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So we are beginning a new series
this morning in the book of Philippians. So please turn with me in your
Bibles to Philippians chapter one. beginning in verse one. Hear now the word of the living
God. 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. I thank my God and 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
Jesus. 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. The grass withers, the flower
fades, but the word of the Lord endures forever. The Book of Philippians is a
letter from the Apostle Paul to the church in the city of
Philippi. Philippi was a city in Macedonia,
which was Northern Greece. It was founded in the fourth
century BC by the father of Alexander the Great, but it eventually
became a Roman colony. And by the mid first century,
when the apostle wrote this letter, it was like a mini Rome. The
laws, the lifestyle, the politics, the architecture, the society
as a whole were all Roman. The Apostle Paul was the one
who planted the church in Philippi. He did so on his second missionary
journey. And you can read about Paul founding
this church in Acts 15 and 16. Along with his companions, Silas,
Timothy, and Luke, Paul set out to revisit the churches, to revitalize
the churches that he had started in his first missionary journey
that were in Asia Minor. But after a few setbacks and
a dream in which Paul had a vision of a man standing in Macedonia,
begging him to come there and help, he went there to preach
the gospel. Now, Paul usually went to a synagogue
when he first got to a city, but Philippi didn't have one.
So therefore he found a small group of Jewish women who were
meeting by the river to pray. The Lord had prepared the hearts
of these women, especially a woman named Lydia, who invited Paul
and his companions to stay at her home. And this is most likely
where the church in Philippi began, in the home of Lydia.
And Paul then cast a demon out of a possessed girl that was
being used as a fortune teller. And the men profiting off of
her were not happy about this, so they had Paul beaten and arrested. But in the Philippian jail, one
of the most famous conversions in church history took place.
At midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and a massive earthquake
hit the prison and opened all the jail cells. And the guard,
the jailer who was responsible for watching them, would have
been responsible if they had escaped and he would have been
executed. But as he took out his sword to take his own life,
Paul shouted for him to stop. He let them know that the prisoners
did not escape. They were still there. Although
they were freed by the earthquake, they did not escape. And so the
jailer rushed over to them and asked the most important question
that anyone could ever ask. What must I do to be saved? And
they answered him with the words of eternal life. Believe in Christ
as we have done and you will be saved. Yes, you and your household. And so he, along with his family,
were baptized. This was the beginning of the
Philippian church. And Paul and his companions soon
left the city, but it wasn't the end of his relationship with
them. They supported him in his ministry. And on his third missionary
journey, Paul revisited the Philippian church and his love for them
continued to grow and their appreciation for him as well. Paul has a special
bond with this church and it can be felt all throughout this
letter. Several years later, Paul was
arrested in Jerusalem that he was transferred to Caesarea. And two more years later, he
was transferred to Rome to appear before the emperor. There Paul
sat in house arrest in Rome, awaiting his fate. Although many
years had passed since the last time Paul had seen the Philippians,
once they got word of his situation, they sent him a generous gift
with one of their members named Epaphroditus. The Philippians
also hoped that Paul could send Timothy to them, to help them
with a number of issues that had arisen in their church. They
had a special bond with Timothy as well, but at this critical
point in his life, Paul couldn't spare Timothy. Almost everyone
else had abandoned him, and Paul needed Timothy by his side, and
Epaphroditus actually became sick and almost died. but he
did eventually fully recover and Paul sent him back to the
church in Philippi with a letter in hand, which we call Philippians. And in this letter, Paul gives
his pastoral counsel and encouragement to this church that he so dearly
loves. And so as we study this letter
that was originally written to the church in Philippi almost
2000 years ago, we know that this letter was also inspired
by the Holy Spirit. And as the authoritative word
of God, it speaks not only to the church in Philippi, but to
anyone who believes in the Lord Jesus Christ throughout the ages.
We know that this letter speaks to us, our church, today. Now, letters in the ancient world
opened differently. than letters open today. When we write a letter, we don't
put our names until the very end. But the letters then in
the first century began with the name of the author, then
the name of the recipient, and then a greeting. And we see here
in the first verse that the authors were Paul and Timothy, and they
identified themselves as servants of Christ. The words translated
as servant here means bondservant or slave. It means that their
whole lives were devoted to serving Jesus Christ and nothing else. And the recipient says, to all
the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi with the overseers
and deacons. Some denominations treat saints
as a special category of Christian, but we see throughout the Bible,
and specifically right here in the first verse of Philippians,
that the word saint biblically refers to all Christians. Paul
isn't writing to some especially holy group of Christians, but
to all Christians, all the saints in Philippi. And this includes
their officers, the overseers or elders, the deacons. And Paul
greets them with a Christian greeting. Grace to you and peace
from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. And Paul usually
opens his letter with a thanksgiving and a prayer. And this prayer
sets the theme for the letter. And this one is no different.
We see the strength of Paul's relationship with the Philippians.
Right away, the first thing he says is he thanks God in his
remembrance of them. And Paul is writing this letter
from a Roman prison. His circumstances are quite difficult. Everyone he knows almost has
abandoned him. He's waiting his appeal to Caesar
to find out if he will be executed or not. But despite his tremendous
difficult circumstances, Paul says that he has joy in making
prayers for the Philippian church. He is praying for them, and this
gives him joy. Through this letter, we see Paul's
repeated theme of joy. And it's not joy for his circumstances,
but it is joy in his circumstances. It doesn't mean you have to be
glad that you are going through all these things, but despite
what you are going through. As a Christian, you can have
joy in your circumstances. Paul has joy because of the believers
in Philippi, this church that he loves. But there are infinite
reasons as a believer in Jesus Christ to have joy in any circumstances. In the opening of the letter
of James, He says, you're to count it as joy when you meet
trials of various kinds because of the outcomes of your trials.
It's not that you would rejoice because you're suffering, but
you can have joy because you know God will use your trials
in your life. He will produce the results in
you that he is looking for. He grows you through testing
your faith. And you can have joy because
of this. You can have joy because of the
work God is doing in your life and he has done. Because of the
church he has called you to, because of the Christian friends
he has given to love you. You can have joy for your partnerships
in the gospel. Paul mentions that his joy in
thinking about the Philippians is specifically because of their
partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. Paul's
partnership in the gospel with the Christians in Philippi is
a source of joy for him. And he mentions this further
in verse seven, that the reason he feels this way, the reason
he knows that God is working in them and that he holds them
so dear in his heart with love is because they're all partakers
with him of grace, both in his imprisonment and in the defense
and confirmation of the gospel. The Philippian church has been
supporting Paul financially, emotionally, spiritually through
prayer. They are his partners in his
mission for the gospel. And the word translated as partnership
is an important Greek word, koinonia. It's also translated as fellowship. In the first century, the word
koinonia described joint ventures such as going into a fishing
business together would be entering into a fellowship, a partnership. We often think of Christian fellowship
as friendship, which is part of it. Our fellowship with one
another includes strong bonds of friendship that go well beyond
the friendships of the world. But it's more than that. Christian
fellowship is not only friendship, it's friendship and mission. In his book, The Fellowship of
the Ring, J.R.R. Tolkien uses a fantasy story
to convey the idea of a gospel partnership. The fellowship in
that story is made of all different creatures of all different kinds
with different talents and abilities. There are these tiny little hobbit
creatures with big feet. There are human men who are warriors. There's a wizard with magical
powers. There's an elf with exceptional
archery skills. There's a dwarf who swings an
ax. And their fellowship is a partnership
working together, fighting a common enemy and saving the world. This
is a picture of Christian fellowship, people of different nations and
tongues, people with different abilities and talents working
together in a partnership for the gospel. Knowing that God
has brought us all together, people with our different backgrounds,
our different temperaments, our different personalities, different
talents and abilities, but unified in our love and mission for Jesus
Christ. This is a reason to celebrate.
It's a reason to rejoice. And you should continue to focus
on growing the mission part of your relationships. How are you
sacrificing and striving together for the sake of the gospel of
Jesus Christ? How are you working together
for the mission of the kingdom of God? Paul's relationship with
the Philippians was about financial support, it was about suffering
together, praying for one another, all for the sake of the advancement
of the gospel. In your partnerships, working
together for the kingdom of God, working together for the advancement
of the gospel of Jesus Christ, you'll continue to grow in your
faith, continue to grow in your walk with the Lord. As long as
you're in this life, there is room to grow. But if you have
come to know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, if God
has changed your life by changing your heart so that you desire
to love Him, desire to serve Him, you can have joy knowing
that God will complete what He has started in you. In verse
six, Paul writes to the Philippians, he says, 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. The day of Jesus Christ is the
day of his return. And Paul is certain that God
will do this, that he prays with joy. God will complete the work
that he has started in the Philippian church. And Paul has been with
them from the beginning. He preached the gospel to them.
He witnessed their conversions. He discipled them and helped
them grow in their faith and knowing that God will fully complete
his work in them brings him joy. He is certain that God will bring
them into future glory that awaits them. When Jesus returns, he
will make all things new. and that includes you. God begins his work in you with
the new birth, where he brings you from spiritual death to spiritual
life. This is the initial experience
of a Christian, repentance and belief, where you turn from your
sin toward God in love and you believe in Jesus Christ. This
is the work of God in your heart. That is what Jesus meant in John
chapter four when he said, you must be born again. to be a Christian,
to be a disciple of Jesus Christ, to repent and believe, God must
change your heart. He must change your desires and
your will. Everyone is born into sin. You
and I were born with a sinful nature. And that means sin affects
everything you do, everything about you, your thoughts, your
desires, your emotions, but God changes you. This is the experience
of every Christian that God has given you a new heart. And so
now your thoughts, desires, and emotions will be geared towards
him. It doesn't mean that you're not
still affected by sin, but you're no longer enslaved to it. You
now can have faith in Jesus Christ. You now can desire to live for
him and please him. You can now love him. This is
the work God began in the Philippian church that Paul's referring
to. This is the work God began in you. If you have a saving
faith in Jesus Christ, then God did this in you and he continues
it through your life. but you can rejoice because you
know for certain that he will complete this work upon the return
of Jesus Christ. When Jesus returns, you will
be fully sanctified. That is, you will be fully devoted
to God and living in his glory as you were made to do. The first
and most famous question of the Westminster Shorter Catechism
tells us that the chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy
him forever. And this begins in the new birth.
This begins when God changes your heart and brings you to
faith. But it's fully realized upon the return of Jesus Christ.
And so regardless of your circumstances, you can hold on to this truth
that God will with absolute certainty bring this to reality when Jesus
returns. Then the fullness of God's glory
will be realized in you. But for now, As God continues
to work in you, he will continue to increase your love. Paul writes
of this in verse eight of his own love that he has for the
Philippians. He says, for God is my witness,
how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus.
When God changes your heart, he changes your love. You then
can love with the love of Christ. You won't do it perfectly. Sin
still remains in your heart, but the fact that you can do
it at all is a miracle of God's grace. God changes the way you
love, so you love like Christ does. But Paul also, continuing
that sentence, says, and it is my prayer that your love may
abound more and more. So when God changes your heart,
your new life begins. You are a new creation in Jesus
Christ and a new ability to love is formed in your heart. But
that love needs to grow over time. Your new birth is just
the beginning. God will increase in you through
his Holy Spirit your love for him, your love for the people
around you, your love for Jesus Christ. And this is a reason
for joy in your circumstances. God continuing to grow the love
of Christ in your heart. You can love people, you can
love God in a new and profound way through the love of Christ
working in your heart. And Paul gives us a wonderful
model of prayer here. He's praying for the spiritual
needs of others. Obviously we are to pray for
the physical needs of others, and most of us do that. That
is usually the first thing, first and foremost on our minds. But
sometimes you can neglect spiritual needs. When was the last time
you prayed for the love of Christ to abound more and more in the
heart of someone else? When was the last time you prayed
for the love of Christ in your own heart, or the sanctification,
the growth in holiness, of someone. You can and should be praying
for these things, for the growth in holiness, for the growth in
faith, for the growth in love of those you know and love, even
those you don't know. Growth in love is the Christian
walk. Growth in love is the path of
discipleship. And this love goes beyond what
the world thinks of love. Christian love has a depth to
it because it's an outpouring of the love of God in your heart.
The love of Jesus in your heart means you reflect his love in
your life. You are first an object of God's
infinite and holy love, then you are a vehicle of that love. God's love comes through you
to others and then it's reflected back to him as you love him. And you will grow in this love
more and more as you grow in your relationship with God through
faith in Jesus Christ. But Paul doesn't end there. He
said, it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more
with knowledge and all discernment. There's a knowledge and a discernment
to Christian love. It's the knowledge and discernment
of God's will. It means that you don't get to
determine what this love is or how it is expressed, but God
determines this. The love of a Christian, the
love of a disciple of Jesus Christ is the love of God. And it's
according to his will, according to his nature, according to his
word. The world and false teachers
in the church often like to use Christian love as an excuse to
follow their agendas. One in particular is people try
defining love your neighbor on their own terms. They might say
to support a particular government program is to love your neighbor,
or to support the idea of a man marrying another man is to love
your neighbor, and so on. The examples of this are endless.
But the love Paul is talking about, that he has, and he wants
the Philippians to grow in, is the affection of Jesus Christ,
which is according to God's will, is according to his word. The
world constantly tries to corrupt us. Therefore, knowledge of the
word of God is necessary to discern the truth, to discern how God
wants us to love as we are called. And Paul gives us two outcomes
from this, two outcomes from loving in a way that it discerns
God's wisdom. The first is so that you may
approve what is excellent. The word translated as approved
contains the idea of testing gold by fire to prove that it
is genuine. It means to examine or evaluate
what is excellent or what is best. You are to grow in love
with full knowledge of the character and will of God with all discernment
so you can discern what is of the highest value, so you can
discern what the love of God is like and how you can show
it. so you can discern how to love
the way God has called you to love. And this is one of the
major differences between what the world tells you about love
and Christian love. The world tells you and believes
that human beings are good by nature, that our desires are
good, that if you naturally desire something, it must be good. They
often use a statement, love is love. And this statement by itself
actually doesn't tell us anything. It's like saying five equals
five or a dog is a dog. It's a redundant statement and
provides no new information. But when people say this or post
it in the yard sign, what they are implying is that everything
we call love is the same. All forms of love are equal and
good. and it's human-centered. This
is what the world does. This is what Satan does. They
deceive by using something good and twisting it for human purposes. It gives people the ability to
define on their own terms what is good and what is right. But
what Paul is saying is that godly love, the love that God calls
us to, must be discerned from this. You must use godly wisdom
to discern what is truly good. And this comes from the word
of God. God has given us his word so
that we can discern how he wants us to love. and you're to consider
what it means to love and evaluate it by God's word. And what God
means by love is an extraordinary divine love. It's a love that
puts others first, loves even your enemies. It's a love that
extends forgiveness, mercy, and grace to those who don't deserve
it the way Jesus does. And it's through studying and
knowing God's revelation and scriptures that you will grow
in your ability to love the way God loves. And the second outcome
of abounding in love with knowledge and discernment is so that you
may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with
the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ. The
end goal of your growing in Christian love is the completion of your
sanctification, that on the day of Christ, the day of his return,
you will be made fully pure and righteous. You will be filled
with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ,
which is the fruit of the Holy Spirit. The first of which is
love. God changes your heart more and
more that you will exhibit the fruit of the Spirit. And Paul
gives us a list of this in Galatians 5. The fruit of the Spirit are
love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness,
self-control. These are the attributes that
God brings about in your life when he changes your heart. And
these will reach their fullness upon the return of Christ. And
the first of these is love. The reason God does all of this,
the reason God does anything, anything that God does is all
to the glory and praise of God. And Paul concludes all this by
saying, to the glory and praise of God. This is God's end in
everything. It's his own glory. He calls
you out of darkness. He changes your heart. He saves
you from your sinfulness. He saves you from the punishment
for your sins. He fills you with his love and
his joy all to his glory and praise. He sent his spirit to
dwell in you so that you can live to his glory and praise. And there's two ways really to
live life, for your own glory and praise or for God's glory
and praise. And your sinful nature makes
you wanna live for your own glory, but God changes you. Not only
that you may have faith in Jesus Christ and that you may be saved
from the punishment of your sins, but also that you may live for
his glory. You glorify God when you have
joy in your circumstances. You glorify God when you work
in partnership with other Christians for the gospel. You glorify God
when you continue to grow in your relationship with Jesus
Christ, knowing that God will complete what he has started
in you. You glorify God when you love
as Jesus loves, and you grow that love in knowledge and discernment
and the truth and love of God. You glorify God when you live
with the fruit of the spirit that God has put in your heart.
God, out of his love for you, sent his only son to die in your
place and to live the perfectly righteous life that you could
never live. And so that you would be justified before God. That
is, you would be counted as righteous in the eyes of God because of
the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. And God is glorified
in your salvation. But he saved you for something. He saves you so that you may
die to sin and live to righteousness. He saves you so that you may
die to self-glory and live to His glory. Through faith in Jesus
Christ, your sins are forgiven. Through faith in Jesus Christ,
His perfectly righteous record is transferred to you. And through
faith in Jesus Christ, you can now live in this life to the
glory of God through the Holy Spirit working in you. So everything
that you think, everything that you say, everything that you
can do can all be to the glory and praise of God. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we come before
you, Lord, knowing that everything is your work, that we are here
because you have called us out of darkness into light. And that
the good that is working in our heart is completely the work
of your spirit. That it is not I, but it is Christ
working in us. And so Lord, we hold on to these
truths. that you would continue to work
in our lives and our hearts, that we would have joy, your
joy in this world, that we would love the way you have called
us to love, that we would form partnerships for the gospel,
that we would dedicate our lives as your servants to living for
you, living for the mission of your kingdom, living for the
glory of your gospel. And so Lord, continue to work
in us and we hold on to that day when you will complete the
work you have started and you will do so all in the name of
Jesus Christ, amen.
All to the Glory of God
Series Philippians
| Sermon ID | 914241712202520 |
| Duration | 31:09 |
| Date | |
| Category | Sunday - AM |
| Bible Text | Philippians 1:1-11 |
| Language | English |
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