Please turn with me in your Bibles to Paul's letter to the Philippians. Philippians chapter one and our scripture reading This morning is going to be the first eleven verses that chapter. Philippians chapter one verses one through eleven for our scripture reading this morning. Paul and Timothy servants of Christ Jesus, to all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, with the overseers and deacons, grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine, for you all making my prayer with joy because of your participant, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. And I'm sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. It is right for me to feel this way about you all, because I hold you in my heart. For you are all partakers with me of grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel. For God is my witness, how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus. And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent And so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God. And our reading of God's word at that point says God's blessing on our time together in the study of this passage. Father, we do thank you once again that you've been pleased to reveal yourself to us. Father, we thank you that the heavens do indeed declare the glory of God. The firmament shows your handiwork all around us. And yet, as we look at this marvelous creation and are left without excuse to acknowledge that there is a God, That doesn't give us the means of salvation. And so we thank you, especially for your revealed will, for the way in which you were pleased to speak to us through your word and finally at the proper time to send even your own son to be our Lord and Savior. And so, Father, as we look together this morning and later today, at a portion of this word of yours, we pray that you would give us understanding, give us the applications that we should be making, that we might grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We ask it in His name and for His sake. Amen. rest of you, except for Tara and a couple of you haven't seen this evening's scripture reading, but it's exactly the same as this morning's. Today, I want us to be thinking about some of the things that we see here in Philippians chapter one, especially just those first verses of Philippians chapter one. And you may be wondering, well, why Philippians? Why is why is Jerry decided to preach on Philippians at this time? Well, let me give you just a little bit of background on that before we get into studying it a little bit more. As a retired pastor, I get invited to preach different places at different times and I always need to decide, oh, well, what am I going to preach about now? And of course, for retired preachers, there's that barrel that you can always dip into and pull something out of. But in pulling it out, I still have to rework that and that sort of thing. And I decided recently that I wanted to do a study again on the book of Philippians, which I've done before, as many of you probably have as well. because there are just a number of things in Philippians that are very encouraging and helpful. And I thought if I start a study in Philippians and work through Philippians, there are numerous texts that may be favorites of different ones of you as they are of mine. And so there are just a number of different preaching topics that will be available in Philippians. So if my plan follows through and the session invites me to preach here again in a few months or six or seven months, you'll probably get another sermon on Philippians. That's what I'm hoping to be preparing for in any case. So this morning, you're getting actually an introduction to Philippians, kind of as a background and introduction as to what the book is about and various things like that. So in some ways, Some of the things that I want to share with you this morning are perhaps old hat, but I think there are things in them that are helpful to us in understanding God's Word in general and this particular portion of God's Word. I mentioned earlier that I have some favorite passages in here. I thought about asking you what what are your favorite passages in scripture? And in one sense, I'm a little hesitant to do that sort of thing, because, you know, as good Christians, we should say, well, everything from Genesis one through Revelation at the end. And that's certainly true. But I think all of us do find special places in the scripture that have been especially helpful to us. at one time or another or have been particularly instructive to us in one way or another. And certainly for myself, many of the Psalms would come in that category. And that's another one of my preaching topic areas that I've been looking at and continuing to look at as well. But in the New Testament, if I'm outside of the Gospels, in the epistles, Philippians is certainly one of those that I turn to very often for many of the encouraging things that Paul has to say in that chapter, or in the whole book really. We're told in this book in more than one place that Paul is writing from prison. And we have an indication that there are a number of letters that Paul wrote from prison. We have what we call the prison epistles, probably all of them written from his same imprisonment. Colossians and Philemon, which go together as you may remember. Colossae was the city and there was a church there, but Philemon was one of the main persons in that congregation and Paul had a very personal and direct letter to Philemon. Ephesians, also written from prison at the same time, and then Philippians that we have here before us today. And when we begin to ask the question, why did Paul write this letter to the Philippian church? There are a number of things that are indicated in the letter itself. The letter is often described as a letter of joy. And certainly that's one of the major themes that we find throughout the book of Philippians. I'll touch on that a little bit later as we close. But there are a number of other reasons that Paul gives for why he is writing this particular letter to this particular church there in Philippi. The Philippians had sent a gift to him. And so this is a thank you note for one thing. They sent monetary gifts to him, but they'd also sent a gift of Epaphroditus. this fellow laborer, which came alongside Paul and was helping Paul in his ministry while he was there in prison. And so the letter is a letter of gratitude, a letter of thanksgiving, a letter praising them and thanking them for their generosity, not only financially, but also in sending Epaphroditus to them. I've already mentioned the theme of joy. One of the things that Paul is encouraging them to do a number of times throughout this letter is to rejoice, to have joy. And Paul also is demonstrating his own joy even in the difficult circumstances that he finds himself in as a prisoner at this time. One of the other major themes that we find central in this letter is an encouragement towards unity. And he uses Christ himself as the example of humility and how unity should develop out of that. And so in a broad sense, we would say all of the letter was written to them to give spiritual guidance to them. And so the letter, in many respects, is a letter directing this particular group of God's people, and consequently all of us as well, in how to go about our spiritual walk. How should we live as Christian believers? And there are a number of things that speak to us in various places throughout the letter that speak to us directly about our Christian walk. How we should be living the Christian life. all the way from the encouragement and confidence that Paul has in eternal security in chapter one and verse six where he says he's confident that God began a good work. God's going to finish that work to later on in that chapter where Paul says I'm in a difficult dilemma. You know, I think I'm going to get out of prison. I think I'm going to be released, but I may be put to death. And really, death is far better because I'll go and be with Christ. But it's better for you if I'm here and minister to you. And so I don't know which to choose. And we might struggle with those kinds of questions ourselves sometimes as well. So these are just some of the reasons why Paul wrote this letter to the Philippian Christians. But let's think a few moments about the author, because Paul says Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus to the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi. Paul and Timothy. Now, I think Paul is not indicating here that Timothy actually was engaged in the writing of the letter, but he's wanting to bring Timothy into this because he says a number of things about Timothy here in this letter as well. But notice that Paul and Timothy both are called servants. The Greek word is doulos, which often is translated slave or bondservant. It has more than just the idea of being someone who's a helper, someone who's helping another. It's deeper than that, certainly. And so Paul and Timothy are servants of Jesus Christ, they're bond slaves of Jesus Christ, and they're not operating on their own authority, but rather operating as Christ's appointed servants, ministering in his name and concerned about the ministry and work of the believers there in Philippi. Now, you may wonder why Timothy was added to this. Let me just offer a few suggestions to this. I think the most obvious is that Timothy was in close relationship with Paul when Paul first visited Philippi. And he's continued to be Paul's young man along with him, if you will, his minister in training that's going along with him and all of these different things. But Timothy had been with the Philippians when the church was founded there. It's recorded for us in Acts chapter 16 through 18, particularly as we hear more about the work and ministry of Timothy there. But also in this letter we find that Paul intended to send Timothy to the church in Philippi shortly after he writes this letter. Chapter 2 and verse 19 is the indication that he hopes to send Timothy to them. so that Timothy can minister to them directly. And so in that in that sense, by including Timothy in the salutation, he's establishing Timothy's credentials, if you will, to remind them that Timothy is a co-worker with him in all of this. And Paul tells us in chapter two in verse 20 after saying, I want to send him to you. He reminds them that he has no one that is better equipped to look out after their needs and and has this burden for the ministry. So Paul and Timothy are cooperating together in sending this letter to the Philippian Christians. Let's think a little bit about them as well. Notice how Paul describes these Christians there in Philippi. He says that they are the saints. They're the saints in Christ Jesus, and they're in this physical location, the city of Philippi. And I think this is probably not new to any of you here, but just as a reminder, when we read the word Saints in the New Testament, we need to remember and understand a little bit about what that word means. The Roman Church has has taken it and put it in a different category. They have all kinds of requirements and tests that supposedly a person has to pass before they can qualify to be called a saint. And they go through this verification process and so forth. I read of a An illustration that Dr. Ironside, a famous preacher, was traveling on a train one time and as he was traveling along, he had companions in the same compartment area as he was, four nuns. And in the course of their conversation at one point, the story says that he asked them if they had ever met a saint. Oh no, no, they'd never met a saint. They talked a little bit about the requirements for a saint. And he said, well, would you like to meet one? And they said, well, yes, they'd really like to meet a saint. He says, I'm a saint. My name is Saint, and I forgot what his first name was, David, I think, Ironside. And that's true of every Christian. Every believer is a saint. We find that throughout the The New Testament, especially in the epistles where Paul or Peter or the others are writing, they're addressing the Christians in the various communities as saints. They're called saints. Well, what does that mean? You know, the word saint is also, it can be translated with the word holy, holy ones. Well, that doesn't mean that if you're a saint, you're more holy than anyone else, because the the root word of that holiness, particularly as we go to the Old Testament and see how it's used there, is the idea of being separated, of being set apart for some special thing. And if you go back to the book of Exodus and read the accounts there regarding the establishment of the tabernacle and how it was to be built and the furniture in the tabernacle and all of the things that are there, you'll find a number of indications where God tells Moses to sanctify, to make holy these particular things. Well, He didn't turn a piece of wood into something that was holy. He set it apart for a special purpose. It was sanctified in that sense. And that's true of us as well in our Christian walk, our Christian life. All those who are believers are sanctified. They're set apart They're made holy in that sense that they're distinct and different from others. And this is particularly true of believers then. We're set apart and we're called saints. Holy in that sense. There's a very interesting reference to this in Jesus' high priestly prayer. In John, the 17th chapter, where Jesus is praying just before his crucifixion, we call it the high priestly prayer of Jesus. As you read down through that prayer, as you come to verse 19 in John, the 17th chapter, Jesus says, I sanctify myself. That is, he's he's setting himself apart in a very special way. And remember, in this portion of the prayer, he's praying for his disciples and for those who are going to follow after his disciples, his believers. And so he says, I sanctify myself that they too may be truly sanctified. And so Jesus has this this prayer, which brings into it this idea of Christians being saints, being sanctified. Same word that you use, same root word that's being used there. And so we as believers, every one of us who are Christians are saints in that way. And so Paul is addressing these Christians in Philippi as saints. They're all saints in Christ Jesus there. The Apostle Peter makes this point as well in his letter, First Peter. And in the second chapter there, he describes the the people of God as a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation. That's that same word for saint again, a people belonging to God. And they're going to show forth the praises of God. They've been set apart. They've been called aside. They're different. They're distinct in that way. And so these believers there in Philippi are saints in this particular way. And the church in Philippi was a church that was very diverse in its makeup of people. We won't take time this morning to go back and read the account of how this church was established. You may want to look at that sometime on your own later. In Acts 16 and following, remember it was a special call that got Paul and Timothy over to the church at Philippi. They were on the missionary journey. They were all set to to evangelize and preach the gospel throughout what we would call Asia Minor. But the Holy Spirit stopped them. The Holy Spirit said, no, you're not going that way. And then the man from Macedonia appears in a vision to Paul and calls him over into Macedonia. And so as we see Paul and Timothy and the missionary group going into Philippi. They're there on the call of God under the leadership and direction of the Holy Spirit. Maybe a little more about that in a few moments, but it's written into the Saints, but also Paul adds the overseers and deacons. There are church officers in this congregation that are being addressed as well. Overseers. Throughout the New Testament, the word overseer, sometimes translated bishop, is used interchangeably with the word presbyter or elder, as it's translated in the New Testament. Overseers and elders, bishops and elders, bishops and presbyters. Same office. A little bit description, different description of the function and the functionality in that office. The bishops and the elders were to oversee the ministry. They were to be shepherds of the flock. The presbyters or elders were to be rulers in the church. And so we have those two terms being used throughout the New Testament to describe the one church office of elder or bishop as we call them. Not bishop in the sense that the Roman church is taken to mean as to some elevated position over others, but rather the eldership as it relates to overseeing the flock of God. And also the deacons, those who had been set apart to particularly be engaged in the ministry of mercy and the serving of tables there in the early church, Acts chapter 6 and so forth. So these are the ones that are being addressed here and Paul is addressing this group of peoples with the blessing or the salutation that is next. And I want us to focus on that for just a few moments as we kind of draw our thoughts to a close this morning. He says grace to you and peace from God our father in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now we need to understand in passing that the greeting. Grace to you was a very Very common greeting. that was used by the Roman legions when they were writing communications from one person to another, they would use this term kind of as a greeting in the opening salutation. So in their use of it, it was very common. It's translated grace by us, but it meant simply greetings in the Roman usage of this Greek term. And you can find historically Greek papyri that have letters that begin in this way, greetings, grace to you. But the second word, peace, the Greek word peace here is the Greek equivalent to the Old Testament, shalom, which means peace, peace to you. And so there's a sense in which Paul is kind of pulling together a Greek greeting and a Hebrew greeting in writing to these Christians there. But there's more to it than that, I believe, as well, because when when Paul puts these two terms together, as he does in in quite a number of his epistles and sends these greetings of grace and peace to you, I think we can't We can't separate that from the from the understanding that Paul has in the idea of grace and the idea of peace, which comes from God, the grace which is ours in Jesus Christ. And maybe you notice that a little bit later on in the scriptures we were reading this morning. As you go on down through that passage, you'll find there in verse seven that you are partakers with me of grace. And so he reminds them of that relationship that they have with one another, with God, because of God's grace and mercy to us. And because of our relationship to God through the means of grace, we can indeed have peace alone in the in the fullest sense of that word. And so it's it's just a drawing together of these two what would seem to be very ordinary greetings But I think in Paul's usage of them throughout the New Testament, we find them taking on new and deeper meaning. Paul's saying in effect, God's grace be with you. God's peace be upon you. I ran across a quote of of a New Testament scholar in my commentary reading that I was doing, and he puts it this way. He said the fact that these terms connect themselves with the ordinary Greek and Hebrew greetings does not exclude the employment of grace in the specifically Christian and Pauline sense in which it denotes the unmerited divine operations of love, which is the source and principle of all Christian salvation. Similarly, Peace is not to be understood primarily in the technical sense of Romans 5.1 as the first fruit of justification, but we may be sure that in Paul's mind, the whole state of tranquility and general well-being, which was implied in peace, attached itself to the root, to the fact of the reconciliation that we have with God. So Paul's great affection for these believers there in Philippi encompass all of these things. We'll think a little bit more about this later today in our second service. But just in closing, let me remind you again a little bit about the establishment of that church there in Philippi. The Holy Spirit was directing in all of it. The Holy Spirit initially, we're told in Acts 13, set apart Paul to go on this journey. And along the way, they get acquainted with Timothy as well. And Timothy joins them and they continue on this journey. But as they're evangelizing throughout Asia Minor, and they've been to places like Ephesus and so forth, the Holy Spirit closes the door and forbids them to go on into the northern area of Asia Minor. And then the Holy Spirit calls them by a vision of a man from Macedonia. And so they come over into Macedonia And it's there that we find them in Philippi. Philippi was a Roman colony. And a Roman colony meant that the people there lived as Romans. They were very concerned about their Roman citizenship and all of that. But when Paul is there establishing, preaching the gospel, Some interesting things happen. We hear the account of Lydia, who's a rich woman, a seller of purple. She's upper class society. But then there's a slave girl whose demon possessed and is saved by the ministry of Paul as he casts out the demon. And her owners then, losing that job security, end up throwing Paul and the others in prison. And there in the night, they're singing psalms, giving praise to God, demonstrating joy in difficult circumstances. And we have the account of the Philippian jailer, a Roman soldier, if you will, who is also saved and brought into saving faith. And in all of that, then, we have this church made up of this diverse group of different people, all of whom have experienced grace and peace. They're saints in Christ Jesus there in Philippi. And so Paul is writing to them to encourage them and to remind them of his own joy and to encourage them to be engaged in joy as well. You can read through the letter and you'll find the noun joy used five or six different times and the verb rejoice used even more than that. It is a major theme But in all of it, Paul is wanting to encourage these Christians there in Philippi because they are indeed saints in Christ Jesus. And they're receiving grace and peace as a salutation benediction, if you will, even though it's at the beginning on them from Paul's letter to them. We'll look a little more this afternoon at the the remaining verses there three through eleven concerning Paul's relationship with these Christians there in Philippi. Let's look to God in prayer. Father, thank you for your word to us. Thank you for providing missionary leaders like Paul and like Timothy and the ministry that they had here in the church in Philippi. Thank you for the letter. that you caused them to write that would be an encouragement to them but also to us as well and instructive to us concerning how we should walk and live before you. We pray that you would guide us and direct us in all of these things. We'll seek to give you the honor and praise because we ask it in Christ's name. Amen.