Philippians 1:7-10
Philippians Midweek • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Introduction
Introduction
Read Philippians 1:7-10
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. 8 For God is my witness, how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus. 9 And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, 10 so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ,
Have you ever wanted something good for someone more than they wanted it for themselves?
Explanation
Explanation
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.
What way does Paul feel? Paul is thankful, and Paul sees God at work in the Philippian church. He says, “It is right and appropriate for me to feel this way about you.”
Paul mixes three emotions and sentiment for his church.
Affection
Confidence
Joy
This verse is the one where we learn that Paul is in jail.
Notice how other centered Paul is being.
How many of you, if you were in jail, would have the wherewithall to highlight the good you see in a local church you served 10 years ago.
Koinonia - commonality, partnership, and fellowship.
The Fellowship of the Ring - It is an all-in, life-or-death collective venture in the face of great evil and overwhelming opposition. True fellowship is less Rotel dip and a football game, and it’s more in the war trenches with your squadron in WWII.
We don’t do community for community’s sake. You can do that at the country club. We do community for Christ’s sake. The stakes are higher, and the reward is greater.
Hebrews 3:12–13 “12 Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. 13 But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.”
“Fellowship is the middle child of the spiritual disciplines, but she may save your life in the dark night of your soul.” // David Mathis
I had a group of friends at the BCM at Mississippi State University. We met every Tuesday night after worship and confessed sin to one another and prayed for one another.
Notice the warfare terms - partakers of grace with me - in my imprisonment and defense and confirmation of the gospel.
You are colaborers with me.
You are defending the gospel.
You are confirming it in others.
8 For God is my witness, how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus.
If you don’t have affection for your church, you should grow in that way.
God supernaturally gives us a love for our churches. It is a gift. The community and affection that we feel for one another is a supernatural gift.
It is something that cannot be given to any other community. It is God that we have in common. We can cultivate it, or we can quench it.
Paul misses his people.
9 And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment,
We are a pendulum swing kind of people. We are either one extreme or the other.
We want to love, and we want to define what live is.
We want the truth, and we sometimes bludgeon people with it.
We can
10 so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ,
Invitation
Invitation
