Textual Idea
Paul recognized that all believers are eternal partners through God’s good work of salvation, driving him to pray for his Philippian partners to grow in agape love, abound in infallible knowledge and insight, discern right choices, live holy and finish excellent.
Sermon Idea
As believers, God calls us to be eternal partners through God’s good work of salvation, which will drive us to pray and encourage one another to grow in agape love, abound in infallible knowledge and insight, discern right choices, live holy, and finish excellent.
Introduction
Our human body is an amazing, interconnection of 11 complex systems.
1. Circulatory system circulates blood around the body via the heart, arteries and veins, delivering oxygen and nutrients to organs and cells and carrying their waste products away and
Equalizes temperature in the body.
2. Digestive system contains mechanical and chemical processes that provide nutrients via the mouth, esophagus, stomach, and intestines to eliminate waste from the body.
3. Endocrine system provides chemical communications within the body using hormones.
4. Exocrine system includes skin, hair, nails, sweat, and other exocrine glands providing an external layer of protection.
5. Immune system is a network of lymphatic vessels that carry a clear fluid called lymph to defend the body against pathogenic viruses that may endanger the body.
6. Muscular system enables the body to move using muscles.
7. Nervous system collects and processes information from the five senses via nerves and the brain and tells the muscles to contract to cause physical actions.
8. Renal system/Urinary system filters out contaminants from the blood through the kidneys.
9. Reproductive system allows for the reproduction of offspring.
10. Respiratory system brings air into and out of the body.
11. Skeletal system is a system of bones supporting the body and its organs.
All systems must be working together, supporting one another, doing their part for the human body to function correctly and remain healthy. If just one of the systems is not functioning properly, the entire body suffers. The same is true for the Church.
Text
Please turn in your Bible to Philippians 1:6-11
6 being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. 7 It is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my heart and, whether I am in chains or defending and confirming the gospel, all of you share in God’s grace with me. 8 God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus. 9 And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, 10 so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, 11 filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.
Paul wrote this letter while under arrest in Rome to the church in Philippi. Philippi was a thriving Roman province, but it was also full of idolatry. Paul had founded the church years earlier. It was originally founded by converted Jews, but was primarily made up of Gentiles—non-Jews. Though most in the church were not by any means wealthy, they faithfully supported Paul financially. The church was being heavily persecuted for the cause of Christ, was being attacked by false teachers, and was even facing some internal issues.
Verse 6 talks about Paul being confident that he (God) who began a good work. What is the “good work”? It is God’s good work of salvation through Jesus Christ.
As a believer, we all need prayer and encouragement from our fellow believers. God has wired us to be connected as one body made up of many parts, much like the human body. Without the support of one another, the entire body of believers is affected.
As eternal partners through God’s good work of salvation, in what ways should believers pray and encourage one another?
If you are a believer, then you are an eternal partner through God’s good work of salvation and should pray and encourage one another. The first way to pray and encourage one another is to grow in agape love.
Body
I. ETERNAL PARTNERS ENCOURAGE ONE ANOTHER TO GROW IN AGAPE LOVE.
Agape love is unique to the New Testament. Agape love is divine in nature and origin…it is of and from God. Agape love is only obtained from God through salvation in Jesus Christ. It is the love that causes us to “Love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul and mind” and “Love our neighbor as ourself,” the first and second greatest commandments. It is not based on a feeling, but is decisive. It is a conscious, intentional choice in obedience to the Lord. As believers, we love those that are lovable and those that are not. We love others whether or not they show the same love back. It is unconditional love. Agape love is dynamic, as it abounds…it is overflowing with a great abundance. Agape love is continual, not conditional. It is the same love John talks about in John 3:16.
Illustration
Has anyone here ever jumped rope? All jump ropes usually have a small plastic handle at one end and then a long rope that goes to a plastic handle at the other end. I want you to imagine a very long jump rope with a small plastic handle on one end. Imagine that rope extending out so far you cannot see the other end. Imagine that rope extending to eternity.
Now imagine that rope representing all of time. You are standing at the tip of the handle and it represents your time on this earth. Did you know that most people live for the time represented by the little plastic handle? Many live for the moment and some live for a better life tomorrow, but few live for the end of the eternal rope. However, as believers we are eternal partners together with God. That means we do not live for the plastic handle, we live for the end of the rope…eternity.
With eternity as our perspective, we are then able to love others with agape love and encourage our eternal partners to do the same.
As eternal partners, we must encourage and pray for one another to grow in agape love. As Jesus Christ showed agape love through death on the cross, we must do the same and encourage fellow believers to also do the same.
Paul knew what it was like to suffer in this life, but his focus was eternal. He was imprisoned, in constant danger, received thirty-nine lashes on five occasions, been beaten by rods on three occasions, was stoned, and was shipwrecked three times. He faced dangerous rivers, robbers, and was constantly on the move. Both the Jews and Gentiles wanted to harm him and even kill him. He faced dangers in cities, in the desert, and on the sea. He suffered through hard labor, sleepless nights, through extreme hunger and thirst, and through extreme cold and heat. He faced extreme pressure overseeing multiple churches in many locations. Regardless of all this difficulty, he never wavered because his focus remained on eternity.
Paul’s focus on eternity through salvation in Christ let him to love the church, his eternal partners, as Christ loved the church…with agape love. If we are believers then we are eternal partners. Our focus must be on eternal matters. This will lead us to love our eternal partners with the same agape love and encourage and pray for our eternal partners to also grow in agape love.
We had established that, as eternal partners, we must encourage and pray for one another to grow in agape love. We must also encourage and pray for one another to abound in knowledge and insight.
II. ETERNAL PARTNERS ENCOURAGE ONE ANOTHER TO ABOUND IN KNOWLEDGE AND INSIGHT.
The knowledge and insight Paul is speaking about is experiential knowledge and insight of God’s Word. As believers with an eternal perspective, we must not only know what God’s Word says, but we must abound in it by putting it into practice and experience God’s Word in our life. Many non-believers know what the Bible says, but believers experience it daily in their lives. They live in God’s Word.
In science class, we start by reading the book and working through some various quizzes that gauge our book knowledge. If I had stopped there, I would never have really learned to love science, apply that science, or become an engineer. Just having some book knowledge of say physics does not make me, a good engineer. What made me a good engineer was actually experiencing the scientific knowledge. It was taking the information and applying it in a laboratory and eventually in the real world. I could work circuit analysis problems all day, but never really fully experience it until I went into the electronics lab and did experiments based on the knowledge. Eventually, this led to actually designing test software and equipment to test electronics circuitry. I have to gain an experiential knowledge.
As believers, we must encourage one another to abound in experiential knowledge of God’s Word. The way we determine God’s will in our life is by knowing and experiencing God’s Word in our life and encouraging other believers to do the same.
Paul knew the importance of experiencing God’s Word in his life. As an apostle and missionary for the gospel of Christ, Paul experienced it…he lived it each an every day regardless of the circumstances he faced. Like Paul, we need to allow God, through the Holy Spirit, to apply His Word in our lives.
We know that, as eternal partners, we must encourage others to grow in agape love, and abound in knowledge and insight
III. ETERNAL PARTNERS ENCOURAGE ONE ANOTHER TO DISCERN RIGHT CHOICES.
Growing in agape love and abounding in experiential knowledge and insight of God’s Word enables us to discern right and wrong, allowing us to make right choices in all our decisions. When we are bathed in agape love and experiencing knowledge and insight of God’s Word, we are then able to discern right from wrong and encourage others to do the same. Discerning simply means to recognize and understand right versus wrong.
Back to our illustration of the human body. If our immune system malfunctions and does not recognize/discern the virus then the system will not fight the virus and the virus could kill the human body. Also, if the immune system malfunctions and attacks good cells, mistaking them for bad, then our own immune system could kill the human body. Same holds true for discernment.
As believers, if we never develop proper discernment of right vs. wrong we will mistake something that is right as wrong and something that is wrong to be right. Our world is full of people who see wrong as right and right as wrong. In our culture, it is no longer wrong to have sex outside of marriage, have homosexual relations, or even kill the elderly or our unborn babies. In fact, in our culture it is considered wrong to stand against any of these things. Therefore, as eternal partners we must encourage other believers to develop good discernment.
How many get confused and struggle with discerning what is right and what is wrong at times? As eternal partners, we must first grow in agape love to abound in experiential knowledge of God’s Word in order to discern right from wrong. Without discernment, we will make wrong choices.
We have established that eternal partners encourage others to grow in agape love, abound in knowledge, and discern right from wrong.
IV. ETERNAL PARTNERS ENCOURAGE ONE ANOTHER TO LIVE HOLY.
God wants us to live holy…live pure and blameless. Holiness is living with spiritual integrity. It is living in accordance with God’s Word. To live holy, we must first be able to discern right from wrong. To discern right from wrong, we must abound in experiential knowledge of God’s Word. To experience God’s Word, we must grow in agape love. To have agape love, we must have salvation through Jesus Christ. As you can see, each one of the things Paul is encouraging/praying for each build on one another.
In ancient Rome, pottery was relatively thin and fragile. Often, cracks developed while being fired. Unscrupulous shops would fill these cracks with a hard, dark wax. This would concealed the object after painting or glaze but would eventually melt if the pottery was filled with something hot. In ordinary light, the deception was usually undetectable, but when held up to sunlight it was clearly exposed. Reputable dealers would often stamp their pottery “sine cera” or “without wax” as a guarantee of high quality pottery.
Much like the pottery, the faithful believer must expose his/her life to the sunlight of Scripture. Hebrews says, “The word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, both joint and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. (Heb 4:2)” Unfortunately, many try to cover up their faults and failures rather than expose them to the light of the Word…Jesus Christ. The person of spiritual integrity through holy living does not mean they have reached perfection. God looks at the heart..our motives.
It takes many years to build a reputation of integrity, but just one moment of weakness to tear down our reputation. Therefore, as eternal partners in Christ, we must encourage one another to live holy.
We have established that eternal partners encourage others to grow in agape love, abound in knowledge, discern right from wrong, and live holy.
V. ETERNAL PARTNERS ENCOURAGE ONE ANOTHER TO FINISH EXCELLENT
Finally, Paul encourages and prays for his eternal partners in Philippi to finish with the fruit of righteousness. This fruit is to finish the race following Christ’s example doing good works. We do not earn our righteousness, but Christ becomes our righteousness. When we grow in agape love, abound in infallible knowledge and insight, discern right choices and live holy, then we will finish excellent through the fruit of righteousness. This fruit is our good works. One fulfilling the great commission by taking the gospel to the world. Another is using our talents and abilities for God’s good work. It is fulfilling God’s will in our life and finishing the race with excellence.
Believe it our not, I used to be a runner. I wasn’t a sprinter. I was a marathon runner. For those that do not know, a marathon is 26.2 miles. Can any of you even imagine running for 26.2 miles? That is just crazy. I cannot believe I used to do this. Anyway, to run a marathon takes discipline. I started by just running a mile, then two, then three. After months of training, I was able to run 13.1 miles, or a half marathon. I learned better running technique, purchased proper running shoes, and learned how to keep myself hydrated on very long runs. After about 18 months, I completed my first marathon. Prior to the marathon, the furthest I had ran in training was 20 miles. When I got to about 20 miles, I hit what they call “the wall”. It is when your body can no longer produce enough nutrients for your muscles, even when taking in electrolytes, bananas, and water. At “the wall”, your calves start cramping, then your hamstrings. Your mind starts telling you “stop this madness” and just give up. I had to stop and walk for a little while, but the other marathon runners encouraged me to keep on going. I focused on the next mile, then the next, and then the next. I saw the 25 mile marker and that got me to push just a little longer. I finished in about 4 hours and 43 minutes of continuous running. The marathon is not about being first, it is about finishing well….finishing excellent.
Our eternal live is much like a marathon. We train and push our spiritual bodies. We encourage our fellow ‘runners’ to do the same. We grow in agape love, abound in knowledge, discern right from wrong, and live holy. Finally, we finish excellent by doing good works up to the finish line!
How do we finish excellent? We fulfill the great commission by telling others our testimony, spreading the gospel, exercising our talents for God, and do God’s will up to the finish line.
We have learned that, as eternal partners, we must encourage one another to grow in agape love, abound in knowledge, discern right from wrong, live holy, and finish excellent.
Conclusion
Imagine how your outlook on life would change if you kept an eternal focus? Do you live for the moment, worry about tomorrow, work and scrape by to get the next iphone, new car, or new house? Do you worry about the handle on the jump rope or our do you focus on what is eternal? I challenge you to think about how much better life would be if you focused on the eternal. Focusing on the eternal is what makes life worth living!
As eternal partners, we must encourage one another to grow in agape love, abound in knowledge, discern right from wrong, live holy, and finish excellent.
First, if you have never accepted Christ as your Lord and Savior, I encourage you to become eternal partners with us today. Jesus said to cast all our burdens on him and he will care for you. He said his yoke is easy and his burden is light. If you need your burden of sin lifted, please come and pray.
Second, if you are saved but realize you need God’s help in growing in agape love, knowledge, discernment, holy living, or doing God’s will I encourage you to come and I will pray for you and encourage you, as Paul did the Philippian church.
