Sermon Brief
Date Written: July 14, 2011
Date Preached: July 17, 2011
Where Preached: OPBC (AM)
Sermon Details:
Series Title: A Series from Philippians
Sermon Title: A Prayer of Love & Encouragement
Sermon Text: Philippians 1:3-11 [ESV]
ETS: Paul loved the believers in Philippi, not just for their commonality in Christ, but for their love of Kingdom work, their love of the fellowship and Paul say great potential in them…
ESS: I truly love the church God has planted me in, not only because I am called to do so, but for their love of God’s work, the fellowship and the great potential God has revealed to me in this fellowship!
Objective: I want this church to see my love for them and encourage them to grow into the body Christ desires…
Introduction:
Have you ever thought of someone and longed to see them? Your memories of them lead you to that ‘happy’ place in your mind and you get that warm feeling in your heart! This is what military wives feel when thinking about their husbands away in service to their country. This is what oil workers wives feel when their husbands are off shore or out of the country on a job.
This what we ALL feel when our loved ones are out of our reach… when we cannot gather together with our loved ones and physically touch them… we long for their presence!
But why do we long for them? Wives who have husbands overseas or offshore, for whatever reason… long for their husbands because they have made the choice to join with them for life… they are knitted together in a bond of love!
But there can be other reasons as well. Maybe that husband or spouse who is out of the country does the little special things around the house… maybe they are the LIFE of the party and all things seem dull when they are gone… maybe they are the organized one and without them the other spouse feels lost and disorganized…
The point I am trying to make here is that love is NOT the only reason wives miss their husbands or husbands miss their wives! It is also all the little, special things we DO for each other that make our lives together so memorable and desirable!
Today we are reading a passage of Scripture from the 1st chapter of Philippians that relates a similar situation with Paul. This is a special relationship Paul is writing about, but it is not marriage. This relationship is between a church planter and a congregation near and dear to his heart… the people of the church at Philippi!
We can see that when Paul thought of these people, his heart was warmed and he longed to be in their presence and fellowshipping with them. But why were they so special, after all, Paul had planted many churches… Thessalonica, Corinth, Ephesus, Galatia, and many others, but Philippi held a special place in Paul’s heart.
I want you to follow along as I read some very loving words from Paul to this church, and you can see just how much he loved them…
3I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, 4always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, 5because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. 6And 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. 7It 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 confirmation of the gospel. 8For God is my witness, how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus. 9And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, 10so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, 11filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.
But the question remains… why did he love them so much? He loved his other churches; they had a common bond as they were all “In Christ” as Paul loved to write about throughout his letters.
All the believers in all the churches were saved by grace, sealed by the Holy Spirit and set aside by God for His purpose… so why did Paul seem to have a greater affection for this specific church? Well I believe Paul reveals three areas as to why his affection for them seems higher and more intense… Paul speaks about…
1. Their faithfulness to the work of Christ,
2. Their fellowship with the people of Christ;
3. Their future witness FOR the sake of Christ…
In v.3-4 we find Paul expressing great joy in his remembrance of these believers and we can see that in the remaining parts of this passage that Paul gives direct references as to WHY he feels like he does toward these believers…
The Philippian Faithfulness to Kingdom Work (v.5)
5...because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now...
The implied meaning here is that this church had been part of Paul’s ministry from the beginning of his ministry. Now when we look at the beginning of Paul’s ministry we have to realize what a great thing he is saying here about the faith and faithfulness of the believers here in Philippi…
Let’s look at how the Philippian church began…
Paul and Silas set out on Paul’s 2nd missionary journey and we know that he arrived in Philippi in in Acts chapter 16. We also know that Philippi had such a small population of Jewish families that there was NO synagogue. A synagogue was established if there were 10 Jewish men in the city, but there was no synagogue in the city of Philippi.
Paul’s custom was to begin in the synagogue of the city, but since that was not an option we find he began to look around the city and then he met a woman named Lydia and others outside of the city by the river. They had been meeting there and praying to God…Paul began to preach and they were saved and baptized!
Afterwards Paul and Silas were walking around in the city and a young woman who was possessed was following them and shouting that these men were servants of the God most high! The problem was NOT what this girl was saying because it was the truth… the problem here was WHO was saying it… this young girl was possessed by a demon and had been telling fortunes and making money for some men in the city… and Paul did not want the people confusing his message about Christ with this young woman and her demon possession.
So Paul turns to her and calls out the demon and delivers this young woman from the possession. Now that she is no longer a money maker for these men, they are furious at Paul and Silas and have them arrested for making trouble… Philippi was known at this time as “Little Rome” and there were many retired Roman soldiers living there and the Roman custom was the prevailing custom.
Paul and Silas were cast into jail on trumped up charges for what they had done, but during the night the Lord caused an earthquake to shake the jail and it loosened all the prisoners. The jailer who was about to commit suicide because of this was stopped by Paul…he told the jailer that no prisoner had left…. The jailer realized Paul was special and began to question him and Paul led him to the Lord where he was saved and baptized…
All three of these people Paul influenced (Lydia, the jailer and young woman) and could have been part of the original congregation there at Philippi…but the Bible does not specify…
Now Paul was in jail again and this church was NOT ashamed but sent Epaphroditus to minister to Paul’s needs in jail. This was a church that loved Paul, but also loved seeing the work of the Kingdom accomplished!
The evidence of Paul’s statement here in v.5 is that these believers were a great source of comfort and encouragement to Paul, from the very first time he met them…
We have to understand that Paul was not that popular when he got saved! He had been persecuting the church before Jesus struck him down on the road to Damascus and struck him blind and called him to be a witness for Him to the Gentiles.
None of the early church wanted to trust Paul… When Ananias in Damascus was called by God to go get Paul and minister to him, Ananias was very anxious about Paul… they did not trust him. Other places in Scripture mention how those within the church were leery of Paul after his conversion…
But what we find Paul saying here was that even from the 1st here in Philippi… these brand new believers had trusted him, had loved him and were willing to work WITH him to see God’s kingdom enlarged! When most others in the Christian world did NOT trust Paul… they did and this was a great source of encouragement for Paul!
But not only were they an encouragement to Paul but Paul could also see how these people were a great confirmation for Paul and his ministry. Paul had been called by God to do great things for God… many had doubted Paul, many were leery about Paul’s motives… but the church in Philippi had NEVER doubted, was NEVER leery of Paul or his motives, they had listened to him and trusted God in his leadership… this was a great confirmation of God’s calling on the life of Paul.
Paul tells us that this encouragement and confirmation of ministry had begun early and had continued until the present day. This church was a great source of uplifting faithfulness for Paul in the face of all the difficulties that the world had placed upon him. A great source of reassurance even in the face of human frailty and failure… God provided Paul with a great source of faithfulness in the people of Philippi!
But Paul’s love and affection for these people went beyond their faithfulness to the work of the Kingdom; we can also see that Paul loved them because of…
The Philippian Fellowship with the People of Christ (v.7)
7It 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 confirmation of the gospel.
When we look at Paul’s relationship with these believers we can see that he felt he was a FELLOW worker with them, and not someone who ruled over them! Paul believed and felt he was part of their fellowship for three reasons:
First we see Paul say, because I hold you in my heart which he elaborates on in v.8 when he tells them that he loved them and longed to be with them in fellowship! Have you have you ever had someone you just LIKED to be around… that things just clicked with… that you seemed to agree on EVERYTHING… this is what it was like with Paul and the Philippian church fellowship!
Paul had a close personal connection with this fellowship. Paul personally knew many of these church members, he had probably eaten and stayed with many of them during his stay there in Philippi. But he also had a connection with those who had come to faith after he had left Philippi because of their common experience in Christ… Paul loved these people and these people loved Paul…
Paul also reveals in this verse, for you are all partakers with me… meaning they were FELLOW workers, not seen as underlings… but Paul believed fully and totally in his heart that they were equals in the Gospel ministry! And this was an encouragement to the Philippian church as they saw Paul as a source of encouragement and affirmation for them and the ministry they were doing in the city.
Finally Paul says, …partakers with me of grace… where Paul recognizes that ALL of them, him included were not worthy of their position but that only thru the GRACE of God were they able to do what they we redoing. Paul wanted the Philippian believers to understand this… so to prevent them from beginning to think that THEY had done anything outside of Christ! All of their progress and ministry was a result of the grace of Christ.
As a pastor, I feel just as Paul felt… I am not here to lord over anyone, I am not the pastor because I am somehow more spiritual than anyone else or more capable of ministry! I am the pastor who understands that we are all co-workers in the Kingdom… we are all equals before the eyes of God… and that NONE of us are capable of ANYTHING outside of the grace of God!
The question then becomes one of obedience to the calling of God in our lives… are we willing to be obedient to answer God’s calling regardless of where He has placed us. I have been called as a pastor, I must answer that calling AS a pastor… I am willing, are you willing to join me where God has called YOU?
Paul loved the Philippian church because of their faithfulness TO the work of Christ and FOR their fellowship with the people of Christ, but finally Paul saw great potential in the church in Philippi and he prayed for them and for…
The Philippian’s Future Witness for the sake of Christ (v.9-11)
9And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, 10so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, 11filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.
Paul had seen where the Philippian church had come from… but God had shown him where they could possibly go… they had great potential and here we find Paul praying for that potential to be put into practice and Paul gives them 3 specific areas thru which that potential can be lived out!
First Paul speaks to their love… In 1 Cor 13 Paul addresses the subject of love and places LOVE as the central pillar upon which the Christian faith must be expressed. John writes that we can love because Christ has loved us… and Paul says that we can do all sorts of things ministry wise or religious wise… but if it is done without love it is nothing more than the noise of a clanging symbol, which can be very annoying and disturbing!
Paul calls the Philippians to develop a deeper love… but notice that the object of their love is NOT expressed here by Paul. This is because the object of our love as believers has to be EVERYONE. We love God first, we love the church, we love the people of the church, but we also are called to love the world as Christ loved the world.
Paul prays that their love would ABOUND more and more! In other words, that their love would be the standard to which all people would stand up and take notice of them… it would not be their ministry or their actions or their words, but it would be their love that got people’s attention… a love so rich and abounding… and a love that points people DIRECTLY to Christ as Savior!
Now that is my prayer for our fellowship as well… that we would become the church in this community that is known for its love for ALL… that our love for God would shine brightly, that our love for each other and the work of the Kingdom would be evident, but also that our love for the lost would be in the forefront of our ministry, the forefront of all we do for Christ for seeing the lost come to Christ has to be our priority!
We also see Paul praying for them to increase in their knowledge and wisdom… not just so that they would be smarter and more knowledgeable but so that they would take that knowledge and wisdom of Scripture and apply it to their lives! No one cares how much you know until they know how much you care… so you can see why Paul stressed their love to abound b4 they grew in knowledge and wisdom.
I pray that our church will immerse themselves in the reading and study of God’s Word. I pray that this fellowship would be filled with those who thirst for the word of God and the message of Christ… but understanding that learning more about God is there for us so that we will apply it to our lives and shine Christ to the world even more. I pray we would ALL grow in wisdom and knowledge and that we would apply it into our lives so that the Kingdom would grow and Christ would be glorified!
Finally we find Paul praying that the lives of these believers would be filled with the spirit filled righteous deeds of the faithful! Spirit filled righteous deeds are good works done by believers for ONE purpose… to bring glory to God in Heaven!
Jesus mentions this in Matt 5:16 when He said, …in the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven…
We are created for good works is what Paul tells us in Eph 2:10 and those good works are NOT so that we can EARN our salvation or even so that we can KEEP our salvation… those good works are for one thing… to bring glory and honor to God in heaven.
Here Paul prays that this fellowship of believers will continue in their obedience with these good works so that they bring glory to God. He prays that their love would increase, that their knowledge and wisdom would increase and that they would apply their love and knowledge to do the good works of the kingdom in living out their lives… and thru all of this God would be glorified! That is my prayer as a pastor as well…
We have great potential here at Oak Park… to do some really great things for the Lord! Are we going to be obedient? Are we going to increase our love and seek for it to ABOUND in our lives? Are we going to seek to know more about the Lord and have Him imbue with His godly wisdom? Are we going to be the fellowship that seeks to place our love and wisdom into action through those actions that are going to bring glory to God?
Those are some really difficult questions to answer. The answer from me as your pastor is YES I am willing to lead these people in this direction… I am going to be obedient in my personal and pastoral life so that glory is brought upon Christ! My invitation to you today as believers is, where are you? Are you ready and willing to join me?
I am thankful for you… I praise God for this fellowship… I also see the great potential… but are we going to step up as a church? Today I open this altar for you to come and begin this journey with me… come and start afresh with Christ!
As Bro Ken comes… [give invitation here for the lost…]
