Ordinarily, in the evenings, we would turn to Exodus, but for the next three Sundays, I'll be preaching in the afternoons, and while I considered for a second continuing the series in Exodus on Reverend Gordon's behalf, when I turned to Exodus 22, the subject matter was the buying and selling of virgins and doing various things with animals, and so I decided not to follow the series. I'll leave that to his expertise. Instead, we will be turning to Philippians. So over the next three afternoons, we'll be going from Philippians 1-1 to verse 26, Lord willing. And I'll read that whole section this morning, and our text this morning will be verses 1 through 11. Philippians 1. Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, to all the saints in Jesus Christ who are at Philippi, with the overseers and deacons, grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank my God always in 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 I want you to know brothers that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel so that it has become known throughout the whole palace guard and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ and most of the brothers having become confident in the lord by my imprisonment are much more bold to speak the word without fear some indeed preach christ from envy and rivalry but others from goodwill the latter do it out of love knowing that i am put here for the defense of the gospel the former proclaim christ out of selfish ambition not sincerely but thinking to afflict me in my imprisonment what then only that in every way whether in pretense or in truth christ is proclaimed and in that I rejoice yes and I will rejoice for I know that through your prayers and the help of the spirit of Jesus Christ this will turn out for my deliverance as it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body whether by life or by death for to me to live is Christ and to die is gain if I am to live in the flesh that means fruitful labor for me yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. I'm hard-pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better, but to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account. Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all for your progress and joy in the faith, so that in me you may have ample cause to glory in Christ Jesus because of my coming to you again. So far the reading. In the history of science and in the history of philosophy, there have been a number of eureka moments. I mean, we can think all the way back to the very first eureka moment with Archimedes in the bathtub figuring out the science of buoyancy and water displacement. Or other eureka moments such as Galileo and Copernicus figuring out that it was actually the earth that revolved around the sun and not the other way around. Well, all throughout history, we've had these eureka moments where the way we think about the world has changed fundamentally, and yet this is not always permanent. These ideas of science and philosophy progress through time, and if we think about ourselves, we recognize that we too have these sort of moments where the way we look at the world changes i mean the uh the t-shirt that says the good life has shown up in sermons recently so we can be sitting out in the backyard and having a great time with friends and we can be wearing that t-shirt that says i'm living the good life and we can be living that good life and we can think oh the world's a great place to be and then we walk out to our car and find that some knucklehead has thrown a rock through our windshield and then our perspective changes right away we start to think well maybe the world isn't such a great place or we look at these shootings in Orlando and the amount of suffering that one person can exact on a community and we think wow who would want to live on a planet like this and then we get to wake up in the morning and we get to come to worship and we get to stand out in the courtyard in the sun and talk to one another and have fellowship with one another and we begin to think well maybe maybe God has given us gifts that we can enjoy this this life maybe it's not all toil and suffering and hardship so on a personal level we can have these changes of perspective seeing the world in a different way from day to day we're very changeable people And in a way, that's kind of a pale shadow of what we see going on in our text. This idea of seeing the world a certain way. And in our text, we get to see how the power of the gospel is something like that. How the power of the gospel is something that changes the way we view the world. It reorients our perspectives, it shapes our minds, and it changes our hearts. As we get to watch Paul, the pastor, writing to his congregation in his imprisonment, we get to see what the gospel does to hearts. As we watch Paul writing to a church that struggles, a church that's assailed from the outside by false teachers and by enemies, as they're harmed from the inside by struggles and strife, We get to see how Paul wants them to relate to their circumstances. How Paul wants them to relate to each other and how he wants to orient them towards the future. And so we see what Paul wants us to be oriented towards. Does the gospel affect how we view the world? Truly? Does it affect how we view human history? Does it affect how we view our own suffering? does it affect how we look at each other or have we been sucked in by the world's priorities have we let what the world values seep into our minds and have we let those values push out the radically different nature of the gospel well if that's the case brothers and sisters then in our text Paul is pushing back against the world's priorities against the world's definition of happiness against their definition of success and fulfillment relationships and the meaning of life in our text we will see that because Christ's work runs counter to the world's priorities we now share in a gospel-centered worldview because Christ's work runs counter to the world's priorities we now share in a gospel-centered worldview and we'll see that in three different movements in this text first we'll see paul's perspective and then we'll see the philippians partnership and finally the prayer for perfection paul's perspective the philippians partnership and the prayer for perfection so the gospel that god saves sinners that we are saved by the death and resurrection of jesus christ that changes everything and we see that from the very first verse of our text if you look with me verse one paul and timothy servants of jesus christ now typically when we're reading through our bibles that's the kind of thing that we would skim over i mean it's just an introduction he's just saying who's writing the letter and yet it's inspired it was written by paul so that the philippians would read it and that they would learn from it and it was also written for you so that you would read it and so while it may seem insignificant what we see here is that there's one unexpected word the word servants usually when paul addresses his letters he says apostles in fact only three times does paul use the word servants when he introduces his letters normally he would say apostles, like in 2 Corinthians 1.1, where Timothy is also introduced. He says, Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy, our brother. So he says, an apostle of Jesus Christ. And so when we read the word servant, what do we think of? It's a pretty loaded term, I would say. Most people, when they read servant, they probably think of Downton Abbey, or the Sound of Music, you know, that opening scene when they walk up to the house and you meet Franz the butler and Frau Schmidt, and when you picture someone being a servant, you think, well, that's not a bad life. I mean, you get to live in a nice house, you get your own bedroom, you get clothes, you get shelter, all that good stuff. How bad is it to be a servant? Well, I would propose that what we're not looking at is something like the sound of music, where someone is free to quit and go back to the Abbey whenever they want. We need to think more of slavery. That Paul and Timothy say they are slaves of Jesus Christ. And now, we have to guard against what we think of when we think of slavery. We don't want to think of African-American slavery or pictures you might have in your mind from the prince of Egypt. No, slavery in the New Testament was not exactly like that. There were definitely opportunities for slaves, and there were some good slave masters. But think again to Paul's letter to Philemon. When Paul writes about Onesimus, How he asks Philemon to give Onesimus to him. Onesimus has no choice. He has no ability to decide where he wants to go. No, he's a slave. He has to do what his master commands. Likewise, in the New Testament, Paul exhorts masters who own slaves. He says, be kind. Don't threaten your slaves. Love your slaves. And why does he have to say that? Because that wasn't the norm. Because a slave could expect to be threatened. A slave could expect to be beaten. In the New Testament times, a slave was fully owned. And a master required full obedience. Threatening punishment and even crucifixion for disobedience or laziness. And so that's what Paul and Timothy are talking about. And they say, Paul and Timothy, slaves of Jesus Christ. And we look at them and we say, how can you say that about Jesus? How dare you compare your service of Jesus Christ to slavery? Is it really that onerous to be a Christian? Is it really servile squalor that you have in the service of Jesus Christ? Should we be outraged that Paul and Timothy see Jesus as a master? I think the answer is no. Because, of course, Paul and Timothy are not serving a human master. Paul and Timothy are serving Jesus Christ. A master who came not to serve his own needs, but to serve our needs. To give his life on our behalf, not the other way around. A master who came not for his own benefit, but for our benefit. Not for his own glory, but so that we may join him in glory. And why was it necessary for him to take possession of us? Because we were slaves of sin. Because we were doomed to be deceived by the trinkets of vanity fair. Because we were doomed to condemnation before a holy God. But now, as Romans 6 says, we are set free from sin and have become slaves of God. The benefit you reap leads to holiness and the result is eternal life. Now that we are slaves of God, now that we are slaves of Christ Jesus, we are freed from this deception. We're freed from condemnation. We were purchased because God loved us and desired to save us. And now we are slaves of Jesus Christ. And so now, Paul and Timothy, as slaves of Jesus Christ, Paul will say, we do owe full service to our master, Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians 6, you are not your own, for you have been bought with a price. Therefore, glorify God with your body. Even the children know, Heidelberg Catechism, question and answer one, I am not my own, but I belong to Jesus Christ. And it is this beautiful truth that we have been purchased by our God so that he might save us and bring us to be with him. It's this beautiful gospel truth that Paul expresses in the first four words of our text. And it is this gospel perspective that changes how Paul sees his circumstances. Think about it. Paul is in prison, and the Philippians know he's in prison. They've been supporting him and praying for him and sending him letters while he's been in prison. And they receive a letter, and it begins with these words, Paul and Timothy, slaves. Slaves of who? Slaves of the palace guard, slaves of Caesar, slaves of Rome? No. Paul and Timothy, slaves of Jesus Christ. Right here, Paul is reorienting our perspective. And he is pointing out what is his first concern, his primary concern. His love and service of Christ. And this allows him, while he sits in squalor, to see the work of Christ going on all around him. That is, in a nutshell, the gospel perspective. It allows him to endure his circumstances. In the power of the same message that took Saul and turned him into Paul, that same power allows Paul to endure his imprisonment. It allows him to endure his present suffering. It allows him, in verse 2, to declare grace and peace while all around him is hatred and violence. And we, as slaves of Jesus Christ, are called to do the same. We are called to be like that martyr Polycarp who said, Eighty and six years have I served him, our master, and he has done me no wrong. How then could I blaspheme my king who saved me? And brothers and sisters, while we may not end up in prison, although that's looking more and more likely all the time, we do suffer for the sake of Christ. I'm sure many of you know that. And Jesus promised it, didn't he? He said, blessed are you when you suffer for my sake. He said, is a slave greater than his master? If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. So that means when you're not offered a job because you need to come to worship. Or when you lose business because you refuse to bribe a client. Or when you sacrifice your time and money to educate your children in the fear of the Lord. Or when you suffer the disdain of your co-workers because you share the gospel with them. Or whenever you are put under that day-after-day pressure to give up on your faith because it would seem to be so much easier to abandon Jesus Christ as you suffer each and every day for being a Christian, remember that we are slaves of Christ. And that slavery to Jesus Christ involves suffering at the hands of the world. And that whatever the world throws at us, we can endure it. And we can rejoice in it because we confess with Paul we are slaves of Jesus Christ. And we will not be disheartened. So, brothers and sisters, that is first and foremost Paul's perspective. How he sees the world not from the world's values, but he sees it from the values of someone who first and foremost loves and serves Jesus Christ. And yet, Paul takes hope from the fact that he has partners in his gospel ministry. The Philippians, he says, are partners with him in his ministry. They, too, have had their worldview, their priorities, altered by the gospel that has dwelt deep in their hearts. Verses 3 through 5 bring this out. I thank my God in 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. Now, the Philippians have given joy to Paul, and it's not because they gave him stuff, although we find out later in chapter 4 that they did send him money to help him deal with his imprisonment. But Paul gets joy from the Philippians because they're partners with him in the gospel ministry, and because of their partnership, because of their love for him, he has confidence in their faith. As we read in verse 6, I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. What a beautiful text, what a beautiful verse, and for many who have been Christians for a long time, this has become a favorite verse and if anyone has not read this before let me explain to you why it's because what this text brings out verse six what it points out is that faith and salvation are both gifts of god that repenting that turning having our hearts changed and hoping in the salvation of Jesus Christ are all gifts of grace. And verse 6 makes it so beautifully clear. It makes it clear that, first of all, it is God who begins the work in our hearts. It is God who uses people and places. It's God who uses his word to plant faith deep in our hearts. He was the one who began it. As the canons of Dort so clearly say, it is God who spiritually revives, heals, reforms, and at the same time sweetly and powerfully bends our wills back to him. What this text is saying is that only God, through the gospel, can do this, because we, brothers and sisters, are like Paul on the Damascus Road, seething and hating Christ and his church, until Christ knocked us off our horse and changed our hearts, until Christ called us and gave us hearts of flesh instead of hearts of stone until christ loved us and made us love him in return gave us the desire to serve him and to live for him and while that is awesome the fact that it is god who first begins faith in us that's not where god leaves it god doesn't give us a good start and say well you better make it on your own no as the text says he will bring it to completion at the day of christ jesus this means that from the beginning of our fledgling faith until we come to glory at the end we are entirely dependent on our heavenly father and our dependence is well founded because he is our heavenly father he's not only our master but he he loves us like a father and he has promised that he will finish what he began in our hearts That no one will snatch away the sheep that Jesus Christ died for. That those who have received the Holy Spirit will be brought all the way. Because they are sealed for him. As Romans 8.30 says, Those whom God predestined, he also called. And those whom he called, he also justified. And those whom he justified, he also glorified. This is the golden chain of salvation. This is the beauty of the hope of the gospel. This is the knowledge that those who have faith will not fail. And Paul is confident in the Philippians' faith. And we ask ourselves, Paul, how do you know that the Philippians have this faith? How can you be so confident that the Philippians are genuine believers? That God is working in their hearts. And I think we can give a definitive answer. Paul knows that they are Christians by their love. Paul knows that they're Christians because of their partnership with him in the gospel. As he says in verses 7 and 8, he holds them in his heart. And he yearns for them with the affection of Jesus Christ. And yet it doesn't only go in one direction. As he says, they are partakers with him in grace. The Philippians expressed their love for Paul and their partnership with him in the gospel. And sharing with him in the defense of the gospel of Christ. And so Paul in return then has confidence that the Holy Spirit has already begun to sweetly bend their hearts back to himself. Because their love is evidence of their faith. Paul would never forget, of course, that the Philippians are not saved by their works. That the Philippians are not saved by their love. And yet, what Paul also knows is what we read in 1 John 3. We know that we have passed from death to life because we love the brothers. And so Paul knows that the Philippians have genuine faith because they love each other. Their love is a vital sign of a vital faith. And so, while the Philippians are showing this love, while they are co-laborers for the gospel, co-communers, as the word says, as they are knit together with Paul and his imprisonment in the defense of the gospel, we see that, like Paul, they have had their hearts and lives changed by the gospel. That they have moved out of worldly selfishness and have now been brought into loving one another and loving their pastor. That they have had their priorities shifted from their own personal concerns to being concerned about Paul instead. That they have had their life priorities shifted by the power of the cross of Christ. And this should be our goal as well, to seek to love one another more and more every day as assurance of the fact that we are true believers. Now, we should not take our own love as a measuring stick for how good our faith is or for whether we have met God's standard because we even read in Philippians that the Philippians themselves do not have perfect love. We read that in chapter 4. And as the Heidelberg Catechism says, even the holiest have only a beginning of the holiness that God requires of us. And yet, we don't love each other for our standing before God, but we love each other as a testament to the world that we are Christ's people. And our only motivation towards that love, the love that Paul and the Philippians have, our only motivation can be the gospel itself. Not out of fear and not out of guilt, but motivated by what Jesus did. What he has done. How he has forgiven the debt that we owed. And that we desire to respond in thankfulness for Christ's sacrifice. And it is only in that way that the Philippians could be involved in that partnership with Paul. It is only that way that the Philippians could respond the way they do. Because they have hearts changed by the cross of Christ. And so when Paul sees this love of the Philippians brought out on his behalf, it drives him to pray. Pray for the Philippians' perfection. And prayer is on the ropes today. I don't know if you've noticed, but in many corners, prayer has become twisted. I think of the prayer of Jabez, a book which promises prosperity, a book which promises that if you pray the right way, you can make God give you stuff. I quote from the book, I challenge you to make the Jabez prayer for blessing part of the daily fabric of your life. You'll be noticing significant changes in your life, and the prayer will be on its way to becoming a treasured lifelong habit. Using the prayer of Jabez, you will be steadily moving into wider spheres of blessing and influence. You hear that? prayer gets me what i want and because my prayer will move me into these wider spheres of blessing and influence i'll start loving it more and more and as i get more stuff i'll want to pray more and it'll all just be a great cycle in my life now of course we don't do that because many of us hardly pray at all because our our theology is too good to believe that we can pray together get stuff. We know that prayer shouldn't be used as a wish list or a tool to make God do what I want. But to be honest, many of us accept the exact same premise when we pray. We think, well, I can't make God give me what I want. God has his plan, and I have to pray thy will be done so why bother praying at all if i can't make god do what i want then why bother asking and yet to do that is to accept the exact same premise as what the prayer of jabez is preaching and paul reorients our perspective also on prayer because what is prayer supposed to be about. He begins in verse 3, I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy. You see, the primary reason that Paul is driven to pray is thankfulness. Often when we think of thankfulness, we think of obeying, doing the Ten Commandments. As our Heidelberg Catechism correctly says, we do need to obey God's commandments out of gratitude for what he's done for us. And yet, what does the Heidelberg Catechism also say? Question answer 116. Prayer is the most important part of the thankfulness God requires of us. And so what Paul is modeling is that thanksgiving has to be an intimate part of the prayer that we offer to God. As he'll go on to say even more explicitly in Philippians 4, do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. And so now that Paul has offered his thanksgiving for the Philippians' partnership in the gospel, he will now present his requests before God. And he tells the Philippians exactly what he's requesting on their behalf. And if any of you feel uncomfortable about telling people you're praying for them, notice Paul does exactly that. He tells the Philippians, this is what I'm praying for you. And the backbone of what Paul prays for them is love. He prays that their love may abound more and more. And that's the highest possible desire. That they might abound in love. Because, as we know, the whole law is summarized in love. And so what Paul's praying is that the gospel would infuse their lives. That the good work that God has begun in their hearts would sprout forth in love for one another. And not just in blind emotion, but in conscious choices matched with wisdom. As he says in verse 10, so that you may approve what is excellent. And what does love abounding in wisdom look like? Well, he says it in chapter 4, verse 8. brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable, if anything is excellent or praiseworthy, think about such things. That is what wisdom and discernment looks like. And so Paul goes on in verse 10, so that you may approve what is excellent and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ jesus now when i read that i had to pause be pure and blameless for the day of christ jesus i mean should i just quit now there's no way that's going to happen i know my own sin i know my own heart i know there's no way i can be pure and blameless no amount of knowledge or discernment or love can make me pure and blameless for the day of christ and yet we stopped reading too soon filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through jesus christ see paul's not seeking sinlessness but he's seeking the fruit of righteousness and he's building on what he has already said he's already talked about how they believe he's already talked about how their hearts have been changed and how they they will love one another how he seeks that that the faith in their hearts will pour out in love And the fruit will come through that faith, through that love, through the gospel. And brothers and sisters, this is the beauty of the gospel. That Christ has fulfilled the law on our behalf. That Christ has lived the perfect life for us. That Christ himself was pure and blameless. And that he gives that obedience, that righteousness to you as a free gift. And what he asks in return, brothers and sisters, is that you produce fruit for him. Is that you love God and love your neighbor in thanksgiving for the gift that he has already given you. Salvation is a free gift. And it's not something that we can contribute to. And it's something that he promises he will complete on our behalf. And that seed of faith will produce that fruit in us. See, this is the beauty of what we're reading here, is that what Christ requires of us is also what he produces in us. That in the same way that he produced that faith and will bring that faith to completion, That same faith is what will produce these fruits of righteousness. The fruits of righteousness that he requires. And when you do produce those fruits, when you come before him in faith in the day of Christ Jesus, he will declare you perfect and blameless. Why does he give you such a glorious gift? Why does he give you such a wonderful salvation? Why does he produce in you the fruits that he requires? Verse 11 says, to the glory and praise of God. He does it because he loved us. He does it for his own sake. And so this prayer for perfection that Paul makes will be made real not by the effort of the Philippians but by grace alone by the Holy Spirit which produces this faith and good works in their hearts so now brothers and sisters I hope we can bring everything together and see how the gospel changes everything how it can change the perspectives of men who are sitting in prison to look out at the world and see peace and joy. How it can change the hearts of the Philippian church from selfishness and pride to love of God and love of neighbor. How it can take legalists like you and me who want to do it all ourselves and tell us to fix our eyes on Jesus Christ instead. How the gospel takes sinners and makes them holy and blameless before God and makes them desirous to produce fruit for him. Brothers and sisters, the gospel is the greatest story ever told. It's greater than any eureka moment in history that you could ever produce. It's greater than any realization that has happened in your own life. And yet, like those eureka moments, it changes our perspectives on the world. It changes us from wanting what the world wants. It changes us from valuing what the world values. It turns us from this meaningless striving for money, glory, and fame because we see that the day of the Lord is coming. Striving towards that goal and not our own selfish pursuits. Knowing that the suffering that we are enduring here and now are nothing to be compared with the glory that we will see. Knowing that what the Lord will value in that day is not wealth, it's not titles, it's not prestige, but what the Lord will value in his day is the fruits of righteousness that he has borne in us. And so now, slaves of Christ, you have the world telling you what to value, what to seek, and what to love, And you know more deeply in yourselves what things in the world are pulling you here and there. What temptations are pulling at your hearts. And yet the gospel pulls you in a different direction. Because what you have before you here in Philippians 1, 1 to 11 is the message that what Paul desires most for you is that you are directed towards Christ. That he is the Alpha and the Omega. That he is a firm foundation that allows us to face the storms of life. And what Paul desires for you is that you seek first the kingdom of God. That you give him thanks more than all. That you produce fruits of righteousness for him. And that you love one another as Christ has loved you. Let's pray. Our great and awesome Heavenly Father, we come before you in this evening. Having read your word and only scratched the surface of the glory that it contains. Of the hope that it presents to us. We thank you that you have given it to us. That we are able to read and understand your word. And that we pray that you would send your Holy Spirit in this evening. That you would take the truth that was spoken here tonight. and that you would plant it deep in the hearts of your believers, that you would take your people and strengthen their faith, that you would cause them to produce those fruits of righteousness so that they would be pure and blameless in the day of Christ Jesus, not in their own works, but in the obedience and righteousness of Jesus Christ. I also pray that you would take what was said wrongly, that was misinterpreted, and that you would muffle it from your people's ears, protect them from the flaws and sins of the speaker we pray that you would bless us in the rest this evening that as we go out we would seek to serve you in all that we do that we would turn away from the the values and priorities that the world constantly holds out to us we pray this all in the name of jesus christ amen