Philippians 2:1-11 - The Seven Steps of Humiliation and The Seven Steps of Exaltation

It was Spring Break this week and Bella, Beckett and I had a chance to tromp around Forest Park near Portland. It reminded me once again of the days I attended Portland State and the time spent outdoors even in a big city. We came across a staircase that seemingly led up to the sun...


In his exposition of Philippians 2:1-11, J. Vernon McGee describes the seven steps of humiliation of Christ and the seven steps of exaltation of Christ.

First, the seven steps downward:

1. Christ left heaven's glory.
2. Christ emptied himself. (Php 2:7a)
3. Jesus came to earth as a servant. (Php 2:7b)
4. Jesus was made in the likeness of men. (Php 2:7c)
5. Christ humbled Himself. (Php 2:8a)
6. Christ became obedient to death. (Php 2:8b)
7. Even death on a cross. (Php 2:8c)



Next, the seven steps upward:

1. God highly exalted Christ. (Php 2:9a)
2. God gave Christ the name above every name. (Php 2:9b)
3. "at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow" - Jesus meaning "Savior" (Php 2:10)
4. Things in heaven shall bow. (Php 2:10b)
5. Things on earth shall bow. (Php 2:10c)
6. Things under the earth the earth. (Php 2:10d)
7. Every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. (Php 2:11)

Quarter Point Curriculum Update Meeting Notes

Present: Torrey Lewis, Nell Noah, Jean Gard, Patti Ramos, John Sutton, Dee Sutton, Howard Saxton, Fran Saxton

1. MacArthur Commentary
    a. Howard and Nell have purchased and have enjoyed it.
    b. Nell brought into class and has been able to read sections of the commentary during class time to bring out a point.

2. Video / Visual aspect
    a. Jean has attempted to use it, but has had technical difficulties
        i. Worked the first week, but didn’t work today. AR Torrey – investigate issues
    b. Nell and John offered their TVs for use for the Easter Tree Children’s Worship.
    c. Howard no need to start announcement DVD on Sunday mornings

3. Learner “Guide”
    a. Students have lacked the opportunity to utilize their own study guides. This is a concern as the ability for a student to easily study the week’s section of Scripture has lessened.
    b. The Quarterlies were in consistent use in several of the classes in previous quarters.
    c. Concern expressed about people not getting the “BBC Word for The Week” in the bulletin. Patti said that they are being inserted into the bulletin. Torrey checked with Carroll asking Greeters to double check as they hand out the bulletins.
    d. Fran requested a list of websites that students in their class could utilize for personal study. AR Torrey - Torrey to get list from Jean Gard and printout for Fran.
        i. http://www.blueletterbible.org/
        ii. http://www.biblestudytools.com/

4. Lack of audio resource for vision impaired students
    a. Two students were making active use of these resources prior and do not have access with the current curriculum.

April 17th is the Quarterly Team Huddle – 4-7pm
    4-5:15pm – Position Meeting with Primary Teams
         Teacher / Class Coordinators
         Fellowship Coordinator
         Care Coordinator
         Discipleship Coordinator
         Mission Coordinator
    5:15pm-5:45pm – Potluck Meal in Fellowship Hall with Life Group class meeting to follow (could eat and meet at the same time)
    5:45pm-7pm – Life Group Class Meeting time

April 24th – Life Group teacher training. Torrey to request funds from Stewardship Team to help cover cost. Note, this is a time conflict with the Beth Moore simulcast.

Teamwork videos for this week's lesson

I found a couple of videos that related to teamwork.  Thought I would share.

The goal for this week's lesson is:  To help the learner discover the joy available in ministering with other believers.






As a side note, wasn't that song that the worship team did this past Sunday really good. I'm a visual type of person and I remember the photos and the orange words coming in with the lyrics. Good stuff! As I was reading through the Scripture for this week's lesson, the video and song came to mind as I read Philippians 1:27b: "... that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind, striving side by side for the faith of the gospel."

Quarter Point Curriculum Review Meeting

Believe it or not, next Sunday (March 28th) we will be one-fourth of the way through our study in Philippians!  (Get it?  We're at the "quarter" point!  Hehe...)  Time flies when you're studying great Scripture!

Logistically, we will need to have a real good idea about the curriculum coming out of our Quarterly Life Group Team Huddle on April 17th (about the halfway point).  As such, I'd like to suggest that we get together as a group of Life Group Teachers (Class Coordinators optional) to discuss the curriculum:  what we like, what we don't like, things to tweak, etc.  Talking about it now will give us a chance to adjust and implement prior to the Quarterly Team Huddle.

So here's the proposed meeting time:

Date: Sunday, March 21st
Time: 4pm (before the 5pm Business Meeting)
Place: John Sutton's class room (i.e. Welcome Room)
Required Attendance: Life Group Teachers
Optional Attendance: Life Group Class Coordinators

Let me know yay or nay if you will be there.  Your input is needed, this will be an opportune time to brainstorm together and decide how to move forward.

(image)

John Bunyan - Ministry Through Trials

I thought this illustration paralleled Paul’s experience and showed amazing perseverance. Perhaps a good illustration for Sunday.


“John Bunyan’s preaching was so popular and powerful, and so unacceptable to leaders in the seventeenth-century Church of England, that he was jailed in order to silence him. Refusing to be silent, he began to preach in the jail courtyard. He not only had a large audience of prisoners, but also hundreds of the citizens of Bedford and the surrounding area would come to the prison daily and stand outside to hear him expound Scripture. He was silenced verbally by being placed deep inside the jail and forbidden to preach at all. Yet in that silence, he spoke loudest of all and to more people than he could have imagined. It was during that time that he wrote The Pilgrim’s Progress, the great Christian classic that has ministered the gospel to tens of millions throughout the world. For several centuries, it was the most widely read and translated book in the world after the Bible. Bunyan’s opponents were able to stop his preaching for a few years, but they were not able to stop his ministry. Instead, they provided opportunity for it to be extended from deep within a jail in the small town of Bedford to the ends of the earth.”

--John MacArthur, Philippians (Chicago: Moody Press, 2001), 59–60.  Image.

Possible Outline for this week

In reading through the commentary for this quarter, I noticed a potential outline for class:

InJoying Ministry Through Trials
In Spite of Trouble -As Long as Christ's Cause is Progressed - Php 1:12-14
In Spite of Detractors - As Long as Christ's Name is Proclaimed - Php 1:15-18
In Spite of Death - As Long as the Lord is Glorified - Php 1:19-21

From last week ... Koinonia - Philippians 1:5

I had intended this to go out last week, but alas it didn't.  I forgot to hit the "Publish Post" button.  Oops! :)
Anyway, here it is.

Up to this point, whenever, I think of the Greek word "koinonia" I have thought of fellowship, such as a gathering of believers typically for a "fun" social event.  Christmas party, Thanksgiving Banquet, going to see a hockey game (bummer about USA :( ).

One of the things I've been kicking around in the back of my head is how this same Greek word is used in Philippians 1:5 - "in view of your participation in the gospel from the first day until now" (ESV).

Take a gander at p. 22 of our recommended commentary for the quarter.  There's a lot more to koinonia than I first anticipated.

How should our service play a part in our fellowship?  Thoughts?

For grins, I was curious where else in the Bible this Greek word is used.  See below for a chart...