 |
| |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
our message
Philippians - Pray - Pastor Terry Jones
The first great theme in Philippians is the theme of prayer. Paul knows that he cannot be with them to bless them with his presence, so he expresses in prayer all that is on his heart for them. He trusts that through the power of the spirit of God his love for them will be made effectual through God's answers to his prayer.
This morning I want to study with you this prayer of Paul's and trust that you will learn to pray as Paul prayed.
Let us read together ch 1:1-11
Paul even makes his greetings a form of prayer. It is an expression of what is on his heart.
When we greet people we say "how are you?" We say "I hope things are going well for you" we say, "How are you getting on?." We say many such things which may or may not express how we really feel about the person, it may just be a way of saying hello.
For Paul, the greeting was a prayer of blessing. It was not an enquiry. He had prayed for the people, he had them on his heart and so he said to them in greeting what he really desired for them. He pronounced a blessing over them of grace and peace. I can say these two things to you this morning and it would like Paul be a prayerful expression of the blessing that I desire for you in Christ.
Grace and peace be to you from God the Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
Grace is the working and favour of God in our lives and in our circumstances. Grace is that which God supplies in all things that are above what we can do or what we can supply. It was by the grace of God that you were given faith to believe. It was by the grace of God that you were saved and forgiven. It was by the grace of God that you have been able to grow and become faithful and frutiful. And it will be by the grace of God that you will end up in glory.
Hebrews 4:16 Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.
Ephesians 4:7 But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ.
Romans 5:17 For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.)
Do you recognize your need for the grace of God? Are you resting in and trusting in the fact of God's love and his abundant grace which is towards you. Do you pray for others to be recipients of the grace of God? Do you pray the grace of God down into their lives and circumstances?
Then Paul blessed the people with a prayer for the peace that comes from God.
You may have many troubles, you may have many burdens, many worries and anxieties. You may be in the midst of a great problem. You may be disappointed about something, Your own hopes for your life may seem to be in tatters and your heart may feel cold and discouraged, but whatever your situation and whatever the feelings and thoughts of your heart, I say to you this morning like Paul said to his people. Peace be to you from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. The peace of God is not the absence of trouble. The peace of God is not the resolving of all conflicts and the lifting of all disappointments and anxieties. No the peace of God is a gift from God of the sense of His love and support in spite of what seems wrong.
Isaiah 26:3 Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.
God's peace is a gift but it comes through trust. By faith we choose to think God's thoughts, we stay our mind on God. This is like the picture of a tent which has ropes going out at angles from each corner and these ropes are fixed to stays or pegs driven into the ground. The tent does not collapse even in the wind because it is stayed on the ground. We do not collapse and fall apart when the winds blow on our lives because we have fastened the tent of our minds on the stays we have found in God's word. God's peace comes to us through staying our minds on what his word says. The problem is, when we lose our peace in the disappointments and hopelessness of our situations we do not seek God in His word. We become discouraged and we stop seeking Him in the word. The pain and sadness and difficulty of our situation makes us say to God, "How can I continue to trust you when you let this happen to me?" But that is the very time to prove your faith and come through a mighty conqueror to the glory of God and the answering of our prayers. There is no peace in abandoning the stays of God. We become like the troubled sea which rages and foams and swills around in every direction, going nowhere and achieving nothing of eternal value for our souls.
Psalms 85:8 I will hear what God the LORD will speak: for he will speak peace unto his people, and to his saints: but let them not turn again to folly.
Abandoning the word of God in difficult times is the worst thing we could do. Seek the word in your troubles, continue to read it and meditate on it. God will speak faith to you through it. If you have given up it may take a little while to get back to that place of faith but get started again and keep it up until you have a song in your heart to sing once more. He will give you stays and pegs on which to tie the tent of your life and through those words he will speak peace to your soul. Do not give up on God and return to the foolishness of trusting in yourself and in your powers. Do not return to the flesh when you began in the spirit. What hope is there for you in that?
John 14:27 Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.
Was Jesus life a life of plain sailing, No!, did He find a wife and marry? No!, Did he settle down and have children? No!, Was he respected and accepted? No!, Did he make lots of money in a business so he could be independent and self supporting? No!. He was persecuted, misunderstood, opposed and betrayed.
He said at one time, foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests but I have nowhere to lay my head. (Luke 9:58)
He was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. Yet in it all we know that he had the great peace of God. He knew the will of His Father and He lived each day to fulfill that will. He knew that the Father's will would lead Him though great sorrows and troubles and suffering and even death on the cross but He looked higher than his circumstances. He looked up to the eternal plans and purposes of the Father and He had peace. He spoke in the verse of His peace. In this verse he says that He can give us this peace. It is His gift to us.
It is not the peace of the world. We need to understand this. The peace of the world is the peace that comes with the absence of trouble. People in the world don't like any trouble because they can see no higher good coming from it. To them, trouble is just a robber that comes to take away their peace and cause them worry and stress. If they can't solve the problem and get their peace back again many people in the world try to run away from their troubles. They turn to drink to find temporary peace. They go away on a holiday to find temporary peace. But the problems have not changed and so their peace is not lasting. Disappointment and discouragement and even depression can overrun a person's life. They get really down, perhaps they sigh a lot, maybe they cry in their loneliness, or complain a lot, or get in black moods. Maybe they can't sleep at night, maybe they can't focus on their work during the day. Maybe they get stomach ulcers or headaches or even have a breakdown. What we each one need is the peace that Jesus gives us. It is present even when we are troubled and afraid.
John 16: 33 These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.
The peace that comes from God through Jesus Christ comes to us through the word. Jesus says here these things I have spoken to you that in me you might have peace. You will have tribulation as you live in the world. Not everything will work out as you would like. Not all your desires and wishes will materialize how and when you would like them to. Jesus said that we would be troubled in the world, BUT we are to be of good cheer. We are to meditate on what he has told us and we will find peace from, and in, those words and thoughts that act like stays in the winds of life keeping our tent from blowing away.
So the great prayer I have for you this morning comes in the form of a blessing. May the grace and peace of God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ be yours this morning. May His grace come to you and may His peace come to you as you trust in His words and stay your mind upon them.
It seems that the Philippian Christians knew the grace and peace of God.
Paul said that every time he thought about them he gave God thanks for their true faith.
This is a type of prayer that Paul often practiced. It was remembering people. When people and their needs are close to our heart we think about them often. You mums and dads think often of your children. Paul often remembered his converts in Phillipi. And every time he thought of them he turned the thought into a prayer. Maybe 30 times a day Paul prayed for the people he remembered in Philippi. I find that when I fast for certain reasons the hunger pain in my stomach makes me think about why I am fasting and I remember the need and I turn that remembering into a prayer. I say to God, Lord I am bringing this need to you again, I am serious about it Lord, please answer my prayer for it.
It seems that Paul was a faithful prayer and that every time he thought about his converts he personally mentioned their names to God and thanked God for them.
Every time he remembered them in prayer he turned that prayer into a joyful request. Why was his prayer for them joyful. Sometimes our prayers for people are heavy and sorrowful and expressed in tears and pleadings because of their poor spiritual condition. But for Paul, he says that every time he thought of these people he was thankful and joyful. He was convinced that they were sincere and genuine believers who meant business with God. The reason for his confidence in them was that they had fellowshipped with him in the gospel from the very beginning. This word fellowship means contribution and participation. Through their support and real fellowship Paul had been effective in the work of the gospel. He had felt their hearts beating alongside his own as he served God. His was encouraged and blessed as they shared materially with him and sent workers to help him and minister to him from their church again and again. He knew that they prayed for him and that they shared his vision.
2 Cor 8:1-5.
Paul was so convinced of the genuineness of their faith that he spoke the wonderful verse of encouragement to them we find in
Phil 1:6 Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:
There are people here whose faith has proved to be absolutely genuine. They have the grace and peace of God and I am confident that the work in their life has been begun truly by God Himself. From the genuineness of the beginning and the spiritual evidence displayed in their continuing I can affirm this verse applies to them. For others I cannot say this verse with the same confidence.
We must not just pick verses out of the bible and remove them from their context and use them as band-aids.
In vs 7 Paul establishes clearly why he has this confidence for these people.
He says it may be surprising to you that I have this confidence, But it is OK for me to have it because of the following reasons.
You are in my heart, just as I am evidently in yours, you are in my heart and so the Spirit of God who has made us one in heart is witnessing to our unity of spirit and purpose.
In the defense and confirmation of the gospel you are partakers of my grace. The things that burden me burden you. If something comes up that undermines the word of God or weakens it or contradicts it you are burdened as sincerely as I am. You rejoice when the word of God is established and promoted and you rejoice when false teaching and error is exposed and dealt with. This gives me confidence in the genuineness of your spiritual life and vigour and it confirms my belief that God's grace in your life is powerful and effectual.
Then Paul said to them that he longed after them with the affection of Jesus Christ.
He loved them in Christ, He loved them with the love of Christ and this love and affection and confidence in them motivated continual prayer for their ongoing growth and fruitfulness in the Lord.
He didn't ask that God would make them rich or bless them materially, or prosper them in their worldly pursuits, his requests were spiritual in nature.
The first thing he wanted for them was that their love would abound.
Love is practical, love is hands-on, love works for the blessing of others. Love is not just words and knowledge. Love gives. Love is the greatest virtue in the Christian and so it is the primary virtue that Paul prays for.
1 Cor 13:1- 13 Abounding Love is the sign and fruit of maturity in Christ. It is the harnessing of faith and knowledge and understanding and speech to the great purpose of changing lives and blessing others as God would bless them.
So Paul prays for love. He prays that love might abound. Love to God, love to one another, love to the lost.
He then spoke of the qualities of the Christian person that would make their love effective and powerful.
1. That it was based on knowledge. An intelligent affection. Not a blind affection like a puppy has for its master. But an affection that sees things as they really are in the plan of God and the purpose of God.
2. That their love was based on judgment. The word means discrimination or understanding the difference between things of different value. Their love should be given in proportion to the real value of the objects loved. Some men love things that are not worthy of the labour and love they bestow. They labour and pour out their very blood and sweat for things that are temporal and perishing and do little for the souls of men which are more important than the whole world.
3. That they may approve things that are excellent. The word approve means to try as a goldsmith would test the gold in the fire to purify it and see how pure it was. So we are to direct our love at those things that are proved to be of highest value to God, and not to love all things indiscriminately. This focusing and directing of our love makes it effective and powerful and is a sign of great maturity in the faith.
Then there are three more things that he prays for.
1. For Sincerity, which is from a word in Greek that was used to describe honey. It means "without wax". When you eat honey with wax in it, the wax gets stuck in your teeth and you have to pick it out and discard it. But sincere honey is pure and clear and filled with sweetness and goodness. There is nothing to reject in it and it is nourishing and tasty at all times. A sincere person is like this. Sincerity speaks of Christian character in which there is no hypocrisy, no shadows of darkness, no double dealing, no cunning, no masks, no lower motives.
2. For No offense. No cause of stumbling. This is a common metaphor in the New Testament. It is the picture of a pathway along which men and women walk to God and the person who is an offense is like a stone on the path that people will trip over. Paul prays that they would be diligent not to allow themselves freedoms that would be a stumbling stone for others. Paul prayed that the Philippians would be mature and not cause others to stumble by anything they did or said or allowed.
3. For the Results of all these things. This is the final thought in the prayer
"Filled with the fruits of righteousness"
Paul prayed that this true righteousness in their hearts would produce much fruit. Honesty, truth, charity, kindness, meekness, goodness in the heart and conduct. This would produce new Christians through their witness who also like them would be genuine works of the spirit of God who in turn would grow into spiritual maturity and fruitfulness.
<<< Back go up
|
|
|
