The Gospel Leaves a Mark that Lasts
Philippians: Partnering in the Gospel • Sermon • Submitted
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· 7 viewsThe Gospel Leaves a Mark that Lasts
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The Gospel Leaves a Mark that Lasts
The Gospel Leaves a Mark that Lasts
Welcome
Introduction
8-month Anniversary
a. 8-month Anniversary
Share the story of how I asked her out
i. These 8 months have brought about a lot of personal growth and change, so much so that I can say confidently that she has marked my life forever.
These 8 months have brought about a lot of personal growth and change, so much so that I can say confidently that she has marked my life forever.
Different kind of mark - that is, the mark of the gospel upon our lives.
This morning, we’ll be talking about a different kind of mark, but a mark nonetheless. We’ll be talking about the mark of the gospel on our lives.
If I were to come in here this morning and say, “Hey, I’m sorry for being late.
Today’s text is . Paul is writing to the church in Philippi, encouraging and instructing them as his partners in the Gospel. We see this clearly in the opening verses, where Paul expresses his gratitude for the Philippians’ support and faithful commitment to gospel ministry. He attributes their partnership to the good work of God in them and encourages them toward growth and maturity.
This morning, we’ll be diving into Paul’s letter to the Philippians. Here, Paul is writing to the church in Philippi, encouraging and instructing them as his partners in the Gospel. We see this clearly in the opening verses, in verses 3-11, where Paul expresses his gratitude for the Philippians’ support and faithful commitment to gospel ministry. He attributes their partnership to the good work which God has done in them and encourages them toward growth and maturity.
In , Paul expresses one truth worth holding on to, one truth that outshines the rest - that is, the gospel leaves a mark that lasts.
If you have your Bibles, please join with me in the reading of God’s word.
Reading
If you have your Bibles, please join with me in the reading of God’s word.
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. And 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. 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.
Prayer
Exposition
Marks of the Gospel (1:3-8)
Our text this morning is effectively divided into two sections. In verses 3-8, Paul declares what the gospel has done and how it has marked the lives of the Philippian believers. Later, in verses 9-11, we’ll dissect Paul’s prayer for the Philippians, which gives us some insight in how we are to grow and mature in the gospel.
Thankful Partnership (vv. 3-5)
Paul opens this letter, expressing his joy and thankfulness for the Philippian believers. As we read verses 3-4, take notice of language Paul uses:
I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy,
Depth of his affection for the Philippian church.
What’s the connection between Paul and the Philippians?
In , we’re told about the church’s start in Philippi.
Paul rcv’d a vision from the LORD, which led him to Philippi. His ministry there led to the conversion of Lydia and her household.
Paul and Simon encounter a demon-possessed slave woman, who brought her masters great wealth by what the text calls fortune-telling or divination. Paul cast that demon out of her. Having realized that Paul had just cost them a lot of money, her masters had Paul beaten and thrown in prison.
In prison, Paul and Silas sung a lot of hymns. One night, an earthquake struck as they were singing. Their cell doors opened and their shackles came undone. Believing they would escape, their jailer sought to kill himself. Paul and Silas reassure him that they weren’t going anywhere. Astounded, the jailer asks, “What must I do to be saved?” and the gospel advanced.
In Philippi, Paul got to see the Gospel move and save and transform lives. How incredible it must have been to see God working in such a profound way. But his relationship with the Philippian converts didn’t stop there.
In verse 5, Paul expresses the reason for his gratitude. Why was Paul thankful? Because the Philippians had become partners in the gospel.
because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now.
Here, Paul uses a unique word that our Bibles translate a number of ways. That word is κοινωνία. More often than not, this translated fellowship. However, most modern translations have decided to translate this word here as “partnership.” Given the context, this is a much better translation. There’s an aspect of fellowship that goes beyond potlucks, prayer meetings, and Sunday preaching. As Christians, we’re not just called to these things, but we’re also called to partnership in the Gospel.
In verses 3-5, Paul expresses his thanks for the Philippians’ partnership in the gospel, which began soon after he and Silas preached the gospel there.
tells us:
And you Philippians yourselves know that in the beginning of the gospel, when I left Macedonia, no church entered into partnership with me in giving and receiving, except you only.
As the gospel took root among the Philippians, they engaged in gospel ministry, partnering with Paul by giving their time, their resources, and their prayer for the advancement of the gospel
From the first day until now?
Having reflected on how the Philippians seemed to buy into the gospel, Paul came to realize that their partnership was indicative of the greater work of God in the Philippians. (v. 6)
reads:
And 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.
Do you ever see people do good things and wonder why they did them? There are countless reasons people can give for the good things that they do.
Some motivated by virtue.
Some motivated by duty.
Some are motivated by utility.
Yet, Paul says here that their partnership was a product of the good work that God was doing in them. They weren’t motivated by some ethical code, so much as their lives had been transformed by and reoriented toward the gospel.
This good work is the good work of salvation. It’s a work not of man, but of God and he will bring it to completion at the day of Christ Jesus.
What does the Day of Christ Jesus mean?
who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
, where Paul writes:
Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.
This day of Christ Jesus refers to Jesus’ second coming, when he returns to this world to execute judgement and establish his reign over the new creation.
It’s God who began the work, God who sustains the work, and God who will bring that work to completion. This conviction, that “he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion,” is what is commonly referred to as the doctrine of eternal security or perseverance of the saints.
This doctrine is commonly explained by the phrase “Once saved, always saved.” By that we mean that once God has saved a person, he doesn’t say, “jk lol.” God will never abandon the work of his hands. Once he begins the work of salvation in a person, he will see it through until the end.
Now, at this point, you may say, “Well, what about those who fall away?” Maybe you have a friend or a family member who once claimed Christ, but doesn’t any longer.
Let me answer by saying there are countless people who believe they themselves have salvation, who are in fact not saved.
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’
If people are wrong about the state of their own salvation, isn’t it possible that we might be wrong about the state of another’s salvation?
You might also say, “Well, what about those passages that warn us against falling away?” Of course, there are a number of passages that warn us against falling away. Many would point to the book of Hebrews to support this claim.
Doesn’t say:
For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt.
Let me respond by saying if the author here says that we, in fact can fall away or lose our salvation, why does he later say in that:
For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.
No, throughout the book of Hebrews, the apostle tells us that while God gives saving faith, he does not give a temporary faith.
I believe the Bible is clear on the doctrine of eternal security
What is the day of Christ Jesus?
Why is this significant? Why does Paul feel the need to affirm this truth?
Growth in the Gospel (1:9-11)
Conclusion
How does this point to Christ
What do we need to do in light of this truth?
Closing Prayer
John Piper:
John Piper:
“The assurance of the believer is not that God will save him even if he stops believing, but that God will keep him believing – God will sustain you in faith, He will make your hope firm and stable to the end. He will cause you to persevere.”
“The assurance of the believer is not that God will save him even if he stops believing, but that God will keep him believing – God will sustain you in faith, He will make your hope firm and stable to the end. He will cause you to persevere.”
“It is true that God will never forsake His own children. But the proof that we are His children is that He works in us the vigilance not to forsake Him. God's not forsaking us is the work He does in us to keep us from forsaking Him ().”
“It is true that God will never forsake His own children. But the proof that we are His children is that He works in us the vigilance not to forsake Him. God's not forsaking us is the work He does in us to keep us from forsaking Him ().”
Spurgeon:
“I could never either believe or preach a gospel which saves me today and rejects me tomorrow,-a gospel which puts me in Christ’s family one hour, and makes me a child of the devil the next,-a gospel which first justified and then condemns me,-a gospel which pardons me, and afterwards casts me down to hell. Such a gospel is abhorrent to reason itself, much more is it contrary to the mind of the God whom we delight to serve.”
Spurgeon:
“I could never either believe or preach a gospel which saves me today and rejects me tomorrow,-a gospel which puts me in Christ’s family one hour, and makes me a child of the devil the next,-a gospel which first justified and then condemns me,-a gospel which pardons me, and afterwards casts me down to hell. Such a gospel is abhorrent to reason itself, much more is it contrary to the mind of the God whom we delight to serve.”
“The saints prove their conversion by their perseverance, and that perseverance comes from a continual supply of divine grace to their souls.”
“The saints prove their conversion by their perseverance, and that perseverance comes from a continual supply of divine grace to their souls.”
Thomas Watson (17th century Puritan minister)
Thomas Watson (17th century Puritan minister)
“When God calls a man, He does not repent of it. God does not, as many friends do, love one day, and hate another; or as princes, who make their subjects favorites, and afterwards throw them into prison. This is the blessedness of a saint; his condition admits of no alteration. God’s call is founded upon His decree, and His decree is immutable. Acts of grace cannot be reversed. God blots out His people’s sins, but not their names.”
“When God calls a man, He does not repent of it. God does not, as many friends do, love one day, and hate another; or as princes, who make their subjects favorites, and afterwards throw them into prison. This is the blessedness of a saint; his condition admits of no alteration. God’s call is founded upon His decree, and His decree is immutable. Acts of grace cannot be reversed. God blots out His people’s sins, but not their names.”
— Thomas Watson