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All right, so after some technical difficulty, we are up and running. That's right. Thank you, John. Brother Burt, would you open our time up in prayer?
I follow once again in grateful and thankful for another day. We ask you now as we come today to worship, to study, to learn. I ask you to bless Brother Mike now as he's prepared and to bring us the word and to ask that you will as the song goes, that you'll open our hearts so we may see, in Jesus' name,.
Amen.
So good morning. For those of you, I'm sure, who are expecting to be continuing the study of Revelation to John, fear not. Brother Mike, Lord willing, will be back with us next Lord's Day. It's been a minute, I guess since last November, since we were in our study in Philippians.
So with that said, I want to spend just a few brief minutes to try and bring us back up to speed as concerns the first 24 verses of Philippians chapter 1. So if you go ahead and turn over to Philippians 1, this is during Paul's first imprisonment, so from 60 to 62 AD.
And he begins this epistle by thanking the Philippians for their continued partnership in the gospel. And he rejoices in the confidence he has that God will be faithful to complete the good work that he has started in him.
And despite the fact that he's not at liberty, at least not physically, he is nonetheless joyful because due to his chains, the gospel moves forward in an unimaginable pace and in a place where he would have never expected it.
He's chained to palace guards. And although there are some who are enjoying his imprisonment as they preach and instead out of selfish motives, yet still some preach out of pure motives. And either way, Paul rejoices that the gospel is continuing to move forward.
In fact, the greatest difficulties that he appears to be dealing with are difficulties from within. Desiring on the one side to depart from this world in order to be in the presence of his Lord, and on the other side to remain in the flesh in order to benefit the church which he established.
Now I'm going to read chapter 1, verse 1, through to chapter 2, verse 8, and then we'll move forward. So, Philippians chapter 1, verse 1. Paul and Timotheus, the servants of Jesus Christ, to all the saints in Christ Jesus which are at Philippi, with the bishops and deacons, grace be unto you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making requests with joy for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now. Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.
Even as it is meet for me to thank this of you all because I have you in my heart, and as much as both in my bonds and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel, ye all are partakers of my grace. For God is my record, how greatly I long after you all in the bowels of Jesus Christ, and this I pray that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment, that ye may approve things that are excellent, that ye may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ, being filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God.
But I would ye should understand, brethren, that the things which happen unto me have fallen out rather unto the furtherance of the gospel, so that my bonds in Christ are manifested in all the palace and in all other places, and many of the brethren in the Lord waxing confident in my bonds are much more bold to speak the word without fear.
Some indeed preach Christ even of envy and strife, and some also of goodwill. The one preached Christ of contention, not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to my bonds, but the other of love, knowing that I am set for the defense of the gospel, what then?
Notwithstanding, every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is preached, and I therein do rejoice and will rejoice. For I know that this shall turn to my salvation through your prayer and the supply of the spirit of Jesus Christ, according to my earnest expectation and my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness as always, so now also, Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life or by death.
For to me to live is Christ and to die is gain, but if I live in the flesh, this is the fruit of my labor. Yet what I shall choose, I what not? For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart and to be with Christ, which is far better.
Nevertheless, to abide in the flesh is more needful for you. In having this confidence, I know that I shall abide and continue with you all for your furtherance and joy and faith, that your rejoicing may be more abundant in Jesus Christ for me by coming to you again.
Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ, that whether I come and see you or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind, striving together for the faith of the gospel, and in nothing terrified by your adversaries, which is to them an evident token of perdition, but to you of salvation and that of God.
For unto you it is given in behalf of Christ not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake. Having the same conflict which you saw in me, and now hear to be in me, if there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies, fulfill ye my joy that ye be like-minded, having the one through strife or vainglory, but in lowliness of mind, let each esteem other better than themselves.
Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of man, and being found in the fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
All right, so picking up, we'll be picking up with verse 25 out of chapter 1. And having this confidence, I know that I shall abide and continue with you all for your furtherance and joy of faith. Paul comes to the conviction that the church, the church's need for him to stay would determine if he stayed a little longer on this earth.
And it is for that reason that the furtherance, their furtherance and their joy in the faith, God has him stay. Furtherance speaks of progress or advancement, as with an army, or steadily pushing forward, not getting one foot faster than the other, but moving at a steady pace.
John was in the Marines. He's a logistical-minded guy. You don't push your troops out there without having some support with them. And that's what he's saying to them.
Move forward.
This word is only used three times in the New Testament. We first find it back in verse 12. It's the Greek word prakape. It says, but I would you should understand, brethren, that the things which happen unto me have fallen out rather unto the furtherance of the gospel, unto the advancement of the gospel.
And lastly, 1 Timothy 4 .15 says, meditate upon these things, give thyself wholly to them, that thy profiting may appear to all. And profiting is the word for furtherance. And the things he speaks of, there's in reading and exhortation, doctrine, and the gift that is in the, which has been given thee by prophecy with the laying on of hands and the presbytery.
So it only makes sense that if God is going to keep him there, he's going to keep him there for a reason. And it must be to perform whatever level of service he and for us and we are able to encourage other Christians to grow and to bring them joy and to share the gospel.
And so then we have to ask ourselves this question. Does my life encourage others to grow? Does it cause them to rejoice? Does it really make all that much difference? Paul obviously believed that it did.
And what we see here in just these first few verses is a recipe beginning with a hearty measure of joy and rejoicing. Less than six times in the verses from chapter 1, 4 through 2, 2, we see that like following the importance of not only what ingredients you put into a recipe, but when you put them in makes all the difference.
When to mix in your wet ingredients and when to mix in your dry ingredients. For Paul, joy and rejoicing came first. And for him, then for his readers, you can't pass on something to someone else if you don't have it first.
Look at verse 4 and we'll look at this. Always in every prayer of mine for you all making request with joy. Verse 18. For what, then, notwithstanding every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is preached, and I therein do rejoice, yea, and will rejoice.
Twenty five. And having this confidence, I know that I shall abide and continue with you all for your furtherance in the joy of faith. Twenty six. That your rejoicing may be more abundant in Jesus Christ for me by my coming to you again.
And lastly, two, to fulfill ye my joy, that ye may be like minded, having the same love, being of one accord and of one mind. So even if we deem ourselves low on spiritual gifts, maybe because of advanced age, maybe because of illness, if we somehow feel less than able to minister as we once did, what we can't do is follow prey to the spirit of uselessness.
Paul could have here given into self-pity, he's in an incarcerated position, but instead he uses this spiritual hand that he's been dealt as an opportunity for a further spread of the gospel and an opportunity to encourage his brethren.
His inability of getting out and about redirect him to spend his time in prayer, joyfully in prayer. Verse three and four says, I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all, making requests with joy.
So don't let the fact that we aren't the Apostle Paul, so we can't pray effectively, keep us from praying because it's not the truth. We're just as much born again as Paul was. We have the same spiritual father.
We have the same Savior making intercession for us. Each of us have our own physical, spiritual, emotional difficulties that we deal with every day. Yet we can still pray. Ephesians 3 .20 is one of my favorite verses in 20 and 21.
It's an amazing passage. But with all its grandeur, both at the beginning and its ending, we can, if we're not careful, miss a very important middle that speaks to us. It says, Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, unto him be all glory in the church through Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end.
Amen. And so us, the power of God is working in us. So we don't want to sell ourselves short. In just a few more verses, we're going to see that he speaks to this again in Philippians 2 .13. He says, For it is God which worketh in you, both to will and to do of his good pleasure.
God is working in us. Verse 26 goes on to say, That your rejoicing may be more abundant in Jesus Christ for me by my coming to you again. No doubt they would rejoice. No doubt they would glory in Christ if Paul was restored to them and probably congratulate him on his release.
But for him, for Paul, it would all boil down to two motives. I live on so that others may grow in Christ and that Christ may be glorified in me. Verse 27 goes on, Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ.
That whether I come and see you or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that you stand fast in one spirit with one mind, striving together for the faith of the gospel. The purpose for Paul's letter was to express to his readers thankfulness for the gifts that they'd sent to him.
But it was also to deal with the number of burdens he had as their pastor. For Paul, his confidence that he would be released was high, but not 100%. And apparently, though he he judges the needs of the church such that he believes that he will return to visit them.
And yet if he does or he does not, he obviously feels the need to prepare the church. And his preparation for them is made up of of a short list that their conversation of life, that is to say what they do, what they say, where they go.
And perhaps most importantly, why they do those things. This would be a motivation behind the things that should be worthy of the gospel of Christ. He would have them live like citizens, but not citizens of this world, but heavenly citizens.
He'd have us to live as resident aliens with a green card. And as if to drive this home, he rather forcefully says the word, this one thing only. No distractions, not allowing for any excuses. He has but one major objective, whether he is there or not, their lives are to be those of integrity and consistent with the teaching and preaching of the word of God.
With the gospel of Jesus Christ at the white heart, hot center of what he's teaching. And do we blow it? Do I blow it regularly? Yes, but we can't let our failures keep us from trying and pressing on in the right direction.
It's as if Paul sees a quality about their commitment to Christ that was more evident when he was there. But was lacking somewhat when he was not, which should be a caution for all of us as Christians.
Is our attendance, is our worship, our Bible study, our prayer meetings, is it more steady when one leader as opposed to another is at the helm? When instead it should be dependent on our faithfulness to Christ.
Not that Paul is trying to say that we somehow are to earn God's favor, but that our lives should be consistent with the gospel. Standing fast, standing resolute, like a soldier at his post, not easily moved, bonded in one spirit, not fragmented.
Paul begins here and he's going to continue through into chapter two with a theme of genuine unity. Unity of heart and mind, all based on the necessity of oneness to win this spiritual battle of faith.
And he makes the point in the closing portion of the verse that it's no easy matter. He says, striving together for the faith of the gospel. Striving as a spiritual army, as a team, if you will, struggling against a common evil foe.
He writes it in the closing chapter of Ephesians chapter six. He says that we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
And our fight is with one sole purpose, being the furtherance of the gospel. Verse 28, and in nothing terrified by your adversaries, which is to them an evident token of perdition, but to you of salvation, that of God.
And his instruction to them is not to be frightened, not to be intimidated by their adversaries, such that their fearless striving for the gospel, even in the midst of persecution, will be this undeniable proof, this easily discernible sign to them that the enemies of God will be destroyed and the followers of Christ will be saved.
The psalmist Asaph had a similar struggle. I don't know if you remember. He was considering those who opposed God. They seemed to experience no trouble. I mean, they even appeared to prosper. And desperate to make sense of this, he goes to the temple.
And there in the temple, of God, he receives a glimpse of their ultimate destiny. And he sees the mark of destruction, or as the King James puts it, perdition, on their lives. And he sees that they're on a slippery slope.
And once he sees them rightly, he's no longer in a panic. Seeing their condition, he now begins to pity them rather than being intimidated by them. That's in Psalm 73. Verse 28 ends with words of encouragement to those who are opposed for the sake of Christ.
A Christian witness will be saved. Whose words does this echo? A Christian witness will be saved. Blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake.
Rejoice and be exceeding glad, for great is your reward in heaven. For so persecuted they the prophets which were before you. The Sermon on the Mount. It says, For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, this is verse 29, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake.
For unto you it is given, it is granted, that is, it comes from the root, the Greek word for grace, which is charis, or charis. We would all agree that by grace we have been saved through faith. Ephesians 2, 8 -10.
For by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. It is a gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. But the question would be, would we be so quick to affirm that it's also by the grace of God that we're allowed to suffer for his sake?
Suffering on behalf of Christ is a gift. He says it is given. That's what a gift is. It's something that's given to you. And only when we can begin to get our head around what we will, around that, the fact that suffering is a given from us, only then will we, not if, but when, I mean, if you have it, it's come and be permitted the privilege to suffer for him.
We'll be able to bear it for him in his glory. I remember Paul, Paul not only was present at Stephen's stoning, but it says he was consenting to his death. And then after that, with the taste of blood of these followers of the way, he starts this manhunt for Christ's disciples.
And just one chapter following the account of Stephen's death, Saul gets his premier taste of suffering. He's blind. He's not eating. He's not drinking. He's being given instructions or directions from one whom he has personally called out, has called him out as his own persecutor, our Lord Jesus Christ himself.
Just let's turn back real quick to Acts chapter 9. Acts chapter 9, 11 through 16. Then Ananias answered, Lord, I have heard by many of this man how much evil he has done to the saints at Jerusalem. And here he hath authority from the chief priests to bind all that call on thy name.
But the Lord said unto him, Go thy way. So it's not a request. It's a command. Go thy way, for he is a chosen vessel unto me to bear my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel. And here we see Saul's enlistment papers.
He says, For I will show him how great things he must suffer for my name's sake. Okay, let's go back to Philippians. Philippians verse 30, chapter 1. Having the same conflict which you saw in me and now here to be in me.
So Paul uses his position of imprisonment as an example of what he is writing about, of what he has not only endured with joy but in which he continues for the cause of the gospel and the glory of his Savior.
Chapter 2, verse 1. If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies, Paul has been exhorting this church to stand firm in one spirit, with one mind, for the gospel.
And why? Because unity in our fellowship is essential to our witness. In Christ's high priestly prayer, Jesus stated it in this fashion, John 17, that they all may be one as thou, Father, art in me and I in thee, that they also may be one in us, that the world may believe that thou hast sent me, and the glory which thou gavest me I have given them, that they may be one even as we are one.
The gospel is a message of reconciliation. It's a message of reconciliation of sinful, wicked man, and holy, righteous God. But if we can't even be reconciled to one another, how can we expect to convince the lost that we can be reconciled to God?
This unity will always cause the church to turn in on itself. It will cause it to waste its time, waste its resources. It will cause our lights to dim and our salt to lose its savor. Paul now, as carefully as he possibly can, without and still remain effective, begins to address some of the tensions that have crept into this fellowship.
And he'll even point out two members individually when we get to the conclusion of the epistle, which will be a while. But as in chapter 2 begins to open, verses 1 -4, Paul points out that unity is the bedrock of humility, which will in turn turn us to verses 5 -11, which is the greatest example of the source of humility, our Lord Jesus Christ.
Our natural tendency when we see failures in other Christians or entire fellowships is to be critical. We demand correction. We demand improvements. Paul's approach, however, was much wiser in that he understands that it is through grace that we are able to bring about the transformation both of our attitudes as well as our actions.
First, he appeals to the privileges of grace. Then he encourages them towards an obedience of faith. And he argues that if these things are true, then there are consequences, then there are outcomes that will follow.
The King James, the New King James, the NASB, the NIV, and a host of others show that verse 1 is made up of a list of ifs. The ESV begins with an if and then thereafter they're implied. But what we don't want to do as we read this text is with these ifs, we don't want to read them as maybes.
He is not doubting whether the Philippians have had any experience with these matters. Instead, within the context that this is written, if actually means since. It means because. Because these Christians have experienced God's blessings, they should then display their effects in their lives.
The first blessing he leads with is consolation or encouragement in Christ. That's in Christ Paul's catchphrase term for all that it means to be a Christian. Sharing all of the blessings he's gained for us.
We were chosen in Christ before the foundation of the earth, Ephesians 1. We're dead to sin. We are buried with him by baptism into death. We are raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father to walk in newness of life, Romans 6.
We share in a new creation, 2 Corinthians 5 .17. All this and so much more, we are united one with another into Christ. Secondly, from verse 1 of chapter 2, if any comfort of love, specifically Christ's love, not only that he loved them in his life, but how much more in his death.
For the love of Christ constraineth us, because we thus judge that if one died for us all, then we're all dead, 2 Corinthians 5 .14. Thirdly, if any fellowship of the Spirit, we are bound to Christ through the gift of the Spirit.
And we are not only bound, but we're also sealed by him. We read, In whom ye also trusted after that ye heard the word of the truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest, which is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession unto the praise of his glory, Ephesians 1 .13.
There's only one Holy Spirit, and that same Holy Spirit who dwelt on our Lord also dwells in our hearts as believers, and in all fellow believers. And we are one with them in the fellowship of the Spirit.
The last if from verse 2 is that if any bowels and mercies, that is to say any affection, any sympathy. Speaking of our Lord, we were reminded that he was gentle and lowly, Matthew 11. He does not break the bruised reed or quench the smoking flax, Isaiah 42.
So you say, well, how does all this apply to us? Well, since we belong to his family, there should naturally be a family resemblance as it bears with our character, similar to that of family resemblances.
So with 10 children, some of our kids bear more likeness than others. Our oldest son lives an hour and a half away in Lake City. And yet one of his landscape customers came up to him one day out of the blue and said, are you one of Mike Smith's sons?
He didn't have a clue. One of our daughters, whose name and number will remain anonymous, of all the children, she wound up with daddy's bowed legs. So spiritually, we should recognize our brothers and sisters in Christ, and they, us, were members of the same heavenly family.
Having looked at Paul's list of ifs, in the couple minutes we have remaining, we should look at the thens. With privileges come responsibilities, and since these things are true, there would need to follow certain consequences.
We receive blessings in and through Christ. Then we are responsible to live and in for Christ. Chapter 2, verse 2. Fulfill ye my joy, that ye be like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.
Paul is going to spell out what he means to put others first. He says, fulfill ye my joy, complete my joy, one mind, one love, one spirit, one purpose. His desire is that in their doing this, it will, for him, bring joy.
It's like he's challenging them. What's more important, your self-indulgence, or giving me, who brought you the gospel, the joy of seeing you mature, seeing you lead gracious Christian lives, causing us to pose the question to ourselves, will this, whatever it is that we're considering doing, bring joy to those who care for us spiritually?
Second, unity with others, one mind, one love, and full accord. This is somewhat strange in the fact that this fellowship is already deeply committed. However, sometimes those with a deep commitment to the truth can lose sight of the nature of said truth.
Living in the truth is more than a matter of just knowing the right doctrine. Instead, it means embodying our theology's implications in living lives that are permeated with graciousness and humility.
Zeal in our doctrine is important. Don't get me wrong, but not at the risk of a fellowship, not steeped in unity and humility. Lastly, and we will close, verse 3, let nothing be done through strife or vainglory, but in lowliness of mind, let each esteem other better than themselves.
So our question is, what value do we place on others? Paul gives us the example of genuine, united Christian fellowship. It is a church whose members count each other more significant than themselves.
That doesn't mean that we ignore when there are faults that need to be addressed, but following Christ's example, He counted our salvation more important than preserving His own life. If we are in Christ, we are to become more like Him.
John, would you close our time in prayer?
Lord, we thank You so much for this opportunity we had to assemble together and to open Your Word and just have it expounded on by this dear brother. Lord, we thank You for this. We ask that You please continue to be with us as we move from this gathering into the sanctuary.
Lord, we ask all this through Your Son, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.