Living As Gospel Citizens

Well, good morning.

This morning we're going to start a new series in the book of Philippians.

And I'm going to begin by talking a little bit about the city of Philippi.

It was founded in the 4th century BC and in the 1st century BC it became a Roman colony.

In the middle of Macedonia, the Greek-speaking part of the world,

it became an outpost for the Roman Empire in important ways.

It was named after Philip, the father of Alexander the Great.

But when the Romans took over, they made it a Roman city in some very unique ways.

Legally, they were free from certain forms of taxation.

The benefit of being a Roman colony was they were under Roman law rather than being under local law.

If you think through some of the tricky things that Jesus and the Pharisees and Sadducees had to navigate in Palestine,

none of that was true because it was direct Roman law.

And it was settled by many soldiers who were given land grants to own property

after the fall of Julius Caesar and the shakeout in the Roman Empire.

It was a very Roman city.

And of all the Greek temples and all the other forms of worship,

the worship of the emperor of Rome was the greatest thing.

The temples that were there was the most prominent form of religion in Philippi in the 1st century.

And it's to this city that Paul came during his second missionary journey.

You can read about it in Acts 16.

He came and though there was no synagogue, so no major Jewish presence,

he found a group of people who were God-fearers, probably Gentiles,

who were within the Jewish circle who were worshiping and gathering for prayer.

And he came and he shared the good news of Jesus.

We hear the conversion of Lydia as a part of that,

a prominent woman in the city who hosted then the early church.

But as Paul came, as happened in lots of places,

he not only came and saw some response, but he also saw opposition.

After healing a woman possessed by a demon, there was conflict.

And hear how strong the Roman theme is in this.

They brought accusation against Paul in Acts 16.20.

He said, these men are Jews.

They're disturbing our city.

They advocate customs that are not lawful for us as Romans to accept or practice.

And the rest of the story, Paul was thrown into jail with his companions.

Then there was a grand earthquake.

Paul and Silas were singing hymns.

The jailers converted the famous interaction.

The jailer says, sirs, what must I do to be saved?

And they said, believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved.

And this is the foundation of the church in Philippi

that probably happened about 12 or 13 years before this letter was written.

This letter was written at the end of Paul's life.

He was probably imprisoned in Rome.

That seems to be the most likely thing about 62 A.D.

And he was writing to this church that he had seen founded so many years ago,

writing to them as they faced the Roman culture that they lived in.

It was a place of great privilege.

It was also a place of great pressure.

Because conforming to this value that Rome is everything was very high.

Roman citizenship was a point of pride.

Roman connection was a point of identity.

including even their participation in the cult of the emperor.

And if they went along with this tide, if they followed along with this,

being citizens of Rome and all that, they would have great privilege.

But the Christians there and the churches found that following Christ would provoke persecution instead.

It would be costly for them.

And they were facing pressures from without.

They were facing fractures from within because of these tensions.

And so Paul writes the book of Philippians to this church in this Roman colony with this theme verse.

Verse 127.

Live a life worthy of Christ.

Standing firm in one spirit with one mind.

Striving side by side for the faith of the gospel.

Paul wrote this as a pastor to a church that he loves saying,

Stand firm though the tide of the culture is flowing against you.

Stand firm.

Be citizens of the new kingdom that you are a part of because of Christ.

Count as more worthy than the most great privilege of being a citizen of a Rome.

Count being a citizen of heaven your greatest privilege.

And friends, this is partly why we think this is a really useful book for us to be studying today.

Because I don't know about you, but I feel and see that our church faces similar pressures today.

We live in a world where there are strong pressures to be conformed to the world around us.

Our media culture, our political culture, the prevailing moral code and ethics of this world that we live in.

They run contrary to a life faithful to Christ.

And we see this on both the right and the left.

There are other visions of a better society.

Other offers of an easier salvation.

Other programs on how to live a better life.

And all of them are fueled by worldviews that do not know Christ.

That do not heed God's word.

And do not seek to honor and glorify God.

And this pressure is on from both sides.

And here in New Haven, we feel both of those things acutely.

Friends, Paul is saying, reminding us, that the church should be neither left nor right.

But to be the citizens of heaven is to be something altogether different.

And there will certainly be places where we will find agreement with one side or the other

as they reflect kingdom values.

But we are never beholden to them.

And we never become citizens of following these systems, these groups, these worldviews

that our world is promoting.

We are called to love a world that we will constantly find we will need to nuance our response to.

We will need to find ways to love without agreement.

We will need to find ways to serve without buying in.

And Paul is writing this letter to a church to say, stand firm in the gospel.

Hold on to the word of life in the midst of the pressures that you are facing.

Be gospel citizens is what he's saying in this overall book.

And so we're going to start by looking at the first section, verses 1 through 11.

That's at page 980 in the Pew Bible.

If you want to look there with us, we're going to be looking at Philippians 1, 1 through 11.

We're going to be answering the question, what does a community of gospel citizens look like?

So if you want to turn with me, we're going to read this passage together and then pray.

Philippians chapter 1.

Philippians 1 · chapter mention

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.

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 partnership in the gospel from the first day until now,

and I am 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 prove 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.

Let's ask for God's help as we listen to his word this morning.

Lord, we pray that you would help us, Lord, to sit under your word,

that our hearts, Lord, would be ready to hear and to heed what you have to say to us,

that your Holy Spirit would be working in our hearts to convict us of ways

that we have not followed your word.

Lord, I pray for minds to be alert, to listen and understand,

and Lord, for hands and wills to be ready to obey.

Lord, I pray for your help this morning, that you would help me to speak clearly,

that you would help me to speak your word, truthfully and faithfully,

for all of our good.

We pray this in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Amen.

So in this section, and I'm going to focus on verses 3 through 11 as we look at it this morning,

in this section we see three things about the characteristics of a gospel community.

A gospel community is thankful for gospel partnership,

expressive of gospel love, and prayerful for gospel fruit.

So if you're taking notes, there's your outline.

First thing then, Paul says, is that a gospel community is thankful for gospel partnership.

This is what I see in verses 3 through 8.

This idea of the gospel is central, not only here but throughout the book.

What does he mean in the gospel?

He uses it seven different times in this short book,

and he never ever defines it.

Because by this time at the end of his life, in the Christian church,

gospel was shorthand that everybody knew what it meant.

It talks about the good news of what God has done in Jesus Christ

to accomplish for us our salvation,

so that by faith in him we might be brought out of darkness into light,

out of death into life,

out of alienation and into a life-giving relationship with God.

That's what the gospel is.

And what Paul starts with is,

I am so thankful for gospel partnership with you.

What did this look like?

Well, it looked like a couple of things.

First of all, he remembers the story back that we talked about briefly,

and you can read about in Acts 16,

how they participated in the founding of the church,

how Lydia hosted the home,

how the jailer, after he was converted,

took Paul and his companions into his home,

and how we'll see in chapter 4,

this church was regularly contributing to the ongoing ministry that Paul had.

Even as he moved on from Philippi to other churches,

to Thessalonica and to Corinth and to Rome,

the church at Philippi was continuing to financially support Paul's ministry.

So there was a partnership in that sense.

Secondly, there was a partnership because they shared this commitment to live a life worthy of the gospel.

That phrase that we read in verses 127.

Their partnership was not just in a mission,

but in a shared belief system,

in a shared world that they lived in.

Because of the gospel, we share together.

We are partners in our faithfulness to believing and continuing to believe

and live out in obedience our life according to the gospel.

But thirdly, and also clearly from this,

we see that they were participating in the proclamation of the gospel.

Paul came and he was all about the gospel.

And they not only supported him by doing this,

but they would actively share.

Look at verse 7.

This is partly where I see this.

Paul writes,

Not only was Paul doing this,

explaining and defending the gospel,

but so were the Philippians.

They were standing with him and doing the same thing

in whatever context they lived in.

They too were sharing this good news,

defending and confirming.

This is the best thing that you have ever heard.

Come and see who Jesus is.

Come behold what God has done.

And come believe.

This was a mission of Paul.

This was a mission of the early church.

And Paul was so thankful for this Philippian church

that was a partner with them.

And it was not an easy partnership.

As we read in that verse,

not only did they participate with him in the ministry,

but they participated with him in the suffering.

Paul writes to them later in chapter 1,

For it has been granted to you

that for the sake of Christ,

you should not only believe in him,

but also suffer for his sake,

engaged in the same conflict that you saw I had,

and now hear that I still have.

Paul knows that this partnership

was going to be costly for them.

It would mean them identifying with Christ

against the culture that they lived in

and potentially facing the opposition and persecution

that Paul faced as well.

So the first thing that Paul says about a gospel citizenship

is that there is a gospel partnership.

We are in this together.

If you are a believer in Jesus Christ,

God has called you to be a part of the church.

And the church is here on earth

in this in-between time,

between the ascension of Christ and his return

to bring final judgment and the end of all things

and the remaking of all things

in a glorious new world.

We have a mission that God has given us all

to share in together,

to make Jesus known.

And that happens through our faithfulness,

and it happens through our ministry to one another.

For those of you who are new,

and to remind those of you who have been here

for a long time,

this is why we're moving to two services.

The church right now is not full.

You might be thinking,

why did we go to two services?

It's not that full.

We're going to two services

because over the last five years,

we've seen God slowly bring more and more people.

We're not wanting to be big just to be big,

but we do want more and more people

to hear the gospel.

And so we're going through this growth pain right now.

If you're new,

we're going through a growth pain

of moving from one to two services

so that more people can come

and be a part of our church community

and hear the preaching of the gospel.

It's also why we do children's ministry,

by the way,

because we believe that children need to hear the gospel

contextualized for their developmental stage.

And so that's why we do it.

It's also why we have missions partnerships

with places like Bridges of Hope

and the 180 Center

and other ministries in the city,

because we believe that the gospel should go out

to all people,

to this whole community,

to the big old university behind us,

to the homeless people who live on the green,

to the various communities in Fairhaven

and Newhallville and the Hill

and Prospect Street

and Cozy Beach

and so on and so forth.

Because God has called us

to bear witness to Jesus Christ

in this city

and around the world,

which is why we partner with our missionaries

who serve in Southeast Asia

and in Europe

and in other places

so that we can be a part of what God is doing.

This is the mission

and the gospel partnership

that God calls us into.

And the question for you this morning

is that if you're here

and you're wondering,

as a believer in Christ,

why am I here?

Well, because God has called you here as a mission.

If you're here starting your time here at university,

you're here, yes, to get an education,

yes, to get a degree,

but even more than that,

you are here to be a part of God's mission

in this city while you are here.

who has God put around you

to be a part of this gospel mission

by bearing witness to?

Who has God put around you in this room

that you can partner with to do that?

So there's an active gospel mission for sure,

but we're not meant to be lone rangers in it

as we've seen.

This gospel partnership is a shared task

and in that relationship,

we see the second characteristic.

In three through eight,

we also see that Paul says,

gospel citizens show an expression

of gospel love for one another.

Verse seven, again,

it is right for me to feel this way about you all

because I hold you in my heart.

Now, when we read something,

how you feel this way,

we usually think,

oh, feelings, this is sentimentality,

this is the moment when I have this rush of emotion.

But for Paul,

he actually means something a little bit different.

By how I feel about you,

he means this is my disposition towards you.

This is how I view you.

This is not a natural affection of,

I like you because you're funny

or because we share interests

or those sorts of things,

but I have an affection for you.

I care about you

and I view you in a certain way

because of the gospel.

Verse eight says,

I yearn for you

with the affection of Jesus Christ.

That is, I see you the way Christ sees you

as a fellow citizen of God's family.

I see you as someone who, like Christ,

longs for your spiritual well-being.

This word yearning has,

it actually,

its roots is from our gut,

not from our heart.

It's from our gut.

I have this gut longing

for you

to be steadfast in the gospel.

He calls them at the beginning of the letter,

you are saints.

And to be in relationship with them

brings him great joy.

He has them in his heart.

And as he writes this,

he says,

and I am so jazzed

about what God is doing in you.

This is what verse six is about.

This is a wonderful verse.

Look with me at it.

I'm sure of this,

that he who began a good work in you

will bring it to completion

at the day of Christ Jesus.

Paul writes with this affection saying,

I have seen God at work in you.

I know God is there.

I know that he has started something.

Not only has he started it,

but I am so confident

because I've seen God at work in you,

he is going to finish it.

He is going to take this home.

God has got you.

God has got this.

This is based on his understanding

of the sufficiency of Christ's work,

that Christ has done

all that we need for our salvation.

It's not up to our ongoing obedience

to achieve this end,

but we're called to obedience

out of the security

that we have in Christ.

And Paul says,

I yearn for you

as one who will be

my forever gospel family.

And I love you

because of Christ

and because of what God

is doing in you.

Paul saw them

as fellow gospel citizens

and to model how we ought

to see one another

in the church.

It's easy today

in our culture

to call love

something

very sentimental

and very easy.

It's how we mesh.

It's how we get along.

We have shared interests.

We come from the same backgrounds.

We feel strong passions

or emotions.

And this is what love is

in our culture.

But Paul says

there's actually

a greater culture

or greater love

than that.

A love that is based

on commitment.

A love that is based

on viewing people

the way God sees them.

A love that sees

I see you

and I value you

and I treasure you

not because

of some

passing human affection

but because of

what God

has made you to be

and what God

has saved you to be

and the value

that God puts on you

as both a created person

and a redeemed member

of the gospel community.

And friends

this is part of

what I love

about our Trinity community

is that I see this.

We don't gather together

because we share

common interests.

We don't share age

and stage of life.

We don't share race

or socioeconomic

or educational status.

We certainly don't share

political affiliations

or allegiances

across the board

but we do share

in the gospel.

And we come together

and worship

with one another

and love one another

well because of it.

One of the examples

throughout the pandemic

this has become

even more true.

It happened before so

but I've seen

there's a bunch of people

in our church

who go out to lunch

after service.

I think this will probably

happen after the second service now

so I don't know

how you all are going

to navigate that.

Maybe you want to come back

at 1230

to join the lunch bunch.

But it's this wonderfully

diverse group of people

who just say

hey we're here

with one another

brothers and sisters

let's go have fellowship

together and eat.

And they eat good food

and it's a cross section

of our church.

It's a wonderful group

of people

that just spontaneously said

let's spend time together.

And just one example

of many that I could give

of the places

where I see this happening

already at Trinity.

And Paul says to us

as he said

to the Philippians

do still more.

Finally

if gospel partnership

is something

Paul is thankful for

if gospel love

is something

that he's encouraged by

engaged in

the last thing

is that he is prayerful

for gospel fruit.

What does he mean by this?

Look with me

at verses 9 through 11.

My prayer is 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.

Paul prays

his engagement

with the gospel communities

that he prays for them

but what he prays for them

is not for Aunt Millie's

you know

hammer toe

to get healed

although it's okay

to pray for those things.

It's not praying

that they get good jobs

although it's okay

to pray for those things.

What he prays for

is their spiritual growth

in the gospel

and particularly

in the context

that they're in

that they would grow

in love

and that this love

for God

for their world

and for one another

would be increasingly

characterized

by knowledge

and discernment

that leads

to pure living.

Paul prays

that they would not

just be loving

in the sort of

tolerant sense of

hey it's okay

you can do whatever

you want

that our world

tends to embrace

but to love

with a knowledge

of what is right

and wrong

what is good

and what is evil

what is life giving

and what is destructive

in this world

according to God

and his word

and Paul prays

that this church

would know that

more and more

because they know

the pull

he knows the pull

of the Roman culture

saying there are other

things you should value

more than the gospel

there are other things

that you should value

more than God's word

there are other things

that should be

higher priority

than this mission

that God has called you on

Paul says

I pray that you would love

with knowledge

and discernment

so that you would understand

from God's perspective

this world

and how to navigate it

with grace

and truth

and that as you understand

these things

more and more

that you would live

a life that is pure

and blameless

this doesn't mean

perfection

but it means

people who live

knowing what is right

and wrong

knowing who God

is in the world

and living

not as a Roman citizen

but as a citizen

of heaven

and Paul prays

that these things

would abound

more and more

and as he prays

for them

he points to the foundation

the fruit of the righteousness

that comes from Christ Jesus

this is the key

to the gospel

we're going to preach on it again

when we get to chapter 3

but let me just rephrase it

Paul says

all of this flows

right

your growth

as a Christian community

this prayer

being fulfilled

in us

to live

counter-culturally

his prayer for them

is rooted

and grounded

in this gospel

not that we

are going to be righteous

by knowing more

and getting things

more and more right

but that we are righteous

because we have a righteousness

that comes from Christ

this is what Paul will see

in chapter 3

verse 9

not my own righteousness

because my own righteousness

will never get me there

I am not smart enough

I am not faithful enough

I am not strong enough

to get there

on my own

but Christ

has given me

a righteousness

outside of myself

that is all I need

to be brought

into this

citizenship

of heaven

into this family

with God

and this righteousness

is Christ's righteousness

given to us

it covers us

and makes us right

with God

we trust that Jesus' death

is sufficient

for our forgiveness

we believe that Jesus

rose from the dead

to give us life

and we lean on this

gift of righteousness

so that we can be gods

so that what he has

given to us

then becomes

the fountain

of this life

that we now live

for him

the gospel

that is bearing fruit

in the Philippians

and in us

the gospel

that is the focus

of their gospel partnership

it is the fountain

of their gospel love

and it is the focus

of his prayers

that we would know

this gospel

more and more

that we might know

Christ

more and more

the initiator

the sustainer

and the finisher

of our faith

and so Paul prays

do still more

do still more

if you want to grow

in your prayers

for one another

D.A. Carson

Nick mentioned him earlier

he's got another

great book

called

Praying with Paul

the priority of Paul

in his prayers

goes through all

the letters of Paul

and just says

what did Paul pray for

maybe these are things

we should pray for

for one another

and for ourselves

as well

there's a copy of it

in the book

stall downstairs

and if you need more

let me know

we'll get some

but friends

as we think about this

as Paul prays

for gospel fruit

in the Philippians

we think about this

for ourselves

how do we pray?

do we pray

for gospel fruit

in our lives?

do we pray

for our love

to abound

in discernment?

do we pray

for one another

to be steadfast

in the stream

of a culture

that flows

the other way

against us?

do we pray

that we would be

ultimately caught

up with

the vision

that Paul

ends his prayer with

that we would live

to the praise

and glory of God

so that God

would be seen

to be great

so that God

would be seen

to be an awesome God

worthy

worthy of our

proclamation of him

worthy of our suffering

worthy of our attention

worthy of our fellowship

with one another

let's go ahead and pray

and ask the Lord

to do that for us

Lord we thank you

this morning

for this word

and we pray

that you would help us

to be gospel citizens

Lord to live

not according

to the world

but to live

according to the good news

of what you've done

in Jesus

I pray Lord

that you would encourage

us this morning

to pursue you

I pray as well

that you would help us

Lord

to pursue one another

to encourage one another

as we have opportunity

to stand fast

and to press on

in this journey

and this mission

that you've called us

and we pray these things

in Jesus name

Amen