With that, I advise you to take your Bibles and turn to Philippians chapter 4. This evening, we're going to look at verse 1. This is as far as we're going to go. And then the next five weeks, the Lord willing, we'll look at verses 2 through 9 is my plan. So I hope that you'll be blessed as we look at the Word of God. I know that I have been abundantly blessed. I have been challenged in so many ways as I've had the joy to study this passage. So what I'd like to do is let us just go to the Lord in prayer asking His blessing and that He would be glorified. So let us pray. Heavenly Father, I'm so thankful for tonight. I'm so thankful to come to Your house to sing praises to You and to You alone. Father, we thank You and praise You that the roads were clear enough to make it here so we can gather together to worship You. Father, I pray that as we look at Philippians 4, verse 1, Father, I pray that Your Word would go forth with power. Father, we know the promise of the Word, that Your Word will not return void. Father, we pray that Your Word would penetrate our hearts. It would change our hearts. And Father, may it spur us on to love in good deeds. We pray that Your Name would be exalted. Father, I pray that You simply use myself and my words as Your feeble instrument to accomplish Your will. May your Spirit work through the words that I say for your glory and for your praise. We pray all these things in your Son's precious and holy name. Amen. Pastor Bob did threaten me that as I began teaching, he's going to flash the score up on the screen. So if I see all y'all's heads turning over there, I will know that I can look too for a brief minute. No, just teasing. Philippians 4, verse 1. Let us read it together. It says, Therefore, my brothers, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm, this and the Lord my Beloved." Prior to looking at the specific verse, or prior to diving into verse 1, I want to provide you with a little background information. I think probably all of you know this, but I just want to make sure we have a clear grasp on what the book is about. First of all, we've got to understand the book of Philippians is one of the prison epistles. Paul wrote it while he was in prison in Rome. And if I was to pick one theme for the book of Philippians, I would say it's simply life in Christ. What does Christ want us to do? What does Christ want the church of Philippi to do? And Paul begins with challenging the church with a lot of different things. Paul is specifically addressing the church of Philippi. It's written specifically to believers. That is those who have placed their faith and trust in Christ alone. But as we look at verse one tonight, I understand it's written to the church of Philippi, but I hope and pray that we will be able to pull out some practical application that we can put into practice in our lives as believers in Christ. My greatest fear within the church at large is that there are so many people, and I'm guilty of this myself, sometimes we go to church and hear the word of God and we don't allow it to change our lives. We don't become more like Christ. We don't put it into practice. And so I hope as we begin the study tonight that we will be faithful to take the principles in God's Word and apply them to our lives so that we can be more like Christ. Tonight, it is my desire by the grace of God to see two specific things in verse 1. First, I'd like us to see Paul's genuine care for the church at Philippi. Then secondly, I want us to see Paul's specific challenge to the church at Philippi. Let us begin by looking just at the first part of verse 1. He says, therefore. Let's just stop there. That word, therefore, is a very important word. It simply has the idea of, as a result of, as a result of what Paul has just said. And just to try to bring you up to speed very quickly, At the beginning of chapter 3, Paul is refuting a group of people called the Judaizers. See, the Judaizers, they're a group of people who came into the church teaching that salvation is achieved by keeping the Jewish law perfectly. And it's interesting. I wish we had time to go back. I'll just try to bring it to speed really quickly. Because what he says is he gives the church at Philippi a warning. He says, watch out for the dogs. Watch out for the evildoers. And then these Jewish people, the Judaizers, they began to say, well, you have to keep all of these regulations, all of these rules. And Paul's response to the group of people is if anybody can put confidence in the flesh, hey, I can. Paul says, I was born a Jew. I was of the tribe of Benjamin. I did all of these things. I kept all these things. Then Paul says, I count all of that as loss. the sake of Christ. In other words, he counts it as a pile of dung compared to knowing Christ. So he's making the point to the church of Philippi, don't believe these Judaizers. Don't believe what they're teaching. But then the second part of chapter 3, Paul challenges the church of Philippi. He says, Paul says, I press on towards the goal. Paul says, this is what I'm doing. I'm pressing on. Then he says, church of Philippi, as a result of your faith in Christ, you need to press on to Christ's likeness. See, Paul is not saying that you have to do these things in order to be saved. Paul says as a result of your faith in Christ, you need to continue to be set apart for Jesus Christ. You're going to sin. You're going to fail. We always battle with sin. Paul understood that. But then at the end of chapter three, Paul tells believers about the future that we have as Christians. He says our citizenship is in heaven. It's going to be a great time. So as we come to chapter four, we've got to just keep in mind that he's referring back to chapter three, what's happened. He's really referring back to the entire book of what he said in chapters one through three. And I believe the best way to summarize it is simply read a quote by a guy named Boyce. He says, quote, because of what Jesus Christ has done for us, because of his life, His death and resurrection and the resulting victory over sin and the devil. We are now to stand fast in Him. That's Christ united as God's soldiers against a spiritual hostile environment. End quote. So really, as he says, therefore, he's encompassing all of what he has said as a result of what Christ has done for you. Then we're going to get to the second part in just a moment. But he says, therefore, and he refers to the people, the church of Philippi, he says, my brothers. The term brothers simply means fellow believers. It's interesting that Paul makes the point that he's addressing believers. Excuse me, I said that wrong. He's making the point that he's talking to genuine believers. Then he goes on, as we look at the next several terms, he begins to describe how he feels about them. He says, therefore, my brothers. And he says, whom I love. We're going to see, first of all, Paul genuinely cares for the church of Philippi. Keep in mind, he's in jail. He's in prison in Rome. He's written this book to the church of Philippi. And he says, therefore, my brothers. He says, whom I love. I don't know about you all, but if I was in jail, that would probably be the last thing that I would say. I would probably talk about myself and how bad my circumstances are. But Paul says, I whom I love. It's an adjective. It's referring back to the noun. It's describing the noun brothers. He says brothers, fellow believers of Philippi, I love you. He says in the Greek, it's agapitos. He says, I agapitos you, which means beloved or dear friend. It's a term of endearment. Understand, the kind of love that Paul is talking about, it's not our world's kind of love. You know, I hear so often in our world, I see it on TV, I hear it all over the place. People say, well, I like so-and-so. Oh, so-and-so is so cute. Oh, I love him. Oh, this, oh, that. I say that's the mushy-gushy kind of love. The kind of love here that Paul is talking about, this love that Paul addresses, that he has for the church, is one that is willing to sacrifice things because of his love and concern for the believers in Philippi. I don't know if that blows your mind, but that blows my mind. That blows my mind. Paul is in jail. He's in prison, and he says, I love you. Paul says, I am willing to sacrifice more for you believers. Paul cares for them. He goes on, he says, whom I love. And then he says, whom I long for. Again, that term long for is an adjective. It's describing the believers in Philippi. He says, I have a great desire for you believers. It's interesting that Paul's focus is not on himself. He's not saying, poor me, my life is hard, my life is miserable. He says, I have a sacrificial love for you believers. He says, I have a deep concern for you believers. His focus is on other people, not on himself. This man cares. I would hope, just by looking at these couple of things in verse 1, that you might sense a little bit of how much Paul cares for this church at Philippi. But let me just read several verses within Philippians that reinforce the idea that Paul loves, he cares for the church at Philippi. In chapter 1, verse 3, he starts off and he prays. He says, 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 Jesus. And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more with knowledge in 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. This man, Paul, he cares for the church at Philippi. He's praying for them. He's excited that they share in the same Gospel. He's excited that God is using them. And he's praying with them. He's praying with joy. This man cares, genuinely cares for the church at Philippi. Philippians 1.12, he says, I want you to know brothers. Again, it's a term of endearment. Philippians 1.14, he says, and most of the brothers having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment. Philippians 2.2, Therefore, my beloved. Philippians 3.13, Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. 3.17, he says, Brothers, join in imitating me. You see, the Apostle Paul cares for the church at Philippi. Despite how tough and difficult his life is right now. Then in our text this evening in 4.1, he says, Therefore, my brothers. He says, I love you. whom I love and I long for." Then he continues on, and then he talks about them. He says, my joy and crown. Honestly, I had a great privilege really trying to understand those terms better. When he says my joy and my crown, the term joy simply means reason for gladness. Now, hold on a minute. Let's remind ourselves of what the situation is. First of all, Paul is specifically talking to believers of Philippi. But also, we've got to keep in mind that Paul is writing from prison. And he goes through, he's describing this church of Philippi. He says, I love you. I have a sacrificial love. I long for you. Then he says, you're my reason for gladness. I don't know if I was in prison if I'd have any reason for gladness. I know the Lord always accomplished, but selfishly, I don't know if I could say this about other believers. Yes, I have reason for gladness because I know Gary Fenton is walking with the Lord. Or, I don't know if I could do that. I'm trying to be honest. But Paul is saying, you are my reason for gladness. You see, I believe the point that Paul is making is this. Paul has reason for gladness because he's seen the Church of Philippi pursue Christlikeness. Again, he's addressing believers, those who place their faith in Christ, and now he says, you're my joy. Why? Paul says, I press on. I press on to the goal for the prize of the upper call of God in Christ Jesus. And so now, Paul is saying, you're my reason for gladness. Why? When I see that, Paul's like, when I see you, Church of Philippi, walking with Christ. trying to obey Christ. Paul knows they're going to sin, they're going to fail, they're going to fall short, but their desire, their lifestyle is that of pursuing Christ. Paul loves them. Paul talks about joy all throughout Philippians. In chapter 1, verse 4, he says, 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. Paul's praying for this church at Philippi, and he's praying with joy. He's excited what God is accomplishing in their lives. Chapter 1, verse 18, it says, What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice. Yes, and I will rejoice. For I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, this will turn out for my deliverance. as it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage, now as always, Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death." You see, Paul, he was joyful, he was rejoicing. Why? Because the gospel was going forth. The believers in Philippi, they're preaching the Gospel. He's got other people who are going forth. They're preaching it from envy and strife. They're doing it for the wrong reason. But Paul says, hey, I rejoice. They may be doing it for the wrong motives, but the Gospel is going forth. Praise God. And he's rejoicing for what's being accomplished there. In 2.2, Paul says, complete my joy by being of the same mind, by being unified. 217, he says, even if I'm being poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrificial offering of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all. This man was a man of rejoicing. One of the main themes in the book of Philippians is joy. That blows my mind because Paul, who's in prison, is saying so much about the joy that he has because of who his God is. He's talking about the believers. He says, you're my joy, my reason for gladness. Then he says, my crown. The word crown simply means you're my wreath or my prize or my accomplishment. You see, Paul's goal in life was to proclaim Christ. To live Christ. To exhort believers to pursue Christ's likeness as a result of their faith. That was his goal. And obviously, Paul knew this. He couldn't do those things unless the Holy Spirit was working in his life. And Paul was always giving God the glory for what he was doing. Philippians 2.16, he says, "...holding fast the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain." He wanted to have confidence in what he was doing because he was doing it for the glory of God. Paul says that you, church at Philippi, you're my crown. It simply means that the believers in Philippi are His prize. They're His accomplishment because they came to Christ through the ministry of Paul. Obviously, the ministry of Paul was all orchestrated by God. God was accomplishing it. God was working in Paul. In heaven, Paul was going to receive crowns for how God used him while on this earth. And Paul, he's expressing How are He showing how much He cares for and He loves the church at Philippi? Let's transition and look at the last part of v. 1. And I want us to look at how Paul challenges the church at Philippi. Because the challenge he gives the church at Philippi as believers is given to us as believers in Christ. At the end of v. 1, he says, firm thus in the Lord my Beloved." He gives us the challenge. The challenge is stand firm. It's a verb. It's active. It's in the present tense. It's an imperative. In other words, he says stand firm. That is, continue to be. Continue to be firm. Firmly grounded in what you have been taught, Church of Philippi. Continue to stand up to what you're facing. A question comes to mind. Why did Paul give the church at Philippi this specific challenge, this specific command? I think it could be for several reasons. One, possibly because of what the Judaizers had just been teaching. They're coming in saying, hey, you've got to do these things to be saved. And Paul says, you stand firm. Stand firm in what I've taught you. Stand firm on the Word of God. Do these things. He might have given them the challenge because maybe the church at Philippi is just going through extraordinarily difficult times. Maybe He gave them a challenge because persecution that they might be enduring, or maybe they're going to be enduring soon. It could be all of the above. There could be lots more reasons. But regardless, he gives them the command to stand firm thus in the Lord. I think it's interesting. I didn't do this at the beginning. I forgot, actually. If you go back to Acts 15, you see how the church at Philippi is starting. And if you read through there, and you look at, I believe it was Paul's second missionary journey where he starts this church at Philippi. Paul had his own challenges. The man went through great difficulties as he was starting this church. And what did Paul do? Paul stood firm on God's Word. So now he's telling the church of Philippi, you stand firm. Paul has stood firm. He stands firm. And now he tells the church, you stand firm. And us as believers, we need to stand firm. We see this also in Philippians 1.27. He says, only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ. So whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind, striving side by side for the faith of the gospel." Paul is very serious when he says, stand firm. He wants the church at Philippi to stand firm on what they've been taught. We need to stand firm as believers. Keep in mind that in chapter 1 of Philippians, Paul is going through a dilemma. I believe it's chapter 1, 22-24. The dilemma is this. He wants to depart. Paul says, I want to depart and I want to be with Christ, for that's very much better. But then he says, but I know it's necessary for me to remain on in the flesh for your sake, for the church at Philippi's sake. You see, Paul decides to remain. Because he wants the church to continue to stand firm on what they've been taught. So he stays, and he continues to pour his life into the church at Philippi. He continues to teach them the Word. And then we see throughout the book of Philippians that Paul continually reminds the church to pursue Christ. As a result of your faith in Christ, pursue Christ. In chapter 2, It talks about, at the beginning, the unity within the church. He says, be of the same mind. Do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but look out for the interests of one another. And then the idea there is to be unified. Chapter 3 talks about the joy of knowing Christ, as well as our personal pursuit of holiness. Chapter 4, He reminds them to stand firm. Then in verses two through nine, which we'll look at in the later weeks, Paul is telling the church of Philippi specific things that they must do if they are going to stand firm in the Lord. He gives them the imperative command. It's not optional. He says, as a result of your faith in Christ, this is what you will do. Now, Paul knows the church of Philippi is going to struggle with standing firm. Us as believers, we're going to struggle. If you don't struggle with standing firm, please talk to me and tell me what you're doing. Because I struggle. Standing firm is a hard thing. But see, Paul gives them the command. It's not optional. He says, this will be a result of your faith in Christ. You need to stand firm on what I have taught you, church. I don't know if I said this or not. Sorry if I repeat myself. But Paul in verses 2-9 of chapter 4, Paul is telling the church at Philippi specific things that they must do in order to stand firm. We'll look at those. I did say that. I'm getting old. Sorry. Y'all laugh because I'm not getting old. OK, good. Thank you. He says, stand firm. He gives a command in the next several weeks that we're going to look at. How are we going to stand firm? He's going to say, this is what you need to do to stand firm. This is what you need to do to stand firm. This is what you need to stand firm. And I hope and I pray that as we begin to look at those, we won't just say, oh yeah, Paul, that's great. But we'll go and we'll evaluate our lives and say, God, how am I doing at standing firm? Where am I doing well? Where am I struggling? Where do I need to change? How can this affect our lives? So I want to ask a question. So what? This is great. This is fine and dandy what it says here. He says, I care for you, Church of Philippi. Church, I want you to stand firm in the Lord. What about you? What about me? How does this affect us? Let's take a few minutes and just give us some thought here. What do we do from here? These are just some things I'll just point out, and you can do it in many ways. But as followers of Christ, It will be hard to stand firm because of our world. It's a blessing. It's a great world to live in. There's a lot of challenges here. You know, we live in a world where they hate Christ. A lot of people, they hate Christ. They despise Christ. People don't want to accept the fact that there is a God. There's a God who created everything around us. There's a God who created them. They don't want to come to grips with that reality. You know, there are people who don't want to ever think about the fact that one day you are going to stand before a holy, awesome, and just God, and you're going to be judged. People don't want to come to grips with that. And so if we come to them, we're sharing the gospel, and they don't like it, they're going to get mad at us. They're not going to like us. That's why I believe Paul gives the command to the church. He says, You stand firm. You know, because of these things, because our world hates Christ. A lot of people. Not everybody. There's a lot of believers, too. But because of our world and what they may think about Christians, they might hate us. They might mock us. They might gossip about us. They might try to tear us down. They may try to stop us. They can try to stop us all they want, but can they stop the Creator of the world? No way. One guy came and he spoke here at the SCF nights. I forgot who it was, but I loved how they summarized Revelation. He said, I can do it in two words. God wins. I was like, yes, I'm going to use that all the time now. God is going to win. We just have the privilege to be here on the earth, to stand firm in Christ, to proclaim the gospel of Christ to others. And if you're persecuted for the name of Christ, you're blessed. We'll get to that in a minute. But just as the church at Philippi was given the imperative command to stand firm in the Lord, it applies to each one of us as believers in Christ. We are to stand firm. How are we going to stand firm? Our world is going to bring difficult things. It's going to bring challenging things. Jobs are going to be lost. You're going to lose your job. Things are going to happen. Family members are going to die. You're going to go through trials. You're going to go through temptations. How do we stand firm in the midst of those? 1 Corinthians 10. is one verse we'll share. It says, No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful and He will not let you be tempted beyond your ability. But with the temptation, He will also provide the way of escape that you may be able to endure it. I love that verse. I love that verse because temptations are going to come. You might be tempted to get angry or to lose your temper or to get upset because you lose your job or a loved one dies or something happens that you don't like or you don't understand. This verse says, God gives you a way of escape. Oh, I love that. That's something I try to hold on to every day. We can stand firm by knowing that no temptation has overtaken us. God gives us a way of escape. 1 Peter 3, 13. He says, now, who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good? But even if you should suffer for righteousness' sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled. But in your hearts, honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you. Yet do it with gentleness and respect. having a good conscience, so that when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. I love 1 Peter 3. If people don't like you, if people slander you, if people make you, they mock you or they ridicule you, and you have a clear conscience, in other words, you know that your motivation, your actions were all right before God, you're blessed. Now, there's a couple of people who come into the office who really don't like me. But honestly, when they come in and they don't like what I share with them in the Word of God, they leave, and I say, praise God. God, I just took a stand for the name of Christ. I don't want to do it for anybody else. And I pray for that person. But if we stand for Christ and our world mocks us, we ought to go away saying, yes, God, people don't like us. If everybody likes us in this world, there's a major problem. Really? If people love you because you're a nice, great, generous, fun person to be with, and they don't know your faith, there's a problem if they hate Christ and they love you. So if we can have a clear conscience before God, just know you're blessed. It hurts. It's frustrating. It's heartbreaking. But pray for the people. Prayer is the greatest thing we can do for anybody. Closing 1 Corinthians 16 and 13. Paul gives this challenge to the church at Corinth. He says, be watchful. Stand firm in the faith. Act like men. Be strong. He gives the command to stand firm. How are we going to stand firm? There are so many ways you can stand firm by reading your Bible. Live out your Bible. Don't just read it and say, a chapter a day keeps the devil away. Read it so that you can learn it, so that you can live it, not because you're working your way to heaven, so that you can live it because it is a result of your faith in Christ. You can live it out. You can pray, asking the Lord, asking the Holy Spirit to help you, to give you strength. We can encourage one another. We can hold one another accountable. These are just a few practical ways that we can help each other stand firm. You know what? Our church is going through a challenging time. It's hard. It's frustrating. It's difficult. If you're not frustrated, I'm grateful. I want a pastor so bad, and I love the ministry of Pastor Keltner, but I'm ready for a senior pastor to come in. But you know what? God has given us the command to stand firm. Stand firm for what God's Word says. Don't waver. Don't stumble. Don't give up. Stand firm. Come here, be excited, exuberant that we get to learn about our God and let our life demonstrate it. Isn't that great? That's what we're called to do as believers. Stand firm. If you don't know Christ, the Gospel is so clear that we are sinners destined for hell. God sent His own Son to die on the cross for us as wretched sinners. His death, burial, and resurrection. I always try to think about it when Christ died on the crosses, those nails were beaten into His hands and His feet. It's as if Jake Wyatt's sin was put on Him and beaten into His body. It's as if your sin was laid on His body. Place your faith and trust in Christ and Christ alone, what He's done for you. If you don't know Christ, I beg you to talk to me. I beg you to talk to anybody around you. There's nothing special about me. Talk to those around you. Talk about Christ. We ought to be excited about what Christ is doing. Let us stand firm as a body of Christ. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, You are a great God. Father, every time I have the privilege to open the Word of God, I am fearful, I am intimidated, because I know it's a very dangerous thing, handling the Word of God, if you interpret it wrong. where you mishandle it. Father, I realize that, but Lord, I've done the best I can do to open the Word of God. And I trust that your Spirit would work. I pray that your Spirit would use it in our lives. God, I know, and I know the people here know that we cannot accomplish these things apart from the work of the Holy Spirit. And Father, I pray for each one of us who's a believer in Christ, may we not simply be hearers of the Word, but may we allow these things to penetrate our hearts, to change our lives. God, may we as believers go home tonight and reevaluate our lives and say, God, where am I standing firm? And be excited about that. But then, Father, ask ourselves, where are we struggling? Lord, maybe it's hard to stand firm in our world. Maybe it's hard to take a stand for Christ knowing that so many people hate You. But God, we know that as believers, we're blessed if people don't like us. Father, if we have a clear conscience before God, if we're doing what You've called us to do, may we do that with the right attitude. Father, give us the strength to stand firm, whatever you bring our way. Father, there's one here who has never placed her faith and trust in Christ and Christ alone for their salvation. I plead on behalf of you to bring them to a saving knowledge of who you are and what you've done on the cross. We pray that your work would be accomplished. God, I pray and plead on behalf of you to use these things for your glory. We pray all these things in your son's precious and holy name. Amen.