Showing Justice and Mercy

¹ From Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus. To all God's people who belong to Christ Jesus at Philippi and to all your bishops and deacons. ² I pray that God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ will be kind to you and will bless you with peace! ³ Every time I think of you, I thank my God. ⁴ And whenever I mention you in my prayers, it makes me happy. ⁵ This is because you have taken part with me in spreading the good news from the first day you heard about it. ⁶ God is the one who began this good work in you, and I am certain that he won't stop before it is complete on the day that Christ Jesus returns. ⁷ You have a special place in my heart. So it is only natural for me to feel the way I do. All of you have helped in the work God has given me, as I defend the good news and tell about it here in jail. ⁸ God himself knows how much I want to see you. He knows I care for you in the same way Christ Jesus does. ⁹ I pray that your love will keep on growing and you will fully know and understand ¹⁰ how to make the right choices. Then you will still be pure and innocent when Christ returns. And until that day, ¹¹ Jesus Christ will keep you busy doing good deeds that bring glory and praise to God. ¹² My dear friends, I want you to know that what has happened to me has helped to spread the good news. ¹³ The Roman guards and all the others know I am here in jail because I serve Christ. ¹⁴ Now most of the Lord's followers have become brave and are fearlessly telling the message. ¹⁵ Some are preaching about Christ because they are jealous and envious of us. Others are preaching because they want to help. ¹⁶ They love Christ and know I am here to defend the good news about him. ¹⁷ But the ones who are jealous of us are not sincere. They just want to cause trouble for me while I am in jail. ¹⁸ But that doesn't matter. All that matters is that people are telling about Christ, whether they are sincere or not. This is what makes me glad. I will keep on being glad, ¹⁹ because I know that your prayers and the help that comes from the Spirit of Christ Jesus will keep me safe. ²⁰ I honestly expect and hope I will never do anything to be ashamed of. Whether I live or die, I always want to be as brave as I am now and bring honor to Christ. ²¹ If I live, it will be for Christ, and if I die, I will gain even more. ²² I don't know what to choose. I could keep on living and doing something useful. ²³ It is a hard choice to make. I want to die and be with Christ, because this would be much better. ²⁴ But I know that all of you still need me. This is why I am sure I will stay on to help you grow and be happy in your faith. ^{25 26} Then, when I visit you again, you will have good reason to take great pride in Christ Jesus because of me. ²⁷ Above all else, you must live in a way that brings honor to the good news about Christ. Then, whether I visit you or not, I will hear that all of you think alike. I will know that you are working together and are struggling side by side to get others to believe the good news. ²⁸ Be brave when you face your enemies. Your courage will show them that they are going to be destroyed, and it will show you that you will be saved. God will make all of this happen, ²⁹ and he has blessed you. Not only do you have faith in Christ, but you suffer for him. ³⁰ You saw me suffer, and you still hear about my troubles. Now you must suffer in the same way.

Philippians 1

¹ Christ encourages you, and his love comforts you. God's Spirit unites you, and you are concerned for others. ² Now make me completely happy! Live in harmony by showing love for each other. Be united in what you think, as if you were only one person. ³ Don't be jealous or proud, but be humble and consider others more important than yourselves. ⁴ Care about them as much as you care about yourselves ⁵ and think the same way that Christ Jesus thought: ⁶ Christ was truly God. But he did not try to remain equal with God. ⁷ Instead he gave up everything and became a slave, when he became like one of us. ⁸ Christ was humble. He obeyed God and even died on a cross. ⁹ Then God gave Christ the highest place and honored his name above all others. ¹⁰ So at the name of Jesus everyone will bow down, those in heaven, on earth, and under the earth. ¹¹ And to the glory of God the Father everyone will openly agree, “Jesus Christ is Lord!” ¹² My dear friends, you always obeyed when I was with you. Now that I am away, you should obey even more. So work with fear and trembling to discover what it really means to be saved. ¹³ God is working in you to make you willing and able to obey him. ¹⁴ Do everything without grumbling or arguing. ¹⁵ Then you will be the pure and innocent children of God. You live among people who are crooked and evil, but you must not do anything they can say is wrong. Try to shine as lights among the people of this world, ¹⁶ as you hold firmly to the message that gives life. Then on the day when Christ returns, I can take pride in you. I can also know that my work and efforts were not useless. ¹⁷ Your faith in the Lord and your service are like a sacrifice offered to him. And my own blood may have to be poured out with the sacrifice. If this happens, I will be glad and rejoice with you. ¹⁸ In the same way, you should be glad and rejoice with me. ¹⁹ I want to be encouraged by news about you. So I hope the Lord Jesus will soon let me send Timothy to you. ²⁰ I don't have anyone else who cares about you as much as he does. ²¹ The others think only about what interests them and not about what concerns Christ Jesus. ²² But you know what kind of person Timothy is. He has worked with me like a son in spreading the good news. ²³ I hope to send him to you, as soon as I find out what is going to happen to me. ²⁴ And I feel sure the Lord will also let me come soon. ²⁵ I think I ought to send my dear friend Epaphroditus back to you. He is a follower and a worker and a soldier of the Lord, just as I am. You sent him to look after me, ²⁶ but now he is eager to see you. He is worried, because you heard he was sick. ²⁷ In fact, he was very sick and almost died. But God was kind to him, and also to me, and he kept me from being burdened down with sorrow. ²⁸ Now I am more eager than ever to send Epaphroditus back again. You will be glad to see him, and I won't have to worry any longer. ²⁹ Be sure to give him a cheerful welcome, just as people who serve the Lord deserve. ³⁰ He almost died working for Christ, and he risked his own life to do for me what you could not.

Philippians 2

²⁵ An expert in the Law of Moses stood up and asked Jesus a question to see what he would say. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to have eternal life?” ²⁶ Jesus answered, “What is written in the Scriptures? How do you understand them?” ²⁷ The man replied, “The Scriptures say, ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, strength, and mind.’ They also say, ‘Love your neighbors as much as you love yourself.’ ” ²⁸ Jesus said, “You have given the right answer. If you do this, you will have eternal life.” ²⁹ But the man wanted to show that he knew what he was talking about. So he asked Jesus, “Who are my neighbors?” ³⁰ Jesus replied: As a man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, robbers attacked him and grabbed everything he had. They beat him up and ran off, leaving him half dead. ³¹ A priest happened to be going down the same road. But when he saw the man, he walked by on the other side. ³² Later a temple helper came to the same place. But when he saw the man who had been beaten up, he also went by on the other side. ³³ A man from Samaria then came traveling along that road. When he saw the man, he felt sorry for him ³⁴ and went over to him. He treated his wounds with olive oil and wine and bandaged them. Then he put him on his own donkey and took him to an inn, where he took care of him. ³⁵ The next morning he gave the innkeeper two silver coins and said, “Please take care of the man. If you spend more than this on him, I will pay you when I return.” ³⁶ Then Jesus asked, “Which one of these three people was a real neighbor to the man who was beaten up by robbers?” ³⁷ The expert in the Law of Moses answered, “The one who showed pity.” Jesus said, “Go and do the same!”

Luke 10:25-37

⁵ So love the your God with all your heart, soul, and strength.

Deuteronomy 6:5