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.