Though many things have taken
place through the years and through the centuries when it comes to
how people celebrate what we call Christmas and the holidays
and everything else, as Christians we celebrate the birth of Christ
as often as we can, every moment, every day, every hour. And most
importantly, not just the birth, but the life and the death and
the resurrection of Jesus, his lordship, his kingship, his sovereignty,
his supremacy, everything that he is, the fullness of deity
dwelt in man. It's often been argued time and
time again that it's incomprehensible that God could be indwelled in
a human, could be encompassed in the body of a man. And so
in human fallacy and human irrationality and in some sense of human logic,
people try to make heads or tails of that. And they say, well,
Jesus must have been a man born miraculously through the virgin
birth. And then yet at a certain time, God indwelt him, making
him divine. But the Scriptures teach that
Jesus, the God-man, has forever been. He is eternal. He was forever
the God-man before the Incarnation. But at the Incarnation, at that
moment where He became a child, where He became an embryo in
the womb in which He created, He became the eternal God-man,
now taking on humanity. And even to this day, He is eternally,
from this point forward, then, human and God forever. And I want you to understand
that this is a mystery. It is difficult to comprehend,
much like everything that we understand about God, because
God, by definition, is ineffable. He is not knowable. He is mysterious. He is supernatural. He is above
the norm. He is supreme over all things that we can comprehend
because he created them all. And yet in his mercy, in his
loving kindness, in his supreme wisdom, he chose to reveal himself
to us. He chose to reveal Himself to
us perfectly in the person of Jesus Christ. As this Jesus was
born of a virgin, as He grew and understood and learned, never
ever not being fully divine, never in one moment was He not
fully God, but yet He subjected Himself to the humanity that
He became. He subjected Himself without
emptying His divinity, but rather restricting Himself in the humanity
in his humanity to learn and to live and to love and to lose
and to fear and to be hungry and to be dependent upon prayer,
to be dependent upon someone else in his humanity. Jesus the
man was not this superhero human being, but Jesus the God was
always supreme, is always supreme. It's a very difficult thing.
On Tuesday nights, we're going through a class on the Trinity.
And as a matter of fact, this coming Tuesday, we're going to
look at what errors have taken place, what the cults believe,
what some world religions believe about the incarnation, about
Jesus, the son. And then as we move through the
new year and start to look more deeply into that, we're going
to look at the person of Christ as the second person of the Godhead.
And we're going to spend a lot of time trying to understand
what the scripture teaches about who Jesus is and about how he
is, who he is. But Paul, in this letter to the
Philippians that we will close out today, has done not only
a fantastic job, but a divine job. A job that only though his
words are written with human hands is the only thing that
makes them any, any at all human. They are divine for God speaks
to the hands of Paul. When God speaks to the hands
of Paul in Philippians, when it says that Christ, though he
was equal with God, did not take equality with God, something
to be grasped, but made himself nothing, a slave obedient unto
death, even death on a cross. Therefore, God exalted him and
lifted him above all things, gave him the name that is above
all names, that at the name of Jesus, every tongue would confess,
every knee would bow, every knee would bow, every tongue would
confess that Jesus is Lord. And we see that though he was
an infant, he was absolutely infinite. And that Jesus, as
the master of the universe, as the creator of everything, subjected
himself so that he would redeem a people for himself by his grace,
for the sake of his own name, for the sake of his glory. And
friends, Paul has shown us that. Paul has not only shown us that,
but shown us the power of the Gospel. That Jesus Christ, in
Himself, the fullness of His power, His divine nature, His
human nature, the purpose of the Father, the will of God,
the plan of salvation, the purchase of redemption, was all for the
purpose of God's name in creating a people that would live as God
has equipped them to live and be separated in, but not of,
the world that we live in today. and that every moment of every
day we grow more and more into the likeness of Christ. Until
that moment, either our life stops in this day or Christ comes
back, we will be made like Christ, fully, wholly, immutable, unchanging. When we sing songs like, Holy,
Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty, keep in mind that it is only
to God ascribes such great doxology. It is only to Jesus Christ who
shares in that same glory, who shares in that same holiness,
who shares in that same worship, for Jesus the Son is truly the
full God of heaven. always has been and always will
be. And friends, we are His people.
We are the saints of Jesus Christ. We are the children of the Father
who are purchased by the life and the blood of Christ. And
so there is no division, there is no need, there is no concern,
there is no fear, there is no sickness, there is nothing in
this life that can separate us from the love of God which is
in Christ Jesus our Lord. And if we are truly secure in
Christ, then there is even no sin, no doubt, and no unbelief
or wavering of our faith that can shake the foundations of
our salvation, for they are in the stronghold of God and Himself,
God and the Son, God and His Holy Spirit. And as we sit and
wonder how we live these things, we know that it is through the
Word of God alone, as we learn Christ, as we love Him, as we
rejoice in Him, as we live together in Christ, we become a people
unified with one faith, with one mind. No matter how diverse
our hobbies, how diverse our interests, how diverse our troubles,
we are one people. And we walk in solidarity. We
walk in solidarity, not for the sake of our own peace, which
is ours in Christ Jesus that surpasses the logic of our own
mind. But we walk in solidarity so
that we and others in this world who are part of the body of Christ
stand and say to the praise of the glorious grace of God who
can meet every need. And this is what Paul has been
preaching. And Paul is writing this letter. to this little church
growing every day in Philippi at the cost of their very lives,
at the cost of their livelihood, at the cost of their very relationships,
at the cost of their very children. And he says to them, do not lose
heart. For Christ's mind is yours. Beloved, the mind of Christ is
ours. And we need to understand that
this gospel of Jesus is the power that drives us toward the center
of Christ. And it's the power that holds
us toward the center of each other's hearts. It is the power
that establishes us and provides for us. Even when there seems
to be nothing left to hold on to, we have everything to hold
on to. And his name is Jesus. Paul knew there was division
in the church of Philippi. He talks about those ladies,
Euodia and Seneca. He says, do not be divided. He
encourages the brethren, the most faithful servant to come
in, the true companion. Please step in and help these
women resolve their differences that each of them, I entreat
both of them to settle it and put it away, that there be no
division among you. There is no division. And he
closes this letter with a recap of the entire thing. And I'm
going to close it in a way that's probably not typical because
the headings don't really operate in that manner. But look at verse
19 of chapter four. And let's read to the end. Philippians, chapter four, verses
19 through 23, and hear the words of the Lord. and my God will
supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ
Jesus. To our God and Father be glory
forever and ever. Amen. Greet every saint in Christ
Jesus. The brothers who are with me
greet you. All the saints greet you, especially
those of Caesar's household. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ
be with your spirit. And that's it. And we think,
really, that's it? All this great theology, all
this great teaching, all this great worship, all this stuff
is just boiled into this? This is the end? This end, beloved,
is greater than what you see. I pray that it's not. I pray
that you see it for what it is. I pray that you're able to absorb
what Paul is doing in his sayonara. I pray that you will see what
he's doing in his farewell. and see the depth of what he's
done with this letter. He is subjecting the people who
read this letter, us who are reading this letter now to the
reality of what God has done in Christ Jesus and what God
will continue to do in Christ Jesus. Because, friends, when
we leave our time of worship every week, our troubles are
the same. Our needs are still there. Our
frustrations are still tapping on our shoulders. Our burdens
are still breaking the neck that holds up our head. Our knees
are weary, and we're unable to sometimes stand. Our joy seems
to flee. Our security comes and goes. Our relationships wane. Our jobs
oppress. This world bewilders, and everything
in between carries with us the moment we step out of each other's
presence. But friends, Paul is saying that
these things cannot shake us, that these things are to give
us opportunity to believe in the sufficiency of Christ, that
these woes that is not just common among the saints, but is common
among all humanity are not going to cease, but rather we are able
to see the joy in the midst of them that comes to Christ alone. Paul said earlier that he is
willing to give up everything, that he counts everything as
loss for the priceless gain of knowing Christ. Beloved, understand
that the needs that we think we have, that the desires that
we think are so important to us are really not as essential
as we think they are. What happens in our lives when
tragedy strikes? What happens in our lives when
death comes knocking? What happens in our lives when
illness takes our body? Nothing. We face it. It embraces us, even if we don't
embrace it, it breaks us. And we come to a place where
we have no power to change it. Well, friends, I will tell you
this, we don't have the power to change anything in our lives. We don't have the power to change
our resolve toward Christ. We don't have our power to change
our joy. We don't have the power to change our attitudes. We don't
have the power to change our minds. And we certainly don't
have the power to change our will. But God has the power. Christ
has the power and He arrests us. He arrests our mind. He arrests
our heart. And He draws us into Himself.
He gifts us the gift of faith that we might see and behold
the beauty of His glory. That we might see the sufficiency
of His sacrifice and His life. That we might see the supremacy
of His hand on our lives. And friends, the greatest portion
of our Christian living is when we face suffering. Even if it
is in our own minds through depression or anxiety or fear that is unfounded
in the rational world, it is during those times of lowness
that Christ is the strongest. It is during the times of poverty
that Christ's riches are the most beautiful. It is in the
time of death that Christ's life shines the brightest. And that's
what Paul is saying. That's what he is finishing up
to remind his readers that you have no need. Because God will supply. You
know what that means? God will give you what you need. He will supply you. You know
what a supply is? A supply is having ample. A supply
is having a stock, a supply is being given what is needed to
complete a job or a task or to fulfill a desire or to fill a
hole or to fill a void. If you have a hole in your yard
and you need to fill it, you need a supply of dirt to fill
it and you need more than what you think you need. Friends,
God will supply every need of yours. What are those needs? Some of us are thinking right
now of our financial needs. Some of us are thinking right
now of our physical needs. I need some clothes or I need
some food or. I need a place to live. Some
of us are thinking of the needs that we have to see resolution
and relationships of God would just fix this issue, then my
life would be better. Friends, your life can be no
better than it is in the midst of turmoil. Your life can be
no better than it is in the midst of nakedness, hunger, famine. It can't get any better. If God
supplies all our needs, what else is there to get? So what
does it mean for God to supply? Am I going to get the food? God
says not to worry about our food. Am I going to get the clothing?
God says not to worry about our clothing. God says not to even
worry about yesterday, because it's gone. And the scripture
says not even to worry about tomorrow, for it's yet to come.
It may not even be there. Why worry about something that
God has not promised us? Tomorrow is not ours in this
world. Right now is ours in this world.
This moment, as it says in the Old Testament, today is the day
of salvation. Friends, your salvation wasn't years ago. It's right
now. Your salvation isn't next week
when you get your New Year's resolution on. It's this moment. And if it's not this moment,
you stand in the pending judgment of the Father's holiness. But
yet this very moment also, the grace of God is given out to
you. The grace of God has offered you that you may come, that you
may see, that you may grasp hold of life, that you may believe
that Christ is truly the sufficient supplier of your needs. And you
may think, well, how is God not? How is he going to supply my
need? There's no way I'm going to come out of this hole. Friends, that's
the problem. We think that these things are
our needs. We think that these things are
what we desperately need. Paul says the mind of Christ,
what did Christ need? Christ surely did not need to
be incarnated. Christ surely did not need to
subject himself to humility. Christ surely did not need to
be hated and spat upon. Christ surely did not need to
sit in this world and be despised by his own people. Christ did
not need to die. Christ did not need that for
himself. He didn't. It would have been
far better for Christ to ascend from the clouds in His glory,
to stand with a thunder peal that the whole world would see,
that the whole world would go in darkness and the only light
visible to their eyes would be the majesty of God, Jesus Christ. And He would cry out, bow down
before me. And we would be subject to His
Lordship, subject to His rule. He didn't need for his own benefit
to subject himself to any of that. And yet he steps out of
glory into this earth, he steps out of supremacy, if you will,
just trust me there. And becomes a slave. And yet. Christ's needs were supplied. For his needs were not anything
in this world, his needs were for that which the Father sent
him to do. Christ came to seek and save
sinners, of which Paul says, I am the foremost. And friends,
I want you to understand that Christ came out of a necessity. So that his people could be redeemed. When Paul says to the Ephesians
in Ephesians 2, because of the great love with which God loved
us, we've been made alive. It's only because Christ came.
There is no greater love than this, that a man would lay down
his life for a brother. And friends, we know what the
apostles teach. That there's no greater love than what God
did by the giving of the sun. And there's no greater love that
can be seen in this world, except Christ laid down his life for
his enemy. Some of the very people that
hanged him on the cross. Stand with him in glory. I firmly
believe that. Some of the very most murderous,
most grievous, hateful, bigoted people like Paul of Tarsus. Saul
of Tarsus, now have the crown of righteousness. And it blows my mind that God
shows me mercy every day. And there is nothing else I really
need. God will supply every need of
yours. You need a wife? Christ is better
than a wife. You need a husband? Christ is
your husband. You need food. Christ is the
bread of life. You're thirsting to death. He's the living water
that wells up to eternal life. You need riches. He is the ruler
of all things. What does it say in Revelation?
Holy, holy, holy be the Lord God Almighty. Who was and is
and is to come all honor and glory and power and wealth is
yours. The very thing that we stamp
into wealth in this world, God created the raw material out
of his spoken word that made it even possible. It's his. What need do you have? You have
a need to have some kind of affection. You want to feel like you're
lonely. We get lonely in this life. Friends, there is no greater
brother than Christ. There's no greater companion
than the Lord Jesus, who is near. So cast your cares, cast your
anxieties upon him, and the peace that surpasses all understanding
will be yours in Christ Jesus. You think our children is what
give us joy? Let's measure the reality. Of
how that stacks up. Joy versus pain. Our children don't give us eternal
joy. Christ does. Christ is supplying
all of our needs. God will supply every need of
yours. According to his riches, according
to his riches in his glory, in his son, Jesus Christ. Friends,
we could do a series on that. We could take from Colossians,
we could take from 2nd Corinthians, we could take from everywhere,
all over the New Testament, even all over the Old Testament. We
could look at every book of this entire Bible and we could find
example after example after example of the mercies of God that are
new this day for us. and God in His never, never changing
self, His immutable, eternal self. He is operating and working
and loving and giving and merciful the same way He's always been.
Let me remind you, beloved, that God's love did not begin for
you when you came to faith in Christ. The scripture says that
God hates sin. and that God hates those who
reject the gospel. But at the same time, the Bible
says that God loves all people and that God has a special love
for those who are his children. And then the scripture teaches
that God is merciful to us all. Friends, as the child of God
that you are and I pray that you are God's love was forever
for you. It is because of God's infinite,
eternal, specific, electing love that you sit here today, born
of Christ. For many people, most people
hear the gospel of Jesus and they cognitively decide to follow
him. And they think that that is going
to church, doing godly things, avoiding sinful stuff, being
a good Republican, doing this and doing that. Joining the NRA. I'm being jokey now. But it has nothing to do with
it. Being a Christian, being born
of God. Is that you just don't see it,
you love it. It's not just some rational good
decision. Faith is believing and believing
is immovable when it is true faith. It is not something we
choose to do, though we daily choose to follow Christ as a
believer. Our faith is given us by God because of his unfailing
love. And friends, when we understand
the depth of the grace of God's riches in Christ. We know. We know. That there is nothing
else comparable. Paul would say to the Corinthians,
he would say that Christ. Gave up or became poor so that
we could become rich. Paul would also say that those
who he who knew no sin became sin. Get this. He who was righteous
of God, the Christ Christos means the righteous one of God, the
holy anointed one of God. He who is the holy righteousness
of God became sin. So that we might be the righteousness
of God. So Christ, the rights of God,
became sin that we might be the righteousness of God. We were
sin. Now we are the righteousness of God. We were in poverty. He
has the glory of all riches. He became what a pauper so that
we might be enriched. Christ. Came out of life. And dominion. to a people who were dead and
blind, and He died so that we could have life. You see the
great exchange? And this supply is eternal. What else do we need? And I know
that doesn't appease most of us, all of us rather. There's
some place in our hearts, yeah, but what am I going to do about
these things in my life? What can you do? Physically,
Realistically, in your ability, what can you do to change you? What can you do to change that?
What can you do to change them? What can you do? If you can do
something, do it. But when you can't, then what?
You have to come to the realization. That everything that is not given
you in its time is good for you. And that's hard for me to say
because it is antithetical to our way of life. It is antithetical
to our way of community, it's it's it's counterproductive to
our way of politics and nationality and freedoms. If God does not give us those
things that we think we need, in other words. He has given
us that which we most desperately need, which is Christ. that when
everything else is stripped away, Christ is sufficient. And friends, sometimes when we
get there, those things may come along and resolve, but sometimes
they won't. The difference for the Christian
is that when those things resolve, if our joy becomes greater, their
idols. If those things resolve and our
joy is the same because it's always in Christ, we're like,
OK. They come, they don't come, let
them come, let them go. Why do you say that? That's what
Paul just got through saying. I've learned to be content in
all things. I've learned to be content. And
Christ has given me the ability to endure abundance and nothing. Sickness and health. good days
and bad days, depression and elation. Christ is enough. And what it takes for us to see
this is to hear the word of God and by the mercies of God to
be given this mind that gives us peace. And the mind of peace
in Christ doesn't mean that there's not burdens, that there's not
concerns, that there's not some anxiety. But how we respond to
those things is that we throw them on the Lord. Cast our anxieties,
cast our cares. It's not like we wrap it up and
FedEx it to Him, certified mail. It's not like we sort of sit
it on a shelf and say, OK, when God comes back by, I'll see if
He's interested in that. It's like we snatch that stuff
off of our body and we throw it on the body of Christ. We
have these needs. Oh, God, if you just give me
this, it's never wrong to pray for our needs, but it's always
wrong to idolize them as the sufficiency of our hope and joy
and peace and life. We cast them on him, and once
he has them, we are sufficiently at peace, knowing that he will
answer our needs in his time if it is that which we need in
the first place. And you might say, well, how
amazing is the father to do such things? According to his riches
in glory in Christ Jesus, I cannot explain that to you. I can't
I cannot give that to you in words, the word of God. gives
us a picture of the glory of God as Moses was on Mount Sinai. He wanted to see God's glory,
but God had told him, no one can see me and live. Why? Well, there's a lot of speculation,
a lot of good science fiction behind it. Well, you know, God's
stare being so strong would kill us. Friends, the reality is this,
is that we can't behold the righteousness of God as a wickedness, in wickedness. Adam and Eve, before they sinned,
had intimate fellowship with God face-to-face. But we don't stand before our
great Creator and Judge in holiness as an evil person and see Him
face-to-face as though we have the gall and the authority to
gaze into His eyes. We can't look upon that which
is supreme as fallen man. And Moses says, I want to see
your face. And God says, I can't let you see my face. But I will
walk by you backwards. And as I walk by, you can turn
around and see the reflection of the tail of the train of the
glory of my glory. It's immeasurable. And nobody
wrote, God did not allow Moses to write a journal about what
that looked like. Because I imagine that his mouth was shut. And
I imagine that he trembled with fear in so much that when he
came down from the mountain, that those Israelites who had
seen God work mightily through the plagues of Egypt to get them
out of captivity, they looked upon the face of Moses and they
cried out, please hide your face. For you've seen the shadow of
the glory of God, and your face shines too brightly for us to
look upon it. Could you please hide your face?" What was that
about? You think Moses' face was like
a flashlight? No, I think Moses had a look
on his face which gave an incredibly undescribable peace, joy, and
horror. that all went together with an
awe that radiated the reflection of the beauty and the supremacy
of the power of God's righteousness in such a way that they could
not stand to consider what He must have seen to look that way. And it probably glowed as well. And they said, hide your face
from us, please. Like the glory of God there,
and as the Hebrew writer says, we have not come to that tempest.
We have not come to this mountain. We've not come to hear the commands
of the father who said that even if a man animal touches this
mountain, it should be stoned. We've not come to this place,
but we've come to the Christ. and to the festal gathering of
heavenly angelic beings celebrating the glory of God, worshiping
the coming of God. And friends, the Bible says that
we've seen the fullness of the glory of God in the face of Jesus. It's not a mistake that that
is one of the most powerful texts in the entire New Testament to
me. Second Corinthians, four, six. For God has said, let light
shine of darkness has shown in our hearts to give us the light
of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. And so that when we want to peer
into the face of God, God has provided an atonement. He sent his son to show his face
to his people and everybody who lived in the day of Jesus saw
his face, but few really saw his face. Only those, and many
did, but many more rejected it. Those who saw with eyes of faith
saw the face of God. John says, no one has seen God. He who is at His side has made
Him known. We see the fullness of the glory
of God in the Son. So that now we're not having
to look at the back of the train of the robe of God's glory. As
the as the sort of like the the heat rising off the pavement
after a truck blows by the wind, we don't have to look that way
through a veiled face anymore, but we can stare straight into
the eyes of God. Jesus Christ. And all the riches of this glory.
Supplier needs. What can God not do? Answer that
question. And what must he give you in
this material life that would make him greater in your eyes? It is so amazing to Paul and
so certain for these Christians to whom he writes. That he says
to our God and father, be glory. forever and ever. Amen. Amen. Amen. It is. It is. You might think that is a fitting
close to this letter. That is a fitting close to such
a dynamic writing. That is a great close to this
great sermon. Hallelujah. Happy New Year, you
know. And if you scour books and you
scour notes and you scour commentaries and you I don't know, you might
find somebody talking about verses 21 through 23. Friends, there's
too much here. It's not just see you later.
Peace be with you. It's not like that. And even
if it was, it's not something to just let roll off the tongue.
Look what he's done, that which we've just heard and reminded
about the goodness of God, the power of Christ, the gospel that
comes to save and create a people unified in love with each other,
praying for each other, working together, working for the gospel,
dying together, providing for each other's needs, laboring
for the sake of those who suffer and all of this. dealing with
the division in the church, loving one another at all costs, dying
for the sake of the faith. All of this is going to... He
says, I want to greet you all. Now imagine if you remember 1
Corinthians much, the Corinthian people had a real problem with
pride. The Corinthian women had a problem with pride. The Corinthian
men had a problem with pride. And I get it if we were able
to figure out that... And when you talk about men and women,
you're talking about 12, 13 year olds and up. I mean, there was no
children, 18, young adult, and then they give up, no. 12, 13, you're an adult. You're
working or you're a slave. And then you're working. Take note, children. You got
it made. Sometimes I think to your detriment. And all of us who used to be
kids are shaking our heads now going, yeah, absolutely. When we were your
age, we're going, not at all. Paul, like the Corinthians, they
started having favoritism. Apollos is the guy that came
and preached. I got saved under Apollos preaching.
You know, Charles Spurgeon, I remember he preached and I got saved.
George Whitefield came to the colony. My great, great, great
granddaddy got saved under George Whitefield. I mean, can you hear
people saying that? Can you hear people? Can you see people planting
a church right over the spot where George Whitefield preached?
Yeah. It's like the cave that Jesus was supposedly born in.
There's a church on top of it. Gold-plated church. No lie. That much gold on top of that
stuff. Millions of dollars. The place where they think Jesus
rose from the dead, they put a church over it. Gold-plated. I say we
get our axes and chisels and hammers and go get some mission
money. tear those idols down, melt them. All jokes aside, though, the
same thing was probably happening in the Church of Philippi, just
not to such a degree that it needed to be addressed. But there
was division in the Church of Philippi. And so in no way was
Paul going to close this letter out in a personal way where some
of these people would start saying, see, Paul's talking to me. You
see that? This is a letter to me. Isn't
that great? You know how you get the letter from the president?
You ever gotten a letter from the president? That's a stamp, by
the way. I mean, you know. Sometimes I
wish those letters would go out and it would put First Name here
in brackets by accident. Well, sometimes we see in our
emails. Hello, First Name. Glad you subscribed to our list.
I want to take this time to give you a personal welcome. Oh, sure.
It's personal alright, first name, or like I get a lot of
times, Jonathan Reynolds, or some other name. I have been
given an email that had a woman's name in it. I'm like, it's not
me. Paul didn't want to give a personal ending to this letter. I want to treat you, I want to
greet you, I want to greet you, because he knew that there was
the possibility that this already divided church would start trying
to have some favoritism. And he says to them, greet what? Every saint. Now I want us to take a moment,
I want you to see this for a second. That means that there needs to
be some wisdom. The book of James is just running through my head
right now. It should be running through yours as well. Don't
show favoritism. Don't say to the governor when
he walks, oh, here's your seat. Don't say to the great theologian,
oh, here's your seat. It's like when I walk in churches
through the years. certain types of churches, and they want to
make me sit up front. Brother Bill in Statesboro, he
and I had a conversation about that, and he visited a church
a couple of weeks back, and they saw him sitting in the back.
They made him come sit on the stage because they knew he was a pastor. He's like, I didn't know what
to do. So he sat on the stage. He's not a controversial guy.
He just, OK. So he went and sat on the stage. But we don't show that type of
- that's a favoritism. And I know people probably don't
do it. They're just trying to respect people. But, friends,
Paul didn't want to show any kind of honored respect that
anybody could take and become divided over it. The same thing
should be in our hearts when we address each other, when we
love each other, when we deal with - and, friends, it's automatically
going to happen. I'll look at Pastor. He's always talking to
the same group of people. He's always hanging out with the same
group of people. He's always, have you ever been like that? Oh, look at sister so-and-so,
you know? She always hugs so-and-so, but doesn't hug me. Or brother
so-and-so, he's high-fiving everybody, but he didn't high-five that
guy. But that guy may not wash his hands. We don't know why. Nobody even noticed me, because
you're sitting behind the curtains. Are you in the bathroom, all
of you? We didn't know you were here. But Paul says, I greet every
saint. You know what that means to the recipient of this letter?
He didn't just want them to say, Hey, y'all. Paul says, Hi. He
means he wants the people who got this letter to as they see
the church in Philippi. Now, imagine if there's five
thousand, most likely five thousand. Could it be 5,000 in Philippi?
I don't know. I can't think of how big Philippi is now off the
top of my head. It could definitely be 5,000 in Rome. It was definitely
5,000 in Antioch. I mean, there were 3,000 that
got saved in one of the first sermons. So, I mean, the church gets big
quick in the first century. I mean, you're talking about
a deacon's nightmare. How are we going to keep up with
all these people? Well, make a list. I want you to greet every saint.
I want you, as you see everybody, and I want you, as you see everybody,
and I want them, as they see everybody, to tell each other
that I said greetings in Christ. That I, Paul, the Apostle of
Jesus Christ, am concerned not just with the whole, but each
individual person. I want you to know that I pray
and I labor. I am thinking of all of you,
Paul is saying. Friends, that is not far from
the truth when it comes to the shepherding of a flock. and how
some of the oddest moments of the day, how some of the oddest
moments of the night, how some of the oddest times that God,
even when we don't know what is happening, this is true for
you, it's no different between me and you except that my calling
is to stand here. We're the same saints, that we are concerned with each
other. We're concerned with each other greet each other in Christ
Jesus. We have a burden and a supernatural
affection that indwells us for each other. And our faces, even
if we don't know our names, our faces, even if we forget our
names, our faces come to mind, our names come to mind. What
we know and even what we don't know, we pray and we labor for
each other. We're concerned with each other's
well-being. But most importantly, we're concerned
with each other's joy in Christ and our spiritual health. And
so Paul wants to make sure that this church understands. I'm
not talking about y'all. God's not going to just provide
for the church need. Don't give them a building, though
he will, but he's going to meet every one of your needs individually
in Christ. He's going to meet every one
of your needs because it's very easy to do both. It's very easy
to personalize the text and forget that it's written to the church
body. And it's also easy, though, you know, it's written to the
church body to personalize that which is applicable to each of
us individually. Because how are we going to have
the mind of Christ together if each of us don't have the mind
of Christ individually? Greet every Saint in Christ Jesus.
And then instead of naming those who are with him, like Epaphroditus
and Timothy and others, he's already mentioned them. He says,
the brothers who are with me greet you now. Listen to me.
You've already seen these other two women who were involved in
missions with Paul. When you see brothers in a greeting,
he's not excluding women. That word translates brothers
was inclusive of all genders who are siblings in Christ. I'm
being honest with that. If you don't believe me, just
go look it up in a in a lexicon somewhere. It's not it's not
misogynistic. Brothers and sisters who are
with me greet you. And not just those who are ministering
with me in jail. He goes on to say, all the saints
greet you. Now look at this. This is, this
is powerful. This is powerful. All the saints
greet you. Not just those that are with
me, not just these three men that might be in my jail cell
with me every day, but all the saints. The saints that have
come to faith through my imprisonment, the saints that are in the city,
the saints that are concerned with our well-being, the saints
that I'm ministering to through my little spy network that's
going out and preaching the gospel, the saints that know I'm here,
the saints for which we are praying, the saints for which we are laboring,
the saints that are all here. In other words,
the body of Christ here greet you. The body greets you. And he specifies this, which
I think is amazing. Listen to it. Especially those
of Caesar's household. Wow. Now consider it for a second. What's he doing? Let me show
you the unity. Go to Ephesians 2 in your mind
for a minute. But you once were. Now you are. The two have become
one. There's no greater division in
the Greek culture than to be a Jew and a Gentile. There's no greater
division than that in this Palestinian culture here. Now that Christ
has come, now you have all sorts of things. You have Gentile Christians
and Jewish Christians, And I'm saying that for specification,
just to help you understand. And then even amongst them, so
you've got Jews divided against themselves, and Gentiles divided
against themselves, and then Gentile Christians who are already
divided as Gentiles against Jews, who are now divided against,
they're in their own hearts and minds, against those Jewish people
who are now Christians. They still don't feel worthy
to be in Christ. And then let's take it a step
further. Then you've got those who are persecuting Christians.
Then you've got Jews who are actually working for Rome. Like tax collectors. Thieves. And so now you've got this us
versus them, the government and those in leadership position
and their homes and everything else. These people, this centurions,
these this Roman guard and Caesar's household, these people are against
us. And so there's a very, very easy
way of falling into thinking that it's just about us. It's
just about us little Christians here in Philippi and a few that
are there with Paul. And Paul's saying this is not
about being one mind, one soul, and one heart. This is not what
this means. What it means, I want you to see that every saint in
the city that you live in is a saint. They have received the
fullness of the blessing of the sufficiency of the supply of
God in His riches, in glory, in Christ Jesus. They have everything
you have, and they are equal in every measure to you, no matter
how mature or immature they may be. They are saints. They are
your brethren. They are your body. They are
the beloved of God. They are the children of the
father. They are your people. Especially those of Caesar's
household greet you. Now think of Caesar's household. Think of the emperor. And the
reason Paul is in prison to begin with is that he may proclaim
the gospel to Caesar. We see that in the book of Acts.
And now those which were our overlords, the very household
of Caesar, included slaves, servants, all sorts of people. Paul says
they're brothers and sisters in Christ, and they greet you.
He's reminding these readers of what the mission is. Now, let me give it to you this
way. Let me let me just apply it to Grace You Church for a
minute. A couple of weeks ago, I met with a group of Statesboro
who, by the grace of God, will see a church plant over there
in the months and years to come. And they went through a terrible
time. Terrible time. And I found these people through
an inquiry from from Doug. to check on this church because
some of the things that, yeah, let there be light. And some
of those things, I've been waiting for that to come on all day. My brain left. Anyway. Oh, here we go. And I called
and they said, I said, I got some people that may want to
visit your church. And they said, now is not a good time to send
new families into our fellowship. We are in turmoil. And there's
a lot of bad sin dividing us. Now stop for a minute and ask
the question, what's the difference in the Church of Philippi? Nothing. There was sin dividing women
in the Church of Philippi. And the only reason they're listed
is because they were probably known by they were known by Paul.
They were they worked with the missionaries there. I mean, as
a missionary there, there's just there's a lot of so. But they're
not the only ones. But they're going to be the example
that is set. And it could have been very easily, Paul would
say, hey, I've got four or five new families who are new converts
who want to come into your fellowship, into your city. I'm going to
send them when I send Epaphroditus back. He could very well have
said that. And the people of Philippi would have went, no,
no, no, no, no, that's not a good time. Syntacus is just being really
ugly. And we don't want to have new people come into this ugliness.
Now, I want to ask you a question. When is there ever a biblical
reason that it's not good when new life comes to the body of
Christ? You see how backwards we live as Christians in the
context of church life? When what we do from a day in
and day out basis, when what we do as an assembled people
is so imperative to maintain the image of unity that we can't
have disunity amongst new life, we're not living in the gospel.
Let me put it a different way. If there's ever an opportunity
where it is not a good time for people to come to faith and join
our lives, we ought to just quit and go home, no matter how much
sin may be ready. Now, I'm not saying this anyway,
talking about that was a good thing that he told me. Friends,
I don't ever want to get to the place where we're falling into
the formation of the Americanized church, to where we have to put
what we do over the people we are. to where we have to put
our prayers and our time and our treasure into keeping something
going for the sake of keeping something going. It's not what the Bible is teaching
here. And there may be many enemies
against us in this life. And Paul has mentioned that already
in this letter, and he says that we ought not have any fear. But
in some sense, we laugh at those enemies of ours. We just smile
for we do not tremble before them. Friends, there's a lot of enemies
of the cross. And sometimes our own flesh can seem like we're
an enemy of the cross. But God is able. And God has
planted Grace Truth Church to be a light in darkness. And no
matter what type of frustrations or divisions or problems, they
will come. The gospel is true and God not
a liar if we work in them and through them. But when we allow
our lives to divorce from each other, it's because we have not
submitted to the gospel of Jesus. And I know everyone in this room
has experienced that. Every one of us have experienced
those types of things in so-called congregations that we've been
a part of. So what does it all mean? How are we to take it? To what
end are we to leave this place today? He says the grace of our Lord
Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Friends, that's the power that
holds us together. That's the power that brings
us to life. That's the power that raised Christ from the dead
and the power that indwells us, that keeps us in the faith. You ever thought about what it
takes to keep you saved? You ever thought what it would
take to cause you to walk away from Christ? In our flesh, it
wouldn't take much at all. But the same power in Christ
Jesus, the same riches, the same wealth, the same glory, the same
sufficiency, the same grace works in us to hold us tight to Him.
Jesus did not mean it lightly when He said that all who come
to Him, He will never cast out. And so, beloved, you are solid. and strengthened and grounded
in the grace of Jesus Christ. And if you aren't today, trust
in the grace of Jesus Christ. You cannot work out your salvation
and then believe. You must believe. And God will
work in you the grace that He's given you. to be the people that
He's called us to be. I want you to think about that.
And I want you to think about what it costs and the gravity
of the sufficiency of the gospel. And I want you to think about
the power of the love of God given for us that Jesus Christ
would step out of glory and come to this earth to die in our place. At this point in our service,
we transitioned into the observation of the Lord's Table, and the
following words are just a few moments as we meditated on that
reality of the death and burial and resurrection of Jesus. It
is a reminder of God's graciousness and His mercy through Jesus Christ
and that Christ's body was pierced and His blood was drained and
He died a real physical human death that you and I could be
forgiven of our sins. And then He was raised to life.
And Jesus tells His disciples at the Last Supper, Do this in
remembrance of Me. Remember My body. Remember My
blood. And Paul later tells the church
in Corinth, it's always the church in Corinth, to not take the Lord's
table in an unworthy manner. And he specifies it this way,
pay careful attention, that if we have unforgiveness in our
hearts, to remember that how are we to be forgiven if we are
not willing to forgive others. And we settle that between us
and God. And it's a reminder to do that
when we take the Lord's table. And it's also an opportunity
for us to worship and celebrate what God has done through Christ
Jesus and to realize that our freedom and our atonement and
our redemption is not just some happy-go-lucky reality that we
won in a lottery, but it is a decisive, explicit, perfect, electing decision
that God made before He ever created anything. And that was
to kill His Son that we may have life. So as we prepare for that,
please, by all means, prepare your hearts. Lord, show us our hearts. Show us. And remind us of the
greatness of your mercy. Help us to see those sins that
so easily ensnare us. And help us to stand boldly before
your throne before Christ, our advocate. Forgiven. Not guilty. Perfect, not wicked. Saved, not abandoned. And Lord, I thank you for this
opportunity to worship together through your word. And through
song. And through the remembrance of
your son's life, death and resurrection and your table. Would help us to be joyful as
we worship through this. That will be mindful of your
great forgiveness. As we forgive others who sin
against us. Lord, help us to be resolved,
to be satisfied in Jesus Christ. And we pray these things in His
name. Amen.