AP

Philippians 1.1-11

1. Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, to all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi, with the overseers and deacons: ² Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Thanksgiving and Prayer

³ I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, ⁴ always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, ⁵ because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. ⁶ And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. ⁷ It is right for me to feel this way about you all, because I hold you in my heart, for you are all partakers with me of grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defence and confirmation of the gospel. ⁸ For God is my witness, how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus. ⁹ And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, ¹⁰ so that you may approve what is excellent, and so 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.

Introduction:

There’s a real loveliness and winsomeness about Paul. There was his complete submission and devotion to the Lord Jesus Christ; his faithfulness in his teaching, with its focus on the Lord; the way he endured everything that happened to him despite all his trials; his faith was so practical and related to everyday life for the whole Church and for individual Christians.

     In fact, I view Paul’s letter to the Philippians as a manual or handbook for living and working as men and women in Christ, for both the Lord’s ministers and His people.

     So, what do we learn from the way Paul greets the Lord’s people in Philippians 1.1-3?

1. We Learn That We’re All in This Together.

Paul writes to ‘all the saints in Philippi’ but his letters contain the names of many individual people, such as: ‘Paul and Timothy, Epaphroditus, Euodia, Syntyche, Clement, all the saints, especially those of Caesar’s household.’

Jesus said: ‘The Good Shepherd knows His sheep by name’. Pastors, the under-shepherds, must therefore make every effort to know their people by name, and it’s a good idea to use their name as we speak with them, and to remember their names when we come to pray for them in our quiet times with the Lord, picturing them in our minds and naming them one by one.

When Paul writes: ‘I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all, making my prayer with joy’, we see that he often prayed for his people, ALL of them, as a good pastor should, naming them one by one, picturing them in our minds. Paul prays for his people not just as individuals but also as a group of Christ’s people working together for the sake of the Gospel.

When we gather at the Lord’s Table to celebrate the Lord’s Supper, we have a powerful reminder of what the Lord has done for each one of us and what it is to be together ‘in Christ’, as the minister is flanked by the elders and faced by the congregation, and all are eating the bread and drinking the wine together.

2. We Learn That We Are What We Are by God’s Grace.

Grace is the free, undeserved work of God in our lives from eternity past to eternity yet to come as God freely offers to sinners life and salvation by Jesus Christ; requiring us to have faith in Him so that we may be saved, and promising to make us willing and able to believe.

So, on a scale of nought to ten, what part do we play in our salvation? Nought. On a scale of nought to ten, what part does God play? Ten.

3. We Learn That Because of God’s Grace We Receive His Peace.

Peace, as you know, is the gift of the Spirit and one of the nine-fold fruit of the Spirit (Gal.5:22-23), and it was the promise of our Lord Jesus, given on the night in which He was betrayed, that we who believe in Him would have peace such as He had in His own heart even as He was betrayed by one of His disciples, denied by Peter, tried unjustly, tortured and nailed to the Cross (John 16:33).

Whatever happened to Him, Jesus was at peace, and He promised that those who follow Him would also have that peace: ‘Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid’ (John 14.27).

Paul had that peace and so he could write in Romans 5.1-6: ‘Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God.Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.’

Conclusion:

Philippians 1.1-3 shows us that Paul prayed over the Church in Philippi, thankful for the overall faith and life of that Church. Its members had become Christians and the church had been formed by the grace of God. But Paul knew that there were things in their life and faith which could do with some improving, and he wanted to make sure that they were growing in their faith and living out their faith under God in the Christian community and before the watching world.

Paul wanted the Philippians to know that they were sinners saved by grace and therefore they should know ‘the peace of God which passes all understanding’ in each one’s own walk with the Lord and as they walked together in the way of the Lord and worked together in building the Kingdom of God.

But Paul’s letter doesn’t just apply to the Philippians. It became part of the canon of Scripture, and so it applies to all Christians throughout all time and in all places. It applies to us.

Are we aware of our own growth in grace and so do we know that peace of God which passes all understanding? Can others see this in us as we work together as members of the Body of Christ, and in the life of our congregation?

Philippians brings an important message to us, especially at this time of disruption in the world order. May we hear and heed it as we continue faithful to Him who ‘loved the Church and gave Himself for her.’ It really is a Ministers’ Manual; and A Handbook for All Believers.

Let Us Pray:

O Lord our gracious God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, we thank You for the grace You have shown us in and through our Lord Jesus Christ, who loved us and gave Himself for us, who is the Good Shepherd who came to seek and to save those who were lost, giving us new life, abundant life, eternal life through faith in Him. We thank You that Jesus came as ‘the Prince of Peace’ who showed us ‘the peace of God which passes all understanding’, all through His life, even as He suffered and died on the cross.

 Lord we pray that You would give us Your peace whatever happens because we live in peace by Your grace and You hold us in the hollow of Your hand.

And we pray Lord that we will have Your perfect peace so that we will be able to face all the troubles of this life on Earth and come safely through them all and to be a witness to Your gracious work in our lives for Your honour and glory.

 And we pray in the Mighty Name of Jesus. AMEN.

–  Bob Thomas