Deep Joy: The Message of Philippians #4: "The Joy of Gospel Progress" (Phil 1:18b-30)

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If you have a
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Bible and I hope you do take it and turn with me to Philippians chapter one Philippians and chapter one
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Philippians chapter one and we will be in verses 18 to 30 this afternoon, but for context we're going to read verses 12 through 30 so Philippians chapter 1 verse 12 through 30
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If you grabbed one of the Red Bibles that we give away. That's page 1040.
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That's page 1040 Philippians chapter 1 verses 12 through 30 page 1040
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If you're able to do so I invite you to stand with me as you read this portion of God's Word out of Respect for it's just something we do here at Redeemer every time we come to the ministry of God's Word Philippians chapter 1 and verses 12 through 30
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Philippians chapter 1 and verses 12 through to 30 Philippians 1 12 through 30
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Brothers sisters, these are God's words Now I want you to know brothers and sisters that what has happened to me has actually advanced the gospel so that it has become known throughout the whole
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Imperial Guard and To everyone else that my imprisonment is because I am in Christ Most of the brothers have gained confidence in the
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Lord for my imprisonment and dare even more to speak the word fearlessly To be sure some preach
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Christ out of envy and rivalry, but others out of goodwill These preach out of love knowing that I am appointed for the defense of the gospel
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The others proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition not sincerely thinking they will cause me trouble in my imprisonment
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What does it matter? Only that in every way whether from false motives or true
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Christ is proclaimed and in this
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I rejoice yes, and I will continue to rejoice because I know this will lead to my salvation through your prayers and help from the spirit of Jesus Christ My expectation and hope is that I will not be ashamed about anything, but that now as always
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With all courage Christ will be honored in Highly honored in my body whether by life or by death
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For to me to live is Christ and to die is gain Now if I live on in the flesh, this means fruitful work for me, and I don't know which one
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I should choose I'm torn between the two. I I long to depart and be with Christ, which is far better But to remain in the flesh is more necessary for your sake
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Since I am persuaded of this I Know that I will remain and continue with all of you for your progress and joy in the faith
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So that because of my coming to you again, you're boasting in Christ. Jesus may abound just one thing as Citizens of heaven live your life worthy of the gospel of Christ Then whether I come to see you or I'm absent
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I will hear about you that you are standing firm in one spirit in one accord Contending together for the faith of the gospel not being frightened in any way by your opponents
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This is a sign of destruction for them but of your salvation and this is from God For it has been granted to you on Christ behalf not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for him
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Since you are engaged in the same struggle that you saw I had and now here that I have
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Pray that God will bless that reading of his word and give us understanding Let's pray ask for God's help and we will come to this portion of his word
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Heavenly Father. We thank you once again that we have the opportunity to gather and to join in We thank you that We get this opportunity now to hear you speak to us through your word and we pray that as we open up your word and We hear it speak to us we ask that your spirit would do a work of shining light upon the word helping us to Understand its meaning and what it says to us as your people father it's our custom to pray for other churches in our area and We take a moment this afternoon to pray for First Baptist Church Medford Thank you for pastor
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Greg and the leadership there and the work that they are doing pray for their ongoing summer series through the
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Psalms such rich material there as we see the praise of God's people in his word and so we ask that you bless the ministry of the word
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There and all of the efforts to disciple and to train and to equip and to evangelize happening there
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Pray your blessing upon them and pray upon us now as we come to your word For we ask it in Jesus name and for his sake.
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Amen Please be seated This afternoon.
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I want to speak to you from the subject the joke finding joy or joy in seeking progress through the gospel joy in seeking progress through the gospel this whole subject of Progress is
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Kind of dangerous to talk about a little bit if we're honest because I'm keenly aware that as I start to talk about this subject and I start to drill down on some of the particulars that relate to this subject there can be a disconnect that happens between what is said and Often what is heard when we come to this topic?
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Often the disconnect that happens can come across as oh, he's talking to us about the need for progress and growth he must think we're not doing enough or He must think he's arrived
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Because why does he feel that we're not making progress? Why does he feel the need to talk about this or as someone once told me as a young Bible teacher who was kind of?
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Finding his way and finding his unique voice You know I don't like when we talk about Progress and growing and doing more because in my understanding people who focus on progress and doing more just don't understand grace.
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I You know what I mean when I say that It basically just turns progress into here's a checklist do these things on this checklist and you will grow.
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There's no grace there There's no understanding that okay This is the course over the course of a lifetime That there is growth and maturity that happens in all of us
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None of us praise God are where we used to be But none of us are where we ultimately hope to be we still have growing to do
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So there's a way to talk about progress that can be somewhat defeatist and somewhat unencouraging
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But I would suggest that the abuse of an idea the fact that you can speak about progress in a negative way
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In a bad way or an unhelpful way the fact that you can abuse the idea of progress
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That doesn't negate the regular and normal use of the idea
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The fact that progress can be used in a way that is less than helpful doesn't mean that we should never talk about what it is for a
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Christian or for a church or for the church capital C to make progress
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And that's the theme really that's writ large over this section that we're going to consider. It's a slightly longer section but it's tied with this theme of progress
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You'll remember those of you who've been regulars here in our study through Philippines I've said that chapter one really is addressing just one question
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Chapter one is addressing one question The one question is what does it look like for the gospel the good news of salvation found only in Jesus?
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What does it look like for the gospel to impact God's people and for it to produce?
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Deep joy, that's what we've tied to this series. We are pursuing deep joy. Well, how is it that?
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The gospel does that what does it look like when the gospel impacts people and produces deep joy?
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And you remember that said that really you can break chapter one down into three broad Movements I put them up on screen again just to remind you so chapter 1 verses 3 through 11
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There's this idea of gospel partnership hand -in -hand joining together for Ultimately number to the advance of the gospel verses 12 through 18
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Well where the gospel advances that should lead to the ultimate goal of what we're going to talk about this afternoon this idea of gospel progress
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Because not only does the gospel make progress out there as people who don't know the
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Lord Jesus here of the Lord Jesus But the gospel does a work among God's people the gospel produces growth
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Maturity and progress among God's people And the reality is as you read the
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New Testament progress is something that we're supposed to seek after as Christians A stagnating
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Christian is not a good thing Now, let's be clear Christians can stagnate in their walk. It happens we don't want to discount the reality of somebody's salvation just because their walk has grown stagnant, but there is a reality that Stagnation is real and it can happen
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But the expectation when you read the New Testament is those stagnation happens that's not meant to be the norm of the
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Christian life The norm of the Christian life is meant to be regular continual lifelong progress
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So those of you who were here all the way back in January was our first Sunday of the year remember the text I preached Hebrew chapter 5
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If you don't remember it, it's on our website Growing deeper and wider in 2023 was the title.
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Remember what the author says in Hebrew chapter 5 verses 11 and 12 He says we have a great deal to say about this and that this is the person the work of Christ and particularly his priesthood
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He says we have a great deal to say about this and it is difficult to explain since you have become too lazy to understand
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Verse 12 for although by this time you ought to be teachers He says for where you are and how long you've been walking with the
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Lord you should be here that's the level of progress you should have achieved and yet He says you need someone to teach you the basic principles of God's revelation again the reality is that God's people are meant to be a growing and a maturing people and when you don't see growth and Maturity in a gathering of the people of God.
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We should rightly be concerned but thankfully the Lord cares for us as his people and he doesn't demand of us something that he doesn't explain and empower us for through the gospel
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So yes Christians should pursue progress and yes Christians can stagnate and not make progress But the
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Lord doesn't just look at us and say oh not again like seriously why they're not getting the picture That's not what he does.
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Thankfully That's the word of God says he knows our frame. He knows that we are dust and So he is gracious in giving us portions of his word that help us to think in a more focused way
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About what progress looks like in this passage in Philippians 1 is one of them So why should we care about gospel progress as God's people if what
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I just said is true that You can be a stagnant Christian and you're still a Christian your sins are still forgiven you are still going to glory
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If that is true, well, can't we just mail it in until we get there? Why should we care about gospel progress as God's people?
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Well, that's my big idea for this. Um, if you don't remember anything else I have to say I trust you remember this That gospel progress is what
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God desires for us and What we should desire for each other very simple gospel progress is what
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God desires for us and What we should desire for each other
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You see it's not just that progress is a good thing.
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Can I give you some encouragement right from the jump as we start? God wants you to make progress
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God is not leaving you to your own devices in growing in your faith and growing in maturity
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He's not leaving that just to you. God is for you in your making progress
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And so since that's what God desires for us is what we should desire for we each other and it's what we should seek and pursue
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For the rest of the time in our message today. I want to consider three aspects of gospel progress in the lives of Paul and the church at Philippi.
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Like I said, this is a longer section I will summarize points and some people drill down depending on its importance but three aspects of Gospel progress that we see in the lives of Paul and the church at Philippi Because if we're going to pursue gospel progress
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Then this is going to be a community project this is going to be a group effort together and we see that here in this
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Passage. Well, let's begin by seeing it from Paul's perspective point number one this afternoon I want you to consider with me
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Paul's confidence in God's plans and purposes
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God's excuse me Paul's confidence in God's plans and purposes So look with me at the end of verse 18 through to verse 20
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Paul says Having said well, what does it matter? There are these people who preach Christ with bad motives whether from good motives or true
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Christ is being proclaimed I can rejoice in that. We'll pick it up at the end of verse 18 He says yes, and I will continue to rejoice
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Because I know this will lead to my salvation through your prayers and help from the
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Spirit of Jesus Christ My eager expectation is and hope is that I will not be ashamed about anything
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But that now as always with all courage Christ will be honored in my body whether by life or by Death Paul has this confidence that you just exudes from this passage that he can rejoice and he will continue to rejoice
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Because of certain things he knew that God was able to do that's why I've titled this point Paul's confidence not in himself but in God's plans and purposes
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And actually when you look at this passage This confidence was grounded in several realities
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First of all, it was grounded in the providence of God. It was grounded in the providence of God So again, look at the end of verse 18.
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Yes I know this thing I know and will continue to rejoice because I know this will lead to my salvation
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Paul had nothing but total confidence in the fact that God was ordering everything that was happening to him
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In fact, he has so much confidence Some of your Bibles may point this out others may not he actually quotes from quite an unlikely place when he says that verse 19
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This will lead to my salvation This one a way to see keep something here in Philippians 1 turn to the book of Job for a moment
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Job chapter 13 book of Job And chapter number 13 book of Job chapter 13
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Job is once again Replying his friends who had nothing but bad advice to give him
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And pick up in verse 13. He says this Be quiet. He's speaking to of his friend.
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I believe it's so hard so far at this point Just be quiet and I will speak Let whatever comes happen to me
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I will put myself at risk and take my life in my own hands Even if he kills me referring to God, I will hope in him
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I will still defend my ways before him. Look at verse 16. Yes, this will result in my
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Deliverance for no godless person can appear before him You see that phrase number 16
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This will result in my deliverance in the Greek translation of the Old Testament that Paul would have more than likely used
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Bible of the early church. That's the exact phrase that he uses in Philippians chapter 1
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As one writer puts it he has applied these words of Job to his own situation not because they were vaguely or Marginally parallel but because he like Job was certain of his vindication
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Paul believed that despite his Imprisonment despite the fact that he was in this difficult circumstance and he really didn't know how this was going to go
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He knew that he would be ultimately delivered catches. This is important both from this temporal trial that he was experiencing as well as Experiencing the fullness of salvation when he was with the
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Lord How do I know that because the Job passage he quotes from Job talks about the fact that even if he were to die
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He would stand in the presence of God and he would have nothing to be ashamed about So when
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Paul talks here about his salvation, he's kind of speaking in two different ways here Both his temporal salvation from the situation he's in but also his eternal salvation that even if he were to die
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He has nothing to worry about and what's interesting is
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This confidence that he has is not kind of pie in the sky. He's not just saying, you know,
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God will do it I'm not sure how he's going to do it, but I think he can do it. I'm not too worried about he might figure out
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No, Paul knew that any sort of salvation or deliverance from This situation would only happen through the means that God uses kind of leads me to my second thought it's grounded in the providence of God But it's also grounded in the prayers of the
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Saints It's grounded in the prayers of the Saints So again, that's 19.
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Yes, and I will continue to rejoice because I know this will lead to my salvation through your prayers through your prayers
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Paul's high view of God's providence It didn't remove his understanding of the fact that yes
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God is sovereign but God has chosen to exercise his sovereignty through the use of means that God exercises his sovereignty through Through people in particular
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Paul knew that either temporal deliverance or final vindication wouldn't happen without the prayers of The Saints it's interesting by the way that the word he uses for prayer here is not the standard word for prayer
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There's a standard word that the New Testament uses for prayer usually just carries this idea of the bending of the knee
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That's actually where the phrase comes from the bending of one's knee the kneeling
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But that's not the word he uses here He's a very different word and the word that he uses here.
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It's a little more urgent It carries this idea of an urgent request it was used of soldiers who would send the message
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Back to their leaders as it were requesting urgent assistance
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Whatever is being asked for when you use this particular word. This is not polite and civilized asking
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It's desperate And Paul says I know that this will lead to my salvation through your we can add a word here your urgent prayers your desperate prayers
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All the Saints used to use the term Importunate no word we use often today The basic idea of that word importunate or importunities the idea of Begging I think
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I said this a couple of weeks ago in one of our messages In our circle where we have such a high view of the sovereignty of God Which we should have a high view of the sovereignty of God.
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Amen. I mean, that's what the Bible teaches But in our circles where we have this high view of the sovereignty of God We can sometimes fall prone to what
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I like to call the sovereignty shuffle Anything the sovereignty what? Let me explain this and also because we are very good in my opinion
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Now I've spoken to other people and they kind of noted. Yeah, we do do that. Well We're very good at throwing up the sovereignty of God and sometimes throwing up the language of the sovereignty of God in ways
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Excuse us from our own responsibility so There's a situation.
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We probably should do something about this situation. We should probably do something urgently about this situation But what's the general tone and tenor with that when that comes up?
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I? Hear all damn Well, God is in control I'm not gonna worry about that.
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Well, yes, you shouldn't worry the Bible tells you not to you But we'll see in Philippines. We're supposed to be anxious. I Agree, we should not worry
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But we probably want to do more than just say God is sovereign Paul would know nothing about that.
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At least if we take him at his word in this passage No, maybe if I use the illustrations might illustrate the problem
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I have with why I call the sovereignty shuffle Imagine any of you came to me in this room said Kofi.
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Look, I really need some help. I'm in a tough place Like something's not working out or I'm in this really bad situation.
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I really need your help. Can you help me and I can you come to and you ask me to help him like you know what bet
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I've got you Whatever you need. All you have to do is ask I'm there but then
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Your situation gets worse and worse You don't ask me what you say we have coffee to help me out.
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I'm not worried about it Okay, but you've not asked me for any help.
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I can't help you if you don't ask me We all understand that that way man, that's slightly back to front don't you yes, he's promised to help you so maybe you should ask
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We all get on a human level, but here's the thing I've often wondered if God in heaven feels that way about some of us
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That he's as it were standing ready to help us to aid us just for the asking and yet we don't ask
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And we don't ask desperately I'm kind of just saying well, he's sovereign. He'll take care of it
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Yes, he's sovereign but in his sovereignty. He's asked you to pray How slow can we often be to ask
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God for the very things we need and in fact even the things we don't know we need Kind of reminds me what
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James says in his letter James chapter 4 verse 2. He says you Do not have because you do not
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One of my favorite hymns growing up some most of you probably know it if you've been around church long enough
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What a friend we have in Jesus What a friend we have in Jesus all our sins and griefs to bear
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What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer. I'm how that first verse goes. Oh What peace we often forfeit?
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Oh what needless pain we bear all because we do not carry everything to God in prayer
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Yes, God is sovereign and he has final say in heaven on earth. So no, we don't worry but As I was writing this
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I wrote a sentence and I said, you know, let me put this on the slide So everyone can actually see it God is sovereign isn't an excuse to go take a nap.
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It's empowerment to go take the hill. You know, I mean when I say that The fact that God is sovereign doesn't mean
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I sit around and say well go to work it out No, what it means is hey God is sovereign. So let me go ask him for help to go do the thing He asked me to go do prayer and action ought to be the logical response to Sovereign Providence not waiting for stuff to happen and not asking
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So can I pause and ask for a moment and say? Can your brothers and sisters in this room?
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Can they depend on you? Can they depend on me? For our prayers when difficult situations come can they ask can they be a supporters even ask you do you notice that?
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Paul doesn't ask he just says it Look at it in our passage again. He says I know this will lead to my salvation through your prayers
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Doesn't even ask just assumes it that you're praying for me Paul's confidence was grounded in the providence of God.
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It was grounded in the prayers of the Saints, but also It was grounded in the provision of the
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Spirit It was grounded in the provision of the Spirit So again end of verse 19.
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I know this will lead to my salvation through your prayers and help from the Spirit Jesus Christ some of your translations in front of you will probably use a language of supply or the provision of The Spirit of Jesus Christ That's what this word means.
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It's not just a standard word again for just help for assistance. No, it's the idea of Help through supplying someone's need to providing for someone's needs
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Human resourcefulness would only get Paul so far and I did just talk about prayer and the importance of prayer But let me not oversell it even the most white hot
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Fervent prayer of God's people in and of itself can't do it No Paul recognizes the need for divine empowerment through the
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Spirit if the deliverance that he longed for would materialize He recognized that this there are some things that I can do some things that God's people can do
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But there are a whole lot of things that only God's Spirit can do. Amen. I Know website or if you download our church app, it's there too.
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I won't labor this point too long except to say It is important that we understand the necessity of the power of the
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Spirit for anything we do Post confidence was grounded in the providence of God in the provision of the
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Spirit and the presence of the Saints It was also grounded in the purpose of glorifying God the purpose of glorifying
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God Paul say there verse 20 My eager expectation and hope is that I will not be ashamed about anything
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But now as always with all courage Christ will be highly honored in my body whether by life or by death
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One of the things I love about Paul the Apostle is that he's a man of very singular passion He doesn't really you read him.
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He doesn't seem to have a diversity of interests He seems to be a man really of single motivation and The single motivation seems to be all the time that Christ would be honored in and through him
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Whether he was vindicated in life or in death Paul was sure of this that Christ would be exalted through his life
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And these words that he uses this idea of eager expectation this idea of hope which by the way hope in the
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Bible is not Wishful thinking I hope that will happen. No hope in the Bible is a certain expectation
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These words aren't wishy -washy. They're not. Oh, you know always look on the bright side of life though.
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These are steadfast and firm terms Whether he made it or didn't make it by earthly standards
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Paul could honestly say to God be the glory great things. He has done and so Paul is
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Completely confident in this moment. Yes, it's a dark situation doesn't know how this is going to pan out But he does know this
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God has this situation entirely in hand and his plans and purposes will come good
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So we see something of Paul's confidence in God's plans and purposes
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But there's a second aspect as we think about this idea of progress that we see in this passage and once again
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Paul's the focus here So if you've seen God's confident, excuse me Paul's confidence in God's plans and purposes
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But secondly consider with me Paul's commitment to the Philippians progress Paul's commitment to the
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Philippians progress verses 21 through to 26 I said a few weeks ago with that Philippians is one of those
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New Testament books that has a bunch of those coffee mug verses, you know I mean when I say coffee mug verses
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Those verses are nice. You can put them in a coffee mug. They're really encouraging and rightfully. So One of my friends calls them.
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He's a musician highly quotable bars And then the constellation of highly quotable bars
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I would put it to you that few are as high up as Philippians 121 If you've been around church a length of time
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I just have to say the reference and the words come to mind for me to live is
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Christ and to die is Gain the verse is beautiful in its simplicity.
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In fact, our English translations out of adverb. They add the verb is But really in the original language it just reads to live
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Christ to die gain For poor life was actually very simple.
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We often talk about how life is complicated For poor life seems to be pretty simple If I live
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I live for Christ and if I die guess what I profit because I go to be with Christ New Testament scholar
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Walter Hanson and his commentary on Philippians Describes the impact of this very simple way this verse is rendered and he says to live
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Christ The absence of a verb may be filled in many ways To live is
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Christ to live means Christ To live depends on Christ to live honors
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Christ the foundation center purpose direction power and meaning of Paul's life is
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Christ Paul had come to a place where for him all that gave him purpose and meaning and value was his
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Identity as a man who was in Christ Can I pause for a moment and simply ask is that how you understand your identity
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Christian Do you view your life as being in Christ as being joined to Christ so closely that you are identified?
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solely by your relation to him As Christians, we often lament the way that the culture treats
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Christians and the Christian culture doesn't always treat us nicely or with respect But I think sometimes the culture treats us the way it does because we
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I see we the church with a big C We have often not done a good job of presenting what
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Christianity is at its heart At the heart of Christianity isn't a list of do's and don'ts
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Yes, there is a way that God desires for us to live but that way that God desires for us to live is the fruit of faith
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It's the fruit of knowing Christ we don't come to know Christ by living a particular way
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It's not a particular set of cultural norms If I can just answer that one quickly the gospel transcends cultural norms while at the same time making itself at home in every culture
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No Christianity is not a list of do's or don'ts or Conformity to a particular set of cultural standards that we come up with no at the heart of being a
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Christian It's a person if I can be so brash for a moment.
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The clue is in the name Christian At the heart of being a
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Christian is a man named Jesus And Paul lived and breathed that reality and it shaped everything about him
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Even right down to whether I should live or whether I should die for Paul if he lived it was for Christ But if he died as a man in Christ, he still profited because it was a one -way ticket to being with Christ and yet as true as that was
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You get the sense from these verses verses 21 to 26 that this creates a tension for Paul So look at verse 22.
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He says now if I live on in the flesh, this means fruitful work for me If I verse 24, he makes it clear that the work would be for the sake of the
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Philippians So if I live it gives me an opportunity to do more for the
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Lord Jesus So that's the tension on one side
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But on the other side, this is a man who understands his union with Christ And so of course above everything else he wants to be with Christ the guy says in verse 23
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I'm torn between the two literally so many translations will say I'm hard -pressed between the two
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Why is he hard -pressed between the two Because he longs to depart and to be with Christ which is far better And so you get this sense there was a tension in Paul he's torn in two very good directions
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Would Paul be wrong in this moment about this with me would he be wrong for desiring to be with Christ in this moment
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Would he be selfish for saying? Lord, if you give me the opportunity, I'm ready to go home now, but he would he be wrong
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To leave this life and go be with Christ No, of course, he wouldn't it's a perfectly legitimate desire, but that's what makes his response all the more astounding verse 25
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Since I am persuaded of this of What verse 24?
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That to remain in the flesh is more necessary for your sake since I am persuaded of this
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I know that I will remain and continue with all of you for your progress and joy in the faith
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So that because of my coming to you again, you're boasting in Christ. Jesus may abound
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Paul's commitment to Christ wasn't just a commitment to Christ for himself It was a commitment to Christ that extended to his brothers and sisters in Christ Life in Christ meant life lived not just for Christ Individually but life lived for the people that Christ himself loves
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I Had us all do this a couple weeks ago, but we're gonna do this again for a moment. Look around this room Stop looking at me look around the room
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Look around the room for just a moment You see those wonderful faces that you see
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Ask yourself this Are you so committed to their progress that you would be willing to give up?
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What's best for you for their sake? That question hit me hard this week
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Kofi are you committed to the progress of Redeemer Bible Fellowship that you'd be willing to give up?
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What's best for you for their sake and that's a question not just I need to ask as the pastor of this church all of us
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Have to ask that maybe you hear visiting you're at another church. Ask that about the church that you're a part of Are you willing are you so committed to the progress of your brothers and sisters that you will put aside?
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Paul's willing to put aside the best thing possible Going to be with Christ. He's willing to say you know what?
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if the Lord wills And he seems to have an indication that the Lord will do it I'm gonna hit pause on that because it might be best for me, but it's not best for my brothers and sisters
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Are you so committed to the progress of your brothers and sisters that you are willing to give up?
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What is best for you? for their sake It's quite a question when you stop and think about it, you know,
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I think in our society It's very easy for us to lose the magnitude of that Our society prompts us more than ever to be incredibly individualistic.
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I want to say individualistic I don't mean just us in other words just me and that which concerns me
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That's what's most important to me But you get a sense from these words that for poor Paul and what was most important for Paul took a backseat
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So again, I'll ask you that question. I want it to be burned into your brain for a moment Are you so committed to the progress of your brothers and sisters that you be willing to give up?
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What's best for you? for their sake Now you may say okay.
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Okay coffee pause pause pause pause pause. This is poor He's an apostle
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One could argue he is the apostle I Can get poor feeling that way, but he's a special case
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Before you say that Keep a finger here in Philippines.
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I want to show you poor saying this to a group of everyday Christians Romans chapter 14 This one a way to see with your own eyes
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Romans chapter 14 Funny enough.
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We have a sermon series on this chapter and chapter 15 God's black and white on gray areas You can listen to that again on our website
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Romans chapter 14 Paul is addressing this issue of matters that are gray areas. They're disputable matters
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They're not sin if you go one way or another Well, how do you handle that because what's a great matter for some isn't for others?
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So, how do you navigate that in the body? And one of the principles that Paul gives to help the Roman Christians navigate some of this comes to us in verse 7
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Romans chapter 14 look down at verse 7 with me The Bible says for none of us lives for himself and No one dies for himself if we live
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We live for the Lord and if we die we die for the Lord therefore whether we live or die we belong to the
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Lord Christ died and returned for this that he might be Lord over both the dead and the living and Remember, these are not written to pastors or just the super spiritual people
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Paul's understanding is this is how the Christian life works for every Christian Part of body life is being willing to do the needful to see your brother and your sister thrive
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Those of you who are members here Redeemer you remember that when we typically invite members in we typically do it now the
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Lord's table I will often use that language think back to those of you who became members I use this language of Taking Responsibility you taking responsibility for the discipleship of your brothers and sisters and your brothers and sisters taking the responsibility for your
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Discipleship and the leadership seeking to do that as well Why because that's how believers make progress
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Paul was committed to the progress of the Saints in Philippi and that meant even if I have to delay my home going
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And Paul doesn't tell us how he knows he can delay this or how this is going to go He doesn't tell us he doesn't really need to tell us he doesn't have to but what he does say is
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I'd rather wait if it meant that you can make progress because that's how not just Apostles and Church planters live as Paul was
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That's how every Christian lives And when you don't see that level of concern amongst a body of believers
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As the old saying goes be afraid be very afraid
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But let me let me temper that some don't be too afraid because it's never too late to take that up.
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It's it's never completely written off course and One would argue actually the church in Philippi was far from a written.
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Of course. They seem to be doing this well enough And Paul has a few things to say about their continued progress
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Paul had confidence in God's plans and purposes which led to clear commitment to the progress of the
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Philippians But the Philippians had a role in this too. We've talked a lot about Paul. But what about the Philippians? Did they have a role in this?
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Yep, they did. And of course we have some things to learn there too So then finally consider with me the
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Philippians clear path to progress The Philippians clear path to progress
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As Paul starts to land the theme of this question that we began with what does it look like for the gospel to impact a
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People and produce deep joy as Paul lands this plane He does what any good preacher should do.
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I was taught when I was learning to preach way back in the when If you can make your point as clearly and as pointedly as possible in as few words as possible
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Some of you would say you fail miserably at that. I'm trying But Paul makes his point about succinctly as he possibly can
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What would the path of progress look like for the Philippian Christians? Let me make that question a little more broad.
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What does progress look like in a body of believers? I Raised this question a few weeks ago of the danger of a church stagnating.
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Well, hey guy get to answer the question How do you know if a church is stagnating or not? For those of you who call
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Redeemer your church home, let me get real specific. So I mean I went broad Let me come specific again. What does progress look like for Redeemer Bible Fellowship?
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Well, first of all progress begins with understanding your identity Progress begins with understanding your identity
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Do you see how Paul starts in verse 27 course is just one thing the original language is literally one word
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One thing as citizens of heaven live your life worthy of the gospel of Christ Now I preach from the
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Christian Standard Bible. It's pretty unique in how it translates this verse
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Most other translations will simply say something like live your lives or conduct yourselves What did they get this phrase as citizens from heaven from?
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Well what the CSB is doing is it's picking up a nuance in the original language You see the word that's translated live your life here.
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Paul has a word for living. It's typically the word for walk So you'll read in other places
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Paul will talk about your walk that we've adopted that language as Christians We talk about how's your walk going? That's the language
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Paul uses but he doesn't use that word here The word for living your life. Here's a very specific word
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It was actually comes from the root word for a city In fact any
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Superman fans in the room Where does Superman live? The word polis that's the root word here is where we actually got word politics from This word speaks to the idea of not just how you live is the idea of conducting yourself like a good citizen
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Why does Paul pull on this language of citizenship? Well, if you've been with us and I'll study in Philippines, you already know why but if not allow me to remind you
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Paul's writing to a church in Philippi that much is obvious from the name Philippi was a Roman colony If you were born in the city limits of Philippi you had
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Roman citizenship as your birthright Not everyone in the Empire was a Roman citizen You could be born with that citizenship pool was funny enough
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Or if you were a slave who was captured and you earned enough money you could buy your citizenship But the
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Philippians those who have been born in Philippi Roman citizenship was their birthright
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That meant a lot to the Philippians. We know that from other writings in the ancient world They really took their citizenship seriously
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In fact, Philippi was basically like a mini version of Rome even right down to how the city was built
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Yes, they were proud of their citizenship feels appropriate. That is July 4th weekend
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What do we do to believe July 4th? We celebrate citizenship.
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I'm technically not a citizen, but I celebrate anyway We celebrate citizenship in this wonderful country that God has allowed us to live in Well poor pools on that thread that would have been so dear to the
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Philippians It says you know that citizenship that you all take seriously and you conduct yourselves
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As a result of you know that citizenship. Guess what? You have another citizenship, too
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And so live like it when it comes to the gospel of Christ Paul begins by reminding them of who they are because any of this progress talk will not go anywhere
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If you don't have a clear understanding of who you are It's the age of distinction between what some people call the indicative and the imperative
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The indicative who you are the imperative what you must do. I mean, let's keep those things distinct
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This is who you are Paul says you are citizens of heaven Citizens of a kingdom to come since that is true
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Live in light of that Our culture tells us the polar opposite.
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We have thought this hit me this week as I was studying this Our culture tells us the polar opposite That your actions what you do be it political or sexual or social or financial
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That's what makes you who you are, but for the people of God if I can put it like this is bad
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I hope it makes the point a Christian is before a Christian does You see before a
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Christian does anything the Christian is one who has placed their faith in Jesus who has received the gift of his
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Righteousness was repented of seeking their own righteousness and found life in Christ alone
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You need to get that straight first before you think about doing anything else because if you approach what we're about to talk about In terms of I need to try harder and do better because this is what makes me a
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Christian you will try fail and crash and burn Every single time you either fall into pride
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Which is the polar opposite of what it is to be a Christian or you'll fall into total despair I can't do any of this. So why bother?
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No one once we are straight on who a Christian is once we understand our identity we can then
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Pursue progress in light of the identity Now that you know who you are now you can
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Proceed to pursue progress in light of your identity. I'm gonna try and summarize here for the sake of time
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Paul lays out a number of marks of the identity of Believing people.
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What does it look like as citizens of heaven to conduct ourselves like citizens of heaven? first of all
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It means being a standing people It means being a standing people you see that there
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Verse 27 just one thing a citizens of heaven live your life worthy of the gospel of Christ Then whether I come and see you or I'm absent if I die,
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I will hear about you that you are standing for him The term for standing firm here carries this idea of holding a position in the face of danger
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It's the same word that Paul uses in Ephesians 6 the armor of God passage Where he says you have to stand firm same word
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It's quite the paradox when you think about it We're talking about progress, but Paul starts with standing firm
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One of my favorite preachers dr. Albert Mola president of Southern Seminary out there in Louisville had a sermon
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He preached it was a commencement for the seminary the sermons title was don't just do something stand there
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I mean, what do we normally tell people don't just stand there do something? But his point in that message was excellent message was sometimes the best thing you can do is not just rush to do something
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It's stand and hold your ground churches that make gospel progress and the believers who make up those churches are churches that notice he says that He mentioned this language of standing firm in relation to living worthy of the gospel of Christ Churches that make progress are churches that take a stand for the gospel and take a stand against its opponents
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So progressing people are standing people, but they're also a united people They're also a united people
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Churches that make progress make progress together My wife was reminding me a couple of weeks ago
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Last time I went back to London was in 2020. I Went to London and I went straight back into London mode including how
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I walk So off I go like we're one
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Sunday in particular. We were on our way to church and I just thought like Hi, Timmy, I'm just gone like And then like I get to like the end of a street corner
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Lord. Laura's is kind of sauntering on the way down It was not a very united picture in that moment, but that's not what
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Paul describes here the kind of progress Paul describes here He says you see it verse 27 that you are standing firm in one spirit in one accord
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That these are believers who are walking in a unity that catch this It transcends the mundane and the earthly He says that you're standing firm in one spirit and in one accord
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Mature unity the kind of unity that Paul describes here. This is the kind of unity that happens when we're willing to subject everything culture personality preferences willing to subject all of that to the reality that That's not what we're going to unite around If that Paul tells us up front what we should unite around it says that we are a
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Standing people a united people. Thirdly. We are a gospel people. We're a gospel people know what he says
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That you are standing firm in one spirit in one accord contending together for the faith of the gospel
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Ultimately Christians are single -issue people. We are gospel people
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We contend catch this we contend Alongside each other for the faith of the gospel not with each other about matters that aren't the gospel
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That's one of my favorite preachers.
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Dr Alistair Begg says we keep the main thing the main thing because the main thing is the main thing And as we make the gospel the mainest thing if you will we do so verse 28
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Not frightened in any way by your opponents. This is a sign of destruction for them
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But of your salvation and this is from God as we stand on the gospel
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It gives us an assurance that even in the face of a world that opposes the gospel message
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Even in the face of that we can do so we can stand
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Flat -footed because we're not afraid of the world because we know what our destiny is We know what their destiny is and we know what ours is
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Standing people a united people a gospel people fourth and finally, we're a sacrificial people
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We're a sacrificial people The first 24 it has been granted to you on Christ behalf not only to believe in him
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But also to suffer for him since you are engaged in the same struggle. You saw I had and now here that I have
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The reality is that as the people who Stand for the gospel They will be suffering
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In fact, Paul says that just as it's granted to you I wish I had time to deal into that whole subject where this faith come from But I'll leave that debate alone for now big picture
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It's granted for you to suffer For Christ just as it has been for you to believe in him
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It's just as guaranteed just as sure as you're saved you are going to suffer for Christ It was the case for Paul.
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It was no doubt the case for the Philippians because he says so That's dirty. You're engaged in the same struggle.
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You saw I had and now here that I have It was the case for Paul. It was a case for the
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Philippians and if we pursue this it will be the case for us too and if I can pause for a moment we have been
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Incredibly blessed in the West that we've not really had to deal with this for quite some time And I am no prophets of doom.
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I'm not profit period I Think there is good cause for us to realize that we might be entering into a season of persecution
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The likes of which we have never seen before and so we might do well to be reminded by these verses that persecution is not foreign
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It might have felt foreign for us, but it's not foreign. It's exactly what happens when people
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Seek progress in Christ as we conclude.
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I simply leave you with this thought If this is what progress looks like how are you doing?
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How am I doing? I? Take some time you've got the challenge question there in the study guide take some time think about this
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Are we making this kind of progress? Because the reality is if we are not making this kind of progress again
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I'm not saying you're not a Christian and I'm not saying you should completely say. Oh, no, I'm lost far from it Don't don't say that don't say that But maybe start asking okay, what can
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I do to start making this kind of progress? What can we do as a body to start making this kind of progress because again
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I take you back to my big idea for today You don't remember anything else. I had to say remember this Gospel progress is what
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God desires for us and what we should desire for each other
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Amen Well father we ask that you would help us in the pursuit of that kind of progress
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Father help us to have the kind of confidence that Paul had in your plans and purposes Help us to Be committed to one another's growth and progress in the faith be willing to even take on Inconvenience to put aside that which might be best for us for the joy of serving our brother and our sister
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And father help us that we would follow the clear path that your word lays out for us when it comes to making progress as your people
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Father ask that you'd help us that we would examine ourselves Not by the measure of ourselves or by the measure of somebody else but by the measure of your word
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And father we thank you that we do all of this from the identity of being citizens of your kingdom
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And so I ask that you would Empower and encourage and strengthen us For this wonderful wonderful goal of making progress in the