Philippians chapter one, beginning with verse one, reading through verse 20. This is the word of the living God. It was penned for you. And so let's give attention to it. Philippians one, beginning with verse one, Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus to all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi with the overseers and deacons. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all, making my prayer with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. It is right for me to feel this way about you all, because I hold you in my heart, for you are all partakers with me of grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel. For God is my witness, how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus, and it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more with knowledge and all discernment. so that you may approve what is excellent and be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God. I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel so that it has become known throughout the whole Imperial Guard and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ. And most of the brothers, having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, are much more bold to speak the word without fear. Some, indeed, preach Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from goodwill. The latter do it out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. The former proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, but thinking to afflict me in my imprisonment. What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that, I rejoice. Yes, and I will rejoice, for I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, this will turn out for my deliverance, as it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not at all be put to shame, but that with full courage, now as is always, Christ will be honored in my body. whether by life or by death. Amen. This is the very word of God. Let's pause and ask for his help as we consider just 18, 19, and 20 and the preaching of it this morning. Let's pray. Father, as we turn our attention to your word now, we come really to the center of our worship. We come now, as we have sung, we have prayed, we come now to hear really from you. And we would pray that that would be very much the voice of Christ as the sermon is given. We would draw strength from it, that you would give us what we must have if we would even understand it. Grant us more of your spirit, as promised even now we ask for Christ's sake. Amen. It was Wilbur Nelson, a man I don't expect you to know, but anyway, it was him, Wilbur Nelson, who wrote When I see the magnificent Golden Gate Bridge, I remember that an engineer must take into account three loads or stresses while designing bridges. These are, first, the dead load, second, the live load, and third, the wind load. The dead load is the weight of the bridge itself. The live load is the weight of the daily traffic that the bridge must carry. The wind load is the pressure of the storms that beat on the bridge. The designer plans for bracings that will enable the bridge to bear all of these things. In our lives, too, we need bracings. which make it possible to carry the dead load of self, the live load of daily living, and the wind load of emergencies or suffering. When we place our trust in Christ, he gives us the strength we need to withstand these various stresses. That is precisely the issue that is before us this morning. At least in part, the Apostle Paul gives to us something of insight really into his thoughts and what he is thinking and how he is responding even to the circumstances that are before him. He is, as it were, in an emergency. If you want to put it that way, I prefer he's also in a place of suffering. He has placed his hope in Christ, but he needs the braces of help from those who love him and the one who loves him perfectly. He needs the prayers of the people and the help of the Spirit to have an attitude of joy even in the face of terrible circumstances. In other words, it's not natural. and the words you're going to read and the words you have heard already read and as you have reflected on these words and other words of the Apostle Paul and the way he responds to difficulties and suffering and trials and the host of things that he has gone through in his life, to have him start by saying, I will rejoice, is not a natural act. It's an act that was born out of the braces of his life, the help of the people of God who prayed for him The spirit of God who continues to give him strength. Do we respond that way? Is that how you respond? Whenever you find yourself in difficult circumstances, it may not be prison. It may not be something just so awful that you can barely comprehend it. It could be something that other people might not see as any big deal, but you do. It's a big deal to you. You respond this way. You respond with joy. You see why it's not a natural act? Most of us don't. I don't, you don't. Most of the time we respond either internally or externally with a host of questions, a host of issues, a host of complaints or gripes about the circumstance. And we find that there's really no way I can serve God. I can live faithfully before him unless the skies are blue and the roses are blooming. Is that Paul's attitude? I will tell you up front, and I'm gonna get there in a minute even more personally, I can tell you up front, just working on this sermon was deeply convicting to me. Me. I don't know about you, but me. This is how we respond. I know you think, and maybe you're thinking, well, Paul, you know, again, you know, superstar Paul, you know, guy was great and wonderful, and he had a, no, wrong. We need to stop thinking that way about Paul. or anybody in the Bible for that matter. They were men or women, and they suffered. They suffered egregiously in some cases, some who lost their heads because they loved Christ. Paul was a sinner. And embedded even in the very opening words of this passage before us, it's clear that he can't do it on his own. If you don't take away anything from this sermon this morning, you should take that away. If you think you can get through the trials and struggles of this life by yourself, you're living in a fool's paradise, and you will lose. Paul knows this. He says it as much here in this passage, and he convinces us, even exhorts us in by example to respond with joy to these things. I didn't say giddiness. I didn't say skip around and sing doo-dah because your house burned to the ground, or you got thrown in jail, or you got insulted or persecuted, or a host of strife comes to you. I didn't say that, and Paul's not saying that either. Job was a joyful man who mourned his circumstances and worshiped the God of heaven. Again, the question comes, is that how we, me, you, respond to trials? Again, it may not be prison, but you can't live very long in this world without experiencing them. And sometimes they're heavy, and sometimes they're hard, and sometimes they're not, but it doesn't change anything, does it? You must respond with joy. Do you root that joy in an eternal hope Put a different way, it is the eternal hope that you have as a Christian that should then necessarily flow into and cause the joy of whatever it is you're experiencing. Do you desire the prayers of God's people? I get weary, frankly, of Christians in America who keep things to themselves as though it's some kind of spiritual blessing not to tell their brothers and sisters about what they're wrestling with. Here's one, it's unspoken requests. I know I've used them in the past before you out there say, hey, wait a minute, you've done that. Okay, I have. I don't really care for them. I understand why they're given. But why is it we do this? Why is it we don't remember that we're family? We live it under the umbrella of the gospel. Why don't we keep it to ourselves and think that that's gonna be just enough? Paul doesn't. He shares his struggle. The Apostle Paul, do you then therefore desire the prayers of God's people? What is it to say when we don't? I'm strong enough, I can do it by myself, I don't need your help. I would suggest it's really the height of spiritual pride, and I've done it, and you've done it, we've all done it. Paul doesn't do that. Do you desire the prayers of God's people and their ability to help you carry your burdens? Look, you're not meant to do this Christian life by yourself. And I'm sorry, America, that is not Christianity. Christianity is lived in family, in community, to carry one another's burdens, especially in the means of prayer. Do you do the same for others when they struggle and are dealing with strife and hardship and trial when it hits their life? Both of these things are in view here in these verses. Both are essential if we're to live well together under the umbrella of Christ and find that joy in knowing Christ and what it looks like lived out practically, tangibly, day to day. I gotta tell you, what I do all week long downstairs in my study is that's not Christianity necessarily. It's lived out in community. The prayers of God's people and the help of the Spirit carrying each other's burdens. This is what Paul's telling us. And he has joy as a result of these things. Well, the context is obvious. He's in prison. We've covered this already. And so this morning, I want to show you Paul's foundational attitude coupled with the encouragement of faithful helpers as he rejoices in the knowledge that his hardship will result in great good. I'm going to show you this morning in these verses, Paul's foundational attitude coupled with the encouragement of faithful helpers as he rejoices in the knowledge that his hardship will result in great good. Two points as we consider just really two full verses and just a little snippet there at the end of verse 18, which really should be with verse 19, but two points. First, Paul's foundational attitude, and then we will see a little more briefly Paul's faithful helpers. Paul's foundational attitude and Paul's faithful helpers, it's in the plural on purpose as we consider these verses together. Let's first look at and consider Paul's foundational attitude. What are the circumstances? By now, if you've been here for any period of time during this series, you know automatically he's not on a beach. He's not on a beach. If you prefer, he's not on a mountaintop somewhere doing some Christian retreat. He's in jail. We've already noted it. But in case you haven't been paying attention, or haven't been here entirely for the entire time. Paul makes reference to it here in this passage, although he's not overly specific. He doesn't need to be. Remember, the letter was read from front to back, and so there was no need to repeat himself about his current plight. But he does hint at it when he says, for I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, this, oh, what's the this? And of course, being a grammarian, you have to go and find the antecedent and do all that nice labor, but what is he reminding his Philippian brothers and sisters about? Well, in verse seven, we noted his imprisonment is known and shared by the Philippian church. They know about it. Note that. This burden that he experiences, he didn't keep it to himself. No, no, he shared it. At least with the Philippians. He tells the church what he is dealing with. Now, that's a whole sermon by itself, and I'm almost tempted to just chuck everything I've got right now and just preach on that. But I won't. But he does tell them this. Second, in verse 13, he elaborates even further to his imprisonment when he says that it's known in Rome, known in the imperial guard, the praetorium, the inner circle of Caesar's household. And he's known that it's there because of his love for Christ. We too must be willing to suffer that way. And then in verse 19, he makes mention of it again, but this time he doesn't get specific. He's already been specific. He just says this, What is the antecedent to this demonstrative pronoun? That's what it is, a demonstrative pronoun, probably doesn't mean anything to you, write it down in your notes, look it up later. Demonstrative pronoun, what's the antecedent? It is likely the imprisonment and the future hope he has in the gospel. This will lead to my deliverance. This You mean suffering? Yes. Hardship? Yes. Persecution? Yes. Trials? Yes. Insults? Yes. Motives of wicked people who do preach the truth, but they don't like him very much? Yes. All of those things will lead to a positive end. Again, very unnatural, isn't it, to say that with such confidence? But he does. And so as circumstances, we note also his demeanor. What is his demeanor? Well, the end of verse 18 tells us his demeanor. He rejoices. It's not what you would expect. For many of us, we would not likely respond to these circumstances this way, whether out loud or internally. Don't kid yourself. Oftentimes in difficult hardships and issues, we begin to struggle. Maybe even gripe, complain, murmur. Look, I've done all these things. More on that in a minute. You have too. But Paul, because of the hope that I'm coming to in a minute, he doesn't have to. Keeps his focus in the right place, and as such, he then can rejoice. I didn't say giddy. I didn't say a plastic smile plastered all over the Apostle Paul's face and he's like glad to be in jail. Yeah, I'm just so happy about this. This is great. Best thing ever happened to me. No. But he's joyful. He has reason to be joyful. He says, I will rejoice. Let's examine that phrase just briefly. Note carefully, don't look at me, look at your Bible. What did he say? Yes, or yea, I will rejoice. What do you think he's conveying here? Well, I don't know, preacher. It's your job to tell us. And I want you to think with me. What is he saying? Well, let me suggest to you that he's saying that it was an act of the will. The words there, I will rejoice. Maybe he didn't feel like it. Maybe he thought to himself, this is pointless. What difference does it make? No, no, he says, he determines in his mind, hopes his heart comes along with it, that he's gonna rejoice. It was an act of his will If anyone had reason to gripe about his current plight in the world, it would have been this man. He has done nothing wrong. He is only suffering for the sake of Christ, yet he understood that it is precisely that that's why he's suffering. He's not suffering because he went out and punched Caesar in the nose. He would be rightly in jail. He's not suffering because he ran down the Interstate 41 in Evansville and did 106 miles an hour and they got pulled over. Oh, I'm suffering for the sake of Christ. No, you're not. You're a real bozo. Why were you driving down the road that way? Mr. Fendel will come up behind you and remind you of it. You know, look, a lot of people, a lot of Christians, they try to put themselves in circumstances and say, I'm being persecuted for the sake of Christ. Well, no, you're not. You're being persecuted because you were dumb. Peter says that as much. Don't bring Christ into this when it's not for that reason. But if it is, and Paul says it is that reason, then we can rejoice. Maybe he sat in his cell and wondered, and certainly he almost couldn't blame the guy. Hey, Lord, I've served you faithfully all these years. I've preached the gospel. I've gone from city to city. I've done this and I've done that. Hey man, aren't I something? And how come I'm getting mistreated like this? Why is this happening to me? Woe is me, he could have done. And you'd almost not blame him. How many of us do that? Pity parties. It's almost like God died. And we forget that he's a loving father who brings these things into our lives on purpose, on purpose. I remember my father, I was talking to him one day about the struggles my mother has, and some of you know about them, but most of you don't know the depths of them. But regardless, my father made this stunning comment. A man raised in the church went to Bible school. I don't think it's fair for God to treat your mom this way after all she's done for him. Oh, that's how we think. Outcome-based issues. I've been good to you, God, therefore you have to be good to me and you shouldn't let any harm come to me. Oh. You don't think Paul knows the theology? He's written most of it. And he turns and says, you know what, I don't care. It doesn't matter. I'm going to rejoice. Why? Because I remember this man who lived before me. I remember this man who met me on the Damascus road. I remember him saying something to me about this. And what does he say? Well, you know what he says, but I'm going to read it anyway. Matthew chapter five. You don't need to turn there if you don't want to, but Matthew chapter five. verses 10 through 12. Now look, just remember who's saying it. It's not more important in the Bible because Jesus is saying it. It's the word of God, regardless of whether Paul says it or Jesus says it. But the reason I bring that up, even bring it up, is because this is not coming from a person who doesn't know what it's like to suffer. What does he say to his disciples there on that mountain in verses 10 through 12? He says, blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake. Not because you were driving like an idiot on the highway. Righteousness sake. For theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. And here's the word. What's the very next word? Rejoice and be glad. Now it's difficult for me to think that Paul did not know something of this we know as a beatitude, an instruction, in fact, encouragement given to the followers of Christ. Why? Because as we rejoice in these circumstances, your reward is great in heaven for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. And so Paul determines, hey look, this isn't natural, this is horrible, but I'm gonna rejoice anyway. I'm gonna sing hymns of praise to the God of heaven, I'm gonna pray, I'm going to, whatever that looks like. I didn't say. Hey Bill, how you doing today? I'm great, it's wonderful, everything's great, my house burned to the ground, but I'm happy. No, it's not what he says. He says you're gonna rejoice. And that rejoicing is rooted somewhere. It's rooted in the hope of Christ. Second, this phrase tells us really that it's a godly response. It is the godly response to anyone who suffers. I certainly understand as a pastor, if you suffer through things and you're moaning and groaning at me, I get it. I understand that. But it is a godly response to respond the way Paul does. What is it about those who murmur and complain about trials they are facing? It only seeks to bring you down. They don't mean it. It robs you of your joy. They don't mean that either, but it happens. Let me be honest with you about something. I don't do this very often up here, but I'm gonna do it. I've deliberated doing this for like 12 hours ever since I wrote the very words that are in front of me. For most of you in this church, you know that the last six months for my wife and me have been utterly miserable. And I'm not even beginning to come close to how bad it's been. You only know the half. I haven't handled it well. I've griped. That's why this passage is so convicting to me. I've griped, I've complained, and I've murmured. I haven't rusted in the will of God. I haven't rejoiced. I have struggled. I am the antithesis of what Paul is teaching us here, which makes me by definition a terrible example. Now, I say that not to garner any kind of sympathies. I'm not doing it for that reason. I'm putting myself in front of you as the negative example. the opposite example of what Paul is talking about in this passage. You know, Paul says that we should carry each other's burdens, but sometimes in our efforts to do that, we become a greater burden than the burden itself. We have to be careful. There's a fine line between them. It's a godly response. to rejoice in quiet contentment and submission to the will of God, even if it's awful. And it's not easy. And so we have exemplified for us very much the way to respond in difficulty. Really, you have good reasons to rejoice, even as I have good reasons to rejoice. The Philippian church, they know his burdens. He's already said it to them. He doesn't dwell on it, notice. In other words, he's trying to find the fine line between being overburdening and communicating facts. Instead, he seeks by example to show them that though these things are hard, they too can rejoice in their hardships as he is rejoicing in his. Now, if you'd like, we can call the Apostle Paul to come pastor this church. I want to see you do that, but that would be interesting. It would be entertaining. That was a joke. Presbyterians. Anyway. Look, you have good reason to rejoice. Some quick pastoral comments on this point. Too often, we, notice I said we, we, me, you, waste these trials by responding in a way that is ungodly and looks more like the world. We want freedom from it, who wouldn't? I will tell you candidly, I'd like it, We want freedom from it. That's a natural response. But because we get so fixated on the freedom from it, we lose sight, and here it is, we lose sight of the lessons that God is working to convince you and me about. How often do we miss them? Because we just want to be free. We don't care how we get there. As long as we're free. Sometimes, second, sometimes we will keep enduring them until we learn the lesson that God has in store. Ouch. It's like when I was a boy. Billy? That's my mother. Don't you call me Billy, by the way. Don't call me William either. Anyway, Billy? Stop cutting the oranges on the countertop. Okay, mom, I'm not gonna cut the countertop, don't worry about it, I'm careful. Over and over, over and over, she would remind me, over and over, I'd ignore her until one day I did cut the countertop. Right? Didn't learn. I had to wait till the nth degree and incur my father's wrath before I got the lesson. God had just listened in the beginning. It wouldn't have happened. How often do we stay right in the pressure cooker of our trials because we're not really learning the lesson that God has for us? Don't forget that those lessons, those trials, they're sent to you from the hand of a loving father. It's easy to forget that. You think if he loved me, he wouldn't, Make my house burn to the ground. My house wouldn't burn to the ground. There are other lessons that he gives us. These trials are designed for that purpose. Third, not only is his demeanor rooted in an act of the will and a godly response, it's a knowledgeable one as well. It's a knowledgeable response. What does he say? For I know. It's right there. For I know, verse 19. What does he know? It's not pie-in-the-sky response to the suffering he's experiencing. This is not being irrational or unrealistic. It is, frankly, the Christian response rooted in a logical faith. Paul knows the words of Psalm 62, verses 6 and 7. And Psalm 3, verses 1 through 4. I'm not going to read them. I probably should, but just to remind you, just a summary of what those two passages are speaking, are talking about. It is talking about the fact that it is God who is his salvation, not the Caesar, not the empire, not the government, not even the Philippians. God is his salvation. He knows that even in the suffering. Second, he knows that God is his fortress. He's the one who protects him. He's the one who keeps him. Third, he knows that despite the odds, regardless of what they may be, God is for him. And he won't abandon him. And then fourth, finally, just in summary, that despite the circumstance, God hears him when he prays. This determination of the apostle is knowledgeable. It's informed by the very pages of the Bible. From the lens of scripture, we draw our strength and hope from them in trials from the Bible. Where else are you going to get it from? From the infinite mind of an infinite God. This determination to rejoice is rooted in his desire to respond in a godly way, rooted in knowledge that comes from the pages of the Bible itself. It's rooted in hope. Hope. A sure hope. We use that word hope like we hope it won't rain tomorrow. That's not what Paul means when we say hope. Theologically, it's not what it means. I don't know if it's going to rain tomorrow or not, but I do know certain things about why I can be confident and rejoice because the Bible tells me. It's a sure hope. And what is it this hope that Paul has in mind in these verses? Notice what he says when he says, this will turn out for my deliverance. What does he mean by that? My deliverance? Well, again, from Paul's point of view, writing those very words, waiting for the sentence that's to come, he could mean, that the deliverance would be they're going to open up the jail cell and he's going to walk out a free man. Could have meant that. He could have meant that when he wrote that. Probably not. We know they already, because of the history, we know that that's not what happens. He's actually executed, he's martyred. I think more to the point that it likely means ultimate deliverance. The term Paul uses here, translated deliverance in the ESV, is the word in which we get salvation from. Now, I recognize that that word salvation, it's soterion, can be used in such a way as to speak of physical deliverance. But it doesn't appear, based on the context of Paul's words here, that that's what he has in view. It seems to indicate a much greater deliverance from the hands of the Caesar and the clutches of the sin-wrecked world of sorrow and suffering. It's the very idea that was conveyed by Job during a period of great suffering on his part, and he says as much in Job 13. In other words, Paul's hope, his joy is rooted in this hope that's eternal, that this deliverance he's looking for is not temporal. It's not just I'm gonna get out of jail, but that if I'm to die, I'm gonna live for Christ and I'm gonna die in Christ and I know I will not, I have a hope that will last for eternity and I will not be put to shame, regardless of what the king does. regardless of how the king behaves. Take my head, Caesar. I still have a hope that will not be put to shame. Remember, he doesn't know, but you do. He has a hope rooted not in the verdicts of an earthly king. That's not where his hope is. It's rooted in the verdict of an eternal king. He very much alludes to this all the way back in his treatise on Christian theology in the Book of Romans, in Romans 5, verses 1 through 5, when he says, therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him, we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice. in the hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. This is the hope that Paul is talking about, this deliverance. He is not worried about what the government might do to him or any man in life or death. My focus will be on Christ. He says it at the very end of verse 20. It doesn't make any difference what the world will do, whether they take my life or not. I know that Christ is going to be honored in my body. In the way I live, if I'm to live. And if I'm to die, it will still be honored in my body. even in my death. We have that very words given to us in our doctrinal standards in question 37 of the Shorter Catechism. What benefits do believers receive from Christ at death? The souls of believers are, after death, made perfect in holiness and do immediately pass into glory in their bodies, being still united to Christ. Wow, what a lifeless body. Christ still cares about it, and it's gonna be held on by him. until the resurrection. And then at the resurrection, the benefits that we receive is that we'll be raised up in glory, shall be openly acknowledged and acquitted. Before who? Before God the Father, before the watching world, not guilty because of the righteousness of Christ. Acquitted in the day of judgment, made perfectly blessed in the full enjoying of God's all-eternity. This is his hope. Whether I get out of jail or not won't matter. My hope is rooted in the finished work of Christ, period. Now you tell me why, then we should not be rejoicing. Let the world do what they will do. Let evil people do what they will do. You keep your focus on Christ and the hope of deliverance that comes through only that which Christ can do. In some sense, I feel like I'm preaching the sermon to myself. Second point, which I should be, Paul's faithful helpers. How is it this could be accomplished? How is it that he could even rise above, if you will, the circumstances that he is facing? A faithful servant of the Lord who incurred much difficulty, abandonment, and mistreatment, and insults, and injury, and everything. How is it he could do this? I know he tried harder. and he willed himself by his own power and might to, no, that's not what he says, and it's a lesson that we all need. He tells the Philippians exactly how it happens. First, the earthly help that he receives. Now, I use the word earthly help to set it apart from the divine help, but it's probably not the best word. I get that. What I mean by earthly help is I mean by the people. The earthly help in the sense of human beings like him, a human being helping. Paul tells the Philippians that through your prayers, literally it is through your supplications or entreaties. Prayers of petition. Through your prayers. It must have been quite the joy to his heart as it should be to you and me to know that his brothers and sisters were praying for him through his struggle. Why don't we keep that to ourselves? Why don't we hide that fact that, hey, I'm praying for you. I know you're having a hard time. I know, sister, you're having a struggle. I get it. I want you to know I'm praying for you. a note, a card, a text message. I shouldn't say that phrase. We have so many ways to communicate. We usually use it for sin. How about using it for good? How easy would it be to say that? And here's the thing. You who receive it, don't dismiss it like it's no big deal. Paul didn't. He says, through your prayers, It's because of your prayers. He valued it. He treated it. He cherished the reality of prayers in the people. And it brought joy to him to know that his brothers and sisters are laboring before the throne of God when it is in the face of his suffering. whether it's hardship or calamity or persecution or disease or insults, injury, to know the body of Christ is praying and pleading for their brothers and sisters in the Lord, it really should be the highest form of encouragement to anyone in this room. Sadly, it's not. It's so common, I think, in some way, that we kind of treat it that way. But it isn't common. And oh, by the way, if you tell somebody you're doing that, you better be doing it, just as an aside. But the question really comes then, what do we pray? We don't know what they were praying. I think we can infer certain things from it. Paul doesn't give us the list. But I'm gonna give you one. Paul gives at least one thing to pray and I'm gonna add a few others. So this way you don't have an excuse. When you see a brother or sister in this church struggling and you don't know what to pray, no, yeah, you do. I'm gonna give you the list. Pray for the one who suffers to be delivered in the way that matters most. Uh-oh. Look, this is what we do at prayer meetings. Heal my friends from their broken toe. Great. Yeah, we want that. I get it. But, you know, that's not what matters most. That's important, but it's not the most important thing. Paul doesn't care whether he dies or lives. What matters most to him is that he exemplifies Christ. Which is to say, it may not be freedom from the trial or the persecution or the insults or whatever, but pray that they will persevere through it according to the promises of God. That's what they're praying, we can infer that here, that through your prayers, look what he says, through your prayers, verse 19, skipping over the help of the Spirit, I'm coming to that, this, the suffering, the persecution, the imprisonment, the insults, all of it will turn out for my deliverance. He's praying for perseverance. They're praying for perseverance. Second, pray for the one who suffers to remember God's promises. Look, it is so easy to forget them, when you're in the storm. It is easy to forget, it's easy to forget them when life is hard and the gates of hell seem to be unleashed against the dear saint. Pray for them to remember the love of God, his faithfulness, his care, his commitment to them, his constant companionship. Third, Pray for the one who suffers to receive the help needed in their time of need. The Philippians prayed for Paul. Paul says so. They didn't just pray for him. They also helped him physically. They gave him a gift. They sent men to encourage him. They tried to pick up the slack where their beloved pastor apostle was lacking. James has something to say about this, by the way. A brother and sister's in need, and you see that need, and you can meet it, and you just tell them, I'm gonna pray for you, but you could actually meet that need. You know what you've done? Nothing useful. I know you think I just contradicted myself. James says, what good is that? Maybe you're the answer to the prayer. The Philippians didn't just pray for Paul, they met the need, or tried to meet the needs. that he has. In other words, they are doing what Paul says in Galatians 6 about carrying one another's burdens. You know, that's a command. It's not a suggestion. Carry one another's burdens. That's all of us, not just some. Not the ones you like and the ones you don't like. Oh, he's an elder, so I don't got to do that. Or he's the pastor, I don't got to do that either. He's a deacon. No, wrong. We carry each other's burdens. Sometimes that means a listening ear. Sometimes that means communication and encouragement to pray. Sometimes it means whatever it looks like. The Philippians are trying to carry his burden. And he's got a significant one. And they're doing it. Fourth. Pray for the Lord to sanctify them completely. I know what I'm about to say is not gonna set well with some of you. And I don't mean to upset your sensibilities. I'm not trying to do that. I'm just trying to focus our thinking about what to pray for our brothers and sisters when they're struggling or suffering. Pray for the Lord to sanctify them completely. More important than healing from the disease or freedom from the trial, release from prison, escape from the insults and injuries, that the Lord will use the trial to sanctify your brother and sister into the very image of the Lord Jesus Christ. That is exactly why they have the trial in the first place. And I can assure you, if you pray that, it's agreeable to the will of God. Isn't that what he says? And that verse that's quoted for almost everything, that's bad. Romans 8, 28, where we know that all things, all things work together for good to those who are called according to the purposes of God. And what's that purpose? To conform us into the image of Christ. Now, maybe you don't want to be conformed to the image of Christ. Well, then you've got a different problem. Talk to me later. But if you're a Christian, that's what you desire. And sometimes, and oftentimes, it is trials that do that. You pray for your brothers and sisters that God would use that trial to sanctify them more into the image of Christ. More important than being healed, there's gonna be a healing. It's gonna come when they die, maybe, in the sense that that's the way God might heal them. But more important than that is they would grow in their knowledge and understanding of the Savior. But there's also not only the earthly help, but there's the heavenly help, or I think I have it in your bulletin, the divine help. Paul does not merely mention the prayers of the saints. He mentions another invaluable helper in this circumstance. Indeed, it is the most important help he needs, and it is one that is given to every child of God. That is to say, the help of the Spirit. Another parakletos, another comforter. He mentions it through the prayers of the saints, through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ. Sometimes they go together. And he mentions this. the very help of the Holy Spirit. And we have, again, the promises of God and the confidence that Paul himself had, the same promises. He's not a respecter of persons. In Luke chapter 11, in verses 9 through 13, it's right after the Lord's prayer. He says, and I tell you, ask and it will be given to you. Seek and you... Health and wealth people love these verses. I'll start over. And I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you. Seek, and you will find. Knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds. And to the one who knocks, it will be opened. What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will, instead of a fish, give him a serpent? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him. This is the gift, the good gift. When you plead on behalf of your brothers and sisters for the Holy Spirit to help them and equip them, you think God's gonna go, nah, you know what, forget it, I'm gonna give them a serpent instead, or a stone. I mean, if you think that, you don't really believe the Bible. It's plain. He will. And he does. Maybe you don't get this hair standing up on end because it happens and you don't feel swooning episodes and get slain in the spirit when it occurs. But it does happen because God's promised it. I've often thought to myself, what would it look like if nobody prayed for me? I don't even want to think about it. It's too terrible to contemplate. What would it look like for you if nobody was praying for you? I don't know. But Paul recognizes the need of the Spirit in his life, the divine help. He even says as much. A passage I've been meditating on in the last few days, it just struck me as I was thinking about Paul's statements about the prayers of the people and the help of the Spirit. And I read the words in 2 Corinthians 12, and you really have to read the whole chapter, but I'm just going to zero in on the final verse in the first section of verse 10. For the sake of Christ, then I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. I'm already having a hard time, Paul. Really? Content? And then he says this, for when I am weak, then I am strong. And I still don't know what that means. But I've been praying for the Lord to help me understand it. And here's the thing, how can he do any of these things? How is it he can say this with such confidence, such boldness? Because he has the spirit. It is the spirit that's working. It is the spirit that makes him strong when he is at his weakest point. He says it with confidence that through the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, I'm able to have hope and confidence in the deliverance that's coming, the real deliverance, the one that's going to bring eternal hope to me, the one that brings him away from the trials of this miserable world and brings him into that glorious presence with God. How could he write these things? He doesn't have the divine help needed to write them and even mean them. Well, he's learned to walk in his weakness through the divine help of the Holy Spirit. And so do you. I need this. And so do you. Look, it's easy to serve God when the sky is blue and the roses are blooming. And we often think that way, well, Lord, if you just gave me a, you know, Shangri-La, I'd be a much more faithful servant of Jesus. Maybe you use different words. Well, I'm not coming to church today because I'm mad, because things aren't pleasant. Okay. So in other words, you're only gonna serve Jesus when the sky is blue. How about if I do that up here? I'm not preaching next Sunday because things are miserable and so I'm gonna stay home. No. We don't just serve Christ and have the help of the Spirit to serve the Savior when the skies blue. Sometimes it's black and it's raining. And it's an opportunity. It's an opportunity to rejoice in your eternal hope. It's an opportunity to rejoice that you're suffering for the sake of Christ. It's an opportunity to rejoice in what God has done. It's an opportunity to learn what it is he's teaching you. In some sense, Paul is light years away from most of us, but he had to learn these things, like you and me. So pray for more of the Spirit, for yourself and for others. Too many people waste their suffering. I wonder how much I've wasted in my life of the suffering that I've experienced in different ways. How much have you wasted? Maybe you just accept it. It's just the way it is. You know, that's it. But you're wasting it. They lose sight of what their loving father is doing. Instead of rejoicing, they complain. Instead of contentment and submission, they resist and fight against the very will of God. Think about that. Therefore pray and ask for the Lord to grant you a heart of joy in difficult times. I didn't say pray for giddiness. because your house just burned to the ground. Don't call me on the phone if it happens and say, I'm giddy about this, it's great, Pastor, I'm so happy. No, you're not, you're lying. But you should have joy. I said joy, knowing that your name is written in the Lamb's book of life. Take my house, that's fine, you can't take me out of that book. The Lord will provide, he's promised to do it, okay. Too many people waste the suffering of others by failing to help their brothers and sisters in those times of need. Therefore, carry their burdens, lend a listening ear, pray with them and for them daily if you must. Tell them that you are doing just that. Pray for the Lord to sanctify them completely and that they would have the help of the Holy Spirit to persevere to the very end, even if that end is death. This is what Paul did. He shared, he rejoiced because he had a hope rooted in the unfinished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Our God, we thank you again for your word and we again We read these things and we are often tempted to just say, well, that was Paul and he was a super saint. Nothing could be further from the truth. He was a sinner like us and needed your help and strength, and he asked for it and got it from the people and from your spirit. So help us that we might rejoice that way, even in times of hardship. Grant us more of your spirit. Bless us with him as you've promised to do. We pray for Christ's sake.