The saints have gathered to praise the Lord, to study his word, and to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. Thank you for inviting me to come and to join with you in this conference. It's my intent to open to you the word of God from the book of Paul to the Philippians to preach through this book this weekend. It's my favorite book of the Bible. It's a book that teaches us how to live the Christian life. Its theme is to live the life of Christ in a worthy manner. It has deep within it the passion that should motivate every Christian into how to live. Within it it has the pattern of life that is necessary for having spiritual success. It has the purpose or the goal of our Christian life. It also tells us the possessions that are available to equip us. This is a special book because it breathes a rare perfume of Christian joy and peace in a context of suffering. It brings the reader face to face with eternal values. I don't think there ever was a church that was more special in Paul's heart. in the church at Philippi, and as they encouraged him by sending him a gift while he was imprisoned, he encourages them with this thank you letter that is so relevant to us as Christians who seek to live a deeper life. I think you'll be blessed as we study the book of Philippians this weekend. Paul knew the Philippians well. He'd visited them several times and spent quality time with them. In fact, as he'd moved on to other places, the Philippians were rather unique in their faithfulness and continuing to provide for his needs. They continued to send him gifts of support. Paul's normal practice was not to accept gifts from those to whom he was preaching at the time. He never wanted anyone to think that he was in the ministry for financial gain, and so he was supported by those to whom he'd ministered in the past, such as the Philippians. Paul, I suppose, was the world's greatest evangelist. He was so bold in his preaching that he often caused disruptions in the cities, sometimes even riots. And he was in so much trouble this time that he'd been confined to prison. He'd appealed to Caesar and they'd taken him to Rome to have him stand before Caesar. Because of his Roman citizenship, he was allowed to rent his own quarters. And yet he was closely guarded by apparently the Praetorian Guard, those elite soldiers that protected Rome and Caesar himself. Paul is confined in prison and needs financial help. And at this time, the Philippians, rather than considering Paul to be out of business or out of the ministry, no longer useful for God, continue in their faithfulness and sending him gifts of support. The letter is prompted by... a receipt of money, and he writes to thank them, but far more than the concern about the money. It's concern for the welfare of the Philippians. We find here the philosophy of how to live in the Christian life. Paul is old. Paul is facing possible martyrdom, and he gives us tremendous insights into the true values that we ought to hold. Follow with me then. as I read from Philippians one, beginning with verse one. Paul and Timothy, bond servants of Christ Jesus to all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi, including the overseers and deacons. You can notice right here at the beginning that the church is well established, well formed with good leadership. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always offering prayer with joy in my every prayer for you all. You can tell that Paul is a southerner, the way in which he speaks. He prays for them in the plural, y'all. Verse five, in view of your participation in the gospel from the first day until now. The word translated, in my version, participation is more literally fellowships. He says, I am thanking my God constantly with joy in my every prayer for you because of your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now. This term koinonia, one of the Greek words that nearly every Christian knows, is used in a technical sense here to refer to their financial gifts of money. I was not reared among the brethren. I was reared among the Baptists. I'd never even heard of the brethren until I met my wife. I came to study the distinctives of New Testament truths and became persuaded that the heritage of my wife was superior to the heritage that I had as a Baptist. I had felt that the Baptist had not quite done it exactly right, and when I met this a fine young lady who told me that her church was so fabulous that she would never negotiate it. I was going to Chuck Swindoll's church at the time, and I thought he was a fabulous preacher, but she said your church may be negotiable, but mine is not. Well, I started attending the brethren assemblies and became interested in the answers that they had to my questions as to why the Baptist weren't doing things the way that I thought might be best. And one of the first things I noticed that they had slightly different terminology than I was used to. And one of the things they spoke of were gifts of fellowship. And what they meant by that was filthy lucre. And I don't mean that. And what they meant by that was money. They meant that people gave money and they called it a gift of fellowship. And I thought, what a strange euphemism. Where did they ever get that idea? Well, as I later found out, the brethren usually get their ideas from the New Testament. That's exactly the sense in which Paul is using this here. You can find the noun form here of Koinonia used in this sense in Philippians one five here, in Romans fifteen twenty six, in second Corinthians eight four, and in second Corinthians nine thirteen. You can also find the verb form used in this same manner referring to financial gifts in Romans twelve thirteen Galatians six six and Philippians four fifteen in these passages he uses it rather technically to refer to money now you might say why would I belabor the point of this it's because so many of us don't realize just how important it is for us to support the Lord's work financially you know we always think that the kinds of ministries that are significant are the more obviously spiritual kinds of ministries. We might start off with teaching and saying that there's no one greater than a Sunday school teacher. And that may be generally true, that a person who devotes himself to teach Sunday school surely is to be admired. Or we might say... I would even admire spiritually the person who volunteers to babysit in the nursery. That truly is a spiritual service. But few of us would put very high on the list the spiritual ministry of sharing financially. And yet Paul considers it to be so important that he even uses this technical term koinonia or fellowship to refer to financial support. He says, I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always offering prayer with joy in my every prayer for you all, in view of your fellowship in the Gospel, from the first day until now. Do you realize how much you actually participate in the preaching of the Gospel when you share financially? Perhaps you haven't really thought of it that way, but you have such intimate fellowship that you are a co-laborer with a person that uses that money. Money has no value in itself. It's neutral. It only takes on value when you use it for something. And if you use it for God's glory, then God will bless you by allowing you to be a co-laborer in the preaching of the gospel. Some of us don't have the opportunity to go overseas. Some of us don't have the opportunity to serve as missionaries in the way in which Paul was serving. And yet the Philippians stood shoulder to shoulder with Paul and the ministry of preaching, the ministry of carrying the good news to those who had not heard. It encourages me and tells me how important it is to be active in my financial cooperation with the ministry of the gospel. Look on with me in verse six. He says, For I am confident of this very thing, that he who began a good work in you will perfect it or bring it to completion or maturity until the day of Christ Jesus. Paul is saying, that he's confident that whereas God had begun a spiritual work in the Philippians that spiritual work will continue and will progress and become more and more mature until the day it's brought to complete maturity to perfection the day when Jesus Christ takes us to be with himself the day of Christ Jesus when we are raptured taken to be with him and glorified what God starts God finishes. In my household, my wife and I are of slightly different personalities. Seems that opposites attract. She is a very driven person. She concentrates on one thing at a time. Once she starts the project, she works on that project until she is done. For example, if she starts on a project at eight in the evening and it's going to take four hours, She will continue to work on it straight until midnight, whether or not she feels she should have gone to bed earlier in the evening. She's just that kind of gal. Once she starts, she's got to finish. Well, opposites really do attract because I am not that way at all. Why, I have dozens of half-done projects spread all over my house. We're not going to take a show of hands here tonight to find out how many of you are like my wife versus how many of you are like me. But it is kind of embarrassing to realize that I've started so many things and haven't finished them. God is not like that. If God has begun a spiritual work in you, God can be trusted to continue that work in you until He has changed you to the point where you are brought to perfection. Now, what is that meant in context? What is Paul saying here regarding the Philippians? Paul is complimenting them for their gifts because the Philippians were just about the only church that continued to remember Paul. And that, my friends, is rather sad. How many missionaries have been sent out from our assemblies that are nearly forgotten by us these days? Isn't that sad? Paul may be out of mind to many churches, but not as far as the Philippians are concerned. And Paul teaches them theologically. It's an example of what God has worked in their lives. The reason why they have remained faithful to him all these years is because God is at work in them all these years. and that the work that God began in them, He is continuing to manifest in them and will bring to maturity. This is a great comfort to me because so often I will look at my progress in the Christian walk and wonder how mature I have become. Satan, who is a liar and a deceiver and an accuser of the brethren, has as one of his most favorite tactics to cause discouragement in the lives of Christians by pointing out to them how often they fail in the same way over and over again. And sometimes we may become so discouraged that we'll say to ourselves, I'm not sure if God is even working in my life any longer. Has God given up on me? And the answer is, of course not. What God starts, God will finish. If God has begun a good work in you, God will bring that work to perfection, to completion, to maturity, and He will not stop. He will continue with it until the day of Christ Jesus. Paul continues on in verse seven, for it is only right for me to feel this way about you all. Notice again the Southernism. Because I have you in my heart, Since both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel, you all are partakers of grace with me. Do you notice how he says, You've been with me through thick and through thin. I appreciate your fellowship. You've stood with me shoulder to shoulder. As I talk to missionaries about the encouragement that they've received from those of us back home, I am so impressed with how much they want to remind us that they need us to stay in contact with them. Why? My father is a missionary, father-in-law, excuse me. He went down to Bolivia in nineteen fifty-two, he's been there ever since. When he comes back on furlough, which is rather rare, and goes to visit those who have been supporting him financially, His greatest desire is to tell them of the work that they've supported all these years. He desires to spend an afternoon as he moves around these various supporters and explain to them the work in which they have had participation. But strangely, on some Sunday afternoons, Those who are entertaining him are far more interested in getting him to sit on the couch and watch some American football than they are in hearing what God is doing on the foreign field. And frankly, it hurts its heart. It makes him wonder just how much interest we back home have in evangelism on the foreign field. Notice the way Paul felt about the Philippians in verse seven in which he says, I have you in my heart, since both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel, you all are partakers of grace with me. God has provided grace for me. God has provided grace for you. You have ministered to me in my time of need. May we all learn from this passage to remain faithful in the support of Christian ministry in any way we can. verse eight for God is my witness how I long for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus and this I pray that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment so that you may approve the things that are excellent in order to be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ having been filled with a fruit of righteousness which comes through Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God it's a common practice in the writing of letters to begin with a well-wish or a prayer. And Paul sticks to the same formula by praying for them. In this letter, you won't find much criticism at all. The Philippian church was mature and well-rounded. But if there was one singular problem that Paul would address of his friends, It was that he had a bit of concern regarding their ability to get along with each other. There seemed to have been a bit of a rift within the assembly. And it seems that this rift was caused by personal pride of the various factions. And so as he prays for them, right from the first of this chapter, notice the way in which he prays and how well suited it is to meet their need. regarding unity in the body of Christ. He says, verse nine, I pray that your love may abound still more and more. Yes, the Philippians have love, but he asks that the Philippians' love would increase, would overflow, would bubble out as if a pot was boiling over. But it wouldn't just bubble over in no direction at all. It would have a focus and a purpose. It would bubble over in real knowledge and all discernment, that their love would be focused toward knowing how to apply that love the way it was needed. More specifically, he says in verse ten, so that you may approve the things that are excellent. in the sense of distinguishing between those things that aren't so excellent and those things that are the best. He prays that in their love they may grow in their knowledge and discernment so that they will make wise choices and select the best options. When we're faced with bits of dissension in our local bodies, local representations of Christ in any particular locality. We must too grow in our love and grow in our knowledge and grow in our ability to make wise choices. Sometimes it's not very difficult for me to choose between what is right and wrong. It's fairly obvious. But sometimes my choices are still complicated because I have many good choices And now I'm trying to figure out what is the best, the most excellent, from among several good choices. Perhaps you've faced that same problem. Where you have a finite amount of time, you have many good options, and you're faced with a choice of what is the best use of the ministry opportunities that God has entrusted to me. Notice how he words this. He says that we may choose or discern the things that are excellent in order to be sincere and blameless, clear up until the day of Christ when we would stand before Him. We need to pray this for one another, brothers and sisters, this weekend, that we too, in this room, would grow in our love for one another, would grow in our discernment, and would be able to make the wisest choices. As we make choices in the local assembly, may we not fall into dissension or factions choosing one way for some people and another way for others, but may we make the wisest choice, the choice that will show us to be blameless until the day of Christ. Verse eleven, having been filled with the fruit of righteousness which comes through Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God, may we be filled up with the righteousness that comes from Jesus Christ. May we live out this righteousness that He has given us. That ends the first major paragraph of the book, and it forms the introduction. Beginning with verse twelve, He enters into the main body of the book and talks about the major problem that He is facing, and that is, unfortunately, He's laid up in prison. Now, this must be very difficult. for a driven person like Paul to accept. Because from the heart of his being, he wants more than anything else to be out preaching the gospel. Have you felt at times that God has surprised you with difficult circumstances? Boy, I worded it that way. because I want to give God the benefit of the doubt there to say that he knows what he's doing and allowing the circumstances to fashion themselves the way they've gone. Yet, from our perspective, they don't seem to be for the best. And so from our perspective, we're saying to ourselves, I'm not so sure that God has a handle on what's occurring right now. In fact, it seems to me that things are really messed up. We begin to question how God could possibly gain any glory out of the present circumstances. Now Paul was faced with that directly. If God had called him to preach, then why was he locked up in prison? It seemed to not be God's will. Yet I want us to learn this very important lesson that Paul learned, and that is that God does not make mistakes. In fact, if God's ultimate goal is to bring the greatest glory to himself by involving a greater number of people in the evangelistic process, then maybe it is by taking Paul out of commission, locking him up in prison, and enabling other people to begin to take us place. Listen to the way in which Paul words this, beginning with verse twelve. Now I want you to know, brethren, that my circumstances have turned out for the greater progress of the gospel, so that my imprisonment in the cause of Christ has become well known through the whole Praetorian Guard and to everyone else. Well, first of all, if we're thinking about ways in which God could accomplish His will through this very frustrating circumstance, Paul is able to reach the Praetorian Guard that probably is impossible to reach in any other way. How are you ever going to reach the bodyguards of the Caesar of the Empire? There's no way you could get close to them. There's no way that they would listen. Now, I am not sure exactly the circumstances of Paul's imprisonment. We're told at the end of Acts that he was able to rent his own house, but he also speaks about being confined in chains. I don't know if he means the chains are metaphorical or if he means that he gets to rent his own house, plus he has chains with a Praetorian guard chain to him. I'm not certain exactly how this works, but what I do know is he is talking to these Roman elite soldiers and he says later on in the book when he goes to send greetings to the Philippians why even those of Caesar's household give you greetings. Now just think about that for a moment. You would have thought that the most efficient manner of evangelizing in the Roman Empire is to have your star evangelist out evangelizing in the streets. Well, from a human perspective, that seems rather obvious. But God is far wiser than we. His wisdom is above our wisdom. And it is quite possible that God's way may actually be superior to our way. And it seems that if these Roman guards actually were changed to Paul in four-hour shifts, that they didn't stand a chance. Now just think of this. How would you like to be chained to the world's best evangelist for four hours straight and there's nowhere you can go? You can imagine what was taking place. It appears that many of the Praetorian guards were coming to faith in Christ and that salvation was coming even into Caesar's household. Well, I have to say, that as I observe this, God really is wise, isn't he? And that's only the first point. Look on. He says that his imprisonment in the cause of Christ has not just become well known throughout the whole Praetorian Guard, verse thirteen, but to everyone else. And that most of the brethren, trusting in the Lord because of my imprisonment, have far more courage to speak the word of God without fear. Now that's an amazing thing as well. Let me put this into a basketball analogy. Michael Jordan is purported to be the world's best basketball player. Supposedly, the Chicago Bulls wouldn't be much of a team at all if it weren't for Michael Jordan. Now, I don't know if that's true or not. I tried to ignore the Bulls as much as I can. I'm from California originally, and if I wanted anyone to win, it'd be the Lakers. But I hear of Michael Jordan anyway, and they tell me he's one good basketball player. Now, imagine if the coach took him out of the game and put him on the bench. And he brought in the reserves and said, you guys are going to determine whether we win this game or not. Now, how are those reserves going to play? Well, most of the time... Their great job in life, even though they've worked their entire life to make it into the NBA, is to hand towels to the starters when they come back for timeouts. That's all they get to do. They sit there in their warm-ups and hand out towels. They're no better than just a servant. And yet imagine if the coach took Michael Jordan out, put him on the bench and said, come on, take those sweats out. You're going out into the game. These guys would say, There's no way we're going to win unless we play above our ability. There's no way we're going to win unless we play like Michael Jordan plays. And so suddenly they're inspired and they play better than they've ever played in their lives. That's exactly what's happening here. When Paul's locked up in prison, other people say, why without Paul out there in the streets, who's going to preach the gospel? Why? Why, I better go out and do it. And people who would have never preached the gospel, because they were too afraid to preach the gospel, are out there. They have far more courage to speak the word of God without fear. And again, I say, is God receiving glory through a difficult circumstance? Can God bring glory to himself in a way that we would not have imagined? Yes, he can. Similarly, we ought to learn that lesson for ourselves. There are going to be times when we say to ourselves, I don't like these circumstances. I don't like what's happening in my life right now. In fact, I can't even imagine how God could possibly receive glory out of the circumstances that are occurring in my life right now. Why I might as well just sit down and fold my arms and pout and become a sour old Christian because God can't work anything in this. You ever met people like that? We need to learn, brothers and sisters, that God can work miracles through difficult circumstances. And just as He worked in this situation for the greater progress of the gospel, so He can receive glory through the circumstances that occur in your life. Look what else He says. Speaking of those who are out preaching the gospel now that Paul's in prison, in verse fifteen he says, some to be sure are preaching Christ even from envy and strife. Imagine that. Some people are out preaching Christ for the wrong reason, with the wrong motives. Now how is Paul going to respond to that? Are you going to talk him down? Is he going to backfight them? Is he going to say, These people are absolutely wrong. Well, he mentions the way in which they're wrong. They're preaching out of envy and strife. But listen how positive Paul is. He says, But some are preaching out of goodwill. The latter do it out of love, knowing that I'm appointed for the defense of the gospel. The former proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition rather than from pure motives, thinking to cause me distress in my imprisonment. Now, I don't understand exactly how it was that they thought they were going to cause Paul distress in his imprisonment by preaching the gospel. It's possible they were trying to make him jealous that they got to preach when he didn't. But more likely, they're probably trying to stir up trouble. If they go out in the streets and get the crowds all aroused in riotous, it's quite possible that the city leaders are going to look for somebody to be angry at and find someone in prison. and take out their anger on Paul himself. I'm not sure how this would work out, but we can see the wrong motives of those who are preaching to harm Paul. What's Paul's attitude? He says, What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or truth, Christ is proclaimed. And in this I rejoice. Yes, I will rejoice. He even repeats himself for emphasis. Now, what do we learn from that? It is that people in our local assemblies are not going to serve God the way we think they ought to serve God. They're going to serve God in a different way, perhaps even an inferior way, to how we know best. In fact, let's make it even worse. Perhaps they're going to even serve God for the wrong reasons, selfish reasons. Now, what's our response? Are we to destroy them? Are we to discredit them? I think it would be far better for us to follow Paul's example, and that is to say, let God sort it out. Let God take care of that at the judgment. All I know is that Christ is proclaimed, and in that I will rejoice." We've got to reserve judgment a bit when it comes to watching people serve Christ in a different way than we would. Paul goes on in the next paragraph in verse nineteen and following to express some of the depths of his heart regarding the situation of his imminent martyrdom or possible release. As he contemplates whether or not he's going to get out of prison or die for his faith, he teaches us some of the deepest theology of how we ought to relate to the most difficult circumstances in our lives. Verse nineteen. For I know that this shall turn out for my deliverance through your prayers and the provision of the Spirit of Jesus Christ. That's kind of interesting that he says that he has determined, to the best of his knowledge, that he will be delivered from prison because of the Philippians' prayers and the Spirit's response to their prayers. Verse twenty, according to my earnest expectation and hope, that I shall not be put to shame in anything, but that with all boldness Christ shall, even now as always, be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. Each of us must learn what Paul has learned at this point, and that is that the ultimate good is not what circumstances occur in our lives, but the ultimate good is to glorify God in what we do and who we are. We think things are good when circumstances are pleasant, but that is not the proper characterization. things are genuinely good when we are successful in glorifying God by who we are and by what we do. He says, it's my earnest expectation and hope that I shall not be put to shame in anything. I don't want to bring shame to God when push comes to shove and they may execute me for my faith. He says, but pray for me that I will remain bold, that I will remain faithful to Jesus Christ, and that now as always I will exalt my God in my body, whether I live or whether I die. For to me to live is Christ and to die is gain. Each of us in life should cultivate appetites that cannot be satisfied until we go to be with Jesus Christ. If we are completely satisfied in the here and now, then our citizenship is misplaced. We are to be strangers and aliens in this world. We are to remember that our citizenship is in heaven. We are to develop appetites that will only be satisfied when we go to be with Christ. And hence we will not fear death. Death for us is entrance to be with Christ. And we can say with Paul that to live is to live for Christ. To die is to go to be with Christ. That the greatest fear that man has, which is to die, is not a fear for Christians because we go to serve our Christ. Our God, our Savior, personally, face to face. We must then examine our lives and ask ourselves where we stand with God at this point. So many of us have lived our lives collecting certain treasures in this life that will be corrupted by moths and turned to dust. We must then orient ourselves toward God so that His reward of spiritual service for Him will be our ultimate goal. I think you're aware, many of you, that I was invited to come to this conference last year. I was planning to come up until just this week last year, but my mother passed away from cancer. a year ago yesterday, and last year at this time I quickly flew out to California, and Dave Glock was gracious enough to come and take the conference in my place. As I am reminded again this year of my mother's death last year, as I examine my own life again, contemplating the issues of life and death, as I read what Paul has to say here concerning life and death, I ask myself again, where do I stand on this issue? Can I recite Paul's words and mean it? Can I say that God will be exalted in me, in my fleshly body, regardless of whether I live or die? Or have I been living for myself in my own sensual pleasures? When you lose a loved one, You have memories. Those loved ones who've gone to be with the Lord ahead of us have left behind a heritage. That heritage is in the memories, the acquaintances, and in a more physical way, in the children that they have left behind and what those children are like. Let me ask you, if you were to die today, How would you be remembered? What heritage would you leave behind? What memories would people have of you? What difference have you made for the years that you've spent here? Famous man in Europe had a rather strange thing happen to him. He picked up the paper one day and read his own obituary. True story. He was the inventor of dynamite. Famous man in Europe. picked up the paper, saw that he died. Well, unfortunately, the paper had made a mistake. It wasn't he who died. It was his brother. And when they heard the name, they jumped to the conclusion that it was he, and they wrote his obituary. But when he read what people thought of him, he was aghast because they spoke of how this inventor of dynamite had ruined the world, how they'd used his invention to cause horrible destruction around the world with all kinds of war. And he said, I don't want to be remembered as the inventor of dynamite, who used his invention to cause war and used his invention to kill and maim people. I want to be remembered for peace. So Mr. Nobel invented the Nobel Peace Prize. And every year he is remembered, and his name goes down in history, not for war, but for peace. As year after year, we award those who most have influenced our world toward peace. How will we be remembered? What will people think of us? Verse twenty-two. But if I'm to live on in the flesh, this will mean fruitful labor for me, and I do not know which to choose. I am hard pressed from both directions, having the desire to depart and to be with Christ, for that is very much better, yet to remain on the flesh is more necessary for your sake." Can you say that with Paul? Can you say that you so long to be with Jesus that you don't even fear death, that you actually anticipate seeing Jesus? Just as the Scripture speaks of the rainbow, that it's to remind us that there never will be a catastrophic universal flood. So when I see beautiful clouds and sunsets, those clouds remind me of my Lord's ascension into the heavens and how He will return in the clouds someday to rapture me and take me to be home with Him. And I long for that day from the depth of my being. I want to go to be with my Lord. I'd be happy to go even tonight. It used to be that I was far more oriented to this world, and the only time I longed for the rapture was the day before a great Greek exam. I just wanted to get out of it. But now I know that my life really is oriented toward Christ. And it takes catastrophically horrible events in your life,