Turn with me to the letter of Paul to the Philippians We'll start in chapter 1 verses 1 & 2 for this morning Philippians chapter 1 verses 1 & 2 Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, to all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi, with the overseers and deacons, grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's pray. Father, we do ask that now you would bless this moment that we have together, that you would bless our time in your Word. We pray that you would bless us with a Word from you, that you would bless us by continuing more and more to conform us into the image of your Son, to sanctify us in the truth, of your word. Pray for myself in this moment that you would help me to be faithful to your word to have to say what you would have said to your people here this morning. Say nothing more and nothing less, but will penetrate each and every one of our hearts. And all this we ask in the precious, glorious, holy name of Christ. Amen. We finished up the book of Hebrews, as you know, which means it's time to start a new journey together. on Sunday mornings. And so, you know, when we started the Gospel of John years ago, when I first came here, there was an intention, and I've told you this before, the intention of doing the Gospel of John was that we as a church and that you individually would come to a deeper, more full, fuller, more vivid understanding of who Jesus is. The intention was to see the glory of Christ as He is presented in the Gospel of John, because that was John's intention in writing the Gospel. I write these things that you may know that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name. Directly connected to that, when we finished John, we moved on to the book of Hebrews. And in fact, as we began Hebrews, I made this statement. I looked back on it and said this. I knew that the first thing that I wanted to do in the preaching ministry was to preach through the Gospel of John and bring us together into a grander picture and clearer focus of the beauty and the majesty of Christ. And then I added, so if that didn't happen for you and John, then going through Hebrews was my second try at doing that for you. So I hope that after 34 chapters of glory, you understand the glory of Christ. Jennifer, one time after we finished John, I said, you know, after being so long in it, we could go back, do it again, and it would take twice as long. There's just so much to glean from the Word of God about the Word of God made flesh, our glorious Savior, Jesus Christ. But we have seen 34 chapters that explicitly present the supreme glory, beauty, majesty, wonder of the person of Christ. With all that in mind, we come together to the book of Philippians. Today we'll more or less set up this epistle that was written by Paul before we really start to dig into it. The reason I wanted to go to Philippians is because through the heart and through the mind of the Apostle Paul, we are being shown in the way that he writes this letter and what he tells the Philippians in this letter to do, who he tells them to be, what he reminds them of who he is as a servant of Christ. What we are seeing is a life that is lived according to the reality of the glory of Christ. For Paul, this was not just abstract theological concepts. They were real glories, and they are real glories of Christ that fueled his sanctified life. He lived his life not only as if he knew of the glory of Christ, He lived his life as if he believed that the glory of Christ was worth more to him than gold, more to him than anything that this world and this life could ever offer to him. And that's what we're seeing in Philippians. Perhaps you've wondered what the point of knowing more about Jesus is. Why do we need to know Him more, know Him better, know Him deeper? If you think it's so that you can love Him more, you're partially right. Much like you love family or friends, you get to know more of them and you love them more, you love them deeper, sometimes maybe. But there's much more to knowing Jesus than simply loving Him. We know Him so that we can better have more fuel to live a life that is lived in light of the supremacy, the glory, and the majesty of Christ. Why do I say that? Because much of what Paul has to say in this letter about joy and rejoicing in the Lord is said in the midst of very trying circumstances. These are not disconnected from history. And they are not disconnected from historical reality. So what's the background of this epistle? The background we can read about in the book of Acts, and I'm going to turn there. You don't have to if you don't want to, but we read about Paul establishing this church in Philippi at the very beginning of his second missionary journey. That's recorded for us in Acts chapter 16. This is a momentous trip. As I just said, it is his second journey through the areas where they had been, and now they're including some new territory in this second of his missionary journeys. And so he's been traveling around, establishing churches, and he's been preaching the gospel in Asia Minor all the way back from Acts chapter 13 when he and Barnabas were commissioned out. And you come to Acts chapter 15 and there begins a tremendous story that had major ramifications for the witness of the church and for the sake of the Gospel. Let me read some of it to you. In Acts chapter 15, we read verse 1, some men came down from Judea and were teaching the brothers, unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved. And after Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and debate with them, Paul and Barnabas and some of the others were appointed to go up to Jerusalem to the apostles and the elders about this question. So, being sent on their way by the church, they passed through both Phoenicia and Samaria, describing in detail the conversion of the Gentiles and brought great joy to all the brothers. When they came to Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church and the apostles and the elders and they declared all that God had done with them. Some believers who belong to the party of the Pharisees rose up and said it is necessary to circumcise them and to order them to keep the law of Moses. Of course they're talking about the Gentile converts to Christianity. And the Jewish converts to Christianity were having some trouble letting go of the legalistic mindset of the Pharisees. And what they were saying was in order to become a Christian, in order to be accepted into the Christian church, you had to be circumcised. You should take circumcision in order to keep... keep the law of Moses. Of course, this caused quite a bit of controversy because what has Paul been preaching? The freedom of grace and the freedom that is found in the gospel of grace. What's at stake in this controversy is no small matter. What is at stake is the gospel itself or works required for salvation. Or is it all of God? That's what's at stake. And what's even further at stake is the Christian witness to the Gentile world. How are we supposed to preach to the Gentiles? Do we teach them to keep the law of Moses in order to be considered saved? Do we teach them that they need to be circumcised in order to be saved? What is our message? Paul knew what his message was. And so this caused a major dissension. By the way, you can read about some of this in his letter to the Galatians where he talks about a little bit of this controversy. It was the same Judaizers who were teaching this who had infiltrated the church of Galatia, where Paul writes to them and tells them, if anyone brings you any other gospel, whether it be me or an angel from heaven, let him be anathema, let him be cursed, let him be damned. That was Paul's letter to the Galatians. It is that controversy, or this same type of controversy, that sparked his letter to the Galatians, and it is this controversy that caused the first Jerusalem council to come together. And so they do come together. We read about their decision in the statement that they write later on in Acts chapter 15. Let me read it to you. This is verse 22. It seemed good to the apostles and the elders with the whole church to choose men from among them and send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas. They sent Judas, called Barsabbas, and Silas, leading men among the brothers, with the following letter." So here was their statement concerning do they have to be circumcised and be told to obey the law. both the apostles and the elders, to the brothers who are of the Gentiles in Antioch, Syria, Cilicia, greetings. Since we have heard that some persons have gone out from us and troubled you with words, unsettling your minds, although we gave them no instructions, it has seemed good to us, having come to one accord, to choose men and send them to you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. We have therefore sent Judas and Silas, who themselves will tell you the same things by word of mouth. For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay on you no greater burden than these requirements. And here's what they asked them to do. Abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols and from blood and from what has been strangled and from sexual immorality. If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well. Now you say, wait a minute, what did they decide? Did they decide, okay, Gentiles, you need to do these things in order to be saved? No. But what they were asking is that they abstain from them for the sake of their Jewish brethren that are around because of the weaker consciences of the Jews. They did not impose circumcision. They upheld the supreme freedom of the Gospel of the grace of God to the Gentile world. So before his second missionary journey, This momentous occasion has happened in these early years of the church. And that occasion is that the gospel is upheld through this founding church, if you will, in Jerusalem where Christianity sprang forward back at the beginning of Acts. And this victory allows the missionaries to go out and preach the unadulterated gospel to the Gentile world. And so they set out on their second missionary journey. Immediately after this, by the way, Paul and Barnabas disagree about what to do with Mark. Mark had left them at one point on their first missionary journey, and Paul doesn't want to bring him on the second one, and Barnabas does, and they wind up parting ways. Barnabas goes with Mark, and Paul goes on his second missionary journey without Barnabas. In Acts chapter 15, through a few acts of providence, they wind up in the city of Philippi, which is in the Macedonian district. Acts chapter 16, verse 1. Paul came also to Derbe, to Lystra. A disciple was there named Timothy, the son of a Jewish woman who was a believer, but his father was a Greek. This is the same Timothy, by the way, that he would later leave in Ephesus and write his two pastoral epistles to, the other one being to Titus. The third one being to Titus. He was well-spoken of by the brothers at Lystra and Iconium. Paul wanted Timothy to accompany him. And he took him and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in those places, for they all knew that his father was a Greek. As they went on their way through the cities, they delivered to them for observance the decisions that had been reached by the apostles and elders who were in Jerusalem. So the churches were strengthened in the faith. They increased in number daily, and they went through the region of Phrygia, and Galatia, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia. So the reason that they wind up where they wind up is because the Holy Spirit forbid them to go back to Asia. And when they come to Mesha, they attempted to go into Bithynia. But the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them. So they passed by Mesha and they went to Troas. And a vision appeared to Paul in the night. A man of Macedonia was standing there, urging him and saying, come over to Macedonia and help us. And when Paul had seen this vision, immediately we sought... So now Luke has joined them, by the way. That's why the pronouns change. We sought to go into Macedonia, including that God had called us to preach the gospel to them. So they set sail and they wind up in verse 12 in Philippi, the leading city of the district of Macedonia. and a Roman colony remained in the city some days. Through the leading of the spirit, they wind up in Philippi. Philippi, as it says, is the main city in the province of Macedonia. It's on the northern side of the Aegean Sea, on the eastern side of Macedonia. If you have a map, like most Bibles do, in the back of your Bible, most of them usually have at least one map that maps out Paul's missionary journeys. You can go there and you can look on the eastern side of Macedonia is where Philippi is. This became a very important city for the Roman Empire. It was the gateway by land from Asia Minor into what is now Europe. So this is an important Roman city. It's a strategic Roman city. It was not always so, but it was in the day of Paul. As such, there's not much of a Jewish population. This is why, although it was Paul's pattern when he went into new cities to go straight to the synagogue and to dialogue with them and to preach the gospel in the Jewish synagogues, he doesn't do that when he comes into Philippi. Instead, we read in verse 13 of Acts 16, on the seventh day, we went outside the gate to the riverside where we supposed there was a place of prayer. We sat down and spoke to the women who had come together. One who heard us was a woman named Lydia from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple goods who was worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul. And after she was baptized and her household as well, she urged us saying, if you judge me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and stay. And she prevailed upon us. So apparently there was not a synagogue. There was not enough Jews in the area to have enough to create a synagogue. And so the few Jews who were there met on the Sabbath there by the riverside. And these Jews are who Paul and his companions find there at the riverside on the Sabbath day. and they become the first converts in Philippi. Now if you're familiar with the story in Philippi, that's not where it ends. They were going to the place of prayer and they were met by a slave girl who had a spirit of divination and brought her owners much gain by fortune telling. She followed Paul and us crying out, these men are servants of the Most High God who proclaim to you the way of salvation. She kept doing this. Paul commands the spirit to come out. And it came out that very hour. Now what happens is the owners see that their hope is gone for making money off of this young woman. And they seize Paul and Silas and they drag him to the marketplace before the rulers. And they wind up throwing them in prison. The gospel as it began to infiltrate Philippi was changing the landscape. And it started with one woman who had a demon who the men in town were using for their own selfish gain. And when they realized they weren't going to make any more money, they decided to throw Paul and Silas into prison. The crowd, verse 22, Acts 16, verse 22. The crowd joined in attacking them. The magistrates tore the garment off of them, gave them orders to beat them with rods, and when they inflicted many blows upon them, they threw them into prison, ordering the jailer to keep them safely. Having received this order, he put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks. About midnight, they were praying and singing hymns to God. The prisoners were listening to them and suddenly there was an earthquake. So the foundation of the prison was shaken and immediately all the doors were open and everyone's bonds were unfastened. When the jailer woke and saw the prison doors were open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself because he thought they had escaped. Paul cried with a loud voice, don't harm yourself, we are here. The Philippian jailer winds up being converted. He said, What must I do to be saved? And they said, Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household. And they spoke the word of the Lord to him, to all who were in his house. He took them the same hour of night, washed their wounds, and he was baptized at once, he and all his family. This is the founding of the church in Philippi. Miraculous circumstances. Persecution. Suffering circumstances. It was miraculous both in the fact that Paul even winds up there, you remember the moving of the Spirit to get him there. Secondly, it was miraculous because of what happened when they were there. They cast out a demon, the earthquake that freed them from jail and caused the Philippian jailer to come to faith. But it was also a place of persecution because they were beaten and thrown in jail in the first place. But this was the founding of the church. So what about Paul and what about this letter that he writes back to this church years later? There's strong internal evidence that Paul wrote this letter during his imprisonment in Rome that we read about in Acts chapter 28. Let me just read a couple of verses from Acts chapter 28. In Acts chapter 28 verse 16, We read this about Paul's imprisonment. When we came into Rome, Paul was allowed to stay by himself with the soldier who guarded him. In verse 30 it says, he lived there two whole years at his own expense and welcomed all who came to him, proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ with boldness and without hindrance. So even though Paul was in imprisonment, he was really more under house arrest where there was a guard there with him. And even in the midst of this house arrest, he was allowed to continue to preach and to teach. which would make sense that he was able to get this letter out and get it to the Philippians. So I said there's strong internal evidence that it would be during this imprisonment that he wrote. So for example, he makes it clear in his letter that although he is under guard, he is free to preach the gospel. Philippians chapter 1 verse 12, I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel, so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ. And most of the brothers, having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, are much more bold to speak the word without fear. He clearly says he's in imprisonment, he's under lock and key, and yet at the same time, he is able to teach, he is able to witness, he is still able to talk freely about the grace of God and about the gospel of God. And in fact, he rejoices in the fact that his imprisonment has only served to embolden those who know of his imprisonment. And now those who know of it are being even more confident in the Lord and speaking more boldly the word without fear. Not only was he under guard and yet free to preach the gospel, he also makes it clear that he was also able to receive visitors like he was able to do according to Acts chapter 28. In chapter four, verse 18 of Philippians, I've received full payment and more, I'm well supplied, having received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent, a fragrant offering, a sacrifice acceptable and pleasing to God. So they had sent and he gets into the, He gets into Epaphroditus in chapter two, verse 25. He talks about Epaphroditus and how Epaphroditus almost died in order to get to Paul there in his Roman imprisonment. And the reason that Epaphroditus tried to get to him, he came from the church in Philippi with a gift for Paul, and then he made it, and he writes them back to thank them for it, to say that he hopes that Epaphroditus can join them again soon. And he also, by the way, mentions that he wants to send Timothy to them as well there in chapter 2. So it is in this circumstance that he writes this epistle. He's under Roman imprisonment. He's established this church in Philippi in a place that is, at least at the outset, hostile to Christianity. Throughout the Roman Empire, they were hostile to Christianity, and it is no different than in Philippi. So that's sort of the background historical setting of this wonderful letter. Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus. Servants is the word doulos. It means slave. Some translations say bond servant. Literally, it's a slave. Slaves of Christ Jesus. What's wonderful about our slavery to Christ is that it's a willing submission to His Lordship. It means that we are owned by Christ. It means that we are His slaves, and He is our Lord. He is our Master. We do His bidding because of this. It's the same word that, for example, Jesus talks about when He says, you know, you can't serve both God and money. You will either hate the one and love the other, or you will love the one and despise the other. It's not just serve, it's slave. You cannot be a slave to both God and money. That's the connotation of the word that Jesus uses there, which actually in some ways makes more sense. You can't, by definition of the word, be a slave to two masters. Slaves are owned by one master. You are either a slave to Christ or you are a slave to someone else. Paul, all over his epistles, talks about his slavery to Christ. In Romans 1, verse 1, he opens the same way. Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle set apart for the gospel of God. To Titus, he said, Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ for the sake of the faith of God's elect and their knowledge of the truth which accords with godliness. Paul understood His union with Christ and his faith in Christ made him a slave to the Lordship of Christ. And so did, by the way, the other writers of the other epistles. James talks about himself that way. James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ. Peter talked about himself that way. 2 Peter 1, verse 1, Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ. Jude talked about himself that way. Jude, a servant of Christ Jesus and brother of James. He sees himself as a slave to Christ even as he is an apostle of Christ for the Church of Christ. a servant, a slave. And he mentions Timothy as well, Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus. Now you remember, we just read it in Acts. Timothy was with Paul at the founding of the church there in Philippi. And he mentions Timothy here again in the opening of the letter because he's going to mention that he's going to try to send Timothy to them in order to strengthen them. Of course, as we said, Paul is under arrest and so he is not free to move about outside of Rome. And so he wants to send Timothy to them for their building up, for their edification, for the strengthening of their own faith. Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, to all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi with overseers and deacons. He writes this letter to the church. You know, this brings up an important point. I'm not sure if I've ever made explicit before, but much of the New Testament, I would say probably 95-99% of the New Testament, is written to believers. It is written to the churches. It is written to the saints. Paul talks about this in, is it 1st or 2nd Corinthians? I always get them mixed up. But you know, the natural man does not receive the things of God. They are a foolishness to him, for they are spiritually discerned. The letters that are written to the churches are written to the believers. This is a letter that is written to the saints in Christ Jesus with their overseers and their deacons. He addresses not only the saints in general as the congregation, but he also addresses those who are their overseers, those who are their leaders, those who are, as we saw at the end of Hebrews, those who would desire to speak the Word of God to them. Grace to you, verse 2. and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace and peace. I wish grace upon you and I wish peace upon you. From who? From God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. It is through Christ that the Father gives grace. It is through Christ that we are reconciled to God and brought to peace with God. You might be wondering why all of this is so important. What's the big deal about all this? And the big deal about understanding Paul's circumstance, understanding Timothy's circumstance, understanding the Philippian church's circumstance is important to understand the overall message of this epistle, which is joy. The overall message of this epistle is joy. In fact, it has been nicknamed the epistle of joy. It comes out of perhaps what we would think to be unusual circumstances to talk about joy. Paul's imprisonment, the Philippian persecution against Christianity. Let me read this from one of the commentary introductions that I read. People today are consumed by the passionate pursuit of happiness. self-help books, motivational speakers, and advice columnists claim to offer the key to happiness. But for many people, the door remains locked. Unable to control their circumstances, they find themselves instead controlled by their circumstances. When their job, relationship, or house, or in the case of Christians, church, fails to make them happy, they dump it and look for a new one. But on the merry-go-round of life, they can never quite seem to reach the brass ring. Having fruitlessly pursued happiness through pleasure and self-gratification, they arrive at the jaded view of life expressed by the preacher in Ecclesiastes. Vanity of vanities. All is vanity." Now that's true. You know, when our founders wrote that every person has the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, When they wrote happiness, they didn't mean our culture's connotation of happiness. What they meant was joy, biblically. You have a theology of joy that's derived biblically? Joyology? That's what this epistle is for. What does it mean to have true joy? Not merely happiness. Happiness sort of covers over the pain underneath. Joy upholds us within the pain of life. That's what joy is. True, everlasting joy is not found in this world. knowing all about Paul's own struggle in this city when he founded this church and established this church, and knowing that he is writing from prison while he is under guard, knowing that he is suffering for the faith, and knowing all of his myriad of sufferings that he has experienced all throughout all of his ministries and missionary journeys and so forth and so on, makes this entire epistle centered around joy in the world take on a whole new meaning and context. Because what we are seeing in this epistle is that Paul lived his life, as painful as it was, under the reality of the supremacy of Christ as His supreme treasure and joy. And what he does in this epistle is call the Philippians to remember the supremacy of Christ and to live their lives in the reality of His supremacy as their supreme and everlasting treasure and joy. In fact, he mentions joy or rejoicing sixteen different times in these four short chapters. That is the pervasive bottom line subject matter of this entire letter. Joy. Rejoice. In fact, much of the joy and rejoicing phrases and cliched phrases that many people know come from Philippians. Rejoice in the Lord always and again I will say rejoice. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. Yes and I will rejoice for to me to live is Christ and to die is gain. All those are in Philippians. And they have a context. They're not disconnected from reality. And they are much deeper and much richer than I think many people realize. You know, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me isn't about playing well on game day. Like I think so many superstar athletes seem to think. So we'll see that as we go through this epistle that's grounded in joy in the Lord. So here's kind of just a quick outline of it, just to help you see the practical application of the supremacy of Christ as our ultimate joy and treasure. In chapter one, he is thankful for this Philippian church. And so he will rejoice. And yet later in chapter one, he has been let down by those who preach the gospel for selfish gain, but he will rejoice. He has been let down by his plans to try to be with them in person, which is why he wants to send Timothy in Epaphroditus, but he will rejoice. He has been let down by the things of this world by which he once considered his entire worth being defined by. He has lost everything that he once considered gain for the sake of Christ. And because of that, He will rejoice. He has been let down by circumstances which are out of His control in chapter 4. But He will rejoice. He's been let down by people. He's been let down by circumstances. He's been let down by the things of this world. And through it all, He says, but I will rejoice. Rejoice in what? If he's lost everything, what's the bottom of his joy? It's what I just quoted to you, Philippians 4. Rejoice in the Lord, always. And again, I will say, rejoice. That's not just a neat verse to put on a coffee mug. That is a profoundly theological verse. And it is Paul's entire life in ministry. It's what keeps him grounded where he needs to be grounded, and rooted where he needs to be rooted. It is what upholds him and sustains him in the midst of his suffering for the sake of the gospel, and in the midst of his chosen life of self-sacrifice for the ministry of the gospel. This is his entire life. You know, Paul gets it. When Paul reads his Old Testament, he gets it. In your right hand, there is fullness of joy. In your presence, there is fullness of joy. In your right hand are pleasures forevermore. That's the path of life. Let me close with this. This is one of the kingdom parables from Matthew chapter 13. Jesus spoke to them these words, Matthew 13, verse 44, The kingdom of heaven is like treasure. hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then, in his joy, he goes and sells all that he has and buys the field." Paul lived like that verse is true. And that comes through in stark reality in the way that he talks about his life and his ministry to the people in Philippi. The message of his epistle is to rejoice in the Lord. Joy in this life, joy in the midst of the storms of this life. That's what he teaches them. And that's what my prayer is the Lord will teach to us as we move through it together here on Sunday mornings. Let's pray. So Father, we pray that you would do this for us. we see and we are reminded over and over of the importance of rejoicing in you, rejoicing in the Lord. So would you make us a people like this? Would you make us people who cling to Christ as if He is our life? Who see the glory of our future inheritance and our eternal blessing? Who see the glory of our Christ and know that the suffering of this present time is not worth comparing to that glory? Help us to be people who are intentional about sacrifice because we have a treasure that is worth more than anything we could sacrifice in this world. In all this we ask in His precious and holy name, amen.