Paul was the most accomplished spiritual leader of his time before he met the risen Christ on the road to Damascus. After getting converted to Christianity, he became the most accomplished Christian leader ever. Ironically, he accomplished more for spreading the Gospel in the two years while he was a Roman prisoner than he did on his three missionary journeys. He was the ultimate model of obtaining joy in the midst of affliction. He discovered happiness and joy come from playing your part in God's plan.

God's good work in us begins at the moment of salvation, continues throughout our walk with the Lord and is completed at our glorification when we meet Jesus face to face. It is a gradual process that doesn't look the same as or go at the same pace as everyone else. God wants to grow our ability to love others but also to transform our thinking to expand out knowledge and understanding. God does not dichotomize love and truth. Truth without love is nothing.

Paul could face death squarely in the face without any fear because he had an eternal perspective. He could say, "To live is Christ, to die is gain" because he knew whether he lived or died, Jesus would be exalted. If he lived, Paul would continue to share the Gospel, and build up his fellow believers to the glory of God. If he died, then he would immediately enter into the presence of God where he would be able to worship him face to face.

Paul calls the Philippians to live in a way that reflects the reality of their true citizenship in heaven. We do this by standing firm in one spirit, striving together as one for the faith of the Gospel. We can experience another level of unity that comes from working together to carry out the mission of sharing the love of Jesus with those who don't know him.

The person of Jesus demonstrated that he was both fully human and yet still fully divine. He chose to set aside his divine abilities to live as a human so that he could fully experience all the things we experience. The work of Jesus on the cross was necessary because real forgiveness is costly suffering. The one who forgives bears the cost of the sin. God humbled himself to identify with us and die for us.

When Paul says, "Work out your salvation with fear and trembling," he was not saying to work for your salvation, fearing it won't be enough. Instead, he is saying to work to make evident the salvation God has already bestowed upon us as believers in Christ. And to do so with awe and reverence for it is God who is giving us the desire and power to live a changed life.

Paul compares two ways of entering heaven. One way is to rely on your own righteousness, banking on your own good works to earn your way to salvation. Paul declares that if there ever was one who could put confidence in the flesh it was him, but after knowing Christ, he counts all his works of the flesh to be worth less than excrement. Instead, he embraces the other way, the only way, to salvation which is to rely entirely upon the work of Jesus on the cross to pay for his sins.

Paul tells us God wants to forgive our sins and give us new life based on the work Jesus did on the cross for us. Some people never progress beyond receiving His forgiveness, but those who desire to grow and walk with Jesus will encounter suffering and failure. But this the only way for God to break through our fleshly resistance and conform us to the likeness of Christ.

Everyone wants to be happy, yet it is so elusive. True happiness is connected to having peace with God. When we ask for and receive forgiveness from God, we have peace with Him. This peace isn't something we are to strive for but it is freely given to us by God. Paul calls us to be anxious about nothing. Prayer with thanksgiving expresses our trust in God and assumes a posture of humility. Gratitude is not the result of peace but the cause of peace. It reminds us who really is in charge.

Paul instructs us in Philippians 4:8 to focus our minds on a list of very positive things. He is not expecting us to ignore negatives. He is commanding us to dwell on the positives to combat our negative bent. There are a lot of negative things in a fallen world and it is too easy to focus on them but Christians should be the most optimistic people in the world. Three things we can do to combat negativity are seek God's perspective, acknowledge out lack of control, and express gratitude.

Paul had learned the secret of contentment regardless of his circumstances. We think attaining success or accomplishing goals, or freedom from pain and suffering, or making more money will lead to happiness. The real secret to happiness is found in altering your expectations. Instead of expecting to win the Gold medal, be thrilled to win the Bronze. Stop looking at others to see how you stack up, to see if they have more than you. If you read Paul's writings chronologically, you will see he starts out comparing himself favorably to others but by the end of his life, he calls himself the worst of sinners.