If you would, pull out your Bibles, turn with me to Philippians chapter 1, and I'll read all of verse 3-11. Philippians chapter 1, verses 3-11. 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. 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 so 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. Let's pray. Father, we come now to Your Word. We come now to that which You have given us to sanctify us. Sanctify them in the truth. Thy Word is truth. Jesus prayed for us, and now we pray for ourselves. that you would sanctify us in the truth of your word. We ask that you would bless the preaching of your word this morning, and that you would say to us what you have said, nothing more, nothing less, that we may know the will of our Father. In all this we ask, in the precious name of Christ, amen. So we're in this passage, running from verse 3 to verse 11, and we're seeing so far some tremendous truths. Paul doesn't waste any time in getting to the theme of the letter overall, which is joy. And what we're seeing is Paul rejoicing over this church in Philippi. We see that And as we see what it is that this man, this apostle, this man named Paul, as we see what it is that this man who is captivated by the glory of Christ rejoices over, we also see reasons for us to rejoice as well. We speak of rejoicing in the Lord, as he'll say later in this letter. But what does that mean? How does that play itself out? What does it look like to rejoice in the Lord? And so that's the angle by which we are considering these verses in Philippians. So, within the study through the book of Philippians, we have this A really series of messages on reasons for joy. Reasons for true Christian abiding joy. This is of course part two. We looked at verses three to five last time we were here together in the book of Philippians. But what are the reasons that Paul rejoices over them? He rejoices, we saw last time, he finds joy in their common partnership in the gospel. This morning we'll take their common salvation, joy in their common salvation, joy in their common affection, in their common sanctification, and in their common glorification. As I said, we looked at their common partnership last time in verses 3 to 5. This causes him to express his joy in three ways as he thinks about their partnership. He remembers them in their partnership, he prays for them in their partnership, and he participates with them in their common partnership. This morning we move on to the next point. He rejoices with this Philippian church, over this Philippian church, in their common salvation. Notice first what Paul has to say about these Philippian believers in verse 6. I am sure of this. He's confident. In fact, the King James Version renders it that way. Being confident of this very thing. He's convinced, persuaded, believes, and has faith, if you will, in this one singular thing. I am sure of this, he says. This got me to thinking, by the way, about Paul's confidence, about Paul's assurity, about Paul's persuasion. What is it that Paul is confident in? Does he speak this way often? Or is this a special thing? So here's a quick selection of the way Paul talks about his confidence. Romans chapter 8, verse 38. For I am sure, same word, that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Later on in Romans chapter 15 verse 14, he says, I myself am satisfied about you, my brothers, that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge and able to instruct one another. In 2 Corinthians 2, he says this, and I wrote as I did, so that when I came, I might not suffer pain from those who should have made me rejoice. For I felt sure of all of you that my joy would be the joy of you all. To the Galatians, he says in 5-10, I have confidence. in the Lord, that you will take no other view, and that the one who is troubling you will bear the penalty." Whoever he is, remember he's talking about the Galatian heresy that's infiltrated the church, and he says, I'm confident that you will take no other view than the true view. Later on in Philippians chapter 3, he'll say, for we are the circumcision who worship by the Spirit of God in glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh. 2 Thessalonians 3, verse 4, And we have confidence in the Lord about you, that you are doing and will do the things that we command. 2 Timothy 1, verse 12, Which is why I suffer as I do, but I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that He is able to guard until that day. what has been entrusted to me." Notice the common thread in all of those verses. What is it that Paul is confident about? What is it that he speaks most assuredly about? What is it that he speaks most convincingly about? What is the basis for his confidence as he writes these churches? His confidence is in the Lord. More specifically, his confidence is in the power of God unto salvation. That's where Paul lays all of his hope, all of his confidence, all of his assuredness in what it is that he is doing, in what it is that he sees happening in the churches, in what it is that he sees happening in his ministry. His assurance is drawn from the power of God unto salvation. That's what he's confident in. And so he tells the Philippians, I am sure of this. So what's the this? 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. And that's of course salvation. I am sure. And when God began this process of salvation, that when God began salvation within you, I am sure that He will also bring it to completion. This is a marvelous, remarkable way to talk about our salvation. He who began a good work in you will complete it. It's a promise. It's an assurity to Paul. I am sure that He will complete the work that He began. When we began this study through Philippians, we looked at the founding of the Philippian church. Remember in the book of Acts, in the miraculous circumstances from Paul going to Philippi under the direction of the Holy Spirit when he had every intention of going somewhere else. And then he gets there and he meets Lydia, and then they exorcise the demon out of the slave girl. They wind up in prison and all of the miraculous happenings that happen there with the Philippian jailer, and he goes home and his household is saved as well. All of the wonderful circumstances surrounding this Philippian church. And Paul remembers them all. You remember verse 3, and he says, He who began this good work in you all will bring it to completion. First, he discusses their common salvation. in terms of its source. He who began this good work in you, the source of salvation, God Himself. Salvation, you know, is of the Lord. Romans 1.16, I am not ashamed of the Gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. Once again, of the Thessalonians, when he talked about how they had received the Word of God, you remember how he talked about it? For we know, brothers, loved by God, that He has chosen you because our Gospel came to you, not only in word, but also in power, and in the Holy Spirit, and with full power. conviction, and then later on in 1 Thessalonians, he'll tell them in chapter 2 verse 13, when you received the Word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it, not as the Word of men, but as it really is, the Word of God. Salvation is of the Lord. The Gospel is the message of what God has done for us through Christ. And Paul rejoices over the reality that here in this Philippian church, God began His good work in them through the message of the Gospel. I fear that there are many in our day who have completely lost their confidence in the simple message of the Gospel of Christ. It appears that so many depend on gimmicks and get-ups and so forth in order to, quote-unquote, reach the world. And instead of being a counter-culture to the world, slowly over the last 15, 20, 30 years, we have assimilated so much of the world into the culture of the church, that the church has become a sub-culture of the overarching worldly culture, instead of a counter-culture to the world. We're just a part of it now. In many ways, we look no different, we act no different. In many ways, the church is no different than the world. But it is the plain message of the gospel that Paul preached on his missionary journeys. Even when he came into Philippi, what was it? It was the plain message of the gospel that founded this church in Philippi. He didn't come in with smoke machines and light shows and live bands. He came in preaching the gospel and lives were changed. And even here, years later, as he sits under Roman guard, awaiting what would ultimately be his martyrdom there in Rome, Paul thinks back on this Philippian church, and he has not lost his wonder and his joy in the simple truth of the Gospel of Christ. Have you? Have you lost your wonder over the message of the Gospel of Christ? Has this hellish world that we sometimes feel incarcerated in, beating the joy out of you over your salvation. So many people think we need to drum up affections, especially when it comes to spiritual things. We need to sort of manufacture them, and so music and drama and so forth are utilized in order to create or manufacture an atmosphere that at the bottom is false. People can be moved to tears in an emotional experience with any kind of music, with any kind of atmosphere. You see people go nuts at the Super Bowl, live sporting events. People go nuts at pagan rock concerts. That does not make it based on truth. I've seen people, even I myself, have been moved to tears from simple, instrumental, orchestral arrangements of music that were never even intended, that aren't even just musical arrangements of songs with words. They're just orchestral arrangements. Music has this kind of power because of its beauty. And so do movies. And so does drama. We can manufacture emotional responses to anything, any sort of stimuli, in order to make it appear like a move of God. But just because these things can move us emotionally, doesn't mean they should be used to manipulate a supposed move of the Spirit. We worship, how did Jesus describe the worship of the New Covenant? We worship in spirit and in truth. Christianity engages and utilizes the mind. Paul tells the Romans to be transformed by the renewing of their minds. in Romans chapter 12. In fact, over in chapter 4 of Philippians verse 8, he says, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think! about these things. Think about them. Utilize your God-given thought processes to ponder and meditate on things that are honorable and noble. Christianity engages thought. It engages the intellect. It is not merely an emotional experience. It is both emotional and intellectual. to truly worship is to worship in both. The connection between the intellect and the emotion is this. Our affection, or our emotions, rise based upon what we know. What we know about ourselves, which is never good, We are sinners in need of grace. And what we know about our need for God and for Christ and for the Gospel and for salvation, and as we know, our affections rise in worship, in praise, in adoration. This is why I think so many of the old hymns have lost their luster the younger generations of churchgoers, because we've lost the awe and the wonder of the gospel. We've lost it in the church. We've lost it in our preaching. We've lost it in our singing. We've lost it in our lives. We've lost the awe that the gospel should cause us to have. Paul was no baby Christian when he wrote this letter. He was no novice Christian. And he still wondered and awed at the Gospel as he thought about this church. And because we've lost the wonder of the Gospel, it's hard to sing words like, how marvelous, how wonderful is my Savior's love for me. If it's not wonderful and marvelous here anymore, it is what we know that causes our affections to rise toward God and praise. And Paul here in verse 6 is remembering the foundation of our standing before God. And he wonders and he awes. He says, I am sure that He who began a good work in you and it causes them to rejoice about them. But not only does He speak of the source of salvation, He who began a good work in you, He speaks of this One who can complete the good work that He begins. He speaks first in terms of its source. Secondly, He speaks in terms of its guaranteed fulfillment. Its guaranteed fulfillment. Such a marvelous truth. The reality that God will bring to completion what He has begun in all of His sheep, in all of His people. He will bring it to completion. What does it mean to bring it to completion? Well, obviously it means to make it complete. It means to make it perfect, to make it perfectly done, to make it to where in the end there will be no part lacking in what He is doing in each of His people. God will not bring it to the 99% complete and then you lose your internet connection when you're trying to download something. In fact, if God could only take us to 99% and it was up to us for the other 1%, I'm not interested. I can't feel the 1%. I can't feel the 0.1% or 0.001%. That's the glory of the Gospel. He will bring it perfectly to the end. And Paul is so confident in this keeping and sustaining power of God in the Gospel. Listen to how he says it in the book of Romans chapter 8. He says in verse 29, "...For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed unto the image of His Son, in order that He might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom He predestined, He also called. And those whom He called, He also justified. And those whom He justified, He also glorified." Notice the verse tenses. He speaks of the total work of God in the past tense. So sure is the work of Christ. So sure is the atoning power of the blood of Christ. So sure is the salvation and the grace of God that He gives through the death of Christ. So sure is our redemption that Paul speaks of all of it, from the calling, to the justification, to the glorification, as if it's already happened. That's how confident he is in the power of God and to salvation for all who would believe. That's why, by the way, back in chapter 1, he's not ashamed of it. Even though we know of his suffering, that is meant to shame him into not believing the message that he's preaching. We know this promise even from the words of Christ Himself, don't we? John chapter 10, My sheep hear My voice, and I know them and they follow Me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of My hand. My Father who has given them to Me is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand. I and the Father are one. No one will snatch them out of My hand, for I own them. No one will snatch them out of My Father's hands, for He has given them to Me. I and the Father are one. You are secure in Christ. Call it perseverance. Call it eternal security. The point is that when we belong to Christ, we will always belong to Christ. He will not lose us. He will not forsake us. So Paul rejoices over their salvation in verse 6. He rejoices in the fact and is confident in the fact that God has begun a work in them. And he's confident that God will complete the work that he has begun. I've called this Paul's joy in their common salvation. These verses 6 and 7. meaning the salvation that He has and the salvation that they have, the salvation in Christ, through Christ, that He shares together with them. And I get that idea from verse 7 in the way that He talks about them. 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. You are partners with me of grace, companions with me of grace." It's a derivative, by the way, of the same word that's used back up in verse 5, in their partnership in the Gospel. It's the same terminology. He sees these Philippian believers and he says, we are together in this. You have joined me in this salvation. You have partnered with me in grace. Now how so? How have they become partakers with Paul of grace? He gives them two. First, they have partnered with him or partaken of grace with him in his imprisonment. That's literally chains or bonds. You remember he's under lock and key in Rome when he writes this letter, literally bound to guards and under house arrest. So he really means this when he talks about them partnering in his imprisonment. He is in prison. What does this mean? What does it mean they've partnered with him? I take it to mean what he will go into later in this letter to this church. In Philippians chapter 2, he's going to talk a little bit about Epaphroditus. And he says in verse 25, I thought it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother, fellow worker, and fellow soldier, and your messenger and minister to my need. And then down in verse 28, I'm all the more eager to send him therefore that you may rejoice at seeing him again and that I may be less anxious. So receive him, the Lord, with all joy and honor such men, for he nearly died for the work of Christ, risking his life to complete what was lacking in your service to me." And you say, what does he mean? What was lacking in their service to Paul? And the clue is in the way that he concludes in chapter 4. He talks in verse 10 about how they had revived their concern for him. And indeed, you were concerned for me, but you had no opportunity. There was something lacking in their service. So what did they do to fill this lack? Chapter 4, verse 14, it was kind of you to share my trouble. And you Philippians yourselves know that in the beginning of the Gospel, when I left Macedonia, no church entered into partnership with me in giving and receiving except you only. Even in Thessalonica, you sent me help for my needs once and again. Not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that increases to your credit. I have received full payment in war, and I am well supplied, having received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent." A fragrant offering, a sacrifice, acceptable and pleasing in God. What was lacking in their service to Paul was that they wanted to minister to his needs, but he wasn't there. He was elsewhere. And even now he is under imprisonment. And so in order to fill up, figurative language, in order to fill up what was lacking in their service, they sent Epaphroditus on a journey with a gift for Paul. And he's thanking them for this gift. In this way, they have partnered with him in his imprisonment. They have met His needs. They have been there for Him. They have supplied for Him. He even says, when no one else would do it, you were there supplying what was lacking for Me and partnering with Me. So first, He talks about how they've partnered in His imprisonment. But secondly, He talks about how they've partnered in the defense and the confirmation of the Gospel. The defense and the confirmation of the Gospel. Two different words, both are legal terms. The word for defense, apologia, from where we get the word apology or apologetics, the branch of teaching that seeks to provide a defense for the faith, apologetics, ministries do this. It means to make a defense or to make a plea. It's the connotation of being in the courtroom. And the defendant makes his case in defense of himself. It's the same word that Peter uses in that well-known verse in chapter 3, verse 15 of 1 Peter. In your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you. It's the same word. So defense is the defense or the plea, the confirmation is the positive testimony to the gospel. It's another legal term meaning the positive testimony. Some translations say the vindication of the gospel or the validation of the gospel. That's the sense of the word. That is right. One is defense One is positive testimony, confirmation of the Gospel. And he looks at them and he says, you've partnered with me in my imprisonment, which meant you partnered with me as I defended and confirmed and testified to the Gospel of the grace of God. What brings all this together, by the way, in verse 7, is the grammar of verse 7. Because Paul says that they are partakers with him of grace, both in his imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel. Paul is connecting his imprisonment as well as his defense and confirmation of the faith as a part of grace. Not only does he see his testifying ministry and his preaching and teaching ministry as a part of the grace of God, he sees his imprisonment as a part of the grace of God that has been bestowed upon him. Paul is a strange man. He considers his suffering for the gospel a part of the grace of God. that He is receiving even now. Listen how He talks about His suffering to the Colossians. Chapter 1, verse 24, Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of His body, that is, the church. In fact, later in Philippians, He's going to say in verse 29, For it has been granted, that's the verb form of grace, literally is, for it has been graced to you, that for the sake of Christ, you should not only believe in Him, but also suffer for His sake. For Paul, the suffering of the Christian on the path of obedience is a part of the grace of God that is bestowed upon us as He sanctifies us. This is how the other apostles, by the way, considered their ministries of the Word as well. When they were arrested for preaching the Gospel back in Acts chapter 5 and they were beaten and released, it says, and this is Peter and the apostles, chapter 5 verse 41, it says, they left the presence of the council rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name. These are men who look to their ministries and when they suffer, they consider it grace. When bad things happen to them on the path of obedience, they consider it grace. They don't murmur. They don't whine. They don't complain. And they don't quit. They rejoice. and their suffering for the sake of Christ. It's an amazing thought, but it is confirmation to them of their salvation. Their suffering is confirmation to them of their salvation. Their suffering is confirmation to them, many times, that they are doing exactly what they're supposed to be doing. Now most of us think, oh well, you know, you do something and if it gets a little hard, then that's just a closed door, so find the path of least resistance, right? That's what water does when it flows, it finds the path of least resistance, and that's what we do too, we're just gonna go find the flow. That is not the message of the people of God throughout the history of the scriptures. Most of the people of God met with this kind of fate. as they walked the path they were supposed to be walking, and doing what God was calling them to do. The Paul sees his suffering, the apostles see their suffering, and they consider it grace. They don't look at it and say, God's forgotten us. He's left us for dead. He called me out here and then left me out on the plank by myself. sink or swim, they rejoice in their suffering for the sake of Christ. So Paul thinks about these Philippian Christians and he rejoices in their salvation and he rejoices in their partnership with him in that salvation. So for us, when we think about salvation, when we think about not only personal salvation, but when we think about salvation, that brings us together as the people of God, as the United Church of Christ, do we rejoice? Or have we lost the wonder and the joy of our salvation? As we think about Paul's words to the Philippians, do we see this type of love and affection and awe for the grace of God that is manifested both in our own lives and in the lives of others? So may the prayer of David in Psalm 51 be our prayer this morning. When he said, after all that that happened with Bathsheba, And he said, restore to me, what? The joy of your salvation. Let's pray. So God, would you do this for us? Would you restore the joy of salvation? Help us to see new and fresh every day the wonder and the awe, the majesty and the glory of the grace of God. You have adopted us according to Ephesians 1 to the praise of the glory of the grace of God. Help us here to be people who praise you for the glory of your grace and help our hearts Help our hearts to always be inclined toward awe and wonder at this grace. In all this we ask, in the name of Christ, amen.