INTRODUCTION TO PHILLIPPIANS

l. Introduction - The location of the Church

A. When Paul chose a place in which to preach the gospel, he always did so with the eye of a strategist.

1. He always chose a place which was the key point of a whole area.

2. To this very day many of Paul's preaching centers are still great centers of human activity. Philippi had at least three

great claims to distinction:

B. In the neighborhood there were gold and silver mines.

1. By the time of the Christian era most of the mines were exhausted but by that time they had made Philippi a great commercial center of the- world.

C. The city had been founded by Phillip, the father of Alexander the Great, and even to this day bears his name.

I. Phillip founded the city in 368 BC because it was the most strategic military site in Europe.

2. There is a range of hills that divides Europe from Asia, east from west, and at Philippi that chain of hills dips into

a pass.

3. So that city commanded the road from Europe to Asia since the road went through that pass.

4. This was the reason one of the great battles of history was fought here - it was at this pass that Antony defeated Brutus ar Cassius and thereby decided the future of the Roman Empire.

D. Not long after that battle Philippi attained the dignity of a Roman Colony.

1. It was the custom of Rome to send out parties of veteran soldiers who had served their time and had evidenced their loyalty to settle in strategic places.

2. They were founded to keep the peace and to be a place where reinforcements could be expedited to the far flung Roman Empire.

3. In these colonies the Roman language was taught and Roman customs were observed

4. They were stubbornly and unalterably Roman Philippi was a true Roman Colony.

5. We can hear that Roman pride breathing through in the charge against Paul and Silas (Acts 16:20-21). These men are Jews and are trying to teach their laws and customs to us, which is not right for us to observe for we are Romans.

E. Catch Paul's comment in Phil 3:20 - You are a colony of heaven.

1. Just as the Roman Colonist never forgot in any environment that he was a Roman, so the believer must not forget in any society that he is a Christian.

2. Our citizenship is in heaven from whence we look for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

II. The Background of the Church

A. The story of Paul's stay in Philippi is told in Acts 16.

1. This church was born out of the conversion of 3 people.

B. Lydia the seller of purple, the demon possessed slave girl, and the Roman jailer.

1. It is an extraordinary cross section of human life.

2. These three people were of different nationalities.

3. Lydia was an Asiatic, the slave girl was a Greek and the jailer was a Roman.

4. The whole empire was represented in the birth of this church.

C. Not only were they of different nationalities but they came from different stratas of society.

1. Lydia was a business woman who dealt in purple, one of the costliest substances in the world. She would be considered a wealthy importer if she lived today.

2. The young girl was a slave and a fortune teller, in the eyes of the law she was not a person but a living tool to be used by her masters.

3. The Roman jailer was a Roman citizen as well as a low level government official. He was considered a part of the middle class.

4. No chapter of the Bible reveals so beautifully the all embracing faith which Jesus Christ brought to all men.

III. The Occasion of the Letter (1:1-2)

A. The opening sentence sets the tone of the whole letter.

1. It is a letter from a friend to friends.

2. Except for two other books one of which is a personal note (Philemon) all of Paul's letters open with a statement of

his apostleship.

3. Of all the churches it seems Paul was emotionally closest to this one.

4. He writes not as an- apostle to members of the church but he writes as a friend to a friend.

B. Paul does lay claim to one title (servant of Christ)

1. The word daubs means more than a hired servant, this person is a slave.

2. A servant is free to come and go but a slave is the possession of his Master forever.

C. when Paul calls himself a slave he is saying 3 things.

1. He is saying he is the absolute slave and possession of Christ. Christ has loved him and bought him with a price.

(I Cor 6:20)

2. He is saying he owes an absolute loyalty to Jesus Christ and owes Him unquestioning obedience. The salve had no will of his own - his master's will was his.

3. In O.T. the regular title of the prophets is "the servant of God" (Amos 3:7 - Jeremiah 7:25)

4. That's the title God himself gave to Moses (Joshua 1:2) It was also the title God gave to Joshua and David.

5. In fact to be a servant of God is the highest of all titles.

6. when Raul uses this title, he places himself in the succession of the prophets.

7. That tells us that Christian slavery to Jesus Christ is no cringing subjection.

8. The Latin gives it this way - to be his slave is to be King.

D. Are you his slave this morning or is it still your will and pleasure that you seek?

1. Will you own Him as Lord? Will you yield yourself to be His willing subject?

2. Will you confess - Not my will, thy will by done?