There is Always Joy: Paul’s Letter to the Jesus Believers at Philippi

By Jeff Doles

THERE IS ALWAYS JOY!

Paul was in prison. The Jesus believers at Philippi were facing increasing persecution. Add to that an undercurrent of personal disagreements and division in the fellowship, and things were not looking very bright. Yet Paul said, “Rejoice in the Lord always.” There is always joy, and in his letter to the church at Philippi, Paul shows you how to find it.

Joy saturates this letter. It shows up in unexpected turnarounds in the midst of difficult circumstances. It is found in knowing Jesus in His humble, self-giving servanthood, in the power of His resurrection—and even in the fellowship of His suffering. It is discovered as together we pursue the Jesus-shaped life. In this book you will also learn about:

* God’s blessing of favor and total well-being
* How divine humility is divine greatness
* The power of God at work in you to both desire and do His good pleasure
* The attitude that can fill you with joy
* The attitude that can rob you of joy
* The joy of heaven on earth
* How to replace worry with divine peace
* Paul’s secret to contentment in all things

These are “bite-size” studies to help guide you through Paul’s letter, a little at a time. At the end of each study are focus questions to help you think further about the truths Paul brings. They are open-ended questions to allow for maximum personal reflection and group discussion.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Jeff Doles
• Release date: Apr 4, 2013
• ISBN: 9781301052639

Jeff Doles

JEFF DOLES is a Christian writer, blogger and Bible teacher. He and his wife, Suzanne, live near Tampa, FL and are the founders of Walking Barefoot Ministries. Their desire is to help you take the next step of faith in your walk with the Lord, live in the reality of His kingdom, and experience the presence and power of God in your life. Jeff's books include Miracles and Manifestations of the Holy Spirit in the History of the Church, Healing Scriptures and Prayers, and Praying With Fire: Change Your World with the Powerful Prayers of the Apostles. His blog is The Faith Log: Exploring the Dynamics of Biblical Faith.

Book preview

There is Always Joy!

Paul’s Letter to the Jesus Believers at Philippi

©2013 by Jeff Doles

All rights reserved.

Print ISBN: 978-0-9823536-4-6

Published by

Walking Barefoot Ministries

P.O. Box 1062, Seffner, FL 33583

All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are from the New King James Version. © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Cover foreground image: St. Paul Stained Glass, from the chapel of the royal castle of Rouen, Normandy.  c. 1260. Public domain. Wikimedia Commons. Cover background image: Christ in Glory, Annibale Carracci. c. 1598. Public domain. Wikimedia Commons.

Cover design and book interior by www.ChristianBookDesign.com

For more resources on enjoying new life in Christ, living in faith and the power of the Holy Spirit, or to find out more about Jeff Doles, visit our websites:

www.WalkingBarefoot.com

www.TheFaithLog.com

www.HolySpiritMiracles.com

www.JeffDoles.com

Contents

Introduction

Backstory

A Dream of Macedonia

Have You Met Lydia?

The Python Lady

In the Jailhouse Now

Phil the Jailer

Paul’s Ministry Team at Philippi

Out of the Abundance of Joy

Paul’s Letter to the Jesus Believers at Philippi

Paul the Doulos (1:1)

No Second Class Saints (1:1)

Divine Favor and Total Well-Being (1:2)

Fellow Partakers of Gospel Joy and Grace (1:3-8)

That Love May Abound (1:9-11)

An Unexpected Turnaround (1:12-14)

Sorting Out Motives (1:15-18)

With All Boldness (1:19-20)

Far Better, or More Needful? (1:21-26)

Just One Thing (1:27-28)

An Unusual Favor (1:29-30)

Revealing the Fellowship of the Spirit (2:1-4)

Divine Humility, Divine Greatness (2:5-8)

The Humble God-Man Exalted with the Highest Glory (2:9-11)

God Working in You (2:12-13)

Lights in the Darkness (2:14-16)

All In for Each Other (2:16-18)

Like-Minded Servants, Tested by Fire (2:19-24)

Hold Such in High Regard (2:25-30)

Don’t Let Them Steal Your Joy (3:1-3)

From Great Loss to Great Gain (3:4-8)

The Faithfulness of Messiah (3:8-9)

The Power of Resurrection, the Fellowship of Suffering (3:10-11)

Pursuing a Jesus-Shaped Life (3:12-14)

Walking the Path Together (3:15-16)

Learning Together (3:17)

Enemies of the Cross (3:18-19)

A Colony of Heaven on Earth (3:20)

Conformed to His Glorious Body (3:21)

Standing Fast with One Mind (4:1-3)

Rejoicing in the Lord ~ Always! (4:4-5)

Replacing Worry with Divine Peace (4:6-7)

Think on These Things (4:8-9)

Paul’s Secret (4:10-14)

We’re in This Together (4:15-19)

Doxology, Greetings and Benediction (4:20-23)

About Jeff Doles

Books and Music by Jeff Doles

Introduction

crosses

THERE ARE A FEW themes that run throughout Paul’s letter to the Jesus believers at Philippi. Joy is the one most commonly associated with it — it envelops everything Paul has to say. But there are also other important matters inside that reveal the beat of his heart for the community of believers at Philippi.

Compared to his other letters, Paul mentions the gospel quite a lot for a letter this size. He uses the word gospel eight different times in this book of only four chapters. He also speaks at length about the partnership he has with the Philippian church in the ministry of the gospel. It is in regard to this that another very important theme emerges and works its way throughout. It starts slowly at first, with a few early hints, but then quickly builds up speed near the end of chapter 1. It runs strong throughout chapters 2 and 3 until it reaches its mark at the beginning chapter 4.

The high point of this theme, and this letter, is the example of the Lord Jesus and His self-giving humility (Philippians 2:5-11). Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, Paul says, and his aim is to bring the believers at Philippi all together as a team, with one mind, one heart and one soul for the sake of the gospel. Though he and they have endured many persecutions and difficulties, and with more on the horizon, Paul shows them how to rejoice in every circumstance — there is always joy!

In my series of Jesus Believers* books, I make no distinction between those who believe in Jesus and those who follow Him. They are one and the same. Faith is not an abstract assent to a proposition, it is personal relationship with another person — the Lord Jesus Christ. Those who know Him, follow Him. That is what faith looks like.

Also, when I speak of believers, I do not have in mind merely an assortment of individuals who have faith in the same Lord, I am thinking as much or more of the one body of which every believer is a part — the body of Christ — and how it is revealed in the local church (in this case, the body of believers at Philippi). There is both diversity and unity, and the interaction of the one and the many in the community of faith. All take part together as one. This is particularly significant as we go through Paul’s letter and see how he exhorts the believers at Philippi to work through their differences and come together with the same attitude that was demonstrated by the Lord Jesus.

Paul’s letter is to the Jesus believers at Philippi but it is for Jesus believers in all times and places. So his teachings, instructions and prayers have application for us today. This book is a study of that letter and those teachings. It comes from a series I taught on Philippians in the Bible study group I have been leading for over ten years. Teaching it live inspired me to expand on it in a series of blog posts at www.TheFaithLog.com. Now I have collected and edited them together into this present form (I believe in retasking).

These are bite-sized studies to help guide you through Paul’s letter a little at a time. For the most part, they retain the shape and style of the blog (minus the typos). At the end of each study, I offer some focus questions to help you think further about the truths Paul brings. There is no answer key (except Jesus) and I have purposely left these questions open-ended to allow for maximum personal reflection and group discussion.

As you may notice, there is a bit of repetition in this book. Part of this is the nature of the blog posts, written with the expectation that this series would pick up new readers along the way, and a bit of repetition from previous posts would help them get up to speed. In Bible college, I had a professor who used to say, Repetition is theological mucilage. There is a lot of wisdom in that, so I have let these repetitions stay to do their work and help sharpen our focus.

My intent with this book, as with my blog, is to encourage you in your faith and help you take the next step in your walk with the Lord and experience the reality of His kingdom, the divine destiny He has for you. For many years now, my favorite verse, the one I come back to again and again, has been Isaiah 50:4. The Lord God has given me the tongue of disciples, that I may know how to sustain the weary one with a word. He awakens me morning by morning, He awakens my ear to listen as a disciple (NASB). That has been my desire with this project and, indeed, with all my writing and ministry — to sustain the weary one with a word.

* In addition to this present book, my Jesus Believers series also includes The Focus of Our Faith: Paul’s Letter to the Jesus Believers at Colosse and Keeping the Faith When Things Get Tough: Peter’s Letter to Jesus Believers Scattered Everywhere.

The Backstory

crosses

A Dream of Macedonia

OPEN UP JUST ABOUT any Bible to the back pages and you will find a section of maps, usually in full color plates. Almost always, you will find one titled something about Paul’s Missionary Journeys. Look in the upper left section of that map and there is Italy. To the right you will find Macedonia, and below that, Greece. A little further right, you will see the regions of Galatia and Phyrgia.

Phrygia and Galatia are where the apostle Paul and his mission team had been ministering in about AD 50, when they desired to go on into the western region of Asia Minor. But the Holy Spirit would not let them. So they skirted around to the west until they came to Mysia, to the north. They had thought to cross eastward from there over to Bithynia, but again, the Holy Spirit stopped them. So they continued westward to Troas.

At Troas, Paul had a dream, a vision in the night. In this vision, he saw a man of Macedonia who begged him, Come over to Macedonia and help us. That settled the matter for Paul and his ministry associates. Since the Holy Spirit would not let them minister in Asia or Bithynia, and now Paul had this vision calling them to something that had not been on their itinerary, they concluded that the Lord was calling to them to go to Macedonia and preach the good news about King Jesus there. So they set sail from Troas to the small Greek island of Samothrace. The next day, they landed at Neapolis, and from there came to Philippi, about ten miles inland.

All of this is recorded in Acts 16:6-12, a transitional passage of how the Lord interrupted Paul’s plans and directed his way for a very significant change of course. Some very important times of ministry lay ahead for Paul and his team, at Philippi, Thessalonica, Berea, Athens, Corinth and Ephesus. However, in this study we will be focusing on what happened at Philippi.

Focus Questions

How do you suppose the Holy Spirit might have kept Paul and his associates from going on to Asia and Bithynia?

How did those prior actions of the Holy Spirit give greater significance to Paul’s dream?

Do you think God still leads people in this way today?

Have You Met Lydia?

THERE IS AN OLD SONG that goes, Lydia, oh Lydia! Say, have you met Lydia? Lydia the Tattooed Lady? Okay, so this piece is not about that Lydia. It’s about Lydia the Seller of Purple.

Now a certain woman named Lydia heard us. She was a seller of purple from the city of Thyatira, who worshiped God. The Lord opened her heart to heed the things spoken by Paul. (Acts 16:14)

Paul and associates, concluding from a dream Paul had that the Spirit of God was leading them to minister the gospel in Macedonia,