‘Authority’ and ‘obedience’ are so often seen in a negative light today and are rarely, if ever, combined with ‘joy’. However, this week in Philippians 4:2-9 we are commanded to rejoice! Twice! And to ‘rejoice always’! It is possible to be both obedient AND full of joy. In fact, being joyful is to obey. God is far from being a ‘kill-joy’ – he is the source of all true joy and wants nothing more than for us to rejoice in him as we entrust ourselves and our anxieties to his good and sovereign care. The Lord is at hand; and […]

Even our best efforts and intentions contribute in no way towards our right standing before God and having peace with him. This week, in Philippians 3:1-11, we will hear Paul speaking of the very core of the gospel – righteousness which comes from God through faith in Christ; the very essence of faith – counting everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus our Lord; and the very heart of God himself as he pledges himself to his people, the ‘real circumcision’ in redeeming love and covenant grace. Following his ‘meeting’ with Jesus on the road […]

What appears to be a break in Paul’s declaration of the gospel and his exhortations to the Philippians to tell of his travel plans for himself and his fellow workers, is in fact no break at all. On the contrary, as we’ll see this week, Philippians 2:19-30 demonstrates the same selfless love and humble service that Paul exhorted his readers to walk in earlier in the chapter. The same selfless love and humble service that Christ himself displayed in his life and death (2:6-11), are now shown to be at work in those who believe. Those who share in the […]

Our text for this Sunday is Philippians 2.12-18.  In verse 12, Paul gives this startling instruction: “work out your salvation with fear and trembling”. While this has perplexed many believers ever since he wrote it, we need to see that this salvation has already been given to us from God through faith in the Lord Jesus and the ‘working out’ of it flows from the humility, obedience and exaltation of Jesus that Paul has described in the previous verses. Even so there is ‘work’ for us to do so that our day to day lives reflect this salvation but always […]

This coming Sunday we commence a new series through Paul’s letter to the Philippians. In the opening section (verses 1-11) we are given insight into Paul’s prayer for the saints at Philippi. Despite being imprisoned at the time, he is filled with thanksgiving and joy for their partnership with him in the gospel, and with confidence in their salvation. Paul’s assurance is not based upon any work of theirs, but solely upon the grace of God they have received – God will bring to completion the work he began in them. What a relief that can be to us, that […]

This week we conclude our series through Ecclesiastes where we read, ‘the end of the matter; all has been heard.’ Having heard the wisdom of the Preacher, who has investigated every possible aspect of life under the sun for meaning and gain, only to find it is all meaningless, we could easily be driven to complete despair. Yet we know there must be something more than nothing – after all, eternity has been placed in our hearts! And so, in fact, we are driven to complete dependence – ‘Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole of man.’ In […]

Despite the meaninglessness and seemingly random nature of all things under the sun, the Preacher of Ecclesiastes is certain that wisdom is better than folly. Our passage this week (Ecclesiastes 9:13-10:15) provides numerous proverbs which drive home this conclusion. For example, the words of a poor wise man deliver a meagre city besieged by a great king, and “the words of the wise heard in quiet are better than the shouting of a ruler among fools.” However, the Preacher also recognises the devastating impact even just a little folly can have over wisdom– “wisdom is better than weapons of war, […]

When one observes life ‘under the sun’ it is easy to think that good things happen to bad people, and bad things happen to good people. To the Preacher such events seems to be unavoidable and random, a matter of time and chance. However, he is aware that such events are in the hands of God, but admits he cannot fathom this wisdom. In Ecclesiastes 9, with the same brutal honesty that he has assessed life under the sun so far, the Preacher notes that whether good or evil, clean or unclean, swift or slow, strong or weak, ‘the same […]

This week we hear from the Preacher of Ecclesiastes in the second half of Chapter 7 who, having searched high and low under the sun, seeking wisdom, righteousness and ‘the scheme of things’, comes up empty handed. ‘Surely there is not a righteous man on earth who does good and never sins,’ he remarks. Aware of this sad truth, in his wisdom, the Preacher offers sound instruction to all who might listen: Don’t be overly righteous, nor overly wicked, for neither can secure your destiny – instead, fear God. Humanity has devised many schemes as we seek to secure our […]

Through confronting questions, wise counsel and striking proverb the Teacher continues to probe the perplexing issues of life: existence, death, grief, pride and anger, living in the past and struggling with the sovereignty of God. No simplistic answers here, but neither is there a giving way to godless despair. In the gospel the Spirit indeed reveals the deep things of God – ‘what God has prepared for those who love him,’ but it is good to be reminded that even ‘the secret wisdom of God’ does not automatically resolve the deep and dark riddles of life. We do not have […]