The Joy of Serving Christ

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Well, good evening.
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Hope you all had a restful afternoon.
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We're going to be beginning the book of Philippians.
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So if you've got your Bibles with you, make your way to Paul's letter to the church at Philippi.
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Paul's letter to the church at Philippi is a beloved letter.
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This letter contains some wonderful verses that have inspired Christians for generations.
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And here are several of these verses.
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Chapter 1 and verse 6 says, For I am confident of this very thing, that he who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.
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Chapter 1 and verse 21 says, For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.
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Chapter 2 and verse 1 says, Therefore, if there is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any consolation of love, if there is any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion, make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose.
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Chapter 2 and verse 5 we read, Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who although he existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a bondservant, and being made in the likeness of men, being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
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For this reason also God highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.
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Chapter 3 and verse 1 says, Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord.
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Chapter 3 and verse 7 says, But whatever things were gained to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ.
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More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish, so that I may gain Christ.
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Chapter 3 and verse 12 says, Not that I have already obtained it, or have already become perfect, but I press on, so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus.
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Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet, but one thing I do, forgetting what lies behind, and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
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Another popular verse, chapter 4 and verse 4, Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I will say, rejoice.
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Chapter 4 and verse 6, Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God, and the peace of God which surpasses all comprehension will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
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Verse 8, Finally brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise dwell on these things.
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And finally one that many of us can quote, verse 13, I can do all things through him who strengthens me.
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With so many well known verses in just four chapters, we see why this is such a beloved book.
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Philippians is a positive book.
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Paul does not criticize them for disobedience, rather he refers to joy several times in this letter.
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Chapter 1 and verse 4 says, Always offering prayer with joy in my every prayer for you all.
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Chapter 1 and verse 18, What then? Only in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed in this I rejoice.
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Chapter 1 and verse 25 says, Convinced of this I know that I will remain and continue with you all for your progress and joy in the faith.
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Chapter 2, verse 2, Make my joy complete by being of the same mind.
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Verse 17 of chapter 2, But even if I am being poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I rejoice and share my joy with you all.
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Verse 29 of chapter 2, Receive him then in the Lord with all joy and hold men like him in high regard.
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Chapter 3 and verse 1 says, Finally my brethren rejoice in the Lord.
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Chapter 4 and verse 1, Therefore my beloved brethren whom I long to see my joy and crown.
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Verse 4 says as we just quoted above, Rejoice in the Lord always and again I will say rejoice.
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And then finally in verse 10, But I rejoice in the Lord greatly that now at last you have revived your concern for me.
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Indeed you were concerned before but you lack opportunity.
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Joy is a theme in this letter.
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And what Christian is there who does not want to experience joy? It's a positive thing.
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So with all these references to joy, with all these verses that are so beloved by the church, we see why this book is so beloved, why it is so encouraging for Christians.
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Paul's background is important to consider as we read and study this letter.
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When you consider his background as an Israelite and specifically a Pharisee, and then consider that he is describing the joy found in Christ, he becomes to us a testimony of God's grace and the ability of the Holy Spirit to change hearts.
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In Romans 11.1 and Philippians 3.5 in this great letter, Paul tells us that he is an Israelite of the tribe of Benjamin.
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Also in Philippians 3.5, Paul tells us that he was circumcised on the 8th day of his life in accordance with the Mosaic law.
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And he tells us that he was a Pharisee in his view of the law.
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In Acts 22.3 Luke quotes Paul as saying that he was educated by a teacher named Gamaliel.
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And in Acts 5.34 we learn that Gamaliel was a teacher of the law who was respected by all the people.
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In short, Paul was connected.
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He had the right education, he knew the right people.
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In Acts 8.1 we read that Saul was in a hearty agreement with putting Stephen to death for testifying to the gospel.
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Two verses later in Acts 8.3 we read that he was so zealous for Judaism that he began persecuting the church, taking people out of their homes and putting them into prison.
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In Acts 9.1 and 2 we read that he went to the high priest and asked for a letter granting him permission to further persecute the church.
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We can only conclude that he was granted the letter because in verse 3 we see that he starts for Damascus.
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And it's on the Damascus road where the risen Christ confronts him forever changing Paul's life and mission.
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He had the background, he had the pedigree, he had the training and yet he's going to give it all up for the cause of Christ.
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This life changing experience that occurred on the Damascus road becomes a focal point for Paul and his preaching.
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In the entirety of Acts chapter 22 Luke records Paul testifying to his salvation.
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Most of Acts chapter 26 is Paul testifying about his conversion.
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And beginning in Galatians chapter 1 and verse 11, Paul again relates the sequence of events surrounding his conversion.
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In 1 Corinthians 15.9 he says he is the least of the apostles.
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In 1 Timothy 1.15 he refers to himself as the foremost or the chief of sinners.
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And in Ephesians 3.8 he refers to himself again as the least of the apostles.
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Not only do we see him talking about his sinfulness, but he also talks about his recognition that all of his heritage as well as all of his status is nothing compared to being in Christ.
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He had the training, he had the pedigree, he was a Pharisee, he was righteous wherein men of his day were concerned and what they would observe and what they would see.
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He was so respected that the chief priest would give him authority to go persecute those who weren't practicing Judaism as they thought.
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Yet he gives it all up, walks away from all of it.
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Here in this letter, in Philippians 3.7, we've read the verse already, but it's important to note here once again, he writes, But whatever things were gained to me, the heritage, the training, the status, whatever things were gained to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ.
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Compare this with what Paul has written elsewhere.
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In Romans 15.17-18 we read, Therefore in Christ Jesus I have found reason for boasting in things pertaining to God for I will not presume to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me resulting in the obedience of the Gentiles by word and deed.
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So talk about Christ, but not his own accomplishments.
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They pale in comparison to what Christ accomplished.
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2 Corinthians 12.9, And he said to me, My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.
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Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.
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Paul had the intellect, he had the pedigree, he had the training, but he considers all of that weakness.
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He'll boast about the weaknesses, he'll boast about his sinfulness.
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Not because it's a good thing to do, but because he's a testimony of what the Holy Spirit could accomplish.
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Galatians 6.14, May it never be that I would boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me and I to the world.
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The only works that have earned him any righteousness at all were those of Christ, and not of himself.
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Note the amazing transition in his life.
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He went from being zealous for keeping the law, treasuring his heritage and his status, to boasting only in the work of Christ.
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He considered himself the chief of sinners and the least of the apostles.
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He did forsake all that he had accomplished for the sake of his call to be the apostle to the Gentiles.
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This is the Paul who wrote this letter.
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We are reading a letter written by a man under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit who has come to understand that true joy is found in Jesus Christ and not in the ways of the world.
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The Apostle John, I think, found this out too.
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Because if we look in 1 John 2, verse 16, we read, for all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life is not from the Father, but is from the world.
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The world is passing away, and also it's lust, but the one who does the will of God lives forever.
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I think Paul came to understand that.
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Because all of what he forsook were the ways of the world.
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The world system will pass away, that's what John says.
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God's system will endure forever.
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God opened Paul's heart and mind to understand this truth.
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This truth gave him much joy, as we read in this letter.
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This our Lord promised to us, as recorded in the Gospel of John, chapter 15 and verse 11, These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full.
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This is the Paul who wrote this letter.
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A man who had been converted.
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A man who had been so converted that he walked away from all that had been his focus and source of pride.
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It's even more amazing to consider that Paul was in prison when he wrote Philippians.
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We read in chapter 1 and verse 7, we look in the text, For it is only right for me to feel this way about you, all because I have you in my heart, since both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the Gospel, you all are partakers of grace with me.
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How can a man write that from prison if he is not convinced that what he is doing is of the Lord? Can you imagine the contentment and the joy that he must have felt in order to be disconvinced? The church at Philippi was actually the first church established in Europe that we know of.
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Go back to the book of Acts in the 16th chapter.
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Paul had been focusing in his missionary journeys in I guess the area that we would consider the Middle East and moving up the Mediterranean, but he had not really made his way into Europe.
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And he's on a missionary journey here in Acts 16.
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And we get here to verse 9.
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And we read, A vision appeared to Paul in the night.
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A man of Macedonia was standing and appealing to him and saying, Come over to Macedonia and help us.
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When he had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go into Macedonia concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.
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And this is the first instance of Paul taking the gospel to Europe.
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Keep going.
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Verse 11 of Acts 16.
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So putting out to sea from Troas, we ran a straight course to Samothrace, and on the day following to Neapolis, and from there to Philippi, which is a leading city of the district of Macedonia, a Roman colony.
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And we were staying in this city for some days, and on the Sabbath day, we went outside the gate to a riverside where we were supposing that there would be a place of prayer, and we sat down and began speaking to the women who had assembled.
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A woman named Lydia from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple fabrics, a worshipper of God, was listening, and the Lord opened her heart to respond to the things spoken by Paul.
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And when she and her household had been baptized, she urged us saying, If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house and stay.
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And she prevailed upon us.
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There's your first convert.
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The first church in Europe.
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Now, we had time.
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We could go back and look in Acts, and you will see that Paul's pattern is when he went to a new city, he would look for the synagogue first.
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And he would go and he would preach to the Jews first.
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And then he would go to the Gentiles.
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But when you get to Philippi, there were not even enough Jewish men in the city to have a synagogue.
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There was no synagogue in Philippi for him to go to.
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So he goes outside the city, because that's where, if there were Jews to worship on the Sabbath, that's where they would go.
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So he's not even really able to follow his normal pattern.
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There's no synagogue for him to go to.
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And notice the first convert is not a man.
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It's a woman.
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And one of the amazing things about the text, we talk about the sovereignty of God and the ability of the Holy Spirit to open the heart.
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Notice this here in the text.
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Verse 14, And the Lord opened her heart to respond to the things spoken by Paul.
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We could spend all kinds of time discussing that.
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But it's the Lord who brings about salvation.
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The Lord is the one who opened her heart.
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Paul preaches the gospel, yes, but it's the Holy Spirit who changes the heart.
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Philippi was a leading city.
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The text tells us this.
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It was an important city.
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I learned in reading and studying for this that the commentators indicated the city had gold mines nearby.
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That's where a lot of the wealth for Philippi came from.
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A lot of wealth in the city.
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And at this time, it says here that Lydia was a seller of purple fabrics.
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It wasn't like we could go down to our local department store and buy some purple fabric because it's just mass produced.
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In this day and time, you couldn't do it.
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Purple was rare.
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So she was a dealer in something that was quite rare.
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She probably had quite a bit of money.
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If it's her household, she's the one in charge of the household.
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She's the one who has the finances.
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So now, let's make our way to the text in Philippians.
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Paul is the one who has written the letter.
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Paul was the one who was converted on the Damascus Road.
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He's walked away from all of his status and heritage and these sorts of things so he can go preach the gospel.
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And he has now gone to a city he's never been to before that we know of.
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He started a church there.
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And then years later, he's writing this letter to this church.
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And it's one of the few letters where there's nothing negative taking place.
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In Galatians, he talks about how they've already started walking away from the gospel.
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In 1 Corinthians, he addresses all kinds of issues from dealing with how they address the Lord's table to how they understand marriage, to how they understand spiritual gifts.
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It's one problem after another.
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In Philippians, we don't see that.
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It's a joyful book.
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It is a positive book.
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So now, I want to take some time and just look at the first couple of verses this evening.
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So, verse 1 of chapter 1 says, Paul and Timothy, bondservants of Christ Jesus.
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Paul considered Timothy his son in the faith.
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We actually read this in 1 Corinthians 4.17.
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Paul refers to Timothy as his child in the faith.
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So it is not strange at all that we find Timothy with Paul.
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Paul uses the plural of the word here for slave to refer to both Timothy and himself.
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He doesn't just call himself a slave of Christ.
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He also includes Timothy in that.
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Timothy also is a slave to Christ.
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Paul uses the same language in Romans chapter 1 and verse 1.
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He sees himself as God's slave, God's servant.
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And it's something that he wants to do.
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When Paul talks about himself being a slave, it's not that he feels like he's doing something that he doesn't want to do.
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He doesn't feel compelled to do something that's against what his conscience is telling him.
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He wants to be a servant.
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He wants to be a slave of Christ.
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He wants to carry out his mission.
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He then addresses his letter to all the saints who are at Philippi.
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Now the word saints does not simply refer to those who are special Christians who have accomplished all kinds of great things.
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The word simply refers to all believers.
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All believers are saints.
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The word simply means that the one has been set apart.
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And everyone who is a believer has been set apart from the world and is therefore a saint.
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All believers are saints.
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Those who have been set apart as God's people through the work of Jesus Christ.
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If you look in Ephesians 4, hold your place in Philippians and look in Ephesians 4, I want you to see that he says this elsewhere as well.
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Ephesians 4, verse 12, back up to 11, as he's talking about giving gifts to the church.
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Verse 11, He gave some as apostles and some as prophets and some as evangelists and some as pastors and teachers for the equipping of the saints for the work of service to the building up of the body of Christ.
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Notice there in verse 12 for the equipping of the saints.
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You see it says for the saints for the work of service.
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Each believer has a service that they are supposed to be engaged in.
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The church, the leadership in the church is supposed to be training and equipping each of you to carry out what you have been called to do.
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Each of us are saints.
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Look in Romans.
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Romans 1.
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Paul makes it even more plain here.
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Chapter 1 and verse 7.
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He says, To all who are beloved of God in Rome.
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So he's writing to all believers in Rome.
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To all the beloved of God in Rome called as saints.
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Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
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Romans 8.
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And the 27th verse.
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And he who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is because he intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.
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The Holy Spirit intercedes in behalf of all of the saints for God.
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Chapter 12 of Romans.
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And the 13th verse.
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Back up a little bit to verse 9.
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Let love be without hypocrisy.
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Abhor what is evil.
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Cling to what is good.
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Be devoted to one another in brotherly love.
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Give preference to one another in honor, not lagging behind in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord, rejoicing in hope, persevering in tribulation, devoted to prayer, contributing to the needs of the saints, practicing hospitality.
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And then finally in chapter 15, verse 26.
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Verse 25 is where he starts.
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But now I am going to Jerusalem serving the saints.
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For Macedonia and Achaia have been pleased to make a contribution for the poor among the saints in Jerusalem.
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It might seem like this is a lot of verses to read, but I want to make sure we get this point.
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The word saints refers to all of us.
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And when the scripture talks about what the saints are supposed to do or what benefits the saints have, it applies to all believers and not just a select group of Christians.
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Another thing that Paul says here in this verse, he says to all the saints in Christ Jesus.
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This is important because believers are in Christ.
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Christ is the one with whom we identify.
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It's His righteousness that covers us.
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We're not earning anything.
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We're not working for anything.
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We're not accomplishing anything.
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The only reason we can even be called saints is because we are in Christ.
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And again, look in the book of Romans.
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Chapter 3.
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Several verses where Paul says this, but it's important that we understand this.
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Chapter 3 and verse 24.
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Being justified as a gift by His grace to the redemption which is in Christ Jesus.
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Chapter 6 and verse 3.
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Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? We are in Christ.
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We are part of the body of Christ.
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Chapter 6 and verse 23.
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For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
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Chapter 8 and verse 1.
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One of the most comforting verses in all of Scripture.
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Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
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Verse 26 of chapter 8.
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In the same way, the Spirit also helps our weakness for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.
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And He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.
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And I think I put down a wrong reference.
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Sorry.
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No preposition in.
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It's okay.
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Good verse.
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It should have been on the list.
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Romans chapter 8.
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Here it is.
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Verse 39.
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Remember, 38 says, for I am convinced that neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities nor things present nor things to come nor powers nor height nor depth nor any other creative thing will be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
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Chapter 9 and verse 1.
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I am telling the truth in Christ.
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Chapter 12.
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Verse 5.
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Kind of summarizes all of it very well.
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So we who are many are one body in Christ.
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Individually members one of another.
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All who are saints, all who have been set apart because of the work of God and the work of Christ upon the cross, we are said to be in Christ part of His body because He has purchased us with the shedding of His blood.
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So back in our text, Paul and Timothy bondservants of Christ Jesus to all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi including the overseers and deacons.
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Who are these overseers? Who are these deacons? Paul specifies that he's writing to the saints in Ephesus and he says including the overseers and the deacons.
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These would be the leaders in the church.
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They're the ones charged with giving oversight.
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The overseers, these are in essence the elders of the church and the word that Paul uses here in Philippians chapter 1 is the word Episkopos where we get our word Episcopalian and it means overseer.
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One who gives oversight to.
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Now, another common word that the scripture uses to describe this office, it's not here in this text but it's the word Presbyteros where we get our word Presbyterian and I want to point this out to you because if you hold your finger here in Philippians and make your way to Titus Titus chapter 1 and the fifth verse says the following For this reason I left you in Crete that you would set an order of what remains and appoint elders in every city as I directed you.
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That word elders is the Presbyteros.
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The plural of it but that's what the word is in the original.
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Namely, if any man is above reproach the husband of one wife, having children who believe, not accused of dissipation or rebellion, for the overseer that's the Episkopos word, must be above reproach as God's steward.
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And he goes on and he lists other descriptions of this individual.
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What I want you to see here is that this word overseer, Episkopos is used interchangeably in the New Testament with the word Presbyteros.
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So when Paul here in Philippians talks about the overseers he's really talking about the elders.
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They're one in the same group.
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And the deacons here The deacons are as we envision the office of deacon.
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These are, in essence, the hands of the elders.
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They're noted for their service.
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That's where the word deacon comes from.
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Deaconos in the original.
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And it's the word we use to denote the office of deacon.
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Now, we don't have time to go through this but I do want to point out to you in 1 Timothy 3 these are the two offices that Paul describes in the church.
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The office of elder and the office of deacon.
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And if you look here in chapter 3 in verse 1 of 1 Timothy it says, it is a trustworthy statement if any man aspires to the office of overseer, that's the Episkopos word it is a fine work he desires to do.
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And he goes on to describe the list of qualifications.
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And then in verse 8 he says deacons likewise must be men of dignity.
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And he goes on to describe them.
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These are the two offices.
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The office of overseer or elder and the office of deacon.
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These are the individuals that again they're the leaders in the church.
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The deacons are in essence the hands of the elders.
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Kind of where I want to end it might seem like a strange place, but go back to Acts chapter 6.
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Because in Acts chapter 6 although the text doesn't refer to these individuals specifically as being deacons the root of the word is in fact used to describe the difference between what the apostles were supposed to do and then what the servants were supposed to do.
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Those who were the hands of the apostles.
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But in chapter 6 in verse 1 of Acts, now at this time while the disciples were increasing in number a complaint arose on the part of the Hellenistic Jews against the native Hebrews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily serving of food.
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So the twelve summoned the congregation of the disciples and said it is not desirable for us to neglect the word of God in order to serve tables.
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That verb serve is the same root where we get our word for deacon.
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So they're needing a group of individuals who in essence can take care of serving the food and making sure that these individuals get the daily food that they need.
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Therefore verse 3, brethren select from among you seven men of good reputation full of spirit and of wisdom whom we may put in charge of this task but we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry same root the ministry of the word.
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The apostles were supposed to be focused on the teaching and the church.
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They needed the deacons.
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They needed the hands to take care of this other task that was essential and had to be done.
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And if you go and you look in 1 Timothy chapter 3 you're going to see that there's remarkable similarity between the qualifications for elder and the qualifications for deacon.
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You might wonder well why? This group over here is teaching and this group over here is taking care of the nuts and bolts and day to day operation.
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Why? Why is it that they need the same qualifications? I think the answer is really quite simple.
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You see there are some things that are delicate that deacons are going to be asked to handle.
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Anytime there's an issue of benevolence the church helping monetarily when families are struggling it needs to be handled with discretion it needs to be handled in such a way that not everybody knows what's going on.
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And the congregation needs to know and needs to be assured that the individuals who are taking care of this even though they are not the elders giving oversight to the church they will handle it with the same integrity and the same care as if an elder himself were doing the job.
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So it's essential that our elders and our deacons meet the list of criteria that's given in 1 Timothy chapter 3.
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And if you want a refresher I know that Keith preached on this 3 or 4 years ago he went through all of this and your series on the church and the biblically functioning church he has all of that probably on the internet somewhere.