Well, let us turn to this chapter
that we've just read, Philippians 4, and I want to direct you to
the words that we find here in verse 10. Philippians 4 and verse
10. 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. In Philippians 4.10, 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. Considering then this particular
sentence here in this final chapter of the epistle. And of course,
it's very much the practical part of the Epistle, and that's
indicated in a way from the opening word of the chapter. Therefore,
in view of what the Apostle has been saying in the previous chapters,
he now makes certain deductions with regards to how these truths
that he's been speaking of, writing of, should affect the Church
at Philippi. And in those previous chapters
we do have some quite remarkable truths set before us. We think
of the second chapter in particular and what we have there concerning
the doctrine of the person and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
That's a great portion of Scripture which speaks to us of him who
is both God and man, the two natures in the person of Jesus
Christ. And then of course in the third
chapter he speaks very much about himself and his own experiences
and how he was brought to see that all his righteousness would
be found only in the Lord Jesus Christ, this man who was once
so proud, so self-righteous as a Pharisee, imagining that he
was one who had a righteousness by observing the law of God. Touching the righteousness which
is in the law, he thought himself to be blameless, he says there
in verse 6. But then, how he was brought
to see that he had no righteousness, and his desire to be found in
Christ, he says at verse 9, not having mine own righteousness
which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of
Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith. Oh, that
justifying righteousness that even now is before God in heaven
on our behalf as we come to pray tonight. or we plead the name
of Christ. We look to Him as our righteousness,
our only way whereby we can ever expect that the Father will hear
and answer our prayers. And so, Paul has said some quite
remarkable things throughout those previous three chapters. And now, as I said, we come to
the practical part. And the chapter, well certainly
the opening verses It's full of exhortation. Commandment,
we might say. And we see how he addresses certain
individuals. He's very personal. He tells
them what to do. In verse 2, I beseech you, Odeus,
and beseech you, Tiki, that they be of the same mind in the Lord. And I entreat thee also, true
yoke-fellow, help those women which labored with me in the
gospel with Clement also. and with other my fellow laborers,
whose names are in the Book of Life." Now he is giving then
direction to certain individuals. Obviously there was some trouble
in the relationship between these two people who he mentions by
name quite specifically there in verse 2. And so he goes on,
he speaks of the necessity of prayer, and the encouragement
that we have to pray because God attaches a promise, as it
were, to the exhortation. As the Spirit is inspiring Paul
here in the things that he's writing, he says those great
words of verse 6, be careful for nothing, but in everything,
by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests
be made known unto God. and then the assurance, the promise,
the peace of God which part of all understanding shall keep
your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. We never pray in
vain. There's always the fruit of our
praying. And he goes on, doesn't he here,
a guy to make reference to himself. He's an example to them really.
as he says in verses 8 and 9, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever
things are honest, whatsoever things are just, this great list
of all these good and noble things. Think on these things, he says,
and those things which you have both learned and received and
heard and seen in me do. Oh, it's not only the things
that he had spoken but he can appeal to those things that they
had actually seen in him. He, in that sense, is an example. Does he not say in the opening
chapter of 1 Timothy that he is the pattern of the true believer? He's not boasting here, he only
wants them to follow him as he is a follower of Christ. And
he makes that so plain when he writes to the Corinthians there
in 1 Corinthians 11 and verse 1. Be ye followers of me, he
says, even as I am of Christ. And then it's these words really
in verse 10 that I want to concentrate on. He speaks of their flourishing.
And this is the theme that I want to really address. Flourishing
and its fruit. as we have it set before us in
this particular verse, flourishing and its fruit. And so, just two
very simple points that I want to try to deal with before we
turn again to the Lord in prayer. First of all to say something
with regards to the figure of flourishing, and then secondly
the fruit of flourishing. The word that we have here In
the middle of the verse, your care of me has flourished again,
he says. In the word there's really an
allusion to vegetation and trees which are all around us. The idea of fruit trees, or whatever
sort of tree it might be, or any vegetation that's in a flourishing
state. There's foliage, and there's
fruit. And it's a sort of imagery that
we find also in the Old Testament, in the book of the Prophet Isaiah,
there in chapters 60 and 61, he speaks of believers as trees
of righteousness. Isaiah 61 3 that they might be
called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that
he might be glorified. Again in the previous chapter,
the branch of my planting says God, the work of my hands. Believers are to be compared
then in that sense to trees in a flourishing condition. And
we see it very remarkably, don't we, in the very first Psalm. In Psalm 1, the blessed 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,
he delights in the law of God all his days. And it says he
shall be like a tree, planted, by the rivers of water that bringeth
forth his fruit in his season. His leaves shall not perish,
and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. This is the figure that's
used then with regards to those who are in a good spiritual condition. They're like vegetation or trees
that we can see are healthy because of the the foliage, the leaves
that cover the tree and the fruits that comes to hang on the various
branches. And what is Paul saying here?
Well, he is saying that this is true with regards to these
believers at Philippi. Your care of me, he says, has
flourished. Oh, they're in a flourishing
state. Their care of Him has flourished again. And it's not
only there in the first psalm that we see this blessed truth,
but I know that also we see it again in the 92nd psalm. There at verse 12, the righteous
shall flourish like the palm tree, he shall grow like a cedar
in Lebanon. Those that be planted in the
house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God. This
is the the great figure then that sits before us in this passage
of Scripture. And now Paul as the Apostle who
was of course the man who was responsible for taking the Gospel
to those Philippians. We have the record there in the
16th chapter of the Acts of his ministry there. And he rejoices. I rejoiced in the Lord greatly,
he says, that now at the last your care of me hath flourished
again. We know that they were a people
who even there at the beginning were ready and willing to minister
to him. We see it in the conduct of the
Philippian jailer, the man who initially treats Paul and Silas
in such a cruel fashion. They're in the inner prison,
their feet are fast in the stocks. But then there's that remarkable
visitation, and the doors are flung open, and the prisoners
are released, and the jail is on the point of suicide, self-murder. But then Paul speaks to him,
and then we read subsequently, of course, of the conversion
of that man. We're all, I'm sure, familiar
with the detail of that particular chapter and how in the end we
see the man ministering so kindly to these two who had previously
been his prisoners. I like what it says there at
verse 32, they spake unto him the word of the Lord. They spake unto him the word
of the Lord and to all that were in his house And he took them
the same hour of the night, and washed their stripes, and was
baptized, and all his straight way. And when he had brought
them into his house, he set meat before them, and rejoiced, believing
in God with all his house." What a change! What a flourishing
state this man is, ready to minister to the Apostle. This is what
Paul is ever looking for in the church there at Philippi. He
says again at verse 17, not because I desire a gift, but I desire
fruit that may abound to your account. This care of him, this
care of the brethren, is he not evidence of the grace of God
in a man? We know that we have passed from
death unto life, says the Apostle John, because we love the brethren.
Here is a mark, you see, whereby we can gain some assurance that
we're in a state of grace. Do we love the brethren? Do we
desire to be in the company of the brethren? We want to be with
the Lord's people. But it's not just a matter of us keeping company
with them. Do we love them enough to minister
to them? John goes on, doesn't he? My
brethren, let us not be those who love in words and in tongue,
but in deed and in truth. Now God's people are to minister
one to another. And Paul was ministered to by
these Philippians so wonderfully. And he reminds them of these
things later at verse 15, 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 only. For even in Thessalonica ye sent
once and again unto my necessity. Oh how they cared for him and
he would boast On their behalf he would make his boast when
he writes to other of the churches. In 2nd Corinthians we find him
there in chapter 11 saying to that church which was
so remarkably gifted and yet a church in which there was much
confusion and much abuse of the gracious gifts that God had bestowed
upon them. And he says to them there, in
that 11th chapter, verse 8, I robbed other churches, he says, 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. supplies
and in all things I have kept myself from being burdensome
unto you and so will I keep myself." Oh how it was these Philippians
you see. When he departs from Macedonia,
when he leaves the Philippians and goes to other parts, when
he goes to Achaia there in the south of Greece where Corinth
was, it's still these Philippians who are ministering to him. But look at what it says in the
text that we're considering tonight with regards to this flourishing.
It says, "...at last your care of me hath flourished again, wherein ye were also careful,
but ye lacked opportunity." Now why was it, you see, they were
careful, they wanted to minister to him at every opportunity,
but it says they lacked opportunity. And this, of course, is very
much under the sovereign hand of God. Why was it so, that they
lacked the opportunity? Well, doubtless there were reasons,
But we know that whatever the reason was, it was subject to
the will of God. What was the Lord doing with
these people? Well, maybe he was keeping them from any sense
of superiority, any idea of self-righteousness. We know in that previous chapter
that Paul is very honest in referring to himself and the man that he
was when he was a Pharisee. He was so self-righteous a man.
But any thought of any merit in self was now anathema to him
really. All those sins were his dung,
all those privileges. Maybe the Lord in His sovereignty
sees that these people are in danger of a self-righteous spirit being blighted as it were, because
pride had entered into their minds with regards to the way
in which they'd ministered so often to the Apostle himself. Oh, they were very gracious, and they were very generous.
And that's what he says in that 15th verse, in the beginning
of the Gospel. The Philippians know also that
in the beginning of the Gospel, that's when the Gospel first
began with them. When I departed from Macedonia,
no church, no church but you Philippians communicated with
me as concerning giving and receiving. Ye only, he says. Was it because of the possibility
of self-righteousness that in His providence is God's orders
events that they lacked opportunity. We know, we know that in nature
there must always be different seasons in the year if there's
going to be any real fruitfulness. Winter is as necessary as summer
in God's ordering of things every season as as a purpose. It's there for the good, ultimately. And we have that promise, don't
we, while the Earth remaineth. Seed, time and harvest, cold
and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease. It matters not what men might
say about climate change. We look higher than men. We look
to God. We trust in God. We know that
sinful men abuse what God has given to us in creation. But
God himself is that one who is sovereign in all these things,
and he has appointed all the seasons. The psalmist says the
day is thine, the night also is thine. Thou hast prepared
the light and the sun, thou hast set all the borders of the earth,
thou hast made summer and winter. and fruit is to come in its season. There in that opening psalm that
we referred to, the godly man produces fruit
in his season, it says. He beareth fruit in his season. And of course the interesting
thing, the significant thing is that there are also seasons
when it comes to the life of the child of God. There are seasons
in grace as there are seasons in nature. There's one of the
hymns, I often think of it, when giving any attention to the idea
of the seasons of the soul. It's one of Joseph Hart's hymns,
probably not one that's really suitable for singing in public
worship, but a hymn that nonetheless is worth reading and meditating
upon. 875 in Gadsby's. And here at
verse 4 Art says this of the believer,
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 fruit I see, I look for life. But dead remains
is winter all the year with me. And in that 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 land. You see, God in His sovereignty
so orders events that we're made to see our complete and our utter
dependence upon Him. There are not only seasons in
nature, there are seasons in the soul and seasons in the way
in which God is dealing with his people. And so here with
these people, they had ministered to Paul, they wanted to minister
to him, and yet in some way there's an event that prevents it. But
now at the last, your care of me has flourished again, he says.
Wherein you were also careful, but you lacked opportunity. Oh,
the Lord was in this, and the Lord is in all these various
events. There's not only that hymn of
Joseph Hart that we just referred to, but that remarkable sermon
of Mr. Philpott's, Winter for Harvest,
in which he's expounding the verses in Isaiah 18, verses 5
and 6, but he points out there how different the seasons are
with regards to the souls of God's people because here of
course we have summer which is followed by the season of harvest
as the autumn comes, the end of summer but he says there in
the soul there's a season of winter that comes in before there
is that time of spiritual fruitfulness and so the the sermons entitled
Winter, Winter of Four Harvests. I've recommended it in times
past, I think it's probably amongst all the very best of Philpott's
sermons. But God will make his people
fruitful in his own way and in his own time. And what they will
learn always is their complete and utter dependence upon him.
as he says back in the prophecy of Hosea, from me is thy fruit
found. How were they made to be fruitful
and flourishing again? It was God who made them a flourishing
people. The words of the Lord Jesus there
in the 15th of John, where he speaks of himself as the vine,
I am the vine, ye are the branches, ye that abide within me. shall bear much fruit and he
goes on to say doesn't he from me is thy fruit found without
me you can do nothing he says without the Lord Jesus Christ
we are fruitless and so this is the imagery that we have here
how these Philippians are in a flourishing state but it's
all under the the hand of God and the gracious dealings of
God with and even when he brings them into situations that seem
to be so contrary. But what of the fruit? What of
the fruit of the flourishing? It says that they have flourished
again and as we've seen the apostle goes on to acknowledge that.
in those words in verses 15 and 16 how they had so much ministered
to him and would minister to him he is assured of their their
love to him doubtless feeling some indebtedness because he
was the one of course who would first preach the gospel amongst
them but how important the fruit is
How necessary it is that there is that fruit. If we look at a fruit tree and
it might be full of leaves, but the foliage isn't what we're
looking for from that particular tree, the foliage may deceive. There has to be fruit. And of
course, remember how the Lord tells that or it's recorded in
the gospel I should say there in Matthew 21 concerning the
way in which the Lord curses the fig tree in Matthew 21 and
there at verse 18 or verse 17 He'd gone out of the city of
Jerusalem into Bethlehem, and he'd lodged there in the morning.
As he returned into the city, we're told, he hungered, and
when he saw a fig tree in the way, he came to it and found
nothing thereon but leaves only, and said unto it, let no fruit
grow on thee henceforward forever. And presently the fig tree withered
away. Oh, you see how the foliage can
be so deceiving. The Lord is looking for fruits.
And of course, He reminds us of the importance of fruit in
the sermon, doesn't He? Previously there in chapter 7,
the Sermon on the Mount, Christ says, verse 16, You shall know
them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns
or figs of thistles? Even so, every good fruit. 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." All the importance, the
importance of fruit. But these people, you see, they
were fruitful again. Your care of me hath flourished
again, says the Apostle. And he goes on, you were also
careful, but you lacked opportunity. It's interesting because here
we have the word careful and we have it previously of course
in verse 6 when he's speaking of prayers. In verse 6 he says
be careful for nothing. but in everything by prayer,
and so forth. So we have the word careful in
verse 6, we have the word again, here, in verse 10. However, they're not really the
same words. They're different words. The
word back in verse 6 really has the idea of anxious. Be anxious for nothing. but here
he uses the word that has nothing to do with anxiety it's not saying
we're in you, we're anxious no, the word that he uses here has
the idea of being mindful they were mindful of Paul it
really is derived from a word that has the idea of to think What is Paul saying then? Well,
although they were not able to minister to him in a practical
way, they were mindful of him. They were ever mindful of him.
It's interesting when we think of the figure, the flourishing
of the tree. Trees in winter, when they're
so bare, Of course they're still trees and they're still in a
healthy condition and the time will come when spring arrives
and the buds appear and then again we see all the rich foliage
and in the fruit trees eventually they will be full of fruits. Well, so too with the believers. There's still spiritual life
in the people of God when they don't have the opportunity to
minister to one another in practical ways. But then they may minister
to one another in prayers. They can show their love for
one another in their prayers. And so he exhorts, doesn't he,
to prayer. in everything by prayer and supplication
and thanksgiving that your requests be made known unto God they might
not be able to minister to one another but they can continually
be upholding one another in prayers before God even when there's
not the opportunity to minister in other ways and we know how
time and again in these epistles we see When it comes to the practical
aspect, Paul will repeatedly be encouraging them in prayers. When we look at the closing verses
of Ephesians, there in verse 18 of chapter 6, praying always,
with all prayer and supplication in the spirit and watching thereunto,
with all perseverance and supplication for all saints. and for me that
utterance may be given unto me that I may open my mouth boldly
to make known the mystery of the gospel." And then again in
the epistle to the Colossians there at the end in the last
chapter, verse 2, continue in prayer watching the same with
thanksgiving with all praying also for us that God would open
unto us a door of utterance to speak the mystery of Christ for
which I am also in a loss nor there might not be the opportunity
to flourish in the sense of practical giving and support but there's
always had opportunity of bearing the people of God up before the
Lord in prayers they would think then often they would think they
were mindful of the Apostle though they were not always able to
manifest their love to him as they had done on previous occasions. And in all of this we see Paul
as one who is thankful, or how he rejoices. And he doesn't just
rejoice, he is rejoicing greatly. But see where he is rejoicing
centers, he is rejoicing in the Lord. I rejoiced in the Lord,
he says. great that never at last your
care of me hath flourished again." Oh, we were so aware therefore
that the glory was to be given to God because they were what
they were only by the grace of God. As Christ says there in
the 15th of John where He is the vine and His disciples are
the the branches without me ye can do nothing all from me is
thy fruit found all is found only in the Lord they are to recognize him the
need of that gracious ministry of the Holy Spirit does he not
say to the Galatians the importance of that blessed fruit that comes
from the Spirit of God, the fruit of the Spirit. Love, joy, peace, long-suffering,
gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. Against
such, he says, there is no law. Or there to be fruitful in all
this gracious manifestation of the quickenings of the Holy Spirit. that they might walk in a manner
that is worthy, 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 they know of God, the
more they will be fruitful in all the ways of God. And so here
we find Paul rejoicing in the Lord who is that one who makes
his people such fruitful saints. I rejoiced in the Lord greatly,
he said, that now at the last your care of me hath flourished
again, wherein you were also careful, but ye lacked opportunity. May the Lord be pleased to bless
these thoughts to us tonight and own his word and make us
that fruitful people we're going to sing our second praise which
is the hymn 939 top ladies hymn on Christ as the true and living vine 939, the tune is sorely 231, Jesus,
immutably the same, thou true and living vine, around thy all-supporting
stem, my feeble arms I twine. 939, tune 231. Jesus, in you shall be the strength,
and through my living body, around my all-supporting stem, my feeble
arms I twine.