Sermon Idea: God strengthens his church and advances the gospel through the prayers of his people.
Introduction: Historically, churches have used catechisms to instruct and disciple Christians in the faith. A catechism teaches biblical and doctrinal truths through questions and answers.
One of the richest and most widely used catechisms was published in 1563 by a young theology professor at the University of Heidelberg in Germany. It consists of 129 questions, and although few things would please me more than to read all 129 to you this morning I just want you to listen to question 116.
Question: Why do Christians need to pray?
Answer: Because prayer is the most important part of the thankfulness God requires of us.
And also because God will give his grace and Holy Spirit only to those who continually and with heartfelt longing ask God for these gifts and thank him for them.
In our text this morning, Paul exemplifies thanksgiving to God and a heartfelt longing for God’s gifts of grace for the church in Philippi.
His aim is that saints in Philippi live in a manner worthy of the gospel so that they might be unified and in partnership for gospel advancement.
Paul understands that if this is going to happen, it will be because of God’s grace working in their lives. He further understands that God’s work of grace is accessed through the prayers of God’s people.
Prayer is the means God has appointed by his sovereign providence to accomplish his purposes in the church and the world. This is why the Heidelberg Catechism says, “God will give his grace and Holy Spirit only to those who continually and with heartfelt longing ask God for these gifts…”
As we study these verses, I want you to believe that God strengthens his church and advances the gospel through the prayers of his people.
If we believe that, we will seek to follow Paul’s example. We will pray with thanksgiving to God, with affection for God’s people, and by interceding for God’s people.
I.) Pray with thanksgiving to God (Philp. 1:3-6)
The first thing that Paul does is thank God for his grace to the Philippians and for bringing them into partnership in the gospel.
I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, 4 always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy (Php 1:3–4)
Notice how Paul personally addresses God, “I thank my God.” Prayer for Paul is not a mere exercise of religion. It is not another task on the to-do list. Prayer for Paul is communion with the God who has saved him.
Paul is not praying to some distant, unknown being. This is a thankful address to the God and Father of his Lord Jesus Christ.
When we pray to the Lord, we should enter into God’s presence with the confidence of a child running into the arms of a loving parent. We pray to the God who knows us and has made us his own.
The personal nature of Paul’s prayer reminds me of Psalm 100.
3 Know that the Lord, he is God!
It is he who made us, and we are his;
we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving,
and his courts with praise!
Give thanks to him; bless his name! (Ps 100:3–4)
Thanksgiving is the appropriate response to God for all his blessings and good gifts to us, but this is not the only reason we should pray with thanksgiving.
We will never seek more of what we are not thankful for.
Thankfulness for God and his gifts directs the heart to seek more of God and his gifts through prayer. That is why Paul intercedes in prayer for them in verses 9-11.
The Philippians are already in partnership with Paul for gospel advancement. He testifies to his confidence in God’s work in their lives. He is thankful for both of these things.
This thankfulness does not conclude his prayers for them. It continues his prayers for them. Thankfulness for God’s past grace drives praying for God’s present and future grace.
So it is worth asking, what can we be thankful to God for? Is thankfulness a feature of our prayer life as a church? Does thankfulness describe your private prayers in your own Christian life?
The reason why Paul is thankful is worth our consideration. Look at verse 5.
5 because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. 6 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. (1:5-6)
Paul prays with thanksgiving and joy because of God’s work in the church in Philippi. Paul remembers how the church was planted because he was the planter. He knows how Lydia, the Philippian jailer, and many after received the gospel. They became partners in the gospel because they first shared in God’s grace through the gospel.
The word translated partnership is the same word often translated fellowship. We tend to think of fellowship as leisure and casual conversation with other Christians, but it is more.
A relationship that became a partnership has become a source of thanksgiving and joy for Paul.
When we refuse to build good relationships with others, other pastors, church planters, missionaries, etc., we cut ourselves off from a source of joy and thanksgiving.
Paul is thankful not only because of their current partnership but also because of his confidence that God’s work will continue in their lives.
The work God began in them is saving them by his grace through their faith in Jesus Christ, which has resulted in their becoming partners with Paul in the gospel. This work God will complete, that is, bring to perfection at the day of Jesus Christ.
Paul is teaching us about God’s work in preserving his people so that they persevere in the faith.
There is not a single born-again believer in Jesus Christ who does not, by grace and the power of the Spirit, continue in the faith unto glory. In Romans 8, Paul goes as far as to say that God’s good work in Christians begins not when they receive the gospel but before the foundation of the world by his sovereign providence.
30 And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified. (Ro 8:30)
Friends, this is incredible. What grace this is! What a grace it is to have confidence that the completion of our salvation rests not with us but with God, who will complete the work begun in us.
The Baptist Faith & Message 2000 has a wonderful article on perseverance, and it’s worth reading together.
All true believers endure to the end. Those whom God has accepted in Christ, and sanctified by His Spirit, will never fall away from the state of grace, but shall persevere to the end. Believers may fall into sin through neglect and temptation, whereby they grieve the Spirit, impair their graces and comforts, and bring reproach on the cause of Christ and temporal judgments on themselves; yet they shall be kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation. – Baptist Faith & Message 2000, Article V
So Paul prays with thanksgiving and joy because of their partnership and his confidence in God to complete his work of salvation in them.
This confidence leads Paul to pray more for them, not less! And it should do the same for us.
Transition: As good friends do, Paul is going to give them some affirming words. He is going to explain why he is right to feel this way about them and he does so with deep affection. So let’s look at verses 7-8 and be encouraged to pray with affection for God’s people.
II.) Pray with affection for God’s people (Philp. 1:7-8)
7 It is right for me to feel this way about you all, because I hold you in my heart, for you are all partakers with me of grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel. 8 For God is my witness, how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus (Php 1:7–8)
Never underestimate the power of affirming words from a friend. Paul says it is right for me to feel this way about you because you were partners with me not only when I was defending the gospel and confirming the gospel but also in my imprisonment.
What makes their support worthy of affirmation is what they know and what they don’t know.
What they know is that following Christ can include suffering, in this case, imprisonment. When that happened, the Philippians didn’t back away; they didn’t run when things became difficult, and they weren’t afraid to be associated the an apostle who was imprisoned for preaching the gospel.
What they don’t know is that God has used Paul’s imprisonment to advance the gospel.
12 I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel, 13 so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ (Php 1:12–13)
One could have equally assumed that Paul’s imprisonment would be an unproductive time for Paul’s ministry. That would have been a reasonable thought. They didn’t know that God was doing far more than they could think, but they supported him still.
Paul affirms them because he has great affection for them! He calls God as a witness to testify to how real and genuine his affection is. This relationship is not circumstantial. They are not a means to an end. Paul loves them, and his love is an extension of Christ’s love for them.
This is what is meant by, I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus (1:8)
I understand this is not the same situation, but I know what’s like to experience the love of Christ through the affections of a mentor in the gospel.
Shortly after I expressed an aspiration for ministry, Joe Buchanan was called to pastor FBC, Metropolis. I was 17, a mess, and a blank slate. I mean, I knew nothing. It didn’t take long before Joe invested his time and energy into me and others. Every Thursday evening, we would go to his house, eat, read books, and just learn from a seasoned pastor.
He was the first person to allow me to preach. First, on a Wednesday night then eventually Sunday evening, and then Sunday morning. Y’all I have preached so many bad sermons at FBC, Metropolis. 18-year-old preachers just aren’t good and I wasn’t, but he kept investing.
After my final sermon before leaving for College, Joe hugged me before the congregation with tears falling down his face. Hearing public, affirming words through the voice of a tearful pastor was one of the more meaningful moments of my life.
So when he texts me, like he has every Sunday morning since becoming your pastor, “I’m praying for you. Preach Christ” I know it comes from someone who loves me with the affection of Christ.
As we seek to develop and love our ministry partners well, we should always affirm all we can, encourage more of it, and extend the affection of Christ Jesus to them.
Because Paul is thankful to God for his work in the Philippians and his affection for them, he intercedes in prayer for them in verses 9-11. Look with me there as we are encouraged to pray by interceding with others.
III.) Pray by interceding for God’s people (Philp. 1:9-11)
9 And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, 10 so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, 11 filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God. (Php 1:9–12)
Paul’s prayers for others are among the richest and most edifying prayers you’ll ever read. As much as Paul has expressed thanksgiving and affection for them, he knows God’s work in them is progressing toward perfection. So he keeps praying for God to work in them toward that end. He is not content to celebrate where they are and move on like their race is complete. He intercedes for them.
The structure of the prayer is simple, but it’s important to see how it all works together.
Paul makes one request in verse 9, “…it is my prayer that your love may abound and abound more and more.”
For a purpose in verse 10, “so that you may approve what is excellent.”
This purpose has an expected result found in verses 10-11, “and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, 11 filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.
The foundation for all of it is love, but love is supplemented with knowledge and discernment. Remember, true love for one another does not rejoice in wrongdoing but rejoices in the truth. This is not mere emotion or sentiment; it is a love that pursues the best for one another in accordance with God’s Word.
As love abounds with knowledge and discernment, they can approve what is excellent. In other words, Paul prays that the church in Phillipi would be able to choose what is best. This is not a matter of dividing right and wrong; it’s a prayer for not settling for average, but choosing what’s best for the church and in their individual Christian lives.
The expected result is that the church will be pure and blameless, bearing the fruit of righteousness to the glory and praise of God.
Friends, there are a lot of things that you can do that aren’t necessarily wrong, but they simply are not best for you.
There are a host of things we can do as a church that are not wrong, but they are not the best.
There are habits and patterns in your marriage that aren’t necessarily wrong, but they aren’t the best.
Think about how powerful this prayer could be if you prayed it for your life, your family, and your church.
How would your use of time change if you asked God to increase your love for him and his church so you can choose what is best?
How would your marriage change if you asked God to deepen your love for one another so that you’ll choose what is best and not settle for “just not wrong.”
How might your teenager change as you ask God to deepen their love for Christ and his church so that you’ll choose what is best?
Go before God, seek him again and again, and pray this prayer for yourself and pray it for others.
Why? Because God has a plan for us to be pure and blameless on the day of Christ to the praise of his glory! I want to experience as much of that ahead of time as I can. I don’t want to push it off for another day.
Prayer is the means that God has appointed to strengthen us and others, so let’s pray!
Nathaniel R. Martin 