One of my final classes at Wheaton College was remarkably enlightening, not because of the materials discussed, but because of our instructor. He had spent the last decade studying Luke and Acts in-depth, memorizing and analyzing these books. It was a remarkable thing to listen and learn from him, quoting large portions of Scripture as though they were as common as the alphabet. At one point in our lectures, he emphasized the importance of our Scripture memorization and turned to the whiteboard with his black marker in hand. He went on to diagram the entire letter to the Philippians in five minutes, telling us the structure, the purpose, the themes, and the context of Paul’s letter to the first church Paul ever planted. While I loved the letter before, I loved it in a new way after hearing how our professor had been moved by Paul’s words. This week, we are starting a new series on this letter, and I pray that looking closely at Paul’s words to the Philippians through the eyes of our contributors will give you a new perspective on joy and hope, just as it did me.
I will not say much more about it as there is nothing much I can say that has not already been said. However, I want to invite you to do two things with me this week:
- I hope you will watch this video from The Bible Project as it explains the context of Paul’s letter and the main ideas behind his instructions.
- I invite each one of you to read through the letter at least once (it’s a short one, so I bet you can read it more than once!) before next Friday.
Scripture is always speaking, and the Holy Spirit is always revealing God through the pages of His Word. Even if you have read it a hundred times, there is always more to discover. I look forward to doing it together!