Well, as you know, last week we started a series in the book of Philippians. You're invited to turn to the book of Philippians, chapter 1, page 1164 in those Bibles that are in front of you, and we are working through verse 11 today. So actually the text is verses 3 through 11. this morning. I anticipated moving quickly through this, but that's not going to happen. This is wonderful. So, Philippians chapter 1, let's give our attention to the word of the Lord. Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, to all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi, with the overseers and deacons, grace to and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank my God in all my remembrance of you always and every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. And I'm sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. 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 defense and confirmation of the gospel. For God is my witness, how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus. And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God. And there will end the reading of God's Word. One of the things that I think the church needs most right now, which is what led me to this book, to begin this series, is really in this present time in which we live, the church needs encouragement. The church needs a lot of encouragement. Because there is so much, to be really simple in saying this, there's so much taking our eyes off of Christ. There's so much taking our eyes off of Jesus. And the distractions, of course, are everywhere. Divisions, plagues, society, problems seem to be nothing but growing mountains in front of us. Do the problems of our world and society, does anyone really believe we're ever going to see them end? And yet we live like we can finally beat something, we'll be good. Something else will come. Something else will come. And there's just a lot of pressure on people right now. There's a lot of pressure. And it's easy at moments like this, as you know. Just look at the fruits in the world. Look at what's happening in the world. It's easy to turn inward. It's easy to disconnect. It's been really easy through all of this to isolate, to take on burdens alone, to stay thinking that only these things that are the problems of the present evil age are the real problems. The big problems, the things that we must concern ourselves with the most. And in the process, we forget the light that we enjoy together. The gospel that unites us. The fellowship that energizes us. The fellowship that gives us purpose. All of that. And this is exactly what Paul is focused on here right out of the gates in Philippians chapter 1 to help this church. It really is one of the most important little books to help keep a church on track in troublesome times. And Paul, in the difficult times in which he finds himself, as we've looked at already in the introduction, he's in prisonment when he's writing this. In the difficult times in which Paul finds himself, and in the difficult situations that he knows the church is facing, he is helping them and reorienting their minds to think about what gospel fellowship means. What is gospel fellowship all about? What is a servant in times like this? What is the church intended to be? And Paul wants you to say together, and he wants you to understand that the church is designed to be the greatest blessing to you through all of these times and help to you. To rejoice in what you share in. You'll notice how much participation is such a big theme in this first chapter. To rejoice in what you're participating in. Well, with that in mind, I want to look at Philippians chapter 1, these opening verses again. And when you don't know what to title a sermon, you just put part 2. So that's what I did. Gospel Fellowship part 2. Okay. I want to look at this morning Paul's encouragement to this church to begin with, and then his emphasis on his partnership with this church and why that is so important for an apostle to link together partnership with the church. It's really a big moment. And then to hear at the end his prayer for this church so you understand exactly what he's after for this struggling church. We outlined two problems last time. Maybe I should say it again. the encouragement to the church, the partnership with the church, and the prayer for the church. We outlined two problems last time that Paul is dealing with in Philippi. I made the case that external pressure from the culture was driving internal division in the church. And we've just lived all of this. We've seen all of this in the times in which we lived. Division was brewing Internally, there was strife happening. Internally, there was problems of posturing and selfishness and advancing of agendas. It's so bad that he mentions in chapter 4 two women who were fighting. He mentions them by name, and he calls out Clement and other brothers in the church to help those who were fighting in the church. So it's going to have a lot of practical help in that regard. And you'll remember last time that in the midst of all of the external cultural pressure that they were facing from threats of persecution in the empire, he gave a great call. I want you to stand fast in one spirit, with one mind, striving together for the faith of the gospel. So there was a real plea that Paul's working, and we're going to get to, to sort of help break down the book. But that's where I'm really beginning today with, is how do you help a church that's struggling. This church is not like Galatia. Oh, Galatia. They had departed from the gospel. They had left the gospel. They went back to a message of you're perfected by your works, and Paul is in their face in that. There's nothing really joyful in that epistle to the Galatians. What's interesting is, is how really happy and joyful this epistle is. He's commending this church. He loves this church, but he sees what is the real threat to this church. And how do you help a church like that, that's struggling in that way? Well, the first thing that he does in this book is remind them of their participation and their fellowship in the gospel. But then he turns to this statement that I want to begin with today, the encouragement, as I said in this first point that I think is the backbone to everything here that he's going to say in Philippians. It's the verse we all love, but the verse we have to understand in context. And I think it's a real driving verse to everything he's aiming for in his attempt to help and encourage a church struggling in the present evil age in which we live and finding itself in confusion. And you know this verse. Let me back up just for a minute so I can read it right in context. Where he says there, if you'll notice there in verse 5, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, and I'm sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. I'm really confident of this. I'm saying something that I'm totally persuaded, says Paul, in my mind about you. That there is no doubt that I have as an apostle, I have every reason to believe this. That God, who started the work in you, is going to finish it. now I don't think you can underestimate the importance of such a statement I mean that's the verse we pen up on our walls Paul was saying to the church and it applies to to to to the each believer think on this just for a minute origins are important beginnings are important think about the beginnings of something for a minute remember we looked at last week the church in Ephesus was struggling. And the thing that the Lord said to them, I want you to go back and consider the first works that you did. The first that drove real love in the body of Christ. Because whatever you've come to at this point, it doesn't look like that back then. There's something about origins and beginnings. You know this. There's excitement. There's joy in a work. There's a freshness to everything. There's a new beginning. And in any new beginning that's, especially when you were first converted. Anybody know that story? Remember your time? Remember where it was? You have a real sense God was with you. You had a real sense that God was doing a work. You had a real sense of his power in your life. You have to appreciate the context for many of these Philippian Christians. They had come out of sheer paganism. They had come out of all of the darkness of the Roman Empire, and these were big conversions to Christ. Think about what he's saying. He who began the good work in you, He who started it all, who started it? God did. You didn't start it. You didn't call yourself out of darkness into light. You didn't regenerate your heart. You didn't bring yourself to the truth. You didn't create your new life. God did all that. Here's the really good news about all that. That truth, at the beginning, it had a goal. What God starts, he finishes. That's not in question. And you are going to be revealed glorious. He's going to say this in chapter 4. My crown on the day of Jesus Christ. That's my crown. It's you being revealed that way on glory on that day. You see, Paul wanted all of them to understand just how magnificent it was to belong to the church. And God's work, as God's work, God completes what he starts. God's doing a grand building project. God's adding stones to this. And when he saves somebody and he builds this beautiful edifice, he's going to finish it. You're going to see that. And whether that end goal, right, will be achieved is not in question. And it doesn't hinge on you. It's his work to complete. So you see what he's doing up front. How do you help a church in troubled times? The first thing that he's doing is really saying, I want you to believe in what God started in you. That he's going to finish it. To really believe that God makes good on his workings of grace in your lives, in the kingdom of God, as a collective body. This is more of a collective emphasis in this statement. They had to know and understand as a community, God finishes what he starts. So Paul is impressing this truth upon the church to have confidence that their entire work of believing the gospel, having become participants in the gospel ministry, every single bit of it is a work of God. Perseverance of the saints is a wonderful truth, beloved. Why in the world would somebody fight against that? And people do. What makes salvation so magnificent is that God in sovereign election and in sovereign power, according to the good pleasure of his will, raises people from death out of the spiritual graves, the death graves that they are in, and saves them and gives them life so that they will reach glory on that day. That's what he's saying here. And bring us to that day in victory. Philippians needed to know this. God's love founded in him. It's an enduring love. It's a persevering love. Why is he starting here, though? Why do you have to start there? I can't help but think that they were constantly losing perspective of this. Perseverance of the saints is a biblical truth, secondarily right, and then a reformed truth. Reformed truths are not easy to hold on to, are they? That's why we're always fighting to hold on to these truths. A loss of perspective, of sovereign grace, has bad effects in the body of Christ. Let me say that again. A loss of perspective of sovereign grace has bad fruit in the body of Christ. It's that glorious news that drives the church. It's that glorious news that drives the work. Which with, we will have no basis for love and good works in the body of Christ if we don't believe it's God's project. You see? We put it pretty much on us. What did I say last time? Do pressures from the world, do hatred from the world, do threats from the world, does anxiety about the future, how our children are going to make it, how we're going to survive in troubled times, does all that pressure and threat bring peace? Oh, no. It's very Arminian. Makes you worried. It takes away any confidence in the sovereignty of God. This is why it anticipates Philippians 4, be anxious for nothing. Because you got a God who just told you he's going to finish what he started. And yet you say, I'm so worried about my kids. Who's got them? Whose covenant are they in? Do these worries make us confident in the sovereignty of God? What we forget is who is involved in this, whose work this is, and appreciating that God is with us and God is working among us. If you don't have that understanding, what do you think your attitude to the church will look like? Draw the line. Attitudes in the church for most part today has no real effect on people's lives. That's why evangelicalism's crumbling right now. People wouldn't act the way they do about coming to worship, about feeling forced to come to a service, about serving their neighbor, about involving themselves in being a servant, about listening attentively to the word of God if they really believed that God was in our presence and it's his work, they wouldn't think like that. But they think God's far from us. So they substitute God for ways to try to make it something. I just want an experience in worship. Because the struggle is, we don't believe anything's happening. You have really three stages to the Christian life. The beginning is this renewing and this beautiful moment of something brand new. And then you move into the struggle of the Christian life, which is rather disorienting at times. And then you reach glory. I have a picture of me holding up the first block to this building. The styrofoam block. Isn't that something to think about? And I put it up over my head. I don't know where it went. We'll find it. This has taken a little while, hasn't it? How many people that I hear say, when is this ever going to get done? We just see not much happening at times. And a few workers. And all of a sudden, you've got this glorious building that's done and beautiful. Maybe you could hold on to that as an illustration of the whole project you're involved in. Maybe it was good for us to watch that. The excitement of holding up the first block and the plans and then the struggle to get through it. And then the glorious edifice that was built that we finally see. You see, Paul is helping them with this. I started the work of salvation in you. I know it's hard. I know it seems like nothing's happening. I know this gets rather mundane. I know it seems like I'm absent at times. I know there's opposition. I know you wish that I would zap all your enemies right now. But listen to me. I'm going to finish this. And it's going to be awesome. Your future, your care, your perseverance rests on me, says the Lord. And I think what Paul does now is encourage them in the second point. See, I got there. The partnership of the gospel. Paul began this book and basically said, you know what my joy is? You know what my thankfulness is? You know what makes my prayers full of happiness? Now think of where he is, beloved. I don't know too many who've been in prison here. Prison's a lonely place. He's in prison. You know what my happiness is? You know what makes me in prison pray with joy? It's your very existence as the body of Christ that you participate with me in the gospel. It's right for me to feel this way about you all because I hold you in my heart. Notice what he says. This is such a pastor. For you are all partakers with me of grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel. For God is my witness, how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus. What a pastor's heart. love these people. But what he's saying is, you misunderstand what you share in. We're together in this. This is an apostle telling him this. We are partners, and there's a partnership in this gospel ministry. Paul sits in prison, suffering intensely for the gospel, a gospel that meant so much to him. He records he went through this. Five times from the Jews, I received 40 stripes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked. A night and a day I've been in the deep. In journeys often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen, in perils of Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in the sea, in false brethren, in weariness and toil, in sleeplessness often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness. And besides all that, what comes upon me daily is my deep concern for all the churches. You think you got it bad. Talk about feeling like God was doing nothing. And the point he's making is, through all this hardship, you're evidence that he's working because you've received grace through my ministry. And that the power of the Gospels rescued your souls from death. We've labored to this sin. And we're going to die for this. So that on that day, you guys would be presented perfect in Christ Jesus. So here's the connection. In your difficulties. In your hardship. You are partakers in that same ministry. The same ministry. The same partnership. Of the same gospel. And the same grace that was given to you, that was given to me. See what he's saying? Is going to be given to the person next to you through you. Same grace. You forget what you're involved in. I do. Something way bigger than just you. You know, this anticipates verse 29. I think it's one of my favorites in the book. Listen to this. For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ, you should not only believe in him. Stop. Your belief was granted by God. Did you hear that? You didn't just choose him. Your belief was a gift granted to you. Then he says something else. Not only was this granted to you for the sake of Christ that you should believe in him. Ready? but also to suffer for his sake, engaged in the same conflict that you saw I had and now here that I still have. He linked it all together. You've forgotten. Here's what you've forgotten. That in the difficulties and the hardships and the sufferings that you're experiencing in the world, listen to me. They're all appointed. All of it's appointed. That's what he just said. What we're dealing with in American culture is that American culture has trained us to be pampered to death. We're pampered to death. We think we can't get sick. We think we can overcome all sorrow. We don't know how to be sick. And we don't know how to die. What do you think he's going to get to in the next section for me to live as Christ and to die as gain. The pampering of Americans and American Christians. And Paul says to this first century church, you know why I'm in chains? You know why you're struggling? Because this same conflict has been appointed. Imagine if you looked at life that way. Whatever he's bringing us through is for the sake of the gospel. Instead of the fruits that he was seeing in Philippi, separation, division, isolation, distancing, check out. Imagine if we looked at the appointed affliction serve a greater end. But you see, all the discouragement, the lack of being able to think through these things was really hurting the church. Now, the implication is this. If one of the primary problems in the church was internal unrest, posturing disagreements over practices, fighting for all the wrong things, Paul's saying, let's go back a minute then. Let's stop for a minute. What brought you together in the first place? What united your hearts together in the first place? What was your area of agreement in the first place? It was gospel fellowship. It's what united you together. It was the work of Christ, the death of Christ, the sacrifice of Christ, and that you had a new family in that. What's the basis of my joy? What's the basis of my thanksgiving for you? What's the basis of every time I remember you in prison? It's for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now. Verse 5. Christian life's kind of like a wedding, a marriage. We all love weddings. We all love marriages. Because that couple is so idealistic, right? They're beautiful. They look in love. How quick it can descend into war. What couples often forget is what their marriage is designed to reflect. A greater marriage so that when they love with a love that they're supposed to love with, it looks like Jesus in the church. They're actually fulfilling the design of marriage when they sacrificially love one another. What a struggle from the wedding day to starting having kids and all the conflicts come and then the division. Some of your marriages may reflect that. The problems that we're studying in Philippi. No active pursuit of love. You're just living together. And that's exactly what your relationship to the church is like. That's where it shows up. You're just tolerating each other. There's no active pursuit of love. You forget what your marriage is designed to reflect and what the kingdom's about. And I'm not up here grandstanding. We all struggle with that. And sometimes you've got to go back to the beginning for a minute. And you've got to think about the goals of marriage. And you've got to think about what it once was and what it was designed to be and who brought you together, what God has joined together. Let not man separate. You've got to think about what drove love. The bond was that Christ loved us and died for us as Christians and our marriage was sanctified in a unique way. And it made us a family. And the devil comes in. And he rips up society, doesn't he? Isn't it something? He can tear society right down the middle right now? You don't think that's a demonic work? They're struggling with gospel fellowship. Why are we even in the church? This is what you got to go back to. Some of us have to go back to it who were just raised in it and never bought into it. What is gospel fellowship? Because you didn't see it back in 1959. This is what Paul wants them to realize. And that's my last point. A few minutes. I have a prayer for you guys I want you to hear. I got a prayer for the church I want you to hear. Verse 9. And it's my prayer. that your love may abound more and more with knowledge and all discernment so that you may approve what is excellent and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God. He wants them to hear the prayer. He wants them to understand his prayer, the heart of his prayer, that in light of the struggles the church is facing, first that love would grow in the members. It takes knowledge, notice that, and it takes discernment to have that love grow. He's praying for that. That there would be sincerity in gospel fellowship. When sincere love is there. When you invest in your brothers and sisters, because you've come to believe that God is working, love follows. Immaturity and insincerity says, I just don't like the tradition. I just don't like the music. I just don't like the formality. I just don't like to have to press to another service. I just don't like, here's the big one, accountability. That's what I don't like. Be honest before the Lord because he hates hypocrisy. Are you here just because you have to be? People caught up in insincerity divide the body of Christ because they don't understand what unites us together to begin with that it has everlasting value that God has done this and that God's here and that he's in our presence today in our worship and we're in his, better said. Look at the generations of fellowship in this place. to the extent that of your place in the body of Christ, if it is to feel forced to come, I just don't see it, feel forced to come to one service and bolt with no investment or fellowship in the gospel, that's why Paul is praying that you would have that turned around. That you would have love fill you and that knowledge would again come into your minds and hearts about what this is about. a knowledge of the gospel that affects discernment. And that your attitude would change and it would be replaced with love and that you would approve the things that are excellent. Do we approve what's excellent right now in anything in this society? This anticipates chapter four again. Set your minds on what? Profitable things. You don't have to fill your minds with all the trash of the divisions of the world. Brothers, finally, whatever's true, whatever's honorable, whatever's just, whatever's pure, whatever's lovely, whatever's commendable, if there's any excellence, if there's anything worthy of praise, think on that. What you've learned and received and heard and seen in me. Practice these things. And guess what? The God of peace will be with you. That is a really wonderful promise. The God of peace will be with us. In a culture of outrage, frustration, anger, division, separation, how many things are we thinking on that are not worthy to be thought about? I pray for you that your love would abound, love that is patient, kind, does not envy, does not boast, is not arrogant or rude, does not insist on its own way, is not irritable or resentful, not always complaining, it does not rejoice at wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. This is the kind of way that promotes sincerity and gospel fellowship. And then he just says at the very end, I pray that you'd be filled with the fruits of righteousness, the fruits of the Spirit. What an encouragement today. God began the work. God will complete the work. You share in something so great that your present sufferings prove that you do and your struggles in this present age because there's a purpose in them. That they are appointed by God himself. And so I pray that you would understand that. That you would not separate out, but that you'd grow in love through knowledge and discernment and that you would stay with what's most important in this present evil age, our gospel fellowship together as the body of Christ, the fruits of righteousness would fill your church. Well, we have a lot more to go through in the book of Philippians, but if everyone were on board with that kind of understanding of Christian ministry, what a witness we would have. Let's pray together. Heavenly Father, thank you for your steadfast love and love for us, a love that began a good work and will complete it. And I confess, even as a pastor, I'm selfish. We are often worried about ourselves, pushing our own wants and desires, and have had little of the mind of Christ who became a slave for us. And yet, look at the grace that's been given to us that we studied today. You have been so gracious and long-suffering and merciful, and you have united us together, promising us you'll complete this work. So let us be here and let our gospel fellowship be enjoyed with great joy. Thank you for the Escondido URC. Thank you for the body of Christ everywhere. May this kind of unity and witness be evidenced, we pray. In Jesus' name, amen.