JASON MARTIN
PHILIPPIANS / Philippians 2
• Philippians 2:1 “So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy,”
• if there is.....of course there is - his point is that SINCE THERE IS.....
• Philippians 2:2 “complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.”
• If verse 1 is true (and it is) - complete my joy by doing these things...
• Philippians 2:3 “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.”
• don’t do these things - instead do this....J.O.Y.
• unity is protected through humility. humility isn’t thinking less of ourselves - it’s thinking of ourselves less
• ambition isn’t the problem - selfish ambition is. Conceit is...
• My ambition is to have a fulfilling, prosperous life. The error would be if a stepped on whoever I needed to in order to make that happen. (“it’s a dog-eat-dog world” - “nice guys finish last” - “you gotta do what you gotta do”)
• My ambition is to share the Word with everybody I come into contact with. The error would be if I wanted myself to be the only person people would hear the Word through as though I’m on some spiritual pedestal.
• Ambition builds hospitals, church buildings, community outreach, etc...
• Selfish ambition and conceit claim to build up, but only tear down. The work of the enemy is to twist something good into something wicked.
• Philippians 2:4 “Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.”
• We don’t neglect our own interests - but we also don’t neglect others. We are called to do whatever is best for the Kingdom - the Body of believers. That usually starts with looking out for the interests of others.
• If we cant live in unity, our witness can lose credibility. If we behave like everybody else, why would anybody want what we have? They already have division and chaos, when the Kingdom mentality of the LORD is calling for unity and order...
• Ephesians 4:1–3 “I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”
• Humility leads to unity - which leads to joy....
• Philippians 2:5 “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus,”
• We have the Perfect example of how to live as part of the body - the family - the new creation
• Philippians 2:6 “who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped,”
• Jesus is the image of God
• grasped = "harpagmos”
• Christ set the Perfect example because He humbly put the interests of saving mankind ahead of His own comfort.
• Philippians 2:7 “but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.”
• VERY IMPORTANT!!!! AT NO POINT DID JESUS EVER STOP BEING GOD!!!!!
• He emptied Himself of the privileges and porrogatives of deity. At the transfiguration, He showed His Divine nature on the mountain.
• He took the FORM of a servant - a man
• Genesis 18:1–2 “And the Lord appeared to him by the oaks of Mamre, as he sat at the door of his tent in the heat of the day. He lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, three men were standing in front of him. When he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them and bowed himself to the earth”
• 2 were angels, the Other was the LORD. All were in the ‘form’ or ‘appearance’ of men
• Duolos
• Paul also says it like this;
• 2 Corinthians 8:9 “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich.”
• Have we ever seen ‘Undercover Boss’? When the owner takes off his executive clothes and does the work of an entry level employee, does he stop being the owner? No.
• Philippians 2:8 “And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”
• In His Divinity, the LORD had nobody to obey -
• Hebrews 5:8 “Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered.”
• He learned obedience by entering into creation through the birth canal, living the life of the only sinless person to ever live, and carrying out the Divine Will by dying a humiliating death on a cross.
• Philippians 2:9 “Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name,”
• False religions;
• Jesus is God, but not man
• Jesus is man, but not God
• Arians - (JW, LDS) - claim Jesus is neither God or man. He is the first created being. This is heresy
• Nestorians - Jesus was 2 persons, 1 divine, 1 man
• Is that Name Jesus (YHWH saves)? Is it YHWH? YES
• The Father is YHWH, the Son is YHWH, the Spirit is YHWH
• RABBIT HOLE TIME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
• NAME THEOLOGY
• ‘The Name’ (Hebrew Ha’Shem) is a way of referring to the authority or Presence of YHWH Himself. Even to this day, Jews and others out of reverence, will either refer to Him as ‘Adonai’ (Lord) or ‘Ha’Shem’ (The Name).
• Deuteronomy 12:5 “But you shall seek the place that the Lord your God will choose out of all your tribes to put his name and make his habitation there. There you shall go,”
• The Name is something that can be placed and dwell
• Deuteronomy 16:2 “And you shall offer the Passover sacrifice to the Lord your God, from the flock or the herd, at the place that the Lord will choose, to make his name dwell there.”
• (dt 14:23, dt 26:2)
• 2 Samuel 7:13 “He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.”
• Psalm 20:1–2 “May the Lord answer you in the day of trouble! May the name of the God of Jacob protect you! May he send you help from the sanctuary and give you support from Zion!”
• Psalm 20:7 “Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.”
• Exodus 23:20–21 ““Behold, I send an angel before you to guard you on the way and to bring you to the place that I have prepared. Pay careful attention to him and obey his voice; do not rebel against him, for he will not pardon your transgression, for my name is in him.”
• Exodus 33:12–14 “Moses said to the Lord, “See, you say to me, ‘Bring up this people,’ but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. Yet you have said, ‘I know you by name, and you have also found favor in my sight.’ Now therefore, if I have found favor in your sight, please show me now your ways, that I may know you in order to find favor in your sight. Consider too that this nation is your people.” And he said, “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.””
• But they didn’t listen...
• Judges 2:1–3 “Now the angel of the Lord went up from Gilgal to Bochim. And he said, “I brought you up from Egypt and brought you into the land that I swore to give to your fathers. I said, ‘I will never break my covenant with you, and you shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land; you shall break down their altars.’ But you have not obeyed my voice. What is this you have done? So now I say, I will not drive them out before you, but they shall become thorns in your sides, and their gods shall be a snare to you.””
• Isaiah 30:27 “Behold, the name of the Lord comes from afar, burning with his anger, and in thick rising smoke; his lips are full of fury, and his tongue is like a devouring fire;”
• Now, the N.T. cashes the check.....
• Jude 5 “Now I want to remind you, although you once fully knew it, that Jesus, who saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe.”
• John 17:6 ““I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word.”
• Jesus didn’t teach them how to pronounce the Name, He embodied it....... He revealed;
• The Father’s Character
• The Father’s Presence
• The Father’s Authority
• Philippians 2:10–11 “so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
• Isaiah 45:23 “By myself I have sworn; from my mouth has gone out in righteousness a word that shall not return: ‘To me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear allegiance.’”
• When we see the word “LORD” in the O.T., it generally is in place of the Divine Name, YHWH. In the Septuagint - which is the Greek translation of the O.T. that was used during the time of Jesus and the Apostles - they translated it “Kyrios”.
• I say that to say this; Paul isn’t using the term ‘LORD’ only as a sign of respect and authority - he is clearly saying that Jesus is YHWH.
• Some traditions claim to serve God, but not Jesus. That idea is incoherent according to Scripture.
• What gives glory to the Father? Knees bowed and tongues confessing that Jesus is LORD.
• John 5:22–23 “For the Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him.”
• John 15:8 “By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.”
• We glorify God by bearing much fruit - and when we do bear fruit, we prove to be disciples of Jesus
• We cannot honor, glorify, or do the will of the Father - without being in Christ
• Philippians 2:12 “Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling,”
• Obedience is evidence of faith in God. Once we receive salvation, we put it into practice through obedience.
• Luke 6:46 ““Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you?”
• John 14:15 ““If you love me, you will keep my commandments.”
• John 14:21 “Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.””
• 1 John 2:4–6 “Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him: whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.”
• Isaiah 29:13 “And the Lord said: “Because this people draw near with their mouth and honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me, and their fear of me is a commandment taught by men,”
• Matthew 7:21 ““Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.”
• John 6:40 “For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.””
• Who will raise them? Only God can give life....
• None of us can do that in our sinful flesh, but it’s still commanded. if Paul stopped here, we would be in big trouble. Thankfully, he let’s us know how our obedience is carried out....
• Philippians 2:13 “for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.”
• Who is doing the work?
• Philippians 1:6 “And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.”
• Zechariah 4:6 “Then he said to me, “This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord of hosts.”
• Philippians 2:14 “Do all things without grumbling or disputing,”
• Do we grumble? I do. But when we focus on what’s wrong, instead of what’s right - we fail to recognize God’s provision. This is exactly what caused an entire generation to die in the wilderness.
• Numbers 14:26–33 “And the Lord spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, “How long shall this wicked congregation grumble against me? I have heard the grumblings of the people of Israel, which they grumble against me. Say to them, ‘As I live, declares the Lord, what you have said in my hearing I will do to you: your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness, and of all your number, listed in the census from twenty years old and upward, who have grumbled against me, not one shall come into the land where I swore that I would make you dwell, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun. But your little ones, who you said would become a prey, I will bring in, and they shall know the land that you have rejected. But as for you, your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness. And your children shall be shepherds in the wilderness forty years and shall suffer for your faithlessness, until the last of your dead bodies lies in the wilderness.”
• Paul is reminding the Philippians that God isn’t into grumbling or arguing. Now, notice how he compares and contrasts that with the ways of the world.
• Philippians 2:15 “that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world,”
• blameless and innocent isn’t sinless. it means nobody has anything valid against us. we act a certain way among a world that acts a different way. We are the lights in the darkness when we reflect Christ.
• Note that the darker it is, the more irritating light is, but also the more useful.
• The stars never stop shining, but we only see them when it’s dark.....
• Philippians 2:16 “holding fast to the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain.”
• word of life = Gospel - hold fast to it
• Philippians 2:17–18 “Even if I am to be poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrificial offering of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all. Likewise you also should be glad and rejoice with me.”
• The drink offering (libation) was the wine poured completely out alongside a sacrifice.
• Paul is saying their faithful lives are the sacrificial offering, and his suffering is the drink offering that goes with it and they should all rejoice for the opportunity to serve the LORD in whatever way they are called to.
In this last paragraph, Paul gives examples of what Kingdom-minded, Christ-like service with humble obedience looks like;
• The Philippians had sent Epaphroditus to care for Paul during his imprisonment. Now Paul is sending Timothy to care for the Philippians. In contrast to some others, Timothy is an example of someone who puts Christ and others ahead of himself. He’s also sending Epaphroditus back with this letter. They were concerned because he had almost died, but the LORD spared him by healing him. Paul saw this as a great mercy for both himself and Epaphroditus.
• Finally, honor such people.
• Romans 13:7 “Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed.”
This chapter tells us what Kingdom-minded people look like because this is what the King looks like....
Just like how our head tells our body where to go and what to do. So it is with Christ, who is the Head of the Church to us, who are the body.
Humility breeds unity and J.O.Y.
Exported from Logos Bible Study, 9:16 AM June 26, 2026.