Good morning. You sing that hymn as if you know who you've believed in. You sing as if you're persuaded that he's able to keep you. Are you? You see, and there's joy in that, is there not? And we're reminded in this study of Philippians, that's your cue to turn to Philippians, the Christian life is a life of joy. It's a life of joy. It's a unique kind of life that is enjoyed by those who have been chosen by the Father, who have been enlivened in their soul by the Spirit, who have been moved by the Spirit to repent of sin and put their trust for salvation in the work of God the Son. Joy belongs to those who have confidence in God. If you are saved today, it's because you are chosen of the Father, enlivened by the Spirit, and secured eternally by the work of the Son. And as you live by faith, as you live in confidence in the God who saves you, and marks you and keeps you as His own. You will live with joy. Christian joy is something of a paradox, is it not? Because it is not dependent upon earthly circumstances. It's not about what's going on out here with people and things and circumstances. It's about what's going on from here to here. It's a vertical thing. It's about my relationship with God in Christ. And we're reminded of that even in understanding the context for Philippians. Here is a letter written by the Apostle Paul. He is probably dictating this letter to Timothy who maybe literally wrote it. But Paul is in Rome chained to armed and armored guard, most likely while under house arrest, facing an uncertain future, although he seems optimistic about his future, he doesn't know what it's going to be. And as if imprisonment were not enough, Paul is further distressed by people running around maligning him. Ever been maligned? Somebody dissing you? There's people running around Christendom dissing Paul while he's in prison. He can't defend himself. Some 800 miles away from Rome, in a Greek city named Philippi, there's a group of dear believers, fairly young in the Lord. The most mature Christian among them in terms of time with Jesus is 10 years into the faith. And you know, they are facing some duress of their own. They now proclaim Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord in a culture that insists the Roman Emperor is Savior and Lord. And the prejudice and persecution that that creates for them on a daily basis is profound. Worse yet, there is tension within the church itself. Can you imagine such a thing? You hear of this happening. Rivalries. Selfish ambition. Grumbling. Murmuring. Relational discord threatens the very unity that these dear ones will need to stand for Jesus in a world that's opposed to Jesus. And yet Philippians is a letter that's just dripping with joy. It comes up again and again and again. Because it describes a beautiful friendship among those who have confidence in God. We're going to read verses 3 through 8 now and if I know some of you in your Bibles there's a different paragraph break probably that it isn't at verse 8. The reason we're reading this section is that in the original Greek. It comprises one sentence, a freakishly large sentence or long sentence. And it might encourage us to just to remember that the Philippians didn't receive this letter in such a way that they could, you know, look at it like we are right now and study it word by word. They just heard it read to them. And there are certain phrases that Paul uses knowing that this is going to be read to them, that they're going to hear it, and he wants them to remember certain things in particular. We'll point out some of those things. Look at verse 3. He says, I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine, making requests for you all with joy. for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this very thing, that he who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ. Just as it is right for me to think of you all because I have you in my heart. In as much as both in my chains and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel, you are all partakers with me of grace. For God is my witness, how greatly I long for you all with the affection of Jesus Christ. I want you to notice right off the bat that Paul's joy flows out of his confidence in what God himself is doing among the Philippians. This isn't a pep talk. This isn't a letter that just, you know, one human being writes to another set of human beings. You know, I know you can do this thing. No, Paul's joy flows out of his confidence in what God is doing in Philippi. God has begun a good work in Philippi, and God is going to finish that good work that he's begun. His prayer for them is one of joy because of God's good work. He says, verse 3, I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine, making requests for you all with joy. And friends, here's our first clue that joy isn't just a feeling that people have. Joy is that wellness of heart that is mine through my confidence in God. And we're going to see as we progress through this letter that joy, so much more than a feeling, is also an activity. Joy is how believers who know Christ, whose futures are secure in Christ, respond to life. Including life's difficulties. That's what we see Paul doing right here. He's imprisoned. He's chained to a guard. He's writing to people who have some problems of their own. And yet there is joy throughout this wonderful, encouraging letter. Because God is at work. And the work that God is doing is good. Do you hear the tone of joy already in this letter? Think of how you and I might start a letter like this. Hey, this is Paul. I'm chained to this creep. Send me a care package or something, would you? I mean, some cookies or, you know, I mean. No, he begins with thanks for all of them. And isn't it interesting that Paul is not thankful when he remembers the Philippians because they're all like him in an earthly sense, or because they all adore him, or something like this. Because they're all getting along with each other. That was not the case, as we'll see. That Paul is not giving thanks for them because they're all kind of measuring up to Paul's own standard. That isn't the case at all. He is thankful for them because God is perfecting them. And he knows that God will continue that work of perfecting him. And I'm going to give us the first of kind of three headings if you're a note taker. This is kind of at the top of the page then. If you're not a note taker, just continue doing whatever on earth it does that you do with your sermon note sheet. This is the joy of gratitude. The joy of gratitude. Okay? Joyful Christians are grateful for their brothers and sisters in Christ. And joyful Christians actually express gratitude. to their brothers and sisters in Christ. This is what's happening in this letter to the Philippians. And this was actually a common theme in Paul's letters. It's amazing to me that Paul expresses gratitude to and for the Corinthians, who frankly were a pain in the neck. They were something of an embarrassment in some ways. A great source of distress for him. Paul didn't allow conflicts brought on by the imperfections of other believers to crush his joy. Can we make this practical? Listen, if you've got a grumbling, complaining attitude toward other believers, it will rob you and it will rob them of joy. If your idea of the gift of discernment is to have a critical spirit toward every little thing that's wrong with that brother or that sister in Christ, you will rob yourself and you will rob them in this church of joy. And friends, we don't wait for perfection in others in the church before we're grateful for them in our prayers, amen? Before we express gratitude for them, to them, directly. That's what God is showing us here through Paul's letter. Notice the words, every remembrance. That's instructive. Let me ask you something. What do you choose to remember about people? Do you honestly think Paul is saying, I can't think of a single negative thing about you guys in Philippians? You're all just perfect. You all bowl a perfect score. Whenever you cast a line, you bring a fish in, you know, that sort of thing. Good heavens, no, there's a bunch of sinners just like us, just like Paul. What do you choose to remember about people? One of the evidences that we're walking in the spirit is our ability to recall the good work that God is doing in that brother or sister in Christ. We don't cling to their imperfections. We remember and we savor the good work that God is doing and we rejoice in the midst of our imperfections because we're confident that God has begun and is now doing and is going to complete that work. You with me so far? Keeping a scorecard. of every unkindness, every fault, every wound inflicted, every spiritual deficiency. Anybody here have a spiritual deficiency? And all the hands went up. It's going to rob us of joy. We'll rob them of joy. And we're thinking of a church family. Let's think of this with respect to Christian marriage. Can you imagine how many problems in our churches would disappear if we genuinely prayed for one another with gratitude? Can you imagine how much more joy we might experience if gratitude were to be expressed one to another even more than it is now? So Paul's confidence is not in the people, it's in God's good work among the people that gave him gratitude for the church there and his memories are preoccupied with this, the evidences of God's good work among them. Notice in verse 5, Paul then begins to describe the framework for his friendship with the Philippians. And I want you to just think of it. Do you all have friends in this church? Of course you do. I want you to think about your friendships, okay, within this body of believers. He says, I thank my God, then verse 5, for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now. Underline the words, fellowship in the gospel, or maybe circle them in somebody's Bible so you don't forget it. That word fellowship needs some clarifying because we sometimes think of fellowship as sort of Christians hanging out together. You know, if you have coffee with an unsaved person, you're hanging out. If you have coffee with a Christian, that's fellowship, right? No. No. We eat a meal with our co-workers, that's just having a meal together. We have a meal with our Christian family, that's fellowship, right? Well, maybe it is, maybe it isn't. We need to know what this is talking about here. The word translated fellowship, koinonia, we've heard that before, right? In the first century was, among other ways, was used in commerce. I find this interesting. Let me give you an illustration. Fred and Barney go into a fig processing business together. You got that? They enter into a koinonia. A fellowship. Meaning what? They are going to sink their all into the fig business. They are both going to labor and sacrifice together toward the shared goal of putting a fig on every plate in bedrock. This is their vision. And they put everything they've got into it. Christian fellowship is like that. Not figs. It's a partnership in the gospel. A shared vision that leads to a joint commitment to the gospel. Second heading then, this is the joy of gospel partnership. The joy of gospel partnership. Paul is not remembering the great times that they had together watching the Super Bowl or discussing the day's news or even the great meals they ate together. I mention that again because I'm hungry now that I think about it. All of those things might have been true, with the exception of the Super Bowl, obviously. He's remembering and giving thanks for their shared participation in the gospel. Okay, and this is going to come up again and again in this letter in some form, in two different ways. He talks about the shared goal of Christ being formed in each of them. How many of you realize that the the together part of us at Hayden Bible Church is purposeful in the first instance in that God is going to use other people in your life to make you more like Jesus. And He's gonna use you in their life to make them more like Jesus. This is true in your marriage, by the way. This is true in your relationship with your Christian siblings, don't look at them. There is a shared goal of Christ being formed in each one of them and then there is the shared goal of them making Christ known to others around them. This is what Paul means in this letter when he talks about this fellowship or this partnership in the gospel. He puts his partnership in the gospel at the center of his relationships with other people. Who know Jesus? Every relationship Paul had with somebody in Philippi had Jesus in the center of it. Do you realize, friends, that what ties us together as brothers and sisters in Christ is Christ. There is no other shared interest that is strong enough to bind us together. but the work of the Spirit of God as we serve Christ and make Christ known together. Two goals in our friendships then. Christ formed in us. Christ made known by us. What does this mean for our relationships? Well, I do feel a bit like I'm preaching to the choir here, but the thing of it is, is not everybody's in the choir. And there's never a time when we don't need to be reminded of these things because we tend to forget them. It means that when we're together, we delight in God together. Don't think of this as a checklist, I'm just describing the vibe of Christian community. We share what we're learning from God's word. We pray together for the advancement of his kingdom in really specific ways because we know real people in real places who are really in trouble because they don't know Christ. We encourage one another to live by faith, to actually obey God. We love each other enough to get up in each other's grill in love when we're not walking in obedience to Christ. And we sacrifice and serve one another in order to participate in this gospel-centered life. Let me just suggest to you that the Christian life is not a series of quiet times. The Christian life is not merely coming together in our Bible study groups, as important as that is. Some of us, bless our hearts, we are gagging on unused truth. The Christian life is not looking for that perfect church where you find that mystical sensation that leads you to know you're in the right church. The Christian life is an active participation in the gospel. It's a partnership with other sinners saved by grace, who are partners with you in being made more like Jesus, and co-workers with you in making Jesus known. Let me just say a word to our graduates, who I also want to just congratulate you. We're proud of you. Some of you are going to be moving on, as they say, and you might find yourself in a spot where you're looking for a new home fellowship. And it might be tremendously tempting to say, in your flesh, well now is an opportunity to find the place where the walls are the right color, and the music's the right tempo, and there's always a funny story. And the songs that are sung are the ones that really bless my heart, the ones I listen to on YouTube when I'm by myself. And you see that we have this sort of consumer mentality about where we're going to fellowship with other believers. Am I right? And the thing of it is, let me just give you a couple quick steps here. First of all, repent of that. And the second step is to say, okay, God, I'm gonna trust you to lead me into that fellowship where Jesus is at the center of everything. And that when I look at the people there, I sense that here are a people who are committed to being made more like Christ. And I sense that this is a group of people whose members are committed to making Christ known. Those are the main things. The other stuff matters at some level. Don't misunderstand me. It isn't the main thing. Joyful Christians are in relationships that enable them to be made more like Christ. That are aimed at making Christ known. And notice how by the time we get to verse 6 you get the idea that Paul is saying, look this is the one sure thing you can put your energy and focus into as a believer knowing that it will succeed. Look at verse 6. being confident of this very thing that he who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ. Folks, this is the joy of assurance, the joy of assurance. There was the joy of gratitude. There was the joy of partnership, a Christian friendship. And here is the joy of assurance. That word begun simply means to inaugurate. Salvation is a decisive, deliberate act of God. Think of that and just enjoy that as a redeemed person. Your salvation was and is something well planned by God. And it will be carried out by God to perfection, to completion. You say, well, wait a minute. You don't understand. My experience was I was at such and such a place and there was an altar call and I came forward and I repented of my sin and I put my trust in Christ. I understand that. I was at camp and I had heard the gospel a zillion times, but for some reason on the zillionth and oneth time, I saw Jesus for who he really is. I understand that. That's the human side. of what we sometimes call coming to Christ, but the true inner story of every conversion is that it is a work of God that has its origins before the foundations of the earth were formed. The scripture says that. You say, well, how does that work? I don't have a clue how that works. But the thing is, is I know whom I've believed in. And I'm persuaded. He's able to keep me until that day that He calls me home or my Savior returns. You see, my confidence isn't in Steve. If I put my confidence in Steve, I got a serious problem. I got my confidence in God. Like I said, I don't pretend to understand how this works, this God being sovereign in salvation, but I know what it looks like in the Bible, let's just look at it. In the book of Acts, in Acts 16, let's just turn there briefly, and you can pray for the folks in the third service because I can go as long as I want with them, it won't be brief. No, I'm kidding. In Acts 16, Luke tells the story of the birth of the church at Philippi. And you all probably remember how it went. Paul and the other missionaries, they were planning to stay in Asia. The Holy Spirit said, nope, you're going to Europe. They obeyed, they went from Troas across the sea to Greece, this city called Philippi. And unlike the other places that they had traveled to, there's no synagogue, there weren't even the minimum number of Jewish men needed to form a synagogue, but there were some God-fearing women who met outside the city along the river and sang praises to God and read from the Torah, probably, and they found them, the missionaries did, and Paul did what he always does, he preached Christ. He preached Christ. And notice how Luke describes that in verse 15. Sorry, 14. Now a certain woman named Lydia was there who heard us. She was a seller of purple, from the city of Thyatira, who worshiped God, the Lord opened her heart to heed the things spoken by Paul. And when she and her household were baptized, she begged us, saying, if you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and stay. Loose paraphrase, a church is born in Philippi. Why? Because God opened the heart of a sinner in need of grace so that she would see Lydia saw Jesus for who he really is. And the thing is, friends, just like Lydia, you were saved when the Lord opened your heart to believe in Christ as your Savior. God did that. And your salvation would be pretty sketchy and uncertain if it only rested in your will, would it not? Any of you guys ever have doubts? I mean, isn't it amazing how one day you're just so confident, and the next day, because a bug hit your windshield or something big like that, I mean, you're just rattled. You don't even know what day it is with confidence. That's why so many Christians find joy elusive. We're afraid we haven't worked hard enough. We're afraid, what if I didn't believe enough? Not churchy enough, I don't seem to fit in like the rest of them. Friend, if you're spiritually insecure, let me encourage you, put your confidence in God, not you. Put it in God. Your will is like a wind that blows all over the place, isn't it? I mean, even your faith is firm one day and it's unstable the next. We're not saved by faith in faith. We're saved by faith in Christ. Our confidence is in God. Nor is your confidence in that somehow right now, or maybe fairly soon, you have a sense that you'll actually be worthy of God's favor, God's merit. There are far too many Christians that live as if they're actually worthy of God's favor. They're actually deserving of God's grace. And we read also in the book of Acts, still in chapter 16 of the conversion of the Philippian jailer, who simply asked Paul and Silas, sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. What must I do? Believe. Believe. Let me ask you something. Do you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ? Do you believe that he is the only one able to save you from the certainty of separation from God in hell because of your sin? Do you see that Christ is the only remedy for your sinfulness? Has God opened your heart to see Christ for who He is? So that you believe in Him? Friend, if right now, the Spirit of God is putting that burden on your heart, turn your heart to Christ. Just repent of your sin and trust in Jesus. What do I have to do? Believe in Jesus. Put your confidence in God. And if you are one who can say, as some of you have been, yes, sometimes I think you do that because you imagine it'll end the questions. And you should know by now that that's not going to happen, but I'm grateful for the response. This passage is a passage that encourages you to just stand secure in the fact that you've been saved, you are being saved, and you most certainly will find at the end of your life that God has kept you saved. He will complete this work. Notice the word complete. I'm gonna elaborate it on just briefly. Obviously it refers to something being finished, but here's the idea. It's a continuing finishing process And the end result is certain, okay? It's kind of like this. I come into the kitchen, and Pam's fixing dinner, and fellas, you gotta be really careful how you ask this next thing, okay? It's something like, is dinner almost ready? Don't say, when's dinner? For some reason, that's not gonna work. Is dinner almost ready? And Pam will say something like, actually, you do this at your own house, but at my house, with Pam, she says, I'm just finishing it up. Meaning what? This isn't done yet. But I'm just about done with it and we are going to eat. It is going to get finished. You can bank on that. And as you can see, that happens on a routine basis at my house. See, God has chosen you who are believers in Christ. And he's putting the finishing touches on you right now. And the end result of this salvation is certain. God the Father will never abandon His commitment to present you to His Son as one of His perfected brothers and sisters. Do you believe that? Paul says to Titus, believers live day by day. in hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised before time began." Do you see again how this is not a pep talk from Paul? I mean, this is not Paul writing from prison saying, I bet those guys need some encouragement. I'll give them kind of a halftime, you know, pep talk. You can do it. I see a lot of potential in you. He's not saying that. He's saying, I'm confident because my confidence is grounded in the God who saves and sanctifies and glorifies his children. Let me just say with a word of caution here, how many of you have already memorized verse six? You should do that and Gary's gonna help us with that in just a few minutes. We'll sing it. We tend to make verse six only a private thing. He who began a good work in me will complete it, will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus. And it is true for us as individuals. That's a great favorite verse to have hanging up someplace in your house. But remember the context here is actually communal. It's a family thing. Why do we Christians then not bail on each other when our relationships get kind of strained and difficult? Well, it's because we're confident that God has begun a good work among us, that he's putting the finishing touches on that good work, and he absolutely will complete it. We don't bail on each other because God doesn't bail on us. That's why. Still in verse six, notice that phrase, the day of Jesus Christ. It's a reminder to us that we, corporately, collectively, as a church, will one day, with all of the saints, from all ages, be presented to Christ as his bride. 2 Thessalonians 1 speaks of this. It says, the Lord Jesus Christ will be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, taking vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power. And when he comes in that day, here it comes, to be glorified in his saints and to be admired among all those who believes. You see how that's a together thing? It isn't just a you thing or a me thing, it's a together thing, an amazing description of the second coming of our Lord. In his first coming, his first advent, Jesus came to this earth and was unrecognized as God, rejected by his own people. Rejected by the world. And yet, Paul is gonna remind the Philippians when we get to chapter two, us as well, he, God humbled himself and made himself of no reputation. He took the form of a bond slave, a bond servant. To what degree? To the point of obeying the Father and going to the cross for us. Jesus did that. And then he was nailed to a cross and he shed his blood to atone for our sin. Placed in that tomb and rose again to life, defeating death, defeating sin. But that's his first coming. How many of you know his second coming is not gonna be like that? When Jesus comes again, his coming will be visible to all. There isn't going to be ambiguity about what's going on. In fact, Paul will say that there's a day certain when every knee will bow and every tongue will confess the lordship of Jesus Christ to the glory of the Father. And with perfect justice, Christ will judge his enemies. And so Paul is reminding these dear ones in Philippi, listen, we who are partners in the gospel, Have it as our aim to plead with sinners to obey the gospel. What does that mean to obey the gospel? Well, there's a sense in which God doesn't simply invite sinners to come to Christ. There's a sense in which God commands His children to trust in Christ. And you obey the gospel when you accept Christ as your Savior. To reject Christ is to disobey the gospel. And I mention all of that only to remind us that when we sing about, in a minute or two, that day, certain. Let's remember that's not so much our day, that's Jesus' day. That's the day when God will have a people who will give him honor and glory forever. And we're living in the direction of that day. Do you have time for a quick story? It's coming anyway, right? I remember a few years ago being so excited to travel with our son Jacob to India to visit the Agape Children's Home that you all support, and also to visit Harvest Mission College, which you all support. And, but we had limited time. I think we were doing it over a spring break for him or something like that from college. And so we had booked our schedule real tightly and so excited to take this trip. And so we leave Spokane and immediately we're off to a not so good start because our flight was delayed. We got to Seattle later than we thought we were going to be. And I got to the ticket counter or the gate agent, whatever you call it. to get on the plane to go to, to leave the country. And I was told something like this. You were supposed to be here four hours early. This is an international flight. Okay, problem number one. We sold your seats to somebody else. Okay, problem number two. I'm so glad you're moved by this, because I was too. And I started to, you know, you get one of those twitches, you ever have that happen? And my son's just watching all like this, like, oh, my dad's a pastor. Anyway, that part of it was not something I'm proud of. But the thing of it is, is I was just incredulous. How can you have purchased a ticket and you have the ticket and the plane is, it's right there. The plane is right there. I could see the plane. I could see people getting on the plane. I couldn't get on the plane. And it was the most frustrating thing. Until the next day we got on it just fine. But you see that frustration and all of that is to do with confidence in Steve and his travel plans, not confidence in God. The trip went just fine. Went just fine. Let me just encourage you, friends, that you're not going to find out at the end of your life in Christ that you didn't read the fine print. That your spot went to somebody else. That you didn't believe enough, as it turns out. You didn't pack enough good works for your resume. That's not going to be the case. Because your confidence is not in you. Your confidence is in God. Amen? How can Paul know this about the Philippians? How can he know this? Look at verse 7. He says, It is right for me to think this of you all. This is not a platitude. This is not some empty pep talk. There are observable evidences of your faith in Christ. And the first evidence that Paul mentions here, obviously, is that they have embraced him as not just a friend, but a co-laborer in the gospel. They are becoming more and more like Jesus and they are giving of themselves to make Jesus known. In fact, this letter really is a thank you letter from Paul to the Philippians for money and encouragement that they had sent to him. Notice the affection that this partnership produces. I have you in my heart. I have you in my heart. The New Amplified or the Amplified New Testament puts it this way, even as you do me, I hold you in my heart. In other words, it works both ways. It's a reciprocal thing. Paul delights in them. They delight in Paul. Because they have this joy of gratitude and gospel partnership and assurance. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you so much for this wonderful short letter to the Philippians. And Lord, we come to an understanding that it's a letter from your heart to ours. Lord, we have your joy in us. And Lord, we want to live in that joy. And so we pray that you would work among us in such a way that we have grateful hearts for our brothers and sisters in Christ. Lord, that we might even be inclined to let them know that. Lord, we pray that we would view our relationships in your body, the church, as gospel partnerships, Lord. Let us cooperate with your wanting to use our relationships to make us more like Jesus. To use us together to make Jesus known in our community. Lord, let us be those who live with absolute confidence, not in ourselves. but in you. We pray this, Jesus, in your name. Amen.