Philippians: Gospel Partnership

And we're actually kicking off a new series today. We're going to be here for the next six weeks or so as we work our way through what is actually quite a short book in the New Testament, the Book of Philippians. And we've called this series Living for what Lasts. We always try to come up with a title that will hopefully resonate with us, that will help us to remember what we work through with this book. But we'll see this really clear message throughout Philippians that there is a call to live with purpose, that there is a call repeatedly, over and over again, to have lives overflowing with joy and to have perseverance in Christ, no matter our circumstances.

Now, those sound like pretty good things, don't they? If that's all we get from the book, then fantastic. I'm excited to get that. But it actually fits really well with our new church vision, which you probably know you've been hearing a lot, this idea of Jesus for generations, which is this challenge to us to live with a generational view, to live beyond just this moment or today, and to live looking forward to what God might have us build for his kingdom. So today we're in Philippians chapter one.

You can turn there if you've got your Bibles with you. Open them up. Philippians Chapter one. And we've just set our sights this morning on just the first 11 verses. So nothing too ambitious.

It's not like some of the ones I've done, where it's only been two verses. We've got 11 verses today. And so we're gonna spend some time opening God's Word together. And as we do that, would you join me as we pray our God? We thank you for your word.

We thank you for the fact that it still speaks to us today. We thank you that you promised that the Holy Spirit brings it to life in our lives, that it might be more than just words on a page, but it would be life and truth in our spirits. And so we pray through your Holy Spirit that you would speak, speak to us today. Do a new work in us. We pray in Jesus name.

Amen. Amen. So Philippians 1:1 says this. This letter is from Paul and Timothy, slaves of Christ Jesus. I am writing to all of God's people in Philippi who belong to Christ Jesus, including the church leaders and deacons.

May God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give you grace and peace. Now, we'll pause there because Paul starts his letter as we come to expect from New Testament letters, in that he announces right at the get go, the author. So in modern letters, you turn to the end and you have to turn the pages to see who it's from. Paul says up front that this is a letter from Paul, but I actually think that Paul's anticipation would be, not that we would call this Paul's letter to the Philippians, as it often gets called, but Paul was anticipating we would refer to it as Paul and Timothy's letter, because right up front, Timothy is there as a co author of this letter that Paul is writing to the believers at Philippi. Now there's probably a reason for this.

Well, there certainly is a reason. Probably the reason is that Paul is planning to send Timothy to, to the believers at Philippi and he wants them to understand the authority from which he comes. He wants them to understand that Timothy is up there as an author of this important letter, that he has Paul's full endorsement. Now, before we move any further, I want us to touch on two things which are going to help us across the course of this study. Firstly, the setting.

So firstly the setting. So you might recall a few things about Philippi from when we worked through the Book of acts. We spent 30 something weeks a couple of years ago working through the Book of Acts. And for those who are here from it, we spent a few moments there in Philippi with Paul. But Philippi wasn't a big city at the time of Paul.

It was only about 15,000 people. And so it's a decent size for the time, but it certainly is not comparable to Rome, but it's in a really important location. It's on the Via Ignatia. Now, if you remember back to year nine history, which for some of you is a very long time ago, for some of you it's not that long ago, but you might have learned about that that was the key highway of the ancient world. It was the road and they lived on it.

They lived in this key place. The other thing, because of a battle that had happened on the outskirts of Philippi, Philippi had been commissioned, ordained as a Roman colony. Now we hear this idea of colony, we think that's a bad thing. But back then, if you're a Roman colony, that was really, really important. You see, the believers, sorry, the people in Philippi got special privileges because it was a Roman colony.

So they got tax breaks, they got free land for retired soldiers. It was a desirable place to live with, full of wealthy Romans. They were really proud of their status. To live there and to be a Roman citizen was a significant thing. And they were proud of it.

And so when Paul has turned up there some 10 years before, he writes Philippians to them, he comes to them and he says, hey, there's actually a better place to be a citizen of. So you think it's a big deal being a citizen of Rome, but actually there's a better place to be a citizen, and it's this new kingdom. Paul says to them, hey, I want you to give your loyalty to Christ, not to Rome. Now, that was a big deal. He invited them to shift their identity, their loyalty, the whole way.

They saw the world to shift that, and many of them did. So, firstly, the setting, secondly, the relationship, because Paul's relationship with the believers there was really significant. You see, you can go back and listen to the messages. I went and tracked down which ones they were, if you want to go and find them. This week on our website, there's an easy sort function.

The series was called Sent, and it was a Study in Acts, week 21 and week 22 of that series, we did sermons that were set here in Philippi. And so I'd encourage you this week you can listen to it on podcast or watch it online at home. But in Acts 16, we read that Paul and Silas had intended to travel elsewhere, but the doors kept getting shut for them. And so then Paul has this vision of a man from Macedonia and saying, come and help us. And so they obeyed, and they found themselves in Philippi, a place that was so untouched by the Jewish faith that it didn't even meet the requirements of a synagogue.

They had to have something like 10 Jewish males to have a synagogue, and they didn't even have that in Philippi. And so when Paul arrives, he actually finds a group of women down by the riverbank praying. And he goes there and he meets Lydia, and she becomes the first person in Philippi to respond to the Gospel. And what's incredible about Lydia is also her home becomes the first location of the Philippian Church. And we saw the way that God works through her and the way that she becomes a leader, a significant figure in the Philippian Church.

But it was also in Philippi. You might know this story where Paul and Silas are being pestered by this slave girl who is struggling with an oppressive spirit. And so Paul, in this moment of compassion, he responds and he casts out the evil spirit. But this slave girl had been earning money for her masters. And so the town is in uproar because Paul has now, by setting this girl free, has now robbed the masters of their livelihood.

And so Paul and Silas are beaten with Rods, and they're thrown into a local prison. But it's what happens in the prison that's incredible, because in the prison, in the dead of night, shackled in chains, bloodied from a vicious beating, Paul and Silas pray and they sing, and God responds in power. See, an earthquake happens. All the prison doors are open. The shackles fall off them.

And the jailer is so struck by this and the fact that Paul and Silas haven't escaped, and that he gives Paul the opportunity to share the gospel with him. And the jailer and his whole family choose to follow Jesus. It's this amazing, incredible moment. And so, some 10 years later, Paul writes to the church at Philippi, and this time he finds himself in prison again. But he's not in a jail in Philippi.

He's in Rome. He's under house arrest. He's waiting to appear before Caesar. He has a guard shackle to him. And Paul writes knowing that death is probably near.

Now, that's incredible, isn't it? When we read the words of this letter and you see Paul's call to joy, we have to remember that this is a guy who is riding shackled, waiting to appear before Caesar with the very high chance that death is waiting for him. And so Paul writes this letter, and we discover later in the letter what has prompted him to write over. In chapter four, the church at Philippi has sent one of their leaders, epaphrodites, to Rome to see Paul with a generous financial gift for practical support for Paul's ministry. And as Paul receives this gift from the church at Philippi, his heart overflows.

Because to Paul, this isn't just a church that he planted, a place where he ministered. These were people that had opened their homes to him. They had risked their reputation. They had shared in his sufferings. They had stood with him again and again, and they'd shifted their allegiance from Rome to Jesus, and they had partnered with him in the Gospel.

And we see throughout the book, throughout this letter, a compelling picture of what it means to partner in the work of the Gospel. So let's go back to those first couple of verses. We have here a couple of brief things that I just want to highlight for you. Notice that Paul describes him and Timothy as slaves of Christ. And he uses the word doulos here.

It's this Greek word that describes, literally, one who serves another to the disregard of their own interests. Now, I want us, as we read this letter, and as we're challenged by what it says, to recall this, that Paul starts at the very front saying, I'm a slave of Christ, of all the people who could have claimed an important title, of all the people who could have written some grand and lofty position, he says, my identity is in Christ. My identity is in Jesus. It is above my own interests. It's in serving him and serving you.

And so when Paul asks us to do the same, we should listen. And secondly, Paul addresses his letter a bit differently this time because he writes it to not just the believers, but he actually specifically mentions the leaders of the church. Now we get this impression that the Philippian Church is a growing, structured, well organized church. There are people in leadership roles who identified as pastoring and caring and guiding the believers. And later on in the series, we'll see what Paul has to say specifically to the leaders of the church.

And so let's continue on in verses three to eleven, because in the remainder of this section that we're going to look at today, there are two main things that happen here. Firstly, we have Paul's thanksgiving for the Philippians in verses three to eight. And then we have Paul's prayer for them, which takes us through to verse 11. So let's read verses 3 to 8. It says this every time I think of you, I give thanks to my God.

Whenever I pray, I make my request for all of you with joy. For you have been my partners in spreading the good news about Christ from the time you first heard it until now. And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue this work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns. So it is right that I should feel as I do about all of you, for you have a special place in my heart. You share with me the special favor of God, both in my imprisonment and in defending and confirming the truth of the good news.

God knows how much I love you and long for you with the tender compassion of Christ Jesus. Now, I want you to notice here the deep affection that fills Paul's words. These are not some distant, lofty words of a great figure of faith. Instead, Paul writes as a pastor to his people, and he even says, you hold a special place in my heart. Paul says, every time I think of you, I give thanks to God.

And when I pray for you, it literally fills my heart to with joy. And he says, why? Because you have been my partners in spreading the good news about Christ from the time you first heard it until now. The word that Paul uses here for partners is translated from the Greek word koinonia, and it speaks of a deep Fellowship, shared purpose and joint participation. So Paul isn't saying, hey, you guys are over there cheering me on.

You're super encouraging. You're saying, go on, Paul, you go and spread the gospel. You go and do God's work. We're cheering you on. Instead, Paul is saying, you have been fully invested spiritually and materially in the work of proclaiming Christ.

Now if we jump ahead briefly to Philippians 4, verses 15 and 16, I'm just stealing my own thunder for a few weeks time. We have this section here where Paul says this. As you know, you Philippians were the only ones who gave me financial help when I first brought you the good news and then traveled on from Macedonia. No other church did this. Even when I was in Thessalonica, you sent me help more than once.

Here in chapter four, Paul uses the same word. He uses the verb form now of Koinonia. He says, you were the only ones who gave me financial help. It's the same idea as chapter one and verse five. Paul is saying, when you gave me financial help, you didn't just donate money, you shared in the ministry itself.

He's making a really clear point here, that their generosity was an expression of shared mission. Back in chapter one, Paul follows on from this declaration in verse six with this and I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns. Now that is probably the most well known passage in this section of Philippians. In this first 11 verses we quote it often. We declare the biblical truth that what God starts, he will finish.

Now that is absolutely a biblical truth. So there's nothing wrong with looking at the verse that way. But Paul's actually writing this passage with specific context. The good work that he's talking about here is the work of gospel partnership that God has started in them. Paul's declaring to us really clearly that their gospel partnership, their practical generosity, was evidence of God's grace at work.

And he is confident that God will continue to shape them into gospel partnered people until the very end. And Paul says to them, continuing this same idea, verse seven, you share with me the special favour of God, both in my imprisonment and in defending and confirming the truth of the good news. He continues this same idea. The original Greek, if you were to pull it up, by all means go for it. The original Greek makes it really clear that these verses are all talking about the same idea.

Sometimes our English translation, Chris has got it there, you can talk to him later.

Sometimes our English Translations. The way that it's translated makes us wonder, maybe it's talking about different things, but it's not here. It's the same extension of Koinonia. From verse five, Paul is saying, you haven't just supported me from a distance, you've stood with me shoulder to shoulder in the grace of this calling. Now, that phrase, special favor, it's literally translated as the grace.

Now, perhaps in the version you're using, I think NIV maybe or esv, I know has it as God's grace, translated as God's grace. But that can make us think that maybe it's talking about salvation. But what he's actually saying here is, you share with me the grace. He's speaking about the grace of gospel work. The grace of gospel work.

It's the same language that is used in 2 Corinthians 8 where he describes the generosity of the Macedonian churches. And he talks about it as the grace God has given them, the grace. You see, Paul's making it clear that their partnership isn't just helpful, it's literally God's grace at work in their life. And so Paul is saying that when you share this grace with me, you're saying, we're in this together, this spirit led gospel life. You're part of it with me, and that's God's grace in you.

And so whether I'm in chains or not, you are full participants in what God is doing. And then we move on to the last section, which is Paul's prayer for them, the last couple of verses here he says this. I pray that your love will overflow more and more, and that you'll keep on growing in knowledge and understanding. For I want you to understand what really matters, so that you may live pure and blameless lives until the day of Christ's return. May you always be filled with the fruit of your salvation, the righteous character produced in your life by Jesus Christ, for this will bring much glory and praise to God.

This is Paul's prayer for them, as traditionally he starts his letter with words of thanksgiving and a prayer. And his prayer for them is actually quite simple. He wants them to love well and to live wisely. Now, I think there's a bit of a tension here because we often think, well, maybe we don't. But we kind of act as if you kind of have to choose between love and knowledge, that you can kind of either be passionate about truth and doctrine, or you can be loving and gracious, but you can't be both.

I know that there's that dichotomy set up in the modern church that you can either have truth and knowledge or you can have love and grace. But somehow we think that you can't have both. But Paul, notice he doesn't separate the two. He holds them together. He prays that their love would overflow more and more, but that it would be shaped by.

By knowledge and understanding. You see, he's not calling them to shallow love, nor is he calling them to cold, heartless theology. He's saying, I want you to grow in love and I want you to grow in knowledge. I want you to be people whose love is rich and overflowing and whose wisdom helps you to discern what really matters so that your lives can reflect Christ in every way. What a prayer that is.

Like, that's a really hard thing to do. And no wonder. It's something that Paul prayed for this growing church. Hey, I want you to love well, and I want you to live wisely.

This morning, as we draw to a close, I want to just share two simple reflections, two things that I'd encourage you to take away and mull over this week, two things that hopefully encourage you and speak to you if you are looking for something there this morning. Hopefully the Holy Spirit has already spoken to you through God's Word. But I want to speak to you about two things, partnering and belonging. Two very simple points this morning. Hopefully you can remember them.

Partnering and belonging. What stands out to me in this opening section of Philippians is the way that Paul speaks about their generosity. Because for him, generosity isn't a side issue. He doesn't just mention it and move on. He comes back to it over and over and over again.

And we'll see it throughout the letter, because he says to them, the generosity, this partnership, this koinonia, you have carried a deep commitment in the work of the Gospel. Now, if you haven't been here for more than a few weeks, you'll know that we don't really put a big focus on giving. We certainly don't stand up and hassle you and try and pressure you or twist God's word to try and guilt you into giving. And I hope that's not what you're hearing from me today, because we don't even preach about it that much in sermons. It's just that today's your lucky day.

So well done being in church. But if we want to be faithful to preaching God's Word, which is a huge thing for us, like we want to preach all of God's Word really faithfully, we have to grapple with this, too. Now, some of us really don't like this because we're being brought up maybe in churches or we've had experience in churches where they have hassled or guilted us. Like, I can give you some shocking examples of things that I've been in, not this church, but in other places where there's been just this guilt trip, this pressure. And I don't respond well to pressure.

And so you won't hear that from us. I also think it's something that hasn't necessarily been taught well from pulpits. I don't think the church has done this particularly well because there's been often a focus that the primary purpose of giving is so that you can get blessings from God. Now, I reckon if Paul heard that, he would be dismayed. Look, I think if Paul heard that, that the idea that you should give so you get blessed, I think he'd be dumbfounded.

I think he'd be saying, it's so much better than that. Like, why would you worry about that? To financially be generous is at the heart of spiritual maturity and gospel partnership. You see, Paul doesn't use guilt. He doesn't argue that you're obliged to.

He makes it really clear that their gospel partnership, their generosity, is evidence of God's grace at work in their life. I want you to hear this. This morning, what Paul says is. Well, he doesn't say, I've done ministry and you've helped me out a little bit. He says, we've been shoulder to shoulder because of your faithfulness and your generosity.

The work of ministry that I, Paul, have done, you have done, too.

Paul is saying that when I've preached and people have come to know the grace in Jesus, you are fully responsible for that. It's as if you have preached too. And Paul makes that point really clear to us because he actually goes on in the verses that follow, and I'm not going to steal James thunder for next week, but in the verses that follow, he gives in all of his letters the longest ministry progress update. He says, this is what's happening in Rome. This is what's happening in Rome.

And it's happening in Rome because of you, because of your partnership. And so there's an encouragement and a challenge here to those who you are already, through the grace of God, living this out. I'd say the same to you. The work that God is doing here, the way he's growing this church, the fact that lives are being touched and changed, people are coming to know Jesus, the outworking the fruit that we're gonna see from this 2030 plan. That is because of your gospel partnership.

That is because when people are being saved, that is the fruit of. Of the grace of God in your life. And so for those that. That is you, I would say a deep and grateful thank you. Thank you for your generosity.

Thank you for the evidence of God's grace in your life. And then perhaps there's a challenge to us who maybe we're being burned in the past. Maybe we've thought financial giving doesn't have a place in the New Testament church. You know, that's an Old Testament. That whole tithing thing's an Old Testament Christ practice.

But it doesn't have a place here.

Maybe you've been pressured and guilted in the past and you're saying, I just don't want anything to do with it. Well, Paul would say, let it overflow from you as evidence of the gospel partnership that God has called you to. And so I'd encourage you to prayerfully consider what God might be speaking to you about today. Second point as we finish. Belonging.

Belonging. Because Paul's words here at the opening of Philippians are deeply personal. As I made the point before, he doesn't speak like some distant apostle, but instead he writes as a friend, as a partner in gospel life. His affection is real. And it's the kind of affection that only comes from Christ.

See, Paul saw those believers at Philippi as his family. He belonged to them and they belonged to him. And so you can imagine the excitement that I can picture as Paul. Sorry. As Epaphrodites returns to Philippi.

And as he opens this letter to read, you can imagine the excitement because Paul, their brother, is writing to them from a prison in Rome. And my encouragement to you this morning is this. My hope is that Horizon would be that kind of place for you as well. See, part of our 2030 plan is that we would be a church of deeply connected people. So my prayer is that there would be people here that you pray for consistently, that you thank God, God for regularly, that you stand beside when things get tough.

And my prayer is that you'd find those people for you as well, that you would have those people in your life who pray for you, who love you, who care for you. And you can find that here on a Sunday morning. Absolutely you can. But I know the place that it often is found is in small groups, connect groups, finding people to live out life with. And so my encouragement to you would be, who has God placed in your life this week?

To encourage, to lift up in prayer. Who is it that needs to hear from you, similar to what Paul declares to the church at Philippi, you belong. I'm thankful for you and we're in this together.

Our God, we thank you for your word, Lord, we thank you that it brings challenge. Lord, let that settle in our hearts in a way that we don't respond to with anger or with defensiveness. But, God, we allow your Holy Spirit to just let it churn over. Let us grapple, let us meditate on what you might be saying to us through your word. God, let us be people who see God's grace in our life as Paul describes it here, as gospel partnership.

Lord, let us see our generosity not as some kind of token for blessings from you, but see our generosity as literally the word work of ministry. That as we give God, that we would see fruit from that. That as people's lives are changed and transformed, as people grow in faith, as people are connected in as they lead, Lord, that we would see that fruit as evidence of the grace of God in our life. And God, too. We pray that you would help us to know that we belong, Father.

That we would invest in deep relationships so that we too might have that own love and affection that Paul models to the believers in Philippi.

Lord, knowing that through your spirit at work in people who are so different, that you knit us and bind us together as a family, as brothers and sisters in Christ, so help us to know that we belong. We ask you this in Jesus name. Amen.