Pastor Martin expounds Philippians 1:1-2, focusing on the apostolic greeting 'Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.' He first examines the origin and nature of this greeting, showing how it adapts cultural forms while elevating them with profound Christian truth. He then defines 'grace' as God's undeserved favor and 'peace' as the cessation of enmity with God and the subjective fruit of the Spirit. Finally, he highlights the divine source of these blessings in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, emphasizing Christ's deity and the sufficiency of God's redemptive provisions for all saints, while also calling unbelievers to embrace the gospel.
Primary Texts
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Philippians 1:1-2The entire sermon is an exposition of these two verses, specifically the greeting 'Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ'.
The Origin of the Greeting: Grace Elevates Culture3:02
The Nature of the Greeting: Authoritative Conferral15:28
The Essence of the Blessings: Grace Defined22:59
The Essence of the Blessings: Peace Defined and Its Relationship to Grace34:48
The Source of the Blessings: God Our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ41:31
The Theological Implications of the Source48:32
Sufficiency of Redemptive Provision and Call to Embrace Grace52:10
Key Quotes
“And if we come to some spirit-given understanding of their meaning and significance here, we will then be able, as it were, to carry with us, into every encounter with these words throughout the other epistles, some of the richness of their significance.”
“Grace does not come and jar that which is simply cultural. It adapts itself to that which is cultural and then elevates it to the distinctive purposes of the grace of God.”
“They are to make a pronouncement. Not an empty pronouncement. But a pronouncement that actually confers. The thing pronounced.”
“Grace is the undeserved. Favor of God. As existing in his heart. Together with all. The gifts. Of that favor.”
“For apart from the grace of God, there can be no peace with God nor peace of God. In the human heart, one in seeking to summarize this relationship says, This peace denotes the condition which exists when God is our friend and all is well with us.”
“Here is an unequivocal assertion of the deity of our Lord. You have one preposition. Grace and peace from and the two objects. God our father and the Lord Jesus.”
“There was a pulsing inward religious consciousness. That their one God was father, son and holy spirit.”
“No, no. God condemns wicked unbelief throughout the Bible. But I know where. Find him condemning someone for expecting too much of grace.”
Applications
Believers
This has something to say about this whole matter of our concern to have a building. In our particular culture, people regard stable religious congregations as people who have a building. That is suitable to their religious exercises. And if we, if the people of God are to minister effectively to our generation, we must be sensitive to that cultural reality.
All listeners
If God the Holy Spirit has shown us that it is His method in communicating His own word to His church for all ages to take that which is an innocent cultural reality and seize upon it and elevate it and make it the very means of transferring His mind and will, we should do likewise.
Few things are more attractive than a gracious Christian, one who in appearance, speech, bearing, and demeanor is not a kook, an oddball, or boorish, or who feels that spirituality is to be attained by putting oneself out of joint with innocent cultural realities.
By readily complying with innocent customs, we are the more likely, when we conscientiously abstain from what we consider sinful customs, to impress the minds of those around us that we have some other and better reason for being different than mere whim or humor.
You think it's unspiritual to work at what we would call social discipline, knowing how to greet people who are in a different station in life, as the scripture says, honor to whom honor is due. How to be a gracious host or hostess. Oh, that's unspiritual. No, it's not unspiritual.
Do you know anything of the joy. Of settling under that canopy with the confidence that you have a right to do so. Can you hear the apostle standing as it were by his word in the midst. Saying grace and peace to you. And say. I am a son of peace. I am a daughter of peace. Because I am a son or daughter of grace.
And in the Lord Jesus I am confident. That there is grace sufficient for all of my sin. All of my need. All of the demands made upon me. Let me ask you Christian. Do you think that you can. Do you think that you can somehow expect more of grace than grace will supply. No, no. God condemns wicked unbelief throughout the Bible. But I know where. Find him condemning someone for expecting too much of grace. Child of God. Rejoice in the canopy of grace that is over you. And then you will know more and more of that blessed peace within you.
There are some who have no right to regard themselves as under that canopy. These words grace to you and peace. Have no real meaning for you. They cannot be. Pronounced and received by you. Why? Because you have never come to grips with the gospel of grace and the gospel of peace. You either been unwilling to accept the indictment of the Bible about you. That says you're a sinner. You deserve the wrath and the condemnation of God. And yet wonder of wonders that God extends grace in the gospel. He has committed himself to receive any sinner.
You come saying, God, I've got no stars on my record. I've got nothing but check marks in the record of my failures. But, oh, God, you set before me in the gospel one who never failed, one whose record is filled with stars, one who perfectly kept your law, one who died to satisfy your demands in terms of a broken law. And, oh, God, I flee to your Son, and I ask you for the sake of the Lord Jesus Christ to become my Father, to be merciful to me, to turn away your wrath. And do you know what the Word of God promises? Every sinner who comes in that posture, God delights to receive.
Our concern, my concern is that you have dealings with God in terms of the gospel of the grace of God, so that you may know him as your Father and the Lord Jesus as your Savior.
A full transcript is available on the
tab. 230 paragraphs, roughly 60 minutes.
Machine transcription
Introduction to the Apostolic Greeting
This sermon was preached on November the 2nd, 1980, while the Trinity Church was still meeting at the Grover Cleveland Junior High School in Caldwell, New Jersey. Please turn with me in your own Bibles to Paul's letter to the church at Philippi, the letter that we commonly call the Book of Philippians, Philippians chapter 1, and follow as I read the greeting which is contained in verses 1 and 2. Paul and Timothy, bondservants of Christ Jesus, to all the saints in Christ Jesus that are in Philippi, with the overseers and deacons, grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. These two verses that have been read in your hearing constitute the introduction to this epistle. Having already established from the 16th chapter of Acts how it was that a deep and intimate relationship was established between Paul and the church at Philippi,
we began last Lord's Day morning to examine this greeting, this introduction to the epistle. And we noted in verse 1 that the sender of the epistle is identified as Paul in companionship with, or we might say in sympathy with, Timothy. But Paul is to be regarded as the author and not a joint authorship of Paul and Timothy, as is indicated by the first person structure of the entire epistle. And then we noted that the recipients of the epistle are not the disciples of the epistle, they are not simply described as the church at Philippi or the people of God, but that the apostle in a sense gives a distillation of his understanding of the biblical doctrine of the church in the very words of greeting. And he describes the recipients of the letter with respect to their basic spiritual condition. They are the saints, the separated ones, the holy ones in union with Christ Jesus. Then he describes the disciples of the epistle, then he describes them with reference to their specific geographical location.
They are in Philippi. And then he describes them in terms of their visible form and organization. They are the saints in Christ, in Philippi, with bishops or overseers, elders, and with deacons. Now today our attention will be fixed upon verse 2, the apostolic greeting or salutation.
The Origin of the Greeting: Grace Elevates Culture
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Now because these words with some minor alterations are found in all of the Pauline epistles and in similar forms in most of the general epistles, it is important that we grasp their meaning in a very real sense, although it takes the average, average reader six to seven seconds to read and say the words. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. It is true that only eternity can expound the profound significance of those words. And if we come to some spirit-given understanding of their meaning and significance here, we will then be able, as it were, to carry with us, into every encounter with these words throughout the other epistles, some of the richness of their significance. And so I am not beating things thin at the edges in limiting our exposition to this simple apostolic greeting this morning. But what I'm attempting to do by the aid of the Spirit is to put in your hands an understanding of these words
that will become the key to unlock them every time you find them throughout the New Testament. Now, as we attempt to understand these words, there are two preliminary considerations that must be reckoned with. First of all, a word must be said concerning the origin of this form of greeting. Why did the Apostle write, as he did, grace to you and peace?
Well, in answer to that question, with respect to the origin of this form of greeting, it appears quite certain that the common form of Greek greeting was one in which a word from the same family of words was used. You have an example of this in Acts 15.23, in the letter that was sent from the Jerusalem church to be carried to all of the churches, and that letter began with the word greeting, which is in the same family of words. It is the verbal, infinitive form of this word that we translate grace, but it's in the same family of words, like a first cousin to this word.
It's used again in the record of another letter in Acts 23, verses 25 and 26. But though we may say it appears certain that Paul's use of the word grace has its origin in the common form of greeting, the common Greek greeting altered to the purposes of an Apostle, it is absolutely certain that the common greeting among the Jews was that greeting of peace, shalom, or peace be with you, or peace be unto you. And so the origin of that which became the common apostolic greeting is to be found in what we might call, on the one hand, a gracious alteration of the common greetings of the Greek and the Hebrew, exalted and elevated with certain words and concepts which constitute what could have been simply an ordinary greeting, a profound distillation of the very heart and soul of Christian truth and experience. It stands as a monument with respect to this matter of origin
to that great principle that grace does not engage in warfare with nature, but only with sin. Here the Apostle uses a form of words which was very much akin to that which would be found in the culture of his own days. Here the Apostle uses a form of words which was very much akin to that which would be found in the culture of his own days. Here the Apostle uses a form of words which was very much akin to that which would be found in the culture of his own days.
Grace comes and finds an existing form of greeting that is simply cultural. It is neither virtuous nor vicious. It is simply cultural. Now what does grace do?
Well, grace does not come and jar that which is simply cultural. It adapts itself to that which is cultural and then elevates it to the distinctive purposes of the grace of God. God. In other words, to use the analogy, grace does not come with a cut of the cloth that is antiquated or strange. It simply alters the cut of the cloth in a few particulars and then weaves through that cut golden threads of grace. And when we contemplate the origin of this greeting in that light, it sets before us a very profound principle of the Christian life, and I dare not pass over it without making brief application, and the principle is this. If God the Holy Spirit has shown us that it is His method in communicating His own word to His church for all ages to take that which is an innocent cultural reality and say,
and seize upon it and elevate it and make it the very means of transferring His mind and will, we should do likewise. Few things are more attractive than a gracious Christian, one who in appearance, speech, bearing, and demeanor is not a kook, an oddball, or boorish, or who feels that spirituality is to be attained by putting oneself out of joint with innocent cultural realities. There are some people who think that the more bizarre they are in their speech, in their mannerisms, and in their dress, the more spiritual they are and the more they can convey a startling and sterling witness for the Lord Jesus Christ. But just the reverse is true. Someone pointed out to me that the Lord Jesus Christ is a witness to the Lord Jesus Christ. And I don't defy—and didnt
know that. And I can sincerely Uma-sta she-no Jaa-i- productos in the name of the Holy Spirit and often as I understand it, not only those who believe it, but those whose hearts are In the form of his epistles, he follows the ordinary custom of his country and age, and thus teaches us that a Christian ought not to be unnecessarily different. By readily complying with innocent customs, we are the more likely, when we conscientiously abstain from what we consider sinful customs, to impress the minds of those around us that we have some other and better reason for being different than mere whim or humor. Do you see the point that he's making? If we blend in with all that is innocent in our cultural surroundings, then when we must be different, people will have occasion to say there must be something pressuring that man or woman, to be different because he or she is not different in this area, in this, in this, in that. These areas, he or she blends with us.
Now, what's the reason for standing against an otherwise comfortable pattern or lifestyle?
Now, there are some of you sitting here this morning who desperately need that word. You think it's unspiritual to work at what we would call social discipline, knowing how to greet people who are in a different station in life, as the scripture says, honor to whom honor is due. How to be a gracious host or hostess. Oh, that's unspiritual.
No, it's not unspiritual. God himself, in the very way in which he brings his benediction and blessing into the churches, by the apostolic greeting, is underscoring this principle. That he is a gracious and a polite God. A God who does not jar us by kookishness.
When God becomes incarnate in Christ, he does not take the form of an angelic being or a margin.
With antenna sticking out and one eye in the middle of his face. He had all the characteristics of any ordinary, any ordinary little Hebrew boy. God has shown us in the internet. Incarnation.
This great principle. And we need to seek by the grace of God to apply it in our own Christian experience. This has something to say about this whole matter of our concern to have a building. Some might say, where in the Bible do you find anyone talking about buildings?
Well, there is no chapter and verse. It does say that the church met in Solomon's temple. It does say they met in homes. But we know they met somewhere.
And there's much in the Bible that says you better meet together. To perform the duties. To perform the duties that are incumbent upon Christian churches. But certainly this principle is the key that unlocks it.
In our particular culture, people regard stable religious congregations as people who have a building. That is suitable to their religious exercises. They may not have an ounce of spiritual insight. But they have a certain cultural expectation.
And that expectation is not sinful. And if we. If the people of God are to minister effectively to our generation. We must be sensitive to that cultural reality.
There are people who would be so jarred by the offensiveness of all of this paraphernalia behind me. And all of the graffiti on the seats before you. That they would find it impossible to give a serious hearing to the gospel. Well, you say they ought to be more spiritual than that.
Yes, they ought to be. But in their present state they aren't. And that's why we want to get them under the sound of the gospel. And we trust that after God has worked them over.
They'd be so spiritual as to listen to the gospel expounded in a pig pen. But that would even take a lot more grace than some of you have this morning. So you see the key to that issue is this whole principle. When the elder or whoever was appointed to read this epistle stood at Philippi.
And opened up that letter sent from the hand of Epaphroditus. And found the words Paul and Timothy. Bonslam. Lays of Christ Jesus.
Grace to you in peace. There was nothing that jarred the fundamental cultural sensitivity of those Philippians. Not a thing. Rather there was something that felt comfortably, culturally comfortable.
But could not help but catch the ear. Because it was altered just enough that they knew it was not the common greeting of the street. So it blended and yet it dazzled.
The Nature of the Greeting: Authoritative Conferral
It fit comfortably. And yet it caught the eye and it caught the ear. Well then I must also say a brief word by way of preliminary remarks. On the nature of the greeting.
Having considered the origin of the greeting. Now the nature of the greeting. You'll notice that there is no verb in the greeting. Grace to you and peace.
It doesn't say grace be to you. May grace be upon you. Grace will be upon you. And we occasionally use terminology in a similar way.
Have you ever said to someone who's about to embark upon a given project. You say blessings on you. Well there's no verb in that expression. Do you mean blessings will be upon you?
Or are you expressing a wish? May blessing be upon you? We say to someone more power to you. Well do we mean I wish you to have power in your enterprise?
Or power will be given you? What do we mean? You see we must supply the verb. Well in the same way this greeting has no verb.
Well then how are we to regard it? What is the nature of that greeting? Are we to regard it as a prayer as though the apostle is saying. May God be pleased to give you grace and peace from himself and from the Lord Jesus.
Some regard it as a prayer. But frankly I find it difficult to conceive of it as a prayer. Because in verse 3. He tells us what he prayed for them.
I thank my God upon all my remembrance of you always in every supplication of mine. On behalf of you all making my supplication with joy. And then he tells us specifically what he prayed for in verses 9 to 11. Now that does not mean that the significance is utterly missed if you regard it as a prayer.
But it is not quite accurate to conceive of it as a prayer. Well. Well some say no it is not a prayer. It is a sanctified wish.
In the form of the greeting in Jude. You have a verb supplied. Which is what we might call a sanctified wish. When Jude.
When the greeting is brought in Jude. It is brought this way. Mercy unto you and peace and love be multiplied. This is my wish.
That these come. Commodities. Commodities be multiplied to you. But then in 2 John 3.
We have a verb supplied. And there it is a future of the verb to be. And so John is actually making an authoritative announcement. Of these things as coming to the people of God.
2 John and verse 3. Grace, mercy and peace shall be with us. From God. The Father.
And from Jesus Christ. Well then how are we to regard it? Is there any clue in scripture itself. That will help us to answer that question.
With some degree of certainty. And I believe there is. Will you turn to the gospel according to Luke.
In which passage we have the record of our Lord. Commissioning. Special representatives. 70 who are being sent out on a special mission.
Given special power and authority. For the accomplishment of that mission. And in the midst of that commission. With respect to that special mission.
Jesus says in verse 5. And into whatsoever house ye shall enter. First say. Peace to this house.
And if a son of peace be there. Your peace shall rest upon him. But if not. It shall turn to you again.
Now get the picture. As they go out in this mission. And come into a house. They are to make an authoritative pronouncement.
Of the peace of God. The prosperity and well being. That comes from being right with God. And under the canopy of God's blessing.
They are to make a pronouncement. Not an empty pronouncement. But a pronouncement that actually confers. The thing pronounced.
For notice our Lord. When you enter the house say. Peace to this house. If a son of peace be there.
That is one whose spiritual condition is such. As to be the recipient. Of the blessing pronounced and conferred. Your peace shall rest upon him.
But if not. It shall turn to you again. In other words. If the spiritual condition requisite.
To be a son of peace. Is not there. The mere pronouncement of words. Does no good.
But where there is the proper spiritual state. Of mind and heart. The pronouncement is not an empty greeting. But it comes.
Becomes the vehicle. Through which God as it were. Confers the very thing pronounced. So as they come.
Speaking peace. In the name of their Lord. The believing. Recipient of that word spoken.
In receives the very peace. That is pronounced. In his name. So then when we come.
To these apostolic greetings. Perhaps the best way to think of them. Is in this form. If Paul could have been transported.
By. A Concord jet. From Rome. To Philippi.
Assuming they built an airstrip. And did not have environmental. Laws that would have prohibited. His traveling by Concord.
From one city to the other. And if he had then been able. To put in a surprise visit. To the church at Philippi.
He would have stood in their midst. And stretched out his hands. And his first words to them would have been.
Grace and peace.
Be upon you. The people of God. Grace from God our Father. And from the Lord.
Jesus Christ. And to the extent. That those who heard that pronouncement. Had believing hearts.
Were indeed. In Christ Jesus. The very blessings pronounced. Grace and peace.
Would actually be conferred. In fresh and copious measures. By that pronouncement. Of his designated representative.
The apostle Paul. But you see Paul had no Concord. Had no airstrips. He was a prisoner.
And so by means of this greeting. He comes in his apostolic office. Right into the assembly. Of the church at Philippi.
And his opening words. Are words of authoritative. Announcement and pronouncement. Of apostolic as it were.
Conferral in the name of Christ. Of these blessed commodities. Of grace. And of peace.
The Essence of the Blessings: Grace Defined
Well having spent. Some time on this matter. Of the origin and the nature. Of the blessing now.
Let us move to consider. The essence of these blessings. Themselves. The essence of the blessings defined.
When Paul wrote. Grace. And peace. What did he mean by the use.
Of those words. Well as many of you know. The word grace is. An expansive word.
It is used in a number of ways. In the New Testament. But perhaps the best working definition. Of what it is.
In this context. And in the context of similar. Apostolic blessings. Is the one that I found.
In one of the commentators. Who described it this way. Grace is the undeserved. Favor of God.
As existing in his heart. Together with all. The gifts. Of that favor.
Or another has attempted. To express it in this way. Grace is God's. Spontaneous.
Unmerited favor. In action. It is his freely bestowed. Loving kindness.
In operation. Bestowing salvation. Upon guilt laden sinners. Now in both of those.
Definitions. The dominant ideas. Are two. Number one.
The uncoerced. Disposition. Of the author of grace. Grace flows.
Out of God. It is not drawn. Out from something. External to himself.
And then the second. Dominant concept. Is the non deserving nature. Of the recipients.
There is no merit in them. There is no thought of reward. Or payment. Now let me try to illustrate it this way.
Particularly for you children. Suppose at the beginning of the summer. A father should say to his son. Now son.
Your chores for the summer are these. And he lists them all out. All the way from keeping the shrubs. Trimmed.
To weeding the garden. To cutting the lawn. And a host of other things. And then he says.
Every week. I'm going to have a checklist. And if you've done all your chores. We'll put a little star by that week.
And if at the end. Of the summer. We find that you have done all of your chores. Every week.
Faithfully. Then we're going to give you. Two weeks at your favorite camp. Or we're going to give you.
Some particular thing. That that child. Desperately longs to have. Well.
He applies himself very diligently. And in those hot days. When he's tempted to shirk his duty. He thinks of the stars.
He's already earned on his little chart. In his bedroom. And he. Thinks of that reward.
Of two weeks at his favorite camp. And all the goodies he'll have. And all the good times. And he's spurred on.
When all the neighbor kids are saying. Ah. Why bother. Well.
He still is driven. To perform. The agreed task. Well.
The end of the summer comes. And as you look at his chart. In his bedroom. You see that he has a star.
Next to every single week. Well. Then his dad puts his hand on his shoulder. And says.
Son. I'm really proud of you. You've been a good boy this summer. You've shown real diligence.
You've really applied yourself. Now I have something I want to show you. And then he takes out the registration form for camp. And shows him it's all filled out.
Shows him the check in which everything's paid for. And the kid hugs his dad. And says. Thank you dad.
And has a real sense of appreciation. But you see that's not grace. There's no grace in that whole arrangement. There were terms upon which.
The reward. Was conditioned. And so though this was an expression of a loving and a wise father. Using a system of rewards in order to encourage incentives.
And there's nothing wrong with that. God himself does that in other areas. You would never understand grace from that transaction. But now suppose in a framework in which the father is not an overindulgent father.
The father is one who has established structures of discipline. Established structures in which. If you meet certain terms. You receive certain rewards.
If you don't you forfeit them. But in that very situation. On the last week. The sun blew it.
It was a hot day early in August. And it was coming toward the end of the week. There'd been a lot of rain. Unlike our situation this August.
And it seemed like everything needed to be attended to. The shrubs needed to be cut. And the grass needed to be cleaned. And the weeds were just jumping out of the ground.
Like they've been eating Wheaties. And wheat germ as well. And a little blackstrap molasses. And maybe some Shackley products thrown in to boot.
And the poor kid is discouraged. And he just said. Ah what's the use. So he doesn't do his chores that week.
And at the end of the week. When his dad comes in to check things over. He sees the son with his head hung down. And he says.
Dad I didn't do my chores. This week I blew it. I don't deserve a star. And if I don't have a star on that sixth week.
Or eighth week. Whatever it was. There's no camp. Now suppose the father.
Then puts his hand on the shoulder of the son. And says son you did blow it. You didn't pull the weeds. And you didn't click the hedges.
And you didn't do this. And you didn't do that. And in the light of that. What do you deserve?
And the kid says. Dad I deserve no star. No camp. And I've got no complaints.
You're a fair. You're an honest. Dad I deserve nothing. Now if the father then puts his hand on the shoulder.
And says now son watch what I'm going to do. And he takes the little star and licks it. And puts it on there. And then puts his hand on his son's shoulder.
And says you're still going to camp son. And the little kid burst into tears. And says but daddy I don't deserve it. He said I know you don't.
But I want to teach you what the word grace means.
You see he deserved. Not. Not to go to camp. He deserved a reproof.
And a rebuke for blowing it at the end of the summer. He goofed. He blew it. And it would not have surprised him.
Had he received the rebuke and the reproof. But instead. He gets just the opposite of what he deserves. That's something.
Albeit a poor illustration. But it captures something. Of the concept of grace. No desert in the object.
And it flowed out of the disposition. Of that loving. Father.
This is the great descriptive word. With respect to the uniqueness of the salvation taught in the Bible. The idea that we deserve it. The idea that God owes it to us.
These notions are totally foreign. Hence in general statements such as Ephesians 2.8. We read for by grace.
Are ye saved. Or Titus 2.11. The grace of God hath appeared.
Saving for all men. The moment we think of grace. We must think of that salvation. Which God has manifested in his son.
In the moment we think of that manifested salvation. We must think of grace. But when we descend to particular aspects of that salvation. Not only the general statements.
Such as I've quoted. But when we trace that salvation back to its initial purpose. Grace pervades it. So Paul can say as he does in 2nd Timothy 1.9.
Who saved us and called us. Not according to our works. But according to his own purpose and grace. Which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began.
When we think of the objective provisions in the work of the Lord Jesus. What are we doing? What are we to think of? We are to think of grace.
Hebrews 2.9. By the grace of God he tasted death. 2nd Corinthians 8.9.
Ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus. That though he was rich. Yet for your sakes he became poor. In the application of that salvation.
Paul says in Galatians 1.15. When it pleased God who called me by his grace. And then all the gifts that come.
Are the gifts. The grace. 1st Corinthians 1.4 and 5.
And when that salvation is culminated at the 2nd coming of Christ. What will it be? Peter describes it in 1st Peter 1.13.
As the revelation of grace. That is to be brought to us at the appearing of the Lord Jesus. Therefore we should not be surprised to find the gospel called in Acts 20 and verse 24. The gospel of the grace of God.
So central is the concept of grace to the gospel. That it's a synonym for the gospel. It is the gospel of the grace of God. And so much does grace pervade the development of the child of God.
That not only is the word of the gospel a word of grace. But that word by which he is sanctified and built up in his holy faith. According to Acts 20.32.
That too is a word of grace. I commend you to God. And to the word of his grace. Which is able to build you up.
And to give you the inheritance among them that are sanctified. Do you see now why the hymn writer. Was able to pen the words that we occasionally sing in this assembly. Grace tis a charming sound.
Harmonious in my ear. Heaven with the echo shall resound. And all the earth shall hear. Grace first contrived a way to save rebellious man.
And all the steps that grace display. Which drew the wondrous plan. Grace taught my wandering feet to tread the heavenly road. And new supplies each hour I meet.
While pressing on to God. Grace all the work shall progress. And the crown through everlasting days. It lays in heaven the topmost stone.
And well deserves the praise. Paul could write in Ephesians 1.6. That the great end of our salvation.
Is to the praise of the glory of his grace. Now do you see why this is not just a common nicety. Oh yes it comes in a form that is very similar. To a common Greek greeting.
But when the Apostle says. Grace to you. From God the Father and the Lord Jesus. There is bound up in that word.
All of that disposition. Of God's spontaneous unmerited favor. As existing in his own heart. Together with all the gifts that it confers.
The Essence of the Blessings: Peace Defined and Its Relationship to Grace
But now what about this word. Peace. Peace. Peace.
Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace.
Peace. Peace. And here we must be careful. Not to impose our notions of Biblical words.
Upon Biblical words. We see a lake on which there are no waves. And we say. Well the lake was very peaceful this morning.
And though that is a proper use of our English word. It is not the primary thrust of the Biblical concept. It is not the primary thrust of the Biblical concept. When a Hebrew would greet another Hebrew.
With the word Shalom. It meant more. time in your family and no fights with your wife and with your kids. It meant may every form of prosperity and blessing rest upon you. The cessation of warfare, but then the positive presence of those things that come in such a condition of peace. And grace is not only a dominant biblical word, but peace is as well. And the Bible speaks of that objective peace which has been secured through the grace of the gospel. Romans 5, 1, being justified by faith, we have peace with God. That is the enmity that existed between a justly angry
God and rebel sinners has been overcome. God's soul, as to give his only begotten Son, and that objective enmity that was there has been removed in the work of Christ. Not as though Christ coerced the Father to be gracious. No, it was grace that took the initiative to remove the enmity and thereby make a just grounds for peace. But then there is the subjective enmity of the sinner's heart. The carnal mind is enmity against God. And in the gospel, God overcomes. that as well by the regenerating work of the spirit bringing us consciously and joyfully to become the bond slaves of christ and so peace you see the cessation of enmity comes in the gospel and then as the fruit of that there is subjective peace the fruit of the spirit is peace galatians 5 22 in this very epistle paul will speak of the peace of god that will act as a garrison of soldiers around our hearts now you see this matter of peace is so central to the gospel that the
gospel is not only called the gospel of the grace of god but it's called the gospel of peace you remember how paul described it in romans 10 15 how beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace you
those who were near. When the gospel came to Ephesus in the person of the apostle and his companions, it was Christ in them proclaiming peace, setting out the terms upon which God is no longer angry with sinners, the terms upon which sinners may be reconciled to God. And so grace and peace are the great spiritual commodities which are pronounced, as it were, in this great greeting of the apostle. Now the order is very significant. It is grace and then peace. For apart from the grace of God, there can be no peace with God nor peace of God. In the human heart, one in seeking to summarize this relationship says, This peace denotes the condition which exists when God is our friend and all is well with us. The objective condition of peace is always the fundamental thing. Then the subjective
feeling of peace, rest and satisfaction and happiness come to the heart. The objective condition of peace is always the fundamental thing. The condition is constant and essential. The feeling may or may not always be present.
But the great reality of the cessation of warfare, the cessation of enmity, is that which is granted in the gospel. The author of the words of our national anthem, who was also the author of a hymn we delight to sing, a hymn of praise to our Lord Jesus, he understood this, Lord, with glowing heart. But I'd praise thee for the bliss thy love bestows, for the pardoning grace that saves us, and the peace that from it flows. Grace providing a way of pardon, peace flowing out of that grace. God says there is no peace to the wicked. They are like the troubled sea, the very absence of peace. And every accusation of conscience is like
a wave dashing upon the shore of the consciousness of the unconverted. No peace, no rest. Why? Because there has been no reception of grace. But grace is followed by peace. Peace is rooted in grace. Grace is the tree with its roots. And peace is its fruit. Well, having briefly considered the meaning of the words, now notice, as we conclude our study this morning, the source of these blessings as they are declared by the apostle.
The Source of the Blessings: God Our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ
Grace and peace from, this is the direction from which they come. God, our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ. As we saw in our study in Acts chapter 16, contemplating the birth of the church at Philippi, grace came in the proclamation of the gospel. And in the midst of that proclamation, you had an apostle, you had the word of the gospel, you subsequently had the incident of Lydia's baptism and the baptism of her household and the baptism of the Philippian jailer and his household.
But notice, Paul does not say, grace to you and peace from me, an apostle, as though grace and peace were deposited in the apostolate. Nor does he say, grace and peace from the sacraments, as though they were the conduits of grace and peace. No, no. Nor does he say, grace and peace from the church. No, no. It is grace and peace from God, not the Father, but God our Father. In other words, the grace and peace have as their source God who is the Father to all who have embraced the gospel of the grace of God and are at peace with God.
And it is all those to whom this pronounces. When the announcement comes, they are the sons and daughters of peace upon whom this gracious apostolic greeting rests and does not return void, so that when you as a Christian read in these greetings, grace to you and peace, don't read them as empty words. God himself is saying, the canopy of my grace is stretched over you. The great reservoir of my grace is full.
And is open to you, grace to you and peace from God our Father. This great God, infinite in holiness, justice, goodness and truth, has now become the father of every believing soul at Philippi. And everyone, the weakest, the meanest, the most ignorant of those believers, is to regard himself as, under this canopy of grace, standing under this perpetual shower of grace, coming down from God his Father. But notice how he coordinates with God our Father, the Lord Jesus Christ. He uses this full-orb title and name of our Redeemer, and bound up in those titles and names is the whole essence of biblical theology. Concerning the person and work of Christ. Those are not empty words.
This grace and peace are to be regarded as coming from God our Father as the fountainhead, but the great channel is the one who is Lord. And that title, Lord, immediately points to two things. It points to his present position of exaltation and power. Paul will expand upon that in chapter 2.
But it also points to the inherent dignity of his person as God. And so in the word Lord, you have a reference to his person and to his position. He is the sovereign ruler. Remember now, Philippi was a Roman colony.
All around them they heard the language, Caesar is Lord, Caesar is Lord, Caesar is Lord. Look what Caesar can do. Look what Rome has done for you. Look at the benefits Rome has conferred.
Look at all your privileges as citizens of Rome. Paul says, look at your privileges as citizens of the kingdom of which Christ is Lord. Something Caesar can never give. Grace and peace be to you from the Lord.
And who is he? He is Jesus. That name given to him is incarnation. That immediately again points to the reality of his humanity.
And the significance. The significance of his mission. The word itself means Jehovah is Savior. And it is this incarnate Jehovah.
It is the one who is Immanuel, identified as Jesus of Nazareth. Who lived, who died, who was buried, who was raised again from the dead. It is from Jesus that these blessings proceed. But it is the Lord Jesus Christ.
The anointed one. God's Messiah. God's anointed prophet and final word to man. God's anointed priest.
Final sacrifice and perpetual intercessor. Who needs not any help in his work of intercession from the saints or from Mary. He has never anointed Mary to intercede for me. He has not anointed Saint Francis or Saintess.
Saint Augustine. Or Saint anyone. And he is God's anointed king. To rule in grace and to destroy all his and his people's enemies.
Enemies to bring them all safely at last home with himself. You see how you have the heart and soul of the biblical doctrine of the person and work of Christ. Bound up whenever you find the use of that full title. Or that concoction of the titles of our Lord.
Our Lord Jesus Christ. How are we to view this grace and peace is coming to us. They do not come to us because we deserve them. They do not come to us simply because we are the creatures of God.
They do not come to us simply because in some undefined way God is merciful. They come to us. If we have come to know the living God. Is our father in the grace of adoption.
Having embraced the message of his mercy in the Lord Jesus. We have been adopted as his sons and daughters and been given the spirit of adoption. And then through the Lord Jesus Christ. All of these things come to us.
The Theological Implications of the Source
One is embarrassed at the richness of this little greeting. For you see in pointing to the source of these blessings. As God our father in the Lord Jesus Christ. Here is an unequivocal assertion of the deity of our Lord.
You have one preposition. Grace and peace from and the two objects. God our father and the Lord Jesus. Now let me ask you.
What do you need to save you? Human grace or divine grace? Well you say I need divine grace. Well you see you do not have divine grace coming from the father.
And human grace from the father. And human grace from the Lord Jesus. No, no. The deep consciousness of the apostle which was the consciousness of apostolic Christianity.
Was not some philosophical detached abstract theological notion of the trinity. There was a pulsing inward religious consciousness. That their one God was father, son and holy spirit. And so the apostle does not engage.
In his philosophical dissertation on the trinity. He simply writes to the deepest consciousness of the saints at Philippi. And says this grace and peace which are upon you. And will continue to be upon you.
Have as their source. God our father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Which would be a blasphemous thought if Jesus were not God. But then you have also in these words the natural expression.
Of the heart of true and saving religion. You see the mark of true Christians is. They rejoice that God is their father. And that Jesus is their Lord and savior.
They don't simply mouth the words. But to them the acme of their privileges in grace. Is that they can have access to the God. The God who made them against whom they sinned.
Who could have justly condemned them to hell. They have access to him and can call him father. But they never conceive of that privilege. Apart from the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
So when Paul says grace and peace to you. He does not simply say from God our father. But he says from God our father. And the Lord Jesus Christ.
And if we may reverse the emphasis. When people have truly embraced. What is involved in the person and work of Christ. It is their delight to know God.
In the intimacy of filial love and confidence. They do not regard it as blasphemous to call him father. For their Lord himself taught them to pray. Our father.
Who art. In heaven. And just as it is either. Spurious or defective Christian faith.
Which thinks of the fatherhood of God. Without the redemptive work of Christ. So it is spurious or defective Christian faith. That thinks of the work of Christ.
And does not rise to the delights of calling God our father.
Sufficiency of Redemptive Provision and Call to Embrace Grace
What God has joined together let not man put asunder. That is the heart and soul of true and vital religion. And then we have in this wonderful apostolic greeting. A glorious affirmation of the sufficiency of redemptive provision.
Remember. Paul knows that he is writing. Not to glorified saints. But to all the saints in Philippi.
And he knows. There is a couple of those. Saints. That have got a little sandpaper in their relationship.
He speaks to them later. Yodia and Syntyche. He is also conscious that some of the saints are flirting with false teachers. These Judaizers.
He is also conscious of other areas of need. But he does not at the outset qualify his words. To every saint who is in Christ. Regardless of the present problems.
And present areas. Of arrested growth. Present areas of deficient understanding or experience. He says the canopy of sufficient grace is spread over all of you.
Grace to you. To whom? All the saints at Philippi. He does not say grace and peace to the saints advanced in knowledge.
Grace and peace to the saints advanced in experience. He says grace and peace. To all the saints. And this I say is a glorious affirmation.
Of the sufficiency of God's redemptive provisions for us. Oh my dear listener. Do you know anything of the joy. Of settling under that canopy with the confidence that you have a right to do so.
Can you hear the apostle standing as it were by his word in the midst. Saying grace and peace to you. And say. I am a son of peace.
I am a daughter of peace. Because I am a son or daughter of grace. And wonder of wonders. Though I don't deserve to go to camp.
I deserve to have my fathers frown. He's a gracious God. And in the Lord Jesus I am confident. That there is grace sufficient for all of my sin.
All of my need. All of the demands made upon me. Let me ask you Christian. Do you think that you can.
Do you think that you can somehow expect more of grace than grace will supply. Do you think that somehow your expectations of grace can exceed the supply of grace. That you can have a faith in God as a God of grace. That goes beyond the reality of what he is as the God of grace.
No, no. God condemns wicked unbelief throughout the Bible. But I know where. Find him condemning someone for expecting too much of grace.
Child of God. Rejoice in the canopy of grace that is over you. And then you will know more and more of that blessed peace within you. But I'm conscious in a group this size.
There are some who have no right to regard themselves as under that canopy.
These words grace to you and peace. Have no real meaning for you. They cannot be. Pronounced and received by you.
Why? Because you have never come to grips with the gospel of grace and the gospel of peace. You either been unwilling to accept the indictment of the Bible about you. That says you're a sinner.
You deserve the wrath and the condemnation of God. And yet wonder of wonders that God extends grace in the gospel. He has committed himself to receive any sinner. This is one of those matters in this text.
When we say that God is waiting. Rather than saying this time of my life say first time to me. When I asked myself, are you saying Jesus believed in healing. to go to camp, God? No, no. You come saying, God, I've got no stars on my record. I've got nothing but check marks in the record of my failures. But, oh, God, you set before me in the gospel one who never failed, one whose record is filled with stars, one who perfectly kept your law, one who died to satisfy your demands in terms of a broken law. And, oh, God, I flee to your Son, and I ask you for the sake of the Lord Jesus Christ to become my Father, to be merciful to me, to turn away your wrath. And do you know what the Word of God promises? Every sinner who comes in that posture, God delights to receive. He
doesn't say, give me time to consider the matter. Give me a little while to reflect upon your particular case. No, no. He says, Come, whosoever will, let him come and take of the water of life freely. Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. And that which we wish more than anything for you who are out of Christ is not that you become a member of this church or some other church, or that you take the sacraments more. No, no, no, my friend. Our concern, my concern is that you have dealings with God in terms of the gospel of the grace of God, so that you may know him as your Father and the Lord Jesus as your Savior. Let us
pray.
Our Father, we confess to you that our minds and our spirits stagger before the expansiveness, before the sheer weight of the glory of grace. And we pray that the Holy Spirit would enable us to lay hold of something of the wonder of the provisions that are ours in Christ, and that we as your people may be enabled to live and think and carry our lives, carry out our lives in the consciousness that we are under a canopy of grace. We pray for those who have yet to embrace your Son. Woo them. Oh, may the sight of your tender mercy, inviting them to the place of pardon and forgiveness, in spite of their rebellion and stubbornness. Oh, may such a
sight of your heart of grace break their hearts and bring them in repentance and faith to embrace the offered mercy in the person of the offered Savior. Amen. Amen. Amen.
Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.
Amen. Amen. Amen.
Amen.
This transcript was generated by automated speech recognition and may contain errors.
It is provided for study and reference only; the audio recording is the authoritative source.
Passages Expounded
Philippians 1:1-2
The entire sermon is an exposition of these two verses, specifically the greeting 'Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ'.
Texts Expounded
auto_stories
This is the primary text for the sermon, specifically the apostolic greeting.
auto_stories
Used to illustrate the authoritative, conferring nature of the apostolic greeting, where peace is pronounced and rests upon 'sons of peace'.