Faith Gives...
Notes
Transcript
Faith Gives...
Faith Gives...
Faith gives us...
Assurance (v.19-20)
Purpose (v.21-26)
Unity (v.27-30)
Intro
Good evening everyone, welcome back to another Thursday night here in our college ministry.
If you need anything at all...
Alright, let’s go ahead and get our eyes on the word of God. If you’re not there already, go ahead and turn the the first chapter of Philippians. We are going to continue or series in this letter.
A few reminders before we read the text...
-Written by Paul
-From prison sometime near the end of his life
-Written to the church in Philippi, whom Paul had a strong connection with
-Written to provide peace, encouragement, and and support.
Last week we began the part of the letter where Paul talks about his imprisonment and what he is going through. And we spoke of how Paul looked at life through the lens of the Gospel and we were encouraged to do the same. This week, we are continuing with Paul’s thoughts on being imprisoned and we hit one of the most famous and convicting lines in this book…let me show you what I mean…let’s read it, I’ll read you follow.
19 for I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ this will turn out for my deliverance, 20 as it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death. 21 For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. 22 If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. 23 I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. 24 But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account. 25 Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all, for your progress and joy in the faith, 26 so that in me you may have ample cause to glory in Christ Jesus, because of my coming to you again.
27 Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel, 28 and not frightened in anything by your opponents. This is a clear sign to them of their destruction, but of your salvation, and that from God. 29 For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake, 30 engaged in the same conflict that you saw I had and now hear that I still have.
Alright, so last week we talked about the Gospel lens..and the things we should see if we are truly looking at the world through the gospel. We got this because of how Paul speaks of his situation…this week…we are still looking at the Apostle Paul and how he’s responding to his situation...
But instead of us seeing how he views the world through the gospel…we go even deeper…and what we see are the things in his life that faith has given him.
And that’s why this message is titled...
Faith Gives
Because if you have a faith in Christ as your lord and savior…if you are a Christian, born again, washed in the blood of Christ…there are certain things that are given to you because of your faith. Certain things that your life will contain…and they are on display in this passage. And here’s the first one...
Faith Gives..
Assurance
Now before we go any further…let’s talk about the word assurance. Because you’re going to miss the beauty of this passage if you don’t fully understand the word. Oftentimes, we intermingle confidence and assurance…because they are similar…but the difference they have is important.
Assurance is a declaration intended to give confidence.
Confidence is the state of being certain about a truth.
Think of it like this…confidence comes from within, it’s our response to knowing truths, being certain of things…or confidence is our response to being assured.
But assurance, is when we are given confidence because of something of someone.
And what we see here in this passage…is that Paul is given confidence because of his Faith…meaning…that faith give assurance. It is what allows you to be confident…but confident in what? Let’s see what Paul is confident in.
Philippians 1:19–20 (ESV)
19 for I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ this
So what is “this”? Paul is talking about his imprisonment. So what Paul is saying is that he “knows” he has confidence, he’s been given confidence, that his imprisonment will turn out for his deliverance. How does that make sense?? That’s like saying that I know me going to jail will bring me to freedom…ugh no…it’ll bring to jail.
So the only explanation, is that Paul isn’t talking about deliverance from chains…he’s talking about deliverance from something else. Let’s continue, end of v.19
will turn out for my deliverance, 20 as it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death.
And there we have it. Paul isn’t talking about his immediate release in this passage…he’s talking about his eternal state. His life in glory with Christ.
What Paul is saying, is that he has been given confidence…he has been assured that this entire situation with him being imprisoned, will prove and contribute to the deliverance of his soul. Not because him doing good works in this prison is what will save his soul…but rather, his doing good works in prison further proves the work that’s already been done in his soul...
And what does Paul say is giving him this certainty? Look back at the top of verse 19...
He knows…THROUGH…the prayers and the help of the Spirit.
Guys…Paul doesn’t think that there is power in itself in the prayers of the Philippians…but rather…that there is power in the one who answers those prayers. And the one who answers those prayers is also the one who is going to help him through the Holy Spirit to stay commited to the cause of Christ…to persevere in hardship..to continue fighting the fight and running the race.
So do you see what I’m getting at here?
Paul faith in God, and who God is, and what God does…gave him ASSURANCE that all was going to work out towards his eternal deliverance. As you see there in verse 20, it gave him “Expectation and hope” that he will not be ashamed…but whether by life…or by death…Christ would be glorified.
Guys, if you have a sincere and true faith…like the faith Paul had…then you are given an assurance in life. An assurance that no matter what comes your way, God is the God who will bring good things to completion like we saw in verse 6.
God is the God who will work on your behalf to bring this to contribute to the proving of the deliverance of your soul. Paul actually speaks about this in the book of Romans. This is what he says..
3 Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
Paul straight up says in verse five here that our hope in suffering will not put us to shame…just like how in verse 20 of Philippians he says the he will not be ashamed, but this will honor Christ.
If you have Faith…you have that same type of assurance.
And I just want to say…if you lack that assurance in something that you’re going through…then all you need to do is turn your eyes back on the faith you’ve been given.
To the depth that we remember our faith in God and who he is…is the depth in which we are given assurance.
So Faith brings assurance…but that’s not all. We also see in this passage that Faith brings...
Purpose
We see this right off the bat in this next little chunk of our passage. With the famous line in verse 21..
21 For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. 22 If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. 23 I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. 24 But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account. 25 Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all, for your progress and joy in the faith, 26 so that in me you may have ample cause to glory in Christ Jesus, because of my coming to you again.
So just to explain the flow of thought for you a little easier…Paul is externally processing here…something he does from time to time… He’s essentially thinking out loud. And he’s thinking and processing not an actual choice of life or death, because he doesn’t have that choice before him in this situation…but rather, he is examining the motivations of his heart.
He’s not saying “what shall I do? kill myself or continue living?”…rather, he is deciphering his deepest desires…what does he want? What does he TRULY want in life?
In some ways he desires to die, and be with Christ…because being with Christ is far better than anything this world has to offer...
And in other ways he desires to live…so that he can work with the Philippians and the other churches and do work for the kingdom of God…to live is to do the work of Christ...
So he has these two desires…but notice where he lands and how he lands there.
He says in verse 25, that convinced of the necessity of the work of Christ in the Philippians, he will continue on…for their progress and joy in the faith.
So what does Paul do? He admits his deepest desires…but he doesn’t let his desires control him…he doesn’t choose what would make him happiest…he doesn’t choose what would comfort him the most…instead…he choose what will fulfill his purpose.
His purpose, directed his decisions…not his desires.
Oh guys…if only we could all learn to do that.
If only we could all learn to let our decisions be driven by purpose rather than desire.
If only we could let our desire be to fulfill our purpose like Paul here.
That’s a hard thing to do…it’s easier said than done…but you know what?
Thank God that he gave us a purpose to direct our lives…and he gave us that purpose through the faith we have.
Our faith, brings us our purpose.
Paul straight up said it in verse 25 there. His purpose is to continue on for their progress of joy in the faith, and for their glorifying of Jesus Christ.
And you know what?
Our purpose is exactly the same in this life.
We have the same faith Paul has, and therefore we have the same purpose.
To cause others to progress in their joy in the faith and glorify Christ.
That’s the purpose our faith gives us…and it’s the purpose Jesus spoke of when he gave us the great commission.
18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
So your application from this is…don’t lose sight of your faith given purpose.
Let me say that again...
Don’t lose sight of your faith-given purpose.
And let that faith-given purpose direct you in your decisions. Your decisions on your career, on who to date, on where to spend your time, and where to spend your money.
Your faith has given you a purpose…don’t lose sight of it because you’re clouded by desire…either Godly or worldly.
Last point for tonight…our faith brings assurance, it brings purpose, and it also brings unity.
Faith brings...
Unity (v. 27-30)
So at the end of verse 26, Paul says he wants them to glorify Christ because of his coming to them again and then says..
27 Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel, 28 and not frightened in anything by your opponents. This is a clear sign to them of their destruction, but of your salvation, and that from God.
So Paul says…he plans on coming to them, he wants them to glorify Christ because of it....BUT, whether he comes to them or not…his desire is that they would live a life worthy of the gospel of Christ.
Now I want you to ask yourselves…what does it mean to live a life worthy of the gospel?
Like, if you were at the end of your life, and someone asks you “did you live a life worthy of the gospel?” what are the things you would say to prove that you had.
And just to be clear, this isn’t talking about living a life that makes you worthy to receive the gospel…this is talking about living a life that is becoming of one who has received the gospel. Living a life that’s worthy of what God already gave you because of his work and not yours.
So what’s your answer?
I would reckon to guess that many of you, the minute I asked this question, began to think about sin. Your struggle with it…your freedom from it…your fight against it. Your sanctification…that is the becoming more righteous…I think that’s where your mind goes...
And I get it. Christ died for our sins and so we want to live a life in righteousness not sin…that’s a good thought....but…it’s not the though that Paul has here.
You see, instead of talking about sin or sinlessness as the evidence of them living a life worthy of the gospel…he talks about…unity.
You see it there at the end of verse 27? If they are living a life worthy of the gospel of Christ…they are standing firm in one spirit…and with one mind…striving SIDE by SIDE for the faith of the gospel.
To bring it home to you quickly....if you’re not living a life in unity with the believers around you…if you’re not living a life that puts away quarrels and strife and instead takes up the cause of the faith of the gospel…then you’re not living a life that is worthy of the gospel.
Let that sink in.
If you are a person who is prone to drama and quarreling with those sitting next to you…or if you are a person that is currently in the midst of that…and you’re not able to put that aside for the sake of unity in the body of Christ…then you need to consider if you’re living the right life…the one that Paul is causing us to.
Because if you have Faith in Christ....you have a faith that brings Unity.
Notice at the end of our passage here…it says that the faith and unity we have will speak to our opponents. Who are our opponents? Those who oppose or who are not a part of the body of Christ.
Paul says at the end here…that you’ll know you have unity when through that unity…you’re not frightened by opponents, but instead your opponents are at odds with the church because what they see is a their clear sign that they are on the wrong side. They are headed for destruction.
Verse 29-30 actually shows us that we will know we are unified together when we suffer together and are persecuted together.
So let me ask…are you living a life that shows the kind of faith that produces unity?
Reflection Questions: