day no. 17,527: making a name for yourself (sermon outline)

Christ Church Leavenworth

Philippians 2:19-30

October 18, 2026

…

OT READING: 2 Kings 5:1-19

NT READING: 2 Timothy 1:1-14

"Making a Name for Yourself"

READING OF THE TEXT

Our text this morning is Philippians 2:19-30, these are the words of God

I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon, so that I too may be cheered by news of you. For I have no one like him, who will be genuinely concerned for your welfare. For they all seek their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ. But you know Timothy's proven worth, how as a son with a father he has served with me in the gospel. I hope therefore to send him just as soon as I see how it will go with me, and I trust in the Lord that shortly I myself will come also.

I have thought it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus my brother and fellow worker and fellow soldier, and your messenger and minister to my need, for he has been longing for you all and has been distressed because you heard that he was ill. Indeed he was ill, near to death. But God had mercy on him, and not only on him but on me also, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow. I am the more eager to send him, therefore, that you may rejoice at seeing him again, and that I may be less anxious. So receive him in the Lord with all joy, and honor such men, for he nearly died for the work of Christ, risking his life to complete what was lacking in your service to me.

The grass withers and the flowers fade, but the Word of our God stands forever.

PRAYER

Our Father and our God, we come before You this morning through Jesus Christ, our Lord, and in the Holy Spirit. Thank You for Your Word. Help us to hold it in high and reverent esteem, persuaded that by it we live and not live by bread alone. Fill us now with Your Spirit that we might hear Your Word for what it is and apply it like our lives depend upon it. In Jesus’ Name we pray, Amen.

INTRODUCTION

There are two ways a man can make a name for himself. One way is to become who you already are and the other is to become someone else. Let me provide an example of each. My children bear my last name: they are, therefore, Van Voorsts. But there is more to being a Van Voorst than simply having that be your last name. Van Voorsts have a particular flavor. There are things we do, songs we sing, foods we eat, movies we watch, etc… My sons and daughters are Van Voorsts in name by default, but being a Van Voorst in spirit is a decision they have to make. If they continue in what they have been taught, they will make a name for themselves by establishing themselves as Van Voorsts and making it their own, but If they depart from what they have been taught, they will make a name for themselves by redefining what it means to be a Van Voorst and making it into something else.

So, making a name for yourself can be an act of faith or it can be an act of breaking faith, it all depends on what you are embracing or what you are abandoning. Consider it from another angle. Take the people of Crete, for example. They were, by nature, according to Titus 1:12, liars, evil beasts, and lazy gluttons. Now, if you were born into that, you could live up to it and be a Cretan or you could make a name for yourself by breaking away from it. In other words, you could be a pleasant surprise or an unpleasant stereotype. Making a name for yourself can be faithful or faithless, it depends on the name you have and what you do with it.

So, if you are born into a Christian family, you can make a name for yourself by walking in a manner worthy of your baptism, thus becoming what you are, a Christian; or you can be a Christian in name only and make a name for yourself by forsaking the God of your father and mother. Making a name for yourself is inescapable. It isn’t IF you will do it, it is WHICH way you will do it. 

So, children of Christ Church, you were born into Christian homes. God has called you to obey your parents in the Lord, and this is right. One way to do that is to carry on what they are teaching you and never depart from it. So, make that decision right now. Remember who you are, Christian, and wear that name well. You have no idea how blessed you are, but someday you will. Do not take this for granted, take it with gratitude, and then get to work. Some of your parents were not as fortunate as you are. They are giving you a better life than they had. Some of them were born into some hot messes and others were born into big ol’ batches of lukewarm yuck. But they made a name for themselves by breaking away from that. Do not look a grace horse in the mouth. Honor God, honor your parents. 

Some of your parents were born into Christian homes and going to the grandparents means going to visit Christians. Do not neglect the privilege you have been born into. Do not squander it. 3 John 4 says this, “I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.” Kids, do you want to get your parents a present? Walk in the truth. And do it in such a tangible, obvious way that anyone can see that you are a child of God. Our church, like most, is made up of both those who made a name for themselves by carrying on the Christian tradition of their parents and those who broke free from the pagan ways of their parents. We will see examples of both in our text this morning. Before we do that, however, let’s first consider the context of our passage by briefly reviewing Php 2:1-18.

SUMMARY OF THE CONTEXT

:1-2 begin with the example of Jesus. He made a name for Himself by becoming who He was born to be. He was given the name “Jesus,” before He was born because He was “to save His people from their sins.” And He wore His name well. As a result, the Father established His Name as high and exalted above all others. Jesus did not prove He was His own man by walking His own path, no, He proved Himself worthy of the Name He was given by walking in the good works prepared for Him beforehand. He made a name for Himself by being who He was born to be. He owned His name and as a result His Name was established by God.

:3-11 then go on to encourage us to do the same. We should be of the same mind, have the same love, and walk in the same way that Jesus did in the days of His flesh. When we do, our joy is complete and when we don’t, we are miserable.

If Christ, who was God incarnate, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, how much less should we? If “He humbled himself to the point of death,” how much more should we? God opposes the proud, and He gives grace to the humble and Christ is a perfect example. He was humiliated in broad daylight, but “God has highly exalted Him and bestowed on Him the name that is above every name, so that to Him every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that He is Lord, to the glory of God.”

:12-18 go on to apply this in more detail. Making a name for yourself means establishing who you are and what you do when no one else is watching. The child who only obeys when he is being supervised is not a true child. He might love his parents enough to honor the standard in their presence, but he does not love their standard in his heart. Those who love the standard keep it within even when it’s not being enforced from without. So much so, that they will even keep it when the enforcement is working in the opposite direction. A Christian obeys Christ even if the law forbids it and he disobeys the law when it commands him to disobey Christ. If you love the Lord, you will kneel before Him even when someone else commands you to rise in defiance; and you will stand before lawless men even when they demand that you bow before them. Obedience is only as good as the one it obeys. It is not a virtue by default. Parents of obedient kids, beware. Make sure that one of your rules for them is that they do not simply obey whatever rules they come in contact with. If they pinch the incense or wear the mask simply because someone told them to, they will not inherit the earth because that is not meekness, it is weakness. Instead, raise them to be Daniels, Meshachs, Shadrachs, and Abednegos who know how to obey God by defying tyrants. Obedience is only as good as what and who it obeys.

We have to work out what God has worked in and every covenant child must work out the name they’ve inherited. Those who go with the grain of God will not grumble or complain about their lots in life. They will instead carry their crosses and conduct themselves like Christians. This will differentiate them so much from the world around them that they will look like stars in the night sky by comparison. So, Christian, live up to your legacy. Shine brightly. Don’t tell me you’re a star, stand up and stand out against the backdrop of this evil generation. Be a sharp contrast. 

Don’t tell me you’re an apple tree, make some apples. Live up to your name. As the Lord said,“Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad, for the tree is known by its fruit... A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.” (Mt 7:18-20, 12:33) Hebrews warns us in a similar fashion in 6:7-12, when it says, “Land that has drunk the rain that often falls on it, and produces a crop useful to those for whose sake it is cultivated, receives a blessing from God. But if it bears thorns and thistles, it is worthless and near to being cursed, and its end is to be burned. Though we speak in this way, yet in your case, beloved, we feel sure of better things—things that belong to salvation. For God is not unjust so as to overlook your work and the love that you have shown for His name in serving the saints, as you still do. And we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness to have the full assurance of hope until the end, so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.” 

You cannot cosplay Christianity. You must be earnest. Place your faith in Him and you will have full assurance and your family and friends will be assured that you are the real deal. So, Christian, be who you are, and look to those who labor for your souls. Paul labored for the Philippians. He poured himself out for them in the hopes that they would get the message and pour themselves out for others. Pr 11:25 reminds us, “The one who waters will himself be watered.” So, are you feeling dry? Do not sit around waiting to be watered, pour yourself out and living waters will well up within you. Our text today provides several examples of this.

SUMMARY OF THE TIMOTHY TEXT

The first is Timothy. :19 “I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon, so that I too may be cheered by news of you.” So, Paul is in prison, but Timothy is with him. Paul is bound to the wall by chains and Timothy is bound to Paul by love. As such, he is a comfort and help to Paul. In all likelihood, Paul needs Timothy far more than the Philippians do, yet he is hoping to send him to them soon. He wants to encourage them and in turn he wants to be encouraged by news of them. He has confidence in the Philippians. He fully expects Timothy to find them doing well and he is excited to hear about what they have been up to. Be like the Philippians in this regard. Be dependable. Be reliable. Be consistently Christlike.

Paul did not merely want to be comforted, he wanted to comfort others, and so, he is willing to give up one of the best things he has in order to share it to the ones he loves. He needs Timothy more than the Philippians do, but he loves the Philippians more than he loves himself. And Timothy, his disciple, did not fall far from the tree as we see in the next verse.

:20-21 “For I have no one like him, who will be genuinely concerned for your welfare. For they all seek their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ.” Being interested in others is the interest of Christ. He did not carry the cross to get Himself to Heaven. He suffered for the sake of others. Self interest is the native language of the human soul and being interested in others is a foreign language. Selfishness is natural, selflessness is supernatural. Looking to the interests of others requires you to be in this world, but not of it. If you are not in the world, you will not even notice others – all of your “religion” will take place in high and lofty thoughts about God, but it won’t make a lick of difference down here. You will be too heavenly minded to be of any earthly good. But if you are of the world, you will only notice others when you see that they are not paying enough attention to you. The Christian, on the other hand, is here for others – he is in the world, but not of it. That begins by seeing others and goes on to see their needs, but it ends with making their needs your concern and doing something about it.

:22 “But you know Timothy's proven worth, how as a son with a father he has served with me in the gospel.” Children, for better or worse, often take after their fathers. Mal 4:6 makes it clear that fathers and sons doing this in a godly way is a sign that things are headed in the right direction. It is a sign that we are healing. Now, for some this analogy makes sense in theory, but it does not resonate with your reality. You may agree that this is the way things ought to be, but you know, firsthand, that fathers do not always uphold their end of the bargain. If that is you, take a cue from Timothy. Paul was not his biological father, but he was a father figure. God is a Father to the fatherless and He often provides father figures where biological fathers have failed. We do not know much about Timothy’s father except that he was a Greek and did not allow his son to be circumcised. We also know that he was raised and influenced more by his mother and her side of the family than by his father and his Greek heritage. In other words, Timothy may have had a Greek last name, but he made a name for himself. He did not follow in the footsteps of his father, he put his feet on the narrow path of God.

:23-24 “I hope therefore to send him just as soon as I see how it will go with me, and I trust in the Lord that shortly I myself will come also.” As we’ve mentioned before, being imprisoned was a precarious situation, not merely because you were awaiting a trial, but because while you waited, you needed outside help to stay warm and fed. This is why Paul’s letters often include requests for things like letters and cloaks. Prison cells were not climate controlled back then and there wasn’t a TV to watch. As such, Paul knew he would need Timothy a little bit longer if there was to be any hope of him surviving. Yet he wanted to send whatever help he could as soon as he could. And that is why he is sending Epaphroditus back now, which is what our text goes on to address next.

SUMMARY OF THE EPAPHRODITUS TEXT

:25-26 “I have thought it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus my brother and fellow worker and fellow soldier, and your messenger and minister to my need, for he has been longing for you all and has been distressed because you heard that he was ill.” Consider the titles Paul here applies to Epaphroditus: my brother, fellow worker, fellow soldier, your messenger, and my minister. Paul was an apostle called by Christ Himself, but he was a brother to all Christians. He may have been an older brother, but he had the same Father. The same is true of us. We are brothers and sisters. Some are older brothers and some are little sisters, but we all have a Father in Heaven who makes us family. The same is true of the work we do. Paul had work God assigned him to do, but God has given us work as well. As important as Paul’s work was, he called Epaphroditus a fellow worker. We may have different roles and responsibilities, but we all work for the same Lord. This also applies to the battle we are engaged in. Paul fought the darkness of his day by destroying their arguments and taking thoughts captive to Christ. But he considered Epaphroditus a fellow soldier. They may have had different ranks and varying levels of combat experience, but they were enlisted in the same army. And the same is true of us. We are Paul’s brothers and sisters in Christ, we are his fellow workers in doing what God has called us to do, and we are his fellow soldiers as we fight the good fight and wage peace wherever we encounter the world. Look around the room. Do you see brothers, workers, soldiers? I do. Now, “consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith.” (Heb 13:7). Brothers are born for adversity and soldiers are tested in battle. 

Suffering well in your station solidifies your reputation. It makes you a messenger and a minister to others. Epaphroditus carried good news with him wherever he went and he ministered to whoever was in front of him. That is how you love your neighbors as yourself and avoid the death spiral of self-interest. Look to God, look around, get to work, and leave the results to God. John Adams said it this way, “We cannot insure success, but we can deserve it.” Waging war with honor does not guarantee you will win, but it does guarantee you will deserve it if you do. How  you fight matters. Winning is NOT everything. There are ways to “win” which nullify the victory. So, rest in obedience, not in results. If you do, you will be a brother, a worker, a soldier, a messenger, or a minister even if you suffer for it. Watching someone suffer is a peculiar hardship, but watching them suffer well is a peculiar blessing. Suffering well is a rare accomplishment. Suffering people are often selfish. I know this is a hard truth to hear, but bear with me. Suffering tends to turn one’s gaze within and it often draws one’s attention inward. It makes it hard to see others. So, if you are suffering today or if you end up suffering tomorrow, do not give in to the temptation to indulge your self-interest. Do not let your suffering define you and do not let it blind you to the needs of others. 

Consider the example of Epaphroditus. He did not allow his suffering to make him selfish. He fell ill, but his chief concern was not for himself. He was concerned for those who were concerned about him. He was worried about those who were worrying about him. Husbands and fathers, you understand this. If you get hurt in front of your wife or children, what do you do? Do you play it up to gain more sympathy? No. You play the man and play it down. Why? You don’t want your people to be worried about you. Wives and mothers, if you get sick, what do you do? Moan and groan and carry on so that your kids think you are dying? No. You get up and act like you’re ok. You don’t want your people to worry about you. It is your responsibility to worry about them and so you do whatever you can to ease their worries by not adding to them. The same kind of thing is happening here. Epaphroditus was able to suffer well because he was not the center of his thoughts. He cared about other people, not just when it was convenient or when he had the time, but when it was inconvenient and cost him something. Simply put, suffering well is a sign of a saint. So, how well do you suffer? Do you tempt others to put you out of your misery or do you inspire them to beg for your mercy? Epaphroditus loved others and as a result he was beloved as we see next.

:27 “Indeed he was ill, near to death. But God had mercy on him, and not only on him but on me also, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow.” Epaphroditus suffered well. We do not know how bad it was, but we know it was bad enough for Paul to think it was the end. And that is saying something considering Paul knew a little something about near death experiences. If the guy who has been beaten, stoned, shipwrecked, starved, and left for dead on multiple occasions says it looks bad… then it must have looked pretty bad. But God had mercy on both Epaphroditus and Paul by sparing Epaphroditus’ life and sparing Paul sorrow upon sorrow. He didn’t want to lose his friend and he didn’t want to have to write to the Philippians to regretfully inform them that their faithful friend had died far from home.

:28-30 “I am the more eager to send him, therefore, that you may rejoice at seeing him again, and that I may be less anxious. So receive him in the Lord with all joy, and honor such men, for he nearly died for the work of Christ, risking his life to complete what was lacking in your service to me.” We are invited to join Paul in honoring those who serve well among us. Do not take them for granted; take them with gratitude. Honorable men are not a given and where honorable men are not honored, you will find less and less of them. Not because men need to be honored in order to act honorably, but because where honor is not honored, you will not produce the kind of people who can replace honorable men when they pass away. Romans 13:7 says it this way, “Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed.” Honor and respect are not mercenary. They cannot, by definition, be done for the recognition. And so the duty to recognize, honor, and respect the honorable and respectable falls on us. We owe them that.

To borrow from Tolkien, “Men are better than gates.” The Philippians had sent money to Paul, which was great, but they sent more than that - they sent a man. Money does not make someone less lonely or bind up their wounds. Money can buy the bandages, but only hands can apply them. Money needs to be incarnate before it can do any tangible good. What good is a cold gold coin when you are freezing in a prison cell? And what good is a piece of paper with numbers on it when you are starving? A hundred dollar bill tastes the same as a one and neither will fill your belly. Money can buy bread and blankets, but you still need someone to deliver them for you if you are stuck in prison. Furthermore, the faces on the money make poor friends and the carvings on the coins cannot converse with you. Men are better than money and a good friend is better than a go fund me. That said, the money the Philippians sent really was a service to Paul, but sending Epaphroditus “completed their service.” They did not just send the means, they sent a man to administer them. That is ministry, literally ad + minister.

WHAT’S IN A NAME?

We began our time today by discussing the idea of making a name for yourself. Let’s end our time by taking a closer look at the names of these two servants. The name Timothy means “honor God.” Timothy, as we mentioned, was raised in a Christian environment with a mother and grandmother who read the Bible to him. We saw this in our NT reading where Paul said, “I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, dwells in you as well.” (2 Tim 1:5) Timothy’s mother’s family were faithful and brought him up in the faith. We see this again in 2 Tim 3:14-15 where Paul wrote, “Continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.” Timothy’s mom did not name him “honor God” with her fingers crossed. She named him that and then she raised him accordingly. She brought him up to live up to his name. She did not merely assume he would “catch” her faith by osmosis, she taught him from the Scriptures. In other words, she gave him a Christian education. Timothy then made that name for himself by owning who he already was. He honored God and stayed true to his name. He was not Timothy in name only, he honored God in word and deed.

Epaphroditus, on the other hand, did not grow up in a Christian home. His name means, “devoted to Aphrodite.” So, his parents had something else in mind entirely. Aphrodite was the Greek goddess of “love, lust, beauty, pleasure, passion, and procreation,” so perhaps his parents saw him as a product of their love and wanted to say, “Thank you,” to Aphrodite for answering their prayers or perhaps they dedicated him to her to earn some future favor from her for themselves. We don’t know. But we do know that he grew up and made a name for himself by devoting his life to Christ. He was now “devoted to Aphrodite” in name only. God calls all kinds of people to Christ. Those born outside of the covenant are not prohibited from entering. Anyone can come in, if they come in the name of Christ. We saw this in our OT reading. Naaman was born outside of the covenant, but he died in it. As expected, that made life more interesting for him, as we saw, as he had to work out what it looked like to live a brand new way among old bad habits. But God takes us from where we are, not from where we should have been and He does not leave us where He met us, it is always onward and upward into Christ.

So, if you grew up in a Christian home, like Timothy, you must grow up into it, and if you grew up in a lukewarm or outright pagan place, like Epaphroditus, you must grow out of it. Parents, do not presume upon the Lord by getting lazy in your childrearing; and children, do not presume upon your parents’ faith without having any of your own. There is no cruise control Christianity. Make your calling and election sure. 2 Peter 1:10-11 “Brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall. For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”

Timothy and Epaphroditus both made names for themselves and both ended up being a great help to the apostle Paul. Some of you are going to have boring testimonies, like Timothy, and praise God for that, and some of you, may already have more interesting testimonies, like Epaphroditus, and thank God for that as well. You don’t have to have seen some stuff to be a Christian and having seen some stuff does not disqualify you from being a Christian. So, whatever you have seen and whatever you have done, turn a profit on it by turning it all to Christ. As Martin Luther once observed, "Every man must do two things alone; he must do his own believing and his own dying.” So, make a name for yourself by believing in Christ. If you were born into a believing home, make a name for yourself by wearing it well; and if you were born into an unbelieving home, make a name for yourself by saying, ”Goodbye!” to the old you. If you are baptized, walk in a manner worthy of the name you wear on your head. Improve upon your baptism. If you are not baptized, consider this is your invitation. Repent and be baptized. 

Come, and welcome to Jesus Christ.

In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

PRAYER

Heavenly Father, give us the Spirit of wisdom in the knowledge of Christ. Open the eyes of our hearts and enlighten us that we may know what is the hope to which You have called us and appreciate the riches of Your glorious inheritance in the saints. Do this according to the working of Your great might that You worked in Christ when You raised Him from the dead and seated Him at Your right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. We ask all of this in Jesus’ Name and we now offer up the words of the prayer He taught us to pray singing…

day no. 17,499: intro to philippians (sermon outline)

Christ Church Leavenworth

Philippians 1:1-11

September 20, 2026

…

OT READING: Daniel 2:31-45

NT READING: Acts 16

"Intro to Philippians"

READING OF THE TEXT

Our text this morning is Philippians 1:1-11, these are the words of God

“Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi, with 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 in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. 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. For God is my witness, how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus. And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.”

The grass withers and the flowers fade, but the Word of our God stands forever.

PRAYER

Our Father and our God, we come before You this morning through Jesus Christ, our Lord, and in the Holy Spirit. Thank You for Your Word. Help us to hold it in high esteem, persuaded that by it we live and not by bread alone. Fill us now with Your Spirit that we might hear Your Word for what it is and apply it like our lives depend upon it. In Jesus’ Name we pray, Amen.

INTRODUCTION

Good morning! Today we are beginning our study of Paul’s epistle to the church at Philippi, commonly referred to as Philippians. Our study will take us up to the first Sunday of Advent where we will begin a four week walk through the Chalcedonian Creed. And in between, of course, we will have a break, as is our tradition at CCL, for Reformation Sunday, where Steve Wilkins will be our guest speaker. So, that’s a preview of what’s to come. This morning, we will be reviewing the background of the book of Philippians and then diving into the first eleven verses of chapter one.

CONTEXT: WHO, WHOM, WHERE, WHEN, AND WHY?

Let’s begin with the who, what, when, where, and why. The author, as already mentioned, was the apostle Paul and his partner in crime, Timothy. The original recipient, as the name implies, was the church at Philippi, which was a Roman colony located in Macedonia, or modern day Greece. Philippi was established as a retirement community for Roman soldiers. So, while it was geographically part of the old Greek order, it was culturally nearer to the Roman order of its day, and due to its demographics, that meant the militaristic part of Roman culture. Philippi had more in common with Mars, the Roman God of War, than it did with Mars Hill, the place where Greeks argued about the gods. This letter is one of the four often referred to as “the prison epistles,” the others being Ephesians, Colossians and Philemon, all of which were penned while Paul was in the pen. While he does not directly identify the prison from which he wrote this particular letter, there is good reason to believe that it was written from a jail cell in Rome around the year 62 AD, roughly five years before his beheading at the hands of Nero in 67 AD. Take note: beheaded, not crucified – crucifixion was for foreigners, and Paul, as you may recall, was a citizen, which is why he was in a Roman prison to begin with – he, as a citizen of Rome, had appealed to Caesar.

Paul’s mention of the imperial guard in 1:13 and Caesar’s household in 4:22 provide additional support of the idea that this letter was written from Rome. So, putting all of that together, the book of Philippians is a letter written from Rome by a Roman to a community of retired Roman soldiers. That makes this, perhaps, the most Roman letter in the NT, which is really saying something, considering there is a letter in the NT literally called Romans.

That said, consider the themes that dominate this letter: glory, honor, death, and duty. Paul appeals to the very best of what Roman culture had to offer; and then he reveals how it, even in all its glory, is no better than a hot pile of something a dog does on the sidewalk when compared with the glory of Christ. It is not a sin to aim at glory, it is a sin to fall short of it. All have sinned in striving for glory? No. All have sinned in wanting glory? No. All have sinned, how? By falling short of the glory of God. The glory of Rome, even when it rose to its full height, could not reach Heaven, even on tippy toes. Rome was not wrong to seek glory and honor, it was wrong for settling for its own glory. It was wrong for not reaching beyond its own grasp. Rome was too low of a target. If modern men reportedly think about the glory of Rome at least once a day, the Philippians thought about it even more. They lived in the midst of its glory and were themselves retired soldiers which means they saw and survived glorious battles. If anyone had something to boast about, it was these men. And if those men were convinced that Christ was better than what they had, how much more must we, who daydream about Rome, confess that Christ is better than the glory of our American dreams?

Consider our OT reading from this morning. In it we saw that Nebuchadnezzar was given a vision and that Daniel was given its interpretation. The Babylonians would give way to the Persians who would be overcome by the Greeks who would be conquered by the Romans. And during the reign of Rome, the Messiah would be carved out from the mountain of God and He would smash Rome into pieces. He would be like the stone David used to slay Goliath, but unlike that rock, He would not stay buried in a dead giant’s skull. This Rock would rise from the place of the skull and then grow into a mountain that filled the entire earth. The remains of the giant would blow away like dust in the wind, but the Rock of God would go on to break all the kingdoms of men into pieces and bring every last one of them to an end. Dead giants make for great compost; and Jesus is a giant killer. Daniel 2:44 puts it like this, “In the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, nor shall the kingdom be left to another people. It shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, and it shall stand forever.” 

Back to Philippi. It was named after Philip II of Macedon who conquered it in 356 BC. That same year he had a son. He named him Alexander and that son would go on to conquer most of the known world when he grew up. In addition to giving birth to one of the greatest conquerors of all time, Philipp II also gave birth to one of the greatest burns of all time, although he was on the business end of it. He is the one who sent word to Sparta saying, “If I bring my army into your land, I will destroy your farms, slay your people, and raze your city,” to which the Spartans famously responded with a single word, “If.” So, Philippi, while being a city many outside of the Christian faith have long since forgotten, had a very unique historical perspective. It had the unique privilege of being a witness to the death of the last two great kingdoms of man, Greece and Rome, and having a front row seat to the birth of the eternal kingdom of Christ.

So, that is the who, whom, what, when, and where, but what about the why? The reason for this letter is unlike many others. Paul did not write this letter to correct a doctrinal error like his letter to the Galatians, nor did he write it to answer any practical questions like his letters to the Corinthians, no, he wrote this letter simply to say, “Thank you.” The Philippians had heard of Paul’s imprisonment and decided to send him some financial support. Prisoners were not paid for by the state back then and so you needed family or friends to meet your needs or else you would perish in prison. Epaphroditus, a member of the Philippian church, was entrusted with their gift and given the task of delivering it. Paul had received it with gratitude and wrote this letter to send back with him to thank the Philippians for their kindness in remembering him and to encourage them in their Christlike concern and care for all the saints. So, this letter, in many ways, is a thank you note and as such it is one of Paul’s most friendly letters. It is filled with rejoicing for the goodness of God and His gift of good friends.

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

With that, let’s take a closer look at the first eleven verses of chapter one. :1-2 “Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi, with the overseers and deacons: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”

Paul was arrested many times. Some of those times he was chained up with friends as we saw in our NT reading when he was sent to the slammer with Silas and other times his friends were free to come and visit him as we see here in this letter. Silas and Paul may have sang together, but Timothy and Paul wrote together. This letter represents their shared sentiments regarding the church in Philippi. Timothy, as you also may recall from our NT reading, was there when the church in Philippi was founded. So, they knew him and he knew them, so it makes sense for Paul to bring him up. “Hey guys! You’ll never guess who’s here!”

Consider how Paul introduces himself: “a servant of Christ Jesus.” Paul is in prison for the sake of Christ and Timothy is with Paul for his love of Paul and their shared love of Christ. They are both serving the Lord: Paul in his way, Timothy in his. We all have a part to play in the body of Christ. Paul was called to preach, and as a result, he was arrested; Timothy was called to shadow Paul, and as a result, he was with him in prison. You do not have to be the one in jail in order to be faithful, but you do have to be willing to go to jail in order to be faithful. You may be the one called to be behind bars or you may be the one called to visit the one behind bars. Both require obedience and both are easier to talk yourself out of. But faithful servants do not sass their masters, they do what they are told and they go where they are sent. The body has many members. The eyes see on behalf of the whole and the kidneys flush toxins out of the entire system and both are needed for the body to thrive. If the eyes refuse to see, the whole body is blind. If the kidneys refuse to take out the trash, the whole body is poisoned.

Consider 1 Corinthians 12:14-18 “The body does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot should say, ‘Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,’ that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear should say, ‘Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,’ that would not make it any less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as He chose.”

So, we serve each other by serving Christ where He has placed us. He has determined the time and place of our habitation and the talents we have. We offer them to Him by offering them to the body. A body is a bunch of parts working together, but a bunch of parts disconnected from one another is a crime scene. If you came across a hand here and foot there, you would not call it a body, you would call the police. The body needs different parts working together. Everyone cannot do the same things, but everyone must do the thing God made them to do. Everybody may not be called to be arrested, but some might be, and some of us are certainly more likely to be, but the rest of us must be prepared to visit them. (Hebrews 13:3)

Paul and Timothy addressed this letter to “all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi.” Note the word “saint” here is not being used in the Roman Catholic sense. You cannot, strictly speaking, write a letter to a Catholic saint because in order to be “sainted” by Rome you have to be dead, and these saints were still very much alive. So, what does Paul mean by referring to them as “saints.” The word is hágios which literally means “different,” or “other,” and carries with it the figurative meaning of being “set apart.” Thus, temples and places of worship were described this way, as in the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople. A church is a building, but it is not just a building, it is set apart as a house of worship. The same can be said of saints. They are people, but they are not just people, they are people set apart by God. So, the term, “saint,” is unique to Christians, but not among them. In other words, all saints are Christians and all Christians are saints.

Consider 1 Peter 2:4-9 “As you come to Christ, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For it stands in Scripture: ‘Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious, and whoever believes in Him will not be put to shame.’ So the honor is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe, ‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone,’ and ‘A stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense.’ They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do… But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.”

So, we see the imagery of a building or body here again employed to describe the church and the title of “chosen” or “set apart ones” being applied to those who are in Christ Jesus. So, hear the Word of the Lord. Those who are in Christ are saints. What else could they be? And this isn’t just for officers in the church, this is the case for all Christians. Back to Philippians 1. Note that Paul applied the status of “saint” to the whole congregation. He adds the phrase, “overseers and deacons,” almost as an afterthought. The word for overseer here is “episcopos.” It can also be rendered as bishop. It is often used synonymously with the word “presbyteros” which is rendered elder. Note that it is plural. The church in Philippi was not governed by a monarchical bishop, not from within and not from without. It was governed locally by a session of elders and served by a band of deacons. A key takeaway here is that plurality of leadership, distribution of power, and limited government are all Christian concepts and they were present and in practice in all the churches from the very beginning. No one elder ruled his church and no one church ruled the others. In short, there were no popes in the Bible.

This principle, as it relates to the chain of command, was likely of particular interest to a community of retired soldiers where rank was a tangible reality. The rank of saint is the highest to which a man can rise and everyone enlisted in the army of the Lord receives it. As we march behind the Lord, we become more like Him, and when God looks at us, He sees Christ. And how does the Father see Him? Is there any doubt in your mind that the Father loves Him? Honors Him? Accepts Him? Is proud of Him? No. So, why is there a doubt in your mind as to how He sees you, Christian? “Because you don’t deserve that kind of praise from anyone, let alone God?” Duh! Of course you don’t. That’s why He had to die ya ding dong. Consider Galatians 2:21, “If righteousness could be gained without grace, Christ died for no purpose.” If there was any other way, do you not think God would have done it? Jesus prayed and asked His Father if there was another way. But there wasn’t. And so, He got up and He drank the cup. He submitted Himself to the cross and He surrendered His Spirit on it. But three days later, He rose from the dead and forty days after that, He ascended to the Father’s right hand. And from that place this morning, He is looking down on those who have called upon Him and what does He call them? Saints. Who are you to argue with Him?

Listen to these words from Oswald Chamber from My Utmost for His Highest, “To say ‘Oh, I’m no saint,’ is acceptable to human pride, but it is unconscious blasphemy against God. It literally means that you defy God to make you a saint. ‘I am much too weak and hopeless, I am outside the reach of the Atonement.’ Humility before men may be unconscious blasphemy before God. Why are you not a saint? It is either that you do not want to be a saint, or that you do not believe God can make you one… The way we continually talk about our own inability is an insult to the Creator. The deploring of our own incompetence is a slander against God for having overlooked us. Get into the habit of examining in the sight of God the things that sound humble before men, and you will be amazed at how staggeringly impertinent they are. ‘Oh, I shouldn’t like to say I am sanctified; I’m not a saint.’ Say that before God; and it means – ‘No, Lord, it is impossible for You to save and sanctify me.’ That may sound wonderfully humble before men, but before God it is an attitude of defiance.”

So, are you a saint? Yes, Christian. You are! Stop arguing with God. Stop trying to change your name. Your Father has called you to Himself through Christ, He has called you a Christian, He has called you a saint. Receive it as a gift and then get on with it! Walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called. (Eph 4:1) Go, in the words of Philippians 1:2, in the “grace and peace that you have from God our Father through our Lord Jesus Christ.” This is Paul’s standard salutation. We see some version of it in each of his letters: Romans, 1 & 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Colossians, 1 & 2 Thessalonians, 1 & 2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon, and here in Philippians. “Grace and Peace to you” is how Paul greets others in salutation. Note that the word “salutation” carries with it the idea of saluting. We tend to think of a salutation as a nice way of greeting someone, usually in a letter, whereas we think of a salute as a formal way of acknowledging someone’s rank, usually in person. In this case, it functions as both. We greet the saints and we salute them. We are all fellow soldiers in the army of God and our common marching orders are “All of Christ for all of life.” That means working out our theology wherever we are and whatever we happen to be doing while also remembering where it comes from and what fuels it. We need fresh grace every day and we have peace with God every day, because of Christ. Grace and peace are proof of the Spirit’s presence, of His ongoing work, and of His promise to continue working until the work is completed. More on that in a bit.

:3-5 “I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now.”

Are there people in your life that when you think of them, your first thought is gratitude to God for them? If there are, let them know. Yes, pray to God and thank Him for them, but then reach out to that person from time to time and let them know that you thank God for them. We run into some people more than others and it is easy to forget about those you don’t see very often and it is easy to overlook those you see all of the time. So, if something reminds you of someone you haven’t seen or talked to in a while, send them a short message letting them know that you thank God for them. And if you have people that you see all of the time, do not take them for granted. Let them know how much you appreciate their consistency. As Chesterton once observed, “When it comes to life the critical thing is whether you take things for granted or take them with gratitude.” This is especially true of those who partner with us in the most important things. The Philippians partnered with Paul to help him spread the Gospel. That was his calling. What are you called to and who is helping you do it? Don’t forget to thank God for both the calling He put on your heart and the help He put in your life to pursue it, and then make sure you say, “Thank you” to those who help you do what you value most.

:6-8 “And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. 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. For God is my witness, how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus.”

God is not like you. He does not have a long list of abandoned projects. He does not begin things that He does not finish. He does not overpromise or underdeliver. He does not get in over His head and then get discouraged. He always knows what He is getting Himself into before He gets into it, and that includes you. He was not unaware of how hard you were going to be to work with. He knew exactly what a pain in the rear you were going to be, and then He took you on anyway.

So, rest assured, He who has begun a good work in you will finish it. He will not leave you half-baked. He will not abandon you or forsake you. He is not done with you. Like a good dad, He is easily pleased and impossible to satisfy. A good dad rejoices when his two year old puts a few words together, but he wants more from him when he is twenty-two. How much more so is God like that? He is easily pleased with our first attempts to walk and talk, but He keeps pushing us to go further up and further in. He doesn’t want us to toddle around our entire Christian lives, He wants us to grow up and mature in Christ. So, you do not have to be a completed work to get into Christ, but if you are in Christ, you are a work in progress, and more to our point here, that is enough for God, for now, but He will not leave you buffering forever. He will not stop working until the work is done.

And that was true for the Philippians, it was true for Paul, it was true for Timothy, it’s true for me, and it’s true for you. We are all partakers of the same grace. Grace always does what it does best: it saves sinners, it continues to save them, and it will save them in the end. As Paul here puts it, as God is my witness, as much as you want yourself to be more like Jesus, God wants it more. By the grace of God, those who delight themselves in the LORD will have the desire of their heart. And just in case this is beginning to sound a bit sappy, Paul goes on to explain that love is not a mindless feeling in your gut, it is an intelligent decision of the will

:9-11 “And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.

As we already noted, God is easy to please and impossible to satisfy. So, if you have a love for God and His church and His Word, that is great. Keep it up, keep going, and keep growing. Don’t settle for yesterday’s love and do not lean upon yesterday’s faithfulness. Do not put your confidence in a decision you made five years ago, put your faith in God today. Paul is not disappointed in the Philippians’ love. He is not praying for them because they are that kind of prayer request. No, he is praying for them to grow in what they already have. He wants him to grow in wisdom, stature, and favor with God and others, not because they have no wisdom or stature or favor, but because he wants him to have more.

So, how does love abound? Do the feelings need to be stronger? No, the knowledge and discernment of what is excellent needs to grow. Love is not a function of emotional capacity per se as much as it is a function of discerning the mind of God. Not only in being able to discern the difference between what is excellent and what is subpar, but in being able to better appreciate that which you know to be excellent. Simply put, Biblical love has a brain. True love is disciplined.

Consider, Hebrews 5:14, “Solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.” Discernment is a muscle. It can get stronger, but it can also atrophy. So, just as an athlete does not depend on last year’s sit-ups, so a Christian should not depend on last year’s Bible reading. Stay in shape. Did you hear the admonition? This requires constant practice. God does not want you to eat baby food your whole life. You need to learn the difference between black and white, but growing up is learning the difference between white and off white. It is more subtle and requires more knowledge, but it can be learned. That is good news. Greater discernment is a product of more practice. Did you hear that? The thing about the need to practice is that it implies that you haven’t arrived, but it also implies that you are working your way there. So, take heart if you’re not there yet, it’s ok, but take up your cross again and keep going, for in Christ, your labors are not in vain.

In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

PRAYER

Heavenly Father, thank You for taking us from where we are and not from where we should have been. We have all fallen short of the glory You deserve and yet You have loved us. While we were still Your enemies, You extended terms of peace to us through the life, death, and resurrection of Your Son. Send Your Spirit now to help us appreciate that gift more and more and to walk in a manner that manifests an increasing dependence upon You and a cheerful obedience to Your Law.

We ask all of these things in Jesus’ name and we now offer up the words of the 

prayer He taught us to pray singing…