I was anticipating starting the book of Hebrews, but I didn't really want to start that in the middle of summer, and I thought that a run through Philippians would be helpful. So that's what we're going to do. It's four chapters, and we're going to go through a series through the book of Philippians before we start Hebrews. And so I invite you to turn in your Bibles this morning to page 1164. That is Philippians chapter 1. We're just kind of scratching the surface this morning to provide some context of this book and why this book is so helpful and necessary, especially for our time. I will read through verse 11. We are really focusing through verse 4 this morning for our text. Let's give our attention to the word of the Lord, Philippians chapter 1. 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 and all my remembrance of you always in 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 we'll stop the reading of God's Word. I haven't really preached through an epistle like this. We did do Romans when I first came to the Escondido URC back in 2012. But I thought it would be good this morning to look at this little epistle here, this letter actually to the Philippians. It's a book I think that we probably hear a lot of one-off sermons, especially the one to live is Christ and to die is gain. That's probably the cherry-picked one out of this book that you commonly hear. But really, it's a book that's easily preached out of context. And I think that's important this morning to help us with as we open up this study. When you understand the context, it really is something that speaks in a powerful way to the church today. The church of our day and all the ages, really, and the times. We are living in quite a time. I don't have to say that, really, but quite a time. where some would say where we are experiencing the slow fall of a country in which we live. You could imagine Christians in the early centuries when Rome fell and the distress and the discouragement and how painful that was and the confusion so that somebody like St. Augustine would have to come along and write the book, The City of God, to help people with this and to think through this. There's much confusion in our time. And the question is what does this mean for the church today? If you remember when Michael Brown preached, he made the excellent point that the church has always gone through these time periods, and it's always remained. It's always stayed. The Lord has always preserved his church through difficult times and difficult seasons. But it's not so easy at times to hold on to our purpose. It's not so easy to hold on to who we are to be, what we are to do. And this is where Philippians will be appreciated when understood because of the times in which we live. Philippians has a unique message this morning to the church in struggle and difficult times. And that word is simple. There's a reason you all like Philippians 4, don't be anxious about anything. There's a reason Paul is saying that in this book. With all the stress and all the anxiety and all the fear in the world right now, the Lord is telling you in this wonderful little book, you have great joy in the gospel of Jesus. Great joy. Great happiness. We'll look at where Paul's writing this. You have fellowship together in this. You're not alone going through this. You have a fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now. And the Christian life is intended in the body of Christ to be lived in gospel joy together, in humility, and in serving one another, and in caring for one another. This is a book of—I really like this particular book because it's such a happy book. It's such an upbeat book, if you will. And I think that's necessary in our times. I think that's very necessary in our times. We are pretty gloomy people right now. I don't know if there's a better message for the church. In this sort of introductory sermon, what I want to do is really simple. I want to look at the placement of this book. And then I will move to the problems that are outlined in this book. And then we'll look at the purpose of the book. So this is a basic outline to begin with. Why is this book written? The placement of this particular book is where I want to begin, actually. And its context, which is really important. You'll notice in verse 1, Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, to all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi with the overseers and the deacons. Paul and Timothy are mentioned right up front, and he's giving us some clues here for us to help us understand the context and the background on these missionary journeys that Paul had. Philippi was a big focal point. Remember, we went through the book of Acts and we looked at some of the things that happened there. And the founding of this church and how this church came about is really important for the study and understanding the context. Back in Acts 16, Paul, Silas, and Timothy had headed for Macedonia, you remember. And they come to the city of Philippi. Typically, any given city in a missionary journey, the apostle would look for a synagogue to go in and to preach on the Sabbath day. So this was their opportunity because remember, as Jesus did, they would have opportunities to speak and to preach the gospel in the synagogue. What's interesting in Philippi is that there was no synagogue. Philippi was a thoroughly a Gentile city in eastern Macedonia, today modern Greece, and it was named after Philip II, father of Alexander the Great. It became a thriving Roman colony, and the lack of a synagogue, I think, says a lot about the spiritual state of the place, that there was very little religion at all, if none, of the true God of heaven and earth in this place. So Paul, Timothy, and Silas enter Philippi in about AD 49. They aren't able to find this synagogue, and all they found was a few women out at the river praying together. We read in Acts 16 verse 13, on the Sabbath day we went out of the city, the riverside, where prayer was customarily made, and we sat down and spoke to the women who met there. So they didn't find the synagogue, but they had heard that there were a few women in this city, this thriving Roman city, out there praying to the God of heaven and earth. And the Lord did a remarkable work from this. This is what, this is what really, I think, made the Apostle Paul's affection so great for the church in Philippi. He watched the Lord work in a unique way, but not in the way we would expect. From a little woman's prayer group. From coffee break. Imagine that. People had become convinced that the God of Israel was the only true God in this pagan city. And then we read in Acts chapter 16 that the Lord started opening hearts. The Lord opened the heart of Lydia as Paul preached the gospel. You know, that has to happen to you today or really none of this. All this is all in vain. The Lord has to grab your heart and open it. Or this is a closed book and a closed message and you'll walk out and you'll get nothing. That's what he did. Started opening hearts. He opened the heart of Lydia and she heeded the things spoken by Paul. And then we read that her and her entire household believed and was baptized. So this is a remarkable thing. And then we read that God did something else in Philippi. Remember, Paul, Timothy, and Silas continued to this place. But as they were traveling to the riverside, a certain slave girl, possessed with a spirit of divination, met them. This slave girl had been purchased by some men, and she was making great profit for these men by giving people's fortunes. she's a fortune teller. And we read that this girl, as Paul was walking in Philippi, and they were walking around, this girl was right behind Paul, and a real annoyance to Paul, getting, continuing to say, these men are servants of the Most High, right here. These perverse men had purchased this little girl. We're getting filthy rich off her. Paul gets annoyed, and after several days, he turns around and says, I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her, and at that hour, Reed, the demon came out. A little slave girl was converted. This is remarkable, isn't it? But the masters, I think this whole plan now, were furious at Paul and Silas, and hope of prophet was gone. They dragged them into the authorities, and the authorities threw them in prison, and they're in prison at night with shackles and chains, and they start singing. And God sends an earthquake, and the shackles fall off, and the prisoner guard is terrified. And he calls out, and there are Paul and Silas, and shaking, this man says, the great question in Acts serves, what must we do to be saved? Well, this man believes, and lo and behold, he and his household are baptized. So here you have two core families that have been set apart now here in Philippi, And I think what's helpful to all this background to begin with is, are the humble beginnings of this church. It's really important to understand the context. We would never invest in a church that has and put all our money in a place that has only a few women down praying by the river. I know of no church growth outfit that would even consider it. I've been listening to the Christianity Today series on the rise and fall of Mars Hill, and I was just north of that when the whole thing was booming, and I can't tell you the problems that we had with that ministry and the young people. The abuses are all coming out now, and it's all been documented and recorded. It was the fastest-growing young Restless and Reformed movement at the time on Seattle, the most unchurched city, 15,000. And I always thought when something comes up that quick, it's going to die that quick and overnight. it died. As soon as he quit, the church was done. And the series is interesting because it documents all the great things that we see today. It documents the beginnings of Shuler and the Crystal Cathedral. It documents how Rick Warren started by having paid great money for surveys into which county in Southern California would work, and he tapped into the Orange County and grew the biggest church down here. What does all that train us in? God's in the big things. God's in the big things, right? What we don't realize is that actually God works in the little things to make big things. The things that are not esteemed. In the people. Notice he didn't come get Hollywood stars. You'd never pick these people to start your church. We forget what brings a church together to begin with. Here's my point. Philippi had experienced great success in the gospel ministry. It was a growing church. There were great things happening in this church. This is why Paul is so excited. They obviously had some kind of financial wealth because they're supporting Paul, and he's really grateful. But what we see in Paul, and what we see as we open up this epistle, is that the church had forgotten the basis for which they had been united together to begin with. I believe the church forgot their humble beginnings. Remember in Revelation, there's something similar that happens in Revelation with the church in Ephesus he says I know you're enduring patiently and bearing up for my namesake and you've not grown weary you're fighting all the air and you hate the doctrine of the Nicolaitans you're doing all of that but this I have against you that you have abandoned the love that you had at first often that's misunderstood as if they had left Jesus they didn't leave Jesus what had happened was the original joy the original happiness in Christ's work of establishing them as a church that produced acts of love in the body of Christ that produced all kinds of good works in the kingdom of God and in the congregation people were excited to be there there was real sacrificial love by the members they gave great care to visitors But as they faced success, and as hardship came, sacrificial love was gone. And it was replaced with pride and division. This could happen here way easier than we think. Think of the humble beginnings, many of you remember this, the humble beginnings of the Escondido United Reformed Church, people putting little coins in coffers to build school. Think of the sacrifice. Think of the happiness that was probably there right from the beginning when this formed, and how much investment from the first generation, how much investment from the people, how much sacrificial love, and what has the Lord done? He's blessed you. He's blessed you. He has been really good to this place, to this church, to you as a people. Can't you see it? Who doesn't see that? Who's so blind not to see that, that the Lord is in this place working? What can easily happen in a church? Not much. People forgetting the purpose. People losing heart. People checking out. That doesn't look much like what that original fellowship looked like when the church began. That's what can happen. The next generation really not embracing their parents' faith. Has that happened? And what follows that? Pride. Pride. Now, when we get to the problems the church was facing that occasioned this letter, this is what helps us. What were the problems in Philippi? Two major problems. The problems outlined in this epistle, something I've just outlined was a major issue going on, but I think you have to get a little deeper into what precipitated and brought this. In verse 27, he speaks very pointedly of one of the problems in the church, and I think you have to see it. So if you have your Bibles there, listen to what it says in verse 27 if you see it. Only, listen to this, let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ so that whether I come to you and see you or I'm absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel and not frightened in anything by your opponents. What was the first, one of the real issues that had created what I just described? Well, the culture was bearing down on them. The culture was bearing down on them. Persecution was coming. So you have this clear statement of Paul here in verse 27 calling this church to stand firm, to strive, for the faith of the gospel, and then listen to this statement, I don't want you at all afraid of any adversary. That's pretty freeing, isn't it? By the time Philippians was written in about A.D. 62, we have documented evidence that the primary title for the emperor was Lord and Savior. So you can kind of understand when Paul's writing and saying, no, Jesus is Lord and Savior, what he's reacting against. They were called in Philippi at certain times to bow and pay homage to the emperor as Lord and Savior. I guess you can be thankful you don't have to do that to President Biden, right? Because you wouldn't do that. I know you wouldn't do that. There was a dividing line. They had to take a stand. Especially when Nero would soon come. And Paul knows all this is coming. In fact, we'll look at where he's writing this as this epistle goes. But notice the dilemma here that they have to face. Adversaries were on the outside, and Paul says, I want you to stand firm, and I want you to contend. Remember what happened to Paul and Silas in Philippi. Then the multitude rose up together against them, and the magistrates tore off their clothes and commanded them to be beaten with rods. And when they had laid many stripes on them, they threw them into prison. Wow. The magistrates did that. Paul's goal in this book is to reorient their minds to have the mind of Christ. It means two is going to be the heart of this, we'll get to. Who for the joy that was set before him did what? Endured the cross. Fear is a big part of this. when the culture turns on us, it's fear that overwhelms us and then we're worried about our future. What do you think that does to the ministry? What do you think? Stagnates the whole thing. Paul's answer in chapter 3, for our citizenship is in heaven. He's going to really help them understand where citizenship truly lies. Your citizenship is in heaven. And guess what? You were worried about your future. Let me tell you what your future is. This is why I love the book. He's so upbeat in it. You will get to wait eagerly for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who when he comes, he's going to transform your lowly bodies and make your body like his. That's your future. Paul was helping them to understand a perspective on life and difficulty. To think of how really to rejoice in the midst of pain. And this doesn't mean you have to wear the artificial smile all the time. Rejoice in suffering. To have the mind of Christ, to understand the purpose. And that first problem of fear of a culture that had turned against the church leads to the second problem of the book. The second problem of the book is, is that the church had faced some kind of internal unrest. In chapter 214, he writes, and this is really going after this, do all things without disputing or complaining that you may become blameless and harmless children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation among whom you shine as lights in the world. It's a rare moment in Paul's writings, but in chapter 4, he calls out two women by name, probably some of the very founding women at that prayer meeting at the beginning, Yodia and Syntyche, and you notice what he says there. He says, you guys be of the same mind, and you other brothers, come alongside them and help them to stop the fighting. So two women were divided up and were of considerable influence in the church, and sides had been taken, and fights had begun. Here's what I believe happened. External pressure from the culture drove internal division. Now, I don't think I would have ever appreciated that as much unless I'd gone through COVID. Think about this for a minute. One of the blessings the Lord's given us is unity through this, and I'm so thankful for that. But this is a little bit abnormal from everyone I've talked to in the Church of Jesus Christ. How much posturing, how much division and separation was caused over government decisions, whether you agreed or not. At the heart of this was the sense and this fear that all these decisions, there's no fear of God in these rulers anymore. And in a culture that has turned anti-Christian, what position did that put us in as a church? Very defensive. Sometimes retreating. Sometimes angry. Sometimes confused. Frustrated over a loss of rights. Living in a culture going to hell in a handbasket. What do you think happens at times like that to sheep? Well, what does anxiety do to your lives? What does it do to your families? Causes a lot of conflict, doesn't it? Do we see sacrificial love at times like this? Or do you see pride? With everyone knowing all the answers. Do you see great unity at times like this? or division? In the last year, have we seen in the United States a church really uniting together in the mission of Jesus? Or have we seen fear and separation? What have we lived? Has it been easy to become through all of this individualistic, alone, separate, relying on our own wisdom to make our decisions away from the body of Christ if we can just get away? Is that an easier route? You know the answers to these questions. Paul was concerned about this, that this kind of stuff begins to dismantle the mission of the church, and it begins to dismantle this kind of posturing and inner bitterness and pride becomes in factions, and the church has lost its way. That's what he's worried about here. And now you can appreciate the heart of this book, the purpose of this book today. And that's why Paul begins the way that he begins. How does he begin to this wonderful church that's struggling in the current present evil age in which it finds itself? Paul and Timothy, slaves of Jesus. That's a moment in and of itself to begin the book, isn't it? Sometimes I think the word servant loses the real effect of this. Servant's beautiful. But really, he is talking about being a slave, not of somebody who's harsh to us, but of our loving God who saved us. Notice this beautiful entry to this book. Slaves of Jesus Christ to all the saints who are in Philippi with the bishops and the deacons. The elders and the deacons is what he's talking about. This is an important thing that he includes the leadership. To remember what the Lord has called us to and who we are. Because we always have this great need in the kingdom of God to be brought back to humility. We always have this great need to be brought back to the gospel message and what that gospel message, the fruit of it, should produce in us. There's going to be a great reason in chapter 3. He talks about the righteousness he thought he had before he was saved and how he counted everything lost for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ who justified him by faith. He realized what he was. It's that kind of humble mindset that makes a servant. You know what he did for you? You know what Jesus did for you? He became the servant. He became the slave. He became the one to empty himself for you, to give himself for your salvation, having your best interests in mind. And he endured a lot of affliction to do it, knowing it was all appointed so that you would be his fruit. You would be his reward. You know that? That's how much he loves you. See, this book helps us to have the mind of Jesus. This book helps us to have joy and peace in difficult times. And that's where he begins. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ. What a way to begin. It's not grace and peace. It's grace to you and peace in the original. The God of heaven and earth whom you've offended, the one whom you've despised and rejected, has something to tell you here, And he wants you to know that it's grace to you. He has given grace to you as a church, as his body. Whatever you're facing, whatever you're suffering, whatever pain you're undergoing, whatever difficulty that causes this kind of pressure, grace to you. Grace to you, says God. I've given you my grace. All my favor rests upon you. And I've done something else. I've reconciled you so that you can have peace. True peace in this world. Having been justified by faith, you have peace with me, says God. You're the most blessed people on the face of the earth. Understand that? The God of heaven and earth whom you offended. Whatever you're facing. Would you remember that? God's given you grace. Before time began. Before you even existed. I want you to know God poured that out upon you. You didn't deserve it. He didn't look at your works and say, what a great person. He didn't look and say, there's a model citizen in the kingdom. He said, you're a mess. And I loved you. And I pulled you up. And I saved you. You know God cares to give you that word every Lord's Day. You wonder, does God love you? Am I really in his favor? When life is this hard, that's what he's announcing to you. God has been that good to you. He's been compassionate. And he's given you peace. This is how he's going to keep this church on track. This is how he's going to keep this church on track. You know where Paul's writing this, beloved? Prison. And he's going to say, rejoice in every circumstance. With chains on his neck, waiting Nero's decision as to whether he's going to die. I'm so thankful for you, dear church. He says, I pray for you with joy, but I don't want you to forget your partnership in the gospel. See, there's the heart of this. Your koinonia in the gospel. You've received grace and you've received peace from God. So share together in that. And don't get sidetracked by what's going on in the culture. And don't let internal divisions rip you apart. God's blessed you. That's the message here. Don't let pride and foolish disputes and complaining wreck your purpose. Don't take your eyes off of what Christ has done for you. That's the mind that guides you. You know, the fellowship that we have is so sweet. I close with this. I was able on my trip to go up and drive with seven people all the way to Washington. I don't really recommend that. It was a great time. It wasn't always internally peaceful in the car, though. We go all the way up to Bellingham, and we looked at the lakes, and we sat out on the lakes. Reverend Stromberg took us out on his boat. The greatest joy was seeing the saints I hadn't seen in many years. The greatest joy was seeing God's people all over this world. God's people who love him. God's people who care. And then I get to come back to you and see all of you like this. We have a fellowship the world doesn't have. We have a bond they can't create. This is sweet. This is beautiful. But everything can pull you away from it if you don't have the mind of Christ. And that's what this book will help us with. So that's my intro. Let's close in prayer. Heavenly Father, thank you for this glorious book. Thank you for helping us, Lord, to have the mind of Christ and to enjoy each other's gospel fellowship, a fellowship that was here from the beginning that bound together us in love and in service and in sacrificial love because of the love of the gospel that you have shown to us. And may that always remain in this place. May the fears going on in the world and the culture and the things that are happening and internal problems never derail us from what you have called us to be. To enjoy the gospel fellowship, to have the mind of Christ that we might so be your witnesses and demonstrate true humility, thankful for the salvation you've given. We love you, Lord. Thank you for loving us. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.