Sermon Tone Analysis

Tonight we are beginning our new series on the book of Philippians and this series will take us through the middle of June and I am really excited about diving into this book because it is a book of pure joy.

As we go through this letter from the Apostle Paul, we will learn about the circumstances that he found himself in and how it is amazing that he was able to write such a joy-filled letter with the pain that he was experiencing at this time.

We’ll talk more about what those circumstances were next week.

Two weeks ago we talked about a man named Caleb.

Caleb was an individual who lived a faithful life and what I really enjoyed as we talked about Caleb was how his faithfulness to God was not extinguished by the circumstances that he found himself in.

He was faithful but he still had to endure 40 years in the wilderness.

In many ways, we talked about the beginning and middle of our faithfulness but we did not talk about enduring to the end.

If we are to be called the people of God, we need to be working for Him now and until we cannot work anymore.

I want us all to be a people that live a life that matters.

I want us to have a good life but I also want us to have a good death.

I want us all to be able to say with Paul later in 2 Timothy 4:7-8

The Life of Don Cash- You’ve probably never heard of him but here’s what you need to know about Don Cash.

He was a man that died what I consider a good death.

You think, “a good death?

What’s that mean?”

I mean that in terms of good ways to go out, he went out pretty good.

Don Cash was a business man who retired early and he made it his life mission to climb to the peak of the highest mountains on each of the seven continents.

Cash, had climbed the six highest mountains on six continents and the last mountain that lay before him was Mount Everest.

Cash, at 55 years old, climbs to the top of Mount Everest, has his picture taken at the summit of the highest mountain in the world, has a heart attack and dies.

Cash, completes his life’s work, and almost immediately after finishing it, passes away.

That’s a good death.

That’s a life that we as Christians should strive to imitate.

We press on and on until the moment comes where we are told, “It’s time to come home.”

Paul’s letter to the Philippians is our reminder that we press on with all that we can until God says, “It’s time to come home.”

Tonight our goal is to talk about the joyful and love filled work that we as the people of God are called to and how the assurance of our salvation, the assurance that if we have truly been saved by Jesus Christ, comes not from our own strength but in the never-ending faithfulness of our Heavenly Father.

Let’s pray and then we will dive into the first five verses of Philippians 1.

Joyful Workings of the People of God (V.

1-5).

Philippians 1:1–5 (ESV)

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 you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

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.

As we see in verses 1-2, Paul is the author of Philippians and he is writing to the church at Philippi.

Paul, as we are going to see over the next few months loves this church.

While Paul does correct and rebuke some things in this book, he always returns to joy.

This letter is unlike anything else that Paul has ever penned.

At the time of writing this, Paul is imprisoned in Rome and it is likely the same imprisonment that is occuring at the end of the book of Acts.

Even though many say that Paul would be released from this first imprisonment, in the years that followed he would be imprisoned in Rome again and killed for his faith.

Even at this point, the thought of his death is looming over him.

At the time of writing Philippians, there was no guarantee for Paul that he would be released.

In fact, he had basically accepted that martyrdom was a real likelihood but Paul is not writing as if death was waiting at his doorstop.

Like I said, Philippians is a tremendously joyous letter.

John MacArthur said,

It is both astonishing and personally inspiring that such indefatigable joy dominated the heart, mind, and teaching of the apostle Paul even after all those years of suffering.

In verses 3-5 Paul tells the church in Philippi that he thanks God for them every time that they spring to his mind.

One of the greatest joys that Paul has as he sits imprisoned for the Gospel is that he knows, has seen, and has heard of the evidence of a fruitful Christian life in the Church of Philippi.

Every prayer that he has is a shout of joy and victory because he remembers the faithfulness of this church.

May the same thing be said in our own day as we operate as the Church of Jesus Christ.

What was it exactly that made Paul’s prayer a shout of joy? Verse 5 says that it is because of the church’s partnership in the Gospel from the first day until now.

Paul’s joy comes in the fact that the Philippians have taken the Gospel seriously.

The same desire that Paul had in the furtherance of the Gospel has carried over into the Church of Philippi.

Paul sees in the Philippian church the thing that every pastor wants to see in his own congregation.

There are no stutter steps or backwards movements in the works that they are making on behalf of the Gospel.

These men and woman that make up the Church of Philippi have made the same proclamation that Paul makes in 1 Corinthians 2:2

“For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.”

This is the entire Gospel in a nutshell.

We add nothing to the Gospel and we take nothing away.

When we are called by God to salvation, we are all called as heralds of that salvation.

From end to end, the Philippian church proclaimed the unadulterated, untainted, truths of the Word of God and that is why Paul rejoices!

From day 1 to Paul’s present time, this Church was a bold defender of the Word!

They didn’t allow Paul’s imprisonment or absence to slow down the work that they were doing on behalf of Christ.

The very work of Paul, the work of Jesus Christ, carried on by faithful saints.

Paul, seeing the faithfulness of these Christians is then able to confidently proclaim the truths that will ultimately be for all true believers of Christ.

Look at verse 6.

The Assurance of Our Salvation (V. 6).

This is one of the greatest comforts that all true believers in the Gospel have in life.

Christ does not start and then abandon the work that He begins.

There are 4 things that I want to draw your attention to in this verse and unfortunately, we won’t be able to spend much time with any of them.

These four things are found in the natural progression of the verse:

Notice the certainty of Paul

Paul begins the verse by saying that he is sure that the good work that began in the lives of the Philippian believers will be brought to completion.

There is no maybe, there is no really good chance, the eternity of those that have been brought from death to life is so definite that Paul writes of it in Romans 8 as if it has already happened.

Romans 8:30 says,

Paul does not say that those whom the Lord has called and justified might be glorified.

He doesn’t even say that they will be glorified.

Paul says those whom He justified He also glorified.

Past participle.

Dear Christian, your eternity is so certain that the Lord speaks of it as if you were already fully partaking His presence.

2. Notice who begins the work

Notice what comes next in verse 6: “He who began a good work in you.”

Who is the He?

It isn’t Paul.

The certainty of the Philippian believers salvation never came from the might and power of Paul.

Where did it come from?

Who delivered it?

The One that began the good work was God Himself!

Alec Motyer wrote,

The salvation we are assured of is wholly wrought by God for helpless, hopeless sinners.

It does not lead us to be complacent, for our assurance increases as we see hard evidence of our spiritual progress.

It does not make us lazy, for a large part of the evidence is the depth of our commitment to the cause of the gospel.

From beginning to end, God sees to it that you reach the mark that He has called you to.

Notice that there is no time in the course of your walk with Christ that Christ is not with you in.

Christ begins the work, He is going to bring you to completion, and He will see to it that you stand strong and complete at the day of Christ.

Christ is beginning, middle, and end of our salvation.

3. Assurance, like faith, ultimately comes from an outside source

The third thing that I want you to notice is that the assurance of our salvation ultimately comes from outside of us.

Assurance, like faith, ultimately comes from an outside source.

Paul says that it is Christ that begins the work and and if it is Christ that begins the work, we can confidently rest in the fact that Christ will see that His work is completed.

D.A. Carson example of Steve and Bob.

It is not the amount of faith that saves, but whom that faith is in.

It is not the strength of the faith that saves but in the certainty of the accomplished work of the Savior.

Your assurance of salvation does not rest in your opinion of yourself.