Partnership in the Gospel — Philippians 1

0:14 Shall we stand together as we read from Philippians, first part of chapter one. It says leader there, but that was done when in New Mexico, the congregation had masks on and couldn't read. So... But let's read it together. Paul and Timothy, bondservants of Christ Jesus, to all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, including the overseers and deacons, grants to you, and peace from God our father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

1:02 Let's see. We need to put it on slideshow. No. Arrow down. Arrow right.

1:25 Arrow left. Let's see. This might do it. There we go. Okay.

1:38 Let's continue. I thank my god in all my remembrance of you, always offering prayer with joy in my every prayer for you all. In view of your participation in the gospel from the first day until now. For I am confident of this, that he who brings good work in you will perfect it until the day of Jesus Jesus. For this is right right for me to feel this way about you all, because you...

2:17 Have you in my heart, since both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel, you are our partakers of grace with me. For god is my witness. How I long for you all with the affection of Jesus. Please be seated. He starts out to the saints in Christ Jesus in Philippi.

3:09 It was possible to be in Christ and in Philippi, just as it's possible to be in Christ and in Cleveland or wherever you live. To the saints in Christ Jesus in Philippi. Philippi was a leading city as we see in Acts chapter 16, the whole story. And I encourage you to read that story. Some of you will do it now, and you're quick and can put all...

3:44 Everything together at once. Some of you can read it later. You remember that that's where they threw the apostles in jail, and in the middle of the night, earthquake came, the doors opened, and etcetera. And we'll get to that in a minute. But Philippi Philippi was a leading city, as Acts 16 tells us, and a Roman colony.

4:12 And so it was... Even though it was in Greece, on the Aegean Sea, right near Thessalonica, it was considered a Roman colony. It was founded by Roman soldiers, veterans, and so it had connection to Rome, and it was an independent city. Though much smaller than Thessalonica, which was about 200,000, this city of Philippi was nevertheless a leading city because of its context. You remember those words from Shakespeare, et tu brute?

5:04 And you remember that Brutus, Cassius, and others who were against the particular Caesar at the time fled to Philippi. And Anthony and Octavian pursued them. There was a battle in Philippi around forty BC. The Holy Spirit picked this place to begin the move of the gospel into Europe. Europe was opened to the gospel from, yes, from this place.

5:51 Here, in Philippi, which stands out there in the blue text. So it was here in Philippi that we find ourselves gateway to Europe. Nowadays, you can go and see for yourself. And these pictures give some indication of the city of Philippi. Not a large place.

6:26 Nevertheless, on the Ignatian Way, gateway to Europe, people went from Rome on the Ignatian Way all the way to Istanbul. But God had blocked the way for the apostle Paul to go into other parts of Asia, modern day Turkey, and directed them in this direction. And so he continues on then. This is the context in which he continues. I thank God in all memories of you.

7:57 So one of the key people, Lydia, the seller of purple, whose household came to faith along with her, that indicates that she was likely a single mother and a merchant. So when Paul was thinking about the church in Philippi, he would think about Lydia for sure. And then there was the fortune telling slave girl, the one whose life was set free by the apostles as they were there witnessing and casting the devil out of this fortune telling slave where we don't have her name. Nevertheless, she was a prominent one. And when he said, I thank God in all my memories of you, he certainly had her in mind.

8:55 And then there was the Philippian jailer. We don't have his name either, but he was a very important person in Philippi as well. I've thought about that jail over the years, and when we read Acts 16, we get the idea it might have been a pretty big place and because it had stocks and the doors were blown open by the earthquake, the stocks fell off, etcetera. But they found what they believed to be that jail, prison it was called, as I remember in the King James. And here's what it looks like.

9:46 And the jail below, above is likely where the Philippian jailer lived. And down below, the place, the dark dungeon where Paul and Silas were singing in the middle of the night. As you see, it's not very big, and it certainly was easy to hear them singing when they were there singing in the middle of the night when the earthquake wake came. And so this is a real place. You can go there today.

10:22 You could see the jail. God did real things in that place. And so when it says, in my every remembrance of you, we can think about the people and the places and see those very people in places that he was thinking about. He goes on to say, I pray with joy in every request, in view of your participation in the gospel. I pray with joy in every request, verse four.

11:04 In view of your participation in the gospel, verse five. From the first day, that day that he met Lydia and the few others down there by the river. And this picture, by the way, appears to be the river, the very river there on the outskirts of Philippi where they met them. I pray with joy in every request in view of your participation in the gospel from the first day until now. The first day was at the river with Lydia and the others until now.

11:44 Well, now is when Epaphroditus is going back and forth because Paul is now a prisoner in Rome and Epaphroditus is going back and forth with news and with the letter as he sends him. In four eighteen, it describes that. So we can include Epaphroditis in those remembrances as well. So he says, I pray with joy. So is joy the theme of Philippians?

12:23 Many have said so. One well known preacher has titled his series of sermons on Philippians, one that I respect greatly, laugh again. Well, is it really focusing on joy? No. Notice he says it is with joy.

12:56 I pray with joy. But he goes on. In view of your participation, that word participation is a very important word found throughout the book of Philippians. Actually, the letter of Philippians. In view of your participation in the gospel.

13:21 You've heard of the word koinonia and you don't probably think about it as a Greek word particularly, but there it is, a Greek word koinos. Those of you who've studied Greek know that the New Testament was written in koine Greek, which is basically common Greek, and koinoneo means to have something in common. Where do we get our word coin? From that word. Because it's the thing we have in common when we want to buy something.

14:03 And so as we look at it, really, participation in the gospel is more accurately told the theme. Because joy is the atmosphere created by partnership in the gospel, created by koinonia, created by our partnership, our teamwork. There are various words we could use along those lines. I like the word partnership. Joy is the atmosphere that's created by partnership in the gospel.

14:49 His joy is about his remembrance of them when he's praying about them and for them, the people that he remembers. It's the atmosphere then that is created by that partnership that they had in the gospel and now brings joy to his heart as he thinks about them. He... As he's in prison himself now in Rome and thinks back, I'm sure, to the Philippian jailer, to the young slave girl who had been set free, thinks back to Lydia and the participation that they had in the gospel, the church had grown, and that was the partnership. Joy is the atmosphere, the fruit of the partnership in the gospel.

15:58 You may have read it. And to me, this speaks of koinonia, partnership. Because here we have Sam and Frodo on a quest together to throw this ring that had destroyed Gollum as you see how shriveled he is and how enslaved he became. And Sam and Frode decided they're not going to be destroyed by this, and they decided they would partner together to be sure that it got thrown into the pit and destroyed so it would not destroy anyone after that. So the fellowship of the ring, the partnership about the ring was what kept them alive.

16:58 That's koinonia. That's partnership. And so we too, like the apostle Paul who's praying for those in Philippi, saying that he has joy as the fruit of their partnership, and that joy continues on because they continue as partners in the gospel together, even though he is in prison in Rome, and they are in Macedonia, in Philippi, in Christ. They are both in Christ, though they are in Christ in Philippi, and he is in Christ in prison in Rome. That's partnership in the gospel.

17:53 That's koinonia in the gospel, and that's the focus of the whole book. And if you read it through that, then whatever as, for instance, you read that section that says, I've learned to be content in all circumstances. Why? Because he was in Christ, and he was in partnership with them even at that distance. He said, I've learned to live with plenty.

18:22 I've learned to live with want and any and all circumstances. I can do, meaning I can go through, not that I can, you know, leap tall buildings with a single bound and, you know, anything that I think about and dream about I can accomplish. No, he's not talking about that. He's talking about because of the partnership that he has with Christ first and with the Philippians second, and they have all together, they are able to handle anything with joy because of that partnership in the gospel. As we shared in communion this morning, it was remembering that we have been by the Holy Spirit placed into Christ and become partners with Christ in his death and in his burial, his resurrection, and his ascension.

19:17 And so if we're partners with Christ in that by the Holy Spirit placing us into Christ, then we're partners with each other. And that's what brings the atmosphere of joy, whatever the circumstances, whether you're in prison in Philippi or in prison in Rome or free as a merchant as Lydia was or now free as a young woman who'd been a slave or being the jailer jailer yourself. And so, with that confidence, he goes on to say, he who began a good work will bring it to completion until the day of Jesus Christ. And so from the first day through now and to the day of Christ, he says, he who began that good work will bring it to completion until the day of Jesus Christ. So he says, it's only right to think this way about you.

20:26 What way? Well, with joy and with confidence that he's gonna complete the work that he started in you because I have you in my heart. And so not only in the book of Thessalonians, which spends three chapters talking about the passion that the apostle Paul has for the Thessalonians and the growth and this continual success of their walk with Christ. Here now in Philippians, he's laying that out. It's right for me to think this way about you with joy, with confidence.

21:06 I have you in my heart. Since in my imprisonment and defense, you were partakers. There's the word again. You were partakers. He even adds a word here, adds a prefix.

21:25 Partakers with. So if he hasn't gotten through to us with that word partners or partakers, he adds the word soon, which is with, we get our word synthetic and other words like that with it. He doubles it up and he says, now do you understand? In my imprisonment, were partakers of grace with me. So what do we have?

21:55 Joy, confidence, and affection flow out of this partnership in grace that the Apostle Paul has with the Philippians. And therefore, that is how we can have joy in our relationships. We can have confidence that God is going to bring completion, to completion in others around us that we wonder, you know, is he ever going to deal with this particular characteristic of that person that rubs people the wrong way? Is God ever going to do that? Well, we can have confidence that he will and we can have affection for each other that flows out of partnership in grace.

23:23 And then we have the slave girl. And then we have the person that people could perhaps despise, a jailer who probably had some connection with the Romans. Maybe he was a retired Roman soldier himself. Here we have this huge span of relationships and places in society between just those three that we know about there in Philippi. And yet, there was joy, confidence, and affection because of the partnership in grace, because of being partakers of grace with them and with him.

24:16 So think about that. Lydia, the slave girl, the Philippian jailer with Paul, reminiscing about how they got together and what God's doing with them. What should we do? We should go and do the same. Are we able to...

24:38 Because knowing that we are in Christ and if others are in Christ, we are with each other. We are partners with each other. And therefore, their success is our success. And we're not islands to ourselves. And we include in those that we're close to people that are totally different than we are?

25:09 The joy here came not because the apostle Paul was like all these other people. He was totally unlike any of those three that we know so much about and yet he had affection, he had confidence, and he had joy in the relationship knowing that God who began a good work in them would complete it until the day of Jesus Christ. That was his mindset. And that's what he's trying to communicate here because, as you know, later in the book, we have Euodia and Syntyche, and they're not getting along. So what does he do?

25:49 He says, help them. Help them because they were partakers together in the work. They need your help. They're not getting along. And so he's laying it out here.

26:11 Now we stand back a little farther and see that the letter to the Philippians was written to thank them for supplying his need when he was in Rome in jail. Even as we've heard in this year, as we hear about people that get thrown in prison in Iran or in other places where Christians are persecuted, that their family has to bring food if they're going to eat. That was what was going on in Rome with Paul. And so he thanked them. He wrote the letter.

26:57 He sent it through Epaphroditus back to Philippi and thanked them for their gift to him. But he says, I've learned that whether I have little or whether I have enough that I can handle all things in Christ who strengthens me. Now, he took that opportunity not only to thank them, but to remind them of the partnership in the gospel. And so when they were getting weren't getting along and there wasn't much joy between Euodia and Syntyche, who was responsible to do something about it? The other partners in the gospel.

27:45 That's what this whole book is about. And the fruit that should come out, the fruit of joy, the fruit of confidence in God's work and others should come out because we understand what partnership in the gospel means. Just like Sam and Frodo knew what it meant for Gollum to be destroyed and for others that are going to be destroyed, and they did not stop until they accomplished the task of throwing the ring into the pit and destroying it so it would destroy no one else. So perhaps you're not feeling affection or confidence or joy regarding somebody else in your life, maybe a family member, member... Maybe a member of the family that you're a part of by marriage.

28:44 Maybe here in the congregation. Maybe somebody at work. A Christian brother that you work, with or somebody down the street. You should be focusing on partnership in ministry. There's something bigger than the bumps in your relationship.

29:11 There's something bigger than that. Do you see that? Is that your perspective? As you know, you can take a coin and put it in front of your eye and block out the sun. Or you can stand back and look at the whole landscape.

29:36 It's our choice. If we focus on our partnership in the gospel, we can handle the bumps in the road of our relationships. So good memories then flow out of working through those tough times together. So it's God's strategy to put you with others to dig in together and confirm the gospel by our ability to partner with others in the grace of God and overcome the strategy of the devil to destroy that partnership and therefore inhibit the gospel. How sad it is when members of families turn away from Christ because they don't see the power, the partnership in the gospel, and the joy, and the confidence that comes even in the middle of trouble because we don't know how to work through things.

30:50 And that was one of those things that Paul was mentioning here. Again, Euodia and Sytheca. And you, he says, help them. These people who had worked together as partners in the gospel now need your help. So it's God's strategy to put you with others to dig in together and confirm the gospel.

32:21 And that most of the brethren trusting in the Lord because of my imprisonment have far more courage to speak the word of God without fear. Some, to be sure, are preaching Christ even from envy and strife, but some also from goodwill. The latter out of love, knowing that I am appointed for the defense of the gospel. The groomer became Christ out of selfish ambition, thinking to cause me distress in my imprisonment. What then?

32:56 Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in this I rejoice. Yes, and I will rejoice. Here's the Ignatian Way. This is a satellite photo of Philippi. The Ignatian Way goes right through on towards Constantinople.

33:30 And you see there, there's an early Christian basilica, which is certainly later than the church because they were likely meeting in homes at that point. There's a library. There is the Agora, the open area and the theater. So that's the context in which these people were living during that time. So remember, we're learning that the theme is that partnership in the gospel brings joy even in trouble.

34:20 What trouble? Well, there was trouble between Euodia and Syntyche. There was trouble because whenever the gospel goes ahead, there is opposition. So partnership in the gospel brings joy even in trouble. And we are learning that Paul was praying joyfully with confidence and love for his partners in grace as we saw in the first eight verses.

34:56 But what did he pray? What was the content of that prayer that he was praying confidently and joyfully and with affection for his partners in grace? What did he pray for? Well, he prayed, first of all, that love would abound. When we're converted, God works in all aspects of our human nature, which is made in the image of God.

35:34 God has made us mind to receive the truth of God, emotions to receive the love of God, and will to be conformed to the holiness of God. And so now what does he pray? He prays right along those lines that we would be rounded, we would be full, we would be balanced. He prays first for love related to our emotions. That love would abound.

36:12 But along with that love, he prays that that love would abound in real knowledge so that their minds would be converted. And not only that, it wasn't just so that they could have their minds full of all the right information and that they would know the truth, but they would have truth and love in balance. Just as we see in John chapter one, that Christ came among us full of what? Grace and truth. So he prayed that love would abound and knowledge of the truth would abound that their emotions and their mind would be matured in Christ.

37:10 And he also prays that they would therefore be able to approve what is excellent so that their will would be engaged as well and it would be conformed to holiness. So they wouldn't be lopsided people. Martin Luther said, the last thing to get converted in a person's life is their wallet. Now, are other things that we could say that same thing for. And why?

37:47 Because we tend to be lopsided. Some people think that if they fill their mind with the truth, memorize scripture that that's all they need. Where's their love? And where is their obedience? Maybe neither one of those is being touched, but boy they can quote the bible.

38:11 And some people focus on love and that they love everybody, but their knowledge of the scriptures is very little and they don't bring the truth into those relationships that they have. And there are others who are always talking about how they obey God and why doesn't everybody get out and do things like I do? And yet, they don't love those people that they want to get out and they should be doing things for Christ like I do. And so, Paul prays for all three that their love would abound in real knowledge that they would be able to approve the excellent, balanced, and full in their life. We as churches tend to go one way or the other.

39:25 Ask yourself the question. How about me as a person, my family, this congregation? Is there one that we exalt above the others as the mark of maturity as a Christian? Or do we focus on all three? As the Apostle Paul prays for all three in their lives.

39:49 Truth their mind, love through their emotions, and holiness in what they approve and act out on in their lives. The whole person being converted. Well, what are the results of that? Well, he prays for character that they would be, and this is the fruit of it, that they would be sincere and blameless. That's one of the character fruits.

40:58 Praise because God is able to take people like the Philippian jailer, and like the young fortune telling woman, and a shrewd business woman like Lydia and balance their lives out so that there would be love between them. The truth would be in their minds and their actions would be holy actions and the gospel would spread. That's what he's praying for, for them. So here's the apostle Paul in prison. Modeling joy for his partners who were concerned for him.

41:50 And they send Epaphroditus with money so he can eat. Perhaps, he would buy the food and take it to Paul. No refrigeration. So maybe he had to do it often, gave the money perhaps to somebody who... One of the Christians who lived there, and then went back to Philippi with this letter.

42:15 So they were concerned for Paul in prison in Rome. But what does Paul say in this next section that we read together in verses 12 through 18. He says that prison brought progress in the gospel. And he's modeling joy in the midst of circumstances that aren't very joyful. And we read it we read it together.

42:50 My grandfather was a woodsman in the North Woods of the Lower Peninsula Of Michigan as I was growing up. And so I learned to handle an ax quite young. And so when I see this word here that Paul uses for making progress in the gospel, it interests me because it's the word in Greek pro, which means ahead or towards, kopto, which we get our English word chop from. So he's saying that even while he's in prison, he sees the gospel chopping ahead. And so he doesn't just talk to them about theoretical gospel power.

43:51 He talks to them from his own experience. He says that the whole Praetorian guard knows him and about him. And it gave courage to the brothers around him to trust God and speak the word of God with more power and more courage because of what they saw in the Apostle Paul. And don't we tend to grow when we can see others making progress, chopping ahead in areas that perhaps they had problems with in the past? Well, certainly, we do.

44:44 And we learn from people who become victors instead of victims. We see people in tough circumstances, and we we think back in Genesis as we'll see in a moment, the life of Joseph, for instance. Victors versus victims are interesting to all of us. Now, Paul was aware of mixed motives on the part of some of those that were preaching the gospel, that were making the gospel progress, even at his expense. He says some preach through envy or ambition, trying to hurt him, one seventeen, and others through goodwill, One fifteen he says.

45:41 But he's able to say, he's aware of mixed motives, but he's still able to say, so what? I rejoice because Christ is preached. There's the word joy again. That's the atmosphere. And he's demonstrated to them, modeling it for them, that I can have joy in partnership in the gospel, even when I see the flaws in those that are preaching the gospel with me.

46:12 Even some that have wrong motives in doing it. That's the kind of person that I want to learn from. Somebody who can be a victor instead of a victim in the middle of tough circumstances. Victims are dependent on others' actions for their moods and their actions. And joy is out there somewhere when this happens, when this gets taken care of, then I can have joy.

46:57 On the other hand, a victor has joy in Christ because of being a partaker of Christ in his death and resurrection and ascension, Identifying with Christ and partnering with others and the joy comes from that partnership with Christ and the progress of the gospel in others and it's not dependent on circumstances. Romans eight thirty one through 39 is certainly a famous section that we can learn from along line... Those lines. And I like the poem of Ella Wilcox in which it says, one ship sails east. Let's see.

47:58 That's east I think, isn't it? And the other west regardless of how the wind blows. It's not the gale, but the set of the sail that determines which way we go. Paul had set his sail first in partnership with Christ, then in partnership with these in Philippi, and then even in partnership with those in Rome, even when some of them weren't very mature and in fact, were taking advantage of him. And you notice he didn't confront those who were preaching with wrong motives.

49:39 I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. I can do being in prison when the gospel is chopping ahead even though it's coming out of the mouth of people who have wrong motives. And maybe inside, he would have liked to knock a few heads together. But he didn't. But yet with Alexander, he said, watch out for him.

50:16 We need discernment to know when it's time to speak and when it's time not to. But you notice, he still had joy in both of those cases. It didn't destroy him. He didn't become a victim in either of those. So let's try this on for ourselves.

50:43 Let's say someone has hurt you, so you find it difficult to minister. You're not going to be a part of that small group anymore. You're not going to be in that music group. You're not going to help with the youth group anymore because, well, something happened and I just don't want to talk to so and so about it. Or somebody's kid did this to my kid and I'm just gonna, you know, not have anything to do with them.

51:20 Someone has hurt you, so you find it difficult to minister, and you draw back. So are you focusing on others or on God's kingdom and our partnership in the gospel? Are you growing in discernment and knowing when it's time to speak, when it is time to act, keeping joy all the time more than protecting your own feelings? So somebody has hurt you and you find it difficult to be around them and minister with them. Are you still focused on hearing well done good and faithful servant or on avoiding pain?

52:15 Because this is painful. It kind of comes down to this. Are you an investing partner with Jesus in his work or a consumer? Are you in it for what you get out of it including your the feelings you get out of it at any particular time? Or do you know because you have been placed into Christ and others are placed into Christ that there's partnership in the gospel and you're confident that God will continue his work and you hear the call like the others in Philippi did.

53:07 Help Euodia and Syntyche because they can't figure this out themselves. And because they were partners in the gospel, maybe it was Lydia, maybe it was the jailer who went and helped them work it out. I had to ask myself a question like this. Can I let someone else be wrong and still do what I'm called to do? And I think that's a good question for us to ask ourselves.

53:50 Can I let somebody else be wrong? That's what the apostle Paul did here. He was able to let those other people who were preaching the gospel out of wrong motives, and he knew it. He was able to let them be wrong. Some of us have trouble letting others be wrong, and therefore, we go and speak to them or to others.

54:31 Do you know what so and so did? They're wrong. Or we go and speak to that person directly. I don't agree with you. Well, sometimes that's okay.

54:50 Paul said, watch out for Alexander the coppersmith. Why? Because he was a dangerous person. That's different than those that were preaching the gospel. Perhaps they were trying to cash in, so to speak, on Paul's reputation and trying to become well known by being in public.

55:24 It's not clear from the scriptures, but it's there. He let them be wrong. And it doesn't appear that he went and told them off. Doesn't appear they did that. Now he did write it in this letter and we know it today.

55:46 But notice how he did it and why he did it. In order to help those in Philippi learn what partnership in the gospel is, and that includes sometimes letting somebody else be wrong and still doing what we're supposed to do. And remember that I can do this in Christ who strengthens me. And I can be confident that he began a good work in so and so, and he'll carry it out, and he might even use me, but he might use somebody else. In the meantime, I can let him be wrong.

57:22 I have overcome the world. To seek ye first, of course, comes from Matthew six thirty three. Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. And then in John sixteen thirty three, In this world, you will have tribulation. We need to expect it, but be of good cheer.

58:26 And I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. I can help Euodia and Syntyche. I can live, if I'm the Philippian jailer, around a successful business woman and around a former slave girl. And I can let people be wrong. And yet I can have joy and I can have confidence that God began a good work and he's gonna complete it to the day of Christ.

59:00 That's why I have joy. That's why I can do all these things in Christ who strengthens me. Because partnership in the gospel brings joy even in the middle of trouble. Let's pray. We thank you, father in heaven, for the power of the gospel to chop ahead in tough circumstances.

59:33 And our brothers and sisters around the world who are in jail or being physically persecuted. Learn that. And we want to learn that as well because we see trouble more in the last couple years than we've seen other times. And so we ask, oh, God, that you would work in us, enabling us to see what it means to be partners in the gospel. First with Christ, then with others.

60:08 And learn how to be joyful even when others are wrong. Learn how to speak up when it's time to speak up. Let others be wrong when it's time to let them be wrong. Help us to grow in love in our emotions, truth in our minds, and holiness in our wills as we make choices based on what we learn from your word, but in love for you and and others. We thank you for the power of Christ who has made us partners together with him and with each other.

60:57 We trust that you'll complete that until the day he returns. And we pray it in Christ's name. Amen.