Philippians, the Apostle Paul lays out a very wonderful picture of what Christian community is to look like in the church. As we look to the reading of God’s word, if you would please join with me in prayer.
Father, indeed you are our helper, and so we come to you asking for your assistance, that by your Spirit you would open up our minds, that as your scriptures are read, as your word is proclaimed, that we would be led into your truth, that we would be taught your will. And Father, that you would continue to shape and to mold us into the image of our beloved Savior, your Son, Jesus Christ. Amen.
Beginning in verse 1, Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, to all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi, with the overseers and the deacons: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 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 defense and confirmation of the gospel.
For God is my witness, how I yearn for you all with the affection of Jesus Christ. The word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. The Apostle Paul proclaimed the good news of Jesus and he planted churches throughout his missionary journeys. The book of Acts, we see 3 very distinct journeys that Paul took through Asia Minor.
And reading through the letters, you get the impression that the church at Philippi was one of his favorites. There’s a special bond of love and affection that we pick up in his words to them, a mutual affection that flows out of a shared faith. This faith was from beginning to end the work of Jesus. Amen. And in it, we see the transforming power of grace at work, both in them and in the Apostle Paul.
When we consider our own lives, it can be easy to be discouraged. We often ask questions like, shouldn’t we be further along than we are? Shouldn’t there be more victories and less defeats? Why does my growth in grace seem so stunted and so slow? And these questions naturally arise from lives living in a fallen world that have to contend battling the world, the flesh, and the devil.
And Paul is very aware of this. He centers then the believer solidly in the grace and the mercy of Jesus Christ before he even begins to answer any of these questions. Our lives flow out of the person and the work of Jesus. And because the Lord has saved us by His grace, we are to walk in the confidence that this provides. It’s this gospel confidence that unites Paul to these Philippian believers.
His confidence for them is forged in the conviction of Christ’s ongoing work, and it produced in Paul a deep and abiding affection for them. As we begin, just kind of look by way of introduction into the church at Philippi. Philippi is a city in which now northern Greece— it was a part of the province of Macedonia in Paul’s day. And it was at Philippi that the 2 well-known assassins of Julius Caesar were conquered by Octavian and Mark Antony. If you’ve heard those names, it’s usually associated with Cleopatra.
But Octavian made this city of Philippi a Roman military colony. And so its citizens were automatically Roman citizens. It was a great privilege and had many benefits to it. If you were a retired or discharged soldier, you were often given special treatment in these places. It might be a place to live, land to call your own.
And so many settled there. And Latin, and not Greek, was the main language. Its culture, its bureaucracy were all primarily Roman rather than Greek. And Paul established the church here. On his second missionary journey, we see that recorded in the book of Acts chapter 16.
Paul had a vision of a man saying, come over to Macedonia and help us. And that’s exactly what they did. And as they came to this city, Paul met a woman named Lydia and other God-fearing women outside of the city. Normally, Paul’s practice was to go to the synagogue and to preach there first. And to have a synagogue, you at least had to have 10 Jewish males.
And so it seems that this city is absent that, and so it’s a very thoroughgoing Gentile place. In it, there was a slave girl who was possessed. She made a lot of money for her owner by fortune-telling, and when Paul delivered her, the owner was upset at Paul and had a mob come after him, particularly noting his Jewishness, and any Jewish men are causing trouble in our area. And so Paul and Silas were beaten and thrown into prison. If you recall, it’s the Philippian jailer who would later fall before Paul and Silas crying out, what must I do to be saved?
And it was the Philippian believers who generously supported Paul as he ministered to nearby cities. On Paul’s 3rd missionary journey, he was going around to each of these different places that he had been to encourage them, to build them up. As well as receive money for a contribution for those in need in a famine in Jerusalem. And so part of this was raising support for the other Christians. And Paul then is writing this personal letter to these believers that comes out of the shared faith.
This partnership that Paul has had with them is more than just the issue of beliefs. It’s a deep gospel conviction that was put into action. They gave money to Paul, they encouraged him, they sacrificed for him. It was, as one put it, a costly cooperation. And it’s a cooperation that had its foundation in their confidence in Christ.
The letter begins, Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, to all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi with their overseers— you see, their elders and deacons— Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul’s following a very conventional pattern of letter writing in the Greek world, but rather than just simply greetings, he goes on to speak of grace and peace to you, and he centers this letter thoroughly in Jesus Christ, mentioned 3 times in just this short little bit. He puts the person of Jesus at the center, and then he goes on to say, I thank my God in all my remembrance of you. Paul’s first response when he thinks of them is to give thanks to the Lord. Thank you, Father, for their faith in your Son.
Thanksgiving and prayer are intimately connected by Paul. In verse 4, he says, always in every prayer of mine for you all, making my prayer with joy. You can feel Paul’s genuine warmth here for these dear believers who shared with him in the work of spreading the gospel. And, and notice the mention of joy. Hold on to that word because it’s going to recur as a theme throughout his letter.
Then in verse 5, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, they shared in Paul’s labor. They gave, they encouraged, they sacrificed. It was a real partnership. And then Paul says something amazing here, a powerful statement. 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.
Speaking of the day when Jesus would return.
I am sure of this. I am confident. I am fully persuaded. Lots of translations. In what?
In the completing work of Jesus. In verses 5 and 6, we see this tension between a believer’s accountability, their conduct, and this partnership as Paul speaks to it. Amen.
There is that aspect of it along with relying entirely on God’s grace to meet this obligation. So Paul has confidence in their partnership based on what God has done.
Paul’s confidence comes from God’s persuasion, not from them. It comes from the word of the Lord bearing its fruit. As one writer puts it, it was not Paul who began the good work at Philippi. You could think that, I mean, he was the evangelist after all, but it wasn’t Paul. It was not Paul who began the good work, nor did the Philippians themselves do so by becoming converted.
God began it. And this strips them and Paul of all glory, of all self-assurance, because it becomes now a question of God’s earnestness. Of God’s good faith, of God’s way. And there’s certainly no question about it with him. Whatever the state of the Philippian believers may be in, it is the Lord who is the one who is going to bring this to its completion.
It’s a gift that God has given to his people, and the gifts of God bear fruit. God’s grace transforms. It’s not an It’s somewhat strange though how people can talk about this great gift of salvation. It reminds me of someone who were to receive a costly gift, let’s say, you know, a new iPhone 18, which is around $1,200.
If you were the recipient of someone giving you that, I don’t think you would say something like this. There I was. When I was handed this gift, but I had to reach out and grab it. I had to unwrap the paper and open the box. You should have seen my muscle dexterity.
It had tape on it. And those apple boxes, they’re packed really, really tight. But I got it out. That snug little cardboard box wasn’t too much of a challenge for me. Amen.
No one talks like that. No one. When you get a gift like that, you talk about the gift and the person who gave it to you. This is amazing. Look what I have been given.
The strange thing is that sometimes when it comes to salvation, there seem to be many who want to tell you more about what they consider their role in receiving the gift, so much so that it hardly seems like it’s a gift.
Paul’s joy flows out of the fact that their faith in Christ Is a gift of transforming grace. He puts the emphasis, the highlight, right where it belongs— on God. God has done this, and it brings us to worship. It brings us to adoration of him for what he is doing. Paul’s confidence then is in the Lord who saved them, not in themselves.
Paul is looking then at the power of God, Not only in his own life, but in the life of believers. And there is a confidence that we need to have in that because when you look at your own strength, your own abilities, it falls short fairly quickly. How is anything going to be accomplished on my own? It’s not. God is the one who’s going to bring this about.
And then before this, in verse 4, Paul introduces this great theme of joy in the midst of adversity. Joy and rejoicing are throughout this whole letter. Why? Because God’s saving work in Christ Jesus is a message of joy. Why?
Because God is the one accomplishing it. It brings joy because God’s associated with it.
One writer, he notes this. He said, the letters of Paul testify to the paradox of the Christian joy that’s to be found only in the midst of sadness, affliction, and care. Isn’t that the very opposite of what we think?
That joy is found in sadness, affliction, and care. Indeed, it’s precisely where it gives proof of its power. It is in these places you least expect it that it shows itself to have power. Why? Because again, God is the one at work.
We see in verse 7, Paul’s writing where from? From prison. And yet his joy is not dampened. His confidence for them is brimming because Paul’s confidence is in Jesus. If you look back in the book of Acts chapter 16, there it says the crowds joined in attacking Paul and Silas.
The magistrates tore their garments off and gave orders to beat them with rods. When they inflicted many blows upon them, they threw them in prison, ordering the jailer to keep them safely.
Having received this order, he put them in the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks.
Now we’re going to find out in the book of Acts that Paul, of course, is a Roman citizen. This is a Roman colony. They’re all about Roman law, Roman rule, and they violated the Roman law, and they’re actually afraid because of it. But it is the nature of a mob to not Watch somebody’s hand raise and go, excuse me, I’m a citizen. Paul’s getting the snot beat out of him.
And this is— he’s just getting worked over, beaten with rods. This is a terrible thing that’s happening to him. It’s awful at every level. Mob violence. And then to be thrown unjustly in prison.
And then we read this. About midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. Who does that? You’re beaten unjustly, you’re shackled together in a dungeon, and they’re praying and singing hymns. There’s something greater at work here.
There’s a different reality, and that’s what Paul is talking about in this letter. I am confident in Christ. I am confident that he who began a good work in you is going to be faithful to complete it. Paul is talking about the reality of the gospel that has transformed his life, that enables him to be able to be singing praises and praying so that other people are hearing this thing and learning about the good news of Jesus. The reality of partnering with Christ, that these Philippians were partakers in his ministry.
And this produced a deep affection. He goes on in verse 7, it’s right for me to feel this way about you, or you could say to think this way about you. Why? Because I hold you in my heart, for you are all partakers with me of grace.
And 1 Corinthians, Paul speaks of being united to believers in one baptism, one Lord, one Spirit. And here, this is the reality of this union with Christ. They participate with Paul They share in his labors, and even in his beatings, he’s not alone.
And this is not just empty talk. His heart just fills with affection because of the genuine care that they have given to him and they’ve shared with him. He says, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel. This participation extended even to helping him in prison, because if you were in an ancient Roman prison, You really needed friends and family to come and help support you because it wasn’t like the state fed you. You had to provide for your own means.
You could starve in prison. Paul was really at a disadvantage and he needed help, and these Philippians came to his rescue. And again, in the ancient world, it wasn’t like Western Union transferring money. Transferring money meant a bag of gold that somebody carried a long distance to get to you. And you had to worry about it being stolen.
It was a lot of effort to try and to do any good for the Apostle Paul. Now, where’s Paul at this point? Probably in Rome, though some people have seen a couple other locations, but where is not really important. Paul is writing seemingly with an expectation he’s going to get out, and we know the rest of the story. We know he’s going to be put to death.
We know that he’s not going to get out.
But Paul, while he’s there, is sharing his faith with the Praetorian guards that he’s chained to, even as you saw him in Philippi sharing his faith in the midst of the dungeon. Paul’s life has been transformed by the gospel, and this same transformation is what he’s seeing in them. He goes on in verse 8. For God is my witness how I yearn for you with all the affection of Christ Jesus. See, Paul here is a conduit of Christ’s love for his people.
This infinite supply of love is given to them through who? Through Paul. And through his ministry, they shared God’s grace with them, and he longs for them. As one pastor put it, he said, it’s a simple law of the kingdom of God. The more of his partnership in God’s grace, the more of this common experience.
The more mutual help, the deeper affection, the greater the pleasure in our brotherhood, and the more frequent and fervent the prayers for one another. See how it just grows and builds off one another? Only in God’s kingdom do we see this at work. The greater the involvement by the few, the greater the bond shared by the many. Why?
Because we are united by the Spirit of Christ. It has nothing to do with the amount of resources that you have on hand. Not at all. In 2 Corinthians 8, Paul is commending the churches of Macedonia, which include Philippi, for their great generosity, even though they were financially afflicted.
Because joy plus poverty in the kingdom equals generosity. It’s only true in the kingdom. Joy plus generosity— poverty equals generosity. Amen. How do you know if you’ve really experienced the grace of God?
There ought to be thanksgiving flowing from your heart. Thanksgiving is seen in joyful generosity. This great theme of joy, it runs throughout Paul’s letter. And as one person has said, joy is how believers who know Jesus, whose futures are guaranteed, respond to present difficulties. Not because they like to suffer, but because of their joy in the Lord.
The presence of joy is in some ways a diagnostic for your life in the midst of suffering. You’re not rejoicing in the suffering. That’s not a good thing. Suffering is bad. But you’re able to not be hindered by suffering to experience joy because joy Is not a feeling but an activity.
It’s a thing we do. And it is in the very hard spots that its power is most manifest. And we see how Paul made this activity— as the letter progresses, he’s going to speak about being content in whatever circumstance he finds himself. But what we certainly see is a prayerful and thankful heart because of their partnering with Paul. Now, I know in our Christian walks there’s this chicken-egg sort of thing.
Which comes first, a joyful, thankful heart or joyful and thankful actions? Well, it’s both and. It’s the wrong question. Our confidence first and foremost is in Christ. And because it’s in Christ, He completes the work that He started.
And that work should have actions. It’s not an abstract principle. Amen. I’m sure many of you have experienced this very thing. That in the doing it changes the heart and the changing of the heart affects the doing.
I know you’ve heard this example too in a negative way. You know, a child standing there in defiance and anger. You know, standing there with their fists clenched and all mad and snarly. And a parent understands that that tight little fist has to be released. And you see it on their face the minute you’re like, you know, unfold your hands.
That Anger just dissipates. You know, you hold your— and you let go of your wrist, you open it up, and your face lightens up. It’s just natural. And you know that as a parent, you’re not going to let your little kid sit there and just be storming around angry and mad because it affects their heart.
Well, this also works in a positive direction too. It’s not all bad all the time. Giving thanks to God, praying for others, it deepens your love and affection for them. Supporting others sacrificially softens your heart. It deepens your joy.
And that’s Paul’s point.
He points us to Jesus.
That in our present circumstances as well as in our future hope, Jesus, the good news, is the one who accomplishes this. Christ, our life, our way of life, our future hope, our present joy, all of this Is something that we participate in, our partaking of Christ. It should deepen our confidence in him and our affection for one another.
That’s why the practice of prayer— when Jesus tells us even to pray for our enemies, why? It changes your heart and disposition towards them. And it’s a reminder that you too have received by grace his gift. And it puts everyone on equal ground, because the minute you’re above somebody else and you’re better than them, looking down on them, Then you feel you have a right to your anger and to your hostility. But when we’re all on equal playing field, when we recognize I am the recipient of God’s good grace to me, I then can be empowered to go and to extend his love and his mercy and his kindness to other people.
And praying for them is a part of that change in our hearts. Amen. It is difficult to dislike somebody you’re praying God’s good for.
It’s the unclenching of your soul. When you don’t want good things to happen to people and you’re praying for them, that because of God’s kindness in your life, the power at work in you of his Spirit, you’re releasing them. And this transformation continues to take place, not only in us, but in others. Amen. But often in the very person for whom we’re praying for.
That’s the dynamic of the kingdom. See, the blessing of that joy that goes out, that we are no longer bound and captivated by a self-centered way of looking at the world or a tit-for-tat. You do this and I do this. Good for good, evil for evil. No.
It’s what enables us to return good when we have received evil. One of the very most difficult things that we do in our life. Why?
Because he who began a good work in you is the very one who took your evil into himself and bore it. That’s right. Amen. He crushed the power of death, the power of sin and Satan to liberate us, that we would be able to walk in a newness of life. And this newness of life includes joy, even in the places where you would least expect it, because that’s real power.
It’s real transforming grace. From a God who has the ability to do the very things that he says, who speaks light into darkness, who speaks life into a darkened soul.
Paul says, bless you for sharing in this work because it highlights and demonstrates the reality of Jesus, not only in me but in you, and we together are continuing to be transformed into a community of this type of grace. And this is what Paul is praying for. This is what he sees for these Philippian believers that he calls us as Christians to also pray for, to walk in. Because he who began a good work in you, brothers and sisters, is faithful to complete it. Pray with me.
Father, we just say thank you. Thank you for the wonder of your kindness, of the salvation that you have so generously given to us through your Son. And Lord, we would ask that you continue to open our eyes to see it in its full glory. And Father, we pray too that you would continue to transform and change our hearts. Lord, we struggle when things go against us.
We struggle with people we don’t like. Father, free us to be able To pray joyfully for even those who afflict us. Father, free us from needing better conditions to have a better heart.
Father, thank you. Thank you for the freedom, the liberty that your Son has brought to us. And Lord, may it indeed please you that we here as your body in this little time and place would continue to walk in your transforming grace so that Jesus would receive the reward of his own suffering. And this we would pray and ask through his mighty name. Amen.
Amen. Indeed.
Discaimer: This sermon text was generated by an automated transcription service.