Series: Philippians
Sermon: “A Grace-Filled Goodbye”
Philippians 4:20-23
Pastor John Bright
Philippians 4 “20 Now to our God and Father be glory forever and ever. Amen.
21 Greet every saint in Christ Jesus. The brethren who are with me greet you. 22 All the saints greet you, but especially those who are of Caesar’s household.
23 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.”
What is grace? There is a standard definition in the Church: grace is the undeserved, unmerited and loving action of God to us through the Holy Spirit. So, let’s break that down:
• Undeserved – you don’t get what we deserve from God – THANK GOD! We actually deserve the punishment for our sin… every last one… that’s what we deserve, but we don’t get what we deserve. We get grace.
• Unmerited – we can’t earn it – nobody can! Grace does not depend on how many “good” things we do (or don’t do). We still get grace.
• Loving action of God – the most loving thing God ever did for each of us is Jesus’ death on the cross of Calvary – “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” John 3:16 – God did that for you and me. Grace is all about what God does. We get grace from God.
• Through the Holy Spirit – the Holy Spirit is in the world and in every Believer. If you have the Holy Spirit more and more grace is available to you. We get more grace through the Holy Spirit.
There are differing views when it comes to the action of grace. We travel in the footsteps of John Wesley. The Wesleyan View of Grace is one of two great contributions of John Wesley to Christian Belief and Practice. Led by the Holy Spirit, Wesley taught us there is one amazing grace that comes to us in three different ways
Prevenient Grace – God is reaching out to every person He creates. In the old days, we spoke of God’s grace that “woos” the unbeliever. Today it might be better to think of Prevenient Grace as God never stopping to reach us. Last week I mentioned Jesus words to the Ephesian Church in Revelation 2. Today, let me share a few words to the Laodicean Church (“vomit you out of my mouth” – uh-oh) – “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.” Revelation 3:20 We know that language and that old painting.
For a picture of Prevenient Grace – imagine a big bucket of water. The water is grace and there’s lots of it! How much? It’s unlimited! Then, imagine a glass that is dirty on the inside. That glass is the unbeliever who is stained by sin. Now – imagine a drop of that water into the glass. And another drop. Not enough to clean the glass – but enough grace to awaken the unbeliever to the possibilities.
The next movement is Justifying Grace – the unbeliever repents and asks to receive from God what is truly needed - forgiveness for all sin. This has been prompted through the drip, drip, drip of Prevenient Grace as directed by the Holy Spirit. Next week – going to talk a lot more about this! For now, go back to the bucket and the glass. Imagine that the glass is sitting there – open to receive from above. Now, picture in your mind the bucket being turned over and flooding the glass – cleaning the glass – filling the glass to overflow. Can you see the big, big mess? Grace is messy! In fact, it can be too messy for a church to help those who need grace the most.
Finally, we receive the working of Sanctifying Grace – like the old saying, “God ain’t done with me yet!” That’s why we need an ongoing outpouring of grace – more than the drip, drip, drip and less than the big, big mess. Each believer can continue to grow in grace, leading to ever increasing knowledge and love of God - we heard that in Philippians 1:9 “And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment,” Remember that full, clean glass – how does the water in there stay nice and fresh? It needs to have a flow of fresh water. Imagine an ever-flowing fountain that run and runs and runs to give water to the glass. That ongoing flow from the fountain represents Sanctifying Grace.
That’s the Wesleyan View of Grace – the water and the glass – grace and you.
Paul is ending where he began – v.20
“20 Now to our God and Father be glory forever and ever. Amen.”
Paul mentioned God being glorified in Philippians 1 – “9 And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment, 10 that you may approve the things that are excellent, that you may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ, 11 being filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.”
Paul is very consistent throughout his writings in the New Testament – God is worthy of and deserving of all praise and glory. He points out, over and over, that our actions, as Believers, can bring glory to God. In those verses he mentions various actions that we heard about in our journey through Philippians – a message to a group of house churches that faced dis-unity from within and persecution from outside. Paul mentions glory to God after instructing them on then spiritual need for contentment. I have told you multiple times that the World is watching. Do we look like them? Do we act like them? If so, we will NOT bring glory to God. I’m one of those crazy folks today that believe we have to offer an alternative to the World and what it offers. We have to be sooooo super careful about bringing the World-Stuff in here. Actually, the Church was always supposed to be counter-cultural. That’s why the Early Church was described this way in Acts 17:6 – ““These who have turned the world upside down have come here too.” Perhaps… just maybe… we need to be “holy troublemakers” in this day!
Paul sends greetings the whole church – v.21-22
“21 Greet every saint in Christ Jesus. The brethren who are with me greet you. 22 All the saints greet you, but especially those who are of Caesar’s household.”
In Paul’s letters, he often closes with a mention of certain folks in the church to which he writes. We have already seen him mention folks – Epaphroditus and those two ladies (Euodia and Syntyche) – but those folks he used as examples to the believers – good examples and bad examples. Now he offers greetings to each and every one in the church. In a couple of weeks, we will celebrate “All Saints Sunday.” Each and every believer is described as a saint - with a little s. He wants each person – from the greatest to the least – to receive a greeting at the close of this letter. What a beautiful picture of unity. I want us to be like that… united from the richest to the one with the least. Everyone united in our church so that we look like Galatians 3:26-29 “26 For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. 27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.”
Not just Paul is reaching out to them – there are other Believers with Paul and they also send greeting. There is a unity that exists between all Believers. We celebrate this in the UMC by being a Connectional Church. That means we celebrate the connection with those who believe what we believe all over the globe. We are here in Virginia, but there are over 12 million lay members around the world. Praise God! Are we perfect? Of course not, but we can still celebrate with UMs around the world that want this Bible to be our guide for belief and practice.
Paul mentions specifically that there are believers in the palace – the place where the Roman Emperor lives. This will be good news to those in Philippi that have been persecuted by their own folks:
Phil. 1:2 “and not in any way terrified by your adversaries,”
Phil 3:18 “For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ:”
We are not told here what has won them over to Christ, but we did hear about those who are guarding Paul in Chapter 1 – “12 But I want you to know, brethren, that the things which happened to me have actually turned out for the furtherance of the gospel, 13 so that it has become evident to the whole palace guard, and to all the rest, that my chains are in Christ;” This prisoner was different from the rest. In Acts 28 we are told that Paul would teach all who would listen. Remember what I said about us being different? Never forget these words from 1 Peter 3:15 – “always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you”. That would certainly bring Glory to God!
Paul ends with a final word of grace – v. 23
“23 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.”
Grace was not something Paul explained to them the way I explained it to you today. Paul believed they would have a direct experience of grace just like he had experienced grace. Now, 20 centuries later, we get to experience that same grace. How do we approach a God who loves us and wants the very best for us? Are we willing to accept the gift of grace God is offering?
Let me share a story from Pastor Charles Stanley that seeks to answer these questions:
“One of my more memorable seminary professors had a practical way of illustrating to his students the concept of grace. At the end of his evangelism course he would distribute the exam with the caution to read it all the way through before beginning to answer it. This caution was written on the exam as well. As we read the test, it became unquestionably clear to each of us that we had not studied nearly enough.
The further we read, the worse it became. About halfway through, audible groans could be heard through out the lecture hall. On the last page, however, was a note that read, "You have a choice. You can either complete the exam as given or sign your name at the bottom and in so doing receive an A for this assignment."
Wow? We sat there stunned. "Was he serious? Just sign it and get an A?" Slowly, the point dawned on us, and one by one we turned in our tests and silently filed out of the room.
When I talked with the professor about it afterward, he shared some of the reactions he had received through the years. Some students began to take the exam without reading it all the way through, and they would sweat it out for the entire two hours of class time before reaching the last page.
Others read the first two pages, became angry, turned the test in blank, and stormed out of the room without signing it. They never realized what was available, and as a result, they lost out totally.
One fellow, however, read the entire test, including the note at the end, but decided to take the exam anyway. He did not want any gifts; he wanted to earn his grade. And he did. He made a C+, but he could easily have had an A.
This story illustrates many people’s reaction to God’s solution to sin. Some people look at God’s standard--moral and ethical perfection--and throw their hands up in surrender. Why even try? they tell themselves. I could never live up to all that stuff
Others are like the student who read the test through and was aware of the professor’s offer but took the test anyway. Unwilling to simply receive God’s gift of forgiveness, they set about to rack up enough points with God to earn it.
But God’s grace truly is like the professor’s offer. It may seem unbelievable, but if we accept it, then, like the stunned students who accepted the professor’s offer, we, too, will discover that, Yes, God’s grace truly is free. All we have to do is accept it.”
Do you understand that story? Is grace really given to those who don’t deserve grace? Is grace actually given to those who don’t earn grace? Could we even imagine grace being given to those God can love but we can’t? Are you done with grace? Have you been given all you need? Do you want more? I sure hope so! Amen!
