You may remember from Acts that it was in Philippi that Paul and Silas had been arrested, beaten and locked up. They were put in the innermost prison cell and were put in chains. They were praying and singing hymns and all the other prisoners were listening to them. In the middle of the night, there was an earthquake and all the prison doors opened up and everyone’s chains came loose.

When the jailor saw what had happened, he was going to kill himself. But Paul told him, “Don’t harm yourself. We’re all still here.” The jailor fell down trembling in front of Paul and Silas and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”

They said, “Believe on the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.” The Philippian jailor took them home and washed their wounds. Right away, he and his family were baptized. It says that he fed them and that he rejoiced because he and his entire household had believed God. (Acts 16:22-34)

As we read today’s passage, remember, as always, that we are reading the word of God. God’s Holy Spirit directed the writing of the Scriptures and reminds us of them, as we have need, in order to show us what to do (or what not to do) in the various situations of life. Jesus told his disciples that the Holy Spirit would remind them of everything he had told them. (John 14:26) The Holy Spirit will remind us, too.

³I give thanks to my God for every remembrance of you, ⁴always praying with joy for all of you in my every prayer, ⁵because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. ⁶I 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. ⁷It 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 establishment of the gospel. ⁸For God is my witness, how I deeply miss all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus. ⁹And I pray this: that your love will keep on growing in knowledge and every kind of discernment, ¹⁰so that you can determine what really matters and can be pure and blameless in the day of Christ, ¹¹filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God. (Philippians~1:1-11)

We have just finished going through the books of 1 and 2 Corinthians. In 1 Corinthians, the apostle Paul was writing to baby Christians. He says so in chapter 3: “Brothers, I was not able to speak to you as spiritual people but as people of the flesh, as babies in Christ.” (1 Cor. 3:1) 1 Corinthians is a letter that is full of rebukes and corrections. Paul rebukes the Corinthians for having divisions among them—divisions that destroy the church (“if you destroy God’s temple, God will destroy you”). Paul rebukes them for permitting sexual immorality in their church—even of a kind that the Gentiles don’t approve of—and they are proud of it instead of being filled with grief. He rebukes them for having lawsuits among them and taking them before secular judges (“Don’t you know that the saints will judge the world? Don’t you know that we will judge angels? Can it be that there is no wise person among you that is able to arbitrate between his brothers?” – 1 Cor. 6).

Paul also rebukes them for the way they conduct their meetings and finally for the fact that apparently some them are saying there is no resurrection of the dead! The resurrection of the dead is fundamental. If there is no resurrection of the dead, then even Jesus was not raised and they are still dead in their sins. And yet, Paul still treats them as Christians...even if baby Christians.

In 2 Corinthians, some of the things that the apostle Paul was correcting in 1 Corinthians are apparently fixed. He goes on to teach them about the superiority of the New Covenant, to warn them about false teachers, and using himself as an example, to teach them about sacrifice and humility. Paul teaches them to grow in Christ.

In Philippians, the apostle Paul is writing to a church that is not made up of baby Christians. There’s very little rebuke and much encouragement. Paul is teaching them to continue to grow in Christ. (Do you remember that Paul held up the Macedonian churches to the Corinthians as an example because of their sacrificial giving to help the saints in Jerusalem? The Philippian church was one of them.)

Let’s look at the first two verses in today’s passage. These verses tell us who the letter is written to and who it is from. Verse 1 says, “Paul and Timothy, slaves of Christ Jesus: To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, including the overseers and deacons.” The letter is from Paul and Timothy. (Probably Timothy was writing down what Paul was dictating.) Paul says that they are “slaves of Christ Jesus”. Most of the other translations say “servants of Christ Jesus”, rather than slaves. But it really says “slaves”. I think the reason most of the other translations say “servants” is that we have a very negative idea about being a slave. For us, the idea of being a slave means oppression, mistreatment and no freedom. Being a slave means that you have no choice. You are literally owned by someone else. That’s actually what it meant at the time Paul and timothy wrote Philippians, too. Your master was free to beat you if you misbehaved or to beat you just because he felt like it—or to treat you well.

Do you think Jesus was a slave while he was on earth? He said that he only did and said what his Father in heaven gave him to do and to say. One of the things he was given to do was to go to the cross and die for our sin—to suffer and to give his life as a sacrifice for our lives. He definitely didn’t want to do it. But he chose to obey his father in heaven for the joy set before him.

Paul called himself and Timothy “slaves of Christ Jesus”. Can you say that you are a slave of Christ Jesus just as Paul said that he and Timothy were? (You know, I can say I’m a servant of Christ Jesus, but I don’t think I’ve ever said that I was a slave of Christ Jesus.) Nevertheless, we should consider ourselves to be slaves of Christ Jesus.

You know something else: Paul says that he is a slave of Christ Jesus. But he also says that the only way to be truly free is to belong to Christ Jesus. Jesus says that too: “So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed Him, ‘If you continue in My word, you really are My disciples. You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.’” (John~8:31, 32) Jesus’s word is the truth. Those who continue in Jesus’s word will be free. All those who reject Jesus are slaves to sin.

Verse 1 says, “Paul and Timothy, slaves of Christ Jesus: To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, including the overseers and deacons.” The “saints in Christ Jesus” are those who believe in Jesus—those who trust him. “Saint” means “holy”. The saints are the holy people. “Holy” means set apart for God’s use. It means “sanctified”. Paul and Timothy were sanctified. They were set apart to serve Jesus. But everyone who believes in Jesus is a saint. Everyone who believes in Jesus has been set apart to serve him. Are you a saint? Have you been set apart to serve Jesus? In the end, there is nothing more important for you to know than whether or not you are a saint.

“Overseers” in verse 1 are the same as “elders”. Both words refer to the same office. The function of elders is to teach and to correct any false teaching. In Acts 20, Paul warned the Ephesian elders that savage wolves would come in among them and not spare the flock. I’m going to read it:

²⁸Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among whom the Holy Spirit has appointed you as overseers, to shepherd the church of God, which He purchased with His own blood. ²⁹I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. ³⁰And men from among yourselves will rise up with deviant doctrines to lure the disciples into following them. ³¹Therefore be on the alert, remembering that night and day for three years I did not stop warning each one of you with tears. (Acts~20:28-31)

“Deacon” in verse 1 means servant or minister. “Deacon” is also an office in the church. That’s clear from 1 Timothy chapter 3. But it’s not really clear what deacons do. In Acts, people were appointed to minister (the verb form of the word translated “deacon”) the distribution of food to the needy Greek believers in Jerusalem. So it seems that deacons are the administrators. (And, by the way, I’m not really sure why Paul mentioned the overseers and deacons in addition to the saints. Maybe some of the Philippians didn’t really believe the overseers and deacons were saints. What do you think?)

Let’s look at verse 2: “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” “Grace” means “favor”—in this case, God’s favor. And in this case, it’s something we in no way can earn. It’s a gift from God, paid for by the blood of Jesus. We can’t earn it by good deeds or in any other way. It’s a gift.

“Peace” is, above all, peace with God. It’s very precious. In Ephesians chapter 6, the apostle Paul refers to “the gospel of peace” as part of the full armor of God that we need to put on in order to stand against the “spiritual forces of evil in the heavens”. We need God’s peace in order to stand against Satan the devil.

Now, let’s look at verses 3, 4 and 5: “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.” How different this is from the rebukes and warnings the apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthians. He says he thanks God for them and prays for them with joy. They were partners with him right from the beginning. (Later we’ll see that they had sent one of their members, Epaphroditus, to Paul with some gifts to minister to his needs. That was one of the ways that they were partners with him in the gospel.)

And, by the way, what is the “gospel” that they were partners in with Paul. [kids] It’s the “good news”. That’s what the word translated “gospel” really means. It’s the good news of Jesus—the good news of salvation.

⁶I 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. ⁷It 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 establishment of the gospel. ⁸For God is my witness, how I deeply miss all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus. (Philippians~1:6-8)

Paul was sure that God, who had started the good work, the work of salvation, in the Philippians, would carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. (That’s the day when Jesus comes back, by the way.) Paul was really encouraged by the faith of the Philippians. They were blessing him both by ministering to him while he was imprisoned and in spreading the gospel. But they were partners with him in grace. It is by grace that we are saved, not by good deeds! It’s God’s grace that leads to good deeds.

Do you think that God, who started a good work in each of us, will carry it on to completion so that we are ready when Jesus returns? (We may die before Jesus returns. But will we be raised to eternal life in his presence?) What do you think? God is able to keep us from falling (protect us from stumbling in the HCSB). He says so in Jude 24. He is able. Do you think he will do it? He’s able. He loves us. And we are saved by grace. But this is for those in whom God has started a good work. Be sure that God has started a good work in you. If you are not sure, ask him! There is nothing more important! He wants to make you like Jesus.

⁹And I pray this: that your love will keep on growing in knowledge and every kind of discernment, ¹⁰so that you can determine what really matters and can be pure and blameless in the day of Christ, ¹¹filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God. (Philippians~1:9-11)

What is it that really matters? It’s love: “I pray this: that your love will keep on growing...” God is love. That’s his fundamental nature. We know that God is almighty. We know that he made the heavens and the earth. We know that he made each of us, too. But his fundamental nature is love. Listen to what the apostle John says. It’s what God speaking through the apostle John says. I was just going to read one or two verses, but I felt, when I was preparing this, that I had to read much more. I’m going to read 1 John 4:7-21:

⁷Dear friends, let us love one another, because love is from God, and everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. ⁸The one who does not love does not know God, because God is love. ⁹God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent His One and Only Son into the world so that we might live through Him. ¹⁰Love consists in this: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. ¹¹Dear friends, if God loved us in this way, we also must love one another. ¹²No one has ever seen God. If we love one another, God remains in us and His love is perfected in us.

¹³This is how we know that we remain in Him and He in us: He has given to us from His Spirit. ¹⁴And we have seen and we testify that the Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world. ¹⁵Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God—God remains in him and he in God. ¹⁶And we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and the one who remains in love remains in God, and God remains in him.

¹⁷In this, love is perfected with us so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; for we are as He is in this world. ¹⁸There is no fear in love; instead, perfect love drives out fear, because fear involves punishment. So the one who fears has not reached perfection in love. ¹⁹We love because He first loved us.

²⁰If anyone says, “I love God,” yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For the person who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. ²¹And we have this command from Him: the one who loves God must also love his brother. (1 John~4:7-21)

That’s it. But I’ll leave you with one question. How would the apostle Paul write to us—the way he wrote to the Corinthians or the way he wrote to the Philippians? Regardless of the answer to that question, He who started a good work in us will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. But I believe that, even so, he wants us to pray for him to do so.