How God Shapes His Church

we believe God's word is inspired by the Holy Spirit.

It's inerrant.

Man is not more wise than God's word.

We don't find mistakes in it.

It's infallible.

The word of God accomplishes what he intends for it every time.

And we believe that it's clear that with the Holy Spirit dwelling in every believer,

as we hear God's word, we'll understand what he means.

And that's my prayer as I read this to you.

And to give you some context, the book of Philippians is a letter.

You'll find out a little bit more about the author in the audience.

But the city is in Philippi.

Philippi is an ancient city.

Even before it was part of the Roman Empire, it was refounded by Philip II.

You actually know Philip II.

He's Alexander the Great's dad, the king of Macedon.

And the location of Philippi is between Europe and Asia.

So it's in northeastern part of Greece.

As the Romans expanded their kingdom, Philippi became a very strategic trade city

to connect the trade from Asia with Europe.

And so the Roman Empire invested much in this little city of Philippi.

They built a theater, a temple with terraces, a great forum, and a basilica.

All of these Roman pieces of architecture.

And for that reason, it was called Little Rome, a very influential city.

So our sermon text is verses 1 through 5.

Paul and Timothy, bondservants of Jesus Christ,

to all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi,

with the bishops and deacons.

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

I thank my God upon every remembrance of you,

always in every prayer of mine,

making request for you all with joy,

for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now.

This is the word of the Lord.

Thanks be to God.

You may be seated.

Thank you.

Father, I ask once again that you will please speak through your word.

May your truth prevail over unbelief.

And may you renew our minds.

We pray that your Holy Spirit,

the Spirit of Jesus Christ himself,

the Good Shepherd,

will speak to his people.

We pray that you'll accomplish your purposes

with your law and gospel as it's proclaimed.

I pray that you'll guard my lips,

that everything I say would be pleasing in your sight with your help.

I also pray that you will guard the ears of your people.

Help anything, Lord, that I say that is falling short of your glory

and your standard to be rejected by their minds.

We pray, Lord, that as we receive your word,

that you will work into us your good pleasure,

that you will truly shape your church.

For your glory we ask.

Amen.

Amen.

There in the living room of a wealthy businesswoman

sits a girl that everyone thought was crazy.

Also in this living room is the porter of the city's jailhouse,

along with his family and servants.

One of the men, with gray in his beard,

opens up the parchment that arrived on a ship that week.

He reads the first line and then pauses.

Paul and Timothy, bond servants of Jesus Christ.

The memories of everyone present fly back to the year

they first saw that small group of travelers,

two of whom they could still picture with blood on their backs.

A dozen eyes in this living room puddle up.

The reader is one of them and he swallows hard

and then continues to all the saints in Christ Jesus

who are in Philippi.

Beloved congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ,

I want to encourage you today

with this example of a small church in Philippi,

how God himself shapes his church.

How God himself shapes his church.

First, God makes desperate sinners

into orderly saints.

God makes desperate sinners

into orderly saints.

Verse 1, Paul and Timothy, slaves of Jesus.

That's how Paul introduces himself

as author of this letter to this congregation.

To appreciate how drastic this is,

you need to hear an example from this same time period.

Here's how another letter began,

an official letter to a people

in a city called Alexandria.

Tiberius, Claudius, Caesar, Augustus, Germanicus,

Imperator, Pontifex Maximus,

holder of the tribunition power,

consul designate to the city of the Alexandrians.

Well, here Paul calls himself simply a slave,

a bondservant of Jesus Christ.

In other epistles, he states,

I am an apostle.

I have this authority.

In this letter, he doesn't need to,

most likely because the sweet congregation in Philippi,

they know this.

They love Paul.

They accept his authority.

That's not what they need to hear.

Paul introduces himself along with Timothy.

Timothy, we're told in Acts 16,

was a young believer, verse 2,

who was well spoken of by the brethren,

traveling along with Paul in this small company.

Paul, Silas, young Timothy,

most likely to be discipled and an assistant to learn.

And then in Acts, we read it in the first person plural.

So Luke is most likely there as well

as an accompanying doctor.

So we learn even from this simple introduction,

Paul and Timothy, slaves of Jesus,

that ministry is shared.

Ministry is shared by those who consider Jesus their Lord.

He introduces themselves with the word slave

or bondservant.

The Greek, it's douloim.

It's one who gives himself up for another's will,

devoted to another,

to the disregard of their own interests.

That's what a bondservant is.

Jesus used this word in Matthew 20, 27.

He said,

Whosoever will be chief among you,

let him be your slave, your servant.

Jesus Christ himself took the posture of a slave

when he washed his disciples' feet.

So what a wonderful thing now to claim as your title.

You are one who is now a slave of Christ.

One who Christ will use to advance his kingdom

in the souls and the lives of believers.

Paul and Timothy, slaves of Jesus Christ.

I mentioned that these saints,

he says to all the saints,

there's an orderliness in how he views the church.

All the saints, the word saint,

it means consecrated, set apart, devoted.

In the Old Testament,

what was consecrated or set apart

were the instruments used in the ceremonial law.

These were common utensils,

but they were consecrated, set apart,

not to be used for lesser purposes.

These belong to the ministry of the Lord.

And he says,

Now you are all the people of God who are set apart.

You are the vessels God will use

for his special consecrated purposes.

You're a consecrated body.

And with you are the officers.

From among you are elders and deacons.

The word here is bishop or overseer.

For us, it's a synonymous,

well, it's the same office

described in several different terms.

Under shepherds of Christ,

pastors, overseers, elders.

That's one office.

And the other office is deacons.

Servants who are with the congregation,

but also set apart to hold a special office.

Well, who is it that's included

in this description of all the saints?

All the saints,

they're gathered in this church.

One of these saints,

we read in Acts 16, verse 16.

Acts 16:16

If you still have your marker there,

you want to follow along.

Acts 16, verse 16.

Acts 16:16

In the same city of Philippi,

Paul's second missionary journey,

the first time that he would meet

these beloved believers.

We read this description,

starting in Acts, verse 16.

A certain slave girl,

possessed with a spirit of divination.

This means that this young girl

was a slave to human masters.

They possessed her.

They owned her.

And she had to work for them as a slave.

But on top of that,

she had a double bondage.

She was possessed by a spirit of divination

or a demon from the fallen angel,

from the depths of hell,

possessing her body

and manipulating the truth

and the words in such a way

that people were willing

to pay her master's money

for the words that she would say

about their future

as if she could foresee the future.

Well, this slave girl met them.

And she brought her masters much profit

by fortune telling,

we read in verse 16.

In verse 17, we read that

this girl followed Paul and us,

wrote Luke,

and she cried out, saying,

these men are the servants

of the Most High God

who proclaim to us

the way of salvation.

Verse 18,

for many days she continued to do this.

Verse 19, we read that

Paul became greatly annoyed

and he turned and said to the demon

that was possessing the slave girl,

I command you in the name of Jesus Christ

to come out of her.

This was a desperate sinner.

This young slave girl

knew that these men

are speaking a message of salvation.

The demons speaking through this little girl,

they revealed the reality,

the spiritual way

that the kingdom of God

is going to advance

into the city of Philippi.

And it's a way of salvation

as a demonstration of God's power

in his advancing kingdom.

This girl herself

experienced such salvation.

She was delivered

from that bondage

of this evil spirit.

And Paul says,

no matter what your background was,

no matter what you were a slave to,

in Christ,

you are a saint.

Do you see how God makes

desperate sinners

into orderly saints

within his church?

The encouragement for us

is that

every church

can be well-ordered

in this way.

We're well-ordered

as we remember

and we remind ourselves,

I'm first of all

a slave to Christ.

That's who I am.

I don't need to hold on

to anything else

in my identity.

I'm a slave to Jesus Christ

because he became

a servant

to save me.

And as a church

of those who God

has saved

from our desperate sin

and the bondage

that he's brought

each one of us out of,

as we gather

in his name,

he guides his church

to raise up

and set apart

church officers

through whom

he will minister

and serve

his body.

God makes

desperate sinners

into orderly

saints.

How else does

God shape his church?

Number two,

God makes Christians

remember

the basis

of their blessing.

God makes Christians

remember the basis

of their blessing.

Look at verse two.

His greeting is

grace to you

and peace

from God our Father

and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Grace to you

and peace.

In the example

I read a moment ago,

Tiberius Claudius,

Caesar Augustus,

the next words

in this historic document

are this,

to the city

of the Alexandrians,

greetings.

And the word

he uses for greetings

is in Greek.

The word is

kareem.

Kareem is a general

salutation,

just means greetings.

Well,

Paul does a play

on words.

He uses the word

grace.

Instead of greetings,

he says

karees.

So it sounds

very similar

to this common

Greek greeting,

but he instead

uses the specific

theological doctrine,

grace.

grace and peace.

Grace is God's

favor

to those

who are ill-deserving.

We deserve ill.

We deserve

wrath of God

for our sin,

but instead

we get God's

wonderful favor.

That's what grace is.

It's only through

Jesus Christ

because he took

the ill we deserve

in our place

and he accomplished

for us

the blessings

that we could never

merit

for ourselves.

That's the meeting

point for all

true Christians.

Grace to you,

church.

And anyone who

knows of God's

grace meets

Paul right there.

You don't need

to say anything

else.

We're on the

same footing.

Why did Paul

know grace?

Well,

remember,

Paul had hunted

down Christians

himself.

He had been

the one going

into peaceful

worship gatherings

maybe like this.

dragging Christians

out in chains,

casting them

into the prisons,

hauling them away

to Jerusalem

to be punished.

Could you imagine

what that would be

like?

I'll ask you

children,

what if someone

were to come

through those doors

and command the

soldiers to arrest

your mom,

your dad,

your grandpa,

your grandma?

Put them in chains

and you see them

drug away.

Well,

Paul was the one

standing there

ordering the

soldiers to do

just that.

Paul said

this himself

to the church

in Acts 22.4.

He said,

I persecuted

this way,

referring to

followers of Christ.

I persecuted

them to the death,

binding and

delivering them

into prisons,

both men and

women,

bringing them

in chains

to Jerusalem

to be punished.

In 1 Timothy 1.15,

he says,

but Jesus Christ

came into the world

to save sinners

of whom I am

the chief.

Paul knew grace.

Romans 5.20,

where sin abounded

and Paul's sin

abounded so.

He wrote,

their grace

abounded much more.

So when Paul

greets the church

with grace,

he does it as one

who knows

God's grace himself.

He says,

grace to you

and peace.

Well,

if grace is

a reference

to the Greek greeting,

common greeting

among the Greeks,

he pulls in

Greek and Jew

together.

The Jews greet

one another

with shalom.

Shalom.

Holistic,

relational rest.

That's what shalom

means.

It means you enjoy

a settled

communion together.

You are at home.

You are comfortable.

And he says,

this is only possible

from God

through Jesus Christ.

Isn't that true

for our fellowship?

As part of the

membership process,

one of the questions

is describe some

of the best experiences

you've had in church.

And many have shared

it's been among

brothers and sisters

who know God's grace,

who know this peace.

And it's a time

of wonderful rest

where it truly feels

like I'm with family.

And God ministers

to me over and over

through that.

We've also been

in different relationships,

maybe at work

or even with relatives

or sadly in the church

as well,

where there's no peace.

And it's one of the

hardest things we can

go through as Christians,

isn't it?

To have no peace.

I believe this principle

is true that

where there is no grace,

there can be

no peace.

The solution,

if you want more peace

in those relationships,

is God's grace

at a heart level.

The more church

that we understand

God's grace,

the more peaceful

will be our fellowship.

Amen?

See how preaching

the gospel

and gospeling one another

through the hardest

things we go through,

that is how God

shapes us together.

It's the most practical

thing we can do

is to remind ourselves

of God's grace

toward us.

God is to remind us

of God's grace

toward us.

So,

God makes Christians

remember

the basis

of their blessing.

Number three,

God makes Christians

remember one another

with thankfulness.

God makes Christians

remember one another

with thankfulness.

That's how he shapes us

as well.

Verse three,

we read,

I thank my God

upon every remembrance

of you.

Upon every remembrance

of you,

I thank my God.

every remembrance

of this church

at Philippi.

Look in Acts 16

once again,

you still have your marker there.

Starting at verse 13,

let's go back

and put ourselves

in Paul's shoes.

What would have been

these early remembrances

of the church

at Philippi?

Acts 16,

Acts 16:13

verse 13.

We read that it was

the Sabbath day.

There's Paul and Silas

and Timothy and Luke.

They went out of the city

to the riverside.

where prayer

was customarily made.

He says,

they sat down

and they began to speak.

It's through the preaching,

through the spoken word

of God

that God carries

the gospel

into the ears,

the minds,

and the hearts

of believers.

They preached

and as he preached

the word,

he gave the gift

of faith

to Lydia.

He remembers that.

He said,

a certain woman

named Lydia

heard us

and she was

a seller

of purple

who worshipped

the Lord.

Now look at the next

words there

in verse 14.

The Lord

opened her heart

to heed

the things

spoken by Paul.

They had to do

their part.

They're going

into the open air.

They're ministering

the word of God

for whoever has

an ear to hear.

But it's the Lord

who opens

the heart

and causes you

to pay attention

and hear

and receive

the gospel.

We read in verse 15

that she

and her household

were baptized

and then she

hosted them.

Well,

after Paul

commanded the demon

to leave

that little slave

girl alone,

he and Silas

were accused

of disturbing

the peace.

We read in Acts

16, 20

that the whole city

became exceedingly

troubled

because her masters

saw that their hope

of profit

was now gone.

So they seized

Paul and Silas

and they dragged

them into the marketplace

and to the authorities.

We read in Acts

16, 22

Then the multitude

rose up together

against them.

The whole city

of Philippi

greatly disturbed

against Paul

and Silas

who were the preachers.

The magistrates

tore off their clothes

and commanded them

to be beaten

with rods

and they laid

many stripes

on them.

That means

they whipped them

so the skin

is torn away

of their backs.

And yet,

Paul writes

in verse 3

of our sermon text,

I thank my God

upon every

remembrance

of you.

Paul thanks God

for the memory

of the church

at Philippi.

He thanks God

for causing Lydia

and her household

to believe

for saving

that slave girl

and for bringing

these most unlikely

believers together

and planting them

as a church.

Does the Lord

ever do this

for you?

Does he bring

to mind

the remembrance

of other believers?

When he does that,

we should thank the Lord

for these memories.

Thank you, Lord,

for reminding me

of that conversation

I had with this brother.

Thank you, Lord,

for this wonderful memory

of that hard time

that this family was in,

but you were faithful

to them.

When the Lord

brings one another

to mind,

we pray for one another

and we thank the Lord

for his grace

on all of us

because God

makes Christians

remember one another

with thankfulness.

In business

and in other dealings,

it's mostly hard memories

and you're constantly

on the defensive,

but our thoughts

of one another

should be grace

and peace

and thank you, Lord,

for this body

you've given.

Number four,

God makes the afflicted

pray with joy.

How does God

shape his church?

He makes the afflicted

pray with joy.

Look at verse four.

Paul writes,

always in every prayer

of mine,

making requests

for you all

with joy.

You notice how urgent

Paul's language is?

It's personal.

It's persistent.

He says,

in every remembrance

of you,

always,

in every prayer

of mine for you,

making requests

for you all.

You see,

each one in the church

is on Paul's mind

and on his heart.

Each one is precious

in God's sight

and he puts the names

of these precious souls

forward before God

and he asks God,

he makes requests

of God

on their behalf.

He prays.

Does the Lord

bring fellow believers

to your mind?

Does he stir you up

to specifically name

those he wants you

to intercede for?

The beautiful thing

is this,

the Lord Jesus

is interceding

on our behalf

right now

and his spirit

causes you to know

what you're supposed

to join your prayers to.

He's already praying.

When he stirs your heart

and puts other believers

in your mind,

he has the name

of that believer

in his mind.

So you're joining

your prayers

to those of Christ.

He's inviting you

to participate

in his ministry.

What a blessing.

Well,

let's try to figure out

now from scripture,

where is Paul

as he's praying

for all the saints

in Philippi

with joy?

Where is he?

There's this little church

far away

and Paul's praying

with so much fervency.

We know that

he is in house arrest

in Rome

being watched

by the Praetorian Guard.

Who's the Praetorian Guard?

It's an elite unit

of the Imperial Roman Army

that served

as personal bodyguards

and intelligence agents

for the emperor himself.

Paul is a big deal

and he's being watched

in Rome

by the elite

Praetorian Guard.

If I could give you

a comparison,

this would be

the best of the FBI,

the intelligence agents,

who are keeping tabs

on every potential threat

within the empire,

mixed with army rangers,

the toughest of the tough.

That's who's keeping watch

on Paul.

Well, now we have to ask,

how did Paul get there

to be writing

this prison epistle?

We know that he spent

two years

approximately

in jail

in Caesarea,

another city,

without a trial.

And we know that

when he arrived at Rome,

he was greeted

as if he were a celebrity.

Picture someone

really famous

arriving at the

Denver International Airport

and the church

wanting to go out there

and greet them

with signs and cheering

and welcome them.

That's how the church

in Rome greeted Paul

initially.

However,

we learn that Paul

was then envied,

most likely by the elders

of this church in Rome.

Look in Philippians chapter 1.

Philippians 1 · chapter mention

Now look at verse 15.

He warns them

from this seat

that he's in now

that some preach Christ

out of envy

and rivalry.

We can fill in the blanks

with some historical,

you know,

guessing,

I guess we can call it.

What happened was this.

As Paul arrived in Rome,

and this is the church

to which maybe

the most theological letter,

the letter to the Romans,

is written.

They didn't continue

eagerly submitting

to his teaching.

When Paul got arrested,

he was considered

an embarrassment.

They were interested

in their own glory.

They saw Paul

as a rival

to their own fame,

to their own flesh.

And Paul says

in Romans 1.16,

I am not ashamed

of the gospel.

That's his state of mind,

thinking of the church

in Rome.

This was new to me

as I studied for today.

Paul had become

so neglected in Rome

from that celebrity status.

While he was under

house arrest,

another believer

came to travel

and he had to search

to even find Paul.

In other words,

you go to the churches,

that's where you would expect

they'll know exactly

where Paul is.

They didn't know

where Paul had been.

That's how badly

they neglected him.

In 2 Timothy 1.16,

Paul wrote,

Onesiphorus

often refreshed me

in prison

and was not ashamed

of my chain.

But when he arrived

in Rome,

he sought me out

very zealously

and found me.

He had to go find him,

go on a hunt

to see where he is

even Paul being kept.

You see,

the church

had a very clear command

from Jesus

to minister to one another

when you get arrested.

It's going to happen, church.

Jesus said in Matthew 25.43,

It's as if I were naked,

Jesus says,

and you did not clothe me

to neglect a brother in prison.

It's as if I, Jesus,

was sick and in prison

and you did not visit me.

That's how neglected

Paul had become

by the church in Rome.

So that's where he was.

And from this house arrest,

from these chains,

Paul says,

I make requests

to God for you

in every prayer of mine,

church,

with joy.

I make requests

for you with joy.

How?

How can that be?

James Montgomery Boyce

help point this out to me.

The human mind

can really only concentrate

on one thing at a time.

And in the first chapter

of Philippians,

the name,

Jesus Christ,

is mentioned 18 times

in 30 verses.

More than every other verse

is Jesus Christ.

How can Paul make requests

for the church

in joy

from Rome

where he had been abandoned,

neglected?

It's because his mind

is full

of Jesus Christ.

That's what he wants

to tell them about.

You see how God

is so gracious

to shape his church,

to make those

who are afflicted

pray with joy.

God uses

your affliction

and Paul's affliction

and my affliction

to make us

meditate

more

on Jesus Christ.

Doesn't he do that?

And as you meditate

on Jesus Christ,

he fills your mind

with joy.

And full of the joy,

thinking of Jesus,

you pray.

Full of his joy

in you.

Well, the fifth way,

final one for today,

that I see God

shaping his church

is that he makes

all of his people

partners

in his mission.

God makes

all of his people

partners

in his mission.

Verse 5,

Philippians 1.5,

I thank my God

with joy

for your fellowship

in the gospel

from the first day

until now.

Your fellowship

in the gospel.

fellowship

is your

joint participation

in the gospel.

Your fellowship

is your communion

that you share

in Christ's salvation.

It's from the first day,

that very first day,

Acts 16.25,

when Paul and Silas

were praying

and singing

hymns to God

and the other prisoners

were listening

to them.

They're declaring

Jesus Christ.

this is the fellowship

we share.

Even when our feet

are in stocks,

we can't stand up

and our backs

are bleeding

and opened.

We pray with joy

because we have

a communion,

a shared participation

in the gospel

of Jesus.

They pray joyfully,

singing gospel truths,

having taken a public

beating with rods.

They're still

bearing witness

in the word

and the life

of these prisoners

so that all

the other prisoners

hear this gospel

as they proclaim it.

This isn't normal.

People in that shape

don't sing

with joy

like this

of Jesus.

And there's the jailer.

He's hearing this as well.

We don't know

the lyrics

to these songs

that they're singing

in prison

but our songs

reflect God's good news.

They reflect

the good news

that we are created

by a loving,

good,

holy God

that he saves sinners

who believe

in the work

of his son,

our Lord Jesus Christ.

That first day

when they got

to preach the gospel

to the jailer,

we read in Acts 16

Acts 16:29

verse 29

that the jailer

fell down

trembling

before Paul

and Silas.

That's the power

of God's gospel

and the Holy Spirit

applying it

to this man.

In verse 30

we read that

he brought them out

and said,

Sirs,

what must I do

to be saved?

And they said,

believe on the Lord

Jesus Christ

and you will be saved

you and your household.

That jailer

he must have

quite an experience,

quite a resume.

How do you get

to be the jailer

of this little Rome,

the great city

of Philippi?

Position of power

and authority.

It's also dealing

with things

that no one else

wants to have

to deal with.

Amazing grace,

how sweet the sound

that saved

a wretch like me.

Jailer falls down

trembling,

what must I do

to be saved?

Well now this jailer

and his household,

they are partners

in the fellowship

of the gospel,

partners in the ministry,

even from a great distance

now from Rome

to Philippi,

you're partners

with Paul

and Timothy.

You see how God

shapes his church?

There in the living room

of the wealthy

business woman,

that's Lydia,

sat a girl

that everyone

thought was crazy,

most likely

the keeper

of the city's jailhouse

along with his family

and servants,

and that's

the beautiful church.

These are sinners

that have been

set apart

and declared

by God

to be saints.

the Philippian church

shared a fellowship,

a communion,

and a common

participation

in the good news.

They shared this

across the Mediterranean

sea with the churches

in all of the other cities

that God

had planted.

Brothers and sisters,

I want to encourage you,

if you are in Christ,

you share the same

fellowship

with them.

it's the church

in heaven

and on earth

from the earliest

generation

to this day.

And you who believe

in Jesus Christ

today,

maybe for the first

time truly,

you too

will be declared

a saint.

King Jesus

will make you

willing.

You will choose

him.

You will gladly

follow

King Jesus,

trusting him

by faith.

He's good.

And you will be

filled with joy

unspeakable

like Paul,

full of his glory.

Because each

one of you

whom God

calls and draws

in and makes

part of his body,

you are an

important partner

in his mission.

The mission

he carries out

through his people,

the church.

So this

is how

God shapes you,

his beloved church,

for his purpose.

Jesus.

Let's pray

and ask

that God

will work

this truth

into our lives

for his glory.

Amen.