Introduction

What sort of letter would you write from prison? I'm imagining that most of us won't have personal experience, but you never know! After all we're all sinners saved by grace yeah? Who knows what we were up to before we met Jesus!

But prison, I imagine is thoroughly depressing place. In the old world prison wasn't so much the punishment, but the holding cell until you were judged. For higher status prisoners who did not pose an immediate threat house arrest was a possibility. You'd be confined to your house or estate. A bit like having an electronic tag, but instead of a tag, you'd have a Roman soldier chained to you. You'd have to pay for you own food, your own lodging. But it wouldn't be easy to work without leaving home, and with a soldier attached to you. You would have to depend on your own wealth or the support of other. It was humbling, humiliating, and hard. Having your liberties curtailed.

I think if I were writing a letter from prison or house arrest, it would be about as encouraging as a wet sock on a cold day. And yet what we have here in Philippians is a letter from the Apostle Paul's known to many as the most joy filled, encouraging letter in the New Testament. It's written in part because Paul has received a gift from the church in Philippi. No doubt to help him support himself under house arrest. And Paul expresses his joy at receiving this gift. Not just for the money, but for the meaning and thought behind.

Over the next few weeks we're going to read some of the most heartfelt, joy-filled, Christ centred things that have ever been written, and all from the equivalent of a prison cell. So let's dig in and see first of all…

Paul & His Partners v1-2

Paul introduces himself in different ways in different letters. Sometimes it's Paul the apostle. Sometimes it's Paul the prisoner. Sometimes it's just plain Paul. But here it's Paul the servant of Christ. In fact the word there really is slave. The title he chooses to identify himself to the Philippians is slave of Christ. Paul sees himself as Jesus' slave. His rights surrendered to him. His liberties given up to Christ.

When Paul woke up in the morning and said to himself "What shall I do today?" it wasn't his choice anymore. His job was to do whatever His master told Him. His master wrote his to do list for the day. His life was no longer his own to choose his own agenda—Jesus his lord and master set the agenda now.

Unfair you might say? But the one he serves became a slave. The one who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a slave, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. (Philippians 2:6-8 ESV)

That was the one he served, the servant king. The one who came not to serve but to serve and give his life as a ransom for many! Is there anyone worthier to serve? Paul's life now is lived for Him. He is his slave. He no longer works for himself, but for Christ. His master tells him what to do.

But before we move on to more points here it's worth noting that this not just a word to describe Paul. This is a word to describe all believers. Yes we are sons and heirs, yes, but we are to use our freedom to serve God. 1Peter 2:16 "Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants [slaves] of God."

When you wake up in the morning and say to yourself "What shall I do today?" actually there's a sense in which the answer is already set. Whatever God commands you! You live to serve Him. O the horror of a slave who does his own thing! Who lives as though he has no master!

Would people know you were God's servant, his slave, if they looked at your to do list? If they looked at your calendar? If they looked at how you spend your energy, money, resources, time? Would they see it given wholly to the Lord? As you would for a slave? As you certainly would for Paul? Do you do what you do to serve the Lord or to serve yourself?

Luke 9:23 ESV "And he said to all, 'If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.'"

That's Jesus talking, not me! That's how Paul introduces himself. As the one who has joyfully done this.

But it's not just Paul, there's Timothy too. He too is a slave of Jesus. And he too is writing to them along with Paul. Paul nearly always works in a team. He has his partners around him. But Timothy is not his only partner, the Philippians are his partners too. Not his minions, or his followers, not his inferiors, but his partners. We'll come back to that word in a minute.

But here he greets them as saints. This is not saints like most people use it today. This is just one of the Bible's words for Christians. It means holy ones, ones who have been set apart by God for God. He greets specifically the overseers and deacons. Your translation might say bishops, but that's just a bad pronunciation of the Greek for overseer episcopes. Imagine Sean Connery saying it and you'll get there! It's not bishop like most people understand it, there are several here in the church in Philippi. It's just another word for what we'd call an elder. And there's a plurality of them, as well as deacons. This is norm for New Testament churches. And should be for 21st Century Churches too!

But it's not just the overseers and deacons who are his partners. All of them are. That word 'partner' used here in the two opening verses, but it's used two times in this passage and six times in the letter. The most of any New Testament letter. And Philippians is not even close to being the longest. It's not immediately obvious because it's translated four different ways. Partners, partakers, sharers, and fellowship. But they're all the same word in the original.

The word comes from the Greek word for common. As to have something in common. To share something. To have a stake in something with other people. And it's such a key word in our book that if we don't get our heads round this word we will not understand:

This passage. The book of Philippians. Or the Christian life really to be honest.

Paul sees the Philippians as partners in a common venture. As fellow-workers, fellow-soldiers, fellow-slaves. Paul uses all the terms of Christians in this letter and others. Together they have joint-custody of something. They have co-stewardship of something. They both have a share, a stake, a co-ownership of something together. They are bound together by a common something.

And in the rest of our passage we see two things that bind them together. And what that leads to for both Paul and the Philippians. Both vertically and horizontally. The implication though is that this should be true for us too in our partnership together. I want us to think about this as a church. Does this reflect our relationships with each other, and those who we partner with?

Our second point is the first of these two things…

Being Partners in the Gospel Leads to Joyful Thankfulness towards God v3-5

The first partnership he speaks about is Partnership in the Gospel. This the partnership that all the other partnerships flow from. They share the same Gospel. They believe the same good news. Without this there is no partnership, there is no fellowship.

There's a negative side to it and a positive one. The negative first…

We can't Partner in the Gospel if we don't believe the same Gospel

I don't mean believe absolutely everything. But the fundamentals. There is a God who made this world we live in and everything in it. He is the triune God—Father, Son and Holy Spirit. One God in three persons. The Son became a man—Jesus Christ. Fully God and fully man. He lived a sinless life and died on the cross to take the penalty for sin. He rose again on the third day, ascended into Heaven and from there poured out the Holy Spirit on His people to empower them to witness to Him across the globe. We become part of his people we turn from our sin and put our trust in Jesus alone. It's not by works, ceremonies or morality, but by faith alone. Jesus will return to judge all those alive and those who have died. Those who have loved Him will spend eternity with Him in paradise, the rest will go to a lost eternity.

That's just the basics isn't it? If we can't agree on that though, then we don't share the same Gospel, we might not even share the same God! We cannot be partners in the Gospel if we don't share the Gospel.

That's why as a church we have a shared statement of faith—that we sign up to when we become members. It says we believe essentially the same thing, even if we disagree on non-essentials. It helps us partner in the Gospel. Between churches it's the same thing.

I feel like I get asked about this all the time! But it's not about being awkward, or unfriendly or unkind. It's about reflecting the truth in who we partner with. Not all buildings with the word 'church' in the sign believe what I said before. There are those that do! Both locally and nationally. I want to say that publicly and loudly!

I do not subscribe to the view that the whole church is apostate and we are the only ones with the truth. We have brothers and sisters in churches locally, regionally, nationally. There may be some churches who have the Gospel still there, it's just not quite as clearly articulated as we might like, but they are still believers.

But some churches don't believe the same thing. That is, Biblically we would say, do not believe, or do not preach the Gospel. How can we partner with them in any meaningful way? I think Paul would say positively don't.

Galatians 1:9 ESV "As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed."

And it grieves the Apostle Paul that this is the case. It should grieve us too! But thankfully that is not the situation in many cases. There are people and churches we can and should partner with if we can. If in Galatians it's awfulness of not sharing the same Gospel. Then in Philippians it's the flip side: the wonderfulness of sharing the same Gospel with other.

The benefits of having the Gospel in common with others

What does lead Paul to do? It leads him to call out to God in joyful thankfulness. Here are others who share his love for the Lord. Who share his heartbeat. And he is so thankful for them. This is the vertical aspect!

Do you know the story of Elijah in the Old Testament? He cried out in pain and anguish to the Lord in 1 Kings 19: "I'm the only one left!" "It's just me!" Not Paul though! As it turned out not Elijah either! But Paul knows he's not alone. The Philippians are with him. He and the Philippians are on the same team. They are on the Lord's side!

And they've shown it again and again right from day one. Right from Paul's time in Philippi. In fact we know from the end of the just what that looked like. Paul went straight from Philippi to Thessalonica, only stayed there three weeks and yet can write:

Philippians 4:16 ESV "Even in Thessalonica you sent me help for my needs once and again."

That implies they sent him financial or physical help, multiple times, within weeks of him leaving Philippi! They really were in this from day one!

Paul is thankful to have partners like these. It brings him joy to know that they are on the same page and working together. This throws the emphasis back on us though. Are we thankful to God for one another? For partners in the Gospel. Not just those abroad or in other churches, though that's important too. But one another.

We're here, most of us, because we believe the same thing. If you're looking into the Christian faith, you know what, we're praying that one day, you will too. Because it's great to be in partnership together. And that partnering in the Gospel leads to working together for that Gospel. And that working together for the same cause leads to genuine affection towards each other. As we see in our final point…

Being Partners in the Mission Leads to Genuine Affection towards Each Other v6-8

Verse 6 is quite precious to me. It was the verse given to me at my baptism age 16. And whilst it can and does apply individually, it's here written in the plural. In other words to the whole church. The good work is something begun in them as a fellowship. And Paul is confident that God will continue to work in and through them. Unless Jesus returns before they've finished. The day of Christ as he calls it.

But it does beg the question, how does Paul know? How can he have such confidence in them? Read the letters to churches in Revelation—good churches can go awry quickly! We've already mentioned the Galatians.

It's tempting here to give you ten minutes on why God is reliable. How He always finishes what He starts. He never half does things. And that's all true and wonderful. But it's not where Paul goes. Paul goes with what he knows about them.

And what he knows firstly that they've served together. Second half of verse 7: "for you are all partakers with me of grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defence and confirmation of the gospel."

Most of the time when Paul uses grace in the Bible he means the free gift of salvation by God. "It is by grace you have been saved!" But sometimes he uses it to refer the mission he has been gifted by God. His 'gift' in that sense. His gift, his role, his mission, is to defend and confirm the Gospel. Something that's landed him in chains—probably in Rome at this point. But, says Paul, I know you're on the same mission!

I know you over in Philippi are doing what I'm here in Rome doing. Defending and confirming the Gospel. The word there is apologia where we get our word apologetics from. It doesn't mean your sorry, but it's about giving a defence to those who would seek to deny, refute or undermine the Gospel. How could a God of love allow suffering? Why trust the Bible? Why believe in a crucified messiah?

And confirming is more the flip side of that. It's not just defending the Gospel, but going on the offensive if you like. Positively preaching the Gospel! Confirming its truth to the world! That's Paul's mission and he's part of a fellowship of people who do that. They're called Christians. They form Gospel fellowships in other words Churches.

That's what we're here for folks. The great commission. As we saw last week at our anniversary, there's more to it than that, but there's not less! Paul has a mission, yes, but it's one that he shares with the Philippians. It's one he shares with us. All of us are part of this grand fellowship of the Gospel. We are mission partners, one with another.

Paul knows that with the Philippians. And so he's confident that the good work there will continue. As for them being partners in his imprisonment we don't know. They've certainly partnered him in the sense that they've sent a gift to help sustain him in prison. Whether any of them are in prison themselves we don't know. We are told at the end of the chapter that they are suffering for the Gospel. And that they have opponents. We know they do of course, Paul himself was sent to prison in Philippi.

Either way Paul feels like they're in chains right alongside him. Such is their solidary and partnership. Such is their love. And that's the other reason he gives for his confidence He has them in his heart. Some translations have "because you have me in your hearts". Both are possible translations—I'm not getting into the grammar! But there is mutual affection here. They clearly love Paul. And Paul clearly loves them.

Look at v8 he yearns for them with affection of Jesus Christ. Paul loves them as Christ loves them. Isn't that the ultimate proof of fellowship together? Jesus makes it one of the sure signs of genuine Christianity.

John 13:34-35 ESV "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another."

They love one another with a Christlike love. They are able to love one another with a Christlike love. It's hard to love some Christians. Especially when they are not acting like Christ. But you get the impression for Paul and the Philippians love came more easily.

They serve together, their mutual affection was formed in the heat of battle so to speak. Many stories are told of the deep, deep affection when people serve alongside one another. And Paul is going to use that battle image in the letter as he speaks of fights, and fellow soldiers. These kind of circumstances form bonds that are not easily broken.

People who had never met before become bands of brothers. People who were virtual strangers lay down their lives for one another in the pursuit of a common goal. I think the persecuted church has a lot to teach us here. When your life is on the line, you learn to love others! When sharing your faith could land you in prison, you soon find out who the real believers are, and a bond is formed between you. You are both on the same mission. You both know the costs. And you both love Jesus enough you do it anyway!

Do we share that solidary, camaraderie, affection for one another in the midst of the mission? There's no command to love one another here, but it's just taken for granted that these bonds of love and fellowship will be formed as we take part in the mission together.

I have a confession to make—I hate delivering leaflets. I hate it! I could never be a postman! The dogs, the stares through the windows, going into other people's gardens, the letterboxes that snap at your fingers, the comments you know that are being made inside, the same comments we make when we get something unsolicited through the door! I hate it!

But do you know what I love? Doing it with other people who hate it too! Who are doing it, not because they missed a vocation to become an amazon delivery driver, but because they love Jesus. And they know what's at stake as we reach out to a dying world. They are partners in the mission, not just when it's easy, but when it's not. When it's unpleasant. When it's the last thing they'd want to be doing. And yet they do it with joy, because they're serving Jesus.

People who aren't fair-weather fellow-shippers, but persevering partners. Co-slaves, doing what their master wants, rather than what they'd rather be doing. And doing it together. That gets my heart going. The people who help you stop being Elijah. Is it only me that cares about this? Why is it always me who turns up for this or does that every time? The ones who remind you that you're not alone.

I feel so blessed here, because there are so many anti-Elijahs! So many Barnabases who are there to encourage, and build one another up for the sake of Christ. Who like Paul, if you stuck them in a prison cell, could still find reasons to rejoice. Who would still be more concerned for those on the outside. I love that we have that. But could we be that more?

Like Paul in Thessalonians, he thanks God that they love another, and then asks that they love one another more and more. Could we do that with our partnership in the Gospel? Partner one another more and more as we serve together. Expand our partnership to include others. Work together on the mission God has given us. Joyfully thankful for Gospel Partnership. With genuine affection for our Partners in the mission.

How can we partner with one another, and with other believers beyond our four walls? I'll leave you to think about that this week. And we'll find out more as we continue through the letter.

Let's pray.