Greeting and Prayer
Philippians 1:1-5 · Bob Eckel · Jan 15, 2012
Philippians (2012), No. 02
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://www.hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/4926257583287

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

All right, I'm glad to be in the text this week rather than being a historian. I enjoy particularly looking at the Word of God and dissecting what he had tense for us on the lines of Scripture. And it reminded me last week that teaching history would never have been my first choice. Probably my last choice. All right, good.

So today we're looking at the first five verses, and I'm kind of envious of Jim, because next week he's going to start Philippians 1.6. Now that doesn't mean the first five are really a consolation. The first five are really kind of introductory in a way.

And there are certain, I think, doctrinal aspects we can look at in Philippians 1.1 through 5 that are important in terms of our day-to-day existence here in the 21st century. So, in fact, before we turn to the verses, let's go ahead and read those first five verses. So, Margaret, would you do that, please? Me? Did you say me? Yes.

Paul and Timothy, the sermons of Jesus Christ to all the saints in Christ Jesus, which are at Philippi, and the bishops and deacons. Grace be unto you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank my God upon every remembrance of you. always in every prayer of mine for you all making requests with joy for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now. Okay, thank you. So, first verse. Paul and Timothy, bondservants of Jesus Christ, to all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, with the bishops and deacons, grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

So, just as a reminder, Paul, with Silas and Timothy, actually planted the gospel in Philippi approximately in AD 51. We looked at this in part last week. Acts 16 is really a historical perspective of the work that was done in Philippi in terms of planting the church on Paul's second missionary journey. Now, as we look at Paul and Timothy, we're going to come back and ask a question in a moment. But comparing Paul and Timothy, what can we say about Paul?

Well, Paul was, in fact, older. Paul was more experienced, more seasoned in the truth of the Word of God. I mean, can you imagine the road to Damascus and then those three years Paul spent in the wilderness with the Lord Jesus Christ? I mean, this guy's got it all down. Now experientially, he's grown by grace, but in terms of doctrinal truth, Paul is clearly more seasoned. And finally, he's the author of the epistle. We looked at that last week. There's no question that Paul is the author of the epistle.

So the next question then would be, what's Timothy doing here anyway? What are your thoughts? Why is Timothy even brought up here? I would say it's because by Paul saying that Timothy's with him and that he's there together, he's setting the stage in Philippi and really for other churches that Timothy is to be accepted by them as his representative. I mean, Paul knows that because he's older, Timothy would be able to continue on with the ministry. And he wants to give him a reference, so to speak.

Other thoughts about this? verse kind of outlines what's going on, which is Paul teaching the faithful man who taught the faithful man. The chain began with Paul the Timothy. Kind of like Paul has said several times in the scripture, be ye followers of me as I also am of Christ. Now we're not talking about walking in Jesus's footsteps there. I mean, when Paul says that, he's talking about identification truth.

And ultimately, Timothy is under Paul's guidance and being mentored by Paul. Well, the first point I want to make is because Timothy was with Paul when he first preached at Philippi. So ultimately, I think these two were hanging out together. And so Timothy was really known by the Philippians. He'd already been there with them. In fact, they probably learned to respect him through his joint ministry with Paul. And I think because Paul was about to send Timothy back to them again.

So let's turn to Philippians 2.19, just as a quick documentation of that fact. Fine, you don't have it.

Okay, who has Philippians 2.19? Looking for her spouse.

Anyway, Philippians 2.19.

But I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you shortly so that I also may be encouraged when I learn of your condition. Okay, so Paul states in the epistle that Timothy's coming back. So he's been there, they know him, they respect him, and they connect him with the ministry that Paul's already had. And I think that also Timothy's included here to let the church at Philippi know that there was a continued agreement between the two of them about what needed to take place in Philippi. So Paul and Timothy have teamed up to bring the truths of the gospel and ultimately solidify them in the circumstances in which they found themselves. So, lots of reasons, and we can speculate, this is all quasi-speculation, although we know Timothy's coming back. It says in the letter he's coming back. So they've been there together, they hang out together, the gospel has been ministered to them by both, and so therefore Timothy is part of the prelude to the letter.

Now both Paul and Timothy are identified as bondservants. What's a bondservant? Well, I've defined it for you here. One who gives himself up to another's will. Now you can interpret that negatively. You could interpret that positively. So what are the thoughts here when Paul and Timothy both are identified as bond servants? Bond servants to whom? To Christ. Bond servants to Christ.

That means he tells us what to do and that's what we do? No, I think they... He gives Himself, just what you said, they by choice have chosen to use the term Monservant to Christ in His will. He's used it in lots of other places. And I think there's an understanding there too that the life comes through Jesus Christ and that their life is now in Him. Do you think Timothy knew this at this time too? Just because he'd hung out with Paul a lot, and Paul obviously had come to this truth, right? Other thoughts, Roy? There's a couple of things in those verses there in the second chapter. I'm sorry, in those verses in the second chapter it says, For I have no man like-minded who will naturally care for your state.

In thinking the way Paul did, as bondservants, we were set free by Christ. And that set freedom, you put yourself willingly back under the master that you love. And that was a custom that was called a bondservant. The freedom, the master set them free, and they said, we don't want to leave you. what we want to be. In fact, Margaret, you've described to me many times the relationship between the people that lived in your home and served your family in terms of the relationship they had with your father. That was a bond servant's role, but yet there was a tremendous bond between these black servants and your family.

I think this can be interpreted only positively And Jim, to distract you from your conversation, I mean, next week, Philippians 1.6, I mean, gets into this process.

I mean, Paul understood what this bondservant was. It wasn't one of slavery. It was one of seeing the Lord continuing to work out his good pleasure in Paul over time. And remember in the same first chapter, for me to live as Christ and die as gain, there's no question about doctrine here. I mean, when Paul's talking about being a bondservant. He's a new man, a new creation in Christ Jesus. And he and Timothy both understand that truth.

So the question of the class, can we identify with this? What do you think about when you think about your own walk in the Lord in terms of being a bondservant? Kind of a personal question. I mean, I pondered this yesterday. I was putting the lesson together. Do you think some I mean, is the view we should have of this is we're always falling short? Is that how we, as people walking in earthly bodies with sin natures, I mean, is that the perspective we should be having here? In terms of our bondservant role that Paul and Timothy acknowledged and shared?

I think it's more like Romans 6, where we serve one of two masters. And it's, we're going to serve somebody or something. We either serve sin or we serve Okay, is that a choice? Well, according to Romans 6, it kind of is. We reckon ourselves dead, we understand the life of the Christ. It's an acknowledgment of that. So I'm going to choose this person? Well, I don't know if... We have Christ's very life, so it's not like it's a choice. I like that. Other thoughts here? It's when you put your trust and faith in Him. And we're putting our trust and faith in the Lord, and so You know, if that's where our focus is, I think we're more inclined to understand our position.

So the relationship I mentioned for your family with the servants that served in your home is one in which there was mutual respect and oneness, wasn't there, in terms of what was occurring on a day-to-day basis. How do we respond to this bond-serving role? Does anybody think they're a slave that the Lord Jesus Christ is in here? In terms of the negative connotation, a slave, we have to do what the master says. No, it's like everything else in the Word of God, and Jim will get on my case here a little bit, but I like Schofield.

What's faith? It's believing what God has revealed. I mean, God says we're totally in Christ, in Christ Jesus. So it begins with victory, it begins with being uplifted, and it begins with really accepting that as a bond that is a bond servant only in a positive and encouraging sense. We live by faith. We will always be discouraged if we think we're not obeying the Master. Faith carries us into a life, not a choice, Alan. I think in the human fleshly mind we make choices, but when Christ shows up, that's a life that's filled with faith.

We've talked about this many times in this room in previous books, but are we measuring our performance? And I think when we're measuring our own performance, we've got to be giving the flesh credit for what it's doing. The walk is one that's exemplified to the body and the glory goes to him. Okay, we could get bogged down here. This sounds like Mike Doyle class, not this one.

But anyway, we gotta look at all Paul is and what he represents and that's the walk in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, Paul addresses this to all of the saints who are at Philippi. Now, I thought this was kind of interesting. Saints are set-apart ones, right? So these individuals presumably are born-again believers. This is the church. Now, position or condition here? Condition? Okay. Anybody want to? No, no. Position. I think so. Right. I mean, we, you know, again, metrics applied to one another to determine, you know, how the walk's going.

It's not what Paul's talking about. These are people who have been born again and are part of the new church. And interestingly enough, it's not to the church at Philippi. The letters to the Corinthians and the Thessalonians said to the church at Corinth. of the church at Thessalonica, but here it's to all the saints. What do you make of that? Is that worthy of any attention? Well, I'm going to ask a question. It's more directed to the believer, him or herself, rather than to the body? Is that potentially an interpretation here? I don't know. It's a question.

And perhaps it reflects the purpose of this epistle. And when we think of the purpose of this epistle, what do we think of? If you had to describe in one sentence what the epistle of the Philippians represents, how would you describe it? Versus all of Paul's other epistles. A one-liner.

He's very thankful for their support. Yeah, I think it's one of uplifting joy and encouragement. And remember, the church at Philippi had suffered through a lot of tough times, but yet there's really nothing that's degrading about their faith here. It's a book that is totally filled with encouragement and joy, and Paul commends the church at Philippi, or all the saints who are at Philippi. to all of the saints who are at Philippi with the bishops and deacons.

So we're going to get into a little church doctrine here. So bishop or episcopus is an overseer or a presbyter. So let's look at this in a little bit more detail. It's a man charged with the duty of seeing that things to be done by others are done rightly. Potentially also defined as a curator, a guardian, or a superintendent. Now that's theirs, like it or not. Now, in the body of Christ, we typically use terms as elder, overseer, or bishop, and I'm going to give you examples of all three here.

In Acts 20.17 it says, from Miletus he sent to Ephesus and called the elders of the church. So presumably, bishops, overseers. Acts 20, 28. Take heed therefore unto yourselves and to all the flock over which the Holy Ghost hath made you oversee, or same word, to feed the church of God which he hath purchased with his own blood.

And finally the term Bishop is used in the translation of Elizabeth and the New King James in 1 Timothy 3. A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, temperate, sober-minded, of good behavior, hospitable, and able to teach. So same Greek word used as elder, used as bishop, and used as overseer.

So these people have responsibility as an overseer of the body, basically. And we have that here at Holly Hills, correct? Now deacon or diaconess means one who executes. So these are the, if you will, the doers and the commands of another of those that are followed here. So presumably there's a master.

And I think in the church structure, we're talking about now the elders oversee the body and the deacons are the ones who get the job done. Now, I'm not sure that we have to be overly particular about how these people are identified and appointed or voted upon or whatever the process is. But you think of a deacon more as a servant or someone who ministers. And I think we define deaconesses and deacons in that role of people who are chosen, willing, and capable of acting by faith to carry out the ministry in terms of meeting the needs of the body.

Now, I'm going to turn to the Gospel of John, and I'm going to take the words of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. If anyone serves me, let him follow me, and where I am, there my servant will be also. If anyone serves me, him my father will honor."

So, is this to some extent a contradiction or is this consistent with the term deacon, do you think? Is that the same word then? Servant, my servant, is the echinus. Is this addressed to the Jew, you think, in time and age in which this was written? What class condition are the ifs? I guess that would be the question. I actually didn't look at that, so I'm not quite sure.

Let's go back and turn to the verse here so I can put it in context. Okay, so this is a passage in the Gospel of John where Christ is projecting his crucifixion. Kind of the verse that precedes it, he that loves his life shall lose it, and he that hates his life in this world shall keep it unto eternal life. If any man serves me, let him follow me, and where I am there also shall my servant be. If any man serve me, him will my father honor. Now is my soul troubled, and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour.

So in context, what do you think? It's the potential. It's not the assumed true. It's the potential that it is true. Then these things will be true also. You asked what class condition it is. It's the potential one. It's not the assumed true. So it's truly if, as we best understand it, rather than since. Is this a work of law here?

No. I don't think he's talking to In this context, he's not talking to the Jews. He's talking to his disciples and almost looking forward to the church, I think. Yeah, I think, you know, losing your life, you know, you'll save it, right? I mean, in a sense, he could in fact be appealing to the body he's speaking with about, come to the cross with me.

I mean, I think there is a bit of anticipation about ultimately nobody's going to the cross voluntarily with them, but it's by faith ultimately, and that's where we lose our life, and we will in fact find it by losing. I don't know, but the term here is servant. And ultimately being servants or ministers ultimately reflects, I think, to the identification with the Lord Jesus Christ.

Now a point I'd like to make here is where the apostles now dead or far away, and Paul's long been in prison at this point in time, the elders and deacons needed to step up and be really serving their roles in the local body. So, I mean, there's no Paul there right now, and Timothy's coming, but basically a lot that had happened in the apostolic age is now starting to pass. And JFB says, and I quote, the spirit thus intimated that the churches were to look up to their own pastors Now that the miraculous gifts were passing into God's ordinary providence and the presence of the inspired apostles and the dispensers of those gifts was to be withdrawn. So we're entering kind of a new age where a lot of things that were happening during the apostolic age were starting to become remote or distant.

And ultimately, church structure and church body is needing to be formulated at the local level. And so I think that the address to the deacons and the elders are to take charge and put their body in order. And so in Philippi, there was a plurality of both elders and deacons in the church. This wasn't just one local body with one elder and maybe one or two deacons. Ultimately, the evidence says there were many people.

I mean, today we talk about the pastor or the senior pastor. And by the way, the term pastor is not in the Bible. We typically say that pastor means teacher, but if you do a word search, in the Bible and put pastor in, you come up with nothing. So anyway, I think what we're looking at there then is really the idea that the elders, and of course in Holly Hills we have three, right?

And how many deacons? I mean, we're not sure how many, but there are many people who are serving those roles. Those presumably are roles that are really up to the local body in terms of making decisions. There's no format that needs to be appropriately followed in terms of elders number thereof and or deacons.

Thoughts? Conversation about this. Paul clearly is making known to the Church of Philippi that men who have been either assigned and or feel led by the Lord to assume these roles needed to step up to the plate and get the church in order. Other thoughts? All right. So grace be unto you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

One point only about verse two. Why is this the same phrase almost word for word in all of Paul's epistles? If you look at the first couple of verses of all of Paul's epistles, this is a repetitive statement. Kind of boring? No, maybe that was Paul's greeting. That was his way to address each of the churches that he wrote to. Alright, read into the verse. Dissect it.

How about grace? Good place to start, huh? And following grace, what's this peace all about? Is this peace with your fellow man? Is this, you know, ending tribal warfare? Earthly peace? No, I mean there's a peace and a rest that's based on grace, is there not? I mean, so I think it's kind of Paul saying, step back. God's grace is there and it extends to you peace also. From God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. What's so relevant about that in all his prefaces to the epistles to follow?

That's the source. Yeah, and what's it reflect? It's leaving one component out, or one person out. I mean, two thirds of the Trinity, right? I mean, this phrase does not prove the triune God, but it certainly, you know, the messages from God the Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ, it's coming from both of them. And the assumption is, and Paul really establishes that well in Romans, the Spirit and his important role in the Christian life. All right, let's move on to three and four then.

I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine, making requests for you all with joy for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now. Really, if you look at the true translation, it's every remembrance of yours, not of you. How would that affect our interpretation?

Well, perhaps it's referring to their kind and generous attention to Paul. We know the Philippian Church was involved in supporting his ministry. And Paul's just not saying, gee, I'm thinking of you, so this is really a source of my prayer. He's remembering yours. I mean, he's really thinking about the Philippian Church and what they represent. And that's since applying his wants and needs. I don't know. It's just a curiosity there. Why he's not saying, I'm members of you.

That's the way it's translated here in the New King James. And by the way, it's that and other versions too. But in terms of the original Greek, it's remembrance of yours. And I think it reflects the body and what the body has really been doing unto him. I think that in a sense is part of why it's phrased in this manner.

All right, so prayer or thesis refers to requests, simple definition of prayer requests. Now, let's let's take a look at Paul's prayer in some some detail now, it says. always in every prayer of mine making requests for you all with joy for your fellowship. What aspects of Paul's prayer are noteworthy here? Let's not look at the handout first and just look at what's said here.

What are your thoughts? As far as Paul's needs being met by them, it's interesting that in later, I think it's chapter 3, where he refers to how God supplies their needs. Which is kind of like a trip. But God is the ultimate source of all of that. Other thoughts?

Well he's praying on behalf of them. It appears that he does this on a regular basis. And he does it every time he remembers them with joy. Because he remembers them not as being Jesus Christ into the body. You know, along that line, is this a prayer list that Paul has, do you think?

I don't think so. I mean, think of your own prayer life. Don't you pray for people when you're reminded of them? I mean, it's not like I got this list and I got to pray for Gail today or for Paula, which I think is an appropriate request. But she's mentioned Paula to us now. So as the Lord reminds us of Paula, we lift Paula up, that God's grace would be seen in the circumstances surrounding Paul.

So here I think it's the same deal. Paul doesn't have a prayer list, but the church of Philippi is being made known to him frequently in his thoughts, and I think that prayer is following this remembrance of the church. All right, so always. Does that reflect the Philippian body or the frequency and consistency of Paul's prayer? I think we just answered that. It reflects the body. This isn't, again, a list of Paul's praying four times a day for the church at Philippi. I don't know if this is accurate or not, but I'll share it.

Every remembrance, who puts in our mind? Other people, but the Holy Spirit brings them to our minds. Every time he's done that, comes the joy that they participate with him. You know, that's the neat thing about prayer, is that there's no formula here. You know, as Paul outlined in Romans, strange utterances and things we don't even comprehend are often prayer to the Lord. I mean, this is neat, because think about your own lives. Everything that enters into the earthly mind potentially could be a source of prayer.

And I don't know about you, I communicate with the Lord all the time. I'm not down on my knees, not that there's anything wrong with that, but I mean, there's no formality here. This is a pathway of constant communication. And I think that's what Paul's reflecting here. Every remembrance of you, I'm lifting you up before the Lord. All right. In every prayer of mine for you all, don't we often say this too, I've been praying for you. Now, what do you make of that? Somebody says they've been praying for you. Is that necessarily bad? Or is it good? Or is it just... I think it's becoming fluff all over Facebook. Everybody on Facebook always says, I'm praying for you. Spoken by an expert. A Facebook expert. Gail, would you like to find another class for us? No, I like this one better. And I think, you know, I think Paul's sincere and honest to say he's been praying for them. But I think we're kind of flipping on that, aren't we?

We've been praying for you. I mean, is that just a thought that just passes our mind? We consider it to be prayer? Well, the Lord knows every thought that doesn't reach him in a formal way. Yeah. I mean, you think about it, what it should mean is that the Holy Spirit's put you on somebody's heart, which is kind of interesting when you think about it. Somebody's being capped. by the Holy Spirit to think about you and pray for you, which is kind of an interesting thing about the body, how it all ties together. Yeah, Tim?

Just a thought, I mean, is it worth worrying about if somebody's actually praying for you or not, if they say they are? What's the purpose of prayer? I think you're really getting at a very important question. What's the purpose of prayer anyway? Is it for the person we're praying for? Prayer is all about us. It's all about our relationship to the Lord Jesus Christ. You know, go to him always about all things, right? Where is that? First Thessalonians or someplace? Pray always about all things.

And Paul, I think here, is just in a glimpse and a verse or two suggesting that this is what he's all about. Yeah, I think prayer is a constant communication. And note the encouragement here. Remember, as stated in Acts 16, which is really the description of the Church of Philippi, the principal outcome from all the work in Philippi is progress or growth through conflict. And Paul's lifting them up based on what they've been through. And I think this statement really reflects that. And the progress characterizes that despite the conflict, they're joyful and lifted up.

And that's why Philippians isn't, oh my goodness gracious, another poor church performance. I mean, in a sense, if you think a letter to Corinth and the Galatians, for sure, right? We're looking at some scolding there, if you will. I'll use that term loosely. Or lifting up in terms of what these churches have been through. Not true of Philippi.

This church is one that's being lifted up and joyful despite their circumstances. And Paul's request for the body is made with joy. I know you've been through it and things are tough, but your response to this makes me pray for you joyfully. I mean, it's an uplifting experience that Paul's going through here.

And remember, at Philippi, what happened to Paul? Paul was beaten, he was in prison, and then he was put in stocks in the prison before the great experience where the doors simply opened and he was let loose. Paul had been through it. He and Silas really had experienced that conflict just in Philippi that he can relate to. And yet he still remembers Philippi with joy.

I mean, we can look at multiple examples of Paul's going through trials and tribulations and how that is being used to the Lord to bring glory upstairs. And joy, by the way, is used 16 times in Philippians. And we'll be seeing that frequently as we go through the book. Now, Paul, again, looked upon these sufferings in Christ as God's glory being manifested. And I think that really is reflected in many other places in the New Testament.

So the question I would ask you, how do we pray for others when we pray? We kind of touched on this a little bit. Any additional thoughts about that? When do we pray often? I'm not being critical here, but it's really true. We pray when somebody's sick or somebody's going through a trial and that's fine and good. I mean, we pray about all things always. But how should that prayer, I mean, not that I'm giving you a formula, but what's the nature of that prayer? What should that prayer be like as we communicate with the Lord? Yeah, Roy, what are your thoughts?

Well, I'm sort of waiting for somebody else to say something. Well, everybody else has got the answer, so you just don't want to share one. A partial answer would be Paul's opening remark to them, Grace and peace be unto you from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ. The three persons are there because those words are from the Holy Spirit. So when we pray, that's what we're doing. We're communicating. Before somebody, grace and peace be multiplied by God the Father.

The Spirit tries to remind me, and I fall far short of this all the time, but you need to begin with thinking where the believer's citizenship is to begin with, right? So even though we selfishly want the prayers to be answered in a way that earthly comfort would follow and everything would turn out well, you know, God's glory is ultimately the outcome of prayer and the circumstances we all go through. And so when we pray, I think you're right, starting with grace and peace, but also that the citizenship of our fellow believer would be recognized by him or her. And that through these circumstances, they'll live by faith to bring glory to the Lord.

And sure, we want the outcome to be favorable. We live in earthly bodies that hurt and suffer. So we all want good things to happen. I hate conflict, don't you? Don't you hate suffering and trials? I mean, how many people would choose these things? But we all go through them. We go through them in different ways at different times.

And that's God's working in us to bring glory to himself. Well, and the end result of conformity to his image is really what most of those are. And it's like, I think Mike's mentioned a few times when you ask a prayer because of the sickness, a lot of times God's hand into what's going on, and we're receptive to that conformity process. Yeah, it gets back, I think, to what we're going to study in Philippians, too. I mean, for me to live as Christ and die as gay, in a simple bottom line, it's either way you win. But the point is, I think, prayer is defined as request. And our requests can be whatever we want.

God knows what he's about and knows how he's going to use circumstances to bring his great grace and love to the believer. But, yes, Debbie. This may be a little off the point, but you know, there's times that the Lord may bring somebody to your mind that you're far, far away, that you haven't seen in 20 or 30 years. And so, you know, you have this strong urge just to pray for them. You'll never know the outcome. But there's joy in just talking to our Father, knowing that, first of all, that the Holy Spirit brought that person to your mind, and joy that He's in control, and that He'll take care of it. And you may never know the outcome, but again, there's just joy in communicating with our Father.

Yeah, that's neat. You know, it reminds me of Herb a little bit. I had a great friend in high school who we've communicated every Christmas. Herb doesn't believe in the modern age. He doesn't have a computer and all these notes are handwritten and I barely can read them. But every Christmas I get a letter from Herb. Last Christmas he told me he had lymphoma. But, you know, he said that he was undergoing treatment. The outlook looked pretty good.

And this year, no Christmas letter. We learned from somebody else's Christmas letter. Herbert died. But, you know, I never since since he actually and I both went to the same high school, same college, but we've only stayed in touch by by letter at Christmastime.

There's been no phone calls. We went to his house one time when we were back home in Cincinnati, and the place looked like it shut up. And so Margaret said, I'll knock on the door and said, nah, there's nobody home here. But everyone apparently was there, but kind of became a hermit. Just a really lovely guy, but I don't know for sure. There's nothing in his letters that indicated to me that he knew the Lord. But I mean, at times the Lord would remind me of her, but I think Debbie's right.

I mean, sometimes people come out from out of the blue, and they're people that we're to pray for. So Paul's prayer began here with grace and thanksgiving and joy. Is that where our prayers are? I mean, in a sense, I think Paul identifies, I think, a process of prayer that begins with God's great grace and thanksgiving. And many people equate grace and thanksgiving one to the other, right? I mean, grace is thanksgiving in many ways. And it's for your fellowship in the gospel.

Jude 1.3 I like here. Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you and exhort you that you should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. Now I think that contending for the faith could be evangelism. but it also could be contending for the faith in the fellowship you share with fellow believers.

And I think that applies particularly to the church at Philippi. Fellowship is viewed, I think, three ways in Philippians. The first is with Christ himself, which was revealed in suffering. And I don't know whether time is going to allow us to look at the verses, but that's in Philippians 1.29. Secondly, with one another. which was revealed in the unity of the church. And the first part of Philippians 2 really in great detail identifies that fellowship.

And finally, in financial giving, and that's noted briefly in Philippians 4.16.

So this fellowship, again, is really the concept of having a intimate relationship with with the Lord and with the body. So, koinonia is the Greek term, interesting term, intercourse and intimacy. Now, you can overly translate that here a little bit, but in a sense, if you think of the marital act of sexual intercourse and think about how intimate that is, that's what we're talking about here in terms of fellowship. That's pretty intimate.

I mean, and as you apply that to the fellowship and the body with the Lord, et cetera, it really stands for a very special relationship, doesn't it, right? me, verse 27 here in Philippians 1. In the ending it says, well let me read the whole verse. Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ, that whether I come and see you or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that you stand faith in one spirit with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel. Isn't that neat? That fits very, very nicely. It goes right with Jude there, doesn't it? It's very nice. I'm glad you added that.

To make a note, Philippians 1.27 next to the Jude verse here. Alright, the gospel's good news is a simple message of God's great grace. So this must be where fellowship starts, right? The gospel. The fellowship of the gospel. Alright, so I've got a question for you. But for the believer, why at times does this not occur? I'm not thinking about with the Lord. I'm talking about fellowship with one another. Why at times do we not sense this fellowship?

Well, I'm going to suggest, is it related to Galatians 1.9 a little bit? I mean, this kind of other gospel that Paul really said that people who preach this other gospel should be a curse. And I guess the question is, are they within the body or are they outside the body?

Last night we were at some Jewish friend's house and the last 15 or 20 minutes of our visit there we talked about the differences from Judaism to Christianity and I was kind of reflecting on this whole aspect of the simple truths of salvation versus the growth of a believer and the truths of grace versus law.

We were kind of discussing that. They were very open to a conversation. This wasn't anything but open-ended and spirit-led, I think. All that aside, I think the question comes up, that I think you always ask, I would think at times at least ask, when you're talking to a believer who's law-based and there's a disagreement doctrinally and scripturally in what we believe and we come to Holly Hills for, how do we respond to that?

They're saved. I mean, you know, Jesus died for my sins and I have life everlasting. I mean, basic, simple gospel. But I think the simple gospel is the co-crucifixion too. It's as Rory and I were just talking about. It's just important to see that our sin nature was crucified. Now, most of us don't get there right away. I think, you know, for me, I had to come to the end of myself and I'm still not to the end. But anyway, I understand the important truth of being crucified with Christ and how relevant that is. And I think the communion service we go through, the Lord's Table, really reflects both the co-crucifixion and the blood. I think the bread represents the body being crucified and I think the wine or the grape juice represents the blood, the sins. But all that aside, how do we deal with that when we're with believers who are under law but they're saved? Can there be fellowship under those circumstances? Is that no? Is that yes? There should be. I'm trying to remember where the passage is. We've been on Corinthians.

Yeah, where it's the weaker brother versus the strong. The weaker teaches. I mean, excuse me, the strong teaches the weaker. And it's basically a fellowship of education in some respects. It's not like there should be animosity or division. Yes. But that's why, I guess, they're church choices, right? I mean, that's why some people go to one type of denomination, other people go to non-denominational churches. Jim, do you have a thought? Just real quick.

In a larger sense, yes, there's fellowship because of our identity in Christ. But even in 1 John, it talks about fellowship coming from a shared doctrine, a shared truth. And so, if they're proclaiming something different by virtue of the scripture, you might have a breakdown in fellowship in regards to that. But yet, you're still in fellowship in Christ. I think the bond we have in the Lord Jesus Christ is the beginning and end of, well, I shouldn't say that, it's the beginning of fellowship.

And then when issues come up, I think it's a matter of us being spirit-led in terms of how we respond. And there's no formula here. I think the spirit must lead. And sometimes, Dr. Rush is going to be quite important. Donna? Well, and I think about when trials come along, the difficulties, that there's more freedom understanding the identification truths, the heavenly perspective that you talk about. Whereas under law, you don't always have that understanding. And you've seen your friends suffer. When you're under law, I think that prayer for someone to get well, when they don't get well, you think you've failed in some way to do something that would please God, to have God answer the prayer the way you prayed, right? doctrine can really be very relevant under these kinds of circumstances.

That's really a good point. That's the teaching, I think, that the Holy Spirit can use us in those relationships when they do go through those trials. Yeah. To want to, because they know we're believers, to come to us then and want to talk about these trials and how is it that when you had that trial I saw you go through, you didn't you weren't having this trouble. What is that about? Because that happens a lot.

I think you have to be careful here a little bit because don't you know unbelievers who go through trials who seem to kind of cruise through them? I mean when we measure performance we're often misled. No, but I'm talking about unbelievers. I know what you're saying, but what I'm saying is I know believers who have tremendous faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, who are clearly born again, who trials seem to bring you know, quite a bit of animosity and anxiety. Whereas I've seen unbelievers go through trials and it seems to me like they're cruising. I mean, so I think in general, the believer should be and does deal with trials differently.

But we all bring different kind of personalities to the table and ultimately I think the way... I think if you're under law though, you're going to deal with the trial exactly like a non-believer who has nothing to lean on. I think what we see on the surface though isn't always representative of what's going on down deep.

That's my only point. I think You like to see someone who you believe is going through the trial by a great faith. And God's glory is being seen through that. But we can't have expectations that are... I'm not saying you have expectations. That's not what I'm saying. All right.

So from the first day until now, what do you make of that? Which first day is this, do you think, that Paul's addressing here with the church? being prepared by the Lord to receive the message. Does this relate to the furtherance of the Gospel? I'll accept that as an answer because of time. So, Jim starts next week and wow.

I think, Jim, this was your favorite verse in Philippians you stated last week and this is a great verse. I had that in my list of about 20 different verses in Philippians that seemed to stand out. I don't know, I haven't carefully thought about this, but we all have favorite verses that we pick throughout the Word, and most of them are in the New Testament, I presume. I think I probably have more favorites in this book than almost any.

So we'll let Jim begin teaching next week. And Margaret and I are not going to be with you for a few weeks here. So Jim and then Roger will be coming back here fairly soon. Any questions at all about today? I think it's a great introduction to a great book. And we're really looking forward to studying it together.

Alan, you want to close us in prayer, please? Father, we thank you for this time in giving us where we can study your word. We thank you for the life we have in your son. We thank you for the grace that we operate in and the direction you lead us day by day. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.