This morning, I am going to begin a seven-message series in which we will study through the book of Philippians. And in our study, I do not think we will see much that is astounding. I say that not because I do not think the things we will study are able to transform one’s life. Rather, I say that because though they are life changing, they are nothing new to us. This book hits at the very basics of the Christian faith. Yet they should not be taken lightly, for we must remember that in saying that, we are saying that they are the basics of that which is so great that it gives meaning to all of life.
The events that have transpired in this book need to be recognized, for in knowing them, we will be able to see why Paul wrote in the manner that he did. First of all, Paul is in prison. He has been imprisoned for preaching the gospel, and he awaits his trial to see if he will be released. We will see in the passage next week that Paul believes he will be released. However, he writes now to the Philippians.
Why them?
Well, news of Paul’s imprisonment had reached Philippi, and the Philippians had sent a gift Paul’s way. They want to show him that they care for him and are longing for God’s continuing work in his life. They sent the gift by the hands of Epaphroditus. Meanwhile, Epaphroditus had gotten sick, and the news of Epaphroditus’ sickness reached Philippi. And the Philippians, true to form, have deep anxiety at the report of Epaphroditus’ illness. Therefore, just as Epaphroditus had once longed to go and comfort Paul with a gift from the Philippians, he now longs to go back to the Philippians to comfort them. And as he leaves, he has in his hand a letter—the letter that we are starting to look to today. Timothy would soon follow Epaphroditus, and eventually Paul would visit his dear friends at Philippi upon his release.
This is the context in which this letter is written.
In hearing that explanation, don’t you begin to long to be around these people? The affection and care for one another is incredible. Epaphroditus cared enough that he had reached out to Paul in prison and cared enough for his people that he is distressed when they hear that he is sick (2:26).
You know you really love someone when you are upset because they hear that you are sick. And yet that is simply a part of their revealed affection for one another.
Paul writes in these first eleven verses that when he prays for them, he prays with joy (v.4). He also states that he has them in his heart and longs for them with the affection of Christ (v. 8). This is a remarkable statement to say that he longed for them with the affection of Christ, especially when you consider that Christ’s affection drove him to lay down his life for his bride. Paul aches for them. He hurts in his soul for them to know just how much.
In fact, he puts his words under oath in verse eight, saying, “For God is my witness, how I long for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus.” The idea here is not that he could be lying unless he put himself under oath. He simply wants the Philippians to feel how passionate he is expressing this truth. God himself does the same thing in Hebrews 7:20-25, so it is obvious that it is not to keep the author from lying. Rather, it is showing the earnestness of the speaker to be believed. Paul wanted them to know in their hearts truly how much he loved them.
Isn’t this incredible, that love like this can exist between these people?
It is; yet is it not simply a basic aspect of living the Christian life? We know that the first commandment is to love the Lord with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. And the second is like it. We are to love our neighbor as ourselves (Matthew 22:38-39). This is the second commandment. It is also the key to people realizing we are Christians.
We all talk about living to the glory of God, living to reflect in your life how glorious our God is. We want people to look at us and think of him. But what is the thing that is going to cause them to look at us and think of our Lord? Jesus tells us in John 13:35, “By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
Therefore, if you truly want to live to the glory of God, then that demands that men look at your life and associate you with Jesus Christ. And the way men will associate us with him is in seeing our love for one another. So, if we are to live to the glory of God, we must live like these Philippian believers and Paul, showing love and affection toward one another. We must love with the affection that Christ loves us.
So I want to start this study by looking at these first eleven verses and seeing what they were doing that enabled them to love with such affection. And hopefully we will be able to model them in our living as well.
First, it is apparent that the gospel was at the center of their fellowship. This is clear because it pervades the whole letter. In fact, Paul uses the word “gospel” in this letter more than any of his others. Our most powerful view into the centrality of the gospel in their fellowship is in verse five.
Paul has thanked God for them in verse three, and he expresses that every time he prays for them, it is with joy. And then he gives us the reason why he has joy as he thinks and prays for them in their labors. Verse five tells us that Paul had joy “in view of [their] participation in the gospel from the first day until now.”
This word translated “participation” is most often translated fellowship.
For us, this word is probably very cheapened in our minds. We think fellowship is simply when Christians get together and do something. If I have play tennis with a pagan, then it is simply friendship. If my opponent is a believer, then I am experiencing fellowship. Or (as seems to be the Baptist way), if we have bagels and coffee after a service, then it is fellowship. We see it as anything that involves a warm-hearted friendship between believers.
It is much more than that.
Let me illustrate it, and then I will further define what fellowship is.
My dad became unemployed many months ago. Yet he had this software tool that he believed could be quite useful for people in his field. So he decided to pursue what business this software tool might bring him. However, he did not have the money to get going. So he spoke with a friend of his who has put quite a bit of money into this venture. Dad was also pouring his time into it. They worked together in order that they might get this business started and end up aiding the software world and providing income for their families. What dad and his friend are doing together is a better picture of fellowship than you and I simply drinking coffee this afternoon.
For the biblical idea of fellowship is not simply a warm-hearted friendship; it is “self-sacrificing conformity to a shared vision” (see note 1). Dad and his friend are both sacrificing because they share a vision that they can get this company on its feet.
Christian fellowship then is “a self-sacrificing conformity to the gospel” (see note 2). Sure it is important that there are warm feelings, but the basis of fellowship is sacrificing for a shared vision. That is what these Philippian believers and Paul had. They were going about the same purpose. And as Paul thought of them and received gifts from him, he perceived them saying, “Hey, we are longing for the same thing that you are longing for. We want the gospel to be advanced.”
That is what we must have if we are to model them. We must believe in a purpose and vision so much that we believe that it demands are commitment. And as we are striving together in that, we are experiencing fellowship. The gospel must be at the center of our relationships with one another.
We should be able to look at one another and say, “They reason I am so connected with this brother or sister is because we share the same purpose. We are laboring in the same cause.” That is why we have a mission statement which expresses that “We exist to present men complete in Christ, being empowered by his Spirit and sustained by his grace, in order that God might be glorified above all things.”
As we see each other, we should be able to say, “Are you striving by the power of the Spirit and the grace of God to present men complete in Christ so God might receive glory?” Our conversations should much consist of how to do that better and spurring one another on to do it more. We should be constant in sharing God’s word with one another, sharing what we have been learning, praying that others would come to know our Lord, exhorting one another, and bearing one another’s burdens; for we are about the same purpose: We want the world to see God’s goodness and magnify him above all else.
And in that purpose, we must not forget that we must long for that in one another’s lives as well.
In other words, we should never find ourselves thinking that we want the gospel to advance into all the world and forget about the furthering of the gospel in one another’s lives. Our shared vision and fellowship demand that we care for one another.
The Philippians could not say that Paul was to do his part and they were to do their part, but rather they aided one another in working together for this vision. That is why we meet together instead of just taking the word to those who have not accepted it. That is why Paul wanted to visit Philippi just as he wanted to reach Rome.
We must not just be about the same vision of advancing the gospel in other’s lives, we must be about advancing the gospel in one another’s lives. That is why our church covenant reminds us on many occasions that we must long for the spiritual advancement of one another.
Paul was confident that as God had begun the work of salvation in the Philippians, he would finish it. But he also realized that he was a tool for God to present them complete before him. Did you catch that? Paul understood that, though God would finish what he started in the salvation of the Philippians, he was to labor for this, as he was a tool through which God would accomplish his work. It is through God’s grace that we want to labor.
Now, I am never going to preach anything different than that salvation is the work of God alone. However, I believe that God’s work is manifested in the labor of his people.
As I stand here and preach Sunday after Sunday and Wednesday after Wednesday, I believe that God is using me to complete the work of salvation in your life. As I sit and pray for you throughout the week, I think that God is using my life to present you complete before him. And as we all believe that God uses us to do what he is working by his power, it will affect us to labor in making sure that those around us grow in grace more and more.
Paul believed this I know from Colossians 1:28-29, and the effect of it is seen in Philippians 1:9-11. Paul labors in prayer for these brethren that they would grow in love, knowledge, and discernment that they may be filled with the fruit of righteousness to the glory of God.
He wants them to be able to see what is best in this world. He does not want them to be satisfied with how the world around them is living. He wants them to know what is excellent. That is what brings him joy, for that is the advancement of the gospel. That is why John can say in 3 John 4, “I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.”
My vision for our love for one another in this body of believers is that we would be able to say, “I have no greater joy than to know that my brothers and sisters are walking in truth.” If that is our joy, our prayers will become fervent.
We will not simply pray that we each have good health, or employment, or a nice house. Rather our prayers will begin to sound like Paul’s.
When is the last time you prayed for your fellow brothers and sisters, “God I pray that in their lives, love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment. I don’t want them to seek part of your will. Do not let them long in prayer and lack in morality. But let them grow in love and knowledge. And let them do that that they might see what is excellent that they might be sincere and blameless before you, having been filled with the righteousness of Christ, not so that they might be proud in their holiness but so that it might overflow to the glory and praise of your great name”?
We must have a common vision in the gospel, and we must long for its advancement in the lives of one another. As we do this, it will not be long before we are exacting the fellowship and affectionate love that we see in this book. It will not be long before men look at us and associate us with Jesus Christ, to the praise of his glory. Amen.