COPY 2 Working Title Date TBD Philippians 1:1-11

# COPY 2 Working Title Date TBD Philippians 1:1-11 **Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi, with the overseers and deacons: 2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.** - Paul AND Timothy(explain relationship) (Timothy was writing the letters too.) - "servants" = *doulos* = slaves - Christ = The Anointed One - Jesus = Greek for Joshua = God saves (or delivers) - Writing to the saints (devoted to GOD) in the Philipian church - saints = devoted to the God (LSJ, et al.) - Grace to you and peace FROM GOD (typical greeting.) - Paul in all of his greetings is trying to remind the church of who we are in Christ. - Father too APPLICATION - GOD has set us apart to be saints, people that are devoted to him. - Devoted in every area of life. - The Catholic church says that only some people are saints like (Peter,John, etc.), but Scripture proves that limitation is not the case. - You are a saint, God has called you to be devoted to him. - Do you have peace this morning? TRANSITION Not that we have covered Paul's introductory remarks to this letter, let's turn our attention to the church's committment to the gospel. **3 I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, 4 always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, 5 because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now.** - Paul is thanking GOD as he remembers the saints in Philipi and as he prays for them he has joy in his heart. - The reason that he has joy is in verse 5 look at it. - because of their partnership in the gospel. - And for the longevity of their partnership. "from the first day until now. " - Paul thanks God for the church. Paul thinks of the church. Paul prays for the church in joy. Paul partners with the church. - How were people investing in the ministry? They did the practical things. paying for ministry expenses, etc. - theyre 3 ways to partner coming along side of of a ministry. Joining. Praying. Giving...Im sure that the Philipians were praying for paul but they were also financially giving... - lets look at Philip. 4:14-17 - - Imagine being the only church that partnered with Paul. And you sent him aid multiple times. Harry Fosdick said... - “Money is a miraculous thing. It is your personal energy reduced to a portable form and endowed with power you yourself do not possess. It can go where you cannot go; speak languages you cannot speak; lift burdens you cannot touch with your fingers; save lives with which you cannot deal directly.” ILLUSTRATION "missionary example of partnership" mother would put away pennies to the missionaries. K.P. Yohannan had a story in one of his books poor mother couldnt buy her son shoes put pennies away for missionaries he didnt find out about it until after she died APPLICATION We can still invest in the gospel today. Find the ministries that have fruit and start investing in the kingdom. Sometimes I think about how much money i spend on pointless things that are temporary(with no eternal value). Why not invest into something eternal. TRANSITION come up with this. **6 And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.** - Planted the church(was there from day one) - Since paul planted the church he had the finished work of God in mind for them. - Here we see this emotional and spirtual bond here - Paul got to see these people come to see Jesus and there is no stronger bond than that. - Paul knows that God is going to finish his work in them and he knows of the blessing that it will be to see god complete this work that he has seen begin at the beginning **7 It is right for me to feel this way about you all,** - **because I hold you in my heart,** - **for you are all partakers with me of grace, both in my imprisonment** - All partakers. perhaps paul was thinking that they were surely praying for him because this is the man who planted the church and led them to the Lord. (example of monte being imprisoned that would be hard that would be on my mind) - But here Paul calls it grace. - define grace(hit on gods grace being more than warm and fuzzy. martyed) - How is his imprisonment grace? - Look at other uses of grace in the bible. - Grace as in suffering being a blessing, opportunity to suffer well? (Rom. 5:2-3) - **and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel.** - legal terms: - the gospel must be defended - defended from the world doctine, false teachers, (look up verse on paul speaking of ppl adding to gospel) - the always will have its enemies - confirmation = confirming proof, corroboration, the process of supporting a statement by evidence. (when two ppls stories corroborate.) - Look at how Paul uses this word, a legal word. Because the gospel is a deal between man and GOD. (its either you accept christ and that he took the sentence for you or you face the penalty of your sin on the day of judgement.if front of A HOLY JUDGE) - **8 For God is my witness, how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus.** - Notice that Paul does not swear because that is sinful but, He is calling on the highest power that there is GOD. to be his witness to show that he is telling the truth. A devout Jew would not say that casually. So he calls on GOD as his witness on... - How he yearns for them = How he strongly desires for the church in - with the affection of Christ is flowing through Paul's life to the church. - This affection was not Paul it was GOD given. He is yearning for them with a love that was of Christ. - mini app. If youre not yearning for your brother or sister in Christ in this was there is a chance that youre not walking by the spirit. Whether thats in prayer, reconciliation, whatever. We dont have to be locked up to desire closeness with the body. - OPTION TWO: we see Paul calling on God as his witness regarding his affection towards the church. This affection is from Jesus not from Paul. Therefore it perfect. It's affection that led Christ to the cross. That greater love. When we are not expericencing this kind of affection for our brothers and sisters, there is a gap between what we have and what could be. It is possible to walk with this kind of affection towards every believer. How often are we just indifferent to those in the Church. - I am not the source of anything good. Its jesus in me. Its jesus in you. It was jesus in Paul. Jesus said you can do nothing. - **9 And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more,** - Paul is praying that Christ love would flow more and more through them. - **with knowledge and all discernment,** - love based in truth. Not a superficial love but with knowledge and all discernment. - Discernment = awareness or understanding (Webster) -discernment is a spiritual gift but we are called to exercise it. - he doesnt say it here but its implied that he is talking about the word. The Christian has 2 sources for discernment and knowledge and thats the spirit and the Word. - Proverbs 2:6, "For the LORD gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding." - **10 so that you may approve what is excellent,** - **and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ,** - So the first thing that were going to talk about is the word blameless. - Pure = Found pure when unfolded and examined by the sun's light. (Thayer) - Ex. Clothes after washing them... And this is a great mental image of what judgement for a Christian looks like - You might be wondering what stains can i have after ive been made a son of GOD. - we can defile our selves in a relational way with Christ when we arent actively fighting our sin. We are still sons of God but we are called to walk in purity on a daily basis. (Some may say so what im saved i get Christ and heaven at the end of the day. That is not the attitude christ calls us to confront our sin with.) - on the day of Christ our lives will be unfolded and examined by GOD. On the day of Christ. - **11 filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.** ILLUSTRATION APPLICATION - be pure today. we have to desire purity. One thing that you dont find in scripture is a casualness to sin. so if we can leave here today with an attitude that is adamant towards and that can only happen through Christ. and being filled with the fruit of his righteousness. - when you leave here today and you want to engage in that pet sin that you have. remeber that we are called to be pure for the day of Christ. ## Bibliography and Works Cited NOTE: These are helpful resources below. However, you are responsible for proper interpretation of the Bible. You must not relinquish your responsibility to any commentator. Therefore, one must use much caution in using the resources cited below. More mistakes are made the more humans speak and write. This author has not read everything published from the cited authors’ work. Therefore, authors may be quoted at times even though they may be heretical in some of their beliefs. This author is a true believer in “eat the chicken and spit out the bones.” One must use the Scriptures alone as the authority of all doctrine. Please [click here](https://insidecrosspoint.org/sermons/2022/sept/bibliography.html) to access the web-page for all of the works cited–save those below under the “Other Works Cited” (if any). Most of the works cited on the web-page, correspond to the verses they are outlined with. In the case of background information and other general reference citations, one will find cited material with the Bible books the citations are associated with. Scripture quotations [unless otherwise noted] are from The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. ## Other Works Cited None