesh w/o the skin, I think), thus to be inglorious. Anyway, I thought that image was cool/interesting.
3. "Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you stand firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel" (1:27)
Here, worthy does not refer to your self-worth, but rather is a calling to "act like a member of the community." So the first clause is calling us to act such that we are a community, we are the body of Christ, and so we do what we are called to do and we represent what we are called to represent. Also "the gospel of Christ" is what unites Christians :)
4. "For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake" (1:29)
Recall that in vs15 there are some who are preaching out of envy and rivalry. Yet Paul still rejoices, so this indicates that they must be knowledgeable of the doctrine and are preaching accurately. So in our small groups, we were thinking that maybe in their envy and rivalry they were speaking the Word accurately but they were speaking badly against Paul. For instance, perhaps they are demonizing suffering and saying that Paul (here comes the envy and rivalry!) is in jail and suffering right now because he is doing something wrong and so God is punishing him.
In the past, or at the time which the new testament was written, people believed that they were blessed by God if they had everything going for them. They view the poor and crippled and sick, etc. as people who've done something wrong, something evil. Thus, those sick and poor must be unclean, and so these "blessed" people would separate from them and avoid them.
This goes against what we believe in. We want to unite together, in one mind and one body. We suffer for each other and we suffer for Christ's sake :) Also, "it has been granted" to us, thus it is a part of Christian life to suffer.
(And we have each other, so if you're suffering, don't hesitate to talk with a fellow sibling. We can pray together :D)
5. "So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any incentive of love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind." (2:1,2)
ReplyDeleteEncouragement, incentive of love, fellowship in the Spirit, affection and sympathy, all give us hope. The hope and the trust to have/ to be of the same mind, same love...(verse2). Being of the same mind does not mean being clones and all thinking alike, but rather we have the same purpose which binds us together. Also, we have the same attitude as Christ.
And those are my five points :) hopefully it wasn't too long. And I hope the other siblings who came to the dig-in can share about what stuck out to them. (I'm especially curious about what we covered in the latter half of the dig-in!)