Restoring the Joy
Study of Philippians
Sermon # 1
Philippians 1:1-11
As I thought and
prayed about what I should preach on for the next few weeks, I had to ask myself, “What is
that we as a group of people really need?” The conclusion that I came to was
that we need our joy restored. We need what King David prayed so long ago when he said, “Restore to me the joy of Your salvation” (Psalm
51:12). I think that most of you realize that once we are saved we cannot lose our
salvation, but as is so apparent to most of us, you
can certainly lose the joy of your salvation!
The missing ingredient in many of our lives
is joy. We live in a world of long faces sad heavy hearts. We don’t even see joy in
the lives of the people who should exhibit it the most, Christians. In fact if there is
anywhere that it seems conspicuous by its absence it is the Church.
Any Christian that is feeling down or
discouraged about anything should study Paul’s letter to the Philippians. Sixteen
times in four brief chapters Paul speaks of inner joy. There is so much bickering in
Christian circles, so much complaining, so much unhappiness. This was never the way it was
intended to be! Christians were meant to be filled with love and joy and peace – so I
hope you will join with me as we seek to restore the joy!
Now you need to
remember that when Paul penned this letter he had already been kept imprisoned for two
years at Caesarea, without trial, and now he has been held of an unknown amount of time in
Caesar’ s jail in Rome. He had survived a disastrous shipwreck while being
transported to Rome. He has been deserted by most of his friends. Other Christian leaders
are using Paul’s circumstances to advance themselves. He is facing possible execution
at any time. It does not sound like a
situation that would lend itself to the writing of a cheerful letter does it? Yet there is
no book of the Bible that speaks more of joy than Paul’s letter to the Philippians.
“Paul
and Timothy, bondservants of Jesus Christ, To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in
Philippi, with the bishops and deacons: (2) Grace to you and peace from God our Father and
the Lord Jesus Christ.”
Paul greets the believers at Philippi not as
any way superior but as a fellow “servant of the Lord.” And He addressed his
remarks to all the “saints” at Philippi.
‘Saints” here is not the designation of some super believer, it is not mean they
were without sin. It is a description of every true believer.
(vv. 3-8)
What was it about the people of Philippi
that allowed Paul to be joyful?
First, He was thankful that He Had Happy
Memories Of The People. (vv. 3-5)
“I
thank my God upon every remembrance of you, (4) always in every prayer of mine making
request for you all with joy, (5) for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day
until now”
Paul says that he has happy memories of his
time with this church. Does that mean that there were no sad times, no times of
difficulty? Of course not!
When Paul speaks of
the “fellowship” of the church at Philippi he
meant more than just a sense of comradery. When used in the Bible this word means to be
caught up into a communion created by God.
Think for a moment about the make-up of the
church at Philippi, like most church of our day, it was made up of people who outside of
the church had little in common. The church at Philippi was seemed to largely a Gentile
church, because all of the names associated with it are Gentile names. There was the local
jailor and his family (Acts 16:25-34), a slave girl who had been delivered from demon
possession (Acts 16:16-18) and a business woman named Lydia (Acts 16:14-15). Apparently
there was little to bind them together by worldly standards, but they had one important
thing in common, their love for the Lord and involvement in His church.
In Paul’s day the
world was filled with barriers that separated people, just as it is today, barriers of
race, wealth, education and culture. But within the fellowship of the gospel none of these
things mattered, they simply loved one another and the world marveled at this.
Secondly He was thankful because He Had
“being
confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete
it until the day of Jesus Christ;”
Notice with me in verse six the words, “begun”
and “complete.”
The One who started (begun) a good work in your life will complete it. In
fact the word translated complete was the same word that Jesus’ last statement from
the cross. Do you remember what he said? In most translations it is rendered as, “It is finished” (John
19:20). But in the original Greek it is only one word Tetelestai and it means “it is finished, or it completed.” Philippians 1:6 is one of the greatest verses in
the Bible (along with Romans 8:38-39, and John 10:27-28) that teach the doctrine of “perseverance of
the saints” or “once saved always saved” – the
doctrine that no one who has ever been truly saved can ever be lost again. It is God who
originates it, it is God who carries out the His work in us, It is God who will complete
it. Our hope does not rest in anything we have or will do, but in the fact that Christ
lives in us and through us.
Humans as a whole have a problem with Perseverance; we start things but we never
see them to completion. How many project have we envisioned and begun with great
enthusiasm, but eventually our enthusiasm dies and the project grinds to a halt. But
Paul’s confidence is rooted in the character of God and suffers from no such
deficiency.
[Charles Swindoll.
Laugh Again. (Dallas: Word, 1991) p. 34]
But here is an application for you, just as
Paul witnessed how God had laid a foundation in others so can you. If you know people in
whom God has laid a foundation, tell them so; if you have seen God’s hand clearly at
work in their lives then tell them so. That would be a great word of encouragement to
them.
Third, He Held A Warm Affection For His Fellow Believers. (vv. 7-8)
“just
as it is right for me to think this of you all, because I have you in my heart, inasmuch
as both in my chains and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel, you all are
partakers with me of grace. (8) For God is my witness, how greatly I long for you all with
the affection of Jesus Christ.”
Paul carried all these people in his heart.
He says of them “you are all partakers with me” (v. 7) – just as they are partakers of the
same grace, they are also all participants in the same ministry.
One of the benefits of being a pastor for a
long time in the same place is the opportunity to be participants with a group of people
in the ministry. It is a joy to be able as Paul did, to see the results of an ongoing
partnership within this church.
The question that each of us must ask
ourselves is, “Whether
we are a participant in what God is doing here or just a spectator?”
III. PAUL PRAYS FOR THEM. (vv. 9-11)
Notice what Paul prays
for in their lives.
First, He Prays That Their Love Will
Grow (v.9) “And
this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more…” He first
prays that their love may abound, that is that may be in excess or that it will overflow.
Secondly, He Prays That They Will Grow
In Discernment (v. 9b-10a) “… in knowledge and all discernment, (10) that you may
approve the things that are excellent…”
Having prayed that
their love will overflow he prays that it will be channeled by knowledge, understanding
and discernment. One distinction needs to be
drawn here, discernment is more than just the ability to discern between right and
wrong, it is also the
ability to discern between what is better and best. The ability to “approve
the things that are excellent” this is further amplified in Philippians 4:8, “Brethren, whatever things are noble, whatever things are pure,
whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of a good report, if there is any virtue
and if there is anything praiseworthy – mediate on these things.”
Third, He Prays
That Their Characters Will Mature – (v. 10b) “…
that you may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ…”
He prays that their wisdom will result in
character and he wants their character to be “sincere”
literally “without wax” - pottery of
that day was tested by being held to the sunlight, in so doing any imperfections and
attempts to hide with wax would be revealed. So to our lives when held up to the light of
the Son of God are revealed. Paul wants the church to live life’s that will pass the
test of scrutiny.
He also wants their
character to be “without offense.” This of course
has two applications; not taking offense lightly, not being easily offended and not
giving offense, not causing others to stumble. That they will not be stumbling blocks
to others
Finally, He Prays That They Will Live
Fruitful Lives. (v.11) “… being filled with the
fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.”
The use here of “being
filled” is in the perfect tense which means “having been filled with their fullness abiding
still.” We have been saved for a
reason. God has not saved us merely for us to go to Heaven, otherwise when were saved he
would have just taken us on home. We were saved for a purpose and this is stated in a
wonderful way in Ephesians 2:10. Most of us know the two verse that precede verse ten
which say, “For by grace you have been saved
through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, (9) not of works, lest
anyone should boast.” But
we are not as familiar with verse ten which says, “For we are
His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand
that we should walk in them.” These
verses tell three important things; we are saved by grace, God has a plan for our lives
and good works are a part of this plan.
If we are going to “Restore the
Joy” in our lives we are going to have to watch out for those things that steal our
joy. One of great demoralizing things in life is fear of the past that steals the joy of
the present.
Helen Mallicot wrote,
“I was regretting the past
And
fearing the future
Suddenly
my Lord was speaking;
“MY NAME IS I AM.” He paused,
I
waited. He continued.
“WHEN YOU LIVE IN THE PAST
WITH
ITS MISTAKES AND REGRETS,
IT
IS HARD. I AM NOT THERE.
MY
NAME IS NOT I WAS.
“WHEN YOU LIVE IN THE FUTURE
WITH
ITS PROBLEMS AND FEARS,
IT
IS HARD. I AM NOT THERE.
MY
NAME IS NOT I
WILL BE.
“WHEN YOU LIVE IN THIS MOMENT
IT
IS NOT HARD
I
AM HERE.
MY
NAME IS I AM!”
[As quoted by Charles Swindoll. Laugh Again. (Dallas: Word, 1991) p. 26]