Paul’s Heart and Thanksgiving Towards the Philippians
Philippians 1:3-8
Sunday, June 8th, 2014
A. INTRODUCTION:
1. Last week Pastor Scott got our study in the book of Philippians started by looking at verses one and two of chapter one. This morning we will continue with verses three through eight of chapter one and as is quite common with Paul’s letters he begins with an expression of thanks following his greeting. But this particular letter is different than any of Paul’s other letters because it is the only one of Paul’s letters that does not express criticism or rebuke, but instead it highlights his personal affection for the church and his exhortation toward their Christian maturity. And as a result, this letter to the Philippians overflows with Paul’s heart of affection for them. As you read through this wonderful book, you get a glimpse of Paul wearing his heart on his sleeve (so to speak), and unable to stop smiling as he pens every word of this remarkable letter. So, as we examine these verses together this morning, I want to share three things about Paul’s heart and thanksgiving towards the Philippians, but let’s first ask God for His guidance on our time together.
2. Pray
3. Broughton Knox, a young pastor who was serving as a chaplain in the British Navy on a ship preparing for D-Day and the invasion of Normandy, noted that the minds of all the sailors on board, regardless of rank, were so fixated and focused on the mission at hand. No one thought of his own interests, but only how he could help his shipmates in their commonly shared task. He later shared, “I remember noting in my mind how I had never been happier”, and as they returned to England, everyone noticed a difference in the atmosphere on the ship. It was still friendly, but several sailors sensed the difference, and asked the young chaplain why things had changed. Knox reflects, “The answer was quite simple. During those months that preceded and followed D-Day, our thoughts had a minimum of self-centeredness in them. We gave ourselves to our shared activity and objective… Once the undertaking was over we reverted to our own purposes, as we do normally.” Broughton Knox is reflecting on his ships experience of the fellowship that people experience in pursuing a common goal. The friendships we have and share are wonderful things, but fellowship goes beyond friendship. Fellowship occurs when friends are committed to a common cause or goal and flourishes through their common pursuit of it. This the exact type of fellowship that Paul writes about here in the verses we will look at this morning.
Join with me in reading Philippians 1:3-8
SCRIPTURE:
“I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. 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. 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 confirmation of the gospel. For God is my witness, how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus”
B. Paul Was Thankful for their Fellowship (3-5):
“I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now.”
1. This church in Philippi must have been some church because Paul does not write this letter to rebuke them or correct them. Instead he just swelled up with pride as he thought about his remembrance of them, the impact that they had on his life and their fellowship in the Lord. Right from the beginning we see Paul’s heart for them as he says, “I thank my God.” Paul gives thanks for his brothers and sisters who are in Christ, who over the years had brought him so much abundant joy and blessing. The phrase “my God” reflects Paul’s deep intimacy and communion with the Lord, whom he belonged and served. It was his thankfulness for them to God, emphasizing that God is the ultimate source of all joy and that it was the Philippians relationship through Christ that caused Paul to “thank God.”
2. It is in his remembrance that he thought of those who had helped him form the church and progress the church. As he wrote these words, it’s as if his heart began to over flow with joy and excitement for Lydia, the slave girl, the jailer and others who had been such an encouragement and blessing to him. For example, one of the things that I learned from Paul in these verses is in order to have a genuine love for others I must not focus on their shortcomings or weaknesses. Now, this may not sound like a big deal, but let me explain my thought. In order to have a genuine love for others we must first look beyond their shortcomings, their past and weaknesses. I thought about 1 Corinthians 13 and the instructions that Paul gives us on how to truly love others. Paul was patient in love and he rejoiced with them as they gave their lives to following Christ; which is why Paul was able to have such love and joy for them because he was seeing them as Christ saw them.
3. Paul’s joy doesn’t stop at his remembrance of them, he takes it one step farther when he says, “always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy.” Paul remembered their encouragement, their love and support and so he prays for them with joy! Think about that for a moment… These weren’t just occasional prayers he prayed for them, it was always in every prayer and with joy! And I’m sure many of you can relate to Paul in that there are people in your life that as soon as you begin to think about them, your heart automatically begins to swell up with such love for them, that you can’t help but start to smile as you think about them. It’s as if you have such love for that person that you, in a sense, forget that you are praying for them. Also, Paul was sitting in prison while he was writing this letter and it amazes me how he didn’t allow his situation or circumstances to steal his joy has he thought about those dear to his heart. Now for some of us, this may seem strange. How could Paul still have joy while he was in prison? Simply put, the joy that Paul expresses and experiences is not joy in the sense of an emotion, mood or feeling. For Paul, his joy was an attitude. Sitting in prison and awaiting possible death would not evoke a feeling of pure joy, but, the source of Paul’s joy was “in the Lord.” Pastor John MacArthur describes Paul’s joy this way, “An infallible test of godly joy is the degree to which a believer prays more earnestly for the benefit and blessing of others than his own.” In other words, Paul’s joy wasn’t coming from his situation or paychecks, it was coming from being united with the Lord Jesus Christ and that’s why his joy has not been robbed while in prison and it was important for him to model this because he will command them to “follow in his example” later on in the letter.
4. As Paul is sitting here writing these words, it’s no wonder that his soul erupts with thanksgiving and joy because he then begins to remember their “partnership” with him in sharing the gospel. Verse 5 really stood out to me this week as I was preparing this sermon, even though I can’t begin to count how many times I’ve read the verse before. This week there was just something completely different about it and let me describe it this way. Depending on your translation, the word “partnership”, “fellowship”, and “you have been my partners” is used. Now, the idea of partnership and fellowship is somewhat different today than it was when Paul penned this letter. For example, the word fellowship is one of those words like “love” that has greatly lost its meaning and has been greatly watered down and no longer carries the weight it once use to. You know what I’m talking about, how loosely do we use the word “love” in our vocabulary every day? We say things like “I love you”, “I love pizza”, “I love that outfit”, “I love that movie”, etc. The word has lost some meaning over time. Well, the same is true with the word “fellowship”. Today, that word refers to getting together and sharing a good time. Kind of like, “let’s get together over a cup of coffee or we’re having a “fellowship” dinner at church in our “fellowship hall” after service. Now don’t misunderstand me, I love getting together for coffee and meals, but Paul was speaking of a different type of fellowship, one that meant the sharing of everything to really care for one another. Fellowship is participating in something greater than the people involved and it’s more lasting than any activity. Throughout the bible the word “fellowship” means being caught up in a communion created by God. That’s why our morning scripture came from Acts 4:32-37 because those verses give us a great picture of what true fellowship looks like. The Christians in the first church gave us an example of what this unity and fellowship should look like. Paul understood this, he probably knew that not everyone is going to agree with each other and see eye to eye on things, but he was thankful for their unity and fellowship to share the gospel of Jesus Christ. They were united by their commitment to the truth of the gospel.
5. One of the best examples of this idea of unity and fellowship is found in J.R.R Tolkien’s book “The Fellowship of The Ring”. The book is made up of individuals of disparate origin and ridiculous diversity that exceed any of our social differences: four hobbits, tiny beings with large, hairy, shoeless feet- Frodo Baggins, Merry , Sam and Pippin; two men, warriors who are always dressed for battle- Boromir of Gondor and Aragorn, son of Arathorn II, King of Gondor; one wizard, Gandalf the great who is full of wisdom and supernatural power; an elf, Legolas and a short, hairy, axe-wielding dwarf, Gimli.
These nine members of the fellowship bore few affinities. But these nine individuals were bound together by their great mission to defeat the darkness and save Middle-Earth, became inseparable and formed a covenant that would last all the days of their lives. That’s why I love Tolkien’s books, “The Lord of the Rings” because we see a fellowship that goes beyond friendship. Earlier I said that Fellowship occurs among friends who are committed to a common cause or goal and it flourishes through their common pursuit of it. Think about the church in Philippi, it was started by people of different lifestyles and backgrounds, yet through Christ they came together for the purpose and pursuit of the gospel. And this fellowship in sharing the gospel was what Paul was thankful for. Paul will mention fellowship three time within this letter.
Pastor Kent Hughes says, “If you are looking for true fellowship, give yourself to the gospel at home and around the world. Serve together. Do short-term missions. Join mercy work to alleviate suffering. Take the good news to the poor. Join a band of brothers and sisters to pray for the world. This is how you will experience genuine Christian fellowship.”
6. I thought about our church this week as I pondered this verse and I am thankful for the fellowship that I see within the life of our church. I’m thankful for those that participate in the Wednesday afternoon bible study and fellowship together. I’m thankful for the fellowship in our Sunday school classes (and let me encourage you, if you are not involved with a Sunday school class you are missing out!) I’m thankful for those saints who go and fellowship with our homebound every week. I’m thankful for those who come and help serve in our food ministry every month and help share the gospel with our community. I’m thankful for our home group’s that met this past week and for the sweet fellowship that took place. (If you haven’t joined a home group, again I want to encourage you to get involved with one this week.)
The second thing we see about Paul’s heart and thanksgiving is…
C. Paul Was Confident in God’s Promises (6-7):
“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. 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 confirmation of the gospel.”
1. Paul places his confidence in the God who saves, rather than in the church or man. See, people lack perseverance. We are great at starting things but we are horrible at actually following through and finishing them. Let me give you a couple of examples, has anyone here ever made a New Year’s resolution? At any time did have you ever make a commitment that you were going to exercise and diet more or you were going to read through the entire bible (cover to cover)? How long did it take before you threw in the towel and gave up on your commitment? Another brief example is that I enjoy reading and collecting books but more times than not I end up collecting books more than reading them. See, I enjoy starting a new book but I am horrible at actually finishing the book. I have the greatest intentions in the world to read, but for whatever reason it may never get finished. As people we are good at starting something but never finishing it, but God never starts anything the he does not finish!
2. Paul’s confidence was much more than mere human hope, it was the absolute confidence that comes from knowing and believing God’s promises. Paul’s prayer for them was based off his confidence in knowing that God is going to finish what He started in them. As Paul is sitting in prison he is absolutely confident that the good work of their gospel partnership was going to succeed and here are two reasons why.
1. He was thankful for the work of God’s grace in their lives and that He was going to complete what He started.
2. Because they had a right relationship with God, their lives evidenced Christian maturity. Paul saw this good work in their lives, but he also saw how they responded to God working in their lives.
3. This good work that Paul mentions is the benefits of salvation. Our justification (our righteous standing before God), our sanctification (the daily progress from the power of sin), our glorification (the idea of an immortal, incorruptible body). It is “good” that it corresponds to the very nature of God, who alone is good in and of himself. We become Christians because God has begun to do a good work in us, not because we are doing good works for God. And it is because of this confidence in God that Paul responds with an intensely personal declaration, “It is right for me to feel this way about you all, because I hold you in my heart.” The idea of Paul holding them in his heart means that he was always present with them in spirit, rejoicing and agonizing over what was taking place in their lives. In other words Paul cherished the thought of them even while he was in prison! I heard a pastor say one time, “my experience has taught me that it is virtually a law of spiritual relationships that you will hold very dear to your heart those who have come to Christ under your influence or have grown and benefited from your ministry.” Still to this day I couldn’t agree more with that statement! It is an amazing blessing to stay in touch with those whom God has allowed me to have a spiritual impact on their lives and seeing them serve God as young adults now! For Paul, I think of Lydia, one of his first converts and how she had to keep coming to his mind as he wrote this letter but also the jailer, the slave girl and the many others that Paul cherished. The love and affection that Paul had for them went beyond sending them a cute little Valentine’s Day card or referring to them as his “BFF”. He had a deep affection that was at the very center of his being!
4. He also says they are “partakers with me of grace”. The word “partaker” refers to the same word meaning fellowship and partners that Paul used in verse 5. The idea here is “Tolkienesque” because the partakers of grace are action based like those in the “Fellowship of the Ring.” The idea of grace here is “saving grace”. Both had been saved by grace and both were experiencing sustaining grace in the midst of their respective trials.
5. At the World Congress of Evangelism held in Berlin, Germany, in the fall of 1966, many nationalities were represented, and all had their distinctive ways and appearances. There was one pastor who was especially distinct. He was a native of central Africa, and his face was marked by heavy cuts and had been colored in tattoo fashion by primitive dyes. He spoke French and his tribal language. No one could mistake him. The testimony written in his face made him one of the most striking Christians at the Congress.
This man was present one night when two Auca Indians from Ecuador were giving their testimony. One of the Aucas had been among a troop that had killed five missionaries. The other was a leader in the tribe. The Aucas spoke only their own dialect and were culturally distinct from all the other delegates to the Congress, but they gave their testimony through a translator and it was thrilling. They told how they had been held in superstition, how they had feared the gods of the jungle, how they had marked their lives by the great episodes of spearing brought on by warfare between the tribes. They told how they had killed men in their ignorance and how later they had learned the gospel of salvation from sin through the death of Jesus Christ. They told how they had believed. Now they said they wanted to tell that good news to other tribes scattered downriver. That was their story.
As the Aucas spoke, the African believer jumped from his seat in the back of the 1,200-seat auditorium, ran down the aisle, and threw his arms around them with tears streaming down his face. He did it because he recognized in the experience of the Aucas that which had taken place in himself. He saw them not as those of another culture, not as those who spoke another language, not as those who lived four thousand miles away. He saw them as sinners saved by grace. He knew that they were participants with him in the matchless grace of God.
This is what must tie Christians together is the passion for the gospel, this fellowship in the gospel! We can talk about our favorite sports teams, our latest golf game, political views, favorite books, favorite movies and everything else, but they will not hold us together, as it’s only the gospel-the good news of Jesus Christ-which brings about a wonderful God-centeredness that we desire to share with others that will bind us together.
And the third thing that we see about Paul’s heart and thanksgiving is found in verse 8…
D. Paul Had A Deep Longing For Them (8):
“For God is my witness, how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus.”
1. The last thing Paul says about the Christians in Philippi is that he longs for them greatly! Such a statement or oath was rare in Paul’s letters, be he wanted to prove his point of the truth of his longing and affection for them by calling God as witness because God alone knew the contours of his inner life. This is a very vivid expression. The literal translation is: ‘I yearn for you all with the bowels of Jesus Christ.’ The Greek word for bowels is splagchna. The splagchna were the upper intestines, the heart, the liver and the lungs. These the Greeks believed to be the location of the emotions and the affections. So Paul is saying: ‘I long for all of you with the compassion of Christ Jesus.’ He is saying: ‘I love you as Jesus loves you.’ The love which Paul feels towards his Christian friends is nothing other than the love of Christ himself.
2. Pastor Alec Motyer says it best, “It expresses a yearning that is as much physical as mental, a longing love which moves the whole inner being. But what a remarkable expression Paul uses! He loves them “in the inner being of Christ Jesus.” Certainly this means that he patterns his love for them on that of Christ (cf. Eph. 5:1), but the wording demands something more than the notion of “imitation.” Paul is saying that he has so advanced in union with Christ that it is as if Christ were expressing His love through Paul. Two hearts are beating as one—indeed one heart, the greater, has taken over and the emotional constitution of Christ Himself has taken possession of His servant.”
E. Conclusion
I want to conclude by saying that these verses teach us that true, biblical fellowship between God’s people should be a fellowship of joy. Despite our inevitable sorrows, disappointments the pain of life, believers can always be joyful! True, biblical joy is not based on our circumstances because it is a bond that is based on fellowship with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Paul’s affection for the Philippians overflowed because
• He held them in his heart
• They shared in the difficulties and pain of the ministry of the gospel
• Paul truly longed for them with the affection of Christ Jesus.
How’s your joy today? Better yet, in who or what is your joy found? Is there someone that you think of that you are thankful for their fellowship in the gospel? If you are a Christian today, aren’t you glad that Christ who has begun a good work in you isn’t finished with you yet?
Maybe you’re here this morning and you’re still trying to do good works to earn your way to heaven, let me just say that no matter how hard you work or how good you try to be, aside from trusting in Jesus Christ and calling on Him you will never have peace with God. If you want to know more about trusting in Christ and giving your life to Him, Pastor Scott and I are ready to talk with you today.
Our closing hymn is #371 “I Come with Joy to Meet My Lord”.
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