Partnership in the Gospel (Philippians 1:1-8)

Philippians 1, starting in verse 1.

Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, to all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, including the overseers and deacons, grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

I give thanks to my God for every remembrance of you, always praying with joy for all of you in my every prayer, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now.

I am sure of this, that he who started a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

Indeed, it is right for me to think this way about all of you, because I have you in my heart, and you are all partners with me in grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel.

For God is my witness how deeply I miss all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus.

Let's pray.

Lord, as we do every Sunday, we thank you for your word.

We thank you that we have the opportunity to come together and to study it.

Lord, not just for head knowledge, but for heart knowledge.

So we pray as we open your word that you would use it in each one of our lives and that you would use it for our church as a whole, as a body.

That you would mold us and shape us, that you would carve us and build us up where we need to be built up.

And that we wouldn't leave here unchanged.

But we pray that you would do a work by your spirit in us to make us more and more like Jesus.

And Lord, we continue to pray for our country.

Lord, for the division and for the hate and for all of the violence and the things that we're seeing going on right now.

Lord, we know that only you can heal this division.

So, Lord, we pray either for revival or for the return of Jesus Christ.

Whichever one you choose, Lord, I pray we would be ready.

That we would be ready, as we're going to read this morning, with the gospel.

Ready to partner with each other in the gospel and bring that forth.

Bring your word forth to our neighbors, to our city, to our country.

And Lord, with all of the missionaries we support and people that we eventually want to send out, Lord, that you would just do that amazing work for your kingdom.

Use us, we pray.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.

You may be seated.

So as I mentioned, I really like starting new books.

It's always just kind of fun to jump into something, but especially this one.

I think I say that on every every time we start a new book, though, but especially this one.

You know, Philippians has been really a favorite of mine for a long time.

I remember 25 years ago just really digging into this and just loving this book.

And I think I like it so much because we get to see Paul's mentality in ministry.

We get to see his approach that he has in ministry and how he really saw himself in Christ Jesus.

You know, I think that I like it so much because of that.

We get that insight into Paul.

In 1 Corinthians 11, 1, Paul tells the Corinthians, he says, imitate me as I also imitate Christ.

And I feel what like Philippians is really four chapters of him explaining how he imitates Christ while also encouraging the church to do the same thing.

And in these four chapters, we're also going to see how much Paul truly loves this church.

And as we'll see at the end of today, it's with the love of Christ.

That's how he loves this Philippian church.

Something that no human can muster on their own.

It's by dependence on Christ, by abiding in Christ that he can actually do this.

So I just want to talk and really lay a foundation for this book here this morning in the first half of the message to understand a lot more about Philippi and this Philippian church and Paul's relationship to them to really set us up for all the messages that are to come after this.

So I had a map that I wanted to show you.

But if you can imagine, I'll try to do the map backwards up here.

But modern-day Greece, so Mediterranean Sea's right here, modern day Greece, modern day Turkey, Philippi is kind of up almost in between those two modern day regions, and it was kind of on the eastern side of Europe, the eastern side of the Macedonian region that we see in that time in the first century in the Roman Empire.

And so this was really a strategic place to plant a church at this time.

And this was actually Paul's first church plant in Europe.

First church plant in the region of Macedonia.

And like I was saying, it was a Roman colony.

It was really known for its wealth.

It had gold mines, it had silver mines, had an abundance of water, and the people of Philippi had a love for Rome.

They were a very patriotic Roman colony at the time.

Rome would actually give land grants to the retired soldiers from the Roman army for their service.

When they would retire, they'd say, here's a piece of property, and they would just give it to them and say, go settle that.

So you can imagine why there's such a love of Rome and patriotism.

It was filled with retired Roman soldiers.

And they also sat along what's called the Via Ignatia, which was the primary trade route that was connecting Asia to Europe at that time.

So when you picture this city, think a lot of traffic.

There was a lot of commerce.

There's also a lot of wealth that that brought as well.

But there was also a lot of idols.

There was a lot of temples as well to pagan gods.

You know, one point under Alexander in BC, Alexander the Great, Philippi served as the Greek capital.

It was actually named after his father, Philip II.

So again, picture this big, important, bustling city.

And if the gospel, if the gospel could spread from there, it could spread west all over Europe as well because it was along that route and there was so much commerce going on there.

So it's really no wonder that this is the first European church that God called Paul to plant.

And I specifically say that God calls him to plant this church because in Acts 16 we see the beginning of Paul's relationship with the city of Philippi.

You know, Paul had been trying to go to various places we see in Acts 16, but it says there that the Spirit of Jesus did not allow him to go to those places that he was wanting to go.

But instead the Lord gave him a vision of this Macedonian man that was pleading with him.

It says, cross over to Macedonia and help us.

So Paul had this vision from the Lord.

So Paul takes off to Macedonia, and Acts says that he landed in, it says Philippi, a Roman colony and a leading city of the district of Macedonia.

God wanted the gospel to be preached there.

And he basically tells Paul, get there.

And Paul was faithful.

He goes right there, he lands in Philippi.

And this was all taking place on his second missionary journey that he was making in this region.

Now, while Paul was there, again we learn in Acts 16, and this is all takes place between verses 11 and 40, if you want to go back and read that at another time.

But just in those verses, we see some crazy things happen in succession, just over and over to Paul, and I'll just highlight a few of them.

He had a demon-possessed girl follow him around for a few days, shouting incessantly.

And I think she was actually mocking him in this time.

So Paul finally casts this demon out of this girl.

He had had enough of her shouting incessantly.

He cast the demon out of her.

Then he was put on trial for casting that demon out of her and was stripped of his clothes publicly.

That's quite a bit of shame there, isn't it?

He was beaten with rods, and then he was flogged.

Only to be imprisoned after all of those things.

Then God worked this miracle in the prison that night with the doors being unlocked miraculously, the jailer freaking out, if you remember the story.

But then ultimately the jailer getting saved and his whole family and household getting saved as well.

All that, so that the next day the people that imprisoned him come back and say, Oh, we're so sorry.

We didn't realize you were a Roman citizen.

So it's just like this crazy, all these things that are happening in Philippi.

Paul even says in Thessalonians that he was treated outrageously.

That's the word that we find in the CSB.

He was outrageously treated while he was in Philippi.

So that's Paul's first experience with the city.

Now, since that first trip, Paul had sent Timothy to Philippi often, and he encouraged them in many different ways, which is why I think Paul mentions Timothy in verse 1 here, saying, You know Timothy well.

Yeah, he's with me.

He's sending his greetings, he's sitting alongside me as I'm writing this letter.

But most recently, bringing us to the time that Paul's actually writing the letter that we're holding here called Philippians, Paul had been imprisoned in Rome.

There's some debate about which imprisonment it is.

I strongly believe that he was in Rome at the time.

So the Philippian church had sent this man called Epaphroditus, and they had sent him with a gift for Paul.

So Paul is sending this letter of thanks and encouragement back with Apaphroditus back to the Philippian church.

And all of this is taking place about 11 years after Acts 16, when all of that had happened and the church got planted.

Now Paul's sending this letter of encouragement back to them about 11 years later.

Now, what's interesting and what's really unique about this letter is it doesn't have much correction in it.

You know, often Paul will have some correction in the second half of his letter or in the middle of the body of his letter to a church, but there's really only two things that might be seen that way as correction.

And it would be Paul encouraging them to have unity multiple times in this letter, and then he basically tells two people in chapter 4 to knock it off.

And I mean, it's just like these two tell them to stop fighting, and that was it, and then he moves on.

Otherwise, the vast majority of this letter is for them to not only maintain joy in persecution and circumstance, but for them to maintain joy in his persecution and circumstance as well.

This is their brother in the faith.

In a lot of ways, this is their spiritual father as well, that is now imprisoned for the sake of the gospel and their concern for him.

And so in Paul's love and in his sacrificial love, he writes them a letter to say, I'm doing great, guys.

Don't worry about me.

Maintain your joy in every circumstance.

Much of Philippians is him reminding them to have joy and letting them know that he still has joy, even though he's imprisoned in Rome as he's writing this letter to him.

We're actually gonna see him use the word joy or rejoice, depending on your translation, up to 15 different times in these four chapters.

And he was not only joyful, but we're gonna see he was content as well with whatever his circumstance was at the moment.

He's gonna even show us in chapter 4, verse 11, he's gonna say, I have learned to be content in whatever circumstance I find myself in.

He's really telling him, hey, don't stress over my imprisonment, guys.

I'm content.

I can catch up on my writing finally.

Basically, you know, I can save some Roman guards while I'm at it.

And that's one of the biggest things, you know, that I hope that we gain from this letter.

To be content within our current circumstance and to keep trusting God.

You know, I want each of us to ask that question as we're going through this letter, ask that question to the Lord.

What do you want me doing in my current circumstance?

Something we should be asking ourselves every day, really.

You know, so often we'll wait for our circumstances to change before we think we're ready to use our giftings for God's kingdom.

I know I'm not alone in that.

Maybe, you know, we'll have these ideas and these thoughts.

Oh, maybe when I'm not so busy, then I'll use my giftings for God's kingdom.

Maybe when things slow down, they never slow down.

Trust me.

You know, or we'll think maybe when I'm done struggling with this certain sin, I don't think that I can serve while I'm struggling with this one certain sin.

So maybe when that's completely defeated, then I'll serve the Lord.

Maybe when I get my master's in divinity, then I'll be able to serve the Lord.

If you wait for the perfect circumstance before you use the gifts that God has given you, you will never use your giftings.

Paul's in prison.

So he preaches the gospel to the Roman guards, and we see that a lot of them got saved, and he writes large chunks of the Bible that we're holding today.

I think that's making the most of his circumstance, isn't it?

Doing something that has impacted the world for almost 2,000 years now.

I think most of us would get in prison and be like, that's it.

I'm done, I'm just gonna sit on my cot and, you know, have a pity party.

But he's like, okay, this is my circumstance.

What can I do with it now?

You know, I'd be the first to admit that if I was in prison for the gospel, I can't promise my attitude would be as good as Paul's is here.

I would really want it to be, but also recognize it would have to be a supernatural work of the Lord through me.

But I want to ask you too, what would your attitude be if I was in prison for the gospel?

Would you be able to take the advice that he's giving the Philippian church throughout this letter to be content and joyful even in his circumstances?

To maintain joy and to be content in that circumstance.

Because that's what Paul, we're gonna see him encouraging them to do.

So that's really the two things that I want us to keep an eye on as we're going through this book together.

The first one, and I had a slide for this, so if you're taking notes, I'll repeat it, but am I maintaining the joy of the Lord in every circumstance?

That's the first question.

Am I maintaining the joy of the Lord in every circumstance?

And the second one, am I allowing God to make the most of my current circumstance?

Again, am I allowing God to make the most of my current circumstance?

And I really hope that as we go through this, we can say yes to both of those things.

Now, before we jump into our text for this morning, what I hope that we can get out of this is that we can see the love of Christ that Paul has for this church and then ask ourselves, do we have that same love of Christ for one another, for our own church body here?

So that's kind of what I hope we get out of these first eight verses of Philippians.

So let's take a look at verse 1.

The first half says, Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus.

We've been in a handful of Paul's letters so far since we planned to this church.

And so we're not going to do a deep dive into Paul's background, but I want to talk about some of the things I think that are important to remember as it's going to apply to this letter specifically.

So we need to remember this was a man that called himself a Pharisee of Pharisees.

Legalism ruled his life.

Appearance was a big deal for him.

Discipline, self-discipline was a big deal for him, but it was all for the wrong reasons.

He did all of that and he missed God.

He missed the Messiah who was in Israel for over 30 years and he missed him.

And he not only missed the Messiah, Paul was actually anti-Christ.

Even after Jesus' death, he continued to be anti-Christ until Jesus saved him and called him to use that same zeal that he already had, but now for God's kingdom.

You know, Paul's life looks so different before and after his conversion in Christ.

He went from antichrist to exuding the love of Christ.

He'll actually say that he counts all of his previous works and previous accomplishments as loss in comparison to knowing Christ.

And each one of us should have a similar testimony to Paul.

Where God's transforming power through his grace changed us.

Where our way of thinking began to change.

Our priorities began to change.

Our relationships began to change because of the transforming power of Jesus and the work of the Holy Spirit in us.

When that happens, there will be tangible evidence when we come to Christ.

Just like we see in Paul.

Now, there's something a little bit different in Paul's greeting to this church.

There's a few different things.

It's kind of standard, but then there's some differences.

So I want to point a few of those things out.

You know, he usually starts his letters by stating that he's an apostle and how he was ordained to be an apostle by God.

It was a God-given calling on his life.

He's usually establishing his authority and kind of say, hey, church, listen, like, I'm an apostle.

I have that authority.

It was God-given.

Now listen to what I'm about to tell you.

But this time he simply says, me and Timothy, servants of Christ.

You know, I think what we're looking at here is he simply shows the relationship that both him and Timothy have with Philippi and the respect that Philippi already has for both of these guys.

He doesn't feel like he needs to establish his authority before them so that they will listen.

That's already there.

That relationship is already there.

You know, the word servant that we see here that Paul uses, it's also translated as bondservant and also just straight out slave.

And I think this word would be so jarring to the Philippians for them to read that, especially being in Philippi, surrounded, you know, they're in the Roman kingdom, surrounded by slaves and Romans and Roman patriotism.

So I think they would read this and be jarred.

And I want to give you the Greek definition.

Again, I usually try to have slides for these things, so you know I'm not making stuff up.

But uh so I'm just gonna read it to you today.

Uh so servant, it is a slave, bondman, a man of servile condition.

Metaphorically, one who gives himself up to another's will, those whose service is used by Christ in extending and advancing his cause among men, devoted to another to the disregard of one's own interests, devoted to another to the disregard of one's own interests.

Paul is telling them that he has entered into this willing servitude to Jesus Christ.

At this time, there was an estimated 60 million slaves in the Roman Empire.

That's roughly 30% of the population in the Roman Empire was slaves.

So we're talking multiple per household, if there's multiple kids per house.

And in this time, they were treated as subhuman and as personal property, really, as like equipment.

And tools.

But Paul realized, and he wanted to convey that being a slave to Jesus was way better than any life he could have lived on his own.

You see, Paul knew that being a slave to Christ was higher than any title that he could attain on earth.

A slave to Christ was better than Caesar of Rome.

And Paul understood that.

Because a slave to anything on this earth is actually bondage.

While a slave to Christ is the truest freedom that we will ever experience on this earth.

And Paul knows that.

And that's what he's conveying to this church.

Now, look at who he addresses the letter to.

This is the second thing that has a little difference than his other greetings.

Second half of verse 1.

To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, including the overseers and deacons.

So Paul's writing to a church.

He's writing to believers here.

That helps us with context as we go on through this letter.

But look, he calls them saints.

This can also be translated as holy ones.

So this isn't a title that's given to some super Christians that have become famous over time.

This is a title that God gives each person who believes in Christ.

God looks at us and he says, There's a holy one.

There's a holy one.

There's a holy one.

You know, we can walk as Christians in that confidence.

Remember two weeks ago we're talking about the breastplate of righteousness.

Remember that?

That we can walk with righteousness, with the righteousness of Christ front and center, and with all confidence that we are made righteous in Jesus Christ.

That's part of our identity in Christ.

And part of that identity is his righteousness as holy ones before the Lord.

So he says, to all the saints, to all the holy ones.

And then Paul again does something a bit different.

He mentions that the letter is also addressed to the overseers and to the deacons.

So an overseer, an elder, a bishop, a pastor, those are terms that are really used interchangeably within the New Testament.

So he's really just addressing the authority in this church that God has placed over this church.

And then he says deacons, also translated as servants or ministers.

These are those that roll up their sleeves and they get stuff done.

You know, in Acts, it was those who are appointed to physically serve tables.

Those were the deacons in the church.

So he's addressing the whole church in this letter.

And I think what this shows is that this is a mature church.

It's not a church plant anymore.

It's about 11 years old at this time.

They're functioning as he told them to.

They've been developed, they have things established within the church.

There's some order already.

So he's writing to a mature church that's been there for about 11 years, and this is how he addresses them.

Now look at verse 2.

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

Every time Paul opens a letter like this, I'm going to remind you.

This is Paul's typical greeting.

Grace always comes before the peace from God.

And that grace only comes when we have peace with God.

And that can only come through Jesus Christ.

So he always does it in that order.

Now look at verse 3.

I give thanks to my God for every remembrance of you.

Always praying with joy for all of you in my every prayer.

Because of your partnership.

That's the word koinania.

Because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now.

This church has so faithfully supported him in his ministry as he's going out and planting churches and raising people up and encouraging these churches along the way.

You know, in 2 Corinthians, Paul mentions three different times the generosity from the Macedonian churches and how they even gave from their poverty.

This church has sacrificed for him.

It meant something to them to take good care of Paul.

They were very concerned for him and for his ministry and partnering in the gospel with him.

And Paul just has this deep gratefulness that he has.

And you can see this kind of oozing out of this letter as we go further and further.

But this attitude of thanks and joy that we see in verses 3 through 5 here, do you think, question for you, do you think it was because Paul never had a hard thing happen to him from this church or while planting this church?

We just saw a lot to the contrary of that, right?

Paul's memory of this church, he couldn't look back and say, yeah, every memory was good.

There was just no hardship, it was just perfect.

You know, we already talked about so much of that, but all that to say, thanks and joy shouldn't be just be our shouldn't just be our attitude when our memories are good.

When all the circumstances are perfect.

Right now, Paul is choosing to remember the faithfulness of the church there and the fact that the gospel took root there.

People were saved.

A mature church now exists there when there didn't used to be 11 years ago.

And there was a lot of work and there was a lot of pain and there was a lot of suffering that Paul went through.

But he chooses thankfulness and joy.

And he chooses thankfulness and joy even during his current imprisonment.

You know, he's proving to them and to us here this morning that these things can still be present even in the midst of persecution.

He could have said, I hate Philippi.

I was mistreated, I was falsely beaten and whipped, and they tore my clothes off in public.

I mean, I almost died there.

I was falsely in prison, or rah-rah, rah, rah, rah.

You know, that's easy for us to do, to remember all the bad things, isn't it?

Paul is choosing thankfulness and joy in every memory of this church.

There's a lot of good things too, but he's choosing to remember the good.

Again, another lesson for us here today.

That's something we can choose, even when circumstances aren't perfect, even when we're mistreated.

Instead, he remembers some tangible things to be thankful for.

And we see here how the church partnered in the gospel with him.

Your translation may say fellowshiped in the gospel with him.

Like I said, this is that word koinania.

That word was used, yes, for fellowship, but it was also a business word.

That meant that two parties both invested what they had toward the same investment.

A true partnership.

So Paul saw them as equal partners in the gospel with him.

You know, they not only sent him on his way from Philippi with gifts, they continued to support him after they sent him.

Every Sunday morning they put up a slide on their projector in Philippi and they prayed for, no, not really, but I can't imagine the time that they would get together and not pray for Paul.

He was very important to them, and they were very important to him.

You know, this idea of missionary support was actually established in the earliest church, and that's why we do it today as well.

You know, we all of us might not be able to go to remote places in the world or to go plant churches, but we can still partner in that work, just like this church in Philippi.

We can still participate in that work in a partnership, both through prayer and financially, and in other ways of encouraging those missionaries as well.

And that's what this church was doing.

So look at verses three through four again.

I want to read them again.

It says, I give thanks to my God for every remembrance of you, always praying with joy, there's that word, for all of you in my every prayer.

You know, I have some relationships that I think are going to be lifelong relationships and probably shouldn't be in any other scenario.

And I mean that in the best way possible.

But they were forged in ministry for the gospel.

They were forged because of a partnership and a fellowship in the gospel.

You know, and I say will be lifelong and shouldn't be, because in any other context, I don't know if I would still be friends with that person or still be in touch with them.

Or maybe we would have never been friends to begin with.

But when I do connect with these people again, we had Jesus in common and we still have Jesus in common.

We have a shared experience of partnering in the investment of the gospel, and we'll forever have that bond.

You know, I had a uh a friend, I went on one mission trip with him when I was a freshman in college, and uh I ended up working with him, you know, together, and we kind of got to know each other.

Really haven't had contact since.

He looked me up and found me and contacted me, had lunch with him a couple weeks ago.

He's planting a church down in Oro Grande.

Found out we did the same thing here four and a half years ago and just wanted to have lunch and pick my brain and kind of catch up a little bit.

I hadn't seen him in a long time, had no clue what he was up to.

He has a wife and kids, had no clue, you know, all that kind of stuff.

But we sat down, we had the biggest bear hug when we first saw each other, had lunch together, and it was like nothing had ever, you know, been different.

It was like we we were together the day before.

But it was because it was forged in that bond and that partnership of the gospel together.

And something happens when we do that, and we have that fellowship together.

Paul and this church had that same thing.

They had that partnership in the koinonia of the gospel together.

Look at verse 6.

I am sure of this, that he who started a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

And this is the verse this morning that I kind of want to sit with a little bit because I don't think Paul wrote this, and this is only for the Philippian church.

I think this applies to them, and it applies just as much to us here today as well.

This is something for all believers to really take comfort in.

And I'm so thankful for this verse.

Because I'm so thankful that God doesn't save our soul and leave us in these bodies and leave us in our sin on this earth and just say, things are gonna be rough, guys.

Good luck.

I'll see you on the other side.

Hope you make it.

You know, that is not what God does.

He desires to help us navigate this earth now until we die or Jesus returns.

You know, at salvation, you know, the perfection of our soul in his sight, he starts a good work in us here on earth, in these bodies.

And he's faithful to see it through until the end, until we are with him.

He's faithful to see that work of grace and to see that work of transformation through to the end in each one that follows after him.

And not only that, he gives us a helper to help us through.

That's the gift of the Holy Spirit to help us in this time between salvation and when we're with him face to face.

The Holy Spirit to fill us and to counsel us through this life and to not only barely make it, but thrive and fight from a place of victory.

And we get to start experiencing that victory from the day of our salvation and to live from a place of victory and to fight from a place of victory.

That's why he provided the armor that we recently talked about two weeks ago, to provide that for the fight that we are in right now.

So don't raise your hand.

But how many of you feel like you're thriving in victory right now?

Take a second to think about that.

How many of you feel like you are thriving from a place of victory right now?

Thriving in victory over this world and over sin and over the enemy and over our flesh.

How many of you?

You know, I think this is one of the biggest sins that we struggle with as Christians in modern day, right here.

And I and I say yes, I do say sins.

Not believing and living like our God is bigger and stronger than our fear.

Not living like he's bigger and stronger than our anxiety, than our circumstance, our flesh, our enemies.

Not living like he's bigger and stronger than the enemy of our soul.

Look at verse 6 again.

Look at Paul's confidence.

I am sure of this.

That he who started a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

We need to imitate Paul as he is imitating Christ right here.

He says, I am sure of this.

God wants us living from a place of victory in Christ.

With a confidence that God is bigger and greater than anything that we will ever face, anything that we will come across, anything that we will go through in our life.

We serve an all-powerful, mighty God that has already given us the victory.

Now he's asking us to live out that victory here on this earth until the day of Christ Jesus.

Now look at Paul's care for these people.

Look at verse 7.

Indeed, it is right for me to think this way about all of you, because I have you in my heart, and you are all partners with me in grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel.

You know, Jesus prayed in the upper room discourse in John 17.

He said, I pray not only for these, speaking of his disciples that were with him, but also for those who believe in me through their word.

That includes us here today, that you, no, I'm sorry, uh, through me in their word, verse 21, may they all be one as you, Father, are in me, and I am in you.

You know, this church was so close in their partnership with Paul, so one with him, that he could say that they are partnered with him in grace, partnered with him in his imprisonment, even, and his defense and confirmation of the gospel.

And he says there that um they're not only in his heart, but look at verse 8.

For God is my witness how deeply I miss all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus.

Now, affection is kind of a funny word in the Greek.

So I want to read you the definition.

Affection means bowels, intestines, the heart, lungs, and liver, etc.

The bowels were regarded, as part of the definition, as the seat of the more violent passions, such as anger and love, but by the Hebrews as the seat of the tender affections, especially kindness, benevolence, compassion, hence our heart.

A heart in which mercy resides.

So he's using that word.

The King James Version actually says, I long after you all in the bowels of Jesus Christ.

In the deepest of affections, as Christ loved the church, Paul shares that love for this body, for the believers that are in Philippi.

This is beyond his own capacity, isn't it?

That he loves them.

He's so one with them, so intertwined with Jesus Christ, that he has the same desires and love as Jesus.

Which is what Jesus desires from each and every one of us as well.

An abiding relationship with them and that oneness with him.

Where his desires and love and passions become ours.

And then we share that love with one another.

That's what Jesus desires for each and every one of us.

You know, Paul is a changed man here from before Christ to this letter, isn't he?

It's because God transformed him from legalism and self-righteousness to someone that loves with the love of Christ.

Where he is more concerned with the welfare of the Philippians than his own.

Do you see that?

He's in prison, so he writes a letter to try and comfort them about his circumstances.

That's unselfish.

You know, that's really others' focus.

That's the sacrificial love of Christ.

What a great example we have in Paul.

But we have to remember that's only because he was imitating Christ.

And I think that's our big takeaway as we proceed in this letter.

To be imitators of Christ, as Paul is being an imitator of Christ.

To be one with Jesus and one with each other, partnered in the gospel of Jesus, living out the victory that he has given us in every circumstance, and doing those things with the joy of the Lord.

Lord, we thank you for this letter.

We thank you for all that you have for us waiting as the weeks go on.

Lord, as we looked at this today, I pray for those things that we talked about, that you would teach us what it looks like and how to be content in every circumstance and how to maintain joy and contentment.

Whatever comes along.

Or we see Paul imprisoned and he still has your joy.

Will you show us in the circumstances of our life how to do that well?

Would you also show us how to love one another with the love of Christ?

Lord, we realize that can only come from you.

That's not something we can muster on our own.

So we pray that we would abide more deeply with Jesus Christ and become more and more like him so that his desires become our desires.

So that his love becomes our love, so that his passions become our passions.

So help us to put aside everything else.

Everything that we count as dear to us.

Old accomplishments and things that our flesh takes pleasure in.

Lord, help us to count all of those things as lost in comparison to knowing Jesus Christ.

Show us what that looks like.

Daily help us to become more and more like Jesus, not because we feel like we have to, but because we love you so much that there's nothing else we would want to do.

We pray these things in Jesus' name.

Amen.