Skip to content Gospel Centred Joy | Philippians Part 01 | Rev Paul Jeyachandran Jul 14 · 59 min ...more
316K followers
Rev. Paul Jeyachandran leads the Intentional Disciple Making Church (IDMC) Movement, which is all about calling churches back to its disciplemaking roots. Visit us at idmcmovement.com
316K followers
0:00 So the series is titled A Joyful Letter from Lockdown. And today we're gonna study from Philippians chapter 1 and verses 1 to verses 11. And I wanna title0:12 this morning's sermon as Gospel Centered Joy. Gospel Centered Joy. I want to take a step back and give you the overview of the book of0:24 Philippians. If I want to summarize this book, I want to give you 3 things to take note of. 1, it is an unique book. It is a unique book. Number 2, it is an0:35 unusual story. And number 3, it is an uncommon experience. Why is it a unique book? Because in this book, apostle Paul doesn't address any doctrinal0:47 errors or any ethical perversion that is present in the church. So here is a book that he is writing to his beloved saints in Philippi, a0:59 church that he pioneered and he is writing a letter of thanksgiving. See, the Philippian church have heard that Paul is in prison and they are wondering how his mental status. Is he1:11 depressed? Is he doing okay? And they know that he could possibly face death sentence. So they are wondering what happened to the gospel and Paul had been in prison for a long time. So they are concerned,1:23 so they sent a messenger by the name of Aphrodite and he brought help from Philippi to Paul in prison. And along the way, he became very ill and that1:35 also caused distress to Paul and so Paul writes a letter of thanksgiving for the love and the partnership that the Philippian church had given to him all these years. So it's a joyful letter. It is1:47 a letter of thanksgiving and you will hear the apostle minister to his people not as a missionary but as a friend. The second 1 is it is an unusual story. It is an1:58 unusual story because of how the church started. Paul was ministering in Asia and God laid hold of Paul and quickly moved him to Europe and the main city in Europe2:10 that God planted the first church in Europe was in the city of Philippi. So it is an unusual story of how God moved him. We are going to look at it later in detail. And thirdly, it is an uncommon2:22 experience. The first converts of this church, how does a church start when a group of people come together in the name of Christ? And here, the first converts, the 3 first converts that are recorded2:34 for us was an Asian sales lady, a Greek slave girl, and a Roman jailer. In their ethnicity, they were different. In their background and experiences of life, they were2:46 so different. But yet in the in the body of Christ, they became 1 body and they became a part of the church of Philippi. So it is an uncommon experience.2:58 So I wanna take a step back and take you to the book of Acts to help you understand some of these things that I just talked about, how it is an unusual story. In Acts chapter 15 and verse 39 and verse3:09 40, the bible says there was a sharp disagreement between Barnabas and Paul. They were on a missionary journey together and suddenly there was a sharp disagreement and they both split3:21 ways, they parted ways. And the bible says in verse 39 that Mark accompanied Barnabas and in verse 40, Paul chose Silas and they both went on 23:33 different mission trips. Now I want you to see this picture, even in the midst of painful situation, God was bringing something of his greater purpose. And in Acts3:44 chapter 16, you find in the first 12 verses, you see how Paul reached out to, Asia along with Silas and Timothy was added into the family. And then on to, I want you3:56 to pay attention to verse 6. Because from verse 6, I want you to see how this church in Philippi got started. I want you to take down 3 things about what I am about to say next. See, how4:08 does the church get started? It starts because of the work of the Holy Spirit in the hearts of people, isn't it? And I want to give you 3 things to write down. 1, it's the restraint of the spirit. Number 2, it is the4:20 release of the spirit. And thirdly, it is the results of the spirit. See the church plant is always the result of this work of the spirit of God. And here the restraint of the spirit, look at verse 6,4:31 Paul was in Asia, Look at in verse 6 and they went through the region of Figeria and Galatia having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia. I want you to circle that word forbidden by4:43 the Holy Spirit. Look at next verse. It says the spirit of Jesus did not allow them. That's the restraint of the spirit. If you truly want to walk in the will of God like apostle Paul.4:55 Apostle Paul had this freedom to keep doing the work of God. He just kept going into the mission of God. See God doesn't direct a person who is not moving and already involved in the will of5:07 God. God directs your step as you're already taking bold steps of faith towards the trajectory, towards the direction that his word is pointing you towards. So this is key for us to understand as principle of5:19 spiritual guidance that this is how God guides us, that as a GPS will navigate you as soon as you start to drive, God will navigate you. He will intervene when you are outside of the will of5:31 God and try to stop you. In my own life, years ago I remember when I applied for bible college, all over the world literally. And God through the opening and closing of doors, through the5:43 provision of funds, through the provision of a scholarship and all that through the supernatural means and also through a confirmation, a prophetic word in my own heart, God confirmed that it's not any other nation5:54 but this tiny nation in Asia called Singapore. It is through the restraint of the spirit that I ended up there because that was not my first choice to go for a bible college or6:06 for a first choice as a nation to go to. But I am thankful to the Lord for what he does. The second is not only there is a restraint of the spirit, there is a release of the spirit. The bible says Paul had a vision from6:17 a man appeared to him in a vision and God gives them his vision and a man was calling to him to come and minister in Macedonia. And taking this as a call of God, they went from where they were in6:29 Asia and they set their course towards Macedonia which is in Europe and as they started to go, verse 12 says, from there they finally reached Philippi which is a leading city of the6:41 district of Macedonia and a Roman colony. We remained in the city some days. I want you to circle a couple of key things here. Philippi, where does the name Philippi come from? It comes6:53 from the name Philip, Philip II of Macadan. He is the father of Alexander the Great and he is the 1 who founded the city and he occupied the city so that7:05 Rome can have a colony there. And it's a strategic place because it is a place that connects between Europe and Asia. And not only Rome wanted a colony there, God wanted his colony to be there, a heavenly7:17 colony through the planting of a local church in that city. And God moved Paul fast to go there so that a church can be planted. And in Acts chapter 16, you'll find the first 3 converts coming together,7:29 an Asian sales lady called Lydia, a woman of means, a Greek slave girl who was demonized and she had demon possession and and how god set how god set her7:41 free and the jailer who was looking after Paul and Silas in prison, how he's how he came to the gospel gloriously. You'll read that in Acts chapter 16. But as I want to bring this to a7:52 close in in terms of giving you the background, I want you to understand a principle of divine guidance. Go with me to Isaiah chapter 30 and verse 21. The bible says in Isaiah chapter 30 and verse8:04 21, and your ears shall hear a word behind you saying, this is the way, walk in it. When you turn to the right or when you turn to the left. See when you are already walking,8:16 there is a year that God speaks through to your year behind you. In other words, is a prompting, there is a direction that he gives you specifically. And this is what I want you to be encouraged. If you're seeking the8:27 will of God, always know this, that God will give you grace. You will of God is not a complex thing that you cannot understand. As long as you're obedient to the word of God and you want to walk in the ways of8:39 God and do the work of God, God will intercept your life and he will reveal to you the specific steps you are to make in certain situations. God bless you. Hallelujah. The overall8:51 theme of this book of Philippians is Jesus Christ. Because the word, when I look at some of the words that are repeated, this is what I found. The word Jesus Christ,9:03 Jesus or Christ or Jesus Christ appears 39 times and the first chapter alone 18 times. The word joy appears 14 times. The9:14 word thinking or thought or mind appears 11 times. And the word gospel appears 9 times and especially in the chapter 1, 6 times.9:27 So I want you to capture this. See many times you hear that this book is only about joy. But joy has to be rooted and grounded in something of great value and certainty and that is Christ9:38 Jesus. He is our loving savior and that is why in the first episode itself, in the first chapter itself in this episode, apostle Paul writes about Christ about 18 times and the9:50 gospel, the message of Jesus Christ about 6 times. And I want you to capture this because that's what you'll find as you go into this book. As I said to you, Jesus Christ is the overall10:02 theme of this letter. Let me give you 4 things as I summarize the 4 chapters. Christ is the message, chapter 1. Chapter 2, Christ is the model. He tells us to emulate Christ10:14 Jesus, the same humility that he had, the same servanthood that he had. In other words, Christ is the message in chapter 1, Christ is the model in chapter 2 and Christ is our motive in10:26 chapter 3. And chapter 4 deals with Christ is our means. In other words, he is the 1 who gives us strength to do the will of God. Hallelujah. So Christ is our message, our10:38 model, our motive and our means. I want you to capture this. Let's go to chapter 1 and verse 1 and verse 2. This is a personal greetings that from Paul10:49 apostle to the church in Philippi. But I want you to pay attention to 3 things that I am going to say to you from this text that I want you to capture this. Know who you belong to. And secondly, know why11:01 you are special. And thirdly, know what he brought into your lives. Look at this, know who you are living for. The bible says in first verse, Paul and Timothy servants of Christ Jesus.11:13 I told you already that this whole book has repeated a number of times the word Jesus and Lord and Christ. Isn't it? And here even in this first verse you see it, we are11:25 servants of Christ Jesus. We are saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi with the overseers and deacons. And then he says grace and peace to you from our father and the Lord Jesus Christ.11:37 Know who you are living for. Paul uses this word doulos, servants of Christ Jesus. It is that same word that he will use for Christ Jesus in Chapter 2 that he came to11:49 leave us a model of servanthood. And Paul says you and I, we belong to Christ. See, when a believer comes to faith in Christ, the first thing that happens to us is that we belong to someone. We are in12:01 the family of God. And because we belong to someone, we have a king over us, we have a master over us, we have a lord over us and we are thankful to the lord Jesus Christ. And here he says, we are12:13 servants. So Paul and Timothy's servants, they are writing to the saints in Philippi. See, this is how many times we would probably want to read it. Saint Paul writing to the12:24 servants in Philippi but Paul says I am the servant, servant of Christ but I am writing to saints in Philippi and saints in Christ Jesus. Long before12:36 you live in a city, you live in Christ Jesus. That's why I want to acknowledge that we are Christians first, that we live that we live in Sydney or live in Australia, live in the12:48 country where God has placed you. That's why we always say this, the kingdom of God is like this. We the kingdom of God that is a king and we live as God's people in13:00 God's place under God's rule. Isn't it? We live in God's We live as God's people in God's place. Wherever God has placed us under God's rule. And so here he mentions that there You13:12 know who you belong to. You belong to Jesus Christ. Not only that, know why you are special because you are a saint in Christ Jesus. You are not a saint because you performed well. You are not a saint because you13:24 lived a perfect life. You are in Christ Jesus and that is something that will keep coming back in this gospel, in this gospel centered, episode. And thirdly, he says, what13:36 did he bring to you? He brought to you grace and peace. What is grace? Grace is undeserved, unearned merit of God, favor of God. That means it's unmerited favor,13:48 unearned favor, undeserved favor. And God says, I'm showing you grace, something that you don't deserve. And secondly, because of his grace, receive peace from God. In other words, we receive13:59 peace with God as well as we receive his peace into our lives in every aspect. That's the word in the in the Greek, it's Irene and it's in in Hebrew, it will be the word shalom. Nothing missing, nothing14:11 broken. And so with this introduction, he brings us into the body of text that we're gonna look at from verse 3 to verse 11. And in verse 3 to verse 11, Paul is praying and Paul is giving thanksgiving to14:23 the Lord. And I want you to capture this with me because here is a man who is writing from prison, but this pages of this episode oozes with joy. So I wanna ask ourselves this14:35 question, how is joy possible in Paul's life? Why why is he so filled with joy? Why is he filled with joy? And here in verses 1 to verses 11, here we will find14:46 this. Where did Paul find joy? He found joy in 3 things that I'm gonna say to you. Number 1, he Paul found joy in the supplication which was personally enriching. That is from verse 3 to14:58 verse 5. And then the anticipation which was personally encouraging in verse 6 and the association which was personally enduring from verse 8 to verse 11. I want you to catch these 315:10 things. The supplication, the anticipation and the association. Look at how Paul explains this. Look at in verse 3. The Bible says in verse 3, Paul writes, I thank my15:22 God in all my remembrance of you. Paul is sitting in prison and he is thinking about the Philippian church. And he says in all my remembrance of you I thank my God.15:34 Hallelujah. And next verse, verse 4 says, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy. I want you to capture this little word all is repeated so many15:45 times here. Look at in verse 3 it says, I thank my God in all my remembrance of you And then in verse 4, in every prayer, all the time that I pray, I pray for all of you and I make15:57 prayer with joy. Hallelujah. And I want you to capture this. The reason why he was so filled with joy in lockdown And this joy was based upon this16:09 relationship that he has with them and because he recollects good memories that he has with them. He says, I remember, every time I remember. See 1 of the things that you and I, we need to understand is16:21 even though he addresses the people as saints, you and I know that we are saints and we live among saints. And yet many times people are not saintly, isn't it?16:33 They don't live like saints. You know 1 man of God said it like this, to dwell above with the saints we know, that is grace and glory. To dwell below with the saints we know, that's16:45 another story. I always say this to you that people always are nice from far but they are far from nice. In other words, in the church you have things that are messy.16:57 People who have certain impure motives, people who are insincere. But in the midst of all that Paul would have experienced, Paul still remembers the church and he says, I give thanks to all17:09 of you. I give thanks to the Lord for all of you. Why? Because he's recollecting only those things that are good. Hallelujah. And that is why there is a joy in his life and he says I pray to God. I give thanks to17:21 God and when I'm praying I'm praying with joy. So in my supplication I'm supplicating with joy And that was personally enriching to Paul. Hallelujah. You know17:33 1 of the things that you and I we need to pay attention to is this. Who are the people that God has placed in our world? You know as pastor Isa and I as we go through this COVID season 1 of the things we fondly bring to17:44 memory is all the good things that God has been doing in the lives of our people. And we give thanks to the Lord for that. And sometimes we go through the database and we look at the faces because we have photos of17:55 people and we look at their faces, the families, the children and we thank God for each of them. And we pray that the Lord's work will continue in their life. And this is something that we do. And here I understand that18:06 Paul is writing to the Philippian church and he says, you guys are the ones that I am praying for. Why? Because in a pastor's life, let me give you some hint. In a pastor's life, the joy that18:18 a pastor has is his people. Do you know that? Look at what the bible says in Thessalonians, first Thessalonians chapter 2 and verse 19. The bible says for what is our hope or joy, a crown of18:30 boasting before the Lord Jesus Christ at his coming? Is it not you? I want you to circle that, is it not you? Other words, Paul was saying to the Thessalonian church, you guys are our boasting before God.18:42 You are the reason for our joy before God because God is doing so much work in you and we are thankful and grateful and we fill our hearts with good memories and recollect those memories and we give thanks to18:54 the Lord. In other words, Paul learned the art of overlooking people's faults and failures and now he is rejoicing at the good memory that he has of them and he is praying with19:05 joy for his people. Hallelujah. And as a pastor, I can give you this 1 thing. What is the joy that we have in ministry? It is when we hear people are blessed through our ministry. Not only19:17 people who just say we are blessed, but their lives are supernaturally transformed. See transformation of life. So when I look at a family, that family joined the church and over the course of this last few years19:29 or maybe the many years that they have journeyed with us, that there is a maturity that has happened. There is a transformation that has happened. There is a character change. There's a value shift. There's a worldview19:39 that has changed. All these things when we look at it, we rejoice. So it is not just a mere exchange of pastor and thank you for your ministry. I enjoyed your sermon. That's not what we are what we are here for. We wanna19:51 see life change and real evidence of life change and people walking in the truth. That is what brings joy to a pastor. And this is what apostle John when he wrote in 3 John and verse 4,20:03 look at what he says in third John and verse 4, I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth. Hallelujah. So what gives great joy to a group leader? What20:14 gives great joy to a pastor or a minister of the gospel? It is to see that the work of the gospel is happening in the hearts of people. That the word that God has deposited in our hearts is going to your hearts.20:26 It's doing the same work of transformation in my life and I see the same work of transformation in your life and I give glory to God and praise to God. Hallelujah. I wanna take a moment and thank the Lord for the work20:37 that he is doing in our midst even in the midst of this lockdown. For the last 4 and a half months, we have been able to come into your homes with the word of God, and I'm thankful to report that there are we are hearing20:48 many testimonies of the goodness of God, the grace of God in how God is working in the hearts of people, and I'm thankful that the word of God is having its way in your life. Can we give the Lord a clap offering?20:58 Hallelujah. We give you Lord. We give you all the glory, praise and honor. Hallelujah. So the real life change is what brings us real joy. And here Paul, when he's recollecting these things, he's21:10 praying for them and he's praying with joy. I want you to capture this church. Maybe you're going through a situation right now that is bleak and dark. Stop looking at your own situation and stop just licking21:22 your own wounds and start thinking about others and start praying for others. Because when you start to pray for others, your world expands. Your heart begins to move with21:34 compassion for others. I always say this to the church. Sometimes there are people who go through paper cut experience and they crumble like a 2 dollar suitcase. Sometimes there are people who are going through a hand21:45 being chopped off and yet they are strong in their faith and they can face that adversity because they are rooted and grounded in the Lord. But I want you to capture this. You and I, we need to develop that perspective21:56 of praying for others and when you pray for others, you are enriched in your own life. The bible says in Job chapter 42 and verse 10, the Lord restored the fortunes22:08 of Job. You know when he did that? The bible says when he had prayed for his friends. God wants us to pray for 1 another. He uses that as a means22:20 to bring salvation into the lives of people. So you and I, we need to know that it's not just beneficial for them to receive our prayer, but it's also beneficial for us when we pray for others because we22:31 expand our heart to really have the heart of God and to be compassionate and prayer with joy. Hallelujah. That's the first thing that I find in this. The second thing is in verse22:42 5. The verse 5 he says, because of your partnership in the gospel from the beginning until now. Because of your partnership. Circle that word partnership. It is the word koinonia22:54 in the Greek. The word koinonia is this, partnership. Many times we look at that word koinonia, we always say it is fellowship. What is fellowship? 2 fellows23:06 on a ship. That means you're you're going in the same direction. You're about the same purpose. You're filled with the same purpose. But the deeper word of fellowship is23:18 partnership. See sometimes fellowship conjures up this image that you bring a coffee and I bring biscuits and we just talk about chitchat about life. And we talk, we call that a fellowship.23:30 But it's much more richer than that. What is it? It is a partnership in the work of the ministry. It is a partnership in the purpose, in the redemptive purpose of God. And here Paul reminds,23:41 himself of the partnership that the Philippian church has played right from day 1 until that time. Hallelujah. How did they partner with Paul? Look at Philippians chapter 4 and look at verse 15 and verse23:52 16. He talks about this. He says, and you Philippians yourselves know that I'm in the in the beginning of the gospel when I left Macedonia, no church entered into partnership with me in giving24:04 and receiving except you only. I want you to circle those 2 words, giving and receiving. What did Paul give them? The gospel. What did they give Paul? They sold back in24:16 resources. They prayed for him. They supported him. And in verse 16, the bible says, even in Thessalonica, you send me help for my needs once and again. That mean more than24:28 once, Paul received help from them in Thessalonica alone. And when Paul was writing in the in the in to a book to Corinthian church, look at what he says in in Corinthians, in second24:39 Corinthians chapter 11 and verse 9. And when I was with you and I was in need, I did not burden anyone for the brothers who came from Macedonia supplied my need. I want you to24:51 circle that word supplied my need. You know why? The brothers that came from Macedonia, where is Macedonia? Macedonia is the region and the leading city in that region is Philippi. So25:03 it's the Philippian church that had sent 1 more time help and supplied the needs of the man in prison. Supply the needs of the man who is pioneering the work of gospel in25:15 many places. And I want you to capture this church. That is the partnership that sometimes God takes the person with means. Maybe in the Philippian church, it was the woman, the Asian sales lady, Lydia,25:27 because she's a seller of purple goods. Maybe she was a woman of means, a woman of substance and she partnered with Paul and from day 1 she's been supporting his ministry by giving and receiving. What25:39 a joy it is. And as a pastor when I'm thinking through this, I I I'm filled, my heart is filled with some personal memories of how God has sent people at the right time to be a help25:51 in my formative years of ministry even in this country. I remember very clearly, you know, the first time I went before the Lord and I said, Lord, after my26:02 sermon, people do ask, do you have a recording? Can we listen to this again? And this was in the year 2000 and I didn't have any recording device. So I went to the Lord. I was praying26:14 for a laptop. I said Lord, I can't afford it because at that time I wasn't employed by any church and I was and we were living with whatever God provided. And here in that season, I remember very26:26 clearly 1 1 man rang me and said, we have coffee? So we went and had coffee at McDonald's and he shared with me that, is there anything that I can particularly do to help you in this?26:38 Maybe you need a laptop or maybe you need something for ministry, let me know. And just prior to that, this is what had happened. There is a shop in the shopping center nearby called26:50 Castle Castle Towers. There is a shopping in the shopping center, there was a shop called Gateway. And that Gateway Computers, I had gone into that shop quite a few times in the past27:01 week. And I had laid hands on some of the laptops, look at all the specifications and finally arrived at what I wanted. So that this is what it will help me to capture and record, edit and then put it27:13 on internet back in the year 2000. And cut the long story short, when this man asked me and he said, maybe a laptop. I said, yes, laptop. You mentioned laptop. That's what I need.27:25 And he said, do you know what you want? I brought him to that shop and he paid for it. It was 5500 in the year 2000. It was a lot of money for me back then and I'm so thankful to the Lord that God27:37 knits the hearts of people with means to come and meet the gospel need. Listen to me carefully. That is how our God works. He takes someone with means and he brings them into the27:48 pathway of the gospel ministry. Not only people who live near us, even people who are far away from us. I remember during those years, was asking the Lord, Lord, I have all this latent28:00 energy. I wanna spend it for the gospel work. And through divine appointment, God opened a door for me to be on satellite radio ministering to the Tamil speaking world in Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra.28:12 And it was a Tamil radio station that had given me an opportunity. And I said, Lord, but I need these devices to record. Now I need something different because I have to make it program and send it to them.28:25 And I said, Lord, I need this. Right at that moment, we received a check-in the mail. It was it was more like a bank check from a person who lives in America who wrote a detailed letter to say, I have been praying28:37 for you and this is what the Lord laid in my heart that our ministry needs and wrote a check for 2500 US dollars that was able to buy all that first recording28:49 studio that I ever built. I want you to listen to me carefully. This is how God works. And when we came to a building project as a church, we raised money and and there was a shortfall about29:00 1200000.0. And I went before the Lord and said, Lord, I went to the bank and the bank says it's about 9 percent interest. And we didn't wanna pay 9 percent interest, but Lord, would you please help me to go in to29:11 purchase this without drawing on a bank loan? Oh, how the Lord works. I received a a phone call from a friend of mine who says there is going to be a check-in the29:22 mail and that check is for 1200000.0 dollars And this is interest free loan. If you want to take your time to repay this. But if you can pay within 7 years, you29:34 can. But there was no collateral sign. There was nothing but a check came from overseas nation to my office for 1200000.0. I tell you what, that's how God29:46 works. He puts in the hearts of people to partner with the gospel. And I want you to think about this. That's how we send missionaries overseas. That's how we work with missions organizations. That's why even as a church29:57 here in Sydney, we support organizations not only within within our own nation but in the nations of the world. Why do we do that? Because people, God always unites people with means and and and and people who are30:09 doing the work of ministry. And this is the reason why there is a partnership. And Paul said, I find joy in this partnership that you have brought into my life. Look at this. I want to pay attention30:21 to this word koinonia. It appears 3 times in this short episode. Hallelujah. In chapter 1 and verse 5, you read koinonia. He is talking about soul30:33 winning together. He is talking about service together. So it is the partnership of service. In chapter 2 and verse 1, he talks about a partnership in the spirit.30:45 He says in the participation in the spirit. That's the word partnership. So now he says, what is the partnership with the spirit? It is to supplicate with 1 another. That means you are praying for 1 another. Being30:57 moved by the spirit you have empathy and you have affection and you are praying for 1 another. And thirdly, he says in verse 10 of chapter 3, he says there is a share in his sufferings. There is a31:09 sacrifice together. There is a partnership of service. There is a partnership of supplication and a partnership of suffering. And I want you to capture these 3 things because31:21 that is the richness of this word koinonia. It is not just coming and having coffee and tea together and chitchat and say God bless you, the weather is nice and you're looking good, you lost some weight. No, that's not31:33 it. It comes to a place of doing partnership in serving together, in partnership in supplicating together and partnership in serving God through sacrificially and even31:45 going through suffering together. I want you to listen to me. Just get someone to pray together with you and see how God knits your heart together. Just go on a ministry trip together,31:57 mission trip together, serve maybe serve someone in need together, go to a household where there is a need and start to minister together. See how God knits your hearts. And that is the richness32:09 of this word koinonia. It comes back to the place of partnership. So when Paul is thinking about how he can be joyful, when you and I think about how Paul can be joyful in the midst of suffering.32:21 How can Paul be joyful in lockdown? The first thing is he is going through in his mind the good memories and secondly the partnership and therefore he's praying with joy and we are he's32:33 thanksgiving to the Lord for their partnership. Hallelujah. Secondly, I want you to pay attention to this. The anticipation which was personally encouraging. Verse 6, and I'm sure of this that he who began32:45 a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. I want you to pay attention to this. I'm sure of this. In other words, Paul says this, I'm confident of this.32:57 I'm assured of this. I'm anticipating this. I'm expecting this. What is his expectation? His expectation is this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to33:08 completion at the day, in the day of Jesus Christ. I want you to pay attention to in the day of Jesus Christ. When he mentions the day of Jesus Christ, there is a difference between the day of the Lord and33:20 the day of Jesus Christ. In the Old Testament when you read books like Joel, when the Bible says the day of the Lord. The day of the Lord is a day of judgment. It's a judgment upon the world. The wrath of God upon the33:31 world. But when it says the day of Jesus Christ, it's the day of deliverance. It's a day of salvation. It is the day where believers will receive their reward and their ultimate salvation. So I want you33:43 to think about this. So here he says, he who began a good work. What is Paul confident of? That God had begun a good work on that day when he moved him from Asia to Europe.33:55 What started with the first Asian saleslady? What started with 1 convert? God says he who began a good work in you, he's able to bring it to completion until the34:07 day of Jesus Christ. Hallelujah. I want you to pay attention to 2 things. 1, it is it is the preservation of God. In verse 6, is about the preservation of God. What it means34:19 to the preservation of God? It is God who brings conviction, isn't it? It is God who brings conversion and it's God who brings the completion. I want you to think about this. It is God who brings the34:31 conviction of sin. Holy Spirit is the 1 that brings conviction of sin. Even when Paul is preaching, it is the Holy Spirit that convicts their heart. Not only does he convict their heart, he also converts their soul.34:43 Their soul receives conversion from being being being a person under the wrath of God to moving into the from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light. Now living under the love of God. Hallelujah. What34:54 a joy it is that conversion is brought by the Holy Spirit. Not only that, he says if he is the 1 who convicted you and converted you, he will be the 1 who also bring you to completion. In other words, he is the 1 who35:06 completes the work. Hallelujah. In other words, it's the preservation of God. Now just because this is God's it is God who does the work in you doesn't mean that you don't do35:17 anything. You persevere with God. And that is the second thing I want you to pay attention to. You persevere with him. How? You persevere with him when he is beginning the work in you.35:30 You know when you are learning how to hear him, you are learning how to obey him, you are learning how to be sensitive to him, you are learning how to let go of the way of the world and to embrace the way of the cross.35:41 You're letting go what it means to put your flesh to death and and to embrace life in the spirit. You gotta learn and he's chipping away that old nature of you and the old ways in which you relied35:53 upon And now he's bringing you into these new things and you gotta learn to persevere with him. That's why sometimes he takes you through painful necessary journeys. And that necessary journeys are not to destroy you,36:05 but to develop you, to refine you. And you gotta allow him to do that. And how do you do that? You persevere with God in those situations. So I want you to capture these 2 things. That's Paul's36:17 assurance, his confident expectation, and his anticipation is that God is at work in you and he knows that's the reason for his joy. Thirdly,36:29 I want you to capture this, the association which was personally enduring. Paul found joy in the association. He talks about, he remembers the relationship that he36:41 has with them and how that relationship was endearing to him. Look at this in verse 7. It is right for me to feel this way all about you because I36:53 hold you in my heart. I want you to circle that. I hold you in my heart because in the Greek you can actually say this because you hold me in your37:04 heart. In other words, the Philippian church hold Paul in their heart. At the same time Paul also says because I hold you in my heart. And he says for you are all37:16 partakers with me of this grace. You are partakers of grace. This is the grace not for salvation but a grace for ministry. And he says we all have the37:28 same grace. We are partaking of the grace and in this grace, I hold you in my heart. In both in my imprisonment and in the defense and the confirmation of the gospel. Verse37:39 8, he says, for God is my witness, how I yearn for you all. Here's a pastor talking about his church and he says how I yearn for you.37:51 When I think of all of you, I pray with joy. And now I'm yearning to see all of you with the affection of Jesus Christ. I want you to circle that word affection.38:04 It is a very rich word again. It is a word called splakna in the Greek. And the word splakna, it means inward parts. In the old testament, it is translated as38:15 bows. In other words, it's the it's the word that is so rich for inward parts. So I and the first thing he says is, the reason why he is that they are so dear to him38:27 and the reason why he feels this way is because he relates with splatchner. Now this is a word that Paul uses only when he writes to people that are so dear to him. And this is what38:39 he says in Philemon verses 7, 12 and verse 23 times he uses this 1 word, splakna. He says, I derive my joy and comfort from your love my brother because the hearts38:51 which is the splatchner of the saints have been refreshed. It's the Greek word through you. When we studied Philemon, we looked at it in detail. Look at verse 12, he says, I'm sending you my very heart. In39:03 other words, I'm sending you my very emotions like bowels, inward parts. I'm sending you something that is so dear to me. And then in verseShow more
Comments No comments yet. Start the conversation.
Paul Jeyachandran
Comments
Keep it kind. Comments are public.