Wednesday Night January 20, 2021 PM

Let's have a word of prayer. Father, I thank you and praise you for your great love and mercy. Thank you for bringing us together tonight. Thank you for our meal, for our fellowship. I thank you for your word.

Bless our time in your word. Open it to the grace and knowledge of your son. Help us to pray. Bring to our mind those that you'd have us to pray for. And I thank you and praise you for your son, the Lord Jesus.

Thanksgiving and Prayer in Light of Philippians

In his name I pray. Amen. Paul has a number of prayers in his letters. There's one in Philippians, right up close to the beginning. My God, in all my remembrance of you. Now this is, okay, this is the letter of Paul to the Philippians.

You know, he went to Philippi and this was a pivotal moment in the church. I mean, he was looking for a place to go share the gospel and he had a vision. A man in the west said, come over here. And so they headed that direction, went to Philippi, found some people in a prayer meeting.

A woman's name was Lydia. She invited them to stay in their home in the town of Philippi. Zest that was following them around and harassing them. And Paul cast a demon out of her and that upset the people that were making money off of her.

And they called the authorities. They beat Paul and I think it was Silas, took him to the jail and told the jailer to put them in the stocks and keep them there. And then that night, you know what happened, right?

There was an earthquake and all the prisoners were loose, was going to kill himself. Because you know, God, he was going to do to himself was easier to put up with than what he thought would happen to him when they found out that they'd got away.

But Paul yelled out at him, don't, don't do that. We're all here. And, and then the jailer said, what must I do to be saved? Okay, now get that. How many people come up to you? You know, you say, hi, how are you?

You know, and they say, what must I do to be saved? And so he was saved and, and his whole household, they were baptized. This was the beginning of the church there in Philippi. And when it says here, I thank my God in all my remembrance of you.

Now I'm pretty sure he's writing this to the church. Okay. And when he says in all my remembrance of you, he's not thinking of the town of Philippi and the magistrates that beat him. I'm not, I, you know, is that what he's thinking of?

Maybe. I'm sure, you know, the incident of that night comes to mind when he thinks of Philippi. Oh yeah. That's where the earthquake came. And the jailer came in and, and under the circumstances, he came to faith in Christ.

I thank my God in all my remembrance of you. When Paul prays, he is offering up thanks as he remembers these people in the church there. That's one thing when we pray, we should, it should be a part of our prayers as we pray is thanksgiving.

There are people that we should be thankful for. The missionaries that we support, for example. Okay. As we pray for them, we ought to, you know, thank God for their mission work. Thank God for Christian friends, brothers and sisters in Christ.

I thank my God in all my remembrance of you. Always in every prayer of mine for you all. Now this is an interesting, you know, in Philippians, when Paul says, when I pray for you, he says, I pray for you all.

You know, this is oaky, Southern, you know, you all, you know, and it starts right here at the very beginning. I pray for you all. Making my prayer with joy. This is also a letter that's just, you know, rejoice.

Again, I say, rejoice. You know, this is Philippians. I pray with joy. When we pray, we ought to be joyful in our thanksgiving, you know, because of the people that we know that are spreading the gospel and that we can support them with our prayers.

You know, not only in our finances and our encouragement, but as we pray for them. And he says, that's one of the reasons I'm praying for you because of your partnership in the gospel. They were one of the very first churches that came alongside Paul to continue to help him.

He says, from this, you have God for you, for your support. I remember you with joy and I give thanks to God for you, for you all. And then there's a little interlude here. And I am sure of this. I mean, I am not sure this is what he prays.

Okay. But he tells them this in the letter here. He says, and I'm sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. Now, when God brought us to salvation, he began a good work in us.

Do you not? And what was that good work that he started or began in you? Sanctification. Yes. He began a work as we are born, not of blood, not of the will of the flesh, not of the will of man, but born of God, born of the Spirit of God.

And the Spirit begins to work in us, making us after the image of his Son, making us after the image of his... And this is a good work, right? This is a good work. And Paul says, I'm sure of this. I have confidence in this.

He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion on the day of Jesus Christ. Bring it to completion. This word completion, it's a form of the word tell us. In 1 Timothy 1 .5, it says, the goal of our instruction is love, which springs from a pure heart, a clear conscience, and a sincere faith.

That's the goal of our instruction. That's the end of the command, depending on your translation, okay? But the goal or the end, that's the word tell us. That's the aim. That's where we're headed. And when Jesus died on the cross, he used that same word.

He said, it is finished. It is finished. The work is accomplished. And it's the same word here, to tell us thy, which is just a form of tell us. That would be the past tense, okay, of the verb form. And here, it's interesting, he will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

And the word completion there is that same word, tell us. It's the goal, the aim, the end. You know, it's interesting. I think he will carry it out by his word. When God speaks, things happen, right? I mean, this is the way it is right from the very beginning, right?

And God said, let there be light. And what happened? There was light. Okay. And when God says something, it happens, okay? Paul says, I'm sure of this. He who began Jesus Christ, we can depend on him to bring it to pass.

And verse seven, it is right for me to feel this way about heart. I hold you in my heart. You know, he feels these Philippian believers, he has a tender spot in his heart for them. For you are all partakers with me of grace.

Paul knows the grace of God, and he knows that the Philippian believers know the grace of God. And because of that, their mutual sharing and understanding of the grace of God, Paul has a special place in his heart for them.

I hold you in my heart. What a, you know, a compliment of endearment. For you are all partakers with me of grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel. Now, think about that for a minute.

For you are all partakers with me of grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel. Do you think Paul thought he was in prison because of the grace of God? Well, think about that.

Think about that. I think we'll have time, yeah, to get a little further down here. Not only does he think that it is the grace of God, but he's also joined by the grace of God, and he's joyful that he's there for another reason also.

Okay. But because I'm in prison, and because the gospel is going out, okay, it is the grace of God upon us here in the prison. Verse 8, for God is my witness, how I yearn for you, for you all. Again, with the affliction, with the affection, not affliction, affection of Christ Jesus.

I yearn for you with all the affection of Christ Jesus. Walk in love as Christ loved you. Walk in love as Christ loved you. Verse 9, and it is my prayer. Now, he continues to tell them how he prays for them.

It is my prayer that your love may abound more and more with knowledge and all discernment. Now, I thought, that's interesting. You know, how do you, you know, Paul prays for them that their love may abound, okay, that the love that they have may abound, that it may grow, expand, okay, with all knowledge and discernment so that you may approve what is excellent and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ.

But how does our love for one another, you know, grow in a deeper sense and grow in a wider sense as we come to know other believers, okay? How does our love grow in knowledge and discernment? If you think about it, when you love someone, you want what's best for them, right?

I mean, that pretty well follows through, right? If I love someone, I want what's best for them, and I, to the best of my ability, will try to bring to pass, you know, on my part. Simple example, to know what's best for them, I have to know them.

So I have to have some knowledge. I have to increase my knowledge of that person to know what's best for them, and I have to be discerning to know not only who they are, what they like, what they don't like, and so forth, okay, but to be discerning in how to meet certain needs, you know, of this person, okay, to give them, from my perspective, what's best for them.

A very simple example is to think about this. Their birthday is coming up, and you are trying to decide what to get them for their birthday. How do you know what to get them? Well, if you know this person, you know what they like and what they don't like, and so right off the bat, ah, they like this sort of thing, these sort of things, you know.

I'm going to go shopping for this, not that, okay, because they don't like that. So you use a little discernment, you know, with the knowledge that you have of this person, okay. I mean, that's just a real simple example, you know.

I want your love to grow as you, you know, grow this love in knowledge and discernment, not just say, oh, yes, I love that person. Oh, you do? Tell me about this person. Oh, I don't know anything about them, but I love them.

Well, maybe you could grow that love, you know, and find out who they are, okay, and what's best for them. 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.

He wants them to know how to approve what is excellent. Later, he tells them, I want you to think on these things, remember? I think it's in chapter four. He says, listen, I want you to think on these things, whatever's excellent, okay.

So how are you going to know what's excellent? He says, I want you to know what is excellent. He prayed for the Colossians. He says, I want you to know the will of God in all spiritual understanding, in all wisdom and spiritual understanding, okay, so that you will know, okay, in this case, what is excellent, what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ.

I want your love to be pure, as he told Timothy, you know, first Timothy chapter one, verse five, the end of our commandment, the aim of our instruction, the purpose of this teaching is that you may have love that springs from a pure heart, okay.

I have a special place for you in my heart. I have a pure love for you. Be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, the day of Christ. He is coming and his work will be finished in you. It will be complete, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God.

As you grow, you will produce fruit. In John chapter 15, Jesus says, I want you to produce fruit. This will, let me see, maybe I better look at that. It's John 15, yes, verse eight, John, the gospel, chapter 15, verse eight, by this my father is glorified that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples, so prove to be my disciples, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God.

And then, okay, he says in verse 12, I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel. See, he's in jail. He said, but I want you to know, okay, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel.

Now, do you think this is pleasing to Paul? I mean, what was Paul's desire? I mean, other than to know Christ, I think that was his first desire. And his second desire was to make him known, okay? To make him known, to spread the gospel, to share Christ with others, okay?

I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ.

I'm in prison for Christ, not only for following Christ, but for sharing Christ. And most of the brothers, having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, are much more bold to speak the word without fear.

Some, indeed, preach Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from goodwill. The latter do it out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. The former proclaim Christ out of rivalry, not sincerely, but thinking to afflict me in my imprisonment.

What then? This is verse 18. Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed. And in that, I rejoice. And in that, I rejoice. And so, I'm convinced Paul believes he's in prison by the grace of God.

And the grace of God is on his life, working in his life, as he shares Christ, and as he sees other believers, and maybe even unbelievers, sharing Christ with others. Okay? And he says, and in that, I rejoice.

Wow. So, and then, the next verse. 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. Okay? This will turn out for my deliverance.

As it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but what with full courage, now as always, Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death, for me to live as Christ and to die is gain.

Wow. What an outlook on life. For me to live as Christ and to die is gain. What an outlook on life. Get an eternal outlook, not a temporal one. I can give you three rules of thumb, as you read on through Philippians.

Okay? First of all, what should be my attitude towards things? Anything. Be thankful. Be thankful. Express your thanksgiving to God through Jesus Christ. Be thankful. What should be my attitude towards people?

What should be my attitude towards people? Love them. People are more important than things. We don't love things. We're thankful for things. People are more important than things. When you get busy with things, you forget about people.

We need to, you know, just a rule of thumb. Remember, daily, people are more important than things. And whatever things you have, your attitude towards them is to be thankful. And your attitude towards people is that they are much more important than things.

And I should, okay, I should consider them above myself, really. Put them first, and yourself second. Think of others first. Spend time in prayer for others. And then, thirdly, have an eternal perspective, not a temporal perspective.

As Paul says, for me to live is Christ, but to die is, you know, the eternal situation, not the temporal situation. It's 7 o 'clock, so it's time to stop right here. I hope this has been a blessing to you as we look through these few verses in Philippians, okay?

We want to pray tonight. Who do we want to pray for tonight? Is there any requests?