Philippians (Lesson 42)

And a very good day each and every one of you.

I'm Brother James, and I greet you one more time in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.

And I welcome you once again to the preaching of the cross radio broadcast.

I hope that you can stay with us for the next half an hour as we do our very, very best to encourage one another to live for our worthy and wonderful Lord Jesus Christ.

And the best way to encourage each other to live for Jesus is to study the Holy Bible together, for there's no greater encouragement ever to be found than that which will be found in the words the Holy Spirit has left for the believer to cheer us on and to point us in the right way, the way that we should go.

God's word is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path.

The entrance of God's word giveth light, and they guide us and direct us and lead us in the way that we ought to go.

And so I'm very, very glad that you chose today to listen to Christian radio when you could be listening to something else, to listen to a Bible-believing preacher when you could be listening to something else, and I hope that God will use this program to be an encouragement to your heart.

I know this is going to be a shocking announcement for those of you that listen on a regular basis.

But here's the big news.

We are moving into Philippians chapter number four.

We sure spent a long time in chapter one, a long time in chapter two, and if I'm not mistaken, longer still in chapter three.

But we come on the program today all the way to the fourth chapter of Philippians, and we're going to read starting at verse number one.

We'll read down through verse three.

We might go beyond that in our discussion today, but I'm not certain about that.

The Bible says in Philippians 4 1, therefore, on the basis of the fact that the Lord is going to come for the believer and change us into his likeness fully and completely.

Here the Bible says, Therefore my brethren dearly beloved and longed for my joy and crown, so stand fast in the Lord my dearly beloved.

I beseech Eudius, and beseech Cintici, that they be of the same mind in the Lord.

And I entreat thee also, true Yoke fellow, help those women which labored with me in the gospel, with Clement also, and with other my fellow laborers whose names are in the book of life.

Well there sure is plenty to discuss in that little portion of Scripture.

First of all, do you notice in verse number one the incredible expression of love and care on the part of this preacher for those men and women who are his brothers and sisters in Christ.

Now you might argue that the language is somewhat over expressive when one is writing than it would be when someone is speaking face to face.

I'll give you that.

I'll give you that.

People tend to be more formal and more expressive when they are using pen and ink than they would be otherwise.

I understand that.

But notice the outpouring of truthful, genuine affection that this man possesses for these people not because they have money, not because they have social status, not because they are blood relations.

What these people have in common is that they know Jesus Christ as their Savior, and they are trusting this Lord Jesus Christ.

The man writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the Apostle Paul, he knows the Lord Jesus Christ as his personal Savior.

And so what was called for in chapter one, mutual love between believers, and what was called for in chapter two, a Christ like spirit, a Christ like thought process that would cause one to love others as much as or more than their own self.

What was called for in chapter three, that mark toward which believers press, where we are like the Lord Jesus Christ, in particular in his self-sacrificial love for others, here we see it manifest in the life and in the expression, in the communication from the apostle Paul to these believers at Philippi.

Now, do you understand, my friend, that it is absolutely possible, absolutely possible for you to love one another with the love that God has directed your way, it's absolutely possible.

And we see this working itself out in the life of a man who once killed Christians, who once persecuted churches.

Now surely this is proof positive that if we would yield ourselves to the controlling influence of God the Holy Spirit, we could, we could love one another with a pure heart fervently.

Look at these words, oft expressed, my brethren, that'd be enough.

Beloved, that would be more than enough.

Dearly beloved, what a remarkable, what a remarkable expression of love from the heart to another.

Now, take a look at this, dearly beloved, and longed for.

You know, there are there are things in your life, there are things in my life that we so enjoy that we just look forward to them, not in a normal way, but beyond a normal way, in a genuine desire.

I can't wait for Monday to get here, so I get to do the following.

I can't wait until vacation time rolls around, so I get to do the following.

I can't wait until school is out, so I get to do the following.

At some point in time in our lives, we have all longed for something.

Greatly desired for the days to fly by so we could engage in some activity or another.

Now here, the apostle says, What I'm longing for, I wish the days would pass more rapidly, because the desire of my heart is to do the following.

And what was the desire of his heart?

He wanted to be with saved people in Christian fellowship.

I'm amazed at how many people say they're saved and have no interest whatsoever in fellowshipping with God's people.

I'm amazed at the people who claim to be born again who could take church or leave it.

I'm amazed at how people can come to a church house on a Sunday morning and sing about their great love for Jesus and their great joy in being with God's people, and then you don't see him again for a month.

Now you've got to admit, you've got to admit, that is far from longing after the fellowship of God's people.

That's a long, long way from this expression in verse number one.

Then he says, My joy and crown.

Now, a crown, a crown is something you get for successful over and above service.

We know that from the Bible.

God giving crowns to believers.

We know that.

So what do we have here?

We have a man saying, My reward, my reward for all my labor, my reward for all my service, is that you people are saved, and you people are following Jesus, and you people are in love one with another, and it thrills my heart.

It is it is all that I need for a recompense or a repayment for all my labor and all my service, just to know that you are serving Jesus Christ, that is crown enough for me.

Isn't that amazing?

So the Bible says here that they are not only his dearly beloved, they're not only long for, they're not only his joy and crown, he calls them again my dearly beloved.

And then what does he want from?

He wants them to stand fast in the Lord.

Don't move, don't go back, don't be tossed about, don't be swayed, don't be misled.

Stay right where you are.

Stay right where you are.

So many voices, so many temptations, so many things tugging at you this way, pulling at you that way, so many situations that might cause you, might cause you to abandon your steadfast position in Jesus Christ.

Now, whatever you do, don't leave.

Stay put.

Stand still.

Hold that ground.

There are going to be many people try to get you to move.

Many people try to get you to turn aside.

Come on.

But you've got to stay right there.

I love you, Paul says.

I my heart is knit with yours.

We are one in Christ Jesus.

Don't move, don't be swayed.

Then, a remarkable statement.

Paul the apostle is not operating on his own.

He's not just doing his thing and it happened to make its way into the Bible.

The scripture itself says that all scripture, the Bible says all scripture is given by inspiration of God.

The Bible says that every word of God is pure, so we have in the scripted words given by God that which was not the opinion or imagination of man, but these men were used by God to give us God's very words.

And in this verse of God's own word, people are corrected and disciplined and rebuked by name.

They are single out for all the church at Philippi to see.

And they are rebuked by now think about this.

Here is the great exciting moment.

We gather together on a Sunday afternoon, sitting in the church at Philippi.

We have spent time praising God.

We have spent time in prayer to the Lord.

We have spent time fellowshipping and enjoying one of another's company.

And the minister stands to deliver the word and he says, We have a very incredibly special blessing for you today.

We have received a letter from our dear brother Paul the apostle.

A charge goes through the gathering.

A thrill rises in the hearts of the people that have come together for this activity, this Christian service.

And as the minister unrolls that letter, all sit with great anticipation, thrilled to hear from the man who came at the risk of his own life, who came and bore the marks of a beating in his back, thrown in that Philippian jail, suffering for the cause of Christ to bring them the good news of the gospel.

He has now gone on to other service and other adventures, but he has written back to the church that he loves so much, and the people who love him so much are sitting intently listening, hanging upon every word as this letter unfolds, and he writes about the love of Christ, he writes about their love one for another, he writes about that mark toward which they press, and they are listening eagerly and intently as the minister reads this epistle, and then suddenly, suddenly, as all the church is listening, verse number two, I beseech Eudius and in impulsively, not by intent not to be rude, but it can't be avoided, heads turn and look in the direction of that man and beseech Syntichi and now all eyes are upon that one Knowing Knowing does Yodis hear me that man doesn't know when his name is read what's coming next, but he knows the moment the second name is joined to his that what follows is not going to be good.

And the second man, Cynthia, he was curious when the name of his adversary was read.

Perhaps even for a moment a flash of hope crossed his mind.

Oh good, that man I don't like is about to be censured.

But when both names are read together, both men anticipate in the depth of their heart this is not going to be to my honor.

This is not going to turn out to my glory.

And the Holy Spirit says to these men, Now think about it, this letter is being read in front of the whole church.

I beseech Eodius and beseech Cyntici that they be of the same mind in the Lord.

And suddenly two heads are hanging low in shame and in embarrassment.

Now there are some self-righteous Pharisees in that church who delight in what just happened.

There are some proud men and women with critical spirits in that church whose names were not called but could have been, who are glorying in this moment.

But the majority of these saints at Philippi love and care for both of these whose names were called, and for the majority, the vast majority of that congregation, the mood has instantly changed from pleasant fellowship and an excited and happy reading of a letter from a dear minister to one of uncomfortable silence and embarrassment.

Feet are shifting, eyes are glued to the floor.

No one knows quite what to do.

Everyone is hoping that the minister will quickly resume his reading and move on to the next portion of the letter.

I want to ask you something, my friend.

Before we address their problem, before we address the scriptural, the correct scriptural nature of rebuking some sins publicly, let me ask you a question.

If Christians are gathered in a church setting with a small group of other Christians, and the sins harbored in the life of a Christian are made public to that small gathering of believers.

And by making that sin public in that small gathering of believers, there is embarrassment, shame, and regret.

May I ask you something?

Do you not believe, can you not believe that when the tale of our lives is told, in that day when the Lord tries every man's work of what sort it is, do you not suppose that in that day you will be happy and glad if you have lived in accord with the words of God?

And can you not believe and be persuaded by what we just read that in that day when the Lord makes up his jewels, in that day when the Lord reviews his troops, will you not wish that some things had been corrected and some things had been made right before they ever saw the light of such an awesome day?

You understand, my friend, that it is a serious thing to live right and to live true, and to live holy.

Before the great God of heaven, do you not see that there is a day of accounting?

There is a day of examination, and in that day everyone will be well served to have done their best for Jesus.

Now this man, the problem in the life of Jodis was not that he was a common criminal or a thief.

In the life of this man, the problem is not that he has been committing adultery or confiscating, misappropriating funds from the church treasury.

No, you know what the problem was?

These two individuals were violating the entire principle of biblical Christianity in that they were not loving one another.

They were at odds one with another and were making no attempt to reconcile with one another and to settle their differences out of love and for the honor and glory of the Lord Jesus Christ.

And so not only are they rebuked in the hearing of all their brothers and sisters, but this rebuke is designed by the Holy Spirit within that congregation to make these two people the example of how not to live the Christian life.

Now think about it.

He's written in chapter one, love one another, put the other person first, don't care about yourself, deny self, love others.

Chapter two, same thing, Jesus denied self, loved you.

Chapter three, same thing, I press toward the mark.

I want to be on earth like Jesus Christ is going to make me when I get to heaven and so forth.

And so in chapter four, to illustrate what God desires, two persons are named who are the very opposite of what God desires because they don't love one another, because they do constantly quarrel with one another, because they sit in the same church service but will not lovingly fellowship with one another, and so they're held forth as the negative example of what not to be in the midst of a letter telling us what we ought to be.

Now I ask you, my friend, I ask you, wouldn't it be a horrible thing to be in a church and be the negative example?

Wouldn't it be a horrible thing to be in church and be the one that could be pointed to as what not to be?

Now I I've been a pastor since nineteen eighty.

Since nineteen eighty.

I've been a pastor of the same church since nineteen eighty seven.

We have had these people in our churches.

We've always had them.

There has always been someone, and there always will be someone in the best of churches who stands as the example of what not to be.

That's a horrible thing.

Wouldn't you hate to live your life saved, born again, on your way to heaven, and the outstanding example of what not to be?

That'd be an awful thing.

And so these two are singled out for special attention in an epistle inspired by the Holy Spirit that would go down in history as one of the books of the Holy Bible.

And in this book, these two people are named as examples of how not to do it.

My dear friend, may God help us to be an example, but not that kind of example.

To be an example of the right, not the wrong, the good, not the evil, the proper not the improper.

May God help us by his grace.

Amen.

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