The Joy of True Fellowship

Alright, let's take our Bible. Let's turn to Philippians chapter 1. We were in chapter 1 last week But we're gonna be in Philippians chapter 1 verses 3 to 8 I'm gonna reference some of those scriptures that I asked you to go study on your own I'm gonna come back to those at the conclusion of the message So if you're sitting there thinking I did not get them. I wish I had them I will give those to you you do have plenty of time to do some of that study on your own But last week we got started in our series through the book of Philippians And I am titling this series the joy of the Lord in all things That's the series of the title.

It comes from the theme the joy of the Lord in all things But we started this small book just four chapters But it is a much-needed letter for us today And now I gave us a very brief introduction to the book and we also covered Paul's reading in verses 1 to 2 If you've not gotten that message I would encourage you to go get that because you need a lot of what we looked at to really help us along the way and The greeting was was very relevant for us today as well And last week I said that this book can be called a big thank-you note I don't remember where I picked that up but in my study I read someone who said that this can be called a big thank-you note in many ways That is true Paul was writing to the Philippian Church to express his great thankfulness for them We're gonna see that tonight Specifically he was thanking them for how they had recently met his knees while he was in prison And he was thanking them for their gospel fellowship partnership for the past 10 years or so But this book can also be called a big letter of joy a big letter of joy I said this last week But most scholars and commentators say that the theme of the book is joy now each of them may phrase it a little different But most say the theme of this letter is joy and last week I said that I see the theme as the joy of the Lord in all things, but I added to that I Said that we need to see what this joy for them was connected to We need to see what this joy was rooted in for them in their context I see the theme as the joy of the Lord all fit in all things Specifically their joy was connected to their difficult circumstances and their joy was rooted in their gospel fellowship and partnership Well here in verses 3 to 8 we will see that Paul was filled with joy over one specific theme their fellowship Some translations say fellowship some translations say partnership some translations say even participation And I'm gonna come to those Different variations the different wording here in a minute.

Let's look at verses 3 to 4 I'm reading from the English Standard Version Verses 3 to 4 notice what Paul says I thank my God and all of my remembrance of you Always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy because of your partnership The King James the legacy standard Bible says fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now But I want us to see that there is something that we must do We must seek to understand what this fellowship is before we could understand the joy that Paul has for their fellowship We must seek to understand what this fellowship was between Paul and the Philippians Or we cannot understand the joy that Paul had for their fellowship Now for us today, we all think alike I know we do when we think of fellowship we can think of several things.

This is an incomplete list We may think of coming together and eating in the fellowship hall. We have first Sunday fellowship this Sunday I can't wait we think of things like that We may even think about getting together in our homes for coffee or for a meal Occasionally I hear about how some of you go and visit someone and spend some time with someone in the life of the church I love that it's a blessing We may think of getting together for lunch with someone we may think of talking and visiting Outside of church or before church on a Sunday or a Wednesday. Now, those are good things.

I'm not saying they're bad But that is not what Paul was so joyful about here The kind of fellowship that Paul had in mind here was much different really completely and totally different Think about it Could Paul and the Philippians get together? He was in a Roman prison Could they get together to eat? Could they meet for coffee? Could they talk and visit for a while? Could Paul go into one of their homes?

He had been in Lydia's home back on that first when that first visit to Philippi But the answer is no to all of those questions They could not do any of those things that we think about that even we enjoy when we talk about having good fellowship So we must seek to understand what this fellowship was between Paul and the Philippians Before we can understand the joy that Paul had for their fellowship and to discover what this fellowship is We just need to get into the verses and I will make some comments about this fellowship at the conclusion of the message That will help now to be honest with you that part of the message is at the end And if we go over I'm gonna hold that over to next week So let's turn our attention to the verses I want to read the first part of the verses that we read earlier But I want to read them all verses three to eight.

Those are the verses we're gonna cover and divide tonight Let's read them together. Paul says I thank my God in all of 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 protectors with me of grace both in my imprisonment and in the defense the Confirmation of the gospel in verse 8 for God is my witness how I yearn for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus Now here's how I want to approach the verses There are four things that stand out to me and all of these things Come out of this fellowship.

They're connected to this fellowship It's all tied together and we will see that Paul's great thankfulness and joy for this church And we will see Paul's great love in his heart for these believers. This is very very personal So number one, I want us to see that Paul was thankful in Remembering them he was thankful in Remembering them we could say that they were on his mind when he thought of them He was thankful look at verse 3.

I thank my God in all of my remembrance of you But think with me about their circumstances This is why the introduction to the book last week was so important This is why some further study on your own is very important I say that because we need to know their circumstances if we're going to get all that we need to get out of the study all throughout the book But when Paul was writing this letter he was in prison waiting for his trial before Nero or the second part of his trial He could have been set free, but he definitely could have been executed It seems that the Philippians thought he would be executed because they were concerned that his ministry was over Seems like they were leaning a little more to the negative side But Paul was not thinking about himself Notice he was thinking about them.

I Thought about it like this This week maybe he was remembering how the Holy Spirit called him to go to the region of Macedonia Which is where Philippi was located if you read some of those verses that I've assigned you to read you'll see how God led in there How on the Sabbath he and Silas went outside of the city along the river to find some Jewish worshippers maybe he was remembering how they found a Gentile proselyte to Judaism named Lydia and After he preached the gospel God opened up her heart and she became the first believer in the city Of course that is not referring to Paul and his companions Maybe Paul was remembering that he cast out the demon out of that young girl of the city that Dogged him for many days as they were in the city You can read about those things how the owners of the slave girl were enraged because they lost their fortune telling demon possessed girl They lost their income and as a result they were arrested beaten and placed in stocks in prison Maybe he was remembering when he and Silas were in prison and they were filled with peace and joy And because they were filled with peace and joy they were praying and they were singing hymns of joy Maybe Paul was remembering how God sent that wonderful earthquake so that the doors of the prison were open and As a result of all of these things the Philippian January was converted to Christ and then later all those in his family Who could believe they believed?

Maybe Paul was remembering that as they were asked to leave the city by the officials They went by Lydia's house for one last time And they were greatly blessed and encouraged by the believers who had come to bid them farewell And maybe Paul was remembering that after he left the region The Philippian Church was the only church that supported him financially Maybe he was also remembering that they were generously they generously sent contributions for the needy church there in Jerusalem Now yes, I think Paul was remembering those things and many other things Because there were other things that did take place But I think he was remembering the greater the more grand scheme and plan of it all We will come to that grand and great scheme here in just a few minutes So Paul was remembering the Philippians with great thankfulness in his heart You know this leads me to ask three questions three questions How do we remember past churches we've been in?

Sometimes we don't remember things That are very pleasant some of us have had some negative experiences Think about that. How do we remember and reflect on past experiences and the second question? How do we remember churches that we love? How do we remember churches that we love I think about some of the churches in the anchoring truth network I said some of them because I don't know all of them Some of you've gotten to know some of those pastors and some of those congregations How do we remember those churches that we love?

Maybe you know churches that are not in the anchoring truth network that you love But here's the third question and the most important. How do we want others to remember us and our church? Think about it 20 years from now. How do we want people to look back on us and remember us? Individually and collectively how do we want our children to remember us? You know one day they're gonna graduate and they're gonna become adults and they're gonna think back. How do we want them to remember us? and then number two I Want us to see that Paul was joyful for them in prayer Paul was joyful in prayer for them We could say see that as he prayed for them.

He was just filled with joy all over Now notice that two times Paul uses this word prayer. Look at verse three and four It's in verse four, but I just can't help but read them together I thank my God and all of my remembrance of you always in every prayer There's the first one in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy Really sounds like a lot of prayer doesn't it? Now the meaning of this word prayer is simple. It means to make a request it means to make a petition even pleading and When this is seen in the New Testament this prayer is always addressed to God.

It's very simple now Understanding the circumstances of the Philippians is important here We covered some of their circumstances last week and you're gonna see those on your own as you studied as well But remember that Paul offers them no rebuke in his letter They were a small church, but they were a healthy and a striving congregation But they did face some challenges. They were a very very poor people They faced outward difficulties really it was two of them They faced persecution from the pagan culture and they faced Infiltration from the false teachers that wanted to get into the church.

There's no indication that they were in the church And they only had one problem. There was a disagreement between two well-known women that that could have been serious, but Paul addressed it But what am I showing us here? The Philippian Church did not need correction or rebuke like say the Corinthian Church or the Galatian Church Simply Paul was just thankful and joyful for them in prayer as he prayed to God He offered thankfulness to God for them and great love and joy Now did Paul pray for their circumstances Sure, did he pray for their struggles? Sure.

We're gonna learn that a paparazzi just brought him a report Did he pray for the elders and the deacons that he addressed in the ladder? Of course, he did did he pray for the church because he addressed the church as well Did he pray for the individuals that he knew in the church? I'm sure that he did did he pray for the success of the church there in the city. I'm sure he did I'm sure he prayed for all of those types of things and more so Paul was joyful in all of his prayer for them a Few questions here. Are we prayerful for others?

Especially other churches Are we prayerful for others and other churches and pastors that we know even when we're going through difficult circumstances? Even when we feel like we need more prayer than they do in many ways if we look at their circumstances We would probably say wait a minute Paul needs more prayer than the Philippians But notice he didn't pray for himself He prayed for them and he was joyful as he prayed for them and then number three I Want us to see that Paul was thankful and joyful in their fellowship now, let's go back and read the verses I'm gonna read verses 1 to 6, but we're gonna focus on verse 5 and 6 because this is Where this part of the message comes from?

Paul says I thank my God and all my remembrance of you Always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy and here's where we're focusing Because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now and 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 Now obviously this is where we get into their fellowship we can see it in the verse And it is vital that we understand this fellowship But here we need to see two things We need to see the meaning of this fellowship and then we need to see how Paul applies it to the Philippians First the meaning of fellowship or partnership now if we look at our English translations We're gonna see different wording.

I've already mentioned that the King James reads fellowship in the gospel The English Standard reads your partnership in the gospel the New American says participation in the gospel But why do we have three different words? Is this to raise a red flag and cause us to be skeptical of truck modern translations? No, that's not the case. The reason we have three different words is because all three are correct This word can be translated fellowship.

It can be translated participation It can be translated partnership and in many ways all three are good ways to translate what Paul is saying here But the very basic meaning of this word in the original simply means the sharing of something in common Now when we see how Paul applies this fellowship this partnership, we will see more of what Paul is saying here So second how Paul applies this to the Philippians look at verse 5 I thank my God in all of my remembrance of you always in every prayer of mine for you Making my prayer with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now Now notice that Paul was thankful for their partnership their fellowship their participation in the gospel Well, we need to ask what this in the gospel is He was speaking of a fellowship in the gospel He was speaking of a partnership in the gospel this fellowship this partnership spoke of a mutual participation In gospel work simply they all shared something in common the gospel But there's more to this than just the work of evangelism or the message of the gospel or sharing the gospel John MacArthur sheds a little light on this and this will help us He says and I'm quoting in this context this phrase in the gospel Refers to the whole enterprise of the gospel ministry Especially that of evangelism and I'm still quoting so Paul here Commends the Philippians for their faithful and enduring partnership with him in this supreme endeavor The commentator William Hendrickson helps us here as well.

He says this is a hearty cooperation in the work of the gospel Simply Paul was saying that they were partners and participants with Paul in the entire gospel enterprise or in the total work of the gospel He was saying that they had a hearty cooperation in the total work of the gospel In the work of the gospel that Paul was involved in and this was not just about Angelism, of course it included evangelism.

This was not just church planning, but it included church planning This was not just ministering to those churches after they were born, but this included ministering to those churches This was the enterprise of the work of the gospel which Paul was spearheading as an apostle Now there's a couple of lessons here I want us to think about How many people get sidetracked into what we would call parachurch organizations?

Parachurch ministries now, I'm not saying all of those are bad But what I am saying is this many times parachurch Organizations can pull people away from the total work of the gospel like we see here And a lot of times people they'll take what I call just part of the church The church and the work of the church that they are a part of they're only focused on a part of the work of the gospel But what we see here is this the whole gospel enterprise Of course, they were connected to Paul in his apostolic ministry.

It was about evangelism It was about church planning It was about ministering to those churches and it was about Paul turning around and going around and doing it in city after city after city But notice something else that Paul says about this fellowship and partnership He quickly mentions the breadth of their fellowship Look at verse 5 and 6 verse 5 Because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now verse 6 and 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 Notice first he said they were partners in this fellowship in the total work of the gospel on the very first day This was when Paul was ministering there in Philippi in those early days of the gospel work and when their church was born And we can see this fellowship and their partnership in this work of the gospel starting in Acts 16 And then second he said that they were participants in this fellowship and the whole gospel enterprise up until now This was when the Philippians had reconnected with Paul when he was in prison We will see that they had lost contact with one another for a few years, but they had reconnected and As we will see later on in the book They sent money to Paul when he was in prison they sent men to Paul when he was in prison and they sent their full support to Paul when he was in prison and Paul said those things greatly helped him in the work of the gospel even when he was in a Roman imprisonment You see many thought that Paul's ministry was over but Paul said no, it's not over.

This is just a new phase of my ministry and Then third he said he was confident that they would continue in this work Paul was saying in verse 6 that he was confident, which means that he was fully persuaded He was confident that two things would happen first that they would continue in their salvation and second that they would continue in their fellowship their partnership and participation in the gospel enterprise until when the work was complete Now let me share with you a little lesson here This is a lesson in gospel enterprise longevity What did he say to them?

You were my partner in the gospel enterprise on the first day Up till now and I'm confident I am fully persuaded that you will continue until the work is done. You see longevity there That reminds me of people that I believe could be Christian but somehow they quit I'm thinking of a man that I know that was a pastor In the ministry. I'm not saying he quit being a Christian, but he just quit He just took another job Just said he got tired of the problems tired of the difficulties tired of the people Where's your longevity in your gospel call?

I think about people who claim to be Christian, of course, many of them are not converted But I do believe Christians can fall prey to not lasting in the longevity of the work Listen folks, we are to continue in the work when until it is done or until we leave this earth So look at what we have here in verses 5 to 6 Paul was thankful and joyful for their fellowship their participation Their partnership in all of the gospel in its enterprise He said that they had a hearty cooperation from the beginning when they Reconnected they had a hearty cooperation and he was confident and he was persuaded fully that they would continue in this work Until it was all done.

I Thought about this What a recommendation. I Mean what a resume didn't Paul writing out the resume Paul did not say this kind of thing about any other church folks. I Thought about a couple of rhetorical questions This afternoon as I was finishing up if Paul were here in our day in time Would we partner with him like the Philippians did Many abandoned Paul But if he were here in this day and time would we partner him partner with him like the Philippians did and Would we have this kind of a fellowship with Paul if he were here today? And what I mean is this would we have that kind of fellowship and could Paul write and say look?

I've got that kind of fellowship partnership and participation with you Those are some mighty big shoes to fill the shoes of the Philippians that is And then third I want us to see Paul was filled with affection for them This last point I want us to see that Paul was filled with affection for them now here We need to see in verses seven to eight that Paul is becoming much deeper and much more Personal I like what Warren Wiersby says here. I'm quoting him He says we move a bit deeper here for it is possible to have others on our minds Without having them in our hearts, isn't that true? And we will see that it does get much deeper.

They were indeed in his heart But notice what Paul says here in verse seven He justifies how he feels about them and in verse eight he expresses his great affection So first he justifies how he feels about them. Look at verse seven 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 the confirmation of the gospel and We need to see that when Paul says it is right for him to feel this way This means more than saying something is good.

This is more than just saying something is appropriate This word speaks of now get this a moral obligation Giving example as Christians People who believe the Bible we are morally obligated to believe in Christian marriage We do not think that marriage is right just because it is the appropriate thing to do No, we believe marriage is right because we are morally obligated to believe that it is right you get that So here Paul is saying that it was morally and spiritually right for him to feel this way About the Philippian believers. He was spiritually and morally obligated to feel this way, but why?

Of course, it was because of a work that God had done in them Between both of them but Paul gives two reasons First because they were in his heart when Paul used this word heart. He was not speaking of his physical heart He was referring to both his mind and his will he was speaking of his inner inmost being And this simply means that he had a strong attachment to them Because of all that they had done for him and their great love for him all throughout the years Paul had a very very strong and warm attachment to them and then second Because they were protectors with him in the defense of the gospel and the confirmation of the gospel This simply means that when Pollard appeared before the Roman authorities and he gave an account of himself And a defense of the gospel they were participating with him They were in fellowship and partnership with Paul During that time now some scholars say that this is proof that at this point Pollard already appeared before the Roman authorities and he was simply waiting on the verdict Of course, this can refer to previous times when Paul was giving a defense of the gospel, but I think it was the former and then second He expresses his great affection for them look at verse 8 For God is my witness how are yearn for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus?

Here Paul calls for a witness. He calls on God for his witness in doing so he is saying that only God can attest and God can attest to the great love and the affection that he had for the Philippians and Not just some of them the text says all of them And notice this great affection Paul says that he yearns for them and these yearnings and feelings Do not merely come from Paul or from within these feelings and affections were the very affections of Christ within him look at verse 8 For God is my witness how I yearn for all notice with the affections of Christ Jesus I Like what Hendrickson says here?

I'm quoting It was the indwelling Christ who was producing the fruit of love in Paul by the Holy Spirit and Who thus enabled him to yearn for their welfare with the compassion of his Lord? So notice what we see in verse 7 and 8 Paul was filled with the affections of Christ for all of the Philippians all of them They were in his heart and he yearned for them with the very affections of Christ I Did state last week that this is a prison epistle one of the prison letters Colossians was a prison letter Ephesians was a prison letter or he is and I thought about this being a letter to those Philippians We know about the seven letters to the seven churches there in Revelation five received a rebuke two did not But I think about this as a letter and I think about us could Paul Feel this way about us like he felt about the Philippians and could he write that down in a letter to us? if we had a participation in a fellowship Like they did well, then he could I Want to begin to close by going back to how I introduced the verses I Said that these verses were all about Paul and how he was filled with joy mainly over one thing their fellowship and I said that we had to work to understand what this fellowship was Before we could understand the joy that Paul had for the fellowship think about it We can't appreciate something if we do not know what it is in that right if All we've ever had is chopped hamburger.

Well, then we'll never appreciate a good state Think about it if all we've ever had is chopped hamburger, then we'll never appreciate a good state What I'm showing you is this we can't understand something unless we know what it is and notice this We have seen that their fellowship was not what we usually define as fellowship Could Paul eat with the Philippians all together as a fellowship meal? No, could he meet them for coffee? No Could he counsel them one-on-one? No, could he visit with them? No, could he go into their homes?

No, he could do none of those things We have seen that their fellowship was all about a common participation and partnership in the entire gospel enterprise Paul certainly had a hearty cooperation in this work and We are and we will see that the Philippians they had a hearty cooperation in this work. Simply they had fellowship And we have seen that Paul's joy flowed out of and because of their True fellowship and I call it true fellowship because this is true fellowship And this just leads me to the title of the message the joy of true fellowship Now let me close by making some application I said earlier we might not have time but we do Let me show you what this looks like for us in our day This is kind of a how-to and I know I'll revisit this next week True biblical fellowship comes out of four things These are a must these are essential and you can see them in Paul's relationship with the Philippians and the Philippians relationship with Paul Number one true fellowship is found in true and common salvation True fellowship is found in a true and a common salvation Paul was a born-again Christian and they were born-again Christians Paul had this partnership with Lydia because both were born-again Christians and we can have this kind of a true fellowship only with born-again Christians Otherwise what fellowship does light have with darkness?

So it starts at conversion Number two true fellowship is found in walking together while being controlled by the spirit True fellowship is found in walking together while being controlled by the spirit Obviously the Philippians were walking filled with the spirit and Paul was walking filled with the spirit I think about a piper ditis when he came to visit Paul in minister to Paul.

They were walking together Fill with the spirit and controlled by the spirit But you know if you are walking with the spirit controlled by the spirit But yet there is a brother or a sister who is not well, they're walking in flesh They're walking in their own efforts in many ways those two cannot have but a certain level of true fellowship And then third true fellowship is found in service in a local healthy church Yes, true fellowship is found in the service in Everything associated with a healthy local church look at their circumstance Paul was sent out in many ways by the Philippians and It was all connected to what the work of the healthy local church all Paul did was go around and start local churches and work to build health in those churches and Look if you are not in a healthy local church You will struggle to have true fellowship with other believers That is a must and then fourth true fellowship is found in the Great Commission coming out of a local healthy church Isn't that what Paul and the Philippians were all about?

They funded much of his apostolic work and he was all about the Great Commission Because look folks the local church and the Great Commission is what we are to be all about Now how does this come together This is still some how-to Who brought Paul and the Philippians together? Who does this work in us? Number one believers in churches come together in true fellowship like we see here. It's a work of God Who brought? The Philippians and Paul together. Why did Paul go there? Look at how God called him there. It was very unique That was not his original plan. God did this work.

God did this work and look God does the same thing today He brings believers and churches together in this true fellowship in this true work of God There are certain believers you'll never have this true fellowship with because they just live somewhere else Number two true fellowship comes Among believers within a church or among other churches and it takes time to develop. It doesn't happen overnight Number three true fellowship among believers within a church or among other churches gets better as it is tested Paul's and the Philippians relationship was tested They lost contact with Paul and they reconnected with Paul.

It was tested over time They had trials think about it. The Philippians could have said we can't invest in Paul. We're too poor We can't send him up an offering. We're too poor. We can't send a piperditis. We need him And then number four true fellowship among believers within a church or among churches takes mutual participation And a partnership you can't fellowship with someone you can't participate with someone if they don't want to and that goes Along with the church as well So my question is I close Do we have the joy of true fellowship like we see here?

This is a lot Now I'll make a confession to you I could have divided us this up easily in a part one and a part two, but I wanted us to try to get it all together Do we have the joy of this true fellowship? This is true fellowship. Do we? I believe we see it in some There's some we should see it in I Mean what I mean is I do believe we see it and we see God developing it But I do believe that some are not in on this fellowship thing as they should be And like I said next week I will revisit this and I might fill in a couple of cracks Now let me pray and then we'll close and we'll look at some prayer needs and I will visit those other passages that I ask Us to study together.

Let's pray