The Importance of Partnership, Purity, and Preparation
01/29/2023

Today as we look at Paul’s relationship with the church of Philippi we will see Paul’s thankfulness for the Philippians, also we’ll see Paul talk about his partnership with the Philippians, and also his eternal hope for the church in Philippi.

Pray. Speak through me, eliminate distractions, build up your body.

Lets look at verses 1&2

• Lets Break down this introduction that we as believers usually just skim through
• There is Deep meaning even in intro.

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
  • (Met Timothy in Lystra)
  • (Was impressed by Tim devotion and passion)
  • (Paul discipled Timothy)
  • (Referred to as his spiritual child 1&2 Timothy.)
  • (Paul and Timothy were close)
  • It is believed that Timothy was writing the letters too. “Paul and Timothy”)
• “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.

What can we take from this typically skimmed through greeting?

READ:
What Paul is reminding the church in Philippi of, WE ALSO as present day believers need to be reminded of the same things, those being…

APPLICATION

• GOD has set us apart to be saints = people that are devoted to him.
  • Devoted in every area of life. (Work, Socially, when you’re alone)
• The Catholic church’s view on saints is that only some people qualify like (Peter, John), but Scripture proves that this limitation is not the case.
• If you are in Christ:
  • You are a saint and with this Sainthood we have peace with GOD because of his grace.
• Are you at peace this morning? [Pause]
• If not what has taken your peace this morning? Is it a family matter thats been heavy on your heart, is it resentment that you are holding in your heart towards someone that you feel has wronged you, or is it sickness or a death in the family?
• There is a peace that we should have as believers that comes from a closeness with GOD.

TRANSITION

READ:
Now as we move from Paul’s introductory remarks to the church, let’s turn our attention to the church’s partnership in the gospel. In verse 3…

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.

• Here, Paul is thanking GOD as he remembers/thinks of the saints in Philippi and as he prays for them he has JOY in his heart.
• The reason that he has joy is here in verse 5 look at it.
  • “because of their partnership in the gospel”.
  • And not only the partnership but for
    • the longevity of their partnership. (proof)"from the first day until now. "
• Paul thanks God for the church. Paul prays for the church in joy. Paul partners with the church.
• How were people partnering in Paul’s ministry? They did the practical things. paying for ministry expenses, etc.
• Theyre 3 ways to partner:
  • 1. Coming along side of a ministry. Joining(working directly for one).
  • 2. Praying (Interceding on the behalf of the ministry).
  • 3. Giving (Financially)…Now the Philippians werent traveling across asia with Paul and Im sure that the Philipians were praying for Paul(which is essiential to see GOD flourish a ministry) but they also financially gave to the ministry…

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.”
• Lets look at Philip. 4:14-17(READ)
• “14 Yet it was kind of you to share[a] my trouble. 15 And you Philippians yourselves know that in the beginning of the gospel, when I left Macedonia, no church entered into partnership with me in giving and receiving, except you only. 16 Even in Thessalonica you sent me help for my needs once and again. 17 Not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that increases to your credit.”
• Imagine being the only Church that partnered with Paul… [add color] (New testament/spreading of Gospel)
• This man did great things for the building up of the church, and It was made possible both by GODs work in Paul and also the generosity of the Philippians.

ILLUSTRATION

I heard this story about K.P. Yohannan shared the story of his mother in one of his books.

• His mother would put away Rupies for missionaries
• She couldn’t buy her son shoes. K.P. Yohannan didn’t have a pair of shoes until he was 18…

BUT

• She would put away what was the equivalent of pennies away for missionaries
  The K.P. didn’t find out about it until after his mother died…
  • His mother literally gave everything that she had to invest in what GOD is doing…

How could she be sure that her investment was not in vain?

Well… I assure you that if we aren’t investing in something eternal there is no promise that our investment will not be in vain.

APPLICATION

This also applies to us believers with the fact that, We can still invest in the gospel today. This eternal thing.

• 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(clothes, over-priced food, events). Why not invest into something that will last for eternity?

[Pause] 3-5 seconds

TRANSITION

Now that we’ve seen the church of Philippi’s partnership in the gospel, lets look at how they are also partakers of grace.

Look at verse 6…

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.

• God will give you a return on the on your eternal investment. The word of God does not lie. You can trust this.
• (We see this with Paul when he invested in eternal things by planting the church.)
• Since Paul planted the church he had the finished work of God in mind for them.
• Here we see this emotional and spirtual bond.
• Paul got to see these people come to know 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.

Lets look at verse 7…

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 and in the defense and the confirmation of the gospel.
    • 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)
    • 2 Through him we have also obtained access by faith[a] into this grace in which we stand, and we[b] rejoice[c] in hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance,
  • and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel.
    • the gospel must be defended
    • (defended from the world doctrine, false teachers)
    • the gospel will always have its enemies and as the church we are supposed to defend and confirm it…
    • 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 contract that GOD offers man/ a one way contract and Jesus is the only way. (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 in front of A HOLY JUDGE)

Verse 8 says…

• 8 For God is my witness, how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus.

  • Notice that Paul does not swear on anything because that’s unbiblical 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 the members of the church in Philipi
  • This affection was not from Paul it was GOD given. He is yearning for them with the love of Christ.

• Mini app.

  • We see Paul calling on God as his witness regarding his affection towards the church. This affection is from Jesus not from Paul. It’s this kind of affection that led Christ to the cross. When we are not expericencing this kind of affection for our brothers and sisters, there is a gap between what we are 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.

ILLUSTRATION
An example that I think of is the relationship between me and my wife. When we are walking in the Spirit and in Christ love, we love each other well. (Thinking for each other, serving one another, praying for one another)

But

When we are walking in our flesh we are doing the exact opposite.(Not thinking for her, not serving her, not praying for her) That’s because if I’m not loving her through Christ love in me then it truly isn’t love at all. If it is not Christ in me then I can do nothing…towards my wife, other believers, non believers.

APPLICATION
In order to have this type of other-worldly affection, we have to be walking in the love of Christ FIRST.

TRANSITION
Now that we have a firm grasp on how Paul feels about his partnership with the church. Lets look at his future hope and for the church in Philippi which is passion and purity.

Lets look at verse 9…

• 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.
    • As a believer love this is the most important thing that we can do. (Love GOD/Love people)
    • This isn’t a cheap love. Our love is called to look a lot like Christ love.
    • Not Just loving your family members/friends but it looks like loving the authorities that imprisoned you for the gospel. (bring depth/more to it)

• READ: The end of Verse 9 says…

  • with knowledge and all discernment,
    • This love based in truth. Not a superficial love but with knowledge and all discernment.
    • Discernment = awareness or understanding (Webster)
    • Paul knows that discernment is a spiritual gift, but he still instructs the beleivers at Philiphi to have a love that is dependant on discerment
      • You can not love properly without knowledge and discernment.
      • That is not true love.
        • I think that this truth speaks volumes to GODs love towards us. GOD knows us more deeply and intimately than anyone else on the planet. (He knows our darkest secret, biggest sin struggle, even the most embarrassing thing that no one knows about you.) But still he loves you, to the point that he sent his SON down to die a brutal death on the cross for you. THIS IS TRUE LOVE!)
    • Paul doesn’t directly say it here but its implied that he is talking about the WORD. Discernment and knowledge comes from the Word of GOD. The way that we grow in love is through knowledge and discernment.
    • Human knowledge is not GOD knowledge.
    • Proverbs 2:6, “For the LORD gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.”

Verse 10 says…

• 10 so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ,

  • “so that” = the reason that our love for GOD/ others needs to abound more and more is so that we would be blameless on the day of Christ. Love makes us blameless.
  • Our mandates as Christians is to… Love GOD/ love your neighbor as yourself. When love is absent, sin is present.
  • the word blameless means…to be pure
  • The literal Greek word for Purity = 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 I’ve been made a child of GOD?
  • READ: We can defile ourselves in a relational way with Christ, when we aren’t 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, I’m saved I get Christ and Heaven, purity isn’t a big deal to me”.
  • Our response to that is…“That is not the attitude Christ calls us to confront our sin with”.)
  • Paul wants the Church of Philipi to have a mindset thats fixated on THE DAY to come.
    • on the day of Christ our lives will be unfolded and examined by GOD.

READ: Lets look at the last verse in this passage today. Verse 11…

• 11 filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.

  • “filled with the fruit of righteousness”.
    • Here Paul is still talking about love. as believers we aren’t just supposed to love when we want to, when its convenient, or when things are going well but our lives are supposed to be filled with love.
      • Are you always angry (Then you’re not loving),
      • When your family is mistreating you (are you holding a grudge and resentment in your heart),
      • When you are wronged by someone who couldn’t care less that they wronged you (Do you move towards them in love or do you give them the cold shoulder?).
  • The only way that you can love is by Christ in you.
  • John 15:5 (I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.)

• God gets the GLORY because its him doing the work in us. We can only BOAST in Christ.

APPLICATION

• Discernment is a spiritual gift but all believers that are at Philippi are called to exercise it. We like the Philippians should exercise discernment.
  -We are also called to Be pure today. We need to desire purity as believers.
  • One thing that you dont find in scripture is a casualness to sin. So lets leave here today with an attitude that is adamant about being pure and being filled with the fruit of his righteousness…
    • The only way to do that is love that comes from Christ which has knowledge and understanding from him.
• When you leave here today and you want to engage in that pet sin that you have. remember, just as Paul is reminding the Phillipians of here, that we are called to be pure for the day of Christ that is to come.

In Conclusion:
- Let’s Look at what Paul is focused on while being imprisoned

• We saw Paul’s thankfulness for the church and the reasons he was thankful.
• We saw how essential the partnership of Paul and the church was.
• We saw Paul’s hope and exhortation for the church in preparation of the return of Jesus.

Paul’s attitude was AMAZING in this circumstance. Which I believe that it would be hard for today’s believers to have this type of outlook, if we were in Paul’s shoes.

• Paul wasn’t only thankful for what GOD had done but he was also looking ahead to GODs promised being fulfilled.

As believers we need to fight to have a mindset like Paul. One that is focused, on GODS goodness and return.

LET’S PRAY

Works Cited

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.

Most Works Cited. Please click here to access the web-page for all of the works cited, save those above–if any. Most of the works cited on the linked 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. ¶ Furthermore, all citations with URL linked, numbered notes are from Thomas Constable’s, “Dr. Constable’s Expository (Bible Study) Notes.” These links are preserved “as is” at the time of this work’s formation.
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