Gospel Identity

Introduction

Well, good morning…if you have your Bibles go ahead and turn with me to Philippians chapter 1…Philippians chapter 1. And listen, you can go ahead and just mark your place there because we’re gonna be here for a while. My plan’s to walk through this letter as slowly and as thoroughly as we possibly can, looking at what God inspired through Paul. This morning, our goal is to look at just the first two verses together.

And you know, as I studied through this letter, there was one theme that really just kept popping up…it was the idea of unity. Now, there’s all kinds of things we’ll see come out of this letter but it’s unity that I think Paul really highlighted the most. We see it in chapter one when Paul talks about his partners in the gospel and the unity that exists in preaching the gospel. We see it at the end of the chapter when he says we stand in one spirit, in one accord, contending together for the faith of the gospel. He talks about the idea of humility in chapter two and how it brings us all together in unity. We see it in chapter three when he uses the image of unity in our heavenly citizenship and then in chapter four he charges us to unity. Listen, as we walk through this together…that’s the theme I want us to keep at the front of our minds…unity. What is Paul telling us about unity? How does this section of Scripture speak to unity? Which is why I’ve titled this sermon series “Bridge Builders.” I think it’s safe to say that we all desire unity…we all desire to be united with those we love and cherish…but what Paul lays out as we go through this letter is what biblical unity actually looks like. It’s what really unites us as God’s children and what drives us forward in our walk with Christ. And when we understand what biblical unity actually looks like and what’s demanded of us, we’re able to bridge the gap between all of our divides.

You know, as we come to this letter, this is another of Paul’s prison Epistles. We just went through one together at the start of the year…in Ephesians…but there’s a total of four these. And what these are is when Paul was imprisoned in Rome he wrote these specific letters in response to different situations. In this specific instance, Paul wrote this letter in response to the church in Philippi who had sent Epaphroditus (a-pa-pro-die-tus) to Rome with financial support to help Paul. And it was Paul that would send this letter back with Epaphroditus (a-pa-pro-die-tus) to the church in Philippi. And as we go through this letter together over the next several months, you’re gonna see that this was one of Paul’s favorite churches…Listen, where’s all my parents at? How many of you have a favorite child?...Listen, some of you might not be raising your hand but you know you have one…The church of Philippi was a church that Paul had planted himself and they had partnered with him on multiple occasions in the spread of the gospel…they were oftentimes sending financial support and partnering with him in prayer…and listen, he’s gonna reference that partnership multiple times throughout the course of this letter. He loved this church so much; he calls them his joy and crown.

And listen, as we read through this, we’re gonna see that Philippians is pretty unique among all of Paul’s other epistles. I mean it’s certainly one the most beloved of all Paul’s letters…but what makes it so different as Martyn Lloyd-Jones puts it, is that “it’s the most lyrical and it’s just brimming with joy and affection, and warmth, and love.” Some of our most favorite verses come from this letter…Paul writes, “to live is Christ and to die is gain,” right? Or “I count all these things as loss for the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.” Or “I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me.” Or in chapter two, we see one the most important Christological passages in all of the New Testament. And these are passages that show us something about who Jesus Christ is and what He came to do. Guys, Philippians is an important piece of Scripture but what makes it so different than all of Paul’s other writings is that it more explicitly displays to us the power of the gospel. Unlike his other letters, Romans or even Ephesians, Paul doesn’t start with doctrine…He doesn’t give us three or four chapters of theology followed by application. Listen, that’s what we have in Romans…that’s what we saw as we dug into Ephesians. And guys, that’s typically Paul’s pattern in all of his letters…but in Philippians, what we see is that it’s all practical…and this practical application is kind of interlaced and woven through Paul’s theology. And so, while it is a very theological letter as we’ll find, it comes to us in a very practical way. It’s a letter that really shows us the practical outworking of the gospel in our lives.

And so, as we start this new sermon series, just a little background on this church and this letter. Again, Paul planted the church at Philippi…he was the founding father of the church. And their history together had forged this strong bond between the two. And listen, when we study the book of Acts, we learn a little bit about these Philippian believers. They were positioned in a very dark corner of the Roman Empire…Just on the eastern side of Macedonia, they were heavily influenced by Roman culture. It had always had a strong military history. Alexander the Great’s father, King Philip II, which is where the name Philippi comes from, he took over this city during the Greek’s rise to power. And then during the Roman era, Octavian and Marc Antony, they defeated some of Caesar’s assassins there in a very decisive battle. And listen, the Roman’s celebrated their victory there by making Philippi a Roman colony…which is important because these Philippians would have had the same legal rights and privileges as citizens of Rome. And therefore, it was heavily influenced by the Roman culture. So much so, there wasn’t even one Jewish synagogue there during this time…they only worshipped pagan gods. But yet as Paul and his companions traveled there and shared the gospel, God did a mighty work in changing the hearts and minds of these people. So much so that these people became some of Paul’s greatest supporters in advancing the gospel.

And so listen, this morning, our goal is to dig into the first two verses together looking at what it shows us about our gospel identity…our Christian identity. You know, a lot of times, we see these introductions to these different letters and we kind of label them as throw away verses…but listen, they’re not…instead what we really see is a powerful description of what it means to be a Christian. What is it that really unities us together? And so, I wanna read these first two verses and then show you several aspects of what we might call gospel identity.

Verse 1 says, “1 Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi, with the overseers and deacons: 2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”

Listen, as we start this letter…it’s clear who wrote it…Paul says he’s the author and that he’s with Timothy. And he sends it to this church that he identities as “the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi, with the overseers and deacons.”

But listen, in that greeting, kind of compressed into those two verses, we have this entire theology of the Christian identity, of gospel identity. The very words in these phrases, they show us what it really means to be a Christian. And listen, this morning, there’s three key things I want you to see about this Christian identity.

1.) We are Saints

The first one’s this idea that we’re saints. Paul writes, “To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi.”

What does it mean…this word “saints?” When Paul calls his Philippian friends, saints…he’s giving a picture of this privileged access these people have…this privileged access into the very temple of God. And when we come to Scripture, we hear this word all the time, but have you ever stopped and just wondered, what’s it mean? I think it’s important because there’s just so many misconceptions out there.

In our English Bibles, the noun “saint” and the adjective “holy,” they’re two ways to talk about the same exact thing. The Greek word for “saints” used here is hagios (hag-ee-os) which literally means to be set apart by God, it means to be holy and sacred. It describes the purity that befits the privilege of standing in the presence of God. And too oftentimes, we don’t look at ourselves as “saints”…we don’t see ourselves as set apart or holy. You may identity with the idea that you’re a “sinner saved by grace,” but you just can’t get behind the thought that you’re a saint. And listen, until you understand your gospel identity…you’ll never truly understand the work God’s done in bringing you to Himself.

Biblically speaking…you are a saint. A saint isn’t someone canonized by the Roman Catholic Church…Guys, for centuries this term’s been misused. They believe a person can only be declared a saint after they’ve died…and listen, it’s only for those super-elite Christians who’ve really impacted the world…it’s only for those of us that are the best of the best…you know? And once, you’ve been labeled a saint, we’re gonna say these prayers to you…we’re gonna build a church in your honor…Guys, that’s not a biblical idea.

In Scripture, every single believer is a saint…which is why in almost all of Paul’s letters he addresses believers as what? Saints…even in those where he’s correcting some pretty ungodly behavior within the church. I mean just go and read his letters to the Corinthians. The whole purpose of that letter was to correct many of their moral and ethical failures…I mean some really crazy stuff…and yet he writes to them, “those who are called to be saints in Christ Jesus.” The Christians at Corinth weren’t saints because of their spiritual maturity…but rather it was because of their calling to Jesus.

Again, going back to the word “saints,” it literally means to be set apart…to be holy before God. To be set apart from something and to something…in the Christian sense, to be set apart from sin and to righteousness. Or in other words, to be set apart from the enslavement to this world, the flesh, and to be set apart for God. That’s what Paul means when he says in Romans chapter 6, “17 But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, 18 and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness.”

That’s what it means to be a saint….to be liberated, to be set apart, to be freed from slavery to sin…it means we serve a new master. It means to be a servant or slave to Christ and to righteousness. And listen, you might be sitting there thinking, “Yea, but I’m still not a saint. I’m not this righteous person.” Listen to me, when someone’s born again…when someone’s changed through the power of Christ, when they cross that threshold from darkness into light, from death to life…that first moment of genuine faith in Christ, at that moment, they definitively become saints. It’s at that moment, they’re set apart and devoted to God. It’s at that moment, that God looks down on you and He sees you as righteous…not because of what you’ve done…not because of what you’ve going to do…but because of what He’s done. You’re righteous because of the blood of Christ that now covers you.

In Acts chapter 16, we actually get an awesome testimony of this truth revolving around the church of Philippi. When Paul and his companions traveled to that city, the text says that they came across a woman who was a worshipper of the God of Israel. Her name was Lydia…and the text says there was this little prayer meeting at the riverside because remember there wasn’t a synagogue in Philippi. And so, Paul and his friends, they started sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ with them. And Luke tells us in that chapter that the Lord “opened her heart to believe the things that Paul had said.” She’s the first convert in all of Europe and it would be her home that would be used to plant the church of Philippi.

There’s another story on the heels of that…we all know about the demon possessed girl they come across. Paul rebukes the demon, he does an exorcism of the demon and they’re thrown in jail because the girl’s no longer able to make money for her masters. But while they’re in jail, they’re singing because they counted it joy to suffer for the sake of Christ…and the text says there’s an earthquake that tears the jail gates open. Of course, the jailer, being afraid that the prisoners were gonna escape, he gets ready to kill himself and Paul stops him. He says, “No, we’re all here. No one’s left the prison.” And listen, that one act causes the guard to ask a very important question, right? “What must I do to be saved?” And it says they responded by sharing Christ with them…”Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved, you and your household.” Of course, he believes and his whole house was converted. And right there, we have the nucleus of the Philippian church. That’s the starts of this church.

But listen, what I want you to understand or get from those stories is that every one of these people that made up this church…this very infant church, though they were very different in their backgrounds, though they were coming from different parts of society…they were all saints because they had all come to faith in Jesus Christ. It was Jesus that set them apart…it was Jesus that made them righteous and holy.

And guys, this is true of every Christian today. In fact, to be a Christian is to be a saint. It’s to be set apart…to be set apart by God from sin to righteousness. Now of course, this is progressive, it’s ongoing lifestyle of sanctification, where we continue to grow in holiness, where we become more and more like Christ…but to be a Christian is to be a saint. That’s part of our identity. If you believe in Jesus Christ this morning, you are a saint and you are set apart and you are holy and righteous because of the blood of Christ. It’s our gospel identity. It shows the world exactly what Jesus did on the cross so many years ago. It shows us the significance in our salvation. Our identity’s rooted in the fact that Jesus hasn’t just purchased us by His blood but that He’s transformed us through His blood.

Also, notice the all here when he says, “to all the saints.” The emphasis on “all,” it highlights the importance of unity. The Philippians are saints through their union with Christ.

2.) We are in Christ

But notice how Paul says this…“To all the saints…IN CHRIST JESUS.” What a powerful phrase….Those who are in Christ Jesus.

Listen, did you know that the word “Christian” it only appears a total of three times in all of the New Testament? It’s only there three times…but the phrases “in Christ” or “in Him,” those phrases are seen over 100 times in the New Testament. And this is just how Paul describes what it means to be a Christian. A Christian, according to Paul, is someone who’s in Christ. Guys, again…all believers are saints…but not because they’re themselves righteous, but because they’re in their Lord. Listen, it’s Jesus’s righteousness that’s imputed to them.

Think about it like this…a Buddhist doesn’t speak of himself as in Buddha, right? Or a Muslim…they don’t speak of themselves in Mohammed. That would go against their very religion. It would go against their gods. The goal of those religions is to follow the teachings and convictions of those religious leaders…it’s not to be in them. Only a Christian can claim to be in their Lord…because only they’ve been made spiritually one with Him.

“But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which he loved us,” Paul wrote, “even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” To the Galatians he wrote, “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.” Paul talks about being baptized in Christ in different letters or commands us to put on Christ, like what we saw in Ephesians, right? In all of Paul’s letters, that phrase “in Christ Jesus,” it occurs 50 different times…the phrase “in Christ,” that appears 29 times….and the phrase “in the Lord,” 45 times. Guys, being “in Christ Jesus” it’s our supreme source of joy because it’s what makes us acceptable to God. And it’s what makes us so much different than anything else in this world. It’s what gives us our gospel identity, our Christian identity. And Paul’s teaching us, every time he wrote these phrases, to value that identity over our earthly identity…because that’s what unifies us together. That’s what brings our life worth. It’s Christ and Christ alone. And not just knowing Christ, but being in Christ.

Christians in New Testament language, they’re people who were once outside of Christ, but now that they’ve repented and turned to Him, now that they’ve believed into Christ, they’re in Him. They’re one with Him.

Listen, we’re gonna get to this section of text in a couple of months, but listen what Paul says in Philippians 3…He describes all his qualifications as a Jew, a Pharisee, a law-keeper, as someone who had all these things to boast in…but in verse 7, after given us all these credentials, he says, “7 But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. 8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ.” But listen to this, “9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith.”

So what does it mean to be in Christ or in Jesus? Well, there’s a ton of things we could talk about but there’s two things I really want you to see. First, to be in Christ means legally that everything Jesus accomplished, it counts for you. It means that when God sees you, He ultimately sees you in Christ. He sees you through the lens of Jesus’s work on the cross. Listen, this means that when Christ died on the cross He took your sins…when He fully obeyed the law of God, when He fulfilled all righteousness, when the Father spoke from heaven and said, “this is my beloved Son, in whom I’m well pleased,” all that Christ accomplished…it counts for you…it counts for me. All so that we could now be clothed in obedience, covered in His righteousness…we’re accepted with this same acceptance. To be in Christ, it means that God receives you in His Son in which He’s well pleased.

In means that you’re in Christ, the second Adam, instead of being in the first Adam. Instead of being represented by Adam, the father of all the human race, who sinned, whose sin impacted the entirety of mankind and plunged us into death and sin…instead of being represented by him, we’re now represented by Jesus.

And so, when we begin to realize the significance of this term, “in Christ,” we see that it has to do with our justification. It has to do with how we’re accepted by God, how we’re made righteous with God…how we come to peace with Him. Guys, it all comes by being in Christ.

But here’s what else that means for you and me…it means we’ve been changed through a vital, life-giving union with Christ. I mean the very best illustration I could possibly give you, Jesus gave in John 15. He uses this picture of a vine and branches. He says, “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me, and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing.”

According to Jesus Himself, to be in Christ is to be a branch abiding in the vine. It’s to be connected to Him, to be joined to Him, to have its life-giving power shared with you…all so that the very life and power of Christ flows to you. It means, according to Paul, that you live, yet not you, but Christ who lives in you. To be in Christ is to be alive in Christ.

And of course, because we’re in Christ…another aspect about the union we have with Him shows us a corporate dimension to our union. To be in Christ, means to be a member of the body of Christ. It’s to be joined together to His people. That’s what unifies us…being in Christ…which is why he’s addressing the whole church at Philippi at the starts of this letter. And we know that’s the case because he includes the congregation by saying “to all the saints” and then adds to the overseers and deacons as well. He’s talking about the whole church and them unified together because they’re all “in Christ.”

So what does it mean to be a Christian? It means to be a saint, to be set apart from sin, and it means to be in Christ Jesus…both legally and practically…but also corporately.

3.) We are Partakers of Grace

And so, the Christian identity means we’re saints…it means we’re in Christ…but look at verse 2 again…it also means it’s all about grace. He says, “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”

Again, too oftentimes, we see these kind of verses and we kind of look over them. These aren’t just words in a greeting. Paul uses these words because of the theology he holds to. When he says these words, “Grace to you and peace from God,” he’s giving us the scope and source of all Christian blessing.

Listen guys, peace is the greatest possible blessing we could receive, it’s a divine gift…both in spiritual ways and in our earthly temporal lives, it’s the greatest possible blessing…but notice grace is the source from which is all happens. Paul, in the greeting to this letter, he’s celebrating grace and peace as gospel gifts.

And notice where this grace, the source of our peace, notice where it comes from…Paul says it comes from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. And this is just a side note, but right there, we see this equality between the Father and the Son, right? But listen, Paul’s celebrating this grace. We have to remember, grace is given to those that deserve wrath and death…it’s unmerited…underserved. In each of our lives, we’ve done everything to deserve the exact opposite of grace. The immeasurable gap between the infinite wrath we deserve and the infinite kindness we receive is what makes grace so amazing.

And so, what’s this have to do with our gospel identity? It means we’re all partakers of grace. Our being saints, our being in Christ, it’s all based on grace. It all comes from grace. Its grace from start to finish. Listen, we saw examples of this with Lydia in Acts 16 or with the jailor. Every single person that comes to Christ is a partaker of grace. They deserve hell and damnation. They deserve punishment from God…but instead God gives them grace.

What I want you to see here is that only by becoming a partaker of grace can we come to Christ. It’s in God’s grace that He meets us wherever we are and brings us to faith in Christ. Guys, having a gospel identity means that we’re set apart for Christ…that we’re saints…that we’re in Him….it means that we’re all partakers of the grace of God.

Paul starts his letter, “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ,” and then he ends the letter, “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.” Church, the only way to come to Christ and to be made new in Christ is through the grace of God. It’s not by being a good person. It’s not by simply choosing to be made in Him. It’s not by willing it or wanting it…it’s not by anything that can come from our power…it’s simply a free gift of God that He gives to us. Our Christian identity is rooted in this unmerited grace He gives us.

Closing

And so, as we close this morning…can I ask you a question? What shapes your identity? If I were to ask you, “Who are you?” how do you answer that question? What identifies you as you?

Every head bowed and every eye closed.

You know…if we’re honest…when we’re asked that question…we immediately jump to our families; I’m a husband or I’m a wife…I’m a dad or mom…I belong to this family…I came from this part of the country. For some of us, we think about our vocation, our jobs…I’m a teacher…or a doctor…that’s what defines me…I’m a pastor.

Maybe you look to other things that define your identity. Maybe it’s your hobbies or your gifts. Maybe it’s what you like to do. But guys, when the gospel really takes hold in our hearts, our answer to that question should be…“I’m a saint…I’ve been set apart. I’ve been set free…I’ve been rescued from this darkness and delivered into light, I was once enslaved to sin but now, even though I’m still imperfect, there’s been a change in my heart. God’s set me free by His power. I’m set apart for Christ, I belong to Him. I live by faith in Him. I’m a partaker of grace because of Him. That’s what identifies me. That’s what makes me, me. It’s Christ and Christ alone. I’m here today, set apart because of Christ.”

I know, like Paul, I can truly look back on my life, and I can say with no reserve, “it’s by the grace of God that I am what I am.”

Would you pray with me this morning? Listen, maybe you’re here and you know who you are…you know you belong to Christ. You know you’re in Him. Pray that God would give you that realization. Pray that He’ll give you the freedom that comes from knowing that. Or maybe you’re here and you’re not quite sure who you are. Friend, I urge you…repent and believe. Turn to Jesus and let Him change you. Whatever it is…would you pray with me?

[Prayer]