Paul, a Bondservant of Christ, to the Saints

Introduction to Philippians and Sermon Context

0:03 This sermon was preached on Sunday morning, October 26, 1980, when the Trinity Church was still meeting at the Grover Cleveland Junior High School in Caldwell, New Jersey. Will you turn with me, please, to the letter of the Apostle to the Philippians, the book of Philippians.

0:29 Last Lord's Day, in our introductory study of this book of the New Testament, I sought to highlight three lines of thought in order to prepare our minds for a sympathetic as well as an intelligent examination of the contents of this book in the Word of God. The first thing that I sought to do was to underscore the fact that this is a real letter, a letter written by a real person from a real place, to a real group. A group of people dwelling in another real place,

1:08 conveying the real thoughts and feelings of that real person to that real assembly of God's people. In the second place, we discovered in our study last week the circumstances which led to the composition of this letter. And all that we need to know is within the letter itself. Paul is in prison.

1:33 He speaks again and again of himself. He speaks again and again of himself as in bonds. Epaphroditus, one of the leaders of the church at Philippi, has been sent from Philippi to Paul's place of imprisonment, bringing a gift from the church as an expression of their love and fellowship with the Apostle. Epaphroditus was sick.

1:56 Now, upon his recovery, the Apostle is sending him back to Philippi with this letter. And so the context of the letter is not one in which someone came with a report of great problems in the church at Philippi, as is the case with other letters, but rather the occasion was this outpouring of the affection and love and fellowship in the gospel which existed between the great Apostle and that specific church. And that flavors the entire content of the letter. And using the principle that in our letter writing,

2:39 the degree of intimacy expressed in a letter will be found in direct proportion to the intimacy of the friendship which precedes the letter, we ask the question, how did such an intimate relationship begin between Paul and the Philippians? And turning to Acts chapter 16, we saw the answer to that question. As there, Luke, by the inspiration of the Spirit, gives us the historical record, first of all, of the sovereign direction of the Spirit in bringing the gospel to Philippi, and then the sovereign activity of the Holy Spirit in making the gospel effective at Philippi,

3:24 and then the wise activity of the servants of God in preserving the fruits of the gospel at Philippi. And so by this means, this deep relationship was begun and subsequently then nurtured by visits from the apostle and his companions. Now we come this morning to the first part of the letter itself, and I read in your hearing verses 1 and 2. Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, to all the saints in Christ Jesus that are at,

The Structure and Significance of the Salutation

4:02 at Philippi, with the bishops and deacons, grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. These two verses are commonly designated the salutation or the general greeting of the letter. And the apostle uses a form that was common for letter writing in that day. You see, when we write letters, the, the recipients of the letter as well as the sender of the letter are immediately indicated on the envelope.

4:39 For instance, you may have a relative that you know is expecting a baby any time, and you're anxious to receive news as to whether or not the baby has arrived. And you go to the mailbox on Tuesday and you pull out a letter and immediately as your eye catches the return address, you see that the return address is that particular relative and your heart beats with excitement. You say, Oh, here's a letter. Here's a letter.

5:02 Here's a letter. Here's a letter from my sister Doris or from my brother Jack. And I'm sure it has news. We'll know now whether it was a boy or a girl.

5:09 The recipient and the sender are intimated on the envelope. Some of you kids who go to camp, you're very much aware of this when it comes time to pass out the mail and the counselor goes into the cabin says mail time. And then he begins to look at the letters and you're a young man who's just begun to develop a relationship with a young woman. And in camp, they just love to bleed this for.

5:32 All it's worth. So when your name is sounded out, John Jones has a letter. Oh, ho, what do we have here? And he looks at the return address and then smells it and you begin to feel the red creeping up the back of your neck and the embarrassment.

5:47 Well, you see, before the letter is ever opened, you are well informed as to the sender and as to the recipient. Well, they had no such postal service service in that day, and particularly in the case. This letter, it was carried by hand by the hand of Epaphroditus back to the church. And so it was necessary the moment the letter would be open, the parchment would be unrolled that one should know who sent it and to whom the letter is being sent.

6:22 And so in these first two verses, we have the identity of the sender of the letter. And then secondly, the identity. Of the recipients of the letter and then in verse two we have the general apostolic briefings. Now let me underscore again that this was not something unique.

6:45 This pattern was a pattern that would be followed in sending letters of a common sort, but because of the uniqueness of the letter in its origin and in its long range purpose in the will of God, we dare not pass over these introductory words as though they were just preliminary to the real meat and bones of the truth of God. No, the Holy Spirit has sanctified what we would call common courtesy in the writing of a letter in order to convey some of the most central and profound truths of the Christian faith.

The Identity of the Sender: Paul, the Exclusive Author

7:30 And so this morning, we will limit ourselves. To an examination of verse one in which we have the identity first of all of the sender of the letter and that identity comes in two ways with respect to person or persons and with respect to position or personal relationship to Jesus Christ. The opening words are Paul and Timothy. Now are we to understand from that that Paul and Timothy were the co-authors of this letter.

8:09 There are times when we purchase a book and in the place where the author is given two names will be given with equal billing because the book was co-authored by both men or women or man and a woman. Though the epistle begins with the words Paul and Timothy, we are not to understand, that Timothy was a co-author with the apostle. And how do we know that that is so? Well, because beginning in verse three in which the body of the letter is set before us, we find the apostle continually speaking in the first person.

8:52 I thank my God upon every remembrance of you. Verse seven. I have you in my heart. Verse eight.

9:04 God is my witness how I long after you all. And then in chapter two he speaks of Timothy in such a way that would be totally out of place if Timothy were co-authoring the letter with Paul. Verse 19. But I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy shortly unto you that I may be of good comfort and I may know your state.

9:30 And then he says some very kind words. And then he says some very kind words. And things that would be embarrassing for Timothy even to read let alone for Timothy to write or to have a part in writing them. So the author of the letter is properly and in that sense exclusively the apostle Paul.

Why Timothy's Name is Included

9:51 But you say Pastor Martin Timothy's name is there. And why is it there. And I can do no better in answering that question. Then to give you the very succinct.

10:02 answer that is given by William Hendrickson in his commentary when he says concerning this question to the mention of his own name Paul adds Timothy as he does in two other epistles written during this same imprisonment Colossians 1 1 and Philemon 1 1 he had done this in three earlier letters second Corinthians first Thessalonians and second Thessalonians the reasons for the addition of Timothy's name here in Philippians were probably the following number one Timothy though not co-author was in full agreement with the message of the letter moreover he was deeply interested in the

10:45 Philippians for he had been associated with Paul in bringing the gospel to them you remember that from our study last week and had in all probability revisited them on more than one occasion and he was destined to do so again chapter two Paul says I hope again in the Lord to send Timothy to you moreover Timothy was in Paul's vicinity when this letter was dictated in a position to visit him he may even have been the actual writer though not the author of the letter he may have acted as Paul's secretary and so for

11:24 those reasons it was perfectly proper for the apostle to include the name of Timothy while at the same time making it very evident that he was the exclusive author of the letter so we may say with accuracy that the author of the sender of the letter is Paul Paul conscious of his unique office as an apostle for in other letters he makes this very evident when he begins his letter for instance in Galatians chapter 1 because of the nature of the problem Church, Paul must underscore that he is not simply writing as a friend, but he is writing

12:08 in his full self-consciousness of his unique office as an apostle. Paul, an apostle, not from men, neither through men, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father. Or, as in the case of the epistle to the Romans, Paul, an apostle by the will of God. So Paul writes fully conscious of his unique position by the will of God in occupying the place of an apostle. But because of the intimate relationship to the church at Philippi, because there was

12:52 no indication of their questioning the validity of his apostleship, but just the opposite being true, they were fully supportive of all of his unique responsibilities and ministries as an apostle, he bypasses any reference to his unique position, though fully conscious of it, as he indicates in chapter 2, when he speaks of their being obedient to him, not in his person, but in his position as a uniquely commissioned servant of Christ. There is no need for him to underscore that. In fact, for the Philippians, it is part of the throbbing consciousness of their deep

The Position of the Sender: Bondservants of Christ Jesus

13:33 and loving relationship to the great apostle. And so the identity of the sender of the letter is clear. It is Paul, the apostle, writing in the self-consciousness of his apostolic authority. But from this identity of the person of the sender, there is something precious and unique. It is the identity of the apostle. It is the identity of the apostle. It is the

13:57 unique and profound in what follows when he makes reference to his and Timothy's position or personal relationship with respect to the Lord Jesus. Look at the language of the text. Paul and Timothy literally bond slaves of Christ Jesus. When Paul desires to make a distinguishing comment, he makes reference to the Lord Jesus. He makes reference to the

14:29 with respect to his office and Timothy's office. He does so in a very clear and yet gracious way as in the Colossian letter. Colossians 1.1. Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus through

14:45 the will of God, and Timothy, our brother. There he makes it plain to the Colossians that Timothy is not an apostle, but he is a beloved brother. And there he distinguishes between his office and Timothy's office. But in this particular letter, where he is not concerned to underscore his identity as an apostle, but rather his position with respect to Jesus Christ, he includes Timothy with himself in this description, bond slaves of Jesus.

15:29 Christ. Now this idea of bond service or slavery bristles for us with both nasty and negative connotations. What do you think of when you think of the word slave? Well, even the children here, and surely most of the adults, immediately with the word slave come such thoughts as enforced subjugation.

16:01 Someone has, against his will, been made the property of another. We think immediately of reluctant, externally coerced or constrained service. With slavery, we think immediately of someone who only does what he does because he must do it under the pressure of external constraints. And then often when we think of the word slave, we think of the word slave, which is the man who is the most limited in his ability to do what he does, and who is the most limited in his ability to do what he does.

16:30 the word slavery we think of cruelty and of inhumanity. But now strip the concept of slavery from all thought of enforced subjugation, reluctant externally constrained service and cruelty and inhumanity and bring it down to two fundamental elements and you'll begin to get close to the biblical notion of a bond slave. Think first of all of the concept of the slave as the property of his master duly purchased in order to function as a slave. Secondly think of

17:14 the slave as existing to do only the will of his master. Now add to those two things this amazing idea.

17:27 Relationship is voluntary and even constrained by love to the Master.

17:38 And you have the biblical concept of a bond slave of Jesus Christ. The heart of that biblical concept involves the recognition that the slave is the property of another. However, he exists solely to do the will of another and wonder of wonders. He glories in that very relationship.

Biblical Support for Bondservice to Christ

18:07 Now where do we find such notions supported by the Scriptures? Well, very clearly in such passages as 1 Corinthians chapter 6 and verse 19. What? Know ye not that your bodies are a temple of the Holy Spirit which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?

18:27 Ye were bought with a price.

18:33 And again in 1 Corinthians 7.23, Paul says you were bought with a price. Do not become the slaves of men. You are already someone else's purchased slave.

18:45 And then the concept that the slave exists only to do the will of another is so clearly set forth. But in our Lord's gracious invitation, take my yoke upon you. Or the language of Romans 12 and verse 2, that having presented our bodies a living sacrifice, it is to the end that we may prove in our experience what is the good, the acceptable, and the perfect will of God. Or more literally, the will of God, that which is the good, the acceptable, and the perfect will of God.

19:26 and the perfect will of God. and the perfect will of God. And I say again, wonder of wonders, it is all under the constraint of love. For the Apostle says in 2 Corinthians 5 and verse 14, for the love of Christ constrains us, literally holds us in its bands.

19:46 And what is the genius of the operation of that love? He tells us in verse 15, for we thus judge. This is how it comes. It comes to pass that we feel the bonds of love bringing us to this joyful position of bond slaves of Christ.

20:07 We thus judge that if one died for all, then we're all dead or all died, and that he died for all. The day who lived should no longer henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him who died for them and rose again. Here is slavery not by external constraint, slavery not by the fear of the rod that will bludgeon the slave into subjection. Here is slavery that flows out of a heart suffused with the wonder,

20:47 the amazement that one should die for all. A heart that has laid hold of the core of the gospel. Christ loved me, gave himself for me, purchased me with his own precious blood, and therefore it is not only my duty, but my delight to exist only to do his will and to do so for love of Jesus.

The Universal Call to Bondservice

21:24 Now you see, when the apostle identifies himself as the author of the letter, he has no desire at this point to underscore the uniqueness of his office as an apostle. That's understood. But he delights to underscore his position in relationship to Jesus Christ, the position of a bond slave. And you see, in that, he can speak of himself and Timothy as being, being in exactly the same relationship to the Lord Jesus.

22:03 He could not say, Paul and Timothy, apostles of Christ Jesus. No. But he could say, Paul and Timothy, bond slaves of Christ Jesus. And listen, if you're a Christian, in something more than word, he could just as easily have added your name.

22:26 For what was true of Paul, what was true of Timothy, is true of every single person who is brought into a saving relationship to Christ Jesus. They become his bond slaves. This truth is dealt with in great length in Romans chapter 6, where the apostle speaks of our former servitude to sin. But now, having been cast into the mold of the gospel by the mighty operation of the Spirit, we, we have been loosed from that slavery to sin and joyfully, voluntarily, freely, we have become the bond slaves

23:10 of righteousness, of God, and of the Lord Jesus Christ. Do you want a good index as to where you are spiritually?

23:23 Let me ask you, if you could sing this morning with all your heart and soul with judgment day honesty, the language, the language of this particular hymn. Listen as I read the words. Could you make these your words?

23:41 Dear Lord and Master, mine, thy happy servant see, my conqueror, with what joy divine, thy captive clings to thee. I love thy yoke to wear, to feel thy gracious bands, sweetly concealed, strained by thy care, and happy in thy hands. No bar would I remove, no bond would I unbind, within the limits of thy love, full liberty I find. I would not walk alone, but still with thee, my God,

24:26 at every step my blindness own, and ask of thee the road. Dear Lord, dear Lord and Master, mine, still keep thy servant true, my guardian and my guide divine, bring, bring thy pilgrim through, my conqueror and my king, still keep me in thy train, and with thee, thy glad captive bring, when thou returnest to reign.

25:03 I'm not asking if you had, the measure of poetic ability to compose the words, but I'm asking do they answer to the deepest consciousness of your soul this morning? When you say no bar would I remove, no bond would I unbind, within the limits of thy love, full liberty I find. That's the language of the heart, of every man. Every Christian.

25:44 Paul and Timothy, bond slaves of Jesus Christ. My friend, you're either the bond slave of your sin, of your pride, and of the devil, or by grace, you are the willing bond slave of Christ Jesus. The Messiah, who is to be identified as Jesus of Nazareth, God's anointed prophet, priest and king, whom you have embraced from the heart, as your prophet to teach you,

26:26 so that your mind seeks to follow the track laid by his word. Your only priest to forgive and intercede for you, so that your trust is in his blood and righteousness alone. Your king, whose government you gladly, gladly own, whose yoke you gladly embrace. You see why I said a simple greeting is filled with some of the most profound and fundamental biblical concepts.

The Identity of the Recipients: Saints in Christ Jesus

27:01 Paul and Timothy, bond slaves of Christ. But now we must hurry on, for not only does the first verse set before us the identity of the sender of the letter, but we have given to us the identity of the messenger of God. We have given to us the identity of the messenger of God. We have given to us the identity of the messenger of God.

27:16 We have given to us the identity of the recipients of the letter. Now it's obvious from a reading of the letter that the recipients were the members of the church at Philippi. In chapter 4 and verse 15, he refers to them as such. But you yourselves also know, you Philippians, that in the beginning of the gospel when I departed from Macedonia, no church had fellowship with me, no church had fellowship with me, no church had fellowship with me, had fellowship with me in the matter of giving and receiving, but you only.

27:54 He could have well written, Paul and Timothy, bond slaves of Jesus Christ, to the church at Philippi. That would have been accurate. That would have been perfectly proper. But by the direction of the Spirit he does not write in quite that simple form.

28:13 But rather, he addresses the church, as the legitimate recipients of this letter, in a three-fold description. For instance, when at times we have different ones going to the airport to meet an unknown person, we try to give a description of that person. I had to do that just this Friday with respect to Dr. Ferguson's coming.

28:40 And I won't tell him how I described him. But what we may say of someone, is that this particular man is middle-aged, around 60-ish, and this particular man is quite tall, about 6'4 or 5', and this particular man has a distinguishing physical characteristic. He walks with a slight limp toward the left. Now what you have done, is you've taken one individual who has a name that represents one total integrated whole human being, and you have focused, focused upon some distinguishing characteristics that make him what he is. So he is not just

29:24 the man coming through customs and immigrations. He is the man who is about 60, approximately six foot four or five, and has a slight limp to the left when he walks. Well, in the same way, Paul could have said, as I've already mentioned, Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, to the church, but what he does is he breaks down and describes the church in this threefold manner. And this is full of tremendous significance, particularly if we're to understand the content of the letter. These things were not mentioned willy-nilly, nor

30:09 were they mentioned singularly. Simply because Paul was all of a sudden caught up in some kind of spiritual ecstasy and with passivity of mind found himself dictating these words. No, there is a calculated purpose in describing the church in this way, and as we understand that description, then in a very real sense, many parts of the book will fall open before us. Notice then how the recipients are described.

30:40 First of all, as to their fundamental spiritual condition. Look at the language. Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, to all the saints in Christ Jesus. And in those words, all the saints in Christ Jesus, we have a description of their fundamental spiritual condition.

31:10 Now, obviously, the key words are saints, and in Christ Jesus, that prepositional phrase. Now, the word saint here is the noun which comes from the verb to make holy, which means essentially to set apart from common usage unto God. So as Paul envisions the church at Philippi, he regards them as the company of the saints. The saints are the ones who are separated, the holy ones, the saints. And it's obvious

31:47 that he is not speaking of a certain degree of spiritual growth or a certain level of sanctification, for he is writing to all of the saints. And within the church at Philippi, there was the broad spectrum of experience. There was the broad spectrum. of knowledge. There are indications later on in the epistle that there were some who had special

32:17 problems in interpersonal relationships, and yet regardless of the measure of knowledge, regardless of the level of experience, and regardless of present areas of arrested growth, he writes to them all as the holy ones, as the saints, as those who are set apart unto God. And how did they come to this position? Well, that's answered in the phrase, in Christ Jesus. He addresses them as to their fundamental spiritual condition as the saints in Christ Jesus.

How One Becomes a Saint in Christ Jesus

33:02 So, know that their sainthood has to do not with anything they have attained, but with respect to what they are in union with the Son of God. And that little phrase, in Christ Jesus, has, as it were, the heart and soul of the teaching of the New Testament throbbing within it, its teaching with reference to salvation. For according to Ephesians, Ephesians 1.3, we are blessed with every spiritual blessing in Christ Jesus,

33:41 and we actually become partakers of those blessings only when, by the mighty work of God, we are personally and vitally incorporated into Christ in our own life experience. 1 Corinthians 1.30, but of Him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, right? Righteousness, sanctification, and redemption.

34:07 And so their fundamental spiritual condition is described in this language, saints in Christ Jesus. Now the great question comes, how did they get into that position? Was it by self-induced mystical experience? Was it by the external pressure?

34:33 1 Corinthians 1.30, but of Him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, right? Was it by some kind of religious brainwashing? No.

34:39 The answer lies in the exposition of last Lord's Day. They came to this fundamental spiritual condition in the manner described in Acts 16. The gospel came to them in the person of the apostle and his companions, or through the persons of the apostle and his companions. The Lord mightily...

35:05 attended that gospel with power, as in the case of Lydia. He opened her heart to attend to the things that were spoken. And without any great mystic experience, without any record of any great and glorious kind of a subjective experience that would make them dazzle the minds of people in the recounting of it, but by the simple proclamation of the gospel, the powerful operation of the gospel upon the mind, the affections and the will, bringing

35:43 them to repentance and faith. And then by submitting to baptism as the witness and the seal of that which God had wrought in them, they came to this position of being the saints in Christ. Jesus. They didn't attain to it by heredity. They didn't come to it washed there, as it

The Recipients' Geographical Location and Visible Structure

36:08 were, by the waters of baptism, manipulated by psychology. They came there as all men must come to that position who come to it by hearing, believing, and submitting to the gospel. But then furthermore, they are not only described as to their fundamental spiritual condition. But notice the reference to their specific geographical location. As surely as they are

36:39 saints in Christ Jesus, they are also saints in Philippi. Most of the translations say at. There's no reason for that. It's the same preposition used. As surely as their spiritual

36:54 condition is described as in Christ, their specific geographical location is described as in Philippi. Now pause for a moment and think what that means. That Roman colony, with all of the sin that marked that city, and we had a little picture of it in our exposition last week, with that sad and tragic record of that poor slave girl, treated as a common chattel, no worth or significance except to her masters who used her dignity as a symbol of her demon-possessed condition as a means of personal gain. There, where there was

37:38 an insufficient number of Jews and of proselytes, they could not even have a synagogue. Just a little handful of the worshippers of Jehovah who are meeting by a riverside, Philippi, that city that reflects both the greatness as well as the tragic ignorance of pagan Rome. But now Paul can write in how his heart must have leaped for joy. To the saints in Christ, in Philippi. He says in chapter 2, you shine as lights in the

38:12 midst of a crooked and perverse generation. There was Philippi, a symbol of the crookedness and perversity of human sin. The crookedness and perversity that comes with pagan religion, with pagan ignorance. But now in Philippi, a gateway to Europe, the new frontier for the spread of the gospel. The apostle sitting

38:40 in his Roman prison writes, to the saints in Christ, Jesus in Philippi, chief city of that region, but now a place where the Lord has a people in union with himself. And then they are described thirdly, not only as to their fundamental spiritual and spiritual condition, saints in Christ Jesus, their specific geographical location in Philippi, but as to their visible structure and organization. Look at the language. To all the saints in

39:19 Christ Jesus that are at Philippi, with the bishops or the overseers and deacons. Now this is a strange thing that the apostle adds here. In no other epistle does the apostle include a delineation of the recognized office bearers in his greeting. Now why did he do it here? Would you like to know? So would I. But I don't know. And there is none

39:56 of the commentators who knows. There is speculation. There are some reasonable explanations. But there can be no authoritative answer to the question because the Bible simply does not give us the materials, at least our present understanding of the Bible, to give us the materials to answer the question. But the fact is that when he sits in that Roman prison

40:22 to dictate the letter and conjures up in his mind the church at Philippi, he not only describes them as the recipients of the letter in terms of their fundamental spiritual condition in union with Christ, they are the saints. Where in the midst of that city of Philippi, with all of its paganism and its darkness, light now shines through that congregation of the holy ones, the saints in Christ. But he thinks of them also in terms of their visible structure and organization. He writes to them

41:04 literally as the saints in Christ Jesus in Philippi with bishops or overseers and deacons. He doesn't use the article, the bishops and the deacons, as though he is singling out specific men who hold the office. He is merely indicating that as he contemplates the church, he contemplates it all the way from its inner spiritual dynamism, it is in union with Christ, to its external visible structure and organization. It has overseers and it has deacons. And to the apostles,

The Divine Mandate for Church Organization

41:44 there is no contradiction between those two things. The church throbbing with all of the glorious realities of her union with Christ is nonetheless the church that is operating under the direction of its appointed oversight and through the medium of its appointed servants in temporal matters. The word bishop or overseer, as many of you know, is a word that is used to mean a type of person. It is a word that is used to mean a word used synonymously with elder, pastor. The word deacon is used with respect to those

42:23 who serve officially in the office of service in the direction or at the direction of the overseers of the church. Now how did that condition come to pass at Philippi? Did the saints in Christ Jesus find that as they sought to fulfill the will of God, they were just on a treadmill and one of them one day stood up in a meeting and said, you know, brethren, things are not going well. And I've noticed that every successful business here at Philippi, take our dear sister Lydia over there. Why, she's got a chairman of the board and she's

43:00 got some other representatives. We're going to operate. We've got to have some leadership. Now I propose that we elect some leaders. And someone says, well, you know, I think

43:10 that's a very good idea. I'll second the motion. All in favor say aye. Aye. All opposed

43:14 nay. All right. We're going to have some leaders. Is that how it came to pass? No,

43:22 it did not come to pass by the will of the congregation, nor did it come to pass on the basis of expediency. But if you read carefully the documents of the New Testament, particularly the book of Acts and the pastoral epistles, you will come to the conviction that this condition came to pass as a result of the prayerful, determined, calculated effort of the Apostle Paul and his companions. A specimen passage, Acts 14. Very quickly, if you will, please. Acts chapter 14, verses 21 to 23 ought to be very

44:02 familiar to us. For those of you here last Lord's Day evening, when they had preached the gospel to that city and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra and Iconium and Antioch, confirming the souls or strengthening, buttressing the souls of the disciples, exhorting them to continue in the faith and that through many afflictions we must enter into the kingdom of God. And when they had appointed for them elders in every church and had prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord on whom they

44:42 had believed. You will notice that along with the primary activities of making disciples, by evangelism, establishing the disciples by exhortation and teaching was this function of organizing the churches with overseers who then in turn would no doubt guide the church in the recognition of deacons to serve. And you find the same emphasis in 1 Timothy chapter 3 in the pastoral epistle of Paul. Paul to Timothy and then again in Titus 1, where he leaves Timothy back at Ephesus and

45:26 Titus in Crete in order to carry on this great work of organizing the churches after the pattern of the will of Christ the head. Now, without opening up the whole subject, one very simple but vital question that I lay before you is this. If the saints are in Christ

45:51 this family, if they are all equally united to Christ the head, if they also are all equally bond slaves of Jesus Christ, is it not enough to have the word of God and the spirit of God, and the dynamic relationship of union with Christ and bond servitude to Christ? Why in the world do we need human leaders? And there are many who would say we don't need them. If you've got the word of God and the Holy Ghost and you're submissive to Christ, you've got all you need to grow up into Christ.

46:33 My friend, that is heresy.

46:37 Now it may not be damning heresy, but it's heresy. It has no foundation in the word of God. For the same apostle and his companions who make disciples by preaching, longing to see men brought into Christ, the same apostle and his companions who long to see those who are brought into Christ understand the implications of their union with Christ in a life of obedience, even unto afflictions and suffering. It's the same apostle and his companions who give time and effort and whole chapters of instruction

47:20 to see that the churches are organized after the pattern of Christ. Christ the head. Why? Because the great architect of the church, the Lord Jesus, knows that it is in the best interest of his own purposes for his people that they have bishops, overseers, elders, and deacons.

47:45 And when we move away from that perspective, we've become more spiritual than the Son of God himself, and we cast dispersions upon his wisdom. And if we refuse to render to such, God-appointed office-bearers, the proper relationships demanded by the word of God, or if we give to them excessive homage or obedience that goes beyond the word of God, we sin against Christ, we sin against our own souls.

48:21 And so as the apostle envisions that church at Philippi, what does he think of? He thinks of a church that in its fundamental spiritual condition is in Christ, saints in Christ. In its geographical location, it's there at Philippi in the midst of all the darkness. But it is a church which in no little measure has become so prized a church, so exemplary a church, because it has bishops and deacons, bishops, overseers, elders, and deacons who obviously are functioning according to the will of Christ the head, so that the church at Philippi becomes a beautiful thing.

Self-Examination and Direction for the Church

49:06 It causes joy to the apostle because he knows it causes joy to his Lord. Well, as we conclude this morning, do you see how in this simple greeting, in which we have the identity of the sender of the letter and the identity of the recipients of the letter, a firm basis for self-examination, we must ask ourselves, are we in Christ? Are we in union with the Son of God? Then if we are not, it matters not what church, quote, we belong to, what church role in what place has our name upon it.

49:51 If we are not saints in Christ Jesus, set apart from the world and sin unto God in union with the Lord Jesus, if we are not saints, if we are not saints, if we are not saints, if we are not saints, if we are not saints, if we are not saints, then gladly His bond slaves. If we do not look to His blood not only as the ground of our hope and pardon, but as the band that draws us into servitude to Himself, we have never rightly looked upon His blood. But not only is there in this text a basis of self-examination, but surely there is a basis of specific direction for our life and ministry as a church, for our life and ministry as a church.

50:34 What should be our great burden as we pray for the outreach of the gospel through our assembly, as we think of our anticipated move into the lower Montville area? What should be our great passion? Should it be nothing less than that men will be brought into union with Christ? Lord, by the preaching of the gospel, make no mere surface changes in men, make no mere temporary alteration in their judgments, and patterns, Lord, by Your mighty power, bring them into union with Your beloved Son.

51:12 For if any is in Christ, he is a new creation. And it is that mighty work of making new creatures that glorifies the Lord Jesus. Surely we have directions not to be discouraged. There were saints in Christ in the midst of all of the darkness, amidst all of the unsympathetic climate of Philippi, a climate in which angry mobs could be stirred up to try to get rid of the apostle until they throw him into jail.

51:47 Yet Jesus said, I will build my church in the gates of hell, shall not prevail against it. Some people have said to me, well, don't you know that the Montville area, it's filled with thus and thus kind of people, got a lot of people with this religious background and with that background. So what? The saints in Christ, you had demon-possessed slaves, you had raw Roman pagans, you had devout Jews, you had the whole spectrum of human sin and need, and yet He could say the church in Christ in Philippi.

52:27 Oh, how our hearts should beat with confidence and expectation in the power of the gospel. And then do you see how we need to pray, that as God is pleased to bless the proclamation of the word, we will never move from a careful concern, not only for the internal life that comes from union with Christ, but the external structure and organization of the church. Jesus the Lord did not establish it without reason. It is not a pragmatic expedient.

53:04 It is the wise and gracious provision of the head. Who nourishes and cherishes His church as His bride, as His body. And one of the ways He has established for that nourishing, cherishing ministry is its organization after the pattern of His own will. And so let us cry to God that God will equip more and more men to take the work of biblical oversight, to be willing to do the work of the official service of the church, so that if the apostle were writing a letter to us, he could write as he wrote to the Philippians,

53:45 to the saints in Christ Jesus,

53:51 in the western part of the New York, New Jersey, metropolitan area, the northwestern part, with the overseers and the deacons.

54:04 May God grant that His own word will be written upon our hearts, and that where we need, the probing, examination of these perspectives, may we lay them close to our consciences in the light of the coming day when we'll stand before Him before whom all things are naked and open. And where our hearts perhaps have been heavy and discouraged or lacking in direction, may we draw comfort from that which we are in Christ with all the paucity of our knowledge and the limitations of our experience. If you've embraced Christ as He's offered in the gospel, in repentance and faith,

54:47 you're a saint in Christ Jesus. You're in the company of Paul as a bond slave of the Lord Jesus. Let us pray. O Heavenly Father,

55:12 words fail us as we seek to express the gratitude of our hearts that in Your love and mercy You sent Your Son to be the Savior, the Savior of sinners. We thank You that there is such a reality as union with Christ,

55:33 that sinners who by nature are in Adam, in condemnation, in death, in darkness, can be addressed as the saints in Christ Jesus. How we praise You this morning. And we plead for those who sit here who are yet in their sins, who are not in Your Son. Make them thirsty to know the blessedness of union with Him, the forgiveness and the acceptance that is the portion of all who are in Him.

56:12 We pray that You would write upon our hearts as a church these perspectives of what a true and an ideal church is and ought to be. Bring these things to our remembrance again and again that our life together as a congregation may be life lived under the Lordship of Him whose government we gladly own. Hear our prayer and may the blessing of Your grace and power rest upon us. We ask through our Lord Jesus Christ.

56:50 Amen.