Let us now turn for our scripture reading to Philippians chapter 4. Philippians 4, we'll read verses 14 through 23. Nevertheless, you have done well that you shared in my distress. Now you Philippians know also that in the beginning of the gospel when I departed from Macedonia, no church shared with me concerning giving and receiving, but you only. For even in Thessalonica you sent aid once and again for my necessities. Not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that abounds to your account. Indeed, I have all and abound. I am full, having received from Epaphroditus the thing sent from you, a sweet-smelling aroma, an acceptable sacrifice, well-pleasing to God. And my God shall supply all your need. according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. Now to our God and Father be glory forever and ever. Amen. Greet every saint in Christ Jesus. The brethren who are with me greet you. All the saints greet you, but especially those who are of Caesar's household. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen. congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ. This morning, we've come to the closing words of this wonderful letter that we've been considering for the past number of months. And as we come to these final words, I suppose there's a temptation to think that, well, the real substance of this letter has already been covered. And now what we have here are some polite formalities, perhaps we may think. in the form of these greetings and some nice sounding, but very familiar, perhaps we might even think commonplace, ways of wrapping things up with a doxology and a blessing, so familiar to us. And I suppose the danger is that we kind of skim over these things, thinking there's not that much to be gained from a sermon on them. But we need to remember that all Scripture is God-breathed and inspiration, The inspiration of this book extends to the very last word, and we also approach it with the confidence that these final words are also profitable. In fact, we will see that they teach on themes that are essential and really central to the whole Christian life. And that very fact gives a kind of unity to these verses, which otherwise might seem like a series of kind of disconnected ideas or verses. We can put it this way. These verses actually highlight to us three things that mark any healthy Christian, spiritually healthy. They highlight three things that belong to any healthy church. Think of it. We're given a God-centered focus in verse 20. And in the next two verses, we are given insight into the character or at least one aspect of a broad kind of fellowship among the people of God. And then thirdly, we are reminded of our reliance upon the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the assurance of that grace to us. I suppose we could even look at these three things in kind of directional terms. There is an upward direction in the sense that we are called to give unto the Lord glory, honor and glory as ascribed to Him. That's a huge part of the Christian life. That upward direction of our worship and our praise And then there's a horizontal direction in terms of mutual fellowship expressed here in the forms of greetings that are given to one another, shared among the saints. And then we might also think of a kind of downward direction. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ coming down to us in all sufficient and never ending supply. It might be a way to consider these passages before us. In any case, Paul closes his letter with profound Christian priorities. Profound priorities, those words might seem big to some of you children, but basically what we see is that Paul ends the letter with things that are really, really important. Important for us as individuals, important for us as a Christian church. Beginning with glory to God. In verse 20, now to our God and Father be glory forever and ever. Amen. And you may recall that last week I had to say something about this verse in connection with the previous text, where Paul spoke of God's abundant provisions and the grace, the rich grace of God that's revealed in giving and receiving, even of material gifts. And it's in view of those riches of God's grace revealed in that way that we can hear Him breaking out into doxology. He ascribes glory to God because of the things that He had just considered and explained that glorify God as His riches are so wonderfully bestowed in this way. The fatherhood of God is so wonderfully revealed and supplying all our needs. And the blessings of belonging to His family are so rich and manifold. They're shared by all His children. We also drew attention to the language of Paul in verse 19 where he says, And my God shall supply all your need. But in this doxology, we are reminded that yes, He is Paul's God, but He is no less our God. Now to our God and Father be glory forever and ever. God's glory. God's glory is the supreme purpose of all things. It's God's supreme purpose in the creation of the world. We hear the church extolling God in the doxology of Revelation 4. Now to Him, belongs glory and honor and power. For you created all things, and by your will or by your pleasure, they exist and were created. The little children perhaps are familiar with the child's catechism that asks, and why did God make you and all things? For His own glory. Such a prominent theme in God's Word. And it's a purpose that will be realized, it will be revealed in a profound way also in connection to the Lord Jesus Christ, we heard, right? As a result of Christ's obedience unto death, God has highly exalted Him, given Him a name above every other name, that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow. And heaven and on earth. And every tongue should confess that He is Lord. It doesn't stop there, does it? To the glory of God the Father. The glory of God. This is the great goal of our salvation. In Isaiah chapter 43, God summons His children. Gather My sons and daughters from afar. Those who are called after My name. Whom I have formed for my glory. We're saved to glorify God. That's the purpose of our sanctification. We heard it earlier on in this letter, in chapter 1, where Paul praised that the Philippians may be filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God. Later on in the same chapter, Paul's great concern, whether he lives or dies, is that Christ may be glorified. That He might be magnified in my death. You ever pray that however God chooses to take you from this life, that you may glorify Him? In death as well as life? God's glory should be the supreme aim of our lives. That's the way it was for our Lord Jesus. Remember his prayer the night before he went to the cross. Father, I have glorified you on the earth. I have finished the work which you gave me to do. And now, O Father, glorify me together with yourself. with the glory which I had with you before the world was." He glorified God by completing the mission, the task he was given to do. And now he prays that he would be glorified and exalted and that he might resume that glory that he had before with the Father. But if we look back at the first verse, we again see the ultimate goal of that also where he said, Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son. that your Son also may glorify you. I have glorified you on the earth. Now glorify me together with yourself, that I may glorify you. There's an endless circle, so to speak, within the Trinity of the manifestation of the glory of the Triune God. That's the goal and purpose of everything. We hear it in 1 Corinthians with respect to our entire lives as those who have been bought with a price. And we know the price that obtained our redemption, the precious blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. You were bought at a price. Therefore, glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's. We belong to our faithful Savior Jesus Christ. And He redeemed us, body and soul, that we might glorify Him in the way we use our bodies. The outward man as well as the inward man is to be focused on the glory of God. Whatever you do, whether you eat or drink, do all for the glory of God. Why do we come to worship? What are we called to do? You hear it in almost every call to worship. Give unto the Lord the glory that's due His name. Yes, the call to glorify God needs to be pounded into our heads. That's the kind of language Calvin uses. It's not original with me. It needs to be beaten into our ears. So that more and more we instinctively give a priority to this. That more and more we think about how does this glorify God? Is that our big concern? Are our emotions and our passions tied up in the things that glorify God? That's a big part of sanctification, isn't it? Conformity to the Lord Jesus Christ. We want to think and act as those who instinctively make it a priority to say, not unto us, O Lord, not unto us give glory, but to your name. That's really living. Brothers and sisters, if you want to live a purposeful life, then believe that God has created us for his glory and our restoration and happiness is to seek his honor and glory. To glorify God is our pleasure, it's our delight. It's more than a matter of duty. It's more than a matter of correct theology. Why did Paul say, glory to God? Hmm, now I'm nearing the end of my letter, I need to think of something appropriate to say. Oh, how about this? Of course not. It was the outflow of his heart as he's proclaiming the riches of God's grace. He said it because he was passionate about it. God saved us to the praise of the glory of His grace. And knowing that grace makes us want to praise Him. It does move us to want to honor Him. In fact, we might say that there's no more important mark of maturity and that this should become more and more our priority. To Him be glory in the church. Paul says in Ephesians chapter 3 verse 21. That's a big part of the Godward life. We talk about the different directions of the Christian life and walk, so to speak. And the Christian life is a Godward life. That's why it's marked by prayer. Tomorrow we're going to consider how it is marked by praise, very specifically. Glory to God. Our delight, our increasing aim. And you can see how this is a priority then. Final things put first things first. But along with that, There's another direction to the Christian life. And that's expressed in the next verses where we read of greetings among the saints. And we might think now we've taken a dive from the sublime to the mundane. A series of greetings. Well, we need to know that God is glorified in the church. God is glorified by fellowship and love. among the saints. And that includes matters so simple as the exchange of greetings. And that's what we have in a few verses here before us. Three different kinds of greetings, at least, anyway. First, there are greetings from Paul to all the saints in Philippi. Greet every saint in Christ Jesus. Now, we might ask, who is he talking to here? He says, greet every saint. It may be that he is addressing the bishops and the deacons that were cited in the very opening words of this epistle, that they were to communicate Paul's greetings. They were to pass them on to every saint. He doesn't simply say all the saints, but to every saint, specifically. No one's to be left out. There's to be no partiality here. Members of the church, perhaps, some of them were friends with Syntyche and others with the odia and there was a kind of rivalry among them And as often happens people align themselves with their friends if there's any rivalry The Christian greetings don't observe party lines Christian greetings and love Don't align themselves along personal favorites and exclude others and There are differences in maturity, there are differences of personality, there are differences in terms of sanctification. But they must not, they ought not to limit the circle of warm communication and fellowship. It's a bad sign when people are unable to greet each other. Sometimes people can hardly look at each other. That's not the way things ought to be, is it? We don't practice a holy kiss, right? In another passage, reflecting the culture of that day, the command to the Corinthians and 2 Corinthians to greet one another with a holy kiss. That's even a little more closer and intimate in terms of an expression of affection and love. It must not be a Judas kiss. It must not be a treacherous or insincere expression, even as a handshake. Looking our brothers and sisters in the eye and saying, good morning, ought to be genuine. It ought to be real. That's Christian fellowship that Paul is concerned with. It may be that when he says, greet all the saints, he's not even addressing the leaders, but he's giving a command to the saints to greet one another. It certainly is found in other passages. I favor the idea that Paul is sending his own greetings to all the saints, but certainly the idea of the saints greeting one another is also an important teaching of Scripture. But there are not only greetings from Paul, but there are greetings from those with Paul. Rather, the rest of verse 21, the brethren who are with me greet you. There were companions with Paul. We know Timothy was with him. And there were others, perhaps fellow laborers there in the Church of Rome. There were close associates with him, with whom he spent time. Perhaps they visited him often in prison. Perhaps they had prayer and fellowship together. And perhaps that's why and that's how even these companions of Paul that perhaps didn't know the saints in Philippi, They were interested in their well-being. They wanted to send greetings. Perhaps Paul had prayed with them about needs. Perhaps he had shared his letter with them before he sent it. And their hearts were in it. That's one thing about praying for others. It does tend to create and promote an interest in others' well-being, a curiosity, a concern for them. That can result from praying for people that we don't even know personally. We try to understand their situation and their needs. But greetings were extended from those with Paul. And then there are greetings from all the saints in Rome. There was a Christian church in Rome. All the saints greet you, but especially those who are of Caesar's household. It's really quite remarkable when you think about it. Rome, the center of the empire. Rome or Caesar, Nero. Nero was the emperor. If you know anything about Nero, he was a very bad man. And before long, persecution would break out against the church. In just a few short years, one of the first waves of persecution against the Christian church would be launched. And there would be successive persecutions, 10, I believe, that have been identified as major campaigns against Christians in these twilight years of the great Roman Empire. But there was a spiritual empire, and it was gaining ground, and it had a foothold in the very corridors of power. Yes, there were Christians among those of Caesar's household, and a special point is made to send their greetings. In chapter 1, we learn that there were Christians among the Praetorian Guard. Yes, the Roman Empire was in decline. it would fall. But the infinitely greater empire of Christ was creating a fellowship of faith and love under the King of mercy and grace. And it's an empire that would never end. There's nothing mundane about that, is there? The significance of these Christians called out of the world now brought together in a circle of fellowship and love under King Jesus. A common faith, a common love, though many of them had never met each other. They're united together with a kind of citizenship that is not of this world. It's not of the Roman Empire. It's a heavenly citizenship, belonging to the family of God. And then finally, The assurance of grace from our Lord Jesus Christ. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen. How wonderful that this book ends on this note. It's a note that reminds us that ultimately we are but receivers. Even our giving glory to God is, in a sense, receiving the grace to do that. And we never do it as we should. We never do it perfectly. We want to glorify God. But how pathetic our praise often is. Cold are our warmest thoughts, and weak the efforts of our hearts We want to give glory to God, but we fall so far short. We want to show Christian fellowship, sincerely. But how much selfishness yet remains in us? How much pride? How much pettiness? But there is grace from our Lord, our Master, Jesus Christ, our Savior, came to save His people from their sins. from Christ, our mediator, our prophet, priest and king. There is a grace to us, an ongoing cleansing by the precious blood that he shed for sinners. There is forbearance and patience for our weaknesses. There is his gentle spirit within who continues to strengthen us and restore and renew us. And all the promises of God are yes and amen in Him. And such grace is assured. That's what we have here. This is a benediction. It's not just a prayer. It's an assurance. It's a communication, an authoritative, divine communication of grace from the Lord Jesus Christ to all the saints. That doesn't mean that it's universal to all people. It's for believers. But even that description doesn't exclude anyone who comes to know their need and begins to hunger for this grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. And to them, the gospel message is not, there's no grace for you, because you're not a member of the saints. The summons to them has come. Come to this King of mercy and grace. Come to Him who is meek and lowly of heart. Believe in Him. Believe in who He is and what He did for sinners. Call upon His name. Cry out to Him in your need. And you'll be joined to Him. You'll be united to Him as the saints are. You'll be united to them as well. You'll be equipped to glorify God. You'll have a new passion, a new reason for living. That is God word. And you'll glorify Him in the church. There's a textual variant. Some of you who have different translations, perhaps carrying them into the church, may notice that Some versions end this way, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Now that's a textual variant, right? It's a difference among the original language. It doesn't affect any doctrine. Scholars will debate on what's the accurate rendering based on their view of the history of text transmission, kind of a complicated thing there. I think our text has it right. But what is communicated by that other rendering that somehow crept into the manuscripts, it's certainly biblical. It's taught in many other passages of Scripture. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ is not just something out there and for us. It is that. First of all, it's for us. It is that. But the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ is intimate and near. Christ Himself is with us, with our spirit. There is an inner life to the life of faith. Christ dwells in our hearts by faith. He is near to us. We have access to Him and He to us. Christ in you, the hope of glory. Consider that in a way, the whole gospel boils down to this. That's the summary of the mystery that had been hidden in ages past. But now it's revealed, not only to the Jews, but to Gentiles. Christ in you. By His Spirit. Do you not know that Jesus Christ is in you? unless you're disqualified, that's a call for self-examination. Christ in us. Christ as our Savior and as our Friend. One who has access to our spirits, who can move us, who can move our hearts through a song, through a message. And the glory of Jesus Christ appears in a new light. Sometimes a light surprises the Christian while he sings. It is the Lord who rises with healing in his wings. With your spirit. Actually, he doesn't say with your spirits. Again, I'm just elaborating a bit on the value and the orthodoxy of that other rendering. Again, it's certainly biblical that there's a kind of oneness and a unity of fellowship that is such a prominent theme in this book. Of one mind, one spirit. And the assurance of grace is for all the saints in that intimate way of the Lord Jesus being with us. Being with us. Beautiful, beautiful note to end a beautiful book. Amen.