Well, let us turn to God's Word
in the epistle to the Philippians. Once again, we're considering
this final chapter, the practical part of the epistle, and I remark
now that we've now come to that particular passage from verse
10 through to the end where we find Paul rejoicing really, rejoicing
in thanksgivings to God for the care that the Philippians are
showing towards him. At verse 10 he says, But I rejoiced
in the Lord greatly, that now at the last your care of me has
flourished again, wherein you were also careful, but ye lacked
opportunity. Now the opportunity was presenting
itself again and As I say, we've been considering there these
final verses, and I want tonight to turn to the passage from verse
14 through to verse 18. He says at verse 14, Notwithstanding
ye have well done, that ye did communicate with my affliction.
Now ye Philippians know also that in the beginning of the
gospel, when I departed from Macedonia, No church communicated
with me as concerning giving and receiving, but ye own them.
For even in Thessalonica ye sent once and again unto my necessity,
not because I desire a gift, but I desire fruit that may abound
to your accounts. But I have all and abound. I
am full having received of Epaphroditus the things which were sent from
you, an odour of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable while
pleasing to God. And as we come then to look at
this particular portion, these few verses, I want to really
address the subject of their fruitful sacrifice. He speaks of their fruitful sacrifice. In verse 17, I desire fruit,
that may abound to your account. And then at the end of verse
18, he speaks of an odor of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable
while pleasing to God. Previous to this, he makes mention
of how from the very beginning they had shown something of their
great love to him. He had ministered to them in
spiritual things, and they were wont to minister to him in temporal
things. In verse 15 he makes mention
of what he terms the beginning of the gospel. Now ye Philippians
know also that in the beginning of the gospel, when I departed
from Macedonia, Philippi, one of the principal cities of Macedonia,
the northern part of Greece, No church communicated with me
as concerning giving and receiving, he says, but ye only. For even in Thessalonica ye send
once and again unto my necessity." It's an interesting expression
that he uses, the beginning of the gospel. And it's very personal
really because he's actually speaking of how the gospel first
came to them if we go back to chapter 1 and verse 5 he speaks
of your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now
from the very first day and of course we have the detailed account
of his first preaching at Philippi there in Acts chapter 16 and
the persecutions that befell him and Silas how they were thrust
into the prison, into the inner prison, then that remarkable
deliverance, the conversion of the Philippian jailer, and also,
of course, we read there of Lydia and her conversion. Well, from
the very beginning, they would show the fruit of gratitude towards
Paul, who was the instrument on the God of conveying the Gospel
to them. And after that account in chapter
16 of the Acts, in the very next chapter, chapter 17, we read
about Paul goes from Philippi and goes to Thessalonians. And that's spoken of here in
verse 16, even in Thessalonia, He sent once and again unto my
necessity. As soon as He had departed, they
were still having some communication with Him, and they were still
wanting to support Him and to encourage Him in His ongoing
ministry. And then, after being at Thessalonica, in that 17th chapter we go on
to Acts chapter 18 and we find him moving on then he's gone
to Athens from Thessalonica and then he goes on to Corinth and
I think I remarked last time that even when he was at that
Corinth has still ministering to his needs and supporting him
then very much in all his ministry in 2nd Corinthians chapter 11
and verse 9 as he writes to the church of Corinth he says when
I was present with you and wanted I was chargeable to no man for
that which was lacking to me the brethren which came from
Macedonia supplied That would have been some from Philippi
coming to him and supplying his needs. And so he was not burdensome
to those who were in the church at Corinth. It's clear how that
the Philippians were most considerate, most generous in all their ministry
to the Apostle Paul. And this is what he is writing
of, of course, in the portion that we've read to be considered
tonight they are concerned for him and yet as we were saying
last week he was really one who was very much content content
with that that they had supplied what does he say in verse 10 Let me get the right verse. Verse
10, I rejoiced in the Lord greatly, that nevertheless your care of
me has flourished again, wherein you were also careful, but ye
lacked opportunity. Not that I speak in respect of
want, for I have learned in whatever state I am, therewith to be content. And we spoke of the necessity
of that contentment. Whatever his state, And the life
of faith is one in which there will be many changes. The life
of faith is full of changes. It's an in and out, it's an up
and down sort of an experience. And how necessary then that God's
people manifest something of that grace of contentment. And it can only be learned in
the school of the Lord Jesus Christ. And doesn't He say that?
In verses 11 and 12 we have those verbs. He says, I have learned,
I know, I know, I am instructed. It's something that He is learning
from the Lord. Why hasn't Paul spoken previously
of the necessity of them having the mind of Christ back in chapter
2 and verse 5? Let this mind be in you which
was also in Christ Jesus. That humility of mind, that meekness
of spirit. And this is that that one has
to learn in experience. And this was true of them. we
think of the promise of the new covenant back in Jeremiah 31
they shall teach no more every man his neighbor and every man
his brother know the Lord for they shall all know me from the
least of them to the greatest of them for I will forgive their
iniquities and remember their sins no more and that word that
we have in verse 12 where he says I am instructed I am instructed
both to the full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer
need. And the particular verb there
is one that's derived from the word, the noun, that literally
means mystery, or the mystery of real religion. Without controversy,
great is the mystery. of godliness. Remember the words
that we have there in 1st Timothy 3.16? Well, they had learned
something of that mystery of godliness. They had learned the
secret of the life of faith. And what was that life of faith? What was that contentment? It
is that that leads to the Lord Jesus Christ, content in Christ. I can do all things through Christ
which strengthens me, he says. And as it leads to Christ, so
of course it involves very much that life of prayer, as he has
said previously in verse 6, to be careful for nothing, but in
everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgivings, to make all
their requests known unto God. Well, these are some of the things
we were looking at previously. Now, as I said, I want us to
consider this passage that runs from verse 14 right through to
verse 18. And the first thing to mention
is that of the ministry of Epaphroditus. We read that passage in the second
chapter, the end of chapter 2, where he speaks of Timothy ministering
to them, but then right at the end he speaks also of Epaphroditus. And so here in verse 18, I have
all and abound, I am full, having received of Epaphroditus the
things which were sent from you, he says. And We are told, aren't
we, in that portion we were reading, chapter 2, verse 25, Yet I suppose
it necessary to send to you a Paschuditus, my brother and companion in labour
and fellow-soldier, but your messenger, and thee that minuted
to my wants. For he longed after you all,
and was full of heaviness, because he had heard that ye had been
sick. This person then, Epaphroditus,
he was probably Paul's amanuensis, he was probably the one who had
actually written out this particular epistle and then was given the
charge of taking the letter to the Philippians. And he's a messenger then to
the Philippians. It's interesting, the word that's
used there in that second chapter. It is rendered your messenger
at the end of verse 25. Your messenger. It's in fact
the word that is more regularly translated as apostle. But it's rightly rendered in
our authorised version. Apostle Titus was not one of
the apostles. But of course the word can have
a generic meaning also, it doesn't always have a technical meaning,
there is a general sense to the word, it simply means one who
has been sent on a mission, one who has gone forward with a message. When Paul writes to the Corinthians
here in 2 Corinthians 8.23 he speaks of the messengers of the
churches. There was obviously some communication
between these various churches that were being established and
Paul would on various occasions he would send different men back
to places where he had ministered and churches had been established.
This man Epaphroditus was such a one. He was a messenger. The word
is, as I said, normally used in the technical sense of an
apostle. Paul repeatedly uses it in the
opening verses of his epistles time and again. We have it in
Romans, The opening verse of Romans again in 1st Corinthians,
2nd Corinthians, Galatians. It's always translated Apostle. Of course, when he's writing
to the church at Corinth, he has to establish the legitimacy
of his apostleship because there were those who were questioning
that. The false teachers undermining his ministry. And so writing
there in 1 Corinthians 9, am I not an apostle? Am I not free? Have I not seen Jesus Christ
our Lord? Are not ye my work in the Lord?
If I be not an apostle unto others, yet doubtless I am to you. For
the seal of mine apostleship are ye in the Lord. He has to
assert that truth and he has that office. He's more than a
messenger. Again, in 2 Corinthians 12 and verse 12, he can say,
"...truly the signs of an apostle were wrought among you in all
patience, in signs and wonders and mighty deeds." But this man,
Epaphroditus, is one who is the messenger that Paul is using. sends him then to the church
at Philippi to bear this letter to them. But thinking particularly of
the sacrifice of these Philippians and their fruitfulness, and how
he describes it here at the end of the passage, the end of verse
18, an odor of a sweet smell, he says, a sacrifice acceptable
while pleasing to God. Their ministry to Paul was in
effect a ministry that they were rendering to God himself. What
they were doing was pleasing and acceptable to the Lord God
himself. Doesn't it remind us of the words
of the Lord Jesus? Remember when he speaks of his
coming again, and the great day of reckoning, the final day of
judgement, in Matthew chapter 25, and there at verse 37 following,
the separation that is to be made between the sheep and the
goats and he says as he unfolds that great day of judgment. Then shall the king say unto
them on his right hand, Come ye blessed of my Father, inherit
the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat. I was thirsty,
and ye gave me drink. I was a stranger, and ye took
me in, naked, and ye clothed me. I was sick, and ye visited
me. I was in prison, and ye came
unto me. Then shall the righteous answer
him, saying, Lord, whence were we then hungred and fed them,
or thirsty, and gave ye drink? Whence were we then a stranger,
and took thee in, or naked, and clothed them? Or whence all we
thee seek or imprisonment came unto thee? And the king shall
answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye
have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye
have done it unto me. Inasmuch. Inasmuch as ye have
done it unto those who are my brethren, the Lord says. And
this is what these people were doing. They were ministering
to the Apostle Paul but really they are ministering to the Lord
God himself and what they are doing you see is an ode of a
sweet smile a sacrifice acceptable, well, pleasing to God God takes
account of what they are doing we do read of sacrifices being
as sweet savour to God after the
floods when Noah and all his are delivered and restored to
the earth. Remember the sacrifice that Noah
makes, he's taken on to the ark certain clean animals and so
he can make the required sacrifice of thanksgiving and we're told
there in Genesis 8 how the Lord smelled a sweet Saviour, a sweet
Saviour. And with the Lord Jesus Christ,
of course, we know that His great sacrifice, that sin-atoning sacrifice,
is as a sweet Saviour unto the Lord God. In Ephesians 5, He says, to the
church at Ephesus be ye therefore followers of God as dear children
and walk in love as Christ also hath loved us and hath given
himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling
savour." Well, we do not make such sin-attaining sacrifices
but there is that sacrifice of thanksgiving and praise that
comes before God as a sweet savour. Christ himself has offered the
one sacrifice for sins forever, but what of his people? They
are priests, they are priests, but not sacrificing priests,
not relmish priests who imagine that they can offer a bloodless
sacrifice in the mass. Peter tells believers you are
a chosen generation, a royal priesthood and holy nation, a
peculiar people, that you should show forth the praises of him
who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light. The
priesthood of all believers and the sacrifices that they offer,
sacrifices of praise, sacrifices of good works. the words that we find there
at the end of Hebrews 13 by him therefore let us offer the sacrifice
of praise continually to God that is the fruit of our lips
giving thanks unto the Lord but to do good and communicate forget
not for with such sacrifices God is well pleased these are
the sacrifices that believers are to present there are good
works And those good works, they are the evidence of salvation. They are the evidence of salvation.
And this is what Paul is desirous to see in these Philippians. As he says there in verse 17,
Not because I desire a gift, but I desire fruit that may abound
to your account. We want them to be fruitful.
The Lord says, By their fruit ye shall know them. And it's
interesting that even in the Reformed Church of England, in
the 39 articles, there's an article that deals with the matter of
good works. Article 12 speaks of good works,
but they're good works that follow justification. Not good works
to justify the sinner, but good works that follow justification. I suppose it's what Paul is speaking
of in Ephesians 2. By grace are ye saved through
faith, that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should boast. But Paul goes on, we are his
workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good work. There are those works that are
the fruit, that give evidence that the person is truly in a
state of grace. Those works that justify faith,
we might say. And it is the sort of works that
James is speaking of in his epistle. Even so faith he did have not
works, he's dead, he says, being alone. And remember how James
does speak of the faith of Abraham there in chapter 2 and verse 21 he says was not
Abraham our father justified by works when he had offered
Isaac his son upon the altar seest thou how faith wrought
with his works and by works was faith made perfect he's not saying
that his works, his obedience, in presenting his son as a sacrifice,
and he would willingly have done that. James is not saying that
that was part of his justification. We know from Romans 4 where his
justification was. It's centered in Isaac as a wonderful
type of the Lord Jesus Christ. He was justified by faith without
works. says quite clearly there in Romans
4 but what James is saying is that his readiness to obey, his
obedience to God which results in good works is that that justifies
his faith in the sense that it indicates to us how genuine his
faith is the works that justify faith
in They are those works that flow
from Christ's sacrifice and Christ's great salvation. The Lord Jesus
tells us quite clearly in the Gospel, the altar sanctifies
the gift. It's the altar that sanctifies
the gift. And all the good that the believer
does flow from Christ's sacrifice and salvation. and they are works
that are important in that they indicate that this person is
one who has that faith of God's elect that true faith that is
justifying because it centers in the person and work, the obedience
and the blood of the Lord Jesus the altar the altar sanctifies
the gift, the altar sanctifies the good works. The work of Christ
is that that is so fundamental thing. Good works, as it says
in that twelfth article, good works follow after justification. And those words that we have
again in Hebrews, Hebrews 13 verse 10 Paul says we have an
altar whereof they have no right to eat which serve the tabernacle
nothing legal about these good works but simply the evidence
the evidence that there is in that person the grace of God
that those who are justified by the righteousness of the Lord
Jesus and that is true of these Philippians. All that Paul is
saying in this whole portion then is the evidence that their
religion is genuine. They are those who are in a state
of grace. An odor of a sweet smell, a sacrifice
acceptable while pleasing to God. That's what Paul says of
these words that they that they've evidenced by their great love
and concern for the Apostle. And see how Paul says here at
the end of the passage, he says, I have all and abound, I am full,
having received of Epaphroditus the things which were sent from
you. Imagine The margin says there at the beginning of that
18th verse, I have received all. I have received all. As Paul
is sending the letter to them with Epaphroditus, he's reminding
them that he has received all that they had sent. His letter
in a sense is his receipt, his recognition, his acknowledgement
of what he'd received from them. Epaphroditus had come from them
and had faithfully discharged his duty in communicating these
things to the Apostle, and now Paul is sending Epaphroditus
after some while back to them with this letter to acknowledge
their gift. He had received it, he was abounding,
he was full. It was not some sort of lavish
gift that had been sent. We know what satisfied the Apostle
Paul when he writes in his very last epistle, 2 Timothy, reckoned
to be the last of all the epistles of the Apostle. He knew then
that he was coming near to his end. And what does he say at
the end of 2 Timothy? He asks for the cloak that I
left at Troas with Carpus. when thou comest bring with thee
and the books but especially the parchments he says and it
seems that the parchments really is a reference to the or maybe
a reference to the New Testament Scriptures those books that were
already being recognized as part of the Word of God whatever he
had left there at Troas he wants Timothy to bring with him His
chief concern, you see, is that he should have those books, but
especially the parchments, that which will ultimately constitute
the scriptures of the New Testament. He doesn't have a desire to receive great gifts,
he wants spiritual gifts. But above all, above all that,
his chief concern is their good. that's his chief concern as he
says there in verse 17 not because I desire a gift no, what does
Paul desire? fruit fruit that may abound to
your accounts and so he tells them in this
whole passage although he's content with all that he has and he receives all In the Lord
Jesus Christ, notwithstanding ye have well done, that ye did
communicate with my affliction. There ye Philippians know also,
that in the beginning of the gospel, when I departed from
Macedonia, no church communicated with me as concerning giving
and receiving, but ye of them. How he is ready to commend them
for their great love, right from the beginning of the gospel amongst
them. For even in Thessalonica ye sent once and again unto my
necessity, not because I desire a gift, but I desire fruit that
may abound to your account. But I have all and abound, I
have received all, all that you sent. I am full, having received
of the pathroditus, the things which were sent from you, an
ode of a sweet smell, a sacrifice, acceptable, well pleasing to
God and then he goes on to make that great statement that my
God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory
by Christ Jesus God is no man's debtor he will make up all that
they've ministered to the Apostle well we'll go on the Lord willing
to consider those things the next time we gather in the Lord's
good providence but let us now sing a second praise To paraphrase the parts of the
119th psalm, what's his paraphrase? It's 1003. The tune is Southwell
239. O that the Lord would guide my ways, to keep his statutes
still. O that my God would grant me
grace to know and do his will, nor send thy
spirit down to write thy law upon my heart, nor let my tongue
indulge deceit, nor act the liar's part. 1003, TUNE 239