For example, when he wrote to the Corinthians he stated that he was an Apostle in his greetings.
Look at 1 Cor. 1:1 “Paul, called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God, and Sosthenes our brother.”
He did not mention that he was an Apostle in his address to the Philippians! He omitted that for a very special reason. He did not need to defend his apostleship to these Philippian Christians. They already knew that he was and did not have a problem with that.
Illus: During the New Hampshire primaries in 2004, Wes Clark came in fourth. He had skipped the Iowa Caucuses and practically had all of New Hampshire to himself for several weeks. But after such a poor showing, some of the pundits were discussing why he came in at fourth place.
(1) One fellow said he was not ready for PRIME TIME on the political trail.
(2) Fred Barnes said the reason that he had such a poor showing was because he had been spending his money on television ads telling everyone that he was a General, when everyone knew that already. Mr. Barnes said, “What the people of New Hampshire wanted to know was what the General stood for in his campaign.”
The people at Philippi knew he was an apostle and accepted it. He did not need to defend his apostleship, so he omitted it in his address to the Philippians. Instead, he refers to himself and Timotheus as “Servants of Jesus Christ.”
In our society, to be a SERVANT is not something you would want to brag about, but to Paul it was something he was proud to declare.
The word “Servant” in the Greek is the word “Doulos” which is the word bond-slave, but there is a very distinct difference between a servant and a slave.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE?
1. A Servant is free to work for anyone he wants to
2. A Slave is bought and purchased by a master. He is bound by the law to his master. He has no choice.
Paul wanted them to know he was a servant that had chosen to serve the Lord Jesus. He did not serve because he had no other choice, he served because he CHOSE TO SERVE. One of the great needs of the hour today is for Christians to recognize the privilege we have of serving the King of Kings.
Illus: Every time this country elects a President, he chooses men and women to serve in his cabinet. Most of these men and women who serve under the president are willing to take a cut in salary for the honor of serving the president.
If men and women can feel this way about serving the President, how much more should Christians feel honored to serve the LORD JESUS CHRIST, who is truly KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS?
Once Paul greeted these Christians, he wasted no time telling them what makes a GREAT CHURCH. You can go to any Christian book store today and buy all kinds of books that tell you what a great church consists of, such as having:
• The kind of singing that draws a crowd
• The kind of preaching that draws a crowd
• The kinds of program that draws a crowd
• The kinds of building that draws a crowd
And these are good things, do not take me wrong, many of these things are wonderful, but to be honest with you they are simply not the things the Bible says cause people to GROW SPIRITUALLY!
All over America there are churches that have all these things, but when you begin to talk to the members of those churches, you can tell immediately that THEY ARE NOT VERY SPIRITUAL!
As we look at the Book of Philippians, we discover some very IMPORTANT THINGS that will make a church spiritual. For example:
I. HE TALKED TO THEM ABOUT PRAYER
Look at verses 3-4, we read, “I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, Always in every prayer of mine for you all making request with joy.”
Notice, Paul is praying for those who were not with him. We know that because he said, “I thank my God upon every REMEMBRANCE of you…”
Many folks will pray for those who are IN SIGHT, but they very seldom pray for those who are OUT OF SIGHT. It is like, “Out of sight, out of mind!”
Paul is teaching us that the church is not just US, it is WORLDWIDE! We should pray for those WE CAN NOT SEE as much as we pray for those WE CAN SEE!
We should pray for EACH OTHER often, but we must not forget to pray for MISSIONARIES and BELIEVERS in other parts of the world that are having a difficult time in the Lord. They are our brothers and sisters in the Lord as much as those we see each week when we attend church.
Paul wanted these Christians to know that he did this “Always” and it is something he did JOYFULLY because he loved them. You might not be able to give a lot of money to missions, but you can support our missionaries with your prayers.
HE TALKED TO THEM ABOUT PRAYER, and -
II. HE TALKED TO THEM ABOUT FELLOWSHIP
Look at verse 5, we read, “For your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now.”
To many people, fellowship is going to a restaurant, eating and talking to each other about ANYTHING and EVERYTHING!
Listen, if that is fellowship, then you can go down to Shoney’s and everyone there is having fellowship.
Fellowship is one of those “Church” words. It is not a word that is commonly used by non-Christians. It is also a word that is misunderstood and misused by Christians.
• We have our fellowship hall
• We have our fellowship dinners
• We have our fellowship meetings
BUT WHAT EXACTLY IS FELLOWSHIP? Fellowship comes from two words:
• FELLOWS
• SHIP
Because of Christ, we are all FELLOWS IN THE SAME SHIP. Sometimes the hardest thing for pastors to do is keep the FELLOWS from falling out of the SHIP.
The Greek word for fellowship is “koinonia”, and it comes from a root meaning common or shared. Fellowship means common participation in something, either by giving what you have to the other person or by receiving what he or she has.
By the grace of God we are in the ship, and I give you spiritual truths and you give me spiritual truths. WE SHARE!
All believers are in this SHIP together. As we look at the rough waters of life, we are thankful that God has given us a place together, WE FEEL BLESSED TO BE IN THE SHELTER OF GOD’S SHIP.
Fellowship is Vertical and it is Horizontal.
• Vertical fellowship is our relationship with God
• Horizontal fellowship is our relationship with Christians
To have a good relationship in this FELLOWSHIP, I must have it WITH GOD and WITH GOD’S PEOPLE or else we are going to have some problems in the ship.
As you probably have discovered as members of the family of God, we are not the perfect family.
Illus: Some kids were asked to write letters to God. Here’s what some of them had to say:
• Dear GOD, did you really mean, do unto others as you would have them do unto you? Because if you didn’t, I’m going to fix my brother!
• Dear GOD, I bet it is very hard for You to love everybody in the whole world. There are only 4 people in our family and most of the time I can’t stand them.
Sometimes we have to do things to RESTORE proper fellowship. Just doing good works doesn’t restore the relationship. It involves making things right. For example, if a man and wife have an argument, just buying her a box of chocolates doesn’t solve the whole problem. Whatever is hindering the relationship has to be dealt with.
HE TALKED TO THEM ABOUT PRAYER, HE TALKED TO THEM ABOUT FELLOWSHIP and -
III. HE TALKED TO THEM ABOUT CONFIDENCE
Look at verse 6, we read, “Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.”
A good, strong, Bible-believing church has to have CONFIDENCE IN GOD’S SALVATION.
Illus: Learning to drive can be a very scary experience, especially for the parent who’s teaching his or her 15 year old to drive.
But sometimes we forget how hard it is for the new driver, who’s suddenly introduced to a whole new world that the rest of us take for granted. New drivers start out lacking any confidence.
The Christian life is something like this. When we first get saved we lack confidence, but as time goes on, a strong Bible-believing church gains confidence because they learn that WHAT GOD STARTS, GOD FINISHES! A strong Bible-believing church can not operate on FEAR, they must operate on FAITH.
It is critical that God’s church have EXTREME CONFIDENCE if we are going to be a strong successful church.
Coach Bear Bryant goes down in the history books as one of the best college football coaches that has ever existed. He was noted for many wonderful qualities, and one was THE GREAT CONFIDENCE HE POSSESSED.
Illus: John McKay tells the story of his amazing CONFIDENCE. McKay said, “We were out shooting ducks, and finally, after about three hours, here comes one lonely duck. Coach Bryant fired. And that duck is still flying today. But Bear watched the duck flap away, looked at me and said, ‘John, you are witnessing a genuine miracle. There flies a dead duck!’"
Every day of our life should show we have CONFIDENCE in the God we serve as a church.
Illus: One February evening, Louise Degrafinried heard the rustling of leaves outside her Tennessee home, and she cautiously peered out the window. She knew that five men had escaped from the nearby Fort Pillow State Prison, less than twenty-five miles away.
They were armed and considered dangerous. “Nathan” she said to her husband, “what would we do if those men came here?” “Honey, we’d do just what they said.”
Louise didn’t like that idea at all, but she wasn’t afraid. She had learned about God as a child and firmly believed her grandfather had been right in saying, “If you trust in the Lord, then he will take care of you.”
Nevertheless, she was glad the next morning when the sun rose. But as she was cooking breakfast and chatting with a friend on the phone, she heard Nathan shout. Louise quickly told her friend to call the police, then she hung up the telephone and went to the door. There stood a tall man, covered with mud, jabbing a shotgun into Nathan’s side.
They stumbled into the kitchen, and the man threatened to shoot them if they didn’t let him use their truck.
Nathan went outside to crank the truck as the escapee kept the shotgun aimed on Louise. As soon as her husband was out the door, Louise took a few steps toward him and said, “Young man!” He pointed his shotgun at her, but she seemed unafraid.
“Young man,” she said again, “I’m a Christian lady. We don’t have any violence in this house. This is God’s house. Put down that gun.” The man hesitated. “I said to put the gun down!”
Slowly he bent over and leaned the gun against the couch. Then he slumped in the couch himself and said, “Lady, I’m so hungry. I haven’t eaten in three days.”
“Then I will fix you breakfast,” she said, cracking some more eggs into a bowl. She began talking to him learning his name, age and background. After saying grace over the food, she fixed a solution to help his ailing throat.
He said “You sound like my grandmother,” and over breakfast, he started talking sadly to Louise about his dead grandmother who had loved him.
She said, “Well, I love you and I’m not dead. Jesus loves you, too. He died for us all.”
He just kept eating, and Louise just kept giving him the Bible. Finally she said, “Young man, you’d like to give yourself up, wouldn’t you?” He said, “Oh lady,” he replied, “They’d kill me in a minute.”
She said, “No they won’t. Not here. There won’t be any violence in this house, by anyone.”
Slowly he nodded his head. “Okay.” Within minutes, Riley was in handcuffs and headed back to prison, having gained a new prayer partner. As for Louise, she reports, “Things are pretty much back to normal now, except that I’ve gotten a little more attention than an old country woman should expect.” – Nelson’s complete book of illustrations p. 300-301
The church today talks about faith, preaches about faith, sings about faith, and teaches about faith. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if the Christians practiced faith as much as they talk about it?
IV. HE TALKED TO THEM ABOUT PARTNERSHIP
Look at verses 7-8, we read, “Even as it is meet for me to think this of you all, because I have you in my heart; inasmuch as both in my bonds, and in the defence and confirmation of the gospel, ye all are partakers of my grace. For God is my record, how greatly I long after you all in the bowels of Jesus Christ.”
Notice, Paul says, “…Ye all are PARTAKERS…” In other words, Paul is saying we are all PARTNERS. Paul knew that partnership is not always an easy task, but he knew a great deal about it.
For example, Paul and Timothy’s partnership showed everyone how God could produce unity through diversity.
• Timothy was a Greek
• Paul was a Jew
They worked in superb harmony to demonstrate how the Spirit blends diverse backgrounds through Christ. We all need to ask the Lord to help us to trust Him to produce harmonious partnerships out of the diversity of backgrounds in our church fellowship.
Everybody in the body of Christ is not going to think the way you think and do things the way you do things. Do you realize how many churches have been destroyed because God’s people fail to learn how to be good partakers of God’s grace?
Paul and Timothy’s partnership proved that they were willing to go the extra mile to avoid any scandals. In fact, Timothy allowed himself to be circumcised to eliminate any unnecessary offense to the Jewish audiences.
To be a good partaker of God’s grace, sometimes we have to make allowances for some who are always howling about something.
Illus: The story is told of a judge who had been frequently ridiculed by a conceited lawyer. When asked by a friend why he didn’t rebuke his assailant, he replied, "In our town lives a widow who has a dog. And whenever the moon shines, it goes outside and barks all night." Having said that, the magistrate shifted the conversation to another subject. Finally someone asked, "But Judge, what about the dog and the moon?" "Oh," he replied, "the moon went on shining--that’s all."
A successful church that is doing the Lord’s work allows some among them to howl all the time and goes on with the work.
V. HE TALKED TO THEM ABOUT LOVE
Look at verses 9-10, we read, “And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment; That ye may approve things that are excellent; that ye may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ.”
Love is the glue that holds the church together. Paul knew that and he said, “And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more…” HOW LONG? Look at verse 10, “Till the day of Christ.”
VI. HE TALKED TO THEM ABOUT RIGHTEOUSNESS
Look at verse 11, we read, “Being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God.”
Saying you are a child of God is not sufficient. We have people all over this world that tell people they are Christians, but you would never know it by the way they live.
If we are FILLED WITH THE FRUITS OF RIGHTEOUSNESS, people can taste and see that the Lord is good.
Conclusion:
These things that the Philippian church needed to hear about are the same things churches today need to hear about.
I. HE TALKED TO THEM ABOUT PRAYER
II. HE TALKED TO THEM ABOUT FELLOWSHIP
III. HE TALKED TO THEM ABOUT CONFIDENCE
IV. HE TALKED TO THEM ABOUT PARTNERSHIP
V. HE TALKED TO THEM ABOUT LOVE
VI. HE TALKED TO THEM ABOUT RIGHTEOUSNESS
