ruthpe

righteousness obtained through faith means it is nothing that I have done but with faith in God and Christ's dying for me on the cross, it washes me white as snow. It means the Jesus cleanses me and I put on His righteousness. righteousness by the law means I have to constantly try to do all the right things and to say all the right things to try and make myself acceptable to God. I cannot do that. It is impossible. I don't think it is a major issue, but I am sure some of the congregation struggle with it. I am not sure about Society's view, I think they believe we all should act and behave a certain way and if we don't they might question our Christianity. because we feel we need to do something to obtain it, people question the things that are free, that are there for the taking.

because it dosent satisfy the longing that is placed in everyones heart to know and be loved by God. He considers them a loss because Loving and knowing God is so much more rewarding then just following rules and traditions. My religious backround was a little like the Jews, in that you had to dress a certain way, and obstain from certian things in order to be a Christian and to be accepted by God.

If I do all the right things and dress the 'right way' then somehow I feel like I am ok. Or if I volunteer for all the right committees and donate to all the right causes..... I probably have struggles with it because it seems more controllable then just trusting & believing God to save me. "If I do all the right things then God is obligated to fill His part of the deal."

Paul asks God to give the Phillipians discernment so that the can see and decide what is best and that being able to do that will enable them to stay pure and blameless until Christ comes. If I am more concerned with myself and what I do and want, I am not able to see what God wants me to see. I am not able to see thing as He sees them and that should be our objective. Good is settling for second best. We should always be searching for what God and for what He wants to teach us. If we keep an open heart and mind , He will show us what is best for our lives. We Could just live a good Christian life and do all the right things but maybe that isn't the best that God wants for us.

Paul expected God to continue to be close to the Phillipians and to send things in their lives to help them rely on Him. The more they relized that they could do nothing on their own but that all was dependant on God for His strength and help. This would then help them grow and become closer to God. It is something that God had said He would do and Paul had seen it in his own life as well. So from experiance as well as having faith in Gods's promises. God is the same yesterday,today and tomorrow. So what He did for the Philippian believers He will also do for us.

the joy of knowing that we are a part of fruthering God's work even when we are not there in person. we can write letters of encouragement and let them know that we are praying for them. Also sometimes small gifts from home sent the them mean a lot also.

slaves are committed for life and so should our commitment be as Christians to God. We should be sold out and that should be our focus!

I found it a little hard to read between the lines , as to what their problem was. But it seems like they were having problems being unified in their decisions and that everyone thought they were right. They were becoming divided and were pushing their own agendas. Their agendas were becoming more important than loving their brother and wanting the best for each other. Timothy was genuinely interested in the Philippians and for how they were doing. He had no agenda other than seeing to it that they were well and growing in Jesus Christ. He was a role model that Paul wanted to send to them to help them get out of the rut that they were in. Epaphreditus was honored in that he almost died , risking his own life to serve Christ and make up for what the Philippians could not give Paul. He was sold out to the cause of Christ in a very real way. This is what I gather from reading verses 29-30. does anyone know what he actually did , that he almost died?

I have been reading everyone elses replies and find good in both approaches. However , I think that serving Jesus because I love Him and because He has done so much for me is more the way I see it. (preference) When I think of how much He loves me and all that He has done , all I want to do is to serve Him and am committed to doing that till I die (and after). Serving Him as a slave to me has a negative feel more than a positive one. Slaves did not serve out of gratitude for all the master had done for them, most times they hated or at least disliked their masters. True, you have no other choice and that is your one focus . But do you do it because you want to or because you have to. As it says in Galations 4:31 - " We are not children of the slave woman but of the free woman." I would want my leader to serve out of preference because he so loves his God and wants to serve Him. I think in some ways I grew up with having leaders that served God as "slaves" , because they had to follow so many rules and had to keep up an image.