Sermon Tone Analysis

“THANK GOD FOR THE CHURCH”

(Philippians 1:1-11)

 

 

A.

The Relevance of the Sermon

 

I heard about a little boy who had a jigsaw puzzle that on one side had a map of the world and on the other side had a picture of a man.

His mother asked him to try and work it and before long the little fellow had put the puzzle together.

The mother was surprised to find that the little fellow knew so much about geography.

She asked him, “How on earth did you do that?”

“Oh,” he said, “I worked the other side first.

When I got the man right, the world was right.”

How true that is!

We will never fix this world until we get ourselves right with God!  We will never reach the world with the Gospel until the church is right with God.

What, in particular, needs putting right in the church to insure the greater progress of the Gospel in the world?

Paul answers that question in the letter to the Philippians.

B.

The Review of the Setting

Last week, we began a series of messages on Paul’s epistle to the Philippians.

You will remember that the letter of Philippians was written from Rome while Paul was under house arrest.

Paul learned about the prevailing conditions at Philippi through a messenger and minister sent by the church at Philippi.

From the letter, it is clear that Epaphroditus informed Paul that the Gospel was being hindered.

We saw last time that Paul describes seven main hindrances to the progress of the Gospel:

* The Hindrance of Complacency (1:1-11)

* The Hindrance of Circumstances (1:12-30)

* The Hindrance of Conceit (2:1-30)

* The Hindrance of Compromise (3:1-21)

* The Hindrance of Contention (4:1-3)

* The Hindrance of Cares (4:4-9)

and,

* The Hindrance of Cynicism (4:10-23)

Because of this information, Paul takes up his pen, under inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and writes the letter that we hold in our hands today to insure the greater progress of the Gospel.

Hence, let us consider how Paul addresses the first hindrance in verses 1-11.

C.

The Reading of the Scripture    

/Paul and Timothy, bond-servants of Christ Jesus, To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, including the overseers and deacons: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always offering prayer with joy in my every prayer for you all, in view of your participation in the gospel from the first day until now.

For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.

For it is only right for me to feel this way about you all, because I have you in my heart, since both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel, you all are partakers of grace with me.

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

And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve the things that are excellent, in order to be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ; having been filled with the fruit of righteousness which comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God/.

Prayer:  Our Father in Heaven, we ask that the Holy Spirit might work in such a way in the services today that the saints who are present might be brought to sing, “Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine!”  Help us Lord to know that we are yours that we might be a blessing to others.

In the precious name of Jesus, I pray.

Amen.

Paul’s concern in the first eleven verses is to help believers overcome the hindrance of “confusion” by assuring them of their standing with God.

So, by observing to whom Paul addresses his letter, we may know whether or not we have the character of a Christian.

What are the characteristics of a true believer?

A Christian is a servant, a saint, a soul-winner, and a sculpture.

Let’s consider each of these characteristics so that we might know that we are right with God for the sake of the Gospel!

I.

A CHRISTIAN IS A SERVANT.

(Philippians 1:1a)

 

            “Paul and Timothy, bond-servants of Christ Jesus . .

.”

The lack of the definite article, “the”, before the designation“ bond-servants” highlights that Paul did not consider himself and Timothy as slaves by title, but by nature.

In other words, it was not just something that he and Timothy did that made them bond-servants, but it was what they were.

Hence, Paul and Timothy viewed themselves and every other Christian as servants of God by nature!

He uses the designation of himself at the beginning of three different epistles, Romans, the present epistle, Philippians, and Titus.

In 2 Corinthians 4:5, Paul proclaims, “. . .

/we do not preach ourselves but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your bond-servants for Jesus’ sake/.”

The designation does not extend merely to apostles and leader, however, but to every believer.

In 1 Corinthians 7:22-23 when Paul writes, “. . . he who was called while free, is Christ’s slave.

You were bought with a price . . .

”  Again in referring to Epaphras and Tychicus in Colossians 1:7 and 4:7 respectively, he designates both as “bond-servants” for Christ!

To call oneself a Christian is to identify one’s self with Christ who Paul describes in Philippians 2:7 as taking on the “form of a bond-servant.”

In short, a Christian is a servant!

Now while “servant” is an appropriate English rendering of the term /douloi/, the readers of the letter would have understood the word to have only meant “slave.”

The word denotes a person who is not at his own disposal, but is his master's purchased property.

Bought to serve his master's needs, to be at his every beck and call, the slave's sole business is to do as he is told.

Christian service therefore means, first and foremost, living out a slave relationship to one's Savior.

What work is indicative of Christ’s servants?

A.

A Christian Serves Christ Biblically.

(1:1a-1)

 

            “/Paul and Timothy, bondservants of Christ/ /Jesus/ . .

.”

A Christian is one who serves Christ according to His will.

In the time of Paul, all that was done contrary to the orders of a master was disobedience, not service; and if anything was done without orders, it certainly was not service.

My friends, many think they are serving God when they have never looked to the Scriptures, they have not turned to the commandments of the great King as we have them written in His Word, but have rendered to Him service after their own fancy.

If we are to serve the Lord, the church must avoid all activities that the Lord does not require.

Otherwise I warn you that you may be borne along the rapid stream of church activity to mere tradition, and may never render acceptable service to the Lord; or you may be relentlessly busy on your own account, and after your own will, but your exertions will not be service to God, because you consulted not his will.

As a Christian you must bow your neck to the yoke of Christ.

Do you all have respect unto the Lord’s commandments?

I will ask concerning one of them—have you, as believers, been obedient to his command to be baptized?

Have you given this answer of a good conscience towards God?  “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved.”

As plainly as anything in Scripture, it seem, at least to us, that believers, baptism is commanded; have you attended to it?

Some of you know your duty, but you not do it; I pray the Holy Spirit to convince you of your sinful neglect, and to lead you into all the commandments of your Lord.

Our will must bow, and our heart must obey, or otherwise we shall be strangers to /“serving /the Lord.”

B.                 A Christian Serves Christ Willingly.

(1:1a-2)

 

            “/Paul and Timothy, bondservants of Christ Jesus/ . .

.”

The term /douloi/ describes willing service.

It reflects the attitude of an Old Testament slave who refused the opportunity for freedom and voluntarily resubmitted himself to his master for life.

The law of Moses provided that “. . .

/if the slave plainly says, ‘I love my master, my wife and my children; I will not go out as a free man,’ then his master shall bring him to God, then he shall bring him to the door or the doorpost.

And his master shall pierce his ear with an awl; and he shall serve him permanently/.”

A Christian is one who does not serve legalistically, but does so from the heart.

A few years ago, I had the privilege of visiting Massachusetts where the great evangelist D. L. Moody held the great Northfield Bible Conferences in the late 1800s.

A large group of European pastors came for the Conference during the 1800s.

Following the European custom of the time, each guest put his shoes outside his room to be cleaned by the hall servants overnight.

But of course this was America and there were no hall servants.

Walking the dormitory halls that night, Moody saw the shoes and determined not to embarrass his brothers.

He mentioned the need to some ministerial students who were there, but met with only silence or pious excuses.

Moody returned to the dorm, gathered up the shoes, and, alone in his room, the world’s most famous evangelist began to clean and polish the shoes.