00:00
00:00
00:01
Transcript
1/0
Philippians chapter 1. Paul and
Timotheus, the servants of Jesus Christ, to all the saints in
Christ Jesus which are at Philippi, with the bishops and the deacons,
grace be unto you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord
Jesus Christ. I thank my God upon every remembrance
of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all, making requests
with joy for your fellowship in the gospel from the first
day until now, being confident of this very thing, that he which
hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day
of Jesus Christ. Well, friends, I'm beginning
a new series this evening following on from our studies in the life
and the ministry and the work of the Apostle Paul and looking
at one of these churches that he planted, the first church
in Europe that he planted there in Philippi. My title is A Good
Work in You, taken there from verse 6. Perhaps you could say the church
at Philippi was one of Paul's favorite churches. If he had
favorite churches, if he had a list, he probably would be
one of the top churches, if not the top one, because he hardly
has a bad word to say about this church. It seems to be almost
not quite a perfect church. There was some admonition, or
there is some admonition there, to Iodius and Syntyche, those
two strong-willed women who were of different minds, and Paul
tells them to be of the same mind. There's an exhortation
to humility, an exhortation not to complain and murmur. Maybe there was a bit of that
happening, but who doesn't need that? All of us need a constant
exhortation to humility and to contentment and to do all things
without complaining. And so there is very little,
really, criticism here from Paul for this church. There doesn't
appear to be any false doctrine or false teachers who are having
their way and being allowed to say things in the church like
in some of the other churches. He does warn them in chapter
3 to beware of the dogs, beware of the concision, the Judaizers
who were in the other churches in Corinth and in Galatia. And he warns them about them,
but just to put them on the right footing to be aware of these
things. But they hadn't actually had
any impact as yet. in this particular church. He didn't have to defend himself. Paul, with Galatia and Corinth,
he has to show them, these are my credentials. I am an apostle
of God. I'm sent by God. This is my calling
from on high. And they were doubting it. There
were some people who were doubting these things in those other churches,
but not here. In this church, he didn't have
to confirm that he was called of God. That's why when we read
chapter 1 and verse 1, he doesn't mention his apostleship. He doesn't say, I am an apostle
of Jesus Christ. He didn't need to because he
was among friends, and they received him. as an angel of God. They
received him as a minister from the Lord. And so this is, we
could say, really a model church and something also for us, isn't
it, to strive for, to aim for as a church, a church that is
pleasing to the Lord. It was a worshipping church.
It was a joyful church. It was a church that rejoiced
in Christ Jesus. It was a church that participated
in the work of the gospel at home and abroad. It was a giving
church. It was a praying church, interceding
for others. It was a church with one mind
in many ways. and a church where there wasn't
any strife or division, apart from those two ladies that we
read of. There was a unity amongst them. There was a care amongst the
members for one another. So many good things to say about
them. Not only had God done a good
work in them as individuals, And that's how it starts off.
But even as a church, there were good things happening amongst
them. And the Lord, no doubt, was very
pleased with them. And so it's something for us
as well to keep in mind, to aim for, to be as best as we can
be for the Lord as a church. Well, the apostle, Paul, as he's
writing, at the time when he's writing this letter, he's in
Rome, he's in prison, he's under house arrest. It's his first
Roman imprisonment, and the time now is about AD 62. So he's nearing
the end of that first imprisonment, but he doesn't know it as yet. but he's nearing the end of that. And it's some 10 to 12 years
since his first visit to Philippi. And in Acts chapter 16, well,
we are given there a detailed account by Luke of Paul's visit
to Philippi. You remember the call to come
over to Macedonia when Paul wasn't sure where to go. One way is
blocked and then another. And the Lord, he saw that vision
of a man calling him, saying, the man from Macedonia, come
over and help us. And he took that as a signal
from the Lord, this is where he should go. And so that's where
he went. It's a second missionary journey.
He's there with Silas and Timothy are accompanying him. And the
first place where they end up is Philippi, a leading city there
in Macedonia and a Roman colony. I'm sure you're familiar with
something about Philippi. It was named after Philip. the father of Alexander the Great. And its other claim to fame is
the battle that took place there in 42 BC between Mark Antony
and Octavius on the one hand, and then you got Brutus and who
was the other guy? Cassius. who were on the Republican
side, who actually lost the battle, and it was the end of the Roman
Republic at that time. But it was a great battle that
was fought there, and many thousands also lost their lives. It was
a miniature Rome, you could say. I mean, that's what people who
went out from Rome to these colonies, they tried to make it as similar
to Rome as they could. And it was, Philippi was a military
city rather than a mercantile one. So it wasn't really a business
place, and that probably accounts for the fact that there were
so few Jews who were living there. And that's why when you read
Acts 16, you find that there's no synagogue. And the place of
prayer was by the riverside, some temporary structure by the
riverside where mainly women were gathered to pray week by
week. So just some background there,
which helps us to see what Philippi was like and what the church
was like, which was there. So it was here in Philippi that
this first European church was planted. And of course, Acts
16 tells us that important and thrilling account of the conversions
which happened there. And at first, that gentle conversion
of Lydia, how when Paul spoke to them in that time by the river,
the Lord opened her heart and she received the things of the
Lord. So wonderful. And then, on the
other end, at the end of the chapter, towards the end, we
have the account of the Philippian jailer, that ex-Roman soldier,
no doubt, and how he had this dramatic conversion, and he was
so changed by all the things that happened to him. And also,
his family were brought into the kingdom in one night. and
how God worked. And of course, in between, you
have that account of the slave girl who was possessed with a
spirit of divination. And again, how the Lord delivered
her. And no doubt, she also was saved. All these would have been members
in the church at Philippi. And of course, a group we often
forget is the prisoners who are in the prison with Paul. We often concentrate on the Roman
soldier, or the jailer, rather. But all the other prisoners,
they were also there. They heard Paul and Silas singing
the hymns at midnight. Probably the jailer hadn't, didn't
hear that, but they did. And then, they felt the earthquake
when it struck. Their own chains fell off their
hands and their feet, and yet, they never ran for it. When those
prison doors swung open, they never ran for it. They stayed
put. They stayed where they are. Well,
all that must have made a big impression upon those prisoners. So surely, some of them at least
must have been saved. Surely, some of them must have
come under conviction, as the jailer did, and cried out, what
must I do to be saved? They would have heard that as
well, isn't it? When the jailer cried out, what must I do to
be saved? Well, they would have heard as
well. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved. And many of them must have also
felt that was for them. So when they were eventually
set free, one would have thought they would have also joined the
church. So this just gives us a little
bit of a flavor for what happened in Philippi. And I'm sure you're
familiar with many of these things. But let's look at these verses.
Paul and Timotheus, the servants of Jesus Christ, are Timotheus,
he was accompanying Paul and Silas on the second missionary
journey, and he's also well-known and well-respected by the church. And so Paul here mentions him. Perhaps Paul was dictating and
Timothy was writing down what he was saying. Here, Timothy is mentioned alongside
Paul. But Paul is the writer. Paul is the inspired writer.
And you can see from verse 3 onwards, he switches to the first tense
singular, I, me, my, and so on. But it's interesting, isn't it,
just to see how Paul thinks. He doesn't think, though he is
senior to Timothy, And though he is superior to him in so many
ways, yet he shows great humility in joining Timothy's name and
his name together. So Paul and Timothy, the servants
of Jesus Christ, Well, that word servants, it means bondservants. And Paul is saying, well, we
are the bondservants, the slaves of Jesus Christ. A bondservant was somebody, as
you know, who belonged to somebody else. They were owned by somebody
else. They didn't have any rights to their own things. And Paul
is describing himself. and Timothy and saying, this
is what we are. We are bondservants, we are slaves
of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's how every believer thinks. That's how every believer ought
to identify himself and think of himself. I'm not my own. I'm bought with a price. I'm
bought with the blood of Christ. I belong to another. I am the
bondservant of the Lord Jesus Christ. I belong to him. I'm glad to belong to him. This is not a coerced. a bondage,
as it were. This is a willing, I'm willingly
his servant. After all that he has done for
me, he has given his life for me. He's a good master. I'm very
happy to be his servant. He owns me. He directs my affairs. He tells me what to do. His will
is my will. Or rather, my will is to do his
will. That's how I think as a believer. I'm not thinking I must have
my own way in the decisions of life. I must do my own thing.
I'm asking the Lord. I'm inquiring of the Lord. Lord,
what do you want me to do? And I want to promote and further
his cause. But this is our mentality and
our identity as the Lord's people, as believers. Another identity
is also here in verse 1. Saints. So not only are we servants
of Jesus Christ, but we're also saints, to all the saints in
Christ Jesus which are at Philippi. Well, the word saints, it means
holy, to be set apart, to be consecrated. You remember how
the high priest garments in the Old Testament, well, they were
to be worn by the high priest only when he went into the tabernacle
and did the service of the Lord. He couldn't wear those special
garments when he was at home or when he went to the marketplace.
They were holy garments. They were separated for a specific
use when he was in the tabernacle. It was the same with the utensils
that were there. They couldn't use those utensils
which had been prepared for tabernacle service to be used in people's
homes, the pots and the pans, and for cooking at home, and
to the ordinary uses. No, they were separated. for
the service of God. So is every saint. That's what
it means. So is every believer. He's set
aside for God. He is set apart for the Lord. That means there's a difference
between him and the world. And so he abstains from those
things, those sinful, worldly things, which are going to defile
him. He remembers, I am a saint. People
often say, isn't it, I'm no saint. I'm no saint. But actually, as
a believer, we cannot say that because you are a saint. I am
a saint. And we should use that to remind
us and help us as we walk through life, this is my calling. I'm
to be separated to the Lord and for His use. And then he goes
on to say, to all the saints in Christ Jesus, which are at
Philippi, with the bishops and deacons. That's a very simple
structure in the church. That's how it was meant to be.
That was the pattern that the law gave to Paul. The elders
who have the oversight, the word bishop here, It's a synonym for
elder. They have the oversight of the
souls and the work of the church. They're not lords over God's
heritage. They're not lording it over people,
but they're watching and caring for the souls of people and the
deacons. or they're involved in the practical
side of the work. But it's just these two officers
which are in the church, elders and deacons, and the congregation. alongside that. But if you look
today at some of the churches, they've strayed so far away from
this simple structure. You see some churches, they've
got a board of directors, and they've got a director for music,
and they've got a director for evangelism, and a director for
worship, and a director for events, and an associate director for
this and that, and a chairman in some places as well. Well,
that's not really biblical, friends, because the church structure
is meant to be very simple. Now, you see here as well how
Paul says, he uses the bishops and deacons. It's a plurality
of bishops, of elders, and plurality of deacons, which usually make
up the church. Now, some people may say, what
about us? We only have at the moment one
elder, but we have other Elderly elders, they're not in office,
but certainly in council and in advice that is given and in
the running of the church who are there to support that work. Oh, but you've only got one elder,
sometimes people say. You can become a dictator. I
can't become a dictator. Or I could become a dictator,
but then the other members in the church and the constitution
of the church is there to evict me if I became a dictator. So
those safeguards are there. But because our numbers at the
moment are on the relatively small side where membership is
concerned, then at the moment we only have one elder. But as things grow and people
come and join us, then of course we move into a plurality of elders
in the church as God blesses us. But then look at verse 2. Here is a greeting and a wish
and also a prayer for the church. Grace be unto you and peace from
God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Of course, we obtain
grace and peace from God when we are converted. But as we go
through our life, our Christian life, we need continual supplies
of grace and peace from God. Yes, we find God is merciful
at the beginning, and we find his help at the beginning, and
we find come to know peace that we never experienced in the world
when we first come to know the Lord. But all these things we
still need more of. We cannot live of just what we
obtained in the day we were converted. We need continual supplies from
the Lord. We need transforming grace to
keep changing us. We need grace in the trials and
the troubles that come along our way. My grace, the Lord said
to Paul, is sufficient for us. and how many trials and difficulties
sometimes we are called to pass through. And for each one, we
need a fresh supply of grace and more of it from the Lord,
and of peace as well in that situation. Perhaps we end up
in a trial and we're troubled and we're anxious over it, and
then we remember the Lord's words, peace I leave with you, my peace
I give unto you, not as the world giveth, give I unto you, Let
not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. And so we pray. Paul here is wishing and is also
praying that this may be the portion of the believers there
at Philippi. But then let's move to verse
3. I thank my God upon every remembrance
of you. As often as I remember you, he
says, I give thanks to God. I remember how Lydia listened
so carefully and how she responded to the message. And I thank God
for it. I don't praise Lydia. I thank
God. My God, he says. I remember her hospitality and
how she opened her home to us and urged us to come and stay
with us. And we did. And I thank God for
that. And perhaps even the church met
in her house. And I thank God for that. I remember
the jailer and how God transformed that man. And I give thanks to
God for that and for the gentleness that came to him. I remember,
he says, your love and your care for us and how you sent to me
the the financial help and support, not only once but again and again
you sent to me and I give God thanks for that. So he sees all
these things and he is thankful to the Lord. Of course, thankfulness
was so much a part of Paul's life. He was a very thankful
man at all times. He was always giving thanks to
God. And this is where he got so much
of his strength, surely, from. And his energy and that spring
which was in his step came from being thankful to the Lord. But we have to ask ourselves,
friends, does thankfulness play a big part in my life? It should
do. If I'm struggling in prayer,
if I'm finding it a little bit difficult to get going in prayer,
well, it's a good idea to begin with thankfulness, to recall
how the Lord has blessed you, to recall how the Lord has helped
you in so many ways. And that will be a help to you. As that hymn goes, count your
blessings Name them one by one, and it will surprise you what
the Lord has done. And perhaps sometimes that's
how we should begin our prayers, with a thankfulness to him. Thank
him for saving you. Thank him for the way in which
he brought you to hear the gospel. Thank him for humbling you. Once we were so very proud, but
now you're humbled. Who did that work? That was God.
So we thank Him for it. Thank Him for making us willing
to follow Him. Thank Him for giving us something
to do in His kingdom. Thank Him for the many answers
to prayer that we've had, for recoveries from backslidings. for making our way difficult
when we went away from him. Thank him for closed doors. Thank
him for helping us recover from sicknesses. Thank him for even
for all the disciplines and the way he deals so personally with
us. So many things we could mention.
It's a good thing to recall your own personal history. history
of how the Lord has dealt with you since you have come to know
him. But don't only think about yourself.
Here Paul is thanking God for every remembrance of the believers
in Philippi. And think of your brothers and
your sisters, and how God has worked in them also, and the
gifts that he has given to them. And thank God for them. Thank
God for those gifts that maybe you don't have, but they have.
And rejoice in that. Thank Him for all the good things
that you see in them, the regular attendance maybe, for their willingness
to serve, for their concern for the lost, for their giving of
their substance, all these things we can thank God for, but preferably
not in the public prayer meeting. But do it on your own, when you're
alone with the Lord. But if we did this, friends,
perhaps we'd be less likely to complain and to grumble about
each other. Not that we do much here, thank
God for that, but it will prevent us even more. But here we see
Paul is so glad about these believers and thankful for them, and in
verse four it continues this, a delight he has in them, always
in every prayer of mine for you all, making a request with joy. Again, he couldn't say that of
every church, could he? He couldn't say that of the church
in Galatia, I make requests of you with joy. He had to say,
I make requests for them, I still pray for them, but it's with
grief because they've so soon turned away from the gospel that
was given to them. And sadly, we have to say the
same today. We pray for other churches, but
sometimes we cannot do it with joy that they are serving the
Lord and worshiping the Lord in the right way. But we have
to do it sometimes with grief because they have become, embraced
the world and brought the world into the church in evangelism
or in worship. Well, verse five. And this is
the main thought here in Paul's mind when he's thinking of the believers and he's thanking
God for them. It's because of their fellowship
in the gospel from the first day until now. The fellowship
in the gospel, the word means a partnership. And here, these
Philippians, well, they joined hands with the apostle. Right
from the very beginning, he said, we will share with you. We will
bear the load with you. We will be behind you in the
work of the gospel. We see the power of the gospel. You believe in it. We can see
that in your life, Paul. We also will share in it. They had faith in the gospel
and that it was the power of God unto salvation, just as the
apostle Paul did. And they wanted to be very much
involved. They wanted to serve the Lord. They were not content just to
remain as they were as believers, but they wanted to participate
in this work. And they did that. They got involved,
supporting Paul. They recognized his calling.
And wherever he went, they wanted to know how it was with him.
And they sent to him the things that he needed to help him, the
physical things to help him in his ministry, perhaps so that
he could concentrate on that work. They themselves personally
engaged in evangelism. The way they were in Philippi,
they continued that good work that had started amongst them.
And so, very much so, there was this fellowship in the gospel
from the first day until now, ten years later. They are still
involved in the works. Ten years later, they're still
behind him. Ten years later, they're still
thinking about the spread of the gospel. This is their concern.
This is the conviction of the church. They're a gospel-centered
church. They're a gospel-preaching church.
They're a gospel-supporting church. It was a conviction with them,
and so they persevered in it. Well, friends, as long as we
are here, let us also have this same conviction. We have it,
thank God. amongst our members. We have
this conviction. This is why we are here. This
is why the Lord has placed us here, to preach the gospel, to
support other ministries that come along our way, to be effective
in our local community. We know that the gospel is the
only hope for sinners. We are persuaded of these things.
We are sure of these things. We know that Government policies
cannot help people, really. We know that psychology cannot
help people. We know that it's only the gospel
that can bring people to peace and to right relationship with
God. So we're praying fervently for
gospel success here, and also in other churches who we are
associated with, and also in other lands. And then he goes
on to say, but being confident of this very thing that he which
hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day
of Jesus Christ. How could he be so confident?
How could Paul be so confident, being confident of this very
thing? Well, he saw their fruits. He
saw the fruits from their lives, and especially this evidence
of their faith in their attachment and their concern for the gospel. Well, friends, perhaps we may
wonder about ourselves, and there are some friends who may probably
make a little bit too much about the day of their conversion.
And they look back and try and assess whether they're in the
faith by what happened on that particular day when they first
came to know the Lord. If you want to know where you
stand, it's better to look at the fruits and see what is your
life like now? Is there love for the Lord? Is
there a concern for the gospel? Is there a love for your brethren? Is there a desire to obey the
Lord? All these things now, if they
are evident in our lives, then they are fruit of true conversion. But look here, Paul mentions
two days. The first day, he says, and the
day of Jesus Christ. Being confident of this very
thing, that he which hath begun, sorry, the first day in verse
five, and then the day of Jesus Christ there in verse six. And he says, God, who began that
work on that first day will continue working at it until it's perfected
in the last day. Oh, friends, what a good work,
isn't it? God has done in us if we are
His. What a good work He has started.
He has begun that work to form in us that new man, that new
person that is created in righteousness. Before we were attached to our
sins, before we were attached to our lusts, we were dominated
by our lusts, and then the Lord worked in us, regenerated us,
converted us, gave us a new spirit, gave us a new heart, gave us
new inclinations. All that is a work of God in
our hearts. I didn't do it to myself. My mother didn't do it to me.
A pastor didn't do it to me. A teacher didn't do it to me.
It's God's work that he has done in us. And the Lord himself,
by his Spirit, has come and has begun that new work in us. And so that work that he has
begun as if he is forming something wonderful, something tremendous
is going on in each and every individual believer, but he's
not finished with it. And he continues working at it,
working at it. and chipping away here and there,
and until it's going to be perfected, but only it's going to be perfected
in glory. But the thing is here, he's not
going to forsake it. He's not going to give up on
that work and say, I cannot complete it. Once he begins a work, he
goes all the way to the end. I remember when we were in China,
and there are many wonderful buildings there, but there are
also a number of buildings which are have begun, and the structure
is there, but it's left incomplete. or you look at some of the creative
arts, and you know that there are many paintings which are
left unfinished, or novels which are left incomplete, or musical
compositions which are unfinished, because death has come and taken
away the authors of these things and the painters, and they haven't
been able to finish that work that they started. That will
never happen with what the work that God begins in a believer. It will always continue until
the day of Jesus Christ. Well friends, this is the doctrine
of the perseverance of the saints. that each believer who is saved
will be kept by the Lord, and no matter what Satan throws at
that believer, and no matter what trials they go through,
the Lord will always preserve that life. The Lord will keep,
they will be active as well, they will be engaged in that
work, but the Lord will never let go of that sheep. And it
can never be lost until the day of glory. We sang about it earlier. Satan may vex and unbelief believers
may annoy, but they will conquer just as sure as Jesus reigns
in joy. So what a wonderful assurance
we have of this good work and this sure work that God is doing
in us. One last thing, why does it say
here, friends, until the day of Jesus Christ? Why doesn't
it say until the day of our death? Well, the answer is because when
we die, our souls go to glory, but our bodies go to the grave.
And when you're in that time before the Lord returns, we are
in that disembodied state. We are souls, but without bodies. But it's only when Christ returns
And then the souls, the bodies are resurrected of the believer
and reunited with the soul. And then you could say the work
of God is complete, the work of God is perfected. And so we wait for that day,
the day of the Lord Jesus Christ. Friends, this is our message
for this evening, the good work in us that God has started. Amen.
A Good Work in You
Series Philippians
The apostle Paul is thankful to God for the good work that He has begun in the believers at Philippi. A work that He will not leave unfinished. Here too is their participation with Paul in the furtherance of the gospel at home and abroad.
| Sermon ID | 314242226206653 |
| Duration | 37:08 |
| Date | |
| Category | Bible Study |
| Bible Text | Philippians 1:1-6 |
| Language | English |
Documents
Add a Comment
Comments
No Comments
© Copyright
2026 SermonAudio.