The Gospel-centered Life: Philippians 1:3-8

Introduction

I wouldn’t say I am a particularly nostalgic person, but every now and then I like to take a trip down memory lane by listening to music I grew up with.

This past week I was listening to some songs I liked in high school - during which I went through a long and deep metal music phase - and I don't know if I am getting older, or just haven’t heard it for a long time - but I had no idea the songs were as jacked up as they were.

As I kept listening to the songs I thought I knew so well, I kept being surprised at what they were really about.

And I found myself thinking, “How did I never notice what this song was actually saying?”

I watched this happen to my mom as well. I remember listening to songs on the radio with her while I was growing up and when an inappropriate lyric would come on, she would all of a sudden be in abject shock and turn the song off. Or she’d do the thing where she’d turn the volume down just over the inappropriate parts.

She thought she knew the songs so well - and yet didn’t even realize what they were saying! Maybe this has happened to you too.

If we’re not careful, becoming overly familiar with something can actually lead to ignorance, rather than insight. This is true for a lot of things in our lives, but I think more often than not this happens with the gospel.

It is entirely possible to be so familiar with the gospel, that you actually become ignorant of the gospel’s very real implications in your daily life.

You might think the gospel is only to get you out of hell. Or maybe you have heard the word before, but never really knew what it meant.

It’s also entirely possible that you have been in church your whole life, would say you believe in the gospel of Jesus Christ, but don’t actually know what it is or what it means for you.

So whether you’ve been in church all your life, or have just started to take a look at this whole following Jesus thing - let me lay out for you what the gospel is.

The Gospel

When the Bible talks about the gospel, it means the good news about what God has done in Jesus Christ to bring us back to God.

There is one God, and this God is 3 persons: Father, Son, and Spirit. And this Uncreated God, created everything and everyone.

He made us in his image - which means we are different from the animals because we can relate to him. He made our first parents and placed them in a garden where they could spend their lives enjoying Him and one another.

And yet instead of living in union with the God who created them, they chose to defy Him. They disobeyed His command, and wanted to be like Him rather than be in relationship with Him.

As a result, the infectious disease of sin entered the world, and death through sin. And we’ve been sinning and dying ever since.

Humanity was now separated from God. Unable and unwilling to be with Him.

But God made a way to bring us back to Him.

God promised that he would redeem people from the guilt of sin, and the death that followed. And in the person of Jesus, that promise was fulfilled.

The Second person of the Trinity became man - Jesus of Nazareth. He lived life untainted by the contagion of sin, and died in our place. He, the sinless one, bore our sins in his body on the cross. He became infected for us - and as a result, he took the death we deserved.

But he did not stay dead. Three days later he rose from the dead: defeating sin, conquering death, and providing forgiveness of sins and hope of eternal life to all who would place their faith in Him.

This is the gospel: God has accomplished salvation, freedom from sin, and a way back to life with Him for all who place their faith in Jesus Christ.

If you’ve never heard this before, I want to encourage you to embrace Jesus today. Right now, in your seat. believe the message of the Gospel, and be reunited to the God your heart was made for.

But for those of us who embrace this gospel, it is entirely possible that we’ve become so familiar with it that we haven’t thought through how this gospel not only saves us, but shapes the rest of our lives.

To actually live the Christian life, we usually think we need anything besides the gospel.

Moralism, legalism, white-knuckling sin resistance, people pleasing, rules, lists, guilt, passive-aggressiveness….but not the gospel of sheer grace. We’ve moved on from that.

Transition

But what we see in the Bible and in this text specifically, is that following Jesus means we never move on from the gospel.

Main Idea

What Paul shows us here is that following Jesus is just as much shaped by the gospel, as it is caused by the gospel. Or to put it another way, the Christian life is meant to be centered on and empowered by the gospel.

And today I want to invite you into this gospel-centered and empowered life.

So whether you’ve been following Jesus for years, or this is your first time hearing a Christian sermon before - let’s learn from Paul about how to follow Jesus as Jesus intends for you: centered on the message of the good news of the gospel.

In this text, Paul is going to show us 3 applications for living life centered on the Gospel: Know True Joy, Live in Light of Gospel Promises, and Share in Gospel Friendship.

Let’s take a look at the first one together: Know True Joy (v.3-4)

Know True Joy (v.3-4)

I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy…

Explanation

When Paul wrote this letter he was the happiest man in the least happy situation. Paul wrote Philippians from a Roman prison while chained to a member of the praetorian guard.

And to make matters worse, while he was in prison, he learned that his enemies were putting on smear campaigns against him to boost their own image.

Now most people in this situation would be anything but happy. Bitter, discouraged, despondent.

Not Paul. Instead we see here that Paul is experiencing joy as God designed it. Biblical joy is a deep, tangible happiness centered on God and others despite the present circumstances.

Chapter 4 shows us that the Philippian church heard about Paul’s imprisonment and were, rightfully, concerned for him. So out of love and concern for him they sent him a gift of support, and likely some words of encouragement from fellow missionary Epaphraus. Roman prisons also didn’t provide food for their prisoners - so it was left to family or friends to provide. It's possible they may have even contributed to Paul’s basic necessities. (DA Carson)

This gift sparks Paul’s mind, and leads to the gratitude and joy this verse speaks of. As he reflects on the church he planted, he is filled with gratitude to God.

God, after all, is the one who brought Paul to them, who saved the Philippians with the gospel, and is the ultimate source of the encouragement the church was now sending to him.

This gratitude then finds its home in joyful prayer for the church. He’s writing this like a proud spiritual papa isn’t he? Notice how unique this is - Paul’s joy was bound up in two places: in Jesus, and in others. He knows the joy of Jesus and of praying for others.

His chains didn’t deter him from happiness. His heart was knit to Jesus and to others - and because of that - he experienced unshakeable joy in the least likely of scenarios.

Illustration

This is the opposite of what we normally think about joy. Most people think of joy in a consumerist way - like gas in a car. We need to be filled with what makes us joyful in order to keep going in life. But the gospel changes the paradigm.

Biblical joy is more like looking at a work of art than filling up gas in a car. My favorite painter is Vincent Van Gogh, and a few years ago I got to go see his famous painting Starry Night in person. The painting itself was magnificent, but I was also struck by the thought that went into putting the painting on display.

Everything, from the way the room was constructed all the way down to how they put us in line - was designed to make the masterpiece the central focus of your vision.

So as soon as you entered the room, the only thing in view was a beautiful masterpiece, and the result was - joy.

Application

This same thing is true for our lives. You were not made for self-indulgent joy. You were made to worship. To be in awe. That's why we love things like art, sunsets, and Bruce Willis movies.

We were made for outward-facing awe. To derive joy, not from circumstances, but from worshiping the source of all joy and partaking in that joy with others.

This is how the gospel-centered life knows true joy.

Transition

And as we see next, the Gospel-centered life is also carried out in light of Gospel Promises.

Live in Light of Gospel Promises (v.5-7)

Explanation

The wonderful and radical thing about the gospel, is that when someone begins to follow Jesus, He fundamentally reorients what you think life is really about.

The Christian life is meant to be lived with a new focal point from which everything else is derived. And as Paul shows us in v.5-7, when we live in light of the gospel and its promises, it actually changes 3 things about us: our Priorities, our Hope, and our Relationships.

Let’s take a look at Priorities, verse 5: (DA Carson, priorities language)

V.5: because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now.

Acts 16 tells the story of Paul planting the Philippian church. What started with a simple conversation with a woman near a river, led to a city-wide revival.

Everything about the city of Philippi was flipped upside down by the good news of Jesus. Even to the point that the fundamental priorities of this church shifted from what their culture prized to what Jesus prioritized.

As we saw in the gospel, God’s mission is to reconcile people to Himself through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. And since the start of their church, the Philippians viewed this mission as their mission.

So much so that they linked arms with Paul to carry it out. Paul speaks of their relationship as partnership in the gospel.

They not only participate in the benefits of the gospel together, but the letter to the Philippians shows they supported him to carry out the mission of the Gospel: financially, relationally, and prayerfully.

Application

A natural question that arises from this is: could the same thing be said about you? Individually? In your family? As a church?

Do you view one another as partners in the mission of the Gospel?

Do you see other churches as competition, or as fellow workers on a common mission?

The Philippian church saw fellow saints as partners in the mission of the gospel, and this was because the gospel fundamentally reshaped their priorities.

Transition

But it also reframed their Hope. Take a look at the next verse.

V.6: And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion on the day of Jesus Christ.

Illustration

Hope is a funny thing. Everyone is hoping in something, and usually you can’t see just how much they’re hoping in it - until the hope is realized or diminished.

I’m a fan of all things Tampa sports, but especially the Tampa Bay Rays. And that means I am used to having my hopes dashed. My team might begin a good work, but they never bring it to completion. Maybe you can relate.

Explanation

What we have here is the opposite of the vain hopes of a heartbroken sports fan. In this verse, Paul is exhorting the Philippian church with the assurance of a promised future hope.

He is sure of it - convinced, steady, unshaken. Sure of its ongoing reality for them. But what is he convinced of?

Let’s look at these two phrases:

That he who began a good work in you - the good work is the work God has accomplished in them by their salvation. Like Lydia, the first Philippian Christian, God has “opened their hearts” to believe the message of the gospel and brought them to new life. Previously they were like the bones in Ezekiel 37 - spiritually dead, dry, no sign of life.

But God has performed spiritual heart surgery on them. By His Spirit, through the message of the gospel, He has removed their stony heart of unbelief, and replaced it with a heart of flesh.

They were now alive to God and the things of God. This is the work of God in them - but this work is not finished in them.

Will bring it to completion on the day of Jesus Christ - The gospel message is attached to promises.

If God has brought you to spiritual life to embrace Jesus - this is the result of a promise. God promised He would send a redeemer, that He would perform spiritual heart surgery on people, that He would give forgiveness for sins and bring them to life, and that He would live within them.

If you’re a Chrsitian, this promise has been fulfilled in you.

But life in Jesus is not only the result of a promise, it also points to a promise. Not only has God promised that he would bring us to life now, but He has also promised He will bring you with Him for eternity. And in the meantime, He will not abandon you.

God keeps His promises. He is true to His word.

If God has accomplished the work of grace in your heart, he will continue to carry out this work of sanctification in your life until you see Him face to face.

And that day is coming. Jesus will return. He will gather his people from every tribe, tongue, nation, and language around His throne to worship Him forever.

On that day, our eyes of faith will turn to sight, and we will embrace and be embraced by our Jesus forever.

There will be no need for the sun, because Christ will be our light. We will never be homesick or lonely because Christ will be our home.

No more sin. No more suffering. No more death.

He will be our final rest, our life, our joy - forever!

The day of Christ is coming. And until that day, that day of ultimate rest and life, God will continue the work He started in us. This is sanctification: our growth in Christ is as sure as the day of Christ. He will do it, and He will come again.

Application

This is particularly important when we consider how we grow in Christ through the rest of our lives.

Friend, if you’re in a season of struggle with sin and are feeling hopeless or despondent - take note. This is how we grow in the Christian life.

We don’t kill sin by white knuckling resistance, sheer will power, or legalism. No - we grow in godliness by setting our hearts on the promise of our future hope.

Our growth in Jesus is as sure as our conversion and His return. Notice the argument here - because that event in the future is certain, your growth in Jesus in the present is certain.

God is a good, faithful, gracious Father. He will finish what He started within us. He will not leave us, and one day we will see Him face to face.

Fight your sin, friend, with this future hope.

Transition

And as you do, Paul also makes us consider how this promise then spills forward into our Relationships with the people of God.

V.7: 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 confirmation of the gospel.

Explanation

Paul is sure of their future hope because they are partakers with him in the grace of Jesus.

The grace of the gospel is something they have received individually, and also shared corporately. Along with Paul they have, as Psalm 34:8 says “tasted and seen that the Lord is good”.

And because they have also shared in the grace of Jesus, he holds them in his heart. Literally - he possesses them in his heart.

It's a beautiful visual isn’t it?

They also feel the same way about him. Whether he has been imprisoned, in need, defending the gospel, or watching the gospel work on display - they have been with him through it all.

Application

This application and the next one are particularly challenging for Western Christians like us.

What we see here from Paul and the Philippian church is an interdependent relationship. They share in grace, and mutual service with one another.

This is the consistent teaching of the New Testament. We are united to God and one another in a body together. We partake in the same grace together. Therefore, there is no hierarchy. Even the most seemingly insignificant members of God’s church are valuable - and not just valuable, essential.

Following Jesus with the gospel at the center of your life means following Jesus with other people, specifically your local church.

Transition

We’ll see how this plays itself out even further in our next section, but for now we can see that living in light of Gospel promises fundamentally reorient our priorities, hopes, and relationships.

Finally, the Gospel-centered life invites you to Share in Gospel Friendship.

Share in Gospel Friendship (8)

For God is my witness, how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus.

Illustration

I have a friend who is a huge Tennesee Volunteers football fan. So he’s having a great year. For his birthday a few weeks ago he invited me to watch Tennessee play Florida. And he asked me, “Are you a Tennessee fan?” And I said, “not really, but I hate the Florida Gators.”

To which he said, “ah - the enemy of my enemy is my friend.”

In a similar and yet also very different way, that’s what we see here. In a Gospel-centered life, whoever is loved by my Savior, is loved me. We are linked to one another by the common link to our King.

Explanation

In chapter 4, verse 1 Paul even goes so far as to call this church his, “joy and crown”. When he thinks about the people he’s served in ministry who fill his heart the most - they are who come to mind.

Take note of the phrase, He yearns for them - This word is the intensified form of the normal Greek word for desire. It's a positive, intense, intimate desire. Similar to what we saw above with the phrase “I hold you in my heart” there is a deep intimacy Paul feels with this church.

And the latter half of this verse shows this love is directly connected to Jesus’ love.

Jesus longs for and loves His people. One of my favorite passages to settle my heart on when I need to remember Jesus loves me is Isaiah 43. Listen to how your Lord feels about you:

But now thus says the LORD,

he who created you, O Jacob,

he who formed you, O Israel:

“Fear not, for I have redeemed you;

I have called you by name, you are mine.

2 When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;

and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;

when you walk through fire you shall not be burned,

and the flame shall not consume you.

3 For I am the LORD your God,

the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.

I give Egypt as your ransom,

Cush and Seba in exchange for you.

4 Because you are precious in my eyes,

and honored, and I love you,

He loves you, church. He really loves you. You are precious in His sight.

Paul knew this love of Jesus intimately. The Philippian church knew this love of Jesus intimately. And as an overflow of their union with Christ - they are intimately bound to one another in love.

Christ has linked them to Him, and one another, and the result is intimate friendship.

Application

This kind of intimacy can make us feel really uncomfortable in the modern West.

Any sort of language along the lines of “yearning or longing” is immediately thought of as romantic or sexual. We’re fine with married couples expressing a romantic form of this intimacy, but we don’t see romance here - we see friendship.

Make no mistake about it friends, Paul is feeling deep, intimate, longing for his friends in the gospel.

This is something we’ve lost in our age. We’re busier and more connected than ever - but we’re in a loneliness epidemic.

It lives as a chronic ache that lies below all of our social interactions.

Illustration

CS Lewis identified that this is because the West has elevated Romantic/Sexual love above Friendship love - to our detriment.

Listen to Lewis here: “To the Ancients, Friendship seemed the happiest and most fully human of all the loves; the crown of life and the school of virtue. The modern world, in comparison, ignores it. It is something quite marginal; not a main course in life’s banquet; a diversion; something that fills up the chinks of one’s time.”

We’re about 80 years downstream from Lewis, and we’re feeling the effects of this minimized view of friendship.

In contrast to this, listen to what the Medieval monk Anselm wrote in a letter to one of his dearest friends,

““For since your soul and my soul can by no means endure to be absent from each other, but are incessantly entwined together, there is nothing in us that is missing from each other except that we are not present to each other bodily.”

How much does Anselm sound like the apostle Paul here?

In contrast, how little do we sound like Anselm, or Paul?

In the gospel, God has not only allowed us to share in Christ’s love, but has also given us one another in the church to walk in sweet gospel love and friendship together. Praise God for that.

Conclusion

In this text, Paul - the proud spiritual papa, has modeled for us what it looks like to follow Jesus with the Gospel at the center of your life. In this gospel we not only begin to follow Jesus, but are empowered and shaped to follow Him until He takes us home.

Church - the Lord loves you, He will not abandon you, and He is with you. And because that is true, we now can walk with one another as we follow Jesus together.

This is the life you were made for.

I’ll conclude by sharing with you the way one of my favorite hymns, and the way they describe this gospel-centered life;

There is one Gospel where hope is found

The empty tomb still speaks

For death could not keep my Saviour down

He lives and I am free

Now on my Saviour, I fix my eyes

My life is His and His hope is mine!

For He has promised I, too, will rise

I stand in the Gospel of Jesus Christ

And in this Gospel the church is one

We do not walk alone

We have His Spirit as we press on

To lead us safely home

And when in glory still I will sing

Of this old story that rescued me

Praise to my Saviour, the King of life

I stand in the Gospel of Jesus Christ

Praise to Him indeed.

Let’s pray.