Well, let us turn once again
to God's Word. We continue in this final chapter,
the practical part, as it were, of Paul's epistle to the Philippians. And turning now to verse 10,
in Philippians chapter 4 and verse 10, Paul writes, but I rejoiced in
the Lord greatly, that now at the last your care of me hath
flourished again, wherein you were also careful, but ye lacked
opportunity. Here then in Philippians 4.10,
but I rejoiced in the Lord greatly, that now at the last your care
of me hath flourished again, wherein you were also careful,
but ye lacked opportunity. We see Paul then here as a very
grateful, recipient of their goodness, their desire to provide
for him, to care for him. And in acknowledging their kindnesses,
he makes mention of their flourishing state. Your care of me, he says,
have flourished again. He's been giving these various
exhortations in the previous verses of the chapter. We've
looked at those exhortations from verse 1 through 9 over the
past number of weeks. And of course, we have observed
how he makes mention of promise, the promises of God which are
such an encouragement to do these things that he is commanding
them. And we see it very much with regards to the exhortation
to prayer. We have the words there in verse
6. Familiar words, be careful for
nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication with
thanksgiving. Let your request be made known
unto God. A tremendous emphasis upon prayer
and the various types of prayers. But that exhortation is sandwiched
as it were between promises in the end of verse 5 he says the
Lord is at hand the Lord is not far from all them that call upon
him in spirit and in truth and then after the exhortation he
says in verse 7 the peace of God which part of all understanding
shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus so we've
observed how as Paul would exhorts there's also encouragement it's
not just bare commands but also many promises and God is that
good God who encourages his people of course in the path of obedience
by his promises but he also encourages in that path of obedience by
by praising those who are obedient to his precepts We can think
of the words of Hebrews chapter 6 and verse 10, God is not unrighteous. God is not unrighteous to remember
your work and labor of love which you have showed to his name in
that ye have ministered unto the saints and do minister. God takes account of his people
when they obey, he praises them. And here we see Paul not only exhorting these Philippians
but he will praise them he praises them very much later in the chapter
verse 14 he says notwithstanding ye have well done that ye did
communicate with my affliction how they ministered to him in
all his trials in all his troubles and so here in this 10th verse
that we're coming to consider tonight you can say I rejoiced
in the Lord greatly that now at the last your care of me has
flourished again, wherein you were also careful, but you lacked
opportunity." He points us into their flourishing state as a
church, as a people who are wont to walk in the path of obedience
to those great precepts of the gospel. Well, first of all, to
say something with regards to the figure that he is using here.
He speaks of them flourishing and we're told that these words
certainly have some allusion to trees and aren't believers
in many ways likened unto trees, fruitful trees, the planting
of the Lord back in Isaiah, in Isaiah 60 and verse 21. We read
of the branch of my planting, the work of my hands as God speaks
of his people. Then he goes on in the following
61st chapter that they might be called trees of righteousness.
The planting of the Lord. And isn't that what we see is
the state, the condition really of the blessed man that we're
introduced to right at the beginning of the book of Psalms. Blessed
is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor
standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the
scornful, but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in
his law doth he meditate day and night, and he shall be like
a tree, planted by the rivers of water, beareth his fruit in
due season. His leaf also does not wither,
and whatsoever he doeth, he prospers. There's the description then
of the people of God. And this is true of the believers
here at Philippi as Paul is addressing them here in our text. You can
rejoice greatly in the Lord when he considers how their care of
him has flourished again. They're in a good, flourishing
spiritual condition. And we know how Many times Paul takes up this
imagery when he is addressing the church at Corinth. He speaks
of himself as the one who plants. There in 1 Corinthians 3 and
verse 6, I have planted the pollis watered, but God gave the increase. These men had different ministries
to exercise. It was the Apostle Paul, of course,
who was going and, as it were, planting these churches by means
of the missionary journeys that he's
making there in the Acts of the Apostles. But then there were
others who followed on, and there was Apollos who was watering
what had been first planted by the Apostle, but it was God who
must give the the increase, it's the work of
God. And this is what Paul is rejoicing in here with regards
to these Philippians. Look at what he says at verse
17, not because I desire a gift, as they administered to him by
sending to his necessities, but he says quite specifically here
in verse 17 that he didn't desire a gift, but I desire fruit, he
says. that may abound to your account."
It was his glory when he saw these young churches in that
spiritually prosperous condition, fruitful, fruitful in the ways
of godliness and how he would pray to that end. He's already
said as much previously in the opening chapter Verse 4, always
in every prayer of mine for you all, making request with joy
for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now,
being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun
a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. You can witness then in the way
in which they are caring for him that they are those who are
truly fruitful, they are flourishing they are a thankful people now
we see it of course even at the beginning of his ministry there
we have the record in the 16th chapter of the Acts and we are
told aren't we of the persecution and the cruelty of the jailer
and yet the remarkable intervention of God and the conversion of
the jailer You're familiar with the whole account. And what do
we read concerning that man, the jailer? Well, there in Acts
16, the man is brought before Paul
and Silas trembling because of the way in which the Lord has
delivered these prisoners from the inner prison. And he cries
to them and says, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they
said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved,
and thy house. And they spoke unto him the word
of the Lord, and to all that were in his house. And then he
took them the same hour of the night, and washed their stripes,
and was baptized he, and all his straight way. And when he
had brought them into his house, he said, Meet before them. and
rejoiced believing in God with all his heart so immediately
there's evidence he's in a good spiritual place this man now
he's so thankful and he manifests his thankfulness really in a
very tangible way by ministering to these two men and also of
course we there previously read of Lydia The Lord had opened her heart.
She had attended unto the things spoken of Paul. And then she
was baptized and all her household. And we're told at the end, as
she constrained us, she wants to minister to them. And so at
the end of the chapter, when they're out of the prison, they
entered into the house of Lydia. When they had seen the brethren,
they comforted them and departed. Oh, what a beginning was there.
There were these Converts doubt that there were others not spoken
of specifically, but those two, the Jailer and Lydia, oh, we
see something of the fruit of gratitude in the way in which
they receive these men who are the Lord's ministers to them,
the Lord's servants. John tells us quite plainly,
we know that we are passed from death unto life because we love
the brethren, or the love of the brethren. My little children,
he says, let us not love in word nor in tongue, but in deed and
in truth. And so these Philippians are
clearly now in a flourishing condition. He uses this particular
figure to describe what they are. Your care of me hath flourished
again, he says. and then reminds them at verse
15, Now ye Philippians, know also that in the beginning of
the gospel, when I departed from Macedonia, Philippi was there
in the northern part of Greece, Macedonia, no church communicated
with me as concerning giving and receiving but ye only. For
even in Thessalonica ye sent once and again unto my necessity. They were a giving church, and
their readiness to be giving in that fashion was indicative
of their condition as spiritually flourishing why he can even boast
of them to other churches he writes to the Corinthians and
makes specific mention of the churches of Macedonia there in
2nd Corinthians 11 and verse 8 he says to the Corinthians
I robbed of the churches taking wages of them to do you service.
And 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. And in all
things I have kept myself from being burdensome unto you, and
so will I keep myself." How generous they were then, these Philippians. How great was their their love
towards the apostle, they want to minister to him. But I rejoiced
in the Lord greatly, that now at the last your care of me hath
flourished again, wherein ye were also careful, but ye lacked
opportunity. It's interesting what he says,
they lacked opportunity. Maybe they'd passed into some
difficult circumstances. We don't know, we're not told.
They didn't seem to have the opportunity that they desired
to be fruitful in this fashion. Maybe they were passing through
the midst of trials. We know, of course, that there
are different seasons in the lives of God's children individually,
but also in the lives of God's children when they're gathered
together in churches. How necessary the seasons of
the year are with regards to natural growth. We see it all
around us in nature. While the earth remaineth, God
says, there will be summer and winter, cold and heat, seed time
and harvest, day and night, God has appointed all these various
seasons for natural growth, well isn't that also the case with
regards to any growth in grace? Maybe they'd been in some situation
where they really lacked the opportunity, it wasn't there
for them to minister as they would have wished to on previous
occasions. And of course our comfort in
all the various seasons that come into our lives individually
or as a church, is that God is sovereign. The psalmist says
the day is thine. The night also is thine. Thou
hast made summer and winter. All that comes into our lives
and all these various seasons are good for fruitfulness. There's a hymn not suitable for
public worship and yet a remarkable hymn on fruitfulness in the book
875 and there at verse 4 the hymn writer says though winter
wastes the earth a while spring soon revives the verdant meads
the ripening fields in summer smile and autumn with rich crops
succeeds, but I from month to month complain, I feel no warmth,
no fruits I see, I look for life, but dead remains, is winter,
all the year with me. Or were they like this, they
look for the opportunity, it wasn't there. But I like the
last verse, still on thy promise I'll rely, from whom alone my
fruit is found, until the spirit from on high enrich the dry,
and barren ground. We have to learn, don't we, our
complete and utter dependence upon the Lord God himself. If
we're going to be in any sense a fruitful people. He says, from
me is thy fruit found. From me is thy fruit found. We
read the words there in John 15, Christ, the vine, one of
the great I am statements that are scattered throughout John's
gospel. O the Lord Jesus, He is the I am that I am, and O
in Him we have the image of the invisible God. And so He declares
Himself to be the true vine. I am the vine, ye are the branches. He that abideth in me and I in
him, the same bringeth forth much fruit. For without me ye
can do nothing. And maybe it was God, well it
would be, it's not a maybe, it's a definite, isn't it? They lacked
opportunity. Why was that? We can't say maybe
it was the sovereignty of God. It was the sovereignty of God.
There was some hindrance here, preventing them from doing what
they had done previously and what they wanted to do again. But why did God hinder them?
Well, maybe, and we can say maybe here, to keep them from any spirit
of self-righteousness. Was there a danger of their fruits
being blighted with pride? We want to be fruitful, but how
often do we think that fruitfulness is a good mark for us? And pride
begins to creep into our hearts. How the Lord has to keep us from
that awful insidious sin of pride. Tis pride, a cursed pride. That
spirit by God abhorred, do what we will, it haunts us still and
keeps us from the Lord. Against its influence pray, it
mingles with the prayer. Against it preach, it prompts
the speech, be silent. Still it's there. The hymn writer
certainly knew something of pride. I know John Bunyan tells of how
on probably more than one occasion he was a great preacher Mr Bunyan
and he would speak of how there were those who were quick to
congratulate him on his preaching but he would often say well Satan
has already whispered that in my ears before ever I left the
pulpit all that accursed pride he lacked opportunity but they
were fruitful He says, your care of me hath flourished a gain,
wherein ye were also careful, but ye lacked opportunity, or
the importance then of the fruit. Foliage simple foliage might
be deceptive remember that incident that's recorded in the gospel
concerning the Lord Jesus in Matthew 21 and verse 18 we're
told how in the morning as Christ returned into the city of Jerusalem
he was hungry and he saw a fig tree in the
way and came to it and found nothing thereon but leaves only
it says and he says unto it let no fruit grow on the ends forward
forever and presently the fig tree withered away the incidents
recorded there in Matthew in Matthew 21 and verses 18 and 19 but there's
a lesson surely in it. It seems that he expected to
find fruit but all that was to be seen really in that tree was
the foliage, the leaves and the Lord pronounces really a curse
upon that fig tree. We know in the course of his
ministry, in the Sermon on the Mount, the Lord speaks of the
importance of good works in the lives of those who are the people
of God. The language that we have there
in the seventh chapter of Matthew, part of the Sermon on the Mount, Verse 16, he says, Ye shall know
them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns
or figs of thistles? Even so, every good tree bringeth
forth good fruit, but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.
A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt
tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not
forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire. Wherefore,
by their fruits ye shall know them by their fruits. All the
importance of the fruit. And what do we read here? It's
interesting, the word that we have, ye were also careful, he
says. We have the word previously,
don't we, in verse 6, being careful for nothing, but in everything
by prayer and so forth. But really, they are two completely
different words. translated by the same English
word but completely different in their meaning. The first word
in verse 6, be careful for nothing, literally means don't be anxious. Don't be anxious, let not your
heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. But the word here
in verse 10 is a different word. He were also careful, he says,
as the basic idea of to think or to be mindful. They were mindful
of him. They were mindful of him, but
they lacked opportunity. It's interesting, isn't it, when
we think of the figure, the figure of the tree. Even when there are no leaves
upon the tree, there is still life in the tree. And so, too,
with the believer in winter, the believer might feel to be
barren of any fruit. But though the child of God is
unable to do anything tangible, he can think, he can be mindful.
And how can he express his concern then? Well, he can pray. We cannot
always express our love of the brethren in those tangible ways,
those practical ways, but we can pray. There are those aged
ones, aren't there? Sometimes they may be much confined,
but they can pray and do pray. There have been such saints here
of old, of course, aged and In firm we can think of our late
deacon Martin Penton over recent months, years even, he was not
as regular as he was once at the prayer meeting, but doubtless
he was praying with us and for us when we were met together.
Or they lacked opportunity but they were careful, they were
mindful, they remembered Paul, they prayed for him and so he
exhorts them to pray. And now he wants these churches
really to pray for himself. Now he felt a standing in need
of their prayers to the Colossians. There in Colossians 4 verse 2
he says continuing prayer and watching the sign we thank giving
with all praying also for us that God would open unto us a
door of utterance to speak the mystery of Christ. He wanted
their prayers and we see how Paul is so thankful so thankful
for what they were so ready to do for him. He says at verse
18, I have all and abound. I am full, having received of
Epaphroditus the things which are sent from you, an odour of
a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, well pleasing to God. And where does he give the glory?
He gives the glory to God. Yes, He's acknowledging them,
and He's thankful to them, and He's praising them, but He rejoices
in the Lord. I rejoiced in the Lord greatly. Verse 4, He says, Rejoice in
the Lord always. And again, I say, Rejoice. We
go back to chapter 3. Finally, my brethren, rejoice
in the Lord. Well, this is where the apostle
can rejoice in all that the Lord is and all that the Lord has
done from me is thy fruit found any fruitfulness Christ says
as that one who is the true vine without me ye can do nothing
and so again writing to another church writing to the Colossians
what does Paul say there in verse 10 of chapter 1 that ye might walk worthy of
the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work,
and increasing in the knowledge of God. Or the more we know of
God, the more we must be those who are increasing in fruitfulness,
otherwise that is a barren knowledge. It's the fruit of the Spirit.
This is what Paul desires for these churches above all things.
And so you know the passage there when he writes to the Galatians
and speaks of that fruit. At the end of Galatians 5, the fruit
of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness,
faith, meekness, temperance. Against such there is no law.
And they that are Christ have crucified the flesh with the
affections and lusts. Oh, to be those then who desire
above all things to be flourishing just as these Philippians were. They were a people well established
then in the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. And so Paul can
say, But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly, that now at the last
your care of me hath flourished again, wherein ye were also careful,
but ye lacked opportunity. May the Lord be pleased to bless
the Word to us. We're going to sing the part
of Psalm 92 before we turn to the Lord in prayer. The end of
Psalm 92 from verse 12 through to the end. And the tune
is Kilmarnock 856. But like the palm tree flourishing
shall be the righteous one he shall like to the cedar grove
that is in Lebanon. Psalm 92 from verse 12 through
to the end, tune 856.