Phil 1:1-7 Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philip'pi, with the bishops and deacons: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank my God in all my remembrance of you,  always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, thankful for your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. And I am sure that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. It is right for me to feel thus about you all, because I hold you in my heart, for you are all partakers with me of grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel. 
… And I am sure that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.
	As we enter into a brief look at the Letter of the Apostle Paul to the church of Philippi, we are encouraged in our placement into the Lord Jesus Christ by the Grace of God. We have been dealing with His wisdom as it actively works within our lives to bring forth the perfect creation of the church, the bride, in Christ’s perfection. As we read in Eph 5:27 that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. 
In this Philippian letter, we carry forward with that truth as we are told that, without any doubt, God will bring His good work in us to completion. It is all in the grace and the wisdom of God that we are daily being conformed to the image of the Lord Jesus Christ. We are indwelled by His Holy Spirit, Who is bringing us into that place of being the perfect Bride of Christ. As Paul continues in Phil 1:9-11 And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruits of righteousness which come through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.
As we have focused on the grace of God in His wisdom, we have concentrated on the truth that the things of God cannot be centered in the wisdom of this realm. That wisdom sees only the temporal, the visible, the known quantities of measurement and deduction. But the wisdom of God transcends anything that this earthly mind can understand. That is why, as Christians, as those who are being made that which is in the heart of God, we cannot lean upon our thoughts, our emotions, or our human insights. We must lean solely upon the grace and the wisdom of God to see us through everything. 
	As a direct example in this first chapter of Philippians, we note that the Apostle Paul is writing from a Roman prison, awaiting his trial before Ceasar. This world would look at that as awful, as no way in which to promote beliefs and ideas. After all, who would want to believe what someone in prison has to say. It was their belief that caused them to be imprisoned and now facing death for those beliefs. Yet, in the wisdom of God, Paul was incarcerated for purposes far beyond even his understanding. He writes in verses 12-14 I want you to know, brethren, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel, so that it has become known throughout the whole praetorian guard and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ; and most of the brethren have been made confident in the Lord because of my imprisonment, and are much more bold to speak the word of God without fear. Even while Paul was in prison, the Lord was graciously showing him the effect that it was already having at this time. The whole Praetorian Guard had been exposed to the Gospel, the Good News of Jesus Christ. It is doubtful that that could have happened in such a precise and deliberate manner without the imprisonment of Paul. As well, the fellow Christians, seeing how the Lord was working mightily in Paul, had taken over the declaration of the Gospel with boldness and without fear. 
Just for the Lord to show the Apostle those things, through his imprisonment, were sufficient to bring courage and right understanding of the ways and the means of God into Paul’s heart. As such, he had the boldness to write to the many churches of his visitation to encourage them in the ways of the Lord. He told them not to despair with His imprisonment, but rather to see the Hand of God as He mightily and in all wisdom, made something so onerous to man, his imprisonment and eventual execution, that which would bring forth God’s glory in all the greater measure and fervor. Paul was at peace with God in his imprisonment for the sake of the Gospel. The churches were fully encouraged for the sake of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and prepared to see God’s Glory in the imprisonments and in the trials and the tribulations and the executions that were soon to be their earthly lot.
To an even greater measure, however, the wisdom of God put Paul in prison so that he would have the opportunity to write those letters of love and encouragement and support and guidance to the churches. - That he could declare the mystery of Christ in us, the hope of Glory. That is so important because, if he had not been imprisoned, Paul, in all likelihood, would not have had the time to write such eloquent truths that we hold so dear. He would have spent all the time in his days ministering to the needs of the church without the time to write these letters. However, because Paul was in prison, filled with ceaseless love for the church, the Holy Spirit had the freedom and the opportunity to inspire all these Apostolic Letters that we so cherish and that serve to encourage and to guide and to open the mystery of Jesus Christ and His Church, in us today. 
This world will never be able to understand that wisdom of God in operation. And, to a far greater measure, this world is absolutely unable to understand or appreciate the statement of Paul as he writes in Phil 1:21, For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. This world considers death to be the end of all things. It is so desperate that it even refuses to believe that there is a God in Heaven. Its futile hopes are entangled with the idea that it doesn’t matter what we do today because once we are dead, that is all there is. That is the excuse this age uses to engage in all kinds of filth and sordid activities without any worry of the consequences. That is why this world can never understand or accept that Jesus Christ died for our sins. This world prefers to believe in the lie that once dead, forever dead. Since Christ was crucified, He is no longer of any concern. – Oh, how hopeless is that deceived declaration of this age. It does not have the wisdom to see that God, in His Grace and His Wisdom, used death, the only weapon of this age, to create everlasting life in Jesus Christ. His death and resurrection has eternally vanquished the power of this world, and rather made His death the very source of our forgiveness of sin and Christ’s resurrection as the very beginning of true life everlasting. 
In Christ, we see the wisdom of the Lord as expressed in the statement of the Apostle Paul. It is one of the tenets of our faith in Jesus Christ. We thank the Lord God Almighty that we are included, fully included, in that death of Christ. All our sins have been forever buried on that side of the cross. And, in the triumphant resurrection of Jesus Christ, we have been lifted up, out of the death of this world, into His very life. All that God has done, gloriously and forever created, is in the life of Christ, and that is where He has put us. As we are in this world, it is so that our lives can be the living witness that there is a Lord above all creation, Our Lord Jesus Christ. We are His ambassadors in this world, representing Him every day in every way unto those who are lost and deceived by the power of this realm. We stand as the ensign of God to declare the victory of Our Lord over all the power of this earth, once and forever. 
The threat of the fear of death is no longer hanging over our heads as it does over those who deny Jesus Christ. We join Paul in his declaration that our life is Christ and our physical death brings not horror, but anticipation of being with Our Lord and no longer bound by the restraints of this world. We gain everything in Jesus Christ. Our lives are unto Him and for His purpose and for His sake. Our physical death is our homecoming again into His immediate presence. 
This world has nothing that it can use as a weapon to defeat the name of Jesus Christ, Lord, Savior, the King of kings. That truth utterly defies anything that this world calls wisdom. It sets aside all limited earthly counsel and its deceived and corrupt manner of self-protection and self-exaltation. The wisdom of God has taken all the power of this age and made it to be the instrument through which we can proclaim that Jesus Christ reigns supremely, eternally, and triumphantly over all of creation.
Listen to the words of Jesus Christ recorded in Matt 11:25-30 At that time Jesus declared, "I thank thee, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to babes; yea, Father, for such was thy gracious will. All things have been delivered to me by my Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and any one to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."
The world looks at this truth and guffaws at its apparent lack of human understanding. It makes no earthly sense. How can babes know more than those who are the wise of this world? - It is because the plan and purpose of God needed to be fully put into place with the death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Then, it is those who accept this tremendous Love of God, accept it with unwavering faith as a child, who are enabled to know the full power of the risen Lord. 
How can everything be delivered up to Jesus since He was crucified on the cross, a lowly criminal? He was not even executed in a manner that showed any semblance of honor or dignity. – He accepted the lowest and most vial of deaths for our sakes. He died without honor that He would be raised up in all the triumphant Glory of God. In His resurrection, Christ forever set aside all the power of this age and was lifted into the place at the right Hand of the Father on high. Praise God that He, as well, lifted us up and seated us with Himself in the heavenlies. It is from there, through the ever-present power of His Holy Spirit, that He now reigns eternally and supremely, over everything and everybody – over all of creation.  
How can one who is heavy laden and burdened find rest, especially if we have to put ourselves under someone else’s yolk? That is slavery! That is everything that we can’t abide as free and breathing human beings. - Remember back to when we accepted Christ into our heart? As he washed away our sins, there was a full release of all the worldly cares and burdens that had enslaved us. There was true freedom that flooded our souls and our spirits as we were given new life in Jesus. Then, as we walk on this earth, as the cares and the concerns of life begin to weigh heavily upon us, we find that when we turn to the Lord, when we rely on Him, all those burdens are released. I remember those times after my heart had wandered from the path of the Lord, how relieved and unburdened I was when I was brought back into the joy of Him in my life. When we are first learning Christ, we can be easily distracted. We tend to let our hearts wander from here to there, like a bird seeking seed among the pebbles. But, when we are brought back to the Lord, as the Holy Spirit works to get our attention and to redirect our hearts unto Christ, there is an immediate and seemingly audible and even physical release of those cares and stresses of this life. We have complete peace and rest as we learn to trust Him in everything in our lives.
How can a yolk be easy since it is chained around the neck as with cattle and oxen? How can a burden be light? If it is a burden, it is a heavy restraint, something that prevents me from doing that which I desire. - Oh the truth of a life hid in Jesus Christ. There is satisfaction, there is delight, there is peace, and there is a deep and everlasting joy in the fellowship of the heart of Christ. The burdens we carry in the Lord are those that are set in Him and His people. We are not left to try to carry any burdens with our own strength. He is our strength. He is our endurance. He is our ability to stand forth in His righteousness to face everything this world hurls at us. We are not alone. We have the very power and wisdom and comfort and presence of the Almighty God of Creation within our hearts. He shows forth Himself, in all His loving-kindness and tender mercy, in the midst of all our trials and tribulations. We actually find that we are made alive as we submit to Him in everything of our walk on this earth. There is tremendous freedom and assurance in knowing that God is in charge of our lives and everything concerning our lives. We can fully and absolutely and confidently rely on Him to get us through the day-to-day, moment by moment walk of our lives in Him. We can trust God in everything!
How is it possible that the Lord of all Creation can be gentle and lowly in heart? A King is a king because he ruthlessly subdues and suppresses anyone who is even perceived as a threat to his throne and dominion. - Oh the folly of human wisdom! There is a complete lack of understanding the very basis of the Lordship of Jesus Christ. His rule is a rule of Love. He does not demand anything from us. He loves us to the point that we desire to give Him all Honor and Adoration and Glory. This was hidden from the wise of this age because in their limited wisdom, they would have taken that which is perfect and holy and honorable and made a mockery of it. They would have tried to make the Lord fit into their ideas and schemes and concepts, something that the Lord will never do. He cannot be contained by anything of this world, and yet, in His love, He abides in our hearts and our spirits and we have free communion with Him in His Glory.
We know that Christ is the Lord of all creation. We are blessed with the view of His sovereignty by the work of the Holy Spirit as He shows more and more of the Omnipotence, Omniscience, and Omnipresence of God in our lives and in all of creation. As is recorded in Luke 10:21-24 In that same hour he rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, "I thank thee, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to babes; yea, Father, for such was thy gracious will. All things have been delivered to me by my Father; and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, or who the Father is except the Son and any one to whom the Son chooses to reveal him." Then turning to the disciples he said privately, "Blessed are the eyes which see what you see! For I tell you that many prophets and kings desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it." 
Isn’t it marvelous and miraculous that the Lord has chosen to reveal Himself even unto us? In His Grace and Wisdom, He has shown us all the fullness of Christ. We are given the Holy Spirit to establish the truth and the majesty of God, in us, in all His Splendor and Holiness. We are enabled to see and to understand those things that have been hidden for ages upon ages. We are shown that there is a very specific purpose of God’s wisdom in action in our lives and in all of creation. It is a purpose that many have yet to understand or appreciate, but it is being revealed and shown as the fullness of the heart of God in Christ and His Church.
Ex 19:6 and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel." God is creating a kingdom, a kingdom of priests whose entire focus of being is unwaveringly set in the glory of Jesus Christ, His Only Begotten Son. We are being transformed into that holy nation and this is completely outside the understanding and the knowledge of this age. There will come a time, a gloriously triumphant time, when Jesus Christ is revealed in all His Splendor and Lordship, and the Church, we, will be with Him in that revelation. All of creation will witness the mighty and awesome hand of God, in all His Grace and Wisdom and Love, in the people who belong fully and eternally to Him.
Rev 5:9-10 and they sang a new song, saying, "Worthy art thou to take the scroll and to open its seals, for thou wast slain and by thy blood didst ransom men for God from every tribe and tongue and people and nation, and hast made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on earth." 
We are a royal priesthood, priests unto God in every sense of the word. We are consecrated to Him, as the priests of old were consecrated through the blood of bulls. We are consecrated to Him through the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. Our entire being is centered in Him, focused upon Him, and fully in line with His Word. We have no inheritance in the things of this world, just as the priests had no allotment in the land. Our portion is the Lord and the Lord Alone. That is why, as fellow members of the Church, the Body of Christ, our call is unto the holiness of God. We are to live lives that are immersed in the foundations of His Word, guided and directed by the Holy Spirit, and expressing the heart of Love with which God has loved us. 
As the church is made the perfect Bride of Christ, through the continually working of the Holy Spirit, absolutely and fully in line with the Word of God, we will find that His wisdom is our wisdom. As we face the decisions of life, the manner in which we are to walk and to live on this earth, we will find less and less attraction to the things of this world. We will have a far greater focus developed in us unto the things of God. That is our true life, after all. We are the priests of the kingdom of Our Lord God Almighty.
John saw this as he wrote in Rev 1:4-6 John to the seven churches that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne, and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the first-born of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.
And I am sure that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. It is right for me to feel thus about you all, because I hold you in my heart, for you are all partakers with me of grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel. Amen

Today’s benediction is found in Job 28, verses 20-28 "Whence then comes wisdom? And where is the place of understanding? It is hid from the eyes of all living, and concealed from the birds of the air. Abaddon and Death say, 'We have heard a rumor of it with our ears.' "God understands the way to it, and he knows its place. For he looks to the ends of the earth, and sees everything under the heavens. When he gave to the wind its weight, and meted out the waters by measure; when he made a decree for the rain, and a way for the lightning of the thunder; then he saw it and declared it; he established it, and searched it out. And he said to man, 'Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding.'" Amen