Thank you. All right. Philippians chapter 1 beginning at verses 1 and 2. Hear ye then the word of the Lord. Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, to all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi with the overseers and deacons, grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Father, we thank you, Lord, for thy holy word. We pray, grant us understanding, O Lord, of thy word. Father, we might walk in your word according to your will, O Lord, and help us to be obedient to your word. Father, in all these things, we thank you in Jesus' name. Amen. All righty. Of course, we are starting a new series here this morning on Philippians. And the title of the series, of course, is Philippians, but living worthy of the gospel. And so this morning, We're actually having a fairly lengthy intro for this epistle, though it's a short epistle, a very rich, very rich epistle indeed. Of course, this coming Thursday is going to be our Fourth of July celebration to remember America's Independence Day and when we became a free nation, free from the control of England. You should remember the signing of the Declaration of Independence that was ratified on July 4th, 1776 by the Second Continental Congress establishing the United States of America. It was declared that the 13 colonies were no longer subject to the British Crown King George III. But it was a day to celebrate, but don't forget those who signed the Declaration of Independence, they immediately became targets for destruction by England. Many would lose their lives because of signing that document. Many lost their families and many lost their land and they'd lose their possessions. And of course, John Hancock was very bold and signed it bigger than everybody else because he wanted King George to know that his name was on there and absolutely was. So we do give thanks to the Lord for the freedoms that we all still enjoy so far today. So we do give thanks to God. Well, this morning, we will see a different kind of colony. We saw the 13 colonies already that were in America to begin with, but here we're talking about a Roman colony who were likewise, they were under the paganism of Rome. They're underneath the rule of Rome as well, but they respond, they very much so responded to the gospel proclaimed by the Apostle Paul. who established the church there in Philippi. And so this is a source of great joy for Paul, the apostle, even though he was in prison at the time of this epistle, this is one of his prison epistles. It was also a source of great joy for the church in Philippi as they hear back from their beloved apostle, who's the one who planted the church there. And so they are also filled with joy. And by the way, you'll find the word joy repeated about 16 times in this epistle in one form or another. And so they're filled with joy, even as Paul is filled with joy and he calls them to live lives worthy of the gospel of Jesus Christ. And they were growing as a church, even though Paul was in prison. And so even Paul, he was very surprised, actually, he was very surprised about how it was growing so rapidly and so fast. The gospel was advancing with great power. By the way, yeah, it had a huge impact on their lives and his life and it should ours as well. Some do refer to this as the epistle of joy because of that repetition of the word, but even here they're called to be unified in the gospel, striving to be faithful, striving for this gospel unity of the body of Christ of which we are all a part of. and of which Christ was our perfect example and we'll get to that later on as we make our way through this epistle. So let's go ahead then as an introduction here look at our first heading as we take a look at Philippi. First we'll look at the city okay and of course then the church but But look at Philippi. Now, why do we do that? First of all, to grasp who these Christians were, these people who lived in the city of Philippi. And so for an introduction, we have to consider the city of Philippi itself. This church was the first church planted by Paul in Europe. Yes, it's part of Europe at this time as we consider part of Europe and the location is still considered part of Europe today. Today you can find it over in northern Greece in the Macedonian region and they're not very far away from the the waters as well. There is a port there but I'll get to that here in a moment. But look at their past reveals that Philippi was, according to one particular scholar, the site, and you'll remember this now, you remember, the site of the ancient battle between Mark Antony and Octavian against Brutus and Cassius in 42 BC. So you know those names, right? So Brutus, yes, Brutus and Cassius were the assassins of Julius Caesar. Okay, Octavian would let her go on to defeat Antony and Cleopatra in 31 BC. The city was of course rebuilt and it was declared a Roman colony. Now as a Roman colony, they had the use and the benefits of Roman law and Roman citizenship and all their local affairs. Remember Paul, had this Roman law benefit as well. And so he did exercise that when needed. But anyway, sometimes they were given exemptions for taxes. They were given exemptions from tribute, as well as many other benefits. They were known as, I'm not gonna give you the Latin form of it, but it was known as an Italian colony of Rome. And that was a very high privilege of that day for Philippi. They were officially an Italian colony of Rome. By the way, Philippi was founded. by Philip II, named after Philip II, the father of Alexander the Great. And when he took the throne in 359 BC of Macedonia, to that connection, Macedonia, Northern Greece, and Philippi is over there, which includes this area of Philippi. Of course, Philippi was taken due to the presence of gold and silver. They had very large gold and silver mines there. And when Philip II comes in, he said, That's mine now. So yeah, Philip wants that, and he did. And of course, the city founded would have his name on there from that point on. But it was a Roman colony of great status. But as a Roman city, it was also filled with soothsayers, right? Soothsayers who had familiar spirits, and they opposed monotheism, okay? Monotheism, of course, one God. as seen with the Jews and Christians. The people of Philippi were Roman citizens, and they're very proud of that distinction. They were opposed to all of those other religious groups, such as Jews and Christians. In fact, they even drove the Jews out to Philippi at one point, because Rome, the city of Rome, actually drove them out of Rome. And so we come to Philippi, they're saying, well, we're a colony of Rome, let's drive them out. And so that's what they did. And so they'll be hostile toward the gospel coming there as well. But the city had a couple of officials that were called a Praetores Duomuri, okay? Or in other words, two civic commanders. They were what we call magistrates. And they had their policemen of the day as well. This city was also filled with all the many pagan deities of the Romans and Greeks. which were usually the same ones, they just changed the names on them, as well as a great variety of cults that were present there. It was a thoroughly Roman city in every way. They even copied the architecture of Rome and modeled the whole city after it, so a little mini Rome, okay? Philippi, was not a great commercial center, but it was a colony, okay? So there weren't very, actually there weren't any synagogues there at this point. Remember they drove the Jews out. Ralph Martin said it takes, and it's true, it takes 10 Jewish men to form a synagogue. They didn't have 10 in the entire city of Philippi. So there is, no synagogue there. But when Paul comes, and he will, he finds there a gathering of women by the river Gangetes. They were gathered there, these women, they were faithful, they were gathered by the river for Sabbath prayers. They didn't have 10 men, but doggone it, they had 10 women. They didn't have a synagogue, but they were faithful and they were praying together by the river. That's where they went. It was safer for them to do so. Of course, Lydia, you remember that name? She will be there and God will open her heart to hear and believe the gospel over in Acts chapter 16. Which leads us, we've seen the city itself, but now we need a little bit of a background to the epistle as well. So as I mentioned, it was back in Acts chapter 16, when Paul was on his second missionary journey, when he finally comes to the town of Troas. And he goes there with Silas and Timothy. But Paul came to Philippi between the years 49 to 52 AD. Now, why would Paul suddenly decide, you know what, let's go to Philippi? Why would we do that? Actually, really Macedonia. Why would I want to go to Macedonia? Well, he was already in Troas, T-R-O-A-S, south of what may be the site of the ancient city of Troy. But while in Troas, there Paul had a vision, and he had a vision of a man from Macedonia calling him, please come to Europe, please come to Macedonia. And so Paul understood that and took that. By the way, Luke also adjoined him at this time. They took a ship to the island of Samothrace. And the next day they reached Neapolis, which is the port city I mentioned, very, very close by, very close to Philippi. This first convert will be a seller of purple from Thyatira, as I mentioned, Lydia. whom the Lord opened her heart to hear the gospel. Later, Paul will be arrested and put into prison with Silas there. An earthquake would occur and the doors were opened and the Philippian jailer was of course converted to Christ. Many wonderful things will occur in the city of Philippi as the Lord blessed this work. But the church was firmly established there in Philippi. and it's been about anywhere from months to two years and Paul eventually is imprisoned in Rome. And while he is there, They send a messenger to Paul, okay, from Philippi. His name is Epaphroditus. Epaphroditus is a leader at the church in Philippi, and so he does go there to visit him, to be his assistant in some way. So he brings Paul a very generous gift collected by the Philippians since they heard of his need. He's in prison, he's in Rome. That's pretty tough society to be in, much less And so they sent a very generous gift to help him out. He also, Epaphroditus, goes to be Paul's assistant there as much as he will have him. And he would have told Paul, by the way, about the states or the condition of the church over in Philippi. And having heard that, and having received this overwhelmingly kind gift, Paul says, I've got to respond to them. Epaphroditus has already told them what's going on there. He's explained to them, and he's given this gift. And so Paul said, I must write them a letter, Epaphroditus. And you're going to take that back to them. And so Paul will write the letter and Epaphroditus will now turn around basically and go back to Philippi. In this letter, Paul expresses his thanks for their generous gift to him in his time of need. And the letter, he also explains why he sent Epaphroditus back to them. Because they said, well, we sent them there to help you, Paul. And Paul's sending Epaphroditus right back. The reason why is because Epaphroditus became very ill. He became very sick and he almost died there. And so Paul wants to send him back home. and take and carry this epistle to the people there. He also wrote to let them know of his own condition there in a prison, because God was blessing the ministry even though Paul was in prison. That's a fascinatingly wonderful thing. Even while he is there, chained next to a Roman soldier, all this taking place, He's hearing that the gospel is advancing with power over there in the city of Romans, city of Philippi, a people who are hardened against monotheism, who don't like Jews, and they certainly would not like Christians. And yet the gospel is spreading in a great and powerful way there in the city of Philippi. And so God was blessing the ministry even while Paul was there imprisoned. In addition, Paul writes to give them instruction and give them spiritual guidance for their advancement in the gospel. And he writes to increase their unity with one another and with him as well. participants in the advancing of the gospel with Paul, okay? And he will call them that. He also wants to fill their hearts with peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. And what will he teach them in this letter? He's going to teach them very important things and we will get to those. He'll be teaching them on unity and their need for unity between one another and all the brethren in Christ. He'll teach them about their need for humility, having the mind of Christ, the supremacy and the joy in Christ and learning to suffer for the Lord Jesus Christ. And if they will be faithful, they will. suffer for the name, but they are to be a church grounded in the gospel, firmly in the gospel, living a life, living their lives day by day, worthy of the gospel call of Jesus Christ. And it's powerful, and it is magnificent. All right, leading to our final heading here. It's going fairly quick, but I get excited sometimes. Thirdly, we see the grace-filled greeting. And again, I read verses one and two. Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, to all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi with the overseers and deacons, grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Now Paul, typically in his epistles, he always follows pretty much the same kind of format, okay? He has a, actually common of the day, of the time period, for this letter that he's writing. He will include a greeting, which he does. He'll have a prayer of thanksgiving and a prayer for their needs. He will then go into the body of a letter with his doctrine, explanations and exhortations. But here, he will actually focus primarily on exhortations and examples in this letter to the Philippians. So that's a little bit unique here that we find in this epistle because This is what they need, and what we need as well. In this greeting, notice Paul identifies himself as the author, and they would know his name immediately as the founder and planter of that church. But he and Timothy, who is with them, they are declared servants of Christ. Literally though, slaves of Christ, all right? And he gladly says that, we are slaves of Christ, because they know who they belong to. They know who it is that they serve, and they will stand firm in their faith all the way to the end. And so he addresses this very personal letter, he says, to all the saints in Christ Jesus, because in Christ they are holy ones. you don't have to have a church or a religion or whatever declare you to be a saint you are a saint if you're in christ always remember that okay if you want to refer to you know you know a saint danny or something like that then you're free to do so but uh Typically, we don't do that nowadays. But to all the saints in Christ Jesus, they are the saints of Christ Jesus. They're called and saved through the blood of a lamb, the one who laid down his life to save his sheep. Why to all the saints is this written? It is to highlight their unity that they have with Christ. They need to stand firm in this unity because life is hard, life gets tough, and we know it today as well. But unity among their brethren is pivotal as a body of Christ. They may have been citizens of Rome there in Philippi, but now they are citizens of Christ's kingdom. But they have to remember who they are while they're living there in pagan Roman colony of Philippi. Don't forget who you are in Christ. Never forget who you are. Don't forget who your brother and your sister really are. All of those in Christ, not just here at Antioch, but all those who have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. They are our saints in Christ with you. And remember that. But here in our text, They, talking about the Philippian Christians, they must learn how to live out their kingdom citizenship among those in Rome. They are Roman citizens, okay? But they are also kingdoms, citizens of the kingdom of God, okay? They have a kingdom citizenship and they have to learn how to live out their kingdom lives, their kingdom citizenship among those in pagan Rome. Okay, they must learn how to do that. It can be hard. It can be difficult. It can be very, very dangerous to live faithfully before the world, especially in such a pagan world of that day, or even in this day of ours that we live in. Very ungodly days that we live in. And so he writes to them, Paul does, with the overseers, also called bishops or pastors. There's a particular word, episkopos, meaning overseers. but usually the pastors and elders, those who are called to watch over the sheep, all right? And to do so, they are to do so together with the deacons who help meet the practical needs of the church. And of course, Christ himself being what? He is the chief shepherd of the flock who gives the church under shepherds to minister to the flock. And so he writes this letter to them, as well as all the people together, all the saints, as well as the overseers and the deacons or elders and deacons together like that. Now, where will these Philippian Christians find the peace that they need in this difficult world that they were living in? Where do we find such peace? Okay, jobs are rough, right? We have lots of heat, you know, Texas, the ground cracking and all over the place, going at the side of your house, and maybe your neighbors aren't real friendly with you. You get intimidated to share your faith. Well, you know, I need to share my faith. We need to be found faithful before the Lord. All right, but even the Philippian Christians, where are they going to find peace in this difficult world that they were living in? Same place we do. He finds grace and peace in our triune God. Specifically, God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. He says, grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace and peace, notice this, grace and peace come equally from the Father and the Son. Okay, equally, because Jesus Christ is God. Must remember that, God and man. For Christ is God, as the Father is God, as the Holy Spirit is God. A triune one God, and yet three persons. For grace and peace are gospel gifts. We had to remember that these are gospel gifts that come from the Lord. They come from the triune God, grace and peace as response to those who believe upon Christ. These are gifts that the Philippians need in this time of life that they're living here in a Roman colony called Philippi. They need grace and peace, gifts that you need as well for every single day of your life. When it gets hard, and it will. When people get mean, and they do. When things happen to you, I don't feel I understand. Why is the president doing this? I don't know. Why is this one doing the opposite? I don't know. Where do we find our resolution? In Christ, in the gospel of Jesus Christ. There we find grace and peace knowing that no matter what happens in this world, The Lord is still and always is in control. And never forget when Jesus said, I will never leave you nor forsake you. He means that. He is God and man. He said, I will never leave you nor forsake you, no matter how hard the time may get, no matter how dark the days may be. no matter how fearful life may get. And by the way, downtown Goldsboro is getting worse and worse all the time with the crime that's happening around there. Be careful, but remember, the Lord is with you, okay? We have great joy in knowing that very fact that Christ is with us no matter where, no matter what, and we can rejoice before him. So grace and peace. Remember, these are gospel gifts. If you're in Christ, these gifts belong to you and you need them. but they come only by faith in Christ. Okay, only by faith in Christ. God sent his only begotten son, right? To those who believe in him should not perish, right? Very true. These are gifts, gospel gifts that the father has gives us through his son by the power of the Holy Spirit, because we need the Lord's grace and peace all the days of our lives. Father, we do thank you, Lord, for your holy word. And father, we do, We pray for each one here today. Lord, quicken our hearts, Lord, by your spirit, and help us to truly hear, Lord, and understand our need for Christ. And Lord, for grace and peace day by day, Father. We know that the days can be difficult. We know that it can be a scary life that we live in, but Lord, you're in control. And Christ is king. And Father, we praise you and we thank you for all things in Jesus' holy name. Amen.