At my church, we have a Young Adults group that meets together about once a month to study God's Word together and discuss it as a group. This summer, the hope is to meet twice a month instead as we go through asking questions that are either difficult to answer or something that many people will have conflicting opinions in. The end goal is not to agree necessarily, but to know how to use discernment and to come to a logical conclusion with evidence to support our answer.
My goal is to write down my notes and observations as I listen to what others have said. I will use pen names for each of my peers for their privacy, but if they want to correct what they had said, they can reach out to me and ask me which of the pen names is associated with what they had said. I want to write down more than just what I have said because I value all of their opinions and conclusions. I also want to be able to see where they got their evidence so I can evaluate what I believe with the evidence that they brought in. I don't want to come with a closed mind, and I am sure that most of them are not planning on coming in with closed minds either. I know that most of the information I believe because it was instilled in me from a young age by my parents, the church, and other people in my life. I am still working on checking what I believe in myself, so I am looking forward to this interaction.
The first topic we discussed was: Phillipians 4:13- What does it really mean? Philippians 4:13 reads " I can do all things through Him who strengthens me. (ESV)"
First, my observations from the passage and my own personal notes. I will be honest, looking at this verse without context it might look like this verse gives us the free will and power to do anything that we chose to do and have the ability to overcome the difficulties that come along with the consequences of the choices that we make. For example, someone could read into this passage that it means that we are allowed to sin because God will give us the strength to do so. This is so far taken out of context, though. That is one thing that we will frequently mention when discerning a verse. Context. There are so many other examples of verses in the Bible that are misunderstood either on purpose or on accident because of the context of the situation.
Secondly, when studying the passage as a whole, it is understood that Paul (the author of the book of Philippians) was talking about "all things" in relation to being able to survive on plenty and on little. So, looking at the few sentences before that, it is understood that Paul is saying he can survive on whatever he has because he understands that it comes from God alone. This is not to say that God does not help us when we are struggling (Romans 8:26, 1 Corinthians 10:13) but that is not the purpose of this passage.
Okay, so now into what the Young Adults Bible Study said:
Syntyche: This passage is connected to surviving anything.
Lynn: "All things" indicates emotional, physical, mental, etc. without looking at the context
Yanny: "strengthens" = "sustains"
Moon: "strength" = "empower" in Greek. "I can do all things through the One who gives me strength" is another translation that makes it more clear.
Yanny: Prosperity gospel loves taking this verse out of context.
Jack: People view this as empowering them.
Moon: Some pray to have the strength that is talked about in this verse, and then are disappointed when God does not do what they thought was right. So, they do not believe in the power of this verse and sometimes in turn the gospel as a whole.
Yanny: We need an attitude of dependency.
Lynn: The big thing is contentment. "I can do all things...as long as I'm content."
Yanny: Some have an attitude of "whatever happens happens"
Moon: The 'secret' from vs. 12 is in vs. 13. God will supply every NEED of yours.
Jack: The end of the chapter gives more context to this verse pointing us to Paul's need
Lynn: These people have had troubles as well, so they can relate.
David: Philippians is a book of rejoicing.
Lynn: Paul wants the Philippians to discern also.
Jack: The end goal is Love.
Yanny: Discernment goes hand in hand with knowledge
Mrs. A: This book mentions partaking in grace together as a church.
Moon: The church at Phillipi is with Paul...even if it is not physically.
Yanny: Discernment in Christ is important...gave the gospel...thus is experience is bringing the focus back to Christ. Christ did not let the weakness stop Him when he was on earth, so we should not let it stop us either.
Moon: If we do not let the Bible affect us we won't be content. Paul has faced it in the past and he is currently doing something about it. We need to be actively seeking God daily.
ME: When the "Christ who gives me strength" is focusing on God, then the "all things" will be all that God wants us to do.
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Yanny: *on the topic of free will...a mini off-track moment* God has had a plan for my life, even when I was not actively following Him.
Me: People's salvation is not the determining factor in God using them.
Mr. M: For God's glory...not always for our good as we consider it.
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David: Don't expect this to just happen.
Lynn: This is something we can all be involved in.t
Mrs. A: "I learned contentment through struggling"
Mr. M: This is a process. From the historical context (Acts 16) he was content even in jail. Paul's contentment was a testimony to share the gospel with those in Phillipi.
Yanny: Focus on the little things.
Mrs. A: This comes through a relationship.
May: Paul starts and ends by talking about fruit (of the Spirit).
Jack: Paul talks about following his example.
David: Maybe the Phillipians were going through a hard time, and the letter was designed to encourage them.
Mr. M: Have the mind of Christ. Galatians is all about making sure they didn't fall captive to false teaching and Phillipians is on those who needed to be encouraged in Christ.
Moon: Paul didn't just say "kiss & make up" bo instead asked the church members to agree in the Lord.
Yanny: In the grand scheme of things is this a big deal? No! You worrying about nothing.
Jack: Phillipians is applicable to Christians today just as much as it was when it was originally written to the church in Phillipi.
Mrs. A: This doesn't come naturally to believers (4:8). Control what you're thinking about. Then the God of peace with be with you.
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