1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:12,640 your Bibles or your devices to Philippians and pop a finger in Acts 16 as well. So I've got 2 00:00:14,080 --> 00:00:22,720 Acts 16. I'll be reading just two verses and then Trudy and Andy are going to help out with 3 00:00:22,720 --> 00:00:32,320 Acts 16 which is a decent passage. We're starting a new segment working through Philippians and 4 00:00:33,200 --> 00:00:42,800 Craig is going to kick that off today. Philippians chapter 1, Paul and Timothy servants of Christ 5 00:00:42,800 --> 00:00:49,360 Jesus to all the saints in Christ Jesus at Philippi together with the overseers and deacons, 6 00:00:49,360 --> 00:00:56,480 grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Thank you Andy. 7 00:00:56,480 --> 00:01:15,840 So brother Craig has chosen Acts chapter 16. When he heard I was going to really chose a real long one. 8 00:01:15,840 --> 00:01:21,920 So Acts chapter 16. 9 00:01:27,760 --> 00:01:34,800 So Paul came to Derbe then to Lystra where a disciple named Timothy lived whose mother was 10 00:01:34,800 --> 00:01:41,600 Jewish, a believer but whose father was a Greek. The believers at Lystra and Iconium spoke well of 11 00:01:41,600 --> 00:01:48,880 him. Paul wanted to take him along on the journey so he circumcised him because of the Jews who lived 12 00:01:48,880 --> 00:01:56,720 in that area for they all knew that his father was a Greek and as they traveled from town to town 13 00:01:57,520 --> 00:02:03,600 they delivered the decisions reached by the apostles and elders in Jerusalem for the people 14 00:02:03,600 --> 00:02:09,360 to obey. So the churches were strengthened in the faith and grew daily in number. 15 00:02:09,360 --> 00:02:16,160 Paul and his companion traveled throughout the region of Phrygia and Galatia having been kept 16 00:02:16,160 --> 00:02:23,760 by the Holy Spirit from preaching the word to the province of Asia. When they came to the border of 17 00:02:24,400 --> 00:02:30,320 Mycia they tried to enter Bithynia but the Spirit of Jesus would not allow them to 18 00:02:30,960 --> 00:02:38,480 so they passed by Mycia and went down to Troas and during the night Paul had a vision of the 19 00:02:38,480 --> 00:02:44,240 man of Macedonia standing and begging him come over to Macedonia and help us. 20 00:02:45,600 --> 00:02:51,600 After Paul had seen the vision we got ready at once to leave for Macedonia concluding that God 21 00:02:51,600 --> 00:02:59,360 had called us to preach the gospel to them. From Troas we put out to sea and sailed straight for 22 00:02:59,360 --> 00:03:07,920 Semithrave and the next day we went to Neapolis. From there we traveled to Philippi, a Roman colony 23 00:03:08,000 --> 00:03:13,280 in the leading city of that district of Macedonia and we stayed there several days. 24 00:03:14,640 --> 00:03:20,640 On the Sabbath we went outside the city gate to the river where we expected to find a place of 25 00:03:20,640 --> 00:03:25,920 prayer. We sat down and began to speak to the women who had gathered there. 26 00:03:25,920 --> 00:03:33,200 One of those listening was a woman from the city of Theotira named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth. 27 00:03:33,840 --> 00:03:40,160 She was a worshiper of God and the Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul's message 28 00:03:41,200 --> 00:03:47,200 and when she and the members of her household were baptized she invited us to her home. 29 00:03:47,200 --> 00:03:55,120 If you consider me a believer in the Lord she said come and stay at my house and she persuaded them. 30 00:03:56,320 --> 00:04:02,320 Once when we were going to the place of prayer we were met by a female slave who had a spirit 31 00:04:02,320 --> 00:04:08,560 by which she predicted the future. She earned a great deal of money for her owners by fortune 32 00:04:08,560 --> 00:04:14,560 telling. She followed Paul and the rest of us shouting the name of the Lord. 33 00:04:14,560 --> 00:04:21,120 She followed Paul and the rest of us shouting these men are servants of the most high God 34 00:04:21,760 --> 00:04:26,800 who are telling you the way to be saved and she kept this up for many days. 35 00:04:28,480 --> 00:04:32,960 Finally Paul became so annoyed that he turned around and said to the spirit 36 00:04:33,760 --> 00:04:40,800 in the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her. At that moment the spirit left her 37 00:04:40,800 --> 00:04:46,560 and when her owners realized that their hope of making money was gone they seized Paul and Silas 38 00:04:46,560 --> 00:04:53,520 and dragged them into the marketplace to face the authorities. They brought them before the magistrates 39 00:04:53,520 --> 00:05:01,440 and said these men are Jews and are throwing our city into an uproar by advocating customs unlawful 40 00:05:01,440 --> 00:05:08,160 to us Romans to accept or practice. The crowd joined in the attack against Paul and Silas 41 00:05:08,160 --> 00:05:14,320 and the magistrates ordered them to be stripped and beaten with rods and after they had been 42 00:05:14,320 --> 00:05:22,080 severely flogged they were thrown into prison and the jailer was commanded to guard them carefully 43 00:05:23,120 --> 00:05:30,080 and when he received these orders he put them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks. 44 00:05:30,080 --> 00:05:35,040 About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God and the other prisoners were 45 00:05:35,040 --> 00:05:40,560 listening to them. Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison 46 00:05:40,560 --> 00:05:47,440 were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open and everyone's chains came loose. The jailer 47 00:05:47,440 --> 00:05:52,320 woke up and when he saw the prison doors open he drew his sword and was about to kill himself 48 00:05:52,320 --> 00:05:57,040 because he thought he was going to be killed. He was about to kill himself and he was about to 49 00:05:57,040 --> 00:06:01,520 draw his sword and was about to kill himself because he thought the prisoners had escaped 50 00:06:02,320 --> 00:06:09,200 but Paul shouted don't harm yourself we're all here. The jailer called for lights rushed in and 51 00:06:09,200 --> 00:06:14,640 fell trembling before Paul and Silas. He then brought them out and asked sirs what must I do 52 00:06:14,640 --> 00:06:21,120 to be saved? They replied believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved you and your household. 53 00:06:21,120 --> 00:06:26,960 Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his house. At that hour of the 54 00:06:26,960 --> 00:06:32,400 night the jailer took them and washed their wounds then immediately he and all his household were 55 00:06:32,400 --> 00:06:38,400 baptized. The jailer brought them into his house and set a meal before them. He was filled with 56 00:06:38,400 --> 00:06:44,960 joy because he had come to believe in God he and his whole household. When it was daylight 57 00:06:44,960 --> 00:06:49,680 the magistrates sent their officers to the jailer with the order. Release those men 58 00:06:49,680 --> 00:06:54,640 the jailer told Paul the magistrates have ordered that you and Silas be released now go and leave 59 00:06:54,640 --> 00:07:02,800 you can go in peace. But Paul said to the officers they beat us publicly without a trial even though 60 00:07:02,800 --> 00:07:07,760 we're Roman citizens and threw us into prison and now do they want to get rid of us quietly? 61 00:07:08,560 --> 00:07:15,600 No let them come out themselves and escort us out. The officers reported this to the magistrates 62 00:07:15,600 --> 00:07:21,600 and when they heard that Paul and Silas were Roman citizens they were alarmed. They came to appease 63 00:07:21,600 --> 00:07:28,240 them and escorted them from the prison requesting them to leave the city. After Paul and Silas came 64 00:07:28,240 --> 00:07:33,200 out of the prison they went to Lydia's house where they met with the brothers and sisters 65 00:07:33,200 --> 00:07:36,240 and encouraged him. Then they left. 66 00:07:36,240 --> 00:07:43,600 Thanks Andy and Trudy and thank you Craig. Welcome. 67 00:07:54,800 --> 00:07:59,680 Okay can you all hear me? Great it's lovely to be with you. Thank you so much for 68 00:07:59,680 --> 00:08:04,640 a very very warm welcome. I felt welcome from the moment I stepped in at the door. 69 00:08:04,640 --> 00:08:09,920 Many people talking to me. The most wonderful cup of coffee. Rob I don't know what you normally do 70 00:08:09,920 --> 00:08:16,720 for a living but I think you could win best barista of of the year internationally. Really 71 00:08:16,720 --> 00:08:22,320 good cup of coffee. If you haven't had coffee here I do encourage you to have a have a taste. Good stuff. 72 00:08:22,320 --> 00:08:27,840 Just a bit about me for those who may not know who I am and may be wondering what's that funny accent 73 00:08:27,840 --> 00:08:34,800 that you're hearing. So I'm originally from Cape Town in South Africa. Being here for nearly 14 years 74 00:08:35,360 --> 00:08:40,800 I don't think my accent has changed although when I have visited back and visited my family in Cape Town 75 00:08:40,800 --> 00:08:46,320 they they say that I do talk a little bit funny. I say yeah instead of ya and ya and ya and ya and 76 00:08:46,320 --> 00:08:52,320 visited my family in Cape Town they they say that I do talk a little bit funny. I say yeah instead of ya and 77 00:08:53,040 --> 00:08:59,840 that kind of thing. I'm married to Carrie Anne and we've got three children. We have Jesse our son 78 00:08:59,840 --> 00:09:06,960 who's 19 and kind of I think halfway out the door he lives at home. He was given a car by his uncle 79 00:09:06,960 --> 00:09:15,040 and he comes and goes sort of more freely than before and then a daughter Becky who is nearly 17 80 00:09:15,040 --> 00:09:20,000 and then another daughter Emma Kate who is 14 and I think she is the boss of the house. 81 00:09:21,440 --> 00:09:27,680 It's lovely to be with you all. Now Michael asked me to to preach and he did this some time ago. He's 82 00:09:27,680 --> 00:09:34,240 he's very well prepared and organized and as I said to someone earlier on it's very hard to say 83 00:09:34,240 --> 00:09:41,680 no to Michael because he's such a lovely guy. He really is. He's such a wonderful man. He loves the 84 00:09:41,680 --> 00:09:46,720 Lord and so it's a great privilege for me to come and kick off the series and he said to me please 85 00:09:46,720 --> 00:09:53,920 kick off the series in Philippians. Please preach on the first two verses and I went a whole sermon. 86 00:09:54,560 --> 00:10:00,240 I must give a whole sermon out of the first two verses and he had to kick off so I thought well 87 00:10:00,240 --> 00:10:06,720 I will look a little bit at Acts 16 as well so we can understand how this church in Philippi began. 88 00:10:06,720 --> 00:10:14,560 So I just wanted to tell you that up front as to why I'm going to be in Act 16 as well and be saying 89 00:10:14,560 --> 00:10:20,480 a lot of things before I actually get to those two verses. So let's let's get into it. You know when 90 00:10:20,480 --> 00:10:26,480 I was a boy I and I think every boy is like this I loved superhero movies and they're still around 91 00:10:26,480 --> 00:10:33,120 to this day. Look I was a boy a long long time ago and I remember when the first Superman movies came 92 00:10:33,120 --> 00:10:40,880 out it was Christopher Reeve was the actor back then and he was my favorite Superman over Spider 93 00:10:40,880 --> 00:10:47,520 Man over you know all the others. He was my favorite because he had so many powers. Bullets 94 00:10:47,520 --> 00:10:55,360 would bounce off him. He could fly and he was so strong super strong could fly around the world 95 00:10:55,360 --> 00:11:02,480 and and changed you know geographic dynamics. He had x-ray vision. He had radar hearing so you 96 00:11:02,480 --> 00:11:05,920 could hear what you're saying. You could see probably see through your clothes that's no good. 97 00:11:06,800 --> 00:11:14,240 He could freeze things with his breath so he's super super powerful and for a for a boy that 98 00:11:14,240 --> 00:11:18,880 that's that knows that there are people in the world that are a problem even even on the playground 99 00:11:18,880 --> 00:11:28,560 at school. You you take great delight in seeing evil being opposed by such powerful force and I 100 00:11:28,560 --> 00:11:37,600 think all of us as we think of evil in the world we want to be invincible over evil. It makes us 101 00:11:37,600 --> 00:11:46,080 happy when there is justice and a powerful force comes in and meet as our justice. But all too often 102 00:11:46,800 --> 00:11:55,280 in this world evil is too strong. It's just so powerful and we don't have the ability to overcome 103 00:11:55,280 --> 00:12:05,680 it. Imagine living in Europe during the time of World War II. Imagine being identified as a Jew 104 00:12:06,480 --> 00:12:13,760 in Nazi Germany and then the countries that Nazi Germany got control over. How would you have felt 105 00:12:14,400 --> 00:12:22,000 particularly in the early days as politics is turning against you as society is turning against 106 00:12:22,000 --> 00:12:31,840 you. Imagine the fear as the situation gets worse and worse. Now imagine that you're in a society 107 00:12:31,840 --> 00:12:40,720 that hates Christians and that is your identity. You are a Christian. Imagine it just gets worse 108 00:12:41,280 --> 00:12:51,440 and worse and more and more your kind is not in favor. How do you deal with that? How do you deal 109 00:12:51,440 --> 00:13:00,320 with opposition? Well Paul is writing to a church that is facing opposition for their faith and he 110 00:13:00,320 --> 00:13:07,600 himself has faced opposition for being a Christian and for preaching the gospel. He's faced opposition 111 00:13:07,600 --> 00:13:15,120 again and again. Even as he writes the letter that you're all going to be looking at going into the 112 00:13:15,120 --> 00:13:22,960 series that is now being launched even as he writes this letter he is under persecution. 113 00:13:24,480 --> 00:13:33,920 Where is he writing from? He's writing from prison in a sense. He's under house arrest in Rome. 114 00:13:35,040 --> 00:13:42,160 There's a guard outside making sure that he stays there. Why is he under house arrest? 115 00:13:42,160 --> 00:13:45,840 Because of his faith, because of his preaching, because he's a Christian. 116 00:13:46,880 --> 00:13:53,200 And it's not the first time that he's faced trouble like this. Because of his faith the 117 00:13:53,200 --> 00:14:00,080 Philippian church knows very well that he was once in their city put in jail. He was put in stocks. 118 00:14:00,080 --> 00:14:08,560 We read that in Act 16. Let's understand a bit of the background to this letter because it helps us 119 00:14:08,560 --> 00:14:15,360 to understand then the whole letter. Now we read the story in Act 16. We saw there that 120 00:14:15,360 --> 00:14:22,720 because of a vision Paul was called to preach the gospel in Macedonia. That's a whole region 121 00:14:23,360 --> 00:14:28,880 and he went to Philippi. That's where he went first and that's the leading city of that region. 122 00:14:30,160 --> 00:14:36,640 It's a few days in to him going there with Silas and they go look for a place to pray. They go to 123 00:14:36,640 --> 00:14:43,920 the riverside and there they meet some women who have gathered there. One of those women is Lydia. 124 00:14:44,880 --> 00:14:52,400 She hears the gospel from them. She believes and it seems that she becomes the first convert 125 00:14:52,400 --> 00:14:59,920 of the church in Philippi. Then we read about a slave girl becoming a convert. This 126 00:14:59,920 --> 00:15:08,800 girl had a demonic spirit in her that enabled her to tell fortunes and so her owners were now angry 127 00:15:08,800 --> 00:15:14,800 because she's now come to Christ. She's delivered of that spirit. They can no longer make money from 128 00:15:14,800 --> 00:15:22,560 her. They are furious and so the trouble began because of that. Paul and Silas were accused by 129 00:15:22,560 --> 00:15:31,440 the owners of troublemaking. They stirred up the people. A riot then erupts and the magistrates 130 00:15:31,440 --> 00:15:40,480 of Philippi have Paul and Silas thrown in jail and put in stocks. Then in the jail the miracle 131 00:15:40,480 --> 00:15:46,320 happens where the Lord unshackles Paul and Silas and everyone else and yet they don't leave. 132 00:15:46,320 --> 00:15:51,520 The prison officer wants to kill himself. The jailer wants to kill himself. He's 133 00:15:51,520 --> 00:16:00,400 failed to do his job so it seems but this is God at work. No one has left. It results in the conversion 134 00:16:01,200 --> 00:16:07,360 of the jailer. He comes to faith and this is how this church started. It's so exciting. It's so 135 00:16:07,920 --> 00:16:14,560 wonderful. This is the new church and think about this. The first convert is Lydia and we told in 136 00:16:14,560 --> 00:16:22,560 the text in Acts 16 that she was a seller of purple cloth. Now that might not mean much 137 00:16:23,120 --> 00:16:31,040 but in that time purple cloth was particularly expensive because of the dye that was needed to 138 00:16:31,040 --> 00:16:36,320 make it. It was very hard to come by that dye and to produce that dye. So you would not be wearing 139 00:16:36,320 --> 00:16:43,520 purple unless you were very, very wealthy and so she's trading in something that's quite expensive. 140 00:16:43,520 --> 00:16:49,760 So she's probably a wealthy woman. So you have someone of wealth as the first convert of the 141 00:16:49,760 --> 00:16:56,800 church. Then on the other side of the spectrum you have a slave girl and she comes to faith and then 142 00:16:56,800 --> 00:17:01,760 I think the jailer would probably be somewhere in the middle. It's a middle class person in society 143 00:17:02,320 --> 00:17:09,200 and here we have this fledgling church as we see in Acts 16 beginning and made up out of people 144 00:17:09,200 --> 00:17:15,680 from all walks of life. See God isn't interested in your standing in life and your wealth and all 145 00:17:15,680 --> 00:17:22,000 that sort of thing and he's brought people from all kinds of stations of life. It's so exciting. 146 00:17:22,720 --> 00:17:27,680 It's so lovely to be God's people no matter who you are, where you're from, whatever your 147 00:17:27,680 --> 00:17:33,680 tribe or tongue is. That's what I love so much about the church that I'm in at Bull Creek. 148 00:17:33,680 --> 00:17:38,960 It's tribes and tongues from all over the place. When we have church lunch you can see it reflected 149 00:17:38,960 --> 00:17:44,800 in the food that people bring. I love it. All the different flavors. This is God. It's a miracle. 150 00:17:45,040 --> 00:17:51,040 God has brought people together. There's no such thing as in the world as this kind of unity and 151 00:17:51,040 --> 00:17:57,920 wonder of the church. But as we've seen for this lovely church that God has brought together, 152 00:17:57,920 --> 00:18:03,040 there was trouble. We saw in Acts 16 that a riot was stirred. Now if your finger is still there 153 00:18:03,040 --> 00:18:09,200 or if you still have Acts 16 open, I want to read to you Acts 16 verses 20 to 23. 154 00:18:11,040 --> 00:18:19,520 Acts 16 20 to 23. It says this, they brought them before the magistrates and said, 155 00:18:19,520 --> 00:18:27,840 these men are Jews and are throwing our city into an uproar by advocating customs unlawful for us 156 00:18:27,840 --> 00:18:37,680 Romans to accept or practice. The crowd joined in the attack against Paul and Silas and the magistrates 157 00:18:37,680 --> 00:18:45,280 ordered them to be stripped and beaten with rods. After they had been severely flogged, 158 00:18:45,280 --> 00:18:50,320 they were thrown into prison and the jailer was commanded to guard them carefully. 159 00:18:50,320 --> 00:18:57,840 See, difficulty comes around because of the gospel. It often happens like that in the New 160 00:18:57,840 --> 00:19:04,560 Testament and all around the world today because people hate the gospel. They hate God. They hate 161 00:19:04,560 --> 00:19:10,800 his word. These words of the gospel emanate from the one of truth, the source of all truth, 162 00:19:11,360 --> 00:19:15,760 and people naturally do not like God. He has to change their hearts for them to accept this 163 00:19:15,760 --> 00:19:21,360 truth. If he doesn't, they're going to stand against it. Now, thinking about the letter to 164 00:19:21,360 --> 00:19:26,240 the Philippians that Paul is writing, we asked the question, and I've touched on it already, 165 00:19:26,240 --> 00:19:33,280 we asked the question, where is he writing from? Effectively, he's writing from being under house 166 00:19:33,280 --> 00:19:41,040 arrest in Rome. But the church that he started with Silas back when he was in Philippi, 167 00:19:41,040 --> 00:19:48,000 the Philippian church cares about Paul so much so that they have sent help to him 168 00:19:48,000 --> 00:19:55,680 to cover his needs. And that help was brought by someone from Philippi called Epaphroditus. 169 00:19:56,320 --> 00:20:02,480 And now Paul is sending Epaphroditus back to them and there's a letter, and this is the letter 170 00:20:02,480 --> 00:20:08,240 that's being carried, this letter that will be read out to the church from Paul. And so, 171 00:20:08,240 --> 00:20:15,600 this background tells us how Paul had a warm relationship with these people in Philippi. 172 00:20:16,640 --> 00:20:24,240 Go to the letter now in Philippians and look at verses three, four, and five, and see how he 173 00:20:24,240 --> 00:20:33,040 speaks about them right at the start. He says, I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my 174 00:20:33,040 --> 00:20:40,880 prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy. He is excited about these people. He loves these 175 00:20:40,880 --> 00:20:47,280 people with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. 176 00:20:47,920 --> 00:20:52,640 And I could show you more, but this is not my area. Michael's probably gonna be preaching, 177 00:20:52,640 --> 00:20:56,640 maybe Tom, I don't know, through the rest of this, but I don't wanna go and steal what they're gonna 178 00:20:56,640 --> 00:21:01,600 say, but I just wanna point out to you this great warmth of the people that you've been with. 179 00:21:01,600 --> 00:21:06,640 This great warmth of relationship, and you can see it carrying on in the text. 180 00:21:08,080 --> 00:21:12,320 Now I wanna ask with all that background, what is the reason for writing this letter? 181 00:21:13,360 --> 00:21:17,920 In one sense, it's a thank you letter because they sent help to Paul with the paparitans, 182 00:21:19,120 --> 00:21:27,520 but I think there's a key reason why Paul puts pen to paper. He wants them to continue strong 183 00:21:27,520 --> 00:21:34,000 in the gospel. There is opposition. He doesn't want them to shrink back. He doesn't want them 184 00:21:34,000 --> 00:21:42,320 to crumble under pressure. He tells them about his focus while he's under pressure. 185 00:21:42,960 --> 00:21:47,280 So if you have a look at verse 20 in chapter one, you'll see this. Paul says, 186 00:21:47,280 --> 00:21:56,320 I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage, 187 00:21:56,960 --> 00:22:07,280 so that now as always, Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. 188 00:22:08,160 --> 00:22:15,200 You see, for Paul, it's all about Christ. No matter what happens to Paul, it's about Christ, 189 00:22:15,200 --> 00:22:21,280 whether he lives or dies because of the opposition, he doesn't want to be ashamed. 190 00:22:22,480 --> 00:22:28,720 It's about Christ. He wants to exalt Christ. That's the heartbeat of Paul's life. It's all 191 00:22:28,720 --> 00:22:40,080 about Jesus. Have a look at verse 21. He says, for me, to live is Christ, to die is gain. 192 00:22:40,080 --> 00:22:49,600 Everything about Paul's life is based on Jesus. Everything he does is shaped by the gospel. 193 00:22:50,640 --> 00:22:57,040 This is Paul's identity. This is the sense of who he is. He is Jesus shaped. 194 00:22:58,720 --> 00:23:06,880 And nothing can change that. If they kill him, Paul says to die is gain. It's amazing, isn't it? 195 00:23:06,880 --> 00:23:15,200 I find this astonishing. May I ask you to pause for a moment and think about your life? 196 00:23:17,440 --> 00:23:22,000 Are you a Christian? I take it that most of you are, if not all of you. 197 00:23:23,520 --> 00:23:30,000 How much does Jesus make up your identity? Just in preparing for this, I'm asking myself the same 198 00:23:30,000 --> 00:23:38,080 question. Craig, how much does Jesus make up your identity? Is Jesus the center of all that you are? 199 00:23:39,440 --> 00:23:47,440 Craig, are your priorities shaped by Jesus and the things that he says in his word in the scriptures? 200 00:23:50,480 --> 00:23:56,960 How do we use our time? How do we use our resources, our talents? Are these things shaped 201 00:23:56,960 --> 00:24:07,360 by Jesus? What if our society becomes so hostile to the gospel that perhaps your job is under threat 202 00:24:07,840 --> 00:24:14,960 or key relationships in your life, friends and family, if those relationships are under threat, 203 00:24:16,480 --> 00:24:22,800 what if even your very life comes to be under threat because you are in Christ? 204 00:24:22,800 --> 00:24:33,040 A friend of mine, a pastor in the UK who's now with the Lord, knew a Romanian pastor back in the 205 00:24:33,040 --> 00:24:42,480 days when Romania was under the regime of Nicolae Ceaușescu, under a dictator, communist regime. 206 00:24:43,280 --> 00:24:49,440 Ceaușescu was known for being harsh and wicked and certainly against Christians. He led Romania 207 00:24:49,440 --> 00:25:01,680 from 1965 to 1989. One time the police came to this pastor and put a gun to his head and they 208 00:25:01,680 --> 00:25:12,960 ordered him to deny Jesus or die. And this pastor replied with these wonderful words which my friend, 209 00:25:12,960 --> 00:25:20,640 Justin Moat is my friend, and he said these words came from the pastor's mouth to the police. 210 00:25:21,520 --> 00:25:33,440 You threaten me with death, which is to threaten me with life, which is no threat at all. They 211 00:25:33,440 --> 00:25:43,200 didn't shoot him, they left him. There is a man whose identity is so settled in Jesus that he is 212 00:25:43,200 --> 00:25:53,600 utterly secure in the face of great evil. Remember what Paul said in Philippians? For the Lord, 213 00:25:53,600 --> 00:26:03,760 he is utterly secure in the face of great evil. Remember what Paul said in Philippians? For me 214 00:26:04,560 --> 00:26:11,360 to live is Christ and to die is gain. Of course it's gain. You be with Jesus face to face, 215 00:26:12,480 --> 00:26:19,120 free from all the troubles of this world. And then Paul says this to the Philippians, chapter 1, 216 00:26:19,120 --> 00:26:29,120 27 and 28. Whatever happens, whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the 217 00:26:29,120 --> 00:26:36,480 gospel of Christ. Then whether I come and see you or only hear about you in my absence, 218 00:26:37,280 --> 00:26:45,520 I will know that you stand firm in the one spirit, striving together as one for the faith of the 219 00:26:45,520 --> 00:26:54,160 gospel. Look at verse 28, without being frightened in any way by those who oppose you. 220 00:26:56,160 --> 00:26:59,280 I think this is core to why Paul is writing, the reason for writing. 221 00:27:00,640 --> 00:27:06,640 It is a letter seeking to encourage them to stand firm in proclaiming the gospel, 222 00:27:06,640 --> 00:27:14,640 to stand firm for Christ no matter what happens. Paul writes to them, motivating them, 223 00:27:14,640 --> 00:27:25,360 to live lives shaped by their Christian identity. Now let's go to Philippians, chapter 1, verses 1 224 00:27:25,360 --> 00:27:32,400 and 2 and spend some time around there. The particular area that Michael asked me to look at 225 00:27:32,400 --> 00:27:41,920 with you. These verses are the greeting and the signature of the letter. Now in our letters that 226 00:27:41,920 --> 00:27:46,880 we write today, typically we have the greeting at the start, so we say, dear so and so, 227 00:27:47,440 --> 00:27:55,200 I often write my emails with hello so and so. And then we have the signature at the end. Now 228 00:27:56,160 --> 00:28:00,880 in a handwritten letter, you don't know who it's from unless you're expecting it or you know the 229 00:28:00,880 --> 00:28:07,280 handwriting, you wouldn't know it's from until you go to the end. When I was at school, long before 230 00:28:07,280 --> 00:28:14,240 digital stuff, we were taught to write different kinds of letters and we were taught to sign off 231 00:28:14,240 --> 00:28:19,200 letters, particularly if you're writing a familiar one, one to a friend or family, we're taught to 232 00:28:19,200 --> 00:28:26,240 sign them off as things like if you're writing to mom and dad to write at the end, your son, Craig, 233 00:28:26,240 --> 00:28:33,280 or your friend, Craig. That's how we would sign it at the end. But in the ancient Near East, 234 00:28:33,280 --> 00:28:40,080 the time that Paul is writing, you had all the information at the top. So let's look at this 235 00:28:40,080 --> 00:28:47,920 information to understand who these people are, to get a sense of their identity. Knowing who you 236 00:28:47,920 --> 00:28:55,120 are, knowing your identity will help you to stand firm, I think, which is what is Paul's great 237 00:28:55,120 --> 00:29:02,080 concern. So the first thing I want to point out is what Paul calls himself in Silas. He says that 238 00:29:02,080 --> 00:29:09,040 they are servants of Christ Jesus, servants. In fact, if you go to the original word behind that 239 00:29:09,040 --> 00:29:16,080 in the Greek, it could be translated as slaves of Christ Jesus. Now that tells you a lot about 240 00:29:16,080 --> 00:29:21,360 Paul and Silas, a lot about their thinking about themselves, their identity as they understand it. 241 00:29:22,720 --> 00:29:30,000 I mean, it's quite something to say that you're a servant or a slave. I mean, he's the great leader 242 00:29:30,000 --> 00:29:37,040 of the church. He started the church. He's in authority. But he makes it so very clear to them 243 00:29:37,040 --> 00:29:44,960 that he's not his own. He belongs to Jesus. You know, that's so different to the way the world 244 00:29:44,960 --> 00:29:51,600 works. People in the world like to lord it over other people. When they've got position, it's quite 245 00:29:51,600 --> 00:29:56,560 typical in the world to have the attitude where you puff out your chest and say, I'm the boss. 246 00:29:56,560 --> 00:30:02,720 And you push your position over other people. There's an old TV advert from South Africa days 247 00:30:02,720 --> 00:30:10,800 that I love. I've never forgotten it. It's a tea advert. And its message is this tea will just make 248 00:30:10,800 --> 00:30:21,360 you so calm and in the most stressful situations. The scene is an airline ticket desk at the airport. 249 00:30:21,360 --> 00:30:26,640 A well-dressed man of some importance comes up to the desk. He's desperate to get onto a flight 250 00:30:28,160 --> 00:30:33,040 at the last minute. And he demands a last minute ticket onto that flight. 251 00:30:34,800 --> 00:30:40,640 And the airline employee, the young woman, says to him, it's too late. I don't know if it's that 252 00:30:40,640 --> 00:30:44,800 they can't remember if it's because there's no seats left or because it's just too late to get 253 00:30:44,800 --> 00:30:49,920 the man processed to get onto the flight. She says, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. 254 00:30:49,920 --> 00:30:52,720 I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. 255 00:30:52,720 --> 00:30:59,200 And the man gets so angry with her and he leans forward towards her and goes, do you know who I am? 256 00:31:02,480 --> 00:31:05,840 And she calmly takes a sip of her tea. 257 00:31:08,080 --> 00:31:13,760 So there's no stress. And she picks up the microphone for the airport intercom system. 258 00:31:13,760 --> 00:31:22,560 And she says this, attention, ladies and gentlemen, there is a gentleman here who does not know who he 259 00:31:22,560 --> 00:31:32,800 is. If anyone can help, please come to the ticket desk. And the look of amusement on his face is 260 00:31:32,800 --> 00:31:36,480 just so lovely to see. It's so well acted. I love that advert. 261 00:31:36,480 --> 00:31:41,040 His attitude in the middle of that whole thing. Do you know who I am? 262 00:31:41,600 --> 00:31:46,960 That is so typical of many in the world. The Christians are not like that. We're not meant to 263 00:31:46,960 --> 00:31:53,200 be like it anyway. We're not meant to be bossy. We're not meant to be full of self-importance 264 00:31:53,200 --> 00:32:02,320 because we belong to Christ Jesus, King Jesus. That's our identity. 265 00:32:02,320 --> 00:32:11,920 And that shapes how we act. We are not afraid to speak the gospel because we serve the Lord. 266 00:32:12,800 --> 00:32:19,680 We don't serve men. What people say about our preaching the gospel, our standing for Christ, 267 00:32:20,400 --> 00:32:28,560 has no place in shaping what we do because we are servants. And it's all about the Lord. 268 00:32:28,560 --> 00:32:35,760 We do because we are servants and all Christians are servants of Jesus. 269 00:32:36,800 --> 00:32:40,720 I think also in mentioning this, that he's a servant, Paul is making very clear to them 270 00:32:41,520 --> 00:32:48,400 that what he has to say to them comes from Jesus. He's a man under authority, bringing what is from 271 00:32:48,400 --> 00:32:54,960 the great King to them. But it's an identity statement. This is who we are. We are servants 272 00:32:54,960 --> 00:33:03,680 of King Jesus. And it applies to all those who are under Christ, servants. The second thing 273 00:33:03,680 --> 00:33:09,760 is the signature. Who the letter is from is, sorry, the second thing is who it is to. We've 274 00:33:09,760 --> 00:33:15,440 just looked at the signature who it's from. Now the greeting. Paul addresses the Philippian church 275 00:33:15,440 --> 00:33:24,000 as God's holy people. Holy people. The direct translation from the original language is saints. 276 00:33:24,000 --> 00:33:32,480 He's calling them saints. I want you to notice he's calling all the people of the church saints. 277 00:33:34,480 --> 00:33:42,240 So these are people, these are all Christians, saints. Now in the Roman Catholic church, in their 278 00:33:42,240 --> 00:33:50,800 theology, very few people are saints. Very, very few. They have to have done especially great things 279 00:33:50,800 --> 00:33:58,960 to be considered a saint. In Australia, do you know that in the Roman Catholic church is only one 280 00:33:58,960 --> 00:34:07,120 saint? Only one saint, Mary McKillip. And that's a relatively recent decision that was made. 281 00:34:07,120 --> 00:34:12,240 But Paul is saying that all Christians are saints. If you put your faith in the death 282 00:34:12,240 --> 00:34:17,440 and resurrection of Jesus so that your sin is dealt with by him and you are made righteous 283 00:34:17,440 --> 00:34:24,400 before God because your sin goes on to Jesus and his righteousness comes onto you, you are clothed 284 00:34:24,400 --> 00:34:31,600 in his righteousness. If that is you, then you are right with God. You are holy. You are a saint. 285 00:34:31,600 --> 00:34:38,960 And so I want us to see from this that there's more to our identity. We are servants of King Jesus 286 00:34:40,160 --> 00:34:52,240 and we are also saints. It's so key to who we are that where you are from in the world 287 00:34:53,040 --> 00:34:57,200 is of lesser importance. The fact that you are a saint, that's the big thing of your identity, 288 00:34:57,200 --> 00:35:02,480 Christian. Where you come from in the world, that's a lesser thing. So it doesn't matter 289 00:35:02,480 --> 00:35:07,920 whether you live in Perth or you're from London or Jakarta or New Delhi or wherever, 290 00:35:09,280 --> 00:35:19,840 to be a saint is key to your identity. So look at verse one. To all God's holy people in Christ 291 00:35:19,840 --> 00:35:28,960 at Philippi. Do you get the implication? The big thing about them is you are holy people 292 00:35:29,520 --> 00:35:33,360 and you are God's holy people who in this case are at Philippi. 293 00:35:35,440 --> 00:35:41,200 They are saints in other places. Yes, saints in Armidale here in Perth, 294 00:35:41,200 --> 00:35:49,360 saints at Bull Creek in Perth, saints in London, saints in Jakarta, saints in New Delhi. 295 00:35:50,160 --> 00:35:55,600 So being a saint is the great marker of a person if they are a Christian. 296 00:35:57,200 --> 00:36:02,320 I have a friend who I know from South Africa days who now lives in London 297 00:36:02,880 --> 00:36:07,360 and he works for an organization that produces materials for the church. 298 00:36:07,360 --> 00:36:12,320 And he travels all over the world running seminars, training people in this material. 299 00:36:12,320 --> 00:36:17,840 So he's based in London. He's been to Eastern Europe. He's been all over the UK. He's been all 300 00:36:17,840 --> 00:36:24,400 over Africa. He has been in Perth. He tells the story of when he first went to Germany 301 00:36:25,120 --> 00:36:29,760 to go and deliver seminars there. He was collected at the airport by a stranger, 302 00:36:29,760 --> 00:36:36,160 by a person foreign to him, by a person with a language foreign to his and a culture foreign to his. 303 00:36:36,880 --> 00:36:46,240 He just remarks on Facebook at how they so quickly connected and that they had a depth of relationship 304 00:36:46,240 --> 00:36:53,600 that began from the moment he met the person, a special depth that is not normal for strangers. 305 00:36:53,600 --> 00:37:01,200 Why? Because the two of them, Rory, my friend, and his, the person who collected him, the German person, 306 00:37:01,840 --> 00:37:11,520 well they're both saints and servants of King Jesus. That's your identity. That's who you are if you're a Christian. 307 00:37:12,800 --> 00:37:16,800 Now in this, Paul goes on to mention that he was a Christian. He was a Christian. 308 00:37:16,800 --> 00:37:23,600 That's your identity. That's who you are if you're a Christian. Now in this, Paul goes on to mention 309 00:37:23,600 --> 00:37:29,040 elders and deacons and I'm not sure why they get a special mention here and other commentators I've 310 00:37:29,040 --> 00:37:34,880 looked at have said they're not sure either. There is no evidence in the rest of the letter 311 00:37:34,880 --> 00:37:39,760 as to why they are specially mentioned but I do want to point out something here as an aside. 312 00:37:39,760 --> 00:37:47,920 I think the fact that he mentions the elders and the deacons is evidence to us that the church is 313 00:37:47,920 --> 00:38:00,080 led by a plurality of men that do this job. So it's not meant to be just the pastor. There is a plurality 314 00:38:00,080 --> 00:38:06,960 of leadership. I'll put that to you as an aside. Now the last thing that Paul says to them is this in verse two. 315 00:38:06,960 --> 00:38:13,920 Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 316 00:38:15,840 --> 00:38:27,440 Grace means gift. This is Paul's desire that God's good gifts and God's peace be theirs. 317 00:38:28,560 --> 00:38:34,800 Christians are already recipients of grace. Of course the ultimate grace, the gift of forgiveness 318 00:38:34,800 --> 00:38:42,800 that makes us saints and brings peace between us and God. That's grace in its ultimate sense but 319 00:38:43,280 --> 00:38:55,120 in him we find ongoing grace and peace in all kinds of ways. The grace of our prayers being heard 320 00:38:55,120 --> 00:39:05,120 because we know the Lord. That's a wonderful gift that we are heard. The grace of his word 321 00:39:06,000 --> 00:39:16,960 and his indwelling spirit to shape us. Later in the letter Paul calls them not to be anxious about 322 00:39:16,960 --> 00:39:23,680 anything and then to rather pray about every situation and what will happen. Have a look at 323 00:39:23,680 --> 00:39:32,720 chapter four and verse seven. It says and the peace of God which transcends all understanding 324 00:39:32,720 --> 00:39:40,240 will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. You can rest in him. 325 00:39:42,000 --> 00:39:49,440 I'm seeing that peace in someone's life right now. I have three sisters and one of them lives in 326 00:39:49,440 --> 00:39:54,880 Israel and as you probably know from the news Israel is under serious attack right now. She's 327 00:39:54,880 --> 00:40:00,160 been in the bomb shelter with her family, heard the bombs going off as the missiles land, 328 00:40:01,360 --> 00:40:06,640 seeing the dreadful news of people being killed and attacked just in their houses and I was talking 329 00:40:06,640 --> 00:40:16,160 to her last night and her peace is phenomenal. She trusts the Lord. She knows that to live is Christ 330 00:40:16,160 --> 00:40:20,960 and to die is gain. This comes from the Lord. 331 00:40:24,000 --> 00:40:34,960 And so verse chapter one verse two when he says grace and peace to you from God our father 332 00:40:35,440 --> 00:40:43,680 and the Lord Jesus Christ he is saying that grace and peace come from them, from the father, from 333 00:40:43,680 --> 00:40:53,360 the son and he is concerned that these people facing opposition which is a scary thing he is 334 00:40:53,360 --> 00:41:02,560 concerned that they find their rest in the Lord. The one to whom they belong as servants, the one 335 00:41:02,560 --> 00:41:14,320 who has made them saints. Paul wants them to be well. If your identity is that you belong to Jesus 336 00:41:15,360 --> 00:41:22,640 and are a saint because of what he has done for you then you have grace in your life and you have 337 00:41:22,640 --> 00:41:35,680 peace in your life. And so as we conclude Paul is a man whose well-being is absolutely sound. 338 00:41:36,720 --> 00:41:46,080 Why? Because he is saturated in the gospel. This gospel which gives him his identity and so he can 339 00:41:46,080 --> 00:41:56,880 say to live is Christ and to die is gain. His identity comes from the gospel and we too are 340 00:41:56,880 --> 00:42:04,880 able to stand firm in all kinds of circumstances in all kinds under all kinds of opposition. 341 00:42:05,840 --> 00:42:14,240 We can stand firm when we understand who we are. We don't need to be supermen. We don't need 342 00:42:14,240 --> 00:42:27,200 superpowers to be confident. We belong to Jesus. We are his servants and he has made us holy. 343 00:42:27,200 --> 00:42:34,560 We are saints. We are fit for heaven because of what he's done and so to live is Christ and to die 344 00:42:34,560 --> 00:42:44,560 is gain. And so we can face all kinds of pressure in this world. For what can people do? What can 345 00:42:44,560 --> 00:42:55,200 humans do to take away from us this profound identity? So brothers and sisters let's be 346 00:42:55,200 --> 00:43:03,520 confident in Jesus and if you don't know him please will you speak to one of us. Speak to me or to Gary 347 00:43:03,520 --> 00:43:10,480 or to Tom or others that you know who are believers who can point you to Jesus. It's so good 348 00:43:11,280 --> 00:43:17,840 to belong to Jesus. It's so good to be a saint. Let's pray. 349 00:43:21,280 --> 00:43:28,400 Our heavenly father we thank you for this word in the scriptures that gives us confidence that no 350 00:43:28,400 --> 00:43:35,520 matter what we face because of who we are we are safe and we can say that to live is Christ 351 00:43:36,400 --> 00:43:43,120 and to die is gain. For those of us who are believers would you please help us to understand 352 00:43:43,120 --> 00:43:49,520 a fresh and with perhaps more depth who we are and that from that would flow confidence in this 353 00:43:49,520 --> 00:43:58,720 world where on a global scale we are relatively safe living in WA but even in our culture things 354 00:43:58,720 --> 00:44:05,440 have been changing. Help us not to be afraid. Help our identity to give us great confidence 355 00:44:06,560 --> 00:44:13,280 and also those who may not know you Lord we pray for them that you would touch their hearts and see 356 00:44:13,280 --> 00:44:21,840 that in you people are made fit for heaven and there is nothing to fear. Only glory to look 357 00:44:21,840 --> 00:44:43,600 forward to. So please stir hearts that may not know you. We ask these things in Jesus name. Amen.