Philippians Introduction - Surpassing Worth of Knowing Christ

 Philippians Intro: Surpassing Worth of Knowing Christ

I love the words of the hymn we just sang, “All I Have is Christ.” It reminds me of the words of Paul as he wrote to this church from imprisonment somewhere, saying that he had suffered the loss of all things because of the “surpassing worth of knowing Jesus Christ. To live is Christ and to die is gain.” These are the words of an imprisoned man, a suffering man. And as we go through the book of Philippians, we’re gonna take a while, we’ll probably take all of the school year, if not a little bit longer. It is my hope, and the hope of the pastors here, and the church members who have been praying hopefully for this series, that we would be able to walk away from this series, singing that song with a deeper appreciation, with a heartfelt meaning: “All I have is Christ” And he is all that I need. Our hope is that you would feel that.

This morning I would like to give an introduction to the book of Philippians and consider some of the main themes in Philippians so that we go into it on a proper foundation. First, a little bit of background. The city of Philippi, which this letter was written to, the church in Philippi, was actually named after Philip the Second, King of Macedon. And you may know him as the father of Alexander the Great. The city was formed in 356BC, so its a very old city. It later became a Roman colony in 42BC, after Mark Antony and Octavian defeated Julius Caesar’s assassins in a nearby plain. And what they did with this city, or what they did with the colony, rather, is they used it as a home for the discharged Roman soldiers, so even though it was in the midst of Greek cities, this was very much a Roman colony and Roman culture, which we will see play some significance throughout the letter. Citizens of this city enjoyed all the privileges of Roman citizenship, in which they took great pride. Emperor worship was central to the religion and Christianity was seen as a subversive religion, undermining the worship of emperor. Because if Caesar is Lord, Jesus is not. But the message of Philippians, a central theme, is that Jesus is Lord. He is Lord and Saviour. A title which has been used for the emperors. Paul says, no this belongs to Jesus Christ. So the Christian religion was subversive; there cannot be two lords.

In Luke’s record of Paul’s missionary journey in Acts 16, he described Philippi as a “leading city in the district of Macedonia and a Roman colony” (Acts 16:12). It is into this proud, successful, idolatrous culture that Paul came with the gospel, around 49AD, in his second missionary journey, which we’re going to read about this morning for some background, with Silas and Timothy and likely Luke. So if you have your bibles, turn to Acts chapter 16 with me. We’re going to read the narrative; we’re going to read the account Luke records of actually the planting of this church. Acts 16, starting in verse 9: “And a vision appeared to Paul in the night: a man of Macedonia was standing there, urging him and saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” And when Paul had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go on into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them” (Acts 16: 9-10). Paul is given a vision of a man in Macedonia, pleading with him to send help. And Paul and Silas and Timothy, and probably Luke who is recording this, decide that this is God’s call on us. He has closed these doors, as we read before to go to these other places, the spirit of Jesus didn’t let them go. He has a vision, and he goes to Macedonia.
“So, setting sail from Troas, we made a direct voyage to Samothrace, and the following day to Neapolis, and from there to Philippi, which is a leading city of the district of Macedonia and a Roman colony. We remained in this city some days. And on the Sabbath day we went outside the gate to the riverside, where we supposed there was a place of prayer, and we sat down and spoke to the women who had come together. One who heard us was a woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple goods, who was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul. And after she was baptized, and her household as well, she urged us, saying, “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and stay.” And she prevailed upon us.

As we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a slave girl who had a spirit of divination and brought her owners much gain by fortune-telling. She followed Paul and us, crying out, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to you the way of salvation.” And this she kept doing for many days. Paul, having become greatly annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” And it came out that very hour.

But when her owners saw that their hope of gain was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace before the rulers. And when they had brought them to the magistrates, they said, “These men are Jews, and they are disturbing our city. They advocate customs that are not lawful for us as Romans to accept or practice.” The crowd joined in attacking them, and the magistrates tore the garments off them and gave orders to beat them with rods. And when they had inflicted many blows upon them, they threw them into prison, ordering the jailer to keep them safely. Having received this order, he put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks.

About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them, and suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken. And immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone's bonds were unfastened. When the jailer woke and saw that the prison doors were open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped. But Paul cried with a loud voice, “Do not harm yourself, for we are all here.” And the jailer called for lights and rushed in, and trembling with fear he fell down before Paul and Silas. Then he brought them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” And they said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.” And they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their wounds; and he was baptized at once, he and all his family. Then he brought them up into his house and set food before them. And he rejoiced along with his entire household that he had believed in God.” (Acts 16:11-34)

This is the context for the church in Philippi. Paul is writing a letter to a church that he loves, he says with the affection of Christ. Paul was there at the beginning of this church, which started at the riverbank at a place of prayer. Couple things I want you to notice: Going into Philippi, the reason he went outside of the city gates into a place of prayer was that there were not enough men to start a synagogue. So in Jewish custom, you needed at least 10 men to start a synagogue. You and your buddy couldn’t go and start a synagogue anywhere you wanted, you need at least 10 men. So since there weren’t that, there were some people in that city - Lydia was a Gentile, she wasn’t a Jew, but she worshipped God it says. She was part of the Israelite religion. That’s what that means. So she and some other women would gather outside of the city, since there was no synagogue, to pray. And this is where Paul and Silas go upon entering this city. I want you to notice the transforming power of the gospel in the early stages of this church; I want you to see how God goes to the weak. You realize that God did not send Paul to Philippi to find a church planter. God did not send Paul to Philippi to find a rabbi, who was knowledgeable in the scriptures. He didn’t even send Paul to Philippi to find a Jew. He sent Paul to Philippi, through a vision, to go and find a group of women who were praying by the river. They hadn’t even formed a synagogue. I want you to see how God uses things and people that we would not expect. If your strategy is to go into a foreign land, into a hostile culture, your first instinct would likely be to rally the forces, to gather the men, to get the strongest, to get the most knowledgeable, to get the most mature. But three or four guys went to a river and they found a group of women. And the first recorded convert of this church was Lydia, who would go on to be a leader in this church, who would go on to be so crucial to this church that after her conversion, it says, she welcomed them into her home. The church had a place to meet, the church had fellowship, the church had hospitality because of the faithfulness of this woman.

There’s a lot of implications here for us. There’s a lot of to think about. What is our strategy in spreading the gospel? Who do we go to? I hear people say things, and I’ve thought this too, they say things like, “They would make a great Christian.” Has anyone thought something like that before? That’s such a ridiculous, unbiblical thing to think, but we’ve all thought things like that. In other words, “If this person were to get saved, they would be a great addition to our church.” As if you can tell from a person who doesn’t love Jesus how that would go. You can’t. But maybe it’s a Christian person, you say, “If we had this person in our church, we’d have all that we need. Or at least we’d be a couple steps ahead.” If we had this leader, if we had this servant, if we had this gifting. But God’s strategy for this church was to go and save a Gentile woman, who likely did not know much of the scriptures, to declare the good news of the gospel because a transformed life by the grace of God is more powerful than all those other things. We see that in the life of Lydia. But we won’t stop there.

After the conversion of Lydia, we see the conversion of a slave girl. So unless you’re thinking, “Well maybe his strategy is to find someone after that, maybe he’ll go and find a leader.” No, the next convert was a slave girl. It was a woman who was oppressed by a spirit, who was manipulated and used by the people of that town because she had a gift of being able to see things because of the spirit that was in her. So not only was she afflicted by this spirit, but the leaders in this town, the men, the business people, would use her to their advantage, to make money. This is the next person that the gospel went to. And the gospel was so transformative that the people of the city became angry with the apostles. It’s not like hundreds of people were being saved here, but this slave girl was saved and because she brought in a lot of money to these people, they were angry. And they grabbed them, and they brought them before the city leaders, and they accused them, and they beat them, and they imprisoned them. Look at what the gospel does. It goes to the weak, it goes to the outcast, it goes to the vulnerable. And it angers the proud, and it angers the powerful, and it angers the greedy. So we have a great transformation happening in this city, but we have a great persecution right from the beginning. The opposition to the gospel is almost immediate. You would think people would be happy that a poor slave girl, that we can’t even imagine her life, would be set free, but they are so selfish, and we are so selfish and self-centered, that all they could see is the gain they had lost. And it drove them to false accusation, to anger, to unfair trial of these men, to beating them and imprisoning them. “Innocent until proven guilty” is obviously not a part of these people’s judicial system. This was a mob. So we see from the beginning, not only the transforming power, but the persecution and then the suffering on behalf of the gospel, verse 19-24. the next thing I want you to see is the joy that takes place in the midst of the suffering. And this would be absolutely formative to the Philippian church, and this is a major theme in the book. Look what it says, “About midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God.” About midnight they were praying and singing hymns to God. So this is the day, it says, that they were gathered by a mob, they were stripped of their clothes, they were beaten without cause, and they were put in the inner part of the prison, which was probably without windows, and wet and cold and a miserable place to be, and they were shackled. And it’s out of this context that the hymns and the praises to God grows. A major theme in the book of Philippians is joy amidst of suffering. And this is a theme that we need to hear again and again and again. And the reason we need to hear it is not this, it’s not just so that when you have a problem in your life - which you will - when you suffer in your life - which you will – you will persevere. We see in the book of Philippians, the point of your suffering is to magnify the worth of Jesus. In other words, the way that you suffer says everything about how you love and know Jesus. There is nothing in the scriptures that reveals to us our idols, that reveals to us our treasures, so deeply as our hurts, so deeply as our sufferings. And we see in the beginning of this church, in its earliest formation, the power of the gospel at work and immediate opposition and extreme suffering and great rejoicing. And this is a theme that Paul will write to them again, 10 years later. They were praying and singing hymns to God as they were shackled and in pain. Does the gospel news and the presence of Jesus Christ cause you to sing in the midst of pain? Does it cause us to sing? Is the Lord Jesus Christ our greatest treasure? Is he our surpassing worth?

Next, I want you to notice another thing: this joy that they expressed, this singing was not just an isolated incident meant to comfort them. Look what is says: “And the prisoners were listening to them.” Their joy was their witness. You see, it’s not just the proclamation of the gospel, it’s living a life, as Paul says in the book of Philippians, in accordance with the gospel. Can you imagine being a prisoner in that jail? If you were a prisoner in that jail, likely there was a reason you were there. I mean I said these people’s judicial system wasn’t that good, it was a Roman judicial system, which actually was pretty good. We see that once they realize that Paul was a Roman citizen, they feel bad, they say “get rid of him, because we’re in trouble.” They did have laws, they did have statues, they did have procedure. So assuming that the rest of the people in here weren’t just victims of a mob like they were, they were probably guilty people. And these people see others come in, and they know what has happened, and they know that they were victims. And they see amidst their suffering, amidst the injustice of it all, without even a few days to reflect, without even a few days to get past it, without even a few days to be a little bit angry, that night, at midnight, when everybody should be sleeping, they were singing. And I want you to see this, that their joy, and our joy is a witness to the gospel. That’s why this book is so important. That’s why we are praying that God does an amazing work through his word and all of our lives, through this series, because our joy is our witness. Not our optimism, not our blind happiness, not Mr. Rogers’ smiles, but deep joy in the face of deep sorrow is a witness of the church. It’s always been that way and it will always be that way.

Next, I want you to consider the jailer. I want you to see the pattern of salvation that God worked out in his life we read through this narrative. And if you don’t know the Lord Jesus, maybe you can relate to these feelings this morning. The first thing we see is the jailer experienced a deep sense of despair. “And when the jailer woke, and he saw the prison doors were open, he drew his sword. He was about to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped.” (Acts 16:27) He thought he had failed his job and what awaited him was certain judgement and death. And the only reasonable thing he could think to do is to kill himself. This man was overcome with despair. And apart from Christ, this is our position, if we’re honest. Apart from Christ, we’re aware of the penalty that awaits us, we’re aware of the reality, if God helps us, that there is a penalty for our sins, that there is a judgement waiting to happen, that like the jailer, there is nowhere to run. And if you feel that, that is because God is being merciful to you. But he doesn’t stay in despair. His despair moves to fear. “And the jailer called for lights and rushed in with fear, and he fell down before Paul and Silas.” (Acts 16:29) He moved from despair to fear. What exactly is going on here? The doors are open, the chains are removed, and these people hang around. What is going on here? He is overwhelmed with fear. But in God’s grace, this fear moves to desperation and humility. “Then he brought them out and says, ‘Sirs, what must I do to be saved?’” (Acts 16:30) See, that jailer had probably been listening to their songs, he’d probably been listening to their hymns, he’d probably been considering to himself, “What is with these people?” You see, Philippi had never heard the gospel before. This was the first church planted in Europe, modern day Greece. This man would have never, ever heard the name Jesus. He would never have heard that there was a Saviour, that there was a way to be saved apart from participating in the religions of the day, this was all news to him. And maybe as he went to sleep, that’s what he was thinking, “What is this?” and as he awoke and he thought his life was over, and despair had settled in, he realized they had stayed. There was something different; he rushes in: “How must I be saved?” And Paul gave him an answer to that question. Perhaps this is the man, the Macedonian man he saw in his dream. Perhaps this is the moment he had been waiting for. How must I be saved? His desperation moved to belief, he said, “ ‘Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.” And they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house’ (Acts 16:31-32). This man’s despair moved to fear, moved to humility and crying out for salvation. And the instruction was to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the way you can be saved, he is the one who can alleviate your fears, he is the one who will rescue you, come what may. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. This man would not have known what to do, this man would not have had a way to be saved unless Paul and Silas were sent to that prison. There’s people who are lost, there’s people who are like that man in the vision, “Come and help me”, but they don’t even know what they need help from; they don’t even know what they need deliverance from. And they won’t be saved unless we go and we speak the word of the Lord to them. A major theme in the book of Philippians is how the Philippian church was a partner in the gospel from the first day until now, Paul says. You can imagine this man knew exactly how crucial this was. He was in a country that had no idea of Jesus, in a culture that had no idea of Jesus, he had no hope of finding Jesus, at all, until these prisoners showed up in his jail. You can imagine what that would do to this man, you can imagine the trajectory of his life. That when Paul was sent to prison, hardly any of the churches sent help, but this church sent help. Ten years later, when Paul was imprisoned again, who came knocking? Who came, sending? Who came, concerned? It was the Philippian church. Who sent the messenger who almost died? The Philippian church. Who was a great partner in the gospel to Paul? It was the Philippian church. Because the Philippians knew what it meant to be lost with no hope.

That is what most of your friends’ position is. That is what the students you go to school - that is their position. Your professors – that’s their position. We don’t live in a culture where most people know the gospel. It used to be that way, at least you could assume that most people had simply rejected the gospel, they at least heard it, but they rejected it. We don’t live in that world. And you know that. You guys know that. Most of your friends, most of your neighbors, most of your coworkers, most of your teachers, most of everyone you meet outside of these four walls has no hope. Has never heard, and will never hear, unless we tell them. Unless we rejoice around them, unless we love them and welcome them, unless we declare the word of God to them. The message of this book is important to us. And we need to realize that we had no hope. How are you here this morning? Think about that. I didn’t write that down for the questions tonight, but think about that. Who came to you? Who declared to you the message of salvation? That’s what we need to be to other people. “Amazing grace how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me, I once was lost but now am found, was blind but now I see.” “And he rejoiced, along with his entire household, that he had believed in God” (Acts 16:34). He rejoiced that he had believed in God; that God had done an amazing work in him.

So that is the context of the letter, that is a bit of the background of the city, that is the scriptural background of the planting of this church. Out of suffering, out of persecution, out of joy, out of a partnership in the gospel. Immediately, it says, this man welcomed the apostles into his house. He gave them food, he washed their feet, what does that sound like? He became a servant, which is another theme in the book of Philippians. All of these things, they would be hearing as they received this letter ten years letter. Ten to twelve years later, Paul writes them from prison. We don’t know exactly where, its either Rome or Ephesus. Paul says he was in prison more than any of the other apostles, he doesn’t tell us everywhere. We know that he was in Rome, we know that he was in prison in Caesaria, we know several others, but not all of them. And it’s not really important. He was in prison somewhere, by the Romans, after his missionary journey. He’s writing to tell them two things. He’s writing to tell the Philippian church that his imprisonment and suffering have helped to advance the gospel. Chapter 1, verse 12: “I want you to know brothers, that was has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel, so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ. And most of the brothers, having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, are much more bold to speak the word without fear” (Philippians 1:12-14). So he says, right off the bat, the main reason I’m writing you is to tell you that my imprisonment is not an impediment to the gospel. You see, Paul is the Apostle Paul. Paul wrote most of your New Testament. Paul is the one sending all these letters around to the churches. Paul is the one performing all these miracles. He’s our champion; he’s our man. He came and preached to us, he’s the reason we know about Jesus Christ, and now he’s in prison. There’s a temptation in church to feel that our champion has fallen, our hope has failed. The gospel advances come to a halt. But he writes to remind them, don’t you remember how we started this thing? From a prison! By a riverside. That’s how this works – the gospel cannot be stopped. So he wants to remind these people, that the gospel cannot be stopped. What has happened to me, not only has not stopped the gospel, it has advanced the gospel. In other words, there are people that are being reached by the good news of the gospel, through my imprisonment, that would have never been reached. We find out that the whole imperial guard has learned that Paul’s imprisonment was for Christ. Again, his joy in suffering became a witness to all of these soldiers. We also learn that the brothers had become emboldened, become confident to speak the word of God without fear. Paul’s looking around and he’s realizing, “this isn’t slowing the gospel down, this is speeding it up.” Because all of the soldiers out there, they know about Christ now. All of the brothers out there, who were afraid, who were timid, they’re all sharing the gospel now. Our suffering is not an obstacle to the gospel. Our suffering, as God ordains it, is a crucial method to the advance of the gospel. And we need to get that. We need to get that more than most people in the history of the church have got that, because we are young. And some of you have suffered a lot, and most of you haven’t. Some of you have suffered a lot, I know some of you have, but most of you, including me, haven’t. And when that day comes, should God allow that in your life, I don’t want you to think, “my life is over, the mission has failed, I’m useless.” I want you to see this as an amazing moment for the advance of the gospel, whatever that is. It probably won’t be in a jail, but maybe it will. But whatever that is, I want you by the end of this letter to have an unshakeable hope in the power of God, the sovereignty of God, and the unstoppable nature of the gospel. That God will do anything to get the word to his people – it cannot be stopped. And I want us to have a confidence, as a church, in our evangelism, that God cannot be stopped; that it doesn’t ultimately depend on us.

So that’s what Paul wrote. One, to tell the church that his imprisonment and suffering had helped to serve the advancement of the gospel. Two, he wanted to write to the Philippian church to thank them for their partnership in the gospel. This church’s relationship to Paul is an amazing blueprint of how Christians can work together for the advance of the gospel. And we’re going to look at that in depth. And I want you to walk away, individually, and myself to walk away, to see the purpose of your life to be the advancement of the gospel, and to have a vision of how you can partner with that. I want us to have a vision, as a church, and a commitment to how we partner in the advance of the gospel. So that’s another thing I want.

Just like Lydia, and then the jailer, the Philippian church continued to support and help Paul in the advance of the gospel. They sent a man named Epaphroditus as a messenger and a minister to Paul’s need in chapter 2:25. It says, “who nearly died on his journey.” So Paul is in jail, and the one church that send help to him, probably a financial gift, and just an encouragement, is the Philippian church. It’s the church of the jailer. It’s the church of the imprisoned. They sent Epaphroditus. And Paul says that Epaphroditus, on his way, nearly died just to get there. Think of the kind of love and affection they would have had. If this was in Rome, it’s over 700 miles away. That’s months’ worth of travel. To go and give a guy some money, who’s in prison, and to give him some encouragement. You think about that. Think about what we are willing to do to encourage other people in our church, to help people in our church. How often do we just assume everything will work out, everything will pan out, someone else will take care of it, someone else will help them, someone else will encourage them? In fact, that’s how we mostly just live our lives, isn’t it? We play no meaningful role in the advance of the gospel. There’s nothing, that if we don’t do it, won’t happen. Cause someone will. Cause we have iPhones. Right? All our problems are solved. But there are things, there are encouragements, there are gifts, there are blessings, that if you don’t give them, they will never be received. Who knows? Well, we wouldn’t have had the book of Philippians. We wouldn’t have the richness of this book – which I’m excited to get to – we wouldn’t have the depth or the richness. We wouldn’t have one of the greatest hymns recorded in church history of the humility of Christ and his exaltation, and the example we are to follow. We wouldn’t have had the joy that Paul had expressed, we wouldn’t have seen the surpassing worth of Christ, if epaphroditus didn’t get on that road and make his way. We wouldn’t have had that. So Paul’s writing not only to encourage them that his suffering if helping to advance the gospel, he’s writing them to thank them for their partnership in the gospel. He says, “since the first day until now.” Since Lydia, in your church, since she brought me into her home, we had nowhere to meet – thank you for that. Since the jailer got us out of jail, it says, “he washed our wounds” and “he gave us food”, he welcomed us to our home – thank you for that. This church has been helping Paul and he wants them to continue their help. In a way, this is a missionary support letter of encouragement to this church.

Thirdly, he’s writing to instruct and encourage the Philippians on three counts: One, he’s writing to them to avoid disunity. Walter Hansen wrote, “Paul’s appeal to two women ‘to be of the same mind in the Lord’ [in other words, “stop fighting” (Philippians 4:2)] does not come as a surprise, but a climactic conclusion to the letter. Selfish ambition and self interest in the Philippian community come under Paul’s censure (2:3-4); grumbling and arguing among the children of God also receive his stern rebuke (2:14). These glimpses of conflict in the life of the church give us some understanding of the reason for Paul’s repeated appeals for the church to be united in spirit and of one mind (1:27; 2:1-5, 14; 3:17, 20; 4:2).” So although this church had magnificent beginnings, they’d seen the transforming power of the gospel, they had banded together to help the advance of the gospel, they had suffered for it. This church was becoming splintered. And it wasn’t because of outward persecution, it wasn’t because life was hard, it was because of those grumblings. Those things that happen, and we know those things, and I know those things.

I don’t know what the saying is - I wish I asked my dad before – but in Holland… a lot of Holland is below sea level, which means they have to have these huge dams, we call them dykes, to keep out the sea. And if they were to fall down, a huge majority of the country would be immediately covered by the sea. They’re very important. There was a famous story that I heard growing up, I don’t know this is true, but it’s the story of a young boy – we read it, I think, in the book of virtues – and the young boy saw a little hole one day on the way home from the dyke. And the little hole was spouting water, and he looked around for someone to help him, something to do, and there was no one there. So he stood there, and he put his thumb in the hole. Because he knew, which everyone knew, that a tiny hole, turns into a bigger hole, turns into a crack. Turns into a cavern, turns into a large percentage of your entire country being covered with water. That tiny hole was so much more than a tiny hole. The danger that that represented was way more than that hole – it was the loss of that country. And grumbling and complaining, and a church that becomes selfish and self-centered, and becomes critical of others; it becomes critical not just of leaders, but of each other. That you don’t like things, you complain about them. You talk about them. You find in your small groups, and your times of meeting up, you mainly complain about others in the church. Those little things, that tiny hole, is what brings down a church. Paul is concerned. Amidst everything this church faces, when you think about it – the mob, under Roman rule, he says watch out, grumbling and complaining will undermine this church. Bickering of the people. We need to be a church, we need to keep mind of this. All of our words, all the things we’re saying, are we saying for the building up of the hearers? Are we saying for the building up of the body? And if we’re not, we need to stop, because we are undermining the work of the gospel in our lives, and in the lives of our brothers and sisters. Do not grumble. He wants them to avoid disunity.

Secondly, he wants them to persevere and to grow in suffering, as we looked at. Suffering is a major theme in this book – none more climatic than the suffering of Jesus Christ. Though he was in the form of God, humbled himself, becoming a servant to the point of death – even death on the cross. See, suffering is not something that just some suckers get, suffering is not something just those who are cursed by God get, suffering is not something that those who are less spiritual have happen to them. Suffering is something that Jesus had happen to him. If your only view of suffering is “I deserve this, I must have done something or someone is to blame” then what do you do with Jesus? The perfect man. The God-man. The sinless man. The persecuted man. The Son of Man, who had nowhere to lay his head at night. The poor man. The lonely man. The homeless man. What do you do with that man? The crucified man. What do you do with that man? You need to develop a radical view of suffering. You need to have a radical view of God’s purposes in your life for suffering, way bigger than “Am I being punished?” You might be being disciplined, you’re always being disciplined, instructed. We need a big vision, that we only see through Jesus, of how we handle and persevere through suffering.

And lastly, he says, I want you to not be frightened in anything by your opponents. He’s writing to this church because they are in danger of being afraid of their opponents. We learn this from the book of Revelation, that fear is the enemy of faithfulness. So much garbage that we see going on in the church today, underneath it all, is fear. The culture’s going this way, and if we go this way, they’re going to hate us, so we’ll kind of accommodate and go this way too. We’ll try to keep a little bit of our Christian heritage, but we end up capitulating. Because fear is the great enemy of faithfulness, and it always has been. We need to be a church that is not afraid of those who oppose us. The second reason is: you can’t love people you’re afraid of. The only person you should fear is the Lord Jesus Christ. And that really sets you free to love everybody else, including your jailer. Fear is the enemy of faithfulness, and it’s the enemy of love. The only person to be feared is the Lord. Jesus is Lord, Caesar is not. He alone is to be feared.

So those are the themes of the book and that’s where we are going to be going throughout this series in far greater detail and far greater richness. And I think, in closing, the heart of this letter – if you were going to memorize a verse, I want you to memorize this verse, Philippians 3:7-11. Memorize this verse: “For whatever gain I had I count as loss for the sake of Christ… rubbish in order that I may gain Christ.” The theme of this book, that drives everything that I just explained to you, is the surpassing worth of knowing Jesus. Why is Paul going on all these journeys? If you have a Bible, you probably have, in the back, maps. Two or three of them will be Paul’s missionary journeys. Trace them out sometime, count the miles. There’s a little legend, it will tell you. Why does a successful, reputable man go through all this? Why was he shipwrecked so many times, beaten how many times, imprisoned so many times? He gets a vision, and he decides that that’s a reason he should go, not knowing what awaits him. Because the surpassing worth of knowing Jesus Christ. Why was this man, whose first day in Philippi, all of a sudden sees some fruit… ok we’re rocking it, we’ve got two already…thrown in jail, the mission is over – he’s singing hymns and he’s praying, well into midnight. It’s probably been dark the whole time he was there. He’s in pain. Because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ. Why does he care so deeply about the advance of the gospel? Because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ. Because Paul hated Jesus. He hated Jesus. And Jesus met him on that road, and all of his grace, and all of his glory, he said, “I’m going to send you to the Gentiles.” He was so lost, the church was afraid when he came! He was the missionary everyone was scared of! “Are you going to kill us, or save us?” That’s how they felt. Honestly, “are you trying to trick us here? Because the last town told us that you were lynching everybody. And now you’re here to tell us about his man, Jesus Christ, who rose from the dead? Are you high?” This is the man. Because Paul had a vision and an experience of the grace of God that he never recovered from.

The theme of this letter, and the driving passion in Paul’s life, is to know Jesus Christ. And not just to know him like, “I had this one experience…” He says, “but I press on, so that I may gain Christ, and obtain the resurrection from the dead.” He is not complacent in knowing Christ. He does not stop in his knowing Christ. He is pressing on, pressing forward, through anything and everything, that he might gain Christ. Everything that he had, he counts as loss. Nothing in the world was more valuable to him. He was not being foolish, he was being reasonable. “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.” Jim Elliot said that. And he was speared on the side of the river, and he was totally right. He didn’t lose a thing! It was all gain. And that feels weird. And we don’t wake up every day feeling like that. That’s why we need the book of Philippians. Show us Lord Jesus, how you are greater than everything, how you are worth more than everything, that whatever we face we win if we have you. The point of my degree at Trent University is so that I may gain Christ. The point of my degree at Trent University, why God brought me to this city, is that I might serve at the advance of the gospel. That is why you are here. That other stuff is important, “whatever you do, work to the Lord.” Study hard, don’t slack off. But know that you are here for the advance of the gospel. You are here to know the greatest treasure in the world – and that is Jesus Christ. If you are here, looking for a reason this morning, not to fall on that sword, I want to put him before you. And if this morning you don’t receive him, come back next week and we’ll tell you more about him. We’ll do it the next week, and the next week, and the next week. Because we are people who have not yet recovered from knowing the Lord Jesus Christ. So that’s our heart; that’s Paul’s heart for this church. This is our prayer.

I want to give you five practical things. These are five practical things, I’m just going to list them off, then I’m done. Sorry we don’t have a clock here. We preach a long time in this church. I preach a long time in this church. Five things:

That we would be captivated, like Paul, and like Lydia, and like the jailer, and like the whole early church with the gospel of Jesus Christ. I don’t want you to come to The Gathering because we’re young. That’s so lame. That’s not even a good idea. You should go to a church where there’s older people –it’ll help you. I want you to come to The Gathering because we are passionate about, captivated by the gospel of Jesus Christ. I want your main reason for coming here this morning, on top of everything else, is because you have tasted, you have seen the goodness of God in Jesus. And you will hear, and you will taste, you will see that here. Come, that’s a good reason.

Two, that we would give our lives for the sake of the gospel, partnering together to advance the gospel as our mission. We’ve been standing still, and now it’s time to get moving. It’s time to advance, it’s time to partner, it’s time to consider. Each one of us, beginning with our members, what is your role in the advance of the gospel? It is time for us to come together as a people. What is our role in the advance of the gospel? It’s time for us to lay aside every other vain pursuit that has taken that place. To find our role.

Third, that we would be filled with indomitable joy. If joy is our greatest witness, and joy is what helps us persevere, joy displays that Jesus is our treasure, then I am praying that we are a church that is characterized by joy. And we haven’t been. But by God’s grace, we can be.

Fourth, that we would be a unified church. Not grumbling, not complaining, but unified together in purpose and in goal. I want us to gather the troops. We’re not rallying around The Gathering. We’re not rallying around what our vision is, and our message is, we are rallying around the gospel. We are covenanting together as God’s people. And I am praying that we move through the word of God, the work of the Spirit, into the greatest unity that we have ever experienced as a church. Not superficial. Deep unity. That we would stop grumbling and complaining about one another. That we would kill the sin at the root. We’re not unified, and we need to be. And by God’s grace, we can be.

And lastly, that we would, at all cost, obtain the resurrection from the dead. God’s goal in giving us the book of Philippians is to help spur us on towards the upward call of Christ Jesus, is to be a means to that end – that you would be closer, having read this book, to the resurrection of the dead, to the prize of Jesus Christ.

Church in Downtown Peterborugh | Peterborough Church | Trent University | Peterborough